FAITHFUL CONTINUANCE TO THE END
W. Lamont
2 Chronicles 14: 2–12; 15: 1–4; 16: 12; John 17: 4; 2 Timothy 4: 6–8
I suppose most of us would know what Mr. Raven said, that the real test is the power of stay or continuance (Vol.2, p.33), and one’s desire is that we might be among those who will continue faithfully to the end, whatever that end may be. We have heard of the Lord taking a sister to be with Himself by the way of sleep. How many of us will be alive at the rapture, who knows? It is all in the Lord’s hands. Some of us may be taken by way of death, asleep through Jesus, becoming part of that vast host of the dead in Christ; some of us may well be alive at the rapture. I was deeply affected by a remark of Mr. Stoney when he said he did not want to be alive at the rapture. He wanted the experience of death and resurrection. I do not know if I could say that but the burden of one’s message at this time is that all of us here would continue to the end and continue faithfully. I believe the Lord would exhort that upon us, to be faithful persons; there is a great need for them. Paul could say to Timothy, “the things thou hast heard of me ... these entrust to faithful men” (2 Timothy 2: 2), not gifted men, but faithful men. There is a great need for faithful men (and that of course would include the sisters), such as are competent to teach others also. That has come down to us by way of a long spiritual tradition, not mere tradition, but spiritual tradition, through men especially in the present recovery and before it who were faithful. It cost some of them their lives but they passed things on to others and we ourselves have the benefit of them. What are we going to do, beloved brethren? Are we going to continue faithful to the end or are we going to give up? Many have given up.
I have read of a king, a man in a prominent position, who at the end gave up. There is much that could be said in his favour, much good that he had done, but at the end he became diseased in both his feet; that is, he could not walk properly. Mephibosheth, as we know, was lame on both his feet, which was a different thing entirely. He was lame through no fault of his own, but Asa became diseased in both his feet. What a contrast to that man in the beginning of Acts who laid hold of both Peter and John. We have been speaking of the distinctiveness of Paul’s ministry, but we also hold on to Peter and John. As the result of what he received through them, it says, “his feet and ankle bones were made strong” (Acts 3: 7), and the end result was that he was able to function in the praise of God. The great end, beloved brethren, in everything is what is for God, the service of God. The enemy’s attack is against the service of God. He is against the great truth of Christ and the assembly. The methods he uses are so subtle but one can observe at least two of them; bringing in disruption between brethren individually, and bringing in disruption between local assemblies. In doing so he strikes at the heart of the practical truth of Christ and the assembly and the great matter of the service of God.
There was a king of whom it says, “Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah”, 2 Chronicles 13: 20. Many of us have known what departure is and many of us have known what recovery is, but here is a man who was not recovered, and very solemnly it says of him, “Jeroboam did not recover strength again in the days of Abijah; and Jehovah smote him, and he died. It indicates the solemnity and awfulness of the government of God. Then Asa comes to light, a man who “did what was good and right in the sight of Jehovah his God”. He removed things that were displeasing to God. If we desire to do what is right in the sight of God it involves the removal of certain things. It involves a clearance in yourself inwardly. The truth of Romans 7, for instance,
is a clearing out of a whole line of things that is displeasing to God and making room for the Spirit of God, leading to chapter 8 of Romans, where the Spirit of God can be free in you, when you have dealt with moral exercises in your own soul. You have learned to sort out the great matter of good and evil, and you find out what is pleasing to God, which makes way for the Spirit of God in Romans 8.
So this man is very commendable to begin with, he clears out the high places and the sun-images, and the result was that the kingdom was quiet before him. If we do these things, beloved brethren, remove what is displeasing in the sight of God, do it individually, we will find that our conditions are quiet. It says here, “In his days the land was quiet ten years”. If you study the history of the recovery you will find that there were periods of relative peacefulness. I speak especially of these fifty or so years under the teaching of beloved Mr.
Taylor Snr.; the land was quiet for those years and things prospered. A heavenly ministry came to the saints. Here it says, “the kingdom was quiet before him. And he built fortified cities”. You might well ask the question, If there is peace for ten years and the kingdom was quiet, why build fortified cities in Judah? That seemed a strange thing to do, it was a time for enjoyment, but he built fortified cities. Beloved brethren, no matter when or where we have arrived at conditions that are conducive to peace among the saints, we need to be always on our guard and to continue also on this line that we are building these cities. He said,
“surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us”. That is, we build things morally and spiritually so that the enemy cannot intrude at all.
That is why I read about the Lord in John 17, “I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”. We ought to fix our gaze on the perfect Man; I suppose this verse is the fulfilment of what He said in John 4, in that remarkable chapter, where He
says, “My food is that I should do the will of him that has sent me, and that I should finish his work” (John 4: 34). What an example in perfection of one blessed Man who endured to the end. What it cost Him, it cost Him His life. O the sufferings of Jesus! Dear young people, if you want to have moral backbone feed on the sufferings of Christ. That is good advice to us all. So the Lord went through in perfection right to the end and He says, “I have glorified thee on the earth”. In the very sphere where every other man, who to some degree or other, had dishonoured God, there was one holy, perfect, blessed Man, who perfectly glorified Him on the earth. “I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”. Someone said in the history of the recovery that only Christ fulfilled responsibility—that was error, and that was said not far from here. The meeting of that error was part of the wars of the Lord which are still going on.
So Asa says, “Let us build these cities, and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars, while the land is yet before us”. Then the result was his army, out of Judah three hundred thousand and out of Benjamin two hundred and eighty thousand, was able to vanquish an army of one million men. This man, Zerah, an Ethiopian, came out against them with a host of one thousand thousand and three hundred chariots and Asa was able to meet and defeat them. Then he gets a word, it says, “the Spirit of God came upon Azariah”. It is a healthy exercise to enquire as to why the Spirit of God has that title in the Old Testament as well as the New. I say no more about that, but then this word comes, “Hear ye me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin—Jehovah is with you while ye are with him”. Divine support is vouchsafed to us as it says here, “Jehovah is with you while ye are with him”. That is a principle that has been clearly established. If we are not with God in exercises we cannot count on divine support. I understand that is the meaning of what the Lord says at the end of Matthew, “behold, I am with you all the days, until the completion
of the age” (Matthew 28: 20). The Lord there is clearly speaking in the context of those who are prepared to go to the mountain in Galilee and are prepared to accept reproach. Similarly there are those of whom He speaks in Matthew 18, “where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18: 20). That is, persons of a certain moral and spiritual character. I am not saying anything against other believers, God forbid. They stand responsible to God for themselves. I am speaking to persons to whom great light has come and this principle stands and it is incumbent upon us. Beloved brethren, young and old, there is a charge upon us to keep these things and to be with God in matters.
This principle applies today just as it was prophesied by Azariah, “Jehovah is with you while ye are with him”.
Asa did a lot of great things, good things, but he had not removed the high places. That was a weakness no doubt, but still he is credited with this, “only, Asa’s heart was perfect all his days. And he brought into the house of God the things which his father had dedicated” (2
Chronicles 15: 17, 18). Then it says, “And there was no war until the thirty-fifth year of the reign of Asa” (2 Chronicles 15: 19). Well, so far so good, here is a good man. Now beloved brethren, let us heed the warning, “Asa in the thirty-ninth year of his reign was diseased in his feet, until his disease was extremely great; yet in his disease he did not seek Jehovah, but the physicians”. In other words, he turned to alternative means. We live in a world of alternatives. If one thing does not suit you, you go for another. The secret is in seeking God, and at the end of his days. Asa is a warning to us. Let us all, young and old, continue faithfully to the end and be with God in our exercises and we will certainly be sure of divine support.
Now a word as to Paul who went through faithfully to the end. He is a great example for us.
He says, “For I am already being poured out, and the time of my
release is come”. There is a link with Philippians 2: 17 where he says, “if also I am poured out as a libation”. It is obvious to all of us that what is poured out is irretrievable. It is like the men who broke through the camp of the Philistines when David said, “Oh that one would give me to drink of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is in the gate”, 2 Samuel 23: 15. They were not told to do it, but they broke through to draw the water, then they broke through coming back and brought that water to David. However it says, “he would not drink of it, but poured it out to Jehovah”. I think that is like Paul here, a man who was considering for God, and who had considered for God the whole of his life after his conversion. Beloved brethren, that is searching. Do I consider for myself or do I consider for God? We are reading here of a man who consistently considered for God. He says, “I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”.
I come back to that conflict from about 1915–16 onwards as to fulfilled responsibility, where one man said that only Christ fulfilled responsibility. That is not the truth. The Lord was a perfect Man and He, above all others, could say, “I have completed the work which thou gavest me that I should do it”. But fulfilled responsibility is a principle. As responsible before God it is my duty to fulfil responsibility, whatever responsibility I have been given. As being set in a locality, it is the duty of each one of us to fulfil responsibility. Mr. Darby was asked, What is Christian responsibility? His answer was, It is the responsibility of being a Christian.
So Paul says, here, “I have combated the good combat”. What combat Paul had, spiritual combat. That is referred to in chapter 6 of the epistle to the Ephesians, the conflict in the heavenlies. There is such a thing as wilderness conflict and there is such a thing as land conflict. You young ones, go in for the teaching and learn the experience of them in your own soul. Conflict in the wilderness is related probably more to the individual exercises of Romans, and conflict in the land to assembly
exercises. How many there have been, and that was one of them—fulfilled responsibility.
Persons insisted that only the Lord did it, and the enemy was in that quite clearly. Our duty is to fill out our responsibilities.
Paul says, “I have combated the good combat, I have finished the race”. He says earlier, “if also any one contend in the games, he is not crowned unless he contend lawfully”, 2 Timothy 2: 5. These parameters between which we operate prescribe for us the spiritual way. We have referred recently to the death of Christ being the boundaries of the fellowship; so the believer operates within these parameters. We should keep ourselves within the banks of the river.
That is again according to Philippians, “the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus”, (Philippians 1: 19). We are safe if we keep to these things, guided by the spiritual parameters. We do not need to divert to anything else, to human or religious means, to the methods men use in their synods and sometimes come to totally wrong and evil conclusions. We have the divinely given parameters between which we work. There is blessing and joy and peace in adhering to these.
Then Paul says, “I have finished the race, I have kept the faith”. We have referred to the unity of the faith. Here is one man individually who could say, “I have kept the faith”. Then he says, “Henceforth the crown of righteousness is laid up for me, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will render to me in that day”. I was talking to a brother recently who went out of fellowship because of self-justification. He thought that he was right and his brethren were wrong. I said to him, Dear brother, remember there is the righteous Judge. The Lord said to each one of the seven assemblies in Revelation, “I know”. What presumption it is to think that you know better than your brethren. Beloved Mr. James Taylor continually advised persons who had difficulties. Bow to your brethren, and if it is otherwise the Lord in time will justify you. So Paul says, “which
the Lord, the righteous Judge, will render to me in that day”. Paul looked forward to that day.
I love to read this passage as referring to Paul the aged. In Acts 7, the witnesses laid aside their clothes at the feet of a young man called Saul and, as someone has said, The death pangs of Stephen were the birth pangs of Paul. I suppose that is a reference to new birth. Saul was so affected, “It is hard for thee to kick against the goads”, the Lord says. In measure the Lord was sympathetic with him. He felt for him, but the Lord secured him; and undeviatingly from being a young man to being Paul the aged he could say, “I have kept the faith”. I would love to be like that to the end. May every one of us here be such persons in our measure. I know Paul was an apostle, but he was a man like the rest of us, with fellow feelings like we have and went through exercises the same as ourselves, and he says these wonderful things.
Then he says, “but not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing”. Do you love His appearing? Beloved brethren, beloved young brethren, are you occupied with things on earth?
I am not saying the world, although there may be somebody here who, like Eutychus, has their eye on the world. I trust not, but it may be you have your eye on the things of earth. Mr.
Coates said the first issue of a soul was the issue of heaven or hell, but it soon became heaven or earth. Let us keep free from these things, and be among those who love His appearing. Are you in that class? Am I in that class? I suppose every believer, if true at all, is waiting for His appearing. It would be right to wait for His appearing, but do we love His appearing? That would mean that we are consistent now with that coming day. When Mr. Pellatt died in this country in 1913, Mr. Taylor said of him, ‘I know of no-one who loved the truth more than he did, and I never knew him to flinch when it was involved’ (JT Letters Vol.1, p.112). Could that be said of you and me? Paul says, “but not only to me, but also to all who love his appearing”.
Then we have another warning, “Use diligence to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me”. I think that cut Paul to the heart. Demas is spoken of elsewhere (Colossians 4: 14; Philemon 24), but here he says, “Use diligence to come to me quickly; for Demas has forsaken me”. I think Paul would say to Timothy, ‘Timothy, I need your comfort’. How we need the comfort of one another. In the day in which we live, in the pressures of the testimony and in other pressures, we need one another even in the way of comfort. So he says, “For Demas has forsaken me, having loved the present age, and is gone to Thessalonica”. You have heard what Mr. Darby said of that, he thought he would depart in the way of what was evangelical. He took an easier path. Beloved brethren, let us avoid that too. I am not saying anything against what is evangelical, it is most important, it would be good if we were more evangelical. But I will point out something, especially in Mr. Raven’s day, and others, it was the so-called evangelists who opposed the truth; it was the so-called evangelists who opposed the truth of eternal life. Let us take a warning from that. Our responsibility is the great truth of Christ and the assembly, and the service of God; and the order is the house of God and the gospel. That important ministry which came out at Chicago in 1904–5 was attacked by those who ought to have known better. Demas had gone to Thessalonica (why there? I wonder). Paul adds, “Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. Luke alone is with me”.
May it be that we all are persons who are prepared to continue to the end, not only on the principle of being with God and His being with us, but may we continue in faithfulness to Paul’s ministry. It is critical, more critical than ever in the day in which we live, even the practical aspects of it that, bear on us all, brothers and sisters. As a prerequisite for partaking rightly of the Lord’s supper, we need to listen to Paul and scripture has the last word. I exhort the brethren, as one who has feebly presented the word, let us be among those who will go on faithfully
to the end. Let us not be like so many in this area who in the recent conflicts lost their way, some of them towards the end of their lives. Some of us remember men in our area who taught us, and we grew up under their ministry, but some lost their way. How sad, what a warning. Beloved brethren, I say again, as Paul said to Timothy, “This charge, my child Timotheus, I commit to thee”, 1 Timothy 1: 18. I think at this very moment, the Lord would charge us to go on faithfully; faithful to Him and faithful to what has come out in the way of spiritual ministry through those who have suffered to this end. May it be so with each one of us, for His name’s sake.
Address at Redbridge
30 October 1999