CHRIST THE TEST
[p. 134] CHRIST THE TEST
I have endeavoured to point out, in connection with the tenth chapter of this gospel, that we get there a point of departure in the ways of God, that is, in the introduction of another Man, for I think that the neighbour in the parable of the good Samaritan presents to us another Man coming in, and that Man the point of departure for God. Adam was but the figure of “the One to come”; and the One to come having now appeared, He is of necessity the starting point. Then in the twelfth chapter we see that there were those who, having been benefited and having received mercy at the hands of Christ, became His disciples or friends, and were to come out in the way of testimony.
Now I want to show, in connection with this chapter, how that Christ has become of necessity the test of all here. If you study the chapter attentively, you will find that from beginning to end it is full of tests. All men were tested by Christ. There was a test in the beginning of the chapter, when the Lord went into the Pharisee’s house; He was a test in regard to the Supper; and in the close of the chapter the Lord speaks of Himself definitely as a test, that is, as to whether a man would follow Christ at the cost of every natural tie. The Lord puts the matter very strongly in the latter part of the chapter (verses 26, 27, and 33). The question is whether we are prepared to prefer Christ to our own life. What I understand by this is that a man has in spirit to forsake everything that attaches to him as a man; all that is distinctly of man, I mean morally, has to go completely. You have to be prepared to part company with all that tends to distinguish man, because of the sense of the value of Christ, and so Christ has become the test. No man [p. 135] would or could have invented such an idea. Men may have propounded systems of religion; but it is not in the capability of any man upon earth to present to us One, a Man, who has become the test, morally, to every man. The character of the test is, not that I am to try and imitate that man, but that I am prepared to surrender myself and everything else for the sake of that Man: that Man is to be preferred to all!
Now in the first part of the chapter you will see there is the idea of a house, and again in the latter part (verses 1, 23). Roughly speaking, we have the idea of two houses. The house of the chief Pharisee — man’s house, that is where man orders; and in verse 23 God’s house, where God orders according to His mind. I want you to bear that contrast in mind; you will see how it works out.
The first point I touch upon is this, that in coming into man’s house Christ becomes the test or standard of conduct there. Then, as we shall see presently, the supper, too, becomes a test to man. I think the house of the chief Pharisee is a kind of picture of the world, where man orders things according to his mind. Now Christ came into this world, and, coming into it, of necessity became the test of everything. In becoming Son of man, He put Himself in relation to man; and in that fact, of necessity became the standard of man. It is impossible to avoid this. People might say, Is it right to set up such a standard for man? But it was inevitable; the Son of God becoming Son of man becomes the standard. In fact, all must be of Him. When the Lord comes into the house of the Pharisee, He really judges everything by Himself (verses 7 - 14). He was that which He spoke. When Christ came into this house He had come, not to abide there, but as a guest. But He had come too into the world as a host; He could invite, gather to Himself, and He had good things to dispense. He could make a feast, in a certain sense, could give deliverance to the captives,
[p. 136] sight to the blind, raise the dead; and hence the Lord acted the part, not simply of a guest, but of a host. He could be in the midst of hungry thousands and provide for them all. He did not there act the part of a guest, but of a host. So the Lord could gather about Himself a crowd of sick and afflicted people, and heal them all.
But in coming into the world as a guest, Christ took the lowest place; He was laid in a manger, because there was no room for Him in the inn. He had nothing whatever of this world’s glory or attention. The circumstances in which He was brought up, were of the lowliest description. When He was brought to the temple, they brought for Him a poor person’s offering. There was nothing magnificent in connection with Christ in the world. He came into man’s house and took the lowest place. I believe that was because it was morally the suitable place. It was impossible for Christ in any way to touch the glory of this world; everything that was in this world was polluted. He was content to have part in the baptism of John: “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. He identified Himself with the repentant and the poor of the people that were of no concern in Israel. That is the place which the Lord took, but it was morally the right place. It is impossible to understand any Christian in the present day taking advantage of anything whatever in order to secure for himself prominence in the world. There is nothing for us — the world being what it is — except to take the place that Christ took, the lowest place. He fulfilled in Himself what He laid down here: “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted”. For Christ had regard to exaltation by God. The Lord brings that out in John 13: 31, 32.
Now I want to touch on the other side for a moment, that is, that Christ acted the part of host. He dispensed benefits which were at His hand. Though in one sense [p. 137] He was poor, in another He was rich. You will remember what marks the righteous man in Psalm 112: “He hath dispersed, he hath given to the poor...”. Now that is what marked the pathway of the righteous Man here upon earth. He dispersed abroad, and he gave to the poor. He was full of virtue; if any but touched Him, virtue came out of Him and healed them all. It was dispersed abroad, and His righteousness remains for ever.
That was the standard, and the Lord brings it forward here as such. He first speaks to those who sought the highest places, and puts before them conduct of which He was the expression. He speaks also to the one that bade Him, and puts forward His own course as the standard. What a serious thing it was for the chief Pharisee to have asked Christ into his house! The man did not understand at all what he was doing, any more than Simon the Pharisee; but he never did such a serious thing before, for he brought into his house the divine standard and test of every man. In the presence of Christ every man found himself tested. Nothing short of that man could now suit God. But no one answers to the test. God had applied other tests until Christ came; but after that, all was over, and man after the flesh was practically superseded by the presence of Christ. From that point, the real question is whether man is prepared to accept his supersession by Christ. This ought to be very real with us. It is no use accepting it simply in term; we have to accept it in reality, so that Christ alone should be seen, and man set aside.
I trust I have made my meaning plain. It was the necessary consequence of Christ coming into man’s house — man’s world — that He superseded man and became the standard for man down here. I could understand the Pharisee saying to Him, I cannot act in the way you propose. The Lord says, I cannot help that; it is the way in which I act. I am not [p. 138] looking for any present recompense; I do not look to be invited again; I dispense what I have got; I am looking for my recompense at the resurrection of the just — and Christ will get it too. Depend upon it, He shall see of the travail of His soul, and shall be satisfied. He will get a perfect answer to all the grace He dispensed here upon earth.
I have no doubt the Pharisee had been attracted by Christ, and thought to do honour to Christ; but he did not understand the gravity of bringing that standard for man into his house. I wish we could apprehend the immense import of the fact that Christ has become man, has come into man’s world, and that man has been superseded. At the present moment the real standard of man in the presence of God is Christ.
Now we may pass on to the next point — verses 15 - 24. And I pray the Lord to enable me to give an idea of what the Spirit indicates in the great supper, and how great the test there is. At the beginning God gave man a wife; and then, later on, when He took up a people, He gave man a piece of land and five yoke of oxen. God did all that for man. Now the fact is that God was looking in a way that there should be some recognition of Himself in it, that His goodness might be recognised, so that man might thank Him. God looked for fidelity to Himself, and for thankfulness. The things spoken of were given to man for man’s benefit. God gave Eve to Adam, and land and possessions to Israel. But did God get what He looked for? Did man remain faithful to Him? Man became an idolater; he took what God had given to Him, and if he worshipped anybody he worshipped Satan, and gave no thanks to God. This is what came to pass with the benefits that God had conferred upon man. The man that got the wife got away through her from God, became the beginning of an evil world; and in Israel, endowed with land and possessions, the history was repeated; they became idolaters like the rest of [p. 139] the nations. That was the result of God giving man something for himself.
Now is the great supper. God virtually says, You have your wife and your piece of land; you have given up fidelity to Me, and I have no thanks from you. Now I am going to take up everything for Myself in Christ. I am going to take up Israel in Christ, the nations too, the word of God, and the temple. That is what comes out in the four gospels. In Matthew we have, “Out of Egypt have I called my Son” — Israel is taken up anew in Christ. So, too, in Israel the word of God is revived. Then Christ is in Luke the light of the nations, and in John His body is the true temple. All that which had, in a certain sense, been entrusted in the providence of God to man is now to be taken up in Christ on the ground of redemption. That is what is presented, I judge, in the great supper. You must take into account that God has dispensed certain things to man for man’s benefit. Adam got a wife; the nations got God’s sun and God’s rain; and Israel had the land. And the question was, Would man remain in fidelity to God and give God thanks? He did not do it. Now God says, I will take up everything in Christ. That is what has come to pass now. If you get any apprehension of Christ on the blessed basis of redemption, you see Israel, the word of God, the nations, and the temple, all taken up there.
Now people are all more or less blinded by the glory of man. But Christ is presented to man, and He is presented as the One in whom every thought of God is centred, therefore it is the great Supper. But we have to remember that He is the One rejected from the earth, though glorified at the right hand of God, and the testimony of the present moment is of Christ exalted. Every divine thought and purpose is gathered up in that Man. God is not now dispensing things to man, to see whether he will give Him thanks, but is presenting to man the testimony of Christ at His right [p. 140] hand, in whom He has been pleased to gather up every purpose in His mind. God is presenting to man His world in Christ, and the test is whether men are prepared to leave man’s world for the world which is centred in Christ.
I wish I could bring more vividly before you the blessed reality of there being a world centred in Christ, in whom God is glorified and every divine thought gathered up. Now that this is presented to us, we have of necessity, if we apprehend that world, to leave this world. Christ came into man’s house, but there was no thought of His abiding in it. Christ died out of it; but He is raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, and is presented by the power of the Spirit here in the world to man for faith. The real point is, What have you in view? Are you looking at seen things? They are temporal. The unseen things are the things not yet displayed, but which are centred in Christ, the Sun of Righteousness. It is those things which are presented in Christ glorified. They are presented that you may have part with God, that you may enjoy the things which God has prepared for Himself. The truth has come out that God has prepared everything for Himself; whether man will or whether man will not, God has secured everything in Christ for His own glory. Israel cannot now fail; the word of God cannot fail; the nations are brought to light and the temple stands, because God has been pleased to secure everything for Himself in Christ, and everything, morally, will come forth from Christ.
Christ is presented to men, and men are invited by God to come to the great Supper. God says, “Come, for all things are now ready”. The test in that way comes to man, and what does man do? He says, I have married a wife; I have land — I will enjoy that, and give God thanks: I will not become idolatrous or turn my back upon God. That is what man says virtually. He takes occasion of what God [p. 141] has been pleased to give him to ignore all that has come in on the part of God, consequent on the previous failure on the part of man. The one question at the present time for man is the acceptance of Christ. God invites man to come in to the great supper, to apprehend all that He has secured for Himself in Christ, that man may appreciate the grace and wisdom of God in Christ. That is a great education for us. It ought to impress us very deeply with a sense of divine wisdom and goodness, which, when everything had failed in the hand of man, has gathered up everything through redemption in Christ, so that man, who had failed, might be invited to a part in it. It is a great thing to appreciate the resources of God, so that nothing has failed, but that God has secured everything for His own glory and man’s blessing in Christ. God has done great things for us, in making an outlet from this world of ruin, in order that we might be attached to Him who is raised up from the dead, that we might bring forth fruit unto God.
The test at the present time is the presentation of Christ and the glorious system which is centred in Christ, which God has prepared for Himself, so that nothing should lapse, but that God might be glorified in everything that He has ever purposed for Himself, and in which He ever set man. God will be glorified in every relationship which has been established down here, social or national; but then it is in everything being secured for Himself in Christ, and man can come into that order of things as having an appreciation of Christ. God has nothing else to propose to you. “What think ye of Christ?” God virtually says, I think everything of Christ; He has declared Me, taken up all the liabilities under which man was so that I might be glorified, and has eternally secured every divine thought for My glory. What do you think of Christ? I hope we could all return a good answer. If anybody were to challenge me, I think I [p. 142] could say I have an appreciation of divine wisdom, and of Christ; I see the moral perfection of Christ, and how suitable in every way He is; He could humble Himself to the lowest point and dispense divine benefits here upon earth: I can understand then that it is suitable that everything should be gathered up in Him. Now when a man answers to the test and gets an apprehension of Christ, he says, ‘That is the Man; there is no other’; that is a great point in a man’s experience. I am prepared to accept direction from that man. It is of the greatest moment when you get an impression of wisdom in Christ.
When Christ is accepted, you receive living water. Now that is bound to produce a perfect revolution in feeling, and in regard to every relationship which exists in the flesh. There is a disruption of everything in the mind of the believer. It is not that you are going on a little better in the old relationships than you did before, but there is a shaking up of everything, because a higher relationship than all has taken the supreme place. Christ must have the all-governing place in the heart of the believer, and hence there is a complete reordering of all the natural relationships, they all have to be readjusted in regard to Christ. There is no possibility of evading it. All these things have their place under Christ; but the great revolution which has taken place in the one that has accepted Christ is that Christ has become of necessity the One who reigns supreme in his regard and affections. And Christ will not have any inferior place: He says, I am entitled to the supreme place; there is no one entitled to the place in your regard to which I am, and He has the right to say it. Who would be prepared to gainsay His right? Christ claims the allegiance of the heart, and rightly so too, because He has come down to the lowest place in order to accomplish redemption for us; He has dispensed with the most liberal hand the virtue which is in Him, and now He [p. 143] says, I must have the first place in the affections of every one who accepts me as Head. If anything or anyone pulls in the opposite direction, you must part company, in spirit, because you have to maintain fidelity to Christ at all cost in the sense of His claim upon you. It will be maintained in you in the Spirit which Christ has given you.
If you are not faithful to Christ, the Spirit is faithful to Christ, and the Spirit will maintain you in fidelity to Christ, so that He should have the first and supreme place in your affections. You must part company in spirit with everything — your own life if need be — which will tend to deflect you in a direction contrary to Christ; a man has to give up all that he has. That is no small thing. What are you, and what am I? What have we to give up? If I think of myself at the weakest point, the point of death, what have I to give up there? The fact is, whether man likes it or not, everything is then taken from him: naked he came into the world, and naked he goes out. Men can cleave for a moment to things which they have in the providence of God, but they are not going to keep them for eternity. If you are holding to anything down here as your own, it will come in between you and Christ. The Lord marked out the only safe path: a man must give up all that he has in order to be the disciple of Christ. But what a wonderful thing to be a disciple of Christ; to have part in that great Supper; to have an appreciation of Christ, in whom the glory of God is secured for eternity! For if you have an appreciation of Christ now in the time of His rejection from the world, you will have part in His glory in the day when He is manifested. If you suffer with Him, you will be glorified with Him; if you deny Him, He will deny you. The thing for the moment is the appreciation of Christ, the blessed expression of divine wisdom, in whom God has secured everything for Himself in such a way that man may have an outlet [p. 144] from this world and be eternally blest in Christ, that he may give up all his fancied possessions and glory and dignity, and honestly recognise that, after all, there is nothing for him but Christ. I would not have God give me anything to enjoy for myself. Whatever I have in this world, my obligation is to use it as a steward for Christ.
Christ is the great test, and is intended to be that. I cannot conceive a truth more pregnant, or of greater import, than that Christ came as man into man’s house. Man was superseded by the Man that tests everybody; and men have to answer to that test, or to give up all that they have. But it is blessed where grace is given to accept Christ, and in appreciating Him to become His disciple, so that in the day of His glory one will be glorified with Him. It is a comfort to think that the Spirit of God is bound to be faithful to Christ. If anything depended on my faithfulness, I should soon go aside; but Christ has given us living water, to maintain us in fidelity to himself; and if we are disposed to be unfaithful, the Spirit of God never can be unfaithful, but will recall us by self-judgement to faithfulness. Christ is everything: if He is not everything, He will be nothing. He will have the one commanding place, and whatever we hold must be entirely secondary to Christ. If we are formed in Christ and Christ formed in us, all becomes uncommonly simple. May God work in us, by the mighty power of His Spirit, so that we may prove that of which Christ spoke, “the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into eternal life”.