THE WAYS OF GOD, AND HIS CALLING ON HIGH
[p. 278] THE WAYS OF GOD, AND HIS CALLING ON HIGH
I want to point out the difference which exists between the two distinct lines on which the Spirit of God leads us. I have no doubt that one line on which the Spirit of God leads, or which the Spirit of God teaches, is to lead our hearts into the consciousness of association with Christ where He is; and I think there is also another line on which the Spirit leads us, and that is to the understanding of all God’s ways down here. When we go to be above, we shall pass out of the scene of God’s ways. God’s ways are wrought down here. The church is to be in the secret of all God’s ways, in order that it may fulfil its proper function in regard of the world to come. “Her light was like unto a stone most precious”. That could not be the case if the church were not instructed in every way of God. That is our education.
There is another line on which the Spirit of God conducts us, and that is into the sense of association with Christ above. The truth of our calling is that we are predestinated to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. That is brought out in Romans 8: 28 - 30. We get the thought of that passage confirmed in Hebrews 2, where you find definitely that God is bringing many sons to glory. The work of the Spirit of God is to connect our hearts with Christ, God’s Son, in glory. The Spirit is the Spirit of God’s Son, and if He is that He evidently witnesses to God’s Son, and His mission is to connect our hearts with Christ in glory, for we are predestinated “to be conformed to the image of his Son”. Hence it is of all moment that God’s Son should be known to us. Our calling is above, it is the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus. That is what God has called us to. He has “blessed us with all spiritual [p. 279] blessings in heavenly places in Christ: according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love: having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself; according to the good pleasure of his will”. I cannot conceive anything more important than that our hearts should be instructed by the Spirit of God’s Son in the knowledge of God’s Son: then it is we can understand something of the calling on high of God in Christ Jesus.
That is the line the Spirit takes, and in connection with that we have access to the Father. “For through him we both”, that is, Jew and gentile, “have access by one Spirit unto the Father”. I should like for myself, and everybody here would echo it, to be led more into the knowledge of the Son of God. “Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ”.
That is one line on which the Spirit of God conducts us. He is the Spirit of God’s Son to enlarge our hearts in the knowledge of God’s Son. He is the One who came out to reveal God, and He was perfectly suitable, and answered in every way to the thoughts of God.
What I want to come to is the other line of the Spirit’s teaching, instructing the saints in the ways of God, and every way of God is taken up in the church. There are many things in which we are instructed which do not directly apply to the calling above. If I take up what we get in this chapter, the Shepherd and the sheep, that is not connected with the calling above; but it is a very important item of God’s ways down here on earth. As saints we are left on earth for the moment, and while we are left here we are led into the reality of the flock and the Shepherd. The purpose of it is that we should be so instructed in every way of God, that the light of the heavenly city may shine very bright in the world to come. I think everybody then will learn everything from the heavenly city. “Her light was like unto a stone most precious”. That could not possibly come to pass unless we are instructed by the Spirit of God in every way of God. Then we learn what fruit-bearing is. That does not apply to the calling on high in Christ Jesus, but undoubtedly to a people on earth.
The shepherd is a great idea in Scripture. It is astonishing how continually it breaks out. Abel was a shepherd, “a keeper of sheep”. Then Moses kept the flock of Jethro, and he was being trained in that way to shepherd God’s people — the sheep of God’s flock, to lead the people through the wilderness. David was a shepherd. God took him from the sheepfolds that he might shepherd His people Israel. That will show the importance of the shepherd in Scripture. In modern ideas we should not connect a king with a shepherd, but that is the divine idea. The suitability of a king is a shepherd; it is evidenced in Moses and in David. Moses and David stand very distinctly as types of Christ, and both are types of Christ as Shepherd. In the close of Hebrews it says, “Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus”, now mark the remainder of the expression, “that great shepherd of the sheep”. That refers to a people on earth, not in heaven. It properly applies to Israel. Christ is the great Shepherd of the sheep, and Israel is Jehovah’s flock, and will have that place in time to come; but they will learn the features of this place and what is suitable to it in the heavenly city. The heavenly city is the great lesson-book to the universe. “The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it”. You remember the expression in Ephesians 2 — “that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace”. That is what God is going to show forth, and how? — “in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”. That is what makes me say that the church will really be the great lesson-book to the universe because the church is instructed in every way of God.
[p. 281] I want to touch on a few points in connection with the Shepherd and the sheep. It is all of great gain to us in our way down here. The Spirit of God centres our affections on the Lord Jesus on high. He came to make God known; He died for us, and the Spirit conducts us to Him on high. Then there is what Christ is to the flock on earth. That instruction is for the world to come, and it is part of our education.
I will take up two or three thoughts in John 10: 4, “And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice”. Verse 9: “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. Verses 14 - 18: “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep”, etc.
Now, so far as I understand these things, the purpose of Christ in coming here was to lead the sheep out of the fold. He was not going to leave the sheep in an enclosure. There are plenty of enclosures here at the present time. Christendom is a system of enclosures, and that is where the sheep of Christ are kept. I look upon the state church as an enclosure, and dissenting systems as enclosures too. The sheep are all mixed up with a mass of profession, and they are all provided for in enclosures; but that is not at all according to God. The Wesleyan has got his system of doctrine, to keep the sheep right and straight in that system. It is all with the idea of keeping the sheep from the wolves, keeping people sound in doctrine. All these enclosures are where the sheep are supposed to be kept secure. It was the same when Christ came, though then it was a divinely constituted fold; but Christ came into the enclosure to lead the sheep out of it. He must pass out of it Himself He came into the fold, but He could not abide in it, because He must needs die. You do not find all through this chapter that the Lord speaks of [p. 282] dying at the hand of man. It was an absolute necessity that Christ, having become Man, should die, and for the simple reason that He became Man to die. All were dead under the eye of God, and Christ became Man to die. If He dies, He leaves the enclosure; and if He leaves the enclosure, there must be an end of it. He does not come back again to establish the enclosure. He leaves the fold, and the result is that the sheep are led out of the fold. What value could there be in the fold if Christ led out of it? People in the present day have the thought that Christ is in the systems; but if Christ is out of the systems, what value can they have to man? If Christ is not in system, I would much rather be out of system. He leads the sheep out. That is not at all evangelical; there is no gospel in that. He leads the sheep out of the fold. Now He becomes the door of the sheep. That is evangelical. He found the sheep in the fold, and He led them out. There was no question of gospel preaching, but He led them out. Now He becomes the door of the sheep. “By me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”. Where do they enter in? Not into the fold, because the Lord abolished the idea of the fold. I take it that they go in to God. What Christ came for was that by Him they might enter into the knowledge of God. The practical result of that is, “by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture”.
I read Psalm 23 on that account. “Jehovah is my shepherd; I shall not want”. What is the practical result? “He maketh me to lie down in green pastures; he leadeth me beside still waters”. What is the practical result to us of the knowledge of God? We are saved, and go in and out, and find pasture. All these things are proper to the sheep. Every blessing which we enjoy down here, which is proper to the sheep, we enjoy by the knowledge of God. All the blessings of christianity are included in knowledge. The power to [p. 283] know them is by the Spirit of God, but what have you in the way of blessing but by knowledge? Our blessings are spiritual, they lie in the sense of salvation, liberty, and pasture. All are found in the knowledge of God. God has “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness”.
I should not be here tonight if I were not conscious that all the blessings which are proper to me, and which it is my privilege to enjoy, are by the knowledge of God. It is by the knowledge of God I am saved, and have liberty. You cannot get yourself disengaged from other things but by the knowledge of God. All liberty is by the knowledge of God. “He leadeth me beside the still waters”. I say without any hesitation that all the blessing which we are privileged to enjoy — the secret of it, the power of it, the reality of it — all lies in the knowledge of God. It is a great thing to be led by the Spirit into the knowledge of God, the knowledge of His love, His mercy, His goodness. God has no reserves in His heart. Even if discipline comes in — trials in circumstances, or sickness of the body — it is only to remove some hindrance in us in order that we may be led more distinctly into the knowledge of God. “Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord”.
That is a very beautiful expression I quoted from 2 Peter 1. “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness”. Why do we meditate on all God’s dealings with His people of old? Because they all instruct our hearts in God’s goodness, patience, kindness, and forbearance. We are led in that way into the knowledge of God, and we are saved, and go in and out and find pasture. That is the effect of entering in by the door. There is no way into the knowledge of God save by Christ; but if we do enter into the knowledge of God, we get the blessed consequences of it in salvation, liberty, and pasture. That is a very great thing.
The Lord goes on to say, “The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly”. How do you think we get life, and what does life consist in? In the knowledge of God. God is known to me, His love is known to me. I know that I am superior to death and all evil by the knowledge of God. His love is witnessed in the death of Christ, and now His love is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, and that is the secret of life. Life really consists in the knowledge of divine love. We get life, and we get it very abundantly because the Son has brought to us and made plain to us the knowledge of God, and the knowledge of God’s love. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us”.
Other points come out here. “I am the door”, etc. Then, “I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep”, etc. We have got the good Shepherd, and He is the Shepherd of the sheep, and He led out of the sheepfold. He is the door of the sheep, and we go in, as I said, to God and find salvation, liberty, and pasture. Now the Lord presents Himself in a little different light, as the good Shepherd, and the good Shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. Now the Lord says, “I ... know my sheep” — that is the good Shepherd — “I ... know my sheep, and am known of mine”. That is not by learning. I want to draw your attention to the peculiarity of the knowledge. It is not by learning. Certainly the Father does not know the Son by learning, and the Son does not know the Father by learning. There was some bond between Christ and the disciples when Christ was here on earth. They knew very little about Christ; and yet the Lord says, I ‘know my sheep, and am known of mine as the Father knows me and I know the Father’. There was some kind of indescribable bond between Christ and the disciples; and so it is between Christ and ourselves. It is not a question of how much we may [p. 285] learn about Christ, but there is a kind of indescribable bond which is not gained by learning. There is that kind of knowledge which exists between Christ and the sheep. It is instinctive almost. I “know my sheep and am known of mine”, etc. I think Christ is able to touch us. Christ was able to touch the disciples. They were very unintelligent. It was very rarely that they were able to understand the words of Christ, and yet there was that indescribable bond. When Peter denied Christ we should hardly have thought that he knew Christ; yet he did, and the Lord recognised it. We find it coming out in John 21. There was an indescribable bond between Peter and Christ. “Thou knowest that I love thee”. The bond exists in affection. The secret of the knowledge lies in divinely formed affections. “As the Father knows me and I know the Father”. You might find the simplest and most unintelligent christian, and yet there is that peculiar bond between that christian and Christ.
There is one point more — “And other sheep I have, which are not of this fold: them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold (flock) and one shepherd”. Now we get another very important point which is practically learnt down here, and that is unity. Unity has a very great place in the ways of God. Unity comes out all through Scripture. When God made the man and the woman, they were to be one — “they shall be one flesh”. Then with the twelve sons of Jacob, all were to be one. You get in Psalm 133: “Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity!” God attaches very great importance to unity, and He will have unity maintained. God will have unity in the time to come in the twelve tribes of Israel. All are to be bound in one bundle under one Head. We have to keep the unity of the Spirit; it indicates really that wills disappear. There is unity in the Godhead, the Father and the Son are one; and God will have unity down here, and unity is the [p. 286] witness that the will of man disappears. As long as Jew and gentile are there, Jew and gentile will not be one. They can only be one by the practical setting aside of Jew and gentile. The Lord would have one flock and one Shepherd. There is to be a witness here by the Spirit of God that man’s will disappears. “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. Unity was to be a witness to the world. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold (flock) and one shepherd”. That was to be really as a witness on the part of God down here on earth. Unity is the great witness. Nothing could have brought unity about between the Jew and the gentile but the Spirit of God, and the Spirit of God did bring it about. We find it coming out in the Acts; and unity will be witnessed in Israel. All these things apply to Israel in a kind of way — salvation, liberty, pasture, the knowledge of Christ, the flock — all is to be fulfilled in Israel in the time to come, but then they are fulfilled in a peculiar way in ourselves, and they are part of our education. The ends of the world meet in us. “Her light was like unto a stone most precious”.
It is of great importance for us to understand what Christ is to us down here — the gain we have got by knowing Christ as the door. How far do we know Christ? He knows us as the Father knows Him and He knows the Father. It is a great point that we should appreciate that which Christ is to us down here. It is very important that unity should be maintained down here, “that the world may believe that thou hast sent me”. It was a remarkable spectacle to the world to see Jew and gentile walking together in spiritual affections. All the world knew the enmity between Jew and gentile; how could they explain their walking together? The truth was that some extraordinary power had come [p. 287] to pass which had broken down the barrier. All that came to pass in the revelation of God. How could fleshly distinctions be maintained in the light of the death of Christ, and the presence of the Spirit of God? If we can regard ourselves in the light of the death of Christ, and in the power and presence of the Spirit of God, what divergence can there be between us? If I see the assertion of will on the part of the saints, they are not in the light of the death of Christ, they are not in the consciousness of the love expressed in the death of Christ. What a wonderful thing it will be when Israel is restored — they have been split into two great parts. What a wonderful thing when they come together, when they are joined into one stick under one Head! What a witness it will be to the power and grace of God in the midst of the world. We are to be a witness to that unity in the power of the Spirit.
What I would press on you is that we should not be content with the mere letter, but that we should get the reality of things, and when I speak of the reality of things, I mean the Shepherd and the sheep. He knows us, and we know Him. How far are we affected by that?
The disciples did not read many books when Christ was with them. They did not want to be entertained with literature; they did not want relaxation of mind. Christ was enough for them. It grieves me to see the number of things you find saints turning to for occupation of mind. It rather seems as if Christ were not enough for them. Christ should be enough for us. Everything else should be secondary and subordinate, and really governed by Christ — all should be tending to the knowledge of Christ. I “know my sheep and am known of mine”, etc., and all goes on to this, that you get unity maintained here amongst the saints. Christ was their bond, and Christ is our bond; and so it is that unity is maintained in spiritual affections one with another. I want you not simply to read this chapter as a very beautiful chapter. Do not rest content with that,
[p. 288] for that is not the work of the Spirit of God. The Spirit of God will not leave you simply to admire. Do not stop there — the point is not simply to admire, but to adopt these things; what I mean is, to be led into the truth and reality of them by the Spirit of God.
It becomes an extremely important item in our education as to the place the church will fill in the time to come. It is a point of transcendent beauty that her light is like unto a stone most precious, because she is so instructed in every way of God. The ends of the earth meet in the church. She takes up all that is past, and will take in all that is to come.
The purpose of divine teaching is that we should be in the reality of these things, not only that we should admire them as very beautiful lessons to be learnt, but that we should adopt them. Christ, as Shepherd, is a great reality to us, and we are His sheep to follow Christ down here. Then if we follow Christ, we turn our back on a very great many things in the world, and a very great many false shepherds in the world. It is a wonderful thing to be brought out of the fold, and to find every blessing in the knowledge of God. We do not want to be kept in an enclosure; in the knowledge of God we are led into every blessing. Everything accrues to the christian by the knowledge of God. He has “given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue”.