THE SCOPE OF THE TRUTH AS THE INHERITANCE

J.A.Gardiner

Jeremiah 32: 6-17, 26, 27; 33: 10-14; Hebrews 10: 19-24

I do not think there is much, if any, connection between these two scriptures, Jeremiah and the epistle to the Hebrews. I believe the Lord might have me say a word about them both because personally I am very much in need of it; perhaps other brethren would reciprocate these sentiments. I am thinking of the scripture that speaks about buying the truth and not selling it, (see Prov 23: 23). Part of our inheritance, beloved, is the whole scope of the truth. The Lord would encourage us to think about the inheritance; to think about what has been secured for us, what the land is, what brethren mean when they speak about 'the land' and speak about 'the inheritance'. I suppose they mean the sphere of eternal life known here in the wilderness; God's provision for the wilderness, eternal life. I suppose they mean sonship, the entering into the enjoyment of these wonderful relations that we have with God. They have been established on the other side of death and do not relate to what is natural at all; all that I would think would be in the minds of the brethren when they speak about the inheritance. Scripture speaks about God's inheritance, what He has in the saints the riches of the glory of it; the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints. You look around at the brethren and you marvel at the work of God - God's inheritance. We look upon one another, beloved - we are looking up on God's inheritance. We would all like to be serviceable to the Master I am sure - available to Him for whatever He might have in mind for us, we would like to be available for His service, perhaps not public service but maybe on the line of memorial there is something that can be called attention to, that can stimulate the work of God amongst the brethren; can lift the brethren up in their spirits, give them fresh desire and impetus to move into the realm of eternal life into the realm where Christ becomes the supreme Object of their heart.

Well, Jeremiah is in prison here; he is shut up it says, "in the court of the guard" - not very nice place. Like many, I suppose, Jeremiah could have spoken about better days; he could have sat in the prison and thought about the wonderful times they had under Josiah, a marvellous time then when things were probably as normal in Israel as they were under David and Solomon. He could have spoken about the fine time that they had as they celebrated the passover in Jerusalem, a passover the like of which had not been celebrated since the days of Samuel the prophet - links with the beginning, links with what may be applied to apostolic times, that sort of thing. He could have thought about that, and no doubt he did think about it, no doubt it was in his mind. He could think about that beautiful appellation that comes out as to the ark in the days of Josiah, when they spoke of it as the holy ark; when the new covenant was in evidence, when the book was recovered and he put it beside the ark, how beautiful that is. What a man Josiah was! He could see that if the brethren were to be helped forward, if there was to be encouragement, if they were to enter into the liberty of the joy of their links with Jehovah, it had to be on the basis of the new covenant. He was not putting the covenant into the hands of man; he was putting it into the ark, putting it in type into the hands of a Man who would carry it all through for God. Jeremiah could have thought about that; he could have thought about the glory that was set out in that wonderful book; what the inheritance would be normally; the kind of land that it was, a land full of productivity, full of variety.

Beloved, is that your heart and mine? Do I produce Christ like that? That is God's inheritance. Am I productive? Is there a power working in me that produces Christ as set out in these various agricultural features of the inheritance - a land of corn and new wine, a land of grapes, all these beautiful features, a land teeming with production. Jeremiah might have thought about that; he is sitting there in the prison, and he is in the prison because the people that he was really concerned to help were not prepared to listen. He is in prison because of enmity. They have put him in there and they are keeping him in there because he is not saying the kind of words that they wanted him to say; he is speaking the word of God.

What a test it must have been to Jeremiah. He gets this word, your uncle's son is coming to you and he wants you to buy the field. He wants you to expend some resource on the inheritance - God says that to him - because you have the right of redemption. If you were Jeremiah, would you say, Well, it is hardly worth it, really, is it? No hope; look at the position, the city has been broken into, the land is overthrown; where are the evidences of what is levitical amongst the brethren; where are the Solomonic features? We cannot see anything around but the pride of man, the wall is broken down, they are entrenching themselves in the city; this field, I suppose, in Anathoth is already over-run, maybe the camp of the Babylonish armies. Beloved, that was God's inheritance, that was God's land, it belonged to Jeremiah. God is speaking to His people through this prophet. Are you going to buy it, Jeremiah, have you faith in what God will bring about? Beloved young brethren, have you faith in what God can do? Looking on the externals the thing is hopeless. Have you hope in God? He would encourage our hearts, beloved. This is the word of God that came to the prophet. You can understand Jeremiah going back to God, and saying, Are you sure this is what is meant by it? Are you sure I must do this? The land is in ruin, they are going into captivity; there is no heart for Christ around, there is the parading of the glory of man in the place where there should be the manifestation of the features of the Son of God. How solemn that is publicly, beloved. Do we feel it? Are we humbled by it? God says to Jeremiah you go and buy that land; exercise your right of inheritance. It is yours, beloved; you have a right of redemption. It has been given to you as a Christian through the precious work of Christ; the inheritance has been given to you, go in and possess it, expend your energies upon it. That is what God is saying to Jeremiah. He says, through you, Jeremiah, this is what I am saying to the people.

So he says, "And Hanameel mine uncle's son, came to me in the court of the guard". How would Jeremiah be in the court of the guard? He would be very sober, sorrowful, I suppose, but he would not be exuding defeat or anything like that; he is sitting there and reigning in life by the one Man, Jesus Christ. How wonderful that is! There is with him the justification of life, supported in his ministry, irrespective of the external conditions, and he is proceeding in faith; he is tested to the core by this matter. The work of God in Jeremiah is going through quite a severe test at this very moment in this chapter, but he is going ahead with it in faith and he buys the field. He goes through the purchase legally; there is the evidence with the man that he is moving in the power of the kingdom of God, publicly that is what he is doing; he pays the money, the whole thing is acquired righteously and legally. O, beloved, are we prepared for that kind of committal? Come into the inheritance by the way of the kingdom; being regulated by what is true and right and proper to God's kingdom? What a kingdom it is! What a rule it is! Jeremiah evidences these features, and he says "Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel: Take these writings, this writing of the purchase" - O, how particular he is, how careful he is, that the whole transaction is seen to be carried through rightly. I believe we should be like that, beloved, on the line of piety and sanctification; concerned that we are moving into the inheritance rightly, and so that we will be supported and maintained in it, and the inheritance, as far as we are concerned, will be fruitful and multiplied; there will be an extension and expression of the features of Christ here. Naomi missed it, her husband missed it, her sons missed it: Boaz did not miss it. Why should that be? Why should Boaz' allotment prosper in the times when the judges ruled and there was famine in the land? When they come back there is a mighty man of wealth? Because the man, I would say, was going on with God. O, how blessed that is to find that there is fruitfulness; going on vitally in the experience of the power of resurrection in the soul. There is the wheat harvest in that book - there is a barley harvest and there is a wheat harvest. There is the power of an indissoluble life operating in persons at this very moment. Beloved, is it operating in me? Am I being sustained in the power of that life in the enjoyment of it? Jeremiah is here, and he is testifying amidst the ruin and the break down and the awfulness of the position. He says, "For thus saith Jehovah of hosts, the God of Israel; Houses and fields and vineyards shall again be purchased in this land". Would you have believed that if you had been there? Have you faith for that? Jeremiah is shaken to the very depths of his being, and there are persons who have been like that in fellowship now; and there are persons who have been shaken to the very depths of their being, and they are still shaking. There is no need for it; the word of God is sure and true. Beloved, let us maintain before us the whole scope of divine purpose because that is infallible; it is a great anchor for our souls, the great line of divine truth that relates to purpose. We fail, and others may fail, but that goes through, that is a line that is infallible; it is a word of God in relation to His own purpose. Jeremiah is relating himself to that. After he has done that, he goes in to God, and he is not at all sure what is going to happen, he says, "Alas, Lord Jehovah!" - he has done it, he has committed himself to it, and he knows the truth, and he knows what God has done, and he knows God's power, and he can speak over the ways of God but in God's presence he is finding in himself this little bit of infidelity in which he is not too sure. He says, "Alas, Lord Jehovah! Behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and stretched-out arm; there is nothing too hard for thee" - he knows that, he has that knowledge in his soul, but through this experience it is really going to become part of himself. God raises that question with him in the next verse I read, "And the word of Jehovah came unto Jeremiah, saying, Behold, I am Jehovah, the God of all flesh; is there anything too hard for me?". What encouragement that is for us, beloved brethren; "Is there anything too hard for me?" - Would you believe that? You may be in adverse circumstances, things may be against you; the desire for the inheritance, for the truth, may be waning in your soul. Beloved, be encouraged, be stimulated, be stirred up, be committed to God's word. Go to God and say to Him, Is there anything too hard for you? O, what confirmation to our soul, beloved. God takes up Jeremiah's language. He had said, "there is nothing too hard for thee", and now God says to Jeremiah by way of question "is there anything too hard for me?". How beautiful it is to see the working out of God's word, the working out of God's ways; everything was in ruin, a terrible position. I wonder what Jeremiah would have thought had he been in Bethlehem that night; Mr Darby speaks of that 'wondrous night', that marvellous night 'when shepherds hid their faces in brightest angel light'. Everything is in ruin, Jeremiah; Jeremiah's faith would be greatly confirmed. How wonderful that is beloved!

God would stimulate us and encourage us; He speaks to Jeremiah the second time in chapter 33, in the prison house, in the court of the prison. God delights to confirm faith, He delights to come in and support and enlarge, and He opens up His heart to Jeremiah. His ways go on in government, His grace goes on along with it. Think of this wonderful out-pouring of the heart of God to the prophet. How He would encourage all our hearts at this time beloved. He says, You say it is this - and it is true. And you look out there and you see nothing but ruin and breakdown. God is able to change these conditions. He says, "There shall again be heard the voice of mirth and the voice of joy". Is that so in our meetings, beloved? "The voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the voice of them that say, Give ye thanks unto Jehovah": these are hearts that are buoyant and happy in the blessedness of their relations with Christ. Think of all these wonderful things that are proceeding - "for Jehovah is good, for his loving-kindness endureth for ever, - of them that bring thanksgiving unto the house of Jehovah". What a scene of holy activity and response God is speaking of to Jeremiah, quite contrary to the circumstances in which he is found. God says He is going to bring that about. These circumstances beloved, can be brought about in our souls; it may be that your soul and my soul is waste and barren and there is no movement no response, there is no answer to His love. We may have the light of it, we may have in some measure the knowledge of it, but as far as being affected in our inward beings it may not be so. God would bring that about; He would make us responsive, He is bent on making His people happy, making us joyful. If it is not the case, what is our Christianity? It must be a very burdensome thing if there is not the joy, if your strength is not the joy of the Lord. Look what He goes on to say. Where there was no joy, there was no care, no concern, but all was desolation, he goes on to say, "There shall again be a habitation of shepherds causing their flocks to lie down", and in all these beautiful spiritual circumstances, the hill-country, the cities of the lowland, the cities of the south, the land of Benjamin - beautiful that, wonderful; care and concern, the environs of Jerusalem, the Bethphages and the Bethanys. Have you ever read what Mr Taylor says about the environs of Jerusalem? What a sphere it is, the cities of the south, the joy, the favour of God. Judah in the south - the cities of the lowland where persons move in the humility and meekness and gentleness of the Christ. There would be concern and care that all these features are maintained and expanded. Is that not wonderful? It is all part of the inheritance and it is to proceed in every meeting no matter how small. These are the activities then that God encourages - "the flocks pass again under the hands of him that counteth". Is it so in your locality? Can you see evidences of concern and care; somebody counts the brethren, sees how they are getting on, how the flock is getting on; not counting them to see how many times they do not come out to the meeting or anything like that. There is the evidence of true shepherding, true concern, they have had to do with the Good Shepherd, they have had to do with the Great Shepherd. They know the rich pastures of Israel, they know where the food is. These are wonderful things. Persons are concerned for the flock of God. God is encouraging Jeremiah as He is encouraging us to go on and take up the inheritance, to buy the truth and do not sell it, and make it our prime concern, and find that all these things will be developed and added to us. Beloved, how wonderful that is.

Now I wanted to speak about this scripture in Hebrews, and I would like to encourage all the brethren and especially the younger brethren, to take up this word "approach". I am not too good at making appeals and that sort of thing, but I would say to every young brother and sister, Approach God – approach - go into God, the access is always there. The way has been opened up for us; make it a custom that you approach God. We are encouraged here to approach with boldness "boldness for entering into the holy of holies"'. What privilege belongs to the Christian beloved! This is in contrast with what was set out in Jewry; the work of Christ is perfect once and for all. You may sin again and again: - there is not another offering, the blood is there. There is no such thing as being saved today and lost tomorrow; persons who think that are trying to be made perfect in flesh. The work of Christ is complete, the blood is there: if you sin there it is there it will meet your conscience, you are forgiven. The water has to do with your state. The way has been opened up right into the presence of God. Now, beloved, practice - make a point of going into God's presence. Make a point of approaching. You do that and see what happens; God is going to be very active. Do you want to know God? Do you want to increase in your knowledge of God? You sit in the meetings and you hear these brethren speaking, and they can connect up the scripture with the next scripture, and some of it makes sense to you and perhaps most of it does not make too much sense, and yet as you go on there is an up-building in your soul; there is line upon line, things are increasing, it may be slowly, but let them increase substantially. Well, go into God, approach God, tell God about it, and you will come out of God's presence with a greater knowledge of Himself. What will God do when you go into His presence? I think He will do what He says He is going to do in verses 16, 17 and 18, He will give His laws into your heart. What is God's law? You might say what is the motivating principle? The rule of God; the rule of God, beloved, is love, that is the law, that is God's law. You will grow in the knowledge of God, you will grow in the knowledge of divine love; you will find that it is casting out fear, and fear is torment and there is no fear in love. If any one fears, John says, "he that fears has not been made perfect in love" 1 John 4: 18. O, beloved, it is certainly worthwhile approaching God. In the old economy you might have been scared to approach God. You would have had to go and get a sacrifice, get an animal, and go to a priest and he would have had to intercede for you with God. Not now, beloved. There is the way opened up to the holy of holies, into the very presence of God. The blood of Jesus has opened up the way; He has dedicated it for us through the veil that is His flesh, and He is there to support you as you go in. What an experience this could be for you, as it has been an experience for the holy myriads throughout the centuries; persons who have approached God and found strength that they never thought was there before. They found that the Great Priest over the house of God has been supporting them in God's presence and God has been writing upon them, giving His law, as it says into their hearts. He has not been demanding from them; He has not been saying to you, Well, here you are, what do you want in here! That is not God; He is giving, He is not demanding; it is an experience of impartation. Would you not like to have it? "I will write them also in their understandings... " He is not thinking about your sins and your lawlessnesses, He says, "I will never remember any more". O, beloved, is not that wonderful encouragement. He is not thinking about that, He wants to fill your heart with Himself and with the knowledge of Himself, and if Jeremiah were here he would say, if you want to glory, glory in this, that you know and understand Me, God says. Now you are going to come out from God and you are going to come amongst the brethren, and what is going to happen now? Well, you are going to think about the brethren. Just sit where you are and look around this room and consider the brethren; there they are, have a look at them, what do you think of them, consider them. What could you do to help that old sister or that young brother; you are going to provoke them to love and good works. This is going to help the state amongst us greatly; the more we are in the presence of God and are conscious of being the subjects of divine activity, conscious that there is some impartation taking place in God's presence - there has been giving and receiving you might say - we are going to come out and be affected and we are going to affect one another. We are not going to provoke people so that they manifest the flesh or anything like that; we are going to provoke one another to love and good works. That is Christianity, that is normal Christianity. O, may the Lord encourage our hearts because the day is drawing near; the day of apostasy is drawing near; the wall has been broken down publicly, the Chaldeans are swarming all over the place, they are at the very heart of religion, the pride of man is everywhere from Rome to Canterbury to York to Edinburgh, to every place. Let us cleave to the great mandatory side of things in 2 Timothy 2, find that we are representing God as manifesting the power of what is in Christ Jesus. The way is open for us. We are in the wilderness in this book: we are not in heaven. The ultimate, as we proceed through the teaching, is that Timothy is set at liberty; "Know that our brother Timotheus is set at liberty" Heb 13: 23. O, would to God that every one here were like that, that we have heart, and we have taste, we have desire for God's presence. We can go in, and at any time; you are not going in exactly with your needs, although God is very pleased to hear about your needs - whatever your need go and tell God about it, He has an abundance of resource - but in going in to God think about Himself, think about Christ. There is the mercy-seat, there is the altar of incense that is your communion, the candlestick giving light over against itself; there is the table with these twelve loaves; fragrant incense, consciously supported by the great Priest in the border of gold. What a setting it is! It is not exactly the order of Melchisedec, but the conscious experience of the function of that kind of priesthood. He is not dealing with weakness, he is dealing with power. John 20 is the side of power. I suppose the great Priest on this side, in the language of Paul's epistles, would relate to headship, where the headship of Christ is known and experienced, and there is a wonderful line of communication. Then you will be at the meetings - there will be no problems about that, you will not forsake the assembling of yourselves together, you will not be able to get there fast enough. Then you will be able to regulate your life by the meetings. The assembly becomes a dominant feature in your life; you might even become a man in Jerusalem, marvellous prospect, wonderful possibilities. Then there will be increase in local meetings, then there will be substance, then there will be the evidence that the inheritance is prospering. Beloved brethren, it is all there for us in the Spirit. May the Lord encourage all our hearts. He is not exuding condemnation; there is nothing like that. He is doing all He can to attract us into the greatness of the truth, and the greatness of the recovered truth is that we should live in the love of God. We should be able to manifest the more excellent way - "yet show I unto you a way of more surpassing excellence" 1 Cor 12: 21. Follow after love, that is the way, that is the leader. These are wonderful leaders in 2 Timothy 2, and that is another leader in Corinthians. It is going to bring us into an area of spiritual manifestation. They will be wealthy people in spirit: they may be poor financially and things materially, but these persons, persons who are on this line, will really be wealthy spiritually. May it be the portion of every one of us for His Name's sake.

DORKING

14 June 1986