THE WAY INTO THE CITY
[p. 306] THE WAY INTO THE CITY
Ecclesiastes 10: 15; Psalm 107: 7
You will see that what one has in mind has reference to a city. The word is used in both passages. The book of Ecclesiastes speaks of Solomon as “the Preacher”, and the first passage one has alluded to speaks of those that weary themselves because they know not how to go to the city. There are several persons who are classified as preachers in the Old Testament, such as Solomon, Jonah, and such even as Nebuchadnezzar among the emperors. All are regarded as preachers, and you can understand that a preacher is usually allowed latitude in the use of words or metaphors or figures. So in the use of the word ‘city’, we regard that with a certain latitude; it is employed in view of reaching souls who are in the world. The preacher has to speak not only metaphorically but morally, meaning that the idea of a city is not always literal, built of stone and mortar or wood, but it may mean a system. In this case it does, and the persons mentioned do not know how to get to it; it is remarkable. To find a city in this world is a very simple matter. It is only a matter of geography to find the right road which is usually marked up on the highways. I have visited most of the great cities of the world, so that I know something about them, and how they may be reached, but the city in mind here is a moral idea, and can only be reached by persons who understand moral ideas. In a word, to bring it down to this day, the idea of a city here refers to the assembly, and the assembly is not formed of stones and mortar; it is formed of persons, and persons who are converted to God. Perhaps some of you have never thought of a city like that, composed of persons who are really converted to God, but that is what this city is. It is [p. 307] designated in the book of Revelation as a city. John says, “I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God”. Well, you see what is meant; it is the assembly that is meant, and now what I have to say is about the assembly as a city. Many of you here are really in it as believers in the Lord Jesus, most of you, but some may not be, and so I would seek now to indicate how this city may be reached, because it is the city of salvation. As of old, Zion was the city where God had placed salvation, so today God has placed salvation in the assembly.
Now I do not want you to think that He has not placed salvation in Christ, because He has. Christ alone is our Saviour. The assembly is not our Saviour; Christ is our Saviour, and Christ is the subject of our preaching in that sense. He is the Saviour of sinners, and He is proclaimed in the gospel as the Saviour to men. It says, “For God is one, and the mediator of God and men one, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be rendered in its own times”, 1 Timothy 2: 5, 6. It is rendered here tonight, that the Lord Jesus has given Himself a ransom for all. For hundreds of years this wonderful proclamation has been going forth, and myriads have been saved. It is the day of salvation, the accepted time, and it is through the blood of the Lord Jesus. “Ye are saved by grace, through faith; and this not of yourselves; it is God’s gift”, Ephesians 2: 8. But then I am talking of the city, and whilst proclaiming that Jesus and Jesus only is our Saviour, yet there is the idea of salvation in a place, and as of old it was in Zion, so today it is in the assembly. Hence it says in Acts 2, after the first great gospel address was preached, and three thousand persons were converted, “the Lord added to the assembly daily those that were to be saved”. There are some here who have to be saved, yet most of us are already taken into the category of the saved. Those who are [p. 308] not are in mind tonight, and if there is anyone here who is exercised about salvation, then of course I would like to speak to that one.
There are persons here who are really saved in the sense in which I have spoken, but yet they are not too restful in the forgiveness of sins. If you are worldly, you are apt to forget that you are purged from your former sins, and you become indifferent, and these gospel preachings all over the world are intended for such as you. You have been saved in the ordinary sense, but you have turned to the world, you have become worldly. You need salvation from the world, and God says, “I will give salvation in Zion, and unto Israel my glory”, Isaiah 46: 13. He has placed salvation in a certain place, and that place is the assembly. The assembly is formed of saved persons, and the Holy Spirit indwells it, and operates in it, and if you turn away to the world, “The labour of fools wearieth them”-that is, every fool-”because they know not how to go to the city”. He needs to know the way and he does not know; it may be he has the desire to go, but fails in the moral importance of it.
Now in order to qualify further what I have said, I quote what the writer in the previous chapter says, “This also have I seen as wisdom under the sun, and it was great unto me. There was a little city, and few men within it; and there came a great king against it, and encompassed it, and built great bulwarks against it: and there was found in it a poor wise man, who by his wisdom delivered the city; but no man remembered that poor man”. Well now, this is the city, and in it the Lord Jesus was found, because the Lord Jesus is really depicted here as the “poor wise man”. He built the city, but it takes a long story to show that He delivers the city. I am not going to tell that story, but simply to say that the Lord Jesus is in mind here, and most of us remember Him in the Supper, but many do not. It says in verse 15, “But no man remembered that poor man”. The Lord is in mind; He is the Builder of the city, and the Deliverer of the city. Indeed He is the Builder of the assembly. He calls it “my assembly”, saying, “On this rock I will build my assembly”, and I say to every one of you young people that it is yours too. The Lord has it for you at the moment. He has it for Himself for ever and ever. It is His bride out of heaven, “a bride adorned for her husband”, but in the meantime the Lord is using it for His people, so that you might find deliverance in it, not only deliverance from your sins, but deliverance from the world. That is the idea. He has set it up to be a vessel of deliverance for His people, and I address every young person here tonight, that the Lord has this wonderful system ready for you, and in it you will find deliverance from the world. Most of us here have found it so; perhaps you have not, and if so what I am saying is for you, and you need to know how to get into it.
Now as I said it is a moral thought, and has to be apprehended in a moral sense, and if you want to get into it, it involves judgment of this world that you have fallen into, and maybe that you have been damaged by its influence. You may like it because of what it gives to young people, to make them, as they think, wise, but this wonderful system that the Lord Jesus has is for your deliverance. He has built it, and He has it for the moment for you. Presently He will have it for Himself eternally. He has it for Himself now, but it is also a vessel of deliverance for every person who wants it. Perhaps you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, but the question of the world is not settled in your soul. You do not know the way into “the city”. You weary yourself. You say, I would like to be back with the people of God, but somehow I cannot find the way, as this verse says, “The labour of fools wearieth them, because they know not how to go to the city”. You would have no difficulty if you wanted [p. 310] to go to Edinburgh or Aberdeen. The way is plainly marked for your natural eyes, but this city is not so plainly marked; you get no boards to show you the way into the city of God. It has to be understood morally, because it is important to learn to judge things morally, to judge the world which seems to be pleasing, and holds out so much for you. You have to learn to judge it, and unless you do, you will not get into the city. In a word it is the fellowship of God’s Son-a wonderful thought. “God is faithful, by whom ye have been called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord”, 1 Corinthians 1: 9. The way is for you to find, and the ministry that the Spirit of God is maintaining here is to show you the way. Hence you find such a voice as Isaiah’s speaks behind you. Some night when you are going to the theatre, or cinema, or the card table, or whatever it may be, you find a voice behind you-”This is the way, walk ye in it”, Isaiah 30: 21. You have to hear that voice and take that way.
Now, as I was saying, the poor man, who typifies the Lord Jesus, has delivered the city, and if He is not in your mind, the Holy Spirit intends that He should be in your mind, if you are a christian; and if you are not, He should still be in your mind, because you may be among those who are to be saved, “those that were to be saved”, meaning that God has you in His purpose, and you choose to stay out, to remain in the world, or at times you want to come back to your place with the lovers of Jesus in the things that relate to salvation. Now I am speaking very plainly, I hope, to every young person here. It is a great opportunity for you to lend your ear carefully to what has been said, and see if you cannot find your feet in the way.
That way is available. There are many other ways of course: there is the way of death, you know, and the way of the world, as I have been saying. It may be the way of commerce is leading you, or it may be the [p. 311] way of music; your social entertainment leading you off, and yet you have not yet found the way! The Lord Jesus says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life”. But I am now speaking of the way to salvation, the way to the city, which the foolish man is wearying himself to find, but does not find it, whereas when we come to the passage I read from Psalm 107, you have a beautiful reference to the gathering time. Of course, it refers to the gathering time for Israel; and it is the gathering time too for the people of God. I am speaking of persons who are to be saved. Scripture says that He died to gather together into one the children of God that are scattered abroad, and there are many. Those of us who are christians here perhaps have learned to weep secretly for our brethren. It is said in John 1 that as many as received Christ, to them God gave the power or title to take the place of children of God-a great matter. It is a title to take that place, a title to enter by the front door as one of the family. That is the idea of John 1, “As many as received him, to them gave he the right to be children of God, to those that believe on his name; who have been born, not of blood, nor of flesh’s will, nor of man’s will, but of God”. Now there are many like that. They are scattered abroad in this world, but there is the gathering power of God today. “Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his lovingkindness endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the oppressor”-notice that-”and gathered out of the countries, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea. They wandered in the wilderness in a desert way, they found no city of habitation. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them: then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble”. Now that is the point. Perhaps you are not moved by what has been said. If you do not know salvation, if the idea of it has never come into your mind and [p. 312] you are to be saved, well now these verses are most touching: “Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble”. If the trouble has begun in your heart now, it is time for turning to the Lord. You need not go home to do it, you can do it now. As one said, “O God, have compassion on me, the sinner”, Luke 18: 13. Why not do it, the cry taking place at the moment of the preaching?
What I am speaking of in Ecclesiastes 10 does not give you the way at all, nor does it give you the cry, for you are called a fool there; you do not find the city. You remember a man who is called a fool in the gospels? He said to himself that he had plenty of goods, plenty of money, so to speak, to buy all he needed, as people do now because of the big wages. Big wages are often a curse, because they give you so much means of gratifying yourself, but the scripture says, “Love not the world, nor the things in the world”. The love of the world is not of the Father, and maybe you have never learned to give up the thought of the world, nor have you found the way into the city, and my effort now is to impress you with this, that there is such a way, and that way leads to the city of salvation. Salvation is in it. I have already said that salvation from sins is not exactly the point, it is a question of salvation from the world. You will find that salvation in the assembly, and my point now is that you should find the way into it, and the first thing is to cry, to begin to feel that you have never come to it. You have long wished to be in the city of salvation, but you have not found the way, wearying yourself in endeavouring to find it, and you have not found it. Well, have you ever cried? You see the way is simple, for God hearkens to the cry. You remember how it is said in Exodus 3, “Jehovah said, I have seen assuredly the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and their cry have I heard”. They were suffering Egypt’s bondage, and so are you. It is [p. 313] the same thing. The world holds you in bondage, and God gives you to understand that He is feeling for you, and I hope you will feel for yourself, and that that will give vent in a cry! “They cried unto Jehovah in their trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses”. He did that. You have not touched that yet! Most of us have-but you have not touched it, the cry and the deliverance from your distresses-and so it goes on, “And he led them forth by a right way”. He led them. God does it; it is not simply now the cry, but immediately submitting yourself to the leading of God; that is the truth of the gospel, the truth of salvation.
We are told that the gospel is for the obedience of faith among all nations. We shall never be suitable for the assembly unless we have learned the idea of obedience of faith. It is not simply what your father and mother say you should do, but what God says, “Faith cometh by hearing”. But hearing what? It is not simply by the act of hearing, or by the power of hearing in the ear, but hearing “by the word of God”. That is the point, the word of God. God has His servants ready, and they have been preaching in hundreds of places the word of God. Now the point is to anyone here tonight to come into the thing which I have been speaking of, namely, salvation.
Last week, I was saying something in the west of London about two men that were blind who followed the Lord Jesus. They knew He was there, walking before them, and they said, “Have mercy on us, Son of David”, Matthew 9: 27. The Lord did not answer them. Well, I am just telling you now how things happened in the work of the Lord, that the Lord challenges us as to things that we want, that we urgently want, and He does not say anything. You say, I have been exercised about salvation for long enough. I have been coming to the meetings and I have not got it; I have never had experience of it. Well, these two [p. 314] men did not either. They were blind, and they followed the Lord, and they said, “Have mercy on us, Son of David”. The Lord did not say anything. Perhaps that is your case. Perhaps you say, I have been longing for it. Well, have you? The Lord did not say anything, and the Spirit of God says, “When he was come to the house”. Perhaps you have not followed Him into the house. You have been trying to detain Him outside, to have your own way about it, to have those things come your way as you think, but the Lord does not say anything, but He goes into the house. We are not told whose house it was. There were many houses in Matthew’s gospel, and they followed Him in. Do not turn aside what I am saying. They followed Him into the house. Perhaps you have not come to the house. These men said, “Have mercy on us, Son of David”, and the Lord did not say anything; He just went into the house. Maybe you have not come into the house. If the Lord elects to do things in a house, why not follow Him and see how He does things. They kept on saying, “Have mercy on us”, and when He was come to the house, they came into it. Now listen to what He said, “Do ye believe that I am able to do this?”. He is saying, I want you to have faith. Have you got it? Perhaps some here that are called christians have not got the element of faith. The Lord says, “Do ye believe that I am able to do this?”. In the house He said that, and they said, “Yea, Lord”. Then the Lord says, “According to your faith”-notice that-”be it unto you”. Well now, what about your faith? Have you any? If you leave this room without it, I would urge you to get hold of this matter. Millions are coming into it, and they are getting saved by faith, because you know the truth of the gospel is justification by faith, not of works, nor sight, but by faith. And that is what the Lord means. He meant to convey to these two blind men that He expected them to have faith,
[p. 315] or they would not be anything in the assembly. So they say, “Yea, Lord”. But the Lord did not rejoice in that either; He did not make much of them, and the Lord would never make much of you. He is telling you He is looking for faith in you. “Without faith it is impossible to please [God]”. And so they said, “Yea, Lord”, and their eyes were opened; but He says, mark you, “According to your faith, be it unto you”. In Luke 7 the Lord says to the woman “Thy faith has saved thee; go in peace”. “Thy faith”-not someone else’s faith. The Pharisee said something which would belittle her, and anyone seeking to come into the truth will be belittled by the Pharisee. When it comes to you actually to be saved, you must have faith yourself. You will never be saved if you have not faith. You might have faith to remove mountains, and yet be nothing, showing how real the thing is.
I come now to the matter of getting salvation, and how it is obtained according to Psalm 107, how to get into the city. The first thing is they cry. If you have not found your way into the city, you have not come into the fellowship, you do not belong to the saved in the sense I am speaking of it. I mean, saved from the world, and the need of coming to the city for it. And so in this psalm, as I said, we have first the thanksgiving that the Spirit of God urges, “Give ye thanks unto Jehovah; for he is good; for his loving-kindness endureth for ever”. Let us learn to say these things from our souls. “Let the redeemed of Jehovah say so”. How we love to do this! “Whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the oppressor, and gathered out of the countries, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the sea. They wandered in the wilderness”. That is what many are doing — wandering in the world, having the pleasures of sin for a season. Perhaps you are wearying yourself in it, and then it goes on, “They found no city of habitation”.
[p. 316] After all this has been said, it goes on to say, “And he led them forth by a right way, that they might go to a city of habitation”.
Now let me extend an invitation. Heaven entitles me to extend an invitation to you here tonight, to get into this right way! “He led them forth by a right way, that they might go”. You have to do it yourself-”that they might go to a city of habitation”. And then, “Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men”. Salvation and deliverance are to be known in coming to all this. Accept it from the Lord, and give thanks! That is what the apostle came to-”O, wretched man that I am! ... I thank God”, Romans 7: 24, 25. The thing is reached in the giving of thanks. “Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men; for he hath satisfied the longing soul and filled the hungry soul with good”. Then it says: “And he bowed down their heart with labour ... . Then they cried unto Jehovah in their trouble”. I do urge anyone here tonight to cry unto the Lord. His ear is open to your cry, He will never repel you for your trouble. He will hearken to your cry in it. “And he saved them out of their distresses; he brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and broke their bands in sunder. Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men”.
Every intelligent person here tonight will understand what has been said. I can hardly speak more plainly of the city of God, for the Lord has in mind His own assembly. It is the precious system of things in which He supports His people. The saints are in it. The Spirit of God is in it, and the saints are your best friends. Keep by them if you want these things. They are in the city of God. They are able to tell you how to get into it. Why not be with them? If [p. 317] you are not in fellowship, it is your portion, your right, your privilege, as we have been saying about the passage in the last chapter of the Bible: “that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”. There is no other way. It is by the gates. The angels of God are there, the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are there. You are welcome there. Everything affords welcome to you there, and so the word is, “Let them give thanks unto Jehovah for his loving-kindness, and for his wondrous works to the children of men”. The city is available to you-”that they may have right to the tree of life, and that they should go in by the gates into the city”. What that means is fellowship at the present time. There will be no fellowship in heaven.
There will be no need for it. Fellowship contemplates a period of time in which there is opposition. We would urge any who are not in it to come in.
May the Lord help someone here tonight to enter.