THE HOUSE IN DISORDER.

^[p. 404] THE HOUSE IN DISORDER.

I have looked at the house in order, I must now look very briefly at the house in disorder. I turn to 2 Timothy 2: 20 - “a great house”. The assembly had become a great house. Bad building began early, according to 1 Corinthians 3, the “wood, hay, stubble”. Professors were found very early in the assembly. You find that at Corinth (see 1 Corinthians 5) they had not a true sense of the holiness which “becometh thy house, O Jehovah, for ever;” they were tolerating leaven, and the apostle had to say to them, “Purge out the old leaven”. This unholy mixture had so increased in Paul’s own day that in 2 Timothy 2 he writes of “a great house”, where there were vessels to dishonour which should not have been tolerated in God’s house, but as they were tolerated, there must be full separation from them. “If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, ... he shall be a vessel to honour”. The house embraces christendom, but are you looking for a spot for the Lord? We are all answerable for the state of christendom. If you share the credit of your family you must also share in the reproach on it. The only course is to purge yourselves from the vessels to dishonour, and “pursue ... with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart”.

In 2 Timothy 3 there is in the last days a worse state of things. In-chapter 2 they err from the truth, in chapter 3 they resist the truth. Paul did not live in the last days, but we are in the last days.

Now I turn to Revelation 1. I suppose there is no one here who has not read it; I ask you to ponder it. Think of the Lord as I have been describing Him in His place and ministry in the assembly, and then see Him in His changed character here, walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks in a judicial character, so that John fell at His feet as dead. No one connected with the corruption in christendom could ^[p. 405] come near the Lord. Every true heart in the religious systems, the nearer he gets to the Lord the more unhappy he is, because he encounters His eyes, which are like a flame of fire. Then what must he do? He must separate from the corruption; and hence I press on you Revelation 3: 7. Though the state of the church now is much worse than in Paul’s day, yet I have wonderful tidings for you; would that I could convey them fully even to my own heart! There are four phases of the church which run down to the end: Thyatira, which is Romanism; Sardis, which is Protestantism; and, worst of all, Laodicea. Then there is also Philadelphia which the Lord approves. You have to encounter these; but the Lord Himself is your resource, “the holy, the true; he that has the key of David”. The nearer you are to Him the more you will overcome. Is there one in this room who is not cheered with the thought that in association with Christ you can emerge from all the failure and disorder here? Christ Himself is your rallying point; keep close to Him. It is an immense cheer to me, and I hope it is to you, that He will enable you to stand in the very worst state of things, if, in association with Christ, you realise union with Him - Paul’s teaching. The great defect in christians in general is that they are not separate from evil. He is the holy, the true, and if you are not separate, though you may desire to be true, you are not, because you are not holy. The more separate you are, the nearer you come to Christ; hence He said, “I sanctify myself for them, that they also may be sanctified by truth” (John 17: 19). I remember saying to a beloved man of God once, Well, then sanctification is immeasurable. Yes, he said, it is immeasurable.

In conclusion, I will give you a type in Scripture for your example. Abigail counteracted, and was thus separated from, the folly of Nabal; she sought the favour of the rejected king, and she came eventually to reign with him. She is an example to you. If you ^[p. 406] are separate from every one who refuses and dishonours Him, and seek His favour as the rejected King, when He comes forth, as in the close of the Revelation, as the bright and morning Star, you, as the bride in company with the Spirit, greet Him. Can anything be more cheering to your heart than that? Though in the opening of the book you find the church in the most deplorable condition, yet at the close of the book “the Spirit and the bride say, Come”. You can rise to the brightest moment outside of all the confusion, because Christ Himself is your one object.

The Lord grant that each heart may be able to take in these various parts that I have sought to bring before you, so that you may really get instruction from the Lord with regard to each of them yourselves; and then I am quite sure of this - you will have a better and a fuller apprehension of them. The Lord never swerves from His place in the assembly. He is always the same; He is the Builder, and He is the Lord, and He is the Priest, and He is greater than Moses and greater than Aaron, and He is the Head of the body; He never swerves from His place, though we have swerved from ours; and therefore, even if you are only two or three in number, you can have His presence.