BUYING

R.D.Plant

2 Kings 4: 1-7; Matthew 25; 1-12; Ruth 4: 1-6; Revelation 3: 14-20

Someone reminded us the other night that the hymn that we started with (No.262) was written by a convicted murderer¹. He received from the authorities of his day what the thief on the cross described as the just recompense of what he had done. He received from Go? eternal peace; the whole of his debt, his moral debt, his debt to God cleared, the whole of his future secured in Christ, and it cost him nothing, beloved. The gospel always affects me; I suppose it does you. There used to be another verse to that hymn:

'Sins of such horror to forgive,

Such guilty, daring ones to spare -

This is Thy grand prerogative

And none can in that honour share.'

That is how we have all come in, beloved; it is why we are all here today, because. God has exercised His prerogative in His infinite mercy to us. That hymn says:

'Soon shall this strange, this wondrous grace ,

This perfect miracle of love,

Fill the wide earth... '

Does it affect your heart, beloved? It cost the hymn writer nothing. The thief on the cross turns to the One who was dying alongside Him and receives eternal blessing. It cost him nothing. The price has been paid; you can have the same thing: peace with God, all your sins met, all your history of sin and self-will all that awayness from God, the secret history of sin that most of us have known and maybe you still do – the cross still stands unchanged God is still propitious towards you and what He ha to offer is free, it costs you nothing. There is a parable that says, "But as they had nothing to pay, he forgave both of them their debt, Luke 7: 42. You may think I have got mixed. up and thought this was the gospel preaching, but the gospel must always enter into what we say to one another – it must. How are we to keep the preciousness of Christ before one another? How are these family affections to be worked? How can you help me if, though I am a believer, I become dominated by my own will? Do you think you will do any good if you come and tell me only how wrong I am? If I am a believer at all, talk to me about the preciousness of Jesus the One who met my case years ago, and you might well find that the way that God met me in my sins those years ago is the way that you will el? recall me to Christ, and the wonder of it is, beloved, that it is free. Romans says ‘freely’, does it not? – "being justified freely his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; whom God has set forth a mercy-seat, through faith in his blood", chap 3: 24,25. If you do not have that, beloved young one, seize on to it today; it is not a time for trifling with the things of God. You can have it today, and you can have it free. Later in Romans Paul refers to the free gift in grace – "much rather has the grace of God, and the free gift in grace, which is by the one man Jesus Christ, abounded unto the many", chap 5: 15. You can have it; it is free. And again: the free gift of righteousness – "and of the free gift of righteousness, reign in life by the one Jesus Christ", chap 5: 17. In 2 Corinthians Paul speaks of another gift – His unspeakable free gift (see chap 9: 15), which would refer to the Holy Spirit. We shall be in glory, beloved, not because of a single thing that we have done, but because of what Jesus has done. We speak about our responsibility and our part in the testimony, and it is right, but we shall be in glory because Jesus has done it all. that is the glad tidings, and it is for you, and it might be today the last time it is for you.

You might wonder, after all that, why I wanted to speak about buying things, because that is what these scriptures I have read speak about. They speak about what is to be bought. What I have said is true and will always be true, that our blessing, our salvation, our hope and our anchor is in Christ, and it is offered on the basis of repentance and faith in Him, but I used to be told when I was a bit younger that to know Him is to love Him, and to love Him is to serve Him, and if you want to serve Him you find it is going to cost you some thing. It is not exactly going to cost you money. Money has no value in the terms that I am speaking of here. What it is going to cost you is something by way of displacement of the first man; it is going to cost you what you want to do; it is maybe going to cost you your thoughts and your opinions; and ultimately, with a man like Paul, really it cost him his whole life. He says, "For me to live is Christ", Phil 1: 21.

I read this first scripture in 2 Kings which sets out a very sad picture of a woman who says, "Thy serv13nt my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah; and the creditor is come to take my two children to be bondmen". Now, we have been taught that the debt here is not the gospel debt. She is really like a believer. It is not that she owed a debt to God; the debt to God has been paid by Christ. What this woman was finding was that she could not meet her debts here. You know, beloved, if you seek to serve Him, you will find there are things that you would need to do, and you will need a power for them, the power to do things. The power to buy things, to purchase things, involves the Holy Spirit. But she was going to lose everything she valued here. By application she was going to lose all her enjoyment, all the present blessing of Christianity, all the present way of what she had in Christ, she was going to lose it all. Why? Because she did not have anything to live on. She had obligations she could not meet, and that is a very real thing, beloved. There are obligations upon us as believers on the Lord Jesus and as those who seek to serve Him. You will find you have obligations to meet and you will find, initially' at least, that you do not have the means to meet them. One of the things that we are commanded to do is to "love one another; as I have loved you" (John 13: 34) – the words of Jesus. You say, Oh, I do not have any difficulty in loving so-and-so. He or she is my best friend, I have no problem. But what about the brother or sister you love the least? Or a young person may say, I do not have any problem speaking of he Lord at the meetings, I do not have any difficulty at times like this, but on Monday, when I get to work, I cannot bring myself to bring the name of the Lord Jesus forward. I cannot do it, and I remember it every time I sit in the meeting, I feel this guilt in my mind that I am not faithful to Christ. These are real things. There are persons here who will know something about what I am saying, persons here who know what it is to sit in meetings like this, and to feel that nagging of guilt in their minds that really they are not faithful to Christ. They are not able to bring themselves to be faithful to Christ. Or there may be young men here who cannot bring themselves to take part in the service of God, to yield themselves to the Spirit to help and serve is people; they feel that they cannot do 1t. This woman in my application was like that, and because of it you are losing all your Joy, all that is worthwhile. It is a sad state to get into. If it is any comfort to you, beloved, 1t 1s something that anyone who is real knows something about. If you know anybody who says they do not know anything about such things then they do not know much at all. If it is any comfort to you young sister – we forget the sisters sometimes – those feelings of wanting to do something for the Lord Jesus and yet not finding the power to do it, let it be a comfort that all his has been anticipated in the Scriptures; it is all known about, and the power to meet it is the Holy Spirit of God, "his unspeakable free gift". But you say, How do I get it? How do I help myself as to this? The prophet comes in here and he does not give her anything, he does not do anything for her he does not give her money or some other income. He says, What do you have in the house? And she says, A pot of oil. That is the Holy Spirit. If you are a believer at all if you area believer on the Lord Jesus and art of the assembly and you have the Holy Spirit you may not appreciate it, you may not have fully used that wonderful gift, but if you have the Holy Spirit, you have a pot of oil. She says "Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil". You may say, I have nothing except what I heard about in the gospel, and it does not seem to be able to help me with this situation I am in in my life down here. What she had to do here was to make some room for the Spirit. Now that is a practical thing, beloved, because initially she had to increase her indebtedness to make room for Him. I have a word for all of us here because I think what it means is that you' take on some more responsibility. This locality and area generally is blessed of God. There are older men and women of wealth in the knowledge of God in this area of Scotland that other parts of the country do not have in the same numbers but they will not be here for ever. There is a need for some of us to take on more responsibility. There is a need for some of us to make some more room so that the Holy Spirit can fill it, and you will find that the spiritual wealth and resource that you do not seem to have will begin to be acquired – it will cost you something as you make room practically for the Holy Spirit. That wealth does not just come from learning, it comes from making way for the Spirit. You find you can pay your debt and, as the prophet says here, live on the rest. I hope the brethren will bear with the word.

The passage in Matthew's gospel is a parable. Bear in mind in all that I am saying that the buying I am talking about does not involve money, it involves you. That is the currency – you, your time, your thoughts, your affections. This is a solemn word in Matthew 25. It says that there were ten virgins and five of them were wise and five foolish. Scripture is very sparing when it uses 'foolish' in this way. You might think that there are men and women in the streets of Edinburgh on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day who are foolish in what they do. You might say quite strongly and rightly that there are young people who are wasting their lives by the way they live them and how foolish it is. But Scripture says that if you take up the profession of Christ without being real you are foolish. Oh beloved young one, and older one, this is a very real word. This speaks here of the public profession of Christ. It speaks of the fact that there are ten persons here and they are all holding forth the torch, you may say, of Christianity and it is shining. You know, there is no greater torch than that which the brethren profess, there is no greater truth than the truth of the assembly, there is no greater profession than that here amongst the saints today, and all of them had the torch, but it says five of them were foolish. Five of them, beloved, half of them were not real. You may say that is a very strong word; it is a strong word, beloved. That is why I started with the gospel because if you are not real, you will be lost. You might share in all the privileges and the blessings, and I know that that is one of the things that is enjoyed at the present time at meetings like this, the blessedness of the fellowship, enjoyment of the company of the saints. This time of year, holiday time, the chance for an extended experience of it and, thank God, there is enjoyment. I would not suggest at all that, especially young people, might not enjoy the company of one another and the saints but if you are not real, you will be lost. That is what it says, "But in the middle of the night there was a cry, Behold, the bridegroom". I know it has been used powerfully in ministry as speaking of the present recovery of the truth, but perhaps we can think of it as being final, the time, you may say, when the Lord Jesus comes, and some of them find they have been living in the meetings and living in the privileges, and living in the blessings, and living on the kindness of the saints and all these things, all of which are given unstintingly and gladly and continually and yet they have never bought the oil. Have you bought the oil, beloved? In all your enjoyment of the fellow ship, have you ever bought anything in relation to it? Did you know that the fellowship we so enjoy is also the fellowship of His sufferings, the fellowship of His death? Have you bought anything, beloved, in the personal transactions of your soul with the Lord Jesus? Have you bought something, have you made it your own? Has the preciousness of Christ gripped your heart? Oh, beloved, would that we were more real, would that there was more in me of reality in relation to Christ.

Paul says, "To know him, and the power of his resurrection", Phil 3: 10. Would that there was more with me! And the word given to them is: "Go... buy for yourselves". You cannot get that from the brethren. It is a solemn time, Scripture speaks about it, that there will be persons who, in our terms, perhaps came to all the meetings, enjoyed all the truth, perhaps took part in it, maybe spoke of the Lord Jesus, the lamp shining, but in themselves, in their personal relations with the Lord Jesus, they had no dealings with Him. Solemn word: I will not dwell on it. It says at the end: "Verily I say unto you, I do not know you". Pray God no-one in this room will hear that word. The gospel is for us,-and it is free.

As to the scripture in Ruth, it has been said somewhere that every scripture has an immediate bearing upon the person who reads it. You might find that a little difficult as you read the Old Testament; I think it is the truth, it is not just history, it is not just a story about three or four thousand years ago, it has an immediate bearing on you. This scripture here can be applied, as we know, to the way the Lord Jesus has come in redemption in relation to persons like you and me. When the law, which I suppose the kinsman would speak of, did not have the love or the ability to redeem us, Jesus has taken us up and paid the price. But I want to apply it in another way. This was a real history here; it literally happened, and I wanted to apply it to you and me; let Boaz be you or me. It comes to a point where the secret history, you may say, that had preceded in Ruth comes to be public in the gate of the city, and the challenge is there in the gate of the city. He says to the kinsman, This is what has happened: Naomi has come back, the one that went out in unbelief to Moab, and she is selling the land that was our brother Elimelech's, and I thought I would tell you about it and ask you to buy it from her. You know, in one way Naomi would represent one who had light from God, the light of the gospel, the light of the truth of the assembly, the light of the glory of Christ, the light of sonship; she could represent that in application. Her history through this world down here, you may say, had been chequered. Unfaithfulness had come in but she had come back. Thank God that the light of Christ is still here, beloved, but something else had come back with her – Ruth the Moabitess. Now, Scripture says that the Moabitess was not to come in to the generation of Israel for ever (see Deut 23: 3), and if you put yourself in the position of these Israelites here, there would be what was distasteful in Ruth. You could imagine the Pharisees – or their equivalent in that day – saying that the Moabitess should not be here at all. Beloved, especially younger ones, things have entered into the testimony that should not have entered into it, and some of us here bear large responsibility. Sad things have entered in. The people of God have been down to Moab and sojourned there, and sorrow and loss have come in through it. How much has been lost through the unfaithfulness of men! Elimelech died and both his sons died, but there has been revival. We are in a day of revivals while we are here, but what comes out of Moab with Naomi is Ruth. She says in one place: "I am not like one of thy handmaidens", Ruth 2: 13. So Boaz says to this man: "Naomi who is come back... sells the allotment... Buy it...And he said, I will redeem it". You know, there are many people, beloved, who are ready to take on the light of Christ, the light of the truth, many people who are glad to take on, you may say, the terms of God's disposition to men; but he then says: "On the day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess". It brings out here, I think, that in divine things not only do you have to take on the truth in its terms but also the persons who are the Lord's down here, and you have to take on beloved especially younger ones, some things that have entered into the testimony that of themselves represent breakdown and failure. Some of the companies of the saints are small and scattered; it was not always so. There has been departure and drift away by many to a lower standard of things and we must own our part in the weakness that man's will has brought in. Something had come in through Naomi s departure that in one way was a constant reminder of it. That is Ruth – that is my application anyway of Ruth. And Boaz says, "On the day thou buyest the field... of Naomi... thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess". Oh, be prepared to buy what Ruth would speak of! Be prepared, beloved younger one, to take on that which has come in by way of failure in faithfulness failure in responsibility, and yet you will 'find that mysteriously in Ruth there are the features of the overcomer today; a precious line of committal to God and to His people is there, and in fact she comes in on the line that leads to Christ. You will find a great blessing in it if you are ready to buy it. It will cost you something, cost you something to be identified with reproach, with those who seek to walk in separation; it will cost you something but be prepared to meet that cost and you will find in your buying that you are coming into the greatest blessing that you can have today.

We will finish by referring to the scripture in Revelation. The brethren are familiar with these addresses to the assemblies. We are taught that the last four of the addresses are typical of certain features among the people of God which go through to the end – Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea. I suppose all of us here would be able to say that Thyatira speaks of Rome and all that it stands for; Sardis, Protestantism and all that that stands for; and Philadelphia – well, how often we assume that it refers to ourselves· we would never claim it, of course, but ho often the inference is there. Let us take care. We were speaking the other night about lowliness; there is one step, it seems, from Philadelphian freshness and power to Laodicea which speaks of the lukewarm state of Christendom. I wanted to say just a word about Laodicea. I do not think they were bad people in Laodicea; they do not represent these modern so called religions which are so common today. Let especially the young people beware of the efforts and power of the devil in the world, especially the religious world at the present time, to draw you away from Christ. I do not think Laodicea speaks of that, but beware of these things that the modern world is bringing in, beware of its cannot get out of. Especially young persons, take care. The enemy is dressing up the vilest things in a guise of religion at the present time, and he will ensnare you with them if he can. But Laodicea, I think, refers to persons who in the main are associated with the Scriptures and the truth; I expect they would be regular attenders at the meetings. They would be persons who had all the books, but they were self-satisfied and lukewarm. You will notice here it is a question of taste. You might say it looks alright, but it does not taste good to the Lord Jesus. Oh, beloved, let us be awakened out of the sleep that marks those foolish virgins in Matthew and see that what we need to have before us is what Christ loves and what is for His heart and what are His interests, and we shall find that our blessing follows. So He has counsel for those at Laodicea who said they were rich, grown rich, and had need of nothing. Let us take care of mere formality. We pray in the prayer meetings and yet perhaps if someone asked you the following night what you prayed for, would you be able to remember? Let us take care of a mere routine of things, beloved. "Have need of nothing": He says, "I counsel thee to buy of me gold purified by fire". Gold would speak of everything that has to do with God; it is the knowledge of God, but not philosophies, beware of admiring its cults because you might find a snare that you gleaned from books. The fire of God has burned, beloved, it burned at Calvary. The fire of God has burned, and Jesus has borne the fire, yet He has been cast out of the world as worthless. We need "gold purified by fire", the reality of the truth as to Christ, His sufferings and His glory – buy that! "White garments that thou mayest be clothed": think of Paul at Ephesus; he brought out the whole counsel God, but what was. his clothing? He says, Ye know how I was with you... serving the Lord with all lowliness and tears and temptations", Acts 20: 18,19; that was the testimony of Paul. If someone at Ephesus had asked, Do you know Paul? they would have said, Ah, yes, he comes to our house often, he comes and helps me when I am low, he is there when I am in need; if there is some one up the road in trouble or has problems he goes there. He knows how to weep with them. He is the evangelist. What are our garments, beloved, as we go through in the testimony? Is it some religious garb, or is it the fervency, the simplicity, the humility of person who is seeking humbly to walk here the light of Christ? A helper of many – I think Paul would be that. Then He says, and eye-salve to anoint thine eyes" – buy that! I will sell it to you, He says. It is available to us at the present time "that thou mayest see". You might well see the saints I suppose, in all that they are. They are not heroes, beloved. There is no-one here who is without their cares, without their problems, without their weaknesses. There are very few who do not have sorrow of some kind to bear. There is no-one here who does not know what it is to be weak and need help at times. We all need the help of God, need the help of the Spirit, need encouragement. Young persons have particular difficulties at the present time. Older persons here never lived when they were young in days like today; the young need sympathy and help and understanding, beloved. Then older persons down here, beloved young ones, have borne through some very difficult years. Some of them here have lived through two world wars, they have known a depression, they have known privations such as you have never known. Do not forget it. Always see them that way; that is how the Lord Jesus sees them. There may be times when you find them a little bit irksome – bear with it. Remember that God has worked in them, they have spent their years in the courses of the school of God. Oh, let us love one another more, beloved, see things as they really are. Let us see men too, some with lines of sorrow and degradation; see them as you speak of them when you preach the gospel, persons sometimes in desperation, for whom life has little meaning. The world is full of them, the world has no answer for them. Are our eyes opened to things as they really are? Do you ever pray for them? Men and women and boys and girls in some parts of the earth are dying because they have no food or water. Beloved, do you ever pray for them? Think of the feelings of God going out! See things as they really are, beloved. It is the time when the fullness of the gospel is going out. ! here are disasters on every hand, and God Is surely speaking; it is a time for the gospel to be preached, it is a time to be real. John that we started with is speaking to believers. Let us all be believers and helped to be maintained as believers, for His Name's sake.

 

EDINBURGH

1 January 1986