Yet now, if Thou wilt forgive their sin—; and if not, blot me, I pray Thee, out of Thy book which Thou hast written.
—Exodus 32:32
For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren’s sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh.
—Romans 9:3
I think, dear friends, in these two utterances of two outstanding—perhaps the two most outstanding—servants of God in the two dispensations, the old and the new, Moses and Paul, we have represented the very highest point of service to the Lord.
We are all concerned with this matter of being of service to the Lord, and we are ever seeking to know how that service can be best fulfilled, and how we may rise to the highest possible level of service to Him.
I repeat that this statement, this prayer by Moses—and if you look at the margin of Paul’s words, you will see that that also was a prayer; the word wish is really prayer, or pray: “I could pray”—these two prayers of these two outstanding servants of God do represent the highest degree of service to the Lord.
That is because there is nothing beyond these statements, nothing whatever beyond them in the matter of selflessness. You cannot go beyond this: “Blot me out of the book which Thou hast written”; “Anathema from Christ.” There is no degree beyond that.
The uttermostness of selflessness is in those prayers. They represent a greater concern for the people of God than not only personal blessing, or personal vindication, or position, or reputation, but life itself.
It is only another way in which these men were saying, “My life begins and ends with the people of God. I have nothing beyond that. And if they should lose or suffer, and I in any way could have prevented it, then I miss the whole purpose of life and the very purpose of my own salvation.”
That is the sum and the end of everything. But what a devotion! What a difference! That is service.
There were certain things that Paul and Moses had in common which headed up in these prayers. You see the context of the passages; you see the sin of the Lord’s people.
Exodus 32 is the story of that terrible breakdown under Aaron’s leadership: the setting up of the idol, the worshipping of it, and the turning away from God—“These be thy gods, O Israel.” The apostasy of the Lord’s people.
As for Paul’s context, it is the context of what Israel had done to the Lord in the killing of Christ.
The point is that this devotion was not to a people who drew it out by reason of their goodness, the fineness of their substance, or the lovableness of their nature. It is tremendously striking, this devotion, when we recognize the kind of people to whom these hearts so utterly went out.
It is a rebuke to us in our service. It is so easy for us to give, to devote ourselves, to labour for those who give a return, who show kindness, and who are nice people—people whom we think are worthwhile.
Here is love to the uttermost for people who were so utterly unworthy of it. That Paul and Moses had in common.
But further, they had this in common: they themselves were the objects of those people’s reproach and persecution. In the time when Moses was seeking to bring the people out of Egypt, they turned on him and blamed him for their difficult situation. Even after this incident, many times they railed on Moses and laid at his door all their trouble.
As for Paul, what a time he had at the hands of Israel—the Judaizers and all the rest. What a time he had! They denounced him as a traitor.
And yet, although these men were personally the objects of the opposition of those to whom they had given their lives, this was their spirit and their attitude: “Forgive, if Thou wilt forgive.” Moses breaks off; he does not finish that. But, “If not, blot me out of the book.” “I could wish myself accursed from Christ for my brethren’s sake.”
What a spirit of service! I say again, a terrible rebuke to us.
Here are these men exemplifying the Spirit of Christ. That is the point. We are in Galatians, and we have only to remember: “He was made a curse for us.” “I could wish myself a curse from Christ for my brethren’s sake.” He was made a curse.
He carried the spirit of service all the way to being cut off from God—that eternal moment when the Father hid His face—for the sake of His brethren. Turn to Hebrews, and we know that it was for His brethren: “I and the children”; the brethren, yes.
So utter was His committal that Christ actually suffered, for that moment, the loss of God—the loss of everything. This is the Spirit of Christ Himself. How far it must take us!
Now, when you look at both of these passages in their context, there is a lot of instruction. Notice that in each case the previous chapter is a most wonderful and blessed chapter.
Exodus 31 presents Moses in the mount, in communion with God, receiving the pattern for the tabernacle. What a wonderful thing that was. It was the mount of revelation, we may say, meaning the revelation of Jesus Christ in all the fullness of His mediatorial work, for that is what the tabernacle stands for. This pattern was shown in the mount, and Moses was there with God. It is a wonderful chapter.
Presently, that will all be taken up again and put into effect. But there is a dark chapter between.
Look at Romans. Everybody knows what Romans 8 is about. There are few more beautiful and glorious things than the closing words of that chapter:
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
—Romans 8:37-39
In Paul’s letter there were no chapters; it runs straight on into what is, in our arrangement, Romans 9. Wonderful is Romans 8. We are lifted into the height of the marvel of divine love. Presently, that will all be taken up in Romans 12 and onward; the thing is now coming into effect. But again, in between, the dark chapter—the dark chapter.
Here is that to which we are called: the service of the house of God, the service of the revelation of Jesus Christ, the service of the love of God—all to be brought into concrete form in the Lord’s people.
But between the revelation and the realization is a terrible battle. In every case, in these cases, and it is always so, there is a terrible battle between. There is always this that we have in chapter 32: the breaking in of the enemy to spoil everything, the outbreaking of the flesh in men, the spirit of idolatry.
This is a far wider and bigger thing than merely the worship of some idol. It is this very comprehensive movement to draw away from God, and it is fostered by the play of evil forces upon human nature. That is the realm of the battle—the something that has got to be dealt with and got out of the way.
Moses and the Levites dealt with it and got it out of the way, and then they could get on with the tabernacle. They dealt with this thing in Israel very drastically.
I think that is the point of the letter to the Galatians. I hope I do not press one point and make it difficult for any brethren, but you know that I may say this here: the letter to the Galatians saw a battle fought through which has never had to be fought through again in that same way.
Once and for all, all through that letter, Paul settled the matter of the Judaizers in his time, and that was finished. They were doing just what these people were doing at the foot of the mount. There is a battle, an utter battle, to make the way clear for the purpose of God.
Now that, of course, provides the very focal point for this message: devotion—utter devotion to God’s purpose concerning His people—is going to make the uttermost demand upon any servant of God. It is going to test and find out our spirit of service.
If we really are going to serve God in this uttermost way, it is going to bring us to this point where we have nothing left to fall back upon—our personal interests, position, or blessing. It is simply a matter of God, and God only. If God does not do it, we are finished, with nothing to live for.
We have nothing to live for. We have no alternative. We have no second line. We are in this matter of the Lord’s purpose and interest to the very last drop of our blood. And if not, then there is nothing more for us.
The purpose of God and His people will demand that. We shall find that sooner or later. It is no use, no use. We cannot have any alternative; we cannot have a second course. It is everything or nothing—everything or nothing.
We shall be, and we must be, prepared to be brought to the place where we are prepared to get right out of the way ourselves, altogether out of the way in every sense, if the Lord can reach His end. If only He can reach His end, we do not matter.
That is what Moses said: “I do not matter. My salvation does not matter. My life does not matter.” Paul said the same. What matters is that the Lord has His end in His people. If that is not reached, then I do not know what I am alive for. I do not know what I have been saved for.
How far removed this is from being saved to get things for ourselves, in time and in eternity—to get happy, to get blessed, and all manner of things. These are the things offered if only we will be saved. But we find that we are saved to be brought into the great purpose of God, as His servants.
It is no use complaining—no use complaining—nor saying, “Well, this is too costly,” or, “This is costly,” or, “This is hard work.” It is no use. We are committed to death for this thing. We are just committed unto death.
The Lord said that right at the beginning:
He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.
—Matthew 10:39
It is a life matter. Saving or losing what? Blessing? No—your life. No less an issue.
Sometimes our hearts are really so bound up with the Lord’s concern—not for ourselves, but for His people, for His church—so bound up with that that we have nothing else for which to live. That is our horizon. That is our beginning and our end. That is all that we are on this earth for: the Lord to have what He has set His heart upon in His people.
Well, that is the word. That is the message. I am not seeking something for myself in the work of God or in salvation. I am not seeking praise. I am not seeking name or reputation. I am not seeking any gain whatever. I am committed so utterly to the Lord’s concern and purpose in a people.
Far, far from doing those people an injury—hurting the Lord’s people. There are a lot of Christians hurting the Lord’s people, doing a lot of hurt to the Lord’s people and to the Lord’s interests in His people. Far from that, we would rather die than that the Lord should lose anything in His people.
That is the spirit of these words, and that is the message: just that—a call to service, to recognize what that service is. It is the service of Christ, and the service of Christ was obedient unto death, yea, the death of the cross.
This brings me to this last, very brief word, which is another reiteration of something said recently: the peculiar, particular sufferings and trials of the servants of the Lord.
We do not suffer for our salvation. We pay no price whatever for our redemption. That is all free, and we have it without money and without price. Never attach your sufferings to your salvation. Keep those two things always apart.
But you need not be told that, when you enter upon a life of difficulties and adversities and trials, afflictions and sufferings, why is it? Because you have been called not just to salvation; you have been called to service.
Servanthood necessitates these higher ordeals in which the dross of self-interest is removed. That is the effect of our adversities and our sufferings, if they have their right effect: to deal completely with this whole matter of personal interest, selfish interest, and ourselves as featuring in the work of God.
Fire, the fire, deals with the dross of selfhood, which is always the menace to service.
Look at the Lord Jesus, the master Servant, the great Servant. One thing that is clearer than anything else, more outstanding in Him, is that, though He was the eternal Son of God incarnate, He could lay aside His glory, gird Himself with the towel, take a basin of water, and wash the disciples’ feet.
There is the picture of the Son utterly emptying Himself of selfhood, reputation, self-importance, prestige, standing, dignity, and everything else. It is gone—the spirit of self.
For the Son of man also came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.
—Mark 10:45
That is the spirit of it. It carries us all the way. We have nothing left of ourselves in this service.
But, as I was saying, the explanation of our trials and sufferings and discipline is just to make us better servants, make us true servants. Moses had that work done in him until it was possible for it to be said, “The man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.”
Therefore Moses stands as a giant over the whole of the Old Testament with one word, one title: Moses, the servant of God.
We need not indicate Paul: a servant of Jesus Christ. If ever there was a servant in this dispensation, he was. But look at this man: “I could pray myself to be a curse from Christ for my brethren.” That is the spirit of service.
May the Lord inculcate it in us.