Light for the Pilgrim Path: Volume 2
Walter Thomas Turpin
Table of Contents
Christ the Sanctuary and Support of His People
Isaiah 5:1-4; 6:5; 7:10-14; 8:5-17
It is a solemn fact, but it meets us in every portion of God’s word, that the creature breaks down everywhere: and that is not confined to any one period or time, or to those who were distinguished by greater or less favor. It is the common history—I was going to say, lot—of man, no matter where we look at him, irrespective of how favored or signally blessed of God; it is the same sad history all through. And it is very striking to see that it is true of men collectively as well as of man individually; that is, it is not merely true of man as man, but, what is exceedingly solemn, it is equally true of those who are brought into favor corporately. The place of blessing has never been kept by any creature. That is what is so solemn, and yet it is this we have to be established in, as to our souls. It is one of the very first grand principles of God’s word, that not only has man, as a creature under responsibility, utterly broken down, and come short entirely of God’s glory, but, beloved, there is another truth that is connected with it which is more humbling and solemn, namely, that man, blest, brought into divine favor, and surrounded with tokens and marks of sovereign mercy, fails as much in respect to the mercy as he failed with respect to his responsibility.
Now this is a great fact from God for us to be settled in, as to our souls, because, when we pass from it in its individual aspect, and look at it corporately, whether in Israel or in the church, it is the same sorrowful story. Here, in the prophecy we have been reading together, it refers, of course, primarily, and in its literality, to Israel; but then, remember that, while it is a great fact fully attested in scripture, it is impossible to have right thoughts of God’s ways, if we ignore the great reality that Israel will come out again, and God’s dealings with that nation be as distinct as before; yet, at this present moment, it is not Israel, as such, which is the subject of God’s sovereign dealings in grace. That is all put in abeyance, as it were, for the time being; the hopes of the nation are to be revived, though now the daughter of Israel sleeps, and the day is coming when the tree, now seared and blasted, shall bud and blossom, and fill the world with fruit. But now God is occupied, in His grace, with another thing; and you must see how solemn it is, when we look at that other thing with which we have to do, to find that there is no difference as to the manner and way in which favor, and sovereign goodness, and mercy have been slighted, and despised, and rejected—so much so, that the time is coming when that awful word of excision will be put into force by the Lord Jesus Christ, “Because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth”; and that is as thorough, and as complete, and as total a rejection and repudiation of the false thing as the breaking-off and inter- ruption of Israel’s hopes were thorough and complete for the time being, and a great deal more so; because, for that which will be spued out of Christ’s mouth, there is no hope whatever, no recovery for it; whereas, through grace, there will be a recovery and restoration for Israel.
But now, what I do desire to occupy your thoughts with this evening is the great moral principle which underlies all this—simply that our hearts may be exercised in what we have left for us in that which remains of the journey. It is well for us to be able to look around, and to say, I know what I have. It is a very easy thing, in one sense, to be able to say, I know what I have not; but that will not help us. If I were to dwell all the evening upon what we have not, or what we have lost, or what has been taken from us, it might be exceedingly useful; and God gives that its place, so as to exercise consciences, and awaken up the sense of our true whereabouts; but then it would not minister comfort, or help, or vigor, or power to any one whose soul and heart longed to know whether there were any resources or reserves that could be fallen back upon, so that one could say, Well, thank God, though we are as bad as bad can be, He is as good as He ever was. That is what really comforts and sustains our poor hearts; and, more than that, one grows in the sense of it. I am convinced, the more I dwell in meditative delight and communion on that which there is in God and the Father for myself as a poor, weak, and feeble creature, the more I can dwell upon such resources of God for those who have utterly, so to speak, lost everything, and sinned away everything, the more my heart grows in adoring confidence in the One who never changes, and I have a deeper sense of what poor material for His grace we are.
I have often been struck by the words which occur in the Lord’s ministry from the glory—I mean His ministry as set forth in the churches in the Revelation: “Remember from whence you are fallen”—not to what you have fallen, but from what—a very different thing. If I say, there is where I was set, there is where His own wonderful grace gave me to rest in Himself, and that is what I have left; then I have a true measure of what I have got down to. The position of divine grace I have fallen from is the only true measure of what I have descended to. It is not, remember where you are, down in all the distance and wretchedness of the condition you have dropped into, but it is, “Remember from whence you are fallen,” and that is deeply painful to one’s heart.
Well, now, there are two things here, in chapters 5, 6, we have read tonight. In chapter 5 the prophet brings in the nation as guilty on the side of their own positive responsibility with respect to favor. God has done everything He could do; that is, He is looking back: “What could have been done more in my vineyard that I have not done in it?” I have expended all my in- terest and care upon it; I have done everything. And what has been the issue of that? “It brought forth wild grapes.”
If we apply that principle now to Christendom—and remember, I am speaking of the sphere of profession, I am speaking of it as responsible here upon the earth as a whole, not of the body of Christ; I am speaking of the house in its widest and fullest sense; because, if I speak of the body of Christ, I speak of that which Christ forms for Himself; that which He builds and that which man builds are distinct. I am not speaking of that, but of the assembly in its house aspect, where responsibility comes in, and—mark this distinctly—in connection with divine favor too; because you must have privilege to incur responsibility. There is no use in trying to convict any one of responsibility, if you do not prove their privilege. Therefore, when I look at the church in its house aspect as a privileged, favored corporation upon this earth, I see there is wonderful responsibility. Well, now, I say what could God have done that He has not done, if I look at it in that way? Can any one lay a charge against the diligent care, and the wondrous goodness, of the Lord Jesus Christ, with reference to the church, in that respect? Was not everything done? Is not the New Testament filled with the evidence of that? But now, look at the professing church for a moment. What has it produced? “Wild grapes.” Man, as an individual, has done it; Israel has done it; Christendom has done it. If I look back at individuals, or at Israel, or at Christendom now, it is, “wild grapes.”
That is ch. 5. I merely want to touch the leading points in it, so as to get at the subject that is really filling my own heart this evening. In ch. 6 we have another thing; and here the prophet represents the nation; and it is not that he is looking back here, as in ch. 5, but looking on. He represents the nation, and the nation is brought in as unfit for the glory of God. Every one can see how true that is of us individually. The glory of God is that which most convicts us, individually. People think there is nothing so convicting as their failures but that is a great mistake. There is conviction on that side, no doubt—I do not question it. Of course, if you go and say to a person, You have thoroughly failed, you have forfeited every claim and title you have had, because of what you have done, it undoubtedly tells upon him. But, beloved, let me tell you this, it is a great deal more solemn for a soul to get into the presence of light that is all-penetrating, and see that it is unfit for the glory of God. It is not simply the question of what I have done; and you will find that the people who have the deepest sense of their own moral obliquity before God in the holiness of His nature, are the people who have lived upright lives; whereas, with base sinners, though, no doubt, truly and really converted to God, people who have lived uncommonly bad lives, who have plunged into every kind of sin, their sense of it is taken more from the acts than from the nature, and consequently it is not anything like so deep. Hence you will find that people of that character are more disposed to dwell upon the enormity of their crimes, their evil ways and course, and all that is true. I do not question it at all, yet it is not the same thing as when the glory of God has measured me, and I find I am vile, even at my best. It is not merely that I am bad in my badness, but I am intolerable, even in what I think is the best part of me—the cup is found in Benjamin’s sack.
That is a different thing entirely; and you will find how that is the point about which souls are very much astray. It is not that people do not know they are sinners—not at all. Many know right well—according to the confession they often make—that they have done that which they ought not to have done, and have left undone what they ought to have done; but I tell you what they do not know—that “in them,” that is, in their flesh, “dwells no good thing.” It is a wonderful thing when a man (I speak of him now individually) has found himself out in the light of the glory of God, as the prophet did here, so that he positively is brought to this, that all the respect he had for himself is gone; he then loses self-respect, and what is the measure of his conviction? Surely not his sins, but God’s glory; and, beloved, it is an immense thing to have been brought, so to speak, into the presence of the glory of God in that way. What makes it so interesting here, is, that it was the glory of the Lord Jesus. The New Testament tells us that. “These things said Esaias, when he saw his glory, and spake of him” (John 12:41). This is the glory of Christ as Jehovah—it is the glory of Jehovah. But, I say, what a wonderful thing for a creature to measure himself with that glory! What is the result of it here?
Woe is me, for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.
Now, as I said, in ch. 5 he looks back, but in Isa. 6 he looks forward, and in both you get the nation completely set aside morally because of their condition—they produced wild grapes. In the light of the glory of God they were discovered unfit for His presence.
Now what comes next is that which is more especially filling my heart this evening. In such a condition of things as that, has God any reserves? I do not say resources, but reserves. Can you say in your souls, Thank God, I know something of His reserves? Has He reserves? He has! What a wonderful thing it is to be able to say to one another, God has reserves! That is what Isa. 7 unfolds. And what is the condition of things when it is unfolded? What brings it out? A wrecked nation, whether on their own side, or in the presence of His glory; wild grapes produced under His culture, and a moral unfitness for His glory. Now what can God do for a people like that? When we come to this ch. 7, we have the virgin’s Son to meet it. “A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.”
That is where I see Christ as God’s reserve. What a blessed, wondrous reality for the heart to grasp—Christ as God’s reserve! “Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign,” saying, as it were, I take you at your lowest; you want a sign; you have not faith to trust in my simple word—you are reduced to that. It is a state of very bankruptcy; you have got into a condition of total wreck, and now you want a sign. I will give you a sign: “A virgin shall conceive, and bear a son.” What a marvelous intervention of God! God, in the goodness and resources of His own nature, equal to Himself. Oh, here is something that is beyond all human ability to command. And what I see is this—when God works, when He brings out His reserves, He chooses the time when every avenue is closed up, every door, so to speak, shut. That is the moment when faith ought to look up, and say, God has reserves, and now is the fitting occasion for Him to bring them out. That is a great encouragement for us tonight; because you look around, and as you see the state of things, you say, “Who will show us any good?”—many say that now, but we have reserves too—“Lord, lift thou up the light of thy countenance upon us.” And does He not do it as truly as He does here in this chapter before us? Think of the words, “He shall be called Immanuel.” That is, Jehovah of Sabaoth becomes Immanuel, that is, God with us, in the person of the virgin’s Son, and He is the great reserve of God for a state of wreck and ruin, as God depicts it here for us.
I speak of all this tonight, because I believe nothing will give confidence in God except to see what He is, and how He can act. He acts suitably to His own nature and character; and when you see that He has that in Himself, above and beyond all the misery, and wretchedness, and ruin, what comfort it gives your heart, that, in the darkest moment, faith can enable you to say, Well, we have not got beyond the mighty power of the living God; we have not got beyond the resources and reserves of God. We may have utterly broken down in every sense and shape, but still, in the darkest moment God will show that He is God. That is what will keep our hearts quiet, and if we have not received that, we cannot be quiet. If it is not a settled thing in our souls that God is God, and will act as such, we cannot be in repose; it is impossible, we are bound to be restless and disturbed.
But there is a spot where we can rest, if our souls can lean upon that great fact: God has reserves, and He brings them out at the time when man can only say, It is all over with us, as the godly in Israel might well have said.
And now I want you to come with me to Isa. 8 for a moment, where we see what the effect of this reserve is. That is what ch. 8 really unfolds, viz., that this blessed One, who was the virgin’s Son, brought forth by God as His own precious and wondrous reserve, to fulfil all His thoughts and purposes, becomes the great test; and that is what you find now. Could anything be more morally applicable to the existing state of the church of God? I question if it be possible to find a scripture that will present the moral features, the great salient features, of the present condition of things under the eye of God, more distinctly than this one. I speak of the church in its widest sense. I am not limiting it now to any number of people who falsely assume the title to themselves, but as God speaks of it. And the church of God is of much wider dimension than many people think. Look at the state of it now! Look at its present condition! Could anything be more applicable to its existing state than what we find in this chapter 8, namely, that this reserve, this blessed Son of His bosom, the virgin’s Son, the mighty God who became man, and did bring all the grace that was in God down into man, as well as take all the sorrow that was in man up into God, He is the One who is the great test in the condition of things here brought out. What you find, then, here, is, that there was the most perfect and thorough rejection of Gods reserve on the part of some, and there was the most blessed sustainment and comfort for the hearts of others in that One who was God’s reserve.
Now what is the question of the present hour? Are our hearts really exercised about it? What is the spiritual outlook? Let us ask ourselves what is the great question of the moment. One word answers that question. It is a matter of Christ. Be assured of it, it is so. It always was, from the moment that Christ came here; from the moment that the blessed One was here revealed in all His blessedness, the whole power of Satan was put forth to bring into contempt this reserve of God amongst those who professedly accepted it. So it is now. Let us refuse most positively the wile of Satan now, who, by his agents and dupes, would, if possible, shift—at least to sight—the great question of the hour from its true issue. It is an insidious, deep plan of the devil to conceal himself and his acting. The whole question now that is agitating men’s minds generally, and the church of God too—not any portion of it, but the whole—is, as to whether the Christ of God is to be pre-eminent, whether He is to have the whole and complete sovereignty, and be bowed down to, in every particular. That is the question now, and I believe you fail to perceive the solemnity of the hour, if you do not see that. If it is a mere personal matter, or a mere difference of judgment, or disputation about this point, or that, though they have their importance in their place, if it be only that which you see at present around you, you have failed to take in the real question of the moment. We are in danger of losing sight of what the whole object and aim of the enemy at this juncture is about, and that is to set aside, if he can, the Lord Jesus Christ from His absolute sovereignty over the affections, hearts, ways, manners, tone, and temper of His people. Every question resolves itself into that, and our God would have us awake, as it were, and in individual exercise of heart before Him.
Let me ask you affectionately tonight, and let me say it to myself as well as to you, can you sit down in your own room, and close the door, as it were, upon yourself and God; can you, as in His very presence, in all the light of it on your soul, say to your own self, Is there a corner in this heart of mine where He does not reign supreme? That is where the real exercise should be found. People may talk about settling things, and it is, no doubt to some, very interesting work; but who can settle hearts? and it is hearts that need to be settled. If you could get hearts settled, if the condition of soul in His saints was regulated by His grace, how simple what I have been speaking of, and then how easy all would be, and owning the entire, complete sovereignty and sway of that blessed One in our hearts, all questions would then be easily and quickly solved; the occasion would only manifest Christ supreme, and it would be—oh, what a triumph of His grace!—over every rival claimant, either for affection or subjection, it would then be truly in us all,
“A heart submissive, meek,
My great Redeemer’s throne,
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone.”
It is the individual condition of those who compose the corporate thing, the individual state of soul in which the saints are found, and the place that Christ has over their affections and hearts, that determine everything; and therefore it is of the first moment to be exercised in our hearts about it. Let me put it, therefore, to us all this evening: Is Christ all? I do not care to inquire what you are, either to Him, or for Him, that flows from what He is as known in grace and truth objectively; but what He is in all His own beauty and fragrance, in His personal blessedness, as an object worthy of supreme occupation, as Lord and Christ, worthy of the heart’s subjection, glad and willing, too, to own His will and ways, sanctified to His obedience, thus delighting in the Father’s delight. Oh, what blessedness! Now all this is the simple result of our individual state of soul, with reference to Christ, because it is simply a question of Him.
Let us just look at it here for a moment in Isa. 8. What is sought for, instead of Him here? What is accepted instead of God’s reserve? Mark it well. Look at v. 9: “Associate yourselves, O ye people, and ye shall be broken in pieces; and give ear, all ye of far countries, gird yourselves, and ye shall be broken in pieces . . . Take counsel together, and it shall come to nought,” &c.
What is the meaning of that? Take the literal scripture, what does it mean? It is this—that man will turn to human sources, will turn to man in some shape or other. Look at the thing now. What is it marks the state of professing Christianity to-day? Babel, that is, man without God. He is sitting in his tower, contemplating his own greatness, and name, and either ignorant of, or indifferent to, that which is to come upon it all. What is Christendom but that? And what is that greatly-desired good, so much longed after by some, to obtain which, it is proposed to surrender everything distinctive? Is it not to be carried into an unholy unity on the shoulders of compromise? Is not this just the counterpart of what is going on outside in the world? And, dear friends, that which is prominent in the age is always the snare of the saints of God, if they are not watchful; it is solemn, what is true in the age in which we live, and that which gives it its character, is that which is leavening the professing church of God at this present moment, and it is this very thing which will creep in, and eat like a gangrene, until it characterizes even that which ostensibly bears the name of God in profession before men. It has always been the case; the very thing that arose, and swelled, and worked destruction in the world, was always the snare of the people of God. It was so with reference to Israel. What was its snare? They would be like the nations around, and they gave up God, and turned to human resources. That is what you get here, in this chapter now before us.
What brings all this out is God’s reserve, which is a contemptible thing in the eyes of man. People scoff at the thought that you must have nothing else but Christ—that you must not have human system, human ways, human learning, and intelligence; and this grows up, under the devil’s care, so stealthily and insidiously, that at last it overpowers everything, and all that is spiritual dies out, because all that is carnal has come in. But Christ remains the great test of it all—the test by which everything must, and will, be judged.
And now one word as to the immense comfort that is brought out here in the midst of this condition of things. I ask my brethren’s special attention to it. Mark what you have here in v. 13: “Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself.” Oh, how He delights in that word, “himself.” I am struck with it in the Old Testament, as well as in the New.
Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let him be your fear, and let him be your dread; and he shall be for a sanctuary, but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of lsrael, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and be snared and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples; and I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him” {Isa. 8:13-17}.
Now what we have here is this: that when you get a condition of things as here pictured and manifested, whether corporately or individually, this blessed One who is refused and rejected—perhaps not in so many words, but still rejected, if He is not supreme in the hearts of His people—I say this blessed One becomes the stay, and solace, and cheer, and sanctuary, and hiding-place of the hearts that turn truly to Him. Is not that exactly what is true to-day? If we turn to the New Testament, we shall find the same thing complete; just look at Rev. 3, and is there not an exact counterpart of what we have been considering in the prophecy of Isaiah this evening? Mark it. See v.7 of this chapter. In the terrific state of departure, even Laodicea, the last state, too, of the church, we have that which alone can keep and maintain souls from it, even the blessed grace of His own Person thus made known: “These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth.” Well may we say, How blessed! and when we consider that condition of things, what do we find? Why, God’s reserve! “These things saith he that is holy.” Thank God for that! Thank God there is such an One faithful and true, “he that is true.” Everything here may be in misery and wretchedness, but still there is a most complete, a most perfect and most blessed exhibition of His own Person for the hearts of the faithful. And He is the sanctuary for His people to-day, “the holy, and the true.” He will never give His people up, let foolish people rave as they will; and not only that, but He is the One who embodies in His own blessed, wondrous, gracious Person all that the heart could possibly claim, all that the affections could really look for, all that is necessary and needful in the midst of such a condition of things. I say, beloved friends, faith wants more than ever, and the heart delights more than ever, to turn to the Person of the Christ as God’s reserve. You may say everything is broken to pieces, but has Christ failed? Is He changed? “He shall be for a sanctuary.” What a wonderful thing! Now I ask you, Have you found it? Can you say you know God’s reserve? You know what it is, and how all is sure and safe in Him. This it is which alone strengthens faith. If I see what Christ is—and when I say “see” Him, I do not mean in the sense of observation, but “see” in the sense of my soul as real apprehension of Him by faith—when faith lays hold upon what Christ is as God’s reserve for the most bankrupt condition of things, I say, “Thank God, there is a sanctuary for me.” He is “the faithful witness, the first begotten from the dead, the prince of the kings on the earth.”
Oh, beloved, the Lord, in His grace, lead every heart here to have good courage, and good cheer too; and not only this, but to be deeply exercised—the deeper the better—so that we may entirely and fully stand in His grace, and never give up our confidence in God. Let our confidence in God and in Christ be of such a nature, that we can afford to say (and it is a most precious word), “I will wait.” The moral magnificence of that is beautiful beyond description. Every one can be in haste, but to see a person who can afford to wait, is a wonderful thing; because there is nothing that marks moral greatness so much as endurance. It is not what a person can go through, but what he can bear, what he can endure. That is the test; and nothing can lead to waiting in one’s soul, save this, that we are deaf and blind to every single thing that is around. How blessed to close the eyes to the tumultuous storm, and to all the strife of words, and the din and the confusion of the hour! How can this be reached? Simply by listening to His blessed voice, that unmistakable voice, that, to faith, familiar voice of the Son of God above all the storm, and above all the rage of the elements that are round about us; thus we can wait, thus can we look to the Lord, and say, We wait for Him, for His time, which most assuredly will come. Thank God, there is no doubt of it. I do not say when that time may be; but all I do desire, is, that our souls should get the sense that it is not circumstances, it is not the moving of things around us, but it is Himself. There is nothing more perplexing than the tendency to be occupied with every little cloud, or every little bit of sunshine. This is all utterly beside our true place. But the thing is to get our eyes on Jesus, on that blessed One who says, “I will guide thee with mine eye.” There is a moral magnificence in having our poor eyes fixed upon the eye of Him who is the sanctuary. That is something truly blessed; how He delights to see poor feeble creatures like us watching the eye of the One who is our sanctuary. The Lord, in His grace, give our hearts to taste the blessedness and reality of it, for Jesus Christ’s sake!
“I am waiting in the midnight,
In the storm and on the wave,
Not for light, nor calm, nor haven,
Though the winds and waters rave;
‘Tis for Thee I wait, Lord Jesus!
Light and Port art Thou to me;
Thou wondrous Sun of Glory!
I wait—I wait for Thee.”
The Grace and Sympathy of Christ
Luke 4:14-22; 7:11-16, 36-50
My object in connecting these precious incidents in the Lord’s ministry on earth—His personal dealings with men—recorded in Luke 7, with that familiar scripture in ch. 4, is, that we might dwell a little this evening on the fulfilment of His own word, which was so peculiarly and exclusively applicable to Himself. For surely there never was one on earth who could bind up the broken-hearted, or open the prison to the captive, but Christ; but it is not even that—blessed and beautiful and precious though it be—which I want to bring before you; but I seek, the Lord helping me, to call your attention to these scenes this evening, in the hope that the Lord might be pleased, through it, to give us a more longing desire to become better acquainted personally with Christ. Because, I take it, beloved, that most Christians are better versed in His work than Himself. God forbid, that it should in any way be supposed that I desire to lessen the appreciation of His blessed work in our hearts; but I am quite sure I should not do so, if I were to help, through God’s grace, to stir up a more ardent longing to know Him better personally; because a personal knowledge of Christ is that which increases and enhances, to a marvelous degree, the value of His work, for I then connect with His work all the blessedness and all the importance and all the preciousness of the One who did it.
Now we shall look for a moment or two at these two scenes in Luke 7, as fulfillments of Luke 4:18:
The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind; to set at liberty them that are bruised; to peach the acceptable year of the Lord.
We shall look at these two scenes in a different order from that in which they are presented here; and we shall begin with the last, and for this reason: that before you can know the sympathy of Christ, you must know the grace of Christ. I believe there are many who look for the sympathy of the Lord who are not really settled and established in His grace. You will mark what we have in the end of ch. 7. It is salvation, it is the revelation of salvation, it is the revelation of the forgiveness of sins; for all these things come in. You do get salvation, and you do get forgiveness of sins, unquestionably. The Lord says to the woman, “Thy sins be forgiven thee—thy faith hath saved thee—go in peace”; but what we have essentially, is, that from which all these spring—the revelation of a personal Savior. Now think what an immense fact that is for the heart. You may say to me now, Oh, you are speaking of the gospel to us. Will you bear with me, beloved, when I say earnestly, affectionately, and from conviction, that I believe this is the very thing that we need. Why, you can never get to the end of the gospel; for the gospel is the revelation of the heart of God, a much higher thing than the unfolding of His counsels, blessed and wonderful as they are. The heart of God is propounded and unfolded to us therein, and what, may I ask, could be more wonderful than this?
What makes this scene so precious to us, is, as I said, the fact that it is a personal Savior for the very vilest; and I am not speaking now merely of the way in which a person may get the knowledge of relief for conscience. If a person came in distress as to conscience, I should turn to the Epistles to the Romans and Hebrews, and see the way in which the Spirit of God treats of the value of Christ’s work as clearing the conscience, so as to put us uncondemningly in the presence of God; but I am not speaking of that now. What I have before me this evening is the blessed One Himself, who had not yet done the work, who was about to accomplish it, but who was presenting all the value and preciousness and blessedness of that work that was yet to be accomplished in His own holy Person down here, and who could attract, and did attract, by His grace, a poor wretched, miserable creature into the place of all others upon earth where she was least likely to be welcome. There was not one spot where this woman could expect to find so little countenance as in the house of Simon the Pharisee, and there was no person on this earth that was less likely to be tolerated in such a place than this woman of the city. They were just the two opposites, the extremes of mankind—a Pharisee and a woman of the city, the great contrasts of society.
This Pharisee’s house is where this scene took place; and whether I think of the house where the blessed One was found, or the one to whom that house belonged, or the person who was drawn, by the exquisite grace of the Lord Jesus, into that unwelcome place, to express in His own holy presence what that grace had made her in the depth of a broken heart, it is a wonderful scene; because, observe, the center of it all is a personal Savior. Now, you may tell me you know the work of Christ, and I shall not question it; I shall not discredit in the least your title to that; but this I do ask: Do you know, so that you can adoringly speak of it (in humility, but still as a real fact), the Person of the Savior? Has the Lord Jesus Christ become so really a living, glorious Person known to your heart, that you can say of Him, “He is the One I have come in contact with; I know Him personally, and I made His acquaintance when I could not go near any one else; there is One there I came in contact with, who left His impress of grace upon my heart, which is indelible”?
That is what we want to lay hold of. You will get an illustration of it in another scene, a familiar one, in this same gospel. It was exactly the same thing that laid hold upon the heart of Simeon, in ch. 2, a godly Jew, all whose prospects, as far as this earth was concerned, were then superseded. This earth was the prospect and promise of God’s ancient people, and here was one waiting for the consolation of Israel; but when he came into the temple, and when he personally came in contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, and has the Babe in his arms, what is his confession? His cup is full; he has seen God’s salvation, and he can close his eyes upon every earthly prospect. He can do that which certainly of itself was not a bright prospect for a Jew—could die, the very thing at which Hezekiah shuddered. Hezekiah could not bear the thought of dying; he was a servant of God, but could not bear to die; but here is a man who can gladly pass now from every prospect. When he has the child Jesus in his arms, he is like Jacob with the living Joseph before his eyes; what does he say? “Let me die!” And, beloved, that is the effect of this personal knowledge of Christ. You may think it is speaking of a mere common-place thing, but what I feel is, that, to a large extent, we have lost sight of it. I feel it myself; I constantly go down before the Lord, to ask Him to keep alive in divine freshness in my soul the sense of that blessed One being a real living Man before God. I feel that just as it was the habit to talk about the Spirit of God as if He were an influence instead of a Person, so we can get to think about Christ, until all the blessed reality and distinctness of His personality as the One who lived and died and rose again for us is faded from our souls. We are in danger of losing the sense that He is really a Man upon the throne of God in heaven, that He is the same Jesus there, and that though His place in heavenly glory is different, yet He is not altered in Himself. What a wonderful thing that is for the heart of a poor, wretched, worthless creature!—to say, I know a Man up there on the throne of God, who is the living Person and object for my soul’s affections, and that as I come in contact with Him personally, I have rest. It is a most wonderful moment to our hearts when we get the sense of it, and that is what really gives the soul unction—though I hardly like to use the word, because it has been misused. Yes, personal intimacy with Christ gives a Savior, and freshness, and reality of soul. You could not come in contact with that blessed One personally, and not be filled, in measure, with the grace and affection and beauty which shone from Him. It leaves its mark upon you. I do not speak now of the way in which this is accomplished; you will find that in 2 Cor. 3, the way in which we have to do with Him personally. “We all with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord”—that is, the Lord Himself in glory, in that new sphere where He is; and what is the effect of it?—“changed into the same image from glory to glory.” It is a living, glorified Person with whom the soul by faith comes in contact by the Holy Ghost: and though it is not a visible thing, yet it is a reality, a divine reality. The effect of this is seen, not only in a case such as that of this poor woman here; but look at it in the servants of God, the same thing is true of them. I was struck with this in thinking of the Old Testament saints, before God was revealed in trinity, and when it was only God in unity. What is it {that} marks the history of the saints? Personal dealing with God. Enoch “walked with God”; and if you take a man in trouble and difficulty, like Joseph, you find “the Lord was with Joseph.” If I look at the children cast, for their faithfulness, into the burning fiery furnace, I find this record, that there were “four men loose, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.” Was not that a Person? It was not merely a question of His being able to keep and sustain them; I do not deny that, but it was more than that, it was His presence. The Lord grant we may have a better sense of it in our hearts; that what we may long for increasingly is, to know His presence in personal living power, so that we can say, “that I may know him,” and what is so wonderful as that? That was the longing of the apostle in Phil. 3. “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection.” There is nothing beyond this; though I am speaking of the simplest thing, yet it is most profound. What was the special word to the “fathers,” in John’s Epistle? “I write unto you fathers, because ye have known him that is from the beginning.” It is not possible to get beyond that; and I press it now because I feel that these are days in which one of two things is likely to happen to us—either that we shall get our minds and thoughts occupied with the evil instead of with Christ; or that, if we are preserved from being occupied with the evil, we shall get our hearts filled with ourselves—spiritually, I mean, not naturally; how we have been enriched and blessed, and what we have been brought into, and so forth, and thus be as barren and powerless as we can possibly be, in fact really self-complacent.
The only remedy for either of these is the sense of the Person who has made all good to me. It is that blessed Christ of God who was down here in circumstances of suffering and humiliation, and is now up there in glory, but a man still. He has carried manhood to the throne of God; and by faith I can see there, a real man, on the throne of God in heavenly glory, un- alterable in affection, the same in all the grace and blessedness and beauty of His Person as He was when He trod this earth—the same in tenderness, in kindness, in grace. What a wonderful reality! The Lord by His Spirit imprint the sense of it deeply upon our hearts, that we may long to live more personally in contact with that blessed One.
And now look at this woman again for a moment, as an illustration. I need not dwell upon Simon the Pharisee. Observe the contrast between him and the woman. The Pharisee probably thought there was none so good as himself, and, no doubt, he wanted to gain some credit for himself by asking the Lord into his house; while this poor woman, owning herself as a miserable and broken-hearted creature, has Christ filling her thoughts. It is all Christ. What was it, beloved, first of all drew her in there? She did not know the forgiveness of sins—she did not bring that in, for as yet she did not possess it; but what did she bring in? only a broken heart; and let me assure you of this one thing, a broken heart is just the very condition which gets the knowledge of the blessedness of the Person of Christ, because it was a broken heart He came to look for here. It was the misery of man that brought Him here. You know, beloved, it is a wonderful thing to think of it, and yet it is true of us all, saints as well as sinners, that in our joys we were far away from Him, but in our miseries He came near to us. It was our miseries which brought Him near. You will find it was nearly always a scene of sorrow and misery that was the occasion for His displaying the grace of His Person down here in this world; and I have often thought that it was in the Lord that that word found its fullest and most blessed verification, “it is better to go to the house of mourning than to the house of feasting.” Was it not to the house of mourning that He came? What is this world but a great scene of misery? It was that which as it were attracted Him, and He makes known in it all the grace of His Father, and all the love of His heart. It was that which brought this woman in to Him—the grace which shone in His blessed Person. And now see the effect of it. The first thing is that she must get where He is. That is always the effect of grace; the desire to know Christ is not natural to any of us.
I may just say, that there is a possibility of speaking about these things in a human way—about loving Christ as though it were a human affection. I feel increasingly the need of being watchful as to this. I am speaking of divine love—the affections of the new man which are called out and satisfied by the Person of Christ. It is not any wrought-up feelings in hearts—that is a very easy matter; but it is the objective presentation to faith of the Person of Christ, which is the spring of the subjective affection of the new man! and therefore you find this, that you have desires after Christ, and long to know Christ just in proportion as He is objectively before your soul. If He is the One before your soul, you will long to be with Him, but it is all formed by Him, and gratified by Him, and therefore Christ Himself becomes the spring and maintainer of the affections of the new man.
Now I say then, it was grace which drew this poor woman in. What is so beautiful in it, is to see how she faced all the difficulties; all that stood in her way in Simon’s house were never once thought of. Oh, the power of having One who is above all the difficulties simply before you! You never then think of difficulties. Like Mary in John 20, she is so intent upon finding Him that nothing deters her—nothing will keep her away. The Lord, by His grace, grant that we may know what has been called the “expulsive power of a new affection,” even that blessed Person of Christ in the soul. It is that alone which turns all other things out. Well, there is not only the sens in the woman’s soul, “I must get near Him—nothing can keep me out”; but the next thing you find in her action is, she cannot make enough of Him. Everything that I have (though a poor broken-hearted creature), my poor tears, the hair of my head, I put them all down at His feet. My ointment—all that I have is too little to express the appreciation that His own Person has created in this poor broken heart of mine; I can only give Him my tears and my sins. This is, as it were, her language, and that of her act. That is exactly the thing that the grace of His Person elicits and that He wants; that is what He came into this world to seek for. What a blessed reality to think that He came to look for tears and sorrows and broken hearts! Are not we just the very people that He wants, the poor, the halt, the blind, the lepers? I could never describe the comfort it is to know that the moment I have got down to the very lowest conceivable point, there He meets me. I ask you, what company in scripture would you like to associate yourself with? Which of the companies in scripture is Jesus at home with? and which will you take as the one fittest for you to link yourself up with? This is what would find out where we really are—all of us—the company we each would take as suitable for us. It is the very principle of those verses I read in Luke 4. To whom was He sent?
He hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised.
If you can find souls with these marks, that is where He is found, and to meet such surely He came into this poor world. This woman answers exactly to this description, and so she fitly comes in there, laying at His feet all that she has, with her tears and her sorrows, with the sense that she cannot make too much of Him. It is exactly what we see in Nathaniel, when he has the revelation of the Lord personally before him; he cannot sufficiently exalt Him. “Rabbi, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel.” There is no title of glory too great to put upon His head. Many crowns will not be wanting to express all that the heart has found in Himself. Blessed be His name, on His head are many crowns, and to have them there is the joy of the heart that knows anything of His personal excellency
One cannot but be struck with the manner of the love that this woman exhibits—the beautiful, refined delicacy of the way in which this poor broken-hearted creature desires that the blessed Lord should know what He had impressed her poor heart with. Everything she has she lays at His feet; that is the very first way to have to do with Christ. Suppose it was a poor sinner now, who had never known the forgiveness of sins, it must be the same. He must know Christ, and must come to Him as this woman did. I believe the fruit of not preaching Christ is not {sic, omit “not”} apparent in the imperfect apprehension of salvation we see all around us. Peter went down to Samaria, and what did he preach? Christ. Paul went to the synagogue, and what did he preach? Jesus as the Son of God. It is so in the scriptures, where ever you turn; so much so, beloved, that often, when one has turned over the scriptures, the heart sinks, as it were, with a sense of how little we have caught the spirit of this blessed principle that runs through the whole book of God. I do not depreciate, on the contrary, I magnify the riches of His grace that gives the whole value of His work in detail to clear conscience.
I am speaking of the necessity of knowing the Person of Christ, because it is so lost sight of and forgotten. It is not that I would take away from the appreciation of His work, but to increase it in our hearts by the sense of what it is to have deeper personal knowledge of the Lord, as the One who has accomplished all so perfectly.
But now let us look, not merely at Him in His exceeding grace as a Savior, but at the other scene where, in the grace of His heart, He comes out as the One who is able to sympathize; I mean, that scene at the city of Nain in the earlier part of the chapter. Here is a scene of every-day life; that is what makes it so interesting to our hearts. “He came to Nain”—you know that Nain means “beautiful.” He came to the beautiful city, and what does He find there? Exactly what is characteristic of this poor world around us. Is not this world beautiful? Would God turn out from His hand anything that was not beautiful? When He surveyed all that He had made, we have the record of what He said, “Very good”; but what do we find now? Death is in it; it is characteristic of this world. There is not a leaf, nor a tree, nor a plant, nor a field, nor a flower that grows that is not beautiful, but there is death on everything; and I tell you more than that, and it ought to have a great response in the hearts of His own people who are here tonight—not merely death, but if I know this blessed One that I speak of, it is His death. That is what has happened in this beautiful world.
Well, quite in keeping with what I have been saying, here is this sad and mournful sight to meet the eye of the Lord: “There was a dead man carried out, the only son of his mother, and she was a widow.” Could you conceive anything more mournful than that? It is like the prophet when he came to Jericho. It was a beautiful place, but the water is nought, and the ground is barren. And that is what this world is—not this world as God made it, but this world after man sinned in it. We are not in the world as it was in the days of Eden, or before the fall; but we are in the world as the fall had left it, and characterized it, with all the fruits of sin, and not only that, but the fruits of man’s will as well for more than eighteen centuries since that blessed One was murdered in it. We are in a world where sin and death soil everything that is beautiful. The only comfort is, and it is blessed indeed, that He was here in it, and therefore when He meets this spectacle of sorrow (mark how exquisite it is), the personal sympathy of Christ comes out. What is the first thing that touches Him when He comes upon the scene? “When the Lord saw her, he had compassion on her, and said unto her, Weep not.” There is not either a cry expressed, or a groan unexpressed, from the hearts of His poor people which He has not most perfectly measured. It reminds me of that beautiful scripture where Jehovah speaking of His concern about His ancient people Israel, when He unfolded the purpose of His heart says, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry.” What a thought for our hearts, beloved, that there is One up there on the throne of God in heaven who sees the struggles, and knows the pains and trials and pressure of each of His own poor saints down here on earth; and if you have a trial, or a difficulty, or a bereavement, or a sorrow, there is a heart up there on the throne of God that enters into it, and knows all about it. And what I find is this, that just in proportion as this precious sympathy of Christ is now known, human sympathy is sought for. I do not deny that human sympathy is very sweet to the heart, but it is, after all, only the expression of its own powerlessness. We may go and sit down beside the sorrowing one, or go and try to comfort a bereaved one, but how poorly we can do it! Sit down beside a poor sheep of Christ, tossed and tried, and attempt to introduce that one into the presence of its Shepherd and Lord, and you see how poorly you can do it! How many of us take it up as if we were performing a duty? We say a few words because we know it is “the right thing” to say. It is the greatest mistake for any one to be happy about saying “the right thing.” But just try and be a channel to convey the grace of the heart of Christ to meet a case like that, and you will see how different it is, and you will feel how little the sympathy of the Christ is flowing through you as the vessel for the comfort of the sufferer. It is just as He Himself has impressed your own heart that you can give an impress to another. You cannot learn it as men learn theology; there is no way by which any one of us can get the impress of either the grace of Christ or the sympathy of Christ, except as we personally know Christ for ourselves. I must personally be in contact with Him for myself, before I can be versed in His grace or sympathy.
Look at Him here. What did He do first? Does he exercise His power first? No. What is the first thing that attracted Him, the dead man carried out? No. It was the broken heart of the living one, of the widowed mother; this did arrest the all-seeing eye of the Lord. The Lord saw, and He had compassion on her, and wiped away her tears. Do you know such a Christ? Has He ever been so near to you as that—has He wiped away your tears? Do you enjoy the blessed consciousness of the fact that when you were in loneliness inexpressible, in trial, in difficulty, with every human light gone out, and not a single bright spot left, there was One who came beside you, and gave you the sense of His presence, and to know that He was there with you in it all? It is not merely that He took you out of the circumstances, but He walked with you through them. As the apostle could say, “There stood by me this night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve”; and a dark night it was too, but look how he is able to comfort everybody else, and what is his standpoint, what has he had comfort from? Just this that I have been quoting, the “angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve,” who stood by him; and now, he says, I can comfort you from the same source where I get my comfort from. And more than that, when he is forsaken—and you must expect to be forsaken if you follow the Lord, and you will have to walk alone, it is the day to walk alone, in that sense. God grant that I may never deny for a moment, as some have denied, all the truth that is connected with our being together, still together, and yet alone will be our experience as we follow Christ this day. If you follow Christ you will be left as Paul was left, and what does he say? “No one stood by me; all forsook me.” And I trust I am not uncharitable when I say that I do not believe there is more faithfulness to-day than there was then. “All forsook me”; but what follows? “Nevertheless the Lord stood by me.” There is the Person again; and, the apostle does not say that the Lord strengthened him, and stood by him, but the Lord stood by him, He gave him the sense of His own personal company, before He exercised His power for him, and that is exactly what we get here. He meets the heart and wipes the bitter tears away, He binds up the broken heart. The first thing He does is to touch that widow’s heart—before He touches the bier. Do you know what that is? It is exactly what He did with Mary in John 11. He does not say a word about raising Lazarus, Why? Because He Himself was filling her heart. He did raise up Lazarus afterwards—and death cannot exist in His presence; but first He must comfort the bereaved heart. So it is here—the first thing is to heal the broken heart, to say “weep not”; and then, “young man, I say unto thee, arise!” And then look at the blessed and exquisite grace of Christ: “He gave him to his mother.” He might have claimed him for His own, but no, He exhibits all the perfection of His human sympathy, as well as all the power of His Godhead—the sympathy of the man, and the power of God.
The Lord, through His own rich and sovereign grace, use the word this evening to stir our hearts up to desire that we may come more in personal contact with the Lord Jesus Christ, and be able to say what is not really a great thing—ought not to be so: we know one Person as we know no one else on earth, One whose heart is, beyond all conception, interested in us and occupied with us. There is no one on earth to whom you can tell your wanderings, and your coldness, and your indifference, and your half-heartedness, and know that you would meet with the grace that would over-reach everything, and with the power that would impart strength to you. That is what Christ does—a living Person with whom I come in contact; through whom I not merely know salvation, but to whom I find it my solace to go and unburden my heart about everything, knowing that there is not a circumstance, however trifling or small, but there is a response in grace to everything I may bring.
The Lord acquaint each of us more with the grace of His blessed Son; so as to secure more allegiance, and more devotedness, and more true-hearted following and serving of Himself—for His own Name’s sake!
Our Place in Heaven and Path on Earth
Hebrews 10:10-23; Ephesians 2:4-7; Hebrews 12:1-4, 13:10-16
I have read these scriptures, as the best I think of, to present a subject which is of the deepest importance—the double character of a Christian, his place in heaven, and his path on earth. It would not be correct to speak of his place on earth, but I do speak of his distinct and definite place in heaven, and if he has a place there, he can have none here, for when it is a settled thing that we have a place in heaven, we must be strangers here; so that I speak of place as to heaven, path as to earth. I feel how deeply important it is that our souls should be exercised as to how far we know our place in heaven.
But I would first say a word on Heb. 10, as to the question of the state of our conscience, and liberty of approach (with reference to it), into the holiest, in the light of His presence. There is a distinct difference between this and Eph. 2, where we are taken up as dead in sins, and by the quickening power of God raised out of the state of death and distance we were in, and set in a positive place, in heaven in Christ; it is a new creation we get here, “quickened together with him, raised up together, and seated in him,” not yet with Him, that we shall be by-and-by. To faith we are placed there now, we shall be as to our body in a “little while.” If this be so, then we are out of man and out of earth. What does this mean? That we are out of man as to our standing, no longer in the lost ruined condition of the first man, and out of earth as to our habitation, home, or rest.
Heb. 10 sets forth how we have liberty of approach to God. We find three things in it: first, the will of God planned the work; second, it was accomplished by the work of Christ; and third, borne witness to by the Holy Ghost. If it has been divinely planned (v. 10) and divinely accomplished, there must be a divine Person to bear witness to it (v. 15); thus the conscience is put uncondemningly quiet in the presence of God, and if it be a question of worship, we have liberty to come with holy boldness into the holiest. I know no other place of worship—of course I do not mean we are not here as to our bodies, but our worship really belongs to heaven; it is too late for earthly worship, this is suspended for the time being: there will be an earthly temple and an earthly worship in the coming day, but not now; any attempt at it is contrary to the present mind of God. His own Son in heaven is the Center of God’s thoughts now. He is gathering a people round Himself (though they be still treading the sands of the desert) whose home and thoughts and affections are all in heaven, and who find this earth a place of trial and suffering. Thus we see that the blessedness of the truth of ch. 10 consists in this, it sets the believer in the presence of God, in the holiest, with an uncondemning conscience, where only one man, of one tribe, of one nation, on one day, could come. Now it is the place where every Christian is entitled as to his conscience to come at all times, and more, not as a matter of mere favor, but of righteousness with God to have us there. How could it be otherwise if the Lord Jesus Christ glorified God down to the depth of that death to which I, as a sinner, was exposed; and if God has glorified Him up to the heights of the glory He is now in? God could not do less; in giving us a place of liberty in His presence He is putting honor on, as well as expressing His infinite appreciation of, the blood of His own Son. I would ask each one, have you that kind of conscience? have you an uncondemning quiet in the light of the holiness of God? It may be a strange question to ask, but believe me, half of the difficulties people have are really difficulties as to their conscience; the conscience is not at rest. With many a one when there is not this knowledge of grace, when deliverance is not known, an outbreak of their wretched nature leads them to find the workings of the old man within, and then they begin to wonder if they are Christians at all, whether they have, as is said, the root of the matter in them; the secret of it being the fact that the conscience has never known full liberty; the soul is in bondage because it has never known grace, never been brought into the light where God is in all His grace. Blessed be God, nothing can ever undo that perfect work which has set us there. There is a great difference between these two things, knowing the clearance of all our sins, and seeing by faith the end of ourselves. There is one thing God never does, He never imputes sin to the believer, He never remembers our sins, and He never forgets us; “I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.” Therefore we can say,” Having boldness to enter.” Man would never have written such a word, he would rather have said, Come with fear and trembling. God says “boldness,” because He puts honor on the blood and work of Christ, which give us boldness as to our conscience to enter into the very holiest. What does God put His seal on? not on our intelligence, but on the work of His own Son. He seals the believer by His Spirit, and says as it were, that is my property! There is not an instance where testimony is borne to the blood of Christ, and forgiveness of sins is received by faith in Christ, but the Holy Ghost comes down and seals that person. In Rom. 8:16, we get the Holy Ghost spoken of as “witnessing with our spirit,” that is His indwelling in our bodies. I grant that in too many cases, souls have been too often turned to His work in us, rather than the work of Christ for us; here it is the effect of His presence in us, His personal indwelling; the sinner having been washed from all his sins in Christ’s blood, the Holy Ghost is given and witnesses with our spirits that we are the children of God.
I now turn to Eph. 2. In the end of Eph. 1 we have the blessed fact that Christ Himself is taken out of death by the power of God; the glorious Man is here displayed who went down into death, and glorified God in the lowest place of death and judgment where the grace of His heart led Him, and is by the power of God taken out of death, and in contrast to everything here, He is set “far above principalities and powers,” &c. They are the terminus as it were of all we can reach, but they are the point of departure for Him. I find all these selected simply as points of departure. He is constituted Head over everything to the church.
In Eph. 2 we find the same power working in the heirs; the “power” in ch. 1 is the same “power” as in ch. 2 and ch. 6. As a Christian I belong to heaven, I have lost my place on earth, am I a loser or a gainer? If I have lost my status as connected with Adam, and my place as connected with the spot where all the ruin was effected, I have a new status connected with the last Adam, and the place where He is is the home of my heart. What a cheer for the soul to know the place where my Savior is, as my home! Here death is on every side, failure, sorrow, dissatisfaction, it all belongs to this world; even the brightest day here comes to a close; the sun is setting on all here. But oh! to know a brighter scene where our Savior is, where the sun never goes down, where all is unfailing brightness and blessedness; thank God, this is the scene we belong to.
I should like to trace out the steps which lead to this a little. John 12:23 is an important and blessed scripture. Here we have the blessed solitary Man, alone in all His perfection and in all His glory. Never was there a man like unto Him, never was there one who walked this earth like Christ, He was singular and unique in His perfection. There was no necessity on His side to die, as it was said of the Hebrew servant (Ex. 21), he came in by himself, and might have gone out by himself, but “if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” Have you and I a sense in our souls of the wonderful fact that we are the fruit of His death? Have we a sense of the dignity of the place we occupy before God in relation to His death? I am sprung out of the death of this blessed One. I am part of the fruit of that death, “if it die it bringeth forth much fruit.” Herein is the parent stock of His people. No one could “declare his generation, his life was taken from the earth.” He dies, and bears the same relation to His people as a grain of wheat sown in spring time does to the crop of harvest. We are sprung from Him! Would to God we had more the sense of this in our souls. Here is our new generation! Here is our new history! This is what we belong to! Oh how wonderful, offspring of the Savior’s death. In John 20 we get the first utterance of the Lord as the risen One after He had gone into the solitude of death; it was to a lonely woman, whose heart was ready to break because she thought she had lost Him. “Touch me not, but go to my brethren.” He never had brethren before, how could He? “I ascend to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” He takes them now into identity of relationship with Himself. “He that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one.” He is no longer alone, He takes them to stand with Him in His own new risen place.
Let us now turn to Acts 2 for a moment, when we have seen how He could identify us with Himself, but as the One risen out of death. There must be a Man in glory, and that man the One who was on the cross. This was the wonderful new thing brought out—a Man in glory, who had been under the judgment of God for sin on the cross, who was in Joseph’s tomb, “received up into glory.” Now the Holy Ghost comes down from this glorified Man, and baptizes believers into one body, who are now united to the Head in heaven, and equally to each other on earth. We have a place in union with that blessed One where He is. We could not talk of being united to Him as God, but there is a Man (He was God too) in the glory of God, who glorified God even to death, and by the Holy Ghost we are united to that man glorified—we are one with Him. Wonderful reality! I am the fruit of His death, but I am united to Him in glory. He is the root from which I have my origin! blessed reality for the soul! The last Adam has superseded every other man. What can be more wonderful than that I am one with Him. Have you the blessed sense in your soul that you are united to Him? the same Spirit dwells in Him as in you. It would be a poor thing to be in heaven—alone! what would the place be without Christ? Well might we say—
“Were I in heaven without my Lord,
It were no heaven to me.”
No. I am united to Him where He is, which never could be known because this wondrous reality never existed before. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard . . . but God hath revealed it to us by his Spirit.” Sometimes affection for Christ is mistaken for union with Him. In Canticles there was the longing of the heart after the Bridegroom, but no union; unsatisfied affection, because not possessing the Object of its affection, like “hope deferred which maketh the heart sick.” I thank God we are one with Him now, all we wait for is the day when we shall be with Him for ever, and then will come out what we often sing –
“Thou shalt to wondering worlds display,
That we with Thee are one.”
Then His redeemed ones will come out in all His beauty and glory. Thus I trust we can see how, as the risen One He gathers around Himself (after being refused by Jew and Gentile) a few good-for-nothing things like us, and unites us to Himself in glory. This gives us a very definite place as well as character. In Acts 7 we see how this comes out into practice. Here is a man full of faith and the Holy Ghost; the consequence is, he looks up into heaven, his affections, his desires, his Object, his heart, all are in heaven, his power, too, his sustainment, all are from heaven; the sorrows, the rejection, the stones, are all connected with this scene. What do our hearts most turn to? Take one day; what have we thought most of to-day? What have our affections been engaged with to-day? The spot that engages the heart of a man is the spot that to him is home; there is the spot his affections encircle round; he may have other interests and occupations, but the place where his heart is, is his home. Is it so with us as to heaven? Is it the one bright, blessed spot whither the eye delights to turn? Stephen looked up steadfastly, and saw the glory of God, and a Man in it; here was the true amber spot (see Ezek. 1:4, 5), the Man who suffered on the cross in the glory; seeing Him is the secret of power to enable a man to meet everything here. If it be objected that this goes too high, I reply it practically goes down very low, it empowered Stephen to bear the stones and martyrdom, and to pray for his enemies; his own cup was full, he had nothing to ask for himself, he prays for those who were murdering him. I should rather say, give me the doctrine that produces that! It is not so much the fact of union, as the Person we are united to, that should be before us, not something we have obtained, but our delight is in the One who has won our hearts for Himself. We are united to One who is the Man in glory, the Object and delight of the heart of God. If we had the most beautiful spot on earth which the most skillful art of man could prepare, and no heart to share it with us, what would it be? It is the One we are united to that makes it what it is. Well was it said by one who had not the intelligence many now have, but who had personal knowledge of Christ:
“I will not gaze on glory,
But on my King of grace.”
Personal affection for Christ, true-hearted loyalty to Him as Lord, and personal enjoyment of heart in His love, is a sweetness no tongue can fully tell.
Now in Heb. 12 we get one character of testimony connected with our path. If we, as runners, are running through this world, then we have no thought of settling down here, “run with endurance” (that is, go on to the end), not manifesting a little bit of patience to-day, and fainting to-morrow, but persistently going on to the end. A racer, or a wrestler, expects opposition; we are disposed to be taken off our guard by it, for we are so little accustomed to live outside this world. Do you believe everything in this scene opposes you? There is not an element in this world which will not minister to that which is against you as walking with God, unless we disallow it. If we do not feel the opposition, it is clear we are going with the tide; if we live in a bad atmosphere, we do not know how to appreciate good air. Do we feel, beloved friends, the incongruity of the scene we are in? The security of a swimmer is opposing the element around him; as we all know, a living fish goes against the stream, a dead fish goes with it.
Take Ex. 16, 17, we find two things go to make up their journey in the wilderness—gathering the manna, and doing battle with Amalek. We must live in the sphere of life which is heaven, feeding there, doing battle here, running through it, seeking to finish our course with joy; not wanting to get out of it because of the way; this is selfishness, like Elijah, who said to the Lord, Take away my life, or Jonah, who thought he did well to be angry; for if we know the reality and power of the blessed, wonderful things we have been speaking of, we should go through it unmoved by any one thing, all we meet with would only be an occasion of victory over it. I believe the Lord often places many things within our reach, to test how far our hearts have found treasure in heaven, they are tests by the way, which manifest how far we can count all things loss for Christ. The passage in Phil. is often quoted as applying to bad things, but it is not so, it is advantage after the flesh, and these were “loss and dung” to Paul. Oh, what a blessed testimony to see a man going on through the world enduringly, persistently to the end! What keeps him? “Looking unto Jesus,” the Man on the throne, who has gone the road before us. He has trodden the perfect path of faith, and He is now the crowned One; we are to take the eye off Moses and Abraham and self, and fix it on Jesus, Jesus only. In Heb. 13:10 we find the blood of the sin- offering was brought into the sanctuary, and the bodies burnt outside the gate. We are brought in, as to our conscience and our worship, where the blood was brought, but what about Jesus as to this world? He was crucified outside the gate. If we have a place in heaven, and are united to that blessed Man who is in the glory of God, what about this world?
Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.
What does this mean? I fear it is limited in the thoughts of many of us; they make their religious associations their boundary, but is it not going outside this world, as such? Are you outside with Christ in your ways, your family, your business? We are to expect reproach—but whose reproach?—“bearing his reproach.” With many, their church position is outside, but not their hearts; their words are outside, but they themselves really are within. Oh, that we might be people of one object as we move through this scene!—that we might be priests to God, and kings, in true royal bounty, to this poor world, not looking to get anything from it, but to dispense, to communicate to it, and, praising God on our way to glory, plainly declaring that we seek a country. What a blessed cheer for the heart that we have no continuing city in this scene of blight, vexation, and sorrow!
May we be as those who have a home in heaven, and who are running a race here, our hearts and joys and expectations outside the ordered system here, and in the place where our Savior is; this the scene of our trial, pressure, testing, the place where we are at school, being trained and educated, but going on enduringly till we reach that blessed One in heaven. If you are trying to be a testimony, you never will be one; occupied with Christ, there is the formative power of Christ in us by the Holy Ghost, then we shall be a testimony of what His grace has made us, and to His praise and glory for ever.
The Resources of Faith Amidst Present Confusion: Lecture 1
2 Timothy 2
It is profitable to look at any portion of God’s blessed word, but especially that part of it which bears on times that we ourselves are in. If there be a purposed distinctiveness in any portion of the word which was intended to bear in a special way on the peculiar position which we occupy, then, I say, we are bound in every way to give special and peculiar attention to it.
I suppose there is hardly a Christian anywhere, who is walking with the smallest exercise of conscience before God, who will not freely own that we are in a remarkable era, of this world’s history. And I trust that you would refuse, with all your soul, the horrible idea that (though we are positively in the midst of the confusions which God has distinctly marked out prophetically in His word, and which He says in this very epistle characterize “the last days”), we are here, left simply, to do our best in them. Mark, beloved friends, that notion, if accepted, would not merely minister to the self-will, self-conceit, and human judgment of poor creatures like us, but it would be a slur on the character and care of our God. It would be a slur on the love of Christ for His people and His Church, to say that we are here allowed to grope our way as best we can in the very confusions that are marked out in this word, every kind of wickedness increasing and getting to a head on every side—and yet without one single special instruction for us, without one single truth marked out specially by the Spirit of God to apply to the circumstances in which these times involve us; no, it is this special care of God that makes the second epistle to Timothy, as no doubt many of you know, of special and peculiar value to the saint of God at this present moment. And this is the reason why it has been on my mind just to call your attention for a little to some two or three leading facts and features that are brought out in this chapter. The next chapter I hope to refer to next week, if the Lord will.
Now, first of all, let me say this distinctly to you; and I do so now for the sake of those I have before me who have not had the same opportunity of instruction, or of having these things brought before their consciences, as no doubt many of the elder and aged have had. I notice that there is a distinct character marking both these epistles to Timothy. The first contemplates the house of God here upon this earth in its order; so much so that you will find all the minute directions, even to the distribution of money, marked out. There is no point omitted that could possibly bear upon the well-being of the saints of God, looked at as His house; because it is in that character and aspect that both epistles regard it. It is well to know this, and to be assured of it. There are these two things in Scripture; and I do not hesitate in the least to bring them out, because I am sure of the truth of them in my own soul; and I feel it is wrong not to speak distinctly where one is sure of the truth: one is responsible to God as His servant for speaking what one knows to be His truth. If one were uncertain about it, it would be better to be silent; but if one is clear and distinct as to the truth of God, then there is no reason why it should not be spoken plainly.
There is, then, God’s house, the sphere of His Spirit’s activity, God’s habitation, here upon this earth; and there is beside that, and distinct from it, Christ’s body. The expression “church” is applied to both these; both when it is the house of God—the sphere of profession—that is meant, and when it is the body of Christ, composed of all true members here upon this earth, united by the Holy Ghost to the head in heaven.
Now the epistles to Timothy do not contemplate “the body” at all. That is not their subject; that is not what the Spirit of God is treating of. He is treating of that which owes responsibility to God as His house, His habitation, where He dwells, where there is the rule and authority of His Spirit. This may clear the ground a little, perhaps, to those who do not know these things; and remember, I am speaking tonight more with reference to such, than to those who are already acquainted with them. It was really such who were in my mind when I came here.
When we speak then, as we do, of “the ruin of the church”—and you constantly hear people speaking of it—what does it mean? It certainly does not refer to the “body of Christ”; and yet it is a true expression. It means what is found in Scripture; namely, the ruin, the confusion, the thorough break-up, through man’s incompetency, of what was committed in trust and responsibility into his hand by God. That is what is meant by the ruin of the church; but that is not the ruin of Christ’s body. The body of Christ is as safe as the Head Himself; therefore when we speak of the ruin of the church, we speak of a thing that is true; but at the same time you must be distinct in your mind, and in your thoughts, as to that which can get into disorder and con- fusion, and that which is outside the sphere of man’s responsibility entirely; because the body of Christ was never committed to man’s responsibility, whereas the house of God was.
Now I see all this distinctly and clearly in Scripture; and how can I refuse what I know to be the truth? You may say, “I do not see it.” Very well, then, I say, the Lord help us to search His word more humbly, and whatever is true, the Lord enable us to see it. Only let us beware of any will about it, that is all; because that always hinders in the things of God.
When I come to the second epistle to Timothy I find the house in confusion. It is broken up. I find every sort of thing in it that ought not to be there. Look at this one verse for a moment, though it is anticipating a little; I mean the twentieth verse.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor {2 Tim. 2:20}.
I do not know any passage of Scripture that is more entirely misinterpreted and misunderstood than that; and there is an expression current, which I daresay we have all heard sometime or another, which no doubt has a certain amount of truth in it. It is built upon this Scripture, and the force and power of this Scripture is thereby in measure taken away. The expression is this, “the great house.” There is no such expression in Scripture; but that the house of God, “the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Tim. 3:15), is contemplated in 2 Timothy as having become, through man’s failure in his responsibility, like unto “a great house,” with every sort of thing in it, bad and good. There is no such thing in that verse as “the great house”; but the apostle is likening the “house of God,” in the confusion in which it is found at this present moment, to “a great house,” with every sort of vessel, clean and unclean, in it. I simply note this now, because it marks out in the most distinct possible way the difference between the two epistles—the house, in the first epistle, in order; everything arranged and ordered by the Spirit of God, and Timothy instructed how to carry himself there; dangers there were on the horizon, the prospect of what would be developed when the apostle was off the scene; the incipient principles were at work whilst he was there, but to come to a head when he was removed. Still, the thing was there in its order, and in its correctness; but when you come to the second epistle, you find the exact contrast of all that—viz., confusion, things turned upside down, everything out of gear; and the Holy Ghost has marked out through the apostle here for Timothy, and for the saints of God at the present moment, what kind of conduct and character they were to exhibit, and what path they were to pursue, in the midst of this confusion.
Well, now, I will speak of two things, and that will somewhat limit me, in connection with this second chapter tonight. The first is this, that I see increasingly in Scripture that you cannot take up the directions which are so plainly marked out in God’s word with reference to any time in our history, or to any conduct that God looks for from His children, apart from moral condition. That I see everywhere in Scripture. You might have the most perfect code of directions marked out by God, but what good are they to me if my condition of soul is not in some way answering to it? I cannot take them up, I cannot apply them, I cannot use them for myself, unless I am walking with God; and you will find that is the way people break down. It is in the application of the truth where they break down, rather than in their intelligence of it; this is where the difficulty is. There must be a condition of soul suited to God Himself before I can really take His truth and use it for myself in the clearing away of difficulties, or the marking out of my path; or before I can be piloted by it, according to the chart and program of the blessed God Himself, in the midst of all the confusions in which I find myself enveloped in these times.
This then is the first thing in the second epistle. There are certain moral qualities which the apostle seeks to enforce upon Timothy, his son in the faith. In the third verse we have—“Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life;” and so on. That is all moral condition of soul—a certain state which the apostle seeks to awaken Timothy to a sense of, in order that he might be fitted to make use of these blessed directions of God with reference to abounding disorder. This is very important for every one of us, old or young; because, be assured of it, half the difficulties of saints of God arise from their condition of soul. It is the state people are in that produces the difficulties; and I do not know anything more detrimental than handling the things of God, if I am not in communion. I do not know anything that is more searing to the conscience, or that has a more lowering effect upon the whole moral tone of a man, than to take up the things of God out of communion. It has a peculiarly deadening effect upon the soul. And that is the reason why I believe you will see, everywhere in Scripture, that there is no thought in God’s mind of a saint of God, either in his individual walk, or as a member of the Church of God, being led apart from that moral quality and tone of soul, under the power of His Spirit. Be assured there is no provision of God for saints not walking with Him. That is an important thing to get clearly before our souls. God has made no provision available to us, apart from characteristics in us, suitable to Himself. Without this, you cannot get people to see and comprehend the things of God; and that is where I think the harm and mischief has been, that there have been attempts to educate people into God’s things. You can never do it. It is through moral condition of soul, and this alone, that we are able truly to discern the mind of God; and thus we see how distinctly the apostle marks it out with reference to Timothy.
Now the first quality that is spoken of here is a very important one. Remembering the hardships that would be met with in such days as second Timothy contemplates, he says, “Thou therefore endure hardness.” You are not fit to be a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ in days of confusion and disorder unless you can endure hardness. That is the very first quality that the apostle looks for in Timothy; and it is one that we want, every one of us. Of course it was needed in an especial way in one who was to be in such a prominent position as Timothy, but it is needed for every saint of God. I do not hesitate to say that a person at this present moment who cannot endure hardness (after his measure, of course) is entirely unfitted for that which God contemplates as to His people now. The rest will come by-and-by—blessed rest it will be; but this is the time to go through the hardships, all those things that belong to a suffering testimony in the midst of a world that has rejected and cast out the Lord Jesus Christ.
What I feel is this, that if there were a little more loyalty to Christ in our hearts, more genuine devotedness to His person and interests, we should not want to be in any different circumstances to those He was in Himself; and (if such were the Lord’s will) we should be ready to be thrown into the very forefront in testimony for Him; for it is the path of the Lord Jesus Christ which is the path of His servant. There is really no difference, and therefore you are not carrying upon you the marks that God looks for in His people in the midst of such a scene as this, if there is not the capacity to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. You are to be like a soldier campaigning, able to put up with everything.
There is another thing here that is important; that is, in the fourth verse: “No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Now there is immense wisdom—blessed wisdom—of God’s Spirit in the very expressions that are employed in that verse. He does not say, “No man that warreth undertakes the affairs of this life.” He does not say that a man who is warring gives up his lawful occupation and calling. There is a vast difference between a person taking up a lawful calling which God has distinctly marked out for him, and entangling himself with it. The point which the Spirit of God presses upon Timothy here is the entanglement. No man that wars entangles himself; he does not allow the thing that his hands are occupied with to be a net all around him; so that he has not energy, or spiritual desires, or real power of heart, to be for Christ. On the contrary, he keeps himself free, although his hands are occupied with his lawful calling. In spirit, in his affections, he is free; so that he may “please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier.”
Look how wonderfully objective all this truth is, in order to produce a subjective state in us. You will never have a subjective state answering to God or to Christ, unless there is an objective power before your soul to produce it. You cannot get up a subjective state of soul suitable to God. You become a mere legal ascetic if you attempt it. There must be an object which is distinctly before the eye of your soul, with reference to which every thing is handled by you. Look at it here “to please”—whom? yourself? No. Anybody else? No. But “Him who hath chosen you to be a soldier.” You see in this warfare the apostle keeps the eye of the one who is enduring hardness, and walking through the scenes of confusion into which “the house” has fallen, on that blessed One who is outside and above all, and he makes His pleasure to be the commanding power of the heart.
Alas! how little that is the case with any of our hearts! How very little that comes before one’s soul all day long—“Am I doing this for the one who has chosen me? or am I seeking to do the best thing for myself; and leaving Christ outside, as it were?” You may say, “I have got Christ as my object.” Well, of course I do not dispute it, though it is a great thing to say. One hopes and trusts in one’s own soul that one is true as to that; but mark, there is another thing. Christ may be my object, but is there the diligence of heart and soul to be suitable to that object? That is the thing. And it is just as He is before you, and you have got His pleasure before you, and you study it in order to get tastes, and longings, and desires that are after Him—as you consider Him, as you view everything in relation to Him, you get power to do things suitable to Him.
Thus, then, the apostle expresses it, “that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier”; and he goes on, in the next verse, “And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, unless he strive lawfully”; that is, being subject to the whole order and mind of God and of Christ. “The husbandman that laboreth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say; and the Lord give thee understanding in all things.”
And now we come to a scripture that I want particularly to press upon you. How is all this made good? You may say, Well, it is an immense thing to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ, and to toil and labor in the midst of all the things that are here, and to be suitable, and so on; but how is all that secured? Now look at this eighth verse for a moment; and see the company he puts you into. I know no Scripture more precious and blessed, in the midst of the confusion, than it. It is a most precious word of God to drop upon a poor creature’s soul like you and me. “Remember”—mark that. May I just say, in all humility, that our translation fails to give the mind of the Spirit of God in that verse; because, if you read it the way we have it, you would suppose that it was a certain fact that the Spirit of God wanted to press upon the attention of Timothy. Now it is not the fact of Christ’s resurrection that Timothy’s attention is called to at all. There is not a word about the doctrine, or the fact of the resurrection, as such; but the way this scripture runs is really this: “Remember Jesus Christ, of David’s seed, raised from the dead”; and not, “Remember that Jesus Christ was raised from the dead,” &c. There is another scripture that will make this familiar to your minds. I refer to the well-known passage in the epistle of John, where the apostle says, “Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.”
That scripture ought to be rendered exactly as this one now before us; viz., “confesses Jesus Christ, come in flesh”; and, “confesses not Jesus Christ, come in flesh.” That is, it is not so much the fact about the Person as the Person Himself, in a certain condition.
So here, it is the company he puts the saints into, with reference to the confusion of the house—that which is before us tonight. What does he say, then, when he wants to produce these moral qualities in the man who has to carry himself in the midst of this confusion? “Remember Jesus Christ, of David’s seed, raised from the dead.” It is wonderful that he should thus link us, as to company, association, and power, with the One who, although He was the seed of David, and therefore entitled to every thing as Messiah (for that is the thought here), takes it all in resurrection. He was rejected in this world by man, refused in everything; though, in virtue of His death and resurrection, as well as the glory of His person, He will by-and-by take up all things in heaven and earth. Such is the company in which he places us. May I not press this upon your hearts tonight? because it is an aspect of Christ’s death which I do think is forgotten. We are familiar with the victim-character of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, but we do not sufficiently think of the martyr- character of it. He died in both characters. He died as a victim; that is a wonderful truth. What should we have without it? But He died as a martyr at the hands of man for the testimony of God, whose faithful witness He was. His death as a victim settled the whole question of our sins; but it is in connection with His martyr-sufferings and character that we, through grace, can be really on the road of testimony with Him. We could not be on the road with Him in His atoning sufferings. We have all the blessedness that flows out of it, but we could not be on the road with Him as to company; but we—wonderful thing to think of it!—are privileged to be on the road with Christ, in any sense in which the heart apprehends this fact, that He was a martyr for the truth of God in this world, which would not have either God, or Himself, or the truth. In the same measure as I can enter into it, I am in His company, and it is exceedingly blessed to the heart.
In this company of “Jesus Christ raised from the dead” the apostle puts in this word, “My gospel.” There is a distinctiveness, and a speciality, and a peculiarity about those words linked with Paul’s testimony, which the Lord give you to work out for yourselves, if you have not done so already. “My gospel.” It is not the gospel in the abstract, but the peculiar character of testimony which was committed to Paul, and entrusted to him, as one “born out of due time.” All this, then, marks out the moral condition that the Spirit of God, through the apostle, seeks to create in Timothy, as demanded by the terrible circumstances in which the house of God is found in these days. Let me pass over from the ninth verse, where these things are pursued in further details, to the sixteenth: “But shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness” {2 Tim. 2:16}.
Here we get a little description of what was in this house of God. “And their word will eat as doth a canker: of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus; who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some.” Now, these men were in the “house,” and they had introduced this doctrine into it. Just look for a moment at the solemnity of it. If the resurrection is past already, then we are in our ultimate state; if the resurrection is past already, we may settle down here as comfortably as we can: this is the effect of such a doctrine: it brings the most terrible principle of worldliness and earthliness into God’s house; therefore it is that the apostle marks it so distinctly, though it was but one of the things which were then in the “house.”
Now mark what he says: “Nevertheless”—(notwithstanding all these vain babblings, notwithstanding the janglings that were there, the evils of doctrine and practice too), “the firm foundation of God stands.” That is a wonderful thing to have before one’s soul. Notwithstanding all that man may do with what is entrusted to him in responsibility, although he may make the most terrible havoc of God’s things, and introduce the most fearful confusion into God’s house, “nevertheless the firm foundation of God stands.” Nothing can touch that, nothing can alter that; it is a firm foundation; there it stands. There is a seal to it and I should like to dwell a little upon this seal. It is a seal with two sides. “The firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are His.” Now that, beloved friends, is God’s side. We have nothing whatever to say to that side of the seal, except humbly to own the fact, “The Lord knows them that are His.” What a mercy it is that we have not to say, or decide who are His! No saint of God has to do that. Because, just look at all the mistakes, the ten thousand mistakes, that are made, and would be made!
But now mark what is the other side. “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord (6LD\@L) depart from iniquity” {2 Tim. 2:19}. That is our side of the seal. God’s side of it is, “The Lord knoweth them that are His.” Man’s side is, “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.” That is, let every one who puts himself under the authority of that Lord, every one who knows the truth of that Lord, and the claims of that Lord, depart from iniquity.
Now how many saints of God are falsely using this scripture—perhaps some in this company tonight—as a kind of relief in the midst of the terrible confusion into which the house of God has fallen at this present moment, and amid all the vain janglings and noise around them. Many Christians—not only those that are outside God’s thoughts at this present moment, but many that own this truth—say, “There is a dear child of God, a beloved saint of God, a beloved servant of God, in such and such a position, surely he cannot be wrong?” I reply that is not your side of the seal at all. You are using God’s side of it. “The Lord knoweth them that are His.” You say, “But is not so and so a Christian?” I answer, I am not disputing it; but that is not the question. The question for me is, not who is the Lord’s; but, Who is departing from iniquity? Here is the question,—Who, having owned His claims, are suitable to Himself? A most solemn question, and that is the meaning of “departing from iniquity.” Where is the person that departs from iniquity? How little that is in our minds!
Remember, I am speaking upon what I know. I remember perfectly well how that scripture came to myself, and what use I made of it. I know, alas! too well how easily one seeks to use Scripture as a warrant for continuing every sort of unsuitability to Christ; because a person who is religious—and by that I mean any one who has a desire after the things of God, in contrast to the mere worldling—if there are certain things that please such a person, and his own will takes the lead in them, he will always think he has the word of God to back him up. And therefore, when people are in false associations and memberships so called, at this present moment—and I do not say it hardly—you will always find this is the scripture which they misapply, totally misunderstanding the mind of God about it; and they say, with reference to any one of these associations, “It cannot be so very wrong; for are there not many dear saints of God in it?” I do not question the presence of such for a moment; for there are saints of God to be found in all the ramifications of Christendom: there are many that would put to shame some who are outside of them, and therefore we have not anything to boast of. It is not that one would stand up and throw a stone at one’s brother, but I am speaking of the truth, and not of people; and the truth is more dear and precious than the people.
Let us not then be found in the misuse of God’s side of the seal. I see those who are, without doubt, His people, scattered up and down, and mixed up with all kinds of things; but here is the point for me: it is an individual word; and I speak it as an individual word for every person’s conscience here tonight, Have you departed from iniquity? “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord”—that bows to the authority of that Lord—“depart from iniquity.”
Now, beloved friends, I trust I need not answer another question; viz., How much? There are some that positively do seem to imply they would raise that question, How much? Oh, I need not answer that question! Surely there is no necessity whatever to answer such a question as that. Because—observe, and nothing is more solemn, deeply solemn, to our hearts than this—viz., What am I associating the name of Christ with? That is the question. If we thought of that, and pondered over it, see how differently it would tell upon the things we are connected with. How much iniquity! Am I to put the name of Christ with the smallest particle of iniquity? Surely not. The Scripture, then, is as simple as it can be: “Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity”—all iniquity. Mark now how it brings out the next verse. “For in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honor, and some to dishonor {2 Tim. 2:20}.”
That is, the house of God, the sphere of profession here upon this earth, has become, in analogy, like unto a great house, with vessels, clean and unclean, in it: which is simply the meaning of the passage. God’s home, the sphere of profession on this earth, has become, through the incompetency of man, who had responsibility with respect to it entrusted to him, like a house with all sorts of vessels, good and bad, in it.
What is to be done? Now, observe, you cannot leave the house. Bear with me for a moment; there is a little difficulty in that, to some. What I mean by leaving the house is this, that you cannot give up the profession of Christ. There is not a Christian here tonight who would do that. Hence you cannot get outside the sphere of the profession of His name; you cannot leave it. God never tells you to go out of it; God never says you are to get out of this scene of confusion. If He does, show where He says so. No; I cannot get outside of it. Supposing I had the will to get outside, I could not do it; it is out of my power. What then am I to do? Just read. “If a man purge himself.” How simple. Look how individual it is—intensely individual. “If a man purge himself from these”—that is, from the vessels of dishonor that are in the house, from all the elements of confusion that are in the house—“he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, prepared unto every good work.”
Now I do not touch what is collective at all tonight; I hope to treat of that next week, if the Lord will, in connection with the third chapter. But here we have the simple claim of the truth of God on the conscience, as an individual saint of God, in the midst of the confusion into which the house has fallen in these times through man’s folly. The Holy Ghost by the apostle addresses me and says, Have you purged yourself from those vessels of dishonor? Have you purged yourself from those things that are unsuitable to Christ in the midst of this sphere of profession? He does not say, “If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a Christian, or a true believer in Christ” but, “he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use” {2 Tim. 2:21}. Oh how many there are that are not sanctified, not meet for the Master’s use! Do let me drop these words into your hearts this evening, because they have a moral bearing upon us, as well as a historical direction for our path and ways down here. Those words of the Spirit of God come to us with trumpet voice, even to the very oldest of us here, and even to those who have, in mercy, been given to know what it is to escape from the corruptions and confusions which crowd the sphere where His name is named. Do you not see how plainly God is keeping us up, practically, to the maintenance of the truth? It is not simply to glide into it once and for all, but there is to be the daily inward maintenance of what is outwardly expressed; and therefore there must be the cleansing ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit; and remember that the filthiness of the spirit is worse than the filthiness of the flesh. Some people would make the latter worse; but it is not so; that is a shame to us, but the other is a dishonor to Christ.
The Lord instruct us and help us by His Spirit to be in suited circumstances in the midst of the confusion of these times, so that we may be more suitable to Himself—vessels meet for His use!
The Resource of Faith Amidst Present Confusion: Lecture 2
2 Timothy 3
There is one point in the second chapter which we had under our consideration last week, to which I must revert for a moment this evening, so as to make that portion of our subject complete. I allude to the twentieth and twenty-first verses; and if I recapitulate a little, it is simply to keep up the connection with what I propose to look at in this third chapter tonight.
Observe how the apostle presses this truth of the house of God—all-important, not only in the consideration of the epistles before us now, but of any portion of Scripture; because you cannot grasp the mind of the Spirit in the epistles, unless you intelligently understand the difference between the Church of God in its responsibility as His house, and the body of Christ, in its perfectness before God. The latter is before the apostle distinctly when he likens (in this twentieth verse) the “house of God,” the sphere of profession, committed to man in responsibility as a builder, not to the great house, as we noticed last week, but to a great house; that is, he takes up the figure of a house, any house, with all kinds of vessels in confusion in it; and he likens the house of God, which he calls the “church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth,” to this house. He says this is what it has become in man’s hand; God entrusted it to man, as the sphere of his building, and that is what he has made out of it. He has reduced it to that state, that it is compared to a great house, with everything in it, clean and unclean.
And now comes the solemn question, What is a Christian, a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, to do in that state of things? And what becomes a child of God, awakened to the sense of the confusion in which everything is, the wreck which the house of God has become, how is he to walk according to God? What is called Christendom is really “the house of God,” let people say what they will. I will only say in connection with it: If you deny that Christendom is the house of God, you take away the ground upon which God will judge it. It is because it is His house, He will judge it. Now no one denies that Christendom will be judged; on what ground, then? Because it is His house. He has a claim on it, He has authority over it. It is an entire blunder to say, as many do, that because it has become confused and in ruin, because man has introduced all sorts of false materials into it, that therefore it ceases to be, in responsibility, the house of God. I will tell you what it has become. It is a witness to confusion; but it does not cease to be God’s house, because of this confusion.
Well now, the apostle here, speaking to any saint of God (because it is individual here) wishing to find his or her way, in the confusion in which everything is, says, “If a man therefore”—what? Leaves it? How can he do that? Let me dwell a little further on this for the sake of many who may not understand: you cannot leave this house of God. Are you prepared to give up the profession of Christ’s name? Leaving the house would be as much as to say that you give up the profession of the name of Christ; in other words, you would cease publicly to profess that you were a Christian. If a person could go out of the house, that is what it would amount to. It would be an entire disavowal of the distinct and open profession of Christ’s name. You cannot do that. That is the very thing that a Christian glories in, he rejoices to profess the name of Christ.
But the words of the Spirit of God, through the apostle, to any one seeking His path in the midst of confusion, are these—much more difficult than going out of the house, if that were possible—“If a man purge himself” from what is unsuitable to God in the house, “he shall be a vessel unto honor”; &c. And, beloved friends, it is that purging one’s self from vessels to dishonor that are found now in the house of God here upon this earth that entails upon us trouble, exercise, anxiety, difficulty, and persecution. When I see I have to retain and keep my place in the house, but to purge myself from the vessels of dishonor that are in it, then I am called to exercise of soul, nearness to God, to know what is suitable to His tastes, and what is not suitable; and a boldness, which nothing but devotedness to Christ can really give, a determination that at any cost I will glorify Him. And therefore, says the apostle, “If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work.”
Now I do not deny that there are instruments whom God in His grace uses, which have not purged themselves from the things that are unsuitable; but mark this, they are not vessels to honor, they are not sanctified vessels, not meet for the Master’s use, and not prepared to every good work. I could not deny that God uses as instruments many who are mixed up with all the things that are unsuitable to Him in the sphere of profession. There is one thing—just let me suggest it in passing, because it may be helpful to bring in what is closely connected with this subject. A difficulty presents itself to some people with reference to the gifts which Christ has given to His church, because these gifts are found in all sorts of associations. Now mark this, the gifts are in the whole church, not in part of it; and when you see intelligently that this is the case, that the gifts are scattered over the whole thing, and not found only in one part of the church, then you are not in the least surprised if God in His sovereignty is pleased to make use of the gifts, though they may be in associations unsuitable to Him. Many a person argues to a false position, because of the sovereignty of God in the use of some gift. Now I cannot argue so at all. I may argue as to His sovereignty, or as to the fact that the gifts are in the whole church; but I understand this clearly from Scripture, that in order for a man to be a vessel suited to the Master’s use, sanctified, and prepared unto every good work, he must be purged, and therefore it comes down to the individual thing, “If a man therefore purge himself” &c.
Now that is the first practical point which the Spirit of God brings out in connection with the disorder in which this sphere of profession is found. The first thing is, I have to purge myself from the things that are unsuitable to Him in this house of His. Mark the next verse, and then we will proceed to the third chapter: “Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.”
The pathway of God for His people in times like these would not be clearly marked without that verse. I can conceive this, that many a person might have confidence in God sufficient to say, “Well, I will purge myself.” Many a person says, “I am not connected with any of the associations.” And I am not speaking this unkindly, or disrespectfully, with reference to any denomination so-called. Many say, “I am not mixed up with any of the associations which are found in that sphere which has become confused. I am apart from them all.” But observe this, the apostle does not say that a man is to purge himself so as to remain in intense individuality. There is not a word of that in Scripture. Therefore that meets the question of the condition in which you will find Christians sometimes now. They say, “I am apart from the whole thing; and I am standing all alone by myself; and I am not with anyone else.”
But mark this, it is “follow with.” Who are we to follow with? Now just leave out for a moment the beginning of that 22nd verse, so as to make the sense a little clearer, and read the passage thus: “Follow with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart” {2 Tim. 2:22}.
There are certain characteristics of this following—“righteousness, peace”; but just leave them out for the moment. The associations, then, what are they? What is their character? Not that I am to be an individual unit, that is clear. Not a person isolated and alone, associated with no one else. It is “follow with them that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.” What is the meaning of that? I have no hesitation in saying that it refers not so much to individual purity of heart, as to corporate purity. That which is in the mind of the Spirit of God here, is collective purity; that is, a purity marking the association. Those who are gathered together in the association which is spoken of here are those who meet on the ground of the word of God with a devotedness and affection for the Lord Jesus Christ, seeking the maintenance of His name, His truth, and His honor, in the non- toleration of everything that would be unsuitable to Him. That is, I believe, what the apostle speaks of when he says, “Them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”: purity of heart, integrity of heart, and personal devotedness to Christ, are the characteristic marks of the association that I am bound to seek when I have individually purged myself.
Thus we have the two things, very distinct and marked, as to the path which becomes the saint of God in days contemplated in 2 Timothy.
Well, now I will say one word on the 24th verse: the infinite wisdom and blessed care of God the Holy Ghost in putting these words in connection with what has gone before, is manifest. He says in this verse, “The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth” {2 Tim. 2:24}.
Because there is nothing that makes more demands on the patience, meekness, and long-suffering of the saint, than to be called to walk in a path of entire separation and isolation from all that is unsuitable to Christ in such days as these. And that is the very reason why those words are put in there by the Spirit of God; a seasonable exhortation to Timothy, and, of course, to every saint of God in measure. Every saint of God is a servant in one sense, though of course Timothy was in a special sense, and therefore more exposed to the attacks, and trials, and difficulties which beset the path.
Let me recall to your memory then these three things before we pass on to the third chapter. The first simple direction of the Spirit of God is, that I am to purge myself from what is unsuitable to Christ in the house; then, that I am to follow all these characteristics of godliness with those that are corporately pure; and last, that I am to maintain this position in patience, and gentleness, and meekness. These three things are most distinctly marked.
When we come to the third chapter we find what comes down more to our own times, because we have in it the distinct features of this present moment. “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall be present” (not “come”). These are the very times in which we are. We are in the perilous times of the last days. Now the first thing the apostle does is to give a description of certain great characteristics of these times. I do not dwell upon them, because I believe most here are familiar with them. When we come to the fifth verse we have what unquestionably fastens all these characteristics upon the present period, and that is, “having a form of godliness.” It is a wonderful thing that with all that is enumerated in those verses, all the covetousness, boasting, pride, blasphemy, and so on, that mark these days, there should be this “form of godliness”: with all these salient features of the very times we are in, there is to be found around it and over it all a specious pretext or form of godliness, but without “the power thereof.”
That this really brings the subject down to our days must be allowed. Is there any one here tonight so lacking in observation as to the character of these times as not to see that the apostle is exactly describing them? If you were asked to delineate them, you could not do so more accurately than this; you could not select certain great features of character which would more adapt themselves to the circumstances we are in than in these verses before us. Is it not what is all around us? Is there not an increasing, growing “form of godliness”? Is not religion entwined around everything that men take up? You must remember, there is a very great difference between “religion” and Christ. Man will do anything for “religion.” He is “religious” in his very nature; and thus “religion” is connected with everything. There must be a certain amount of “religion” about everything to give it respectability in the eyes of man, and to make it palatable—oftentimes to an uneasy conscience.
But where is the “power” of it? Now you must know very well that men will not have Christ, and that is why I make the distinction between “religion” and Christ. People must have “religion,” they have no objection to it whatever; but when it is Christ, when it is what is suitable to Christ, when it is what is becoming the claims of Christ, the honor of Christ, it cuts, like a knife, far too deep for such an age as this; and thus it is people reject it, and throw it off.
Now I would speak even to those here this evening, who may have escaped from the corruptions that are in the professing house of God. Although we may have escaped, through sovereign grace and mercy, so as to stand outwardly upon a divine position, it is quite possible for us to put that position in place of Christ. And where a person puts any position, be it ever so divine or true in itself, in place of Christ, he will lose the power to retain that position, suitably to Christ, and sooner or later he gives it up. Because you never can maintain anything of God except as in relation to Christ. That is the safeguard of your heart, and a power to keep the affections of your heart true to it.
Now here, you observe, it is very distinctly said that there is all the outward show of godliness, and that is on the increase. There is formality and profession abounding, and everything of the kind is freely accepted and freely owned, but the “power” is wanting. “Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof; from such turn away.”
Well, I pass over the next verse: “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts, ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.”
Such are the actings of the promulgators of this false system that abounds. When we come to the eighth verse, we find another character of present days; a distinct mark is that eighth verse of the present time. “As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further: for their folly shall be made manifest unto all men, as theirs also was.
The apostle here is likening the characteristics that are found in this great show, this empty pageant of religion without the power of it, to what took place in the history of Gods dealings with His people Israel, when He was bringing them out of Egypt into Canaan. There were the magicians of Egypt (they are those referred to here) who sought to set aside the power of God through Moses, in the hearts of His people; not by open opposition—not by distinct, hostile, inimical display; not that, but something a thousand times more dangerous, it was subtle imitation. It was the imitation of the real thing which was attempted by Satan, through Pharaoh’s magicians, to turn aside the power of God through Moses in the deliverance of the people. There is a saying with which many here are familiar; viz., “history repeats itself.” That is perfectly true in divine things, as in human; and here you have Satan repeating himself. The very effort of the devil to hinder the deliverance of Israel, through the hand of Moses, is the principle which is resorted to by him in Christendom, at this present moment, to set aside the truth of God; viz., a specious, subtle, and crafty imitation. You will therefore admit that we are justified in saying, and in saying solemnly, that what is most dangerous at this present moment is the thing that is nearest to what is true. The thing that is nearest to the truth is the thing that is most dangerous, because there is more of imitation about it, and souls are less on their guard respecting that which has the appearance of truth upon it, than that which is marked by open opposition.
I feel it is exceedingly important, and very solemn, to read such a word as this, and connect it with the past history of God’s dealings with His people, and also with the present moment—that as Jannes and Jambres, by their imitation of God’s doings, sought to withstand God’s working, so do these also “resist the truth.” And I would say to my brethren in the Lord this evening, be not without exercise in your consciences and hearts as to whether you are lending yourselves in any sense to a principle like that; because I believe there is far more of this imitation passing current, and receiving countenance, amongst the saints of God, than we have the smallest idea of.
There is one peculiar element about all this, one special feature—it is all intensely human; and the more a thing appeals to what is human, the more general is its reception on all sides; it is acceptable and attractive. But the moment you introduce what is divine, that which makes demands upon a person’s conscience, and brings a person to stand totally outside the whole platform of the first man, as such, and to have to do with “the second man,” the Lord Jesus Christ, then it is another matter altogether. And therefore you find now that any effort in Christendom that seeks to benefit man as he is, will be acceptable to the mass. Why? Because it does not ignore, and disallow totally, the standing of the first man as such; in fact, it works from the first man as a basis. It seeks to ameliorate him, it gives him a place, it seeks to operate upon him, whether upon his religious feelings, like ritualism, or upon his intellectual feelings, like rationalism. You get these two things—ritualism and rationalism, allowing the status of the first man in a religious way and in an intellectual way.
These are world powers. You know well—you must be conscious—that these are growingly popular. There are a certain large class that are caught by each of them. Now I call that imitation; it is Jannes and Jambres repeated. It is exactly the same thing over again as that by which Satan sought to obstruct the deliverance of God’s people. And therefore, says the apostle to Timothy, warning him with reference to it, “As Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith. But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all, as theirs also was” {2 Tim. 3:8}.
Where then is the security? I answer, as I have often done before, that the only security for any person against what is false is, knowing what is true. I do not believe any one is ever safe against that which is spurious unless he knows the genuine article. You must know the real thing not only in order to be fortified against what is false, but in order to be able to unmask it. Is it not solemn to think that there are numbers of God’s saints who could not tell you what is false? Why? Because they do not know what is true. They have not the knowledge of the truth, by which to weigh that which is false.
Here, then, is the preservative: the apostle says to Timothy in this 10th verse, “Thou hast fully known my doctrine.” Now, may I ask you, What does the apostle really mean, what has he in his mind, what is the purpose of the Holy Ghost in speaking in that way? If you were asked tonight what is Paul’s doctrine, what answer would you give? He speaks of something special, something peculiar—“My doctrine.” What was it? Let me tell you in as few words as I can. Paul’s doctrine started with this—the total and complete setting aside and non-recognition of man as man—the utter denial of the first man before God, and the putting of everything in connection with the second Man, the Lord Jesus Christ, who in His death closed the history of the first man, and in His resurrection became the last Adam, the second Man, the beginning of God’s creation.
That is what Paul’s doctrine especially rested on; that was the basis of it. Of course I do not mean to say that he does not include here the Church, the body of Christ—what he calls else- where “the mystery”—but, mark this, even the truth of the church, the mystery (that is, the taking Jews and Gentiles out of their respective nationalities, and uniting them in one new man to the Lord Jesus Christ, as we have it in Eph. 2), all this stood for its basis on the redemption work of Christ, which was itself the complete setting aside of man in the flesh, and placing everything in connection with the second Man. The whole truth of the Church, the body of Christ, flows from that. And therefore Paul’s doctrine may be described as specially that which brought out the complete setting aside of man as a child of Adam before God, and the union of Jew and Gentile in one body, united by the Holy Ghost to the Head in heaven, and equally to one another on earth. Paul says to Timothy, “You have fully known my doctrine”; and, at this present moment, not a soul in this company tonight, is safe from the hostile wiles and imitations of Satan unless he knows Paul’s doctrine. You are not, be assured, safe without this; you may be tripped up at any moment by the subtilty of Jannes and Jambres, unless you are versed intelligently in your soul in what the apostle speaks of here, by the Spirit, as “my doctrine.” Unless you know that, you will not be able to unravel the mysteries, cunning, and imitations of Satan at this present time.
Now Timothy (and is not this open to every saint of God today?) had “fully known Paul’s doctrine,” not partially known it. In connection, there is a passage I should like to refer to in Col.1:24, 25, “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for His body’s sake, which is the church: whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to complete the word of God,” i.e. “to fill up the word of God.” What he means is, that until he had by the Holy Ghost brought out the special truth which God had committed to him to be the minister of, the testimony of God was not filled up. The testimony of God, or “Word of God,” comprised all that we have in the New Testament Scriptures, and in the New Testament Scriptures, minus “the mystery”; but the moment that the apostle brought out what is called “the mystery”—i.e. something that was hidden, but is now revealed; as soon as he had brought out this special revelation which was committed to him, exercising his stewardship in bringing it out, then the word of God was complete; and the whole word of God, His testimony, as the fortifying power to keep His people in the midst of the hostilities and imitations of present times, was then fully filled up.
Now it is to this that the apostle alludes here, when he says to Timothy, “You have fully known my doctrine.” The whole word of God is complete. The testimony which God has provided for His people to guard them against the counterfeits and imitations, and everything else that Satan would bring against them, is embodied now in the Scriptures; and hence it is that the apostle refers to the Scriptures a little lower down, when he says, “From a child thou hast known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation.”
There are thus three great realities in 2 Tim. 3 upon which the apostle would ground Timothy and the saints of God, as their security with reference to everything that besets them. There was Paul’s doctrine which was pre-eminently the truth of Jew and Gentile, united into one body by the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven—with the “manner of life” corresponding to it; that was the first thing. Then there was the person of Christ, in which everything was secured for eternal life, and for God’s ways even upon this earth; that was the next. And then there were the Scriptures, the revelation of the one and the other.
The apostle thus casts Timothy upon this blessed word of God, which is able to make a child wise unto salvation, and to fully furnish the man of God for every good work. And if ever there was a day when the saints of God needed to be recalled with more distinctness than ever to that blessed, precious revelation and communication of His mind, these are the days. It is to be feared there is little deep searching of God’s word; and there is this danger, lest that which is based upon scripture, and founded upon it, though blessed and useful in its place, should take the place of the authority of God’s own blessed book, in the hearts and consciences of His people, and make them correspondingly deficient as to power, and firmness, and definiteness, amid a hostile Christendom. Because, be assured, if it is not the Scriptures that are at the foundation, if it is not the word of God that is the power of our souls with regard to everything, every position I take and occupy, then our faith is simply standing in the wisdom of men. And I do say that we are not free from that danger. We as much as others are exposed to the snare of our faith resting in the wisdom of men instead of the power of God. It is the Scriptures, the word of God alone, which “can furnish and perfect ("DJ4@H) a man of God for every good work.”
I will say a little upon the latter part of the tenth verse. “You have fully known my doctrine,” which he connects with “manner of life.” Now, here is the terrible lack, more or less with us all; that is, as to the “manner of life” which is suited to “my doctrine.” What is the “manner of life” as he expresses it, which he connects with his doctrine? I have no hesitation in saying that it was a practical maintenance of heavenly citizenship in an earthly scene. I believe his “manner of life” was that complete, total, thorough strangership, heavenly strangership, in the midst of a scene that is pre-eminently earthly, and in the midst of a world characterized greatly by those who profess largely, and yet “mind earthly things.”
This it is which makes it solemn to every one of us. A man may say, “I know what Paul’s doctrine is” but let us challenge our hearts, is there “the manner of life”? Are there the circumstances, habits, ways, appearance, suited to that doctrine? And mark how he lays as much stress upon one as the other. It is not simply, “You have fully known my doctrine,” but “doctrine, manner of life”; and then he tells the features of this life, “purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience” (endurance). All these are to be combined with the maintenance of a distinct isolated, heavenly citizenship, and narrow path in a hostile world.
I know very well we are sometimes inclined to plead the narrowness of the path as an excuse for the narrowness of our affections. That will not do. If a man says, “My heart is narrow because my path is narrow,” I say he is ignorant, foolish, or worse; if your heart is narrow it is because you are not near enough to Christ; that is the true reason. Oh; the nearer I am to Christ, the more I know what it is to have personal fellowship with that blessed One who has brought me into such a wondrous position; the narrower will my path be; but I shall seek to have my heart large. That is, my heart will expand in proportion to my knowledge of the heart of Christ; and at the same time my feet will traverse more closely the path which He has marked out for me.
The Lord, by His Spirit, fix these things upon our hearts this evening! I feel it is a subject of the deepest importance for every one of us, in view of the nearness of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have positively arrived at the beginning of the end. If the apostle could say, by the Holy Ghost, that it was “the last hour”—“little children, it is the last hour” (1 John 2:18)—how much more are we in the closing seconds, as it were, of that last hour? And ought there not to be in your heart and mine, not merely a desire to be found in a clean path in the midst of the corruptions around us, but if Christ is our object, ought there not to be in our hearts at least this longing to be suitable to Him? It is not merely that I may be suitable to the claims of my conscience. I believe many are satisfied with that. I do not overlook it, but what I am stating now will secure that. But the thing is, suitability in the power of life, and in the affection of a heart that draws its springs from a love that never changes! It is suitability to my object, and how can I be suitable to Him if I do not study His pleasure, and how can I know what that is, unless I personally know Himself? It is from Himself I get the expression of His mind and will, His desires and His tastes. How much do we study the pleasure of the One that we delight to call our object? What exercise of heart does it give you to be suitable to Him? What exercise of heart do you go through to find out what He would like, and when you have found out what would please that blessed One, who is so little pleased in this world, how much self-denial is there to carry it out?
Remember, too, that you will never get motives apart from your object; and you never get the satisfaction of your desires except in the Person who creates those desires in you. Oh, what one looks for increasingly is, such a real, whole-hearted, genuine desire to be suitable to Christ, that blessed One, the rejected man on earth, but the accepted, glorified Man at God’s right hand, pursuing my way in the face of the hostilities, confusions, and imitations that are in His house! And do not forget that it is His house still. You may call it “the great house,” if you rightly understand the expression; but it is His house, “the house of God.” It belongs to Him. He has authority, claims, rights, over it, and He will judge it.
Here we are, then, in the midst of all this, with Himself set before us as the spring and power for all that is suitable to Him; and if we are looking for His coming, and expecting Him, what delight to the heart to desire through grace that which is suitable to Himself. What a blessing it would be if there was a little more of that amongst us, nothing about us that could prevent us looking forward, with a welcome and anticipation of joy, to His coming for us any moment.
The Lord, by His Spirit, set Him before us increasingly, and give us a more true desire to know His mind; and cast us more upon the word of God in these times; more upon the blessed revelation of God, so that we may know what we are standing upon. I maintain there is not one of us who ought not to be as certain about his position ecclesiastically, as he is about his soul’s salvation. You ought to have as much divine certainty about the one as the other. Because if it is contained in this book, then I ought to be sure of it; divinely certified because my soul is resting upon this unerring testimony; just as I know the truth with reference to my title by the blood of Christ.
The Lord bless His word by His Spirit, and create a desire in us to know its depths, for His own name’s sake!
From Light for the Pilgrim Path, London: Morrish, n.d.