THE RUIN AND THE REMEDY
[p. 84] THE RUIN AND THE REMEDY
I suppose that every thoughtful christian would admit that we are in these difficult days. Paul prophesied that this state of things would come. There is a great step from 2 Timothy 2: 18, “Who concerning the truth have erred”, to chapter 3: 8, where we read they “resist the truth”. In chapter 2 it is the great house; we have to purge ourselves from the vessels to dishonour. Luther, as far as he did so, was a vessel to honour. There are two steps enjoined: one, to purge yourself from the vessels to dishonour; the other, to “follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart”. This course was necessary before the difficult days; now we are in the difficult days.
There are two things I desire to bring before you: first, the state of christendom, and secondly, the remedy. A good physician has two qualities - first he knows why your health is impaired, and secondly, he knows the remedy; but a great deal of our feebleness arises from not knowing the state of things around us, and hence the attempt to effect a cure is ineffectual and labour in vain.
In Romans 1 you get heathendom unmasked; and here in the first ten verses of this chapter we have christendom, but covered, “Having a form (or cloak) of godliness, but denying the power thereof”. For example, we may find a man attending divine service, so-called, and yet going on in all the wickedness of his heart. In Romans 1 it is all uncloaked, it is horrible. The great effort of the day is to elevate man. The pope exalts himself in all that is of God. The man of sin will oppose and exalt himself “above all that is called God”. “For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women” - really effeminate, sentimental characters - “... ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”. You may think that I am exaggerating the state of things, but no, we do not sufficiently apprehend how grievously every divine idea is imitated. There are now men who resist the truth “as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses;” they tried to neutralise the divine work by imitating it. I do not think we have any idea of all the mischief which is done by imitation. Look all around; see churches built avowedly in honour of Christ when He Himself is rejected; and how many are deceived by the imitation! But I have a sadder tale to tell - no matter however true or however beautiful the divine work is, it is imitated. A christian gifted of God is imitated. The enemy does not care to imitate what is of no value; just as diamonds are imitated with glass, so it is the best thing which Satan imitates, but the attempt is to neutralise the divine work. The imitators assume to effect by natural ability the same as the christian effects by divine power. What was it that checked Jannes and Jambres? It was life. That is where John’s ministry comes in now. When to the church of Ephesus it is said, “Thou hast left thy first love” (Revelation 2: 5), the reward to the overcomer is to eat of the tree of life. “But they shall proceed no further; for their folly shall be manifest unto all”.
You see I trust what I have sought to show you as to the state of christendom - how everything divine is imitated by man, and what an unceasing effort there is to retain the first man. Well now, what is the remedy? We find it in verse 10: “Thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of life”, etc. Paul’s teaching includes the gospel and the assembly. It is of all importance that we should know Paul’s gospel, otherwise we cannot apprehend the assembly. The first time the mystery was divulged was to Saul of Tarsus. The Lord says to him, “Why persecutest thou me?”
[p. 86] This is the first intimation of it. It is a great thing to accept that God cannot support anything on this earth that is not Christ. He could not support any other. God has but one Object before Him - Christ. In Paul’s gospel the measure of our acceptance is, “As he is, so are we in this world”, 1 John 4: 17. There is nothing God will not do for one who is a bit of Christ, for those who are His body on the earth during His rejection. Think of it! God’s Son was cast out and rejected, and His body is here where He was rejected. No servant is up to his work unless he has God’s object before him. Everyone’s power is according to the measure in which he has God’s object before him; for when he has, God supports him. What do we find in Scripture? If you read from Abraham down to the coming of Christ (I propose to you a most interesting study), what do you find? That the man who has God’s object before him at the time is markedly supported by God. The remnant of every dispensation is characterised by the essential grace of the original. Look at Jacob, he is the remnant of the Abraham dispensation. That self-seeking man at the close of his life looks for nothing for himself; he blesses the sons of Joseph, worshipping God leaning on his staff. Look at the remnant in Isaiah 6: 13: “In it shall be a tenth, and it shall return, and shall be eaten: as a teil tree, and as an oak, whose substance is in them, when they cast their leaves”. Nothing for man to see, but the substance is there.
Samuel, the last of the judges, when Israel was oppressed by the Philistines, prays; and God in a remarkable way supports him, so that he erects Ebenezer. Daniel on the eve of being condemned to a dreadful death opens his window three times a day and prays towards Jerusalem, which was then a heap of ruins, but still it was God’s object on the earth, and his heart is set upon God’s object.
[p. 87] In the New Testament (Luke 2) we get Anna the prophetess, a beautiful example of a heart set on God’s object. She was at least eighty-four years old, and departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day, and though all the learned doctors could not see the Lord in the child Jesus, “she coming in that instant gave thanks likewise unto the Lord, and spake of him to all them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem”.
May God grant that each of us may apprehend not only the ruin - the present state of christendom, but may we also so know God’s remedy, that we may not only be preserved from the influences but be able divinely to counteract it.