The Walk of the Believer in this world

… Dear brothers, brothers and sisters, before entering into the subject that I have upon my heart, I had particularly in front of me that I would add one thought to the message we received earlier in this afternoon, as to those precious scriptures of Luke. If we think of the moment the Lord was going on the mountain of Transfiguration with his three disciples, we will find that it was approximately two weeks before the cross, before he died. The Lord Jesus had before him, going up to Jerusalem, he mentioned this several times to his disciples, between chapter 9, chapter 18, verse 31, and the following verses. Apparently, the disciples did not understand too well what was the portion of their Master. Yet, a marvelous privilege was given to those three special disciples, which will be ultimately a column in the assembly, the lay people too, that they would witness the coming and the glory of the Lord Jesus. The danger for them, and for us now, is not to be, or to have been on the mountain, is to come down, and then meet with yourself, and with the exercises of everyday life. And this was the point I wanted to stress for our instruction. You can read, study in detail, the various circumstances the disciples went through after that verse of Luke 9. And we may say that those circumstances were never as sad as at this moment. They were unable to heal this man taken by the demon. The nine disciples were unable. The three were up in the mountain at the time. They were lacking faith. They were lacking fasting and prayer. And this is what is said in Mark 9, the corresponding verse. Then, they wanted to be exclusive, as our brother said. Then they were refusing grace to the Samaritans. And they wanted to have the place of a liar, instead of the place of the Lord Jesus in grace. Then they were striving for the first place. At the very moment, the Lord Jesus was taking the last place. The lowest possible place of humiliation. Let this mind be in you, which was in the Lord Jesus, who was a man, God, who took the human condition and based himself to death, even to the death of the cross. The same thing happened to the disciples at the Last Supper. The Lord Jesus had presented him to them as the one who was serving. And then they were striving for the first place. The mother of the sons of Zebedee went approximately at the same moment to the Lord Jesus, to have a special place for his two sons. Let's not imitate the disciples, or rather, let's really agree that our hearts, our hearts are not any better than the disciples. And let's learn something from this example. We better understand now why Paul, after having been raptured in the paradise, and having heard unspeakable words which will not be lawful to men to repeat, needed a thorn in the flesh to keep him in humiliation, in humility. The danger is not to be in heaven, in paradise, because we think of nothing else except the Lord. The danger is to go down and to find ourselves in the difficulties of this world. So, for those of us, and there are many, who continue in difficulties, in pain, in suffering, those things are designed by the Lord in his grace to us, to keep us humble, until the very moment where we'll need no more to watch on ourselves, and where the joy of the Lord will be the joy of all of us. Now, the scripture I had before me, and you will share my amazement, I think, was to take the example of Timothy, in his personal walk, in his responsibility with the assembly, as a practical example of how to walk as a believer in this world. And our brother, at the end of the open meeting, read precisely the scriptures I had upon my heart. So I think we should read them again. Before doing so, I'd like to mention that the scriptures mentioned on top of the program of our conference today, of Ephesians 4, give us one of the four aspects of walking worldly. There are other scriptures. The first three scriptures relate to the worthy walk of the believer with the three divine persons. In the order of the divine persons, we find the first expression in 1 Thessalonians 2, where the young believers of Thessalonica were called to walk worthily of God, who would call them to his own kingdom and his own glory. So we need to walk worthily of God. In Colossians 1, before we see the two preeminences of the Lord Jesus, as head of the creation and head in redemption, as firstborn from among the dead, the Colossians are called to walk worthily of the Lord Jesus, of Christ himself. In Ephesians 4, walking worthily of the heavenly calling is in fact walking worthily of the Holy Spirit. And the following verses clearly state this to us. And finally, when Paul was writing to the Philippians from his prison in Rome, he wanted their conversation, their conduct, their walk in fact, to be proper in conjunction with the gospel. So we need to work worthily of God, of the Lord Jesus Christ, of our heavenly calling, the Holy Spirit, and walk according to the gospel. Timothy is a beautiful example of such a man, such a believer, who walks in the grace of God according to those principles. The first mention we find of Timothy is in Acts 16, at the beginning of Acts 16. Let's read that one verse. Paul came to Durban, Lystra, and behold, a certain disciple was there named Timotheus, the son of a certain woman which was a Jewess and believed, but his father was a Greek, which was well reported of by the brethren that were at Lystra in Iconium. Timothy was raised in a family where God was feared, although it was an illegal marriage according to the Jewish commandments of the law. A Jewess could not marry a man from heaven, from the nations. Yet the grace of God intervened, and Timothy had the immense privilege of being raised at the sound of the word from his youth up. And the apostle will remind him of this in his second epistle. Timothy, few things, few details are given on his life, on his circumstances, simply what we need to know. And the most we know about him is through the exhortations which are given to him by Paul in the two epistles addressed to him. He was of a very sensitive character, so this is not a good reason not to be faithful to the Lord in our lives. He was of not too good a health. He had stomach ailings, problems. He needed encouragement. He needed to be supported by the love of his brethren. And Paul gives a marvelous example of avoiding that terrible danger among us now of the generation gap. Look at the link of love, the exchange, the movement of hearts from Timothy to Paul and from Paul to Timothy. It is beautiful. And that's probably one very practical exhortation we should draw from the example of Timothy. Timothy originally was then from Lystra. We find him a little later, I think it's in chapter 17. He'll be found here a little later with Silas and with Timothy and they went to Athens, or at least to Greece. And then he was in Ephesus. In Ephesus he is mentioned a little later when Paul came to visit Ephesus in chapter 19 of the Acts. It seems that Timothy spent a long part of his Christian life in Ephesus. He went to Rome, he was taken a prisoner, and was freed from prison in Hebrews 13. Then probably a year before he received the two epistles from Paul. It is important to remember that Timothy was associated with the local assembly at Ephesus. And to better understand the teachings of Paul to Timothy, their practical application to us, I think it's worthy to consider very briefly the various ways of the Lord Jesus towards this ascent assembly in Ephesus. Ephesus is in minor Asia, the capital of that part of the world which will be now close to Izmir in Turkey. There are various assemblies, at least seven, because those are the seven assemblies to which the epistle is sent by John at the beginning of Revelation, Revelation 2 and 3. We know that Paul spent a lapse of approximately three years in Ephesus. He found twelve disciples of John the Baptist there. He taught them about Christianity, about Christian baptism, and an assembly was formed. He spent approximately three years with them. A few years later, returning from his second visit, missionary journey, he called the elders of Ephesus at Miletus. It is in Acts 20, verse 17. At this moment, the public ministry of the apostle was mostly behind him. And he would look back at the grace of God and spoke from the bottom of his heart to the elders at Ephesus. He told them several very important problems, exercises which will concern the assembly. Number one, he would clear his responsibility, had taken no reservation to teach them the counsel of God. Then he addressed them concerning the future, saying two things will happen. There will be decline in the assembly. There will be wolves coming from the outside trying to prey the flock. And there will be disciples from within the assembly itself who would raise. And rather than assembling the disciples around the Lord Jesus as the only master and as the only center of the gathering, they would ravish the disciples away from the Lord for themselves. We have to be blind not to realize that has happened for the centuries afterwards and even at our own time. Paul concludes, and three times he says, and now, now brethren, now I have not shunned to declare you the counsel of God. What are the resources for the times of weakness and departure from the truth? The same as those which were promised by Haggai the prophet to the small remnant coming back to Jerusalem. The presence of God, the guidance of the Holy Spirit, and the word of God. He says here, verse 32 of Acts 20, I command you to God and to the word of his grace which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them that are sanctified. Then Paul went to Jerusalem, was taken to Syrgaria for two years, prisoner of the Gentiles for another two years in Rome, and wrote an epistle to the Ephesians. This is the third message to Ephesus. This epistle is extremely important practically for us, because walking well in this world as a believer is intimately connected with receiving in our hearts, in our minds, in our inner man, all the doctrines of Christ. Paul's doctrine, as he says. This epistle shows us the counsels of God, about election, predestination, heavenly calling, promises. The assembly is on the earth now, the body of Christ, composed of all true believers, spread in such a way at this moment, in Christian world and otherwise, in such a way that no one knows where they are. The Lord Jesus does. So all believers are composing, are making the body of Christ, the fullness of him that filleth all in all, the complement. Christ and the believers are one, the real Christ. The body of Christ is mentioned seven or eight times in the epistle to the Ephesians. Also, the believers, as a company, make the bride of the Lamb. It is the side of affections which is stressed in chapter 5. Christ loved the church to the extent that he died. He was delivered, he gave himself for the church. Then we have to put all the panoply of God, because the warfare is in the heavenly places. The heavenly places are mentioned five times in this epistle. This is important because we find the same features in the practical exhortation to Timothy. Then what happens? Paul was freed, for a moment at least. As much as I can realize, the first epistle to Timothy was written in year 64, which would be two years after the captivity of Paul, when he wrote the four epistles of the captivity. Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. At this moment, Paul wrote to his son in the faith, telling him that the assembly was not only the body of Christ and the bride of the Lamb, but also all believers compose at this moment the church of the living God, which is an habitation of God through the Spirit. This church is the house of God on earth. And immediately thereafter, Paul tells Timothy about the mystery of godliness at the end of chapter three. There are rules, moral spiritual rules, to conduct, to hold ourselves, to behave in the house of God. In relation to the character of the house of God. The house of prayer, the house where holiness becomes. Because the house of God on earth is the ground and the pillars, the columns of truth. Truth, grace and truth came in Christ Jesus. There is in the assembly a proof, an example for this world of what the truth is, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is the mission of the assembly on earth, as the house of God. The two epistles to Timothy have something in common, which is most remarkable. The Lord's return, in grace, to rupture the church and introduce the church in the Father's mentions, is not essentially mentioned. Rather, the appearing of the Lord is mentioned, which will be the second phase of his second coming. The Epiphania rather than the Perusia. The character God takes in the first and second epistles to Timothy, the characters are remarkable. The Savior God, the God of all majesty, who lives in the unapproachable light. Let's read that scripture in 2 Timothy. I'll read just a few. 1 Timothy 1.17 King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, and to be honor and glory forever and ever to him. Chapter 2 God our Savior, it's rather the Savior God. Chapter 2 verse 5 There is one God, one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. I'd like to stop one second to mention that beautiful expression, the man Christ Jesus. Our brothers earlier mentioned that a beautiful expression of man of God, several times in the Old Testament, only once for Timothy in the New Testament. But among and above all, there is the man Christ Jesus. He's more than a man of God, he's God's man. Man, son of man, son of God, is the man Christ Jesus. The only mediator, the only mediator between God and man. In chapter 6, we read in verse 15 God has blessed and only patented the King of kings and the Lord of lords, who only hath immortality dwelling in the light, which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see. To him be honor and power everlasting. Even in the second epistle, Paul speaks about the appearing of the Lord Jesus and those who love his appearing. Why? Because when you speak about the appearing of the Lord Jesus, the Lord speaks to our conscience in connection with our responsibility. When we think about the Lord's return in grace to take us, it fills our heart and brings refreshment and comfort, particularly to those who are in tears, who are in the valley of Bacchae, the valley of tears. The first epistle then sets what the company of believers on earth are as the house of God, and there is a way in which you have to conduct, to behave yourself in the house of God. There are orders, commandments, moral commitments. Then the house of God became, only two years later, probably the second epistle was written in 66, a great house. There was a discordance, there was a separation between what the assembly was at the beginning, where all believers were totally so much separated from the Jews and from the nations that we knew where the believers were, making the body of Christ and the house. Now, the house of God comprises those who have the Christian profession, and within those, some may have crept into the assembly, who are only professing Christians without eternal life. Yet, the house keeps the name of the house of God, but the new character of the house has become a great house, and there are special instructions, even in this house has caught fire, even in this house where no one can see and know whether they are true believers or only professing Christians. There are still moral characters, and there are still teachings to abide with, and this is the great teaching of the second epistle. There was one more message sent to Ephesus, Revelation 2, first paragraph. This is the sixth message. For us, probably the most important. I discovered only a few days ago, thinking over those things, when Paul addressed Timothy for the last time, six months before the martyrdom, it was at the end of his reign, Timothy was still a young man. When John wrote the message to Ephesus, Timothy probably had about the age of Paul when Paul left the city. The message is addressed to whom? The angel. Not Timothy himself personally, but definitely it went to him. It should go to us. What was the heart of this message? I have left your first love. This is the departure. Let's not look after anything else. It comes back to the affections. And the Lord knows, and the Lord has given the last warning. The seventh message, the last one, that completes the entire picture of the church of Ephesus. No one will know, and it's not the object of our faith to know anything about this. The candlestick was removed. There is not an assembly in Ephesus today. Let's take those things to heart. Let's not be discouraged, but let's not take them lightly. Now, after this brief summary of the history of Ephesus and of the place Timothy was, by God's calling, was supposed to take in this assembly, let's look at some practical exhortations in those two epistles to Timothy. The first we would look at are connected with Timothy's personal life. He was, in 1 Timothy 1, he was asked by the apostles to abide still at Ephesus, verse 3, to hold a special commandment, verse 5, charity or love, out of his pure heart, good conscience, faith, and faith. Then verse 11, it was the glorious gospel of the blessed God which was committed to Paul's trust. Then again, the charge now was given to Timothy, 1 Timothy 1, verse 18, this charge I commit unto thee, son Timothy, according to the prophecies which went on before on thee, that thou mightest war a good warfare, holding faith and a good conscience. The first teachings, the first exhortations, are always to our practical, personal life. The most important thing is not what we do, what we preach, it is what we are, what we enjoy, what is the personal exercise of my heart. And within those exercises, the first thing mentioned is the pure heart. Then the good conscience. And then the faith, sincere and faith. Why is it so that heart is mentioned first? Because the center of a man, particularly a believer, is the affections. My affections will govern my walk. If I walk in a certain pathway, my heart governs me. This is the reason why in Proverbs it is said that we have to control, to keep our hearts more than anything, because out of this heart are the issues of life. I will try to keep it. Proverbs 4, verse 23. Keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life. The first thing then for the walk of the believer in this world is to be watchful of our affections. What are affections occupied with? The Lord Jesus or worldly things? Not necessarily filthy as such, simply other objects which will take in our hearts the place of the Lord Jesus. The second exhortation is as to the conscience. There is a pure heart and there is a good conscience. A good conscience you would acquire as a believer because the conscience has been purged, washed by the blood of the Lamb. How do you keep it in practice? I think this point has been touched before. By personal judgment. We have to go to Gilgal. One of the points visited by Elijah and Elisha in the last journey of Elijah to heaven. Gilgal is the judgment of self, the judgment of the flesh. It is a place of suffering for ourselves. But this is the place where you gain true liberty. Where really you can be formed, you can be shaped into a vessel fit for the mass to use. Then the third character is faith, sincere faith, faith unfamed. Faith in the New Testament has three meanings. Galatians 2 says that the faith in Christ, knowing that the Lord Jesus has died for me, is for eternal life. Faith and for salvation. Then faith is confidence in God. And there is a beautiful example set from Abel down on the line in Hebrews 11. Showing the example of the wall of faith. Then faith is the whole of the Christian truth, of the Christian principle. And we have to hold this. This is something committed to us. The expression is found three times in the first and second epistles. Paul had something committed to him, to his trust, and he would give this trust to the Lord Jesus to keep it for himself. And Timothy was called to do likewise. Something was given to his trust. And this is what you find in verse 18. This charge I commit unto thee. We have to hold faith and a good conscience. If we don't hold the faith and a good conscience, we might make shipwreck, like some have made. What is the true center of that commitment, of that charge? It is the glad tidings of the glory of the blessed God. The glorious gospel of the blessed God. And this is really the theme and the main principle of this epistle. Once we have found this, you will find a little later that Paul instructed Timothy not only to live for himself, his pure life, away from the evil, in self-judgment, in a pure heart and good conscience, but he should set himself in all humility as an example to the believers. This is found in 1 Timothy 4 verse 12. We will be an example, a help to our fellow believers in the proportion where we live in the presence of God. Why do we think Elijah and Elisha were called men of God twice? Because they would say both for most of their life. God in the presence of whom I live, I stand, is living that something or something will happen. Live in the presence of the Lord Jesus for ourselves is the key to set an example and to be really a witness for the Lord Jesus in this world. Now the example Timothy should give was in conversation, which is conduct, behavior, charity, love, spirit, faith, purity. How do we in practice apply this to our practical life? By following the instructions that our brother has mentioned earlier in previous meetings. And this is found in chapter 6 verse 11. Thou, O man of God, flee these things, follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness. Flee these things relate to the paragraph before, which is the love of money. And in a conference in Germany a few years ago, a dear brother mentioned something which struck me very hard. He says there is a difference in the scripture on the same page of our Bible. Verse 9 of chapter 6. If they that will be rich, in other words who are trying to get rich, and verse 17 charged them that are rich. You may be rich and you may be poor trying to get rich. If we try to get rich, it is at the expense of our Christian life and there is not only no excuse, but there is no exception. The word is extremely clear. All those which will love money, they that will be rich, fall into temptation. There is no exception. They all will fall into all sorts of evil and destroy their practical life. And those who are rich are exhausted, on the other hand, not to make their confidence, put their confidence in the riches, but only in God who made them available to us. So Timothy was instructed to flee from the love of money. And he was exhorted to follow after six things in his practical personal life. The first one is righteousness. Righteousness is the practical aspect of righteousness and relates to the state of our conscience. As we said before, keeping a good conscience is by the self-judgment of the flesh. The apostle was exercised to this, to have always a good conscience before God and men. And we should do likewise. Then godliness, which relates to the life of our soul in relation with God. We have relations with God. Godliness piety is also the description of this. And this is the life of the inner man. And this is what we have to look after. Then faith, both confidence in God and holding the truth of Christian truth. Love, love to God, love to the brethren, love to the world. Love is the nature of God himself. He is light and love. The law gave a commandment of man to love his brother, in the Jewish people, to love his brother as themselves. The standard has been changed by the Lord Jesus in John 13. As I have loved thee, as the Father has loved thee, has loved you. And the measure is the same love as the Father has loved the Son. Then we should love one another. What is at the time of the departure of the truth? What is the special characteristic of Philadelphia? Philadelphia is the love of brethren. So this is love. Patience. Here it is on the wall. What is patience? The special distinguishing character of the apostle. In the list given in 2 Corinthians, the first character of an apostle is patience. And I think we will all agree with me that patience is very far from our natural reaction to things. We like things to go quick and settle our way too often. Patience. The husbandman, the plowman, will wait until God blesses his work on earth. What is the turn? What is the end? The Lord's return. There are many things which will not be settled before the Lord's return. So this is patience. Neatness. Neatness is the distinguished character of one of the men of God of the Old Testament. Moses. Moses, man of God who wrote Psalm 90. The title of the psalm. He was a legislator. He was a very faithful person. And his meekness, his humility of spirit, of mind was remarkable. Paul calls to this in Philippians. And the expression of this meekness, of humility of spirit, is not to try to gain over the others, but listen to the others and essentially be submitted one another in the love of Christ. Being altogether submissive to the Lord's will. The race of the Christian, of the believer on earth, the walk, is compared also to a fight and to a combat or to something in the arena. We have to fight the good fight and we have to lay at the end, it is on eternal life. Eternal life is not eternal life for salvation. It is the life being gained at the end of our personal life on earth. Like the end of Romans 6. Then we come to the second epistle to Timothy. Things have changed considerably. It is almost unbelievable how in the lapse of two years things changed so rapidly. And definitely the Lord had allowed this in order for us to have the teachings which would be adapted to the present time. First Timothy, in chapter 4, it is mentioned the latter times, which are essentially the time of the Middle Ages. Now things have changed to the apostasy of the last days. First Timothy 3, brilliant times shall come. John speaks about the last hour. Peter speaks about the people who will mock themselves about the truth. Here there will be the last days where the Christianity has gone down into apostasy. The description of this has only one counterpart. It is the deprivation of nations in heaven in Romans 1. With one exception and one addition here. Because they have turned the godliness into an outside form and denying the power of godliness. The house of God is a great house. The first reaction of our human nature will be to let it go, let's be discouraged. Let's think that there is no more public testimony and that the individual responsibility will replace everything. There will be no more public testimony to the end. The teaching of the spirit in the world is different. If we have to behave in a certain fashion in the house of God, when it was in order in the first epistle, then we have special instructions to behave according to the nature of the house at the time it has become a great house. We have instructions in a positive fashion, and as our brother said earlier, there are six instructions on a negative aspect. Let's briefly state them. Chapter 2 verse 16. Shut the propane in vain bubbling. It is strange how people in the world have always an opinion on anything. They are always discussing, arguing about things they don't understand. Now we have to stay away from this. It is none of our business. Second verse 19. Let everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. Verse 21. If a man therefore purge himself from these, from those vessels of dishonor, he shall be a vessel unto honor. Purge himself. Personal separation, which is the necrogastrical separation here. Verse 22. Flee youthful lust. Verse 23. Avoid foolish, non-learned questions, which is about the same as in verse 16. And finally, turn away, chapter 3 verse 5, from those who have the form of godliness denying the power thereof. Separation, we don't like to speak too much about this. We should not avoid speaking it, but definitely we should look at separation the way God teaches us to do. There are several dangers connected to separation. The first danger is that when you separate, you separate from something which is not according to God's standards, which is not good. So you get occupied with evil things or unnecessary things. This is not for the benefit of our souls. So if it's necessary to speak about separation, let's not feed on separation. The second thing, which I think is in a very, very real danger in our assemblies today. Separation tends to raise yourself above the others. If you separate, it's because you are better. No sir. It's because the Lord Jesus asks you to separate. And let's consider, let's not look back and down on the other people we are supposed to be separated from. There are true Christians, much more faithful than we ever will be. And if the Lord Jesus has not given them the light and the power to separate from the place where they are, it's the Lord's business, not ours. Separation is not an end in itself. That's the last point. If you look at the walls of Nehemiah in Jerusalem, the walls are necessary. There are gates, bars, locks, all sorts of things to prevent the enemies from entering the city. But the wall is not the center of the city. The center of the city, where was it? Where was it? It was the temple. It was the altar. It was the presence of God. It was the enjoyment of the souls gathered into this place of blessing. And the gates and the walls around the city are simply to prevent the enemy from destroying God's Word. So this is separation from us. It's a necessary step. But the ultimate is grace, the power of gathering, as J. N. B. wrote 150 years ago. If we separate, it is because the Lord Jesus tells us. There is a seal, a coin. There are two sides of the coin. On one side, the Lord Jesus knows who are his own. Verse 19. The foundation of God stands sure having this seal. The Lord knows them that are his. The other side, which is man's believer's responsibility, is that let's depart. Everyone that nameth the name of Christ departs from iniquity. Why is this so? I'm going to take a very simple example of practical life. Exemplifying the double teaching of one of the two prophecies of the Gaia, which we referred to a while ago. We take a plate of fruit. We place in that plate several fruits. We place one rotten fruit, one bad one. What will happen? Will the bad fruit become good because it is in contact by good fruit? No way. It's going to spread and soon after a few days all the fruit will be rotten, unused. Similarly, let's take the other way. We have a series in a plate. We have several fruits which are bad. We place one good fruit in the center. Do you think the bad fruit will become good? No way. The reason is that you cannot associate good and evil because they are not on the same level. If you associate good and evil, good loses its character and evil doesn't change. The only thing which is lost is the power of truth. So if you think that once the Lord Jesus has given you life, instructing you about separation, if you stay in a place where the life of the Lord is not only savior but head of the body, of his body, and King and Lord of the individuals, if we think we will stay there to change that state, we are missing. We have simply to depart, to separate. In that great house there are several vessels. There are vessels made of good materials or materials which will not take the proof of fire. By nature we all are made of pottery, of clay. Jeremiah and other verses are very clear. Once a man has eternal life, in fact the matter of the vessel changes. So the type of matter relates to the true character of the believer. Does he have eternal life or is he only a professing Christian? Then those which are at the vessel of honor and vessel of dishonor, the difference is because of the behavior of the conduct down below, and of the character of the work of the vessel. Very clear from 1 Corinthians 3. Altogether you may have three types of workmen. The good workmen who have life, eternal, who is a true believer and who produces good works. You have one true believer which may be producing bad works. And you have those who don't have life, who are really agents of Satan, who are destroying the church. To those the judgment is decided from God. But 1 Corinthians 3 says that those will be destroyed because they are touching the house of God which is the dwelling of the Holy Ghost. So what do we have to do? One, the difference between the vessels in terms of materials, nature and behavior. We have to separate from those vessels unto dishonor. Where do we go? To the Lord Jesus. And the expression was mentioned. We go within the veil, outside the camp, in a prayer this morning. Separation is always to Christ. Are we by ourselves? No. What do we find? We find those who are, If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified and neat for the massive use, and prepared unto good work. And then we find those that call on the Lord out of the pure heart. There is a remarkable difference between this expression that those that call upon the Lord out of the pure heart with the introduction to the epistle to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians. The expression in 1 Corinthians does not contain the pure heart. The pure heart is a nagged requirement by the Lord because of the state of the public church. So if we have to follow, to separate from those bad vessels, if we have to flee the youthful lusts, then we will follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of the pure heart. Remarkably, the things to follow after are the very same as we mentioned in 1 Timothy 6, with one addition, which is peace. And have we noticed that in Ephesians 4, which sets forth so clearly the three circles, the unity of the body of Christ relating to the unity of the Spirit, then we are called practically to follow after, manifest the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. That's why we are called for. The heavenly calling is what we have mentioned before. Peace cannot be found in the world. There is no peace for the wicked. Peace is something the men in the world look after and will never find. Yet we can find peace if we have with us the Lord of Peace. And peace follows the other things we have to look after and follow before this. In practice, what was the instruction given to Timothy? Time is almost up. Keep the testimony the Lord Jesus had addressed to him, and continue the work Paul had started during the course of his life and ministry. Paul was close to have reached the end of his life. He had fought the good fight. 2 Timothy, verse 7. He had finished the course. He had kept the faith. Remarkably, this is what he had in mind, asking the Lord Jesus in Acts 20, when he had the farewell with the elder that had existed, providing I would finish my course, I would finish and keep the faith. Then, he had finished, he had fought the fight, finished the course, kept the faith. He was by himself, alone. Two or three exceptions. Luke, Timothy, and Jesus Christ. No one else. Those in Asia had abandoned him. They had not abandoned Christianity. They had abandoned Paul, because they thought Paul was probably a little too strict and too legal. This is not what we should follow. We should follow Paul's doctrine. The reward of Paul was that he was saved for the heavenly kingdom and glory of his Lord. Verse 18. And what was left for Timothy to do? Do the same as Onesiperus. One of the Ephesians, preaching from the Ephesus, in verse 18 of chapter 1. When he was in Rome, he taught the apostles diligently. The Lord grant him unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, thou knowest very well. The Lord may grant us that in the assemblies among us, among ourselves, in England, Great Britain, France, and any other place in this world, there will be more Timothy. There will be more Onesiperus. More Luke. And more of those who continue to fight the good fight, and who have put their trust in the Lord Jesus, knowing that the Lord Jesus will give the reward in due time. May he bless his word for each of our souls. …