“GIVE ME MY PRICE”

William J House

Zechariah 11: 12-14

Hebrews 12: 14-17

1 Kings 21: 1-16

Luke 4: 1-13

(NB the King James Version was mainly used on this occasion)

I am sure, dear brethren, that the bearing of Scripture in its varied application to us is appreciated by all of us to some extent. None, I suppose, are strangers to the comfort and encouragement of the Scriptures.  How the Spirit of God constantly brings the great element of comfort and encouragement to the hearts of the saints through the precious Scriptures! The apostle tells us that “All scripture ... is profitable for doctrine”, 2 Tim 3: 16. What should we do if we had not the authority of the Scriptures in relation to doctrine? What imaginations of man's mind would steal in but for the Scriptures as authoritative for doctrine! But he also says they are “for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness”. With the Lord's help one would desire to use them in that way to-night; not that one is competent to reprove the brethren, but to use the Scriptures “for reproof ... for instruction in righteousness”.

Part of the Lord's service to His people is to reprove them. The psalmist says, “Let the righteous smite me, it is kindness; and let him reprove me, it is an excellent oil which my head shall not refuse”, Ps 141: 5. We would all prefer the oil of gladness, I am sure, naturally; but the psalmist says a divine reproof is an excellent oil which his head would not refuse. I would like to bring these scriptures before us at this time as a challenge. What many hearts are feeling throughout this city is the attempt being made to link righteousness with unrighteousness. The apostle makes clear in 2 Corinthians 6 that righteousness and unrighteousness cannot be combined. We may attempt it, but there cannot be any bond between righteousness and unrighteousness. He says, “what communion hath light with darkness?”, v 14. You cannot bring together light and darkness; it is impossible. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?”, v 15. Christ, dear brethren, is the blessed Man in whom everything that is precious to heaven and to God resides, and Belial means 'worthless'. What is infinitely precious and what is worthless cannot come together.  “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” “What part for a believer along with an unbeliever?” How can there be fellowship, sharing things together, between a believer and an unbeliever? It cannot be done; “What agreement hath the temple of God with idols?”. In the temple of God, God's glory is found - in His temple everything says glory.

We have been made to feel, dear brethren, and feel keenly, the attempts on the part of many - and the element of it is in all our hearts - to try and bring these things together; but the truth is, either we must have righteousness or unrighteousness; either we must have light or darkness; either we must have Christ or Belial; either we must pursue a path proper to a believer or we stand publicly as an unbeliever. Either we must be in accord with the temple of God, which is holy, or we are connected with idolatry. There is no possibility of bringing them together, and what I want with the Lord's help to say a few words as to, is the challenge which the Lord brings to us as to which we stand related to, as to what we are prepared to accept or to give up, to part with the one and embrace the other.

And so the Lord says, for it is the Lord really speaking through the prophet, “If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear”. One would like to urge upon oneself and upon every one of us, that we put this as a sign upon our hands. That we put it as a frontlet to our eyes, that our outlook has this frontlet upon it, that we put it on the door of our houses, that we write it on our gates. In our coming in and our going out, in our households, in our occupations, in our secret movements, let the Lord's appeal come into every heart - “If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear”. Oh, beloved brethren, let us forbear; let us never name a price that we will accept to part with our blessed Lord, to part with a pathway of righteousness, to part with Christ, to part with the company of believers, to part with the temple of God; let us forbear to give a price. The Lord calls upon us, He puts upon every heart this searching question, are we prepared to name a price?

First of all, in our personal private history as God alone sees us, away from the eyes of anyone, are we naming a price that we will accept to part with the blessed Lord and all that is His here on earth? In our households, in our relationships as husbands, let us who are husbands take it to our hearts: is there a price that we will name to leave the path of righteousness and light and holiness? I put it to the sisters in the same way, to the parents, to children, to masters, to servants; the Lord would say to all of us: “If ye think good, give me my price, and if not, forbear”. God grant, dear brethren, that we may forbear accepting in our souls and in our minds any price for which we will part with the blessed Lord, for which we will depart from the path of righteousness, for which we will depart from the temple of God, for which we will depart from that blessed One who is the Vessel of all preciousness - Christ. One would desire that the Spirit of God would write the appeal on every heart - burn it upon our souls - “If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear”.

Esau stands before us an abiding witness, an abiding warning, as one who would sell his birthright. There was a price that he would accept, for the birthright; it was his, and the birthright entitled him to the blessing.  Oh, what a thing it is to be blessed of God. This is the blessing, the scripture says, “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee” - what will you give for that? “The Lord bless thee, and keep thee”, putting a wall of fire round you and preserving you - that is part of the blessing. “The Lord make his face shine upon thee”, Num 6: 24, 25. Think of what radiates from the face of God. Think of what God is, shining into the heart of a man; that is the blessing. “And be gracious unto thee”. That is to say, you are in the favour of God.  Is there anything more blessed than being in the favour of God? “And give thee peace”, v 26. Moving through a world of turmoil and unrest and conflict, the blessing is that God gives peace to those who are blessed. Esau had a title to the birthright, the blessing. It says he sold it; a price was named to profane Esau that attracted him, a price was dangled before his eyes, so that he said, 'What profit is the birthright to me?'. He says, 'What gain is there in the birthright compared with what was offered to me?'.  What was offered him? A morsel of bread; a moment's gratification. Oh, how many have had a lifetime of sorrow for a moment's self-gratification, the enemy having dangled before their eyes a morsel of bread. Esau sold his birthright and in bitter anguish, with bitter tears, he could not regain it. He says to his father, “bless me, even me also, O my father”, Gen 27: 38. But though he sought the blessing earnestly with tears it was gone. Let us beware, dear brethren, of selling the birthright, for every believer has a birthright; he is one of the firstborn ones, he has a title to the blessing. 'Beware', the apostle says, “lest there be any … profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright”. If we do that for a step in the path of unrighteousness, for an action in the dark, for a movement that is unholy, for the acceptance in our hearts of what is worthless, it may be we shall search earnestly for the blessing and not find it. There may come in the government of God a time when we shall long to get the blessing and not find it.

Judah is another man before whom a price was dangled. He, in company with his brethren, had known what it was to have the companionship of Joseph. What a man Joseph was! Loved of Jacob, fit to wear a coat of many colours, fit for heaven to communicate heaven's thoughts to, one who loved his brethren - “I seek my brethren”, Gen 37: 16. There comes Joseph, and Judah says, “What profit is it if we slay our brother ... Come, and let us sell him”, v 26, 27. The Midianites come forward with their twenty pieces of silver, and it is more to Judah than Joseph, v 28. He weighs the price. Judah is not Esau, Judah is one of the people of God, he is not apostate; but Judah from that day is in for discipline; years of discipline are ahead of Judah on account of that. First of all, he lives a life of deception. Oh, the misery of it, deceiving Jacob, and perpetuating the deception for long, long years. Famine must come, for God calls for a famine to reach Judah as well as others. Who has not known it in some measure, the absence of spiritual supply because of in some measure having accepted a price for Christ, some steps down the road of unrighteousness unjudged, some elements of unholiness allowed; who has not known a famine, alas? Years of famine are called for so that Judah may retrace his steps. In the infinite skill and wisdom of Joseph, a point is reached when Judah must give up his wife, must give up his children, must give up his father's house, must give up every possession he has on earth, and must be a bondman in Egypt, till he judges fully the price he had accepted: till Benjamin has become so precious - Christ in another way - so precious to his soul that he will give everything for Benjamin. He had accepted twenty pieces of silver for Joseph; but now by years of discipline he will give everything he has on earth, including himself, for Benjamin. He comes forward and speaks to Joseph. He says, 'I am surety for Benjamin, I stand prepared to meet every obligation that should ever come upon Benjamin; it comes out of my resources, indeed I take his place'. I mention that at this time to show how the selling of Joseph brought upon Judah long years of discipline till he judged deeply and fully in his soul that terrible principle of accepting a price for Christ typically.

Now I would like to speak of Naboth. One loves Naboth; God grant that we may be like him. Naboth had a bit of the inheritance, the inheritance of his fathers, what God gave. There is not any money that can be weighed that he would accept. The king of Israel, wicked Ahab, proposes that he should accept money for his inheritance, that had come to him from his fathers, from God, a piece of heavenly territory, typically a bit of the heavenly land, part of the inheritance of the saints in light. Think of having an inheritance amongst the saints in light, beyond the dark, dark scene through which we are passing; God has given us an inheritance amongst the saints in light. He has made us, who were once aliens and strangers, no longer foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints; we have a portion in the city of God, the heavenly city, fellow citizens with the saints, of the household of God. Ahab came to Naboth and said, 'I will give you money, you give me your inheritance and I will give you money'. He does not name the sum, but he lays down the principle, that money would be given. I have no doubt to get his own way Ahab would have given largely, but Naboth says, 'I will not give thee my inheritance'. There was no sum that Ahab could name that interested Naboth to part with his inheritance. Oh, beloved brethren, one would long that we should be more like Naboth, that there is nothing that the king can name with all his resources, that would interest us to part with our inheritance, the inheritance of the saints in light. Think of having to go out into the darkness when once we have known something of the light. What must that man at Corinth have felt when he was in the darkness, having once known the marvellous light of God, to be out in the darkness, having lost his inheritance, lost his place in the city of God, having lost access to the river of God which is full of water, having lost access to the tree of life, sold it for self- gratification. Naboth said, “I will not”; twice he repeats, “I will not”. Not for all the king's money. The king offers another thing, he offers an exchange, a more subtle thing even than the money. For something that is not his inheritance, something different, something on a lower platform. Christendom abounds with those who have exchanged their inheritance for something else, I do not say what. The people of God are entitled to know their place in the assembly of God, are entitled to enjoy the headship of Christ over the assembly, and they are entitled to hear the voice of the Spirit of God in the assembly. How many have made an exchange, have accepted other heads, are listening to other voices! I do not say exactly they have sold their inheritance, but they have exchanged it at the behest, maybe, of a king. You know what Jezebel does, and Jezebel is always ready to do this: she raises up false witnesses. You can be quite sure, if there is a brother or sister that will not sell their inheritance, it will not be long before there are false witnesses under the influence of Jezebel to destroy them. Let us beware that we do not allow ourselves to be instruments of Jezebel to destroy one who will not sell his inheritance, but who will hold it at all costs. Naboth only had to say a word that the king could have had his inheritance, and all would have been over; but he died. God grant we may be prepared to die rather than give up our inheritance.

Now I would say just a word about the blessed Lord. He stands out in supreme contrast to Esau. We are not told how long Esau was in the field; he came from the field, and in order to gratify his hunger, he sold his birthright. Look at Jesus, our blessed Lord, forty days in the wilderness and ate nothing. Scripture says He ate nothing and afterwards He hungered. The Spirit of God says, “he … hungered”. The tempter comes and suggests bread. Will He yield to gratify His hunger? Never for a moment, not after forty days; every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God is more to Him than His hunger as Man. Oh, what a gulf lies between Esau and Jesus, between Judah and our Lord. “It is written”, says the Lord, “man shall not live by bread alone”. How many things are done for bread alone, for some present gratification! But the Lord says, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God”. The enemy goes to the other extreme, and He presents to the Lord on an exceeding high mountain all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. He says, 'That is the price I offer, if you will yield; if you will not yield for bread, yield for all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, all shall be thine'. “Get thee behind me, Satan”, says the Lord. Not all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them would induce the Son of God to yield. Oh, dear brethren, where do we stand? Wrapped up in these temptations is every principle of evil. It says, “when the devil had ended all the temptation”. He finds the true Naboth, oh, more than Naboth, One who would die rather than yield, rather than move one step in the path of unrighteousness, rather than give place for one moment to what is worthless, rather than be out of accord for an instant with the temple of God, which He was Himself. You find in Him the One from whom Naboth drew in anticipation, the blessed One who in the language of Naboth could say, “I will not”. One commends that blessed Saviour to us all on this line as One who would not give any place to a suggestion of weighing a price; He would forbear; there was no price that He would name, and there was no price that He would accept to move out of the path of righteousness, out of the path of holiness, out of the path of what was precious according to God, out of the pathway of light. “The path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”, Prov 4: 18.

The Lord help us to come under His own blessed influence as Head, that we may be maintained on this line, that we will forbear indicating a price for which we shall accept a path that is different from His, that is out of accord with Him, marked by unrighteousness, unholiness, darkness, and what is characteristically Belial. May the Lord help us to say in the language of Naboth, “I will not”. Jezebel had him slain, and handed the inheritance to Ahab, which she says, “he refused to give thee for money”. If things are taken from us, dear brethren, on that line, may it be said that we would not sell it for money. Jezebel speaks her own condemnation, 'The vineyard which Naboth would not sell thee for money'. May that be the decision of our souls as we move on under the blessed hand of the One who would not, though hungry, turn the stones into bread, and who was not for a moment prepared to entertain all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, to usurp the place of God, but who moved on in every sphere with confidence in God, and would not tempt Him. Satan says, “cast thyself down”, prove what God is to you, but He says, “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God”. That is to say, His confidence was in God and He would not prove Him. May this be true of us all in some little measure to the end.

From Words of Truth 1937 page 85

This article is also included in a series,

Collected Ministry by William J House, available through www.lulu.com