Lessons of the Sanctuary
Ministry by J. B. Stoney
– Part Three

1. those who have faith and who enjoy His presence;

2. those with conviction, who believe the truth and who would not go anywhere else; and

3. those there from imitation.

• The two latter do not hinder the Lord's presence, only the first enjoy His presence. To enjoy it is a very different thing from being merely convinced that it is the right way.

Though I cannot, this evening, dwell upon the character of the company He comes to, subsequently I hope to do so. I confine myself this evening to His actual presence, and I must try to explain why it is necessary to consider this elementary subject.

• I do not know any subject that is more misunderstood or commonly adopted than this very subject. I was in a place lately where there were five meetings, and they all assumed to be on the ground of this verse, yet they were each opposed to the other; there was no inter-communion.

• Well, there must be something radically defective in the meaning given to this passage to admit of such a state of things, and all I have to say is, we must learn what the right meaning is. This principle I get in Timothy, in the last days.

• When the apostle has gone – in times that were unknown to the apostle, Timothy was to stand, and he was to battle with the magicians of that day. What was the attempt of the magicians? To neutralise the power of God by imitating it.

• And what was Timothy to do? He was to "continue"; but "their" [the magicians of the day] "folly shall be made manifest unto all men".

• We do not at once overthrow the magicians of this day; no, what we have to do is to stand.
  • "Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned and hast been assured of".

• Moses did not retreat when he saw the magicians working. He went on and prospered. You have to learn and be assured that you know His presence, and that you have the marks which accompany His presence.

• I hope to present consecutively the marks or guard of His presence which are known to those gathered to His name, and which are proof positive that you have His presence. There can be nothing more definite than that He is in the midst of them. The very words are used in Luke 24: 36, "in the midst of them".

Now the first thing I dwell on is the fact that He is really present; and I cannot for myself conceive anything greater than the actuality of His presence.

• What can I speak of greater than that? What can I present to a young believer greater than the simple fact – I can conduct you to a spot where you will actually know the presence of your Saviour?

• I can understand a young believer saying, Well if I had to go fifty miles, I would go. What could delight his heart more than to be actually in the presence of his Saviour?

• Well, it is a fact; because some might think it an action of the Spirit of God. No doubt, if you had not the Spirit of God you could not recognise His presence; and if there were not the Spirit of God, there would be no communication between you and Christ.

• And remember, it is not the presence of Jesus as He was in humiliation, but as He is in glory, that He comes into the midst of His gathered people. A greater thing could not be on earth. He comes here – here, where He was rejected, in all the moral dignity of the heavenly atmosphere, the Lord in glory.
  • "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them".

• It was to the disciples who knew His presence, He said this; they knew very well what His presence was, though then they only knew Him as the meek and lowly One.

I turn to a passage in the Old Testament to look at it in type – for it is only brought out in its great living reality now – but if you look at the type, the ark of the covenant and the cherubim of glory, they typify the presence of the Lord.

• I turn to the passage merely to show that there was a type, for if there was a type you may be sure that the antitype is greater.
  • "And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will be their God. And they shall know that I am the LORD their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them. I am the LORD their God", Exodus 29: 45-46.

• I could turn to many passages, but I trust you will search them out, because it is easy to find out references in connection with God dwelling among His people. The word that is called "dwell" there, in the popular translation of the Old Testament is, "I fix my name there"; it is not simply dwelling.

• It is not any point of learning, but it is interesting to understand, that in the Septuagint, which, to the Jew, was very much what the English translation is to us, they expressed that "dwelling" by "His name there".

But I go outside revelation now, to ascertain the opinion of the people of Israel or their teachers about it. They adopted a word which is common amongst us, though it is not found in the Bible, and that is the Shekinah.

• Now the word Shekinah simply comes from dwelling; that is the derivation of the word, but they attached to it something else, some glorious manifestation.

• I only give you those two as showing you what an idea was connected with the type. Every believer can come into His presence, he has a right to come into the holiest of all; and in the holiest of all was the ark of the covenant, the type of our Lord Jesus Christ, and God said,
  • "There will I meet with you".

• Now the antitype to that is the presence of the Lord in the midst of His own, gathered together to His name.

• There was only one ark of the covenant. It could not be with Israel and Judah too. Jeroboam set up calves in Dan and at Bethel to wile away the hearts of the people from the place where God had set His name.

• I do not dwell on this, I desire this evening to confine myself to the solemn blessedness of the fact – The Lord of glory in the midst of His own assembly. With Israel it was a cloud of glory, for us the Lord of glory.
  • "And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office", Exodus 29: 43-44.

  • "And he reared up the court round about the tabernacle and the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses finished the work. Then a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle", Exodus 40: 33-34.

• Moses had seen in the mount – a figure of the true, the heavenly; and when he had set it up, the cloud of glory filled it.

• Now in heavenly dignity the Lord comes into the midst. He could not come in an earthly order. The tabernacle was a heavenly thing in the midst of Israel.

Now I trust further on to be able to show you that, when the Lord was rejected here, He said, I will have My assembly – mark the word 'my' – I lay great stress upon the word 'my'. That gives it all its character. How could it be His assembly if He were not there?

• "The assembly of the living God",

• it is called in another place; "living", I believe, because He is there in His activity. And that assembly will be an impregnable fortress upon the earth. Some will tell you it is all broken up; but His assembly is impregnable; it is very plain and very strong language, but there it is, it is impregnable,
  • "The gates of hell shall not prevail against it".

• That is not in heaven at all, it is on earth. And, therefore, when He speaks of all the evil in this world, speaking of how the kingdom of heaven fails here among men, He says, My treasure is there.

• I only allude to that to show, that at no moment in the history of the church, though you may speak of its being dismantled, and of its carved work being broken down with axes and hammers, yet you never can set aside the fact, that the power of the Lord is connected with it, that He abides faithful.

• You may not abide faithful, that is very likely, a great many have not, but He does. That is a great matter. Where was the breakdown in Israel? With Aaron and his sons. Where? just as they were going into the holiest; in the very brightest spot. And what then?

• Aaron's sons were reduced to two; but they had the high priest with them, and though reduced to two, we may have the Lord; we have still the One who will stand by His own and maintain His own according to His pleasure, while the assembly is here. But that I only dwell on to show that the presence remains with the two or three.

I have brought before you what I hope you all admit, and I trust we may know it more sensibly. I often ask myself the question, Am I going really to meet the Lord? What an effect it would have upon us all!

• In the Old Testament we find, when the Lord appeared there was a sensible effect. Man was appalled. I do not believe that is the effect now, the flesh is not recognised now at all.

• The Lord's presence is only known to faith, and therefore something morally beyond the flesh. In the same way with the Holy Spirit – the world seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him. He is known only to faith. Little as I do know Him, there we are, this is something greater than the type.

Now I trust I have made it plain to you all, that we have something greater than the type. If I asked the youngest child in the whole company of Israel, Do you know God is dwelling here? He would say, Yes, there is the tabernacle and the cloud dwelling on it. Now surely you will admit, that the antitype is greater than the type.

• We are come to the fulfilment of the word of God. There is not a single thing that is gone before according to the purpose of God, that you do not find now established in full vigour in the blessed Lord whom we represent here. You admit, I trust, the reality of His presence, that is all I want.

• In Luke 24: 36, and in John 20: 19, you get a pattern of it. I do not think you get the thing fully, but you get a pattern of the Lord in the midst of them.
  • "The disciples were glad when they saw the Lord",

  • He "came and stood in the midst".

• The Lord Jesus Christ takes His own place in the midst of His assembly. "My assembly", and He says, "Peace be unto you"; not a cloud. This is introductory. I desire that we should all pray to understand this better.

Now I think this is settled, and I go on to the characteristics; I trust I shall have your prayers.

• I am quite surprised that any soul should think that he was not doing service by praying, for it is wonderful how the answer comes, and thus the Lord encourages us. I have found that, if I went on praying, the Lord would surely answer. I say this, that we might co-operate with one another.

Now turn to Hebrews 8: 1, 2, "Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such an high priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man".

• "A minister of the sanctuary" should be of "the holy places"; it is plural, therefore it means the holiest – "which the Lord pitched and not man".

• And who were associated with the high priest there? Aaron's sons. And we are of Christ, priests with Him in the holiest – in that sense, Christ's sons. The Lord is actually there, and in heavenly order. The imitation of the thing only proves there is a great reality. People do not counterfeit farthings, they counterfeit sovereigns.

Now tonight I dwell on the characteristics of His presence; and the next time, on the marks. I say this just to give you an idea of the difference between what I call the marks and the characteristics of His presence – the presence of the Lord of glory, and that He cannot be with two companies opposed to each other.

• This evening I prove to you that He is present, and give you the characteristics which prove it. On another occasion, I will show you the marks which prove that you have been there.

• The thing is so great; you could not be there without being affected by it, without being conscious of the effects – not one of them only, or some of them, but all of them. Well, there is nothing plainer, I think it will commend itself to every one here, and I need not detain you much upon it, though it is a most interesting subject.

1. The first is that in His presence you have not a cloud; if there is a cloud you do not enjoy His presence and, the lack of this enfeebles our worship meetings, you are occupied with your state, you are not enjoying His presence, you are occupied with the effect of light.

• Every believer knows what it is; he is not conscientious if he does not. It is just like a person who is preparing to be presented to some great personage – he must get himself ready, and by the very light of the place – if I may use such a figure – he looks in the mirror to see if he is all right.

• And if you watch meetings with any interest, you will find as a rule that it is state that occupies us first, we are not yet quite ready for the presence.

• And very often you find at our meetings the breaking of bread is put off to an indefinite period, simply because there has been no preparation, no readiness for it; the happier we are, the more earnestly we shall seek it.

• The breaking of bread should characterise the whole week. Every one true hearted knows that that is the thing he longs for; he feels, I am in the place where He is, and the first thing I do is to call to mind what that blessed One suffered to bring me to this wonderful place, where He is Himself; and I am so happy, so without a cloud, so restful in His presence, that I really lend myself heartily to call Him to mind, and His death sets me in this unclouded bliss.

Now you see how it is. You are without a spot – you must be, or you could not be there.

The first thing is, What is the character of the company who enjoys His presence?

• It is a solemn thing for our hearts to apprehend the character of the company to whom the Lord comes;
  • "Where two or three are gathered together unto my name";

• it is to His name. I believe the word 'to' means the character of His name –
  • there He is "in the midst of them".

• It is conditional, but a condition to be observed by every believer.

• It may seem superfluous to dwell upon a subject that is so well known amongst us, but the very fact of the way many adopt it in the present day, makes it important for us to understand whether we have this condition or not.

• I am sure the only way to expose imitation is to be presenting the reality. It is of no use deprecating imitation, we must distinctly set forth the reality, and thus we shall expose the imitation.

• Look at the wise virgins, they do not contend with the foolish ones, but they go on. Let us do the same: that is the advice given to Timothy, Go on. That is what Moses did with the magicians, and then:
  • "They shall proceed no further, for their folly shall be manifest unto all men, as theirs also was".

I say, beloved friends, and I desire to feel it, and I trust you all will feel it, that a great responsibility rests upon us to set forth the reality.

• I do not speak of a responsibility that we are not able to meet. That was the responsibility under the law.

• The responsibility of a Christian is a responsibility which he is able to meet. There is no responsibility now that is not in keeping with a privilege. If you fail in your responsibility, you have not acted up to your privilege.

• The law disclosed the inability in man to accomplish its commands. The responsibilities or injunctions that are given to us, are actually to manifest the power that is given to us.

• I have been much interested and greatly affected by the amazing character of the condition we are called to. I read this verse in Peter – it is only a little part of it – but mark the words,
  • the "holy priesthood",

• that is the company – a holy priesthood, that expresses the condition, the character of the company who are entitled to enjoy His presence.

I turn first to Matthew 16, because it brings out the character of the company, for if you do not know the character of the company, you do not know how to preserve it, and if you do not know how to preserve it, you certainly do not know its character.

• The first thing I dwell upon is the company, the constitution of it. Matthew 16: 18:
  • "I say unto thee, That thou art Peter" [a stone] "and upon this rock I will build my church".

• There it is His own building, mind you. That you will all admit; and that is in keeping with the passage I have read:
  • "Lively" or "living stones".

• Peter tells us what the actual nature of that building is. I trust you will see how definite and exclusive the company is. I know some of you might shrink from the word 'exclusive', but the company is exclusive.

• We have seen that He calls the assembly, "My assembly" – an immense point – because He is there Himself when He calls it My assembly: the word 'My' gives it a definite character.

Now to show the beginning or foundation of this condition, I turn to John 13: 8;

• "Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me".

• That was an entirely new and strange notion to His disciples. Here they were touching Him, John just leaning on His breast, and now He tells them all is changed, and they cannot come near Him unless they are washed. Hence in Hebrews 7: 26 we read:
  • "For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separated from sinners, and made higher than the heavens".

• Separated, not separate. He was separate from sinners when down here. All is now of heavenly order, not a bit of the earthly enters there, nothing of the first man; all that is gone, all that is new has come in. It is the fulfilment of Joshua 5.

• Now we have to do with the true. He is a minister of the holy places, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. Hence to enjoy His presence, the Minister of the holy places, we must be in the holy places with Him. What a wonderfully sanctified company then we are! Wonderful indeed!

It is not merely that you are saved; but that there is not a shade between Him and you.

• I said on the former occasion that the very first thing that marks the enjoyment of His presence, the first characteristic is, that there is not a cloud there, and then I enjoy His presence.

• Hence, without separation, you could not enjoy His presence, you are not one of those who are gathered to His name. You may say, there are a great many then who are not. Well, I admit that is possible; but it is a relief to one's mind, that though they are not there in company with Himself; that is, that they do not go in unto the veil, yet they are fed:
  • "No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire: he hath a blemish; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries: for I the Lord do sanctify them", Leviticus 21: 21-23.

• It is an immense comfort to know this. I press this first, for if there is a shade, you are not consciously of the company who surround Him there. I am speaking of the company from whom He will not withhold His presence. There is a company who obtain His presence,
  • "There am I in the midst of them".

• Nothing can be plainer. It accounts for a great deal of the poverty of our meetings, when any are out of communion. You may even say it was a good meeting, and you got helped there. You were fed, but you did not enjoy His presence.

I will now dwell on the positive side of this truth. In John 20: 19, I get the pattern of the assembly, of the company.

• In this verse 19, they are gathered, and the doors are shut, and the Lord stands in the midst. As someone has said, They were gathered by the Lord's message through Mary Magdalene; certainly we know they were there, and that He came into the midst and said,
  • "Peace be unto you".

• That is introductory; but still it gives you this idea, the condition of the company to whom He comes. He fits them for His presence.

• I am looking at the assembly as at the beginning. It may be reduced to the two or three; just as Aaron was reduced to only two sons.

• Every believer is a priest now, we are constituted the holy priesthood. Christendom, to escape this responsibility, has divided the saints into two classes, the priests and the laymen. There is no distinction in the New Testament; that is the reason I read that verse. We are all priests.

• Every priest is a living stone, and within the veil: associated with the Lord, and all there. That is what we are called to. Two or three is its limit, and makes it applicable to the feeblest time.

• But I am speaking of the privilege of every believer, the condition which applies, not only to the assembly when two or three, but what is proper for all saints; though the Lord will come to the two or three.

There is nothing more important to keep definitely before the mind than the condition of the company who enjoyed His presence, because if not complied with they do not have it.

• Therefore the Lord limits it to the smallest company you could find; still, what is right for two or three is right for all. Peter does not say for two or three, but the whole company,
  • "Built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices".

• That is what characterises the assembly. I am anxious for you to get hold of this. Each person is fit for His presence.

• I have already tried to show that His presence necessarily required fitness, and you cannot be too distinct about it. We see in the type, how Rebecca, when she saw Isaac, made herself ready. I think we have not thought enough about it.

• A person may say, Shall I not get good in the assembly if I am not fit? I do not say you will not; but what I maintain is, you cannot enjoy His presence unless you are in trim for it: it would be impossible.
  • "She shall be brought unto the king in raiment of needlework".

• There must be suitability for the Lord's presence. He could not manifest Himself if there were not suitability. Hence it is conditional.
  • "Where two or three are gathered together to my name".

• I do not limit it to the two or three, but if you are not up to this, you are not in your proper place as a living stone.

Mark another thing. Turn to Hebrews 8: 1, 2, here we have the Minister of the holy places; that is of great importance.

• Can you get to the holy places unless you are a holy company? You could not be with the great High Priest any other way.

• But one might say, 'The meeting will revive me'. Yes, but getting up state is a hindrance to the meeting. If you are occupied with state, you are not occupied with Christ.

• Thus often the breaking of bread is postponed, waiting to get up state, or looking for the Lord in relation to self; you cannot turn over a new leaf.

• I think you must see plainly, beloved friends, that the character which belongs to every believer is the priestly dress; I do not know whether each one has it on or not, but every one has it.

Now turn to one or two passages in the Old Testament. It is a great thing to get the principle for any action, because if I have the principle, I am sure to get it established.

• We have seen the character of the company to whom the Lord vouchsafes His presence, it is not only that He promises it, but He is there:
  • "Where two or three are gathered together to my name, there am I".

• It is a consequence, He cannot but come there. If the Holy Spirit gathers, the Lord is there.

• The first passage I turn to is Numbers 5: 2:
  • "Command the children of Israel that they put out of the camp every leper, and every one that hath an issue, and whosoever is defiled by the dead; both male and female shall ye put out, without the camp shall ye put them; that they defile not their camps in the midst. whereof I dwell".

• There is a type of the responsibility of the congregation. And here it is the congregation which is bound to preserve itself fit for the Lord's presence.

• I come to that presently; but I call your attention now to the constitution of the assembly. All the children of Israel formed it, not the priests nor the Levites merely.

• Someone has said there were three classes – the warriors, the servants or labourers, and the worshippers; but still they were all there – the whole congregation.

It is an immense point with regard to the preservation of the holiness of the company, that every one of the congregation was answerable for the state of the company.

• It is the same principle in John 13; you are bound to wash one another's feet.

• But I introduce this passage in Numbers to show the character of the defilement that is to be excluded.

• The chapter has three parts, the second portion is that I must not permit my brother to be wrongly treated, I must insist upon reparation. That is the second, to which there is no penalty attached.

• The third is, God takes the case into His own hands, and that is the trial of jealousy. As far as my judgment goes, it is what is alluded to in the opening verse of 1 Corinthians 5:
  • "Ye have not rather mourned, that such an one should be taken away from amongst you";

  • and in 1 Corinthians 10: "Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than he?"

  • "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep".

• This shows the great holiness charged on this company, and I think we are too indifferent about it.

What I have referred to before, I must turn to now for a minute; because I think it explains a great deal in this connection, and that is Leviticus 21: 21:

• "No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the priest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire".

• I know this is sometimes limited to ministry, but that is not the meaning of it; because you see, from the passage I read, that we are the holy priesthood inside the veil. Here if one has a blemish he shall not come near to offer the bread of his God; he shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy and of the holy. He is fed. That is what happens often to the individual, he is fed, but he has not been inside the veil.
  • "Only he shall not go in unto the veil, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries; for I the Lord do sanctify them".

• What does all this, beloved friends, conduce to? The wonderful sanctity, exclusiveness of the company, the strongest word you can use.

• However, if I were to meet a simple Christian, I would not go beyond Matthew 18; to him it is enough to say, You must be gathered to His name, you must be characteristic of His name; He could not give His name to a company not characteristic of His name, He could not come there.

• But I have read these passages in order that you may see and be more affected by this great subject, and the more you ponder it, the more it will grow upon you, the wonderful sanctity of those who command the presence of the Lord; because He says, I am there: therefore I say command.

• I trust that great light will come into your soul, touching the wonderful sanctity of the company to whom He cannot deny His presence.

• When God came down in the midst of His people Israel, as an earthly people redeemed, He charged the whole congregation to put out all that were defiled by a dead body; touching a dead body is being legally defiled by that which is natural.

• If the standard in the carnal dispensation was so great, how much greater in the spiritual. A blemish is really a weakness, and you have no liberty in the assembly meeting if you are under it; you are not fit. But, you say, you want to enjoy the presence of the Lord; well, but can you?

• Still what a wonderful provision is here, and every one can testify to it, that is, that though a man may have a blemish, he gets food there. Thus we often hear people say they are refreshed, but that is not enjoying the presence of the Lord.

• Several different effects are known to one in the Lord's presence, which could not be produced in any other way. Refreshment and food every one may have; but refreshment and food are different from edification. It is only in the Lord's presence that one is beside oneself.

There is one passage more that I must allude to, namely, the type of the holy priesthood, and I give you the scripture in the hope that you will look at it yourselves. It is Leviticus 8: 6,

• "And Moses brought Aaron and his sons, and washed them with water".

• I do not go further, because I cannot go into the chapter; but those were the ones who were consecrated, as you will find in verse 22:
  • "And he brought the other ram, the ram of consecration, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram".

• They typify the church. In Christendom they limit the priests to the clergy.

• None but the consecrated company went into the holy places. But one says, Are we not all a consecrated company? Yes, all sons of Aaron, all fit, in all the fragrance of Christ, to go into the holy places, but perhaps not enjoying it – that is another thing.

• Thus you cannot lose sight of the fact, that the company who enjoy the presence of the Lord are a peculiarly select company. I do not mean an eclectic company, I mean every one, every Christian, is of the priesthood, and he cannot go in, in any other way, but in priestly trim. That is his place, speaking now of what he is before God.

• In another way, we are outside, but as priests we are inside. A priest's place is inside, to offer to God. In the New Testament they minister unto the Lord, offering up spiritual sacrifices. Outside is levitical.

• But the more you think of the magnitude of His presence, the more you will see that consecration is required to enjoy it. Suppose you take the case of an earthly sovereign, do you think every one can rush into his presence without fitness, without preparation, without the proper dress? Never! And could you venture into the presence of the blessed Lord without it? Never!

Now, beloved friends, having I trust, in some little measure, brought before you the subject of the sanctity of the company, and I hope effectually, for I am more than ever impressed with it myself, and how exclusive they must be; they must be consecrated in Christ's own fragrance in order to enjoy His presence;

• it is not that He is not there, He might be there and you not enjoy Him. That is the provision of Leviticus 21, those with a blemish will be fed there; they eat the bread of God, even the most holy and the holy.

I turn now to the preservation of this company. Once you have a true sense of the sanctity of the company to whom only His presence would be given, then comes your responsibility to preserve that company holy for the Lord,

• and the better you understand the sanctity He required, the more zealous assuredly, you will be to keep it fit for the Lord.

• The more you value the dignity, the more you will say, I cannot allow anything that would compromise it, nor sanction anything unfit for His presence. Hence, we have to wash one another's feet. So we see here in the type, the whole congregation were responsible that there should not be anything unfit for the Lord's presence visible.

• The whole congregation are responsible, as I have already read in Numbers 5. How responsible? Well, if you, brother or sister, see a man failing, you are responsible; if you cannot correct him yet you are responsible, and therefore you may ask another; the purpose is to save your brother, and to preserve the company fit for the Lord, for all are responsible.

• One with a leprosy, or one with an issue, or defiled by the dead; these were all visible, open to the naked eye; I do not impute motives, I do not insinuate; but if I see you keep bad company, I say I cannot allow it. And why? Because the Lord dwells here, therefore the whole are responsible.

• If a sister finds that she cannot do it, she can speak to a brother who can: I have found I was not equal to a case, and I have asked another. Therefore it says,
  • "Ye which are spiritual restore such an one in the spirit of meekness".

• The great thing is that it is your responsibility to preserve the company fit for the Lord. I know very well how naturally we like to see defects in others, because a defect in others may exalt ourselves.

• A man does not like to see a defect in his children, because it does not exalt himself; and surely it should be much more so in the church. One of the easiest ways I know to exalt oneself is to point out the defects of others, because the impression it gives is that you have not got the same defect yourself, and that is the impression you want to give; that was Absalom's way.

• But you are ever to be in the sense of your responsibility to keep the company, every one of them, according to the sanctity that must characterise those who are entitled to His presence. If we had this feeling more, what a place of interest the assembly would be!

• It is not a question of your own enjoyment, how you may enjoy His presence for yourself; that is perfectly true if you are in priestly trim; but you will find that you become defiled if you do not act up to your responsibility, and you lose the Lord's presence till your feet are washed.

Now, though all the congregation were responsible to put out the leper, yet the congregation were not to judge if it were leprosy or not, the priest alone was competent for this. It is a very important point, for it might not be leprosy.

• And the first work of the priest is, that he does not assume that an offender is incorrigible. I do not say that he may not prove incorrigible. But if you watch the history of a soul, you will find he is not incorrigible at the beginning.

• Take any departure you like: for instance, light reading, which is a very injurious thing; or anything where the affections are engaged, what Scripture calls covetousness, an uncontrolled desire to possess. I may see a person carried away, but as long as the conscience is sensible that it is wrong, even though there be a return to it, there is hope for that soul.

• But when the act is committed, the conscience is overborne, the man is under an evil power, it is the work of the devil. The duty of the priest therefore was to see whether the offender had become incorrigible, then it was leprosy, and there was no remedy but excision.

Now turn to the New Testament for the antitype. That is the substance, and it is peculiarly so with us upon whom the ends of the ages have met.

• Every thing must now come out in the assembly, and you cannot go back to any previous dispensation. I turn to 1 Corinthians 5: 7:
  • "Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened".

• "A new lump", that at once shows the requisite discipline, and also shows what must characterise the company.

• "A new lump" does not mean a little handful of Christians, but the whole church. The term is not right in any other sense. You are unleavened. "Therefore purge out …". Can there be anything stronger than that as to our responsibility?

• When a Christian sins with a high hand, he has gone contrary to all his conscientious feelings and prepossessions, contrary to everything that he knew was just and right, he knows that he has been carried away, and he cannot deny it.

• And that is the danger everyone is exposed to, who tampers with evil – pleasures of the flesh or of the mind.

Now I turn to 1 Thessalonians 5: 14, respecting the responsibility of the assembly.

• "Now we exhort you, brethren", [the whole congregation] "warn them that are unruly".

• Thus, in keeping with Numbers 5: 2, this sets forth the responsibility of the assembly. The apostle is addressing all the brethren here. You should say, The Lord is here, and I cannot allow any disorder here. The weakest is responsible.

• You must consider for the dignity of our Lord, and be very jealous about it. The most timid animal we know, a hen, can be roused to great vigour when her affections are engaged. Let a dog appear when she is with her brood, and see how she comes forth, so that the dog runs away.

• Do not speak of your feebleness. If you have affection, you will not lack courage; courage is a wonderful thing in such cases.
  • "The righteous are bold as a lion".

• Warn them that are unruly, and I am sure there is not a godly soul in this room who does not say, That is right. And this is a comfort, that you find in small meetings, unruliness is not passed over.

• Someone gives out an unsuitable hymn, it is not passed over; all the congregation are responsible. They were not to take notice of the good side only, but of the bad also, and it is not possible to do the one without the other.

I think it is a great thing to feel that we are responsible.

• You may say, 'How am I to act? What am I to do?' You are always to try and restore; it is not to point out the defect.
  • The law was, "Thou shalt by any means rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him".

• That is law, not grace. Grace is, that you are to wash his feet, and thus to remove the offence. You say, I cannot remove it. Do you seek to walk so before the erring one that he might be corrected? I know it is no easy matter; still I am only pressing what becomes us.

The first responsibility is to preserve the company suited to the Lord, and to correct and restore every offender. I thus apply Galatians 6: 1.

• By the word, "The spiritual", I mean the priests, those walking in communion. I do not mean every believer, though every believer is a priest. I believe what is called a brothers' meeting should be composed of the spiritual, those who are in communion with the Lord as to His interests.

  For some years a so-called "brothers' meeting" was held, weekly or monthly depending on the numbers of local meetings in the city, to exchange information to maintain unity and other common purposes. In later years this was called a 'care meeting' and more recently still sisters were also present. The "discipline meeting" [below] was later called an "assembly meeting" and all the brethren, both brothers and sisters including young people, were expected to be present.   GAR

• I think it unseemly to see men who take no interest generally in divine matters, attending a discipline meeting. I think they do not understand the nature of that meeting. It is a most solemn meeting, convened to vindicate the Lord's name in the assembly, therefore it is
  • "Ye which are spiritual restore".

• It is a solemn thing to give judgment, according to the mind of God, respecting the state of any one's soul.

I turn to 2 Thessalonians 3: 14 to show how you are to act in another case.

• "If any man obey not our word by this epistle, note that man, and have no company with him, that he may be ashamed".

• Now that is the duty of the whole congregation. I sometimes see that it is not so, and that instead of everyone trying to make the offender sensible of his offence, some are soft and amiable to the offender, as if there was nothing against him. I say, in so doing, you are losing sight of the responsibility of the assembly to keep itself suitable to the Lord's presence.
  • "Have no company with him":

• that is, you do not seek his company socially;
  • "Yet count him not as an enemy".

• To be cool and reserved to him is quite right; not count him as an enemy,
  • "but admonish him as a brother".

• Consider for the Lord and your brother's benefit, and not for your own feelings.

There is one passage more as to the preservation of the company; 2 John 10:

• "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed".

• It is a salutation. "God speed" is an old familiar word used in some places to this day. It is not a prayer. Many a one has been led astray by thinking it is a prayer. It is simply, bid him not Good morning, or what is equivalent to it.

• The natural mind could not understand that the mere recognition of a person propagating error, contrary to the doctrine of the Christ, would implicate one in his evil conduct.

• Therefore such a person you are not to receive into your house; but more, you are not to salute him, not to wish him Good day. Perhaps there is no passage that enjoins more fully what I am trying to present to you than this one. Because, if I were to submit this passage to a man of the greatest mind he would not understand it.

• It is not within the compass of the human intellect; the natural man cannot take it in. The natural man does not understand the sensitiveness of the Spirit of God in all that concerns the Lord Jesus Christ, and for that company to whom He vouchsafes His presence.

• Therefore the Spirit, in great jealousy for Christ, directs a woman, and not merely a teacher – Do not receive him into your house, and more than that, do not even salute him, because he that salutes him is a partaker of his evil deeds; it does not say of his evil doctrine, but "his evil deeds".

• The moment you are in company with the Holy Spirit, and understand the care He has for the Lord's honour, and are led by Him, would you recognise such an one?

• Never; the Spirit would not suffer the saint in whom He dwells to recognise such an one. We should feel a divine sensibility as to Christ. Sentimentality is cultivating a feeling. Sensibility is when I feel evil as I do pain.

It shows you, in an indirect way, the wonderful sanctity of the company to whom the Lord vouchsafes His presence, and their responsibility.

• I cannot, for my own part, conceive anything more beautiful than the very fact of the select nature of that company. I cannot understand anything that ought to affect every heart in this room more.

• It only remains for me to answer the question, When things come to their present state of confusion, what should we do? Well, the two subjects I have dwelt upon are the constitution of the company, and the preservation of that company suited to the Lord.

Now I turn to what I may call the purgation or purging of the company. I turn to 2 Timothy 2: 16,

• "But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat as doth a canker – of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus".

• You learn here what was working at the time. The apostle is drawing near to his departure, all in Asia had turned away from his teaching, from that which was directly heavenly, and when the heavenly is surrendered, the assembly is also.

• It was not that they had given up the gospel of the grace of God; but they had given up what characterised Paul.

• But Paul tells Timothy, he is not discouraged. God has not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind, and therefore, Go on.

• But what has happened? Things have come to a very bad state. They had not acted on the instruction to the Thessalonians, namely, "To warn the unruly", hence the present state.

• I think we are not careful enough to check disorder in the bud, as here; hence they had come to the worst condition of things imaginable:
  • "Their word will eat as doth a canker".

• Chief men, too. How did that come to pass? What characterised the church then was that any man could utter what he liked.
  • "Shun profane and vain babblings: for they will increase unto more ungodliness".

• You are not to listen to unprofitable ministry. Well, what are we to do?

Now for purgation. The first great thing you are to do is, as you get in verse 21,

• "If a man therefore purge himself from these" –

• these vessels, not simply from the doctrines, but from the vessels. If a man purge himself from these vessels; that is the purgation.

• I see the church has failed in preservation, and, I believe, at the bottom, if we look at it closely – the Lord grant that we may – the Lord is not in the midst; if He were, this gross confusion would not have occurred. You see how great the declension. The state is deplorable, but not without remedy.

• The first thing, then is, you purge yourself from the vessels, you come out and be separate from the vessels; I purge out myself. The word for "purge out" is only used twice in Scripture, in 1 Corinthians 5, where you are to purge out the old leaven; that was for preservation,
  • but now that things had come to the worst form of declension, the word is, Purge yourself from the vessels to dishonour.

• It is not, that I purge myself from the church, I cannot do that; but I purge myself from the vessels to dishonour. You are separated, you take a separate place from the vessels to dishonour, and you shall be a vessel unto honour, fit for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work. What a wonderful reward!

• And I have seen it, too. That is, that a man's power is according to the measure of his separation. The state here is deplorable, but God is equal to the occasion; He is not without resources.
  • "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him".

• If you are purged, you are sanctified and meet for the Master's use, prepared unto every good work. Thank God! And is that all I am asked to do? Yes, to be a separate man, "a vessel unto honour".

• Is it to stand alone, be isolated, like a pelican in the wilderness, or like a sparrow upon the house-top? No. And now what am I to do? Read verse 22.
  • "Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart".

• We have got back to the true company, and their character as at the beginning. So that in the very lowest and most disorderly state of things, you are not to lose sight of the character of the company which suits the Lord.

• Timothy was not to set up a company for himself, but he was to follow these cardinal virtues;
  • "righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart".

• Thus there never would be a time when there would not be a company suited to the Lord, the two or three gathered to His name. In the Spirit there is always power to secure His presence. He gathers to Christ's name.

He will not leave Himself without a witness. He will have a company to the end fit for Himself. Stand alone? Never; I do not believe it. You will find some as pure as yourself to the end.

• The word 'pure' signifies that which suits the Lord. It has a connection with purge – is a cognate word. A company suitable to Him! Would you like to go with it? Yes, I would.

• What a wonderful resource in the darkest day! I trust every heart here will say, Thank God! and every one seek to be of this company.

God is not without power to maintain the light He has set up in the world, and therefore in every case, spite of all man does, what He has set up in beauty at the beginning, shall come out again at the end.

• That is, you will have a bright sunset, the very same light that came out at the first. I do not go into that now.

• That is what is left, it is the remnant. And a remnant is not a fag end, but the real thing as it was at the first, what Scripture calls "the rest". It is what is left of the original; like a bit of cloth. It is not great but it is a bit of the real original piece.

Well, beloved friends, I do not add more. But I hope that you will receive what I have tried to present to you, really from the Lord,

• and understand better what an effect it would have upon us to be as the "holy priesthood", enjoying the presence of the Lord;

• like the sons of Aaron entering within the holiest, to enjoy that wonderful scene of unclouded bliss.

The Lord grant that we may each of us understand it better, for His name's sake.

In the Old Testament you get in type what we are; the priest inside, and the Levite outside. I want now to show the effect of being a priest in company with the Minister of the holy places.

• The Lord does not give us so great a thing as His presence without giving marks of it – what I may call the guard. The Lord could not give us His presence without some distinct marks to confirm it.

• Now let us look at the effect of His presence. One might say, Will it have an effect on my private life? Assuredly it will. Mark this scripture, Luke 14: 33,
  • "Whosoever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple".

• It is not a question of salvation here. You cannot go farther than to hate your own life. It is a great point to know what to start with.

• I think it cannot but strike one in this passage how the Lord turns to the multitude, and how He sets forth all the difficulties in their way. He tells them the course they are to follow; and it is a very difficult course. He seems almost to check them;
  • "There went great multitudes with him: and he turned and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple", verses 26-27.

• As much as to say, Do you understand what you are to do? I ask the youngest in this room, What are you going to start with? Because it is a great thing to get a good start. What are you going to start with? With this: that you must forsake all that you have, or you cannot be His disciple. The point in this chapter is, that you are apart from everything but Christ.
  • "Whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple".

• You undertake everything on new ground.
  • "Be not conformed to this world; but be ye transformed".

• Transformed, not reformed. You are to fulfil the ordinances of God in which He has placed you, but you are to derive from Christ; you are to live Christ; you will fulfil all your relations in life far better; nothing on the old ground at all.
  • "Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his savour wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither good for the land, nor yet for the dunghill".

• Israel was the salt, but it had lost its savour.

I want to lay upon your heart the entire newness of the life into which you are brought. You can neither be a tower nor an army, but as Christ is in you, for nothing else will stand.

• I read this scripture because I want to lead your heart to understand – the Lord grant that each of us may understand it – as belonging to Christ, as those who know what it is to be gathered to His name – the wonderful sanctity of that position, what our individual course should be, that which is commonly called "private life".

• Here I get the great principle laid down, and it is absolute; but as the Lord said to Peter, there is no one who has given up these things for His sake, who shall not receive manifold more in this present time.

• Well, it is a great thing to begin with being a disciple of Christ. If I were dwelling on service, I might go a step farther and show you that you are Christ's slave and have no claim to anything whatever. A slave has no claim to anything, not to his family, property, his own life, or anything else; he belongs wholly to his master.

Now I turn to the passage in Numbers 8.

• "And I have taken the Levites for all the firstborn of the children of Israel. And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons from among the children of Israel, to do the service of the children of Israel in the tabernacle of the congregation, and to make an atonement for the children of Israel: that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel come nigh unto the sanctuary".

• I have read this to show that the Levites were given to the priests. I do not dwell upon it, but I desire to press that the priest's work was inside, while the Levite's work was outside – not a difficult thing to remember.

• The priests had to do with the inside, with God; the Levites with the outside, and they were given as a gift to Aaron and his sons. Keep this definitely before your minds. We are both priests and Levites. You see them distinct from each other in the type, but in the antitype they are united.

• The Levite had nothing to do but in connection with the priests. The Levites were given to the priests, and the Levites were taken instead of the firstborn who represent the assembly. This we cannot doubt.

• In Hebrews 12, we are called the assembly of the firstborn ones – as it should be read, it is plural – so that our proper aspect on the earth is as Levites; that is, we are Levites outside, answering to the priesthood inside, in the presence of God. That is our proper character here.

• I suppose all in this room will admit that we are priests, priests in the sanctuary; no one could escape seeing that we are the holy Priesthood, the consecrated company, the companions of our Lord Jesus Christ!

Do you admit that this is your great dignity? You say, Yes. And do you enjoy it? Yes. Then what sort of a person are you outside? I am a Levite. Right, and what is the Levite?