NO ADVERTISEMENT

Part I

No advertisement, but that which God is for His people, as we read in Psalm 84:11, “For the Lord is a sun and a shield; the Lord will give grace and glory: no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly.”

In the old rhymed version we sing:
“O God Jehovah, good and kind,
On Zion’s mount in clouds enshrined,
Thou art our sun and shield forever.
To upright souls that seek Thy face
Thou givest glory, truth and grace;
E’en in death’s vale Thou failest never.
O Lord of hosts, how blest is he
Who puts his steadfast trust in Thee.”

No advertisement—not only in the world, but also upon the premises of God’s church there is much advertising of persons, and things which also seeks nothing but the glorification of man.

By nature we are seekers of self. Thus we were not in Paradise in the state of rectitude. Then the greatest purpose of our life was the glorification of God. That was our delight and pleasure.

Because of our deep fall in our covenant head Adam, we no longer seek God’s honor, but we only live to crown ourselves.

We are filled with idol worship and image worship, full of will-worship, which is nothing but an abomination in God’s sight and a stench in His holy nostrils.

After the fall in Paradise, our entire life is nothing but a denial and despising of God, Who is to be praised to all eternity.

The older we become and the more we receive, by the enlightenment of God’s Spirit, insight into the deep corruptions of our heart and our God dishonoring existence, the more we shall realize why the Holy God, Who is zealous for His honor, has warned against idolatry and image worship. We shall more and more find Rome in our heart.

Then also the fruit of the discovering by the Holy Spirit in our heart and life shall be that we shall abhor and loathe ourselves before the face of the Lord. We always push ourselves forward, and only in the hour of death, God’s people shall be delivered of their “own self”. If it may be right within our heart, not by improvement, but by the renewing of the Holy Spirit, then we shall constantly be astonished that the Lord has not long ago pushed us away from before Him, and then we shall be afraid of no one as much as of ourselves. That is also the reason why David prayed in Ps. 19:13, “Keep back Thy servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me; then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent of the great transgression.”

Truly, if we may realize it a little, then it is with fear and trembling, that we open our mouth to say something; also to take up our pen to write something. Rev. Ledeboer wrote at one time that “ego” creeps into all corners. The worst is that we do not see it. We pamper and protect that “ego” more than we fight against it. In the Old Testament we read of a Jehu who declared, “See my zeal for the Lord,” and in the New Testament there was a Saul of Tarsus who thought to do God service by persecuting the living Church. I have often thought wherever we go, we come away with torn clothes. Never a feather upon our hat, and never a crown upon our head, but the end of it all is always condemnation, guilt and sin. We are robbers of God’s honor and having only ourselves in view.

If it were more understood and comprehended, I would have more freedom to enter deeper into the subject, but alas, the ignorance in spiritual things is so great. Only those, who by discovering grace have learned to see the plague of their heart, understand what we wrote here. There is so much self-satisfaction because we have never become Adam before God, and have never been brought back to Paradise. For that reason Christ remains hidden, and there is no room for Him. Speaking in general, whenever in our days the full counsel of God, law and Gospel is preached, much enmity is manifested. Men want only a superficial sermon, but at the command of Christ, Peter had to launch out into the deep.

If it remains superficial, then everyone remains alive. By nature man hates an uncovering sermon, and yet it is so necessary to be stripped and unclothed to be able to be clothed upon.

When and where shall we seek God’s honor in all our commission and omission, also in our speaking and writing? The only way to do so is as Paul wrote in Phil. 4:17, “I can do all things through Christ Jesus, which strengthened me.” It is true, the Lord shall fulfill in the life of all His people what we read in Isaiah 43:21: “This people have I formed for Myself; they shall shew forth My praise.” The Lord Himself will make it true, but I think that it takes place when they no longer know how it can be done. Ours is such a hypocritical existence. Let God be true, but every man a liar. Ah, how often it happens in the life of God’s children, beginning in the Spirit and being made perfect by the flesh.

One of our long departed friends in Rotterdam once said, “We speak the truth, and yet we lie.” We shall not enlarge upon that because then so much would come to the fore which is not edifying; which would be greatly dishonoring to God. How much boasting and glorying there is when God’s honor is not intended. The Lord Himself tells us in His Word, “Not he that commendeth himself is approved, but whom the Lord commendeth.” When we consider all this, we sink away with all our confidence and we fear that we grieve God more than we glorify Him in our writing.

On the other hand, we think of that man who had buried the talent which his lord had entrusted to his care, and how sad his end was. Then a sigh swells up out of the heart that during the days which the Lord shall still keep us on earth, it still may be for some benefit for our fellow travelers to eternity, even though we are convinced that in ourselves we are an unprofitable servant.

There was for sometime a wish and a desire to be favored to write something about the work of God, and that urge was strengthened while reading a letter about the blessed departure of a friend, who at a very great age was transplanted like a lily from the church militant, to the church triumphant above.

I had also known her for more than 50 years; had often met her during my travels, and later spent many hours with her during those years when I was counselor of the congregation of which she was a member. We were favored to have communion together, with edification and encouragement heard her speak about the ways of God and of the firmness of God’s covenant and good pleasures of which she was favored to have knowledge. Upon her death bed, she was enabled to testify that she had no fear of death. She had received a God for her heart and Surety for her guilt. She was reconciled with God, but also with death through the death of Christ.

“E’en in death’s vale Thou faileth never.
O Lord of hosts, how blest is he,
Who puts his steadfast trust in Thee.”

Should we then bury God’s work? Are there not enough reasons to extol God’s work? It is known only to the Lord how often the souls of His people are disturbed by tidings and events in God’s church, which are so discouraging, that they walk about with a closed mouth, yea that they say, “Lord, what shall be my end?” Yea, the disciples also asked the Lord Jesus when He told them that one of them would betray Him, “Lord, is it I?” There are absolutely no reasons to exalt ourselves above others. Far, far from that. The more we are enlightened by the Holy Spirit, the more we shall see the depth of Satan, the depth of sin, and the depth of our heart, and the more we shall be afraid of ourselves. Here in our life the Lord keeps telling us what the Lord spoke to Ezekiel, “Turn thee yet again and thou shalt see greater abominations than these.” Our heart is so unbelieving, so deadly, so deceitful and so depraved and burdened, Satan’s thoughts and wiles are not unknown to them.

But the more knowledge of God and knowledge of self, the more knowledge of Christ we receive, the more we see the depth of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God, Rom. 11:33.

Only in the knowledge of that only and true God and Jesus Christ, Whom He has sent, is life eternal. That knowledge abases and humbles. That knowledge produces an awakening, binding, and comforting fruit; a fruit which shall redound to the glory of God, but also redounds to our soul’s salvation.

(to be continued)

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