THE PREACHING OF CHRIST
[p. 70] THE PREACHING OF CHRIST
1 Peter 3: 18 - 22; 1 Peter 4: 1 - 6
One has in mind to call attention to the preaching. You will observe that, where we began to read, it says that the Lord was put to death in the flesh but was made alive in the Spirit, and in that Spirit He had preached to those who were disobedient in the days of Noah. You will understand then that He had been active to preach in the Spirit in Old Testament times, and that, in becoming Man, He was anointed with the Spirit in order to be a Preacher. “Being put to death in flesh”, it says, “but made alive in the Spirit”. He arose in that same Spirit. He arose in the Spirit of preaching, and that Spirit of preaching has continued up to the present time, and it will continue to the coming of the Lord. So that, beloved friends, you can see that a long period of time is covered by the preaching of Christ. There has really been no other preaching than that, and we would desire to be in accord with it at the present time. As it was active then, it should be our interest now, that it may continue in those that succeed in the Spirit of God, that is, in qualified vessels.
Now this subject is a very great one, and of very wide bearing. The Lord Jesus Christ has died in the flesh; He has suffered that He might bring us to God. That was the object in view, to bring men to God. But in order that we should be brought to God, there has to be the announcement of the glad tidings of God, so that all may hear. The scripture says, “How shall they hear without one who preaches?”, Romans 10: 14. Faith cometh by hearing; that is, hearing the word of God through the preacher. That is the divinely appointed way for the present moment. However weak things may appear to you, to those who [p. 71] have faith it is a very great moment; it is the moment in which the Spirit of Christ is active in preaching in sympathetic vessels, vessels divinely qualified, hearts touched with love, preaching that which might bring men to God. Peter puts it here, “Who is at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being subjected to him”. That is not apparent publicly. He has gone into heaven in the same Spirit in which He was made alive, and He is at the right hand of God. What is He doing? The power at His command is being exercised so that there might be an open door for the preaching. This is a great comfort to those in the service of Christ. They have not only the Spirit of preaching, but they have His power as at the right hand of God, gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him. All are subject to that Man, and He is holding the door open for the time. He is waiting for you tonight! The Lord, in that marvellous place, is waiting for you!
The preaching contemplates that the world is alienated from God. Perhaps you have not accepted the fact that the world is alienated from God. The first mention we have of preaching has reference to a time when the world was alienated from God. I refer to Genesis 6. Genesis 5 is typical of the christian period. It refers in the end of Genesis 4 to Seth, the appointed one, appointed in place of Abel. It is a very remarkable thing that we frequently refer to Genesis 5 to prove that death is universal upon men; but at any rate there was one man immune from death, and that is like the present moment. It is a solemn fact that death exists, but in regard to those who have the Spirit of God, we have a testimony of life. It says in Hebrews 11, “By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; ... for before his translation he has the testimony that he had pleased God”. So in Genesis 5 it says of Enoch, “He was not, for God took him”. It is what I call the lifeline, not the death line. The oldest man died but Enoch did not die, he walked with God three hundred years and begat sons and daughters, and God took him. Chapter 5 is the testimony to life, but chapter 6 gives the other side of the picture, the corruption of the world.
Are you in the world? The first occasion of preaching has the world alienated from God in view. Are you in the world? You may have it in your mind that you would like to try it. There are many enticing things there, many pleasant things; perhaps you would like to have the opportunity of proving them for yourself. God has taken account of that exercise; looking on to the gospel day, He brought a man into the world and endowed him with everything this world could give. He exalted him to the throne, giving him the means of acquiring everything in the world; there was nothing he could not command, for “What shall the man do that cometh after the king?”, Ecclesiastes 2: 12. Solomon not only had all this, but also had divine wisdom given to him to derive satisfaction out of these things, if satisfaction were in them. You have not that. If you had all the wealth of the richest man in Great Britain, would you have divine wisdom? Would you have God with you in it? No, you cannot get out of it what Solomon got out of it. Why? The reason is Solomon had God with him in it all. If you want to try this world, you must try it alone. What was his verdict in his unfailing wisdom? “Vanity of vanities! all is vanity”, says the Preacher. Do you ever read the book of Ecclesiastes? It was written for you who are seeking to satisfy yourself in this world. God brought that man in to prove there was nothing to satisfy there. “What shall the man do that cometh after the king?”. There is the testimony of God in the kindness of His heart; He has set that testimony there that you might not be deceived, and so that all after-comers should not be deceived.
[p. 73] Deceived you are, if you go in for the world. The man who had all that experience is set up as the Preacher, a sort of beacon-light: ‘I have been there; don’t come this way!’. It is a book worth reading; it was written for after-generations.
The Lord Jesus Christ, who was really the Preacher, rose from the dead in the Spirit of preaching; and so, in regard to Genesis 6, there it was that the Spirit of Christ first became active; it was in the presence of a world alienated from God. God says, “The end of all flesh is come before me”. He had feelings about it for it says it grieved Him at His heart. He looked down on the children of men and saw nothing but evil continually. The Spirit of Christ appears on that scene; it is almost a repetition of the first chapter of Genesis, where the Spirit of God was hovering over the deep, as though God was waiting to bring order out of chaos. So when we come to the moral chaos that had come in we find the same idea: “My spirit shall not always plead with Man”. During those one hundred and twenty years, that Spirit in which Christ rose from the dead was active preaching to those disobedient people. One wonders what effect it has on souls now! The Lord goes to great pains that the gospel should reach you. How do you treat it? The difficulty often is that there is no exercise. Now if you are not exercised by the light, you will never get any good from it. The object of light is to illuminate the soul, that the soul might be set in movement. “Christ indeed has once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God”. This is almost a quotation from Exodus, where it says, “I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”, Exodus 19: 4.
See the pains God took with Moses that he might be a qualified vessel. It is said of Moses, “By faith he celebrated the passover”, Hebrews 11: 28. What did he have in view? You remember in the earlier part of [p. 74] his history, Moses slew the Egyptian. In doing that Moses anticipated the destroying angel, but Moses was not constituted the destroying angel, and hence Moses had to flee to the wilderness. He learned that he too had to go in judgment as well as the Egyptian. The destroying angel has reference to you too as much as to the Egyptian. Have you accepted that Moses did not at first. He had to go substitutionally in the passover lamb. You can never be brought to God unless you accept that. Moses had more than that in view. The destroying angel had reference to every Israelite; there was no difference, for death rested on them all. “By faith he celebrated the passover and the sprinkling of the blood”; that was for the outside that the destroying angel should not enter.
That was what Moses did by faith. There is no deliverance from the world unless you accept the fact that death is upon you. The next parties who had faith were the Israelites themselves. “By faith they passed through the Red Sea”, Hebrews 11: 29. That is the only thing we read of that they did by faith. How did they get that faith? Moses imparted the light in himself to the people. They crossed the Red Sea by faith, the only thing they did by faith, but it was a very wonderful thing. This, translated into the language of the New Testament, is, “delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”,
Romans 4: 25. That is the death of Christ presented objectively to your soul. Then Romans 5 begins, “Therefore having been justified on the principle of faith, we have peace towards God”, Romans 5: 1.
The first eleven verses of Romans 5 show what God has done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the result is we are brought to God; the first thing is to be brought to God in your soul. “I have borne you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself”. If brought to God, He will dispose of you. God has a world of His own; the whole universe is God’s, and [p. 75] there is a place in heaven for men! It is entirely a question of God’s pleasure as to what He may do with you. When God proposes a covenant He says, “All the earth is mine” (Exodus 19: 5); it is entirely a question of God’s pleasure. The gospel of Luke is really that section of Scripture which supports the gospel which Paul presents, and shows us there is a place in heaven for men. If you are brought to God, what will He do for you? When the seventy returned to the Lord they rejoiced because the demons were subject to them, which was a very great thing, but the Lord said, “In this rejoice not ... but rejoice that your names are written in the heavens”. That indicates they were to have a place on high, a confirmation of the doctrine Paul preached. With Israel it was rather a question of God’s faithfulness, that they should have that land according to the promises to the fathers, but with regard to the christian it is, “Because of his great love wherewith he loved us ... has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus”, Ephesians 2: 4, 6. That is the place God has for us, the divine thought for us; it is the place of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. All you can do is to sit down in the presence of it and give thanks to God. The end in view is that in the ages to come there should be glory to God in the assembly. The exercise of divine grace is to take up such as we are and give us this place. God is entitled to do this and He will do it by His kindness in Christ Jesus. Such is what your soul is brought into as brought to God.
The apostle here as he touches on the Spirit of Christ is led to refer back to Genesis 6. He touches on baptism, and brings in the truth that covers the present position of the believer. One would not engage you now with the divinely appointed ordinance, but with the spirit of it. “Which figure also now saves you, even baptism”. Baptism saves us. Are [p. 76] you baptised? If so, are you in accord with it? This has nothing to do with what is within you; that is all dealt with in the passover. Baptism judges what is outside of you; it is the answer of a good conscience towards God. A good conscience in a believer demands that he should be apart from the world. Perhaps you are saying, ‘I love the Lord Jesus and His people, but giving up all those things, I do not know about that’. If you go in for the world, you go in for it at your own expense; but if you give it up, it is at the Lord’s expense. You may say, ‘I do not see the way’. Try it: if you give up the world, it is at the Lord’s expense, not your own: He will make it good to you.
If you do give up the world, and confess the Lord publicly, you will bring down the reproach of the world upon you, but this reproach will be your salvation. There is something wrong if you have the favour of the world. Peter tells us that as a matter of course you will come into trouble, but adds, “The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you”.
Can the world give you the Spirit of glory? The Lord Jesus can. The Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you. Could you desire more distinction than that? You cannot conceive of greater distinction than the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resting upon the person who suffers reproach.
Angels, authorities, and powers are made subject unto Christ, and as you accept His rejection, the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God rests upon you. There was not a more distinguished man than Stephen. His face was like the face of an angel: it shone with celestial glory. There was in that man the reproduction of Christ. The great end of the gospel is to reproduce the Lord Jesus.
When you come to the next chapter, you get the path of a christian opened up to you. It is not Peter’s point to take you out of the world; it is that you should continue in that Spirit in which the Lord [p. 77] ministered here. He died in it and rose in it. Now it is to be continued in those who live the rest of their time here to God’s will. For the thief on the cross, there was no “rest of his time”, but Peter contemplates a certain length of time to be lived down here to the will of God. That is the only object for which one can conceive the christian being left here-and it is a good purpose! We are left to continue the will of God, and as we do so we become vessels of that same light that shone in Christ.
One especially feels for young people. If the enemy cannot get the old, he will get the young. The continuance of the testimony is a divine principle, and the normal way is from father to son. The apostle handed it on to faithful men. It is for you to prize it. The effort of the enemy is to capture the youth by the principles of the world.
May the Lord grant He may have your heart!