THE WORDS OF OUR LORD
[p. 7] THE WORDS OF OUR LORD
Luke 2: 29; Matthew 3: 14, 15; Matthew 4:4; Matthew 4:7; Matthew 4:10
I wanted to read a few of the words of our Lord. These scriptures are in my mind as standing in connection with what we have been reminded of lately — the importance of love to our Lord Jesus Christ.
I think in these five utterances, which, as we know, are the first recorded utterances of our Lord, we get what might be regarded as a full and complete presentation of what He is in Himself — what He is inwardly. We know that painters have tried to put upon canvas their ideas of the Lord’s outward appearance, but none of us trust their ideas. None of us would like to have a picture of the Lord Jesus on the walls of our houses, for we could not be at all sure it was really the Lord at all. And if we were sure it was exactly like what He was outwardly, it would not supply any ground of love to Him. There is no genuine love to the Lord Jesus except as we apprehend what He is inwardly.
Now in the first scripture we find the Lord was assured that Mary and Joseph ought to have known that He would be occupied in His Father’s business, or as the note reads, “That I ought to be in the things of my Father”. Now we do not know the Lord at all until we understand that. He was a boy of twelve, but He was in the consciousness of sonship, He could speak of “my Father”, and of being in the things of His Father. That is what makes Him so different from every other man, what marked Him off from everything in the world. He was wholly absorbed and occupied in the things of His Father. He brought those things here in His heart, so that men might know them, and He lived in them; and if we do not love Him in that character, we can hardly be said to love Him at all. That is, to love the Lord as He is, we need to see Him in relation to His Father. But perhaps a poor sinner says, ‘He died for my sins’. I do not depreciate that; it is true, it is what that Person conferred upon me. But what kind of Person is He in Himself? I shall never love Him until I know that. Gratitude in the heart of a believer for what He has done for him often does not go far; it very often stops short of love to Himself, to His own Person, and has very little separating effect from the world. But if we love Him in relation to the Father we cannot avoid being separated from the world which knows nothing of the Father, who is altogether in separation from the world. Indeed, John says, “If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world ... is not of the Father” (1 John 2: 15, 16): All that is really blessed for men lies now in the knowledge of the Father. Jesus as a Boy of twelve was absorbed in His Father’s things, and in that character He becomes an object of love to His own; He is carrying in His heart the secret of all the grace of God for men. If we love Him in that character, it shows we have apprehended the Father’s things. For there is a whole system of things characterised as the Father’s things, which are contrary to everything in the world. So if you have the Father’s things brought to you by Jesus you cannot have the world. It is a very practical thing. So everything is possessed in Jesus; they are things which were designed by the Father to be the portion of Jesus. He is the only One that can give us any impression of them. Those who do love Him in that character have done with the wretched, worthless things of the world.
Again, the Lord said in His second recorded utterance, “Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness”. That gives me a true thought of Himself — His Person. He had before Him to fulfil all righteousness — all that was right. Although with Him there was no personal cause, He would go with the men who took a right line in repentance. We have to love Him in that character as the righteous One, and so we must take on the same character. I cannot love something in Him and go on with just the opposite. So it separates us from the [p. 9] whole course of sin in ourselves and in the world. We have been attracted after the One who fulfilled all righteousness. Many believers are hung up for many years because they are not in the path of righteousness; they think they love the Lord but they do not. Often a very little bit of unrighteousness will hinder us. So that love for the Lord Jesus is a very practical thing, it adjusts us at every turn.
Then the Lord in speaking to the devil brings out some of the great and precious things that belong to His own Person. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. If we have finished with the world, what are we going on with? We cannot go on with a vacuum. We are too negative in the matter; there is too much negative christianity. The Lord as a Man here lived by every word that went out through God’s mouth. There is no other way to live. If we did not live on the word of God, we should starve. Christians not drawn into His manner of life do starve. He lived by every word of God. It is too great for me, and I do not question that. It is the character and quality of all life toward God, that we live by the communications of the blessed God. And we love Him if we apprehend Him in that character. Then we must take on that character — love will surely go His way — and it will make its practical impression on us.
He says, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. That is, the Lord Jesus becomes an object of affection as One with absolute confidence in God. He was put on the pinnacle of the temple. Sometimes God puts His saints in a position of danger. The Lord was then, and he was as quiet and confiding and restful as at any moment in His life. Now this is the Person we love. It is really the test of our affection for the Lord. Sometimes we are trembling and fearful. Oh, if we only loved Him we should be drawn into the same blessed confidence He has in His God and Father.
“Thou shalt do homage to the Lord thy God, and him alone shalt thou serve”. The Lord presents Himself here [p. 10] as worshipping and serving God; that is, He is the true worshipper. No one could love the Lord Jesus Christ and not be a worshipper, for He is the true Worshipper. David, the great psalmist, praised Jehovah. Every expression of holy worship issued from Jesus. So that genuine love for the Lord Jesus Christ would transform us and fashion us in moral correspondence with Him. Worship and priestly service are the very highest things, but we speak of them to the young convert. The Lord spoke of worshippers for the Father to the woman of Samaria, who was only a convert of perhaps five minutes. No one can be happy until he is set in worshipful relationship with God. Christ came into manhood to be the model of how the worship and service of God is rendered in the highest.
These words are the setting forth of all that He is inwardly, and as we see and appreciate Him in this way, we take on the character of the One we love. If we admire the features of Christ they must come out in us. Of course it is a continual development with us, with small accessions from time to time, until we become like the Son of God, and get clearance from the world and all that is contrary to God. God give us to move in affectionate appreciation of the Lord Jesus Christ.