CHRIST'S WORK AND CHRIST'S HEART

CHRIST’S WORK AND CHRIST’S HEART

1 Kings 17: 9 - 24; Luke 17: 11 - 19 I desire, if the Lord permit me, to trace the different ways by which souls are hindered from enjoying the gospel. They have a part of it, that is, they have the beginning, but not the finish.

The Lord refers in Luke 4 to the widow of Sarepta. The prophet goes to her house and is there a whole year. “She, and he, and her house, did eat many days (you will find in the margin of the Bible that it is ‘a whole year’). And the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail” for three hundred and sixty five days. Thus was she relieved of the famine; that is where many are now as to the state of their souls. They have relief, they believe in Jesus; but they have not reached the finish of the gospel, they have not come to God’s salvation. Relief merely is not salvation. It is a good beginning, and the necessary beginning, but it is not the finish; it is not salvation. The prophet was in the widow’s house a whole year, that is a significant time, because it took in every variety of season. There was relief, the apprehension of death was staved off. But after this comes the test; her son dies. Death has come in, and now where is she? All her relief has gone. She says to the prophet, “Art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?” After spending a whole year in comfort, relieved in a remarkable way, she is now in the greatest distress, and this is the history of many converts. They believe in Jesus, and they get relief; but I ask, have you come to God? Have you found that Jesus is out of death?

The prophet took the child up and laid him upon his own bed, and “stretched himself upon the child three times”, thus connecting himself with death (^[p. 165] figuratively setting forth the death of our blessed Lord), and he brought the child back alive and delivered him to his mother and said, “See, thy son liveth”. There is life out of death. Of course it is a figure; the Lord refers to it in Luke 4: 25, and says, “Many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias”, yet there was only one to whom Elias was sent; signifying that He Himself was rejected by Israel, and yet He could find a widow who would be glad to receive Him. In type the widow was the gentile, and that includes us. One can understand this widow’s great delight when she saw that her son lived. “Now” (she says) “by this, I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the Lord in thy mouth is truth”.

I turn now to Luke 17: 11 - 19. There you see the sinner and the Saviour together, a glorious sight for everyone. “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth”, Isaiah 45: 22. What a touching moment it was to these ten lepers! They were outcast, and nobody could approach them, and they say, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us. And when he saw them, he said unto them, Go shew yourselves unto the priests. And it came to pass, that, as they went, they were cleansed”. They were relieved. I believe there are many souls there; perhaps I am addressing some in this room who have looked to Jesus, and have got relief, but who have not come to Himself. All the ten were relieved, they were cleansed, but “one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at his feet, giving him thanks”. Sooner or later, if you ever know Him, you must do this, you must come to Him. The other nine go on, and they go through Leviticus 14, and that is where the mass of believers are in the present day. They believe in Jesus, they have found relief, but they have not found approach to God; they are occupied with religion instead of with Him. They have not really come to God - to the One whom they ^[p. 166] have offended. They have not peace with God. There is relief, but no sense of reconciliation. This is set forth in Israel coming out of Egypt. They were sheltered from the Judge by the blood, but they are afraid of Pharaoh and the Egyptians. There was a very large company at Pi-hahiroth delivered from judgment, but they were all afraid, though they were sheltered from the Judge. It is often said, you will not be lost. But is that all? If that is all you are not brought to God. Your enemies are not overcome. Look at what the Lord has effected! Mark you what it is! He has abolished death and brought life and incorruptibility to light by the gospel. I do not go into it because my object now is not simply to set forth the gospel, but my desire is to show where souls are hindered in the enjoyment of the gospel, or in the reception of a full gospel; the hindrance is, that though they have looked to the Saviour and found relief, they have never yet learned how they stand with God.

Well, one of the ten who were cleansed turns back, and with a loud voice glorifies God. What does that exemplify to you? This - that you have to get acquainted with the One who has effected the cure for you. It is a very sad thing to find that souls can accept the cure, without caring to get acquainted with the One who has effected the cure, and therefore they do not enjoy acceptance with God. The remarkable fact in connection with it is that, when you are brought to God, it is God you are occupied with. Just as it was with Israel when they were over the Red Sea, and were really clear of all their enemies. What were they occupied with then? Not with their enemies, but with God. It is very interesting to notice that the one who has learned deliverance from all that is against him is no longer occupied with what is against him, but he is occupied with God who is for him. It is the song in Exodus 15, “The Lord ... hath triumphed gloriously”. A little while before they were afraid of the Egyptians. Terrible pressure was upon them. You cannot say they were unsaved. They were under the shelter of the blood, but they were not clear of the power of the enemy.

Now what is so touching in this cleansed leper is that he turns back, and with a loud voice glorifies God, and falls down on his face at the feet of Jesus. He traces the cure to the Curer. I put a very simple question to everyone in this room. You all profess to believe that Christ died for your sins. Did you ever go to Him? Did you ever make His acquaintance? Did you ever get into the sense of the reality of having to do with One risen out of death? You could not come to Him anywhere else now. That is the great point, and if you do make acquaintance with Him now, it is with a living Christ that you make acquaintance. I can understand someone here saying, Well, if I were acquainted with a living Christ I should be fully happy. And so you would; you would not have a shade of fear of any kind. He was not raised from the dead when the leper came back to Him, but the one that was cured traced the cure up to God. He saw God by faith. He glorified God. Therefore the Lord said to him, “Arise, go thy way: thy faith hath made thee whole”.

It reminds us of another scene in Luke 5 of this same gospel. Peter was giving his time and his means, as we should say, for the Lord’s service. The Lord desired him to let down the nets, and he got a great multitude of fishes, so that the ships began to sink; but Peter, instead of being delighted at this great favour (great mercy we should call it), “fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”, verse 8. What made him do that? I pray you to enter into it. Did you ever do that? Peter had received the Lord as the Messiah, but now the miracle made him sensible of this - I have to do with God.

^[p. 168] Now this One is declared to be the Son of God with power by resurrection of the dead, and He gives the Holy Spirit. John says, “I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God”, John 1: 34.

The widow says to the prophet, Now I know that you are a man of God. When? When death is overcome. Whom do you know now? CHRIST RISEN; and it is not only that, but believing in Christ risen, you receive the Holy Spirit.

What a wonderful moment that is! I do not weaken the value of relief; on the contrary, I want to establish it. But it is not enough to have a beginning, you do not understand the work of God till you come to the finish of it. Take any case you like as illustration. For example, Jonathan. He had relief when he saw Goliath’s head in David’s hand, but he did not know David yet. He had never seen him before, but he is not satisfied without making his acquaintance. What I want is that you should come to Him. “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink”, John 7: 37. What a blessed moment it is when the sinner can say, I am not only relieved of the burden and pressure that lay upon me, I am not only under the shelter of the death of Christ, but I am acquainted with the One who is out of death, and I know what His feeling is toward me.

What advantage had the cleansed leper who turned back to the Lord over the other nine who went on? The latter had to go through legal ordinances, and one thing and another, to get approach to God, and never did get it truly, only in figure. And that is where the mass of christians are, going through religious services and one thing and another, trying to commend them-selves to God. They may be truly converted, but they are not established in grace. They have a bit of the gospel, but not the gospel of God.

When Jonathan was acquainted with David, he not only loved him as he loved his own soul for what he ^[p. 169] had done, but they made a covenant. They understood one another. Let me say to every heart in this room, Have you and Christ an understanding? Have you, speaking figuratively, a covenant with Him? What do you understand by the covenant? Jonathan and David understood one another. There was a bond between them, and Jonathan delighted to make much of David. For us the covenant, the bond, is that He gives us the Holy Spirit. Look at the woman in Luke 7; she doubtless believed in the Saviour, but she was not satisfied without getting to Him, and she goes to the Pharisee’s house where He was. I want you to get to Him, and not to be satisfied with having merely relief. Many a one says, I believe that Christ died and put away my sins, and I am relieved. If I am addressing such a one, I would say, Have you made acquaintance with the One who shed His blood for you? Do you know Him now risen from the dead? If you do, He gives you the Spirit of God, so that there is a bond between you and Him. You are established in grace.

I have already referred to Peter, when he fell down at Jesus’ knees and said, “Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord”. What reassured him? “Fear not”, says the Lord. Did you ever hear Him say to you, Fear not? What is the effect? Peter leaves all, and follows Him. It is not simply that I see His greatness, or that I believe He is the Saviour, but I know that He has a heart for me; that is what Jonathan found with David, and that is what Peter learns here. He learns Christ’s heart and fear is gone. It is a never-to-be-forgotten moment when you learn what His heart is. There is where the lack is. You get an instance of what I am speaking of in Joseph’s brethren in Genesis 50. They had been living on Joseph’s services for seventeen years, and when their father died they said, “Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him”. They did not know his heart. That is like ^[p. 170] many believers, they do not know Christ’s heart. Therefore I press upon you to get acquainted with His heart, not with His work only, but get acquainted with Himself. I am not asking you, do you know His work? But I ask you, do you know His heart? Joseph’s brethren did not know Joseph’s heart. The widow of Sarepta says to the prophet when death comes in, Have you come to call my sin to remembrance? When are you clear of death? When you see life out of death. And when do you see it? When you see Christ risen. If you have to do with Christ now, it must be Christ risen. That is what I am pressing on you. Why? Because then you know Him out of death, and if you know Him out of death, your heart is established by a bond with Himself, and that bond is the Holy Spirit. It is not only that you are relieved, but you are in happy relations with Himself, and you know what His heart is for you, and that you can never lose. We see Peter failing afterwards, but even when he failed, he never doubted the heart of Christ. We read in John 21 that when he heard it was the Lord, he girt his fisher’s coat on him, and cast himself into the sea to reach Him; he was not afraid of Him.

I need not add more, beloved friends, but see how the Lord Himself looks at it. He laments, and says, “Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger”. Is there but one who returns - one who has found his way to God, and has not only got relief, but has come to the One who relieved him? The blessed Lord was delivered, “the just for the unjust”. What for? “That he might bring us to God,” 1 Peter 3: 18. And let me say in conclusion, how can you have real rest until you know what God feels about you? You cannot; and therefore, as I said before, the first action of the Holy Spirit in your soul is to tell you of the love of God. That is the first effect of this new bond. this new covenant. The one ^[p. 171] great impression that the Father made upon the prodigal son was - I love you; and that is the first impression that the Holy Spirit makes in the soul, when He comes to indwell. “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which has been given to us”, Romans 5: 5. I ask you all, Do you know the heart of Him who did the work? You can never know love till you are near the One who loves you. You can know His service at a distance, but you can never know His heart till you are near it. Joseph wept when his brethren spake unto him, as much as to say, Is that all you know about me after all these years? The nearer you come to Christ the more you find out what is in His heart. “Perfect love casteth out fear”, 1 John 4: 18.

The Lord grant that every soul in this room may not be satisfied with saying, I believe in Him, but may be able to say, I have come to Himself, and I know what His heart towards me is; for His name’s sake.