Open—D. Imbeau, N. Whatmough, B. Prost
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00:05:17
We've had before us through the Lord's mercy and grace.
A portion that certainly turns our eyes heavenward.
And in first Peter chapter 2, that house, that building, that structure which above mentioned earlier is upward. It's for God's glory.
And each one of us in this room, each one that's in the body of Christ, is there, put there for God's glory.
To honor him, to worship Him, to exalt him and the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus.
I was thinking of all the young people that are in this room this afternoon, many of them.
And you know, each one that knows the Lord Jesus Christ in this room is part of that house, part of that building.
Let's turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 3 for another of.
And they are, as our brother earlier mentioned, they are both founded on the same foundation. The one in First Peter is on that stone, the chief cornerstone. The one in Corinthians is on the same person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And when the Lord said to Peter upon this stone, it wasn't upon Peter that he was.
Going to build his church. It was on the confession of who he was. Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And so the Lord Jesus immediately says upon thou art Peter and upon this stone Speaking of the testimony given, will I build my church that's going on today. First Corinthians chapter 3 is that church that's being built. Let's read a little bit of it. I'm not going to talk very long.
What I want to say is this, that each and everyone in this room that knows the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior is involved in this. What I'm going to read each one of us don't don't think that there are any that are excluded. We are all responsible.
As to how we build, how we help, how we.
Instruct what we do for God's people, what we do to encourage.
Or on the other side of the coin, discourage. Sad to say, we often do that. That's not what God wants. First Corinthians, chapter 3.
Verse 11.
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid which is Christ Jesus or Jesus Christ. Now if any man build on this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire.
And the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.
If any man's work abide which hath built, thereupon he shall receive a reward.
If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved. Yet so is by fire. You know, when it says every man, it could just as well say every man and woman, because we're all responsible. We're responsible to do that which is right in the sight of God. That's going to be helpful.
Not an hindrance.
The Lord Jesus was here. He spoke about the talents and the pounds and the word to the one that was faithful was well done. Thou good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. Each and every one of us in this room, I'm sure.
Are trusting to get a commendation from the Lord. Well done thou good and faithful servant.
00:10:05
We can.
It was brought up beautifully both this morning and this afternoon in the reading in regard to the one whom we are to look to the one who?
Not only.
Demands it.
But His love should cause us to break forth in praise.
And worship and adoration, and not only soul, but in service.
You know, in John 4 the Lord said to that Lady who came to him at the well.
He didn't say God seek a servant to serve him, but God seeketh worshippers to worship Him in spirit and in truth. But as was brought out earlier in the meetings, just the love of our heart.
In response to the love that he has for us should draw forth.
Service, worthy service. And so this building that is in First Corinthians 3 is the Church of God that's being built, and it's been going on for about 1960 years.
And it's still going on.
That church is still being built. It isn't finished yet. If it were, we wouldn't be here. And when that is finished, we're all going to be called unto himself and then we will get what's here.
Then then we will find out what we've been building with and how we've been building.
I exhort to young people, don't wait until you're Gray haired so your hair is all falling out and your balls. But when you're young?
Seek by the mercy of God and the grace of God to serve Him in a way that's acceptable to Him. And how do we know what is acceptable to Him only? Only by reading this.
The Bible, the holy book of God, his word, the.
Or, I'm not saying that other writings are not too good for instruction, but here's where you get God's word here, right here.
And if you don't read it, you don't know it. And if you don't know it, you can't do it.
There's a saying and if you were driving down the highway and a policeman stops you and you said, Sir, I, I didn't know that, that the speed limit was 45 miles an hour. And he and he will say that ignorance is no excuse.
You know, ignorance of God's word is no excuse either.
If we don't know it.
If we don't read it, we don't know it.
We have to read it. We have to know what God wants for us. And how are we going to help his people if we don't know what God wants for his people?
Every man shall be given. Let's read it again.
12Th verse Now if any man builds upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, and stubble, every man's work shall be tried, for the day shall declare it, and that's the day that he calls us himself. And when we sit or stand, whatever it is, I don't know, none of us do at that great judgement seat of Christ.
That's when this will come forth, That's when what we have done.
Will be.
Judged Notice that it's not a matter of being saved and lost here.
It's a matter of what we've done to ABET.
His Church, His bride, what have we done?
Have we done everything to help or have we done everything to hinder?
You know, if we look back, some of us in this room are well up in age, and as we look back on the history of even our short life, we see much that is sad.
But the Apostle Paul says the time that is left, each one in this room has a time that is left.
And what are we going to do with it? Are we going to hinder?
Or are we going to help?
00:15:00
We had much both this morning and this afternoon about love.
God is love. God is love, and if we leave love out of our life, as far as our actions with our brethren were wrong, were wrong.
God is love, and He looks for something from out of our heart that would respond to His heart.
Of love. And when we deal with our brethren, it better be in love. And that's the way to build up. That's the way the church is built up.
Those.
Perfectly fit together by joints and bands and it serves one another.
And he picked up. If you haven't read it, find it and read it beautiful.
And that's what God wants. God wants each one of us to receive our reward.
From His heart of love, He desires that. He desires you and me to walk in love one toward another, and not forget His love.
I have them on my heart to speak on some very simple things in connection with what we've had before us this morning and this afternoon. And I think there's some very simple illustrations of these truths that might be helpful to even one of the youngest ones. Perhaps there's a young person here that got just saved just this last week. And I think there's some precious things we can learn from God's Word. So I'd like to speak about a grain of wheat. I'd like to speak of a handful of wheat.
I'd like to speak of two loaves of bread.
Like to speak of one loaf of bread. I like to speak of a body. I like to speak of an assembly.
And I think these are simple things that even the youngest one can understand. We've all seen each one of those things, an assembly of people. And with God's help, I'd like to turn to God's Word and look at these things because I believe that they're helpful to us. Perhaps you could start by looking in John's Gospel, chapter 2.
And a verse.
In verse 19.
This will lead us, I believe full circle is first. We'll go to John 12 after this.
Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. Then said the Jews, 40 and six years was this temple and building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? But he spake of the temple of his body. When therefore he was risen from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this unto them, And they believe the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
Now let's turn to John, chapter 12.
And verse 23.
And Jesus answered them, saying, The hours come, that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I stand to you, except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It abideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit. He that loveth his life shall lose it, and that he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Any man serve me, let him follow me, and where I am, there shall also my servant be.
And if any man serve me, him will my father honor.
Well, we have a very simple thing before us here, a corn of wheat or a grain of wheat. And then we could each imagine opening up our hand and seeing a grain of wheat. And this is a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we see in John's gospel people say, well, what is eternal life? Eternal life was a person. That's what John does. He takes us and he says, you want to know what eternal life is? It's a person.
And the Son of God came into this world, and as in Mr. Darby's translation, he was that grain of wheat that was falling into the ground to die. But, you know, I think we all understand something, even the children understand something about a grain of wheat, that if we were to put that into our pocket and leave it there, and we were to come back, Lord willing, if the assembly in Des Moines invited us to meetings next year, and we reached into our pocket and there was a grain of wheat, it would still be the same grain of wheat that was there in our pocket.
00:20:26
But if you take that grain of wheat, and if it's a pure strain of wheat and you put it into the ground, something happens to it, it dies.
But it comes up. But it doesn't abide alone.
And each grain of wheat on that stalk of wheat is a partaker of the life and nature of that grain that went into the ground.
If you take a pure strained petunia seed, red petunia seed, and you put it in the ground, you get red petunias. And that's a wonderful thing that even a young child can understand that if they were saved yesterday, that they possessed the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think that's lovely to realize. You're just mentioning that downstairs that there was a living stone, and each stone in that temple is just like that living stone with a perfect place to fit into that temple that's rising up to God. I just say this to the young children because when I was saved, you know, I'm going to just say something that might sound silly to some of the older brethren, but I thought that when I got to heaven, I was going to be the one to ruin heaven. And I was going to, I was going to sin and ruin heaven. But it was a wonderful realization that came to my soul is that I had the same life and nature as the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
And so that corn of wheat, it fell into the ground, and it did not die. It did not abide alone, but it died that it might bring forth much fruit. I'd like to turn to a verse at the end of Matthew's Gospel.
In Matthew 27, the last chapter, Matthew's Gospel. Rather, I believe this helps us understand something too.
Matthew 27.
In connection with the Lord Jesus Christ dying.
Verse 50 Jesus, when he had cried again, with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost, and behold, the veil of the temple was rent and twain from top to bottom.
And the earth did quake, and the rocks ran, and the graves were opened, and the bodies of Saints which slept arose.
And came out of the grave after his resurrection, and went into the holiest city, and appeared unto many. Now these Saints, they arose when the Lord arose. Because you see that grain of wheat that went into the ground and died at a bite alone, that it might not abide alone. But when it rose, it didn't come up one. If you planted one seed, and on the stock of grain you had one seed, you'd be disappointed. But that grain of wheat was falling into the ground, and it died. That might not abide alone, but it came out. Now here we have a beautiful thing in connection with the resurrection.
Is that not only do we have a life in nature like that, but we're going to have a body like the Lord Jesus.
We get that, and it's interesting, the expression that we have here. You know, if you go into Christendom, you'll hear a lot of expressions about soul sleep and what is death, and it's very unclear many of these things. But you know what it says here is that the bodies of the Saints had slept when we put one to rest, as Brother Barry was recently laid to rest. His body is asleep, but he is in a conscious, present enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ now.
His body's asleep. Scripture never speaks about the sleep of the soul.
The body was put to sleep. And so here we have a little picture here in connection with this that we have in the 23rd of Leviticus, and we might just turn to it to just amplify this picture.
Because let's just turn to it in Leviticus 23.
Now there's divisions in this chapter here, and you'll notice that the divisions are marked by and the Lord spake unto Moses saying, just make a little comment about this and Leviticus 23 you have the seven feasts of the Lord.
I just make this little outline to encourage the young people to look into some of these things. And the word of God. God gives us little outlines of things to help us to sort of flush them out. You know, you go into school and they give you an outline of the course. You open up a textbook and there's a table of contents at the front. And God's given us little outlines of things. And in the you open up the word of God. And our brother Ewell was speaking about the first Adam, and the last Adam is in the first chapter of the book. You get a little outline.
00:25:12
Of this creation from the very beginning to the very end. And so you have that given to us an outline form in the seven days of creation.
And so as far as this creation is concerned, this present creation in which we're living.
We see how it all ends with God entering into his rest, the beast of the field coming to the man.
Picture of the Lord Jesus Christ there and in subjection to him, and God entering into his wrath when you get the Feast of Jehovah in the 23rd of Leviticus.
You get the history of Israel from the beginning, from the Passover right to the very end, the Feast of Booths, when they're all dwelling.
In the Feast of Tabernacles, when they're all dwelling in their own booths and there's peace on this earth.
You also get two other sevens in the scripture. I'll just mention this quickly. In the book of Matthew 13, when the Kingdom of heaven was established, he was rejected by his own and he went back into heaven to receive for himself a Kingdom. That he gives us a little outline of this situation, the Kingdom of heaven here, a place of responsible testimony here on the earth, and He gives us a history of it from the beginning of the to the end in the seven parables of the Kingdom of heaven.
In Matthew chapter 13, and so we get a little outline of that. And then when you get the church as a responsible thing in the Book of Revelation, John gives us a little outline. The Spirit of God, the Lord gives to John a little outline of the history of the church from the beginning to the end in the seven churches. It's good to get these outlines. Paul desired that Timothy would have an outline of sound words.
Well, I don't want to depart too much from what's on my heart when I say that, but just encourage you to look on these things to get an outline of things. And then you can fill in the pieces as you go if you get an outline of sound words. But here in this 23rd of Leviticus, I just want to take.
This particular division at the beginning we have to the Feast of Unleavened bread, Bread and the Passover.
And this really spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was that unleavened bread leaven speaks of evil working.
But He was that pure one, and the Passover which speaks of Christ in His death for us. But what particularly was on my heart is in ninth verse here. Was that the moral after the Passover? That was on what we call the Lord's day, or the first day of the week.
That something happened, Let's just read that. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, when you be coming to the land.
I give you, and you shall reap the harvest thereof. You shall bring a sheath of the first fruits of your harvest unto the priest, and he shall wave the sheep before the Lord to be accepted for you. On the Morrow after the Sabbath, the priest shall wave it, and ye shall offer it that day when you wave the sheep and he lamb without blemish of the first year for a burnt offering under the Lord.
Well, you can see the picture here. The Lord died on the Passover. He was put in the grave and our guest and our resurrection is exactly like the Lord Jesus. When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, he said, Father into thy hands I commend my spirit.
He dismissed his spirit and he was absent from the body and present with the Lord. His body was laid in a grave. Now a man came to my office years ago and I was teaching and he spoke about the Lord going into hell and so on. And there's these thoughts, even an evangelical Christian. And no, the body, the Lord's body was laid in a grave, but he was absent from the body and present with the Lord. That thief they laid at the malefactor that confessed the Lord as his Savior. He said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise. His body was laid, laid in the grave.
And he?
In spirit went to be with the Lord.
And so I believe he was the first one that knew that he was going to be with the father.
And where he was going to be clearly when He died. But here we have now on the feast of the first fruits, this grain, now not the grain of wheat had fallen into the ground and died, so to speak, in picture on the Passover. But now they take a sheaf of grain, and they wave it before the Lord, Because, as we read in Matthew, He died alone, but He did not rise alone when He arose. The bodies of the Saints that slept, many bodies of Saints had slept, arose and walked about in Jerusalem.
And was a token of what is going to happen, just as somebody might farm a great field and go out into the field and say come back.
00:30:03
At the time he thinks it's ready for the harvest and bring a sample in and say to his wife, he says, I think this is ready for harvest. And it's a wonderful thing to realize that that corn of wheat fell into the ground and died, that he might not abide alone and that each grain that came up is a partaker of the life and nature of that seed that went into the ground and died. The simplest believer that was saved yesterday has the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's just turn to a verse in Colossians in connection with that.
I think these things are so important.
Verse three of Colossians chapter 3.
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ and God. When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
So we now possess the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And in resurrection, we are in the rapture. We're going to see that there. We're going to possess bodies just like the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a token of that in the Lord's resurrection. I don't believe that those that rose in Matthew 27 and walked about in Jerusalem, they had to roll away the stone like with Lazarus, that they rose.
Out of the graves and they walked about as a token of that harvest. Just like the farmer comes in and says to his wife, this grain is ready for the harvest.
And that's what we're going to have. We're going to have not only lives like the Lord, a life.
Be partakers of the life and nature of the Lord Jesus as we are now. But we're going to have bodies like the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to look at that. But this was to be waived before the Lord because he died, but he wasn't going to be alone. And this ought to rejoice our hearts. It's a wonderful thing because it encompasses everyone that you ever met and met somebody in the bus depot or at the gas station. You gave them a track and they smile and they said, oh, I know the Lord Jesus Christ is my Savior. You hear a story about somebody, you read up a book, and maybe you never meet them again in this team, but you know.
That they're part of that fruit of the Lord Jesus Christ and falling into the ground and dying, and we're going to see them again in glory, and He shall. We often think of what it means to us that the Lord Jesus Christ died, but what does it mean to his heart? He shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied.
Do you ever think of that? What a wonderful thing it is to going to be in heaven and to see all these ones that you've heard about, that you've seen that you've met, and to realize you're going to be with them there in the glory for the Lord. This was a thing on the day of resurrection. This was waived before the Lord.
And so with it the IT was with the and I obviously don't have perhaps the the ability or the time to develop all of this, but it was on he lamb without blemish. The first year for a burnt offering under the Lord, as we realize with that there was to realize the cost of that it was the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not so much the aspect of a sin offering here, but a burnt offering that he died that he might not abide alone.
And so this was raised to the Lord.
And now we come down to the 15th 1St, which is still part of this section that starts at the ninth verse. And he says, And ye shall count unto the Morrow after the Sabbath, from the day that she brought the sheep of the wave offering seventh Sabbath shall be complete, even under the moral. After the 7th Sabbath she shall #50 days. And ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the Lord. And ye shall bring out of your habitations 2 wavelengths of 2/10 steals, and they shall be a fine flower, and they shall be bacon with leaven, and they are the first fruits unto the Lord.
And you shall offer the bread with the bread, 7 lambs without blemish of the first year, one young Bullock and two Rams. And they shall be a burnt offering unto the Lord, with their meat offering and their drink offering, even an offering made by fire, a sweet savour unto the Lord.
Well here now we have this 210 steals a week that we're way before the Lord now fifty days later on the day of Pentecost, 2 loaves were waived before the Lord. Now we have something about the thought of an inn gathering because you see, he died that he might gather together and won the children of God that are scattered abroad, and we should never lose sight of that.
We should never lose sight of that. We may rejoice in the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins. And I say many believers don't go beyond the thought that to get their souls out of hell. But what was his purpose? What was he looking for? He died that he might gather together and won the children of God that are scattered abroad. And so these two wave loads. They now spoke of an ingathering. There was leaven in them because they were there was skin connected with it, but it had been through the fire. And so he made him to be sin. He who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. But there was an ingathering.
00:35:20
And that was seen there at Pentecost, an abundant testimony of those gathered in that the Lord Jesus who died alone, his disciples forsook him and fled, that they're at Pentecost was that great company that were there and partakers of the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our brother Ewell said that about Saul of Tarsus, his conscience being pricked. And I have no doubt of it, looking at Stephen because he saw a man.
But I also believe there was Saul of Tarsus, and had pricked him in his conscience. And he said, what was the thing outwardly concerning the law? He was blameless. But what was it that pricked it that was working the commandment that slew him? Thou shalt not covet. And here he sought his great company there at Pentecost, and they had all things in common, the exact opposite of covetousness. They were sharing everything. And he saw that, and what he desired, what the law could not give him, but could only condemn him, for he could see that what Christ had produced in this great company of people.
And it aggravated his conscience, I believe. And so he decided to try to stamp out this testimony. But there was a testimony there. But now we see something as we go on here, we see that there's a further revelation given to us by Paul. And let's just turn to 1St Corinthians chapter 10.
I realize this is quite an incomplete development of these things, but.
Just look at 1St Corinthians 10.
I think most know, but I just repeat this for the younger ones. In First Corinthians 10 we have the Lord's Table and in First Corinthians 11 we have the Lord's Supper.
And the Lord's Supper is intended to be and at the Lord's table.
And we have the Lord's Table mentioned, but there's something unusual about this, and I just point this out that has been pointed out to us a number of times. In verse 16, the cup is mentioned first, the cup of blessing which we bless. Is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, the bread which we break? Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread.
Now.
Why does it mention the cup first?
The cup of blessing which we bless because our right entitled to be at the Lords Table is that we're washed in the blood of Christ, as opposed to Judaism which was an outward thing. We have. A different thing here now is that only those that are washed in the blood of the Lamb have right and title to be at that table.
But the bread which we break is not the communion of the body of Christ. Because you see, we see two things in that body. We see that in the 1St Corinthians 11. We see this is my body, which is broken for you. But we also see that He formed a body, a corporate testimony for weeping. Many are one bred, for we are all partakers of that one loaf.
That one bread for all partakers of that one bread. I just say this, that it is in partaking of the bread that we give expression to the truth that we're members of the one body of Christ.
We are at Pentecost a wonderful thing happened. The Spirit of God came down and made of many members one body.
And the Lord has a body here on this earth, and it's made of living members here on this earth.
Now I don't have the same living members now as when I was born. Some of my living members, I don't have the same fingernails and the same skin as I did when I was born, but I have the same body. And so there are living members that have gone on, but there is a living body here on this earth. But how do I give expression to that truth? We come to this wonderful thing called the church and the Lord's table, because the church, though the body, is made-up of every living member here on this earth. We have something now called the church, a place where we can give expression to that. And I say I point this out that it is not simply in the one unbroken loaf that we see, there's one body.
That's true, but we give expression to that truth by being partaking of that loaf.
It's by partaking of that loaf we give expression to the truth that we're members of the body of Christ. That's what we see very clearly here.
We were baptized by 1 Spirit into one body there, because He took many members and he formed one body, a living thing. If one member suffer, all suffer. My grandmother's with the Lord. She's not suffering now, but when we read, as we heard the other night in the prayer meeting, there are many suffering Saints, and we suffer with them, as was said, because we're living members of that body here in the earth. But we have the possibility of giving expression to that truth now by being at the Lord's table and remembering the Lord Jesus Christ and His death.
00:40:25
And so we have what is called the Church.
And the church. I just would like to say this in scripture.
Is not an invisible thing.
We've often heard this expression in prison and it talks about the invisible church or the church invisible. And I believe it's a very mischievous statement of the devil to talk about the church as being an invisible thing. It is not an invisible thing. This is not an invisible company. Two or three people gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is not an invisible thing. It's a called out company. And so that is what the church is. We see in the Word of God and it was a local thing.
Because in scripture it speaks about the church at Corinth. We read about the church at.
At Rome we read about the church at Laodicea, the church at Colossians, so on. We read about the churches in Galatians and Syria and Celestia and so on, because those were regions. You could talk about the assemblies in Iowa, but scripturally speaking we can only talk about the assembly in Pleasant Hill.
Because there's a local expression to the truth of this thing, and the very character of Scripture points that out. Because an epistle was written to the Corinthians, An epistle was written to the Ephesians. The condition of the assembly of Corinth was not the same as that at Ephesus. Ephesus was not far from Colossi, I believe, but it wasn't the same condition in Colossians, Ephesus. But they were members of the same body. But they were local expressions of that, and each had.
A local, responsible testimony is to that. But as members of the body of Christ, how do I give expression to that fact? It's by identifying myself with that local expression of the and I am a living member of that.
And so I don't cease to be a living member of the body of Christ. But if I'm not with the assembly, when the assembly, when the whole church comes together, I'm not giving expression to that truth.
And so this becomes a practical side of things is that I find myself when the assembly comes together, it says when the whole church become together. Are you there now? You know, I live in a city where there's two assembly plants. And I think it was helpful to me as I thought of that. I drove by there and then one, they make 1300 cars a day and they take, they assemble cars, they take parts and they assemble cars. Now cars aren't living bodies, but we can see the illustration is that they assemble parts.
And the assembly is individual members being brought together in a practical way to give expression to something.
But you drive down the road and you see a hubcap by the side of the road and you say.
Is that hubcap part of the car? Yes, it is. What is where it belongs? No.
And so.
You see somebody you know, sometimes you see parts to cars lying by the side of the road, taken off, taken out, and you say, well, they're part of the car, but they're not where they should be.
And so we see that there's a functioning thing called the assembly that we should identify ourselves with and that we're a part of. There is a living body here in the earth, and it's composed of every believer. But we see here in Scripture that there is a place at Corinth. That expression was given to that wonderful truth.
I just like to look a little bit further.
This in Second Corinthians chapter 5 in connection with our bodies because it brings in.
And I realize I'm.
Really taking up things in a rather vast way, but sometimes it helps to get a rather broad picture rather than a narrow picture of things in connection with our bodies.
Because the body has to do with sanctification. Because if we're partakers of the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ, how do I give expression?
If I may put it that way, to the life and nature that I have, but through my body.
What comes out of my mouth?
What I do with my hands, what I do with my feet, that's how I give expression to the life and nature of what I have. And so you think perhaps this chapter may help because we're going to see what is going to happen.
00:45:15
At the resurrection.
First Second Corinthians chapter 5 For we know that if our earthly house, that is this Tabernacle, we're dissolved, we have a building, a house not made with hands eternal in the heaven.
Where we've grown earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven, If so being clothed that we shall not be found naked.
For we that are in this Tabernacle grown, being burdened, not that we should be unclothed, but clothed upon that mortality might be swallowed up in life.
Now he that wrought for us the self same thing as God, who have given us unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
Therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, rather willing to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
Wherefore we labor that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him, where we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according.
To that he hath done, whether it be good or bad. Knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, and are made manifest unto God. And I trust also that are made manifest in your consciences.
And you say, well, why did you read this at this point? Because there's two points. Here is one.
Is we realize that when dyes are absent from the body and present with the Lord, we see that with the Lord Himself, we see that with the malefactor.
We see that there's a separation. Death is a separation between the body and the spirit. And we realize what we've grown to be is to have our Tabernacle, a body like the Lord's. Because one day we are going to be not just have the life and nature of the Lord, but we're going to have a body just like the Lord is a man. We're not going to have a different life and nature in heaven than we have right now. We're going to have different bodies, and that's what we've grown for. But now what we labor for is that we'd be found acceptable of Him.
And that is what we do with these bodies. That is what we do with these bodies.
And so the use that we make of these bodies.
And that is really what?
The pathway of the Christian is here is that we now we've grown with these bodies having the life and nature of the Lord Jesus Christ. We wait for the day when we're going to be with him and like him in our bodies and we're going to be free from every hindrance in a practical way, but that's what sanctification is in a practical way is that we live what we are. Christianity has become a great religion in the world has become a great religion of do to get but it's a wonderful thing to realize that when.
The Lord Jesus Christ, that was the carnival. He fell and was falling into the ground and died. That he might not abide alone, but that he might bear much fruit is that he came up. And so if any man is in Christ, it is a new creation. We are, we're a new creation. We have a different life and a different nature when we're in Christ. The day that we got saved.
And what we await now is to have body just like the Lord Jesus Christ. That's going to happen.
At the resurrection, the sleeping Saints whose body are in the grave.
That are absent from the body now and present with the Lord. They're going to rise. First we get that in Thessalonians and then we which are alive and remain, we're going to be changed and we're going to be like the Lord, but in a practical way.
The Lord would have us, and that's why he says here He brings the practical exhortation into connection with this, that we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. And here he's Speaking of the general principle, whether saved or lost, every man is going to have a give an account of himself for what he has done in the body.
And so perhaps there's one who said I was listening to tape. Our brother Clarence London, a young man, said after gospel meeting. He came up and he said.
I've made my decision and they said we're so happy, said you don't understand, he said. I've decided to live a life of sin for a year and go to hell.
And that young man died.
He did what he said he was going to do. A very, very solemn, sad thing. That rich man who lifted up his eyes in hell, he's still in hell.
And he's in a place where he cannot give expression to his lusts and his bodily desires. He would desire to even have a drop of water put on his tongue, but he couldn't. There was no repentance with him. He couldn't. And so if there's anyone here who's not saved, it's that knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. It's an awful thing to think about. And for those of us who are believers too, we realize that there's a general principle that Paul brings in here. We must all give account of ourselves.
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With what we do and so I realize I kind of scanned a great number of things, but.
It's in this, in this practical way that we see this, that it will help us, I believe to to walk for the Lord in this scene.
Well, I just trust the Lord would help us with these thoughts.
Could we just read?
2 verses, both of them in second Samuel.
There isn't time to develop the history of these two men, but I think the brief comments will make it clear.
Second Samuel 17 for the first one.
And verse 23.
Second Samuel 17 and verse 23.
And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed.
He saddled his *** and arose and got him home to his house, to his city.
And put his household in order. And hanged himself. And died, and was buried in the sepulchre of his father.
We might well question why a hefty fell came to this end.
We don't have time to refer to the verses, but if you look back, you find out that the council of Ahithophel, because he was David's counselor.
Was as if one had inquired at the oracles of God.
And yet when Absalom came along and wanted to usurp the throne from David.
We find that it seems to be a very simple matter for Absalom to send for a HIPAA fell from his city and a HIPAA fell, it seems, was ready and waiting to be called upon and he comes to Absalom.
And he gives them counsel about how to deal with the situation.
And it obviously was good counsel.
And the HIPAA fell was so forward.
That at the beginning of this 17th chapter, he wants to take an army and lead it in person.
And.
Go and get David and kill him and bring all Israel under Absalom's control.
Why?
Why you say? What got into a heterophile to want to do that?
But if you read the history carefully, you find there's a very solemn and it seems on the human level, a good reason for it.
He was the grandfather of Bathsheba.
And he was likely one of the few that knew the inside story. And you can only imagine if I may use those words without going beyond scripture.
The anger.
The betrayal.
The emotions that must have welled up in his soul.
What happened? Did he have a righteous reason to be angry? Indeed he did. Did he have a righteous reason to feel that David had forfeited every right to sit on the throne of Israel? Humanly speaking, he did.
But he didn't have the mind of God.
And so God orders a Hushai to defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel. And when Ahithophel sees that his counsel isn't followed, he knows very well that it's all going to fail as far as Absalom is concerned.
And he goes and hangs himself, and a man whose counsel was that of the oracles of God.
Is lost.
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Now turn over to the 23rd chapter of Second Samuel.
And the catalog of David's mighty men.
Give me a moment here to.
Find the verse.
See it here right away. Just a moment.
Yes, the 34th verse.
The last clause of the verse.
Helium, the son of Ahithophel Gilani.
Here is an even closer relationship.
He was the father of Bathsheba.
He likewise must have known the inside story about what went on.
Can you imagine the thoughts and feelings of him as a father?
When he saw what David had done and probably was one of the few that knew what happened.
But he's found in the catalogue of David's mighty man Why? Oh, because may I suggest that his thoughts and feelings rose beyond.
That personal difficulty in his family, that awful crime that had been committed by God's rightful King and his beautiful daughter and his son-in-law, the objects of it all.
And the cover up?
The killing of Uriah the Hittite. He must have known all about it.
But he's found in the catalogue of David's mighty men.
And you say, Bill, why are you reading all that?
I just say this that in these last days.
You and I may see things that are wrong.
And we may be perhaps justly upset about them.
But I've asked my own soul how am I going to react?
Am I going to react like an Ahithophel or am I going to react like an Elyse?
Ahithophel seemed to have every good reason from the human side to say what he said and to do what he did.
But did God have the situation in control?
A Hefa Fell's vision was like what Brother Bob said this morning.
He had a narrow vision of something that affected his own soul and his own family, no doubt so severely that he could see only one way to deal with it, not realizing that God had the whole situation under control and was going to look after it. As far as David was concerned, was there a government of God? Indeed there was. Was God going to look after it? Indeed he was.
But it wasn't God's mind that David be removed from the throne.
And so I hit the fellow, missed a chance, missed an opportunity.
But otherwise could have been his to continue in David's service and to be found faithful to the end.
But Helium, it seems, didn't fall into that same trap, although he perhaps had an even closer.
Relationship and even more perhaps, reason to.
Be thoroughly devastated by what had happened. And perhaps he was.
But it seems that he reacts in the right way, and he's found here, listed at the end.
Of those that were faithful to David.
Again, I challenge my own heart more than any other. As I challenge each one of us. How do we react to the serious problems and difficulties that the Lord may allow? Do I react like in a HIPAA or do I react like an alien?
LV98 And here thy heaven, their voice.
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Present grace well may our hearts rejoice.
270.