CALLING UPON THE LORD OUT OF A PURE HEART
Norman J.Henry
2 Timothy 2: 22; Genesis 14: 18-24; 1 Kings 18: 21, 30-39; 1 Samuel 7: 5-11; Jonah 2: 7-9
I would like to follow the thought as to the calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart. We spoke in the reading of love in the circle of His own. You come to the meeting to enjoy the Lord and enjoy one another. But now, when we come to 2 Timothy 2, we are not in that pleasing suitable environment; we are in the presence of what is against Christ. We are in the face of what speaks of the adversary of Christ. Such a glorious Person is spoken of as having an adversary. You remember in the Old Testament the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet full. God was waiting until it was full-blown. But there is another character that has been added to the world and I think we have that in John 13; a certain character marking the world which was not there previously and that is by Judas going out. Now the adversary is what opposes Christ and is the oppressor of His people. The footnote in Psalm 8 says the adversary of Christ and oppressor of His people is from within. The enemy is what is from without. How close the adversary came in John 13; Judas was there. He went out and that allowed the formation and completeness of the circle of love. He went out and that character was added to the world. I say that for the sake of the young. You do not see that character to start with at the beginning of your Christian pathway but you will soon find a peculiar character of opposition to what is of God and it is the opposition of the adversary. The name of Judas is linked with Judah, meaning praise – think of that! In such a one there was no work of God, yet he was in the place of privilege. It no doubt fulfilled prophesy as to ‘mine own familiar friend’. But nevertheless he comes so close. “His hand is on the throne of Jah” – how close he comes in the attack against what is of God. How are persons going to stand? There is every provision to stand in a dark day; that is a great encouragement to our hearts. If we enjoy love within how are we going to meet things when going out of the door? I think we are going to meet them by calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. They are met without a change of character. The world is not meant to harden you or to make you brittle. You are meant to go out in it with the warmth of an inside company in your heart, a pure heart. It says, “But youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. That is a beautiful and strengthening position. It was the position the apostle was in. It was a change of position as we know. In Pentecostal times they were together, there was nothing outside the company. But now in 2 Timothy days things had changed dramatically, and that condition has not altered since. From the time the apostle was here the awful condition of imitation has not altered. Much that has entered the profession is unreal. There was only one Judas but warns us as to the spirit of apostasy which prevails and it has the cunning, subtle image of what is imitative. How is that going to affect me within? I must face it out of a pure heart, “Calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart”. The service of God must go on, dear brother and sister, and as we face the world it must not undermine your part in the Supper and in the service of God.
Remember that, dear young brother and sister. We are very tender with you; we know some of the difficulties that you face. The world has become more unashamed in character. They do not seem to have shame for immorality today, they have lost that character. Such is the depth to which they have dropped in the western world. We want you to face things in the week so that we are preserved for the Supper and the service of God. That is the outlet for a pure heart. Where could a pure heart express itself but in calling on the Lord? Your week starts with the Supper and the service of God. What an avenue for the heart! You go out with a sense of prison conditions in the world but waiting for the moment of release in the service of God. I want to enforce on you today that calling on the Lord is not a stoical thing but a real living character of a person who is in the love of God. That is what I believe. A person who keeps himself in the love of God, I think that is the character of the person that has a pure heart. He is calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. What a thing it must be for heaven to look down in a day of departure, when the love of the most has grown cold, and see persons who are calling upon the Lord out of a pure heart. We are in a day when even real believers are starting to wonder and question. You speak to believers and you find there is a question in their hearts. They have lost sight in some way of the One who has gone in.
Remember the test when Moses went up and they said, “we do not know what has become of him”. Many believers do not know what has become of Christ. He has gone in. But those who call on the Lord know what He is doing, they know His priestly support. They are kept in life. Do we not need to be kept in life, dear brother and sister? Do we not need to be kept in the love of God? Oh that we might be!
Paul is about to go and is thinking of continuation of the testimony. Think of the pouring out of Paul, how acceptable to God! What a life he had and it was a sweet savour and it was about to be poured out as a libation (see Phil 2: 17). Think of what was refreshing for God in that life of Paul and now he is handing things to a younger man. There are younger men here: thank God for you, young brother and sister. We are before God about you, we pray for you. That is a feature of true fatherhood in our localities, to pray for the young coming on that they might be true Timothys, taking on the responsibility that is due to them in a darkening day. It has been called the day of apostasy, the darkening day, and Timothy is to continue. Paul is looking at further generations to follow. 2 Timothy was written to strengthen the situation. This young man was to be strengthened through the letter he received from the apostle as he tells him about certain things. He says, “youthful lusts flee”. Do not let lusts become entrenched. Do not let lusts get a hold, judge them at their inception. I say that as knowing there is not one person in this room, however spiritual, who has not the possibility of failing. We have great men, godly men, in the Scriptures who erred for the moment. Only one person stood through every temptation. Satan brought every temptation before Christ and He stood, but that cannot be said of any other man or woman. We just lean dependently on divine grace to keep us and the word is “youthful lusts flee”. Be active about it, do not linger. Linger and you will fall, and it gives birth to sin. Think of what happens and it causes sorrow, it will damage you. You remember these arrows with the burning points? You say, well I will try and stop most of them with the shield of faith but I am not too vigilant and then one gets through. It is not the first strike that does the damage; it is after it has struck that it does the damage. It has a burning tip and once it enters it will burn and damage. Be preserved in the world that you are in. It says “youthful lusts flee, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace”. Think of a person doing that; think of the scope of his pursuit. There is plenty there to keep you busy. You will not be wondering what to do next; there is plenty to occupy you in pursuing righteousness, faith, love and peace with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. I trust it is attractive to you. God remembered this for Israel when they did not have the power. He remembers your best days in your youth that you may have forgotten about. God remembers them and even today He might bring back to your memory thoughts of brighter days and cause committal in your heart, increase in committal in your heart and mine, to our best days for the Lord.
I have read of these men who give some suggestion of calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. Abram was first. He is not facing the lustful world here, like the 2 Timothy day that we are in; he is facing a world that is very plausible and cunning. He had dealt with the kings. He had come back from conflict. You might say he had proved enormous success. Maybe you feel that. Maybe you feel a measure of success in what you have done in what is right and then this character of the world comes and makes a very plausible and appealing suggestion. Will a man calling on the Lord out of a pure heart fall to this king? No, he will not. I find the most difficult is not the head-on force of the world in it’s attack; I find it is the sweet side. It is like the king’s delicate food in Daniel. You say, well what harm will it do? It seems to help everyone else. I think the delicate food is the sweetening of things that takes the moral character out of the truth. I think that is why it is the pulse that has a link with the royal seed in Daniel 1. These youths were of the royal seed and the pulse was in keeping with that. We used to hear persons say, Be true to the work of God in you. It is worth reminding ourselves that the pulse character of food is in keeping with the work of God in your soul. Think of the way men have written about the Scriptures. Think of what they have done to the truth. They have not necessarily gone in outright opposition to it, but sweetened it, made it a little more palatable so that there is no moral effect in your soul. Now if God is dealing within you it is bound to affect your soul. You could not be in the presence of Christ without some effect in your soul. I know that in John 5 the man goes out; he gets healing and goes out. He is typical of the Jew, that is what he represents, but normally coming into the presence of Christ and of God, you must be affected, it must have a moral affect on your soul and your salvation lies there.
Well, that was so with Abram. Abram says in effect, I will not take anything so that you can say that you have made me rich. Everything Abram had he had from God. Everything you have that is right you have from God. You even have your body from God, remember how you hold it. Remember that whatever you have that is right and to be held rightly, you have from God. Abram was blessed by Melchisedec who comes in at this point. It is very remarkable; Abram comes back and he is taken up you might say with the glory of the person and the personage of Melchisdedec. He comes in at this point; you might say immediately alongside the king of Sodom making his demand. We might fall in these moments when the attack is not frontal. I am just raising a priestly attitude in your soul and mine; the spirit of judgment to recognise what is true. You remember in John’s epistle the reference to the unction (see 1 John 2: 27); it teaches you inwardly what is true and what is false and it is the little children who have it. Now there is probably never a time when the unction is so needed as the present time when things have that glossy appearance and it is hard to recognise that is true and what is not. Well, as I say, the king of Sodom makes his appeal and Abram refuses it. He will not be made rich by the King of Sodom. That is one who is calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. He says himself, “I have lifted up my hand to Jehovah, the Most High God, possessor of heavens and earth” (v. 22). Think of that. If he lifts up his hand then he is not going to take anything from anybody else. That is a person who is calling on the Lord out of a pure heart.
When you come to Kings you have another dark day. Elijah is an interesting prophet because there is a change immediately he is introduced. He says in chapter 17, “there shall not be dew nor rain these years, except by my word” (v 1). Things have changed. No doubt we can foresee a literal change when the time of blessing will cease and maybe Elijah’s prophesy will be fulfilled in the time immediately ahead of us. A time of grace and the appeal of grace will end and then there will be a different character. There will not be the rain and blessing falling on Israel. There will be something else. But here Elijah is facing Ahab. Ahab and Jezebel his wife represented an extraordinary character of apostasy in Israel and they had all these four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and four hundred prophets of Asherah that ate at Jezebel’s table continually. It was quite a formidable arrangement of persons who were godless. They were idolaters and the prophet is one who calls on the Lord out of a pure heart. He let them have their say and they get to the point that they are hurting themselves; they are jumping on the altar and trying to get the thing to work and nothing is working. Elijah draws near and he takes the twelve stones and he rebuilds the altar of Jehovah which had broken down. Elijah took twelve stones according to the number of the tribes of the sons of Jacob. Think of the acceptance! I think one evidence of a person calling on the Lord out of a pure heart is that he or she is marked by whole ideas. There is always a temptation to drop whole ideas. We have good times together and we forget that we are only a few of the body of Christ. Immediately you lose the active thought of the whole, in your mind and heart, I think you lose the quality intended of calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. So he first gets the twelve stones and built the altar and, “he made a trench around about the altar, of the capacity of two measures of seed”. Think of that, two measures of seed. Even the trench was measured. What regard he had for God! You might say the capacity of as much of the death of Christ as possible. It was all measured. The heart is to be filled with the appreciation of the death of Christ and it says, “he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid it on the wood”. Then he has four pitchers of water that he puts on three times, so that twelve pitchers of water are poured on the burnt offering and on the wood. He is still expecting the fire on it. Well, he is calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. His motives are pure, his motives are right and he calls on Jehovah. I love to think of it. He says, “Jehovah God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel”. The whole thoughts he has in mind as he approached God. Elijah has whole thoughts and he turns to God and he prays and he calls on God, “let it be known this day that thou art God in Israel”. Would we not want God to be magnified in the whole of the hearts of Israel today? Do we not want it? Do we not want every believer to get some impression of the God? Elijah says “Answer me, Jehovah, answer me, that this people may know that thou Jehovah art God and that thou hast turned their heart back again”. Think of that, think of God’s desire for pure hearts in Christendom. Does He only want the two or three that are prepared to answer to Him? Would to God that everybody would come out. Would to God that every person followed the same route and found fellowship together. We find fellowship together once we have taken the step. So here it says, “And the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt-offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench”. How embracive the pleasure of God is. Once you move in that way God takes possession of the whole thing. Think of it, every offering depended on that basis; every approach to God is on the basis of the total committal of Christ, even unto death. What affection, what love, what motives were in Christ! On the basis of that God takes this one up and it says, “And the fire of Jehovah fell, and consumed the burnt offering, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust and licked up the water that was in the trench”. How embracive are the thoughts of God about this man’s approach. I think it shows to us how God loves us calling on the Lord out of a pure heart. He hates worldliness, “God so loved the world”, John 3: 16. It is not the world of men as they are in sin. God anticipates the blessing, He does so because He does not want men to perish. He loves the world of men enjoying eternal life. He wants men to enjoy it with the pressure of death removed and everything put right. God anticipated that and He was prepared to make that offering, that giving of His only-begotten Son in order to bring the sinner in.
In 1 Samuel 17, Samuel is at Mizpah and he takes a sucking lamb. You see a person calling on the Lord out of a pure heart knows what is absent. Our brother said today that love between each other would recognise anything that would come in to spoil it and would correct it. Well, here is Samuel and he knew what was missing in Israel. He knew that character of Christ, that beautiful character of Christ as a sucking lamb, was missing. The characteristics were missing in Israel and he offers it up as a whole burnt-offering and God answered. Did he answer Israel? No, He answered Samuel, the man who was calling on the Lord out of a pure heart, because Samuel knew what was lacking and he took the step and offered up this sucking-lamb. Keep that characteristic of Christ before your affections. There is nothing like the appealing presentation of Christ as the sucking-lamb – the dependent one – offered up as a burnt-offering. You say it is not the full mature thought in the bullock. No, it is the sucking-lamb, characteristics so needed in a time of departure, and Samuel offers it up and God answer him.
Finally, I think that the whole book of Jonah is about the securing of a pure heart in Jonah. I do not know how you would have felt if it was written about you, if your name was at the top of this book, because at the end Jonah is left, I was going to say, high and dry. He goes through this experience, which is a mighty experience, the ‘sign of Jonas the prophet’, but his glad tidings are accepted and they repent and then he is upset about it and then God prepares the gourd to protect him from the sun and then a worm eats the gourd and it collapses and he is exposed and he just about gives up. I think through it all God secured a pure heart in Jonah. He anticipates it in the great fish. Jonah knew the sanctuary in the fish, the great fish that God had prepared. I think God works in our experience. You might think things seem pretty hopeless but God knows the end from the beginning and all things work together for good. You might say this one did not, but the whole thing worked together for good for Jonah. Jonah is a type in a sense of those who will yet follow in service. He was not in Israel, he was not sent to Israel. That is what will happen to the Jewish missionaries, they will be sent out. Before God takes up Israel He shows that he can do with Jonah. He was sent to Nineveh and in principle it is like the everlasting glad tidings going out. These men will need a pure heart. The missionaries will. What they will suffer! Some of them will suffer even unto death. Think of that, think of what these men will undergo, but they will be faithful to the Lord. They will be a faithful remnant in the face of apostasy. The main part of the Jews will have made a covenant with what is evil. Yet there will be a faithful remnant that will go through and these persons will, I think, call on the Lord out of a pure heart. I do not doubt it. Why should I be lacking now, brethren? Why should I be one that is not actively calling on the Lord out of a pure heart? Jonah arrived at it through his experiences and they were harrowing experiences he went through. I think at the end his heart was secured. In fact the book shows God reached His end in Jonah. There is an actual book written about him, so there must be something positive arrived at for God’s glory and the fact that a sign shall not be given save the sign of Jonas accredits what that man arrived at and what God arrived at in that man.
I have given a poor presentation but I do not doubt it is a current word that we need, to call on the Lord out of a pure heart and to keep in the love of God. When you go out into the world from the circle of affection you are not going out as Judas went out because he never was in it, but you go out with a heart that if full of the love of God and you will not allow the king of Sodom or any other to spoil what you have. Keep yourselves in the love of God; that is the blessing that is put on everyone here.
BUCKHURST HILL
21 June 1998