Keeping Good Company
and other
Ministry by E. J. Hemmings
– Part One

Other pages with ministry by E. J. Hemmings: • Doctrine: The Collection

The Lord took His servant to Himself on December 13, 1962. At the burial of Mr. Hemmings, Mr. G. R. Cowell remarked

• "Having known him since 1919, I can speak with personal knowledge of his devoted service to the Lord and to the church through a long life.

• "I do not think I can recall a life of more constant labour among my contemporaries, labours which often involved journeys of great length in order to succour isolated souls – surely a life which is an example for us all".

• Then, in regard to Mrs. Hemmings, GRC spoke of "our beloved sister who has been such a true partner to him. They have indeed been one in exercise and one in service".

In 1960, Philip Haddad began printing notes of ministry by E. J. Hemmings, as well as by G. R. Cowell and others.

• The following page has what is available of that later ministry of Mr Hemmings.

G.A.R.

Rachel had been the object of his love in a peculiar way; he had served for her doubly: but he proved when this experience came to him on the way, that the One who had called him and undertaken to bless him remained.

• So we would be concerned that our beloved brother and his daughters should feel now that what remains –
  • this promise of divine blessing, with the testings on the way stands measured with divine skill,

    in order that the fullness of divine love should be deepened in their hearts, and increased in their souls.

• For Jacob speaks of Rachel "dying by me", a touching and telling experience granted to few, but known by such as Jacob.

The Lord Jesus can speak, not of one "dying by me", for that would be quite impossible; as one could say,

• "If Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died".

• It was quite impossible that one should "die by Him" indeed, in regard of those two crucified with Him, it says that "Jesus was dead already"; they died after Him: but the word so delightful, which our beloved sister knew, is,
  • "Today shalt thou be with me".

• Not a question now of being absent, but present – with the Lord: and hence the joy of this over against the sorrow, the conscious sense of the Lord's own word, the Lord's own promise, He has not failed in any one of His promises –
  • "Today shalt thou be with me" –

    a proof of His love indeed, one now able to enjoy in undistraction the blessedness of being with Christ, which is very much better.

We can rejoice in the spirit of our beloved sister without in any way eulogising a spirit that was devoted to divine interests, a spirit that was youthful in its interest in the truth,

• a spirit that rejoiced in conversation only a week or so before her departure about the blessed reality of the "other Comforter" that is to be known in our experience here.

But then, there is not only what the Lord has said, "Today shalt thou be with me"; but it is a question now of the whole matter being in the hands of God.

• Our beloved brother and his circumstances; all those who are dear to him; the whole matter now, we may say, is entirely in the hands of God, if we believe; so that the apostle brings it in in that way;
  • "If we believe that Jesus has died and has risen again, so also God will bring with Him those who have fallen asleep through Jesus".

• This, beloved brethren, is the portion for which our beloved sister waits, and we all wait for what God will soon do.

• God in His almighty power and love will bring with Him – that is, with Christ – those who have fallen asleep through Jesus. What a glorious result God will secure!

• If we in our sorrow have such an experience of one 'dying by me", we have the comforting words of the Lord, "Today shalt thou be with me",
  • and now the knowledge that God Himself will bring with Christ those who have fallen asleep through Jesus.

So we can rejoice, beloved brethren, in the midst of sorrow, in the glorious triumph of God, and all that God will bring with Christ.

• Not one feature of moral worth will ever be lost; all brought through death to resurrection ground to shine for the glory of the One who has redeemed us to Himself;
  • every feature in glory shining out for the glory of the One who has endeared Himself to all our hearts.

• So we are now waiting with our beloved sister, she already with Christ, but we are waiting with our beloved sister for the moment when God will bring with Him, with Christ, every one that has fallen asleep.

How gloriously the thoughts of God shine! How they cover all the sorrow that we pass through by the way, the glorious supremacy of the thoughts of God shining above all!

• May God Himself, and our Lord Jesus Christ, have the glory for ever, for His precious name's sake! Amen.

If we think of the sad persecution by Saul of Tarsus, we may think of one whose heart was full of madness against the saints,

• but there was something that preceded it, and there was something that followed it.

• What preceded it was that he had witnessed the death of Stephen. He had never seen anything like that before, he had never heard anything like that before;

• God was in control, and in every circumstance of every person it is good to be reminded that nothing goes beyond His control. He is working in the light. He knows the end from the beginning.

• We are only able to take step by step as He marks out such for us, but He is working in the light, and acting in love,
  • and He would have us take the steps that are ordered by Him, with perfect confidence in Him that all is well, though we may not see it at the moment.

Those who were persecuted at the death of Stephen did not see immediately what was to be the result, but they went everywhere preaching the gospel.

• The testimony was spreading through a strange and unexpected happening, as we may say, as we think of Stephen as one whose life was expressive of the Spirit of Christ, we may say that he could ill be spared.

• There was such faith in him, such expression of the Spirit of Christ, and such fearlessness in testimony, that he could ill be spared.

• But God knows better than we do and He allowed him to suffer in this way in order that there might be a model death, a model burial, and the spread of the testimony.

• These results were not communicated to those who suffered at the time, but they were in the mind and heart of God, and
  • every circumstance was definitely and perfectly ordered in regard to the blessing of His people, the spread of the truth, and the blessing of men.

We may have thought that the apostle Paul was being limited in his service.

• We may have thought John the baptist could have been better used than being in prison,
  • but God does what is best at all times and in all circumstances.

• He is working now, and even this day, in the light, and though we may not see, this day, what good will come of this sorrow,

• much good will certainly come as we are subject to the will of God, and, as we are more closely bound together with feelings proper to the body,

• God is able to bring a greater good out of this sorrow than if our dear brother had remained with his family, and with the brethren.

It is for us to carry the good of it in our spirits, and to be subject to the will of God, that we may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

We would greatly desire for our brother's father and family, that they might have such confidence in God as to be able to say to the brethren

• "But I would have you know, brethren, that the circumstances in which I am have turned out rather to the furtherance of the glad tidings".

How good it is to be able to take up things in this way, as learning in sorrow! It is not all who can be trusted with such sorrow, but to learn through sorrows,

• and thus to be an encouragement to the brethren, to be used of the Lord for their blessing, their help, and their formation in the truth, is indeed a privilege.

The apostle refers to three particular things that had come to pass through his imprisonment.

• You may say, 'How little he could be spared with all his gift, restricted in prison', but he is viewing things far differently, as he is looking upon the effect of what was happening to him.

• He was in prison for the testimony and there were many who thus heard of Christ. Then he speaks of the brethren being energized to fill up the gap.

May this help and encourage our dear brother's family to see that nothing is to be lacking in the service!

• We sometimes say, 'God buries His workmen, but He carries on His work'.

• The apostle rejoices in the fact that the brethren are preaching the gospel more fearlessly than ever they had done before.

• This apparently untoward circumstance is to encourage us to serve with the power that may be given to us, and the grace too, so that the work is continued and extended.

The third thing the apostle speaks of is his own personal matter – "my salvation". How is that coming to pass?

• "Through your supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ".

• No circumstance can prevent that going on. The prayers of the saints would go up and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ would come down.

• These are available to our beloved brother and sister, and their family, and to all of us, and one would greatly desire that our prayers might be of such a character that the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ should be abundantly ministered,

• and that our brother and his family may be a greater encouragement to the brethren, through their sorrow,

• and that they should have us to know that what has happened has been definitely ordered and definitely blessed.

May we all be helped and encouraged!

The Scripture says that Enoch walked with God. He walked with God, the emphasis being upon the choice that Enoch made. He knew God, he walked with God, and had this testimony before his translation, that he pleased God.

• I would say reverently that he chose the best company possible. He might have been alone in his walk here, but what blessing there is in being with God! And God took him. He was not, for God took him.

• We also read of Noah walking with God. What blessing there was in this for him, and for his family! Think of all the holy communion he had with God.

• We read of Abraham walking with God, Isaac and Jacob keeping his company, he with them and they with him. We read of Jacob choosing his company, his own father's house, a plain man, a homely man.

• He had not gone in for the things of this world, as Esau had to minister to himself. We may say, speaking characteristically of Jacob, that he was happy and content to remain in the company of his parents who knew God, and could speak to him of that which was pleasurable to God.

• Esau, on the other hand, was a cunning hunter, a man of the field. He turned his back on his own home, and on the company of his parents, and sought the company of the world. He married in the world, and we are told that his wives were a grief of mind to Isaac and Rebecca.

• What kind of a future are we seeking? Are we seeking to walk with God? Are we seeking to be in communion with the Lord and the Holy Spirit? What wonderful company is open to every believer!

When the Lord Jesus chose His disciples, we read that He chose twelve,

• "that they might be with Him, and that He might send them to preach", Mark 3: 14.

• He was going to send them forth as having heard His word and having taken note of how He spoke, so that they should be well equipped for service in His absence.

• Not only had they the knowledge of the truth, but divine feelings that go along with the truth, so that they should be true witnesses here in the absence of their Lord and Master.

Peter did not always keep good company, as we know. Alas, he allowed himself, in the time of reproach, to be at a distance from his Lord, the One whom he truly loved.

• Peter followed "at a distance" finding himself in very bad company, so that it was not long before he began to speak like his companions, denying with curses that he knew the Lord.

We read in Luke 8 of the Lord Jesus going from city to city, and village to village, and the twelve were with Him.

• Then it speaks of the women who were with Him and followed Him all the way from Galilee, ministering unto Him. Then we find them at the cross.

• What a choice company that was, those who stood at the cross with Jesus, His mother and the sister of His mother, Mary the wife of Cleopas, and Mary of Magdala, and the disciple whom Jesus loved,
  • all choosing to accept this place at the cross, publicly, in love for their Saviour!

• What choice company and what a wonderful sight for heaven! The disciple whom Jesus loved was there, and how well he was rewarded, the mother of Jesus being committed to him.

Elisha

We have read of one young man choosing his company, Elisha, while the other young men of the day chose differently.

• We may suppose that they also had the opportunity to choose the company of the man of God, Elijah, but they chose to move together, to keep together, but there was one young man who did not keep their company.

• He chose other company, evidently better company. Three times over he says to Elijah: "I will not leave thee".

• Elijah is giving him the opportunity to leave him, but it seems as if Elisha is saying as a young man, 'If the Lord has called you to Bethel, Jericho and the Jordan, I would like to keep your company, I would like to be with you to the end'.

• We may thus be reminded that there is no reason for there being a lower standard of truth for those who are younger, than for those who are older.

It was a very real matter for Elisha to be separated from others. He was a marked man, as Elijah and he went on, with fifty sons of the prophets standing aloof from them.

• Elijah and Elisha were not with them nor in their company, nor subscribing to their ideas. This young man wanted to know as much about the truth as Elijah.

• The sons of the prophets asked if Elisha knew what was going to happen. They knew as well as he did. But what company were they in?

• I would say it was a company of young persons with the truth in terms, unbelieving and faithless in their hearts, and that is a very poor company.

• In one another's company they breathed the atmosphere of unbelief, whereas Elisha was breathing an atmosphere of godliness, of faith, of devotedness, of zeal – excellent atmosphere to breathe. He took on the truth and was descriptive of it.

When the end came he was with his master, and saw him go up. The Lord was with Elijah and it was a test to Elisha as to whether he would go on his own way or whether he would go with Elijah to the end.

• We see and know that the end of the journey was glorious. It would almost seem as if this young man was saying,
  • 'I would like to take the fullest advantage of your relations with God. You are near the end of your service; you are very near translation, and I do not want to miss a single impression of God, and of the truth, and you can give me something infinitely better than the world can give me'.

• He has chosen his company, and he is going to keep it until the end of the journey.

Fifty valiant men as they speak of themselves, wanted to go out in search of this man of God, to verify the truth that God had taken him away, and,

• with their faithless, unbelieving hearts, they wanted to see if God had cast him upon some mountain or in some ravine!

• How little they knew God or the pleasure God had in His servant! What a faithless, worthless search it was, and still they are spoken of as sons of the prophets!

• They wasted their time in unbelieving searches, while Elisha, in the full knowledge of where his master had gone, goes on with the service that had been laid down,
  • and carried it out with the grace of the dispensation with a double portion of his master's spirit.

• How good was the choice he had made, distinctive in service as he was!

• It should raise a question with us all, the older as well as the younger, as to what choice we have made and are making of companions.

• It should be a very simple matter, and I am sure it is, to decide without any hesitation whether we would like to keep company with a man of God and come into the service that such a man of God laid down.

Ruth

Ruth is a young woman who also makes her choice.

• She and Orpah came together out of Moab, two young women moving together, but they are tested in regard of the continuance of the journey. Are they moving with Naomi to be rewarded on natural lines?

• They have decided as to this, and Orpah discloses that she is prepared to go back. She kissed her mother-in-law and went back.

• Is Ruth going back, or is she going on with Naomi, a disciplined sister? What should she do? Her choice is made, as Elisha's choice was made.
  • "Do not intreat me to leave thee, to return from following after thee; for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge: thy people shall be my people, and thy God my God; where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried".

• You will notice the people she chooses, and she speaks of them first, not that the people take precedence over God, but the primary thought with Ruth is that she is moving in relation to companionship with the people of God.

• She has made her choice, and she is going on in faith, committed to another people, clinging to an older woman, a sobered woman, a disciplined woman. All the city was moved to see them together, keeping rank together.

• What a joy it is to see those who are younger making their decision for the Lord and for His people and finding pleasure in the company of spiritual persons,
  • moving in relation to the truth, rather than in the company of those who would go back and find pleasure in the fields of Moab.

The fields of Moab, in the plural, are distinct from the one field where Boaz is supreme, for Boaz is typical of Christ.

• Is there not a field in this world for every natural desire, for every talent and every aspiration of the human heart? There is a field of sport, literature, politics and so on. There is a field for every craving of the heart, for old and young,
  • but there is only one field where Christ is supreme, and where He is loved and honoured and served.

• Ruth has made her choice to be found in that field, gleaning there that which would build up a spiritual constitution, that would enable her to go through with every exercise to the end.

Boaz speaks to Ruth of what she was coming into. She had been comparatively young when she left the fields of Moab.

• What companionship she would find in Bethlehem! How comforting it all was to her!
  • "Keep here with my maidens", says Boaz.

• She was indeed happy to remain in this companionship, and to enjoy the activities of love there. These things are not to be found in the fields of Moab.

• When she was athirst she was to drink of that which had been provided for her, reminding us of the refreshing ministry drawn by those who are under the Master's hand and in His service.

• How willing are the servants of the Lord through their own exercises to bring us, where necessary, a simple, attractive and easily assimilated food, a refreshing ministry that comes from the service and direction of the Holy Spirit, all prepared!

• There is no excuse whatever for lack of progress and lack of joy, for everything has been provided on the divine side. Is this not infinitely better than the fields of Moab?

• Ruth gleans where this refreshing ministry is found.
  • "Go not to glean in another field".

• This is a word for us all, reminding us of an enemy who is acquainted with each longing and aspiration, who will bring under our notice a field that we may explore in order that our natural longings may find an answer. What will you do?
  • "Go not to glean in another field … Let thine eyes be on the field which is being reaped".

How often we are reminded of it, the wealth of ministry that comes from the service of the blessed Spirit, the field that is being reaped,

• the truth that is being brought out to us at the present time, refreshing our spirits, strengthening our faith, increasing our response to God!

• Eyes that are fixed upon the field that is being reaped are more than satisfied. God had provided His very best in this our day and there is a call to every one of us not to glean in another field.

• As Ruth takes up this, her precious privilege, she feels how unworthy she is of it, she speaks of herself as a foreigner.
  • Is this not a word to children of Christian parents, those who have been in touch with these things from earliest childhood?

• Are you going out into the world and into the fields of Moab? You will not find it better than that which has been provided in your own home.

• Be not like Esau, skilled in hunting, making his mark in the world and bringing nothing but sorrow to his parents and sorrow to himself.

• Ruth speaks of her unworthiness, just as newly converted persons coming in from the world into these things – that most of us through grace have known from earliest childhood – feel their utter unworthiness.

• How is it that they, coming in from the world, should be overwhelmed with all that divine love has provided for their compensation and encouragement?

• Where are we who are children of Christian parents in regard of all this? Do we take divine things for granted? Is there no response of heart in us?

Ruth is asking why she has come under the notice of Boaz.

• The Lord is acquainted with where you have come from and what your desires are.

• If anyone has made any measure of sacrifice, the Lord is fully acquainted with it and He will fully reward it.
  • Boaz says, "It has fully been shown me, all that thou hast done to thy mother-in-law since the death of thy husband; and how thou hast left thy father and thy mother, and the land of thy nativity, and art come to a people that thou hast not known heretofore".

• Then comes the reward, as Elisha was rewarded, a full reward being given from the Lord God of Israel, under whose wings she had come to take refuge.

• There is nothing in the world to compare with the warmth and protection of these wings. No one should hesitate to make this choice.

A Little Boy

In John we read of a little boy, not only a boy, but a little boy, who had five barley loaves and two small fishes.

• This boy was keeping good company. Probably he had brought food with him so that he might spend all the day with the disciples and the Lord.

• The Lord knew what He was going to do. The Lord knew that little boy, where he lived, and what he had in his possession.

• He spoke to Philip about the need, the food for the crowd, but Philip does not know how the situation is going to be met. The Lord does; He is going to meet it through a little boy.
  • "Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, says to Him, There is a little boy here who has five barley loaves and two small fishes; but this, what is it for so many?"

There are here tonight young men, young women, boys and girls. Do you love the Lord? Are you prepared to enter His service with what you have?

• The Lord can do wonderful things with your heart and your life.

• Those who are older in years may feel that their public service is near the end and there is little they can do, but the Lord can make what appears to be a little most serviceable in regard to us all.

• Prayer may be offered up unceasingly for the prosperity of the saints. Those prayers go up to God as incense. We may think it very little to do this, but it is a very precious service and the Lord has need of everyone, the old and the young.

• In Matthew's gospel, the gospel of the assembly, the old and the young are together, the ass and the colt, and the Lord sat upon them. He took charge of them both.

• "Two of you", the Lord says. No age is mentioned; it may be two elders, two sisters, an older and a younger, but it is "two of you", those who have believed and followed the truth.

• I may say I am young in years and have very little to offer. The lad might have said that, but he released immediately what he had, and the Lord does ask for that something which you have.

• The fishes are but two, and if they are small, the Lord can use them. He can bless them and cause a multitude of persons to be fed by what you have released into His blessed hands for the service of others.

• If you have come in your own consciousness to the knowledge that your sins are forgiven and that Jesus is your Saviour, are you going to stop there?

• Have you confessed Him? Are you remembering Him? These are the things you may yet do.

• Does not the Lord Jesus say of the woman, "She hath done what she could" – not more or less, but what she could?

• Have we all confessed the Lord? Are we still confessing Him with our lips and with our lives? If not, we have not done what we could do and should do in order to support His testimony.

• Are we all remembering Him in His appointed way? Here is a little boy who released what he had into the Lord's hands, and the Lord takes charge of it and He blesses it.

• What is given to Him, He uses for the comfort and encouragement of all who are there in His presence.

There is a wide range of service to be carried out amongst the people of God in their varied, circumstances, testing and humbling as they often are.

• Where are those who are near to the Lord and can be used of Him for edification and help and the refreshing of His people?

• If we are prepared in simple love to Himself to release what we have and to do it at once, there is no telling what He might do with us.

• Little did that boy think, when he chose his company that particular day, what was to be the end of the story. Five thousand men ate and were satisfied.

• There is joy in the presence of the angels over every repenting sinner. There is joy on earth, likewise, in accord with heaven, over everyone who remembers Him.

• We may make the choice here. The Lord knows us, the circumstances from which we have come, the response there is from each heart, even at this very moment.

• All those who love Him and look for His near return would unite in prayer that there might be many who will choose good company.

• I would say again, note what that boy had when he went to the meeting, so to speak, that day, and five thousand men came under the good of what he had brought.

• The Lord had need of him, and He has need of you. He has room for everyone of us in His blessed service.

• He calls us into His service, and He will take us for ever to be with Himself, saying to each one who has truly served Him,
  • "Well done, good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord".

Thus it is also that, as the person and service of the Holy Spirit have come before us in a distinctive way of late years,

• we are freshly challenged as to that which is suited to His presence, that is, holiness and truth, for He is the Holy Spirit.

• We are often reminded that holiness is a state, and from this state truth will come into expression.

• It is to be noticed that, in Acts 2, the first result of the coming of the Holy Spirit is that men
  • "began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave to them to speak forth".

• What wonderful speaking this was! Is our speaking like it? Can our word be believed and relied upon? Does it further God's kingdom, does it comfort the weary, does it bind the saints together?

• What a model the Lord Jesus is for us in this as in all else! – the One who, when asked, "Who art Thou?" answered
  • "Altogether that which I also say to you".

• He never needed to retract any word He said, or modify any statement He made, or revise any judgment He pronounced.
  • Well might we say with the psalmist, "Let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense … Set a watch, O Jehovah, before my mouth; keep the door of my lips", Psalm 141: 2-3.

There probably has never been a time in the history of the world when lying is so rampant. Through the radio, a lie can girdle the earth in a few seconds, and yet,

• when nations are so very much nearer geographically, so to speak, they are much farther from each other practically and in their outlook, largely through distrust and falsehood.

• Hence there is a clarion call for believers indwelt by the Holy Spirit to raise an unalterable standard of truth at all times, and in all circumstances, especially in their relations with one another.
  • The psalmist says, "Behold, Thou wilt have" or takest delight in "truth in the inward parts".

• This is where the truth should reign. How much has to be judged for this to obtain! The new man is said to be
  • "according to God … created in truthful righteousness and holiness. Wherefore, having put off falsehood, speak truth every one with his neighbour, because we are members one of another", Ephesians 4: 24-25.

• This is not just saying true words, but giving an impression of the truth in one's spirit, and maybe, tone of voice. 'Everything that has the character and nature of falsehood' is to be eschewed – resolutely put off.

All this becomes a very real and searching matter when we think of our natural weakness and proneness to accept the first thing we hear and pass it on, without check or enquiry,

• without the accredited witnesses required by Scripture and the testimony of those whose word can be relied upon.
  • See also Exodus 23: 1, "Thou shalt not accept a false report" – much less pass it on.

• Moreover, jealousy, cruel as the grave, leads us to make disparaging remarks about one another,
  • especially about the Lord's servants; the result being that their ministry, as received from the Lord, is discredited.

• What fervent appeals there are in Scripture to act otherwise!
  • "Let nothing be in the spirit of strife or vain glory, but, in lowliness of mind, each esteeming the other as more excellent than themselves", Philippians 2: 3.

• What an increase of brotherly love and assembly dignity would appear if we all set ourselves, with the help of the Holy Spirit, to do this! For this service is peculiarly the Holy Spirit's, and in this He delights.
  • The Lord Jesus says, "But when He is come, the Spirit of truth, He shall guide you into all the truth", John 16: 13.

• Are we thus under His control and subject to His guiding in our words, in the spirit of our words, and in our correspondence.

There is also a very serious aspect to this question of truth as set out for us in Deuteronomy 19: 16-20:

• "If an unrighteous witness rise up against any man to testify against him … the judges shall make thorough inquiry;

  "and if the witness be a false witness, and he have testified falsely against his brother, then shall ye do unto him as he had thought to have done unto his brother; and thou shalt put evil away from thy midst.

  "And those that remain shall hear, and fear, and shall henceforth commit no more any such evil in thy midst".

• We may note for our profit and help the "thorough enquiry", the unsparing judgment meted out to the offender, and the effect upon all others.

• Would that we all took the word, and indeed every word of God, to heart and lived by it.

It is remarkable that it should be said that "the chief priests and the elders and the whole Sanhedrim sought false witness against Jesus, so that they might put Him to death",

• and that Pilate knew that Jesus had been delivered to him by such men "through envy".

• Very similar too, are the tactics of those who opposed Stephen; Acts 6: 11-14. What a laying bare of our natural hearts!

• The last thing said about the disciples in the gospel of John is that they failed to repeat the exact words spoken to Peter by the Lord, but gave their own construction and interpretation.
  • "This word therefore went out among the brethren, That disciple does not die. And Jesus did not say to him, He does not die; but, If I will that he abide until I come, what is that to thee?"

The present day is one for accuracy of reception, accuracy of retention, and accuracy of repetition.

• Otherwise, the dignity of the assembly is lowered, brotherly relations are broken in upon, the flock scattered, and the sheep deprived of food.

• May we all be found in constant and earnest prayer, in harmony with the psalmist who says,
  • "Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in thy sight, O Jehovah, my rock, and my redeemer", Psalm 19: 14.

We have read of the Lord's early dealings with Peter, a sample believer. It has often been said there are two ways of learning;

• there is Peter's way and there is John’s way.

• Most of us learn both ways, but most of us learn more by Peter’s way than by John's way, for Peter's way is by stumbling and weakness, failure and mistakes.

• Thank God, we may learn that way and not be overcome and discouraged by our own weakness and failure.

• The other way to learn is John's way – in the bosom of Jesus, in nearness and intimacy, leaning upon His breast and learning there as in nearness to the One we love.

• We can be thankful that we have the record of Peter's failure for our encouragement and instruction.

At the very beginning, therefore, we see that Peter, in the presence of the Lord's love and interest in him and His willingness to bless him feels utterly unworthy of divine interest and attention,

• but he expresses his unworthiness and weakness to One who knows all about him, more than he knows about himself, and who has power to keep him,

• and, who, indeed, promised to keep him through His own service and intercession.

• What is behind this acknowledgement of Peter is the sovereign movement of the Lord, and we can rely upon that and be thankful for it.

• The Lord moved first toward Peter. There was no move in Peter toward the Lord, nor was there any move on our part first toward the Lord.

• It was the Lord who drew near to Peter, who entered into his circumstances, entered into the boat, who tested him as to his willingness to be subject to Him, to listen to His word and be obedient to Him.

The Lord in His gracious consideration for us does not ask us to do very much at the beginning.

• Scripture speaks of "the steps of faith … of our father Abraham", Romans 4: 12.

• He was not asked to take all the steps at once; he was asked to take one step at a time;

• but every step that he took in the path of faith took him nearer to God, nearer to the thoughts of God, and nearer to the blessing of God.

• There was no question of his taking the whole journey at one step.

• The Lord is very gracious towards us; He calls upon us to be obedient to His word; it may be to confess His name – that is the first step;
  • it may be to remember Him in the breaking of bread – another step.

• The Lord does not ask us to go the whole way at the beginning. He tests us, and will ever test us day by day, by the truth, by His own word,

• to see whether we are ready, in simple trust in Himself and submission to His word, to take the step that is immediately in front of us.

How often we hesitate, fearing the consequences, it may be, afraid of what others will say, fearing to fall if we take the step!

• But we can be assured of this, that if the Lord marks out the step for us and calls upon us to take it, He will supply all the strength necessary that the step should be taken – firmly taken and steadfastly maintained until the next step is opened out before us.

• Peter therefore, having been obedient to the Lord's word, drawing out a little from the land, is now asked to go out as far as he could: he is to go out into the deep.

• Now this was a call to him to do something that he had attempted to do in his own strength and had not succeeded, and in the light of his past experience and failure he says to the Lord,
  • "Master, having laboured through the whole night we have taken nothing, but at Thy word I will let down the net".

• How good it is to have that definitely built into our souls! Whatever the Lord calls upon us to do, though we may have to break with our past experience, though we may fear to take the step and do not know what the result will be,
  • we may say simply and in love to Himself, "at Thy word I will".

• Be assured of this, His approval and His blessing will be immediate. It will not be a question of waiting a long time to see whether the step is confirmed.

• It must be take in obedience, and immediately it is taken, there is confirmation from the Lord that we have pleased Him in so doing.

• Peter thus finds himself with the haul of fishes: in the immediate presence of the Lord's approval and the unlimited blessing commanded by Him.

• It is striking that there is no fishing mentioned in the gospels that ever succeeded except that which was directed by the Lord:

• it is to remind us that when He is in control, and He calls upon us to do something contrary to our natural reasoning, He is calling upon us to act in faith, and without faith it is impossible to please God; and faith will always be honoured.

Peter, in the presence of such blessing, falls at Jesus' knees and says,

• "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord".

• He would say, in effect, 'I am utterly unworthy that Thou shouldest ever take notice of me or speak to me, ever enter into my circumstances and bless me in such a way; I feel that my unrighteousness and sinfulness make me utterly unworthy to remain in Thy presence'; so he asked the Lord to depart from him.

• Who knew better than the Lord Peter's weakness and frailty? Who knew better than He the failures that should be his in his pathway here?

• The Lord knew all about it, very much more than Peter knew; He knew the end from the beginning; but with this confession and recognition from His young disciple,
  • the answer of the Lord is to take Him on just as he was in all his weakness and to carry him through to the end, never to let him go from His own hand.

• The Scripture says that He fell at Jesus' knees, suggesting in the gospel of Luke, which brings before us the priestly service of Jesus, that
  • Peter is saying in effect, 'I am so weak and failing and prone to sin that, unless Thou dost intercede for me and take me on, I shall never get through'.

• Did not the Lord answer Peter's falling at His knees? In the time of His greatest trial and sorest temptation,
  • Jesus said to Peter, "I have besought for thee that thy faith fail not":

    and though his conduct broke down, his faith did not fail.

• The Lord had not prayed that his conduct should not fail, but that his faith should not fail, and could there ever be a prayer of the Lord that was not answered in regard to a weak and failing disciple?

• It must be answered, and so his faith did not fail and he was carried through by the power of the Lord in triumph to the end. "Fear not".

• Peter said, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord", but the Lord is not going away from him, He is going to be near him and support him to take him on and carry him through; He is going to answer his falling at His knees.

• What a comforting answer he has from the Lord, who instead of departing from him, says,
  • "Fear not; henceforth thou shalt be catching men".

• He is to enter the service of this wonderful Master and glorious Saviour; he is to be taken on by Him; and if the Lord takes you on he will never let you down.

• It is encouraging and comforting to know that the Lord knows more about your weaknesses than you do yourself, and He wants you to answer to His call;
  • and in answering to His call you will find there is far more strength in Him than you will ever need.

• What shall we do in the light and in the presence of such a Master, gracious, comforting and encouraging?

• There is only one thing that one, impressed by His grace and comforted by His assurance and strengthened by His power, could ever do: and that is to leave all and follow Him.

"Having run the ships on shore, leaving all they followed Him". No word of command. No saying to Peter, 'Now do you think you ought to take another step?'

• Here was the One who had spoken to him, blessed him, given him the assurance of His comfort and love, and He left Peter to say what his answer should be:
  • and the answer was that from that time forward he would follow Him, and Him alone.

• When the time of his greatest testing was foretold by the Lord, He said that, when Peter should be old, another should gird him and bring him where he did not desire: this He said
  • "signifying by what death he should glorify God", John 21: 19.

• Then Jesus says to him, "Follow Me". Where would he find the strength, the steadfastness, to follow in the path, if it were not in having his eye upon the One who called him into the path at the very beginning?

• I would say again seeing that all our hearts are the same, it is a very great thing in our weakness to get to the Lord about it and go forth from His presence with the comforting sense that He is saying to us, "Fear not", and that He will carry us through to the end of the journey.

We shall find rest and joy in His service as we are prepared to leave everything and follow Him.

• In following Him we shall experience some of the testings, the opposition and persecution, that He Himself experienced. The Lord often links up His disciples with Himself in the gospels.

• He was not of the world, and they were not of the world; He was spoken against, and they would be spoken against; if He had been persecuted, they also would be persecuted.

• So in Luke 12 the Lord speaks to His own of those who would seek to crush them, and says, "Fear not".

• As long as the testimony is here, and the Spirit is here in the assembly, God will make room for His people and they will not be shut out, will not be banished from the scene; they are going to be taken out of it in glory, not thrust out.

• When the Egyptians endeavoured to retain the people of God, they went out because no power could hold them back, and they went out in glory.

• That is how the saints are viewed, going out in glory, not in shame and weakness.

The Lord therefore speaks of the persecution that His disciples should encounter.

• "But", He says, "Fear not those who kill the body and after this have no more that they can do".

• It might even be martyrdom, but men have no power over the soul. Many of the saints of God have suffered far more than any of us have suffered or may ever be called upon to suffer, even unto death; their light has shone brightly, and even more brightly at the end.
  • The Lord says, "Fear not those who kill the body".

• How the Lord comes in for His own! How gracious He is! He speaks of his own, those who may be here in testimony, as those who are to shine as lights in the world.

• They are the salt of the earth, and He compares such persons with the sparrows, saying, "and one of them is not forgotten before God". He knows every one of them; not one sparrow falls without the full knowledge of its Creator.

• Five of them are sold for two farthings. Of so little worth, you might say, that if two were sold for a farthing, and you bought four, one would be thrown in. Of so little worth, but not one of them is forgotten before God.

• What is of no account with men is of great worth with God. "Fear not therefore, ye are better than many sparrows".

We may fear God, indeed, with whom we have to do, who has power over the body and over the soul and over the spirit, too; we are to "fear Him", according to the Lord's own words.

• But as we face the criticism and the ridicule of men, knowing the comfort of our God, we shall not be ashamed to confess the One we know and love;
  • we shall not be ashamed in our ways and manners, our dress and deportment, to behave in a way that is pleasing to Him.

• We shall not hang our heads, we shall hold them steadfast in the knowledge that every testimony upon earth is confirmed in heaven.

• How prone we are to hang our heads and to withhold our testimony when a golden opportunity is given to us to bear witness to the Lord!

• It is not that we should go out of our way trying to make opportunities and forcing our way, but does not the Lord often bring within our reach and understanding and capacity the opportunity to bear witness, and the opportunity goes for ever?

• The Lord would encourage us all, and He would encourage those who are younger, with His own words, that, if we confess Him before men, the Son of man will confess us also before the angels in heaven.

• Could you not understand the delight and pleasure of the angels to serve those who have confessed the name of the Lord?
  • "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out for service on account of those who shall inherit salvation?", Hebrews 1: 14.

• This is not a matter of age or intelligence, it is a matter of simple devotedness to the Lord, the simple desire to be true to Him according to our measure, according to what may be possible at our own age.

• A young believer at school has opportunities of bearing witness that have long passed for those of us who are older.

• Not that we should attempt to do these things in any superior way; but if we love the Lord and are thinking of Him, He will provide the opportunity, and then let us, each one of us, seize our opportunity, so that the Lord may find pleasure in our testimony.
  • It speaks in Ephesians 5: 16 of "redeeming the time, because the days are evil".

• The footnote says that it means 'seizing every good and favourable opportunity'. Do we do that?

• One has to say for oneself that it is not done, but here is the encouragement so to do. May we say, like Peter, that whatever may have happened in the past, let us "live the rest of our time" in a way that is pleasing to God!

If it is a question of our circumstances – and these may become increasingly testing, with scarcity and high prices and the difficulty of lodging – the Lord envisaged all this, the very circumstances of today,

• and His own words have been recorded that we may be comforted in this our day and in a day that perhaps may yet become more difficult.

• The Lord speaks to His disciples, calling attention to the birds of the air,
  • "Consider the ravens, that they sow not nor reap; which have neither storehouse nor granary; and God feeds them".

• They, shall I say, do not look more than a few seconds ahead, with no anxiety whatsoever about the future, not even about a day hence. How anxious we sometimes are!

• Not that we should not be considerate and careful; we should certainly think and care for the body. We cannot bear witness to the Lord and serve Him with strength that is not there.

• But we are not to be anxious about these things to the exclusion of things that are of far, far greater importance. The Lord Jesus tells us what the nations seek after; and He says to His own,
  • "Your Father knows that ye have need of these things; but seek His kingdom, and all these things shall be added to you".

    "Seek His kingdom": all that belongs to the One we love, all that belongs to our God and Father.

• Are we seekers in regard to these things, positively seeking and following them up? If so, all that we need in the way of material support will be certainly forthcoming.

• God is our Father, and he knows what we need, and all necessary things will be added unto us.
  • "Fear not, little flock", the Lord says, "for it has been the good pleasure of your Father to give you the kingdom".

• That is to say, He lays open to us, for our encouragement and enrichment, the whole resources of His own kingdom!
  • "For where your treasure is, there also will your heart be".

• There is no thought of amassing wealth upon the earth, but of building up in heaven.

• The Lord speaks comfortingly to such disciples, who are building up treasure in heaven, who are not overweighted with things of this life, and His word is,
  • "Fear not, little flock, for it has been the good pleasure of your Father to give you the kingdom".

• They go forward, serving the One they love, occupied with His interests, through such strength as has been received from the necessary and physical support that God gives as a Father; they go forward with their loins girded;
  • all their strength is under control in relation to the claims of the One they love. Their lamps are burning.

• What are they waiting for? Better conditions on earth? A change of government? No, they are
  • "like men who wait their own lord whenever he may leave the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately".

• They are looking for Him, waiting for Him, watching for Him; and everything that is done, small and great, is carried out in relation to the One to whom everything belongs – the persons and the wealth –
  • and when they hear Him knock, the only thing they need to do is to lay down the service and greet Him face to face.

Now in any house, as we well know, there is service small and great. If you want a spoonful of water, you would not take the largest jug to put it in, you would take the smallest vessel.

• The Lord said of the colt – of so little account in the eyes of men – that if anyone should ask why it was being released, the answer was to be,
  • "Because the Lord has need of it".

• How wonderful that it should be so! Great and glorious as He is, well able to carry through His own work and His own testimony without us, He needs us all, blessed be His name!

• What a bright and shining testimony we may be, each one of us, occupied with the little work He may graciously give us to do in the house, waiting the Lord's knock as He returns – and it may not be long – that we may open to Him immediately!

• The Lord speaks of those who are so doing when He comes.
  • "Blessed are those bondmen whom the lord on coming shall find watching; verily I say unto you, that he will gird himself and make them recline at table, and coming up will serve them".

• The Lord gives to each one his work, and may He encourage us that, whatever our hand finds to do, we may do it with our might.

• Let His own words fall into our ears and into our hearts, "Fear not".

We see Job very outstandingly as a man who, in the face of the greatest of accidents, we might say, was still steadfast in his heart and spirit in relation to God.

• He was deeply moved in his spirit by what happened, but there was such a knowledge of God in his heart that never a word passed his lips that was dishonouring to the God whom he trusted.

• The enemy thought he could weaken that confidence and if possible destroy it; hence he used every means within his power to break down that confidence and to prove Job to be one who did not trust in God when things were exceptionally difficult, when trials, sorrows and sufferings faced him.

• His own wife turned against him and urged him to curse God.

• We rejoice that our beloved sister was one with her husband in these matters.
  • Job could say, "We have also received good from God, and should we not receive evil?"

    "Jehovah gave, and Jehovah hath taken away; blessed be the name of Jehovah!"

Job did not regard the instrument by which all these sorrows were rolled in upon him. He did not complain of the men of Sheba or about the Chaldeans.

• Well he might have done, for their callousness and cruelty on each occasion.
  • He traces everything back to God.

• We might have said, Well, if the men of Sheba and the Chaldeans were like this, he could do nothing about it.

• What about the fire from heaven and the wind from the wilderness? The men of Sheba and the Chaldeans had nothing to do with these things.

• But in all this he sinned not with his lips. He did not regard the instrument, but regarded God who allowed the instrument to humble him thus. If we regard the instrument and the circumstances, we might well lose confidence in God and our trust might falter.

• God knows whom he can trust with these things. He cannot trust everybody, but He could trust Job. How great He was in the sight of God!

• We sometimes speak of second causes and wish this had happened and something else had not happened. This is unbelief.

• The old verse which has so often been a comfort to others might well be repeated here:

We step over the intervening links and we reach God.

• When I saw our beloved brother on Saturday, I had heard that he had used the words of Job,
  • "Behold, if He slay me, yet would I trust in Him",

  • and he said to me personally, 'His ways are past finding out'.

• How unsearchable indeed are His judgments and His ways untraceable! In all this our brother glorified God. In all this, like Job, he worshipped.

• How glorious is the work of God in the soul of such a one, and in such ones as our beloved brother and sister!

I would now like to speak a word about the promises of God in blessing. He says,

• "Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee".

• Precious indeed in the sight of God were our dear brethren separately and together, and because they were precious in the sight of God, He made them honourable.

• The word 'honourable' here means that dignity or distinction was put upon them. How dignified their movements were! What abiding interest they had in their own children and in the children of others.

• "I have loved thee", God says, and we can say that since they were precious in the sight of God and were honourable and dignified, we loved them too.

• God says, "Fear not, for I am with thee", and He promises to call their seed from the ends of the earth, from the east and from the west, and He will say to the north, "Give up".

• The north is a reminder to us of discipline, the south, ease of circumstances, but God is over all and when it pleases Him He can demand the north to give up the seed, and why is that?

• Because He has put His own name upon the seed of those who are precious in His sight.
  • He says to the south, "Keep not back: bring my sons from afar, and my daughters from the end of the earth".

  When He speaks of those who are afar, He speaks of "my sons" and "my daughters".

• They are to be given up that they might stand firmly on His side glorifying Him, not only because they are the seed of those who are precious in His sight, but because He has put His name upon them, and He must have them for Himself.

• He does not say how long He may delay to speak to the north and the south or in what condition those who are afar off shall be found,
  • but He will have His way and our beloved brethren rejoiced in that thought that God would have His own way in their seed and in the seed of those He loves.

If our brother clung to the promises of God, we can cling to them too, in such a way that the enemy may never weaken our confidence in God.

If we think of the comfort and joy that is ministered, there is the promise that the One who should come, even the Lord Jesus, should be capable of administering comfort to all that mourn, not to some or to a few,

• and He is indeed great enough to minister comfort to all who mourn.

• What sustaining features of comfort there are in these words, "beauty for ashes" what a comfort that is as we think of it! The dust returns to the earth, as it says, but the spirit unto God who gave it.

• The ashes are here, but God, according to His love and power and on account of the work of His beloved Son, will give to our beloved brethren bodies like the body of His own Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

• That will be "beauty for ashes", a body that fades not away, a body that is eternal and of God and shall never in anywise be tarnished.

• Well, we know that the body on earth is mortal and passes to dust, but the body God gives to us all, when He gives a body like that of the Lord Jesus, is a body of glory for ever and ever.

And "the oil of joy for mourning". Who can give that sustaining joy but a Divine Person who knows sorrow?

• We do our best to sympathize with those that mourn, but we are not equal to minister comfort that is divine in character. Only a Divine Person can do that.

• If we think of ourselves we mourn, and it is right to do so, but if we think of those we love, can we not rejoice that they have gone to a scene where weakness and sorrow and disappointment shall never enter for ever?

Then "the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness". What a wonderful thing that is!

• When everything is heavy upon our spirits, like our beloved brethren and Job, and many another, we can praise Him "for all that is past", and "trust Him for all that's to come".

• May the Lord Himself grant that these words, so feebly presented, may be divinely winged with comfort, especially to our dear ones suffering in a peculiar way.

• We can pray together that the promises of God shall shortly be secured and that those who mourn may know something of it as they see what God has done and what He has achieved.
  • "The garment of praise" shall take the place of "the spirit of heaviness".

• May it be, of our beloved brethren, that like Samson they shall do more in their death than they did in their life!

As we grow physically, certain 'childish' things are left for what is more mature, though we do not say that 'childish' things were wrong. The apostle Paul says,

• "When I became a man, I had done with what belonged to the child".

• He was conscious of having done with certain things as he grew to manhood. So it is as we grow spiritually we leave certain things and go in for others, according to our new tastes and interests.

Scripture speaks much about light, telling us that God is light and that He is in the light, and only God can enable us to take it in. He once said – Genesis 1: 3 –

• "Let there be light, and there was light".

• God only can give light to us, though we may point out to one another what are the evidences of it and pray for one another that we may receive it. It is said,
  • "Now the light is sweet, and pleasant is it to the eyes to see the sun", Ecclesiastes 11: 7.

• We may pray therefore, that God may enable us to see what we have not seen before.

• God begins anew in the soul of a man by the wonderful operation of His Spirit in new birth – John 3 – putting into the soul something that was not there before and which no mortal man can put there.

• We can either foster the new tastes and desires that come with new birth or obstruct them, thereby delaying our spiritual growth.

It is perfectly clear from Scripture and from our own experience and knowledge, that Christians vary considerably in their outlook, understanding, tastes and interests.

• Abraham was a heavenly-minded believer, separated from the world; indeed, God called him from his country, kindred and father’s house, Genesis 12.

• Lot, on the other hand, was an earthly-minded believer, who settled down to the things of earth and lost happiness, influence and testimony;
  • while Abraham, called "the friend of God", was rejoicing in the favour of God and was the recipient of divine communications.

• The apostle Paul speaks of Demas forsaking him, having loved this present world. There is no suggestion that he ceased to be a Christian.

• Christianity is not a religion or a sect; it is a person, and the more we cultivate links with that glorious Person, our Saviour, the better we shall understand what pleases Him and what displeases Him.

• Moreover, the Holy Spirit, as indwelling the believer, can be quenched or grieved.

• He does not leave the believer in Christ, but His presence may not be rightly apprehended and thus His service cannot be truly effective.

Christians who have separated from others on account of the light they have as to the truth, and because of their love of the truth, involving their desire to leave what is not according to Scripture,

• do not claim to be better than others or less liable sin or failure; but they walk together in full fellowship with one another,

  seeking humbly to maintain what is sometimes spoken of as the primitive conditions found in the early church, as seen especially in the first few chapters of the Acts.

• After one has separated himself from what he understands is not in accord with the truth, he is told to
  • "pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with those that call upon the Lord out of a pure heart", 2 Timothy 2: 22.

This is not sectarian, it is simple obedience to the declared mind of God through His chosen apostle.

• It may be advanced that to act in this way deprives the persons of doing valuable good works, but what saith the Scripture?
  • "If therefore one shall have purified himself from these, in separating himself from them, he shall be a vessel to honour, sanctified, serviceable to the Master, prepared for every good work".

• Who would not desire to be thus serviceable to his Lord and Master?