Revelation
Pergamos -
cont.
If you will look at the sixteenth chapter of Luke, you will
find the Lord announcing very distinctly us principle. The unjust steward is
our picture here,- the picture of those who are (as we all are as to the old
creation) under sentence of dismissal from the place they were originally put
in, on account of unrighteous dealing in it. Grace has not recalled the
sentence, "Thou mayest be no longer steward." It has given us far more, but it
has not reinstalled us in the place we have thus lost. Death, in fact, is our
removal from our stewardship, although it be the entrance, for us as
Christians, into something which must be confessed "far better."
But
grace has delayed the execution of the sentence, and meanwhile our
Master’s goods are in our hand. All that we have here are His things, and
not ours. And now God looks for us to be faithful in what is, alas! to men as
such (creature of God as indeed it is,) "the mammon of unrighteousness," - the
miserable deity of unrighteous man. Moreover, grace counts this faithfulness to
us. We are permitted to "make friends of this mammon of unrighteousness" by our
godly use of it, whereas it is naturally, through our fault, our enemy and our
accuser. It must not be imagined that the "unjust steward" is to be our
character literally all through. The Lord shows us that this is not so when He
speaks of "faithfulness" being looked for. No doubt the unjust steward in the
parable acts unjustly with his master’s goods, and it must not be imagined
that God commends him, it is "his lord "that does so, - man as man admiring the
shrewdness which he displayed. Yet only so could be imaged that conduct which
in us is not injustice but faithfulness to our Master, - grace entitling us to
use what we have received, for our own true and eternal interests, which in
this case are one with His own due and glory. But then there are things also
which we may speak of as "our own." What are these? Ah, they are what the Lord
speaks of as, after all, "the true riches." "If ye have not been faithful in
the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if
ye have not been faithful in that which is Another’s, [not ‘another
man’s,’ but of course God’s,] who will give you that which is
your own?
Thus our own things are distinct altogether; and I must not
tell Christians what they are. I need only remind you that if you have in your
thoughts as men down here, a quantity of things, your own possessions, to be
liberal with or to hoard up, - in both cases you misapprehend the matter. You
have as to things here your Master’s goods, which if you hoard up here,
you surely lose hereafter, and turn into accusers. On the other hand, you are
graciously permitted to transfer them really to your own account, by laying
them up amid your treasure, where your treasure is - "in heaven."
The
rich man in the solemn illustration at the end of the chapter was one who had
made his Lord’s "good things " his own after another fashion, and in
eternity they were not friends, but enemies and accusers. "Son," says Abraham
to him, "remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things." That
was all, but what a solemn memory it was! How once again the purple and fine
linen and sumptuous fare met the eyes they had once gratified and now appalled!
Lazarus had been at his gate, but it was not Lazarus that accused. And oh,
beware of having things your own down here! There was a man who had "his good
things" here, and in eternity what were they to him?
I know this is not
the gospel. No, but it is what, as the principle of God’s holy government,
the gospel should prepare us to understand and to enter into. Have you observed
that the most beautiful and affecting story of gospel grace, the story of the
lost son received, is what precedes the story of the unjust steward? The
Pharisees who in the fifteenth chapter stand for the picture of the elder son
are here rebuked in the person of the rich man. Will not the prodigal received
back to a Father’s arms be the very one who will understand that he owes
his all to a Father’s love? Is not "Ye are bought with a price" the
gospel? But then "ye are bought. ye are not your own."
Put it in
another way. You remember that when God would bring His people out of Egypt,
Pharaoh wanted to compromise, - of course by that compromise to keep the people
as his slaves. Three separate offers he makes to Moses, each of which would
have prevented salvation being, according to God’s thought of it,
salvation at all. The first compromise was, "Worship in the land."
"And
Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, ‘Go ye, sacrifice to
your God in the land."
And still the world asks, "Why need you go outside
it? You are entitled to your opinions, but why be so extreme? Why three
days’ journey into the wilderness? Why separate from what you were brought
up in, and from people as good as you?" Ah, they do not know what that three
days’ journey implies, and that the death and resurrection of Christ place
you where you are no more of the world than He is! Egypt, - luxurious,
civilized, self-satisfied, idolatrous Egypt, - and the wilderness! what a
contrast! Yet only in the wilderness can you sacrifice to God.
Then he
tries another stratagem : - "And he said unto them, ‘Go, serve the Lord
your God; but who are they that shall go?’ "And Moses said, ‘We will
go with our young and with our old, with our sons and with our daughters, with
our flocks and with our herds we will go; for we must hold a feast unto the
Lord."
"And he said unto them, ‘Let the Lord be so with you, as I will
let you go and your little ones: 1ook to it, for evil is before you. Not so: go
now ye that are men, and serve the Lord; for that ye did desire."
By
their little ones he had them safe, of course, - a perfectly good security that
they would not go far away. And so it is still. How many are brought back into
the world by the children they not bring with them out of the world!
One last hope remains for Pharaoh "And Pharaoh called unto Moses, and
said, ‘Go serve the Lord; only let your flocks and your herds be stayed:
let your little ones also go with you"
"Leave your possessions," he says;
and how many leave their possessions! Themselves are saved: but their business,
their occupation, these are still not sacred things, they are secular; what
have these things to do with the salvation of the soul? But God says, No: bring
them all out of Egypt: yourselves, your families, your property, - all are kept
to be Mine.
And in point of fact, His it must be if we would ourselves
keep it, for we cannot keep it of ourselves. The man out of whom the devil went
is our Lord’s Own illustration of the fact that an empty house will never
lack a tenant. The sweeping and gardishing and all that, will not keep out the
devil, but perhaps only make him more earnest after occupation. Nothing will
save from it but the positive possession of it by another, who will not and
need not give it up. So we must bring Christ into every thing, or by that in
which He is not we shall find we have but made room for another, -
Christ’s opposite. The parable has application in many ways and in many
degrees to those who are Christ’s people, as well as to those who are not.
Our really idle hours are not idle. Our useless occupations have a use, if not
for Christ, then against Him. Our so-called recreations may be but the
frittering away of energy, as well as time, and not only distraction, but the
seed of worse distraction.
We are in a world where on every side we are
exposed to influences of the most subtle character; where corruption and decay
are natural; and where all thus is not permeated by divine life, it becomes the
necessary and speedy subject of decay and death. To a beleaguered garrison, a
holiday may be fatal. We cannot ever here ungird our loins or unbuckle our
armor. It is not enough to withstand in the evil day; but having done all,
still you must stand. So if you leave Christ at the door of the counting-house,
you will have to contend alone with (or give place to) the devil within the
counting-house.
Does this startle you? does it seem to require too
much? It requires that you should be with Christ in constant companionship, at
all times and on all occasions. Is that narrow, - a rigid, an uncomfortable
view of matters? Does it distress you to think of giving Him such a place as
that? There are those who believe that he is the picture of a converted man,
who complains he never got a kid to make merry with his friends. Do you realize
that? Do you sympathize with such a view? Have you friends that you would like
to run away to for a while out of Christ’s scrutiny or company? Beloved,
when you think of heaven, is it of a long monotony of being "ever with the
Lord"? You startle at that suggestion; and no wonder. But if you will find
eternal joy then, and now can think of it as that, to be ever with Him there,
is it less happy to think of being always with Him here?
At any rate,
you cannot alter the reality by all your thoughts about it. None of our
thoughts can change the nature of things. You cannot find in all this world a
clean corner in which you can be apart from Christ and yet apart from evil. And
if you could, the very idea of being so would of itself pollute it with evil.
No; Christ must be a constant Saviour as to every detail of our walk and ways.
Communion with Him is the only alternative of communion with evil. The wisdom
that has not Him in it, will be "earthly, sensual, devilish;" if it come not
from above, come it will from below.
Thus you see how important it is
to be right here. It is not a mere question of points of detail; it is a
question of truth of heart to Him, which affects every detail, - the whole
character and complexion of our lives indeed. So you must not wonder at a
question of cattle being concerned with a deeper question of "salvation"
itself; looking at salvation as not merely being from wrath and condemnation,
but of salvation from the sin also which brings in these. God gives it us thus
in the typical picture here, and it is not a blot or deformity in the picture,
but rather an essential part. Be persuaded of it, beloved friends, that only
thus can we find, in the full power of it, what salvation is.
We have
been looking at this from the side of responsibility. Surely it is good to look
at it also from the side of salvation. Until you are clean delivered in these
three respects, you cannot be happily with God, nor even safe. Of course I am
not talking about reaching heaven; you may be safe in that respect. But
whatever you have that is not Christ’s, that is the world’s still,
and it will drag you back into the world. You are keeping it back from Him; you
have a divided interest; how can this but affect all your intercourse, all your
happiness (or what you ought to have) with Him? Can you go to your business and
shut the door upon Him and He not feel it, and you not feel it? Can you say to
Him, "Lord, Sunday is Yours and Monday is mine," or "Lord, there is Your tenth,
and these nine are mine," and feel perfectly satisfied that all is right with
Him?
And practically, it gets to be much less. He gets a part of our
superfluity, and that is all. We must dress like our neighbours, live up to our
rank of life, put a little by for a "rainy day," and something for our
children. "We must be just before we are generous," we think. And then, with
some reserve for recreation, and some for miscellaneous trifles, all the rest
shall be the Lord’s. It may be but a "mite," but did not He accept a mite?
So the very narrowness of our dole to the Lord who has saved us links us with
her who had His special commendation.
Better keep it all back than give
it in that fashion. For the amount given just hinders from realizing where we
are. We give it ungrudgingly, perhaps: we think it has the Lord’s approval
therefore. We do not think how much it is that we can give ungrudgingly.
Ungrudgingly it must be. Love it must be. Though I give all my goods to feed
the poor, except it be love that does it, it will be utterly contemned. But if
our love is measured by what we give to Him, how serious is the question
raised!
In this great world of sorrow and of evil, Christ has interests
dear to His heart, - how dear, no one of us has perhaps a notion of. Souls lie
in darkness to whom His Word would give light, and in bondage to whom it would
bring deliverance. He says to us, "I count upon My people to do this." How can
we answer to Him for this confidence He has placed in us? Shall we say, "Lord,
I have had to keep up with my neighbours, to provide for the future, to do a
great many things, which I thought of more importance"? or shall we say, "Lord,
Thou art so great, so high, so powerful, Thou surely canst not want my help in
a matter like this!" or, again, "Lord, Thou art so gracious, I am sure Thou
wilt accept anything I may bring: I would not suppose Thee a hard Master, to
want me to bring Thee much"? Alas, what shall we say? Shall we not rather own
with broken hearts how little we have valued Him?
The "doctrine of
Balaam" thrives upon the restlessness of God’s own people. Do not let us
imagine, because we denounce the mercenary character of what is current all
around, that we can have no share in upholding what we denounce. It is far
otherwise. If we have given cause, are giving cause, to those who sneer at the
advocates of "cheap religion," we are giving it the most effectual possible
support. In words, you denounce; in deeds, you justify. You tell them that it
is vain to trust to the power of Christ’s love in Christians, - that your
own barn is practically dearer to you than all God’s house; and they can
point to you triumphantly as proof of the necessity of all that they contend
for.
Beloved, I have done. I have spoken out my heart, and I must pray
you bear with me. Who that looks around with a heart for Christ upon all the
abominations practiced in His name but must be led to ask, Did not all this
evil spring out of the failure of His own people - of those who at heart loved
Him? And further, how far are we perhaps now unsuspectingly helping on the very
evils we deplore? Do we not pray for Him to search out our hearts? and shall we
shrink from having them searched out? If the search detects nothing, we need
not fear it: if it shows us unanticipated evil, it is well to realize that the
truthful judgment of the evil is ever the truest blessing for our souls. It
will cost us something, no doubt, to walk in what is ever a narrow way. A race,
a warfare, call for energy and self-denial. But ah, beloved, it will cost us
more, much more, to have Christ walk as a stranger to us because our paths and
His do not agree. How few, when they speak of cost, put this into their
balance-sheet! Yet, “if I wash thee not,” He says, “thou hast no
part with Me.” Are there not many trying to keep up appearances, when that
is the inward trouble of their souls?
But the door is open, beloved, to
came back. He has never shut it. The one thing so greatly lacking now is whole-
hearted integrity; so few without some secret corner in their hearts that they
would not like to have searched out by Him. That corner must be searched out,
for He must be a Saviour after His own fashion; and if we would not have it, we
can have little apprehended the fullness and reality of His salvation. Not
alone does He save from wrath: He saves from sin. It is in subjection to His
yoke that we find rest. From our own will and ways and thoughts, in His blessed
will, His thoughts, His love. God grant it to us for His name’s sake, even
now.
Chapter Eight Pergamos: the Promise to
the Overcomer
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