Notes Of Addresses

The following conference notes provide an outline of three addresses given at Peckham.

THE TENDER SHEPHERD (S. J. Hill).

Psalm 23. is so suitable for children, we think, but it suits us believers also. We are like children-like sheep, ready to wander, needing a shepherd, and-"The Lord is my shepherd." I may wander from Him, but lie will not fail me. So "I shall not want" : I shall starve, only if I neglect His provision. In days of need He is not bankrupt and will always look after His own.

What some of the Old Testament saints would have given to live in our day with its full revelation! Yet David so long ago could with delight lie down in the pastures of tender grass. The Lord told how He would lead His sheep in and out and they would find pasture. Before us is spread the complete Bible, and we may nourish our souls with the good Word of God.

"He leadeth me beside the still waters." Does this refer to the Holy Spirit? We to-day must thank God for those two precious blessings, the Word of God and the Spirit of God. Christ Himself is absent, but on His behalf the Holy Spirit is here with us. He is indeed the Living Water, and in the Word we may drink to the full of His ministry.

"He restoreth my soul." Oh, the boon of sleep! Mysteriously, without our knowing the "how," it revives us, and life's joy and hope, flow afresh. So prayer lifts our burdens and refreshes us in that beautiful way which Isaiah describes-" They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength."

A parallel to the truth of the Psalm-"He guideth me in paths that are right," is found in John 10.-"He leadeth them out and goeth before them." To-day the Lord would give us His leading (so necessary in these difficult days) through the Scriptures.

Someone has suggested that "the valley of the shadow of death" represents the present world but to the believer, death itself, the death of the body, is only a shadow. Since Christ has died and risen again, death has no terrors, for it is to depart and be with Christ. The life that is life indeed has already begun and death is a shadow.

"Thy rod," to smite the foe; "Thy staff," the Word to lean upon; these are mine. Also in the Word a "table" is provided with food suitable to all capacities, milk for the babe, strong meat for the grown-up.

"Anointest my head"-this is the Spirit's ministry, and the foreshadowing of eternal glory. Even here and now "my cup runneth over." The blessing is too great for the vessel. On our journey two useful servants, Goodness and Mercy, wait upon us; and at the end, "I will dwell in the house of the Lord." Heaven is the Lord's House essentially, and there, with Him, who loved us and whom we love, we shall ever be.

TOGETHER IN UNITY (J. Dorricott).

"Go, tell My brethren"-this was the precious message on the Resurrection Morn. The Risen Man is not ashamed to call us brethren. Are we enjoying this remarkable relationship with the Firstborn among many brethren?

Now, it is the Father's desire that, as is said in Psalm 133., brethren should dwell together in unity. In Acts 1. 15, we find the names together were about 120 in 2. 44, "All that believed were together," and in verse 47, "The Lord added together" (R.V.M.) the saved ones.

We see from John 12., that one of the objects of the Lord's death was to gather together into one the children of God. And in John 17. the Lord prayed four times (verses 11, 21, 22, 23) "That they may be one"; one in purpose, thought, communion. Have we no concern that Satan has succeeded so terribly in scattering the sheep of the flock?

God wants us to be together, not merely as a unit but in unity. "That ye be of the same mind, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind." Unity is like the precious ointment described in Exodus 30. 22-24,-the four spices with the oil poured in. When the tabernacle was anointed, the fragrance of the ointment would waft on the desert air till those around would rejoice at the delightful odour! So this Unity should have a sweet-savour, a far-reaching influence-"that the world may believe" (John 17.).

In Ephesians 4. we read: "Walk worthily of the calling... giving diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond (uniting-bond) of peace." Four ingredients were in the ointment of old, and oil blending. So here-

lowliness,

meekness,

longsuffering,

forbearance,

in the bond of peace.

Ours is a wondrous calling; united with the living Head; members of Christ and of one another. We cannot effect that union in Christ, but it is our responsibility to manifest unity. The Spirit brings together in divine unity-as seen in the churches of God-and those together in this divine unity should give diligence to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.

LOYALTY TO OUR LEADER (A. G. Jarvis).

Adullam's Cave was a strange rendezvous, and stranger still was the mixture of men who gathered there in David's day. Look at 1 Samuel 22.: "His brethren... went down thither to him. And every one that was in distress... gathered themselves unto him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men." Bearing in mind that Psalm 34. was probably written in the Cave, notice verse 11, "Come, ye children, hearken unto me: I will teach you the fear of the Lord." Poor material indeed they were, but see what he made of them!

In chapter 23. we read of 600 men (the band had grown) who followed David whithersoever they could. Sometimes we sing: "All along my earthly pathway, only let me follow Thee." To His disciples the Lord once said, "Ye are they which have CONTINUED WITH ME in My temptations." Again, "Will ye also go away?" to which Peter responded, "Lord, to whom shall we go?" We need to be loyal like that.

The lean days for the 600 passed, and in 2 Samuel 23. there is given the roll of honour; for David did not forget. He had taken note of individual valour. In the Scriptures we read of one who for a dish of lentils sold his birthright, but in this chapter is recorded how one put his very life in jeopardy to keep a plot of lentils-for the sake of his dear lord. The aggressive world about us, like the Philistines of old, would wrest from our grasp the precious things which we have learned. Shall we yield?

Further down the roll there are other men who, because they heard their lord express the wish: Oh for a drink from Bethlehem! risked their lives to give him pleasure. He never forgot. Has our Lord said anything to you and to me of His desire which, to obtain, will cost us something? And what have we done in response? He will not forget.

Loyalty counts. Joab the military genius has no place in the list because he was not loyal to the end. His brothers, his armour-bearer, are there, but not Joab. Ahithophel, once the familiar friend, is missing. Abiathar, who fled to David for safeguard, was not true all the way--he is not there.

Our hearts must be consistently loyal, and then in the coming day we shall be numbered with the mighty men. We then shall hear those words ourselves- "Ye are they which have

CONTINUED WITH ME."

(Communicated by D.A.H.)

unknown | May 1932
General