THE whole body is to be " full of light." It is not, as we were saying this morning, that the solitude is the point, and the Lord Himself the light of that solitude; but it is in the light, that there is fellowship. You cannot get a better illustration of 'fellowship than lighted lamps give us; all of them give light in the room, but none can say what light comes from this one or from that one. We have fellowship in the light, and nowhere else. People have a -very mongrel kind of idea as to what fellowship is. You must be in the level morally in which another is, if you are to have fellowship with him. His disciples never had fellowship with Christ until He rose from the dead. Some continually confound sympathy with fellowship. • When Jesus walked beside Mary to the grave there was sympathy, but there was no fellowship. Sympathy is a most wonderful thing; it is said you can take an illness from sympathy. Thus in His sympathy the Lord not only saw what we went -through here, but He made Himself acquainted with the very nature of the suffering.
In Luke 11 the Lord inculcates that the body was to be light-the body was the thing. He, being rejected, now required that the bodies of His people should be lights-not full of light like a tumbler is full of water, but lights themselves; not light inside, but light outside like a glow-worm. A certain Pharisee then invites Him to dine with him, as much as to say, That is exactly what we hold. But Jesus then, in chapter xii., shows what light is, and that the Pharisees are wrong inside, and therefore cannot be right outside. He is speaking to Jews, and He shows them what are the marks of those who are really waiting for their Lord.
But I must first call your attention to the fact that the church soon lost its place of light-bearer, because it soon lost Christ Himself as the object of the heart. It is impossible to have Christ for an object, and man not be set aside. It is not simply that a person is converted, as it is said, but as I am looking out for Him, the absent sun, I am deriving light from Him. The effect on the blind man on getting the light, was that he was not perfectly at rest till he got to Christ; and, as he imbibes Him, he becomes a light himself to others. You must keep up with Him as your object. If the earth come between the sun and the moon, there is no light from the moon.
In the early church, through the work of the enemy, Christ was lost as an object. In Rev. 2 we read: " I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them that are evil." It was all right on the negative side of things, whilst all the while they were failing in the point that a very great penalty was attached to; there was a great deal of outward activity against evil, but it was not the activity of affection; they had lost their first love, and therefore lost their first works; the slumbering and sleeping had set in; they were closing the back door, but they had left the front open to the enemy. While commended for much that was right, they were forfeiting the great post—their candlestick. It is a sad thing for us to own, but the greatest fallings away in the church have been through those who have held the highest truth. The higher the truth you hold, the greater the heretic you can bedome.
Now let us see how recovery comes ha. It is an immense comfort that we never can go so low that revival is impossible. " They cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses."
In Matt. 24 we read of the evil servant saying, " My Lord delayeth his coming." One often hears the people blamed for saying this, but it is not the people, it is the servant; and he may not have preached it either. If you have a worldly thought in your heart, it is sure to leaven you somehow.
Following this we get the parable of the ten. virgins. Now what was the condition they were meant to be in? They were to have their bodies full of light—not merely their minds. There is a great deal in bodily appearance, as it is said: " He setteth himself in a way that is not good." "He abhorreth not evil." The outside manner reveals the inner. Christian women's influence is from their manners and dress. You talk, some say, too much of dress; too much is made of appearance. All I say is,' your whole appearance ought to indicate that you seek to have your body the living expression of Christ on earth.
It is important the place the body has in. Scripture. The body is that Which is under the judgment of God; and the body is the great medium of. activity. But -what we find in this chapter in Matthew, is that they were all slumbering and sleeping. It was not that they had not light in their souls, but their bodies were not active. It is said of a saint when he is dead that he is asleep. They were then no better than dead as far as appearances went; there was no divine activity. I believe the saints would be far happier if they were more active; I do not mean active in work, but ruled in body for Christ. You see some saints who never mope, and I will tell you why; it is because they are active. Inactive people have no sense of life themselves, neither do they give others the sense of it.
Now when the Lord comes to arouse the saints it is with a cry. He reckons on their affections. Though not active-not in vigor of life, He reckons on their affections, and says: " Behold, the Bridegroom!" The word " cometh " is an interpolation. The thought before the mind is, There He is! The way He revives Israel is by judgment; the way He revives the church is through the affections. He says,. I know there is love for me there; I will appeal to it.
What was the effect of this? " All those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps."
I call your attention to this trimming of the lamps. I hear some singing about the coming of the Lord, and all the while they go on without changing one single thing in themselves or their associations, expecting the Lord to set all to rights when He comes. But I beg to state that when the Lord appears He will call the saints to account for the state in -which He finds them, though, true enough, whatever that state may be, He will at the rapture cut every string that binds them to earth and take them away to Himself. It is not at His coming for, them, but at His coming with them, that it says " He may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our Father."
I think we are in danger of becoming very loose about this. Some are continually saying that there is nothing they like more than to hear and think of the coming of the Lord, and at the same time they are mixed up with all sorts of things He would not like. Think of a gardener who was expecting his master home after a long absence; he would put out all his best flowers for him. Is this what we are doing? Are we thinking of what the Lord has now in this world? He has nothing but the bodies of His saints and their houses through them. Do you walk about this world and thin_ it a light thing that the Lord has nothing here? He has not asked for it yet; the day is coming when He will. And what has He now? why, He says, the bodies of the saints are mine. It is the body He chastens, as in Cor. 11. I do not find myself in authority on earth anywhere outside my house and His house. And, therefore, I say our houses ought to be millennial; I do not say our gardens, mind I But, as I own the millennial Lord, I say I must have millennial order in the household. The Lord says, I will come and dwell in your house until you come and dwell in mine. It is the kingdom. There are only two places in which God owns me in this world; one is in my own house, and the other is in His. In these two righteousness reigns.
But upon this cry there is an action: they go forth to meet Him.
In Luke 12, which I now return to, there are three marks of the person who thus goes forth—of the one who is really looking and waiting for the coming of the Lord. The Lord expects the saint not to give up the thought of His return. Where there is affection the thought of the return of an absent one is as natural to us as it is to look for the return of the sun after the night.
But while saying this, I will add that I do not press the Lord to return. As I look around I cannot but see that things are not in a fit state for Him; and, though I do not expect things to get better, I do expect the saints to. I cannot press Him to come whilst I see everything so unfit for Him-so unprepared for Him. I do say that if every one thought this was his last day he would work as' he has never done before. I am sure Elijah never did such a day's work as he did that last day. I think the Lord will have a Bethany on earth when He comes, as He had when He went. Are we preparing for Him? The apostles all speak of His coming, but each in quite a different way to the, others. John takes the bride's side of it; Paul takes the Lord's; Peter the flock's;; and James takes the sufferer's side. And you must put all these together as you wait for Him.
The first great mark of waiting for the Lord is that you are " not afraid of them that kill the body." This is beautiful. The moment I come to fear God I find I fear not man, for He cares for me. Stephen is a very good example of this.. He says: I have not any fear at all. Fear of the holiness of God's throne? no; I am at home there. Afraid of man's rage? no; I am superior to the whole of it. They batter me; those whom you would least expect to; but I am not afraid of them that kill the body. Stephen is the practical expression of a person able to stand out against man. And he does not talk of the way in which the Lord sustains him in the trial; he never speaks of himself at all; he thinks of others—kneels down and prays for them. He is a body full, of light.
And what grows out of all this is confession? " Whosoever shall confess me before men, him shall the Son of man also confess before the angels of God." We all know how imperfectly we confess; we all know how a stranger hinders us. But I do say this, as it may help some that you never can tell another-you never can tell an audience in preaching-the wonders of God's love, if you have not first confessed them to Himself. Would there not be a great difference between the account of a an who told' you the story of the battle of Waterloo, having himself been present at it, and that of one who only knew it from hearsay? You would find out at once that the former had been there because he would describe it from the spot on which he himself had stood. You always color a thing from the place in which you are yourself, and so everything depends on your apprehension of where Christ is. If you see Christ coming out from under the judgment of God, that is what you have got. If you see Him rising and gone up to heaven at God's right hand, that is what you have got. What you see is what you possess. Never waver from that truth.
Is confession what characterizes us? If I have been saying it to the Lord in private I can now go out and say to all the world that He is everything to me; I must say it to them, if only to gratify my heart; nothing else would satisfy it; I must let men know that there is One I delight to honor. Love likes to make much of its object at its own loss. Mary brought her alabaster box of ointment-that which would have signalized her as if she were a person of importance, and breaks it on His head. He does not command it from me, but my love gives it.
But this confession must go on; it must be continuous. As a merchant would say, you must extend your business if you wish to-preserve it; so the Christian is ever called to greater suffering, greater responsibility. It is not that he can retire; no, it is more and more work until He comes. The soul is never right unless it longs to go to Him. Individually I long to go to Him; collectively we long for Him to come. It is one of the saddest things, I know, that some should have contented themselves with making one great break at first at their conversion, and then from that time out never another single confession.
The second mark is that I have no care: " Take no thought for your life." There is no fear without, no care within Having no fear leaves your body free; having no care leaves your mind unfettered; this is the great point in having no care. Seek ye the kingdom; " that is my occupation in a world that has refused Him altogether. I see no place for me at all except in my own house; I have even qualifications for care of the church as I rule my own house; it is the only place in which I—can uphold the kingdom of God.
As to toil, there is no harm in toil; indeed it is very wholesome: " Satan finds some mischief still for idle hands to do." But the thing is to go on with toil without care. The raven is the most hard working bird; it goes away in the morning and is out all day toiling; but it comes- back to its roost at night, and sleeps without a care till the morning. If saints had not cares it would be wonderful the peace in which they would go on. " He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord." I believe that is the finest thing the heart can have. I have got One who loves me ten thousand times better than I love myself, and I am in His sphere; I belong to His house, and He cares for me.' Some one said, " I never speak to the Father about my circumstances, because He knows them very well." I do not know anything in this world more trying to the patience of God than that His children should be dissatisfied with His arrangements. If a soul is complaining, I say, You have not tasted the Father's love. We all know what it is to be tried, afflicted, bereaved; and what cheers us up through it all is the love of the Father. I walk about with the comfort continually in my heart that I am the Father's favorite child. Am I anything particular? No. But I walk about knowing His special care over me in a way that I know it for no other person, and I Can allow my soul to rest in no other place. Knowing this love, I am not surprised by any bereavement, any loss; I am going through the world in company with One who says to me, I am teaching you the love that My Father had for Me-the love that always looked down upon Me with perfect satisfaction; that is the love I am showing you in a sad and sorrowful world.
Nothing harrows me more than to see people who have known the Lord long without any resources in God. You may say you are thankful they have got so far as to know Him at all, and so am I; but I say they have not got a Person, and so Christ has not got a person; and, therefore, nothing is being got out of them. I am glad when I hear any one say they are dull, for it shows they have, at least, been bright once; but there are some people who do not know what dullness is, because they have never been bright.
I generally find that people who are "living by faith," as it is called, are anxious people, because they are always thinking of the power that. Will meet the demand. It is not of the least use forecasting things; nothing ever happens as you think it will, rand if the whole world were to be submerged I have got Christ, so I need have no care. The great thing is to keep the mind free for God, therefore manual labor is not so hindering as mental.
There is one mark more of those who are waiting, and that is they have their treasure in heaven. " Sell that ye have, and give alms; provide yourselves bags- which wax not old, a treasure in the heavens that faileth not." This is addressed to the Jew; I do not think it could be said to the Gentile, for it would admit that he has something to sell. But has not the Gentile property? Yes, but he has no divine title to it.
The Lord grant that each one of us may have in our hearts such a sense of His coming that we may never let the thought of His return out of our minds; and that meanwhile we may set ourselves to trim our lamps in the blessed assurance that it is to greet His own eye, and thus may all be fit to meet Him when He comes.
(J. B. S.)
This is not the place for rest, but for watchfulness-watchfulness over our every thought. But what is heaven? It is where I can let my heart flow out. That is an immense comfort! But here I must have my loins girded-my heart and every affection kept in order by the Word of God.
(J. N. D.)
Whenever grace gets into the heart I justify God; my hearts says, That is right. The world sets up to judge God, because it is far from Him; but, if I am near Him, I must justify Him even though He condemn me. It is easy to judge God at a distance from Him.; it will be a different story in the last day! When the-word of God reaches the heart it proves itself. I do not need to judge it, it judges me.