TESTIMONY

A. E. Mutton

The following references will I trust help in explaining the reason for a separate path—the subject of our recent conversation. The remarks have been added as an outline of the course of events that have led up to the present conditions in which we are living. They include truths which are generally held and valued by believers in Christ, but which it seems desirable to mention so that the present position may be more clearly understood.

God is supreme, whom no man has seen nor can see, dwelling in light unapproachable (1

Timothy 6: 16). God is love (1 John 4: 8), and His love can only be satisfied by His creature responding to His love. He has therefore been pleased to make Himself known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit so that it might be possible for men to worship Him in “spirit and truth”, John 4: 24.

God is holy, He cannot look upon sin (Habakkuk 1: 13), and nothing which carries the taint of sin and its fruits can stand before Him. Satan is utterly and unceasingly

opposed to the will of God and will continue to be so until he is finally dealt with. Either by direct opposition and persecution or by subtlety and deceit he endeavours to frustrate what God is doing.

Through listening to Satan rather than obeying God’s word, man sinned against a holy God, and placed himself under bondage to Satan. However sincere in his desire, a man cannot free himself from this propensity and ability to sin, neither does he possess anything adequate to present to God to atone for his sin, for all that he has and is, is tainted by sin. Sin formed a barrier between God and man which man cannot remove. But even before man sinned, God had purposed to have men in nearness to Him, and in His wisdom and love planned the only possible course whereby, without violating His essential holiness and righteousness, He could secure men for His pleasure and praise here on earth now, and for eternity in glory. What man could not do, God has done. He has proved His love to men in that He has given Jesus, His only begotten Son, that we might live through Him.

Jesus, Himself God, yet taking the form of a man, came that He might take upon Himself the sins of the whole world and suffer God’s holy judgment against sin. The sinless One was made sin for us, and only as I claim this for myself can I be saved from the judgment of my sin falling upon me. My salvation is in accepting before God that the blood of Christ cleanses me from every sin (1 John 1: 7). If I do not accept Christ as God’s answer to my sin then I still remain in my sin and ultimately must come under God’s righteous judgment at the hand of Him whom I have rejected. As accepting salvation in Christ’s blood, not only am I cleared from all sin in the sight of God, but also He looks upon me as one who has been liberated from Satan’s power, I come under the blessed authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Man in the glory, for God raised Him from among the dead and gave Him glory. Now I am to live to Him, to rejoice in Him.

and to enjoy the things that the Father would bless me with. The great blessing of eternal life is to be mine now—“that they should know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent”, John 17: 3.

To help me to appreciate and enjoy these things God has been pleased to give the Holy Spirit to as many as obey Him (Acts 5: 32). The Holy Spirit desires to lead us into all the truth (John 16: 13); He would help us to understand the great truths of Christ and the assembly, the body of Christ on earth, the glory of sonship, the worship of God. The Spirit will give me the power not only to know the truth, but to live it, despite all that Satan would do to hinder me.

Then too the Holy Spirit would set together those who wish to accept and follow up the truth—those who are like-minded (Romans 15: 5). This is seen working out immediately the Holy Spirit descends at Pentecost. In the earlier chapters of the Acts we have recorded the joy and power found with those who loved the Lord as they persevered in the “teaching and fellowship of the apostles” (Acts 2: 42), the Lord adding to them daily. The enemy, Satan, was also quick to hinder and oppose God’s work. First inside the circle of the early believers by means of Ananias and Sapphira, who would deceive their brethren (Acts 5: 1, 2). The Holy Spirit draws Peter’s attention to their deception, thus showing that conditions must be rightly maintained in the Christian circle if God’s blessing is to be proved. Outward persecution is then used against Stephen and generally, but despite this the work of God goes forward through His servants; Philip, Peter and then Paul.

But Satan’s opposition continued in many subtle ways, the truth was corrupted by some and believers on Christ were led astray. Those who had not acknowledged the Lord’s authority were admitted into the circle, thus weakening the position. Evil then came in, so hindering the operations of the Holy Spirit among them. Political powers, such as Rome, adopted a form of Christianity, but so adulterated it that the truth as

committed to the apostles was undermined, and men with no personal link with Christ used their own intelligence to add what was not in accord with the truth, also to take away what conflicted with their own ideas. As a result power and joy were gradually lost, and instead of all believers having their part and place in the living functioning of the body, there was a drift away from what God had set up, towards a weak and almost powerless substitution, in which there was less and less for the pleasure of God. The rights of Christ were denied, and the Holy Spirit’s operations were hindered in the minds of believers. Men tended to become great in the religious systems they set up, and the sincerity and purity of the early days were largely lost, and the Lord’s teaching and that of the apostles was increasingly discredited or ignored.

From time to time in God’s goodness, faithful men such as Luther and Wycliffe were raised up. These men stood for essential features of the truth which had been lost sight of. Their labours resulted in a circle of believers who were prepared to accept recovered truths. Today we have many churches, sects and denominations each claiming to be holding the truth, yet often conducting themselves in a way contrary to the truth as set out in the Scriptures. Yet in all this confusion, we know the Lord Jesus is still the living One in glory. He remains Head of the assembly, and the Holy Spirit is still here on earth bringing His power to help us in our weakness. God’s word is still available to give adequate guidance to those who wish, with the Spirit’s help, to answer more fully to God’s own great thoughts. The efficacy and power of Christ’s work cannot ever be weakened, and that power is available to each of those who love Him and who call upon His name.

In 2 Timothy 2 the apostle Paul sets out the only course for one who would be true to the Lord in the public breakdown, to withdraw from iniquity and separate from vessels to dishonour (2 Timothy 2: 19–21). It may mean

leaving a system recognised and looked up to by men, and one which has many who love the Lord in its ‘fellowship’. But one who loves the Lord and wishes to answer to His will is called to leave a system of things which he sees to be contrary to the word of God and which in some measure is dishonouring to the Lord. It is not that he as an individual reckons himself better, but he considers first the claims in love of his Lord and Head, and the rights of God as set out in His word. Holiness and righteousness are closely connected with the worship of God. The Lord makes it clear to the woman at Sychar’s well that God is seeking those who

“worship him in spirit and truth”, John 4: 24. When we move on these lines, the Holy Spirit is free to lead us into the truth, and in consequence of this other things are brought to light in the conscience as not being in accord with the will of God. The greater the shining of the light, the clearer are things seen for what they really are. The church is seen for what it is; the body of Christ, the assembly of the living God, a chaste virgin. All this suggesting what God in love would reach in us while we are still on earth; features that are in accord with His glorious thoughts. He would raise questions with me; what fellowship am involved in? Is Christ the centre of it? Is He the power?

Cannot He who has called me to such a glorious fellowship sustain me in all that is needful, without my becoming a member in a fellowship, partnership or association in which He is not the supreme authority and Lord of every member? However good the objects and principles of trade unions, professional bodies, political parties, clubs etc., may appear, 2 Timothy 2

extends—“withdraw ...”. It is clear that a believer is to be in the world, but not of it (John 17).

Servants, masters, bondmen are all to work righteously as doing it to God, “not with eye-service as men-pleasers; but as bondmen of Christ, doing the will of God from the soul”, Ephesians 6: 6.

Unity is to be in the Spirit’s power; He will keep us

in the love of God. The Lord’s presence is known as a result, it is the highest possible privilege. We await the day of display, then it will be the time for reigning with Christ (Revelation 20: 6). Our heavenly Father knows we have need of earthly things but we are instructed ... “seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you”, Matthew 6: 33. May we have a sense of the grace that has been pleased to take us up, conscious of weakness yet He our strength!

EXTRACT

J.T. Thus you are not ministering to yourself; you are not overmuch concerned about your present circumstances. You must, of course, make a living for yourself and family, but to improve one’s circumstances according to man is not the Christian’s thought; that is the point that enters into chapter 2. Moses was accepting circumstances very inferior to what he had been accustomed, and he was content in them. There is a danger in one who serves the Lord, capitalising what he has, including the service; but that will never add to spiritual power. A better house, or better car, or anything like that will not add to spiritual power at all. It is a question of what God puts on His servants. We may be sure that if God is going to use a man.

He will put things on him governmentally that he will not like naturally. That is the point in this chapter; Moses was content to dwell with the man; he made no objection to the daughter he gave him as wife. It is just what God gave him; God is with a man on those lines.

J. Taylor (Vol. 52, p.127)

Edited and Published by J. Strachan, 59 Frederick Street, Dundee, DD3 9DE, Scotland Printed by Crystal Stationery, 22 Western Road, Billericay, Essex CM12 9DZ, (T) (01277) 650661