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280-8288.
God and loving Father, we thank Thee again for the lines of this precious hymn. And we thank Thee too for the ministry of Thy precious word that has enlightened us and given us assurance caused our hearts to be bowed in Thy presence. Oh blessed Savior, we think of these things as we meditate upon Thy person. And thank Thee for the truth that have been has been presented to us.
We look to Thee now for the about the meetings to follow. We ask Thy guidance and direction as we would read portions of Thy word. We pray too, that our hearts may be prepared to take in what Thou has to say to us. Rather than bringing our thoughts to the Word, we pray that we may together Thy thoughts toward us and to be refreshed and built up with a desire to please the blessed Lord Jesus. So we think of these things as we commit the next few moments to Thee for the for Thy blessing and guidance.
We thank you again for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit of God to make these things good to us. And we just pray that we may adhere to these things, that we may bow to them. That we may make Christ our object rather than Self, rather than having to just to know the Savior, but to know Thee as Lord, the one who has authority in our so we ask for blessing now as we commit the time to Thee in Thy precious and in Thy worthy name. Amen.
Chapter 2.
First Corinthians chapter 2.
And I, brethren, when I came to you, came out with Excellency of speech or wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
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That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Albeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect, yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to know, but we speak the wisdom of God, and a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory, which none of the Princess of this world knew. For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. But as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard.
Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit. For the Spirit searcheth all things, yeah, the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even saw the things of God, knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received not the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak not in the words? Which man's wisdom teacher, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him. Neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual judges all things that he himself is judged of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ?
Some people.
Use these first verses as if it is wrong if one has the ability to speak eloquently.
That he should not use that ability.
Paul does not here suggest that that would be wrong.
But when he was among the Christians, Christians in Corinth.
This was the direction received by him from the Spirit to speak in this way, because they made too much.
Of man's wisdom and eloquence and this kind of a thing. We know that a palace was an eloquent preacher, and he was not discouraged to in that way speak.
But he needed to learn the way more perfectly, and it was taken in by a coolant Priscilla and they taught him to understand the truth more perfectly. But he was a very gifted speaker, so there's nothing wrong if one has the ability to speak intelligently, clearly, with eloquence.
To use that, but of course there is the danger that we make too much.
Of that kind of an ability. You know, sometimes I'm afraid that we say, well, in the camp there are real gifted men and there are gifted men there. But I'm afraid sometimes we confuse gift with eloquence just because somebody can.
Eloquently present a subject that does not necessarily mean that he has a real gift as a teacher.
But Paul was directed by the Spirit of God to speak the way he did so that their faith would not rest in man's wisdom. I think that's the way to be understood that way, right? Yes. And in the second verse he says, I determined not to know anything among you.
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Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. They needed to have Christ before them as their object.
They were saying I am of Paul, I am of Apollo, I am a Cephas. They had man before them.
And they needed to have Christ set before them, and Christ crucified, which brings in, as we had this morning, the end of the first match, the end of the man after the flesh. And they were, they were Colonel. He says that in the third chapter he couldn't speak to them as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. And so they needed to be delivered from making much of man.
No matter how gifted the man may be and have Christ before them. And then the cross needed to be pressed. Because that's what brings nothing. That's what brings us to nothing, isn't it?
And that really is presents one difficulty of our bearing witness to the truth, as we sometimes refer to it as the outside place, But it's simply being gathered the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We do not.
Give place to the first man. We do not ask a well trained soloist to entertain the Saints or to use that quote talent in the assembly. And so when we make no place for the first man has been gathered simply to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Their theological training is of no value, and there are various other natural abilities, their instrumental ability to play, and so forth.
Gives no place for the first man and therefore it is not an attractive place to those who sometimes quote, would like to use my talent for God. Well, we come to the assembly and the only man to be exalted in the assembly is the second man, the last Adam. And we can tell something as to the truth of everything that is ministered as to which man does it exalt. That's the task to put and the Corinthians root problem was confidence in the first man.
And so that is Christ crucified, presented to them not in the Excellency of speech, if we look at some of the.
Addresses of the Apostle in the Acts. We would have to say that he could be indeed an eloquent speaker, but not among those who made a great deal of the first man.
Very precious to see here too. Just dropping back to verse.
20 The previous chapter. 30 But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God has made us, made unto us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, redemption.
He begins his second chapter by saying, And I, brethren, came when I came to you, I came not with Excellency of speech he wasn't.
Conjuring up things. He wasn't directing up certain speeches to give them these truths, but it was a fact. He was declaring the testimony of God, and the very next verse says what the test? What was the testimony of God?
The crucifixion, as it says Jesus Christ and Him crucified, I determined not to know anything among you.
Save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. That's where the marvelous testimony that Paul gave.
Because God had brought him into this place of nearness and blessings.
The Apostle had had an experience no one else had ever had, and he does not say anything about it in the first epistle.
14 years later he mentions it to the Corinthians. Second Corinthians 12 He says. I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago.
Whether in the body or I cannot tell. Whether out of the body I cannot tell God knoweth.
Such in one caught up to the 3rd heaven and he saw and heard wonderful things. He could have presented that to them, that would have dazzled them, that would have really impressed them that he'd been there. But he doesn't do that, doesn't do that at all. Not until their state required it. And that was many years later. Didn't say a word about his experience until it was necessary. And then after he says it in that.
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12Th chapter He says I have become a fool in glorying ye have compelled me. He didn't want to. He didn't want to speak of himself in any way.
A spiritual man never wants to speak of himself. Those that promote themselves are not spiritual, They're fleshly and they're carnal, and he was anything but carnal. He was a spiritual man, but he did it because they needed certain truths that.
We're connected with that, and that's why, about the way he went to them. He came with just an ordinary man and spoke to them not in any way as to tickle their desire after something great and something that would impress man after the flesh. He didn't do that.
So he knew their natural weakness in spite of conducting himself, as he describes here is still fell for it, you know, because that's why he's writing this epistle now. But he's reminding them from the very beginning. I did not in any way want you to be occupied with men and men's ability, but they had fallen into it anyway, so.
I trust the Lord would help us to have more discernment in dealing with souls. It's amazing how Paul was given a spiritual insight into their weaknesses before they really came into Christian blessing. But in spite of being careful, they fell for it. They still got a got the best of them, you might say.
Doesn't that say then, Brother Hines that?
In ministering the word, it isn't just knowing truth.
But it's to have ones. To be in communion with the Lord in such a way that we let him tell us how and what to bring forth. I think that's important, isn't it? And according to the state existing and that might differ from one assembly to the other. And it's only the Lord that can give that discernment. It's not any human intuition or anything.
We spend money, we just have to rely on him.
Many of you will recognize the statement.
Mr. Darby made his grapple with souls. Where you find them, that is what has been said.
To discern the state of the individual and minister to them in words that are relevant to them and in terms that they can understand. We had at a conference a number of years ago and second Peter one, where it's where it was told us that we should in our knowledge have temperance. That is, we do not have to tell an individual with whom we're dealing everything we know. We have to use self-control to be able to discern what is the need of that soul and seek to meet it in the grace of God.
That our grace should all our speech should always be with grace. That it might bring edification. So if we're speaking in terms that souls don't comprehend well, we're not building them up, we're not helping them along the way.
Paul was quite intimidated at Corinth, and so on the third verse he said I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling, And when Timothy came, he sent Timothy there, and he had to tell the Corinthians in the last chapter see that he be with you without fear.
The ground of ministry, he quotes from the 116th Psalm. I believe, therefore I've spoken. I was greatly afflicted.
And so we hear things in the assembly that the assembly, which is a pillar in support of the truth that you will not hear in the world. And I think the young people understand this more and more, that there's political correctness in the world. They say you can't say this and you can't say that. And there's sort of a social censorship about speaking the plain truth, and that can even creep into the assembly according to man's wisdom. But if God has said something, if God says that, that settles it. And we we ought to believe it.
And so.
Paul spoke plainly. I remember a brother standing up at a conference, an aged brother who we know and he just spoke on, I believe on a sister's place. And he said his knees were just shaking. And because there was real opposition to that truth, and I believe that we need to realize that in the assembly. Well, this was the condition of things at Corinth. If somebody had come and tickled their ears has been said, they would have been gladly received. And so he deals with that a little bit more in the second epistle, that condition of things.
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It's good to realize that it's a testimony of God that we bear. I'm going to give you a statement that was given me by God, a young woman.
Says it is an incorruptible seed that we sow.
And it may lie dormant, sometimes for years, until God is pleased to water it and cause it to spring up into eternal life.
So we have here the testimony of God, and that's what we bear.
What we have here, excuse me, don't we have here to the attitude and the which in which we present the truth of God?
And Paul's attitude was such, wasn't it? He was a he was ordered of God. He was he was told that he was going to suffer many things for for the Lord's name. And here were these Corinthians with their knowledge they became they were behind in no gift as we find in the first chapter. But there was an attitude there, and I just think of that as we read these verses. And I was with you in weakness.
Well, you say we He's pretty weak. He's feeble, but he had something to present. He was presenting the truth of God, and it's it's weak. He was in fear.
And he was in much trembling.
And.
His speech was, and my preaching was not, in the enticing words of men. That is, he didn't come with a lot of big words that nobody knew about. He presented the truth of God in a very simple way and in much fear and trembling. And isn't that true, that when we come, we meet up with those that we realize that they fear God in some way?
And they present the truth to us. We find that it's we can receive it because we see the very attitude that they speak of God's principles are different than man's. And so with this the dear apostle, he was there in weakness, in fear and trembling, and yet he presented the most glorious truth that any man could ever hear, or anyone could ever hear.
Precious, isn't it?
When the Lord was sent to Herod.
He wanted to see some miracle. Of course, the Lord did not entertain him with a miracle.
He didn't give him what he was looking for, and neither did Paul entertain the Corinthians with the kind of thing that would have impressed them naturally speaking.
One of the sergeants in the jail where we go on Sunday night had his Bible on his desk one night, and I engaged him in conversation. And yes, he said I'm in certain, certain Bible school and I'm taking a course in persuasive preaching.
Well, Paul's preaching was not of that character. Well, not with persuasive words or enticing words. You don't go to school to learn to teach the truth of God. You learn it, you ingest it, you digest it and you give it up. I was meditating this afternoon on that verse in John 9, John 7. Excuse me that if any man thirst, let him come to me and drink, and out of his belly she'll fall Rivers of living water.
We ingest the word, and then we have that with which the Spirit of God can use.
To speak the truth to those with whom we come in contact, not with persuasive words, but in the power of the Spirit of God.
So then we don't take.
What we've been saying, but we ought to just say it again that we don't have little canned sermons that we take around from assembly to assembly, do we?
I've I've heard that accusation sometimes, and I'm always amazed at it because I I think of how.
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Important it is to get before the Lord in each circumstances to what the?
Particular need of that particular group of people is and if you have a canned sermon, that isn't going to do it, is it? But **** wouldn't that be more?
A prophet, he would discern the state of the Saints and give what was needed for the teacher as he goes around. I I heard of some brothers that that were traversing making a circuit and everywhere they went they taught the same truths. They taught the same thing. I don't call that a canned sermon.
In other words, they were teaching and they felt the Saints need to be established in this line of truth. So that's a teacher might might do the teach the same thing from place to place, but a prophet, he would try to discern the state of the Saints and give ministry accordingly.
So I think both are in order, Depends on whether what the gift of the person is. I felt that Rotoland Dean had a tremendous gift as the voice of a prophet. You know, many times when he ministered in open meetings, I felt that very much and he certainly was a capable teacher as well. So a brother might be a teacher. He might also have the ability to reach the conscience. You know, someone has said that the teacher.
Addresses himself to the intelligence of the believer, while the shepherd addresses the heart and the prophet addresses the conscience. And that's the least kind or that ministry is the least appreciated amongst the Saints of God. We always want to have something that warms our heart.
But that might not necessarily be what the Lord wants us to hear. So let's not despise prophesied. Scripture warns against that. There is very much need of that kind of ministry among us, especially since the world has come into such a large extent and we have to be humbled by the condition that manifests itself the prophet. The voice of the Prophet is needed.
And that is the present aspect of prophecies, not giving new revelations, but applying what has been previously revealed and applying it to the heart and conscience. That was the ministry of the prophets in the Old Testament, that they were trying to use the word of God to restore God's people to a spiritual state.
The term pastors and teachers is grouped together in Ephesians 4, isn't it? And a pastor would would seek to to see what the state of soul is of the individual. And so that gift is brought together in Ephesians chapter 4. And it seems to me that it's good for those that are teachers to to seek to determine the state of soul in the presentation of the truth.
And I feel that in our assembly meetings, in the Bible readings, that that it's not just truth, it's not just doctrine that we want to present, but to to be humbly before the Lord. We have in our in our meeting in Pine Grove, we have the the prayer meeting before the Bible reading. And I'm very thankful for that because.
It's very much in prayer before the Bible reading.
That we would, that the Lord would give us something during the reading meeting, and you may take up the same chapter two different nights in the Lord, to give different thoughts in connection with them. And so those who take part in the meeting are very important. It is that that we we seek to to discern what the mind of the Lord is for the that the Saints of God may be fed in the meeting.
Because it's the desire of the Lord that the Saints be built up, isn't it?
I put that in a very practical way, Peter says in First Peter and Second Peter, chapter One, verse 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though you know them, and be established in the present truth. We can't go home and bone up on a particular portion in Scripture with all the written ministry that we can find on it, come to meeting and spit it back out, and expect that the Saints will be edified.
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We're going to find perhaps that that ministry even chase a little bit. There needs to be a application of the truth, that it be present truth.
Hopefully there will be those in the assembly that will teach. Not necessarily the same person, be a teacher and a shepherd, but that there will be those who teach and those who will shepherd. Those are the two gifts.
That are so important in the assembly and the oversight in the assembly Shepherd Care is connected with that.
We find that in First Peter Five. We find it in Acts chapter 20. So.
It is not always easy to be a Good Shepherd, because the Shepherd and the Overseer is concerned about the spiritual well-being of the Saints and if they.
Are in danger and if they're not going on right for the Lord, their responsibilities try to help them and that is not always appreciated. Sometimes the very people that they try to help turn against them, You know, we have had that again and again happen amongst the Saints, but how wonderful.
We and we can probably go on here.
We wisdom among them.
That are perfect. Now how do we understand that?
Does it mean that the Saints will get into a state, hopefully of sinless perfection?
No, I don't think that that is what it's meant.
Yeah, I think somebody quoted that verse in Philippians. As many as are perfect. Let us be thus minded. That is spiritual maturity and growth. Earlier in that third chapter of Philippians, Paul himself said that he was not yet perfect, That means brought into full conformity to Christ.
That will only be reached when we get to be with him and like him. But there is the possibility that you can mature spiritually and we find that also in Hebrews. Let us go on to perfection, full growth. I hope we will grow and reach spiritual maturity. You know when you look at these little kids and if they would never grow, the parents would be very much distressed.
But what about spiritual growth? You know, unfortunately, sometimes older people are babysitting Christ even after they're saved for a longer period of time. That's not normal. That's not what the Lord expects. He expects that we grow and mature spiritually, and to those that are mature, they can't may have put a death rate stomach.
Harder food to be digested.
You know, they don't have to be spoon fed, they don't have to have milk, You know, they can have solid food.
The reason here we find, don't we, that the Apostle presented this truth as he did.
Just dropping back to a couple verses here. He speaks about his speech and his preaching and so on, and then he says at the end of that. It says that at the end of that verse, but that.
But the in demonstration of the spirit and power.
Demonstration. That's example, isn't it? That's demonstrated in his very attitude, in how he preached and how he spoke. And it's very beautiful to think of that. It's in a demonstration of the Spirit and power. Now notice verse five, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men.
You know, we meet a lot of people that are very wise people. I've heard some preachers that are very have a lot of wisdom. But when you get through, you hear them, you say, now what did they say? What did they say?
They didn't make the point. They did a lot of talking. They didn't make the point. But I just had lovely Here, it says that your face should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. And in my early days, I remember we asked.
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Questions of some of these ministers and we get together afterward.
And say that did not sound like the Lord. They told us a lot of things but it didn't sound right. And I thought of those verses in First First John, where the Spirit will give us an unction from the Holy One and we'll we'll know these things. We were pretty pretty well green in these things. We didn't know them and we asked these questions and they talked us a lot, give us a lot of talk. But in the end we said what did they say?
We don't understand this and I think it's very beautiful to see how the apostles to these Corinthians here were knowledgeable and and always looking for something new That your faith should stand, should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. There's where the truth really is gets in.
Argan says not be in the wisdom of men, and that's Mr. Darby's translation also, and it is very important.
And we certainly do not decry where blessing takes place, regardless of whatever means God uses.
To bring souls to himself. But when an individual comes into peace with God and circumstances that are.
Brought about by theological discourse and by entertainment methods. Their faith, then, is in that frame of mind. They see nothing wrong with the entertainment. They see nothing wrong with the school of theology. Their faith is in that mode. Well, that's not the way it's presented here. The power of God and the Spirit of God does not give that first man the place. What is the power of God?
You look at Samson and they looked at him, and I think if you imagine him in a Sunday school book or a picture shown as a big, strong man, but they looked at him and they wondered where in lay his strength. They don't believe he was visibly stronger than anywhere one else. But he had long hair. And perhaps it's a puzzling thing to us, but long hair is a womanly thing and what is characteristic of a woman is submission and weakness and and so and so we'll hear what, but it's submission and it's something that the world doesn't know anything about.
And that is the power of the believer. We had heard about the unity of the spirit, and you know, there's unity, there's a war. And immediately they send out their ambassadors all over the world to get together, a coalition and so on. And that's the world's idea of unity, to go through Europe and all these borders they fought over. They're gone now, like abandoned gas stations, and they've got union, but they don't have unity. But in the assembly, we have the unity of the Spirit. Because why? Because there's a simple desire with a pure heart to submit to the word of God.
And it's something the world knows nothing about. Her brother, John Gorgas, had a very opportune time sent out that tape.
Submission, God's healing principle. And I gave it to a brother and he said, you know, I've been to a lot of churches and he said my wife and I remarked about something, she said.
Why is it that what is so central to Christianity we have never heard taught anywhere?
And so that's the power of Christianity. That is what the unity of the Spirit is. That's what produces it between you and me, is when we submit to this blessed it's not forming A coalition or fabricating something the way that's man's wisdom. And so in the assembly, we hear things that are not politically correct. If I can use that term, that you'll never hear them in the world, to simply submit to the word of God.
And so that is what the power of God is. And that's why Paul trembled, because the rich man was respected at Corinth. The man, the eloquent man, was respected at Corinth. But the one who simply came and gave the word of God, as Paul did, or as a Timothy did, they tremble. And I just would say this in connection which was said when prophecy shapes. And I quote again that verse that I quoted from the Psalms. I believe, therefore I've spoken I was greatly afflicted. And the chafing comes first of all with self.
And when the word of God is applied really in the conscience, and a man has lived that truth, and it is chafed on himself first of all.
Then there's going to be power to give it out.
Job said I uttered things too wonderful for me, and the experiences of Joel brought his experience up to speed with what he knew and these things God worth oftentimes with man. And it's a wonderful thing that we can see farther than we can walk. But God will often bring up our experience to the level of what we've been taught and what we know, And these are often painful but necessary experiences, and we see that with Paul.
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The Corinthians despised that in Paul they looked down on him because Paul had trouble, and our brother quoted from the last chapter of Corinthians. But Can you imagine anybody who had the trouble in their life that the apostle Paul had? But it was because he saw things that were not lawful for a man to utter, and we've been given the very highest truth that can be committed to man, and their suffering connected with it.
The word mystery that we have.
Here in verse seven we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery.
In the world a mystery is something which is secret and unknown in the present. But in the Scriptures the word mystery is that which was unknown in the past but is now revealed. What characterizes like verse 20, God hath revealed them unto us by the Spirit. So the mystery that Paul speaks of, speaks of quite a few mysteries in the New Testament are things which they didn't know in the past in the Old Testament.
Secrets. They're now revealed. They're not secrets anymore. They are now revealed. And we know them by the Spirit of God and by the word of God.
The very, very notion that God would save man through the cross was foolishness to the world, and it's God's wisdom, God's wisdom.
So there's never one mystery, isn't it, that we will never be able to understand. And that's the mystery of the person of Christ.
You know that remains. No one knows the Son but the Father.
And that's good for us to recognize. But mystery is mentioned over and over again in the New Testament, like in Ephesians 3 and in Colossians 1.
That is revealed, and it is known to us, but it isn't known to the world. And here that is pointed out by Paul. Here the world, had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory. You know they were ignorant of what God's purposes in God's mind was, but.
We do not have to be ignorant about these things. God wants us to know these things.
He has revealed His eternal counsels and purposes, which He purposed in Christ before the world was and He wants to bring us into His secrets, just like even with Abraham should I hide from Abraham, He said. God has introduced us into His secrets, made them known to us, and they can be enjoyed by faith.
If you compare the quotation of verse 9 to the.
Old Testament. Where it comes from, you'll understand what Brother Chuck was trying, not trying what he said.
About the revealing of mysteries in the Old Testament, things concealed is it doesn't read exactly that way in the Old Testament. It's a quotation, and it says, but it is written, I have not seen nor yet heard. Neither hath entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them, that wait for him. But he's come now, and so the heart of God has opened up now, and he says he's revealed to them, to those that love him.
And they're revealed by the Spirit, so it goes along with our chapters. So in the Old Testament they had to wait, and they in Peter was referred to. But they diligently looked into these things and tried to understand these things. And it was just communicated to them that it wasn't for themselves but was for us that they prophesied those things. They had a sense, I believe, that they were prophesying more than they understood. But now we can understand those things are revealed by the Spirit of God.
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So we never need to worry, as the world would tell us, that our minds will be constricted or cramped in the things of God, Will we?
Someone commented. I understand. I think it was possibly William Kelly. I stand corrected on it, that he had a mind built for the universe, But they said he clings to that book like a fool.
Well, he did have a brilliant mind. No doubt he had a mind that could have made much of himself in this world.
But was his mind constricted? Oh no. We speak wisdom among them that are perfect.
And there are heights and depths of meditation in the things of God so far beyond our poor minds that even those who.
Spent a lifetime in it, said They only scratched the surface. That's what it means in Ephesians 3, doesn't it? When it talks about the length and breadth and depth and height, it's as if God brings us to a Vista and shows us all that He has in Christ, all His purposes and His beloved Son all that we have in association with Him. I want you to enjoy that wisdom. Man's wisdom will never bring us there, but God's wisdom will.
And so we never need to be concerned that our minds will at all be constricted by these things, as the world would tell us, but rather that we'll be liberated and set free. As a brother wrote, free from myself, Lord Jesus, free from the ways of men, chains of thought that have bound me, never combined again. And so the Spirit of God would set your mind and your heart free, and mine too, to live and enjoy all the good of these things.
Phil, Darby's uncle, said in all of England he knew nobody more capable than John, but he vows to that book like a fool.
Not care of William Kelly, somebody told him with his ability and knowledge of the original languages, if he were to go to Oxford, he would make a fortune for himself. His answer was for which world?
Tremendous, isn't it? For which world? Yes, these men were intellectual giants, but the spirit of God was able to use them. And it has also been said that J&D.
Manifested A childlike faith in the word of God, and I trust that it's more found with us.
And it's very good to get a hold that in these verses here that follow.
There are three things. First of all, the truth was communicated by words taught by the Spirit. That's revelation. And then they were passed on in the power of the Spirit, communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. That's J&D surrendering. That's better, isn't it? Communicating spiritual things by spiritual means. We do well to remember that the way we present the truth.
That's inspiration. That's inspiration.
First revelation, yes. Then inspiration. And then the power of the Spirit of God receiving it, yeah.
Thank you.
I I think the thought that the comment was William Kelly had a mind for the universe narrowed by Darby ISM.
That's not bad, but this is consistent with God's ways with men. When he needed a witness beyond all others, he chose one who had been schooled and all of the law under Gamelio and converted him to.
From a man breathing out slaughters and curses against the believers, the one who.
Having been turned to God, preached straightway that Jesus was the Christ.
How could he do that? Because he was instructed in the word of God, and so when God raised up men to give us the.
Recovered truth he didn't. He didn't lack instruments. He picked men who had the ability.
To bring it out and pass it on to us. What is the obstacle to getting that comes out in Corinthians? Corinth. It wasn't a lack of gift that came behind a no good gift. It wasn't the lack of the time that the apostles spent there. He spent, as we heard, 18 months there. It was a moral thing. And so you see in Corinth, he has to write to them 10 times. He says, know ye not, do ye not know? And he goes back to principles. In the Old Testament, you're not to muzzle the ox. It treads out the corn.
00:50:23
A little leaven leavens the whole lump. You'll find 10 times. Paul has to tell them things that they could have known by reading. The Old Testament ought not even to the level of Christianity. You get the Thessalonians who turn from idols to the living God, and he's able to take up the rapture of the church and the appearing and so on. And he was there barely two weeks.
So it wasn't the amount of time. It's a moral obstacle. And perhaps you had. We've all had that experience. You pray about something and you don't understand a scripture, and maybe for years you don't. And then the Lord shows you that there was something in your eye that hindered you from seeing a scripture. And so if you don't understand the scripture, don't wrestle with it intellectually. Go to a teacher and we're thankful for those that come around and teach us, But get before the Lord about it. Get on your knees about it.
But that's what he's really saying. He has revealed them to us by his spirit. And so when the brethren, we get that in in the Lord's address to Philadelphia, because they had kept the word of his patience, they'd kept his word and not denied his name, he says, I'll give you the keys of David. It was that readiness to simply bow to the word of God that the prophetic scriptures were opened up to those brethren. I give you the keys of David. And so the whole word of God was opened up to them, and they understood.
Things that were there in the word of God about the future hope of Israel and the hope of the Church. And many things were opened up to them because they kept His word and not denied His name.
Sometimes.
We'll have a passage of Scripture that we don't understand.
And I found it many times. I just spread it out before the Lord and say Lord, I don't understand this, show me. But there's there's some good advice that can be given as to how to find it out.
Read the context in which this difficult verse is found. The context and yet that you can understand. You can understand the the tenor of thought now.
This verse that you don't understand is not going to be inconsistent with or contradictory of the context in which it's found. So that will help you to understand it. Now there's sometimes when the Apostle Paul.
Will he'll start his sentence and then he'll stop.
He'll like, let me let me show you what I mean. I have to get the Darby out because I didn't see this. I didn't understand it. And the King James.
And then I read it in Mr. Darby's translation. It's in First Corinthians 8.
I got to read it. Got to read it in King James 1St, and then you'll see the difference. The point I'm making now is touching things offered unto idols. We know that we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but charity edify it. If any man think that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know. If any man love God, the same is known of him. What does that have to do with what he started with? It just doesn't seem to fit. So now I'll read it in Darby.
But concerning things sacrificed to idols, we know comma parenthesis. For we all have knowledge that this is in the parenthesis, for we all have knowledge. Knowledge puffs out, but love edifies. If anyone thinks he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought to know it. But if anyone loved God, the same is known of him. End of parenthesis. Now I'll read it without the parenthesis concerning the things sacrificed to idols we know.
Dash, now verse four, starts with the dash concerning, then the eating of things sacrificed to idols. He goes right back to the first sentence. Then he continues. He says.
We know that an idol is nothing in the world and that there is none other God saved one. Well, Paul does that more than once, where he'll start something and then he'll he'll just digress into a into a deeper, profound truth. I mean, the deeper, profound truth is. If any man think that he knows anything, he knows nothing. Yet is. He ought to know. We only know partially at best. The best of us doesn't have it all.
And that's good. But he just pauses there and goes back. And he does that several times. And that's a good illustration of it. But I didn't understand it until I saw the punctuation that Mister Darby gave gave to the sentence I said. That makes sense. Neil, allow me to give the verse that you quoted correctly in the proper order. They turned to God from idols. Why is that important?
00:55:27
The positive side of separation comes first.
And then trauma idols, that's the way it is in Hebrews 13 Go unto him outside the camp, not go unto go outside the camp. Unto him. I just thought, it's a good point to make. And if the positive side of separation is not enjoyed, separation becomes a difficult path. But if the positive side is enjoyed.
We have turned to God.
We turn unto him.
Outside the camp, what a difference that makes dear young people think of the positive side. And let me also say this.
If you have something in your life that has this honored God, and you haven't straightened it out, don't expect that the Spirit of God can give you spiritual insight.
But if you go on in the power of an uncreated spirit, he can help you, and then have to humility and say, Lord, I need help. I cannot, without divine help, understand anything. Please help me by thy spirit. Will he not do that? Yes. And then, as already indicated, we have those that help us, those who teach.
And so on. But what does it say in First John that speaks of the fathers, of the young men and of the babes? Of the babes? It says that they have no need, that anyone teach them. They have the unction of the Holy One. They have the ability to understand divine truth when it is presented. And that's said to babes, you know, it's beautiful, isn't it? To get a hold of that if you're a Christian, if you really have the spirit of God within you.
You have that which it takes to appreciate divine things, but you need to have a humble spirit. You have to approach it in humility and ask for divine help. And hopefully there's nothing in your life that hinders the spirit of God to bring the things of Christ before you. But there are times, There are times when you're in something, you're doing something. It's wrong.
The word is cease to do evil. Yes, learn to do well.
Abhorred that which is evil, cleave to that which is good. Second John comes before Third John. Second John is negative, tells us whom we are to reject and not to receive Anyone comes to your house and doesn't bring the doctrine of Christ receive him not. That's the key verse in second John. Third John is them that are such we receive. Those are friends. And so sometimes it's the negative is first.
And the positive follows. So it depends on the context. I just want to reinforce what was said about helps because we sometimes despise the help that God has given. And teachers were mentioned and our brother referred to how Mr. Darby's translation was a help to him to understand that we've even heard incredible things like the Brethren's writings or the Yellow Pages and so on. And it's, I just want to say this to the young people. God gave gifts to the church and he that descended, he ascended.
And he gave gifts in men, and He gave.
Individuals to help. And if we despise the help that God has given, then we're not in a right spirit and we need help. And God's given us the help that we need. We do have the unction of the spirit, but we can't go it alone. If I may put it this way, if I give you a good Teflon frying pan as a wedding present, I come to your and a good spatula. I come to your house and you're frying eggs in a six quart saucepan and trying to turn them with a spoon. I say you haven't just despised the gift that I gave you, but you've despised the giver of it. And so God's given us helps as teachers to go about and help us understand. He's given books of ministry and we ought to avail ourselves of it.
01:00:01
Heinz, I just say this to you. If you're going to minister in a country where they use the Spanish Bible, have to be a little careful. I made a point number of times in in the Spanish speaking countries about that verse and verse Thessalonians, they turned to God from idols. It doesn't say that in Spanish.
How does it say so? People would look at me rather strangely, you know? And then I realized that it didn't say that. And yet you can get that from not only from corrective translations, but you can also get that from the tenor of Scripture in that particular case. And it makes me think of the verses in in.
Hosea.
14 Ephraim, She'll say what you like to have to do with idols.
I don't have anything more to do with either of why they they had become engaged with the Lord, hadn't they? And I just mentioned that I agree with that point and but I didn't want to want you to walk into trouble in the in the country. How do they say it in Spanish? It says they turned from idols to God. Oh, the other way around? Yeah, it does.
I was. I was.
That might be wrong.
Well, I'd rather think it is.
I don't think Mr. Driver just said, well I think I'll make it because and putting it the way he did and I think it's important to see that that translations and this is.
And have value in accuracy and translations is.
Has a point to it. We want to know how did God say it and say it exactly the way he did.
So it's it's.
Encouraging, when you find that, you get into it and you get to the possibility to look into it and in a interlinear or. And they do have the interlinear Greek.
In Spanish, and you can see that it it says it the way trendy translates it there.
For the children's sake.
Let's say.
You're playing with a knife. You're just a little boy and a little girl. You can really do harm to yourself, but if your dad and mom would come and rip it out of your hand, they might hurt you. But if they offer you something precious, like a doll for a girl or a little truck for a boy, they'll drop the knife and take that, which is appreciated so much more.
I think that's the principle of it. Sometimes we are pounding away as gift is up. Give that up rather than offering something better and when they get ahold of that which is better, they'll drop that which is bad.
Regarding the quotation, excuse me, brother, go ahead.
I was going to start a new subject, so you better. I was going in verse 10. Go ahead. Well, I was going to ask if we could have the meaning of verse 8.
Does it mean that if the Princess of this world had understood the wisdom of God, they would have gone along with it? Or is there a different thought there?
Well, if they had understood the wisdom of God in what would come out of the death of Christ, they wouldn't have crucified him.
That's it. The man's heart, in other words, would have been so contrary to God that if they had known the consequences of the work of Christ, they would deliberately have gone against that in order to prevent the blessing. Is that the thoughts? That's what it says.
It's usually interpreted that if they knew who he was, they wouldn't have crucified him. But that contradicts Mark 12. When they saw him, they said this is the error, let us kill him. They knew who it was. But if they had known how the mystery and the wisdom of God and the mystery was going to be accomplished through his death, that would have sought to frustrate the grace of God. That's how wicked man is.
I was going to go on to verse 10, nine and 10 when Isaiah wrote.
What is quoted here? That's all the light he had.
And he says that it's never entered to the heart of man well.
01:05:00
Comes the light of Christianity.
And God has revealed that which Isaiah did not know.
Unto us by the Holy Spirit, and the Spirit searches all things, and the last.
Expression, according to Mr. Darby's translation in the Searches the Depths of God.
All of the truth of God has been brought out. I have many things to say unto you. The Lord said concerning the coming of the Holy Spirit, but you're not able to bear them now. But when he, the Spirit of truth has come, he shall guide you into all truth. So the mind of God has been made known, which Isaiah did not know, and it is by the coming of the Holy Spirit.
That this has been brought out.
And he has searched the depths of God so that the whole heart of God is told out. And we enjoy the fruit of the spirit ministry, the Lord giving it from heaven through the apostles and prophets of the New Testament. That's a I just thought of it you that's a beautiful verse to prove that the Spirit of God is.
Is divine. He's God because who can search the depths of God but God himself?
And when the Spirit, when the Lord referred to bringing him into all truth, I suggest he is referring to what we have in the epistles. There is where the truth of God is fully told out. We sometimes sing in a hymn quoting the Queen of Sheba. The half has not been told. Well, the half has been told. More than 1/2 has been told. It's all been told. We haven't entered into the half of it yet, so we will.
And it Colossians it says growing by.
The true knowledge of God. That's a tremendous verse. We know God different than anybody else has ever known him before.
And unless you know him as he has revealed himself in the Lord Jesus, you're stunted in your growth growing by the true knowledge of God. God has fully revealed himself in the Old Testament, we have partial revelations of God.
But in the New Testament we have the full revelation of God in the person of his Son. There is no further revelation to be expected. We have it all. And the God of the Muslims is not the true God. No, He is the product of the mind of wicked men. They created their God. All false gods have been created by man. There is only one true and living God, and he has revealed himself to us.
And he is love and light and we know it in this book. All the rest are false gods created by man. And man is wicked. He's evil. The heart is desperately wicked. And above all things, how could they have created a good God? Impossible has to reflect themselves. We know the true God tremendous truth.
The Muslim religion says.
That God does not want us to be his children. That's next to sacrilege. He wants us to be his slave. Do they know the God we know?
A God of love of grace. They don't have the word love in the Quran. No, they don't know love M166.
Unchangeable life, gracious love. Our earthly path has Ceaseless Viewed.
Their new art beating heart to move thy tender mercies still pursued ever with us, may they abide and close us in on every side 66166.
Be thyself.
Our story.
Our friends.
Wildlife.
Can come in the world here.
01:10:02
You know, maybe you could teach that one to us at Rubin Towson. Make pardon. Could we sing this to a tune we know? You could teach us this tune at Rubens House on Sunday night.
Lord, thou has grown.
Oh.
My God.
No worries in here.