66 Every blessing, bounty, and benefit of the covenant must be communicated by the Spirit of Christ which dwelleth in us. Have I been so long time with you" in communion? What know we of oneness with a precious Christ in this matter? Turn to that precious second chapter of Hosea, He speaks of His eternallyloved one and says, "Therefore, behold, I will allure her, and bring her into the wilderness, and speak comfortably unto her." Or, as you read in the margin, "to her heart, or friendly." The Lord Jesus Christ alone can speak to the heart of His people words of love and affection; to the heart of His tried ones, words of comfort; to the heart of His sin-burdened brethren, words of pardon and forgiveness; to the heart of His captives, the assurance of deliverance out of every difficulty and distress. Now mark! If there are the sweets of communion, there must be also the bitters of conflict. Turn over to Luke xxii. 28: “Ye are they which have continued with Me in My temptations." As assuredly as the Head of the Church was tempted, so will each and every one of the members be tempted and brought into the feeling realisation of fellowship with Him in His sufferings, in which their saddened heart will sigh for blessed deliverance therefrom. He who once suffered for His dear people, is with them in all the afflictions they endure. See how blessedly this is set forth in the prophecies of Isaiah. Turn to chap. xliii. 1-3: "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and He that formed thee, O Israel; Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called them by thy name; thou art Mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour." Whatever affliction may befall the children of God, they have His gracious promise, “I am with thee," and the performance of it is secured in the covenant. No child of God can look Him in the face and say, that in one trial, in one affliction, in one tribulation, in one moment of conflict, was His faithfulness to His promise lacking, or the strength of JEHOVAH-JESUS failing in the needful time of trouble. When cares and anxieties are worming their weary way through the sad spirits of His people, He will prove Himself to be a God ready to save and nigh at hand to bless. This is blessedly set forth in Lam. iii. 35-37: "I called upon Thy name, O LORD, out of the low dungeon. Thou hast heard my voice; hide not Thine ear at my breathing, at my cry." Now listen! "Thou drewest near in the day that I called upon Thee: Thou saidst, Fear not." Well might our blessed Jesus say to Philip," Have I been so long time with you?" With you in covenant, in communication, in communion, in conflict, and in care. Blessing you in communion. you in communion. Encouraging you in conflict. Upholding you in distress. Comforting you when 66 sorrows seemed to press you down. Bearing your burdens when cares and crosses were multiplied. This brings us to consider briefly III.-PHILIP'S FORGETFULNESS-"And yet hast thou not known Me, Philip?" Have we any forgetful Philips here this morning? There is a forgetful Thomas in the pulpit. He who has revealed Himself to me and in me as my own covenant God, as my own crucified Saviour, as my own counselling Friend and Companion, knows me to be the same forgetful one when left to myself for a single moment. Let me ask some of you, How long time has He been with you? Some have been members of this Church for over fifty years. Have you been very mindful of Him all that time? Bless Him, He has been mindful of His covenant, and has never forgotten you. Can you boast much of the increase of your joys, the strengthening of your faith, the confirming of your hope, and your freedom from Satan's assaults? Has it not been rather, that your sorrows have increased, your faith weak, your hope wavering, and Satan's assaults have been thicker than ever? Yet there is comfort and consolation for for you in these precious words of Jesus: "Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known Me, Philip? Jesus acts not the part of censor. He says not to Philip, Because of thy forgetfulness and short-sightedness I will discard thee. Oh, no. He seems to draw him still closer and closer to Him with words of sweet encouragement. Philip! Hast thou not known Me as thy Provider in every time of need? thy Deliverer from every danger? thy Saviour from every sin? Oh, may He say to us through His preached Gospel, Have I been so long time with you people at The Grove who know My name, who feast upon My love, and long to become more and more acquainted with Me? Have I been so long time with you, teaching you My own sweet lessons of love and grace, speaking to you words of free forgiveness, perfect peace, and everlasting consolation? Yet, you are in your old spots of failure, confessing your sins, acknowledging your doubts, and making a clean breast of all your wanderings and waverings. Well, I will be with you to the end of all your doubts and fears, failures and follies, temptations and tribulations, sins and sorrows. Though you have been so forgetful of Me as your Saviour and Sustainer, Companion and Counsellor, Guardian and Guide, yet, in the face of all your infirmities and imperfections, I pledge My word to you that I can never give you up. I took you to Myself in covenant, you are the purchase of My blood, the fruit of My agonies and sorrows, the conquest of My Spirit, and the eternallyloved ones of My heart, therefore "I will never, no never, no never forsake you. The greater your extremity and the brighter the opportunity for the display of My Father's grace in that salvation which is in Me with eternal glory. IV. JESUS' LESSON OF LOVE-" He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father: and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father?" If we continue to read the following verses, we shall see the way in which Jesus still further opened up to Philip the love of His heart, the glory of His person, and the perfection of His mediatorial work, for His address to Philip continues to the end of the 21st verse: "Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in Me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself, but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also: and greater works than these shall he do because I go unto My Father." Because I finish the work which My Father gave Me to do, and I go to render a faithful account of My stewardship to Him, because I shall ever live to make intercession for you, and the Comforter will come to guide you into all truth, my believing brethren shall do greater works still. "And whatsoever ye shall ask in My name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in My name, I will do it." Anything asked in the name of Christ, anything sought by the teaching of the Holy Ghost. See! It is not, I will enable you to obtain or do it, but I will do it for you. "I came not to do Mine own will, but the will of Him that sent Me;" and every performance of that will for you shall be experienced in you by the grace and power of My Spirit. Through the felt want of the blessings which My Father designed for you through Me, you shall, you must ask Me for them, and I will do all for you. Blessed Saviour, reveal Thyself more and more to our waiting hearts. "He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father." It is our mercy to know, as sound and experimental Trinitarians, that there can never be any dissension between the Father and the Son. The Father and the Son in their oneness with the Spirit, in the undivided Godhead, know nothing of disagreement. They are One in essence, One in mind, One in counsel, One in covenant, One in communion, One in will, One in grace, and One in glory. THREE, yet graciously, gloriously, and eternally ONE. The whole of this Gospel of John is given for the manifestation of the Son's equality with the Father and the Father's oneness with the Son. As the Mediator of the covenant, and the Father's righteous Servant and Son, He is the Object of unceas ing and ineffable delight. See! He is God's Christ. The Saviour of the Father's choice and appointing, who brings to Him a revenue of eternal praise from the adoring hearts of all those whom He, in His great love and unspeakable mercy, has saved. "I and my Father are One," said the Lord Jesus Christ; and if we wish for any gracious revelation of the Father to our waiting hearts, it can only be by, in, through, and with Him. You see this in chapter i. 18: "No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him." That is, no man, with his natural understanding, reason, will, or ability, by the help of creation, providence, law, or experience can know or enjoy God as a Father and Friend. This blessed privilege is only by His Son Jesus Christ our Lord. The Son is the Interpreter of the Father's will. He is the Expounder of the Father's mind. He is the Expositor of the Father's counsel. He is the Communicator of the Father's secret to every one of those who are spiritually one with Him. All who know Him know also the Father who sent Him. He had ofttimes revealed the wonderful secrets of the covenant to His disciples, who still manifested their ignorance and forgetfulness, yet He was ever the same kind, loving, patient Teacher, revealing His Father's abounding grace, abundant compassion, and never-failing mercy. Oh, what sweet encouragement we find in that precious declaration: 66 Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end" (John xiii. 1). When all the purposes of the Father are fulfilled in us here below, and our gracious Lord will have introduced us into the glory He has in store for us, then He will reveal to us the fulness of His love, and bless us with the rich enjoyment of that hinted at by Paul in 1 Cor. xiii. 9-12: "Now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." Then we shall revel in the full experience of that blessedness of which we obtain but a glimpse in 1 John iii. 2: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is." May the Lord add His blessing. Amen. SUFFERING AND CONSOLATION. A Sermon PREACHED IN GROVE CHAPEL, CAMBERWELL, ON SUNDAY EVENING, JANUARY 13TH, 1878, BY THOMAS BRADBURY, "For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ."-2 Cor. i. 5. FR "Toil, trial, suffering still await On earth the pilgrim throng; ROM the day that Adam sinned, temptation, trial, and tribulation have attended the heirs of glory all along their journey through this vale of tears. Since Adam by transgression fell, every elect vessel of mercy, every redeemed one from the fall has sought a resting-place in the very spot where God had designed that he should find disappointment and dissatisfaction. Such a truth is not pleasant to flesh and blood, and nothing short of sovereign power can influence those who are taught and sent of God to declare this Divinely-communicated message" In the world ye shall have tribulation" (John xvi. 33). Moses, the first writer of God's inspired Book, is thus described in Heb. xi. 24-26: "By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt, for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward." Just you think of that, any of you who are desiring to identify yourselves with a Church, or are longing to have your names enrolled as members of a Christian community. What are you expecting? Is it to suffer affliction with the Lord's members here upon earth, or is it to be petted and pampered by the pastor and caressed by the people? If such are your expecta No. 61-PRICE ONE PENNY, |