GOING THE WHOLE WAY TOGETHER
Hebrews 6:1 (to “full growth”); Numbers 32:1-5,16-19; John 6:53,60-71; 2 Timothy 4:9-11,14-22;
I seek divine help to speak about going the whole way together. We have read of that in Hebrews, “leaving the word of the beginning of the Christ, let us go on to what belongs to full growth”. I think these verses in Hebrews are very attractive. There are twelve verses in Hebrews that speak about “let us”. They are hortatory: there is an element of encouragement in them, also an element of exhortation and admonition. The apostle Paul, who we understand wrote this letter, is very concerned that none of us should be left behind. He says in chapter 4, “Let us therefore fear, lest, a promise being left of entering into his rest, any one of you might seem to have failed of it” (v.1). My concern is that we should all go the whole way together in order that we might all finish the race properly, and according to God.
I want to speak a little about some of the tests that we have to face, and the things that should mark us in our going on together. As I said, these references to “let us” in Hebrews are very attractive. You can receive help from every one of these verses; “let us go on to what belongs to full growth” is something which is very current. We need these verses, we need this encouragement, but also we need the exhorting character and the admonishing character of the word. It is not only encouragement that we need. In the Acts of the Apostles when Barnabas came to Antioch and saw there the work of God in the saints, he rejoiced. He was so encouraged to see the work of God, but then there was an additional thought: he “exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord”, Acts 11:23. You might ask, ‘Why was that needed so soon for such young believers? It would have been enough to encourage them’. That is not the case. Even when we are young in the faith, we need both encouragement and exhortation. Barnabas “rejoiced, and exhorted all with purpose of heart to abide with the Lord”. How important that is. The comment of the Holy Spirit about him is that “he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (v.24). The saints at Antioch needed exhortation and encouragement and we need these things as well – everyone here. You can see the same in Acts 20 where Paul had called the elders of Ephesus to see him for the last time, and he spoke about what he had done among them. He had not shrunk from announcing to them the whole counsel of God (v.27). What a wonderful service Paul had ministered to the Ephesians and he said that “for three years, night and day, I ceased not admonishing each one of you with tears”, Acts 20:31. You might say, ‘These men were spiritual, mature brethren. Why then did they need admonishing?’, but Paul saw the dangers coming in. So it is important that we have not only the encouraging side of the word but we have the exhorting and the admonishing side as well.
We see at the end of the epistle to the Hebrews that Paul said that this letter, of which we understand he was the author, was a word of exhortation. He said, “But I beseech you, brethren, bear the word of exhortation, for it is but in few words that I have written to you”, Heb.13:22. The whole letter was a word of exhortation, but it was also a word of encouragement in many aspects. Think about the boldness we can have to approach the throne of grace – what an encouraging word (Heb.4:16). The Lord Himself is the Leader and Completer of faith (Heb.12:2), and we go on to the full assurance of hope (Heb.6:11), and there are many other things, but in general the epistle is a word of exhortation and we need it. But then Paul added in the next verse, “Know that our brother Timotheus is set at liberty”, Heb.13:23. That was a word of encouragement. We get encouragement from hearing that someone has been set at liberty in serving God. How we need these things together.
I suggest that in going the whole way together, to go on to what belongs to full growth, we need the word in all its different aspects, in its encouraging character but in its exposing character as well. We need it. To exhort and to admonish is different from a rebuke. You must rebuke me when I am going astray, but you encourage me, admonish me, exhort me, in order that I shall remain in the path. It is very important. When Paul wrote his precious letter to the Ephesians, he brought them to a very high level by writing about very encouraging things in the first three chapters. But then in chapter 4 verse 1, he says, “I, the prisoner in the Lord, exhort you therefore to walk worthy of the calling”. It is not some automatic thing; we need to be exhorted so that we should walk properly. We need it constantly. Let every one of us accept this; let us go on to what belongs to full growth.
That brings me to the second scripture in Numbers. It is a very well-known passage. The people of God had come through the Red Sea and had been for about forty years in the wilderness. They had had the experience of the brazen serpent, and the experience of the springing well (Num.21). There had been the words of Balaam about how God viewed His people (Num.22-24), and they were on their way to that good land that Jehovah was going to give them. But then two and a half tribes came to Moses and to Eleazar and the princes of the assembly. What they were saying was really, ‘We do not want to have that land. We want to have our own inheritance on “this side the Jordan”’. It is almost as if they are beseeching Moses in verse 5 not to bring them over the Jordan. I suppose no one here would say plainly, ‘We do not want to have our inheritance in glory where the Lord is. We want to live in things here’. Our brother spoke about the riches which can be a snare, and it can be so. Their cattle were given to them by Jehovah but these people were then using them as a reason to stay on “this side the Jordan”. What a poor thing. The people of God were divided because most of them were going on into that land, but the two and a half tribes wanted to stay behind. In principle, they were not going on to what belongs to full growth. Full growth means that I live in the land, I live in the enjoyment of what the Lord has given. It is so simple. I was thinking recently that the Lord Jesus is in glory, He has passed out of this scene by His death and resurrection, and all that we have collectively is where He is. Let us cling to it. Our blessings are where the Lord is, our blessings are not on “this side the Jordan”. How completely these two and a half tribes missed the thought that Jehovah had for them. They wanted to have a place for their cattle, they wanted to live on “this side the Jordan”. Is that what we want? Do we want to live in our possessions which are given us by our God? They are given to us and we can enjoy them, but I think that can only be so when we really enjoy what is our heavenly part (1 Tim.6:17-19). We can enjoy what is given us here on this side of the Jordan according to God, according to His will. We can thank Him freely for it, but let us see that we are marked by our real, our heavenly inheritance, so that we can say that we are strangers here. Our “life is hid with the Christ in God” (Col.3:3), and we can enjoy that good land.
In Deuteronomy 11, Moses looked back over the wilderness path. As it says in that wonderful hymn of Mr J.N. Darby:
‘In the desert God will teach thee
What the God that thou hast found …’ (Hymn 76)
Moses reminded the people of Israel about the God that they had found in the wilderness. Then he looked in the other direction, to that very wonderful land which is flowing with milk and honey, which “the eyes of Jehovah thy God are constantly upon …”, Deut.11:12. What a wonderful inheritance we have. What is our inheritance? I think it is mainly what we enjoy in our relations with divine Persons, what we have in relation with the Lord Himself, what we are with the Lord Himself before His God and Father, our enjoyment together of these relationships and with one another. Psalm 133 speaks in type of our living together in the land, in that wonderful area of blessing. Let us see that we do not come short of God’s purpose, because it is only as we are enjoying our real inheritance that God Himself has His portion. God did not have His portion from these two and a half tribes. A great part of the ministry of Paul has to do with the land. If someone does not want to live in the land, what has Paul’s ministry to say to him? If I am living in my possessions, in what I have here, what can I do with Paul’s ministry? Think about the epistles to the Ephesians, Colossians and Philippians. They all speak about that good land, about our relationships with divine Persons, about the fulness of blessing that lies abundantly in what the Lord has promised to give us.
But it is not all negative with these two and half tribes, because they wanted to go over with the rest of the people of God to help them to conquer their inheritance. It says, “We will build sheep-folds here for our cattle, and cities for our little ones; but we ourselves will go with diligence armed before the children of Israel”. That is a good thing. It represents believers who are perhaps not wanting to go over, who want to live on this side of the Jordan, and we give all the credit we can to such. Let us see that we regard the work of God wherever it is. They wanted to go over with diligence to help the people of God to live in their inheritance, but it reminds us that it was not the inheritance of these two and a half tribes. For a considerable time, they helped to conquer the land, but they were always thinking about going back. Their children, their wives, their cattle were on “this side the Jordan”. Their heart was not in the land. They were in the land but their heart was with their cattle, with their wives and children. “For we will not inherit with them on yonder side the Jordan, and further, because our inheritance is fallen to us on this side the Jordan eastward”.
Let us seek, beloved brethren, to go on so that we enjoy our inheritance which is freely given to us by God. Every believer is blessed with “every spiritual blessing in the heavenlies in Christ”, Eph.1:3. Do we have the heart for it? Do we want to go into it? Is our desire to live there where the Lord Jesus is seen in all His distinctiveness? The Lord is not living on “this side the Jordan”, He is there in the purpose of God, in the position which He has reached through death and resurrection, through glorification. Let us see and have a view of the Lord as He is now. I know it is exercising to see the Lord where He is now, but it is very worthwhile. Let us not remain on “this side the Jordan”; let us not be marked by opposition to what is heavenly.
That brings me to John 6. I think it has been said that it is the most testing chapter of the whole Bible and I can see the point, because it tests us to the bottom of our hearts about what our lives are. What way are we living? Are we living for ourselves or are we living on account of the Lord? It is wonderful that the Lord says in verse 57, “As the living Father has sent me and I live on account of the Father, he also who eats me shall live also on account of me”. He spoke of the way we should be living, beloved brethren. Do we eat His flesh and do we drink His blood? They are hard words even for real believers, I know, because it means I must completely be out of sight, and that is a lesson I do not think many of us have completely learnt. Perhaps the most we can say is that we are in the process of learning these things. “This word is hard; who can hear it?”; that is certainly true, but there is something much more than that. Many were offended by the words of the Lord Jesus. One of the tests we have to face is the Lord Himself and His words. His words are gracious but His words are also truth. In Luke 4, the people in Nazareth were wondering at the words of grace, those precious words, that came out of His mouth (v.22). But then the Lord brought in the truth about the sovereignty of God, that Elias was sent to no one except to a widow outside of the borders of the land, and that no one was healed except Naaman the Syrian (vv.25-28). The Jews became angry but it was the truth.
The truth is sometimes hard. “This word is hard; who can hear it?”. I suggest that we can hear it as we are born of God. Most of Jesus’ disciples were going away. It says, “From that time many of his disciples went away back and walked no more with him”. What a sad situation. They had been going on together, following the Lord Jesus, but many of them were going away. How sad. Were they really disciples? The Lord says in John 8, “If ye abide in my word, ye are truly my disciples” (v.31). The Lord did not say, ‘Please stay with me’. The Lord did not do that; He let them go away. Why? Well, when you are in the presence of the Lord and you cannot bear these things, you cannot really follow Him. You can only follow Him if you have a pure heart for Him, a need and an appetite for Him; in principle to eat His flesh and to drink His blood, and to know that you live on account of Him. There is no other way in which I can be sustained in life. There is no other way that I can be in His presence. And then the test comes to the disciples – the twelve; “Will ye also go away?”. You might perhaps ask, ‘Why did the Lord put this question only to them?’. He put it to those who were able to answer this question, but not to the others. I think this was to bring out what was really in them, to bring out the work of God and the experience they had with the Lord Jesus. Simon Peter answered “Lord, to whom shall we go?”. That was wonderful. Is there anyone else who is comparable with the Lord Jesus Himself and with His words, even if His words search me to the bottom of my heart? We have proved Him. Is there anywhere else we can go? Is there any other person to whom we can go? Is there anyone who can speak words as He Himself does, and can sustain us in life, sustain us in our inheritance given to us of God? “Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast words of life eternal”; these abiding words, these living words of Himself, these precious words. I want to stay in His presence. Even if I am tested by these words, I want to accept them, to judge myself and to go on as eating His flesh and drinking His blood.
What a wonderful answer Simon Peter gave; “we have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God”. What a precious thing it was that Peter and the others came to. They had believed and they had also known. Belief is something which we first receive from the Lord Himself, and then He becomes attractive. We believe initially; it says in John 2 that His disciples believed on him (v.11) after what happened in Cana. But then in chapter 16, the Lord says to them, “Do ye now believe?” (v.31). They were already believers in chapter 2 but the whole process through these chapters of John’s gospel was the process of learning. “Do ye now believe?”; the Lord in chapter 17 gives them full credit for that as He speaks to the Father when He says that they “have believed …” (v.8). It is wonderful to come to: “we have believed and known …”. They had seen the Lord Jesus praying. They had seen amidst themselves the “holy one of God”. This is something which we can know when we are in the assembly, because the Lord Jesus is the One who is in charge of the service of God. He is in charge of what is according to God and we can be with Him and enjoy and know Him in what He is doing. It is very important to have some experience of what the Lord is doing in the assembly and what He wants us to be. “We have believed and known that thou art the holy one of God.” What a precious Name, what a precious title of our Lord Jesus and how precious to know Him in this way.
In 2 Timothy, where we see Paul at the end of his career, we have another test. How can we walk in days of general decline and departure and uphold the truth of the assembly according to Paul’s ministry? He is in Rome and he is in prison. Many things had happened since Paul was called by the Lord, “I am Jesus the Nazaræan, whom thou persecutest”, Acts 22:8. We referred to it in our reading; Paul said, “What shall I do, Lord?”. You see here that Paul had combated the good combat, had finished the race, he had kept the faith. But what happened? After Paul had so diligently worked, with the pressure of the assemblies on him daily, what happened? He said in the first chapter of this epistle that all in Asia had left him (2 Tim.1:15). It must have been heart breaking for him, that after all the precious work that had gone on, they left Paul. They left him in his service but they left also his teaching about that heavenly land, about the Lord Jesus where He is, and His assembly. That character of his ministry was too hard for them to bear. You can understand it. So he says to Timothy to use diligence to come to him quickly. There was a need of others. How important that is in the day in which we are. I see more and more that in the day in which we are, our pathway shall on the one hand be more and more individual, especially in our responsibilities, in our work and at school, but then on the other, the longing to have each other’s company, to be together. I always like that reference in Acts 4, that when John and Peter were released from prison, they went to their own company (v.23); a precious thought. It says in Acts 13 that Paul had his company (v.13), and I think that Paul still has his company. There were those in his company, but there were many who had left him, even Demas who was a fellow worker of Paul. It must have been heartbreaking for Paul that someone who was his fellow worker had left him.
The days in which we are, beloved brethren, are days of broken heartedness. I really cannot see that we can be properly in the testimony without having a broken heart, as those who know what is going on in Christendom in general, and also what happens among the saints with whom we are walking. How Paul must have felt it that someone had left him. “Demas has forsaken me, having loved the present age”. Most of us know persons who were shining brightly and they have turned back, have given up. What a testing thing! What else can we be but broken hearted about these things? I certainly believe that Paul was weeping when he was writing this. Let us be in such a state; we cannot be properly in the testimony without broken heartedness. Let us feel things according to God. How the Lord must feel departure; let us be with Him about His assembly. The Lord is walking in the midst of the seven golden lamps in Revelation 2 and 3; that is not only historical, it is something that is going on. Let us see what He has to say, let us see that we are with Him in what He is doing.
“Use diligence to come to me quickly”; Paul longed for company. I think as the days are going on, we more and more should long for the company of the brethren. How precious it is. I want to ask the question of everyone here: have you proved, dear young one, the preciousness of being among the saints? Ruth proved that about the area into which she came at Bethlehem, the field of Boaz. It was for her an area of protection, of salvation, of life, of liberty. And above all, for us it is an area where the Lord Jesus is magnified. “Demas has forsaken me”; he had gone to Thessalonica, and then other fellow workers with Paul had gone to other places. Paul was, so to say, trying to go on in a normal way as he was used to do, and his fellow workers had gone out, for service I suppose, Crescens to Galatia, Titus to Dalmatia. He writes, “Luke alone is with me”; only Luke was left as a fellow worker who was with Paul. What a dear man Luke was, the beloved physician (Col.4:14). You think about the “we” passages in the Acts of the Apostles when Luke was part of Paul’s company. He was an eye witness of the labours of the apostle Paul, he had seen how Paul conducted himself, how Paul spoke in the preaching, how Paul dealt with the saints. Luke was an eye witness and therefore he was able to write his wonderful gospel. Luke stressed very much the side of the grace of God appearing to all men. But recently I was also struck with the fact that in certain instances, Luke can be very stern when the grace is rejected, when the words of the Lord Jesus are rejected. So we see that “grace and truth subsists through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17) and they go together.
Paul wrote to Timothy, “Take Mark, and bring him with thyself”. The days in which we find ourselves are days of departure, but they are also days of recovery. “Take Mark …”; you remember how Mark had left Paul in Acts 13. The way was too hard for him to follow Paul and his company, and he had left the way in the pristine days of the assembly. But now he was back again, he was recovered. He was perhaps afraid to come to see Paul. Paul encouraged Timothy to bring Mark to him because “he is serviceable to me for ministry”. Even in the days in which we are, let us be always on the lookout for recovery. Let us always see that the Lord is able to do things, as here with Mark. I said that we can only be properly in the testimony with broken hearts, but the Lord not only allows grief, the Lord also gives us encouragement, and that is what you see here. Demas had forsaken Paul, but Mark is available again. What a very encouraging thing. “Take Mark …, for he is serviceable to me for ministry”, and that in days which were much more difficult than in the pristine days of the assembly. Let us be always on the outlook in our localities, and among the saints universally, that persons might be recovered. May we be able to help those persons, not by allowing lower standards; but holding the truth, and seeing that persons may be recovered to it.
We see that there is also opposition – Alexander was one who did many evil things against Paul, and the apostle says that he had “greatly withstood our words”. There was opposition against the truth that Paul was bringing out, and I have no doubt that the same opposition, perhaps even in a greater way, is still here. Let us hold firmly to the truth, even if there is opposition, but in a spirit of grace, in a meek spirit (2 Tim 2:25), so that anyone who is opposed to the truth cannot bring any charge against us, but that we may be without reproach. That is very important. Paul wrote that no man was with him at his first defence, but: “May it not be imputed to them”. You see something again of the spirit of Paul. He was very firm in what he had stated in this epistle. It is on the basis of this epistle that we can be here together. In chapter 2, we have the way out of all the confusion, and let us hold firmly to that. Paul took a specific matter which happened in the case of Hymenæus and Philetus, “men who as to the truth have gone astray” (2 Tim.2:18), and then he gives it a general application; “the firm foundation of God stands, having this seal, The Lord knows those that are his; and, Let every one who names the name of the Lord withdraw from iniquity” (v.19). That brings it to every believer; indeed, this is the basis on which we can go on together. There is no other ground. Let us not take any other ground because there is no ground other than that which Paul is pointing out. Let us thank the Lord that He has made this provision and let us hold to it.
Then Paul writes, “May it not be imputed to them”; you also see something of the spirit of forbearance in Paul even towards the believers who were near him but who were not able to stand with him in the presence of Cæsar. “May it not be imputed to them”; we have many things which we must bear amongst the saints and it is important to do that and be marked by that same spirit as Paul. On the one hand very firm, on the other hand forbearing. Continue in patience and go on.
“But the Lord stood with me”. Wonderful, is it not? He never fails His own. Paul says in chapter 3 that he had had many persecutions and “the Lord delivered me out of all” (v.11). He had the experience that the Lord was able for everything. It is wonderful that the Lord is able for every situation in our personal lives, in our localities, in the testimony universally, and amongst all the people of God. Let us seek to be in a state so that the Lord can stand with us. “But the Lord stood with me, and gave me power, that through me the proclamation might be fully made”. Even in these days of departure, as experiencing His power, Paul was at the full height of what he himself was preaching. How important that the proclamation might be fully made. Let us indeed go on with all that Paul has conveyed; “and all those of the nations should hear; and I was delivered out of the lion’s mouth”. The devil himself was against Paul, against the truth of the assembly, and it is still the case today. The devil does not want to allow any expression of the preciousness of the assembly. He wants to wipe it out completely; let us be aware of that. “The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked work, and shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom”. What faith Paul had, what confidence! Do we have that confidence that the Lord shall deliver us from every wicked work? And what are these wicked works? They are the works of the wicked one and they are against the assembly. The Lord Himself said that the gates of hades shall not prevail against his assembly (Matt.16:18). Let us hold to that. Let us have the confidence of Paul. “The Lord shall deliver me from every wicked work, and shall preserve me for his heavenly kingdom; to whom be glory for the ages of ages. Amen”. What a way Paul was able to speak here, what a conqueror he was. He was not discouraged at all in his own soul or in his outlook. Let us have the same boldness, let us have the same outlook and let us also be able to give the same doxology to the Lord Himself, “to whom be glory for the ages of ages”.
Then Paul salutes several persons. Prisca and Aquila were a very faithful couple. They had been there in the pristine days of the assembly and remained with Paul for a long time. They were not in Rome but were in their own locality and they were working out the truth of Paul’s ministry in faithfulness. How important to go on in faithfulness like this couple. They had staked their neck for Paul’s life (Rom.16:4). They, and also others, were very precious to him. Paul mentions certain names of brethren who saluted Timothy – Eubulus and Pudens, Linus and Claudia – and then he makes the remarkable statement “and the brethren all”. You might think that it seems as though there were only a few with Paul but he is now speaking about “the brethren all”. How wonderful, how precious. It seems to me that in “the brethren all” you see something of God’s own resources in the day in which we are. Some of us perhaps sometimes have sleepless nights, especially when you are in a small locality and do not have the resource to go to a nearby meeting, as the nearest meeting is perhaps hundreds of miles away. But let us have courage, for the Lord would say, “and the brethren all”. There are several localities where there is only one sister or two left and they are not able to meet. But let us cling to what the assembly is and to go on with the Lord’s rights and “the brethren all”. And then Paul says, “The Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit”. I think that is very important in these difficult days in which we are. It is important to recognise that we are indeed in difficult days. The way we are on is a difficult way but it is the only way, and it is such a blessed way. We have seen in our reading something of it in type in the book of Ruth. Let us not shrink from it; let us accept it in the Lord’s ways and go on. Let us see that “the brethren all” are God’s resources in these days.
At the end of Genesis 24, we see that there is another test. Laban and Bethuel and perhaps others of the family of Rebecca said, “Wilt thou go with this man?”. In verse 55 her brother and her mother had already said, “Let the maiden abide with us some days, or say ten”. I think that was natural thinking; they were thinking about how they felt about things, and they thought that Rebecca had the same mind as they had. They wanted her to stay with them. “Wilt thou go with this man? And she said, I will go”. She said in effect ‘I am prepared to go the whole way, I want to go the whole way’. She had seen the servant; she had seen the way in which he had behaved himself. She had seen the bracelets and all the precious things that the servant gave to her. She had heard about the business of the servant, how he spoke about a bride for Isaac and how he spoke about the precious things which Isaac had. Now the question came, “Wilt thou go with this man?”. Will you go under the guidance of the Holy Spirit, go and meet Isaac; in type, will you go to meet the Lord Jesus? She says, “I will go”. She said in principle, ‘I know I am already kindred to Isaac, but I want to be united to him as well, and for this I know I must go the whole way to meet him where he is’. How precious, how pure, how simple in one sense. How her heart was attracted to Isaac and to being in nearness to him, to become his wife. What beauty is being given by the Holy Spirit to the assembly, how much His work is going on today. “Wilt thou go with this man?” There should be something of that character of Rebecca seen among us. Is it in our hearts?
I will end with verse 61. “And Rebecca arose, and her maids, and they rode upon the camels, and followed the man”. Rebecca rose above her circumstances. Her brother and mother and all that were there – she left them and their way of thinking. She arose. It is a dignified thing, I think. She was able to leave these things and she arose and followed the man. In type, she followed the leading of the blessed Spirit of God in the direction of the heavenly Man. And then we have these wonderful words, “And the servant took Rebecca, and went away.” That is very marvellous. She is now completely in the hands of the servant and I want to make this application: If the assembly is so completely under the influence of the Holy Spirit, all is secure. The servant took Rebecca and went away. It is wonderful; Isaac had his bride. It says in the last verse of this chapter, “And Isaac was comforted after the death of his mother” because of Rebecca. The Lord is comforted that He has His assembly now and I have been encouraged many times by these words, that the Lord has His assembly and has the enjoyment of the assembly now. But the application I want to make is that we are also on our way to Him under the hand of the Holy Spirit in order that the Spirit and the bride say “Come”, Rev.22:17. May something of that character be seen amongst us now.
May we be marked by these precious things and may we be helped to accept the tests in our going the whole way together. May the Lord bless the word.
Address at Witney
19 November 2016
D. Dekker