In Job we have a very rare specimen of a man. He was perfect, upright, God-fearing, and He
eschewed evil. But Job needed to be tested. There was a deep moral root in his heart which had
to be laid bare. There was self-righteousness which had to be brought to the surface and judged.
Indeed, we may discern this root in Job’s words quoted in chapter one:"It may be that my sons
have sinned." He does not seem to contemplate the possibility of sinning himself. A soul really
self-judged, thoroughly broken before God, truly sensible of its own state, tendencies, and
capabilities, would think of his own sins, and his own need of a burnt-offering.

Now, let the reader distinctly understand that Job was a real saint of God, a divinely quickened
soul, a possessor of divine and eternal life. But with all this, Job had never sounded the depths of
his own heart. He did not know himself. He had never really grasped the truth of his own utter
ruin and total depravity. He had never learned to say, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh)
dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18).

* * *

There is no more fruitful field of study than that which is opened before us in the history of God’s
dealing with souls. One grand object in those dealings is to produce real broken-ness and
humility_to strip us of all false righteousness, empty us of all self-confidence, and teach us to lean
wholly upon Christ. All have to pass through what may be called the process of stripping and
emptying. With some this process precedes, with others it follows, conversion or the new birth.
Many are brought to Christ through deep plowings and painful exercises of heart and
conscience_exercises extending over years, often over the whole lifetime. Others, on the
contrary, are brought with comparatively little exercise of soul. They lay hold speedily of the glad
tidings of forgiveness of sins through the atoning death of Christ, and are made happy at once. But
the stripping and emptying come afterward, and, in many cases, cause the soul to totter on its
foundation, and almost to doubt its conversion.

This is very painful, but very needful. The fact is, self must be learned and judged, sooner or
later. If it be not learned in communion with God, it must be learned by bitter experience in
failures and falls. "No flesh shall glory in His presence"; and we must all learn our utter
powerlessness, in every respect, in order that, we may taste the sweetness and comfort of the truth
that Christ is made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. God
will have broken material.

* * *

One special want of the present moment is brokenness of spirit. Nine-tenths of our trouble and
difficulty may be traced to this want. It is marvelous how well we get on from day to day_in the
family, in the assembly, at work, in our entire practical life_when self is subdued and mortified.
A thousand things which otherwise would prove more than a match for our hearts are esteemed
as nothing when our souls are in a truly contrite state. We are enabled to bear reproach and insult,
to overlook slights and affronts, to give up our crotchets and prejudices, to yield to others where

weighty principle is not involved, to be ready to every good work, and to exhibit a genial large-
heartedness in all our dealings, all of which so greatly tend to adorn the doctrine of God our
Saviour. How often, alas! it is otherwise with us. We exhibit a stiff, unyielding temper; we stand
up for our rights; we maintain our interests; we look after our own things; we contend for our own
notions. All this proves very clearly that self is not habitually measured and judged in the presence
of God.

* * *

We are disposed to marvel as the eye scans the record of the remarkable discussion between Job
and his friends. We are amazed to find close to a hundred references to Job himself in chapters
29-31 alone. In short, it is all "1" from beginning to end.

But let us look to ourselves. Let us judge our own hearts in their deeper workings. Let us review
our ways in the light of the divine presence. Let us bring all our work and service and have it
weighed in the holy balances of the sanctuary of God. Then shall we discover how much of hateful
self is insinuated, like a dark, defiling tissue, into the whole web of our Christian life and service.
How, for example, does it come to pass that we are so ready to mount the high horse when self
is touched, even in the most remote degree? Why are we so impatient of reproof, be it clothed in
language ever so refined and gentle? Why so ready to take offense at the slightest disparagement
of self? And, further, why is it that we find our sympathies, our regards, our favoritism, going
out with special energy to those who think well of us, who value our ministry, who agree with our
opinions?

Do not all these things tell a tale? Do they not prove to us that, before we condemn the egotism
of Job, we should seek to get rid of a vast amount of our own?

On the other hand, when we feel called upon to approach another in the attitude and tone of’
reproof, with what rudeness, coarseness, and harshness we discharge the necessary work! How
little softness of tone or delicacy of touch! How little of the tender and the soothing! How little
of the "excellent oil"! How little of the broken heart and weeping eye! What little ability to bring
our erring brother down into the dust! Why is this? Simply because we are not habitually in the
dust ourselves. If, on the one hand, we fail quite as much as Job in the matter of egotism and self-
vindication, so on the other, we prove ourselves fully as incompetent as Job’s friends to produce
self-judgment in our brother.

* * *

The real secret of all Job’s false reasoning is to be found in the fact that he did not understand the
character of God, or the object of all His dealings. He did not see that God was trying him, that
He was behind the scenes and using various agents for the accomplishment of His wise and
gracious ends. God was dealing with Job. He was trying him in order that He might instruct him,
withdraw him from his purpose, and hide pride from him (Job 33:16,17).

This is immensely important for us all. We are all of us prone to forget the weighty fact that "God

trieth the righteous." We are in His hands, and under His eye continually. We
are the objects of His deep, tender, and unchanging love; but we are also the subjects of His wise
moral government. His dealings with us are varied. They are sometimes preventive; sometimes
corrective; always instructive.

* * *

"Then Job answered the Lord, and said, I know that thou canst do every thing, and that no thought
can be withholden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge? Therefore have
I uttered that I understood not; things too wonderful for me, which I knew not. Hear, I beseech
thee, and I will speak:I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by
the hearing of the ear:but now mine eye seeth thee" (Job 42:1-5).

Here, then, was the turning point. All his previous statements as to God and His ways are now
pronounced to be "words without knowledge." What a confession! What a moment in man’s
history when he discovers that he has been all wrong! What a thorough break-down! What
profound humiliation! It reminds us of Jacob getting the hollow of his thigh touched, and thus
learning his utter weakness and nothingness. These are weighty moments in the history of souls_
great epochs, which leave an indelible impression on the whole moral being and character. To get
right thoughts about God is to begin to get right about everything. If I am wrong about God, I am
wrong about myself, wrong with my fellows, wrong about all.

Thus it was with Job. His new thoughts as to God were immediately connected with new thoughts
of himself; and hence we find that the elaborate self-vindication, the impassioned egotism, the
vehement self-congratulation, the lengthy arguments in self-defense_all is laid aside. All is
displaced by one short sentence of three words, "I am vile." And what is to be done with this vile
self? Talk about it? Set it up? Be occupied with it? Take counsel for it? Make provision for it? No.
"I abhor myself."

The two things must go together:"Mine eye seeth Thee," and "wherefore I abhor myself."

* * *

When Job got right as to God and himself, he soon got right as to his friends, for he learned to
pray for them. Yes, he could pray for the "miserable comforters," the "physicians of no value,"
the very men with whom he had so long, so stoutly, and so vehemently contended! "And the Lord
turned the captivity of Job, when he prayed for his friends."

This is morally beautiful. It is perfect. It is the rare and exquisite fruit of divine workmanship.
Nothing can be more touching than to see Job’s three friends exchanging their experience, their
tradition, and their legality for the precious "burnt-offering"; and to see our dear patriarch Job
exchanging his bitter invectives for the sweet prayer of love. In short, it is a most soul-subduing
scene altogether. The combatants are in the dust before God and in each other’s arms. The strife
is ended; the war of words is closed; and instead thereof, we have the tears of repentance, the
sweet odor of the burnt-offering, the embrace of love.

(From "Job and His Friends," in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 1.)

Sometimes it is asked, "What steps should be taken to show a Christian in one of the
denominations, who is exercised about his position, what is his right place?" First, it may be
remarked that persons in different conditions of soul require different dealings, so that it is needful
to present the truth from the viewpoint suited to the condition. Thus both wisdom and grace must
be exercised according to the case in hand. There are, however, certain well-defined features
which may be emphasized.

1. To be associated with a denomination involves adherence to a party-name, to a form of creed
or teaching, usually with some particular tenet to which special emphasis is given. Such a position
practically denies the unity formed by the Holy Spirit_the Body of Christ into which all God’s
children now are baptized by the Spirit, and so united to Christ as the Head.

There is no name to own, therefore, but that of Christ; no creed to subscribe to but the Word of
God; no special doctrine to enforce, but all Scripture owned and bowed to as the only standard
to govern our life, our doctrine, and fellowship. (See 1 Cor. 12:12-20; Eph. 4:1-12; Rom.
12:4,5.)

2. The concentration of ministry in one man who is given control for worship and service (as is
usual in the denominational organizations) is a practical denial of the Holy Spirit as the Director
of, and Leader in, the activities of God’s people. Individual Christian liberty in worship and
service is shut out, contrary to the Word (see 1 Cor. 14:26-40). It is the prerogative of the Holy
Spirit to lead the saints, apart from human presidency or expediency.

3. Necessity is made, in denominational organizations, that all ministry of the Word and direction
of worship be through a humanly ordained and authorized person. This is a denial of Christ’s
authority and power to give distinct gifts to His members here, manifested and accredited by the
Spirit’s leading, apart from human authorization, though owned and recognized by the Church as
such when manifested (Eph. 4:7-16).

4. The promiscuous fellowship of believers and unbelievers which characterizes
denominations_against which little guard is maintained_denies, or nullifies, the teaching of the
Word as to the separation of God’s people from the world, its principles and ways. It was the
admixture of Israel with the nations and their ways that wrought ruin in Israel; the admixture of
the world with the Church is a greater evil, and works a correspondingly worse ruin. Scripture
has especially warned us as to it. See 2 Cor. 6:11-18. Coupled with these things, evil teachers are
allowed, while there is little effort to maintain the government and discipline which becomes
God’s house.

These considerations should show us that as to both position and character, human organizations
in the Church displace and dishonor Christ as the Head and Center of His people, as well as the
Holy Spirit as the One who forms and dwells in the Church, and the Word of God as the charter
and guide for the Christian company.

What, then, is the proper Scriptural course for the Christian in the denominations? On the basis
of 2 Timothy 2:20,21 it is separation. And what is that place of separation? It is obedience to the
directions God has given in His Word for His people who belong to the Church, the Body of
Christ:

1. It is to own no name but that of Christ (1 Cor. 1:12,13); to gather to Him alone. It is to refuse
membership in any so-called church organization of human devising, because Scripture speaks of
membership only in the Body of which Christ is the Head (1 Cor. 12:13), which is the true and
only Church.

2. It is to recognize that the Lord’s supper is the feast which must be kept holy in character and
associations, where the Lord by His Word is to rule. It is to be separate from what refuses His
order, denies the truth, or would link us with such things.

3. It is to recognize the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit, refuse man-made authority over
God’s people, and refuse human ordination to office and ministry. Acknowledging these things,
it is to practice them in separation from what denies them, in the simplicity of apostolic days
exemplified in the Acts and as taught in the Epistles.

4. It is to recognize and walk with all who confess the faith, live godlily, and are free from
associations which are contrary to the principles of the Word which we are enjoined to keep,
gathering to the Lord as our Head and only Center, in obedience to the truths above mentioned
(2 Timothy 2:21, 22). It is to practically exhibit these truths amid the general departure and
ruin_not with pretension of being "the people," but in humility and confession of weakness and
failure.

Companies gathered after this fashion have the responsibility and authority to act for the Lord
within the limits of His Word. God’s house is holy, and His people are responsible to maintain
God’s holy character in His house.

(Ed. note:The following is a transcription of an address given at Cedar Falls, Iowa, on August
27, 1972.)

Let us look first of all at the last chapter of the book of Job and the tenth verse:"And Jehovah
turned the captivity of Job when he had prayed for his friends" (JND). That seems to me to be
significant:The Lord did not turn the captivity of Job at the time Job repented of the wrong
thoughts that he had, when God showed him more clearly what he was. His captivity was turned
when he prayed for his friends.

I think this bears on the fellowship we have in Christ with one another. In James 5:16 we read:
"Confess your faults [offenses (JND)] one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be
healed." There has been a good deal of prayer at this conference asking the Lord for expressions
of unity; that God would in practice make us one, of one mind; that we would show forth the love
of Christ to one another. I think that the best way we can do this is to pray for one another.

Also, I believe that the first part of this verse pertains to our personal attempt to do away with
what is of the flesh when it says, "Confess your faults [offenses] one to another." We all have
faults. And we do not like to admit it, but our faults often offend and irritate each other. Our
response in the flesh to this is to gossip about each other, to criticize each other, and to accuse
each other.

Because of our pride, it is not easy to confess our faults to each other. It is our natural tendency
to hide our faults from each other; to pretend that we are better than we really are; to pretend that
we have more spiritual strength than we feel we really have; to pretend that the Lord is leading
us when in fact He may not be.

Among us it can be an "in" thing to be led of the Lord or to act spiritually. And I confess for
myself that there have been times when I have deceived others, letting them think that I was at
their spiritual state because that seemed to be what they expected of me. But what do we have
here? It says, "Confess your faults one to another."

No doubt if we follow this verse we will be greatly strengthened. We are, as we have also prayed,
very weak. We can see this feebleness moment by moment in our activities in fellowship with each
other. I think here not so much of faults that we can take offense at, but of little failings in the
conduct of our fellow believers that allow us to think less of them. Yet if our response to this is
a spiritual one, our first instinct will be to pray for them, not to belittle them.

Something else that has been very striking to me is simply that we are encouraged to pray. We
think of that verse which says that God will give us above all that we shall ask or think (Eph.
3:20). If this is so, why pray? If God already knows our needs, and if He already has made the
means of providing them, why do we then need to ask Him for things? There may be better
thoughts than this, but my judgment is simply that it keeps us in dependence on Him. We need
to be dependent on Him through prayer for everything that we need in our natural life; so also in

our fellowship, we need to be dependent on Him through prayer for every aspect of this
fellowship.

In this connection, let us look in Luke 12. In verse 22 we find that Christ has just finished telling
a parable about a very rich man who was concerned only with his material goods here on earth.
"And he said to his disciples, For this cause I say unto you, Be not careful for life, what ye shall
eat, nor for the body, what ye shall put on. The life is more than food, and the body than raiment.
Consider the ravens, that they sow not nor reap; which have neither storehouse nor granary; and
God feeds them. How much better are ye than the birds? But which of you by being careful can
add to his stature one cubit? If therefore ye cannot do even what is least, why are ye careful about
the rest?" (JND)

This, too, is very striking. It seems to be a great thing to add a cubit to our stature; it seems to be
a great thing to work miracles, because we do not have the power to do them. But we little realize
that neither do we have the power to feed ourselves or to clothe ourselves. We do not realize it
because God, in His love, has provided these things for us within easy grasp. Yet it is more of a
miracle that He provides these things than if He might cause us to grow in stature. That is why
it says here, "If ye cannot do even what is least, why are ye careful about the rest?"

If we can be thus dependent on God for even what we consider to be the smallest details of our
life, our daily food and clothing, surely we can also depend on Him for the smallest details of our
fellowship.

In connection with our dealing with the offenses of others, I think too of that verse in Titus 3:"A
man that is an heretic after the first and second admonition reject." The word that struck me here
is "admonition." It does not say "accusation"; it does not say "rebuke." It says "admonition." That
is a very gentle word for one that is a heretic.

Now why are we told to admonish him rather than to rebuke him? I believe it is because the Lord
knows us. He knows our nature and He knows that our response in the flesh to law is rebellion.
And he knows what our response to each other is when we try to lord it over each other. A word
is sufficient, as we have had in our Bible readings, "a word of wisdom" (1 Cor. 12:8). If the Lord
gives us a word of wisdom, and it is for correction, we can consider this to be an admonition.

Why is it not necessary to do more than admonish such a person? It is because God has that person
in His power. If that person is one of God’s own, ha is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, and God can
deal with that person in a far more effective way than we ever can. That is why it says in James
5:16, "Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed."

If you are offended by one of your brothers, I believe that your first duty is to pray for him. (The
next step, as given in Matt. 18:15, is to "go and tell him his fault"_Ed.) If you have offended one
of your brothers, your first duty is to confess it to him. This is very simple, yet how often do we
fail to carry it out.

What greater way is there to weld the fellowship together into one body than moment by moment

bearing the needs of our brethren before the Lord? And if there is any weakness or division among
us, I think we can lay it to the fact that we have not been following this verse (James 5:16).

"The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. Elias was a man subject to like
passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain:and it rained not on the earth
by the space of three years and six months" (James 5:16,17).

"And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God
of Israel liveth, before whom 1 stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according
to my word" (1 Kings 17:1).

The verse just quoted from 1 Kings gives us Elijah’s first appearance in public. But the Spirit, in
James, has graciously furnished us with the account of a yet earlier stage in Elijah’s history, and
one full of instruction to us. In 1 Kings, Elijah is introduced in a way which might seem abrupt.
He is presented to us as at once boldly entering upon his sphere of labor with the grand and
solemn announcement of God’s chastening hand upon Israel. But we are not told in this place
anything of the prophet’s previous exercise, of how he came to learn how the Lord would have
him to speak. It is the New Testament writer, James, who lets us into the secret of Elijah’s prayer
to God, before he ever came out in active service before man.

Now, if the Holy Spirit had not informed us about this important fact, by the pen of James, we
should have lacked a very powerful incentive to prayer. But Scripture is divinely perfect, lacking
nothing that it ought to have, and having nothing that it ought to lack. Hence it is that James tells
us of Elijah’s secret moments of prayer and wrestling, when he had, no doubt, mourned over the
lamentable state of things in Israel, and also fortified his spirit for the part he was about to act.

This circumstance in the life of the prophet teaches us a very profitable lesson. We live in a time
of more than usual barrenness and spiritual dearth. The state of the Church may well remind us
of Ezekiel’s valley of dry bones. We have not merely to cope with evils which have characterized
bygone ages, but also with the matured corruption of a time wherein the varied evils of the present
world have become connected with, and covered by, the cloak of Christian profession.

In such a condition of things, what is the resource of the faithful one? Prayer:patient, persevering
prayer; secret communion with God; deep and real exercise of soul in His presence. Only in His
presence can we arrive at a true estimate of ourselves and things around us, and obtain spiritual
power to act for God among our brethren or toward the world without. Elias was a man of like
passions with us and he found himself in the midst of dark apostasy and widespread alienation of
heart from God. He saw the tide of evil rising around him, and the light of truth fast fading away.
The altar of Baal had displaced the altar of Jehovah and the cries of the priests of Baal had
drowned the sacred songs of the Levites. In a word, the whole thing was one vast mass of ruin
before his view. He felt it; he wept over it; he did more:"He prayed earnestly."

Here was the sure unfailing resource of the grieved prophet. He retreated into the presence of
God, he poured out his spirit there, and wept over the ruin and sorrow of his beloved people. He
was really concerned about the sad condition of things around him, and therefore prayed about

it_prayed as he ought, not coldly, formally, or occasionally, but "earnestly," and perseveringly.

This is a blessed example for us. Never was there a time when fervent prayer was so much needed
in the Church of God as at this moment. The devil seems to be exerting all his malignant power
to crush the spirits and hinder the activities of the people of God; with some, he makes use of their
public engagements; with others, their domestic trials; and with others, personal sorrow and
conflict.

But Elijah was not merely called to pass unscathed, as an individual, through the evil. He was
called to exert an influence upon others; he was called to act for God in a degenerate age; he had
to make an effort to bring his nation back to the God of their fathers. How much more, therefore,
did he need to seek the Lord in private, to gather up spiritual strength in the presence of God,
whereby alone he could not only escape himself, but be made an instrument of blessing to others
also. Elijah felt all this, and therefore "he prayed earnestly that it might not rain."

Thus it was he brought God into the scene, and God did not fail him. "It rained not." God will
never refuse to act when faith addresses Him on the ground of His own glory, and we know it was
simply upon this ground that the prophet addressed Him. It could afford Elijah no pleasure to see
the land turned into a parched and sterile wilderness, or his brethren wasted by famine and all its
attendant horrors. No, it was simply to turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, to bring the
nation back to its early faith, to eradicate those principles of error which had taken fast hold of
the minds of the people. For such ends as these did the prophet pray earnestly that it might not
rain, and God hearkened and heard, because the prayer was the offspring of His Spirit in the soul
of His dear servant.

(From "Life and Times of Elijah" in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol. 5.)

"Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord"(Phil. 3:1).

"Rejoice in the Lord alway:and again I say, Rejoice" (Phil. 4:4).

"Rejoice evermore" (1 Thess. 5:16).

"Giving thanks always for all things" (Eph. 5:20).

"Abounding therein with thanksgiving" (Col. 2:7).

"And be ye thankful" (Col. 3:15).

"Continue in prayer, and watch in the same with thanksgiving" (Col. 4:2).

"In every thing give thanks" (1 Thess. 5:18).

"I exhort therefore, that . . . giving of thanks be made for all men" (1 Tim. 2:1).

There are two things implied by the continual repetition in Scripture of the exhortations to rejoice
and give thanks. First, it is something which God obviously regards as important for His people.
Second, it is something which His people tend not to regard as important, and thus require
constant reminders as to its importance and necessity.

The words "rejoice" and "give thanks" are closely related words, coming from the same Greek
root. Both of these, in turn, are allied to the Greek word for "grace." Thus, we have expressed
in this group of words the action and attitude of the giver as well as the proper response on the
part of the recipient of the gift.

We, as believers in Christ, have been brought into relationship with a bountiful Giver, who has
given, does presently give, and will continue throughout eternity to give to us "exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think" (Eph. 3:20). How much do we thank the Lord for His
grace, and rejoice in Him who is the perfect Giver?

The apostle Paul, in writing to the Philippian saints, comments on several different sources of joy
to him and to the Philippians (1:4,5; 1:18; 1:25,26; 2:2; 2:17,18; 2:28; and 4:10). But in Phil.
3:1 and 4:4 he speaks of a rejoicing which is independent of all circumstances and conditions:
"Rejoice in the Lord" This implies a spirit of peace and contentment, satisfaction and happiness
that our God is a giving God and that He is above and in complete control of every circumstance
that passes into our lives.

In the verses quoted at the beginning of this article, we note the insistence upon an attitude of
continual rejoicing and thanksgiving. "Rejoice evermore." "Giving thanks always for all things."
Now this is quite contrary to the way most of us have been brought up. We are conditioned to give

thanks for those things which make us happy, the things which benefit us, the good things that
happen to us. But Scripture tells us, "In every thing give thanks." Many objections or exceptions
might be made to this point. How can I be thankful for the death of my child, my broken leg, the
trouble my teenager has gotten into, the loss of my job, the terrible injustice that has been done
to me, the theft of my car? A number of reasons for giving thanks in all things come to our
attention as we search the Scriptures.

1. Trials and adversities, if responded to in the right way, work in us patience and dependence
upon the Lord. "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this,
that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing" (James 1:2-4).

2. Trials and difficulties, along with all the circumstances of life which the Lord causes us to pass
through, are given with the view of our being sanctified wholly (1 Thess. 5:23) unto God and our
becoming more and more conformed to the image of His Son. "And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. For
whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His Son"
(Romans 8:28,29).

3. Adverse circumstances may often lead us into new spheres of service for the Lord_spheres
which we will recognize and in which we will be useful only if we respond to the trial with a
thankful spirit of dependence upon the God of all grace. Read Acts 16:22-34 about Paul and Silas
in prison at Philippi for a beautiful example of this.

4. Trials are often sent to us to help uncover to our blind hearts and hardened consciences some
sin that is in our lives. How good it is if the trial causes us to be cast upon the Lord and creates
in us an attitude of heart which He can deal with. And if the sin be uncovered and judged, what
blessing will follow! "My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou
art rebuked of Him:For whom the Lord loveth He chasteneth. . . . Now no chastening for the
present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous:nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit
of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby" (Heb. 12:5-11).

Therefore, rather than having a gloomy, depressed, despairing, unbelieving spirit concerning the
things which beset us, let us "rejoice in the Lord," "giving thanks always for all things." May we
become more in the habit of actually thanking the Lord for the adversities and difficulties which
come into our lives, having a spirit of peaceful confidence that all things are in His hands and that
"all things work together for good."

Now to some Christians, the "major" trials and tribulations of which we have been speaking pose
no great problem. Some of you may be quick to accept such trials as from the Lord and equally
quick to learn what He wants you to learn from the trial. But there is a different level of trials
which sometimes pose greater problems to the recipient than do the so-called "major" problems.
Such problems are the common irritations of life, the things that "don’t go our way." These are,
for example, the misplaced sweater, the spilled milk, the endless stream of telephone calls, the
unkind words, the flat tire, the keys locked in the car, the ants in the kitchen, the missed bus, the

colicky baby, the noisy neighbors, the burnt roast, the barking dogs, and so forth. How do we
respond to these things? Do we allow them to irritate us and make us impatient, angry, and
resentful? Or do we take them as from the Lord_take them peacefully and thankfully, being
assured that they are meant for our good?

May we thus learn to "count it all joy" when we experience various trials; may we be given the
ability to transform the irritations of life into sources of blessing and spiritual growth; may we take
heed to the commandment, "Rejoice in the Lord alway:and again I say, Rejoice."

"Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning; and ye yourselves like unto men that
wait for their lord, when he will return from the wedding; that when he cometh and knocketh,
they may open unto him immediately. Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh
shall find watching" (Luke 12:35-37).

Here is the proper attitude of the Christian. Is it yours? He Himself is the test beyond all else. It
is not consistent with faith to be concerned with anxiety about the things that perish. It is well to
be of good cheer, knowing His love and His purpose of glory for the little flock, tried and exposed
as it now is. But to be like men that wait for their own lord is a still more positive and decisive
test. It presupposes in a personal way faith working by love. Their treasure is in the heavens
where He is. They love Him because He first loved them. They do not forget Him in His absence;
they are not merely occupied with their work, for indeed their loins were girt about and their
lamps burning, but themselves are awaiting their own Lord. Nor again were they discussing dates,
nor were they on the lookout for political change, nor did they have their eyes fixed on signs in
the sun, moon, and stars. The Christian watches for Christ. Christ, the believer’s life, his
righteousness, his Saviour, his Lord, is gone with the promise of coming to receive him to
Himself. We know not how soon this will be, but we have His last message which proclaims that
He is coming quickly (Rev. 22:20).

Therefore, we would not doubt, but wait, content with the Word of Him who is the Truth and the
Faithful and True Witness. Long as it may seem, He is not slack concerning His promise, as some
count slackness, "but is longsuffering towards you, not willing that any should perish, but that all
should come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9 JND). As He is waiting, so should we be waiting; and
thus we keep the word of His patience and assure our hearts in the bright hope. Is He not worthy?
is not the hope well worth the while? and is it not deep consolation that meanwhile many hear His
voice, believe in His name, and thus join us in waiting for Him?

O my reader, if it be not so with you, where are you, and what are you doing? You well know
whether you are waiting for the Lord Jesus; surely others, even the world, can accurately judge
whether this is your habitual attitude. The Lord recognizes no other object of hope in His own.
This is also the chief responsibility as His bondmen. Be assured that other duties will be done all
the better, because this has the first and constant place. Read all the New Testament and see if this
hope be not bound up with every joy and sorrow, with the walk and work and worship of the
Christian, who found in Him the Object of faith when he was a lost sinner, and now as a saint has
none other as his Hope. If you believe in Him, be not untrue to Him as your Hope, but judge
yourself in every thing that hinders your waiting for Him day by day.

(From The Bible Treasury, Vol. 1, New Series, page 292.)

FRAGMENT
How long, O heavenly Bridegroom,
How long wilt Thou delay?
And yet how few are grieving

That Thou dost absent stay!
O may our lamps be burning,
Our loins well girded be,
Each longing heart preparing
With joy Thy face to see!

Jehoshaphat, King of Judah, is introduced to our notice in 2 Chronicles 17. In this chapter we find
God in His grace establishing His servant in the kingdom, and the people of God acknowledging
him therein. Jehoshaphat’s first act was to "strengthen himself against Israel." This is worthy of
notice, for Israel and Israel’s king were ever a snare to the heart of Jehoshaphat in later years of
his reign. But in the beginning of his reign, in the season of his early freshness, he was able to
fortify his kingdom against the power of Israel.

Now, one frequently observes this in the lives of Christians. The evils which in later life prove
their greatest snares are those against which there is the greatest watchfulness at first. Most happy
is it when the spirit of watchfulness increases with our increasing knowledge of the tendencies and
capabilities of our hearts. But this is not always the case. On the contrary, we frequently find
Christians of some years standing indulging in things which at first their consciences would have
shrunk from. This may seem to be the result of leaving behind a legal spirit, but should it not
rather be viewed as the result of leaving behind a tender and sensitive conscience? It would be sad
if the result of enlarged views were a careless spirit or a seared conscience, or if high principles
of truth only tended to render those who were once self-denying and separated, self-indulgent,
careless, and worldly. But it is not so. To grow in the knowledge of truth is to grow in the
knowledge of God, and to grow in the knowledge of God is to grow in practical holiness. The
conscience that can let pass without reproof things from which it would formerly have shrunk is,
we fear, under the hardening influence of the deceitfulness of sin, instead of being under the action
of the truth of God.

(From "Jehoshaphat" in Miscellaneous Writings, Vol.1.)

"For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things
done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad" (2 Cor. 5:10).

This is clearly applicable to either a believer or an unbeliever.* An unbeliever has nothing but
what is bad, nothing but unmingled evil to his record. He who despises the name and precious
blood of Christ is judged and cast into the lake of fire.

*Ed. Note:For the unbeliever, this will be the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11),
which will occur a thousand years after the manifestation of believers at the judgment seat of
Christ.

In the believer, on the other hand, there is both good and bad. The Lord will fully own and reward
whatever has been the fruit of the Holy Spirit working in the believer’s soul and in his ways. But
as to the bad, it will be the believer’s own deep and thankful satisfaction, not merely to know it
blotted out as a matter of guilt against his soul, but to find himself brought into perfect communion
with the Lord about it. He will thoroughly see and judge according to God concerning it all. If
there has been a single thing offensive to God which self-love or haste or will has blinded him to
in this life, he will then know it even as he is known. So far from causing a single waver in his
affections, so far from raising any doubt or question of God’s perfect grace to his soul, it would
be positive loss if the believer were not thus brought into oneness with

God’s mind and judgment about all that he has done here. Even in this life we know something
analogous. No doubt all of us who have passed any time in the Lord’s paths have experienced
what it is to be laid aside for a season_to have the Lord speaking to us and calling up before our
souls that which we had too lightly thought of, or wholly passed by. Surely there is a great deal
of unjudged and unsuspected fleshliness and worldliness in the ways and testimony of those that
love the Lord. Now, would it be for the Lord’s glory if these things were not noticed by Him at
any time? Even in this life He often sends circumstances of sorrow, want, sickness, or
disappointment in order to raise needed questions concerning the health of the soul.

The judgment seat of Christ is a part of God’s necessary ways with His children. Its principle is
true even now, for we are expressly told by the apostle Peter that the Father judges now. Is this
opposed to His love? Surely not! Neither will it be so then. Perfect love will have brought us into
that plate, for in what condition shall we stand there? Before we are manifested at the judgment
seat of Christ, He will have come for us and presented us in His Father’s house in pure, simple,
absolute grace. We shall appear there already glorified, and as our bodies will be like that of
Christ, we shall be incapable of that natural shame which might be a pain to us here in this life.
We shall then feel entirely with Christ, and consequently be thoroughly above that which will be
disclosed there. All will justify His ways, though it be humbling to us; but we shall only rejoice
in Him and exalt Him.

The effect of our manifestation before the judgment seat of Christ will be to produce within us an
infinitely deep appreciation of the grace of God and a profound delight in all His ways and

ends_and above all in Himself. It will also give us a deep sense of what our lives on earth have
really been in His sight_the various ways and degrees in which self has wrought here below. God
forbid that any one should count such a manifestation a loss, grief, or danger to be dreaded. Even
here in this present life we know the measure of it to be gain; what will it be then and there?

(From Lectures on the Second Coming of the Lord.)

(Ed. Note. The following is reprinted by permission from INTEREST, Box 294, Wheaton, 111.
It may be that some of our readers will regard this article as overly severe. Perhaps it is in certain
respects. Yet, may each of us search our hearts before the Lord to see if there is anything in this
article which applies to us; and if so, may we seek grace to act upon it.)

Spiritually we are in a shocking condition. The status of many local fellowships is bad news, and
deteriorating by the minute.

We have become materialists to the core. Supposing that gain is godliness, we have degraded
ourselves to the worship of money.

We have become more proud of the number of successful businessmen in our churches than of
the number of men of God. The dollar has become our master. The claims of the business world
have been given more place than the claims of Christ. The corporation counts more with us than
the Church. Our condemnation is found in the words of Samuel Johnson, "The lust of gold,
unfeeling and remorseless, is the last corruption of degenerate man."

We have become a status-seeking people. We sacrifice everything for prestige jobs, prestige
homes and prestige cars. And we have prestige ambitions for our children.

Truth is that in our mad desire to see them successful and comfortable in the world, we are
causing many of them to pass through the fire in this life, and to suffer the pains of hell in the
next.

Too often we are living double lives. Outwardly there is an appearance of piety and respectability.
But in business there are bribery, shady deals, dishonesty and numberless forms of compromise.
And in our personal lives there are coldness, bitterness, strife, gossip, backbiting and impurity.
We are living a lie.

Many of our children . . . have become rebels and apostates. We have lived to see the fruit of our
permissiveness and indulgence. But are we broken before the Lord?

We have become thoroughly worldly, living for the love of passing things. We have been
enraptured victims of the idiot tube, and lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. Most
willingly have we been poured into the mold of the world, its fashions, amusements and ideals.

The sin of prayerlessness has been all too apparent. In our abounding wealth and self-sufficiency,
we have not had any strong inward necessity driving us to prayer. Many of our prayer meetings
need closing down.

And finally there is our pride and impenitence. Rather than admit our low spiritual condition, we
endeavor to hide sin, to sweep it under the carpet where no one can see it. After all, we muse,
time heals all things.

But does it? Are we getting away with it? Or are we reaping the fruit of our backsliding in more
ways than we care to admit?

When will we realize that God is speaking to us through sickness and tragedy? It is true that there
is always a certain amount of sickness, sorrow and accidents. But when they come in unusual
volume, and under most unusual circumstances, we should not be insensible to the fact that the
Lord is trying to get through to us.

There are other results of our departure from God. Many of our children hate their parents, and
wish they were a million miles from home. The heavens are brass above our heads_our canned
prayers never seem to get through. God has punctured our bags with holes; we work and scrimp
and save, but never seem to get off the treadmill. Because we wouldn’t tithe to the Lord, we tithe
to the doctor, the dentist, and the garage mechanic.

We are suffering a famine of the Word of God. The ministry lacks unction. Too often it is a
rehash of the obvious. How seldom in meetings are we conscious that the Spirit of God has spoken
to us in power? We live on a diet of pablum. And don’t put all the blame on the preachers! It is
God’s judgment on us for our sin.

The worship meetings are often dead. Dull, awkward pauses are the fruit of prolonged occupation
with the never-never land of T.V.* The evangelistic meetings are an exercise in futility_fishing
in a bathtub where there are no fish. Years pass without the conversion of one single person.

*Ed. Note. More generally, we would say that the dull, awkward pauses in our worship meetings
are the result of lack of occupation with Christ and the Scriptures, whatever else may occupy us
in their place.

If we cannot see that God is dealing with us in all these judgments, what more can He do to wake
us up? We are like the people in Isaiah 1, beaten from head to foot, yet still too dull, too obtuse
to realize that God is speaking.

"Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:
they have forsaken the Lord, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone
away backward.

"Why should ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more:the whole head is sick, and
the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but
wounds, and bruises, and putrefying sores:they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither
mollified with ointment.

"Your country is desolate, your cities are burned with fire:your land, strangers devour it in your
presence, and it is desolate, as overthrown by strangers.

"And the daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vineyard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers,
as a besieged city" (Isaiah 1:4-8).

We need some prophet, some man of God to lead us to repentance! That is the need of the
hour_TO REPENT_ to break at the foot of the Cross and sob out the confession so hard to come
by, "We have sinned."

We need to repent in our individual lives_to confess and forsake the sins that have brought us into
this place of spiritual barrenness. We need to make right personal feuds and animosities, asking
forgiveness from those we have wronged.

And we need to repent as assemblies of God’s people. Never in the memory of most of us has a
meeting been called for the express purpose of repentance. And seldom in any of our meetings
has confession ever been mentioned. But we need to do it. We desperately need to do it.

The time has come. O for spiritual leadership that will bring us to our knees quickly before we
are consumed by God’s awful wrath! We need to eat the sin offering like Daniel, making the sins
of others our own (Dan. 9:5). We need to lay hold of God’s promise in 2 Chron. 7:14:"If my
people which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and
turn from their wicked ways; then will 1 hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land."

We have been a proud people, boasting in our heritage of renowned evangelists and Bible
teachers. We have claimed a special corner on scriptural knowledge and on church order. We
have looked down our theological noses at other believers. Now the Lord has stained our pride.
If we only knew it, our halo is shattered.

There is only one hope! "In returning and rest shall ye be saved" (Isa. 30:15). The way to renewal
and revival is to confess the awful truth about ourselves, to make right the wrongs of the past, to
forsake our sins, and to get desperate with God about a perishing world and a powerless Church.

In the opening of this chapter we see an example of man’s great transgression and dishonor of God
in the presence of God’s glory and grace. The elder sons of Aaron fell because they despised the
burnt offering, and God’s fire which had come down in acceptance of it. As a result, Aaron and
his two remaining sons were instructed to guard against the expression of grief or the allowance
of excitement. In these things others might indulge, but not those who had the privilege of drawing
near to His sanctuary. They were also instructed as to the eating of the meal offering and the
sacrifice of peace offerings. There remained the solemn injunction that the priests should eat the
sin offering. Their failure in this respect closes the chapter, deeply appealing to us who, though
of a heavenly calling, are no less apt to forget what it speaks to our souls and means before God.

"And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and, behold, it was burnt:and he was
angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron which were left alive, saying, Wherefore have
ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it you
to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord? Behold, the
blood of it was not brought in within the holy place:ye should indeed have eaten it in the holy
place, as I commanded. And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin
offering and their burnt offering before the Lord; and such things have befallen me:and if I had
eaten the sin offering today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord? And when
Moses heard that, he was content" (Lev. 10:16-20).

Thus we see that the rest of the priestly house, though not guilty of the error fatal to Nadab and
Abihu, broke down in a weighty part of their obligations; and all this was, sad to say, at the very
beginning of their history. How humiliating is God’s history of man everywhere and at all times!

Perhaps it would not be possible to find a more wholesome warning for our souls in relation to
our brethren. We are bound to identify ourselves in grace with the failures of our brethren, as they
with ours. It is a fact that we all and often offend; and we are exhorted to confess our sins or
offenses to one another. Is this all? Far from it! We have to fulfill the type before us, to eat the
sin offering in the sanctuary, to make the offence of a saint our own, seriously, in grace before
God, to behave as if we ourselves had been the offenders.

In this same way the Lord, when indicating by His symbolical action in John 13 the gracious but
indispensable work He was about to carry on for us upon departing to the Father, let the disciples
know that they too were to wash one another’s feet. But here we are as apt to fail through
ignorance or carelessness, as Peter did doubly on that occasion.

The apostle Paul had to censure the insensibility of the Corinthian saints in 1 Cor. 5, but later on
had the joy of learning that they were made sorry according to God, as he expressed it in 2 Cor.
7:9. Again, to the Galatian saints he wrote, "Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law
of Christ," instead of meddling with the law of Moses to the hurt of themselves and of each other.
Individual responsibility remains true:each shall bear his own burden; but grace would bear one
another’s burdens.

Intercession with our God and Father is a precious privilege which it is our shame to neglect. It
keeps God’s rights undiminished, and exercises the heart in love to our brethren. Let us never
forget that grace condemns evil far more profoundly than law ever did or could.

FRAGMENT
When Daniel confessed his sin and the sin of his people, he was surely eating the sin offering.
And such an identification of ourselves with the sins of God’s saints is greatly needed for all of
us. This will be realized more among us as we grow in our knowledge of the cross. Alas! the
slight knowledge of God’s grace may allow a light treatment of sin, or else, perhaps, a bitter
judgment of it. But a real eating of the sin offering makes one equally serious and tender. Who
can harshly judge when Christ has borne the judgment? Who can treat lightly what brought Him
to the cross?

FRAGMENT
Subjection of will is the secret of all peaceful walk in this world. It is Christ’s work which gives
peace to the conscience; but it is a subdued will, having none of our own, which in great and in
little things makes us peaceful in heart in going through a world of exercise and trial.

Dear _____,

Although I haven’t written lately, I have prayed often for you that God will show you His will and
prepare you to accept it. I enjoyed visiting with you, but I would like to see you much happier
than you seemed to be.

I have been told that you were considering marrying an unsaved person. The subject of
marriage_what it is, what God intended in it_has been much in my thoughts for several years.
So I thought I might pass along to you some of the things I have been considering and ask you to
judge them by the Scriptures.

The Selection of a Mate

I fully believe that God has a mate intended for everyone of His own whom He wills should
marry. I believe that in His knowledge and His love, He is preparing someone for you who will
exactly suit you, complement you, and fulfill you in your desires and needs, both at the time of
your marriage and throughout all your married life. We cannot see ahead; a person who may seem
to fit us now may in twenty years leave us feeling alone and unhappy.

It is generally thought that it is wrong to marry an unbeliever or someone "outside the meeting,"
but that marrying someone who is saved or in the meeting is all right and pretty much a matter
of one’s own choosing. It is certainly true that we are told to marry only in the Lord (1 Cor. 7:39)
which surely excludes all unsaved as well as those who are saved but who do not really
acknowledge Christ as the Lord or the authority in their lives. But I do not think that finding a
mate among the saved is merely a matter of chance or a lucky choice. God is preparing, molding
someone exactly for you and if you commit the whole choice to Him and ask Him simply to show
you that one, He will do it. The wait may be long (God has a work to do in you, too, to prepare
you for someone else), and the pain of loneliness and insecurity may be great, but the blessing will
abundantly make up for the suffering. If we take the matter into our own hands and go about
searching for one that suits us (who may be saved and a fine person), it may turn out that we are
happy and that everything seems fine. But we have cut ourselves short and will never know the
magnitude of happiness and growth and blessing which God had prepared for us had we let Him
choose.

In the above, I have been giving you the end results of my thinking. But I believe the basis for
these thoughts to be in Scripture. The account of God’s institution of marriage itself probably
provides the best example of His hand in it. God notes that Adam is alone and that he needs
someone suitable (Gen. 2:18). He fashions, prepares, creates a woman, a helpmate (someone to
help him, to care for him, to share with him) for Adam. And what is Adam doing during this
time? He is asleep, having absolutely nothing to do with it. God brings her (verse 22) to Adam
and presents her to Adam Himself. God could have created Eve and put her somewhere among
the other created beings for Adam to search for_the kind of process most believe we must go
through today. But instead He brings her to him, and Adam has absolutely no doubt who she is

and what is to be his relationship with her. That is really beautiful, is it not?

Genesis 24 is another good chapter to study in this connection. Many years ago at a Bible
conference, Luther Loucks spoke on this chapter, and I have never forgotten it. Abraham is often
presented to us as a type of the Father, especially as he offers up his only son. Here, too, he seems
to be that same type. He is deeply concerned over the marriage of his child, and he finds the wife
for Isaac, not Isaac for himself as we later read of Jacob doing (Gen. 29). He tells his servant
(which some have taken to be a type of the Holy Spirit) to be sure to choose a wife of his own
people and in no case to have his son go back into a land that did not contain the pro-mise (Gen.
24:3-8). The servant commits the whole thing to God in prayer and asks Him to show him the
right woman; and He does. At the end of the chapter, Rebecca’s actions are impressive. She goes
in faith, knowing only that it is of God (verse 50). And yet look how happy she is, how impressed
she is with just the sight of this man, who turns out to be the very one God has fitted her for. The
statement, "And he loved her," seems to be especially powerful in its extreme simplicity.
Abraham’s_the father’s_arranging of his son’s marriage is the perfect arrangement.

So it is important, I believe, to marry that one whom God has chosen_and we know beyond all
doubt that God has never chosen and will never choose an unbeliever as the mate of one of His
own.

The Meaning of Marriage

The selection of a mate is, of course, only the starting point. I have thought much of what
marriage really is, what it ought to be, and why it was instituted for us. I believe it was given to
us to be a revelation of Jesus Christ Himself_a way, a channel, so to speak, that leads us to know
and understand Him and His love.

God has a purpose in mind in all our human relationships_ they are not just things that happen
as a matter of course in human life. The New Testament is filled with terminology that we are able
to understand through our earthly relationships. God is presented as Father; Christ as Son; we as
sons and children of God; the Church as the Bride of Christ; Christ as the Bridegroom. Thus it
would seem that our earthly relationships, if we carry them out correctly, help us to understand
what God is. For example, when God tells us that every son whom He loves He chastens, we
understand this only in part until we become parents and experience how_ because we so love
our children and desire their ultimate good_we must inflict pain or deprivation on them. Not to
do so is really only selfishness, not love, as is often pleaded. But how it hurts a parent to have to
so discipline or chasten a child; and how it must hurt the Father to have to discipline us whom He
loves far more than any of us love our children.

Thus, from our human relationships we better understand God and Christ. But there is another
side to this. As we read the Scriptures and learn of Him, we learn the right way_the perfect
way_to carry out our human relationships. When we begin to know Christ as the Son, then we
know how we ought to behave in the position of son. Christ was in complete subjection to His
Father and always did that which was not His own will but His Father’s will. As we begin to know
God as Father, we see the perfect father and when we are troubled as *to what to do in a family

situation, our real question is_what would God, as Father, do?

What does all this have to do specifically with marriage? God has chosen the closest of all human
relationships_that of bridegroom and bride, of husband and wife_to express Christ and His
Church. Thus a Christian’s marriage should be such that it aids him (or her) greatly in the
understanding of what the relationship really is between Christ and His Church. If we carry out
the role of a bride presenting herself to her new husband, pure, adorned for him, wishing to please
him only, wholly taken up with him and with her loving of him, we understand what complete
absorption and total love Christ longs for His Bride to have for Him. As we live with our
husbands, if they are the ones God has chosen for us, I am sure God would have us learn of Christ
through them. They should show us such love that we begin to understand in far greater depth
what it means that Christ loves the Assembly_loved it enough to give Himself for it. And the
husband should be such that we as wives understand the beauty of the relationship of the Church’s
being subject to Christ. This relationship is not one of force on the part of Christ, nor is it one of
outwardly assenting to Christ as Head while inwardly going our own way through devious or
deceptive means (as we often see in marriages). But rather, the subjection of the Church to Christ
is built upon our tremendous desire to please Him, motivated by our respect for Him and
confidence in Him.

Of course, such a marital relationship has to be mutual. We should be able to see Christ through
each other, and how that draws us, not only to Christ, but so much closer to one another_and to
our knees, thanking God for the beauty of such a one He has chosen for us. It seems to me that
if we marry one of our own choosing or, worse yet, one who does not know Christ, then we must
cut our blessings short both for time and for eternity.

Marrying an Unbeliever

I come now to something that is of the utmost solemnity:what I believe happens when one who
is Christ’s marries one who is unsaved. God said when He instituted marriage that they two should
become one flesh, one body, a complete one-ness. It seems to me that in marrying an unsaved
one, one is joining his body which is a member of Christ and which is the temple of the Holy
Spirit (1 Cor. 6:15,19) to the body of another which is neither of those things. No doubt, this
situation is most grievous in the sight of God, although man may see nothing wrong with it.

Bringing Up the Children

Thus far, I have been talking in terms of principle, but I have one other thought, very practical,
that I am sure you must have thought about. We may marry one unsaved, and, while we will
definitely lose the real meaning and the true depth and beauty of marriage_the things we have
been speaking about_our marriage may seem in the eyes of men a good one and we may be
happy in some measure. But bringing children into such a situation that we have created is a grave
responsibility. And children may, in such a case, drive husband and wife apart, rather than draw
them together. If you truly love the Lord, you will want your children to grow up to love the Lord
also. This will not be of the least concern to an unsaved husband. Your judgment as to your
children’s behavior, activities, attitudes, ways of thinking, will go in one direction, your husband’s

in another. Your conscience will be continually convicting you if you follow his direction; you
two will be at continual variance if you follow the Lord’s direction. Your children’s understanding
of what marriage is and their respect for you both as parents will certainly fall far short of what
it should be. Your testimony to the world and to other Christians of those heavenly relationships
which the earthly ones express, will be non-existent as every aspect of your familial relationship
will be in disorder. God, of course, may come in and bless you in spite of your disobedience, but
you can never pursue your own will counting that God will do that for you.

I sympathize with you very greatly, ________. I know the anguish and pain of loving someone
very deeply when you know that he is not the one God would have for you. But I know, too, that
God will bless you beyond all you can imagine if you renounce the wrong way and follow God’s
way. And you will never be truly happy until you make that decision and act upon it completely
and totally. As long as you retain in your mind or heart the possibility that maybe in some way
you can have your will and God’s will too, you will be miserable. You may have times of
happiness, of course, but ultimately you will be anxiety-ridden and literally miserable. I think
marriage is of extreme importance to the life of a Christian and yet so little seems to be said about
it in our fellowship as a whole. Many of our young people have made and are making mistakes
in this area that will last a lifetime. Prayer is greatly needed. I believe what I have said to be the
mind of the Lord, and I hope it will be of value to you. If you wish to share some of your thinking
about my statements with your parents, I think that that would be wise. If anything I have said
seems in your minds to be in error in the light of Scripture and your knowledge of Christ, please
tell me. I would welcome your corrections.

Warmest love in our Saviour, Jesus Christ,

Just as the children of Israel sought a path through the trackless wilderness on the way to the land
of promise, so the children of God presently seek a path through the wilderness of the world to
the promised blessings on the other side. It is a path plainly marked to those who know the will
of God, but how often do we leave that path and weary ourselves with wandering until we come
again to that point on the path from which we departed. To follow that path which God has laid
for us (that is, to do His will) is a responsibility and privilege men have as God’s creatures. The
Scriptures amply show how unregenerate men have completely failed to fulfill this responsibility.
But those who are born anew in Christ have power and incentive to do His will. As servants, we
are to obey our Lord. To do His will is to truly own Him as Lord. Having life from Him, we are
to walk worthy of Him, manifesting that life, and we ought to be filled with the knowledge of His
will (Col. 1:9,10). As children of the Father, we are to hearken to His commandments. "Be ye
therefore imitators of God as beloved children, and walk in love, even as the Christ loved us"
(Eph. 5:1 JND). We are called to be nothing less than imitators of God. Why? Because we are His
beloved children; we have the Father’s nature, having been created anew in Christ "in truthful
righteousness and holiness" (Eph. 4:24 JND).

One has said that it is the privilege of every child of God and every servant of Christ to be as sure
that he is in God’s way as he is that his soul is saved. Indeed, the same voice that tells us of God’s
salvation tells us of God’s pathway. If one views the journey of Israel through the wilderness as
representative of the Christian’s journey through the world, it is evident that the pathway is well
marked. For how could the Israelite pilgrim miss seeing the pillars of cloud and fire or miss
hearing the silver trumpet (Numbers 9,10) ? Also, Christ, who is the perfect example for the
Christian’s walk, did always the will of the Father and never hesitated or erred as to what the
divine will was. Yet how many times are we perplexed as to what the will of God is in a matter!
Is not such ignorance of God’s will often due to our neglecting to seek His mind until we have
thoroughly muddled things and are apprehensive about the outcome? Or perhaps we do not
perceive that the Lord has intentionally left many things in generalities to cause us to seek Him
for specific guidance. We would like a convenient and comfortable means of knowing God’s will
and therefore erroneously use the Scriptures as a recipe book of instructions. Or perhaps we have
reached the regrettable point where to submit to His will requires more of us than we are willing
to give. Christ said, "The light of the body is the eye:therefore when thine eye is single, thy
whole body also is full of light" (Luke 11:34). Just as the natural eye is the entrance way for light
to guide the natural body, so the spiritual eye, if it be fixed on the God of light, will fill all the
spiritual man with divine light for divine guidance. The single-eyed Christian is one who allows
his conscience to be placed directly in the presence of God, thus learning what he is in God’s sight
and what God is for him. The single-eyed Christian is one whose only desire is to seek God, to
walk with Him, to know Him in His perfect love and righteousness and holiness. The body then
is full of light; the will of God is known.

Many depend heavily on circumstances for divine direction, and God may indeed direct in this
manner. But to be bumped from point to point by natural obstacles is not to discern the will of
God. Guidance by circumstances is as guidance of the horse and mule which have no
understanding of the will, thoughts, or desires of their masters, but must be held in with a bit and

bridle. To guide us so is merciful on God’s part but very sad on ours. "Be ye not as the horse, or
as the mule, which have no understanding:whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle"
(Psalm 32:9). The promise and privilege of him who has faith and the single eye is, "1 will guide
thee with Mine eye" (Psalm 32:8). God has given us the promise of directing us in such a manner
that by being near enough to God, we can receive guidance by a single glance from Him. Note
the great intimacy implied here and the subtleness of the communication. It is not a shouting or
a waving of the arms as from a distance, but it is being close enough to God to see His eye and
being familiar enough with Him to be guided by it. But to be guided thus, every part of the heart
must be in contact with Him. One is reminded of Peter who, when inquiring about the betrayer
of Jesus, sought the answer from that one who leaned upon the breast of Christ, the disciple whom
Jesus loved. Peter knew instinctively that the secrets of the heart of Christ were revealed to those
who, knowing the love of God, sought His intimate presence. Total commitment of one’s self to
Him is called for here. The will of God ought to be both the motive and rule of all that we do.
Mere frequent inquiries at our pleasure as to His will never suffice to disclose to us His mind.
Ready perception of the will of God, as being guided by His eye, can be realized by hearts which
have no object except the will and glory of God.

If we allow God to guide us and to choose the path, He will, in His lovingkindness, choose the
best for us, the path of greatest blessing. If we choose, we cannot but dishonor Him and deprive
ourselves of blessing. How foolish to tread paths of our own devising and lose forever blessings
that were to be eternally ours. How cold-hearted to disregard and to dishonor Him who loved us
and died for us. "We … do not cease praying and asking for you, to the end that ye may be filled
with the full knowledge of His will, in all wisdom and spiritual understanding, so as to walk
worthily of the Lord unto all well-pleasing, bearing fruit in every good work, and growing by the
true knowledge of God" (Col. 1:9,10 JND).

(Ed. Note:For further reading on this subject, the reader is directed to J. N. Darby’s Collected
Writings, vol.- 16, pp. 19-30, and C. H. Mackintosh’s "God’s Way and How to Find It" in
Miscellaneous Writings, vol. 2.)

The fellowship of suffering_sharing the sorrows of the Son of God_is a blessed privilege which
angels cannot have, and which only those who follow Jesus through the valley of tears can know.

To do the will of God may be our service and portion for all eternity, but only here can we have
the suffering connected with it. I suppose that if our Lord were to answer the cry which is wrung
at times from our stricken hearts, "It is enough, O Lord, take away my life," by calling us
suddenly to His presence, we should wish we could return, even from thence, to suffer a little
longer for Him, and to learn those lessons only to be learned below. If the choice were ours,
would we choose to have less of sorrow now, and thus be less prepared for the place He is
preparing for us? Would we stay His hand by our unbelief, and be less fitted to reflect His glory
forever?

Fellowship in sorrow awakens the deepest chords of- our hearts; and these are needed for the full
realization of the highest notes of joy. It is the sympathetic touch of the Master’s hand that is
tuning His instrument for the music of heaven, for the "new song" in which only His redeemed
can join.

When we see the King in His beauty, and share His glory, shall we not rejoice to think we also
shared His sufferings? Crowned with everlasting joy, shall we not exclaim, amid the alleluias of
heaven, "Surely the sufferings of that past time were not worthy to be compared with the glory
now revealed in us! Light affliction, for a moment_a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory! Then we suffered with Him, now we reign!"

"And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:These things saith He that is Holy, He that
is True, He that hath the key of David, He that openeth and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and
no man openeth; I know thy works:behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can
shut it:for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept My word, and hast not denied My name" (Rev.
3:7,8).

How much we need to remember that "these things saith He that is Holy, He that is True." As we
think of the Church in its scattered, divided condition, and as we would desire to see it restored,
we would ask, "What are we to do for its restoration?" Shall we proclaim to all Christians that it
is the will of God that His people should be together? Shall we spread the Lord’s table, free from
all sectarian names and terms of communion and fling wide open our doors and invite all that truly
love the Lord to come together? For in fact the "one loaf" upon the table does bear witness that
we are "one loaf, one body" (1 Cor. 10:17 JND); and there is no other body that faith can own
but the body of Christ. Why should we not then do this?

1 answer:"Tell them by all means that the Lord has welcome for all His own:but tell them it is
the ‘Holy and True’ who welcomes, and that He cannot give up His nature." How has the true
Church become the invisible Church? Has it been without sin on her part? Is it her misfortune and
not her fault? Take the guidance of these seven epistles in the Book of Revelation and trace the
descent from the loss of first love in Ephesus to the sufferance of the woman Jezebel in Thyatira,
and on through dead Sardis to the present time. Can we just ignore the past and simply, as if
nothing had happened, begin again?

Suppose your invitation to "all Christians" were accepted and you were able really to assemble
all the members of Christ at the table of the Lord_to bring them together with their jarring views,
their various states of soul, their entanglements with the world, their evil associations. How far,
do you suppose, would the Lord’s table answer to the character implied in its being the table of
the Lord? How far would He be indeed owned and honored in your thus coming together? With
the causes of all the scattering not searched out and judged, what would your gathering be but a
defiance of the holy discipline by which the Church was scattered? Would it not be but another
Babel?

Can you think that visible unity is so dear to Christ that He should desire it apart from true
cleansing and fellowship in the truth? Surely this address to Philadelphia is completely in
opposition to all such thoughts. It surely is not without significance that the Lord presents Himself
here as the Holy and True.

Those who will gather as did the Philadelphian saints of old, gather unto Christ. And it is Christ
who gathers. Those who have a common faith, a common joy, a common occupation are gathered
together by Him to form that which is the outward sign of the spiritual bond that unites us. He
who knows what gathering at the Lord’s table means knows how communion at that table can be
hindered by the presence of what is not communion. How is the power of the Spirit hindered by
those who have unexercised consciences and have hearts unreceptive to divine things! The

Scripture rule for times of declension is that we should walk "with them that call on the Lord out
of a pure heart" (2 Tim. 2:22). The way to find these is not to advertise for them, but to "follow
righteousness, faith, charity, peace," walking on the road in which they are walking.

It results from this that if we really seek the blessing of souls, we shall guard with more
carefulness, not with less, the entrance into fellowship; we shall consider Him who is Holy and
True. Careless reception is the cause of abundant trouble and may lead to general decline. "Evil
communications corrupt good manners" (1 Cor. 15:33). Men cannot walk together except they
are agreed. When trial comes, those who have never been firm of purpose, never, perhaps,
convinced of the divine warrant for the position they have taken, scatter and flee from it with
reckless haste, carrying with them wherever they go an evil report of what they have turned their
backs upon. Such persons are, generally speaking, outside of any hope of recovery and often
develop into the bitter enemies of the truth.

We are incurring a great responsibility if we press or encourage people to take a position for
which they are not ready; in which, therefore, they act without faith. There is great danger in
leading others who do not have an exercised conscience to imitate a faith that is not their own.
"Whatsoever is not of faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). No wonder there are wrecks all along the track
of a movement for which faith is so constantly required, and in which so many are endeavoring
to walk without faith. Let us remember that it is the Holy and True that is seeking fellowship with
us and that nothing but that which answers to this character can abide the test that will surely
come.

(From A Divine Movement and Our Path with God Today, by F. W. Grant.)

Let us look for a few moments at the question of growth as the apostle puts it before us here. The
spiritual growth of a babe into a man is produced in two ways. First, God in His discipline sets
trials and circumstances before the soul. These trials serve to awaken the heart and mind of the
believer, leading him out of various forms of selfishness and worldliness and into a greater sense
of God’s grace and goodness. Second, God shows us His perfect example of what he would have
us grow up to, and the soul is stimulated and encouraged to imitate this example. God puts Christ
before us that we may grow up into Christ (Eph. 4:15).

The admonition, therefore, of the apostle to the babes and young men_to the fathers he has
none_is to let nothing take away their eyes from Christ. He warns the babes as to antichrist, not
that he may perfect them in prophetical knowledge, but because in their little acquaintance as yet
with the truth of what Christ is, they might be led away into some deceit of the enemy. Satan’s
first snare for souls is some distorting error, which deforms to us the face of Christ in which alone
all the glory of God shines, or which substitutes for His face some counterfeit for the natural eye.
Through the subtlety of Satan, the heart becomes entangled unawares with this substitute,
supposing it to be the true and divine object. This is antichrist, though not yet the full denial of
the Father and the Son. "Even now there are many antichrists" (verse 18). Oh, that Christians
would realize more the immense value of truth! and the terrible and disastrous effect of error!

The apostle therefore warns the babes as to false Christs. The young men are not in the same
danger as to this. They are strong, the Word of God abides in them, and they have overcome the
wicked one. Their danger now lies in the allurements of a world into which their very energy is
carrying them. The word to these is, "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world"
(verse 15). It is one thing to have seen by the Word that the world is under judgment, and another
thing to have viewed it in detail, counting it all loss for Christ. This, however, the fathers have
done; therefore he says to them _ and it is all he needs to say _ "Ye have known Him that is
from the beginning" (verses 13,14). There is nothing we gain by examining the world except to
be able to say of it, "How unlike Christ it is!" This the fathers have learned. And what do we do
when we have reached this? Has the "father" nothing more to learn? Oh, yes, he is but at the
beginning. He has only now his lesson book before him for undistracted learning. But he does not
need to be cautioned in the same way against mixing anything with Christ, and taking anything
else for Christ. How much toil to reach, and how slow we are in reaching, so simple a conclusion!
But then the joy of eternity begins. Oh, to have Him ever before us, unfolding His glories, as He
does to one whose eyes and whose heart are all for Him! The knowledge of the new man is,
"Christ is all!"

FRAGMENT
Those who dwell in spirit in the heavenly country take the tone of it, and grow in the things
wherein they find themselves.

"What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall
we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?" (Romans 6:1,2).

In the fifth chapter of Romans we find unfolded the character of the triumph of grace over sin.
The apostle now, in the beginning of chapter six, is anxious that those who are participators in this
triumph should be preserved from what is a common abuse of his doctrine.

Enemies of the doctrine of grace have sought to discredit it by charging it with making sin a
necessity. There are those who understand the doctrine to mean that it permits going on still in sin.
Flagrant violations of holiness have been defended by the plea that it is allowable under grace to
continue in sin_to indulge the lusts of the flesh. In many places it is taught that victory over sin
is not to be counted on as long as we remain in our earthly life. It is said by some, "We have not
yet received our sinless body, and as long as we have the old sinful body we must inevitably be
subject to sin. It must have at least a certain measure of rule over us."

But the apostle will not allow those who are in Christ to entertain such unholy deductions from
his doctrine of grace. He asks the searching question (if we might paraphrase his words), "Does
the doctrine of grace allow one to go on still in sin? Do we take the view that grace abounding
over sin implies that sin is justifiable as furnishing occasion for the triumph of grace?"

How indignantly the apostle refuses the thought! Such a thought would destroy the true character
of grace; it would rob it of the reality of its triumph; it would mean serious damage to souls. Such
a view is to be wholly condemned. While it is true that we still have our old sinful body, we
cannot allow that we must therefore sin. That, indeed, would not be deliverance from the
dominion of sin.

If it be said, "Our future deliverance is secured but present deliverance is impossible," the answer
is that the apostle teaches otherwise. He teaches and insists on a present deliverance from the
dominion of sin. Our Lord in John 8:34 said, "Whosoever committed! sin is the servant of sin."
The doctrine of the apostle is the same. With him, being under grace and under sin is an
impossibility. Those who are the subjects of grace should regard bondage to sin as incompatible
with subjection to grace.

Let us consider the apostle’s discussion of the subject of present deliverance from the dominion
of sin. Before we begin to follow the apostle’s argument, let us remind ourselves that all men, as
sprung from fallen Adam, are victims of sin and of death. Those laid hold of by grace, which is
by Jesus Christ, have become His seed (Isa. 53:10). As thus sprung from Him, they are sharers
in the eternal life which is in Him and they are of the position in which He is.

What then is His position? Here we must remember that Christ, in grace, once took our position
under sin. He was not personally under it, but in grace entered into the position of being under
sin in the behalf of those who were personally in that position. Having thus in grace taken the
position, He died_death being the penalty of sin, and that which was the due of those in that

position. It was a vicarious death; He could die in no other way. Having died thus making
atonement for the victims of sin, He has risen again and has taken up a new position. He is thus
dead to the former position under sin which in grace He had taken for those under sin.

Now, as we have already said, as sprung from Him we are of Him in His new position. We are
of the position in which He is, and therefore dead to sin.

It is to this blessed fact that the apostle appeals in beginning his discussion as to our right to be
practically delivered from the dominion of sin. His argument is this:Sin having had its reign over
us to its legitimate end in death, and Christ having taken our place in subjection to it, we who have
been laid hold of by His grace have passed out of that position from under sin. We are subjects
of grace, and as such dead to sin. We have the right to be free practically from sin’s power and
rule. We have a positional deliverance which entitles us to live in happy subjection to grace, in
the realization that sin’s rights over us have all been annulled. We are freed completely from every
claim of sin upon us, even from its claim to the use of the old sinful body. What a perfect
deliverance grace has thus provided for us!

Alas, how little it is understood! How difficult it is to lay hold of the true conception of what our
deliverance is! How few are in reality entering into what the apostle means when he teaches, as
he does here, that the subjects of grace_those who are in Christ_are dead to sin!

Some, in their inability to lay hold of the real import of the doctrine of being dead to sin, deny
it altogether. They insist that the fact of our having still the old sinful body is the clearest proof
that we are not yet dead to sin. Others, while they do not deny that the doctrine is taught, and that
there is a certain ideal sense in which it is true, yet deny that it can be practically true. Others still
modify the form of the words in which the doctrine is taught, and say, "We ought to be dead to
sin." In their teaching there is much exhortation to the effect that Christians should strive to die
to sin. How forcefully sometimes we are exhorted to’ put the old man to death. But in all this
teaching the true conception of deliverance from sin is lacking.

Clearly then is our position demonstrated to be Christ’s position of being dead to sin. But this
implies and involves living with Him, and living with Him now, not merely by and by. We shall
surely live with Him when we get our redeemed bodies, but we have title to live with Him now,
while we are still in the old body. He lives no more under sin’s dominion. He went under it once
in grace, but by dying and rising again He lives in eternal deliverance from sin’s power. As
subjects of grace_as being in Him_we are in the same sphere of life in which He is, where sin
cannot enter. It is not simply that we have life in Him, but that we live with Him; and living with
Him implies living in practical deliverance from sin’s dominion.

Now, the very first step toward practical deliverance from serving sin is to think rightly of
ourselves. The apostle tells us in verse 11 how we should think of ourselves. He says that we
should reckon ourselves as dead to sin and alive to God. We are still in our earthly life, but as in
Christ we are entitled to think of ourselves as if we had died and were risen from the dead. It is
this right thought of our position that the apostle presses "upon us here.

Now another thing necessarily accompanies this right thinking of ourselves as if we were dead and
risen. Viewing ourselves as connected with Christ in His position of having died to sin and living
to God, we will consider that sin has no longer any title to the use of the mortal body. We will not
consent to its reigning there; we will refuse that its lusts should govern us. We will look upon the
members of our body as belonging to God, as if they were members of the new body which we
are yet to receive. We will hold them to be instruments of righteousness_not of sin.

If now we take the apostle’s standpoint of looking at ourselves as being in Christ, as if we were
thus dead and risen and living to God, we shall then regard sin’s title to our body as annulled, and
shall recognize the claims of our Saviour-God upon our body_that its members should be
instruments of righteousness. As under these claims, there will be in us a purpose to have God’s
title over us_His rights to our body_ realized in practical life.

May the Lord use the apostle’s exhortations in this chapter to establish in the souls of all the
subjects of His grace an insatiable desire to be practically delivered from sin’s power in its use of
the body for any sinful purpose.

FRAGMENT "I am crucified with Christ" (Galatians 2:20).

Those who are wholehearted for Christ desire to be in His company. They instinctively direct their
steps to the place where He is known to be. Is there such a spot on earth? Yes, "Where two or
three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them" (Matt. 18:20). No one
who is truly conscious of the greatness and excellency of His Person, and of the blessedness of
communion with Him, would willingly be absent from that favored place. A neglected Lord’s
table, and a neglected prayer meeting, testify to the Laodicean state _to the lukewarmness_of
the heart toward Him. We read that in the early days of the assembly "they continued steadfastly
in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers" (Acts 2:42).
How sad that there should be such a lack of continuing steadfastly_of persevering now!

The Lord says to the Father, "In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee" (Heb. 2:12).
Can we suppose that He fails to notice whether or not we are there to join in the song He leads?

In the coming day of review before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), how shall we take
the disclosure that self-indulgence, a little unfavorable weather, or a tiff with a brother or sister
in Christ, has outweighed with us all the mighty motives for a loving response to His wish, "This
do in remembrance of Me"?

It is deeply humbling to think that any who have tasted the Lord’s love can take advantage of not
having to work on the Lord’s day to spend its morning hours in bed, and that others can excuse
their absence from its meetings on the grounds of visiting, or receiving visits from friends.
Priceless opportunities of gratifying the heart of the Lord, and of showing our attachment to Him
in the scene of His rejection are thus wasted and lost.

It is mere mockery to repeat, "Come, Lord Jesus," and use glowing expressions of desire to be
with Him in glory, if, by our absence from His assembly, we betray our indifference to His
presence here.

Beloved, it is high time to awake out of sleep (Rom. 13:11; Eph. 5:14). May we take to heart the
solemn and impressive exhortation of the word, "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves
together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another:and so much the more, as ye see
the day approaching" (Heb. 10:25).

It was easy in the freshness of "first love" to come early to the place where He manifests Himself
in such a peculiarly blessed way. Excuses were not made. Has He become less precious? The
moments we may thus spend together with Him on the earth which is stained with His blood are
swiftly passing away. Let us not willingly lose one of them.

It is touching to remember that no thought of all the sufferings that awaited Him, of Himself
presently becoming the true passover, "sacrificed for us," delayed the Lord’s appearing at His last
paschal feast. "When the hour was come, He sat down, and the twelve apostles with Him" (Luke
22:14). Oh, for a holy eagerness to be where, to faith, He is!

BALANCE OF THE SANCTUARY
Job 31:6 "LET ME BE WEIGHED IN AN EVEN BALANCE."

Thou shalt make pomegranates . . . round about the hem thereof (Exod. 28:33).

The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness,
temperance (Gal. 6:22,23).

Dan.5:27 "THOU ART WEIGHED IN THE BALANCES, AND"?

… and bells of gold between them round about (Exodus 28:33).

Be not . . . ashamed of the testimony of our Lord . . . but be thou partaker of the afflictions of
the gospel (2 Tim. 1:8).

The pomegranates, typifying spiritual fruit, and the golden bells, speaking of testimony, were to
be placed alternately around the hem of the high priest’s robe. How important is the balance that
is implied in this. Some of us may abound in the fruit of the Spirit, but yet bear a mute testimony
to others. Others of us may be very outspoken witnesses for Christ, and yet find our words put
to nought because of our failure to manifest spiritual fruit in our lives.

The primary definition of "sin" given in Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary seems to have been
taken straight from the Bible, for it says, "Sin:transgression of the law of God." In 1 John 3:4
we read, similarly, "Sin is the transgression of the law."

It is unfortunate, however, that this is one of the instances where the King James Version supplies
a poor translation of the text. A great deal of misapprehension as to the true meaning of sin can
be traced to the mistranslation of this verse.

To be sure, the transgression of God’s law is included in the domain of sin. But can there not also
be sin in matters concerning which no positive law or commandment of God has been given?
Romans 2:12 states that "as many as have sinned without law shall also perish without law." Also,
in Romans 5:14 we and that "death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not
sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression." From the time Adam was expelled from the
garden until the days of Moses, there was no law given for man to transgress. Yet man’s
sinfulness and wickedness were displayed time and time again during that period, as the Book of
Genesis clearly reveals.

What then is sin? The more accurate rendering of 1 John 3:4 is this:"Sin is lawlessness." In other
words, he who sins is one who behaves as if there is no law_as if God has no will for him. Thus,
sin is the spirit of self-will, the spirit of doing what we want to do without regard for God’s will
for us.

There is much instruction in all of this for us today. To consider sin to involve only the
transgression of the law_the breach of one of the commandments given to us in God’s
Word_tends to have a deadening effect upon the soul. One tends thus to become self-satisfied in
the fact that he is not breaking any of the commandments of Scripture (or at least not any of the
ones he considers to be important). And at the same time he becomes lax about those details of
his life concerning which there is no positive commandment to be found in Scripture.

The vital question we need to keep constantly before us is this:"Am I at this moment doing God’s
will, or am I doing my own will?" It must be one or the other. There is no middle ground.

All too often we substitute for this vital question a somewhat different question. This question
takes various forms:"Is there any intrinsic evil in doing such and such a thing?" "Is there anything
wrong with it?" "Will any harm come from this?" But these are all such negative questions! Let
us turn these questions around and rephrase them so that they sound more like our "vital
question":"Is there any good in doing such and such a thing?" "Is there any possibility that God
will be well-pleased with it?" "Will glory and honor accrue to the Lord from this?" "Is it God’s
will that I should be doing this thing at this time?"

In this present age with its generally low moral condition, it is not hard to find children of God
who think they are living upright lives, but who are, in reality, self-willed, "lawless" individuals.
This is possible because they are content to compare their lives with those about them who are

morally corrupt.

How apt we are to be dragged down to the level of those Christians who walk after the spirit of
the age. Thus, how needful it is to have our eyes fixed on Christ; to have Him before us as our
only Object and the only Standard of our lives. Let us not forget that "sin is lawlessness" and
lawlessness_or self-will_is sin. May it be the desire of our hearts, moment by moment, to seek
His will and not our own.

As we think back over the year gone by, many of us are impressed by the remarkable
growth_both physical and mental_exhibited by our little children in just one year’s time. But
this, in turn, reminds us afresh that we older ones, too, are growing. Or at least we ought to be!
It comes to our mind that we are often exhorted in the New Testament to grow, and that these
exhortations are given not merely to babes in Christ but to all believers. Consequently, each of
us is led to examine himself and to address the searching question to himself:"How much have
I grown, spiritually, this past year?"

If we desired to witness an example of rapid physical growth, we would be advised to observe a
well-nourished baby during the first few months of its life. And is it not likewise true that in order
to manifest steady spiritual growth, we must become, in certain respects, like an infant? The
apostle Peter exhorts:"Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and
envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the Word, that ye may
grow thereby" (1 Peter 2:12). This in no way contradicts the verses in 1 Corinthians and Hebrews
which speak of our need to leave the milk and to go on to the solid food. The emphasis here is on
our craving for the Word of God and on our state of soul while feeding upon that "milk of the
Word."

If we are to grow by the milk of the Word, we need the teaching of the Holy Spirit. And in order
to be taught of the Spirit, we must exercise ourselves unto godliness, laying aside all malice, guile,
hypocrisies, envies, and evil speakings, so that the Spirit might not be grieved. Therefore, we are
called upon to be ever as newborn babes with respect to guile, malice, etc., coming, in the
consciousness of our own weakness, littleness, and ignorance, to receive food from the Word of
God.

It is not the acquiring of a mere intellectual knowledge of the Word which will provide spiritual
growth, but rather it is the laying hold of that grand Object presented in the Word, the One who
is known as "The Word" and who is the full expression of that Word. "Grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ," we are told (2 Peter 3:18). How we need, each
one of us, to learn the riches of His grace manifested in such varied and wondrous ways to His
saints (see Ephesians 1). How we need to be found ever "increasing in the knowledge of God"
(Colossians 1:10); entering more fully into the glories, perfections, ways, and purposes of the
Father and the Son; having our affections drawn out and centered in Christ.

Is there any end to such growth? The apostle Paul gives us the answer:"Till we all come . . . unto
the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ" (Eph. 4:13). Which of us has attained it?

May there be a deep desire and prayerful longing in our hearts for the manifestation of steady
spiritual growth, both for ourselves and for each of our brothers and sisters in Christ_until that
blessed day comes when we shall be with Him and like Him and conformed to His image (1 John
3:2; Romans 8:29).

Why did the Lord Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane ask for the cup to be removed? It was not
fear of the pain of crucifixion or the desertion of His friends or the derision of the crowds. If these
had been the only aspects of suffering involved, He would not have asked to be released from the
responsibility. It was the thought of being made sin, of having sin imputed to Him, of being
forsaken by the Father and being the recipient of His wrath which filled our Lord with horror and
agony.

The death of Christ shows us the horribleness of sin because of what He suffered when He bore
the judgment for it. How can any of us make light of sin or enjoy it when we see what it cost
Christ for our sins to be imputed to Him and for Him to be judged for them?

"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?" (Acts 9:6). This simple inquiry is the first recorded
utterance of Paul to our Lord. The same inquiry ought to be the expression of every one who has
been brought to realize the full claim Christ has on him. The more we own and realize the
relationship between us and Christ which now exists through grace, the ‘more simply and
continuously will this be our whole-hearted cry to Him. If our hearts are true and devoted to Him,
we will wait on Him for guidance and counsel. We will find no real satisfaction in being anywhere
or doing anything which is not according to His mind. Our place and our occupation here will be
only determined by the pleasure of Him whose we are and whom we serve.

If we were truly devoted to the Lord, there would be no mistakes made with regard to our work
for the Lord. But we do make mistakes of two kinds:On the one hand, we may plan out work for
ourselves; on the other hand, it may be that we do no work at all.

Now the first of these mistakes is the most difficult to deal with since by the very nature of the
work we are doing we may be deceived into thinking that it is of the Lord. A good example of this
is seen in Martha. She felt that what she was doing was very right and necessary service for her
Lord, so much so that she thought Mary ought to be helping her rather than to be sitting at Jesus’
feet. Nothing so deceives and leads astray as the conscience working at a distance from Christ.
For instance, I may feel in my conscience that I ought to be Christ’s servant. But if I am not near
Him, and I begin to do something to satisfy my conscience, I am doing it in self-will, and not
because He wants me to do it. When this is the case, it is not His pleasure which guides as to what
is suitable and proper; it is my own mind. The service may indeed be quite necessary, as was
Martha’s service. But Martha was evidently thinking of the services which were incumbent on her
to render, and not governed by the pleasure of Christ.

It is most blessed to work for Christ; it is fruit-bearing. But if my work engrosses me more than
Christ, there is damage to me, and I am not working for Him. "Without Me ye can do nothing"
(John 15:5). If I am really working for Christ, and growing up into Him, then sitting at His feet,
Mary-like, is the natural posture of my soul. Whenever you find anyone serving without sitting
at His feet, you may be assured they are Martha-like. When any are sitting at His feet, hearing
His word, they will not be behind in true and pleasing service.

If you begin with serving (as many do nowadays), you will never sit at His feet; whereas if you
begin with sitting there, you will soon serve wisely, well, and acceptably. The serving quiets the
conscience, and the sitting is overlooked and neglected. Thus the enemy gains an advantage. But
it is at the sitting the conscience is more enlightened, and the pleasure and mind of the Master are
better known.

I never met with anyone making service prominent who knew what it was to sit at His feet. But,
thank God, I know indefatigable workers who enjoy sitting at His feet above any service. And it
is clear that they who sit most at His feet must be competent to serve and most in His confidence,
which, after all, is the clue to all efficient service.

The fourteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians is remarkable as being the only Scripture in which the
order of the church when "come together into one place" is declared. This should surely give it
some importance in the eyes of those who believe that He who "loved the Church, and gave
Himself for it" has not ceased to love and care, and that the Head of it has not given up His
headship.

In this chapter, the apostle has especially upon his mind two things connected with the assembly.
These are prophecy and the gift of tongues. He saw the Corinthians priding themselves in the
latter and falling into utter folly in their pride, speaking with tongues that no one understood.
Prophesying apparently was practically ignored in the presence of the more showy gift of tongues.
That which was a sign to those that believed not was usurping the place of that which spoke unto
believers "to edification and exhortation and comfort." If in the assembly, then, the rule was that
all things should be done to edifying, the prophesying which was expressly intended for edification
was really the greater and the better thing. Thus he bids them "covet to prophesy" (verse 39).

What is the nature of this "prophesying"? According to the strict meaning of the word, a prophet
was one who spoke for another. This name was given among the heathen to those who spoke for
a god and made known his will to men. Prophesying does not necessarily imply prediction of
future events, although it may sometimes include this.

The prophet in the Scriptures was one who spoke for God. Thus, "man of God" was often the
beautiful and significant designation given to such a person. In days of darkness and apostasy, the
prophets stood forth on the part of Him whom men had forgotten, and brought His word and will
to them. The prophets dealt with the moral condition of those addressed, calling them to
repentance, encouraging, warning, comforting, exhorting, instructing in righteousness.

Now, if this be the basis of prophesying, it is no wonder that the apostle so highly values it. If
prophesying is speaking for God in the midst of His people, it is easy to see how people should
be exhorted to "covet it."

Prophesying is distinct from "teaching." It does not necessarily imply any gift for teaching, nor
indeed any gift for public speaking at all. "Five words" might suffice. The Word of God simply
read might carry its own simple and intelligible meaning to the hearts of all present. Neither
eloquence nor the power of presenting the truth in orderly arrangement are needed. The Divine
utterance might come in broken words and sentences, and be still the fulfillment of the injunction,
"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God" (1 Peter 4:11).

Gift is not spirituality. The church at Corinth came behind in no gift; yet the apostle could not
speak unto them "as unto spiritual but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ" (1 Cor. 3:1).
It is no disparagement of gift to say that without the accompaniment of spirituality, the possessor
of the most precious gift might be quite incompetent to edify. And, alas, men change and men
decline. The highly gifted sometimes even by this means lead those who follow them the most
astray.

Hence, when the Church is gathered together, God will have no voice raised to exclude His. In
perfect wisdom He may put aside the most gifted at His will, to bring His word in by some poor,
plain man, who has been upon his face before Him, and has learned His mind where man learns
best, in the lowest school. He whom perhaps they would all have excluded from teaching them,
who, as to measure of gift, may be below any there, may be the very one brought forward to teach
them all.

And so the apostle puts this power of prophesying before the Corinthian saints, and exhorts them
to covet it. Only a soul having Christ as the motive and men’s blessing as the desire of the heart
could covet such a thing. "God’s men" must, of all men, be men of faith, content to wait on God
and walk with God.

But where are the "men of God"? Amiable, kindly men, 1 can find many; just, honest, and
upright, not a few. Saved men who know it, and thank God for it, are much fewer, but still many.
But where are the men, to whom "to live is Christ"? Where are his bondsmen, absolutely His? Is
it not what we all are, as bought with His precious blood? Is it what we are in practical reality?

There are few things more to be coveted for the assemblies of the saints than this "prophesying."
Men may teach truth, and teach it well; but that is quite another thing. The prominent place given
to prophesying in this chapter which regulates the assembly’s coming together, ought to assure
us of its special importance in this place. That importance is that the voice of the living God
should be heard by His people, distinctly addressing itself to their need, their whole condition at
the moment. How different a thing from, people speaking to fill up the time, or from one speaking
of something which has interested or impressed himself! "The word of the Lord by the prophets"
was none of these; it was a direct address from the heart of God to the hearts and consciences of
His people. "If any man speak," he is to speak "as oracles of God," as God’s mere mouthpiece.

George Muller was born in Prussia in 1805. In his young manhood he lived a godless life, but at
the age of twenty-one he was suddenly converted to God at a prayer meeting held in the house of
a godly tradesman. Shortly afterward he came to England, bringing very little with him other than
a desire to devote his life to the service of the living God. At the age of thirty he was led of the
Lord to begin an orphanage in the city of Bristol. Those were the days when homeless and
unwanted children were sent to spend the days of their youth in almshouses_places which were
not much more than prisons.

This was completely a work of faith. Muller never asked help from anyone and never hinted that
help was needed. He began small_with a house of thirty children_trusting the Lord for the
pennies and shillings needed to carry them through each day. As the years passed, his faith
increased and so did the Lord’s provision. Thus he was enabled to move to larger? and larger
quarters until he had under his care over 2000 orphans who were being brought up in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.

Solely in answer to believing prayer, more than seven million dollars were sent to him over the
course of sixty years for the building and maintenance of "God’s Orphanage," for missionary
work, and for the circulation of the Scriptures. In his homes 9500 destitute orphans were received,
trained, educated in the Scriptures, and sent out into the world.

In the following paragraphs are given a few of the many remarkable answers to prayers which
George Muller received during his lifetime. The first two incidents are taken from his own
narratives.

June 13, 1853. We were now very poor. Not indeed in debt, not even with all the money gone;
there was still about sixty dollars in hand; but there was needed to be bought flour, of which we
buy generally ten sacks at a time, 4200 pounds of oatmeal, and 450 pounds of soap. There were
many little repairs going on in the house, with a number of workmen employed, besides the
regular current expenses of about $280 per week. Over and above all this, on Saturday, the day
before yesterday, I found that the heating apparatus needed to be repaired, which would, in all
probability, cost $100. It was therefore desirable, humanly speaking, to have $500 for these heavy
extra expenses.

But I had no human prospect whatever of getting even five hundred cents_much less $500. In
addition to this, today was Monday when generally the income is little. But in walking to the
orphan house this morning, and praying as I went, I particularly told the Lord in prayer that on
this day, even though it was Monday, He could send me much. And so He did. I received this
morning a gift of $1500 for the Lord’s service. The joy which I had cannot be described. I walked
up and down in my room for a long time, tears of joy and gratitude to the Lord raining plentifully
over my cheeks, praising and magnifying the Lord for His goodness. I scarcely ever felt more the
kindness of the Lord helping me.

September 4, 1869. Only one cent was in my hands this morning. Pause a moment, dear reader!

Only one cent in hand when the day began! Think of this, and think of nearly fourteen hundred
persons to be provided for. You, poor brethren, who have six or eight children and small wages,
think of this; and you, my brethren who are unemployed or retired and have very limited means,
think of this! May you not do what we do when going through trials? Does the Lord love you less
than He loves us? Does He not love all His children with no less love than that with which He
loves His only begotten Son, according to John 17:20-23? Or are we better than you? Well, let
us hear then how God helped when there was only one cent left in my hands on this particular
morning.

Shortly after nine o’clock I received $5.00 from a sister in the Lord. However, between ten and
eleven o’clock this was offset by a note sent from the orphan houses stating that nearly $6.00 was
required for the day’s supplies. Scarcely had I read this when a carriage stopped before my house
and a gentleman from Manchester asked to see me. I found that he was a believer who had come
on business to Bristol. He had heard about the orphan houses and had come to find out a little
more about them. This brother, whom I had never seen before, and whose name I did not even
know before he came, and who, himself, had no idea of our great need at that moment, gave me
$10.00 as he departed. Thus did our gracious Lord help us through another day.

One night, when all the household had retired, Muller asked a house, guest by the name of Pierson
to join him in prayer. He told his guest that there was absolutely nothing in the house for the next
morning’s breakfast. Pierson scolded him for not telling him earlier for he could have helped
Muller out had the stores still been open. Muller knew all that. He had prayed about the matter
as he always prayed, and he was determined never to tell anyone of his needs but God. So they
prayed together_at least Muller did and Pierson tried to. Then they went to bed and slept. The
next morning, breakfast for two thousand children was there in abundance at the usual breakfast
hour! Neither Muller nor Pierson knew how the answer came. It was learned many years later that
the Lord had called a local shopkeeper out of bed in the middle of the night to send breakfast to
Muller’s orphanage. Knowing nothing of the need, or of the two men at prayer, he sent provisions
that would feed them a month.

On another occasion, again with more than 2000 mouths to feed, not a drop of milk remained for
breakfast the next day and not a penny was in hand to buy even a cupful. That evening, George
Muller gathered his staff of workers together, as he had done hundreds of times before, and on
their knees they told their Father that His children needed milk.

The next morning the children sat down at the table_ with empty mugs in front of them. They
bowed their heads while Mr. Muller simply, gratefully thanked the Father for daily bread_and
for milk! As soon as the prayer ended, a loud knock was heard at the door. It was a dairyman. His
wagon had broken down just outside and he could not get to town with his milk. Muller was
welcome to it if he would help carry it in. Before the hungry children knew just what it was all
about, the last waiting mug had been filled with milk.

Many demands were made on Muller’s faith aside from financial ones. Once a serious leak in the
boiler of the furnace necessitated putting out the fires for repairs near the end of a bleak
November. How were 300 children in this orphan house to be kept warm?

Muller prayed.

A day or so before the fires were to be extinguished, a cutting north wind set in. But the man of
God was unabashed. He asked the Lord to change the north wind into a south wind and to help
the workmen to do the job speedily.

The evening before the repairs actually began, the frigid blast was still blowing. But on the next
day, a south wind blew and the weather was so mild that no fire was needed. Furthermore, the
men volunteered to work all night so that before the weather chilled again, the repairs were
completed.