Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn to a few scriptures, first of all in Galatians chapter 5 and the 22nd verse. But the fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law.
That I'd like to turn also to 2nd Corinthians chapter 4.
And the seventh verse. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are all we delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus.
Might be made.
Manifest in our mortal flesh.
And one more passage for now and.
John, chapter 13. John, chapter 13.
And verse 34.
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another as I have loved you that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Well, it was on my heart. Dear friends, this afternoon was to speak a little bit of how the enemy attacks us, that there would be the hindrance in bringing out in our personal lives.
In our home life and in our assembly life, those practical things that are a manifestation of the life of Jesus in our mortal bodies. I believe there's been much before us in the meetings about what a privilege it is to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. What a privilege it is to know that He has a path marked out in His word for us to direct us. And we may be sure that the enemy doesn't want us to enter into and enjoy these precious things.
I don't know of anything more sweet than to enjoy the Lord's company individually and collectively. The very first words that God spoke when sin entered this world are these. Adam, where art thou? This showed that he desired the company of His creature. And at the very end the triumphant note of heaven is. The Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and God himself shall.
Will be with them and be their God. We're looking forward to that time when the whole redeemed company will be gathered there in the Father's house around the Lord Jesus and all. What a time of joy it will be when love will be unhindered and where all that's in the heart of God will flow to us for our fullest enjoyment for all eternity.
But I believe, brethren, that it's necessary that we seek to lay hold of these things.
Practical way Now God said to His people, Israel of old, that He desired that their days would be as the days of heaven upon earth. And I think when we were gathered here enjoying a little bit of that Christian love and fellowship, and I trust with a sense of the Lord in the midst too, why it has been a little foretaste of heaven to us, and we desire that this should continue.
Many of us, as we leave this happy assemblage, we know we're going back to.
Our own homes, we're going back to the gatherings that we came to and we're going to meet all kinds of difficulties and situations. And perhaps our hearts are saying, oh, I wish it could continue like it is in these three days where we can have such happy fellowship. Well, I say, brethren, has the Lord changed? Is he any different because there are only two or three?
Is His love sufficient for every situation? Is there power for us to meet?
These things in a way that is pleasing and honoring to him and I think everyone of us say there certainly is we have a full resource in him.
Brother was bringing before us about the pattern in connection with the place where the Lord would have His own. And so a definite pattern was laid down for the people of old. They could go by that pattern. But I'd like to speak a little more in a practical way, not only the pattern as to the way we should gather. And I believe that's intensely important, and I want to emphasize that too, but I believe the pattern in a practical way.
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In our everyday life is so very important and that we should, as this verse says, manifest the life of Jesus in our bodies. Oh how lovely it would be if this were so with each one of us as we look at the Lord. As it says in Two Corinthians chapter 3, we all with open face beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.
Lord, and it isn't possible for us to be occupied with Him and to be in His company without there being some something take place like did with Moses when he had spent those days in the company of the Lord. Then when he came down, the skin of his face shone. He hadn't tried to produce it, he wasn't even aware of it, but it showed in his own countenance, And it will show in ours too, if we have really not just laid hold of truth.
In a formal way about have been consciously in the presence of the Lord. It is going to affect us and it's going to affect our attitude with others. It's going to affect our attitudes in our home with husband and wife. It's going to affect our attitudes with our children. It's going to affect our attitudes in the assembly. And so there is indeed a practical side of things. And so the apostle in writing to the Galatians had no desire to place them under.
Far be the thought, it grieved his heart that they should think of being under law, but he said hello, they were not under law. And there was something far higher than that. And I've enjoyed that. And that's the reason I read that in John chapter 13 it says the Lord and the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, a new commandment I write unto you. And he said, the new commandment is that ye should love one another as I have.
Loved you. Now we know that the 10 commandments told them to love the Lord and to love their neighbor as themselves. But why is this a new commandment? Oh, can't you see it's much higher? To love your neighbor as yourself is one thing, but to love one another as He loved us. O brethren, what is His love like toward us? It's an unchanging love. It hasn't changed one bit, in spite of all.
Shortcomings and failures, as you may have heard me mention before, for I have enjoyed it. The times when God assures His people mostly of His love toward them is not at times that we would expect when there was a degree of faithfulness, but rather the very opposite. We find that at the end of the 40 years of wilderness life when they had grieved His heart over and over again.
Deuteronomy, I believe it's 33, brings before us these beautiful words.
Yeah, he loved the people. All his Saints are in my hand. Did he? Did he love them because for 40 years they had been so faithful to him through the wilderness? Oh no. Why? Because of what he is in himself. God is love.
Someone has put it like this. God is light and we make Him a judge by our sins, but He is love and none have made him such. We make him a judge by our sins, but He is love. Nobody made Him love. He is love and He loves because of what He is in himself. He is love in its source. And divine love, dear friends, is not looking for something in the person, it is because of what it is.
It's sort of like a fountain, a stream.
I should say, coming down the mountainside, as long as there's plenty of water in the source, the bigger the dam you build, the higher the water rises and the wider the area it flows over. When it goes over the top, all that the dam did was just to make the water rise higher. And so how good it is for us to realize that divine love acts because of what it is and its source. And what is the source of divine Love? The heart of God.
The heart of God, an unchanging love toward His people. He doesn't pass over their failures. He had to deal with them, but it didn't change His love toward them.
And again, in the end of Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament, the people were saying it was vain to serve the Lord. It wouldn't even open the doors of the Lord's house for not. But how does that book of Malachi begin? It says, I have loved you.
Saith the Lord, The burden of the word of the Lord by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord Jeremiah, when they were going to be carried into captivity. It tells us in the 31St chapter of Jeremiah. Yeah, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, and therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. We come even to the New Testament just on the eve of the Lord's betrayal. The very nighty instituted the feast.
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He knew the disciples were going to forsake him and flee. But we read, having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. He loved them unto the end. This is the new commandment He's given to us. Oh, perhaps some might say, but it's hard to love when people don't respond when they respond the wrong way. But it is God that worketh in you.
Both to will and to do of his good pleasure let not.
One of us who belong to him say, I couldn't love that brother. Why? God has given to every one of us the capacity to love, because that's why it says in John's epistle we love him. The new translation omits the word Him. It isn't that we don't love him, certainly every believer does, but it's a wider thought than that. We love because he first loved us. He loved us when there was nothing in us to love. And he says, now I've given you the capacity.
You don't have to look for something in another person to love. We love because He first loved us. He has given us of His spirit.
And saw the fruit of the Spirit displays itself in this very beautiful and practical way.
Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance. Against such there is no law. And that is there, as someone else has put it, you can produce as much of that fruit as you wish. There's no there's no law against producing the fruit of the Spirit. It can be produced. We have the capacity.
And aren't these characteristics so lovely? Do we seek to move a mould? Do we seek to move about? I say among our brethren displaying this the fruit of the Spirit, the Spirit of God dwells within you as a believer. He dwells in my body and he gives us the power to produce this kind of fruit, love and joy.
And peace, Mr. Darby once said.
Our testimony to the world is our joy in the Lord. That is, they're looking for something. They're not happy themselves. They're trying to make themselves happy. We know that at this season of the year, how many people are doing their very best to, as they call it, have a joyous season. But some of them are going to be very, very disappointed. All the things are not going to minister to their happiness, really, but.
I have a source of joy that the world doesn't know anything about, Jesus said. He said your joy, no man taketh from you because he has given it to us. And this gives us the courage to go on. And then peace. How can we walk in peace in a world so full of unrest? All because we know the God of peace. I often put it like this was God.
Was God.
Surprised at anything that happened in this world yesterday? Oh, you say no, He was in control of everything. He knew everything beforehand. Well, you and I, brethren, are entitled to walk in the peace of God. It passes all understanding because the world can understand peace when things are peaceful, but they don't understand the peace that can exist in the midst of unrest all around. But why?
Because we know who is in control. Makes me think of a little story I heard about a child. And she was on board ship with her mother and her father was the captain of the ship. And they were down. Her mother and she were down and they.
In the cabin and a big storm came up. The little girl who had been asleep was awakened by the storm and the boat was tossing and she said, Mother, is daddy on deck? She said, yes, dear said it's all right. She went off to sleep again. She had peace. Why, she had confidence in her father. Well, you and I have a father who cares for us. He's in control.
There is nothing that happens.
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By chance a piece as it says here, and long-suffering. We often say, well, I put up with that long enough. Well, how long did the Lord put up with us and how much did he put up within us? How patient he has been with us as we look back over our own lives and we say how patient he's been with me. Well, this helps us then in long-suffering and gentleness.
A character that the world is fast giving up such a thing as gentleness.
Why, You're supposed to develop a kind of a bold, carefree character, but that isn't the character of the Christian. The Lord Jesus was meek and lowly in heart. They marveled at the gracious words that proceeded out of his mouth.
And then it says, goodness.
Well, goodness is the displaying of the character of God. The Scripture says the Lord Jesus went about doing good. I always have loved that expression. He went about doing good. Our brother has just been talking to us about some of those cases here. Were all these people in need? What was the Lord Jesus doing? He was doing good. And didn't he do you and I good?
He saved our souls at great cost to himself.
Well, this ought to be the character of the Christian goodness. And then it says faith, confidence in God, meekness. Meekness, I believe, means that we don't resent it when we're put down. You know, it's one thing to take the low place. I suppose all of us can say, and perhaps do say, oh, I've been a failure and I'm this and that. And we can take a very humble place with our own lips.
But how does it feel when somebody else puts us down a little bit? Somebody else says, oh that brother, Oh dear, I wouldn't have anything. I wouldn't trust him. Why? We say we wouldn't trust ourselves, but when somebody puts us down, it hurts, doesn't it? But the new man can take that. The Lord Jesus was so gracious. He was meek and lowly in heart. And he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly.
Heart and he shall find rest unto your souls. Oh, how much we get ourselves all upset because somebody said something unkind, something mean. Did we get any rest for our souls by getting all stirred up? I've often said the person that suffers most is the person who carries an unforgiving spirit. He is the person, oh, you say the other person. It doesn't seem to bother him at all. No, if you carry an unforgiving spirit, you're going to be the one that suffers.
You're going to be the one that suffers and there's no peace in that kind of a thing because it's anything but the Spirit of Christ. He was the one who forgave us and we didn't deserve it at all. So meekness and then it says temperance, that is really self-control. The Bible says greater is he that rules his own spirit than he that taketh a city.
You know how hard it is to keep self under control, but God can give us the grace to do that. How beautifully we see it in the Lord Jesus. As he stood there before a Pontius Pilate falsely accused, he answered not a word, not a word. When they finally put him on a cross, he looked down on the crowd and said, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Oh, what a lovely example when they came to take him in the.
Garden. Why? He quietly said, If ye seek me, let these go their way. If it had been me, I would have been thinking of myself. But the Lord was thinking about the others, wasn't he?
Yes, the Lord can give us the grace for that. Remember one of the girls up at Otter Lake some years ago? Somebody said to her, oh, and calling her by name, you're always happy. And she said, not when I'm alone with the Lord.
Well, I thought it was a nice reply. In other words, where did she have her conflicts? Brethren, we either have our conflicts in front of our brethren or in the Lord's presence. If we have our conflicts in the Lord's presence, then we have self-control in the presence of others. And so that was the way with the Lord Jesus in agony in the garden, He knew what was ahead. He faced it, swept great drops of blood.
But all how perfectly he was in control.
When he appeared before the others, oh, how beautiful it is to see the fruit of the Spirit is these things, and against such there is no law. There is no law, there is no.
Hindrance to this kind of fruit being produced, except the power of the enemy. God has given us the power to produce it, and we'd like to look at these things in a practical way, as they have to do with our own lives. Could we turn to First Timothy chapter 4?
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First Timothy chapter 4 and verse.
12.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example of the believers in Word, in conversation, in charity, in spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine.
Neglect not the gift that is in me, which was given me by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbytery or the elderhood.
Meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine. Continue in them, for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them not hear thee.
I will say again what I was particularly thinking of, and that is that the enemy seeks to attack us on three fronts. He seeks to attack us in our personal lives, He seeks to attack us in our family life, and he seeks to attack us in our assembly life. We've been talking a little bit in general terms about the fruit of the Spirit and how every one of us who are saved are indwelled by the Spirit of God that we have the power to produce.
This kind of fruit which so glorifies God for the Lord Jesus said, herein is my Father glorified that ye bear much fruit. But now we have here in one Timothy 4.
The personal individual side, as it had to do with a young man whose name was Timothy, and every one of us in this crowd this afternoon are individuals. We have individual conflicts, we have individual responsibilities. We have to meet things. And no two of us are exactly alike. The conditions that you have to meet in your business, the conditions you have to meet in your life.
Your own natural character. None of us are exactly alike. We all have different things to overcome, But together we all contribute as part of God's assembly, and we bring our own individual life often into the assembly. And so how important it is that we should take heed to what we have here in connection with this exhortation to Timothy. He wasn't a bold young man. He was, apparently.
A very timid person.
And he wasn't the forward kind. He was rather, as I say, a timid person. And Paul was writing to him as an individual to encourage Timothy. And I want to speak to each one here. And perhaps I might say, especially to those who are younger, that it's so important that we should be exercised individually, that we might be a blessing in the assembly where we are as individuals.
And if we have, through God's goodness, discovered how He would have us to gather, the way that He would have us to meet according to His Word, we can indeed be thankful. But we can contribute to make that gathering a happy occasion or a sad one. There are some. There are sometimes when our contribution is such that we bring sorrow instead of blessing into God's assembly. And it's often.
A personal thing in our own lives. And so isn't it nice here that Paul writes to Timothy and exhorts him? He says, let no man despise thy youth. He didn't mean that Timothy was to tell people not to despise him because he was young. What he is really telling him was that if he as a young person displayed this character.
That they would see the fruit of it, the reality of it, in his life.
None of us who are older.
Cannot help but appreciate everyone of us, I should say, who are older. Can't help but appreciate when we see in a young person a desire to please the Lord, a desire to walk in such a way as to be an example. And if I could look back on my own life, I listened to many older brethren, and I thank God for their testimony and for the truth that they taught me. But I learned a great deal from my own peers when I saw other young people.
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My own age who wanted to please the Lord who wanted to do things in a way that was honoring to him that seemed to have an influence in my life that was very important. And so I I just pause here to say a little word, not only to the older ones but to the younger ones. And I think this is so nice that this message was given to Timothy be thou an example of the believers and that is he was to be.
An example so if others looked and said there is a young believer he's gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus and you can certainly see it in his life. He's different. He he bears the character of Christ. The life of Jesus is seen in his life because this is what Paul was desirous that it should be with Timothy. Not only that he would know the truth.
That's so important, as I say.
But that it would be seen practically an example of the believers and then it says in Word.
In Word, that is the things that we say, how often our conversation, that is the things that we talk about, display where our hearts really are. It says out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. The godly Israelite was told to talk about the things of the Lord, both when he was in his house, when he walked by the way, when he sat down, and when he rose up. It was to be a sort of a habitual thing.
And I say, what is the subject of our conversation? What is the subject of our conversation? You know, it's very easy to get into the way of not only talking about worldly things, but often gossip, just repeating a whole lot of things that do nothing but harm and cause a lot of sorrow and trouble to absolutely no good to anybody by the things that we repeat. We don't do that toward people we love.
The Bible says a back biting tongue hates those that are afflicted by it and that is people we love. We say the best about them, but if we are not quite so close to somebody then we start telling their failures. Well, the assembly has to be faithful, that's true. And one not doesn't want in any way to lessen the responsibility as to the holiness of God's house. But I am Speaking of that which is.
Very well known.
Well known that we gossip, we we just repeat a lot of things. Perhaps they're true, perhaps they're not. If they're true, well, it would be much nicer to repeat them before the Lord and pray for the people. And if they're not true, why? It's like our brother gave the illustration. We start releasing some feathers and we can never pick them up. We start something going and we can't make it right.
So how important this is in words?
In conversation, that's our whole manner of life.
In charity, that's in love.
And then in spirit there can be a nice spirit that is shown. Often we have said when we have seen a young believer or an older 10, he displays such a nice spirit. And you know there is that spoken of in the Scripture. It isn't exactly the thought of the Spirit of God. The Spirit beareth witness with our spirit that we are the children of God.
And there is a spirit in man, a scripture says so that there is in us a certain spirit. What is the spirit that we show? Is a fault finding spirit or is it a generous, kindly, thoughtful spirit? Well, these are the characteristics of the family of God. This is the fruit of the spirit. And so he's exhorting Timothy to show a nice spirit. And how often we see this all we say that that brother.
Shows such a nice spirit. Somebody says something about him, he doesn't get resentful and he's always willing to help another. He shows a nice spirit. Well, that's the thought here. And then in faith. Well, and we lack in this, brethren, that confidence in God. I have to confess how often as difficulties rise, I think of Ways and Means of getting out of them instead of just having that confidence in God. But isn't it nice?
To meet somebody and when you're all upset about something, he says, well, don't get worried. I'll, I'll pray about it for you or let's get down and we'll talk to the Lord about it. Isn't that a tremendous help? When you say, well, I, I can't do that. Yes, you can. Yes, you can. In spirit, in faith, in, in charity, in spirit, in faith and then in purity.
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Well, I don't want to dwell on this, but oh how in this day when?
There is such a lack of purity, people. Only if you go to work. I know that many are going to return to work in this coming week and everything that's impure in picture and talk is going to be brought before you. Is Are we to get caught up in the current of this day in which we live with all these pictures and with all these shady little things that are said and some of them not so shady, right? Outspoken.
Brethren, we're living in a sad day. We ought to shun all that kind of thing. Let's stay away from it. It has no place in our life or vocabulary. And so now this is the way Paul was exhorting Timothy, because he knew that if he was going to be an example of the believers, if he was going to be a help, that he had to watch that. And so I say to you, and I say to you, dear young people.
Remember another word given to Timothy?
Keep thyself pure.
As you get older, you'll be so thankful that you ask the Lord to preserve you and keep you from those constant snares that are, shall I say, were exposed to them. And we have a heart that responds to all those kind of things. But hear how nice it is impurity. Then he gives them good things to read, doesn't he? He says give attendance to reading, to exhortation, the doctrine. And I would say.
Be careful what you read. Oh, there's so much literature around that. Not really helpful at all. You'll never be established in the truth. You'll never be established in the things of God by reading some of these things. There's so much good sound literature. I hear some people say, oh, but it's old English. It's written by brothers that lived 100 years ago. And as it is difficult, well, it's well worth the trouble. It's well.
Worth the trouble One thanks God for the ministry of those dear brethren of the past whom God used to minister the truth to us in all its purity and simplicity.
And then it says to exhortation to doctrine. Of course, when I say this, I want to say the importance of reading the word of God. Never neglect that and test everything you read by the word of God. Thou must magnify thy word above all thy name. And then we're living in days when people say, well, they're nice Christians, we shouldn't be so picky about doctrine.
But we need to be. We need to be. False doctrine is coming into the professing church.
It's coming into evangelical circles, and if you and I are not careful, we are going to get caught up in some of this kind of thing. We need to be sound in doctrine.
Paul, it says they continued steadfastly in the apostles, doctrine and fellowship. And Paul says to Timothy in the next epistle, he said that I was fully known my doctrine, manner of life. Notice he puts doctrine first, because you can't have real fellowship.
Where there is not sound doctrine, so doctrine comes first. It's the basis of all true and proper Christian fellowship.
Then Timothy had a gift. Neglect, not the gift that is in me. May I speak now to those who are younger?
How often we see young people who throw all their ability into getting along in this world. Oh, how nice it would be to see them use the ability that God has given to them among the Saints.
Of God, I want you to say, if I throw my ability into my job, I get a raise, but if I say something in the meeting it's not even appreciated Well, remember, God is the one who makes the record. God is the one. And if you and I seek the good of our brethren I've always enjoyed that little expression. Command desire the office of a Bishop. He desireth a good work. I used to wonder why it said that because.
It might seem well if a man wants to be an overseer, he evansly wants to be.
Important. That isn't the thought at all. What the Lord is really telling us is that if you have a care for my people, I call that a good work. When people show kindness to my children, I really appreciate it. I appreciate it because my children are dear to me. And when someone shows them kindness, it certainly as far as I'm concerned a good work because I love my children and if you love your brethren, the Lord says if.
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Something to help my people. That's a good work. And so here's a little word for Timothy not to neglect the gift, but to.
And it says, which was given me by prophecy with the laying on of the hands of the prosperity of the elderhood. I just mentioned this, and I think it's important, and that is that it's important to have the fellowship of our brethren. And so the laying on of the hands of the elderhood meant that Timothy had walked in such a way that it had been recognized by others. He says he had a good report of the brethren, tells us that in Acts he and so they were happy to lay.
On him, in other words, to express fellowship with this young man because of his godly walk. And then he was told to meditate. Someone has called that a lost art. Because in this busy life of today, it's very hard to meditate, isn't it? You know, it used to be that there was more quietness. But now as soon as you walk outside the door, you've got to watch for signs. You get in your car, you've got to have your wits about you. And it just seems that it's hard to find.
And a place where you can actually relax and have a little time to think things over in the Lord's presence. Perhaps David found that a little difficult. And he said he meditated upon the Lord in the night watches. And sometimes it's about the only time you can really get quiet in this busy, busy world. But meditate upon these things, give thyself wholly to them, and the result would be seen like with Moses.
That is profiting what appear to all.
And then he again warns him, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine. Continue in them. For in doing this thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee. What does it mean he would save himself?
Well, how sad it is to see someone start out well and become careless in his walk.
And so that he loses ground in his soul, his brethren begin to notice it, and.
He's not walking with God, and he's lost out himself, and those who hear him don't get the profiting that they could from him, because he's not walking in company with the Lord. Do you want to save yourself? As the scripture says, you can have a saved soul and a lost life, and you can have a saved soul and a saved life. He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto.
Life eternal a lot is an example of that. Lord had a saved soul, but He had a lost life. All that he labored for was burned up in Sodom. And it's possible for us to get along very well in this world and yet have a lost life, a lost life at the judgment seat of Christ, not that which abides for His honor and glory. Well, I say again, the enemy.
Tries to attack us personally. Personally and I speak to me.
And I speak to each individual here. The enemy does not want you to be a useful, helpful person in God's assembly. And he's going to do all he possibly can to bring things into your life that are going to spoil your communion with the Lord, spoil your testimony, spoil your usefulness. That's what he's going to do. He attacks the individual. Now there's another passage in Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse.
22 lives. Submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the Church, and he is the Savior of the Body. Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it that he might.
Defy and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself. A glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife.
Loveeth himself, for no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord. The Church in the 6th chapter. Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise, that it may be well with thee, that thou mayest live long on the earth. And, chief fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and.
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Mission of the Lord. Well, here's what God has told us about the home life. And you know, brethren, in these days, there's a tremendous breakdown of home life. There's a tremendous breakdown. And it's because we don't follow the instructions of God's Word. And it brings such sorrow into God's assembly when the home life begins to break down. And here is a little bit of instruction.
I hesitate to speak on it on an occasion like this, but I do feel this needful.
Perhaps someone might say, well, you speak about that at a wedding, but you know, it does affect our assembly life much more than we think.
And so God has given an order in his word. And I've often said a happy Christian home is a place where the Lord has his rightful place, where the husband is looked up to as the head of the home, where the wife looks up to her husband as the one who is the head, and where the children are in submission and the father is carrying out discipline for their good. Isn't that a happy home? And don't you?
Think the enemy is at work to break this down. And very often people that have been perhaps useful or could be useful because it's an unhappy home life, it reflects in the assembly. It doesn't. It doesn't bring into the assembly that which is brought before us. Here we have a perfect pattern.
Perhaps there might be difficulties between husband and wife, but has.
As the church responded to the claims of Christ as it should, can we say that as the church who is the bride of Christ, that we have always responded to his love and to his claims? But has he changed? Oh no, he hasn't changed, not one bit. And so how important this is for us too. And I speak of myself as a husband.
It is my responsibility and I say to every husband here, it's your responsibility.
To maintain love in your home, if it breaks down, God looks to you as the responsible one to maintain love, Solomon said. If a man give all the substance of his house for love, it shall be utterly content. He says I gave up everything, but it doesn't matter. I gained what I really wanted and that's love. And so it's a responsibility of the husband, I say and you say.
Well, how can we maintain it? Oh, it's just continually seeking to.
Do those things that create the response in the heart of our partner. I want you say, but I don't always appreciate it. Have you always appreciated what the Lord has done? I haven't, I haven't. I'm a very unappreciative person of what He's done for me. But He keeps on loving me and even souls day by day, 10,000 tokens of His continual love in spite of all I am.
Well, husbands, love your wives. And what is the measure as Christ?
Loved the church, loved the church. And then it says here, why submit yourselves and your own husbands as unto the Lord? Not because the husband is always what he should be, for I know I haven't been, but she submits as to the Lord. She recognizes a place that God has given to her, and so she looks beyond her husband, so to speak, and she says, Well, I can do it as unto the Lord.
How how sweet this is?
What a what a pattern we have brought before us. Should we be subject to Christ? Oh indeed we should. And so the wife is to be subject, just as the church is to be subject to Christ. And so we have the place of the husband and the place of the wife. And then the husband. It says he gave himself in the 25th verse. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself.
Well, for it he gave himself.
And no sacrifice was too great. Oh how beautiful this is. The Lord Jesus wanted your heart and mind so much that he gave himself. Am I willing to give myself?
As I have said at a wedding, sometimes there's no such thing in the Bible as a 5050 marriage. If you want to have a happy marriage, it's got to be the husband 100% for his wife and the wife 100% for the husband. There's no other way. And if you want to have that kind of happiness by be willing to give yourself 100% to one another in love.
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And that's what's brought before us here.
And then it says he presents it to Himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Some are concerned because perhaps one seems to get a little more out of things than another. But here isn't this beautiful? The Lord Jesus gave himself. He presents the church to himself, a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
Any man who truly loves his wife, he wants her to have the best of everything.
That love can provide for her. He says I want her to have the best if I have to have less, that's all right. The Lord gave himself he wanted his wife to have the best The Lord gave himself. Isn't it beautiful to see this what a pattern this is for the home. The wife's love is always looked on in Scripture as a responsive love and then the next thing I would say too, and that is in connection with it says that the wife see that she.
Reverenced.
Her husband. And then in Peter it says giving honor to the wife. And so I want to say this, I've heard husbands and sometimes wives and they talk, they talk about one another to other people. Oh, don't do that, don't do that. That'll never do. To speak of the faults of others, of your partner to somebody else. Why? If you really love your partner, why you have a respect for them?
You want to speak well of them as much as you possibly can. And so here it says the wife is to reverence the husband and the husband is to give honor to the wife, Says about Sarah, she obeyed Abraham, calling him Lord, calling him Lord. Did you ever notice the instance in the Old Testament where she called him Lord? She didn't say it to his face. You know, I wouldn't want my wife to address me that way. She didn't say it to his face, but she said.
To somebody else. In other words, when she talked to somebody else, she acknowledged to somebody else his authority. She called him, Lord, my Lord, she called him. And so it's not we, it's what we say to other people about our partner that really counts. And so isn't this lovely to see this example? And I don't intend to dwell on it, but I do say, brethren, we see a lot of breakdown of home life.
We see the failure in these things, but here's the pattern that God has given. The enemy is going to attack us. He he wants us to accept the new standards of the world about us. The world has a changing idea of marriage and what it means and the responsibility to one another. But let us go by the divine pattern as our brother brought before us yesterday, the divine pattern.
He saw another pattern that came down in.
Damascus and he introduced it among God's people. And sometimes we can see another pattern of marriage introduced among God's people. It's a sad thing. It's a sad thing. And then to the children, I want to say to the children here, honor your father and mother. I've often said I've never seen a boy or a girl who didn't honor their parents who had the blessing of God.
Honor your father and your mother, you say? Well.
But I see faults in them. Well, I'm sure my children saw faults in me, but the scripture says to honor them. And as you get older and perhaps become a parent yourself, as we often say, well, we didn't fail in exactly the same thing our parents did, perhaps, But we failed in something else, and perhaps worse than they did. And so while we're trying to correct one thing.
We're perhaps failing in another. And so when you become a parent yourself.
He realized the importance of this children obey your parents and parents provoke not your children to wrath, and that is to seek to cause our children to feel at home is a happy place.
So this is part of all, it is connected with God's assembly. Ephesians gives us the very highest truth in the Bible. And isn't it surprising and yet not surprising that these exhortations are given in that epistle, that epistle. Why, I say again, and I emphasize it, our home life reflects in our assembly life. And if we don't conduct ourselves as we should in our home life, it's going to.
Reflect in this assembly life. May the Lord grant that we will take heed to this. And just one more before we close, and that's in revelation.
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Chapter 3, Revelation Chapter 3, and verse 7. And the Angel of the church in Philadelphia write these things, saith, He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth. And no man shutteth, and shutteth, and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it. For thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast.
Denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee because thou hast kept the word of my patience. I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwell upon the earth. Behold, I come quickly.
Hold that fast which thou hast that no man.
And take thy crown. Well, here is the address to an assembly. We've spoken about a word spoken to an individual, to Timothy. We've spoken about the message to husband and wife and fathers and children. Now we have an exhortation that's given to an assembly and given by the Lord himself. And the name Philadelphia means brotherly love. Brotherly love.
An assembly where love was the activating principle as it tells.
Tells us, put on love, which is the bond of perfectness. Well, and the Lord brings before them what he really valued. And it tells us here thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name. Here there's a few hundred of us together, and we thank God for the happy privilege of being in this way. But we're going to go back to our own home assemblies, some of them very small, some of them when we go back next Lord's day.
We're going to have to say oh so few and perhaps feel the reality of this. A little strength, as if well, we're just faint, yet pursuing. Well, they had a little strength, but what did God value? They kept His word. They didn't deny His name. And as assemblies gathered to the Lord's name, may we never compromise or give up any part of the truth of God.
Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. There was a dear old sister named Miss Gosby in Toronto. I'm sure she was known to some who were here, and she once said, when Speaking of the little assembly there, she said, I believe the enemy has his eye on that little company of Christians gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On Gladstone Ave. for I believe it's true and if we seek to.
Brethren, according to His word, keeping His word and not denying His name, the enemy is going to have His eye on us. He's going to have His eye on us, and He's going to attack us on these three fronts. He's going to try and get us as individuals to walk carelessly, to give up those Christian virtues that ought to characterize our lives individually. He's going to try and destroy home life in our assembly, and he's going to try and get us to give up some part of the truth of God.
And the holiness that's due to the name of Christ, He is not going to give up in His efforts. He is going to keep on. But all greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. Do we have the strength to press on? Well, we don't have it in ourselves. A man can receive nothing except to be given him from heaven. But oh, how lovely these words of encouragement to this little assembly at Philadelphia.
And not that we would ever bolster being Philadelphia.
But if it met with the Lord's approval so much as it did, we want to have his approval, don't we?
Of His approval, I'm sure every heart who loves the Lord responds and says, yes, indeed, What I desire is to have His approval, His approval individually and His approval collectively. That's the only thing that will count at the judgment seat of Christ, brethren. And so He's addressing them here, encouraging them. He tells them too, that they're going to be delivered from the hour of temptation. There is an awful time coming upon this world. He's going to take us out.
Before that comes, but how important this message, Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Let's never lower the standards of God's Word. Let's walk in dependence and obedience. The enemy would try to get us out of the path of dependence, and then when we got us out of the path of dependence on the Lord, He can lead us into disobedience. That's His attempt.
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Always worked that way. But God has a path. There is a path which no foul N there is a path marked out. And I say again, there is the strength, brethren, to walk in it. Let's be dependent. Let us walk in it and let us walk in love. Let us seek each one as we return to our homes to remember that love that God has toward us, that unchanging love. And let me give again that exhortation to my own heart unto you.
I'll give you a new commandment. A new commandment that ye love one another. I'm glad he didn't stop there, as I have loved you. When I think of his love to me and how he has been so faithful and unchanging. Sure. What a standard he is. Well, that's the standard, brethren. He gives more grace. May we look to Him. May we count upon Him.
As we await that glorious day when we will be with Him and like him.
And as we return to our home assemblies again, may we carry something of the Spirit of Christ and of His love, and be a blessing in the place where we are.
When Moses had given the exhortation to them, then the Lord told him how to bless the people, and he said, the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace, and he'll bless us. He'll keep us because he's.
Put his name upon us, I wonder if we could sing.
Just the last verse of 28. Just the last verse of 288.
Do thou, the very God of peace, us holy, sanctify and grant us such a rich increase of power from on high, that spirit, soul and body may preserve it free from stain. Be blameless until that great day, Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.