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Our Lord, when we have passed, and the grace when thou on earth and abroad.
Demand thy wondrous love and grace thy faithfulness to God. Verse three says, Faithful amidst unfaithfulness, amidst darkness only light Thou didst thy Father's name confess, and in his will be like 230.
The Lord won't be.
But then I can't hear you.
12578.
Umm.
Rhode Island. Rhode Island with me.
Oh.
Right, Godfather, we just give thanks again for the privilege that we have to be here and that thy mercy to us again. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus Christ and we.
Just, uh, think of how we've thought a little already as I faced on it. Lord Jesus, we've sung and thy faithfulness to us, and we just count on thee to uh.
00:05:01
Lead us to a portion suitable for us, we do.
Pray that each one of us will have hearing heart and willing heart to hear what they'll have to say to me. And we just give thanks again and count on me for thy health, Thy worthy name, Lord Jesus.
I wonder if we could read Second Timothy chapter 2 brother.
And talking about the Lord's faithfulness. And in that chapter it talks about.
Faithful men as well.
I was thinking of exactly the same thing, Brother Bob.
Why didn't you say so, brother?
I'll read the chapter.
Second Timothy, chapter 2.
Thou therefore, my Son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who has chosen him to be a soldier, and if a man also strive for masteries.
Yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully?
The husbandman that believeth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things.
Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even in bonds, even unto bonds. But the word of God is not bound, therefore I endure all things for the elect sake.
That they may also obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying. For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny Himself of these things. Put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no prophets, but to the subverting of the hearers.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will eat, as doth a canker of whom is Hymenaeus and Philetus, who concerning the truth have heard, saying that the resurrection is passed already, and overthrow the faith of some.
Nevertheless the foundation of God stands ashore. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that names the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If any man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor.
Sanctified and meet for the master youth, and prepared unto every good work.
Fleeing also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strikes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all. I have to teach patience in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
If God per adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
And the first epistle and the first chapter, the apostle Paul could say in verse 12, I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has enabled me for that He counted me faithful.
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Putting me into the ministry so we can thank, thank the Lord for that faithfulness on the part of the Apostle Paul. Uh, if you have, I was thinking likewise of just a few other verses.
One in the 20th of Proverbs.
And it says in verse six, most men will proclaim everyone his own goodness.
But then there's a question that is asked, but a faithful man who can find. And then we have also in the third chapter of Hebrews, uh, Moses brought before us as an example.
But before that we have the wondrous example in verse one. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of our profession, Christ Jesus, who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful.
In all his house.
It says for this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses. So we have that prime example before us, the Lord Jesus Christ, don't we?
All wrote many of his epistles to assemblies, but these two epistles are written to an individual.
According to the 4th chapter of First Timothy, he evidently was a young man, because Paul tells him, Let no man despise thy youth. In other words, if Timothy would lead a life of exemplary conduct.
They could not despise his use. There wasn't that Timothy could flaunt himself and say, and Paul says you've got to pay attention to me, No.
But it was his testimony that was to command.
Uh, respect and so.
It necessarily reflects on our conduct.
And I really think there is a tremendous message not only for young people, but for us all.
In Second Timothy, it is individual faithfulness in a time of outward ruin. And you look around and you see a lot of young people around you, and that's encouraging.
That young person, young brother, young sister, you've got to learn to be faithful yourself to the Lord on the individual basis. It is extremely important and uh, that's what we have focused in on and especially the 2nd chapter, although the whole second epistle is very important, seems to be that it is the last epistle that Paul wrote because in chapter 4.
He says in verse.
Six. I am now ready to be offered in the time of my departure.
Is at hand.
So probably the last written words that we have from the Apostle Paul in this book, Second Timothy.
First one and two, we have uh, this statement thou therefore, my son, thou.
Therefore, refers to that which had gone before in the that would have been written before in the first chapter, to find in the first chapter that there were those that had turned away from Paul.
Paul's doctrine, and it says in verse 15 of the first chapter this Thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
And then you can say therefore.
What should we do?
Uh, there was a great need when that was occurring that there was that there should be more grace. Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And secondly, there was a great need for teaching.
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And that's that is.
I think what's needed and in the face of difficulties and.
And those turning away, we might say is to have a lot of grace, faithful teaching. And, uh, that's, that's what, that, that's why we have the word. Therefore here now, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace in Christ Jesus.
What is Grace, Brother Paul?
Well, the easy answer is unmarried favor, but, uh, there's much better answers than that.
There's, there is one, there's a few, few answers. One would be in Ephesians 417 and that has to do with grace of, of, uh, gifts given. And so there's an exhortation to.
Exercise gifts.
And other.
Thought there I think is that.
By the unmerited favor of God, he gives. He gives gifts.
Umm, this side.
NO47, not 417 But unto everyone has given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. And so it is a umm, it is uh, is a favor shown that is not deserved.
So these people here that turned away from the T, the doctors that Paul really didn't deserve favor, we might say.
What they're they're called upon to show some.
And and and, uh, so that's.
And just as we don't, we don't deserve any gift that God has given to us, whether it be any ability or whatever we're called upon to use it.
You probably have some more thoughts on it I'd like to hear.
Well, nothing exactly there, and hence that, except to say that grace is in contrast in Scripture with law, the principle of law. Man was tested on the principle of law in the Old Testament and he completely broke down.
And there is a tendency, I find it in my own heart, brethren, to go back to that principle.
Law basically says.
You do what's right, you're going to get good consequences. You do what's wrong, and there's gonna be bad consequences.
But, brethren.
In Christ, in this present dispensation, we've been shown God's.
Abounding grace when we deserve nothing. When man did the most awful thing possible, taking his creator and nailing him to a cross.
When God did his best, man did his worst.
God would have been just in wiping the human race off the planet at that time.
But God in effect says you've done your worst. Now I'm going to take that same act and I'm going to show my abounding grace. And he turns it around and he shows us his unmerited favor.
Oh, brethren, we stand before God on that ground that we don't deserve one bit of what we have. In Christianity, God gives us everything because of what Christ has done on the cross, and that touches the heart. And in Christianity that is the main spring of Christian activity. It's not.
Holding a stick over your head and saying if you don't obey, you're gonna get it. That's the principle of law that does not work. And that's why I think it is. When you say Paul, that in first chapter all day that Indonesia had a forsaken him. It was a sad situation.
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They probably said to Paul, I don't think they left off being Christians.
But they probably said you're just a little bit too radical, Paul. Look, you got yourself in prison. They're about to cut your head off. Can't you just be a little bit more conciliatory?
Must have been tough for the for Timothy to go on knowing that his spiritual father was going to be taken away.
What's gonna keep them going on, Timothy?
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. Oh brethren, to realize we have a God who gives all because of His own heart of love. And even as a Christian I fail and I have to go to Him as the God of all grace. Oh how much grace we need to go on in a day like this.
But he's the God of all grace, and if he needs some more grace, brother or sister, you think you can't go on any longer?
Go to him, ask for some more. Since he's the God of all grace, He'll give you some more. He'll give you enough so you can go on even in days like we live in.
To me, that is the point is to be strong in that principle of grace.
To understand that's what will keep us going on, brother, and it won't be the spirit of law. Sometimes you think things are sliding so bad, we gotta put the brakes on somewhere somehow. Let's keep see if we can keep these young people under control.
You can't do it in the spirit of law.
Young person, if you do not heal the love that the Lord Jesus has towards you to go to the cross, nothing is gonna keep you. There's the door, there's the world out there. Go ahead.
Did you know that love that he loved us with all the way to death? The Creator of the universe, the eternal Son of God? He went to that cross.
Supreme obedience to his Father's will.
You won my heart. Now there's no desire to go out that door and go after a world. No desire there any longer. Why? Somebody standing over me? No. He's done something on the inside. He's touched his heart of mine, and I want to place him more than anything else. That's great. That's what's going to make you strong in a day of ruin.
For myself, I've enjoyed it. The definition of great because all the character and glory of God poured out on a Sinner.
In that sense we we get to know who he is and we live as he lives in that glory and in that that that character of who he is, Paul said. For me to live is Christ.
He was living in the grace, the, the, the, the sense of the great of God, you know, and the same opportunity here. He's strong and great.
Is in crisis live Christ when we get to know and God wants to reveal Christ to our soul. Every circumstance that we go through God is revealing Christian creating Christ in us, creating that character within be strong at what God has given all that's great. All the glory of and and character of God poured out from the Sinner. There's a sense in which the, uh, question of merit.
Drops out.
With the, the definition that Paul gave is, uh, is a good win. And we've often heard that unmet grace is unmerited favor, but there's verses like this in the Bible in Luke chapter 2 in verse UH-40.
And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit. This is the man Christ Jesus.
Filled with wisdom and the grace of God was upon him. Well, there I have to move beyond the definition. That's a good definition that Paul gave. And the issue of merit crops out. I can't say it's unmerited favor now, but I can say it's favor. And I heard, uh, an older brother once in a reading meeting give a definition that grace is God being for me in all that he is.
And so as we think of this, this, this, this youth, we think of the eternal Son of God taking manhood to himself. And there he was as a youth. You can just imagine the delight and satisfaction as God looked down upon him. And the God couldn't have been more thoroughly for his Son as he watched him walk through this world.
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From a youth on so sometimes it's nice to.
Move beyond, I would suggest the question of merit for every one of us we know is unmerited and enjoy that God is for me.
And that, that changes my attitude and buoys me up because we tend to be pretty hard on ourselves, as Bob was saying. And we can, if we're not holding the tape measure to our brethren, we can hold it hard to ourselves.
And not that there isn't a place for us to judge ourselves. There is, and it's important.
But we have to, after our head hangs down sometimes lift up our head, lift up our hands and realize that in spite of how weak I am and how often we fail, God is for me, is for me, and and this energizes me in my pathway. And I think that's the thought here. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. How I do that? Isn't grace something he does? How do I be strong in it?
It's almost like, how would you do that?
But I, I was thinking as I was sitting here listening about this colleague that I used to have where I worked here in, uh, up in Maine, and he took me out on a sailboat. He was a sailor and uh, the whole idea of sailing was, it just was mis mysterious to me because he could sail the boat into the wind. And I always thought you put a sail up and you kind of aim it so that the wind blows in the sail and along you go. And maybe sometimes that's true.
But it's more subtle than that he was telling me and he could sail into the wind by going back and forth. And what actually happened is he explained to me is that you put the sale up and the wind kind of draws it along from the other side. It kind of sucks it along. And so, you know, we, we learn as young believers that when we try to be strong and it's all us, we have to learn that in me. That isn't my flesh wealth, no good thing. And we have to learn that painful lesson sometimes over and over again. Without me, the Lord said you can do nothing.
And after a while we learned just to try and put this big sale out. We try to learn just to yield ourselves to the Lord, and to learn to be dependent upon him which is unnatural to us, and then unmerited in our case, the unmerited favor of God being for me.
In that strange way that that the Scripture calls state, it draws me along. It's an unnatural thing for us to walk by faith, isn't it? But that's what we're called to, to be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. God is for me. That enables me to get up in the morning and enjoy spiritual food and lift up my heart, my hands and press on. Wonderful.
Raised his presentation too in this verse of energy, I believe.
That was found in the Lord Jesus and that is required.
To be a faithful servant, as Timothy was called to be.
So verse 3.
And your heartlessness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. Or take thy part in the sufferings for the Lord Jesus Christ who wants to have suffering.
I don't wanna have suffering.
Here's the search. There are circumstances. If you go there, you're going to suffer.
How can I help? Unless you have the grace of the Lord Jesus, this is what has to be done.
And then it says any man going to war, doesn't it, you know, encumber himself with the things of his life. There are the things of this life, the comfort, the opportunity, the money, the traveling, whatever the world has to offer. Yeah, You enjoy that.
Turn her away from that and say no, that's not what I'm gonna choose. I need grace for that. I'm not gonna take these things in my life because they're gonna burden me and slow me down as I wanna follow the Lord.
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And then he speaks of the one who?
Wow, the husbandmen, that labourer.
There's a seal right there.
Nothing growing out of there. It's gotta be months and months and months and sweat and a lot of work and I got to plow that ground and work that out.
We need grace, we need grace, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that could go in their suffering and let everything aside just to do His Father's will and work and work and work and see no fruit. I just enjoy these thoughts and connections being strong in the grace which is the right of Jesus.
In connection with the thought of God being for us, grace being God being for us, I'm not.
Their definition an acrostic definition which perhaps some of her GRACE, God's riches that Christ's expense.
And, uh, that applies to to us God's riches.
At Christ's expense.
There's a confidence that, uh, Paul wanted Timothy to have in being strong in that grace, that as he took up the ministry that God had given him as a servant.
Paul departing from the scene, no longer having the wise master builder there to, uh, labor under his tutelage and, uh, care and oversight in that way. He was going to have to go on alone without Paul. And he had to be confident that the Lord was going to use that ministry for the blessing of the Saints in spite of all outward appearances. And so, as you mentioned, the, the gifts, uh.
That are given in Ephesians and in other places that the word grace is brought in because it's his grace to use that means to build up and minister to his Saints. And so Timothy needed confidence that he would take what he had and use it. You know what has cell in my hand arrived? We became the rod of God. What hast thou in thy house? Ohio little pot boil. Oh, it filled the vessels.
One after another.
And So what hast thou in thy hand? Be strong in the grace. He'll use what He's given you and fitted you for, for the blessing of His people, if you seek to take it up and serve Him.
It's often.
Go ahead, Rob. I was just gonna say, could we say then that being strong?
To be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus is to make full use of what God has given. That's how we that how we would be strong in our lives.
And it's things in our lives that sometimes we think they're so terribly insignificant, like you mentioned, a rod or a little pot of oil.
Or, in the case of the Lord Jesus, feeding the five thousands.
5 loaves and they say loaves. They were little rolls, they weren't big loaves like we have. And two fishes, what are they amongst so many?
Brethren, God takes the little insignificant things in our lives and if we put it into his hands, he can make it a blessing. Some despise the little things in your life, use it. Put it into the Lord's hands. You'll be surprised the Lord can use it's like it's been said, it's.
Not what we are, it's what our God is. I've often wondered how it was when the Lord fed those 5000.
Imagine 5 little rolls. What did he do? He says he took them and broke them. You must have just kept on breaking them.
To 5000 people I I don't know how it happened the point is it just magnified the fact that God is for his people and he's going to supply the need even in 2008 when we live look around and when I think of when I used to sit in conferences and some of the.
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Old timers that were.
Gray haired men then and I enjoyed so much their ministry all gone. Doesn't seem like there's anybody like that today. But as our God changed, it's not what our brethren are, it's what our God is. That's the focus in Christianity and that is beautiful to get that focus right.
So these are things that Timothy was going to need to serve and that's that's really what the apostle has before him is that he was going to have to continue on after the apostle was gone. So we're left here to continue on. God has given us a responsibility and I think especially gathered to the Lord's name. He's committed to our trust truth that our brethren in the camp often have not heard the Old Testament Israelite if he found something lost by his brother, he was to lay it up in store.
And to have it ready to restore to Him when the opportunity came. And I think we have a special responsibility to carry on in the truth that has been ministered to us by those who are now with the Lord. They gave it to us as the Lord enabled them and the purity in which they had received it. And now we're responsible to carry it and to commit it to others as well. That which has been restored to us by by God's grace. And these points that unfold in these following verses are all things that are going to be needed by us.
If we're going to carry out our service to the Lord, uh, faithfully and to his glory and for the blessing of others and grace is the first one, but these others follow very needed as well.
In verse two we have 4 generations mentioned it. It is interesting.
To say that what God is going to use to maintain his testimony from generation to generation.
He doesn't talk anything about ver in verse 2 about eloquence or good preachers.
No. What does he say? What kind of men? Faithful men.
Just to notice the four generations, it says here the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses. So the Apostle Paul and then Timothy, the second generation, the same commit, thou, Timothy was responsible to commit to faithful men. That would be the third generation who shall be able to teach others also. That's the 4th generation.
So it's the truth of God is to be passed on from generation to generation.
He doesn't say to Timothy, Timothy, you go and look up some good preachers or some eloquent men.
No, what is important is faithfulness. I I'd like to ask the question, what does that mean? What does that word mean? Faithfulness.
Brother Stan, you had this on your heart this chapter. Would you explain it?
Well, uh, I would say it would be someone who.
Uh, first of all, puts the Lord first in his life, one that, uh, spends time and meditation over the word. And, umm, I was just thinking, you know, that we've been handed down, uh, a wonderful treasury of truth, umm, and, uh, the ministry of various ones like Mr. Darby, Mr. Kelly and others, uh, are we availing ourselves of the opportunity of.
That ministry that has been handed down to us and, uh, you know, sometimes I think the world is so attractive to the young people today. They, there's magazines and everything to attract the eye. But we need to spend that time, don't we, in meditation on the word, personally spending that time alone with the Lord, uh, morning and evening and, uh, then, uh, perhaps spending that time to reading what others have written.
That would be for our encouragement and then we can hand it out to others. If we're not faithful ourselves individually, we'll never be able to hand down to others, uh, what we have.
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We're thinking too, in connection with what our brother Steven brought before us, the fact that, uh, this is passed down from one generation to another. We have a similar exhortation given in the 4th chapter of Deuteronomy, and I'd just like to read a few verses.
There beginning with verse four, it says, But ye that did cleave unto the Lord your God are alive, everyone of you this day.
Behold, I have taught you statutes and judgments, even as the Lord my God commanded me that He should do so in the land whither ye go to possess it. Then verse nine, only take heed to thyself and keep thy soul diligently. And that's part of what we have brought before us, the keeping of our souls diligently.
Says, Lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, unless they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life, but teach them thy sons, and thy sons sons. So we have a continuum there as well. So this just reinforces the need to have it passed down from generation to generation.
But as our brother Bob has brought before us, each one has to buy hold for ourselves. We don't like hold, so to speak, of our Father's faith or our grandfather's faith. But we have to make it our own, don't we? And we have to walk personally in the good of what the Lord has brought before us.
Romanians chapter 4 says what is required of a steward is that a man be found faithful.
You understand it simply in temporal circumstances, you hire someone to do a job and say, well, you come in at 9, you put the lights on and you start the computers and whatever and you give them a list of things you want them to do. And then so if he's a faithful steward, that's what you committed to him, he's going to carry out. You ask the man, So what, what, what's your job? I, I'm supposed to come in in the morning at 9 and, uh, turn the lights on and put the computers on and whatever it was, you know.
That's knowledge of what he's expected to do. But the faithful man not only knows what he's expected to do, but he does it. So he's an example when he's training somebody else to fill in the job for him, he says this is what you do, not just give him a list.
He shows them how to do it and he goes through the the emotions with him. So a faithful man I understand would be one and only. Who knows but who does?
Obedience.
There is an example in Ezra. Ezra was a you would say a faithful man. But notice what it says in Ezra Chapter 7.
And verse 10.
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord.
And to do it, that's what you're talking about, Obedience. Faithfulness is obedience.
And that's what God values, brethren.
Obedience to the Word of God Walk.
In obedience to the Word of God, that's a faithful man.
In that same verse and to teach.
Another example in connection with Abraham's servant in the 24th chapter of Genesis.
Uh, that says in that second verse. And Abraham said unto his elder servant of his house, that ruled over all that he had, Could I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh? While Abraham could have confidence in that man, in that man in that service says he ruled over all that he had. That was a responsible position, wasn't he?
And we can see, as we read through, uh, this chapter, one Abraham entrusted to this servant something that would certainly not be entrusted to one who didn't in the past carry out the wishes of the master. And so it was done faithfully, wasn't it?
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I wonder if we see an interesting correlation between faithfulness and truth. If we look at uh verse 13, it says yet he abideth faithful, he cannot deny himself.
What is given us in the Word of God is truth, and you cannot destroy truth. Umm, it's the same today as tomorrow, the same 2000 years ago as 1,000,000 years from now. Truth will stand and whether we believe it or not doesn't mean that it's not the truth. We might be deceived into thinking something else is, uh, is correct. But what God has said is true and it will stand and it cannot be taken away. It cannot be destroyed. What we have is absolutely solid God.
Is faithful, he cannot deny himself. What he has given is the truth. And so.
Very importantly, in the second verse, we have, uh, faithfulness, and we've been speaking about the necessity of thought, and it certainly is necessary.
But it's not just.
Our faithfulness that keeps us. It's what we're being faithful about, if I can put it that way.
And that was the things that Timothy had heard from Paul.
What had Timothy heard from Paul?
In uh, second in first Corinthians 2IN chapter First Corinthians chapter 2 and verse two, this was written, Sir, the Saints in Corinth, not Timothy. But he says here I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. So the things that Timothy.
And others had heard from Paul. We're all about the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, and that's what we need to be faithful about. Sometimes we I fear we're more concerned or counting on our faithfulness rather than.
Just our employment of God's faithfulness to us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faithfulness will is necessary.
But that alone will not keep us.
Our enjoyment of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We need to learn to read the Bible to do it.
Not merely to teach it or to know, but to do it. That's what faithfulness is. I think that's really important. The Old Testament, the Lord gave the, uh, King Saul a command to go and destroy the Amalekites.
And he saw some that.
Look pretty good so he saved him.
He lost everything because he was not careful to obey what God said.
Young people and brethren at large, we need to learn that lesson that God means what he says. Maybe I don't understand it very clearly, and that's why we have to have meetings like this to help us sharpen understanding of Scripture. But once you understand it.
Obey it. Sometimes we think we know a little bit better than God, and so we put our little twist on it. You remember Peter?
When the Lord used his boat to preach from and afterwards he says to Peter, launch out into the deep and let down your Nets for a haul.
Well, Peter had been working all night long and he hadn't gotten anything. And maybe Peter thought, well, the Lord is a Carpenter. He's not a fisherman. He doesn't know that we were laboring all night and we didn't have get anything.
But he said to the Lord, at thy word, I will let down the net.
Is that obedience?
Lord is gonna stop because Peter didn't let down the Nets.
No, he filled Peter's net, but he had problems because he didn't fully obey. His net broke and then they had to signal to their companions and they came and they filled up both boats and they started to sink.
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If you were to let down the Nets like the Lord told them to, you wouldn't have those problems. So let's learn to diligently read the Word of God to do it. That's what faithfulness really is.
Faithfulness is, I believe, a fruit of the Spirit. I know it says faith in Galatians chapter 5, but in French it's the word faithfulness and it's not being full of faith. It really is faithfulness to carry out as the Lord Jesus did.
We see that exemplified, uh, brother Michelle, in the very first verse of the book of the Acts, don't we? In connection with the Lord Jesus. It says the former treatise have I made, Oh Theophilus, of all that Jesus began to both do and to teach. So the doing came first, didn't it? Then the teaching.
I have enjoyed too, on this particular chapter that we have the believer brought forth in seven different ways. I just mentioned that in passing. First of all, Timothy is referred to as the Son. No doubt he was saved through the apostle Paul.
Uh, when he went through Derby and Lystra and, uh, Paul had a special affection for this, uh, young man, I believe his son. But then he refers to the believer in the third verse as a soldier.
And then in the fifth verse as a runner.
In the fourth verse as a husbandman.
And in the 15th verse as a Workman and in the 21St verse had the vessel and in the 24th verse as a service. So it's beautiful to meditate as we go through this chapter on the seven ways that the believer has looked at first mentioned in the first verse as my son.
There's a practical side to faithfulness. Too often, you know, we we might think, well, when I've read all the ministry and, you know, studied it and it maybe then at one point I'll actually be.
Considered faithful, the Lord will look upon me as faithful, But in Luke 16, there's a very small way in which we can be faithful. And one of the things that impressed me the most years ago was somebody telling me about being faithful in the small things and Luke 16.
Verse 9 says, uh, make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness, that when ye fail, but it really means when it fails, we're not going to fail. We are. We know where we're headed. We know the Lord's going to bring us there no matter what, but everything around us is going to fail. The whole system of things is going to fail. So when it fails, he might be received into everlasting habitations, He that is faithful.
And that which is least is faithful also in much.
He that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much. If he therefore have not, If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if he have not been faithful in that which is in another man's, who shall give you that which is your own? So there's really not a thing that we do that we can't learn and practice faithfulness in it, in it, no matter what job I'm doing.
If I treat it as the Lord's school to teach me faithfulness.
There's not a minute of my life that's wasted. I don't have to be sitting reading ministry or my Bible. That's certainly.
You know, the ultimate in faithfulness. But I can be doing whatever I do during the day.
And it can be the Lord's way of teaching me faithfulness. And if I make a mistake, I make a mistake.
It doesn't matter because it's all gonna be burned up anyway. So if I do something wrong at work or whatever it might be, or if I blow a bunch of money that I shouldn't have spent and there's a lesson to be learned in it, it's not gonna count. The money is not gonna count in the end, but the lesson learned will. So we can be faithful in very, very small and seemingly insignificant things, and they have an eternal value in our lives and for eternity too.
00:55:18
Well, the faithfulness is obedience.
Then we have.
A lesson in that in verses 3:00 and 4:00.
The soldier.
Is given to us. These are examples in everyday life that we know something about.
And Paul says in verse seven, consider what I say and the Lord give thee understanding in all things. So he's not just giving us these examples as something to think about, but to be encouraged. These things in natural life that we know about have a spiritual lessons.
For us.
I've never gone into the Army as such. There's some that probably have here, but I suppose if I'd ask somebody, what do you learn? Learn in boot camp.
Probably the number one lesson is obey.
Unquestioning.
Obedience. You don't say. Do I really wanna do that?
You don't say. I don't think that Sergeant knows what he's talking about. You learn to obey, and that is drilled into them.
And you have to learn it, and it's gonna take some hardness.
Suffering. It's not easy.
Don't expect the Christian path to be easy, and it's not that.
Endure hardness, the new translation says. Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.
When it comes to.
Our own interests.
How we are right there to take care of our own interests, my car, my house, my family.
What about the Lord's interests?
Is that first in our mind? What kind of soldiers are we anyhow often think of, uh.
Luke Chapter 9 of some examples of people that profess.
Profess to want to follow the Lord Jesus.
Others that the Lord called to follow him that notice their responses to me. This is searching verse 59 of Chapter 9, Luke Chapter 9, verse 59 and he said unto another, follow me.
But he said.
Notice this suffer me first.
To go and bury my father.
Jesus said unto him, Let the dead bury their dead, but go thou and preach the Kingdom of God.
Verse 61 and another said also, Lord, I will follow thee, but let me first.
Go bid them farewell, which are at home at my house. Jesus said unto him, No man, having put his hand to the plough and looking back, is fit for the Kingdom of God.
That's the culture we're passing through and young people, it is a tremendous challenge for you.
To challenge the system, you're being taught me first.
If I don't look out for myself, who else gonna look out for me? I gotta look out for myself, don't I? No, you don't.
You don't have to look out for yourself.
Uh, soldier has to understand when his commander gives the order.
Whether he agrees with it or not, he's obedient. And when the Word of God is very clear in Scripture about different things, there should be unquestioning obedience.
How easy it is, the scripture says very clearly not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is.
01:00:00
Sometimes when it comes to weeknight meetings, uh, got lots of homework.
I got something. I got a job. I had to do. For that, I'm sorry, I can't go. What kind of soldiers are we, anyhow? Do we treat the Lord's interests as less important than our own? You think we qualify as soldiers? If that's the case, these are important principles that we need to be challenged by.
When this commander speaks.
Soldier has to know.
Even if it costs him his life, he's got to obey. And we need to learn that, uh, that, uh, as well. That's why it says in the next verse, verse four, he that wareth.
Does not entangle himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who had chosen to be a soldier.
Can a soldier have a business on the side?
I don't suppose there's anything wrong with him having a business.
But when it's his commander who speaks, he's got to understand my commanders.
Will is my first occupation. He's got some time after that, while he might attend to some business, but he's got to know that his commander is #1.
Is the Lord Jesus number one to us? Is His Word what commands complete obedience?
Lord, help us to challenge our hearts on these important principles. There's one I believe that's brought before us in the 11Th chapter of Second Samuel that really understood what was becoming of a soldier, and that's Uriah A and when?
Uriah was summoned, it says in verse 9, but Uriah slept at the door of the King's house with all the servants of his ward.
And went not down to his own house. Well, he had the right, so to speak, to go down to his own house, didn't he? But he realized that he was a soldier. There was an important task that lay ahead of him. And so he couldn't let his guard down at all. We see, unfortunately, uh, David letting his guard down in this chapter.
But Uriah did not understood what was becoming of the soldier. Didn't he?
Our approach to David back to.
Faithfulness of that soldier Uriah, whatever approach to his soul, and you just see what sin does. He was blinded to that faithfulness and he just continued on and had a murder.
Entangle is a very colorful word, isn't it?
Umm, we can, uh, we can see ourselves caught up and stuck in something that we can't get out of. And, uh, we have to think of it in the sense of, of living a life that has not, does not allow us to get entangled. There's, there's things that we can do which are very good in themselves and very right in themselves. Umm, but it's going to keep me from doing that which God has asked me to do.
What the Lord has called me.
There is another, uh, situation in David's life, brother Bruce, that uh.
I enjoy where in The Cave of Abdullah David had a desire. It doesn't even say it was a command.
Said, Oh, that one would give me of the water of the well of Bethlehem, which is by the gate.
You just had a desire. It wasn't a command. I don't. Three that were close to him heard his desire.
And those three mighty men at risk of losing their own lives, broke through the host of the Philistines that was there.
And they went to that well. David probably knew that well well, because he was raised in Bethlehem and probably had drunk that water lots of times. But there they go and they draw water out of that well.
And they take it to David.
01:05:02
What's some water? Is that worth losing your life over?
My commander desired this and I'm going to do it. That was the spirit that motivated them. I think that's so beautiful. And we think of the desire of the Lord Jesus.
Do this.
Until I come to remember him in his death.
It's a desire. He wants you to do it.
And if your heart is true to the Lord Jesus, I know you cannot be at rest until you two do it.
I think Brother Bob, we have an example too in connection with the Lord Jesus in John 14, he says there in the 15th verse, if he loved me, keep my commandments. So there are certain things the Lord has specifically asked us to do and there's a scripture in verse for them. But then when you come down to the 23rd verse, it says if a man loves me, he will keep my words.
It doesn't say commandments there, but words. And so if we're close to the Lord and we're enjoying communion with him, we will discern what he likes and what he doesn't like and will desire to do those things that please him, even though there might not be a specific commandment for it. And someone has given the illustration that, uh, there are certain things, perhaps my wife, uh, I know she likes me to do and I do them, but.
Uh, living with her for a long time, I get to know what she likes, even though she might not express it in so many words. And, umm, I think that's what the Lord is bringing before us there in John 14.
There's a difference between a soldier there and David's camp that said.
We'll wait until he gives us a command.
To those 3, David's word, just the breathing of as well had the power of a command. They couldn't lay it on anyone else. They were looking for a command.
Perhaps if I had been there. I just said, oh, we'll, we'll wait until we hear somebody blow the trumpet and give us some specifics here.
There would be no reason for them to, uh, to do that, except that they love David.
Here it says the no man that wore it, you know, there is a time for soldiers to go home. There's furloughs and uh, their three-year conscription comes to an end. But we're on a campaign that doesn't end until the Lord calls us to be with him. You can imagine a man in the trenches says, well, fellas, it's uh, 4:00 quitting time, time to go home and gets up and starts walking away in the middle of enemy fire. He'd say he's out of his mind. We're in a warfare, We're in a campaign now.
That last spiritual warfare until the Lord comes. So it's very specifically no man that Warren or is on campaign entangles himself with the affairs of this life.
Could we sing #312?
312.
Lead on Almighty Lord, lead on to victory, encouraged by thy blessed word, With joy we follow thee 312.
Lead unknown.
We need all the girls for me.
I'm pretty sure I'm gonna come out.
01:10:23
Umm.
OK, loving God and our Father, we do.
Pray that thy precious word might find its entrance into our hearts to have its, uh, practical effect and working out in our lives while we're here in the scene. Think of these, uh, words that, uh, faithful and wise master builder, uh, to his beloved son Timothy and the faith, uh, to encourage him to go on in that service that was committed to him. And so we know that each one of us are in that same services. So.
My own servants and we pray that the motivation of our hearts might be.
Lion love, our God, our Father, and the love of our Lord Jesus Christ to us of his condescension, how he came down from the heights of glory, how he was rich, became poor for our sakes, and how he yet, uh, condescends to meet us in all our needs. And in that service help us to place our confidence in him as we go forward in the path of faith, uh, looking for that, uh, blessed home.
When we will be called from the scene of conflict. And so we thank thee that the end of that conflict is that Satan will be cast out of the heavenly places that Hughes are of the brethren there for so long, finally cast out in our warfare. We'll see its wondrous conclusion. Lord Jesus now at that, uh, one who has defeated him in Calvary's cross, and we just follow the wake of thy wondrous victory. So we do, uh, commit ourselves to thee for the rest of our time together.
Asking if they'll continue the blessed Thy word to our souls, we might gather up the tenor of thy mind, the desire to walk in it. Do thy will my precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.