A Witness and a Testimony

short articles from the magazine [url=http://www.austin-sparks.net/magazines_chrono.html]A Witness and a Testimony[/url]

"About the midst of the feast Jesus went up into the temple, and taught. And the Jews marvelled, saying, How knoweth this man letters, having never learned? Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine, whether it be of God, or whether I speak of myself" (John 7:14-17).

THE key, the crux of this whole issue, is in verse 17. If any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know.

People marvelled at our Lord as He taught. They asked: "How knoweth this man letters having never learned?" 'How does He know learning', in other words, 'never having studied in the regular schools?' In those days they had no schools as we know them; a rabbi taught little groups of students. Our Lord evidently never attended a rabbinical school so they asked: 'How does He get His wonderful doctrine, since He has never been to the schools of the rabbis?'

Now, this question tells us a good deal about these people. It tells us that they held truth to be intellectual merely, capable of being reduced to a code. To know truth it was necessary only to learn the code.

Most of them had no books of their own -- they learned by memorizing. That was their conception of truth. I gather this not only from verse 17 but from the whole Gospel of John. To these people truth was an intellectual thing -- just as we know that two times two is four.

That is truth, but it is an intellectual truth only. They reduced divine truth to that status. They knew the laws: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me.... Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.... Thou shalt not ...". But to them there was no mysterious depth in truth, nothing beneath and nothing beyond the obvious fact. It was exactly here that they parted company with our Saviour, for our Lord Jesus constantly taught the beyond and the beneath.

These people believed that the words of truth were the truth. And here is a basic misunderstanding of Christian theology with a moral and spiritual consequence that is vastly important. They believed that if you had the words of truth, if you could repeat the code of truth, you had the truth. That if you lived by the word of truth you lived in the truth.

The Saviour tried to correct this inadequate view. He showed them the heavenly quality of His message. He said: 'My doctrine is not Mine -- I am [18/19] not a rabbi teaching doctrine that you can memorize and repeat. What I am giving you is not that kind of doctrine at all.'

He had said previously: 'I say nothing for Myself -- what I see the Father do, that I do, and what the Father speaks, that I speak. What I have seen yonder I tell you about. I am a transparent medium through which the truth is being spoken. You believe that the way to truth is to go to a rabbi and learn it. That's not the truth, that approach to truth is inadequate.'

Here, it seems to me, is the weakness in modern Christianity. The battle line, the warfare today, is not necessarily between the fundamentalist and the liberal. There is a difference between them, of course. The fundamentalist says God made the heaven and the earth. The liberal says: 'Well, that's a poetic way of stating it; actually it came up by evolution.' The fundamentalist says Jesus Christ was the very Son of God. The liberal says: 'Well, He certainly was a wonderful man and He is the Master, but I don't quite know about His deity.' So there is a division, but I don't think the warfare is on these matters any more.

The battle has shifted to another more important field. The warfare, the dividing line today, is between evangelical rationalists and evangelical mystics. I will explain what I mean.

There is today an evangelical rationalism which is the same as these Jews had. They said the truth is in the word, and if you want to know truth, go to the rabbi and learn the word. If you get the word, you have got the truth. That is evangelical rationalism and we have that today in fundamental circles. 'If you learn the text you've got the truth.'

This evangelical rationalism will kill the truth just as quickly as liberalism will, though in more subtle way. The liberal stands over there and says: 'I don't believe your inspired Bible; I don't believe your deified Christ. I believe the Bibles in a way; it is the record of the high points of great men and I believe in a certain mystic communion with the universe and it is all very wonderful, but I don't believe as you do.'

You can easily spot this man -- train your glasses on him and there he stands. You can tell he is on the other side, for he wears the uniform of the other side.

But your evangelical rationalist wears our uniform. He comes in wearing our uniform and says what the Pharisees, the worst enemies Jesus had while He was on earth, said: 'Well, truth is truth, and if you believe the truth you've got it.

Such see no beyond and no mystic depth, no mysterious heights, nothing supernatural or divine. They see only: "I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth: and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord." They have the text and the code and the creed, and to them that is the truth. So they pass it on to others. The result is we are dying spiritually.

Now, what about the evangelical mystic? I don't really like the word 'mystic' because you think of a fellow with long hair and a little goatee who acts dreamy and strange. Maybe it is not a good word at all, but I am talking about the spiritual side of things -- that the truth is more than the text. There is something that you've got to get through to. The truth is more than the code. There is a heart beating in the middle of the code and you've got to get there.

Now the question is simply this: Is the body of Christian truth enough? Or does truth have a soul as well as a body? The evangelical rationalist says that all of that talk about the soul of truth is poetic nonsense. The body of truth is all you need; if you believe the body of truth you are on your way to heaven and you can't backslide and everything will be allright and you will get a crown in the last day.

Now otherwise stated: Is revelation enough or must there be illumination? Is this Bible an inspired book? Is it a revealed book? Of course you and I believe that it is a revelation, that God spoke all these words and holy men spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.

I believe that this Bible is a living book, that God has given it to us and that we dare not add to it or take away from it. It is revelation. But revelation is not enough. There must be illumination before revelation can get to your soul. It isn't enough that I hold an inspired book in my hands. I must have an inspired heart. There is the difference.

You can memorize all the texts of the Bible -- and I believe in memorizing -- but when you are through you've got nothing but the body. There is the soul of truth as well as the body. There is a divine inward illumination the Holy Ghost must give us or we don't know what truth means.

Conversion is a miraculous act of God by the Holy Ghost; it must be wrought in the spirit. The body of truth is not enough; there must be an inward illumination.

Christ's conflict was with the theological rationalist. It revealed itself in the Sermon on the Mount and the whole Book of John. Just as Colossians argues against Manichaeism and Galatians argues against Jewish legalism, so the Book of John is a long, inspired, passionately outpoured book trying to save us from evangelical rationalism, the doctrine [19/20] that says the text is enough. Textualism is as deadly as liberalism.

Now revelation, I repeat, can't save. Revelation is the ground upon which we stand. Revelation tells us what to believe. It is the Book of God and I stand for it with all my heart; but there must be, before I can be saved, illumination, penitence, renewal, inward deliverance.

I have no doubt that many people are eased into the kingdom. They are jockeyed into believing in the text, and they do; but they have never been illuminated by the Holy Ghost. They have never been renewed in their hearts. They never get into the kingdom at all.

Now, there is a secret in divine truth altogether hidden from the unprepared soul. This is where we stand in the terrible day in which we live. Christianity is not something you just reach up and grab. There must be a preparation of the mind, a preparation of the life and a preparation of the inner man before we can savingly believe in Jesus Christ.

Somebody asks: Is it possible to hear the truth and not understand the truth? Listen to Isaiah: "Hear ye indeed, but understand not, and see ye indeed, but perceive not" (6:9). It is possible to see yet not perceive.

Paul says (1 Corinthians 2:4-5): "My speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God."

Now the theological rationalists say that your faith should stand not in the wisdom of man but in the Word of God. Paul didn't say that at all. He said your faith should stand in the power of God. That's quite a different thing.

Verses 9 through 14 say: "Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things of man, save the spirit of man which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.... But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

Paul, the man of God, is saying: I came preaching and I preached with power that would illuminate and get to the conscience and to the spirit and change the inner man in order that your faith might stand in the power of God.

My brethren, your faith can stand in the text and you can be as dead as the proverbial doornail, but when the power of God moves in on the text and sets the sacrifice on fire, then you have Christianity. We call that revival, but it's not revival at all. It is simply New Testament Christianity. It's what it ought to have been in the first place, but was not.

Now look at Matthew 11: "Jesus answered and said, I thank thee O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in thy sight. All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father, neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him."

So there we have the doctrine taught plainly that there is not only a body of truth which we must hold at our peril; there is also a soul in that body which we must get through to, and if we don't get through to the soul of truth we have only a dead body on our hands.

A church can go on holding the creed. and the truth for years and generations and grow old and die, and new people come up and receive that same code and they grow old and die.

Then some revivalist comes in and gets everybody stirred and prayer moves God down on the scene and revival comes to that church. People who thought they were saved get saved. People who have only believed in a code now believe in Christ.

A man will go along in a church and believe texts and quote them and memorize them and teach them and maybe become a deacon and all the rest. Then one day, under the fiery preaching of some visitor or maybe the pastor, he suddenly feels himself terribly in need of God and he forgets all his past history and goes to his knees and like David begins to pour out his soul in confession. Then he leaps to his feet and testifies: 'I've been a deacon in this church twenty-six years and never was born again until tonight.'

What happened? That man had been trusting the dead body of truth until some inspired preacher let him know that truth has a soul. Or maybe God taught him in secret that truth had a soul as well as a body and he dared to get through and pursue by penitence and obedience until God honoured his faith and flashed the light on. And like lightning out of heaven it touched his spirit and all the texts he had memorized became alive.

Thank God, he did memorize the texts and all the truth he knew suddenly now bloomed in the light. That is why I believe we ought to memorize. [20/21] That is why we ought to get to know the Word, why we ought to fill our minds with the songs and the great hymns of the church. They won't mean anything to us until the Holy Ghost comes. But when He comes He will have fuel to use. Fire without fuel won't burn but fuel without fire is dead. And the Holy Ghost will not come on a church where there is no Biblical fuel. There must be Bible teaching. We must have the body of truth.

Jesus said if any man is willing to do God's will, he shall know -- he shall know the doctrine, he shall know the teaching. Now, this body of truth can be grasped by the average, normal intellect. You can grasp truth, but only the enlightened soul will ever know the truth and only the prepared heart will ever be enlightened.

And just what is the preparation needed? Jesus said: 'If any man is willing to do My will the light will flash in on him. If any man will obey Me, God will enlighten his soul immediately.'

We make Jesus Christ a convenience. We make Him a lifeboat to get us to shore, a guide to find us when we are lost. We reduce Him simply to Big Friend to help us when we are in trouble.

That is not Christianity. Jesus Christ is Lord. But when a man is willing to do His will, he is repenting and the truth flashes in.

No man can know the Son except the Father tell him. No man can know the Father except the Son reveal Him. I can know about God, that's the body of truth. But I can't know God, the soul of truth, unless I am ready to be obedient.

Before the Word of God can mean anything inside of me there must be obedience to the Word. Truth will not give itself to a rebel. Truth will not impart life to a man who will not obey the light! "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." If you are disobeying Jesus Christ you can't expect to be enlightened.

But there is illumination. I know what Charles Wesley meant when he wrote: "His spirit answers to the blood, And tells me I am born of God!" Nobody had to come and tell me what he meant. 'He that is willing to do My will,' said Jesus, 'shall have a revelation to his own heart. He shall have an inward illumination that tells him he is a child of God.'

If a sinner goes to the altar and a worker with a marked New Testament argues him into the kingdom, the devil will meet him two blocks down the street and argue him out of it again. But if he has an inward illumination and he has that witness within because the Spirit answers to the blood, you can't argue with that man. He will say: 'But I know.' A man like that is not bigoted or arrogant, he is just sure.

Now that's revival, but yet it is not revival either; it is normal Christianity. It's the way we should be. "If any man will do his will, he shall know."

But you say you're going to take a Bible course. If you are holding out on God, refusing to follow Jesus, you can take a course and learn all about synthesis and analysis and all the rest. But you might just as well read Pogo; all the courses in the world won't illuminate you inside. You can fill your head full of knowledge, but the day that you decide you are going to obey God it will get down into your heart. You shall know. Only the servants of truth can ever know truth. Only those who obey can ever have the inward change.

You can stand on the outside and can know all about it. I once read a book about the inner spiritual life by a man who was not a Christian at all. He had an amazing penetration. He was a sharp intellectual, a keen Englishman. He stood outside and examined spiritual people from the outside but nothing ever reached him.

You can read your Bible -- read any version you want -- and if you are honest you will admit that it is either obedience or inward blindness. You can repeat the Book of Romans word for word and still be blind inwardly. You can quote the whole Book of Psalms and still be blind inwardly. You can know the doctrine of justification by faith and take your stand with Luther and the Reformation, and be blind inwardly. For it is not the body of truth that enlightens; it is the Spirit of truth that enlightens.

If you are willing to obey the Lord Jesus He will illuminate your spirit, inwardly enlighten you, and the truth you have known will now be known spiritually and power will begin to flow up and out and you will find yourself changed, marvellously changed. In that great day of Christ's coming all that will matter is whether or not I have been inwardly illuminated. Inwardly regenerated. Inwardly purified.

Do I know Jesus?

A.W Tozer

A message given by Mr. Poul Madsen at the Aeschi Conference, Switzerland,
in September, 1969

THE WORD OF THE CROSS

"For the word of the cross is to them that are perishing foolishness; but unto us which are being saved it is the power of God" (1 Corinthians 1:18).

"Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and fill up on my part that which is lacking of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body's sake, which is the church; whereof I was made a minister, according to the dispensation of Cod which was given me to your-ward, to preach fully the word of God" (Colossians 1:24-25).

I CANNOT tell you how grateful I am to be among you, and to meet old friends whom I have not seen for twenty-one years. Some of us were together at Kilcreggan, Scotland, in 1948, and for me that was a time of very real importance. There the Lord gave me two things: a new Bible -- a new revelation; and new friends -- a new experience of fellowship in the Lord. And those two things have stood the test of time. It was not just a time of emotion, but some days when the Lord did a lasting work in us.

Some of use have been through many things during the last twenty-one years. We have had many joys, some trials, some sorrows, some difficulties, and quite a number of things which we would not have chosen ourselves; and through all these things we have proved and experienced that the preaching of the Cross is truly the power of God. The word of the Cross has brought us through. A sentimental word could not have done that. A superficial word would not have been able to carry us right through, but the word of the Cross has actually and truly brought us through many, many different things; and the word of the Cross is actually the Word of God, touching all aspects life.

1. A WORD OUT OF DARKNESS

The word of the Cross is a word out of darkness and suffering: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" That was a word out of utter darkness, and you find it throughout the Bible. It was the word of David. Again and again he cried: "Why, my God? Why?" It was the word of the prophets, and it was the word of Job. It was a word of suffering, but not of despair, a word out of deep trial, but not of rebellion; and a word out of that experience has power -- and how that word has helped us!

2. A WORD OF THIRST AND LONGING

The word of the Cross is also a word of deep, deep thirst, a longing to see the Lord's plan of salvation fulfilled. How I long to see the full salvation of my God! That also is a word throughout the whole Bible. The Lord said: "I thirst", and David did the same; so did the prophets. No one in touch with reality and in touch with God can come through on his own. He has a thirst in him for the realization of the Divine plan of salvation. How often we have been in difficulties and in situations where this thirst was felt in our innermost being! And how the word of the Cross has been a power to bring us through when we felt our thirst!

3. A WORD OF TRIUMPH

The word of the Cross is also a word of true triumph, not a superficial, cheap victory, but true triumph: "It is finished!" We find throughout the Bible that in the hours of deepest suffering the Lord's saints have been enabled to triumph, and I repeat, not a cheap, superficial victory. It is not only an emotional thing, but true victory that can stand even in the sight of God. How the word of the Cross has helped us, even in hours of deep darkness, to triumph through Him!

4. A WORD OF DEEP REST

The word of the Cross is a word of deep, deep [125/126] rest. The waves were high, the enemy was seemingly triumphant, the darkness was heavy, but, in spite of all that, the word of the Cross gave us the deepest rest in our Lord. "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit." Sacrificing everything, even Himself, He was in the deepest rest in the will of His Father. Losing everything, His rest of faith was triumphant; and you will find that everywhere throughout the Scriptures. It is the word of the Cross, the eternal Word of God. "Though the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines, the labour of the olive shall fail ... yet I will joy in the God of my salvation" (Habakkuk 3:17-18). How the word of the Cross has enabled us, through many trials, to be quiet in our Lord, the Lord of our salvation! The enemy has been very busy and our nerves were very weak, but the word of His power brought deep rest to our innermost being.

5. A WORD OF DIVINE LOVE

The word of the Cross is also a word of love -- not cheap love, but Divine love: "Father, forgive them." One of our leaders in Denmark, who is not a Christian, said publicly: 'I do not know the truth, but this is the biggest word ever spoken to mankind: "Father, forgive them."' And then he added: 'It might well be the truth!' And you find it throughout the whole Bible. David prayed for Saul, the prophets prayed for Jerusalem and for their enemies. Nothing can create this love in us except the word of His powers the word of the Cross.

In the last twenty-one years we have been tempted quite often to bitterness, or to fight with carnal weapons. How wonderful it is when the word of His power creates in us who are being saved the love of God!

6. A WORD OF FELLOWSHIP

The word of the Cross is the word of fellowship: "Woman, behold thy son ... Son, behold thy mother." I have not seen my two brethren here during these twenty-one years, and yet I say: 'Behold, my brothers.' That is the power of the word of the Cross, making us a new family; not founded on an emotional basis, but in spirit and in truth.

So I can testify to the power of the preaching of the Cross. "Unto us which are being saved it is the power of God." And it has brought us through. Signs could not help us. Sensationalism had no power to help us. The wisdom of men could not bring us through, but this word has actually proved its power in bringing all of us through. And now my own great wish is to be enabled to preach that word of the Cross; it may be that the Lord has given us some time here in order to enable us to preach that word, but without some practical identification with those who spoke the word of the Cross fully, how could one expect to preach that message?

7. A WORD TO BE PREACHED

The word of the Cross requires the spirit of the Cross, and thus Paul says that he rejoices in his sufferings. It had something to do with his ministry, for through the many sufferings he was enabled to preach the word of the Cross fully. Preaching is not only saying correct things according to Scripture; it has to convey the Spirit, the life of Him who spoke the word from His Cross. So it is not possible to preach the word of power without one's self being identified with Him who spoke from His Cross. That might explain many things in the past twenty-one years.

We are living through very difficult days. In Denmark, at least, the darkness is very, very heavy, and we have experienced that nothing of a superficial, easy-going Christianity can really bring true help. We are not fighting against flesh and blood, but are involved in some measure in a cosmic warfare, and we do not want only to touch the brains of men. We want really to touch deep down in human lives. As we have ourselves experienced the power of that word, not given us with very great manifestations, but in truth and in the spirit, then we know out of our own experience what to do. We want to be identified with our crucified Lord and Saviour. We want -- I have to say this carefully, but I must say it -- the sufferings which come out of obedience. We want, in days such as these, fully and truly to avoid the popular and to accept the truth. Therefore, my dear friends, we are not looking for signs, nor do we want the wisdom of this age, but the power of the Cross is the thing that we are seeking.

I guess that we are gathered here together during these days for this very reason. I have been to many conferences during the past twenty-one years. I save sponsored many myself. I have forgotten most of what has been said in all these conferences. Very much of it was very wonderful, as far as the emotions were concerned, but what has been left with me, what has stood the test of time and trial, what has kept me in the true fellowship of the Lord's saints, was the preaching of the Cross.

And, as I started by saying, it has been wonderful [126/127] to come back now and to look back over twenty-one years with some of you.

The word of the Cross that goes forth from the mouth of the Lord has never returned unto Him void, and so I suggest that we, during these few days, seek the Lord's face together, asking Him to renew all of us, especially those in the ministry of the Word, that we, in our generation, can bring the word of His power so that, if we meet again in twenty-one years, we shall see then that that word of the Cross was effective and powerful, that it gave us new revelation, a new sense of fellowship, and was so powerful that it brought us through the coming twenty-one years with all their trials and sufferings. It shall be done! - P. M.

WATCHMAN NEE

LOYAL SOLDIER OF JESUS CHRIST

Angus I. Kinnear

EARLY in July this year reliable news reached the West that on 1st June, at the age of seventy, Watchman Nee of Foochow passed into the presence of his Lord. At the time he was, we are told, somewhere in Anhwei Province, several hundred miles up the Yangtze. Less than eight weeks had elapsed since the completion of his twenty years' confinement in prison and labour camp. There seems no means of knowing whether he was ever aware of the powerful impact of his earlier preaching upon the lives of Christians round the world during this period.

Older readers of A Witness and A Testimony will remember the transcriptions over the initials W.N. of a series of addresses given in 1938 at Helsingor, Denmark, under the title "The Normal Christian Life". We too at the Christian Fellowship Centre, Honor Oak, London, were among the few Christian groups in Europe to hear, over a brief period in that and the following year, the inspired preaching of this gifted and clear-thinking Chinese brother. It is safe to say that all those who remember him thank God for his gracious personality and for his truly Christ-centred teaching and exhortation.

It was in February 1920 that a Chinese woman evangelist was preaching Christ in Foochow. The resulting dramatic conversion of Watchman's mother from a revolutionary agitator for Sun Yat-sen to a humble follower of the Saviour induced him, the eldest son, to attend the meetings in search of an explanation. A few days later, in a change of heart no less complex, he himself found the Lord Jesus as Saviour and King. From that day he made the Scriptures his special study, and set himself to bear witness to his Lord by life and word, preaching the good news first among his fellow students at the C.M.S. Trinity College, Foochow, and later more widely through the southern provinces.

Working from Pagoda Anchorage, Foochow, he was soon faced with the problem of what to do with his village converts. Not a few Chinese of his generation were finding the confusing variety of Western church traditions ill-adapted to their people's situation. Watchman and his young co-workers sought instead a simpler and more flexible pattern of church fellowship. (In this his reading of the New Testament was for a time coloured by the writings of the earlier Brethren.) By 1928 the centre of his work had moved to Shanghai, with well-attended meetings at Hardoon Road and a widely distributed devotional magazine.

The ensuing years saw household churches spring up far and wide throughout China, all with a strong evangelistic witness. The simple message of redemption and new life in Christ Jesus met a deep hunger among Chinese of all classes. His Rethinking Our Missions (English translation, Concerning Our Missions, Shanghai and London, 1939) indicates the point then reached in their strategic thinking. It was to be a long pilgrimage and a painful one, for because its methods were untraditional the 'Little Flock' (as the movement was nicknamed from the title of its hymn-book) was viewed with caution and even hostility by some in the establishment of the Western foreign missions. There were always those among them, however, who saw in Nee a Christian thinker and [81/82] missionary strategist of outstanding spiritual insight. On his visit to Britain in 1938-39 he enjoyed stimulating fellowship with Christian leaders like Mr. Norman Baker of the China Inland Mission, while particularly in Mr. T. Austin-Sparks, editor of A Witness and A Testimony , he made a close friend. And few who were present at the Keswick Convention of July 1938 failed to be moved by his prayer at its great missionary meeting.

With the ending in 1946 of the Japanese war, Watchman Nee began an intensive training of young workers to carry the gospel throughout China. His plan to evanvelise its unreached cities by group-migration of Christian believers into the far interior (an idea based on Acts 8:4) seems in retrospect an inspired preparation for the Church's enforced dispersal so soon to follow. After 1948, in a statement perhaps deliberately exaggerated, he was credited by the People's Government with heading the largest Christian denomination in the country.

But it was the Little Flock's very independence of foreign links and foreign support that enraged the Party representatives in the Christian Three Self Patriotic Movement, for it did not accord with their doctrine that all Christianity but their own was imperialist inspired. They framed Nee therefore, and he was tried on a series of wholly extravagant 'criminal' charges and sentenced to twenty years, which he served from April 10th 1952, mostly in or near Shanghai. Stories of his gross mutilation during this period are to be discounted, but if any positive Christian witness was possible it can only have been to his captors. His death this year was from a long-standing heart condition. His wife, Charity, visited him regularly in prison until her own death in October 1971. They had no children. A single final message from Watchman Nee himself, written in his own hand after her passing, mentions his ill-health but characteristically adds, "The inward joy surpasses everything."

Since 1966, throughout the People's Republic of Mao Tse-tung, all places of worship have been closed. On the surface there exists no longer a Church in China. What survives is hidden and informal. It is also surely still pilgrim, cast for its very existence upon God. Through the recent spread in the West of Watchman Nee's devotional writings, his name became for many a focus for their prayers on behalf of the oppressed people of God. I believe he would have urged us both to step-up and to broaden the scope of those prayers. We thank God from our hearts for the witness of this one dear brother in Christ. We must thank Him all the more, and with renewed hope, for the anonymous multitude who, like him disdaining release, conspire to set forth Christ crucified and risen and exalted, still triumphant over all. "The Lord sat as king at the Flood; yes indeed, the Lord sits enthroned as king for ever!"
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The following is an extract from a testimony given at
Honor Oak Christian Fellowship Centre by Miss Joy Betteridge.

AFTER previous years of service for Christ in China, I returned to Shanghai in 1948. At that time Brother Watchman Nee was holding Workers' Conferences at a mountain resort near Foochow, his old home. The workers came from all over China and from other places in the Far East, and I was present at two of them. On the second occasion I was taking part as one of the workers, and it was then that the Communists came so near to Foochow that the conference had to be abandoned.

Brother Nee told me that those responsible felt that I should move off at once to Hong Kong, adding that if I had strong convictions that I should not go they would take responsibility for me. Much as I would have liked to have stayed, I felt it right to take this advice, and so I made one of a party which sailed immediately for Hong Kong. Mrs. Nee was one of the party. I had a great regard for her. She was practical in the home, and a quietly helpful influence among all the sisters. Later Brother Nee himself came to Hong Kong to stay with his wife for a while, but then they returned voluntarily to Shanghai, never to come out again.

I did not have many personal touches with him, for he was not a man for much light conversation, but I greatly profited from his ministry of the Word. At the conferences he always wore a dark blue Chinese cotton gown. I never saw him with any notes. He would walk up and down, with his hands behind his back, just speaking from his heart. He would invite questions after his messages to the workers, and his answers were always full of spiritual value. Every morning there would be one session given over to individual testimonies [82/83] from workers. They would speak freely for half an hour, after which the others were invited to give their criticisms and finally Brother Nee would sum up for the benefit of the one concerned. I remember how nervous I felt when I was asked to do this, but I did it, though with fear and trembling. Among other things which Brother Nee said at the end was, "We thank God for all that our sister knows. It will be good if she is led into some experiences where she discovers what she does not know." I understand now the point of that criticism and thank God for all His way with me since then. When inviting me there he had said "If you are only just with us, it will be a testimony that God's Church is not just Chinese". He never liked the use of the phrase 'Chinese brothers and sisters' preferring 'brothers and sisters in China', for he affirmed that all born-again believers are citizens of heaven.

I remember that last meeting at Foochow before we all scattered. Brother Nee knew that he must remain in Shanghai for the sake of the church there, and therefore at that conference he made the decision, regardless of the cost, which he already knew would be very great. I saw God's grace, as well as sorrow and foreboding, on his face as we commended Him to God for that. He could have stayed out, but he chose to stay in. And I remember that we sang a hymn which he had translated into Chinese from an English poem. He loved to sing it and we did so in the light of the fact that we were to be separated the next morning. A rough rendering of it includes such phrases as, 'If my way lead me to suffering: if Thou commandest me to pass through adversity, may there be intimate fellowship between us through it all. The longer the trial, the sweeter the fellowship. If earth's happiness grows less, I pray Thee give me more of heaven. Although the heart may be sorrowful, may the spirit still praise. If Thou dost separate me from the ties of earth's sweetness, may the link between Thee and me be more precious. Although the road may be lonely, I pray Thee to be my Friend, encouraging me so that I can finish the course. Lord I trust Thy gracious strength, hoping always to be a clean vessel through which flows Thy life.'
----------------

WASTE

A message given at Honor Oak by Brother Watchman Nee
and published in "A Witness and a Testimony" May 1939.

Reading: Mark 14:3-9

THE LORD has ordained that the story of Mary anointing Him with the costly ointment should always accompany the preaching of the gospel. We know the story well. Judging by the story in connection with her brother's resurrection, we know that the family was not an especially wealthy one. The sisters had to work in the house themselves, and one of them, Mary, had an alabaster box with three hundred pence worth of ointment in it, and with a stroke she broke it and poured the whole of that costly nard upon the head of the Lord. According to human reasoning it was altogether too much, even for the Lord. That is why Judas took the lead with the other disciples in thinking that Mary was wasting something (John 12:4-5).

Now we come to the word which the Lord wants to emphasise at this time, the word 'waste'. What is waste? Waste simply means giving too much. If a shilling will do and you give a pound, it is waste. If two ounces will do and you give a kilogramme, it is a waste. A waste means that you give something too much for something too little. A waste means that the one who is receiving the something is not worth so much. Yet we are dealing here with something the Lord said was to go out with the gospel, wherever the gospel should be preached. With the preaching of the gospel the Lord is out to have a result that corresponds with Mary's action here; that is, for people to come out and 'waste' themselves on Him. That is what He is after.

Now we must look at the question from two angles, that of Judas and that of the other disciples. They all thought it to be a waste. To Judas, who had never called our Lord the Lord, everything that was poured upon Him was waste. Even water would have been waste. To the world, the service of the Lord, and our driving of ourselves to Him is a pure waste. 'Such and such a man would have made good in the world if he were not a Christian', is a sentiment that is frequently expressed. For anyone with natural talents to be a Christian, to serve the Lord, is deemed to be pure waste. [83/84]

So thought Judas. 'We could manage better with the money. We could give it to charity; we could do some social service; we could help people in a more practical way. Why pour it down at the feet of Jesus? As to yourself, can you not find a better employment of your life?' That is what Judas was thinking, and that is what the world is thinking. It is too much to give yourself to the Lord! But no! when once our eyes have been opened to the worth of the Lord, nothing is too good for Him.

But it is upon the reaction of the other disciples that I want most to dwell; for they affect us more than does Judas. We do not mind very much what the world is saying, but we do mind what those other disciples are saying who ought to have understood, yet did not. We mark that they said the same thing as Judas; and not only so, but they were moved to indignation, saying, "To what purpose is this waste ...?"

Now here is the whole question of waste, and of what the Lord is after. Today, even amongst Christians, there can be found much of that spirit that wants to give as little as possible to the Lord and yet to get as much as possible from Him. The prevailing thought today is of being used, as though that were the one thing that mattered. That my little rubber band should be stretched to the very limit seems all important. But this is not the Lord's mind. The Lord wants us to be used, yes; but what He is after is that we pour all we have, ourselves, to Him, and if that be all, that is enough. It is not a question of whether the poor have been helped or not, but of whether the Lord has been satisfied. The question is not one of working for Him, my friends, but of service to Him, of ministering to the Lord. That is what He is after, that I should give Him my all, even though people should say, You are doing nothing! My service to the Lord is not on commercial lines. No! my service to the Lord is to please Him. There is many a meeting we might take, many a convention at which we might speak, many a campaign in which we might share, but this is not the first consideration. That my usefulness should be brought to the full is not what the Lord is after, but His concern is rather with my position at His feet and my anointing of His head. What I have as an alabaster box, the most precious thing, my whole life, I give it all up to the Lord. It seems as if it is a waste, but that is what He is after.

May I tell you something? One thing some of us have come to learn is that in the divine service the principle of 'waste' is the principle of power, whereas the principle of 'usefulness' is the very principle of scattering. The real usefulness in the hand of the Lord is 'waste'. The more you think you could do, the more you employ your gifts to the very limit -- and perhaps beyond the limit -- that you will find to be the principle of the world, and not the principle of the Lord. I knew a sister in the Lord, now in His presence, who was very greatly used of Him. But my first concern about her was that she did not seem to be being used. Every time I said to myself, Why did she not get out and take some meetings, get somewhere, do something? It was a waste to live in a small village without anything happening. Sometimes when I went to see her, I almost shouted at her: 'No-one knows the Lord as you do. You know the Book in a most living way. Do you not see the need all around you? Why don't you do something? It is a waste of time, a waste of energy, a waste of money, a waste of everything, just sitting here and doing nothing!' But she was the one who helped me most of all. The highest thing is not just to be moving about. I do not mean to say that we are going to do nothing, but the first thing is the Lord Himself, not the work. That is what He is after.

So the Lord said, 'Why trouble ye her? She has wrought a good work as to Me. The poor you will always have, but you cannot always have Me.' The whole point is, What am I going to do to the Lord today? Did those other women who came with their spices to the tomb succeed in anointing the Lord's body? No! He was risen. Only one succeeded, Mary, who anointed Him beforehand. It seems as if man will say I am wasting my time -- but Lord, nothing is too good for Thee! He is worthy to be served. He is worthy for me just to be His prisoner. He is worthy for me just to live for Him. Let others say what they will. Have our eyes been opened to see that working for the poor, working for the benefit of the world, working for the eternal welfare of the sinner, as things in themselves, are not to be compared with the work we do to the Lord, with our being just for Him. What is your estimate of the Lord?

Then the Lord said, "She hath done what she could". It means that Mary had given her all. That was all she could do, no more; and she did it. The Lord will not be satisfied with anything less. The whole point is a life really laid down at the [84/85] feet of the Lord, and that in view of His death, His burial; that is, in view of a future day. Then it was His burial, now it is His crowning day that is in view. He will be acclaimed by all in that day, but how precious, far more precious to Him it is that we should anoint Him now, not with any material oil, but with that which is deepest and, maybe, hard for us to break. The Lord get anointing from us today!

Further, the Lord said, 'Wherever the gospel shall be preached, this story shall be told'. Why? Because the gospel is meant to produce this. The gospel is not primarily for the satisfaction of sinners. The gospel is preached that everything may be to the satisfaction of the Son of God. Not to sinners first of all, though, praise God, sinners will be satisfied. But supremely it is Christ who must find satisfaction through its preaching.

Once more let me repeat. The whole question for us is simply this: It seems that I am giving too much for too little. That is waste. Others appear to far better advantage than I, though they have given up none of the things that I have. As for me, I seem to meet with all the difficulties. Continual trial and suffering is what comes my way. Now, am I not wasting my time? If I consecrate myself enough for the blessing, but not enough for the trouble; if I consecrate myself enough for the Lord to use me, but not enough for the Lord to shut me up, it will be all right! Are we not found thinking thus at times? But the principle of waste is that which satisfies the heart of the Lord Jesus. You can get something for yourself out of your consecration, but often real satisfaction can only come to the heart of your Lord when you seem to be 'wasting' yourself on the Lord; giving too much and getting nothing back for yourself.

O friends, what are we after? Are we after mere usefulness, as those disciples were? They wanted to make every penny of that three hundred pence go to its full length. They wanted to be used themselves. If only we can please Him, surely that should be enough.

Now the breaking of the alabaster box and the anointing of the Lord filled the house with the odour, with the sweetest odour. Everyone could smell it. Whenever you meet someone who has really suffered, been limited, gone through things for the Lord, willing to be imprisoned by the Lord, just being satisfied with Him and nothing else, immediately you scent the fragrance. There is a savour of the Lord. Something has been crushed, something has been broken, and there is a resulting odour of sweetness. The odour which filled the house that day still fills the Church; Mary's fragrance never passes away.

Friends, we cannot produce impressions of God upon others, impart the sense of the presence of God, without the breaking of everything, even the most precious things, at the feet of the Lord Jesus. The Lord would have us here, not first of all to preach or to do work for Him, but to create hunger in others. No true work will begin in any life apart from a sense of need. We cannot inject that into others, we cannot drive people to be hungry for God. Such hunger can be created only by those whose lives convey vital impressions of Him.

Oh, to be wasted! It is a blessed thing to be wasted for the Lord. So many of us who have been prominent in the Christian world know nothing of this. Many of us have been used to the full -- have been used, I would say, too much -- but we do not know what it means to be wasted on God. We like to be always 'on the go': the Lord would sometimes prefer to have us in prison. We think in terms of apostolic journeys: God dares to put His greatest ambassadors in chains. "But thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of his knowledge in every place" (2 Corinthians 2:14).

[i]Friends, we cannot produce impressions of God upon others, impart the sense of the presence of God, without the breaking of everything, even the most precious things, at the feet of the Lord Jesus. The Lord would have us here, not first of all to preach or to do work for Him, but to create hunger in others. No true work will begin in any life apart from a sense of need. We cannot inject that into others, we cannot drive people to be hungry for God. Such hunger can be created only by those whose lives convey vital impressions of Him.

Oh, to be wasted! It is a blessed thing to be wasted for the Lord. So many of us who have been prominent in the Christian world know nothing of this. Many of us have been used to the full -- have been used, I would say, too much -- but we do not know what it means to be wasted on God. We like to be always 'on the go': the Lord would sometimes prefer to have us in prison. We think in terms of apostolic journeys: God dares to put His greatest ambassadors in chains.[/i]

"THY WAY WAS IN THE SEA"

T. Austin-Sparks

Reading: Psalm 77

THE heading of this psalm shows that it was contributed by Asaph, who was David's choir master -- the leader of the singers. Quite a number of psalms are attributed to him, and in this one he was in real trouble; he was a man of music who had lost his music, a song leader whose only song was a lament. We do not know the actual cause of his difficulty, but it seems quite clear that it was due to the lack of evidence of God's presence or power. The signs which should have manifested God's glory were not forthcoming; Asaph could see nothing to indicate that the Lord had any interest or concern in his situation; and so, cast down and depressed, he brooded over the circumstances; and the more he did so the more he found himself in the mire of despair.

The words are alarming, but right in the full flow of his outpoured complaint there came a turning-point, when he pulled himself up short and decided that he would not allow his weakness or infirmity to govern any longer, adding, "But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High" (verse 10). This became the turning point. From then on the dark night began to give place to the rising sun of a new outlook. Once again life had a meaning.

In the course of his recollection there had come to mind one of his own experiences, "I will call to remembrance my song in the night" (verse 6). This does not mean that he proposed to recall that there had been a time when he was more cheerful and sang even in the dark, but implies that he called back to mind the subject matter of that nocturnal song. There had apparently been a night when he could not sleep and so occupied his waking hours by composing a song for the choir. Its subject matter was that ever-recurring theme of Israelite psalmody, the exodus from Egypt. Asaph remembered how he had indulged his poetic gift in describing the way in which the Lord got His people out of Egypt and through the Red Sea, celebrating the mighty work of God which was expressed in this deliverance. As the words came back to him, he suddenly realised that he himself was now in the same predicament, needing to find a way through, and that the song which had applied to the nation was now valid for him -- he needed to take a dose of his own [88/89] medicine. He remembered what he had said and sung to encourage others in their times of difficulty and was able to appropriate the same comforting truths for himself. It was at that moment that streaks of dawn came into his dark sky, heralding a coming day, so that his psalm finished in a blaze of light.

THE operative phrase, which seems to be the focal point of his awakened memory, was "Thy way ...." Asaph's own trouble was that he could see no way. His situation was such as to be like a siege around his soul; the dark forces had compassed him about and he could see neither a way out nor a way through. This is so often the perplexity of God's children: they can see no way through.

In his song that night, Asaph had made much of the fact that the Lord's way was in the sea and His paths in great waters. Israel could first of all find no way out -- they were held fast in Egypt's bondage. Then God solved that problem, only for them to be faced by another and a greater, for they had been given a way out but there was no way through. The Red Sea lay in front of them, Pharaoh's pursuing army was coming up behind; and the desert and the mountains were on either side. So it was that they were confronted by that impassable, threatening sea which straddled their path ahead and only suggested death and the grave. They had come out, but now it seemed that shame, reproach and calamity were imminent. It looked very much like the end of the road.

On that occasion the problem was no problem to God. He was not in a panic, not even in a quandary, nor did He propose to lead them around by detours and by-passes. No He went straight through. We may be without a way, but God never is. He led them right through the deep. For others, great waters present an impasse, but the Lord has His own path through them. The words, "Thy footsteps were not known" suggest that everybody was wondering where the Lord could tread, for there was no visible foothold. When it was all over they were still wondering how He had done it, but the thing that mattered was that they were out on the other side. The Lord was not daunted by the waters -- He just made His way through them and led His people with Him. Sea or mountains do not present obstructions to Him, for He proceeds unhindered on His way. He took His people with Him; He led them through the impassable.

How vividly Asaph remembered that night when he composed his encouraging song to celebrate that great historical movement through the sea, but now he suddenly realised that he was being challenged by his own words, as every speaker for God, and singer for God, always is. His sea was not the same as theirs, but it was just as threatening; the hostile pressure from behind was different from Egypt's armies, but just as cruel and just as unavoidable. What should he say? That God had forgotten? That God had allowed him to be hemmed in without a way of escape? That the waters were too deep for God, or that He who had brought him out was now unable to bring him through? No, that could not be true. He would think again of that song in the night, the song of God's deliverance and of the way through which He Himself made for His harassed people. "Thy way was in the sea". Then he would tell himself that this same God who brought His people through then, would make a way for him -- even though it had to be through deep waters.

AGAIN and again in the Old Testament this experience was repeated in the history of God's people. Men found themselves encircled by difficulties and confronted by the impossible, but in every case the Lord led them through. His footsteps were unknown, but they were always sure; as untraceable by man as any footprints on water, but direct and purposeful as befits our almighty God.

In Luke 21 the New Testament records a preview of the end, as given by the Lord Jesus to His disciples. The descriptions are such that they were certainly not exhausted by the happenings when Jerusalem was destroyed in A.D. 70. Among the many predictions concerning features at the end-time is the prophecy that there will be "distress of nations with perplexity". The force of this last word is to describe an impasse -- no way out. That, said the Lord, is what the nations will have to face, and face it without God. Was there ever a more accurate description of the world situation? Distress -- with no way through, no prospect but despair? It is a dreadful experience to be gripped by complete despair, but this need never happen to Christ's disciples. He has promised that His faithfulness will always provide a way of escape. This time it will be upwards, so they must lift up their heads to see redemption -- a way out -- personified, as He Himself comes swiftly to greet them with footsteps which are not known. [89/90]

So we see that what can be true for any Asaph in his own personal circumstances, will one day be equally valid for the whole Church. In the darkness of the world situation, the human prospects for God's people grow gloomier and gloomier. It may seem, as it did for the psalmist, that God's very mercy has clean gone for ever and that His promises have failed. God, however, has guaranteed to give a way out and up by the return of Christ. Men without Christ have every reason to feel their hearts failing them for fear, but the redeemed can quietly and confidently rely on a way through with God. No seas like these seas! No deeps so daunting as these! But God is not at all at the end of His resources. His way was in the seas as He led Israel through the depths; He made a way for Asaph in his time of distress; so we can be certain that He has a pathway for us too, even though it be through the darkest waters. "Who is so great a God as our God?"

Quote:

"A man will go along in a church and believe texts and quote them and memorize them and teach them and maybe become a deacon and all the rest. Then one day, under the fiery preaching of some visitor or maybe the pastor, he suddenly feels himself terribly in need of God and he forgets all his past history and goes to his knees and like David begins to pour out his soul in confession. Then he leaps to his feet and testifies: 'I've been a deacon in this church twenty-six years and never was born again until tonight.'

What happened? That man had been trusting the dead body of truth until some inspired preacher let him know that truth has a soul. Or maybe God taught him in secret that truth had a soul as well as a body and he dared to get through and pursue by penitence and obedience until God honoured his faith and flashed the light on. And like lightning out of heaven it touched his spirit and all the texts he had memorized became alive.

Thank God, he did memorize the texts and all the truth he knew suddenly now bloomed in the light. That is why I believe we ought to memorize. [20/21] That is why we ought to get to know the Word, why we ought to fill our minds with the songs and the great hymns of the church. They won't mean anything to us until the Holy Ghost comes. But when He comes He will have fuel to use. Fire without fuel won't burn but fuel without fire is dead. And the Holy Ghost will not come on a church where there is no Biblical fuel. There must be Bible teaching. We must have the body of truth."

"And the Holy Ghost will not come on a church where there is no Biblical fuel. There must be Bible teaching. We must have the body of truth."

Amen!

Thank You Brother Christian for these articles.

In His Love
pastorfrin

Quote; "It was in February 1920 that a Chinese woman evangelist was preaching Christ in Foochow. The resulting dramatic conversion of Watchman's mother from a revolutionary agitator for Sun Yat-sen to a humble follower of the Saviour induced him, the eldest son, to attend the meetings in search of an explanation. A few days later, in a change of heart no less complex, he himself found the Lord Jesus as Saviour and King. From that day he made the Scriptures his special study, and set himself to bear witness to his Lord by life and word, preaching the good news first among his fellow students at the C.M.S. Trinity College, Foochow, and later more widely through the southern provinces."

hmmhmmm, thanks bro for this,

Isn't it amazing a Chinese woman evangelist in 1920 preaching.

Little did she know the mighty fruit of her labor would produce none other than Watchman Nee.

David
PS. if all of us produced one such trophy the whole world would be changed overnight!!!

ROOTS BY THE RIVER

Zac Poonen

Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10

REDUCED to its simplest form, the New Testament virtue of faith is described here in the Old Testament as "trusting in the Lord". Jeremiah's striking contrast reminds us that this was a matter about which people could very easily be deceived -- it was then and it still is. Even in [75/76] the days of the apostles there were those who misunderstood what it meant to believe. Some who apparently believed did not seem to enjoy abundant life. This was why James had to explain that there were two kinds of faith -- one dead and the other living. Just as a body without breath, a dead body, could not perform any acts, so it was pointed out by James that there was a so-called "faith" which could not produce any works, because it was dead.

There is, then, a dead faith as well as a living one. These may appear to be alike but in fact they are entirely different. Ignorance of this fact can cause many problems. Some who read that all things are possible to those who believe, when trying actually to claim some miracle of faith, meet with disappointment as they find that the promise does not seem to work. They tend to doubt the promises of Scripture thenceforth, whereas the real cause of failure is that their faith is not living.

PLANTED BY THE RIVER

For such, and for us all, the prophet uses an illustration, given to him by the Lord in which he stresses the issue of personal trust in the Lord. He explains that the man who fails to do this because he trusts in man -- either in himself or in some other -- will be like a barren tree in the wilderness. It may well be that two exactly similar seeds were planted, but one was buried in the dry earth or sand and so produced a barren tree (v.6) whereas the other was planted so that its roots could reach out to the river (v.8), and so produced abundant fruit. In the latter case the leaves would never be dry even in times of severe drought because the tree would have roots underneath the ground, through which it could draw its necessary supply of water from the life-giving river. The tree planted in the middle of the wilderness would have no such hidden supply. It might be watered occasionally by someone passing that way but, this not being enough and the roots not drawing water from underneath, nothing could prevent the leaves from falling.

ROOTS ARE NOT SEEN

So we are given an illustration, reinforced by contrast, of real living faith in the Lord, the faith which the Bible affirms to be essential. Faith as referred to in the New Testament is identical with that which was found in the man of God in Old Testament times. Hebrews 11 embraces the whole of the Old Testament period, and tells us that everything that those men did that pleased God was done through faith -- the same faith that we need to have today.

Such faith is dependent on a life beneath the surface, it must have roots which go down deep. Roots are unseen, they are underground. The observer sees the tree but has no idea where the roots are. Indeed they may have gone some distance away from the tree. Somewhere, however, they have found water, and so are able to draw constantly on this unseen source of life. This, I believe, is what distinguishes the faith that is real and living from that which is merely superficial and dead -- having a hidden part of one's life equivalent to the roots of a tree. The genuine man of faith has a hidden walk with God, unseen by and unknown to others; he knows what it is to draw constantly from the living springs of the Spirit.

It is this secret life with God which is so often lacking among Christians in general. We live in a time when a great deal of emphasis is put on the external, the impression made upon others. This is true of the business world, politicians, diplomats and indeed of people in almost every sphere of life. Alas, it is true in Christian circles too! No doubt we must be careful about outward appearances in the sense that we should have a testimony that glorifies God before our fellow-men. We should never be careless about the impression we give to others. But the Bible insists on a balance -- there should be an inner life which corresponds to the outer. To neglect the outward testimony would be wrong, but to think more of this than of the hidden life with God would indicate that such an individual (like the Pharisees of old) loves the praise of men more than the praise of God, and so his faith is dead.

It is tragically possible for a Christian to have no hidden roots in his life and yet to continue to maintain an apparently good testimony before others. This is what eventually leads such a one to become a hypocrite. Preachers especially are so easily tempted to live a life of pretence, particularly so if they feel that they have to live up to a reputation. It is such a double life that leads some Christians to the point of a breakdown. (Some people are, of course, strong enough to go on all through life as hypocrites without a breakdown, but this is not a virtue.)

If I have no hidden life, if all that there is of my spirituality is what other people can see, then there is something radically wrong. The life I [76/77] possess is then quite different from that which Jesus came to give, and I would not be justified in claiming that my faith in the Lord is of the kind described by Jeremiah.

HEART SEARCHING

It is striking that immediately following the words about the roots, there is the reminder that "the heart is deceitful above all things" and the assertion, "I the Lord search the heart" (Jeremiah 17:9-10). He searches the heart because that is where the roots are to be found. Man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks down into the hidden realms of the heart. I believe that in our day, when we live in a world so controlled by externalities, God is looking for a people who will maintain a hidden life, a walk with Him, that is concealed from the eyes of others.

Consider the words of 2 Kings 19:30: "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward".

This shows us God's order. Whereas man tends to lay stress on the external fruit of evident success, God reminds us that so far as heaven is concerned, it is taking root downward that has first priority. Roots first, fruit afterwards, is always God's order, both in nature and in the spiritual life. We are to go deep into God before growing upward in the eyes of men. This alone can save us from the deadly poison of hypocrisy. Our hidden walk with God is what we need to concentrate on and safeguard, for it is here that the Devil seeks continually to tempt us to be neglectful. This is especially so in a world of accelerating speeds and crowded business, where it becomes so easy to equate spirituality with activity, and to measure everything by statistics. Eternity will reveal that the real measure of a man's success in God's eyes was no more than the depth of his hidden walk with God here on earth. Those who are wise will recognise this now.

TRUE DISCIPLESHIP

We need a faith that is living, and not merely one that gives a good impression. A painted fire may look like a real one from a distance, but it gives neither light nor warmth. So it is that some Christians appear to have spiritual power, but when people come closer to them they are disappointed to find that the glamour disappears and there is no real light or warmth of the Spirit. Happily the opposite is also true, for one sometimes comes into contact with Christians who have no glamour, but convey much of God's grace when one gets to know them better. Our great need is for reality -- for a life that is "hid with Christ in God", and that is thereby growingly transformed into His likeness.

Only a life of true discipleship can lead us along that pathway; and a life of discipleship has to be a deeply-rooted one. Luke 14:25-33 is an important passage, for it sets out the three conditions for true discipleship. I have often wondered whether superficiality in the Christian life does not arise from an ignoring of the conditions which Jesus laid down on that occasion. The original mandate for the preaching of the gospel was "to make disciples" (Matthew 28:19 mar.). This was the Church which Jesus envisaged, one composed of disciples from all nations, and not just of people who had subscribed to the fundamentals of the faith. Those who were first given the name of "Christians" were already disciples (Acts 11:26). In the conditions which Jesus laid down for discipleship we notice that in every case it was the inner life which He referred to. These conditions deal not so much with the externals as with the heart -- not with the fruit but with the root.

1. CHRIST FIRST. "If any man come to me and hate not his father, and mother, and wife and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple" (v.26). How different Jesus was from the politicians and the religious leaders of our day who would hesitate to say anything which might reduce the size of their following! The Lord made things sound really difficult for those who wanted to follow Him. He was to be supreme at all times in the lives of His followers. All other loves were to be as nothing compared with the fervour of their devotion to Him. There was to be no second class of discipleship; He was to be either Lord of all or not Lord at all. Man may be willing to accept something as better than nothing, but not Jesus. With Him it was to be either all or nothing. Men and women were to be either hot or cold in their relationship to Him, for lukewarm people were as unacceptable as the cold (Revelation 3:15-16).

Now all this is a matter of the heart and not of the exterior. The measure of our devotion to the Lord is not something which can be known to others but that which He alone can assess. We know ourselves whether we are cold, lukewarm or hot. No one else may ever know. But it is this heat of devotion that God requires as the root in [77/78] our lives, before there can be the outward expression of it in fruit. When the Lord was re-commissioning Peter by the lakeside after his failure, His question was, "Do you love me more than these?". He did not ask Peter whether he would be more watchful in prayer or even whether he would be willing to witness unashamedly in the future. Neither did He discuss evangelism or church-building. Important as all these were, what Jesus basically required from Peter was something far deeper, the hidden roots of true devotion to Him.

2. TAKING UP THE CROSS. "And whosoever does not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple" (v.27). The life of a disciple is a life of perpetual death to his inner self. He has no prospect whatever of laying down his cross this side of heaven. It was thus with Jesus -- all through His life on earth He died to His own will and His own self -- and the disciple is not above his Master. A disciple has to face this issue right at the start. It is pointless going part of the way and then being disappointed when we find the going not getting any easier. But there is a further point to be noted here. Even this crucifixion that the disciple undergoes must remain hidden. He must die daily, and keep quiet about it. He must not advertise his sacrifice before men. If we die to ourselves in some situation and then recount the incident before others, we have no praise from God, for we have already received approbation from men. But if we know what it is to die to ourselves in the secret place and to keep it hidden from men's eyes, then our roots will grow deeper and we shall know the reality of fellowship with the heart of God.

Our Lord once said that only those who took His yoke (i.e. the cross) upon them would find true rest to their souls (Matthew 11:29). Here lies the real cause of unrest in many a Christian life -- the cross is avoided. The tree with deep roots can face any storm without being shaken. It rests unshaken because it is firmly rooted and grounded. This is the pathway to enjoying the deep rest of God which He desires to share with His people.

3. FORSAKING ALL. "... whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple" (v.33). The disciple's attitude to the things of this world is to be one of total detachment. In our day the attractions of the material realm are so inviting that one can be entangled in them all unawares. In my own life I find that I have to battle constantly over this matter. I find that I have continually, and not just once, to lay my treasures on the altar for God. But this again is a matter of the heart. No one other than God and I, the individual concerned, may know whether I am truly delivered from the love of ease and luxury, and from the carnal joy of possessing material things. I find that Christians in the West are particularly tempted in this realm, and that many of them need to relearn the truth of Jesus words that a man's life does not consist in possessing things. Many have explained away this condition of discipleship with logical or theological arguments, but their lives are shallow as a result. The meaning is simple -- we are to forsake all, we are to be truly detached. And let us not forget that a life of spiritual abundance and of growth in likeness to Christ depends on our acceptance of the implications of "forsaking all" in our hidden life.

It will cost me all that I have if I am to be a true disciple. If, like the builder of the tower (v.28), I am not prepared to pay the price, then I might as well not start. The question is not whether I have the resources -- God would not ask me if I did not have them -- but whether I am willing to spend them all for love of Him.

No man is immune from the perils of superficiality. We need to examine ourselves constantly, and we need to covet this hidden life above everything else. God is looking today for a remnant among His people who will accomplish great things for Him, and who, in these last days, will register Calvary's victory afresh in the territory of the Devil. But for this their faith must be living and their roots must be deep, and drawing constantly from the river of life. May we be among that number! Amen!

[url=http://www.austin-sparks.net/mags/ttm01-4.html]Vol. 1, No. 4, July - Aug. 1972[/url]

GOD'S SECRET TRANQUILLISER

[William MacDonald]

PSALM 4 will always hold a special place in my heart because of the way it spoke to me at a time of personal fear and anxiety. During the Second World War, I was sent on a special assignment with orders requiring air travel. Early during the evening of the flight, I visited the air terminal to check on the travel arrangements.

The plane assigned to the trip was one of the oldest in the squadron; it was laughingly referred to as an orange crate held together by bailing wire! When I saw the pilot's name I was further disheartened -- he was one of the most inexperienced we had! That left only one other item -- the weather. So I went to the Base Weather Office and asked about the weather along the route. "Do you really want to know?" they asked. "Yes, I think so," I said with some hesitation. "Well, it's corruption all the way!" To me that was a new use of the word 'corruption', and I wasn't sure I liked it!

They suggested I go back to my room, promising to send a car for me at flight time. The thought passed through my mind, "You might just as well send a hearse." That's the way I felt!

Back in my room I feared that the end of all things was at hand. For some time I wallowed in self-pity. Then I thought to myself, "This is ridiculous; why should you, a believer, succumb to fear and depression?" Then the following dialogue went on inside me:

"What have Christians always done when they've been in tight places?"

"Turned to the Word of God, I guess. But where would I turn?"
"Where have Christians usually turned in the Word when the going was rough?"

"To the Book of Psalms, I guess. But where would I turn in the Book of Psalms?"
"Well, if you don't know, why don't you begin at the beginning?"

So I did. I began with Psalm 1. But I didn't find any comfort there. I went on to Psalm 2. Nothing there helped my gloom either. I read Psalm 3. Again no verse seemed especially relevant. As I began Psalm 4, I despaired of finding anything either. But then I came to verse 8. It stood out like a neon sign:

"In peace I will both lie down and sleep;

for Thou alone, O Lord, dost make me to dwell in safety."

My whole being relaxed instantly. I realised in a flash that
it was not the plane,
it was not the pilot,
it was not the weather,
but it was the Lord! "Thou alone, O Lord, dost make me to dwell in safety!"

When flight time came I had to be aroused from a deep slumber (and that was not like me!). On board the plane I put my head back and slept through a furious storm -- lightning and thunder and gale winds -- (and that was not like me either!). A gnarled, weatherbeaten Chief Petty Officer sitting next to me was disgusted that I should have slept through such turbulence. He said it was the worst storm he had ever experienced. My peace was not my own doing, of course, It was the Lord: And the secret tranquilliser He gave me was Psalm 4:8.

HOW THE EARLY CHURCH GREW

J. Alec Motyer

IF we consider some statistics on the matter of Church growth as described in the Acts of the Apostles, we note that on six occasions Church growth was related to the quality of spiritual life and on seven occasions to incidents of supernatural actions of God, but we find that on twenty-four occasions such growth was related to ministry of the Word of God. We even find the expression that "The Word of God grew and multiplied" (12:24). This does not mean that the Bible got bigger but that through the Bible it was the Church which got bigger. You use the same Bible year after year and it remains the same size; it increases in depth but it does not increase in length. In the Acts, the Holy Spirit suggests that the growth of the Church and the Bible are so interwoven that you can state the one and imply the other.

Among the many references, I choose one as a suitable key verse. The scene is the Council at Jerusalem and is found in the contribution made by Peter. "When there had been much deliberation, Peter rose up and said to them, Brethren, you know that in the old days God made choice among you that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe" (15:7). What I find so exciting, satisfying and stimulating in this verse is that the choice of God covers four things. God chooses the preacher, He chooses the congregation, He chooses the message and He also chooses the results that should follow.

This last matter of believing hearers is not an optional extra; it is not stated as something that may or may not happen. It belongs with the choice of God in exactly the same way as the speaker, the hearers and the message. The Greek makes it plain that this last verb is suspended, as all the others are, on the great truth of the divine choice. It can be isolated, to read, "You know that in the old days God made choice that [83/84] they should believe". In the mind of God, as the preacher, the hearers and the message are His choice, so is the consequent fruitfulness. I find this most satisfying.

It has already been said that, in the Acts, Church growth is linked twenty-four times with the ministry of the Word of God, six times with the quality of Church life and seven times with supernatural evidences. I bring these statistics to you not in any way to denigrate the two smaller categories for, in one sense, they are co-equal with the ministry of the Word. There are three outstanding means of growth. Nevertheless the figures serve to underline that, in the Acts of the Apostles, overwhelming importance is attached to the Word of God. The Bible not only provides us with the truth but calls us to recognise the balance of truth. I believe that this stress in the Acts is faithful to the pattern and priority of things as can be found throughout the whole New Testament.

The Word and the Holy Spirit

As we watch the Church growing in the Acts of the Apostles we note particularly the marked relationship between the Word of God and the Spirit of God. For example, at the first Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit: "They ... began to speak in other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance" (2:4); "How hear we every man in our own language wherein we were born ... Cretans and Arabians, we hear them speaking in our own tongues the mighty works of God" (2:8-11). Pentecostal outpouring was to this end -- the intelligible communication of the Word of God. This gift of intelligible communication is the great gift of Pentecost.

This is what is called 'prophecy'. "Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy ... yes, on my bondmen and on my bondwomen I will pour forth of my Spirit and they shall prophesy" (vv.17-18). Whether they are men or women, the gift of the Holy Spirit will enable them to give an intelligible communication of the Word of God, so that people can hear the wonderful works of God in their own tongues.

The book is full of this. A typical example is given in 4:8: "Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them ... be it known unto you and unto all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even in him doth this man stand here before you whole". Do you catch the quality of preaching in that? Peter was filled with the Holy Spirit in order to do that. Another occasion is in the same chapter: "... they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they began (or 'continued', for it is a continuous verb) speaking the Word of God with boldness" (v.31). There is a beautiful nexus between the Spirit of God and the Word of God. Time and time again right throughout the book, we find the Spirit leaping into a situation with the particular purpose in mind, to implement a powerful testimony to the Lord Jesus. There can be no doubt that the preached Word is God's appointed means of growth.

The Work of the Preacher

Our key verse says, "God made choice among you that by my mouth ..." (15:7). Let us now consider the work of the preacher by isolating that little factor of the mouth. If we did not have the Acts of the Apostles to guide us, we might well interpret this in terms of some enormous evangelistic campaign, with posters advertising Peter, with coach parties and land-lines and that kind of approach. If we do this, we may well try to opt out of it, feeling that such an activity does not apply to us. We cannot do that, for Peter makes this beautifully simple reminder that in fact he was talking to a housegroup! He went into the house of Cornelius, who had invited some interested friends to his home. So we must not identify 'preaching' with great set-piece occasions, for all we are talking about is communicating the good news about the Lord Jesus, sharing the truth about Him wherever and whenever there is opportunity.

You may be surprised to know that as I worked through the Acts for this study, I discovered 26 different verbs describing preaching. There is an amazing wealth of expressions in the New Testament descriptions of the task of preaching. It may be helpful to mention some of the 26 different ways of dealing with the subject here in the Acts.

1. laleo. The most frequently used verbs are verbs of simple communication and the most used of all, used over 60 times, is simply the verb 'to speak', 'to chatter'. It is the ordinary word for holding a conversation, when one person speaks to another. "Go and stand and speak in the temple" (5:20). The angel uses it as he directs [84/85] the apostles to get back to the work of communication. It is the ordinary word for holding a conversation.

2. martureo. The verb 'to assert the truth', 'to bear witness to the truth' is often translated 'testify' and here we need to be a bit careful, for we are inclined to isolate the word 'testimony' to people sharing their own experiences, whereas in the New Testament it does not mean that at all. It does not mean a matter of sharing one's own experience, but sharing that which is objectively true, sharing the facts. It is a case of bearing a testimony to the facts and not to our experience of the facts.

3. didasko. Sixteen times the word 'to teach' is used. It conveys the didactic intent, the longing to share information and bring it home meaningfully.

4. kerusso. This is the word which signifies 'to herald', 'to act as a town-crier'. This gives an emphasis on clarity and also on authority. You ask the town-crier, 'Why are you shouting that?' and his answer is, 'Because he told me to'. So this verb 'to herald' expresses authority, but it also brings an emphasis on clarity -- we want people to know about this matter.

5. euaggelizo. This verb is employed 12 times and it means 'to preach the gospel', or 'to share the good news'. There is a beneficial content to this message which is to be shared.

6. parrhesiazomai. This is a lovely verb. It means 'to speak with 'boldness' as: "Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles and narrated with them how at Damascus he had preached boldly in the name of Jesus" (9:27). Paul spoke courageously but he did more, for this verb not only has the meaning of boldness but also of freeness of speech. The verb is used of those who could exercise a liberty of speech over the whole field in which they were communicating. They spoke boldly and they spoke freely.

7. ekdiegeomai. This is a beautiful word which is equivalent almost to our usage today, 'to spell out'. When something is spelled out, you know what it is. A truth might be hard to grasp, but when it is broken up into small bits and parcelled out piece by piece until the total picture is built up, then the whole truth becomes clear. A useful illustration can be found in 13:41: "Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish, for I work a work in your day, a work which ye will in no wise believe if one spell it out to you". It is for us to 'spell out' the truth. It is not our job so much to sway the hearts of the hearers as to tell the truth clearly and leave it to work.

8. parakaleo. On the other hand, it is a heart matter, as is indicated by this word 'to exhort' shows. It is used 19 times in the Acts. For the apostolic preachers, the men and women in the Acts, the truth was not an academic thing to be shared in cold logic, but was also something that so burned them up with love that they longed that others would believe it as well, and have their hearts moved. This is a lovely verb; it blends together comfort, encouragement and exhortation. May I say, beloved friends, that exhorting is not beating the saints about the ears! There is no comfort in doing that and therefore it cannot be Biblical exhortation. There are some preachers concerning whom I confess that I would as soon go into the ring with a prize fighter as sit and listen to them preach because, for Bible exhortation, they have substituted the beating of their hearers about the head. This Biblical verb is associated with the 'paraklete' whom we know as the Comforter. Biblical exhortation is full of the comfort of the Holy Ghost.

I hope that this vocabularic hunt may open up for you a seam of enquiry into the Word of God. If you feel that your Greek has gone rusty beyond remedy, or if it was never your privilege to have any, may I introduce you to a very dear friend of mine? He is long since in glory and I never knew him personally, but live daily in the benefits of his companionship. His name is Dr. Robert Young and he compiled an Analytical Concordance!

The Message and the Outcome

Now may I share two more things with you? We have been studying the work of the preacher; we must now consider the matter of what he is to preach. What was it that they preached in the Book of the Acts? Many times -- indeed I would venture to say most times -- what they preached is vague. They preached the Word. They shared the Good News. What I wish to stress is that their message always centred on Jesus. They preached Him.

There are crowds of references, but we will concentrate on just one. It is found in the dramatic story described in 8:35. Philip found an [85/86] Ethiopian official busy reading Isaiah. He was a model of a determined Bible reader, for he was going along a badly paved road in an unsprung chariot, reading in Greek and not understanding what he read -- but he went on! What a picture of a determined Bible reader! To that sort of man, one who was persistent in the Word of God, the Lord sent an interpreter. The interpreter's name was Philip. In true humility, the Ethiopian asked Philip to explain to whom the prophet was speaking. "Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this scripture, told him the Good News of Jesus." That's it! Always focus on the Lord Jesus Christ.

The second point relates to the divine intention in the ministry of the Word. Peter assures us that the intention of God is fulfilled when a response of faith takes place. "God made choice that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe!" God made the choice that belief would follow. In the eternal counsels of God, He said 'I will set up a mechanism. I will appoint hearers. And I will guarantee results'. And truly enough, the results followed. There is a great variety and rich vocabulary of response in the Acts of the Apostles, but supremely the response is one of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

What I want to share with you, though, is not how they responded but the fact that they did respond and that, behind that human response, there was the guaranteeing act of God. This is very dramatically seen in the Cornelius incident in chapter 10:44: "While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell upon them who were hearing the word ...". God just could not wait to bring home His Word with power. No doubt Peter had many points to his sermon, but before he could get to, "... tenthly, and lastly, my brethren ...", God broke in halfway, while he was still on the fifth point, saying, 'That will do. I want to get on with My business!' What a thrill! God made choice that they should believe. The Holy Spirit attests His word, not only to empower the preacher with the gift of intelligible communication, but also to empower the hearers to respond with faith to the spoken word. So in He comes, leaping in with all His grace and falling on those who were hearing the word. The whole thing is bracketed around with the word 'preached' and the word 'heard', but at the centre there is God guaranteeing the response.

What was so dramatically true in the case of Cornelius is universally true when anyone comes to faith in the Lord Jesus. I think that God uses this book of the Acts to give us dramatic illustrations of abiding truths, even though those truths do not always come to pass in the same striking way. Look, for example, at 16:14. Paul had arrived at Philippi and went out to where he thought prayer was being made, finding there a congregation which, by the sound of it, was a group of middle-aged ladies. He rejoiced to share the Word with them, and what happened? "A certain woman ... was listening, whose heart the Lord opened". There was nothing dramatic, no sudden inrushing of the Holy Spirit, no falling, nothing dramatic -- God just made her ready to hear and to understand. Is it not in that faith that we should be ready, as God helps us, to take the glorious Good News of Christ to people young and old, male and female, confident that God will make hearts ready to receive His Word?

DOERS OF THE WORD

Poul Madsen

"He that looketh into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and
so continueth, being not a hearer that forgetteth, but a doer that
worketh, this man shall be blessed in his doing." James 1:25

OUR question is: What does the Lord mean by the call to be a doer of the word, and how can we be one. Let me ask another question: 'Can you do what the law says?' Perhaps you feel that you can. Saul of Tarsus felt like that, but he found that he did not fulfil the law by doing what the letter of the law said. It is possible to do what the law says without fulfilling it. For [86/87] example, we are commanded to show hospitality. Yes, of course you can do that. If, however, you do it unwillingly or grudgingly, from fear of punishment or to win a reward, this is not the true fulfilment of that law. To be a doer of the Word is to be a person who is blessed in his doing. When Christians do the right things but without their hearts being in what they do, then that cannot be pleasing to God. It savours of pharisaism.

We must look, then, into the mirror of the Word and continue doing so, so that we do not forget what we are like. We forget so quickly because we look so seldom, and in this way have a higher opinion of ourselves than we should. How important that we should keep looking into the Word, for otherwise it is easy for me to take for granted that I am superior because I am doing the right thing, yet I can be as right as rain outwardly and yet out of tune with the Spirit of Christ.

Does anyone really think that He who died on the cross can be served by those who have a bad spirit? Does anyone imagine that he is doing the Lord's will when he only does so to avoid unpleasant consequences or to gain a reward? Is that evangelical Christianity? No, and nor is it really being a doer of the Word. We need to take another look into the perfect law of liberty.

In Romans it is called the law of faith, and this law excludes all glorying. We have our righteousness in the Lord Jesus, and in Him alone. We can add nothing to that righteousness, for it is perfect. If we focus on our beloved Saviour and His life, He is seen in His greatness and we cannot lose sight of what we are and what we are like. Paul constantly did this and so realised that he was "the chief of sinners", with no good thing in his flesh. He never forgot that. He knew that he had not reached perfection. But on the other hand, Jesus was everything to him, the perfect and wonderful Lord. He never let this be a matter of course, but contemplated the glory of Jesus Christ and continued to do so. That is the perfect law of liberty, and that sets a man free in the truest sense.

When a person is entirely free from guilt because Jesus Christ is His perfect righteousness, then he never does anything just to obtain a benefit, for he has all that can possibly be obtained in Christ. In a marriage it would be very sad if the partners were good to each other out of fear; it would take all the radiance away if the man was afraid of what his wife would say, or she were afraid of him. What a degrading basis for doing the right thing! True freedom is surely to be governed solely by the constraint of love.

The gospel sets us completely free to serve God without any ulterior motives, not forgetting what we are in ourselves and being paralysed by our inadequacy, but liberated because we keep our eyes on Christ's glory. He has given us a new nature that we may not just do right things but be doers of His will. That is why James does not just say, "Do what is written" but rather "be ye doers of the word".

The boundary between law and gospel is not in the Bible but in our own hearts. If we are beholding Christ, then we are really free and everything is gospel. If we are not beholding Him, then everything is law. Even the command to believe becomes a law. So we struggle to believe, and this becomes a new performance. If, however, we look into the perfect law of liberty and see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, our spirit is released from prison and pressure and we delight in what is good. We discover how blessed it is to do His will.

It is true that for all of us there are battles, for we have not yet reached perfection. But the battles are won by looking more and more at Christ, by devoting ourselves to His wonderful Word; life and service are no longer two separate departments, as if service was something I do and life is something else. The whole is blessed. James, who is sometimes accused of legalism, gives us the richest gospel truth concerning being liberated to be a doer of the word. When the people of God are blessed in their living, they are quite different from those dominated by religious piety and tensions; they have a radiance that needs no stimulants and the joy of being His and Him being theirs in a union of love.

This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He said: "If the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed". This is an inner freedom. Evangelical Christianity is just this: that because fear which springs from guilt is taken away and replaced by love and gratitude, our actions are not governed by fear of punishment or hope of reward but by the liberty of the Spirit within. [87/88]

In one sense we are back in Paradise. For why did Adam work there? It was not to become righteous, nor was it in order to gain reward -- he worked in true liberty. God said, "Do this", and he did it; in those days he was a doer of the word. We might call this living spontaneously, but this is an expression which could be misunderstood because of our faulty natures. So when we fail, we have to turn back again to the perfect law of liberty, for even this does not function mechanically. The deepest secret of the life of faith is to abide in Him and to abide with Him.

There were two sisters at Bethany. Martha was not blessed in her work, though she was doing right things, and therefore she complained. Mary remained seated and devoted herself to her Lord. If only Martha had sat down beside her and done the same, surely the moment would have come when Jesus would have risen and said, "Now let us do the work together". Then the right thing would have been done in the right way, and the sisters would have been blessed in their work.

The gospel is a mystery and remains so. To be a doer of the word is more than just doing it and being content with the act. The decisive factor is within us. As we look into the perfect law of liberty and enjoy what Christ has done for us, we cannot but love Him more and be free to serve Him in the Spirit. Never think that what you do makes you more righteous. Such an idea is an affront to the gospel. When we do His will, it is not in order to become righteous, but to express the joy and liberty of having perfect righteousness in the Lamb of God and the privilege of following Him.

Daily life will be different and church life will be different if we receive with meekness the implanted word and so focus on Christ that we become doers. This is the way of blessing in the work of the Lord. All disputes and tensions disappear for, whether it seems the meanest task or the greatest, it is all work for Him, done blessedly and freely, with no thought of praise or fear of blame, but just a love response to the One who so loves us. The gospel is the good news of the deep well of salvation from which we need never stop drawing the blessings of love, joy, peace and good works. It makes us true doers of the word.

THE FLASK THAT WOULDN'T BREAK

(This story was told by Dr. Richard H. Harvey and is taken from
'The Alliance Witness', the official organ of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.)

THREE periods before the Thanksgiving holiday our chemistry professor always planned to lecture against prayer. Then every year at the close of his final lecture he would say: 'By the way, is there anybody here who still believes in prayer? Before I get you to stand up or raise your hand let me tell you what I am going to do.' He would step in front of his lecture table. There was a concrete floor in the classroom. He would turn around and pick up a two-quart glass flask and hold it up. Then he would say: 'Now, if there's anybody here who believes in prayer, I am going to ask you to pray that when I drop this flask it won't break. Now I want you to know, students, that all of your prayers and the prayers of your parents and of your pastors -- with all their prayers nothing can keep that flask from breaking when I let it go.' He had been doing this for fifteen years.

When I was a senior there came a certain freshman to the school. The upper-classmen always told you what Dr. Lee would do. So the new student said to these fellows that told him about Dr. Lee: 'By the way, is there anybody in this school who believes in prayer?' They told him about me, so one day I heard a knock at my door. I opened it and there stood the freshman. He said: 'Are you Dick Harvey?' I said, 'Yes'. 'Do you believe in prayer?' he asked. 'Yes,' I said. When he had come in, he continued: 'I want you to understand that I am a born-again Christian. God has shown me that He wants me to stand up to Dr. Lee. Now I want you to pray that God will give me courage when the time comes and I also want you to pray that the flask won't break. I would appreciate it if every time you pray you would ask God about this, even when you say your grace at the table. 'All right,' I said, 'I'll pray with you.' Then he said: 'God has given me the promise that if two shall agree it shall -- not maybe -- it shall be done.'

Well, I was downstairs in the qualitative analysis laboratory when the crucial lecture hour came. About the time I knew that Dr. Lee would defy prayer I went upstairs and stood at the back of the auditorium. My heart was full of fear; I was actually shaking. Finally he came to the moment. Out in front he stepped and he said: 'Now, is there anyone here who still believes in prayer?' The young fellow was sitting near the middle of the big auditorium. There were about three hundred students in the class. He stood right up and stepped into the aisle. 'Dr. Lee,' he said, 'I do.' Dr. Lee said: 'My, this is real interesting, isn't it? We've got a fellow here who believes that God can answer prayer!' He turned to my friend and said very sarcastically: 'Do you believe that God will answer your prayer?' The young man replied: 'Yes, Dr Lee, I'm sure that God will answer my prayer.'

'Well,' the professor said, 'this is most interesting. Maybe I'd better explain to you again what I am going to do.' He went through the whole procedure; how he would hold up the flask, open his hand and let it drop. It would go into hundreds of pieces, he said, and there wasn't any power in the world or in heaven that could stop that flask from breaking. After he had finished his speech he turned to the young man and asked: 'Do you still want to pray?' The young man said: 'Yes, Dr. Lee, I do.' 'Well,' he said, 'isn't that interesting? Now we'll all be real reverent while this young man prays. Are you ready?' The student replied: 'Dr. Lee, I have been ready for a long time.' 'All right,' said Dr. Lee, 'you go ahead and pray. We'll all bow our heads.'

The young man did not even bow his head; he just lifted up his eyes toward heaven and said: 'Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus I thank You that You have heard me. For Your honour and Christ's name don't let this flask break. Amen.' Dr. Lee took the flask, held it out, opened his hand. As it fell God changed its course. He drew it in. Instead of falling straight down it hit the toe of Dr. Lee's shoe and rolled over. And it did not break!

Dr. Lee never again lectured on prayer. God had ended that once for all. To this day, though it happened many years ago, the story of the flask that wouldn't break is still told on the campus of that school. As for me, I went home and got down beside my bed and cried: 'O God, why didn't I stand up for You? Why didn't I take the courage to honour Your name?' Perhaps the willingness I have since had to run risks for Christ's sake really goes back to the time that this young man stood alone and prayed that God would honour His name in that chemistry class. God did. [37/38]

THE GLORY OF GOD

1. HOW TO SEE THE GLORY OF GOD

[T. Austin-Sparks]

Reading: John 11.

Out of that chapter we will just pinpoint two verses:

"But when Jesus heard it, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified thereby" (verse 4);

"Jesus saith unto her, Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" (verse 40).

"For the glory of God ... thou shouldest see the glory of God."

YOU probably know that chapters 11 to 17 of this Gospel are chapters of summation, and consummation, that is, a gathering up of everything into finality, and what comes out with great clarity in this consummate part of the Gospel is the priority which governed the whole life, the teaching and the work of the Lord Jesus. It seems that that is what John had in mind when writing, for he placed this priority right at the beginning of his Gospel, worked steadily along that line, and then brought it all out in this full and conclusive way at the end. Although the Lord Jesus had been governed by this priority for thirty years and more, there came a crisis point in His life at which He made a complete adjustment of everything upon this one thing that we are calling the priority where He determined that everything should be focused upon it, and that there should be no deviation at any point from it.

And what was His all-inclusive priority? It was the glory of His Father -- the glory of God.

As I have said, John struck that keynote right at the beginning when, writing after it was all over and seeing the whole content and significance of that life, work, teaching and conduct, he started off by saying: "We beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father" (1:14). That is bringing the Father right into view in the matter of glory. Then John went on writing the Gospel, like a great harmony or symphony tuned to that keynote, and all the way through he kept true to it -- the glory of the Father.

And I believe, dear friends, that that is the keynote that the Lord wants me to strike at this time. It is a very considerable burden with me in these days.

THE COMMITTAL OF THE LORD JESUS TO HIS FATHER'S GLORY

Let us turn to the Lord Jesus Himself in this matter. There was in His life that hour of His great committal, which took place at His baptism. He there and then committed Himself utterly to the glory of His Father. He gathered every detail of His life from that moment and centred it in this thing, as though He were saying: 'From this moment there is to be not one deflection from that motive and object. My Father's glory is to govern everything.' And it was so.

1. IN HIS INNER LIFE

Firstly, the committal was in His own personal, inner life, in His secret walk with His Father. This is a most impressive thing as you read through the Gospel. You find all the way along that everything is coming out from His personal, secret life with His Father. "The Son", He said, "can do nothing of himself [or, out from himself], but what he seeth the Father doing " (5:19). Mysterious language, but those who know anything about life in the Spirit know what it means. "For what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth", and not in His own way, but "in like manner." How meticulous and how exact! His committal as to His own relationship with God His Father meant that there was nothing out from Himself, but only that which He knew in His own heart, and from His secret history with God, the Father wanted Him to do and to say. The background, inner sanctuary life with the Father was maintained unbroken.

2. IN HIS CONDUCT

As to His conduct, He behaved Himself on this ground: 'How I behave, how I conduct Myself is going to be altogether a matter of how it touches My Father's glory. The impression I make upon others, what they see in Me and about Me, must never for one moment veil the glory of My Father, hide that glory, or detrimentally affect that glory. My behaviour must always be for the glory of My Father.' This was as to His conduct, His walk. You know, John made a special note of His walk, for it was not just an outward progress. John said: [83/84] 'He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also to walk even as He walked" (1 John 2:6). There was something about His very movements that was governed, and His walk, His movements, His behaviour were always for the glory of His Father.

3. IN HIS WORKS

As to His works, we have already quoted Him: "The Son can do nothing out from himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner." And His words: "The word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me" (John 14:24).

4. IN HIS TIME

Then His times for doing things. Ofttimes we read that He put back suggestions from others that He should do things now, at this time. When something seemed to be demanded of Him, and people expected Him to do it at that time, He put it back: "Mine hour is not yet come" (John 2:4), but He did it very quickly afterwards. He was waiting and in His spirit He was saying: 'Father, is this Thy time?' You know, dear friends, you can do a right thing at a wrong time and it just does not work out. We do a lot of things, and they fail because it is not the time for them. You remember the great incident in the Apostle Paul's life: "They assayed to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not" (Acts 16:7). They were "forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia" (Acts 16:6). Paul was diverted, for it was not the time. They got to Asia and Bithynia subsequently, in God's time, and when God's time is registered things are very much more fruitful, for you do not waste time. When we do things so often in our own time, we really are only putting them off to God's time, for nothing happens until God wants them done. That is by the way, but that is how the Lord Jesus worked: "Mine hour is not yet", and then the hour seemed to come so quickly afterwards.

5. IN HIS FAMILY RELATIONSHIPS

Here He is, moving, speaking, working, timing, by His fellowship with the Father. He brought everything else on to that ground. He brought His family on to the ground of the glory of His Father. The people came to Him after He had been speaking in a house and said: "Thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to thee" (Matthew 12:47). Now that is a natural appeal. It may be sentimental and quite a right kind of appeal, but wait a minute. He answers: "Who is my mother? and who are my brethren? ... Whosoever shall do the will of my Father which is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." He puts it on another ground. 'How far do My family relationships, as far as I am concerned, reflect the glory of God?'

6. IN HIS ATTITUDE TO MEN

He was governed in the same way in His attitude towards men. As to the religious world, He would commend what was sincere and go as far as He could with it in sympathy. A young man came and told Him that he had kept all the commandments from his youth up, and Jesus "looking upon him loved him" (Mark 10:17-20). He did not condemn. He was sympathetic to sincerity, but bring hypocrisy into His presence and His commending changed into condemning! There was nothing that brought out His wrath more than hypocrisy in religion, because it is a thing which robs God of His true glory.

7. IN HIS JUDGMENTS

These are all things that made up the life of the Lord Jesus, and, as you see, His priority governed everything and was over a lot of things. It was over natural judgments -- not always sinful or evil judgments, but just natural judgments, when suggestions were made to Him, when persuasion was brought to bear upon Him, and when men projected their minds. But He knew the truth: 'My thoughts are not your thoughts. My ways are not your ways. There are two worlds. I live in one and you live in the other.' And so His concern for the Father's glory often necessitated the setting of natural judgments on one side and seeking His Father's judgment on the matter.

8. IN HIS FEELINGS

Natural feelings had often to be set aside. He understood them all right. We shall come to that in this eleventh chapter of John, with Lazarus and his sisters. He was very sympathetic and He understood how they were feeling. He truly entered into their human life, but when they sought to persuade and influence Him to act simply on the basis of natural feelings, He thrust it back. He stayed away two days, and did not move until the fourth day when, humanly speaking, it was all too late. The sorrow had run its course. He was not unsympathetic, [84/85] as the chapter shows, and yet, because He has some greater thing in view, He could not just surrender to human, natural feelings. He had great principles which were governing Him.

9. IN HIS PERSONAL INTERESTS

As for His natural, personal interests, He was all the time thrusting them back. It would have been greatly to His personal interest to accept the devil's offer of the kingdoms of this world and the glories thereof, but He repudiated the whole thing. When speaking of His Cross, it might have been to His natural advantage if He had listened to Peter when he said: "Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee" (Matthew 16:22). But He said to Simon Peter: "Get thee behind me, Satan!" You see, personal interests must take a back place: but He was not governed by these things, for His constant motive was His Father's glory.

WHAT DOES GLORY MEAN?

Now before I can go on any further I must return you to the definition of that word 'glory'. It may be that you have heard me give this definition before, but I do not know of a better. What does glory mean where God is concerned? What is the meaning of that word 'glory' when it relates to God? It just means the rebound of God's complete satisfaction. When things have answered to His nature, His mind, when He is satisfied, He is delighted, He is well-pleased, then there comes back something of His own satisfaction, His pleasure. You can put that to the test in your own lives, in more ways than one.

Take your Bible and begin at the beginning. When God had created all things for His pleasure, for His glory, and all things were as He intended and commanded, and everything was governed by: 'And so it was ... and so it was ... and so it was as the Lord commanded and said it should be', the end of that was: "And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good" (Genesis 1:31). I would like to have been in the atmosphere of that, in the realm where everything satisfied God, emanated from Him, and there was this sense of His complete satisfaction and pleasure. That is glory!

When we come into the new creation, are born from above, on the ground of our recognition and acceptance of the perfect, finished work of the Lord Jesus for our sin, for our salvation (and very often we are better believers at the beginning than we are later on!), when we come on to that ground of the new creation in Christ where everything answers to God's pleasure, do we not have the sense of the glory? The beginning of the Christian life is so often like that. While we could not explain it theologically or doctrinally, we feel it! 'It is wonderful to be saved! This is glorious!' It is something that just wells up inside of us. And what is it? It is the Holy Spirit bearing witness to God's satisfaction with His Son whom we have embraced with all the knowledge and understanding of Him that we have. We have accepted the perfection of Himself and His work, and there is a reflection, an emanation, of His glory, the satisfaction of God in our hearts. When we get away from that simple trust in the Lord Jesus the glory often fades -- but I must not go on to that for the moment.

Move on in the Bible, and you have God's mind completely and perfectly revealed in pattern form in the creation of the tabernacle in the wilderness. It was meticulously prescribed to a detail, to a pin, to a thread, to a colour, to a position, to a measure, and it was all given by God. And the last chapter of that reads: "As the Lord commanded Moses ... as the Lord commanded Moses ... as the Lord commanded Moses." It becomes almost monotonous! It was done as the Lord commanded Moses, and the glory filled the tabernacle. God was satisfied! And you and I know that that tabernacle was only a foreshadowing in type of the Lord Jesus.

We move on to the temple, and, again, the prescription, the pattern, was given to David, and it was all perfected through Solomon. When it was finished according to the heavenly pattern, the glory filled the temple, and even the priests could not abide in it. God filled everything with His satisfaction.

The Lord Jesus came to His baptism and His great committal, and as He came up out of the water the heavens opened and the Father's voice pronounced: "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17). God was well pleased. That was indeed a good foundation for starting His life work! God's satisfaction is the glory, and John says: "We beheld his glory."

Then we come to the perfection of His work on the Cross. There is nothing further to be done after Calvary. It is all finished. Oh, believe this, and believe it with all your heart: there is nothing remaining to be done for your eternal salvation. If you try to add something you will lose the glory and get out of the place of God's satisfaction. When the work on the Cross was accomplished, the work of redemption was a finished work, and the sacrifice was well pleasing to God. Calvary was finished, that Son was raised from the dead, and it would [85/86] not be long before the temple received the glory of the Day of Pentecost -- and then what glory filled the house of God! Why? Because Jesus was glorified. Until then "the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified" (John 7:39). But when He was glorified the Spirit was given.

There you have the Bible background. At the end this glory is seen coming down in the new Jerusalem: "The holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God" (Revelation 21:11). It is the perfected work in the Church, having the glory of God. It is all over, all finished, the battle is won, the course of Christian trial and discipline and suffering is all over, and the glory crowns everything at last because God is satisfied.

Have I, on the side of Scripture at any rate, proved the definition that glory is the expression of God's perfect satisfaction?

WHY NO GLORY IN OUR LIVES?

Now I said that you could put this to the test in your own experience. Some of us have had to go through this experience to learn these things, for they are not just theories. What has been the most miserable time in your life? Well, I can tell you what was the most miserable time, lacking in glory and having all that is not glory, in my life. It was when I allowed the devil to succeed in putting me outside the finished work of Christ by accusation. 'The Lord is displeased with you. He has it against you. The Lord is really, because of this affliction, suffering, trial, and sorrow, not well pleased with you.' Go down under that and the glory goes. And while you stay there, there is no glory, simply because God's ground is this ground of the absolute finality of the work of His Son for our redemption. Get off that ground by any accusation or condemnation of the devil, forsake the ground of Christ, and the glory goes and will never come back while you stay there. Make no mistake about that! If you are occupied with yourself how long is it going to take you to learn that that is not the ground of glory? Well, it will take just so long as you stay there on the ground of this wretched, miserable self that God has finished with in the Cross of His Son. If we move over on to the ground of Christ and His perfection, and by faith put our feet down on that, then the glory will return.

We have only opened the door to this matter, but we really have to apply all this, for I do not want to give you a lot more teaching for you to put into your heads. I have prayed that the Lord will use His word as a shaft to cut in and really do something.

IS GOD TO BE GLORIFIED IN OUR LIVES?

Dear friends, do we, you and I, really want God to be glorified in our lives? You say: 'Yes!', but there are some who say: 'Well, let us see what it means and then we will say Yes.'

First of all, it means exactly the same for us as it meant with the Lord Jesus, for He was here as our representative Man before God. Therefore it means the great and utter crisis committal. Oh, let that word get hold of us! There are Christians, and there are committed Christians -- and I must just leave that with you.

The great crisis experience in the life of the Lord Jesus was when He made the great committal to the glory of His Father and said: 'Everything from this day is going to be judged by the value of how much glory there is in it for My Father.' That was a crisis, and then, as I have said, everything did fall into line with that where He was concerned. He saw to it that His conduct, His own life with His Father, His secret life which no one saw or knew, and His life before the world, before people and before His disciples, were governed by this one thing -- His Father getting the glory. His behaviour, the way He spoke and the way He acted were all governed by this one thing. If He had been a business man, it would have governed His business transactions. Were they to the glory of God? If not, He would not have had anything to do with them. His family, His brothers, sisters, mother -- 'Is My family to the glory of God?' Is the behaviour in our families, in us, in our children, in our husband and wife relationship, in how we go on as a family, to the glory of God? How do people looking on view it? This is searching!

But if you come to a position like that where you really have a transaction with the Lord, do not think that it is going to mean a life of loss. No, you are going to see the glory of God. That is the upshot of this eleventh chapter of John with Lazarus and his sisters at Bethany. Difficult as the way to it was for them, the last picture is of an emanation of the glory of God. What a delightful scene that is in chapter twelve! Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus, whom He had raised from the dead, lived, and they made Him a supper. Martha served, in a new spirit of service, and Mary and Lazarus sat with the disciples. It must have been a beautiful time -- real glory in resurrection life. But they had been through something to get to [86/87] that! They had been tried and tested on this question: "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?" Do you want to see the glory of God in your own life? It is not going to mean a life of loss, for if you have the glory of God you cannot get anything beyond that, or better than that. - T. A-S.

(To be continued)

2. GLORY ONLY IN THE NEWNESS OF RESURRECTION LIFE

[T. Austin-Sparks]

Reading: John 11

WE turn again to this eleventh chapter of the Gospel by John, and I would remind you that this chapter represents the culmination of the life, teaching and works of the Lord Jesus during the days of His flesh. This is quite evident, for you notice that in verse 47 it says: "The chief priests therefore and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, What do we?" The rest of the chapter shows that this was the last of a number of such councils, and it was in this last council that they decided definitely and finally that this Man must die. So here we have that which marks the culmination of His life and work at that time. The finality is not by the act, but is the fullness of the very purpose for which He came, and, more than that, it is the fullness of Divine counsels.

Behind this chapter there are two things. There are the eternal counsels of God coming to their completion in His Son at this time, and then there are the counsels contrary to God which are seeking to bring that Son to an end, to destroy Him. The Divine counsels are summed up in what is in this chapter. No doubt you have read it many times and perhaps you think you know it. If you were asked what John eleven is about most of you would say: 'Well, of course, it is the chapter about the raising of Lazarus from the dead', and perhaps that is all that you would have to say about it. [103/104] In so saying (forgive me if this sounds a bit critical of your apprehension) you indicate how really you have missed the way. Of course, we have all said that in time past, but as we have gone on we have come to see something more, and that is that this chapter contains all the major features and factors of God's ways unto glory. Have you grasped that? The end of all God's ways and works is glory, His own glory. It sometimes seems a tortuous way, as these sisters felt it to be while it lasted. It sometimes seems to be anything but glory, and you might very well decide, as perhaps these sisters decided at a certain point, that the end is not glory. You might feel that all this sorrow, distress, disappointment and despair could not lead to glory, but all that, from God's standpoint, is the way of glory and is unto glory.

Let me repeat: when God takes anything in hand -- and you really must lay hold of this! -- the end is going to be His glory. You need make no mistake whatever about that! The end of all God's ways is His glory. Read your Bible in the light of that, and you have the whole Bible in one chapter -- the eleventh chapter of John.

FACTORS IN THE WAYS OF GOD UNTO GLORY

I have said that this chapter contains the main features and factors in the ways of God unto glory. What are some of these main factors?

A very big one is the incarnation of the Son of God; the Son of God taking flesh; God manifest in the flesh. Is that not a big one? The very purpose and object of the incarnation, of God taking flesh, becoming incarnate, is found in this chapter. Hold that for a while.

Then there is the method of God in redemption. Redemption is a big factor, is it not? No one will dispute that! In the eternal counsels of God redemption is a big factor, and the method of redemption is the substance of this eleventh chapter of John.

Another thing -- and I am quite sure that, while you will have agreed with those other two, if you know anything at all about God's ways, you will agree with this -- God's ways are very strange, and are beyond human explanation and comprehension. While God is in the process of moving towards His end, it is very difficult to follow Him. The Apostle Paul, who knew a good deal about the Lord, said of his experience: "Pressed out of measure" (2 Corinthians 1:8), or, as another translation has it, "beyond our measure". The Lord is always a bit ahead of us. It would not do for us to be equal with Him, would it? We would soon be taking the place of the Lord! If we were right upsides with Him in everything our dependence upon Him would very soon go. So the Lord gets ahead of us, beyond our measure, and puts us out of our depth in order to enlarge our capacity. We would never grow if that were not true.

The simple way in which John's Gospel illustrates that is in chapter 10:4: "When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them". Well, of course, you have sometimes taken that as a comforting statement, but there is profundity in every clause of the Divine Word, and this Gospel in particular reveals that. "When he hath put forth all his own, he goeth before them" -- He always is ahead of them, and they are always a bit behind Him. In a sense, He is too much for them. They have to move on, and still move on, if they are going to come up to where the Lord is, and when they get there, they find that He has gone ahead again. They have to keep going, to keep running all the time.

The Apostle Paul explains this when he said right at the end of his full life: "That I may know him" (Philippians 3:10). 'I have not caught up yet. He is still beyond me.' The mystery of God's ways, the strangeness of what we call 'Providence', is a major factor of God's ways, and that is in this chapter.

Another thing, which is not by any means a small thing, is the farsightedness of God. How much beyond our seeing He is! Or let us come to this chapter -- how much the Lord Jesus was beyond the seeing of these sisters and the disciples! They just could not see beyond this present happening and experience. The thing that was immediately before their eyes was their horizon. But God, in Christ, was moving here on the principle of farsightedness, beyond the incident, beyond the present. However big this was to them, He was far beyond it. His horizon was far outreaching this thing, and He was acting accordingly. The farsightedness of God is no small factor in the ways, the works and the dealings of the Lord, and it is all here in this one chapter.

How unfathomable are the ways and the works of God!

THE LORD IN CONTROL

Now, having said that, let me step back for a moment and remind you of something here which we must get hold of. Do believe me, dear friends, when I say that it is not just the teaching of John's Gospel in one or all of the chapters with which I am concerned. This has to come right into our very [104/105] own history. It has to be taken out of the Bible, out of the history of Jesus during His time on this earth, and put right into our history, and we shall never get anywhere unless that is true. It is applied truth, and not theoretical truth that is here.

So let me say this: The thing that comes out at us as we quietly and thoughtfully dwell in this chapter is that the Lord Jesus has the situation in His hands. Let me put that in another way. If this is God incarnate, then it is God with whom we are having to do here. When you come to this chapter you see how the Lord Jesus has everything in hand, and in His hands, and He is not letting it go out of His hands all the way along.

Look at the various aspects! He said He would go back into Judaea. The disciples immediately reacted: 'No, the Jews recently sought to kill You there. You must not go back there!' You see the move to take things out of His hands, to govern His movements, His judgments and His decisions, but He is not having it. He has taken this thing in hand, and, disciples or no disciples, He is going on. There is something that He is after, and He is in charge. Messengers are sent to him about Lazarus when He is away somewhere else, and undoubtedly the message means this, although it is not recorded: 'Lazarus is dying. Come, please! Come quickly! Come as quickly as You can!' The beloved sisters would have said that, but to do as they wished would have taken the matter right out of His hands and ruled His judgment, ruled His feelings, governed His movements, set a time that He did not set, and taken it over. No, He abode where He was. He had the situation in hand and was not going to let it out of His hands, although the appeal was from those whom He loved. It is stated that that was so. The situation was one which could appeal to any sympathetic heart, but that was not going to decide this thing. It was in His hands and He was going to decide the ground upon which He worked, the time in which He worked, and when He was going to move, and nothing would alter His decision. The Jews, of course, ever ready to criticise Him and discredit Him, and put Him in a bad light, said: "Could not this man, which opened the eyes of him that was blind have caused that this man also should not die?" All these forces were at work in every realm, from the centre to the circumference of His relationships, to get Him under control, but He was not having it. He had this matter in hand, and that is a very important thing. Why? He stated it: 'This sickness is not unto death, finally, absolutely. This sickness is not going to end in death, but is for the glory of God.' And what then? "And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there." Oh, what are you going to make of that? Put yourselves in the position of these sisters with a beloved only brother slowly passing out, in the grip of this apparently fatal sickness. Their hearts were wrung with distress and anxiety, were breaking, and they had seen to it that He knew about it -- and this was His attitude: "I am glad for your sakes that I was not there."

Well, you see, He has got hold of this situation and is in charge. We are dealing with God. He is in charge, and if He is working to a certain end you cannot hurry Him, you cannot take over from Him and make Him do what you want Him to do. He is going to reach His end, and it may be a very trying way for our flesh and our natures, but He will get there, for He is in charge.

THE LAW OF TRAVAIL

We sometimes sing, rather glibly and without watching our words too carefully:

"How I long to climb to the utmost heights!"

I wonder if we realise as we sing that that the utmost heights are only reached through the utmost depths! You and I, dear friends, will never reach God's end except along the pathway of brokenness. That is what this chapter says. While we are whole, and substantial, and well-knit, and self-confident, we will never reach His end.

You see, God, right at the beginning of the Bible and of human history, planted something in human experience which became the law of all true knowledge of God from that moment. The great issue in the Garden was knowledge of good and evil. Man made a bid for knowledge, under the instigation and inspiration of the devil, and God came along on that declension, on that breakdown, and established a law by which He said: 'You shall never have true knowledge except by this law. Everything that is going to be true and real in the future is not going to be gained so easily as you thought.' The law of travail was planted right at the heart of human life. Travail was introduced as a law for the future, and you and I know very well that true love only comes out of travail. Put it another way: we never value anything that has cost us nothing. We can let it go very cheaply if we have not paid any price for it, but if we have paid a price, if it has been costly, if it has meant something to us of real suffering, or sorrow, or great trial, that is infinitely precious to us, and we do not let it go easily.

So God came right in at that point and put this law of travail into human life and human history, and said: 'You tried to get everything cheaply, but [105/106] you will not get anything that is worth having without cost in the future.' And from that point, you notice all through the Bible, until you come to the travail of His soul, the travail of the Garden, the travail of the Cross, of which Isaiah had said: "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied", that out of travail is the preciousness. It is the law, you see, that there is no reaching the heart of God and having true knowledge without costliness.

Peter learned that by a deep way. He tried to get things cheaply. "It is good for us to be here, Lord. Let us build three tabernacles, one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah", and I suppose, although he did not say so, he meant: 'We will have some tabernacles, too. We will stay here.' Peter was like that, but he went the deep way of utter devastation by the Cross of the Lord Jesus, and years afterwards he wrote: "Unto you therefore which believe is the preciousness" (1 Peter 2:7).

The last picture of the Church is of the city, and its gates are of pearl, which is the very symbol of agony, of blood, of tears. That is how it is made. It is costly, and very precious because it costs.

I said that this is a comprehensive chapter, did I not? We will come back to it. Here are these dear sisters, and how they are baptized into the passion, the agony of the Cross, and how they are having to know a tasting of death in order that they might know the preciousness of resurrection life! There is no other way to it.

"I am glad for your sakes that I was not there." He was farsighted, and saw that, although He was running this risk of being misunderstood -- for everybody, sisters and all, were misunderstanding Him and were incapable of comprehending Him -- He must accept the risk. He saw beyond, to the ultimate. And what is the ultimate? "Said I not unto thee, that, if thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?"

The end of all God's ways is glory. How rich and how full all this is! We are in the presence of God, and when we are there we are in the presence of profoundest realities. Oh, that we might have the grace, when the Lord has us in hand and is dealing with us, not to wrench ourselves out of His hand, but to remain there unto the inevitable glory!

THE BATTLE OF COMMITTAL

I am so hesitant, dear friends, just to add words to words. I do want to make sure that what I am saying is going deeper than your heads, than Christian theory and doctrine.

First of all, as we said last time, there has to be the basic and utter committal to the Lord. Now, of course, I suppose there are few of you, if any, who would not say that you have surrendered your lives to the Lord, and perhaps you say that you are utterly given to the Lord. You don't know what you are talking about! I am sorry to say that, but it comes out of very long experience. We shall never get beyond the point where there is no more battle to get perfectly adjusted to the mind of the Lord. It does not matter how long you live here. If you are walking with the Lord there will be, right to the end, occasions when you find it is not easy to accept some new revelation of the mind of God for you. Indeed, you will have a new battle every time on this, and that is what I meant when I said: 'You don't know what you are talking about!' That is not, of course, to discourage or discount any consecration that you have made, but there has to be a basic, initial, fundamental committal, when we say: 'Now, Lord, I do not know all that it is going to mean, or how it is going to work out, or what it is going to cost, but I put myself into Your hands. I am Yours. I am committed. You are my Master, and I want you to have the absolute mastery of my being. If at any time it becomes difficult for me to yield to Your mastery, I am going to seek grace to adjust to it.' There must be something of an attitude taken which is complete committal.

I ask you -- not with the sum total of all that it means known to you -- has the Lord got the mastery of your being, of your life? As we have already said, this touches every point and aspect. Has He got the mastery in your business, in your business relationships, in your business transactions? Are you doing business that does not lie in line with the glory of God, that is, are you doing business that is a contradiction to the glory of God?

I knew a young fellow once who had got on very well in business and had tremendous prospects, but he was in the biggest tobacco firm in Europe. He had a good position, with great prospects -- and he came up against this matter as to whether the Lord was glorified in his doing that kind of business. He decided eventually that that kind of thing was not to the glory of God. As he saw it working out, he found that it was contrary to the glory of God in human lives, so he surrendered his position and came right out of the firm. For a time he was tested by his action and by the position which he had taken of faithfulness to God. The Lord looked after him in the end, but I am not throwing that in to say that you will get a reward, or will get compensation. [106/107]

The point is: not policy, but principle. The world is governed by policy, by what is politic and what is diplomatic. That is the whole spirit and law of this world, but the Lord Jesus is not policy nor diplomacy, and the principle is the glory of God.

That is what it means to be committed. Is your home in the committal, your domestic relationships, your social life and relationships?

And so we could go on. It is just not a matter of getting on your knees and saying: 'Lord, I am Yours. I give myself to You absolutely', and then when the Lord comes along the next day and says: 'What about his?' to say: 'Oh, I did not mean that!' The Lord is very practical!

Forgive me for speaking like this, but we must, for we are in very serious times, and God is coming near to His people in order to sift out. The end is going to be a tremendously sifting time amongst the Lord's people. Peter says, speaking about the time of the end: "The time is come for judgment to begin at the house of God" (1 Peter 4:17), and if it begins with us, where will the sinner and the ungodly be? We shall be sifted down to this: Is your priority in life really settled, and is that priority the glory of God? If so, whatever happens, you will go through and you will reach God's end, the glory. "It is God with whom we have to do!"

GOD'S ATTITUDE TO HUMAN LIFE

In this chapter we are dealing with the ultimate things, the primary things and the eternal things. I am going to say what may perhaps be a very difficult thing for you to accept, but it shouts at us and we cannot get away from it, much as it hurts us and we do not like it. The attitude of the Lord Jesus towards the situation and all concerned with it is God's attitude towards human life as it is. Here in this chapter you find human life represented by a number of different aspects. You have the Jews, the scribes and the Pharisees. Well, you are not perhaps surprised at God's attitude towards them, but move on into the heart of the chapter. Here are these dear sisters, and there is this man Lazarus, as far removed from scribes and Pharisees and ruling Jews as could be, humanly. You would say that they are lovely people, but what is the attitude of the Lord Jesus? He is non-committal, holding a reserve. It says that He stayed where He was for two days, and that when He came at last Lazarus had been dead four days. Four days had elapsed between receiving the news and arriving there, and, as you know, they mentioned to Him the state of things which naturally would have prevailed. Why did He let Lazarus die? He could have raised him, for He had healed many others and raised other dead. Why this one who was so beloved? Why did He allow the sisters' hearts to be broken, torn with this sorrow and this distress? Why this attitude? This is God's attitude to humanity at its best in Adam as well as at its worst. This humanity at its best is something that in Adam God has set aside, and He is not going to patch it up. He is not going to give it medicine to cure it. He says: 'It must die!' The only possible thing is resurrection, a new life altogether, something different from the natural and earthly even at its best.

Do you think I am exaggerating, or going too far? I want you to pick up this Gospel and read it from end to end. Why the marriage in Cana of Galilee? Why did He attend, why did the wine fail and why did that terrible predicament arise? "They have no wine", says His mother, in a kind of appeal and expectation that He would do something. Consternation is over the whole thing. There is no resource left. It is an end of the very thing that makes life. "Woman, what have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." It had been the appeal in a predicament, the appeal of an opportunity, the appeal of a mother's heart, the appeal in a difficult situation, but, no, He would have none of it, for there is something more in it than just patching up this feast. There has to be something that is above the natural, and that is newness of life, and not the old thing patched up. This old thing must die, and then resurrection alone is going to be the answer. That is the explanation -- something different. God's attitude is that the old creation is bankrupt, and the only prospect is a new creation life. "This beginning of his signs did Jesus in Cana of Galilee, and manifested his glory" (John 2:11). Glory is the end of God's ways. How? In something that is beyond all natural possibility. Cana is the beginning and Lazarus is the end of the story.

In between -- I cannot stay with them, but I will just remind you of some of them -- there is Nicodemus, with all his religion and all his learning, to whom Jesus said: "Art thou the teacher of Israel and understandest not these things?" (John 3:10). All the religious knowledge, learning, position and tradition are bankrupt. 'You must be born from above. This natural life of yours, though it be all like that, will not get you through.'

There is the man at the pool of Bethesda. He was for thirty-eight years lying in that position, struggling every day to get on to his feet and into the water. Try that, perhaps a dozen times every day for thirty-eight years, and see whether you have [107/108] much hope left at the end! Without the use of the pool and without any artificial aid, He who is the resurrection and life comes on the scene and there is another sign, another showing of how hopeless the natural is until Jesus comes in, but He comes in with another kind, another order of life.

Then we come to the woman of Samaria at Sychar. What a story of moral bankruptcy that is! "Go, call thy husband ... I have no husband ... Thou saidst well, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands; and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband." Everything has been exhausted in that realm, "but the water that I shall give shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal life" ... "Sir, give me this water" (John 4:14-15).

So John goes on with his Gospel until we come to Lazarus, and there in one chapter all this is gathered up, showing that the glory of God is the end -- "Thou shouldest see the glory of God."

The glory of God is not something that God can do in human life, for He is not going to patch that up. Men can do that. You call in the doctors and they may help to keep this thing alive for a time, but God says: 'No let that die. The glory is not in that kind of thing. It is something absolutely new and different.'

The end of all God's ways is like that. I do trust that you will interpret everything in the light of this. Have you suffered? Have you been knocked about? What are you doing about it? Are you putting it merely and only into the category of things common to man? No, the end is glory, and when you come through you will see the glory of God in the newness of resurrection life. - T. A-S.

(To be continued)

3. THE FATHER OF GLORY ... THE LORD OF GLORY ...
THE SPIRIT OF GLORY

[T. Austin-Sparks]

IN pursuing the matter which has been before us, I want to call to your remembrance three fragments of the Word:

"For this cause I also, having heard of the faith in the Lord Jesus which is among you, and which ye shew toward all the saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him" (Ephesians 1:15).

"My brethren, hold not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, with respect of persons" (James 2:1).

"Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon you to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you: but insomuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, rejoice, that at the revelation of his glory also ye may rejoice with exceeding joy. If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are ye; because the Spirit of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you" (1 Peter 4:12-14).

May I just remind you that we have been occupied with the truth that the end of all God's works is glory. We have defined glory as being the expression of God's full and final satisfaction, God giving out from Himself His pleasure, His delight, and, like a heavenly contagion, those who come within its range and its reach are very conscious that He is pleased and satisfied. In one place He is called "the blessed God" (1 Timothy 1:11), but the original says 'the happy God'. You know that if you go into the presence of people who are really happy you are affected and infected by their happiness. It is possible to go amongst people who are heartily laughing, and you begin to laugh, not knowing what you are laughing at! The atmosphere influences you. Now, if God is happy, satisfied, well pleased and delighted, and you come within touch of Him, you catch something from Him and feel that happiness. That is exactly the meaning [123/124] of glory: God being completely contented with a situation, or with a life, or with a person, and if you should happen to be that person you just take from Him something of His contentment and satisfaction. It is a glorious sense of contentedness, of satisfaction, of blessedness.

So the end of everything that is really of God is that wonderful power of His own personal pleasure. I think there is nothing in all the universe so blessed as to have a sense that the Lord is well pleased. It must have been a great day for Abraham, a wonderful, inexpressible day, when God called him His friend, and for Daniel, too, when the messenger of God said: "Oh Daniel, thou man greatly beloved". What do you want more than that from God? That is glory, is it not? Well, God is working toward that in all His works in the universe, in the creation and in the redeemed.

You will have noticed from the three passages that we read that the triune God, the three Persons of the Trinity, are personally related to glory. First, the Father of glory; secondly, the Lord Jesus, the Lord of glory; and thirdly, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of glory. Each member of the Godhead takes character from this word 'glory', and each Person of the Trinity is supremely concerned with glory. That opens up a very large door, but I shall not go very far through that door just now. I will just mention that you can follow through the Bible how God, as Father, the first Person of the Trinity, is always concerned about glory; how the Lord Jesus, the second Person in the Trinity, is always working on the line of glory; and then how the Holy Spirit all the way along is operating toward glory, with glory as the governing concern. I leave that, for it is a long, long line of very blessed revelation. The point for me just now is that the Godhead is united, is one in this thing. The three are united concerning glory, and their interest is one interest. As we have already said, it is their priority. So the priority of the triune God is glory.

All I am going to do now is to say a little word about each of these designations -- the Father of glory, the Lord of glory and the Spirit of glory -- and may the Lord give us something in our hearts from our brief meditation!

THE FATHER OF GLORY

What does that mean? Well, it means that God is the source of glory, and that glory emanates from Him. The principle of fatherhood is that the father is the source, the beginning and the projector, so all that really emanates from God has, as its very purpose and destiny, glory. We are children of God, and the very object and purpose of our being His children in His mind is that we should come to glory, that is, that we should be brought to that position where at last -- oh, wonderful thought! too wonderful to grasp! -- God says: 'I am perfectly satisfied and content.' Can you imagine God saying that about you? Can you believe that the all-mighty, eternal, perfect, holy, great God could look down upon us and say: 'I am well pleased. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord, into the very satisfaction of My Father heart.'? It is too much for us to grasp just now, is it not? But that is the meaning of His Fatherhood. He has begotten us, brought us into being as His children, is responsible for our coming into being as His children, has taken responsibility for us as His children, and all with this one object of bringing us along the line, along the way, to the end, which is an entering into that unspeakable awareness that He has nothing whatever against us, but is satisfied to the last possible degree.

Whatever comes out from God, whether it is children or His creation, comes out as destined for that glory of His perfect satisfaction. Things are like that at the end of the Bible. There is a state of glory, a glorious condition, which means the outgoing, the emanation of God's own perfect satisfaction. Paul puts it in this way: "Foreordained to be conformed to the image of his Son" (Romans 9:29). What is that? His Son! -- "My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased" (Matthew 3.17). And we are to be conformed to that! We are to inherit God's own attitude toward His Son, to come into that position and condition that His Son occupies of the perfect satisfaction of the Father.

You see, His Father-dealings with us are along that line. "My son, regard not lightly the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art reproved of him; for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth" (Hebrews 12:4). What is the chastening all about? "All chastening seemeth for the present to be not joyous, but grievous; yet afterward it yieldeth peaceable fruit unto them that have been exercised thereby, even the fruit of righteousness" (Hebrews 12:11). What is righteousness? It is that complete peace in the heart that God's sense of rightness is satisfied.

THE LORD OF GLORY

"Our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory" is what James calls Him, and it is a wonderful thing that James, His own brother in the flesh, should say that of Him! There was a time when James did not believe on Him. "For even his [124/125] brethren did not believe on him" (John 7:5), was what was said about James formerly. Of course, we have a fairly shrewd idea of why that was. In those early days James and the other brothers of Jesus were a bit worldly and they had an eye to business, to success, to popular acceptance, and they wished especially to stand well with the authorities. That is worldliness, is it not? It is the spirit of the world to wish to stand well with the authorities. This older Brother of theirs was taking a course that was getting Him into trouble with the people who had it in their power to take everything away from Him, and they belonged to His family, which meant that they would suffer because He had taken that line. Well, we will leave that, but I think it is a fairly true judgment of that statement: "Even his brethren did not believe on him." They could not accept the way that He was taking, for it was not going to bring popularity.

Now here is this brother of His, these many years afterward, calling Him "the Lord of glory". Something has happened! James is saying that his own Brother is "the Lord of glory"! Once he did not believe in Him, but now he calls Him "the Lord of glory". That is indeed a wonderful thing! But what did he mean, and what does it mean to call Him "the Lord of glory"?

Well, you know, if anyone is a lord, he has everything under his control. If you should be a 'lord', then things are under your control and in your power. You dictate how these things are going to work out. Yes, you are lord in this situation and, indeed, in all situations. Jesus is Lord, and as Lord of glory He is in a position of mastery.

Peter, who at one time denied Him vehemently later said: "He is Lord of all" (Acts 10:36). A big thing has happened in Peter, too, as well as in James. Indeed, it had happened in all of them, for they all called Him "Lord". We know from the very context of Peter's words that he was at that time having to recognize the absolute mastery of the Lord Jesus. Peter was arguing a bit. It was very strange that he should have been arguing with the Lord Jesus at that time "Not so, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common and unclean", but he had to succumb to the mastery of the Lord Jesus, and he did. Then he said: "He is Lord of all", meaning that He was in charge both of Peter and of every situation, and, being in charge, this situation was going to work out to the end that He intended. So, when James says "the Lord of glory", it means that the Lord Jesus is in charge of everything to make it work out for glory.

You have only to read through the book of the Acts of the Apostles, as it is called, and as you go through you see the Lord of glory holding the situations. Yes, in phase after phase, and stage after stage. We need only lift out one or two examples.

Peter is in prison, with his feet in the stocks and four quarternions of soldiers to guard him, and the inner and outer doors of the prison tightly closed. Herod has made very sure that that man is not going to escape! This looks a somewhat difficult proposition, does it not? I doubt whether it would have been possible for any man to have liberated Peter that night. At any rate, all the forces of this world are determined that he should not escape. He is the key man, the strategic man in this new movement, so he must be kept safe. All right, do all you can and all you wish. Take every precaution, every measure, to make everything secure. But the Lord of glory has other ways, and so an angel comes and smites Peter, who is asleep.

It is rather wonderful that when the Lord of glory is in charge you can go to sleep, even in situations where you are going to be brought out for execution tomorrow! You are in a condemned cell, and you know that tomorrow you are going the same way as the other James and be executed, but you just go to sleep right through the night. Well, it needs the Lord of glory to make you do that, so that you can say: 'The Lord has this thing in hand, so I am going to sleep.'

I remember a man who was here in the West in the wild days of long ago. He was travelling and came to a shack, which was in a perilous place where bears were roaming about. He was very tired after travelling all day, but he found that he could not get into the shack. He could only rest under the awning outside, so he lay down there. He belonged to the Lord and before he settled down he read a Psalm: "He that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep." He said: 'Well, Lord, it is no use the two of us keeping awake. If You say You are keeping awake all night, I am going to sleep!' And so he went off to sleep and had a good night. That is trusting the Lord!

Peter went to sleep and the angel smote him, struck off his chains and fetters, and said: 'Rise up and follow me.' They left the guards, the cell and the chains, and went out through the first door, then through the next, until they came to the outer gates, which opened of their own accord, and Peter was landed out in the open. This circumstance, so apparently adverse and impossible, was in the hands of the Lord of glory. And what [125/126] about the glory? We have Peter's Letters, written years afterwards, and they are wonderful Letters, are they not? His was a wonderful life, and so much wealth has come to us through Peter's ministry in these Letters. Yes, there was glory, and Jesus is the Lord of glory.

One more thing from that Book of the Acts. We are in Philippi. Paul and Silas have arrived, because the Lord has sent them there. 'They had assayed to go into Asia, but were forbidden of the Holy Ghost, and they assayed to go into Bithynia but the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not.' Then, wondering what all that meant -- 'Why are we not allowed to go this way or that?' -- Paul, in a vision, saw a man of Macedonia and heard him say: "Come over into Macedonia, and help us." "And," said Luke, "concluding that God had called us for to preach the gospel unto them" (Acts 16:10), they set sail, arrived in Philippi, quite sure that the Lord had sent them there -- and the next thing they knew was that they were in a dungeon with their feet fast in stocks and their backs bleeding after thorough lashing. Now what do you make of this? What are you going to do about it? It seems an absolute contradiction, and that a big mistake has been made. Are they saying: 'We have got into confusion over our guidance'? No! Not a bit. In that condition they are singing and praising God at midnight. The Lord of glory has the situation in hand, and that is proved before the morning. There is the earthquake, the prisoners are released, the jailer and his house saved and baptized, and the church in Philippi established. The jailor and his family were amongst the first members and I do not believe his family were infants! It says: "They spake the word of the Lord unto them", and you do not put a little innocent baby in a chair and preach the gospel to it, or teach it the things of Christ. They were intelligent and old enough to understand the teaching and preaching of Paul, and to accept it, so they were all baptized as responsible persons. They were amongst the first members of that church; and we have that beautiful Letter from Paul's own prison, written years afterwards, when he was in Rome. We would not sacrifice that Letter to the Philippians for anything, would we? It is very precious. There is the Lord of glory, you see. It is the Book of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, the acts of the Lord of glory, for He is in charge. I wish we could always believe that when we are in prisons, tied up, with things all against us, and we are having a difficult time! If we could always just say: 'The Lord is the Lord of glory. He has charge of this and the end is going to be glory'! Well, it works out that way, even though He has to say to us afterward: "O ye of little faith! Wherefore didst thou doubt?" Although we, under the trial, sometimes feel that there is nothing of glory in the situation, or in our condition, in the end He is faithful, and we find that glory is the end of His strange ways. He is the Lord of glory. which means that He controls everything with glory in view.

THE SPIRIT OF GLORY

Peter calls the Holy Spirit "the Spirit of glory". Now the context is necessary as the background of that title of the Holy Spirit. If you read this first Letter of Peter's you will see that it is very largely about the sufferings of the Lord's people to whom he is writing. It says that he is writing "to the elect who are sojourners of the Dispersion in Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, according to the foreknowledge of God the Father". Then he opens up on this matter of the sufferings of these people: "Think it not strange concerning the fiery trial among you, which cometh upon thou to prove you, as though a strange thing happened unto you."

There is a lot about the sufferings of the Lord's people in this Letter of Peter's, and when he has mentioned the sufferings there are two things that he links with them: first grace, and then glory, grace issuing in glory. It is very helpful to notice how Peter speaks of grace, but, unfortunately, in our translation there are places where the word is changed, and the word 'acceptable' is used. In chapter 2:19 and 20 we read: "For this is acceptable , if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is acceptable with God." But in putting this right we have something very rich: "For this is grace, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted for it, he shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, ye shall take it patiently, this is grace with God" (R.V. margin). Grace, then glory. In chapter 5:10 Peter says: "And the God of all grace, who called you unto his eternal glory in Christ, after that ye have suffered a little while, shall himself perfect, stablish, strengthen you." 'Through the suffering of this little while there will be grace sufficient to make us triumphant.' Grace triumphant in suffering, and that means glory.

We sometimes sing: [126/127]

Jesus, Thy life is mine,

Dwell evermore in me;

And let me see

That nothing can untwine

Thy life from mine.

Thy fullest gift, O Lord,

Now at Thy word I claim,

Through Thy dear name,

And touch the rapturous chord

Of praise forth-poured.

That came from the bed of an invalid! It is something, is it not? Well, that is what Peter is talking about -- the sufferings, the fiery trial, and then he says: 'Grace in that means glory.' The Spirit of glory.

The Lord help us! We can say these things, and I say them carefully, guardedly, for we can be so put to the test on things that we say. The Spirit of glory can take hold of the things which could destroy us, and could be our undoing if we had the wrong reaction to them, and turn them to glory. This suffering, this reaction, this trial can mean glory. Paul said: "And by reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelation -- wherefore, that I should not be exalted overmuch, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, that I should not be exalted overmuch. Concerning this thing I besought the Lord thrice" (and when Paul sought the Lord you may take it that he did so very thoroughly, and when he did it three times you may be sure that Paul put himself right into it!). "And he hath said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my power is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:7-10).

The Spirit of glory can take hold of our trials, and will do so, if we trust Him, and turn the dark things, the hard things, the painful things, into glory. That is, in those things He will lead us to find God's pleasure, God's satisfaction, God's 'Well done!', and what more glorious thing could we desire than that we should hear Him say: 'Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord.'?

The Father of glory, the Lord of glory and the Spirit of glory. The Lord place this word in our hearts! - T. A-S.

(Concluded)

From Heaven or From Men?
by T. Austin-Sparks

(Matthew 21:25)

We do not propose to discuss the subject raised by the Lord in connection with this interrogation; that is, "the baptism of John". Nor do we concern ourselves here with the dilemma which He created for those interrogated. It is this alternative with which we are concerned - "From heaven, or of men?" It is something which arises definitely on more than this occasion in the New Testament. On one occasion the Lord rendered a sound rebuke to Peter, saying: "Thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things of men" (Matthew 16:23). The wise and astute Gamaliel warned the Council that "If this counsel or this work be of men, it will be overthrown: but if it is of God, ye will not be able to overthrow them; lest haply ye be found even to be fighting against God" (Acts 5:38,39).

In handling the complicated, confused, and carnal situation at Corinth, the Apostle Paul attributed the divisions to this very thing: "...for whereas there are among you jealousy and strife, are ye not carnal, and do ye not walk after THE MANNER OF MEN?" (1 Cor. 3:3). It is quite clear from these passages alone that what is of men is forbidden in the things of God, and this is of very wide and varied application.

The two things are not complementary, they are inimical. They are two sources and natures set over against each other. They belong to two worlds. The springs are totally different.

1. They represent two systems of thought and mentality. It is not only in specific instances when a mistake is made, a wrong judgment is given, a questionable decision or course is followed. It is the very constitution, basic and fundamental, which governs those concerned. The natural - just what we are by nature - is set over against the spiritual, that is, what God is, and what we are basically by being born of the Spirit.

2. This represents two governments. Heaven's standard of values is quite different from that of this world. This world governs entirely horizontally. It is just flat, earthly. Christ's government in His life was wholly vertical; always upward. He judged "not after the seeing of his eyes", neither reproved "after the hearing of his ears". Too close a touch with this earth involves in its contradictions, and confusions. Never was He in confusion. "Of heaven" was the watchword of His life. "Of man" is too often the realm and nature of our judgments.

3. The divide between the two is the basic effect of the Cross. The Cross cuts clean between the natural and the spiritual. We have only to mark this fundamental difference in the disciples before and after the devastating experience of the Cross and the Heaven-opening experience of the Resurrection and Pentecost.

It is because we men, in what we are naturally - not necessarily viciously, or of evil intent, but just plain nature - have insinuated ourselves with our judgments, ideas, standing, conceptions, strengths, etc., into the things of Heaven, that there is so much confusion and frustration in Christianity. In Paris there is a pair of scientific balances so delicately poised and finely balanced that even the warmth of a human body near the glass case in which they are kept sets them oscillating. We get too near to the sensitive things of the Spirit. With our heat we often disturb the spiritual balance.

Our great lesson is to learn how to stand back in the flesh from the things of the Spirit.

First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jul-Aug 1964, Vol 42-4

Why the Strange Ways of God?
by T. Austin-Sparks

"But arise, and stand upon thy feet: for to this end have I appeared unto thee, to appoint thee a minister and a witness both of the things wherein thou hast seen me, and of the things wherein I will appear unto thee" (Acts 26:16).

"But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake." "...if so be I press on, if so be that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:12).

It is not my intention to speak at length on these passages, but to take out of them some things that are implied or embodied in them as principles. They resolve themselves into a matter of cause and effect. "For to this end have I appeared unto thee..." "I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake" (Acts 9:15-16). "...that I may lay hold on that for which also I was laid hold on by Christ Jesus." "...that for which...": "...to this end..."

Sovereign Purpose Governs Our Salvation

The first aspect of that is clearly one of sovereign purpose. Purpose is the positive and governing aspect of salvation. It is that unto which we are saved. Of course, it would not be wholly right to say that that from which we are saved is the negative aspect of salvation, but it is the negative aspect compared with this other. It is not the 'from' but the 'unto' or the 'for' which is really the positive thing in salvation. Stagnation had no place even in the unfallen creation. God did not just make everything and put man in charge and set fixed bounds to the possibilities of man and creation. The potentialities were immense; and when Adam failed, he lost not only what was, but also what could have been. It is said that Adam was "a figure of him that was to come". (Rom. 5:14). Figures are always less than that which they represent. Adam was intended for something more than he was. Christ is that something more - infinitely more - and when Christ redeemed, He not only redeemed what was before Adam sinned, but also all that Adam never possessed or inherited but which was intended for him. Purpose governed creation, and we know, as a part of the very gospel itself, that the purpose of God was missed by Adam, and is missed by the Adam race. Moreover, the whole purpose of God is never possessed and entered into in experience the moment we are born again.

I said that stagnation is no feature of God's creation even when it is unfallen; but for any to be born again, and thus to begin to know the good of redemption, and then to fail to recognize that they are saved not only from something, but unto something immense, means that stagnation sets in and they are always dating everything by the past; whereas those who have apprehended the fact of purpose are always occupied with the future, with something beyond.

Sovereign purpose, we have said, is the positive and the governing factor of salvation. You have heard that many times, but I do want to emphasize it again. Perhaps you have not grasped it. There are still many Christians who are just glad they are Christians: they know Christ as their Saviour and they are seeking day by day to live as Christians: but they are not conscious of any great, powerful, dominating motive of sovereign purpose in their salvation. They are not drawn on by an enlarging vision and apprehension of that sovereign purpose. Those little statements which we noted earlier, such as "...that for which I was apprehended...", "...to this end have I appeared unto thee", mean little or nothing to them. But to us, as to Paul, the Lord would say, 'Not just to save you, not just to deliver you from perdition, not just for your escape from judgment have I appeared unto you, but I have a great revelation to give you of that unto which I have saved you'. That is the effect of His words to Paul, and they are true for us also, as Paul makes clear in his letters. You need to be sure that you are really gripped in your innermost being by such a consciousness, by this sense of being apprehended by and for sovereign purpose, so that it is dominating your life - something which eliminates the element of time, so that you are not limited by the idea of just living as good a Christian life as you can until you die. This outbounds our life here, and we know it well.

That is all I want to say about the first thing. But I want to be sure that you are really in the grip and control of this that the early Christians felt so much and which the Apostles (especially Paul) took such pains to bring home to the Church. Sovereign purpose governs God's activities in the life of every child of His, and that sense and fact of purpose, as related to our salvation, is after all the main part of our salvation, the positive aspect.

God's Ways Determined by His Purpose

Then, of course, there follow quite naturally the sovereign ways of God with us in relation to His sovereign purpose. The only thing I will say now about that is this, that God's ways with us will be, and must be, consistent with His sovereign purpose. Here is where we need to be really intelligent and alive. We must look to see how our ways correspond to God's purpose under His sovereign control. It is a part of our education, and of our heart gratification when we are able to discern it, to observe how our experience and our history tally with God's object and with the principles which govern His purpose. From time to time it will be well for us if we just stand still and say, 'Now, this is what is revealed as God's purpose, and we are called according to His purpose. Does my spiritual experience and history give me heart-assurance that God is taking the only way by which that purpose can be fulfilled?'

What do we mean by that? Let us cite a point or two that might illustrate it. Here we open up something very vast, and we can only just stand and look at it from the outside.

The Purpose - The Expression of a Testimony

(a) Life in the Midst of Death

"The testimony of Jesus" is a phrase that sums up a very great deal in the book of the Revelation. Indeed, it sums up the whole Bible. Now supposing, for argument's sake, that the object of the Church's calling is a testimony to Divine life. (It is no supposition, though, but a reality. "In him was life" (John 1:4): "I came that they may have life" (John 10:10): that is the testimony of Jesus.) Supposing then the testimony of Jesus is the testimony of Divine life: what is necessary in order that our experience and history should tally with Divine purpose? It is that we should have a setting in which we are assailed continually by death. Life becomes a very real thing when death is all around and very active. So, if the purpose is the manifestation of Divine life, then those who are called according to that purpose will have to have a history of conflict with death. That is simple and obvious. If, therefore, you and I have such a history and such an experience, are we to stand back and say, 'Oh, this is all wrong! Would that we could get out of this!'? We should rather say, 'This is in accordance with the object in view, there is a consistency about God's ways with us.'

The mystery of life is one of the supreme features, if not the supreme feature, of the whole record in Scripture. I am not attempting to deal with it exhaustively here, but only to bring out the point that immediately concerns us. What is the mystery of Christ? Many men besides Jesus Christ were brought up in Nazareth. Stand them all in a row. Can you discriminate between them other than by purely natural features? No. And yet there is a difference between Jesus and the rest. What is the difference? While outwardly He looks like the rest, there is a mystery about Him, there is something there, He is not the same. People tried to deal with Him as they dealt with other men, but they found they were dealing with someone unique, in whom there was something different. "The mystery of Christ" (Eph. 3:4), who Christ really was!

The mystery of life. "Called according to his purpose." Supposing then that the Church is to be a manifestation of the life, a testimony to Divine life, then the Church will be set all through its history in scenes of death, with the forces of death raging against it.

(b) Light in the Midst of Darkness

The same is true of light. "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). But there was no glow about Him, no halo round His head, nothing outward that said to men, 'This is the light of the world'. But vital union with Him by the Spirit later meant that those in union had a wonderful illumination in their own spirits. In that way, not physically, they became luminaries for those who were seeking the light. There was a mystery still about it. No one could discern it except in a spiritual way. Supposing then the calling is this - to manifest the light. Then we shall be placed in darkness again and again for the testimony's sake.

"He is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel: for I will show him how many things he must suffer for my name's sake". He must suffer in order that the Name may come out in all its glory. The cause of all is to be found in the calling and election, and the effect of the calling is to be seen in suffering, a setting that brings out the reality of this calling. "...to this end..." Have you yourself a sense of this? Then check up as you go along and see if the ways of the Lord with you are not after all perfectly consistent with the thing that He is after.

(c) Heavenliness in the World

You say that a principle of the Church's life is heavenliness, other-worldliness, detachment from this world spiritually. Very well, the Church and the individuals in it will often find themselves in a position where, if heaven does not intervene for them, everything here is at an end, and you will not have this world on your side with its favour and applause. Will you begin to grumble and say you are having a hard time? The truth is, your experience is consistent with the principles of your calling.

It may be helpful to make a suggestion. When you feel you must give up because the way is too hard and too difficult, or you feel tempted to think that everything is wrong and ought not to be like this, just ask the question - 'After all, does not this way show God's perfect consistency with His Divine principles and with the object in view unto which He has chosen us?' And so often we have to say, 'After all, the consistency is patent; He could not do it in any other way; this is the only way.'

First published in "A Witness and A Testimony" magazine, Jan-Feb 1952, Vol 30-1

THE FEAR OF THE LORD

Alan G. Nute

"YOU shall love the LORD your God with all you heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might" (Deuteronomy 6:5). Above this text, at the top of the page in my Bible, is the caption: "The Great Commandment". A parallel command, however, occurs in verse 13 of the same chapter, and this time it reads: "You shall fear the LORD your God". In the light of this, perhaps the caption should have been worded in the plural. The two great commandments are that we should love the Lord and that we should also fear the Lord. Scripture recognises that love and fear are the twin motives that govern and control us. Usually they are opposed the one to the other, but this is only because of the distortion which has resulted from the Fall. As a result of that [69/70] tragic act of disobedience love has become largely self-centred. Indeed, the modern use of the word signifies little other than the gratifying of human passion. As for fear, that which was intended to be a healthy emotion has degenerated into feelings of apprehension or dread. To such an extent is this the case that we tend to regard fear as almost entirely injurious.

One of God's prime objectives in His dealings with His children is the straightening out of that which Satan has twisted. This involves the production within our hearts of a true love and a true fear. In relation to fear, this necessitates first of all the eradication of all false fear. It is this which lies behind the frequent exhortation -- "Fear not". The Spirit which we have received is not "the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear"; for as Paul reminds Timothy: "God did not give us a spirit of timidity". The fear which manifests itself in timidity is one which inhibits, and as a result cripples our witness and robs us of our joy in the Lord. Such fear must be uprooted, and in its place there must be cultivated a true fear, a fear which is noble and beneficial.

Every quality is seen in perfection in Christ. In Him love and fear are present ideally and without conflict. In all His ways we may detect these two currents flowing in the same direction and with equal intensity. With regard to fear, Isaiah prophesies: "And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord. And his delight shall be in the fear of the Lord." The writer to the Hebrews provides us with an example of this. "In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard for his godly fear." This is the fear to which we are exhorted. It is constantly commanded (e.g. Ecclesiastes 12:13 and 1 Peter 2:17); and is not only commanded, it is commended. Job, the Psalms and Proverbs all agree that "the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom". It is the highest element of wisdom.

Clearly this is a truth which merits serious attention. And yet for ten thousand sermons on love, we will be fortunate to hear one on fear. Is "the fear of the Lord" a lost concept? Does the quality -- "God-fearing" -- evoke the admiration it once did? Whatever the contemporary situation, of this we may be emphatic, the fear of the Lord is a dominant theme of Holy Scripture.

1. The Essence of Godly Fear

The essence of this fear is reverence. The word is used in the Scripture of the right attitude to parents and implies honour and respect. Everywhere today this is in eclipse. The whole notion of respect is undermined because no longer is there abroad a respect for God, His Word and His laws. The reason for this is to be found in the fact that men have replaced the God of the Bible with a God made in the likeness of man. A God, as some have impiously suggested, "in whom I can believe". Thus is constructed a God whom no one fears, nor needs to. The God revealed to us in the New Testament as in the Old is One who merits our reverence.

This reverence will manifest itself in worship. In Revelation 15 John describes the great company of those who having conquered, "sing the song of Moses and the Lamb". They exclaim: "Who shall not fear and glorify thy name, O Lord?" Fearing the Lord, they exalt, extol and magnify His name. We shall only truly worship as our hearts are suffused with a deep sense of awe.

The other indication of a reverential fear of the Lord is obedience . The first reference in Scripture to fearing God is in Genesis 22:12. It is heaven's verdict on Abraham's act of obedience: "Now I know that you fear God". Little wonder that fear and obedience are bracketed in such repeated exhortations as "fear the Lord your God and do all the words of his law". We may say, then, that the essential character of this fear is a reverence which issues in worship and obedience.

2. The Ground of Godly Fear

The song in Revelation 15 also points to the ground of such true fear. God is to be feared because of Who He is. Ultimately, everything depends on our conception of God. "Who shall not fear and glorify thy name, O Lord?" The expression 'thy name' stands for all that may be known of God, and something of this is conveyed in the titles employed in the song. "Lord God". Theirs is a recognition of the transcendent majesty which is His. "The Almighty". They are conscious of His infinite power. Thus it was that when men beheld the [70/71] omnipotence of the Saviour they were "filled with awe" (Mark 4:41). "King of the ages". The singers celebrate the fact that God is eternal. Indeed, the title contains the thought of the divine control which ensures the outworking of God's timeless purpose. The only conceivable reaction to such a contemplation of the glory of God is that of awesome fear. But perhaps the supreme Divine characteristic is found in the statement: "For thou alone art holy". Proverbs 9:10 equates the fear of the Lord with "the knowledge of the holy One". Above all the attributes of God, this should banish that presumption which is the antithesis of godly fear and, positively, should inculcate that lowliness and that contrition which are its essential constituents.

But the ground of the fear of the Lord is to be found also in what He has done. "Great and wonderful are thy deeds ... who shall not fear ... thy name?" Of all his deeds surely the greatest, the most wonderful, is His work of redemption. As we take our places alongside those who stood by the cross of Jesus our reaction is one with theirs -- "they were filled with awe".

O how I fear Thee, living God,

With deepest, tenderest fears,

And worship Thee with trembling hope,

And penitential tears!

3. The Consequence of Godly Fear

If we consider the consequence of this fear we say that it will:

i. preserve us from sin. The height of impiety is described by Paul in words borrowed from the psalmist: "There is no fear of God before their eyes". It is not surprising therefore that the Scripture declares the fear of God to be the great prophylactic against evil (Proverbs 3:7; 8:13; 16:6). Indeed it is the motivating power for moral and spiritual purity. "Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, and make holiness perfect in the fear of God".

ii. regulate all our relationships. The section of Ephesians which deals with sundry personal, domestic and business relationships is introduced with the exhortation: "Be subject to one another in the fear of God" (cf. Colossians 3:22 and 1 Peter 3:13-16). Where the "fear of the Lord" becomes a dominating influence, all relationships fall into their proper place.

"Fear Him, ye saints, and you will then

Have nothing else to fear."

A fascinating example of the power of this emotion is seen in the case of the Hebrew midwives whose story is told in Exodus 1. What emboldened the Maternity Department of Israel's Health Service to snap their fingers at Pharaoh when he commanded a programme of genocide? "The midwives feared God."

iii. secure the blessing of God. To trace in a concordance the blessings which result from a fear of the Lord is to produce a list containing the most desirable spiritual boons imaginable. "The friendship of the Lord" is theirs (Psalm 25:14); "abundant goodness" is laid up for them (Psalm 31:19). But space does not permit even a fraction of these benefits to be mentioned.

One can but hope that enough has been said to cause us each to echo the words of the redeemed in the presence of God, both as an expression of worship and sacred intention -- saying "Who shall not fear and glorify Thy name, O Lord?"