THE WAY OF GOD
[p. 296] THE WAY OF GOD
Mark 10:17 - 22; Mark 10:46 - 52; Acts 18:24 - 26
You will no doubt anticipate that I intend in this address to refer to the way, or more exactly, the way of God. Some of you may not have thought of the way, the way of God; there are other ways, but they lead astray. There is a way, we are told, that seemeth right unto a man, but it leads to death. It seems right; there are many such ways, and as they afford certain attractions for the flesh in us, they are taken. They assume to be of God, but are intended by the enemy of our souls to deceive and lead astray, to lead into death. One could speak of many of these ways, they have multiplied in recent times, Satan being intent on obtaining all possible; his is generally the broad way — broad is the way that leadeth to destruction — and it covers all these subdivisions of it, these ways, devious ways, including modern theology. Whereas the voice of the Spirit of God is lifted up, as we learn in Proverbs, calling men and women into the way of God — there is only one. It is the most ancient of all ways, it began as far back as Genesis 3. A way is necessary when darkness comes in, and darkness came in with sin. Eve, listening to the voice of the serpent and believing what he said, entered on the way of death. She ate the fruit of the forbidden tree; she was disobedient, and she entered on the way of death, and dragged Adam with her into that way, but God immediately came in with His way, the way of God. It could not ignore death, it could not ignore God’s own judgment; the way of God implies the judgment that He had pronounced, but in order that men should walk in it, and that none should walk in the way of death, He provided One to bear the judgment, God sending [p. 297] His own Son, as we read, in the likeness of flesh of sin — that was Eve’s flesh and Adam’s flesh; think of the humiliation of our Lord, the Lord of glory, coming in the likeness of that! — in order to condemn it and to condemn sin in it, and thus to provide a righteous basis on which God could admit persons into His way. And so we find that God made Adam and Eve coats of skin, and clothed them, figurative of the death of Christ. Christ is a divine Person — I need not say that — no-one but a divine Person could effect atonement, but ere the time of His becoming flesh, God used figures, He wrought figuratively, and the animal whose skin clothed Adam and Eve was a figure of Christ, so that Adam and Eve, instead of remaining in the way of death, should enter on the way of life. Hence the woman is named by her husband, Eve, the mother of all living; how he entered intelligently on that way! It was a question of skin. He was not left naked, he was not left exposed; God provided a covering for him and his wife.
Peter, in later years, as you remember, was found in the house of a man who dealt in skins; he lodged in the house of a man called Simon, a tanner. That is not mentioned for nothing; it was at the juncture in which God was about to move out to us gentiles, those of us who stand in contrast to His ancient people Israel and who were said to be afar off and without God in the world — not on the divine way, but dead in trespasses and sins. But God was about to move out, and His way was to be opened up among the gentiles, so that they should tread it, but tread it on the same principle on which Adam and Eve trod it, and on which you must tread it — the principle of a covering, the principle of death and resurrection. Peter was in the house of one Simon, a tanner, a man who dealt in skins, who prepared them for use, for human use, and so it is, beloved friends, that the [p. 298] death of Jesus is prepared and made applicable to human need, to the need of our souls, in the gospel. Peter was the first great preacher of it after the Holy Spirit came down from heaven, for it is he who tells us that it has been preached by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven. What preaching can be compared with that preaching by the Holy Spirit sent down from heaven! and Peter was the first to preach the gospel in that power, and what a gospel it was! How it applied the death of Christ to human need, spiritual need. What conviction was brought to the many on that day, when they said, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptised, each one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for remission of sins, and ye will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For to you is the promise and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God may call”, Acts 2:38,39. Well, now he is at Joppa, the port from Jerusalem into the western world, and he is in this tanner’s house; how he would be reminded of the use that God made of skins! God made wonderful use of skins, and He has been making use of skins ever since, that is to say, the testimony of the death of Christ made applicable to human need, to the need of human souls. As it says, “who gave himself a ransom for all, the testimony to be rendered in its own times”, 1 Timothy 2:6. “Its own times” is now about nineteen hundred years in duration, and it still goes on. This meeting comes within it, and it involves the way, the way of God, the way by which men and women may be saved, may get out of this world and enter into God’s world; there is only one way.
And I wanted to show, first, that someone might enter on it because it has been made so plain through the gospel — such as Simon Magus, who heard Philip the evangelist preach; I have no doubt that Philip would make the gospel very applicable to human need,
[p. 299] so that he could take it in, and take the ground of being a believer. There are many believers now — the thing is so plain — but they are not regenerate, they are not convicted of sin. They can say nice things about the Lord, they can kneel down in church and say, with a multitude of others, ‘God be merciful to us miserable sinners’, and yet they have never been really convicted before God of sin, personal sin. It is much easier to say, ‘God be merciful to us miserable sinners’, than it is to say — and smite your breast at the same time — like the publican in Luke 18, “O God, have compassion on me, the sinner”. That man was convicted. Whereas a multitude of people kneeling down in religious surroundings, in a religious building calculated to affect the religious sentiments that are in men naturally, saying ‘God be merciful to us miserable sinners’ — that, as I said, is a very different matter from saying, “O God, have compassion on me, the sinner” — myself; I am not linking anyone else with me, I am the sinner, and I need the Saviour, I need forgiveness.
Well now, you see, this man — apparently a young man — in verse 17 ran into the way; he “came running”, he ran into it. In dealing with the things of God, we act soberly if we are convicted. As soon as the ray of the conviction of God enters a man’s soul, it makes him exceedingly sober and subdued; he wants to know where he is going, what he is to say. This man ran into the way, and he kneeled down and called Jesus good. You say, he must be a convicted sinner, but was he? Were he a convicted sinner, he would have stayed in the way, but he did not stay in it, he went out of it again. The flesh can go a long way in these attitudes and remarks; certain religious denominations have very greatly stressed attitudes and formal confessions and admissions. This man was one of them. He ran into the way, he knelt down and he called Jesus good. The Lord, if you [p. 300] make these remarks and take up this attitude, will challenge you, Why are you doing these things, what is your motive? “Why callest thou me good?” He was challenging the man as to what he meant, for the Lord will not listen to unintelligent remarks, He will have you to speak intelligently and honestly, if you are to speak at all. “Why callest thou me good?” There are many who would class the Lord Jesus in that way, and do not believe in His divinity. The Lord will not have any such remarks, they are an abomination to Him. “Why callest thou me good? no one is good but one, that is God”. You see He challenged him. And the young man wanted to know how he was to get everlasting life — a very good desire as far as it went, but what did he mean by that? The sequel would indicate that he meant he would like to live on here to enjoy his goods, his possessions, for he had large possessions. Everlasting life is not given to us to enjoy these things, it belongs to another world altogether, it belongs to that world, the Lord says, and the resurrection. But I refer to this man to show how far we may go in the truth of God with our attitude, with our words and with our profession — because he kept the law from his youth, he says — and yet turn away altogether and go out of the way. Now, it may be there is someone here like that, who is externally affected by the gospel, but who, if challenged, has never really bottomed matters as to his own state of soul, as to his own guilt, and the Lord will expose you. You may think you are concealed, but you are not concealed. If you are among the Lord’s people, they know where you are, you are not concealed amongst them. You may pass muster amongst people like yourself — so-called religious — but not amongst spiritual people. That is spiritual discernment of things, and the Lord knows whether you are real or whether you are unreal, so you may be sure that if you are not exposed now, you will be,
[p. 301] but the Lord would expose you to yourself, He does not wish to expose you to others, but to yourself. You may be even, as we say, in fellowship, and yet not have bottomed things with God. Sooner or later you will be tested, as this man was; he went out of the path altogether, he left the way. How did he leave it? He left it sorrowfully — not because he had found it to be a happy place, not because he enjoyed the blessings of the Christian circle, but because of the Lord’s requirement. He had large possessions, these he could not afford to give up. Maybe you have not large possessions, but you have something else, you have something which you cherish, and you are allowing that to prevent you from being in the way, and you leave it on that account. Many have done it. It says of the man here that the Lord loved him; a remarkable statement, that the Lord loved him — as if He would say, How I would love to have that young man! The Lord looks upon you tonight in that way, He has gone into death to have you, and He would have you through this gospel address. His heart goes out to you. He would beseech you not to leave, not to allow things, miserable things that perish in the using, to interfere between your soul and Him.
Well now, Bartimaeus is the opposite of all this. Mark makes a lot of Bartimaeus, giving us his name and his father’s name, that is to say, his identity is known, but he is the blind man. But he is the son of a Christian, it may be of a brother in fellowship, and known to be the son of that man. Bartimaeus, the blind man, “the son of Timaeus”; he is known to be the son of this man. You are known, your relationship is known, your family link is known, and on that account, doubtless, you are prayed for. Certainly I can thank God for having believing ancestors. It is a wonderful gift of God to have a believing mother, a believing father, a believing grandmother,
[p. 302] a believing grandfather; having such you have been prayed for before you had any sense of need, before you knew what need meant — because godly parents pray from the outset. Here Bartimaeus, the blind man, was sitting by the wayside. It reminds me of young men and women who have not taken their position in fellowship, they are on the wayside. This man was on the wayside, he is the blind man, the article means that he is definitely that, there is no question about it, all that the idea of blindness conveys attaches to this man. As soon as one has one’s eyes opened, one refers back to one’s history before, and how you do think of your blindness! Unable to take the way, although you are sitting there with it by your side all these years!
But now God has touched his heart, Jesus has come by. He is here tonight. As we often say, “Jesus of Nazareth passeth by”, the Lord is passing by. It is a wonderful time this, He is passing by, He goes on to an end. In a similar case in John 9, as He passed by He saw a blind man. Here as He passes by, the blind man hears that Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and he proves that he is not an ordinary man — he had not seen Jesus, he could not, he was blind, but he spoke of Him with the greatest reverence. That is a good sign, as you hear young people begin to speak of the Lord reverentially. I like to hear people speak of Him as the Lord Jesus, it is an affectionate address. “The Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed”, 1 Corinthians 11:23 that is a touching reference. There are instances which would indicate that the soul is beginning to move in the light of the glorious greatness of Christ. The angel Gabriel said to Mary concerning Jesus before He was born, “He shall be great”. Luke 1:32 Young people are prone to think of men of history and men who are current, as great, but the Spirit of God would say to you ‘He shall be great’, He is great, all true greatness centres in Jesus. As the apostle Paul says, “marked out Son of God in power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by resurrection of the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord”, Romans 1:4. That is the Jesus of the gospel, that is the Person presented in the gospel; the gospel is about God’s Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, so that truly a rightly presented gospel is about the Son of God. He is marked out in that way, it is as clear as noonday that He is the Son of God; by resurrection of the dead — it is what He did, He came out of death Himself, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up”. John 2:19 Death could not hold Him. So that He is presented as great, and as soon as young people begin to regard Him in that light, I see God is working there; God is working in your soul when you begin to think of Jesus thus. And so it was here, “Jesus, thou Son of David”. Those words in his mouth correspond with what I have been saying, Son of David meant true greatness. The Old Testament pointed unmistakably to the greatness of the Person who should be Son of David. And so this man had light in his soul about the glorious greatness of the Person who was passing by. Whether it be sinfulness, whether it be pressure of any kind, the Lord is here tonight to meet every need.
There were those who would hinder this man. Luke tells us that those who went before would hinder the man — those who go ahead of the Lord instead of behind Him — those that went before sought to prevent the blind man from getting to Jesus. Mark says many did this — they would keep him from the Lord. We are here tonight to get you to the Lord; there is not a soul in this room who would stand in your way, and our attitude is to get you to the Lord, not to keep you away from Him.
Will you not come to Jesus tonight? It says of this man that the Lord stood still and called for him; He is calling for you now, He is appealing to you. “He calleth thee”, was the word, and it says he cast away his garment, that is what would hinder many in facing this matter, this garment. I do not see that this poor man, being a beggar, would have anything much in the way of a garment, but as a rule, our garments are according to our purses. It is remarkable how the garment goes with the purse in this world, money speaks. It is greatness in man’s account; some may seem to despise it, but they cannot in the long run, it has the last word in this world, and as it grows, the man grows. The man whom Luke depicts is rich and increased with goods. A man goes out round his house and his gardens, he is speaking of his own bigness, it is a question of his own dignity. We do not wish to lose any little bit of dignity which we have in the office or in the streets where we are known, or in society; that is a very potent hindrance to souls coming to Jesus, because coming to Jesus is coming to the Nazaraean, who has no status in this world. He has a status in heaven, but not in this world; He will have by and by, but at present He has no place here, He is cast out as worthless, despised and rejected of men. So that the casting away of the garment is to many a great difficulty, but I commend it to you, not to allow anything of this kind to hinder you. He cast it away, that meant a violent action, as if what he did was thoroughly done. And then the next thing is he started up, meaning that there was energy in his movement, there was purpose in it, and in starting up he came to Jesus, that is the point. I need not ask you to go to Jesus, Jesus has come to you, but then there has to be a turning to Him, a turning round — that is conversion, “turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”, Acts 26: 18. He started up and he came to Jesus, and Jesus challenged him, “What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?” He had no doubt as to the man’s need. It is for you to say to the Lord what your need is, He is here to help you. What shall I do for you? “Rabboni”, he says; it is not now a question of authority, the man is already subject to the Son of David, He acknowledges Him as the Ruler, the only Potentate, but he wanted the Teacher, he recognised that Jesus is the Teacher, and how young souls need this today, when there is so much false teaching! He was coming to One who could instruct him, as well as One who could relieve him. “Rabboni, that I may see”; how pleasing to the Lord it must have been that he could say so definitely what he needed! And the Lord granted it to him, saying, “thy faith has healed thee”, and he saw immediately, and followed Jesus in the way. In other words, he came into fellowship, that is how we speak, that is the term employed in the Acts for fellowship.
And so I refer to Apollos, because he is a man who may fit on with this man who was blind. He came from Alexandria. Alexandria was a place, in those days, of learning, it had a great library, the Hebrew Scriptures had been translated there many years before, and Apollos was, doubtless, a close student of them. He was instructed in the Scriptures, he had come to acknowledge Jesus, but he acknowledged Him under very disadvantageous circumstances, that is to say, poor teaching. There are thousands and thousands of God’s people damaging their souls because of poor teaching. Bartimaeus called the Lord “Rabboni”, which means ‘my Teacher’, as if he would say, You are to be my Teacher, and no one else. Maybe there is someone here who is greatly hampered in his growth by wrong teaching, who is under wrong teaching, imperfect teaching. Now Apollos, although taught imperfectly, knew accurately, but he did not know all the truth; he spoke of the Lord according to the baptism of John, accurately. And Aquila and Priscilla heard him speak.
[p. 306] He must have been a very interesting speaker; I have no doubt that as imperfectly taught, a man like that would be more acceptable around us today than a man like Paul. Paul, it says, was the leading speaker, and he must have been a wonderful speaker. His speech was contemptible, we are told, but in spite of the contemptible speech of Paul, many were converted! There is nothing said about Apollos’ converts, but his knowledge of Scripture and his accuracy as far as he knew, these things were commendable, but he was not in the way of God perfectly. He would be a troublesome brother in that state, although I have no doubt he would be one of the most honoured amongst us, because we appreciate accuracy, but we are slow to discern imperfection. It is remarkable how much want there is as to discerning, distinguishing between good and evil; what does it matter if Apollos says this and that and it is not right? He is a good speaker, and he quotes Scripture. But he does not know the true gospel of God, and his soul has that great disadvantage. If you have been under imperfect teaching, I would urge upon you that good teaching is in the way of God. And so this man and his wife hear him preaching, and say, He is a fine preacher in the making, but he needs instruction; and they take him to them in a very becoming way, and instruct him in the way of God more exactly. And now he is commended to the brethren by those at Ephesus, so that he is used of God to encourage the saints.
And so, beloved, I would finish by calling upon any here who may have been under imperfect teaching — you need something more, and the Lord would afford it to you so that you might be in the way of God more exactly, for God loves exactness, and He would have us in the fellowship in the exactness of His principles, of His word, so that we might be in it truly and profitably, in it profitably to the brethren.