THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
[p. 86] THE ACQUISITION AND MAINTENANCE OF SPIRITUAL STRENGTH
Mark 1: 6; 1 Peter 1: 13; Ephesians 6: 14; John 13: 4, 5
What I had in mind is spiritual strength and how it is to be acquired and maintained.
You will remember that David is said to have had certain mighty men. In Chronicles a list of them is given at the beginning of his reign; they were said to be men that he had, and they came with a perfect heart to make him king. They were valiant, and at the beginning of his reign moved, not as a body of mighty men, but “with all Israel”. Their might no doubt would be an occasion of communion between them, not to make them partisan or specialists but as seeking to make David king and to maintain him with all Israel. They were men with a universal outlook. In the second book of Samuel a list is given of David’s men at the close of his reign, the same names generally are mentioned with certain variations, but the suggestion obviously is, that as a type, the chapter in the second book of Samuel points to the end of the dispensation in which we are, as if to afford inspiration for those of us who are in these last days to acquire this strength and maintain it, and to use it not for our own prominence or distinction, but as it were to make David king “with all Israel”, and to maintain his place in the kingdom. This is what I have in mind, dear brethren, in reading these scriptures, and I do not believe I am aiming too high for there is latent strength in this company, spiritual strength, active strength, too, but it is more latent than active. Whilst latent strength is right up to a point, it is useless beyond that; when need exists and it does not come forth it is useless. Deborah reviews the position in her days in her song and dwells on certain who came forth to the conflict and others who did not. Not that they could not, not that they were not men of war, or men of valour, but [p. 87] they were neglectful of the need. God gave the victory without them but they lost much, and so it is always. The Lord always puts in His claim in the conflict and the conflict is not spasmodic, it properly continues as Ephesians 6, from which I have read, shows. There are special attacks of the enemy, and special defence, but the conflict is continuous. Hence there is a need for all to be on the alert and ready, as the apostle says, “Thou therefore, my child, be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2: 1), and goes on to point out to Timotheus that no one enlists to be a soldier and retains his own interests; he is concerned about him who has enlisted him to be a soldier. So that we are all as it were under arms, ready to be called out, ready to be called into the conflict. We are not weaklings, we are to be strong in grace, we are to be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus, and as he says elsewhere, “quit yourselves like men; be strong” (1 Corinthians 16: 13).
Now I selected John the baptist first, having in mind to connect my remarks with the idea of a girdle, or that by which we are girded, believing that, as these and many other scriptures indicate, a girdle implies the conservation of strength. It is one thing to acquire strength, and it is another to conserve it. Strength, I need not say, lies in the Spirit of God; it is He that affords us power, but then there is that which we call moral power which is also needed. It flows from a man’s integrity, from a man’s godliness, from a man’s adherence to right principles, from his maintenance of a right spirit. These are moral qualities; they are, as it were, attributes. The Spirit is the power inside, inwardly, for we are to be strengthened, we are told, by the Father’s Spirit in the inner man. But in the actual, or dynamic, power, there is also moral power; this is a very important word because it alludes to what is attributable to a person, certain qualities, and by which he has influence for good. The Lord told His disciples [p. 88] to go into the world to make disciples of all nations. That alludes to power not only what is called dynamic, but what is called moral, the power of influence with others for good so that disciples are made, “make disciples of all the nations”. Now this word is particularly for young men, but this includes young sisters, too, for when John wrote his epistle to the fathers and young men and the little children he had in mind all, not just the males; he meant all the family. When he says fathers, he does not exclude the elder sisters; when he says young men, he does not exclude the younger sisters; we know that women have done exploits as men have, according to the Old Testament and the New, too. And, of course, when he says little children he includes all. In the first epistle he alludes to all the saints but he has a good deal to say to the young men. He says, “ye are strong”, not ‘ye should be’. I am speaking now of latent strength; the apostle would stress that “ye are strong, and the word of God abides in you” (1 John 2: 14). That is the weapon is first used against oneself, for it is a two-edged sword, and then against others, for one is only effective in the word of God in applying it to others, in the measure in which one applies it to oneself; “the word of God abides in you”. If the word of God abides in one, it means it is restful there; there is nothing to disturb it so to speak. Hence it indicates a very advanced state if the word of God abides in young men. Then the apostle goes on to what confirms me in the thought about the girdle on the loins. The girdles are not always said to be on the loins; in the Revelation they are said to be on the breasts of the Lord Jesus and of certain angels who came out of the temple. The presence of golden girdles on the breast means that the Lord, or these angels in Revelation 15, could not carry on their service in the liberty of love but on the principle of judgment. Here in John’s epistle the young men are enjoined not to love the world. In spite of our strength we are exposed to the world and [p. 89] the world attacks us, Satan being in it, through our affections. He says, “love not the world;” that is a love that, I might say, belongs to the lower affections, that which is capable of linking on with what is low morally; so it says, “love not the world, nor the things in the world”. Many a young man, who has developed this quality of being strong and with the word of God abiding in him, enters into marital and household relations and his wife perhaps urges him into certain things that he would not have entered into, or the children are considered and certain things are taken on on their account. One thing after another comes in and the power weakens, all because of the want of the girdle of leather or skin. “Love not the world, nor the things in the world. If any one love the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father” (1 John 2: 15, 16). These are very subtle things. Think of the pride of life in a brother who at one time had power in his soul; he has got a better house, a better car, everything is increased from that point of view, but the power is lessened.
Now that is what I had in mind, dear brethren, and John the baptist affords in that illustration a type of this; he was a peculiarly abstemious man, no man more so except perhaps his great prototype, Elijah. He was in the deserts, we are told, not only desert but deserts, as if he deliberately took up the idea of desert in its variety of meanings, and took on circumstances which would disallow and wither up the flesh; the desert is what negates the flesh. That is John the baptist, and so we are told that he was here, told what he had on, a leather or skin belt. Leather I suppose is prepared from skin; the word “leathern” is used in Matthew. It is skin, only dressed, a material that is of great distinction in the Scriptures, because it is the first material employed for human clothing, God himself having used it to make clothes; so there is a spiritual significance [p. 90] alluding obviously to death having preceded in some being. It would be, in the sense of which I am speaking, the girding of oneself with the witness to the death of Christ; I mean it is a public profession. In the types referring to leprosy, skins have a place, leprosy may break out in these skins (Leviticus 13: 48), and so a leathern belt, or girdle, indicates a public profession, but with John the baptist you can see it was a very real thing. He was girded about the loins with this girdle of skin, it was not on for an ornament. Girdles are sometimes spoken of in Scripture as used for ornament but this was not for that, it was ornamental in a moral sense, for what can be greater round the loins than what denoted the death of the Lord Jesus. How sobering, how solemnising that belt would be as looked at at any time! Accompanying this was the clothing of camel’s hair as you will observe, I suppose alluding not exactly to the death of the camel, but to the shearing of the camel, the hair in that sense yielded up in a docile way, in a domesticated way, in the Spirit of Christ. This clothing has come in in that way and it would surely speak of the creature, what it is, and if there is one thing that marks a camel, it is reserve, latent reserve. What you can say of a brother who is camel-like is that he has something. The camel has a reserve supply of water, very important in an arid desert; how much more so, dear brethren, in the arid desert through which we are passing. We say that brother has something, and his belt is in keeping with it, the question therefore is, can we tap this reserve that he has, for there are those who have things from God and the brethren get no benefit from them. One of the most painful things that one finds, and one has experienced it considerably, is dumbness in the brothers, inability to take part profitably amongst the brethren; yet we know they have something.
Further, John is said to have eaten locusts and wild honey as food. These locusts are evidently wilderness [p. 91] creatures, and valuable thoughts to us; he is not buying these in the market evidently. I suppose the idea is that they are acquired according to what the man who dwells in the deserts is. Then he ate wild honey; there is much of that abroad in a spiritual sense; what is wild but good in itself has a very great significance. The idea is that the wildness is to disappear by being brought under control. John evidently managed to bring under control something that he could use. This power for subjugation and getting what is really good is very important amongst us, for honey denotes what is mutual. But then I am speaking of the girdle and how in keeping with all these things it is; it keeps the affections, the natural affections, the most powerful affections under control. Now one of the greatest requirements that I know of for a young christian to begin with is the ability to acquire power to control the most powerful affections he has. It is by the Spirit, of course, but then this girdle denoted that death had taken place; these affections deserve death so that we are to mortify our members which are upon the earth; those are what are near to the earth, what are capable of being overpowered by the earth. We are to mortify them as it says, “if, by the Spirit, ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live” (Romans 8: 13). These are great facts for young brethren, young brothers and sisters, at the present time, for if we are to be in the condition of strength, if we are to conserve it, if it is to be taken up and used as occasion demands, then this girdle of skin is to be worn with its accompaniments.
Now I speak of John as a sort of general representation of what I have in mind and I proceed to speak of the specific spheres in which such a person is found; the first is that of divine government. Peter’s two epistles deal with the government of God. It is important to read them in this light because they have a wide field as you will observe. God deals with the good and the bad, and the bad found with the good in the [p. 92] christian is dealt with as bad, for God has no regard of evil in the christian. He thinks it is just as bad in a christian as in an unbeliever, or worse, and He deals with it accordingly. He deals with it in love. Peter, speaking of the judgment of God, says, “if the righteous is difficultly saved, where shall the impious and the sinner appear?” (1 Peter 4: 18). So he says that judgment begins at the house of God, a most solemn matter, and Paul, confirming this, says, “On this account many among you are weak and infirm, and a good many are fallen asleep” (1 Corinthians 11: 30), that is, they did not judge themselves. If we judged ourselves we should not be judged with the world. God abominates the idea of dealing with His people as He deals with the world, but He is obliged to do it, unless we judge ourselves. So that Peter, who addresses himself to certain of the dispersion, deals with the judgment of God. Why were they dispersed? It was the government of God. What dispersed them? the Romans, of course, and other powers; the prophets are full of it, speaking of God using instrumentalities to disperse them, it was the government of God. And the apostle goes on to mention the different provinces in which they were, showing that God knew where they were, although dispersed; the Lord knows those that are His. Peter points out the truth of the gospel, telling them wonderful things that the angels desired to look into, and that it was revealed to the Old Testament writers that the things they ministered they did not minister unto themselves but unto us. He then goes on to say, “Wherefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, ...” That is the point he makes, the loins of the mind, and this, the second head under which I am speaking, enables me to speak a little to the young and to parents in relation to the mind. The mind is a wonderful faculty, I suppose the most wonderful that man has. In the ordinary course of the development of the truth in the believer’s soul, he arrives at a point where the mind is under control, “I myself with the mind serve God’s law” (Romans 7: 25). This is a great victory: the mind is to dominate. Then we are enjoined, “And be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God” (Romans 12: 2). The renewing of our minds is so that we have them, dear brethren, under control, and so that the Spirit of God can use them. Indeed it is said elsewhere that we have the mind of Christ, a kind of faculty, as it were; through the wonderful process through which God passes us we acquire what may be compared with the mind of Christ, that kind of mind.
Well now the devil is aiming his attack at that kind of mind in the young. I believe the most deliberately laid out plan in all the machinations of our enemy, is this attack on the mind in these modern times. One has thought of it a lot, and seen a good deal of the effects of it. In a broad way the anti-christian leaders of the world are aiming at getting the children. That is the plan, a well laid out plan, it may take years to succeed but it is a well laid out plan from that point of view. The Lord would use the parents to combat this. I believe that the Lord would lead us into a correlative but opposing plan to all this, that is, the parents should understand the enemy’s strategy which is working in the schools, in books and magazines, in cinemas, and alas! in the pulpits of christendom. It has to be owned sorrowfully that they have been enrolled in this great movement in these last days. All these agencies are employed and all aim at the mind. And so we are enjoined here in view of all these things, the government of God controlling them, too, we are enjoined here to gird up the loins of our minds, “and hope with perfect steadfastness in the grace which will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”. Grace is supplied, it is a time of wonderful grace, and it is for fathers and mothers and elder brothers and sisters to take on this and to see what is current and [p. 94] meet it; the Lord would be with us in checking this terrible onslaught against the mind, inducing the corruption of the young. We have, as it has often been remarked, in Elisha’s ministry, an antidote to this very thing here. The wild gourd was put in to the pot, unknowingly it may be, it was a lapful so it belonged to the lower affections. It was not carried in intelligent affection at all; it was a wild thing, man’s product utterly unsubdued. It goes into the pot, and is provided as food for the sons of the prophets. Elisha meets it when it was detected; the poison was detected as it is today; the Lord has pointed it out, and I am pointing it out to you tonight. I have not any hesitation but that I am saying what is right; the poison was discerned, and the antidote was the meal. Elisha says, “Bring meal”. He put the meal into the pot; that is, he is a person who cares for things, who loves God, who loves the truth, and loves the young people. It is urgent with the young that this terrible attack should be met. It is to be met in the minds and in the affections of the young, and of the old, too, of course, for the poison is found in the things we read in the newspapers and magazines. The things that are current all tend to feed this in the old and the young so that the word is gird up the loins of your mind, it is like the tucking up of the affections, of the mind. It is a figure, of course, the ‘loins of the mind’. “Wherefore, having girded up the loins of your mind, be sober and hope with perfect steadfastness in the grace which will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ”.
Well now I go on to the next point; it is in Ephesians. Ephesians contemplates the conflict too. It is the heavenly side, more for the elder brothers and sisters of course. Ephesians contemplates an advanced state of soul, advanced spirituality, and the apostle calls attention to the character of the warfare. It is not, he says, with flesh and blood, it is with principalities and powers in the heavenlies, the universal lords of this [p. 95] darkness. I have been speaking of darkness in detail in schools and books, and this is a question of the lords. We had yesterday the lords of the Philistines; they were lords of darkness. They were those that watched what happened with the milch kine, and went back home. Here it is the universal lords of this darkness, the darkness that we have to face, the heavenly side of the conflict, and so the apostle says, “Take to you the panoply of God”. It contemplates grown men who take on the panoply, or whole armour, of God that they may be able to withstand; there is no other way. The first part of the body he touches is the loins, other parts then come into view: the breast, the head, the feet; all are to be covered with the armour. There is no armour for the back as has often been remarked. It is a question of conflict, of standing up against the enemy and the first part of the body that is mentioned is the loins. Have your loins girt about with truth. Here it is not exactly the thought of leather; that is one that includes the death of Christ. Of course we must have the death, resurrection and the ascension of Christ always before us. Some do not go beyond the death of Christ in the gospel, others do not go beyond the resurrection, but the full gospel goes on to the ascension; we must have the whole truth, and that is the girdle. The Lord says, “I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth” (John 17: 19). He meant to say that He was not only about to die and rise; He was going up into heaven, He was going to be sanctified there in heavenly glory, that is set apart as the representative of God’s eternal counsel for us. Wonderful thought in relation to Christ as He is now. So we would be in correspondence with Christ as He is now, and would be sanctified by truth, not by a part of it, but by the whole truth; so the apostle says here — having girt about your loins with truth. It is the full thought I believe of truth, that the affections are all kept under control, not only in a legal way, not only [p. 96] because it is right, but by the power of the truth, the greatness of the heavenly calling, the attractiveness of Christ up there, so that we are here invulnerable. What can the devil do in these circumstances? He may attack us at the loins but we are invulnerable; they are protected, they are under control by truth. How important therefore are our Bible readings, how important the careful and prayerful reading of the Scriptures and all spiritual ministry, as is said in 1 Timothy 4: 6, “the good teaching which thou hast fully followed up”. We should be so entirely controlled in our affections by truth that we can say, as one of old did, “Even in the nights my reins instruct me” (Psalm 16: 7). You will say the Lord instructs and the Spirit instructs, but David says there, “my reins instruct me”, that is, the affections are thoroughly kept and pure so that you can commune with yourself and your reins instruct you; as your mind is free the truth comes into it and you are instructed. It is a very remarkable thing. Elsewhere it says that one calls upon all that is within him to praise God. The point is that the lower affections are kept and controlled and purified and held in the power of the Spirit. The Lord said, “whosoever drinks of the water which I shall give him shall never thirst for ever, but the water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life” (John 4: 14). These are all subjective thoughts but they are wonderful; they make you perfectly invulnerable to the attacks of the enemy.
Then there is the well known thought of serving the saints. In John the baptist we have the general thought of the girdle, affecting every christian. In Peter we have the mind girded in relation to the government of God here, the loins of the mind girded; while in Ephesians the loins are to be girded in relation to the heavenly conflict. Now there are the saints. I reserve these thoughts to the close, not the [p. 97] least because they are the last, for they are really the greatest, because it is the Lord Himself who is girded. Not, indeed, that He is not so regarded in the Scriptures for it is said in the Old Testament that He is girded about the loins with righteousness, and faithfulness is the girdle of His reins. He is now seen girded with the linen towel. And what is this for? The chapter begins with the thought of His love: He, “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. It is continued, sustained love. There is no idea — far be the thought — of deterioration at all. In the great image that Daniel describes it begins at once, but there is no deterioration in Christ. Every bit, every part of His person is in perfect keeping, perfect symmetry, quality, and order so that He is altogether lovely; there is no deterioration whatever. His own are in the world and they would sometimes be very unlovely, alas, but He knows and He loves them until the end, and that is this chapter, and so it says He laid aside His garments, His personal dignity. I am speaking now of the Lord as an example for us; indeed, He says here, “ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”. I speak now of the girdle that is used to gird one in serving the saints. It is a linen towel, it is mentioned twice, mentioned in two verses. We have spoken of linen, which appears in Leviticus 16 in a striking way both in regard to the clothes of the High Priest and the girdle, meaning that the Lord Jesus in entering into death was infinitely sober and calculating. He felt everything, but He gauged everything, He was perfectly balanced in His mind, not one thing outweighed or eclipsed another; the linen marked Him throughout. Now that is what enters into the service of the saints. If one has a little ability to serve the saints, the enemy knows about it and will attack him in view of the ability. He will make use of the very ability which the Lord has given him, to damage him. Hence the need of sobriety,
[p. 98] that is in service we have to measure things as it says in Romans 12: 3, “For I say ... to every one that is among you, not to have high thoughts above what he should think; but to think so as to be wise, as God has dealt to each a measure of faith”. He is only one amongst many and he is to be calculating and measuring things, measuring what he has, and what others have, and also to see that what he has is given of God, “as God has dealt to each”. It is not merely his own, it is to be used for God, and for the saints. That makes one very little in his own account. It makes the saints very great that whatever he has is for them. There would be no gift from Christ in heaven or from God, were it not that the saints are here, as it says, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. So the linen towel, dear brethren, means that the one standing at the desk and seeking to serve the brethren is not at all above them. I am not now speaking of the account the Lord takes of them. He has His own estimate of each servant, but I speak of what should be in the calculating mind of the minister. So the Lord deliberately laid aside what would dignify Him and what properly belonged to Him in order to take this towel with which He girded Himself, and it is specifically said to be linen. We have it clearly before us as a material that is absorbent and that is the antidote to heat or sweat. It is said about the priests that they were to wear no garment that produced sweat, so that one is perfectly calculating and soberly thinking of God, and of Christ, and of the Spirit, and of the saints in all that he is doing. He has his little bit to do and he is doing it in relation to all else that is done; the work of God is one and it is all to the edifying of the body of Christ. The Lord girds Himself with a linen towel, and pours the water into a basin; it is beautiful to see that it is a portable vessel; it is not like the sea at the temple which held three thousand baths. It is more like the lavers on [p. 99] wheels — they were portable; they could be used, utilised in love, so that you can visit a brother or sister to wash his or her feet and in doing so you are less than he or she is in your own mind, because that is the principle of service. And so the Lord poured the water in Himself; He did not call on anyone to do it, did not call anyone to help Him. He did it Himself and no doubt they were lying about the table as was customary. He went round and washed them one after another. There is not one here who has not heard of the feet washing, it is one of the most spoken of items but perhaps the least known. The more you look into it the more marvellous it is that the Lord of glory should be doing this, and doing it in order that we might be able to do it. He would show you how to do it and particularly in view of the fact that your affections are under control; your ambitions, whatever they may be, are all under control in the most calculating way so that you are useful in the divine service, serving as Christ served. After He did it He said, “Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am so”. I hope everyone here calls the Lord Jesus, Master and Lord. I hope there is not one here so insubject or independent as to refrain from calling Him Master and Lord. Now He says, “If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet”. I am referring not so much to the washing as to the towel and to the girding so that you may see that the affections are to be under control, affording no room for natural ambition or pride, or personal prejudice at all. We are to be governed by love — “having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end”. He loved them where they may have been very unlovely. We love the saints; we clothe them with affection whatever their incongruities; our great aim is to remove the incongruities so that the saints may stand out in their beauty under the eye of Christ.