LOVE FOR CHRIST BEGOTTEN AND EXPRESSED
Luke 7: 44-50; 13:10-17; 23:49, 55, 56
These passages speak of certain women, and women in Scripture are taken up not simply to point to literal women, but also to direct attention to the thought of what is being worked out in souls through exercise, and what is being developed in the way of affection, and it is a serious matter not to have affection for Christ. What God has in mind is that everyone should be brought to have affection for Christ, and not only so but that things should be worked out in us and a definite result arrived at. Take for instance the chief of sinners; he tells us himself that he had been a blasphemer, a persecutor, and an insolent overbearing man, but now as a result of the gospel that chief of sinners will have a place eternally in heaven with Christ, as like Him and loving Him. And that is what God has in mind in the gospel—not only that we should never come into condemnation, but that there should be something worked out in us that is of real value in His sight, which will abide eternally, and that we should be real lovers of Christ.
The first epistle to the Corinthians says, “If anyone love not the Lord Jesus Christ let him be Anathema Maranatha” (chap 16: 22) let him be accursed at His coming. I only mention that to show what is in mind in taking up the illustration of women. It applies to all of us, men or women, boys or girls. God has in mind in the presentation of Christ in the glad tidings that we should be secured as lovers of Christ and secured as those in whom something has been wrought out that will abide for the pleasure of God. We may as well come to it that whatever we are naturally, whether it is acceptable to men or not, it will not do for heaven. Nothing will do for heaven but that which corresponds to Christ. And the glad tidings has come in as power from God not only to save souls but to effect a remarkable change.
These four passages which I have read are very interesting; the first one is well known to us. It presents a woman who was a sinner, and she knew she was, and other people knew it too. She apparently had that reputation publicly—“a woman in the city who was a sinner”—but she knew it, and not only so but she knew that grace had come in, in the Person of the Lord Jesus, whereby her sins might be forgiven. You can understand her attitude. I do not believe we shall ever love Christ very much if we do not get seriously convicted of sin; if we are shallow in regard to sin, we shall not love Christ very much. The more we get convicted the more we shall appreciate the One who has died for our sins and been buried and raised again. This woman had been convicted; there was no doubt about it; and she was conscious of her sins, of the enormity of them, of the number of them, but she had a sense that there was grace in Christ to meet them all, and notwithstanding the atmosphere of the house she took up this attitude of standing behind Jesus weeping, washing His feet with tears, wiping them with the hairs of her head, kissing His feet and anointing them with the myrrh. Why such attention to the feet of Jesus? The scripture says, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that announceth glad tidings!”, Isa 52: 7.
Think of the movements of the Son of God coming down from heaven in order that He might make propitiation for our sins by His death, coming down so near to us, prepared to have personal dealings with each one. Go through the gospel of John and see what incidents there are of personal dealings on the part of the Son of God with individuals. You get a man of reputation like Nicodemus; a woman of no reputation like the woman in chapter 4; a woman convicted of sin, in the very act, chapter 8; a blind man, chapter 9, and so on. All these are cases where the Lord Jesus had personal dealings with individuals, and the One who had personal dealings is no less than the Son of God come down from heaven in order that He might do so. This woman realised that, and He brought divine grace to her, and so she paid great attention to His feet. They were of great interest to her. They spoke to her of the journey that He had undertaken in order to meet her need. What a journey it was; no one but He who is God Himself could possibly have undertaken it; no one but Jesus could possibly have made atonement for sins; no one in heaven or earth could possibly have begun to contemplate doing such a thing; only One who is absolutely holy, sinless, spotless and undefiled could present Himself as an offering to God to make propitiation for sins. Where was such a one to be found? Only God Himself in the Person of the Son, one of the Persons of the Godhead, could undertake such a thing. He took manhood condition, in order that, charging Himself with the sins of many, He might bear them in His Own body on the tree. Think of it—taking up all your sins! He knows them far better than you do. Think of the immensity of that which He undertook, bearing the judgment of God in an unsparing way. He did not ask for any mitigation, or shortening of the time, but bore the judgment, the whole extent and weight of it from beginning to end, and it was for you and me and for all who put their trust in Him. You can understand Paul saying, “the Son of God, who has loved me and has given himself for me”, Gal 2: 20. You can understand that Paul would become attached in heart to Jesus. You can understand that he would say, “far be it from me to boast save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the world is crucified to me, and I to the world”, Gal 6: 14. You can understand such expressions from a man like the chief of sinners. He was just one of whom this woman was a sample. She had a great sense that divine grace in Jesus had come down to her to meet her need, and she showed her appreciation of it by the way she acted towards Him. It was not that her sins were forgiven because she loved much. That is not the meaning at all. The fact is that she loved much because many sins were forgiven. That is the meaning of it. The Lord says of her, “Her many sins are forgiven; for she loved much”. That is the evidence of her sins being forgiven; it is not the cause of it. The fact is that many sins were forgiven and in the sense of it she loved much.
Well, now, it is a good thing if the Lord could call attention to someone of that character. Not that we want to put a premium on sins. The best living of us has committed many, many sins; no one can number them but God. David says, “mine iniquities … are more than the hairs of my head” (Ps 40: 12), and no one can number the hairs of our head but God. Thank God, He does number them. The Lord says the hairs of our head are all numbered, in order to impress us with the detailed knowledge that God has of every one of us, the meticulous care that He takes of each one of us. The psalmist said his sins were more than the hairs of his head. And so, if a person acknowledges his sins in the presence of God, he begins to appreciate grace. So the Lord says to the woman, “Thy sins are forgiven”. There were those who would call it in question: “And they that were with them at table began to say within themselves, Who is this who forgives sins also”. Now forgiveness proceeds straight from the heart of God, but He does not forgive sins without a righteous basis for it which has been laid in the precious death of Christ. God Himself provided Christ as the sacrifice. He “has been delivered for our offences and has been raised for our justification”, Rom 4: 25. The very God who has been sinned against, who has got to take these matters up—and He will take them up with everyone in the day of judgment if they are not settled before—the same God has delivered Him for our offences and raised Him for our justification. God has shown that His claims have been fully met, that all that is due to His throne has been satisfied completely and eternally, by raising again our Lord Jesus who took His place on the cross to work atonement. And therefore, in raising Jesus from among the dead God has shown that His claims having been met, the matter of our sins has been completely and eternally settled, so that Satan himself cannot challenge it. God is the justifier, and when God is the justifier no one can condemn. What a wonderful gospel it is! God, the justifier, who then can condemn? That is what the apostle says, and he raises a challenge as the chief of sinners. Let anyone say what he will, God is the justifier, and He has the last word and no one can call it in question. So, the Lord says to this woman, “Thy sins are forgiven”. And then, as I said, someone raised a question. Incidentally this incident in two cases shows that God reads the heart. It is a good thing to be conscious of that. In verse 39 it says, “And the Pharisee who had invited him, seeing it, spoke with himself saying, This person if he were a prophet would have known who and what the woman is who touches him, for she is a sinner”. He said it just to himself; he did not express it aloud. Then it says, “And Jesus answering said to him, Simon, I have somewhat to say to thee”. The Lord read the heart. And then again it says in verse 49, “And they that were with them at table began to say within themselves …”. Thus the Spirit of God has placed on record that things that people say within themselves God reads and knows and records—it is put on record in Scripture. We have to do with a heart-knowing God, and it is a good thing to keep that in mind. Those who serve the Lord must keep it in mind too, for Paul speaking of his service says, “not as pleasing men, but God, who proves our hearts”, 1 Thess 2: 4. So we all have to keep it in mind. He knows what is going on in the heart. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and incurable”, Jer 17: 9. After you have come to Christ you are conscious of the fact that the heart still has the same character, but when you have the Holy Spirit you have power to judge things, and judge things as God judges them, so that you come into line, so to speak, with God in His judgment of what we are in the flesh and His appreciation of Christ as the perfect answer to it.
When we come to chapter 13, we have another case. It is not there a sinner because the Lord says she is a daughter of Abraham; that is to say, she is one of the household of faith, but like many people who are believers, she is bound. She is self-occupied and in no wise able to lift up her head. Think of being in that state for eighteen years—a person who is conscientious and scrupulous and knows what is fitting in the sight of God and yet looking inside to see if she can find it there and never finding it. Think of it, never able to lift up her head, and in that state for eighteen years! The Lord says, Satan had bound her. Perhaps there is someone here self-occupied. Maybe you have never acknowledged it to others and therefore never got the help you might have, because others have known all about this experience. There are plenty of people who have known what it is to get self-occupied, wishing that they could be better than they are. This woman went on looking within for eighteen years, and behind it was Satan. God does not want people to be bound so that they cannot lift up their heads. There is nothing God delights in more than to see people able to lift up their eyes and hearts to Himself, in the liberty of peace and joy. That is what God delights in. God does not delight in anyone being bound in spirit. This woman was in this state and it says the Lord saw her, “And Jesus, seeing her, called to her”. It does not say that he called her to Him, but He called to her; that is to say, He would divert her attention from herself to Himself. He called to her. That is the whole point. You will never get liberty of spirit while you go on looking within, occupied with yourself. What will give you liberty of spirit is to get your eye fixed on Christ, a Man in the glory. He has been into death for you. Not only your sins were taken upon Himself when He died on the cross, but all that you are as sinful, as in the flesh. That is the truth of the gospel. How much it cost the Lord Jesus. He was made sin; the very thing itself, a most astounding statement. No one could really tell the depths that are involved in it or explain the mystery of it, but there is the glorious fact of it that the Lord Jesus was made sin. “He who knew not sin he has made sin for us”. The very thing, sin, so detestable to God, so abhorrent to Christ. The Lord was so identified with it, for your sake and mine, that He was made it, and as thus made sin He stepped into the position where sin had to be judged according to God. It was condemned and judged, and in the Person of Jesus, who took our place; the history of sinful man was ended in death and was put out of sight for ever. Oh, what a wonderful way God has taken to meet our need! It all hinges on Jesus. No one else could possibly have taken our place but Jesus. No one else could possibly die and rise again but Jesus. It all hinges on Him. But thank God it has been done, and now He is no longer on the cross or in the grave, He is at the right hand of God in glory, God Himself having set Him there. And now the Lord calls to this woman as though He was diverting her attention from herself to Himself. And as she takes account of Him, and as you and I take account of Him, as and where He is, you will see that the whole thing that troubles you—what you are in yourself and you cannot mend it—the whole thing before God has been judged and for ever put out of sight. As your faith is in Christ glorified He seals that faith with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and that meets our state before God for ever. We are set up before Him in the life of that Man whom He has glorified. He laid His hands upon her; He identified Himself with her; and that is what the Lord does here. He gives the Holy Spirit. You may partake in the Holy Spirit. You will remember the woman who came to Jesus and said, If only I can touch the hem of His garment I shall be healed. She came in spite of difficulties and touched the hem of His garment and the Lord says, “Some one has touched me, for I have known that power has gone out from me”, Luke 8: 46. Beautiful statement! “I have known that power has gone out from me”. The Lord does not give the Holy Spirit automatically. He says, “I have known that power has gone out from me”. You are given, in the grace of God, to participate, by the Holy Spirit, in the life of that glorious Man. Well, that is a wonderful thing, and that is how God meets the question of our state. There is no need to be occupied with it any longer. You have got to be careful to judge it, of course. Flesh will never be anything but flesh; the only thing to do with it is to refuse it. We shall bless God when we have done with it forever. When we go to be with Christ, whether it be individually or at the coming of the Lord, what a relief it will be. In the meantime we have to carry the flesh with us as an objectionable thing that we cannot get rid of, but we can, thank God, deny it in the power of the Spirit and that is the only thing to do. If a Christian sows to the flesh, he will reap corruption as sure as anything. It is one of the immutable laws of God’s government. What we sow we reap. If a Christian sows to the flesh, he will find out continually what flesh is. It hampers him in his communion, hinders his joy and makes him ineffective in the service of God. On the other hand, if we keep ourselves by the Spirit in the same judgment of the flesh as God has expressed, then we are in liberty. I expect most have heard of Mr Stoney, a great servant of the Lord. He quoted this moral:
If I myself deny, where I could gratify, I suffer bitterly,
but sweet is liberty12.
You can easily remember that. You do suffer, of course. Flesh does not like to be set aside and refused. You have to accept suffering in the flesh if you are going to be in liberty, and the Spirit is here for that purpose, to enable us on the one hand to keep ourselves in accord with the judgment of flesh that God has come to in the cross so that we do not allow it but deny it, and of course suffer in the flesh; but on the other hand the Spirit keeps us in the light of Christ in glory and in the enjoyment of the Father’s love and in liberty among the saints in the enjoyment of divine things, and this brings in liberty and makes for enlargement. That is what the Spirit does. That is the meaning of this incident. This woman received the Spirit. Jesus laid His hands on her and immediately she was made straight and glorified God. Then people call things in question and the Lord says, “Hypocrites”. It was the legal element. God has no pleasure in legality. The Lord says, “Hypocrites”, and frees this woman whom Satan had bound those eighteen years.
Well, now, we come to these women in chapter 23. Jesus is on the cross and it says in verse 49, “And all those who knew him stood afar off, the women also who had followed him from Galilee, beholding these things”. In the previous verse we get mention of the crowds, “who had come together to that sight, having seen the things that took place, returned, beating their breasts”. Think of coming together and regarding the crucifixion of the Son of God as a sight, and then going home in a sentimental way, beating their breasts! People go to see a passion play and that kind of thing; there is no moral value in that at all, it is just religious sentimentality. And then over against that kind of thing there are some women who followed Jesus, who were attracted to Him, who knew Him; they stood afar off. They made it perfectly clear that they had no sympathy whatever with that kind of thing. They made their position perfectly clear that they would not have anything to do with the world that had cast out Christ, or on the other hand, with religious sentimentality. They would not have anything to do with it. And then it also says, “And women, who had come along with him out of Galilee, having followed, saw the sepulchre and how his body was placed”. In their affection for Christ they were placing great value on His body. It was of course ignorant to come to the tomb bringing aromatic spices with a view to embalming Him, because He was going to rise again, as He had told them. There was no need to embalm His body, so that in that sense they were ignorant, but they were affectionate and had great regard for His body. We have not got the body of Jesus because He is alive from among the dead and glorified at the right hand of God, but we have His Name. His Name is here in testimony, and it is a good thing to be interested in His Name. Believers are called “all that in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ” and there is such a thing as confessing the Name of the Lord Jesus. In Romans 10 you get a double thing, you get “the same Lord of all is rich towards all that call upon him” (v 12) —Him personally—you know the Lord and call upon Him. And then it says, “For every one whosoever, who shall call on the name of the Lord, shall be saved”, v 13. You call upon Him, that is a proof of your personal link with Christ, just as Stephen said, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit”. On the other hand, you call on His Name, that is to say, in the scene where He is not, in the absence of Christ, His Name is here in testimony by the Holy Spirit, and you invoke it, you call upon it and it says, “The name of the Lord is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it and is safe”, Prov 18: 10. It is a great thing for us all to understand that: young ones especially. You can say, Well, I belong to the Lord Jesus, I cannot go there or do that, whatever it is. Someone comes along, perhaps someone you have met in business, and says, Will you come along this evening, and you know it would not be pleasing to the Lord, you say, I cannot do that, I belong to the Lord Jesus. There is wonderful power in the name of the Lord Jesus. “The name of the Lord is a strong tower”. We are all appreciative of the name of the Lord Jesus; we call upon His Name; it becomes a bond between believers. Of course, that raises a challenge. The Name of the Lord raises a challenge because it speaks of His rights and what is due to the Name, and if I name the Name of the Lord, I must withdraw from iniquity. You must not connect iniquity with the Name of the Lord—it is therefore a challenge. And so, if you name the Name of the Lord you must withdraw from iniquity, whatever form it takes. It might take the form in myself of the working of self-will. It has to be disallowed, you cannot connect that kind of thing with the Name of the Lord, and yet you bear the Name of the Lord, that holy Name is called upon you. The Name of the Lord involves a certain limitation, and we have to bear that in mind and accept it, and answer to its requirement, that whosoever names the Name of the Lord must withdraw from iniquity, in yourself, in your associations, religious or business, or anything of that sort. You must not go on with that which is inconsistent with the Name of the Lord. And then there is the fellowship connected with that Name. “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”, 1 Cor 1: 9. God never intends that believers should go on in an isolated path. He gives us those with whom we can walk, those who follow certain things: righteousness, what is right in the sight of God, and faith and love and peace. But the first thing is righteousness—a most essential principle for every believer. The first thing to be followed in everything is what is right in the sight of God; that is a line on which you will never be overcome. “Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”, 2 Tim 2: 22. As you do that you will find that you have company that is in keeping with that principle. You will find that you are having a living part in the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
That leads me to the final scripture. The scripture in Luke 23 determines our position publicly, that you stand far apart from all that which has cast out Christ or which is not real in regard to Him. But now we come to John 12.
We have certain lovers of Jesus in a place called Bethany “where was the dead man Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from among the dead”. It is remarkable how scripture puts it. He was alive, because he was sitting at table with Jesus, but it means that he had died with Christ. He had said to himself; Christ has died, He has no place in this world, I am not going to have any place either. His heart was bound up with Christ and so he was the dead man. Of course, he had actually literally been in death and the Lord had called him out, but that is the application of it to us. In the light of the death of Christ, we say in affection for Christ, If He has died I have died with Him. Just as Ruth said in speaking to Naomi: “whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried”. That was the language of affection, and affection for Christ says that if He has died, I have died with him. We take up that attitude in our minds.
Well now, as such, Lazarus was one who had part in making him a supper: “There therefore they made him a supper, and Martha served, but Lazarus was one of those at table with him”. That is to say, there is a supper made for Christ and certain ones having part in it, and it says, “Mary therefore”. That is, the situation calls now for what Mary represents. “Mary therefore”—notice the ‘therefores’—“Mary therefore, having taken a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment”. I do not think here it is Mary acting because she had such a sense of how much her sins had been forgiven. I do not think that is the aspect here. It is one who has her heart full of the light of the glory of Christ, the Son of God, who had been to the tomb of Lazarus, wept with them and brought into their hearts the sense of the love and sympathy of God and yet had moved in wonderful power so that he could say, “Lazarus, come forth”, and he that was dead came forth. Mary had a great appreciation of Christ. The Lord had said to Martha, “I am the resurrection and the life”. I am it! That is unique to Christ. No one else can say that. You and I are given life in Christ through faith in Him and by the Spirit, but He says, I am it. It is a question of the glory of the Person, and Mary had her heart full of it, so it says, “Mary therefore”. This was her opportunity. Well, now, if there are any here who love Jesus, whose sins have been forgiven for His Name’s sake, who have been given the Holy Spirit, what next? Do you participate in the Lord’s supper? There is a place where a supper is made for Jesus every first day of the week. Do you participate? It is an opportunity for affection. Mary therefore—notice the ‘therefore’. “There therefore they made him a supper … Mary therefore”. It was just the right opportunity for her to show that she had an appreciation of the Person of Jesus, not exactly for what He had done for her. I do not think that is the point with this woman; it was in Luke 7. Here it is a question of the appreciation of the Person, the glory of the Person, and now she found herself in a circle where they were full in their thoughts and affections of the glory of the Person. “There therefore they made him a supper … Mary therefore having taken a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment”. That is to say, she had developed in appreciation of Christ on the principle of surrender, on the principle of sacrifice. A price had to be paid for it. We never get anything of value without sacrifice, or anything of real value without cost, and so she had a pound of ointment of pure nard of great price and she anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair and the house was filled with the odour of the ointment. Heaven is filled with the renown of Jesus. You can rest assured of that.
I love to think of the number of times that heaven hears the Name of Jesus. Think of all the saints and what they say in private prayer and thanksgiving, as well as when they are assembled, and even when giving thanks for food finishing up with the Name of the Lord Jesus, and heaven hears that, and hears it all the time, hour after hour, day after day, the Name of Jesus is resounding in heaven. You can have your part in it, and the more you have your part in these things, the more the scene where you are will be filled with the odour of the ointment. It is something that is open to every lover of Jesus, provided you are true to what the Name of the Lord Jesus requires. There is what is true to His Name, and if you are seeking grace to answer to it you can have part in this wonderful privilege of filling the scene with that which speaks of the sweet odour of the name of Jesus.
May the Lord bless the word.
BUCKHURST HILL
7th November I959
From The Word Proclaimed”, 1960
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