The Testimony and Its Vessel unto the Time of the End - by T. Austin-Sparks
by John Mark on 02/28/24
Chapter 2 -
Hell's Hatred of the Vessel of Testimony
Dear Saints,
This
message originally posted in December 17, 2014. This was the second session for
that day – and I have to say you are in for a real treat! Please forgive me for
not being brief in my notes… I definitely got carried away.
My
notes:
If
you were thinking our individual Christian lives don't really amount to much in
the 'big picture' of eternity, think again. Brother Sparks encourages us with
an alternative: "Do you realize and recognize that you in all the
weakness, the feebleness, the poverty, the insignificance of your own personal
life, your own human constitution, your position, if vitally, truly spiritually
linked in with God's eternal purpose in and concerning His Son Jesus Christ,
chosen in Him before the foundation of the world, called by grace and having
responded to that call, a partaker of the heavenly calling, you are moving with
God in the Holy Ghost, if that is true of you then you are a part of that
vessel through which the government of the heavens is being made manifest in
the unseen, and vitally related to the course of this world's history, giving
significance to all the happenings of the course of this world; that you are
spiritually what Daniel and his three companions were in Babylon." Adding
to this, he says, "That is no small calling for you or for me."
Brother
Sparks continues to enlighten us as to our significant calling and what it
requires: "There has got to be something in our relationship to heaven and
God's specified purpose which makes possible the manifestation of that mighty,
devil-conquering life in us. We have got to know the power of His resurrection.
That is essential to the vessel of the testimony at the end time, unto the end,
to get through to the end: it means that we must be that in which the power of
His resurrection is manifested. That is not merely an obligation, that is a
privilege. It is a costly privilege, but that is what the Lord needs."
As
for the end of the church age - that which we certainly are in - Brother Sparks
speaks of a testimony to be, manifested in the church, the body of Christ,
where death is swallowed up in life - resurrection life: "You and I are
called to be a part of that vessel in which the power of His resurrection is
manifested, that the murderous plottings of hell are eluded, are overcome, and
that the murderer who comes out to destroy before the Lord's purposes are
accomplished shall be baffled by the power of His resurrection in us. When we
ought to have been dead a dozen times we are still alive. Yes, the Lord wants
an adequate vessel for that..."
So
what is keeping us from becoming such an 'adequate' vessel? The longer we
remain spiritual babies feeding on mothers' milk (1 Cor. 3:1-3; Heb. 5:12-13),
the longer it will take for the church to "attain to the unity of the
faith, and of the [full] knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the
measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ." (Eph.
4:13) Remember, all who are born again are children of God; but not all
children are adult sons capable of carrying on the Father's business.
When
the three refused to obey the law requiring them to serve the gods of the
Babylonians nor bow down to its image, did God deliver them FROM the seeming
certainty of a very painful death? "Not that they are delivered from the
fiery furnace - keep that in mind - not that God comes in and opens a way of
escape for them, but the Son of God associates Himself with them in the fire,
and the result is that everything goes down before them morally and they come
out as kings, they reign morally." God delivered them THROUGH it, not from
it. "God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you
are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that
you will be able to endure it." Such 'escape' isn't from it, but through
it. "Because you (Philadelphia) have kept the word of My perseverance, I
also will keep you from the hour of testing..." (Revelation 3:10) -
["from" = ?? (ek) i.e.: from the midst of - not apo (i.e.:
from without)]
"The distinction is largely seen in this,
that apo suggests a starting point from without, ek from within; this meaning
is often involved in apo, but apo does not give prominence to the
"within-ness," as ek usually does." [Vine's Expository
Dictionary of New Testament Words]
Later
in the message, Brother Sparks adds, "The sovereignty of the heavens does
not always work by delivering us out of the trouble. It comes in through the
trouble. It is through the trouble that the heavens come in. God gets more by
it than by delivering us from it."
God
is seeking Daniel companies - those who will take "a strong, though costly
stand ... at great cost, which may involve you in a good deal of
suffering", "men and women who will take a personal stand, at any
cost, upon what they know to be according to the mind of God." This is not
easy when we worry about what others will think, what others will say, or how
we might be persecuted. "Will the Lord require that? If so, that is the
only ground for me to act upon." And when we take such a stand, we just
might discover that others around us are influenced to join with us when they
see our willingness to be obedient at such cost.
I was
struck with this warning from Brother Sparks and recognize this is not just
something by the way, but is essential to having authority and power in our
lives: "Any professing child of God who has some compromising thing in
their life, something that forms a link, be it ever so small, between them and
the spiritual system back of this world, they are robbed of power with God and
with men and it is not until that thing is dealt with and thoroughly put away
that they have any kind of spiritual or moral ascendancy. Until that thing is
repudiated from the heart God cannot come in and communicate Himself to
them."
"Now
what is the dominion of the Son of man over the antichrist in the Church, the
vessel? It is the absolute distinctiveness of that vessel, separation,
holiness; its complete break with the whole system of the Evil One at every
point, and not allowing one touch of defilement with that system." Even
though the church will not be here to face the one Antichrist, as the Apostle
John tells us there are many antichrists - and the spirit of this age is
antichrist. Did you notice Brother Sparks identifying "the antichrist in
the church"?
Speaking
of our need to walk in holiness and moral ascendancy, Brother Sparks lays out
some very practical advice as to what to do when the enemy seeks to draw us
out: "He will put a temptation in your way, he will put a suggestion into
your mind, he will make suggestions to you, put thoughts into you. In thousands
of different ways he puts out a gangway, and he wants you to cross that
gangway, to accept that gangway, a link between you and his system. There is no
wrong in temptation, beloved, most believers know what it is to have evil
thoughts suggested to their minds. It does not mean they have sinned because an
evil thought has been suggested, but at the point where they entertain that,
respond to that, allow that, they have sinned and made a link with the enemy,
and before long that very link is the means of their undoing, their weakness,
breakdown, and not until they get back to the Lord and say: 'I allowed that to
linger, I added another to it.' or in some way the enemy put out, and we took
on, and that has been completely dealt with, wiped out by the Blood, we do not
get back our position. The rule of the heavens through the instrument in
overthrowing the power of evil demands no defilement, no contact." As he
speaks of a 'gangway', we should remember Ephesians 4:26: "do not give the
devil an opportunity" (i.e.: ground; a place; power; license).
Brother
Sparks continues: "the basic principle of spiritual and moral ascendancy,
of dominion, of overthrowing the power of the enemy, of having authority over
all the power of the Devil is not in our language, our phraseology, is not the
volume of our voice, the forcefulness of our effort, our manner, it is the
moral purity of our lives."
He
nears the end of this message with this word of encouragement: "The
testimony means that up to the hilt there must be no compromise on moral
principles; you may stand to suffer, it may be a den of lions. Ah yes, but
stand, and in the end you will stand and the other things will have gone, but
you will be there. Heaven is on your side; you may lose for the time being, but
heaven is on your side and the kingdoms of this world will pass, but the
kingdom of the God of heavens is an everlasting kingdom, and it is a kingdom to
be given to you if you will stand." Four times we read in the Book of
Daniel that "the Most High rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to
whomever He chooses", and once adds, "and sets over it the lowest of
men". Wow!
Of
this message, Doug says, "That's as hefty as it gets! That's pure
gold!" I definitely agree!
Recommended
Resource:
T. Austin-Sparks: The Supreme
Vocation
https://www.austin-sparks.net/english/000529.html
Eric Ludy: The Two Trees
https://vimeo.com/109009388
Link
to Audio: https://dougriggs.s3.amazonaws.com/Assemblies/12-17-14+Wednesday+Assembly+-+2.mp3