Among The Redeemed

Who would wish to dwell among the nations and to be numbered with them?

Why, even the professing church is such that to follow the LORD fully within its bounds is very difficult.

There is such a mingling and mixing that one often sighs for "a lodge in some vast wilderness."

Certain it is that the LORD would have His people follow a separated path as to the world and come out decidedly and distinctly from it.

We are set apart by the divine decree, purchase, and calling, and our inward experience has made us greatly to differ from men of the world;

And therefore our place is not in their Vanity Fair, nor in their City of Destruction, but in the narrow way where all true pilgrims must follow their LORD.

This may not only reconcile us to the world's cold shoulder and sneers but even cause us to accept them with pleasure as being a part of our covenant portion.

Our names are not in the same book, we are not of the same seed, we are not bound for the same place, neither are we trusting to the same guide;

Therefore it is well that we are not of their number.

Only let us be found in the number of the redeemed, and we are content to be off and solitary to the end of the chapter.

~Charles Spurgeon~

Relationship To The Altar

Why was it that Moses, when in touch with the people, was on the death side, the condemnation side, the judgment side, and everything was death?

On the other hand, why was it that he could turn and go into the Lord's presence, taking away the veil, and live in the very presence of that glory which to the people was death?

It is a very impressive thing. Here is the glory, this tremendous glory, and yet that glory on the one side ministered death.

But this man could just turn about, and without a veil go right into that glory and live.

The answer is found, of course, in an altar.

You will notice that, when Moses went up into the mount, the glory of the Lord was displayed, terrible glory, and he built an altar at the foot of the mount.

He went up by way of the altar, and there was always an altar between the gate of the court, where the people assembled, and the Most Holy Place, where the LORD was.

That altar made it possible for death to be changed to life.

The glory which had ministered judgment, and condemnation, had become the glory of a blessed communion.

So we ask, What does this altar mean?

We look at the sacrifice and we look at the blood: we find the offering and the blood perfect, without spot, without blemish, something that can pass the Divine scrutiny, can abide, can stand before the eye of GOD. 

When that is provided there is righteousness.

If you can turn and take that with you, that is, go before GOD in the value and the virtue of that, then you turn death into life, judgment into fellowship.

The Apostle, then, here speaks of "ministration of condemnation." There was a glory associated with it simply because it was the glory of GOD; it was GOD Who was in view.

Whatever the effect of GOD is, GOD is always glorious.

The effect depends upon where we are, upon which side of the altar we stand; whether we stand apart from the present values of that altar, or whether we stand right in the good of those values by faith.

It is clear that these people were in a state of unbelief, although called the LORD'S people.

At this time their whole history through the wilderness was one of unbelief.

They perished through unbelief, and the inference here is that even in the presence of all this provision, in type and symbol, their hearts were still unbelieving hearts...

Their hearts were hardened, so that they were not really in the good of all this by faith.

The effect for them was not what it might have been, namely, one of deliverance, of salvation; 

It was one of judgment, of condemnation.

They had the sacrifices, they had all the means of grace, but in heart were not really living in the good of those things.

That is why the thing was transcient. It had to go.

GOD never builds upon a foundation like that of mere external rites, performances; GOD builds upon an inner state. 

Read again from chapter 24: to chapter 34 of the book of Exodus, and mark the two movements there.

You will notice that in the beginning Moses went up into the mount and received the pattern of everything.

He was forty days in the mount. He received the law, the pattern of things complete, and then came down and found the people worshipping the golden calf, and there had to be this terrible judgment amongst them.

Then Moses went up a second time, and the LORD gave him the law again on fresh tables,  and he came down with the glory.

What we see is that, when Moses turned toward the people, there was a state there which was without faith, without heart relationship to the LORD, and the things which the LORD had provided.

The glory was therefore an occasion of judgment and death to them, but Moses himself was on other ground.

Moses was not on their ground; he was a mediator, he turned toward them; but he could also turn toward the LORD.

He was a mediator, and had other ground, the ground of a heart relationship with the LORD, and heart appreciation of the meaning of the altar and the blood; 

So that he needed no veil for himself. The veil was because of the people.

He himself could go in without a veil and live in the presence of the glory.

There are two sides, the "ministration of condemnation" and the "ministration of righteousness". 

The ministration of condemnation was because of the absence of faith in all that which GOD  had provided; the offering, the blood, the altar. 

~T. Austin Sparks~

Self The Stronghold Of Sin

Well, then, we must look at man, and what do we find?

What is the central thing in man?

It is this same thing - self, self, self, in some way. 

What is born in the blood will come out. 

Self-will, self-interest; the calculating upon a basis of how a given proposition or course will affect me, whether it will be to my advantage or disadvantage; and so on without end.

It is not seen only in grossly sensual forms, nor alone in the more common forms of ambition that might even be called worthy - the desire to climb the ladder of success, and so on.

But this thing can move right through into our spiritual life and become a secret hidden motive even in our quest for blessing, for power.

It can come out in a Peter who, when his Lord says to him "If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me" (John 13:8) will respond, with eager desire to have as much for himself as possible, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."

I do not want to get you analyzing and introspective, but I say we have to get down to this thing before we understand the Cross and before this spiritual personality which is Christ can be developed;

For it is only, as we have said, by way of the Cross that self-interest, self-sufficiency, self-realization, and a dozen other forms of self go out.

Not only the self which asserts itself, and is aggressive, imperious, seeking and loving the limelight, but also that which is pitying and drawing attention to itself because it is so poor and miserable and wretched a thing - it is all self.

Anything which has the effect of bringing us into view is self, and the Cross stands right in the way of that and says No to the whole thing that came from Satan, whatever form it takes - whether it is self-realization, asserting, forcing, driving, or self-pity with its negatives and its inferiority.

Satan is somewhere behind it all, and he will use it, and the effect is the hiding of Christ; and it has got to be dealt with somehow.

That is the school we are in.

It is this alliance of fallen man with Satan in the very nature of things which sums up the whole Bible from one standpoint...

And shows where GOD stands in relation to man when man is on his own ground and not on GOD'S ground.

~T. Austin Sparks~

A Man Of Rest...He Shall Build

THE men of rest are the builders of the most lasting structures. 

Solomon builds the Temple, not David. Mary's deed of anointing, learnt in much sitting at the Lord's feet, fills the world with its aroma.

What is needed to make us men and women of rest?

First, a profound conviction that God is working.

Never despair of the world, said the late Mrs. Beecher Stowe, when you remember what GOD did with slavery: the best possible must happen.

This serene faith, that all things are working out for the best the best to GOD, the best to man and that GOD is at the heart of all, will calm and still us in the most feverish days.

There is a strong and an experienced Hand on the helm.

Next, an entire surrender to his will.

GOD'S will is certain to mean the destruction of the flesh, in whatever form He finds it; but it is our part to yield to Him; to will his will even to the cross; to follow our leader Christ in this, that He yielded Himself without reserve to execute his Father's purpose.

Thirdly, a certain knowledge that He is working within to will and do of his good pIeasure.

What a blessed peace possesses us when once we realize that we are not called on to originate or initiate, nor to make great far reaching plans and try to execute them; but just to believe that GOD is prepared to work through our hands, speak by our life, dwell in our bodies, and fulfil in us the good purposes of his will.

Be full of GOD'S rest.

Let there be no hurry, precipitation, or fret; yield to God's hands, that He may mold thee: hush thy quickly throbbing pulse!

So shalt thou build to good and lasting purpose.     
      
~F. B. Meyer~

Run With Patience

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,  

O run with patience is a very difficult thing. Running is apt to suggest the absence of patience, the eagerness to reach the goal.

We commonly associate patience with lying down. We think of it as the angel that guards the couch of the invalid. Yet, I do not think the invalid's patience the hardest to achieve.

There is a patience which I believe to be harder--the patience that can run.

To lie down in the time of grief, to be quiet under the stroke of adverse fortune, implies a great strength; but I know of something that implies a strength greater still:

It is the power to work under a stroke; to have a great weight at your heart and still to run; to have a deep anguish in your spirit and still perform the daily task. It is a Christlike thing!

Many of us would nurse our grief without crying if we were allowed to nurse it.

The hard thing is that most of us are called to exercise our patience, not in bed, but in the street.

We are called to bury our sorrows, not in lethargic quiescence, but in active service--in the exchange, in the workshop, in the hour of social intercourse, in the contribution to another's joy.

There is no burial of sorrow so difficult as that; it is the "running with patience."

This was Thy patience, O Son of man! It was at once a waiting and a running--a waiting for the goal, and a doing of the lesser work meantime.

I see Thee at Cana turning the water into wine lest the marriage feast should be clouded.

I see Thee in the desert feeding a multitude with bread just to relieve a temporary want.

All, all the time, Thou wert bearing a mighty grief, unshared, unspoken.

Men ask for a rainbow in the cloud; but I would ask more from Thee.

I would be, in my cloud, myself a rainbow--a minister to others' joy.

My patience will be perfect when it can work in the vineyard. 

~George Matheson~

When all our hopes are gone, 'Tis well our hands must keep toiling on For others' sake:

For strength to bear is found in duty done; And he is best indeed who learns to make The joy of others cure his own heartache."

Abiding In Obedience, In Love

John 15:10  If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
 
These things cannot be parted -- abiding in obedience and abiding in the love of Jesus.

A life under the rule of Christ can alone prove that we are the objects of our LORD's delight.

We must keep our LORD's command if we would bask in His love. If we live in sin we cannot live in the love of Christ.

Without the holiness which pleases GOD we cannot please Jesus.

He who cares nothing for holiness knows nothing of the love of Jesus.

Conscious enjoyment of our LORD's love is a delicate thing.

It is far more sensitive to sin and holiness than mercury is to cold and heat.

When we are tender of heart and careful in thought, lip, and life to honor our LORD Jesus, then we receive tokens of His love without number.

If we desire to perpetuate such bliss we must perpetuate holiness.

The LORD Jesus will not hide His face from us unless we hide our face from Him. Sin makes the cloud which darkens our Sun:

If we will be watchfully obedient and completely consecrated we may walk in the light, as GOD is in the light, and have as sure an abiding in the love of Jesus as Jesus has in the love of the Father.

Here is a sweet promise with a solemn "if," LORD, let me have this "if" in my hand; for as a key it opens this casket.

~Charles Spurgeoon~