In 2 Timothy 4, the Apostle says, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long-suffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables. But watch thou in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of thy ministry” (vss. 1-5). Do you want to serve the Lord? I trust you do. If I may use a figure of speech, there are no drones in God’s hive. Every one of us has the privilege of Christian testimony, brothers and sisters everywhere. Do you want to do some little bit in connection with the ministry of the gospel? You have your opportunity. “Make full proof of thy ministry.” How are you going to do it? By seeking constantly —every day, every hour — to prove all by the Word of God, for we can become so inured to departures from God’s way that finally we accept them as a matter of fact and raise no question. Yes, that is the way it comes about: first small departures, which afterward wear callouses on our Christian consciences so that we fall in line and accept them as part of what was intended to be. Dear young Christians, you and I are called upon as long as we are down here to check all by the Word of God. You have a little meeting here in L.A. and you have one up there in S.M.: What is the excuse for such little assemblies? If we, in a divided and separated Christendom that has broken itself into 1500 different kinds of sects and parties, have no God-given scriptural testimony to render, then why should we not lock the door here, forget about this place, and dissipate ourselves among the sects about us? Is there anything worthwhile to contend for, anything vital at stake, or have we followed a course of self-will—followed a mistaken leadership? If we have, it is a tragedy! I remember reading William Kelly’s remark: “I believe some of us have suffered a deal for a delusion, if that is what it is.” Is it worthwhile to stand for the owning of no other name than that of the Lord Jesus and refusing to compromise that name by any human arrangements outside of what we find in the Word of God? I verily believe it is, else I would not be speaking to you tonight.
I recall that in one of the Gospels, the disciples came to the Lord quite agitated, saying, “We saw one casting out devils in Thy name . . . and we forbade him” (Mark 9:3838And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us. (Mark 9:38)). The Lord’s answer was something like this: “Do not forbid him. No man can work a miracle in My name and speak lightly of Me.” I hope I have learned that lesson. I hope I rejoice in every voice that is lifted up in this poor, mad world today to magnify Christ. I was in a home only this week where I heard someone down here at A.T. speaking on the radio, and I heard him exalting Christ and my heart rejoiced. I trust I have not dried up in my affections so that I do not rejoice when Christ is well spoken of. So Paul did in Philippians 1; he rejoiced when Christ was preached. He was not disposed to forbid Christ being preached, even though it was a Christ of contention. So would I stop nobody’s mouth, but I would seek to be faithful to the testimony as I find it in the Word of God, if there is any such in this present-day Babylon. I would seek to continue in the path which God plainly marks out in His Word.