Address—M.W. Smith
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Could we look at the scripture in Deuteronomy chapter 6, you might say before we read it?
That what had been before us both in the address this afternoon.
Where we were warned.
Of deviating from the path that God has marked out for us.
As I've just been hearing of the pattern that has been set before us, that we might not turn aside from it into a bad pattern, but that we may follow the word of God, Deuteronomy chapter 6 and verse four, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord, and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul.
And with all thy might.
And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart.
And thou shall teach them diligently under thy children, and to talk to them when thou citizen thine house.
When thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
Now shall bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontless between thine eyes, and I shall write them upon the posts of thy house and on thy gates. I'm sure there is others here who, like the speaker, have been raised in the atmosphere of a Christian home.
Where the word have gone was written.
Where the Word of God was taught.
And how we thank God for it.
But you know, there's always a danger.
That, as some of us were remarking here yesterday.
That those things which we receive.
And here, perhaps most of our lives, it hasn't cost us.
Very much.
We know there are others here.
Who enjoy the word of God? They enjoy the one of whom the word of God speaks.
And has cost them a great deal.
The very fact that it cost them makes it valuable to them.
But oh, I wonder what it is to have the privilege of being raised where the Word of God is present and taught day by day.
We are reading the history of the children of Israel.
And we find that this which was given to them through Moses, but from the Lord himself, was given in order to preserve them as a people separated to God, and to be a testimony here in this world to the fact that there is a gun.
Who is overall into whom we are responsible?
Maybe never forget that.
That you and I have a responsibility.
To God.
We have the word of God.
And.
How much the Word of God gives us the instruction for our power.
We were reminded this afternoon.
Of the need for prayer for every step that we take.
If we leave God out, oh, how easy it is to deviate from the path of faith, the children of Israel.
We find that they had the word of God-given to them by Moses.
For 40 years through the wilderness and after they entered into the land which God had given to them.
We find that they had Joshua for a leader, one who was faithful to God.
Might we turn to Joshua?
Chapter 11 or Judges Chapter 11 I believe it is.
Oh, no. Excuse me?
The Judges, Chapter 2.
And we might start reading from verse one.
It's a rather solemn, sordid picture.
And an Angel of the Lord came up from Gilgal to book him, and said, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you under the land which I swear unto your Father's. And I said, I will never break my covenant with you.
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And Eve shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land. You shall throw down their altars. But ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have you done this?
I also said, I will not drive out them from before you, but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their guns will be a smear unto you.
They came to pass when the Angel, the Lord, spake these words unto the children of Israel, that people lifted up their voice and wept.
And they call the name of that place Book him, and they sacrificed unto the Lord.
And when Joshua had let the people go, the children of Israel went every man unto his inheritance to possess the land. God had to speak, and speak solemnly.
To those.
Who knew the Word of God as it had been given up to that time?
They had been witnesses, many of them at least been witnesses.
Of the wonders of God throughout the wilderness journey.
How God had fed them.
He had clothed them, he had sustained them in a land where they grew no crops.
And where God fed them with manna from heaven.
They gave them water to drink out of the rock.
And everything that happened to the children of Israel in that day was a result of the hand of God and blessing to them.
And yet they obeyed not the voice of God.
Oh, how solemn it is.
How many of us here in this room?
Found the blessing of God resting upon us and the households where we are, and may we ask the question each one to answer for himself. How much?
Have we valued?
What God has done for us, the speaker, as well as others I'm sure, can answer with hung hens.
That there have been many, many times.
When we have not.
Thank God for what He had done for us, nor have we taken God into account.
But turn to our own ways and what we thought was our own wisdom.
Only to find that that wisdom.
But not of God.
God said an Angel to speak to them.
Well, we find.
Repentance.
And how many times when we're reminded of our having turned aside from the path of faith?
We're reminded of the Word of God.
And there is, perhaps a measure of repentance.
And we seek to get back into such a path that it may be pleasing to the Lord. Now I put it that way intentionally.
We seek a path which will lead us back to the Lord, and so we find.
After they have had their inheritance now given to them, they go to their inheritance to possess the land.
Seventh verse.
And the people serve the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua.
Who has seen all the great works of the Lord that He did for Israel?
We have had in heritage bestowed upon us.
Through the gifts that God has given to the church in years past.
Some of us have known such men as we're real gifts of God.
Others who lived in a day earlier than that, we have their written ministry, which we value very much.
And which is for profit to us?
God has given those to the church to be for ministry.
For the people of God.
Though we're edifying to build up.
His people, the church too.
Oh, I wonder what it is that we have the truth of God which has been lost for so many centuries. It has been recovered to us.
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And we have.
And in some measure, we possess it.
But how much do we value it?
Is it that we are following leaders?
We've been warned of that too.
There were those in the days of the apostle Paul.
Who when he preached the word to them?
They went back home.
And they took out their scriptures.
And they searched them to see if those things were true.
Of which they had been told by the apostle to see if those things were true.
The word of God says in that they were more noble than those who hadn't done so.
God desires that we ourselves search.
The word of God, that we may know his mind.
That we may follow in the path that is marked out for us in the scripture.
And we've been reminded of the pattern that has been set before us. We've been reminded that there is a bad pattern.
Reminds one of the story of the man.
Who had a little son?
And the father went out one day he was going down to the corner bar.
It have been snowing outside.
And so he went on, leaving his tracks in the snow.
They look behind him and saw his son following him.
And his son was putting his foot, his feet where the father had stepped. What are you doing, son? Oh, I'm following you.
Or Solomon.
The father was setting an example of path for his son which would lead him into the same course of life.
But oh, there is a path, and the verses read to us this afternoon.
To follow.
And the footsteps are in the path of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I believe that's a correct rending, rendering of the passage, not to follow His steps, but to follow in his steps.
Are we doing it?
There were those who lived in a generation of Joshua.
Who served the Lord?
And we find another generation coming up.
The elders that outlived Joshua.
That they followed the Lord too.
But oh how much of a difference there can be amongst those that follow, because they are seeking to follow the God who brought them out of the land of Egypt and through the wilderness into their possession.
Now here comes up another generation which were born in the land and they see the blessings that God have done and they're they're settling down to enjoy those blessings.
Without seeking the one who bestows the blessings.
Joshua in verse 8, the son of Nun, the servant of the Lord, died.
The 110 years old.
And they buried him in the border of his inheritance in Timnath Harris, in the Mount of Ephraim on the north side of the Hill Gash.
And also all that generation were gathered under their fathers.
And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord.
Our other worshippers we had done for Israel.
And the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord.
Conserve Balaam, I might tell a story.
Many years ago there was a godly Father.
And he had two sons.
Both of them were those who were.
In the habit of standing up like this and preaching the gospel of the grace of God and ministering to the Lord's people.
One of them.
Found a way.
Who was not at the Lord's Table?
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And to my knowledge was not even saved.
I've met that man many times.
He got farther and farther away from the Lord.
Stop coming to meetings.
And got into the things of this world.
And he had one son.
I've met that son many times.
And talked with him.
Absolutely.
No thought of God whatsoever. He doesn't know the Lord.
Oh, what danger we are in if our hearts are not in company with the Lord.
If we're not in communion with the Lord in our past, day by day, the danger of the next generation coming up to know nothing.
Of what we can enjoy in the presence of the Lord in the meetings.
In our homes.
How is it with our children?
How is it with a younger generation that is coming up now?
Are they following the Lord?
Or do they seek, like we were reminded to have diversion somewhere else?
May I say.
The other brother.
He lived.
And he died happy in the Lord.
Oh, what a wonderful thing.
It is.
To have the joy of the Lord day by day in our lives.
And then to go home.
To be with the Lord.
But may we be warned, dear fellow Christian, I am speaking to those of this middle generation, those who had the wonderful heritage of having God fearing parents.
And you have gone on with it as a matter of form and perhaps some knowledge, some head knowledge, but they have not passed on to the younger generation that which has been taught them and taught of God.
Let us turn.
To Second Timothy, Second Timothy, chapter 2.
There we have the Apostle Paul speaking to Timothy again, a young man.
But one who feared the Lord.
The Apostle Paul says to him in verse one of chapter 2, Thou therefore, my son.
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And the things that thou hast heard of Maine among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
One believes that we have that heritage to you and to me have been has been committed the word of God.
Now with Timothy.
At the time when this was written, there wasn't the New Testament as we have it today.
That which he heard was from the lips of the apostle Paul, who spoke the word of God.
And so he says to Timothy.
And I believe that we can take home to ourselves here.
That way, like Timothy, have a responsibility.
To hid those things which we have heard, and which we have in the word of God.
And teach them to others as well, like those in the Old Testament were to teach their children of things. These things they were to have them daily in their daily lives, in their walk, in their path outside the house. These things were to be written upon their gates.
The fingers. I was heard of me among many witnesses. Let us remember that.
That if Timothy were to make a mistake.
There were those who could check him and let it be known that that was not.
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What have been given to him by the Apostle Paul?
Now we don't have the Apostle Paul here, except we have the writings of the Scriptures here in us, in our hands.
And what we hear being ministered to us from others, we have the word of God to fall back on and to judge whether what has been given to us, minister to us, is that.
Which has the truth of scripture in it.
To be given to faithful men who should be able to teach others also.
Now, you and I, dear fellow brother.
Ancestors too, for that matter, in private have that responsibility to pass on to others that which has been taught to us, to be faithful in passing on to others that which has been given to us.
Or wonderful it will be in that day when the Lord Jesus comes.
Now, when there is the evaluation of what we have done here in this scene.
To have the approval.
Of the Lord and Jesus.
And to hear his words, well done, faithful servant.