"STRENGTHEN THE THINGS THAT REMAIN"

Revelation 3: 1-4; Nehemiah 6: 1-9; Judges 6: 11-14

R.D.P. I was thinking of this expression addressed to Sardis as to strengthening: "strengthen the things that remain, which are about to die”. We know there is what remains that cannot be touched, we thank God for what He has established that remains and Christ remains, the Spirit remains. I think the sense in Revelation, "which are about to die", involves our responsibility. One thing we need in our day is to be maintained in exercise. We cannot just assume that things are going to go on because they have always gone on till now, carried perhaps by those who are older; we need to be kept in exercise. These other two scriptures refer to two exercised men; one of them is exercised about the fellowship and one is exercised about the food supply.

J.A.P. What do you mean by exercise?

R.D.P. I simply have in mind that we should be maintained in divine things in reality in our links with God and our links with the Spirit, affecting the way in which we are vitally, especially in the local assembly. The dominant feature of the day is that everyone has gone to sleep: "they all grew heavy and slept", Matt 25: 5. We find that tendency in our own hearts - to go to sleep and leave things to others. Exercise involves that we take things on ourselves as with God especially in relation to the local assembly.

C F.D. So what characterises the last four assemblies addressed will go through to the end. Doctrinally we know that is true: but your concern is that in the day in which we live, having come through much in exercise which maybe has caused discouragement and disheartening, we need to be aroused to see that the Lord is going on with something and I want to be with Him in What He is doing.

R.D.P. Yes. So, as you say, these four assemblies - Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea - go through to the end, in the times when the overcomer comes into prominence. Three of them represent what is very sad, so you may say that three quarters of the features that mark the last days are what is not pleasurable to God. We often speak about Laodicea and the side of imitation but we do not often speak about Sardis, but Sardis is Protestantism and we want to be preserved from that. He says "I have not found thy works complete before my God”.

R.A. So what belongs to exercise is watchfulness; the Lord said "ye have not been able to watch one hour with me?", Matt 26: 40.

R.D.P. There is nothing we need to watch more than when things are apparently going quite well amongst us. The devil wants to steal and kill and destroy what is so precious amongst the saints. Here the Lord says, Strengthen it: "strengthen the things that remain, which are about to die". Now that is not what is secured in Christ; it involves that there are things here committed into the hands of men and women, things that have been passed down from generation to generation to our day, and unless we take them up in exercise they will die.

R.N.H. Would you say what is 'the truth'. John in his second epistle writes "to the elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not I only but also all who have known the truth, for the truth's sake which abides in us and shall be with us to eternity" (vv 1, 2).

R.D.P. If somebody said to you, Go and write down the truth you could not do it, could you? You cannot put a boundary round the truth and say that is the truth, for it involves the Person of Christ, it involves something which is in God Himself. The Spirit all the truth sustains (hymn 436). It is a very wonderful and dignified matter that we have to do with - the truth, that we have the Holy Spirit, the indwelling Spirit.

R.A. Behind the strengthening is there our discernment in relation to the movements of the enemy? In the second scripture they were building the wall but there were enemies trying to bring it to naught.

R.D.P. We could perhaps turn to that and just keep in mind the first scripture because Nehemiah was a man who says "strengthen my hands". I think that is very fine. He is not independent, in fact he is a man who feels his own weakness; and if you read through the book of Nehemiah you find that attack after attack comes against him as he has to do with the building of the wall, which may relate to the fellowship. The wall is enclosing what is precious. The devil's attack today is on the city and the wall. I think the attack here, the final one I suppose it would be, was, Come down to the plain of Ono, come down to our level and talk about things, let us sort them out down here. Nehemiah says "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down". I think that is very fine.

J.A.P. It is remarkable that the Lord Jesus as a man was strengthened Himself, though not needing it as we do. It says that He was strengthened (see Luke 22: 43), in Gethsemane where the Lord as a Man was wrestling in relation to the will of the Father. If I am going to stay with the will of God I need strengthening.

R.D.P. Luke's presentation of the Lord in the garden is interesting in that it is different from the others; it is not Gethsemane in Luke, it is the mount of Olives, and we have been taught that it is pattern for us. The dependent Man is there in Luke's gospel the intensity of His feelings seen. His sweat falling as great drops of blood. But it is the mount of Olives a sphere that the Lord had recourse to, and after the strengthening by the angel He is rising up from His prayers.

A.C.C-m. Speaking reverently would the angel have to do with strengthening Him in His body? He was meeting Satan who was trying to deter Him from drinking the cup.

R D.P. It is after the Lord said "not my will, but thine be done" that the angel appeared to Him strengthening Him. I believe the angel comes in in relation to those who set themselves in relation to the will of God.

G.H. Would the enemy attacking the wall relate to the principle of separation?

R.D.P. I believe so. As we know, Ezra had to do with the altar; he set the altar on its base (see Ezra 3: 3). I suppose it would refer to what was going back to God. And here in Nehemiah are the exercises concerning the protection of that. The fellowship is involved in that, for it stands over against the world, over against what is hostile. Yet there is something very fine about this wall because it is full of gates; it is not like Jericho that was walled up to heaven; a divine wall has divinely-appointed gates. In the recovery of the truth some of them have been repaired and some of them have been rebuilt. We could not go into all the teaching of Nehemiah but it is a fine book. They had mocked him, they were angry at him, then they questioned the validity of what he was doing. Then there came a point when he says "The strength of the bearers of burdens faileth, and there is much rubbish", chap 4: 10. We have known these things in our own exercises. Nehemiah had gone all through that and now there is this last challenge, the challenge of our day: come down to the plain of Ono, and the open letter. That is the feature the enemy is using at the end in our day, he would reduce everything down to ordinariness, and Nehemiah says "I am doing a great work, and I cannot come down".

G.D.P. Sanballat says in chapter 4 "these feeble Jews" (v 2); we might look at things as feeble but if we have the right thought before us we will strengthen what is there.

R.D.P. Yes. I think we need to be exercised. The first thing Nehemiah did was to go round the city and see what was to be done. We need that in our places and to seek help from God to see what needs to be done. Nehemiah went alone. I think we need to go alone; most of us have been brought up in fellowship, we have been brought up in the most precious privilege but we need to be alone with God and get His thoughts as to the ruin the enemy has brought in and then commit ourselves to what needs to be done as Nehemiah does here.

C.F.D. I think that is vital; it casts us on God and tests our link with the Spirit of God to assess what is needed in a place; whether Birmingham or here, can we discern what is needed? Ezekiel was told to prophesy, God told him certain things to say, but then there were certain things he observed and he put a name on them as needing attention.

R.D.P. Yes, that is helpful; and he was a feeling man too; he had to feel something of the divine assessment of things. These men were like that. Isaiah was a willing man; he says "Here am I; send me", Isa 6: 8. I believe God loves to see that in all of us, especially in the young in the present day. But his lips had to be touched with the live coal from off the altar before he could be useful; he had to know something of what the death of Christ involved before he was to speak for God. I think that side of feelings comes out in Nehemiah for as he went to see the ruins he went through the valley-gate which would involve the feelings of God.

C.F.D. Therefore do you think that, to operate with God in our localities, we must be near enough to get the word and to see what needs to be done? I think you hit on a vital point here. So what the Lord is getting at in the locality is not promiscuous, it has some direct connection with the condition in the place, as in the addresses to the seven assemblies, there was something very specific that the Lord was able to put His finger on.

R.D.P. That is very helpful. So the way the Lord introduces Himself is vital to each of those assemblies. To Sardis He says, "These things saith he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars". The seven Spirits of God, we have been taught, involves the complete range of things in the Spirit, and the seven stars bears upon the responsible side in the assemblies, and He introduces Himself as the One who has those. It does not say here that the stars are in His hand for it is a day of breakdown, but He has them.

J.A.P. The Lord presenting Himself as having the seven Spirits would shut out local independence, which is the open thing, because He is speaking about seven Spirits here, the seven assemblies. He has to say to all the saints; we could not leave one out, even Laodicea.

R.D.P. Yes. So the seven stars bears upon the responsible side. The overcomer in these last four comes after the ear to hear. Earlier it is before, but in these last four the overcomers are those who hear what the Spirit says.

A.C.C-m. Thy works not complete in Sardis would answer historically to Luther's day; Protestantism began then and the works were not complete because he did not go on to the truth of the assembly. He brought in justification by faith but not the truth of Christ and the assembly, so his works were not complete.

R.D.P. I think so, Luther, and specially what was subsequent to him. If you do not go on to the assembly you end up in a clerical official system that is dead but with a big name: "a name that thou livest, and art dead". We talk about Laodicea but let us not forget Sardis or Thyatira. I think we have seen the danger even of Thyatira amongst us; what we have had to judge and leave has touched upon the awfulness of Thyatira - Rome. We can readily see the danger and that is Sardis. Some of the things that are said are interesting: "how thou hast received and heard". That reminds us of Paul's words: "What ye have... received, and heard, and seen in me", Phil 4: 9.

G.H. Would you say something more as to having exercise.

R.D.P. Take a father, think of your own exercises as to your children, they are not necessarily spoken or that the brethren know about them but God knows and you are before Him as to them. Think of the prayers that have gone up for the families of the saints, the prayers that have gone up for me! I was twenty years old before I came into fellowship but I think of the way that my parents prayed and my local brethren prayed. That is exercise; it involves that someone keeps at a matter with God and will not let Him go. We can see that in our own families, can we not see that in the whole range of things that God has committed to us in our day He wants us to be in exercise about them? So Nehemiah says "I cannot come down. Why should the work cease, whilst I leave it". Here it is the plain of Ono: "Come, let us meet together in the villages in the plain of Ono". From what Nehemiah says it would have involved that he had to go down to a lower level to have met them. You might say, Well, look Nehemiah, they are not attacking you by the word, they are not mocking, they seem to be quite reasonable. But he says, No, what I have before me is the greatness of this work. Now I think we need that. There is a touch of spiritual dignity in it and you only get dignity spiritually as you are having to do with God.

A.C.C-m. That is how princeliness comes. Abraham was the first one to be called a prince, showing moral features rather than kingly.

R.D.P. Now Nehemiah had a good job. He was the king's cupbearer, he could have settled down here, but he is an exercised man and a praying man. He has his moments when he feels down, "Strengthen my hands", he says. I am just affected by that, he is not independent.

J.A.P. Nehemiah knew how to turn to God earlier in the book. He just prayed while he was before the king and I would judge that this "Now therefore strengthen my hands!" is an utterance to God in the midst of a conflict.

R.D.P. Very good; almost as if he keeps turning aside to God. That is a fine thing in itself. When the king asks him why his face was sad it is as if he just turned aside to God and speaks to Him. That is a very wonderful thing; Nehemiah was dependent all the way through. It was a tremendous task, the city was in ruins, man's unfaithfulness that had brought it about. What a subject that is as we look at it - the ruin of Christendom! But there were stones under the rubbish; thank God for that; what is permanent is there and he is able to work with that. Now let the younger people look at it; some of the gates were rebuilt and some of them were repaired. We do not have time to go into all that now but it is a very interesting book.

R.A. Divine righteousness comes into the building; that is where the goldsmiths were occupied.

R.D.P. The goldsmiths and the dealers.

R.A. The dealers and the perfumers too, bringing in the perfume of Christ.

R.D.P. What are these dealers?

R.A. They give the valuation of things.

J.A.P What is the difference between rebuilding and repairing?

R.D.P. Some gates were repaired and some were rebuilt the sheep-gate and the fish-gate were rebuilt

A.C.C-m. One gate was neither repaired nor rebuilt - the water-gate; the omniscient personality of the Spirit does not need to be repaired. All the time of the breakdown in the Middle Ages His presence has been here. But the fountain-gate, that is the Spirit in us was repaired, but the water-gate was not repaired.

R.A. The sheep-gate has no bars or bolts on it, it is always open.

R.D.P. That is right. We have been taught that the sheep-gate and the fish-gate are what has been lost in the wreckage of Christendom and they had to be rebuilt. The sheep-gate involves God's sovereignty, and the fish-gate brings in the principle of the wideness of the gospel. Those two things that Christendom so prides itself on are the two things that have been lost. The rest of the gates were repaired.

In Judges there is another exercised man and he is exercised about the food supply. I think we need to be exercised about the food supply. Gideon did not have a good job like Nehemiah; he says "my thousand is the poorest in Manasseh" (v 15). The food was growing but the Midianites were stealing it all; as fast as it grew the Midianites took it. That is a very sad thing if it happens amongst the saints; you may have a good meeting, a good reading, good contributions and yet the Midianites come and take it all away.

C.F.D. How does that happen?

R.D.P. Midian involves what is social, and this feature will steal all food away and impoverish the saints. The people were suffering from a lack of food when there was plenty. But it was not becoming available to them because of the activities of the enemy, the devil. The devil will do anything in our places to stop the food supply; he will make me so that I will not have too much respect for you and consequently everything you say, good as it is, will be lost to me, it will not be food to me because the enemy has come in and-introduced something that steals the food away. That is just a simple thing; there may be better examples. But Gideon says I am going to do something about it. I hope we are all exercised about the state of things amongst the saints; and we can make things better by one man or woman. If others speak critically about the saints, do not you do it. Gideon starts in the winepress, in that enclosed area, to beat out some food for the saints. Now you might say, What is the use of one man amongst all these Midianites? What you find is that he provided a basis for God to come in and to deliver them. We need delivering from Midian in some aspects, I suggest to the brethren, because it is over against what is spiritual.

J.A.P. Likes and dislikes amongst us.

R.D.P. That is right; and we are all to some extent susceptible to it.

C.F.D. Personal preference can eat away at my spirit and my soul. So, as you say, it negates what the Spirit of God or the Lord might give at any given time.

R.D.P. I think so. What the Lord gives amongst the saints is very fine and we do not want to let it be spoiled. There had been a prophetic word from an unnamed prophet (see vv 8-10). It may seem rather a negative word, it goes over a lot of history, and God's word was "ye have not hearkened to my voice". For one man it was God's word.

A.C.C-m. He was threshing wheat, he was analysing the work of God and the chaff. When you go on with God you find a lot of chaff constantly in yourself. You have to judge that, to be constantly in the attitude of self-judgment and discern what is wheat, the work of God and of the Spirit, and what is mere chaff, what is worthless.

G.H. Tell us more about threshing wheat.

A.C.C-m. The wheat is the pure thing, Christ, the work of God and the work of the Spirit, what you may get by the Spirit. A sinful thought comes in, a carnal thought, jealousy. Well, you analyse it, where does it come from? It comes from the flesh and in self-judgment you mortify that. You get on your knees in prayer and see what thoughts have come into your mind that are chaff; they are worthless. I must judge that; God in Thy priestly grace cleanse my mind, wash my mind. These are exercises we all pass through if we are going on with God, we have to be real. Mr Darby says, All thought of self is now forever o'er. Till the rapture we have self in us, but we have the power in the Spirit to deal with it, to deal with pride.

G.D.P. I was interested to notice that you said that Midian is the social side, but it comes in also in our business life that occupies us so much. It may rob us of what we get in the meetings.

R.D.P. I think so. These people had made for themselves dens in the mountains and the caves and the strongholds (see v 2), strong and secret places all over the place, wherever or whatever it is that would· rob us and rob God. Our constitutions are affected by our food. There are parts of the world where men are starving and all kinds of side effects come from that. They are affected in their minds, in their thoughts, in their emotions. A person will almost kill someone for food. Even spiritually you can see how damaged relations amongst the saints will be if the food supply is not maintained. I do not think we realise how important the food supply is, a steady flow of good wholesome food.

C.F.D. God says "I gently caused them to eat", Hos 11: 4. We might have a good diet in front of us but I might be a sluggard and not get it up to my mouth. It seems to me that in the recovery we have had excellent ministries, and even now, in a day of small things when things are so broken, we still have good ministry amongst us, there is food. But how can we encourage each other to appropriate what we have?

R D.P. Well, you help us please. What you say is right.

C.F.D. Do you think a man like Gideon would set an example that someone can follow. For instance in our first scripture there were some who had not defiled their garments; the Lord said, Some of you have not done this, and He says, You will walk with me in white because you are worthy. Do you think the Lord is looking for an element like Gideon, which is that somebody is going to set something on, but then the responsibility is, can this catch fire?

R.D.P. We talk about persons walking according to God and perhaps He will show me. What a word to him: "Go in this thy might"!

J.A.P. What is "this thy might"? Is it faith?

R.D.P. I think it would be, and his simple honesty. He is not pretentious. In Sardis persons become pretentious; they end up with a name and no power and no effect and no product. Here is a man who owns his real weakness.

J.A.P. Every believer has a degree of light from God that he uses.

R.D.P. I believe so.

A.C.C-m. Specially if he is humble. There is a humility about Gideon and an intimacy: "Ah my Lord". Is that not a lovely expression? How near he was to God!

R.D.P. I think what you say is helpful. So here is a young man who is not concerned about what others will think but has his mind fixed; he has a very small area to work in, like most of us have, and he starts to work. All of us here have an influence, even these boys here have an influence on someone younger, be it good or bad, and we know that the influence of a man who is working with God is tremendous. He did not understand everything: "why then is all this befallen us?" You might say, Why are we so reduced in Plainfield and New York where for fifty years the most precious truth has come out? You do not have any great historical tradition in this country because it is a relatively young country, but what riches have come out in the testimony! And you may say, Why has it all befallen us? Gideon said, I do not understand it all but I am going on in my measure with the light that they have. I believe if persons really walked in the light they have God would give them more light and bring them into the fulness of His thoughts. We stop short because our faith is small and we find ourselves looking at ourselves and what is around instead of to God. Here is a man who was looking to God, because what he was doing naturally speaking was futile. One man in a winepress could not hope to combat what the Midianites were doing.

C.F.D. Do you think it is the man's committal? Nobody told him that he should thresh wheat in the winepress to secure it from the Midianites, but it seems that he was committed to something because of his link with God. Do we not need to have some committal? The Lord loves to see us like Nehemiah, loving the principles of the fellowship and standing for them; and I can love the food supply and commit myself to that.

R.D.P. I am sure it is most important. It is possible to come here just superficially for years and not grow, but a person who feels his weakness and is exercised with God to do something for Him in the place is worth a thousand mere professors. Gideon is the kind of material that God can work with to arrive at that state at the end when the Spirit and the bride will say, Come. That will be subjective; it will not be mere profession but be in persons like Gideon.

G.H. As was said, he was a humble man; that is a very important thing too that the Lord takes account of.

R.D.P. Yes. So it is an interesting chapter, and at the end of it he looks for confirmation from God; he is not pretentious.

A.C.C-m. Would it bear the application that you feel the need of life in your locality for the reading, for the ministry meeting? You want a word in life so you go into your closet in secret; "thy Father who is in secret", Matt 6: 6. You abstract yourself and cry to God - that you might have something living for the meeting; it is not enough just to quote scripture, you want the living mind of God for the moment.

R.D.P. Yes, and it is real. Sometimes when you have been preaching you may say to someone, Oh, well, we did our best! But that is not good enough. The preaching is one of the greatest services.

C.F.D. I think that is a vital thing. So in the preaching the Lord makes room. He brings in not only Paul but Silvanus and Timotheus and there are others that are being used; we want the best to come forward at that time.

R D.P. Yes; it is the expression of the heart of God coming out. We are not always as fresh as we should be. Through special circumstances at home we used to have the reading and follow on with the preaching. I do not criticise the brethren for that because I understand the circumstances, but the preaching may lose some of its distinctiveness. Perhaps there is the suggestion that the brethren are tired then so we just have a short preaching. No, the preaching involves the greatest service we can render. Let us desire some gift to be able to convey the glad tidings in a greater way: "Desire earnestly the greater gifts" (1 Cor 12: 31), not only to put scriptures together but to convey something of the heart of God.

G.H. It is the preaching of the word of God; that puts it on a very high level.

J.A.P. 2 Corinthians 4 is Gideon. Paul says "For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your bondmen for Jesus' sake. Because it is the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine"; and then he says "But we have this treasure in earthen vessels , that the surpassingness of the power may be of God, and not from us" (vv 5, 6, 7). When Gideon broke those vessels the light shone; that is quite a test.

R.D.P. All these things are testing to us. We talk about things which often are far in advance of where we are, but at least we are keeping our eyes fixed upon what is right, not accepting the plain of Ono, that ordinary low level of things. Of course there are those who preach in spite of the limitations and circumstances which exist amongst the saints and we respect the way that they have accepted the charge, but then you cannot accept the fact that I have not been able to represent things as God would have it and leave it there. Be with God about it and perhaps He will extend gift in the preaching. We have to do with God. Someone said that gift is an impression of Christ. Otherwise you could not desire a gift, you could not desire the need to be eloquent or have the ability to be like a teacher, but "desire earnestly the greater gifts" really is that God gives you a distinct impression of Christ and the means to communicate it.

R.A. Is that "thy might"? In Zechariah Jehovah says "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit", chap 4: 6. He links the Spirit with the might. The footnote to 'might' is 'forces' and I think that is how the force of the Spirit becomes the power.

R.D.P. Very good. So Nehemiah knows there is no strength in himself but he says "Strengthen my hands!" Here Gideon says, I do not feel strong, my thousand is the poorest in Manasseh, but Jehovah says "Go in this thy might". Then God shows what He can do. We are having to do with God who can do things far above what we can ask or think. Now I wonder if we have faith for that, for that is what the scripture says (see Eph 3: 20).

A.C.C-m. "According to the power which works in us".

S.E.H. Does he also accept the position of being of the tribe of Manasseh? Ephraim is put first and Manasseh second and I wondered if Gideon would be in the acceptance of God's sovereignty in that respect.

R.D.P. Very good; he did not wrestle against that situation. God's sovereignty is an absolutely perfect arrangement. Why should I wrestle against it? God's sovereignty has given me a place whatever it might be and it is a distinctive place because the pattern He has planned will bring out glory in every part. I think what you say is helpful as to sovereignty; we need to accept it.

G.H. That is a very fine thought, that gift is an impression of Christ.

A.C.C-m. It is not ability to talk. The natural mind is to be dreaded in the things of God; we must depend upon the Spirit. If you have a good mind you can quote scripture and so on but that is not necessarily gift.

R.D.P. No. I never heard Mr Taylor but I understand that he was not the clearest of speakers but who could deny that he had an impression of Christ?

J.A.P. Your thought of gift is that the person becomes the gift. We say sometimes that so-and-so was a great gift to the church; we mean by that that he was the thing; that is what I would covet, to be the thing.

R.D.P. I think that is important.

C.F.D. Gift is connected with the preaching, as you were saying. It has been emphasised that there are gifted persons and they should be used in the glad tidings.

R.D.P. There are difficulties of course due to small conditions and isolated circumstances but I think the principle is still there, and it lays extra emphasis upon this matter of desiring gift. I hope everybody is in exercise about that. I think the Lord may be saying to us at the present time "which are about to die"; that is, exercise must be maintained. It is not that the great thoughts of God will not go through, but we have seen places in our own time where once there was distinctiveness in the testimony and now, as far as we can see, there is no expression of assembly truth left. I believe that God would have us in exercise.

C.F.D. It is a real exercise because in our reduction and fewness and geography it is not always easy to call on gift all the time.

R.D.P. God never makes a mistake. If that is the situation perhaps we should ask Him what He has in mind for us in that. Maybe in some of the young men that we have amongst us for instance there is going to be something seen in them brighter than anything that has been in the recovery before. Have we faith for that?

A.C.C-m. Why have we given up the practice of one brother preaching on three successive Lord's days? It is scriptural. If he has the capacity and has a gift why can we not ask him three times?

R.D.P. The great thing is that things do not become formal or religious so that they are maintained in life. May we have a greater view of Christ that we may serve Him better, especially in the preaching.

PLAINFIELD

26 May 1983

 

Key to initials

(all local unless otherwise stated)

R Adams, Toronto; A.C.Clapham, Manchester; C.F.Dadd; G.Hesterman; R.N.Hesterman; S.E.Hesterman; G.D.Pfingst; J.A.Petersen; R.D.Plant , Birmingham