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Ministry by F. S. Marsh - Part Two

But in the midst of it all, God is working: He has wrought marvellously, and we are witnesses of the great results of the present work of God.

• We are able to say simply and yet encouragingly that there are found on the earth today the beautiful features which once were so perfectly expressed in Jesus. They are reproduced in those who love Him; in lesser measure, but after the same character.

• May the Holy Spirit of God induce a greater development of these features!

We have contemplated the glorious future display of the results of the work of God: the skill and marvel of that work: we have thought of the great and glorious day of display when all that God is working out now will come into evidence.

• But we would be more and more concerned that there should be from our hearts, our lives and our spirits, a present answer, that shall bring the features of Christ before God for His own glory.

• As we review the perfections which shone out in Jesus, may the desire arise that they may be reproduced in us, individually and collectively; that those lovely features may be seen by God as He looks down upon this sin-defiled earth, and that He may discern, in the hearts and lives of His children, characteristics which remind Him of Jesus.

The first feature which was seen in perfection in Jesus was

FAITHFULNESS TO GOD.

Even at the age of twelve, it was beautifully displayed. He was so faithful to God that He tarried behind in the temple, hearing and asking questions, and when He was challenged, His answer was beautiful; He said,

• "Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

• As a boy, the one thing that governed His motives, actions and words was that He might be about His Father's business; then near the close of His perfect life He could say,
  • "I do always those things that please him".

• We are thus not left without example. He is indeed the model; the One that has set forth all that a man can be on the earth for the pleasure of God!

Then, as we think of Him pursuing His way, Satan would have diverted Him from His path of faithfulness, as he ever would each one.

• The difficulties of the present moment may test us as to the measure in which we are prepared really to count on God and be governed by the word of God. The encouraging word is,
  • "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you".

• For that we need power! The Lord Jesus met the power of Satan in the temptation, not by His own power as God – for He is God – but as a dependent Man who lived by every word of God.

• That was His food, and because He was so absolutely and perfectly dependent, Satan had no power over Him; so the temptation was a glorious triumph for One who proved the sufficiency of God in conditions of extreme temptation and testing.

Consider, as the path developed, the wonderful things that He did and the marvellous things He said: we love them all, but we learn the secret from the prophet Isaiah, who tells us that

• every morning the ear of Jesus was opened to the voice of God; that He walked in constant dependence on God for every word He said and every act He did.

How encouraging it is to go through the gospels; listening to the gracious words that proceeded out of His mouth, to know that He received those words from His God that morning;

• and as we see Him performing His marvellous miracles, to think that He had received instruction from God to do those things.

• We would remind our hearts that, as to His Person,
  • He is "over all, God blessed for ever".

• Our hearts bow in adoration at the feet of Him who is Himself God, the object of worship, yet was here a dependent Man in whom God found His perfect delight; His servant, in whom His soul delighted; the One who trod the path of God's will in perfect faithfulness.

He was so delightful to God that after thirty years of secret walking before God, the pleasure of His Father was expressed at His baptism,

• "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I have found my delight".

• What pleasure the faithfulness of Christ gave to God; and when He was drawing near the end of His path, when He went up into a mountain to pray, He was transfigured before them, and the Father's voice was again heard saying,
  • "This is my beloved Son: hear him".
  "Faithful amidst unfaithfulness,
  'Mid darkness only light,
  Thou didst Thy Father's name confess,
  And in His will delight."

It is a lovely theme; to follow the pathway of our Lord Jesus as a dependent Man, who in every word, act and thought, was loyal and faithful to his God, setting forth the kind of man in whom God can find pleasure.

Then when, from the glory, Christ spoke to the seven assemblies; notwithstanding the terrible declension that had come in, He announced to the assembly at Laodicea, with its indifference and lukewarmness, that

• He Himself was "the faithful and true witness".

• If there was any response in the hearts of the Laodiceans, surely that would touch them and cause them to turn from their unfaithfulness in the testimony!

• How many glorious opportunities have been missed because we were not near enough to Him, because we were not dependent and had not sought from our God the word for the day. But the Lord would appeal to our hearts, presenting Himself to us as the faithful and true Witness.

It was the same voice from the glory that said:

• "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life".

• He did not promise the saints that they should be immune from suffering, and it is not the mind of God to relieve us from it; we are exposed to trials and dangers; we are susceptible to fear.

• Suffering is part of our lot; in the ordering of the ways of God, His beloved children are allowed to suffer. Circumstances happen which we would not attempt to explain. The coming day will show that, in all its greatness and reality, and we shall then see what was in His mind.

• It is for us to accept the path of suffering – that is the divine thought; but while we are in it, it is the pleasure of God that we should remain faithful. How important faithfulness is!

• We need to be faithful to God, faithful to Christ, faithful to the fellowship of God's Son, faithful to our brethren with whom we enjoy the privilege of the Christian fellowship and faithful to men among whom we move.

• It challenges our hearts; yet how delightful to turn away from all our breakdown and consider the glorious Saviour, the Son of God, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God!

• God will have the whole world of glory built up on that blessed One who has been so faithful to Him and has accomplished His will, that He may be glorified eternally in surrounding Himself with myriads of redeemed ones brought home to Him.

• Every trace of sin will be removed, and God's own pleasure eternally found in those who are thus brought home to Him.

May I speak affectionately and sympathetically to our young brethren? We have been observing that, in the ways of God, many of you are being tested even more than the older ones.

• Young brothers and sisters, unused to the difficulties, are being tried in ways hitherto unknown.

• Their faithfulness is being tested, and we all need to have our eyes fixed earnestly upon Christ, desiring to be found, by His power and grace, faithful and loyal to the end.

There was a day in David's history when he had to flee from his throne; a usurper was upon it and there were left in Jerusalem but a few lovers of David, who were loyal and true to him. What faithfulness was called for!

• Hushai, the friend of David, in the court of the usurper, called to remain loyal to his absent lord;

• Zadok and Abiathar, left there to cherish the ark that was precious to God, in the most adverse conditions,

• and Mephibosheth, a lame brother, who was sadly and grievously maligned by his own servant.

  One of the most testing experiences is to be misrepresented and falsely accused, and yet that man, in his love for David, remained in loyalty and faithfulness until David came back.

• May the Lord help us to remain loyal to Christ during His absence; to be those upon whom He can count in the midst of adversity, with Himself as our example, His own power as our resource, to remain loyal and true to our absent Lord, cherishing in our hearts above all else an earnest desire for His return!

We are to be apart from the world, its amusements, its attractions and politics; to be apart because we love His appearing!

• We are thrilled by the contemplation of that glorious day of His appearing, when His assembly will be a vessel adequate to display the glory of God, in that "quickly-coming day", when we shall be associated with Him in the great day of administration and glory.

• Then there will be no need of a temple; His own presence will be known and enjoyed without hindrance. May it please Him to stir our hearts up to faithfulness!

The day will come when He will have us all around Himself and when at the judgment-seat of Christ it will be His joy to review all that is now taking place.

• Let us live in the light of the judgment-seat of Christ, remembering that to the one who has been faithful during His absence, who has traded well with that with which he is entrusted,

• the Lord will have the joy of saying,
  • "Well done, good and faithful servant".

• What an emphasis He lays on faithfulness! In the coming day the whole assembly will rejoice with Him as He expresses His approval of one who has been faithful to Him during His absence. We all desire to be counted the faithful. Paul said to Timothy,
  • "O Timothy, keep that which is committed to thy trust".

• He was a young brother to whom the Lord had entrusted much; a holy burden was resting upon his shoulders; the saints were needing help and comfort, men were thirsting for the gospel, the service of God required a young and vigorous man that could go forth and serve in power.

• Yet how faithful he was! How he developed into a man of God; what grace was given to him!
  • He became "strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus".

• Timothy represents those who are left here in the absence of Christ in the last days,
  • when "evil men … shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived",

• to stand loyal and true to their absent Lord in this difficult day, waiting for the day when He will give a crown of righteousness to those who love His appearing.

The Lord has called us into a path which we believe to be the path of God's will;

• He has set us together in local companies;

• He has given us the privileges of the assembly;

• and the joys of the fellowship;

• He has given us a share in the service of God in its highest and most dignified form,

• and in that fellowship we are called to be faithful one to another.

• To claim the right to do what we like or to have what we like in our homes is unfaithfulness. If we are enjoying the privileges of the fellowship,
  • "it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful".

• Every brother and sister is called in their own personal lives, in their own homes, in their business and in the assembly,
  • to be faithful to the Lord,

  • faithful to the fellowship

  • and faithful to the light entrusted to us.

• We are stewards, trustees of these holy privileges and joys, and a trustee must ever remember that he is acting in the interests of another. He must act in the way that shall be for the best interests of the one for whom he holds in trust.
  • "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life".

Now the Lord Jesus was not only faithful; he was fruitful.

FRUITFULNESS

is another feature – most important.

• "Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall".

• What a beautiful suggestion of Christ! Every Gentile has reason to bless God that those branches have run over the wall, or he would never have come into blessing.

• The great thought is that He was fruitful to God. God had made men for His own pleasure: there had been generation after generation of men on the earth and, apart from the work of God, there had never been one man who bore fruit Godward.

• Man had proved to be fruitless, and at last,
  • "when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son",

• and there was on earth One glorious blessed Man whose whole life, from His birth to the cross, was fruit-bearing to God. God never had such fruit as He received from Christ as a dependent Man. What a marvel was the life of Jesus as a fruit-bearer!
  • He could say, "I am the vine".

• What fruit that vine bore to God; but pleasure to His heart! Fruit is essentially Godward. It indicates the way that God has found His pleasure in receiving an answer from man to all His own wonderful ways of care, cultivation and blessing.

• The first man never yielded fruit for God, but the second Man brought it forth in such abundance that He stands out as One who continuously and ceaselessly brought forth "his fruit in his season".

We would now face this important question; recalling that the Lord said to His disciples:

• "Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit".

• Dare we look back, and allow the all-searching eye of our God to examine our past life? Dare we bring our present life, in all its details, under divine review, from this standpoint,
  • and ask ourselves in His presence and in His fear, in lowliness and humility before Him, to what extent that life is fruitful to God? What pleasure is He getting out of it?

• We often ask ourselves what pleasure are we getting out of it, but the great question that must arise for every lover of God is, What pleasure is God getting out of my life?

There are but a few days left to us at the longest; the youngest here has but a short life left to spend. The thought of God is that that life should yield fruit for His pleasure and His glory.

• We know of no higher dignity, no greater motive, or incentive than to desire to live here for the pleasure of God. What could be greater?

• If the Lord Jesus spent the whole of His precious life with that one impelling motive governing every moment of it, to be fruitful Godward, what greater motive could we have?

• It comes right down to the minutest details of our daily life. It is the underlying motives that make that life of ours fruitful to God – to have the love of God shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit; to have the love of Christ constraining us. How beautiful to have the love of the brethren encouraging us. How beautiful to have such an objective!
  • The Lord said "Much fruit".

• He was about to leave His disciples, and he was making preparation in their hearts for the whole journey through. In the chapters John 13 to 17, the Lord had in mind the divine provision of His love for His saints the whole journey through, until we are taken to the Father's house.

• He was anticipating, in tender love and priestly power, every possibility that would have to be met by His loved ones, and
  • "having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end".

• He comforted them, instructed, warned and encouraged them; but above all, He laid before us this great and glorious incentive to spend our lives bearing fruit to the Father's pleasure.

Nothing would lift us up above the selfishness that is natural to us, like this; nothing would effect so much for God as being impelled by such a motive.

• We might say; 'This is wrong and that is wrong', 'We must do this or that', but that would not help us;
  • if we have our eye on Christ, the One who bore fruit for the Father in every detail of His life: as a little child, as a boy, as a youth, as in obscurity until the age of thirty, as in public service and finally as yielding up His life for the will of God, what an example He is!

• Moreover, He has given us the Holy Spirit that we might be in the sunshine of God's love, that we might enjoy the favour of God and, as moving together as
  • "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling",

• to live in such an atmosphere that the tree bears fruit. A fruit tree does not bear fruit because it is told to do it; it is its very nature to do it.

• God has wrought marvellously in the hearts of His people and He has given most favourable conditions in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit of God, the service of Christ on high, access to the holy presence of God, the sunshine of His love and the warmth and culture of the brethren.

• We live in the most unfavourable day that our lot could ever have been cast, and God is seeking fruit. He will prune us if necessary, that there may be increased fruit. That crosses our will. Naturally we do not like the process of pruning; it involves suffering. It cuts athwart our personal desires and wills.

• That is inevitable, but the Father's hand is behind it. His pleasure is involved in it, and we would bow to the suffering with a desire that out of it should come increased fruitfulness to God.

• Our life will be fruitful if it is impelled by the one simple and earnest desire to be pleasing to the Father in all things, after the pattern of our Lord and Master.

Another delightful characteristic feature of the Lord Jesus was that of

FRAGRANCE.

How obnoxious must the spirit of the world be to God! His creature is far away from Him in hatred, bitterness and strife. Warfare and all the havoc in the world today is displeasing to him – it has "a stinking savour".

• But is there to be nothing for God on earth? Is it only one vast plain of inequity, self-will, hatred, death, destruction and misery? No! there has been a mighty work of God in this our day.

• There are here today, all over the earth, many lovers of God, lovers of Christ, who are indwelt by the Holy Spirit of God. There are those who are partaking of the Spirit of Christ – that "supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" is in evidence.

• There has gone up to God from this very blood-stained earth, a sweet savour! The death of Christ was indeed "a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour".

• There is still a sweet savour; there are still those who, like Mary of Bethany, can bring out their ointment of spikenard very costly, and anoint the feet of Jesus; there are still occasions when it has to be said,
  • "the house was filled with the odour of the ointment";

• there are on earth multitudes who love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity, and everyone who loves Christ is a sweet savour to God. Every appreciation of His glorious Person, of His wonderful work, and every reproduction of His spirit, is a sweet savour Godward.

• How we long to be contributors to this! Let those who are young, taking up assembly privileges and remembering the Lord in His death, make earnest prayer that they may never bring into the assembly anything but the sweet savour of Christ. Much grace is needed for that!

• How easy it is to bring in another savour which is not of Christ; a little self-will, self-importance, pride, all bring in "a stinking savour" like the dead fly in the ointment of the apothecary.

• What an objective to have, that there should be a sweet savour of Christ! Is it not worth while? Is it not a desire that should govern our hearts?

• It is a profitable study to trace the sweet odours mentioned in the Song of Solomon. It is full of them: there is the fragrance of Christ as the book is read! In chapter 1: 3, the bride says,
  • "Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee".

• Why do we love Christ? One might say, 'He has done so much for me'. That is perfectly true and we shall be ever full gratitude, but there is something His heart desires even more than that, He desires us to love Him for His own sake.

• It would not lessen our gratitude; it would not reduce our appreciation of His death, but as in His presence, the sweet savour of His ointments, the fragrance of His name, produce in our hearts an increasing desire to be like Him.

How marvellous is the fragrance of His name! Speak of the sweetness of the name of Jesus. Every Christian will respond to that. Let us not limit the telling of that Name to preaching from a platform. Tell it day by day, as opportunity offers. Let us preach the name of Jesus –

"How sweet the name of Jesus sounds
In a believer's ear!
It soothes his sorrows, heals his wounds,
And drives away his fear.

"It makes the wounded spirit whole,
It calms the troubled breast;
'Tis manna to the hungry soul,
And to the weary rest."

There is no name in the universe like the name of Jesus!

So the bride in verse 12 says, "While the king is at his table, my spikenard sendeth forth its fragrance".

• It is "my" spikenard now; there is a reproduction of the Spirit of Jesus in the spirit of the believer. She answers to the Spirit of Christ. This is not human amiability; not an educated manner; this is no superiority of personality.

• It is the Spirit of Jesus wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit of God: an appreciation of Christ that furnishes, when He sits at His table, an opportunity for us to expend upon Him.

• Mary seized her opportunity. She knew well when the King sat at His table. How He was enthroned in her affections; how she loved Him! When the appropriate moment arrived, she was ready for it.

• She had been through sorrow; she had known bereavement. Her heart had been broken, she had seen the tears of Jesus, as in sympathy and feeling the weight of death upon His own spirit. She had felt His sympathy as He walked every step to the grave with her. She had seen His marvellous power of resurrection, and He had said,
  • "I am the resurrection, and the life".

• She had seen it evidenced in the raising of her brother Lazarus. Now He is sitting at His table, conditions are favourable, the savour of His own presence was there, her heart was touched; there was nothing too good for Jesus; nothing too good for her Beloved. It was very costly, that box of ointment, but it was not too costly for Him! Beloved brethren, some of us are tested as to the cost.

• There was one who loved the Lord, but who did not love Him well enough to throw in her lot with the people of God. She went to the meeting, but she did not break bread. Her little boy sat by her, and when the bread was passed round, and the mother did not partake, he said, 'Mother, why didn't you take it?' Then the cup came, and again he said, 'Mother, why didn't you take it?' But when the box came round, he asked, 'Mother, is it too expensive?'

• Is there anyone here who would have to say, 'Yes, it is too expensive'? Are you not prepared to give up that which is holding you? May the fragrance of His name make you say, Nothing is too expensive to respond to the love of Christ.

• And as you yield to Him under the impress of His love, with the King sitting at His table, your spikenard, your answer to His love, will send forth a fragrance and the house will be filled with the odour of the ointment.

What an opportunity! We shall never get it again. When we are with the Lord, the conditions will all be favourable there.

• Now is an opportunity during His absence, during His rejection, while His saints are suffering for His Name's sake and while the path is one of rejection and shame, and it may be suffering; now is the time for the fragrance of a responsive love to Christ to fill the house with the odour of the ointment.

• Thus we see a reproduction of Christ in each thought.
  • If He is faithful, we are called upon to be "faithful unto death".

  • If He is fruitful, we are exhorted to "bear much fruit".

  • If He is fragrant, we are to lavish our all upon Him for His own pleasure, giving the sweet savour of responsive love to Him.

• How much He appreciates it is indicated later in the book when He says,
  • "How fair is thy love, my sister, my spouse!"

  • She had said to Him, "Thy love is better than wine!"

• He is speaking now, and He says,
  • "How much better is thy love than wine!"

• Christ is speaking to His own telling us how much He values responsive love to Him, and then He adds,
  • "And the smell of thine ointments than all spices!"

• Let us be encouraged with this, that our Lord Jesus Christ, though in glory, is filled in His own heart's affections with the appreciation of the fragrance of those who, in responsive love to Him, bring forth the savour which is pleasing to His own heart.

May we be encouraged, all of us, for the little time that is left to us until He comes – it may be a time of suffering such as we have never yet experienced: we do not know.

• But there is one thing,
  • it is a time of favourable opportunity to manifest our faithfulness to Him;

  • it is a time for fruitfulness as we walk in the power of the Holy Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit being in evidence;

  • and it is a time of glorious opportunity, amidst all that is so obnoxious to Him, to furnish in the house a sweet savour of the appreciation of Christ, a fragrance which shall never be forgotten!

As we look around and see so many thousands of young people wasting their lives, we feel that they are weighing things with false balances;

• such are attaching too much weight to things of no importance, and are giving no heed to the things which are weighty and important.

• So the thoughts presented to us in Proverbs 11 are of the greatest interests to the youngest, for the Lord would call us aside to weigh serious matters in the balances of the sanctuary.

Perhaps the best known illustration of the thought we have before us is found in the Lord's own words,

• "For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" Mark 8: 36.

Let us think of the Lord Jesus standing with the balances in His hand; into one scale He puts the whole world, and into the other scale, your soul. Do you know which is the heavier?

• Can we not discern what is in the mind of the Lord Jesus as He puts that question to us? He would have us learn to put a higher value on our souls than upon the whole world!

• The word "soul" may be alternatively rendered "life", and we may so use this word and apply the same test in His divine presence.

• Again He holds the balances, and into one scale He puts the whole world and into the other, your life, that you may discover in the presence of God your life to be of more value than the whole world!

• This illustrates the principle: we will now turn to concrete examples.

I will tell of four men who used "a false balance", and then of three who used "a just weight" with gloriously blessed results, so that we each may learn to weigh as God weighs and to arrive at the conclusions at which God has arrived.

When our Lord Jesus was brought before

PILATE,

• for a long time in the mind of Pilate the balances were in favour of Christ and His release, for Pilate was there holding in his hand the balances of justice.

• Into one scale he put the spotless purity of the glorious Person of our Lord Jesus; into the other, the false charges of the enemies of Christ; and in Pilate's mind in weighing these it seemed as though he was inclined to give judgment in favour of the Just One and release Him.

• But at last the enemies of Christ through into the scale on their side, a weight which carried completely the judgment of Pilate –
  • "If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend".

• From that moment the position was changed.

Pilate was now using a false balance; the weight of Caesar's friendship was greater than the weight of justice;

• the friendship of the world was more to Pilate than the glorious Person of the Son of God.

• Jesus must be crucified rather than that Pilate should lose the friendship of the world. No wonder Pilate died burdened with the weight of the enormity of his sin!

• The greatest, the most fatal and terrible error that had ever been made with the balances of justice was made by Pilate when he condemned Jesus to be crucified in order to save for himself to friendship of the world.

Let us be careful, however, not to judge Pilate without facing the matter for ourselves, for Scripture is not without its solemn warning on this particular point. James, an inspired writer, said,

• "know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God", James 4: 4.

We want you, here and now, as in the presence of God, to sit before Him with just balances, and to put into one scale the friendship of the world and into the other the friendship of Jesus. You cannot have both!

• If you are a friend of the world you are constituted "enemy of God". If you are friend of Jesus you cannot be a friend of the world.

• Courtesy should mark us – for we are to be courteous to all men; we should exhibit the spirit of Christ, being kind, considerate and gentle in our ways, forbearing – but friendship must be in one scale or the other!

• In your own soul's interest, face which is the heavier with you? Does the friendship of the world count more than the friendship of Jesus?

• Would you rather be popular in the world, despising the Lord Jesus Christ, that have Him exalted in your heart, known as your Lover and Friend, even though it might cost you the separating from the friendship of the world? Oh, weigh it up!

• There are certain things which God has done for us in the death of Jesus; there are things which God has done in us by the Holy Spirit;
  • but there are other things which we have to do for ourselves; we are intelligent persons, and God has left us to weigh over these matters.

• It is for us to decide which scale is the heavier.

Let us take Pilate as a solemn warning of one who used a false balance, which indicated to him that the friendship of the world was better than to be on the side of the Son of God, and let us reject the false balance!

• For the friendship of Christ has been expressed in this,
  • "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends", John 15: 13.

  • He is worthy to be accounted as a Friend "that sticketh closer than a brother", Proverbs 18: 24,

• whose love has been proved and tried; and our hearts would scorn to use any balance which would give the impression that the friendship of the world is to be regarded as worthier than the friendship of Christ.

Some may perhaps say, Can we not compromise? How can we in the light of the word already quoted,

• "whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God"?

So the first great question we invite you to weigh in the just balances, to contemplate in holy solemnity and in all honestly before God, is –

• Which is to commend our hearts and our lives: the friendship of the world of the friendship of Christ? Let the latter be your vital choice!

Perhaps the saddest case of the use of a false balance is

JUDAS.

• The silverr weighed it down! So he sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver as the result of using a false balance!

• How false the balance was, when we think of the value of the Son of God! Think of the love of money having a greater power over the heart of a man than loyalty to Christ!

• The Lord would invite you into His own presence to weigh this; He would say :–
  "I gave My life for thee,
  What hast thou given for Me?"

May we never be traitors to Christ! May we always value Him and His love as greater than anything that this world can present!

• Think of the treachery of the human heart, which would sell such an One for thirty pieces of silver! How false his balance was, to make thirty pieces of silver appear to weigh more than his relationship with Christ, the Master and the Lord, who is entitled to have him, spirit, soul and body!

Let it be a warning to us, for our hearts are capable of even treachery and betrayal; we need to judge the flesh, lest we should become traitors to Christ!

• It is a good thing to sit before the balances of the sanctuary and weigh up on the one hand the relative weight of the love of money and on the other, all that Christ can be to the heart of one who knows and loves Him.

• In the light of those balances, there is none to be compared with Jesus!

Such a case provides a solemn warning lest we should turn aside from the path of life, choosing death rather than life.

I refer now to a man who is called upon to weigh over and decide which way he should take in life –

LOT, Genesis 13.

• If he had taken up the just balances he would have come to a very different conclusion, but he was governed by the sight of his eyes and by the well-watered plain of Jordan. He did not stay to weigh up the question of whither that path would lead; he chose something for himself and not for God.

• Through using the false balance of human reason, he drifted nearer and nearer to Sodom, until at last he found himself as a magistrate within its gates, only to share in the sorrow of that overwhelming disaster, though he himself was saved "yet so as by fire", 1 Corinthians 3: 15.

• All this was the result of using a false balance and suiting himself instead of pleasing God.

If Lot had taken up the balances of God, he would have said, 'It is better to be in the path of the will of God than in the well-watered plain of Jordan', and would have turned away from Sodom instead of toward it.

A false balance will give us an untrue judgment, but with a just one we would say, 'I would rather trust God to lead me'.

• The just balances are available to us, and we can weigh up the path of self pleasing and the path of the will of God. If the pathway of the will of God is chosen, blessing and not judgment will be our portion.

Such is the negative side, told in the sad stories of Pilate, Judas and Lot, standing as solemn examples of men who used a false balance which is abomination to the Lord.

We will now refer to a most interesting incident concerning a Christian young man,

JOHN MARK.

• Do you ever sit down alone in the presence of God, weigh things over and ask for wisdom and counsel at the mouth of the Lord?

• In the light of the balances of the sanctuary, we see how much a thing weighs, not by the false balances of man's judgment but as God weighs it. If you do, God will help you and you will receive wisdom. Alas! John Mark did not do that.

• He was chosen by Paul to be his companion and attendant. What a great favour was his to be a companion of such an one as the apostle Paul!

• What holy words he would hear of the unfolding of the mysteries of God! What a privilege to watch his miracles and see God working in mighty power! Who would not desire to have been the attendant of Paul!

• But what would that path of service mean? It involves suffering, reproach, hardship, hungers, thirstings, perils, weariness and persecution; it meant all that,

• and it would appear that John Mark said, 'I have weighed it up and it is not worth the cost; I am going back!'

It is a serious matter for us to take up false balances and come to the conclusion that the path of service is not worth while.

• If that is your conclusion you must have been using a false balance; the enemy has put in your hand a balance that does not weigh true.

We should be in the Lord's presence with the balances of the sanctuary in our hands, to know what it means to tread the path of suffering in the company of those who know God, and to serve Him and love Him

• If you weigh it aright, the path of service, whatever it costs, is better than the path of ease.

• Although he was subsequently recovered and became so serviceable that he was entrusted to write the Gospel of Mark, those wasted years, those missed opportunities could never be recalled, nor the ministry that he might have heard: all that was irreparable loss – all because when a vital crisis arose he used a false balance.

Yet Timothy, who was chosen by Paul instead of John Mark, was ready to go on in suffering, shame and reproach, timid though he was.

• Many tears were his, for it cost him much. The beloved apostle could say to him,
  • "being mindful of thy tears", and "without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day".

    But he added, "Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner".

Dear young brethren, may I encourage you to weigh up the path of devotedness to Christ in the just balances, and you will find that whatever the reproach and suffering may be,

• there are compensations that will outweigh every other consideration; you will find your life well spent if used in the devoted service of Christ!

Think of those two men: Mark used a false balance and went back; Timothy used a just weight and went on,

• and at the judgment seat of Christ we shall see them; the one with those wasted years, because he went back; and the other with added years of life, service and blessing, approved of the Lord.

I now hasten on to encourage our hearts with the positive side. I will first remind you of a beautiful instance of the power of the love of Jesus. As He was walking along one day, He saw "a publican named

LEVI,

sitting at the receipt of custom".

• There had been a moment in the history of Levi (who was also named Matthew) when he had made a sad mistake. He used a false balance when he chose to become a publican, a collector of the hated Roman taxes, in order to gain money.

• But as he was pursuing the result of this false choice, Jesus came across his path.

Sufficient details are told to show us that there was something about the Lord Jesus which completely transformed Levi, so that instead of weighing the situation with a false balance in his hand, he was suddenly enabled to weigh it up in the just balances of the sanctuary.

• As Jesus passed by, He said to Levi, "Follow me", and Levi must have said to himself, 'If I follow Jesus, it will be as a disciple of a rejected Christ, a despised Nazarene who hath not where to lay His head: to be one of His followers will involve being scorned, derided, and one knows not what the end may be'.

• In one scale was says position as a wealthy publican, but any other scale was the attractiveness of the Person of Christ, and he came to the conclusion that it was worth all to be a follower of Jesus.

• No life, no path to be trodden can be more blessed or more wonderful than the path of the disciple of Jesus!
  • So he "left all, rose up, and followed him", Luke 5: 28.

• He had reached a decision in the presence of God that completely changed his life, and that same man was empowered subsequently by the Spirit of God to write one of the magnificent books of the Bible – the Gospel of Matthew.

• Was it not worthwhile? Did he ever regret the decision he made at this crisis in his life when he had to decide whether he should be governed by his worldly position or follow Jesus? He would say, 'Never! for I have had the great privilege of writing the account of the Son of David, God's glorious King'.

• Such a choice, made as the result of weighing it in the balances of the sanctuary, is never to be regretted.

May we not only hear the voice of Jesus saying, "Follow me", but following the example of Matthew, leave all, rise up and follow Him!

• Perhaps someone may ask, however, 'Are we called to leave all – our homes, friends and business?' Well, let us follow the incident, for the next verse tells us that
  • "Levi made him a great feasts in his own house", Luke 5: 29.

• So clearly he did not leave his house. He did leave it as belonging to him, but taking it up again as belonging to Jesus, he used it all for Him.

• It may not mean you will have to pack up and go to some foreign land, but that in the very same house and business, in the same place and circumstances, you will hold everything you have and are as belonging to the Lord Jesus.

• You will leave it all and rise up and follow Him: then at His bidding, take it up again as belonging to Him, and use it all for the Lord.

The second positive case is that of

MOSES

• It is good to ask questions and seek counsel from those who have spiritual wisdom, but it does not dispense with the necessity of sitting down before the Lord and weighing up things for yourselves.

When Moses had been about forty years in Egypt, God wrought in his soul, bringing back the early impressions which he had received from his godly mother and father, and a great crisis arose in his life's history.

• It was well for him that he did not take up a false balance, but that he used the balances of the sanctuary! In one scale he put "the pleasures of sin for a season", Hebrews 11: 25, and into the other scale he put "the reproach of Christ", Hebrews 11: 26.

• Need I enquire which weighed the heavier? Obviously "the reproach of Christ" – not even the joy of Christ, or the excellencies of Christ, but "the reproach of Christ". It meant much to be devoted to God's people, but Moses weighed it from the divine standpoint.

• Again, into one scale he put "the treasures in Egypt" – that is, the world with all its attractiveness; its intellect; everything that the world could offer with all its pleasures, he heaped in, until all that the world could offer was in one scale, and then into the other he put "the recompense of reward". And it outweighed all that the world could offer!
  • For "by faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king".

    "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season; esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: for he had respect unto the recompense of the reward", Hebrews 11: 25-26.

• What a magnificent decision! No one who did not weigh in the balances of the sanctuary could have arrived at a judgment like that! The world would call him foolish in the extreme; they would say he had no foresight, no vision; that he was narrow-minded, exclusive or even mad;

• but when we see Moses with Christ on the mount of transfiguration, we have to say he was right when he concluded that it is better to be with Christ in glory eternally than to have all that Egypt could offer for a season.

Will you not say Moses was right? Then follow this example; weigh up the situation with the balances of God.

Let us encourage you, for the Christian path is not easy; we do not wish to coerce you; far be it, for we have too much feeling for you.

• We know what life means, with all its problems and temptations; the pull of the world and the difficulties there are, and how often we come against the question, 'Is it right or wrong, or why cannot we go, seeing that other people do?'

• If we have been weighing in a false balance, let us withdraw from the opinions of men, and there, in the presence of the Lord, weigh the matters in just balances, and choose
  • "rather to suffer affliction with the people of God".

The apostle Paul confirmed the choice of Moses went he wrote,

• "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us", Romans 8: 18.

• Weighing with the balances of God the "sufferings of this present time" and then "the glory", you will find that the sufferings will be lighter and the glory will be weightier beyond all comparison!

There is a remarkable verse in Deuteronomy 25: 15,

• "But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have; that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee".

• This is oF the greatest importance! God would have you to have length of days, according to His will; that is not a life shortened by sin, but one that can be lived out in the mercy of God; a life well used for His pleasure.

• Moses had eighty years added to his life from the moment of his decision, the first forty of which were educational; but the last were devoted to most wonderful service. At the end of one hundred and twenty years,
  • "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated", Deuteronomy 34: 7.

• He was a fine specimen of manhood, having proved in the Lord's goodness that it is better to be with God in the path of suffering than in the world governed by the pleasures of sin.

It is little use preaching again worldliness, and of little profit merely to say that this and that is wrong;

• we would rather present to you the attractiveness of the path of devotedness to Christ; the pure joy of having communion with Him; the holy privileges which His assembly offers; the dignity of His service, and at the end,
  • "the recompense of the reward".

• Would we not say, 'The world is not worth while in the light of that! We shall lose too much if we lose all that?' So the love of the world goes out of the heart, and Christ takes possession of it.

The last instance is that of

PAUL,

• It is not easy to be in an office, shop or work-shop surrounded by the ungodly; it is not easy to hear defiling language day after day; to be content, and for Christ's sake to say 'No' to many things to which we would naturally say 'Yes'. It is not easy to surrender that in which we should boast naturally!

The beloved apostle could say "If any other man thinketh that he hath whereon he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee", Philippians 3: 4-5.

• All these things which marked Paul as a natural man he put into one scale, but it does not weigh them over against anything else, he throws them all out and says,
  • "But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I found all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ", Philippians 3: 7-8.

• Here is a man standing with the balances of the sanctuary in his hand; all that otherwise would have filled the first scale is thrown out: in the light of
  • "the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord",

• everything else fades away and there comes before the vision of this great Christian man the Person he loves best in the universe; the One he knows as Lord; the One he recognizes as Head of His assembly.

• It is none other than He who had spoken so tenderly from heaven to him, saying,
  • "I am JESUS",

• who now commands his soul and his life. He lays his all at the feet of the Son of God, and as an adoring worshipper he says,
  • "Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death", Philippians 1: 20.

• That is the language of a man who has weighed things up with the just balances of God, and whose vital choice is "for me to live is Christ".

Now one word of appeal, for the days are short, life is brief, and glorious possibilities lie at your very door; the Lord is appealing to you, that you may live on the earth with your life filled with joy, blessing and prosperity.

• There also lie close beside you the powerful appeals of the world, the flesh and the subtle influences of Satan, and you have to make the decision for yourself.

• Your father, mother and Christian friends have prayed for you; the Lord has appealed to you again and again and brought the influence of His love to bear upon you, and now He brings you solemnly into the sanctuary and holds up the balances, and says to you,
  • "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own life?"

• Oh, do not lose your life! Next year soul is a most precious possession you have.

Many, alas! seem to be content if they are secure so far as their souls' salvation is concerned,

• but how can they be right if their lives are being spent as though there was no God; no Christ in heaven; no Holy Spirit on earth; as if no assembly were here; or as if believers can live as they like; go where they like to do what they like?

May we be brought to such a judgment in the power of God that we may desire with Paul,

• "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable until his death", Philippians 3: 10.

When Paul is about to depart to be with Christ, he looks back over his long life (for he is Paul the aged), and says,

• "I have finished my course, I have kept the faith; henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day", 2 Timothy 4: 7.

• Then Paul will never regret that he made that great decision, for through all eternity he will be filled with profound joy that the excellency of Christ commanded his affection and his life!

May the appeal of the Lord's love be effectual, if never before, and may we, at the feet of our Saviour and the Lord, lay all that we have, to be taken up again in news for Him, until the Lord comes!

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were an off'ring far too small;
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life my all.

• Normally every fresh experience was God would result in a psalm, for it would produce something to place on record for the glory of God and for the encouragement of His people.

• The wilderness journey here on earth is not to be an aimless, empty wandering, with no experiences. A Christian is a remarkable person in the eye of heaven, and therefore God takes great care to pass His children through varied experiences in their journey homeward.

• Life does not consist of all sorrow or all joy; all adversity or all prosperity; it is not all made up of spiritual joys, but of a variety of experiences, each according to the ordering of God, that there may be a yield for the pleasure of God.

1. first of all in "pleasant places";

2. secondly, in the "valley of the shadow of death";

3. thirdly, in the "time of trouble";

4. fourthly, in a "dry and thirsty land";

5. and lastly, in the "sanctuary".

• In considering these, there must be great profit for our souls, if, in the ordering of God, each is led to have a personal realization of what each position involves, and if, as a result, new psalms are written.

• "Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust".

• It is one of the most beautiful descriptions of the pathway of the Lord, of the spirit that marked Him, of what He felt in His spirit, and of the communion there ever was between Him, as a lowly, defendant Man here, and His God –
  • (never overlooking for one moment that our Lord Jesus is Himself "over all God blessed for ever").

• But as a lowly Man in the path of dependence upon God and obedience to His will, this Psalm gives us an insight into the language of His heart as He was found here in that path which yielded such joy to the heart of God, such glory to Him, and which is to us such a marvelous example, for –
  "The Lord is Himself gone before;
  He has marked out the path that we tread",

• so that we are in the same path as that in which He was found, and which He has already trodden. It is in that path we learn that He, our great High Priest, is "able to succour them that are tempted".

• "The lines are fallen unto me

IN PLEASANT PLACES".

• When Joshua had subdued the enemies and possessed the land, he sent out able men to survey it, and to divide it into portions or lots.

• To every tribe there was a section of the land allotted, and to every family in the tribe, a sub-section. Lines were drawn across the land, marked off by boundary stones, to indicate the lots.

• He would note all its pleasing features. It was a heritage that was marked by fruitfulness, for he had a portion in a land
  • "flowing with milk and honey".

• He would notice it streams and valleys, its fruit trees, its productive lands and its rich pastures. He would then look up to God with thankfulness of heart, saying,
  • "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places".

• There would be no spirit of grumbling or complaining, no saying that his lines were not as pleasant as his neighbour's, nor feeling that God might have done more for him; but rather the spirit of thanksgiving as he viewed the portion of the land which Jehovah had given to him.

• "Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man hath not where to lay his head";

  yet He could say,

• "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places".

• and this, to Him, was the greatest joy. So He could describe that path, though it involved suffering, sorrow and shame; misunderstandings, despisings and revilings, as "pleasant places".

• of being pleasing to Him, yielding fruit for Him, fulfilling His mind, and of proving in that path
  • "the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living".

• In viewing it as being allotted by God, we too, as followers of Jesus, are able to say in some measure, through grace,
  • "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places".

• set with many of our brethren; privileged to meet freely together; furnished, through the goodness of God, with abundant ministry, both oral and written; with an open Bible;

• with all the joys of Christian fellowship, with all the quietness of a purged conscience; with the assurance of eternal bliss, and the knowledge that our guilty past has all been blotted out;

• above all, with the presence and power of the Holy Spirit indwelling; surely we can each say,
  • "The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage!"

• "Bless the Lord, O my soul: an all that is within me, bless his holy name".

• I refer to the position in which God has placed us in relation to Himself, His truth, His testimony and His people.

• If, on taking a view of our heritage we do not come to this conclusion, it will be because our souls have not rightly apprehended our position. May the Lord greatly help us, that there might be with us a spirit of thankful appreciation –
  • "Oh that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works to the children of men!"

THE VALLEY OF THE SHADOW OF DEATH

• Sooner or later the spirit of each believer has to pass through this valley. It is not limited to a person who actually falls asleep to Jesus; it is rather the experience of those who are left behind to walk through it.

• It is our experience today, as we mourn the loss, of a beloved brother – we are walking in the "valley of the shadow of death". His place is empty; the service that he so lovingly rendered has closed, and we have a sense of loss. We are passing through the "valley of the shadow of death".

• Death has come in upon us, and severed links here, which were tender and pure and holy. It is a part of the experience of the pilgrim path, that the spirit of the believer has to be constantly reminded by actual contact with death that he is walking through this valley.

• "One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life".

• But when it is a matter of Christian experience, we do have to walk through the "valley of the shadow of death"; weeping with those who weep, conscious of the shadow, the sorrow, the havoc that death has wrought; learning what death really is.

• This takes away the bitterness; this still remains, but the bitterness has gone: death is here, but its sting has gone for the believer. The shadow remains, and our spirits feel it, for no one feels more keenly the shadow of death than the believer.

• The Lord Himself, as the perfect example sorrowed as none has ever sorrowed in the presence of death: He groaned, He wept, His spirit passed through all this experience, so that, as having passed through it, He would sympathize and be with us as we walk through this valley.

• They went through the experience of being bound and cast alive into the burning fiery furnace: but we can hear each of them say with triumph,
  • "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me".

  • The king said, "Did not we cast three men bound into the midst of the fire? … Lo, I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire, and they have no hurt; and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God".

• "we are not careful to answer thee in this matter".

• The shadow of death did not deter them from the path of obedience; the fear of the burning fiery furnace did not prevent them from standing loyally and truly for their God.

• And so, beloved brethren, our experience will bear it out, that as we are called to pass through this valley, the presence of our Lord Jesus as our great High Priest, the succourer and sympathizer and supporter of His people, makes us join with the Psalmist in this triumphant note –
  • "I will fear no evil: for thou art with me".

• that those death presses upon us with the burdens of weakness, sorrow and human woe, the spirit may rise in victory in the consciousness of the presence of Christ.

Now, on the practical side of the daily life, every Christian knows something of what it is to be

IN A TIME OF TROUBLE.

• The question is – What are we to do in these times?

• Men of the world have no resources then; the many suicides of today tells a sad story of minds perverted and souls in despair, because in times of trouble they have no hiding place.

• But the believer has a resource; the Psalmist is able to say,
  • "The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?"

    He can pass on and say,

  • "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion".

• What a beautiful thought that is – "He shall hide me". It is as though the Psalmist flees to God; for the time of trouble often serves to drive us to Him.

• How many of us have to acknowledge sorrowfully that while things went well with us, while everything was prosperous, we sought God very little; but when the time of trouble came, we found Him to be our only resource.

• What reception did we get? He hid us in His pavilion! A pavilion is not a permanent home; it is a temporary provision; it is used on the battlefield as a temporary shelter in conflict, and the Psalmist experiences this.

• A time of trouble had overtaken him, and he had fled to God for refuge, and he found it there; hidden in God's pavilion he was safe.

• In our desires for the welfare of man for God's sake, for the sake of the gospel, we do well to be on the outlook for those in trouble; for it oftentimes furnishes an opportunity for God to come in;
  • it opens an avenue to the heart that may have been closed to God for years. Many a person in sorrow is ready to hear the gospel, who would turn away from it in prosperity.

So we find the Psalmist hidden by God in the time of trouble; he has a retreat in a dark and difficult moment.

• Let not the young believers anticipate that they will pass through life without trouble; God has not ordered the paths of His beloved children so that they shall be immune from it, but rather has He made Himself our resource. He has made provision that such a time shall furnish opportunity for a fresh experience of God, and a newly written psalm; for the psalms go on.

• There are two books of the Holy Scriptures which are still being filled out in human experience; one is the book of Psalms, and the other the Acts of the Holy Spirit,
  • for though the Holy Scriptures themselves are complete as being the whole volume of the divinely inspired record, yet the experiences of Christian life continue.

• You will observe that the record of the Acts has no conclusion; there is no "Amen"; it suddenly breaks off, leaving us with the encouraging thought that while it is sufficient as the inspired record of the Acts of the Holy Spirit, the acts themselves go on, and the experiences of believers continue.

• The preaching of the gospel and the acts of the Holy Spirit recorded in heaven since Acts 28 was written, will come to light at the judgment seat of Christ. You and I are witnesses that the acts of the Holy Spirit are continuing until the Lord comes.

• but there are many psalms being written today; there are many lives that are yielding an answer to the ways of God which the judgment seat of Christ will bring to light for the glory of God and for the joy of the heart of Christ.

• He will give us the joy of sharing in His joy, as the psalms that have been written since David's day come to light in that day, when the Lord, surrounded by His own, will review their pathways in the light of His own love.

• Hence the time of trouble brings a yield for God; an answer that the coming day shall bring to light. To realize this would prevent any spirit of rebellion or resentment.

• The infinite resources of God abide with us; the power of God; the priesthood of Christ; the presence of the Holy Spirit – all these are ours for such times; and we may well add, the love of the brethren – their sympathy and practical support.

• The experiences of heart that are touched and moved with compassion for those in the time of trouble, will all lend colour to the psalms that are being written.

"IN A DRY AND THIRSTY LAND".

• There are many who have confessed the name of the Lord, as believers in Him, who, if they were honest, would have to say that to them the world is not a dry and thirsty land.
  • The question is – What are we seeking? At what streams are we drinking to find satisfaction?

• I am not speaking of this from a "gospel" standpoint, but from a believer's outlook. Many such are drinking from the world's supplies; the river of Egypt is furnishing support to many a professed believer – but death is in it; it will be turned into blood; it is as system of death.

• There is a river on earth (not the River of Egypt, poisoned, impure, unholy, contaminated, dangerous) – but a river the streams whereof "make God the city of God".
  • It is a "pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb",

• and you and I are drinking either of the world's delusion waters rf this pure and holy river.

• Let me suggest, dear young friends, that you ask the Lord: Do you think He will direct you to the impure, unholy and contaminated streams of the river of Egypt, which will presently be turned into blood?

• Will He not, in His own loving way, direct your mind – which must be engaged with something, and cannot maintain a vacuum – will He not direct you into the channel where you can drink of that pure and holy stream, clear as crystal?

• Do you claim that the streams of earth can possibly yield more satisfaction than that pure river? Can the joys of earth be compared to the joys whereby the City of God is made glad?

• Do you think that crystal stream, which finds its source in the heart of God, and flows out of His throne by way of the death of Jesus, right into our hearts, in the power of the Spirit, can fail to fill all those hearts and satisfy our minds?

• You will not for a moment, claim that the river of Egypt can be compared with the river of God; and yet here we are confronted with this fact that on earth today
  • there are many of those who truly love our Lord Jesus Christ who are deliberately turning to the polluted streams of the river of Egypt, to try to obtain satisfaction and gratification from that which is polluted and corrupt, and will soon turn to blood.

• This great system, with all its allurements and attractions, has been built up by Satan, and by it the desires of the human heart are being catered for, and the intellectual needs of men appealed to.

• But how can we look upon it in any other way than as a "dry and thirsty land"!

• If we have been into the sanctuary, and have been tasting these holy joys, and drinking into that pure stream, can we look round upon this world and say it will yield that in which our hearts can find true pleasure?

• a Christian is one who is left here to walk "in newness of life", so that he looks out upon things from a viewpoint entirely different from the man of the world.

• To a man of the world, this is not a dry and thirsty land; it is a place that will hold him, fascinate him, allure him and carry him forward even into paths of evil and shame and sin.

• But the believer, who has been in the sanctuary, looks out as filled with the spiritual longing produced in his heart by the Holy Spirit, and can say
  • – 'It is a dry and thirsty land – its pleasures do not answer the desires of my heart; its literature will not satisfy my mind; its joys are to impure to fill my heart – I must turn elsewhere for satisfaction of heart and for occupation of mind'.

• Hence the Psalmist, in the simplest the language, says, "O God,, thou art my God".

• The result of their investigation was this text –
  • "O God, thou art my God".

• Think of one only just converted, with little apprehension of the vastness of the divine realm into which he is brought, with the simplicity of a young believer – in a dry and thirsty land where no water is – yet with those new spiritual desires that have been created by God Himself, looking up to God and saying,
  • "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee".

• "O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is".

• There is not one spiritual longing created by the Spirit of God, which, if followed up with spiritual diligence, is not profoundly gratified.

IN THE SANCTUARY".

• not in his path reviewing the goodness of God in giving him to be found in pleasant places;

• not walking through the valley of the shadow of death;

• not in a time of trouble, proving God to be his hiding place;

• not in a dry and thirsty land where no water is;

• but in the grandest, holiest and greatest of all Christian experiences, for his soul has been consciously in the sanctuary.

• "until", he said, "I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end".

• There is one place, and one only, where every question finds a solution, and that is in the sanctuary of God.
  • In that sanctuary we see "thy power and thy glory".

• With the consciousness of our weakness within, with the realization of the power of the enemy around, it is well for us to resort to the sanctuary of God to see God's power.

• With man's glory claiming attention on every side, the human heart ever desiring its own glory, it is well for us to come into the sanctuary of God, for there we shall see His glory.

• As the glory of Christ fills the vision of the soul, so will the glories of this world proportionately fade; and coming from the sanctuary, we shall look upon the tinsel of this world and say,
  • It is not good enough for one who has seen the glory of God "in the face of Jesus Christ".

• To think of a man on earth, in the power of the Holy Spirit, being able to say, 'I have seen it!' Can we say that?

• Do you say, 'I love the Lord Jesus Christ as my Saviour'? Thank God if you do; but He wants you to say more than that – he wants you to say 'I have seen thy power and thy glory in the sanctuary'.

• Nothing will transform a person like that! When Moses had seen it, and came down from the mount, the skin of his face shone.

• When Stephen saw it, they looked on him, and his face was as the face of a angel; and though we do not refer to the physical and visible effect, there is nothing that can transform a person in his spirit and his outlook, in his apprehension and his judgment, like
  • "thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary".

• and we shall see him there in the glory of God, conformed to the image of God's Son, having written his psalm, a life completed, the journey over, and God's eternal thoughts fulfilled.

• Then with a body like Christ's, he will dwell forever in the very sanctuary, which he has learned to appreciate in the course of his journey here.

May God give us to know more of these experiences, that in each place a psalm may be written!