The Things of Christ

… Beloved Brethren, it is a great pleasure to be back here tonight and to share the Word of the Lord together. It's good that we could spend some time on our knees before the Lord and now to hear from Him. That's the way it ought to be. We talk to Him and He talks to us. Tonight I desire to bring no new thing than that which has been already revealed in the Word of God. And perhaps it is only to confirm that which you already know. Perhaps it's to put you in remembrance of that which you already know. But I would like to turn to some verses in the 2nd Corinthians which speak of Christ. In 2nd Corinthians, there are many verses in 2nd Corinthians that give us the things of Christ. But I won't be able to look at all the things of Christ, but only some. And so, if you would turn to chapter 2 and verse 10. It says, To whom He forgave anything, I forgive also. For if I forgive anything, to whom I forgave it, for your sake forgive it. Forgive it in the person of Christ. The first things of Christ I would like to look at here is the person of Christ. And the person of Christ is here connected with forgiveness. We ought to practice forgiveness. And there should be no people on earth that practice forgiveness as a Christian. Because we have been forgiven much. And the person who has experienced the forgiveness of much, he should in turn forgive also. We have the story there in the book of Luke. How this servant was forgiven so much. And his fellow servant owe him a penny, or a hundred pence rather. And he took him by the throat and said, pay me up. And he begged him. And he threw him into prison until he paid the atonement for him. Of course, the Lord of that servant heard of it. And called him into his presence. And really deal with him. But the end part of the whole story says this. Even so shall your heavenly father do to you. I'm paraphrasing that part. Except he from the heart forgive every man his brother's trespass. In this case that we have before us is a matter of the sinning brother which we have over there in 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians chapter 5, we have a brother who sinned. A very terrible sin. A sin which was not even so known among the Gentiles who do not know the Lord. This man have his father's wife. And the saints was comfortable with it. No problem. Maybe he was a leading brother there, who knows. Have some influence. So nobody speak to him about it. They continue to break bread with this brother who was living with his father's wife. The apostle Paul has to write to the church. Telling them that when you come together. And my spirit in the name of the Lord to put away that wicked person from among your maids. That you might be without any level. Whether moral or whether it is doctrinal. Or any other kind of level because there are various kinds of level. And the believer to be clean from them all. But now having been reluctant to put him out. The man has repented. And they were now reluctant to receive him. And the apostle have to write again. And says in verse 6. Sufficient to such a man is this punishment which was inflicted of many. And the contrary he ought to rather forgive him and comfort him. Lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with much sorrow. Wherefore I beseech you that he would confirm your love towards him. So here he has to write again. And says receive him because having put him out. They cut him off. Putting away is discipline. And every form of discipline have in view restoration. The discipline is a corrective measure. That one might see his way or her ways. Correct what is wrong. And able to be restored to the Lord. And to the fellowship of the Lord's people. And so this is why the apostle go on to say. That to whom you forgive anything. I forgive it also. And if I forgive anything. You do the same you know. And this is the fellowship the unity that exists. That ought to exist between the Lord's people and assemblies. That if one is out of fellowship at Plum Lane. That one is out of fellowship with all Christian on earth. And if one is receiving to fellowship at Plum Lane. That one is receiving to fellowship with all the people of God on earth. That is the truth. And that is what the apostle is saying in a nutshell here. If you forgive I forgive. And when I forgive I expect you to forgive too. In the person of Christ. If we are going to receive it must be the person of Christ. Receive one another to the glory of God. As Christ has received us. To the glory of God I should say. And it is the same thing. If we have forgiveness is connected with the person of Christ. We forgive as he for Christ sake has forgiven us. Now you wonder as to who is this person? Christ. Of course that is. I need not think that you are wondering. You know Christ. Every one of us know Christ. Don't it? And he is revealed to us. It was Peter who first says. Thou art the Christ. The son of the living God. And the Lord Jesus says. Flesh and blood did not tell you that. In other words you did not figure out that by your own intelligence. It is not by your wisdom you have found out that. But my father which is in heaven. It is by revelation. No man knoweth the son but the father. Neither knoweth any man the father save the son. I think I have it the other way around. The idea is that only to whom the son will reveal him. The father. It is all by revelation. The apostle Paul speaks of when it pleased God to reveal his son in him. But none of us get total revelation. Because we cannot get total revelation of divine persons. For all eternity we will be learning of divine persons. Because divine persons are eternal. When I was a boy I thought that the sky stopped little above the cloud. And there was no further to go than just above the cloud. That's it. But as we grow older we realize that man the infinity is so much beyond us. Galaxies upon galaxies and you go further and further away. And it is as though there is no end. So it is with divine persons. But the things that are revealed are for ourselves and our children. But it's secret things belong to the Lord. And what he revealed to us we are to gladly hold it, enjoy it. Because he gave it to us to enjoy. But I must say too that these things come not overnight. Which one of us here when we start to remember the Lord. When you got saved, I got saved when I was about 19 plus there about. And when I got saved that October I wanted to do everything right away. But the brethren have a baptism coming up in December. Already set and some people being counseled for that. And they say wait until the first Sunday in December. I would love to start to remember the Lord the first Sunday in December after I got baptized. But the brethren have a little custom that after you baptize this week. And then Friday you come for another further instruction. And the second Sunday, the Sunday after baptism now. Then you will start to break bread. And that was the arrangements. I have to wait on all of these arrangements. Now when I got saved, I got some light. I enter into light. The light of God shine in my heart. And I realize who I am. And I realize who he is. That he's a savior. He's the only one can help me. I call on him and I'm saved. The brethren instruct me about many things. And I got some further light. I got some further. But I did not know half the truth. And what I'm saying beloved that we receive one. And with a measure of light. And once the person is not rejecting light. Then we should receive the one who is not rejecting light. We refuse everyone who is rejecting light. If you reject the light, sorry we cannot have you. But we receive, we look for life and some measure of light. You must know that you are saved. You know, some basic things. And a willingness to learn. Instead of start to object to this and object to that and so on. You get what I'm trying to say. And we grow and learn. I was coming home from meeting after. I was brought into the, after I got saved. I think two weeks after I got saved. And there was this young brother telling me that you know. Brother Milton, once you are saved you cannot lost again. You are saved forever. And I was wondering if he licked his head and something or another. In other words, I was wondering that I was thinking that he was not thinking right. How can you be saved and saved forever? That even if you have done something wrong. That does not interfere with your salvation. But that you are secure in Christ. And for fellowship what you need to do is to confess that wrong and forsake it. And enjoy fellowship with the Lord and with his people. That I could not grasp right away. But I did not tell him. I only thought to myself that he's not thinking right. And a brother gave me a little book. By a brother who was living here in England I think. Brother George Cotton. Safety, certainty and enjoyment. And when I read that book. That booklet. I think I go over it some four times. I enjoy it so much. And the light that comes to me. I did not reject it. You know. I continue to grow in that light. You see what I am talking about. Now. The matter of this. The person of Christ. Don't reject the light that comes. If you are not fully clear on the person. Don't forget it. But I like to refer to a few verses. In St. John rather. The epistle of John chapter one. There are some questions in this country. About whether the sun is eternal. In the first epistle of John. Chapter one. It says that which was from the beginning. Which we have heard. Which we have seen with our eyes. Which we have looked upon. And our hands have handled up the word of life. For the life was manifest. And we have seen it. And bear witness. And show unto you. That eternal life which was with the father. And was manifest unto us. I'd like you to notice. That the beginning here. Is not referring to creation. And to drop down further. It says eternal life. Which was with the father. And was manifested unto us. Before the manifestation. This one that is here. Called eternal life. Was with the father. He was with the father. In eternity. So we have a father. In eternity. And the logic of that is clear. If you have a father. From eternity. Then need I say. That there is a son. From eternity. Verse three. That which we have seen and heard. Declare we unto you. That ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship. Is with the father. And with his son Jesus Christ. The eternal life referred to. Which was with the father. In eternity. Is said to be his son Jesus Christ. Alright. So he is from eternity. Saint John chapter 17. Bear this out also. Verse five. It says. And now oh father. Glorify me with thine own self. With the glory which I had with thee. Before. The world was. Before the world was. There was a glory. With the father. And with the son. There is. That. As we have in another place. The son. Who is in the bosom. Of the father. The lord Jesus. As son. Dwells in the bosom of the father. From all eternity. And in time he could still say. That he enjoys that place. The son of man. Who is in the bosom. Not was. But is. In the bosom of the father. And so that from eternity. He enjoyed that place. In the bosom of the father. And I'm just the person of Christ. There is a lovely verse. And perhaps you know it. But let me draw it to your attention. In Proverbs 30. Which asks a question. In verse 4. Who has ascended up into heaven. Or descend. Who has gathered the wind in his fist. Who has bound the waters. In a garment. Who has established all the ends of the earth. What is his name. And what is his son's name. If thou canst tell. Here. About a thousand years before the Lord was born of the virgin. This is written. This was written all the way back there. Asking. What is his name. What is God's name. And what is his son's name. Now we know. That his son's name is Jesus. In Hebrews. Hebrews. Chapter. Chapter 7. Verses. 1 to 3. Therefore this Melchizedek. King of Salem. Priest of the most high God. Who met Abraham. Returning from the slaughter of the kings. And blessed him. To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all. First being by interpretation. King of righteousness. After that king of Salem. Which is king of peace. Without father. Without mother. Without descend. Having neither. And I would like you to notice this. Having neither. Beginning of days. Nor end of life. But was made like unto the son of God. Abided forever. Or continually. Melchizedek who lived from in the days of Abraham. Was made like unto the son of God. Not that the son of God. As though the son of God was after Melchizedek. And was made like unto Melchizedek. But Melchizedek. Was made like unto the son of God. You get the point? That means the son of God. Was there before Melchizedek. Melchizedek was made after him. Was made a picture of him. Like unto him. Who was existing already. The son of God. And one of the ways that Melchizedek. Is a picture of the Lord Jesus. Is that Melchizedek. There is no record of when he was born. Or when he died. Without beginning of days. Nor end of life. Made like unto the son of God. Brethren this is clear to me as ABC. That the son of God. Have neither beginning of days. Nor end of life. The Lord Jesus Christ. And I could multiply verses. But I think this suffice because. I think you know these things already. And so that I will not multiply. And that. The person of the Lord Jesus. We looked at. And I like to take us to something more. Concerning the Lord Jesus. In chapter 4. In chapter 4. We are going back to 2 Corinthians. Sorry. 2 Corinthians is our book for tonight. So we are going to chapter 4. This time. And looking at the things of Christ. There are a number of things of Christ in chapter 4. But I want to pick out verse 6. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Has shone in our hearts. To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God. In the face of Jesus Christ. The face of Jesus Christ. What a face. But you remember it was that same face. That we are told that men. Slap and beat with their fists. That they spit in his face. And they ill-treated him. That face. That face that shines. Upon the mountain of transfiguration. The face of Jesus Christ. It is that face that Stephen saw. There as he looked steadfastly up to heaven. We are told that Stephen's own face. Began to look like an angel. Like that of an angel. Having seen the Lord Jesus stand at the right hand. Of God. That face. Beloved. In a coming day. The world will flee from that face. And run to the hills, the rocks and the mountains. And say cover me, hide me. From the face of him that sits on the throne. And from the wrath of the Lamb. For the great day of his wrath has come. And who is able to stand? Heaven and earth shall flee away from his face. For there is a great white throne. And from whose face the heaven and the earth flee away. There was found no place for them. The face of the Lord Jesus. When John saw him. Because there are only three men who saw the Lord Jesus. After he had ascended. Before his ascension, after his resurrection. Hundreds of people saw him. And at one time more than 500 brethren at one meeting. Saw him. After his resurrection. But once he ascended up, we have three scriptural testimony. Of those who saw the Lord. Stephen saw him. Saul saw him. And John saw him. These are the three testimonies. And we need no more. Because that's abundant. Two is adequate testimony. Three is abundant testimony. At first, Paul said when I saw him, there was a light. Then he speak about a great light. Then he speak about a light. Above the brightness of the sun. He was growing to his appreciation. But he spoke of seeing the Lord. And when he would defend his apostleship. He said, am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Christ Jesus the Lord and sent by him? And so he saw the risen, ascended, glorified Christ. John who used to lean on his breast at supper time. He said, when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. So great. So what majesty. What glory. That there is. You cannot become familiar with him anymore, John. He is so wonderful. He said, I fell at his feet as dead. But John tells us something more. He says, his countenance was like the sun shining in his strength. The face that men despise is full of glory now. Every glory shines in his face. He is a brilliance of the glory of God. Shining in the face of Jesus Christ. What a face. You know, we speak of one's countenance. Have a bright countenance. Light up the place. But the Lord Jesus, he is the light of heaven. The city need no light of candle, nor of the moon, nor of the sun. For the lamb is the light of it. And his glory, beloved, shines out from his face. The face of Jesus. And to know that we are going to be privileged to see him. We are going to be privileged to look at him. Look in his face. And to have his name written in our face, in our forehead. It's a wonderful privilege to behold the face of Jesus. And now it is a privilege we come out of darkness. And we come into light. And already the light is shining on us. I'm going to move on. And I'm going to skip over a number of things. No, I should stop at the judgment seat. Let's go to chapter 5. Chapter 5, and I soon finish. Verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. That everyone may receive the thing done in his body according to that which he has done. Whether it be good or bad. Whatever we do now, beloved, whatever we say, whatever we think. Whatever is our works. Now it shall be manifest in a coming day. For the fire shall try every man's work what sought it is. And the Lord is going to straighten out all the crookedness of man. And all and every heart will come into conformity to the thoughts of Christ. At the judgment seat, it is not a place for sentencing to hell or to heaven. It is a place where we are going to be rewarded for the things done in the body. And that is where all things will shine in light before him. And those things that are for his glory will receive a reward. Those things that are not for his pleasure, they will be consumed. Therefore we are told in 1 Corinthians that we are to be careful how we build. There are three kinds of material. There are four kinds, rather six kinds. Six kinds of materials. There are only three kinds we should use, however. There is the wood, the hay and the stubble. Those will go up in flame in no time. They are all of man's effort and whatever else they might be. They are all of man. But there is gold, silver and precious stone which will endure. These will endure. They are the workings of the Spirit of God that are done by the Spirit of God in love for the glory of Christ. And he is taking account of everything that we do. And everything that we say. Every act, every deed, every thought, every word. And we will either lose out, not salvation, not heaven. Lose out and reward. And reward is not for heaven, by the way, I should say. All of us will be standing, there will be no platform. We will stand on the same ground. Whether it is Paul or Peter or it is a thief who got saved on the cross. Who could not even so much as go and witness for the Lord. Or even to get baptized. Or anything like that. But the Lord said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. Purely and the grace of God. And so we all will get to heaven. But then what we speak of as reward, it is in view of the kingdom. That in the kingdom, when the Lord shall reign over the earth. That every man will have their proper place. And will be awarded according to our faithfulness for him here and now. Have we been faithful in illiquid things? Then he will entrust great things to us. If we suffer with him now, then we shall reign with him then. That kind of thing. The judgment seat of Christ. So our service now must be in view of that day. When the Lord is going to revise every man's work. He is going to look at it and award it. Or otherwise it shall burn up. In verse 14 we have the love of Christ. The love of Christ constrains us. And that is the way we are to serve. What is it, why you leave your home in the cold and come out here tonight? You have nothing better to do? That's all you can find to do with your time? Is to come here? Oh, that the love of Christ constrains us. This is how we are to serve. Being constrained by the love of Christ. And he propels us to come. And he draws out our hearts. Affection. And we serve him because we love him. There is a liquor course like that. I will serve thee because I love thee. He has given life to me. Alright, is it coming up to time? Is it coming up to closing time now? Good. Chapter 8. Chapter 8 and verse 9. It says, For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor. That we through his poverty might be made rich. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. What a grace. That caused him to come down. I must couple to this something. Turn with me over to chapter 11. Hold your hand at chapter 8 still. Chapter 11 and verse 10. Just to get this word. It says, as the truth of Christ is in me. No man shall stop me of this boasting in the region of Achaia. I just want the first line there. It says, the truth of Christ. And I am going to couple that with the grace of Christ. The truth, the grace of Christ and the truth of Christ. And you remember right away. That the law was given by Moses. But grace and truth come by Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord Jesus was completely all together who he is. Completely even. Completely even. The fine flower in Leviticus. The fine flower. Completely even in all his ways. That he, if he was up here to love. He was up and up there to grace. He was up there to truth. He was up there to righteousness. He was up there with all the characteristics of Christ. All his attributes was on the same level. Not like we. We have. Sometimes we characterize and we say. That's a man of love. That's a loving man. That's a kind man. That's a gracious man. And so on. Because there is a character that stand out above the others. With Christ he was not so. He was that small round thing. Well that have another meaning. But in every way he was rounded. You know. So to speak. He was a rounded person. Full in every way. With me. Not so. I want to be that. And for that reason. The ministry is given. The spirit of God is working on us. As one sign say. God ain't finished with me yet. So he's still working on us. Chipping off some rough edges here and there. And trying. And getting me to be what. He want us to be beloved. To be presented in glory. A church. Without blemish. Without spatter. Without any such thing. But right now. We have to seek to be balanced. Because if I have too much grace. Then what happen? I become too lenient. And loose in my ways. And I overlook. So many things that I should not overlook. And if I have too much truth. Then I become so hard and rigid. And forget to be gracious. You see what I'm saying. So no. We have to seek to be balanced. And that's where we have to try. We. I don't know if you ever do these things in England. But we. Have donkeys. Back there. In Jamaica. We don't have much of them anyway now. They take higher seat nowadays. But we used to have donkeys. That we work. And we have what is called a hamper. Hamper. Two things. One on this side. And one on that side. And you cannot put more goods in this one. More than the other. You have to seek to balance the hampers. So that the donkey may tread in a steady course. And it won't fall off over this side. Or fall off over this side. And that is what we want to do. A balanced situation. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. And the truth of our Lord Jesus Christ. That we balance in these. Yet he was rich, beloved. Yet for our sakes he became poor. That we through his poverty might be rich. One asks how poor. But they say. Ask the wise men. Ask Mary. Where he was born. Where the shepherds saw him. His pathway here. We are told that he have a coat without seam. If it have no seam that mean he have no pocket. No wonder when they ask him. Should we give tribute to Caesar? Should we give yes or no? Should we give tribute to Caesar? That kind of attitude. They want to catch him. And he said show me a penny. They showed it to him. He didn't have one. So they showed him a penny. He said whose image and superscription is this? He said Caesar. He said well alright. Give it to Caesar. Give to Caesar the things which are Caesar's. But give to God the things which are God's. And right there before him. He was looking at the things that are God's. You know God made man in his own image and likeness. If we give to Caesar the things that bear Caesar's image. It is only right that they should give themselves to God. Whose image they bear. And that's what he says to them. And that's what they were not doing. They were not giving themselves to God. But the point I was making is that he did not have a penny. He was so poor. He did not have a penny. The Lord who own all the kettles upon a thousand hills. All the rivers of oil are his. All the silver and the gold are his. The earth is the Lord's. And the fullness thereof. Everything. Yet he lay whole upon nothing down here. He walked through as a stranger. And earth. Foxes have holes. The birds of the air have nests. But the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. So he lived. And that was for our sakes beloved. Now let the bread of low degree rejoice in that he has been exalted. And have become ears rich in grace. And ears of the kingdom. That's what Christ has done for us. Beloved. The grace of the Lord Jesus. Permit me to just mention maybe one or two more. One more will do. Although it's not hard for me to mention two more. Chapter 10. Verse 1. Now I, Paul, myself, beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ. Who is, who in present, am base among you. But being absent, am bold towards you. He mentioned two things here of Christ. The meekness and the gentleness of Christ. As we say before, he was not uneven in any area. And as his love, so was his grace. So now is his gentleness, so now is his meekness. The meekness of Jesus Christ. Because I am meek and lowly. Meekness in this world is despised. If you're meek, men trample on you. They don't come to you. It's not a good trait to have meekness in this world. But oh, it is such a value, beloved. It is such a wonderful thing. You know when Moses was said to be the meekest of men? You know at what point it was? When his brother Aaron and his sister Miriam were criticizing him. And say, you should not have this woman. I won't go into the history of how he ended up with that woman. But they were criticizing him. And Moses did not defend himself. Moses did not defend himself. And God came in and defended him. Right away. And he says, no, the man Moses was very meek. That's one side of meekness. Is to not asserting our own rights in self-defense of our rights. Not demanding our rights and marching for our rights. As so many are doing today. But to be non-self assertive. That is what the Lord was when he was here. If you tell him do this, once it is not wrong, he go ahead and he do it. That's how he was. You invite him, he go and he sit down. If you give him water to wash his feet, then that is fine. But he don't assert himself. And that is the way we are to conduct ourselves here. The meekness, the gentleness. Oh he could take up little children in his arms. How gentle. Some of us are even afraid to hold those little ones. But he was so gentle with everyone. Even with the erring one. He was so gentle with them. And we speak about gentleman. He is the true gentleman. Yes. And we are to seek to follow him, to be gentleman. But to be a gentleman is to have the qualities of Christ. Yes. And such we are to do. The gentleness, the meekness and gentleness of Christ. If you want to look at it, you can look at it in verse 5 of the same chapter. I clearly want you to look at it. Because I did say I would stop here. But if you want to look at it, it is in verse 5. It says there about the obedience of Christ. The obedience of Christ. Adam disobeyed unto death. Christ was obedient unto death. Even the death of the cross. He was the obedient man while here on earth. And we too must be obedient. Obedience is one of the first lessons every Christian ought to learn. Obedience. And that is why in raising children, well, personally speaking, I never spank for accident. A child runs and bounces over something and mash it up or something like that. You need not be afraid that I am going to spank you for that. Or something like that. But I will spank you if I give you a command and you disobey it. Because parents have to start to teach their children to obey. If they are disobedient to you, they will be disobedient to God. They will be disobedient to the laws of the land. And so obedience, they have to start to learn. And in the spiritual sense also, we must learn obedience to obey the word of God. And learn disobedience. Disobedience in Christ where we first see it in Him. And so we are not following the Ten Commandments. No, it is not given to us. It was never. It was given to Israel alone. It was not given to the Egyptians. It was not given to the Africans. It was not given to the Frenchman. Nor to the German. Nor to the English. Nor to the Jamaican. And have I left out any others? It was given to one nation. The nation of Israel alone. And it is certainly not given to the church. We are not under the law. But under grace. So the obedience of which I speak is not obeying laws. It is obeying Christ. And the reason I don't steal and kill and all the ugly things that the law said men should not do. It is not so much because the law said thou should not. It is because we have not so learned the Christ. We are following a person. Not a set of rules and regulations. And so I just want to be clear on that. That our obedience is in the obedience of Christ. That we follow Him. We pattern ourselves after Him. May the Lord bless His Word for His name's sake. …