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#168.
Bring in love.
Was lost in that world.
Compared to the day, to the glory of the world.
We'll bring on it all me.
And the only grace.
Theresa versus in Hebrews 11.
He was 11 and just the first little part of verse 8 by faith Abraham.
Verse 10 For he looked for a city which hath foundation to builder, and maker is God.
And then in verse.
14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek are kind of equally if they had been mindful of that country. For when they came out, I had that opportunity to return, but now they desire a better country that is in heavenly.
Let's pray our God and our father, we just do thank thee that as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ that we have of them future that we have that city whose building makers God beyond this world. And we just do thank thee that it can permeate our thinking, fill our minds that it's not this present world that should attract our attention, though we wish to serve thee and honor thee in this world. But we look ahead, we look down the road and we just do pray that, uh, all of our aspects, all of our thoughts.
Our motivations might be centered in that future that is for us. And so or Jesus, we look forward to thy sea in return and we look forward to thy tremendous work of grace in this world in this time to come as well. And we just do thank thee that Trudolph Christ will be glorified. God will be honored in this world. And we just do pray that help us to honor thee from day-to-day as we live. And those that belong to Jesus Christ, in my name we give thanks, Amen.
Man.
Our brother **** Yeager, at the beginning of the prayer meeting, made reference to the fact and made a suggestion that perhaps in the meetings we might have before us the thought that I can't remember his exact words, but to the effect that the end of all things is at hand. And I think we all feel that. And on the one hand that can be very encouraging to our souls. On the other hand there is.
00:05:29
A note of sorrow in it as we contemplate the awful judgments that will have to come on this world for God's purposes to be worked out.
I wonder if it would be good for us to consider the third chapter of Second Peter.
And I'll mention that it's just a suggestion and may it may well be that someone else has something but.
In that chapter we find Peter laying out on the one hand the history of God's judgment previously in this world and the attitude of men in the past and the same attitude today, and he takes us right on.
Through the judgment that will take place in the Millennium and brings us right to the eternal state. But then it's particularly noticeable, and that's what I suggest we dwell on. At the end of the chapter, he brings forward some exhortations, considering that we know these things.
What do my brethren think of that? Does anyone have a comment? Well, my comment is that as we read, if we read this.
To recognize that Peter wrote the 2nd epistle knowing that the Lord was soon to remove him from his scene. So if we look at that official as some other epistle such I as I think second Timothy has the last words of these early disciples that we give particular import as to what the Spirit of God gave them to leave for us. So I just wanted to add that I fully support that brother, but I just wanted to add the point that this is, you might say, Peter's last testimony and I think it would be worthwhile for us very much.
Well, I think it'd be nice to read the whole chapter, yes, if that's OK. Second Peter, chapter 3, verse one, the second epistle. Beloved, I now write unto you in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets. Another commandment of us, the apostles of of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying, where is the promise of His coming? For since the Father's fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water, and in the water. Whereby the word that then was being overflowed with what? Whereby the world that then was being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word, are kept in store, reserved under fire, against the day of judgment, and the perdition of ungodly men. A beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing.
That one day is with the Lord as 1000 years, and 1000 years as one day. The Lord is not slack concerning this promise, as some men count slackness, but is long-suffering to us word not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth's earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons are ye to be be in all holy conversation and godliness?
Looking for and hastening onto the coming of the day of God, where in the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for the new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless and account that the long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as a beloved brother Paul, according also to the wits, and given unto Him, hath written unto you.
Has also in all his epistles speaking in them.
Of things in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable, rest, as they do also other scriptures, under their own destruction. He therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also be LED away with the error of the wicked. Fall from your own steadfastness, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be glory both now and forever. Amen.
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Just a thought or two to introduce the chapter.
We know that each of the New Testament writers, particularly in the epistles, gives a certain emphasis. And if we could say it in a general way, Paul gives us the truth of the church. John speaks more of the family of God.
But Peter perhaps lays more emphasis on the House of God, and the House of God is that collective aspect of Christians where we have our conduct and the ways of God with those who are his own. And so we find that perhaps more particularly in the first epistle, but then in the second epistle, after dealing with our attitude toward this world, God brings before us his government in the world because he is going to have his beloved Son, given his rightful place.
And it's a wonderful thing to think that in spite of all the confusion, all of the purposes and thoughts of man in this world, that God is going to accomplish his purposes through it all and set his beloved Son at the head of all things. But then in view of the judgment that is coming, there's a right attitude, there's a right way of life, There's a right way that you and I should be living in the midst of all of this. And Peter lay some emphasis on that in this chapter.
And so certainly there is a fair amount in this chapter about the attitude of the world. And we need to recognize that. The fact that there are scoffers, the fact that man is pretending that all things are going to go on just as they were from the beginning of the creation, we need to recognize that. But if I could say this.
Let's not spend all our time in the meeting slamming that position, much as we need to recognize it. I believe the emphasis ought to be on you and on me. What is our attitude? We have been brought into the light as, as Peter says prophetically, we know what is going to happen. God has told us where it's all going to end. Now the Lord says through Peter, what are you doing? How are you living? What is your attitude and spirit in the midst of all of this, seeing that God has told you what is going to take place?
So I suggest that could be very profitable for us, especially as we mentioned in the prayer meeting that we do see signs that God is starting to work in this world, starting to set things up for some of the events that we know will happen after we're called home.
And that's important to realize that the signs that we speak of are not in connection with the Lord's coming for his Saints.
What we refer to as the rapture, but they're in connection with that which will take place after the Rapture.
In connection with the Lord's appearing, because as we speak of these things, we need to realize that for us and for the Saints in any age, there has never been anything need to be fulfilled for the Lord Jesus to come and call His Saints home to Himself.
I often think of the Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Thessalonians and explained very clearly to them the hope of the Lord's coming for them, He said we which are alive and remain. Now I realized later on Paul realized that he was going to be taken through the article of death, through martyrdom. But when he wrote to the Thessalonians and he said we which are alive and remain, he was Speaking of himself in the Thessalonian brethren. He was looking for the Lord Jesus to come at any moment, and he wanted them to have that hope as a reality in their souls as well.
But as Brother Bill said, there are things that we see in this world shaping up, which indicates the time when the Lord Jesus is going to come back and have his rightful place. That time when he's going to not only have his rightful place in heaven, he has that now, but he's going to have his rightful place on earth. And if God is looking forward to that time when his Son is completely vindicated in this, on this planet, on this globe, that we ought to be profoundly interested in it as well. And so these things encourage us, brethren, the Lord's coming at any moment, maybe this morning, to take us out of these meetings.
To that meeting in the air, but as we get closer to there are things we see that indicate how just how close it is.
So you could put on first Peter, the government of God and the House of God.
I think that's what you said Bill wasn't yes, and I'd just like to mention a verse for that in chapter four of first Peter and verse 17, because I think that is something to reflect on as well. Says the time is come that judgment must begin at the House of God and if it first begin at us, what shall the envy of them that obey not the gospel of God.
00:15:20
Isn't it significant, brother?
How much the Lord seems to be speaking amongst His people today. I don't point fingers at any particular person, but I think it is for us to be exercised that when God begins judging, He's gonna start at His house. And it seems like it's very evident that that's happening today.
That's First Peter. But in Second Peter, you have the judgment, God's government in this world, and God is going to intervene. It seems like right now when you look at what happens in this world, it almost seems like God is standing back and letting men do what they want. But God is going to come to the point when he is going to directly intervene. And I'd like to just suggest something here in the third chapter of Second Peter that.
Has been kind of a help to me perhaps what we could consider an outline of the chapter that he speaks of three worlds. Notice verse six the world before the flood the world that then was that was the world before the flood verse 7 the heavens and the earth which are now this is a different order of things from the flood on.
Are kept by the same word in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
And then down in verse, umm, 13, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth. That's the eternal day, which we have perhaps, uh, expanded on a bit in Revelation chapter 21, verses one to seven tells about the new heaven and the new earth. God is going to make all things new.
In that coming day of glory.
Oh, brethren, to realize that this, uh, world and this culture and this civilization that we are now a part of is coming down to its end. I really believe there are going to be major changes in everything. The structure of living. We look at Egypt and we look at the pyramids there and we say that was a bygone civilization. We marvel at what they did.
And I think the time is coming when we're gonna look back.
Perhaps there will be some skyscrapers still standing in New York or some other big city and will say that was a bygone gener, uh, civilization. We're getting down to the end and we need to be awakened as to where we are.
There's another theme that goes through the epistles, and Brother Bill touched on it, and that is that the first epistles of, uh, that are generally given are in the power and the strength of the age perhaps, and the character of the day that they were being written in. I'll just give you an example, the, uh, in connection with the Thessalonians. Paul wrote to the Thessalonians the first epistle and, uh, their hope, their blessed hope of the coming of the Lord Jesus and of his appearing was right before them.
But then he writes the 2nd epistle and he writes that a year and a half later, and it's because they were letting go of that hope. They were just releasing the grip and releasing it. And he could see it. And he addresses the 2nd epistle in that way. Well, in Peter, the first epistle of Peter, he speaks to those that are godly and those that have a desire to walk in a godly path in the world that has rejected Christ. Because Peter, you know, had that very special sense that he lived in a world that had rejected Christ and had suffered. And so he speaks of the sufferings of Christ in a very peculiar, a special way. I'll just, uh, refer to, uh, first Peter chapter one.
It says there in verse 14.
And this is how we ought to conduct ourselves in that world that rejected Christ as obedience. Children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts in your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, or manner of life, because it is written, Be holy, for I am holy. And so holiness is being separate from evil, and a delight in that which is good. Well then, he writes the 2nd Epistle. And there was a letting go of that walk in holiness.
00:20:15
Just a letting go, a letting go of that grip, as it were. And so he gives this instruction to them that they might once again have that hope before them and have that realization that they live in a wicked world that crucified the Lord Jesus and wanted nothing to do with them.
And now doesn't want anything to do with them, but he says, now I'm going to tell you the end of this world. It's not a good end and don't have any part of it. Don't be a part of it. And so the first epistle he's writing to those that are perhaps walking in a godly order, and he encourages them in that course. In the second epistle, he says, now don't forget it's a wicked world and there's nothing that's going to happen that's good as it were, that there's no it's a place of unfruitfulness for Christ. Don't be a part of it.
Hmm.
While the epistles of Peter have a Jewish character to them, and we know that Peter being the apostle to the Jews, he wrote from that vantage point, But just the same, they're profitable for us. However, the Jews had a difficult time because they were accustomed to thinking in terms of an earthly Kingdom, weren't they? And many of them found it very, very difficult to realize that there was not going to be an earthly Kingdom at that time, but something that had a difficult time getting over. The Lord was gracious, and He gave them a period of time to get over that. I suppose in a general way, it was about 40 years from the time that.
The Lord was crucified until the time that Jerusalem was destroyed, and during that time the Lord worked with them to bring out the precious truths that we get in Peter's epistles and in the book of Hebrews and so on, because God was bringing before them that now they had a better hope. It wasn't this world and all the blessings that God could give them in a wonderful though they would be, that God was putting before them. And you and I can be very thankful, and we have often expressed it, that we live in lands where we have liberty, as we do here.
And that we have the Ways and Means of coming together like this. Oh yes, the price of gas has gone up dramatically in the last little while. But I don't know, did it really hinder most of us from getting here? I doubt it. Our wallets may be a little bit thinner when we go to the gas pump, but it's not an insurmountable problem as it is for some of our brethren elsewhere in the world. So the Lord has given us much. The question is, as we've often had brought before us, what are we doing with it? The Jews were looking to settle down and enjoy a worldly inheritance.
The Lord says no, you're going to be strangers and pilgrims. That's what Peter talks to them as in the first epistle, as strangers and pilgrims, and he wants them to know that their blessings, their future.
Is not down here. And so all this is brought out to show that this world before God brings in that wonderful millennial blessing and he will is going to have to fall under the most awful judgment. And as our brethren have remarked.
I don't think there'll be much left of man's wonderful civilization and all the progress that he has made by the time the Lord gets finished with it. Well, it should make a difference to us in the way that we live and move, shouldn't it?
It's really what sets the value on things down here, doesn't it? So often we tend to set so much value on temporal things, and as has been expressed, we don't want to despise the mercies that God has given us, and we can use the unrighteous mammon for God's glory and in a way that propagates the truth and the gospel and so on. Think of modern transportation and communication today and how the Word of God is going out in places that's never gone out before. And some are able to travel to these places and give out the gospel and minister the truth in ways that's never been possible before.
And so we don't despise these mercies, as Brother Bill has said, but the realization that everything in this world is only for time, is only temporal and transient, is going to set a proper perspective and value on what we have here. It's often been said that in the Old Testament with Israel, what set apart the value on the things that they bought and sold was the nearness of the year of Jubilee. Because when the Jubilee came, everything had to be returned to its original owner. In other words, if a man bought a field in the 48th or 49th year.
We obviously didn't pay very much for it because he realized that in a year or two it had to be returned.
And brethren, as this chapter tells us, everything we build for down here in a temporal way is reserved under fire.
It's about to pass away. We're going to leave it all. And I know we often quote it, but I often see in the guest room of homes I stay in that little motto on the wall. Only one life to soon be passed. Only what's done for Christ will last. There are young people here. I know you have to have an idea of what you want to take up as a vocation and or profession in life and you have to have goals and aspirations in that way. But there's one thing that should supersede all those other, shall I say, sub goals and aspiration.
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And that is what Paul expressed. He said this one thing I do, what was that he was pressing towards the mark. He had eternity in view of him. And when I read that expression, this one thing I do, that's focus. That's not multitasking like we talked about, that's multitasking is wrong in itself. Sometimes we have to do it to survive in the work a day world in which we find ourselves. But that focus, Paul had other things in mind. He wanted to administer to the Saints. He wanted to get the gospel out. And there were no doubt the cares of life and practical things that needed to be taken care of in his life. But superseding all that.
He had one thing in mind and that was eternity. That was Christ, that was the glory. And brother, that's the point in in Peter's ministry we're seeing in the wilderness on our way to the glory. We're not there yet. Paul's ministry, we're already positionally there.
But in Peter's ministry, it's the wilderness book and wilderness books, and we're on our way there. Lots of trials and difficulties along the way, but we have to have the goal in view. We're gonna become involved in the world. We're gonna get overwhelmed by the circumstances we see in the governments and the condition of the world and the professing church and so on, if we don't keep in mind that we have something of eternal value. And so when Paul, when Peter starts his ministry to the Jews of the dispersion in the first epistle.
He says you've lost everything as far as an earthly inheritance, but you have an inheritance incorruptible, an undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, and you're gonna be kept. It's kept for you, and you're going to be kept for it. Now, he said nothing can touch that.
And the marvels. But it occurs to me another aspect we might think of in the practical walk we have here. The 1St is as far as we are physically. We were made from the dust, and this body is going to return to the dust. But what goes on for eternity is our soul and our spirit, and that communicates with God. And Paul gave us the what we call the judgment seat of Christ, which tells us that what's done for Christ in this life will endure.
But all other things will disappear and be forgotten. And I think that be forgotten is wonderful because we won't carry into eternity any misgivings of what we fail to do here. We'll only enjoy our blessed Savior. And moreover, one thing I think of now, having children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, we won't be sitting on the cloud looking down at them. If we were, we'd be disappointed where we see failures and so on. No, in the glory we'll only have eyes and occupation with Christ.
And isn't that lovely to think about?
So as we read this, so those things are important because it puts everything into the right perspective. You might say, as we read this book of the end times, Peter's ministry too, stirs us up and puts us in remembrance, doesn't it? And that's the first verse of our chapter. Let's just go back to the first chapter for a moment. Let me read another verse in this regard because brother and I, I suggest that we really need to be stirred up and we need to be put in remember.
You know, we forget so often. Exercise in our life wanes. Can you and I remember, as we look back this morning, a time in our life when we were more exercised to live in light of eternity than we are now? Can we remember a time in our lives when perhaps we did have eternal things more in view, but we've become bogged down? We've become our focus isn't what it once was? Well, if that's true, certainly true, it's been true in my life many times.
If that's true in our lives, brethren, then we need Peter's ministry. We need to be stirred up and we need to be put in remembrance. Just notice the 12Th verse of the first chapter. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them and be established in the present truth. In other words, Peter says, brethren, I know you know these things. I know you've heard them before. And you know, we sit in meetings like this sometimes we think, well, we've had this chapter before us before we.
We've gone over these things many times. There's really nothing new brought out, maybe not even any real new aspect or slant of things. But that's all right, brethren.
We need to be put in remembrance. We need to be stirred up as to what we've heard many times. Now, Paul, when you're the apostle, when he wrote to the Hebrews, he spoke of stirring them up because things run out as leaky vessels and we need to be stirred up again and have these things before us. And so the apostle Peter says, I'm going to tell you again, even though you know these things, you've been established in them, but lest you forget, I'm going to stir you up again. You know, we have in Canada, we call it Remembrance Day on the 11Th of, of November. I think you call it Armistice Day or something like that in the United States, but we call it Remembrance Day.
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And there is a slogan, Lest we forget. I've been to some of the battlefields and memorials in Europe that remember those times that the men in gate. Every evening there's a short ceremony to commemorate those who have given their lives in the two great wars. Lest we forget. Now, brethren, if people are not concerned about remembering those who have heroically given their lives in the service and freedom of humanity, don't we need to be even more stirred up in connection with the truth concerning the Lord Jesus Christ?
And future events in this world that are going to impact us and this world. And so he says, I'm going to tell you these things, though you'd be established. I want you to notice this expression and then I want to connect it with the first of our chapter in the present truth, brethren, the truth that we hold in our hands and that we seek by the grace of God. And it's only by the grace of God. But the truth that we seek by the grace of God to walk, at least in some measure in and hold to is the present truth. It was present and relative.
When Peter wrote the 2nd epistle.
It was just as present and relative as he and relevant as when he wrote the first epistle. Had the truth changed? Things had changed. The condition of things was getting morally worse in the world. Things had changed outwardly. Circumstances. Had the truth changed? No. Now, brethren, bring that down to our day. Have things changed morally and circumstantially in this world? Indeed they have. They're ripening every hour for the judgment of God. Every moment. The darkness, the cloud of darkness that hangs over the Western world is getting deeper and deeper.
Every hour. But does that change the word of God? We have the present truth, and you and I can go on in the present truth. We don't have to compromise because we see it all around the breakdown of everything around us. No, it's the present truth. And so in our chapter he's gonna stir up their pure minds by way of remembrance. That she may be me mindful of the words which are new, some new revelation. No, it's the words which were spoken before by the Holy Prophet.
And of the commandments of us, the apostles of our Lord and Savior. In other words, Peter says the truth.
That has been laid out for you. It hasn't changed.
Out in the things that thou has learned and has been assured of knowing of whom thou has learned them. Yes, I believe again you have there the last days more in connection with the professing church when Tim, when Paul speaks to Timothy in the last days in perilous times.
It's the condition not so much in the world, but the professing church. What does he tell Timothy to do?
Continue.
In the truth that had been laid out and been given as the foundation. And brethren, I believe this is important for us to understand. Are these the last days? Yes. Do we see the moral rune in the church? Yes. Do we see things ripening for the judgment of God in the world as Peter brings before us? Yes. Is God going to come in and stop this? Yes, he is. He's going to come in, in judgment after we're gone. Does that change the truth of God? No, brethren. And the wonderful thing is we can still go back and we can live and act on the principles and the truth that has been laid down. It's the present truth. It's what would it continue in until the Lord comes.
In that connection I just like to point out here in the first chapter of second Peter, earlier verses, verse 3.
Well, it says in verse 2, grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him that have called us to glory and virtue. I'll stop there, but it just gives us that encouragement. Everything that pertains to life and godliness is in our hands at this very moment.
And what an encouragement that is. And we're, we're hearing it. And I just thought those verses expressed it in the broadest terms. The verse fifth, uh, thirteen of the first chapter 2 Jim mentions remembrance. Uh, it's interesting to see how often he mentions that. I'm gonna just read it. The 1St chapter is the 13th verse. Yeah. I think it need, as long as I'm in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance. Verse 15. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my deceased to have these things.
00:35:28
Always in remembrance. So remembrance is, is important. What does it, uh, involve? I think it really reflects, uh, go back to the 11Th verse. He mentions the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. In a certain sense, we're already in that Kingdom, but the Kingdom today is in tribulation and patience and we're looking forward to the day when that Kingdom will be introduced.
In Power and glory and Peter had a preview of that and he mentions it in the first chapter. I think it is beautiful to reflect on brethren. Uh, he says in verse 16, we have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty, for he received from God the Father honor and glory when their king.
Such a voice to him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven, we heard. So these are real things, brethren. He got a preview of it. They're on the Mount of Transfiguration. The Lord's face shone as the sun, His garments were white like the light, and there were two heavenly occupants of that Kingdom.
Moses and Elias, and they were talking of his deceased that he should accomplish at Jerusalem. There were also three representatives of the earthly side of that Kingdom. Uh, Peter, James and John were there as well. So it's interesting. This is a very real thing with him and it should be with us. Brethren. We're looking forward to this Kingdom and we need to be brought back to him. Man boasts of great things and doing great things.
We're not really that interested in the way man is going. We're looking forward to that Kingdom that's going to be introduced. And like Bill said earlier, there are things that are happening in the world today that make us realize we are getting close and we need to be brought back into remembrance. We're made for that Kingdom, brethren. We're not made for any glorious happening down here in this present world.
Dave, you were trying to say something.
Thank you. I I was actually taking bill of your challenge because you made a comment saying how is this going to affect us? We seem to know a lot of this when we talk about the lowest coming and as you look around us, many of us can perhaps say verbatim as many many have said before, but how is it going to affect our lives? Do we truly first of all believe in it and do we fully understand what the word of God has before us? I have to confess as we read some of this often I get the time and places mixed up. So here as in this case, we read off the earth shall melt with earth and heat. When is that brethren, my point is not because of just knowing it in terms of knowledge.
But to truly understand how God has set out his ways toward man, what is what is that judgment going to come? When is Christ going to reign? And it's not for knowledge either. Finished this chapter by saying that rather the epistle by saying, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. That's the whole purpose of this, isn't it? While we're here, can we grow in grace for you know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Do you know that we know the verse though he was rich yet he became poor that we drew his poverty might be rich, but then the whole ways of God is laid out in the book here. Perhaps if you would let me I I let me take a few minutes just to mention it briefly. Obviously we won't have time to go into all of ways of God. If you recall this morning we read in the last verse of Malachi. It's kind of interesting as you look at the word of God, the outline and the Scriptures is in our hands. The Old Testament began with a verse that we all know well is that in the beginning God.
That's what we need to know in the very beginning is God and the Old Testament ends perhaps let's say very briefly as a reminder, Malachi chapter 4 and we'll find that God tells us the end of time in a sense in Malachi chapter four. We know it's our brother reminded us Malachi chapter 3 there that the condition was very poor. And those who, uh, fear the Lord speak often one to another. But then.
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The survivor, the Old Testament and by edition chapter 4, it tells them about verse 2 But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healings in his wings. And ye shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall, and ye shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of their feet in the day that I shall do this, say, if the Lord Lord. So he gave us a picture of what's beginning, and at the end the Sun of righteousness.
The Lord Jesus himself speaking to the Jewish nation that they will reign because of the Sun of Righteousness. They can look forward to what power and majesty. And then the New Testament, if you were to look at it, it begins with a generation of do we know what that is? Well, let's turn to that Matthew chapter one. Matthew chapter one begin with a wonderful chapter. It's just the book of the generation of Jesus Christ. Ah, in between a new order of things has been put into place.
We know that this world is gonna go to its end because of man's wound. Well, here God put a a way of salvation in the book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. There he connected. There's gonna be a rightful king to come. And then the New Testament ends with Revelation chapter 2022. There it talks again about the Lord Jesus. Revelation 22 verse 16, it says.
I Jesus have sent my Angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root of the offspring of David that he declare his his his kingly lineage and the bright and morning star. Now he gave us as redeem one as Christian a different hope through the Old Testament sayings they were locating toward the end for the Sun of righteousness to reign here we as Christians looking for the bright and morning star.
Now I am not one to get up very early in the morning, so I cannot testify to this, but I do understand that before the sun come up, there is that Morningstar that come shortly before that, that bright and morning star. So here God's way is to let us know before all these things to be settled by the sun of righteousness. We have this bright and Morningstar appears. He comes to take us away to be with himself. So we see God's ways in one way, but in between.
God's dealing with his people, Israel, and then God's dealing with his people, us, the Gentiles, and in between. It's nice to see that we spend some time perhaps, you know, often we challenge the young people to say, learn these. Well, I think the challenge should be ourselves because I know for myself there's so much we don't understand. So how can we call to remembrance if we haven't learned it? As another writer put it, the book of Daniel, Daniel Chapter 9 have laid out nicely what is to come.
We see Daniel Chapter 9 tells us God's way how the Jewish nation is set aside the time of the Gentiles come in. We read of the four images of the four kingdoms to come there. The time of Gentiles that's us get set into place. There is a 70 year there's seventy weeks of Daniel 69 of it has been fulfilled right to its full fullest. One more week has been stopped and put on hold and is about to begin. We need to lay hold of that Dong Tui that last week as our our brother alluded to.
The week of that tribulation, that terrible time to come, but yet to know that we should be taken out before that time. And then what happened after that? Well, the tribulation for seven years and then Christ gonna take care of all matter. He's gonna reign. He's gonna reign in righteousness. Therefore that thousand years. And then after that we find the Lord Jesus in first Corinthians 15 said he will hand all this back to God and that he remain a man. Isn't that wonderful to know to be with his bride and then.
Go into eternity rather than we need to lay hold of this so that we can call to remembrance of it.
I'd just like to add a little thought here and that in keeping with what we just heard with this impressed me some years ago. The Old Testament doesn't give any indication that the revelations of God say, through what had preceded in the Old Testament, the minor prophets and so on, Malachi ended his revelations and those revelations.
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Not thinking of the Book of Revelation continued in the New Testament, as we well know in all the writings and winds up with the Book of Revelation. And as you read that book, you get a distinct indication that this concludes God's communication with men because there's a warning not to change one word of it and telling us that the Lord Jesus is coming and at the end of time has come. So I just point that out.
As it's a nice indication of the completeness of what God has given us in this book, the Old Testament doesn't end that. It just turns to the New Testament to complete God dealing with all mankind, right from Adam and Eve to the very end to the day of grace in which we are. And that day started when Christ was born into this world as we know he was hemisphere, this world full of grace and truth. And that's what we have in our hands. And so all these things we're hearing are absolutely certain.
And God has revealed unto us in terms that we can understand as many, and I'll tell you why I say that. But when I read this person, we'll stop right here. I have not seen or hear heard neither have entered into the heart of man the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him. That tells us in the glory. It will be so new and different, it cannot even be described by comparison to anything we now know. Is that not wonderful to think about?
But everything we have in this book is in terms that we understand.
As men walking on the faces of this earth and uses descriptions of farms, ships and all those other things wars that characterize mankind as we know it. But in that glorious day that we all expect as believers, it'll be so wonderful. It can't even begun begun to be described to us. It'll be that greatly that greatness and difference and I I now that I'm seeing the edge of the road ahead. I really enjoy that thought that.
It's gonna be so wonderful to be with Him in the glory, but he gives us everything as as the verse I pointed out in the beginning of the 2nd Epistle of Peter.
Everything now that pertains to life and godliness.
In other words, he's telling us I'll take care of you while you're here as a believer in the as a child, but what you need to get through this world. But you have that wonderful prospect and that is still remarked earlier about Paul's hope. That is his desire too is to know Christ and that's our objective. It's right in this the last verse of the epistle grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Those promises that that are in the Word of God and are important to see and to lay hold of. I would like to carry this step farther and just glance ahead to our verse 11. Umm, and I'll read verse 11 in our chapter. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness?
We have examples of in the Old Testament of those who saw the promises and lived at a time when God was going to judge the world. We've already referred to them and Noah has been referred to and Abraham has been referred to. And both of them lived at a time when God was about to judge a condition that existed in the in the world. And I believe it's probably the mercy of God that hasn't told us a lot about what the world was like.
Before the flood, I believe it was too awful, I believe it was too wicked, and God covered it all up and he didn't leave us remnants of what it was like very much.
Noah found Grace at that time and got.
Saved him. Abraham, we know a little bit more than Abraham's case. And he, uh, he lived a Pilgrim and stranger because he believed those promises. It changed his life.
Lot stands a little bit in distinction to that, uh, he pitched his tent towards Sodom and wasn't totally, uh, separate from the world.
The point I wanted to make is our our moral condition, our moral walk.
Is really what will give us character and testimony to be of any use or witness to those around us. At a time when God is about to judge. We can't live hand in hand with the world and expect the world to believe us when we say the world is coming to an end.
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We're we're, we're contradicting ourselves if we live one way and speak another. I think this is a point that we need to emphasize, brethren, because we know these promises and we've been told them and it's you have to believe that. You have to see it and realize it. That's a very important, but let's not stop there. Let it change our life. Abraham was willing to live a pilgrimage stranger. He would have had a lot of opportunities to go in and take it on his own terms and on his own way.
Without God, but he didn't do it. He waited and he waited and he's still waiting. And, and so God wasn't ashamed then to identify with him and become his God. And so we, it's a real opportunity, brethren, for us to live in this time. Uh, we believe we're close to the judgment that's going to fall and these difficult circumstances and these odd conditions that are around.
This speaks of the ones who are willingly ignorant.
You know, the world knows quite a bit about the Rapture.
It's been, it's been spoken of pretty quite publicly, but what does it do? They just go on the same, same.
And so that's a, that's a real opportunity for us to, to, to live like an Abraham and to intercede. Abraham was the one who could intercede and he had power with God to give deliverance to some.
Lot Oh, this is light relate to the intercession of Abraham. He interceded for that city and some were saved. So that's what the, our PO position here. And it's the go wholly, uh, this holy conversation and godliness that will, that characterized Abraham and I believe will give us to have a, a power, uh, and a testimony around those that we live with. Hmm. And in contrast to that too, Doug, with Lot at the end, we see that he tried to intercede too, but he seemed as one that mocked.
When he talked about judgment coming on Sodom, they looked at him and said how can you talk about that?
You've built everything for time. You've built everything for Sodom. You had a house in Sodom. He was sitting in the gate, no doubt, as we would say today, involved in its politics and so on. And so he had no testimony at the end what it said. Commentary was a righteous man and we're going to see him in the glory, but he lived to see everything he had built for down here destroyed when the fire and brimstone fell and Sodom and Gomorrah. I would also like to just in connection with Doug's comments. Rita few verses in Titus chapter 2.
That I think are applicable in connection with what we've been saying.
Titus, chapter 2.
And verse 11.
For the grace of God that bring us salvation has appeared to all men, teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope and the glory of appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ. First of all, we have here grace as a teacher. He spoke of Noah who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, and he appreciated that grace and it entered into his soul and it formed a character with him.
So that even though judgment was coming, he made preparation and he preached righteousness to the saving of his household, it had an effect on him. And brethren, I believe that in the measure in which you and I have an appreciation of the grace of God in our souls, it will form a proper character even in days when things are in moral ruin, when things are right for judgment, when we're right down at the end. And what does grace teach us to do? Not to live for ourselves.
Not to just let things go and cast off restraint. No, it teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly. When back in Noah's day, back in Paul's day, back in Peter's day, back in our grandfather's day. No, right where we are in this present age, brethren, you and I in this present age can live soberly, righteously, and godly. But then there's something else. You know, our object forms, our character too. Let me repeat that. Our object forms, our character. Whatever our object, it's going to come out in our character, in our lifestyle, in every aspect.
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Of what we do and what we say and our reactions and so on. What is our object? It ought to be looking for that blessed hope that's at any moment and the glorious appearing that day of which we spoke of earlier, when the Lord Jesus will come back and take His rightful place and we're going to reign with him. The Corinthians were trying to reign as kings before the time Paul said I wish you were reigning as kings because we'd reign with you. But he said this is not the time. They had lost the proper character of things.
You can see the moral condition that had come in to the assembly in Corinth because they had lost sense of where they were. But brethren, if we have a proper sense of grace and our proper hope before us, these things will be evident in a practical way in our lives, and as Doug said, we will be the proper testimony that we ought to be. I wonder if we could go back and read first Peter 2 verses 11 and 12 goes along with this, I believe. First Peter 211 Dearly beloved, I beseech you, as strangers and pilgrims abstained from fleshly lusts which war against the soul.
Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles that whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. It's true that a godly life lived may be stopped that for a long time, but there comes a day when God visits those ones that are in the world and deals with them, and only then do they really turn to God and look.
For reasons and for answers. And it's who do they go to? And that day they go to, uh, the Christian who lives a consistent godly life. And then on that day that Christian has an opportunity to reach their souls. And so we may have to wait for those opportunities, brethren, our, our neighbors aren't gonna come flocking at us every day when we live for Christ.
When God comes and he sees fit to touch that family in a day of visitation, then they may come. And so sometimes you have to be patient and live this way and God will give you opportunities to witness, uh, on those occasions rather than I'd like to just go back to something a little earlier where our brother referred to the world being willingly ignorant. And I'll give you a simple example, but it's a big factor in our cousin's present life.
Our God abhor is what we call homosexuality is from the very beginning to the very end of the Word.
Sodom and Gomorrah is known to this very day throughout the world. I've checked with some who speak, uh, the major foreign languages, uh, freely as we do English. And we have a word called ****** that's in our language unit has a meaning that, uh, most of us are familiar with, but it refers back to that time when God brought down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah because of their immoral behavior. It's in our language, it's in our laws. It's known throughout the whole world. Settlement tomorrow.
What is going on today? They're trying to justify homosexuality. They're actually saying there are Christian churches that are homosexual churches. They are willingly ignorant of what God has given us in this word. I just give you as a perfect example, I think of being willingly ignorant. Man cannot escape it. It perverts all, evades all our culture through these thousands of years. It is disdain for that form of life, uh, that lifestyle.
And is hateful to him. And it stands like a rock. And yet in our current culture, there are all these steps being made to, uh, give them special privileges and recognize them and so on. It's hateful to God. They are willingly ignorant of what God has made very plain.
Well, that is true in many spheres too, isn't it? Man is willingly ignorant. I think in the theory of evolution, for example, the evidence is so overwhelming against it that it has caused scientists who believe in that theory to run for cover and scramble and rethink the theory. Now they've got a new theory, Neo Darwinism, that kind of tries to accommodate some of the new discoveries. As if that's going to make it sound a little more palatable. So man is willingly ignorant of many things when it comes to the knowledge of God.
And we find here to go on, just to mention a few of these verses that we're just touching on by little bits here. It says man in verse five is willingly ignorant that by the word of God, the heavens were of old and the earth standing out of the water and in the water. I believe that refers to the beginning of Genesis when no doubt there had been some kind of judgment, some kind of cataclysm come on the world. We aren't told too much about it, but something had come in to cause a chaotic state.
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God says you are not ignorant of this. I have told you clearly in my word.
What about the story of the flood?
We know that.
Even in many parts of the world where they don't have an open Bible, there are stories and legends that refer back to a great flood that once overwhelmed this world. Man can't get away from it yet man says, I don't prefer to believe it. And so there are all kinds of thoughts and ideas that try to discredit the story of the flood just as our brother is mentioned. They forget about Sodom and Gomorrah in spite of the fact that those cities, uh, their names are notorious down through the ages for the kind of sin that was practiced there.
And God is allowing things today. We don't want to point the finger, but that cyclone that occurred in Burma within the last week has caused untold suffering.
And yet what is happening? And again, we're not pointing the finger because man's heart is the same everywhere.
They're blocking the aid that others want to send in. Why? Because they don't want the aid. Oh no, send us the aid, Send us checks, send us money. But no foreign aid workers. Why not? Because they know full well those that will come with the aid will be predominantly believers. They'll be Christians who will come, and they'll bring the gospel with them. Same thing happened in northwest India about five years ago, in the state of Gujarat.
Christians from all over India flocked to try and help those who had terrible suffering from the earthquake.
The people said, well, look at that. They tell us these Christians are so bad, but who's there for us when we really need the help? Christians. And when a man is helping to rebuild your house and dig out the rubble, it's hard to tell him not to talk about Christ and tell him why tell you why he's doing it. And so the world is willingly ignorant.
Uh, but as Doug says, God knows how to prepare the day of visitation, God knows how to use, you may speak to your neighbor, you may live a Christian life and say, I don't seem to be making any impact. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't make an impact and we shouldn't be concerned. We could all do more. But the best preaching of all is a godly consistent life. I'd like to under score that Doug said a moral character that people can look at and say he's different, She's different. Yes, they drive cars, they live in houses, they go to work, They do the very same things as we do.
Abraham did too. He was a wealthy man. He had flocks and herds so that they called him a mighty Prince.
But no one was under any illusions about where Abraham's values lay. No one had any doubts about what Abraham stood for and why he lived the way he did.
And so God may have given us much in North America, and we don't need to, in that sense, apologize for it. But when others look on, what do they see that we're doing with it? What is our object? What is our manner of life? Where are our priorities? That, I believe, is what is going to count. The flood was a universal judgment, wasn't it? And it shows that God judges sin. And that's exactly what people don't like.
Hmm. They try to cover up their lusts and their sins and to think of God judging evil, judging sin is untenable to them. That's that's the point here. I think that the verse six you said verse 5 refers to Genesis one. I think that's exactly right. Verse 6 to refers to Genesis 6, right And seven where the flood came in the days of Noah to put an end.
To the world of that day, we don't know a lot about it, but men lived a lot longer. It must have been very favorable toward life, lived up to 900 plus years.
Hey, we can't live that long, but it shows that it was a favorable thing that God had prepared for men, but they just totally corrupted it all and God wiped out the whole civilization. It's gone. It's the world that then was. And like I think Doug mentioned, it's.
We don't know very much about that world that then was, but there is a world today and it's going in the same direction and God's going to, again, judge universally and it's not gonna be by water, it's gonna be by fire. Tremendous to realize we're dealing with realities, brethren, historical realities that people want to ignore, but it's because of the enmity of the human heart. I often think of that verse in John chapter 5, where.
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The Lord Jesus said ye will not come to me that you might have life. It's not that they don't know. That's not the problem. It's that they don't want to know. That's the greatest blindness that there is there willingly ignorant. I wonder if the, these, uh, when it speaks here about the scoffer and it says that, uh, where is the promise of his coming? And then when they add the words.
Uh, they say. Umm.
All things continue as they were from the beginning. It seems to me that the main thought Peter is bringing out here is that, uh, that umm, uh, there is a thinking in the mind of man, in the mind of the scoffer, the mind of a man who's against God, that the world goes on in cycles and it continues on and on. And so that is like the day that you and I are living in. And so.
The we see the uh.
Uh, today, in an effort to, to keep this world going and by having this green effect and by having recycling and all of these things, and it filtrates into the school system to preserve the earth on an ongoing basis. And Christians get involved in this. And it seems to me that perhaps we can apply these verses for us to be careful of that kind of thinking.
I think there's two, no, go ahead. And they do it so they can go on and live their sinful lives too. There's that motive behind it which makes it so serious. And God, we wonder sometimes why God doesn't come in and judge. We can get ourselves into A-frame of mind like Elijah who, who interceded against the people, uh, of Israel. And we have to be careful about that. There is something obnoxious about sin even to us, uh, the reason God hasn't come in and destroyed.
At this point, the world is, he's long-suffering towards those who he wants to hear the gospel. And so it's a, it's a, it really, really gives a, a force to the, the thought of the patience of God in the world in such a situation that we're living in like it was in those days. And so it's, it's nice to have God's thoughts about this to how we live, uh, and to be to.
How can we go on in a world like this that's so bad without being angry at it and interceding against it? I think it's our chapter here. It gives us, uh, we gotta see the mercy of God in in waiting.
And they can't use time as an example. You know, the world has gone on now for centuries and so on. And now we have global warming, you know, then is in control of things. They can stop earning fossil fuels, and that will stop global warming. And then the ice capoon melt. But God said in his word, he has set up the boundaries of the ocean.
And this to me, PL. uh, blows my mind, I'll put it that way, to think that nobody ever stopped to think, how did that big landmass up to the northeast of North America called the, uh, Greenland, ever get the name Greenland? Well, I think historically you can find that there was a time when it was all green and the Scandinavians went over there and farmed on it. But now it's covered with a great big ice mask that the bounds of the oceans change, no.
God says in Genesis that he had established that.
They're willingly ignorant of that and they think they can do it. Even scientists say, yes, we've got to worry about global warming. It's all in the hands of the Lord. His promise is what he says will endure. I was going to say that I believe there are two dangers that we need to remember, relative today's comment. One is the danger that, as we have said, we get all caught up in keeping the planet green and trying to preserve it and so on. The other danger is, of course, that man has traditionally squandered and misused the resources God has given him.
The Christian shouldn't be guilty of either. The Christian shouldn't be guilty of throwing trash out the window of the car because someone will pick it up. The Christian shouldn't be guilty of wasting the resources that God has given us. Uh, why? Because there isn't going to be enough. Not primarily, but because the Lord Jesus didn't waste. He gathered up the fragments of bread that that remained even though he was the one that had the power to produce it. And so there's a, there's a danger in both directions.
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But I think it's good to see how this chapter answers the question, because why is this world here in the 1St place? Man thinks it just happened and that he can have it as long as he wants it. It'll just keep going on and on. And man's hope is that all things will continue as they will, as they have from the beginning of their creation. Why did God create this world as a theater on which to work out His purposes? And He is going to accomplish His purposes on it.
Her purposes primarily concerning his beloved Son and thank God.
He has chosen to bring you and me into the picture.
When that world is finished, when God has done what he wants to do with it, he'll burn it up as we have it in this chapter. He's going to make it so beautiful in the Millennium in order to vindicate the honor and glory of His beloved Son. He's going to say, see.
What I really intended, and he's going to give him an untold blessing that he's never seen before since the Garden of Eden, and he's going to put his son in his rightful place. But then when the time comes at the end of the Millennium when that earth is fulfilled its purposes, God says.
I'll burn it up. And so God knows how long the resources need to act to last. He knows exactly as our brother's conventioning how to keep the oceans in control. Flying down here yesterday, and one of the boys on the plane with me had a T-shirt on. Well, when all the ice in the world melts and the oceans rise and swimmers will rule the world and all this kind of nonsense and and so on, Well, man makes jokes of it, but he's worried. God knows how long all that has to last. He knows how long the oil has to last and the natural gas.
And the coal and the food and everything else. And so we can quietly go on trusting that God's going to work out His purposes in all of this, but at the same time recognizing that God is speaking to man through all this and using the opportunity to lay it on his conscience. Yes, God is allowing these problems to show you that it's not going to go on indefinitely.
Responsive your, your comments, Bill reminded me of the fact that our responsibility in the world, which the first scripture, that one of the first scriptures that we read was that the judgment, uh, judgment was first began at the House of God. And someone had said that, uh, they look for the church and they found it in the world and they said they look for the world and they found it in the church. Well, if judgment must first begin at the House of God, the Lord really has his work cut out.
Because the church as we see it on the face of the earth today, of course, is, is let divided and so forth. But uh, I was just thinking what, what, what you mentioned about our responsibility and not throwing trash out the window and the many other responsibilities that become us as Christians. So I was just thinking of thought came to me. Well, if judgment must first begin at the House of God, the Lord really has his work cut out for him. And I believe it starts with us as individuals. It spreads into the assembly.
And of course, it also includes the, the whole, whole of Christendom. We're only a very small segment of the House of God. MMM, There may be laws that are set up, uh, that we, uh, perhaps feel the mind man has gone too far on. But let us remember, Peter also says this verse, submit yourselves to every ordinance of man for the Lord's sake.
Big Brother Robert was trying to make a comment brother **** here, can he just have a I just wanted to point out here it's it's wonderful portion that we have before us and it's really in connection with the word of God.
And the scoffing isn't that theories as it were, but the scoffing here. And it's a solemn thing that it says that they're scoffers walking after their own lesson. What are they scoffing at? They're scoffing at the word of God. That's what they're scoffing at. And so it's the epistle here, He says in verse one, the second epistle, beloved, now I now write unto you. Isn't it wonderful? We have the word of God, we have the truth of God. And God's standard is the word of God. He's going to judge this world by the word that was spoken by our blessed Savior. And he says here in verse two that we're to be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets.
And of the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. And so it's a blessed thing to have the word of God before us. And let's never, ever scoff at anything that's written in the word of God. And you and I, we live in a day and age where much of, uh, the truth of God is known still, but not all of it is practiced and walked in. And we ought to be very careful as to how we treat the truth of God and the word of God. We stay together on 300, on the 300.
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Ye serp and stop God you're masterful for.
You know.
Umm, they come to God who is on the ground.
Like all the love and all your love.
The praise the Lord give us a problem for all her faces.
Got it. However, the Heaven Father, we give Thee out thanks once again this morning for Thy word before us. We thank Thee for reminding us once again of that great and that blessed hope and that glorious appearing of our grave God and Savior Jesus Christ. Surely we know that as we speak of the Lord's return, how much more so are we reminded that Thou, blessed Lord Jesus, was that One who came into this world in lowly grace. That was that.
Man who came, who was despised and rejected of Man the one.
Uh, who? Uh, whom? We as men found no beauty indeed that we should desire? The, uh, same one who has led to the Cross. And we as men would cry away with Him and crucified Him. And surely we know that because of our death, of thy suffering, of Thy bloodshed, and now the resurrection of thee, being seated at the Father's right hand on high, we can look forward, as Thy word has promised us, of thy soon return.
Now we look to the end. We know that with a little time that is left here in this world, while we're waiting for the, we would pray for thy help. We need thy grace. We need thy, uh, uh, guidance upon every step of our pathway here. We'll remind you how, uh, we need to walk so that this world, uh, may be able to see us as I work towards being an epistle red and known to all men. So we pray that our walk may be inconsistent, uh, to, uh, what that would have us to do, that we may have that holy walk, that we may walk that path to separation, but yet be a testimony, uh, for thy name's sake. So we look to the income at one another in thine hand. We think of the balance of the time we have here. If thou still tarry who do pray for further blessings. So we just commit our time now into thine hand, giving thee our things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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