HOW THE SAINTS ARE PRESERVED FROM EARTH-DWELLING
[p. 76] HOW THE SAINTS ARE PRESERVED FROM EARTH-DWELLING
Hebrews 1: 1 - 3; Hebrews 8: 1; Hebrews 12: 1, 2
I sought on a former occasion to show what justification is. Then we saw in Corinthians how those who had departed from the true standing, as set forth in Romans, were corrected. They had given rein to the natural mind, consequently they were dependent on earthly things.
“Ye have reigned as kings without us”, the apostle says to them.
There are two things that always go together, earth and flesh. A man who is earthly-minded is carnally-minded.
Then we went on to Galatians. There we saw another thing that keeps you on earth - the law. If you make the law a standard you give the flesh a place. I turn tonight to the pilgrim path. The great point of the book is how a saint may be preserved from settling on the earth. It is not a matter simply of salvation. If a man is not settled about salvation he cannot be occupied with the Lord. You must learn John 14 before 15.
I have read three verses in Hebrews 1, as in a certain sense they embrace the book. I hope to present to you the way by which a saint is preserved now from settling on the earth. Hebrews is written to Jewish saints who are naturally linked with earth. They had certain excuses that we have not. They were drawn to earth. If you are drawn to earth you lose the priesthood of Christ. He was not a priest on earth. The great thing to start with is that our sins are gone. It is not a question of sins. “When he had by himself purged our sins, sat down”. It is not, as in the types, a constant repetition. If sin has been [p. 77] disposed of on the cross, how can you go on with it? Chapter 1 is that having purged sins, He is gone, He has “sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high”. In the second chapter we see how we are associated with Him (Hebrews 2: 11), “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one”.
Now, beloved friends, it is not only that your sins are gone, but you belong to another order altogether. You cannot understand this book at all if you are not on resurrection ground. This verse gives you your true position - “all of one”. If you do not have oneness you lose the idea. “For which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”. It is not brethren after the stock of Israel, but as you get in John, “Go, tell my brethren,” etc. Here was the Lord in His unique position, so delightful to the Father. He says, I shall abide alone if I do not die, but if I die, I shall bring forth much fruit, that is, many grains. If you sow a grain, you get many grains from it. When the Lord rose He said to Mary, “Go, tell my brethren”, etc. He has brethren now. If you do not understand the position you are in you will never understand Hebrews. People say, Give us something for the wilderness.
In verse 12 he quoted Psalm 22: 22. If you look at Psalm 22 you will see that it is taken up with our side of the matter. There are seven giants from the cup of judgment down to the horns of the unicorn - death itself. He is heard. What now? What does He connect Himself with? His own. He visits them first. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”; that is the new company, not Israel, but brethren connected with resurrection. If you do not understand that you will never understand Hebrews. Here we get our relation to Him. “I will declare thy name unto my brethren”. Then, “In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee”, i.e., in the house of God, God’s dwelling-place. Hebrews 3 opens with, “Wherefore,
[p. 78] holy brethren.. . consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus”, etc. He is both Apostle and High Priest, both Moses and Aaron. In verse 6 we get “Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we”, etc. That is, we are not drawn to things here. Then he comes to the day of “provocation”. “When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years”. I believe that a christian is uncommonly little acquainted with his own history if he is not conscious of failure in the day of provocation. It is the day of difficulty. Israel took but one journey (Numbers 10), then they fell a-lusting and had a longing for the leeks and onions of Egypt. How many of us have failed there! We have longed for something from this world. Here we get a warning about the day of provocation. What made them turn back? There is the lusting first and then the actual refusing to go up. The spies praised the land immensely, but ten say, “We are not able to go up”. That is the day of provocation. “For we are become companions of the Christ” (verse 14), “called into the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ”, 1 Corinthians 1: 9. Communion is the same word. Communion would occupy you more with things outside the world. We have got company. “We are become companions of the Christ, if indeed we hold the beginning of the assurance firm to the end”. What do you understand by that? That you put your foot down solidly. Do not give that up. People are drawn back. The moment you begin to fail, you give up your brightest thing - the top-shoot - not the root. A person says, I am a christian. Yes, but you are like a forest tree in a flower-pot. There is no advance, no freshness and vigour about it.
Now we come to chapter 4: 11. How are we to meet it? We are on the pilgrim path. I do not deny there are difficulties, but the question is, do you set out as a pilgrim? A pilgrim is one who is going home.
“[p. 79] Let us labour therefore to enter into that rest”, etc. You are going on to that rest. They failed to enter into Canaan. “Harden not your hearts”. Mind you are on the pilgrim path. Do not be too confident. I never yet through grace sought to move on, but something was not thrown on my path - a leek or an onion - something to turn one off the path. I am a companion of Christ. I am on a journey. They declared they were strangers and pilgrims. You are on the way. It is not like Ephesians; you are seated there already. There is something that tells you are going on. Not like a tourist: a tourist tries to get the best accommodation here; but a pilgrim is set on where he is going: his object is to go on. Now the question is how you are affected by it: “lest any man fall after the same example of unbelief” (verse 11). Do not be too self-confident. The wilderness path is not the path to settle in, nor to make a place for yourself. You are going on and you are bearing testimony for Christ, “bearing his reproach”. Just turn to verse 12: “For the word of God is quick, and powerful”, etc. Now there are infirmities. The word of God will discover all your motives. In John the word used is ‘sin,’ here it is “infirmities”. It is to correct you that you may receive support from the High Priest. It is not that you do not come to Him for grace, but you get sympathy from Him. A man might be aggrieved; he could not expect the Lord’s sympathy because his vanity is hurt. The question is, How do you feel about the pressure you are in? The word will detect you when you are on the road. They would not go on. They would not receive the word mixed with faith. If a person were going on he would not mind how this one or that one offended him. He is going on. I am hindered by the rudeness of man. Yes, no doubt. “Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens .. . let us hold fast our profession”.
[p. 80] What do you expect from the sympathy of Christ? The word of God brings you into the light and you see where you are. The word is to correct you; what do you expect from the sympathy of Christ? What I find is that people do not know what to expect. He knows the way you suffer as a godly soul. It may be pressure of circumstances, sickness, bereavement. What do you expect? That He will remove it? That is not sympathy. Sympathy is that He bears you company in the trial, as He did to Mary in John 11. He uses the blank to make His interests more known to you. He “was in all points tempted like as we are”. He is interested in me. I know He is. I do not find anyone enters into my sorrows as He does. He says, as it were, I use this grief to make you know that you have One who sticketh closer than a brother. See the effect of that. When she lost her brother she thought she had lost everything. If a woman had not a man to provide for her, her hope was gone. What does she find? In chapter 12 she finds that the Lord is going. She has found Him and a friend found in sorrow is never lost. She says, I know what you are; and I know you are going to die. I give up the brightest thing I have. She anoints the Lord for His burial. That is an example. What we get here is the Lord’s sympathy; not as one who is on a level with me. He has been down here. Look at a verse in chapter 7. If we were better acquainted with the sympathy of Christ, our hearts would be more attracted to Him. “For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled”, etc. (chapter 7: 26). He says to us, I see you under pressure of sickness or bereavement, I have been there and I will support you from heaven. See what companionship that brings you into. “Made higher than the heavens”. It is not that you know something of the sympathy of a friend: he must know something of the sorrow himself, or he could not sympathise. He thinks of me. Sorrow always puts [p. 81] you into solitude. There is many a mother who would slave for her child, but she would not like to have the same malady as her child. The Lord says, I can bear you out in it.
I just add a word on chapter 5. The great difficulty with christians is, they have to do with milk - they are unskilful in the word of righteousness. It is that you have not got on to christian ground. Perfection is Christ glorified. I trust in a measure that a soul that is really waiting on the Lord for sympathy, is led to be clear from everything that would prevent Him from sympathising. When he comes to understand it, he will find what a resource he has. I believe he will catch the interest of Christ. I sometimes say to parents, You seek the love of your children; if you seek their interest you will get their love. It is not that He will allow anything that is contrary to Himself, He cannot, but He gives you sympathy.
Chapter 8: 1, “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum”, etc. See what a wonderful thing you have, the Lord in the midst of His own in the church. He is a Minister of the sanctuary, etc. You say, The sanctuary is in heaven. I do not deny it, but you have the greater thing in Himself.
I pass on to chapter 10: 19. “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest”, etc. Beloved friends, now you have the High Priest in another relation - a great Priest. I used to wonder why chapter 10 did not come before chapter 4; that the relation of the priest to God, was not before the relation of the priest to man. If you are bowed down by circumstances, you do not enjoy the Lord’s company. People say, We had a happy meeting. Yes, but were you in His presence? What Aaron could not do for his sons the Lord does for us. He removes the pressure, but whether it is gone or not, I have Him. He is my resource along the road. That is the High Priest. Chapter 8: 1 brings out the priesthood for us.
[p. 82] Now in chapter 10 it is a great Priest over the house of God, who sustains us there. You are always in His presence, but the question is, are you always enjoying His presence? It is not that I am relieved from the pressure of my circumstances, but He makes me to know that I have passed within the veil, His own presence. By the Spirit you are there, but what you have to understand is that if you are not fit for Him you will not enjoy Him. If there is a shade of distance between Him and you, you will not enjoy Him. It is like this, I am going on a journey and the One who supplies all my resources is not here at all. He is in heaven. I am brought to approach God, where there is not a single thing to hinder, the holiest of all. I would like now to go on to it. You are looking for Him to come. In the meantime what are you doing? Running on. Chapter 11 is not examples of faith; it is what faith can do. The Lord is the Author and Finisher of faith. “Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith”. It is joy to look out for Him. He is set down at the right hand of the throne of God. He is there to sustain me here; the effect on me is, I must go on to Him. I am so drawn out of things here, and drawn to Him there. As Ruth says, “Where thou goest I will go”. I cannot part company with the resource there. It is not saying we ought to do this or that, but I will so attach your heart to the One who is there that your heart will run on to Him.
Chapter 12. “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses”, etc.
I am going on, it is not looking at what I am going to leave, but I am going on. Why? Because my heart is drawn there. You have found out what He is to you here in the place where you are, so that you can run on to the place where He is. Just turn now to chapter 13 to show what our position would be here on earth. There are two kinds of discipline, the one [p. 83] to correct; the other to help. In chapter 12 it is all to help. “Partakers of his holiness” - that is what God is in His nature. Chapter 13 shows what sort of people it will produce and what sort of people we are. It is, “be content with such things as ye have”, and then where you are for Him, “Let us go forth therefore unto him .. . bearing his reproach” (verse 13). “Wherefore Jesus also .. . suffered without the gate” (verse 12). I do not know if you understand it, but a Jew would understand it as a very severe demand on him.
“Bearing his reproach” is that He was on the cross. How are you with regard to that?
What are you doing? “By him, therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually”. You are doing good to all men. You are praising God and serving man. I know He takes an interest in every worry and anxiety that crosses my path. Come down to the reality of it! Not merely is He touched by the feeling of my infirmities, but I am out of it. The apostle says, “I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me”. I do not think anything is so misunderstood as Christ’s path here. He was able to bear up in every circumstance He was in here. He did not get out of the circumstance. Look how He was sustained in everything here. He slept in the storm. The Lord grant we may understand better what an interest He takes in us. It is not only to remove our infirmities so that we may run the race but that our hearts may be so attracted to Him that we may run the race keeping our eye on Him, so that we may get to Him. The Lord grant we may know it better for His name’s sake.