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Thing Together 288.
288.
All thou whose mercy spark, do all we can do or say, as in thy people Thou indeed just daily more displayed, let for our happiness of God and us while here below, by virtue of Christ, death and blood the riches blessings flow. 188.
Hold thou whose mercy is all.
We may be able to remember sighs loud from the ground and his throat and his name is the land of the placards, and then the number one man is the A1 who directions to all the.
Phone number 80693 10-4 37673932.
Call iPhone Raymond. Call 168.
Dollars per hour.
I would like to make a suggestion as to what we might take up.
00:05:02
I believe our brothers hymn that we just sung was very timely.
And I would suggest the chapter from which the lines in the last verse were taken.
1St Thessalonians 5.
It's a very practical chapter.
But we need that kind of thing sometimes in these last days.
And it is a chapter that deals particularly with.
Some things that are going on in the world today or potentially going on and.
Some of the things that are coming upon this world and our proper reaction to it, which of course is supremely important to us, how do we react to coming events in this world and the shadow of them that we are seeing rather vividly right now?
What do my brethren think of that?
Of the Lord sanctifying us fully. That last verse really spoke to my heart as we thank you.
Well, that's encouraging.
Or perhaps we could read for Thessalonians.
Chapter 5.
But at the time and of the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I read unto you, for you yourself know perfectly.
Day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night, when they shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, to travail upon a woman with trial, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in the darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. You're all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of the darkness. But let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, for they did sleep, sleep in the night.
And they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love for a helmet the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
Before comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do, we beseech you, brethren, to know them with your labor among you, and are over you and the Lord, and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love for their work sake can be at peace among yourselves.
Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Comfort the feeble minded, support the weak. Be patient toward all men. See that you render evil or evil. See that none render evil for evil unto any man. But ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves and to all men. Rejoice evermore, Pray without ceasing.
In everything.
Give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit, despite not prophesying, Prove all things, hold fast that which is good, Abstain from all appearance of evil, and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body, you preserve blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us.
Greet all the bread and with a holy kiss. It's hard to do by the Lord Jesus. By the Lord that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren, in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.
Before we begin the chapter, I would make one remark, and that is, let's bear in mind that we have only two reading meetings.
Not that we have necessarily to get through the whole chapter, but.
Uh, it's easy to get bogged down in a few verses and sometimes, uh, miss seeing, as we would say in common jargon, we miss seeing the forest for the trees. So it's good to get a picture of the whole chapter as much as possible. But also, of course, if there are important details, it's good to get into some of them too. And we allow the Spirit of God liberty to do that.
00:10:18
But as we know, the Thessalonians.
Had been brought right out of paganism by a visit from the Apostle Paul, which was fairly short.
He had been there, we find in the book of the Acts, only three Sabbath days, so that his visit among them was probably only a month or less.
And yet they were saved right out of paganism and brought into the light of Christianity. And no doubt in that time period Paul had given them a great deal of instruction about future events and about their proper hope in Christ. So that the Lord's coming, whether it is the appearing, as we often talk about it when the Lord comes to set up His Kingdom, or whether it is His coming for us, commonly referred to as the rapture.
Paul brings that in in every single chapter of his two epistles to them. But we know, of course, that they had gotten a little mixed up and.
Somehow had the idea that they were going through the tribulation, which of course was a rather serious error. And Paul seeks to correct that in this second epistle, among other things, because they had lost sight of the Lord's coming for them as an ever present hope. But having corrected that in the second epistle, I, I, I mentioned, uh, we find here in the first epistle.
He is bringing before them the precious joy of all that was theirs in Christ, all that they had to hope for, all the blessings that were theirs that were going to, they were going to enjoy in fullness in the coming day. But then very definitely, and this is where I suggest we come in, in these last days, there is a very definite emphasis on the.
State of soul and the lifestyle, if we could use the term, that was in keeping with those who were expecting the Lord to come at any moment and who were knowledgeable about the judgment that was coming on this world.
So to chapter one.
And to wait for it to come from heaven and be raised from the dead in Jesus, who delivered us reading from the last come.
In there just two verses, what's your positive words to develop all the paths to do constructive matter of detail?
He is the richest of the death and we have come together before. You believe God, we don't have the death and souls. Those are deadly fights. You kind of raise the death and he delivers. That's about to come.
Through this.
He delivers us from neurotic countries final salvation, the Lord coming and changing our body and taking us through the Father's house before the terrible justice comes right there and that beginning the opening versions right. There's one that doesn't come on the world.
Stop.
Well, it's so important, isn't it, for all of us to be clear on this.
As our brother has mentioned, at the end of the fourth chapter of this epistle, Paul gives us the wonderful details of how you and I are going to be called home.
What a wonderful hope that is.
And yet we are still here, and we marvel at it.
00:15:03
Permit a little reminiscence.
I can still remember back in 1970, the year my wife and I were married, my late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe, wrote down that date as he was beginning a letter.
And I can still see him. He shook his head. He said. I can't believe it. I can't believe it that we're still here.
And then later on, a few years later, he gave an address to young people.
Who were in their late teens and early 20s.
And in the strongest terms, told them to take a good hard look at themselves because they had already lived.
More than half their life in this world already. The Lord's coming was that close.
But he was rough. Those same young people are now, in many cases, grandparents, and we're still here.
But the Lord is not slack concerning His promises. He is coming.
But he is long-suffering and not willing that any should perish. But then, as our brother has mentioned as we go into this 5th chapter.
The day of the Lord is brought before us, and the day of the Lord is the day of judgment, isn't it? The day of the Lord encompasses the judgments that.
Begin with the Lord's dealing with man in the latter part of the seven-year tribulation period, and it encompasses the whole of the millennial day and then the judgments at the end of the millennia, the day of the Lord.
It's when the Lord Jesus will have his rightful place, and it comes to this world like a thief in the night, unwanted and unexpected.
Never, never is the rapture the Lord's coming referred to in that way. It is always the Lord's coming in judgment, isn't it? But we are to be sensitive to the fact that it is very close. We are.
Intended to see, as Hebrews 10 and 25 brings before us, that the day is approaching the day of judgment, and I would suggest that some of the.
Very serious events that have taken place in the last few years.
Are the Lord warning this world?
Wildfires, hurricanes, floods, earthquakes even.
Very serious multi vehicle accidents such as we had just this past week.
Right here in Canada and in the province of Ontario.
God is warning man that far worse things are coming, and so we get a warning here about that which is coming and what God is going to do with this world that continues to reject His beloved Son. But again, there is a state of soul, there is a walk that is in keeping with those who know and understand that.
I was utterly shocked.
In reading the other day about.
About that massacre that occurred in Las Vegas, where a gunman from a hotel, having amassed a virtual arsenal of weapons, proceeded to break open a couple of windows and begin firing on the crowds.
And I can't remember the exact number, but it was.
Well up into the hundreds of people that were either killed or injured.
And yet someone called attention to the fact that within a day and 1/2 after that massacre, all the casinos in that hotel were being used in full force and the gambling was going on just as if nothing had ever happened. That's the kind of world we live in.
Well, there is good instruction for us here, for all of us, young and old, isn't there?
Interesting to consider.
00:20:03
Non believers were recent believers Monday For the youngest countries. There were no elders. There are little elders.
Concerning problems.
With confusion today, we consider that details of prophecy reason pretty simple.
The first thing that's coming back, someone who died before you on the cross. We showed his death, that he comes.
That's how simple it is. Put it before us, a personal door, looking back on the cross, looking forward to his coming on my heart to save enough to him.
I think that's right in the point, you know, we're looking at the world around and we got occupied with profession, terrible things. That's so powerful when we look up and say, oh, it's so wonderful. The Lord is coming on each one day passes, folks. That's important for people to talk to them for that.
It's interesting to observe the dispatch guitar has been mentioned at 17 that the scripture indirectly states that these brethren were noble in.
Korea were more normal, which means the brethren and petrol and ICE and were noble, but the characteristic, uh, and difference between those in Berea and those, in fact, Lanika were those in Berea searched the scriptures to see if these things were sold. And, uh, it's interesting just to observe along with what their brother Michelle just brought before us, if the brethren of Thessalonica had paid attention to what is written in the 4th and 5th chapter of the book we're taking up this morning.
There might not have been a need for the 2nd epistle because if they just listen carefully and read carefully what's been brought out already this morning about the difference between the Rapture in the 4th chapter and the Day of the Lord in the 5th chapter, they might not have gotten so easily confused. But what's the challenge for me and for you? And the challenge is, am I being a Marine? Am I going to go home later and look up all of the references, the places that have been referred to?
Am I going to search to understand whether indeed.
All the places where the Lord.
Coming for his Saints mentioned is never a surprise, but where the coming of the Lord in judgment and it's always a surprise. And we're going to go home and look those things up. That's the way to buy the truth. That's the way to be Berean and search the Scriptures and see if these things are sold. And in doing that, you'll get into your own heart. And when you're challenged by some of the false teachings that are so prevalent in the world around us, you'll have a basis of truth on the Word of God.
That will enable you to be able to hold firmly what you've been taught by the Spirit from the word of God and to be able to help others. And so I think there's a little lesson here in that we can learn from those brothers and sisters and best Lanika, to search the scriptures and lay hold on these things for ourselves to really get a great grasp on.
The day of the Lord, is it not when the Lord Jesus Christ will manifest Himself publicly to the whole world? And we read in the second epistle, chapter one and verse 7 how He's going to be revealed to this world.
Tells us here.
2nd Thessalonians 1 and verse 7. Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven.
With his mighty angels, Martin says, the angels of his power in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and then obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so on. Well, at the present time the Lord Jesus is hidden through this world.
But it's not hidden to faith. We sit here and think, joy by faith, that the Lord Jesus Christ lives, He seated on his Father's throne.
00:25:12
Citadel on the right hand of God in heaven is that which we enter into and enjoy by faith as believers. But the world knows nothing about this.
And I think of world leaders.
And how they struggle to deal with the issues that confront this world.
And how frustrated they become when?
It doesn't seem as though anything is working, but you know, the important thing here is to recognize that the Lord Jesus Christ is the answer.
To the problem.
But I understand in the United Nations.
Which is an organization established.
To bring peace to this world, the United Nations, the name of Jesus is not to be mentioned. Well, how is it that we can have peace without the Prince of Peace? So I'm thinking about the Thessalonians and how they entered into the truth as to the Lord's resurrection and ascension.
And you know the apostle, he says, you yourself know perfectly that the day of the Lord so comes as a thief in the night. For one day, one day shall say peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them. Well, apparently there's going to be a time in this world where there does appear to be.
A sense of of of peace, safety, but.
It's going to be short lived, sudden destruction.
You come with a condom as prayer bail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye brethren.
In darkness.
That they should overtake you as a thief.
How wonderful it is to be in the light.
And to have the word of God illuminate.
Power of the Spirit of God.
The future as well as the present and the past.
This world lies in darkness.
This is a good description of the day of the Lord in Isaiah 13, starting with verse 6.
And I believe it's.
Perhaps the apostle was referencing this Scripture when he wrote to the Thessalonians. Isaiah 13. Six Holly for the day of the Lord is at hand. It shall come as the destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be fainted in every man's heart shall melt, and they shall be afraid. Pangs and sorrow shall take hold of them. They shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth. They shall be amazed one at another. Their faces shall be as flames.
Behold, the day of the Lord cometh cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate, and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light. The sun shall be darkened and is going forth, and the moon shall not 'cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity. And I will cause the arrogancy of the proud deceased, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man.
More precious than fine gold, even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of our place, and the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger. And in Luke 21 we read that men's hearts are failing them for fear of those things that are coming upon the earth.
And in Revelation 3, in the letter to the assembly of Sardis, the Lord speaks to that assembly, and he says that He is going to come upon them as a thief in the night.
There is a portion of the professing Church of God that is going to be left in this world after the Saints are raptured, that is going to go on and be caught by the Lord when he comes in his days to execute judgment on this world. He's going to come upon that empty profession of Christianity as a thief in the night. And men's hearts are failing them for fear, those things that are coming on the earth, and they're looking for someone.
00:30:22
Who can keep a lid on things? Who can kind of take control? Because if there's one thing that man wants, it's peace.
It's the desire of all nations, Haggai tells us, that they're not going to have it until the Lord comes, but they want peace and they're willing to give up. We see in the day we live in, In my lifetime, we've seen an amazing change of such a insistence on certain liberties and privacy, especially in North America, given up in order to have peace and safety, willing to turn over.
Almost anything.
In order to have in exchange the promise of peace and safety. And there is a man coming who's going to promise that. You know, every politician today preaches this message. Put your trust in me. Vote for me, elect me. I'll bring you peace and safety. They can't. And there's one coming who's going to say the same thing. And the Western gentile world is going to put their trust in the beast who can make war.
With the beast, Oh, we've got one now that will provide us peace and safety and then sudden destruction. The Lord is going to meet the beast in his armies when he comes out of heaven. That peace and safety is never going to be realized though it be preached.
There is a God. Why is he allowing all the things that we see around us, the wickedness, vileness that we see every day? If there's a God, why does he allow that? And so there's a possibility with them that he would, he would look forward to a time where God would come and judge, as he says, the wicked from the earth. They don't realize that they themselves need a Savior.
They're self-righteous people like that that look forward to a time when the earth could be cleansed.
And if it was a God that would do it and they could be brought into peace through that way, they would desire it. And there's an interesting aspect in Amos uh, mentioned this Amos, uh, chapter 5.
Verse 18 of Amos chapter 5 it says Woe unto you that desire the day of the Lord. To what end is it for you? The day of the Lord is darkness and not light.
If a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him, or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him, shall not the day of the Lord be darkness and not light? He was very dark, no brightness in it.
When the Lord does come to judge every person that has not accepted the gospel.
As God presents it is going to come under the judgment of God. There may be those that would be looking for someone to come and relieve them of all the evil that's in the world. They may be looking for even the day of God to come that that would rid this world of all the evil that's in it. But what about what about themselves? Is there somebody here like that?
That has not put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. And you're looking for something to happen that's going to rid the world of all the evil. Well, we each one of us have to look within ourselves. We do. We want this because we want to see the Lord Jesus have his rightful place in this scene that rejected him. That should be our desire as as believers. But there is a world out there that's looking for, like our brother mentioned, peace.
In any way it can give it?
The righteousness of God.
One of the desires of the brother here in Montreal.
Through the gospel, and it was mentioned that there was a man who said he would come.
Praying for the gospel as it goes forth and the young people who are going to be handing up tracks and so forth. But it's important to see, I believe, in the second chapter.
00:35:08
Of the attitude in which that should be done.
After First Thessalonians 2 and verse 7.
They were just alone on you.
Even as a nurse, cherish the children.
So manufacturing desirous of you.
We are willing to impart unto you.
But also our own souls, as you were here.
That's the heart of the gospel.
And then I sit here not in judgment, and speak about the name of the Lord.
Talking about people.
Relatives, aunts and uncles, grandmas and grandpas, neighbors, they're going to come under the trust.
And we sit here sometimes as academic. There's no hurt, there's no heart from it. We can relish the facts and the position. We're going home and we're not going to be here. We're going to say seeing all these things that are going to be dissolved. The men are persons on you to be an all holy conversation and godliness is a practical walk for it. But for you who are going to present the gospel that you end up track.
Does the person see your heart in it? Does Do they see you really care for them? Do they real, real life? It's the love of the truth.
That they're rejecting and that love is manifested in the way you express that love. These were either worshippers. So much of the world today is called little children. Keep yourself revival.
But as we speak about the Lord's coming, we speak about the day of God, the day of wrath and all these things made me realize that a cable way the gospel is going more than may there really be a lot for these Pure souls that are going to come under this judgment that they would be delivered and that they would receive the love of the truth that they might be saved. So it's an encouragement to those years in Montreal tonight. Just want to present the gospel.
Presented with heart. Presented.
So.
Son of God, who left me. And that's the message you want to present from your heart as a nurse cherishes your children being affectionately desirous of you and willing to impart their own soul. It isn't that we just throw a track in somebody's face and say, read this, but it's the heart that needs to be reached. It's the response.
God, soul of the world, gave his only because of the thought. So as we continue this chapter and we have the thoughts about the day of God remembering the neighborhood that we're talking about, it's the people we work with talking about, we're going to come under the most solemn judgment.
It was part of the gospel that Paul three because they evidently and there was a week.
Business around Thessalonica was, uh, and the, uh, great, uh, Roman Rd. the Evian way went through that city and it was a crossroads. And so from that city went out the testimony of this people who had turned from idols that was surprising to serve a God they called the living God and contrast those dead idols to wait for his Son from heaven. So in the short time the apostle had been there, he told them of the Lord's coming for them, right?
And deliver who has delivered us from the coming wrath. So he had taken up judgment. And so these things in that short period of time to those young believers. He had laid out that whole order of things of the Lord's coming and judgment on this world. And when he preached the Felix, he, he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, and Felix tremble at the thought of it. And so I believe that judgment to come, not just eternal punishment in the lake of fire, but judgment to come upon this world.
Is very much a part of the preaching of the gospel and it reaches the consciences where the Spirit of God is working of men and women. So they had an understanding of these things and he could say, you know, the times and the seasons. Times and seasons have to do with the unfolding of prophetic events in this world, times and seasons. If you go back to Daniel's prophecy, we get days that represent certain periods of time.
00:40:14
There's times and seasons connected with the unfolding of prophetic events, the apostle says. You know those things. But we live not in that time of times and seasons. That's going to start after the Saints are gone. Those events are going to begin to unfold. There's so much today.
That is so readily available, and one gets the sense that the Saints so easily pick up on our swept away. A sister called me the other night and she said, do you know?
That the Antichrist is here. I said, really? Where did you hear that? On the YouTube? She said, OK, well that sounds kind of silly, but you know, there's things that are much more subtle and they're out there and they're available and they are seeking to look around at events in this world and to try and tag them with the prophetic scriptures. There isn't one prophetic scripture that's going to unfold or a prophetic event that is going to take place until after the Lord comes. That's the next event.
His coming for us, then those things are going to unfold.
Say a very high, hearty Amen to that because there is so much out there today that is mixing up prophecy with the church, period. And as we well know, the church being a heavenly company is not the subject of prophecy. And so the prophecies that are referred to in Scripture and that are referred to here have to do with the earth, with God's dealings with the earth, and as such.
If we could use the term, the clock of prophecy will not start until after you and I are called home, and I believe that's why it says here.
When they shall say peace and safety?
We hear a lot today about the cataclysmic events that are about to befall this world of how the economies of the United States or the economy of the European Union is going to fail. And maybe there's going to be a nuclear war now that North Korea seems to be getting worked up and rattling at Sabre, so to speak, and all this kind of thing.
You and I can go on in peace in spite of all of that. I am not suggesting that nothing serious will happen. But I do say, and I'm quoting also our brother, our late brother Norman Berry, who used to say the same thing. He said, don't look to see the economies and everything in this world to go down in one terrible fall before the Lord comes.
He said. I don't believe it can happen.
After we are called home, they are still going to be able to say peace and safety. And as Brother Steve has been bringing out, they will find a man in the beast who says let me have it, I'll fix it for you. I know how to do it and people will put their faith in him. We get in Luke's gospel. I think it might be Chapter 9 where it says as it was in the days of Lot social, the days of the Son of Man be they ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they build it. They will continue to do all those things.
For a short time after you and I are called home.
The first horse of the the Apocalypse in Revelation chapter six, he goes forth conquering into conquer, but not with bloodshed. And so all those things would indicate to us that Satan is going to have a very clever lie, whatever it will be, to persuade this world that everything is going to be all right. Even though millions of people have disappeared, when the rapture occurs and life is going to go on, things are going to be all right.
Prosperity will still go on, and I have no doubt that just as men have become almost immune to the troubles and difficulties God is allowing in this world today, so they will get over the sudden disappearance of you and me very quickly. And Satan will persuade them. Let's go forward now. Everything is going to be all right, and then the Lord will step in and start to deal with matters.
00:45:14
And dismantle all the huge commercial and religious and other systems that man has set up. But for a while there will be peace and safety. But then, as has been brought out by our brother Richard, what is our attitude and spirit knowing that all of this is just around the corner?
It ought to solemnize it, shouldn't it, and at the same time energize us toward a lost world.
Something is terrible, and the Lord will take pleasure in judgment.
Of the world time period presents of other place freedom.
Seeks to wait next and I'm afraid to leave your Christian because of course he said that we're going to be our desire to bless each other. The momentum is what we experience.
All these things only because we have faith, We know the terror of the Lord. We know that, uh, what the Lord says he is going to do, he will keep his word. And uh, we walk by faith as believers and we know that, uh, there is a day of judgment coming. The world knows nothing of this. They, they don't have faith. They don't see God, God in his judgment and capacity, but we do, we know that God will judge evil. He has to righteousness. He imagines it and there is a coming day when he is.
He will judge this world and righteousness that tells us an acts, and that one whom he hath raised from the dead and preordained to do so in that coming day, a judgment will go forth. And here it says in the in the chapter that we're in.
There shall not escape. There's no escape.
And Hebrews chapter 2 it says, how shall you escape? You neglect such a day of salvation, and so there is no escape from God's.
Judgments. And so it should be terrifying for, for the world, but uh, because they're blinded, they don't have faith. It's not a terrifying thing, but it is to us because as I pointed out, we have long ones perhaps that do not know the Lord is our Savior yet. And so we realize that if they don't turn to the Lord, what will happen if they remain in an unsafe condition? So it should compel us to try to reach out to those that we are not sure about.
Steve disappeared. All emerges.
#634 Let's not see him other.
Last December.
Tonight.
Are you ready for the sweetheart seeks of immoral things and unconsciousness are really going on and sleeping darkness on life and then you have to sleep on the deeper.
Or we are living. We're going living with the world.
Came back. It's not, it's not. Doesn't really matter. Speaking with the world, you know, because they're embarrassed, unconscious.
00:50:19
Someone has said and uh, a couple of us were mentioning it just before the meeting.
Power in the Christian life comes first of all from taking the position consciously, taking the position into which God has already placed us.
And we could talk of many things where God has already placed us. It's not the subject of this epistle, but for example, in Ephesians 2 we're told that we are risen and seated in heavenly places in Christ.
Power comes when I say I am there and therefore I have the power through Christ to live in that position where he has put me. Christianity.
Is never striving to get something, but rather living out what I already have, because every exhortation in scripture, every exhortation is based on what I already possess. Do you remember someone saying that Stan Allen quite often to us.
Who was it?
Charlotte's grandfather, right? Your wife's grandfather too.
Harry Hao used to impress upon us. Every exhortation of Scripture is based on what we all ready possess, and we are in the light. Every believer is in the light, and now we're called upon to walk in that light, not in darkness.
There is a difference though, I would suggest, between sleeping and drunkenness, although they often bring about the same kind of situation. Sleeping is, at least in the daytime, is the result of laziness, of not realizing what needs to be done and having the energy to do it.
But getting drunk is the deliberate attempt.
To take something that dulls my senses to what is going on around me.
Both are wrong and the believer can fall into both.
Most of you in Montreal are very familiar with the name Van Horn. You've got a street named after him, William Van Horn, one of the men very much involved in the railway that was completed across Canada many years ago. And he was one of those unique individuals who could survive on about four hours sleep a night. Somebody asked him why he never slept much.
His answer was very significant, he said. Because then you don't know what's going on.
Of course, you had a habit of listening in on the telegraphs. Telegraph boys, when they were having fun in the middle of the night, sending silly messages back and forth. And suddenly he would get on the Telegraph and bang out a message at 3:00 in the morning telling them that he had read what they had been banging about and to quit the nonsense and get back to work. And it was quite a shock to them to realize that the CEO of the company had been listening in.
He knew what was going on.
You and I as believers ought to be like that. We ought to be sensitive to what is going on in this world and also seeking to look after the Lord's interest.
But the drunkenness comes from the deliberate attempt to dull myself so that I don't have to face, in many cases, the problems and difficulties.
Are we doing that? Are we deliberately doing that which dulls our senses to what is going on so that we don't have to face problems and difficulties? That's what the world does. It's out there taking drugs and alcohol and any other kind of thing. Why? In order to transport them into a state where suddenly those difficulties and problems and.
00:55:05
Things they cannot face for the moment are not occupying their mind.
There are difficulties in this world, there are difficulties in the Christian pathway and in unfaithfulness to the Lord. We can say I wanna get away from them rather than saying before the Lord. I have every resource to face them, to learn from them, and to deal with them in his strength. And so both of those states, I would suggest, are very easy for the Christian to fall into.
And yet neither one is right for us. We are to be alive as those that are in the day, even if it means facing difficulties.
Unconscious.
As illustrated too in Romans chapter 13.
Where it says there.
Uh, and that knowing the time, that now it is high time to weep out of sleep. For now is our salvation nearer than when we believe the night is far spent. The day as it has. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting or drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness.
Not in strife and in envying. I was thinking of this last verse particularly, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust through. I believe it's it's very easy for us to fall into the temptation of making provision for the flesh, but we need to take this exhortation seriously, don't we? To put on the Lord Jesus Christ.
To uh, wake up in the morning and seek to do His will and not fall into doing whatever we want to do. I just think these verses are important.
In 1945 converted by old comma respect.
They're not apparel now for today and Matthew's Gospel chapter 13.
Comment on in Matthew 13 we have this was a changing chapter chapter 12 and so in chapter 13 we have the parables of the of the Kingdom of heaven given and we read these verses here from verse 13 and verse.
10 And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in Caribou? He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know.
The mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven. But to them it is not given.
Bruce ever asked to him shall be given, and he shall have more abundance, and whosoever wrath not from him shall be taken away, even though he asked. Therefore be nice to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand. And then them to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah's, which saith by hearing he shall hear, shall not understand, and seeing he shall see and shall not proceed. For this people's heart is black rose.
And their ears are yellow earrings, and their eyes that they closed best at any time. They should see with their eyes and hear with your ears. They should understand with their heart, and should be converted. And I should yield it, or blessed me. Blessed are your eyes when they see, and your ears for their ears. This kind of parallel to this damage we live, as well as the going forth in the gospel is falling in deaf ears.
01:00:30
Well, I believe that verse 12.
Is a universal principle, isn't it? That verse with slight variations is repeated, I think at least five times in the Gospels, under different circumstances and in different applications. But it's a universal principle that if we reject the truth that God has given us, God will not allow us to have, as it were, the theory of it in our heads without the practice of it in our walk.
And so here the Jewish nation had rejected the Lord Jesus after he had presented himself to them. And in that sense, in the 12Th chapter of Matthew, the Lord formally rejects Israel, and then in Matthew 13, as it were, goes out of the House of Israel and sits by the seaside of the world, where the truth goes out and the gospel ultimately to the Gentiles as well. And so it's a universal principle that if we turn our back on what God has given us.
And refused to walk in it. We are not going to get any further light. Uh, another verse, I think it's in Luke 8 says that to him that hath not even that he seemeth to have shall be taken away from him. And so I don't really have something unless I take it in and walk in and do I? And whether that were the Jew of the Old Testament or whether it is, uh, those today who don't want to walk in what God has given us don't want to enjoy their Christian positions.
Sad to say, there are many believers today that are not enjoying the light that is before them because they have chosen rather to walk in darkness and to ignore the Light. And there are many who have perhaps in one sense enjoyed the light and the blessings of Christianity, but who are not really saved and now who are horrified at the state of the world when Christ is being given up.
And God is beginning to let man see the effect of it. But this verse is a is a true picture, I believe, isn't it, of the way God deals with man at any time and in any dispensation?
Prepared for someone of them were sleeping these virgin neuropathy when you consider our responsibility. Certainly we can have our hands in so many ways and but they don't have to find the middle of the night there before the bedrooms and when the Lord is coming in for us and grace is responsible.
Great, I've got sensitive every deals brought back to us and emerged nothing from the administration because he is faithful and he wants people to be enjoyment of who he is and what he's done and so I'm considering meeting we open the century before the God. We can go back home to the last conference and forget about all that we heard we could be awakened. It's like your birthday. They've been relaxed in their life. What the Lord will give us to be sensitive to what he brings before us.
I have to ask this question, if I might and 1St Thessalonians 5.
Eight LED us who are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and her helmet the hope of salvation over in the first chapter.
For Thessalonians, one verse, one remembering without verse 3 remembering without ceasing. Your work is safe labor of love, patience, and hope.
You know, in First Corinthians 13.
What is the difference from the first chapter until this chapter? This chapter seems to be an armor versus the 1St chapter. Is a path and faith and past life the armor of God in view of the Smith chapter. Yet when you turn to Revelation sex and the armor of God is not listed as such in the breastplate of the righteousness.
01:05:31
Well I would suggest the thought and others can comment on it, but.
We know that faith, hope and love are characteristic, aren't they?
If we could say basic Christianity, very, very basic. And the Thessalonians had those three. They had their work of faith, they had their labor of love, they had their patience of hope. And as has already been commented, had they paid attention to Paul's words in the last two chapters of this epistle.
They might not have fallen into the difficulties.
Which necessitated the 2nd epistle because in the first chapter of the 2nd epistle, Paul mentions faith and love, but doesn't mention their hope. Why? Because they'd lost it. They'd lost that hope.
And so we need to have the breastplate of faith and love, and we need to have, as it says here, the helmet of salvation. But it's called the hope of salvation because here it's salvation looked upon as being at the end of the pathway, when the Lord comes, when we get our glorified bodies, and when we're perfectly like Him and also we're with Him. It's not the fullness of the armor that you get in Ephesians 6.
Because there they were receiving higher truth, a truth that they were capable of having, of being risen and seated in heavenly places. And in that sense the full armor is mentioned there, together with the sword of the Spirit, the preparation of the gospel of peace, the shoes, the shoes of the gospel of peace, and so on. Other things there and that are needed for the full armor.
But here for these new believers who hadn't perhaps gotten to that point yet, they needed protection for that faith, hope and love. But sad to say, I don't believe they took as they should the helmet of salvation. And as a result, they lost that hope, and Paul had to write to them and restore it to them.
And it's a sad thing in this world when a believer loses in his soul the present living reality of the Lord's coming. It's a sad thing when we lose the sense in our souls of the enjoyment of the love of God as a present, living, everyday thing. It's sad when a believer loses faith and starts looking at things around him or her and having, shall we say, confidence in that.
Which is around, rather than simply in the Lord himself. And the devil is right there seeking to take those things away from us.
It's not an injection, but.
Stress your affection needed to be protected and so they needed to have confidence in the person of the Lord, faith in Him and faith in Him.
You know his character, the kind of person he is. You feel himself to us and the love, the love of Lord Jesus for us. You love us so much. You love you so much and you work in 10 minutes and you were going on in sin. He died before you don't talk and it's not true.
Because it's out to you. We need to come on the breastplate of faith and not faith in our Lord Jesus. Enjoyment that is not Jesus, love those of our hearts that came in, but the helmet of salvation, hope, salvation, that's where it's not. So somebody could have confidence in the Lord and he trusts him and he did know that the Lord loves him, but he confused in his mind on what's going to happen.
I mean, it's it's robbed of that precious thought of the Lord's coming.
01:10:03
Oh, so in that one drive for you, he's coming for you. He died for me, he's coming to me. He sent me suppose to join when he said.
No other reason. I don't know who he is.
No, it's not appointed us the wrath.
Rapture.
It is a slight to the work of Christ on the cross to preach that the church is going to go through the tribulation, because the tribulation is the wrath of God poured out on this world, but Christ bore it for us.
The church may go through persecution, but it is never going to endure wrath. No Saints of God is ever in in that have put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ as truly his is ever going to face wrath. He faced it at the cross. He bore it for us. We haven't been appointed to wrath. This world has, and the judgment of God is going to pour out upon it, but the Lord bore that for us.
We've not been appointed to it and it really is a slight.
On the finished work of the cross and its results. To think that the Saints of God are going to go through and endure the wrath of God in this world.
OK.
The context in order to understand the meaning of the word, uh, what just been brought before us is that, uh, the idea of the wrath of God.
And that's really not the thought of suffering for eternity and health is what we've been talking about this morning, which is what the context of our chapter is. And if you confuse those two ideas in this verse, then you get mixed up on what the verse means. Same thing with the idea of salvation as has been brought out already this morning, that it's the end of our pathway here, and particularly the fact that the Lord Jesus isn't going to allow His church to go through the wrath of God. So as long as you.
Understand the meaning of the word from the passage here, then you don't get confused. If you take the general meaning of salvation from sin and apply it here, then you could easily get confused.
Good.
The Lord coming for the Saints, which we look forward through the hope, and then the Lord coming with the Saints. We had both of these events brought before us.
In, uh, the chapter uh, four of our uh.
Chapter 4 We have, uh, the Rapture brought before us.
How that's all going to take place, the details of it. And then in chapter 5, we have the first part of that chapter being before us or coming with the Saints. We're coming in judgment. We have both events brought before us. They're mentioned in the Titus chapter 2 and verse 13. It says there that we're looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Well.
We're looking for that whole the Lord Jesus may come this very day and take the church home to be with themselves. But then there's the glory, glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ. Two events are mentioned in that verse, but we know that there's at least seven years gap between the two or Jason will come first, the rapture will take place and then later to be followed by his appearing. And so as we read this portion that we had before us.
Keep in mind that speaking here, mostly in the first part of it about the Lord's appearance is when he comes with the Saints. And then it goes back to, uh, where you have here that he has not appointed us to rock. That is our hope again, brought before us. And we're looking for that bless the full to be delivered from the tribulation period, which is the time of God's wrath to be poured out here on this scene.
#46.
01:15:21
Yes.
We just commend ourselves, our God and Father.