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GOD'S ACTIVITY IN THIS DISPENSATION

GOD’S ACTIVITY IN THIS DISPENSATION

Perhaps nothing is more difficult than to retain always in one’s mind the character of the day in which we live: that it is a day in which God has a free hand through accomplished redemption, and is active in love, for the blessing of man. His heart is in it, and He is loth to abandon this day. With this in view I call attention to the passage read in Luke 15, it being one that pre-eminently presents this thought to us. And in that connection I would speak of the results God seeks; indeed, not only what He seeks, but what He finds, for God is not labouring in vain. In regard to the creation of the earth, it is said that He created it not in vain, or empty, but in order that it should be full of intelligent, responsive people. So, wisdom being with Him at the beginning, as we are told in Proverbs 8:31, rejoices “in the habitable part of his earth”, and its delights were “with the sons of men”. God’s activities have results in view that are obtainable. His activities are not in vain, nor shall they cease until every one of the elect obtains “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”. What an excess! the elect are to obtain “the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”. (2 Timothy 2:10) What a thought God had! and these activities still go on whilst the Holy Spirit remains on this earth, so that one is reminded of the words, “This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it”, (Psalm 118:24).

I want to show the results that He seeks, and the results that He obtains. In the first two parables in this chapter we find the results definitely stated. The sheep is found; but then you do not put the best robe on a sheep; the figure does not fit, nor does it fit as to the piece of silver; but when we come to ^[p. 109] the son, whom we call the prodigal, it is put on him. In the prodigal you have inward movements which are not seen in the sheep, and, of course, not in the piece of silver. The movement there was that the woman should sweep the house; and so in regard to the sheep, the movement was altogether with the shepherd; but when you come to the prodigal son, you find, not only movement on the part of the father, but movement in the prodigal himself: “he arose and came to his father”. The sheep, as a figure, would come into the first of Genesis; it belongs to the animal sphere, which, although it has affection, has no conscience, the lower creatures are said to be “living souls”, though they have no conscience; but when you come to man, he has a spirit which God has given him, and also a conscience.

Every man, woman, and child has derived something directly from God; you do not get your spirit from your parents, you get your spirit from God, and the spirit that God has given you is the link between you and Him. You have also a conscience, which the sheep has not. I am not speaking now of what the sheep may represent otherwise, I am just drawing attention to the difference when you come to the prodigal. The parable of the sheep does not touch the truth of man’s responsibility to God. The prodigal is a being who has a link with God, even although his associations are with wicked men; even though he wasted his substance, yet he had that link in his spirit that he had from God. “The spirit shall return unto God who gave it”, (Ecclesiastes 12:7). And so the movement begins with him, according to the parable.

If there is one here who has wandered from the sphere of light, and who may be in associations, other than such as are commendable, God has a link with you in the spirit He has given to you, and in the conscience He has given to you. The ^[p. 110] spirit was given from God in Genesis 2, the conscience in Genesis 3, and these two things remain with every man, woman, and child, and we may thank God for them.

In view of that the gospel is announced, and so there is a possible movement: it says of the prodigal, “when he came to himself”. I apprehend that he came to a sense that he was a responsible man before God; his spirit had been received from God and one’s spirit, in this respect, is oneself; and when you come back to that, serious and happy results follow. “When he came to himself”; what a moment in the history of that young man’s soul! and then he assays to move: he says, “I will arise”. The sheep could not say that, nor could the piece of silver; the young man said it. He talked with himself, and really that is how blessing begins in the soul. When one begins to reckon with oneself, in the presence of God, as responsible to Him, there is hope; there is the evidence that a work of grace has been begun in the heart. No matter how you may hide yourself in associations, and dull your senses in sinful practices, you cannot definitely forget your responsibility to God; so that when grace works, the first effect is that there is a sense of this responsibility, as was the case with this young man, who says, “I will arise and go to my father, and say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee”.

Let us not be afraid of the word resolution. “I will arise and go”. That is the resolve of responsibility; you determine to go. He knew in some measure what his father was; he had not forgotten him; he knew what was in his house; he had some light. It is doubtful if there is anyone in the whole realm of Christendom who has not some light. “The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart”, (Romans 10:8). And he arose and came ^[p. 111] to his father; this brings out the divine side, the father’s activities, “When he was a great way off”; there is a very great distance yet, spiritually, between one returning thus and God; but it is soon removed, for the father ran, and fell on the prodigal’s neck and kissed him. But the removal of the distance is from the divine side; as to the prodigal’s state, much had yet to be done to make him fit for the house. What follows answers to this, but there was nothing imputed to him; the father kissed him before he made his confession. The confession of verse 21, was right, it was due to the father, but the kisses preceded it.

Is there anyone here who has been away from God? Perhaps you have turned your back on the light, and on the privileges involved in Christianity, and find yourself in associations of evil, where there is dearth, where there is no spiritual food. I would appeal to you in regard to movement, for movement is essential on your side; it is a moral necessity; I would encourage you to resolve in your heart to move out of the way of the world, and come to God.

Now I want to speak to you about God’s movements: “When he was a great way off”. When the Spirit uses the word great, He means it. There was as yet a great moral distance between that young man and God. So God would shorten the distance. God is ready to do it now. The “great way” is looked at from His side; God, as He looks into your heart, knows just how far you are away; but He would remove that distance. I have often thought of the position of the cherubim in the tabernacle and temple. In the tabernacle they looked down on the mercy seat; there they saw the blood. In the temple they looked toward the house, or, as we may say, straight out. God has found satisfaction in the death of Christ, every claim of His throne has been met, and so in the temple, the cherubims look straight ^[p. 112] out. The whole human race has come into the view of God; Simeon spoke of “a light for revelation of the Gentiles”, (Luke 2:32). The veil is taken off and God looks out, without any discrimination, on the whole human race, and wherever one moves toward Him, He would run, as it were, to meet that one. Is that not blessed to your soul? It is to me; it is wonderful to me that that is the blessed attitude of God now. We were speaking about divine emotion, and we have it here. We have become so familiar with Luke 15 that it hardly moves us; this wonderful presentation of God should move our hearts. He leaves the government of the nations with angels, but He does not leave it with the angels to attend to a returning soul. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth”. It is God’s own joy. Here God is moved; it says, “The Father had compassion”; and, having compassion, He runs to meet the returning son; and then His love is expressed in the kiss. These are the kinds of divine movements that characterise our dispensation. Every Christian can give some account of the manner of his reception as he returned to God.

Now, God would have this returning, repentant one suitably attired. We should know how we are to be clothed, as received and forgiven; how we are to be attired; how we are to be in the house. “Bring forth the best robe”; one is to be there in the best robe; let us not shrink back from the best; it is the divine thought for us. God is going to surround Himself, through the gospel, with men who are clothed spiritually in the very best. How do we appear before God? You may have a correct religion, attend the meetings, and yet be far short of this. We are to be before God as Christ is, for it is said, that “as he is, so are we in this world”. (1 John 4:17) Only thus could we be of the “household of God”. We are to be there attired in the very best. The grace ^[p. 113] thus shown is overpowering, when rightly understood, but it exists for us to appropriate and enjoy. We were speaking today about this; when Cornelius expected Peter he invited his relatives and his near friends; they were all invited to the house, and Peter comes and preaches; and it says, “While Peter yet spake these words the Holy Spirit fell on all them which heard the word”, (Acts 10: 44).. It was God embracing the returning Gentiles; He would have them to know His love; He would have them to know He delighted in their company; that was His welcome. He did not leave it to Peter to welcome them. He said, as it were, “I will let them in myself”. This is what God has done. Peter simply commanded baptism; but the Gentiles were already received, they were now fellow-citizens of the saints, and of the household of God.

I would put it to the young people here, some of you have been converted only a short time; you have turned to God, and yet there is possibly a sense of distance between your soul and Him. I want you to know that God would have you with the best robe on, a ring on your finger, and shoes on your feet; and He would have you to enjoy the merriment: He says, “Let us be merry”. Every Christian is included in the house. God would graciously include every one of us. He would have us rejoice with Him in the great results of the death of Christ. It says, “they began to be merry”. Have you begun to be merry? You must have something for your soul to feed on; you may rejoice in the light now, but if you do not come into the blessing that is in the house of God, your light will grow dim. The world will offer you its pleasures, but God would have you begin to be merry spiritually now, and then the world will have no attractions for you. Your salvation, in a practical way, depends on this. If you do not find satisfaction for your soul in the things ^[p. 114] of God, in His house, the world will influence you, and you will become a victim to it. The Father says, “Let us eat and be merry”. God would have us all to participate in the joys of His house.

The apostle Paul was entirely in accord with the spirit of the house. An aged man and a prisoner of Jesus Christ, he writes to his dearly beloved and fellow-labourer, Philemon, on behalf of a young convert, Onesimus, and now a brother beloved. He might have boldness to enjoin, but for love’s sake he would beseech Philemon for the dear brother he was now sending to him. How much do we do, dear friends, for love’s sake? He does not say, “the love of God”, but just “for love’s sake”; that great thing that has come to light in the death of Christ. “Hereby we have known love, because he has laid down his life for us”, (1 John 3:16). Paul was entirely unselfish; he was in keeping with God, and so he writes a letter “for love’s sake”. Onesimus had fled from his master, but he came into Paul’s arms, into the arms of love, for Paul was in accord with God. I think that is a point young Christians should understand. The house of God down here is in accord with God; love is there; and the apostle Paul represented that, and now he writes to Philemon on behalf of Onesimus, whom he had begotten through the gospel, in his bonds. He states that Onesimus had been unprofitable, but now he was profitable both to Philemon and the apostle. In a word, Onesimus is sent back as “a brother beloved”. This shows what a change the work of God had brought about in Onesimus. Am I a brother beloved? Are you? If not, then neither of us is rightly formed by the gospel. Paul says, “That thou shouldest receive him for ever; not now as a servant, but above a servant, a brother beloved ... ... If thou count me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. If he hath wronged thee, or oweth thee ought, put that on mine account”. The evidence of love in all this is most touching, but it is, in measure, what each young believer may count on in the house of God now.

But what a result, in the apostle, of the revelation of God! God has met, in Christ, the liabilities of the sinner; Paul, in his measure, undertakes the liabilities of “a brother beloved”. I cannot undertake the sinner’s debt, only the blood of Christ can meet his liabilities; but I can help a brother; I can undertake, in a measure, his liabilities. Such is Christianity; it is the reflection of God in Christ. Thus, in our measure, we may help the young. One great thing at the moment is to retain the young. Satan is after them, and God is seeking them; He turns their hearts towards Himself, but now there is that which they need down here in the way of service, and the apostle Paul sets before us an example. One is to undertake the liabilities of others; God enables us to do it; so the apostle says, “If ... he oweth thee ought, put that on mine account”. Paul had a good sized balance with believers! Have I a good balance with the brethren? It should be an exercise if I have not. Paul can write a cheque, as it were, to Philemon. He says, “I, Paul, have written it with mine own hand, I will repay it; albeit I do not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides”. He had a balance, as we may say, and he could use it for Onesimus; but he undertakes to repay, and in this way the brother beloved would be relieved of liabilities and also would be free in his relations with his master.

Evidently the apostle had a doubt as to whether Philemon would celebrate, as the father of the prodigal did, the occasion of the return of the one who had left him as a slave, but was now, through God’s grace, a “brother beloved”. So he gently suggests that Philemon might be in accord with ^[p. 116] Luke 15. Let us then who are spiritual, and have spiritual means, employ them for the help of our brethren, so that they may be as “brethren beloved”. And to the young I would say: have it before you to be that. As believers it is your privilege to say, ‘I am now a brother, I am of the Father’s household, the Father’s love is mine, and I have the love of the brethren’; for, as the apostle says, it is “for love’s sake”; each one is to act in the house “for love’s sake”. If I have not love, I am nothing. Obviously we must possess love; as “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts” (Romans 5:5) it works out in love towards God and towards the brethren.

My word is to impress you with the thought that we can be, as the product of the gospel, “brethren beloved”. May God bless His word!

Pages 117 - 190 - “Revelation — General and Special and the Holy Spirit in relation thereto”, Hampstead. June, 1919 (Volume 46).

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