As we were passing through dense forests of fir trees and cedars recently in British Columbia, one
feature struck us forcibly and brought thoughts of greater things:Where the forest was so dense
that the trees stood only a few feet from each other, they were tall, smooth, and straight as
arrows, shooting their heads far up toward the sky. Where, here and there, a little space was
comparatively bare, the trees were ill-shaped and crooked. How like God’s people! was what
came to mind. First of all, where trees are thus very dense, they are all of one kind. So, before
God’s people can stand together closely knit, they must guard against unconverted persons getting
in as if of them. Having confidence in each other as being children of God, they now can cling
to each other in love; and the more they do this, the more they will develop in Christian
perfection.

All these trees so pressed against each other that it made them shoot up their heads toward the sun.
So, if we stand close to each other in love, the pressure we shall be under from the faults and
failings we shall find in each other will compel us to look unto Jesus, the beginner and finisher
of faith. In Him we shall see love, patience, grace, and faithfulness combined in perfection and
constantly exercised toward each one of us. This will send us back to our place among our
brethren, ready to act in the same way.

If we do not thus continue with each other, like David’s men who were all "of one heart to make
David king," and therefore "could keep rank" (1 Chron. 12:38), but stand aloof in supposed
superiority, we shall not fail to grow one-sided and crooked. We need one another, if but to make
each other grow straight.

"But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep
yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal Me.
And of some have compassion, making a difference; and others save with fear, pulling them out
of the fire:hating even the garment spotted by the flesh" (Jude 20-23).

Dark and gloomy as the scene is today, there is yet no cause for despair. "Upon this rock," said
Christ, "I will build My Church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:18).
The final result is sure. Victory will rest on the blood-stained banner of the Prince of Peace. In
the hour of His triumph His faithful ones shall be the sharers of His glory. And in the present
moment of their trial and His rejection they have an abundant solace and cheer, however the
power of Satan may be manifested and error seem to be about to vanquish truth.

The saint of God needs to daily build himself up on his most holy faith. That faith has been once
for all revealed (Jude 3); on it the believer rests. Assured that it forms a foundation impregnable
to every attack by men or demons, he is now to build himself up upon it. This implies continual
feeding upon the Word that the soul may be nourished and the spirit edified.

But linked up with this we have prayer in the Holy Spirit:not perfunctory saying of prayers, but
spiritual communion with God, bringing to Him every need and every difficulty, assured that He
waits in grace to meet the one and to dissolve the other. Praying in the Holy Spirit can only result
from a walk in the Spirit. For if there be not self-judgment, prayer will be selfish. We shall ask
and receive not, because we seek to gratify our own lusts in our requests. But when Christ is
before the soul, and the heart is finding its delight in Him, the Holy Spirit Himself will dictate
those petitions that God delights to grant.

A definite command follows:"Keep yourselves in the love of God." Note, it is not, "Keep God
loving you." Such a thought is opposed to that glorious revelation of Him whose nature is love.
The cross has told out to the full all that He is. Daily the believer is given to prove this
lovingkindness. Nor does the apostle exhort us to keep loving God. The divine nature in every
believer rises up in love to Him whose grace has saved him. "We love Him because He first loved
us."

But here we are told to keep ourselves in the love of God. It is as though I say to my child, "Keep
in the sunshine." The sun shines whether we enjoy it or not. And so God’s love abides
unchanging. But we need to keep in the conscious enjoyment of it. Let nothing make the tried soul
doubt that love. Circumstances cannot alter it. Difficulties cannot strain it, nor can our own
failures. The soul needs to rely upon it, and thus be borne in triumph above the conflict and the
discouraging episodes incident to the life of faith.

Then we have a fourth exhortation, carrying the heart on to the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
We are to await His mercy unto eternal Me. We have eternal life now, by faith in Him who is
Himself the life eternal. But we are going on to the scene where Me shall reign, where everything
will be suited to the Me already communicated to us by the Spirit. This is at the end of the way;

so the trusting soul looks up in hope and waits in patience for the return of the Lord.

The next verse tells us how to deal with bewildered souls, led astray by the wicked deceivers
against whom we have been warned in the early part of this epistle. A godly discrimination should
be used in dealing with persons taken by error. A hard and fast rule for treating all alike is
contrary to this verse, and to the tenor of all Scripture. Undoubtedly souls have been driven more
completely into evil systems by the rigor and harshness of well-meaning but unwise persons who
so dreaded contamination with the error that they did not seek, in a godly way, to recover and
clear the deceived one before refusing him their fellowship.

The tenth verse of the Second Epistle of John is decisive and simple as to a willful teacher of what
is opposed to the doctrine of Christ. Such are to be shunned, and even refused a common greeting.
But other methods apply to dealing with their dupes, often entrapped through ignorance; though
undoubtedly a perverse will has been at work or they would have been kept by divine power in
the truth. Often what is needed is to deal with the perverted one as to his ways, rather than the
teaching he has imbibed. When there is self-judgment, the Spirit can be depended on to do His
blessed work of guiding into all truth.

Others need to be snatched from the fire; energetic effort is made to warn and deliver before the
evil gets so firm a hold upon them that it will be too late to seek their blessing. But in every
instance, one needs to remember that unholy teaching is defiling and linked up with unholy living;
thus, care must be exercised lest, in seeking to aid another, one become himself besmirched by
the evil influence, and be thus made unfit to help others because his own fellowship with God in
the truth has become marred.

Truth is learned in the conscience; and only as one walks carefully and soberly before God is there
security from error. Because Hymenaeus and Alexander did not maintain a good conscience, they
made shipwreck of the faith_as have untold thousands besides (1 Tim. 1:18-20). This is the result
of the fact that enlightenment in divine things depends on the Holy Spirit’s activity in taking the
things of Christ and revealing them to His own. Where He is grieved by a careless demeanor and
loose ways He no longer establishes the soul in the truth, but His activity is manifested in bringing
home to the conscience the sin and failure that have dishonored the Lord. Therefore, if there
would be growth in the knowledge of His Word, there must be a walk in the power of the Spirit
ungrieved.

So, in seeking the recovery of those who have erred from the truth, this ministry to the conscience
must not be lost sight of. Otherwise there may be ability to overthrow the reasonings of one
astray, to meet all objections by direct Scripture, even to cause one to see that his position is
biblically and logically untenable, while yet the state of his soul is as wretched as ever.

But when the deceived one is dealt with in the fear of God, in holy faithfulness, his restoration to
communion will be the first step sought:then he will be in a state to appreciate the seriousness of
the evil teaching in which he has been taken as in a net when he wandered out of the right way.

(From An Exposition of the Epistle of Jude.)

The Word of God says, "There is one body" (Eph. 4:4), not two, nor three, but one_only one.
That "one body" is the body of Christ (Eph. 1:23). Thus, every true Christian is to Christ what
a man’s foot, hand, etc., is to that man (1 Cor. 12:12-27). Nowhere in Scripture do we read or
find the idea of a Baptist, a Methodist, a Presbyterian, or any other body. The only thing found
there is the one body of Christ, formed by the "one Spirit" of God. The relationship therefore of
all true Christians is that of fellow-members of the one body of Christ_a divine relationship
entered into at conversion by the Spirit’s baptism, and consummated in the glory of heaven to
which the Church is destined.

Christians assuming any other relationship than this with one another, associating themselves
together on any other principle than this, are therefore sectarian. They form another tie than that
which God has formed, and by which He binds all His children of this dispensation together.

But the members of that one body are scattered all over the earth. They cannot assemble together
in one place. They therefore assemble in any locality convenient to those who live in that locality.
There may be "two or three," or two or three hundred or thousand; Christ, the Saviour and Head
of the Church, has pledged Himself to be present in the midst of them thus assembled (Matt.
18:20). He is their Center of assembling as the ark was of old the gathering-center of Israel. He
is also the attractive Object of all their hearts_every one rejoicing in the presence, to faith, of the
Lord Jesus. These local churches, or assemblies, are, of course, even as the persons who compose
them, "one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). If new converts
be received in one locality, they are received there on behalf of the whole Church of God
universal, and thus introduced into her fellowship_her fellowship, mark, not her membership, for
they were already made members by the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Should one move where he
is unknown, a letter of commendation gives him full access to all privileges everywhere. If one
walks in evil and is put under discipline in one place, he is under discipline in the whole Church
universal until he repents.

All these local assemblies are, for their doctrine and their practice, primarily responsible to the
Lord, inasmuch as "Christ is the head of the Church" (Eph. 5:23), and should any of them fall
into evil doctrine or practice He may visit them with judgment, as in 1 Cor. 11:27-32, or take
away its candlestick altogether as threatened in Rev. 2:5. They are also responsible to one another,
for all "are members one of another" (Rom. 12:5). No local assembly can act for itself alone. Its
actions affect all others, bind all others, and render thus all others responsible with it. It must
therefore, when questioned, be open in the fullest way to investigation, as it is accountable to all
the rest. The sense of this responsibility toward one another produces wholesome care in all that
is done in each place.

But, someone may say, this is all very true, and sound doctrine, and in accord with all Scripture,
but Christendom is full of divisions and parties, unsubject to each other, which in turn abound
with persons who are in no way subject to Scripture or to the Lord. What then are you going to
do? Walk apart from them, and, by scriptural teaching and godly labor after the fashion of the
apostles, form a fellowship on the principle of the whole Church of God, to practice among

themselves what the whole Church should practice. It may be small and weak, and cause
opposition and contempt, as in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, when they were building afresh
upon the old foundations; but it will please God. The mere attempt will please Him. Faithful labor
at it He will bless; and when the Lord returns He will manifest that every "living stone" which
had been set on the old foundations had been set in a place of special blessing_blessing for
eternity.

(From Help and Food, Vol. 29.)

"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath
found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.
Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls; who when he
had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it" (Matthew 13:44-
46).

In the first of these parables we read of a treasure hid in a field, which a man finds and hides, and
for joy thereof sells all that he has and buys the field. I am aware that many persons apply this to
a soul finding Christ. But what does the man in the parable do? He sells all that he has to buy the
field. Is this the way for a man to be saved? If so, salvation is a question not of faith, but of giving
up everything to gain Christ, which is not grace, but works carried to the utmost. When a man
has Christ, he would doubtless give up everything for Him. But these are not the terms on which
a man first receives Christ for his soul’s need. But this is not all:"The field is the world." Am I
to buy the world in order to obtain Christ? This only shows the difficulties into which we fall
whenever we depart from the simplicity of Scripture. The Lord Himself disproves such an
interpretation. He shows that there is one Man, one only, who saw this treasure in the midst of
the confusion. It is Himself, who gave up all His rights in order that He might have sinners
washed in His blood and redeemed to God; it was He who bought the world, in order to acquire
the treasure He valued. The two things are distinctly presented in John 17:2, "As Thou hast given
Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou hast given Him."
There is the treasure:"As many as Thou hast given Him." He buys the whole, the outside world,
in order to possess this hidden treasure. (Ed. note:Some commentators identify the hidden
treasure with Israel.)

But moreover, "The kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man seeking goodly pearls; who,
when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." The
parable of the hid treasure did not sufficiently convey what the saints are to Christ. For the
treasure might consist of a hundred thousand pieces of gold and silver; how would this mark the
blessedness and beauty of the Church? The merchant finds "one pearl of great price." The Lord
does not see merely the preciousness of the saints, but the unity and heavenly beauty of the
Church. Every saint is precious to Christ; but "He loved the Church, and gave Himself for it."
That is what is seen here:"One pearl of great price." I do not in the least doubt that its spirit may
be applied to every Christian; but I believe it is intended to set forth the loveliness of the Church
in the eyes of Christ. It could not be fully said of a man awaking to believe the gospel, that he is
seeking goodly pearls. If we consider a sinner before he has received Christ, is he not rather
feeding on husks with the swine? Here it is one who seeks "goodly pearls," which no unconverted
man ever really sought. There is no possibility of applying these parables except to the Lord
Himself. How blessed it is that, in the midst of all the confusion which the devil has wrought,
Christ sees in His saints a treasure and the beauty of His Church, in spite of all infirmities and
failure!

(From Lectures on the Gospel of Matthew.)

The zeal of Nehemiah was used of the Lord to rouse almost all of the people of Jerusalem. There
were degrees of energy among them and, it may be, lukewarmness if not hostility in the hearts
of some; but outwardly, and by profession, nearly all came forth and offered their services as
builders. It was, in fact, a real revival, and such a one as could only be produced by the Spirit of
God. And the value God set upon it is seen in that He has caused the names of those who engaged
in this work to be written and preserved. This very circumstance shows that they had His mind
in building the wall. It could not be otherwise, for what was the meaning of their proposed work?
It was that they, led forth by Nehemiah, confessed their need of separation from the nations
around, and took measures to secure it. Long ages before, Moses had said to the Lord, "Wherein
shall it be known here that I and Thy people have found grace in Thy sight? Is it not in that Thou
goest with us? So shall we be separated, I and Thy people, from all the people that are upon the
face of the earth" (Exod. 33:16). They had forgotten this truth; but now, through grace, they were
about once again to take the place of a people set apart for God.

In several cases in this chapter it is specified that certain ones repaired over against (or opposite)
their houses (verses 10, 23, 28, 29, etc.). The Spirit of God would have us understand the spiritual
meaning of this. Bearing in mind that the wall is an emblem of separation, we see-that these
servants of the Lord began first with their own houses, that they sought first of all to bring their
own families into subjection to the word of God, and thereby to effect separation from evil within
the circle of their own responsibility. And this has ever been the divine order. Thus, when God
called Gideon to be the deliverer of His people, He commanded him to throw down the altar of
Baal in his father’s house before he could go forth to battle against the Midianites. As another has
remarked, "Faithfulness within precedes outward strength. Evil must be put away from Israel
before the enemy can be driven out. Obedience first and then strength. This is God’s order."

Another interesting point may be noticed. Some who built the gates and assisted with the wall did
not repair opposite their houses. Eliashib, the high priest, for example (compare verse 1 with
verses 20 and 21), and those who repaired opposite their houses, are not said to have assisted in
building the gates, etc. Two classes of saints are herein indicated. The first class is made up of
those who may be termed "ecclesiastical saints," that is, those who are strong on Church truth,
and in maintaining the truth of separation from evil for the Church, and at the same time are
careless as to their own houses. A more sorrowful spectacle cannot be presented in the Church
of God (and one not infrequently seen), when a public advocate of the claims of Christ over His
people, of the maintenance of His authority in the midst of those who are gathered to His name,
allows his own house, through its disorder, to become an occasion of reproach by the enemy.
Eliashib is an example, in this chapter, of this class. Whatever the indifference of his heart, he was
professedly engaged in the maintenance of separation and justice and judgment in Israel_through
building, together with his brethren, the gate and sanctifying it, while at the same time leaving
others to care for the wall opposite his own house (see verses 20, 21). Tending the vineyard of
others, his own vineyard he had not kept; this is proved by the fact that he was allied unto Tobiah
the Ammonite, while his grandson married a daughter of Sanballat the Horonite. Eli, Samuel, and
David of an earlier day are also examples of this numerous class.

Then there are others, as we learn from this chapter, who are most zealous in tending their own
houses and regulating them according to God, but are almost completely indifferent to the welfare
of the Church. Such have apprehended the truth that they themselves individually are to be
witnesses for Christ; but they have not learned that the Church is to be a light-bearer in the midst
of the world. In other words, they have not realized the oneness of God’s people, that believers
are "the body of Christ, and members in particular." As a consequence, while they fully admit the
Word of God is their guide as to their individual path, they do not recognize its authority over the
saints collectively or corporately. They are thus often linked with such departures from the truth,
such disregard of the supremacy of Christ as Head of the Church, through their public connection
with the people of God, as would fill them with fear if they did but own their responsibility in the
Church as well as in their own families. But if we understand the position in which through grace
we have been set, it will be our earnest desire to unite the repairing opposite our own houses with
building the wall and the gates.

Nothing in the service of the Lord’s people passes unnoticed; thus in verse 12 we read that "next
unto him repaired Shallum the son of Halohesh, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, he and his
daughters." The zeal of these godly women has thus obtained for them a place in this memorial
of the work of the Lord. Such a record, as well as the more abundant records of the New
Testament, shows that there is never any difficulty as to women’s place in service when they are
filled with the energy of the Spirit of God. The account preserved of Joanna the wife of Chuza,
Susanna, and many others who ministered to the Lord of their substance, of Mary and Martha,
of Phoebe, a servant of the Church, of Priscilla, of Persis, and of many more, is surely sufficient
for guidance to any who are willing to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn His mind. This scripture gives
us not necessarily what man saw, but what God saw. The father and his daughters were all
engaged in repairing the wall, and the fact that it is mentioned is its commendation. Beyond this
nothing can be said; but the examples already cited are enough to teach that there is room enough
in the Church of God, and also in the world, for women’s utmost energy and devotedness to
Christ, provided it be exhibited in subjection to Him and to His Word.

Reviewing the whole chapter, two other points of great importance may be specified. The reader
will observe that some labored in companies and some alone. Some were happiest when serving
in fellowship with their brethren, and some preferred, while in full communion with the object
their brethren had in view, to labor in single-eyed dependence upon, and alone with, the Lord.
The same thing is observed in every age of the Church. There are vessels which are adapted for
lonely service, and there are others almost useless unless in association with others. There are
dangers besetting the path of both. The former are often tempted to be isolated and to forget that
the Lord has other servants working for the same ends, while the latter are sometimes betrayed
into forgetfulness of individual dependence, as well as into the sacrifice of their own convictions
as to the Lord’s will in order to secure peace and union. The important thing is to receive the
service from the Lord, to labor as He directs, to go where He sends, whether alone or in company
with others, and ever to maintain a single eye to His glory. Happy is that servant who has learned
the lesson that it is the Lord’s will, and not his own, which must govern the whole of his activities.

The second noteworthy thing is the variety of the services of these children of Israel. One did one
thing and one another, while all were working for the same end. It was no mean shadow of the

various functions of the members of the body. Paul, speaking of this, says, "Having then gifts
differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according
to the proportion of faith; or ministry, let us wait on our ministering; or he that teacheth, on
teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation; he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that
ruleth, with diligence; he that showeth mercy, with cheerfulness" (Rom. 12:6-8). The importance
of occupying the position given us to fill, and of exercising the special gift or function in the body
bestowed upon us cannot be too much pressed. Every Christian has his own place which no one
else can fill, and his own work which no other can do; the health and prosperity of the assembly
depend upon the recognition and the practice of this truth.

(From An Exposition of Nehemiah.)

Carpenters and masons are all builders and repairers of buildings_one working with wood, the
other with stone or brick. Evidently highly skilled carpenters and masons were not very abundant
in Israel, for both David and Solomon imported such persons for constructing important buildings
(2 Samuel 5:11; 1 Kings 5; 1 Chron. 22:2). Carpenters and masons were hired for the rebuilding
of the temple after the Babylonian captivity (Ezra 3:7).

The third chapter of Nehemiah gives a detailed list of those who took part in rebuilding the walls
of Jerusalem. Most of these were not professional builders (verses 1, 8, 22, 31, 32), but men and
women (verse 12) who were concerned about the work of the Lord.

There is an interesting reference to the carpenter in Isaiah 44:13 which describes his tools and
methods. Unfortunately, the carpenter was using his skill to fashion an idol rather than something
good.

The only carpenters mentioned in the New Testament are our Lord and His foster father, Joseph.

Our work for the Lord is described by Paul as building (1 Cor. 3:9-17). Paul and the other
apostles laid the foundation (verse 10) and the rest of us build on this foundation. We are to be
careful how we build, for if we use perishable materials our work will be burned up (verses 12-
15). A popular verse states, "Only what’s done for Christ will last," but I think it would be more
accurate to say, "Only what’s done by Christ (through the power of the Holy Spirit) will last."
Only what is done by the Holy Spirit working through us will remain for eternity; anything done
in the flesh (even if we thought we were working for the Lord) will perish. "Except the Lord build
the house, they labor in vain that build it" (Psalm 127:1).

There are many other references in the New Testament to spiritual building. The word "edify"
comes from the Latin word meaning "to build" and originally had that meaning. It has come to
mean to instruct or enlighten, especially morally or spiritually.

Although the gifts were given to the Church for edification (Eph. 4:12), each one of us (Eph.
4:16) is to live his entire life (not just the exercise of gift) as a means of edifying. The apostle Paul
did all things for edifying (2 Cor. 12:19) and he exhorts us to do the same (1 Cor. 14:26). Our
speech and topics of conversation are to edify others (Eph. 4:29 and 1 Tim. 1:4). We are to desire
the ability to prophesy rather than the gift of tongues because prophecy edifies (1 Cor. 14). Any
spiritual gift or authority is to be used for edifying (2 Cor. 10:8), not for personal advantage (2
Cor. 13:10).

Do we have liberty to eat and drink certain things or to engage in certain activities? This liberty
is not to be used to please ourselves. We should be willing to curtail our liberty in order to edify
others (Romans 14:19; 15:2; 1 Cor. 10:23).

Let us take heed to our whole manner of life, then, as well as to our spiritual work or gift; for,
like the building of the walls of Jerusalem, edification is an occupation for all of us, not just for

the "professionals." Let us, especially, "love one another," for it is love that edifies (1 Cor. 8:1).