07 - Chapter 07
Chapter 7 - Monday Morning, July 12th
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Mr. Hudson Taylor:―We have not come together to learn any new truth, but to seek by faith a deeper spiritual life. To seek it in the way that the Apostles did, so that they did not fear the martyr’s death—in the way in which men were made strong to resist Popery, and bring in the Reformation—in the way in which all believers in every age have achieved all their triumphs. What a list we have in the 11th of Hebrews of men who through faith received strength and power; and we, who are in the midst of a land that needs wonder-working power, may obtain it in the self-same way. We want to take a fresh look at Christ, and to go forward with refreshment and enlarged expectation. The truths we shall dwell on, I say, are no strange truths, we all hold them; but we want them to get a stronger grip of us; to hold us. Our subject for this day is―
CHRIST OUR ALL-SUFFICIENCY FOR PEROSNAL LIFE AND GODLINESS.
(Read 2 Peter 1:1-21 and Romans 8:1-10.)
Unless we are continually “looking to Jesus,” our lives will be a failure. What then can we do better than have our hearts and minds occupied with our master, and His sufficiency; and how can we better fit ourselves for those emergencies of service which are sure to arise, than by reminding ourselves where our strength lies, and where our refuge is? Again, how can we present other than a distorted reflection of Jesus Christ, unless we are looking to Him, and are realizing that He is our All in all for godly life in every possible circumstance.
Some people are so clever with their pencil that with a few strokes they can strike off a very good representation of any object in their minds. We Christians are very poor copyists. The Lord’s intention is not that we should be clever in copying, but that we should be clear, plain mirrors, reflecting Himself. To reflect Him constantly we need to keep Him before us continually. He will not photograph Himself upon us once for all. It is only in the continual sunshine of His countenance that we shall have that brightness which we ought to have before the world. In our preliminary meetings some of us have considered the essential connection between the character of the spiritual father and the spiritual children. How can we secure the development of strong, healthy Christ-like native Churches, unless we are living strong, healthy, Christ-like lives ourselves? So that our subject is of the deepest interest and importance to us, whether for the development of our own life—for the representation of, not a caricature, but a true reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ to the heathen—or for the development of the grace of Christ in His Church in China.
Very few have been long in connection with Missions without hearing a great deal of the faults and failures of the native Christians. Is it not the case that her faults are very much the reflection of our faults and failures? It is a humiliating thought to fathers and mothers, when they begin to see the flesh developed in their children, that they are seeing themselves in their children, and that much which they have to correct in their offspring is the result of their own personal failure and sin. So if Christ’s reflection in the native Christians is an unsatisfactory one, do we not need to remember this, and to deal with them in much love and gentleness and patience, sorrowing that we and our fellow-workers have given them such poor patterns, and are largely the source of their failure? If this be so, then it becomes to us a doubly important question, Is a sufficiency really provided for our own personal life and godliness?
During many years of my own service in China I held that there was nothing better to be expected than to go on stumbling; that nothing better than many long winter nights, and few long summer days, were to be expected, until we were caught up and saw the Lord, and were then conformed to Him. When I was first converted I knew nothing about the theological distinction between “walk” and “standing.” I took Christ for everything, and found Him sufficient. But by-and-by one began to distinguish between a good standing and a poor life. The result was that while one’s standing remained the same, one’s life was different. Old weaknesses came back again, and one ceased to expect to live a holy life down here. So that after years of service, instead of having as much blessing in Christ as formerly, one was too well taught(!) to look for anything of the kind, and practically far too foolish to enjoy it. On the contrary, I was prepared to argue strenuously with those who said there was anything better on this side of the grave. Thank the Lord we have left such teaching behind, and have taken the simple Word of God. We find there that God’s power hath granted to us “all things that pertain unto life and godliness,” (2 Peter 1:3) as well as unto standing and eternal security (John 10:28); that this is granted to us through the knowledge of Him; and that we may expect to escape the corruption that is in the world. We have learned from God’s Word that the law (Romans 8:2) of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set us free, and delivered us from all bondage to the law of sin and of death.
It is a great thing to know these things. It was one of the things for which Paul prayed for the Ephesians, that (Ephesians 1:18-23) the eyes of their hearts might be enlightened, that they might know what was the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what the exceeding greatness of His power—the power which raised Christ from the dead. If the power that raised Christ from the dead is working in us, should we not expect it will thoroughly raise us from all spiritual death? If a power is working in us like that, ought we not to expect that same power to put all things under our feet? This power is not given us apart from Christ, but it is in the knowledge of Christ, in our union with Christ, in our communion with Him, as the branches in the Vine and the members in the Body, that we have these privileges and blessings secured to us. THE WRITTEN WORD, AND THE INCARNATE WORD. In speaking on this subject, the Lord Jesus as our sufficiency, it is well to remind ourselves of the close connection that exists between the written Word of God and the incarnate Word of God. We shall never enjoy the one apart from the other. It is through God’s own revelation in the written Word that we really see and know the Word Who was made flesh, and Who rose from the dead. It is through the written Word we shall feed on Him, not through our own speculations. It is important that we bear in mind that as the incarnate Word is a Divine Person, so is the written Word a Divine message; and as we may rest all our soul’s interests on Jesus Christ, so we may rest all our soul’s weight on the Word of God. To be unsettled on the question of inspiration is to be overcome by temptation, and to be unable to accomplish God’s work. The connection between full faith in God’s will, as revealed in His written Word, and in the incarnate Word of God is so close and intimate, that you can no more separate them than you can separate between body and soul, or soul and spirit. Begin to separate them, and to study theology instead of the Word of God, rather than as a mere aid in gaining a fuller grasp of it, and if it does not make you weaker rather than stronger, you will be fortunate indeed! No! Take God’s Word as it stands, and God’s Christ as He reveals Himself to us, and enjoy all in Him. A SUFFICIENCY PROVIDED. No with respect to this subject we have read enough to show how thoroughly God has provided a sufficiency for us. “His Divine power hath granted unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.” (2 Peter 1:3) How many persons there are whose histories are known to us, who have lived on the sufficiency and found it sufficient. The testimony of Paul is remarkable, and one that cannot be gainsaid. He went to a place and lived there a few days only; the sufficiency he had in Christ so told that he went away leaving a living Church. He (Acts 20:18,
Seeing therefore that God has given a sufficiency in Christ, the next question is—Have we appropriated it, and made it our own, or are we living in our own poverty and rags, instead of being clothed with the glorious robe, and living on His fullness? I think we shall all come to this conclusion, that we have much room for humiliation, that we have been far from appropriating all the fullness of Christ and His salvation; and that however much we have enjoyed, there is much that remains to be possessed in this great treasure of God’s grant in Christ. Let us so appropriate the fullness there is in Christ that it will suffice us in all those trials into which it is to be hoped we shall be brought. I say, “it is to be hoped,” because it is only in the trial of God’s grace that its beauty and power can be seen. Then all our trials of temper, circumstances, provocation, sickness, disappointment, bereavement, will but more highly burnish the mirror, and enable us to reflect more fully and more perfectly the glory and blessedness of our Master. We may go forward with good courage, feeling that come what may it will be for the glory of Christ, for personal blessing to us, and for blessing to the Church of God. So shall we reap the benefit of trial now, and, if the Lord tarry, in days to come.
We find the early Church coming together on important occasions, and deliberating on important matters, and they were able to say, “It seemed good the Holy Ghost and to us.” (Acts 15:28) They asked to be filled, and they were filled with the Spirit. They had from time to time a fresh filling. They were filled before, but needed replenishing. May the Lord bring us all to one mind, and give us all an overflowing fullness, making us as vessels so filled that the least touch will cause an overflow, otherwise we shall be as half-empty cups trying to run over. Just one word further:―Whatever the sufficiency of Christ is for us, there is the same sufficiency in Him for our native converts.
Rev. W.W. Cassels. Where one has failed, it has been through losing sight of this truth.
Mr. T. Hutton.
I should like, before leaving you this morning for the coast, to say a few words, and to tell you of an experience I had a few years ago. I do not introduce it to discourage those who are seeking to know the Lord more fully, but I believe it may help all to guard against the error into which I fell. At the time to which I refer I was conducting a special mission for soldiers. I was very earnest in my work, but my mind was specially directed to the question of holiness. Comparing my experience with what I heard from the lips of other believers, I concluded that they had a definite blessing from the Lord which I had not. This led me to search the Scriptures very closely, and also to wait upon the Lord in prayer, with only this one subject possessing me. I was so engrossed in this inquiry that I did not take necessary food and sleep. A few evenings before my mission to the soldiers came to an end, I received what I then thought to be “the blessing.” I cannot describe the sensations through which I passed. The next day I told my friends, to the joy of some but to the grief of others, that I was sanctified, and that sin was taken from me; and I thought I was telling this to the glory of God.
I soon left the place where I had been working, for my home, still enjoying pleasant emotions and great happiness. But the very day I reached my mother’s house I was taken ill with congestion of the brain. The doctor had not long left me that evening, when all my happiness fled. I felt as though God had withdrawn all His love from me, and had given me over to Satan. I heard a voice saying very distinctly: ―“You have blasphemed against the Holy Ghost.” My anguish at that moment I can never forget: but I do not wish to describe it. The blessing, which I thought I had obtained but a few days before, was gone, and I was ashamed to turn my face to heaven. Three days passed away before I was delivered from this horrible state; but during the time I enjoyed moments of quiet from temptation. At this time I saw myself a sinner, as I had never seen myself before, and I saw God dwelling in pure and unapproachable light. When our gracious God delivered me from the trial, I rejoiced in the Lord Jesus more than ever. About the time of deliverance, the question arose in my mind, “Who is to wear the crown, you or the Lord Jesus?” I answered, “Let Him wear the crown, for He has done all the work;” and thus the sin of thinking about my own attainment in holiness was brought home to me.
I learned some very solemn lessons form this experience. I learned that it is possible to go wrong even when we are fasting and praying for holiness; that it is possible to say and sincerely believe we have no sin even when we are full of it; that beautiful religious feelings are often deceptive; and that Satan specially tries to mislead those who specially seek the face of God.
Since that deliverance I have been very much blessed of God. He blessed me very richly when I gave myself up to Him for China, and he has graciously kept me while I have been in this country. But now I believe that every blessing must be in Christ and only in Him; and I aim at always being occupied, not with my sacrifice for him, but with His sacrifice for me.
MR. STANLEY P. SMITH.
About the end of 1883, I wrote to Mr. Hudson Taylor telling him I wanted to come out here. As 1884 went on, I became more and more impressed with the need of equipment for service; my soul, moreover, was much burdened with the ignorance of God in the world. It culminated in my determining to give up my spare time definitely to seeking an anointing from on high. Some weeks thus passed away, weeks of intense blessedness in soul, but apparently no definite answer came. One afternoon, kneeling by my bedside with an open Bible before me, my eye lighted on the verse, “Blessed be the God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who Hath blessed us with All spiritual blessings in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)
I read it again and again and again. Why, thought I, is not this baptism of the Holy Ghost “a spiritual blessing”? And here God’s Word tells me He hath blessed me with this IN CHRIST. Instinctively this “hath” was connected I my mind with the “hath” of Isaiah 53:1-12, “The Lord ‘hath’ laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” Here I saw the answer to my protracted prayer. A week after I went to a meeting at Eccleston Hall in London. The speaker was dilating on the holy anointing oil in Exodus 30:32, where it says, “upon man’s flesh it shall not be poured.” There was only one place (See Exodus 29:29) where it might be poured, and that was on the garments of the High Priest. Then he showed that when the sons of Aaron wanted to be anointed they had to actually dress in Aaron’s robes. This was connected in my mind with the Psalm (Psalms 133:2) where “unity” is compared to the ‘precious ointment” that “ran down to the skirts” of Aaron’s garments.
Now Aaron is a type of Christ; the word Christ, as we know, meaning the Anointed One. And we read of Jesus, that when He was baptized with the Spirit (John 1:32), the Spirit “abode upon Him.” These lessons caused my soul to rejoice unspeakably. I there saw that power was not delegated to man, “upon man’s flesh it shall NOT be poured,” but “all power in heaven and earth” ( Matthew 28:18; Psalms 72:17) has been given to Him—and I there saw that as by simple faith believers believe their union with Christ (being yielded up fully to Him, so as to stop up no avenue of the soul and hinder blessing), the very youngest, weakest, lowest members—the “skirts” of the garments—are anointed and endued for service. Let us praise our gracious God and say with full heart (Ephesians 1:3) “BLESSED, BLESSED be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ Who hath blessed us with every (R.V.) spiritual blessing IN CHRIST.”
Mr. Hudson Taylor. The blessing which God has granted to us is IN Christ. A man may divide the contents of his purse among a number of people; but God does not so bless us in Christ. He gives each one to enjoy it all. He does not disperse His blessings, and give a little faith to one, and a little zeal to another, and so on; but He brings us all into the purse, as it were, and gives us all in Christ. Not IT but HIM. In connection with the sufficiency of Christ, another word is very important to keep in view: it is Him, not It, we want. I went to Brighton with a missionary sister when Mr. Pearsall Smith had his meetings there. My friend got such a blessing; her mouth was filled with praise, and her features were transfigured. She spoke of the blessing, and that she had got it. After a few months I met her, and I saw that the transfiguration was gone—she had lost it; and for a long time there was a great deal of darkness in her soul. After a long absence I happened to meet her again, and I saw her face was so bright and happy. Now she spoke of the Blesser, and she said, “He has got me,” and there has been no losing the blessing since.
Mr. Orr Ewing.
I believe that God is able to keep us in perfect peace; so that though outward circumstances are all against us, yet in the soul we may have a continual peace “which passeth all understanding.” I can look back on two or three heavy trials which were made very light because of this. Our peace is in Him. I believe there is a definite time in a man’s life when Christ presents Himself to us, as He did to the Disciples; and I believe in the Lord Jesus keeping us in unbroken rest of soul.
Mr. Hudson Taylor.
Fact is more important than feeling, and the best evidence as to fact is the testimony of God’s word. Over a hundred times I suppose I have put my finger on the passage, “My cup runneth over” and have said, “Praise God it is true! I do not feel it: if I were going by my feelings, I should say my cup is very empty indeed; but GOD says my cup runneth over, and praise God He knows best.” Take God’s truth in spite of feelings, and it is wonderful how soon the consciousness of filling comes: one finds the cup is not so empty as one fancied. I believe we have to build on the great facts of what we have and are in Christ.
CHRIST THE WHOLE VINE.
Another thought is helpful; Christ is the Vine. During the first twenty years of my Christian life I used to say: “There is fatness in the Root, but how am I go get the fatness out of the Root into my poor puny branch?” Then I learned that nothing had to be got out, that it was all to be enjoyed in —that Christ is the whole Vine, including the rootlets and the root, the trunk and branches, the stem, the leaves and the fruit: and that consequently the whole life of the whole vine was to be enjoyed in the Vine itself. That truth was such a help—the blessed realization that He brings us into the treasury, and that all the treasures—undivided—are there for us to enjoy.
“From Thee I draw my life, Lord, “A vine-branch in the Vine:
“Thy grace flows freely through me;
“The fruit I bear is Thine.