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THE MAN OF FAITH - HIS CALL

^[p. 232] THE MAN OF FAITH — HIS CALL

I have taken up this subject with the idea of touching from time to time, as the Lord may enable me, on various incidents in the history of Abraham, because they are so deeply instructive to us.

The consideration that led me to it is that Abram marked a completely new departure in the ways of God. It is as plain as possible from the New Testament that what began in Abram God is continuing to the present time. The principles which come out in connection with Abram are the principles on which God is acting now, though for a time it appeared as though God had departed from those principles, and was acting upon other principles. For instance, in the law God did not appear to be acting on the principles on which He acted with regard to Abram, and the law was, in one sense, what we might call retrograde; but the law effected what God intended. It brought out the hopelessness of man’s case, that his condition, so far as depended on himself, was irremediable, that where man had light from God it did not affect his practice, but left him where he was before with greater responsibility; but when the law had done its work, and had demonstrated what God intended it should, God reverts to the principle on which He began with Abram. He showed, too, that He had never really departed from it, that it was the principle ever before Him. It has been pointed out that the pious men of the Old Testament who were exercised and afflicted on account of the condition of Israel in their departure from the truth, such men as Nehemiah, and Ezra, and Daniel, when they came ^[p. 233] before God, fall back on the promises made to Abraham, and plead those promises, because it was impossible that God should depart from what He had engaged Himself to. It is enunciated in the New Testament that “the gifts and calling of God are without repentance”; that, as Abraham believed, “what God had promised, he was able also to perform”; that is, that God has a way independent of man, by which He can fulfil the counsel of His will. It is a great thing to know that even the seed of Abraham after the flesh, not simply the spiritual seed, but the twelve tribes of Israel, have their part in God’s purpose of blessing; they will be raised again, figuratively, from the dust of the earth, will awake to everlasting life, and be brought into blessing, according to the gifts and calling of God.

Now I want to make plain the completely new departure in the ways of God seen in His dealings with Abram. And one thing which marks this is that it followed upon the attempt of man to build the tower of Babel, and the consequent scattering of men. That is related in the preceding chapter; and the importance of it is that in it man showed his hand, what he was bent upon; it is not extraordinary, it is what I should call the natural consequence of the fall. The temptation of the devil to man was to be “as gods”, but man was not content with that; chapter 11 shows that he was bent upon making a great political centre which would constitute a name for man; he was going, too, to build a memorial for himself, a tower, the foundations of which were to be deep in the earth, for the top was to reach to heaven. It is a figure of speech, but serves to show what was in the mind of man. And it all works out to its result in the future, in the beast of the Revelation, the great system of which the power is wielded by Antichrist, of whom we read that he “sitteth in the temple of God,

showing himself that he is God”; there is no place for God upon the earth. Chapter 11 shows us man’s purpose, and chapter 12 God’s purpose, and the principles of the two chapters have been working side by side from that day to this. If the principle of chapter 12 is at work, and God continues to bless, the principle of chapter 11 is at work too. The New Testament shows plainly enough that there are many antichrists now, and the climax is the great imperial system of the future, the power of which will be exercised by Antichrist; and things are, I judge, tending already in that direction.

I think I can give you, in passing, an idea of the distinction between the Babylon and the Egypt of scripture. Babylon is the artificial system which maintains the glory of man; Egypt is the world of the natural lusts of man. Everybody has to be brought out of Egypt, but, after that, may become captive to Babylon; it has been so in the history of the church, it escaped Egypt, the corruption of the world through lust, by the faith of Christ, but it has become captive to Babylon, that is, the glory of man. Man has got a place in it, and there is the spirit of Antichrist, too; even now there are many antichrists. Many of us have escaped from the Egyptian captivity, but Babylon is always a great danger; that is, man is ready to seek his own glory even in the church of God.

It has been said that the Book of Genesis gives us the roots and principles of things, and the Revelation the full ripe fruits; and it is the roots which we get in these two chapters.

I dwell for a moment upon the first principle that comes out in chapter 12, that is, the call of God. I understand the call of God to be an appeal on the part of God to man, in connection with the accomplishment of His purpose. That is a point I desire to elucidate, if I can. You see there is another kind ^[p. 235] of call on the part of God. In the garden of Eden God called; but before man had fallen there was no call of God, nor can I understand the need of any, for man was with God. Adam and Eve had but to enjoy with God the benefits and blessings which God had been pleased to place within their reach: everything around them was a witness to the beneficence of God their Creator, and their part was to enjoy it with thanksgiving. When the call of God came it was a very serious one, for it was really calling to account. God called Adam and Eve to account, and Adam had to render a very serious account, for the command of God had been addressed to him, and he was specially responsible for infringing it; God made known to him what the terrible consequences would be of his disobedience, under which we are still suffering. Death, the judgment of God, came upon the man and woman because they had disobeyed the commandment of God, and man has been under death from that day to this. It is well to look this in the face — what is there in this world that is not under death? The best things which man has in this world, the things which tend most to make him conspicuous, and which constitute the glory of man in the world, mind, taste, and affection, are all under death. The greatest man born into the world, with every possible advantage of birth and fortune, is under death from the moment he comes into the world, the judgment of God is upon him. Let a man secure everything in the world that can adorn man — cultivation, knowledge, refinement, or what not — he is under death. That is the terrible consequence of Adam’s transgression of God’s commandment.

But the call in this chapter is different, it is a call of God in connection with the accomplishment of His own purpose. The call here makes a point of departure. It is God working to accomplish the ^[p. 236] purposes of His will. And that call has been going on ever since. I think there is an allusion to it in the beginning of Proverbs, where God says, “Because I called and ye refused”; and in Proverbs 8 wisdom cries to men; and I look upon the gospel as being the call of God now to man. God has to call man because man has departed from God, otherwise God would not have occasion to call him. But it is not calling him to account; but God calls because He has blessing for man, and that is, in accomplishing the counsel of His will. Now the call of God is a great test. It became a great test to Abram, and the first point in the history, of Abram is that he answered to the call. Look at the first verse: “Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing; and I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee; and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed”. Abram was called to leave three things — his country, and his kindred, and his father’s house. It has been frequently noticed, in connection with this passage, that the call came when his kindred were idolaters but I connect the chapter more particularly with the eleventh, as to the point of departure. Anyway, Abram was tested by the call. And the test was this — whether the call of God had more value in his eyes than country, and kindred, and father’s house. That question must have tested Abram for he was called to come out from each and all.

Now there is not perhaps one of us but has been practically tested in the same way. You do not suppose Abram would have been called out in this way if God had been in the things from which he came. Had God been in his country, and kindred,

and his father’s house, He would not have had to call Abram out from those things. I quite admit that natural relationships are of God, but, when man is fallen, God is not in them. There is a very strong expression in Luke 14 that a man has to hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and his own life also, if he is to be the disciple of Christ. With Abram it was a question of literally going from one country to another. But I think that we are every one tested, and that a moment has to come in the lifetime of every Christian when he has to determine practically between natural ties and the call of God. I have had to find, and many more, too, that natural ties are in themselves a hindrance, when it is a question of the call of God. Of course it is a little more difficult to apprehend this in the present day, because many have been brought up amid Christian influences by Christian parents; but natural ties, and country, and father’s house, as such, have not God in them. They are of God, either in His providence or His ordering, but God is not there. It is a terrible consideration that the state of things should be such in this world that the moment has to come when the soul must determine between the call of God and these things. The test came to Abram, and Abram answered to it, and in principle he left all at the call of God, though for a moment he did not make what one might call a clean cut. We naturally trust those who are kindred to us here; and hence it is a great moment in a person’s history when he goes forth because he can trust God more implicitly and more simply than he can any natural tie. God is better than country, or kindred, or father’s house. I think the call of God involves the determination of the soul as between God and the closest possible ties here upon earth. We are not called to leave Mesopotamia and to go to Canaan; but I think that each one of us ^[p. 238] has had to make the same determination in the soul that Abram had to make, and that was the beginning of our history with God. We listened to the call of the gospel, the presentation of God to us in grace, and in accepting that call we determined that the God presented to us in the gospel was superior to kindred, and country, and father’s house.

If you have not begun there you have not begun well. I may in the will of God be left here to be an obedient child, or an affectionate father, or a loving husband; but God is paramount to all these things, He has a place with me which none of these things can have. I am persuaded that you do not go on with God if God is not supreme. If not, it proves that you have not really answered to His call. God must be everything to the soul of a Christian. Even if all the happiness connected with this world has to go, he must have God. God is bountiful to us in mercies, but we have no title to them, because death and the judgment of God are upon us. What you have, you have in the mercy and goodness of God; and if God permits it to you, the God who permits it to you is to be paramount to anything which may affect or govern your heart down here.

The next point is in what God made known to Abram, namely, that He was determined to bless, not merely that He was determined to bless Abram, but that in Abram all families of the earth should be blessed. I understand by this that God set forth in Abram the great principles of blessing. Faith saw Christ’s day and the world to come. I think that God was anticipating the law. He had all His ways before Him, and knew that the time would come when the law would be given. The effect of law upon man was to bring him under curse; man as he is could not possibly be under the law without being under the curse. The great answer to it will be when in the future the law is written in the heart of ^[p. 239] man, then he will be relieved of the curse, and there will be nothing to bring curse upon him. But if man is taken up of God as he is, with a covetous heart, it is impossible but that the law should bring curse. “Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them”. Now it is exceedingly beautiful to see that God anticipated the curse by making known that He was determined to bless. When the law came in, and the curse in its tail, God had already made known His determined purpose to bless. The law cursed, but God had no pleasure in cursing, His pleasure was in blessing. He makes no kind of requirement from Abram. The chapter takes up things entirely — at all events in the first part — on the divine side; it makes known in Abram the divine purpose to bless, and that in Abram all the families of the earth were to be blessed. The point is that Abram having responded to the call of God so far, God says, I will make known to you my purpose to bless. I do not make any demand upon you, but I will bless you.

Now, by the blessing I understand that God meant to provide for man a righteousness, a means by which man should be justified before Him, should be completely freed from imputation of sin. You will find the phrase several times repeated in the scripture “Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness”. God found a righteousness for Abram, a way by which Abram should be justified in His presence, and that without reference to a single bit of good in Abram. If the time had come, God might have communicated the Holy Ghost to Abram. The time had not come for it, but Abram was righteous in the presence of God; and therefore God could, and did do as He liked, and could give him promises, because, by faith, he was cleared in the eye of God. I doubt if Abram ^[p. 240] knew his righteousness; it was not a question of what Abram knew or entered into; God knew it, but we do not read that God told Abram. It is the record of the Holy Ghost about Abraham, that he “believed God, and he counted it to him for righteousness”. I think it is a wonderful thing that God should have made known at that early date, hundreds of years before the law came in, that he had a resource, a means by which He would be able to justify the ungodly, so that he might be completely cleared from every reproach in God’s presence. Abram was thus cleared, not perhaps in his own consciousness, or knowledge, but in the eye of God, so that God could go on further with him, and make further communications to him. It is beautiful to see these actings of God. It is not like God giving man a law; He did not make a single demand upon Abram, or attach any reservation or condition.

We get an interpretation of these dealings in the Epistle to the Galatians — the blessing of Abraham has reached the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, and what for? — “that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. In that epistle a contrast is presented as between blessing and curse. The Galatians were putting themselves under law, which brought curse; and Paul shows to them that the law was not really the way by which they could be connected with Abraham’s line, and that what God spoke of to Abraham was blessing. And so the apostle argues, “Christ has redeemed us [Jews] from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us” — what for? “that the blessing of Abraham might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith”. It makes it plain enough that the blessing of Abram meant what we speak of as justification, that is, that God had in view a way by which the ^[p. 241] Gentiles could be justified in His eye, so that they could receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

It is doctrinally stated in Romans 5: 1: “Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ”, and then a little later we get “the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us”. The Gentiles are righteous in Christ, He has been raised again for their justification, and, as the consequence of that, they are able to receive the promise of the Spirit through faith; and the blessing of Abraham has thus arrived at the Gentiles in Christ Jesus. The gospel makes known God’s purpose and power to bless man, in the sense that He can justify the ungodly, so that the ungodly man can receive the promise of the Spirit. What a wonderful thing! I believe there is nothing more important than to see that what the gospel brings us to is what I should speak of as a change of man. This does not come out at the outset, because the man that is must be cleared. I have my personality or individuality, and in regard to that I must be justified, or else God would have to judge me. But God justifies me. He blesses me in that sense, and communicates to me the promise of the Spirit; and when I receive the promise of the Spirit I am connected with another Man, I reckon myself “dead indeed, unto sin, but alive unto God in Christ Jesus”. The Spirit is the turning point of all.

God was pleased to set forth in Abraham the great principle of His dealing with all the families of the earth, not exactly the way by which He will bring it to pass — that comes out more in chapter 22, when the promise was confirmed in the seed, “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. In chapter 12 it is, “In thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed”. God demonstrated in Abraham’s seed the great principles on which He would bless the heathen, namely death and resurrection, that through Christ’s death the blessing of Abraham might reach the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. There are two things that constantly come in connection in scripture, Christ crucified and the gift of the Spirit. The state of man as in the flesh was set forth and condemned in the cross in Christ crucified, but it was in order that God might impart the Spirit to man; and so the blessing of Abraham has come to the Gentiles, the Gentiles are justified by faith, and receive the promise of the Spirit.

Now I come to another point (verse 6): “And the Canaanite was then in the land. And the Lord appeared unto Abram and said, Unto thy seed will I give this land: and there builded he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him”. There, I think, God brings in the light of another world, or, rather, to be more exact, the light of the world to come, and the principle which God announces is this, His title to dispose of the earth as He sees fit. Man thinks that the earth is his own. I do not admit it. “The earth is the Lord’s, and its fulness”. There are great people in the world to whom large tracts of the earth belong; and, on the other hand, the radical of the present day, who would nationalise the land. But God claims the right to dispose of the earth as He sees fit. The Canaanite was then in the land, the iniquity of the Canaanite was not yet full, but God gives the land of the Canaanite to the seed of Abraham, He disposes of the earth according to His pleasure. But my conviction is that a promise of that kind really looked on to the world to come. The land was given to Israel, not exactly in fulfilment of the purpose of God, but provisionally, and they lost it by their idolatry and ^[p. 243] unfaithfulness. But the gifts and calling of God are without repentance, and every promise of God is to be fulfilled in Christ in the world to come. Abraham was the heir of the world, and the land belongs to his seed because of God’s promise; but they have never enjoyed it according to God — they had it under law and they lost it under law, and they have never enjoyed it according to the blessing of Abraham. And therefore it conveys to me the thought that God had the world to come in view. Abraham will have his part in the accomplishment of the promises, and the seed of Abraham, too, will have their part; they will enjoy the land, not under law, but according to the blessing of Abraham; they will be justified, and the Spirit of God will be upon them (God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh). I believe this world is near to being worn out. I think that the enormous pressure, and the competition, and the pace at which things are going will in time make the world intolerable. I am sure that God will weaken this world; He will eventually turn it upside down. All the great principles of the world come in review in the prophets, and the whole order of things, the great commercial system among the rest, will be judged; and God will bring upon the scene the world to come, which is not put under angels, but under the Son of man. Then the Jews will have their place in the enjoyment of the land according to God. They will be able to say, “The Lord our righteousness”. Have you ever noticed the very beautiful interchange in that expression in the prophet Jeremiah? First it is, “This is the name by which he [Jehovah] shall be called, The Lord our righteousness”; but afterwards the same expression is applied to Jerusalem, “This is the name by which she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness”. The name in which they glory is applied to the city; the Lord will be their ^[p. 244] righteousness, they will not have any righteousness of their own any more than we have, but the Lord will be their righteousness, as Christ is our righteousness.

Now turn for a moment to the answer of Abram; he built an altar. To my mind that is exceedingly important, because it proves that Abram accepted the truth that he could not approach God in a natural way. Adam and Eve at the first did not need an altar, for if God drew near they could approach God as they were; they were innocent creatures, fresh from God, and they could have to say to God, not I suppose with any great intelligence, but because there was nothing in them contrary to God. Abram does not take that ground, he builds an altar, that is a confession that if he would have to say to God, it could only be through the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is true to us. You cannot come to God on the ground of personal excellence or merit, you are compelled to come through the Mediator, the Lord Jesus Christ. You have access to God, but there is to be in the soul the acknowledgment of the Lord Jesus Christ as the way by which you approach God, and then, through Him, you stand in the favour of God. And there is the acknowledgment of that in the altar; the altar was the place of communion, and the setting forth of the burnt offering; it was really through the Lord Jesus Christ in figure that Abram had access to God.

I want you to notice this especially, because it demonstrates that God looked for no kind of goodness in Abram; and, on the other hand, Abram asserted no goodness; he did not set up his righteousness any more than God claimed righteousness from him. We do not have to build an altar as Abraham did. Christ is our altar, “Through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father”. He is,

^[p. 245] so to say, our place of communion with God; and through Him we “offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name”.

The next thing is not so pleasing — Abram went down to Egypt, I understand by this that he came for a moment under the power of what was natural, and had to learn that man lives not by bread only but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God; and you will find as we go on that he formed a link in Egypt the power of which had to be broken before he made much spiritual progress. One false step led to another; he was overcome by the natural, the famine, the need of bread, which brought him down to Egypt, and then in Egypt he had to resort to a subterfuge to protect himself from Pharaoh. If you ask me what should Abraham have done, I cannot tell you, and yet I think that God must have had some outlet if Abram had looked to God. I think that he followed human prudence, just what we should probably have done. If there was a famine in the land, and we had heard that there was corn in Egypt, most of us would have gone down to Egypt to get the corn. But I do not think it could have been God’s way. There is hardly a greater snare for the Christian than natural prudence, for it comes in such a very subtle way, it does not affect people’s consciences, but it takes a man away from the place of trust in God. But it is a blessed thing that even in departure God had His eye upon Abram, and on his wife, too, and brought him back. He was protected in the mercy of God, but in result he had formed a link which afterwards caused him great sorrow and trial of heart.

I think this chapter is full of the deepest interest. It is to me most blessed to see the purpose of God to bless Abram, without any kind of demand upon ^[p. 246] him, and then the acknowledgment on Abram’s part that he had no way of approach to God except by the altar. It is all very beautiful as demonstrating what the great principles of God were for the blessing of man down here upon earth. And does not the thought gladden your heart that all these things are to come out in display? Christianity has not set aside these things, the promises of God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have all to be fulfilled; they will have their part in the kingdom, they will sit down in the kingdom of God. It is a great comfort to think that all these things are to be fulfilled in the world to come, and the seed of Abraham will possess the land which God promised to their fathers.

And there is one thing to be said which does not appear on the surface in this chapter. God had in reserve His own way of accomplishing all these things; they were all to be accomplished in the Man of His purpose, the Lord Jesus Christ. And so we see Him “delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification”, so that God might make known to us what He has secured for us — peace, and reconciliation, and eternal life. God makes all that known to us in the Lord Jesus Christ; and that same Lord Jesus Christ is the altar by which we have access to God. Depend upon it, you cannot get on without the Lord, you have no light apart from Him, you do not know how God can bless you until you apprehend the Lord, nor can you approach God apart from the Lord. The great principle of blessing is a mediator. “There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all”.

I have suggested these things, in the desire of drawing your attention to the scripture, so that you may get your thoughts from the fountain head, that you may be taught not by me but by the Spirit of God.

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