All The Counsel of God

Do you lack faith? The great nineteenth century English preacher, C. H. Spurgeon, described it this way:

Knowledge comes first. Drink deep of the doctrine that Christ died in our behalf; for therein lies the sweetest possible comfort to the guilty, since God “… made him to be sin for us … that we might be made the righteousness of God in him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Believe that these things are true; that His sacrifice is complete and fully accepted, so that he that believeth on Jesus is not condemned. Believe the witness of God, just as you believe the testimony of your own father or friend. “If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater … “ (1 John 5:9).

One more ingredient is needed – trust. Rest your hope on the gracious Gospel; trust your soul to the dying and living Saviour. Faith believes that Christ will do what He has promised; that since He has cast out none that came to Him, it is certain that He will not cast us out if we come to Him.

The great matter is to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ at once. There are, no doubt, many at this hour in Hell who understood the doctrine of faith, but did not believe. On the other hand, not one who has trusted the Lord Jesus has ever been cast out. Receive the Lord Jesus into your soul, and you shall live forever! “… He that believeth on me hath everlasting life” (John 6:47).

Is not wild or careless.

“Sound speech, that cannot be condemned; that he that is of the contrary part may be ashamed, having no evil thing to say of you” (Titus 2:8).

Is not off-color.

“But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks” (Ephesians 5 :3-4).

Is not mere idle chatter.

“But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. For by thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned” (Matthew 12:36-37).

Is characterized by simple honesty.

“But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation” (James 5:12).

Is marked by conscious restraint.

“If any man among you seem to be religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own heart, this man’s religion is vain” (James 1 :26).

Is not abusive.

” … whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire” (Matthew 5:22).

Is pleasant and good humored.

“Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice” (Ephesians 4:31 ).

Is worth while.

“Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers” (Ephesians 4:29).

A prayer we all need to pray.

“Set a watch, O LORD, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips” (Psalm 141:3).

“The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear tohear as the learned. The Lord Goo hath opened mine ear, and I was not rebellious, neither turned away back … For the Lord GOD will help me … and I know that I shall not be ashamed” (Isaiah 50:4-7).

These verses relate directly to our Lord Jesus Christ. They show His marvelous adequacy as God’s representative among men, and they show the method by which He became so proficient as God’s servant. This revelation, however, has also a very practical lesson for you and me, for it sets a pattern for us as human servants of the Lord Jesus. We find here how He became a servant, and learn how to follow in His way and become something of what He was among men. These verses set before us the law of spiritual proficiency – proficiency in spiritual conquest-in the actual task of winning men to Christ.

We find first of all a remarkable statement, ” … that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary … ” (verse 4). How much we need that ability this very day! The statement reveals the meaning of spiritual proficiency, for it unveils wisdom on the highest plane, working as we meet men in the daily contest. It does not speak of knowledge alone. We need not only to know; we need to know how if we are going to become efficient servants for Jesus Christ. How few Christians today exhibit in any real degree the “know-how” set forth in our text!

SPIRITUAL “KNOW-HOW”

True spiritual adequacy is a combination of three factors: first of all, knowledge; second, discernment; and third, expression. The knowledge of the facts is first, that is, the knowledge of God and His Word. Then comes discernment – the ability to see which facts apply to a given case of need, to know God’s Word for the hour in dealing with a soul. Then lastly, the ability to express the facts applicable to the case in hand.

These three factors are all set forth in the text. “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue ... ” – these words were uttered primarily concerning the Lord Jesus. He had the authority to express the truth of God clearly and fully. Second, it is” … the tongue of the learned … ” that God has given. Some people possess a tongue, but what they say is absolutely empty. Here is the tongue of one able to express facts that are spiritual, that move hearts, being bound up in the Word of God. Lastly, He has ” … given me the tongue of the learned, that I should know how … ” That requires spiritual intuition – the ability to say the thing that has to be said at the moment, the ” … word in season ... ” for the specific need.

Our verse states that the Lord wakens me daily, ” … morning by morning … ” He wakens mine ear ” ... as the learned.” In other words, God instructs me through prayer and communion with Himself. That which makes a man able to meet the needs of others is first of all a consistent and constant prayer life. You may not have thought that your failure to meet the need of a soul was because you had failed to have your own private devotions before the living God, but men who do not pray do not win souls.

Those whom God has greatly used to help and instruct others spiritually have been men and women of prayer. We acclaim them, we honour them, we speak of them often; yet we seldom follow their footsteps. Think of Moses, of whom the Bible record states, ” … he fell upon his face” (Numbers 16:4) in prayer before the Lord. Paul, in practically every epistle, writes something like this, ” ... making mention of you in my prayers” (Ephesians 1:16) ” … with many tears … ” (2 Corinthians 2:4). Unless we deliberately make room for prayer, our lives are going to be inadequate in influencing souls and reaching them for Christ.

It is said that George Muller spent from 4 A.M. to 6 A.M. everyday alone with God in prayer. The rising sun in China never found Hudson Taylor in bed. “Praying” Hyde while in England, went to hear Chapman who was a great preacher. Mr. Hyde rented a room and gave himself to prayer. God sent a mighty revival. If we would have the ” … word in season … ” for him that is weary, we must respond to the call of prayer.

You can be a winner of souls! If you will discipline yourself to wait upon God, He will give you intimacy with Himself that will be your sufficiency in the hour that you need it. You must wait on the Lord, not only to have fellowship with Him and to obtain wisdom in the hour of need, but also to obtain direction.

For effective Christian service, we must be in the will of God. God has a place for each of us, but how shall we know that place? On our faces before Him, that which is hidden becomes light. He instructs our ear, and then, on our part, comes the discipline of obedience. ” … I was not rebellious … “, says the writer, ” … neither turned away back.”

Do you follow the Lord’s direction? Have we learned obedience? God will never make the pathway so concrete that we shall not need to take a step of faith. We must launch out, trusting God. He will give the whisper in our ear, and we will have sufficient guidance.

Unless you are willing to take His way, you will have no capacity to respond to a soul in need. Jesus ” … must needs go … ” (John 4:4) by way of Samaria to meet and win the woman at the well. Philip must needs leave even a revival and move southward till He came into contact with the Ethiopian eunuch. God lead him directly to a soul in need.

UNEMBARRASSED FREEDOM OF SPEECH

There is a further indispensable law for proficiency in communicating spiritual life. ” … I hid not my face from shame and spitting … ! set my face like a flint…” God unveils Himself in spiritual power when we meet with unbendable courage the opposition that comes to us in the work of reaching the lost for Christ. We need unembarrassed freedom of speech. Men are going to oppose what we say. That very fact upsets us so that we cannot speak. We are bound by fear of being treated impolitely by others. God is able to strengthen us so that we can stand up to these things and to real persecution, if need be, for His name’s sake.

Do we know the discipline of courage? Some people carry their feelings so much on the surface that the slightest little thing off ends them. The Lord can produce in us an unbending, non-critical attitude, so that even if exposed to scorn and reproach, we will be able to take it. Can you take it?

Sometimes right at home, in the most intimate relationships of life, we need to be victorious and to receive from God a freedom from self so that we can witness.

Abounding, living confidence in God is a final qualifying factor for proficiency in spiritual conquest – abounding confidence in the Lord Jesus Christ and His ability to meet the needs of men through the preaching of the Word of God.

“Behold, the days come, saith the Lord Gon, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD” (Amos 8:11).

If there was ever a time in our history when men needed to hear and heed the Word of God, it is today. If God forbid! If the Word of God isn’t enough to bring God’s people to the house of God, nothing else should be used in its place. What we need is not a change of our church services, but a change of heart. We don’t need entertainment in our churches, we need old fashioned “hell-fire-and-brimstone” preaching, and a dedicated, consecrated, and repentant congregation to take the words into their heart. Church members who think they are doing God a favour by being in church need to wake up to the fact that it is a precious privilege to hear God’s Word proclaimed, and to be careful not to be caught up in the great famine of the day: a famine of the Word of God. There ever was a time when the preacher needed to proclaim the “whole counsel of God,” it is today. Instead, there is a famine in the land. Folks who used to love to come to church and hear God’s Word preached, no longer care for it. People who used to be able to quote passages of Scripture without hesitation, can hardly find the books of the Bible. Why? Because the average church member has no hunger for spiritual things any more. Evidence of this is our evening attendance. Evidence of this is the cold, blank, ignorant stare the preacher gets when preaching on even the simple, basic doctrines of the Bible.

The church member who reveals a deep, sincere hunger for Bible preaching is the exception to the rule now-a-days. Some churches have gone into the entertainment business. They put on a “show” for those who come. Other churches have great “give-away” schemes, giving prizes to those who attend, in order to show a “big” attendance

for the day.

God forbid! If the Word of God isn’t enough to bring God’s people to the house of God, nothing else should be used in its place. What we need is not a change of our church services, but a change of heart. We don’t need entertainment in our churches, we need old fashioned “hell-fire-and-brimstone” preaching, and a dedicated, consecrated, and repentant congregation to take the words into their heart. Church members who think they are doing God a favour by being in church need to wake up to the fact that it is a precious privilege to hear God’s Word proclaimed, and to be careful not to be caught up in the great famine of the day: a famine of the Word of God.

In 2 Kings 4:1-7 is a dramatic incident from the days of Elisha which has challenged the thinking of every Bible lover. In its appeal to life, it is unsurpassed in beauty. In its expression of God’s care for the minute things of one’s life, it is unexcelled in grandeur.

The story opens with a” … certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets … ” (verse 1) who was in distressing, heartbreaking trouble. Her husband, a prophet of God, had died, leaving her with two boys to care for, and with a debt to a cruel man who demanded payment at the expense of the son’s liberty. It would seem that God had let this widow down; that following the cause of righteousness had brought disaster. No day could have been darker.

The instruction given to this woman is worthy of our mediation,” … thou shalt shut the door upon thee … ” (verse 4).

Shut the door to opinion. Had she gone down the street asking for the opinions of the wise ones, those opinions would have been varied and contradictory; but they would have been unanimous, to follow the prophet’s advice was a foolish thing to do- it would be only a waste of precious time. The good woman would have been advised, “Use what time you have left in trying to refinance your loans.” But she shut the door to opinions.

You, too, will need to shut the door to the opinions of others if you would experience the supernatural manifestations of God, if you would escape the clutching hold of sin and the starving force of carnality.

Shut the door to fear. How filled our lives are with fear! From morning until night, from the cradle to the grave, fear stalks our pathway. We are afraid that we will not be accepted; we are afraid to start a new job; we are afraid move to another town; we are afraid of …the list is almost endless.

Shut the door to fear, and do it now. Look your problem squarely in the face; take one step toward it; you will discover that the closer you get to it the smaller it becomes.

Shut the door to unbelief.  Unbelief said, “The borrowing of the extra vessels was only lost motion.” Unbelief said, “The whole experience of the race is against expecting a small bottle of oil to fill all those vessels.” This good woman closed the door to unbelief, and filled every cup that faith had brought in.

Close your door to unbelief. Believe in God! Believe in the God transcendent, personal, righteous, compassionate; God – big enough for this day of big things; God – powerful enough for your problems and wise enough to get you through life with honour.

Shut the door to everything that is little and mean and vile and selfish. There you will find the flowing oil, the manifestations of God, and the glow of a glorious experience of being closer to our Maker.

“They that sow in tears shall reap in joy. He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Psalms 126:5-6)

Hudson Taylor of the China Inland Mission tells that when he was a college student he had charge of a man with a gangrenous foot. It was his duty to dress the man’s foot every day. He soon learned that his patient was not a Christian, and had not been in a church for forty years. Such was his hatred of religion that he refused to go inside the church at his wife’s funeral.

Young Taylor made up his mind to speak to this man about his soul every time he visited him. The man cursed him, and refused to allow him to pray. The student persisted in presenting Christ until one day he said to himself, “It is no use,” and was leaving the room.

When he reached the door, he turned around and saw the man looking after him as if to say, “Why, you are going away today without speaking to me about Christ!” Then the young man burst into tears, and returning to the bedside, said, “Whether you wish me to or not, I must deliver my soul. Will you let me pray with you?” The man assented, began to weep, and was converted.

Mr. Taylor says, “God broke my heart, that through me He might break this wicked man’s heart.”

Ask now that the Holy Spirit may give you a tender heart, and make your eyes a fountain of tears, that, with the sympathy of Christ, you may seek the lost and perishing.

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

It is a great thing to remember – what Christians too easily forget-that we are called to the enjoyment of heavenly things, and we live by the revelation of them. God has not introduced grace and His Son and Spirit to make us get along easily in this world (it was not needed) but to bring us to the enjoyment of heavenly things, and to live in them. What characterizes a man is what his mind is on, and then all his ways flow from that.

The apostle says that we ” …in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened ... ” (2 Corinthians 5:4); that is, all we have of this world. The Lord uses it as an occasion of His dealings with us, but He does not take that up until salvation is settled. Redemption being settled, we find difficulties and exercises come in; and the apostle gives us here (and in chapter 12) what the principle and power of his walk were. What we are called to is the manifestation of the life of Christ; our whole life is to be nothing but that God is revealed. We have life, and the Holy Ghost as our power; we are set here as the epistles of Christ, for men to read. While waiting for Christ to manifest Himself in glory, we have to manifest Him in grace.

It is not pleasant to “do well, and suffer for it,” but is not that what Christ did? It is what we have to do in lowliness and meekness. He first gives us a place in Heaven, and then sets us down here to do that. We have the revelation of God Himself in the Person of His Son. He dwells in us, and we in Him; and we know it, for He has given us of His Spirit. Our place before God is settled; Christ is our life. We have the knowledge of God and the power to walk in this world; and, another thing, heavenly things are revealed – the things that belong to the place in which we are. “Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God” (1 Corinthians 2: 12). There we are to live and to get the motive that characterizes us as Christians. If that were always so, we should be always really epistles of Christ – in our houses, our dress, in our everyday life, in all the . things that are the expression of a man’s heart. Is Christ the motive in everything we do? If not, we leave Him for some vanity or other. What every Christian has to do is to commend himself” ... to every man’s conscience in the sight of God” (2 Corinthians 4:2), that if they judge him, it should be for consistency.

“For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). That is where every Christian is. The glory of God is revealed in his heart, and he is thus to manifest it in the world, that they should see it in his words and ways. It is a blessed place, but a very distinct and definite one. If Christ is revealed, He has brought in the knowledge of God – all the glory of God, His holiness, His majesty, His love – has shined into our hearts, that we may give it out. That is very simple if that were all, but it is not all. It is God’s way to put this in an earthen vessel. The apostle does not speak here of wickedness, but weakness. We have to get the flesh put down. We know that, but the apostle does not go on that ground here. It is not a question of sin or failure, but of the path of the Christian as such. The first element is, he has the whole glory of God revealed, but in these ” … earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God … ” (2 Corinthians 4:7)-constant dependence.

Great, excellent, and wonderful as the treasure is, He has put it in a place which, to man’s eye and mind and thought, is unfit for it – as to power, I mean. Therefore in your life, even when you are going on right, you get these two elements: all the glory of God revealed in your heart, but put purposely in an earthen vessel, because there is a great deal for us to learn as regards to what poor, wretched creatures we are. Peter says, ” … I am ready to go with thee, both into prison, and to death” (Luke 22:33). Will you? says the Lord; I will see. We all know what it was. You may say he had not the Holy Ghost. No, but the flesh is as treacherous now as it was before the Holy Ghost was given; of course, there is more power to keep it down. We may learn slowly what it is, but learn it we must. It comes out even when we are seeking to serve Christ honestly, as Peter was. It is the thought of God to put the treasure in this vessel that it may learn itself what it is, and we must learn it. We may earnestly and honestly go and preach Christ, and heartily; but if we have not learned ourselves, there is some confidence in self, and we make mistakes. It is lovely to see Moses going down and associating himself with the poor brickmakers; but he had not learned himself, and he killed an Egyptian, and then ran away.

I must keep watching the flesh, for I know what it is. I need to lean on a strength that is not mine, and wait for God’s direction and guidance. By the discovery of my weakness, I know I have no power but in God. Paul had been put down when he was converted, but he had to be kept down that he might know it was not the capacity of Paul, but that the power of Christ might rest upon him. God says, as it were, it is I working in you; cannot I work through your boggling? Oh, then, says Paul, I will keep it! “…Most gladly… will I…glory in my infirmities … ” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Here he says, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed … ” (2 Corinthians 4:8); I cannot see a way out for myself, but I have God, and He is a sure way. “Persecuted, but not forsaken … ” (2 Corinthians 4:9), for God is with me; ” … cast down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:9). He lived in the consciousness that the Lord was always there, and that he wanted Him. Even in truth and sincerity of heart, we are apt to go on as if we did not want the Lord. If for one instant I do not have Him with me, I am nothing. Where we are seeking to serve Christ, we have to learn our own lesson; but where there is not that dependence, there will be failure. In small things or in great things, we cannot do anything without Him; and we are not to do good in the strength of our own thoughts. We are slow to learn it!

There are two remedies for this. First, “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus … ” (2 Corinthians 4: 10). The apostle applies it to himself, and that goes very far, though it is not all. If you applied the cross to every thought that arises in your heart, you would find how many thoughts the cross would crucify. The flesh would never put up a thought at all, for what thought could a dead man put up? Of course, we have to be gentle and courteous as Christians; but the old man has been put to death, and I have to reckon myself dead. Here he is carrying it out every day. I might fear there are many who do not so apply it to every thought and feeling and purpose – who do not so distrust the flesh, and everything in mere human nature. If l let my body live, there is flesh. But he says, I bear” … about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body” (2 Corinthians 4: 10). In order to manifest Christ always, I need to hold the flesh dead. That is his part in faith. Then comes the second thing, God’s part. “For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh” (2 Corinthians 4: 11 ). However faithful he was, God had to help him. He could not trust him, and He cannot trust you. He puts you through circumstances where the flesh comes out, and then says, “There now.” Paul could say all this trial and exercise was for Christ’s sake. With us, very often, it is for the flesh’s sake.

The fulness of the glory is ours. The glory has shone into our hearts, but He puts it in an earthen vessel because our hearts have to learn what we are. No will can be allowed – no self-stirring, no flesh, no thought from the vanity of this world – nothing that does not suit this treasure. But do not thoughts come into your mind, and are they not allowed there, that do not suit the treasure of Heaven? Things that do not take the form of gross evil, but a quantity of things that are not Christ? Take the day’s conversation: has there been no vanity, no idleness? Is your speech “… alway with grace, seasoned with salt … ” (Colossians 4:6)? If you take up a newspaper and read of the vanities of the world, do you then tum to read of Christ and His glory, and not find your heart dull? If you do not find it out, you may be sure it will get duller and duller. It hinders the preciousness of Christ to you. You have lost power. You do not go and read your Bible and pray with the same freshness. When I apply the cross of Christ, it stops the moving of my heart. The Lord puts me through circumstances that put me to the test.

Are you willing to take this place, willing to be under God’s hand, cleaving to Him with purpose of heart, saying, I want Christ. Are you willing to have your flesh put down? It is singleness of eye. What Satan is doing is to get us to have, if it were ever so little, confidence in the flesh. Do you say, “Let the vessel be dealt with as He will,” in whatever He sees needed, so that Christ may be manifested, whether by life or by death? Is that the desire of your hearts?

1. When you grow bolder with sin, or with temptations to sin, than you were in your more watchful state- then be sure something is wrong.

2. When you make a small matter of those sins and infirmities which once seemed grievous to you and almost intolerable.

3. When you settle down to a course of religion that gives you but little labor, and leave out the hard and costly part.

4. When your God and Saviour grows a little strange to you, and your religion consists in conversing with men and their books and not with God and His Book.

5. When you delight more in hearing and talking, than in secret prayer and the Word.

6. When you use the means of grace more as a matter of duty, than as food in which your soul delights.

7. When you regard too much the eye of man, and too little the eye of God.

8. When you grow hot and eager about some disputed point, or in forwarding the interests of some party of Christians, more than about those matters which concern the great cause of Christ.

9. When you grow harsh and bitter towards those who differ from you, instead of feeling tenderly towards all who love Christ.

10. When you make light of preparing for the Lord’s day and the Lord’s table, and think more of outward ordinances than you do of heart work.

11. When the hopes of Heaven and the love of God do not interest you, but you are thirsting after some worldly enjoyment and grow eager for it.

12. When the world grows sweeter to you, and death and eternity are distasteful subjects.

“Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls …” (Jeremiah 6: 16).

“Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you like men, be strong” (1 Corinthians 16:13).

Change is one of the laws of life. Birth, growth, decay, and death are all part of a flow that never ends. No one can escape that fact of change, though some have tried.

Pyramids, that are still the wonder of the world, have been built in order to insure lasting fame. These people have sought to write their names on the page of human history with indelible ink. Yet the pyramids have crumbled and the writing has grown dim with age. We cannot escape the winds of change that blow across the human scene.

One ancient thinker was so impressed with the ceaseless flux and flow of existence that he declared change to be the essence of all things. The only thing that never changes, he said, is the unchanging law of change. Life is like the restless waters of a river: you cannot step into the same river twice for the water into which you stepped the first time has gone on to the seas, and even you are changed, for it is not the same to step into the river the second time as it was to step into it the first time! Still we long for permanence. We instinctively seek the permanent in the passing. We cannot escape the conviction that what is real must in some way be lasting.

When we look at the passing and the permanent, we begin to see something very important, everything does not change. If it did, we would not recognize change itself. The only way we know the river is flowing is because there are trees and rocks along the bank that do not flow. We see change only by comparing it with the changeless.

So we have not only laws of change; we also find changing laws. Nothing has contributed more to changes in the circumstances of human life than the growth of modern science. Yet science has gained its understanding and control of change by the discovery of what is really unchanging.

If and when men go to Mars, a new thing will have happened; but that new thing will happen, if it does, because scientists have discovered principles and laws which are as old as the universe itself laws of energy and inertia which are not created by man but are found at the heart of reality. All of this has great meaning for the kind of men or women we are. Just as in the world about us the scientist gains his understanding and control of change by the discovery of the abiding and the permanent, so we need to meet the changes of life from a point of reference that is fixed and eternal.

Where is the permanent in human life? It is certainly not in external conditions. It is not in political institutions. It is not in the works of men’s hands. It is not in the customs of society. It is in the reality of a divine Person, “O Thou who changest not, abide with me!”

The apostle triumphantly points to “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8). All that will hold for time and eternity is an anchor in the Rock of Ages.

God will not change; the restless years may bring

Sunlight and shade -the glories of the spring

And silent gloom of winter hours –

Joy mixed with grief-sharp thorns with fragrant flowers.

Earth’s lights may shine awhile, and then grow dim,

But God is true; there is no change in Him.

-Edith Hickman Dival

Nor does the Gospel of Christ change. It is, as it was, the great good news of redemption and meaning and purpose in human life. The greatest problems we have are not the problems of poverty or race or disease or war. The greatest problems we have come because we are “aliens by birth and sinners by choice,” the moral twist of the human spirit. The beginning of the solution to all human problems is offered in the everlasting Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation.

The good news for people living in a changing world is the old news of the unchanging grace of God. Whatever your past and whatever the circumstances of your present, you can find forgiveness and peace in repentance, prayer, and faith.

Always at hand in the changing ways of life is the cleansing of the heart that goes “deeper that the stain has gone.” We cannot stop with pardon for the past, we must have power for the present and prospect for the future. God’s call to every Christian is not a call to an uncleaned way or will, but a call to holiness. “But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation” (1 Peter 1: 15).

John saw it clearly, and said it well, “And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever” (1 John 2: 17). Change is real, and we must live with it; but beyond and above the passing is the permanent, and we must live in it. Only in God himself does the heart find its home.

It is impossible for the scriptural observer to watch God’s church today without deepening alarm and even heart-breaking sorrow. The efforts of the Roman priests to rule, and undermine, and destroy; the appalling abandonment of belief in the Word of God; the flippant worldliness of method, walk, and heart; the church divisions, jealousies, quarrels; the open backsliding over which we seem absolutely powerless; above all, our own failure to meet it all with our faces in the dust- we begin faintly to understand Jeremiah when he said, “Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jeremiah 9:1).

Now observe: Out of this black disaster arises one of the most exquisite privileges of the Christian. The Holy Ghost has drawn a parallel from the revolted people of Jehovah (read Numbers 16:41),“Neither murmur ye, as some of them murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition … “ (1 Corinthians 10:10-11). Ponder the scene to which the Holy Ghost thus draws our attention: Moses is the mediator, the type of Christ (Hebrews 3: 1-2), and Aaron is the priest; and we are priests. Priests sometimes have to intercede for priests. The incense is prayer (Psalm 141 :2; Revelation 5: 8). We are priests come up white from the laver, with command over the incense, equipped for the intercessions of God.

Nearly all the great prayers of the Bible are intercessions: Abraham for Sodom; Moses for Israel; Solomon for the temple; Daniel for the captivity; our Lord and Paul for the church.

The action opens with God; ” … the Glory of the LORD appeared” in the cloud (Numbers 16:42). ” … they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?” Psalm 42:3). God is here. God is in the world; God is in the cloud; God is among His people; God is not far from any one of us; and God does not leave the consciences of His people untroubled. Instinctively, they tum their faces to the cloud, but God responds with a vision of devouring fire.

This is the purging terror needed by the modem church. We have forgotten the sword in the mouth of Christ. We have forgotten that even on Jesus rested the fear of the Lord (Isaiah 11 :2). The awful certainty is that, sooner or later, God is bound to deal with His people. The blessed certainty is that God is in the Holy of Holies, waiting for intercessions. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, “Get you up from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment. And they fell upon their faces.” (Numbers 16:45).

CHRIST COMMANDS NOT DENUNCIATION BUT INTERCESSION

Mark the tender marvel of it all. 1) The Mediator directs the priest to rush in with the incense. Moses said unto Aaron, ” … Take a censer, and put fire therein from off the altar, and put on incense, and go quickly unto the congregation, and make an atonement for them: for there is wrath gone out from the LORD; the plague is begun” (Numbers 16:46).

Christ commands not denunciation but intercession for the people of God. The Judge is at the door, and Aaron ran (Numbers 16:47). The merely critical spirit ends at last in criticism of Christ. “Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door” (James 5:9).

2) Intercession is the function of a priest. The plague was deserved. The sin of God’s people is rightly punished. But it is for a priest to reconcile God and man, not to estrange them. “Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare Thy people, O LORD … “ (Joel 2: 17).

3) Incense is pounded spice. So heartbroken intercessions are the most odorous on the altars of God. ” … And they fell upon their faces” (Numbers 16:45). (See also Psalm 44:24-25.)

4) Intercession demands a forgiving spirit. ” … the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron, saying, Ye have killed the people of the LORD,” (Numbers 16:41). It was an unjust, cruel, wanton charge. On the contrary, Aaron might have replied, “The Lord judge between us. If we be guilty, let the plague strike us.” But God’s priest ran into the plague-laden air, careless of life, and braved the still more dangerous wrath of the Cloud for his wanton accusers. This is the Spirit of Christ (Mark 11 :25). We must be great forgivers before we can become great intercessors. If the heart on the throne forgives, shall not this heart in the dust?

INTERCESSION REACHES THE JUDGMENT SEAT

Now observe the magnificent results. 1) The plague was stayed. The people were no worthier, but the prayer was accepted. Two men saved two million. God’s judgments are actually stayed by the intercessions of His priests.

2) Prayer can remove sin, as well as revoke the plague. Let them pray for him; ” … and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him” (James 5: 15). It is an amazing fact that intercession can reach even to the Judgment Seat. “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me: I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge” (2 Timothy 4: 16).

3) Plead blessings on others, and we invoke blessings on ourselves (James 5 :20). In the next chapter, Aaron’s rod blooms alone: he and his house are made perpetual intercessors before Jehovah (Numbers 18:1; Numbers 18:7). In one of his last addresses, Dr. Pierson said at Mildmay, “I say to you with the solemnity of a dying man, that no man has ever yet laid hold on the supernatural power of God as it is possible to lay hold on that power.”

It is the spirit of intercession which produced, in a closely allied incident, one of the most wonderful occurrences in the history of the world. “I will smite them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and I will make of thee a greater nation and mightier than they” (Numbers 14:12). Never before or since has such an offer been made. It was an offer made directly by God Himself. It involved the destruction of all His people, leaving Moses God’s sole representative on the globe. It promised a mightier nation through Moses. It offered him the holiest and most enduring of all dynasties and by far the most wonderful throne in the world, and it involved the transmission of Messiah to Moses line.

Moses was never greater than in this supreme crisis in his life. He, who was tried so sorely as to lose the Holy Land through the infidelities of this very people, is as silent as the grave on the offer. He will never raise his house on the ruins of God’s people. His one cry is, “Pardon, I beseech thee, the iniquity of this people …. “ (Numbers 14:19). Oh, that the very sins of the church, and the anger of God, may now awake such God-like intercession and such Gethsemane intercessors!

Moses casts everything on the character of God, “Now if thou shalt kill all this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of thee will speak, saying, Because the LORD was not able to bring this people into the land which he sware unto them … ” (Numbers 14: 15-16). Think it either weakness or malignity? Exactly so today God is so identified with His church that for the church to be wiped out would be the death of the very idea of God. We must plead to God when we pray now for the people of God. Moses loves God and the honour of God too much to accept the offer. God’s glory is at stake, God’s repute among the nations, God’s power and grace and love.

Hear the solemn word of Christ,  “And I will kill her children with death; and all the churches shall know that I am he which searcheth the reins and hearts: and I will give unto every one of you according to your works” (Revelation 2:23).

But meanwhile, the door of intercession stands opens. God’s heart is just one great sob over a lost world. Our hearts are to be one great sob over an errant church. “O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face … because we have sinned against thee. To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses … “ (Daniel 9:8-9). “O my God, incline thine ear, and hear … for we do not present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for thy great mercies. O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O Lord, hearken and do; defer not, for thine own sake, O my God … “ (Daniel 9: 18-19).