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Ironside\par \par \par \b0 01 Power of His Resurrection\par 02 Joseph, A Type of Christ\par 03 Four Great Truths\par 04 Judgment-Seat of Christ\par 05 Bearing About in the Body the Dying of the Lord Jesus\par 06 Care for God's Fruit-Trees\par 07 Uzziah, King of Judah, or the Danger of Success\par 08 The Lord's Day, Its Privileges and Responsibilities\par 09 The Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness\par 10 The Father's House and the Way There\par \pard\cf1\lang1033\f1\par \cf2 formatted for e-Sword by David R. Cox\par tech@davidcox.com.mx\cf1\par \lang2058\fs23\par } {\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f1\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;\red128\green0\blue0;} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\nowidctlpar\lang2058\b\f0\fs22 Care for God's Fruit-trees...\par by H.A. Ironside\par \par \par \b0 01 Power of His Resurrection\par 02 Joseph, A Type of Christ\par 03 Four Great Truths\par 04 Judgment-Seat of Christ\par 05 Bearing About in the Body the Dying of the Lord Jesus\par 06 Care for God's Fruit-Trees\par 07 Uzziah, King of Judah, or the Danger of Success\par 08 The Lord's Day, Its Privileges and Responsibilities\par 09 The Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness\par 10 The Father's House and the Way There\par \pard\cf1\lang1033\f1\par \cf2 formatted for e-Sword by David R. Cox\par tech@davidcox.com.mx\cf1\par \lang2058\fs23\par }   t#  6 <  10 The Father's House and the Way ThereƮQ`T 09 The Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness}Irf 08 The Lord's Day, Its Privileges and Responsibili\=vj07 Uzziah, King of Judah, or the Danger of Success$[7vj06 Care for God's Fruit-Trees>3L@05 "Bearing About in the body the Dying of the Lor$hy&vj04 The Judgment-Seat of ChristBt&NB03 Four Great Truthslm&:.02 Joseph, A Type of Christaf&H<01 The Power of His ResurrectionY`t'&RF00 contents@(LVAL{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f2\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f3\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Power of His Resurrection\par \pard\nowidctlpar\sa120\b0\f1\fs24\par \pard\nowidctlpar\f2\fs22\par "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Col_3:1.\par \par H.A. IronsideFrom the moment that God, in grace, revealed His Son in Saul of Tarsus, transforming the persecuting Pharisee into the flaming apostle to the Gentiles, Paul's great and yearning desire was expressed in the words: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection" (Php_3:10). I would ask you to consider this remarkable expression from three standpoints.\par \par Power for Regeneration \par \par First, God is the God of resurrection. He works with what He brings, not with what He finds. The excellency of the power is in Him and not in us. He who created all things by Jesus Christ, so that the visible universe was brought into existence by the Word of His power alone, is the God who now works in a creation ruined by sin, demonstrating His omnipotent grace. The same power that raised the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave is the power that quickens dead souls into newness of life.\par \par In the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ every Person of the Godhead had a part. He was "raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father" (Rom_6:4) He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1Pe_3:18), that is, the Holy Spirit. He Himself said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (Joh_2:19). And again: "I lay down My life, that I might take it again ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again" (Joh_LVAL10:17; Joh_10:18).\par \par Likewise, in the regeneration of lost men, in the quickening of those who are dead in trespasses and in sins, the entire Godhead has a part. It was the Father who planned our salvation. It was the Son who died that we might be redeemed. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts and attracts the soul to Christ. Jesus said: "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (Joh_6:44), and, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me" (Joh_6:37). But "it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (Joh_6:63). Our salvation is altogether of God. The same power that wrought in Christ to bring Him again from the dead is the power that is involved in the salvation of every individual. Through faith, he becomes a child of God.\par \par Power for Service\par \par In the second place, this is the only power for true Christian service. Fleshly energy counts for nothing. It is even worse than nothing, for it gets in the way of the acting of the Spirit of God. The servant of Christ needs, above everything else, to rely implicitly upon that divine power that alone can make the good seed to fructify and give life through the message. The great object of many today is to put over some kind of a program which they judge will prove effective in gaining the attention of men and in bringing them to some kind of a decision. But the true servant of Christ is not called upon to formulate a program nor to put over one that others have devised, but to live in such fellowship with the risen Christ that he will know the power of His resurrection in a practical way. Thus he will be enabled to see the working of the Holy Trinity as he, feeble and helpless, and perhaps a broken vessel, holds forth the Word of life in a scene of death.\par \par No one who is at all familiar with the Holy Spirit's quickening operations today questions the reality and actuality of Christ's resurrection. It takes just the same power to turn men from sin to righteousness, from the poLVALwer of Satan unto God, and from spiritual death to life in Christ that it took to revivify the dead body of the Lord Jesus. To the observant Christian, happily engaged in his Master's service, life is full of miracles, every one manifesting in some degree the power of Christ's resurrection.\par \par Power for Victory\par \par In the third instance, this resurrection power is the dynamic for holy living. It is when I take my rightful place as crucified with Christ, and reckon myself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God in Him, that the power of His resurrection works in me to enable me to rise into newness of life. Eternal life is far more than everlasting existence. All men, whether saved or lost, will exist forever. Eternal life is more than immortality. All believers who are living when the Lord returns will put on immortality, even as all who sleep in Christ will put on incorruption. But this refers to the body, not to the new life which we now possess in Christ. Eternal life is the very life of God Himself, communicated to the believer in the power of the Holy Spirit. This life has its own affections and desires. Sin is abhorrent to it. Holiness is its delight. Love is its expression. So truly is it the life of God, as revealed in Christ, that He Himself is called "that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1Jn_1:2). Therefore, it is written: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life" (1Jn_5:12). The possession of this life gives capacity for the knowledge of, and communion with, the Persons of the Godhead. In His great high-priestly prayer our Lord said to the Father: "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (Joh_17:3). This expresses the capacity which we have as possessors of that life. Such life is enjoyed only as we enter, in a practical sense, into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, and know Him as only they can know Him who are identified witLVALh Him in His rejection by the world and who take the place of death to all to which He died as Man. That is, we experience death to the world, death to the law, death to sin, in order that we may live a heavenly life down here in the liberty of grace, manifesting that holiness which the Spirit alone imparts. This indeed is to know the power of His resurrection.\par \par This was the truth which the apostle pressed upon the young preacher, Timothy, when he wrote exhorting him to "lay hold on eternal life" (1Ti_6:12). And this is the ideal which, I am persuaded, the majority of Christians have before them from the very moment of their conversion; yet many of them have to confess with sorrow that they never seem to realize it practically. What, then, is the trouble? Why is it that so few of us know the power of His resurrection in our daily lives? May I suggest again three things?\par \par Causes of Defeat\par \par First, it takes us so long to get to the end of ourselves! Even after we have realized that "the flesh profiteth nothing" (Joh_6:63), so far as earning salvation or justification is concerned, we still imagine that, saved by faith in Christ, we are to be made perfect by the flesh. So we endeavor to harness our carnal nature and to bring it into subjection to God by law, forgetting that the Holy Spirit has declared: "The carnal mind ... is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom_8:7).\par \par Therefore we struggle on, vainly endeavoring to please God on a merely human plane, "doing our little best" to work for Him and to glorify His name, only to learn at last that this old nature of ours is as incorrigibly weak at the end of years of Christian testimony as it was at the beginning. This discovery has a tendency to cast us into doubt and gloom and to make us wonder whether we have ever been converted at all, or whether everything is a hopeless sham. At such times we are tempted to give up the conflict, to cease witnessing for Christ, and to sink back to the low level LVALof that world from which we sought deliverance. But "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Php_1:6). He, the blessed Holy Spirit, holds us fast. Deep in our hearts we know, through the inward witness, that we have passed from death unto life; that a great change has taken place; and that, unsatisfactory as our actual experience may be, we are the children of God. With many there is then the tendency to assume that there is no real way to escape from the hopeless conflict as long as we are still in the body. This leads to a settling down to a low level of Christian living, as though it were the best we could expect to be under existing circumstances. Yet the Spirit of God is constantly seeking to make us dissatisfied with such a state and to long for something better. Little by little we come to the place where we are ready to admit the hopelessness of the flesh: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom_7:18).\par \par Then, in the second place, comes another step, one that we are generally very slow to take. We have to learn that, just as we were saved through the blood of the Cross, so we enter into a life of victory through the death of the Cross. When George Muller was asked on one occasion how he accounted for the marvelous way in which God had set His seal upon his work throughout the years, he replied in substance: "There came a day when George Muller died, and then God began to work." This is the experience into which we all need to enter. Judicially, we have died with Christ; His death was our death; but we are so slow to realize this practically and to say "Amen" to that which God has already declared to be true. Perhaps we try \emdash try to die to the flesh, try to die to selfishness, try to die to ambition. But alas, we find in the hour of stress that we are just as much alive as ever! It is a great thing when we learn experimentally, in the presence of God, that we have died, and when in faith the soul can e2LVALBxclaim: "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal_2:20). Then the struggle is over, for nothing is expected of a dead man.\par \par How to Triumph\par \par Yet in the Word of God we are exhorted to strive, and to "fight the good fight of faith" (1Ti_6:12). How shall we do this if we are dead? Ah, now we come to the third point, to that which the apostle expresses in our text. We are called to know Christ, the living Christ, and the power of His resurrection working in us, overcoming our enemies, defeating the world, the flesh, and the devil, and leading us into a life of triumphant victory. Then the soul exclaims: "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" (Gal_2:20). Thus the soul's quest is attained. Resurrection life is enjoyed even in a mortal body, and the risen Christ is seen in those whom He has purchased with His blood. This is bliss indeed \emdash a foretaste of that which will be ours eternally in the city of God!\par \par Copied from Care for God's Fruit-trees and Other Messages by H.A. Ironside. Rev. ed. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, [1945].\par \pard\cf1\lang2058\f3\fs23\par } LVAL{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 Joseph, A Type of Christ\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par H.A. IronsideThe story of Joseph as given in Genesis (chapters 37 to 50) is perennially fresh and delightful. Young and old alike revel in it. Looked at as an old-world picture of customs and people long-since vanished, there is a freshness and charm about it that stirs the heart and holds our attention in a remarkable way.\par \par But in studying Scripture there is not only the literal application, which is always important, but every part of the Word of God has a spiritual, typical, and dispensational application as well, and in Joseph's character and experience we have a wonderful type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ordinarily when we speak of any individual in the Old Testament being a type of Christ, we refer to what he is officially, and not to his personal character. David, for instance, in his official capacity is a striking type of our Saviour; Solomon, too, as the king of peace typifies Him who is yet to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords; but neither of these men could be said to typify Christ in their personal characters. With Joseph it is otherwise. His life shines forth from the pages of Holy Scripture as practically flawless. It is not indeed that he was actually sinless, for he had in himself the same corrupt nature that any other child of Adam has, but it has not pleased God to speak of any flaws or blemishes which His holy eye may have discerned in this devoted servant, but He has rather emphasized his faithfulness and practical godliness.\par \par If we study him as a type of Christ, we would first notice him as\par \par The Beloved of the Father's Heart\par \par This comes out clearlLVALy in the early part of chapter 37. We read that Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. Here we have more than a hint of the One who from all eternity was the delight of God the Father, the One whom He ever sought to magnify and glorify, for our Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father from all eternity. There are some who question this, and particularly some who would deny His right to the term "Eternal Son"; but if He was not the Eternal Son, then there was no Eternal Father. Saintly J. G. Bellett has well asked, "Had the Father no bosom in the past eternity?" and the answer is clearly found in Joh_1:18, "The only begotten Son, which is in (or subsisting in) the bosom of the Father." The expression implies a relationship of devoted attachment, of deepest affection. The Father loved Him before the foundation of the world and ever delighted to honor Him.\par \par Then we notice in Joseph the dreamer of dreams with\par \par Premonitions of Coming Glory\par \par He saw in a vision his brethren and all his father's house bowing down to him, and this was the vision granted to our Lord Jesus Christ. His delights were with the sons of men and He ever looked forward to the time when, as the exalted Man, He would be the means of blessing for all His brethren and His Father's house. That term, "His brethren" includes not only Israel but we read in the epistle to the Hebrews, "He is not ashamed to call us brethren." All the redeemed rejoice to own His authority and gladly bow in submission at His feet. But there is more than this involved in the thought of His coming exaltation for "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Php_2:10-11).\par \par Joseph comes before us in his first active ministry as the one who left the father's house and went forth\par \LVALpar Seeking His Brethren\par \par His father's heart was toward the sons who were caring for the flock, first at Shechem and then at Dothan, and to them Joseph went forth sent by the father to see how they did and to declare the father's concern for them. How truly this sets forth the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ who came "not to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved;" (Joh_3:17) who came from the Father's house into this dark world of sin seeking His brethren that He might declare the Father's Name to them and manifest the Father's love. Of this we have more than a hint in the journey of Joseph to distant Dothan, but as the story proceeds how the whole tragedy of the\par \par Rejection of the Son\par \par comes before us in the treatment accorded to him by those whom he sought out for blessing \emdash hating him the more because of his father's love and detesting him because of his superior virtue. Angered too, because of those dreams of glory, they exclaimed in indignation as he drew near, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams" (Gen_37:19-20). And so in the sordid tale of their hatred and rejection we have more than a foreshadow of the treatment that Israel and the Gentiles would yet accord to God's beloved Son. While every detail does not, of course, fit perfectly with the experiences of our blessed Lord and His unbelieving brethren after the flesh, yet it is plain to see that the story is one and the same: the love of the Father's heart, the yearning of the Son, and the cruel setting at nought by those whom He loved so tenderly, all are clearly manifested. Hated, spurned by those who should have welcomed him with gladness, Joseph is cast into the pit, which speaks of death, and then sold to the Gentiles and carried down into Egypt. Of course, with our Lord He was sold first and then crucified, but botLVALh stories alike tell of the corruption of the human heart and the love of the heart of God.\par \par The scene changes and we next see Joseph as\par \par The Tempted One\par \par and here how his experiences illustrate the testings and triumphs of our Lord who was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb_4:15). In Joseph's case we have a man sinful by nature triumphing in the hour of testing because of the fear of the Lord. "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen_39:9) This was his strength. He had set Jehovah always before him and therefore he was not moved when the hour of trial came. In the case of our Lord, He was, of course, the sinless One and His temptation was but the demonstration of this. "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," (Heb_7:26) it was unthinkable that sin should ever hold dominion over Him. He stood unflinchingly against every attack of the evil one, and He could ever say, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me" (Joh_14:30). In Joseph's temptation and victory we see clearly set forth the way in which every one of us may overcome. It is as the Word of God is hidden in our hearts that we shall be kept from sinning against Him.\par \par But Joseph's testing was not only in Potiphar's house. There he was tempted in the midst of luxuries. There was a further trial when, falsely accused, he suffered for righteousness' sake in the prison-house. But there his integrity was demonstrated and the fear of God preserved him. He shone just as brightly in the dungeon as he did in the mansion. D. L. Moody once said, "Character is what a man is in the dark," and this indeed comes out wonderfully in the case of Joseph. They put him in fetters of iron, but the prison-cell was only the antechamber to the royal palace.\par \par He is as truly the messenger of Jehovah in the prison, interpreting the dreams of the butler and the baker, as when he told his own dream so long before. It is evident that there was no breLVALak in his communion with God. It was as easy for him to interpret a dream as to see visions, for he was under the control of the Holy Spirit.\par \par And so in due time we find him\par \par Exalted in Glory\par \par He who had been despised and rejected, he who had been hated and spurned, given up for dead and sold into slavery, unjustly accused and imprisoned, came forth in due time to share the throne with Pharaoh as the preserver of the lives of both the Egyptians and all his father's house.\par \par His Gentile bride, Asenath, seems to give a hint of the fact that our Lord, while rejected by Israel, has found a Bride among the Gentiles, and Joseph's two sons Manasseh (forgetful) and Ephraim (fruitful), tell how he was made to forget all his sorrows because of the fruitfulness of his ministry by the Spirit among the Gentiles. The day came when all of Egypt and the peoples of distant lands bowed at his feet asking for the sustaining corn. When they cried to Pharaoh and said, "Give us food," his answer was, "Go to Joseph," for he was the custodian of all the treasured corn of Egypt, and so today, as throughout the coming Millennium, all blessing is centered in Christ, and to every seeking soul the Father says,\par \par "Go to Jesus"\par \par "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Act_4:12) but the Name which was written above Him when He hung rejected on Calvary's cross, and, thank God, no other name is needed, for He declares, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Mat_28:18). He is exalted to God's right hand, speaking peace to all who trust Him and ministering grace to every seeking soul.\par \par Joseph's dreams were wonderfully fulfilled when his brethren came in their abject need, bowing at his feet, glad to receive from his hand that which would maintain physical life, and so now He who is greater than Joseph gives eternal life to bankrupt sinners who bow before Him confessing their guilt and owning His grace.\par \par LVALThe tender heart of Joseph, his deep compassion for his brethren, comes out most clearly when he reveals himself to them, and again when they doubt his love after his father's death. Like the One of whom he was but a foreshadow, he was a man of tears. As he beheld his brethren, he could not refrain from weeping, and when they feared that he would remember their sins after the burial of Jacob, their distrust of his love moved him again to sobs uncontrolled. He loved to be trusted; he could not bear to be doubted, and in this how truly he portrays the character of the Lord Jesus.\par \par But the type falls far short of the reality, and the book of Genesis closes with the death of Joseph and his body placed in a coffin in Egypt. Thank God, He of whom Joseph speaks lives to die no more, but just as Joseph gave commandment concerning his bones, and Israel carried those bones all through the wilderness and at last laid them to rest in the land of Canaan, so a pilgrim people today are called upon to always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in us. The bones of Joseph were the memorial of death. Suppose a stranger noticed his bier carried reverently throughout the wilderness and inquired concerning it, he might have been answered by something like this, "We were in deep distress, likely to die of famine, but Joseph our brother, whom we had rejected, saved us. Our deliverer died, and we are carrying the memorial through the wilderness to find a resting-place in the land to which we go."\par \par And so we too have that which reminds us of our Saviour's death, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come" (1Co_11:26). Some day we will be through forever with the memorials of death when we shall have gone to that rest which remains for the people of God, and there we shall have our blessed Lord in all His fulness to be the delight of our hearts throughout an eternity of bliss, while a regenerateLVALd world will see Him enthroned in highest glory and all peoples will be nourished by His beneficence and bow at His feet in rapt adoration. \par \pard\cf1\f2\fs23\par } LVAL!{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 Four Great Truths\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par "If Christ to His throne had not bidden farewell,\par Sad indeed were the tolling of life's passing bell;\par If Christ on the cross had not suffered and died,\par Dark indeed were the passage of death's somber tide.\par If Christ from the grave had in triumph not risen,\par Bleak indeed were the dungeons of that dreadful prison;\par If Christ were not living and pleading on high,\par Death indeed were our doom, death that never may die."\par \emdash H. G. T. PARKE\par \par H.A. IronsideThe above lines were written by a poor unfortunate, a drug-addict, who stumbled into a Salvation Army Hall years ago and came to Christ. It is evident that the Spirit of God gave him a very vivid appreciation of four aspects of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which Scripture bases four great truths. Upon these I desire to meditate, hoping that both writer and readers may thus enter more fully into the completeness of the divine scheme of redemption.\par \par Incarnation \par \par Think, first, of incarnation. The word itself implies a supernatural Being linking Himself with humanity, and this of course is what actually took place when the eternal Son of God became Man in the fulness of time. Incarnation means more than the mere assumption of a human body. In Scripture we are told, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (Joh_1:14)... It was a voluntary act on His part. He who subsisted from all eternity in the form of God, who thought it not robbery to be equLVAL"al with God, emptied Himself of the outward semblance of Deity, and took upon Him the form of a bondman; having come in the likeness of men, and being thus habited as a Man, He humbled Himself still lower, becoming obedient unto death, and such a death\emdash that of the cross. In doing this, He linked Deity with humanity in such a way that He did not cease in any sense to be God, while He became, nevertheless, in the fullest possible sense, Man. He had a true human spirit. "He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled," (Joh_11:33) we are told, and on the cross He exclaimed, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luk_23:46). We hear Him saying, "Now is My soul troubled," (Joh_12:27) and we read that He "poured out His soul unto death" (Isa_53:12). His body was in no sense a phantom, as some have taught in early days, but a true human body, the earthly vessel in which the heavenly One took up His abode, in order that He might be slain for our sins. All this is involved in the fact of incarnation.\par \par But though a true Man, He was a sinless Man, and not only sinless in thought and act, but impeccable; because being as truly God as Man, it is unthinkable that He could in His humanity do that, under any circumstances, which was repugnant to His Godhead, and God cannot sin. Thus He fulfilled the types of old; He was the unblemished, spotless Lamb; like the unyoked heifer, He never came under the yoke of sin. He was as pure within as He was without, thus answering to the burnt offering which had to be laid open and examined in every part, and could only be presented to God if found inwardly perfect.\par \par In order that this might be so, He could not come into the world through the process of natural generation, for this would have made Him heir to all the fearful entailment of sin and infirmity which characterized the human race as proceeding from fallen Adam. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, a distinct creation in the womb of the virgin, and thus He entered this world through the portLVAL#als of birth, but as the Second Man, the Lord from heaven. Herein lies the importance of the doctrine of the virgin birth, which some today insist has no real bearing upon the question of His Saviourhood. But His incarnation must be sinless and impeccable, or He could not be the Saviour of sinners. If there were within Him the least evil or tendency to evil, He must needs have a Saviour for Himself, and He could not stand in the breach for us.\par \par We speak of His sinless incarnation. On the other hand, it is quite inaccurate to apply the term "the immaculate conception" to this wondrous mystery. This latter term is used very loosely by many Protestants who fail to realize, or forget if they ever knew, that it is the name given by the Roman Catholic Church to the Romish doctrine of the sinless, yet natural conception of the blessed virgin Mary. No such term is ever used in the Bible, nor does such a term belong in Protestant theology in connection with the sinless incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.\par \par These truths need to be emphasized more than ever today, for if we lose sight of them we become confused in our thinking, and we shall be further confused as we go on to consider the work of His cross. He had to be what He was in order to do what He did. If He had been in any sense less than God manifest in flesh, He could not have offered up Himself in the power of the Eternal Spirit for our redemption. If He had been other than the One of whom it was written, "He knew no sin," He could not have been made sin for us.\par \par While we are not saved through His incarnation, and our present union with Him is not because He took our humanity upon Himself, but because we have been linked to Him, the glorified Man in heaven, by the Holy Spirit, yet it is of all importance that we hold fast to the truth that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2Co_5:19). Bethlehem must precede Calvary. He became Man that He might die for men.\par \par Propitiation\par \par In the seLVAL$cond chapter of Hebrews, we are told in verse 17, "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." The word here translated "reconciliation" is more accurately rendered "propitiation" as in 1Jn_2:2 and \cf1\ul 1Jn_4:10\cf0\ulnone "He is the propitiation for our sins;" "God ... sent His Son to be the propitiation." This word is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, made in the third century before Christ, commonly called the Septuagint, and expressed generally as the LXX, to translate the Hebrew term which occurs again and again in the Old Testament, and is rendered in many different ways in the English Version, a few of which are as follows:\par \par 1. "Pitch," in Gen_6:14, as used for the "covering" of the ark.\par 2. "Appease," used in Gen_32:20, where it means literally "to cover the face."\par 3. "Atonement," used in many places in Leviticus 16, and particularly in Lev_17:11.\par 4. "Satisfaction," used in Num_35:31.\par 5. "Ransom," used in Job_33:24.\par 6. "Put it off," in Isa_47:11.\par 7. "Reconciliation," used in Dan_9:24.\par 8. "Pacified," used in Eze_16:63.\par \par If we put all of these English translations together, they do not by any means exhaust the real meaning of this word, but they do throw wonderful light upon the Scripture doctrine of propitiation. They tell us that in the death of Christ God has found a ransom for sinful men, and that a covering has been provided to shield us from the storm of judgment. Atonement has been made for our sins, full satisfaction has been rendered to the divine justice for our iniquities. God's judgment is appeased; sin is expiated, and God is pacified toward us for all that we have done, because of the perfection of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now He Himself is our propitiation and we come to God alone by Him.\par \par Resurrection\par \pLVAL%ar But although the death of our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished the putting away of sin so that every believer is justified by His blood, it is through His resurrection that we know God is satisfied with the work that His Son accomplished when He took our place in judgment and bore our sins in His own body upon the tree. He "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom_4:25). It is not that we are justified by His resurrection, but it is that His resurrection proves that the work which justifies has been accomplished, and we come into the benefit of it all when we put our trust in the Risen One. Everywhere the apostles went they preached Jesus Christ and the resurrection. Just as incarnation without propitiation is in itself unable to save us, so propitiation without resurrection would be incomplete. None could know certainly that God was satisfied with the work of His Son if Christ had not burst the bands of death asunder and risen in triumph from the tomb.\par \par More than this, had He remained enthralled in the arms of death, it would have given the lie to His entire testimony and redemptive program. It was imperative that He rise again the third day. It was this that proved Him to be in very truth the Son of God and the all-sufficient Sacrifice for sin. And so today the message that goes out to all mankind is as of old, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom_10:9; Rom_10:10). It is the Risen One whom God has exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. He has been made both Lord and Christ to give repentance and remission of sins to all who turn to Him in faith.\par \par Intercession\par \par As the risen Christ, our Lord is carrying on a special service now on behalf of all believers here on earth as the minister of the heavenly sanctuaryLVAL&. Therefore we are told, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost [that is, forevermore], that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb_7:25). He ministers in the holiest of all as our great High Priest with God, giving every believer a perfect representation before the eternal throne. He is there also as our Advocate with the Father, keeping the feet of His saints, and insuring the restoration of every failing Christian.\par \par We often speak, and rightly, of the finished work of Christ. This refers, of course, to the work of propitiation, as we have already seen. To this nothing can be added, nor can anything be taken from it. It is complete. To attempt to add to it would be only to try to spoil His finished work. But on the other hand, it is just as correct to speak of the unfinished work of Christ, for He began a service in behalf of His people when He ascended to heaven which has been going on ever since, and will not be finished so long as there is one saint left on earth in the place of testing and possible failure. We have a sample of His intercession in John 17, where we find His great high-priestly prayer. In that wonderful chapter He anticipates the cross, and we are permitted to listen reverently to the tender words He speaks on behalf of His own to the end of time. In John 13 we see Him acting as Advocate, washing the defiled feet of His disciples, thus picturing the work He has been carrying on ever since He returned to the glory. He is the girded Servant still, and will be so as long as we need Him. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous," (1Jn_2:1) and "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1Jn_2:2). His advocacy is based upon His propitiation.\par \par Were it not for this present service of our Lord Jesus Christ, the first sin committed by a believer after his conversion would destroy communion with God, and there would be no waLVAL y to restore that communion again. It needs to be remembered that there are two links that bind every saint to the Saviour, and these are union and communion. The link of union is indissoluble. Once formed, it can never be broken. The link of communion is delicate indeed. The least sin will break it, and it would never be formed anew were it not for the intercession of our Lord Jesus. He meets every accusation of the enemy. He presents our case before the Father. He, through the Holy Spirit, brings the Word to bear upon our consciences, and thus He brings us to contrition, confession, and restoration.\par \par How full is our salvation! How wonderfully has God provided! The Incarnate Son became Himself our propitiation. Resurrection attests our justification, and His intercession carries us on to the end of the journey.\par \par If it be asked, "Why do we need an advocate?" the answer is, "Because we have an accuser, Satan, 'the accuser of our brethren ... which accused them before our God day and night'" (Rev_12:10). But "who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom_8:33; Rom_8:34). Jesus Christ meets every charge of the adversary. His propitiatory work is the answer to every accusation. And He will minister all needed grace to meet present need and restore the souls of His failing saints, until the glad hour when He will call us all to meet Him above and to share the joys of the Father's house.\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVAL({\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Judgment-Seat of Christ\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par H.A. IronsideWe are told in Joh_5:22 that "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," so that in this sense every judgment throne is to be considered as the judgment-seat of Christ. As the resurrected Man, He has been appointed by God as the Judge of all (Act_17:31). Both the living and the dead are to give an account to Him, and this includes all men, whether saved or unsaved (1Pe_4:5; Act_10:42). But so far as condemnatory judgment is concerned, believers will never enter into this. For them all such judgment is already past (Joh_5:24). Yet, while this is blessedly true, because all our sins were dealt with in the cross of Christ, it is a solemn fact, nevertheless, that we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.\par \par In our Authorized Version this expression is used twice. In Rom_14:10 we are warned against judging one another now. We read: "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." Some manuscripts here read "God" in place of "Christ," and in \cf1\ul Rom_14:12\cf0\ulnone we are told, "So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." But Christ is God, so the thought is the same whichever word is used. And in 2 Corinthians 5 the apostle tells us how he has sought to live his life and maintain his testimony in view of this fact. He says in \cf1\ul 2Co_5:9-10\cf0\ulnone , "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one maLVAL)y receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." It was his ambition so to behave himself that he might give an account with joy at that great tribunal.\par \par It is plain from Scripture that there is a vast difference between the judgment seat of Christ and the judgment of the great white throne, where the wicked dead are to answer for their sins and be judged according to their works (Rev_20:11-15). The first takes place at our Lord's return prior to the glorious kingdom age, the latter at the end of time. He says in Rev_22:12, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." And in 1Co_4:5 we read, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." Our blessed Lord is as a nobleman who has gone into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return. During His absence His servants are to be occupied in His interests. They are to use what He has committed to them for His glory. When He returns they will give an account to Him of their service.\par \par It is well to remember that believers will be in their glorified bodies when they give this account. It will be after the resurrection of the sleeping saints and the rapture of those still in the body that we shall be manifested before our blessed Lord, either to receive His approval or to learn that we must suffer loss because of unworthy behavior. In 1 Corinthians 3 we have the outstanding scripture which deals with this judgment. A careful reading of verses 11 to 15 will make clear just what it is that will be brought to light in that day:\par \par "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: foLVAL*r the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire,"\par \par Observe, this has to do only with those who are building upon the one foundation, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore they are already saved people. They have been regenerated and added to the Lord, and to Him they are to give an account in the day of Christ. It is every man's work that is to be made manifest; that work may consist in building gold, silver and precious stones upon the sure foundation, or, on the other hand, wood, hay, stubble. The searching flame of God's infinite holiness will try every man's work of what sort it is. It does not say, "of how much it is." It is the character of the work rather than the amount of it that is in question. The gold, silver and precious stones speak of that which is estimable, which is in accordance with the Word of God and for which there will be a reward. The wood, hay, and stubble speak of that which is either utterly worthless or of transient value, and will all be consumed in the judgment fire of that day. Whatever is according to the flesh will be destroyed; for that there can be no reward. Instead, we shall have to suffer loss. Everything that is of the Spirit and therefore in accordance with God's Holy Word, will abide, and for that we shall be rewarded.\par \par These are serious considerations which ought to be borne in mind by everyone seeking in any way to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Unquestionably there is much work that is done professedly in His name, but is contrary to His Word, which perhaps attracts a great deal of attention and receives the applause of unspiritual people, who are not able to discern what is really of God and what is simply of man. All of this will be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ. What a lLVAL+ot of so-called church-work the fires of that day will consume. Much which we have taken for granted as being in accordance with the mind of God will then prove to be simply the product of ecclesiastical machinery, and much of it without a passage of Holy Scripture behind it. When we stand before that august bema of Christ, everything will be brought to light. All the self-seeking, all the carnal egotism, all the fleshly energy, all the self-confidence that so often is back of our ministry will be made manifest, and all of this will go for nothing when our blessed Lord is looking for that which He can reward.\par \par On the other hand, much that is looked upon with contempt by high-minded and heady brethren will then be seen in its true character, and of many a hidden saint, who has been passed by as insignificant and doing nothing of any real moment, the Lord will say, as He said of Mary of Bethany so long ago, "She hath done what she could." He will discern gold, silver and precious stones in the lowly but faithful service of "them that are quiet in the land" (Psa_35:20), who have been content to be passed by and ignored here on earth, but whose one earnest desire has been to have His approval.\par \par "He is coming! Oh, how solemn When the Judge's voice is heard, And in His own light He shows us Every thought and act and word.\par \par Deeds of merit, as we thought them, He will show us were but sin; Little acts we had forgotten He will tell us were for Him."\par \par God loves reality. "The proud he knoweth afar off." He dwells in the heart of the humble and it is the meek of the earth who glorify Him, whereas the haughty and self-sufficient dishonor His name.\par \par Nevertheless He will find in every believer something to approve, for we are told, "Then shall every man have praise of God" (1Co_4:5). But even though all one's work should be burned up, the Spirit of God tells us the believer himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. But who that knows the saving grace of God and  LVAL appreciates the love of Christ would wish thus to stand before Him? It is for Him we should labor. His glory should ever be before us, and then when we receive our rewards at His hand, it will be because of the delight which He Himself has found in our service...\par \par Copied from Care for God's Fruit-trees and Other Messages by H.A. Ironside. Rev. ed. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, [1945].\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVAL-{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 "Bearing About in the body the Dying of the Lord Jesus"\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2Co_4:10; 2Co_4:11)\par \par H.A. IronsideThis fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians is the Apostle Paul's statement of power for ministry. He shows us in these stirring verses that God is not looking for brilliant men, is not depending upon eloquent men, is not shut up to the use of talented men in sending His gospel out in the world. God is looking for broken men, for men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to an end of themselves, and whose trust and confidence is not in themselves but in God.\par \par There were those who were calling in question the apostleship of Paul himself, for he did not seem to them to be what an apostle, according to their estimation of the office, ought to be. There was not the pomp nor the dignity they would expect; he did not come to them with great swelling words, there was no making anything of what he was after the flesh, no drawing attention to his natural ability or education; and in this the method of the Apostle Paul was in very vivid contrast to the method pursued by many today who pose as servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. This man went through the world a broken man, a lowly man, a man seeking only the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessing of souls, a man who mighLVAL.t have occupied a very high place among the great and distinguished of earth. But he was a man who for Jesus' sake had turned his back upon all that, and could say, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal_6:14).\par \par That cross spoke of the deepest shame and ignominy, and Paul gloried in it because through the work that took place upon it his soul had been saved, and he had learned that the preaching of the cross, while it is "to them that perish foolishness," is "unto us which are saved ... the power of God" (1Co_1:18). And so he went forth content to be broken in order that the light of the grace of God might shine out.\par \par You will notice in \cf1\ul 2Co_4:6\cf0\ulnone that "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2Co_4:6; 2Co_4:7). It is easy to see what he has in mind. He is thinking undoubtedly of that very striking incident of which we read in Judges, when Gideon and his three hundred men took their lives in their hands, were delivered unto death, as it were, and went forth against the vast armies of the Midianites. Surely no other army was accoutred as this one. They carried in one hand a trumpet, and in the other a pitcher, and in this pitcher was a lamp. The light of the lamp was not seen though it was already lit. It was not seen as long as it was in the earthen jar. They surrounded the army of the Midianites in the middle of the night, and suddenly at the command of their leader the jars were crashed to earth, and the light shone out, and the Midianites sprang up startled. They heard the crash and saw the light, and thought that they were surrounded by a tremendous army, and they turned their swords upon one another. It was God through Gideon LVAL/that led the army to victory. A broken pitcher in order that light might shine out! The apostle says, as it were, "That is it! If you want to be a light for God in a world like this, be content to be broken, to have your hopes, your ambitions, all dashed to pieces, and then God can take you up and use you in order to carry the light of Christ to darkened hearts."\par \par How are we broken? By affliction, by trouble, by the discipline of the Lord, sometimes by sickness, by pain and anguish. All these are the divine methods for breaking God's pitchers in order that the light may shine out to His praise and glory. Men may misjudge us, misrepresent us, persecute us bitterly; we may not have enough food to eat or water to drink; we may be cast down; we may suffer all kinds of sorrows; but it is all right if it breaks us in order that God may be able the better to use us. And so he says, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2Co_4:8; 2Co_4:9); for in all these experiences we are simply "bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body." He "came from Godhead's fullest glory down to Calvary's depth of woe."\par \par We sometimes sing a little hymn that always stirs the heart. I remember hearing Dr. Torrey say that he believed of all the hymns that were used in his great meetings around the world, it was the one that seemed to be most blessed of God to the people. It is:\par \par "I surrender all, I surrender all, All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all."\par \par But that hymn never had the appeal it ought to have for my own heart until one day I found myself changing that chorus. I was thinking of Him who though He was "in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found LVAL0in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Php_2:6-8).\par \par He surrendered all, He surrendered all, All for me, my blessed Saviour, He surrendered all.\par \par And then my heart said, "O Lord, it will be easy to sing it the other way now, for what have I to give up, to surrender, in comparison with what Thou didst give up in order to redeem my guilty soul from going down to the pit?" It is as you and I realize from day to day what it all meant to Him that we can bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Dying day by day to our own hopes and ambitions, dying to the good opinion of people, dying to human praise and adulation, to everything that the natural heart grasps, dying in the death of Jesus to it all, because He died for us in order that "the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our body."\par \par You will notice that \cf1\ul 2Co_1:10-11\cf0\ulnone are very much alike, and yet the great difference is this: verse 10 suggests something that we do deliberately, consciously, whereas verse 11 is something that God does for us. What is it we are called upon to do? "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus" \emdash reminding ourselves every day that Jesus died for us, and because He died for us we are gladly to put ourselves in the place of death for Him.\par \par Looking back to the cross the Apostle Paul could say, "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" (Gal_2:20). But this has to be put into practice daily by putting my tastes and ambitions in the place of death. That is my part. But here is God's part: "We which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2Co_4:11). You tell God that you are willing to take the place of death with Christ, and He LVAL1will see that it is made good; you tell God you are going to trust Him, and He will test your faith and show you what it means to trust Him; you tell Him that you are ready to surrender everything to Him, and He will put you in the place where you will begin to find out what full surrender really means. I do not know of anything that it seems should have such an appeal to the Christian heart along this line as the frequent remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ in His death, and I think it is because He realized that it is so easy for us to forget, that He said to His disciples when He gave them this memorial feast, "This do in remembrance of Me" (Luk_22:19). And the Holy Spirit said, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come" (1Co_11:26). Every time we are called upon thus to remember the Lord it is a new challenge to ask ourselves, "Am I simply remembering Him in a cold, formal, intellectual way because it is customary, or am I truly in heart remembering the One who went down beneath the dark waters of death for me, and am I truly ready now to always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus?"\par \par What a poor thing it is to come together in assemblies to participate in the communion of the Lord's Supper and then go out from the building and forget what it all really means, forget that our Saviour died, that we are linked up with the One who died, and that He has left us an example that we should follow His steps \emdash that is, we should always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. This seems to me to be linked very intimately with several Old Testament references to which our attention is drawn in Hebrews 11. We read, "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones" (Heb_11:22). Did you ever stop and ask why the Holy Spirit selected that particular incident to dwell upon? He has instanced something that you and I would probably have passLVAL2ed over altogether. What did Joseph do? "Gave commandment concerning his bones." In Gen_50:25 we read where Joseph, talking to the children of Israel, says, "God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." That is the close of Genesis. What an odd way to close the book! But God wants us to think about the bones of Joseph. They are there in a coffin in Egypt, but they are to be carried to Canaan.\par \par In Exodus 13 we find that the children of Israel who have been sheltered by the blood of the passover lamb are starting out for Canaan, and we read, "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you" (Exo_13:19). Who was Joseph? He was the saviour of Israel. If it had not been for him they had all been destroyed in the famine, but he was their saviour, and now he says, "When you leave Egypt to go to Canaan, you carry my bones with you." When they left, they were very careful to do as they were told, and all the way across the sands of the desert wherever that great caravan went, they were always bearing about in the body the dying of Joseph.\par \par I think I see that great procession winding its way up over the hills; and the Amalekites and the Midianites looking at them in wonder say, "What is that strange dark casket?" Presently they call an Israelite and ask him, and he says, "We were once in greatest distress; if God had not had mercy upon us we would have been left to die, but He raised up a saviour for us, one of our own people; his name was Joseph and he delivered us; Joseph saved us. But our saviour died, and we are marching on to the land that our God has given us, and until we get there, we carry with us the memorial of death, the bones of Joseph. We can never forget him; he died, but we have the memorials still." And by-and-by8LVALH when they reached the land, when they arrived at the place that God Himself had selected for them, we are told that after everything else was properly attended to, "The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph" (Jos_24:32). There was no need to carry the bones of Joseph through the wilderness any more, for they were at home now. And, beloved, you and I are passing on through the wilderness of this world, we will soon be at Home, but until we reach there we are called upon to bear about in the body the dying of Jesus, and as we remember Him in the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup, we should challenge our own hearts: Are we simply looking objectively toward that cross and saying, "There our Saviour died," or are we seeking day by day to practically make it manifest that His death means more to us than all that this world glories in?\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVAL4{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 Care for God's Fruit-Trees\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par "When thou shalt besiege a city a long time, in making war against it to take it, thou shalt not destroy the trees thereof by forcing an axe against them: for thou mayest eat of them, and thou shalt not cut them down (for the tree of the field is man's life) to employ them in the siege: Only the trees which thou knowest that they be not trees for meat, thou shalt destroy and cut them down; and thou shalt build bulwarks against the city that maketh war with thee, until it be subdued." (Deu_20:19; Deu_20:20)\par \par Many are the salutary lessons which the Holy Spirit has put before us by means of the instruction given to Israel. We are familiar with the fact that the things which happened unto them were for types, and written for our learning. And such is the passage quoted above. Just as, when God commanded Israel, saying, "Thou shalt not muzzle the ox that treadeth out the corn," He had His own servants in mind (as so clearly shown us by the Apostle Paul in 1Co_9:9-14), so here, may we not see pictured by the "trees good for food," these same servants in another aspect, and made the objects of the Lord's particular care?\par \par The people of Israel were admonished against all recklessness and waste in felling standing timber when they besieged the cities of the land. They were careful to ascertain the character of each particular tree before venturing to lift an ax against it. All fruit-trees were to be spared, because they were part of God's gracious provision for ministering food to His people.\par \par And may we not say that God would have us make the same distinction today? There are trees, to tLVAL5he very roots of which the ax must be laid; trees that are either mere cumberers of the ground, or producing only that which is noxious and poisonous. Such are the present-day advocates of human righteousness as a basis of acceptance with God, or the propagators of wicked teachings that deny the very foundations of the faith. Soldiers of the Lord of Hosts may be assured of His approval when they use the ax against these \emdash exposing their fallacies. "Every plant," said the Lord Jesus, "that My heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up." To fearlessly oppose such evil teachers and denounce their doctrines and practices, is in accord with the spirit of the Lord Jesus and of His apostles. None reproved hypocritical pretensions more scathingly than Christ Himself. No modern controversialist, with any claim to piety, would be likely to use stronger words than those of John the Baptist when he sternly arraigned the "generation of vipers" of his day. Tremendously telling are the denunciations of the Apostle Paul, when necessity compelled him to meet the errors of false teachers troubling the early Church. John, Peter and Jude hesitated not to decry the antichrists, the purveyors of damnable heresies, and the ungodly men "turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ" (Jud_1:4), who were creeping in among the saints, and seeking to overthrow their most holy faith.\par \par But, be it noted, those so solemnly accused and vigorously combated, were not erring saints, or brethren with mistaken views, but they were relentless "enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly ... who mind earthly things" (Php_3:18; Php_3:19). And wherever such are found today, and manifestly proven to be such, they should be dealt with in the same way.\par \par But there is grave danger lest the ax be lifted up against another class altogether \emdash the fruit-bearing trees \emdash whom the Lord has forbidden our judLVAL6ging or condemning. Every fruit-tree is the object of His tender solicitude. Such are truly born of the Spirit, and genuine lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ. They may at times, in their zeal for God or their earnest passion for the souls of lost men, over-step bounds and use methods of which their more conservative or better-instructed brethren disapprove, but they are the Lord's servants, who has said, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth" (Rom_14:4).\par \par The spirit of criticism may lead to very unhappy results, and ofttimes one is in danger of finding himself arrayed against men and movements which God is owning and blessing. The utmost care is required to distinguish things that differ \emdash that what is of God and what is of Satan may not come into the same sweeping condemnation. And our Lord Himself has given us the rule whereby we may make this distinction. He has said, "By their fruits ye shall know them" (Mat_7:20). A corrupt tree produces corrupt fruit, whereas a good tree brings forth good fruit. In either case the fruit may not always be the same in quantity or quality, but it will be either deleterious or "good for food." Because healthful fruit is sometimes small, or not up to the standard, one does not necessarily chop down the tree, but rather, wisely uses the pruning-knife and purges it that it may bring forth more and better fruit.\par \par And this pruning process is one that all God's fruit-trees have at times to undergo; and often He uses one servant to correct and help another; but this is accomplished far better by a kindly personal admonition, or a brotherly effort to instruct, than by unkind criticism and a hard judging spirit. A beautiful example of this gracious care for one of God's fruit-trees is given us in the book of Acts, in the case of Apollos, whose earnestness and love for the Scriptures appealed to the hearts of Priscilla and Aquila, though he was not at all up to the standard of New Testament truth. HLVALe had not got beyond the baptism of John. But this godly couple, instead of exposing his ignorance to others, or roundly denouncing him as a legalist without true gospel light, take him into their home, and there in true Christian love expound unto him the way of God more perfectly. What precious and abiding fruit was the result!\par \par It is to be regretted that the same gracious spirit does not always characterize us when we meet with, or hear of, those who are manifesting similar devotedness, while ignorant of much that we may value. How senseless the folly that leads us ofttimes to array ourselves against such servants of Christ, in place of manifesting a godly concern for them. We thoughtlessly lift our axes against God's fruit-trees, and would destroy where we might save. Many a one who is ignorant of much precious truth, is nevertheless bearing fruit in the salvation of souls and the refreshment of the spirits of believers; while, on the other hand, one may have a very clear intellectual grasp of divine principles and understand much that is called high truth, who produces very little of this same blessed fruit.\par \par Oh, beloved brethren, let us keep our axes sharp for the deadly upas trees of sin and fundamental error that abound on every side; but shall we not seek grace from God that we may have spiritual discernment to refrain from damaging in any way trees that are good for food?\par \par Satan and his emissaries can be depended upon to bestow enough abuse on real Christians and true servants of the Lord Jesus, without their fellow-servants joining in the same unworthy business. Let us not forget the words already quoted, "Who art thou that judgest another man's servant? To his own master he standeth or falleth." And the Holy Spirit goes on to say, "Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand" (Rom_14:4).\par \pard\cf1\f2\fs23\par } LVAL8{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 Uzziah, King of Judah, or the Danger of Success\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par \cf1\ul 2Ch_26:1-23\cf0\ulnone\par \par H.A. IronsideThe danger of success is very real in the case of fallen creatures, even though they be children of God, and devoted in their measure. The Lord's word to Baruch, "Seekest thou great things for thyself? seek them not," (Jer_45:5) may well be pressed upon every one of our hearts. We cannot be trusted. It is humiliating, but it is true; and because true, it becomes intensely important that Christ and His glory be alone before our souls in any service done or attempted for God.\par \par King Uzziah, as he is called in 2 Chronicles 26, or Azariah, as his name is given in 2Ki_14:21 and \cf1\ul 2Ki_15:1-7\cf0\ulnone , is a striking case in point. He began well but ended badly. Succeeding his father, Amaziah, at the tender age of sixteen years, he from the beginning sought the Lord, "and as long as he sought the LORD, God made him to prosper" (2Ch_26:5).\par \par It was a most remarkable thing for a lad of this age to come out so boldly for God and His truth. There can be no question but that there had been a real work of grace in Uzziah's soul, doubtless as a result of the faithful instruction received from his father, who in spite of considerable lack of wisdom was nevertheless a man whose ways in general had the divine approval. The mention of the mother's name, Jecoliah of Jerusalem, would also suggest that she was probably the guide of her son in his early years, directing his footsteps in the way of righteousness. It is a wonderful thing for a child to have godly parentage. How strikingly this comes out in the WorLVAL9d of God, as also in the experience of hundreds of outstanding Christian leaders in our own dispensation.\par \par But beside parental help, we learn that there was a man of God who had a commanding influence over Uzziah for good, namely Zechariah, "who had understanding in the visions of God" (2Ch_26:5). We do not know much about this man of prophetic insight, as he does not seem to be mentioned elsewhere in the Bible. We are told that in his days all went well with Uzziah. Evidently he was the kind of a man who needed a check and a helper or counsellor, and he found both in Zechariah. The danger came when he had to be cast, as people say, upon his own resources; though no child of God should ever be cast on aught but the power of God.\par \par For a time Uzziah's life was one long record of success such as few kings have known. He went out to war and was everywhere a victor. Through his prowess Judah assumed something of her Davidic and Solomonic glory. He built towers in the desert for defense, thus enlarging his borders; and digged many wells for refreshment and blessing. In the gentle art of husbandry he was likewise active; a man who delighted to till the ground and cause it to bring forth what would be for cheer and nourishment. His was not the field of the slothful, bringing forth thorns and briars, but the tillage of the diligent receiving blessing from God.\par \par All this is most suggestive and may well speak to us, we who are called to contend for the faith in the present difficult days. Like Uzziah, we need to be concerned about the defense of the gospel. We are called upon to stand unflinchingly for the faith once for all delivered to the saints. We need to be nourished and builded up with words of sound doctrine. This is no time for carelessness or indifference in regard to the truth of God, that great deposit which has been committed to us. Enemies there are on every hand who would seek to rob us of our rightful heritage, but as we go forth in humble dependence on the Lord, feeLVAL:ding upon His Word and devoted to His interests, we can be sure of triumph and victory over every foe.\par \par Uzziah recognized the importance of the principle later enunciated, "In time of peace prepare for war." Therefore he fortified Jerusalem and the other cities of Judah. And he made provision for the storing up of food in case of siege. He had, too, a great army of 307, 500 men led by valorous and efficient officers numbering 2, 600; an army we read "that made war with mighty power, to help the king against the enemy" (\cf1\ul 2Ch_26:13\cf0\ulnone ). Nor was this army an unorganized mob, but it was well-drilled, properly accoutred. An army without ammunition would be a failure indeed in the face of an enemy, and it is to be feared that many in the army of the Lord today are poorly provided with weapons wherewith to meet their spiritual foes. "We wrestle not against flesh and blood," we are told in Eph_6:12, "but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." And in order to stand against them, we need the whole armor of God. All this seems to be suggested by the preparations that Uzziah made in order properly to equip his great army, as a result of which he went from victory to victory in happy dependence on God.\par \par For how many years he went on in this godly, orderly manner we know not; but in \cf1\ul 2Ch_26:15\cf0\ulnone we find a sudden break in the happy record: "He was marvelously helped till he was strong." While he was little in his own eyes, God could trust him with success; but when he was strong he forgot, in some sense, that the victories were not of his own prowess and that he had nothing that he had not received. "When he was strong his heart was lifted up to his destruction: for he transgressed against the Lord his God, and went into the temple of the LORD to burn incense upon the altar of incense" (\cf1\ul 2Ch_26:16\cf0\ulnone ).\par \par It is very evident that something had beLVAL;en working in the heart of Uzziah which had not hitherto come to the surface. Even his very success had fostered to a certain degree a feeling of self-satisfaction with a desire for self-exaltation. What a warning is this for every one of us. Who can trust his own heart? We are so corrupt by nature that even the very blessing of God upon our service may but minister to the pride of our natural hearts if we do not go through everything in fellowship with Him who has called us to minister in holy things. How easy for us to forget that we have no might, no power, no sufficiency in ourselves! "But our sufficiency is of God, who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament" (2Co_3:5-6). Therefore we have no reason to boast in anything we accomplish, for has not our blessed Lord said, "Without Me ye can do nothing"?\par \par But Uzziah forgot this. So used had he become to success that he seemed to have reached the place where he felt that whatever he attempted to do must be right, and would be owned of God. He must have known that it was the prerogative of the priests alone to burn incense in the Holy Place. But he sought to usurp this priestly service though he had no title to do so. That God should have called others to do something in which he had no part was apparently gall and bitterness to the haughty king. Instead of being content to use his own gifts in subjection to the Lord and fill the place allotted to him, his restless nature made him yearn to do what God had forbidden.\par \par Azariah the priest sought in vain to show him his error. He would not be humbled or hindered. God had declared that none but an anointed priest should approach to offer incense. Uzziah was king but not priest; therefore to persist in going in was rebellion against the Lord. Faithfully, Azariah warned and entreated, rebuking him too in Jehovah's name. But all was in vain. Puffed up with pride, he would not be persuaded so he angrily caught up a censer and proceeded to carry out his intention.\par \par TheLVAL<n God intervened. As the king in his haughty self-will pressed forward to mingle with the priestly company the leprosy rose up in his forehead! He was smitten of the Lord, as Miriam and Gehazi had been before him. It was hardly necessary now for the priest to "thrust him out;" for "himself hasted also to go out," realizing in that awful moment whose hand it was that was laid upon him.\par \par The law as to leprosy in Leviticus 13 distinguishes between leprosy of the body and leprosy of the head. Both speak of sin: the former in its grossness as the lusts of the flesh; the latter in its more subtle, though less obnoxious form in the eyes of man, but even more hateful to God \emdash the lusts of the mind. This was Uzziah's case. His mind was exalted through prosperity. Therefore he was smitten in the head.\par \par To the day of his death he dwelt apart from the congregation of the Lord; cut off from Jehovah's house. He remained to the end a sad testimony to the fact that God is not mocked. He will be sanctified in them that come nigh Him.\par \par We are told that Jotham, his son, was over the king's house, judging the people of the land. This means, of course, that while Uzziah was still living and unable to fulfil the kingly office because of the result of his rashness and folly, his son was made regent and administered the government in the place of the father. If we dare allow our imaginations play, we may think of Uzziah diseased and crushed, sitting in front of the separated house in which he dwelt, as an unclean leper, looking out toward the city of Jerusalem, saying to himself, "I should be there; I ought to be ruling this people; I was anointed as king over Israel. But here I am a castaway, and all because of my own self-will and foolishness." Or one might even think of a day when the armies of Israel went marching by on their way to battle, led by Jotham, the Prince Regent, while Uzziah gazed from afar, his heart breaking with grief to think how terribly he himself had failed, as he ePLVAL`xclaimed in anguish, "I should have led the hosts today; I should be going out against the enemies of the Lord; but here I must remain as one disapproved of God, utterly set to one side, because I forgot that those who walk in pride He is able to abase." Think of the disappointment and of the loss to all Israel occasioned by the self-confidence of this mighty king. And as we think of it, let us tremble lest we too should have to prove some day the truth of the words, "Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall"(Pro_16:18).\par \par It was in the year of Uzziah's death \emdash still under the governmental hand of God \emdash that Isaiah saw the Lord as related in Isa_6:1. How different the attitude of the two men. The one, a prophet, taking the leper's place, covering his mouth and crying, "Unclean!" The other, taking the place of a holy priest, rushing unadvisedly into the presence of God and made a leper thereby! He was buried in the field of the tombs, but not, I judge, in the tombs of the kings themselves, "for they said, He is a leper" (\cf1\ul 2Ch_26:23\cf0\ulnone ). \par \par His early life of dependence on God, his terrible failure, his judgment and his death may all alike speak loudly to our souls. Oh, for grace to imitate his virtues, and avoid his error, that thus we may be kept in the hand of our God for blessing, and not have to fall under His government because of pride and disobedience!\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVAL>{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Lord's Day, Its Privileges and Responsibilities\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par H.A. IronsideI wish to address you at this time on "The Lord's Day, Its Privileges and Responsibilities." I will ask you to turn with me to three passages of Scripture, not exactly as texts, but by way of introducing the subject.\par \par First, in Exo_20:8-11 we read: "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it."\par \par Next in Rev_1:10 "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day."\par \par And the third reference is Rom_8:3; Rom_8:4 "For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."\par \par There are three things that I want to try to bring before you, as the Lord may enable me. First, I want to present what the Scripture teaches regarding the seventh-day sabbath, the sabbath of the law as a memorial of creation and a seal of the legal covenant made with Israel on Mount Sinai. Then I want to speak to you of the Lord's Day, the first day of the week, a memorial of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus LVAL?Christ and a seal of the new covenant. And then I want to take up the Christian's responsibility to fulfil all the righteous requirements of the law, though he himself is not under law but under grace.\par \par First, then, we speak of the sabbath of the law, or the sabbath of the Old Testament. In the second chapter of Genesis we are told that God finished the work of creation in six days and rested the seventh day, hallowing it and calling it the sabbath. That was God's rest, but it was soon broken by sin. We are not definitely told that God gave that sabbath to man to observe. It is possible He did, but we are not told that He did.\par \par The next mention of a sabbath is found in Exodus 16, when thousands of years had elapsed and the people of Israel had been brought out of Egypt and led by Moses into the wilderness. They cried to God for bread and He gave them manna, and Moses explained that on the sixth day God would give a double quantity of manna, for the next day was the sabbath. There is no word between Genesis 2 and Exodus 16 of any observance of the sabbath until we come to the instance of the giving of the law on Sinai, when the sabbath commandment was included among the ten. Then the Lord said, "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God" (Exo_20:8-10).\par \par Here we are distinctly told that the sabbath day was a memorial of creation and man was to observe it as punctiliously as possible. The Israelite was not only to turn aside from labors on that day, but he was not permitted to hire somebody else to do the work he was not allowed to do himself. Neither he nor his servants were permitted to work. Moreover, God ordained that that day should be the sabbath of rest even for the beasts of the field. He was not permitted to allow his cattle, his horses, or any of the stock on his farm, to do any work on that day. The sabbath was to be set apart for a time of rest, complete rest,LVAL@ both for man and beast.\par \par When we turn over to the 31st chapter of this same book of Exodus we learn that the sabbath was given particularly to one people \emdash Israel. In \cf1\ul Exo_31:13\cf0\ulnone we read: "Speak thou also unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep: for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the LORD that doth sanctify you."\par \par There were very stringent regulations in connection with it and a solemn warning of judgment if any violated it: "Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore; for it is holy unto you: every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death: for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever: for in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested, and was refreshed" (Exo_31:14-17).\par \par Now, the important thing to notice is this: we are never told anywhere in the Old Testament that the legal sabbath was given to the Gentiles in the sense that it was given to God's earlier people, Israel, and it was to be kept by them perpetually.\par \par Let us turn to Deu_5:12-15, for we have something added there that is of great importance to a right understanding of that day: "Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gateLVALAs."\par \par Any stranger sojourning in the land of Israel was obliged to recognize Israel's sabbath and refrain from any temporal employment of any kind even though he himself were not in actual covenant relationship with God. "that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day" (Deu_5:14-15).\par \par Now notice an additional reason given here for keeping the sabbath. He says to Israel, "The LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day." So in a very peculiar way the sabbath of old was a sign of God's deliverance of Israel from their bondage.\par \par We might turn to a great many Old Testament scriptures in which the Lord stresses the importance of a right observance of this day, but I will content myself with just one other passage in the Old Testament before turning to any in the New. Isa_58:13; Isa_58:14 (and remember God is still speaking to the nation of Israel): "If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it."\par \par Israel's spiritual and temporal blessings were bound up with the recognition of the fact that one day in seven belonged to God, and they were not on any account to use that day for their own pleasure or for their own selfishness or for laboring in temporal things, but they were to devote it entirely to God and make iLVALBt a day of rest and worship.\par \par God never gave the sabbath in order that it might be a hardship to man to keep it, but He gave it because of His love for His people and because of the good it would bring to them; so when we turn to the Gospel of Mark we hear our Lord Jesus speaking of the sabbath in this way, in \cf1\ul Mar_2:27-28\cf0\ulnone "The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath."\par \par He who stood among them, who came in grace to save them \emdash the Lord Jesus Christ \emdash declared Himself to be Lord even of the sabbath day. Now, that is a very significant expression, particularly when we find that after the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ another day comes little by little to the front and the seventh-day sabbath of Israel recedes more and more into the background. Why was that? Because the Son of Man is Lord even of the sabbath day, and under the new dispensation He had authority to set aside the seventh-day sabbath of Israel and bring in an altogether new day with an altogether different message. And in the first chapter of Revelation we hear John the Apostle, when he was banished to the Isle of Patmos for the testimony of Jesus, say, "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's Day."\par \par Now this term \emdash the Lord's Day \emdash is not the same thing, nor does it mean the same thing, as the sabbath of Israel. It is an altogether new day. It is a day that particularly speaks of our Lord's triumph over death. There are those who have imagined that the day of the Lord and the Lord's Day mean the same thing. Well, if the Lord's Day in the original was in the possessive case, that might be true, but that is not a fact. The term translated "Lord's" here is really an adjective form, Kuriakos, and if you would put it into literal English you would have to render it as the "Lordian" day, or as some would say, "Lordly" day...\par \par "The day of the Lord" is a coming day when God is going tLVALCo arise to judge the nations in righteousness, and it covers not only the actual pouring out of the judgments before the setting up of the kingdom, but the entire kingdom age, which we call the Millennium.\par \par But "the Lord's Day," from the earliest days of the Christian Church, has been understood to mean the day after the Jewish sabbath. It is a very common thing to hear a certain class of teachers \emdash I refer to those well-meaning people called Seventh-day Adventists \emdash say that it was the Roman Catholic Church that changed the sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Or they say it was Constantine the Great who first changed the sabbath to the first day of the week. The Roman Catholic Church, as we know it today, had no existence in the days of Constantine. The first bishop of Rome to claim universal headship of the Church lived in the beginning of the seventh century, and Constantine lived and died in the fourth century. It is perfectly true that Constantine passed an edict commanding that Christian slaves and Christian servants were to be freed from their work on what he calls "the great and venerable day of the Sun," in order that they might be enabled to gather together for Christian worship. But Constantine was only recognizing something that had already been well-known for two and one-half centuries before.\par \par I want to give you, just as briefly as I can, the testimonies of several of the early Christian writers. Ignatius, who lived and died just a few years after the death of the Apostle John, speaks of Christians as "no longer observing the Sabbath, but living according to the Lord's life, by which our life has sprung up again through Him." They were not observing Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, but the day they were observing was the day that spoke of the Lord's life coming forth from the grave.\par \par There is a letter called "The Epistle of Barnabas," which was possibly not written by him, but at any rate was in circulation about A.D. 120, less than twenty-five yearsLVALD after the death of the Apostle John, and this letter says: "Your present Sabbaths are not acceptable to me, but that which I have made when giving rest to all things I shall make a beginning of the eighth day ... that is the beginning of another world. Wherefore also we keep the eighth day with joyfulness, the day on which Jesus rose again from the dead." This is the testimony of a Christian writer twenty-five years after the last of the apostles had left this scene, and it tells us what was customary then in the early Church.\par \par Then there is a manuscript called "Teaching of the Apostles," which also dates back to 120 A.D., or, as some scholars think, even earlier than that. "But on the Lord's own day gather yourselves together, and break bread and give thanks." That is very significant, especially because in Act_20:7 we read: "And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight." And this old writing, coming down from the very beginning of the Christian era, called that day "the Lord's own day," thus enabling us to understand what the early Church took John's words to mean in the first chapter of the book of The Revelation.\par \par One might cite quite a number of other cases, such as Gregory, Nazianzen, Melito of Sardis \emdash all of whom wrote before A.D. 170 \emdash who used the expression "the Lord's Day" as referring to the first day of the week, and tell us that that was the day on which Christians met to glorify God and to worship the Lord Jesus Christ.\par \par Justin Martyr, who lived from about A.D. 100-167, writing about A.D. 147, some fifty years after John's Gospel was written, says this: "On the day called Sunday, all who live in the cities or in the country gather together to one place, and the memoirs of the Apostles or the writings of the prophets are read, as long as time permits; then, when the reader has ceased, the president verbally iLVALEnstructs and exhorts the imitation of these good things. Then we all rise together and pray, and as we said before, when our prayer is ended, bread and wine and water are brought, and the president in like manner offers prayers and thanksgivings ... succors the orphans and widows ... and all who are in need. But Sunday is the day on which we hold our common Assembly, because it is the first day of the week on which God ... made the world; and Jesus Christ our Saviour on the same day rose from the dead."\par \par These are sufficient to show that there is absolutely no truth in the statement that the early Church continued to keep the Jewish sabbath until, for instance, the days of Constantine the Great or until the Roman Catholic Church arose and changed the day. From the very beginning believers recognized the resurrection day of our Lord Jesus as the day which, in the Christian Church, took the place of the Jewish sabbath. This surely ought to speak to us, because we are told in that passage which I read from the Epistle to the Romans that "what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh [that is, the law could not compel the obedience of the human heart], God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin [as a sacrifice], condemned sin in the flesh: That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit" (Rom_8:3; Rom_8:4).\par \par Under the law God recognized the fact that man needed one day of rest in seven for his body, and He recognized the fact that even the beast of the field needed to rest one day in seven; but more than that, He recognized the fact that man needed a period when he can turn aside from all temporal pursuits, from all earthly aims and objects, and occupy his soul with spiritual realities; so He said to Israel, "Now if you will be careful about keeping My holy day, if you will use this day in the way that I commanded, then refreshing and blessing will come to your souls, and I will LVALFprosper you in temporal things."\par \par It would be a sad thing for us as Christians, because we are no longer under the law but under grace, if we should reason something like this: "Well, since the Jewish sabbath has been done away in the cross of Christ, and the Word of God says, 'Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days,' (Col_2:16) that therefore Christians may be utterly indifferent as to how to use the day that has taken the place of the Jewish sabbath." If it pleased God of old to have His people occupied with spiritual verities one day in seven, we can thank Him that we have such a privilege under this new dispensation, and the righteousness of the law is thus being fulfilled in us who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. This would imply not that we should now be careless as to the observance of the Lord's Day, but that we should gladly and gratefully give God one-seventh part of our time in this special way; that we should say on this day on which our Saviour triumphed over death: "This is the day which the LORD hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it" (Psa_118:24).\par \par You show me a Christian who plays fast and loose with the privileges of the Lord's Day, who uses the Lord's Day simply for his own selfish pleasures, who looks upon it as a day for outdoor excursions, a day for amusements, and a day for picnics (as so many do when they may choose to further a natural inclination of their own), and I will show you a Christian who is not growing in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and who is not being used of God in winning precious souls to the Saviour.\par \par You show me a Christian who is careful to use the hours of the first day of the week, so far as he possibly can, as God ordained, who seeks to use that time in obedience to the Word to gather together with his fellow-Christians for prayer and praise and testimony of the Word, and I will show you a growing Christian who isLVALG prospering spiritually, and a Christian whom God will prosper in temporal things as he seeks first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.\par \par I know it is common for people to say today, "Oh, well, I don't know why we should have to gather together in church to worship God. Can't we worship Him in nature; can't we stay at home and worship Him while getting a physical rest, without meeting with the people of God?" But we forget that the Scripture has charged us: "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching," (Heb_10:25) that is, the day of our Saviour's coming.\par \par I believe one of the outstanding evils of our day is the growing disregard for the Lord's Day. On every hand we find the world using that day just for pleasure and folly. And you here in America, who perhaps are tempted to be careless about cherishing its privileges, only need to take a trip across the sea to France, or any of the countries of Europe after you leave Great Britain, with the exception of Scandinavia and Holland, and see how men and women use the first day of the week in pleasure and folly with no recognition whatever of its sacred character, and I think you will realize then the privileges we have here. We can thank God that there is set aside, generally by rulers and authorities, one day as a day of rest, but it is up to us as Christians to make it a day of worship and a day of Christian service.\par \par I am sure there are people who will read this who were brought up in Christian homes and taught the observance of the first day of the week, and the very beginning of a life of sin and a life of wandering from God came when they grew careless and indifferent as to the use of the first day of the week. Some of you can remember well when you first ventured to use the Lord's Day for perhaps a picnic or for getting out into the country for a good time. You remember how your conscience hurt you at fLVALHirst. But nothing seemed to happen, and the next time it was easier to use the day in that way, and by-and-by you began to lose all regard for everything holy and everything that had to do with the recognition of God in your life. Many of you have been saved since then, or brought back to God. Now see to it that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled in your life, as you walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.\par \par One other thought: The sabbath of old had a backward aspect. It looked back to creation and God's covenant on Mount Sinai, and to the deliverance of Israel from the land of Egypt; but it also had a forward aspect. The sabbath was typical. It was a type of that which now through grace has been brought in by the finished work of the Lord Jesus, for we read, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Heb_4:9) \emdash a rest, or a sabbath-keeping. That sabbath of old came in after six days of toil. The Lord's Day is rest before you begin the week of toil. But man has been toiling, laboring, all down through the years, and now the Lord Jesus Christ comes to him and says, "I am the true Sabbath; do you want rest? Come unto Me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." If you want to find real sabbath rest for your soul you can find it only in the Lord Jesus Christ. You have tried other things, you have turned aside to what the world had to offer, but you never found heart satisfaction, and you never will. No one has ever found it. This world has never satisfied any man or woman who lived for it, and you may be certain that it will never satisfy you. But if we could only call them together, we could get testimonies from literally millions of people who say that when they came to Jesus, when they trusted Him and received Him as Saviour, they entered into sabbath rest; they found peace of heart, they found a calmness of spirit, they found joy of soul, which they had never been able to find in the world. Yes, there remaineth a sabbath rest for tLVALhe people of God.\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVALJ{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Morning Star and the Sun of Righteousness\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par Rev_22:16-21\par \par H.A. IronsideThe Old Testament ends with the solemn words, "Lest I come and smite the earth with a curse" (Mal_4:6). The last word of the Old Testament is "curse" for that is all the Law could bring to man. "Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them" (Gal_3:10). But the New Testament ends with the words, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen" (Rev_22:21).\par \par It seems so fitting that the Holy Spirit should have so arranged it that when we come to the end of the canon of Scripture the last voice we hear should be that of our beloved Saviour. You notice how He addresses His people, using the personal name "Jesus" which was given Him when born on earth. Before His birth the angel said, "Thou shalt call His name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins" (Mat_1:21). Jesus is to us a unique name, but it was not unusual to the Hebrew people. The name "Joshua" is the Hebrew form of the word, the Greek being "Ieesous," or as we say, "Jesus." Joshua means "Jehovah the Saviour." The name tells us who and what He was. When He grew up on earth He bore that name. He was Jesus in the carpenter shop. He was Jesus as He went over the hills and through the valleys of Galilee, Samaria and Judaea preaching the gospel. When hanging on the tree,\par \par "They wrote that name above Him, That all might know the reason we Forevermore should love Him."\par \par Pilate commanded and a placard was made out in Hebrew, Greek and Latin saying, "This is Jesus the King of the Jews" (Mat_27:37).LVALK It was intended as a grim jest on Pilate's part, for the people hated that title, but Pilate practically said, "The reason I am crucifying this Man is that He is seeking to raise an insurrection against Caesar, proclaiming Himself King."\par \par When He arose from the dead and ascended to God's right hand we are told that the Father ordained that "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth" (Php_2:10). That includes even the infernal regions. "And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Php_2:11).\par \par The apostle says, "We see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour" (Heb_2:9). Now when He speaks to His own for the last time before He descends to call us to be with Himself, He says "I Jesus have sent Mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches" (Rev_22:16). "I, Jesus" \emdash Jehovah the Saviour.\par \par John Hamilton, the converted actor, used to like to make this into an acrostic: "Jesus Exactly Suits Us Sinners." The five initial letters spell "Jesus." Have you found that out? Have you fled to Him as a poor sinner?\par \par "This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief," (1Ti_1:15) said Paul. So the chief of sinners is already in heaven, and everyone else can get in behind him if they will.\par \par Revelation, while dealing very largely with events after the Church has left the scene, is nevertheless God's last message to the churches. It is for His Church of this age, in order that they might order their lives now in view of that coming day. When I understand what is coming it helps me to take the right attitude toward this world at the present time.\par \par "I am the Root and the Offspring of David," says Jesus (Rev_22:16). "I am the Root of David" that is, David sprang from Him. ThatLVALL is a title of Deity \emdash "I am the Root of David." David came into existence through the omnipotent power of Jesus. He was David's Creator. But He adds, "I am the Offspring of David." As Deity David sprang from Him, but as Man He sprang from David. Mary was a lineal descendant of David through his son Nathan, and Joseph was a lineal descendant of David through another son, Solomon.\par \par "I am . . . the Bright and Morning Star" (Rev_22:16). What is the morning star? It is the herald of the dawn. This tells us of the Lord Jesus as the Coming One. Peter says we are to cherish the Word of prophecy for it shines as a light in a dark place. We are to keep it in our hearts until the Day Star arises. Jesus is the Day Star \emdash the Bright and Morning Star. In a little while He is going to shine forth in glory \emdash quietly, serenely, beautifully, to herald the coming day.\par \par That is not the way the Second Coming is presented in the Old Testament, nor always in the New Testament. In Malachi, after giving the description of the terrible things to take place on the earth during the Great Tribulation, which comes between the Rapture of the saints and the appearing of Jesus in His glory, the Spirit of God says, "Unto you that fear My name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in His wings" (Mal_4:2). Our Lord Jesus Christ is coming as the Sun of Righteousness to dispel all the sin clouds of earth and to bring in the reign of everlasting righteousness.\par \par "Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness" (Isa_32:1). "In His days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth" (Psa_72:7). "The earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Hab_2:14). That is the way the people of Israel were taught to look for Him. That is the aspect of His coming that is presented in Matthew, Mark, and Luke; they are practically all occupied with His coming again as the Sun of Righteousness to bring in the kLVALMingdom; that is, the coming of the Son of Man. That term always refers to His coming to the earth.\par \par But in John's Gospel you get another aspect of His coming. On the last night before going to the Garden of Sorrow, with His disciples around Him, He warned that one of them should betray Him, and when Peter declared that he would never fail to follow Jesus but would lay down his life for his Master, the Lord said to him, "The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied Me thrice" (Joh_13:38). Jesus immediately adds, "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me." Did you notice how these words follow what He said to Peter? Jesus knew how broken-hearted Peter would be after denying his Lord, and how he would go out in the dark and weep bitterly; He knew how he would feel when he realized the terrible thing he had done, so He said, "Even then, do not be troubled: you believe in God, believe also in Me. You believe in God when you can't see Him; believe also in Me, when you no longer can see Me. When I am no longer here personally to comfort and help, believe in Me, trust and confide in Me." "In My Father's house are many mansions: [many abiding places, resting places for you.] ... I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (Joh_14:2; Joh_14:3). There is nothing like this in Matthew, Mark, nor Luke. There is no hint in those Gospels that the first thing in connection with the Second Coming will be to take His own to be with Him in heaven. This is a new revelation, a new development of truth, an opening up of something very precious and lovely that had not been heard by them before.\par \par This is the aspect of His coming developed by Paul through the Holy Spirit. He was used to open it more fully. He said, "For the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shalLVALNl rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1Th_4:16; 1Th_4:17). It is Paul who tells us, "Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1Co_15:51-53). That is what is going to take place when the Lord Jesus shines forth as the Bright and Morning Star.\par \par Some of us do not often see the morning star. It shines out just before the dawn when everything is darkest down below. Through the gloom there is that beautiful star shining. No matter how dark it gets, do not be discouraged. Though apostasy is increasing, iniquity is abounding, the love of many is becoming cold, distress on earth with grave perplexity, men's hearts failing them for fear \emdash no matter how dark conditions may be, Jesus is coming. He may come at any moment now, and when the Morning Star shines forth we know that the day \emdash the day of righteousness \emdash will soon appear.\par \par "I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the Bright and Morning Star," says Jesus (Rev_22:16). And immediately there is a response on the part of His own: "The Spirit and the Bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come" (Rev_22:17).\par \par I don't think the word "Come" here is addressed to the unsaved. Generally it is used as though this verse is simply a message to sinners. Undoubtedly the last part of the verse does, but the first two sentences have an altogether different meaning. I like to read Wycliffe's Old English translation: "I am ye roote and ye offspring of David, and ye bright and morning star. And ye Spirit and ye spouse are saying, Come Thou. And let him that heareth say, Come Thou." The "come" is adLVALOdressed to Christ, and wherever the message is carried and men hear with faith, let them say, "Come, Lord Jesus."\par \par I remember one night in Stockton, California, in a German church I was preaching about the coming of Jesus. As I was in prayer I was conscious of a woman getting up and going out, for in those days the skirts would swish whenever a lady walked. It seemed to me that this lady must have gone out in a hurry. When I finished my prayer and went to greet the friends at the door, I found a woman pacing back and forth in the lobby. The moment I came she said to me, "How would you dare pray like that \emdash 'Come, Lord Jesus'? I don't want Him to come. It would break in on all my plans. How dare you!"\par \par I said, "My dear young woman, Jesus is coming whether you want it or not." But she was indignant, irate. She told me of certain worldly interests which she had, that some day she wanted to be a Christian, but not until all these things had gone by.\par \par But you cannot bargain with Christ in that way. If you put worldly things first, perhaps the day will arrive when you are ready to come to Christ but you may find you have no inclination left. The Lord says, "Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation" (2Co_6:2). So harden not your heart.\par \par But oh, if you know Him, and love Him, surely your heart says, "Come, Lord Jesus." If we are really waiting for His coming, of course we shall not be indifferent to the needs of the world. Naturally we shall be concerned about men and women who are unsaved. So we shall be glad to take up the gospel invitation given in the last part of the verse, "And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev_22:17). Is there a poor thirsty soul here? You have tried in vain to slake your thirst on the waters of earth. What Jesus said of the water in Samaria's well is true of all that this world offers: "Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again." I don't carLVALPe what it is, you may try it all but you will thirst still \emdash "But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life" (Joh_4:14).\par \par "I tried the broken cisterns, Lord, But all their waters failed. E'en as I stooped to drink they fled And mocked me as I wailed.\par \par "The pleasures lost I sadly mourned, But never wept for Thee, Till grace my sightless eyes received Thy loveliness to see.\par \par "Now none but Christ can satisfy, None other name for me; There's life, and love, and lasting joy, Lord Jesus, found in Thee."\par \par Because we know how well He can satisfy the human soul, we take up the cry and invite you to come. "Let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev_22:17).\par \par Now we come to two very solemn verses, Rev_22:18; Rev_22:19 "I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book." I shudder when I read a verse like that and think how people try to add to Scripture pretended revelations of their own and foist them upon others. Think of Mohammed making up the Koran for his religion, and trying to force it upon the people as an addition to the Book of God. Think of Smith trying to foist the Book of Mormon as an addition to the Scriptures, and of Mary Baker Eddy trying to foist upon the world her book, "Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures," as something added to the Bible. I don't need her key, for the Bible is already an open Book...\par \par "If any man shall add unto these things." It will be awful for men and women to have to face in eternity the results of their work. But the next verse is as solemn, and it makes me tremble for our so-called "modernists." "And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God sLVALhall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book" (Rev_22:19). God says, "You will never reach heaven if you try to destroy My Word." What a serious thing it is to teach men and women that God's Bible is not, after all, the inspired Word of the living God!\par \par But after these two tremendous statements we hear again the voice of Jesus from heaven \emdash the last word that ever will be heard from heaven until 1 Thessalonians 4 is fulfilled, and "the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout." That will be the next word from heaven. It is in Rev_22:20. "He which testifieth these things saith, Surely I come quickly. Amen." And John, speaking for the whole ransomed Church of God says, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." Does your heart say that?\par \par Those who know their Bibles best and are most familiar with conditions in the world today are persuaded we are living in the last hours of the Christian dispensation. We see conditions prevailing in the Church of God \emdash ever-increasing apostasy among some, coupled with a greater interest in missionary work on the part of others \emdash and the signs tell us that Jesus is coming soon. We see the Jews gathering back to their own land, prophecy being fulfilled before our very eyes, and these things tell us that the fig-tree is putting forth its green leaves to show that Jesus is coming soon. We see conditions in Europe and the Far East that are working up to the very circumstances predicted in the Scriptures concerning the last days. If it were not that many of us know that Jesus is our Saviour, our hearts would be filled with fear and dread, but because we do there is no fear or dread. With joy we cry, "Even so, come, Lord Jesus."\par \pard\cf1\f2\fs23\par } LVALR{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f3\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Father's House and the Way There\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me" (Joh_14:1-6).\par \par H.A. IronsideIn these verses, there are two outstanding truths emphasized: first, that of the Father's house, and second, our Lord's personal return for His own. We are all familiar with the fact, I presume, that the Bible was not written in chapters and verses. These breaks in the text were put in by editors, and that in rather recent years, some of them as late as the time of the Protestant Reformation. And sometimes the chapter breaks seem to come at rather unfortunate places. I think such is the case here. Who, for instance, beginning to read the first verse of chapter fourteen, connects it in his mind with our Lord's words to the Apostle Peter at the close of chapter thirteen? And yet, there is a very real connection. The Lord Jesus had been giving His last messages to His disciples. He had intimated that soon they would forsake Him and flee. He had told them that He was going away and for the present they could not come where He was to go. And in verse thirty-six of chapter thirteLVALSen we read:\par \par "Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards."\par \par He was going, you see, to the Father's house. He was going home to God by way of the cross and resurrection, and Peter could not follow immediately. But the Lord says, "Thou shalt follow Me afterwards." Peter did not understand that, and he said to Him:\par \par "Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? I will lay down my life for Thy sake" (Joh_13:37).\par \par "Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for My sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied Me thrice" (Joh_13:38).\par \par And then He immediately adds:\par \par "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me."\par \par You see, the Lord Jesus is addressing these words, of course, to all His disciples, but directly \emdash directly \emdash to the disciple who was to deny Him in so short a time. And this is surely very comforting for our hearts. Peter was to fail the Lord \emdash Jesus knew he would fail \emdash but deep in Peter's heart there was a fervent love for the Lord Jesus. And when he said, "I will lay down my life for Thy sake," he meant every word of it. But he did not realize how untrustworthy his own heart was. It was a case of the spirit being willing, but the flesh weak. And Jesus knew something of the fearful discouragement that would roll over the soul of Peter when he awoke to the realization of the fact that he had been so utterly faithless in the hour of his Master's need. In the very time that Jesus needed someone to stand up for Him and to say boldly, "Yes, I am one of His, and I can bear witness to the purity of His life and to the goodness of His ways" \emdash at that time Peter, frightened by the soldiers gathered about, denied any knowledge of his Saviour. And, oh, the days and nights that would follow as he would feel that surely he must be utterlyLVALT cast off, surely the Lord could never put any trust in him again! But if he remembered these words, what a comfort they must have brought to his poor aching heart! For Jesus is practically saying, "I know all about it, Peter. I know how you are going to fail, but I want you to know this; in My Father's house are many mansions, and you are going to share one of those mansions with Me some day. I am not going to permit you, Peter, to be utterly overcome. I am not going to permit you to go into complete apostasy. You will fall, but you will be lifted up again, and you will share with Me a place in the many mansions."\par \par When He says, "Let not your heart be troubled," He does not mean, "Do not be exercised about your failure," for He Himself sought to exercise the heart of Peter, and in a wonderful way restored him by the Sea of Galilee later on. But He means this: "Do not be cast down. Do not allow the enemy of your soul to make you feel there is no further hope, there is no opportunity for you."\par \par I wonder if I am speaking to someone this evening who has failed, perhaps, as Peter failed. Under the stress of circumstances you, too, have denied your Lord, denied Him in acts if not in words, and the adversary of your soul is saying to you now, "It is all up with you; your case is hopeless. You knew Christ once, but you have failed so miserably, He would never own you again." Oh, let me assure you His interest in you is just as deep as it ever was. If you truly trusted Him as your Saviour, the fact that you failed so grievously, and the fact that you mourn over it, only emphasizes the truth that you belong to Him. Still He says, "[Return], O backsliding children, [unto Me]; for I am married unto you" (Jer_3:14) \emdash not, "I am divorced from you." And therefore He waits for you to come back and confess your failure and your sin, and He has promised complete restoration, for, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousneLVALUss" (1Jn_1:9). And some day for you, too, there will be a place in the Father's house.\par \par "Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me." You see, in the days gone by before Jesus came to them at all, the people of Israel did have faith in the one true and living God. Now they had never seen Him, and Jesus is saying to His disciples, "You have believed in God when you couldn't see Him, now I am going away in a little while and you won't be able to see Me, but I want you to trust Me just the same as when I was here. Just as you have believed in the unseen God through the years, I want you to put your faith in Me, the unseen Christ, after I have gone back to the Father." Do we have that implicit trust and confidence in Him, realizing that He is deeply interested in every detail of our own lives? The Word says, "Casting all your care upon Him; for He careth for you" (1Pe_5:7). There is absolutely nothing that concerns His people that He Himself is not concerned about. And therefore He would have us put away all the stress and all the anxiety. He says, "Be careful [anxious] for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God" (Php_4:6). "Ye believe in God, believe also in Me."\par \par And then He adds, "In My Father's house are many mansions." "My Father's house," and by that of course He means Heaven, and He is speaking of a place, a place to which He was going, and a place into which some day He will take all His own. I often hear people say, "Heaven is a condition rather than a place." Heaven is both a place and a condition. It is true we do not read a great deal about Heaven in the Bible. Somebody has said, "Heaven is the land of no more." We have more in the Bible about what will not be in Heaven than about what will be there. Remember in the book of Revelation we read that there will be no more sin, there will be no more tears, there will be no more pain, there will be no more sorrow, there will be LVALVno more curse, there will be no more darkness, there will be no more distress of any kind in the Father's house. The Father's house is the place where Christ is, and that is the place to which the redeemed are going.\par \par Some of you may have thought the expression here, "In My Father's house are many mansions," is rather peculiar. Somehow or other, the word mansion to most of us in the United States has an accustomed meaning that it did not originally have. When we see a great building we call that a mansion. But the word as originally used did not have that meaning at all. It had rather the meaning of an apartment, as we use that word today, a splendid apartment. So one building might have many mansions in it. And Jesus is telling us, "In My Father's house are many apartments, many resting-places." There is a place, an individual place, for every one of His own, all in that Father's house.\par \par "If it were not so, I would have told you." What does He mean by that? The Jews had had a belief in a heaven of bliss after death, and Jesus said, "If you had been wrong in that, I would have corrected you." But because He didn't correct it but rather affirmed it, we know that it is true, that there is a glorious home beyond the skies for the redeemed which we shall share with Him by-and-by.\par \par He adds, "I go to prepare a place for you." What does He mean by that? You see the mansions are different from what they were before He went back there. Before He went back to the Father's house, the sin question had never been settled. Before He went back to the Father's house, the veil had not been rent, the blood had not been sprinkled on the mercy-seat. So the saints of old went to Paradise on credit. They did not have the same blessed access into the immediate presence of God that the saints have now. We read in the Epistle to the Hebrews that we have now come to the spirits of just men made perfect. They were the spirits of just men of all the centuries before the cross; God had redeemed them LVALWand taken them to Paradise, but they were not yet made perfect. They could not be until the precious blood of Jesus was shed on the cross. Now having settled the sin question, He entered into the holiest with His own blood in antitypical fashion, sprinkled His own blood on the mercy-seat above, and now a place is prepared in the holiest for all of His own, and the spirits of just men of the past have been perfected and we who believe now are perfected forever. So we are all suited to that place to which we are going. "I go to prepare a place for you."\par \par And then He said, "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Now I know that a great many people think of this as a word in regard to death, and of course, when a believer dies, that believer goes to be with Christ. But we are never told in Scripture that in the hour of death Christ comes for His people. If we may draw an analogy from something our Lord said when He was here on earth, we gather that that is hardly true. We are told that a dear child of God was dying \emdash he was a beggar, it is true. He was an outcast, lying at the rich man's gate, but he was a real son of Abraham. He had faith in the God of all grace. And the beggar died, we are told, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. Angels carried the poor beggar \emdash poor no longer \emdash into Paradise. What I rather gather from that, is that the last ministry of angels, who are ever keeping watch over the people of God, will be to usher them into the presence of God. He is yonder in the Father's house, and His angels usher His saints into His presence.\par \par But He is speaking of something different here. Death is the believer going to be with Christ. That is what the Scripture tells us \emdash "Absent from the body ... present with the Lord" (2Co_5:8); "To depart, and be with Christ; which is far better" (Php_1:23). But a believer going home to be with Christ is spoken LVALXof as being unclothed, having laid his body aside. He is there in the presence of the Lord a glorified spirit, but he is there waiting for his redeemed body. When the Lord Jesus fulfils that which is spoken here in the fourteenth chapter of John, then believers will receive their glorified bodies and will be altogether like Him. This coming, referred to here, is developed for us more fully in the fourth chapter of the First Epistle to the Thessalonians. There we read in verse thirteen:\par \par "I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep"\par \par \emdash that is, saints whose bodies are sleeping in the graves but whose spirits are with Christ\emdash\par \par "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (1Th_4:13-17).\par \par This is the coming our Saviour refers to when He says: "If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto Myself" (Joh_14:3). It is at that coming that the expectation of our completed redemption will be fulfilled. In Romans eight the Apostle Paul tells us in verse nineteen:\par \par "For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God."\par \par Verses twenty-two and twenty-three:\par \par "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not onlyLVALY they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption\emdash "\par \par What does he mean by that?\par \par \emdash "to wit, the redemption of our body."\par \par Our spirits have already been redeemed, we have already received the salvation of our souls, but we are waiting for the complete salvation of the body, the redemption of the body at the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.\par \par "For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope" (Rom_8:24).\par \par What hope is it then? The hope of the coming of our Lord. And to this He refers again in the third chapter of the Epistle to the Philippians, where we read in verse twenty:\par \par "For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself."\par \par This is the glorious event that will take place when the Lord comes back again, when He comes back for us.\par \par There is the widest difference, you see, between this and the time when He is manifested as the Son of Man to deal in judgment with the godless world and eventually to set up His kingdom. This was a little secret the Lord was revealing to these apostles that night in the upper room. In the three Synoptic Gospels it was not mentioned. It was the Apostle Paul who was the chosen instrument to develop it, but it seems that the Lord Jesus, just before He went away, had a secret welling up in His heart, as it were, which He could not hold back any longer and He must tell them a little about it, so He says, "I am going away, but I am going to prepare a place for you. But if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you" \emdash not, "I will send the death angel for you," or any other angel, but "I will come again, and receive you unto Myself, that where ILVALZ am there ye may be also."\par \par You see, He will never be satisfied until every one of His redeemed people is with Him in the glory in the Father's house. His heart is yearning for that.\par \par Now a word about the Father's house. Notice it is the Father's house, and the Father's house is for all the Father's children. We hear a great many strange things these days. Some people would try to tell us that it is only the deeply spiritual people of God that will be caught up with the Lord Jesus at His coming. When people talk like that, how little understanding they have of the Father's heart! You think of a normal father or mother here on earth, with, say, eight or ten children, and that is quite a family, isn't it? The father's house is open to all the children. I pity the home, and pity the children where the father or the mother makes distinctions among their children. I think it is a sad thing when out of a number of children one perhaps occupies a special place in the heart of the father and the others are held at a distance. "Oh," but you say, "maybe one or two are naughty children. Of course the father couldn't love naughty children as much as he loves the good children." Is that true? Why, even the naughty children are so dear to the father's heart that they give him many sleepless nights as he thinks about their naughtiness. He loves them and truly longs to see them all that they ought to be. There is always a welcome for them at the father's house.\par \par We need to remember, too, that in the Father's house above, there is no distinction. People often say to me, "Oh, if I can just get into Heaven and get a seat behind the door, I shall be satisfied. I know I don't deserve anything better."\par \par My dear friend, you don't deserve to get there at all. I don't deserve to go there. But I am not going there because I deserve to go, but I am going to Heaven because I have been born again, and the Lord Jesus Christ is preparing a place for me, and the Father's house is for all the FLVAL[ather's children.\par \par Another thing is this: There are no seats behind the door over yonder! I wish I could say it so loudly that everybody would get hold of it. There is nothing like that in the Word of God. There are no distinctions in the welcome that believers will have in the Father's house. I repeat, the Father's house has the same welcome for all the Father's children.\par \par You say, "Well, but doesn't the Bible indicate some will have greater rewards than others?" Oh, yes, but rewards have nothing to do with the welcome into the Father's house. The rewards especially have to do with the coming glorious kingdom, of course given in Heaven, given at the judgment-seat of Christ, but the differences are in the kingdom. For instance, look at the Second Epistle of Peter: "So an entrance shall be ministered unto you abundantly into\emdash " Into what? Into heaven? No; it is not true that some people will get an abundant entrance into Heaven and other folk will not have anything like so warm and cordial a welcome. What does it mean? It says that some people have an entrance ministered unto them abundantly. Yes, but into what? "Into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2Pe_1:11). Do not confuse, or confound, in your thinking, the Father's house with the everlasting kingdom. The Father's house is the home of the saints; the everlasting kingdom is the sphere of service and rewards, where through all eternity, first in the Millennium and then in the ages to come, we shall be serving our blessed Lord who has prepared a place for us in the Father's house...\par \par The Father's house is the home of all the Father's children. But we make our own places in the kingdom by our own devotedness to the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you get the difference? So there is a place for all in the Father's house.\par \par About the way there. Will everybody get to the Father's house? I wish that they would. Richard Baxter used to pray, "Oh, God, for a full Heaven and an empty hell!" But a6LVALFlas, alas, many persist in rebellion against God and so that prayer can never be answered! There is only one way to the Father's house. And what is that way? I have had people say to me so many times, "We are traveling different roads, but we will all get to Heaven at last." No, no; I don't find that in my Bible. My Bible says, "There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death" (Pro_16:25), and it warns me against taking the broad way that leads to destruction and tells me to take the narrow way that leads to life.\par \par And so here Jesus says, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto Him\emdash " Thomas was honest and he was never afraid just to blurt out all the truth. He said, "We don't know what You are talking about. We have to confess we are ignorant, and we don't know where You are going, and how can we know the way?"\par \par Jesus said unto him \emdash and, oh, dear friends, you get what He said, for it is for you as well as for Thomas \emdash "Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me" (Joh_14:6).\par \par Oh, don't talk about many ways. There is only one \emdash Jesus is the only way. There is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved, but the name of Jesus. Have you come to Him? Are you trusting Him? If you are, you are on the way to the Father's house, and now you can wait with equally glad expectation for the hour of His return, for He said, "If I go, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself." When will He come? We can't tell that, but we are waiting for Him day by day.\par \par "I know not when the Lord will come Or at what hour He may appear, Whether at midnight or at morn, Or at what season of the year.\par \par I only know that He is near, And that His voice I soon shall hear. I only know that He is near,\f2\fs24 And that His voice I soon shall hear."\par \pard\cf1\f3\fs23\par }   @       @     x{hUB/ M M M M M M M M M M M M M H M M H M ^LVALnMR28AllowZeroLengthRequired( Title  .Comments  LVALt'&a{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Times New Roman;}{\f2\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f3\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Power of His Resurrection\par \pard\nowidctlpar\sa120\b0\f1\fs24\par \pard\nowidctlpar\f2\fs22\par "If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God." Col_3:1.\par \par H.A. IronsideFrom the moment that God, in grace, revealed His Son in Saul of Tarsus, transforming the persecuting Pharisee into the flaming apostle to the Gentiles, Paul's great and yearning desire was expressed in the words: "That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection" (Php_3:10). I would ask you to consider this remarkable expression from three standpoints.\par \par \b Power for Regeneration \b0 \par \par First, God is the God of resurrection. He works with what He brings, not with what He finds. The excellency of the power is in Him and not in us. He who created all things by Jesus Christ, so that the visible universe was brought into existence by the Word of His power alone, is the God who now works in a creation ruined by sin, demonstrating His omnipotent grace. The same power that raised the dead body of the Lord Jesus Christ from the grave is the power that quickens dead souls into newness of life.\par \par In the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ every Person of the Godhead had a part. He was "raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father" (Rom_6:4) He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit" (1Pe_3:18), that is, the Holy Spirit. He Himself said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up" (Joh_2:19). And again: "I lay down My life, that I might take it again ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it againLVALb" (Joh_10:17; Joh_10:18).\par \par Likewise, in the regeneration of lost men, in the quickening of those who are dead in trespasses and in sins, the entire Godhead has a part. It was the Father who planned our salvation. It was the Son who died that we might be redeemed. It is the Holy Spirit who convicts and attracts the soul to Christ. Jesus said: "No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him" (Joh_6:44), and, "All that the Father giveth Me shall come to Me" (Joh_6:37). But "it is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing" (Joh_6:63). Our salvation is altogether of God. The same power that wrought in Christ to bring Him again from the dead is the power that is involved in the salvation of every individual. Through faith, he becomes a child of God.\par \par \b Power for Service\b0\par \par In the second place, this is the only power for true Christian service. Fleshly energy counts for nothing. It is even worse than nothing, for it gets in the way of the acting of the Spirit of God. The servant of Christ needs, above everything else, to rely implicitly upon that divine power that alone can make the good seed to fructify and give life through the message. The great object of many today is to put over some kind of a program which they judge will prove effective in gaining the attention of men and in bringing them to some kind of a decision. But the true servant of Christ is not called upon to formulate a program nor to put over one that others have devised, but to live in such fellowship with the risen Christ that he will know the power of His resurrection in a practical way. Thus he will be enabled to see the working of the Holy Trinity as he, feeble and helpless, and perhaps a broken vessel, holds forth the Word of life in a scene of death.\par \par No one who is at all familiar with the Holy Spirit's quickening operations today questions the reality and actuality of Christ's resurrection. It takes just the same power to turn men from sin to righteousnessLVALc, from the power of Satan unto God, and from spiritual death to life in Christ that it took to revivify the dead body of the Lord Jesus. To the observant Christian, happily engaged in his Master's service, life is full of miracles, every one manifesting in some degree the power of Christ's resurrection.\par \par \b Power for Victory\b0\par \par In the third instance, this resurrection power is the dynamic for holy living. It is when I take my rightful place as crucified with Christ, and reckon myself dead indeed unto sin and alive unto God in Him, that the power of His resurrection works in me to enable me to rise into newness of life. Eternal life is far more than everlasting existence. All men, whether saved or lost, will exist forever. Eternal life is more than immortality. All believers who are living when the Lord returns will put on immortality, even as all who sleep in Christ will put on incorruption. But this refers to the body, not to the new life which we now possess in Christ. Eternal life is the very life of God Himself, communicated to the believer in the power of the Holy Spirit. This life has its own affections and desires. Sin is abhorrent to it. Holiness is its delight. Love is its expression. So truly is it the life of God, as revealed in Christ, that He Himself is called "that eternal life, which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us" (1Jn_1:2). Therefore, it is written: "He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God, hath not life" (1Jn_5:12). The possession of this life gives capacity for the knowledge of, and communion with, the Persons of the Godhead. In His great high-priestly prayer our Lord said to the Father: "This is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent" (Joh_17:3). This expresses the capacity which we have as possessors of that life. Such life is enjoyed only as we enter, in a practical sense, into the fellowship of Christ's sufferings, and know Him as only they can know Him whoLVALd are identified with Him in His rejection by the world and who take the place of death to all to which He died as Man. That is, we experience death to the world, death to the law, death to sin, in order that we may live a heavenly life down here in the liberty of grace, manifesting that holiness which the Spirit alone imparts. This indeed is to know the power of His resurrection.\par \par This was the truth which the apostle pressed upon the young preacher, Timothy, when he wrote exhorting him to "lay hold on eternal life" (1Ti_6:12). And this is the ideal which, I am persuaded, the majority of Christians have before them from the very moment of their conversion; yet many of them have to confess with sorrow that they never seem to realize it practically. What, then, is the trouble? Why is it that so few of us know the power of His resurrection in our daily lives? May I suggest again three things?\par \par \b Causes of Defeat\b0\par \par First, it takes us so long to get to the end of ourselves! Even after we have realized that "the flesh profiteth nothing" (Joh_6:63), so far as earning salvation or justification is concerned, we still imagine that, saved by faith in Christ, we are to be made perfect by the flesh. So we endeavor to harness our carnal nature and to bring it into subjection to God by law, forgetting that the Holy Spirit has declared: "The carnal mind ... is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be" (Rom_8:7).\par \par Therefore we struggle on, vainly endeavoring to please God on a merely human plane, "doing our little best" to work for Him and to glorify His name, only to learn at last that this old nature of ours is as incorrigibly weak at the end of years of Christian testimony as it was at the beginning. This discovery has a tendency to cast us into doubt and gloom and to make us wonder whether we have ever been converted at all, or whether everything is a hopeless sham. At such times we are tempted to give up the conflict, to cease witnessing for Christ, and to siLVALenk back to the low level of that world from which we sought deliverance. But "He which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ" (Php_1:6). He, the blessed Holy Spirit, holds us fast. Deep in our hearts we know, through the inward witness, that we have passed from death unto life; that a great change has taken place; and that, unsatisfactory as our actual experience may be, we are the children of God. With many there is then the tendency to assume that there is no real way to escape from the hopeless conflict as long as we are still in the body. This leads to a settling down to a low level of Christian living, as though it were the best we could expect to be under existing circumstances. Yet the Spirit of God is constantly seeking to make us dissatisfied with such a state and to long for something better. Little by little we come to the place where we are ready to admit the hopelessness of the flesh: "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing" (Rom_7:18).\par \par Then, in the second place, comes another step, one that we are generally very slow to take. We have to learn that, just as we were saved through the blood of the Cross, so we enter into a life of victory through the death of the Cross. When George Muller was asked on one occasion how he accounted for the marvelous way in which God had set His seal upon his work throughout the years, he replied in substance: "There came a day when George Muller died, and then God began to work." This is the experience into which we all need to enter. Judicially, we have died with Christ; His death was our death; but we are so slow to realize this practically and to say "Amen" to that which God has already declared to be true. Perhaps we try \emdash try to die to the flesh, try to die to selfishness, try to die to ambition. But alas, we find in the hour of stress that we are just as much alive as ever! It is a great thing when we learn experimentally, in the presence of God, that we have died, and wheLVALn in faith the soul can exclaim: "I am crucified with Christ" (Gal_2:20). Then the struggle is over, for nothing is expected of a dead man.\par \par \b How to Triumph\b0\par \par Yet in the Word of God we are exhorted to strive, and to "fight the good fight of faith" (1Ti_6:12). How shall we do this if we are dead? Ah, now we come to the third point, to that which the apostle expresses in our text. We are called to know Christ, the living Christ, and the power of His resurrection working in us, overcoming our enemies, defeating the world, the flesh, and the devil, and leading us into a life of triumphant victory. Then the soul exclaims: "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" (Gal_2:20). Thus the soul's quest is attained. Resurrection life is enjoyed even in a mortal body, and the risen Christ is seen in those whom He has purchased with His blood. This is bliss indeed \emdash a foretaste of that which will be ours eternally in the city of God!\par \par Copied from Care for God's Fruit-trees and Other Messages by H.A. Ironside. Rev. ed. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, [1945].\par \pard\cf1\lang2058\f3\fs23\par } LVAL&g{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 Joseph, A Type of Christ\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par H.A. IronsideThe story of Joseph as given in Genesis (chapters 37 to 50) is perennially fresh and delightful. Young and old alike revel in it. Looked at as an old-world picture of customs and people long-since vanished, there is a freshness and charm about it that stirs the heart and holds our attention in a remarkable way.\par \par But in studying Scripture there is not only the literal application, which is always important, but every part of the Word of God has a spiritual, typical, and dispensational application as well, and in Joseph's character and experience we have a wonderful type of our Lord Jesus Christ. Ordinarily when we speak of any individual in the Old Testament being a type of Christ, we refer to what he is officially, and not to his personal character. David, for instance, in his official capacity is a striking type of our Saviour; Solomon, too, as the king of peace typifies Him who is yet to reign as King of kings and Lord of lords; but neither of these men could be said to typify Christ in their personal characters. With Joseph it is otherwise. His life shines forth from the pages of Holy Scripture as practically flawless. It is not indeed that he was actually sinless, for he had in himself the same corrupt nature that any other child of Adam has, but it has not pleased God to speak of any flaws or blemishes which His holy eye may have discerned in this devoted servant, but He has rather emphasized his faithfulness and practical godliness.\par \par If we study him as a type of Christ, we would first notice him as\par \par \b The Beloved of the Father's Heart\b0\par \par This comes out LVALhclearly in the early part of chapter 37. We read that Israel loved Joseph more than all his children because he was the son of his old age, and he made him a coat of many colors. Here we have more than a hint of the One who from all eternity was the delight of God the Father, the One whom He ever sought to magnify and glorify, for our Lord Jesus Christ was with the Father from all eternity. There are some who question this, and particularly some who would deny His right to the term "Eternal Son"; but if He was not the Eternal Son, then there was no Eternal Father. Saintly J. G. Bellett has well asked, "Had the Father no bosom in the past eternity?" and the answer is clearly found in Joh_1:18, "The only begotten Son, which is in (or subsisting in) the bosom of the Father." The expression implies a relationship of devoted attachment, of deepest affection. The Father loved Him before the foundation of the world and ever delighted to honor Him.\par \par Then we notice in Joseph the dreamer of dreams with\par \par \b Premonitions of Coming Glory\b0\par \par He saw in a vision his brethren and all his father's house bowing down to him, and this was the vision granted to our Lord Jesus Christ. His delights were with the sons of men and He ever looked forward to the time when, as the exalted Man, He would be the means of blessing for all His brethren and His Father's house. That term, "His brethren" includes not only Israel but we read in the epistle to the Hebrews, "He is not ashamed to call us brethren." All the redeemed rejoice to own His authority and gladly bow in submission at His feet. But there is more than this involved in the thought of His coming exaltation for "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Php_2:10-11).\par \par Joseph comes before us in his first active ministry as the one who left the father's house and went LVALiforth\par \par \b Seeking His Brethren\b0\par \par His father's heart was toward the sons who were caring for the flock, first at Shechem and then at Dothan, and to them Joseph went forth sent by the father to see how they did and to declare the father's concern for them. How truly this sets forth the mission of the Lord Jesus Christ who came "not to condemn the world; but that the world through Him might be saved;" (Joh_3:17) who came from the Father's house into this dark world of sin seeking His brethren that He might declare the Father's Name to them and manifest the Father's love. Of this we have more than a hint in the journey of Joseph to distant Dothan, but as the story proceeds how the whole tragedy of the\par \par \b Rejection of the Son\b0\par \par comes before us in the treatment accorded to him by those whom he sought out for blessing \emdash hating him the more because of his father's love and detesting him because of his superior virtue. Angered too, because of those dreams of glory, they exclaimed in indignation as he drew near, "Behold, this dreamer cometh. Come now therefore, and let us slay him, and cast him into some pit, and we will say, Some evil beast hath devoured him: and we shall see what will become of his dreams" (Gen_37:19-20). And so in the sordid tale of their hatred and rejection we have more than a foreshadow of the treatment that Israel and the Gentiles would yet accord to God's beloved Son. While every detail does not, of course, fit perfectly with the experiences of our blessed Lord and His unbelieving brethren after the flesh, yet it is plain to see that the story is one and the same: the love of the Father's heart, the yearning of the Son, and the cruel setting at nought by those whom He loved so tenderly, all are clearly manifested. Hated, spurned by those who should have welcomed him with gladness, Joseph is cast into the pit, which speaks of death, and then sold to the Gentiles and carried down into Egypt. Of course, with our Lord He was sold first andLVALj then crucified, but both stories alike tell of the corruption of the human heart and the love of the heart of God.\par \par The scene changes and we next see Joseph as\par \par \b The Tempted One\b0\par \par and here how his experiences illustrate the testings and triumphs of our Lord who was "in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin" (Heb_4:15). In Joseph's case we have a man sinful by nature triumphing in the hour of testing because of the fear of the Lord. "How then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" (Gen_39:9) This was his strength. He had set Jehovah always before him and therefore he was not moved when the hour of trial came. In the case of our Lord, He was, of course, the sinless One and His temptation was but the demonstration of this. "Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners," (Heb_7:26) it was unthinkable that sin should ever hold dominion over Him. He stood unflinchingly against every attack of the evil one, and He could ever say, "The prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in Me" (Joh_14:30). In Joseph's temptation and victory we see clearly set forth the way in which every one of us may overcome. It is as the Word of God is hidden in our hearts that we shall be kept from sinning against Him.\par \par But Joseph's testing was not only in Potiphar's house. There he was tempted in the midst of luxuries. There was a further trial when, falsely accused, he suffered for righteousness' sake in the prison-house. But there his integrity was demonstrated and the fear of God preserved him. He shone just as brightly in the dungeon as he did in the mansion. D. L. Moody once said, "Character is what a man is in the dark," and this indeed comes out wonderfully in the case of Joseph. They put him in fetters of iron, but the prison-cell was only the antechamber to the royal palace.\par \par He is as truly the messenger of Jehovah in the prison, interpreting the dreams of the butler and the baker, as when he told his own dream so long before. It isLVALk evident that there was no break in his communion with God. It was as easy for him to interpret a dream as to see visions, for he was under the control of the Holy Spirit.\par \par And so in due time we find him\par \par \b Exalted in Glory\b0\par \par He who had been despised and rejected, he who had been hated and spurned, given up for dead and sold into slavery, unjustly accused and imprisoned, came forth in due time to share the throne with Pharaoh as the preserver of the lives of both the Egyptians and all his father's house.\par \par His Gentile bride, Asenath, seems to give a hint of the fact that our Lord, while rejected by Israel, has found a Bride among the Gentiles, and Joseph's two sons Manasseh (forgetful) and Ephraim (fruitful), tell how he was made to forget all his sorrows because of the fruitfulness of his ministry by the Spirit among the Gentiles. The day came when all of Egypt and the peoples of distant lands bowed at his feet asking for the sustaining corn. When they cried to Pharaoh and said, "Give us food," his answer was, "Go to Joseph," for he was the custodian of all the treasured corn of Egypt, and so today, as throughout the coming Millennium, all blessing is centered in Christ, and to every seeking soul the Father says,\par \par \b "Go to Jesus"\b0\par \par "There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved" (Act_4:12) but the Name which was written above Him when He hung rejected on Calvary's cross, and, thank God, no other name is needed, for He declares, "All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth" (Mat_28:18). He is exalted to God's right hand, speaking peace to all who trust Him and ministering grace to every seeking soul.\par \par Joseph's dreams were wonderfully fulfilled when his brethren came in their abject need, bowing at his feet, glad to receive from his hand that which would maintain physical life, and so now He who is greater than Joseph gives eternal life to bankrupt sinners who bow before Him confessing theLVALlir guilt and owning His grace.\par \par The tender heart of Joseph, his deep compassion for his brethren, comes out most clearly when he reveals himself to them, and again when they doubt his love after his father's death. Like the One of whom he was but a foreshadow, he was a man of tears. As he beheld his brethren, he could not refrain from weeping, and when they feared that he would remember their sins after the burial of Jacob, their distrust of his love moved him again to sobs uncontrolled. He loved to be trusted; he could not bear to be doubted, and in this how truly he portrays the character of the Lord Jesus.\par \par But the type falls far short of the reality, and the book of Genesis closes with the death of Joseph and his body placed in a coffin in Egypt. Thank God, He of whom Joseph speaks lives to die no more, but just as Joseph gave commandment concerning his bones, and Israel carried those bones all through the wilderness and at last laid them to rest in the land of Canaan, so a pilgrim people today are called upon to always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in us. The bones of Joseph were the memorial of death. Suppose a stranger noticed his bier carried reverently throughout the wilderness and inquired concerning it, he might have been answered by something like this, "We were in deep distress, likely to die of famine, but Joseph our brother, whom we had rejected, saved us. Our deliverer died, and we are carrying the memorial through the wilderness to find a resting-place in the land to which we go."\par \par And so we too have that which reminds us of our Saviour's death, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come" (1Co_11:26). Some day we will be through forever with the memorials of death when we shall have gone to that rest which remains for the people of God, and there we shall have our blessed Lord in all His fulness to be the delight of our hearts throughou>LVALNt an eternity of bliss, while a regenerated world will see Him enthroned in highest glory and all peoples will be nourished by His beneficence and bow at His feet in rapt adoration. \par \pard\cf1\f2\fs23\par } LVAL&n{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 Four Great Truths\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par "If Christ to His throne had not bidden farewell,\par Sad indeed were the tolling of life's passing bell;\par If Christ on the cross had not suffered and died,\par Dark indeed were the passage of death's somber tide.\par If Christ from the grave had in triumph not risen,\par Bleak indeed were the dungeons of that dreadful prison;\par If Christ were not living and pleading on high,\par Death indeed were our doom, death that never may die."\par \emdash H. G. T. PARKE\par \par H.A. IronsideThe above lines were written by a poor unfortunate, a drug-addict, who stumbled into a Salvation Army Hall years ago and came to Christ. It is evident that the Spirit of God gave him a very vivid appreciation of four aspects of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ, upon which Scripture bases four great truths. Upon these I desire to meditate, hoping that both writer and readers may thus enter more fully into the completeness of the divine scheme of redemption.\par \par \b Incarnation \b0\par \par Think, first, of incarnation. The word itself implies a supernatural Being linking Himself with humanity, and this of course is what actually took place when the eternal Son of God became Man in the fulness of time. Incarnation means more than the mere assumption of a human body. In Scripture we are told, "the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth" (Joh_1:14)... It was a voluntary act on His part. He who subsisted from all eternity in the form of God, who thought it not robbery to LVALobe equal with God, emptied Himself of the outward semblance of Deity, and took upon Him the form of a bondman; having come in the likeness of men, and being thus habited as a Man, He humbled Himself still lower, becoming obedient unto death, and such a death\emdash that of the cross. In doing this, He linked Deity with humanity in such a way that He did not cease in any sense to be God, while He became, nevertheless, in the fullest possible sense, Man. He had a true human spirit. "He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled," (Joh_11:33) we are told, and on the cross He exclaimed, "Father, into Thy hands I commend My spirit" (Luk_23:46). We hear Him saying, "Now is My soul troubled," (Joh_12:27) and we read that He "poured out His soul unto death" (Isa_53:12). His body was in no sense a phantom, as some have taught in early days, but a true human body, the earthly vessel in which the heavenly One took up His abode, in order that He might be slain for our sins. All this is involved in the fact of incarnation.\par \par But though a true Man, He was a sinless Man, and not only sinless in thought and act, but impeccable; because being as truly God as Man, it is unthinkable that He could in His humanity do that, under any circumstances, which was repugnant to His Godhead, and God cannot sin. Thus He fulfilled the types of old; He was the unblemished, spotless Lamb; like the unyoked heifer, He never came under the yoke of sin. He was as pure within as He was without, thus answering to the burnt offering which had to be laid open and examined in every part, and could only be presented to God if found inwardly perfect.\par \par In order that this might be so, He could not come into the world through the process of natural generation, for this would have made Him heir to all the fearful entailment of sin and infirmity which characterized the human race as proceeding from fallen Adam. He was conceived of the Holy Spirit, a distinct creation in the womb of the virgin, and thus He entered this world through thLVALpe portals of birth, but as the Second Man, the Lord from heaven. Herein lies the importance of the doctrine of the virgin birth, which some today insist has no real bearing upon the question of His Saviourhood. But His incarnation must be sinless and impeccable, or He could not be the Saviour of sinners. If there were within Him the least evil or tendency to evil, He must needs have a Saviour for Himself, and He could not stand in the breach for us.\par \par We speak of His sinless incarnation. On the other hand, it is quite inaccurate to apply the term "the immaculate conception" to this wondrous mystery. This latter term is used very loosely by many Protestants who fail to realize, or forget if they ever knew, that it is the name given by the Roman Catholic Church to the Romish doctrine of the sinless, yet natural conception of the blessed virgin Mary. No such term is ever used in the Bible, nor does such a term belong in Protestant theology in connection with the sinless incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ.\par \par These truths need to be emphasized more than ever today, for if we lose sight of them we become confused in our thinking, and we shall be further confused as we go on to consider the work of His cross. He had to be what He was in order to do what He did. If He had been in any sense less than God manifest in flesh, He could not have offered up Himself in the power of the Eternal Spirit for our redemption. If He had been other than the One of whom it was written, "He knew no sin," He could not have been made sin for us.\par \par While we are not saved through His incarnation, and our present union with Him is not because He took our humanity upon Himself, but because we have been linked to Him, the glorified Man in heaven, by the Holy Spirit, yet it is of all importance that we hold fast to the truth that "God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto Himself" (2Co_5:19). Bethlehem must precede Calvary. He became Man that He might die for men.\par \par \b Propitiation\b0\par \paLVALqr In the second chapter of Hebrews, we are told in verse 17, "Wherefore in all things it behoved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." The word here translated "reconciliation" is more accurately rendered "propitiation" as in 1Jn_2:2 and \cf1\ul 1Jn_4:10\cf0\ulnone "He is the propitiation for our sins;" "God ... sent His Son to be the propitiation." This word is used in the Greek translation of the Old Testament, made in the third century before Christ, commonly called the Septuagint, and expressed generally as the LXX, to translate the Hebrew term which occurs again and again in the Old Testament, and is rendered in many different ways in the English Version, a few of which are as follows:\par \par 1. "Pitch," in Gen_6:14, as used for the "covering" of the ark.\par 2. "Appease," used in Gen_32:20, where it means literally "to cover the face."\par 3. "Atonement," used in many places in Leviticus 16, and particularly in Lev_17:11.\par 4. "Satisfaction," used in Num_35:31.\par 5. "Ransom," used in Job_33:24.\par 6. "Put it off," in Isa_47:11.\par 7. "Reconciliation," used in Dan_9:24.\par 8. "Pacified," used in Eze_16:63.\par \par If we put all of these English translations together, they do not by any means exhaust the real meaning of this word, but they do throw wonderful light upon the Scripture doctrine of propitiation. They tell us that in the death of Christ God has found a ransom for sinful men, and that a covering has been provided to shield us from the storm of judgment. Atonement has been made for our sins, full satisfaction has been rendered to the divine justice for our iniquities. God's judgment is appeased; sin is expiated, and God is pacified toward us for all that we have done, because of the perfection of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now He Himself is our propitiation and we come to God alone by Him.\par \par \b ResurLVALrrection\b0\par \par But although the death of our Lord Jesus Christ has accomplished the putting away of sin so that every believer is justified by His blood, it is through His resurrection that we know God is satisfied with the work that His Son accomplished when He took our place in judgment and bore our sins in His own body upon the tree. He "was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification" (Rom_4:25). It is not that we are justified by His resurrection, but it is that His resurrection proves that the work which justifies has been accomplished, and we come into the benefit of it all when we put our trust in the Risen One. Everywhere the apostles went they preached Jesus Christ and the resurrection. Just as incarnation without propitiation is in itself unable to save us, so propitiation without resurrection would be incomplete. None could know certainly that God was satisfied with the work of His Son if Christ had not burst the bands of death asunder and risen in triumph from the tomb.\par \par More than this, had He remained enthralled in the arms of death, it would have given the lie to His entire testimony and redemptive program. It was imperative that He rise again the third day. It was this that proved Him to be in very truth the Son of God and the all-sufficient Sacrifice for sin. And so today the message that goes out to all mankind is as of old, "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised Him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom_10:9; Rom_10:10). It is the Risen One whom God has exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour. He has been made both Lord and Christ to give repentance and remission of sins to all who turn to Him in faith.\par \par \b Intercession\b0\par \par As the risen Christ, our Lord is carrying on a special service now on behalf of all believers here on earth as the minister oLVALsf the heavenly sanctuary. Therefore we are told, "He is able also to save them to the uttermost [that is, forevermore], that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them" (Heb_7:25). He ministers in the holiest of all as our great High Priest with God, giving every believer a perfect representation before the eternal throne. He is there also as our Advocate with the Father, keeping the feet of His saints, and insuring the restoration of every failing Christian.\par \par We often speak, and rightly, of the finished work of Christ. This refers, of course, to the work of propitiation, as we have already seen. To this nothing can be added, nor can anything be taken from it. It is complete. To attempt to add to it would be only to try to spoil His finished work. But on the other hand, it is just as correct to speak of the unfinished work of Christ, for He began a service in behalf of His people when He ascended to heaven which has been going on ever since, and will not be finished so long as there is one saint left on earth in the place of testing and possible failure. We have a sample of His intercession in John 17, where we find His great high-priestly prayer. In that wonderful chapter He anticipates the cross, and we are permitted to listen reverently to the tender words He speaks on behalf of His own to the end of time. In John 13 we see Him acting as Advocate, washing the defiled feet of His disciples, thus picturing the work He has been carrying on ever since He returned to the glory. He is the girded Servant still, and will be so as long as we need Him. "If any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous," (1Jn_2:1) and "He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world" (1Jn_2:2). His advocacy is based upon His propitiation.\par \par Were it not for this present service of our Lord Jesus Christ, the first sin committed by a believer after his conversion would destroy communion with God, LVALand there would be no way to restore that communion again. It needs to be remembered that there are two links that bind every saint to the Saviour, and these are union and communion. The link of union is indissoluble. Once formed, it can never be broken. The link of communion is delicate indeed. The least sin will break it, and it would never be formed anew were it not for the intercession of our Lord Jesus. He meets every accusation of the enemy. He presents our case before the Father. He, through the Holy Spirit, brings the Word to bear upon our consciences, and thus He brings us to contrition, confession, and restoration.\par \par How full is our salvation! How wonderfully has God provided! The Incarnate Son became Himself our propitiation. Resurrection attests our justification, and His intercession carries us on to the end of the journey.\par \par If it be asked, "Why do we need an advocate?" the answer is, "Because we have an accuser, Satan, 'the accuser of our brethren ... which accused them before our God day and night'" (Rev_12:10). But "who shall lay any thing to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us" (Rom_8:33; Rom_8:34). Jesus Christ meets every charge of the adversary. His propitiatory work is the answer to every accusation. And He will minister all needed grace to meet present need and restore the souls of His failing saints, until the glad hour when He will call us all to meet Him above and to share the joys of the Father's house.\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVAL&u{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 The Judgment-Seat of Christ\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par H.A. IronsideWe are told in Joh_5:22 that "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son," so that in this sense every judgment throne is to be considered as the judgment-seat of Christ. As the resurrected Man, He has been appointed by God as the Judge of all (Act_17:31). Both the living and the dead are to give an account to Him, and this includes all men, whether saved or unsaved (1Pe_4:5; Act_10:42). But so far as condemnatory judgment is concerned, believers will never enter into this. For them all such judgment is already past (Joh_5:24). Yet, while this is blessedly true, because all our sins were dealt with in the cross of Christ, it is a solemn fact, nevertheless, that we must all stand before the judgment-seat of Christ.\par \par In our Authorized Version this expression is used twice. In Rom_14:10 we are warned against judging one another now. We read: "But why dost thou judge thy brother? or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? for we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." Some manuscripts here read "God" in place of "Christ," and in \cf1\ul Rom_14:12\cf0\ulnone we are told, "So then every one of us shall give an account of himself to God." But Christ is God, so the thought is the same whichever word is used. And in 2 Corinthians 5 the apostle tells us how he has sought to live his life and maintain his testimony in view of this fact. He says in \cf1\ul 2Co_5:9-10\cf0\ulnone , "Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of Him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one maLVALvy receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad." It was his ambition so to behave himself that he might give an account with joy at that great tribunal.\par \par It is plain from Scripture that there is a vast difference between the judgment seat of Christ and the judgment of the great white throne, where the wicked dead are to answer for their sins and be judged according to their works (Rev_20:11-15). The first takes place at our Lord's return prior to the glorious kingdom age, the latter at the end of time. He says in Rev_22:12, "Behold, I come quickly; and My reward is with Me, to give every man according as his work shall be." And in 1Co_4:5 we read, "Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God." Our blessed Lord is as a nobleman who has gone into a far country to receive for Himself a kingdom, and to return. During His absence His servants are to be occupied in His interests. They are to use what He has committed to them for His glory. When He returns they will give an account to Him of their service.\par \par It is well to remember that believers will be in their glorified bodies when they give this account. It will be after the resurrection of the sleeping saints and the rapture of those still in the body that we shall be manifested before our blessed Lord, either to receive His approval or to learn that we must suffer loss because of unworthy behavior. In 1 Corinthians 3 we have the outstanding scripture which deals with this judgment. A careful reading of verses 11 to 15 will make clear just what it is that will be brought to light in that day:\par \par "For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: foLVALwr the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire,"\par \par Observe, this has to do only with those who are building upon the one foundation, our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore they are already saved people. They have been regenerated and added to the Lord, and to Him they are to give an account in the day of Christ. It is every man's work that is to be made manifest; that work may consist in building gold, silver and precious stones upon the sure foundation, or, on the other hand, wood, hay, stubble. The searching flame of God's infinite holiness will try every man's work of what sort it is. It does not say, "of how much it is." It is the character of the work rather than the amount of it that is in question. The gold, silver and precious stones speak of that which is estimable, which is in accordance with the Word of God and for which there will be a reward. The wood, hay, and stubble speak of that which is either utterly worthless or of transient value, and will all be consumed in the judgment fire of that day. Whatever is according to the flesh will be destroyed; for that there can be no reward. Instead, we shall have to suffer loss. Everything that is of the Spirit and therefore in accordance with God's Holy Word, will abide, and for that we shall be rewarded.\par \par These are serious considerations which ought to be borne in mind by everyone seeking in any way to serve our Lord Jesus Christ. Unquestionably there is much work that is done professedly in His name, but is contrary to His Word, which perhaps attracts a great deal of attention and receives the applause of unspiritual people, who are not able to discern what is really of God and what is simply of man. All of this will be burned up at the judgment seat of Christ. What a lLVALxot of so-called church-work the fires of that day will consume. Much which we have taken for granted as being in accordance with the mind of God will then prove to be simply the product of ecclesiastical machinery, and much of it without a passage of Holy Scripture behind it. When we stand before that august bema of Christ, everything will be brought to light. All the self-seeking, all the carnal egotism, all the fleshly energy, all the self-confidence that so often is back of our ministry will be made manifest, and all of this will go for nothing when our blessed Lord is looking for that which He can reward.\par \par On the other hand, much that is looked upon with contempt by high-minded and heady brethren will then be seen in its true character, and of many a hidden saint, who has been passed by as insignificant and doing nothing of any real moment, the Lord will say, as He said of Mary of Bethany so long ago, "She hath done what she could." He will discern gold, silver and precious stones in the lowly but faithful service of "them that are quiet in the land" (Psa_35:20), who have been content to be passed by and ignored here on earth, but whose one earnest desire has been to have His approval.\par \par "He is coming! Oh, how solemn When the Judge's voice is heard, And in His own light He shows us Every thought and act and word.\par \par Deeds of merit, as we thought them, He will show us were but sin; Little acts we had forgotten He will tell us were for Him."\par \par God loves reality. "The proud he knoweth afar off." He dwells in the heart of the humble and it is the meek of the earth who glorify Him, whereas the haughty and self-sufficient dishonor His name.\par \par Nevertheless He will find in every believer something to approve, for we are told, "Then shall every man have praise of God" (1Co_4:5). But even though all one's work should be burned up, the Spirit of God tells us the believer himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. But who that knows the saving grace of God and  LVAL appreciates the love of Christ would wish thus to stand before Him? It is for Him we should labor. His glory should ever be before us, and then when we receive our rewards at His hand, it will be because of the delight which He Himself has found in our service...\par \par Copied from Care for God's Fruit-trees and Other Messages by H.A. Ironside. Rev. ed. New York: Loizeaux Brothers, [1945].\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par } LVAL&z{\rtf1\ansi\ansicpg1252\deff0{\fonttbl{\f0\fswiss\fprq2\fcharset0 Arial;}{\f1\froman\fprq2\fcharset0 Georgia;}{\f2\fnil\fcharset0 Georgia;}} {\colortbl ;\red0\green128\blue0;\red0\green0\blue0;} {\stylesheet{ Normal;}{\s1 heading 1;}} {\*\generator Riched20 5.40.11.2210;}\viewkind4\uc1\pard\keepn\nowidctlpar\s1\sb240\sa120\lang1033\b\f0\fs32 "Bearing About in the body the Dying of the Lord Jesus"\par \pard\nowidctlpar\b0\f1\fs22\par \par "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh." (2Co_4:10; 2Co_4:11)\par \par H.A. IronsideThis fourth chapter of 2 Corinthians is the Apostle Paul's statement of power for ministry. He shows us in these stirring verses that God is not looking for brilliant men, is not depending upon eloquent men, is not shut up to the use of talented men in sending His gospel out in the world. God is looking for broken men, for men who have judged themselves in the light of the cross of Christ. When He wants anything done, He takes up men who have come to an end of themselves, and whose trust and confidence is not in themselves but in God.\par \par There were those who were calling in question the apostleship of Paul himself, for he did not seem to them to be what an apostle, according to their estimation of the office, ought to be. There was not the pomp nor the dignity they would expect; he did not come to them with great swelling words, there was no making anything of what he was after the flesh, no drawing attention to his natural ability or education; and in this the method of the Apostle Paul was in very vivid contrast to the method pursued by many today who pose as servants of our Lord Jesus Christ. This man went through the world a broken man, a lowly man, a man seeking only the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ and the blessing of souls, a man who mighLVAL{t have occupied a very high place among the great and distinguished of earth. But he was a man who for Jesus' sake had turned his back upon all that, and could say, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal_6:14).\par \par That cross spoke of the deepest shame and ignominy, and Paul gloried in it because through the work that took place upon it his soul had been saved, and he had learned that the preaching of the cross, while it is "to them that perish foolishness," is "unto us which are saved ... the power of God" (1Co_1:18). And so he went forth content to be broken in order that the light of the grace of God might shine out.\par \par You will notice in \cf1\ul 2Co_4:6\cf0\ulnone that "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us" (2Co_4:6; 2Co_4:7). It is easy to see what he has in mind. He is thinking undoubtedly of that very striking incident of which we read in Judges, when Gideon and his three hundred men took their lives in their hands, were delivered unto death, as it were, and went forth against the vast armies of the Midianites. Surely no other army was accoutred as this one. They carried in one hand a trumpet, and in the other a pitcher, and in this pitcher was a lamp. The light of the lamp was not seen though it was already lit. It was not seen as long as it was in the earthen jar. They surrounded the army of the Midianites in the middle of the night, and suddenly at the command of their leader the jars were crashed to earth, and the light shone out, and the Midianites sprang up startled. They heard the crash and saw the light, and thought that they were surrounded by a tremendous army, and they turned their swords upon one another. It was God through Gideon LVAL|that led the army to victory. A broken pitcher in order that light might shine out! The apostle says, as it were, "That is it! If you want to be a light for God in a world like this, be content to be broken, to have your hopes, your ambitions, all dashed to pieces, and then God can take you up and use you in order to carry the light of Christ to darkened hearts."\par \par How are we broken? By affliction, by trouble, by the discipline of the Lord, sometimes by sickness, by pain and anguish. All these are the divine methods for breaking God's pitchers in order that the light may shine out to His praise and glory. Men may misjudge us, misrepresent us, persecute us bitterly; we may not have enough food to eat or water to drink; we may be cast down; we may suffer all kinds of sorrows; but it is all right if it breaks us in order that God may be able the better to use us. And so he says, "We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed" (2Co_4:8; 2Co_4:9); for in all these experiences we are simply "bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our body." He "came from Godhead's fullest glory down to Calvary's depth of woe."\par \par We sometimes sing a little hymn that always stirs the heart. I remember hearing Dr. Torrey say that he believed of all the hymns that were used in his great meetings around the world, it was the one that seemed to be most blessed of God to the people. It is:\par \par "I surrender all, I surrender all, All to Thee, my blessed Saviour, I surrender all."\par \par But that hymn never had the appeal it ought to have for my own heart until one day I found myself changing that chorus. I was thinking of Him who though He was "in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men: And being found LVAL}in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. (Php_2:6-8).\par \par He surrendered all, He surrendered all, All for me, my blessed Saviour, He surrendered all.\par \par And then my heart said, "O Lord, it will be easy to sing it the other way now, for what have I to give up, to surrender, in comparison with what Thou didst give up in order to redeem my guilty soul from going down to the pit?" It is as you and I realize from day to day what it all meant to Him that we can bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Dying day by day to our own hopes and ambitions, dying to the good opinion of people, dying to human praise and adulation, to everything that the natural heart grasps, dying in the death of Jesus to it all, because He died for us in order that "the life of Jesus may be made manifest in our body."\par \par You will notice that \cf1\ul 2Co_1:10-11\cf0\ulnone are very much alike, and yet the great difference is this: verse 10 suggests something that we do deliberately, consciously, whereas verse 11 is something that God does for us. What is it we are called upon to do? "Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus" \emdash reminding ourselves every day that Jesus died for us, and because He died for us we are gladly to put ourselves in the place of death for Him.\par \par Looking back to the cross the Apostle Paul could say, "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" (Gal_2:20). But this has to be put into practice daily by putting my tastes and ambitions in the place of death. That is my part. But here is God's part: "We which live are alway delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh" (2Co_4:11). You tell God that you are willing to take the place of death with Christ, and He LVAL~will see that it is made good; you tell God you are going to trust Him, and He will test your faith and show you what it means to trust Him; you tell Him that you are ready to surrender everything to Him, and He will put you in the place where you will begin to find out what full surrender really means. I do not know of anything that it seems should have such an appeal to the Christian heart along this line as the frequent remembrance of our Lord Jesus Christ in His death, and I think it is because He realized that it is so easy for us to forget, that He said to His disciples when He gave them this memorial feast, "This do in remembrance of Me" (Luk_22:19). And the Holy Spirit said, "As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till He come" (1Co_11:26). Every time we are called upon thus to remember the Lord it is a new challenge to ask ourselves, "Am I simply remembering Him in a cold, formal, intellectual way because it is customary, or am I truly in heart remembering the One who went down beneath the dark waters of death for me, and am I truly ready now to always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus?"\par \par What a poor thing it is to come together in assemblies to participate in the communion of the Lord's Supper and then go out from the building and forget what it all really means, forget that our Saviour died, that we are linked up with the One who died, and that He has left us an example that we should follow His steps \emdash that is, we should always bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. This seems to me to be linked very intimately with several Old Testament references to which our attention is drawn in Hebrews 11. We read, "By faith Joseph, when he died, made mention of the departing of the children of Israel; and gave commandment concerning his bones" (Heb_11:22). Did you ever stop and ask why the Holy Spirit selected that particular incident to dwell upon? He has instanced something that you and I would probably have passLVALed over altogether. What did Joseph do? "Gave commandment concerning his bones." In Gen_50:25 we read where Joseph, talking to the children of Israel, says, "God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt." That is the close of Genesis. What an odd way to close the book! But God wants us to think about the bones of Joseph. They are there in a coffin in Egypt, but they are to be carried to Canaan.\par \par In Exodus 13 we find that the children of Israel who have been sheltered by the blood of the passover lamb are starting out for Canaan, and we read, "Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you" (Exo_13:19). Who was Joseph? He was the saviour of Israel. If it had not been for him they had all been destroyed in the famine, but he was their saviour, and now he says, "When you leave Egypt to go to Canaan, you carry my bones with you." When they left, they were very careful to do as they were told, and all the way across the sands of the desert wherever that great caravan went, they were always bearing about in the body the dying of Joseph.\par \par I think I see that great procession winding its way up over the hills; and the Amalekites and the Midianites looking at them in wonder say, "What is that strange dark casket?" Presently they call an Israelite and ask him, and he says, "We were once in greatest distress; if God had not had mercy upon us we would have been left to die, but He raised up a saviour for us, one of our own people; his name was Joseph and he delivered us; Joseph saved us. But our saviour died, and we are marching on to the land that our God has given us, and until we get there, we carry with us the memorial of death, the bones of Joseph. We can never forget him; he died, but we have the memorials still." And by-and-by8LVALH when they reached the land, when they arrived at the place that God Himself had selected for them, we are told that after everything else was properly attended to, "The bones of Joseph, which the children of Israel brought out of Egypt, buried they in Shechem, in a parcel of ground which Jacob bought of the sons of Hamor, the father of Shechem for an hundred pieces of silver: and it became the inheritance of the children of Joseph" (Jos_24:32). There was no need to carry the bones of Joseph through the wilderness any more, for they were at home now. And, beloved, you and I are passing on through the wilderness of this world, we will soon be at Home, but until we reach there we are called upon to bear about in the body the dying of Jesus, and as we remember Him in the breaking of bread and the drinking of the cup, we should challenge our own hearts: Are we simply looking objectively toward that cross and saying, "There our Saviour died," or are we seeking day by day to practically make it manifest that His death means more to us than all that this world glories in?\par \pard\cf2\f2\fs23\par }