The discipline of Peril - Chambers, Oswald
(“The Discipline of Peril,” Tongues of Fire, September 1914)
And when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be scared; these have to come first, but the end is not at once. Luke 21:9 (moffatt )
The discipline of peril
Our lord talks so much about peril and disaster and we deliberately shut our eyes and hearts and minds to it, and then when these things come, if we think at all, we are at our wits end, we do not know what to make of them.
But these things have i told you, that when the time shall come, ye may remember that i told you of them. ( john 16:4)
this question is on the lips of people to-day: is war of the devil or of god? It is of neither. It is of man, though god and the devil are both behind it. War is a conflict of wills, either in individuals or in nations, and just now there is a terrific conflict of wills in nations. If i cannot make my will by diplomacy bear on other people, then the last resort is war, and always will be until Jesus Christ brings in his kingdom.
The inevitableness of peril
War and disturbances . . . Have to come first.
Our lord insists on the inevitableness of peril. Right through his talks with his disciples, without panic and without passion and without fear, he says: you must lay your account with this sort of thing, with war, with spite, with hatred, with jealousy, with despising, with banishment, and with death. I have told you these things, that when they happen, you may remember that i told you of them, and not be scared.
Have we realised that the worst must happen? And yet Jesus says, when ye hear of wars and disturbances do not be terrified. We are not only hearing of wars and commotions, they are here right enough. It is not imagination, it is not newspaper reports, the thing is here, there is no getting away from it. War, such as the history of the world has never known, has now begun.
Jesus Christ did not say, you will understand why war has come, but do not be scared, do not be put in a panic. It is astonishing how we ignore what Jesus christ tells us. He says that the nations will end in war and bloodshed and havoc; we ignore what he says, and when war does come we lose faith in god, we lose our wits and exhibit panic. The basis of panic is always cowardice.
The impulse of panic
Do not be scared. There is one thing worse than war, and that is sin. The thing that startles us is not the thing that startles god. We get tremendously scared when our social order is broken up, and well we may. We get terrorised by hundreds of men being killed, but we forget that there is something worsesinful, dastardly lives being lived day by day, year in and year out, in our villages and townsmen without one trace of cleanness in their moral lives. That is worse.
How many of us in times of peace and civilisation bother one iota about the state of mens hearts towards god? Yet these are the things that produce pain in the heart of god, not the wars and the devastation that so upset us. The human soul is so mysterious that in the moment of a great tragedy men get face to face with things they never gave heed to before, and in the moment of death it is extraordinary what takes place in the human heart towards god.
Are the terrors that are abroad producing panic panic born of cowardice and selfishness? You never saw anybody in a panic who did not grab for them- selves, whether it was sugar or butter or nations. Jesus would never allow his disciples to be in a panic. The one great crime on the part of a disciple, according to Jesus christ, is worry. Whenever we begin to calculate without god we commit sin. Fret not thyself, it tendeth only to evil-doing (psalm 37:8 RV).
Face facts. Very few of us will face facts, we prefer our fictions. Our lord teaches us to look things full in the face and he says: when you hear of wars and disturbances, do not be scared. It is the most natural thing in the world to be scared. There is no natural heart of man or woman that is not scared by these things, and the evidence that gods grace is at work amongst us is that we do not get terrified. Our attitude must be: father, i do not know what these things mean: it looks like starvation and distress, but thou hast said, do not be scared, so i will not be; and thou hast said, let not your heart be troubled, so i will not let it be; and i stake my confidence in thee. That is the real testimony.
It is very easy to trust in god when there is no difficulty, but that is not trust at all, it is simply let- ting the mind rest in a complacent mood; but when there is sickness in the house, when there is trouble, when there is death, where is our trust in god? The clearest evidence that gods grace is at work in our hearts is that we do not get into panics.
Christian seemliness
(christian seemliness, tongues of fire, october 1914)
And take heed to yourselves. . . . Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass. . . . (Luke 21:34, 36)
Seemliness is conduct in accordance with the high- est standard recognised. Our lord in these verses describes the character of christian conduct in the confusion at the end of this dispensation, that is, the day in which we live.
In verse 34 our lord warns against the subtle- ties of indulgence; in verse 35 he describes the snare of war and confusion as inevitable, and in verse 36 he urges Christians to strenuously maintain their integrity.
Subtleties of indulgence
and take heed to yourselves, lest . . . (v. 34) the most startling thing about this verse is that the lord should have considered it necessary to warn Christians lest they sought distraction in these times of confusion by dissipation or drunkenness.
And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. This verse is another indication of how our lord will not allow Christians to build their conduct on suppositions based on ignorant innocence, but only on the revelation facts which he himself gives. For instance, we should feel quite sure that we were not at all likely to seek distraction in these ways: but let us not forget that our lord said, take heed to yourselves, lest . . .
In this present war there have been many attempts to inculcate seemliness of conduct in the british empire according to the highest standard of nobility accepted by our nation, and it behoves us as saints to see that we conduct ourselves according to the plan laid down for us by our lord.
Although our lord talks of distraction in its final stages, we must remember that he condemns it in its initial stages. The beginning of surfeiting is indifference to present conditions from self-indulgence. We must take heed that in the present calamities, when war and devastation and heart-break are abroad in the world, we do not shut ourselves up in a world of our own and ignore the demand made on us by our lord and our fellow-men for the service of intercessory prayer and hospitality and care.
This same line of things holds good with regard to the dissipation of drunkenness and the cares of this life. The latter distraction to christians is the most dangerous of all. A christian must see to it that his interest in his possessions is not of such vital order that he is distracted from god in this present confusion.
Our lord says that if these things are not heeded that day will come upon us unawares. If in that day any christian finds himself in a panic, that is a sin which must be confessed and the burden of criminal carefulness laid at our lords feet, with a determination to follow a course more seemly according to gods standard for his saints.
Snare of the inevitable
. . . For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. (v. 35)
this verse states that the sudden arriving of this day of confusion will ensnare the whole world. It is not stated as a probability but as an inevitable certainty, and Christians are counselled by our lord to lay their account with the inevitable. Civilisation and its amenities are made possible by Christianity, but they are not Christianity, and it is these amenities which ensnare and devastate in the time in which we live, and if we by unspiritual self-indulgence have been liv- ing our life in the externals, we shall be caught by this crisis and whirled into confusion.
There is a false sense of security produced by considering that there is safety in numbers, but our lord in this verse states that the consternation will embrace all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth, so that instead of numbers proving a security it proves an added element of terror. Have we taken heed and laid our account with these stern certainties, or are we as Christians indulging in the infatuation of any false security?
Strenuousness of integrity
watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape. . . . (v. 36)
the striking thing about these words is that the escape is not the free gift of god, but the result of christian integrity. This verse is positive in its counsel as the other verses are positive in their commands. The counsel is to keep awake and pray. That our lord should think fit to counsel prayer in time of war when practical common sense would place active doing first, reveals how totally different mans conceptions are from our lords. Prayer seems suitable for old men and women and sentimental young people, but for all others it is apt to be looked upon as a religious weakness.
There are many things in the minds of Christians which are not yet brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. Prayer is always answered rightly by god, our lord says; no wonder we have to keep awake and pray, for thousands of men are being hurled into
Eternity during this war. Are we keeping awake and praying, or are we amazed at the magnitude of the slaughter? Countries are devastated, cities are sacked, commerce is tied up, hundreds are bankrupt, millions out of work, innumerable homes are blighted and bro- ken; are we keeping awake and praying?
When the veil is lifted we shall find that the seemly conduct of prayer wrought the things of god in men. Let us keep awake and readjust ourselves to our lords counsel. He counsels his children to keep alert, to be pure, to yield to no temptation to panic, to false emotion, to illegitimate gain, or to a cowardly sense of futility. We can never be where we are not, we are just where we are; let us keep alert and pray just there for his sake. Then our lord says we shall be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the son of manstand, not lie, nor grovel, nor cry, but stand upright, in the full integrity of christian manhood and womanhood before the son of man.
The seemliness of christian conduct is not consistent adherence to a mere principle of peace, but standing true to Jesus Christ. Let us stop all futile wailings that express themselves in such statements as war ought not to be. War is, and we must not waste our time or our lords by giving way to any surfeit of screaming invective for or against any one or any thing; but casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of god (RV) in connection with ourselves, let us face life as it is, not as we feel it ought to be, for it never will be what it ought to be until the kingdom of this world is become the kingdom of our lord, and of his Christ.
Let us gird up our loins, watch and be sober, and behave in the seemly manner of those that look for their lord.
Slighted security (slighted security, tongues of fire, November 1914)
if thou hadst known . . . The things which belong unto thy peace! But now they are hid from thine eyes. . . . Thou knewest not the time of thy visitation. (Luke 19:42, 44)
The burdened sense
from the end of the earth will i cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed. (psalm 61:2)
The feeling of bewilderment, of burden and perplex- ity is busy with the margins of many minds to-day; although the heart remains stout in its confidence in god, yet the senses are burdened with perplexity and misgiving. We shall be wise to let these things lead us to the rock that is higher than we are.
Incredible things do happen
The kings of the earth believed not, neither all the inhabitants of the world, that the adversary and the enemy should enter into the gates of Jerusalem. (lamentations 4:12 RV )
That ancient peril is apt to repeat itself to-day, viz. , a proud arrogancy arising from intellectual confidence in gods prophetic word, irrespective of the hearts condition. God has not any favourites outside faithfulness. Gods order is the beginning and the end, his permissive will is the middle. Gods eternal purposes will be fulfilled, but his permissive will allows Satan, sin and strife to produce all kinds of misconceptions and false confidences until we all, individually as well as collectively, realise that his order is best. It is possible to build up a false security, as Israel and Judah did of old, based on gods own prophetic word, but which ignores heart purity and humility before him. The destruction of a certain class of prophetic student is stated by our lord:
Many will say to me in that day, lord, lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? . . . And then will i pro- fess unto them, i never knew you. (Matthew 7:2223)
it was not that what they prophesied was not true, but it was not participated in by any whose hearts are unregenerated by gods spirit, no matter what their nationality may be. The ancient city of Jerusalem stands for all time as the symbol of destructive infatuation based on gods word, whereas gods word is only interpreted by and fulfilled in regener- ated hearts and lives.
There is no road back to yesterday
He found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. (Hebrews 12:17)
There are irreparable things. To god alone there is no irreparable past. We are delivered from sin by our lord Jesus Christ, but he alone is the sinless one; we can never be as though we had not sinned. The gates of paradise were irreparably closed to Adam and eve and were never entered again by them (cf. Revelation 2:7). . . . The years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm . . . Shall be restored, but only to a regenerated community ( Joel 2:25).
What we need to heed in these days of war is that the unregenerated heart can never perceive the rule of god: except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god ( john 3:3); and that an unadjusted intellect, no matter if the heart be regenerated, will work itself untold destruction: . . . In which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the
Other scriptures, unto their own destruction (2 peter 3:16).
We do well to insist carefully for ourselves on the fact that although the kingdom-revelation may be the key-word to our lords teaching, the key-word to the life to which alone that teaching applies is the cross. The disciples were not told that by the interpretation of prophecy would all men be drawn to god, but –
I, if i be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. ( john 12:32)
When ye have lifted up the son of man, then shall ye know that i am he, and that i do nothing of myself; but as my father hath taught me, i speak these things. ( john 8:28)
The bland satisfaction
if thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day . . .
The tears of the redeemer over Jerusalem are with- out parallel for significance and teaching. Our lord said to the daughters of Jerusalem, who were under- going paroxysms of tears over him:
Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. (Luke 23:28.
The tears of our lord embrace the divine knowledge of perusals irreparable past: o Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee (Matthew 23:37); the divine knowledge of gods order: and i john saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from god out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (revelation 21:2); and the divine knowledge of gods permissive will: . . . How often would i have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate (Matthew 23:3738).
It is too late now. The bland satisfaction, that smooth, mild infatuation which arises from pride and arrogance, has not only perverted her knowledge and her power of reading events, but given her a great sense of security. This is of great significance to-day.
If there is bland satisfaction in the conscience of any nation, then disillusionment and sudden destruction is certain. But are we quite free individually from this bland satisfaction? It is perilously possible to be fatally ignorant of our true relationship to things and to god, and for that ignorance to be culpable. Are we blandly satisfied that it is all right and yet we are not born from above? Are we still stiff-necked? Then sudden destruction cometh. It is too late now to mourn over our indif- ference, but wake up, call on god and be saved!
The belittled security . . . The things which belong unto thy peace!
Jerusalem and Jesus! What a contrast! With what an amazed stare of contempt the personal powers of Jerusalem confronted Jesus, the despised and rejected! Yet he was their peace for time and eternity, and the things that belonged to their peace were all connected with him. He said to his disciples:
These things have i spoken unto you, that in me ye may have peace. In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; i have overcome the world ( john 16:33 RV ). The parallels in this great euro- pean war of belittled security may be many, but our aim here is more personal. Are we belittling our own security? It is easy to do it. Just as nations place their confidence for security in armaments or arbitration (as the whim takes them) and neglect the worship of god as the only security, so individuals may eas- ily place confidence in the amenities of society, in civilised entrenchments, in a good home and a good situation, and belittle the one abiding security in god!
To be indifferent to our lords claims is to belittle our security and remain in infatuation, out of which it will one day be too late to deliver us. Rouse yourselves; it is too late now to mourn over the days and years in which you did not watch with your lord, but wake up now!
The blind spot
. . . But now they are hid from thine eyes . . . Because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.
Like nelson, 19 when he put the telescope to his blind eye that he might not see the order to retreat, so Jerusalem saw only in the direction of her prejudices. Here among them stood god incarnate, a visitation from god himself, but pride and arrogance and self-sufficiency blinded them and they saw him not; they called him a man gluttonous, and a wine- bibber, they called him a sinner, a Samaritan, they said that he was beside himself, and that he was demon-possessed. And this fatal blindness arose from merely not wanting to see certain things.
An immediate danger to-day is to apply all this to nations and to feel a sense of peculiar national security by noting the blind spot in germanys outlook 20; but
Our aim must be to see that we have no blind spot our- selves, no spot of obtuse obstinacy which has slowly formed itself into a blind spot in which we too can- not see the day of our visitation, the day in which god is visiting us. Nay, let us apply it personally have i a blind spot? Am i purposely, even judiciously, blind whenever i hear anyone testifying to deliverance from sin, or to the baptism of the holy spirit, or to the amazing positive things that happen when god is seen?
The blessed sense
behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For i say unto you, ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord. (Matthew 23:3839)
Just as it is too late now with regard to this war, so it is too late to mourn in futile fashion over days of sin and pride and self-interest. Just as it is certain that desolation and havoc and misery will come in the wake of this war, so it is certain that desolation and havoc are in your life because of sin. But what a day of rejoicing it will be when you say, blessed is he that cometh in the name of the lord! Why not now, in a humbling sense of confessed sin, bow down under the mighty hand of god that where sin abounded, he may make grace much more abound. God hasten the day when the kingdom of the world is become the kingdom of our lord, and of his Christ (rv).
Fitness
(fitness, tongues of fire, December 1914)
i am crucified with Christ: nevertheless i live; yet not i, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)
There are three things in this verse about personal fitness in this day for what the lord requires of us, all full of pressing personal importance.
.The relinquished life i am crucified with Christ
. The distinguished life nevertheless i live; yet not i, but christ liveth in me
. The extinguished life and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god, who loved me and gave himself for me
These are three aspects of the one great theme of personal identification with our lord.
The relinquished life. Fitness to fly
I am crucified with Christ. No one is ever united with the lord Jesus christ until he is willing to relinquish all of the life he held before. This does not only mean relinquishing sin, it means relinquishing the whole way of looking at things. To be born from above (RV mg) of the spirit of god means that we must let go before we lay hold.
There are many people who believe in Jesus Christ but they have not relinquished anything, consequently they have not received anything; there is still the realisation of a life that has not been relinquished, and this great word of the apostle pauls is a foreign language altogether, it is not practical to them, it is in the clouds, literally there is nothing in it. But, blessed be the name of god, there is something in it!
In the first stages it is a relinquishing of pretence. What our lord Jesus Christ wants us to present to him is not our goodness, or our honesty, or our endeavour, but our real solid sin, that is all he can take. For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin. And what does he give in exchange for our solid sin? Great solid righteousnessthat we might be made the righteousness of god in him; but we must relinquish all pretence of being anything, we must relinquish in every way all claim to being worthy of gods consideration. That is the meaning of conviction of sin.
A word to those who have been quickened by the spirit of god and introduced into his kingdom they have had their eyes opened and know something of what our lord said to nicodemus, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of god. If we can say, i have been quickened by the spirit and i do perceive the rule of god, then in us the spirit of god will show what further there is to relinquish. There must be the relinquishing of my right to myself in every phase and condition of it. Am i will- ing to relinquish my hold on my life, my hold on all i possess, my hold on all my affections, my hold on everything? Am i willing to be gods child, and to be so identified with the death of the lord Jesus Christ that i too know i have been crucified with him?
There may be a sharp, painful disillusionment to go through before we do relinquish. When once a man really sees himself as the lord Jesus Christ sees him, it is not the abominable social sins of the flesh that shock him, it is the awful nature of the pride of his own heart against the lord jesus christ the shame, the horror, the desperate conviction that comes when we realise ourselves in the light of Jesus Christ as the spirit of god reveals him to us. That is the true gift of repentance and the real meaning of it.
Are you hoodwinking your own soul by an intellectual comprehension of gods prophetic truth while you are perfectly unfit in moral life, in spiritual life and in domestic life, to meet him? God grant that to-day the spirit of god may come to you and to me and make us know whether we are living this relinquished life.
If we are going to fly, things that would prevent must not have any hold on us. Lusts of the flesh, desires of the mind, possessions, must all go. One thing we are realising to-day is that to the majority of us, civilised life is an elaborate way of doing without god. We have not been living a life hid with Christ in god, we have been living the abundance of the things which we possess. Now they are shaken, and terror, panic and mental imbecility have laid hold on people who a little while ago were very strong-minded and disdainful with regard to the phase of truth presented by the pentecostal league of prayer or by the salvation army; but the shattering of the pillars of their ref- uge has come. Thank god, he still leaves his mighty, winning, wooing spirit with us. I am crucified with Christ it is a real definite personal experience.
The distinguished life. Fitness to fight .
. . Nevertheless i live; yet not i, but Christ liveth in me.
This life has marked characteristics entirely of its own. Paul is stating that the relinquished life has found him identified with his lord, and now all the great power of god is distinguishing him as a different man from the man he was before. He does not hate what he used to hate. He used to persecute and despise the followers of Jesus christ; he despises them no longer. Not only does he not despise them, but he is identified with them and with their lord. After pentecost we read that they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus. They saw the strong, distinguished family likeness in them and recognised it at once as the lord jesus christ.
One great characteristic in the life of a man whose life is hid with Christ in god is that he has received the gift Jesus Christ gives. What gift does Jesus Christ give to those who are identified with him? The gift his father gave him, the father gave him the cross, and he gives us our cross: if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Let him relinquish, give up his right to himself distinguished by one thing, . . . Ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price. To take up our cross daily means that we take now what otherwise would go on to Jesus christ. The distinguished life means that we fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in [our] flesh for his bodys sake, which is the church. That means practically the fulfilment of matthew 11:29, take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for i am meek and lowly in heart. There is nothing to fill up of that which remains of the afflictions of christ for the purposes of redemption, that is complete; but we can fill up that which remains behind of his sufferings for his bodys sake. Are we distinguished as the ones in whom Christ lives, meeting things as he did? If so, we are fit for flying, for fighting and for following.
The extinguished life. Fitness for following
And the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
That is, there is no more of the old disposition manifested in this man, Paul the apostle. There is no Saul of tarsus disposition manifested; that has been extinguished, died right out! This is much more than sin, mark you, it is all the old way of reasoning; what is manifested now, Paul says, is the faith which was in the son of god. Do you remember what this man said when it pleased god, who separated me from my mothers womb, and called me by his grace, to reveal his son in me? The characteristic that is manifested is the faith of the son of god, the lord Jesus Christ seeing the full purpose and meaning of his own life working through the apostle paul. Is that altogether beside the mark? It is the practical clear direct message of god to your heart and mine to-day a perfect fitness by the wonderful redemption of our lord Jesus Christ being realised in us as we relinquish.
You will find the supreme crisis in your life is will-issues all the time. Will i relinquish? Will i abandon? It is not that god wont make us fit, it is that he cannot. God cannot make us fit to meet him in the air unless we are willing to let him. He cannot make us fit as the dwellings of his son unless we are willing, because he wants sons and daughters. If you are up against a crisis, go through with it, relinquish all, and let him make you fit for all he requires of you in this day.
First and last
(first and last, league of prayer new years convention, Friday, January 1, 1915, in pontefract, w. Yorkshire)
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the father, but by me. ( john 14:6)
The words of our lord come to one as those that alone can be welcomed on the threshold of 1915. Other peoples words are too fraught with personal prejudice or clouded by personal pain to convey a message for this new year. There are thousands of hearts and minds too distracted by this terrible war to receive with meekness any other words than those of our lord Jesus christ.
The way
I am the way.
Thomass depressed exclamation, lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Is the language of many a heart to-day, and if all the saints and all the suffering and sorrowing ones would
Only listen to our lords reply, we would all be strong to bear, and rejoicing to do in the strength of the lord.
Our lord said, i am the way, not the way to any one or anything; he is not a road we leave behind us, he is the way to the father in which we abide (see john 15:4). He is the way, not he was the way, and there is not any way of living in the fatherhood of god except by living in christ. Whoso findeth him- self in christ findeth life. The way to the father is not by the law, nor by obedience, or creed, but jesus christ himself, he is the way of the father whereby any and every soul may be in peace, in joy, and in divine courage during the days of this coming year. In any assailing tribulation our lord says, that in me ye might have peace. When imagination brooding on wars and rumours of wars is apt to affright the souls of men, christ jesus is the way of the fatherhood of god, sustaining, and comforting and joyous.
To all those who are in the way let me urge you by abiding in jesus to let the rivers of living water pour through you to the binding up of the broken- hearted, the setting at liberty of the captives, and the proclaiming of the acceptable year of the lord.
The truth
I am . . . The truth. Amid all the whirling contentions and confusions pro- duced in mens minds by what is called truth, again our lords word to thomas abides, i am . . . The truth. Truth is not a system, not a constitution, nor even a creed; the truth is the lord jesus christ himself, and he is the truth about the father just as he is the way of the father. Our tendency is to make truth a logical statement, to make it a principle instead of a person. Profoundly speaking there are no christian principles, but the saint by abiding in christ in the way of the fatherhood of god discerns the truth of god in the passing moments. Confusion arises when we disasso- ciate ourselves from our lord and try to live up to a standard merely constructed on his word.
In john 14:811, our lord distinctly says that he and the father are one. Would that men who name the name of christ realised that he is the truth, not the proclaimer of it; that he is the gospel, not the preacher of the gospel; that he is the way of the fatherhood of god. What men and women need is the fathering of god, so that from all affright and fear they may be held steady by the gentleness of god, and that is only realised in christ. Those of us who do know it have a gracious ministry to maintain, so abiding in him that we reveal the truth as it is in jesus in our going in and out among the devastated and distracted.
The life
I am . . . The life.
Many start this year crying to god from weariness of life that they might die. The light of their eyes has been taken from them, the prospects of life have been extinguished and all they held most dear has been shattered, and this in no sentimental but in a very real sense. Again the superb declaration of our lord, i am . . . The life, comes with eternal succour. He is the life of the father just as he is the fathers way and the fathers truth. The gift of god is eternal life; not the gift from god, as if eternal life were a present given by god: it is himself. The life imparted by our lord is the life of god, and the sacrament of the lords sup- per is the visible commemoration of this ever-abiding fact. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the lords death till he come.
Let us remember that jesus christ is life, and our life, all our fresh springs are in him (pbv ), 21 so that whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do, let us do all to the glory of god. May this be a year in which those of us who are gods children manifest the life of god in our mortal flesh.
We are near the end of the present order, and the throes and weariness of exhausted turmoil are con- centrated in many hearts and lives. What is needed is the life of the father which is ours in jesus christ. He said, i am come that they might have life; and he also said, ye will not come to me, that ye might have life. Let those of us who are gods children be the conductors of the life of god to exhausted men and women till they too are made one in him.
The exclusive one
No man cometh unto the father, but by me.
Many to-day are realising the futility of beautiful sen- timental phrases about the fatherhood of god; they are finding them beautiful untruths. The words of our lord, no man cometh unto the father, but by me, reveal the error and at the same time open the way to the father. Our lord jesus christ is the exclusive way to the father. By his cross alone a man enters into the adoption of a son of god. Our lord did not say, no man cometh unto god, but by me. There are many ways of coming to god other than by the lord jesus christ, but no man ever came to the father, but by jesus christ. He is the exclusive way there, the constant active medium to our intercourse with the father.
This war, which for a time has made men in pain say petulant, unbelieving things about the creeds that are right in theory but utterly futile in practice, has at the same time prepared their hearts for the universality of the exclusive way of christ to the father. He is the only way to the father, but it is a way that is open to any and every man, the way that knows neither greek nor jew, . . . Barbarian, scythian, bond nor free: but christ is all, and in all. It is the duty and privilege of those who are christs to proclaim this glorious revelation with lip and life, with impassioned zeal and earnestness in the closing phases of the dispensation in which we live.
God grant that 1915 may find each one of us abid- ing in the way, incorporated into the truth, infused by the life, and manifesting the mighty fatherhood of god in and through our lord jesus christ. In the name that is above every name we pray that this year may be the year of the first and the last, the begin- ning and the end, our lord jesus christ.
Gods parenthesis
(Gods parenthesis, tongues of fire, march 1915)
Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also. (luke 2:35)
A parenthesis is a phrase or sentence inserted in another which is grammatically complete without it, and if you want to understand the author, pay par- ticular attention to the parenthesis.
God puts a parenthesis in the middle flow of our lives; if you want to understand your life, read the parenthesis, if you can. There was a parenthesis in hezekiahs life, and when he was through it, he said, i shall go as in a solemn procession all my years. A short time after though he forgot and began to knuckle down and compromise with a pagan king. Have we been paying sufficient attention to the parentheses god puts in our lives? It may have been good fortune, it may have been bad fortune, it may have been a delightful friendship, it may have been a heart-break. But when god sums up our lives, it is that parenthesis which really gives the heart of our life with him.
Impaired by god
The holy ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the son of god. (luke 1:35)
The virgin mary is not only unique as the mother of our lord, but she stands as the type of what we must expect if we are going to be those whom our lord calls my brother, and sister, and mother (matthew 12:50). Simeon was completely possessed, guided, and controlled by the holy ghost, and when he saw mary he spoke these wonderful words:
Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in israel, . . . (yea, and a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also, ) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed. (luke 2:3435)
When Christ is formed in us by the power of regen- eration, our natural life experiences exactly the same thing, viz. , a sword that we would never have had if we were not born again of god, a type of suffering that we would know nothing about if we were not born from above (rv mg), if the son of god were not formed in us.
When the angel saluted her, mary was amazed and staggered. After the holy ghost had come upon her, her life was impaired, full of embarrassment and terror. It is an abiding truth that when we are born of the holy ghost, instantly the life becomes impaired from every merely natural standpoint.
When we receive gods spirit and god suddenly opens up his purpose for our lives, then when the angel departs we begin to realise exactly what an impaired life means if we go on with it. It means that our life will produce one or two characteristics people will sneer at, one or two characteristics people will be contemptuous over, thoroughly annoyed and angry over. It was so with mary. The sword simeon spoke of very soon began to pierce through her own soul. We need to remind ourselves of the stern, heroic stuff jesus christ always spoke when he talked about discipleship. If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me (luke 9:23). Few of us do it though plenty of us talk about it. It means an impaired life: a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also.
You have been full of complaints these past months and have blamed everything but yourself; the reason is you were not prepared for an impaired life as far as this world was concerned. The beginnings of gods life in a man or woman are directly across the will of nature, because nature has to be transformed in your particular bodily life and mine into a spiritual life by obedience. Obedience to the spirit of god means a maimed life, maimed in a hundred and one ways, and in the closest relationships of all (see luke 14:26).
The impeded life with god
Woman, what have i to do with thee? ( john 2:4) this new life impedes us in our natural outlook and ways until we get these rightly related by putting on the new man, until the son of god is formed in us and both the natural and the holy are the same.
The natural in us wants the son of god to do almighty gods work in our way. What could be bet- ter than that the son of god should manifest the fact that he is in us? Thousands saved in a day! Ourselves transformed and held as marvellous specimens of what god can do! ! Something wonderful performed at the dictates of our natural (not sinful) lives! ! ! We want him to do this and that, we demand he should do it, we rush in and say, now this is the time, but we receive a real check from god which means that we dare not open our mouths to him again on the subject. When our lords miracles are at work in us they always manifest themselves in a chastened life, utterly restrained.
Has gods parenthesis come to you by impeding some great natural impulse? You are a child of god, you started off to work for him and expected him to do wonderful things; in fact you demanded he should do them; then he brought you into a corner and you were rebuked directly by the son of god.
Is that the parenthesis god has put in your life just now? Some purpose, some aim of yours in gods work and you were expecting him to manifest him- self straight away by a mighty miracle, but instead there came the extinction of your naturally good impulse. Nobody heard the rebuke but you, but when the miracle was wrought you were able to understand and to listen to him. Beware of listening to your own point of view when the son of god has come.
The insulated life with god
Now there stood by the cross of jesus his mother. . . . ( john 19:25)
To insulate means to place in a detached position. The sword began to pierce very early in marys life, and it pierced all through. Now she stands at the cross with her own son, in whom every scripture and oracle of god has centred. He has been through his agony and his mother could do nothing for him, she could not understand the depth of the agony of gethsemane; now she sees him on the cross what happens? Jesus sees her and says, woman, behold thy son! And to john, behold thy mother! That is an illustration of what happens when the life of the son of god and the full purpose of god are being worked out in us in ways we cannot understand but do not doubt.
Beware of saying, i do not need any discipline, i am saved and sanctified, therefore everything i think is right. Nothing we think is right, only what god thinks in us is right. The son of god revealed exactly how a mans brain and body and will were to be used if he was to live in obedience to god. Our lord submitted his intelligence to his father, and he submitted his will to his father. I came not to do mine own will, he says over and over again. There are great perplexities in life, but thank god, if we will trust, with the bold, implicit trust of our natural life, in the son of god, he will bring out his perfect, complete purposes in and through our particular lives.
Are you ever disturbed?
(Are you ever disturbed? Is a talk given at a btc devotional meeting, may 27, 1914. )
Peace i leave with you, my peace i give unto you: not as the world giveth, give i unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. ( john 14:27)
Have you ever received in this way?
The disciples, like many to-day, were not in a state to provide their own inner peace. There are times when inner peace is based on ignorance; but when we awake to the troubles of life, which more than ever before surge and heave in threatening billows, inner peace is impossi- ble unless it is received from our lord. When our lord spoke peace, he made peace. His words are ever spirit and life. Have you ever received what he spoke?
The peace of sins forgiven, the peace of a con- science at rest with god, is not the peace that jesus imparts. Those are the immediate results of believing and obeying him, but it is his own peace he gives, and he never had any sins to be forgiven or an out- raged conscience to appease. Have you ever received his peace? When you are right with god, receive your peace by studying in consecrated concentration our lord himself; it is the peace that comes from looking at his face and remembering the undisturbed condition of our lord in every set of circumstances. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory (2 corinthians 3:18).
Are you painfully disturbed just now, distracted by the waves and billows of gods providential permis- sion, and having turned over, as it were, the boulders of your belief, you still find no well of peace or joy or comfortall is barren? Then look up and receive the undisturbedness of our lord jesus christ. Above and in the facts of war and pain and difficulties he reigns, peaceful. Reflected peace is the greatest evidence that i am right with god, for i am at liberty to turn my mind to him. If i am not right with god i can never turn my mind anywhere but on myself. Then will i go . . . Unto god my exceeding joy (psalm 43:4). Am i certain that god is not miserable? Then his joy will be my strength. We are changed by looking, not by introspection. The source of peace is god, not myself; it never is my peace but always his, and if once he withdraws, it is not there. If i allow anything to hide the face, the countenance, the memory, the consid- eration of our lord jesus from me, then i am either
Disturbed or i have a false security. Consider him . . . , that ye wax not weary, fainting in your souls (hebrews 12:3 rv). Nothing else is in the least like his peace. It is the peace of god, which passeth all understanding. Are you looking unto jesus just now in the immediate pressing matter and receiving from him peace? Then he will be a gracious benediction of peace in and through you.
Have you ever recognised in this way?
The world means what it says, but it cannot impart. Our lord imparts what he says, he does not give like the world does. Will i be absolutely confident in jesus? What does it matter what happens to me? The thought ought never to bother us, the thing that ought to occupy us is setting the lord always before us (cf. Acts 20:24). Jesus christ imparts the holy spirit to me, and the holy spirit sheds abroad the love of god in my heart (see romans 5:5). The peace of jesus is not a cherished piece of property that i possess; it is a direct impartation from him, and my enjoying his peace depends on my recognising this.
Have you ever remembered in this way?
This kind of peace banishes trouble just now and presently. Our lord says in effect, dont let your heart be troubled out of its relationship with me. It is never the big things that disturb us, but the trivial things. Do i believe in the circumstances that are apt to bother me just now, that jesus christ is not per- plexed at all? If i do, his peace is mine. If i try to worry it out, i obliterate him and deserve what i get.
When we confer with jesus christ over other lives all the perplexity goes, because he has no perplexity, and our concern is to abide in him. The reason we get disturbed is that we have not been considering him. Lay it all out before him, and in the face of difficulties, bereavement and sorrow, hear him say, let not your heart be troubled. Let us be confident in his wisdom and his certainty that all will be well. He abideth faithful; for he cannot deny himself (2 timothy 2:13 rv ). The angels song is still the truth: glory to god in high heaven, and peace on earth for men whom he favours! (moffatt ).
Radiant in the thick of it (romans 8:3339)
(radiant in the thick of it is a talk given in hawes, yorkshire september 12, 1915, at the sunday eve- ning service, wesleyan methodist chapel. )
In all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. (v. 37)
The vocation of the saint
They looked unto him, and were radiant. (psalm 34:5 asv )
There are circumstances and difficulties which can only be described as the thick of it, and in and through all such the apostle paul says we are to be more than conquerors. Paul always talked from the deep cen- tre of things, and the majority of us do not pay much attention to him until some calamity or disaster strikes us out of the shallows, then the bible takes on a new guise and we find that it always speaks profoundly. The vocation of a saint is to be in the thick of it for thy sake. Whenever jesus christ refers to disci- pleship or to suffering, it is always, for my sake. The deep relationship of a saint is a personal one, and the reason a saint can be radiant is that he has lost inter- est in his own individuality and has become absolutely devoted to the person of the lord jesus christ. Who shall lay anything to the charge of gods elect? Shall god that justifieth? (v. 33 rv mg). When once a saint puts his confidence in the election of god, no tribulation or affliction can ever touch that confidence. When we realise that there is no hope of deliverance in human wisdom, or in human rectitude, or in anything that we can do, then paul counsels us to accept the justification of god and to stand true to the election of god in christ jesus. This is the finest cure for spiritual degeneration or for spiritual sulks. Who is he that shall condemn? Shall christ jesus that died . . . ? (v. 34 rv mg). Christ died for the ungodly. Then is it a remarkable thing that after we have accepted his salvation we begin to find out our unworthiness? Who is he that condemneth? It is christ that died. Stake your confidence in him! Let there be a real shifting of the whole centre of life into confidence in jesus christ.
Who shall separate us from the love of christ? (v. 35). In the confusion and turmoil of things, there is very little we can explain; things happen which upset all our calculations, butwho shall sepa- rate us from the love of christ? Nothing! When we know that nothing can separate us from the love of christ, it does not matter what calamities may occur, we are as unshakeable as gods throne.
The valley of the shadow
Yea, though i walk through the valley of the shadow of death, i will fear no evil. (psalm 23:4)
who shall separate us from the love of christ? Shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine . . . ? (rv ). Can we remain true to the vocation of a saint in tribulation? Think of the thousands who have had to go through tribulation during these past yearsevery human hope taken from them; but yet the saint with an amazing hopefulness remains radi- ant in the thick of it.
. . . Or nakedness, or peril, or sword? In our own day all these things are dastardly realities. Can
We maintain our vocation as a saint there? Life was going on all right when suddenly we were struck by a psychological norwester! Paul says we have to main- tain our vocation in the midst of the most desperate things that can happen in individual life.
The vision of slaughter
For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (v. 36 rv )
Every man who comes to jesus christ has to go through the ordeal of condemnation, he has to have his beauty consume away like a moth, and his righ- teousness drop from him as filthy rags when he stands face to face with god.
For i am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities . . . These are things beyond our control, and they introduce painful ago- nies into our experience, they slaughter our hopes: nor things presentthings present prevail, things we cannot alter; a bereavement profoundly alters life, so does a joy, or war: nor things to comethink of the number of bridges we have all crossed before we come to them! Things to come are always prevailing, human wisdom cannot touch them: nor powers, there are terrific powers that move around in total disregard of us: nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature . . . Can we maintain our vocation in the face of every ter- ror? Paul says we can, because he is persuaded that none of these things shall be able to separate us from the love of god, which is in christ jesus our lord.
It all comes back to thisam i radiant in the thick of it for his sake?