The portion of scripture which our God has graciously given us as the stay of faith in the last days, contains the following blessed cheer, in the face of all infidelity, all unbelief, all revolt from the truth: “The firm foundation of God stands” (2 Tim. 2:1919Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19)). Let the overthrow of the faith of some be ever so marked, God’s foundation remains firm; this distinct abstract statement of scripture is a solid rock for faith and heart.
It is of the first importance at the present moment, in any outlook afforded by all that is passing, to place this in the foreground; for every true believer in the authority, sufficiency, and supremacy of Scripture as a revelation from God, there is nothing to fear as to the truth; undoubtedly there is much to chasten and solemnize the spirit, the times are difficult and the days are evil, opinion and speculation have displaced divine facts and truths; all this is without question very solemn, but the truth will still abide and survive; the only real question is, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” In a matter affecting the truth, the word applies—“he that is not with me is against me.”
The present prospect, then, suggests two things very plainly and distinctly.
1.The positive call of God, and our duty to rise up and stand apart from the leaven of false doctrine now so widespread. It is as clear as noonday, that scripture implicitly forbids all compromise of every kind in connection with the truth of God; to have part or lot with those who deny the doctrines of scripture, would be high treason against God, and Christ who is The Truth. “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity,” defines the course of faith and loyalty to Christ as clearly as could be.
The Lord has very graciously raised up a fresh witness to this truth in the author of “The Down-grade,” and all who love the truth must rejoice in the faithfulness of his protest against the tide of the so-called new theology, which threatens to flow over every hitherto supposed barrier; moreover the storm which his distinct and straightforward utterance has raised, is in itself an evidence of the corruption which is at work; this, and the treatment he has received, prove his case: it has ever been true that in a day when truth faileth among men, “he that departeth from evil maketh himself a prey.” May the Lord increase the number of those who are faithful to Christ in such days as are now upon us.
But the prospect suggests, in the second place, not only the refusal absolutely of what is false, but the maintenance as absolutely of what is true; and not only this, but that distinctive part of it, “in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” Now is it not of the deepest moment to observe, that in the very portion of scripture which defines the path of faith and faithfulness, in days when faith is left off, the distinctive portion of the truth, which alone can sustain, is placed in the foreground, and so the apostle says to his son Timothy, “But thou hast fully known my doctrine”—and then afterwards—“from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures.” Thus, then, attention is divinely called here to “my doctrine.” Let us inquire what this expression means. In Col. 1 we find it set forward in full under the second ministry of this same apostle. “For his body’s sake, which is the church, whereof I am made a minister” (Col. 1:24, 2524Who 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: 25Whereof I am made a minister, according to the dispensation of God which is given to me for you, to fulfil the word of God; (Colossians 1:24‑25)). “My doctrine,” then, is evidently that peculiar heavenly economy committed to Paul, of which, too, he himself, in the terms of his mission after his conversion, is the witness, for it was said to him: “Delivering thee,” that is, taking thee out “from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee” (Acts 26:1717Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee, (Acts 26:17)). Now here was a distinct heavenly mission, which had no connection whatever with either man or nation, and so is it as to the church of which he was the minister.
Further, we learn from his Epistle to the Colossians that the knowledge of what he there calls “the mystery of God,” was the great preservative against the peculiar wile of Satan to which they were exposed; the wile assumed a double form, namely, Philosophy and Judaism; philosophy being the rationalistic, as Judaism was the religious aspect of the snare. At the present time, all that the Down-grade controversy has brought to light is comprehended under the title of philosophy, this is now as then the great bane of Christianity, and this so-called new theology has not a shred in its garment other than that “vain deceit,” which only spoils after “the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.”
It is of the utmost moment that this “vain deceit” of man’s mind be refused and resisted at all cost; the man of God is exhorted to “shun profane and vain babblings.” Moreover, he is to purge himself from men that concerning the truth err, from all such he is to “withdraw himself,” “purge himself,” “turn away.” Again I say, all who love the truth cannot be too thankful to the Lord for the fresh evidence and testimony He Himself has given to the vital importance of separation from evil. But it is well to press the positive side of what the present prospect brings before us; it is in the knowledge of the mystery of God, preservation from the mental and religious snare of the moment, lies; the gospel without the church has been the cause of more evils than one, in these last days. What I mean by the gospel without the church, is a kind of salvationism, which makes man’s blessing and happiness everything, but leaves out the purposes and counsels of God respecting Christ and His glory. In proof of the supreme importance of the truth at this present juncture, I would point to the agony, the conflict of the apostle, as made known in Col. 2: “That their hearts might be com- forted, being knit together in love and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God.”
I would point to his agony as expressed in Col. 1, which was according to God’s energy in His servant in power, and for what? Even that he might present every man perfect (full grown) in Christ Jesus. But there was even more than this, for assuredly we may read in all His servant’s conflicts and labors, the thoughts of his Lord and Master, as to how indispensable in His mind is the knowledge of the mystery of God, for the saints; yet, alas! how little a place it has in our hearts.
May the Lord, in His rich grace, turn the present crisis into an occasion of his own, to set forth more distinctly the great truth concerning “the mystery of God,” in which are hid all the “treasures of wisdom and knowledge.”