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IS THY HEART RIGHT?

One feels, dear brethren, that the question that was raised by Jehu, is a very appropriate one for each one of us at this time. He said to Jehonadab as he met him, “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?” It is a question for us, and doubly important today for two reasons. One is the marked increase in the world of idolatry. Idolatry is sweeping christendom like a plague, it is sweeping through every land, so that the Lord says to each one of us, “Is thy heart right?” Not, Are your words right? Not, Is your doctrine right? Not, Is your ground of gathering right? All these things are of great importance, but there is something more important. “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?” Jehu says as it were, As far as my heart is concerned towards you, that is right; there is no question about that; but is thy heart right, as my heart is right with thy heart? Is the same kind of heart with you that is in me towards you? There is surely no one but would grant unequivocally that the heart of Christ towards His own is right! . Never was it more manifest than today; the faithful,

constant, devoted, unremitting love of Christ for His assembly, and for each one of us. His heart is right, there is no question about that, but I think it is time every one of us answered this question, “Is thy heart right?”

That is what Jehu wanted to know because he had a great mission before him; he had a great work to do and he wanted a companion, a support; he wanted fellowship in this great work, and he wanted a man whose heart was right. Just like in the early chapters of the Acts, the eleven apostles were conscious that a great mission was committed to them. They desired to complete the twelve for the service on hand, and they pray and virtually say, Lord we want a man whose heart is right. “Lord, knower of the hearts of all.” We do not want another Judas; he looked right, he seemed to consider the poor, he accompanied the Lord, he went up to the house of God with Him; but they say, we do not want another Judas — an idolater. We want a man whose heart is right, and they say, “Lord, knower of the hearts of all, shew which one of these two thou hast chosen.” Jehonadab faces this question; he looks it right in the face. What is my heart like? I can see the line Jehu is on; I can see the state of his heart by the line he is on, and by his ways; but what is my heart like? He says in all integrity, My heart is right in this matter. Jehu says, “If it be, give me thy hand — And he gave him his hand.” The bond of fellowship was established between Jehu and Jehonadab in the matter that lay before them. With the confession that Jehonadab’s heart was right he took him up into his chariot, and they went together to accomplish the absolute destruction of Baal. They are determined not to leave one, not a priest, not a servant, not an image of Baal. That is what is in Jehu’s heart; he determines not to leave one of the servants of Baal on the earth, and Jehonadab says, I am with you. They went right into the house of Baal and together accomplished the destruction of Baal. Are we with the Lord in His intention to destroy idolatry? I am sure that is what the Lord is seeking to do by the ministry that is coming to us; that every phase of idolatry should be destroyed and the heart of His people be right. When the Spirit and the bride say “Come,” the heart of the assembly is right, there is no one usurping the Lord’s place in the bride’s heart. That is the second reason why we should face this question. The first is that the Lord is bent on the destruction of idolatry, and the second reason is that He is coming, and He wants the hearts of His own right. He wants the absolute place there.

I wanted to pursue that in the book of Hosea; the .removal of every trace of Baal and the establishment in the heart of God’s people of His own proper place. The Lord indicated in Hosea that He is not prepared to be called Baali — He is not prepared to accept that name — He resents it — He hates it. Christendom is full of the name Baali in respect of Christ — full of it, but the Lord says, you shall no more call me Baali. He says, “I will take away the names of the Baals out of her mouth.” That is what He wants to do, to take these hateful names out of our mouths and replace them with that wonderful name “Ishi.” In that day He says, you shall call me Ishi — not Baali. Ishi means “my husband.” He is not prepared for His own to call Him Baali. He will not be one of the Baalim. The Lord Jesus in christendom is just one of the Baalim, one of the many lords. It is true that christendom speaks of the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and thirty-six, but in the minds of men in christendom there are many other lords. What the Lord wants from each one of those who really love Him, is “Ishi,” “my husband” — literally “my man.” That is the name He wants and He loves. A woman’s husband is not one of her lords — he is her only lord. Sarah called Abraham “lord” — he was not one of them. No true Christian contemplates having a rival to Christ. The blessed Lord is great enough to fill every human heart, great enough to be the only lover of every Christian, to absorb the whole of their affections. The apostle Paul speaks of our being “married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.”

Let me ask each believer. Are you married to Him? Do you say to Jesus “Ishi”? That is, “my husband,” the Man that fills your heart. Does money have great power over me? Does evil dominate me in any form? — the love of prominence? Then I have many masters. That is Baalim, which the Lord hates, and He would take you out from under the domination of every one of them. He would lead your heart to say to Him, “Ishi” — “my husband” — the object of my heart — the Man that fills my soul — the One for whom I live — the One who supports me — the One who makes me fruitful to God; that we might be “married to another... that we should bring forth fruit unto God.” That is what the Lord is seeking.

The woman of Luke 7, who came out from the city, was living there under a Baal — the Baal of the multitude in the city. She was dominated by what went on in the city with all its lawlessness, but the Lord Jesus allured her; He drew her heart out of that city into the wilderness. If ever there was a wilderness, it was in Simon the Pharisee’s house — no one naturally would go into that house, where they would be scorned, but the blessed Saviour allured her, and in her actions she says to Him “Ishi,” she says: He is the object of my heart. The Lord says “this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet... she loved much.” The Lord secured a lover, one of the thousands of them that love Him. No other lords would have dominion over her now, she had found the object of her heart.

There is another time this thought of marriage to Christ appears; it is in John 4. The woman of Samaria had her Baalim; she had had five of them, indeed, she had had six. The last one Baal-Peor, which means uncleanness, the lord of uncleanness — he was controlled by him. How are we to be saved from the power of lust as in this world? By finding a Husband. Jesus said to this woman, “Give me to drink,” and by His precious grace He drew her heart out to Himself. He spoke to her heart. He allured her out from the dominion of Baal-Peor and every other Baal until He got her heart, and she went away and said to the men of the city, “Come, see a man” — the Man of my heart; I have finished with all others, I have found a Man that satisfies me for ever. “Come, see a man.” He is the Man.

So it was with Mary Magdalene. What a domination she had been under — seven demons! But the Lord brought the holy, blessed, glorious delivering influence of heaven to Mary Magdalene and allured her out of the captivity, so much so that according to the gospel of Luke the demons went out. In Matthew they were cast out, but in Luke they went out by the alluring of Jesus, as He became supreme to her heart. There is no room for other authority in a heart that loves Christ. So Mary followed Him and ministered to Him of her substance — the Man that filled her heart and soul.

Then there is Zacchaeus. You say he is a good man, but he has a Baal. He was a little man and he climbed up a tree; that is what all little people do unless the Lord helps them to judge it, and we are all little. How small we are the Lord knows; the desire to be prominent is in every heart — it is one of the Baals, and that element was in Zacchaeus. He loved the Lord and wanted to follow Him, but there was this Baal of prominence, and the Lord would not have that. He says I want you to leave that behind for ever, “make haste and come DOWN.” So it was with the dying robber. How many Baals held him during his life I do not know, but he is allured by the attractiveness of Jesus, until he says to Jesus, ere he departs, “Ishi” — “this man” — the Man I love, the Man whose authority I own and accept for eternity; I want to come into His kingdom, He is the Man who draws me away from all the Baals; He turns to Jesus and speaks of Him as “this man” — that is what the Lord is seeking to do with us; to allure us into the wilderness and speak to our hearts, that we may never look upon Him as one of the lords, but as supreme.

The apostle Paul speaks of the last days in 2 Timothy, and says, men will be lovers of themselves. That is a Baal — one of the mighty Baals — self-love, men living to gratify themselves, living with self as the dominating power of human life.

Is it not so, and how much do we contribute to it? Let every heart examine itself — Is my heart right? Am I living selfishly, is self enthroned in my heart? “Is thy heart right?” “Lovers of themselves” is one of the great features of the last days; it is written over everything today — the innate selfishness of every class. Selfishness is written over the whole of mankind, more than ever in history, and christendom is the worst of all. The Lord says to us, “Is thy heart right?” Is self the object of our lives. Paul could say, “the love of Christ constraineth us.” He is such a blessed Person to my heart, says Paul, that “we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead: and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.” This is the point I have reached. “In the last days... men shall be... lovers of pleasures.” This is another tremendous Baal, holding men’s hearts, leading them to give up what is right in the sight of God; even Christians abandoning the fellowship and dishonouring the holy name of Christ by this mighty Baal clutching their souls.

The Lord says to us, “Is thy heart right?” Paul says, “these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.” Do not let us ignore this terrible Baal, “pleasures,” that would seize our time; it is one of the greatest of the modern idols; thousands are sacrificing themselves at this altar — “lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.” The Lord says, “Is thy heart right?” When we have an hour or a day free from our proper responsibilities, who is controlling that? Do not try and evade it by saying we need a certain amount of physical exercise, there is plenty to be had under the control of Christ. What will save us? The thought of the Husband, the only occupier of the heart. That is what the Lord is seeking. What is true in the mind of God is true for all, that we are married to Christ. We are liberated from all the Baals, and “married to another... that we should bring forth fruit unto God.”

The apostle said to the assembly in Corinth, “I have espoused you unto one man.” The assembly at Corinth was espoused to Christ. No Baals were to be in Corinth, no one lording over God’s heritage, no desire for prominence, but Christ supreme. That is the local position. It solves every problem, if we only accept it; that the assembly in every setting is espoused to one Man. He is to be supreme there; if any one serves the saints it is only for Jesus’ sake. “Ourselves your servants for Jesus’ sake.” Local troubles would soon be solved if Christ were supreme. The idea that we shall have anything remarkable when things are wrong with us individually is impossible. Things begin in the individual soul, and then the full thought is seen in the local assembly. The assembly is espoused to one Man; that is to be seen locally. There is no Baal provided for in the local assembly. Paul says, “Husbands, love your own wives, even as the Christ also loved the assembly, and has delivered himself up for it... that he might present the assembly to himself glorious, having no spot, or wrinkle, or any of such things,” Ephesians 5: 25-27. When the day comes for the marriage it says, “his wife has made herself ready,” He is Ishi to the assembly’s heart; there will be no Baalim in eternity; there will be this one blessed Man engaging the heart of the assembly for ever.

Now I want to say a word or two about what the Lord says He will do for such. “I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field, and with the fowl of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground.” I think that is a remarkable covenant. What a promise, dear brethren. The devouring influences of the lion, the cruel rending influences of the bear, the scattering influences of the wolf, the defiling influences of the leopard — all under divine control for our blessing. God says, “I will make a covenant for them in that day with the beasts of the field,” and the end in view is that God’s people shall “lie down safely.” This covenant takes in also “the fowl of the heavens and the creeping things.” These unclean birds of the air no man can deal with or restrain. Christian Science, Spiritism, Pentecostalism, Millennial-dawnism, and Modernism itself are fowls of the air, under the control of Satan, “the prince of the power of the air,” who is spreading these influences throughout christendom. They may go on with their work in apostate christendom, but God will preserve those who go on with the truth. Then the creeping things, God speaks in His word of the caterpillars, and locusts; they destroy every green thing; little things outside the range of human possibility to control; they can sweep through a land and take every element of verdure out of it in a night. That is what is coming, and the greenness of everything in christendom is disappearing through such influences. What will not the Lord do for His own in any part of the world and in every local company, if, as He looks down upon us, He sees in our hearts the right recognition of Himself as supreme? He will grant that a conscious, living present sense of His love will fill every heart. That is what He is leading up to before the rapture; that is what the Lord is after, that not one of the Baalim should be in our mouths. The apostle would not have a Baal. Some of the Corinthians were saying, “I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is the Christ divided? has Paul been crucified for you?” Christ is not to be displaced by others or to share His place with them. He is to be supreme. That is the position, dear brethren, for every one of us and for the assemblies. He will be as Husband to us. He will be everything to us, and He covenants to protect those who accord Him that place. How He protected those who gave Him this supreme place when He was here. As the disciples complained about the woman in the house of Simon the leper, the Lord said, “Why trouble ye the woman?” Again, Judas said of Mary of Bethany, “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” Jesus said, “Let her alone.” So it always is, dear brethren, if He sees that He has our hearts, He will not let anything touch us. There are certain believers who while they love Him, have reserves in their hearts, and the Lord is only one of their lovers. Sport may be loved, or fame, or money. All these are rivals to Jesus.

Is not our blessed Saviour, the Son of God worthy to be supreme in every heart? To the local assemblies that He bears upon His heart, should He not be as a Husband, having their undivided love even as of each heart individually?

May the Lord help us on this road — the road of blessing and joy and protection — as the break-up in Christendom proceeds, through the apostasy.

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