SermonIndex Classics - T. Austin Sparks

T. Austin Sparks: Lord, Jesus Christ. We seek thy face. It is written, the light of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ.

T. Austin Sparks: Oh thou who didst forfeit for that one terrible moment, the countenance of thy Father, in order that we might never come there. That we might be received and abide in the light of the countenance of God. Do this morning bring us into that very blessed inheritance through thy cross, the face, the countenance, the towardness, the unforsakingness of God.

T. Austin Sparks: May this indeed be a time within the veil when we dwell in the light of the countenance, the face of the Lord. Lord Jesus Christ, in all that great and wonderful meaning, we now seek thy face as we wait on thee. Show us thy face, Lord. For thy name's sake. Amen.

T. Austin Sparks: In this final hour of this particular ministry, it is necessary to seek special grace to gather up, concentrate all that has been said throughout this week. And I think, perhaps I should say, I feel that the leading of the Lord is to do this with one part of this letter to the Hebrews before us, as the letter is drawing to a close, and we reach that part of it which is marked as chapter 12. And it is in verse, in verses 25 to 28. It is in those verses, not all of them. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh." Remember the beginning is, God hath spoken in his Son. "See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not when they refused him that warned them on Earth, much more shall not we escape who turn away from him that warneth from Heaven, whose voice then shook the Earth. But now he hath promised, saying, yet once more will I make to tremble not the Earth only, but also the Heaven."

T. Austin Sparks: And this word, yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that have been made, that those things which are not shaken may remain. Wherefore, receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us have grace, whereby we may offer service well pleasing to God with reverence and awe. A kingdom which cannot be shaken.

T. Austin Sparks: The significance then, as we have been trying to see and show, the significance of this letter, so-called, to Hebrews for the present time. The yet once more, that is in this dispensation which has come in with Christ. The shaking firstly of the Earth side of things, and then the shaking of the Heaven side of things. The Earth side, I think, had a special reference to what was just about to happen in old traditional historic Judaism. This letter was probably, I cannot be positive about it, because all the expositors and scholars are divided about who wrote it and when it was written, to whom it was written exactly. You need not worry about that. But I am fairly sure that it was related to what the Holy Spirit knew was about to take place in the historic Judaism and Earthly Israel. The probability is that this letter was written in the year 69. And you know what happened in the year 70. If that is true, it was a very short distance from the writing of this letter to the destruction of Jerusalem, which was so utter, so terrible. Some of you, pastors especially, will have read Josephus. And if you have, the section on the invasion and destruction of Jerusalem is one of the most terrible things you can read in history. It took place in the year 70 when everything in that Jerusalem was devastated and desolated, and the Jews scattered as Peter says, throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Bithynia, and everywhere else.

T. Austin Sparks: The Earth side was certainly shaken. Not only shaken, but brought down and devastated. And from that, it has not yet recovered. There is no temple. There is no integrated Israel on the Earth. Well, that's the Earth side. And this is the prophecy as you know, taken out of the Old Testament, that this would happen. And it is interesting, very interesting, significant and instructive, to go back to the setting of that prophecy, which we are not going to do. To see the setting of it in the history of Israel, just the conditions that were arising in the time of Haggai. The prophecy is taken up, brought right over here. So many, many years later and applied to the situation which is reached in this letter to the Hebrews at that crisis time. The shaking of the Earth, shaking of the Earth. Because it applies particularly to the shaking of the Earth Jerusalem, the Earth Israel. We say that and mean it, but that is only half of the statement. Yet once more, will I shake not only the Earth, the Earth side, but the Heaven also.

T. Austin Sparks: And in the light of what we have been saying this week in the mornings and in the evenings, or what the Lord has been saying, I say that at any rate of the evenings. In the light of all this and of this letter in its full content, we are surely right in saying that Christianity, which is the other side, if you like, the Heaven side, is going to be subjected also to such a shaking. To such a shaking.

T. Austin Sparks: Maybe we'll not be far wrong if we say it has begun. It is on. It is proceeding. It is spreading. And however you may feel it's not reached your country yet, what if you're talking of merely material things and outward economies, may be symptoms of it, but spiritually, it is worldwide. The shaking of Christianity, the shaking of what we may call the Heaven side of things, as different from the historic, Earthly Israel. But the point is that there is a universal shaking to take place in the economy of God. In the sovereign ordering of God, a universal shaking. What for? Here it says, in order that there shall be nothing left but what God Himself has established. Notice the little phrase, as of things which have been made. Who made them? Who made them? Things made. Things which God made has made and established, are these things. And the only things which will ultimately remain. And the shaking is for that.

T. Austin Sparks: Now this letter is a comprehensive comparison and contrast or discrimination between the passing and the permanent, between the temporal and the spiritual, between the Earthly and the Heaven. That's the letter to the Hebrews. That is what we've been emphasizing all the way through. The not any longer. A comprehensive not, ye are not come. And the but, but ye are. Two great comprehensive orders, economies, sovereignties, whatever you may call them. This whole letter has to do on the one side with the things which are transient and not abiding. And on the other side, the things which are permanent and which remain. That, that the things which cannot be shaken, here's your that again, that the things which cannot be shaken shall remain. This is the comparison and contrast or discrimination that is made by this letter as a whole.

T. Austin Sparks: And here, as a kind of parenthesis, let me put this. You see, it is important for us to remember that this letter was written to a people who for a long period had held the position of a people whom God had taken out of the world to Himself. Showing that it is possible for such a people to miss the way. It is possible for such a people to make their position an Earthly one, just an Earthly one. Or make that position Earth-bound. And that is the apostles of this letter, not to Israel only, but to Christians. This is the on-high calling letter, isn't it? This is the Heaven-ly side. This is the, the new Israel which God has taken out of the world to Himself and for Himself. But through and through this letter runs this reminder that a people who were like that for so long, taken out for God, to God, did in the end miss the object, miss the way, did not arrive. Chapter 3 is all on that. They did not enter in. They perished in the wilderness.

T. Austin Sparks: Oh, this terrible battle between what ought to be said and what time allows to be said. Oh, just miss your chapters again. And see chapter 3. And let's put it in. Any you know it. Just miss chapter 3. There you have the people who failed to enter in, who perished in the wilderness. You see, they could not enter in, is the word, because of unbelief. That's chapter 3, but chapter 4 opens. And you're not far into chapter 4 before you have this: The Word of God is quick and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. I'm not going out on that. But the point is that in the wilderness where they perished, it was because they did not discriminate between soul and spirit. In fact, they didn't understand the doctrine, of course. But they lived in their souls. That is the self-life. The self-direction of everything. How this affects us. What we are going to get out of this. What this means in our interest. The self-life is the soul-life. The spirit is not that. The spirit is unto God. Is the God-life.

T. Austin Sparks: But this cleavage was not made in the wilderness. And although they had come out by such a mighty work of God, and become God's people and were separated unto Him, because they persisted in what we now call in New Testament terms, soul-life. Soul-life as the people of God. And there was no discrimination, no clear cut between, as of a two-edged sword. See, cutting both ways. Up and down. No clear cut between the self-life and the life of the spirit. They perished in the wilderness. And you tell me that that is not a possibility for Christians. That's the point of the letter, you see. Dismiss chapter 3 and 4 as as simply mechanical divisions, and pass right on and say, Why did they perish in the wilderness? Why did they not enter in? Why? It was because there was not this clean cut between self and the Lord, between soul and spirit.

T. Austin Sparks: Large letter, about which you've heard too much. I think there's too much talk about that just now. It's become a very fascinating subject. You never capture people more quickly in mentally than when you begin to talk about soul and spirit. It's a very interesting mental subject, isn't it? Most fascinating. I'm coming to the place where I want to talk about the things and not the names. The meaning and not the language or the terminology. However, that's by the way. Now you see what I'm saying is, this letter was addressed to a people who for a long time had held the position of a people separated unto God, but who eventually missed the way, and lost the inheritance, lost the meaning of their separation. Because, well, we come back again. The Earth-bound Judaism. Earth-bound. And God said, I'll shake that. I'll shake that Earth-boundness. And I'll shake it so devastatingly that there will be no temple and no Jerusalem, and no headquarters for the nation at all. The whole thing will be smashed. I'll shake that Earth side. And He did, and has done. And it's gone on all these centuries.

T. Austin Sparks: But He doesn't stop there. The letter goes over to the other side. I'm going to shake this other thing too. This Christianity. It came in from Heaven. The Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven. But what have men done with Christianity? Brought it down to Earth. Made it Earth-bound. Made it something. And the Lord, foreseeing that, prophesies, I'll shake that also. I'll shake that also. And Christianity as a merely Earthly system will go into the melting pot. It will go into the fire. And only that which is really and truly Heaven-ly, of the spirit of God, will survive and come out. You see the force of this letter. Hence, and here, dear friends, another week is required. If you go through this letter, you will find that it is divided along two lines. The line of precaution, of warning, and the line of resolution.

T. Austin Sparks: Now, a little Bible study for you. Not here. You go through and mark the nine times in which the word "lest" occurs. Lest, let us, verse, let us fear, lest a promise being left us of entering in, any one of you should seem to come short. Lest. Nine times that word "lest" is used through the letter. Trace it and see its context. Lest for this reason, lest for that reason. Perhaps I'll touch on just an illustrative case in each section. Then 10 times, 10 times, nine times lest, precaution, warning, 10 times you have, let us. Let us, let us. 10 times. And connected with that phrase, let us, it's an admonition to resolution. Be resolved. Now you use, you can't take anything for granted about this. You're not going to get there by drift. And that is the first lest, you see. Lest by any means you drift past. That's the real language. You drift.

T. Austin Sparks: And the picture behind is a picture, which is a very simple one, but very, very clear in its implication. I used to be a yachtsman in Scotland. And we would go out on our day's sail. But the most anxious moment, the most anxious, should I say moment, the most tense moment was when we came back to pick up our moorings. If the tide was flowing strongly, the current, the wind, there were our moorings. You got to take off your power, take down your sails, get your head toward the moorings, and then everybody, one with a boat hook up in the bow, someone lying down flat on the deck without stretched hand to get hold of that mooring, and to grab it and hold it. Because the tide or the current flowing would even pull you into the sea, if you didn't hold tight. But the tenseness, the peril was, you would miss it and drift past it. And there are the rocks over there. Drift past, miss and drift. Carried by the tide or the current or the wind. Oh, it was a tense moment. You've got it, and held on, and were able to pull the, the boat up on the moorings and make fast. The tension was gone. We've reached home. All right now. Everything's all right. Now that is the picture here, which is actually used. Lest we drift past. Drift, drift, drift, lest. Caution, warning. All this is presented. Well, oh, what an all it is. This fullness and finality in Christ brought in with verses 1 and 2. And all that is in this letter, the great inheritance, a tremendous all. And the first warning is, you could drift. You could drift. You'd be carried past and carried away by the current, by the present breeze. Now, Paul puts it another words, in another way, carried about by every wind of doctrine and the slight and cunning craftiness of men. Same thing.

T. Austin Sparks: Well, that's an illustration of the lesst, and I say there are nine of them. That's why I say we want another week. But there, lest, lest, we drift. And over and alongside of that is the exhortation, let us, let us hold fast. Let us hold fast. Let us lay hold. Let us go on. And, and I'm just going to put another fragment in, because I think it's illuminating. It may have a point of application. Lest because of the deceitfulness of sin, we are subverted. The deceitfulness of sin. Have you ever thought about that? What is the deceitfulness of sin? If the word sin is a comprehensive word, now don't you narrow it down to one of its meanings. Sin has many aspects. It works in many ways. You can call this sin, and that sin, and something else, and a thousand things sin, yes. But they're only aspects of the one thing. What is the meaning of the word sin in the Bible? Missing the mark. Missing the mark. You may miss it because of this or that or for many things. But in the end, it amounts to this, you've missed the mark. Sin comprehensively is missing the mark. The deceitfulness of sin to subvert you from the mark. What Paul calls the prize of the mark, of the on high calling.

T. Austin Sparks: Missing the mark. The deceitfulness to subvert. How, what do you mean by that deceitfulness? Well, for me at the moment, for this purpose, this morning, it is policy in the place of principle. There is nothing more subverting, more spiritually injurious than policy, than being politic. Oh, how I have seen tragedies in the life of godly men, servants of the Lord, on this thing. A man brought face to face more than once. I have one or two in mind. Face to face with God's full purpose. Full purpose. But they had a position in the Christian world. And this full purpose requires not a things of adjustment as to position. Adjustment as to position, as to relationships. If I do that, my large door of opportunity for the Lord would be closed. If I do that, I will lose my influence for the Lord. If I take that way, maybe I shall be involved in, well, so much that, you know, will mean loss for the Lord. That's policy. Politic. Alongside of what God has indicated, and the issue is, will I trust the Lord to look after what is of Him? I'm no longer interested in anything that is not of the Lord, but if it is, can I trust the Lord to look after that while I obey Him, do His indicated way? Or shall I hold on to my, my place of opportunity, open doors and influences for the Lord? You see, and take this other course. Do you see what I mean? The deceitfulness of missing the mark. I've seen more than one tragedy that after years, it so manifested to everybody, that man has missed the way. That man was meant for something more, something utter. The Lord meant something for that man, but policy came in. And he argued for his policy that it was in the interest of the Lord. That's deceitfulness of sin. And this letter says, you can be subverted by the deceitfulness of sin, policy instead of principle.

T. Austin Sparks: Put that in anywhere. Well, it's necessary, you see, to pinpoint all this teaching. But there it is. So, here we come back. Hebrews, the letter to the Hebrews, is a statement of what is abiding and permanent, as over against what is passing and transient. And does not that matter? Surely it does, supremely matter. The shakeable and the unshakeable. The New Testament is comprised of 26 books. You like, you have 27, you can. Say 26 books. And most of them, most of them were written to combat some form of a universality of effort to destroy what had come in with Jesus Christ. Got it now? That's the statement, very comprehensive. You've got to break it up, apply it to each book of the New Testament. See, oh, oh, what then, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and John, and Acts, and on. This is written to combat something. And when you take that as the key, I wonder, aren't we in a a combat in Matthew? Isn't the Lord Jesus in a combat in Matthew? And Mark, and Luke, and John. It's an atmosphere of combativeness, of conflict, of antagonism. Acts, is that true? And so you go on with the letters. Here is some form in each one, some form of this universality of effort to destroy what had come in with Jesus Christ.

T. Austin Sparks: It's a comprehensive. The New Testament is a comprehensive countering of a many-sided attempt to subvert the church and pervert the meaning of God's Son. In that statement, you've got your New Testament in its real meaning. Do try to get hold of it in that way. Now, the chief point of attack in this comprehensive or universal effort, the chief point of the attack has always been and still is the measure of Jesus Christ. The measure of Christ. We must in the first place, keep Him out altogether. Give Him no foothold. That's the battle of the ages and of the nations. As soon as you bring Jesus Christ into a vicinity, trouble arises. Conflict begins. Keep Him out. Keep Him out. And if He's got in, drive Him out. Do everything. Drive out what is of Jesus Christ if He's got anywhere at all. But then that is not all to drive Him out. To subvert those who are His embodiment there. To subvert, to deceive, to turn aside, to bring in false teaching. False Christian ideologies. That which is other in its essence. Not essentially Christ, something put on to Christ. Christ plus. Christ plus. Put on. There are many things which are being imposed upon Christianity. All good meaning, but they're not the essence of Christ. That's it. That is the, the point of attack in some way. Either to prevent, to force out, or to limit in some way or other, the measure of Christ. And you know, dear friends, or you ought to know, that it is the measure of Christ which is the governing thing. Not only that Christ has got in. No, but the measure of Christ. That's Ephesians, isn't it? The ultimate thing is the measure of Christ. The measure of Christ. You hear that word measure, you're always transported to Ezekiel, aren't you? The end of Ezekiel, what is it? It's the temple.

T. Austin Sparks: Now I'm not putting any interpretation on that. Whether that is going to be literal, and all the Old Testament sacrifices restored. You can have your own interpretation about that. I'm not touching that. But what I have there is that when that temple does come into view, it's a Heaven-ly temple. And the Heaven-ly messenger has his measuring line, and taking the prophet around, round about he took me around. He took me in. Round, about, in. How detailed, how meticulously detailed that is. Every point, every fragment, every iota is given a measurement. It's according to this measure, this Heaven-ly measuring read or line. It's measured by that. Its place is only by reason of its having that measure. And now whether you like the interpretation or not, I believe that stands right at the heart of the letter to the Ephesians, and the New Testament, and to this letter to the Hebrews. Spiritually, we have come to a new Jerusalem. We have come to the dwelling of the most high God. We are come to Zion. We have come to that which Ezekiel spiritually saw. The spiritual temple. We have come now to that which in every detail is measured according to Christ. Is this Christ? How much of Christ is here? According to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. That's the beginning of Hebrews, isn't it? As well as Ephesians. See?

T. Austin Sparks: And so the chief point of the attack is always to take something of Christ away, divert from Christ, put something in the place of the very essence, the essential Christ. Anyhow, anyhow, anyhow, anything, so long as the end of it is less of Christ. Not so much of Christ, not more of Christ. It has to do then with the Lordship of Christ in everything. Lordship of Christ. You're still singing, crown Him, crown Him. Crown Him Lord of all. Lovely idea. Beautiful thought. Wonderful thing. Do you see what it means? Not only the thing as a whole, this wonderful temple, house, sanctuary, but to the last detail, in the whole Heaven-ly order, the last detail, Christ. In your life and mine, He is the decision. He is the controlling principle. This is the kingdom.

T. Austin Sparks: Oh, our Christian phraseology does need redeeming and revising. We talk about the kingdom. The kingdom. We are out in the work of the kingdom, for the spread of the kingdom. I say, these words, kingdom, church, and all the others need redeeming. They need revision. What is the kingdom? Well, in the original language, it's quite clear that we've missed it by some other mentality. The kingdom of God is the sovereign rule of God. The sovereign rule of God. That's the meaning of it. And that here is brought down to a detail. It's not just an uncomprehensive conception of the kingdom. No, it's where I go today. What I do today. What the Lord would have about me today. That's the kingdom of God. A kingdom which cannot be shaken is of that type. Where it's all Christ.

T. Austin Sparks: Hence, the necessity for making known the ground upon which security rests. Cannot be shaken. The ground on which security rests. Security is, of course, a very moot thing today, a very lively concern, isn't it? In this world, security, security. Well, your Metropolitan Insurance, an immense organization, and its one word is security. You see what I mean? The whole realm this word security is governing. There is nothing secure, eternally secure, but what is established by God. And that is concerning His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord. And that is the positive side to the New Testament, always.

T. Austin Sparks: And so I'm going to conclude, conclude by reminding you the nine and the ten. Why nine precautions? Why nine times, beware, lest, beware, lest. How precautionary the Lord is, even with His best servants. His most used servants. If they are really under His sovereign government, what precautions He takes. Do you remember? Had he ever a greater servant than the Apostle Paul? Was there ever a servant more used of God than he? Venture to say in the annals of eternity, that man stands very high in preciousness for the Lord. Lest, lest, by reason of the greatness of the revelation, I should be exalted above measure. Born in the flesh, a messenger of Satan was given. I besought the Lord three times that He would take this away, if you say. Not no. The Lord is always positive, my grace is sufficient. But the precaution of the Lord to keep a most used and valuable servant from deviating, from the awful snare of pride, even in holy things, the things of God and Heaven, for spiritual pride is the worst kind of pride. And pride, pride, the devastation that pride works. Lest I should be exalted. God's precaution, lest, lest. And here you have these nine lessts. Look at them, friends. Go through. Not just as a Bible study, interesting. But note the peril that is associated with each lesst. Take it to heart. And so this book has this running right through from beginning to end. Lest, lest, lest. Be on your guard. Watch. Is this of that kind that abides forever? Indestructible and unshakeable, is it Christ? Be utterly committed. And that's where the other side, let us, let us. And the let us 10 times, if you sum it all up, it amounts to this, be unreservedly and utterly committed. Committed. I think that means something more than becoming a Christian. Many, many who are good children of God, just genuinely born again, but they are not utterly committed. Not utterly committed. There are some other interests. They've got one foot or even a toe in the world. Still something where there are alternatives to utter-ness.

T. Austin Sparks: But the, the exhortation here 10 times mentioned, let us, let us. Because, because, because of this peril, let us. The great let us of chapter 6:1, isn't it? Let us go on. Don't drift. Don't leave yourself to the mercy of the present current. The tide, the wind. There's nothing that will keep us safer than being positive. I like that translation, the phrase. You know, our English is, fervent in spirit, serving the Lord. And I think it's Moffatt who's translated, and I like it. Maintain the spiritual glow. Oh, it's a safe guard. There's nothing more safeguarding than being positive. Remember David on the housetop? Tragedy, catastrophe, calamity of David's life. Which left its scar on him. Was being on the housetop when he ought to have been in the battles. Reclining when he ought to have been going. Israel dally-dally in the wilderness for 40 years instead of getting on with it. Going. Let us go on to full growth. If we're all of that mind, we'll not be caught by these subverting things. These alternatives, these policies, these impositions. We'll not be caught. No. Is this going to mean, really and truly, an increase of Christ? A greater fullness of Christ? Or is it some interesting thing? Some fascinating thing? Something that's going to be for the moment, for the time being. And then presently it's going to fade out, and I'm going to be left high and dry? That's what happened to so many of these things. They're just for a time. You can see history strewn with the wreck of things which at one time seemed to be the thing, the ultimate thing. No. The only thing that is the thing is the increase of Jesus Christ. That's the test of everything. Increase of Jesus Christ, and the universal challenge, contest, test is on that.

T. Austin Sparks: I've said enough. I close there. Praying, as I trust you will do, that will not be a subject of a conference. A man's feet, morning by morning. Lord will make the challenge of it. For yet, yet again will I shake not the Earth only, but the Heaven. Shaking has begun. It has begun. Christianity has entered the great shaking. What is going to remain? Not the things that are made, not the Earth-bound things of Christians. But that, that kingdom, that sovereign rule, which cannot be shaken. It's Zion, you say. As the mountains are around about Jerusalem, it cannot be shaken. That's the Old Testament idea. But here it is. It's what is really and truly spiritual and Heaven-ly. That is in us and that we are in. It is that. To use our, our first word, this, this morning. That to which we are come. The Lord help us. We ask with thanksgiving in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.

T. Austin Sparks: Lord, with the indelible pen of the spirit of the living God, write the terms of the new covenant on our hearts, the flesh tablets of our hearts. Indelibly so. That it may not pass with a week. With a ministry, with gathering people. However, all this may be blessed and joyous. But that the Lord's own intention revealed to us may abide in our hearts. Continually check us up, arbitrate between the two courses, the options, the alternatives. To always come back to this, does this mean more of Christ? Lord, so help us. We ask with thanksgiving in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen.