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RESTORATION IN VIEW OF THE TESTIMONY AND THE SERVICE OF GOD

W. Becker

I want to say something about restoration. I am thinking of two things; firstly we have restoration with reference to the testimony down here, and then restoration with reference to the service of God. We all know what conversion and restoration mean. Every one in this room who has accepted the Lord Jesus as Saviour knows that he was a sinner and he now has the certainty and consciousness in his heart that he is now a pardoned sinner. And so we learn how it begins.

We find here in Peter a picture of you and me with our natural abilities and natural energies. It has often been said that if the Lord restores a person He restores him to His highest thoughts. God does not work in half-measures, He always goes the whole way. There is just the question on our side of whether we are available to Him. Peter had a sincere heart and I believe that every one in this room is concerned to have a sincere heart; that is the basis on which God works. He looks for an honest and sincere heart and that was what marked Peter.

Therefore it was simple for the Lord to restore Peter. Peter had often failed, and each one of us must admit that we have often failed. But one thing we must credit Peter with is that he never made the same mistake twice. How often we make the same mistake twice, or three times, or even more.

Here Peter had arrived at a point where he tried again to do something for the Lord, or to suffer with Him, by his own efforts. The testimonial position down here is a suffering one.

We were speaking earlier of true widowhood and that is the character of the testimony; it is connected with suffering, weakness and contempt as long as it is here. Peter thought he could meet what was required by human effort, but he had to see what the flesh is capable of. We all know what the flesh is capable of—the Bible tells us that. But we have to learn it really and actually by searching into our hearts. We have been brought into the light of God, so that light can shine into our hearts to lay all bare and open. So we arrive at a clear discrimination inwardly, as it says in Romans 7: 25, “So then I myself with the mind serve God’s law; but with the flesh sin’s law”. We connect the “I myself’ with the work of God; we no longer connect it with the flesh. I believe that is what Peter had learnt. He had to learn it in a very, very sad way, as most of us have, but how wonderful that the Lord said, “I have besought for thee”. Think of that, that the Lord beseeches for you and He beseeches for me. He knew Peter and He besought for him. What a beseeching! The hands of the High Priest lifted up for us up there while we are left here in this terrible world.

Peter denied the Lord; what that must have meant to the Lord’s heart! Would that we thought more about what these things mean to the Lord, who has died for us and has put away our sins. If we deny Him, oh, what it means to Him who has done so much for us! Peter “wept bitterly”. Have you ever repented like this? I do not mean only as to the sins which you committed before your conversion, but those which you have committed since. Have you shed tears over them? It says, “Peter, going forth without, wept bitterly”; that was the way to true restoration.

We read in Luke 24: 34, “The Lord is indeed risen and has appeared to Simon”. The first to whom the Lord appeared after His resurrection, according to Luke, was Simon. What a meeting that was! What it must have been to Peter’s heart to see the Lord in resurrection, after He had put away his sins, after He had triumphed over the grave. All distance was removed. As the hymn-writer says, ‘Broken the bands of gloom’ (Hymn 152). So the mighty Victor, whom Peter had denied, met him. We see in the beginning of the Acts how Peter could stand up with the eleven. Would that we all knew something of these experiences that Peter had, so as to be actually and really, with all our heart, in the testimony down here. The Lord does not love superficiality. He loves reality; anything else is to Him lukewarm and counts for nothing. I believe Peter had learnt to look at things from the Lord’s viewpoint. Would that we looked at things here in the testimony from His viewpoint, seeing them as they should be seen, including our mistakes and failures in the testimony.

What a firm basis is seen in these persons in the Acts. There is no failure now, but strength and stability. We would like to be in Peter’s position, able to ward off the enemy’s attacks, however cunning they may be. We know, as the apostle writes to the Corinthians, that the enemy himself takes the form of an angel of light. Would that we recognised these attacks. I believe truly restored persons recognise the attacks. Such persons, who have a wonderful bond with Christ in glory, and who have enshrined Him in their hearts, are able to perceive these attacks. We would like every thought to be taken captive into the obedience of Christ. I would especially lay this on the hearts of those who are younger, for it is you who, if the Lord will, will carry on the testimony. Each one of us should have the desire to have these experiences. We know that we normally learn by instruction, but we all also learn by our mistakes. May the Lord keep us and especially those who are young.

I was thinking of David in the second passage read. We know that the service of God was delivered through David, and David had an honest and true desire in his heart to give the ark its right place. But he still had something to learn.

He had to be adjusted and learn that the true service of God could only be connected with the ark and the place in which the ark was to rest. I believe that is important. If the service of God is to function in our localities for His pleasure and satisfaction, the Lord Jesus must have the first place in each one of our hearts. That is what He is looking for in the last days of the testimony. The service of God has been restored to us in such a wonderful way, for which we should be thankful. If we think of the Supper—what a precious occasion it is! The Lord brings His peace and joy with Him. This occasion is before us tomorrow, if the Lord does not come before. May our hearts be desirous that He would come to us, if He has not yet come for us.

The house of Obed-Edom was blessed. Our houses are stepping stones to the assembly. Most of us have children and have houses and we should ask ourselves the question—What place has the ark in your house and mine? He is worthy of the first place, and everything else must come second. We see here that God blessed Obed-Edom because of the ark. We know from the first book of Samuel that the ark was in the house of Abinadab for many years, but we do not read that that house was blessed. That again is a serious warning. Uzzah here was the son of the man in whose house the ark had been for so many years. The youngest must learn to value more and more the preciousness of the Lord Jesus and of all that He has done. All this contributes to the basis on which our houses can be blessed. From the beginning it was in God’s thoughts to bless men and He can only bless on a certain basis. So may we give Him in our houses the basis on which He can bless us—and He loves to do this. He is glad when He can bless. That is God’s desire, that is His heart. God’s heart is love. He will bless us, but as I have already said, only on this basis.

Then we see the result of this history. We see what David had learnt from it. It was necessary for king David to learn this lesson. It does us good, as well, to learn this lesson, to bring the ark into its true place so that the service of God can function according to His thoughts and His plan. The Lord Jesus is the great and wonderful centre. He fills everything. The Spirit pervades everything there. What a privileged dispensation we live in! Do we really value this dispensation of grace? This economy of grace is a dispensation when we can grow in the knowledge of divine Persons. The greatest thing that man can experience is to increase in the knowledge of God. There is simply nothing greater than that we come to know divine Persons better. The Holy Spirit dwells in each one of us to help us in this. So may the Lord help us that we may all turn personally to Him. Restored persons are down here in the testimony, where the Lord has been rejected. The Lord does not leave us without reward. We can be sure of this, that He rewards every bit of faithfulness. He will be a debtor to no one, and nothing that we do for Him here remains hidden. If it is hidden now, it will be uncovered in that wonderful city which is coming down out of heaven from God. What a day it will be when everything will be seen in public display! May the Lord help us so that we may experience these two sides of restoration of which I was thinking, to God’s pleasure and glory.

Address in Eastern Europe
August 1985

From ‘ Neues und Altes’, No.5, 1986

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