KEEPING THE ENTRUSTED DEPOSIT

KEEPING THE ENTRUSTED DEPOSIT

2 Timothy 1:1-10; 2 Timothy 2:3,4; 2 Timothy 2:19-22; 2 Timothy 3:16,17; 2 Timothy 4:11-13

I have in mind to speak of the great responsibility that rests upon us to keep what has been committed to us. In 2 Timothy 1: 14 we read, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted.” The more the mind of God is being opened up to us, the greater our responsibility to keep it uncorrupted until the end. That is a most important matter, and it is well that we should be alive to the fact that we are in a world which is characterised by increasing evil of every kind. That is not merely incidental, but Satan uses it to endeavour to rob the saints of what God has given them in the way of light and privilege, and not only to rob the saints, but to overthrow if possible the testimony which God is set upon maintaining in this world. The testimony is a word which is often found in Scripture, and may be summed up in this, that God’s will is going to prevail, and that what is of God is going to be established on the earth to the overthrow of all that is not of God. Conditions in the world would belie such a thought: there is nothing in the conditions in the world, either politically or socially or religiously, to suggest that any progress is being made in the overthrow of evil, and the establishment of what is of God. But the saints of God have light in their souls, given them by God, that Christ is already triumphant over all the powers of evil for He is risen from the dead and has gone to the right hand of God, and that He has gone to the dominant position which He is at present occupying in order to fill all things; the day of Christ, when that will be established and manifested, is about to come in. In the meantime, among the saints of God on earth and among them only,

there is, or is intended to be, maintained what is going to be established publicly in that day, and that, as I understand it, constitutes the testimony. It is a wide term for it involves the service of God in keeping with the light in which He is known, for that is part of His will, and it is therefore essential that God should be served amongst the saints in keeping with His holiness and with the blessedness of the Name by which He is known. But, as I say, the testimony goes further than the maintenance of that, for it necessitates that God’s will is to prevail in every detail, and at the present time it is only amongst the saints who are walking in the truth that that testimony is maintained, and when I say maintained I mean maintained not merely as a matter of verbal confession, or announcement of the truth, but in an actual and substantial and living way. Now it is precisely that which the enemy is set against. If the testimony were merely verbal with no substance or light to support it, I believe the enemy would leave the saints alone, but in the measure in which he sees, at the present time, the living expression of what God looks for and what is going to be established publicly in a coming day to the overthrow of Satan and all his activities, he is set to oppose it by every means in his power. If need be, he will use violence; he will also use corruption, seduction of every kind. The important thing for the saints is to understand, on the one hand, that if suffering is called for, and this epistle shows that it is called for, it is to be accepted in a spirit of fidelity to the truth and to the Lord in relation to whom we stand in testimony here. If, on the other hand, the enemy’s effort is by means of corruption, whatever its character, there must be the most earnest determination on the part of the saints that through grace it will be refused and resisted.

That is very much the line of this second epistle to Timothy, and I would say here, too, that the apostle has in mind that what was entrusted to Timothy was to be committed by him to faithful men who should be competent to instruct others also. That is to say, he has in mind continuance, and continuance right through to the end. The power for this is the Holy Spirit whom we have received, but it is to be borne in mind that the truth committed to us is to be maintained livingly. Now in order to support us in this position, he brings in, in chapter 1, the thought that we have been called with a holy calling. Let us all, dear brethren, take that to heart, that the calling with which we have been called is a holy calling. The holiness of it, is stressed because it is a question of carrying the truth through inviolate in the midst of an unholy scene. The epistle to the Hebrews tells us that our calling is a heavenly calling; that is to detach us from earthly religion and earthly hopes. The epistle to the Philippians tells us that our calling is a calling on high of God in Christ Jesus; that is to emphasise the dignified and elevated character of the calling in order to impart a certain dignity to us as the saints of God passing through this world. But this second epistle to Timothy emphasises that it is a holy calling, and moreover the apostle says that Christ has brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel. Incorruptibility is a most important matter. Do not think that that refers merely to the bodily condition, for it does not. Thank God we shall take on an incorruptible bodily condition, as it says. “For this corruptible must needs put on incorruptibility,” 1 Corinthians 15: 53, but what has been brought to light in incorruptibility in a moral sense, in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, a Man who is incorruptible. God has brought in an incorruptible order of manhood. We partake in that order of manhood by the Holy Spirit, and it is most important to lay hold of that. The testimony of God in the holiness of its character is to be maintained in the presence of evil of every kind as the saints move in the power of what they are as partaking by the Spirit in an incorruptible order of manhood.

The apostle speaks in this epistle of being “apostle of Jesus Christ by God’s will, according to promise of life, the life which is in Christ Jesus,” 2 Timothy 1: 1. Now promise, as I understand it, as distinct from purpose, is what God has brought forward to meet conditions which either had arisen or which would arise, and God’s great provision for meeting the conditions of opposition to the truth which He knew would arise in these last days particularly, is life. That is to say, the saints are to be concerned as to being in life in a moral and spiritual sense. That is a most important matter, and the life which God has promised is the life which is in Christ Jesus. Where the expression “in Christ Jesus” is used in Scripture it nearly always implies a certain subjective correspondence with the truth in features that belong to the life which is in Christ Jesus. “In Christ” implies status; that is; we are in Christ as having received the Spirit in contrast to being in Adam. When the Lord Jesus came into this world there appeared on the earth what had never appeared before, a Man who was incapable of being corrupted. Thank God for that! God Himself is spoken of in 1 Timothy as the Incorruptible God; how thankful we can be for that! And now in the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ He has introduced a Man who is incorruptible. The Lord says,, “the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing,” John 14: 30. We know how in the wilderness the devil was permitted to bring to bear upon the Lord Jesus Christ every temptation. Three particular ones are recorded, but it says in Luke, “having completed every temptation, departed from him for a time,” chapter 4: 13. Every temptation was brought to bear upon the Lord Jesus by the devil, and what was disclosed in it was that now Satan was faced by a Man who was incapable of being corrupted. That was true when Jesus was here, but now it says, “who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings,” 2 Timothy 1: 10. That is, that life and incorruptibility have now become available to us through the gospel, incorruptibility in us lies in the Holy Spirit whom we receive, in whom we partake in the life of Christ, and by whom we are enabled to abide in Christ. If, dear brethren, we get away from the influence of Christ, we certainly are corrupted. As long as we are here, we carry with us the flesh upon which Satan very easily acts, and if it is not kept in the place of death that is proper to it. Satan can easily get access and get power over us in one way or another. So it is an important thing to realise, dear brethren, that there is no reason why we should succumb to any influence of evil, for we have the Holy Spirit of God, and He maintains our souls, or is prepared to maintain them, if we will allow Him to do so, in living touch with the Man who is incorruptible. As we abide in Him we do not sin. Scripture says so, “Whoever abides in him, does not sin,” 1 John 3: 6, and indeed it says, “he that has been begotten of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him,” chapter 5: 18. So that as affording full scope to the Holy Spirit and through Him abiding in Christ, abiding under the holy influence of Christ, there is no reason why we should not go through an evil world, untarnished by it.

That is what is in mind, dear brethren, in this epistle, and in order to strengthen our hands and to stimulate us in relation to this matter, the apostle tells us that God has “called us with a holy calling,

not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before the ages of time, but has been made manifest now,” chapter 1: 9, 10. That is to say, the very fact that we have been called by the gospel shows that we have been in God’s mind before the world began. He gave us His purpose and grace in Christ Jesus before the world began, and what dates back thus before the world began has now come into substantial being in that we have been reached by the gospel, as it says, “has been made manifest now by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who has annulled death, and brought to light life and incorruptibility by the glad tidings,” verse 10.

The epistle to the Ephesians gives us what was in God’s mind before the foundation of the world, the great purpose of His love in which we, dear brethren, were involved. I know nothing more stimulating than to take account of the fact that we were in God’s mind before the foundation of the world and that for the greatest conceivable thoughts of blessing which go right into eternity to come. There is nothing more stimulating than that. According to the epistle to the Ephesians, God is working simply from that standpoint, what His own love has conceived, with no other motive for it than what He is in Himself. From the time that He conceived it He has been working, founding the world with a view to working out His purpose and steadily going on, and now we are nearing the moment when all that He has purposed is to be brought into glorious and eternal establishment. But this epistle to Timothy, while bringing in a similar thought telling us of God’s purpose and grace given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, brings it in in order to strengthen us and stimulate us in regard of the holy obligation imposed upon us to keep the truth that has been committed to us and to keep it inviolate. Every brother and every sister is to see to it that the enemy’s attacks do not find us susceptible to them, do not find one with his armour off. It is a question of keeping our armour on and not putting it off in view of the urgent necessity, dear brethren, of carrying through the truth of God inviolate to the end. And so the apostle makes no secret of it that this is sure to entail suffering. What soldier goes to war without expecting suffering? Suffering is the order of the day while a war is on, and the apostle says, “Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ,” chapter 2: 3; and then he says, “No one going as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of life, that he may please him who has enlisted him as a soldier,” verse 4. Within the last thirty years the Lord has given us two experiences of war. What is the object of it, dear brethren? Is it not to bring home to us what military service involves, that it is a question of the necessity for personal considerations and personal ease to be relinquished, because of the over-riding demands of the cause for which we are called to war? This is to be taken into account in a spiritual sense in relation to the testimony of our Lord; every one is to regard himself as a soldier of Jesus Christ, that is to say, the claims of the testimony, all that is due to the Lord, come first and every personal consideration has to be subordinated to it. Everyone is to regard himself as a soldier, a soldier of Jesus Christ. It is Jesus Christ, dear brethren, not Christ Jesus; Christ Jesus looks upon our Lord Jesus in the present position of glory in which He is as the One who has been in God’s mind from the very outset, but Jesus Christ contemplates our Lord Jesus as He was down here passing through the scene of testing, and proving absolutely faithful in it. We are now to range ourselves under Jesus Christ as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. These are some of the thing’s that are necessary if we are to have part in the maintenance of the testimony right through to the end. So the apostle speaks also of tears, he says, “remembering thy tears.” Timothy, as we know, was a feeling man, one who cared with genuine feeling how the saints were getting on. How important it is, dear brethren, to be concerned as to how the saints are getting on, but first of all to be concerned as to yourself, as to how you are getting on yourself; I do not mean with any idea, of course, of making anything of yourself or of finding any occasion for self-satisfaction, for if you go on with God you will never find any occasion for self-satisfaction. Never! You go on dependently, but the great thing is to keep one’s own soul first, because there is nothing so potent for the help of the saints as a good influence. Every one of us exerts an influence of one kind or another; it may be a good influence or it may be a bad influence. Those who are themselves going on exert an influence for good over others, and if, through grace, we are concerned to go on well ourselves and keep near to the Lord, and learn to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit, then we shall also find that we shall be able to take account of how others are going on. Timothy was a feeling man, and the general defection that was setting in in the apostle’s day, (for he says, “all who are in Asia, of whom is Phygellus and Hermogenes, have turned away from me,” 2 Timothy 1: 15) was causing Timothy tears, and the apostle valued them as God values them. This matter of maintaining the truth of God to the end is a matter of hardship and of feeling and of relinquishment of personal rights and personal considerations; the over-riding consideration being the maintenance of the truth, not merely in a verbal way but in the living character of it, and particularly in uncorruptedness.

And then the apostle refers also to the unfeigned faith which had been found with Timothy’s grandmother, and then with his mother, and now he says, “in thee also,” verse 5. This is a matter which many of us may take account of, for many of us in this room are in the privileged position of having had parents, and it may be grandparents, who have been marked by faith before us. We are not to be indifferent to these things. We have come into the line of the testimony, the responsibility devolves now upon us. Our grandparents preserved it in fidelity according to the light that they had in their day and passed on the truth that they held, and their own influence with it, to the succeeding generation, and they in their turn have passed it on to us, and now, dear brethren, what are we going to do with it? There is a trust imposed upon us, there is an obligation upon us. Are we going to pass it on to another generation if God is pleased to raise it up? Are we going to pass it on inviolate? That is what we are concerned about because the Lord is greatly recovering the truth and greatly stimulating the saints in relation to the holy character of it and the elevated character of it, too. Along with that, beloved brethren, there is the most urgent need that each one should set himself by God’s grace to carry the matter through to completion, to let nothing be surrendered but to hold the truth in its holy character, and to hold it in life and in a substantial way.

In the passage in chapter 2 which I read, the apostle shows us how conditions in the religious world are to be met. It is a well known passage to which we often have occasion to allude, and I do not want to remain on it unduly, but it is such an important passage that any reference to the line of things of which we are now speaking would be incomplete if we did not refer to it. One of Satan’s most potent.

forms of attack has been, and is, by introducing corruption in the religious sphere; that is, instead of the pure mind of the Holy Spirit and the unquestioned authority of the Lord characterising Christendom, what is found in it is the corrupt mind of man working in the things of God and the complete disregard of the authority of the Lord. That being the position, how are things to be met by those who desire to be faithful? The apostle says, first of all referring to those who were by their false teaching overthrowing the faith of some, “the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his,” chapter 2: 19. Whatever God founds will stand, the soul can rest on that, there is no question about it; the foundation of God stands sure, and there is this seal to it, “The Lord knows those that are his.” That is an important matter because when it comes to the question of following the injunctions that we will speak of in a moment, some people say that things cannot be as evil as they are made out to be because there are certain ones of God’s people linked with them. That is not our concern. “The Lord knows those that are his.” That is His matter. Our concern is to be governed by principles that are according to the rights of the Lord’s name and the holiness of God’s house. The other side of the seal is this, “Let every one” - it is an individual matter - “who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity,” verse 19. The name of the Lord must not be connected with iniquity. If I name the name of the Lord and am identified with iniquity I connect the Lord’s name with iniquity, a most serious thing to do. “Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity.” You may say, What is iniquity? Iniquity is the working of the will of man in opposition to the will of God, and especially the will of man working in the things of God. That is iniquity. If I am identified with any religious body or system, the principle of whose existence denies the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit according to the 12th chapter of 1 Corinthians, and denies, too, the authority of the Lord - if, for instance, certain parts of the Scriptures are discredited and it is said that they are not inspired or that they do not apply in this day, that there has been development since the apostle’s day, or anything of that kind - anybody or system that is marked by these features is stamped thereby as iniquitous. It is of no use saying that there are many of God’s people connected with them, that is not the point. The point is that everyone is to accept responsibility for himself if he names the name of the Lord, to depart from everything that is of the character of iniquity. But then there is also another matter. This scripture not only authorises, and indeed, requires, in fidelity to the Lord, those who name His name to withdraw from iniquity, but it also authorises and requires those who would be faithful to the Lord to depart from persons who are vessels to dishonour. There again it is not a question of whether they are true believers or not, it is a question of whether they are vessels to honour or vessels to dishonour, and a person is to purge himself from vessels to dishonour. It therefore contemplates, dear brethren, that we are available for service, for the service of God and to serve the Lord, but what is our service to, is it to honour or is it to dishonour? We are to separate from vessels to dishonour; it says, “If therefore one shall have purified himself from these in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work,” verse 21; every good work, a most remarkable and encouraging statement, that in such days of brokenness and confusion as exist in the religious world today, it is possible, as moving on these lines, to be available to the Lord for every good work. There is not a single good work proper to Christianity that may not be reached in days of brokenness and moral confusion on these lines of withdrawing from iniquity and purging ourselves from vessels to dishonour. It is a question of being serviceable to the Master. Who would not wish to be serviceable to the Master? Who would not wish to be pleasing to the Lord? It is a question of proving serviceable to the Master. The Lord has carried through the testimony in His day inviolate, He did not let a single feature of the truth fall to the ground, not once did God’s name suffer at His hands, not in a single particular was God’s will in any way relinquished. And now, beloved brethren, in these days as we are nearing the end, when the truth is being recovered in such remarkable power and attractiveness; the Lord is looking to everyone of us to see to it that the truth is carried through inviolate to the end. There is to be correspondence with Himself. How are we to appear as pleasing to the Lord, marked by the features proper to the assembly such as He can present to himself glorious, if we are not concerned about moral correspondence with Himself in everything? Faithfulness to God in regard of the truth was, if I may speak of any feature of the Lord’s life as outstanding in relation to any others, an outstanding feature of His pathway here.

The scripture goes on to say, “But youthful lusts flee.” Flee them! Lusts are strong when we are young, they are lusts that show themselves in youth’s days, but, dear brethren, they will become stronger as we get older if we are not maintained in the power of self-judgment by the Holy Spirit, and the apostle says, Flee them! That is, it is not a question of saying that they will drop off, it is a question of fleeing them. It is a question of running away from them, so to speak, of keeping as far away as possible from them and from anything that would in any way, prompt them or call them into exercise. We need to be drastic and energetic about it in the power of the Holy Spirit. These are urgent matters because of the truth being at stake, and everyone who comes under the power of evil is a victory for Satan. It is an overthrow of the truth in that one for the time being. And so we are to flee youthful lusts, and then we are to follow righteousness. The apostle is setting before us a positive line on which we are to move; we are to follow righteousness, pursue it. Righteousness is simply what is right in the sight of God in every particular, in religious matters and in personal matters. To do what is right in every particular in the sight of God is to be the first governing principle of our lives. Then as applying that to the condition in the religious world around us, we shall find that that involves a path of faith, and a path of faith, beloved brethren, in which we become strengthened, supported by the Lord the longer we continue in it in faith. Righteousness and faith come first and then love and then peace. There are some who would have us surrender divine principles on the ground of going on together in happy unity, who bring forward the idea of love, but love comes third. It is an essential feature in its right place, but righteousness comes first, and faith comes second, and then love comes third, and then peace comes fourth. As held in their right order, beloved brethren, as we follow righteousness and faith we shall find that there is plenty of power to follow, love and peace also, with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart,” verse 22. And so these things are to be followed with those who are doing likewise. I just mention this in order that the younger ones here may understand the way this epistle links up with assembly truth, for this epistle is pre-eminently individual and the working out of it has to be taken up in exercise and faith by each one of us individually, but now what we come to here is that we are to follow these things “with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart.” That is, there is no suggestion of an isolated path, but God will see to it that there are those who are calling on the Lord out of a pure heart and we are to follow with them. Well now, if we are to follow with others, if there is to be a moving together of the saints collectively, whatever the number may be, be it two or three or three hundred or three thousand, the only thing that can regulate them in their movements collectively is the truth of the assembly. Hence it is a matter of righteousness to govern ourselves as moving together on these principles, by the truth of the assembly, and it is in this way and on these lines that the truth of the assembly, which is so precious to us now in these days, has been arrived at, and it is on these lines and these lines alone that it may be continued right through to the end.

I read the verse at the end of chapter 3 in order to show the immense value of the Scriptures, another thing which is most important for us as having this holy trust committed to us. The apostle says that “Every scripture is divinely inspired, and profitable for teaching, for conviction, for correction, for instruction in righteousness; that the man of God may be complete, fully fitted to every good work,” verse 16, 17. Here again we have the idea of all good works, a most encouraging thing. The apostle speaking here of the man of God, is not referring to Timothy personally. In the first epistle he says to Timothy personally, “thou, O man of God,” chapter 6: 11, but here he says, “the man of God,” that is to say, it is the man of God characteristically. It is open to you and to me to be a man of God, that is to say, one who is standing in an evil day for what is of God, and the equipment for the man of God is the Scriptures, handled indeed in the power of the Holy Spirit, but they are all divinely inspired and they are profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. They are a veritable armoury, a divine armoury that is inexhaustible and invincible, as rightly applied. The longer we go on with assembly truth, with assembly exercises, the more we discover that not a single position arises in which the testimony is threatened but what there is a Scripture that meets it, that exactly exposes what is at work and indicates what the saints are to do. And so, beloved brethren, we are thoroughly equipped. The Scriptures are indeed a veritable treasury too; all the wealth of divine thoughts is enshrined in the Scriptures. They are marvellously inexhaustible, but they are at the same time a wonderful armoury, so that they are the equipment of the man of God enabling him to be perfected unto every good work.

In closing, I refer to the verses read in chapter 4. The apostle says, “Luke alone is with me. Take Mark, and bring him with thyself, for he is serviceable to me for ministry,” verse 11. It is a question of Paul and of Paul’s doctrine. To Paul was given the most exalted features of the truth to minister to the saints; it is he who gives us the ministry in relation to Christ and the assembly. It is he who sets out the truth in its most heavenly and elevated character; and it is Paul’s doctrine that is particularly opposed in Christendom today. Now it is a question of who is going to be with Paul, of who is capable of being with Paul. He says, “Luke alone is with me,” and then he says, “Take Mark, and bring him with thyself, for he is serviceable to me for ministry.” Why should it be Luke and Mark? It is a remarkable thing that they are brought forward at this point.

Luke was with him and Mark was to be brought for he was serviceable to him. They were two men who wrote gospels; that is the secret of it, dear brethren. They had appreciated Christ; they had studied Christ in such a way that they were rendered capable in the hands of the Spirit of writing two gospels. Luke would understand the Person of Christ. It is Luke who is given by the Holy Spirit to tell us in a most holy way of the birth of Jesus, stressing His holiness, “the holy thing also which shall be born shall be called Son of God,” chapter 1: 35. He is able to present the incorruptible Man, to trace His movements in testimony, to enlarge upon how He was characterised by constant prayer. These things are important for us if we would learn the secret of incorruptibility as it is in Christ Jesus. Luke can delineate it for us; the features of dependence that were found in Jesus, the features of going right through to the end, the testimony never suffering for a moment at His hands. See Him, dear brethren, at the very last, when He is opposed by His foes, and Peter, alas, denies Him; and in the midst of all that was going on the Lord had time and was free in spirit to turn and look on Peter. Think of the grace of it! In the very midst of all the Lord was enduring at that time, He turned and looked on Peter. And as He was being led away; He says; “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep over me, but weep over yourselves and over your children,” Luke 23: 28. He carried the testimony of grace through entirely unimpaired notwithstanding the circumstances through which He was passing. Then on the cross He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” chapter 23: 34, and then he ministered grace to the repentant malefactor. All that was in the presence of the greatest pressure. See how the Lord carried the testimony through, the testimony of divine grace, entirely inviolate, absolutely incorruptible.

Luke was one who had studied Jesus, and as studying Him, and as being affected by that, which he had appreciated of Him, he was found with Paul at the end. I believe that is the secret, dear brethren, if we are to go through, we need to study Christ. Then Mark wrote another gospel. It is a question of what is basic, the incorruptible order of manhood that is to be appreciated in Christ, and now Mark delineates for us the perfect Servant. He had himself been a failure but had been recovered by grace. I have no doubt the secret of his recovery was that he studied Jesus as the perfect Servant and he was able to write a gospel. Now Paul says that man who has his heart impressed with the features of incorruptible service as seen in Jesus, is profitable for me, “Take Mark, and bring him with thyself.” Why should we not study Christ? I say it for myself as much as for you. Why should we not study Christ? It is the secret of going through uncorrupted.

Then he brings in another thing, he says, “The cloak which I left behind me in Troas at Carpus’s, bring when thou comest,” verse 13. Why should that be brought in here? It is a question not only of studying Christ, but of considering Paul’s measure. Timothy was to bring Paul’s cloak with him: Timothy would say to himself as he saw that cloak, That is Paul’s measure, I am not equal to wearing Paul’s cloak, but I am to bring it with me. I am to be constantly reminded what a man Paul was. So we, too, are to think of Paul’s measure, for Paul was taken up by the Lord and wrought in by the Spirit of God in order that he might set forth Christianity, as worked out practically in a man of like passions with ourselves, not entirely free from failure, but there it was. What a measure was Paul’s! So he says to Timothy, “The cloak which I left behind me in Troas at Carpus’s, bring when thou comest.” That is to say, keep Paul’s measure in mind; Paul himself says, “Be my imitators, even as I also am of Christ,” 1 Corinthians 11: 1. Finally he says, “and the books, especially the parchments,” verse 13. The parchments would be, I suppose, that which was most recently given. The books are to be valued, the written ministry is to be valued, but especially that which is most recent, that which is current. Bring these things with you, see that they have place with you. All these things are recorded, dear brethren, as means which the Spirit of God intends that we make use of, so that we shall go through to the end preserving the truth inviolate. May the Lord help us for His Name’s sake!