THE INWARD CHARACTER OF CHRISTIANITY

W. Lamont

2 Samuel 5: 1–10; Revelation 3: 7, 8; 2 Timothy 1: 14

One is thinking of the matter of what is inward or inner; both expressions are used in Scripture. Paul in writing to the Romans in chapter 7 speaks about persons delighting in the law of God “according to the inward man” (Romans 7: 22). Writing to the Ephesians he speaks about being “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man”, Ephesians 3: 16. There is a proverb that has often interested me, “as he thinketh in his soul, so is he”, Proverbs 23: 7. That is, what a person is inwardly is the real person. It finds its expression outwardly in what we say and do. Paul came to that, he referred to the kind of man he had been (see 1 Timothy 1: 13), but God had wrought in him inwardly, and he could say, “by God’s grace I am what I am”, 1 Corinthians 15: 10. It is important for believers to come to that. God has wrought inwardly in us; He has brought about in us something that reminds Him of Christ, and speaks to Him of the reliability, and also the beauty of His own work.

There is nothing so reliable as the work of God. I suppose every one of us in our experience has proved that we cannot rely fully on anything other than the work of God. As you observe the work of God in the brethren there is a beauty about it that could not be humanly produced; it is obvious its source is in another world altogether, and it is patterned after another kind of man.

In 2 Samuel 5, it was a critical time in the history of Israel and Judah. David had been king in Hebron over Judah seven years and six months, then these tribes of Israel, all the tribes of Israel, it is a whole thought, came to David to Hebron, “and spoke saying, Behold, we are thy bone and thy flesh”, they claimed kinship with him. It is a wonderful thing to realise in your soul that you are kindred with Christ. We are of the same order of man as He is. There is nothing more elevating, nothing more stimulating to the soul, than to realise that you are kindred to the heavenly Man, “For both he that sanctifies and those sanctified are all of one; for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren”, Hebrews 2: 11. Do not be afraid to use the word brethren, not in a sectarian way, but in the way the Lord speaks about it, “go to my brethren and say to them”, John 20: 17. There is a dignity about it; Christ’s brethren. His companions, it says He is not ashamed to call them brethren. A milestone in your history as a believer is arrived at when you realise that you are kindred to Christ. It is not only that He has shed His precious blood to save you; not only that He has died, having borne your sins on the cross; but you are kindred to Him, you are like Him, of the same order, and God views you in the same light as He views Christ. He remains, of course, in His uniqueness, anointed with the oil of gladness above His companions (see Hebrews 1: 9).

There is much detail in this passage. I will touch briefly on some of it. There is Hebron which speaks to us of what is brought out spiritually by Paul in the epistle to the Colossians; in that through death known morally you are on the way into another world; you are reaching towards something that is inward; in the principle of death morally you are going out of this world into another world, and you are leaving behind you all the moral characteristics that belong to this world. What an experience to have, but there is opposition. Dear young persons, you will find that you are just going through the very same exercises (I would encourage you by this) as we who are older have gone through before, and the enemy is continually on the attack. So here are persons claiming kinship to David and anointing him king over Israel. He had already been anointed, he was anointed by Samuel with a horn of oil, not a vial. It is an interesting point that Saul was anointed with a vial of oil, but David was anointed with a horn of oil; a horn was the result of suffering, the result of death. So they

anoint David king over Israel and his position becomes established. It is a wonderful thing to grasp in your soul that there is a Man in an established, impregnable position in the presence of God who can never be overthrown. Not just for these forty years, but for ever, eternally!

But then they went to Jerusalem and David built from the Millo and inward. There is an area of things where Christ is building, “on this rock I will build my assembly, and hades’ gates shall not prevail against it”, Matthew 16: 18. David is building round about from the Millo, the fortress, that impregnable position, and inward. But there is opposition. These Jebusites inhabit the land. It is like the powers of spiritual wickedness in the heavenlies. There is opposition all the way and it has to be overcome. It says, “the blind and the lame will drive thee back; as much as to say, David will not come in hither”. One thing the enemy cannot do, he cannot alter one whit the position that Christ fills above; He fills it now and will fill it eternally for the praise and glory of God. But then the enemy will attack what is down here.

So it says, “David will not come in hither”. I think it means that the enemy is opposed to what God is doing in your soul and in mine at the present time; he is against Christ dwelling in your heart through faith, and will use every means in his subtle power to prevent the formation of Christ in your soul. How many lame and blind there are, persons who cannot see rightly, persons who cannot walk rightly. It is significant, if you go through the gospels, the number of times that the Lord heals the blind and the lame. Then the man in Acts 3 who could not walk properly, became incontrovertible evidence of divine healing as he was walking and leaping and praising God.

The Jebusites would have had no power against that man. The blind man in Mark 8 that the Lord touched, at first saw men as trees walking, he saw things all out of proportion. Now that is another thing, the enemy would

try to make us think irrationally and see matters out of proportion, see persons out of proportion, greater than they should be. Then there is the second touch; I think that would involve for us the gift of the Spirit. The man was restored and saw all things clearly. O, what need there is to see all things clearly. There is a great need for persons who have spiritual vision to see in what direction things are heading. There are some things today, and brethren are being deceived by them, that are leading to the world, and to what is open in principle.

The enemy would use that line of things. We need to be warned against getting support, either privately or publicly, in anything that would prevent Christ, the true David, from entering into the territory that is really His. The record in Chronicles gives us Joab’s part in the matter (see 1 Chronicles 11: 6), but in Samuel which deals with what is inward, Joab is not even mentioned; it concentrates exclusively on David. That is, the Spirit of God would fasten our attention on Christ, to see things from the divine standpoint.

So David went to Jerusalem which refers to God’s great thoughts in purpose. Zion coming in here is the assertion of God’s rights in sovereign mercy. Paul could say, “but God, being rich in mercy, because of his great love wherewith he loved us”, Ephesians 2: 4. Think of all that has come out in the history of, the recovery to the truth, the great thoughts of God. Mr. Raven advised the younger men to lay hold of the purpose of God, if you do that you can see all things clearly. If you approach matters from that standpoint, everything else falls into perspective; your own affairs, family affairs, affairs of the local assembly and of the saints universally. Then it says, “David became continually greater”, typical of Christ becoming continually greater in the hearts of the saints. There is no change in His position above, because when He ascended far above all the heavens, when He sat down with His Father in His throne, His position was established and, from that standpoint, could never be added to nor taken from. But in the

appreciation of the people David became continually greater and is typical of Christ becoming greater in the hearts of His own. It is like Saul of Tarsus, whose appreciation of the light became greater till it became a light above the brightness of the sun (Acts 26: 13).

This assembly at Philadelphia was obviously very precious to the Lord. Each local assembly is precious to the Lord Jesus, and it is significant that after Ephesus there is no reference to the lamp. In Revelation 2: 1, He has the seven stars, He is holding them in His right hand, that is He was recognising the whole position at that time. When it comes to Sardis, He presents Himself as, “he that has the seven Spirits of God, and the seven stars”, Revelation 3: 1. He is not recognising publicly the assembly as united, but what He is doing is to support fully persons who walk in the light of the whole assembly and are faithful to it. I am sure this assembly at Philadelphia was much loved by the Lord, and He presents Himself as “the holy, the true; he that has the key of David”. I think this is an indication of the Lord building from the Millo and inward. The holy and the true would be features that marked Him in His perfect manhood, and He uses this key, “he who opens and no one shall shut, and shuts and no one shall open”. That is an absolute prerogative; what the Lord does, whether it is opening, or whether it is shutting, no one can interfere with it; no one has a right to interfere with it. We often speak about franchise, that is the right to act, and the Lord cherishes that. Over the history of the recovery there have been attempts by persons by way of interference to remove the franchise from certain places, that is to remove the right from them to act as a local assembly. God will not have it; unless, of course, there is continued, and obvious, and total unfaithfulness, then the Lord Himself may act, it is His prerogative to remove the franchise from a place, and it is a very serious matter.

Then He says, “I know thy works”, that is a great

comfort and yet it is very searching. Probably some thought that they knew the exact conditions in some of those local meetings, but the Lord knows every detail, you cannot hide anything from Him. He knows every detail of every exercise in every locality. He knows the inwards, the thoughts and desires of every person in every locality. So He says, “I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an opened door”, not an open door, but an opened door, that is the door has been deliberately opened, showing it had been closed. The Lord has sovereignly operated in recovery to re-open the way for entry into the greatest thoughts of God as indicated in His message in John 20, “go to my brethren and say to them, I ascend to my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God” (John 20: 17). It is the ascending line into the enjoyment of the best that love could provide, the things that God has prepared for those who love Him (1 Corinthians 2: 9). And the Lord says, “and no one shall shut”. It is a wonderful thing that no one can alter God’s thoughts; no one can alter the way into them, the door has been opened and it has been kept open right down to our day.

Think of the cost too in the recovery of the great truths that have come to us. Some who ought to know better, who have professed to have cherished them over years, are now giving them up. It is so sad. The Lord would help us, and give all of us here a greater desire to maintain what has come to us at such great cost. Not only the Lord Himself, the prime example in all things, but others too have suffered in order that these great truths should be brought to us. Beloved brethren, let us not weaken them, let us not give them up, let us

“contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints”, Jude 3. Now that does not contradict what Paul says to Timothy, “a bondman of the Lord ought not to contend” (2

Timothy 2: 24), but the way we stand fast in faithfulness to maintain what has come to us as to God’s thoughts is important. The value of these great things; Christ and the assembly; the great truth and enjoyment

of the Lord’s supper, which is like an opened door that leads into the service of God; in fact the service of God commences when the Lord comes in. These are wonderful things, let us cherish them. It says, “because thou hast a little power”, do not let us stress the little, let us stress the power—a little power. And “hast kept my word”, it is a wonderful thing to keep His word, it is a great privilege and can only be done by the overcomer. And the Lord says, and hast not denied my name”. We had that this afternoon—“For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them”, Matthew 18: 20.

Now I just say a word in closing as to Timothy, this young man to whom Paul was writing.

The enemy is making a great bid for such, he is making a great bid for the young people, and he will use any means in his power, worldly things, earthly things, whatever you name, all the weapons in his armoury, he will use against you. He does not desire your welfare; he has no thought for your blessing, none whatever, but he wants to destroy you morally and make you useless for God. Paul says, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”. In the first epistle Paul says, “O Timotheus, keep the entrusted deposit” (1

Timothy 6: 20), but when it comes to the urgency of the second epistle, in the light of so much apparent and coming breakdown, he says, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”. He says to the Corinthians, Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you (1 Corinthians 3: 16)? But when he is speaking to Timothy, an individual, he links himself very intimately with Timothy, and says, The Holy Spirit which dwells in us. Think of that, how intimate that is, Paul linking Timothy with himself in the word “us”, and no doubt others.

We will never keep the good deposit entrusted by mere tradition, not even the fact that we belong to a line of recovery, commencing in Mr. Darby’s time. Mr. Darby

did not begin the recovery, let us be plain about that. The Lord used Mr. Darby and others in the recovery but the Lord began the recovery Himself. So the good deposit has been entrusted to us; the great things that have been brought down to us. Most of it is on our bookshelves; if you want the answer to most things you can go to the bookshelf and find the answer; but if you want to keep the good deposit entrusted, the only proper way is by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us. There is no greater gift for man, woman or child, than to have the knowledge that the Holy Spirit dwells in us. He can be quenched, He can be grieved, but Paul says to Timothy, I leave this word of exhortation to all of us, oneself included, “Keep, by the Holy Spirit which dwells in us, the good deposit entrusted”. The force of Scripture speaks for itself.

May the Lord encourage us all for His name’s sake.

Address at Cullen
26 March 1994