JUSTIFICATION THROUGH THE WORK OF CHRIST
JUSTIFICATION THROUGH THE WORK OF CHRIST
1
A. C. Craig
WRITING BY THE SAINTS
6
W. McKillop
Words at a Burial
FAITH THAT CAN BE IMITATED
16
D. Scougal
THE SONS OF ZADOK
19
W. Lamont
LABOUR AND REST IN THE LORD
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D. C. Brown
— — —
EXTRACTS
23
A. C. Craig
There was a woman who went to court to listen to the trial of her son; it was a bad case, going pretty badly against the son, and the mother cried out, Show him mercy! The judge said, He does not deserve mercy, and she said, It would not be mercy if he deserved it. That is mercy, we do not deserve it. I want to speak about that, “God be merciful to me a sinner” (AV). The other man sets out the works of the law by which, we read in Romans, no flesh can be justified. That is a great point in the epistle to the Romans, to be justified. This man went down to his house justified. He took his stand beside the brazen altar. In the type, the greatest distance in the tabernacle system was between the brazen altar and the mercy-seat. So he stood afar off, he knew his place, he stood beside the brazen altar, he looked on that sacrifice, he exercised faith in that sacrifice. I want to speak about that. The man eventually found himself, the distance removed, and he at the mercy-seat; but he stood beside the brazen altar first. Nobody can be justified apart from taking up that position. What a sacrifice on the day of atonement! As I said, dear friends, the greatest distance was between the altar and the mercy-seat. You come to the altar first, then the laver, then the door of the tabernacle, then in through the holy place, through the veil, before you come to the mercy-seat; there is no distance greater than that. God would teach His people through the type that the distance must be removed—afar off.
In these chapters in Luke you have the expression of distance over and over again, a long way off the prodigal was. The ten lepers in this chapter stood afar off at the place of the people needing justifying. Romans is not forgiveness, it is justification, such is the value and
virtue of the work of Christ. God has established righteousness, and that is where the sinner stands. On the day of atonement the brazen altar came in contact with the mercy-seat, one day in the year. It was the only day in the year when there was conciliation between the brazen altar and the mercy-seat; all the rest of the year you can see those priests going in, Aaron or his sons, trimming the lamps, and putting the twelve loaves on the pure table every sabbath day, and they look at that veil hanging there. Who can go in there? Impossible position. Shut against Aaron, he cannot go in. What will open that veil? It is like Genesis 3, when Adam sinned, he was put out, and the cherubim and the flame of the flashing sword stood there to guard the way to the tree of life. How will man ever reach the tree of life with these things blocking the way? Impossible position! But Jesus comes into manhood; He comes in, and He answers to the cherubim, that blessed holy life answered in every way to the cherubim.
Suppose you brought up Moses to the cherubim. No, he would not do. Abraham, David, they would all have something that would disqualify them. But bring up Jesus. He is faultless, the faultless Jesus. He says, the prince of this world comes, and in Me he has nothing; a direct facial challenge to the great corrupter, the tempter, and he could not point to one speck in Jesus and say, That is mine; He was faultless. Pilate said, “Lo, I bring him out to you, that ye may know that I find in him no fault whatever”, John 19: 4. He was a faultless Jesus, but there is a supreme testimony which came from the glory, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight”, Matthew 3: 17. Bring Him up to the cherubim; every claim they stand for is met, the holiness and the righteousness of God; the judicial character of God’s righteousness, in the faultless Jesus. That was necessary in view of His going into death, and the answer to the flame of the flashing sword, which in some way answers to the day of atonement.
It opened up the way, the sacrifice was on the
brazen altar, and the blood was carried in, the blood that opened the veil; the blood that opened that impossible position. Before that blood was carried in on the day of atonement, and that blood represents the sacrifice of His life, the cloud of incense went in. The bullock and the goat were killed, and the blood was held, but Aaron was instructed to take the censer, and burning coals of fire from off the brazen altar and take it into the holiest, that the cloud of incense might cover the mercy-seat. Now I will explain what that means; it must be that way, it represents the Person of Jesus, His personality, and the essence of His personality in manhood; the preciousness of that, after all He is greater than anything He does. Then in view of justification there must be the blood, and the blood was carried in and sprinkled on the mercy-seat, it was put on the gold that represents God’s rights, His righteousness and rights, what He will do; not only what He demands, but what He is entitled to do; the blood is put on the gold, that precious blood of Jesus that in every way meets the divine approval. And it is sprinkled seven times on the ground before the mercy-seat where the vilest sinner may come and stand.
I want to speak about the scapegoat, it does not refer to believers of the present time exactly, but we come into all the value of what it represents. There were two goats brought, one was killed and its blood carried inside the veil like that of the bullock; the other, a living goat, was brought forward, and Aaron laid his hands on its head, and confessed all the transgressions and sins and iniquities of the children of Israel on the head of this goat. One moment they were on Israel then they were on the head of the goat. Now why is that? What is God prefiguring? What is the great antitype of this? That is the cross, that is the sixth hour, not the third hour it was the sixth hour; the great transfer from us to the faultless Jesus took place at the sixth hour, and He endured the wrath of God until the ninth hour, that is where the transfer took place. We should contemplate that, dear friends, this is the brazen altar, this is where
this man is standing. Then the goat is led away by a man standing ready. Who was the man standing ready to lead away the goat? That was Jesus. It must all be Jesus, no other was available, all were disqualified; all had sinned, but the sins were put on the goat, it says, “that the goat may bear upon him all their iniquities to a land apart from men”, Leviticus 16: 22.
Between the sixth hour and the ninth hour, when He was forsaken on the cross, Jesus was in a land apart from God; the goat went to a land apart from men, but Jesus went to a land apart from God. He has carried our sins there, the sins of believers; they have been thoroughly put away—at what a cost! We quoted this morning, He spared not His own Son. Who can say anything about those hours, the sixth hour to the ninth hour? Then He goes into death.
Another thing about the type is that the carcasses of the bullock and of the goat and their skins were all burned outside the camp, and that burning outside the camp was a different burning from the burning on the altar, it means to be wholly consumed. But in the antitype, at the ninth hour the sacrifice was made but He was not consumed. He was there after the judgment, the wrath of God had been exhausted, and He was still there. It is a very solemn thought that no victim in the Old Testament was revived; you will never read of any of the sacrifices being revived. But He went into death, He accepted the penalty that lay upon His people and liquidated the penalty completely, and as we know, He was raised by the Father’s glory, the great work of righteousness having been done. Every claim of God was met through that sacrifice; not only is there the brazen altar and its sacrifice, but the mercy-seat has come into view, which means that Jesus is up there, that is the idea of the mercy-seat. The greatest distance is between Calvary and the glory, you could never think of bringing them together, but God has done it; there is a Man in glory in righteousness, we sing that—
‘O the sight in heav’n is glorious!
Man in righteousness is there’. (Hymn 212)
From the cross to the glory it is the same blessed Person, that is the idea of the mercy-seat set forth. He is setting Him forth tonight; this is God’s method and means of justification. It means that the person who is justified, as Romans would show, can hold up his head in the face of the whole universe, in faith and peace with God, everything is settled righteously.
That veil that hung there in the type, Aaron could not go through, but God has moved out. He has brought the mercy-seat into the sight of the universe. God shows His impartiality. Why?
Because of the basis that has been laid in righteousness. Righteousness means, as far as God is concerned, that there is nothing outstanding, nothing can be called in question, everything is equivalent; that is what has happened through the death of Christ and His blood-shedding.
So He is setting Him forth a mercy-seat.
Now the blood on the mercy-seat is not only for the sinner needing to be justified, the blood on the mercy-seat is for God. The blood on the ground means you can stand there and I can stand there, the guilty sinner can come and stand there and be perfectly consistent with the mercy-seat itself, now he is justified and there is no question against him. I think this man proved that for he goes down to his house justified. God would set us free down here, he went down to his house, not to the meeting, but down to his house; that is Romans you see, where we work things out in our everyday circumstances down here.
I commend to you, dear friends, this great matter of having faith in the blood, that will keep you in peace. It is always what is outside of you regarding the work of Christ that keeps you in peace. Peace does not come through the work of God in you; peace comes by what has been done for you, done by Jesus. So that we have these wonderful blessings. What justification means is a big subject, I did not mean to go into it, except that we can have our relations with God on the ground of
righteousness, and enjoy the blessing of justification, as this man did. May God bless the word.
Preaching at Vevey, 29 August 1993
WRITING BY THE SAINTS
W. McKillop
Daniel 6: 9, 10; 1 John 2: 1, 2; Luke 1: 59–63; Isaiah 44: 1–5
What I thought to speak about was the matter of writing by the saints. We spoke in the reading about divine writing; there should be an answer to divine writing by writing on our part. There is writing in an adverse sense as this section in Daniel shows, “king Darius signed the writing and the decree”. Then we have Daniel’s reaction in that circumstance. John writing tells us that he writes that we may not sin, but if we do we have an Advocate or Patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. That writing would be extremely important to us in the present time when there is so much sinning on the part of persons who allege themselves to be Christians. The way Zacharias shines in writing is to be noted, because both he and Elizabeth show, in what Zacharias wrote and what she said, that they were not governed by what was customary among their natural relatives. One feature of overcoming always needed among us is the ability to overcome the influence of natural relationships.
Isaiah gives us persons who are affected by the way God is speaking, so they begin to say things about themselves. One in particular shall write, “I am Jehovah’s, and surname himself by the name of Israel”. We had a reference to the thought of surname in the reading. I would appeal to each one of us to see the blessedness of being able to surname ourselves on spiritual lines.
I wanted to point out first that there is such a thing as adverse writing; we have it here in Daniel. Hezekiah encountered it too. Sennacherib sent him a letter full of threats as to what he would do to Jerusalem and its inhabitants. Hezekiah spread out the letter before Jehovah; Hezekiah is a fine model for us as to any written communication we may receive that is adverse to the testimony; he spread it out before Jehovah and then he prayed. We have to admit, perhaps, our natural tendency, if we receive something that is adverse to the testimony, is to reply instantly. Hezekiah acted in a priestly way in a very bitter set of circumstances. He spread the letter out before Jehovah; he did not circulate it in Jerusalem, but he spread it out before Jehovah and prayed. That affords us a fine lead in difficult times when there are plenty of communications travelling about that are inimical to the testimony.
Daniel is a model for us in his reaction to this adverse governmental writing. Generally our governments are favourable to us, and we are able to function in assembly service without hindrance. But as we watch the development of things politically and economically in the western world, we really need to be on our knees that there may be no adverse governmental writing which will directly affect the testimony. I am thinking especially of the need to pray that Satan will not be able to use governments to enact legislation in order to give scope to one of his favourite weapons, trade unionism. If you read the book of Revelation intelligently, you will see that what is current in the western world among the nations will lead to the re-emergence of the beast. As you read that prophecy you will see that it leads to no one being able to buy or sell who does not have the mark of the beast. Through the prayers of the saints, the action of the Spirit of God, and angelic intervention in governments, we have been freed in good measure from pressure by unions. But we need to be aware that Satan will come back again because his weapons are limited, and he found that a very useful
one. You remember, in the Lord’s own experience here, Satan departed from Him for a time.
Daniel is the prophet who deals with the times of the gentiles and the emergence of the gentile beasts, especially the fourth one. Here it is the second beast; Darius represents that.
Abstractly, he represents government ordained by God, but he signs something against his will that is adverse to the testimony. Daniel’s recourse is prayer. I urge that we think about this soberly; what Satan has found useful and successful before, he will .apply again. We are not ignorant of his devices, so we can anticipate them preventively in prayer. That is mainly the point I wanted to make in regard of Daniel, that writing can be adverse on the part of governments, and we need to be prayerful about things that governments have been ignorantly involved in before, lest they be led into those things again to the detriment of the testimony, especially to the detriment of the ability of the saints to work and to earn their living.
What John says in his first epistle is to help us. There is a great deal of ecclesiastical sin and a great deal of personal lawlessness in Christendom. We have to say, alas, that we are not immune from it! Earlier today, some of us were saying that some of the things that have recently occurred among brethren, some years ago we would never have thought could have happened. So we are not immune. If somebody is acting in self-will, he becomes an easy prey for Satan. And that may introduce something lawless, incompatible with divine rights in the assembly, among us. John says, “My children”, referring to all the saints regardless of whether they are fathers, or young men, or little children. The apostle could speak of all the saints in this fatherly way, so he says, “these things I write to you in order that ye may not sin”.
Apostolic writing is a great matter to consider; the whole Bible of course is writing; writing is not peculiar to our dispensation. The two tables given to Moses were
written by the finger of God, showing how divine care in detail entered in to what was written. We had a reference in the reading to the Lord writing on the ground. He wrote on it twice; such writings have their own significance. Then the Spirit of the living God is writing things on our hearts; our hearts providing impressionable material so that He can write what is imperishable on them. But I am thinking now of apostolic writing. Peter said he wrote things to stir up the pure minds of the saints by way of remembrance. We need that too, because we tend to forget things; we need to remember what has been written in the recovery of the truth too. I am not saying that is apostolic, but it was given by the Spirit of God, and we need to remember those things. Peter especially says, “I stir up, in the way of putting you in remembrance, your pure mind”, 2 Peter 3: 1. Then he goes on to say there were things that came through the holy prophets, no doubt alluding to the Old Testament speakers and writers, and then the commandment of the Lord through your apostles. That is something we should think of; there were apostles. He says, “by your apostles”; in that sense they belong to us, and what they wrote has come down to us and should be treasured by us.
Now I was thinking especially of this writing, “these things I write to you in order that ye may not sin”. To put it simply, that you might not be self-willed, but that you might be subject to the will of God. But there is a provision, he says, “and if any one sin”, if that should happen, “we have a patron with the Father”, not only the person but “we”, that is Christians. If someone sins and it comes to our attention, we have a Patron with the Father.
That would enable us to take up in a priestly way the cause of the person with God that the sin might be forgiven and that the person might be restored. It is not just the erring one who has a Patron, but “we” have. It is a wonderful matter that the Christian company has “a patron with the Father”. There is a means of restoration of communion with the Father. It does not
say we have a Patron with God, the issue is not our clearance before God by the blood of Christ, the question is our communion with the Father and our liberty with Him. If something happens to interfere with that, “we have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”.
The Lord will not give up one iota of the righteousness of God in His intercession on high, but He will bring us round, if we have sinned, to a judgment of it in the light of His having died to remove that. So it is “Jesus Christ the righteous”. The wonderful thing is, as another has said, that we would never repent at all if the Patron had not taken up our cause beforehand. Repentance and self-judgment are the results of Jesus Christ the righteous taking up the person’s case with the Father. John adds other things here as to the scope of the work of Christ and its value, but I want just to emphasise this point; that in these days when, alas, sin is apt to show itself among us, there is a means of recovery, and it begins with “Jesus Christ the righteous” acting in grace in the Father’s presence. But let us remember that, “we have a patron”, not just the erring one, but “we”, the company. Christians, “have a patron with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous”. There is a means of recovery and restoration of persons; restoration to the joy of communion, and restoration to the joy of the fellowship.
In Luke 1 we have a priestly man and a priestly woman; the test for them was whether they would follow the divine directions as to the naming of their son. It is a test for us all the time as to whether we can follow divine directions, or whether we will be diverted by something.
Zacharias, as we know, was disciplined for his unbelief, but it is not my thought to go into that particularly, but to point out that we have here a husband and a wife who are both priestly and who stand by the divine directions that they received. “And it came to pass on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they called it after the name of his father, Zacharias”. You wonder at that, do you not? Who
gave them the right to intrude into this matter? Who gives natural relatives a right to intrude into the exercises of a household or a family when they are concerned to stand by the light they have received from God in a matter? You might say, They meant well in calling the babe after the name of its father, but that was not the divine thought. So, “his mother answering said, No; but he shall be called John”. Elizabeth shines here in standing by the light that they had received from God; she is a priestly woman. “And they said to her, There is no one among thy kinsfolk who is called by this name”, which is simply human reasoning on natural lines. So they do not accept what she has to say. I would encourage the sisters to stand by the light you have from God and to assert it! Relatives may not accept it immediately, for here they were obviously not governed by what Elizabeth told them, and they give their reason for it.
Then, “they made signs to his father as to what he might wish it to be called”, as though he and Elizabeth were not of one mind. We have to watch that with our natural relatives who are not in the truth or are only in it half-heartedly. They know how to speak to one and give a reason and then speak to the other, as though, one way or another they will get their point across. These two are unified, husband and wife, father and mother. “And they made signs to his father as to what he might wish it to be called. And having asked for a writing-table, he wrote saying, John is his name”. That is what Elizabeth had told them, Zacharias confirms it.
Then, And his mouth was opened immediately ... and he spake, blessing God”. It is lovely to see the result of priestly persons standing together in their households, in their marriages, resisting the natural claim that is sure to be asserted, in order to comply with the directions they have from God. So “he wrote saying, John is his name”. No question about it, that is permanent, that stands. I would like to encourage us, beloved brethren, in our households, as husbands and wives, to be together in
priestliness, together in obedience to divine light, and together maintaining that in spite of natural influences. If we are heavenly persons, we shall have to come to it that what has been current among our kinsfolk simply on natural lines is no longer good enough, because the assembly is a heavenly vessel, and what must govern us is heavenly light.
Isaiah presents another set of persons who are committing themselves in writing. God is speaking; He says, “now hear, Jacob, my servant”, that would be the responsible side, that we are bondmen of God; “and Israel, whom I have chosen”, that would be the side of divine purpose relating to how God has chosen us in Christ before the world’s foundation—“thus saith Jehovah, that made thee, and formed thee from the womb”. We come now into the realm of divine workmanship, God acting to bring persons to what is in His mind about them.
Think of the divine care and skill that has entered into the moral formation of every believer.
Think of how God has acted from His own point of view to spiritually form us, so that He can speak of us as “my servant ... whom I have chosen”. God loves to say these things to us, not only to remind us that we belong to Him because He has purchased us, but also that we were His in purpose. Now He is working in us from the standpoint of His purpose, He is forming us. He says, “who helpeth thee, Fear not”. How God loves to encourage us so that we should be more and more on the line of saying things and writing things that are in accord with His purpose and His current working by the Spirit. Notice this fine expression, “Fear not, Jacob, my servant, and thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen”. Jacob, My servant; from the standpoint of Romans it would be that we are bondmen of God, and we have become bondmen to righteousness unto holiness. He says, “thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen”.
The word “Jeshurun” means the upright people. Persons who are marked by uprightness. It is a blessed matter to have a sense that before God and before the brethren you are
marked by uprightness. There is nothing hazy about you, nothing shady about you, nothing that you need to conceal, but you are quite open and candid. If the Lord wanted to, He could say that you are truly an Israelite in whom there is no guile. We are all marked by guile naturally; it is a feature to be overcome so that we are what we appear to be; we are what we say; “thou, Jeshurun”, I think that is a lovely title that God applies to the saints, the upright ones. They are fully in accord with His judgment of sin and the flesh in the death of Christ, and they are characterised by the working of His Holy Spirit in their minds and hearts, so that He can say that to them, “thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen”. Think of God, so to speak, looking for something to vindicate His choice by what we are morally. We speak often, and rightly, of being marked out beforehand for adoption, and chosen in Christ before the world’s foundation, but think of God saying, These persons have vindicated My selection of them in purpose, and I can say of them, “thou, Jeshurun, whom I have chosen”.
What I wanted to come to is verse 5. God speaks about pouring out His Spirit, and the result is seen in verse 5, “One shall say, I am Jehovah’s”. I would like to ask the younger brethren here, and even the children, Have you ever said to yourself, I am Jehovah’s, I belong to God?
We know that we belong to Him creationally because He has made us, He has given us our spirits. The body you have, God has given you through your parents, but He has given you your spirit and your parents had nothing to do with that. That was an action of God creationally, and He had in mind that you should have a link with Him, and that link is to be through redemption. So the glad tidings are preached that you might believe; and the link is to be in the power of the Holy Spirit. As forgiven your sins, you are given the gift of the Holy Spirit that you might have a free and happy link with God. So, “One shall say, I am Jehovah’s; and another shall call himself by the name of Jacob”. He is thinking now about moral experience with God. Whatever
his name was he says, I am calling myself Jacob, meaning that I have to do with God. How fine to think of older persons who can say like Jacob, “the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day”, Genesis 48: 15. If you are a young person, your life has not been very long even by human standards, but there are persons with whom God has linked you in the testimony who can speak about how He has shepherded them all their life long till this day.
Those of us who are older can say that if He had not done so we should not be here; it is of His grace, and patience and mercy; the God who has shepherded us all our life long to this day.
Then, “another shall write with his hand—I am Jehovah’s”. There is the writing, he can bring it out at any time and show it to you. He says, “I am Jehovah’s”, I belong to God, I am His property, I am His workmanship, one of His sons. He not only writes, “I am Jehovah’s”, but also, “and surname himself by the name of Israel”, not now Jacob but Israel. He is coming on to the thought of the purpose of God. We referred to that in the reading, how the name of Jacob was changed by God to Israel after that struggle that Jacob had. God touched the hollow of his thigh. He reduced what he was naturally, but He glorified him spiritually. He said, “Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel”, Genesis 32: 28. Here is a person who values these great spiritual thoughts, and writes, My name is Israel. That is, you belong to the assembly; you are one of the heavenly persons who make up the holy city; you are one of the persons whose names are written in the heavens. It is a wonderful matter to be so affected by Christ and by God that you sit down, in the privacy of your own room before God, and you go over things, and you write, “I am Jehovah’s”. But you do not stop there, you go on and surname yourself by the name of Israel. You are not content just to be forgiven and saved for eternity, as we speak, but you want to penetrate into the inheritance of the saints; you want to grow in the knowledge of God in relation to His purpose. The writing
stands in that connection, and you can bring it out and show it. No one would need to be ashamed of writing like this. Someone asks, How are you getting on in your soul? You say, Here is what I have written, I am Jehovah’s and I have surnamed myself by the name of Israel.
These simple thoughts are principally what I had in mind to speak about. I would like to encourage us on this line of writing things ourselves, individually and householdly, and on the line of divine purpose. So it might become more and more evident, in a practical way among us, that we are what we say, that we are assembly persons whose names are written in the heavens, and that our greatest joy in this waiting time is to serve God. I think the apostle is on this line when he says, “For we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God, and boast in Christ Jesus, and do not trust in flesh”, Philippians 3: 3. That would be one of the finest things we could write together, not just I, but we—“we are the circumcision”, persons who accept the full bearing of the death of Christ and the cutting off of the flesh; who worship by the Spirit of God, no other power acknowledged by us in the service of God; “and boast in Christ Jesus”, how we glory in that blessed Man! And, “do not trust in flesh”, the flesh is finished morally so far as we are concerned. Our trust is in the Spirit of God and our glory is in Christ Jesus, the blessed Man who fills the presence of God. May it be so for His name’s sake.
Address at Aberdeen. Scotland, 7 August 1993
FAITH THAT CAN BE IMITATED
D. Scougal
2 Corinthians 12: 15; Hebrews 11: 21; 13: 7, 8
We gather as a sorrowing company but we do not sorrow as those who have no hope for we live in the glorious hope of the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Our brother lived in this hope and he has gone out in it, he is with Christ now. His body is with us, he is with Christ. A wonderful glorious matter, a matter of comfort for us, he is enjoying the bliss of the presence of the One he loved and served so well.
In reading these scriptures, the link, beloved brethren, is faith. Our brother was a man of faith. In reading the verse in Corinthians I am linking it in my mind with the one in Galatians 2: 20, “but in that I now live in flesh, I live by faith, the faith of the Son of God, who has loved me and given himself for me”. Our brother lived in the consciousness of the love of the Son of God, and in the joy of that love he delighted to expend his love on the beloved people of God. We knew it in this city, the brethren in the area knew it, the brethren universally knew the way our brother loved us. It was love as learned from Christ that was seen in our brother. Love was seen in Paul, how he loved the saints, he loved these Corinthians, a local company where the problems were. Things were not easy in Corinth, and I suppose there are problems in all localities, and over the years there have been problems, but Paul says, “Now I shall most gladly spend and be utterly spent”. Such was the work of God in that man’s soul, that he loved to labour for these Corinthians and all these other assemblies in his day. And so our brother did in his day, and we can say that our brother was utterly spent in his service. He was content just to serve, wherever he was asked, he would go. So it says here, “if even in abundantly loving you I should be less
loved”. The apostle Paul was not understood, persons attacked him in Corinth but he still loved them. The more they spoke against him, the more he loved them and sought to bring them into the light and glory of Christ and the assembly. So it is in the light of that I read this scripture. Our brother expended himself for us in a way that would stimulate us. Reference was made in the opening prayer to stimulation, and we need stimulation to be committed to the Lord and His testimony, and our brother has been an example to us in that, in the way he expended himself.
In the epistle to the Hebrews it speaks of, “By faith Jacob when dying blessed each of the sons of Joseph, and worshipped on the top of his staff”. Our brother went out as a worshipper.
The last time at the Lord’s supper, in the service he worshipped God, he led our hearts out in worship to God; that is how our brother left. He worshipped privately, of course, but I speak of what we could take account of, a happy time remembering the Lord, and he went out as a worshipper. He lived in faith, he died in faith. It says here that Jacob “worshipped on the top of his staff”. Jacob was ever a pilgrim, he had no settled place here, he arrived at Bethel, the house of God (Genesis 35: 6). Our brother lived in relation to the house of God; he was a pilgrim here, and he was a dependent man. The staff reminds us of persons who are dependent, they need something to find their way, they need divine guidance. Our brother depended on God, he depended on the Lord’s guidance, he depended on the help of the blessed Spirit, and so would stimulate us by his example.
In Hebrews 13 it says, “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God”.
You say; What do you mean by a leader? Well it says “leaders” here. He was among those who have given us a lead, persons whose course is finished, but who are to be remembered.
Our brother’s pathway of unremitting service is finished; but what is left to us is to carry on in the testimony in
the work that has to be done. Beloved Mr Taylor, who died after many years of service, constantly said, ‘There is much to be done’. Oh, there is much to be done in the Lord’s things, there is much to be done in relation to spreading the glad tidings among men. How much there is to be done for God. Our brother gave us a lead in that, even as the writer of this epistle to the Hebrews did, who said, “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God”. Nearly all of us here have heard our brother speak to us the word of God, it is something very living and current. Paul’s word comes down to us, it comes down to us through those who minister. How often our brother ministered from Paul’s epistles, how often he helped us to understand what Paul said and the current bearing of Paul’s ministry to keep us in the light of the assembly and in the pathway that is pleasurable to God. So it says here, “Remember your leaders who have spoken to you the word of God; and considering the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith”. Imitate their faith! Oh to have strength in faith! It says of Abraham that he “found strength in faith, giving glory to God”, Romans 4: 20. Our brother found strength in faith in all the vicissitudes of life. He went through much opposition and sorrow including the loss of a beloved wife; these sorrows poured in on him, but he ever loved the Saviour, and he ever delighted to love those who belonged to Christ, he ever delighted to express that love in his unremitting service to us.
It goes on here, “imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and to the ages to come”. That is what our brother would have said to us, He would have said, Get your eye on Jesus Christ, keep your eye on Him, come under His touch, under His faithful service, and commit yourself to Him because He never changes. Everything changes down here, but He never changes. He has been into death, He has broken the power of it and He lives a Man at God’s right hand for ever. He is a glorious Saviour, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, and today and to the ages to come.
Paul’s faith was in Him, our brother’s faith was in Him. May our faith be in Him! May we imitate the faith of our brother who trusted in Him for every vicissitude of life, from his household exercises, which were there as in all households, through the assembly exercises which we all go through, and all the rigours of business life. I think there would be scarcely a person who came into that bakery, to his office there, who was not told about Jesus Christ who is the same yesterday and today and to the ages to come. Oh to live speaking of Jesus, and to be one in whom divine love is seen. May we be encouraged for His name’s sake.
THE SONS OF ZADOK
W. Lamont
Our brother in his prayer, and our brother in his word, referred to what has happened over the years. Twenty-two years ago at a time of serious crisis in this city, our brother in conversation said that one of his greatest desires was to be numbered among the sons of Zadok. When asked what he meant, he drew attention to this passage in Ezekiel. Our brother has now departed and it is a great comfort to those who loved him, relatives and all of us, to know that his portion with Christ is very much better. Very much better! I am sure our prayer would be, as our brother has departed to be with Christ, that because of his home-going, the enemy should get no advantage in any way or through any one, but rather that there should be “the baptised for the dead” (1 Corinthians 15: 29)—persons who would step forward to fill the ranks. The great need of the day is that there should be persons like our brother who are
prepared to lay down their lives for the brethren (1 John 3: 16) It is a great privilege to lay down our lives for the brethren. It involves sacrifice, it involves much labour.
We have read of the sons of Zadok, most of us would know the history of Zadok and his sons and, if we do not, it would be a profitable matter to research into for ourselves. One feature I would like to point out about Zadok himself was that it was he that anointed Solomon with
“the horn of oil out of the tabernacle”, 1 Kings 1: 39. Zadok was a man who had a deep appreciation of the glories and beauties of Christ, as seen typically in Solomon, and an appreciation of His sufferings of which the horn would speak. Our brother also had a deep appreciation of the glories and beauties of Christ and of His sufferings. So here we have “the priests, the Levites, the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me”. There has been much departure and it is still going on—they went astray from Me. Our brother, in his word, referred to Paul. Think of the feelings of Paul when he said that all those in Asia had turned away from him (2 Timothy 1: 15). Oh, you might say, I am taking up another attitude, another point of view, but all departure is from God. So He says, “the sons of Zadok, that kept the charge of my sanctuary when the children of Israel went astray from me, they shall approach unto me to minister unto me”. Our brother always had first in his mind what was for God, and that should be first in the mind and affections of each one of us. So it says, “to minister unto me, and they shall stand before me to present unto me the fat and the blood, saith the Lord Jehovah”. It is a great privilege to be in the presence of God rightly, like the sons of Zadok, who were going on morally pleasing to God.
Then what we come to in verse 23 is, “they shall teach my people the difference between holy and profane, and cause them to discern between unclean and
clean”. They were priestly persons who were thoroughly formed by the teaching of Leviticus, the instruction of chapters 10 and 11 no doubt being in mind. Our brother was one such, he not only taught verbally, but exemplified, the difference between holy and profane and between unclean and clean. “And in controversy they shall stand to judge—they shall judge it according to my judgments”. What a challenge that is, beloved brethren, to judge according to God’s judgments. These persons knew the presence of God, what it was to minister to Him and to have the privilege of serving in His presence. They were persons who had learned there what God’s judgments are, not mere human opinions or anything that comes from the heart and mind of man only; they had learned to judge from the standpoint of what they had learned in the presence of God. Then it says, “and they shall keep my laws and my statutes in all my solemnities; and they shall hallow my sabbaths”. No doubt most of us here have the privilege of being among the great body of believers who by faith in Christ Jesus are sons of God, but I trust that all of us, for God’s glory, would love to be among those of whom these sons of Zadok are representative, for His name’s sake.
LABOUR AND REST IN THE LORD
D. C. Brown
John 4: 38 (from “others”); Acts 20: 35 (to “weak”); Revelation 14: 13
This scripture in John 4 came to my mind when I heard our brother had been taken, “others have laboured”; others, including our brother. He has exemplified this feature of labour. He spoke a few times with appreciation of the fact that at one stage those who
served the Lord were known as ‘labourers’. He was a labourer. There is not one of us here, I would think, who has not benefited from being the subject of some labour, some sowing on his part; and no doubt most have, to some degree, entered into these labours. But it would be a concern for this city and for each one of us, that if there has been this labour, this work before the Lord, for the Lord’s people, bringing in the word of God, what is the result going to be? Are we going to be helped to fully enter into and reap what our beloved brother has sown? In difficult circumstances and difficult times, our brother has laboured; not alone, since others have laboured, and we value each one, but our brother has been marked with this labour.
So Paul would speak of his labours, and in Acts 20 he speaks of “thus labouring”. One thing which affects us is that our brother laboured in what was literal, what was physical. He came in aid of the weak. He was not a brother who laboured only in the higher realms of the truth, but he was one who laboured with his hands, one who helped. We can think of lone sisters especially, for whom in their weakness he laboured, “thus labouring”. Each one of us could say, I cannot do what Mr Renton did, I cannot minister as he ministered, but “thus labouring”, each one of us can take up the example in coming in aid of the weak. And not only in what is physical, for we all have benefited in our weakness from his coming to our aid. Now each one of us can take on that service, “thus labouring”.
So our brother rests from his labour. How wonderful it is to consider the place that our brother has as with the Lord, resting from his labour. “Blessed the dead who die in the Lord”; what a glory there is in that! I trust that everyone here is assured that if they die they will die
“in the Lord”. I trust that every one has that faith in the Lord Jesus and committal to the Lord Jesus, that should they die, they will die in the Lord. How wonderful to “rest from their labours”, rest in the Lord!
I could not expand on the details of the condition in which our brother is, but how blessed that one should rest from his labours as having died in the Lord. May we all be encouraged to thus labour that our Lord might be magnified, that there should be strengthening and that there should be blessing, for the Lord’s name’s sake.
Words at the burial of Mr J Renton, Edinburgh, 20 January 1994
EXTRACT
I have been very much interested lately in the difference between goodness and love. “There is none good but one, that is God”. But “God is love”. There is very little about love in the Old Testament. Goodness when there is unlimited power would do anything to serve me.
Love likes my company. Goodness seeks to benefit me, love to share with me what it enjoys.
Now, thank God, I can heartily own His goodness—proofs of it every day and hour—but to be hourly assured that He likes my company seems too much for me. I believe it. I rejoice in it. It is wonderful that He, the ever blessed God, should really care to share His enjoyments with me. Oh! how one is rebuked when one dwells on the nature of God as He is to us. See how the love of Christ culminates, “I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also”. I hope you may gain as much as I feel I have in dwelling on the love of God.
J. B. Stoney (‘Food for the Faithful’. Vol. 1, p.247)
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