WHAT BELIEVERS HAVE

R. Taylor

Hebrews 4: 14–16; 8: 1, 2; 12: 22–25 (to “speaks”); 13: 10–15

I trust that these scriptures may be used, under the Lord’s hand, to encourage us as to what we have. It is very easy in difficult days to think of what we do not have, and ignore what we do have. We have a lot more than we think, dear brethren, but we are apt to magnify what we do not have. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Do ye not know that ye are the temple of God” (1

Corinthians 3: 16), they were not acting like it, it must have pulled them up. It is very sad to have great wealth and not be using it. The land that was promised to Israel was a land whose mountains were copper (see Deuteronomy 8: 9); there was great wealth in the land but it had to be dug. There was enough there to satisfy and keep them, but they went into captivity, they did not appreciate what they had. I say these things as an element of warning. If we do not appreciate what we have, we live below the dignity that should mark us as brethren of a glorified Christ, and may resort to beggarly principles, maybe even to biting and devouring one another. The enemy gets great advantage if he can dull our vision of what we have.

The woman in 2 Kings 4 had oil but she said that is all—we have only a small meeting, only a few to go on with, we have lost a great deal—she said there have been better days. The dispensation that we are in is going on to a glorious finish. That woman came and said, I have nothing in the house but a pot of oil. Is that your outlook? What Elisha said helped her to value what she had. It says that the oil stayed, and he said, Go and live on the rest. There is enough to keep us at the height of our heavenly calling. We have said this dispensation is going on to glory, the Scripture tells us that; the previous dispensation was inaugurated in glory,

but this dispensation subsists in glory, subsists means it is going on. There is a very interesting footnote in the beginning of John, it speaks of “grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ”, the footnote says that its commencement supposes its continuance (see John 1: 17). The dispensation that we are in subsists in glory. It is the most wonderful of all dispensations. It is spoken of as the dispensation of God which is in faith—dispensation of God, not of man. When we look around we think it is man’s time but this is the dispensation of God which is in faith; a dispensation when we can look on to finality, when we can be certain as to many things, be sure about our sins being forgiven. What a thought! It is a wonderful thing to enjoy, something that the saints of the previous dispensation hardly enjoyed because the sacrifice was repeated year after year. Maybe a sin was committed just after the day of atonement, and to come into liberty they had to wait another year. In this dispensation the matter of sin and sins is a matter which has been settled to God’s eternal glory and satisfaction. The blood of Jesus, the death of Jesus, the work at the cross, the great matters that have been established in Christ risen are the great foundation of this dispensation, in which through grace we have been called to have our part.

So I refer to these things that we have. We have been brought into a dispensation where matters are settled, where matters are established in the Man Christ Jesus. What a centre for our dispensation! The centre is in heaven, the centre is the Man who has gone into heaven.

This book opens by God speaking in Son, no longer speaking in angels, not even in prophets, it says, “God ... at the end of these days has spoken to us in the person of the Son”, Hebrews 1: 2. The Son illumines the whole dispensation. The Person of Christ imparts His glory to the whole dispensation into which we have been brought, and it is going on, and continuing in His hands. Yes, there is breakdown; much failure has come in by men, but the whole point of these passages is what we

have and where we have it, faith and hope are centred in this glorious Man. It speaks of Him in the book as “Apostle and High Priest of our confession” (Hebrews 3: 1). Not profession, as has been often noted, but “Apostle and High Priest of our confession”. I love to repeat what we have been taught about that—as Apostle He maintains the calling at its height. That was typified in Moses who brought the mind of God to the people, and it was all set out. In our day it is set out in Christ, the Apostle of our confession, the One in whom everything is Yea and Amen. He maintains the calling at its height. Yes, at the very last day of this dispensation there will be persons on this earth who are loyal to the rejected Christ. The dispensation will be maintained in persons, in suffering, through the Apostle and High Priest of our confession.

He holds the whole thing up; the truth has not gone, many may think it has, but the truth has not broken down. The matters that were brought in in the apostles’ teaching in the Acts are maintained still today. The Apostle of our confession maintains the calling at its height. Then the High Priest maintains the people at the height of the calling. There is no need to live below our dignity in worldly principles; there is no need to resort to man’s methods or man’s provision for our joy, or our life, it is all to be found in Christ.

That is what we come to here in the passage we have read in chapter 4, “Having therefore a great high priest who has passed through the heavens”; this emphasises His deity. No other could pass through the heavens; the One who has done it is well known to us, Jesus the Son of God. He has passed through the heavens in the right of His Person. How sure things are in the hands of that blessed Man, a Man who has been well proved, tempted of the devil down here, has been into death, and has passed through the heavens. Finality was reached in Jesus having passed through the heavens, and that is where He is today. If we have One up there maintaining us, is there any need to live below the level of our calling? Do not let us give up the cardinal truths

of Christianity; do not let us turn away from the light of one body; do not let us turn away from the light that has been vouchsafed to us as to Christ and as to the assembly. There is a High Priest there to support us at the true level of our calling, therefore “let us hold fast the confession”. We are asked to “hold fast”; let us hold fast with one hand in His and with our eye upon Him; hold fast as looking to heaven. The breakdown is all around us, the sorrows of the pathway felt, but let us hold fast what has come to us in the apostles’ teaching; hold fast the truth that we have been recovered to in these ministries that have come to us. The breakdown and the length of the journey have not wearied the Priest. As we see in this passage His grace is the same, it says, “For we have not a high priest not able to sympathise with our infirmities”. He sees the breakdown more than we do.

He sees the tests about employment, the recession that has come in. He sees the tests that these things bring into our lives and our circumstances. He sees the sorrows that we feel as seeking to maintain and hold fast the confession, but He is “able to sympathise with our infirmities”. At times you may feel like letting go, He knows. He said to Peter, “I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not”, Luke 22: 32. He knows that at times we feel it is almost too much. Maybe we sometimes feel there could be an easier path—let us hold fast the confession. The High Priest is there in all His grace able to sympathise with our infirmities. He knows our faith is weak; He knows that we have attempted at times to compromise. Let us hold fast the confession. He has been in the path and has felt sorrow as no other has felt, it. He could say, “The reproaches of them that reproach thee have fallen upon me” (Romans 15: 3). O, what sorrows He felt! “Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow”, Lamentations 1: 12. That is the High Priest that we have, a Man who has been here and He has felt the awfulness of death upon His spirit. He felt it that Lazarus had fallen asleep, it says, “Jesus wept”, John 11: 35.

There is the High Priest, there is the One who is able to sympathise. There is not a sorrow in your life that He has not felt. You may think that there are no sorrows like what you are facing; that there is nobody that has been tried the way you have been tried; we all have these feelings. He has been through them all and He is able to sympathise, He knows our infirmities.

Who do you turn to in your sorrows? There is only one place to go and that is into your closet with Christ. “Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace”. These things are very real. What our lives have been bound up with may have been shattered, I urge you to go into the presence of Jesus to find a Priest who is able to sympathise. Do not even turn to your best friend, turn to Christ, it is between Him and you alone; be there alone with Christ the great High Priest. There is only One. There were high priests before but never a great High Priest. He has passed through the heavens, and all the grace that is in Him there is toward you in your circumstances. No matter is too simple, be it your work, be it family sorrows, be it local, exercises, assembly sorrows, take them to Christ first. We tend to look to other sources, and there are other sources too, but I urge you, it says, “Let us approach therefore with boldness to the throne of grace”, knowing that He wants you, the door is always open; there is no need to make an appointment. The disciples thought that the children should not come to the Lord, but Jesus said, “Suffer little children to come to me”, Luke 18: 16. You young children take your matters to Jesus, He has an ear for your sorrows, He has an ear too for your joys. He has an ear for your exercises, and He has wonderful sympathy.

Now as to the throne of grace it says, “that we may receive mercy, and find grace for seasonable help”. Mercy is what we do not deserve, nobody deserves mercy, but it is His disposition to give mercy. Maybe a failure has caused the sorrow; maybe you have been on

a wrong path, or you have had wrong thoughts, or you have done wrong things, but as you repent you will find mercy. Mercy I think is what floods into a heart where sorrow and distance are felt, to assure you afresh of the love of Christ. Then it says you will find grace.

That means you can go back into the circumstance with a reserve in your soul that enables you to stand. Grace is continuing, mercy meets the emergency; it comes in in all its wealth and fulness to put out the fire if you like, but then grace is there to supply the power to walk, and the power to stand.

It says in Hebrews 8 that we have a Priest who has sat down, “We have such a one high priest who has sat down”. The work He undertook as Man here has all been done. His work is finished, there is nothing else of that work to be done. We are not waiting for something to happen, save we are waiting to hear His shout, that is all we are waiting for. All that is to be done to carry through the dispensation has been done and it says he “has sat down”. That has never happened in a dispensation before, but the work has all been done. He “has sat down on the right hand of the throne of the greatness in the heavens; minister of the holy places”. It speaks not only of Christ as sustaining us, but of Him as having set on the great service of God, as “minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man”. Can there be any breakdown of what He has established? I think it would encourage us that the service of God is to go on, though in felt weakness. He is Minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle which the Lord has pitched. The conditions and environment of the service of God have been divinely prescribed. Some may go and set up a table and think they can have the service of God; it is not right. The area of the service of God has been divinely prescribed. In the Old Testament there was a place where God had set His Name, and if God had set His Name in Jerusalem there was no point in going and trying to serve God in some other city. It is a very

solemn and sobering thing that we may disregard principles and go off and set up a table, that is not the service of God. It says, “minister of the holy places and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched, and not man”—note “which the Lord has pitched”. The surroundings for the service of God are provided in an area which has been divinely prescribed, where the saints tread a separate path in view of the service of God going on, and it is going on. May we seek through grace to find our living and happy part in it—“the true tabernacle, which the Lord has pitched”, let us look to the prescription, let us attend to the prescription, what Paul has laid down. Paul speaks about that to the Corinthians; he could not praise them but he lays down certain prescription and details that need to be observed, and then we come into the gain of this holy place, and the Minister of the holy place.

What a blessed privilege it is on the first day of the week to know something of Christ leading His own. The Priest coming down to meet our needs is only one side of His service, perhaps the greatest part of the service of the Priest is to lead us into God. We think of the Priest sympathising, coming down to our circumstances, meeting our matters, but the great service of the Priest is to lead us in to God, that God’s Name may be praised by a triumphant praising people. May we prove something of the service of Christ like this, such a One High Priest. The work has been done as scripture says, “he has died to sin once for all; but in that he lives, he lives to God”, Romans 6: 10. He is the great Minister of the holy places, leading us in to God, to have our part there in praise before Him who loved us before the world’s foundation.

In Hebrews 12 there is more than we have time to speak of, there is a wonderful list of things that we have come to, and we have come to them now. You will not find them in the world; you will not find them in man’s arrangements, but there is what Christians have come to

now. It says, “ye have come to mount Zion; and to the city of the living God”. What a contrast to man’s cities! Man’s cities are very demanding. It says, “ye have come to mount Zion” where there is a great supply of mercy, grace and love. We have come to mount Zion, high above all that is here on the plain in man’s arrangements; it has been likened to coming to another country, where everything is provided. That is what we have come to. We have come to enjoy mercy, come to be formed by it. Then it says, “and to the city of the living God”; how fine it is to come into an area where God has His rest, and has made all the arrangements; it is the city of the living God. It is not a system of prayer books; not a system that is running out through man’s inadequacy; but it says, “to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem”. We have come to heavenly principles; we have come to heavenly arrangements. Then it says we have come to “myriads of angels”. These things are very real, dear brethren. Angels have been sent out for service on account of the heirs of salvation; it is something we can count on in our prayers, in the economic situations and in matters among governments; the angels serve in all these things. More than that, I think we can count on the angels helping us, it says we have come to myriads of them. The Lord says there were twelve legions of angels that He could have called upon. They are there, some of them are named, unseen, and yet I think it is very easy in your life to trace at times that angels have been there, there has been divine protection; myriads of them available on account of the heirs of salvation.

We have come also to the “universal gathering; and to the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”. We have come to have our part in a dignified company, the assembly of the firstborn. Paul says to the Corinthians, Do you not recognise yourselves, are you acting as a firstborn? Are you displaying the features of the Father? That is what the firstborn would do, he would be displaying the features of the Father,

Are you seeing that in your brother, each one of them “the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven”? The assembly of the firstborn are all like Christ. He is the firstborn among many brethren. As having come to the assembly of the firstborn, we have come to a circle where His features are displayed; where there is respect for one another as belonging to Christ. There is a need for respect among us, dear brethren, a need for respecting what there is in one another, a need for displaying something of the dignity that we belong to the assembly of the firstborn. We would act quite differently from any other assembly of men. It says, “who are registered in heaven”; that is where they are registered, not in man’s registers, but registered in heaven.

So it would, become us then that heavenly features are displayed in us. Jacob says to Joseph’s two sons, “and let my name be named upon them”, Genesis 48: 16. What a family they came into! What a family we have been brought into, the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven. May we recognise them, may we give them their due place, may we respect what there is of God’s features in them. They said that to Gideon, “As thou art—so were they; each one resembled the sons of a king”, Judges 8: 18. Is that how you look on your local brethren? Is that how you speak about them? They are God’s property, part of the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven. Do not let us despise them. There may be other features there, but let us see them as they are registered in heaven. May we be exercised, as we enjoy our place as registered in heaven, to be displaying heavenly features, above the beggarly principles that mark the ways of men, or the assemblings of men. There should be something in all our local gatherings, that has this character of the assembly of the firstborn who are registered in heaven. The meetings do not proceed in any other power, save the power of divine grace that would flow from Christ in glory. Then it says, “and to God, judge of all”, we are

not the judges but God. Let none of us judge anything before the time. Maybe some matters we do not understand, but God is the Judge of all. Abraham did not understand matters, he could not see how it would work out but said, “Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?”, Genesis 18: 25. Judgment largely is in God’s hands, the execution of it is His matter too. It gives restfulness to the spirit that we can leave matters with Him. Things can change very quickly when God acts. The dispensation has a rich history, we have come “to the spirits of just men made perfect”. We have come to the martyrs; think of what has been worked out in the martyrs in this dispensation. There have been men and women here, strengthened in divine grace, to stand for the Name of Christ, and give their lives for Him. They adorn the dispensation. It speaks of the appearings in 1 Corinthians 15, how Christ appeared to Cephas.

He appeared to five hundred brethren at once, and to others; these things have all enriched the dispensation. We sometimes speak about a ‘man in Christ’ that Paul speaks of, and we reason. Can we have this experience? or is it only Paul? And so on, but it has enriched the dispensation. The experience of a ‘man in Christ’, he did not know whether he was in the body or out of it, but it is part of this dispensation that a man, Paul, proved what it was to be in Christ and to enjoy that blessed portion.

These things are all part of what we have come to, “the spirits of just men made perfect”.

They have gone through, they have finished the race. The martyrs did not give up the truth, they did not scatter, they did not divide, they stood faithful to a rejected Lord that they loved.

All that has enriched the dispensation. Now it is in our hands, it is our time. Let us find grace for seasonable help that we may stand in the joy of what we have been brought into through divine grace. The centre of all is a Man. A beloved saint of God said, We have not come to a circumference without a Centre. We have not come to doctrine without One in whom it is all

established, we have come to Jesus. We have not come to regulations, but we have come “to Jesus, mediator of a new covenant”, the whole thing is in His hands. He has satisfied God about everything, and now He is there the Mediator, the Man Christ Jesus. In a day to come He will write on the hearts of Israel, but today He is dispensing the new covenant. These things are true and test us. Are we enjoying them? On the other hand they are to encourage us that they are ours. The blood of sprinkling gives us assurance, “speaking better than Abel”.

The warning is, “See that ye refuse not him that speaks”. Do not let us live, dear brethren, below the high calling to which we have been called.

In chapter 13 it says, “We have an altar of which they have no right to eat who serve the tabernacle ... Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate—therefore let us go forth to him without the camp”. That is where it is all enjoyed. He suffered without the camp; He has led the way outside of all the confusion, that we may enjoy in Him, outside the camp, the blessedness of all that we have come into. I quote a remark that I have enjoyed immensely, ‘Outside the camp becomes inside the veil’. Let us go forth to Him, that Person, bearing His reproach, feeling the breakdown, feeling the sorrows, but let us go forth outside of it all, and what you find is Christ, then you are inside the veil. The world is shut out, the sorrows, the pressures are all shut out where Jesus is, inside the veil. It is where God is served, so it says, “let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually to God”. There is a great need for praise, and a great cause for it, as we find how richly we have been blessed. May we seek to enjoy that wonderful land that we have come to and prove the wealth that is ours in Christ and in the Spirit.

Address at Redbridge, 16 January 1993

THE PURPOSE OF GOD IN THE GLAD TIDINGS

A. A. Bellamy

1 Samuel 2: 8; Acts 26: 12–18; Luke 15: 32

We should apprehend the purpose of God having the glad tidings preached. He does certain things with a view to doing other things; the other things being what He purposes. “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust; from the dung-hill he lifteth up the needy, To set him among nobles”. I would be thankful to have a fresh impression tonight of the purpose of God in reaching out to men in the glad tidings. Suppose the father of a family with plans or purposes for every one in the family, every boy and every girl. As they mature and grow up and pass through the years of their education, in the mind of the father he has purposes for every one of them. If one day the house in which they live catches fire, the immediate concern of the father would be to have the family clear of all danger, that is his immediate concern. It has often been said that the gospel is not a fire escape. It is God’s message to man showing him the way of salvation from judgment indeed, but behind that is the purpose of His love to bless. Now that is the impression on my heart tonight, that we should receive some sense afresh of the infinitude of the purpose of divine love.

So where I began to read in Samuel, this woman, Hannah is praying, and what we read is poetry, as you can see from the note, ‘verses 1–10 are poetical’. God would appeal to our affections in the gospel, not passing over our conscience, but His appeal is to our affections by way of the conscience. So we read, “He raiseth up the poor out of the dust”. The poor have great advantages in these matters; maybe not in the world as men think of things in their administration of what is material; the poor are regarded as being at great disadvantage, but in having to do with God it is a blessed

thing to be poor; to be brought to the sense of that, poor in spirit—“Blessed are the poor in spirit” (Matthew 5: 3), the Lord says. I trust every one in this company is in that state in relation to God. We cannot get help if we have a sense of sufficiency—generally, naturally, man has a sense of self-sufficiency; he is content to be self-sufficient, until it may be something comes in in his circumstances, illness or bereavement or loss of some kind, and then man is ready to turn to God. Why not turn to Him now? ‘The God with whom we have to do’, the scripture says. The word of God is living and operative, sharp and penetrating, dividing, even to the thoughts and intents of the heart. We do not know our own hearts, we cannot know them, but the word of God knows them, discovers in its detective power the thoughts and the intents of the heart. We have to do with God, and that is a blessed thing to have to do with Him, while we may have to do with Him as a Saviour God. Men think of God as a Judge, but Scripture speaks of Him, and we speak of Him, and we know Him, as God our Saviour. Men think of God having to exact the debt, the covenant insists on the payment of the debt, but God really came to pay the debt Himself in the person of Jesus, His precious blood being shed for guilty sinners. There it was that the debt, so great, was paid, never to be charged again for the believer. Oh the judgment has been borne for every one who believes, every particle of it. Some may think they have something to do. If any one here thinks that, I would ask you, dear friend, Have you ever noticed that as He hung upon the cross, before He died, Jesus said, “It is finished”, John 19: 30. What more is there to do? All has been done from the divine side, nothing remains to be done that your salvation may be secure presently, and eternally. How wonderful that is! Had anything more needed to be done, would He not come and do it?

The epistle to the Hebrews shows that the work has been done, that mighty work, when He had by Himself made purification of sins, He set Himself down on the

right hand of the greatness on high. And that is where our Saviour is, a Man in the glory, sitting at the right hand of God; which means that He has completed the work given Him to do. How great He is! How glorious, dispensing God’s grace from the highest position in the universe, far above all heavens. He passed through them, He came down first, He passed by angels as we were reminded in the course of the day. He passed by angels; that was on the way down. He took hold of the seed of Abraham; the Word became flesh; not the condition of angels. He came into the condition in which we are, sin apart; verily a Man with the affections and the feelings of a Man, but the ‘Man that died upon the cross was God’. An infidel raised the question, ‘When Jesus died, did God die?’ The reply was, ‘The Man who died was God’. He did not remain .in death, it was not possible that He should be held by its power. He has come out of it, He has vanquished the power of death, and He has annulled him who had the power of death, that those who were subject to death, and all their life time subject to bondage, might be, released. How glorious the glad tidings are! I mean as to their immediateness; the proclamation of glad tidings, that man may come into relation with God free of all judgment, free of all charge, because Jesus died and has been raised. Why was He raised? He was raised again for our justification. What peace it brings! Do you ever wonder whether your sins are put away? Some, it may be, who have been breaking bread quite some years, these thoughts come into their minds. What do you do if these thoughts come into your mind? Roll (Remind?) yourself upon the Scriptures of truth—“raised again for our justification”. He went down to the lowest point; He bore the judgment; He came out of death as freed from judgment, the work completed; now the one who believes in Jesus, the one who has faith in His blood, is as clear from imputation as the blessed Saviour Himself. So it is a great thing to have peace like that, peace towards God through our Lord Jesus Christ.

Well, now I go on to this man Paul, he is the chief of sinners, he says that himself, and he is giving the last account of his conversion in this book of Acts. The first is not his own account, but the second and the third are Paul’s own accounts of his conversion, this is the last. There is a certain radiancy and glory in the account which he gives in chapter 26 of this book of Acts. It is very simple and transparent, standing before a king a distinguished person; none so distinguished as himself although in chains, morally none in that company was as distinguished as the supposed prisoner, Paul. He stands out in his distinction as a forgiven sinner and as a Christian. You say he was a great apostle, he was indeed, an elect vessel, but that is not how he stands in the presence of Agrippa, he stands there as a Christian, simply giving the account of his conversion; of how it came about that he had direct links with the Lord Jesus. That is conversion. I would not like to trust anything that lies in the region of my experience without the consciousness of some direct link with the Lord Jesus. Now I raise that question with each one of us. Are you conscious of a direct link with the Lord Jesus? It is reciprocal. You understand what I mean. The Lord Jesus came out of heaven to reach this man’s soul, and He was the first to speak, you notice that. Let Him speak to you tonight, and when He speaks do not fail to answer. It is remarkable how Saul, a man in authority, spoke to the Lord, is it not? His first words were, “Who art thou, Lord?”, and the Lord said, “I am Jesus”. How quickly the blessing is entered upon when persons say, ‘Lord’. How long it may be hindered where there is the failure to recognise the rights of the Lord Jesus; years may pass; time passes quickly, not in youth, time seems long in youth, but as you go on it passes with greater rapidity. You may have to say, “The harvest is past, the summer is ended, and we are not saved”, Jeremiah 8: 20. Some said that, the time had gone for them, the opportunity, and they were not saved. How auspicious is the present time for salvation, and what salvation! This servant of the Lord, Paul, says, “salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”, 2 Timothy 2: 10. How that puts the world in the shade, and every and any ambition that any one might ever have in regard of anything in this world, “with eternal glory”. Man’s day is passing, it is really but a moment; man’s day is like the twinkling of an eye in the history of eternity, and then for believers all will pass as to our present consciousness of what is here, “that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory”.

Do not pass these things by. The Lord speaks to Paul and he speaks to Him, saying, “Who art thou, Lord?” He says, “I am Jesus”. What an impression that made, “I am Jesus whom thou persecutest—but rise up and stand on thy feet”. You see God is not crushing the man, “rise up”, the Lord says. He lifteth up the poor from the dust, that is where he was, the dust. It is good to remember that you know—dust thou art. Where is the pride of man in the presence of death? Dust thou art. I will tell you a true incident. A person of distinction was buying a piece of furniture specially made to his own design, a beautiful piece of furniture, perfectly made and polished; it just stood there for days and on the table was some dust. The purchaser said, What is that? The vendor said, That is what you are—dust. Let us remember that—dust thou art. Whatever point of eminence a man may reach that is ever true. Jesus was brought into the dust of death for you and for me. The psalm says that, “thou hast laid me in the dust of death”, Psalm 22: 15. Would you despise the Saviour? Would you put anything or any one before His claim? He was brought into the dust of death for us—God brought Him there, the bearing of the judgment of our guilt was no light matter. If we were to be blessed with eternal glory He must go that way, and that way He went. He went in love, a love that never failed.

Well, let us acknowledge the claims that He has upon us as Paul did, fully.

Now the Lord is commissioning Paul here, he gets a

commission, he is taken up for service. You see how in the preaching of the glad tidings Christ is the Subject and the Object presented to men; other things come in alongside and the elements or principles of separation are conveyed to Saul at this point in the Lord’s commission to him. You say, How is that? It is in this expression, “taking thee out from among the people, and the nations”. The people were God’s earthly people, Israel; the nations were the Gentiles. Here was a man in direct links with Christ receiving the impression that he was taken out from everything like that—national status, natural status, the Lord took him out of it and sent him to open people’s eyes. Paul has done that; the gospel was carried to the western part of the world and externally the result was that men’s eyes were opened and their minds delivered from the degradation of paganism; so no one here can say that their eyes have not been opened. Then notice, the opening of their eyes was with a purpose, “that they may turn from darkness to light”. Have you done that? You say, I know the glad tidings, I have heard them preached a thousand times, my eyes have been opened. Maybe, but your responsibility is the greater—“that they may turn from darkness to light”. Darkness and light are mutually exclusive; it is one or the other you see. John deals with things in their absolute character. Men speak of white lies and grey areas, the word of God speaks of darkness, “from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”, and there is no neutral ground; there is no position of compromise that is tenable between the one and the other, “that they may turn from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God”. It is a very real thing, not something just written in this chapter, Acts 26, it is a thing that is all around us, the power of Satan. You say, That is the world; but sometimes it affects believers, true believers, the power of Satan affects them. How many lives has the devil ruined, lives have been lost. The gospel, dear friends, is adapted perfectly to your salvation whatever your history, however far you may have neglected God, even since you were

converted, the means of salvation is presented tonight, the recovery is to be to a Person.

So it says, “that they may turn ... from the power of Satan to God”. You say. Is not that enough? No, “that they may receive remission of sins”. Is that not beautiful?—it is to be received. Do you know where to get it? You turn to Luke 7, you will find where to get it; she got it from Jesus, from His own lips, “Her many sins are forgiven” (Luke 7: 47). “Thy sins are forgiven” (verse 48), then “go in peace”. Are we all going that way tonight out of this room?—“Go in peace”. That is the effect of receiving the remission of sins, ‘not a cloud above—not a spot within’, as the hymn says. All is clear between yourself and God, there is nothing outstanding, nothing. Do not forget that He shall save His people from their sins, and give an inheritance among them that are sanctified. The will of God in blessing includes an inheritance. Remission of sins is a full discharge of every debt. You say, I am out of debt, but I have nothing to live on. Why not? Inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith in Him. Go to heaven when you die. Well, that is not inheritance among the saints; an inheritance is to be drawn upon and enjoyed immediately, and notice that you cannot be a recluse and enjoy this inheritance. Some have tried it with the best of motives, they have fled from the world and shut themselves up, but never have they enjoyed this inheritance among the saints, among the sanctified, that way. The inheritance among the sanctified through faith in Him is to be enjoyed with a company of persons of which you are one, one of that company of persons. How rich it is! Supposing someone said to you that there is a thousand pounds in the bank if you like to go and claim it, and you never went and claimed it; that would be very foolish. Yet many are like that, they are entitled to the inheritance but they do not claim it; they do not in exercise, and the energy of faith, follow these things up so as to enjoy the inheritance among them that are sanctified. It is not a general idea, it is a selective

idea.

Who are those persons?—With those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Where do I find that company? someone said to Mr. Raven. In Scripture, he said. Let us be governed by principles in these exercises, and we will find they are workable, they are real, they lead to what is substantial. It says, “among them that are sanctified by faith in me”. Can I not enjoy this with every redeemed Christian? Alas, no, although they are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ. It does not say with those who are redeemed, it says, “among them that are sanctified”. That same precious blood has set us apart, that is why His blood was shed, the blood of Jesus. His own blood we have at the end of Hebrews, “Wherefore also Jesus, that he might sanctify the people by his own blood, suffered without the gate” (Hebrews 13: 12). It does not say, redeem them, but, sanctify them, and with His own blood. How that should appeal to our hearts, should it not, the right, the claim He has upon us as having shed His blood redemptively for us, but that we might be sanctified? He “suffered without the gate: therefore let us go forth to him without the camp”. Let us go forth to Him, to the Person. It is not a correct doctrine merely, thank God for every feature, every element of right doctrine, but it is a Person who has engaged our hearts, who has captivated our affections, and we will never be sustained in that position outside the camp if we do not go out to Him.

Now just a word in Luke 15, and I close. These things that we speak of are righteously based.

It is a great thing to see that. In the conclusion of this chapter, the father says, “But it was right”, grace is righteous you see, it never passes over one claim of the throne of God; grace never weakens divine claims. It is a wonderful thing this you know, righteous grace. I like that expression in Mr. Darby’s hymn,

‘And now Thou leadest us in righteous grace

To that blest place where praises never fail’ (Hymn 137) Was he thinking of this scripture? I believe he was thinking of the substance of what the scripture speaks of, where praises never fail. It was to that point the younger son was brought, the music, the dancing, the solace of God far exceeding the mere relief of his needs and great as that was, it was all covered. In Ephesians 1, it says, “in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of offences” (Ephesians 1: 7), right there in the centre of the chapter which gives us the purpose of divine love. Nothing has been overlooked. How wonderful the glad tidings are! “But it was right to make merry and rejoice”. So that is what he came into. It was all there, it had been there all the time, even while he had been in the far country wasting his substance in riotous living. Think of how God’s creation is being wasted through man’s selfishness, through the avarice of the human heart, the oil and the gas that is going to waste to feed man’s pleasure. That is what this speaks of, material things wasted.

Behind it all is the purpose of the father’s love “Bring out the best robe and clothe him in it, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry”. Christianity is a festive matter. Some may not think so but we know it is so, it is a festive matter, it is a matter of joy; it is a matter of satisfaction, and be sure God has nothing from a heart that is not satisfied. That is His great intent to satisfy our hearts. He says, “My son, give me thy heart”, Proverbs 23: 26. Well, you might say, What will God do with my heart if I give it to Him? He would fill it with Christ, and then you would be satisfied,

‘The heart is satisfied, can ask no more;

All thought of self is now for ever o’er!’ (Hymn 247) Why should we not bring that into the glad tidings? That is the divine proposal, and, dear friend, it is within

reach, it is within the reach of faith; not of the natural man, or the natural intellect, it is within the reach of faith, and not only will God honour faith, but He will give the Spirit to those who obey Him. That is the power within yourself to enjoy these things, to know that they are real and substantial, more substantial than anything else that we can have May He bless the word.

Preaching at Dundee, 11 November 1973

EXTRACTS

Beloved friends, if Christ were to come tonight, and I do not know when He may, at even, or at the cock-crowing, or in the morning—He is like a man that has his hand on the door to open it at any moment. If He were to come tonight, where are you? Would you say, Oh, that is the Lord that gave Himself for me, come to take me to Himself? Or is there some fear in your heart about Him? Well, if there is, you have not got hold of the perfectness of His work in putting away sins. Would you like to be with Jesus? Can your heart say, Well, I am a poor helpless thing, but if He hung on the cross for me, I am certain of His love. I cannot doubt the perfectness of His love. Through grace, I say, your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost.

Do not you do anything to grieve Him. Whatever you do, do it heartily as to the Lord. Do it in the Spirit. It does not matter what it is—a child wanting to please his father would want to please his father in the trifles. A holy life comes with practice. It is perfect peace, perfect joy; joy because I am waiting for Jesus to receive me to Himself; and a perfect measure of practice, because I see that I am to be conformed to Him now, if I am to be like Him when I see Him as He is. The Lord give you to be able to say, “Come, Lord Jesus”. To you who believe, He is precious.

J. N. Darby (Coll. Wrtgs. Vol. 28, pp.80, 81)

Do you think it is entirely impossible that the Father should strengthen us with might by His Spirit in the inner man? Do you think the Father would neglect to work with you? Every bit of failure was foreknown. It never took God by surprise. And do you think the Father ceases to work? I do not think so at all—if you are prepared for it; but we have to be prepared for it; we have to understand how we are brought to God according to His nature, and how God is working in us according to His pleasure. I do not think God would engage to give us prosperity in the world. I think God would engage to supply our needs, but I do not think that in a world from which Christ is rejected God would engage to make a Christian prosperous.

Saints make a mistake in looking out for prosperity. I think God will work in us to any extent, there is no limit to the extent to which God would promote Christ in the hearts of the saints.

He will work in them, strengthen them, that the Christ may dwell in their hearts by faith, and the effect will be beyond all question that they will get the most extraordinary blessed anticipation and unfolding of the scene of glory which is so shortly to be displayed and of which Christ is the beginning and centre. He is at the right hand of God, and when He moves away it will be to establish the universe of bliss. We ought to be here now in anticipation of it, and to be able to take up the cry of the Spirit and bride—“Come”. We want the Bridegroom to come and to take up all that is for God and to establish the universe of bliss; we want the Lord to come in order that all may be of God and according to God.

F. E. Raven (Vol. 14, pp.412, 413)

One great feature of the book of Revelation is that it is retrospective. That is to say, it gathers up everything from Abel to the coming of the Lord; not only from Pentecost, but from Abel.

Every bit of the work of God has a place in the Revelation. And so the assembly

comes in at the end of the nineteenth chapter as the wife. “Let us rejoice and be glad”. I do not know whether we have participated in that yet. One almost hears the music. Here the false bride is destroyed; she is put out of the way, and there is joy in heaven, “Hallelujah!” One almost hears the sound, the note of mirth, as it is announced. “Let us be glad, and rejoice ...

for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready”. What a blank there would be did she not appear now! It is not Ephesians 2 now. It is what she has done.

That is to say, it is the practical working out of the truth in our souls. Have we come to it, beloved brethren? The marriage of the Lamb has come, the time of it, and there is no bustling about now, giving up this and that, throwing off filthy garments and evil associations. “His wife hath made herself ready”.

If there be any one here linked up with unbelievers, or linked up with any evil association of any kind, break it off! “The Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in”. The thing will be sudden. How about it?

Where shall I be found? God says, “I will dwell among them and walk among them”. It is all well to go to the meeting where you realise the dwelling of God, but what about the walking?

Can God go with you? If not, then do not go that way. God would love to walk with you. “I will walk among them”, He says. God would have you walk in the paths of righteousness. In these we realise His presence with us.

J. Taylor (Vol. 12, p.460)

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