AS HIS TEACHER
These Scriptures have been in my mind in relation to our beloved brother. The one in Matthew has for many years hung in his room, indicating to us what our brother’s outlook has been, and we can see how the truth of it has been worked out in Christ being magnified in him. It is calculated to impress us, I think, with the greatness of Christ, that He is great enough to obtain a place and hold it in the affections of millions, and great enough in His moral excellence to become attractive to all in whom God has wrought. In a large measure that was so with our beloved brother. We do not need to say much as to what has shone out in him, for it is well known. The wonderful lowliness and simplicity of mind and spirit—where had it come from? It was all derived from Christ, and, every time we saw it, it was a reminder of Christ. How blessed the Lord Jesus is beloved brethren! How great His glory when all will shine out in the world to come, when we shall be conformed to His image!
And in that day our dear brother will have his own distinctive place. There is no question about that. One has marvelled at the ways of God with our dear brother. In a remarkable way having zeal in the glad tidings, and yet his health failed at an early age and, in God’s ways with him, he was restricted as to his movements.
But even in all this, I venture to suggest that he was brought into correspondence with Christ, for even the Lord Jesus Himself, great though He was, in His service here was restricted in the ways of God to the nation of Israel, saying He was not sent save to the lost sheep of the house of Israel; fully conscious of His own greatness, yet moving in contentment in limited conditions, in accord with the will of God.
And our beloved brother was marked by the same spirit; although gifted in a great degree, he was content to accept the circumscribed conditions which the will of God was pleased to order for him. I believe that in his spirit, as well as in his counsel, he will be specially remembered and specially loved; and in his prayers too. I believe that in his prayers he had learned from Christ and was enlarged to keep in view the great width of divine interest universally.
No one could be in touch with him without being impressed with the width of his outlook in regard to divine interests, and his prayers must have gone up continually as a sweet incense to God. And then the closing moments, dear brethren. We may have wondered why he was allowed to pass through great sufferings, as he was, but I venture to think that it was that the Lord was bringing His beloved servant into final correspondence with Himself—“Every one that is perfected shall be as his teacher”. There is nothing that our dear brother would have cherished more and, subject as he was to extreme suffering, he would be reminded that the Lord Jesus had great suffering at the end. I do not speak of the atoning sufferings, but the sufferings which He endured at the hands of men. And I have no doubt that the grace of Christ was realised by our dear brother while he himself passed through the suffering as wholly submissive to the will of God for him.
“Every one that is perfected shall be as his teacher”. Our dear brother has been perfected. We rejoice in it. It leaves us an example, dear brethren. It is not a question of our service or our gift; it is not a question whether we have a wide sphere of service or a lowly one; the whole point is that “It is sufficient for the disciple that he should become as his teacher, and the bondman as his Lord”.
May the Lord graciously help us, dear brethren. May we keep Christ Himself before our hearts. He is the heavenly One, every moral excellence is inherent in Him, and all that will shine out in the saints in the coming day has been derived for Christ and Christ alone.
TEIGNMOUTH
11th October 1945
At the burial meeting for Mr Charles A Coates
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SOBRIETY
I desire to say a word as to the need of sobriety. In Peter’s epistle the exhortation to be sober is addressed to us all; in the epistle to Titus it has reference to the older brothers; and in the epistle to Timothy it is addressed to a young man who had in a special way a service entrusted to him. I had in mind especially the word in Peter, because not only is it addressed to us all, but it is based on the fact that the end of all things is at hand, and therefore we are enjoined to be sober. I believe the secret of sobriety is that we have God’s thoughts about everything. People in the world are not sober; they are either hopeful without any basis for their hope, or they are depressed and despondent, but the Christian is not deceived by hopes that have no basis. On the other hand he is not despondent. We may be cast down at times, as Paul said, “Cast down, but not destroyed”, 2 Cor 4: 9, and as Hannah said, “He bringeth low, and lifteth up”, 1 Sam 2: 7. The times of being cast down become occasions for proving the gracious service of Christ in lifting us up, but we are to be sober in the light of the fact that the end of all things is at hand.
On the one side the end of all things, that is, the present order of things, means for us much that is most blessed; I need not say that, but it is well to be reminded of it. The beginning for us of the end of the present state of things will be the movement of our Lord Jesus Christ to take us to be with Himself. That is one of the things that is at hand; it is at hand, and we are to have it before us. In the first epistle to the Thessalonians the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is presented as a hope, in the way of comfort for us. “Wherefore comfort one another with these words”. The Thessalonians being distressed at some of their number having fallen asleep, the Lord took occasion to give light as to the fact that He Himself would “descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord”. In Revelation 3: 10 the Lord gives a promise to those who keep the word of His patience, that He also will keep them out of the hour of trial which is about to come upon the whole world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. The hope we have of seeing the Lord and being with Him is not merely a matter of comfort, it is presented as an answer to the affection that shows itself at the present time by keeping the word of His patience. In John 14 it is presented as something that the Lord’s own heart is waiting for. In that chapter He is full of the thoughts of His Father’s house. He has cherished the whole extent of the will of God, and devoted Himself even to death to secure it, and He says: “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you”, v 2, immediately passing on to the distinctive place which the assembly has in His own affections and in the thoughts of God. But then He says, “I am coming again and will receive you to myself”, showing that the Lord is viewing the matter from His own standpoint, and the joy it will mean to Him to receive the saints to Himself. I only mention that as one of the things that is at hand. The end of all things is at hand, and what will usher in the closing stages of all things here for the saints is the Lord coming to assert the rights of His love to take us to be with Himself.
But then the next thing in connection with the end of all things is the coming in of our Lord Jesus Christ in power and glory, and us with Him. He is coming to be “glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe”, 2 Thess 1: 10. Think of that! The Lord Jesus will be admired, and admired in us. These things are at hand, and so in Revelation 22: 16 He presents Himself as the “bright and morning star”. He would speak to our hearts in that light in the presence of the surrounding darkness—the bright Morning Star. In the light of these things we are to be balanced, we can be comforted, we can rejoice, as it says, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing”. The idea of being sober is that we are balanced, having God’s thoughts both of good and of evil, and while not indifferent to the evil we are in the light of the fact that good is going to prevail. “Be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer”, because with the light of what is cherished in our hearts as at hand there comes the need of persevering in prayer. If it is a question of our cherishing the thought of being caught up to meet the Lord, prayer is needed on our part that the necessary watchfulness and moral suitability may be found with us. It says in 1 John 3, “we know that if he is manifested”, referring to the appearing, “we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. And every one that has this hope in him”, that is, in Christ, “purifies himself, even as he is pure”, v 2, 3. So that the balanced hope of some of the things that are at hand will have the effect of producing in us the exercise to be like Him, and to sanctify ourselves, and prayer will enter into that. We are to watch unto prayer. There is nothing that Satan seeks so much to hinder as prayer. He would bring all kinds of distractions and discouragements to bear upon us to hinder us from prayer, or to make our prayers perfunctory.
The apostle, realising the great effect upon our own spirits, and the great power there is too in prayer, enjoins upon us to watch unto prayer, and to see that nothing is allowed to hinder our making time for prayer, and nothing allowed to hinder the liberty of our spirits in access to God in prayer. Thank God, whatever comes in to hinder, there is a way by which it may be removed, there are always the ashes of the red heifer in regard to the defilement that is so easily contracted in going through this evil scene, and there is always the abiding efficacy of the blood of Christ, so there is every reason why we should continue in prayer. The apostle Paul in his epistle to the Ephesians tells us twice over how he prayed, and what he prayed, and how he bowed his knees, and in the last chapter he enjoins to persevere in prayer and supplication for all the saints; “and for me”—that is for the ministry—and so we are to watch unto prayer.
But there is another side that enters into sobriety in relation to the end of all things, that is that we are fully acquainted, as instructed in the mind of God, with what will characterise this world and the testimony in the closing days. There is no doubt that we have reached the closing days and that the power of the enemy is being wielded in a subtle form, and it may be in a violent form too, to bear upon the saints in an endeavour to hinder us from entering into all that is in the mind of God for us now. The greatest things are being opened up to us in the ministry, and it is a question of whether we can take them on. We may rest assured the enemy in every way open to him will do his best to oppose, and hence the need of giving ourselves to prayer. We are not unaware of the lawlessness and unrest that prevail in the world, and there is great need of constant prayer that God would keep His hand over all that obtains, He has established government; it is very unstable in the hands of man, but it is of God abstractly and characteristically, and God uses it to enforce what is right. Never was there a day when the saints needed more to plead with God that He would support government and restrain the workings of lawlessness in the world. Men are active in banding together in ways which, from their own point of view, appear to be necessary and wise, but behind the scenes, are the activities of Satan to make it impossible for the saints to go through. In the presence of these things we must watch unto prayer and be sober, understanding that suffering is called for in the closing days if the truth is to go forward. Suffering will be called for. God is using the conditions of evil to develop in the saints that faithfulness to the truth which will fit us to stand alongside of Christ in the day of His glory. It says in Revelation 19: 7, “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready”. The Lamb is the One who suffered rather than surrender the rights of God, who was slain in outward defencelessness and apparent weakness, and if the saints are called to suffer it is in order that that feature may be developed in us, so that when the moment comes for the Lamb to enter into His glory we may stand alongside of Him with no moral disparity, as those who have themselves suffered rather than surrender anything that is due to God.
We are not to be distressed by the trend of things; we are to face them spiritually, understanding the devices of Satan that lie behind them. At the same time we are to be sober, recognising that God is in complete control of evil as well as of good, and there is not a single condition that can arise in the world but will work out for the perfecting of the saints as they go through with Him. And before all things, we are to have fervent love among ourselves. How valuable that is. In these days we know something of the comfort and support of the circle of the brethren. “We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren”, 1 John 3: 14. We know the comfort of it. We need the support of the circle of the brethren, as in Acts 4; when the apostles were let go they went to their own company, and we know the value of it too. But then it is to be preserved, because if there is anything of God, Satan will seek to spoil and corrupt it by introducing what will mar it, so we are to have fervent love among ourselves, “because love covers a multitude of sins”. Love does not uncover, it covers, it thinks no evil, hopes all things. If anything is suggested to our minds in regard of the action of a brother or a sister that implies evil on their part, we look around first of all and examine the matter carefully and see whether it is possible righteously to put some other construction on whatever he or she has done.
In Titus 2, we have a word to the older brothers; they are to be sober, and that is an important matter. It says “that the elder men be sober, grave, discreet, sound in faith, in love, in patience”. The older brothers in every meeting may take this up. It is not a question of everyone being gifted, being able to preach or teach, but they are to be sober. We are to remember that we all exercise an influence either for good or for evil, and particularly those who are older. There is also a word to the elder sisters. It is well to bear in mind that the elder brothers are specially enjoined to carry features suited to those who have had long experience with God, and that they exert an influence, the younger men looking at them and taking notice how they comport themselves. All these things are looked for in those who are older, and therefore as we become older we are to accept the responsibility, to be sober and to exercise ourselves before God to have our thoughts formed by divine thoughts, and to hold the truth in a balanced way, so that all who are in contact with us may recognise the sobriety which befits those who have had much experience with God.
Then finally the apostle says to Timothy, who was a young man on whom he relied for the carrying on of the truth, “But watch thou in all things (or, sober in all things), endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry”. Sobriety will involve enduring afflictions. Endurance is a feature of the testimony. It says in Hebrews 12: 3, in regard of our Lord Jesus Christ, “Consider well him who endured so great contradiction from sinners against himself”. We are to consider it well, how much He had to endure in the way of contradiction from sinners, and we are to endure. Endurance is a feature of moral worth derived from Christ, and formed in us by the Spirit. Timothy is enjoined to endure afflictions. If we are to endure afflictions we must have God’s view of them, and understand what He effects by means of them. If we are sober in all things we shall be strengthened to endure afflictions. However evil men in the world may become we must ever remember that this is the dispensation of the grace of God, and we are to see to it that we are preserved in the current of the dispensation, and to remember to do the work of an evangelist. In Luke’s gospel we are privileged to see how the Lord carried the spirit of grace right through, even healing the ear of the one whom a misguided disciple smote with the sword. In all these things the Lord preserved the character of the dispensation right through the darkest hours of His testimony here. So Timothy is to make full proof of his ministry.
That was what I had in mind, the need of sobriety, and the exhortation, the incentive to be sober, arising out of the fact that the end of all things is at hand, and the urgent need that we should watch unto prayer.
LONDON
9th October 1946
From Words of Grace and Comfort
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