VALUING THE BELIEVER’S INHERITANCE
Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Kings 21:1-3; 1 Chronicles 11:12-14; Judges 6:2, 6-8 to “children of Israel”,11;
I seek God’s help to speak of an impression I have as to the need for us to stand; you might call it standing our ground. If we are to stand for a piece of ground, not give it up, defend it, we must first of all believe that it is worth standing for. We need to be willing to stand for it, and then we must be ready to stand no matter what may come against us. And even if we are willing and ready to do it, we might feel that we are not able, so we also need to be strengthened to be able to stand for the ground that has been won for us.
I read first of the Lord Jesus because it is always safe to look to Him first. I find it a great comfort that we have recorded in the Scriptures, the ways in which the Lord Jesus, as a model for us, did things. The Lord Jesus was a real Man – a Man like no other of course, an incomparable Man, a sinless Man whilst ever remaining God in His person. In the first scripture we read, there was an attempt to move Him from the position that He took, from the ground that He was on as a dependent Man. What was the Lord Jesus doing when He was here? He was standing for God’s rights, He was maintaining in His life everything that God looked for in man. And now the devil, the tempter as he is called, comes up to Him; that is characteristic of the devil – he is always tempting. He began by doing that with man in Genesis, and now he comes up to the Lord Jesus to try to move Him off the ground of dependence on God. The tempter would try different ways and different tactics but all for the same purpose – to move the Lord Jesus from the path of dependence that He was on, from the ground that He was holding for God. But we see how, in His perfection, the Lord Jesus is immovable. He is the lion “which turneth not away for any”, Prov.30:30. His standing is sure, He shows us as a perfect model how we are to stand, and it is not in our own strength. Think of the Person who was here, the Lord Jesus, God Himself, the mighty Creator, and Satan a mere creature. What arrogance to say to Jesus, “if, falling down, thou wilt do me homage”. What arrogance Satan had and he still has. He would try to tempt you from the ground that you are on. So he comes to the Lord Jesus, but as the Lord says elsewhere, “the ruler of the world comes, and in me he has nothing”, John 14:30. Satan had no means of entrance into our Lord Jesus; He was the sinless One, here as a dependent Man. Because of who He was in His person, he could have used His mighty power to overthrow the devil, but in His dependent manhood, He used Scripture to answer the devil. The Lord Jesus, therefore, is before us as a model.
We are able to quote scriptures too. I trust that we all read our bibles and know what God’s word says, so that when a time like this comes, we are able to refer to a scripture. I was impressed by the way that the Lord Jesus stands despite the devil presenting to Him these different kinds of temptation. The first one related to what was natural – bread. The Lord Jesus had not had anything to eat for forty days. In the reality of His manhood, “he hungered”. What a matter! The Lord Jesus, a real Man, and He hungered. The devil suggested something to Him which would have made His situation more comfortable, if He would just make the stones into bread. The devil would present things to us like that. He might tempt you by suggesting that you do not have to give up as much of your time for the things of Jesus, that things could be more comfortable for you. Are you going to give in? Are you going to yield? The Lord Jesus did not. He quoted the scripture, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which goes out through God’s mouth”. Beloved, that same word is available to you, no matter what the devil may bring against you. He might tempt you away by suggesting ‘This life of the believer is too hard. It is too restrictive, too difficult; there is something easier you could do. You can make things more comfortable for yourself’. No, beloved, the Lord Jesus went on in perfect dependence.
And then there is a different character of temptation; the devil takes Jesus to the temple. It has been said that this temptation has a religious element to it1. He was tempting the Lord Jesus to avail Himself of these angels who would be available to Him, which would have taken Him out of the place of dependence on God that was proper to man. The Lord Jesus could have been protected by angels, and we read that the angels ministered to Him, but it was not yet the time for His public glory.
Then the devil tempted Jesus again. “Again the devil takes him to a very high mountain, and shews him all the kingdoms of the world, and their glory”. It is the world presented as an object of temptation, and Jesus rejected it. The devil might tell you that you could be more successful in the world if you gave up some of the things you stand for as a Christian. You could work more hours in the office, you could perhaps become a shareholder, you could become a director and get on the company’s board. These are the things that the devil might present to you. But no – that is not for the believer! These are the things that will spoil what is for God. These are the things that will cause you to be moved off the ground that the Lord Jesus has won for you, and that others have stood for.
I read of Naboth, because he valued the ground that he stood on, the vineyard of his fathers. He says, “Jehovah forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers to thee!”. Think of the evaluation that Naboth had of the vineyard, not only because of what it produced: no doubt the fruit of it would speak of what is for the pleasure of God. As believers down here, we seek to gather in simplicity, in faithfulness to the Lord Jesus, to abide by His word, to maintain His rights and to proceed with the service of God and the Lord’s supper. That is what is pleasing to God, He delights in it, He delights to see it. In that sense there is the fruit of what the vineyard would speak of, that cheers God and man (Judg.9:13). But as well as Naboth not giving up the vineyard because he knew that its fruit would no longer be there for God, he was not going to give it up because he also knew that it was the inheritance of his fathers.
Beloved, do you realise what previous generations of believers have had to stand for so that you might be able to enjoy the ground that you are on? Do you realise the cost that there has been? Persons have lost their lives. We were hearing in our local meeting recently about some of the sufferings of the martyrs. In the streets of some towns that we walk in today, you can see inscriptions honouring martyrs in the place where the actual post stood at which these persons were burned at the stake. These things happened in our country, in some of the towns and cities in which we live. Do you realise the cost of the ground that you are standing on, Christian ground that has been stood for. Divine principles have been upheld, people have paid with their lives for this ground. Are you going to give it up? Are you just going to say, ‘It is not for me’? Will you give it up because it would be more convenient to do so? That seemed to be the nature of Ahab’s offer. It says of this wicked king that he was the king of Samaria, but how sad it was; Ahab was actually the king of Israel. How wicked he was in his association with Jezebel. He was saying that it would be more convenient for him if Naboth gave the vineyard to him for a garden of herbs, and he said, “I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it”. Satan would put such a temptation before us, but, beloved, there is nothing better. Ahab could not offer Naboth anything better. The privileges, the joys of Christian ground as we may speak of it, are ours to enjoy, and no one can offer you anything better. I am not speaking of what we are as a company – that would be presumptuous – but of what is available to all believers in the Lord Jesus at the present time on this earth. There is nothing better, there is no better vineyard, and you cannot exchange it for money either. Divine things are without price. Beloved, are you ready and willing to stand for the inheritance? If you value it, you will be.
I thought of how Gideon was ready to do that, but we can look at Chronicles first because I think we get there the strength and support of being “with David”. It says of Eleazer in verse 13 that “He was with David”. If you feel weak, if you feel that you are not able to maintain things as they ought to be maintained, if you feel that you are struggling to resist the temptations of Satan, then realise that the Lord Jesus is ready to stand with you. Think of Paul; there was a time when he said that “all deserted me” (2 Tim.4:16), but then he said, “The Lord stood with me, and gave me power”. The Lord Jesus is ready to stand by you if you seek to stand for the ground that He has won, and for which others in previous generations have stood. It has cost them much that you should have this ground, with all its privileges and responsibilities, on which you are standing now as a believer. You might feel that you are not able for it. It says that “the people had fled from before the Philistines”. What an enemy the Philistines were in their arrogance, thinking that they could dwell in what speaks to us of the heavenly land, but not having arrived there the proper way. They had no place there. Man’s natural mind, no matter how brilliant, has no place in the things of God. It cannot add anything; it can only spoil things. Let us be on our guard against the Philistine mind; it is empty. The Philistine mind knows nothing about the truth of resurrection. Let us be on our guard against it.
The other thing that attracted me to this scripture was this reference to “a plot of ground full of barley”. That is suggestive to me. It is a plot, an area with a defined border. There are divine principles that define the walk of the believer, and the ground that Christians are to stand on. It is not blurred at the edges, it does not have porous borders, as men speak of them. It is a plot of ground, and God has set the borders of it. It might be like that field of Boaz, the field which is being reaped (Ruth 2:9). It is the place where God is working, where He is finding what is pleasing to Himself. Barley, as we have been taught, speaks to us about Christ risen; it is the first crop ready to be harvested. The Philistine does not have an answer to the resurrection. The “mind of the flesh is death” (Rom.8:6); that is where it ends, but the Lord Jesus has risen out of death.
I was thinking in relation to this scripture about what is referred to at the beginning of Ephesians: “the surpassing greatness of his power towards us who believe, according to the working of the might of his strength, in which he wrought in the Christ in raising him from among the dead”, Eph.1:19,20. That is the power that is towards us, beloved. So if you are feeling weak, remember that the power which raised Christ from the dead is for you, it is towards you, and you can be like David’s mighty men were here. This man Eleazer is interesting. There are differences between the accounts here and a similar one in Samuel; it is a plot of lentils there (2 Sam.23:11). In both cases, although the people had fled, these men did not defend the plots of ground from a distance. They did not employ – to use a common term – long-range artillery. They did not see the Philistines getting into these plots and then try to remove them from a distance, they were standing right in the plot of ground which was under attack. In principle, they knew something of Christ risen, and they were in the power of it. They were not afraid of the power of the enemy because they knew that a greater power was on their side, for they were with David. The Lord Jesus, speaking typically, was there with them. You will be able to stand if you are willing and depend on Him.
In Judges we have in Gideon one who was ready. Most of the children of Israel had fled to these dens in the mountains, the caves and the strongholds. I would have to confess that is where I would more likely be found, hiding in a cowardly way. But that is not the spirit that we have been given, we have been given a spirit, not of cowardice, “but of power, and of love, and of wise discretion”, 2 Tim.1:7. Israel’s enemy, Midian, was coming up and this word struck me: “Israel was greatly impoverished because of Midian”. It is a different enemy; it is not the Philistines now. The Midianites were related to the children of Israel. They might represent believers in the Lord Jesus, but those who are not walking in a right pathway. I might be tempted to enjoy things with them, perhaps in a social way. I believe that spiritual impoverishment would result from doing that. Beloved, how sorrowful it is that there are believers who we are not able to walk with because of the path they have chosen. The Lord knows who they are, and the Lord knows what is needed to recover them. We long that they would be revived. But until they are, there does need to be a distinction made; a separation, and Gideon knew something of that. He was threshing wheat in a winepress; he was in a restricted area. He was given a commission from God and it would not have been easy, but he was ready to do it.
Are you ready? Are you ready to stand, or are you going to leave it to someone else? Beloved, it comes down to you as an individual. Is the truth worth standing for, all the wonderful truths that have been brought out by the Spirit of God? The truth as to the person of Christ, the truth as to Christ and the assembly, the worship of the Spirit, the person of the Lord Jesus in all His glory, His sonship, the thought of the assembly itself. Are these truths that you are willing to stand for? Are you ready to stand for them despite the enemies that may come up against you? The angel of Jehovah appears to Gideon. “Jehovah is with thee, thou mighty man of valour” (v.12). I do not think Gideon felt like a mighty man of valour, but God recognised in him someone who was ready to stand. God saw there the kind of activity that He would be willing to support, someone who was willing and ready to stand for what was precious to God and what was true to the Lord Jesus.
In Ephesians we have the panoply of God. You may wonder how you are going to be able to stand. Put on the panoply of God! The panoply is the complete set of armour. No matter what type of weapon Satan seeks to use, whether it is the fiery darts or what is more subtle, the panoply of God gives you complete protection, so that you are able to stand against him and his artifices. That word suggests his craftiness, his cleverness. How clever the devil is. It says at the beginning of Genesis that “the serpent was more crafty than any animal”, Gen. 3:1. The artifices of the devil are still active and he will use ways that are different and subtle to try and move you from the ground that you are standing on as a believer. Put on the panoply of God and you will be able to resist those things, “that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day”. It is not that attacks will not come – they will come, and they will come even more intensely if you are standing for what is right, if you are seeking to stand here for the Lord Jesus and hold the ground for Him until he comes again. Satan will attack, but be assured that this armour is able to provide complete resistance to the attack. The Lord Jesus, where we read in Matthew said, “Get thee away, Satan”. The same word, or a similar thought, is said to the believer; “Resist the devil, and he will flee from you”, Jas.4:7. In resisting the devil, the power of God is what believers are able to actively take up; they have God’s word too. Later on it speaks about “the sword of the Spirit, which is God’s word” (v.17).
Verse 13 refers to “having accomplished all things” and note ‘h’ perhaps links with what we had in the reading; it says, ‘It is ‘to carry through and put in execution all that is purposed and called for, in spite of opposition’’. It suggests that everything that needed to be done has been done, and now nothing else is called for but to stand. It is not some great exploit or expedition; it is simply standing in your own place. You might say that first of all, it would begin in your household. Hold that for the Lord first. Then in your local assembly – are you willing to stand there? Are you willing to stand too in relation to what is universal, against all that is in the world, even in the heavenlies, where there are powers set against what the believer stands for? God gives us the full provision to do so in the panoply, the armour. Ask the Holy Spirit to help you. When you feel you are being tempted by the devil, remember there is a greater power in you than the power that is in the world (1 John 4:4). The Holy Spirit is superior to all the power in the world. Ask Him to help you, ask Him how to deal with a particular temptation. He will point to the specific part of the armoury: whether it is righteousness, or faith, truth, or the glad tidings, He will point you to the thing that is needed at that moment. Pray to the Holy Spirit, call on Him, keep your links with the Holy Spirit frequent and clear, have communion with Him. I feel the need to do that more. I would be able to stand more effectively for the Lord Jesus if I relied more on the power of the Holy Spirit.
I feel my weakness in relation to what I have said, but there is ground worth standing for. It is the ground that Christ has won and it produces what is for God’s pleasure. Everything that is for God’s pleasure has its basis in what Christ has done. You and I as believers, through wondrous grace, have been given the privilege of being part of what is for God, part of what continues on earth for Him at the present time. Are you willing to stand? Do you value the ground enough? Do you see that if you do not stand for it, there will be something lacking in the service of God? If you give it up, do you realise that you are giving up what others may have even lost their lives for? Are you just going to give that up? No, beloved, let us be willing to stand. Let us be ready too. Let us be active, do not leave it to someone else; maybe it is you who needs to stand this time. Then realise that you are able to do it because of the panoply that God gives you – everything is provided from His side. The Lord will stand by you; He will be with you in it as you depend on Him and you will never be left alone. Only one Man was ever truly alone – the Lord Jesus on the cross. We can never say that we are completely alone, for He is always ready to stand with us if we are standing for Him.
May the Lord bless the word.
Address at Maidstone
6 July 2019
John S Speirs