TALKING

TALKING

Luke 24: 13 - 35; James 1: 26, 27; James 3: 1 - 12

One desires, dear brethren, to speak a little as to the character of the talking that goes on amongst us. It is evident that God would have us speak. When God said, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness,” every member was taken account of. Indeed, the Psalmist says, “In thy book all my members were written ... “ That indicates to our minds that God took account separately of every member of the human body, so that each member has its part in forming a vessel intended of God to represent Him. I am sure that applies to all our members — the divine intent is that man should rightly represent God. We could think and speak a great deal about the various members of our bodies, but I wanted to speak about our speaking particularly — our talking. “Talking” of course, is different to preaching, and it is different to teaching. “Talking” implies a mutual condition that each is free to speak; it involves that we are at liberty together. I wanted, with the Lord’s help, to call attention to the necessity of having our intercourse, our conversation, controlled from heaven. There is indeed much to speak about. In Malachi, which corresponds with the day in which we are, just before the coming of the Lord, we read, “They that feared the Lord spake often one to another ... “ That was not preaching, nor was it an “address.” And it says, “And the Lord hearkened and heard, and a book of remembrance was written.” They met together, and spoke together, not only in meetings, but in one another’s houses, and the Spirit of God says that what they said was so acceptable to the Lord, that He hearkened and heard. That is in the days at the end of Israel’s history, and it is what the Lord wants today — that in our intercourse when we meet and talk together, there is something heaven can value, something acceptable in heaven.

It is continued beautifully in Luke — it says of certain who had the light of the coming in of Christ, and who had some conception of His supreme greatness, that these things were the subject of conversation of those who dwelt in the hill country. There had been an exodus from the low moral condition of the world, the religious world included. They had come to live in the hill country; they lived there, and these things were the subject of their conversation — the coming of Christ, the preparation of His way so that He would be suitably received. What a theme, what holy conversation! We get some of the conversation recorded verbatim; Mary’s conversation with Elizabeth is wonderful.

It is one of the things in the book of remembrance, the holy utterances of Mary to Elizabeth in Elizabeth’s house. This is for our instruction. What sort of conversation goes on in our houses? Mary says, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.”

And then she goes on to speak of the coming of Christ, and how He is going to put down the high and exalt the lowly, fill the hungry and send the rich away empty. These are the themes of conversation in the hill country.

Well, then, dear brethren, you see that continued in Luke 24. There are those two on the journey to their own home from Jerusalem, and “talking.” They talked; God’s word tells us they talked — they had something to say, and they talked, and the Lord draws near and says, “What are these communications which ye have one to another?” What are they? A very right question for us! You have two brothers walking together anywhere; you have two sisters, or more; let the Lord come in and say, “What are these communications?” What do we talk about? What is the subject of our conversation? They tell Him, “Concerning Jesus of Nazareth” That is the subject. Maybe they needed enlightenment, but their conversation is concerning Him, and then He goes on with them and He talks to them. They say, “Did not our hearts burn within us as He talked with us by the way?” It was not a meeting like this — it was simply the three of them — the blessed Lord with them, walking along the road talking to them, and they said, “Our hearts burned within us.” What did He talk to them about? He said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?” He spoke about the sufferings of Christ. Dear brethren, let us speak about them. I appeal to each one and to all, brothers or sisters, if you meet together what do you talk about? You say, “What is there to talk about?” The sufferings of Christ. He spoke of them; He said, “Ought not Christ to have suffered these things?” What a theme — the sufferings of Christ! Shall we ever exhaust them? Shall we weary of hearing of them? Never, to all eternity! The range of them, who can tell? The sufferings of Christ, how varied they were! How intense they were! How fathomless they were! But the Lord talked to them about them. And then it says,

“Ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory?” It makes you feel ashamed to think of the things we talk about sometimes. When the Lord joined these two He talked about His sufferings and His glory. Who will ever come to the end of the glory? The glory of that blessed Person is a theme for all eternity, as well as His sufferings.

And it says, “He began at Moses.” There are the Scriptures, precious Scriptures! God is endearing the Scriptures to the hearts of the saints in a most intense way, at the end, as the second Epistle to Timothy would confirm. The Lord takes the Scriptures from Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms, and expounds to them from the Scriptures the things concerning Himself. These were the subjects of the holy conversation, the talking — mutual talking. What was the source of this speaking? It was in heaven. And it burned! It burned within their hearts. It was a fire originating in heaven, and it warmed their hearts as He talked with them by the way.

So the Lord continued for forty days assembling with them and speaking to them concerning the kingdom. That is a wonderful thing, literally I mean, for the Lord to sojourn here forty days after His resurrection and assemble with them and speak to them. They heard Him speak to them concerning the kingdom of God. That is another theme to speak about — the kingdom of God. His everlasting kingdom, where God’s sway, God’s rule is recognised. It makes the kingdoms of this world and the glory of them look small. The Lord assembled with them forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God. What He could tell them about it! It reminds one of Elijah and Elisha. After Elijah crossed the Jordan, having shown to Elisha that he had authority over that river in that he smote it with his mantle and the waters divided, and having the light in both their hearts that the Lord would take Elijah to heaven, they went on and talked. Elisha is in the company of a man who is going to heaven and he knows it. After they two crossed the Jordan they went on and talked. It does not say what they talked about, but we may be sure it was wondrous conversation. Those “talkings” are recorded in heaven, undoubtedly. Here is a man who was so acceptable to God that He would take him to heaven. He would take Elijah to heaven, nothing in the universe would stop Him. Elijah knows it and Elisha knows it, and they went on and talked. That is the kind of talking we want, dear brethren — talking related to what is the other side of death.

Then on the Mount of Transfiguration we have the same thing. There appeared Moses and Elias, who talked with Jesus of His decease which He should accomplish. They appeared and talked with Him — suggesting, I have no doubt, that as one of the occupations of eternity. They appeared in glory; it is a scene of glory, it does not belong to earth. They talked with Him. It is wonderful to think of the mutuality that will exist in eternity between Christ and His own. We shall be able to talk with Him. It implies that He is going to speak. One would present that to our hearts as something that is going on for ever, the mutuality of intercourse with Christ. We can draw near and talk to Him — it is true He will talk to us — but we are going to talk to Him.

Well, I believe that brings before our hearts the conversations that God would have marking His people. It tells us the themes worthy of talking about — the Scriptures, the sufferings of Christ, the glory that should follow, the kingdom of God — these are the themes of the hill country, they are the subjects of conversation in the hill country. I wanted us to see that before I touched on James, where we have the other side.

James says, “If any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue ... this man’s religion is vain.” It is empty. James recognises, dear brethren, that the tongue has to be controlled. He goes on to say that naturally it is uncontrollable.

Every species of animal, of birds, of serpents even, has been tamed, but the tongue can no one tame. Do not let us think that means we are to go on giving rein to our lawless tongues. God has come in for the Christian and given him a new tongue. You remember when the hundred and twenty were together, the whole christian company being represented, there appeared cloven tongues as of fire and sat on each of them. That is to say they are each, to have a new tongue. The old tongue is worthless, they are to have a new tongue marked by holiness, marked by discrimination, a tongue in the power of the Spirit of God. So Paul, speaks of words which the Holy Ghost teaches, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means — by the power of the Holy Ghost.. So we approach James in the recognition that God has given the believer a tongue marked by holiness, by discrimination. One’s religion is vain unless the tongue is bridled. We cannot rub that out of Scripture, and we would not. “If any man seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue ... that man’s religion is vain.” I would beseech all of us to face the reality of this as far as our natural tongues are concerned — if our tongues are uncontrolled our religion is empty. There is a sphere where we can speak freely — the holy talking we have been looking at — there is no need to bridle one’s tongue there. But, dear brethren, in regard to what marks us naturally, it is imperative that the tongue should be bridled.

James goes on to show the awful place the, tongue has in nature. It sets on fire the course of nature, and is set on fire of hell. Put that in contrast to Luke 24. There is a fire that makes the hearts of those two burn as He talked with them. Here is another fire that has its origin in hell and sets on fire the course of nature. One has its origin in heaven, the other has its origin in hell. Let us, dear brethren, face this matter — when we come together, when brothers meet to talk, when sisters meet in their homes to talk together (and God intends them to talk), is the conversation energised from heaven or from hell? You say, “You are speaking to Christians.” I know it. So is James. That is the position — what we talk about either has its origin in heaven and warms the hearts of Christians and attaches them to Christ, or it has its origin in hell and sets on fire the course of nature. Which is it? I speak practically. Sisters love to come together to talk — God would put this exercise before you and all of us. Is what we say energised from heaven or from hell? One has been made to feel painfully of late how the Lord has been grieved, and the liberty of the Spirit interfered with by what we have been talking about. When things that are evil come to light, alas, amongst the people of God, the tendency is that they become the subject of conversation. I know they must be spoken about at times, and the Apostle tells us how to speak of them — “I tell you even weeping. They are the enemies of the cross of Christ.” If there is something dishonouring to the Lord in the behaviour of a brother or a sister that has to be spoken about, let us tell it weeping. Let us not spread it. For love would always seek to cover, not to expose. Divine love never exposes anything unnecessarily. If it has to be spoken about, it is spoken of in tears, and if there is reproof necessary it is face to face. I would earnestly appeal to all that if you feel you have been wronged, see the brother or sister face to face before you say one word to anybody on earth. That is the divine way. Have not one word to say to anybody on earth till you have seen the brother or sister face to face. That is how Paul did it. Peter acted in a way that was not transparent — Paul calls it dissimulation. But Paul withstood him to the face. How much sorrow has come in through talking behind the scenes, talking in our own homes, and when we meet together; when we have never said a word face to face with the brother or sister. And if what we have said is right, if it is true, there are many things that are true which are not necessary to repeat. Love does not do that. Love finds every possible means to cover, not to expose, and if the thing is wrong and has to be spoken about, the Apostle says, “I tell you weeping.” I would earnestly commend that to each one of us, because one knows that there is often lack of liberty in the presence of the Lord through things being talked about — subjects of conversation unsuitable to the people of God.

The conversation that marked the hill country — let us go on with that right to the end. The conversation on the road to Emmaus — yes, let us go on with, that, and the Lord will join us. The conversation on the Holy Mount, as they talk of His departure — a vast field to speak about there. The conversation as to the blessed One whom God would take to heaven — He would take Him. He was so delightful to heaven He would take Him and set Him at His own right hand. Speak of Him as often, as freely as we have power to do so; but let us keep more definitely before our hearts that there is another kind of talking that marks the natural tongue which is untameable and hopeless.

Let our conversation be in the power of the Holy Spirit. I believe that is what underlies the Spirit coming in tongues of fire — fire representing divine holiness, and as cloven, discrimination. God has given to the believer the capacity to speak and talk — let it be the talk proper to the hill country. I believe the hill country is coming to light at the end of this dispensation. Many believers are moving definitely towards it to live there, to be there when the Lord comes — to have a moral and spiritual elevation at the end suitable for the coming in of Christ. One would suggest that we take this up with God, moving to the hill country, and as moving there to see that these things are the subject of our conversation.