Again we turn to that book of Exodus,
and reading in chapter twenty-five.
Turning our attention this evening to the lampstand,
not a candlestick.
They put candles on a candlestick, they put
lamps on a lampstand, so we should read
about lampstand.
Exodus, Exodus chapter twenty-five, and we shall
read from verse thirty-one.
Exodus twenty-five, verse thirty-one.
And thou shalt make a lampstand of pure
gold, of beaten work shall the lampstand be
made, his shaft and his branches, his bowls,
his knops, and his flowers shall be of
the same, all of one piece.
And six branches shall come out of the
sides of it, three branches of the lampstand
out of the one side, and three branches
of the lampstand out of the other side.
Three bowls made like unto almonds with a
knop and a flower in one branch, and
three bowls made like almonds in the other
branch with a knop and a flower, so
in the six branches that come out of
the lampstand.
And in the lampstand, that is in the
main stem, shall be four bowls made like
unto almonds with their knops and their flowers.
And there shall be a knop and the
two branches of the same, and a knop
and the two branches of the same, and
a knop and the two branches of the
same, according to the six branches that proceed
out of the lampstand.
Their knops and their branches shall be of
the same, all it shall be one beaten
work of pure gold.
Well that is the lampstand, and now we
read about the lamps which are distinct from
the lampstand.
Verse thirty-seven, And thou shalt make the
seven lamps thereof, and they shall light the
lamps thereof, that they may give light over
against it.
Now I want to emphasize that little sentence
there, they shall light the lamps thereof, note,
that they may give light over against it,
over against the lampstand.
And the tongs thereof and the snuff dishes
thereof shall be of pure gold, of a
talent of pure gold shall he make it
with all these vessels.
And look that thou make them after their
pattern, which was sure thee in the mount.
Well that is our reading about the lampstand
and about the lamp.
Now let us read a few words about
the oil that was used for the lamp.
Chapter twenty-seven, and verse twenty, And
thou shalt command the children of Israel, that
they bring thee pure oil olive, beaten for
them light, to cause the lamp to burn
always.
In the tabernacle of the congregation, without the
veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and
his son shall order it from evening to
morning before the Lord.
It shall be a statute forever unto their
generations on the behalf of the children of
Israel.
Now that is as much as we need
read this evening to get before us our
subject which is the lampstand.
Now we've had quite a bit of repetition
and I told you it would be so,
because I like to really emphasize these truths
as we are moving on to get them
impressed upon the mind.
The Africans that were in the area of
Congo and Zambia where we were, they had
a proverb, and in their proverb they said,
if you keep hitting in the same spot
you'll raise a lump.
And I'm hoping that by repetition and hitting
in the same spot I'm going to raise
a lump.
You're not likely to forget these talks on
the tabernacle, they will last you for a
long, long time.
And so again this evening shall we gather
it up and then we can add on
what we have for this evening.
So we've followed through night by night, having
seen how God came out from the throne
in dealing with the tabernacle, the ark, cherubim,
mercy seat.
Beginning there he comes out step by step
dealing with that table on the far side
that we were speaking of on Sunday evening,
and then about the lampstand on this side,
but not a word about the altar of
incense.
Then he comes out and looks back at
the building, moves down past the laver, not
a word about that, to the altar of
burnt offerings, and then looks around at the
court and the gate with its blue purple
scarlet, and then he decides to bring in
the priesthood.
These priests were bathed, clothed with their priestly
garments, and then three offerings were brought forward,
sin offering, burnt offering, offering of consecration.
We saw the priests identifying themselves with those
all three offerings by pressing their hands upon
the head of these offerings.
Then we saw with regard to the sin
offering that having removed from it the kidneys,
the midriff, and all the fat, these were
burnt in the altar, and these went up
to God as a sweet savor.
But the carcass, that is the sin offering
itself, with the head, the leg, the skin,
the dung, that was carried through the gate,
through the camp, through the camp of Judah
I suppose, strangely enough, Christ came out from
the tribe of Judah, and away they're going
through the camp of Judah to that clean
place outside the camp where the sin offering
was burned to ashes.
Remember, not on an altar, it was burned
on the ground.
I still find people coming to me and
saying I didn't know there was an altar
outside the camp.
No, there was no altar outside the camp.
The altar was inside the court.
Outside the camp there was a clean place,
and on a fire in that clean place
they burned the sin offering to ashes.
And then having dealt with the sin offering,
God deals with the burnt offering and the
offering of consecration, and that establishes the priesthood.
Then God went in to deal with the
altar of incense and out to deal with
the labor.
Not dealing with the altar of incense when
he dealt with the table and the lampstand,
not dealing with the labor when he dealt
with the altar of burnt offering.
No doubt purposely God dealt with it in
this way, to show us first of all
his coming out.
Right out to the place of sin and
the place of the sin offering.
And then moving back in to the altar
of incense and out to the labor, because
these are vessels of approach.
And you see we are working the opposite
way.
God begins with the throne, comes out to
the place of sin, makes preparation for us,
makes provision for us there in the sin
offering.
We begin there where the sin offering is,
and we make our way in to the
very throne of God.
So that when God went in, he went
in to the altar of incense first and
then came out to the labor.
We go to the labor first and then
in to the altar of incense.
So we have followed this and we have
seen that that work of bringing in the
priest is all typical, because Aaron the high
priest was a type of Christ our great
high priest, and Aaron's son types of Christians,
because every Christian is a priest, man and
woman.
We are all priests and able to offer
up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through our
Lord Jesus Christ.
So then the priesthood is typical and we've
been gathering up all the value of that.
We have seen how they were brought in
by identification with those offerings, and this is
a picture of ourselves being brought in to
a priesthood by means of Christ's sin offering,
burnt offering, and offering of consecration.
And that was a perfect work.
They stood before God there, those priests stood
before God in all the value of what
was done to those three offerings.
And we stand before God as priests in
all the value of the finished work of
Christ on that cross, a sin offering, burnt
offering, and offering of consecration.
Now this is something which was not repeated.
It was accomplished at that particular time, and
it established them as priests.
They never went back to be bathed and
clothed with priestly garments a second time.
They never went back again for another sin
offering, another burnt offering, another offering of consecration.
All that was sufficient to establish them once
and for all in that priesthood.
So we too, through the finished work of
Christ, are brought in as priests, and we
are established once and for all by one
offering perfected forever.
So then now we realize that we have
a priesthood which is a perpetual priesthood, and
it goes on and on, whereas this priesthood
of course was only for the time being,
it was typical.
So our priesthood is one that goes on
and on, and this is all in association
with the Lord Jesus Christ himself as our
great high priest.
Always we read Aaron's sons with him, Aaron's
sons with him, and so with Christians with
Christ, all Christians with Christ, associated with him,
and apart from him then we have nothing,
and there too apart from Aaron the high
priest they had nothing.
So then this is something which we thank
God for, we are established once and for
all, and of course it has in view
the sin offering bringing out that thought of
salvation as far as we are concerned, and
the need for us to know Christ in
that way as sin offering, and realize that
the moment we by faith pressed our hands
upon his head and were there identified with
him, that all the value of that work
of his, the sin offering was made over
to us, and we stand before God as
if we had been to the cross, suffered,
shed our blood and died, that's how God
sees us.
Therefore the work is a finished work, a
completed work, made over to us, never repeated,
but we realize that the priest could be
defiled because God told Moses to make a
laver and to put within the laver water,
not blood, the blood was down there, and
that was applied to them as we realize
for that particular time when they were brought
into the priesthood, after that they had to
make use of the laver, the water in
the laver.
Now remember, they did not wash in the
laver, because if they did they would defile
the water immediately, they always removed the water.
I remember in one place where I was
talking about this, there was a man in
the congregation and he kept asking somebody questions,
and people were all looking to see what
was going on.
So after the meeting was over I went
along and I said, now what was the
trouble down here?
They said, oh this man wanted to know
the size of the laver, he wanted to
know how big it was.
Well I said, we're not given the measurements
of it, we are not told how big
it was, we're not told what shape it
was, so what are we to do?
Well he says, well from what I can
see of what you've got there, he says,
if that's anything like it was, he said,
it must have been pretty high.
Well I said, supposing it was?
Well he says, I want to know how
they managed to get the feet in it.
I said, no they're not likely to do
that kind of thing.
They would ladle water out of the laver
and they would wash then, they probably would
assist one another in washing their feet.
But they would never wash in the laver
itself, they would not wash their hands in
there, they would defile it.
They would always pour the water upon the
hands, they do that even today in countries
like Greece and in Palestine, that's how they
used to do it, because if you put
water in a vessel and put your hands
in it, then it becomes defiled, and the
more you wash in it, the more defiled
it becomes, not with them.
So remember, they washed at the laver, and
it was very important because it said, lest
they die, or that they die not.
Well now we also can be defiled, but
thank God we've got a laver.
If we as Christians confess our sins, he's
faithful and just to forgive and to cleanse,
from all unrighteousness.
So remember down there when we are thinking
of those three offerings, we are thinking of
that question of sin there outside the camp,
and then that question of acceptance in the
burnt offering, and then that consecration that went
on day after day for seven days, we're
thinking of all that as being complete and
perfect, and now in that standing before God
there is no condemnation, and we never go
back over that, nothing can touch it, nothing
can interfere with it, it hasn't got anything
to do with us down here, it has
to do with Christ up there, he's up
there in all the value of that work
of the cross, no one can move him,
no one can touch him, neither can they
move us or touch us, because he's there
for us, he's there as us, just as
he was on the cross for us and
as us, and all this because of our
identification with him by faith.
So then now we are thinking that all
that is something settled once and for all,
but when we come to the labour it
is not settled once and for all, they
had to wash hands and feet there day
in and day out, so we too defile
from day to day, we must need to
remember the labour.
Right now when we've got all that we
say well that's fine, now is that something
in itself, I say no no, the priests
were not brought into all that just that
they might stay down there enjoying it, neither
were we brought into all the value of
the finished work of Christ, that we might
just stay there occupied with that.
We have to realize that that enables us
to go on to something else, far greater
in the mind of God than just standing
there, and we're going on to that a
little more this evening.
So then all this means to something else,
and then we saw that the moment we
stepped into that sanctuary, into the holy place,
we left all this behind us.
All that suffering, agony, bloodshedding and death, that
sprinkling of blood, pouring out of blood, that
smell of burning flesh, that glittering blade doing
its deadly work all the time, that's left
behind, that took us to the cross, but
now we're going on, that cross enables us
to go on, so they went on and
in, and the moment they got inside, how
different, all is calm, all is peaceful and
all is glory, no glittering blade doing its
deadly work in there, no suffering, no bloodshedding,
no death, all quiet and all calm.
So now if this is Christ and him
crucified, the moment we step through the door
into the sanctuary, it's Christ and him glorified.
How did he get up there?
How did he come to be glorified up
there at the right hand of God?
By way of that cross.
How do we find these priests were enabled
to enter into the sanctuary there, to have
to do with those things that spoke of
the heavenly?
Well, only as they came into all the
value of what is down here.
How can we come to have to do
with those things that are up there, to
seek those things which are above, to set
our affections on things above?
How?
Only as we come into all the value
of the finished work of Christ, the one
leads to the other.
So now we find we're able to enter
in, when we enter in, the first object
we see immediately in front of the veil
there, is the altar of incense.
Now we say this is Christ.
There was an altar there, an altar of
burnt offering.
That has to do with suffering, with death.
But the moment we step inside, now we've
got another altar, and that has to do
with glory.
Christ must first be the altar of burnt
offering, before he can be the altar of
incense.
First the cross, and then the crown, first
the suffering, and then the glory, so it
goes.
So now the altar of incense is Christ,
but not down here.
The altar of burnt offering is Christ down
here.
The altar of incense is Christ up there.
There in the very presence of God is
our altar of incense, is our great high
priest, as the incense itself.
There in the presence of God, in all
the value of the finished work of the
cross, remember the same fire from the altar
of burnt offering used to bring out that
cloud of sweet perfume.
He's there in the very presence of God,
in all the value of that finished work,
and he's bringing before God that cloud of
sweet perfume.
All the preciousness, all the excellence, all the
worthiness of himself, in all the value of
that work of the cross.
That's why he's there before God, our great
high priest, our altar of incense, our incense.
He's everything, and he's ever living to make
intercession for us.
Then we saw that whilst this is a
way opened up to us, and we can
now, because we've been brought into all the
value of what is down here, and have
made use of the labour, and have gone
in, we can worship God in spirit and
in truth.
And then God says, well I want to
put a table on that far side with
showbread on it, and I want to put
a lampstand on this side with seven lamps
on it, because whilst the priests are coming
in, and they stand before that altar of
incense, and bring out that cloud of sweet
perfume, I want them to take in the
table and the showbread, and I want them
to take in the lampstand and the seven
lamps upon it.
So we looked at the table and we
saw that that had before it the thought
of fellowship and communion.
But again, it isn't Christ down here, it's
Christ up there.
He's up there in the power of an
endless life, and he's there maintaining us in
that place of fellowship and communion.
He's our table.
But he's also the bread.
And so we went into this a little,
see that having by faith identified ourselves with
Christ, we have been born again, there has
been imparted to us spiritual, divine, eternal life.
And I try to help you, and to
save you from just stressing the fact of
its duration, you know, saying it's eternal life,
it's eternal life.
No, no, no, don't do that.
Think of it rather as being eternal life,
as being a kind of life, a different
kind of life, you see.
That's the thought we need to get.
And as we went into that, we realized
that that eternal life was really Christ himself.
That when we were born again, God begat
in us the Spirit of his Son, and
from that moment it's Christ in me and
Christ in you.
Christ liveth in me, we were singing.
Now this is very true.
God himself, in the power of his Spirit,
has begotten the Spirit of his Son in
you and in me.
Christ in you.
So then, what we need to remember is
this, that if we have got that eternal
life, it is really Christ.
And we shouldn't say we've got eternal life,
it's a life that's everlasting, and the life
we have now isn't everlasting, and it might
end any day, but when it ends, thank
God we've got another life, somewhere inside, and
that will go on forever and ever.
No, no, no.
Let's remember that this eternal life is really
Christ, and Christ dwells with us in the
power of the Spirit.
And if we've got that eternal life, if
we've got Christ within, we ought to be
living Christ.
From the moment we are born again, and
Christ lives in us, from that moment we
should be living him.
Now this is the great truth.
For to me to live, says Paul.
What did he do?
I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live,
yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
How did that come about?
Only when he went to that cross, and
identified himself with Christ, and was able to
say, I'm crucified with Christ.
God sees me as he saw Christ, crucified,
that's the end of me.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I.
It's Christ that liveth in me.
Now then, if this is true, and it
must be true if we are really and
truly the children of God, then that life,
Christ's life, Christ's living in us, and Christ
being seen in us, it needs support, it
needs nourishment.
And so the bread was there on the
table, and after seven days, in the presence
of God, became the food of the priest,
their sustenance, their nourishment.
So with us, in order to live Christ,
we must feed on Christ, we must eat
of that bread which came down from heaven.
This is not coming to the Lord's supper,
to partake of that bread, that that bread
may impart to us eternal life.
No, that's a different thought.
This is the thought of Christ as our
bread, and our needing it.
Labour not for the bread that perisheth, but
for that bread which endureth, it will strengthen
us, it will help us to live that
kind of life, that they endure us throughout
eternal life.
That's what we need.
So that's the table.
Now we turn our attention to the lampstand.
Now people sometimes say, oh Mr. Brandt, are
you going to talk about the lampstand tomorrow
night?
Yes.
Ah, you're going to tell us about Christ
as the light of the world?
No.
Well, no.
Oh, I know.
You're going to tell us about, about we
Christians, the light in the world, and we
mustn't hide our light under the bush.
No.
Well, maybe you're going to tell us about
the church, you know, about the lampstand.
Well, no, not quite.
Well, what have you got there, Mr. Brandt?
Well, now you see, we read about it.
That lampstand with the seven lamps wasn't outside.
It didn't shine out in this world at
all.
It was within the sanctuary, and only the
priests saw it, and they only saw it
when they went in there.
When they were inside and having to do
with those things in there, then they saw
the seven lamps shining upon that lampstand.
Well, now then, we have seen how that
these various things bring before us the Lord
Jesus Christ himself.
He's the sin offering.
He's the gate.
He's the way into all that display which
has to do with the grace and the
glory of God.
Every way in which that comes out in
the personal work of Christ.
He's the gate.
He's the altar of burnt offering.
He's the labor.
He's the door.
He's the altar of incense.
He's the table.
He's the lampstand.
Must be.
The lampstand is Christ.
It was made of a talent of pure
gold.
It's bringing before us Christ again up there
in yonder glory.
It's Christ glorified.
It's a glory of God as seen in
the face of Jesus Christ.
He is the lampstand.
And that lampstand must have been a masterpiece.
Remember when we were reading about it, there
was a main stem.
And in that main stem, there was bud,
flower, fruit, bud, flower, fruit, bud, flower, fruit,
four times over in the main stem.
Then there were three branches coming out of
each side.
And in each of those branches, there was
bud, flower, fruit, three times over.
So in the main stem, four times over,
bud, flower, fruit.
In each branch, three times over, bud, flower,
fruit.
So that the four in the main stem
takes up the three in each of those
branches to make up that number seven.
And now you've got in the lampstand the
thought of reproduction.
Because you get first of all your bud,
and then your flower, and then your fruit,
and within your fruit your seed of course,
and on you go again with your bud,
flower, fruit.
So that all over that beautiful lampstand is
this thought of reproduction.
And then remember again that it was made
in the form of a tree, the main
stem with the branches.
And it was made like unto an almond
tree with this bud, flower, fruit.
And it brings before us the thought that
this almond tree is the first tree that
awakes out of that winter sleep of death.
The first tree that awakes out of the
winter sleep of death, and it hastens, and
that's the word in the Hebrew, it hastens
to bring forth its bud, flower, fruit.
It's Christ in resurrection, the first fruit from
among the dead.
So now we think of this lampstand beaten
out of a talent of pure gold, likened
to the almond tree.
And the thought is there of Christ in
resurrection, in the power of an endless life.
How they did it, I don't know.
But we know that God enabled Basiliel and
the others that were with him, he gave
them the ability to do that.
But this is a tremendous thing, to take
a block, a talent of pure gold, and
to beat it out, to beat it and
beat it until it takes shape as a
tree with a bud, flower, fruit.
It must have been a masterpiece, priceless.
And it brings before us the Lord Jesus
Christ.
He is the lampstand.
Now God says, I want you to make
seven lamps, make them of gold, fill them
with oil, trim the wicks, light the lamps,
and put those lamps upon those seven branches
of the lampstand.
If the lampstand is bringing before us Christ,
what do these lamps bring before us?
If we turn to the book of Revelation,
we read there about seven lamps that were
burning before the throne of God.
And we are not left guessing.
We are told that those seven lamps burning
before the throne of God are the seven
spirits of God.
In other words, those seven lamps are bringing
before us the Holy Spirit.
And they were burning before the throne of
God.
And this lampstand really speaking is there before
the throne of God.
The only thing that is in between the
lampstand and the very throne of God is
the veil.
And that was there for a special reason.
And tomorrow night, God willing, I'm going to
tell you about the veil.
And don't you stay away tomorrow night, because
that veil is very, very important.
And I think you'll open your eyes wide
tomorrow night and say, oh, I never thought
that there was so much in that veil.
So do try and get along tomorrow night,
because this is a very important subject.
So the veil was there, but apart from
the veil, the lampstand was before that throne,
the very throne of God.
So then now we see that the lampstand
itself is Christ, and the lamps that were
placed upon it are bringing before us the
Spirit of God.
And the oil, of course, in the lamp,
that also is a type of the Spirit,
speaks of the Spirit of God.
Now you notice I emphasize those words, and
they are also brought out again in the
book of Numbers, that the lamps were to
be placed upon the lampstand in such a
way that they threw their light over against
it.
You notice that?
Light the lamps, and they shall throw their
light over against the lampstand.
In other words, the lamps were placed upon
the lampstand in such a way that the
light from the lamp was lighting up that
beautiful workmanship in the lampstand.
That bud, flower, fruit, bud, flower, fruit, repeated
over and over again, that masterpiece of workmanship
is being lit up, lighted up, shown up
to advantage by these lamps.
And those lamps bring before us the Spirit.
And so the thought is what?
Well just as the lamps were lighting up
the lovely workmanship in the lampstand, so the
Spirit of God takes of the things of
Christ and reveals them to us.
Now that's very simple, isn't it?
But that's very precious.
You think of it.
As far as we are concerned from day
to day, the Spirit of God, the lamps,
are lighting up that lovely workmanship in that
lampstand.
You know, I think anybody who could have
drawn aside that door and peeked inside, the
thing that would have caught the eye was
that beautiful piece of workmanship, that golden lampstand,
and those lights, these oil lamps, you know,
showing it up to such advantage.
Lovely picture that must have been.
So there it is, lamps lighting up the
lovely workmanship in the lamp, the Spirit taking
of the things of Christ and revealing them
to us.
For what reason?
You see, the Lord Jesus Christ has gone
up into the very presence of God to
be our sanctification.
And that sanctification in him is perfect and
complete.
But you know it isn't perfect and complete
in me.
But he has gone up to be the
pattern and the power of sanctification in me.
It is God's will that I should become
more and more like Christ up there.
How can this be?
How can I possibly become more like Christ
who is up there?
Only as the Spirit of God takes of
the things of Christ and reveals them to
me.
The only possible way.
I could never become like Christ in any
other way.
I'm absolutely dependent upon the Spirit of God
to reveal to me the things of Christ.
And the measure of that revelation depends a
great deal upon me, as to whether I'm
spiritually minded enough, as to whether I'm willing
and ready that when the Spirit of God
does reveal to me something concerning the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ, that I'm going
to bring myself into line with it.
Otherwise, if something is revealed to me and
I'm not prepared to go on with it,
how much more will the Spirit of God
reveal to me?
So you see, so much depends upon us
being willing and ready to go on with
the Spirit of God.
And the Spirit of God can only take
us on when we are willing and ready.
But this is the great thing that God
is out for.
This is our sanctification.
You know, it's something we're afraid of.
Whenever we begin talking about sanctification, people get
uncomfortable.
You know, as much as to say, well,
you know, that's a very dangerous kind of
a subject.
But sanctification is there in the Word of
God.
Our sanctification is Christ himself.
It's perfect and complete.
But we are not.
It is to what he is that we
are to be brought in some measure progressively,
and that can only be accomplished as the
Spirit of God is able to reveal the
things of Christ to us.
And he can only do that if we
are in that spiritual condition in which he
can do his work.
Now, this is the great thing.
God is out for something great in you
and in me.
Tell me what it is.
When God sent his only begotten Son into
this world, into this place of sin, and
made him there on that cross to be
a sin offering, why did he do it?
Well, the answer would be, for many, he
did it so that I could be saved.
Is that all?
Oh, no.
That salvation that God has provided in Christ
is not something in itself.
That salvation, when it is made over to
me, makes possible this great thing that God
has had in his mind from way back
in eternity.
God purposed an eternal purpose in Christ.
A way back there in eternity, he purposed
an eternal purpose in Christ.
What was it?
You say, well, it was the cross.
No, it wasn't.
God never purposed the cross.
Think it.
Think it over.
The cross was planned in eternity, yes.
And it was planned because it had to
meet a state of emergency.
Something had become impossible, and God planned that
cross to make possible that which had become
impossible.
But he never purposed the cross.
If we are going to say God purposed
the cross, we are going to say that
he intended to have that cross.
And if he purposed the cross, how could
he purpose it without sin?
So if he purposed the cross, then he
purposed sin.
If he purposed the cross, then he purposed
the fall of man.
Are we going to challenge God with that?
Oh, no.
So God, a way back in eternity, purposed
an eternal purpose in Christ Jesus.
It wasn't the cross.
What was it then?
He purposed this, that those who would accept
his beloved son as saviour, he purposed that
they should be confirmed to the image of
his son.
That's why God brought in the cross.
Because man in that sinful condition, God could
never accomplish his purpose.
He could never secure that purpose in sinful
man.
He must bring in that cross, that cross
must meet that state of emergency, that state
of sin, and make possible what?
The eternal purpose that he purposed a way
back in eternity.
That we should be conformed to the image
of his son.
Predestinated, yes, according to the full knowledge of
God, to be saved.
No.
Only a day or two ago a lady
said to me, of course, God knew who
was going to be saved, and he knew
who was going to be lost, you know.
You see, he predestinated certain ones to be
saved, and certain ones to be lost.
I said, excuse me, God never purposed certain
people to be saved, and certain people to
be lost.
Oh no.
He purposed that certain people would be conformed
to the image of his son.
And he predestinated those according to his full
knowledge.
He knew that in a day to come
that gospel would be proclaimed to all the
world.
And God knew that when that gospel would
be preached, this one would accept it, and
this one would reject it.
And for knowing that this one would accept
it, he predestinated him to be conformed to
the image of his son.
He didn't predestinate him to be saved.
Salvation was to whosoever, and whosoever will may.
God doesn't make him say yes, and he
doesn't make him say no.
But God knew who would say yes.
And he predestinated those who would say yes
to be conformed to the image of his
son.
This is the great thing that God is
out for, and has been out for from
way back in eternity.
This is the purposey purpose.
That he would have a race of people
conformed to the image of his beloved son.
How's he going to do it?
There it is in the lampstand.
The lamps lighting up the lovely workmanship.
The Spirit taking the things of Christ and
revealing them to us.
But we may be conformed to his image.
Progressively becoming more and more like that one
who is up there.
That's it.
Now you know, I used to hear a
slogan, and it rather worried me.
I heard this slogan here and there, and
people seemed to lay hold of it.
It was a great thing.
They were working it hard, you know.
And this slogan says, safe to serve.
Safe to serve, you know.
And this was coming out right left and
centre.
And I was worried about this, you know.
And I said, now just a minute, just
a minute.
Safe to serve, yes.
Well are you trying to tell me that
the reason God saved me was that he
might have my service?
Yes, of course.
Never.
You mean to say that God said, now
don't forget, my being saved has to do
with Christ going to that cross, being made
sin, enduring the wrath of the Holy God,
that I might be saved.
Do you mean to tell me that God
did that so that he would have my
miserable bit of service?
So that he would have me moving about
here and there, preaching and teaching.
You reckon that's why God did all that?
For my service?
Never.
Why then did God save me?
For nothing less than this, that I should
be conformed to the image of his Son.
One day I shall be like him.
But God doesn't want me to wait until
then.
Here and now, from day to day, he
wants me to be more and more like
him.
And the Spirit of God is working to
that end.
But you see, we get taken up with
this.
Service.
The great thing is service.
Saved to serve.
That's a big thing.
No, it isn't.
The big thing is that I shall become
more and more like Christ.
Oh, you say, well, what about service?
You needn't worry about that.
Once you adjust yourself to this purpose of
God's purpose from way back in eternity, that
you should be conformed to the image of
his Son, and you are there ready and
willing for the Spirit of God to reveal
more and more of Christ, and you are
coming on, he's bringing you on, then you'll
find there's service.
You'll never say you were saved to serve.
You'll realize you were saved that you might
be like him.
And once that's going on, then there's going
to be service.
Oh yes.
Do you know what I find as I
move around?
I find some people who are so busy
serving Christ that they haven't got any time
for Christ himself.
Now think that over.
Morning, noon and night.
So busy serving Christ, they've no time for
him.
In one place it said, Mr. Brown, would
you mind going and visiting a brother?
He's been in bed now for years and
years, never been able to get out to
meet him, never will be.
Would you like to go and see him?
I said, yes, I'd like to go and
see him.
So I went along to the house, knocked
at the door, and I don't think his
wife ever got to meetings either because she
thought this was her life's work, looking after
her husband.
I knocked at the door and she came
and said, well, Mr. Brown, I said, yes,
come in.
So I went in, she said, my husband's
upstairs in bed.
Come up, Mr. Brown.
So I followed upstairs, and she opened the
bedroom door, and she did so.
I saw this man lying propped upon pillows
in bed, and he was thin, just skin
and bone, and as white, his face as
white as the pillow.
And I thought, oh, this man's been a
sufferer for years and years.
And as he walked into the room, she
went straight up to him, she got him
by the arm and pulled him up and
got the pillows and shook the pillows and
put them back and pushed him back, and
then said, now that's more comfortable, isn't it?
Well, if it had been me, I said,
no, it isn't.
I'm most uncomfortable now.
But he was more gracious than I am,
and he said, I'm all right.
So she said, well, is there anything else
you want?
No, he said, Mr. Brown's going to have
a talk with me.
But she said, is there anything you want?
Now, can I get you anything?
No, I'm not.
She said, are those pillows quite all right?
He said, all right, all right.
She said, well, now, tell me if you
want anything, and out through the room she
went.
So I thought, well, now, I can have
a little talk, you see.
So I said, well, brother, and she came
in.
And she came in with a dustpan and
a little handbrush, and she started going round
the room, clapper, clapper, clapper, clapper, clapper, clapper,
clapper, clapper, brushing up all and complaining, where
does all this dust come from?
I never saw a place like this, dust
everywhere.
So I looked at him and he looked
at me and I thought, well, what can
you do?
Just wait.
So we waited and waited till last she'd
finished.
She came up with the dustpan and I
looked in it, there wasn't a speck of
dust in it.
And she said to him, shall I shake
your pillows up?
No, no, no, no, he said, no, I'm
all right, all right.
Now, are you quite sure?
Is there anything else you want?
No, no, he said, Mr. Brown's going to
have a talk with me.
All right, so out through the room she
went.
So I said, well, now, now we can
have a little talk.
So I said, well, she came back in
and there was a vase there with flowers
in it, you see.
And she said, look at that little lot.
She says, I can never get flowers to
look nice.
Look at them.
Oh, dear me.
So out they came.
Then she started putting them in, complaining all
the time.
So I looked at them and I thought,
well, we just have to wait, I suppose.
And at last she said, there, now, I
said, yeah, well, they didn't look bad before,
but you made them look a fine mess
now, you know.
So I said, well, I thought, now, then
she said, and that lot, oh, I thought,
no, not, not a lot.
Yes, there's another vase over there.
So she, all those came out and she
complained about flowers.
And so I thought, well, yeah.
So I said, now, shall I shake those
pillars up for you?
He said, I'm all right.
So then she said, now, is there anything
you want?
No, no, I don't want anything.
He said, Mr. Brown's just going to have
a talk with me.
And she said, well, now, let me know
if you want anything.
And I think he was thinking to himself,
well, she'll be out and in again for
something else in a minute or two.
So she got by the door, he said,
James, yes, you want something?
He said, yes.
What do you want?
He said, I want you.
Me?
Yes.
What do you want me for?
He said, I want you to come and
sit here by me.
Come and sit here on the bed.
And Mr. Brown's going to have a talk
with her.
Me sit there?
I've got too much to do to sit
there.
What do you think I am?
That's it.
Now, everything that woman was doing, she was
doing for him.
Oh, she was thinking about him all the
time.
Waking on him hand and foot.
Yes.
Keeping the place spotlessly clean, in other words.
Yes.
For him.
But the moment he said, come and sit
by my side for a food.
Oh, I've got too much to do.
So busy serving Christ, you haven't got any
time for him.
Is that what God wants?
That's what we feel like.
You know, the more we serve, the more
we can serve.
You know, morning, noon and night, that's the
big thing.
Is it?
And all the time, the Spirit of God
is waiting for you to sit quiet, so
that he can take of the things of
Christ and reveal them to you.
And then in some measure, you can be
transformed into the same image.
It's a big thing.
Yes.
And so because of this, because we haven't
seen or glimpsed what God really is out
for in each one of us, there is
not the spiritual growth that there should be.
Isn't that a tremendous thing?
As I go around today in many places,
I look at my congregation and I say
to myself, well, I reckon we've got quite
a lot of old-aged infants here.
Old-aged in the face.
They've been saved 40, 50 years.
And you know, really speaking, they have not
grown.
They haven't made any progress.
I say to one of them, I tell
me, brother, what do you know?
What do I know?
Oh, he said, I know the Lord Jesus
Christ is my Savior.
Oh, yes, he was on that cross for
me.
He suffered there and died, that I might
live.
Tell me something, brother.
Oh, well, he says, you know, he was
raised again from among the dead and he's
ascended up.
He's up there, he said.
Yeah, he's in the presence of God, living
to make intercession.
Tell me something else, brother.
Oh, he's coming again.
And we're going to meet him and he's
going to take us up.
Tell me something else, brother.
What do you want to know?
Tell me how much you've grown.
Tell me how much you've become like him.
Tell me that.
Oh, no, I haven't got that.
Oh, no, no, service, you see.
That's it.
Doing this and doing that.
Being occupied, that's it.
But to be like him.
Tell me how much spiritual progress you've made.
I stayed in Scotland up near Aberdeen.
And the man was, he had forests, you
know, and a lot of timber being sawn
down.
And he used to bring all these nice
logs, pine logs and what have you.
And he had a big fireplace and there
was about six inches of snow outside.
And we came home from a meeting, which
was cold, you know, and put the logs
on.
We seen a big fire there, you know,
sparks going up the timber.
And we sat around, two sons there, and
his wife, and he and his wife, and
I sat there.
And I hadn't seen them for about 15
years.
So, of course, we were talking about, you
know, last time we were together and all
these things were coming up.
And while we were talking, a door opened,
a side door, and a little girl came
running in with a doll under each arm,
you know, she looked to be a girl
about eight years of age, come dashing into
the room and then stopped, had one look
at me, and then back out through the
door as if she'd seen something.
And as she went out through the door,
I saw the man put his head down,
and I saw his wife put her head
down, and I saw the boys occupied with
a wife.
And it was dead silence.
And then the father looked at me and
he said, did you see her?
I said, yes, I saw her.
He said, what do you think about her?
I didn't know what to say.
I saw that little girl 15 years before
this, a little girl with a doll under
each arm, 15 years before this.
She looked to be a girl of eight
years of age.
And running through that, just the same.
She hasn't grown, hasn't made any progress at
all.
They've done everything they can think of, trying
to help her.
She just hasn't grown.
And she was the burden of her parents'
heart.
And her brothers too.
All of them, dreadfully upset.
They could not do.
And only a little while ago, I received
a letter from that middle-aged woman there.
I received a letter, it was heartbreaking.
He couldn't put a letter, he couldn't put
a sentence together.
I met a brother about 10 years later
in London who said, how's your father and
mother?
Well, he said, getting on in years, Mr.
Brown, and don't get out very much now,
you know.
I said, how's your sister?
Oh, well, you know, just the same.
Well, when you last saw her, I said,
yes, well, just the same, Mr. Brown.
Just the same.
Just the same today.
No growth.
I said to myself, I wonder what the
Lord thinks about some of us.
What does he think about some of us?
Not how much have you done, how much
have you served him, no.
How much have you become like Christ?
That's a big thing.
But we seem to have lost it.
We seem to have lost sight of it.
Maybe some of us are not quite ready
for it.
Making a big demand upon us, isn't it?
To be ready and willing for the Spirit
of God to reveal to us the things
of Christ.
And then for us to be changed into
the same image.
An old man came to me and said,
brother, if I had known that 60 years
ago, he said, I'm 80 years of age
now.
If I'd known that 60 years ago, brother,
it would have made a big difference in
my life.
Do you know, I've always thought, until today,
that what the Lord wanted of me was
my service.
He wanted me to do this and do
that and do the other.
He said, and that's been my life for
60 years.
And now he said, you've shown me that
that isn't what he's really wanting.
He wanted me.
And wanted me to be conformed to the
image of his Son.
That's what he's been after.
But I didn't know that.
Well, if we have glimpsed it tonight, I
trust the Lord will help us that we
may be willing and ready to bring ourselves
into line with that eternal purpose, which he
purposed in Christ Jesus, that he predestinated us
to be conformed to the image of his
Son.
That we shall line ourselves up and say,
Lord, we're ready.
You reveal to us by the Spirit that
which concerns Christ, and we're going to be
like him.
But we depend upon thee to enable us
by the Spirit.
Because in the energy of the natural man,
in the energy of the flesh, we'll never
be able to accomplish that.
Only as we have that revealed to us,
this revelation, and only as we're enabled to
be by the Spirit, only then will we
ever come into line with this eternal purpose.
I trust, then, that the Lord will bless
these thoughts to us this evening, and get
glory to his name through it.
Shall we pray?
Our Father, we again thank thee for these
wonderful truths that come out of these pipes
that were brought in by thee so long
ago.
It's all written for our learning.
And we are able to look into these
things and have the light of the New
Testament upon them.
And we find these truths so precious.
This lampstand, those seven lamps, O God, we
pray thee, impress upon our minds that thought.
May we never forget.
This is the great thing that thou art
out for in each one of us, out
to secure in us that which is likeness
to thy beloved Son.
Only that will please thee.
And once we're in line with this, and
in some measure that is being secured, we
shall find there is much for us to
do.
We shall find there is service.
That service may be altogether different, but it
will all be for thy glory, and it
will be all for our eternal good.
So then, Lord, help us and grant us
thy blessing, and we ask this as we
give our thanks to thee in the name
of thy beloved Son, our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ.