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First John chapter 2, verse 7.
Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment.
Which he had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
Again a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother.
Is in darkness even until now.
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him, but he that hateth his brothers in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.
I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake. I write unto you Father's, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning.
I write unto you, young men.
Because you have overcome the wicked one, I write unto you, little children, because ye have known the Father.
I have written unto you Father's, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning.
I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abide within you, and you have overcome the wicked one.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
If any man love the world, love the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.
And the pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world.
And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever.
Little children, it is the last time, as you have heard, that Antichrist shall come. Even now there are many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us. But they were not of us, for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us.
But they went out that they might be made manifest, that they were not all of us.
But you have an unction from the Holy One, and you know all things. I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth.
Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, He is the Antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.
Whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledgeth the Son hath the Father also.
Let that therefore abide in you which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the sun and in the Father. And this is the promise that He had promised us, even eternal life.
These things have written unto you concerning them which seduce you. But the anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you. And you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it has taught you, you shall abide in Him.
And now little children, abide in him, that when he shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
If you know that he is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him.
God doesn't have any different standard for us than the pathway of His beloved Son here because we possessed his life. Christ Himself is the believer's life.
It's, uh, when he says here and no new commandment, and then in the eighth verse again a new commandment, I believe it goes on to say which thing is true in him and in you? And that is since the Lord Jesus has gone into death and risen again. And we remember how he breathed on the disciples and said, receive the Holy Spirit and now we have life and resurrection power.
00:05:22
We have the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. It wasn't anything different than what was required even of the disciples, but now the believer in this dispensation is much more responsible because he has the risen life. I think it's the same thought as what it says. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly now that is now because the Spirit of God indwells us why we enter into or have the privilege of entering into.
But no Testament faith could ever enter into the wonderful place of nearness into which we have been brought. I might also say that perhaps to illustrate it, we have what we have in Galatians. It speaks about the air. When he was a child he didn't have, he didn't understand the place he was in. But at the time appointed of the Father, he is declared the heir to the throne. And then he has he can enjoy.
His possession in liberty, He had life before, but He had it more abundantly when He is publicly declared to be in the position of being the heir to the throne, and rather than what a wonderful revelation of truth has been given to us in Christianity. And so we not only possess life, but we possess life in a risen Christ. And here it manifests itself in walking in this world, in the pathway in which the Lord Jesus Himself lost.
Gordon, like you said.
Hi, anybody that knew me, I, I always like the railroad and, uh, I always thought I always wanted lo. I would love to run my own engine and, uh, I was able to do it and now it, it's, it's as much fun, but it's different than what I thought it was going to be because there's a lot more responsibilities with it that I didn't see it at first.
But now I see them and it's the same as what you were saying that, uh, if we have been given more to do, there's more responsibility and we're more responsible to do what we're supposed to do than we were before.
Right.
So it says the end of this eighth verse, the darkness is past or the darkness is passing. As Mr. Darby's translation read, there's still a lot of darkness in this world, but the true light has shone. The Lord Jesus has come into this world. He has glorified God, his Father. He has gone back as the one who has accomplished that mighty work of redemption, and He has given us resurrection life, and we possess that just as He brings down his disciples.
And the power of that new life is what was not true before the Holy Spirit of God indwelling us. So it isn't that different in one sense, but it is different in another, that we are far more responsible. And so we got bored with many things in the Old Testament. They were children, but they weren't in the wonderful place that we're in. And so we have a greater responsibility and the standard is lifted, as it were, in Christianity. The darkness isn't all gone, but the true light shines.
Coming on the large years into the world that the blue light marks now the new beginning, doesn't it? That's what John has occupied with here in the first epistle. The beginning as there was a full revelation of God-given unto now, unto us now. And first of all, our Jesus Christ we have brought into full light now that He came this world.
00:10:22
To turn to Galatians 4, you see that what I was Speaking of, I think it might be helpful to notice. This I think helps to understand the passage.
Relation 4 Now I say that the air as long as he is a child, if there is nothing from a servant, though he be Lord of all, but he's under tutors and governors until a time appointed of the father.
Even so, we, when we were children were in ******* under the elements of the world, but when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that are under the law.
That we might receive the adoption of sons, because the Our Son God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, ABBA, Father, where? Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son.
And if a sign that an heir of God through Christ. Same person who has a family life. Before he was only a child, he was under tutors and governors, but now he's grown, he's entered into it. He has that he has a different position now because he enjoys his relationship and ought to walk in the dignity of that relationship and rather we are far more responsible. God may have what he did there with many things in the Old Testament.
But now, uh, we have that more abundant life, that is, we have life in a risen Christ, and that's why he brings before us in the chapter. God is no lower standard than the pathway of his own beloved son down here in this world. And you and I ought to display that life. We ought to walk in that pathway that he walked and indwelled by the Spirit of God, we have the power to manifest that life.
But the new life is one thing. The Holy Spirit of God indwelling us is the power of that new life that we possess.
The gospel is done. You have this eternal life, uh.
Beautifully manifested in the first in a crisis. It's halfway down here, but they're more particular with the falling than the first drone. Is that same divine life with me now? Well, that's my grace, matter of fact, in the child of God.
OK, a member of the family is gone. So which thing is true in Him and in you? I mean that we possess the same life as the Lord, and we have a power. And if the flesh is kept in the place of death where it should be, and the divine light will be.
Developed in manifest and the believers, uh, pathway down here, but it's.
It also in involves an intelligence in the things of of God that that was not possible even for the disciples before the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Well, it always brings before us what God has done for us. And then the practical side of it, as seen in our lives, what God has done is brought us into that position. Now we're to walk. And I believe that's why the word commandment comes in because everything that, uh, the Lord wants us to do has the power of a command over our hearts. Someone you love ask you to do something you wouldn't say. Is that a request or a command?
I really love that person. It becomes a command to you. You say to somebody, oh, I have to do that because the person you love asks you to do it, and it becomes a command to your heart. And I believe that's why this comes in. Even the Lord Jesus has said in the end of the 12Th chapter of John, even as I have kept my father's commandments, so he didn't even speak a word of himself, but as his father commanded him, he did.
00:15:04
The Lord Jesus found his delight in doing his Father's will. That is the life that we possess. And so for a Christian to say, well, do I have to do that? The question is, who asked us to do it? Has He given us a life that wants to do it? The Lord will never ask us as believers to do anything, anything. I say that the new life in the believer doesn't find delight in doing. The good pleasure of Thy will, O God, is my delight.
The Lord Jesus could say, well this speaks to our hearts and I think as we fit here in these meetings and claims of Christ are brought before of us, before us. All of us feel that constraint. Why? Because we loved him. We don't say, do I have to do that? But the heart responds, I want to do it because it would please the one whom I love and who loves me.
The reality of profession is negative in the perfect light of what he is, isn't it? We had his expression already in very full heat and said I know him. And again, he then says he's in the light for his mind. So it's much profession around them. But the profession is to be tested in the light of what we find in the personal law, Jesus, in the light of the truth as in him and for them. We see all things tested by that perfect mind here.
It's stumbling too, isn't it, to have one who says he's in the light and he's walking in darkness or contrary to the light. It has a stumbling effect upon others. It trips others up by thinking over here. He that in verse nine, he that says he is in the light and hateth his brother is in darkness even until now, and he that loveth his brother abideth in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. So the the confession.
And the walk that is the mouth and the walk should go together. It should be a testimony. And so if it isn't, it may not only be a a deference to my own soul, but I could stumble others with that. And that's happened in many instances in in Christendom this very day that many have been stumbled because of what people what different ones Christians have said and their walk didn't comport with that. So it's very important to see that, isn't it? I just just going back. I don't want to go back to all these first, but this I've noticed in that verse 6.
He that abideth in him aught himself also so to walk.
As he wants. That's, that's an object there before us that, that is, uh, as a dear brother used to say, it's, it's an impossible object, but God's object is Christ and he, that's what he puts before us. He doesn't give us anything less than that. Uh, he doesn't say to walk as Charles little walk or somebody else. He says as he walked. So it's really interesting to see that, that God's, the whole object of God is a, is the exalvation of his son.
And in soul walking with him, then we can be a blessing to others and not a stumbling block.
We have a little picture of it and the IT Likes You walk with Elijah in the time that he was going to be taken up.
And uh, Elijah said to Elijah, uh, what will tell that I do unto thee before I be taken from thee? And the license reply was, I pray this is a double portion of thy spirit may be upon me.
So when I said that I could be your last, your double when you're gone, and so you said, well, if you see me when I'm taking off, it shall be so, but if not, it won't be so. And so he was very careful to see him.
When he was taken up, and brethren, that's the whole secret for us. If we have our eye upon the one who's been taken up, as it tells us in 2nd Corinthians 3, we all would open or unveiled faith beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image. So as soon as he saw him taken up, what did he do? He took his old mantle and put it in two pieces and picked up the mantle of Elijah that fell from him. Beautiful picture of him seeing the end of all, as he was always said, this is the end of all Elijah. And so he rent his own mammals and he said, I want to be like the person that went up. So he picked up his mantle and he didn't have to tell anybody.
Now that he was going to take the place of Elijah or anything like that, as soon as he had crossed through Jordan, the river of death, we were to reckon ourselves dead indeed under sin, but alive unto God. When he went through the river of death and came up on the other side, he didn't have to say a word. They said the spirit of Elijah does rest upon Elijah. He didn't have to talk about himself at all. But people saw that it wasn't the same man that followed him over that was now returning. And rather than that's what we need, we need to see the one who's gone up and we'll see the end of ourselves.
00:20:35
In the ham up across and we'll see in his resurrection that we have a new position entirely newness of life, life in a risen Christ and power for us too by the spirit. He asked us, I said, Elisha said that the spirit of him that was went up by rest upon him. Well, I believe this is the what is brought before us in this precious chapter. And uh, it's a practical thing that affects everything in our lives, not only what we do, but the spirit in which we do it.
OK.
Very beautiful here. I recall our brother Jr. Gill, who, uh, in reading this little epistle, he noted verse 12 and uh, he made this comment about it and I believe it's true. I write unto you children, because your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. He said this is the family tree or the family Crest for the family of God.
I write unto you children, because your sins are forgiven you. Why? For his name's sake. That's a beautiful thing to follow out in the word of God that our sins are forgiven for his namesake, not because we were different or because we graduated from some, but it it's, it's a person of Christ. Our sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. Someone enjoyed the thought that it's, it's like the family tree, the family Crest.
For the family of God.
MMM yeah, the question I'd like to ask about the ninth verse, he just said he is in the life and hated his brother is in in darkness even until now. Uh, it's actually mean for Christians like one brother, sister. And he said, quote you you don't like me or I said, yes, I do brother, but I don't like your actions. I don't like your ways. Is that what that means?
The Apostle John always speaks abstractly, if you notice in the third chapter in the UH.
The third chapter and the ninth verse, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin for his seed remaineth in him and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Now, that is, he speaks of what is the character of the child of God. Now it may not always be manifested, but immediately it's not seen. It raises a question, uh, supposing, uh, you heard me, uh.
Do something that when I saw me do something that was certainly very contrary, the way a Christian could act, he wouldn't say I'm acting like a child of God. He would immediately say, well, he surely didn't act like a child of God in that situation. Now, I might be one, but what John is bringing before us is the character of the children of God. But he didn't see that character. Why he spoke very definitely because he said he, uh.
In that verse that I just read. And his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin if they can a Christian sin. He doesn't act as a child of God when he's sinning at all. He's acting as though he were not in the family. He might be, just as I might act thoroughly consistent to the play my place in an earthly family. It wouldn't mean that I wasn't in the family, but it certainly wouldn't be consistent with it at all. And as I say, I think that's very important.
This side of things that you see in John's ministry, so he says if there isn't love, there isn't holiness, if there isn't obedience.
I can't recognize that person as a child of God because a child of God as a child of God doesn't do these things. He's acting kind of inconsistent with his place in the family. I think, uh, the verse in Ephesians chapter 5 would be helpful there too. Ephesians chapter 5, umm and verse.
00:25:01
8.
He says, for ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light. Why does he have this admonition here in the book of Ephesians which we have? The highest possible truth that we have is because it's possible for a child of God to walk in darkness although he is in the light. It says for ye, uh, uh, but ye are.
But verse eight again, you were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord walk as children of light. In other words, prove the the testimony of it. Then notice in the in the parenthesis for the fruit of the light is in all goodness and righteousness and truth, proving what is acceptable under the Lord. So the child of God is possible for a child of God, though he is, he is in the light to be walking in the shadow or in the darkness and God would admonish him for that. And here as we do it here.
And uh, so it's, uh, umm, it brings out the walk there, doesn't it either Is he, that is, uh, Seth, he is in the light and hated his brothers in darkness. And the Lord would have us to walk as children of light, not as we were once in darkness.
Mother of James is done as the replacement's right left hand N shrimp.
This is Matthew 20. He was 24. That the other bill, the other ten were filled with indignation against the two names and John.
No, the ten were not in darkness, but they weren't acting according to guard or they, umm, the Lord wasn't filled with indignation against pursuit, but the ten were. What really is the characteristic of, uh, those in the family is what we have here. We know that we have passed indefinite life of those we love with revenue. That is what is characteristic of the children of God. Now I may do something which would cause my breath into temporarily, you know, be very upset with me.
But that's entirely different from the pain.
Brother and flew him. There was a man who was in darkness all his life, you know.
Terrible thing, but I think that the answer to Lee made his question there. This nice verse is, uh, he that sent me is in the light and hated his brother from darkness. Uh, absolute statement. It's one who never knew the Lord. He says our nation's brother.
Well, to remember, isn't it that every child of God here is in the light? In fact, every child of God is in the light or he wouldn't be a child of God. But every child of God is not walking according to the light. And I believe that's good to remember that, that every child of God is in the light because the light is shone in or he wouldn't be a child of God. Uh, but he's not, they're not all walking according to that light. So if the walk comes in again, the testimony to that truth comes in again, doesn't it?
So, and it's good to remember that, you know, we're not all, we're not all, uh, uh, motivated as we should be to walk according to the lights. We should be, but it's a, it's a real exercise for us.
My brother Armstead Barry is illustrated, uh, with ducks those, and there were 10 ducks beside a pond and they see eight of them go in, they're swimming and two of them stay on the shore. And he said, I wonder why those other eight, those other two didn't go in.
A little closer and they're sick or something's the matter. They're really, they're really dust. All right. But they didn't, uh, they weren't in a condition, do I normally the way a duck would. So the eight went in. The others are really ducks, but they're inconsistent with their character. They stayed on the shore. You might expect the chicken to stay on the shore because it doesn't like water. And so you say, well, doctor, acting as though they were chickens, afraid of the water. No, they weren't afraid of the water, but they weren't acting consistently with their character.
And I believe that's the way he looks at it. That's the way our brother, uh, Barnstead very used to illustrated. So it's not really the two nature that's in view, although it's the result of having a new nature, but it's the person that I've looked at and that's helpful to see. And John, the person is looked at as a person, as a responsible person in the family of God. He's acting inconsistent with character. He's acting more like a person who's not in the family at all.
00:30:20
Mm-hmm. Let's get it in the third chapter along that line is that you have committed sin is of the devil.
Well, uh, uh, God of God, him that, you know, falling into sin, but, uh, looking at it abstractly here in the, in the characteristic sense, if you see a person, uh, committing sin, you can apply this scripture. He didn't commit a sin is of the devil, you might say, but I'm a child of God. But, uh, he's not acting in that character of a child as well.
You would never be lost, but uh, he's manifesting the characters that we should is umm.
Characteristic of a of a an unsafe person.
That's very clearly brought out in what happened with Peter when Peter would have forbidden the Lord to go to the cross. He said, thus it shall not be to thee. What did the Lord say? He said, get thee behind me, Satan. Was he really talking to a true believer, a true child of God? He was. And he said, get thee behind me, Satan. In other words, no doubt, of course the Lord knoweth them that are his. He was a child of God, but he wasn't acting like one, and the Lord didn't call him one. And so we see this in the pathway of the Lord Jesus.
And as a as a very solemn thing, when you and I, who are real believers, act as though we were not react the way the world would act, we act as one let on a Satan instead of one who is seeking to walk to please God, the character of the new life.
Now he goes on here in the, uh, well, first on the different stages in the family of God. And I think this is very beautiful too, because there were those who were, there's the one general address that our brother spoke of. I write on to you children. That's the whole family.
You look at the, uh, footnote and Mr. Garvey's translation. This is the whole family that's spoken out in the 12. First I write on to you children. Everyone in the family is entitled to know and enjoy this precious truth that he's in the family of God. His sins are forgiven him for his name's sake. But now he addresses the father's.
He addresses the young man and he addresses the little children obeyed. And there are different stages in the Christian life. There are different dangers in the Christian life. And so it's nice to see this because we as parents don't expect as much from an older child as a younger one. And God brings before us these different positions, even in the family of God. And I think they're important for us to bear in mind.
MMM.
I just like to go back to that verse, uh, again, it just, uh, stands out for we are forgiven for his name's sake. What is the purpose of this? It's to make his love known to us. If you turn over at 105th Psalm, uh, I just wanna, or 106th Psalm, I'm sorry. I just wanna refer you to her first. That, uh, uses that expression, but it's in a different way.
Psalm 100 and UH-6.
Well, I wanna read verses 7 and eight. Our fathers understood not thi wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the multitude of thy mercies, but provoked Him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Verse 8. Nevertheless, He saved them for His name's sake. I've enjoyed that verse, and I think it's a beautiful verse to see wrapped up there. But notice what it was for, that He might make His mighty power known to them.
Different there, isn't it? There's a different thought He that his power might be made known to them. But he, he now we have the forgiveness for his name's sake that his love might be known. What a difference and what a contrast. And that's something for us spreading to really vast in his love. It's part of his namesake that his love has been manifested to us. We know his power, of course.
00:35:16
I want to say that it wasn't you.
I'm going to ask the question whether Little children was the correct, uh, rendering hearing.
You know what, I believe that the Garvey has a shell test. Umm, it's just children. It's a whole family. It's the whole family. But I was just going to say that it doesn't matter if a person would just say yesterday or has been saved for 20 years. He has no more title in 20 years to know that his sins are forgiven than the person that was saved yesterday. And that's very lovely. He's addressing the whole family. You were just saved yesterday. Your sins are just as much forgiven, and God wants you to know it and enjoy it as if you've been saved for many, many years.
It's the common knowledge or position of every believer. Your sins are forgiven for His name's sake.
God's order is always perfect, isn't it? Uh, we, we've met up with those that would try to tell us. Well, there's a, uh, I don't, uh, I certain certain things in the Bible, uh, you know, they're mixed up. We don't understand them. Well, we'll never understand them with the mind. We'll have to accept it in heart and believe it. So I just thought of the order here in verse 13, I write unto your Father's because you have known him, that is from the beginning.
That is, they've grown. They know him.
And the responsibility of course is fathers. They're they're mentioned first. Then he says, umm, I write unto you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. Strength we see there fathers, they have known him. That was from the beginning. Now he says, I write unto you young men, because you have overcome the wicked one. But I would love this last part of this verse. I write unto you little children here. It's little children or babes really.
Uh.
Because you have known heart, known Father, that's all that's necessary. They know the Father very and very in a very simple way. So God's order is always so beautiful, isn't it, Fathers, young men and babes.
Interesting too the one has this repeated in the 14th verse. It's the very same wording about the Father's. Notice the first part of the 13th verse I read on the you fathers because you have known him, that is from the beginning.
Again, in the 14th verse I have written unto you, Fathers, because ye have known him, that is from the beginning.
How the different words in the second instance to the young man? A lot is said to the babes, but to the fathers you have known.
Because you have known the Father and I believe that's very important. As we grow older, we have to be careful that that simplicity of knowing the, uh, knowing him that's from the beginning remains. The truth of God remains. We know that errors have been brought in often by people who had a great knowledge of the Scripture.
But wanted to bring out something new and that has led the church into error. Very often it was in some simple child of God. It was someone who took the place of knowing the things of God. Let's remember, no matter how old we are, we never get beyond the place of knowing the Father. And we don't make progress beyond the truth as God has revealed it in connection with our place as children before the Father.
I think the point is that Christianity begins with a person, as you say in John One, he's Speaking of all created things and before everything that was created, there was a person who was there. As the Lord gives us in Proverbs 8, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. That is when all the created the and the created universe was made. The Lord Jesus was there. He was the one, the instrument by which Allah was created.
But now he's thinking about something new that has become that is, Christianity begins with a person, that very one who was there when everything was created and who created all the things, has become a man down here in this world. And God reveals himself in that blessed one. And so Christianity, I say again, begins with a person.
00:40:21
Perhaps I could further say that the verse that sometimes taken up by those who deny the deity of Christ, the Lord Jesus, the beginning of the creation of God, that simply refers to new creation, the beginning that is new creation. Adam was the first man and he ruined everything. The Lord Jesus is the second man and last Adam, and he's the beginning of an entirely new order. He's the beginning of that new creation.
And the head of that first creation was a man who fell and ruined it all. The beginning of the new creation is God himself, the son in manhood form. No thought of time or anything as to his, uh, beginning because he's eternal. But it's, uh, it's very precious and important, I think to see this because that verse has been misused by those who deny the deity of Christ.
An enthusiastic what matters to?
We don't return to some tradition or man or some uh.
Mediastical system, we return to the awful doctrine and fellowship that which was from the beginning, which we have presented to us in the official when we, uh, are exercised about a ground of gathering in accordance with God's mind for today. And the apostle says in the second official, this is love. This is a commandment that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it. So that's important that.
You don't go back to some, uh, teaching of man, some, uh, reformation. We go right back to the apostles doctrine.
And fellowship that we have in the in the New Testament when the the instruction for the ground of gathering.
However, the particular snare for the fathers to go beyond, and there's a particular there for those who are young. And so he says here, the 13th verse I write on you, young man, because you have overcome the wicked one. And again he takes up the same theme in the end of the 14th verse. I have written unto you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abideth in you.
And he had overcome the wicked one. Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. Any man love the world. The love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes.
The pride of life is not of the Father, but is of the world. I believe that's very important, the warning, because so often our life is molded upon the choices that we make when we're young. It's true that a person might be restored, but very often our afterlife is molded. And how we delight to see young people who make the word of God their guide, who are strong and realize what the world is.
Because the world seeks to dilute, dilute especially those who are young, presenting before them something that it has to offer, which is all a disappointment. And how lovely it is to see young people who seek a plan and pattern their lives according to the word of God. So it says here, the word of God abideth in you, and you have overcome the wicked one. Someone has said that deception of this world is of Satan. The perception of it is of God.
Without that, umm.
Guidance and direction by the word of God. Just referring to some verses over in the 40th of Isaiah. I was thinking of this year and Isaiah chapter 40 and verse, uh, beginning verse 29. Very familiar portion here.
It says, uh, umm, I'm sorry. 28 Isaiah 40 and verse beginning of verse 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increases strength. Then I was thinking of verse 30. Even the youths shall faint.
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And be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. It's a warning, isn't it, that they could, they can't depend, as it says here in our chapter a year, year. Umm, I have written unto young men, because you're strong, don't depend on your strength. You may fall. Satan can trip you up. And so it says here, the even the US shall faint and be weary. Young men shall utterly fall, but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They shall mount up with wings as Eagles, they shall run and not be weary and they shall walk and not faint. Somebody has suggested here that the flying as an eagle is not the not the realm of, of, of man, is it? He can't keep soaring through the through the sky because he's not an eagle. He's a man. But it comes down to being run and not weary and then walking and not painting. Walking is characteristic of the man of the.
Say of the young men, who's speaking to the young men here? So I thought of it how he says I have written to young, young men because you're strong and the word of God abideth in you.
You've overcome the wicked ones, but don't depend on your strength. Depend upon the Lord. Get your strength from Him. He is the one through whom you will derive your strength in order to walk in the path to please God. And I I thought of it in that connection in Isaiah 40.
The world is looking at here is a vast system of things that it's build up of Satan in man by man and his alienation from God and as we see it, if you go back to Genesis that Cain's posterity began the world we might say the father of such as dwell in tents and have cattle. Perhaps that's the business world the father of such as handle the harp of the organ, the entertainment world and.
An artificer of all the structure and our, uh, our, uh, in brass and iron brass. That's the scientific world.
Until we have the whole world system introduced by Canes Prosperity, and here we have that, we're told we have to live here. We use those things, but we have to be careful that they don't get hold of us. And so this is the warning. I believe that given here the whole vast system of things that man has built up in his alienation from God. And we are thankful for automobiles. We're thankful for this building and for the lights and everything they can be used for God's glory. But our hearts are set on things above things that are outside of this world.
And we have to be careful even in our using these things, as it says in First Corinthians 7, yells that use the world is not abusing it, for the fashion of this world passes away. So I think it's very lovely to see the way this is brought before us here. We can use these things, but we have to be careful that our hearts are not set upon them. We're just passing through and we're to seek to do the will of God, to seek to use our time and our energies for him.
Neither doeth the will of God abide us forever.
And colonizing to realize that the religious will is just part of that entire world system that is another domination of Satan. It's a system of religion that is suited to man, that is designed to please man and to satisfy man. That's how man oriented sort of faith. And you know, even as believers, we are in a danger of being attracted by those some of those things that we see in that vast religious system, you know, some of these things that seem to be nice to nature, to the flesh, you know. And so we have to watch as to those things also. It's not only the ungodly world that we are to be guarded again, but in a very special way the religious world, because it's a very subtle influence that can come, can come in and we may be induced in imitate some of these things that I find in the religious world.
OK, allow our own past return by some of those things that we are not watchful.
Everything you've got has the world is opposed in different ways. Uh, thinking here in, in our chapter, it's the, the world is opposed to the father. And then also in looking at Galatians, the flesh is opposed to the spirit. And then in Luke, we find that the, the devil is opposed to the sun. So we find there the, the world, the flesh of the devil opposed to God in Trinity.
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Uh, every point, every phase in every part of the truth of God is opposed. And so I think it's Mark marked out here that the world is opposed to the Father, particularly in John's Gospel or John's ministry.
For this transaction is not presented to the Lord Himself and and through the wilderness of India.
Of course, there was no response to the temptation, but there we have the Lord in manhood presented to us prominently. And how did he overcome the wicked? One was by, uh, entire submission to the word of God and, and answering each temptation by implicit obedience to God's word. And that's an example for us because there Christ is presented as a man and.
And tempted. And, uh.
An example for uh re one of us to follow.
The world that we read about here is the world that God did not love.
The world that the God Master became is only begotten. Time is the world of mankind.
And dude, I think you point out second to young people many years before I really didn't understand that there are basically three types of the Eastern word the world of nature to God created the world of his own power and that's what the world nature that we enjoy the handiwork. He's a great empower and wisdom and we have the the world of mankind and the transfer to achievement understand.
We have the other than the socioeconomical world.
And it stopped world in which you and I are called to walk through at the wilderness. And we're not to green anything or effectively anything past signs from that side of the world. We're used for evolving, use that world and actually use it and go through that world. Uh, what the object is for us with the one that set the pattern who is once appeared and he kept that word and now is the object for us to help us to walk through victoriously. Victory is gone.
They see those 3 lusts we're at uh, Satan used for attempt Adam and Eve. It says that the tree was flattened to the eyes. Good for food, a tree to be desired to make one wise.
As good for food, that's the lust of the flesh, pleasant of the eyes, that's the lust of the eyes. A tree to be desired, to make one wise. That's the pride of life. Well, he came down and they fell, and that, uh, temptation as he presented those we lost to them. And then he cave was the same to the Lord.
As our brother has just remarked and the Lord answered the way Adam should have answered or he should have answered. He should have said, well, here's what God said. We're not feet of that tree. But they didn't answer. They reasoned about it that yielded to the temptation when the Lord met those things that is command that these stones may be made bread. That was the lust of the flesh. Uh, brings the Lord to the pinnacle of the temple and uh, shows them all the.
And the comanzium or asked him to, uh, cast himself down, That was the pride of life, to be able to jump from the top of the temple and not be heard. And that he shows them all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. That was the lust of the eyes in every temptation. The Lord simply said, it is written and made. We say that as these things are presented to us and they are presented to us in the family, just as we have here. What is our answer? Well, it looks very nice and I think I'll try it.
As often said, people say, well, I'll try anything once. That's what Adam said. You try anything once. But we know what happened. By trying it once, he ruined his own life and he ruined the this whole world.
As a result of it, don't try anything once, but God forbids. Make the word of God our guide. So Satan comes to the family. And if we're going to overcome, we must walk a key walk. Answer each temptation by what does the Scripture say about it? And so it tells us about these young men. The word of God abides in you. That's the only way that we can overcome the wicked long brethren, by the word of thy lips have I kept me from the path of the destroyer.
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Well, only the Lord can keep us, but He has marked the path out in this world, a safe path amid all of this world has to offer, where we can walk in communion with God our Father. The path where the Lord Jesus walked. It's a happy path. It's free from the dangers that are found in the path of our own self will. So how blessed that there is such. And this is what we have our brother remarked before in the Gospels. We see eternal life manifested in the Lord Jesus.
And that's a pencil to John. We have that same life manifested in the family and a path marked out as he was.
On the, uh, 14th capital of Romans in verse UH-16, I'm sorry, 17 and 18, I think you see, uh, by way of contrast, the principles of the Kingdom of God that are really the divine replacement for these three things that energize the world, the luck of the flesh up to the eyes and part of life. Verse 17 For the Kingdom of God does not need his reign, but righteousness and peace.
Enjoying the Holy Ghost, for he didn't need the same serve in Christ is acceptable to God and approved of men. So if you think about it, they really line up so that instead of the lust of the flask, you have righteousness governing the man who walks according to the principles of the field of God. Instead of the lust of the eye hugging, uh, at his heart and uh, stirring up covetousness and so on, you have peace instead of the pride of life, uh, swelling, uh.
A man's chest, and I'm sure even a child can possess the pride of life. You have joy in the Holy Ghost, which is an experience that, uh, the world can never taste of. I enjoy too, uh, a comment I've heard.
Timothy 2 where Paul writes to Timothy and says plea also youthful us and brother Lundin, who was far beyond the age of youth at the time, he said, he said you don't have to be a, a young man, uh, to fall into youthful lusts. And I thought that was a good comment uh, that.
Though I'm sure that these different things, the loss of the flash loss of the eyes, might be more characteristic in one stage of our life naturally than another. At any age we could succumb to these things. I've seen again the children swollen with the pride of life for some achievement they've accomplished in a natural way, whether academically or out on the playing field. And also you see some who are very old to come to philosophers of the eyes, to their hurt and sorrow.
Great men are not always wise. Neither do the aged understand judgment. So they make mistakes too, don't they? They get into, they get trapped into sin. Also the agent.
We speak here of young men, but I'd like to say a word to those who are indeed young, but not only young men, but young women too. Sometimes we hear about peer pressure. I'd like to say a word about peer influence.
Many years ago there were these youths that were brought in from Jerusalem and they were sent to Babylon, and you read there of Daniel, Hananiah, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, and they were told to do certain things which were contrary to the word of God.
They might have said, well, it's no use to go on when those things we have learned from the word of God. But it was one young man and perhaps I might say there could be a young woman here this afternoon.
Who purposes in his or her heart? And so it says that Daniel purpose in his heart, that he would not be found himself a proportion of the King's needs, nor with the vine which he drank. And then it says, therefore he requested. He was polite about it, but he had purpose in his heart. And so we have here no peer pressure, but peer influence. Here we have a young man who influenced these three others, and it was the beginning of the long life of blessing of these.
Used there in Babylon where everything was contrary to them. And so one might pray that there may be young men here or a young woman who made inference, peer influence to those around you for blessing that should the Lord Jesus tearing his coming sometime. Yet you may have a blessed life like those men there in Babylon. Everything was against them, but there is a pathway marked out for the children of God.
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We had our mind in the Golf Club John attempted 17 that we are not of the world, we not belong. We do not belong to it morally. John family and verse 16 the annual of the world, even as I am not of the world. And then in the preceding verse the Lord says, I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from evil. There is a safe path in the midst of that world. And also to think of that race in Galatians in chapter one where it says in verse 4.
Referring to the Lord Jesus.
Who gave him some problems and that he might deliver us from or out of this present evil world according to the will of God and our Father. So we see that the large purpose was to take us out of that system for himself. And in Colossians it's very beautiful too, to see there how we have been translated and transferred from one sphere to a completely new fear of things now that is completely in opposition to what the world is as a system.
And so we find that, uh, in the first chapter.
Uh, the officials of the Colossians are insulting who has delivered us from the power of darkness. That's the power that governs this will system, isn't it? But delivered us transparent darkness and has translated us into the Kingdom of Dearborn. We have been introduced into a new fear of things. Our life is now hidden with Christ and God. Our war, given our citizenship is in heaven. We do not belong to this world down here. And may Lord, might the Lord give great each one of us, that we might display this in our lives too, that we are not really of this will.
We are not, as the rest of the world around us, we belong to a heavenly sphere of things. Our home is in heaven and our appreciation, our affection should be, uh, connected with those things that are found above where Christ is sitting at the right end of God. I think that's a good point, uh, that you mentioned that we're in the world. The child of God is in the world, but not of the world. And it's interesting that we have here verse 15 and, uh, umm.
Verse 15 love not the world neither the things that are in the world. And if any man love the world, uh, the, the, the love of the father is not in him. It's the loving of the world. We have to live in this world until the Lord comes. The Lord takes us home. We have to live in this world to make our living here. We have to earn, uh, sustenance and so on. It doesn't mean that we can just dispense ourselves and get out of the world somewhere on some isolated island and.
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean. That doesn't mean that it means that our hearts should not become attached to the world that we love. It's it's system. We love all we see in it. The Lord would deliver us from that. Not just the fact that we can't, we can't extricate ourselves from it. We work in the world and I'm sure everyone here has to have a job somewhere, has a boss somewhere, and they have to work in the world. But that's not what he's talking about. He's speaking about those that take up the world and embrace it for themselves.
Forgetting that they are a child of God.