Keeping the testimony clean from defilement requires individual sanctification and separation from worldly influences, as demonstrated by King Hezekiah's cleansing of the Temple in 2 Chronicles 29. The sermon highlights how Hezekiah gathered the people, removed filthiness from the holy place, and restored worship with offerings and music, leading to a renewed song of the Lord. This act of purification and dedication is presented as essential for the collective testimony of believers to be a fitting dwelling place for the Holy Spirit. Ultimately, a cleansed testimony allows for the true song of the Lord to arise, silencing worldly distractions and bringing glory to God.
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Now, I'd love to speak in the afternoon because I find more brethren are closing their eyes with deep spiritual meditation. And more sisters are nodding their agreement than in any other meeting. So please make yourself quite comfortable. And don't think I'm going to roast anybody if they nod a little during the remainder of this afternoon's meeting. I trust that God will bless His word to us. We live in days of deep solemnity and our subject this afternoon is keeping the testimony clear of defilement. I want you this afternoon then to examine with me something that occurred in the Old Testament to see the way in which the Spirit of God moved and to come face to face with the fundamental need for what my dear brother Young has described as the need for revival.
I believe that's an individual matter. It commences in the human heart individually. And as we talk of testimony, we think of that which is maintained collectively, which should be to the honour and praise of God, in which every one of us individually has a part. And this afternoon I want to emphasise that. as I come to the thinking concerning keeping the testimony clean from defilement. Turn with me then, if you please, first of all, to the second book of Chronicles chapter twenty nine. I don't propose to read the whole chapter.
It's rather too lengthy. But merely to select certain portions, which I think might be good for our consideration, Hezekiah began to reign when he was five and twenty years old, and he reigned nine and twenty years in Jerusalem. And his mother's name was Abijah, the daughter of Zechariah. And he did that which was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that David his father had done. He, in the first year of his reign, in the first month, opened the doors of the house of the Lord and repaired them. And he brought in the priests and the Levites and gathered them together into the east street, and said unto them, Hear me, ye Levites, sanctify now yourselves, and sanctify the house of the Lord God of your fathers, and carry forth the filthiness out of the holy place.
Now in verse number fifteen, if you please, and they gathered their brethren and sanctified themselves, and came according to the commandment of the king by the words of the Lord to cleanse the house of the Lord. And the priests went into the inner part of the house of the Lord to cleanse it, and brought out all the uncleanness that they found in the temple of the Lord into the court of the house of the Lord. And the Levites took it to carry it out abroad into the brook Chidron. Verse number twenty. Then Hezekiah the king rose early and gathered the rulers of the city and went up to the house of the Lord. And they brought seven bullocks and seven rams and seven lambs and seven he goats for a sin offering for the kingdom and for the sanctuary and for Judah.
And he commanded the priests, the sons of Aaron, to offer them on the altar of the Lord. So they killed the bullocks and the priests received the blood. and sprinkled it on the altar. Likewise, when they had killed the rams, they sprinkled the blood upon the altar, they killed also the lambs, and they sprinkled the blood upon the altar. And they brought forth the he-goats for the sin offering before the king and the congregation, and they laid their hands upon them. And the priests killed them, and they made reconciliation with their blood upon the altar. to make an atonement for all Israel. For the king commanded that the burnt offering and the sin offering should be made for all Israel.
And he set the Levites in the house of the Lord with symbols, with sultries, and with hearts. According to the commandment of David and of Gad the king's seer, and Nathan the prophet, for so was the commandment of the Lord by his prophets. And the Levites stood with the instruments of David and the priests with the trumpets. And Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And when the burnt offering began, the song of the Lord began also with the trumpets and with the instruments ordained by David, King of Israel. And all the congregation worshipped and the singers sang and the trumpeters sounded.
And all this continued until the burnt offering was finished. and when they had made an end of offering the king and all that were present with him bowed themselves and worshipped. Now if you please to Psalm one hundred and thirty-seven. Psalm one hundred and thirty-seven. By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yea, we wept. When we remembered Zion, we hang our hearts upon the willows in the midst thereof.
For there they that carried us away captive required of us a song, and they that wasted us required of us mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion. How shall we sing the Lord's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. If I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy. Remember, O Lord, the children of Edom in the day of Jerusalem, who said, Raise it, raise it, even to the foundation thereof. O daughter of Babylon, who ought to be destroyed?
Happy shall he be that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones. May the Lord solemnize our hearts to take in his precious word. The books of chroniclers are very beautiful by our summary concerning much of Old Testament times. They contain also much that can be spiritually applied to the days in which we live. The temple of God was indeed the sanctuary, and we have been reminded that the book of Leviticus is the entrance into the sanctuary. This morning in our consideration we said that the sanctuary was important because it was the place that God had chosen to dwell in.
It therefore must possess a holiness of character that is consistent with the dwelling place of God. We come to that because that's important for the day in which we live. I begin to see that first of all every Christian has become a place in which the Spirit of God has chosen to make his dwelling. And at once I begin to see that the necessary requirement for the dwelling place of God is a character of holiness. I'm going to say that that's individual. Then I will say that you can apply that to an assembly. And during the past days we have considered much that could be applied to local assemblies.
Right here I'm going to say this, that the character of every one of us has a tremendous effect upon the assembly with which we associate. We cannot expect the spiritual quality of our assembly to rise any higher than that which we contribute to that assembly. Therefore every person who comes into fellowship in an assembly becomes extremely responsible to God for the maintenance of the holiness of the testimony. By the word testimony, I mean that which sets forth a witness for the dwelling place of God. And I begin to see that this is most important for the Christian. If I as an individual Christian am embodying a truth which is applicable to the whole Church, then I am also responsible to God to live in such a way that I shall embody the character of the whole testimony.
In my embodiment of that character I shall be setting forth what I expect the local assembly to set forth. I shall be refraining from that which I think would be unfitting for the presence of God in the local assembly and you're going to see at once that we are challenged in every department of our living. Now the Spirit of God very graciously last night brought us face to face with the cross. Today I want to take a step further. The cross is Jesus died for me, first of all. But the cross is also Jesus died upon God's behalf. And I want to see a new application of this truth today as we come to these considerations.
In Second Chronicles, I have recorded five revivals that took place in the nation of Israel. Your Bible students might like to note them down. First, under Asa, you'll discover that as you come to this wonderful revival, that this man possessed a life that was truly fragrant. In his day there was a turning to God. an overturning of idolatry and a cleansing of the testimony which resulted in real blessing in Israel. And when he died, they made a fragrant burning for this man and it went up, you know, as a testimony before God, a witness as to the character of his life. You might like to notice that in between Asa and Joash, a king lived whose name was Jehoram.
and the Spirit of God has very graciously pointed out that when he died there was no burning whatever. You'll notice the difference between the testimony of the two men. One man leaves behind him the savour of fragrance, which finds its place in the eternal record. The other man is dismissed with no question of a burning which has proffered itself upon the mind and the heart of the people. The second of those revivals was under Jehovah's And the third under Joesh, under one of which we've read this afternoon in two Chronicles twenty-nine, was under Hezekiah, and the final one was under Josiah. Now, would you please observe with me that in every case, although the revivalist had risen under God's greatest hand, there came a moment in his life when he failed.
Now I want to say that God's man usually does fail somewhere. The only man of God who never failed was the Lord Jesus. And we have to see that in the lives of every one of us there are those bad patches of failure that we would be very ready to forget. You'll notice too with me if you please that when God permits a revivalist to arise who brings the people to a consideration of the requirements of the testimony, that man is set before God and the people in such a way that he attracts the people to God. and he certainly doesn't attack the people to himself. Let's go a step further with that and say that if the man fails and God records his failure, God is emphasizing the truth when he says, Seek ye from man whose breath is in his nostrils.
Now if I want to know about anything that's slightly defiling, I certainly don't want to go to men for they may give me the wrong counsel. When you listen to this please, see she's a man whose breast is in his nostrils. God says man is only living by imparted life which has been given him of God. If you want to know anything about living please come to the source of life. Please come to the eternal God and make your way into his presence through the mediatorial work of Jesus Christ the Lord. And then you will discover exactly what is right for human living here upon the earth.
You'll notice that in the days of Hezekiah there had been much brought into the sanctuary that defiled it. We get the word stillliness used in connection with the house of God. There were those things brought in that could be characterized literally under the heading of filthiness. And Hezekiah calls the people and says, Now, sanctify yourselves, separate yourselves. You don't like the word sanctification because it means separation. And the doctrine against which human flesh rebels the most, I suggest, is the doctrine of separation. God tells us that we are a heavenly people, but we will insist on living on the earth.
God tells us that we have no part in the tents of Edom and we will insist in making ourselves very comfortable indeed in the tents of Edom. God tells us that we are translated and accepted in the beloved but we will have our part in that which God hates here upon the earth. do let me say this this afternoon the reason that God has saved me and the reason that he has saved you is because he sees in you the possibility of the presentation of his son and the reason local assemblies are called together is that they may become instruments in the hands of God for the presentation of his son you know this morning as we considered the cross at the close of the meeting I said to one dear brother And our brother this cross ultimately is going to bring the whole universe under God's complete control and will eliminate everything which is contrary to God.
That's the direction we're moving in. Do we realize that? Our brother has pointed out the works of the flesh as contrary to the works of the Spirit. He has told us that the work of the Spirit is that which is the result of yieldedness to God. He has taught us that the works of the flesh are those things that belong to the earth, and that the work of the Spirit is that which belongs to the eternal presence of the living God. Am I going to live in the presence of God? The question is whether I am going to start to live in the presence of God here on earth. And if I hope that somehow when I am translated into heaven, that that will be the commencement of a glory that hitherto has not been expected or even anticipated in its entirety.
I come to this, that I should have been living already in that glory on the earth. And I believe that to be true. I think that's why God has loved us and saved us. He has taken up the most unlikely material in order that he may present his son. And we are taught in the Ephesian epistle that even now unto the principalities and powers that an object lesson being made in those that believe here upon the earth, it is provided as an instrument for the manifold wisdom of God. It's an object lesson. It is a display to principalities and powers which are in rebellion against the throne of God that here on earth God has a chosen instrument through which he is presenting his lovely son.
You know that's a high and lofty calling indeed. That's what a testimony is. It's a high and lofty calling. And presently this assembly truth of which we speak so lightly is going to be seen presented in the eternal city. And we're going to see that the assembly with which we were associated was progressing towards the new Jerusalem. And as we approach the new Jerusalem, we're going to see that God's eternal pattern will be to have Christ in the midst. And the people gathered around him to his name and to his blessed person. And that's the position that already we are entered upon in the assemblies. The Lord bless our understanding and give us to lay hold upon his truth.
Notice now, Hesse Carr, if you please. Hesse Carr says the house of God is coming to a dreadful condition when we've do something. Throughout the conference we've been saying that we must do something. We all come to the conclusion that there are many things that might be improved. We've come to the conclusion that in our treatment of moral values there are times when we're just as bad as the man in the street. And we come to the conclusion that because we're in the house of God, and that because our personalities have become the residence of the Holy Spirit, it is incumbent upon us to keep the residence clean.
Noun ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you. It then becomes incumbent upon us that we should live in such a characteristic that we shall be a perfectly fitting residence for the Holy Spirit. That's our ambition. We are ambitious to be holy. We are ambitious to be a perfectly fitting residence for the Spirit of God who is equally God with the Father and the Son so that he may reside in us with perfect equanimity. And I suggest that this is where we're failing to die.
You'll notice what happened in the case of Hezekiah. If you read the story through at your leisure and you come to the doors of the porch, you'll notice that the doors of the porch have become closed. There is no adequate entrance into the presence of God, and the testimony of his people has failed. Nobody is coming into the church. No one is being saved. Cedric I said we have to do something about this. We have to get right down to God's residence and put things right. We have to see to it that our assembly is kept clean from defilement. And if defilement has crept in, it is our business to do something about it. And that was exactly what Hezekiah did.
He called the people to sanctify themselves, to separate themselves from the evil of this world, to separate themselves from the life of ease and pleasure. to separate themselves to God for the energetic movement of the Spirit in order that something might take place which should leave its mark upon the people. And then please notice what happened. Hezekiah said, I'm going to fix a day for this. We will do this thing thoroughly. We will do it in an orderly fashion. It shall be done decently and in order. And Hezekiah rose up early. And right there the king set himself to seek God.
There was the gathering together of the congregation and the trumpeters came, those who could play upon the sultries and the harps. Each one of these dear people were gathered together and we read that then Hezekiah was going to present the offering. Did you notice, if you please, the seven that were mentioned, seven bullocks, seven rams, seven lambs and seven egos? Says his Echair, I can present to God nothing less than that which is consistent with his character. I wonder if we realise that that's what we have to do, to present to God nothing less than that which is consistent with his character.
If I'm presenting something to God, then it will not do to present something which is defiled. And I want to challenge our hearts today concerning this. for this sevenfold presentation is directly in accordance with God's character. It is a perfect presentation. Moreover, you will observe with me that the burnt offering is included, which means that there was something going up from the people of God entirely for God's delight, for his pleasure and for his satisfaction. And I see that there were four qualities of offerings here too. There were the bullocks, the rams, the lambs and the goats. and I see a fourfold movement towards man in the offering.
Wherever I read the number four for the presentation of God, I discern it's a movement towards man, blessedly expressed in the four gospels, wonderfully set out in this offering as a movement which is directly towards man in its fourfold presentation. And Hezekiah started this offer and they killed the bullocks and the priests received the blood They sprinkled it on the altar. They came up to that altar. The king was going to lead the worship. Right in the center of the people would be the majestic figure of their own sovereign, whom they knew because they had lived under his wonderful control and at last had come to this point of the offering.
I want you to notice what happened. In verse number twenty-seven, Hezekiah commanded to offer the burnt offering upon the altar. And that was when the revival started. The house of God had been cleaned. They had carried all the defilement out and placed it in the ditch. Kidron, which took all the filth out of the city. They put it in the right place. They didn't want to keep garbage in the house of the Lord. They wanted to put it on the refuse dump, the place for garbage. I wish sometimes that we put things in their right places, that the people of God would seek holiness because they are the people who have the deposit of truth for God and that they would relegate worldly things to the world and not seek to bother with them.
I wish we could put things in their right places as these people did and then the burnt offering would have this blessed wonderful character. Do you know when you come together to worship on the Lord's day, your own individual worship during the week is going to be continued. I love the brother who stands up when we come to remember the Lord Jesus and commences the meeting by saying let us continue to worship. That should be true. Unfortunately we usually say, shall we commence our meeting? I think it's so much better to observe this truth. that collective worship depends upon the character of individual worship and the contribution that every one of us makes to the collective worship will determine its character and its quality before God.
Take a look at this wonderful scene with me, please. Here is Hezekiah the King commanding the priest that they shall offer the burnt offering. He doesn't usurp the priest's position. He doesn't attempt to do a work that is outside of his scope. He's acting according to the gift which God has entrusted to him. And right here we read as soon as the burnt offering began, then the song of the Lord began. You know, the trumpeters started to sound their trumpets, and those who played it from the sorceress started to sound their wonderful note. And there was a shattering noise. It was a passionate uprising of praise to God.
And it was all the result of the cleansing of the testimony from defilement. I want you to observe this with me this afternoon. If the assembly is cleansed from defilement, there's going to be some wonderful work of God in it. Here the king stood in the midst. And you might notice, if you carefully read the chapter, that there weren't enough priests. They had to press the Levites into service as well, in order that the offering of God should be adequately presented. And it was then that the song of the Lord began when all were in perfect unity concerning the offering to God of that which was his due. You see, that's where I come into this picture.
And this is where the word of God starts to challenge me. When I say to consider that my body is the property of the Lord Jesus and that in my body is resident the Holy Spirit, I have to stop and ask myself, am I giving the Lord Jesus what he paid for? The price has been paid. And God has said, Be ye holy, for I am holy. And right there I begin to see that holiness is the necessary adjunct of the testimony, the house of the living God. Somebody are going to say, Mr. Crick is very doleful today. Don't you believe it? I want the song of the Lord.
I want that wonderful, joyful note to go up before God which shall betoken such a unity of heart and purpose that God will be delighted with that which is coming up to him. I want to see the song of the Lord begin. I want to see a movement in our own hearts that betokens the perfect expression of the Holy Spirit and we're going to see men and women saved if we open the doors of the house of the Lord in transit and defilement and really and truly take our stand where we should. I believe the Spirit of God would have us to learn that from this wonderful lesson. In verse number twenty nine of this chapter I read, When they had made an end of offering, for you will observe with me that all the time the burnt offering went on, so did the song.
You couldn't stop it. It was a wonderful song. And right at the end it tells me here that all that were present with the king bowed themselves and worshipped. They just had to. Room had been made for the expression of God. The testimony had been cleaned from its defilement. That defilement had been taken out and put in its right place. And the net result of all this is that the people bowed themselves and worshipped the Lord. They just have to. They're so happy and glad to do this. because there has been an expression among them that has shattered the silence. And I'm going to suggest to you that on that day there weren't many dumb tongues.
I'll suggest to you that the people were so filled with delight of that which had gone on, so touched by the person of the Holy Spirit that they just had to express themselves before God. And the whole man was brought into an operation of praise before God. but we read Psalm one hundred and thirty seven which was the other side of the picture for at the end of the second book of Chronicles I read that the people were taken into the Babylonian captivity will you observe with me that that was the cure for idolatry never again after that captivity do I read that the people of Israel fell into idolatry and please remember the New Testament has said covetousness I want Cavitlessness, which is idolatry.
You know, that's a searching thing, isn't it? Is this what I'm bringing into the house of God? Cavitlessness? I want idolatry. God said, I'm going to take my people into captivity until they learn better. And down there by the rivers of Babylon they sat down and wept. Forgotten were those days of Hezekiah. when the wonderful burnt offering presented before God was accompanied with that glorious song of thanksgiving and praise and the song of the Lord was hushed. And the idolatry which had come in had silenced their tongues.
Right there in Psalm, a hundred and thirty-seven it tells us that down in Babylon they came to them and said, Sing us the song of the Lord. They said, We can't. we've hung our harps upon the willows, we're finished with those. We have now no cause for joyful thanksgiving, no note of passionate praise going up to God. We're brought to the point when we have to sit down and weep by the rivers of Babylon and we can't sing the song of the Lord in a strange land. You know, that's a picture of the child of God in many instances today. God has allowed them to be captivated by the things of this world.
And literally they've gone into Babylon. And God has allowed them to go there that they may learn the secret of dispensing with idolatry so that the assembly may be free from defilement. And they sit down and weep. They hang their harps upon the widows. Oh, they're the children of God, yes. But they have so had fellowship with defilement, so entered into the idolatry which is covetousness, the line of I want and not what God wants, that the song has been silenced from their hearts, and the Spirit of God is recording their tears.
You know, the hymn writer once wrote this, Where is the blessedness that once I knew, when first I saw the Lord? Where is the so refreshing view of Jesus in his word? And the answer is that the captivity has fallen upon the people of God. And the captivity has come because of the idolatry. And the idolatry has come amongst them because of defilement. And today it is essential that every one of us should examine our hearts in the presence of God and see whether we are to blame for the entry of defilement into God's testimony. But I do want to thank God for the possibilities that the word of God sets before us.
For we not only have the doleful picture, the record of their tears, but in the same book of Psalms, as I come to that final Psalm, I discovered that there is the possibility that when defilement is removed, that the whole man shall praise God, the whole man shall become an orchestra. God says, let him praise with his breath. And let him praise with the trumpet. Have to use his fingers up in the trumpet. And let us praise him in the dance. He has to use his feet in the dance. And the whole man is brought into a wonderful theme of praise before God. Because the testimony has been free from defilement and the joy of the Lord is in the heart.
That's the way to revival. I believe we shouldn't have to ask ourselves why we are having so many gospel meetings. why we are preaching so often to empty chairs, why so often the preacher goes home with almost a broken heart because he's been convinced that the Spirit of God was in the message. And he's gone away and bemoaned the fact that there's been no apparent result whatever. And I'll suggest to you today that our standards are being lowered. We're getting to the point when we need to readjust our moral standards before God so that the song of the Lord might be in the assembly and in the individual heart and testimony day by day.
If that were true, the assembly could be built up. And if the assembly were edified and its testimony were effective, then the song of the Lord would begin with a mighty shattering noise. And I think even the jazz songs of this earth would be silenced. by the glorious song of praise that went up from the people of God. I would like to remind you that in the upper room when the Lord Jesus had drawn to himself those twelve disciples, in order to observe that final Passover which is recorded in Scripture, after the betrayer had gone out, I read that they sung a hymn together.
It was that wonderful. Here is the person of the Lord Jesus. In home is resident the eternal God, for God was in Christ. And he's going on to the cross. And known to him are all its agonies under anguish and suffering. And the movement of the Roman whiplash is known to his heart and his mind. and he has not underestimated the suffering, neither has he underestimated the great burden of sin. And yet here is the Lord Jesus in that wonderful position of being able to take his disciples on that occasion, facing the cross and to sing a hymn to God.
It's the contemplation of the burnt offering that causes the song of the Lord to begin. you're going to see that that's basically true in the case of the Lord Jesus. If he offers himself to the eternal God without spot through the eternal Spirit, then it is equally true that when he offered himself to God there was a song upon his heart. And I veryly believe that the association of the Lord Jesus with the will of God brought him into this happy relationship so that in contemplation of the cross, instituting the Last Supper, he could give his disciples the lead in singing a hymn before God.
He was going to stand at the altar, just as King Hezekiah had done, and he was going to present himself to God. You see, that's the thing we were talking about last night, presenting ourselves to God. I want to say at once that we have to present ourselves in a manner which is consistent with the character of God. Let us not presuppose that because God is gracious and that we live in a day of grace that God has lowered his moral standards, but I don't believe it. Let us not suppose that he will pat the sinner from the back and give him liberty to go and sin again. For if my estimate of the character of God is right, God is too holy to countenance the extension of forgiveness to the unrepentant.
and the unrepentant of those who having obtained forgiveness turn back again and go back to the sin which once they denied and decried they stretched out their hands again because self had reared its head they yielded to the call of the flesh and by the way the flesh is not a bad thing in itself for of the Lord Jesus it is recorded in the days of his flesh that couldn't be bad Flesh is only bad when Satan works upon it. And it depends upon the Christian in which way he yields himself as to who works upon his flesh.
May God help us to yield ourselves to the Holy Spirit so that the Holy Spirit may work upon our flesh. The wonderful Son of the Lord. And then at last I'm going to take an individual case for a moment and remember that from the New Testament there was the martyr Stephen. Stephen who had been chosen because the scripture says he was a good man and full of the Holy Spirit. Stephen whose work had been far from spectacular. A man who served the church, a deacon. Nevertheless, a man who for his testimony is going to be brought into martyrdom. And he has faced the religious authorities of the day.
He has faced the high priest. He has faced the Sanhedrin. And right there they have condemned this dear man to death. And he's going to seal his testimony with his blood. In two Chronicles twenty-nine they brought the blood to the altar and sprinkled it. God says, I can't do without the blood because it represents life. If I give myself to God, I must give my life to God. If blood represents life and the blood is to be placed upon the altar, that means that life is upon the altar. And Stephen, in his wonderful testimony, literally spreads out his life before God.
And in the moment of stoning the song of the Lord began in his heart. Did you know that? He lifted up his eyes to the heaven and he said, I see the son of God standing at the right hand of God. And that was the song of the Lord in the heart of Stephen. And I'm going to say right here this afternoon that the great need of this day is that we should get to the place where Stephen was ready to part with our lives. Well, I'm not asking you to leave your employment. I'm asking you to consecrate your employment to God. I am asking you to regulate your activity with the consciousness that the eye of the Lord is upon you.
And please remember that the eye of the Lord is not upon you merely that he shall act in a corrective way. The eye of the Lord is upon you because he's interested in you. And the eye of the Lord is upon you because he expects to see reproduce something concerning the Lord Jesus. Deep down in your heart, in the mind which you possess that controls you, And eventually he expects to see something develop in the quality of life that you live, which will eventually determine the quality of the character of the assembly with which you're associated. I think we should face up to these things today. And tomorrow the Spirit of God is going to challenge me.
If ever I speak the truth of God from the word of God I am always challenged as to whether I will live out what I preach. Do you know that's what preachers have to go through? And Satan will come to me tomorrow and say, did you really mean what you said? Did you mean that you want to be free from disarmament? And I remember that the Spirit of God has said there are three enemies to this. The lust of the eyes. That's tremendously searching. But a man can look at things that stimulate his passion and get by with it without any notice.
The lust of the eyes. And I begin to see that the Spirit of God is probing me. Am I the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit? Is that perfectly true? Has the Holy Spirit come to live within me? And is this body of mine the temple, the temple of the Holy Ghost? And I am required to keep it free from defilement. Am I going to step into covetousness upon the line of that expression, the lust of the eyes? Am I going to be extending my hand for something which is desperately impure in thinking? Because God won't have that in his house.
And all impurity has to be dismissed from thinking and from the sight if we're really going to live for Jesus Christ the Lord. I want the song of the Lord to begin. I want it to begin in here. But you know, it's not going to begin if I indulge in idolatry and that idolatry to be furthered by the lust of the eye. And then John says, not only the lust of the eye, but please notice the lust of the flesh. To be in places when I'm so very comfortable that I say, please don't touch me, don't interfere with me, I'm just comfortable at last. This is what I've been looking for all my life. Comfort. Is that what you're looking for?
Well, you remember that the comfort of this earth for the Lord Jesus was the cross of Calvary. There was no Davenport at the cross of Calvary. There was no display of luxurious living at the cross of Calvary. And I verily believe that the lust of the flesh would embody Those things that minister to my comfort, to the exclusion of my spirituality. I am not condemning comfort. But to seek comfort for himself alone is literally the lust of the flesh. And then please observe the Spirit of God who said there is a third enemy.
And we'll describe him as the pride of life. I want to be something. The pride of life. with a great big capital I. God says, come back to the cross again. In other words, the cross in the original language can be taken to mean an upright state which is literally I. And there the personality of the Lord Jesus was offered to God. And then I come back and see that there is a cross piece after all, for his hands must be suspended. And it's the cross piece that crosses out the eye and brings me back to that point that the pride of life is not for me.
If I am seeking to be something even in the service of God, and that is desperately possible, unfortunately, if I am seeking to be something in the service of God, then take me back to the cross and cross out the eye. But that is literally the pride of life. And this is one of the idols of modern living. Last night we spoke of some of these things and this afternoon we want to get right down to the fact that we have to be crossed out and the Lord Jesus presented and then the Son of the Lord began. For the Lord Jesus being presented is literally the character of the burnt offering. The burnt offering is that very thing, the presentation of the Lord Jesus.
And God has called us into fellowship with himself. that we may be presenting the Lord Jesus in the character of the burnt offering so that in our own hearts the song of the Lord is on. And we love that blessed Psalm that says he's lifted me out of the myriad clay out of the horrible pit and set my feet upon the rock. Well that's very lovely, that's my personal salvation. But I'm making a plea this afternoon for the cleansing of the house of God from defilement and please notice the rest of that verse. and have put a new song in my mouth. Then the song of the Lord began, when I presented myself to God, when I said, not me, but Jesus Christ the Lord.
Then the song of the Lord began, and the crash of the symbols took place. And what we miss most in our Christian testimony is the sound of the trumpeters in the morning that announced the praise of God going up to him. My God bless his word to our hearts for his name's sake.