Hebrews 13: 7, 8, 14-16
2 Timothy 2: 15
I would like to say a brief word, dear friends and brethren, as to stability and substance. These are two things our brother has demonstrated and they emanated from his unshakeable faith. The scripture we have read in Hebrews says, “imitate their faith”. Our brother would not have wanted to be described as a leader but he demonstrated these two things - stability and substance - that we would do well to imitate. As the brethren know well, the note to “their conversation” says, ‘manner of life’. We would do well to think over that at a time such as this. To have faith, the faith of those of us who have placed our trust in the Lord Jesus, is to be sure, and it is to be solid and firm. There is to be a simplicity about it, and an integrity that keeps our hearts stable until the Lord comes. What we have sung of (hymn 19) is a wonderful hope that the believer has in looking forward to when the Lord Jesus will come.
What drew me to this scripture were these words that we so often use in the gospel, “Jesus Christ if the same yesterday, and to-day, and to the ages to come”. For those who have placed their trust in Him, “yesterday” was about the effecting of our salvation. That is what He has done. Our brother had his trust in that, and he would rarely be more animated than at the time when the glad tidings went out every week. Wherever believers are as the gospel is sounded out, and Jesus is spoken of as a Saviour for sinners, when they have that faith and that firmness and confidence in their heart, then they rejoice that such a One who “yesterday” died for their sins can be the root of this stability in their soul.
So, He is “the same yesterday”, but He is “the same … to-day”. Today may be a day of sorrow and a day when maybe it seems that the pathway has changed and is a little bleaker, but “Jesus Christ is the same”, He is the same today. What a joy it brings to the hearts of believers to know that the One who died on the cross is risen. He lives, and He is the same today, although in a different condition. Praise God for the fact that He is glorified. He has burst the power of death itself. We are in the presence of death, but Christ has broken the power of it. What a mighty triumph then for the believer in the Lord Jesus to have. He is the One who is “the same yesterday, and to-day”. We have the faith to know that He is the same “to the ages to come”. We have sung of Him coming for us. Once He comes for us we will be forever with Him. The Lord has taken our brother, but we soon will be caught up to be with Him, and He will be the same “to the ages to come”. I would like to say that if there is anyone here who does not have stability in the soul, such as our brother had, such as so many in this room have, now is the opportunity to obtain it. God can speak so powerfully by way of death; think of that. Satan seeks to use death as his greatest weapon but God uses it to announce the glad tidings and to speak to souls. These are amazing things and I believe that God would do that today. It says, “considering the issue of their conversation, imitate their faith”. That does not mean imitate mannerisms, or ways of speaking, but we imitate what was seen. That stability was seen in our brother and we would do well to imitate it.
Secondly, I refer to substance. It is without question that our brother had substance. We have proved it in this locality, we proved it in the area and wider, he had substance and he communicated of it. Usually substance in the Scriptures, and maybe here as well, refers to what we have by way of goods and by way of being able to entertain in our houses, but in chapter 10 of Hebrews it says, “knowing that ye have for yourselves a better substance, and an abiding one”, v 34. Our brother worked in Oxford and was surrounded by those who have accumulated knowledge and wisdom according to learning, and he would often speak of the fact that despite all the years and years of work that went into such learning there was nothing accumulated of spiritual substance. The Christian has a better substance and an abiding one, and it lives and it is to be communicated. If someone communicates it, someone else is to receive it. We receive of such substance one from another and I would just submit that we should seek to commit ourselves to that line, to communicating of a spiritual substance. Scripture speaks of “communicating spiritual things by spiritual means”, 1 Cor 2: 13. I would urge myself and others to seek to follow in such a line.
I read in Timothy because, having stability and substance, we are therefore to go out and we are to do something. It speaks here thus, “Strive diligently to present thyself approved to God, a workman that has not to be ashamed". But what I had especially in mind was, “cutting in a straight line the word of truth”. A young brother said to me the other day that he liked asking our brother a question in a Bible reading because you got a straight answer. That was always the case. It may not have been the answer you expected or wanted, but it was a straight answer according to the truth, “cutting in a straight line the word of truth”. Cutting means that you are moving forward and you are doing something that can be taken account of; and that falls to each one of us, to cut “in a straight line the word of truth”. Truth is communicated to us by the Holy Spirit and diligent study of the Scriptures and of the ministry, and through the present speaking of the Lord Jesus. In that way we are able to cut “in a straight line the word of truth”. Our brother, we can say, has stopped cutting now. What about us: are we going to cut, and what is our cutting going to look like? Will it be in a straight line? Will it be according to the truth? It is a challenge I take to myself and I would leave it with my brethren; but with faith, stability, and a substance that comes from being before God, we are able to do it.
For His Name’s sake.
Witney
26th November 2010