The Law of the House

by T. Austin-Sparks

Reading: Ezekiel 43:1-12

At a time when the temple in Jerusalem was in ruins, Ezekiel the prophet was shown a spiritual temple, measured out by a man with a golden measuring rod. The measurements were all exact; the prophet was led in, led through, led round, led up, set down, so that he could see it from every side. From every angle and every aspect this spiritual house, which was God's mind accurately expressed, was shown to him. For Ezekiel it was a spiritual temple, and it remains so until now. Then the command was given to him to show it to the house of Israel, so that they should be thoroughly ashamed - presumably at their own short-comings.

It was not only a prophecy: it was also a figure. It spoke of God's people who were meant to form His dwelling place. In a sense it pointed right back to Adam, the man who was originally intended to be indwelt by God and filled with His glory. If, as we look backwards to Adam, we have any doubts about this intention, these doubts are dispelled immediately we take the forward look to Christ, for we see Him as the Man on the mount of transfiguration crowned with glory and honour. We are given to understand that He is the first of the new humanity, and that He is bringing many sons to glory. We are to be joined with Him, as members of His body, and so to share His glory. God's true temple is not an earthly edifice, but a people. Israel's temple was but a type of the intention for Adam to be indwelt by God and filled with His glory. The first man, Adam, failed. Israel, with its typical temple failed, and the key to their failure is found in the matter of heart fellowship with God by faith.

This is really the key to so much, this matter of heart fellowship by faith. For lack of this Adam never became a temple of God, and because of failure in this respect the Jewish temple became a ruin. When it lay in ruins, the word of the Lord came by Haggai: "Who is left among you that saw this house in its former glory? ...The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts" (Haggai 2:3 and 9). Now the fact is that there has never yet been a literal temple on this earth with greater glory than that of Solomon. Whether there is still to be such a temple on this earth does not concern us very much, for we look higher, and see the veil drawn away for a new temple to come down from heaven with the proclamation: "The tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them". Only a spiritual temple can come down out of heaven, so Haggai's words are prophetic, pointing on to Christ. He alone can transcend all that has gone before, so that the last Adam is greater than the first, just as the last temple is greater than the former. Christ is God's eternal reality, not a type or a pattern, but the fulfilment of them all. Adam was a type of Him that was to come, and the temple was a type of Him who said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again". The types have broken down. Christ is the reality. He is the temple in whom God truly dwells, the Amen, the final conclusive realisation of God's desire to live with men.

Ezekiel spoke of "the law of the house". In His life on earth, Christ was governed by spiritual laws, and we can discover one of these by considering the cause of the breakdown of the types. Where did the ruin begin? It began before it affected this creation and overtook Adam. We understand that the original cause of the ruin was pride of heart: "For thou saidst in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God... I will be like the Most High" (Isaiah 14:13-14). Adam fell by succumbing to this same temptation, and his pride revealed itself in a threefold way - independence, possessiveness and self-centredness. The same features were thus found in Adam's pride of heart as had been expressed by Satan's fall to ruin. Adam's fall meant that from then onwards he had to take responsibility for making his own way. He had to earn his bread by the sweat of his brow. Up to that point, God had taken responsibility and provided everything for him; life was a very simple matter, with no cause for anxious thoughts about anything. From the moment of yielding to heart pride, however, he had to accept responsibility for his own affairs and maintain his existence on earth.

We see the great contrast in the case of the last Adam. If pride of heart caused ruin, then humility of heart was basic to recovery. If pride of heart found expression in independence, then humility delighted in dependence. From His birth onwards, everything about the Lord Jesus spoke of lowliness and humility. With Him there was no self-importance; even as the king He came: "...meek, and riding upon an ass". It was by virtue of His life of utter dependence that He provided a home in which the Father could live. It was to this that Stephen was leading up when he was so brutally interrupted. His full quotation would have been: "...what manner of house will ye build unto me? and what place shall be my rest? ...but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at my word" (Isaiah 66:1-2).

If ruin came by pride, and pride showed itself in possessiveness, then humility will be revealed by self-emptying. Certainly Christ emptied Himself, and so became a fit home for God. There is a power about this divine humility which is capable of bringing the pride of Satan to the dust, destroying all the devil's works. It might be thought that when we speak of humility we are simply emphasising one of the common virtues of the Christian life, but in fact we are dealing with a much bigger issue, even the desire of God to dwell in man. The whole intention of the incarnation is "God with us", and for that purpose Christ was God manifest in the flesh so that He could recover a home for God in the hearts of men. He was "crucified through weakness", but what a complete transformation has been made possible in the whole universe on the basis of that crucifixion! The pride which made it impossible for God to dwell in Adam, and which made it necessary to withdraw His presence from the earthly temple, has now been challenged and defeated by the humility of the Lamb.

A.W. Pink - Overcoming the World

Overcoming the World




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A.W. Pink - What is Most Needed Today?

Such a friend

(Thomas Brooks, "Apples of Gold" 1660)

"There is a friend who sticks closer than
 a brother." Proverbs 18:24

Such a friend is Jesus. He is so a friend
to every one of His people, as if He were
a friend to none besides. Jesus is . . .
  an omnipotent friend;
  an omniscient friend;
  an omnipresent friend;
  an indeficient friend;
  a sovereign friend;
  an immutable friend;
  a watchful friend;
  a loving friend;
  a faithful friend;
  a compassionate friend;
  a close friend,
  a universal friend—a friend in
     all cases and in all places,
  our first friend,
  a constant friend—"Whom He loves,
    He loves to the end." John 13:1


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They have all learned in one school

(J. C. Ryle, "Having the Spirit")

All who have the Spirit—are taught by Him. He is called
in Scripture, "The Spirit of wisdom and revelation." It
was the promise of the Lord Jesus, "He shall teach you
all things." "He shall guide you into all truth."

We are all by nature ignorant of spiritual truth. "The
natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of
God—they are foolishness to him." Our eyes are blinded.
We neither know God, nor Christ, nor ourselves, nor the
world, nor sin, nor heaven, nor hell—as we ought. We
see everything under false colors. 

The Spirit alters entirely this state of things. He opens
the eyes of our understandings. He illumines us. He calls
us out of darkness into marvelous light. He takes away
the veil. He shines into our hearts, and makes us see
things as they really are!

No wonder that all true Christians are so remarkably
agreed upon the essentials of true religion! The reason
is, that they have all learned in one school—the
school of the Holy Spirit. No wonder that true Christians
can understand each other at once, and find common
ground of fellowship! They have been taught the
same language, by One whose lessons are never
forgotten!

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Prove All Things

by J. C. Ryle

"Prove all things—hold fast that which is good." 1 Thessalonians 5:21

You live in days when the text before your eyes is one of the first importance. The truths it contains are especially truths for the times. Give me your attention for a few minutes, and I will try to show you what I mean.

There were three great doctrines or principles which won the battle of the Protestant Reformation:

first, the sufficiency and supremacy of Holy Scripture

secondly, the right of private judgment

thirdly, justification by faith alone, without the deeds of the law.

These three principles were the keys of the whole controversy between the Reformers and the Church of Rome. Keep firm hold of them when you argue with a Roman Catholic, and your position is unassailable; no weapon that the Church of Rome can forge against you shall prosper. Give up any one of them, and your cause is lost. Like Samson, with his hair shorn, your strength is gone. Like the Spartans, betrayed at Thermopylae, you are outflanked and surrounded. You cannot maintain your ground. Resistance is useless. Sooner or later you will have to lay down your arms, and surrender at discretion. Remember this.

The Roman Catholic controversy is upon you once more. You must put on the old armor, if you would not have your faith overthrown. The sufficiency of Holy Scripture, the right of private judgment, justification by faith alone—these are the three great principles to which you must always cling. Grasp them firmly, and never let them go. Reader, one of the three great principles to which I have referred appears to me to stand forth in the verse of Scripture which heads this tract—I mean the right of private judgment. I wish to say something to you about that principle.

The Holy Spirit, by the mouth of Paul, says to us, "Prove all things. Hold fast that which is good." In these words you have two great truths:

I. The right, duty, and necessity of private judgment. "Prove all things."

II. The duty and necessity of keeping firm hold upon truth. "Hold fast that which is good."

I propose to dwell a little on both these heads.

I. Let me speak first, of the right, duty, and necessity of private judgment. "Prove all things." When I say the right of private judgment, I mean that every individual Christian has a right to judge for himself by the Word of God, whether that which is put before him as religious truth, is God's truth, or is not. When I say the duty of private judgment, I mean that God requires every Christian man to use the right of which I have just spoken—to compare man's words and man's writings with God's revelation, and to make sure that he is not deluded and taken in by false teaching. And when I say the necessity of private judgment, I mean this—that it is absolutely needful for every Christian who loves his soul and would not be deceived, to exercise that right, and discharge that duty to which I have referred; seeing that experience shows that the neglect of private judgment has always been the cause of immense evils in the Church of Christ!

Now the Apostle Paul urges all these three points upon your notice when he uses those remarkable words, "Prove all things." I ask your particular attention to that expression. In every point of view it is most weighty and instructive. Here, you will remember, the Apostle Paul is writing to the Thessalonians, to a Church which he himself had founded. Here is an inspired Apostle writing to young inexperienced Christians, writing to the whole professing Church in a certain city, containing laity as well as clergy, writing too with especial reference to matters of doctrine and preaching, as we know by the verse preceding the text: "Despise not prophesyings." And yet mark what he says: "Prove all things." He does not say, "Whatever apostles, whatever evangelists, pastors and teachers, whatever your leaders, whatever your ministers tell you is truth--that you are to believe." No! he says, "Prove all things." He does not say, "Whatever the universal Church pronounces true--that you are to hold." No! he says, "Prove all things."

The principle laid down is this, "Prove all things by the Word of God. All ministers, all teaching, all preaching, all doctrines, all sermons, all writings, all opinions, all practices—prove all by the Word of God. Measure all by the measure of the Bible. Compare all with the standard of the Bible. Weigh all in the balances of the Bible. Examine all by the light of the Bible. Test all in the crucible of the Bible. That which can abide the fire of the Bible--you are to receive, hold, believe and obey. That which cannot abide the fire of the Bible--you are to reject, refuse, repudiate, and cast away."

Reader, this is private judgment. This is the right you are to exercise if you love your soul. You are not to believe things in religion merely because they are said by Popes or Cardinals—by Bishops or Priests—by Presbyters or Deacons—by Churches, Councils, or Synods—by Fathers, Puritans, or Reformers. You are not to argue, "Such and such things must be true--because these men say so." You are not to do so. You are to prove all things by the Word of God.

I know such doctrine sounds shocking in some men's ears. But I write it down advisedly, and believe it cannot be disproved. I want to encourage no man in ignorant presumption or ignorant contempt. I praise not the man who seldom reads his Bible, and yet sets himself up to pick holes in his minister's sermons. I praise not the man who knows nothing but a few texts in the New Testament, and yet undertakes to settle questions in divinity which have puzzled God's wisest children. But still I hold with Bilson, that "all hearers have both liberty to discern, and a charge to beware of seducers; and woe to them that do it not." And I say with Davenant, "We are not to believe all who undertake to teach in the Church, but must take care and weigh with serious examination, whether their doctrine is sound or not."

Reader, men may dislike the doctrine of private judgment, but there is no doubt that it is continually taught in the Word of God. This is the principle laid down in the eighth chapter of Isaiah, 19th verse. These words were written, remember, at a time when God was more immediately King over His Church, and had more direct communication with it than He has now. They were written at a time when there were men upon earth who had direct revelations from God. Yet what does Isaiah say? "To the law and to the testimony! If they do not speak according to this word, it is because there is no light or truth in them." If this be not private judgment what is?

This again is the principle laid down by our Lord Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount. Remember what He says: "Beware of false prophets which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves. You shall know them by their fruit." (Matt. 7:15.) How is it possible that men shall know these false prophets, except they exercise their private judgment as to what their fruits are?

This is the practice you find commended in the Bereans, in the Acts of the Apostles. They did not take the Apostle Paul's word for granted, when he came to preach to them. You are told, that they searched the Scriptures daily, whether those things were so," and "therefore," it is said, "many of them believed." (Acts 17:11, 12.) What was this again but private judgment?

"The people of God are called to test the truth, to judge between true and false, between light and darkness. God has made them the promise of His Spirit, and has left unto them His Word. The Christians of Berea, when they heard the preaching of Paul, searched the Scriptures daily, to ascertain whether those things which Paul taught were true. So must you. Give heed to instruction--and yet do not receive any teachings without proof and trial that they are the wholesome doctrine of the Word of God." Jewell.

This is the spirit of the advice given in 1 Cor. 10:15, "I speak as unto wise men—you judge what I say." Coloss. 2:18, "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit." 1 John 4:1, "Beloved, believe not every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God." 2 John 10, "If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house." If these passages do not recommend the use of private judgment, I do not know what words mean. To my mind they seem to say to every individual Christian, "Prove all things."

Reader, whatever men may say against private judgment, you may be sure that it cannot be neglected without immense danger to your soul. You may not like it, but you never know what you may come to, if you refuse to use it! No man can say into what depths of false doctrine you may be drawn—if you will not do what God requires of you, and "Prove all things."

Suppose that, in fear of private judgment, you resolve to believe whatever the Church believes. Where is your security against error? The Church is not infallible. There was a time when almost the whole of Christendom embraced the Arian heresy, and did not acknowledge the Lord Jesus Christ to be equal with the Father in all things. There was a time, before the reformation, when the darkness over the face of Europe was a darkness which might be felt. The General Councils of the Church are not infallible. When the whole Church is gathered together in a General Council, what says our Twenty-first Article? "They may err, and sometimes have erred, even in things pertaining unto God. Wherefore things ordained by them as necessary to salvation, have neither strength nor authority, unless it may be declared that they he taken out of Holy Scripture."

The particular branches of the Church are not infallible. Anyone of them may err. Many of them have fallen foully, or have been swept away. Where is the Church of Ephesus at this day? Where the Church of Sardis at the present time? Where the Church of Hippo in Africa? Where the Church of Carthage? They are all gone! Not a vestige of any of them is left! Will you then be content to err merely because the Church errs? Will your erring in company with the Church, remove your responsibility for your own soul? Oh, reader, it were surely a thousand times better for a man to stand alone and be saved—than to err in company with the Church, and be lost! It were better to prove all things, and go to heaven—than to say, "I dare not think for myself," and go to hell.

But suppose that, to cut matters short, you resolve to believe whatever your minister believes. Once more I ask, Where is your safety? Where is your security? Ministers are not infallible, any more than Churches. All of them have not the Spirit of God. The very best of them are only men. Call us Bishops, Priests, Deacons, or whatever names you please—we are all earthen vessels. I speak not merely of Popes, who have promulgated awful superstitions and led abominable lives. I would rather point to the very best of Protestants and say, "Beware of looking upon them as infallible—beware of thinking of any man (whoever that man may be)—that he cannot err!"

Luther held to consubstantiation—that was a mighty error. Zwingle, the Swiss Reformer, went on to battle, and died in the fight—that was a mighty error. Calvin, the Geneva Reformer, advised the burning of Servetus—that was a mighty error. Cranmer and Ridley urged the putting of Hooper into prison because of some trifling dispute about vestments—that was a mighty error. Whitgift persecuted the Puritans—that was a mighty error. Wesley and Toplady in the last century, quarreled fiercely about doctrine—that was a mighty error. All these things are warnings—if you will only take them. All say, "Cease from trusting in man." All show us that if a man's religion hangs on ministers, whoever they may be, and not on the Word of God—it hangs on a broken reed!

Never make ministers into Popes. Follow us so far as we follow Christ, but not a hair's breadth further. Believe whatever we can show you out of the Bible, but do not believe a single word more. Neglect the duty of private judgment, and you may find, to your cost, the truth of what Whitby says: The best of overseers do sometimes make oversights. You may live to experience the truth of what the Lord said to the Pharisees: When the blind lead the blind, both fall into the ditch!

Reader, be very sure no man is safe against error, unless he acts on Paul's injunction—unless he "proves all things" by the Word of God. Reader, I have said that it is impossible to overrate the evils that may arise from neglecting to exercise your private judgment. I will go further, and say that it is impossible to overrate the blessings which private judgment has conferred both on the world and on the Church. I ask you to remember that the greatest discoveries in science and in philosophy, have arisen from the use of private judgment. To this we owe the discovery of Galileo, that the earth went round the sun, and not the sun round the earth. To this we owe Columbus' discovery of the new continent of America. To this we owe Harvey's discovery of the circulation of the blood. To this we owe Jenner's discovery of vaccination. To this we owe the printing press, the steam engine, the power-loom, the electric telegraph, railways, and gas. For all these discoveries we are indebted to men who dared to think for themselves. They were not content with the beaten path of those who had gone before. They were not satisfied with taking for granted that what their fathers believed must be true. They made experiments for themselves. They brought old established theories to the proof; and found that they were worthless. They proclaimed new systems, and invited men to examine them, and test their truth. They bore storms of obloquy and ridicule unmoved. They heard the clamor of prejudiced lovers of old traditions without flinching. And they prospered and succeeded in what they did. We see it now. And we who live in the nineteenth century are reaping the fruit of their use of private judgment.

And, reader, as it has been in science—so also it has been in the history of the Christian religion. The martyrs who stood alone in their day, and shed that blood which has been the seed of Christ's Gospel throughout the world—the Reformers, who, one after another, rose up in their might to enter the lists with the Church of Rome—all did what they did, suffered what they suffered, proclaimed what they proclaimed, simply because they exercised their private judgment about what was Christ's truth.

Private judgment made the Waldenses, the Albigenses, and the Lollards, count not their lives dear to them, rather than believe the doctrines of the Church of Rome. Private judgment made Wyckliffe search the Bible in our land, denounce the Romish Friars, and all their impostures, translate the Scriptures into the vulgar tongue, and become "the morning star" of the Reformation. Private judgment made Luther examine Tetzel's abominable system of indulgences by the light of the Word. Private judgment led him on, step by step, from one thing to another, guided by the same light, until at length the gulf between him and Rome was a gulf that could not be passed, and the Pope's power in Germany was completely broken. Private judgment made our own English Reformers examine for themselves, and inquire for themselves, as to the true nature of that corrupt system under which they had been born and brought up. Private judgment made them cast off the abominations of Popery, and circulate the Bible among the laity. Private judgment made them brake the fetters of tradition, and dare to think for themselves. They refused to take for granted, Rome's pretensions and assertions. They examined them all by the Bible, and because they would not abide the examination, they broke with Rome altogether. All the blessing of Protestantism in England, all that we are enjoying at this very day, we owe to the right exercise of private judgment.

Surely if we do not honor private judgment, we are thankless and ungrateful indeed! Reader, I warn you not to be moved by the common argument, that the right of private judgment is liable to be abused—that private judgment has done great harm, and should be avoided as a dangerous thing. Never was there a more miserable argument! Never was there one which when thrashed proves so full of chaff! Private judgment has been abused! I would like the objector to tell me what good gift of God has not been abused! What high principle can be named that has not been employed for the very worst of purposes? Strength may become tyranny when it is employed by the stronger to coerce the weaker, yet strength is a blessing when properly employed. Liberty may become licentiousness when every man does that which is right in his own eyes, without regarding the rights and feelings of others; yet liberty, rightly used, is a mighty blessing. Because many things may be used improperly, are we, therefore, to give them up altogether? Because opium is used improperly by some, is it not to be used as a medicine on any occasion at all? Because money may be used improperly, is all money to be cast into the sea? You cannot have good in this world without evil. You cannot have private judgment without some abusing it, and turning it to bad account.

But private judgment, people say, has done more than good! What harm has private judgment done, I would like to know, in matters of religion, compared to the harm that has been done by the neglect of it? Grant, for a moment, that among Protestants who allow private judgment, there are divisions. Grant that in the Church of Rome, where private judgment is forbidden, there are no divisions. I might easily show that Romish unity is far more seeming than real. Bishop Hall, in his book called The Peace of Rome, numbers up no less than three hundred differences of opinion maintained in the Romish Church. I might easily show that the divisions of Protestants are exceedingly exaggerated, and that most of them are upon points of minor importance. I might show that, with all the varieties of Protestantism, as men call them, there is still a vast amount of fundamental unity and substantial agreement among Protestants. No man can read the "Harmony of Protestant Confessions" without seeing that.

But grant for a moment that private judgment has led to divisions, and brought about varieties. I say that these divisions and varieties are but a drop of water, when compared with the torrent of abominations that have arisen from the Church of Rome's practice of disallowing private judgment altogether! Place the evils in two scales—the evils that have arisen from private judgment, and those that have arisen from no man being allowed to think for himself. Weigh the evils one against another, and I have no doubt as to which will be the greatest. Give me Protestant divisions, certainly, rather than Popish unity, with the fruit that it brings forth! Give me Protestant variations, rather than Romish ignorance, Romish superstition, Romish darkness, and Romish idolatry!

How many versions of the Bible do we need?

EXCERPT


By DANIEL BURKE
Religion News Service

If you stacked all the Bibles sitting in American homes, the tower would rise 29 million feet, almost 1,000 times the height of Mount Everest.

More than 90 percent of American households own a Bible, and the average family owns three, according to pollsters at the Barna Group. The American Bible Society hands out 5 million copies each year; 1.5 billion Gideon Bibles wait in hotel rooms worldwide.

Scripture outsells the latest diet fads, murder mysteries and celebrity bios year after year. Evangelical publishers alone sold an estimated 20 million Bibles in recession-battered 2009, raking in about $500 million in sales, according to Michael Covington, information and education director of the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association.

“Bibles are in many ways a cash cow,” said Phyllis Tickle, a former longtime religion editor at Publishers Weekly. “The Bible is the mainstay of many a publishing program.”

Read more:

Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 1-8

By T. AUSTIN SPARKS
AUGUST 1959


Text     Audio

		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 1
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 2
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 3
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 4
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 5
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 6
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 7
		Men Whose Eyes Have Seen the King - Part 8