DIVINE AFFECTION FOR THE SAINTS
DIVINE AFFECTION FOR THE SAINTS
S. McCallum 1 John 2: 14 - 17; Romans 8: 33 - 38; Romans 15: 29 - 33 I have in mind to speak on the thought of divine affection as the portion, refuge, and stay, of our hearts in difficult and testing circumstances. You will notice that in all the passages read, allusion is made to this thought of divine affection; the love of the Father in the first, the love of Christ in the second, and the love of the Spirit in the last - in their fulness representing to us the love of God known in Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And yet these passages, dear brethren, remind us of the distinctiveness of each of the Persons of the Trinity in relation to Their position in the economy into which they have come and in which they are known, and particularly, as I have said, viewed as the known portion and stay of the saints. Other passages indicate to us divine love operating through divine Persons in relation to Themselves, and to and for Their own pleasure and delight. But these passages are particularly affecting because they represent how love seen in relation to each of the Persons is the known portion, support, and stay, of our hearts.
I would especially desire to encourage our hearts by this reference to the love of the Father in the first passage, especially as it is our desire to carry the younger brethren with us in such gatherings as these, in all that enters into the blessedness of what is known and enjoyed amongst the saints in relation to this love. The subject of love in this first letter of John’s, is a wonderful subject.
Christianity is presented in this letter in the most attractive way, over against the world’s system. It is presented in a way that is calculated to encourage and sustain our minds and hearts in the very scene where evil and lawlessness are present, John beginning this letter with the wonderful allusion to life in the testimony of Jesus seen in His place here in Manhood. The eternal life which was with the Father - he presents it as having come within our range so attractively, to be contemplated, to be seen, to be handled by persons such as ourselves, as it was the disciples’ lot particularly to do. The whole ministry of John is to impress us with the nearness into which God has come to men. As he goes on in the epistle he comes, in the portion that I have read, to the stages of growth in the family of God. Oh, the delightfulness of life in the family of God, in the normal stages of development, each phase and stage of development marked by a particular knowledge of the truth and of divine Persons. He is engaging us with life in its normality in the family of God in all its attractiveness, and he comes to the thought of the young men (which of course would include the young women too) and he says, “I have written to you, young men, because ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Now while this is referred to in a negative way, it means that the love of the Father is the known portion of those that are apart from the world. The world is presented as a great counter-system here, and the love of the Father, as it has become known in Jesus, has entered within our range in a sphere where the Father is known, and where His love is to be the all-engaging portion as refusing the world. “Nor the things in the world”. To many minds Christianity in the path of the testimony affords little outlet for what is of present advantage to those that are referred to here, the young men. But how it should touch the hearts of the younger brethren that the love of the Father has moved on to our view in relation to their exercises and their difficulties and overcoming the world; that the love of the supreme Person in the economy has moved into the position of being the portion of the younger brethren as overcoming the world, overcoming the wicked one. It says, “Ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you.” Have we ever thought - I appeal to those that are addressed here, to those that are in the same class in this gathering - have you ever thought of the advantages of this stage of life in the family of God? - the word of God abides in you. What a resource over against the advances of the foe, who knows how to move the departments of the world and their various features against us to ensnare and to damage us in relation to the testimony. What a resource we have in the word of God abiding in us. It says, “Ye have overcome the wicked one”, and in the light of this he says, “Love not the world nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” Then he goes on to speak of all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but of the world. He is reminding us negatively of a system of things unknown to men generally, but known to faith and those who have the Spirit, and to those who have the word of God abiding in them; a system of things that belongs to the Father. It is specially presented here in the thought of the love of the Father, the affections of the Father, as the portion of the believer in this stage of growth, contemplated here over against all that is denied him in the world and all that he has to deny himself in regard of in the world. What a refuge the love of the Father is! Many of us, it may have been, have become embittered with the frustration of strong ambition naturally, which, had it not been for the rights of God and the claims of the testimony, might have found much scope in the world. But what a touch on the part of the Spirit of God through His servant John, to remind us that the love of the Father is the portion of those that have forsaken the world, that do not love the world. If we love the world, the love of the Father is not in us - the inference being that if we do not love the world, the love of the Father is in us. What a balance, what an asset piety is, as we bring God into circumstances which so try and test us, especially in the ambition and energy and strength of youth. What a portion the love of the Father presents, the Father’s system presents. The writer, John, has particularly in mind - not only in the epistle but in his gospel in the ministry of Christ - to help us in relation to the attractiveness of the Father’s world. I would point out some of the advantages of it, and the attractions in it, because divine affection would have it so. This chapter, as it opens alludes to the fact that, if we become damaged, if sin operates, we have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. We have a system of things set up in relation to the Father and His world that is to meet whatever may come into our lives here, not only the world with its allurements and attractions which appeal to us in youthful years, but the very matter of sin operating. We are reminded by John of what there is with the Father, with that glorious Person - God known in that Person. A system of things comes into operation immediately in regard to what is referred to here - “If any one sin, we have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.” What an asset the knowledge of that is in our souls! You will recall in John’s gospel how he speaks of the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father (John 1: 18). What a wonderful thing it is to be drawn into a realm where the Father’s love and affections are known. What a steadying object Christ, in the spiritual excellence of His Manhood, is in the Father’s realm, known and adored in that position by the myriads of those that love Him. You will remember how the Spirit is referred to as going forth from with the Father - the One who has taken up His abode with us and does not desire enviously. He has come forth from with the Father - a definite link in our souls with the Father’s world, the Father’s system, the Father’s affections. I would encourage our hearts to think of this more, that God has come within our range in this way. Sometimes reference is made to the Father remaining in the inscrutableness of Deity, but think of the reference here to the love of the Father as the portion of the believer in refusing the world. Is it not an incentive to turn away from the world, as the love of the Father engages us? What fructifying soil then shall result; soil in which the truth prospers, soil in which the seeds, so wondrously implanted, yield so fruitfully, both for the divine joy and our own joy too. The love of the Father is a real matter, and it is impressive to think of it as linked with this stage of development in the family of God. John is fully measuring what it may be to face the world, to face advancement in our position, and what it may affect with us in the way of damage. John is fully cognisant of what it may be for us to give up certain ambitions, certain desires on natural lines, special and peculiar to youthfulness, but he would remind us in such an encouraging, attractive way that the love of the supreme Person in the economy, the Father - the One of whom the Lord Jesus says, My Father is greater than I - is to be our known portion. What a refuge, what unalloyed sweetness there is in it! What it imparts over against all that may disappoint, all that may bring bitterness and even sorrow, in the denial of the world. He says, “The world is passing, and its lust, but he that does the will of God abides for eternity”. If we go in for the world and the things of the world, they may seem little to us as far as damaging influence is concerned. We may cater for them in the office. We may, in an ungirt moment, give way and yield to the constant encroaching movement of the enemy, little by little, but suddenly we yield and give ourselves over to it, the love of the world becomes so real and bitter in our experience. Oh! to be held through the strengthening power and resource of the word of God abiding in us, so that, as we are faced with these encroachments, as they may offer us this and offer us that, as they may ask us to come into this and come into that - the world bound up with it all - let us revert to what is within us, the word of God. Let the word of God exercise its power. The sword of the Spirit is the word of God. What a power there is in the word of God to be wielded against the alluring and damaging approaches of the world. May we be helped of the Spirit to be conscious of how great a portion that is.
Now I want to speak of the love of Christ. We have the love of Christ presented in relation to another set of circumstances, not now exactly the side of moral evil in the world, but as the known refuge of the believer, and the stay of the believer over against all that which, in our circumstances, if allowed to gain the ascendancy, would repress and retard spiritual development and growth. There is nothing like circumstances, especially difficult circumstances, if they gain the ascendancy with us, to hinder spiritual development. This chapter of Romans is a wonderful chapter in the way that it brings in resource for the believer, the Spirit of God being alluded to in many ways and many times. How important it is that we should know how to make full room for Him, not just as we have been considering it in ministry, and in relation to teaching, but that, individually, we should know how to make full room for Him. What will He not do for us? Oh, the power that is linked with the Spirit in the light of Romans 8! The Spirit is life in view of righteousness.
What advantages the believer has. How morally superior he is to the world and all that is in it, to the flesh and all that attaches to it, as in the light of this chapter. Reference is made to creation and what has entered in through sin, bringing untold damage and difficulty and distress. Divine Persons have come into these very circumstances to deal with the whole matter of sin and what sin had brought in. As the believer is extricated morally from it, he knows the presence of the divine Person, that we have alluded to, in a subjective way in his soul. The power he experiences is a real matter, not just an academic matter. The Spirit is life in view of righteousness, so that every obligation can be filled out in power, whether in natural relations, business relations, or school relations. The Spirit is power in view of every relationship being filled out rightly according to God. Difficulties are real, the infirmities many, but what we are to understand is the known, conscious service of the Holy Spirit. Oh, that we knew Him better and that we lived in communion with Him more day by day. What do we know about communion with the Spirit? What do we know about the Spirit joining its help to our weakness, to our infirmities? This chapter has it all in mind.
Divine love has devised the best for us, and is doing the best for us. We read, “Who shall bring an accusation against God’s elect? It is God who justifies; who is he that condemns? It is Christ who has died, but rather has been also raised up; who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us”. Why is Paul writing this? To bring into our souls the great feature of power to meet circumstances, to bring into our souls, into our minds and hearts, that which will help us to be invulnerable to the approaches of the enemy through circumstances. A position is contemplated here in which divine love is active in the love of Christ who died. It is Christ who has died, the One who loves us, the One of whose love we are about to speak. It says, “but rather has been raised up”; that is, it is the way up out of the world. We have been speaking about the world and the way out of it is before us here. Notice that it does not say just, “has been raised”, but “has been raised up; who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us”. You will recall in verse 30 the multiplying of “also’s” in the chain, and the links in it that divine love has formed, of the wonderful blessings attaching to the believer. “Whom he has predestinated, these also he has called; and whom he has called, these also he has justified; but whom he has justified, these also he has glorified.” These “also’s” refer to the wonderful chain, and the links in it down here in the saints, as having the Spirit, for the glorification alludes to the saints as having the Spirit.
When we come to the “also’s” in verse 34, we have the wonderful links of the chain connected with the position of Christ on high; as it says, “Who is also at the right hand of God; who also intercedes for us”. We have thought of the links down here, but think of the links connected with the movement of Christ into the position where He represents us on high, so that we might be strengthened in power in our souls, and maintained in spiritual constancy over against all the discouraging influences in circumstances. As Paul reaches the position of Christ interceding on high at the right hand of God he says, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? According as it is written, For thy sake we are put to death all the day long: we have been reckoned as sheep for slaughter”. The path of the testimony involves suffering, suffering of the most testing character, but the love of Christ is a known refuge to the believer in the midst of what would almost overthrow him in the difficulties of circumstances in the desert path. He knows what it is to repair into this enjoyed resource, this enjoyed refuge, the love of Christ. Think of the greatness of divine love! God is love, and in order that we might know it He has come into these relations where we can know that love, and not only know it, but enjoy it in the different ways in which it is presented in the economy as the refuge and stay of our hearts, the Spirit of God helping in relation to the enjoyment of these features of the love of the Father and the love of Christ. Paul says, “But in all these things we more than conquer through him that has loved us”. He not only refers to the love of Christ as a present portion and refuge for our hearts, but he refers us to the historical side of that love, to the Person that loved us. The proof of His love, the witness of it in all its fulness, is seen at Calvary in His death, and that love now, the love of Christ, is the known, inseparable portion of the believer. “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine” - nothing can separate us from it. Oh, how great it is, dear brethren, what a stay to our hearts in our localities where there is so much to test us. Divine Persons have moved so near to us, and divine affections have been brought so near to us that the love of each of the Persons is to be known in a strengthening way over against all the artifices of the devil, and the discouragement he would bring to turn our feet from the path of the testimony. In all this we can know what it is to repair into the love of the Father, and into the love of Christ.
I want now to allude to the love of the Spirit. A different set of circumstances is before us in this delightful reference, dear brethren, in surroundings where the power of the Spirit is so evident in the ministry. The minister is thinking of his ministry, thinking, too, of its acceptance among the saints, and of the working of unbelief. He repairs into the known stay, so fully and consciously enjoyed by him, in the love of the Spirit. He says, “But I beseech you, brethren”. Think of the great apostle, the authority of the commission he had, the wealth of the dispensations committed to him in the gospel and in the ministry in regard to the assembly! How he appeals to the brethren as he thinks of the enemy approaching, not now through tribulation and distress. He could speak of tribulation as very few could - he comes next to Christ in that - but he is not speaking of that so much here. He says, “that I may be saved from those that do not believe in Judea; and that my ministry which I have for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints.” He brings the love of the Spirit under the view of the brethren, beseeching them by it for he knew it was his stay. He not only knew what the power of the Spirit was in preaching and in teaching, but he knew what it was, when difficulties were encountered in the acceptance of the teaching, to repair into the known stay of the love of the Spirit. Dear brethren, I want to impress our hearts with the love of the Spirit and its bearing on the ministry. You will remember in Genesis 24, that great typical chapter in relation to the Spirit and His service, that when Laban came out he saw the man standing by the camels by the well. I believe that is to bring into view (as we go back to the type by faith) the love that held him there - the love of the Spirit. It is love that holds Him to the service, to the mission that He has come to carry out in relation to the assembly for Christ, the fulness of the truth that is in mind in this dispensation involving Christ and the assembly. The Spirit is held, if I might say reverently, in the energy of that love in relation to all the blessedness that enters into His mission. Just as with Isaac, in the great chapter in Genesis 22, the ram sets out the progenitive idea, the energetic side, and suggests the love of Christ. The ram caught in the thicket is a type of Christ held in the energy of love in regard to His mission, and Genesis 24 brings before us in type and in figure the Spirit held in the energy of His love and affection in regard to His mission. It is a stay and comfort, dear brethren, over against all that is around us and all that may come up amongst us. So he says, I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ - what a touch! It is the full official Name, our Lord Jesus Christ; not the Lord Jesus, the great assembly Name of affection, but the full official Name, the one Lord Jesus Christ by whom are all things and we by Him. He says, “I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ”, as if all the power linked with that official position, that official Name, would enter into this matter of ministry and its prosperity among the saints, and allied with it the love of the Spirit; on the one hand the power and authority linked with the official Name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and on the other the resourcefulness of the love of the Spirit. Oh, to see, dear brethren, the intimate links between the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the mediatorial operations so well known by Paul that he says, “I beseech you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ, and by the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in prayers”. How we need to strive in prayers in regard to the ministry, so that the minister and those who serve in the ministry might be saved from those that do not believe. Think of his holy concern - striving together! It is not a question of striving together in argument, or arguing the pros and cons of the ministry or the truth. Paul is bringing in the resources of the mediatorial realm, enlisting the sympathies of the saints, that they strive together with him in prayers according to God. What need there is at all times, in view of the prosperity of the truth, for the saints to strive in prayers. Striving - think of the force of the expression, the love of the Spirit entering into it, as if the Spirit is so available, His love so near, that it is a known resource and stay to be brought into this matter, all operating in view of the prosperity of the minister and the ministry. How much we attach to argument and logical reasoning. Would that we knew more of repairing into these known resources, as such a minister as Paul must do, on our faces before God and the Lord Jesus, striving in prayer that all the truth may come out and may be entered upon. It has come out, and it is important that it should be entered on, and that room should be made for the Spirit to help us.
That was what I had in mind, dear brethren, to draw attention to divine affections, to the love of God as it has come so near and so known; divine affections in relation to each of the Persons as a known and enjoyed portion over against what may be difficult and trying.