1 Timothy 6:11 - 16; 20 - 21

This passage, dear brethren, refers to a number of different activities; and while the person Timothy, to whom Paul writes, is addressed "O man of God", it seems to me that if we are to be truly preserved in the path pleasing to God, and consistent with the position into which God's grace has put us as belonging to His house, we need to engage ourselves in all these activities. And, moreover, it is well to consider that God would have us all, each in his or her measure, to be men of God. We read in the Old Testament of more than one "man of God" being alive at the same time; some are unnamed, simply called men of God; and I do not think there is anything in Scripture to suggest that God would have only one man of God at any one time. Paul, Peter and John, and others of the apostles, were all contemporary, as were others, such as Apollos. None of these is expressly termed "man of God" but that is what they were; and one thing that characterized them was that they were each distinctive. No one copied another or used the language of another. That is a feature of the work of God, which those who seek to serve ought to keep in mind. Paul says, "Be my imitators", but he adds, "even as I also am of Christ". While seeking to serve in our measure, it is not God's thought that we should be copyists. There are distinctions of gifts but the same Spirit.

Unity in variety marks all the works of God, and no

one should go beyond or depart from what he personally is given. Paul says, "What hast thou which thou hast not received?" 1 Corinthians 4:7; and the apostles are models for us in that respect. Paul in the same epistle says, "I received from the Lord", 1 Corinthians 11. Peter was not commissioned to give us the truth of the body, so he never even mentions the word; nor was John. Does that mean they were not supporting the truth? Of course not. But if you want to know anything about the body, you have to go to the one to whom that truth was committed, that is Paul; yet the writings and ministry of all these apostles are in perfect unity. There is marked variety, but perfect unity; and we need them all. Mr. Darby in one of his letters speaks of a company of Christians in early Church history who were called Paulicians, because they specialised in Paul only; they ignored and discredited or denied other parts of Scripture and kept to Paul; and therefore they went astray. Mr. Darby refers to this as 'the ruin of the Paulicians'. Others erred by accepting Peter only. Departure is inevitable thus because the whole truth is not retained in its setting. And how could we dispense with John? No, we need them all; we need the variety. Distinctions -- or diversities -- of gifts, but one Spirit. Mr. Darby said the Paulicians became hard. They were high in their thoughts, thinking only of the heavenly side of the truth, and they became hard in their practices. But if you bring John alongside Paul you could never be hard. No one steeped in John's ministry would be hard -- Paul himself was not hard -- he was a most tender man; but the ministry -- truly outstanding and unique -- given to him was however a certain feature of the truth. The

ministry given to John was another feature. The great matter undertaken by the Lord Jesus himself was the declaration of God. We do not go to Paul to learn about the declaration of God, or to Peter or to John. Only "the only begotten Son in the bosom of the Father", John 1:18, and in whom all truth resides, could declare God. That declaration is complete and final and glorious in its uniqueness. If we were to say, 'Because Peter and John do not mention the body, I am not interested in it', well, we should seriously err. We have to go to Paul for the opening up of that wonderful disclosure; and if we were to say that because Peter and John and Paul do not refer to the great Name of God declared in Matthew 28:19 therefore we take no notice of that, how foolish and ignorant we should be! In the Lord Himself was the full declaration of God. It is good to see how Scripture is framed in that way. We have gradually got far from it in our thoughts, and we need to get back to it. We were speaking this afternoon about making room for the Spirit even in directing all matters of the service, taking directions from Him and not setting up human organisation. So we need the help of the Spirit that whatever the Lord has given to anyone of us might become available to all, without involving our being challenged -- as has so often happened -- because it is not on precisely the same line as what somebody else is saying and with what they are saying at any particular time. "What is that to thee", John 21:22, the Lord said. If it comes from the Spirit -- and the Spirit is sovereign -- it will fit according to God. If it comes from our natural minds, it will not. What the Spirit has distributed to each one will be found in practice,

if we take heed to it, to fit in in perfect harmony and unity with what is given to others, and, further, to be indispensable, and we need to get the gain of it all if we are to grow up in the truth.

The same principle applies to practical body services. We should, for instance, make room for brethren who have a special capacity for visiting. It speaks of those who give in simplicity, and those who show mercy with cheerfulness. Paul speaks in this chapter from which we have read, "Enjoin on those rich in the present age". Well, a person who is allowed to be rich in the present age, if it is in God's ordering, is in that way an enrichment of the Church. God very rarely entrusts to the same man spiritual wealth to minister and material wealth. But material wealth is part of the endowment or provision that God makes for His people. Not everyone is capable of being entrusted with material wealth, but those "rich in the present age" are to use their very means for the edifying of the body. It is put that way in Romans 12"He that gives, in simplicity". There are some who have the capacity to give, God has put it under their hand, and they give in simplicity without attention to themselves, or seeking to gain influence, but soberly as entrusted by, and responsible to, God. So Paul here enjoins such "to be rich in good works, to be liberal in distributing, disposed to communicate of their substance". As members of the body we all have some function to fulfil. Another thing said in Romans 12 is "He that shews mercy with cheerfulness". You might think, well, that is surely a very ordinary sort of thing, to show mercy and do it cheerfully, but there are some specially capacitated for that. They have a distinctively suited way of

expressing this in deed and manner and word; they are specially furnished and we should make full use of such, full use for the body of every kind of ability given in the body. We need to get back to these fundamental things, because it is in these fundamental matters that we find Christianity so wonderful and so living.

Now as to the activities in the chapter to which I am referring, they are of different kinds. Paul says after referring to certain injurious features, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things". The first activity is that you are running away as hard as you can, and you are always running away. Next, you are pursuing as hard as you can and doing that constantly. These things seem to be contradictory. Thirdly, you are fighting as hard as you can. The authorised version says, "Fight the good fight of faith". Fourthly, we are to lay hold of eternal life with all our might. 'Lay hold', as the note says, is the same as 'seize'; it is an energetic action. Finally we are solemnly enjoined to "keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ". So we are to flee, to pursue, to fight, to lay hold, and to keep the commandment. We ought to try to keep these things in mind, because we are apt to forget them. For instance, when the test comes as to that from which we are to flee, maybe we fail to run away. And how much we fail in the positive things -- the pursuit -- the laying hold -- the fight; sometimes we may be cowardly and do not fight. All this really leads up to keeping the commandment spotless and irreproachable, and, finally, to worship. If we do not continue in these various enjoined activities we shall to some extent be hindered as worshippers, but

if we are energetically fulfilling them we shall be worshippers like Paul himself, who is prostrate in worship as he freely goes on to this further doxology, speaking of, "The blessed and only Ruler ... the king of those that reign, and Lord of those that exercise lordship ... To whom be honour and eternal might. Amen". He finishes the epistle in prostration of soul before God, in one of the most profound doxologies he utters. It is worth looking into all the doxologies of the New Testament, and all the cases where it speaks of those who glorified God. There are at least fourteen doxologies to God as God, and to God as Father there are about twenty. There are five or six to the Lord Jesus, and numerous instances of the glorifying of God. You may be surprised to find how rich the New Testament is, the gospels, the epistles, and the Revelation, with worship, but here is one of the most profound notes of worship in the whole of the Scriptures: "Who only has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor is able to see". And yet He has been fully declared, and we may know all that is open to us as creatures to know of our glorious Creator and God.

But to return to these needed activities, Paul has already spoken about the love of money being the root of every evil, and about many unwise and hurtful lusts. These are the things that govern men; they govern Christians, alas, for it speaks in verse 5 of the teaching which holds gain to be the end of piety, the teaching of men corrupted in mind and destitute of the truth -- they are professing Christians. Beloved brethren, how much all this has entered into the system we have left! Gain of some kind has been considered the end of piety; and especially now,

because strangely and sadly enough what has happened is that men we loved and esteemed and, who in days past really had the truth, now have sorrowfully to be described as corrupted in mind, and destitute of the truth. Young people we know have turned for help to men whom we esteemed for long years, and who certainly once had the truth; but they have found that they are now destitute of it. This is exceedingly sad and solemn that once genuine Christians who had the truth have come under corrupt influence, and have become in result already corrupted in mind -- an awful thing -- and destitute of the truth. What have they got left? Well, only gain, and material gain gradually becomes a dominating and deceiving matter. "Holding gain to be the end of piety" -- the position in that system we have in love for Christ abandoned. We have through grace a position in the divine system; why should we hanker after one in any system of man or men? And so, with these motives, governing not only men in the world but professing Christians, what are we to do? Paul tells us, "But thou, O man of God, flee these things"; because every lust and unbridled desire that moves amongst men has an answer in each of our hearts, and the only thing to do when they present themselves -- whether it is love of money or place, or whatever it may be, anything but Christ -- the only thing to do is to run away. We are not to be bold, imagining we are strong enough to meet it. We have it in 2 Timothy 2, "youthful lusts flee". That is not merely for youths. Youthful lusts pursue us as long as we are in flesh and blood conditions; we have to flee from them all our lives. "Thou, O man of God, flee these things". This may seem very negative but it is

Scripture -- and how essential! I feel it necessary for myself, and I have to be prepared, day by day, like Joseph to run away when the things that have destroyed so many, seek to capture me. It is the Sodom aspect of things; they had to flee from Sodom and not look back. If you look back you may be caught. Similarly, there are some who, as it were, look back at the old system, and maybe their place in it, and, alas, they have been caught, it has overtaken them. May God yet bring them and all others out into the clear unmistakable light of day!

The next thing is -- pursue; so while running away from certain things, you are always trying to catch up with others. You could never say you have fully caught up with any of them. Who can say he is fully a righteous man -- that he has rendered and renders to all their dues in the sight of God -- to his family, his business people, the brethren and to God? Nevertheless we are pursuing righteousness, that is our earnest objective, "to fulfil all righteousness", Matthew 3:15. Likewise, who could claim to be a fully pious man, bringing God into every detail of his life? But you are pursuing it, it is what you seek to do; you desire to walk with God in every detail of your life. You may perhaps fail every day in some particular, yet you get back to God and have things right with Him; you are pursuing piety. Then it says pursue faith -- faith is the complement of piety. Faith enters into God's things, and God's world, and God's thoughts; piety brings God into my things; and you cannot maintain one without the other. If you give up piety you will surely make shipwreck of faith. If you are not prepared to bring God into your own matters and walk before Him there, sooner or later you will give up faith, as to all

practical application. Conscience enters into the matter of piety, and so it says, "maintaining faith and a good conscience, which last some, having put away, have made shipwreck as to faith", 1 Timothy 1:19. Giving up a good conscience means I cease to walk before God, under His eye alone, in the realm of piety, and, as sure as I do that, I shall make shipwreck as to faith. So we are to pursue and, while not able to claim that we have fully overtaken any of these things, we continue to stretch out to be here in full righteousness, full piety, full faith, then love. You cannot be righteous without love. "Love is the whole law", it says in Romans 13. A man who does not love and -- putting God first -- put others before himself is unrighteous, because righteousness in the full sense is that I act like God. Man's highest dignity was to be in the image of God -- to be what God made him, but we have all sinned and come short of that glory; we have failed to be in the true image of God. We are to be like God in every way, and God is love. Then, it says pursue endurance, because if you are not able to endure, you are not much good in the testimony. The shittim wood of the tabernacle was the wood of endurance, it was to bear the gold, so if you cannot endure, how can God put gold on you; how can He rely on you to represent Him if when tested you are apt to fail and perhaps show the flesh? So after the reference to endurance there is meekness of spirit. I cannot say much about these things, I am merely seeking to exhort myself with the brethren to maintain these two activities -- fleeing and pursuing. Running away so that we do not get caught and captured by the various lusts which hold men in bondage; and pursuing things which in their full sense are always beyond us; but

we continue pursuing and as long as we do so, we shall be conscious of the pleasure and approval of God.

Now the passage goes on to something different. You have to fight, otherwise you become a casualty. Do not think a Christian here can ever leave off fighting! We have to be warriors in the spirit of Jesus to the end of our days, because Christianity is now a battle. We are in a world whose god and prince is against Christ and us. Influences governing men are manipulated by the prince of the power of the air, the winds of doctrine and every other wind of influence, they are all against us, and Satan's objective is not only to hold men under his authority as god and prince, but to invade what is for Christ and to get in amongst Christians. In time of war sentry duty is a prime essential; hence the Lord repeatedly says, "Watch ... What I say unto you I say unto all, watch"; and Paul too, that wise and devoted warrior. If an army does not maintain sentry duty it leaves itself exposed and would soon be overthrown; so the first duty for each of us as soldiers, is to be on sentry duty night and day, to guard the base, and the essential base to be guarded is our own hearts. "Keep thy heart more than anything that is guarded", Proverbs 4:23. So you maintain sentry duty, to ensure, first, that no rival to Christ shall ever enter your heart. Satan will use anything to displace Christ. We have been tested as to this. We have had lots of meetings, and many mercies and favours, but when the test came we found that Christ was either the last, or nearly the last in our affections. So very many things were discovered to be actually more to us than Christ -- the position, our place, our prominence, or

reputation, money or service, whatever it may be, big meetings, excitement, and, as so often, our social links amongst the brethren were all more to us than Christ when we came to analyse things. We have to get back to the fact that Christ alone has supreme right to our hearts. By faith He is to dwell there, unrivalled, and so controlling the whole of our lives. But if He is to have that place, we have unremittingly to keep on sentry duty, and if we maintain that in our own hearts, there may be some way in which God will use us in a wider way as a sentry. We read of shepherds watching their flock by night; there is that kind of sentry duty too, but if we are not keeping our own hearts with all diligence we shall not be any good at keeping the saints. That is what the Lord had in mind in certain of His injunctions; while Paul too, before reminding the elders of Ephesus how he himself watched there for three years night and day with tears, enjoins them, "Take heed therefore to yourselves, and to all the flock", Acts 20.

But then, the whole duty of a soldier does not relate to himself, "Strive earnestly in the good conflict of the faith". We have to be vigilant lest anything should come in not in keeping with the faith. Of a truth, things have flooded in, and are still flooding in, that are not in accord with the faith; well, where are the soldiers in view of meeting this position? Our sentry duty collectively has been lacking. Things have got in, as Jude says, "certain men have got in unnoticed"; but if the sentries were all on duty, they would not thus get a footing unawares. But if they get in, they have to be met, and the faith so precious is a big thing to fight for, it is the whole system of Christian teaching and doctrine. Beset by foes it can

be attacked on many fronts simultaneously. In this world of which Satan is the god and prince, the truth and those who contend for it are surrounded all the time like a beleaguered city, with a keen and skilful enemy looking for any opportunity to make inroads; and very vigilant sentry duty is needed. Paul shows us in this epistle the character of the initial attacks. "The Spirit speaks expressly, that in latter times some shall apostatise from the faith". You might say, 'Whatever does that mean? Maybe that they are openly going to give up the truth of the atonement, or the deity of Christ'. The sentries would, however, be alert to that, if somebody came and, for instance, denied the deity of Christ. But as we read on it says, "Giving their mind to deceiving spirits" -- that is the enemy that is all around us, spiritual powers of wickedness in the heavenlies, the universal lords of this darkness and their armies are around about us, and they get hold of men who give their minds -- they may not realise it -- to dominating influences, to deceiving spirits and teachings of demons. You say, 'teachings of demons, that must be terrible teachings, something very debased even in the eyes of men'. But it does not say that; what it does say is, "speaking lies in hypocrisy, cauterised as to their own conscience, forbidding to marry, bidding to abstain from meats". Many religious-minded people would say, 'Well, what devotion! Think of people loving the Lord so much that they give up marriage'. Well, some might do so, and some might rightly give up marriage for the Lord's sake. But the law teachers -- who have become thus so easily, to get power over their brethren -- finding a few devoted souls prepared to give up marriage for the Lord's sake, say, 'You

should not get married', and then they make a law of it, "forbidding to marry". If a man feels the Lord has called him not to marry, that is one thing, but forbidding people to marry is another.

Similarly there is the bidding to abstain from meats. This is deceitful doctrine, it is the teaching of deceiving spirits, speaking lies in hypocrisy; because to the uninstructed mind it may seem good. Such is the character of the early attack, and Paul calls it apostasy from the faith. It is an attack on the realm of piety, laying laws on men's consciences which God never put on them, and therefore coming between them and God; so that simple, devoted, but uninstructed souls say, 'Well what a wonderful thing to be devoted like that, I will do that; this is the latest ministry. It is the Spirit's voice!' How often -- sad to say -- we have heard that! No doubt this was said to be the Spirit's voice for the moment but far from being His voice, the Spirit Himself says that it is teachings of demons in its deceitfulness. So what happened so early, and has been rampant ever since, was the founding of monasteries and nunneries; I have evidence of devoted souls who love the Lord among nuns, and no doubt there are such among the monks. And that system -- how we love human systems! -- has taken them captive, and used their very devotedness to put them in prison for the rest of their lives instead of being free to serve the Lord as he would have them. What a wicked thing it is! How subtle thus our foe is! He does not make a straightforward attack on the Person of Christ, he goes round to the back door, and says, 'I will help you with your devotedness; I will bring in a rule that nobody should get married'. In just the same way he has brought in a

rule that nobody should eat with anyone except those in the same so-called fellowship. It sounds all right to some, but as taken on, it is apostasy from the faith; it suppresses conscience and comes between the conscience and God; it leads to Christians giving up faith and a good conscience.

It is thus we discern the artfulness of the foe and the artifices of the devil. This is what the true believer is faced with and we do not know what form his next attack may take, so we have to be constantly on the alert. It is not a question quite of a frontal attack or a sudden alarm in Christianity, it is a continuous alert calling for unremitting vigilance. It is not a question of a sudden decision to mobilise -- we are always mobilised, because as we well know, those of us who through grace have moved out, the war never stops. The enemy is now attacking in another way, seeking to cause further division, so we cannot relax. The fight goes on, the good fight of faith, looking out over the whole of the truth, the faith, and not surrendering any feature of it. As God has been fully declared in Jesus, we must not let any feature of it slip. It has cost too much! There is to be an answer in the saints to every feature in which God has been made known. He has been made known in the One who infinitely separate, came into the world and came near to men, to save sinners. And to say that we cannot eat with men, even publicans and sinners, in the course of seeking their blessing and salvation, and that if we did what Jesus did we should be sinning, is a terrible attack on the whole body of Christian faith. We are to fight the good fight of faith, so we would encourage one another here today to be good soldiers of Christ Jesus. It says in the beginning

of 2 Timothy 2, "Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ", but as the note states, according to other authorities it should read, "Christ Jesus". This alternative reading appeals to me very much, to be a good soldier of Christ Jesus, the glorified Man; He is the Captain; He is leading on to victory, and we are all to be good soldiers of Christ Jesus.

Then 1 Timothy 6 says, "Lay hold of eternal life to which thou hast been called". Now this is the most favourable time to lay hold of eternal life, when all the props have been knocked away; because as long as we have got temporal mercies to live in, the natural heart will tend to live in them; and those temporal mercies may be temporal spiritual mercies -- the saints who lived at the time of the big meetings at Jerusalem with the apostles there, might have said, 'What a favoured meeting we are in, how thankful we are to be at Jerusalem with all these mercies!' But they were only temporal. They could be taken away at any time. You might be in all those things and know little about laying hold of eternal life. But when all props are knocked away you begin to ask yourself, 'what now have I really got?' Whenever temporal mercies, things which can be seen, are taken away, we begin to learn that what is unseen is eternal, that even spiritual temporal mercies are not eternal, and it is a good thing when something pulls us up and says, 'Now, what have you really got that is eternal?' The point is, "Lay hold of eternal life". Be in earnest about it. Now is the time to do it. I have often mentioned the refugees going out from Jerusalem at the time of the scattering, they went everywhere evangelising the word. What they may at first have felt when they had to say farewell to the big meetings

and the apostles! They did not know where to go, but in losing everything temporal they found they had lost nothing that was eternal but would be proving it in a fuller way than ever. And in such conditions we begin to learn what Paul said, "As grieved, but always rejoicing ... as having nothing, and possessing all things", 2 Corinthians 6:10. I suppose there are many of us here who can say we have never been so happy spiritually in our lives before, yet we have never been so sorrowful. These paradoxes are wonderful when you experience them; and God allows circumstances to bring us right up against them.

The thing is to lay hold of eternal life. You say, 'What is that?' It is home life. Eternal life is home life, divine home life; it means you are already living in your eternal home, in the affections of home. The first feature of eternal life is that it is my eternal portion to abide in the Son and in the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit. Forever I shall live in the affections of the Son and of the Father, and be carried in the current of the affections of the Father to the Son, and of the Son to the Father, and ever in the embrace of the Father's love, loving us as He loves Christ. I shall live in that eternal home forever, in those wonderful affections, and live in them with the brethren. Where do I live now? Where am I living? If we are simply living in meetings we may not really be touching eternal life at all. What we need to learn at this time is to lay hold of eternal life, to learn to live in the affections of the Father and of the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit, in the intimacy of family life, divine family life, and to live in them with as many of the brethren -- while loving them all -- as are available to us. Then you are living in what is

eternal, in relationship on which death casts no shadow. It of course cuts out all social links even with the brethren. Such links, special friendships and links of that kind, will not pass over, for our life is in affections beyond death and that belong to new creation, which all flow from the Father and His love for the Son, and His loving us as He loved the Son, and we loving one another as Christ loves us. What a wonderful circle of love, fervent love! Think of when we shall be thoroughly ungirded and be loving one another with all our hearts, without any reserve! Well, Peter says 'Do it now'. "Love one another out of a pure heart fervently", 1 Peter 1:22. We have not to leave anything in that could mar, we have to keep the link on the level of new creation, the affections that will abide for eternity. We must begin, each one of us, by abiding in the Son and in the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit; then from that we can bring the brethren in. Even the little children were told that, in John's epistle, "If what ye have heard from the beginning abides in you, ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father". So no one here need say, 'Well, I am not long converted. I could not live in those relations'. But John is speaking in fatherly affections to the little ones in the family and he puts them first -- John assumes that the older ones in the family will be doing it -- saying to the little ones, "As for you, let that which ye have heard from the beginning abide in you" -- go on in what you have heard from the beginning -- thus, he says, "ye also shall abide in the Son and in the Father"; and that word "abide" means you stay there, it is your home. You are not a visitor. So we can test ourselves as to how much we know of eternal life. In ordinary natural

life, a man may come to you in the course of your business and say, 'Where do you live?' 'Oh', you say, '22, in such and such a road and town' -- you give the address where your affections are set. But he says, 'You are in business, why don't you give me your business address?' You would reply, 'But I do not live there'. You are alive there, but you do not live there, and that is how we should be as Christians. Physically we are alive in the world, and spiritually in testimony there too, carrying out our obligations, but we ought to be able to say from our hearts if anyone enquires where we live, 'my life is hid with Christ in God. I am living in the Son and in the Father'. It says, "Lay hold of eternal life to which thou hast been called". And now the enjoyment of eternal life is a basis from which we can discharge our Christian obligations -- true and powerful and effective confession and testimony springs from living in those eternal relationships. So Paul says, "And hast confessed the good confession before many witnesses". If you want power to confess the Lord, you need a joyful heart to do it properly, a heart that boasts in God, and a boasting and joyful heart results from enjoying eternal life. Living water will flow out of it. Timothy had confessed the good confession, and it speaks of Christ Jesus witnessing the good confession. It is encouraging to think of the confessions that have been made. The present tests have brought out many "good confessions", and many of them written, from sisters as well as brothers. They are recorded in heaven.

Then Paul goes on as to keeping the commandment spotless and irreproachable. If we enjoy eternal life it will help us in this. In enjoying home life, divine

home life, we will be able to say with John, "His commandments are not grievous". We will feel that there is nothing we want to do more than to please the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; because our life is in that realm of affections. If to a simple, honest Christian, one who is not wanting the world or anything like that, anything is grievous, you can be sure it is not a commandment from God. His commandments are not grievous. The little children know which commandments are of God. The commandments of God are all of such a nature that they bring to you the instruction to do just that which you would love to do. Thus they are not grievous. You may feel unequal to it, it may cost you something, but if you are living with God, you say there is nothing you would like to do more than that. So the commandment comes that we are to be separated to God, and you say, 'That is just what I want to be. Things allure me and I get caught up with things, but I do want to be separated to God'. It is not grievous but on the contrary, very attractive to the believer. Then John tells us that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. You say, 'Well, I shall never be equal to that, but I should love to be. That is not grievous to me'. We could mention other commandments in the same way. Hence when John truly says, "His commandments are not grievous" we would all agree. Moving in fellowship with the altar is not grievous. It is just what a Christian would love to do. When we think that Jesus died on that altar for us, and to meet the claims of God's glory, well, truly we would like to live for God's glory. Though we may fail ten times a day, nevertheless, we would love to do it. But the word here is that we should keep the commandment

"spotless, irreproachable"; and the commandment here involves all that is due to God in His house.

This epistle deals with the house of God and how we are to behave ourselves in it, and behaviour in the house of God is no ordinary thing, because it is the greatest level of royal house order in the universe. If you were part of the establishment at Buckingham Palace, you would be constantly watchful as to what was expected of you in behaviour at all times wherever you were, and what kind of clothes you wore, and your deportment in every way. You would wish to be suited to the house and a credit to it. Well, the house of God here on earth is the palace of the King of the ages. Paul speaks of God thus worshipfully in his epistle relative to the house of God, "The King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only God". Therefore it becomes me as belonging to that great establishment to manifest in my whole life that He is the only God to me. If I am in any way an idolater or pursuing unbridled lust of any kind, I am no credit to the house I belong to. And He is the incorruptible God. If I retain corrupt motives or selfish interests, I am not worthy of His household. I belong to it through grace, and I want to walk worthy of it, not only in these ways but in every way, so as to keep the commandment spotless and irreproachable, until the appearing. The standard is to be sustained until the appearing.

Then as to the public side of testimony to men, this epistle deals with the matter. Paul in chapter 1 speaks of the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God; which reminds us of Luke 15. This royal establishment is the establishment of the blessed God, and a place where the doors are thrown open wide

for every repentant sinner, and where he is received and treated as a son; but being so received I will desire to express that in my life, and seek to be in accord with the One who came into the world to save sinners. His coming thus was not incompatible with His being the King of the ages, but rather the expression of Himself as the God of all grace, the outshining of the glory of the blessed God. So the early part of this epistle shows that included in our behaviour as of the house of God is the idea of being in accord with the desires of our Saviour God towards all men, for their salvation and blessing, in our lives, activities and prayers. That is one side. The other side is that while that grace is unreserved in its free outgoings to men, I lay hands quickly on no man when it comes to a question of fellowship. There can be no laxity or looseness in the house of God, for it is the assembly of the living God, the pillar and base of the truth. On the one hand there is the expression of God as Saviour, in His kindness and love to men, and you speak to them of the welcome they will get if they come as repenting sinners to God. On the other hand if souls are affected, we must not quickly commit ourselves to anybody. It says in John chapter 2, the Lord did not trust Himself to certain men. They were real believers I have no doubt at all, but at that stage the Lord did not commit Himself to them. When it comes to the laying hands in the way of fellowship upon persons, the command is in this epistle, "Lay hands quickly on no man, nor partake in others' sins". So we have to exercise care in the house of God, and we are to keep these things without prejudice, doing nothing by favour. There is no respect of persons with God and there is to be none

with us; we are to consider only the One whose house it is, and what is due to Him in His house and to "keep the commandment spotless, irreproachable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ".

As we are helped to take on these activities which I have touched upon, we will be free and untrammeled as worshippers; there will be no sense of distance or clouds; and like Paul our hearts going out in the spirit of worship, to "the blessed and only Ruler ... to whom be honour and eternal might". When we think of the home life, we would say, "Blessed -- blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ", Ephesians 1:3. The relationships we have been brought into are so blessed, eternal relations with the Father, and with the Son in the power of the Holy Spirit. And the more we enjoy those home conditions, the more we shall want to bring to God all the honour due to Him, and to glorify His name; and it is on that line that we are concerned as to our behaviour in the house of God. It is there the responsibility lies upon us as belonging to the house of God, for everything has to be to the honour of the One who dwells in His house. "I am a great King", God says, "and my name is to be revered among the nations", Malachi 1:14. That is the charge entrusted to us. "I enjoin thee, before God, who preserves all things in life, and Christ Jesus, who witnessed before Pontius Pilate the good confession". What a charge this is, to keep the commandment spotless! Everything you do, let it be to the honour of the great King you represent. Then you will be free to worship the great King at any moment with spontaneous outgoings of heart. But if you are not true to Him, not faithful to the charge,

your worship will be hindered, there will be a cloud on your spirit. We want our spirits to be unclouded in the worship of God. If our conduct and activities are all for His honour, then we can be before Him freely in worship, and be able to say, "To Him be honour and eternal might. Amen".

May the Lord help us to pursue the activities referred to so that we may in an ever-increasing way apprehend the greatness of God, and bring to Him the glory due unto His name!