- Overcomer Literature Trust
- Swindon
- Wiltshire
Truth and Liberty.
By Horatius Bonar.
“If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8 v31-32).
1. The reception of Christ’s word begins discipleship. The world is stretching out its hands after something which can only be realized in Christ, but this is not discipleship. Many are asking, ‘Who will show us any good?’, but this is not discipleship. Discipleship begins with receiving His word. He is the Word and He speaks the word, and it is a word concerning the Father and concerning Himself. He comes as the revealer of the Father, and as the declarer of Himself and His work. From the moment that we receive what He tells us concerning the Father and Himself, we become His disciples. Thus we are taught, not of man, but of God. This is the true beginning of discipleship.
2. Continuance in that word is the test of true discipleship. Our Lord lays great stress on this. It is not continuance in general adherence to His cause, but continuance in His word, in that word by the reception of which we became disciples. As it is by holding the beginning of our confidence that we are made partakers of Christ, so it is by continuing in the word that we make good the genuineness of our discipleship. “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly,” says Paul, and it is this word that contains everything we need.
1. It is an expansive word, growing in us. It is never old, never new, but in it we make continual discoveries.
2. It is a quickening word, maintaining old life yet producing new. “Your promise preserves my life.”
3. It is a strengthening word, nerving us and invigorating us, lifting us up when bowed down; imparting health and courage, resolution and persistency.
4. It is a sanctifying word. It purifies, it detects the evil, purges it away and pours holiness into the soul. It works blessedly within us. Let us continue in it, not weary of it, not losing relish for it but abiding in it.
3. Knowledge of the truth is the result of discipleship. We have seen the properties and virtues of the Word in itself, now we see that these properties and virtues are implanted in the disciple. All who enter this school and put themselves under the teaching of this instructor are taught of God. We shall know the truth, not a truth nor part of it but the truth - the whole of it, the truth and not error, Him who is the truth. We shall be wise, wise in Christ, in Him who is our wisdom. We shall know it, not guess at it nor speculate on it, not get a glimpse of it but know it. The truth is Christ Himself and the teacher of the truth is Christ, He is both teacher and lesson. The knowledge of Christ is the knowledge of the truth, ever growing both in extent and in depth. Christ’s promise to the disciple is, “You will know the truth”. What a wonderful promise in a day of doubt and error.
4. This truth is liberty. All truth is liberty and all error bondage, but some truth is greater liberty and some error greater bondage. Blessed are these words of the Master, “The truth will make you free”. Bondage is often associated with tyranny, bad government, civil or ecclesiastical despotism but Christ’s words go far deeper. They go to the root of the evil. The real chains, the real prison, the real bondage are within not without. So the true liberty is within, not without. It springs from what one knows of God and of His Christ. Seldom do we realize this, but the Master is very explicit.
The truth shall make you free! There is no other freedom worthy of the name; they are free whom the truth makes free. ‘Be free’, says the Son of God to us! How? By becoming My disciples, knowing the truth which I shall teach, and following Me. “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed!”
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives" (John 14 v27). Surely “never man spoke like this man!” Well might we wonder at "the gracious words which proceeded from his lips.”
Grace was poured into His lips, and out of His lips grace flowed to us. He has “an instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary” (Isa. 50 v4); and blessed were the words He spoke to such.
Never did anyone enter so deeply and tenderly into our feelings, anticipating with His words of sympathy and consolation every sorrow and want! What love is here! What thoughtfulness and sympathy! What majesty too! For who but One who knew that He had come from God and was going to God, that He Himself was the infinite source of peace, could say, “Peace I leave with you”. These words are certainly the assurance to us of the love and power of the One who Promised. What He has promised, He is also able to perform.
The words are still fresh and new. They can never grow old for He who spoke them is the same “yesterday, today, and for ever”. They were spoken for us in these last days as truly as for the ages past. Christ meant us when He uttered them.
a. The legacy. “Peace I leave with you.” This is the parting gift of One who was about to depart. He Himself was bidding farewell, but He was not going to take His peace away.
He brought it when He came - “peace on earth” - and He leaves it behind Him as a heavenly gift. His presence had been the source of peace and His absence was not to end it.
That source would remain the same. Present or absent, far off or near, on earth or in heaven, He was still to be the fountain of peace. He was leaving behind Him a peace which would cheer and gladden. In the world there was to be tribulation but in Him peace. The peace of God is to rule in our hearts. We are to abide in peace, and have His peace in us!
b. The gift. “My peace I give you.” This is evidently something in addition to the former clause. The peace is not merely something left, but positively given, “I give.” It is not lent or sold but given. It is Christ’s own gift, free and unconditional. His peace is like Himself, a gift to us, unsolicited and unmerited. But the striking expression here is “my peace”, Christ’s own peace, peace altogether peculiar, transcending in nature and in fullness all other peace.
1. His peace was the peace of a conscience on which there never rested the shadow of guilt. It was pre-eminently a good conscience. Our lack of peace comes from a sense of guilt. It is an evil conscience that disquiets us. The least speck or shadow of guilt breaks our peace. Now in Jesus there was the perfection of a good conscience. Not a shadow ever rested there. It is a blessed thought that there was once here a man like ourselves whose conscience was never touched with the slightest stain of guilt, who never had to regret one thought or recall one word or wish one action undone. How great must have been the peace He possessed, profound, unutterable, even in the midst of a stormy world. It is into this profound peace of conscience that He would lead us. Of that very peace He would make us partakers. The result of our “receiving” Him, or “believing on his name”, is to bring us into that same state of conscience and that same kind of peace which He who knew no sin possessed. He has made peace by the blood of His cross, indeed He is our peace, and as soon as we come to know this and take Him as our peace we are made partakers not merely of peace but of that which He calls “my peace”.
2. It was the peace of One entirely obedient to the Father’s will. It was to do that will that He came and His life was the doing of it, “I delight to do your will, O my God”; “Not my will but thine be done”. Such an obedience had never been rendered before and such a peace had never been possessed, either on earth or heaven, by man or angel. It is into this peace that He leads us, peace perfect and profound, peace not springing from nor proportional to our obedience but to His, the peace of which His obedience to the Father is at once the foundation and the measure.
3. It was the peace of One whose very nature made Him partaker of special peace. He was “the Word made flesh”, Son of God and Son of man. As such He was a vessel of infinite dimensions, capable of containing a peace such as no one else could. Into this vessel of infinite capacity all fullness of peace was poured by the Father and out of this vessel this peace is poured into us. It is of the divine peace of the God-man that we are made partakers. What peace is there like this? “My peace I give you”.
4. It was the peace of One whose relationship to the Father made Him possessor of special peace. His must have been peace as special as it was infinite, the peace poured into the bosom of the beloved Son by the Father Himself. This is not the peace of a servant, or a friend, but the peace of a Son - and such a Son! This divine and filial peace, the peace of the only begotten of the Father, He makes over to us as His free gift, “My peace I give you”. And this becomes all the more true and blessed when they to whom He gives the peace are themselves sons of God. The Father pours a special peace from His paternal heart into the heart of His beloved Son, and that Son pours this special peace into the hearts of those who are partakers of His sonship - truly sons of God!
5. It was a peace that could never be destroyed. The peace is like Himself and like Him from whom He receives it, eternal and unchangeable. This peace is partaking of His character as the eternal One, the same yesterday, today, and forever. It is peace begun now, given even here, and it is peace to be perpetuated in the eternal kingdom, peace without end or interruption or change, forever. Such is Christ’s gift. It is precious, perfect, divine. It is like Himself. It is a peace which passes all understanding. What a treasure for earth and what a promise of the fuller treasure in store for us when He comes again. For great as is the peace which He gives now it is nothing to the peace in reserve for us hereafter. He gives it to His own, and He bids all to draw near to become His own. “Come to me and I will give you rest” is His first message, and His second is like it, “My peace I give you”.
c. The contrast. “Not as the world gives, give I to you.” In all aspects there is a contrast between Christ and the world, with nothing of likeness or sympathy. But it is not of Himself that He here speaks but of His gifts and manner of giving. Christ’s peace and the world's are opposites, so are His giving and the world’s.
As to the peace:
1. Christ’s peace is perfect, the world’s is partial and imperfect; no depth, no greatness about it. It is and has been a poor meager thing at its best.
2. Christ’s peace reaches the conscience, the world’s does not. The world soothes the conscience asleep but that is all. It intoxicates, but gives no rest to the inner man. It is not the offspring of a purged conscience.
3. Christ’s peace is satisfying, the world’s is unsatisfying. The peace which comes in any way from this evil world cannot satisfy. It meets none of our spirit’s cravings and longings. It does not feed our hunger or quench our thirst. It leaves us as empty as before. It promises peace when there is none.
4. Christ’s peace is steady, the world’s wavering. The world itself is unstable and so are all its gifts, especially that of peace. This is easily ruffled, easily broken, ever-changing.
5. Christ’s peace is holy, the world’s unholy. Christ’s peace is everlasting, the world’s soon ended. The world’s peace is but for a lifetime, but seldom does it last half as long. Eternal peace is Christ’s gift!
As to the giving:
1. Christ’s giving is free but none of the world’s gifts are. He gives as He gave Himself. The world bargains and sells.
2. Christ’s giving is genuine, the world’s is a pretense. The world wishes us peace but all is hollow. Christ means what He says when He wishes us peace!
3. Christ’s giving is ungrudging. The world has no pleasure in giving, it is not generous and loving. Christ gives as a King, in full-hearted love, He upbraids not.
4. Christ’s giving is immediate but that of the world is tardy. The world keeps us waiting. Christ does not. His word is ‘now’!
5. Christ’s giving is irrevocable but the world often takes back what it gave. His peace is sure, He does not recall it, nor shall He forever. How vivid the contrast! Can anyone hesitate in choosing? To reject the world’s false peace and to take Christ’s true peace is of all things the most reasonable that can be proposed! Consider the contrast well and act accordingly.
d. The consolation. “Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” There will be many things to trouble and terrify in this world, a world where all is hatred, enmity and persecution. But against all this provision has been made and that provision is the peace of Christ. No doubt He gives other things also for days of trial, strength, faith and hope, but it is His peace that is the special antidote, the pre-eminent sustainer and comforter in evil times.
It is real peace. It keeps the soul unmoved when the tempest is raging. It makes us know that we are hidden in the hollow of Christ’s hand, defended by His shield, embraced by His arm. It is light in darkness, a strong tower in the midst of assailing hosts. Let the world reproach or persecute, we have a peace within which more than meets all its reproaches and persecutions. Let Antichrist and Satan rage, the divine peace within keeps us immoveable. Let bodily pain assail us, we are sustained by the peace of Christ. Let sorrow compass us about, we are kept calm by the peace of Christ. Our hearts are not troubled with anxiety or trial, nor are they afraid in the midst of persecution and reviling.
Christ’s peace within us and with Christ Himself as our companion by our side, we go forward in possession of a heavenly calm which preserves us in patience and tranquillity, more than conquerors through Him who loves us.
From: ‘Studies in the Gospel of John’.
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