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That's stranger maids.
Maid.
I'm pretty good. Oh, I can hear you.
00:05:01
So we see how far we can get in the rest of the third of first John.
Perhaps verse 11 is that.
Vote right.
OK.
First John, chapter 3.
Verse 11.
For this is the message that he heard from the beginning.
That we should love one another, not as Cain, who was of the wicked one, and lose his brother, and wherefore slew him, because his own works were evil.
And his brother is right, gentlemen. Marble Nut, my brother, if the world hates you, we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not, his brother abideth in death.
Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.
Hereby we hereby perceive we the love of God.
Because he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the treadmill. But whoso hath this world good, and he seeth his brother have needs.
And shut it up his boughs of compassion from him. How dwelleth the love of God in him?
My little children.
Let it not love in Word, neither in tongue, but in thee.
And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before Him.
For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart.
And know it's all things.
Love it if our heart condemneth not, then have we confidence towards thought.
And whatsoever we have, we receive of Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in his sight.
Admitted his commandments.
That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another as He gave us commandments, and he that keepeth his commandments dwelleth in Him.
And He and him, and hereby we know that He abideth in US, abideth spirit which he hath given us.
As we know, the Bible is a book of contrast, and God often teaches us by contrast. And in these verses that we have taken up and where we started this afternoon, we really have three contrasts. We find that first of all we have righteousness contrasted with lawlessness, and then we have the children of God contrasted with the children of the devil. But now we find where we began this afternoon. He's going to contrast love and hatered.
And what characterized Cain was hatred for his brother. He was the result of lawlessness. That's true.
But there was hatred in his heart, and that's really what characterizes the world.
But what is characteristic of the divine life, the divine nature? Not hatred, but love. And so he's going to develop this.
Yes, we find a great deal about love in John's ministry, don't we?
It really is characteristic of his gospel that him expressed it well, and we sung it the other day. What mortal tongue can tell thy ways, so full of light and light?
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And love and uh, may not have put those in the right order, but love is definitely the final one. And.
So here we have love developed, as Jim has been saying, in contrast with what characterizes the world.
Is there love in the world? To some extent, yes there is. God has put natural love into man's heart, and so there is even in an unbeliever. Love between good friends, love between a husband and a wife, love between parents and children. We all recognize that that natural love does exist, but we never will find divine love operative in anyone who is not a child of God. Will we?
We will never find divine love operative and the if we could say it, the key to it is that whenever Christ is brought in, whenever God's claims are brought in, then that shows us the difference, doesn't it?
Cain may have showed a degree of natural love. It doesn't mention it, but we know we had a wife, we know he had children, and so on.
And there may have been natural love that was shown there, but when it came to God's claims, there was absolute hatred as to the one that was owned and approved of by God and himself, who of course was rejected because he brought an unfit sacrifice. And so we shouldn't be surprised, as it says here, if the world hates us, not intrinsically.
Because of what we are as children of God. And it's not so much what we do that causes the hatred, it's what we are.
The Lord brings that out on the 23rd of Matthew and He really lays at the feet of the religious leaders of the Jews, calling them a particular generation that all the righteous blood that was shed on the earth would be required of them. And so he starts with the blood of righteous Abel. And so there is a generation in this world that cains generation.
That, uh, is responsible for the shedding of the blood of the righteous in this world and so.
He the issue with Cain was is that his works were evil because.
Standing next to his brother Abel, there was a contrast and it exposed his works for what they were, and that's why they hated the Lord when he came in here and walked a perfect path. And the Father's will and obedience to the Father had exposed the religious leaders for what they were, and they hated him for that righteousness. And so all the righteous blood which is shed upon the earth from.
Righteousness Abel. He was accepted Abel, but it was righteous Abel. That really is what brought out Cain's hatred.
That generation, I think you maybe and maybe there's somebody else who can explain it better, but in Revelation, where you find the false church finally judged, it says in her was found the blood.
Of Saints and so there is a moral generation that begins with Cain and goes all the way until the Lord brings judgment on this world that is responsible for shedding the blood of the Saints, the righteous blood on this earth. And the motive is given here that they're the though they were religious and claimed to be accepted with God like Cain came without blood ignoring the fact really Goliath sacrifices even needed his own condition and denying what God was in himself in the way he came.
Expects to be accepted.
And here comes Abel, and it shows his works for evil, and he hates him.
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Because Ables were righteous. And so that moral generation is with us today.
Yes, I believe that's the thought, that the Lord Jesus could say, in the same way this generation shall not pass away till all be fulfilled. Well, we know of course the generation in actual fact that existed then has long since gone, but the moral character of those who will.
Take that place under the judgment of God in a coming day will be of the same stripe, the same make up, cut from the same cloth, as we would say. And, uh, the world of today is essentially Cain's world, isn't it? And there were four things that characterized Cain's world. Number one, there was no repentance for wickedness when he slew Abel #2.
There was a questioning and a complaining about the judgment that God placed upon him because of it #3 He desires absolutely nothing to do with God. He went out from the presence of the Lord.
And #4 he does his best to surround himself with everything possible to make this world comfortable in spite of the spoiling of everything with sin. And that world, in principle, is what we have today.
And the heart of man is essentially King's heart, so that God holds man responsible for that attitude and spirit. That began, I suppose, nearly 6000 years ago. And there's an indirect reference to gains generation in Psalm 12.
First One South Lord, for the godly man ceases, for the faithful fail from among the children of men.
And then we get a description going down to verse 7 where it says thou shalt keep them referring to the godly, the Lord. Thou shalt preserve them from this generation forever, which suggests that that generation.
Indoors for a while.
Very good.
Well, the wonderful thing is that you and I, with the capacity to show divine love, are privilege to show to that kind of a world what true love really is.
What this world often talks about is love, and what passes for love is really nothing more than the exhibition of man's natural lusts. It's not really love, it's self love in many cases.
And again, we say that because there is true natural love that God placed in the heart of individuals as human beings, and we, we still see it exist in this world. But divine love brings in God's claims and never sacrifices what God is or his righteousness in order to palliate evil. And that's where the man of the world has his hatred. And Steve alluded to that.
Same verse about the Lord Jesus, Because I testify thereof that the work, I testify of it that the works thereof are evil.
And that is why the world hates the believer, because even though he may not even say anything yet, his very walk and wave are a testimony to this world that they are on a collision course, if we could say it with God's claims. And deep down inside they know there is going to be judgment someday.
But what a wonderful thing to show that divine love. And of course that's exhibited first of all to those that know the Lord. We love the brethren. What a wonderful thing that is the whole family of God worldwide.
We can still remember.
Again, I tell too many stories about my late father-in-law, but I found it interesting one time when he came back from the West Indies and Jim will be able to relate to this and uh, he went down to the West Indies and, uh.
There had been a black brother waiting for him down there and he had told the authorities there why he was waiting there. He said I've got a brother coming from Canada. And the authorities were very surprised to find this white man step off the plane and the two of them run into each other's arms and give each other a warm hugs. I don't get it.
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The world didn't understand they were looking for a natural relationship.
What a wonderful thing it is to meet a believer from whatever race or ethnic background or culture or whatever, and immediately when we recognize them as a believer, they are part of a family of God.
Only divine love can do that. So it's, even though we've never met them before, hmm. Brother Albert had met this brother before, evidently. And there had been a bond, uh, established between them and, but sometimes we made a believer that we've never met before and we've had the experience. Sometimes we're in the islands and, uh, we're introduced to one who knows the Lord and there's an immediate bond there Were invited into their home, asked to stay overnight, given a meal. Well, you wouldn't trust a man of the world like that.
Or even go into a home down there and you wouldn't go into a home of someone who wasn't a believer and and feel completely safe or confident. But there is that as the children of God that brings us together in that in that way. And I was thinking of what you were saying, Brother Bill, in connection with our testimony to the world, because it's interesting what the Lord said to the disciples before he left them. He said by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.
If you have love one for another, by the practical manifestation of love amongst the Lord's people in his absence, that was going to be a testimony. He didn't say. By this shall all men know ye, my disciples, if ye speak the truth, or you live the truth, or you walk and obedience, all those things are right and proper. All those things can be a testimony, but the greatest testimony, I believe to this world.
Is when there is practical love shown amongst the people of God. I'll tell this, it happened a long time ago and a long way from here. I don't think anybody will recognize it, but I was saddened one time when there were some difficulties in an assembly and there were brothers meetings till two or three in the morning and finally the neighbors called the police. I thought that was very sad because of what was taking place in that building that was associated.
With those gathered to the Lord's name, the neighbors felt they had to put a stop to it by calling the authorities. That's a very solemn thing. But when there's real love shown. And remember, divine love is different than natural love.
I just like to make that distinction because it has been said there is natural love and the world, you know, even a dog will wag its tail and appreciate when you love it, when you pat it and you feed it and you give it a nice warm bed at night. A dog can appreciate that they have a soul, they have the there's, there's affection there. But divine love is different than natural love. Natural love in a person looks for something lovable in the object.
And it is, to a great degree dependent on a response from the object. And if it doesn't get that response, natural love can wane and even die. But divine love loves when there's nothing lovable in the object.
Now don't misunderstand me. Divine Love delights in a response from the object. My son, give me thy heart, thine heart. He, Divine Love, once delights in that response. The Lord wants a response from us, but it, Divine Love is not dependent on it. It is consistent in its outflow. It is consistent to the object, not dependent on the object itself.
So that's so good to be reminded as to the, once again, we've talked about this already, but the context in which John is writing, he's really giving the distinguishing characteristics of the family of God in contrast to those that are not in the family of God.
He's really giving the believer in this late day in which he was writing, in which there were many false teachings occurring. This Gnosticism was being developed at that time and it was making inroads. And so he gives the believers in his epistle.
The tools to be able to recognize those which are truly of the family of God and those which are not. In other words, He calls upon the children of God to make judgment, to judge.
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That which is false. Now we live in a day where judgment coming, arriving at a judgment and saying this is true and this is false is frowned upon and criticized.
We live in a day when every man says, let me live according to the dictates of my own conscience and don't judge me. That's the day we live in. That is simply another way of saying, as we find at the end of the book of Judges, every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
We as believers are called upon to judge that which is false and that which is true. Now you say to me, Well, what about those verses that say, Judge that you be not judge, not that you be not judged?
Well, I would suggest that that type of context is everything in Scripture. You cannot pick one verse of Scripture against another. You cannot pit John's ministry against Paul's. You cannot pit Paul's ministry against John. We need both rails. It's interesting that where we have various lists that involve righteousness and love, righteousness comes first. God's righteousness must never be compromised. It's that which is in in God, that which is entirely consistent with his character.
And in US, it's that as, as Bill explained, righteousness a little bit yesterday, but likewise is that which is consistent in the relationship in which we're talking. That's with the character of God. But so in first, uh, Timothy chapter 6, it says there, but thou a man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
And so on. In second Timothy chapter 2, it says plea also youthful us, but full of righteousness, faith, love, peace. In uh, Romans 14, it says the Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, but righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit of my card. Is that correctly in the book of James, it says there it doesn't use the word righteousness, but it says there that the wisdom which is the from above is the first pure, then peaceable, gentle and so on.
In this chapter we've been looking at righteousness as a characteristic of those that are in the family of God. Appears first in the chapter, then we have love. The two are not pitted against each other.
But to go back to answer my question, what about those voices that say that we shouldn't judge? Well, I would suggest that the judgment it speaks of is rather like Cain's judgment. It's measuring you against me. And whenever I judge you against my standard as to who I am, there will be jealousy, there will be biting of one another as we have in the book of Galatians and so forth. But when we but we are as believers called upon to judge things according to the word of God.
So once again, just remember that this book is giving those characteristics.
Of a child of God so that the believers to who John is writing to could discern between those that were true and that which was false. In the next chapter said, beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether there of God. We are to test things. We are to test things to see whether they're according to the word of God.
Not according to me, not according to my standards, not to compare against me whether I'm better or not. But we are called upon as Christians to make judgments. So as once again, these expectations, they speak to us, they speak to our own hearts as to us, you know, are we exhibiting love and so forth? Are we exhibiting righteousness in our life? But in the context in which John is writing, as I said, he was giving the believers of that day.
Tools to be able to distinguish between those that were true and those that were false.
Uh, let me ask a question and, uh, you were talking about Matthew 7 judge, not that you be not judged. And I've heard that's motives, but did you say that judging one against another because it talks about being hypocrites and casting out right, right. That, that, that amount of your own eyes for. And, and I agree that we are told not to judge, judge motives. And, and, and I would agree with that too. We don't know the motive, the other person, uh, but as this chapter says, if they're not exhibiting righteousness in their life.
That's the red flag. If they're not showing love towards their brethren, that's a red flag. I can only go by what they exhibit in their lives. But we are called upon to make that judgment again, not by comparing with myself, but again.
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What we find in the Word of God. But I just merely bring this up because, as I said, we live in a day where we are very strongly told that we are to walk according to the dictates of our own conscience. And don't judge me.
That is not scripture. That is not scripture. I am not to walk according to the dictates of my own conscience. I am to walk according to the Word of God and the truth that is revealed to me there. The 7th of the Daniel tells us that we judge the fruit.
So we're fruit inspectors, some brothers said.
Isn't it, uh, important?
In order to.
Have proper judgment.
To get into the presence of the Lord.
Because I think when we get into the presence of the Lord.
That's when we see shortcomings in ourselves and we see the best in our brother because we see the fact that here's a brother or a sister for whom Christ died. This is one who Jesus loves. He gave himself for this one. And when we contemplate this, we have a different output. We have a different attitude to our brother or sister.
But I think if we're out of the presence of the Lord often.
He used a sharp knife on the brother or the sister and were easy on ourselves. We think the better of ourselves than we do of the other.
And that's why I think, you know, being in the presence of the Lord, it's really an important place to be in order to get a right perspective on everything.
And you know, I, This is why John writes in this abstract way that he does things are black and white. He's not talking about this individual, that individual, this experience, that experience. He's giving us very clear things in black and white and.
Again, it's not about me, it's not about you. It's about the Word of God and God himself. And as you say, I I fully agree that if we are not in the presence of God, we're not allowing His Word to judge ourselves and our judgments are also going to be faulty.
Whoso hateth his brother is a murderer.
Scripture characterizes an act by its tendency. I think the same thing. And so we often use the analogy if you get on a certain highway and it will say Montreal and 100 miles or whatever you're going on that, and maybe you only go 5 miles and get off because you've reached your destination.
But that highway, the, the destination of that highway is to Montreal. And so it is, uh, whether it's in Paul or John, you often have that a thing is characterized morally by its end. Sometimes the scripture, there's moral geography.
Where also our Lord was crucified. Well, I didn't know he was crucified in.
Thought he was crucified in Jerusalem, but in the Book of Revelation it links it morally because there's such a thing as moral geography. And here it's the tendency of hate is to lead to murder. And the kind of hatred here was of the worst kind. And in that sense it exercises, or rather brings to light the very worst tendencies of man's heart.
Because coupled with the hatred, there was envy.
And you get that scripture, I think it's in the 27th of Proverbs. Uh, I might turn to it. Uh, Proverbs 27.
Yes, verse 4, Proverbs 27 and verse 4.
Wrath is cruel and anger is outrageous.
But who is able to stand before ending?
And we know, of course, that pilot, uh, knew very well that the Jews had delivered the Lord Jesus for envy. He wasn't a, he wasn't a fool and he understood what was going on. And that is prompted this murder of Cain. And so the Scripture says that does not characterize the family of God. As Bruce says, God often looks at the end point.
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Of where that tendency leads.
But once again, we have a contrast, don't we? And a beautiful one.
What does the family of God do if the new life is operating? We lay down our lives for the brethren, maybe not physically, although it can come to that, but we lay down our lives for the brethren. That is, if we're really walking with the Lord. And I say it.
Humbly knowing how much my own life falls short. But there is the Spirit of Christ that says I will give up my own things, my own ambitions, my own concerns in order to see.
Something good happened to my brethren in order to do something for my brethren. That was the Spirit, that is the Spirit of Christ. And So what a contrast to that is the world takes life. The believer says I will give up my own life because of divine love operative there. Tremendous contrast, isn't it, Brother Bill? Don't we have to have a right spirit and a right heart?
To be able to do that.
Delayed in our lives for the brethren or or love them so much that we want to do anything to help them and and not displease them. And don't we? We can't do that on our own right. We need to have a right spirit and a right heart within us that wants to do that. Is that correct? Yes, and it's divine life energized by the Spirit of God and lived out in communion with the Lord that enables us to do that.
Now we do know, and it's well recorded over and over again in history where individuals have laid down their lives.
The Lord Jesus himself bore witness to that. That, uh, greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friend. And that has happened many times in this world's history. But the motive can never be divine love. The motive is not reparable to God.
But the believer lays down his life for the brethren. But as you say, there has to be a walk in communion with the Lord otherwise.
I have an old sinful self that says no, my brethren are going to serve me, I am the one. And some will recognize the source of the quotation, but it's well known self likes to be served and thinks itself great.
But love serves and is great. Tremendous contrast. S likes to be served and thinks itself great. But love serves and is great. But I have an old sinful self that still likes to be served and resents it if I'm not served in the way that I think I ought to be.
But thank God that new nature says I will lay down my life in the spirit of Christ.
In order that someone else might be served. And the Lord Jesus gave his disciples that instruction, didn't He? When they got quarreling among themselves as to which one would be the greatest, He said, Well, the kings of the Gentiles exercised lordship over them, and they that have authority over them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so. And then what did he say? He that will be the greatest among you.
Let him be the servant of all. That's the character of Christianity, isn't it? And the Lord is the perfect example, because he said the Son of Man came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
And the Lord Jesus, in a coming day, when we get to the Father's house, he's still going to serve us. He's going to gird himself and come forth and serve us forever. He's going to minister to our every joy and happiness there in the Father's house. But.
Just again to put it in perspective here, so in Cain's world or the world is characterized by three things.
Lawlessness, hatred and violence.
But the divine life is characterized, as we've already said, by righteousness, love, and sacrifice, and the desire to make sacrifice, to serve for the blessing of others. I just want to bring in a little averse in Romans in connection with what's been said, because we may not be called on in this land to lay down our lives in the way many have and are even today.
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For their testimony and their service to the people of God. But it does say in Romans 12. I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God.
That you present your bodies. Notice that a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your intelligent or reasonable or intelligent service.
And so we may not be called to give our lives physically, but we are called to give our lives in service to the Lord and to one another.
That's really the thrust of what the Lord said when He said, Whoso loseth his life for my sake and the gospel shall save it. That is, if we are willing to give our lives in service and love to Him and to one another.
Why? He said to Peter a hundredfold in the next light. So that's 10,000%. That's a, that's a lot of percentage, isn't it? That's a lot of invest return on your investment. I don't think you have any earthly investment that gives you that kind of a return, but that's the return the Lord Jesus promised. If we give ourselves in sacrifice, if we lay down our lives for the brethren in that way, that's the kind of return we're going to get in eternity.
There was an expression in 2nd Corinthians 12.
It's 12, my marginal reading of verse 15, and I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls. So the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved.
And that's divine love, isn't it? Only divine love can act in that character.
Would it be right to say too, brethren, that, uh, in a sense, when we lay down our lives for our brothers, we laying down our lives for the Lord and that ye have done them to the police. And I think having that motive, uh, helps because, uh, I don't know about you, but there's a tendency with us to perhaps it's easier to lay down our lives for some than others.
But, uh, I don't think that the Lord would have us think that way, that we think and choose who we serve. Amen.
Well, this is to be shown out practically as we get in verses 17 and 18.
It does no good to talk about love if there isn't the practical expression of it.
And.
There is plenty of need. It doesn't necessarily.
Always take the form of this world's good, although that's what's mentioned here, but.
There is to be the practical expression of it in deed and in truth.
Of course, again, John speaks simply as to principle. We need wisdom in all of this. We need to be walking with the Lord. And I believe that's where it also comes in, as you were mentioning, John, because the practical display of that love needs to be in communion with the Lord and according to his mind.
I say it very kindly, but some of us have had occasion to visit countries where the general standard of living is much, much, much lower than it is here in North America.
And it imposes a real exercise on our hearts sometimes to know how to help, when to help, and how much to help. And I don't pretend to do it properly. I trust we wait on the Lord and seek His mind.
And of course, our resources sometimes are limited too. But the point is, there ought to be that willing heart and.
It shows really the exercise of divine love when that takes place, when there's the practical expression of it.
00:45:08
I remember well hearing the story years ago about.
A poor sister who didn't have anything to eat, and she went to a little church and so she called the pastor, the minister to come and see her, and he came and prayed with her.
And all the while he was praying, she was thinking, you know, it would be so much more. Well, ** *** appreciated the prayer, but it would have been so much more welcome if he brought a bag of potatoes with him or something like that.
And so the Lord appreciates the practical expression of it, doesn't he? What a difference that makes. And if I can say it.
I'm looking at those.
About whom Paul speaks in first Timothy 6 charge them that are rich in this world we are all in this room every one of us rich beyond the wildest dreams of the vast majority of this world's population and I would suggest that these.
Verses are directed perhaps to us in that way. Not that we don't look for needs within the framework of North America. Yes, we should.
But there is an exercise here that we ought to have, shouldn't we?
God is a giver. God so loved the world that he gave his only God's Son. You know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ as though he was rich. For your sakes he became poor that you through his poverty might be made rich. He was going to. I came not to the minister down to but the minister and given my life. So God is a giver and if we have the same life of Christ, it's not damned up.
Will be gracious givers too. God loves a hilarious giver. You know he told the Corinthians that they promised the year before to give. Well, he didn't want to just jerk the money out of them, but it was their whole spiritual life was.
Wrapped up in them learning to be gracious and give, and whether it's giving of ourselves in our time and energy like we've spoken of as a living sacrifice, or whether it's using the resources that God has placed in our hand.
God wants us to make sacrifice. You know, sacrifice is a word that is not common in our the society in which we live. This is completely out of context, but I'm just gonna say this to make my point and and I'll use myself as an example.
When the offering is passed on, the collection is passed on Lord's Day morning. My putting a $10.00 bill in the collection is not a sacrifice. It's not giving us. God has prospered. I only use that as an example and I only speak to my own heart.
What God wants us to do in our care and our practical love for the children of God is to make sacrifice and sacrifices to give up something that I am really going to miss and have to do without. You know, Paul knew what it was to make sacrifices. The Philippian brethren, when they ministered to Paul, knew what we want to make sacrifice. They didn't have a lot of this world's goods, but they were one of the assemblies that was willing.
To perhaps have a little less themselves, if I can put it in everyday language, to eat hamburger instead of steak for a few days so they could minister to the needs of the Apostle Paul. And rather than I find this very exercising to my own soul, you know, I, I go to countries like Brother Bill where our brethren are willing to make real sacrifices. I'm going to tell you a little story and I hope it's not too much out of context, but it really spoke to my own heart in this way.
You know, during the revolution, the three years of revolution in Egypt, I had the privilege of continuing to go over to visit my brother each summer. And in the assembly in Cairo, there are, I would say, 4 very wealthy brothers, wealthy by our standby North American standards, by Western standards. And then there are the other. And those brethren take care in a very beautiful way.
The wealthy brethren take care of the other. But what really spoke to my own heart was.
00:50:05
Three of those brothers told me during the height of the revolution, they said we have the resources and the contacts to put ourselves and our families on a plane and leave Egypt permanently. But they said we won't leave our brethren behind.
I bowed my head and said, Lord, give me that kind of love and that kind of spirit, that unsamed love of the brethren, and they are there to this day.
Taking care in a very practical way, not not just in Word but in deed. They're there taking care of their brethren and showing that divine love.
So how do we how do discern these? Many of us are too private to express any need. Do we have to pry it out of someone or how do we find that out?
I suggest that if we pray about being instruments used to be used of the Lord, then the Lord can give us the discernment and bring things to life.
Without crying or asking at all. And Brother Tim, there's no shortage of opportunities and needs to show divine love in a practical way. The shortage is on my part and the exercise of my soul, but there's no shortage. If we look to the Lord, He will show us very clearly and give us the wisdom as to how to carry it out.
This book was not written to the gathered Saints. Well, it was written to Christians. And so the Apostle Paul, he says in Colossians, I'm reminded of this, he says, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you had to all the Saints. And so it should be to all the Saints. And someone has said that if one is not, is missing in your heart, you don't have on your heart what God has on his heart.
He has all the same subjects and he doesn't have anything.
Sometimes we think, you know, as we read it, we think, well, this is written to the gathered Saints. No, it's written the Luther, too.
It was a call to him to come out from what he was in and to be separate. So it's it's written to all the Saints. Another aspect of giving would not be merely to address perceived need, but to show fellowship with the work of the Lord. I can remember living in a pretty Western standards, at least a pretty poor place, and there were brothers coming through that were quite wealthy by Western standards.
And they were serving the Lord, and, uh, He was.
It was sweet the way those brothers who, uh, really didn't have much.
Hmm. We just, uh, my wife just, uh, gave me a note that was written to my former wife and when my father-in-law died and, uh, he insisted that he did just bury it in a box and have the very simple note said, give 6 or $700 to this, give 6 or 700 to, uh, Bill McDonald's. Uh, and that should be something that.
Will be leftover for me not having a normal funeral. So those words, you know, it's sad, you know, I mean that he wanted that to go to the gospel and the work of the Lord.
Well, verse 19 brings before us the assurance in our souls.
God never uses feelings.
In that sense, to assure us in something that is important in Scripture, it rather rests on His Word.
But the enjoyment of it in our souls gives us an assurance, because we walk in the good of it. I believe that's the thought here. We know that we are of the truth and shall assure our hearts before Him.
00:55:01
I can have the theory of the truth in my head, but I will not have the assurance in my heart until I walk in the good of it.
How very important that is. And so it's a walk. And that's why this practical side of things is so important. Walking in the good of what I have and what I know assures our hearts before him. And as we already mentioned it and we don't need to belabor it again, but we mentioned it yesterday.
If we do not walk with the Lord, even though we are not overtly doing something wrong.
We will find that our heart condemns us.
Those here who are married will know what I'm talking about when I say you don't have to do something wrong in your married life to have your heart condemn you.
It just has to be the subtle distance that gets between you and your spouse, perhaps the omission of something that you really ought to do but you don't do, or a little word or a little gesture or a little look or something like that, and you both know that that happy communion between the two of you is not what it was before.
Does your conscience condemn you? Maybe. But most of all, it's your heart, isn't it?
And we ought to be sensitive enough to feel that in the family of God that we are at a distance from the Lord. Then we don't have confidence in the Lord, then we don't have that liberty and freedom to.
Come into the Lord's presence.
Thank God He's greater than our heart and knows all things and what a comfort that gives and it encourages us to be restored in our souls, realizing that as we've said before, His ways with us may change.
But his love never does.
The other question and I for a long time on this.
Verse. So I appreciate some help if anybody can help me.
God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things.
Is this?
And here's how I've taken it. If I'm wrong, I appreciate correction and my heart may condemn me.
In in matters as we have been brought out.
But the reality is I never know the full extent.
Of how far I've gotten away but he does so My heart may condemn me, but he's greater than my heart. And I may come and want to get that right.
And, and he knows me altogether. He knows really how far I've got. I think I went this far and my heart condemns me. But he says you went that far. Is that the thought? And.
I think we have an example of it in John in Peter's restoration in the 21St chapter of John.
These are not my thoughts.
And it it a little long to go through and I don't tend to go through it and all the subtleties of it. It's a very interesting portion. And the different uses of the word love and the different uses of the word know. But the third time in verse 17, John 21, verse 17, he the Lord said unto Peter, the third time Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved because he said unto him the third time lovers Thailand me. And he said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things thou knowest. And he uses a different form of the word know.
It's not deceived, but Lord, you know by absolute objective knowledge everything that's in my heart, thou knowest that I love thee. Uh, Lord, thou knowest all thing, Thou knowest that I love thee. Jesus said unto him, be my sheep. And so Peter finally comes to the point and says, Lord, you know everything about me. You know everything about me. I don't have to say anything more. You know me and.
You know, that's, I believe, the point the world is trying to bring Peter to tell you to bring us to.
01:00:03
And then so to answer your question, I believe it includes what you were saying.
He felt his little love for the Lord, but the Lord knew that He read about them. The Lord knew everything about him. He didn't have to say anything.
So you could say, even if everybody else looks and says, I don't know, Peter loves them, the Lord. But he knew more than Peter did. He knew the full extent of it.
Computer really did love it, You know, He really did love it. He proves it later.
And the confidence here?
Brings before us that wonderful privilege that we have to go to the Lord in prayer and with confidence.
It's a wonderful thing to be able to go in real confidence to the Lord.
Not that we boast about it.
Sometimes, and I have heard it, believers say, well, I know I have the mind of the Lord in this. I prayed about it and I know I have the mind of the Lord. It's really saying that I'm living so close to the Lord that I couldn't possibly have missed his mind. The very fact that I make that statement shows that there is pride in my heart and I probably am in a state where I could easily miss the mind of the Lord, but.
It's a wonderful thing and it's individual to be able to go in confidence to the Lord, because I have the sense in my soul that what I am asking for is according to His mind.
Wonderful privilege, because, as someone has remarked many years ago, prayer is founded on the immense privilege of our having common interests with God.
Some man was challenged once as a believer, an unbeliever said to him, do you really believe that when you go to the Lord in prayer, the Lord changes his mind so that what the Lord was going to do, he suddenly doesn't do, or he does it in a different way because you went to him in prayer.
All the man said you're holding the stick by the wrong end, He said When I go to the Lord in prayer, it's not the Lord that gets changed, it's I that is changed.
And we get that, of course, in Romans 8. We don't need to turn to it because sometimes we don't know what to pray for. But the Spirit of God brings that prayer before the Lord according to the perfect knowledge that He has of what we really do need. How thankful we can be. But isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to go to the Lord in confidence? That's the result of walking in communion with Him. Again, not a thing to be boasted about, Not a thing to go to someone else about.
Not a thing to, if I could say it, kindly, start a prayer chain about or something like that. I can't bring others into my confidence, but it's a wonderful thing to be able to go to the Lord.
In that confidence, because we are walking consciously in obedience to His will.
It's a wonderful circle if I'm walking and, and I say this because I don't fall so short, so I feel funny saying, but if we walk in obedience to his word and.
And a path of righteousness and our heart isn't condemning us. And we can go to him in confidence. We're gonna ask what he wants now, what I want. And if I ask what he wants, is he gonna do it? Of course he's gonna do it. And he lends his power to the answer to that prayer because I'm asking what he wants and he's gonna do what he wants to do. And it just is a, a beautiful full circle around. I've enjoyed that, Steve, in connection with what it says in the 37th song, it says delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
That doesn't mean He gives us everything that we want, naturally speaking, but I do believe what it means is that the more we find our delight in Him, His desires become our desires so that we do ask according to His will.
01:05:01
But there's another thing that gives us confidence too, to come in prayer. And we've already spoken of it, but that is to walk in the sunshine and the enjoyment of not so much our love for the Lord, but his love for us. And that's really the contrast between John and Peter. Peter styled himself as the disciple who loved Jesus. John was the disciple whom Jesus loved. And Peter did learn the lesson as we had before us at the end of the.
The Gospel of John, I believe he finally came to that realization, but that's why in the 5th chapter of or the 4th chapter of the book we're taking up, he says there is No Fear in love.
But perfect love casts out fear. That's not our love for the Lord. That's my love for the Lord is imperfect at best. But it's to realize the perfect love and to realize that when we ask what He wants, what He does for us, the answers to prayer are really for our good and blessing and come from His hand of love. And to realize that in love He knows what is the very best for us. And if we come in the enjoyment of His love, full communion and in the enjoyment of His love, that's going to give us confidence.
If a child comes to a father and there's been something come between the father and the child, and the child isn't enjoying the father's love, and there's something on the child's conscience or their heart. Why, the child may ask for something, but they're going to ask with fear and trembling. They're not going to ask in confidence, and they're not going to have confidence that the father is going to give it to them, even though it might be good for their good and it might be the right thing.
But when things are taken care of and the child is back in the father's arms and in the enjoyment of, of his love and the little difficulties been, uh, been judged and, and confessed and taken care of, why then the child can now.
Ask and confidence. And that's why John in the upper room leaning on Jesus bosom was the only one that could ask the Lord about the problem.
Peter was down the table. He couldn't ask the Lord. The others all looked at each other and said, is it I? Is it I? But John was the one who, in perfect confidence, enjoying the Lord's love, could turn to the Lord and make that request.
Tells us in.
Chapter 5 and verse three. His commandments are not reasons.
Why is this?
Because.
Under the law, we find that we're in a ******* we're required to do something that we don't want to do.
You know the old nature does not want to submit.
To the law. But the fact is we now have a new nature.
Or yes, sometimes it's wait.
The Lord's deliverance. It doesn't come too early that we missed out on the blessedness of trusting in the dark, but it also doesn't come too late that we experience the misery of trust and invades.
Well, these last two verses are kind of, I suppose, summing up everything, aren't they?
This is his command.
That we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ.
We could say, well could. He's writing to believers.
01:10:05
Haven't they already done that? In one sense, yes, for salvation. But faith in that name should characterize us all through the Christian life, shouldn't it? And so the Lord wants us to exercise that faith all the way along the pathway. It's a constant living thing in our hearts, isn't it?
And love one another. As he gave us commandments over and over and over again, we find that commandment repeated. Why? Well, we've spoken about it. Our old nature gets in the way, doesn't it? And we don't show that love the way we should.
And as an old brother used to remark, obedience and happiness go together. Do we want to enjoy the things of Christ and have a happy life than it's in the pathway of obedience? I will never get any encouragement or any comfort in a pathway of disobedience from the Lord. His love never changes and the moment there is an ounce of repentance and a desire for restoration.
All the power of God is there to restore me, and Christ is our advocate.
But I never get any comfort or any help in a vast way of disobedience.
But he that keepeth his commandments, verse 24, dwelleth in him, and He in him. What a blessed pathway that is.
There's a verse that just came to me, Brother Bill, while you were talking. I'm not sure I can find it, but it's, uh, we had an old brother and our assembly in Minneapolis back in the 60s, and he quoted us, uh, to obey is better than sacrifice and to harden than the fat of Rams. Would that fit in with what we're talking about here? Yes. And if we want to turn to it, that's in First Samuel.
Thank you.
I think it's is it 15? I was looking at 14, but is it 15? You got it there. Yes, verse 22. Thank you. First Samuel 15 and verse 22.
And Samuel said, speaking to Saul, a king Saul, ask the Lord his great delight and burnt offerings and sacrifices.
As in obeying the voice of the Lord, behold, who obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of Rams.
What God does, as we've been hearing about, appreciate sacrifice. We get it more than once in the New Testament.
But it needs to be done in the pathway of obedience. Cain offered a sacrifice, but the Lord couldn't accept it. And so everything we do needs to be according to the word of God. And if we willfully disobey the word of God.
We can't expect the Lord's blessing in our lives.
But the Spirit of God delights to minister Christ to our souls and give us that constant, steady enjoyment of all that He is and all that He is for us.
Romans chapter 8, I'll just read it, verse 16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. And so the last great group is His spirit that dwelleth in US, who takes all of this and makes it good in our souls to give us that confidence and assurance and that it bears fruit in our lives. He witnesses with our spirit that we are.
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Nowhere in the heart that never.
01:15:01
For God's birthday, our sins.
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OK, great, our blessed God and our Father thou hast given us, Son.
Things to exercise our heart, and we desire that our hearts will not condemn us.
That our hearts would be full of thy beloved Son, the Lord for us, and that that overflow will flow out to our brother and to others as well. But we just thank you for this time together and we look to be for the rest of the day. We think of the gospel message to go for it in this room if we're left here. And we just pray that thou abuse it for the honor and glory of the Lord Jesus and the eternal blessing of anyone that might still be in their sins.
01:20:22
2000 and the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.