The Release of the Lord # 2
We think that there is such a phrase, and it is this:
THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS
This accounts for everything when possessing as it possessed them. Let us look it up.
"Who bare witness of the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ" (Revelation 1:2).
"I was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 1:9).
"I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held" (Revelation 6:9).
"And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 12:17).
"I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 19:10).
"And I saw the souls of them that had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus" (Revelation 20:4).
"Even as the testimony of Christ was confirmed in you" (1 Corinthians 1:6).
"They will not receive of thee testimony concerning Me" (Acts 22:18).
"Our testimony unto you was believed" (2 Thess. 1:10).
"Be not ashamed therefore of the testimony of our Lord" (2 Timothy 1:8).
"Ye shall be My witnesses" (Acts 1:8; same root in Greek as 'testimony'.
"Must one be ordained to be a witness with us" (Acts 1:22).
"This Jesus did God raise up, whereof we are all witnesses" (Acts 2:32).
"Raised from the dead; whereof we are witnesses" (Acts 2:32).
"Not to all the people, but unto witnesses" (Acts 10:41).
"With great power gave the apostles their witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus" (Acts 4:33).
"And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the Word of their testimony" (Revelation 12:11).
The New Testament, read in the light of these passages, shows very clearly that the remarkable story which it recounts is that of a testimony. It remains for us to ask what this testimony was. To clear the way for the positive answer we must say something as to what this "testimony" was not.
1. The Testimony of Jesus Was Not A Teaching
There is nothing in the whole story upon which to rest an argument or affirmation that the Apostles went out to the world with "The Teaching of Jesus." They were not propagating new doctrines or a system of truth. The teaching resulted from the acceptance of the testimony, the expounding of its content followed that acceptance and was kept for believers only. It was a result, not a cause. The most they ever did was to substantiate their testimony from the Scriptures, and affirm certain facts concerning the Person of Christ.
2. The Testimony of Jesus was NOT a New Religion
'Christianity' was not set over against or alongside of other religions and made 'comparative.' It was some time before some of the Apostles themselves realized the implications of their testimony in the matter of their being emancipated from Judaism. Great as the change was, they did not at first realize that they had been taken out of their 'religion.' Later they found that they were out and committed in spite of their own prejudices, and had to do their thinking and discussing after the thing had become a fact in embarrassing experience. See Peter in the house of Cornelius, and the events of Acts 10, 11, 15, etc.
3. The Testimony of Jesus Was NOT a New Movement
No plans were laid. There was no policy. Organization was entirely absent, and any which subsequently had to be admitted was forced upon them by the embarrassment of the very vitality of things, and then it was of the simplest.
A thought-out campaign did not exist. To set up, launch, form, bring into being, or found a new society, sect, 'church', community, was not in mind. They did not set out for such, and although their testimony gave distinctiveness to all who believed; although outsiders labeled them and misinterpreted their motive and purpose; the distinguishing feature was life.
What then was "The Testimony of Jesus?"
All-inclusively it was the proclamation and affirmation of a fact. That fact was - and is - The Universal Sovereignty and Lordship of Jesus Christ as the Son of God, established and vindicated by the resurrection from the dead.
This testimony has two sides. The objective and historic fact, of which they had many infallible proofs, had become demonstrated in the power of that resurrection by the Holy Spirit in "the church, which is His body" - in all its members, in all its activities. That lie, which in Him had conquered sin, death, hell, satan, and had carried Him from "the lowest part" to the "far above all heavens," had been implanted in them by the Holy Spirit sent down from Heaven.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 3)
Sunday, April 16, 2017
Thursday, April 13, 2017
The Release of the Lord # 1
The Release of the Lord # 1
Part One
Read: Isaiah 61:1-3; Lev. 25:10; Luke 12:49, 50; 4:18, 19; Acts 2:1
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified."
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."
"I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!"
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
The book which is known to us as "The Acts of the Apostles," and sometimes "The Acts of the Holy Spirit," might truly be named - The Release of Jesus Christ.
Luke introduces it with the observation that he had earlier written the beginnings of the acts and teaching of Jesus; implying that continuation is now his object and purpose. But what a change! The former activities were bounded and limited by time and space,and, at best, covered but a few square miles of Syrian soil. For the most part Omnipresence was in chains, except for a few breakings through of power at a distance. The activities and teaching were almost entirely limited to a people of one nation and tongue. Then, by outward urge, persuasion, and encouragement, He caused His wishes to be carried out; and to the dull minds of the spiritually unquickened He gave His spiritual treasures; explanations and reasons being necessary to confidence. Then, the necessity was laid upon Him of a very slow disillusionment and unfolding as to what form the end of the phase would take, because of the controlling personal interests, even in the inner circle. Pride, ambition, doubt, malice, self-assertiveness, self-confidence, self-realization, self-defense, like barber wires, circled around and wounded Him whenever He sought to move forward. Ever conscious from the beginning that world-dominion was His as "Heir of all things," yet He had not a place to lay His head, and to be "crucified through weakness" was to be His portion.
What a change! NOW He has shaken off all His chains. Time and space no longer have any power over Him. Geography, the material things, satan, demons, men, nations, thrones, all have been fully stripped off by Him. NOW, by an inward dynamic, in spite of every threat and peril, men and women are moving out in every direction with a passion for the glory of His Name. NOW, not as an historic figure, known after the flesh, but, by an inward revelation of transcendent magnitude, He is known after the Spirit. NOW, the once dreaded, unacceptable, offending Cross is all their glory. NOW, suffering reproach has supplanted pride; selfless, disinterested sacrifice takes the place of ambition; a mighty energizing faith - not their own - has destroyed doubt; they lay down their own lives gladly and suffer the loss of all things for that Name!
In one strategic stroke He begins with a multitude representing "every nation under heaven." See how this fire spreads without artificial and forced agencies.
In the year 33 A.D., a few Galilean fishermen were seeking liberty of speech in Jerusalem, and were severely handled as men poor and ignorant.
In the year that Paul died, how did the matter stand? There were churches in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, in Antioch and all Syria, in Galatia, in Ephesus, Sardis, Laodicea and throughout the west coast of lesser Asia, in Phillippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Rome, Alexandria, in the chief cities of the islands and the mainland of Greece, and the western Roman colonies.
A Sad Comparison
There are some significant omissions from this record of conquests. We never read of the organizing of a missionary campaign.
Such things as deputations, lecturers and lectures, exhibitions, appeals, advertisements, and so on, with all their cost and expenditure of time, money, energy, all to try to get Christians interested in the souls of the unsaved, are never hinted at. Any reporting of what God had done in the regions beyond was never by way of propaganda or advocacy. Statistics as mental stimulants; pathetic, tragic, sensational stories as emotional stimulants; urge and drive as volitional stimulants had no place here, so far as we can discern. The thing was firstly of the Spirit, not of the soul. The endeavor to reverse this order is undoubtedly the reason for a tremendous amount of the weakness and breakdown of today.
Speaking generally, this whole matter of the world-mission of the Church is on pre-resurrection ground today. The Lord is not straitened in Himself, but He is straitened in His people.
On the one hand, there is a need of workers, for almost half the human race is without the knowledge of Christ; and on the other hand workers are often ready to go forth, yet there are no means to send them. A third condition, almost more tragic, abounds, that of the spiritual breakdown of many who do go, so that 'converts' are not really and genuinely born from above with the Spirit of Sonship becoming truly resident within. Demon powers persist in dominion and challenge. A policy of slow absorption of 'Christianity', through education, familiarization, and so on, as a compromise between failure to work upon the basis of genuine regeneration and an honest acknowledgement of the same with its practical implications, has been adopted. Finally there are the many who return home with lost assurance.
Surely all this stands in direct contrast to the spirit and experience of the New Testament. It is not difficult to go on at great length making distinctions between the two standards, that of the New Testament and that which has largely been since, but the more important things is to display the secrets of that former glory.
We are convinced that He Who is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," desires to have, and can have, His work on the same plane to the end of the age, and that in some parts of the world it is happening in a way very similar to the early days.
Here then begins an inquiry into the nature of the work of the risen Lord in "the Church, which is His body."
We ask, first of all, is there any phrase which embodies the conception, the motive, and the dynamic of this spontaneous world-conquest at its beginning?
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 2)
Part One
Read: Isaiah 61:1-3; Lev. 25:10; Luke 12:49, 50; 4:18, 19; Acts 2:1
"The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me; because the Lord hath anointed Me to preach good tidings unto the meek; He hath sent Me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all that mourn; to appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified."
"And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family."
"I am come to send fire on the earth; and what will I, if it be already kindled? But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished!"
"The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
"And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place."
The book which is known to us as "The Acts of the Apostles," and sometimes "The Acts of the Holy Spirit," might truly be named - The Release of Jesus Christ.
Luke introduces it with the observation that he had earlier written the beginnings of the acts and teaching of Jesus; implying that continuation is now his object and purpose. But what a change! The former activities were bounded and limited by time and space,and, at best, covered but a few square miles of Syrian soil. For the most part Omnipresence was in chains, except for a few breakings through of power at a distance. The activities and teaching were almost entirely limited to a people of one nation and tongue. Then, by outward urge, persuasion, and encouragement, He caused His wishes to be carried out; and to the dull minds of the spiritually unquickened He gave His spiritual treasures; explanations and reasons being necessary to confidence. Then, the necessity was laid upon Him of a very slow disillusionment and unfolding as to what form the end of the phase would take, because of the controlling personal interests, even in the inner circle. Pride, ambition, doubt, malice, self-assertiveness, self-confidence, self-realization, self-defense, like barber wires, circled around and wounded Him whenever He sought to move forward. Ever conscious from the beginning that world-dominion was His as "Heir of all things," yet He had not a place to lay His head, and to be "crucified through weakness" was to be His portion.
What a change! NOW He has shaken off all His chains. Time and space no longer have any power over Him. Geography, the material things, satan, demons, men, nations, thrones, all have been fully stripped off by Him. NOW, by an inward dynamic, in spite of every threat and peril, men and women are moving out in every direction with a passion for the glory of His Name. NOW, not as an historic figure, known after the flesh, but, by an inward revelation of transcendent magnitude, He is known after the Spirit. NOW, the once dreaded, unacceptable, offending Cross is all their glory. NOW, suffering reproach has supplanted pride; selfless, disinterested sacrifice takes the place of ambition; a mighty energizing faith - not their own - has destroyed doubt; they lay down their own lives gladly and suffer the loss of all things for that Name!
In one strategic stroke He begins with a multitude representing "every nation under heaven." See how this fire spreads without artificial and forced agencies.
In the year 33 A.D., a few Galilean fishermen were seeking liberty of speech in Jerusalem, and were severely handled as men poor and ignorant.
In the year that Paul died, how did the matter stand? There were churches in Jerusalem, in Caesarea, in Antioch and all Syria, in Galatia, in Ephesus, Sardis, Laodicea and throughout the west coast of lesser Asia, in Phillippi, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth, Rome, Alexandria, in the chief cities of the islands and the mainland of Greece, and the western Roman colonies.
A Sad Comparison
There are some significant omissions from this record of conquests. We never read of the organizing of a missionary campaign.
Such things as deputations, lecturers and lectures, exhibitions, appeals, advertisements, and so on, with all their cost and expenditure of time, money, energy, all to try to get Christians interested in the souls of the unsaved, are never hinted at. Any reporting of what God had done in the regions beyond was never by way of propaganda or advocacy. Statistics as mental stimulants; pathetic, tragic, sensational stories as emotional stimulants; urge and drive as volitional stimulants had no place here, so far as we can discern. The thing was firstly of the Spirit, not of the soul. The endeavor to reverse this order is undoubtedly the reason for a tremendous amount of the weakness and breakdown of today.
Speaking generally, this whole matter of the world-mission of the Church is on pre-resurrection ground today. The Lord is not straitened in Himself, but He is straitened in His people.
On the one hand, there is a need of workers, for almost half the human race is without the knowledge of Christ; and on the other hand workers are often ready to go forth, yet there are no means to send them. A third condition, almost more tragic, abounds, that of the spiritual breakdown of many who do go, so that 'converts' are not really and genuinely born from above with the Spirit of Sonship becoming truly resident within. Demon powers persist in dominion and challenge. A policy of slow absorption of 'Christianity', through education, familiarization, and so on, as a compromise between failure to work upon the basis of genuine regeneration and an honest acknowledgement of the same with its practical implications, has been adopted. Finally there are the many who return home with lost assurance.
Surely all this stands in direct contrast to the spirit and experience of the New Testament. It is not difficult to go on at great length making distinctions between the two standards, that of the New Testament and that which has largely been since, but the more important things is to display the secrets of that former glory.
We are convinced that He Who is "the same yesterday, and today, and for ever," desires to have, and can have, His work on the same plane to the end of the age, and that in some parts of the world it is happening in a way very similar to the early days.
Here then begins an inquiry into the nature of the work of the risen Lord in "the Church, which is His body."
We ask, first of all, is there any phrase which embodies the conception, the motive, and the dynamic of this spontaneous world-conquest at its beginning?
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 2)
Sunday, April 9, 2017
Power With God # 1
Power With God # 1
"Righteousness Which Is According to Faith"
Exemplified In Noah
"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of Man, when a land sinneth against Me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out My hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast; though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah ... Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast; though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness" (Ezekiel 14:12-14, 19, 20).
"Then said the Lord to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth" (Jeremiah 15:1).
God Takes Account of Those Who Have Power With Him
It is a remarkable thing that the Lord is doing when, in this way, He selects certain names and brings them to the fore over against such a very dark and hopeless situation, and says of them: 'Although these men were there, and although these men stood before Me, it would make no difference; they alone, by themselves, would be saved.' In doing this, He has selected from all the men who had ever prevailed with Him those who more than any others, had power with God. If anything could be done, if God could be influenced, persuaded to intervene, to change the situation which was so desperate, these men would do it, and would be the ones who would have power with God. The very first thing that strikes us is just that - God taking account of men who had power with Him. The Lord carries that a very long way. He says, in effect: 'I take that right to the very limit of possibility - where possibility ends these men go; if anything could be done, however desperate the situation, these are the men who will bring it about.' It is something to note that God takes account of men who have power with Him. God knows them; He knows what He has had to do, what He has been compelled to do because of such men.
God Puts Himself Into the Hands of Men
By inference, this carries the truth that God puts Himself into the hands of men. God is not going to move unless there are those who prevail with Him, and the inference is: 'I am your hands, if you will press the matter far enough, if you will learn how to prevail.' God will, or will not, move according to knowledge of how to prevail with Him in a situation or a matter. That is something to think about. If a situation could be altered God says: 'Such and such are the men through whom I would do it.' Of course, I am not dealing with the situations in the contexts of these two passages in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. That is not the point. I am not taking up the situation in Israel, which had become an impossible situation, and its handling and solution was one which could only be done through judgment, and the terrible judgment of the seventy years' captivity. God would deal with it in that way. But He had reached the point where no man could ask the Lord to deal with it on the spot, and it would happen. That is not our concern at the moment.
It is this: That there are situations which do go a very long way, as we shall see, which are still open to be dealt with by heaven, but which never will be dealt with unless there are those who know how to prevail with God. God offers Himself to be prevailed with, to yield Himself in all His sovereign power, in all His grace, in all His mercy, to men and people who know the secret of prevailing.
Now let us note at this very point, lest our hearts begin to lose assurance and hope, that the men here mentioned as being the most outstanding examples of prevailing with God were not taken account of for what they were in themselves. There were two things which made it possible for the Lord to take account of them.
A Heart Relationship With The Lord
One was their heart relationship to the Lord. Look at the men: Noah, Daniel, Job, Moses, Samuel. Well, there are some grand things about those men. The Lord has not covered up the other side. You are sometimes a little surprised at what the Lord does say about some of them. If you read the whole story, you do feel that there may be some ground of contradiction here in these men. You know the end of Noah - a very sad picture. You hear a New Testament Apostle saying: "Ye have heard of the patience of Job" (James 5:11), but when you read the Book of Job, you sometimes feel that if ever there was a man without patience it is Job. We know about Moses, and even Samuel seems to have passed out almost under a cloud. Well, I think it is clear that in their case, as in the case of so many of the others who are held up by God as examples of this or that, it was not because of what they were in themselves that God singled them out, but in every case you do see this: that in spite of their humanity, their weaknesses, their failures, their lapses, there was a heart relationship to the Lord which cannot be questioned, and when you look at the context of these very passages, that is the thing which first of all is impressed upon you - the heart of these people. God is troubled about the heart of this people. The prophets word about Israel at this time was: "The heart of these people is turned away from Me, and turned to idols." "This people draw nigh unto Me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from far from Me" (Isaiah 29:13). It is a heart question, and it was that state of heart which at length brought about this impasse - that God could do nothing. Over against that, men are mentioned who, despite their human weaknesses, were men whose hearts were in a very utter place with the Lord.
But that is not all. That is a beginning point, but there is another reason why the Lord singled out these men. It was because of certain spiritual factors which were the great characteristics of their very life, factors which do count with God. When you look at each of these men, read their story and sum it all up, you have to say: That is the thing that marks that man's life, and that, and that. Each one of them is the embodiment of something, and it is that thing which counts with God and which was the basis of their having power with God. That is what we are after at this time - that which makes for power with God.
Two Ways of Estimating Men
May I just stay here, after what I have just said, to add this. There are two ways in which we may estimate men, by which we may judge them and their history and arrive at a conclusion about them. There is the natural side, the way in which men naturally look at men. When the world reads the story of some of these men, such as David, and others, well, they sum it all up with a sneer and pass it all out as utterly unworthy. It is the natural way of judging men and appraising their value, and that was the point upon which the Lord came down with Job's friends. They judged Job naturally, by the sight of the eye, by what appeared on the surface, and summed him up as a bad lot. You can look on men of God like that, just taking account of the flaws, the weaknesses and all that human side, which is, after all, poor stuff in the best. Very few men, if any, have ever come out of the judgments of men completely free of that sort of thing. But there is another way, and that is as to their spiritual values, to judge spiritually. It is just here that the Lord says: "Touch not Mine anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm" (1 Chron. 16:22). Why should they touch the Lord's anointed? Only because they have misjudged them and had come to wrong conclusions about them. The Lord will not let us touch any one of His, however much they may be at fault in our judgment. It is a very solemn thing to remember that: that our hand must not come down upon any of the Lord's own in judgment; that has to be left with the Lord. It may be that there is plenty from our point of view and to our judgment that would justify our taking such an antagonistic or opposed attitude, but the Lord will not have it. That comes out in the case of Job. Moses was a frail human vessel capable of making mistakes,but see what the Lord will do with those who assail Moses, and touch his acceptance with God, his standing before the Lord! I do feel it is necessary for us to remember that, because who belongs to the Lord is very precious and must not be touched. There are always two ways of looking at and judging men and people of God. There is this natural side which has plenty to criticize, but the Lord will disapprove if we do it. There is the spiritual way of judging and it is necessary to look further and see how far those count for God, whether there is not something there that is of the Lord.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 2 - Noah Singled Out By God)
"Righteousness Which Is According to Faith"
Exemplified In Noah
"And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of Man, when a land sinneth against Me by committing a trespass, and I stretch out My hand upon it, and break the staff of the bread thereof, and send famine upon it, and cut off from it man and beast; though these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they should deliver but their own souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord Jehovah ... Or if I send a pestilence into that land, and pour out My wrath upon it in blood, to cut off from it man and beast; though Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, as I live, saith the Lord Jehovah, they should deliver neither son nor daughter; they should but deliver their own souls by their righteousness" (Ezekiel 14:12-14, 19, 20).
"Then said the Lord to me, Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind would not be toward this people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth" (Jeremiah 15:1).
God Takes Account of Those Who Have Power With Him
It is a remarkable thing that the Lord is doing when, in this way, He selects certain names and brings them to the fore over against such a very dark and hopeless situation, and says of them: 'Although these men were there, and although these men stood before Me, it would make no difference; they alone, by themselves, would be saved.' In doing this, He has selected from all the men who had ever prevailed with Him those who more than any others, had power with God. If anything could be done, if God could be influenced, persuaded to intervene, to change the situation which was so desperate, these men would do it, and would be the ones who would have power with God. The very first thing that strikes us is just that - God taking account of men who had power with Him. The Lord carries that a very long way. He says, in effect: 'I take that right to the very limit of possibility - where possibility ends these men go; if anything could be done, however desperate the situation, these are the men who will bring it about.' It is something to note that God takes account of men who have power with Him. God knows them; He knows what He has had to do, what He has been compelled to do because of such men.
God Puts Himself Into the Hands of Men
By inference, this carries the truth that God puts Himself into the hands of men. God is not going to move unless there are those who prevail with Him, and the inference is: 'I am your hands, if you will press the matter far enough, if you will learn how to prevail.' God will, or will not, move according to knowledge of how to prevail with Him in a situation or a matter. That is something to think about. If a situation could be altered God says: 'Such and such are the men through whom I would do it.' Of course, I am not dealing with the situations in the contexts of these two passages in Ezekiel and Jeremiah. That is not the point. I am not taking up the situation in Israel, which had become an impossible situation, and its handling and solution was one which could only be done through judgment, and the terrible judgment of the seventy years' captivity. God would deal with it in that way. But He had reached the point where no man could ask the Lord to deal with it on the spot, and it would happen. That is not our concern at the moment.
It is this: That there are situations which do go a very long way, as we shall see, which are still open to be dealt with by heaven, but which never will be dealt with unless there are those who know how to prevail with God. God offers Himself to be prevailed with, to yield Himself in all His sovereign power, in all His grace, in all His mercy, to men and people who know the secret of prevailing.
Now let us note at this very point, lest our hearts begin to lose assurance and hope, that the men here mentioned as being the most outstanding examples of prevailing with God were not taken account of for what they were in themselves. There were two things which made it possible for the Lord to take account of them.
A Heart Relationship With The Lord
One was their heart relationship to the Lord. Look at the men: Noah, Daniel, Job, Moses, Samuel. Well, there are some grand things about those men. The Lord has not covered up the other side. You are sometimes a little surprised at what the Lord does say about some of them. If you read the whole story, you do feel that there may be some ground of contradiction here in these men. You know the end of Noah - a very sad picture. You hear a New Testament Apostle saying: "Ye have heard of the patience of Job" (James 5:11), but when you read the Book of Job, you sometimes feel that if ever there was a man without patience it is Job. We know about Moses, and even Samuel seems to have passed out almost under a cloud. Well, I think it is clear that in their case, as in the case of so many of the others who are held up by God as examples of this or that, it was not because of what they were in themselves that God singled them out, but in every case you do see this: that in spite of their humanity, their weaknesses, their failures, their lapses, there was a heart relationship to the Lord which cannot be questioned, and when you look at the context of these very passages, that is the thing which first of all is impressed upon you - the heart of these people. God is troubled about the heart of this people. The prophets word about Israel at this time was: "The heart of these people is turned away from Me, and turned to idols." "This people draw nigh unto Me, and with their mouth and with their lips do honor Me, but have removed their heart far from far from Me" (Isaiah 29:13). It is a heart question, and it was that state of heart which at length brought about this impasse - that God could do nothing. Over against that, men are mentioned who, despite their human weaknesses, were men whose hearts were in a very utter place with the Lord.
But that is not all. That is a beginning point, but there is another reason why the Lord singled out these men. It was because of certain spiritual factors which were the great characteristics of their very life, factors which do count with God. When you look at each of these men, read their story and sum it all up, you have to say: That is the thing that marks that man's life, and that, and that. Each one of them is the embodiment of something, and it is that thing which counts with God and which was the basis of their having power with God. That is what we are after at this time - that which makes for power with God.
Two Ways of Estimating Men
May I just stay here, after what I have just said, to add this. There are two ways in which we may estimate men, by which we may judge them and their history and arrive at a conclusion about them. There is the natural side, the way in which men naturally look at men. When the world reads the story of some of these men, such as David, and others, well, they sum it all up with a sneer and pass it all out as utterly unworthy. It is the natural way of judging men and appraising their value, and that was the point upon which the Lord came down with Job's friends. They judged Job naturally, by the sight of the eye, by what appeared on the surface, and summed him up as a bad lot. You can look on men of God like that, just taking account of the flaws, the weaknesses and all that human side, which is, after all, poor stuff in the best. Very few men, if any, have ever come out of the judgments of men completely free of that sort of thing. But there is another way, and that is as to their spiritual values, to judge spiritually. It is just here that the Lord says: "Touch not Mine anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm" (1 Chron. 16:22). Why should they touch the Lord's anointed? Only because they have misjudged them and had come to wrong conclusions about them. The Lord will not let us touch any one of His, however much they may be at fault in our judgment. It is a very solemn thing to remember that: that our hand must not come down upon any of the Lord's own in judgment; that has to be left with the Lord. It may be that there is plenty from our point of view and to our judgment that would justify our taking such an antagonistic or opposed attitude, but the Lord will not have it. That comes out in the case of Job. Moses was a frail human vessel capable of making mistakes,but see what the Lord will do with those who assail Moses, and touch his acceptance with God, his standing before the Lord! I do feel it is necessary for us to remember that, because who belongs to the Lord is very precious and must not be touched. There are always two ways of looking at and judging men and people of God. There is this natural side which has plenty to criticize, but the Lord will disapprove if we do it. There is the spiritual way of judging and it is necessary to look further and see how far those count for God, whether there is not something there that is of the Lord.
~T. Austin-Sparks~
(continued with # 2 - Noah Singled Out By God)
Friday, April 7, 2017
Self and Its Pride Oppose the Holy Spirit # 2
Self and Its Pride Oppose the Holy Spirit # 2
So great is the blindness which pride brings to the soul, that helpless creatures feel exalted because of natural abilities that are given them by God, and boast of such things as though they were their own. No man has the power to do anything, except by a life that every moment is loaned to him from God: he has no more power of his own to breathe or move a hand than to stop the earth or extinguish the sun. This is the dependent, helpless poverty of man's state, which is a good reason for humility. Since it is God who "gives to all men life,and breath and all that we possess" (Acts 17:25); to ascribe glory to ourselves for these things is to be guilty both of stealing and lying. For pride takes to ourselves those things which only belong to God, and in denying the truth of our helpless dependence upon Him, we pretend to be something that we are not.
What is the result of this pride which blinds us to our true condition? We reason ourselves into all kinds of misery, making our lives the tools of unnecessary desires. Seeking after imaginary happiness, creating to ourselves a thousand unnatural needs, amusing our hearts with false hopes and insatiable passions, envying one another, we bring distress of every sort upon ourselves. Let any man but look back upon his own life and see what jealous ambitions, what vain thoughts, what desires have taken up the greater part of his life! Let him consider how foolish he has been in his words and manner of living, how often he has rejected reason to follow lust and passion, how seldom he has been able to please himself, and how often he has been displeased with others; how soon he has changed his mind, hated what he had formerly loved, and loved what he had formerly hated: how often he has been angry over trifles, pleased and displeased with the very same things, and so often changed from one vain entertainment or project to another! When any man honestly considers his life in this way, he will then realize that nothing is so unbecoming in any man as self-exaltation and pride. Perhaps there are very few people in the world who would not rather choose to die than to have all their secret thoughts, lusts, follies, errors of judgment, vanities, false motives, uneasiness, hatred, envies, and corruptions made known to the world. And shall pride be entertained in a heart thus conscious of its own miserable condition and behavior?
It is not only the lust for possessions and the distractions of life that nourish pride, but even devotions and charities, strivings after humility and goodness expose man to fresh and strong temptations of this evil spirit of self-exaltation. Every good thought, every good action, exposes one to the assaults of vanity and self-satisfaction. None have more occasion to be afraid of the approaches of pride than those who have made some advances in a pious life: for pride can grow as well upon virtues as upon vices, and can even praise itself while using words that seem to be praising God.
Now what is it in the human soul that most of all hinders the death of this old man? What is it that above all strengthens and exalts the life of self, and makes it the master and governor of all the powers of the heart and soul? It is the imagined genius of self-will, the glory of learning, and the conceit of natural reason. These are the master builders of pride's temple in the heart of man, and like faithful priests they keep up the daily worship of the false god, self. Whereas man ought to be the temple of the living God, self sits there in the natural man, obsessed with his imagined abilities, and fiercely jealous of his own independent interests.
Let it be clearly understood that all these magnificent corruptions of the natural man have their origin in his miserable fall from the life of God in his soul. Self-love, self-exaltation, self-will, and all the other partners of a natural reason would have had no more place among men than blindness, ignorance, and sickness, had man continued as he was created in the image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Everything that then dwelt in him or came from him would have expressed only so much of God, and nothing of himself, and would have manifested nothing inwardly or outwardly but the heavenly powers of his triune Creator. Man would then have had no more self-conscious realization of his own goodness than of his own creating power upon beholding the animals and trees about him or the stars above.
Had that been man's perfect state without the fall, then consider how unreasonable and odious it must be for poor, sinful creatures to take delight in their own imagined greatness, while the highest and most glorious sons of heaven seek no other occupation than that of glorifying God alone. Pride is only the disorder of the fallen world, and has no place among other beings. It can only subsist where ignorance and sensuality, impurity, reign. If man will boast of anything as his own, he must boast of his misery and sin, for there is nothing else but this that is his own property or his own doing. Let a man, when he is most delighted with himself, but contemplate our blessed Lord stretched out and nailed upon the Cross; and then let him consider how absurd it must be for a heart full of pride and self-esteem to pray to God by virtue of the sufferings and death of the meek and lowly One.
It is man's dreadful fall from the life of God in his soul that has given birth to self and the deceit of pride. These are the great enemies of man and God, because they oppose the Spirit of God, through whose gracious work in the heart alone man can receive eternal life. And when the lusts of the flesh have had their last day, and the pride of life has only a dead body to inhibit, the soul of man which remains will know at last that it has nothing of its own, nothing than can say "I do this, or I posses that." Then all that man has or does, will either be the glory of God manifested in him, or the power of hell in full possession of his soul. The time of man's playing with words and intellect, of grasping after positions among men or of amusing himself with the foolish toys of this vain world, can last no longer than he is able to eat and drink with the creatures of this world. When the time comes that he must take his leave of earthly treasure and honors, then all the stately structures which genius, learning, and proud imagination have painted before his own eyes or those of others must bear full witness to Solomon's "vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Eccl. 1:1).
That humility which is despised by men now, and is so contrary to the spirit of this world, will then be known to be the root of that faith which overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil. He who dares to be poor and contemptible in the eyes of this present evil world in order to approve himself to God; who resists and rejects all human glory; who opposes the clamor of his passions; meekly bears all injuries and wrongs; and dares to wait for his reward until the invisible hand of God gives to every one his proper place: that one will be found to be the man of true wisdom in the coming day. He is the good soldier of Jesus Christ, who has fought the good fight of faith. Yet it cannot have been in his own strength or wisdom, but only as he has embraced the death of Christ as the crucifixion of his own devilish self, and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has known the indwelling life of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in his soul.
~William Law~
(The End)
So great is the blindness which pride brings to the soul, that helpless creatures feel exalted because of natural abilities that are given them by God, and boast of such things as though they were their own. No man has the power to do anything, except by a life that every moment is loaned to him from God: he has no more power of his own to breathe or move a hand than to stop the earth or extinguish the sun. This is the dependent, helpless poverty of man's state, which is a good reason for humility. Since it is God who "gives to all men life,and breath and all that we possess" (Acts 17:25); to ascribe glory to ourselves for these things is to be guilty both of stealing and lying. For pride takes to ourselves those things which only belong to God, and in denying the truth of our helpless dependence upon Him, we pretend to be something that we are not.
What is the result of this pride which blinds us to our true condition? We reason ourselves into all kinds of misery, making our lives the tools of unnecessary desires. Seeking after imaginary happiness, creating to ourselves a thousand unnatural needs, amusing our hearts with false hopes and insatiable passions, envying one another, we bring distress of every sort upon ourselves. Let any man but look back upon his own life and see what jealous ambitions, what vain thoughts, what desires have taken up the greater part of his life! Let him consider how foolish he has been in his words and manner of living, how often he has rejected reason to follow lust and passion, how seldom he has been able to please himself, and how often he has been displeased with others; how soon he has changed his mind, hated what he had formerly loved, and loved what he had formerly hated: how often he has been angry over trifles, pleased and displeased with the very same things, and so often changed from one vain entertainment or project to another! When any man honestly considers his life in this way, he will then realize that nothing is so unbecoming in any man as self-exaltation and pride. Perhaps there are very few people in the world who would not rather choose to die than to have all their secret thoughts, lusts, follies, errors of judgment, vanities, false motives, uneasiness, hatred, envies, and corruptions made known to the world. And shall pride be entertained in a heart thus conscious of its own miserable condition and behavior?
It is not only the lust for possessions and the distractions of life that nourish pride, but even devotions and charities, strivings after humility and goodness expose man to fresh and strong temptations of this evil spirit of self-exaltation. Every good thought, every good action, exposes one to the assaults of vanity and self-satisfaction. None have more occasion to be afraid of the approaches of pride than those who have made some advances in a pious life: for pride can grow as well upon virtues as upon vices, and can even praise itself while using words that seem to be praising God.
Now what is it in the human soul that most of all hinders the death of this old man? What is it that above all strengthens and exalts the life of self, and makes it the master and governor of all the powers of the heart and soul? It is the imagined genius of self-will, the glory of learning, and the conceit of natural reason. These are the master builders of pride's temple in the heart of man, and like faithful priests they keep up the daily worship of the false god, self. Whereas man ought to be the temple of the living God, self sits there in the natural man, obsessed with his imagined abilities, and fiercely jealous of his own independent interests.
Let it be clearly understood that all these magnificent corruptions of the natural man have their origin in his miserable fall from the life of God in his soul. Self-love, self-exaltation, self-will, and all the other partners of a natural reason would have had no more place among men than blindness, ignorance, and sickness, had man continued as he was created in the image of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Everything that then dwelt in him or came from him would have expressed only so much of God, and nothing of himself, and would have manifested nothing inwardly or outwardly but the heavenly powers of his triune Creator. Man would then have had no more self-conscious realization of his own goodness than of his own creating power upon beholding the animals and trees about him or the stars above.
Had that been man's perfect state without the fall, then consider how unreasonable and odious it must be for poor, sinful creatures to take delight in their own imagined greatness, while the highest and most glorious sons of heaven seek no other occupation than that of glorifying God alone. Pride is only the disorder of the fallen world, and has no place among other beings. It can only subsist where ignorance and sensuality, impurity, reign. If man will boast of anything as his own, he must boast of his misery and sin, for there is nothing else but this that is his own property or his own doing. Let a man, when he is most delighted with himself, but contemplate our blessed Lord stretched out and nailed upon the Cross; and then let him consider how absurd it must be for a heart full of pride and self-esteem to pray to God by virtue of the sufferings and death of the meek and lowly One.
It is man's dreadful fall from the life of God in his soul that has given birth to self and the deceit of pride. These are the great enemies of man and God, because they oppose the Spirit of God, through whose gracious work in the heart alone man can receive eternal life. And when the lusts of the flesh have had their last day, and the pride of life has only a dead body to inhibit, the soul of man which remains will know at last that it has nothing of its own, nothing than can say "I do this, or I posses that." Then all that man has or does, will either be the glory of God manifested in him, or the power of hell in full possession of his soul. The time of man's playing with words and intellect, of grasping after positions among men or of amusing himself with the foolish toys of this vain world, can last no longer than he is able to eat and drink with the creatures of this world. When the time comes that he must take his leave of earthly treasure and honors, then all the stately structures which genius, learning, and proud imagination have painted before his own eyes or those of others must bear full witness to Solomon's "vanity of vanities, all is vanity" (Eccl. 1:1).
That humility which is despised by men now, and is so contrary to the spirit of this world, will then be known to be the root of that faith which overcomes the world, the flesh, and the devil. He who dares to be poor and contemptible in the eyes of this present evil world in order to approve himself to God; who resists and rejects all human glory; who opposes the clamor of his passions; meekly bears all injuries and wrongs; and dares to wait for his reward until the invisible hand of God gives to every one his proper place: that one will be found to be the man of true wisdom in the coming day. He is the good soldier of Jesus Christ, who has fought the good fight of faith. Yet it cannot have been in his own strength or wisdom, but only as he has embraced the death of Christ as the crucifixion of his own devilish self, and, through the power of the Holy Spirit, has known the indwelling life of the meek and lowly Lamb of God in his soul.
~William Law~
(The End)
Monday, April 3, 2017
Classic Christian Quotes # 1
Classic Christian Quotes # 1
When God wants to judge a nation He gives them wicked rulers.
~Unknown~
___________________________
If satan got kicked out of heaven because of sin, what makes you think you'll make it to heaven in sin?
~Unknown~
_______________________
Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ's work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you.
~J. C. Ryle~
___________________________
You may fool your pastor; you may fool yourself, but you will never fool God.
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
God never negotiates with men. Jesus Christ's death on that Cross put an end to any kind of negotiations. It is now Christ or nothing. It is now God's Word or nothing.
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most exhausting and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.
~Corrie Ten Boom~
____________________________
Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of God on earth.
~John Wesley~
____________________________
If satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.
~Adrian Rogers~
_______________________
If the church marries herself to the spirit of the times, she will find herself a widow in the next generation.
~Charles Stanley~
___________________________
The saddest road to hell is the one that runs under the pulpit, past the Bible, through the middle of warnings and invitations.
~J. C. Ryle~
_________________________
The only people who want to change the gospel are those who are unchanged by it.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
___________________________
Do you go to church to meet God or to hear a sermon about Him? How many come to church expecting a conformation with Deity?
~Leonard Ravenhill~
__________________________
The blessings of God in riches enough for a wise man, and all the world is not enough for a fool.
~Charles Spurgeon~
_______________________________
Sin forsaken is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven.
~J. C. Ryle~
____________________________
Careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything.
~D. L. Moody~
_________________________
There is only one Master of the human heart - Jesus Christ.
~Oswald Chambers~
_________________________
Stand at the foot of the Cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with rills. And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that Cross, you have never seen it.
~Charles Spurgeon~
__________________________
Christ will be Lord, or He will be judge. Every man must decide whether he will take Him as Lord now, or face Him as judge later.
~A.W. Tozer~
___________________________
You can't pray for them and gossip about them.
~Unknown~
_________________________
The closer we are to God, the more the slightest sin will cause us deep sorrow.
~R. C. Sproul~
________________________
It is not the will of God if it goes against the Word of God.
~Unknown~
________________________
When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, he trembles as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.
~R. A. Torry~
______________________
God never says, 'ooops'.
~Unknown~
When God wants to judge a nation He gives them wicked rulers.
~Unknown~
___________________________
If satan got kicked out of heaven because of sin, what makes you think you'll make it to heaven in sin?
~Unknown~
_______________________
Tell me not of your justification, unless you have also some marks of sanctification. Boast not of Christ's work for you, unless you can show us the Spirit's work in you.
~J. C. Ryle~
___________________________
You may fool your pastor; you may fool yourself, but you will never fool God.
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
God never negotiates with men. Jesus Christ's death on that Cross put an end to any kind of negotiations. It is now Christ or nothing. It is now God's Word or nothing.
~A. W. Tozer~
__________________________
Trying to do the Lord's work in your own strength is the most exhausting and tedious of all work. But when you are filled with the Holy Spirit, then the ministry of Jesus just flows out of you.
~Corrie Ten Boom~
____________________________
Give me 100 preachers who fear nothing but sin and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether they be clergymen or laymen, such alone will shake the gates of hell and set up the kingdom of God on earth.
~John Wesley~
____________________________
If satan can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.
~Adrian Rogers~
_______________________
If the church marries herself to the spirit of the times, she will find herself a widow in the next generation.
~Charles Stanley~
___________________________
The saddest road to hell is the one that runs under the pulpit, past the Bible, through the middle of warnings and invitations.
~J. C. Ryle~
_________________________
The only people who want to change the gospel are those who are unchanged by it.
~Leonard Ravenhill~
___________________________
Do you go to church to meet God or to hear a sermon about Him? How many come to church expecting a conformation with Deity?
~Leonard Ravenhill~
__________________________
The blessings of God in riches enough for a wise man, and all the world is not enough for a fool.
~Charles Spurgeon~
_______________________________
Sin forsaken is one of the best evidences of sin forgiven.
~J. C. Ryle~
____________________________
Careful for nothing, prayerful for everything, thankful for anything.
~D. L. Moody~
_________________________
There is only one Master of the human heart - Jesus Christ.
~Oswald Chambers~
_________________________
Stand at the foot of the Cross, and count the purple drops by which you have been cleansed; see the thorn-crown; mark His scourged shoulders, still gushing with rills. And if you do not lie prostrate on the ground before that Cross, you have never seen it.
~Charles Spurgeon~
__________________________
Christ will be Lord, or He will be judge. Every man must decide whether he will take Him as Lord now, or face Him as judge later.
~A.W. Tozer~
___________________________
You can't pray for them and gossip about them.
~Unknown~
_________________________
The closer we are to God, the more the slightest sin will cause us deep sorrow.
~R. C. Sproul~
________________________
It is not the will of God if it goes against the Word of God.
~Unknown~
________________________
When the devil sees a man or woman who really believes in prayer, who knows how to pray, and who really does pray, and, above all, when he sees a whole church on its face before God in prayer, he trembles as much as he ever did, for he knows that his day in that church or community is at an end.
~R. A. Torry~
______________________
God never says, 'ooops'.
~Unknown~
Sunday, April 2, 2017
Self and Its Pride Oppose the Holy Spirit # 1
Self and its Pride Oppose the Holy Spirit # 1
All the vices of fallen angels and men have their root in the proud atheism of self, which has replaced God as its only life and power. Men are dead to God because they are living to self. Self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking are the essence and the life of pride, and the devil, the father of pride, is never absent from these passions, not without an influence in them. Without a death to self, there is no escape from satan's power over us. Wherever self-abilities are allowed a share in Christian service or worship, there the satanic spirit of pride has its power in the Church.
On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility. Not a joy or glory or praise of the redeemed but has its birth in humility. It is humility alone that makes the impossible gulf between heaven and hell. No angels are in heaven but because humility is in all their breath; no devils are in hell but because the fire of pride has corrupted their whole life. Humility places man in that posture before God of an open heart, thankfully receiving the inward breathings of divine life and light and love. Pride shuts every man up to himself, bringing a death to all that is of God. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God" (James 4:6).
Herein lies the great struggle for eternal life: pride and humility are the two master powers, the two kingdoms in strife for the eternal possession of man. Every son of Adam is in the service of self, regardless of education or position in life, until a humility that comes solely from heaven has become his redemption through the indwelling Christ. Until then, all will be done by the right hand only that the left hand may know it. Nor can humility be cultivated through a sound head-knowledge of Scripture words and doctrines. The only true humility which the world has ever seen is that of the meek and lowly Lamb of God: and no man can have the least degree of this humility, except from the redeeming life of Christ. He only fights the good fight of faith whose strife is that the self-idolatrous nature which he received from Adam may be brought to death through the power of the Cross, that Christ's own supernatural humility may come to life within him.
The enemies to man's rising out of the fall of Adam are many. But the supreme enemy, called antichrist, is self-exaltation. There has been much speculation to see where and what antichrist is or by what marks he may be recognized. To know with certainty what he is not, one need only read this short description which Christ gives of Himself: "I can do nothing of myself ... I came not to do my own will ... I seek not my own glory ... I am meek and lowly of heart" (John 5:30, 8:50; Matthew 11:28). Now if this be Christ, then self-exaltation, being in the highest and fullest opposition, must be that spirit of antichrist that opposes and withstands the whole nature and Spirit of Christ. And although that particular man who is to be the ultimate embodiment of this spirit may not be yet upon the earth; nevertheless, no man need look any further than his own heart to find the same antichrist which John said was "already in the world" (1 John 4:3) in his own day. What therefore has everyone so much to fear, to renounce and abhor, as every inward breathing of self-exaltation, and every outward work that proceeds from it?
Now at what things shall a man look to see that working of self from which pride gains its power to hinder the birth and life of the humble Jesus in his soul? Shall he call the pomps and vanities of the world the highest works of self-adoration? Shall he look at the thirst for riches and honor to see the pride that has the most of antichrist in it? By no means. These are shameful enough marks of the vain heart of man; yet, comparatively speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride which the fall of man has begotten and brought forth within him. To discover the deepest root and iron strength of pride and self-exaltation, one must enter into the secret chamber of man's soul, where the Spirit of God, who alone gives humility and meek submission, was denied through Adam's sin, thus bringing that death which came upon all men, for all have sinned. satan's own spirit of self-exaltation became the strong man that kept charge of the house, till a stronger than he should regain possession.
Here in man's innermost being, self had its awful birth, and established its throne, reigning over a kingdom of secret pride, of which all outward pomp and vanities are but its childish, transitory playthings. "It is not those things from without that defile a man" (Mark 7:15), said Christ, "but out of the heart comes all the evil of man's defilement" (Matthew 15:18). The inward strong man of pride, the diabolical self, has his higher works within; he dwells in the strength of the heart, and here every power and faculty of the soul offers continual incense to him. Memory is the faithful repository of all the fine things that self has ever done, and lest any of them should be lost or forgotten, memory is continually setting them before self's eyes. Man's intellect has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing but as self sends it, ever seeking new projects to enlarge its dominion. Imagination, as the last and truest support of self, lays unseen worlds at his feet, and crowns him with secret revenges and fancied honors. This is that satanic, natural self that must be denied and crucified, or there can be no disciple of Christ. There is no plainer interpretation than this that can be put upon the words of Jesus, "Except a man deny self, and take up the cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 9:23, 14:27).
~William Law~
(continued with # 2)
All the vices of fallen angels and men have their root in the proud atheism of self, which has replaced God as its only life and power. Men are dead to God because they are living to self. Self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking are the essence and the life of pride, and the devil, the father of pride, is never absent from these passions, not without an influence in them. Without a death to self, there is no escape from satan's power over us. Wherever self-abilities are allowed a share in Christian service or worship, there the satanic spirit of pride has its power in the Church.
On the other hand, all the virtues of the heavenly life are the virtues of humility. Not a joy or glory or praise of the redeemed but has its birth in humility. It is humility alone that makes the impossible gulf between heaven and hell. No angels are in heaven but because humility is in all their breath; no devils are in hell but because the fire of pride has corrupted their whole life. Humility places man in that posture before God of an open heart, thankfully receiving the inward breathings of divine life and light and love. Pride shuts every man up to himself, bringing a death to all that is of God. "God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God" (James 4:6).
Herein lies the great struggle for eternal life: pride and humility are the two master powers, the two kingdoms in strife for the eternal possession of man. Every son of Adam is in the service of self, regardless of education or position in life, until a humility that comes solely from heaven has become his redemption through the indwelling Christ. Until then, all will be done by the right hand only that the left hand may know it. Nor can humility be cultivated through a sound head-knowledge of Scripture words and doctrines. The only true humility which the world has ever seen is that of the meek and lowly Lamb of God: and no man can have the least degree of this humility, except from the redeeming life of Christ. He only fights the good fight of faith whose strife is that the self-idolatrous nature which he received from Adam may be brought to death through the power of the Cross, that Christ's own supernatural humility may come to life within him.
The enemies to man's rising out of the fall of Adam are many. But the supreme enemy, called antichrist, is self-exaltation. There has been much speculation to see where and what antichrist is or by what marks he may be recognized. To know with certainty what he is not, one need only read this short description which Christ gives of Himself: "I can do nothing of myself ... I came not to do my own will ... I seek not my own glory ... I am meek and lowly of heart" (John 5:30, 8:50; Matthew 11:28). Now if this be Christ, then self-exaltation, being in the highest and fullest opposition, must be that spirit of antichrist that opposes and withstands the whole nature and Spirit of Christ. And although that particular man who is to be the ultimate embodiment of this spirit may not be yet upon the earth; nevertheless, no man need look any further than his own heart to find the same antichrist which John said was "already in the world" (1 John 4:3) in his own day. What therefore has everyone so much to fear, to renounce and abhor, as every inward breathing of self-exaltation, and every outward work that proceeds from it?
Now at what things shall a man look to see that working of self from which pride gains its power to hinder the birth and life of the humble Jesus in his soul? Shall he call the pomps and vanities of the world the highest works of self-adoration? Shall he look at the thirst for riches and honor to see the pride that has the most of antichrist in it? By no means. These are shameful enough marks of the vain heart of man; yet, comparatively speaking, they are but the skin-deep follies of that pride which the fall of man has begotten and brought forth within him. To discover the deepest root and iron strength of pride and self-exaltation, one must enter into the secret chamber of man's soul, where the Spirit of God, who alone gives humility and meek submission, was denied through Adam's sin, thus bringing that death which came upon all men, for all have sinned. satan's own spirit of self-exaltation became the strong man that kept charge of the house, till a stronger than he should regain possession.
Here in man's innermost being, self had its awful birth, and established its throne, reigning over a kingdom of secret pride, of which all outward pomp and vanities are but its childish, transitory playthings. "It is not those things from without that defile a man" (Mark 7:15), said Christ, "but out of the heart comes all the evil of man's defilement" (Matthew 15:18). The inward strong man of pride, the diabolical self, has his higher works within; he dwells in the strength of the heart, and here every power and faculty of the soul offers continual incense to him. Memory is the faithful repository of all the fine things that self has ever done, and lest any of them should be lost or forgotten, memory is continually setting them before self's eyes. Man's intellect has all the world before it, yet goes after nothing but as self sends it, ever seeking new projects to enlarge its dominion. Imagination, as the last and truest support of self, lays unseen worlds at his feet, and crowns him with secret revenges and fancied honors. This is that satanic, natural self that must be denied and crucified, or there can be no disciple of Christ. There is no plainer interpretation than this that can be put upon the words of Jesus, "Except a man deny self, and take up the cross and follow me, he cannot be my disciple" (Luke 9:23, 14:27).
~William Law~
(continued with # 2)
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
True Wisdom and Knowledge Alone by the Holy Spirit
True Wisdom and Knowledge Alone by the Holy Spirit
When the holy Church of the living God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth among men, was first set up, it was the apostle's boast that all worldly wisdom or learning was nothing. "Where", said he, "is the wise, the scribe, the disputer of this world? Has not God made the wisdom of this world foolish?" (1 Corinthians 1:20). But now it is the aim of all churches to be full of the worldly wise, the scribes, the disputers, and learned scholars, who sit to analyze and teach the letter of Holy Scripture in the power of human wisdom. From a Church once aflame with heavenly love, now division, bitterness, envy, pride, strife, hatred, and persecution break forth with as much strength in learned Christendom as ever they did from a religion of pagan idolatry set up by satan. And thus it must be, so long as there is any trust in wisdom or knowledge that is not wholly from the Spirit of God.
But, says the well-read scribe of today, must there then be no learning or scholarship, no erudition in the Christian church? Must there be nothing thought of or gained by the gospel besides salvation? Must its ministers know nothing and teach nothing but such salvation doctrines as Christ and His apostles taught? Nothing but the full denial of self, poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, unwearied patience, a never-ceasing love, an absolute renunciation of the pomps and vanities of the world, a full dependence upon our heavenly Father? Must there be no joy or rejoicing but in the Holy Spirit, no wisdom but that which God gives, no walking but as Christ walked? One can go to extremes,says the scribe, in such a sole reliance upon the Holy Spirit that the Church is thereby left defenseless against the learned attacks of scholarly skeptics and atheists.
My answer to this is, Happy, thrice happy are they who are only thus learned in the gospel, and who through all their lives seek nothing for themselves or others but to be taught of God! Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who own no master but Christ, no teacher but His Holy Spirit, and who are as unable to join with the contenders after worldly wisdom as with those who "labor for the wind" (Eccl. 5:16), and "give their money for that which is not bread" (Isaiah 55:2). Happy are they who know that a life of total submission to Christ and absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit is the only choice that enlightened reason can make. Indeed, it is to the honor of this life of faith that none can neglect it except those who are so inconsiderate of their own destiny as to fail to weigh all their actions in light of what God, reason, eternity, and their own happiness require of them.
To look anywhere for wisdom except in the leading of the Holy Spirit is to give oneself up to darkness. Nor is this valid only for those who consider themselves called to serve God in the capacity of a pastor or priest or preacher. Would a man neglect his own happiness because he did not feel called of God to preach the same to others? Willa man have no regard for his own health unless he is a doctor engaged in caring for the public health? Yet it is more unreasonable for any man to neglect a full compliance with the call of our Lord to love as He loved and to walk as He walked simply because he is not a bishop or an apostle.
All in man that is not by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit can only be ignorance and folly; and he is whom the law, the prophets, and the gospel are fulfilled is the only well-educated man and is one of the first-rate scholars in the world. But who is he that has this true wisdom from above? Who is he in whom all is known and fulfilled that is in the law, the prophets, and the gospel? The lip of truth has told us that it is he and he alone who "loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself" (Mark 12:30-31).
This is the man that is all wisdom, all light, and who has entered into possession of all that is meant by the mysteries contained in the Scriptures. And where this divine love is lacking, a diabolical self sits in its place, be there a great wit, a shining critic, a poet laureate, a man of science, or a learned philosopher.
"A new commandment," said Christ, "I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). The newness of this precept did not consist in the fact that men were commanded to love one another, for this was an old precept both of Moses' Law and of nature. But it was new in this respect, that it was to imitate a new and until then unheard-of example of love: it was to love others as Christ has loved us. "And by this," said our Lord, "shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have this love one to another" (John 13:35). Now if men are to know that we are the disciples of Christ by our thus loving one another according to His new example of love, then it is certain that if we are void of this love, we make it plainly known unto men that we are not His disciples, that we do not have His wisdom, His mind, nor are taught of Him.
If we would have the mind of Christ, if He is to be our wisdom, then we should often consider the reasons on which the duty of love is founded. We are to love our neighbors, that is all mankind, not because they are wise, holy, virtuous or well-behaved, for all mankind neither ever was nor ever will be so. Therefore it is certain that the reason for our being obliged to love them cannot be founded in their virtue. Again we are sure that the merit of persons is not the reason for our being obliged to love them, because we are commanded to pay the highest instances of love to our worst enemies; we are to love and bless and pray for those who most injuriously treat us. God loves, not because we are wise, and good, and holy, but in pity to us, because we need this happiness. He loves us in order to make us good. Our love therefore must take this same course, not looking for or requiring any merit in our brethren, but pitying their disorders and wishing them all the good that they need and are capable of receiving. And if the lack of this heavenly love be so serious a defect as Paul has said, that it renders our greatest virtues but empty sounds and tinkling cymbals, how highly does it concern us to be sure at all times that the Spirit of love is filling our lives.
The greatest idea that we can frame of God is a conception of Him as a being of infinite love and goodness, using an infinite wisdom and power for the common good and happiness of all His creatures. The highest notion that we can form of a man who is created in the image of God is a conception of him as nearly like God in this respect as he can be; using all his finite faculties for the common good of all his fellow creatures, lovingly desiring that they may all have the happiness for which God has created them. The man who thus lives in harmony with God's love and God's will for himself and mankind is the only man who is truly wise; and any intelligence less than this is not worthy of the high names by which it is often called among men of learning. What could be emptier than the scholarship which sets itself up as great in Scripture interpretation, yet lacks this love which our Lord said is the very essence of all the teaching so variously contained in the law and the prophets!
One of Christ's would-be followers said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father" (Matthew 8:21). Our Lord's answer was, "Let the dead bury their dead; follow thou Me" (8:22). Another said, "Let me first go bid them farewell that are at home in my house" (Luke 9:61). Jesus answered, "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God" (9:62). Now let it be supposed that a third had said, "Lord, I have left my Greek grammar at home, and some learned commentaries full of logic and eloquence; suffer me first to go back for them, lest losing the light which I had from them, I might mistake the depth and truth of thy heavenly doctrines, or be less able to prove and preach them powerfully to others." Would not such a request as this have had a folly and absurdity in it not chargeable upon those two other requests which Christ rejected? Yet what better thing does the general approach throughout Christendom to the gospel of Christ have to say for itself than this? And how can a scholarly learning about the letter of Scripture be called true wisdom or knowledge so long as that love toward God and neighbor is neglected, which is so plainly stated to be the essence of all that which Scripture has to teach.
Who can fail to realize his absolute need of the Holy Spirit to be the sole means by which the divine love demanded by Christ of His disciples has any hope of being worked out in his life? For when He says, "as I have loved you, so you are to love one another" (John 13:34), He makes it plain that His love is the standard and rule by which our actions are to be judged. And what man could hope to have this love by his own power much less by the greatness of his learning about this love from the description of it given in Scripture. Clearly nothing less than a birth of this love in the heart can make us that which, as His disciples, we are to be.
If love is not the breath of your life, the spirit that forms and governs everything that proceeds from you, everything that has your labor, your allowance and consent, you are cut off from the creative power of God, you are dead while you live, and your nature and works can have no other breath but that which is called pride, wrath, envy, hypocrisy, hatred, revenge, and self-exaltation under the power of satan and his kingdom of darkness. Nothing can possibly save you from being the certain prey of these evil passions of fallen nature through the whole course of your life but a birth of that love which is God Himself, His light and Spirit within you. "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10); and whatsoever is not of love is therefore contrary to the law, and the greatest of sin. Could any man be considered truly wise who remains in this state of corruption through rejecting that remedy which God offers in our Lord Jesus Christ?
Now since divine love can have no beginning but from a birth of the divine love in us, therefore says John, "We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). For as His Holy Spirit must first be a gift to us or born in us, and only then can we worship God in spirit and in truth, so His love must of all necessity be a gift to us, or born in us, and then we have that of God in us which alone can love Him with His own love. A truth absolutely asserted in these words "Love is of God, and he that loveth is born of God" (1 John 4:7).
Let this be my excuse to the learned world for owning no school of wisdom or knowledge but where the one lesson is divine love, and the one teacher the Spirit of God: "For though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge and have not love, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2). Is it not a vain work to be probing and searching for that which Paul says can only leave us poor and empty, and to neglect this divine love which we must have at all cost if we are to be anything in God's kingdom? But what school of divinity turns its students first of all to this heavenly love? Nay, far from putting their scholarship under this one essential rule, they gather to themselves the fruit of that ancient tree of knowledge that Eve saw was "so much desired to make her wise" (Genesis 3:6). No marvel then that those thus educated prove themselves to be the children of Eve, still under the power of that same satanic deception.
Believe me then, great scholar, that all you have gained of wisdom or learning without this divine love to God and man being the power of your life, will stand you in as much stead and fill you with as high heavenly comfort at the hour of death as all the long dreams which night after night have filled your sleep. Until a man knows this with as much fullness of conviction as he knows the vanity of a dream, he has his full proof that he is not yet in the light of truth, not yet taught of God, not like-minded with Christ. As Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they might be strengthened with might by the Spirit in their inner man unto the indwelling of Christ by faith, in order for them to be rooted and grounded in this divine love, so we know with certainty that only the Holy Spirit of God, who alone is Love, can fill us with that love that He has required of His children. And as this love passes all knowledge, we know that it is not acquired by gaining a scholarly knowledge of it, but by the power of the living God through His indwelling Spirit in our hearts. Hence Christ's prayer to the Father for His disciples: "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them" (John 17:26).
Show me a man whose heart has no desire or prayer in it but to love God with his whole soul and spirit, and his neighbor as himself, and then you have shown me the man who knows Christ and is known of Him - the best and wisest man in the world, in whom the first heavenly wisdom and goodness are come to life. In this man all that came from the old serpent is trodden under his feet. Nothing of self, pride, wrath, envy, covetousness, or worldly wisdom can have the least abode in him, because that love which fulfills the whole law and prophets, and which is Christ come to birth and life in him, is the source and power of his every thought, word, and deed. And if he has no share or part with foolish errors, cannot be tossed about with every wind of doctrine, it is because to be always governed by this love is the same thing as to be always taught of God.
~William Law~
(The End)
When the holy Church of the living God, which is the pillar and ground of the truth among men, was first set up, it was the apostle's boast that all worldly wisdom or learning was nothing. "Where", said he, "is the wise, the scribe, the disputer of this world? Has not God made the wisdom of this world foolish?" (1 Corinthians 1:20). But now it is the aim of all churches to be full of the worldly wise, the scribes, the disputers, and learned scholars, who sit to analyze and teach the letter of Holy Scripture in the power of human wisdom. From a Church once aflame with heavenly love, now division, bitterness, envy, pride, strife, hatred, and persecution break forth with as much strength in learned Christendom as ever they did from a religion of pagan idolatry set up by satan. And thus it must be, so long as there is any trust in wisdom or knowledge that is not wholly from the Spirit of God.
But, says the well-read scribe of today, must there then be no learning or scholarship, no erudition in the Christian church? Must there be nothing thought of or gained by the gospel besides salvation? Must its ministers know nothing and teach nothing but such salvation doctrines as Christ and His apostles taught? Nothing but the full denial of self, poverty of spirit, meekness, humility, unwearied patience, a never-ceasing love, an absolute renunciation of the pomps and vanities of the world, a full dependence upon our heavenly Father? Must there be no joy or rejoicing but in the Holy Spirit, no wisdom but that which God gives, no walking but as Christ walked? One can go to extremes,says the scribe, in such a sole reliance upon the Holy Spirit that the Church is thereby left defenseless against the learned attacks of scholarly skeptics and atheists.
My answer to this is, Happy, thrice happy are they who are only thus learned in the gospel, and who through all their lives seek nothing for themselves or others but to be taught of God! Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness, who own no master but Christ, no teacher but His Holy Spirit, and who are as unable to join with the contenders after worldly wisdom as with those who "labor for the wind" (Eccl. 5:16), and "give their money for that which is not bread" (Isaiah 55:2). Happy are they who know that a life of total submission to Christ and absolute dependence upon the Holy Spirit is the only choice that enlightened reason can make. Indeed, it is to the honor of this life of faith that none can neglect it except those who are so inconsiderate of their own destiny as to fail to weigh all their actions in light of what God, reason, eternity, and their own happiness require of them.
To look anywhere for wisdom except in the leading of the Holy Spirit is to give oneself up to darkness. Nor is this valid only for those who consider themselves called to serve God in the capacity of a pastor or priest or preacher. Would a man neglect his own happiness because he did not feel called of God to preach the same to others? Willa man have no regard for his own health unless he is a doctor engaged in caring for the public health? Yet it is more unreasonable for any man to neglect a full compliance with the call of our Lord to love as He loved and to walk as He walked simply because he is not a bishop or an apostle.
All in man that is not by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit can only be ignorance and folly; and he is whom the law, the prophets, and the gospel are fulfilled is the only well-educated man and is one of the first-rate scholars in the world. But who is he that has this true wisdom from above? Who is he in whom all is known and fulfilled that is in the law, the prophets, and the gospel? The lip of truth has told us that it is he and he alone who "loves God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind, with all his strength, and his neighbor as himself" (Mark 12:30-31).
This is the man that is all wisdom, all light, and who has entered into possession of all that is meant by the mysteries contained in the Scriptures. And where this divine love is lacking, a diabolical self sits in its place, be there a great wit, a shining critic, a poet laureate, a man of science, or a learned philosopher.
"A new commandment," said Christ, "I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you" (John 13:34). The newness of this precept did not consist in the fact that men were commanded to love one another, for this was an old precept both of Moses' Law and of nature. But it was new in this respect, that it was to imitate a new and until then unheard-of example of love: it was to love others as Christ has loved us. "And by this," said our Lord, "shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have this love one to another" (John 13:35). Now if men are to know that we are the disciples of Christ by our thus loving one another according to His new example of love, then it is certain that if we are void of this love, we make it plainly known unto men that we are not His disciples, that we do not have His wisdom, His mind, nor are taught of Him.
If we would have the mind of Christ, if He is to be our wisdom, then we should often consider the reasons on which the duty of love is founded. We are to love our neighbors, that is all mankind, not because they are wise, holy, virtuous or well-behaved, for all mankind neither ever was nor ever will be so. Therefore it is certain that the reason for our being obliged to love them cannot be founded in their virtue. Again we are sure that the merit of persons is not the reason for our being obliged to love them, because we are commanded to pay the highest instances of love to our worst enemies; we are to love and bless and pray for those who most injuriously treat us. God loves, not because we are wise, and good, and holy, but in pity to us, because we need this happiness. He loves us in order to make us good. Our love therefore must take this same course, not looking for or requiring any merit in our brethren, but pitying their disorders and wishing them all the good that they need and are capable of receiving. And if the lack of this heavenly love be so serious a defect as Paul has said, that it renders our greatest virtues but empty sounds and tinkling cymbals, how highly does it concern us to be sure at all times that the Spirit of love is filling our lives.
The greatest idea that we can frame of God is a conception of Him as a being of infinite love and goodness, using an infinite wisdom and power for the common good and happiness of all His creatures. The highest notion that we can form of a man who is created in the image of God is a conception of him as nearly like God in this respect as he can be; using all his finite faculties for the common good of all his fellow creatures, lovingly desiring that they may all have the happiness for which God has created them. The man who thus lives in harmony with God's love and God's will for himself and mankind is the only man who is truly wise; and any intelligence less than this is not worthy of the high names by which it is often called among men of learning. What could be emptier than the scholarship which sets itself up as great in Scripture interpretation, yet lacks this love which our Lord said is the very essence of all the teaching so variously contained in the law and the prophets!
One of Christ's would-be followers said, "Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father" (Matthew 8:21). Our Lord's answer was, "Let the dead bury their dead; follow thou Me" (8:22). Another said, "Let me first go bid them farewell that are at home in my house" (Luke 9:61). Jesus answered, "No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back is fit for the kingdom of God" (9:62). Now let it be supposed that a third had said, "Lord, I have left my Greek grammar at home, and some learned commentaries full of logic and eloquence; suffer me first to go back for them, lest losing the light which I had from them, I might mistake the depth and truth of thy heavenly doctrines, or be less able to prove and preach them powerfully to others." Would not such a request as this have had a folly and absurdity in it not chargeable upon those two other requests which Christ rejected? Yet what better thing does the general approach throughout Christendom to the gospel of Christ have to say for itself than this? And how can a scholarly learning about the letter of Scripture be called true wisdom or knowledge so long as that love toward God and neighbor is neglected, which is so plainly stated to be the essence of all that which Scripture has to teach.
Who can fail to realize his absolute need of the Holy Spirit to be the sole means by which the divine love demanded by Christ of His disciples has any hope of being worked out in his life? For when He says, "as I have loved you, so you are to love one another" (John 13:34), He makes it plain that His love is the standard and rule by which our actions are to be judged. And what man could hope to have this love by his own power much less by the greatness of his learning about this love from the description of it given in Scripture. Clearly nothing less than a birth of this love in the heart can make us that which, as His disciples, we are to be.
If love is not the breath of your life, the spirit that forms and governs everything that proceeds from you, everything that has your labor, your allowance and consent, you are cut off from the creative power of God, you are dead while you live, and your nature and works can have no other breath but that which is called pride, wrath, envy, hypocrisy, hatred, revenge, and self-exaltation under the power of satan and his kingdom of darkness. Nothing can possibly save you from being the certain prey of these evil passions of fallen nature through the whole course of your life but a birth of that love which is God Himself, His light and Spirit within you. "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10); and whatsoever is not of love is therefore contrary to the law, and the greatest of sin. Could any man be considered truly wise who remains in this state of corruption through rejecting that remedy which God offers in our Lord Jesus Christ?
Now since divine love can have no beginning but from a birth of the divine love in us, therefore says John, "We love him because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). For as His Holy Spirit must first be a gift to us or born in us, and only then can we worship God in spirit and in truth, so His love must of all necessity be a gift to us, or born in us, and then we have that of God in us which alone can love Him with His own love. A truth absolutely asserted in these words "Love is of God, and he that loveth is born of God" (1 John 4:7).
Let this be my excuse to the learned world for owning no school of wisdom or knowledge but where the one lesson is divine love, and the one teacher the Spirit of God: "For though I understand all mysteries and all knowledge and have not love, I am nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:2). Is it not a vain work to be probing and searching for that which Paul says can only leave us poor and empty, and to neglect this divine love which we must have at all cost if we are to be anything in God's kingdom? But what school of divinity turns its students first of all to this heavenly love? Nay, far from putting their scholarship under this one essential rule, they gather to themselves the fruit of that ancient tree of knowledge that Eve saw was "so much desired to make her wise" (Genesis 3:6). No marvel then that those thus educated prove themselves to be the children of Eve, still under the power of that same satanic deception.
Believe me then, great scholar, that all you have gained of wisdom or learning without this divine love to God and man being the power of your life, will stand you in as much stead and fill you with as high heavenly comfort at the hour of death as all the long dreams which night after night have filled your sleep. Until a man knows this with as much fullness of conviction as he knows the vanity of a dream, he has his full proof that he is not yet in the light of truth, not yet taught of God, not like-minded with Christ. As Paul prayed for the Ephesians that they might be strengthened with might by the Spirit in their inner man unto the indwelling of Christ by faith, in order for them to be rooted and grounded in this divine love, so we know with certainty that only the Holy Spirit of God, who alone is Love, can fill us with that love that He has required of His children. And as this love passes all knowledge, we know that it is not acquired by gaining a scholarly knowledge of it, but by the power of the living God through His indwelling Spirit in our hearts. Hence Christ's prayer to the Father for His disciples: "That the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them and I in them" (John 17:26).
Show me a man whose heart has no desire or prayer in it but to love God with his whole soul and spirit, and his neighbor as himself, and then you have shown me the man who knows Christ and is known of Him - the best and wisest man in the world, in whom the first heavenly wisdom and goodness are come to life. In this man all that came from the old serpent is trodden under his feet. Nothing of self, pride, wrath, envy, covetousness, or worldly wisdom can have the least abode in him, because that love which fulfills the whole law and prophets, and which is Christ come to birth and life in him, is the source and power of his every thought, word, and deed. And if he has no share or part with foolish errors, cannot be tossed about with every wind of doctrine, it is because to be always governed by this love is the same thing as to be always taught of God.
~William Law~
(The End)
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