HOW ONE CAN BE IN THE TESTIMONY
[p. 12] HOW ONE CAN BE IN THE TESTIMONY
We had before us last time the thought of the testimony as being a rallying point in a day like this. The object of the admonitions in the first epistle to Timothy is that a man might know how to behave himself in the house of God, and in the second that he should not be ashamed of the testimony. The second epistle contemplates an evil day, when confusion has come in and Christianity is really in the rule of man. When Christianity began, everything was in the rule of the Spirit of God. It is impossible to read the account in the Acts without seeing this. There was no preaching except in the Spirit. All the detail connected with the saints was carried out in the power of the Spirit. The rule of the Spirit characterised everything. Then the rule of man came in, and brought with it all kinds of confusion. This is contemplated in the second epistle to Timothy. When that state of things came in, the rallying point was the testimony, and so at the present day. The testimony is a simple and a very great thing. Nobody can exaggerate its greatness. It refers to that which is going to be displayed. It is exceedingly important to keep that in view, because it brings in the thought that we have to reckon with it.
What I want to touch upon now is what qualifies us morally to be in the testimony. The expression “being in the testimony” is often in people’s minds indefinite. Very few understand what the testimony is; and if you do not understand what the testimony is you cannot very well be in it. But if you understand it, then you see the importance of [p. 13] being in it. I mean being in it morally. I want to speak of what I regard as the first principle of being in the testimony: it is found in what we get in this chapter, that is, abiding in Christ. I will give you, if I can, an idea of what is meant by the expression. Just refer to verses 5 and 6, “And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not: whosoever sinneth hath not seen him, neither known him”. That is what I want to dwell upon now. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not”. Now refer to John 15: 7, “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done unto you”. You get very much the same thought in this chapter in verse 22, “And whatsoever we ask, we receive of him, because we keep his commandments, and do those things that are pleasing in his sight”.
The point which I want to make plain is the thought of abiding in Christ. It is not easy to make it clear, but it is extremely important. Two things are certain. “He that abideth in him sinneth not”. That is a great point. The other is that “if we abide in him, and his words abide in us, we shall ask what we will” — that is, there is communication between us and God, and what we ask we receive. That is the confidence that we have in Him.
Now if you look abroad in the world, all is more or less lawless, while men are trying very hard to deal with what one may call the possibilities of good and evil. I have no doubt people think that a great deal may he arrived at by legislation. Then other things come in, education and cultivation. A great many things are entered upon, and I think it is with the idea of realising possibilities that are supposed to exist. But we find, steadily increasing, the disintegration of society. It has greatly increased [p. 14] in my recollection, and it is going on. The old bonds which held together different classes of people are being dissolved, and disintegration is steadily going on, which is an evidence to my mind of the increase of lawlessness. The more prevalent lawlessness is, the greater the disintegration. If there were lawlessness in a school, there would be undoubtedly disintegration. So, too, in a family, if the spirit of lawlessness prevails, disintegration will follow. You cannot conceive that people will long hold together if they are lawless in regard to One whom God has appointed to be Head. If we go back to the beginning we find that “By one man sin came into the world”, and sin is lawlessness. What came in almost at once was disintegration. Instead of Cain and Abel being together in brotherly love, hatred came in. This confirms what I have been saying. Disintegration is bound to follow upon lawlessness. So long as lawlessness exists there cannot but be moral confusion in the world.
The state of things round us confirms what we find in Scripture. Scripture gives us what nothing else pretends to give us, the origin of things, it acquaints us with the origin of lawlessness.
Now I want to touch for a moment on the way in which God has come in to meet this lawlessness. God has been pleased to reveal Himself in righteousness, and to assert Himself in a centre. Lawlessness came in through man breaking away from God; and lawlessness can only be met by man being brought back to God. The only corrective to lawlessness must be by man being brought back under divine rule and influence. It is that which God has taken in hand to bring about. It appears to me that the way God has taken to bring it about is proof of divine wisdom. As I said, God has come out to reveal Himself in righteousness, but in such a way as to gain man. Righteousness as [p. 15] presented to us in the New Testament is not like righteousness in the Old Testament. In the Old Testament we have “Thou shalt” and “Thou shalt not”. The righteousness of the New Testament is this — “When they had nothing to pay he frankly forgave them both”. That is, the righteousness of the New Testament exceeds the righteousness of the Old, because it is the assertion of the rights of God in mercy, and those rights are asserted in a Man. Now that is the first step in the course which God has taken to bring man back to Himself. God has been pleased to assert His rights in mercy in a Man, so that a Man may be a centre and point of attraction to men.
The scheme of grace depends entirely upon Christ being divine; apart from that it falls to the ground, because the point is this, that Christ Himself is God come out in the rights of mercy: if God comes out in the rights of mercy He must come out in the Son.
What do you think invited the mercy of God? We learn this in the parable which the Lord spoke in the house of Simon. “A certain creditor had two debtors, the one owed five hundred pence and the other fifty, but when they had nothing to pay”. It was not simply the debts, but the fact that they had nothing to pay which set the mercy of God in activity. God looked down upon man, not simply as having debts, but in his perfect helplessness, and what lies behind mercy on the part of God is wisdom. (See Romans 11: 31 - 33.) The coming out of God in mercy really means the recovery of the universe.
Well now, God has come out in that way, and the effect of it is that Christ has become a point of attraction to men. There was no point of attraction presented to men in the Old Testament. That is why the righteousness of the New Testament exceeds the righteousness of the Old Testament.
[p. 16] Everything that the Lord Jesus did here was a witness of divine mercy — healing the sick, cleansing the leper, raising the dead. Hence a Man became a point of attraction to men. A great many were not drawn to Him, but at the same time there were those who were drawn to Him by the mercy He expressed.
Now a word or two in regard to Christ. Christ is the righteousness of God, for He is the expression of God’s rights in mercy, and the point of attraction to men. He has taken up the liabilities under which men were and from which they could not disentangle themselves. Men had nothing to pay, but Christ took up the debts, and in virtue of having discharged the liabilities, He gives living water to men: hence He is a point of attraction to men. The Lord Jesus said, “I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me”. It is not simply that He has paid our debts, but having paid our debts He gives us living water. I am sure nobody can measure the value of living water. We can in a way measure the riches of men, although very often that is almost beyond our power, but who can measure the value of living water? That is what Christ gives. He came here, the expression of divine mercy, to bear the liabilities under which men were, in order that He might impart to man the gift of God; so the Lord Jesus says, “Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely”. The greatest gift which even God can give is living water. We know the value of it here, and we shall know it hereafter.
Now I come to our side, for we must be practical. I want to show how each one of us is recovered from lawlessness, so that we may be in the testimony of Christ. You cannot be in the testimony of Christ except as you abide in Christ. It is a very important point to abide in Christ. “Whosoever abideth in him sinneth not”. Every person not abiding in Christ is really lawless, for there is no way out of lawlessness except in abiding in Christ. This chapter makes that as plain as it can be made. To abide in Christ really means to abide in the light of Christ. Nothing can be more important than that. The earth abides in the sun, that is, it abides in the light and warmth of the sun, nothing permanent comes in between. It is impossible that the earth can be detached from the sun; clouds and fogs may come in, and if there were a perpetual fog the earth would not get fully the benefit of the sun, but we could not say that it did not abide in the sun. Now to apply that to ourselves. If you abide in Christ, the first consideration is that you abide in righteousness; and abiding in righteousness proves that you are righteous. Christ is the declaration of the righteousness of God, the declaration of God’s rights in mercy; and we want to be in the light of that as long as we live down here, that is, in the light of divine righteousness as set forth in Christ. Do not let fogs or clouds come in so that you do not get the full benefit of the sunshine. Abiding in Christ in my judgment is abiding in God.
Now in the world, I see people, and Christians too, pretty much taken up with business. They say business so occupies them that they have very little time for anything else, and they need relaxation. But I want to speak for a moment about the relaxation. What is your relaxation? With many people I have no doubt their relaxation is taking up things which appeal either to the imagination or the senses, and if that be the case it will greatly hinder your abiding in Christ. I urge upon everybody here the paramount importance of abiding in Christ. “He that abideth in him sinneth not”. If you are abiding in Christ you do not sin. I cannot conceive anything more important than the [p. 18] soul abiding in the truth which is set forth in Christ. God has set forth the most wonderful things in Christ, His rights in mercy, when men had nothing to pay. I do not think mercy is a thing once to know and then to lose the sense of.
It is of such immense importance to abide in Christ that I wish all would take it into account and make it a matter of great concern. The attention is very much taken up with other things, and people very often give but the fag end of their time to divine things. I think you want to give the best of your time. It is a great thing to sit at Christ’s feet. People take long journeys to winter abroad with the idea of keeping in perpetual sunshine. You will not have to do that. It is only wealthy people who can go those long distances to winter resorts; but you can get yourself morally into sunshine, in the light of divine mercy, without any expense at all. It is as open to the poor as it is to the rich, and the benefit of it is immense. I have little doubt that if people were happier morally they would suffer less physically. It is a great thing to keep ourselves in the love of God. If you do you will be in the sunshine. Christ is the Sun of righteousness, the rights of mercy shine out in Him.
I think you want to take care as to your relaxation. People must get their living, but it is a poor thing if the only relaxation which they can find is that which ministers to their imagination and senses. It will give you momentary gratification, but will not permanently profit you.
I come to another point. I have spoken about the escape from lawlessness — abiding in Christ. You come into the sunshine, you do not sin. But now you get another thing. You will bear fruit. It is a great thing to bear fruit. I will tell you what will characterise you — you will be merciful and wise. You will not stir people up; as you pass through the [p. 19] world your yieldingness will be known to all. It is remarkable that when James speaks about wisdom from above, he speaks of it as being full of mercy. Mercy is the outcome of wisdom. It is full of mercy and good fruits, and if you go through the world full of mercy and good fruits you do not stir up evil passions, but very much promote quietness, and instead of being injurious you are beneficial. All this no doubt is the effect of abiding in Christ. He is wisdom to you down here — you see your way. You walk in the virtue of the wisdom from above, and that wisdom is divine.
Just one point more. I said at the beginning that disintegration is bound to follow upon lawlessness. Now I can tell you what is bound to follow upon righteousness. If you are abiding in Christ you are righteous. There is no neutral ground. It is either abiding in Christ, or lawlessness, because the way God has taken to meet lawlessness is in the introduction of Christ, and everything outside of Christ must be lawless. But I said that lawlessness is bound to result in disintegration. It may come out in various ways. Hatred came out in Cain; but when you come to abiding in Christ, that is, righteousness, what then? Unity will be seen. Your course will not tend in the direction of disintegration but of unity. “By this we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”. Without loving no one really abides in unity. I have not a shadow of doubt that a person abiding in Christ will be zealous and will endeavour, as far as possible, to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. I should be afraid to do anything here which would tend in the direction of disintegration, because I am sure it is not according to God’s mind. You may depend upon it that lawlessness and disintegration are hateful to God.
[p. 20] If you have followed me at all you will be bound to admit the wisdom of the way in which God has appeared in the assertion of Himself in the rights of mercy, that is, in righteousness. People have had a poor idea of righteousness. They have not seen that the righteousness of the New Testament exceeds that of the Old. Christ was the expression of God’s mercy “when they had nothing to pay”. It is that which has made Christ to be the blessed point of attraction.
Take care, as I said before, that fogs and mists do not come in so that you do not get the benefit of the sunshine. It is a great thing to keep in the sunshine continually. To abide in it will have a mighty effect on you. First, you do not sin; secondly, you bear fruit; thirdly, your pathway is guided by wisdom from above; fourthly, your course will not tend to discord but to unity. You will walk in love towards all, seeking not to be injurious but beneficial.
May God keep you in divine light. There is no divine light outside of Christ.