ROOTS
F. R. Turner
Isaiah 37: 31; Job 14: 7–9; Mark 4: 5, 16, 17 (to “a time”); Matthew 13: 29, 30
I am just impressed, beloved, as to the thought
of roots. We had recently that beautiful scripture in Ephesians, “strengthened with power by his Spirit in the inner man; that the Christ may dwell, through faith, in your hearts, being rooted and founded in love”, Ephesians 3: 16, 17. What a place to be rooted in, beloved!
Everything productive in the way of fruit, greenery and flowers, as we see it around us, is dependent upon the root system. The root system is in the earth, a sphere where God peculiarly operates, and it is largely what is hidden; there are not many plants which have roots above the earth; and everything depends on the strength of those roots, and the way they are fed and watered, then you get the results, the fruit.
So you get what our brother has referred to in victory. I believe first of all it takes place in ourselves. I believe that is why the Spirit of God has seen fit that so much has been said as to Romans 7; the victory there is in himself, in the man. He had been in despair. We have all been in despair, beloved, or else we have never reached victory; and there surely will be no victory outwardly if there is not victory inwardly; that is where it starts in this great field of God’s operation in ourselves, and it is largely in what is hidden, the roots going down into the earth; then there must be some fruit upward.
So maybe we could experience something of this tonight in our souls, some fresh thought of revival; and surely we would experience something of the scent of the water, the scent of the blessed Spirit. How our hearts rejoice to sing; I think we found joy in singing to the blessed Spirit as to the springing up; and you love to see that revival in the remnant that our brother has referred to.
There was a great spirit of revival, and that could take place in each of us tonight. We need reviving; we need to be reminded of the roots, that they are secure, and that God has produced the roots, and it is largely what is hidden, but all in view of the fruit and indeed the harvest which will be for God eternally.
So we need not be in despair if we go through these inward testing exercises, because they belong peculiarly to this dispensation, indeed God brought in the earth for depth, the heavens for height. It is good to touch the heights, but we shall never touch the heights rightly unless we first go through the depths, that is why God brought in the earth, in view of the heights, in view of a portion now and in heaven eternally. So we are not to avoid or despair of the depths. Scripture speaks of the ruler of the authority of the air (Ephesians 2: 2), Satan, but I believe there is a protection about the special field of God’s operations on earth. He is working now, and He is working in the depths of our souls here tonight, and we thank God for it. Perhaps it is hidden, but we can identify ourselves with the work of God in us. Thank God for that work, and thank God that it is hidden, because I believe we are to treasure more than ever what is hidden, our hidden links with Christ, with the blessed Spirit, and with the Father Himself.
Our brother referred recently to our prayers daily, our reading the gospels. Oh, I love the gospels! I am glad our brother referred to that because I used to read them every morning; I do not think I have done it so much lately. I never went out of the house without reading some verses from the gospels; perhaps we could all do that again, they are such food for the soul. Let us read and re-read them. Let us read as to the precious walk of Jesus here, all the way from the manger to the cross, all that He did; His death, His burial, and His resurrection; heaven is full of it; let our hearts be full of it. So it is the roots going down and the fruit being borne upward. Let us delight in those roots going downward.
So we may refer to Job. Oh what a man he was! All his history is written for our learning; he is going to be revived. It means the cutting down of the tree; I suppose he reached it in the end when he repented in dust and ashes. None of us, beloved, reaches the thoughts of God apart from going that way in repentance, coming to ourselves; the goodness of God leads us to repentance, and that makes men of us. Repentance is to become characteristic of us; we should always be repenting while we are here. What a man Peter was, how quickly he came to repentance; it says he wept bitterly; the roots went down deeper then into the earth. You could not shake Peter when it came to the Acts. Look what they were, Peter and John; what victory filled their souls. It was because the roots had gone down into the earth that Peter could stand with John at his side and in what victory was the word that he preached; how heaven delighted in it and how the earth was blessed through it, thousands being brought to Christ through that man because the roots had gone deep.
Let us not escape these exercises, beloved; let the roots go deeper; let us know something of the scent of water, as it says here, and the reviving and the sending forth of the tender branch.
You get it all in the last chapter of Job. There was Job; Oh what God had brought him through! He even tells Job’s friends to go to him and he would pray for them. Would you not like to have heard the prayer of one who had been so affected in his inmost soul? How he would pray for his friends! Would it not be worth their going to see him? What God had wrought in that man; it was all of God. What had marked Job as a man after the flesh had gone, and now there is the tender shoot springing out—how attractive to heaven, but how attractive on earth. How victorious he was! Everything about Job now spoke of God; everything that he had received came from God; everything that was wrought within Job was of God. What a sense of victory there is in that last chapter of Job.
I just refer to Mark’s gospel. Mark has been of great comfort to some of us who have been recovered. Oh, the work went very deep with Mark! He refers, I think, more than any writer to depth. He speaks in one instance here of where there was no depth of earth. We do not want that, beloved, we do not just want to be in things because we know they are right, or to have some outward knowledge; we want to be in things in the depths of our souls; and so there is a depth about Mark’s gospel. Another thing, he does not tell you anything about John Mark, he is just full of Christ, “the glad tidings of Jesus Christ, Son of God”. He is occupied with another Man in another world, and he is full of glad tidings—what victory! It is to be one victory leading to another victory all the way until the end, and then what victory that will be—“Thanks to God, who gives us the victory”, 1 Corinthians 15: 57. So we shall soon be with Christ, and we are going out victorious; it is going to be one line of victory right to the end; that is Mark.
Mark is concerned about this being within ourselves, these roots going down deeper, and then there will be fruit upward. So let us not seek to escape anything in the way of natural suffering or discipline, because if God is going to be with us—and He is with us, and we want Him to continue with us until the end—there will be discipline after discipline; this is the time of discipline and this is the time of digging deep; it is a time when the roots go down deeper so that there may be fruit for God. So let us, beloved, be on this line.
Now I just refer to Matthew because I believe there is comfort here for us all. Some believers, and some very close to us, our relatives, are in very mixed conditions, and we feel it. It is the darnel here which the enemy scattered, but there is also the wheat. You know, beloved, some of us who know a little about agriculture know that the wheat has a deep root system; the barley springs up quickly but it has not the same root system as the wheat; you need depth of earth for the wheat, the precious wheat. Each grain is like the one Grain. What is said is for our contemplation, that the Grain of wheat fell into the earth and died (John 12: 24). Let us contemplate, too, the tender sapling that grew up, “a root out of dry ground”, Isaiah 53: 2. It could be said of none other but Christ. We need the food and we need the water, “the scent of water”, for the reviving of the roots, and the plant, but that could only be said of Christ.
But, beloved, I think there is comfort for us in that the wheat is going on growing, it is not going to be destroyed; Christ is going to have such a wonderful harvest. You think of some of our relatives, maybe, some saints, we think of them in this city, loved by us, prayed for daily, all in these mixed conditions. God is going to see to them and they are going to come through; the wheat is going to be in His harvest. They are not going to be rooted up; that is a comfort, I believe. It is only a simple suggestion; no doubt there is much interpretation in the scripture, but let it be a comfort to our hearts that the wheat is going through and it is going to be gathered into His granary. Well, may we look to the root system, beloved, that there may be more fruit to God, for His name’s sake.
Word it meeting for ministry, Bournemouth
17 May 1983