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SOUL EXPERIENCE WITH THE LORD JESUS

J. Wright

I have read of two men who the Lord Jesus had to do with when He was here. He came in for them and He met their condition and brought in healing. These were physical things that the Lord Jesus handled with these persons. The Lord is able for that. He is able for physical things. Some of us who know the Lord Jesus know that He is the Saviour of the body, but I am not so much concerned about that at the moment, but about the condition of our souls. What is the state of your soul? The Lord Jesus knows us perfectly. He knew these persons who He was dealing with here. He is available to us to help us wherever we may be in our soul. He is not out to condemn us, He is here to help us. I say He is here, for the Lord Jesus would draw near at a time like this when we are together. He would come here and make Himself available to us. We know He is in heaven, He is at the right hand of God; that is a wonderful thing that He is there, He is in the place of power. All power has been given to Him. He says that, “all power has been given to me in heaven and upon earth”, Matthew 28: 18. He has power, and with that, dear friend. He has a heart. Not only has He power but He has a heart for you. These two men proved the service of the Lord Jesus. I wonder if you have, if you have had an experience with Him where He has come alongside of you, and has drawn near to you and met your condition. I say your soul condition. We have all been affected by sin, every one of us. We are all sinners. I trust there is no one here who would say they were not a sinner. The good news is that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. He says at another point, “I am not come to call righteous persons, but sinful ones to repentance”, Luke 5: 32. It is a wonderful thing that He came to save sinners. Paul, who said that, also said, “of whom I am the first”, 1 Timothy 1: 15. He was the first or the chief of sinners, and he was saved. I trust we are all saved.

But these persons, each one of them, proved the healing power of the Lord Jesus. The man in John 9 went on to other things. He grew in his acquaintance with and appreciation of the Lord Jesus and he came into other things. He came into the flock which we read of in John 10. He came to the Shepherd, he came into the flock where there is safety, and where there is liberty and enjoyment and provision. The man in John 5 we do not really know what happened to him. He did not really leave the religious associations he was in, it does not seem as if he made a move. We have been reminded, and it is a solemn consideration in one sense, that we are either going forward or we are going back. This man in John 5 was going back, and he caused trouble for the Lord Jesus. He got benefit from the Lord Jesus. The Lord was acting here in grace whatever the need; we sang of it,

“What e’er thy need He’ll meet it now,

In Him thou canst confide” (Hymn 177).

This man was in need and the Lord Jesus found him, He knew he was in need, and He acted in grace. This chapter brings out that the Lord Jesus was doing the Father’s work. Whatever the Father did the Lord Jesus did in like manner. It was grace. The Father is spoken of in this gospel. It is not the side of relationship believers have as knowing the Father because they are sons; that is relationship into which they are brought; but the Lord Jesus was making God known in grace and speaking of Him as Father. That is the way God has been made known in this dispensation in grace. The Lord Jesus came here to make God known in that way. He could say, “He that has seen me has seen the Father”, John 14: 9. That is God known in grace and that is a wonderful thing and the Lord Jesus was acting in grace. He was acting in grace towards this man. There he was in this place, it was a religious place and there was some mercy there. It has been referred to as a house of mercy; an angel came down at certain times and troubled the water. Whoever got into the water first was healed; it was mercy operating but in a very limited way. The Lord Jesus was making God known. Paul says He is rich in mercy (Ephesians 2: 4). God is not acting in a limited way in mercy, dear friend. He is rich in it. What a wonderful thing that is, that mercy is flowing from God. It is coming out to persons like you and me, persons who could not help themselves. This man could not help himself. There he was in a hopeless situation, someone else always got into the water first and he had been there thirty eight years. What a long time he had been there. Well the Lord Jesus just speaks to him. He says, “Wouldest thou become well?” Think of that, the man wanted to become well but he had no means of becoming well. You know, dear friend, in our sinful condition we have no means in ourselves of becoming well, of getting rid of that condition.

This condition here of not being able to walk, what is it a result of? It is a result of sin. Naturally speaking we cannot walk and please God. I am not talking now of the physical thing, but the moral thing. Men cannot walk and please God, they do not know how to do it. This man was lying on this couch all that time in this place where there were five porches, the religious organisation. People say today that it does not matter too much what we believe, we can all reach the same end at some time, we can get blessing; it does not matter which way. There is only one way, dear friend, there is only one way we can receive blessing and that is through our Lord Jesus Christ. There is only one way in which our sinful condition can be met and that is through our Lord Jesus Christ. Whatever our state is now, dear friend, there is One who can meet it, and there is One who is ready to meet it. There was a leper in the gospels who came to the Lord Jesus and said, “Lord, if thou wilt, thou art able to cleanse me”, Matthew 8: 2. He knew the Lord could do it but he was not sure whether the Lord was willing to do it. Dear friend, He is willing to do it. The Lord stretched out His hand to him and says, “I will; be cleansed”. What a wonderful thing that is; He is a wonderful Person, our Lord Jesus Christ. We love to speak of Him, He is the theme of the gospel, Christianity centres in Him. What does He mean to me? What does He mean to you, dear friend? I do not think He meant much to this man, although he received blessing from Him because he took up his couch and walked. That brings out the power that there is in the Lord’s word.

There was power in the Lord’s word when He brought in creation, He said and it was done. The creation, what we see all around us, the universe, was brought in by His power. Think of the power that there is in the Lord’s word, but there is power now in His word to bring in healing and bring in help. This man got help through the power there was in the Lord’s word, yet he did not come to know the Saviour, he caused Him trouble. He went away to the Jews and said it was Jesus. “Jesus finds him in the temple, and said to him, Behold, thou art become well—sin no more, that something worse do not happen to thee”, as if the Lord Jesus did not really have confidence in that man. “The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. And for this the Jews persecuted Jesus and sought to kill him”. Well, dear friend, we can get some benefit from the Lord Jesus and yet still cause Him trouble. I suppose if we are honest with ourselves we would acknowledge that since we did get blessing from the Lord Jesus we have at times caused Him trouble. If I am a trouble to my brethren it is a trouble to the Lord; this man did not go on.

But the man in John 9 went on and followed up things and he came to know the Lord Jesus, he came to know Him in a greater way, he grew in his appreciation of Him. He speaks of a man called Jesus, and he speaks of a prophet, then he comes to know Him as the Son of God, the centre of another world. This man was true to what had been wrought in him. The Lord Jesus has done everything for us, He has done for us what no one else could do. He has been to the cross, He has suffered and He has died, He has borne the judgment of God against sin in the three hours of darkness on the cross. Think of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. Think of what He has done for us, dear friend. Do we thank Him for it? Do I thank Him enough for it for what He has done for me? The work on the cross, think of those agonising sufferings. Think of what it meant to Him, who knew no sin to be made sin for us. Think of Him being made sin, being made the thing He hated. We cannot fathom that, He had a perfect hatred of sin. We may have some judgment of sin but we have not a perfect hatred of it like the Lord Jesus had. He was intrinsically holy, He was repelled by sin, yet He was made sin.

No wonder that at the anticipation of it He shrank from it in Gethsemane when He could say, “My Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me”, Matthew 26: 39. Think of the Lord Jesus rightly shrinking from that yet He went forward with it. Thank God He went forward with it. He went to the cross and He suffered, He suffered for men; when men did their worst to Him He was forsaken of God. Personally He was pleasing to God as He devoted Himself, as He committed Himself, but God hid His face from Him when He was made sin. Think of the awfulness of the sufferings of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross; then His going into death and shedding His precious blood. Think of what He has done for us! His life has been poured out. His precious blood has been poured out, “without blood-shedding there is no remission”, Hebrews 9: 22. You and I would never know the forgiveness of sins and be justified by God if the precious blood of the Lord Jesus had not been shed. It has been shed, dear friend, and He went into the grave, but He is out of it now, He is in glory, His wonderful work completed to God’s glory and satisfaction. That is what He has done for us but then, He wants to do something in us. He wants to do something in you and in me. The works of God were manifested in this man, a wonderful thing as under the touch of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was doing something in him and this man made progress in his soul. It came out, the works of God being manifested in him.

This man was born blind and man naturally is blind, naturally we cannot see things rightly because of our sinful condition. The commission given to Paul was to preach to open persons’ eyes, to enlighten persons. Well the Lord Jesus served this man that his eyes should be opened and He says to the man, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent”. This is a different pool to the one we have been reading about in the earlier chapter, “the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent”. The Lord Jesus here in manhood was here as the sent One. He had been sent. He came Himself into manhood but as here in manhood He was sent, He was obedient to the Father, He had a commission and He was sent. If things are to progress in our souls it must be on the basis of obedience. Think of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, who He is in the glory of His person, yet here in obedience to His Father’s will. Well, this man comes in on that line. The Lord says to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam, which is interpreted, Sent. He went therefore and washed, and came seeing”. Previously the Lord Jesus had “spat on the ground and made mud of the spittle, and put the mud, as ointment, on his eyes”. That did not open his eyes, but it is a reminder of the One we are having to do with, a divine Person in manhood. The life of Jesus, however delightful and however pleasurable it was to God, and it was that, every moment of that life, every step the Lord Jesus took, was delightful to God, yet that would never save us. We could not be saved from our sinful condition unless the Lord Jesus went into death. He had to die, dear friend. So the Lord Jesus put this ointment on the man’s eyes. It was His own spittle, a divine Person in manhood, but He told the man to go, and he went to the pool of Siloam and washed. “He went therefore and washed, and came seeing”. What a wonderful transaction!

It is a wonderful thing when through faith we are obedient to the Lord’s word, we are obedient to what is made known to us in the glad tidings. The glad tidings are made known for the obedience of faith. It is not presented as an option, you cannot take it or leave it. There is only one way of salvation and it is necessary that you should take that way, and take it in obedience to the Lord’s word. After all it is obedience to One who loves us, and it is obedience to One who can do everything for us. He has done so much for us but then He wants to do something in you and with you. He wants you to be under His hand and obedience is necessary. Well, this man stood his ground; he spoke to the neighbours, and to the Jews, even his parents were not sympathetic with him. The religious people were all against him because they were against Christ.

You marvel as you read this gospel what the Lord Jesus went through from the Jews, the religious people were constantly at the Lord Jesus attacking Him in some way. Religious people are the most difficult to reach, but they are not impossible to reach. The one who was the chief of the sinners was a Pharisee of the Pharisees, he was a deeply religious man, and in what he was doing he thought he was serving God. Yet he was reached by the Lord Jesus from the glory, the light shone into him and it broke him down. What a thing it is when we are broken down, when we think we are doing what is right, yet we find we are wrong, we are not doing what is right and the light comes in. Well this man stood his ground against these people; they did not like it. If you stand your ground people will not like you. If you stand your ground at school, do not give way, keep to what you know. This man says, “One thing I know”. He stood his ground. The Lord would give you strength to do that. Yet in one sense here the Lord left this man alone for a while; he was able to stand. The Lord is able to make us stand. The work of God in him enabled him to stand and he knew certain things; keep to what you know. Have a transaction with the Lord Jesus, and know what it is to come into blessing through obedience to His word, then keep to it.

So this man eventually was cast out, they did not want any more to do with him. The Lord Jesus has been cast out. He was alone, and this man was alone, but he was congenial company for the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus heard that they had cast him out “and having found him, he said to him. Thou, dost thou believe on the Son of God?” The Lord Jesus was going to make Himself known to him as the Son of God. You know, the Lord will reveal Himself to us as we are ready for it. The man was making progress in his soul, progress in his knowledge of the Lord Jesus. He was ready now that the Lord Jesus should make Himself known to him as the Son of God, and another world would open up to him. The Lord Jesus is the sun and centre of another world. You may be cast out of this world as this man was, but there is another world of which the Lord Jesus is the sun and centre. That is a wonderful thing to come into—to know the Lord Jesus in that way, to know Him as the sun and centre of another world. Well, he did the Lord Jesus homage. Most of us would have had the opportunity this morning of giving Him homage; He is worthy of it. We sometimes sing,

‘Worthy of homage and of praise,

Worthy by all to be adored’. (Hymn 195)

He is worthy of it. Well this man did Him homage.

I just want to speak briefly of chapter 10. This man was ready to come into the flock. There is a flock down here, there is one flock, there is one Shepherd. It is not Mr So-and-so’s flock, some clergyman’s flock, there is one flock and there is one Shepherd. Paul would say in his language there is one body, there is only one. It was never the Lord’s intention, it was never in the mind of God that the state of things that exists now in what we call Christendom should be as it is with diverse bodies, diverse sects; there is one Shepherd, there is one flock. The great thing is to be consciously in the one flock. You come into it through the service of the Shepherd, through knowing the Shepherd; He says, “I am the door”. He is the way in. It is not a question of comparing one company with another, saying I like this company better than the other company, but you come to the Lord Jesus. He is the door. He is the way into the one flock. He says, “I am the door of the sheep”. He refers to those who came before as thieves and robbers, but He says, “I am the door—if any one enter in by me, he shall be saved, and shall go in and shall go out and shall find pasture”. What an experience that is to go in and go out and to find pasture, it suggests liberty, and you find something for your soul. “He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul”, Psalm 23: 2, 3. He would lead us in to find pasture. The question is raised in the Song of Songs as to where the lover of our souls feeds His sheep; where does He feed them? If you go in and you go out you will find liberty as coming to Him and you will find pasture. “The thief comes not but that he may steal, and kill, and destroy—I am come that they might have life, and might have it abundantly”.

The Lord Jesus has come for that purpose that we might have life, spiritual life in the flock, eternal life to be known and enjoyed now, and have it abundantly. These are very satisfying things, very establishing things to be enjoyed. Then He speaks about the wolf coming and scattering the flock; how that has happened. But He says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine, as the Father knows me and I know the Father”. You say, is that possible? That is a very intimate link with the Shepherd, is it not? “I know those that are mine”. The Lord knows those who are His. It says that in 2 Timothy, but I think this is something more intimate than that. He says, “I know those that are mine, and am known of those that are mine”. It is an intimate relation with the Lord Jesus Himself. Such persons will not be drawn away by strangers, they will not heed the voice of strangers, they would have an intimate knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we taste this, it is possible to get away from it, but we need to be kept near Him for preservation. The Lord Jesus would lead us into these things. He says, “I lay down my life for the sheep”. He has laid down His life for the sheep. He has expressed His love for the sheep. He says, “I have other sheep which are not of this fold—those also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one flock, one shepherd”.

I just felt led to speak of these two men, and I wonder which category I am in. I may have had some initial touch and help from the Lord Jesus but am I progressing? Am I coming into what the Lord Jesus would have in mind for me? It is an important thing that we do because there is safety in it, there is enjoyment in it. There is a tract called ‘Safety. Certainty and Enjoyment’; that is what the Lord Jesus would bring us into in the knowledge of Himself, and into the one flock where there is one Shepherd. May the Lord help us, in His name.

Preaching at Walton-on-the-Naze
17 October 2010

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