STABILITY

Hebrews 13:8; John 6:66-69; Acts 1:13,14

This verse in Hebrews 13 was read in the preaching on Lord’s day where we were, and it remains with me. What is in my mind, beloved brethren, is the matter of stability. Before looking at such a feature as it is to appear in us, surely it is always best to look at it as set out in perfection in the Lord Jesus. Our opening hymn rather confirmed these thoughts in my mind. The great “I am” is the same yesterday and today and to the ages to come. When the Lord was challenged in John’s gospel as to who He was, He said, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58); not ‘before Abraham was, I was’ which of course was true as well, but ‘I am’. We were reminded recently that the scripture says, “in him sin is not”, 1 John 3:5. The tense is important, I think, in these scriptures. John did not write that sin was not in Him, which of course is also true, but it is not; never was, never will be and never could be. So the One who is before us in this passage, dear brethren, is One who is. He has always been the Same. In grace, of course, this blessed Person took on a condition which was different. He emptied Himself, took a bondman’s form, He was found in figure as a Man and humbled Himself (Phil.2:7). He is glorified now in another condition; not flesh and blood, but a body of glory; but He is the same. Oh, let us learn, and if we have not learned already, let us learn more and more, to put our implicit trust in that blessed One. He will never let you down, you can be sure of that. We sang in the preaching of the One who is

‘Changeless through all the changing years’

                         (Hymn 15).

We live in changing times, dear brethren; all around us is changing. Those of us who have lived longer than others can say that this world is a different world to that in which we were brought up. Kingdoms change, they come and go; governments come and go; great men, figures in history, come and go. It is a changing scene, but here is One who is ‘Changeless through all the changing years’. Oh what a One, dear brethren, to put your implicit trust in! You can always go to Him; He will always be ready. He is always there to listen to you, to listen to you in your need, to listen to your appreciation of Him. He is always there; He will never let you down. That is stability. One of the titles of Jehovah in the Old Testament is the Rock. We have seen recently the waves pounding upon the rocks with terrifying force and power, and yet the rocks stand. Jesus is the Same yesterday, today and for ever. That is our blessed Lord.

But what about ourselves? In John 6 there had been some very, very deep matters spoken of by Jesus which rather baffled the intellect of those who had ostensibly been disciples. They went away back and walked no more with Him. We live in days like that too. Many have gone away, some even at this present time. The Lord said to the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” Think of the feelings of Jesus as He asked them that. I believe He would address every one of us tonight in these same terms. If the worst came to the worst, if severe persecution arose, whatever may happen – and who knows what might happen – He would ask us “Will you also go away?” Peter utters these beautiful words, “Lord, to whom shall we go?”. He was Peter’s Rock, and Peter himself is spoken of elsewhere as a stone – of the same character. It was not that Peter was not going to fail. We know he did, and none of us is beyond failure at any future time. Who knows what may lie ahead if we are left here? But let us get this into our souls, that there is One that we can always trust, and He has His eye upon us and He is not going to let us go. So Peter said, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast words of life eternal”, then he refers to Jesus as “the holy one of God”. There was such an appreciation in Peter’s soul of who this blessed Person was, that he says in principle, ‘I am not going away, come what may’. We know that Peter boasted about that and let the Lord down, but he was recovered. That is the true worth of believers; they can be recovered, and perhaps the better for the experience.

In Acts 1, you have a company. In Peter, we saw his individual attachment to Christ, but now we have a company of persons in this upper room where they were staying. They went up to the upper chamber, “where were staying both Peter, and John, and James” and all these other names. I do not go over all the names, but what a company it was; there were sisters there, several women, and Mary the mother of Jesus. What a wealth there was in that company! The impression I have is that they were staying there. How that worked out in practice I do not know, but we have to take the words of scripture as divinely inspired, and this is what it says, that they “were staying”. Dear brethren, in a day when there are those who are going away, let us be committed to this company where Jesus is loved and honoured, and let us stay. Are you going away? The Lord said to the twelve, ‘Are you going away?’ Peter said, ‘No, we are staying’. So we see here an expectant company. They were waiting on the incoming of the blessed Spirit to form the assembly, to produce body feelings. What wonderful potential there was at this moment! Here they were staying, waiting with bated breath, you might say, for the moment when the Holy Spirit would come, and their bond together would be settled and fixed. Their love for Christ was what bound them together, and in the power of the blessed Spirit, they were staying, dear brethren.

May it be so of us until the coming of the Lord.

Word in meeting for ministry, Grangemouth

7 January 2014

G.A. Brown