1 Timothy 6:11 - 16

Eternal life is a gift from God. "The act of favour of God, eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord", Romans 6:23; and the fact that "our Lord" is added there means that you can enjoy it now. Life is said to be in Christ Jesus, 2 Timothy 2:1. Thank God it is there, and if I am living under His Lordship I can enjoy it now. But, though it is mine by right and title as the gift of God, it says here, Lay hold of it. The journeyings recorded in Numbers 33 are called "goings out", but they were in view of going in to the land. There was the fellowship in the wilderness, but the goings out were in view of going in to the land, which typifies eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. The two things run on concurrently in our day. We do not have to wait till the end of the wilderness before we can touch the land. The further we traverse the goings out, the more we are ready for the goings in. But we have to be set for these things. "Life is real, life is earnest", a poet of old has said, and it is true. You have to be in earnest. "Strive earnestly", it says, "in the good conflict of faith, lay hold of eternal life", or "Seize" it. So the thing is to seize eternal life to which you have been called. Because it has been given to you, it does not mean you are in the gain of it. Don't take anything for granted. You say, 'Eternal life is mine; God has given it to me'. Yes! But are you consciously in possession? You have been called to it, but have you laid hold of it?

Well now, I believe this is a most favourable time in which to lay hold of eternal life. I have never known a better time. When everything many have lived in for years has been swept away, now is the time to lay hold of eternal life and to prove what we really have. I cannot conceive of a time more favourable. I think of those refugees from Jerusalem in Acts 8:4 and 11: 20, going out with their baggage. Refugees are usually despondent sort of people; they have left homes and goods behind. But no one had ever before seen a stream of refugees like those in Acts. They went everywhere evangelising the word! Who would have thought that the gospel would be spread through the cities of Samaria and Galilee, and even as far as Antioch, by a stream of refugees? But God ordered it so. There they were, and what had they got? A short time before, if you had asked them what they had they would have said. We have the twelve apostles, we have meetings five thousand strong, we are having wonderful times in Jerusalem. But, you see, the scattering just proved how much they had really laid hold of eternal life. Thank God, they had. That is the point. And so, grieved and yet full of joy, they went everywhere evangelising the word. No prospect of more big meetings, they went two or three to this town and two or three to that, and you might have said to them. You have lost everything. And they would have replied, 'We have lost nothing of that which is really life'.

You see, outward spiritual favours are like mercies by the way. Rightly used, they help us to enjoy eternal life. But what marked those refugees was that they had the thing itself, and so they went everywhere evangelising the word. Having nothing, they possessed

all things. Think of them coming into a town, a few refugees. People would say, 'Who are these people?' And the answer would be, 'They are refugees, they have been persecuted and have had to leave Jerusalem'. 'But', would be the reply, 'They look so happy; we have never seen refugees like this before'. So they settle down in that place; they begin to come together, and the report of the happiness of the two or three would sound abroad through the place, and people would begin to say, 'We would like to know more about them; they have lost everything and yet they have something which is better than anything we have got'. And what was the secret? They were enjoying eternal life, and this is a joy which the Lord says no man takes from you. And, whereas whatever you have on earth is temporary, eternal life is something which cannot be taken from you. And so those men and women went out, and that is how the gospel spread in those early days. Paul says, "As having nothing and yet possessing all things". Even as regards testimony, the most favourable moment is when you have nothing materially and yet you have everything in your soul. That is what is going to impress men as to the superiority of Christianity over everything on earth.

So these men went forth and they were effective as evangelists; and we do not know the name of any of them except Philip. It may be none of them had the gift of an evangelist, except Philip, but they did the work of an evangelist; and when they came to Antioch some began to speak to the Greeks also and the Lord's hand was with them. Living water was flowing at Antioch, as at other places, rivers of it. That is the result of persons laying hold of eternal

life. According to John 4, the Spirit, as living water in the believer, springs up into eternal life, and according to John 7, rivers flow out from the believer. Thus, wherever those persons went there were rivers of water of life on a thirsty ground. And so, in the power of eternal life, the assembly was established in testimony at Antioch. We would like to have seen the faces of those scattered refugees when Barnabas went and fetched Saul of Tarsus; and they suddenly found walking in at the door the man who had persecuted them, and were assured by Barnabas that this was the man who would help them! How marvellous are the operations of God! Men might have tried to organise an evangelical campaign, even the apostles might have tried, but it could not have been so wonderful as that. It was God's doing. We need to learn simple reliance upon God and His Spirit, such as marked the apostles and early Christians in Acts, and to avoid mere human organisation which gives advantage to the enemy and works damage in the things of God.

I have brought in these references to Acts to emphasise that this is a favourable moment to lay hold of eternal life. Many things which we have allowed to distract us from it, have been taken from us. Therefore let us lay hold of eternal life to which we have been called. I want to lay hold of eternal life myself; I want to be living in eternal affections -- first of all in the affections of the Father and the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit -- dwelling in God and God in us -- that is the first thing -- 1 John 4:16. If I am dwelling in God I am dwelling in eternal love. I need nothing of earth to add to it for my satisfaction. True, He gives us all things richly to enjoy and to

hold for Him, but my life is not in the things down here.

My life lies in abiding in the Son and in the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Unspeakable satisfaction! That is the first thing, and then, if my affections are fixed in the Son and in the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit, so that I dwell in God and God in me, then I find what a wonderful sphere of affection I am brought into among God's children, all partakers of the divine nature, all loving Christ, all loving God and loving one another; and so I can link on with my brethren in bonds which are eternal. Paul loved Onesimus in the flesh and in the Lord. It is right to love persons in the flesh, but never make that the object, otherwise they will become idols. But you can love the brethren as in Christ, and on the level of new creation, without fear of them becoming idols. Soon we shall be in the realm where we shall be able to ungird eternally. Fervent affections will fill the scene -- the Father's love for the Son, the Son's love for the Father, the love of the Spirit bringing us into the current of the Father's love for the Son, of the Son's love for the Father and the love of Jesus for His own; able to love one another without restraint because anything that could cause insidiously any idolatry or corruption will be gone. But I would like to live in those incorruptible affections now. I do not know much about them, but I feel this present time is an opportunity to lay hold of eternal life and to begin to live in the affections and relationships in which we shall live through all eternity. It is life in Christ Jesus and is eternal in character.

It is the enjoyment of eternal life which gives power and freshness for true testimony and true worship. If

we are not in this, our worship and our testimony will not be what they ought to be. Eternal life is victory, victory over death; the affections we are called to live in are beyond death. The disciples could not enter into eternal life when Jesus was here. They saw "the eternal life which was with the Father, and has been manifested to us", 1 John 1:2; but could have no vital part in it with Christ after the flesh. Paul says, "If we have known Christ after the flesh we know him thus no more". That order of things is past, and how much it meant to those disciples to see it go. Think of their active life for three and a half years -- from sunrise to sunset, and perhaps longer, moving about with the Lord, five thousand meeting here, four thousand men besides women and children there; crowds, miracles, no time to eat; such was their active life. And then the climax, Jesus going into Jerusalem, hailed as the King, crowds saluting Him: yet only a week after, Jesus hanging on a cross, crowned with thorns, outside the city. What a sudden change in a week, from what they thought was the height of the Lord's triumph to the depth of Calvary's woe! They had to learn that the order of things they had lived in for three-and-a-half years could never be repeated. Christ after the flesh they were to know no more. Had He remained here in flesh they could have looked with admiration at that eternal life which was with the Father, but they would have had no part in it. Now they were to start again on an entirely new footing. Well, perhaps we ourselves now need to start on a new footing as having laid hold on eternal life. I am sure God intends that our links with the Son and with the Father, and our knowledge of the Holy Spirit as supporting us in

those links, should become real and dominant with us, and thus our links with one another become fervent and wholly spiritual. An opportunity like the present one will never occur again.

Now I want to indicate first what would hinder, for it is rather extraordinary the way things are put here. Paul says, "Thou, O man of God, flee these things". He is telling Timothy to run away as hard as he can from certain things; yet in the next verse he is telling him to stand like a soldier. That sounds like a contradiction, but if we are to lay hold of eternal life we must do those two things. When it comes to the love of money and all that is connected with Egypt and Babylon, we are to flee without looking back, but when it comes to standing for the faith, we are not to turn our backs but to strive earnestly in the good conflict of faith. These two things are needed if we are to lay hold of eternal life. First, the world would seduce you, either in its Egyptian character or its Babylonish character. The love of money is a root of every evil. Money gives you position and power in Egypt. There may be other roots, but this is a prominent one.

And the love of money creeps into Babylon as well. It is when you get the religious idea connected with the love of money you get Babylon. So it speaks in verse 3, of "men corrupted in mind and destitute of the truth, holding gain to be the end of piety". The profession of piety, but holding gain to be the end of it, is the principle of Babylon and that is what christendom, much of it, has sunk to. But that evil is in my heart and I have to flee these things. Christians can become corrupted in mind. Few things are more corrupting than love of money; and then

there is love of power and men's approbation and so on. And a man who has not realities in his soul begins to think of gain in one form or another. That is the opposite to laying hold of eternal life. So whether it is the Egyptian aspect or the Babylonish aspect, we have to flee these things because we are all in danger of being overtaken by them. "But thou, O man of God, flee these things". That is one side.

But then, when it comes to the faith, we must stand and not yield an inch. God would help us to do this in the present time. Since we have an implacable enemy who will never cease his attacks, we have simply got to be soldiers or else become casualties. So he says, "Fight the good fight of faith". You are not giving up one item of the faith. It means not only your personal faith, although that must be there, but it is a question of the christian faith. Are we going to surrender any item? The christian faith among other things includes the teaching which is according to piety. Part of the christian faith is the mystery of piety. God has been manifested in flesh: the path of Jesus here was a path of perfect piety. Faith lays hold of God and His thoughts and His purposes. Piety means that I bring God into my affairs and walk before Him. Jesus has trodden the path of piety in perfection as a Man down here; and anyone teaching that His path of perfect piety is a path that a Christian cannot follow, is teaching something totally false. We are to stand for every element of the christian faith. Fight the good fight of faith.

"Lay hold of eternal life to which thou hast been called, and hast confessed the good confession before many witnesses". Our confession, to be fully effective, must be based on the enjoyment of eternal life.

I have spoken about those refugees. The very fact that they were deprived of earthly things enhanced their enjoyment of eternal life and therefore their confession, their testimony.

Now another thing that flows out from the enjoyment of eternal life is the concern to keep the commandment spotless and irreproachable. So he says, "I enjoin thee before God ... that thou keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ". That is a wonderful charge to be put upon us. What a privilege! The day of breakdown does not set this aside. It is a question of keeping the whole charge that God has committed to us; the whole commandment. "Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep his commandments", 1 John 5:2. Now I may love the brethren for my sake. They mean much to me and I love them; I love their company and I might even be tempted to give up something due to God in His house for their sakes. But that is not loving them as children of God. I am loving them as brethren, for what they are to me; and that kind of love alone might lead me astray. But if I love the saints as children of God, I shall never say anything or do anything by example, which would lead them to act in a way not suitable to the One whose children they are. I am loving them as children of God, and my great concern is that they should in every way please God. This is the way of true happiness for them. Therefore the proof that I love them thus is that I love God and keep His commandments.

Now this epistle deals with the house of God and behaviour in it. You can read other scriptures which

tell you about the body of Christ and the privileges attaching to it. If you take up the thought of the body of Christ and ignore the house of God you will be lame. The body of Christ is the house of God. To belong to the house of God is a great privilege, but it is also a great responsibility. I have to have those two great truths in balance in my mind if I am to walk as Jesus walked. At the end of John 2 it says many believed on His name. I do not question that they were real believers, for the same expression is used in John 1:12. But He did not commit Himself to them. You cannot commit yourself to every believer, much as you love him. Jesus did not. And so in this epistle it says in chapter 5: 22, "Lay hands quickly on no man, nor partake [have fellowship] in others' sins". We are not to commit ourselves to persons unless their walk is in keeping with the house of God. And in that connection Paul says in the previous verse, "I testify before God and Christ Jesus and the elect angels, that thou keep these things without prejudice doing nothing by favour". I may be prejudiced even because of my great love for certain persons. But I am to judge without respect of persons. I am to do nothing by favour. If we are enjoying eternal life it will give us power to keep the commandment spotless and irreproachable, not in a Pharisaical way at all, but on the line of those who would follow the Lord who came into the world to save sinners and yet would stand for the rights of God. These things are not incompatible, because they are seen perfectly in Jesus.

This makes way for the worship and praise of God. It says in Colossians 3, "Singing with grace in your hearts to God". Confession, unity, peace and song

flow out of laying hold of eternal life. And I suppose one of the greatest notes of worship is struck in 1 Timothy 6:15 - 16. It is to God as the "King of those that reign" -- what infinite majesty -- "and Lord of those that exercise lordship; who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see"; and Paul was, I believe, completely prostrated in his soul as he exclaimed, "To whom be honour and eternal might. Amen". Let us remember that in whatever other way we know God, He never ceases to be what He is as presented in this doxology. Let the song of our hearts every day be, To Him be honour -- and that affects my conduct -- and eternal might.

There are other presentations of God in Timothy; for instance, God our Saviour -- we can praise Him thus without reserve; then the gospel of the glory of the blessed God -- we can praise Him as the blessed God as depicted in Luke 15, the shepherd finding the sheep, the woman seeking the lost piece of silver, the father falling on the neck of the son and covering him with kisses -- the blessed God; For God is One. Yet that blessed God whose love we learn in Luke 15 is the King of the ages -- 1 Timothy 1:17 -- I do love to exalt Him as the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God. I know Him as Father, yet He is the King of the ages. And then it speaks of a "living God who is preserver of all men". I love to praise Him in that way. As the living God He is preserving all men. He is preserving men in view of men being blessed and brought into the gain of His purpose for them. So we rise up to this great doxology, which is distinctive. And one thing is celebrated which was not known in Old Testament times,

namely that, in His unapproachable dwelling, God dwells in light. Solomon spoke of God dwelling in thick darkness. But this is an ascription of praise which belongs to Christianity -- to God in unapproachable light.

I do wish we were better able to voice the praises of God in response to every aspect in which He has disclosed Himself. "Blessed are they that dwell in thy house, they will be constantly praising thee". Let us keep in mind all the time that the One in whose house we dwell, and who has clothed us in the best robe that we might be perfectly at home with Him, is the King of the ages. We belong to the supreme royal establishment and that should govern our conduct. That is what Paul means as to behaving ourselves in the house of God. It is a question of honouring Him to whom all honour is due; in witness, in keeping the commandment, and in worship. May the Lord help us for His Name's sake!

Watford -- 2nd December, 1961, G. R. Cowell, Address, Haddad Books, The Call of God, 10: 25 - 36