NEARNESS TO CHRIST WHERE HE IS
[p. 27] NEARNESS TO CHRIST WHERE HE IS
Hebrews 4: 11 - 16; 10: 19 - 22
JBS We are tracing the work of the Spirit in us, and last evening we got so far as to find that we are not only in the favour of God and able to joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ through whom we have received the reconciliation but that we are freed from sin. “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set me free from the law of sin and of death”, Romans 8: 2. We are not in flesh but in Spirit - that is the great change - so that not only am I in the favour of God and joying in God, but if I am walking in the Spirit I am free from sin - not sins but sin. Therefore “if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body” - not mortify the body which is monkery - “ye shall live”. We are in the Spirit but we have to walk in the Spirit.
Having taken this ground that we are in the Spirit, the Spirit is our link with Christ (for “if any one has not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of him”, Romans 8: 9) we now come to another step. We have tasted the love of Christ; the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given to us; but now we have a further thing, not only the love of Christ but company with Him, not company with Him here on earth, the day for that is over, but where He now is. And if you do not get freed from sin you cannot have company with Him, that is the order of the Spirit. It is a beautiful order in itself, because if you know His love, which is the first step, you would like to have company with Him and to be freed from everything that would hinder that. You find in the gospels that those who loved the Lord followed Him; nothing satisfies love but company. But then remember it is not here.
J G. What do you mean by [p. 28] freed from sin?
JBS I am freed from sin through the Spirit: I am free from the man that produced the sin. The Spirit enables you to do the commonest thing not as you would do it naturally but as Christ would do it. Therefore the apostle says, “The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me”, Galatians 2: 20. It is a great thing to know that if I am in the Spirit I am master of the flesh. If the flesh rules me I am not in the Spirit, that is clear. And the test that I am walking in the Spirit is that Christ is paramount. Therefore the whole bearing of a man is indicative of the Spirit’s work in him. I do not ask a man to change his appearance or bearing, but as walking in the Spirit his whole bearing would be changed. If you want to grow, to make progress it must be by the work of the Spirit in you. Knowledge of Scripture alone will not do it. Knowledge of Scripture is not necessarily knowledge of the Lord. Many know a great deal of Scripture who know very little of the Lord Himself. It is a remarkable statement of the Lord’s concerning the Spirit: “He shall ... bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you”, John 14: 26. It is not only the things He said brought to mind, but they knew the Person who said them.
Now in the book of Hebrews we have a very important thing. We have learnt already in Romans that you prefer Christ to Adam. You have to do with Him who is risen from among the dead, you have learnt what His love is, you can say He loved me and gave Himself for me; and now you get another thing. You are going through the wilderness, a trying place, you find what He can be to you, you not only learn that He comes down to the lowest point where you are, to conduct you to the highest point where He is, but your heart is drawn away to Him where He is. It is not the place that is before you, but your heart is drawn away from this place by One who is not in it.
WK [p. 29] The statement I think is clear enough; what we want is the effect.
JBS We must see the thing first. The first step is light, then exercise of soul, then follows prayer and then the work of the Spirit.
WK First light, that is the revelation; then exercise, that is, I am nothing?
JBS Yes. The difference between what I call an intellectual discourse and a spiritual discourse is this: by an intellectual discourse you are exhilarated. You say, ‘What a beautiful lecture’, when very likely you have not really got a bit of it. When it is spiritual the effect is you are subdued and want to be alone. Then there is exercise and according to the exercise you make progress. You never get what you do not value. Everyone in this room has got what he values. You may not think so but it is always true, according to the principle, “He that seeketh findeth”, Matthew 7: 8.
The point we reach here in Hebrews is that we value Christ for His company. He is not here but in heaven, and He is a great Priest over the house of God, and a great Priest for us.
Ques What is the difference between a priest and a Saviour?
JBS A priest has nothing to do with saving us. You must know the Saviour first: if you do not know the Saviour you will never know the Priest. He is the Saviour but He is not saving you now; it is a Priest I want now. And the Priest has nothing to do with sin, but to maintain you with God. In christendom they have brought the Priest down to earth; the Priest is between the congregation and God.
WK That is not the idea of the Priest?
JBS That is the idea of a priest on earth but not of a Priest in heaven, because in heaven we are in company with Him. Thus in Leviticus 16 Aaron went into the holiest and offered a bullock for himself [p. 30] and for his house. Christ has gone into heaven itself and we go in with Him.
But first you must learn that you are freed from sin. You have learnt to prefer Christ before everyone and everything; you have learnt His love to you; and now comes the question, Where is He? This is the point in the Hebrews. The actual purpose of the book was to correct the tendency of the Jewish believers to settle on the earth, and the apostle shows how much you are dependent on the company of Christ where He is. The effect of that company is to draw your heart away from this place where He is not, to the place where He is. There is not a word about going to heaven, but you are so attracted by the company of Christ and the benefit you derive from His company that your heart is drawn away from this place to Christ where He is, and that is the race.
WK The race then is to get there?
JBS Yes, but you are not out of the wilderness in Hebrews. You are running but you are not out of it.
WAW I do not quite understand what you said about light and exercise. What is the light?
JBS The light of the Word shows you what is yours. You say, ‘I see it,’ but you have not got it yet. Then follows exercise in order that you may get it.
WK The light sets forth what is obtainable?
JBS Yes.
WAW Then the exercise is a second thing, a desire and longing for it.
JBS Quite so.
WAW And the prayer is that I am found alone seeking it?
JBS Yes.
WK The exercise is the discovery that you have not got it?
JBS [p. 31] Yes.
AG Would Peter be an instance of the light falling upon one?
JBS The light that fell upon Peter was that he was in the presence of the Lord and it terrified him. What reassured him was that Christ cared for him. I must know this first, that Christ cares for me. Then I find He is not here, He is gone to heaven, and I am to be in company with Him there - but how? This is the great point in Hebrews; not only as in Romans that I know Him, I have learnt His love, and prefer Him to Adam, but that I have His company. We are His companions, His brethren. His company is so necessary to me, and the effect of it is so great, that I am attached to Himself personally where He is. It is not that I am driven to Him by what is disagreeable in this place, but my heart is so drawn to Him who is not here that I run to Him where He is.
TMG Where your treasure is there will your heart be also.
JBS Exactly.
TMG Of course, we must know that we are fitted to be His companions?
JBS Quite so. You must know Romans first; that comes out even in Hebrews.
WAW Do you think we must learn first what Peter learnt in the light?
JBS Yes. He realised that he was in the presence of God and the effect was that instead of being delighted with the great draught of fishes which he had, he was in fear and distress, and then he obtained relief by learning that the Lord cared for him. If you have not learnt that, you have not touched Christ’s love. Many a one knows His service who does not know His love and if you do not know His love you cannot go on to know Him as Priest.
WAW You said it was not finding things disagreeable here; that it is not troubles that drive us away from [p. 32] the earth?
JBS I never yet saw a person driven out by troubles; he will only try to make things smoother. It is the knowledge of the love of Christ and attraction to Him where He is that draws the heart away from this earth. If a husband goes to Australia his wife says, ‘I will go, too,’ and if she cannot go her heart is there. The book of Hebrews does not tell the saints they must not be earthly, but they find so much in the company of the One who is not here that their hearts are drawn away from this place. Like a man going to his business; if he is intent on it he may see the most attractive thing on his way but he is not detained by it as his thoughts are on another thing. The most attractive thing here does not touch the saint who knows what it is to have a greater attraction elsewhere. It is the attraction of the Person, not the place.
A great many people want to go on to the Priest before they have done with the question of sins, but you cannot. The book of Hebrews opens with this: “Who ... when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down”. You must come altogether upon new ground and in Hebrews 2: 11 you see what it is: “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”. Now you see you are altogether of a new stock. It is not merely as in Romans that I prefer Christ to Adam, but I am of His stock - not that He is of mine. There is where all the late blundering about eternal life has been. Eternal life does not come to the man here but you have to go to another Man to get it. You have death in Adam and life in Christ, and you have to leave the one man to get to the Other.
WAW Of course a person has to desire it. Do you not think that if a person is going on right these things will drop in in their turn?
JBS I do. I believe that a man who has learnt Romans 8 will get on to Hebrews, but a man who has [p. 33] never learnt Romans will never be in Hebrews. A man must be able to spell before he can read, but he does not cease to be able to spell when he can read.
WAW It is God’s great desire that we should go on to that.
JBS Not only so but I am sure the Spirit of God is working in every one of us to that end, but we resist Him more or less. It is all ours, He wants to give us possession of what is ours.
WK That is why you can speak of the light presenting things to us because all is accomplished for us?
JBS Yes, the Spirit only effects that in me which is already true for me. There is progress, but what we are going on with is done. If you are not dead to sin you cannot go on. That is where the Corinthians and the Galatians both stuck fast.
WK You mean by a person not being dead to sin that he has not got that truth formed in his soul?
JBS No, not even that, he is not walking in it. There must be the bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus.
WK So that a person might have a certain presentation of the truth made to him, might have accepted it and been conformed to it but through carelessness he might not be walking in it, and thus there would be no progress?
JBS Quite so. The Corinthians and the Galatians had known the truth but they were not walking in it, and hence the apostle says, “I ... could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ”, 1 Corinthians 3: 1.
Now let us go on with Hebrews. In the second chapter we get a very important point: that we are of His nature or stock. I believe there is a great lack in souls in not understanding that not only am I clear of Adam and have come to Christ but I am of His order: we are His brethren. You could not talk of sin in connection with Christ’s brethren; he that is born of [p. 34] God does not sin. You will never understand the assembly till you understand this, that we are of Christ’s stock. To take the figure: the only one thing that Abraham’s steward was sworn to was the lineage of the bride for Isaac, that she should be of the right stock. Believe me, it is the great hindrance to souls not to see this; they are converted but they do not realise the fact that we are of the same stock and lineage as Christ, and therefore they are not fit to be brought on to union.
TMG If we were not in chapter 2, verse 11, we could not be His companions?
JBS No, and it is a very important thing. You could not be a companion to Him unless you were suited to Him. Therefore the word is used in the third chapter, companions, or partakers, of Christ.
WAW “Both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one” - is that companionship?
JBS It is the basis of companionship. We are made partakers of Christ. We are His brethren. The charge given to Abraham’s servant is the type of it.
TMG There would not be suitability for union without this companionship or oneness?
WK When it is said, “All of one”, that is not union?
JBS No, that means of one nature, stock, or lineage. It is very hard to put into a noun as the English requires, because if you express one thought you exclude another. One stock is the nearest to it that I can think of.
WAW Does Romans necessarily precede this?
JBS Certainly. How could you be of His stock if you were not clear of the old thing?
AG Would you not say that the book of Hebrews is inclusive of itself of what is necessary to be learnt in order to reach this point?
JBS You will not learn Hebrews until you have learnt Romans. It has often been said that Romans is [p. 35] escape and Hebrews is approach. Romans answers to Exodus - no new remark - and Hebrews to Leviticus.
Now the practical effect is that all along the wilderness journey instead of looking for something in the wilderness you are so attracted to Christ that you are running away from the wilderness to get to where He is. In Hebrews you do not get to where He is, as in Ephesians, you are still running on to Him. In Hebrews you are always in the wilderness and there-fore always in the race.
WAW That word ‘attraction’ is of immense importance?
JBS Yes, but you must not lose the thought of the Person. He attracts you.
W K. It is in Romans that you learn Him?
JBS Yes, I learn that He is to be preferred to Adam, and I know His love and that nothing can separate me from it. That is where the attraction begins. It is in the company of a person that I enjoy his love. You begin like Peter, but what you find practically is that you are here in the world where naturally you would like to settle down - we are all more or less touched with this - and you feel the difficulty of surmounting everything here and going on to heaven where He is. Therefore what we have here next is our infirmities. Infirmities are not sins, but weaknesses. There are two things in the fourth chapter: the word of God which finds you out, which discovers whether you are really set on following the call of God or not; then the infirmities that oppress me - sickness, or difficult circumstances, or bereavement, which is the worst of all. I find out that I am indeed in the wilderness, while He is in heaven. But He answers, ‘I have been where you are, though I am not there now.’ Observe the language: “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession”. Mark the ground you are upon. Here [p. 36] I am under pressure of circumstances, ill-health, or bereavement and I know the love of Him who has gone on high. He says to me, I know the pressure, I have been down there and I can enter into it all. He comes to me not merely to relieve me of the pressure but to give me His company that I may be above the pressure by being drawn to Himself.
Ques Do you mean that the pressure is taken away?
JBS No, I mean that He makes me know that He sympathises with me.
TMG He enables me to go through the pressure well instead of removing it?
JBS He gives you to know His company; He lifts you to Himself. The effect of His sympathy is to draw you to Himself. Most people in passing through suffering will tell you, the Lord has been very good to me, He has given me relief; but that is not sympathy.
WK Take a person in bad circumstances as an illustration.
JBS Well, take a person in bereavement. The Lord comes to that person, as He did to Mary of Bethany, and He Himself fills up the blank. It is not merely to give you relief but to have you in company with Himself.
WK Is it that He takes the place of the one that has been taken away?
JBS He fills up the void, so that you are lifted above the pressure of the bereavement. You can go to a throne of grace. You can go on with God instead of being overwhelmed by the trial, and simply because you are in His company.
WK That is what gives you His sustainment?
JBS Yes, and if you lost His company you would lose the sustainment.
WK It is not that you get something from Him; His company itself is the thing?
JBS Yes, while you are in His company you are [p. 37] borne above the pressure of the trial. As Paul could say, “The Lord stood with me, and strengthened me”, 2 Timothy 4: 17. It is not merely that you get the help of God, but you are sustained. Very often you get the sustainment before the relief comes. Were I to preach for ever I could not explain it to a person who did not try it.
WAW Do you mean that the sustainment is His company?
JBS It is in His company I have it. Supposing you had a very great pressure upon you, and He gave you His hand and said, ‘Come with Me,’ you would be so drawn to Himself that you would forget your trouble and be above all the disturbance and pressure of it. You will never understand it till you try it.
WAW I am sure we all desire it.
JBS Well, you must begin with desire but desire alone will not do.
JFH I am not sure that all do desire it; I think what most people desire is relief.
JBS The sluggard desireth and hath nothing.
WAW “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after”, Psalm 27: 4.
JBS Ah, now you have made a great addition.
WAW Do you think the sustainment is conferred at the moment?
JBS If you are in the Lord’s company you will find such wonderful sustainment that you can go to God about the pressure that is on you.
WK But is it not the Spirit that brings you into that?
JBS That is what I started with. If you are not on the ground of the Spirit you cannot touch Hebrews.
WK And is not the sustainment actually ministered to you by the Spirit?
JBS No question of it. You could not have any link with Him without the Spirit. Now we have learnt we are of His own stock, we are His brethren and we know His company. But here I am encompassed [p. 38] with all the variety of infirmities - of health, of circumstances, of bereavement. The Lord says, I have been down there, I know all about it, and I can come down to you as your great High Priest, Jesus the Son of God. We forget often whom we have to do with. Most people speak of the High Priest as Jesus merely, thinking of Him as He was on earth; He is risen and ascended and at the right hand of God, but then He is the very One who was down here who is feeling for me. He is out of all the circumstances of trial Himself but He wants to sustain me in them in order to endear Himself to me.
WAW No one can sympathise but Himself; no saint can sympathise with another.
JBS That is going too far. If a brother comes to sympathise with you he may really do so but he cannot go beyond your level; but the Lord is so infinitely above it all that He can come down to you in the lowest point to bear you up to the very highest point, as we have it in chapter 10, “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest”.
TMG But He is the One who has been down here, and is it not true that you can have sympathy only from One who has been in the same trial and is out of it?
JBS Quite so.
JMcF Is it only for special occasions that we need the Priest?
JBS You require Him always for God. But supposing that you are so weighed down with the pressure that you are not able to lift yourself up, He comes to you and bears you company and lifts you up to bear Him company, and thus you will be so sustained above the pressure that you can turn to God.
JMcF We always need Him in that way?
JBS Yes, if you always have infirmities.
JMcF But have we not always infirmities?
JBS [p. 39] Well, sometimes not much. I think there are some days that I have not much.
WK It is not necessary that you should have infirmities every day?
JBS No, but then if I have, I have learnt the resource. It is not like a man in sickness who turns to a physician not knowing whether he can meet his case or not. I know the Lord can meet the circumstances and my heart is drawn to Him because He not only comes down to me in the lowest but also conducts me to the highest point, that I might be in His company. Companions is the great point all through. If I have got love in Romans I have company in Hebrews. And where? In the holiest. The antitype of the holiest is Christ Himself. It is very important to know that I have come to Him in glory. In the holiest was the golden box with the cherubim resting upon it and the moment Christ died the veil was rent. He was the answer to that. And now where have you come from and where have you come to? I have come from the greatest pressure down here lifted up by company with Himself to the brightest spot up there, the holiest of all, where the glory rests. To a Jew the apostle would say, ‘The holiest of all,’ and to a gentile, ‘Beholding the glory of the Lord.’ W.K. Why the difference?
JBS Because a gentile knew nothing about the holiest.
AG Then all that God set forth in the holiest is now found in Christ?
JBS Yes, and what you have got now is beholding the Lord’s glory and the effect upon you is such as nothing else would produce - no amount of reading Scripture even - you are transformed to the same image.
WK That is by being in the holiest.
JBS Yes, and that shows again that the whole bearing of the person becomes indicative of the measure of the Spirit’s work in [p. 40] him.
WK Yes, for of course it is the Spirit that leads you there.
JBS Yes, and you are changed. The word is really metamorphosed. It only occurs four times in the New Testament, and in Romans 12 it is translated ‘transformed.’ To me it is a most beautiful thing that if I were beholding the Lord’s glory I should be completely transformed. I have heard it said, we may have such a wonderful unfolding of Scripture so as to be transformed, but that is not it. Look at Psalm 73. There is a man completely transformed, but how? By going into the sanctuary. By beholding the Lord’s glory perhaps in your own room you would be transformed, but then it would be in reference to yourself; but if I behold the Lord’s glory in the assembly the effect will be in reference to the assembly. When I go into the assembly I go into His house; when He comes to me it is to my house and in reference to my needs. The practical effect is that the Lord becomes so endeared to you that you are looking off unto Jesus and running the race. Now you go to your business every day and perhaps on the way you find something to attract you. But you refuse it. I have got a power which is able to carry me on and therefore I run with endurance.