(Amos iii. 3).
THE answer to the above question is, of course, an emphatic “No.” Agreement is a first necessity of fellowship—where there is no agreement there can be no walking together. In ordinary life evidence abounds which illustrates the point. In international relations, where there is no agreement there is no walking together, and the result is suspicion, jealousy, distrust and ultimately war. In community life, if there is no agreement between those who are neighbours, there is no social intercourse; instead there is resentment, bitterness, malice and hatred. In married life, if there is no agreement, there cannot be love and harmony, and the results are disastrous, frequently leading to separation and the divorce court. In congregational life where there is no agreement there can be no true fellowship; fault-finding and self-seeking result to a degree which often grieves the Holy Spirit, robs the preaching of the Gospel of blessing, and pains the hearts of the godly. Certainly present-day conditions abound in evidence in support of that aspect of the prophet’s question: where there is no agreement, fellowship is impossible.
There is, however, the other and much more pleasing aspect of the question. Where there is agreement there the way is paved for intimacy and fellowship; and how pleasant and profitable the results can be. There are some nations which have agreed and the result is peace, harmony and security within the community. There are those who agree and live together as good neighbours and the intercourse between them is sweet and their friendship precious. There are marriages, not a few, where the first love has survived the test of years and the resulting fellowship sweetens the whole life of the home. There are congregations where there is thorough agreement on first principles, and the humility which subordinates all to the Glory of Christ and the saving of souls is as an oil in which the congregational machinery works together without friction in achieving the high purpose of the Gospel.
Yes, doubtless, where two are agreed they walk together and their intercourse is close and may be exceedingly profitable.
(a) But why should the question of agreement as between God and man arise?
The agreement Amos had in mind was undoubtedly agreement on religious principles—spiritual agreement—first as between God and the nation, and then as between one man and another. Are they not in agreement already? Many tell us they are. We are told that God is the Heavenly Father of all men, that His love is universal, and that the mere fact that Christ died secures heaven for all. On the basis of this agreement, which men have drawn up for themselves, but which God has not subscribed, and never will, they persuade themselves that all is well and that they walk with God. They say to themselves, “Peace, peace,” when God says “there is no peace.” For the time being at least their armour is proof against all attack, like the helmet with which Diabolus armed his soldiers in the Holy War. “They hope that all will be well at last, though meantime they live as they list.” But that is the Devil’s gospel, false and pernicious. The need for agreement between God and man is absolute, unavoidable and most urgent. The Judge of all the earth is infinitely holy, righteous and just; and every man in his natural state is a sinner, self-destroyed and lost, and death, judgment and eternity are no great distance away.
(b) But the Jewish people were highly privileged.
Was not Abraham their father, Moses their lawgiver, and God their Covenant God? Were not the temple of God and the worship of God an established part of the life of the nation? A privileged people they certainly were! But privileges without real agreement are a sham and a snare, aggravating the guilt of all abusing them; and was that not just what Amos had in view? A form of godliness which denied the power! The form, the profession, the assurance were all there, just as they exist in Britain. Who thinks that all is not well as between God and the nation to-day? How very few entertain any doubt in the matter, and how obscure the witness of this few! Was not Amos himself but from among the herdmen of Tekoa? Who listens to him? When any man dies, it matters not who, nor does it matter how evil his heart and life had been; death is but the door by which he inevitably and immediately passes into heaven, and all is well, is he not now at rest! “He that believeth not shall be damned.” “It shall be ill with the wicked.” “In hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment.” One would think that such words had no place in the Bible. To think or speak in terms of such solemn truths is judged as committing a crime against God and doing injury to mankind! And yet the people think they walk with God, in the light of his favour and in the hope of His Gospel!
(c) But into the calm and peace of this false security the herdman from Tekoa comes, and through him the voice of God speaks, a voice of majesty and power, “Can two walk together except they be agreed?”
Agreement is demanded as a first essential of fellowship, of true godliness, of favour, of heaven. Without agreement profession is vain, hopes are false, religion is hypocrisy, heaven a delusion—the inevitable, exclusive and awful reality is hell.
(d) Agreement first there must be, then fellowship; and in order to agreement there must be some basis, some definite form. This necessity the Bible supplies.
“The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him.” Of the Lord’s agreement with his own Word there can be no doubt. All the trouble and difficulty arises from the unbelief and enmity of the natural heart, and the pride of human reason. But the Word of God—inspired, infallible and without error—is the only rule. Here the proud heart of man must bow in childlike simplicity and trustfulness, and that not only in respect of one truth or one set of truths, but before the Supreme Authority of the whole Scripture. Scriptural Truth is whole and indivisible—Old Testament as well as New Testament, in doctrine, narrative, history, promise, prophecy, warning and threatening, invitation, command and counsel—it is all equally divine, the very Word of God and therefore Truth Eternal. A Word to be received by man in the sincere humility and profound thankfulness of an utterly childlike faith. The nations of the world agree by compromise. Because they meet as equals that method may be most appropriate. When, however, the meeting is between Jehovah and a man who is a sinner, agreement by compromise is quite out of the question. The only agreement possible is acceptance without qualification and such acceptance is altogether of faith. If it should be that there are times and places where the man who believes stumbles (and who does not), yet even then it must be “Lord, I believe, help Thou mine unbelief.” Nevertheless, Abraham staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God.
(e) And what now has the Word of God to offer by way of agreement?
Why, nothing less than the whole scheme of salvation through a Redeemer—salvation to the uttermost; God’s will for our salvation made known through the Person, the coming, the sufferings and the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. In which salvation the eternal and sovereign love of God the Father in electing some to everlasting life is made known; in which the redeeming love of the Son, wherein he loved the church and gave himself for the Church, is seen; and in which the sanctifying love of God the Holy Ghost in seeking out the lost and applying to them the redemption purchased by Christ in their effectual calling is revealed. In the salvation of a sinner there are these three main departments of truth in which agreement is demanded: (1) Ruin by the Fall; (2) Redemption by the Blood of Christ; and (3) Regeneration by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit.
(1) The Bible doctrine of man’s utter ruin by the fall of Adam as narrated in the opening chapters of Genesis is no myth.
“The sinfulness of that estate wherein man fell consists in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of original righteousness and the corruption of his whole nature, which is commonly called Original Sin, together with all actual transgressions which proceed from it.”
(2) The Scripture doctrine of Redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ, involving the mysteries of His glorious person, His divine and human natures, his virgin birth, his covenant suretyship, his substitution in the room of his people, his vicarious sufferings, his atoning death, constituting a righteousness of infinite merit, in which divine justice is eternally satisfied and the Law of God infinitely honoured, a righteousness which received the seal of heaven’s approval in that God raised this same Jesus from the dead and received him into glory, there to sit on the right hand of power until all his enemies are made his footstool, are all most sure and certain truth.
(3) And The doctrine of the new Birth, however humbling to human pride, has an important and necessary place in this agreement.
Man, fallen, helpless, dead in trespasses and sins, is of his own power neither willing nor able to save himself. In His great mercy for the lost, God, for Christ’s sake, has given His Holy Spirit. That in the day of His power, man may be made both willing and able to receive the Gospel—”Effectual calling is the work of God’s Spirit, whereby, convincing us of our sin and misery, enlightening our minds in the knowledge of Christ, and renewing our wills, he doth persuade and enable us to embrace Jesus Christ freely offered to us in the Gospel.” The sinner thus called is a new creature in Christ Jesus, old things are passed away and all things are new. His sins are blotted out, through the atoning blood of Christ, and the righteousness of Christ is imputed to him and received by faith alone, and he walks in newness of life. Thenceforth he is a stranger and a pilgrim on earth and his citizenship is in heaven, he is an heir of God and a joint heir with Jesus Christ of an eternal inheritance which is reserved in heaven for him while he is kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
(f) To the Scriptures as a whole, and to each part of that whole, agreement is required as a first essential to fellowship with God and with men.
In the case of every gracious man there is no difficulty here—the measure of his grace and piety is just the measure of his agreement: (1) By the faith that is in him and from the inner depths of his heart he agrees, and his greatest concern is for more and ever more of that agreement—his peace, hope, joy, all his salvation depend upon it, and he knows that this is so. He is not like Pliable, who appeared to start out well enough until he fell into the Slough of Despond, then his greatest concern was to get out on that side nearest his own house, agreement or no agreement! How different with Christian: on falling into the same Slough his greatest concern was to get out, but on that side farthest away from the City of Destruction and nearest to the Celestial City. (2) He agrees also in experience. The spiritual experience of the man is in agreement with the Word; indeed the Word is the mould into which he has been cast in the beginning of his spiritual life, and ever afterwards he uses it as the standard and measurement in trying himself; he has no wish to change it to suit him, but, oh how agreeable he is that he should be changed into its form and image; which is much the same thing as putting on the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Word made flesh, and is a very great and precious mystery realised in the inner experiences of grace. (3) He agrees also with the Word in so far as it requires a living unto God in a practical way affecting the everyday life of the believer. It is his great concern to sell all that he has that he may buy the Pearl of Great Price, to deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow the Lamb whithersoever he goes; to deny ungodliness and all worldly lust; to attend the Means of Grace in the spirit of meekness, and to exercise himself unto prayer.
(g) The man is thus in agreement, in heart, experience and practice with God on the basis of His Word, and according to the measure of that agreement he will walk with God and God will walk with him.
As long as sin remains, and while life lasts, sin will remain, there will not be, there cannot be, complete agreement, but in so far as any part of his heart, experience and practice is not in agreement he will mourn with godly sorrow and his burden and prayer to God will be, “Lord, enlarge the coasts of my agreement more and more,” until finally the bounds of the whole man are brought sweetly and harmoniously into full accord with that Word which is the Will of God for our salvation—and when that comes to pass, “lo, it will come,” then we may be sure eternal glory is but a step away.
One final word. The agreement on the basis of God’s Eternal Word, so necessary as between God and men, is not one whit less essential as between one church and another if these are to walk together in harmony. Agreement there may be, but if that agreement is outwith the bounds of the Word of God it is in so far an evil thing and implies a “walking contrary to God,” and, “if ye walk contrary to me I will walk contrary to you.” (Lev. xxvi. 23, 24.)