DEPENDENCE AND JUDGMENT
The Lord Jesus said as Man here, “I cannot do anything of myself”. He was the One who created the universe, by whom God made the worlds, Heb 1: 2. We think of the greatness of His Person and then read a verse like this, and we wonder. It shows the place the Lord took as Man here; the place He took in the divine economy. He came into the place of subjection and obedience as a Man here. If the Lord Jesus was here in dependence, how necessary for us that we should be dependent. I have been impressed by the thought that the setting in which the Lord was here in relation to His Father is the setting in which we are to be in relation to the Lord when He is absent. If the Lord could say “I cannot do anything of myself”, we have to learn how much more true it ought to be of us! The Lord said in chapter 15: 5, “without me ye can do nothing”. As believers we have to learn what dependence is.
If there is one thing we need, dear brethren, it is the element of judgment. Judgment here is righteous—“as I hear, I judge”. As He heard from His Father, He judged. We need to know what right judgment is; it involves discernment and discrimination. We need to know first of all how to judge ourselves. We speak about self-judgment, but that is not having our own standard. We are to regulate ourselves by His word. The word of God is living and operative, Heb 4: 12. It divides between soul and spirit. It is in allowing God’s word to have its effect in our very inwards that we are able to judge ourselves and to judge other things. The Lord speaks of judgment on a moral basis—“I do not seek my will, but the will of him that has sent me”. We need to be fully committed to the will of God to have a right judgment. The Lord therefore is a perfect example for us. There was no element of preference or prejudice with Him, but these things come in and affect our judgment. There was never anyone so single-eyed as the Lord Jesus. He never deviated from God’s will. He was ever in perfection devoted to God’s will. We do well to feed on Him and be occupied with Him. It is so different from men around us in the world. The believer is meant to be devoted to the will of God.
The verses read in John 7 are a challenge to the believer as to whether he is governed by anything else but to practise God’s will. It could be linked with Romans 7: 25; “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law”. This is the inward man operating. The believer’s judgment so often is affected by preference or prejudice. The Spirit will help us to practise God’s will as He is the unction. The believer has a sense of what is right and wrong by having the unction. How good to repudiate every other influence and to practise His will. Then we will get a sense of what is right and wrong. This belongs to believers as having the Holy Spirit, but whether He is allowed to function is another matter. The desire to practise God’s will would allow the unction to operate and give us sensibilities which are of the Spirit.
Substance of word in meeting for ministry
VICTORIA BC
10th July 1978
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