These things spake Jesus; and lifting up His eyes to heaven, He said,
Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that the Son may glorify Thee:
even as Thou gavest Him authority over all flesh, that to all whom Thou hast given Him, He should give eternal life.
And this is life eternal, that they should know Thee, the only true God, and Him whom Thou didst send, even Jesus Christ.
I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do.
And now, Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was.
I manifested Thy name unto the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them to Me; and they have kept Thy word.
Now they know that all things whatsoever Thou hast given Me are from Thee:
for the words which Thou gavest Me I have given unto them; and they received them, and knew of a truth that I came forth from Thee, and they believed that Thou didst send Me.
I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom Thou hast given Me; for they are Thine:
and all things that are Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine; and I am glorified in them.
And I am no more in the world, and these are in the world, and I come to Thee. Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me, that they may be one, even as We are.
While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
But now I come to Thee; and these things I speak in the world, that they may have My joy made full in themselves.
I have given them Thy word; and the world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
I pray not that Thou shouldest take them from the world, but that Thou shouldest keep them from the evil one.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them in the truth: Thy word is truth.
As Thou didst send Me into the world, even so sent I them into the world.
And for their sakes I sanctify Myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.
Neither for these only do I pray, but for them also that believe on Me through their word;
that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me.
And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one;
I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and lovedst them, even as Thou lovedst Me.
Father, I desire that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory, which Thou hast given Me: for Thou lovedst Me before the foundation of the world.
O righteous Father, the world knew Thee not, but I knew Thee; and these knew that Thou didst send Me;
and I made known unto them Thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them.
Isn’t that beautiful? “And will make it known.” That the love wherewith Thou lovedst Me may be in them, and I in them.
Just a further word of prayer.
Beloved Lord, Thou knowest alone the mystery of this whole matter. Once more, we acknowledge it before Thee and know that nothing less than the ministry of Thy Holy Spirit can enable speaker or hearer to discover, dear Lord, all that Thou art for us.
Oh, may it be so this evening. We ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
Now, we cannot really go over anything of these previous studies, and I just trust that those of you who have not been to the previous ones will not be at sea this evening. I suggest that you listen to the tape.
Because, apart from forgetting myself altogether, the fact of the matter is that we are dealing with one of the most vital and essential subjects and themes in the whole Bible. It is quite amazing how much there is in the Bible about this particular matter.
Well now, we cannot go over it all. Again, I must just take up from last week and go straight on, really, from there.
Last week we were talking about the danger of getting uncovered. We pointed out that Satan has one overall objective, upon which he bases his whole strategy, and that is to get the believer, or the church, uncovered.
He, more than anyone else, knows that the believer is absolutely safe whilst in Christ. To get at the believer, Satan knows he must first meet with Christ.
He knows that whilst the believer is in Christ and abiding in Christ, hid with Christ in God, he cannot reach that one. He knows that the church, whilst it is in Christ, its life hid with Christ in God, cannot have its life reached except by first meeting God.
Therefore, his whole plan is to entice us out. By one means or another, to get us to uncover ourselves; to bring us out from abiding in Christ; to draw us away from our position in Him.
Well, we said a lot more last week, but that introduces really what we want to say this evening: How do we get uncovered? And then, perhaps, if the Lord helps us, how do we get recovered? Two very, very practical matters.
Last week, I said very simply that we would just take a few things that are representative of many, many others that speak about getting uncovered. In other words, we can just take a few ways in which we believers, or the church, get uncovered.
And we must remember that the ways in which we can get uncovered are, in fact, multitudinous. We are just selecting a few that are representative of very, very many more.
Now, last week we dealt with four. Firstly, not walking in the light. Not walking in the light—that is the surest way to get uncovered.
The moment we no longer walk in the light with God, as He is in the light, or with one another, as God is in the light, we are uncovered. It is not subjective; it is objective. That is, it is not what I see as light, but what God is.
As I walk objectively in that light, the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, goes on cleansing us from all sin. But if I say I walk in the light and do not the truth, I am a liar. In other words, at that moment I have slid out from protection and covering.
Now, you can see straight away, as we said last week, that this is one of the main weapons of the enemy. If he cannot get us to fall out with the Lord and try to deceive the Lord, to put up a façade to the Lord, then he certainly gets into our relationships one with another, so that we are no longer walking in the light.
We can blame all kinds of causes and roots for it, but the fact remains that if we do not walk in the light as God is in the light, then we are uncovered. We are no longer walking in the presence of God. We have gone into darkness, and we are calling darkness light.
The second thing was an unforgiving spirit. The Lord Jesus taught us in the pattern prayer:
Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us.
Now, that was an extraordinary thing to teach us: to remind us forcibly, dogmatically, that if we cannot forgive somebody, the Lord will not forgive us. He will forgive us in the measure in which we forgive others.
We hear of all kinds of needs of deliverance. We are told that this person has this and this person has that; we hear of bondage, we hear of all kinds of things. Again, people go for ministry and they seem to be helped. Without understanding, very quickly they go back into bondage, back into darkness.
Because they have not understood, so often, that it is a simple fact: they are not forgiving something. Oh, the people who cannot forgive a father, or cannot forgive another, who cannot forgive their parents—deep-seated psychological complexes, all focused and resting on this unforgiving spirit.
Some people think, “Well, they are dead.” It does not matter—but that is not the point. They are not dead. They may, in fact, not be saved, but they have not ceased to exist.
It does not say simply, “Forgive those that are alive and walking on the earth,” obviously. Now, relationships—that is the most practical point.
But, you see, so often many of us are harbouring a deep-seated unforgiveness over something in our past, something in our background, some other person. We go forward for this deliverance, for this answer and that answer and the other, and everything seems to last for just a week or two; then we revert, because the problem is that we need to know forgiveness ourselves, and there is a blockage somewhere.
Forgiveness. Now, if we cannot forgive others as we have been forgiven, then we go out from cover.
The third thing is not loving one another. It says in 1 John 2:10 that if we do not love one another, we do not abide in the light. Now, it is as categorical as that.
In other words, again, it is not just a question of forgiving, but a question of loving.
Then the fourth thing we spoke of last week was an untamed tongue. We dwelt quite a time on this matter of the untamed tongue.
I suppose the tongue is one of the most common roots of getting uncovered. Before we know where we are, we have said something. And we say, “Well, God understands my heart.” This is nonsense.
God says, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh,” and “By the words of your mouth shall you be judged.” So we have to be very, very careful what we say with our mouths.
We can say things that are heard in hell, and things which hell takes up with heaven, and which God cannot justify unless there is confession on our part.
In other words, if some evil spirit goes into the presence of God and says, “I heard so-and-so say so-and-so,” God says, “Who shall lay anything to the charge of God’s elect? Christ, My Son, has died. That one has confessed it. It is under the blood.”
But if it is not confessed, and that person is saying, “Oh, it does not matter, it does not matter. God looks on my heart,” God says, “It is true.” Then the evil one may say, “Then I will take action,” and God has to say, “You may take action.”
That is the solemnity of this subject.
We went through a whole lot of Scriptures in James and other Scriptures in Proverbs about the tongue. I think we have proved to you that this little member, which speaks such great things, can be the cause of destruction, of spiritual bondage, of spiritual weakness.
Now, when we speak of danger in uncovering, you must remember this is not only a spiritual thing. The Bible warns us that some of our illnesses can be the result of getting uncovered.
It warns us that some of our spiritual anaemia, spiritual weakness and inability to get through, is because of getting uncovered. You see it in 1 Corinthians 11:30. It also tells us it is possible to lose our physical life because of this matter.
This is, therefore, the solemnity of this whole matter.
Well now, those were the four points from last week. I want to go straight on tonight, and the fifth one I want to underline is pride. Pride.
Now, of all the causes of getting uncovered, I do not think there is anyone which is a more basic and primary cause. It lies behind quite a few of these other things that we will be mentioning later, and some that we have already mentioned.
Let us look at one or two Scriptures. Ezekiel 28. Ezekiel 28:17. This is speaking of Satan, the anointed cherub that covereth. Verse 14—will you compare it?
Thou wast the anointed cherub that covereth.
Then verse 17:
Thy heart was lifted up because of thy beauty;
thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.
Satan fell through pride. If you compare this with Isaiah 14:12-15, you remember those words again to do with Lucifer, the son of the morning, when he said:
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.
I will be like the Most High.
In other words, pride was the first real cause of uncovering. Now, pride is the thing that unfailingly brings us into uncovering.
So often, the fact that we are not walking in the light—pride lies at the root of it. The fact, sometimes, that we cannot forgive a person is pride. Pride lies at the root of so many things.
Presumption in the presence of God—pride. The arrogating to ourselves of a position which is not ours spiritually—pride. Oh, so much stems from this one thing.
Now, if you read James 4:6:
He giveth more grace. Wherefore the Scripture saith, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace to the humble.
Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
In other words, when pride is found in us, even when we are not conscious of it, God resists us. Could there be any clearer indication of getting uncovered than when God turns round to be, instead of our protector, our resister?
He resisteth the proud. But those that humble themselves know grace. If we are subject unto God, we humble ourselves; we can resist the devil and he flees from us. There is covering for you. You stand in the Lord, and withstand; having done all, you stand.
Look at Proverbs. The book of Proverbs is perhaps the most amazing book in this whole connection with these practical things. Proverbs 16:18:
Pride goeth before destruction,
and a haughty spirit before a fall.
Now, this is spoken to us as believers. Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. Is there anything clearer that we can get uncovered through pride?
Oh, the need for us to know the brokenness of the cross. The need for us to know that continual work of God, keeping us low. So often, we can say things, we can do things, we can take attitudes; behind it all lies pride.
Look at Proverbs 18:12:
Before destruction the heart of man is haughty;
and before honour goeth humility.
Well, I do not think there is much need to say more there. I can only remind you of those wonderful Scriptures in Isaiah 57. This is the other side. Listen to this wonderful one, Isaiah 57:15:
For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy:
I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit,
to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite.
Or again, Isaiah 66:2:
For all these things hath My hand made, and so all these things came to be, saith the Lord:
but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word.
No arrogance there; no seizing hold of the Lord’s word and saying, “Now I will pass it on.” A man trembles at the word of God.
The next way of getting uncovered comes out of this. All these are interlocked, if you like, interwoven: no fear of the Lord. No fear of the Lord.
It is very much wrapped up with this question of pride. “He that trembleth at My word”—the opposite of pride. No fear of the Lord means there is no trembling at His word, no sensitive awareness of its solemnity, no sensitive practical awareness of what it means to be in a living relationship with God Himself through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at Hebrews 12:28-29. Now, this is a word to believers, to Christians—not to Jews, not to saints under the old covenant, but to Christians under the new covenant.
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:
for our God is a consuming fire.
Now, that is to believers. I doubt whether many of us understand that God is a consuming fire. This God of all grace, this God whose arms are open to returning sinners, this God whose second name is mercy—He is a consuming fire.
So says this writer, the writer of this tremendous letter. Let us offer service that is well pleasing to God with reverence, in the fear of the Lord and awe. Our God is a consuming fire. He has not changed from the Old Testament. He is still I AM.
Go back to the Old Testament: Deuteronomy 28:58. Listen very carefully to these words. These things were written for our admonition, as examples to us, upon whom the ends of the ages have come.
If thou wilt not observe to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that thou mayest fear this glorious and fearful name, the Lord thy God;
then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continuance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance.
And He will bring upon thee again all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of; and they shall cleave unto thee.
Also every sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be destroyed.
And ye shall be left few in number, whereas ye were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because thou didst not hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
Turn to Romans 11, in case there is anyone here who says, “Well now, that is all for the age of law.” Romans 11:20, speaking of these very saints who had been cut off because they did not fear the name of the Lord their God:
Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will He spare thee.
Now, will you look at Psalm 34, too? Psalm 34:11:
Come, ye children, hearken unto me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Now, this is interesting. It is going to teach us the fear of the Lord.
What man is he that desireth life,
and loveth many days, that he may see good?
Keep thy tongue from evil,
and thy lips from speaking guile.
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it.
Now, will you also turn back to Psalm 19:9:
The fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever.
Now, is that not an extraordinary statement? Of all the things to talk about, the fear of the Lord, I would have least thought of this: “The fear of the Lord is clean.”
That is because fear is often dirty. Natural fear is dirty. There is some sting in it, there is a torment in it; it comes from the pit, it comes from Satan. But the fear of the Lord is clean, enduring for ever.
What does “enduring for ever” mean? Does it not only mean that the fear of the Lord is something that goes on for ever, just because He is I AM? Therefore, we shall always fear Him, be sensitively aware of Him and reverent in our dealings with Him.
But do you not think it also means that the fear of the Lord is clean, causing us to endure for ever? It brings something enduring into us: the fear of the Lord.
I think of Ananias and Sapphira as an example of those that did not fear the Lord. If you want to understand what the fear of the Lord is, or what it is not, well, look at Ananias and Sapphira.
What did they do? What they did was quite simple. They sold the whole of their property and then, when they came to bring the money, they said that it was the money from the whole of the property they had sold, whereas in actual fact they had kept part of the money for themselves.
Now, do you not think many of us have done that kind of thing? How many people have said, “Lord, I have given You everything,” stood up in testimony sometimes and said it?
And then, as with Sapphira, there was no fear of the Lord. They thought they were dealing with human leaders. They thought it was dear old Peter—a lovely man, a fisherman. “You can pull the wool over his eyes. We are landowners; we know, you know, we are a bit more shrewd than so-and-so.”
“Dear old Peter, he is a loving old boy. All we have got to do is go in and say, ‘Well, Peter, here is the money. We sold all our property, and we want to make it all a gift to the work of God.’”
“Dear old Peter. And John is so poetic—a charming younger man, John, one of those dreamy types, always meditating, always seeing visions. You can pull the wool over their eyes. And the church? Marvellous crowd. We were there the day at Pentecost. It was terrific. You should have heard them. It was absolutely marvellous.”
Peter said to them, “Do you not fear the Lord, that you have lied to the Holy Ghost?” But they may well have said, had they got the chance before they died, “But Lord, we have never lied to the Holy Ghost. We are dealing with frail human beings like ourselves.”
Oh, no. God said, “You forget Peter and John. You are dealing with Me. You forget the church and all its frail vessels. You are dealing with Me. You have lied to the Holy Ghost.”
And Ananias fell down. His wife came in as he was being taken out, and she repeated the whole procedure. Evidently they had agreed together; it was a premeditated thing to take in the church. They had no idea.
Now, that is what it is to have no fear of the Lord. Some people think that no fear of the Lord means that you are presumptuous in your dealings directly with Him. Very few Christians would ever be presumptuous directly in their dealings with God, although I have heard some.
It is in our dealings with one another, without even realising it, that we are dealing with the Lord.
I think it was one theologian who once said that if God had dealt with all believers as drastically as He dealt with Ananias, they reckoned about seventy per cent of the church would be dead.
Mercy of the Lord—but He has not. Yet the principle always remains. We may not physically die, although in some cases we may. But always there comes spiritual paralysis and bondage if there is no fear of the Lord.
Well, let us go on to something which comes right out of this: taking the name of the Lord in vain. This is another way we can get uncovered.
Look at Exodus 20:7:
Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain.
Now, I want to read it to you in the New English Bible. Listen:
You shall not make wrong use of the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not leave unpunished the man who misuses His name.
Now, that is an abiding principle. To take the name of the Lord in vain—what does it mean, “in vain”? It means in a false way, in an empty way.
Look at Matthew 6. Here we have again the pattern prayer. Matthew 6:9:
After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.
Have you ever thought of that? The Lord Jesus taught us that almost as soon as we open our mouth with God, always remember the name: “Hallowed be Thy name.”
What does this word “hallowed” mean? It means to make holy, or to sanctify. It means to make His name the opposite of common.
Now, some of us can make the name of the Lord common. We can so devalue the name of the Lord that it becomes common coinage. Do not take the name of the Lord in vain.
What does it mean to take the name of the Lord in vain? It means this kind of thing: “The Lord told me to do so-and-so and so-and-so.” The Lord has never said a thing.
Oh, how common it is to say, “The Lord told me,” when the Lord says, “I know nothing of it.” The name of the Lord has been taken in vain.
Now, when the Lord tells you something, say it humbly: “The Lord has given me…” Sometimes we can get up and say, “The Lord has given me a word,” and the Lord says, “I gave no such word.”
Sometimes a person can use a gift; they say the Lord has told them. The Lord says, “You have taken My name in vain. I never said anything of the kind.”
The wrong use of the name of the Lord. Now, do we not all fail here? Is there one of us that has not taken the name of the Lord in vain in some way or another? That is why we need to know how to get recovered. But it is the surest way to uncover ourselves.
Of course, there are all kinds of things we could say. We could spend the whole evening on this one matter: taking the name of the Lord in vain.
But, you see, it is so possible to tack the name of the Lord onto something to justify our course of action, to justify ourselves in front of others, without realising that we are not hallowing the name of the Lord, but making it common.
We are devaluing it, devaluing it into a tool so that we can impress others, so that we can get our own way with the church, so that we can somehow make some impact on others. It is to take the name of the Lord in vain, and that moment we are uncovered.
Instead of the name being the strong tower into which the righteous run and are safe, it becomes the exact opposite. Misuse of it means that we are driven out.
Now, may I say something else in connection with this? I have heard it said in some quarters that all this referring to our Lord Jesus as “Lord Jesus” is a lot of traditional nonsense, and that we should speak of Him as “Jesus.”
You hear, in so many places, the name of Jesus chanted like Hindus or Muslims. Or you hear people addressing the Lord, speaking of Him in such a way that you feel He is completely devalued.
Now, before I bring down the wrath of many upon my head, let me just tell you the facts. Listen to these facts.
Jesus alone, as a name, is used 651 times in the New Testament—594 of those times in the four Gospels, and only 57 times in the rest of the New Testament, from Acts to Revelation.
On the other hand, Christ or Jesus Christ is used 408 times—56 times only in the four Gospels, and 352 times from Acts to Revelation.
Furthermore, the term or title “Lord Jesus” or “Lord Jesus Christ” is used 364 times in the New Testament—126 times only in the four Gospels, and 238 times from Acts to Revelation.
Now, all this proves one simple fact: that the very apostles who spoke to the Lord Jesus as Jesus began, after His ascension, to speak of Him as the Lord Jesus, or Jesus our Lord.
Be very careful how we take the name of our Lord. So many people seem to think that if they just say the name “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” it will charm the devil away. Far from it, if it is a taking of the name of the Lord in vain.
So we need to take very, very careful note of this. Look at Malachi 3:16 in this connection:
Then they that feared the Lord spake one with another; and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His name.
These people who feared the Lord thought upon His name. Is that not amazing? What does it mean, “They thought upon His name”? This little remnant was so sensitively aware of God that they thought upon the name.
It was so singular, so unique, so precious to God, that He recorded their conversations. Malachi 3:16.
Now, I would like to read you another Scripture. I am not just trying to frighten you this evening, but this negative side we have got to talk about before we can say anything more positive. Deuteronomy 18:20-22:
But the prophet, that shall speak a word presumptuously in My name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, that same prophet shall die.
And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the Lord hath not spoken?
when a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken: the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously, thou shalt not be afraid of him.
That is very, very severe, is it not? Anyone who stands up and speaks in the name of the Lord, and it is not in the name of the Lord—“You shall die.” That was the old time.
How serious that is: taking the name of the Lord in vain.
Now, will you look at presumptuous claims? This comes out again. All these are interwoven.
Luke 22:31-33, a very well-known passage:
Simon, Simon, behold, Satan asked to have you, that he might sift you as wheat:
but I made supplication for thee, that thy faith fail not; and do thou, when once thou hast turned again, establish thy brethren.
And he said unto Him, Lord, with Thee I am ready to go both to prison and to death.
And He said, I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, until thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.
Now, here is another wonderful thing which we often fail to notice. Those of you who have an Authorised Version will see it, or if you have one of the very modern versions. The “you” in verse 31 is plural, and the “thee” in verse 32 is singular.
That is why you see in your Authorised Version, “Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you”; “I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.”
Listen to it in Phillips: “Oh, Simon, Simon! Do you know that Satan has asked to have you all, to sift you like wheat? But I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.”
Or the New English Bible puts it: “Simon, Simon, take heed. Satan has been given leave to sift all of you like wheat. But for you I have prayed, that your faith may not fail.”
Presumptuous claims. If you turn back to Mark 14:27-31—we will not read all those verses—just that last verse, verse 31: “And in like manner also said they all.”
So often poor old Peter gets the blame for something that the whole lot said. He was, in fact, just the spokesman for the whole lot. He said, “I am prepared to die with You, Lord.” That was his claim; that was his testimony: “I am prepared to die for the Lord, come what may.”
Thank God when we can say it, and it comes out of deep history and deep experiences with God. But you see what happens when it is a presumptuous claim.
“Satan has obtained leave to have you all.” They all said the same thing. Satan hurried into the presence of God, as it were, and said, “Now then, they have all said they will die for the Lord Jesus. You let me have them. We will all soon see whether they will die for the Lord Jesus.”
And of course, you know what happened. Every one of them failed. But something came through, because the Lord Jesus had prayed for each one.
Now, because He said, “I prayed for you, Peter,” it did not mean He had not prayed for the others. It is quite clear that in Gethsemane He prayed for them all, one by one. But is it not personal? “I prayed for you personally, by name.”
They got uncovered. They had all gone uncovered, but the Lord Jesus knew about it and had prayed for them. Presumptuous claims.
I want to read from Ecclesiastes in this matter. Ecclesiastes 5:1-2:
Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house of God; for to draw nigh to hear is better than to give the sacrifice of fools: for they know not that they do evil.
Be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God: for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth; therefore let thy words be few.
Rather sobering. But what it means is this: not to stop us from saying anything to the Lord when it is real and honest, but think it out. Do not just suddenly make vows rashly.
Because it is no good saying, “But God knew my heart.” What has been uttered with the mouth has been uttered with the mouth, and there are other forces that hear that.
Now turn also to Proverbs 20:25:
It is a snare to a man rashly to say, It is holy, and after vows to make inquiry.
Now, I want you to listen to this in the New English Bible: “It is dangerous to dedicate a gift rashly, or to make a vow and have second thoughts.”
My, that finds me out. And about you? To make a vow and have second thoughts—dangerous. To make a vow and have second thoughts. Better not to have made the vow.
Presumptuous claims. I have seen many go off the rails in this matter. We can do it so easily in testimony. We can do it so easily in dealings with one another, especially when we get heated and start to make presumptuous claims.
We can do it easily in another way. Oh, that God would guard us. You see, pride is what we do.
Then again, a few other things I want just to list as well: calling Satan names. You may think that is a very odd thing to put down. Jude 9-10:
But Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing judgment, but said, The Lord rebuke thee.
But these rail at whatsoever things they know not: and what they understand naturally, like the creatures without reason, in these things are they destroyed.
Now, never call Satan names. Never make a joke about Satan. Never try to denigrate Satan. Be very, very careful.
Satan is a terrible reality. Even the archangel Michael durst not bring a railing accusation against him, let alone call him names. He did not dare say, “You so-and-so, you are doing so-and-so.” He did not dare do it, but said, “The Lord rebuke thee, Satan.”
Some years ago, I remember in a prayer meeting over a particular sister in great need—she was very, very unwell mentally—I remember one brother who was always known for being rather forward, rather too quick, always jumping in, always contributing, always in the beginning.
Suddenly he jumped up and said, “You slimy serpent, Satan, get out of her!” And a few other things.
I remember, for me, it was like an electric shock. I knew he was finished. He was absolutely finished. He thought he was doing the work of God and warring with Satan. I knew he was finished.
I prayed half-heartedly, “Oh God, cover him.” And all of us prayed. But I knew it was not understood, because he thought the others had not got the power to deal with this situation.
That night a curtain came down and never lifted till many, many years after. I suppose about three years ago, the curtain lifted when he got it all right with God.
Satan had him for year after year in absolute, total bondage. He could not worship, he could not pray, he could not even read his Bible, he could not go to church, he could not do anything.
Do you honestly think you can call Satan names and get away with it? Just because it is the fashionable thing today to call all those with any authority or any power names, because we think we can answer that, does not mean to say that in spiritual things we can get away with it.
We live in days when dignities are railed at. Sometimes they deserve it. But the fact of the matter is, in these anti-authoritarian days in which we live, do not let us think that we can just do anything, even with Satan.
Now, this does not mean that we do not stand up, that we do not resist the devil. No—but it is the way we do it: “The Lord rebuke you, Satan.” We are not afraid of the enemy.
I could give you many more instances of this kind of thing. I remember a while ago a dear man whose little son was desperately ill. He had got this idea that all sickness was due to sin, and that you should be healed willy-nilly.
He went into the presence of God, and first of all he tried to shake the Lord like a rat—that is the only word for it. He said, “Oh God, if You do not heal my baby, You are a liar.”
You cannot do that. But who had the courage to say it to a demented father? Then he rounded on Satan and called him a hound and a swine, to get out of that house. That night his son died.
You cannot do these kinds of things. You cannot call Satan names and get away with it.
Even the greatest figure in the angelic host, Michael, durst not bring a railing accusation against him, but hid in the Lord by saying, “The Lord rebuke thee.”
Mrs. Penn-Lewis once said, whenever dealing with evil spirits, try to keep the “I” out of it. Never say, “I command you to get out in the name of Jesus Christ.” Say, “We.”
Hide in the church, in Christ, because from bitter experience those who know the most have discovered that the forces of darkness can hit back. It is uncovering—calling Satan names.
Then another thing I would just like to list is 1 John 2:27: not heeding or obeying the anointing. Now, we have spoken, of course, in previous studies about this.
As for you, the anointing which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any one teach you; but as His anointing teacheth you concerning all things, and is true, and is no lie, and even as it taught you, ye abide in Him.
In other words, whilst we listen to the anointing within us, telling us what is right and what is wrong, we are abiding in Him. But the moment we do not heed the anointing, we go out; we are no longer abiding.
That is the seriousness of this question of the anointing. We have again found that in our experience: times when we have felt very unhappy about a particular ministry or particular movement, and we have sort of beaten ourselves and wondered, “Oh, are we being unkind? Is it because we will not surrender? Are we not prepared to go forward with God?”—and all the rest of it.
Then finally we have given in and gone on, to find that we have gone out of our position in Christ and become uncovered.
Whenever you have that warning bell in your spirit, heed it. If you do, you may not understand, but heed it; you will stay under covering.
Then again, one other thing. I have debated a little whether I should put this in. I am so afraid it will be misused in some people’s minds. But: habitual and wilful sin. Habitual and wilful sin.
If a person thinks that they can do something really sinful, grossly evil and wicked, and can just claim the blood of the Lamb every time they do it and go on, that person is mistaken.
It says, “If we sin wilfully after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins.” God does not become party to our deception.
I remember—forgive me even mentioning it—but I remember some while ago a person came to me who was in terrible need. Terrible. He was doing something which was criminal.
But he said to me, “But you see, I know the love of God. I mean, every time I do it, I say, ‘Lord, forgive me.’”
And I said to him, “The Lord has not forgiven you.” He was messing up his daughters’ lives, destroying them.
Do not let your minds start working; no one in this company. He was thinking that God would forgive him.
For such, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a fearful looking toward judgment. You cannot play with something like that.
I said to him, “Come to the brothers and ask for help.” Oh, no. He was out. He would not share it with anyone; he would not bring it out into the light. It took him months before he brought it out into the light with me.
Then again, another thing I would like to list is disobedience, whether general—that is, not keeping His commands—or particular: His will for me.
It says in Ephesians 5:15-17:
Look therefore carefully how ye walk, not as unwise, but as wise; redeeming the time, because the days are evil.
Wherefore be ye not foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.
We need to be kept in the will of God. May I give you an illustration of this? We shall look at it when we look at the Old Testament illustrations, but in Hebrews 4:11:
Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.
The will of God was that they should enter into the land and take it. The will of God is that we should enter into His rest—take it. If we are disobedient, we fall.
See verse 1:
Let us fear therefore, lest, a promise being left of entering into His rest, any one of you should seem to have come short of it.
And Hebrews 3:18:
And to whom sware He that they should not enter into His rest, but to them that were disobedient?
Oh, disobedience is one of the real causes of getting uncovered. I know people that God had His hand on for service—a lot when I was younger. He had His hand on me too. Some of them were disobedient, and now they are in the far country.
One girl I can think of is a bar lady. She used to be a Sunday school teacher in a keen evangelical church. She thought God had called her to His work. I think He had. She was disobedient—uncovered.
Disobedience. Sometimes, on the smallest issue of obedience or disobedience, rests a tremendous amount.
Then again, and lastly, setting aside God’s order. Now, this is a very strange thing to list, but under it comes—it is representative, shall I put it this way?—of a whole lot of things that may not come quite into some of these other categories.
Setting aside divine order, or God’s order. Now, in particular, we in the twentieth century need to take very, very careful note of this.
Where can I find Scripture for this? The trouble is that I have got to read so much, and I can only give you certain passages and suggest that you read them: 1 Peter 2:13 through 1 Peter 3:7; and 1 Peter 5:1-8.
God has divine order. That is divine order. Now, this is true in every single sphere. There is divine order in my personal life: God first, absolutely first. The people of God, others, come next.
To love the Lord thy God with all thy soul; thy neighbour as thyself. Divine order.
Now, if we change that divine order, we can get ourselves uncovered. In other words, putting it boldly, if I refuse to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as my Lord, I can get uncovered.
Well, that goes back to this question of the will of God. If He cannot direct me into His will because He is not Lord, I have set aside divine order; I get uncovered.
It is in every sphere. Take society. We are told that the magistrate is as God to us. We are told to honour the king. We are told to pray for those in authority. We are told to be subject to every ordinance of man for the Lord’s sake.
In other words, divine order. No Christian can simply go against things just like that. There are times when we have to vote against things, and there are times when perhaps we have to go even further than that; otherwise there would have been no Gladstone.
But be very careful that it is not just the spirit of the age that is in us.
There is divine order in the church. You read those first eight verses of 1 Peter 5: you find divine order. If I set it aside and set myself up as an authority, then immediately I am uncovered.
“Obey them that have the rule over you,” it says in Scripture. That is one thing. Then it speaks of those who have the rule, that they should not be, as J. B. Phillips puts it, “little tin gods,” lording it over the flock.
But caring for the flock, loving the flock, laying down their lives for the flock. You see, there is a divine order. Divine order.
Everyone has a place. God hath set in the church some, and some, and some, and some, and some. There is a divine order. We cannot set it aside.
We may think God has made a mess of it. “So-and-so should not be there. So-and-so should be there. This should be; that should be.” But be careful that we do not set aside divine order.
In the Old Testament, we find illustration after illustration of this truth: those who thought that they knew better than God. Of course, they did not put it like that. They just thought that the human beings they were up against could be bettered. Then they came up against God.
There is divine order.
Now, in the family there is divine order. We live in days of women’s lib, but women’s lib does not necessarily mean that God approves.
No, we do not mean at all that ladies are inferior to gentlemen. Far from it. They may, in fact, be greatly superior. But the fact of the matter is that there is a divine order.
Now, why is it that the apostle, writing one of his greatest letters, takes over one-third of it dealing with matters in the church—relationships in the church, divine order if you like—and then husbands and wives, wives and husbands, parents and children, children and parents, employers and employees, employees and employers?
Why waste all that breath? Why not simply say, “Now then, everyone, live under the government of God. We live in these wonderful days of the freedom of the Spirit, where everyone can do what is right, what he feels to be the way of God for him. If we all do what we feel to be the way of God for us, we shall not clash, but all harmonise.”
He could have saved a whole chapter by using that one verse or two. But instead, we have this tremendous teaching. Colossians is the same, and the apostle Peter does the same in the passages I have given you.
Why are they all so concerned? Because they are up against divine order. It is not a question of inequality; it is a question of divine order.
We all have a place to fill. We all have a part to play. If so-and-so tries to do the other one’s job, and that one the other’s, it is against divine order.
Well, of course, there can be some things that folks will immediately say: “Oh dear, well, we will get into bondage over this.” No, you will not.
All it means is this: that if a wife starts bossing a husband around, she gets uncovered. That is putting it in bald twentieth-century language.
If a wife starts wearing the trousers, and telling the man exactly what to do—I have seen it. When you go round in the Lord’s work, you see something incredible. I have seen husbands wrung out like dishcloths by their wives, in front of the visiting preacher too.
Maybe it was justified; I do not know. But there is one thing you can be sure: uncovering comes—misery, darkness.
It is the other way round too. If husbands just put their wives down instead of loving them, you get uncovered. The apostle Peter says, “That your prayers be not hindered.”
Now, is that not an extraordinary statement? “That your prayers be not hindered.”
It is all in that passage about not having braided hair, or gold jewellery, or apparel. Now, some people think this means that ladies should never braid their hair, should never have a bit of jewellery on any part of their person. But may I ask, what do we do with apparel? Obviously, they are not to be unapparelled.
It does not mean that at all, and it is a tragedy that it has been taken that way. It brings people into bondage.
It says that their adornment is not to be just outward adornment, but an inward thing. Phillips puts it beautifully. He says, “The loveliness of an inner character.”
It is not that you are not to wear jewellery. It is not that you are not to have your hair done. Phillips puts, “a coiffure.” It is not that you are not to have it. It is rather that if you think that is adornment, you are mistaken.
No one is going to tell me that Sarah had not got a lot of jewellery, coming from Ur of the Chaldees, the centre of so much. No, no, no. That is not what it means.
Now, God may have dealings with us about these things. God may say, “I want that away.” Very big things can depend upon our obedience to the Lord. It is the issue of His lordship over us.
However, let us begin where the passage begins. It is saying that sisters should have within them this inner beauty, this gentleness of character, this readiness to fulfil their role.
Then it goes on to the husbands and says that they ought, as the stronger vessel, to give honour to the weaker vessel, that your prayers be not hindered.
In other words, you can uncover yourself in your family relationships through disorder.
Now, setting aside divine order is one of the biggest problems that we face. Well, there we are.
We have spoken mostly of individual believers getting uncovered. The danger is just as great corporately. The root causes of corporate uncovering are basically the same as for the individual—especially such things as setting aside divine order, presumptuous claims, and disobedience.
Why, these things can come to a whole company very, very easily. This danger is only too real.
We have only to look at church history to see on every page evidence for it: things that began all so powerfully, so dynamically, ending up in absolute disarray.
We have only to look around us on the present scene to see all the evidence we need. So many, many groups divided or destroyed; things that started off so well, with such great hope, such a knowledge of the Lord, such an understanding, perhaps, of His way—well, I can go through one after another, broken up, destroyed, paralysed.
What is it? It is this terrible question of uncovering.
Well now, we are going to leave it there. But let me end on a more positive note than that. Next week we will speak about what to do when we get uncovered—how to get recovered. That is very, very important.
But let us just say this this evening: the Lord Jesus doth ever live to make intercession.
I think it was lovely that in John 17 the Lord Jesus said:
Holy Father, keep them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me.
And then He goes on:
While I was with them, I kept them in Thy name which Thou hast given Me; and I guarded them, and not one of them perished.
You know, the Lord Jesus often spent a night in prayer. Do you think it was covering them, one by one? He heard so much. He heard the claims they made. He heard the conversation. He saw the collisions. He saw all these things we have listed.
“I guarded them.” Did He just guard them by word? Of course. But do you not think He guarded them in the secret place, in ways they could not understand?
We get it so beautifully when they all said, “We will die with You, Lord,” and He said, “Simon, Simon, Satan hath obtained you by request, that he might sift you as wheat. He has obtained you all. I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith fail not.”
Now, do you not think there we have a foreshadowing of our Lord’s intercession in heaven? Do you not think, as He sees us, He sees these things, these ways in which we get ourselves uncovered, and He prays for each one of us by name before His Father’s face?
I can surely say we have been preserved so far, in spite of the many times I have gone uncovered. Surely you can too. Surely it is because He has said, “I have prayed for you, that your faith fail not.”
Oh, may God help us. We have a wonderful Lord, who not only saved us, but ever lives to make intercession.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we cover now this time in Thy presence. We pray, Lord, that it will not just be negative, but that Thou, in some way, wilt make it positive.
Lord, it is possible for us just to look upon all these dangers, all these ways of getting uncovered, and become perhaps frightened in a wrong way—frightened of ever contributing, frightened ever in any way of sharing responsibility, frightened, dear Lord, of ever going forward with Thy people.
O Lord, we pray that Thou wilt preserve us from all such negative inner thoughts, and grant, we pray, that we may look away to the One who is our covering, and may know what it is to be found in Him.
Not having a righteousness of our own, but His own righteousness, apart from the law—something Thou hast provided.
O Father, we pray that every one of us might know what it is to abide in the Lord. So now we commit ourselves to Thee in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.