======================================================================== WRITINGS OF J F ENGLISH by J.F. English ======================================================================== A collection of theological writings, sermons, and essays by J.F. English, compiled for study and devotional reading. Chapters: 3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ TABLE OF CONTENTS ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. 00.00. English, J. F. - Library 2. S. Fruit-bearing 3. S. The Significance of the Lord's Supper. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 1: 00.00. ENGLISH, J. F. - LIBRARY ======================================================================== English, J. F. - Library S. Fruit-bearing S. The Significance of the Lord’s Supper. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 2: S. FRUIT-BEARING ======================================================================== Fruit-bearing John 15:5; John 15:8. J. F. English. What a wonderful privilege is opened up to the saints of God today; those who once were the slaves of sin and Satan, far away from God and without hope in the world. Now, through the work of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the Spirit indwelling, it is possible for each of us, no matter under what circumstances our lot is cast, to be living in such a way as to glorify the Father, and to have that life working in us which is in Him, so that there is much fruit to the glory of God the Father. He is the true Vine outside of Whom there is nothing in this world for the good pleasure of God, and happy are we to whom He can say, "ye are the branches." We know that in all that He was here on earth He fully glorified the Father. In His prayer to the Father in John 17:1-26. we have the privilege to hear Him address the Father as "Holy Father" and "Righteous Father." He Himself was the Holy One and True, of whom it was prophetically spoken in Psalms 45:6-7, and again quoted in Hebrews 1:8-9. "Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity." If we are abiding in Him and He in us, then we shall be in the true path of discipleship, the path of Holiness and Righteousness, wherein is that much fruit which is to the glory of the Father. In this pathway we shall have the answer to all the questions that can be raised as to our associations on earth, and what more blessed path could we have. It is that which has been trodden by our adorable Lord before us, the path marked out by the Son of God, the Father’s delight and joy. The Apostle John exhorts us, "and now children, abide in Him," also "he that saith he abideth in Him, ought himself to walk, even as He walked" (1. John 2:6; John 2:8). This wondrous pathway does not lie in anything very difficult to be done, or that which calls for some special intellectual qualifications, it is simply, "Abide in Me." Of course it does mean a true knowledge of Him, and of subjection to God the Holy Spirit always through prayerful communion and reading of His Word. Alas, however, we have to confess how little we know of this; so we are not sufficiently careful to guard against all which would come in between our souls and Him. We fail to Abide in Hirn, which is the secret of our being so unlike Him and there is so little to the glory of the Father. If we are entangled in unholy associations which are characterised by a worldly Christianity as in Christendom, that is not abiding in Him, and so there cannot be much fruit to the glory of the Father. If we are in a path of unrighteousness where we are unable to manifest the love of the Father to His own, we are not abiding in Him, and there is not the much fruit to the Father’s glory in the Son. May we therefore be stirred by the Spirit’s voice calling us to listen more earnestly to the Voice of our Beloved Lord. It is a day of inestimable privilege; we may have but a few more steps to travel before He comes to take us home. The judgment seat of Christ lies before us, where everything will be fully brought to light as He appraises it. May He give us true spiritual to Abide in Him. He, on His part, in His faithfulness will abide in us. We shall find ourselves in the path of true discipleship, and there will be much fruit to the glory of the Father, and the glory of the Son, our beloved Lord and Saviour. ======================================================================== CHAPTER 3: S. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LORD'S SUPPER. ======================================================================== The Significance of the Lord’s Supper. J. F. English. In Luke 22:19-20; 1 Corinthians 11:20-26 there is brought before us the institution of the Lord’s Supper. In Luke, we have its record by the Lord, and in 1 Cor. a reference to the ministry of the Supper which the Apostle had previously communicated to the saints at Corinth. It is mainly from the record in 1 Corinthians 11:1-34. that our thoughts regarding the Supper are formed. That is to be expected, as in this epistle we have the truth of the administration of the assembly in the light of the fellowship to which we have all been called. Evidently the Corinthians had been meeting together, professing to take the Supper, but their conduct called forth the corrective reiteration which the Apostle had previously delivered to the saints at Corinth. In order to add weight to the seriousness of their conduct the Apostle calls their attention to the significance of breaking the bread and partaking of the cup, for he adds to the words of the Lord, "For as often as ye eat this bread and drink this cup, ye do announce the Lord’s death till He come." This is the great appeal to self-judgment so that the Supper might not be partaken unworthily as the Corinthians appear to have been doing, but it is not that which the Lord has asked us to do; His request is simply that we might do this "for a remembrance of Me." The Lord does not say in what way we are to call Him to mind, but if we refer to the Scriptures in which there is a word of God to His own in regard to that which is to be remembered by them we will see that it is the significance of the incident in relation to the dealings of God with His people that is to be before them. The Passover and all the various Feasts inaugurated by the Lord God, were for a remembrance of the way in which He had acted towards His people and their relationship with Him. For us today, we can see how all these were shadows of that which was going to be true of the Lord Jesus and has been and is being effected by Him. When we come together in Assembly, we lose our individuality; we are part of a whole; this should make us sensible to the fact that the remembrance of the Lord and His death as it applies to us personally, should be before us before we come to the Assembly meeting, rather than when there. Surely each one of us should ever have before us the remembrance of our Beloved Lord in His sufferings and death on the Cross for us; we do not need to come together to bring this to remembrance. This ought to be continually before us, drawing out our hearts in love and thanksgiving to Him, and creating in us a desire to be in our place around Him in His own appointed way, in Assembly. On the evening of His resurrection day, when He appeared in the midst of His own gathered together we read "then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord." He lives for us. In His great love for the Church He gave Himself, and He says to us, "This is my body which is given for you." We remember His words in Matthew 13:46, having found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it." Is not this what He would before us, rather than that which was substitutionary? His intense love for the Church lies behind these sweet words and the giving of Himself. As we think of what that giving of Himself involved for Him, we learn the more to value His precious love and wonderful thoughts to us. We also learn in Him the love of the Father towards us, in that He gave His only begotten Son for us. What did this mean to the Father? Nothing will affect us more when we are with the Lord in glory, realising our place and blessings as the great love that has us there. Then the cup surely speaks to us of the Father’s blessing in His great love for us as His own. In the account of the Supper we read "This cup is the New Covenant in My blood." It expresses the present attitude of the Father towards us, as His own. He loves us with the same love wherewith He loves the Son, and we are brought into the place of sons with the Father. The precious blood of the Lord, the token of His life laid down, is the ground on which God is able to forgive sins righteously and bless us according to the desire of His Heart. We know, as we partake of that cup, there is nothing in the heart of God for us but love, the love of the Father for His sons, in no less measure than that with which He loves the Son. How precious this makes the Son of God to us, in the joy of His presence, being with Him in spirit where He is with the Father, we worship as we contemplate the way that love has taken to bring us to Himself. We rejoice with the Father in His joy over His Beloved Son in all that He has accomplished in His death, as far as we are now by the Spirit able to comprehend it. It is joy to know that the Father has Him again in His presence eternally, the Man of His Right Hand, ever His delight and joy in the highest place of glory. We thus see that the Supper is the introduction to our Assembly worship. When we are with the Lord in glory, we shall not need it to bring Him before us; we shall be in His blessed presence in all the joy of the Father’s house. In the meantime, however, the Lord in His love for us and great grace, desires to have us near Himself where we can participate in our blessed portion in Him with the Father now. Where there is simple subjection to the Holy Spirit (He who knows the mind of the Lord) we should find each recurring Lord’s Day morning meeting increasingly precious in the foretaste of the portion that awaits us when at home with Him. Even in the Tabernacle worship, the High Priest was able to go into the Holiest, where everything spake of the glory of God and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If this was so true with the shadow how much more so now that the substance has come. May the Lord grant that we may be able to take up our priesthood, as sons with our Great High Priest, the true Aaron, in the power of an ungrieved Spirit, worshipping as we gather around Him, our beloved Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God who again repeats to us "Do this in remembrance of Me." ======================================================================== Source: https://sermonindex.net/books/writings-of-j-f-english/ ========================================================================