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in the immediate environment of those who were gathered to

the name of the Lord in the breaking of bread, he was looking

outside; his intentions were outward; he was not responding to

the claim of the Lord in attention to the Lord. Oh may you not

do that! Is not Christ precious, beloved, young and old? Are

we ready for sacrifice in what is due to Him? That is the simple

appeal. Are we ready for sacrifice in what is due to Him? How

precious are His claims!

Well, the matter did not progress well; “he fell from the third

story down to the bottom”—a damaging fall, three stories. The

Spirit of God very skilfully gives us a picture of the situation.

Let us not trifle with things, beloved brethren; sometimes we

may indulge ourselves in things which are not seemly in the

light of the glory of Christ; we are not to trifle with such things.

Let us be decisive and definite and clear in standing by that

which is precious to the Lord, to Christ, and by what relates to

the name of Christ, standing by what is precious to Him, and

rejecting above all what is offensive to Him. Let us stand for

Him, and for what glorifies Him. But Paul has the answer; we

can say that Paul is the answer, and he brings the answer. He

descending fell upon this young man and enfolded him in his

arms. Oh, that is a lovely touch here, dear brethren. Can we

bring it to bear?

We may see such a situation arising in our local company. Do

we have the grace and the power to move in the direction in

which Paul moved “enfolding him in his arms”? The reality of

affection for one another involves the resentment of all that

may come in to dishonour Christ. Involved in it are our

affections so that we have cause to be offended as to that

which stands in the way of the Lord, our glorious Lord,

securing what answers to His heart. What answers to His

heart is the crucial object of the ministry of Paul which we have

here. It is what Paul stands for in a positive sense. It is, what

doubtless—let us not surmise—it is what doubtless entered

into his discourse. May the Lord keep our affections very