Idols
Albert Cecil Hayhoe
Table of Contents
Idols
I would like you to turn to three very brief statements in the ministry of John. I hope that as you read these three statements and compare them, there may be something that will touch this heart of mine and that heart of yours which will gladden and refresh us as we journey homeward. “Again the next day after John stood, and two of his disciples; and looking upon Jesus as He walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God! And the two disciples heard Him speak, and they followed Jesus” (John 1:35-37). The statement here is “Behold the Lamb of God!” Now read 1 John 5:21, “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen.” The last one is in Revelation 22:20, “He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly: Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
Discouraged?
Those three statements, “Behold the Lamb of God,” “Children, keep yourselves from idols,” and “Even so, come, Lord Jesus” will be our focus together. Perhaps the reason why such thoughts are before me this afternoon is because I received such a surprise—such a shock—two weeks ago, to hear a dear aged brother whom I knew very well addressing a group of young people. He began by saying that he had spoken to this one and to that one among Christian young people whom he knew. And he found that so many of them confided in him that they were discouraged. You know that shocked me. That surprised me. It troubled me very much. A discouraged believer in the Lord Jesus Christ! Is there something about Him that brought such discouragement? No indeed, beloved, it cannot be so! What is it then that brought discouragement to those who unburdened their hearts to this brother? I believe in some form or another there had been with them, as there is a similar danger with every one of us, that we become occupied with idols that seem so attractive, so worthwhile, so charming. But eventually we become disappointed, disillusioned, and discouraged. But never, never, never have I met anyone, young or old, occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ who said to me, “Brother, I am discouraged.”
Behold the Lamb of God
Oh how I want to present to you, as God enables me, the person of the Lord Jesus Christ who can fill and satisfy your heart and this heart of mine. And I want to present to you, too, from the Word of God a solemn warning concerning that statement, “Children, keep yourselves from idols.” Those words were written by the very one who leaned on Jesus’ bosom; written by the very one who referred to himself with such delight as “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” And you are entitled to the same happy expression if you wish it. If you really want it, you may have it. You know we read in First Corinthians 15 that there were about 500 brethren at once who saw the Lord Jesus in resurrection. We read in Acts chapter 2 that there were about 120 who were gathered together in that upper room and received that wonderful demonstration of power from on high. We read of 70 whom the Lord selected and sent out two by two that they might prepare the way before Him. We read of 12 whom He chose that they should be with Him and that He might send them out to preach. And we read of three who were particularly privileged to be with Him on the mount of transfiguration and in the garden of Gethsemane. But we read of one—one alone—who leans on Jesus’ bosom and refers to himself as that “disciple whom Jesus loved.” He is the one who penned all three statements that we have just read. Beloved young brother, dear young sister, that place of privilege is yours to enjoy.
I thank God that I have been in the company of young believers who have a spirit of joy and thanksgiving. Their consciousness of a changeless love has been a joy, a delight, and an encouragement to this heart of mine. I want to look at you, dearly beloved friends, and tell you this. If you are discouraged, the reason is that you have certainly turned your eyes away from the one who is the same “yesterday, and today, and forever.” He has never disappointed you. You have never been discouraged in looking at Him.
Nothing Amiss
I remember visiting with a dear sister who is now with the Lord. She told me that in the days of her early girlhood, her father and mother were gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus in the assembly at Rideau Ferry, Ontario. There were eight children in the family. One day the father came home from meeting and he was very, very disturbed. He said to his wife and he said to his family, “We are not going back. There is a situation in the assembly which is such a burden to me, that I feel I must say we are not going back.” Father and mother didn’t go back. So eight children stayed at home with father and mother for a few weeks. And then this dear old sister told me: “One day father was out plowing in the fields. He stopped the horses, took off his hat, bowed his head and remained there for a few minutes. And then he turned and came in the house and said, ‘We are going back to meeting. Out there in the field the Lord gave a verse to me. ‘This man hath done nothing amiss.’ He is the one to whom we are gathered. He is the one who is in the midst. His is the name to which we delight to be found gathered.”
Though the condition that troubled him remained unchanged, he did go back and the eight children went back with him. All of them were gathered one by one to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Six of them are now with the Lord and two are left. One is 102 years old, the other is just 92. We visit them from time to time. I tell you this: when we do, we see and experience a glad example of what it really means to have our eyes upon the one who has “done nothing amiss.” Just before I left home, I went to see the dear 102-year-old. I just wish you could have seen the radiant joy of her countenance as she spoke with eagerness, “Oh brother, wouldn’t it be a wonderful thing if He came today? I hope He does. Is it wrong for me to hope that He comes today?” Oh indeed you know the answer! Beloved, I just want to say to you, as John said so long ago, “Behold the Lamb of God!”
No Discouragement in Him
There are many other things in this poor world that the enemy of your souls and mine would like very much to have us occupied with. Some of them seem so charming and attractive and worthwhile. Others seem so filled already with disappointment and despair. If he occupies you with the one, you will be terribly downcast. If he occupies you with the other, you’ll be for a time very enthused about that which he puts before you. But the time will come, and you know it well, when anything but Christ will bring disappointment. You and I have seen that, beloved. But never, never, never have you, never have I, seen anyone occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ discouraged or disappointed. I just feel when I get to visit some of these dear old folks as though the Lord Himself took me by the hand, took me to the very gates of glory and caused me to stand there with that dear old brother or sister. I looked into a countenance that was filled with joy and hope as the life of expectation was about to be realized. And I looked at the glowing countenance and I said to myself, “Ah but what a difference to have walked in the sunshine of His love all through those years and see the joy at the end of the journey!” Then perhaps the Lord brings me back to where I am now and says, Don’t forget, that’s what lies at the end of the journey when you and I have the Lord before us.
Two Last-Minute Visits One day I was visiting in the hospital with a dear sister who was just about home. She couldn’t speak above a whisper, but as I walked in, she couldn’t sing. Instead she began to say with just a faint whisper, “So dear, so very dear to God, I cannot dearer be, the love wherewith He loves His Son, such is His love to me.” And then she whispered, “Brother, please sing that at my funeral.” Sure enough, in a matter of hours, she was with the Lord. But I’ll not forget the joy of that expression and the look on her face as she whispered those words. I walked out of her room and down the hall into the room of another. He also knew the Lord Jesus as his Savior. He also was at the very gate of eternity, but he had no joy whatever. No joy whatever. He had spent his life amassing idols—and he had plenty of them. He was a wealthy man. He was going to leave much behind him. Much did I say? He was going to leave everything behind him. Sad to say, the things that he had labored for he was about to leave behind. Now he knew where he was going. And I believe without any doubt in my soul that dear man is with Christ.
But as I compared those two last-minute visits, for they were both gone in such a short time, I thought of such verses as these. On the one hand, “Behold the Lamb of God.” Oh beloved friends, without enlarging upon it, I want to repeat it with all my heart. May the result of your spending time with God’s Word be that you and I, young and old, may have before us the person, the unchanging person of our Lord Jesus Christ! His heart is so full of love toward you and me— a personal love. Remember a verse like this, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” Does that do anything to your heart? If you heard the Lord Jesus speak those very words in your ear, “Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine,” what would it do to you? Would there be some response? I want to tell you something. If you don’t feel some response, then please don’t try to pretend any longer that you’re a Christian.
Sharing and Showing Joy
I see, even at Bible meetings, glances exchanged between young people. And even though I may not know them by name, even though there may not be a word exchanged, just a glance from one to the other tells a lot to someone who observes it. And to think of the Lord Jesus saying to me, “I have called thee by thy name; thou art Mine.” What would it do to your heart if for the first time someone that you loved very dearly said such words to you? Wouldn’t they sound wonderful, or would you just shrink back a little bit because he said, “Thou art mine”? Would that sound difficult to accept? Would that make you feel awkward or embarrassed because he who loves you said to you, “Thou art mine”? Oh but it would sound good to your heart if you really loved him and knew his love to you.
And beloved young people, again I want to remind our own hearts of the purpose of the Lord Jesus in coming into this world to do the will, the bidding, of His Father was not simply to rescue me from hell. It was not simply to fit me for some little corner of heaven. But because He loved me so much, heaven wouldn’t be complete without me. Just imagine! Do I speak the truth? Yes! Heaven wouldn’t be complete without me and that’s why He came and died to redeem me and make me His own. And in that day when He welcomes you, when He welcomes me, to those courts of glory, what a joy will be His! What a joy will be ours! But in the meantime, is that joy available? Can we share, can we taste, that joy? Yes, beloved, indeed we can.
My memory goes back to the beloved old brothers and sisters that are gone now. So many of them I remember. I remember the eagerness of their ministry of Christ. The warmth of what they said would go right to your heart, wouldn’t it? Can’t you just sit there and picture some of the servants of God that are gone now? And you can see them stand up with an open Bible, ministering the Word, presenting Christ. And you knew as they spoke those words that they came from a heart overflowing with joy and with delight because of what the Lord Jesus meant to their souls. And that didn’t happen in old age. It was something that was their portion from the days of their youth.
Keep Yourselves From Idols
I do think of you today and I realize, I cannot say I realize fully, that idols are presented to you and to me, and this will exist as long as we live. Why? because the devil hates the name and person of the Lord Jesus Christ. And everything that would bring honor and glory and delight to His heart, the devil is out to interfere with it and to spoil it, if that were possible. And the devil knows what joy it brings to the Lord Jesus to look down at you, dear brother, to look down at you, dear sister, and see a response in your heart and from your lips that would be such a joy to Him. The devil is out to try to rob the Lord Jesus of that portion. Turn over, then, to 1 John 5, and let us consider what John says there after so much precious ministry of Christ Himself throughout the many chapters from the pen of this beloved man of God. “Little children, keep yourselves from idols. Amen” (1 John 5:21). I think we realize that this expression, “little children,” is not limited to a certain junior age group but really means children keep yourselves from idols. It seems to me very, very important that this should be found as it is at the close of this epistle. John has been presenting to us in the gospel and in the epistle something of the wonder of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. That life was so perfectly displayed in Him and we, too, have the privilege of displaying it while here. He ends with these words, “Children, keep yourselves from idols.”
Physical Idols
What do we think about when we hear the word “idols”? Something very repulsive, something very ugly, something that would make us shudder? True, some of the actual, literal idols that exist would perhaps make most of us shudder. I’ve seen very beautiful idols and I’ve seen very ugly idols. And you know, never having been brought up in what we would naturally consider to be an idolatrous land, it’s a bit of a shock to see those who otherwise are very, very brilliant approach an idol’s temple. And there in that temple is perhaps a huge golden image of Buddha. An idolater will approach that temple, he or she will put some money in a box, hold the rope and swing it to ring a bell to attract the attention of the idol whose image is perched up there. He or she then will bow and pray or perhaps write a prayer on a piece of paper and pin it to the wall and return. And you peer in there and you see that huge golden idol and your heart aches within you as you realize the emptiness of this idolatry. People will pray to and prostrate themselves before such an idol. Then you go to another land—poor, sad, dark India, land of Hinduism. You find there, it is hard to believe, over 300 million different idols in India. Just let me give you one example of a beloved brother whom I know very well. His name is Emmanuel. He is gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. He worked as a composer in a print shop and every morning they offered a sacrifice to the idol that was there in the print shop. Having done so, they divided the sacrifice among the employees and everyone had to take their share and eat it. When he accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior, he refused to eat his share of that which was offered in sacrifice to the idol. Of course he lost his job, not because he was stubborn, but because they were afraid of the consequences if he didn’t eat his share of that sacrifice. They live in terror of their multiplied gods.
But then you come to Africa. If there are gods anywhere that would strike terror to your soul, it would be Africa. They are the gods of juju darkness. Outside of many little huts you will find a few bones and the splashes of dried blood and a few scraps of iron or whatever. You say “can that be an idol”? You turn away in horror when you think of the darkness, the sadness, the awful hopelessness of those who, with all their wealth and intelligence, will bow before the idol. Or you turn in horror on seeing those who, in their abject poverty, would bow to the multiple idols of India, or those who, in fear and terror, would cringe before the juju idols of Africa.
More Idols
But I come to this land, beloved, a land where the Word of God abounds. This is a land where the glorious tale is told of God who, in wondrous and matchless love, sent His beloved Son, the Lord Jesus. The Lord Jesus lived here in this world, He suffered and died in order that He might have you and me as His redeemed and blood-bought bride up yonder in the courts of glory. How could we be guilty of idolatry? There’s no one here that would bow down to Buddha. There’s no one in this room who would be deceived by the multiple idols of Hinduism. There’s no one here who would have anything to do with the juju gods of Africa. But beloved young people, I want to ask you a question. Are you happy? If not, I believe the answer lies in this—you, I, somewhere have accumulated some idols concerning which this verse would solemnly warn us. Paul tells us in Corinthians, “Flee from idolatry.” It was a literal thing in his day, and it’s a very literal thing today too, even though they aren’t idols that you can bring out and identify as an idol in the eyes of a heathen. You remember in 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 we read of those from Thessalonica who had “turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God; and to wait for His Son from heaven.” Before you and I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, all we had were idols. That’s all we had. What idols? Oh, they are the idol of a good education, the idol of sports supremacy, the idol of wealth, the idol of fame, whatever it may be—luxury, pleasure. I assure you there are idols in this land, beloved. And this heart of mine knows something about those idols, and I hope you don’t think that I’m standing here pointing the finger at you and telling you that you’d better get rid of those idols. My heart is no different to the heart of anyone here who’s in danger of accumulating idols and robbing your soul of the joy and the happiness that is to be found in Christ alone and robbing Him, too, of that affection, of that response of which He is so worthy.
Could we turn for a moment to 2 Corinthians 6:16. “And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, ‘I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.’”
It’s not surprising is it that we would read, “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”
The Supreme Place
Oh beloved young people, with all that is within me, I want to plead with you. The Lord Jesus Christ is worthy of that one and only and supreme place in your heart, your life, your home. Let us, beloved, remember this also, that your attitude and mine in this matter will have a profound and a long-lasting effect upon others. We began with this scripture, “Behold the Lamb of God,” and we noticed that two disciples heard John speak, and they followed Him. Isn’t that interesting? You know sometimes I compare the language of Song of Solomon chapter one with the last chapter of John. In Song of Solomon 1 we read, “Draw me, we will run after thee.” There is an individual, eager attachment to the person of the Lord. Draw me. Just one individual. But what is the reaction? We will run after thee. But I think that it is only right that I should stand here and say that one of the greatest effects upon my boyhood days was the godliness and spiritual zeal of those who were a bit older than myself. I saw in them, not all of them, but some of them, an affection for the Lord Jesus and an eager following of Him and serving Him. It had a very profound effect on me. And I want to look at you dear brothers and sisters and tell you this, and I want you to accept it from the Lord, that you are having an effect on all those who you meet and mingle with in the assembly where you are, the school that you attend, the shop where you work and the neighborhood where you live. What does it say in the end of John’s gospel? Peter says, “I go a fishing,” and the next statement, “We also go with thee.” Now I think that either one or the other of those two situations is true in your life or mine. “Draw me, we will run after thee.” Or else, “I go a fishing... we also go with thee.”
Joined to Idols
Could we turn back for a moment to Hosea 4:17, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” That’s a solemn statement. “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone.” Oh what a sad thing this is. Beloved, I do want to remind you and I feel it to be my responsibility this afternoon to remind you, that if you are joined to those idols which perhaps you have one by one accumulated, that there is a very, very solemn result that will be the consequence of so doing. Oh how subtly, a little at a time, one by one, listening to the opinions and advice of those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, these idols do creep into our thinking, creep into our lives and creep into our homes. But you know what will spare us from them and what will deliver us from them, if they have invaded our lives and homes. The person of our Lord Jesus Christ gladdening a heart will alone deliver us from those idols. I say this because, perhaps I’ve said it rather often already, the Lord wants you and me to have a happy life, an abundant entrance and a full reward. May I say that again? A happy life, an abundant entrance and a full reward. There’s no reason why your life and my life cannot be a happy life, radiating the love that by the wonderful grace of God shines toward us. But are you, am I, enjoying that love? Something else has misplaced Christ in our hearts, or we would indeed be enjoying that love so that there would be an abundant overflow.
Now when it says here, “Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone,” God doesn’t give up those upon whom He has set His love. But He does sometimes have to let them learn and experience the sad, the bitter consequence of their own rebellion and idolatry. For in Hosea 14:4 it says, “I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely: for Mine anger is turned away from him.” Verse 8, “Ephraim shall say, ‘what have I to do anymore with idols?’” Oh beloved, we’re going to leave them behind someday.
There’s a day coming when, if we do not turn to the Lord from these idols now, we are going to have to leave them behind even as that dear man in the hospital who was leaving behind the things that had meant so much to him in his life and his home-going was not a happy one. He was delivered from those idols eventually, wasn’t he? But no opportunity whatsoever to relive one day of the time entrusted to him here. And I believe it is only right that I should tell you this. It was well over fifty years ago that the Lord Jesus brought me to my knees to own that I was lost, to own that I was guilty, to receive Him as my Savior, and I know and have known with assurance and with gladness from that day to this that when the time comes for me to leave, I’m going home to be with the One who loved me and died for me. And it is only right that I should tell you that He is more than a Savior. Indeed, He is more than a Savior. The One who died and rose again is living now at God’s right hand in glory. He is a pure and perfect object for the meditation of the heart of the believer, One who can always satisfy and One who can delight for eternity.
Moses Refuses Idols
We are given in the Word of God, I believe, instances of those, like ourselves, who had the opportunity to go through life with idols that men would naturally think so worthwhile. Moses was one. Moses, through no choice of his own, found himself in the court of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Oh the splendor of Pharaoh’s court in that day! It can hardly be imagined. And there was Moses, in a very high position, in the court of Pharaoh, surrounded by everything that the natural man would really seek after. He had a grand opportunity to enjoy the wealth and fame of Egypt. But what happened? We read of his appraisal in the eleventh chapter of Hebrews, do we not? “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.” There were idols, an abundance of idols, the very kind of idol that you or I would naturally find so attractive. Prominence, wealth, luxury, fame — all this was available to Moses. But Moses’ eyes, by faith, were turned upon God and His beloved people. Moses made his choice. Beloved, do you suppose for one moment that Moses regrets the choice that he made? Someday we’re going to meet him up there in the glory, and we will have opportunity possibly to ask him about that. And you know his answer. Ah, beloved, those idols, that fame, that wealth, and everything that Egypt had to offer, he gladly turned his eyes away from all that and to the Lord. You know, sometime back, my wife and I had the unusual experience of looking, we believe, into the face of that Pharaoh who would have set Moses in that place of such honor. Pharaoh’s body was recovered from the banks of the Nile. That body was mummified. It now rests in a museum in Cairo, Egypt. And you know I will say this. It is solemn to look down at the silent face of that very Pharaoh and his young son, mummified in a coffin right beside him. His son doubtless died on Passover night. It is solemn to look at those sealed lips and remember that they are the lips that said, “Who is the Lord that I should obey His voice... I know not the Lord.” Pharaoh went on with all the idols and honor and wealth and fame of Egypt. And he despised the man Moses who stood before him. But those lips are going to be opened again in a coming day to own Jesus Christ as Lord to the glory of God the Father. And I want to pause here, beloved, lest there should be any of you who do not yet know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. If you seek after the idols of this poor world, if you leave this world with all the fame and wealth that you dreamed of, you’re going to leave it all behind and you’re going to go out into a lost eternity with nothing but endless remorse. And that’s a mighty solemn thing to think of for someone who has had the privileges that you and I have had.
Moses, seeing all this splendor around him, turned his eyes upon the One who could not be seen. And he followed the Lord. He identified himself with those people of God and endured much that you and I certainly wouldn’t have envied. He endured the false accusation, the criticism of the very people whom he tried to serve. But, oh beloved, all through it he had the Lord before him and this rejoiced the heart of that dear man of God.
Daniel Refuses Idols
Let us also consider Daniel. He had every opportunity to make the most of the opportunities that were his in that day. And the opportunities were many. But Daniel purposed in his heart, although he didn’t know and enjoy what you know. He didn’t possess what you possess. But Daniel chose the den of lions rather than turn his face away from the One who had loved Him so much, rather than cast in his lot with those who had no heart for the Lord. Now dear young people, at school, in the neighborhood or at work, we all have to face it. We are surrounded by those who have no heart for the Lord Jesus and who despise His precious name. And if you and I confess that name with loving reverence, we find that we, too, are unwanted.
God’s Faithfulness to Me
I am a coward in capital letters. But I just want to tell you one little experience. Maybe it’ll help somebody. When I went away to the University of Toronto in 1936, I was terrified by all the stories that I had heard of this one and that one who left a Christian home and went away and got mixed up in all the corruption and infidelity of university life. And you know, when I left where I was staying at 159 Russian Road that morning and started off to school, something “happened.” It happened only once in all the time I was there. My dear Uncle Cecil happened by in his car as I was walking along College Street. It didn’t just “happen.” There are some here who knew my Uncle Cecil and could perhaps picture what I would get all the way to school. I got in the car with him and immediately he started,
“Albert, is this your first day?”
“Yes, uncle.”
“Now Albert, you nail your flag to the top of the mast today. As soon as you get in there, tell them to whom you belong. Confess Christ right away. I’ll be praying for you.”
Well I went in with a lot of tracts in my pockets. I was presented to the dean, to the staff, to different ones. And I went out again with every tract still in my pocket. And I hadn’t said one word about the Lord. I told you I was a coward. And I can take you to the very spot where I stood on Saint George Street in Toronto. And I knew those tracts were still there and I just stood still and I said, “Lord don’t let me go home till I’ve gone back inside with those tracts.”
And He helped me. I went in. I took them all out and I went to the dean first and then the staff and then the student body. Then I hurried out. But I went out again thankful that in spite of the cowardice that was here in my heart, a start had been made. A start had been made that would identify me with the name that was nailed above the cross because He loved me that much. I think of it with shame. I was such a coward, that I wouldn’t even give a tract to a man; and yet the One to whom I belonged loved me enough to die for me and His name was nailed above His cross.
Full Hearts
Oh beloved young people, think of such as Moses, Daniel and the Apostle Paul. Think of the honor that could have been his. And what did he do? When he heard that voice calling from heaven, he answered, “Who art Thou, Lord?” “What wilt Thou have me do?” What happened to those idols? “Dung” Paul calls them. Philippians 3, “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ, Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.”
Just let me go back over it again. We began with that verse, “Behold the Lamb of God!” What a wonderful expression of worship and love that is! And I want to say to you, with all my heart I want to say to you, “Behold the Lamb of God!” “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.” Daniel didn’t regret the stand that he took. Paul didn’t regret the honors that were but dung to him. He had Christ. Although he ended his days as a prisoner and was finally beheaded for Christ’s sake, yet there was that radiance of joy. He displays it as he writes to the rest of us. “Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice.” Is there a little note of discouragement there? Was Paul discouraged when he wrote those words? There he was a prisoner in Rome. Why was he not discouraged? Because that which would have so occupied his heart was still the delight and joy of the heart of that dear man of God.
Even so Come, Lord Jesus
And now we consider the last verse that we read in the end of Revelation. We won’t take time to turn to it, but it is known and loved by us. “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Now if the Lord has been filling our hearts and souls, if the idols that otherwise would seem so worthwhile, so attractive have become but worthless dung to any one of us that we might know more of Christ, then I’m sure the language of your heart and of mine would be to say with eagerness and love, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” You know as I meditated on those three little verses I thought of what Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 14, “I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by My voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.”
Each one of those little texts has only five words, at least in the English translation. “Behold the Lamb of God.”
That’s where it begins, beloved. And if your heart and mine have been turned to that most unspeakable privilege, we do thank God for it, don’t we? “Behold the Lamb of God.” Then the expression, “Children, keep yourselves from idols.” Again, such a brief statement, and yet we think of it as coming from the pen of a beloved man of God who knew the joy of that love, who had leaned on Jesus’ bosom, who refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved. No wonder he says to the rest of us, “Keep yourselves from idols.” Your heart, my heart, that’s where it begins. The idol isn’t added and then the heart goes after it. No, the heart loses the warmth and love of the Lord Jesus Christ and the enjoyment of it. Then the idol comes in. “Children, keep yourselves from idols.”
And then the glorious prospect, to be realized at any moment, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” Does your heart respond that way? Do you, do I, beloved, find this to be the very breathing of our souls? As some of you know, my dear wife came from Des Moines, and I lived in Eastern Ontario. We corresponded for about seven years. It wasn’t because I wasn’t sure but I couldn’t afford anything more than postage stamps. But eventually a fresh note began to creep into that correspondence. And when finally I wrote about my coming to Des Moines to take her back with me as my bride, what kind of response do you think I got? Any reference at all to what I had said? What a disappointment it would have been to me if I’d received a letter back saying, “It’s very hot here in Des Moines today and, uh, how is it in Ottawa?” Oh, I would have read that letter through and thought: there’s something missing here. Nothing was missing, I assure you. But then I read those words, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.” May I ask you, dear young believer, when did you last address your Lord and Savior in that way? When did you last address your Lord and Savior with those words? Oh may it be the awakening thought and a thought throughout the day and the thought at the close of the day if we’re still here, “Even so, come, Lord Jesus.”
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