MORAL AND SPIRITUAL RESOLVE
W. Lamont
Genesis 32: 22–32; Exodus 21: 1–6; 1 Kings 21: 1–4; Daniel 3: 16–18
We have been speaking of God’s will, and that everything in the universe will ultimately be brought into accord with it. That is inevitable, that God will have His way. He already has it, of course, in Christ, the Man of His purpose, the Man who has fulfilled His will. He came into this world with that objective in view—God’s will to fulfil. It was fulfilled in perfection—what perfection there is in Christ, what food for our souls! But what I want to draw your attention to in this word is the matter of moral and spiritual resolve. You will have noticed, in the scriptures read, that each of these persons, and the three young men referred to, all say, I will not or We will not. I think we are all familiar with that expression in a wrong sense. As children, sometimes disobedient to parents, which is a feature that is looked upon very strongly by God, I suppose we have all said, I will not in a wrong sense, that is in a sense of disobedience. We can always repent of course. The Lord speaks of that in the parable of the two sons. One said, “I will not” (Matthew 21: 29), but, after repenting himself, he went. The other said, “I go, sir, and went not”. So, it is essential to all of us, young and old, to come into the path of obedience.
We have been speaking of the obedient One, set out perfectly in the Lord Jesus. He learned obedience from the things which He suffered (Hebrews 5: 8). He did not need to learn to obey. He was always the obedient One, but He learned as in manhood what that quality was.
So, here we read of these persons of moral resolve, each of whom says, I will not. It is a good thing to come to that, when evil presents itself, or something attracts you that is not right, to have the ability to say, I will not. Jacob is our first example; he has quite a history, some of it very questionable, perhaps something like our own at times. He is here on a journey and rose up that night, he moves forward and passes over the ford at Jabbok with his family. He took them and led them over the river. There were right family relationships. But there came a point, as we have it here, “And Jacob remained alone”. That is an experience that every one of us must have—being alone with God.
I wonder how long we have been alone with God. It is an essential experience. This passage stresses the necessity of it. That is to get into the presence of God, and in communion and prayer find out God’s mind, like Asaph in Psalm 73: 17. So Jacob remains, alone and a man wrestled with him until the rising of the dawn. I think this passage illustrates, among other things, the exercises of Romans 7, it is a struggle. You find in yourself at times that you want to do what is right, but find you have not the power to do so, and you do wrong. You find you have not the power to cease to do wrong. That is the struggle of Romans 7. So Jacob struggled here. But the thing is to go on and Jacob got through to what is referred to in Romans 8, the mind of the Spirit, life and peace. When you come to Romans 8 in your experience you cease to struggle, you find the blessedness of the Spirit and all that that means. So Jacob says, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me”.
Oh, the moral determination of the man. I think that is a necessary element that must be seen in evidence with us all, moral determination to see through exercises, whether they be individual or collective. Then God says to him, “Thy name shall not henceforth be called Jacob, but Israel; for thou hast wrestled with God, and with men, and hast prevailed”. You will find as you go through these exercises, as Jacob says, “For I have seen God face to face, and my life has been preserved”. And as he passed over Peniel, the sun rose upon him.
Jacob’s history is very interesting; his name is changed from Jacob to Israel. Of Jacob and of Israel it shall be said—“What hath God wrought!”, Numbers.23: 23.
Jacob is what the man is in responsibility. Israel is what he is according to God, in God’s purpose. Have we all arrived at that? I wonder if we all have the moral resolve that Jacob had—“I will not let thee go except thou bless me”. It is needed, beloved brethren, it is needed today. In the conditions in which we are, it is needed that matters go through to completion.
Of course Jacob has further to go. At Peniel, the sun rose upon him but he has still to get through to Bethel, the house of God. At one stage he says, “How dreadful is this place!”, Genesis 28: 17. To be practical, sometimes some of us, when we were young, passed through a stage where we found that the meeting was a terrible place, that the meetings were boring.
When you get through to Peniel, you find that the sun shines upon you. Then Jacob had to learn that there is not only Bethel, which is the house of God and all that that involves, but he had to learn further about El-Bethel—that is God of the house of God. It means you come through to where God dwells and come through to where God is Himself. But, this exercise of Jacob’s depended on the moral resolve of the man. He said, “I will not let thee go except thou bless me”. These feelings are essential in these days of what is casual, a time in the world of ‘could not care less’. Oh for this moral resolve of I will not; may it be the experience of each one of us.
When we come to Exodus 21, the scripture is typical of the Lord Jesus, the true Hebrew bondman, the One who emptied Himself, taking a bondman’s form (Philippians 2: 7). Think of that, One who did not esteem it an object of rapine to be on an equality with God but emptied himself, taking a bondman’s form. Then it says, “But if the bondman shall say distinctly, I love my master, my wife, and my children, I will not go free”. It surely reminds us of the Lord’s words, “but then, not my will, but thine be done”, Luke 22: 42. What does that mean for us? It means, in simple language, dear young people, that your life is devoted to the Lord Jesus, and you are devoted to the Lord’s people. What a thing it is to be in an area of love, to experience the love of the Lord Jesus, the love of the saints, to find yourself in an area of salvation, where the Spirit of God is free. We should all know that there was teaching many years ago as to salvation in the assembly; you are safe there, safe from the elements of the world, protected and preserved. (See J.T. Vol. 1, page 285). So, the bondman says distinctly, that is, there is no doubt about it, and “his master ... shall bring him to the door, or to the doorpost; and his master shall bore his ear through with an awl; and he shall be his bondman for ever”. That is committal. It is a wonderful thing for us all, young and old, to commit yourself to be His bondman for ever. I will not go free. That is total dedication, total devotion to what is of the Lord Jesus here.
When we come to the section in 1 Kings 21, there was a man who had a vineyard and the king coveted it. He says, I will exchange it, “Give me thy vineyard, that I may have it for a garden of herbs, for it is near, by the side of my house; and I will give thee for it a better vineyard than it”. That is what the enemy would do, he would say to you, What are you doing here in these restricted circumstances? Young people amongst old people, what are you doing here? The enemy would say he could give you something better. But there is nothing better than being among the company of the saints.
There was subtlety with this king. He became vexed and sullen and he quotes Naboth as saying, “I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers”. This means for us, at the present time, what other men have laboured for, and we have entered into their labours. (See John 4: 38). What labour there has been in the past, by men of God; who have brought out to us the principles of the truth. Are we going to give it up? It is the inheritance of our fathers. It is an obligation upon us, all these things have come down to us. Paul’s ministry and the ministries of the recovery, they are our inheritance and the inheritance of our fathers. Stand by it, whatever the cost may be. It has cost men their lives.
Where I live in Scotland we are surrounded by monuments to men who were slain because of their devotion to the Lord Jesus. Let us be like that in principle and use this language, particularly in the day in which we live, when so much has been given up. As we read in John 6, “Many therefore of his disciples having heard it said, This word is hard; who can hear it?” (John 6: 60). And many went away back, in effect they were not prepared for the path of separation. It is significant there the Lord Jesus did not plead with them to stay. He did not exhort Peter and the rest to stay, he gives them a challenge, “Will ye also go away?” That is the challenge for today, when so many of our beloved brethren have departed, giving up the truth, saying the path of separation is too hard for them, the very same language. Let us, in holy resolve, be like Naboth and say, “I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers”.
What pleasure the Lord Jesus has in seeing persons who are marked by holy, spiritual determination, and who say, “I will not give thee the inheritance of my fathers”. Maintain it to the end, till we enter into it. We have the earnest of it now by the Holy Spirit, we are sealed; what a wonderful thing it is to be sealed, to know that you are divine property, and that from that standpoint you have something that the world cannot give you. Something that has come down in a pure and living way.
In Daniel we have three young men who, in holy resolve together, not only in personal resolve and spiritual determination, but together, say, “we will not”. That is what these three young men represent, persons who together have holy resolve, so that not only what is individual remains, but also what is collective, “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that hears say, Come”, Revelation 22: 17. There is much detail but they said, “But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image that thou hast set up”. There is much in the way of hero worship of persons in the world today, and much in the way of what is religious and political that would answer to the golden image, that would detract our attention from what is true and what is real. But these men were determined not to worship the golden image which was set up. May it be, beloved brethren, young and old, that with holy resolve we are determined that we will not serve worldly gods or these golden images. May it be that we are preserved for the service of praise and the worship of God. May it be so that each one of us has solidly, in our constitutions, this resolve, that when it is needed each one of us will be prepared to say, I will not and, as acting together, we will not. May it be so, for His name’s sake.
Address at Sydney
19 April 2003