The Altar and the Name

by T. Austin-Sparks

Chapter 5 - Sifting Unto Vital Service

Reading: Judges 7:1-7; 1 Chron. 28:9; Jer. 17:9-10.

There are some of you present this evening who have not been with us before in this conference, and possibly some of you who do not know the Lord Jesus in a personal way. Let me say here that we are met as a company of God's people from many parts of the world that we might receive from Him some light and instruction concerning His will where we are concerned at this present time. In saying that, you will all understand and appreciate the nature of the ministry, but I believe that the word we shall have this evening may reach even to those who are not the Lord's, and we certainly shall have such in mind as we go on.

There are two main things being brought before us just now. One is the desire of the Lord, indeed, the purpose of the Lord, to have His people in such a condition and state that His glory is expressed and realised in them; His people really in the enjoyment of all that He has provided for them.

He has provided Life, but He has provided Life more abundantly. He has provided spiritual riches and wealth, treasures untold and inexhaustible. He has provided spiritual food, a store which has no end and can be drawn upon continually without failing. He has provided strength, His own strength, that they should be a strong people indeed. The Lord has made a great and many-sided provision for His people, but history shows that His people have not always been in the enjoyment of His provision, and there are many today who bear His Name, who carry His Name, who are called by His Name, "Christians", Christ-ones, who are not in that enjoyment, not in that blessed state. Some are, but not all, and in so far as that is not the Lord, the Lord is not glorified in them.

Well, that is what the Lord wants. It is not an impossible thing, it is not just a bit of fancy and idealism, a high standard, a lofty conception but beyond possibility of attainment. In this very place tonight there are those who will very readily say that they know something of that, that Christ is to them a fountain of Life, not just a trickling stream. He is a fountain of Life, who will say that they know something of the depth of the riches, they know something of how wealthy it is possible to be in Christ, and they know something about the food matter, His wonderful provision of spiritual food, inexhaustible. Yes, some of us know something about that. The wonder to us is the inexhaustibility of what is provided for us in the Lord Jesus. That is the one thing that is in view.

I am quite sure that none of us are at the point where we feel we cannot know any more. That would be a contradiction to what I have said. If it is inexhaustible, then we can never come to a place where we have all that we can have. Not any of us here would say that we have really attained unto all that the Lord wishes and desires in these matters, not at all, but it may be that there are those here, perhaps many, who are not in that enjoyment. They are just striving to make out a spiritual existence, as we say, to make ends meet, to find something upon which to subsist and keep going. They are living on very poor fare, and they are hungry, longing for more, and it may be that you do not feel that it is altogether helpful to be told about the things that there are for you. What you want to know is how you can get them, and how you can come into that enjoyment. Well, we are saying some things about that, but that is not our particular point tonight. We may be moving more in that direction later, we shall see.

But the other thing that is before us, the other main thing, is that the Lord is shown to have moved from time to time during the history of His people when they have been in a poor state spiritually of weakness and starvation and poverty and defeat, He has moved to bring into relationship with Himself in a big way some instrument, sometimes an individual sometimes a company, who have come into such a knowledge of Himself in this fuller way, in the greater fulness of Christ, that they could be instrumental in bringing more of the Lord's people into that good. The Lord must have instruments with which to do His work, and vessels through which to reveal Himself. He has moved like that. And shall we not say that He is seeking to have such an instrument in our time? Seeing that the need is so great, and that there is really so little real knowledge and experience of those greater fulnesses that are in Christ, would He not bring a people near to Himself and work in them in a peculiar way? That where they are, He might make people envious, looking on their food and coveting it, looking upon their wealth and longing for it. Yes, by expression, by example, by manifestation, to bring His people into a better position and a better condition.

God's Tests

Now this evening in that setting, I have a word which will be a very simple word indeed, but its simplicity does not mean that it is not very important. It springs out of the passages of Scripture which I read to you just now, particularly as illustrated in that incident with Gideon, who was such an instrument laid hold of by God for the deliverance of God's people from their poor condition.

It was the incident of securing a company, a band, by which the Lord could accomplish that deliverance and secure unto His people their rights of inheritance in Himself. You remember, Gideon blew the trumpet, and there gathered unto him a great host, over thirty thousand men. Of course, even at that, it was a poor thing compared with the Midianites and all the rest. Nevertheless it was thirty thousand.

The Lord said to Gideon, "The people that are with thee are too many for Me to give the Midianites into their hand, lest Israel vaunt themselves against Me" - terrible possibility - "saying, mine own hand hath saved me". Well, the first test was, "Whosoever is fearful and trembling, let him return and depart".

I think we have to admire these people, for one thing, if we cannot admire them for everything. They were at least honest, ready to admit that they were afraid of this business. Well, they had good reason to be afraid, and they honestly in fact said, 'We are, we are glad of the opportunity of going home, thank you', and away they went.

Ten thousand remained, and still the Lord had got His basic difficulty, and He had to say to Gideon, 'There are still too many, bring them down to the water, and I will try them for thee there'. You know the rest of the story, just what happened. The ten thousand were brought down to the water, to the river, and then the Lord whispered in Gideon's ear, 'Do not let the people know'. That would have given the whole thing away, undercut the whole thing. He just quietly said to Gideon aside, 'Now then, tell them to have a drink; now you watch how they drink. Those that lap like a dog, you just set them on one side, and those that get down to it on their hands and knees and on their faces and wallow in it, you put them by themselves'. And so Gideon gave the order that the whole army could have a drink. They did, and their drinking, all unbeknown to themselves, was a test. The Lord said that it was a trying of them. "I will try them for thee". The word 'try' here is the word which means 'tested under an ordeal'. The same word is used in another place. "Thou hast tried us, as silver is tried" (Psa. 66:10), an ordeal to discover something, to bring something to light, to bring something to the surface. "I will try them for thee there". This water scene is said to be a trying, and of course that gives some support to the interpretation that has been placed upon this.

It does not say so here, but the interpretation that has been given to this is that those who got down on their knees to drink were those who were thinking more of their own gratification than of the Lord's interests and the battle, those who just lapped it in their hands, took it and lapped standing, were those who were not thinking so much of that as they were of the real business on hand. I think that is a genuine interpretation. It certainly did indicate a disposition, and it is upon that that everything hangs - a disposition.

They were all thirsty and in need of refreshment and renewal. There was nothing wrong at all in their drinking of the water, nothing wrong with the water and nothing wrong with their taking a drink of the water; nothing wrong with that. The difference was just this, that some regarded the water as a necessity, while the others, the majority, made it an indulgence. Some took it because it was absolutely necessary, but getting the necessity attended to, they were already erect and ready for the real business. The others were having a good time and just giving themselves up to it, so to speak. They were more occupied with the thought of getting as much personal gratification out of this as they could, and not wholly and completely concerned with the Lord's interests, the great thing which was at stake at that time: the honour and glory of the Name of the Lord in His people.

Now, that is the simple message, but it is a case of sifting unto vital service, being tried with a set vocation in view. Of course, in the matter of salvation, the Lord does not always carry things so far and press issues so thoroughly. It seems that in the matter of salvation, all kinds of people get in, every type that you can think of comes into the realm of being saved, although I think in many, many instances, they do not get there without some test. However, I am not talking about the whole mass of Christians and the matter of their being saved and the ground upon which they are saved. That may simply be, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved" (Acts 16:31). But I am speaking about something more than that, the great vocation into which we are called as God's saved ones and the specific work that God needs to have done at a given time and a time such as this.

We shall never be of any use to the Lord beyond the point where we ourselves know the Lord. Real service is limited to the point of the experience of the servant. You cannot go beyond that, you cannot lead anyone beyond the point where you have gone yourself. You cannot give anybody anything beyond what you have got yourself, that is, of real food, of real value. You can give a lot of teaching, but it does not get people anywhere, and if you and I are going to serve the Lord in His very, very serious and solemn need of bringing and leading people of His into the greater fulnesses of Christ, we have got to be a special kind of people. The thirty-two thousand type will not do, and the ten thousand type will not do. It is the three hundred type alone. The Lord said, "By the three hundred men that lapped will I save you". This is sifting down, reduction, in order to get to effectiveness. This is a kind of limitation that means expansion, enlargement, but it has to take place. And so God applies His tests and brings in His trials to get a peculiar vessel for a peculiar purpose.

That, I feel, is His message at this time. It is not just a general kind of convention and conference for general teaching to Christian people. It is something with a specific object relative to the tragic situation amongst the Lord's people today, to get something after the order and kind of these three hundred.

A Matter of Disposition

Well, what are they like? The Lord has very simple ways and means of trying and proving, and they are often so simple that we do not recognize them as tryings and provings. This was a very simple thing for the whole ten thousand. 'Bring them down to the water and let them drink', and the last thing, it seems, that occurred to any of them was that as they came down to the water and took their drink they were under a supreme test. The eye of God was upon them, and that was moving from them to Gideon, 'You see? You see? You see? You note that', and they did not realize what was happening. This great sifting and selectiveness for this purpose was going on in some very ordinary and simple matter out of their consciousness.

You know, you and I would rise to an occasion if an angel of God came to us and said, 'Look here, you are called to a great piece of work for God, and I want you to give some proof that you are ready for it'. Ah, we would rise to it, would we not? We would be very, very careful, watching everything to see that we did not default, that we did not disappoint, that we were not set aside, ruled out. We would be right on our toes, as we say, about it, but the Lord does not do it like that. He has never done it with any of you like that, and He has never done it with me. But He has applied just as serious a test in very simple ways.

I said, I think it was last night, that a gesture is a very, very indicative and significant thing, just a gesture. Here is the gesture. Here is one man who flops down at the riverside and has a good go at the water. The other man stands by the river and takes up his hand and laps all alone. Well, why not? Ah yes, but you see, bound up with that, that simple test is... what? Oh, it is not just a sign, that is, the Lord has not ordained that some lap and some go down on their knees and so you separate them. It is a sign of the heart, it is a revelation of a disposition. This larger crowd, they are the people who want a good time even in the Lord's work. These others, they are not thinking of the good time at all. They are putting first things first. The first thing is this battle, this work of God. It comes first, and everything else takes the last place or the second place.

This is the thing that is on hand - the revelation of a disposition - and you know, we are showing our dispositions in all sorts of simple ways, just as simple as that. As we go about our daily life, our daily work, yes, the Lord's eye is upon us there in the office, in the workshop, in the shop, in the study, wherever we are. The Lord's eye is upon us, and our hearts are being revealed in just the way in which we go to work in the ordinary things of life. We separate these things, the sacred and the secular. In the church it is one thing, in business it is another, but it is not. Our qualification is in our disposition, not in our consciousness of being under the eye of God, but when we are not conscious of that at all, and the disposition we are showing - that is the test. And oh, how many and how simple are the ways in which we show our disposition, just our inclination.

Now, of course, that does apply to every stage of the Christian life. I said that there are saved people of all kinds, but if you are going to have a really thorough-going salvation, and not one of those poor things, those inadequate things, those experiences of Christ which are anything but what He would have you have, if you are going to have that, you have got to show that you mean business, that this thing is a very serious thing with you. You will get as much as your heart is set upon and no more, and the Lord is looking at your heart. We read those passages - David to his son Solomon, "And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts". Those words of Jeremiah - "I, the Lord, search the mind, I try the heart".

And what is true of your salvation is true of your usefulness to the Lord. None of us will ever be used of the Lord in any very vital way unless our hearts are wholly set upon the Lord and His interests, not to have a good time (that is, as men speak) not to have every picnic that is going, not to have every diversion from the strain that is available, not to have every escape from responsibility and obligation that can be found. Not a disposition like that at all, but the disposition that recognizes how great is the matter in which we are involved, and we are people who are wholly committed to that, and our own gratification and satisfaction is not allowed to affect or influence us at all. It is a heart wholly for the Lord.

Now, I said that the Lord has many ways of finding that out. I could not compass all the ways in which He does it, but what I want to say is this, that the Lord will present a test. It will not always be as to whether the thing is right or wrong, but it may more often be as to whether it is the good or the better. If you are of the disposition of the great majority, you will be always asking questions like this - 'Well, may I not? Is there any harm in it? What is wrong with that?' There was nothing wrong with drinking the water. It is not a case of whether it is wrong or whether you may, whether you are obliged to. You see, that is a disposition. You will just only go so far as you must, if you are like that.

What the Lord is looking for (and it is always a minority) is those people who never, never talk like that or think like that. "May I? Must I? Is there any wrong in it?" They are always saying, "Can I do more than I am doing? Can I go farther than I am going? Is there not some fuller thing that the Lord would have than I know, than I am in, than I am doing?" A question like that, always in the heart - "Has the Lord not got something more than what I have known and what I am in and what I am doing? Has the Lord not got something more? My heart is set upon all that the Lord wants, and I will never be satisfied with anything less, however good it is; many, many good things, but is there not something more than this?" Such are the people for whom the Lord is looking, and He who reads all hearts, knows our disposition in this matter, whether we will accept something less, or never accept anything less than all that the Lord would have, if He could have it.

The Lord allows opportunities to come for personal gratification. He presents something that demands hard work, and then He watches the disposition. Ready to jump at that which offers some personal gratification, to grasp at an opportunity to shirk the hard work? If that is your disposition, it rules you out. He sometimes presents something in His Word, brings you up against something in His Word. Now then, what is your disposition? "Must I? Really, must I? Is that a command? And if I do not do it, shall I just be breaking a command? Is that really necessary?" And then we begin to go round to people who we think are authorities, or know better than we do, who know the Lord better than we do, and say, "Do you think it necessary for me to do so-and-so? Do you think that I must?" And how often even godly people have said, "Oh no, I do not think it is necessary for you to do that..." - making men so often our authority in the things of God when God has presented us with something.

I remember many years ago (to give you an illustration of what I mean) I was visiting a certain home. I felt constrained to go to that home at that time, that particular evening. I did not know why, but it just seemed that I had to go, and I was asking in my heart, 'Why is it I feel so strongly urged to go there tonight?' And I went with this question. I got there, and while we were quietly talking together, I could not see anything special. Then there was a knock on the door, and a man was brought in where I was and introduced to me, a man who had had a very remarkable conversion.

He was in the army in the old days. It was a barrack room. He was soundly converted and knelt down at his bedside with all the vile, blaspheming, drunken soldiers around him, and paid the price. He meant business with God, and he came into this home on this particular occasion and I got into conversation with him. It was the first time I had met him. I found him very earnest and as we talked I was all the time asking this question, 'What am I here for, is there something?' We talked on and on. Presently he said to me, 'What do you think about so-and-so?' It was a water test. 'What do you think about so-and-so?'

Immediately he asked the question, I knew inside - 'That is the meaning of your being here and his being here tonight'. I said, 'Why do you ask me? Does it matter what I think about it? Has the Lord said that to you?' He said, 'Yes, I think He has. I feel pretty sure He has, but I wanted some confirmation, and so I am asking you'. I said, 'Brother, if the Lord has said that to you, you just go and be obedient to the Lord. Everything hangs upon your answering the Lord'. It was a real test, and we talked, and he went away. I went home.

Some time later I was at that home, and along came the same man without any arrangement, and I noticed he was a little bit shy of me this time, a little bit awkward. When we got talking, he said, 'I remember our talk here last time. After I left, I went to such and such a minister of such and such a denomination whom I know' - who did not believe in this particular thing, you see - and asked him what he thought about it. He said, of course, 'No, that is not necessary at all'. Well, we talked, and although I was not trying to press for this thing, I was taking the line of obedience to the Lord when He speaks, whatever it is, and the man came right back and he said, 'Yes, I see, I cannot get away from it, the Lord has brought me up against this'. I said, 'All right, brother, you know your way'. He went away.

It was some time, some months, before we met again, and we did meet again, and this time there was a real arrest and death. We could not get anywhere at all. He was not coming on to that again. He was afraid, afraid even to mention it, because, well, it disturbed him and we did not get any fellowship at all. But before he went, I said, 'Well, brother, are you going on with the Lord? Are you going to obey the Lord?'. He said, 'I do not know, everybody I speak to says it is not necessary'. 'All right', I said, 'if the Lord has spoken, it is a very serious thing for you', and we parted. One year later, in another part of London, right the other side of London, I was going along, walking along a road, and I saw a man coming towards me on a bicycle, and as he got near he recognized me. He wheeled round and went off for dear life in the opposite direction. That was the man. What did I hear of him? He had gone right away from the Lord back into the world, right back into his old sin, a drunkard and a blasphemer, right back to where he was before he came to the Lord. That is a true story. The Lord presented a simple test, and he said, 'Is it necessary?' rather than 'Oh, anything that the Lord wants, I am for that'. He did what the apostle Paul said he did not do - conferred with flesh and blood instead of being obedient to the heavenly vision. And how much hangs upon it.

The Lord may present something, yes, it may not be this form or that form, it may be a water test. John the Baptist applied the water test at the Jordan. "Bring forth fruit worthy of repentance", he said, "and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham for our father" (Matt. 3:8-9). Here is the test as to whether you mean business with God. And so it comes. I cannot tell you all the ways God has, such a variety of ways, but the point is this - God is always looking on the heart to see if we really do mean business. He knows the disposition, and He is seeking for a company of people who are not going to be influenced by anything, anything at all: associations, connections, or anything else which would in any way stand between them and all that the Lord wants. Oh, it is a test that is a very thorough-going one, and how often people have come up face to face with an issue, an issue which the Lord might not have pressed right through. He does not always do that, but don't you make that a back-door way out. Sometimes He brings us face to face with something, but He is not going to press that right through. He did it with Abraham. "Take now thy son... and offer him" (Gen. 22:2). He pressed it right up to the last minute, the last instant, the split second of a raised knife and its falling, right up to then, and then He did not allow him to go through with it. He found his disposition.

There was a young man who had great riches who came to the Lord Jesus professing that he wanted to know about eternal life. The Lord Jesus said, "Go, sell that which thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, follow Me" (Matt. 19:21). I am not sure that the Lord would have required the carrying out of that utterly, but He was testing his position. We do not know how much time or space there is between the two things, and actual demand and its fulfilment, but it is just in that narrow space where we come to the point, that split second, so to speak, where, if the Lord does not show otherwise, it is going through. The Lord wants to know whether we mean business with Him or not.

Now, you see, it is one simple, very direct thing, but look how much did hang upon this, on that three hundred. What a tremendous thing God did by them, how He committed Himself to them! What a wonderful thing, three hundred men against a multitude like locusts spread all over the land, and the whole lot of them thrown into confusion and divided and the people of God delivered. Three hundred men, but what a three hundred, what kind of men they were! And it seems to me that the proof that they were of this kind was that they were prepared as three hundred to go on with the business. I mean, just think what it requires for three hundred men to look at a great multitude and say, 'We are not going home, we are going on with this business. We have started, and we are going through with it'. That was the kind they were. It proved that they were of that disposition, that just being three hundred up against tens of thousands, they did not shrink, but they said, 'We are going on with this'.

The Lord needs men and women like that, and only people of that kind and that disposition and that heart can serve Him in this great business of recovering His glory in the Church.