FRUIT-BEARING AS PROOF OF VITALITY
[p. 444] FRUIT-BEARING AS PROOF OF VITALITY
I suppose these chapters bring before us the consequence of the coming of the Spirit. It is important to see what is in view in the disciples being here as witness for Christ, chapters 13, 14 and 15 are all bound up in that way, 14 is preparatory, it is the way in which they were to be fitted for it, by the Spirit of truth, “In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me and I in you”.
Ques What is “Arise let us go hence?”
FER You must have everything prepared within before there can be a witness without. Everything must be put in its place by the Spirit of truth before there could be a witness here, that is the great point of chapter 14. It seems to me the necessary consequence of the coming of the Comforter must be the bringing in of the Father and the Son, ‘we will come and make our abode with you’, but it is necessary that everything should be in gear, “if a man keep my words”, a man proves that he loves if he does that. I am not a source and centre of light and therefore I keep His words, if a man loves Christ he keeps His words. Christ is entitled to command us and hence it is if we are in gear we keep His commandments and appreciate His words and keep them; that is what was seen in Christ here, there was order, He kept the Father’s words. A commandment indicates His right to command. His word is the revelation of the Father. I have thought these chapters run pretty much with the prayer in Ephesians 3: chapter 14 is pretty much akin to Christ in the heart, 15, our relation one to another consequent on the commandment of Christ and 16, the church set as light or witness down here, witness to a Christ to whom everything belongs, “He shall take of mine and shall shew it unto you”, it brings in the thought of the world to come and so we comprehend the breadth, length, depth and height. A man could not be competent as witness down here unless he knew something of the breadth, length, depth and height, the whole extent of the inheritance.
The great point of chapter 15 is vitality as shown by our affections one to another; so in fruit-bearing there is proof of vitality. I think you must begin with that, Christ dwelling in the heart by faith, the affection of a bride for a bridegroom, of a wife for her husband, that is properly the position of the church down here, you want all your affections put in order and strengthened and maintained. People put the social before the meetings; if Christ were dwelling in the heart by faith we would be devoted to every interest of Christ down here. I do believe we would get on a great deal better if we let everything be secondary to Christ “ye believe on God, believe also on me”, the bride comes down as the public witness but in the meantime the bride is left down here as witness to the bridegroom. We do not live in ourselves, it marked the Lord, but no one of us can have life in himself. All vitality is by the Spirit of Christ. If we live in the Spirit let us also walk in the Spirit. Vitality comes out in the way of fruit-bearing; fruit-bearing is for God. It comes out in our relations one to another, it is the product of the Spirit of Christ, fruit really consists in what characterises our relations one to another in love and joy. I think saints are trees of God’s planting. The peculiarity in an ordinary tree is that it lives by itself, but saints do not carry their life in themselves, Christ is the source of fruit. It all depends on our abiding in Christ.
Psalm 1 is not Christ, it is the description of a class; you get Christ in Psalm 2. There is no witness except in the evidence of vitality. The present order of christendom is all dead against fruit-bearing; for fruit-bearing we want to be thrown in most intimate connections [p. 446] one with the other. The Lord presses upon them that they should love one another and He tells them that the world would hate them. If we do not love one another it shows there is something out of gear in our love to Christ. The Lord contemplated all the disciples in loving one another, feet-washing makes manifest those who are real. I think we wait too long sometimes. If we applied the washing a little earlier it would prove more beneficial, dirt would not accumulate.
Ques We hear a great deal about John 3: 16 — do we hear as much about James 3: 16?
FER What is that? Well I believe that that is James’s way of contrasting the old man with the new. What ought to mark us is the wisdom from above, it is a most beautiful passage. Partiality brings in cliques, the truth ought not to bring partiality. How much the state of things now is against bringing the truth of this chapter! Fellowship must be very limited in the present time, the bond of fellowship is so little understood. If you get people who call on the Lord out of a pure heart then the Lord is the bond, a Lord who is in no way connected with this world. There will be no such thing as fellowship in the world to come when Christ comes out and has His rights but it is a contrary scene and there are those who are held together by fidelity to the Lord, “there is one body and one Spirit”. We are really held together by allegiance to the one Lord. The great point is that we have to recognise that the world is lawless and if it were put to the test it would be found out to be lawless. If you take a business where there are half a dozen partners they are partners one of another but they have partnership one with another. The Lord gave the disciples His confidence completely, the witness shows what the church was in the mind of the Lord, the witness is in the saints to the moral excellency of that Man. The new man is really the witness to the Man in heaven, it is the truth in Jesus. You have got the Spirit of truth in the saints and you have the apostles; the [p. 447] apostles are gone but the new man is down here in witness to Christ. It is the truth in Jesus, if ye have so learned Christ; the renewing of the mind is the work of the Holy Spirit. Even Paul had not been with Christ from the beginning. The witness now is the Spirit of truth and if that is not the witness there is no witness.
I think that the Spirit of God wrought in the apostles in the most tremendous energy at the beginning. Luther was a lion, a most distinguished man but you must be content with what is now. “A living dog is better than a dead lion”. The Spirit of truth being witness, it is connected with the whole company, unity really in spiritual affections. The unity of the Spirit is a unity of spiritual affection and if you have not spiritual affection you have not unity. The point with them was, they should love one another and if we loved one another it would be accompanied with a great deal of joy.
Chapter 16 brings in the thought of intelligence. For saints to be an effective witness down here, they require to be intelligent (verse 12). Intelligence is that you are instructed in the interests of Christ. If you look at Ephesians 1: 8 “He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will ... that in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ”. “All things that the Father hath are mine”. Christ is the Head of all and if that, the result is that everything takes its character from Christ; if I am away from home I leave my wife in charge but she must be intelligent in all my interests so that she may not make mistakes. I want to get people out of the world, I am not part of the world and if I had means I could not benefit the world by rescuing people from drink or that sort of thing. The improvement of the world must be left to those who are of the world. It is a study of the most profound interest to get an idea of what belongs to Christ, you apprehend with all saints, you do not [p. 448] exclude saints from your mind in the length, breadth, depth and height. “All things” is an expression of constant occurrence, everything I have belongs to my wife. I think the man who keeps anything back from his wife is a miserable husband. The introduction of Christ has brought about a most profound change in regard of men. He has become Head of every man, He is wisdom for every man, the point is that a man should accept his Head and get direction from his Head. You cannot possibly get judgment at the present time except with regard to saints because Christ is Head of every man. When antichrist is set up that will bring in the judgment of God, every man should listen to the Head and get direction from Christ. The present moment is provisional and where man proves himself unaffected by the grace of God, he comes under the original debt.
Forgiveness is provisional now as in the parable of the ten thousand talents. The culminating sin of man is that they set up a rival head and that brings in the judgment of God. He is called the lawless one in contrast to Christ, they will not have the righteous One and they set up the lawless one.
In chapter 16 the access which they would have to the Father comes out, they were not to ask Christ anything. I think it true in regard of us: we have access to God with regard to every interest of Christ, we should get a great deal from the Father if we sought the interests of Christ. If saints love Christ they are loved of the Father and the Father is ready enough to give to those He loves, but discipline comes in and discipline is in perfect accord with love. I believe there is no limit to what we should get in the interests of Christ. We do not get anything except in affection for Christ, it all lies in affection for Christ. You must accept the sovereignty of God. I could not demand God to save all my children, I could beg God to do it.