Discipleship

… This subject of the disciples and their call and training and so on is a very large one and I don't know how we're going to cover all the various aspects of it in the short time that is available to us. However, it's good for us to read the Word of God and seek the direction and help of the Holy Spirit so that some question may be left for us as to what really a disciple of the Lord is so that we too might be marked by the features that belong to a disciple. First of all, we might ask, what is a disciple? And the answer is simple, a person who is taught, a person who not only is taught, but who endeavors to put into practice the things that he has learned. In the ancient world there were many philosophers and they gathered around them their disciples and their disciples invited the teachings and not only did they invite the teachings, but they drew on many of the mannerisms of the teachers so that they were proud to be called disciples of their respective teachers. Now when we come to the Scriptures, I think this principle holds good and what a wonderful teacher the disciples of the New Testament had, our Lord Jesus Christ. And what wonderful features they saw in him and they copied him, imitated him in the true sense of the scriptural world. And this is what we want to learn for ourselves, how to be true disciples of the Lord Jesus. Now we ought to say when we speak about the disciples, we generally think of the twelve. And we try to think of them as uniquely the disciples of the Lord, in a most wonderful way. Three and a half years with him, seeing the things he did, hearing the things he taught, seeing him pray and so on, what a wonderful compressed time it was for those favorite twelve. Unfortunately, one got no benefit at all from the company of the Lord. But we do think of the twelve uniquely as the disciples of the Lord. But if we read the New Testament carefully, we'll find that there were many, many more disciples, many more. In fact, you remember the Lord sent out seventy, two by two, he sent them out to do his will. And we'll find many, many other occasions where we can see that apart from the twelve, there were many who were called disciples of the Lord. Now when we come to the Acts of the Apostles, we find believers, persons who accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, who were baptized and followed in the Apostle's doctrine, and then in the teaching of the Apostle Paul, were described as disciples. And so we have every right to approach the scripture with this in mind, that through infinite grace, we in our day are privileged to be disciples of the Lord. Now if we want to get a true picture of what a disciple is, then obviously we turn to the Word of God and we see how they were called by the Lord himself, and how they reacted to the call. Because we have to be sure of this, that although uniquely they were the twelve, the way they were called, the way they reacted, is relevant for us today. That although the Lord is in glory, he did cause individually, and we are responsible to react to that call, just as those early disciples did. Now tonight, very briefly, I want to go over these four portions that we've read from each of the Gospels, to indicate how the stamp of the Lord's person is very distinctly seen upon those persons who answer to his call. We know that each Gospel presents the Lord Jesus Christ in a very definite way. Matthew presents him as the king, Mark as the servant, Luke as the true man here for God, and John as the one who was God, coming into manhood, and here representing God in the fullest possible sense, and displaying all that God is. Now if you remember these things, I think they'll give us some help as to see the way in which the disciples were called, and to see the way they reacted to that call. Well, first of all, in Matthew, the king calls. Well, we know the king is the one who represents absolute authority. There is no such thing as a constitutional monarch in the Scriptures as far as the kingship of Christ is concerned. His kingship is one of absolute authority that will not tolerate any refusal. And so we can see at the outset that those men heard a call of authority, and receiving that call, they obeyed, and they followed the Lord. Now I believe this is the same today, dear brethren. The Lord has the right to call us. Thank God he has. We've heard the call in the Gospel. We've responded to that call. We have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as our own personal Savior and as our Lord, and so here's the initial call, the call to himself, to be cleared from all that stood between us and God, and to be brought into a position where we can receive another call, a call for service, to follow him, to represent him. Many of us say that we take up service on our own charges. Is Christian living optional? Do we just take it up and lay it down as we feel led to do so by our own minds and wills? Surely this is a poor picture of Christian living. If the Lord calls us by his wonderful grace and blesses us, and then calls us again into some particular form of service or representation for him, we are bound to obey, we are bound to maintain that as he gives us strength, and we are bound to continue in it until he says, lay it down. I suppose every person who is engaged in some form of Christian service at some time or other feels the power of opposition or the pressure of circumstances or some other thing coming across his pathway that tempts him to give up. Instead, we've got to remember the divine call. If he calls us, only he can say to us, that's the end of your service, lay down your service. But if he doesn't say that, then we've got to continue. And we find when Paul is writing to young Timothy, no doubt the disciple of the Lord, the man of God, we hope to see something about him one of the evenings, he says, continue. Continue thou in the things that thou hast learned and has been assured of. Don't give up, keep going on. I'm sure when we see the greatness and glory of Christ as the King, the one whose absolute authority over his subjects, we can see the wonder of this call. What a dignity was imparted to those four in the beginning of Matthew. Called away from the rest of the coming, called away from their relatives, called away from all that they had been accustomed to, perhaps enjoyed too, to follow him with unquestioning obedience. No sign of reluctance in their heart. They answered to the call, they followed, they obeyed. Dear brethren, I believe this is the call for each one of us. May be that you're not called to any great public service. May be that the service the Lord calls us to is very obscure. Nevertheless, if he calls us, thank God for it, it's something to do with the King. And as loyal subjects, we will be ready to respond and do the things that mean much to him. Our little part is his plan. The Queen in the land, she has a Prime Minister, she has a government, but she has a host of servants who are working in other ways, in very small jobs, in obscure places, but they're all doing something for the good of the realm. All doing something in connection with the administration. We know, of course, there's a large question mark against that today. I know they're trying the simple illustration to show that there are those who are in prominent positions, and some in humble positions. But when the King calls us to do something for him, it's always extremely important, because it fits in with his plan, and he wants us to obey. I'm sure we've experienced occasions when the Lord has directed us to do something, and we've been very, very reluctant to answer to it, because we have known it would involve certain things in our lives, perhaps things that we were reluctant to give up. And because of this call, we hesitate. We don't find that with these poor men. They obey instantaneously, instantaneously, and they follow the law. We spoke about the disciples of the philosophers in ancient times. They considered an honor to be included in the school and listen to the learned philosopher. And so we do as Christians. I believe we ought to be impressed by the dignity of representing the Lord Jesus Christ in this world. The wonderful privilege of being his disciple, learning from him, doing his will, giving on his character, and so in this world, setting forth something for his pleasure and for his glory. I want to speak about this matter of following the Lord, because it's very, very important. I understand the Greek word means being in the same way. Now, that seems to be perfectly obvious, being in the same way. But then we know that many followers can follow certain objects and leaders and yet not be heart and soul with their leader. But it would seem that following in the New Testament indicates persons who are really heart and soul with the Lord. They are one with him. You remember when the men came to David in the cave, when he asked them, do you come into peace? They said, thy we are, David, and on thy side thou son of Jesse. There was no doubt at all that they were heart and soul with David. And I believe those men, and many others, as we read, when they followed Jesus, it indicated how thoroughly they were with him in mind and soul. I know as we read the gospels, we find that they made many mistakes, but that didn't deter them from following. They kept following, and the Lord held them in the course, and he provided them with all that was necessary. And so they followed the Lord, and that's a great matter. We're not disciples of any great teacher in Christendom. We're not disciples of any particular company of believers. We are disciples of the Lord, and if we're going to be true disciples of the Lord, we must follow him. We must take on his title. We must listen to his teaching, and if we do, we'll become really true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, we find that Peter asked the Lord a question, Lord, we've left all and followed thee? And the Lord said, all those who have left all and followed me shall be aptly rewarded, not only in this world, but in the worlds to come. So, dear brethren, for the faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord will encourage us by the hope of the reward. Now, don't let's follow the Lord for the reward. We follow the Lord because it's his will. He wants us to be his disciples, but as we follow him in the pathway of faith, then he's going to reward us in the time to come, and thank God at the present moment, as we serve him, he gives us ample reward by his presence, his joy, his encouragement, his help, and so to answer to the call of the Lord is something that's very rewarding. To follow the Lord, it brings its own reward, its own blessing, its own encouragement. The Lord said, those who follow me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. There are many schools of philosophy today, many ideologies today. Not one of them has the light of life. Only those who follow the Lord Jesus Christ will have the light of life, and this is one of the benefits of answering to the call. Having life through being in the company of the Lord Jesus, his wonderful teaching, illuminating our pathway, making problems plain to us, indicating to us the course of this world, its doom, its judgment, its eventual blessing under Christ, and many other things of a personal character, he that follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. And the Lord said, those who follow him, those who serve him, those persons will be honored by his power. Here's another thing connected with the call. As we answer to it, as we follow the Lord, we'll be honored by the Father. And said the Lord, those who serve me and call me where I am, there also shall I serve you. Wonderful encouragement to follow the Lord, to be in the Lord's company, to know his presence, to receive all the encouragement and resource that he administered to us as we answer to the call. Let me say a word about the natural side, the relatives, the father and mother and so on, that we find here, and leaving their votes, their deathly calling to follow the Lord Jesus. We want to make a claim that everyone receives a call of this kind. Thank God thousands have answered to this call and have left their homes and their loved ones and their callings and have gone abroad to other lands to serve the Lord. We are very thankful for their devoted discipleship in connection with the Lord's interests. But then we're not all called to do this, but we can all be disciples and we can all put the Lord first in our lives and we can answer to the call in this way and follow the Lord wherever we are, at home, at work, at school, wherever we are, we can be the Lord's disciples. But we believe in this case it was unique, these four men answering to the Lord. It must have been a wonderful sight to see the Lord Jesus at the coming of these men and just saying, come, come after me and I will make you officials of men. Or saying to another one, follow me. And without any hesitation they leave home and follow the Lord. Surely there must have been divine power in this, divine authority in the invitation and in the call, or that we might fear this today. That Christian living and Christian service is not an optional matter. It's a matter that's incumbent upon us as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. We are all obligated to listen to the voice of the Lord and to follow him. The one who calls us has the right to our obedience. When we come to Mark, we said at the outset that Mark is the gospel that presents the Lord Jesus as a servant. I'm sure we all have heard that over and over again. Nothing new that you're hearing. And we know that everything was done instantaneously, that's the key word, in the gospel by Mark, immediately and on. If you look up at the concordance, Brian and I have been with the priest 41 times, this Greek word was used, indicating how everything was done. I won't say in a hurry, but when the Lord said that things were to be done, they were done. Or when he tended to, when he acted in healing, the healing was instantaneous. There was no waiting period. I believe those who were called, who were called to be with him, to see how he did things, so that they too might follow his example. It's striking that the one who wrote this gospel was one who once embarked on service for the Lord and turned back. He didn't continue. He found it going too rough, too difficult, too many problems, and so he went back to the comfort of his home and all the comforts of the city of Jerusalem. And then, thank God, he would recover. And being recovered, the Spirit of God used him to portray for us the servant who never went back, the servant who never failed, the servant who did everything right for his master, his God and Father. And so we find a wonderful portrayal of the Son of God as a servant in this world. And I believe the call of the disciples was that they might be with him in order to watch carefully how he did things and take character from him. I say this because there's one word included in the Gospel by Mark that we don't find in Matthew, and it's in verse 17, come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. I believe that word become indicates a progress, indicates a training period that they would go through, and in the company of the Lord, they would notice how he did things, how he dealt with people, his manner of dealing with people, and all this would be invaluable to them when they were left here in testimony in this world when the Lord went back to glory. Now, there are many things for ourselves as disciples to learn from in the Word of God, and especially in the Epistles. Do you remember that wonderful chapter, the second chapter of Philippians, where Paul spoke about the Lord Jesus Christ as an example for us? Because he said, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, and then he went on to speak about the humility of the Lord. He humbled himself, and he went on to speak about the obedience of the Lord. He was obedient unto the death of the cross, and so I believe the Lord's example is one that we can follow with this humility and obedience. It's a nauseating thing to see a Christian presumptuous, arrogant, overriding with his will and mind over others. It's not in keeping with the character of Christ, a disciple of the Lord, but to be humble, and so if we take character to the Lord, we'll be marked by this feature of humility. Not presuming to be somebody or something, but rather just seeming to be like the Lord, endeavouring to do the things that he did, and endeavouring to do them in the way that he did them. And then this matter of obedience, we've already spoken about it, and we feel the Lord Jesus Christ is a perfect example of obedience. Do you remember the Hebrew servant? He was the one who was obedient, he was a bond slave, his ear was pored through with the awl, and he was dedicated to the service of his master, he would be a servant forever. Obedient forever, no will of his own, and the Lord Jesus Christ was the true antitype of the Hebrew servant. Obedient, even though it meant death. And so the believer is called upon to emulate his teacher, and master, and lord, and be obedient. Do you remember John, in his epistle? He said, we ought to walk as he walked, and as we see the Lord Jesus Christ portrayed in the Gospels, we see that wonderful pathway, and then the believer is called upon to follow that pathway, to emulate it. We ought to walk as he walked. You say, how can that be done? Thank God it can be done, because every disciple today has the gift of the Holy Spoon, the power to do the things that Jesus did. That's wonderful. I'm not suggesting for one moment that we embark in the power of the Holy Spoon on a campaign of miraculous healing, and miraculous works as the Lord Jesus did, the raising of the dead, and so on. The era of the Apostles' power in this respect is gone. But thank God we can walk as he walked, in the way he blessed people, the way he was kind to people, the way he taught people, the way he helped people. This is the pathway for the disciples today. In 1 John 3, 16, we find the Apostles saying that the Lord Jesus Christ loved us, and laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. The example of the Lord is that he went the full distance, laid down his life for the believer, and we, in our turn, ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. That's for the Christian company. What a challenge, dear brethren. Ever ready to shoulder responsibility in connection with the local company, or in connection with any Christian service that is brought to bear upon us. Ready to lay down our lives. We have a wonderful example of this in the first chapter of Philippians, or was it the second chapter? And he was prepared to lay down his life in order to perform some service in the Christian company. He was a true representative of his teacher and master. He really took on the features of his teacher and Lord. And so we do, says John, we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Then Peter, he says the Lord has left us an example that we should follow in his steps. Now, we know that we can never be perfect, like the perfect servant. We know that he is unique and infinitely beyond us in all his greatness and glory in his pathway. But the true disciple, as we said at the beginning, he not only implied the teaching of the master, but he took on the mannerisms of the master. And all we want are these divine mannerisms. The way the Lord did things, the way he helped people. And Peter says we ought to walk as he walked. One last example. In John 13, the Lord stooped down and he washed the feet of his disciples. What wonderful grace, what wonderful humility. He washed the feet of his disciples. And he said that he, their Lord and teacher, notice that, their Lord and teacher, had washed their feet and they were to wash each other's feet. He gave them the example, they were to follow that example. So dear brethren, discipleship is not only a question of going out and preaching and ministering the work of God, thank God that's part of it. But discipleship, according to Mark, would be taking on the spirit of the master, imitating him, following him, and the impact of his life seen through us. This is what Paul says in Corinthians, bearing about in our bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal bodies. And now we come to the Gospel Bible. We spoke about this on Saturday evening, a little, and we don't want to move over all we said, but we sought to present the truth connected with the disciple of the Lord, Lord, Master, the one who is the superintendent or overseer. And we believe this is what Luke would represent, that the disciples of the Lord are to be under his hand, to be under his direction, so that he tells them what to do and where to go, what to say, and this is very important. I'm not going to go over the things I said on Saturday evening, except to say this, that we find the Lord saying to Satan, now you go up. But he didn't send them out with a bunch, he sent them out two by two. Now we know in the Bible that two represents thousands. Adequate testimony. In the mouth of two or three witnesses, let the Lord be established. And so we find he sent out two by two. Now the Lord did this. Now as the superintendent, he has the right to do this. He can send them out. Then he says to two, now you go and you'll find a colt tied. Two of the disciples, they were sent to fetch this colt. And he says, if there's any question about it, just you say it to the master of the meeting room. And they went and they brought the colt back. Service given to two of the disciples, simple service. Didn't say go and cast out demons in a wonderful way. Don't go and raise the dead. He did give them that permission. But in this particular occasion, just a simple little task, go and find a colt tied and bring it here if we need it. Now this is the kind of thing that we must expect if we're going to be disciples of the Lord. After all, Paul didn't mind gathering sticks to make a fire to keep himself and the company warm. And if we're going to be disciples of the Lord, we might have to do the most menial task amongst the people of God. But if it helps, that's a good thing. If it just encourages the saints in some way, that's a good thing. And then we find another two disciples. They're sent into the city and they're told, now do you see a man carrying a pitcher of water? You follow that man and he'll lead you to another room furnished and just get ready because you're going to have the Passover commemoration there. Well, he again was a simple service given to two disciples to go and do this simple task for the Master. But then if he tells us to do something simple, it doesn't mean that it's not very important. It is very important. It's something that the Master wants done. And if he selects two of us to do that or even one of us to do something, we should be highly honored that we've been chosen to do something for the Lord. Maybe that he impresses you to go and visit an old sister or an old brother or to do some little task for them. Well, you say there's not much glory in that. No, there isn't. Thank God for something that helps and encourages an old saint to bring some joy to their heart. And it's the Lord who's the overseer who's directing us to do this kind of thing. And there are thousands of ways in which he can direct us to do something for himself. But you see, he's the overseer and he has the whole plan in mind. And he knows just what requires to be done. Thank God if we're available to do it. And as we find in all the portions that we have read, these persons, when they were asked to follow the Lord, they did so immediately. No question. We come to this man, Levi. He's sitting at the receipt of custom and the Lord says to him, follow me. He left all, rose up and followed him. Perhaps we ought to say this, that to be a real disciple of the Lord today will involve some sacrifice on our part but in this world in which we live, there are a host of things that can come in and claim our attention. If we want to devote our lives to the Lord, we may have to learn to sacrifice some of these things, to give these things up in order to find time to pay attention to the interest of the Lord. Now, you'll find as we go on that the sacrifice is a real sacrifice. It becomes a blessing because the things that we give up, that perhaps we hold very dear, we find that they've been hindering us from really enjoying something of the Lord and preventing us from serving the Lord effectively. They may have been simple things, perfectly legitimate, but nevertheless hindering us from devoting our time to the Lord's interests. And so there's no question on the part of the fishermen, no reluctance, they leave all and they follow him. Levi, the governor of the taxes, he leaves all too and he follows the Lord. Not only did he follow the Lord, he says, I want to make a feast for him. And so he made this feast and obviously many persons have been gathered in to get the gain of the Master's company. So Levi indicated very clearly that he really desired the preeminence of his Lord and Master and teacher. A disciple ready to sacrifice, a disciple ready to use what he had for the sake of the Master. He brought in the Pharisees and others and he had this feast for the Lord, but I believe what lay behind it was he wanted other persons to be brought into contact with his Lord. Now lastly, for a few moments, in the Gospel by John. We said at the outset that this Gospel presents the Son of God, the Eternal Lord, the Eternal Son coming into this world, becoming a man and displaying all that God is. No man had seen God at any time. The only begotten Son and the bosom of the Father, He had declared Him. And without doubt, this is the most wonderful portrayal of the Son of God, the Gospel by John. It's so profound, all the language is so simple, and yet the truths that are brought before us are so profound. And I believe that here, it's not so much the authority of the teacher, nor really the example that he sets to his disciples, nor yet his overseership, it's the glory of his person. Wonderful thing that for any disciple today, to be attracted to this glorious person, the Son of God, in this world as a man, and now in glory today at the right hand of the Father. Here is the wonderful attraction in this glorious person that withdraws to himself, that would turn us away from others, and so find us occupied with him. Here is John the Baptist, wonderful servant of God, the greatest born among women, and he and his disciples. And John taught his disciples, John taught his disciples how to pray, he taught them how to be baptized for the remission of their sins, he taught them many things, and here is John with two of his disciples, and John, he points to the Lord Jesus Christ, an endless sermon, he points to one greater than himself, and he says, behold, behold the Lamb of God. And his two disciples, they heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. They led John the Baptist, and they followed the Lord. They followed a greater servant, an infinitely greater servant. Oh, how great he is. But there was a power of attraction in the Son of God that led them away from John, and they followed Jesus. Oh, dear brethren, I find this the most challenging feature of discipleship. Has my heart been sufficiently attracted by the Lord, so that I can follow him unquestioningly, and find in him the greatest attraction of all, that causes me to leave all else and follow him? This is set in what the Gospel of John prays. It's not Christ but something else. It's Christ alone. They followed him. Jesus then, when he saw them following, he says, what seek ye? They said unto him, where dwellest thou? And he said, come and see. And they abode with him that day. Can you imagine what kind of day that was for those two men, when for a whole day they were in the company of Jesus? Can you imagine what kind of day it was? I'm sure you can. Speaking to them for a whole day as only the Son of God could speak, telling them the most wonderful things, so gracious, and kind, and humble, and yet revealing to them things that they had never heard from John the Baptist. What a wonderful day it was. Do we know something of this? I'm sure we do. I'm sure we know something of going into the presence of the Lord. It may not be for a whole day. Maybe for a few fleeting moments, thank God, for those moments that we can find in the presence of the Lord. I believe this is the very necessary feature of discipleship, to be alone with the teacher. Not serving, not casting out demons, not teaching, not handing on the multiplied loaves of fish. The Lord multiplied them, gave them to the disciples, the disciples gave them to the crowd. No, not doing this kind of service, just in the company of the teacher himself. Wonderful blessing, and I believe this is a part of discipleship that we need so much in this world in which we live, when there are so many demands upon our time, just to find time to be in the company of the teacher. Those persons that we spoke of earlier, those who followed Aristotle and the other philosophers of our day, they had to spend time in the company of the teacher. How could they learn if they weren't there? How could they enjoy the teaching if they weren't in the company of the teacher? And so we today, it is most important that if we are going to be true disciples of the Lord, to really hear the presence of the Lord and find his blessings. Now he comes down to Philip, he finds Philip, and he says to Philip, follow me. The same command that we've heard so often, follow me. The Lord saying these two words with authority and power, and hear it. And Philip, he says, he follows him, and he finds Nathanael. Now, I've tried to find the verification of what persons say that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. Maybe, I don't know. I've tried to find out how they arrived at this, but somehow or other I believe it's right, because Nathanael is found amongst the rest of the disciples at the end of his book, which would seem to indicate he was one of the twelve. Anyway, it's been suggested that Nathanael and Bartholomew are the same person. Here we find Nathanael being called by the Lord, and what a wonderful call it was. What a wonderful experience that he had this experience of entering into the company of one who knew him, knew all about him, and this was impressed upon Nathanael's soul, and what he made this wonderful statement, thou art the Son of God, thou art the King of Israel, and I believe that disciples, true disciples, have a right understanding of the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not only that they're following, it's not only that they're teaching, it's not only that they're serving, they understand the greatness and glory of the person whom they follow, and so Nathanael is a disciple with a very distinct knowledge of the greatness and glory of the person of the Son of God. Now I know these remarks will be very sketchy. Time races on, and we haven't time to go into the things in detail, but I believe in some measure what we said is true, that in Matthew, the disciples were called by the authority of the Lord, and they were obedient to that call. In Mark, they were called in order to see how he did things to emulate him, and in Luke, to be under his direction and overseen him, and in John, attracted by the glory of his person. I know, dear brethren, that we too can take on some of these features. We'll know the blessing that touches to be called to be the disciples of the Lord. May we know more about it. …

… Last night we were saying a little about the call of the disciples, and I think we received some impression as to the wonder of being called by the Lord, called away from things of time and sense, and called to Him, to be occupied with Him, to learn from Him, to represent Him, and surely what was richest and best, to be in His company and to know something of His blessing. Tonight I want to say a few words about the sacrifice of a disciple, and I think that's very plain in the verses we have read together. I think we can say this, beyond all possible doubt, that if we as Christians don't know something about sacrifice, we haven't made very much progress in the Christian life. We don't know much about its reality, its challenge, because we can see clearly that sacrifice is one of the main features in the present dispensation. First of all, we think of God, sparing not His Son, but delivering Him up for us all. What a sacrifice on God the Father's part. He gave the very best that He could give in order to secure blessing. And then we think of the Son. He gave His all. He gave His life. He laid down His life that we might be blessed. So I think that's sufficient to indicate to us that all blessing is secured on the basis of sacrifice. And if we know something of this in our lives, I'm perfectly sure it will bring with it a compensating blessing and the consciousness that we have secured something for the pleasure of God. Now these words of the Lord in chapter 14 are very challenging indeed. Three times over, the Lord said to those who were around Him, unless certain things were done in persons' lives, they could not be His disciples. They're all of a negative character. Forsaking those nearest and dearest, taking up a cross and following Him, it all gives us the sense of turning away from things that are transient and passing and following the Lord into something worthwhile and real. If the Lord will, and we're gathered together, we hope to see something of the positive side of discipleship. But tonight I think the Lord would engage us with perhaps the negative side, what we give up, what we keep clear of in order to be His disciples. Now notice in verse 25, there were great multitudes or great crowds who gathered round the Lord. And He turns round to them and He addresses them in such a way as to indicate that discipleship is not a matter of crowds, but a matter of individual responsibility and response. If any man come to me, and so on. We live in an age where great crowds seem to be the ruling idea. If we can only get large numbers, large crowds, this would seem to indicate the Lord's approval. This is strength. This is power. But we don't find this when we examine the Bible carefully. Thank God there were great crowds who flocked to hear the Lord. Thank God there were moments when large numbers of people were blessed by Him. But in the main, I think you would agree when you read the Gospels that most of the Lord's work was done with individuals and small groups of people. And He blessed them and cared for them and something very substantial was secured. I believe this has to be taken account of. Turning away from the crowds or rather addressing the crowds in such a way as to impress upon them what is individual, He would bring this truth home to their hearts that this pathway of discipleship isn't a path where there are crowds, but the pathway of the individual. And so He says, if any man come to me and hate not his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. What a challenge, dear brethren. Now we've got to say here that the Lord is not meaning, and I'm perfectly sure of this, that when He said a man had to hate his father and mother, the Lord wasn't meaning this literally because there are so many other passages of the Word of God that indicate a man is to love and respect his father and mother. What I believe the Lord is bringing home very forcibly is that he is to have the priority. All other considerations are to be turned aside for this one engrossing feature that the Lord is to have the first place in our lives and no natural ties of any kind whatsoever are to interfere with the expression of a disciple. Well, that's very challenging, very, very challenging. As we read the Bible, we come up against incidents where nature proved too strong for certain individuals, even the best. And we want to speak of these. We think of a man like Abraham receiving a call from God to go out from out of the Chaldees and to move on to the land that God would show him. And we find that this great man receiving such a wonderful call, the God of glory appearing unto him, we find him detained for a while at Haran until his father died. And so we're left with the impression that while Abraham obeyed the call to go out from out of the Chaldees, he was temporarily hindered by the presence of his father and he waited until his father died before he made any further progress. Now here was a natural link holding up this devoted servant of God from making any further progress. You remember that both Abraham and his son Isaac committed the same sin. They both told lies in relation to their wives. Very solemn thing. Man, the friend of God, and yet because of his wife and his fear for her and for his own life, he told a lie. And so did Isaac. We come to Samson, man of God, wonderful man of God. There he was empowered by the spirit, dealing with the enemies of God, the Philistines. Nobody could stand against him in all his power, true Nazarite and faithful to his vow. And he allowed his wife to seduce him. No other power was strong enough against him. He could deal with all the might of the Philistines and it wasn't any great trouble to him. But the seductive influence of his wife robbed him of his strength. Do you remember Barnabas and Paul, two great servants of the Lord? They had a row together. There was very warm feeling between them over Barnabas, over John Mark rather, Barnabas' kinsman. And just because he went back from the work, Paul concluded that he wasn't a fit man to take with him. He wasn't reliable. He was liable to break down again. So why take this man with us? We're on the Lord's service. But Barnabas says, well, he's my friend, he's my kinsman, he's related to me, I want him to go. And Paul said no and Barnabas said yes. And the end was that those two devoted servants, they separated and they went their several ways. As far as we can read from the Bible, Barnabas didn't seem to play any great part in the unfolding of the testimony after that. And we think of Job's wife, Job retaining his integrity, taking the calamities as they came along from the hand of God. Job's wife says to him, Job, you're a fool, curse God and die. But Job didn't listen to his wife. These are sufficient to indicate to us that natural ties can be destructive in connection with spiritual things. We may have a very devoted wife and a husband who doesn't care very much for the things of the Lord. He may be a hindrance to her and we may have a devoted husband and his wife may be a hindrance to him and so on. But this is where the natural tie can interfere with the things of the Lord. And the Lord is saying here, it doesn't matter how near the tie is, it must not interfere with the pathway of a disciple. The Lord's claims must come first. Oh, how seductive Delilah was as her husband Samson. She knew how to play upon his feelings and this is what nature does. And oh dear friends, what a challenge this is, to say that in our lives we won't allow anything, not even the nearest and dearest to us, to interfere with the pathway of a disciple. Now the next thing is, not only to forsake his own, but his own life also. And we might be very successful in overcoming the power of natural ties and natural love. We may be enabled by the Lord to overcome the difficulties in that area. But when it comes to our own lives also, that comes even nearer. Ourselves. I'm sure that we all review our Christian pathways. We can all admit, I'm sure we would all be free to admit that the biggest hindrance to Christian progress has been ourselves. Ourselves including between our spiritual progress, our spiritual enjoyment and the Lord. Oh, how easy it is to relax when we think of ourselves. How easy it is to be austere and demanding in connection with each other. Great brother so-and-so and sister so-and-so ought to be more real, ought to be more separate, ought to be more unworldly and so on. How easy to say this kind of thing. And yet in our private lives to relax ourselves and to allow ourselves to gratify our own desires. And the Lord says, if a person is going to be a disciple of mine, he's got to be prepared to turn away from himself too. His own life. And you find, thank God, many instances in the Bible where persons were prepared to turn away from their own lives and interests in order to serve God. We think of Paul. You remember he was advised not to go to Jerusalem. There was danger there. Oh, he says, I'm prepared to go. Suppose it costs me my life. I'm prepared to go. Unwilling to lay down my life for the sake of the Lord Jesus. We think of Moses as he stood there mediating between God and the people. He says, block me out of thy group. Block me out, he says. I'm prepared to die in order that this people might be blessed, ready to give up his own life. David was the same. You remember when the plague came upon the people because he numbered the people and didn't bring in the atonement money, which he ought to have done if he wanted to number the people. He said, what have these poor sheep done? He says, I'm prepared to suffer the consequences. I'm prepared to die. I'm prepared to give up my life. Here was another man who didn't love his own life. He was prepared to give it up in relation to the things of God. Now I know this is a very exacting exercise. Very easy for me to stand here and speak like this. But I know the challenge in my own life. How easy it is to be occupied with one's own desires, to gratify one's own interests. But the Lord says, if I do so, I can't be his disciple. If I don't, if I'm not prepared to turn aside from things that might be perfectly legitimate and give my life to the Lord, I can't be his disciple. Now the Lord's language can't be any more simple. If we are not prepared to let him have the priority in our lives above every other consideration, we cannot be his disciple. That's a very, very high standard. And yet, as we said at the beginning, sacrifice is one of the great principles of Christian life and experience. And though for a moment we can only sit down and view the cross and the greatness of the sacrifice of the Lord, it will be a great help to us as we embark on a life of sacrifice for the Lord himself. I believe only the great fight of the judgment seat of Christ will fully reveal the extent of the great sacrifice that has been accomplished for the Lord's sake. And remember what the scripture says, we are not to let our right hand know what our left hand does. And for this reason, a great deal of sacrifice amongst the people of God goes unnoticed. Unnoticed as far as we are concerned, but not unnoticed as far as Tim is concerned. But oh, we are aware of so many devoted souls from then to Christ up to the present day who practice this principle of self-denial, those who have done it in the past to do it today. Denying themselves, turning aside from all that occupy them as natural persons and devoting their lives, their time, their all to the interest of our Lord Jesus Christ. And unless we do this, we cannot be his disciples. Then he says, whosoever doth not bear his cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. If we had lived in those days and we had seen a man walking with his cross, we would have said, there goes a man to his death. That man is a condemned criminal, he's carrying his cross, in a few hours he'll be a dead man. And I believe this is what the Lord is saying to us here. Using this figure, a man carrying his cross, that we might have the sentence of death in ourselves. Now that's a scriptural expression. Having the sentence of death in ourselves. You'll find it in the first chapter of the second Corinthians where all of his companions were pressed beyond measure because of the opposition that was against them in Asia. And they despaired of death. They despaired of life. Death was staring them in the face. And Paul, you remember, he made that remarkable statement that God who had delivered them in the past, delivered them then and would deliver them in the future. God would preserve them in order to see his work accomplished in them. Paul says we have the sentence of death in ourselves. In other words, we were ready to lay down our lives for the Master and for his service. Now I want to apply this tonight to the truth of baptism. Because I believe it can be very closely connected. In Romans 6 we read about baptism and how the figure of baptism reminds us of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and his resurrection. And we too are to go through this process of baptism having this in mind that as we come out of the waters of baptism we are to walk in unison light. And we are to be dead to sin and alive unto God. Now that's the simple statement of Romans 6. Dead to sin, alive unto God. Now I believe carrying our cross entails this kind of thing. There's a common statement in the world that if someone is going through a period of great trouble and trial and pressure, they're carrying a cross. Well, we don't follow that statement, but strictly speaking it's not what scripture presents. Trouble and pressure and trial may be something that comes upon all, whether saved or unsaved. But in the context here, a person who carries his cross is a person who deliberately has the sentence of death in himself in order to serve Christ, to be his disciple, to be in his company. And so I believe being dead to sin and alive unto God is a necessary requisite in connection with being a disciple of God. How could it be that a disciple of the Lord would be indulging in sin? It wouldn't be right. A disciple of the Lord is to be dead unto sin, to be free from sin, clean of sin in all its wicked, evil features, and to be alive unto God, walking in unison light. When we come to the beginning of Romans 7, we find the Apostle saying that we are dead to the law, that we might be alive unto another, that is Christ. And here's another thing. Dead to our own endeavors, but alive unto the one who could really empower us and help us to be here for him in this world. And in chapter 8, we find that we are to mortify, put to death, the deeds of the body, and we can do this fine work in the power of the Spirit. I believe in these three chapters we have something of a teaching of a man carrying his cross and denying himself and being the Lord's disciple. Let me ask this question. Are we all baptized here this evening? I don't think we can be really a true disciple of the Lord without being baptized. It's indisputable from the history of the early beginnings in the Acts of the Apostles that persons, when they believed the Lord Jesus Christ, they were baptized immediately. And this was recognized and seemed to be understood by all that this was the right thing to do in the acceptance of our Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. But then we are concerned not only that we've gone through this action of being baptized, but that we are true to it after we've done this thing. True to it in our walk, in our lives, wherever we are. And I believe this figure of a man carrying his cross is to convey this to us. Or that we might be normal Christians, believing in Christ, being baptized, remembering the Lord, fellowship with the Lord's people, seeking to do the things that are pleasing in his sight. Then the Lord is going to tell two little stories and an expression in verse 28 has to be taken account of. Counting the cost. That's a very challenging one, counting the cost. We find when we read the Gospels that there were disciples who followed for a little while and then they went back. They walked no more with it. I believe those disciples have never counted the cost. They never realized what it meant to be a disciple of the Lord. Oh dear brethren, don't let's go back, let's go on. There's a great deal of encouragement in the pathway of a disciple. There's a great deal to enjoy in fellowship with the Lord's people. There's a great deal to enjoy in the company of the Lord. Let's be true disciples and keep going on. And I believe what the Lord is presenting here is that we might not fall into the snare of underestimation. Here's a man who's going to build a church. He's gathered together some materials. Suddenly he finds that the resources run out and he hasn't sufficient to build the tower. Of course people mock at him, what a fool. He started but he couldn't complete the job. He couldn't finish the tower. And that unfinished tower was a standing witness to his underestimation. Then the Lord speaks about a man with 10,000 in his army and he goes out to fight his enemy. And suddenly he finds that his enemy has 20,000 in his army and so he makes peace. Well obviously he didn't achieve what he set out to do to conquer his enemy. He underestimated the power of his enemy. Now I believe that we should be doing perspective in the sense that we begin to look into our heart and say, have I sufficient resources to be a disciple for the Lord? I don't think any of us would ever be a disciple on that basis. We have to see that all the resources for discipleship are in our Lord Jesus Christ. But we must see to it that we don't underestimate the power of the enemy or underestimate what is involved in being a true disciple. This is why the Lord told those stories. We must be conscious of what we are doing. I believe poor John Mark underestimated what it was to serve the Lord. Consequently he went back. He didn't stand the test. Lot's wife was another one who went back. She went back to the little city and she was turned into a pillar. Lot himself didn't learn the lesson. He went back and he didn't understand what he was going into. Consequently he had to be rescued. So I believe that we require to solemnly sit down and count the cost. Though dear brethren, having counted the cost, could any of us say at any time that the cost is too high? That the cost of discipleship is too severe? Oh dear brethren, when we think of what Christ did for us and we are bound for glory because he died and suffered, then surely no cost is too great to pay for this pathway of a disciple. And so he went on to say, so likewise, whosoever he be of you that forsake not all he hath, he cannot be my disciple. I don't think we can possibly miss the import of the Lord's words in this chapter, that the pathway of the disciple means a preparedness to sacrifice in order to be with him. And so he finishes his remark by saying, salt is good, but if the salt has lost its savour, wherewith shall it be salted? It's good for nothing, you can't fertilise the ground with it, it's no good for food, it's no good for household purposes, throw it out, it's worthless. And a Christian who misses the pathway of discipleship is of, I should have said, no use, but is of very little practical use for the Lord in testimony. And the Lord would desire of each one of us that we might be found in this pathway of discipleship really the salt. This is what the Lord said to his disciples, didn't he? In Matthew 5, he gathered them together, he spoke to them on the Mount, what we call the Sermon on the Mount, and he was directly addressing his disciples. And he said to them, ye are the light of the world, ye are the salt of the earth. And every Christian walking intelligently in the pathway of the Lord is a preservative against evil, and definitely a diffuser of light for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now these are wonderful opportunities, wonderful blessings. Now for a few moments, we'll start from chapter 9. Once again, the Lord is with his disciples, and he's praying. He asks them a question, couldn't see the people that I am. And they're able to tell the Lord that there were various opinions as to who he was. And then he says to them, who do you see that I am? And Peter, he says, the Christ of God. And so I think a disciple should really be ready to say something about the Lord. Here was direct question from the Lord as to who he was, and Peter was ready with the answer. There may be varying opinions by others, but the true disciple, he knows who he was. If we went out into the streets here in Canterbury, and asked the people, who is Jesus of Nazareth? Tell us something about him. I wonder what kind of replies we would get. All sorts of replies. I think it would mean a great deal of ignorance. But then we know who he is. Thank God for that. We've had a wonderful teaching as to the person of the Lord. Our eyes have been opened as to who he is, his greatness and glory. So we are in no doubt as to who the Lord is. And we do say thank God. We know him. We know his greatness, his glory, who he is. And we are very thankful for the opportunity to follow him. I think this would feel strange to Peter's ears. Peter had said that he was the Messiah, the Messiah of God. All the prophecies concerning the Messiah, or I should say most of the prophecies concerning the Messiah of the Old Testament, portrayed him coming in power and glory, setting up his kingdom for the benefit of all concerned. And now the Lord is saying that he's going to be rejected, he's going to be ill-treated, eventually he's going to die. And he didn't realize the import of the last statement, and after three days he cries again. But all this seems strange, that the Lord was going to be subjected to this awful treatment. And I believe the Lord is reminding them that the pathway of rejection and suffering is the pathway to blessing and glory. If we want to... I just need to read the first epistle of Peter. And we'll find that these are the two key words, suffering and glory. First of all, in relation to the Lord himself, and secondly, in relation to his people. Suffering ends in glory. And this is what the Lord is bringing before them before he goes on to say, And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. I read this passage because it includes one little word that isn't in chapter 14, and that's this word, daily. Take up his cross daily. When we read the opening chapters of the Acts of the Apostles, we find this word often mentioned, daily. They were daily in the temple. And they were daily doing this, that, and the next thing. And we can see clearly that the early life of the Christians, or should I say the life of the early Christians, was governed by this principle of daily living. And a true disciple is not one who is spasmodic in his testimony for the Lord. He continues day by day. The Lord's day, a particular day, yes, and yet every day, the Lord's day. Every day, a day kept for the Lord. Every day, a day following him. No relaxation of divine principles in their minds. No relaxation of the desire to serve the Lord, take up the cross daily, and follow him. Then he says, whosoever will save his life will lose it. But whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save him. When we read the Gospels, we find that some incidents may be mentioned in two of the Gospels and omitted in the other two, or we might find some incidents mentioned three times and omitted in one of the Gospels. Here is a statement that is found in all the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Indeed, we find it seven times in the Gospels, and in the Epistles, we find many statements akin to it. Losing one's life in order to save one's life. Now, in general business, we don't lose to save. We make profit to save. But this is the scriptural way. The Lord Jesus died that we might have life, and we have to die if we are going to live, and we have to lose if we are going to save. And this is the principle that the Lord is bringing forward. I feel it is very challenging and important when a statement like this is repeated, as it is seven times at least in the Gospels, and many statements like it in the Epistles. Let us read it again. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it, but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save him. I often repeat this when I mention this verse. Some of you have read Through the Gates of Splendor, the story of the five young men who lay their lives in service for the Lord in South America. They were killed by the Conqueror Indians. One of them, Jim Elley, left in his diary a statement like this. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep in order to obtain that which he cannot lose. Now I believe that Jim Elley was simply stating what the Lord said here. He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep. Not one of us can keep our lives. Sooner or later we have to die if the Lord doesn't come. In order to obtain that which he cannot lose. And Jim Elley, by laying down his life, obtained the martyr's crown. He obtained the good testimony. He left a wonderful record of devotedness. And he'll never lose that. It's there for him in glory. It will be put to his account, if you like. He's got something that he'll never lose. And this is what the Lord is saying. Whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save him. We get the chance of promotion. And that promotion involves longer hours that perhaps will hinder us from taking our part in the life of the local company. It may even involve us being shifted to someplace where we can find fellowship with those of kindred faith. Are we prepared to lose our lives and let the promotion go by in order to be true to the principles that we believe are stated in the work of God? And we can apply this principle in a thousand ways. They come up against us in our lives. Are we prepared to stand for the things of the Lord and lose financially or even lose in other ways? This, I believe, is involved in losing one's life. Not only in giving one's life liberally, not only in laying one's physical life down, but losing one's life day by day in order to support the things of the Lord. Think of the glittering career stretched out in front of the salt dusts, eminent above his companions in all the progress he had made in the Jewish religion. What a wonderful career suddenly came to a stop because he came into contact with the Lord. And then he turned his back upon it all. If people could boast in the flesh, he would boast more. And he turned aside from it all in order to gain Christ. I believe, dear brethren, this is something that we face every day of our lives. There comes a moment, a test. Will this promote the pathway of discipleship? Will this enable me to be true to the Lord? Or does it mean I've got to forego many of the things that I wanted to do because my own interests are going to be at value? Or at the end of the day, when we all stand before the judgment seat of Christ, I'm sure we'll have to confess that there were moments when we could have been more faithful, more devoted to the interests of the Lord. We ought to have been more ready to forego the things that we like naturally, our own lives. And always, if any man is prepared to lose his life for my sake, and that's the governing expression, loses for my sake, then he'll really like it. Do you remember Paul in writing to Timothy? He says something about, what is real life? I don't know if that's the expression in the Authorized Version or if it's Mr. Darvish's version, but it says, really life. And that real life is not found in material things, but in following the Lord. Now I'm not discounting material things. As a whole, we've all got to live. We've got homes to live in, we have things to do, and all these things can be held for the Lord. What I'm trying to say is what the Lord is impressing upon us, that the pathway of discipleship means that His interests are priority in our lives. It doesn't matter where we are or what we do, this is the governing principle of a disciple. And so, he must be prepared to sacrifice. And then to end with, he says, but what is a man advantageous if he gains the whole world and loses himself for being cast away? We are very fond of preaching this to the unconverted, but this is a word to the disciples, not to the unconverted, a word to the disciples, that the world might include itself between us and the Lord. Think of poor Demas. He left Paul. He loved the present age. Something there that attracted his heart, that led him away from Paul and his interests and Paul was standing for the Lord Jesus and Paul was led away. Well, he lost. No doubt his eternal salvation was secure. Believing in Christ, he had eternal life. Nothing could take that from him. But somewhere along the line, he made a mistake. He failed and he left Paul and his companions and we don't read about Demas having any part in the interests of the Lord. The disciple is not ashamed of his master. You think of the disciples of these philosophers that we were speaking about last night. They weren't ashamed of their masters, their teachers. Why are they gloried in the fact that they were considered to be in their school? They gloried in attaching the name of their teacher to themselves and they weren't ashamed by no means. And yet, how true it is that we as Christians can be so easily ashamed of the Lord. And this is so easy to prove. If you're in a railway carriage or in company, we can talk for a long time about any subject at all but once lift the name of Jesus Christ and then silence because the shame attached to the name of the Lord Generally speaking, people don't want to talk about Him. There's shame attached to the name of Jesus. The Lord says, My disciples ought not to be ashamed of me or of my workings. And Paul, he certainly wasn't ashamed of the gospel of Christ. He went wherever he went, so much so that he could say he was cleared from the blood of all men. And then, do you remember a devoted man called Onesiphorus? He went to Rome and Paul says, He wasn't ashamed of my chain and by not being ashamed of Paul's chain, he wasn't ashamed of the Lord because Paul was the representative of the Lord. And when Onesiphorus went to Rome, he didn't stand gazing at the wonderful buildings and statues and temples that existed at that time. He wanted to know, where is Paul? Where is the Lamb of God in prison? I want to see Paul. He searched Paul out and he found Paul because he wasn't ashamed of that servant of the Lord. He wasn't least bit concerned about the glory of Rome but he was very much concerned about the servant of the Lord. And Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony of the Lord or of me, his prisoner. And so these quotations indicate that there is always the possibility that we might be ashamed. We might be like Peter, full of bold endeavors, full of great courage when the pressure wasn't on and then when the young servant girl comes along and asks a few questions, Paul, he was one who was certainly underestimated. Thank God he was recovered and became bold in serving his Lord and Master. Oh dear brethren, may something of this enter into our souls and if we forget all else, if we can only remember the words of the Lord Jesus that unless we do certain things, we cannot be his disciples. And this word that he has so plainly given to us, if we love our lives for ourselves, we'll lose them. If we lose our lives for his sake, we'll find them. May it be so, for his name's sake. …

… This young man, Timothy, a very great place in the heart of the Apostle, he calls him my own child in the faith. In Acts chapter 16, we find Paul coming to Derbe, in Lystra, and he finds this young man. It says he was a certain disciple, that is, Timothy had been instructed in relation to the Christian teaching and obviously had imbibed it and also was following it out in practice in his life, because it says he was well reported off or he had a good testimony amongst the brethren. And this young man, Paul says, I want him to come with me. I think it's no ordinary commendation for this young man to get from such a wonderful servant of the Lord. And we find in the writings of Paul that he had a very high estimation of Timothy and his qualities. We find in the epistle to the Philippians that Paul told the Philippian believers, he says, I have nobody like minded. Timothy is the man who is most like myself in desire to follow after the truth and to maintain it. And when writing to the Corinthians, he said to them that Timothy, he served the Lord just as Paul did. And that was an exceedingly high commendation. It's to this disciple that Paul addresses two letters. We've read a few portions from the first one. And I believe this was part of Timothy's training. Obviously a very good young man and making good progress in the Christian faith, in the Christian life and experience, and yet still requiring some instruction as to the pathway of a believer here. It's impossible for us to go into all the detail of the first letter because much of the instruction hasn't to do with Timothy personally. But the portions that we have read bear upon Timothy and indicate Paul's guidance and instruction for the spiritual well-being of this young disciple. I'm sure those who are younger in the faith and we've all experienced this. We've delighted to turn to these epistles, both the first and second, and hear the words of an old warrior instructing a young, a young, what shall I say, conscript, if you like, or young volunteer, and helping him to understand some of the features of the Christian life. And so we want to consider these. But first of all, let's go back to Acts 16 and see what it says about Timothy that he had a good testimony or he was well reported off by the brethren that were at Lystra and Iconium. I suppose it's comparatively easy to pass muster in this world as a Christian, conform in a certain outward way and indicate we believe certain things. But I believe in a Christian company we are under a closer scrutiny. I mean a Christian company where there is intelligence as to the truth of God and persons who have been on the road for some time with some spiritual maturity are able to discern how younger believers especially are getting on. And here we find Timothy coming under the scrutiny and the brethren, they have a very good opinion about this young man. He's well reported off. He's behaving in a way that's comely. He's making spiritual progress. It's obvious he loves the Lord. And so I think it's very important that both young and old have a good testimony in the company where we are. This is where we're best known. Our brethren know us through and through. They know our desires, our objects. They very often know our frailties too. But our brethren can discern if we are really set for the things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. And it's a very good thing to have a good testimony. In Paul's case, when he and his companions went to Thessalonica and preached the gospel, when writing to them he said, you remember what we were amongst you for your sakes? How blamelessly we lived, how righteously we lived. We didn't do anything that hindered the outgoing of the glad tidings. And he says, in your turn, when you accepted Christ as your Savior, when you turned to God, why it wasn't long before all the people in the surrounding district, they knew that you were Christians. The word of truth sounded out from you and your faith was known abroad. He said the same about the Roman believers. The whole world knew about their faith. It was so evident, so live that people knew that they were Christians. And so I believe, dear brethren, that to be true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ involve having a good testimony. We find in Paul's instructions to Timothy, in connection with those who have any part amongst the people of God in helping in many matters, one of the requisites was to have a good testimony from those who are without. That is, that the unbelievers can look upon this man's life and say, well, this is a true Christian. He's got a good testimony. In Timothy's case, it was a good testimony amongst the believers. And I think you will agree with me that to be a good, true disciple of our Lord Jesus Christ, both things are so necessary. A good testimony amongst the believers, a good testimony amongst unbelievers, well-balanced testimony, and this is very powerful. Now, we'll begin in First Timothy and see some of the things that Paul, the old campaigner, could teach to this new recruit and instruct him in things that were very good, beneficial for him as a young Christian. And so he says, Timothy, I want you to war a good warfare, the end of verse 18. I want you to hold on to your faith, and I want you to have a good conscience. Now, I think these three things are very, very important. To be a disciple is not only to learn the truth that the Lord would have us to learn. It means that we put it into practice, and this, of course, involves conflict with those who oppose our Lord Jesus Christ. So a disciple is also a soldier, in that he is defending the things that he has learned. He knows them to be true. He knows the source from whence they came, and because he knows them to be true, he's prepared to fight for them. I remember as a young believer asking a servant of the Lord, how are you so sure that the things that you teach are true? And his answer was very simple. He says, I've had to fight for them. And I suppose if you contend for truth, and you make sure, of course, that what you are contending for is truth, this becomes part and parcel of you. And we know how the truth of God is being assailed right, left, and center at the present moment. And if we're going to be true disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ, if we're going to be trained, it means surely that we're going to be efficient contenders for the faith. Our brother was reminding us on Saturday that in Jude's day, he was concerned about contending for the faith. And how can we contend for it if we don't know it? And so this is where the pathway of the disciple and his training is so important. Learning the truth and contending for it, not giving way one inch. You remember when Paul wrote to the Galatians, he spoke about the time he went up to Jerusalem and confronted Peter especially, because he was being led away by the Judaizing teachers. And unfortunately, others were being led away by Peter's dissimulation. And so Paul says, I didn't give way, not for an hour. He contended for the truth of God, and he wouldn't in any way modify his stand. I know this is the truth, I won't give way, I'm going to contend for it. And I think this is what Paul is seeking to impress upon Timothy. Young disciple, learning the truth, Timothy, there will come the time when you'll need to fight for these things that you're being taught. And we know this is true. There are armies around us today and they're marching around with erroneous teachings, they're knocking at our doors, they're circulating their literature. And through many, many means, false doctrines are being circulated. How can we detect them? By knowing the truth. And by knowing the truth, contending for the truth. And what a powerful thing the truth is. It doesn't need our help, the truth can stand on its own legs. But we can be agents in defending it, and we can be used by the Lord and by the Holy Spirit in standing up for the truth that has come through our Lord Jesus Christ and his servants. And what a wonderful privilege this is, for any disciple to be a contender for the truth. A good warfare, says Paul. Then he says, holding faith and a good conscience. Well, faith is so necessary for the disciple, so necessary. It's not here the faith, which means the revealed truth governing the present dispensation, but one's personal faith. And how important it is to hold fast to this, not to give way. You see, if a disciple learns from his teacher and any element of doubt creeps into his mind as to the truth of what he has learned, then he may be very lukewarm in propagating it himself or even defending it. But if in the faith of his heart and mind, he accepts it as truth, then that's going to have a great part in shaping his life. And so how right it is that we should hold on in faith to the things that we have learned. And in our day, I say again that we all have to exercise this faith. You remember Luke writing his gospel and the introduction, he speaks about the things most certainly believed among us. No doubt, no feature of unfaithfulness attached to his thinking. Luke spoke to those or wrote to those who most surely believed the things that they were told. It was the truth. There was no element of error attached to it. And in faith, they appropriated it and held onto it. Wasn't Satan active in the garden when he instilled doubt into the minds of our first parents by his seductive suggestions? Wasn't this how he got an inroad in, by instilling doubt into their minds? Isn't this true in the history of the scriptures, that whatever doubt is placed into person's minds, it becomes seen in their actions? And so it is that if our faith wavers, then it will be seen in our way of life. Timothy says, Paul, hold on to your faith, don't give way. Make sure that this faith is always operating. You believe that these things are true and you allow them to govern your lives and you present them to others. And then a good conscience. I think we ought to say something about the conscience. Scripture has a great deal to say about it. It speaks about a seared conscience. It speaks about a dull conscience. Here, it's a good conscience. We read to about a pure conscience. Now, we ought to say this, that the conscience is not an infallible guide for a Christian. Only the word of God is an infallible guide. The conscience can be affected in many ways. For instance, we get two persons and they hold opposite views. And one say, I've got a good conscience about this. And the other does the very opposite. And he says, and I've got a good conscience about this. Well, obviously there must be something wrong somewhere. We'll assume that one of them was right. Now here, the conscience isn't a guide. Now, I believe a good conscience is a conscience that's illuminated by the truth of God. And the person acts in the light of the truth that he has appropriated and his whole life is governed by this. It's not by some peculiar notion that he has. It's not even by some particular aversion that he has. It's a question of the conscience being governed by the truth. And I believe this is what Scripture means by a good conscience. Paul said that he had a conscience which he exercised so that he might not have any offense either towards God or man. Very good exercise that. He also said to his supposers, he says, I've lived all my life in a good conscience before God. He was reproached for this, but I believe the apostle was speaking the truth that even in his misguided days, when he had a zeal, but not according to truth, he did it because he thought he was serving God. But when his conscience was illuminated by the truth, then he changed his life and he became a different man altogether. And so dear brethren, if we are going to have a good conscience, it doesn't mean that we do things that we are free about ourselves, but we do them because we know them to be right from the word of God. Paul says to Timothy, Timothy, this is part of your training. Hold on to your faith. Hold on to a good conscience. Don't let it be seared. Don't let it become dull. Don't let it be affected by any influence whatsoever. Let the truth of God have its full sway in your life. He says, unfortunately, Timothy, some have given way in relation to their faith. They've made shipwreck. He says, some have made, some having put away concerning faith have made shipwreck of whom is Hymenaeus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may learn not to blaspheme. Very solemnness, dear brethren. These two men at some moment in their lives gave way concerning their faith. Some element of doubt came into their minds. Some evil influence was allowed into their minds, caused them to go astray. Sad thing. And so we never know just how far we might go once we let the element of doubt creep in. Good thing to have our faith strong, alive, faith strong in our Lord Jesus Christ and in his things. Now in chapter four, there are many things mentioned here, and we have only time to point them out very briefly. Paul is referring to days that would come, the latter times, when some would depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of devils. Very relevant word this, very relevant word this, dear brethren. We've seen a great deal in the papers recently in connection with the exorcism of demons, and a great deal has been written in the press. Many of the papers have been carrying letters regarding this thing. Many have discounted the whole affair as smacking of medieval superstition. Here is the word of God saying that in the latter times, and we are in the latter times, very much so, there will be those who will give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons. Well, I think that's plain enough, and a warning to us not to tamper with things that belong to Satan's realm. Keep clear of them, as far away as we possibly can from them. And then Paul goes on to indicate that all this kind of thing leads to peculiarities, abnormalities, extreme ideas, and it's all wrong, he says. But he says, you put the brethren in remembrance of certain things, and you'll be a good minister of Jesus Christ, nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained. Now here, faith, I think, is the faith, the revealed truth of the present dispensation. And so Paul wants Timothy to be well nourished. Very important thing. In the epistle to the Hebrews, Paul wrote to them and said he would have liked to have ministered to them strong meat. Unfortunately, because of their condition, he could only minister milk. He says strong meat belongs to those who have their senses exercised to discern good and evil. But unfortunately, they were in an abnormal condition, their growth was stunted, and so he had to feed them with milk. Now I would say, and I think you would say too, it's very good milk that Paul gave in the epistle to the Hebrews. Anyway, this is what our brother said in his ministry to them. But there is a great deal in scripture about being nourished, well fed spiritually. In this affluent country, there are few people, if any, who die from starvation. There may be one or two, not many. We are all pretty well fed. Now in divine things, this is so important. And Paul is saying a good disciple needs to be trained in the truth, nourished up in the faith, and of good doctrine whereunto thou hast attained. Good commendation that for a young man. Paul's saying you've attained to this. You're well nourished in the faith and in the good doctrine. And so dear brethren, we have to ask ourselves and ask ourselves so often, what are we feeding upon? How are we nourishing our lives spiritually? You think of the poor man who was feeding upon the husks that the swine did eat. What a poor food that was. That wasn't calculated to build him up and nourish him. What a difference from the store that he found in his father's house, the fatted calf. What a difference. And I believe that's just the figure that we can employ this evening between the food that the world provides and the food that God provides. There may be very much that's interesting naturally to us in the world, great deal. Being what we are, it attracts us and we can feed upon it. It doesn't build us up spiritually, not one bit. If we're going to be fed, then we require to be fed, as the Bible says here, in the faith, that is in the understanding of all the truths in the Word of God, in the good doctrine, in the good teaching that we find in the Word of God. And what does the Word of God lead us to? Or who does the Word of God lead us to? Surely Christ, surely God himself. This is where we're led to as we read the scriptures. And it's this that nourishes us up, gives us strength, vitality, gives us encouragement, help and blessing. You remember when the young man was found by David. He was an Egyptian, a young man. He was in a very poor condition. He was the servant of the Malachite. And David found him there and had mercy upon him. And David told them to give him food. It wasn't long before the young man revived. And perhaps that's a picture of a young man who found his interest in the world, serving the flesh, and what a perilous condition he found himself in. Until David, type of Christ, found him and succored him and nourished him and blessed him. So it is today, dear brethren, we know this only too well, that in the measure in which we feed upon the world or the things of the flesh, just in that measure, we are undernourished, unable to represent the Lord, unable to follow him, unable to stand for him. But oh, once we're fed and nourished by the things that belong to him, what a difference in our lives and testimony. And so in the Bible, we find numerous allusions to the Lord as food, typical teaching concerning him, the manna, the roast lamb in Egypt, the manna in the wilderness, the old corn of the land, all these beautiful types of the Lord. When we come to John 6, five different references to the Lord as bread and everyone having its particular import. I just want to allude to these other three for a moment. I remember visiting a dear brother who was an invalid and he told me this and I've never forgotten it. He says, Frank, he says, when the children of Israel went out of Egypt, they ate the roast lamb. He says, when they got into the land, they ate the old corn of the land. He says, they never despised that. They all partook of the roast lamb and they all partook of the old corn of the land. And we never read that they despised it, but they did despise the manna when they were in the wilderness. And so he went on to explain this by not one believer ever in any way says anything about the Lord Jesus Christ dying for them. We all hold onto that with the utmost integrity and forcefulness. And not one of us ever dream of saying anything that would in any way lessen the force of being with Christ in glory and feeding upon him forevermore. No, that's very bright in our souls. Oh, when it comes to the pathway of humiliation and reproach in the wilderness, that's a different story. And it's this that we're called upon to feed, feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ as a lowly man down here in the wilderness to feed upon him and so become like him, sharing his reproach, living here for him in opposition. And I believe, dear brethren, if we are nourished up in the words of the faith and in the good doctrine, we'll be strong, we'll be able to represent the Lord. Indeed, you remember in the sixth chapter of Ephesians, before ever we are told to put on the whole armor of God, we're told to be strong, to be strong in the Lord. What's the use of a weak man putting on a suit of armor? He wouldn't be able to fight in it. Armor might be very good, the sword might be ever so sharp and strong, but if the man himself isn't strong, if he's not fit, what's the use of putting armor on? And so again, I say how important it is that we should be nourished up spiritually in order to meet the requirements of the pathway of a disciple. Now, we often hear, and I think it's misguided to say, well, don't let's have doctrine, let's have something practical. Now, we can't possibly say that, dear brethren, because there are so many passages in the New Testament that emphasize doctrine. Now, doctrine is so necessary. Now, doctrine simply means teaching, and teaching is so necessary for the believer. If we discard doctrine, then we're removing the banks that hold the river in its place. And I believe we have to maintain this at all costs, right doctrine, sound teaching. Once we give that up, what have we got left? Nothing but imagination, and Jack's as good as his master, my ideas as good as yours, and so a host of ideas can come into the Christian company. But maintaining proper doctrine, proper teaching, is so essential for the pathway of discipleship. Now, if the teacher imparts to the disciple the teaching that he wants to impart to him, it's with this in view that he in his turn will teach others. And this is the way things are going to go on. In the second letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, he says this, what I've committed to you, you commit to faithful men. They in their turn will teach others also. And this is the way the doctrine, the teaching is handed on for the well-being of believers. Now, of course, we do agree that we don't want to press the idea of doctrine and forget the idea of practice, because we said at the very outset of these meetings that a disciple is one who by thought and endeavor puts into expression the teachings of the master. And so, dear brethren, first of all, nourished up in the words of the faith and of good doctrine. Then he says, refuse profane and old wives' fables and exercise thyself rather unto godliness. Now, I know that sometimes we might think this is a hackneyed word, exercise, but it's a very good word. And it indicates movement. It indicates diligence, zeal, something done, something attempted, something accomplished. Exercise thyself unto godliness or piety. Exercise yourself to be well-pleasing to God. This is what it means simply. And that's a very important thing for a disciple, to exercise himself, to do things, to do them with zeal and energy in order to please his teacher. And then he says, bodily exercise profiteth a little or for a little. We know this, but there's something better. But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. Isn't it a wonderful thing, dear brethren, that as Christians in this world, we can do things that are going to, or rather the effects of the things that we have done are going to go into eternity? Not only for this world, he says, but for that which is to come. I think if we examine our lives, the larger part of the things that we do only pertain to things of time and sense. And when we're gone, that's it finished. And when this time scene's gone, all these things are finished. Oh, how wonderful to be exercised, to be concerned, to be diligent, to be active in things that are going to be carried over, things that are going to abide, things that are eternal. And this is what Paul is saying to Timothy, you exercise yourself unto piety or to please God. Then in verse 12, he says, let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example or a model of the believers in word, in conversation, in love, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Dear brethren, what a challenge for any young man. Nobody was to despise him in the sense that Paul's enjoining Timothy to act in such a way that no one would have the opportunity of despising him. I don't think it was that Timothy might have gone along to a company of believers and perhaps wished to impart a word and the brethren say, no, you're far too young. You can't minister here. I don't think that's the idea. I think Paul is saying to Timothy, now, Timothy, you be careful of your life. And in all the things that I've mentioned, you put them into practice and nobody will be able to despise you as a young believer. Your life will be exemplary. It will be the life of a true and trained and faithful disciple, and you'll be a model for the believers. Imagine a young brother being a model for the believers. Ought it not to be that the elder brethren should be patterns for the young brethren to follow? And I'm sure this is true. In the last chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, the elders are presented in this way and others are to obey the elders and follow their conversation, which was Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today and forever. But here Paul is saying, Timothy, young man, you be a model of the believers. Just you express in your life what a Christian ought to be, a true representation of the master. Surely these are the things that were expressed by the Lord in his words. Nobody could find any fault in his words, in his manner of life. Nobody could find fault with the Lord's manner of life, in his love, in his spirit, in his faith, in his purity. All these things were expressed in Christ in perfection. And we find that in this pathway of discipleship, the teacher is to become like his master, like his teacher. The disciple rather is to become like his teacher. And so what really Paul is saying to Timothy, Timothy, you be like the Lord. And if you're like the Lord, you'll be a model for the believers. Now, he says, till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, and here's the same word again, to doctrine. First of all, this matter of reading. I know that this is applied so often in connection with reading the Bible or reading well-proved works of ministry, and no one would quarrel with that application. That certainly can stand at any time. But I believe that it meant that Timothy was to use every opportunity to read the scriptures that were available to the Christian companies. In those days, common people weren't educated as they are now, they weren't literate, and they required help. And persons very often read portions of the scriptures to those persons who couldn't read for themselves. And this was a great service. And you can imagine Timothy receiving a letter from Paul, one of the parchments, and then to a gathered company of Christians, he would say, now, I've got a letter from Paul, and I want you to listen to it, because he's unfolding some feature of Christian teaching. And so Timothy would read the word of God to them. We know that Paul was inspired to write the things that he wrote. And so Timothy was to continue this service at every opportunity, because Paul wanted the truth propagated. He wanted the brethren to know the truth. And as it had been delivered to him from the Lord, so Timothy was to hand it on. Now, I believe that's the real rendering of this exhortation to give attention to reading. But one would certainly come back to the exhortation that is so often given in this way, read your Bible. The children sing it in a chorus, read your Bible every day. And this is oh so important for any disciple of the Lord, to read the Bible, to understand it, what a book it is. Men have read it for years. George Muller of Bristol, he was reputed to read it once every year. Others have had the same kind of testimony, reading the Bible continually, learning its history, learning its characters, learning its truth, leading them to God. It's a lifetime study the Bible, and you can't start too early, and you can't be too diligent at reading the Bible. There never was a disciple of the Lord who wasted his time in not reading the Bible. Any true disciple read the Bible, read it diligently, and so became equipped to represent his teacher and master. And then there is a host of books available to help us to understand the Bible, give attention unto reading. And so at every opportunity, read these books. They're valuable books. They were men of God who wrote them, and they wrote them for our help and our blessing. And don't just be a collector of books and have a good library and say, yes, I've got this, that, and the next thing. Be readers of books and find time to read them. And so that there is some knowledge of the truth in your soul, give attention unto reading. And he says, to exhortation, to doctrine. I think behind this, there is the attitude of diligence in applying oneself to understand the truth with a view to passing it on. And he says, neglect not the gift that is in thee. And this is always a danger to neglect things. We read in the book of Proverbs about one passing by the garden of the sluggard. The walls are broken down. The weeds are growing all over the place. And there's an air of neglect. Things haven't been attended to. And this is what Paul is saying. Don't neglect the gift that you have. Timothy, you've had an outstanding start. Don't let it lapse. Don't neglect. Don't be careless. Be diligent. Pay attention to it. Apply yourself to these things. Put them into practice in a living way. And I'm sure this is a most important part in the training of a disciple. To be diligent in the following out of the truth that he has learned from the Lord. And he says, meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them that thy profiting may appear to all. And this attitude of meditation is something that we should learn to cultivate. So often we let our minds run haywire. They go all over the place. And all sorts of things engage our minds that are not profitable whatsoever. But if we train our minds as helped by the Spirit, and we are exhorted to do this, to bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. If we meditate upon these things, then obviously we're going to be greatly helped. If our minds are occupied with rubbish, as they so often are, unfortunately, then we're not going to have much profit. But if we are meditating upon these things, thinking about them, and helped by the Spirit to do so, then there's going to be profit. The Bible says, as a man thinketh, so is he. And as we think, so are we. It's not very long before the things that we think about come out into our practice. And so he says, meditate upon them. And then lastly, in this portion, and I think this is a word for today. Well, every word's a word for today. But this word at the end appeals to me very much. Save thyself and them that hear thee. In the measure in which we appropriate the truth and allow it to govern our lives, in that measure, we'll be able to help others. And so this is an important consideration. So often we can be a stumbling block to others. But what a wonderful privilege to be a help for others. And this is what Paul is saying to Timothy. Now, just one moment. I want to point out two things in the next chapter. We haven't time to go into the detail. But in verse 11, he says to Timothy, O man of God. O man of God. At the end of the chapter, he says, O Timothy. Now these two expressions, O man of God, O Timothy, indicate to me some of the depth of feeling that was in the heart of Paul towards this young man. It wasn't just a cold expression. It wasn't just a cold unfolding of truth. But all the heart of the apostle was behind this letter. O man of God. O Timothy. And the apostle is seeking to encourage this young man to follow after the truth, to lay hold upon it, to stand for it, to avoid the things that would influence him, to avoid the things that would be hurtful and destructive. And just as we close, look at these four things that he exerts him to do. In verse 11, flee. Well, that's an expression of activity. Flee, run away from these things that are wrong. And further down, follow or pursue after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, and meekness. And then fight the good fight of faith. And then lay hold or seize on eternal life whereunto thou art also called. There are four things that Timothy is to do. He's to fight. He's to lay hold. He's to flee from evil things. He's to pursue after good things. That's always a good exercise, to avoid the wrong and to pursue the good. And so we would be adequate disciples of the Lord if we did these things. Trained up in the truth, trained to behave ourselves properly, trained to be good soldiers, trained to be here for the Lord. Oh, never let us assume that we can be for the Lord in any old way. There is a pathway of training and guidance and discipline that is so necessary that we might be adequate representatives of the Lord in this world. And if we hear the yearnings of Paul in connection with his young child Timothy, may we also hear the yearnings of the Lord as he desires our lives to represent him in this world until he comes. May it be so for his namesake. …

… We referred last night to Acts chapter 16, where Paul discovered a young man called Timothy, and he was described as a certain disciple. And not only so, but he had a good testimony from the brethren. This young man Paul desired to have with him in his service. We considered a little the first letter that Paul wrote to Timothy, and saw how Paul sought to encourage this young man, give him further features of training, with a view that he should be thoroughly equipped to represent the Lord. And tonight we want to continue this, and see this second letter that Paul wrote to young Timothy, in very different circumstances from the first letter, and indicating some of the responsibilities that belong to the disciple, as he would be true to the Lord in this world. We haven't the slightest doubt that this letter is relevant to the days in which we find ourselves, the latter days indeed, when apostasy is gathering strength, when declension is everywhere, where the keynote is to be faithful in the midst of the confusion. A number of years had elapsed since Paul wrote his first letter, and now he was in prison, not a free agent as he was when he wrote the first letter. And also a great deal of declension had come in amongst the people of God. So much so, that Paul says to Timothy, all those in Asia, they've left me. And when he was standing before Nero, they all forsook him, just as they forsook his master. And so the conditions are very, very different. And we've often heard, and heard rightly, that when Paul wrote to Timothy in the first letter, he was considering matters that had to be attended to, when the saints were in a reasonably good condition. There was order, and there was some measure of spiritual power amongst the people of God. But that had changed, and changed rapidly. And instead of order and spiritual power, things were in a very broken and in confused condition. And because of this, Paul is encouraging Timothy to rekindle the gift that was in him. Obviously, Timothy had been very affected by these broken and confused conditions. Perhaps saying to himself, as perhaps we have often said to ourselves, is it worthwhile going on? Things are so difficult. Things are so confused. Can the Lord direct us through this confusion? And perhaps we tend to give up in our minds. And perhaps this kind of feeling affected the mind of Timothy. And we find in this epistle, it's often been noted, I know it's nothing new, we find in this epistle that Paul continually directs the gaze of Timothy to Christ Jesus. Seven times over in this epistle, he refers to things that are in Christ Jesus. And dear brethren, that's a very encouraging thing. I'm sure it was encouraging for Paul in his day. I'm sure it was encouraging for Timothy. And it's equally encouraging for us. That if things are confused today, and they are, no one can deny it, thank God everything is secure in Christ Jesus. And there's no power upon earth or in hell can in any way interfere with the things that are secure in Christ Jesus. And what Paul is saying, look Timothy, everything's all right, everything's secure in him. Eventually, everything is going to be carried out according to the purpose of God. In the meantime, you align yourself with that purpose, even though things are confused. Get your bearings right through being occupied with the Lord in glory. And so he sought to encourage this young man who obviously had been very much affected by the condition of things that prevailed. So he says in chapter one, wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir up the gift of God which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. Mr. Darby, in his translation, uses the term rekindle, the very expression itself, indicating to us something that had been burning brightly, but was on the point of going out. A fire, the flames low, the fuel low, and the apostle desiring that this bright flame might be rekindled, this fire rekindled, so that there will be a bright flame of testimony in this young man's life. Mr. Darby has a very interesting footnote in his new translation where he says in connection with this word rekindle, he says the keynote of the epistle is energy in the face of the darkening condition of the assembly. Energy expressed by devotedness in spite of the conditions that prevailed. You remember the Lord gave a wonderful testimony to John the Baptist. He said he was a bright and shining light. There was no need for rekindling in the life of John the Baptist. His pathway was straight. He never deviated. He maintained a testimony for the Lord in spite of all that was against him, and the Lord gave him that wonderful commendation. Paul, in writing to the Philippians, he said that they were luminaries in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation. He says ye shine as lights in the world or luminaries in the world, and you remember the Lord in Matthew 5, he said to the disciples, ye are the light of the world, and so as we think of these expressions, we see that the Bible requires of us a testimony that diffuses light, and light dispels darkness, and confusion and darkness, they walk hand in hand. But here the idea is more of a fire than perhaps a torch or a lamp, and the idea is that this fire is to be rekindled, that is to produce benefit for the people of God, and testimony for God. Now to encourage Timothy, he says, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Now these three things are very important for the disciple as he seeks to answer to his obligations to the master in this world, not to be governed by the prevailing conditions, love. Now how is this love to be expressed? It doesn't say, but one would surely think that first of all, love to God, and love to Christ, and then love to the people of God, and eventually love to the unconverted. Certainly not love to those who propagated evil doctrines, or who were upsetting the people of God. No, there were stern reproofs from the Apostle for people of that kind, but the disciple was to be marked by love, and this love means the settled disposition. The Greek word that is used here conveys that idea, the settled disposition of the disciple, not something that fluctuates, something that abides, something that's true, and real, and lasting. And then not only love, not only love, but power, and the word here is dynamis, that power that can accomplish things. The word that we get, our English word from dynamite, this is the kind of power that accomplishes things for God. And so the Apostle has this, the servant has this in the gift of the Holy Spirit, the sound mind. It's not a question here of perhaps someone's mind being unstable, but having a sober mind, able to think clearly and distinctly, able to put things in their proper place, able to judge rightly what is right and what is wrong, what is pleasing to God, what is according to the word of God, what is against the word of God, a clear mind. Dear brethren, I believe in the gift of the Holy Spirit, we have the power to do these things. And he goes on to say, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God. Don't be ashamed of the things that you've learned, Timothy. These things are worthwhile. They are real, they are true, they come from the Lord. They've been handed on to me from the Lord. I have imparted them to you. Don't be ashamed of them. It's the testimony of the Lord. I'm his prisoner. Don't be ashamed of me either. And he says, be prepared to suffer afflictions. Dear brethren, many of our brethren in parts of the world are experiencing the reality of these things. I remember listening to a tape where a brother was speaking about a certain conference where certain Christians were speaking, and they were speaking about these scriptures, suffering for the sake of Christ. The brother said every one of these speakers had realized in his life what suffering was. They had suffered. They had suffered the loss of possessions. They had been imprisoned. They had been tortured. They had been subjected to terrible treatment. They knew what they were talking about. Perhaps when we talk about suffering for Christ, perhaps we don't know very much about it. I'm sure as being faithful Christians, we know a little. But Paul is saying to Timothy, be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel, and this is very important, according to the power of God. Not one person from Pentecost onwards would have been able to have endured persecution apart from the power of God. It was the power of God that enabled persons to go to the stake during the Reformation period. It was the power of God that enabled many Christians to endure martyrdom and persecution and pain and privation of liberty. The power of God was behind them. Although our souls, our minds might recoil from the idea of suffering and persecution of that character, thank God, if the time came, there would be power available to help us to endure it. We might, like Timothy, give up. We might go back, but we might be recalled to the pathway of faithfulness and receive strength to go on and be faithful to the Lord. And who can tell, dear brethren? Who can tell in these days? But we might be faced with this very thing yet in our own country. Who knows? Nobody knows. Oh, how thankful we are that there are divine resources. We wouldn't be so foolish as to say we would do this and that and the next thing. We can remember only too well the proud boasts of Peter, what he would do and how signally he failed. But we would desire, I'm sure we would, as loving the Lord, to be faithful to him. And so Paul reminds Timothy of the responsibilities of the disciple responsible to the teaching that he had learned. Now Paul wasn't saying anything different from what the Lord said. There aren't two philosophies in the Bible or three or four or more. There's only one, and it runs all through the divine teaching from God himself. And if the Lord is speaking in the Gospels, and Peter and John are speaking in the Acts, and then Paul is speaking, and then they speak in the Epistles, it's the same voice all the time. It's the voice of God, and that voice is instructing us how to live. And so when Paul was saying to Timothy, Timothy, you take your part in the sufferings of the testimony, the Lord told his disciples, in the world he shall have tribulation. In me, peace, be of good cheer. I have overcome the world. And when Paul was instructing Timothy to be of good courage, because there was the spirit of love and power and wise discretion or soundness of mind, aren't we hearing the Lord saying to his disciples, why are you so fearful? Fear not. Don't be afraid of those who can destroy the body, and that's all they can do. Fear God. It's the same thing in principle, and so the teaching is always the same. Whether it's the Lord or the Lord's servant, it's the inspired words of God for their encouragement. Now we come to chapter 2, and we said a little about this last night, about the man being strong before he put on the whole armor of God. And here Paul is saying to Timothy, thou therefore my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Sometimes we might feel that we are strong in our knowledge of the Bible, or we might be strong in the fact that we're in a very healthy company of the Lord's people, or we might feel we're strong because we're engaged in some particular form of Christian service. And dear brethren, none of these things are able to hold us in the time of difficulty. The only place of strength and power in difficult times is in Christ Jesus. And notice he says it's in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Now if I understand this term correctly, Paul's saying, Timothy, you take account of the favor that you are in. Just for a moment, just you consider how wonderfully you are blessed. You have a place in Christ before God that can never alter. You're beyond the reach of every power that is against you. Your eternal destiny is secure. You have a place in God's affections. You have a place of grace and love that no other person has. I mean no other unconverted person. And so this is true of every Christian. The wonderful favor and blessing that we stand in. Now I believe, dear brethren, that every blessing that we have brings its corresponding responsibility. That if we have a place of favor, then it's right that our lives should be lived in accord with it. And so if Timothy was to be strong or strengthened or encouraged by taking account of his place of favor in Christ Jesus, he was to continue in the teaching that he had had from Paul and was to impart it to others who were faithful, who in their turn would give it to others. I've heard it said or suggested that we're in the day of the others. And sometimes that has been put in such a way that the others are of an inferior quality than those who have gone before. Now I don't think this, dear brethren. I think the line of succession that we have here is a line of succession that can maintain the truth of God in spite of the conditions that prevail. Now of course it began at the top in perfection in our Lord Jesus Christ, the faithful and true witness. That was handed on to the Apostles. We are extremely thankful for the devotedness of their testimony. And then the Apostle Paul came along and many things were committed to him that the twelve didn't receive. And then Paul handed that on to Timothy and Paul says concerning Timothy, a man of God. And then Timothy is to hand it over not to inferior persons but to faithful persons. And the faithful persons are to hand it on to others and I haven't the slightest doubt that the others are to be faithful persons too. And are to maintain the truth at the height at which it was revealed in the person of Christ and in his servants. Now that's a very high standard but God never lowers his standard. And he expects us today, shall we say the modern disciples of the Lord, to maintain his truth in spite of the conditions that prevail. Then he goes on to say, thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier. Three things are brought forward in the way of illustration. The soldier, the athlete, and the farmer. And they're all very interesting. But what they set forth is what we said a few moments ago, energy. You remember the footnote of Mr. Darby? Energy in the face of the darkening condition of the assembly. Now these three figures all employ this great principle of energy expressed in the things of the Lord. The soldier prepared to endure suffering in his warfare and not allowing himself to be entangled with anything that would interfere with his warfare. The athlete governed by rules and regulations and crowned lawfully when he wins. And the farmer laboring at his work in order to enjoy the fruits of his labor before the master gets what is due to him. And so we want to consider these things. We find Paul often referring to this figure of a soldier. He himself speaks about it at the end of the epistle. I have a good fight. And so here he's saying to Timothy, Timothy, the true disciple is taught by the Lord to fight, to contend for the truth of God, to make sure that he doesn't give way in spite of the suffering. He's got to endure suffering. It's the logical outcome of representing God in this world. When we read the Bible, we find all the men of God and all the women of God, they had to go through difficult periods. It wasn't easy. There were trials to be born. There were difficulties to be gone through, problems to solve. And all this was part of the suffering and endurance that marked those who stood for God. No one ever had an easy pathway that stood for the things of God. And we can think of them not only in the Bible, but down through the history of the testimony. What suffering? You remember in the parable, it speaks about those who bore the heat of the day. Dear brethren, we are sitting here tonight in peace and quietness, enjoying something of the truth of God because of those who have borne the heat of the day. They wouldn't give way in spite of all the attacks of the enemy. Nothing would move them. And because of that, thank God we can enjoy something of liberty and enjoyment in the things of God. So Paul says to Timothy, you endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Then he says, no man that woreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. He's telling Timothy, now, good disciple, or in this figure, good soldier, he doesn't get mixed up with other things so that his time is taken away from this one great matter in front of him to fight and to fight to please the one who has chosen him to be a soldier. Dear brethren, I believe a great deal of our spiritual weakness is because we get entangled with too many things that take up our time. And we can't find time to attend the meetings. We can't find time to read our Bibles. We can't find time to do the things that are so necessary in the Christian life and testimony because we get entangled. And sad to say, if it becomes a question of what has to be given up in order to do the things that we want to do, it's so sad that it's always the Lord's things that must suffer. It doesn't matter if we miss the prayer meeting. It doesn't matter if we miss the Bible reading. It doesn't matter if we miss the meetings. Well, we'll pay attention to our things. And it's because we get too much entangled. And the Lord is telling Timothy, the true disciple, he doesn't get entangled with things that rob him of his time and opportunity to please the one who has chosen him to be a soldier. You remember the Lord said that if we have a single eye, our whole body will be full of light. Now that's just another way of saying don't get entangled. Don't get your eyes occupied with too many things that divert you away from your main object. Have one thing before you and all the rest will click into place. Don't get entangled. Then he says, and if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned except he strive lawfully. Now, the apostle obviously was well acquainted with things that were happening in his day. We can understand this. He was an intelligent man. He would be quite aware of different matters, politics, sports, and all sorts of things going on around him. And this is what he's referring to, the games that were held in those days. Now, I understand that those games were ruled by, or were governed by very rigid laws. And I found in a book that those laws, and they're very interesting. Now, the first thing was that the competitors had to show that they were of pure Grecian descent. Now, that's very significant when we think of the Old Testament and how persons had to declare their genealogy before they were competent to serve in connection with the things of God. Pure Grecian descent. Now, I think we could draw from that figure the fact that we all know our genealogy. That is, we can all trace our source and blessing back to God himself, and through our Lord Jesus Christ. And then they were to be clear from any political or moral offense. They had committed no crime against the political forces of the day, and no crime against society. In other words, they were to be upright citizens, and defending the government of the land, and not committing any crime against society. That's very important, because it simply means an upright person, pure in his ways and in his thoughts. And then they had to train for a certain period, so that the persons who were coming out on the track were novices. They were persons who were trained and able to perform, whether it was the race, or the boxing match, or the marathon race, or the wrestling, whatever it might have been. They were trained and fit to take part in the games. Well, that too is very suggestive. We know that we require to be fully equipped to represent the Lord in this evil world, and we can only be equipped as we apply ourselves to the truth of God. And lastly, just before the game started, perhaps a day or two, they had to submit themselves to an examination by a board who were qualified to determine whether these persons were able to compete. So you can see a very high standard was demanded of any person who competed in the games. Now, let's suggest that someone ignored those rules and regulations, and they came first in the sprint, or in the marathon race, or they came first in the boxing match. This is the one that's referred to here, striving for mastery. Or you remember Paul refers to it in Corinthians, where he says he didn't smite the air. Again, allusion to the combats in the ring. And when a person ignored these things and perhaps did become the winner, they would have been disqualified. They wouldn't have been crowned because they had ignored the rules. The Lord is saying to Timothy, Timothy, a disciple, when he answers to the obligations of serving the master, he obeys the rules. He doesn't continue with a form of service outwardly, and inwardly he's not in keeping with his service. It's not that he's extremely adept in phraseology, able to say the right things, able to quote the correct scriptures, and yet perhaps his life not in accord with what he's saying. Well, that's not the point. No, the point is he obeys the rules. He's thoroughly in keeping with the truth that's revealed. His service is in accord, or rather he himself is in accord with his service. Very, very important thing, and I'm sure those of us who perform any little part amongst the people of God feel greatly challenged in this connection. And lastly, he says, the husbandman, he must first labor before he partakes of the fruits. I understand in those days many husbandmen had pieces of ground which they tilled and looked after and cultivated, and then they were entitled to the first fruits of that piece of land before the master received the rest. But the point was if they didn't plow the land, if they didn't till it, if they didn't sow, they would never reap. So a certain amount of energy had to be expended before there could be some gain. And dear brethren, how can we expect to rightly represent the master if we are not prepared to put some energy, some labor into the matter? We can't reap if we don't sow. If we sow sparingly, the Bible says, we'll reap sparingly. And oh, how we need this. And the speaker, he feels the need of it as much as anyone, the need of doing something in order for gain to be expressed. Now, says Paul, consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things. I think this is a beautiful expression. He's not saying, Timothy, now I'm the one to tell you what to do. No, he says, I'll perhaps show you what should be done, Timothy, but it's only the Lord who can give you the real understanding of it. It's only the teacher himself who can make this plain to you. And he says, remember, and this is very important, remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel. I think he's saying to Timothy, I know it's difficult, Timothy. I know there are pressures against us. I know there are powers arrayed against us, but Timothy, remember Christ. When he was placed in the tomb, it looked as if it was defeat, but God raised him from the dead. And you remember this, Timothy, that victory is always with God. Leave the thing in God's hands. God will bring eventual victory. Our responsibility is to do something, although it may involve arduous labor. It may involve a great deal of exercise. It may involve suffering. Remember Jesus Christ. And then he goes on in verse 15, study to show thyself approved unto God. Would you be surprised, dear brethren, if I said that all the study in the world will never show you to be a man approved unto God? I believe this with all my heart that not all the study of the Bible makes us approved unto God. Mr. Darby's translation says, strive diligently to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed. We have men and they could tie us in knots as far as biblical knowledge is concerned, their knowledge of the Hebrew and the Greek, their understanding of customs and times, their ability to know this book from cover to cover. And yet they don't know the first thing about spiritual values before God. No one could deny that they were students of the scriptures, very able students, very adept students, and yet they don't know the simplest things that please God. This is all they're concerned about, an exact knowledge of the languages, an exact knowledge of what the ancient manuscripts give. That is why I say that not all the study in the world can make you approved unto God, but striving diligently, learning the mind of God and putting it into practice, it's this that makes you approved unto God. You see, the Pharisees, they read the word of God and the Lord warned the disciples, he says, don't do as the Pharisees do, but listen to what they've got to say because they're reading the word of God. And so the Lord was saying to them, put into effect the truth of God, but don't be like those persons who are students of the word. And so this is what the apostle is saying to Timothy, strive diligently to make yourself approved unto God. Very good thing for Timothy to have a good report amongst the brethren, very good thing, it's far better than having a bad report amongst the brethren. But here the question is not the brethren, but God, approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth, cutting in a straight line. I don't know if there are any joiners here, but they have to cut things in a straight line. Otherwise they can't give a good join. And so I think this is the figure employed by the apostle, cutting the truth in a straight line, not deviating because of certain influences, friendships, business relationships, any other kind of influence, but cutting the truth in a straight line. If the truth hurts either the speaker or the hearers, well, that's the fault of the truth. And the truth does hurt. The truth does present a challenge, but never let us allow the truth to be deviated because of certain influences. Let us accept the word of God as it bears upon our conscience and our lives, and the true disciple will make sure that he cuts the word in a straight line. He says there are certain persons and their word is eating like a cancer. We're all acquainted with that horrible, loathsome disease today and all that it accomplishes in the bodies of people, beginning perhaps very small and unnoticed and growing and enlarging until eventually all hope is lost for the patient. And this is the action of ungodly persons turning aside from the truth and their word it eats as a canker. And he mentions two of them, Hymenaeus and Philetus. And Paul says in verse 19, let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. And I believe these persons are examples of what iniquity is, persons undermining the truth of God, principles that are subversive to the spirit and power of Christianity. And Paul says those who name the name of Christ are to depart from these things. He says in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the master's use and prepared unto every good work. This word purge, I suppose it's well known what I'm going to say, but it's only used twice in the Bible, in first Corinthians five and here in second Timothy two. In first Corinthians five, the assembly was in a reasonable condition of power and this evil man whose name was a byword in the city was purged out from the company of the believers because it was evil. It was an action of leaven amongst the people of God that would have produced further sorrow if it hadn't been purged out. So Paul says, purge out the old leaven, put the evil thing away from among you. But then Paul here is considering a far different case. He's considering a case where the people of God are in such a weak condition that they don't even recognize evil amongst them and they haven't the power to deal with it. Well, what is a believer to do if he wants to be true to the master? Is he to sit beside a person and break bread with a person and serve with a person who is subverting Christianity and its principles? If he wants to be faithful to the master, he has only one course and that's to purge himself away from the evil. That is, he leaves it, he separates from it, he has no contact with it. And so Paul is instructing Timothy to be clear from all the evil that is subversive to the principles of Christianity, all that is dishonoring to our Lord Jesus Christ. Does anything of this kind prevail today? Oh dear brethren, we would need to say very humbly that it does. That in the Christian circle, in that which is connected with the name of Christ, there are persons who teach the most awful, abominable things concerning the person of the Lord and the great fundamental truths of Christianity. Well then, who are we to be true to? To our own feelings of perhaps hail fellow well met? Or are we to be true to our master who has indicated to us that these kind of things would happen? And so Paul is no doubt at all as to the pathway of the true disciple but to purge himself from these evil influences and walk the pathway with others who are like-minded, following righteousness, faith, peace and love with those who call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. Now, just lastly for a few moments, in chapter four, I'm sorry, I wanted to say a word about chapter three, it was very brief. In verse 14, Paul says, continue thou, and I want to point this out, that the thou in verse 14 and the thou in verse 5 and the thou in verse 15 of chapter 4 are all emphatic in the original. That is, Paul is very definitely putting the onus upon Timothy to be faithful to the truth. Dear brethren, this is always so. The onus is not upon my brother to be faithful, the onus is upon me to be faithful. I am to be faithful in spite of the conditions that prevail. So he says to Timothy, verse 14 of chapter 3, continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and we saw at the outset that a disciple is a person who learns and has been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And then he goes on to speak about the value of the scriptures. Thank God for this book that we have in our hands, the holy scriptures, the Old Testament scriptures, the New Testament scriptures, equal authority, binding upon the disciple today to follow it. All the scriptures, the writings of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, the writings of the Apostle Paul, all the writings in the New Testament are the scriptures which are binding upon those who are disciples of the Lord. Woe to us if we say that this or that isn't inspired. All the writings are inspired and they are there for us individually and collectively to follow that we might be true disciples of the Lord. And so Apostle says, all scripture is given by the inspiration of God. And we hear in our day all sorts of arguments to get round the plain statement of scripture that this was because of a certain tradition, or that was a statement by Paul, or this, that, and the next thing isn't really inspired. And it's all an attempt to lessen the value of scripture and to hinder the disciple in his pathway of faithfulness for the Lord. And so I feel it's very important that in 2 Timothy days of confusion and difficulty, Paul's saying, remember that the holy scriptures are inspired. Indeed, much of the confusion, if not all of the confusion, springs from this fact that the scriptures have been ignored and men's imagination has been put in the place of the divine record. Now, lastly, in chapter 4, I want to speak about this. He says, make full proof of thy ministry. The end of verse 5. Those who have missed the Darbus translation will remember that he says, fill up. He uses other words, but I just want to stress these words, fill up. And then Paul says in verse 6, I am now ready to be offered. And again, the new translation says, I am ready to be poured out. Now we can't possibly miss what the apostle is saying. He's saying to this young disciple, he says, I want you to pay attention, Timothy. I'm poured out. Paul knew that his course was nearly run. And he says to Timothy, you fill up because you can't pour out unless you get filled up. Now the pouring out in Timothy's, in Paul's life had been a long period of faithfulness to his Lord from the day he was converted. Now he says, Timothy, you fill up. Get filled up with the knowledge of God and of Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit. Get filled up with the truth of God and pour it out in testimony for the Lord and for the glory of God. Pour it out for the benefit of the saints. Pour it out for the unconverted. Do the work of an evangelist. And so here are the obligations of the true disciple. Here are the obligations for us today. Young men, young women, get filled up because if the Lord tarry, the Lord will need you. The older brothers will die. Older Christians will die. The testimony has got to go on and the Lord's depending upon you. Fill up so that you can be poured out. Oh, how we're thankful for a man like Paul and many more like him who filled up and who spent themselves in the service of the Lord. Many of them we could mention. Thank God for them. Only eternity will tell the greatness of their work. But this is our day. This is our responsibility. Your responsibility. My responsibility to fill up, to pour out that we might be here for the pleasure of the Lord. May it be so. …

… I think most of us know we've been speaking about the pathway of a disciple, and tonight we are finishing up these meetings with the address on the testimony of the disciples. I've read these four passages because each of them stresses the Lord, referring to his disciples as my disciples, my disciples. I think the Lord takes a great deal of pleasure in having people whom he can address or speak of in this way as his disciples. Many teachers had their disciples, and they followed their teachers, but the Lord, I believe, rejoiced in the fact that he had persons who had followed his teaching, persons whom he could refer to as his disciples, and they are marked by very distinctive features, and we want to consider them for a little this evening. First of all, those who really love him, those who in the time of his absence remember him in this wonderful act of the Lord's Supper, his disciples. And then in John's Gospel, these three positive features of abiding in his word and expressing love to each other, and lastly, bearing fruit that the Father may be glorified. Now the Lord connects this wonderful expression, my disciples, with all the persons mentioned in these sections. Now in Luke's Gospel, and I believe that Paul follows Luke when he gives his instruction in Corinthians as to the Lord's Supper, and that's why I've chosen from Luke this account. In both Matthew and Mark, the Lord says, my disciples also, but I've decided to read the portion from Luke because it so closely resembles what Paul says in his writings to the Corinthians. And this bearing upon us, because if we had only the record of the account in the Gospels, the record of the Lord giving the Supper, we might have said, well, this is only for the disciples. But thank God, when we come to the Apostle to the Gentiles, he receives the revelation from the Lord in glory, and that to a Gentile assembly, the particulars regarding the Lord's Supper. Now I think you will agree with me that in testimony, it's a wonderful thing for the disciples of the Lord, those who have imbibed his teaching, who have answered to it, to be gathered together with the Lord in the midst with a desire to remember him in view of his coming again. Now the Lord didn't say gather together some of the Pharisees and the Sadducees and bring them all together and we'll commemorate the Passover Supper with them. No, he said, I want my disciples. And we can understand that the Lord loved them. John's Gospel tells us that he loved them through everything. They had been his constant companions in his public ministry. Now he was going to leave them. But before he left them, he indicated to them how they could keep him in perpetual remembrance. And so he used the occasion of the Passover Supper to inaugurate another supper, the Lord's Supper. And we're very thankful that after 2000 years, the disciples of the Lord are still remembering the Lord. They're still answering to his desire and they're gathering together just in exactly the same way as they did at Jerusalem in a simple fashion to express their love to him. And so we are very thankful that we in our day in some measure can follow the directions given in the gospel and reach this point where in simplicity and in devotion to the Lord, we remember him. I believe the first thing that we see in Luke's gospel is the Lord directing or giving guidance. He doesn't want them to make any mistakes. He doesn't want them to be led astray. He wants them to come to that particular point where he would be with them, where he would sit down with them and where he would indicate to them the reality of his death, which was approaching through the figure of the bread and the cup. And I believe in our day, we too can receive this guidance from the Lord, guiding us away from everything that's spurious, guiding us away from everything that's empty, and bringing us to the place where we can meet with the Lord, whether it be with few or many, and there realize the reality of his presence and the reality of his death as we break the bread and drink the cup together. The Lord said, with desire, I have desire to eat this supper with you before I suffer. The Lord was referring to the Passover supper. Does not the Lord desire his disciples to be with him today? Is not this a very definite indication of the testimony of a disciple today, that he turns aside from all that's evil and all that's of a spurious character to meet the Lord in simplicity and truth? I think this is one of the outstanding marks of the testimony of a disciple, the privilege of meeting the Lord. I suppose in those early days, people would say, now, what do these Christians do? Unfortunately, many evil stories circulated about the believers in the early days. The enemies of the truth circulated the most abominable stories about them, but if they inquired with genuine inquiry, they were bound to receive the answer that when the brethren in those days came together, they came together just to break a loaf and to drink from a cup. By that means, they commemorated the death of the Lord, they kept him in remembrance, and they did this in view of his return. Those who knew this, or those who saw it, must have been very impressed by this because there was nothing else to attract, no, the thoughts of the saints were directed to the Lord himself. We find from Corinthians that the Lord's Supper certainly has a testimonial character. Ye announce the Lord's death until he come. There was a testimony that there were people remembering the Lord in his death in view of his coming again. I know there is a difference of opinion as to when this coming will be. Some think it's the rapture. Personally, I believe it to be the appearing. I'll tell you my reason why. At the supper, you remember the Lord when he gave them the Passover cup. He said, I won't drink this anymore with you until I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom or in the kingdom of God. So at the setting up of the supper, at the Passover feast, what the Lord had in mind was his return to set up the kingdom. I believe this is what Paul has in mind too when he says, we announce the Lord's death until he come. I believe every time we break bread, dear brethren, we're indicating to the world around us that there's another man who's going to take charge. There's another man who's going to rule in this world, and he's the man who went out of this world by the cross, the one who died in such a shameful way. But he's coming back, and he's going to take over the rules of government in this world and reign for the pleasure of God and for the blessing of all concerned. Oh, dear brethren, how privileged we are as his disciples to gather around him. We've imbibed his truth. We have appropriated it. It has governed our lives. We've learned to love the Lord, to respect him, to reverence him. And this coming together gives us the opportunity to express our devotion to him. I'm sure any unbiased person coming along to the morning meeting as we speak of it and sitting by and listening to the hymns and listening to the prayers and listening to the scriptures being read would be bound to say there's only one person who really matters in this gathering because that's all we talk about. He's the only one we sing about. And so the Lord is prominent in the gathering of his disciples. And if we only commemorated his death in the sense of failure, what a dismal thing it would be. But we know that when we're thinking of him and his death, we're thinking of him and his triumph in all the glory and greatness of his victory. And surely it becomes every disciple of the Lord to meet with the saints, to remember him in view of his coming again. When we come to the beginning of Christianity, as we find it expressed in the second chapter of the Acts, we find that those who believed, and there were many who believed, they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship in the breaking of bread and prayers. So there was a very definite testimony rendered by those early believers as to this wonderful privilege of remembering the Lord in his death. It was one of the features that was expressed by the believers in those early days. And as we come through the Acts of the Apostles, we come to a moment when Paul the apostle says he met a few believers and he says, we being assembled on the first day of the week to break bread. Here we find a stated day, a stated time to come together and remember the Lord. And the disciples of the Lord did this. We don't believe in having mixed companies, unconverted people, converted people all meeting together, doing this act of remembering the Lord. We believe it is exclusively for the disciples of the Lord, for the brethren of Christ, for those who are converted, those who are saved, and no one who is unconverted ought to partake of the Lord's supper. It's for his own, and only his own can enter into the enjoyment of it. When we come to 1 Corinthians 10, we are reminded of the obligations of this testimonial act, the table of the Lord, which cannot be separated from the remembering of the Lord. The table of the Lord surely emphasizes to us the responsibility of purity and separation from evil that is dishonoring to the Lord. We cannot drink the Lord's cup and the cup of demons. We cannot do this. It's impossible. We must keep this table pure for the Lord. It's the Lord's table. And so the responsibilities of remembering the Lord are so definitely stressed when we come to 1 Corinthians 10, the responsibilities of the fellowship. When we come to chapter 11, again the privileges stress, although Paul brings it in to correct disorder amongst the people of God and indicates he had nothing to praise them for in the way that they were holding this wonderful feast. And so he went on to speak about the way that Luke wrote in his gospel, the Lord in the night he was betrayed, taking the loaf and taking the cup and reminding his own that this was the way the Lord died for us. This was the way the Lord shed his blood for us. And the supper is such a joyous occasion as we meet together to remember him. I remember as a young lad reading about a certain philosopher, I've just forgotten his name at the moment, but he had incurred the wrath of the emperor and he was told that he had to die. And his punishment was to drink a cup of hemlock, Socrates, that was his name. And I remember the picture well, and some painter had painted this picture and you see the philosopher with a cup of hemlock in his hands, poisoned, and all around him are his disciples and they're all crying, overcome with grief. They're going to lose their teacher, they valued him so much and he's leaving their presence and they're going to be deprived of all his wisdom and all his teaching. So they're very upset. And I have often thought, what a difference from that little company in the upper room at Jerusalem, another teacher and what a teacher and a few disciples, they too are a bit sorrowful that the teacher is leaving them, but what wonderful words he's giving to them. He's telling them what to do. And he says, you'll be able to keep me in perpetual remembrance. I don't know if there are any establishments in Great Britain that have a remembrance meeting for Socrates or any other philosopher. Thank God for the companies of disciples who meet together to remember the teacher, the son of God. Every Lord's Day morning, thousands of believers, thousands of disciples who meet together to remember the Lord. And although the disciples were very sorry that the Lord was leaving them, it wasn't long before their hearts were filled with joy. They met him again. Then were the disciples glad when they saw the Lord, saw him as one out of death, having conquered death with all the glorious victory that he had won and their hearts were glad. Dear brethren, haven't our hearts been glad ever since? Isn't it the most wonderful meeting of all to gather around the Lord and have our hearts taken up with him as we remember him? We don't come together to get help for the pilgrim pathway when we come to the supper. We don't come together to even pray on behalf of others, although that's very important. We don't come together to learn something more of the Bible when we come to the supper. We come to remember him, to call him to mind, and also to be led by him into the worship of his God and Father. How wonderful, wonderful privilege. And so the disciples of the Lord are not like the disciples of Socrates or any other philosopher. The disciples of the Lord are glad when they gather around the Lord, even when they are occupied with his wonderful death. So I make no apology in saying that every Christian ought to be remembering the Lord. Everyone who loves the Lord Jesus Christ ought to be remembering him in his death in view of his coming again. It is indisputable from the word of God that in the early days those who believed were baptized, and they continued steadfastly in the apostles' teaching and fellowship, in the breaking of bread and prayers. It seemed to be the understood thing. It seemed to be the thing that was normal, and Christians readily responded and did these things. How strange it is, with all the culture and teaching of divine things in our country for so long, well over a thousand years, well nigh two thousand years, sometimes a very long period elapses before a converted person remembers the Lord. I believe we should be instructed in this, that the Christians, the believers, when they accepted Christ as Savior, they seemed to respond immediately in baptism, in remembering the Lord, and living here in testimony for the Lord Jesus. So we are very thankful for this first indication of testimony amongst the Lord's disciples, my disciples, they meet together to remember him. Now we turn to John's Gospel, chapter 8. John's Gospel, chapter 8, and the Lord said certain things, and when he said them, many of the Jews believed on him. Now if it stopped there, we might have said, well that's a very wonderful thing, that so many people have believed on him. Unfortunately, as we read down in this chapter, we find that that belief wasn't a very genuine kind of belief, it wasn't a very deep form of belief, it didn't last very long. And so the Lord goes on to say to those who believed on him, if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed, or you are genuinely my disciples. This is the force of this word, indeed. You are really, genuinely my disciples if you abide or continue in my word. And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. Now if I understand this passage correct, there are three things, there is the word of Christ, there is the truth, and there is freedom. When the Lord says my word, I believe he is emphasizing the authority of the word. After all, if it was some man's word that was spoken, then, well, we could afford to ignore it. But when it's Christ's word, my word, we can't possibly ignore that word. It's the authority of the person who is speaking. And this gospel, as we know, portrays the Lord Jesus Christ in all his greatness and glory as the Son of God. The eternal word become flesh so that God might be declared, and that person's word cannot be lightly taken up and lightly laid down. His word, my word, oh dear brethren, what a challenge this is to every heart when it hears the word of Christ, my word. Nobody can possibly ignore the import of that word. When he says the truth, I believe it's the character of his word, the truth. There was no element of error in it. It wasn't the kind of word that would lead people astray. It was the truth. It could be believed implicitly without any question whatsoever. It was the truth as it governed persons. Now I suppose the way in which the Lord spoke was calculated to meet a variety of need amongst people, but in whatever way the word came and to whoever it came, then that word was truth, and it was calculated to produce in the persons who heard it and obeyed it freedom, and this is a very wonderful thing. Now of course the Jews, they weren't very pleased about this word, which indicates that their belief wasn't of a very deep character, and they began to object to the Lord saying that they were ever in bondage. And the Lord says anybody who practices sin is a bond slave of sin, so they can't possibly claim freedom, and they knew perfectly well that they knew what it was to be under the bondage of sin. But the Lord said, my word abiding in you, my word abiding in you, that word being truth shall set you free, and this will indicate that you're really my disciples. And so I believe in the testimony of a disciple, there is the evidence in his life that he has accepted the word of the Lord Jesus Christ, bearing upon his life and conscience, and that word is truth to him, and that word applied to his life has produced freedom. Unfortunately there are millions of people today who are held in bondage to ideologies, they are held in bondage to sin in various shapes and forms, they are held in bondage to influences of various kinds, unfortunately they don't know. If they knew, perhaps they would desire to get free. But it doesn't matter what form of bondage there is, the word of Christ applied to that bondage can produce freedom. And thank God we live tonight in a land where there's a measure of freedom. I'm afraid it's being eroded away piece by piece, there isn't the same amount of freedom in this land as there was 30, 40, 50 years ago. It may be that we shall live to see the freedom of Christians affected, I don't know, I hope not, but it's quite possible. But we know this very well, that the freedom that we enjoy was obtained through men and women who refused to be in bondage to one kind of influence and another, either from the authorities or from religious persecution. And they fought for freedom in a right way, in a proper way, and they obtained that freedom. And it's here for us to enjoy. But when we come to our lives individually, it's then we perhaps find that we are in bondage to one kind of influence and another, and it's only as we apply the word of Christ in all its authority and power to our lives, and accept that word as truth, then and then only do we become the genuine disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says, his words, then are ye my disciples indeed. The Lord doesn't want disciples who turn away because the word is too difficult. I think we mentioned this before. In chapter 6, the Lord spoke some words, and the person says, this is a hard saying. Who can bear it? And they went back, and from that time they walked no more with him. And they were called disciples. I'm sure the Lord could never say of them, they are truly my disciples. They went back instead of continuing in his word. And dear brethren, if the word of Christ comes to us, and we find it cuts across our own natural desires, if we feel its challenge, let us accept its challenge because that word will set us on the right road for spiritual blessing and right testimony for the Lord. If we are not acting as we ought to act as a true disciple of the Lord, if we are not fulfilling our obligations as we ought to be, then let us hear the word of Christ coming to us, my word. If ye continue in my word, it's his word. If we obey that word, if we accept it as truth for our souls, then we'll be truly his disciples. His disciples, genuinely. And then we shall be free. It's a wonderful thing to be free. I can think back over 40 years of believing in our Lord Jesus Christ. I have to confess that many of those years were wasted because I wasn't free. Many of those years I wasted by being in bondage to one thing and another. We're very thankful that in some measure we can testify to the Lord's goodness in restoring one's soul and leading one along so that one can be free, free from those hindering influences and free to be for the Lord, to be for him in this world. In some measure, one would trust to be truly a disciple. And so I believe this is the way that freedom comes, true freedom, freedom from the dominion of sin and influence and any other kind of thing you like to think of by abiding, dwelling in the word of the Lord. And now in chapter 13. A new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another. If we take a good concordance and look it up and see how many times we find love to each other is commanded, is exhorted, is enjoined in the New Testament, we'll be quite astounded. I'm sure we will. There are so many references to this great feature of Christian discipleship. Love to one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples. Truly a testimony indeed if we have love for each other. Well when we view Christendom tonight, Church of Rome, Church of England, Church of Scotland, Methodist Church, Baptist Church, Brethren with their multiple divisions, many other companies of Christians with their multiple divisions, and very often sad to say hostility and distance and reserve, can we say that this has been fulfilled? When we look at the nation of Israel and think of all its folly and departure because it ignored the Ten Commandments, what a terrible condition it got into. Can we say that one of the reasons for the division amongst the people of God, one of the divisions for declension in our day is the ignoring of this command of the Lord, love one another. I know sometimes of course things come in amongst the people of God that keep us at arm's length and when you're at arm's length from your brother you can't love him, you've got to get near to him. The Lord indicated this by example in the beginning of this chapter when he divested himself of his clothes and he bowed down and he washed the feet of his disciples. He couldn't get any nearer to them than that. He couldn't wash their feet at arm's length, that wouldn't have been an effective feet washing. He got down on his knees and he washed their feet and I believe this is the way that we love each other, care for each other, respect each other, have confidence in each other. By this shall all men know that you're disciples of mine, you're my disciples if you have love for each other. A new commandment. It's appalling sometimes when we find that so many Christians think that Christian things are optional. We can do them or we can neglect to do them. We can take them up, we can lay them down. Now I don't find this in the New Testament teaching. I find that there are New Testament commandments and we shouldn't think that this is the only one, a new commandment. I give unto you that ye love one another. The New Testament is full of commandments, New Testament commandments and if the law was binding upon the children of Israel then the New Testament commandments are binding upon the people of God and if we ignore them then we do so to our loss, to our shame and to our spiritual declension. No doubt at all that this is one of the greatest, if not the greatest, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another. I'm sure you've heard the call so often, there isn't much love amongst the Christians, there isn't much love amongst the brethren. The Bible indicates to us that the onus for loving is upon ourselves. We are to love, individually we are obligated to love, not to receive love but to show love and I'm sure this is the best way of propagating love in the Christian company, not waiting till someone comes and loves us but taking the initiative and in the power of the Holy Spirit loving and there's nothing so rewarding as loving and the Lord is the great example as I have loved you, what a challenge, as I have loved you. The perfect love of the Lord and that love is to be the example for us. There was nothing lovable about us and yet the Lord loved us in spite of all that we were and are, he still loves us and this is the standard for those who are really the disciples of the Lord, we are to love one another. Of course by my awkwardness I may make it very difficult for people to love me, still they are responsible to love me even though I am awkward but as I am subject to the Holy Spirit and the truth my awkwardness ought to disappear so that I can be lovable and it's very refreshing to read of brothers and sisters who are described in this way in the New Testament, a beloved brother, what a wonderful commendation for any brother to have or a beloved sister, what a wonderful commendation to have such spiritual qualities that it draws out the love of the saints towards him or her, wonderful blessing, wonderful commendation and this ought to be a normal thing amongst the people of God, a new commandment I give unto you that you love one another. Now the New Testament gives us a great deal of help as to the kind of love that we are to put into effect. Romans 12 I think it is tells us that our love is to be without dissimulation, it hasn't to be a kind of love that is looking for something in return, an ulterior sort of love that is looking for some benefit, no it's to be a pure love, this is what James says, to love one another fervently from a pure heart, pure kind of love and it's to be a brotherly love, Peter stresses this too, adding to our love brotherly love and that's a wonderful kind of love because we belong to the same family and so we find many many quotations in the New Testament that indicate the character of the love that we are to show to each other. You remember when the Lord Jesus was in the garden and his enemies came to take him, Judas the betrayer, he went forward to him and he covered the Lord with kisses, the same kind of word that is used in Luke 15 when the father covered the returning son with kisses, but Judas was a hypocrite, there was no reality in his love, he didn't love the Lord, it was only a means to point the Lord out to his enemies, that's a hypocritical kind of love and it should have no place amongst the people of God, love is to be without dissimulation. Let me say a word again about this commandment, Paul at the end of his first letter to the Corinthians he says, if a man think himself to be a prophet or spiritual, let him recognize that the things that I have written are the commandments of the Lord. Now the Lord spoke about many things in the first letter to the Corinthians, many challenging things, many things that are most important amongst the people of God and every one of them is a commandment of the Lord, every one of them and they're all binding upon the people of God individually and collectively and they ought not to be ignored, they ought to be obeyed. And if you take a good concordance, again I recommend this, and look up commandment and see how often this word is used in the New Testament, bearing upon our conduct individually and collectively we'll see something of its import. And so the Lord says, a new commandment I give unto you that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples if ye have love one to another. I think it was some man who in sarcasm said how these Christians love each other and he was referring to their disputes and their quarrels and their strife and hostility. Oh that men could look on and say yes, how these Christians love each other. And thank God we do love each other. There is a great deal of practical, genuine love circulating amongst the people of God and only eternity will reveal how much love has been shown towards each other for the Lord's glory. Now lastly for a few moments in chapter 15. If ye abide in me and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will and it shall be done unto you. Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples. So a genuine disciple of the Lord is one who is marked by fruit bearing. Now I don't think it's very difficult to get the bearing of this figure. If we buy a nice plum tree and we plant it in the garden and we look after it carefully, we are looking forward to the time when eventually its job of work will be done and it produces nice sweet juicy plums. And of course after having gone to all the trouble we want to partake of the fruit. It gives us a great deal of pleasure to enjoy those plums. It's the net result, it's the end result of all the work that we have put in to this particular tree and we are thankful to partake of its fruit. Now I think this is exactly the same in the people of God. God has gone to a great deal of trouble, great deal of concern. He sent his Son and his Son died for us. He sent the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit indwells in us. And he's given us his word, he's instructed us, we've become disciples of Christ, he has taught us the right things and if all this is taken advantage of there ought to be fruit. I know in connection with the figure here it's the vine, the figure of a vine that's employed. And this vine is to bring forth fruit and the Father is to be glorified. That's very wonderful. But it shall be known that we are disciples of the Lord if we have fruit in our lives. If there is something for the pleasure of the Father, something for the pleasure of God. Now again there are many things mentioned in the New Testament that are described as fruit. The fruit of righteousness, fruit unto holiness, the peaceable fruits of righteousness we read about in Hebrews. And there are many others, look them up. But they are features of fruit, things that are pleasurable to God. Now I think it's very wonderful to end up on this note that the disciples of the Lord not only please their teacher but they also please their Father God. That's the most wonderful thing. That not only do they please the one who has taught them but they please this wonderful God whom we know as Father our lives can produce something for his pleasure. And just as I close I want to speak about an incident connected with a dear brother who had a vine and it wasn't growing very well and he wondered what he could do about it. So he wrote to a certain bureau who dealt with this kind of thing and he got back a very simple reply which astounded him. He says, the reply said, pour in ten gallons of water. Which he duly did. To his surprise the vine started to flourish. And thinking he had done enough and perhaps it required something else he wrote back again and asked for further instructions. And again he got the reply, give it another ten gallons of water. It wasn't very long before the vine was in a flourishing condition and eventually produced some luscious fruit. Why do I say that? Listen to the Lord's words. If he abide in me and my words abide in you, then water is the well known figure of the word of God. So often we find this. And so if we as disciples are well watered by the word of the teacher and it governs our lives then we're going to bear fruit and we'll be known as his disciples. May the Lord help us to answer in some measure to these things for his name's sake. …