Blood Touched Consecrated Ear

We read of the consecration of Aaron and his sons, and the placing of the blood upon the tip of their right ears~the ear consecrated by means of the blood. The blood, as you know was always the means of discrimination and separation; all that upon which the blood was sprinkled was separated unto the Lord, consecrated to Him.

The blood - speaking of an end made to a whole regime and provision made for an entirely new order of things - the blood stood between. You hardly need me to illustrate that from Scripture, for there is so much. Perhaps the outstanding Old Testament illustration would be the blood of the Lamb sprinkled on the door posts and the lintel of the homes of the Hebrews in Egypt.

By that sprinkled blood they were marked out as separate from the Egyptians, and as a people with an entirely new future, a new history. The blood separated and the blood laid the foundation for something altogether new - that from that passover they were constituted God's people in a new way. That is the principle of the blood, that it separates from one system and makes a way for another.

Now here, in the priesthood, we have that very strongly emphasized. There was the blood of the ram of consecration, and placed upon the ear, it meant quite simply that the blood was going to challenge, test and judge every presentation to the mind through the ear. 

The blood would interrogate everything coming to the inner life through the ear, as to where it came from, as to the nature of it. The blood would judge it and say, That is not of God; that is not according to the mind of the Lord; that belongs to the old creation which is in alliance with sin; that springs from the original source where Satan spoke into the ear.

The blood thus would judge everything, condemning what was not of God, and keeping the way open for the Lord - a very simple lesson, but a very powerful one. The Lord Jesus said, Take heed what ye hear (Mark 4:24). Priesthood here means the spiritual man, the man who is wholly unto the Lord, completely at the Lord's disposal; and the spiritual man is going to be very careful what he allows himself to hear, what he allows to enter into his mind, into his inner life, and become a part of him inwardly through his ear. He is not going to listen to everything. He is going to judge what he hears and to refuse quite a lot. 

Now that may apply to a large number of things which it would be unwise to try to catalog. We can do unspeakable damage to our own spiritual life, and make it impossible for the Lord to speak to us, if we allow ourselves to listen to that which is not of the Lord, that which is contrary to Him.

The enemy has gained great power for his kingdom through the ear of the world; he has a great hold on men along the line of hearing. He uses many things - it may be certain types of music, or ways of speaking. The consecrated servant of the Lord does not allow that sort of thing voluntarily.

We are in this world, and we cannot avoid hearing many things that we should not wish to hear; but the important matter is not the sounds around us that strike upon our outward ear, but our reaction thereto, whether we consent to what we hear. Do we judge it and inwardly revolt against it and refuse it, or do we lend an ear to it? 

I think this may specially apply to what we allow ourselves to hear about people. Untold damage is done by gossip and by criticism. Now, there is no point in having lips to talk if there are no ears to hear, and sometimes the sealing of unwise and uncontrolled lips may come by a refusal to listen.

The priest is called upon to refuse to listen to a whole realm of things, to judge it and say, I do not want to hear that; I am not listening to it, I am not accepting it.

You can, I am sure, see what a terrible lot of mischief exists today even amongst real children of God, caused by rumors, by talk, by passing on reports, by interpretations given to things; and how susceptible we are to that sort of thing!

Well, this blood-touched ear, the consecrated ear, conveys a fundamental lesson.  It refuses to accept and to allow to pass into the inner life a whole world of things. 
~T. Austin Sparks~

The Principle Of Safety

                                        

Whenever we are being faced with some new and different course, some fresh proposition or position, there is one all-governing question that we should ask, and which we should take ample time to ponder and pray over seriously.

That question is~Does this thing before me stand in direct line with the full purpose of God, as revealed not in a fragment but in the fulness of His Word?

God has left us in no doubt that He has a clearly defined purpose in view as the ultimate object of all His dealings. He has also made it abundantly clear what that purpose is. Further it is distinctly shown that believers are called according to his purpose and that they are to make their calling and election sure.

One who was an aged and advanced believer, and a greatly used servant of God, said toward the end of his course that his great concern was that he might apprehend that for which he had been apprehended by Christ Jesus.

It is the business and duty of every true Christian to study so as to be quite clear as to what that Eternal Purpose is. Having done so everything that arises to engage us must be brought to the judgment bar of that purpose, and interrogated in its light. God will not cut across our path, or give us particular light at any fork in the road if we have not been diligent in this quest or faithful to the light given.

It just will not do to allow ourselves to be influenced by questions of comparative right or wrong good or bad, permissibility, desirability, expediency, or policy. Nor must ambition, soul-gratification, enlarged prospects for the Lord, wider acceptance in Christianity, or any such thing, colour our judgment or affect our decision. Advantage and cost are ruled out here as deciding factors.

One question, and one alone, will decide tragedy or glory: Does this that is before me stand directly in line with the full purpose of God? When the end is reached, the full story told, the sum taken, how much that is bound up with this will be stripped off, as having no real substance with what is Christ, and therefore fail to be carried over into the eternal? What will the River carry away, and what will emerge on the other side? This was the big question that Paul put to the Corinthians.

In all the generations of this dispensation God is at work, seeking to secure a maximum of eternal value in accordance with eternal purpose in His elect. His discipline is to sift out the chaff, the merely perishable, and store up the imperishable. When He has secured in heaven an adequate and commensurate measure of that which is His Son out of all these generations, the terminus of the age will be brought about, the world purged by fire, and that accumulated eternal value be brought in with the elect, to be the governing character of the ages of the ages. 

Because so much hangs upon this issue, the course of the Purpose is beset by every means and effort for its frustration.

The peril or snare will be cunningly and ingeniously adapted to the prey. What would capture some would make no appeal to others. The most spiritual will be presented with what appears to be most spiritual. Our particular temperament will be our peculiar danger. We shall have to, ever and always, be governed by principle, and not by feelings, preferences, arguments, or natural appeal. Intellectual palliatives, emotional ecstasies, activity gratifications must be suspected or challenged.

The one question must be paramount~Where does this lead? Does it essentially and intrinsically relate to the one supreme purpose of God?

~T. Austin Sparks~

The 1965 Prophecy

This Prophetic Word Was Spoken By Stanley Frodisham Who Was A Personal Friend Of Smith Wigglesworth. It Was Given In Chicago In 1965 Five Years Before He Died. This Word Is Coming To Pass Even Now. It Is A Pertinent Word For This Day In Which We Live. We Pray All Will Heed It.
 
Deception Is So Subtle Now It Is Hard To Tell Between The True And False That Is Why Being In The Word Of God and Being In An Intimate Relationship With God Is So Important. Don't Be Deceived!                                                                                

Abide In The Vine And Bear Much Fruit

                            

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

I have not been the least of those who have striven, and agonized, and strained, and pressed and reached out for all that the Lord would have, all that is possible.

It is possible to wear yourself right out, and kill yourself in a spiritual quest, and the Lord at last says to our hearts: "If you only know Me, things will happen; it will all come to pass without any of your strain, struggle and agony. I am going to bear this fruit. I will bear it through you by way of union and fellowship.

Remember that the holy, blessed secret of fellowship is just resting in Me, abiding in Me."If you saw all the branches of the vine every day groaning and agonizing, and writhing in order to bear their fruit, you would see something which is altogether unnatural.

As a matter of fact you will see nothing of the kind. You will see them abiding there and bearing fruit. It is what we often speak of as the rest of faith.

What is behind the rest of faith? It is not bringing yourself to a passive state, when you inwardly sink down and say, "I am just going to rest." It is knowing the Lord, God in Christ; for the way in which God has joined Himself to us is in Christ, not apart, and the way in which we have been joined to God is in Christ, not apart. 

The answer to every need is knowing Him in this way.

~T. Austin Sparkss~

LORD Let Our Eyes Be Opened

                                       

Mat 20:32  And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? 

Mat 20:33  They say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.                

We shall never see Divine things by the aid of our reason. We shall never see things because they are put plainly to us by the one who ministers. No, it will only be as Jesus of Nazareth comes into touch with us and we with Him. And that applies to every stage of the Christian life.

If there are any reading these lines, who have never in the first place had their eyes opened to see, so that the result is Life eternal~for knowing is only another word for seeing, and Jesus said, This is Life Eternal, that they should know Thee the only True God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ (John 17:3) That they should know~another word for seeing.

If you have not yet entered into Life, received eternal Life, remember that it will not just happen to you; it will not simply happen. You will have to become tremendously concerned about this and show the Lord that you mean business; you will have to be like Bartimaeus and cry, and so much the more cry.

Remember that the Lord does so often wait, delay, and hold off, to see if we really place value upon this seeing. We are tested as to how much we esteem His things.

And what is true at the beginning is true all the way along. There is no end to Divine revelation; there is no end to our seeing. Oh, how little we have seen, how little we know, of the vast stores of Divine intention and thought and purpose and meaning.

We stand and paddle on the shores of this vast ocean of God and of His purposes and meanings in our creation. How little we know about it! and we are not going to know until we have deep heart exercise. 

But it is there, and it is there for us, and oh, we have got to come in this way~so much the more. Are you like that after a conference, or after any meeting in which there has been a ministry of God's Word? Are you sure you have seen all that God meant you to see? Are you just hearing what is said? You agree – but what is the effect? The real effect waits upon this heart exercise, this crying out – and a crying out "so much the more."

The Lord is not close and mean, holding it from you, but He is wanting to know that this is of greater price to you than all else; if needs be, of greater price than your sleep, your rest: you are going to give Him no rest until He opens your eyes.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Spiritual Sight

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Rev 3:19  As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

 

There is the big question which is always confronting us as to why is it that some leap into the light and go on, and others do not, but always lag behind, and never seem to see any more?

Is it that there is a selectiveness on the part of God, a kind of elect of the elect that He has, is it that He has favorites? I do not think so. I think a great part of the answer lies here, namely, in what God finds He has to deal with, whether people mean business with Him or not, whether He has a clear way or not, whether the ground is occupied or not already by that which is an obstruction to Him.

I do not think anybody will fail to get all the light the Lord wants them to have if they really do mean business with God. The Holy Spirit knows us. He looks right deep down into our hearts and knows whether we mean business. He sees exactly what there is to hinder Him and how far He can go; for the Lord is not going to coerce anyone.

If we are taken up with ourselves, occupied with ourselves, circling round ourselves, centering in ourselves, then the Holy Spirit has not a chance. We have to come to an end of ourselves. That is the trouble with so many. They have got a self-complex set up, and all the time it is a continuous going round in a circle and coming back to the same point at which they started, and it is all round themselves, and they are wearing themselves out.

Before long they are going to have an awful crash that involves all that for which they are supposed to stand and represent for the Lord, and it will come down with them. The Holy Spirit has not a clear way. We have to get out of the way, so far as this self-occupation is concerned, if we are going to move straight on, and to go on.

He knows exactly where we are, whether we are so tied up in them that we are not open to the Lord to consider any further light at all. "We have got it all, or our people with whom we are associated have got it all, and we are a part of that!" You know what I mean.

The Holy Spirit cannot do much with folk who are in a position like that; and He knows. His attitude is, "It is no use, I cannot do much there, they are too tied up." But, if we are prepared to put everything into the water, then the Lord can go on and get a clear way.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Steadfastness In FIERY Trial

Php 1:9  And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and in all judgment

Php 1:10  That ye may approve things that are excellent; that ye may be sincere and without offence till the day of Christ

Personal, inward, spiritual intelligence is a very rare thing. No wonder that the enemy has such a successful line in delusions, counterfeits, and false representations.

Our greatest safeguard against such will be a deep knowledge of the Lord through discipline. To know the Lord in a real way means steadfastness when others are being carried away steadfastness through times of fiery trial.

Those who know the Lord do not put forth their own hand and try to bring things about. Such are full of love and patience, and do not lose their poise when everything seems to be going to pieces.

Confidence is an essential and inevitable fruit of this knowledge, and in those who know Him there is a quiet restful strength which speaks of a great depth of Life.

Let me point out that in Christ "are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge hidden," and the Lord's will for us is to come to an ever-growing realization and personal appreciation of Him in Whom all the fullness dwells. We have only stated facts as to the Lord's will for all His own, and their greatest need. The absence of this real knowledge of the Lord has proved to be the most tragic factor in the Church's history.

Every fresh uprising of an abnormal condition has disclosed the appalling weakness amongst Christian people because of this lack. Waves of error; the swing of the pendulum to some fresh popular acceptance; a great war with its horrors and many-sided tests of faith; all these have swept away multitudes and left them in spiritual ruin.

These things are ever near at hand, and we have written this message to urge upon the Lord's people to have very definite dealings with Him that He will take every measure with them that they might know Him.

~T. Austin Sparks~

Dark Experiences

                             

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

God does not tell us what He is doing when taking us through dark experiences. If He did, it would be all right. If He said, "I am going to lead you into a bad time, it is all going to be dark and strange and perplexing and bewildering and helpless, but it is all right, I am working a tremendous thing, this is what I am going to bring out of it," if He said that, the faith element would fade out.

If only He would tell us He is doing something, and what He is doing, instead of leaving us in the dark and seeming to be so far away and without any interest in us! If only! Ah yes, but He did not do that, and we know He does not do that, He does not explain. But here is the challenge.

This is what is meant by Hebrews 11 and the men of faith, that is what it means. And thank God we have the heritage, we have a great heritage, we have more than they had. These men did not have a Bible, it was not written when they were going through it. We have their story and so many more. We see the issue, we have the sequel, but is it really helping us? 

When you are having a bad, dark time and feel that all has gone wrong, read the story of Joseph again... starting on it you will not want to put it down. Take its great lessons. The God of Joseph is our God and He is doing the same thing, and we know that that is true to life. 

What I have been saying is so true to life. We have that evidence. That, at any rate, is very much like my experience, and therefore I have reason to think and believe that the same thing is involved. The God of resurrection is working this to glory.

~T. Austin Sparks~

The Temptress

        The Temptress The Whore Will Destroy Your Freedom

Mat 4:8  Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
 
Mat 4:9  And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
 
Mat 4:10  Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
 
Mat 4:11  Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.

Gal 5:1  Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.  

ENTER Into HIS Rest

Heb 3:18  And to whom sware he that they should not enter into his rest, but to them that believed not?

We have no right to go to the unsaved and bid them come to Christ and find rest until and unless we ourselves know that rest.

Our testimony and our ministry is jeopardized, weakened, limited and discredited if we are not ourselves in rest; and this is the object of the enemy's activity in this matter – to discredit us by taking from us that very birthright of our union with Him Who is never perturbed, never anxious, never in doubt as to the issue, the One Who reigns.

You see, rest is the practical outworking of our belief that He is LORD and the very LORDSHIP of Christ is struck at by the unrest of the people of God.

Do not think that it is necessarily such-and-such things that account for our condition. These may be contributing factors, they may be very testing, may bear upon us very heavily. Physical matters – yes, they do press, they do make the situation exceedingly difficult, they do make a difference. Circumstances in which we have to live our lives, they do make a lot of difference, they make the situation exceedingly difficult. 

We say, "If only the Lord would deal with this physical matter or these circumstances or this something else! It is all due to that, that is the cause of it, the reason for it." That is our way of reasoning, but it is not the Lord's thought at all.

The thing is deeper down than that, and it is simply a matter of believing God; resolute faith, confidence in God. The Lord is trying to get us out of our variable and varying soul life where we are at the mercy of all our feelings, thoughts and reasonings and all that kind of thing, into a realm where, in spirit, we are steadfast.

That is the point upon which it is all fixed in the Psalm. Their heart was not steadfast with Him (Psa. 78:37), and around that the whole of their forty years is gathered.

The key to this is spiritual; tested by every other line, every other means, it is a spiritual matter ultimately. To be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inward man (Eph. 3:16) is the answer to it all.

~T. Austin Sparks~