THE WORK OF CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF CHRIST
[p. 347] THE WORK OF CHRIST AND THE LOVE OF CHRIST
Genesis 50: 15 - 21; Luke 5: 1 - 11
There are two parts of the gospel - it is very plain; I have gone over it before. First, what you are brought from; and secondly, what you are brought to. If you are not brought from the distance of sin, that is, if everything has not been removed which is contrary to God, you could not be brought to God: “Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. You must know that everything has been removed before you can understand the perfection of God’s grace. “God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them”. Everything has been removed from God’s side to His infinite satisfaction and glory, and now He can unfold the full purpose of His grace. Until you enter on this ground to which you are brought, you are never restfully assured that you have been brought from the old ground. I desire to fix this last upon your heart. The prodigal son was not quite sure that he was free of the far country till he was in the father’s house; then it was not what he was brought from that occupied him, but what he was brought to. The new ground assures you that you are clear of all against you on the old ground.
I read the verses in Genesis 50, in order to show that many are in a sense acquainted with the work of Christ who are not assured of His love; they are not brought to Himself. They have learnt the work which He wrought for them; and this I get in type in Genesis 50. Here Joseph’s brethren, who had been living for seventeen years (as far as I can count) on the service of Joseph, do not know his love; doubtless they would say, There is no one like Joseph, just as a great many [p. 348] christians in the present day say, There is no one like Jesus. But do you know His love? Do you know His feelings about you? You may say, I know the proof of His love. Ah! that shows me you do not know His love, because when you do know His love you will not dwell on the proofs of it. Our blessed Lord rested in the Father’s love, and not in any proof of it. He knew the love, He lived in it. Now this is the lack in christians, they are not assured of the love of Christ. Here are Joseph’s brethren, after living for seventeen years on the service of Joseph. Their father dies; they are thrown, as it were, into close quarters with Joseph, and now they have to judge themselves, which they ought to have done long ago; they have to own how bad they were. Mark their language, they said, “Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him. And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father”. They are not clear with Joseph yet; after an interval of seventeen years - a long time - they now come and own their trespass. Here you find two things come out at the same moment: one, the sense of their guilt; and the other, the assurance of Joseph’s love for them. It is a wonderful moment when in your soul you know that Christ loves you, though you are utterly unworthy of it. Joseph’s answer to this sorrowful confession was, “Joseph wept when they spake unto him”. He intimated by this, After seventeen long years, is that all you know about me? This is often the case with believers; they are not acquainted with the love of Christ - though they are acquainted with His work, and are enjoying the benefit of it - until some great visitation occurs, when they are brought to the end of [p. 349] themselves, sometimes in one way and sometimes in another, and they are thrown alone with the Lord.
I have referred to this in speaking of Saul of Tarsus; he had seen the light out of heaven, and had heard the voice, but he was three days “and neither did eat nor drink”; he was engrossed with the Lord, he was learning the way out of his distance from God, and he found it in the death of Christ; he did get out of it, for he prayed. Some say, ‘But we pray’. Yes, I know you pray, but it is to be kept in fresh remembrance of Christ’s work and not of Himself. Joseph’s brethren never knew the heart of their brother; they knew that he was their brother, and that there never was a better one; but still, though they could say this, they did not know the love which Joseph had for them. And so it is with many - they do not know the love of Christ. You may know His work, all He did for you, and not know the love in His heart to render you the greatest service; but you will never be restful until you do. When you do, you are disclosed to yourself in your true colour, while Christ in His grace and love is assured to you. And when His love is perfected to you, it is more than you can comprehend. It “passeth knowledge”. Our translators did not catch the right idea in 1 John 4: 17: “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world”. This means that the love of God is expressed and made known to you; a ray of His own feeling about you and the brightness of it has entered your soul and has so affected you that you have “boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world”. God has but one standard - His own Son; as He is up there in the glory, so are you now in this world. You may say it is too great; but that is the meaning of the scripture. When God’s love shines perfectly into your soul, you have this sense of boldness in the day of judgment; consequently we read,
“perfect love casteth out fear”; and nothing casts out fear but love. His work does not; but you have no fear when you know He loves you.
Now let us see how this is effected. I turn to Luke 5, where you will see it brought out very plainly in the case of Peter. This incident is given only in Luke; it is very interesting, because it records how the apostle of the circumcision was a debtor to grace. Peter was the contrast to Saul of Tarsus; he was doing everything right at the time. The Lord had previously called him, though it is not mentioned here. The Lord uses Peter’s ship for preaching. And doubtless there is many a pious man at the present day who would open his house for preaching the gospel, and who, though he rejoices in the work of Christ for his salvation, is not assured of His love; he is not without fear. When I was young it was a question usually asked of the young christian, Are you without fear? “Fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love”, that is, he is not assured of God’s love for him. Many speak of their own feelings. Your feelings cannot be happy until the love of God is shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us. Look at the prodigal son; he counted on his father’s goodness, he had none of his own; he is surprised that his father should fall on his neck and cover him with kisses; he could not account for it, but he was assured of his father’s love for him. Surely that is a wonderful moment! If there is any one in this room who has never experienced it, I ask you, Would it not be a wonderful moment to be assured of God’s love for you? Would you not walk about this world in a new way, and would you not say over and over again - and the oftener you said it the better - God has love in His heart for me? The prodigal did not know this at first; he only counted on his father’s goodness; still it was a good beginning: “The goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance”;
[p. 351] but he discovered when he came to his father that he loved him.
Here is Peter giving the Lord the use of his ship to preach from, just as you may see a pious man in the present day ready to use his property for the Lord’s service. Peter, in a sense, is most devoted, he is exemplary; you cannot but be attracted by him. If you saw a fisherman now giving up his boat for the Lord’s work, you would say, How devoted he is! Well, that man, like each of us, has to learn grace. The Lord uses Peter’s ship, and then proposes to him to let down his net for a draught. Peter gives his own judgment, that they had toiled all the night and taken nothing, but “Nevertheless”, he adds, “at thy word I will let down the net” - he was subject to the Lord. He was very exemplary; not only was his conduct excellent, but he was subject to the word of the Lord, and he let down the net for a draught. “And... they enclosed a great multitude of fishes”. If you understand fishermen, you know they are full of delight when they have a great take of fishes. But not so with Peter. “When Simon Peter saw” - (the word ‘it’ is not there; it appears to refer to the ships beginning to sink, but it is not that exactly) - “When Simon Peter saw, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”.
Now here was a man who had everything that a Jew could desire. He had the two things which a Jew valued - one, that his conduct was exemplary, and the other, that he was a recipient of divine favour in a miraculous way; he was in the favour of heaven. And yet that man falls down at that instant - you cannot account for it - and says, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. It was not that he was doing wrong, but he felt that he was not fit for Christ. It is very much like what you get with Joseph’s brethren; they are sensible of the enormity of their guilt and their treatment of Joseph. The [p. 352] remnant will go through it in the latter days. And it is what we all have to learn, the enormity of our sin. Here is a man who was giving his time and means for the work of the Lord, and was a recipient of favour from heaven in the most miraculous manner, and yet that man falls down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me”; not, as another has said, that he wished Him to leave him, but he felt that he was not fit for Him. The Lord had previously called him, and given him the name Peter, but now he is made conscious that he is not fit for Christ, that he is in the presence of God. Now I put it to every soul in this room, Have you been in the presence of the Son of God? I believe many a true christian has never had the sense of being in His presence, so in His presence that he knows that man as he is in God’s sight is condemned. Peter was relieved when the Lord said to him, “Fear not”. Have you ever heard these words? I daresay I am addressing many in this room who can say, I know well the wonderful work Christ wrought for my salvation, and that by His grace all is cleared away, so that I am free from all the ruin and misery under which I lay. Quite right; but do you know Him? Do you know what it is to be so near Him that you know His love for you? Because if you know how He feels for you, if you know His love for you, you know that He would render you any service. It is important to bear in mind that service can be rendered at any distance. From heaven God can render you a service here; but you can never know His love till you are near Him, never! The prodigal son never knew the love till his father fell on his neck, and covered him with kisses; then he had the sense, Oh! he cares for me. That was a wonderful moment to him! Hence though he had to own, I am not meet, yet he did not ask for anything. Peter here is entirely a debtor to grace; as a Jew he was exemplary, his conduct unimpeachable, and he, an object of divine favour, might have been satisfied;
[p. 353] but no, he has been in the presence of God, and he knows that he is unfit for Him, he had no place there. He cries out, “I am a sinful man, O Lord”. Then the Lord said to him, “Fear not”.
Now, I ask you, What did he get? Because the chief subject I have before me is not merely all that you are brought from, but all that you are brought to. What did Peter get? If I were to speak for an hour I could not explain all he got; he had come to Christ and he is assured of His love. If I have the love of a person, I share in all that person is. “Perfect love casteth out fear”. It is a great thing to know Christ personally. Joseph is a type; he said to his brethren, “Fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones”. Christ has done for us the greatest work. In that sense He has proved the greatness of His love: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends”. But that is not all; the love of God is shed abroad in my heart by the Holy Spirit which is given unto me, and I know Christ personally. Peter now knows the One whom he had followed; he knows that Christ loves him, and this he will never lose. Although afterwards he denied Him, he never lost the assurance that Christ loved him. Once you know it, you never lose it. When you are near Him you enjoy it. You must be near Him to know His love, and you cannot know it without being apart from the man for whom Christ suffered; the flesh cannot intrude into His presence. When the apostle corrects the Corinthians, he presents to them the glory of the Lord, nothing of themselves could enter there; flesh must be excluded, and the effect of it practically is that you are “always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus”. You now know that the carnal mind is an interruption, but you would not have known this unless you had known the presence of the Lord. It is here the lack is in those who are seeking after holiness. How can you seek for [p. 354] holiness till you know what it is? When you do know it in the presence of Christ, then you will be glad to bear about in your body the dying of Jesus, that all which interrupts it should be removed.
In John 4 the Lord tells the woman of Samaria, “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life”. This you enjoy by the Spirit dwelling in you. In order to have this great gift you must come to Christ the Giver. Mark the change now made known. To Adam a garden was given, and everything in it - a tree of life in the midst of the garden; and there he was set, subject to God’s word. But now it is a Person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Mary Magdalene, in a garden, said to the gardener, “They have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him”. Very ignorant, I admit, but her heart was set on a Person. Hence the Lord reveals Himself to her; He does not give her anything on the earth, but He said to her, “Go to my brethren and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father and your Father”. It is a great thing to know Christ personally, so that you can sit down under His shadow with great delight. There is a universality about a person that no combination of circumstances can supply; we all know that no combination of circumstances can make up for the loss of a near relative; things cannot equal a person.
The more you know of Christ the more you will find that “He satisfieth the longing soul”; and when you know Him as your Head outside of every human voice, then He will be everything to you. Many christians can say, Christ is chiefest. Yes; but can you say, He is everything? This is a wonderful reality - a Person who is everything to you. His love passeth knowledge. It has been said that the greater the mind, the greater the affection. I hope you see the blessing to which you are brought, not to an earthly [p. 355] property, but to Christ Himself! In conclusion, I refer to Luke 18: 28 “Then Peter said, Lo, we have left all and followed thee”. This was about three years since the occurrence in chapter 5, when Peter left all and followed Christ. Now mark the Lord’s answer, “And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or parents, or brethren, or wife, or children, for the kingdom of God’s sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time, and in the world to come life everlasting”. You may ask, What is this manifold more? I answer, The company of Christ.
Peter was three years with the Lord. I put it to any one who has never thought of it before, Would you not like to get what Peter got? For three years he was in the company of Christ; all that time under His wing, under His influence. Surely that was better than fish, or any earthly blessing. We read, “When they had brought their ships to land, they forsook all, and followed him”. Doubtless their neighbours said, Did you ever see such foolish men? They have received a great favour from heaven, and they have left all to follow a poor man! “The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God”. Do you think Peter and his companions had any loss? People speak of the loss which you sustain when you break away from your friends, and from gain in this world to follow Christ. Loss? Instead of loss, “manifold more in this present time”. Some imagine it is something of the same kind as that which you have surrendered. No, it is Christ Himself. Peter could not say that he had not gained. He knew well that he had received “manifold more in this present time”. Never was any promise more verified; it is not only the work of salvation, but that you know the heart and interest of His blessed self; how He thinks of you, how He seeks to attach you to Himself, and to connect you with His own interests, so that the more your [p. 356] heart understands His love, the more you are convinced that if the whole world were given up for Him, He is manifold better than it.
The Lord grant that every heart here tonight may be moved, not only to see that you are brought from all the misery and ruin under which you lay, but also that you are brought to Christ Himself. It is not only that, like Jonathan, you have found David, but you have found the Son of God.
The Lord grant that each heart here may be awakened to see the wonderful nature of the grace of God, that you are brought from the deepest, darkest condition into the brightest enjoyment on earth. I am not speaking of the joys in heaven, but of the joys here. Hence, as I have already quoted, when His love in its perfection enters you, you not only have “boldness in the day of judgment”, but “as he is, so are we” - in heaven? No; but “as he is, so are we in this world”. Thus you are in the sight of God. Surely then you can ‘come into His presence with a song’! Amen.