Address—P.L. Johnson
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
So we turn first to a passage in the First Epistle to Peter, chapter five, first Peter 5 and verse one. The elders which are among you, I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a particular of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock of God, which is among you, taking the oversight thereof.
Not by constraint, but willingly.
Not for a filthy lucre, but of a ready mind. Neither is being Lords over God's heritage.
But being in samples to the flock.
And a verse in First Timothy chapter 4.
First Timothy, 412.
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.
And again now in the back in first Peter.
This time in chapter 2 and verse 21 for even hereunto were you were you called because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps.
And then in Matthew Chapter 11.
Verse 28.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Our brother in the address to the young persons this afternoon.
Made reference to the fact that.
Each and everyone of us.
In some way or another, where therefore good are far bad.
Affect those with whom we come in contact, and we affect those with whom we walk in fellowship. The Lords Table and he mentioned again the same thing yesterday in the Reading, and it struck me that the Lord would impress this upon our hearts here this afternoon, that none of us can escape the fact that we are an example.
Either an example of that which is good and will provoke our brethren unto love and good works, or we can be a bad example and lead some astray. Reference was made to Peter.
And we know of course that Peter on occasions was a good example. And we know that Peter was a man of faith and exhibited that faith on many occasions. But we do have recorded how that Peter was an example in a wrong way and he gave a wrong lead as was referred to in John chapter 21 when he says I go a fishing.
And other says we go with you, we go with you. There we see that Peter gives a wrong lead and we might feel sometimes that this matter of an example are giving a lead would apply only to those who are older in years and older.
In experience as Christians.
That's why I read in First Timothy 4 as well as First Peter 5, because in First Peter Five we do have reference to elders, that is elder brethren. I don't think he's referring there to any official class, but he's speaking about those who are older ones in the faith and they have a special responsibility.
To be in samples, our models are to set a pattern for the flock.
But also in first Timothy, word is given there to a young man. Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou an example or example in a pattern. So there is a responsibility there too, in connection with even even with those who are younger in years and younger, in the faith that they too might recognize that God would have us to.
00:05:07
Be aware of the fact.
That we do affect.
Others about us in the gathering, and as I say, everyone with whom we come in contact, we affect them one way or the other. And I had it upon my heart to say a few words in regard to the thought of a model or a pattern.
But we know that.
Something that is set forth in the way of a pattern or a model is more easily and readily understood than something that is merely presented by way of explanation. How many times we have understood something more perfectly when we saw a model of it and we saw the pattern of it?
Well, we know that as in everything, the Lord Jesus Himself would take the lead. That is, if He would enjoy and upon His people, that we should in some way be a pattern and an example. He Himself would take the lead.
In being an example and so I read in Peter that he has left us an example and here in Matthew 11.
I would have called a special attention to the 29th verse when he says, take my yoke upon you and learn of me.
Now my impression of this expression learn of me.
Does not mean primarily to learn something about him. I think the thought primarily is to learn from him as the model and as the guide, as the one who sets the example. One might say, well, he's a divine person, how can he be a model for us?
Well, the Lord Jesus is true.
It is true He is a divine person, an eternal divine person, but is coming into this scene in manhood, you might say He has come within our range because as.
Coming here in manhood, in this world, He came in a way in which you and I can follow as an example. And so he says, learn from me. And I would like to present first of all, the fact that the Lord Jesus.
Is the perfect pattern. He's the perfect example, and it's wonderful to read in the Word of God, the four gospels especially, and I have no doubt but what the four gospels were needed in order to give or to set forth the Lord Jesus fully as the pattern, the pattern that he would have.
You and I to follow as we seek to follow himself.
And then that it might have an exercise in our heart and conscience that we might in turn be those who would seek to set a pattern and to be an example or a guide to others, even as we find the Lord Jesus himself is this.
Now you can see that the remarks that I've already made that what I have before me is not so much to present the Lord Jesus as the Savior. Oh, it's the most one of the most wonderful things about the word of God is the various ways in which the Lord Jesus is presented, the various glories of the Lord Jesus and we would not want to be.
Restricted to anyone particular aspect.
Wonderful as it is to think of the Lord Jesus as our Savior, and of course we know that this is of primary importance, but there is no need to speak about the Lord Jesus as the pattern, as an example to anyone who does not know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, but as ministry for the Lord's people.
We're going to speak of the Lord Jesus, not as the Savior.
Speaking to those who already have.
Accepted that offer of grace and mercy and we know our relationship with God. We know that we belong to the Lord Jesus and now we are set here in this world to be for Himself.
Well, I'd like to just briefly touch upon the four ways in which and the Lord Jesus is an example or a pattern in the four Gospels. He says learn from me.
00:10:07
In the Gospel of Matthew, I believe we have the Lord Jesus set forth, as you might say, the pattern or model administrator of the things of God. Right in this very portion we read in verse 27. All things are delivered unto me of my Father. Everything was put into his hands.
In the Gospel of Matthew, the beginning of the Gospel, we read the beginning of the of the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Now you know, we know, of course, that Abraham preceded historically David.
And yet, when we take up the genealogy there, or at least when the Lord Jesus genealogy is introduced, the book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, David is mentioned first, the son of David, because preeminently in the Gospel of Matthew, he is presented as the son of David. David was the great administrator. David was the one who ordered everything.
In regard to the House of God, the temple.
Read about in the first book of Chronicles. While David did not build a house, he said everything in order. He set the priests in their order, the Levites, the singers, the porters, and the pattern of the house. Everything was under the administration of David.
It was that which God had given to him and I believe in the Gospel of Matthew, we see how that the Lord Jesus.
Is the great example of one who has, you might say, the affairs of God, the things of God committed unto him, and he faithfully discharges them. He administers them in a faithful way. And you know there is a sense in which each and every believer has something committed to him.
Every believer we read in Ephesians 4 that unto everyone of us is given grace according to the gift of Christ, every one of us. It may not be the affair of each and everyone to publicly preach the Word or minister the Word, but every believer has something committed to him that he is to faithfully discharge and administer, you might say.
Here in this scene and we see that the Lord Jesus.
Is the great pattern and example in the Gospel of Matthew as the one who administered everything faithfully according to the mind of God. That which had been committed into his hands, he dispensed faithfully. And so we want to see him as the pattern administrator now when we come to the Gospel of Mark.
We know that the Gospel of Mark presents the Lord Jesus.
As the model servant there he is a model for service and I want to read a verse there in the 7th chapter of Marks Gospel.
That is sort of the key you might say to.
Service according to God.
And it's a little, you might say, the key to the gospel of Mark in this respect.
37 And says the people were beyond measure astonished, saying, He hath done all things well.
He hath done all things well as the model servant. He not only served, but what he did, he did well. This would emphasize the manner in which things were done, and I would give this little hint to one. In reading the Gospel of Mark, you will find that Mark often.
When some miracle is performed of the Lord, some healing or something of that nature, Mark often gives more detail as to how the Lord accomplished it than the other writers. Because Mark is emphasizing the fact that not only is the Lord Jesus the Servant serving Jehovah, but he does all things well because God is concerned, not only.
That his people.
Would serve him, but that the manner in which things are done.
Would be done according to his mind and his will. He hath done all things well. Well, now you know, there are those who are very service minded or oriented in Christendom today, but sometimes we find that those who are very energetic in regard to service have very little concern as to how that service is carried out.
00:15:23
But when the Lord Jesus was here, it was not only that he was.
A ready servant that he was always serving, but he served. His service was according to the mind and will of God. He not only did things, but we read here that He hath done all things well. And so He is the model for us in our service and we want to keep that in mind.
If there is any little exercise that we have in service for the Lord, we want to keep in mind that it is done, that it be done well, that is, that it be done according to the mind, and will of God is revealed in His precious word. Now when we come to Luke's gospel, if you'll turn over to the 4th chapter of Luke.
I believe Luke would bring before us the Lord Jesus.
As a pattern or example of a model man.
Luke dwells much upon the humanity of the Lord Jesus.
Being here as a man, being found in fashion as a man, and we read in the first verse of chapter 4 of Luke and Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost.
I think of that. We know, of course, that He was unique in that He was begotten of the Holy Spirit, as we have in the first chapter. But in this regard, you might say He is not unique because it is the privilege of the Lord's people, those who have the Holy Spirit also, to be full of the Holy Ghost. Here we have the Lord Jesus viewed as a man.
Being about 30 years of age.
And having been baptized by John and Jordan, the Spirit of God coming down from above like a dove.
As a dove and abiding upon him, and those words from heaven, thou art my beloved Son. In thee I am well pleased. And we see that immediately he is in the desert or in the wilderness, and.
That's what we have here in chapter 4. Being full of the Holy Ghost, He was led by the Spirit.
I believe that would be the model man.
That God would have his people to be led by the Spirit. Then in verse 14 notice.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit. I think it's significant that three times right here, and then again a fourth time in verse 18, the Spirit of the Lord is upon me.
Well again, this is not the same as Speaking of Him as a divine person. This is the Lord Jesus brought before us in manhood. Is a man as one who was full of the Holy Ghost, LED of the Holy Spirit in the power of the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of God resting upon him. What a model, What a model.
Well, as believers on the Lord Jesus, we have the Holy Spirit.
You know, in John's epistle.
The first epistle of John chapter 2, where we have the family of God in their.
You might say graded, we have the fathers, we have the young men, and we have the little children or babes. We read there that it's the babes who are referred to as having received an unction of the Holy One. That is the Holy Spirit, the anointing, the babes. Well, of course, the fathers have the Spirit as well, the young men, but I mentioned that.
To bring out the fact that every believer, the youngest believer who has.
Trusted the Lord Jesus Christ for his or her salvation, believing the gospel of your salvation. You're sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise and you have the Holy Spirit. You have the same Holy Spirit that came upon this man Jesus. It says he was full of the Holy Ghost. He was led of the Spirit. He returned in the power of the Spirit. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him. What a model for you and me.
00:20:02
Believers.
To have the Spirit of God as that power and that one who guides and leads as we have here in the model man, the Lord Jesus, we learn from him. We learn of him as the administrator and as the servant, the one who does all things well, and as the model man in the power of the Holy Spirit. When I turn over to John's Gospel.
Chapter 5.
And I think we have here a statement by the Lord that would indicate that in John's gospel he is also a model in a pattern.
A model or a pattern in Sonship?
A model son, because notice the words in verse 19 of John 5. Then answered Jesus, and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.
For what things so ever he doeth, these also doeth the son likewise. What a model, the son taking everything every direction from the father. He did nothing of himself. It's almost as if you might say that he is like one who is entirely helpless, and every impression that he has he gets from the father.
He received no impressions from the world round about. He did not, as it were.
Bring them forth even from himself, he said. He received them all from the Father.
The Son can do nothing of himself, you say, Well, isn't he a divine person? That's true.
That's the wonderful thing about the Gospel of John is that we have presented an eternal divine person, the Son himself come down here into this world. As we read, the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and when he was here he would be in perfection in sonship. He would, as it were, be a model Son.
Completely and totally dependent upon his father.
Receiving everything from the Father, every impression he got from the father, the very words that he spoke, where did he get them? The father, The works that he did, where did he get them from the father? And that's where we're to derive, you might say, our impressions.
Our thoughts, our motives, our desires, and all of the things that go to make up our pattern of life in this world. Do we receive them from the Father through this precious Word, or do we receive them from?
Persons roundabout and what goes to make up this world. You see, the Lord Jesus wasn't influenced by anything here. He received everything from the Father.
So that the very words he spoke and the deeds that he did, what a model you might say, because you see, we are sons too. In Galatians we read that because your sons God hath sent forth the spirit of His Son into our hearts, whereby we cry ABBA Father. And as sons before God, we are those who are to receive every impression from the Father.
Every impression from the Father we're not to have faults of our own.
We are not.
To to come up with philosophies and ideas of our own. But we receive everything from the Father. Oh, how wonderful it would be if we could follow this pattern of the Lord Jesus. To be as it were, from the human standpoint, a blank, just like a blank piece of paper. So that the Father could, as it were, imprint upon our hearts and minds and our conscience.
Everything that is of himself.
Well, I believe that's the way the Lord presents Himself here. He was one who did nothing from Himself. It all came from the Father. And so we learn from Him what it is to be as a son before the Father, an independent upon the Father, and obedient to the Father, and, as I say, receiving everything from the hands of the Father. What a model. Well now.
In this regard, of course, we know the Lord Jesus was perfect.
And the Lord Jesus is the only perfect pattern.
But there is a sense in which you and I, by the grace of God, can be a pattern and be an example. And I would like to turn just for a moment to one that perhaps we might feel that He is even more within our range. Sometimes I have the feeling that when we speak about the Lord Jesus and even as I have here this afternoon, as a model and an example.
00:25:23
That we are apartment to feel that he is.
Beyond our range. That after all, we're speaking about the Lord Jesus, the one who was absolutely perfect, the one in whom there was no sin.
Though he was a man, though he was possessed of human nature, that is, he was a man in all points, as we are apart from.
That sinful nature.
Sometimes we have the feeling that he is outside of our range, but he sets himself before us as an example and we're to learn from him. But I'd like to turn back to the Old Testament in First Chronicles chapter 28, where we have one, you might say, of like passions with us, David.
For we know that David was one, while a man of faith, was not perfect in all of his ways, and yet we see that he takes up this thought of setting a pattern.
We read in the 13th chapter of Acts.
Paul preaching there in Antioch. He speaks of David as having served his own generation by the will of God.
But not only did David serve his own generation.
But we see here in First Chronicles 28 that he thought of, you might say, the generation that is coming on, and he left a pattern. He gave a pattern.
For Solomon, the generation following.
First Chronicles 28 and verse 11.
Then David gave to Solomon, his son, the pattern of the porch. That's the thought of an example, a pattern.
And of the houses thereof, and of the treasures thereof. And of the upper chambers thereof, And of the inner parlors thereof. And of the place of the mercy seat. And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit of the courts of the House of the Lord, and of all the chambers roundabout. Of the treasures of the House of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things.
And he goes on to speak about all of the things that he gave as a pattern.
But I want to point out in verse 12 That expression, the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit.
Because you see, this wasn't a pattern that that David devised himself.
This pattern that he passed on to Solomon was that which he had received himself by the Spirit.
And this is the pattern that we would desire to to set and to pass on to others, is that which God Himself has made known to us and brought to us by His Spirit through this precious Word.
David passed on a pattern of all that he had received by the Spirit. He passed it on in order that Solomon might have that which would guide him.
When it came his time to build the House of God. Now turn to the second book of Chronicles and chapter.
3.
Because the time arrives now when he, when Solomon, that is, who had the pattern, begins to build. Then Solomon began to build the House of the Lord at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. In other words, he followed that pattern.
It was the place that David had prepared. David had received this from the Lord.
It was the pattern that he had learned from God. And now he passes on this pattern to his son Solomon. And in turn Solomon begins to build according to that pattern. And if we were to read these chapters of the building of the house, we would see that he followed the pattern. Turn over to Chapter 7.
And verse 6.
And the priest waited on their offices, the Levites also with instruments of music of the Lord, which David the king had made to praise the Lord. In other words, it was David who had set the pattern as to the course of the priest, the Levites, the singers. And he gave this pattern, He passed it on to Solomon, and now Solomon builds according to that pattern.
00:30:22
I'd like to say a word in connection with the.
And this to the young believers especially.
One would encourage the young people to take up, like Solomon here, a pattern.
That you have observed in those who have sought to go on for the Lord, and you know that what they have received and what they have walked in is that which they have learned from the Lord Himself, from this precious book.
Solomon took up that pattern that David left behind. And I would encourage the young people that we're not talking about just following men, We're not talking about just idolizing perhaps someone that you feel has honored the Lord and walked with the Lord for many years, but to realize this, that the pattern and the example that they have set.
Is the result of what they have learned from the Lord.
What they have been taught have gone.
It's what they have received by the Spirit and they have have walked in it and they have sought to carry it out. And then one can take that up with confidence that it is the mind and will of God. Just as Solomon here takes up this pattern and he builds. We want to be sure though, we want to prove all things and we want to be sure of this, that the pattern that is, that is set, the pattern that we would observe.
That it is a pattern that was received by the Spirit of God and we can test that by the Word. We can test that by the Word.
And so we don't want to just follow men. I remember one time years ago.
Not having been raised among those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
I had to go through exercises in regard to finding the place where the Lord has placed His name. And I found that there were those, you might say, while I felt I was going in the right direction to the place, I felt that I came across those who were coming away from that place as if they were to say, well, I tried it and.
It wasn't what he was supposed to be.
And so you might say they were setting a pattern too. They were older, older men, older Christians. They were those who had once been identified with those gathered to the Lord's name, but they gave it up. And so they were, they were setting a pattern. And as a young man, one might say, well, which pattern am I to follow?
Well, remember, the pattern that David passed on to Solomon was that which he had received by the Spirit. It was that which he had received from God, according to God's Word.
And so we don't want to be confused young persons when we come across perhaps some.
Saint of God, some perhaps even a devoted servant of the Lord, who is not God of the Lord's name. And perhaps even at some time, one time he may have been, and he seems to be a very energetic and a very well taught person. But the point is, the pattern that he is setting, the lead that he is getting now, is it according to the Spirit of God.
Is it a pattern received by the Spirit? And the way we test it is by His precious word? Because it's possible, you know, for someone to set a wrong pattern.
And to give a wrong pattern and it's possible for one to take up with a wrong pattern. Turn to 2nd Kings chapter 16. I'd just like to refer to to King A has there who took up with a wrong pattern and you can readily see why it's a wrong pattern because of where he got it. Second King 16, we read in verse 10 that King Ahaz went to Damascus. Now you notice the city there.
Now Ahaz, of course, was the king of Judah.
And where would his residence be as the King of Judah, Jerusalem?
00:35:00
And what is Jerusalem? That's the divine center. But he went to Damascus.
And he went there to meet Tiglath Pileser, king of Assyria, and while he was there, notice he saw an altar.
Well, now this altar that he saw, there was not something given by the Spirit of God. It was an altar that had been erected by the Assyrians. It wasn't anything that had to do with God. But notice what King Ahaz did, and King Ahaz sent to Urijah the priest, the fashion of the altar and the pattern of it, according to all the workmanship thereof.
And we read that this man made that altar according to that pattern.
Well, now here's a pattern, and it's a pattern that was given by a man who was in a high place, king of Judah, but he was a man who got out of his place. He went down to Damascus. He got away from the from the divine center, he got out of his place. And so he picked up some thoughts, he picked up a pattern of things that they had no place in Jerusalem.
He picked up a pattern of things that belonged to Damascus.
But what did he do? He introduced that in Jerusalem. Now this is a pattern we don't want to follow.
This is a pattern that is not received by the Spirit of God. This is not a pattern like David gave to Solomon. David gave a true pattern that he had received from God which was according to the word of God. And Solomon rightly could take up that pattern and build follow that pattern.
Because it was a pattern received by a given by the Spirit of God and passed on by a faithful man. But here is a pattern that is taken up from a place that had nothing to do with Jerusalem, Damascus. And sad to say that he has introduced that pattern. Well, God would have us to recognize the fact, as we said in the beginning, that we can have either a good pattern or a bad pattern.
According to the word of God.
The Lord Jesus, the great example, the great pattern himself. We know that He never took up with anything that was not of God, either administratively or in his service or as a man or as a son. Everything was according to God.
And we can say that David was faithful too, to receive a pattern from God by the Spirit and pass it on to Solomon.
But Ahaz was one who gave a wrong pattern and a wrong lead. So we want to be aware of bringing things in, as it were, from Damascus, picking up a pattern of things outside. And that's what happens, you know, when we when we get occupied with all that's going on in Christendom, we're apartment to see all hers out there. We're apartment to see a pattern of things that we might say that looks pretty good. Let's bring that into Jerusalem.
But it can be a wrong pattern if it's not according to the Spirit of God. We want to reject it and we want to build according to the pattern that has been received and passed on by the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus is the great example, the great model. But now you and I have that privilege and responsibility to be a model too, and to not only follow a pattern that's given of God, but to pass on a pattern that is received by the Spirit.