A
WARNING and AN APPEAL*
[* With selected notes included.]
To
all those who
Love
our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity.
By C. A. COATES:
We are living in days of religious activity. In the past century Christianity, if measured
by its outward signs, greatly improved the position of this country. During the last few years too, there have
been efforts, not only to erect buildings for religious purposes, but also to
get the people into them. Outwardly
Christianity is still recognised, even by many who are boasting loudly of the
progress that men are making.
I recognise thankfully the efforts made by many real christians towards evangelisation,
and that sinners have been converted to God.
There was in the early years of the nineteenth century a remarkable
movement of the Spirit of God amongst God’s people, and long-lost truths
pregnant with blessing and sanctifying power have been, through grace, restored
to the intelligence and faith of many hearts.
But there is now a widespread movement which is entirely opposed to the
word of God, and which must lead eventually to the complete subversion of every
truth vital to spiritual Christianity.
It is against this latter movement that I raise a warning voice. What is the worth of progress and popularity
if these are gained at the expense of truth, and by the surrender of everything
that gives Christianity its divine character?
The history of the fourth century appears to be repeating
itself, in a modified form, in the twentieth.
From infamy and persecution the church arose in a very short time to
greatness and supremacy. She laid aside
the gory crown of martyrdom, assumed the glittering tiara, and forthwith began
to walk, as Bunyan quaintly puts it, “in the sunshine
with her silver slippers on.” But
at what a cost was this place of popularity and power purchased! By the surrender of all spiritual blessings,
by being shorn of everything heavenly, by substituting earthly and carnal ritual for worship in spirit
and in truth, by wholesale conformity to the usages and customs of the heathen
world, and by the suppressing of the word of God and the introduction of
teachings of morality and philosophy in place of the gospel. In short, by giving up the truth and by
playing a traitor’s part to the Lord Jesus, the church became great
on earth where He had but a cross and a grave.
[* NOTE.
Keep in mind: “The immeasurable value of the “prize” may be
computed by the immense sacrifices necessary to obtain it. Its cost is a crucified world. ‘Blessed is the man to whom the world, with
all her rags of honour, is crucified, and who holds her to be worth no more
than a thief on the gallows.’ Nothing
makes the other world more real, or more blessed, than the renunciation of
this. Luke
14: 33.” (D. M. Panton.)]
The church secured the masses; she got the people to fill her
sanctuaries, and to pour their money into her coffers, but at what a cost! We search the writings of the Fathers in vain
to find any clear knowledge of the simplest elements of Christian blessing.
The forgiveness of sins, Justification by faith, peace with
God, the knowledge and assurance of salvation, the eternal security of the
believer, his acceptance in Christ, his title to enter the holiest with
boldness by the blood of Jesus, his being indwelt by the Holy Spirit as the
seal of sonship and the earnest of glory, his identification with Christ’s
present place of rejection on earth, are all subjects on which the apostles
dwelt with happy familiarity in writing even to babes in Christ.
In the worldly church of the Fathers - both episcopal and
papal - all these, and other more exalted truths, were
either quickly ignored, grossly perverted, or flatly denied. The church gained the people, but she lost the truth; she attracted
the world by stripping herself of everything that marked her as “a chaste
virgin espoused unto Christ.” Was not success of
this kind a terrible calamity? Was not
honour gained on such terms an immeasurable degradation?
I raise a warning voice because I see so plainly the same
principles at work to-day. The
attractiveness of Ritualism, the plausibility of Rationalism, and the charms of
worldly pleasure are being introduced on every hand as valuable accessories to
the great work of reaching the masses. I
do not write for the mere moralist, the Sunday religionist, or the worldly
professor, but for those of God’s people who are associated with this
development of evil without perhaps being sensible of its real nature in the
sight of God. I call upon you to test
your position, your surroundings, the practices you sanction by your presence,
and the teaching you listen to, by the word of God.
It seems to be Satan’s object at the present time to
obliterate the fact that CHRIST IS
REJECTED, or at any rate to rob that fact of all its deep and awful
significance. There has been a full
declaration of God in the Person of His Son, but how was He received? With what honours did the world invest
Him? With what manner of reverence did
the husbandmen treat the Son of the Lord of the vineyard? The very fact that God made Himself fully known only served to bring out the truth that
men hated Him, and that the world knew Him not.
The path that began at the manger ended upon the cross. The world’s answer to God’s Son was, “Away with
him! Crucify him!”
Nor has this verdict ever been reversed; Satan is still the god and
prince of this world; and the PRESENCE
OF THE HOLY SPIRIT is the abiding demonstration that Christ has been
rejected, and of the real condition of the world. “When he is come, he will reprove the
world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they
believe not on me; of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me
no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged,” John 16: 8-11.
The One who has been rejected was “FULL OF GRACE AND TRUTH,” and His rejection proved that there
was nothing in the natural man that would respond to “GRACE” or be attracted by “TRUTH.” Grace was despised and truth
was hated. Such is the world;
such is man; and such were we until the Spirit of God wrought in us. It is plainly proved that the natural man has
not one thought in common with God. It
is not until God works in divine power by His word and Spirit and effects THE NEW BIRTH that there is anything in
man in which He can take pleasure. The
more moral and religious a man is without being born again, the more ignorant
he is of God, and the more opposed to God’s truth and grace.
If the rejection of Christ has proved the real condition of
fallen man, it has also become the starting-point of all the wondrous grace and
blessings which have come out in the gospel; and which, having their foundation
in His death, are connected with Christ risen and glorified. Redemption has been accomplished at the very
moment when it was most clearly seen that the world would not have the Christ
of God; and now the earth-rejected One is seated at the right hand of God as
the One who has died for all, and who has purged the sins of those who believe
on Him. It is in Him - the risen and
glorified One - that we have life and acceptance; it is in Him that we are
blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places; and it is He who is now set at God’s right hand as “head over all
things to the church, which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in
all,” Ephesians 1: 22.
The church is the body of Christ, and each member thereof is united to
the Head in heaven by the Holy Spirit.
Thus the very constitution of the church proves the rejection of Christ
by the world. He would not be glorified
as Man at God’s right hand if He had not first been rejected here; and, as we
have already seen, the presence of the Holy Spirit is the abiding demonstration
of the condition of the world which has rejected Him.
Christian, keep it ever before your heart that this world has
rejected Christ, and we can never gain popularity with the world except at the
expense of loyalty to Christ. Just in
proportion as we step out of the path of reproach and contempt, we forsake our
true position. Hence you will find that
as buildings become larger and finer, and services more attractive, the inward
spiritual power declines. Why should the
followers of a despised and rejected MAN
be ambitious to make a fine appearance in the world where He died? Yet to gain this object all kinds of worldly
expedients are adopted, and the help of unconverted people not only accepted
but solicited, and of course the world is only too glad to further an object
which is so entirely in consonance with its own tastes.
Then as to the
doctrines preached. Vague and rationalistic ideas as to
the inspiration of the word of God are becoming more widespread every day; and
as a consequence all the truths which stand or fall by the authority of
Scripture are weakened or denied. The
fall of man - the utterly lost condition by nature of every child of Adam - has
not a very prominent place in present-day preaching. The absolute necessity of the new birth is
consequently kept in the background or ignored altogether. Along with this, vague and misty theories of
atonement are substituted for the solemn yet divinely precious statements of
Scripture as to the eternal efficacy of the death and blood-shedding of Christ.
Unitarians are boasting in the spread of their anti-christian
views as to the Person and work of the Lord Jesus. The plain declarations of the word of God as
to eternal punishment are being challenged or explained away on every
hand. It is asserted that religious teachers
should not speak so much about divine and eternal things as about things
connected with this life - science, morality, politics, etc. - and it is said
that if we want to attract people we must speak on subjects in which they are
interested.
That is, the church must come down to the level of the world
before she can win the world’s approval.
That is true enough, but what is the spiritual condition of the
Christian who proposes such a thing?
Sober-minded
Christians will not deny that the old paths are being forsaken both as to
doctrines and practice. Many are protesting with indignation only to find
themselves in a minority, or obliged to compromise matters by a partial
surrender to preserve peace. Thousands
of others are groaning in secret over the declension and departure, but have
not the courage to lift up their voices against it. Others, again, in spite of misgivings and
fears, are hoping for the best, and trying to feel satisfied that the movement
is in the right direction. And, lastly -
it must be said with sadness – some true children of God have so fallen under
the power of this flowing tide of worldliness and apostasy that they are carried along by it, and give it
their sanction and support. May God in
His great mercy arouse the sleeping consciences of such, and deliver them from
the snare in which they are taken!
Let us now turn to the word of God and see if such a state of
things has been anticipated. Does the
inspired volume lead us to expect failure and departure from the truth? If so we need not be surprised as we see the
evidence of it all around us. Read the
following scriptures.
“Take heed therefore unto yourselves,
and to all the flock, over the which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers, to feed the
“Now the Spirit speaketh expressly,
that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to
seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils,” 1
Timothy 4: 1.
“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves,
covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful,
unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent,
fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers
of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying
the power thereof - from such turn away,” 2
Timothy 3: 1-5.
“Yea,
and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse,
and worse, deceiving and being deceived,” 2
Timothy 3: 12, 13.
“For the time
will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall
they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away
their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables,” 2 Timothy 4: 3, 4.
See also 2 Timothy
1: 15, 2; 16; 2 Peter 2: 1; 3: 17; 1 John 2: 18-26; Jude 16-18.
It is manifest from the above scriptures, and others which
might be cited, that even in the apostles’ days declension had set in, and no
prospect of recovery is held out.
The prophetic intimations as to the church’s future on earth become
increasingly dark and gloomy until its “last days” are described in words almost
identical with those which the Holy Spirit employs in speaking of the heathen
world before Christianity came into it, compare 2 Timothy 3 with Romans 1. The church as a public profession
in the world has failed in all the different forms which she has taken. At every phase of her history she has failed,
and if Scripture is to be our guide, we may expect that failure to become
deeper and deeper until it ends in open apostasy.
Many earnest Christians will be ready to ask, “What can I do to remedy this state of things? or how can I act so as to please the Lord in the present
circumstances of the church? In short,
what is the path of faith for to-day?”
In seeking to furnish a scriptural answer to these questions
we must bear in mind that there is no hope held out in the word of God of a
general recovery of the church. As a
public profession on earth its career is to end, as we have seen, in
apostasy. No doubt where hearts are
loyal to Christ, and the departure and declension of the church are seen, there
will he efforts to bring back what is according to
God’s mind, but such efforts will have but small success. The tide of evil will be found too strong,
and the conviction will be forced upon those who feel it that the path of faith
must be in setting themselves right. In proportion as we walk with God, and
have a spiritual judgment of things, we shall be sorrowful to see the
worldliness and corruption that are coming in like a flood. We shall “sigh and cry for all the abominations
that be done.” We shall humble ourselves before God as being
involved in the common shame of the great dishonour done to the Lord’s
name. We shall be ready, like Ezra, Nehemiah,
and Daniel in their day, to confess the sin of our people, and to judge
ourselves as having contributed to the weakness and worldliness of the church
by our want of devotedness and fidelity.
I do not believe that any Christian will be found in the path of faith
at the present day if he is not humbled and sorrowful as he sees the departure
from the truth which is so manifest to every spiritual eye.
HUMILIATION, SELF-JUDGMENT,
AND CONFESSION will
surely characterise each one who is truly learning the will of God in these
evil days. Such a one will be of a
contrite spirit, and will tremble at the word of God, Isaiah
66: 2. He will be of like
character to those of whom it is said: “I will also leave in the midst of
thee an afflicted and poor people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord,”
Zephaniah 3 :11, 12.
While the great religious bodies are boasting of their position and
progress with Laodicean self-complacency, spiritually minded believers are
humbled and distressed by seeing that the advances are being made at the
expense of fidelity to Christ and the truth.
If you cleave to the word of God and reject as error what is
opposed to its teaching, you may be called a narrow-minded bigot. If you are uncompromisingly loyal to Christ
you may he spoken of as peculiar and fanatical.
If you begin to judge things by the word of God you are accused of
thinking nobody is right but yourself, and all this may be said by those who
take the place of being Christians, and are foremost in what are considered to
be Christian activities. Every faithful
Christian finds himself in a position of isolation which is in proportion to
the measure of his fidelity to Christ.
He is shunned by the carnal and the worldly, and his absence from their
society is hailed as a relief. The more
faithful a man is to Christ, the more isolated will he be from his surroundings
in the professing church to-day.
There is however a direct word in Scripture for the guidance
of every true Christian in such days as these; a word which I trust the Holy
Spirit will lay upon the consciences of many who read this pamphlet. Here it is.
“Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this
seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of
the Lord depart from iniquity. But in a
great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood
and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge
himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for
the master’s use, and prepared unto every good work. Flee also youthful lusts: but follow
righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a
pure heart,” 2 Timothy 2: 19-22.
Blessed he God! there
is a foundation the security and stability of which nothing can impair. The professing church may drift into open
apostasy, error may be rampant, worldliness may come in like a flood, but in
spite of all, and in the midst of all, a sure foundation remains. What a relief for a Christian’s heart to
apprehend this! What a resting-place for the soul amid the sea of unrest which
rolls around us to-day! It may seem as
if all the old landmarks were being rapidly removed, yet an immovable
foundation may be found, and happy will be my reader’s portion if he is led to
that foundation and takes his stand upon it.
Two things characterise the “FOUNDATION OF GOD.” one of which is brought before us in the words. “The Lord knoweth them that are his.”
SOVEREIGN GRACE has secured
its objects, and will secure them to the end, in spite of all the evil and
departure from truth. They may be - and,
alas! often are - hidden to human eyes, but the Lord
knows them. Though He can no longer own
as His the great profession which bears His name only to dishonour it, in the
midst of it all He knows the chosen, called, and justified ones. We may not he able to discriminate
between the wheat and the tares, or between the wise and foolish virgins. We may be deceived by the empty and
Christless professor, or we may misjudge the truly converted soul, but the
Lord makes no mistake. GRACE
has chosen her objects, and secured them, and keeps them in spite of men or devils, and “the Lord knoweth them that are
his.” I earnestly hope that my reader has the
divine assurance on the authority of the word of God, that
his sins are forgiven, that he is justified by faith, has peace with God, and
has received the Holy Spirit.
But the “FOUNDATION
OF GOD” has
another seal - sometimes overlooked by those who rejoice in the first. “Let every one
that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity.”
It cannot be said that anyone is on the “foundation of God” unless he is acting upon this solemn
injunction. No one can calmly and
steadfastly stand for God in an evil day like this except as he acts on this
principle. To remain in association with iniquity is to nullify all our power
to testify against it, and those who do so in hope that they may be able to do
something to stem the current of evil, only vex themselves and prove their own
weakness; and in the end they either become soured in spirit by continual
contentions or for peace sake they tolerate and acquiesce in the evil. In a day like this the only divine path is
one of unhesitating obedience
to the word of God.*
Human
reason and natural feeling may suggest innumerable arguments to defer obedience
to a word like this. Another course may
seem better calculated to attain the end in view. But human expediency and policy are unknown
things in the region of faith. Faith’s
inquiry is. What saith the
Scripture? What saith the Lord? Faith hears His voice only to obey it. Now, can my reader look this scripture
honestly in the face: “Let every one that nameth the Lord depart from iniquity”?
[* NOTE. “To-day’s
toil,” says D. M. Panton, “is the measure of
to-morrow’s glory: 1 Cor.
3: 8; Matt. 5: 11, 12: and the running-tracts for the ‘prize’ God has laid through
these channels of holy service.”]
I do not wish to lead anyone to take a single step beyond the
measure of light and faith which the Lord has given him, but I ask, Are you going on with anything which in your faith and
conscience you know to be contrary to the mind of the Lord? If God has given you light by His word and
Spirit, it is a serious thing to trifle with it. Every ray of divine light which we receive is
given to us that it may, first of all, be applied in self-judgment so
that we ourselves are delivered by the truth and by the Spirit’s
power from motives and principles which are not according to God; and,
secondly, to enable us to judge of our associations and surroundings from a
divine standpoint.
Many Christians are sick at heart as they see the spread of
ritualism, the encroachments of worldliness, and the bold advance of infidelity
under a religious guise. The “iniquity”
is clearly seen; its character is known; it is sorrowed over; but
it is gone on with. The sharp
edge of the scripture we are considering is not allowed to sever the link of
association with that which is evil.
Is it any wonder that the Spirit is grieved, that piety declines, and
souls make no spiritual progress? It is
impossible for one to expect increase of light or blessing from the Lord so
long as this plain word is disregarded.
Many have said to me, “I do not know what to do.”
Well, here is a plain word of direction.
You cannot say that it is obscure or unintelligible. It does not require much learning, wisdom, or
research to understand it. It only
requires the obedience of a heart subject to the Lord. “Let EVERY ONE that nameth the name of the Lord DEPART FROM INIQUITY.”
Further, the Holy Spirit uses the figure of “a great house” to represent the condition of the professing
church in the evil days of which He speaks and in the midst of which we are now
living, and He says that some vessels therein are “to honour and
some to dishonour.” Then follows
another solemn and searching word for the conscience of everyone who seeks to
be faithful unto the Lord. “If a man therefore purge himself from these” - vessels to dishonour – “he
shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master’s use, and
prepared unto every good work.”
It has often been remarked that the word here translated “purge” only occurs twice n the New Testament
- in 1 Corinthians 5: 7, and in the scripture
before us. At
A man who holds, teaches, and maintains what is contrary to
the word of God is a “vessel to dishonour.” Charity and
liberality have no place when the truth of God is in question. We must not excuse error on the ground of the
sincerity of the one who holds it. Truth
is of God, and whatever is contrary to it is of the father of lies. If you remain in association with those who
pervert or deny the truth, you lend your sanction to what they teach or hold,
and you fail to be a witness to the truth.
You cannot do this without an immeasurable loss to your own soul, as
well as dishonour to the Lord. Moreover,
your continued association with vessels to dishonour indicates that the Lord’s
claims and the truth of God have but little hold upon your conscience and
heart.
You may say that if this were acted upon it would lead to many
professedly Christian congregations being forsaken by all true Christians. I believe it would, and such testimony would
have its own solemn and weighty effect.
Whereas if Christians remain and countenance by their presence,
worldliness, ritualism, infidelity, or Unitarianism, they are helping to
deceive the unsaved around them by leading them to suppose that such things are
all right. That which is contrary to the
truth, whether it be in practice or in doctrine, must he dishonouring to the
Lord, and those who maintain such things are without doubt “vessels to
dishonour.” The scripture leaves no doubt as to the
course which a faithful one should pursue in reference to such persons. “If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour,
sanctified, and meet for the master’s use.”
Do you not covet the honour from God of which these words speak?
“Flee also youthful lusts” is the next solemn injunction of the
Holy Spirit in this connection, and never was the word more seasonable than it
is to-day. Does it not seem in some quarters as if the gratification of these lusts
was a part of Christianity, or at least might be made subservient to spiritual
ends? What is the object of all the
concerts, entertainments, and worldly amusements - which are so often organised
in connection with professedly Christian bodies - but the direct gratification
of “youthful lusts”? What is ritualism
with its imposing ceremonial but an appeal to the lust of the eye? and everybody knows how attractive it has proved, especially
to the young. The thirst for something
new is another lust which generally burns ardently in youthful bosoms, and to
gratify this longing for novelty the old anchorages of faith and conscience are
left, and all kinds of speculations and theories are substituted for the solid
verities of the word of God. I believe
that all such things are included under the head of “youthful
lusts,” as well as
those darker passions which have so often played havoc with spiritual life.
Thus far we have been occupied with the negative side of the
path of faith; the faithful one must “depart from iniquity,” he must “purge himself” from vessels to dishonour, and he
must “flee youthful lusts.”
But there is positive occupation of heart for him
likewise, and that, too, in association with those whom the Lord approves.
“Follow
righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a
pure heart.” RIGHTEOUSNESS
is to do the will of God and to seek His glory.
FAITH is that divine
principle by which we are able to walk with God and to please Him, even if we
have no human support whatever. LOVE in God is the sovereign source of
all blessing - an eternal spring which never fails whatever state the church
may be reduced to; and LOVE in us is
the divine nature in virtue of which we can, by the Spirit, walk in love as
imitators of God whatever may be the state of things around us. PEACE is
that holy calm which can only be known when our own wills are judged and
displaced, and our hearts seek only the will of God. What precious objects of pursuit for the
Christian! Righteousness, giving God His right place in
everything; Faith, maintaining us as dependent ones in the paths of
righteousness; Love, the spring of everything, so that obedience flows out of
divine affections, and is not a mere cold sense of duty; and Peace keeping our hearts and ruling there in
spite of every storm around! Take
courage, then, beloved Christians! These
are the things which the Lord sets before you and which He would have your
heart to pursue. No amount of evil, and
no development of the ripening apostasy, can hinder you from following “righteousness,
faith, love, peace,” if your heart desires to go after
them. The Lord would not have you to
dwell upon the evil, but to judge it and forsake it that you may follow and
cleave to that which is good and of Himself. This must be your individual path whatever
others say or do. If you could not find another to walk with you or to approve of your
course, it would still be your privilege and your responsibility to “follow righteousness, faith, love, peace.”
The scripture we are looking at does not lead us to suppose that we shall he isolated from all
Christians, for it tells us to “follow ... with them that call on the Lord out of
a pure heart.” Does not this indicate that in the darkest
days and in the most perilous times there will still be not only faithful individuals,
but a company with whom we may be associated in a bond of divine
fellowship? It is a pledge to us from
the Lord that if we are, through His grace, exercised in heart and seeking to
do His will, we shall find others in whom the same
grace is working. We may not know them -
they may not be very prominent - but it should become our business to seek them
out. If the Holy Spirit has led you into
the knowledge of the truth in any measure, you will be able to recognise His
leading and teaching in others. There are some trying to find the right company of Christians with
whom to be associated who need, in the first place, to get into the presence of
God about their own spiritual condition, and if they got personally right with
the Lord three-fourths of their difficulties would be solved at once.
It is often urged, even by those who admit the excellence of
divine principles, that it is a practical impossibility to carry them out in
these days; but this is a solemn thing to say.
If this be admitted as true, the Christian is no longer to be under the
authority of the Lord, or to obey the word of God. On the contrary, when he reads plain words
such as we have been looking at in 2 Timothy, he is, after all, to use his own judgment as to whether he
will obey them or not. If obedience does
not suit his inclination, or the spirit of the times, he may disobey, and
excuse himself on the ground that it is a practical impossibility to act upon
the will of the Lord! To state such an
argument in plain words is sufficient to refute it for every heart that loves
to hear and obey the voice of the Lord.
Imprisonment, torture, and death were not sufficient to turn aside the
noble army of martyrs from the path of subjection and obedience. They might often have saved their lives by
the surrender of fidelity in what might be called things of minor importance. Alas! in our easy times the displeasure of
relatives or friends, the loss of business or occupation, the reluctance to
break away from old associations, often have a power to hinder fidelity to
Christ greater than that of the dungeon or the stake in their days.
I am also aware that it will be said that those who have
attempted to act upon divine principles have failed quite as much as
others. What does the failure
prove? Nothing but the simple fact that
divine principles can only be carried out in divine power,*
and if God’s people are not really walking by faith and in the Spirit, the more
scriptural the principles on which they profess to act, the more inconsistent
will they be in carrying them out.* But a devoted heart would never make
the failure of others an excuse for disobedience. If we really loved the Lord, the more we saw
others fail to carry out His mind, the more we should seek, through grace, to
carry it out ourselves. The one
all-important consideration is that “the grace which is in Christ Jesus”
is a sufficient resource for the most difficult days. Let us not forget that we are commended to “GOD and the word of his grace,” Acts
20: 32. Surely no Christian would venture to say that
GOD is not able to maintain us in
the path of obedience to His word! It is
well, on the other hand, to remember that we can only walk in this path as we
are maintained by divine grace and power.
[*NOTE. See Acts 5: 32.
“It were
impossible, inconceivable” - writes Mr.
G. H. Lang in ‘The Personal Indwelling of the
Holy Spirit’ - “that the Philistines could
have destroyed the tabernacle or Chaldeans the temple so long as the God of glory was in residence. It is equally inconceivable that Satan could
have destroyed the body of the incestuous brother at Corinth, or other carnal
Christians there, so long as the Spirit
of God was in residence in them (1 Cor. 5: 5; 11: 30). Types
and histories agree to teach a withdrawal of the Spirit followed by a
destruction deserved. Twice it is
affirmed in the Epistles that covetousness is idolatry, (Eph. 5: 5; Col. 3: 5). …
Nor can it be questioned that upon many a once Spirit-energized life there stands the dread notice ‘Ichabod,’ the glory
is departed (1
Sam. 4: 21). As with an individual Christian so with a church. To the Laodiceans
the Lord speaks as from outside the
house knocking for admission (Rev. 3: 20). The Ephesians were
warned of impending destruction as a church: ‘I came unto thee’ (so that He was not then dwelling among them), ‘and will move thy lampstand out of its place, except thou repent’ (Rev. 2: 5).”
See also the same truth taught in D. M. Panton’s ‘Power
lost and Recovered.’
“Unshorn locks
falling down picture the descent of the Spirit, drenching him as the sacred Oil
did Aaron; seven locks (Judges 16: 19), the plenitude of power; and locks
untouchable, as the God-given symbol of
his Nazarite consecration and the sole secret of his strength. The Nazarite who put a razor to his head knew
that he had lost his consecration. ‘Nazarite’
means ‘separated,’ separated to God, a man whose power dwells solely in his
separation; and the power remains so long as (contact with a corpse being
forbidden) he is ‘out of touch’ with a dead world…”]
‘Samson wist not THAT THE LORD HAD DEPARTED FROM HIM.’ Faculties that get numbed by sin, get numbed also ‘sensing’
the Spirit. No outward event announced it; no great convulsion, no
ringing alarum: while he was asleep the power departed. A Christian worker can flatter himself, in
the midst of his lusts, that his power is as it was in his consecration; but in
the agony of the supreme need of the power, with everything at stake, in full
view of a lifework’s ruin, on the edge of a scandal to the world of the first
magnitude, Samson shakes himself - and the power is gone.”]
The sectarian divisions of the church are often excused or
justified on the ground that all Christians can never be made to see alike, and
divisions amongst those who have professed to take an un-sectarian position are
pointed to as proof positive of the assertion.
But the important question is, not how we or our brethren see things,
but how
does the Lord see them? If there
are a thousand different judgments amongst His saints, and they are divided in
a thousand different companies, it is still true that the Lord has not two
different judgments about the same thing, and those who are near enough to Him
to have His mind will undoubtedly be “perfectly
joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment,” 1 Corinthians 1: 10. Everything thus becomes a test of our
spiritual condition, for if we are not going on with the Lord in humility and
self-judgment how can we expect to know His mind? It was said to the Corinthians, “There must be
also sects among you, that they which are approved may be made
manifest among you,” 1 Corinthians 11: 19.
A division amongst saints is the proof that some of them, at least, have
failed to discern the mind of the Lord as to the matter in question. Outwardly the one company may retain as
correct a form as the other, but their whole position is founded upon the fact
that in certain things they have not known the mind of the Lord; that is, they
have acted upon their own mind and judgment instead of His. Who would say that in a company professing to
“call
on the Lord out of a pure heart,” it was a matter of no consequence whether they had His mind
or not on any subject that caused difficulty or division? It is impossible for any spiritual person to
suppose that a company is gathered to the Lord’s name, if that company owes its
existence to the fact that the individuals who compose it have failed to
discern His mind and judgment on a matter
serious enough to cause division amongst His saints. Such a company owes its existence to the fact
that man’s mind and judgment have been allowed to determine the question, and
this is the very thing that has given rise to the countless sects of
Christendom. Such a company is
essentially sectarian - however much it may profess the contrary - and will necessarily
be found defective in the knowledge and maintenance of the truth according to
God.
No question should be of greater interest and importance for
those who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity than whether it is possible
for us in these last days to be found in a divine position. Something far removed from the endless
diversity of human opinion. Can you
believe that the Lord has so forsaken His own that it is not possible to be
found to-day in a position according to His mind? Through His grace, it is possible to be found
in such a position, and I trust that there may be kindled in christian
hearts an intense desire to be thus found.
Thank God! He will not
fail nor forsake those who in loyalty of heart to Christ desire to be found in
the path of faith. Whatever be the difficulties and complications, they are not too
great for divine power and wisdom; and if they serve to cast us upon God, they
are blessings in disguise. “To the
upright there ariseth light in darkness.” “The meek will he guide
in judgment; the meek will he teach his way.”
In conclusion, I appeal to the Christian reader not to think
lightly of the privilege which, through the grace of God, lies within his
reach. Be not content to have the
knowledge and assurance of salvation and Christian blessings, but covet
earnestly to be found in the true path of faith. The Lord’s return is very nigh. May we be found with our loins girded, our
lights burning, and we ourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord! “Behold, I come quickly: hold
that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown,” Revelation 3: 11.
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