“HE THAT BRINGS BACK A SINNER”
John 1: 43-49; 4: 6-11, 15, 19, 25, 26, 28-30
The Lord Jesus is referred to in Matthew 13 as a Man who has found something, but He could not possess it without selling something. Matthew’s gospel brings out, as we know, the King, King of righteousness, King of Salem, King of peace. His kingship is established in the genealogical line from Abraham through David, affording full proof of the kingship of Christ, the Messiah, from that point of view. What rights the Lord Jesus had, and yet it says here that He found something that required a transaction in selling.
Previously in this gospel His ministry is rejected and He turns to the Father and says, “I praise thee, Father, Lord of the heaven and of the earth, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes”, Matt 11: 25. The Roman system at that time was not good enough to contain Christianity, neither was the Grecian, or any other administration under the hand of man. Christianity was too great for them, but for the Lord to possess the world and the treasure in it required the transaction in which He sold all whatever He had. What did He sell? He gave up His rights to kingship— “Is it at this time that thou restorest the kingdom to Israel?”, Acts 1: 6. No, it was not at that time; He gave that up. Why did He give it up? On account of you and me. There was on this earth a treasure that He desired to possess because He loved it. Never forget that Christ loved the assembly and delivered Himself up for it, Eph 5: 25. It was not the other way round. He did not deliver Himself up for it in order that He might love it.
So here in this section He sells all whatever He had and buys that field. He has possession of the world. Did you know that? The whole thing is His. It does not look like it publicly at the present time, but we are in the secret of the fact that it is His; not only creationally but also by redemption He has secured rights to the whole world and all that is in it is His. Were you hid in that world? Yes, you were hid in it and He found you; I was hid in it and He found me. What a thing it is that you have been found by Christ. He sells all that He has and buys that field. He waits for the day of glory, but He is securing out of this world a people for a possession. The way He does it is His own way, His own handiwork.
I want to touch briefly on two cases where the Lord secures persons. The Lord finds Philip and says, “Follow me”. There was no resistance in Philip; he followed Him. Philip finds Nathaniel who does not say much that is of credit as to Christ. He says, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?”; but he was a man in whom there was no guile. We might have thought that he should have had a knowledge of the truth of what was going to come out of Nazareth, but it seems as if he did not. The Lord was not put off by the first reaction in the man. Grace in Christ was flowing through Philip, and Nathaniel is brought to Christ. Philip does not take up the argument; he says, “Come and see”. What an invitation, and what a lesson on how to meet people. The Lord says to the apostles, “He that believes on me, the works which I do shall he do also, and he shall do greater than these”, John 14: 12. Mr Taylor remarked that although the works may be greater, they were not done as He did them. How the Lord did things belonged distinctively to Himself, the manner of the doing belonged to Deity, JT vol 40, pp 241-243. The manner of the doing—how He did things in this chapter—captivated Nathaniel securely for Himself. His own touch enters into the lives of every one of us, captivating our hearts for Him and for Him alone.
So Philip says, “Come and see”. When a person comes to the meeting, even though there may have been resistance, God may be working. We have to credit persons who come with that, that God may be working and drawing them to Himself. There may be very little outwardly, but if they come they have ceased to be an object to themselves and it may be that Christ is becoming an object to them. Whether they are in orbit as yet may not be known to us, but they may be moving into orbit. Who would hinder a soul that is coming into his orbit, into relation to Christ? The Lord Jesus does not. He does not say, Nathaniel, what was that you said of Me, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” He says, “One truly an Israelite, in whom there is no guile”. That is Christ’s valuation of him. Let us get God’s valuation of persons, not our own.
Then Nathaniel says, “Whence knowest thou me?” What a question to put to the Son of God; what a question to put to Jesus! Think of what he had been told—“We have found him of whom Moses wrote in the law, and the prophets”. Yet the Lord does not upbraid him for it. He says, “Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig-tree, I saw thee”. The disclosure of the Person affects Nathaniel’s heart. He says, “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel”. How He broke him down! Let us learn from Christ.
Regarding the woman in John 4, the same thing comes to light. She says to the Lord, “How dost thou, being a Jew, ask to drink of me who am a Samaritan woman? for Jews have no intercourse with Samaritans”. Did the conversation close then? Let us search our hearts; would we have closed the conversation? Would we regard it as hopeless? But He goes on. What does it bring out in the woman? Respect for the Person. That is why I read where three times she says, “Sir”. There was coming out in that woman respect for the Person. It comes out through the presentation of the One who dispenses the living water. The Lord brings it in, that word as to living water, and she says, “Sir, give me this water”.
The moral history is settled and then she says, “Sir, I see that thou art a prophet”. How the light dawns in her soul! Do we know about it personally, how the light dawns in our souls in regard of Christ and who He is? Have you never been through it personally? Experiences similar to these which this woman had result in something entering into the fabric of your soul so that you can go and say, “Come, see a man who told me all things I had ever done; is not he the Christ?” And persons are affected by it. It is a challenge to us at the present time as to whether that is so. The Lord says to His disciples, “The fields … are already white to harvest”, John 4: 35. I wonder whether I see that. Coming down here along the motorways we saw the fields white to harvest and the machines working in them. Does that not bring out something of what God is going to reap?
James is a pungent apostle who does not mince his words. It is understood that James’ epistle may have been written early but what he says goes down the dispensation. “My brethren, if any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him back”. One cannot read this section without it bringing to mind the remarkable address by Mr Taylor, ‘The Conversion of a Sinner’, vol 13, p.410. I wonder if the spirit of what that man spoke about those many years ago has permeated our souls as to the conversion of a sinner, a sinner among the brethren, “If any one among you err from the truth”. How many there are who have erred from the truth presently. But you and I are searched, and I feel it for myself right to the core of my being as to whether I am among those who can bring back one—“and one bring him back”. Oh, can we bring back? You see how grace flowed in Christ to meet those to whom we have referred. Grace flowed in; it was not put off by the initial contact; grace upon grace flowed in. Grace is first in the transaction; truth is the ultimate. Oh, can we turn one back from the error of his ways in relation to the truth, save a soul from death, and cover a multitude of sins? Does everything have to be brought out in public? No, it does not. Things can be covered privately, but the ground that is secured for God is the treasure that is hid in the field now brought into circulation.
The heart of the father was moved when he saw that son rise up in Luke 15. How do you know when change has taken place? When he rose up in his filthy rags there initially God had worked in his soul and a change had taken place. When persons move, when they come, a change may be taking place. Can we be of value and of help to such? How do you get guidance or wisdom, as James says? “The wisdom from above first is pure, then peaceful, gentle, yielding, full of mercy and good fruits, unquestioning”. It is not contentious. Philip was not contentious. The Lord Jesus did not contend with Nathaniel or the woman. He brought in the truth and He attracted persons to Himself. That is how to work. Grace is not contentious. Grace does not miss things, but it is not contentious. It does not get at the contentious points. Grace gets behind the contention and reaches the work of God in a man so as to bring him back to Christ. “If any one among you err from the truth, and one bring him back …”. How are you going to get behind the difficulty? Reach the man, reach the soul in the man, bring him to establish communion with Christ, so that he is brought back from the error of his ways.
The glad tidings go forth each Lord’s day and many weary souls are converted. That is true, thank God, but there is a need for converters amongst us. I do not know the situation that exists in this place altogether; you do not know the situation that exists in Edinburgh; but I am searching my heart as to whether I have definitely committed myself to seek to bring back one from the error of his ways, or whether I have been put off by an initial reception on a door-step. Oh, there is searching of the heart with God as to whether we may have been put off by the initial thing and yet underneath there is the work of God. How can we bring him back? There is toil in it. You need to be with God in it, to seek wisdom, but the Psalm says, “Light is sown for the righteous”, Ps 97: 11. What a thing that is! It says in this scripture, “The fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace”. Wisdom is there in God; wisdom is available to us, flowing pure and unstinted from God its source. God will sow light for a righteous man and joy for the upright in heart. We can count on God to sow light for righteous persons enabling them to become converters. If we have known what it is to be converted, we can be on the way to being converters. What do we know of being saved from the error of our ways? Who brought us back? Who served us in the Spirit of Christ in the presence of all our objections and brought us back? Somebody reached what was real, that treasure hid in a field. What a field it is! What a harvest it is going to be! Let us lift up our eyes and see that the fields are already white to harvest.
We come in this sense into the divine economy under Christ and the Spirit, usable in the hands of divine Persons so as to secure persons and turn them back from the error of their ways. “My brethren, if any one among you err …”. How that reaches the affections of our hearts, because we have known and loved brethren, walked to the house of God and enjoyed communion with them, and yet it may be that they have erred from the truth. Who can bring them back into the enjoyment of that sweet communion?
Well, these are real and true things. The Lord has delight in persons who are exercised thus. It is labour and toil, and communion with God is required to seek the wisdom from above. One feature of wisdom which ought to come to light in a person who is a converter is that he is peaceful, he has not come to make war; he is gentle, he is not coming to irritate; he is yielding, he is prepared to understand something of the difficulty; he is full of mercy—why? because he has been shown mercy. Oh what a thing to be full of mercy because you have been shown mercy. And he is unquestioning; that is, he is not contentious. He is unfeigned, no mixed motives, “but the fruit of righteousness in peace is sown for them that make peace”. The scripture says, “Blessed the peace-makers, for they shall be called sons of God”, Matt 5: 9. Well, dear brethren, may the Lord help us to be on these lines, for His Name’s sake.
REDBRIDGE
10th September 1977