Aberdeen Conference: 2023
Table of Contents
Acts 1:1-8
Reading
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Shall we break?
God pray that the him that we just sung.
Maybe the desires of our heart.
And we do thank thee again this afternoon.
That we can look up to that blessed resource all blessings come from.
We thank Thee for the love that was in my heart, our dog and father.
Send thy beloved son into this world to save the likes of us.
We are so humbled when we think that we have been brought into such a place of blessing.
We know it to be true, and we thank thee that we're not going to be here in this world.
Very much longer.
We're going to see the Lord Jesus face to face, to be with him like thee for the everlasting ages of eternity. Oh what love, what grace to think we who were sinners that spit in thy face.
Can now enjoy thy presence for all eternity. We know that on earth. Our song begins, however, and we.
Just pray, especially this afternoon.
That thou was directest to the portion of Thy precious word that would be exactly needed for each one of us.
We know that Thou art able to do that, and we are waiting upon Thee and trusting in Thee, our God.
To make thy Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, more precious to our hearts.
We know that without the Lord Jesus we can do nothing. Thus told us that and we.
Know it to be true, and so we just pray that the flesh might be kept in check, and that there might be a waiting upon thee, that we may all be edified.
That we just count upon thee for blessing to direct us to the right word. We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
I'd like to suggest Acts chapter 2.
The Lord.
It also may be as a preface to that. I think the 1St 15 verses of chapter one. I don't know how my brethren feel. I wasn't here for the prayer meeting. I don't want Mr. Tenor, the Lord's mind as to any direction.
Might have been.
Might have been leading us to so if another feels that another portion would be more suitable.
And happy to defer.
Pretty good to me, brother Steve.
I was thinking of the 1St.
14 verses of chapter one and then maybe pick up at verse one and chapter 2.
For this reading, probably just down to verse 13.
Acts chapter one.
The former treaties have I made, oh Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach.
Until the day in which he was taken up, after He, through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.
To whom also He showed himself alive after His passion, by many infallible proofs, being seen of them 40 days, and Speaking of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God, and being assembled together with them, commended them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Father. Which saith he, he have heard of me For John truly ******** with water. But ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days since, when they therefore were come together.
They asked of him, saying, Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times for the seasons which the Father hath put in His own power. But ye shall receive power after that. The Holy Ghost has come upon you, and ye shall be witness unto me, both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth. And when He had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight.
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And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, You men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This ain't Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven. Shall so come in like manner, as you have seen him go into heaven. Then return they unto Jerusalem, unto the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem, a Sabbath day's journey. When they were come in, they went up into an upper room.
Abode both Peter and James, and John, and Andrew, and Philip and Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon Zelotis and Judas the brother of James, these all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
And then at chapter 2, and when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind.
And it filled all the house where they were sitting, and there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there was dwelling at Jerusalem Jews, devout men, out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language, and they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another.
Behold, are not these which speak Galileans? And how here we every man in his own tongue, wherein that we were born Parthians and Medes, Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Jutea, and Cappadocia, and Pontius, and Asia?
Fergie and Pamphylia in Egypt, in the parts of Libya, right around Cyreni, the Syrian, the strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, creeds and agrabions. We do hear them speak in our own tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said. These men are full of new wine.
I was thinking of this portion as it gives the wonderful truths of the beginning of the Church of God. The beginning of what Paul later on brings out is the mystery that was hidden God.
And the verses in chapter one as a preface to that help us to understand the the condition.
That the disciples were in before the Lord was received back up in glory, and there are a number of passages there that have been.
Very difficult and misunderstood by many Christians as well as what we have in chapter 2 and I feel like as the day progresses on as we wait for the Lord to come and more and more.
Error comes into professing Christianity and these things that it might be good to have our hearts better established and the truth that's presented in these two chapters. There isn't an event.
That is of greater importance to us that has taken place other than the work of the Cross.
Itself than the descent of the Holy Spirit.
Personally into this world.
To take up his abode in the House of God and in believers individually as well.
And all that flows from that.
Perhaps the 1St?
Thing that.
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Would point out.
Is in verse 2.
Two says, Until the day which he was taken up, after that, He through the Holy Ghost, had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen.
The Lord Jesus went into death.
But you know, at the river Jordan, when he was baptized, the Spirit of God descended from heaven in bodily form like a dove, and took its abode up in that spotless man.
And he went on in his public ministry, and all that he did was in the power of the Spirit of God.
Right to the cross, and there in the cross, by the eternal Spirit, he offered himself without spot to God. He laid his life down.
But when he was raised from the dead.
Resurrected man.
He still was indwelt by the Spirit of God.
And so as he speaks in these 40 days that he's with his own, it is still in the power of the Spirit of God. He is still the habitation of the Spirit of God personally, himself.
And that's important as we go on into chapter 2, but I'll just note it there. They often slip by that in verse two and don't necessarily pick it up, but it's an assurance too to you and I. We're in dwelt by the Spirit of God, as we'll get in chapter 2. And there are many of his own who have gone into death.
The part of this scene, spirit and soul with Christ.
When the Lord comes and they're raised, they're going to be still indwelt by the Holy Spirit as well.
Is will in US forever?
In the same pattern as the Lord.
In the Spirit of God here now, his energy is so much.
Focused on.
Our walk giving us the power to walk here, for the Lord to judge ourselves to be separate from what would dishonor Him to whether it's internally or externally.
But when the Lord comes and the Saints are raised.
And those who are alive and remain are changed to be with him will all be still and dwelt by the Spirit of God.
But what will his energy all be poured into them?
Praise, worship, enjoyment of divine things. What is going to be the measure of our capacity of the enjoyment of God the Father and God the Son and divine things and all that awaits us in the coming day of glory? The fullness of the power of the Spirit of God indwelling you and me. There's no limit.
What a capacity to enjoy all that God has for us.
Unhindered by the flesh in that coming day.
We often look at a passage and think that here's something new and it is is a very wonderful event. But we knew we knew that God had foreordained a lot of these events. So that's why looking at the Old Testament scriptures for principles are important.
I'm thinking more particularly in the Seven Fees of Jehovah, where it already told us as if it were what's to come. So if you recall, in the 23rd chapter of Leviticus, it starts started off by the Passover. Death has to come in first, the blood has to be shed, and then you have the feast of the first fruit on the set on the 17th day of the month. That's the resurrection day.
What's important about the fees of the first fruits is they are told to count.
Seven weeks and the Morrow after seven weeks, 7 * 7 is 49 days plus the next day. That makes it 50 days. Very interesting, isn't it? To see that God had all this in mind even before the foundation of this world, death and resurrection. And then fifty days later, we the church, brought in the blessing. In fact, if you go back to the chapter, you'll find that a new meal offering is to be made.
You read through the Old Testament that a meal offering is to be offered without leaven, and we'll find this one is different is with leaven, but baked. Oh, is there so much? We can look at it and see how God had us in mind. The Gentiles now will be brought into blessings. Of course, salvation is of the Jew first, but now we're going to be brought into blessing. The Holy Spirit's going to descend into this world.
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More so than just descending into this world.
He's going to in dwell in US. What blessedness we have as Christians today.
Like to comment that we began the conference with two hymns. First one began in with Christ, our theme begins. The second one was in hope we lift up our wishful longing eyes. Both of the hymns have the character of a journey with a destination connected with it, and in scripture it's full of journeys.
The first most very significant one was Abraham was called to take on a journey. He was called to leave his where he lived and go to a land he did not know that God would show him when he obeyed and went out. And the children of Israel ended up in Egypt because of the disobedience. But to get to the promised land, Moses LED them out in a journey.
And we have.
The books of Moses that greatly expand and explain the whole journey that they had to take. The Lord Jesus himself went through this life in a journey that had a beginning and it had an end and it had a purpose connected with it.
And my own soul, it meant that we were going to have to have in the what we take up, some aspect of the character of journey. And we too. And what we have here that the Lord has put on Steve's heart is the beginning of another journey. It's the one we're on. It's the one we participate in, we're not part of.
Abraham.
We're not part of that which called the children of Israel to the Promised Land.
But we are part of a different portion of God's plans and ways that we call Christianity.
There are two things that particularly have to be before the journey we're on that begins in these two chapters, these two at the beginning of Acts and it's practical expression.
The two things that were foundational to it are given in John's Gospel.
One is Christ at the end of John's Gospel rises from the dead in resurrection life. Which character of that life is eternal?
That's the first one.
It had to be first before the journey that we're on could begin.
For anybody. Nobody in the Old Testament could partake of what we have this afternoon.
In our journey, because they did not know as we know it, had not been as we know it until the work of Christ at the cross. And he dies, and he rises again, and when he rises again he rises in that character of life.
That elsewhere is called eternal life.
And it's necessary for this journey that every participant in it have eternal life. And the 2nd is the journey could not begin.
Christianity and its proper character could not begin until the Spirit of God indwelt came down to indwell the believer.
And remain in that believer forever, because that's the other aspect of the eternal life which we have is the indwelling of the Spirit of God that works with the life that we have been given and will characterize that life forever.
And so much of what we have in the New Testament is bringing out that truth to us, the particular relationship we have to the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Is not known until basically the Apostle Paul was taken to prison and then the mystery of the church is brought out and the truth of the high calling is brought out in Acts one and two. They didn't know that they're the beginning of the journey is the separation between the previous one that the children of Israel were to be part of. And sadly it's been interrupted and not finished in a full way until the tribulation comes.
But for us, there is that calling.
Of God.
To a place with himself and the Lord Jesus.
Recognizes and if you go through the last chapters of John's Gospel, we find the Lord Jesus preparing his disciples for what we have in the Acts. And it's practice and on beyond through the epistles that I'm going to be separated from you for a time. But my desire for you is that you be with me in the Father's house and that's what's going to I'm going to be laboring for you.
Until that is accomplished, this afternoon, the Lord Jesus is laboring by the Spirit in this room.
To fulfill that purpose that we will be together brought.
To the end of the journey, and that is where He is with himself in the Father's house, with the special privilege of for ourselves, having that unique, wonderful place of being, His body and His bride.
Could we say that Christianity didn't start until the Lord was in the glory? It couldn't, because it's a heavenly thing. And so the Forerunner, the first fruits, had to be in glory before Christianity properly could have any character or start. And so he had to return to the Father's house. And it isn't until he does that the Holy Spirit could be sent to earth.
To bring souls into that relationship with himself, That is what we know as the Church.
To also introduce what Steve commented on a little bit every journey.
Has in Scripture opposition.
And there's a learning process connected with it. Abraham, when he started his journey, he didn't completely start it properly. And it wasn't long before he ran into difficulties because he hadn't yet a mature faith that we find of him and and Hebrews Chapter 11.
The Lord Jesus. The perfect example of taking the journey is in chapter 12.
That was already read and we are to have our eye on Him as the perfect example to learn and see no man save Jesus only.
As the perfect example, and that's why it's not atonement. In chapter 12, it says who for the joy that was set before him, endured with patience. He was on that journey, and he himself having as a man that joy of the end of it set before him, endured in his own path of faith to the end. And he set before us to set aside the other witnesses that we might see him.
In it and so we find in chapter 2 almost immediately.
There begins to be that opposition.
To what?
Those who are on the journey experience. Abraham experienced it. The children of Israel experienced it in type. The conflict that we have is with Satan, with the flesh in US and with the world. And that starts through the acts. You start to see it.
Opposing the journey and the truth of what is to be at the end of it and every one of us experiences that compass opposite or.
Opposition to us in our daily lives.
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In the Gospel of Luke and chapter.
12.
Lord brings up the subject of at the end of the chapter of repentance.
Urgency.
Need of it and he was really Speaking of Israel as a nation having.
Manifesting manifesting their rejection of him. There was an issue that had to be dealt with and they better deal with it. He goes on into chapter 13 and the subject of repentance having been brought up, they say, well, what about those on who the tower of Siloam fell? What about those who pilot mingled their blood with their sacrifices or they sinners that needed to repent? And he says, except you all like except you repent, you shall all likewise perish.
Repentance is the hinge upon which Israel's future blessing turns, and it's the hinge upon what your blessing and my blessing turn to it was necessary.
The Lord goes on in chapter 13 of Luke, and he gives a parable.
That we know well of the fig tree that did not bear fruit.
And the command is cut it down.
The appeal of the vine dresser is let me dig about and done it. Let it go for another year and we'll see if it bears fruit. They had rejected the Lord Jesus Christ coming lowly grace.
But now he's going to ascend back to heaven and the Spirit of God is going to come down and there's going to be a year, you might say of, of digging and dugging that fig tree that was fruitless to see if they would receive the testimony of the Spirit of God sent down from Christ in heaven. And if not, then cut it down. The 1St 6 chapters of Acts up through Chapter 7.
Is that year? It's not an additional year of testing of the first man. The 1St man's testing was done.
At the cross. But it's an offer to Israel that if they would repent of their sin of rejecting Messiah, He would bring their promised blessings in.
And so in chapter one, the Lord prepares the disciples.
That offer that is going to be made to Israel through them.
And he has 40 days with them. He speaks of things in those forty days concerning the Kingdom of God.
I take it that is very similar to what we might find in Matthew and the Beatitudes, the moral things concerning the Kingdom, the similitudes of the Kingdom, Kingdom and mystery, and chapter 13.
Of Matthew, and maybe even leading on into looking on to the coming establishment of the Kingdom and power and glory.
He spent 40 days. But I think the majority of it is just like what we have with Paul in Acts 20, where he says he went among them teaching the Kingdom of God the moral aspect of things, things that the disciples were going to need in his absence. And so he then says, wait in Jerusalem for the promise of the Father. They're going to be baptized.
With the Holy Ghost.
They are going to bear witness for him, but it's going to be in the power of the Holy Spirit when they make that offer.
Of repentance and of blessing to Israel.
Is that one of the things, brother Steve, that you were referring to when you said this first and 2nd chapter of Acts is off are often misunderstood? I believe so. I believe we'll we'll see verses as we go through this that.
Are yes, often misunderstood.
Well, I just say in a general way, because without wanting to be boastful or anything, many dear believers cannot understand how that, as you pointed out, Israel's and ultimately man in general, their testing was over at the cross when man crucified God's beloved Son. There was nothing more that God could do. What shall I do?
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I will send my beloved son. It may be they will reverence him when they see him.
And what happened?
They cast him out of the vineyard and slew him. That was the end of man's testing. But how precious it is to see, as Steve has been bringing out, that God, we might say, gives Israel one more chance.
Will you receive a testimony from a risen Christ in glory, in the power of the Spirit of God? And it was real power, the Lord had said to his disciples. Greater works than these shall you do, because I go to my Father's.
And the disciples, the apostles, they did in fact perform in that sense greater miracles than even the Lord himself did.
We don't need to go into it, but when did the Lord ever?
Walk down the street and have people healed merely by His shadow. We don't read of that. When did they ever take clothes and handkerchiefs from the Lord? And people were healed by him? No. And so in that sense there was an abundant testimony to the power of a risen Christ in glory. And I fully believe, according to what we read in Acts, that had Israel as a nation repented, the Lord would have come back and set up the Kingdom.
And people say, well, how can that be? He forms the church on the day of Pentecost.
Offers Israel the chance to repent, as you point out.
And had they repented as a nation, he would have come back. While at the same time.
The Lord knew very well they would not repent, and So what happens when they don't repent? His brother Steve has pointed out in the seventh chapter of Acts.
They.
They murder the brightest light that God had in the early church.
They murdered him, stoned Stephen to death. And what does the Lord do then?
Mr. Wiggum has a good comment on it. He says the grace of God picked up the very worst offender, Saul of Tarsus. Pseudo. Pardon me, he said. All right, you come and take his place and I'll make a greater servant of you.
Than even Stephen, but then what does he do? He brings out.
The preciousness of the mysteries. The heavenly calling of the Church, no longer a Kingdom on earth.
But heavenly calling and everything that goes with it. And people say, and I say it kindly, I can't understand that how God could offer Israel something And yet at the same time, if you could say it, and I say it with all reverence, God had behind His back something that had its place in a past eternity, that He was going to pick up you and me primarily as Gentiles and bring us into the most wonderful blessing.
More than Israel ever had or ever will have. We just have to sit back and say that's the plan of God that is beyond our beyond our human understanding.
The passage that very clearly.
Describes this offer during this year of digging around the tree and dunking. It is in Acts chapter 3.
In verse 19, this is the occasion when Peter having healed the man who had been lame from his birth.
And it causes a great commotion and they all run.
And Peter has the opportunity to communicate this wonderful message of the gospel of a risen Christ. But down in verse 19, Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out. And here I'll defer to the Darby translation, so that times a refreshing shall come.
From the presence of the Lord.
And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.
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Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution.
Of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets.
Since the world began.
That is a succinct expression of the offer to Israel.
Had they responded as Joseph's brethren responded when he finally revealed himself? I am Joseph your brother, whom he sold into Egypt.
It was a deep work in their hearts. As Stephen mentioned, the hinge. I like that expression.
Repentance. And had they corporately repented and said like some of them did, We've made a terrible mistake, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
Had they done that, he would have sent Jesus Christ of down from heaven again, and the times of restitution of all things would have begun as all the prophets have spoken.
In the postponement now of their blessing has gone on.
For almost 2000 years.
Maybe more than 2000 years.
And surely the Lord knew that when he came over Jerusalem and he looked over it and he wept over it.
He knew the blessing that he had for them.
He knew it was being rejected and he knew the terrible judgment which would come in its place.
But this is a bonafide offer and it is quite something that just makes us shake our heads at how God's thoughts and His ways are so much higher than ours. As you say, the church has already begun in Acts chapter 2, but the truth of it not all yet understood or even communicated until that young man who held the clothes of those who stoned Stephen.
Was apprehended his way to Damascus.
If I need the Jewish nation as a whole, they lost their blessing. A God is a God of love. We know that a Jew as an individual, they can still be saved, can't they? They, when they accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their savior, says they neither become Jew nor Gentiles. Is this new body that's being formed.
So they do have that blessing still as an individual, not just as a side comment. I was thinking of what Bill said earlier, as if God has something better for this new, new setup, the new body, the new church. You know, there is a phrase, two phrases we'll find in the book of Ephesians and Colossians, the history of God and the mystery of Christ. I don't want to digress too far from the chapter.
And for those who are taking note, you should write this down and go look it up. Is very interesting thought and I'll just mention it briefly, that the mystery of God is that there is going to be a body on earth and a head in heaven.
And the mystery of Christ is that we are going to be more than what Israel could receive. We will become heir and joint heir with Christ. That's a lot more blessing than they can have from this earth.
In Isaiah chapter 5, when the Lord is beseeching Israel and saying to them, what more could I do for you that I've not already done to draw the people to Himself? They're looked at as a vine, but they're looked at as a vine of man in nature, and God is working at that time with man. Is there anything that can come out of man that's good?
Can man produce fruit? And so he gave Israel a very special place before him. He separated them from the evil of the nations about them. He hedged them about to protect them from outside influences, and he worked with them. But there was nothing for God that came out of, and nothing does come out of man, sinful man, no matter how wonderfully God works with him. When the Lord Jesus came and was working with the people, He comes as the Messiah.
To those people and he's rejected, but in that rejection.
When he's talking to his disciples, he says to them, I am the vine.
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The vine of Israel is to be replaced with himself as the vine.
And the blessing comes through him alone.
And what his work on the cross?
Did in the one year that's been referred to, he is appealing to them still and if they would repent and accept him as the Messiah, they would be brought into blessing, but on a new foundation, the foundation of which he is the vine and they're brought into that. So and that is God never starts anything that he doesn't finish and he's going to finish that work.
In the Tribulation period, he's going to work with them again.
And he's going to appeal to them on the same grounds that he did when he was rejected.
And they're going to say, what are these wounds? They're going to know and recognize him in their in a very painful process that they put to death their Messiah and they will repent and they will accept him as such and be brought into the millennial blessing and eternal for them, blessing having to do with the earth as the basis of the work of Christ as well.
That brings them into that blessing, but he appeals to them as they are, as Jews.
And in fact, after Chapter 7, the process of separating them from the believers, from Judaism and bringing them into Christian ground is a takes the whole book and then it works. Not finished when Axe is finished, but nonetheless the process goes on. And so it's a wonderful thing to recognize just to make a separate moral application. God has started to work in your life and mine, and he's going to work on you until it's finished.
And the whole of your life and mine is a process of that work going on in US.
To fit us for the full enjoyment of glory with himself.
Some have objected to the thought of an offer.
Of repentance to Israel.
That it was disingenuous? That God never intended to.
To bring it to pass. But that's not a right thought. If they had repented, he would have.
Well, how is it then that he would have done that and then all the Old Testament prophecies that we find unfolding in the Tribulation have taken place. Everything was in place.
There was an apostate king on the throne, Herod.
There was the last holder of Gentile power at that time that they were subject to Rome.
There was a faithful remnant around the Lord looking for His return as we find here ready going to be ready to preach.
Repentance to Israel. There was an apostate mass of the nation that would oppose them and persecute them and they would suffer. Everything was in place. All of the prophetic scriptures could have unfolded in the next few years and the Lord would come. It's it was all in place. There was no hindrance.
To the Lord working everything to the end of the fulfillment of prophetic scriptures.
That offer was genuine.
Is that why Brother Steve the Lord is in verse 7 doesn't really answer their question directly?
There's a I, I think yes, he knows. As you pointed out, there's something else, man's failure. I love how Ballot takes things up and and he looks at when man fails in respect of his responsibility towards God.
And things come to an end, he said God just opens the door to something better, you know, and so something better is going to open up. But for them, they're going to make this offer. And have they known the truth of the church and the mystery? It would have confused things for them. No, they were going to go out in the fullness of their hearts and make that that offer to Israel of repent and and be baptized. Wash away your sins.
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Receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. They were going to go out and that was absolutely not going to be hindered in any way by what was yet to be unfolded in a coming time. It's really interesting to notice when he's when they say will thou at this time restore the Kingdom to Israel. This time refers to what he said in verse 5.
He speaks of the baptism of the Spirit. John had said he would baptize with the Spirit and with fire. He just speaks of the baptism of the Spirit. Baptism with fire is still to come in its judgment. He will with his fan and his hand thoroughly purge his floor and burn the chaff with fire unquenchable. That's not what was going to happen here. And so he mentions the baptism of the Spirit, and they say, well, now at this time, the time of the baptism of the Spirit.
Restore the Kingdom to Israel says not for you to know the times and the seasons which the Fathers put in his own power.
In Thessalonians, First Thessalonians 5, Paul says to the believers, you know the times and seasons. I don't need to tell you.
The word know in chapter one of Acts is the thought of knowledge inwardly, experientially.
In Thessalonians.
Chapter First Thessalonians 5 It's objective knowledge, more the knowledge of the facts.
That strengthens the force of what the Lord is saying here. It's not for you to know the times, the periods of time in which the Kingdom will be established with Israel as the head of the nations. It's not for you to know those periods of time. You're not going to know that now or the seasons, the things that characterize those periods of time.
It's the thought of you're not only don't know the periods of time, you're not even going to experience it. It's not going to be experiential knowledge with you.
And so he closes that. He says no, I've got work for you to do. And he directs them that way.
And he uses one of the most difficult words in the English language. It's even a four letter word, He says. Wait.
And for all the dear, beloved young people in this room and all the children, and even for me, sometimes the hardest thing in the whole world, we have a timeline and we things aren't, we think things ought to hurry up and happen. And he's talking about things happening as our brother mentioned, the vine, the Lord Jesus being the vine, things happen because he's using us in his work. We're not just making it happen. We're not just waking up. And man, I'm going to go and make this happen.
The Lord has a timing. He has a way. I remember once we were working on a project and there was a brother there named Walter Walt Porter, and we were doing sheetrock. And this guy, he, he takes the mud and I've never really worked with mud. I didn't know really what he's doing. He puts in this bucket and he has his mixer and he's mixing it. Mix it. I'm like, well, that's looks good enough to me. Let's put it on the wall and he mixes it and he mixes it and he mixes it. And I was like, Oh my goodness, is this a government job? And he mixes it and he mixes it and he stops.
And he took that stuff out of there and it was perfect. And he went and he put it on the wall and there weren't any bubbles and there weren't any lumps. And he didn't even hardly have to sand the stuff because he did the work. He waited. And so often. We want to hurry up, Lord, can you do it by tomorrow, please? And he's not on the same timetable we are.
He's got his own, you know, we talk about our brother mentioned the year that and and we look at that and we're just like, come on, can't you take care of this? He's got his own timetable and he will use us in his Kingdom if we let him, if we wait on him. Another example, we would be like, I'm going to hurry up and make these, you know, bring this thing to pass. I'm going to I'm going to, you know, I see somebody and I, I know what they need and I'm going to go tell him, you know what, if they're not open for that, all you're doing is pushing them away.
Ask Him, make a suggestion. Are you open? Could I share something with you? If they say no, just let it go. It's not time. We can trust the Lord in his timing. He's got everything figured out.
00:50:05
This is one of the passages that is so misunderstood.
Years ago my brother came to me and he read these verses.
Verse six through.
Seven verse six and seven, he said.
If the Lord really intended.
To set up a Kingdom on this earth. Millennial Kingdom.
If he really intended this was the time to tell them that he was going to do it and he didn't, therefore he's not going to was the point.
It's the opposite. If there was ever a time for the Lord to tell them that he had no intention of ever setting up a Kingdom, this was the time. And not only does he not say that, He affirms it.
If my son comes to me and, you know, I told him we're going to buy a bicycle and he says, dad, when are you going to get the bicycle? And I'd say it's not for you to know. When would that be? Would he take that as I'm saying he's never going to get the bicycle? No, he'd go away happy because it's really an affirmation. He still doesn't know that this is an affirmation from the Lord that the Kingdom will be set up.
It was not for them to know the time, but it has been twisted to make the Lord say there is no future Kingdom on this earth. It's not true.
I know it's going ahead, but it doesn't hurt sometimes to do that. And that is.
This answer that the apostles got, did they eventually get the whole thing? Yes, they did. Because when Paul comes along, as we said earlier, the Lord picks up Saul of Tarsus in one sense, the very worst one responsible. Others were carried away in the heat of passion, but Saul of Tarsus was calm and cool and collected, he said.
Give me your, give me your clothes, your outer garment, so you can throw stones, all the better. And that was just fine with him. Get rid of that man, Steven, and you're going to hit this Christianity right in the middle. Take the perhaps the most powerful preacher they had at that time. And I don't mean to discount Peter and others, but it says particularly they could not resist the spirit with which he spake.
But what does God do? Takes that man, and what gives him all the answers?
So that now, later on, you and I know.
How everything's going to pan out because if someone else has said.
Paul gives us the truth of the assembly in which everything is displayed, and that's why in Colossians Paul could say it was given unto him to fulfill or complete the word of God.
Just as an aside to that, I've had people try and tell me, well, there's been new revelations since then. I said, well then the Bible, I can't believe my Bible any more because yes, others like John and perhaps Peter filled in details, but there's no new revelation. Paul was given to complete the word of God. So then.
Yes, Peter has to admit. Yes, our beloved brother Paul says some things that are hard to be understood.
It was hard for a godly Jew to understand just how all this was going to pan out.
But God gave Paul all of that. Again, we don't know exactly when.
But God gave him the whole truth of the assembly, which includes the.
Blessing of Israel in the coming day. And as a brother used to remind us that I grew up and I grew up under his ministry. He said I never met a man or a woman either that could understand the word of God correctly unless they saw that God had in his purposes the blessing of the church in heaven and the blessing of Israel on earth. And it will happen as Steve has been bringing out, and it's Paul's ministry that brings that out.
00:55:00
But as we've said already, we don't get that in the first two chapters of Acts. That has to wait until later.
Like to comment also another aspect of the subject and that is bringing in the issue of faith.
Abraham, to use him as an example, was a man that was told to go out not knowing where he was going.
He did not have revealed to him the end of his calling at that point in time and he was tested multiple times afterwards, particularly when he was told to take Isaac and offer him.
Up and he could say God had already said to him.
And his son, all the nations of the world would be blessed. He knew that much then. But he could have said to himself, well, if that's true, and I do, I only have one son, Isaac.
And if Ioffer him up, how could that purpose be fulfilled? The point is, God has so chosen that until we reach the end of the story, there will always be in our lives the needs be to have faith. If we saw everything and every detail and every step of the way, it would not produce in us that dependence upon the Lord.
And upon God to provide so that the promises yet realized.
And that applies in its principle even to the Lord Jesus today.
As Son of God, He knows everything.
Son of Man, he's a man. Does he know exactly as that in the character of the Son of Man, exactly when what's being we've been talking about is going to happen?
He does not. He does not.
If you say what day, what year, Lord, are you going to have the rapture and set up the Kingdom, He would say that's in my Father's hands to decide, not mine. And so he also as a man waits.
It says the patience of the Christ. Why does he have to exercise patience? Because he's waiting.
For the Father's time to fulfill all the desires of his own heart.
To bless Israel and to have you and I in his presence for eternity. And so, as it says again of him in in chapter 12, who for the joy that was set before him endured. There's a hope that's connected with faith, and there's also the development of endurance in that path of faith or the journey of faith that we have to learn.
Like Abraham, we don't learn it overnight. We have to go through trials in our lives, experiences that God puts us into.
To test whether and to help us to learn to be.
Joyful in tribulation?
That doesn't come naturally.
But God would develop in us knowing that even the tribulations through which we're passing there can be associated with it, a joy that he experienced that we should experience as well. There can be an endurance developed in us that was true of himself. And so because faith is another part of the whole picture, even as to these things that we talk of prophetically and God knowing ahead of time whether Israel would respond or not respond and when they would respond and so on.
It's also important to have the element of faith realized in it that we recognize that.
You and I don't know what's going to happen this afternoon or tomorrow, but our faith tells us it's in the hand of God and it's working toward the end purposes to which He has called us. And we are to accept that and accept what the Lord Jesus said to his Father when he was rejected. And Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, that is he submitted.
That the will of God was perfect, and the will of God is that which determines the exact time when some of these things will happen.
01:00:09
Main thing that the Lord is preparing them for immediately is that they would be His witnesses.
And so he tells them they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For what purpose? Verse A Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you, and he shall be witnesses unto me, both in Jerusalem, all Judea and Samaria, into the uttermost parts of the earth, and expanding.
Sphere out and out and out to the ends of the earth.
Brother said years ago, remember him standing up. I think all good intentions after remembrance, the Lord said why were the disciples hiding in the upper room for fear of the Jews? The Lord was risen. They should have been out preaching the gospel. They had no power to do that. They had no power.
Not only that at that point their understanding wasn't even open, but later when the Lord appears in the midst, He opens their understanding and so they have a.
Understanding of the scriptures they had never had before, and that's demonstrated in the verses that we didn't read in chapter one and the way Peter handles.
The replacement for Judas, so their understanding was opened.
Intel, spiritual intelligence, but no power yet.
Had to wait until they had power and the Lord had said of the comforter that when he came he would bear witness of the Lord.
The witness of Christ, risen Christ glorified Christ in this world as safely in the hands of the Spirit of God. And he said to the disciples, and ye also shall bear witness. And so they had to wait until they were duped with power from on high, and then they would be his witnesses. I want to make one preemptive comment if I can. I don't want to step on any anyone's toes.
Our brother Dave mentioned how the feasts of Jehovah, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Wave Sheaf pictures Christ risen from the dead.
Perfectly acceptable to God in a wonderful way. And then the Feast of weeks, those fifty days later, the two wave loaves brought out, baked and presented way before the Lord as well. Picture of the Church. I'd like to say this.
Why 2 loaves?
Because they were going to bear witness to the risen chief and two is an adequate testimony. It's an adequate witness. It is not June Gentile in one body. Two loaves would be destructive as a type of one body.
It's not Jew and Gentile in one body. It's adequate testimony and witness.
To the risen sheaf. And that is what he is preparing them for, to bear witness of himself. And I believe it says in chapter four or five, then the apostles gave a mighty witness to the resurrection. They fulfilled what he had given them to do in the power of the Spirit of God. And so he prepares them for that moment when the spirit of they be baptized by the Spirit of God and have power to bear testimony to him.
I'd like to make a few comments regarding power as well. The Spirit of God, the power of the Christian life, the power that works in us, the power that worked on the Day of Pentecost is introduced to us in that way in John 14. I would like to go back and comment on it a little bit.
Where the promise of the Spirit.
To come upon them is given.
In chapter 14 as well as 1213141516, the Lord is preparing them.
Separation from them, and they had had the Lord Jesus himself in their midst.
To provide everything that was needed for them to serve him, to be with him, to fulfill his will.
And so he now recognizes he's going to be separated from them for a time, and so he prepares them for it. And in Chapter 14, he says.
01:05:02
Verse 16 I will pray the Father, and he will give you another comforter.
That He may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know Him. For He dwelleth with you and shall be in you. And then he goes on.
To tell them about for a while. You're not going to see me.
That comforter, that spirit of truth.
Dwells in you and I this afternoon.
As exactly the same amount of power working in US as it did on the day of Pentecost.
Not one iota less power is in you and in me as was in the disciples on the Day of Pentecost. However, on the Day of Pentecost and the time following, the Spirit of God used that which is the power. Use that power through His servants to fulfill the purposes that have been talked about already.
This afternoon in the message to Israel and showing them.
Evidences of the power that would be seen in the Kingdom. And so he presents that to them and he uses them in that way.
Now that power is working in us in a different way. It's the same power, but the power of God is not. And that's the only power there is. Brethren, there's no power in us. That's an important thing. We sometimes say, I wish I had power.
They didn't have any power in themselves on the Day of Pentecost. It was the power of the spirit of working in them.
We don't have any power in us. We never in that sense will. It's the power of the Spirit of God that indwells us, that does what he does for us, in US and through us. And we thank God, he's chosen to do that. And so there is because of failure at times that which withholds the use of that power even in the Christian profession.
But I would make this comment about it. The comforter came as the spirit of truth.
And if their submission, there will always be the working of the power of the Spirit of God in US.
To recognize the truth and walk in it, and the Spirit of God will always enable.
That we can walk according to the leading and direction of the Spirit of God, no matter how messed up the profession gets before the Lord comes.
You sing #333.
It's a just that we the Church, dear glory.
Brought should win the Sun be blast.
Oh God.
The fun was thine, thine in all.
Torture.
Mind.
For thou so boats of dream.
Great.
Or strength of ever find.
Thy lonely ain't gonna be.
01:10:36
With great dear life.
I.
Won't respond, We see.
A cold is thrown in. Boring.
Right the.
Right of Christ shall be.
Sealed with.
I won't trust God has made our most.
Glory with Christ above.
Our God and Father, we do thank Thee for the start that we've had this day, for the prayer meeting time to be in prayer, bearing up our every need and and calling upon Thee for help. We thank Thee.
We know that thou alone art able. We thank Thee for this portion that we've had before our souls. We just do pray that that would help us to understand some of these things that are difficult for us. And this day that we're living in, coming very close now to to the end that it might be an encouragement for us to think and to know that our blessed Savior has not changed one bit. Our God has not changed.
His plans one bit, so just to ask Thy help now. And as we leave this place, we pray for mercies and that Thou keep everyone safe on the road. And if there are others still traveling to be here, we pray Thy mercy still for them too. Giving thanks. Our God and Father, the precious name of the Lord Jesus our Savior, Amen. Amen. Amen.
Acts 1:9-14, 2:1-2
Reading
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Like to read part of the first before we pray?
Next to this.
Chapter 33.
Exodus chapter 3 and part way through verse 13.
If I have found grace in thy sight, show me now.
Or could be Show me now thy ways, that I may know thee.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee for this reminder of thy mercies that far exceed.
All we can do is say we thank Thee for Thy mercies, to allow us a time like this to come aside and to sit in Thy presence, and to open up Thy precious word. We thank the Father for the portion that has been brought before us.
We feel, father, the need of it in the day in which we're living.
The need of being shown thy ways as they were at the beginning.
The thy thoughts. So we're passing through a scene, Father, where?
That which has taken on thy name, or thy name, Lord Jesus.
Has become so.
Leavened throughout the whole.
Where?
Imitation is so great.
That it can deceive our souls as to thyself, as to Thy ways. And so as we again open up Thy scriptures, we pray as Thou knowest the needs of each in this room, each one of our hearts, that thou wouldst.
00:05:19
Make known to us thy thoughts that it would draw our hearts to Thee. Lord Jesus, as we consider all that's in Thy heart, so we look to thee for help for thee hour before us, giving thee thanks for thy love, for thy grace. Thy goodness to us that finds us here this morning, finds us thine own company, those that have been redeemed.
So we just look to the Rely undertaking Father, and pray in the precious name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
I've been here yesterday we were reading in Acts chapter one and also Acts chapter 2.
Brother Steve, where did you think we got to?
Or, say it'd be nice not to Passover the Lord's ascension.
But it would be maybe just those verses and then on into chapter 2. I don't know if it's too long of a read, but I was wondering if we should read down to verse 36 of chapter 2 but maybe also read the chapter one and.
Just to get the.
Context of the ascension from.
Maybe verse 9.
Down to 14 and then on to two. Down through 36. Would that be too much or sound all right?
I don't think that's too much.
Acts chapter one, and start at verse nine. And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up, and a cloud received him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven, as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said, he, Men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? The Saint Jesus, which is taken up from you in heaven into heaven, shall so come in like manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
Then returned they unto Jerusalem from the mount called Olivet, which is from Jerusalem a Sabbath day's journey. And when they were come in, they went up into an upper room, whereabout both Peter and James, and John and Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew and Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon, Zelotis, and Judas the brother of James. These all continue with one accord in prayer and supplication with the women, and married the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.
Chapter 2 And when the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place. And suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And there were dwelling at Jerusalem, Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven.
And now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language, and they were all amazed and marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans? And how? How here we every man in his own tongue, wherein we were born Parthians and Medes, Elamites, and the dwellers of Mesopotamia, and in Judea, and in Cappadocia, and Pontius, and Asia.
Fergia, Pamphilia, in Egypt and in parts of Libya, roundabout Cyrene, and the strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Cretes and Arabians, We do hear them speak in our tongues the wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine. But Peter standing up with the 11, lift up his voice, and said unto them, He met of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem.
Be this known unto you, and hearken to my words, for these are not drunken as you suppose seen is but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams. And on my servants, and on my handmaidens I will pour out in these days of my spirit, and they shall prophecy.
00:10:08
And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapor of smoke. The sun shall be turned Into Darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call in the name of the Lord shall be saved.
He, men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God by among you, by miracles and wonders and signs.
Which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know him, being delivered by the determinant, council, and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should beholden of it.
For David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did I my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover, all my also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One, to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David. That he was is both dead and buried in his sepulchre is with us unto this day.
Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God has sworn with an oath to him, that at the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He's seen this before, speak of the resurrection of Christ, and his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witness. Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received to the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost.
He has set forth this which he now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself. The Lord sent to. My Lord, sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes thy footstool. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified both Lord and Christ.
I have a question. Brother John was reminding us that we have the same power today as they did.
The question is, why don't we see it in our day?
I'm going to suggest do see it. We're looking for it in the outward sense of it that was intended to be a display to the children of Israel at the beginning of the Millennium that the the one who reigned.
Reigned in power and glory and what they saw it it's but the difficulty as we look the what we're looking for when we say power and for my own soul. The hymn we just sang answers the question and I'm going to read it.
And it's the answer to how the power of the Spirit of God is working in this room today. And I say with just as much power as is described in Acts 2, but with a different intent and with a different display that's not outward.
The problem with power is often we're looking at it in some outward display. But 288 we just sang.
Verse three we just sang and we just ask God in prayer. This verse is a prayer.
We sometimes sing these hymns and don't always recognize that if we're singing them intelligently, we're singing them as a prayer. And this hymn is a prayer, and we were praying as we sang. If we were entering into the truth of the hymn in verse three, we were praying Do thou.
Very God of peace, us holy, sanctified and grant us such a rich increase of power from on high to what end that we might display in healing and so on. No power is we prayed that spirit, soul and body may preserve free from sin be blameless.
Until that day, Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. That is, we were praying that there would be an increase for us of the power of the Spirit of God on high to the purpose that what we might be preserved free from staying from that power in spirit, soul and body, blameless until that great day that is coming to me. That's the answer to that question.
00:15:32
I was thinking similar way. Often we like to see the outward display of power. If someone can call fire down from heaven, we say look at them. I work in the early days. We see miracles. We see right the way they spoke in tongues and various things. And today we have the word of God. I'm thinking of the commendation the Lord gave to the church. Let's turn to Revelation chapter 3.
To the Church of Philadelphia, it was very simple words on there.
Revelation 3, verse 11.
Sorry, verse 10.
Because.
Thou hast kept the word of my patience.
Oh I'm sorry, that's not the portion I was thinking of.
Verse eight. I'm sorry, so it says, 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 has kept my word, and has not denied my name. I believe this is exhibition of power from God in a quiet manner, even though just a few words.
They have kept his word. It's difficult, isn't it, in today's environment?
That to be able to keep His word. How often do we say we keep His word? We'll follow it, especially in an environment like this, when you're, among other things, when we're back at work, when you have other people saying things against the Word of God, how many have the courage to stand up? How many have the courage to correct them using the Word of God? Where to keep His word and not to deny His name? I believe that's true power in display.
And I would say, Sam, that the Lord is on them of his working. When we were at camp, you shared the story of the miraculous healing of your pup dog and the answer to the prayer of all those children that prayed for your dog. And I think so often we're not seeing and sometimes we're not seeing because we're not believing in James. It says you receive not because you ask not. So that's part of it. I think in our in our portion here where our brother was saying we should start.
He said when he had spoken these things while they beheld, he was taken up. And I think it's so important in our path of faith to realize that we have a risen Savior and there's nothing that you're going to face today, tomorrow or any day in your life that he has not said this is okay. And we sometimes look at life and we're like, this is impossible. But he knows As for God, his way is perfect and he's allowed it in our lives for our good and for his glory. And he's there. He he says in Hebrews, he ever liveth.
To make intercession for us. And he's real. It says in Second Corinthians, my grace is sufficient. And it is. And my dear, beloved young people, as you go through life and you look at all the stuff that's going on and all the choices you have, he loves you and he wants the very best for you. And if you believe him and you trust him and you put him first, you'll get the very best.
I trust this comment isn't too simple to address the question, but I found it helpful to not confuse description and prescription. And in this these passages we have a lot of description of an event, but not necessarily necessarily a prescription of something for us to do or or to expect to be doing and to to separate those two things as something described for our benefit.
And recorded for a benefit to be different from something that's a prescription for our own activities is it is helpful.
I could add that day that we live in.
If we think about the past in the history of Israel and we think of the display of power when Israel came out of Egypt.
00:20:11
The crossing of the of the Red Sea. You know, the Angel destroying the first born.
The cloud. The pillar of cloud.
By day and the fire by night, the man of 40 years in the wilderness, those were all characteristics of the day in which God was working in open display.
But if we follow forward in the history of Israel, and here we are in the last days of the church, we believe.
Was very much encouraged by the verses that were read yesterday before the prayer meeting in connection with the night is far spent and the day is at hand, we find in the history of Israel if we go to the book of Ezra.
To me, it's quite significant that Ezra.
Is going back to the land and we might say a similar journey from Egypt to Canaan, from Babylon back to to Canaan to Palestine, to Israel.
And he has told the king.
A week ago and God will preserve us in the way and they're and they're caring with them a lot of valuable merchandise something that abandons would love to get their hands on and if we read.
In Ezra chapter 8.
In verse 21.
This is Ezra speaking here prior to the journey. Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Hava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of Him a right way for us and for our little ones, and for all our substance. For I was ashamed to require the king, a band of soldiers and horsemen, to help us against the enemy in the way, because we had spoken under the king, saying the hand of our God.
Is upon all them for good that seek Him, but his power in his wrath is against all them that forsake him. Now this verse is so simple.
Yet profound. So we fasted and besought our God for this, and he was entreated of us.
Was there a pillar of?
Or fire? Was there manna? Was there any open demonstration of God's power in that journey? I would suggest no. In the providential ways of God He preserved.
Packed they didn't lose any of the goods that they brought with them all the gold and the silver was restored that to the temple and.
That journey was a demonstration of God's power, but it wasn't the same as the book of Exodus. It was entirely different. And why was it? Well, it was a day of ruin, and that's the day we live in. If we're looking for Acts chapter 2 again, I think that we have perhaps lost sight of the day in which which we live much more like the days of Ezra than the days of Moses.
But I would like to add to the days of Moses.
On the passing through the Red Sea after the Passover, there was a mighty display of power.
But then they live 40 years without that display. For them, they had to live the path of faith.
And they didn't see it again in the same way that it had originally been manifested. But the power was there. And at the end it could be looked back and say the mighty power of God preserves several million people in a desert for 40 years and provided everything they needed for daily life. He provided the manna. He provided the wells of the water in a place that had no water.
It wasn't the same outward display of the parting of the Red Sea, but it was the same power at the beginning of that journey. Acts one is the beginning of a journey. But we're not. We're in the 40 years, if you will, period of that character of journey in which the power of God, of equal power is at work, but in a different way.
00:25:06
And it's the power that's preserving.
Us from our enemies, the world, the flesh and the devil. And if I could be respectful for God, He's having to use his power over time in order to do it for us because the need that we each have is so great to be preserved in the way He's preserving us.
At the same time, he's at work saving souls like he did at the beginning and through the whole period of the Day of Grace, He's gathering souls for himself to provide for his son, a bride, and it will be accomplished in the Day of Grace. And so we have to be recognizing the power is there, but also intelligent as to how it's being used.
And it will be seen in a magnificent way at the end.
Just as at the beginning of Israel's journey it was seen at the Red Sea, so when they entered the Land of Promise, it was seen at the Jordan because he parted the waters again so that these people could cross over. At the end of this period, they'll be the rapture, and it will be a tremendous display of power. But I will say this, the world won't see it. The world won't see it. It will not see it until he returns in power and glory.
And then you will see the same character of power that we have in Acts One, Acts 2.
It will be the fulfillment of that which was promised if they accepted the message of the Jew to the Jew at that time.
If I could indulge the question with one more comment. I know it's anxious, many are anxious to get on with the chapter. But in Colossians chapter one is a verse that I think speaks to what brother Don is just and and Phil just mentioned in Colossians 1.
Inverse.
In the middle.
Desire that you might be filled with the knowledge, the full knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Then verse 11 strengthen with all might, according to His glorious power. Unto what?
Unto all endurance, patience, or endurance, and long-suffering with joyfulness.
If there's an aged St. in your assembly that has gone on.
Has endured in the path of faith for decades in the midst of trial and difficulty, but they have displayed long-suffering with joyfulness. Are you, are you going to tell somebody in the next the other country or the OR the next part of the world? Come to my gathering and see this brother. There's not going to be bright lights and fireworks and all that kind of thing, but I appreciate very much.
What a brother sitting, I'm not sure who it was. Brother prayed in the beginning of the meeting about God working in US. And this is a wonderful thing as these brothers have said, where the power of God is displayed, not in Acts chapter 2 type display, but in order for us to put one foot in front of the other and continue in the path of faith with endurance, long-suffering with joyfulness. The power of God is working in in US.
To say it in this way, in our day, and it's going to end in glory.
In the wilderness, there was one other sign that wasn't mentioned yet that is was not really very visible while they were walking through the wilderness. But when they got through, they realized, oh.
Our clothes did not wax hold upon us and our feet did not swell. Elderly in the assemblies that.
As a sign of power of God.
We certainly can't do that kind of thing in our own strength.
It's recorded in other places too, but here was real a real display of power, wasn't there?
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A man who had been crucified, who laid in the grave, who saw no corruption. And if you wanted signs of power to demonstrate that resurrection, they were there. Most marked. And again, it's not recorded here in Acts. I'm just mentioning a few things.
Especially in the book of Matthew you see the power of God brought about.
In display in the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And not only of the Lord Jesus, but it said, after his resurrection, what happened? There were those Saints of old who came out of their tombs and went into the holy city and appeared unto many. How could you argue with that? And so there was every display of power here in the Lord's resurrection. But here we have His ascension and what attends it?
And the promise that goes along with it.
A very wonderful thing.
The same account Luke gives in the Gospel Luke is a slight difference.
And in Luke chapter 24 and verse 51.
Says And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them and carried up into heaven.
Mr. Kelly brings out the force of that as he separated himself from them. Brother Steve Bermuda had to attend an occasion where Queen Elizabeth was going to plant a tree in Bermuda. He didn't expect it, so he wasn't prepared for it. But last minute they said you're going to help her.
And he said, thankfully, I was wearing a suit, but he said I had no idea how to speak with the queen. But he went ahead and they were separated by a long space from any of the news reporters or her attendants. And so he had a private conversation with her. And Prince Philip, after a bit, stepped up, and he had a conversation with both of them. He said suddenly there was a pause. And he said, Queen Elizabeth, step back.
And then Prince Philip stepped back and he said I realized the conversation was done and their attendance came out and took them and took them away to their waiting.
Cars.
He separated himself. He stepped back from them. That time was done. He had said all that he intended to say and needed to say.
In using Brother's illustration, the bags were packed, it was time to go, the next step was about to take place, and he stepped back in all the dignity of his person. And in Luke the thought is, is that he rises up in his own power.
He steps back. He takes the step in Acts. It's the power of God.
Taking him up. Both are true. Both are true and he ascends majestically back to heaven. 4 steps are necessary.
His death, his resurrection, his ascension, and then what was to take place next. He was going to be glorified when he went back to heaven. Those were necessary before Chapter 2 unfolds before us.
Because in John Chapter 7 says the Spirit was not yet given because Jesus was not yet glorified.
And part of the importance of that is that.
What we are part of today.
This heaven we are associated with heaven.
Everything that had gone before with Israel was with the earth, and so the.
Our life.
Our live daily lives is the separation of ourselves from everything having to do with we have to live daily life on earth, and it's a very practical and a very important thing. But our heart and our hope and our faith is all associated with a man in glory. And in fact, when the Lord Jesus was taken to the grave.
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That was the last time recorded.
That an unbeliever saw him on earth.
All the testimony to his resurrection.
That is recorded for us was by believers, and that is the separation that identifies us with Him by faith rather than by sight. The same again with the display of power that we have is the display to us is in that which is not seen, the display that will come when He returns in power and glory.
Is that display that will include the unbeliever?
But he works to bring from the state of death the unbeliever today by the preaching of the gospel, received by faith that gives life in the Spirit, sealed by the Spirit. But again, it is in a character that associates the person with heaven.
And so everything even in this transitional period.
That he has to be glorified.
Before Christianity can begin.
So that from its very beginning, the he, the glorified man in heaven, every single soul that's saved is identified with that place that he is in and his work. I want to go back to power.
For a moment.
God says I love the Forerunner.
My son and I'm going to do work in the day of grace that's going to gather a collection of people.
That will be just like him. That takes a lot of work by the Spirit to accomplish that, that every single person in this room will be just like Him when that work is finished. And we will be ourselves in that glory like himself for His pleasure. And that's what's working today. And he himself is working 24/7.
The Lord Jesus.
We slept last night but he was bowed down.
At the throne of grace interceding for us.
He's laboring.
Without stopping to accomplish the purpose of God and grace and love.
We see these conditions in verse 14 and chapter 2 verse one. They all continued with one accord.
In prayer and supplication, can we say that about our family, our marriage?
Our relationship with our children there were of 1 accord. It requires self lessness, it requires humility, it requires grace. It requires love with the women. In chapter 2 verse one it says when the day of Pentecost was fully come, we talked about waiting.
Yesterday, when it was when it was, when it was right on time.
We're so mixed up with time, but God isn't.
Everything is perfect.
As for God, His way is perfect. It can't even be improved by 5 minutes and here they are.
With one accord in one place, and they were all getting along. The spirit wasn't quenched. The spirit wasn't grieved.
And here's the opportunity so, so often in our lives, we're not experiencing that because we're not allowing the Lord to come in and work in our lives. It was, it was told about John Leben. There was a brother that came to him and he said, the Lord answers your prayers all the time in a mighty way. He doesn't answer my prayers. And John told him, brother, you need to get to work. If we're just all focused, all wrapped up in ourselves, the Lord isn't here to just babysit us. If I could say that he has a plan that he's trying to accomplish.
And he will use us if we're willing. And he is so powerful, as our brother just said, he's there. I remember last summer, we decided I'd been in a car wreck and I was in a wheelchair. And we decided, OK, we're going to have to restart the business. We don't know, you know, I can't work. All my people quit. And and I just sat in my front yard in a wheelchair and I'm like, God, this doesn't make any sense. But I know if this is going to happen, I need a technician. I need some help. Literally, I didn't look at my watch. Literally within 5 minutes, my phone rang.
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And here's a guy and he says.
I'm here for you.
Like the Lord is on the move, He does answer our prayers. He is moving in our midst because He loves us, because He wants to show us.
Show himself strong on our behalf. It's true and it happens every day.
I believe it's important to recognize here, as Dawn was saying, that from now on the Lord is really bringing the believers into the reality that Christianity consists of our late brother Clifford Brown. Some of us here remember him used to say true Christianity begins on the other side of the cloud.
And how precious that is. We see it in the last few chapters of John, beginning, I suppose, with chapter 13, where the Lord Jesus gently but firmly leads his disciples out of what they were expecting to happen on earth to take them up to heaven where he would be. Chapter 14, as we know, is the first mention of the Lord's coming.
Why?
Because He wants them to be associated with Him in the Father's house. They were all expecting an earthly blessing. And sad to say, many dear believers today get occupied. And the danger is in our hearts too, to get occupied with earthly things and earthly blessings. That's always the problem. And Satan, sad to say, has done rather a good job of bringing Christianity down to the level of the world.
And that's a mistake. But he knows very well that if he can take away from you and me the sense, the joy, the blessing of our heavenly calling.
Than he nullifies our testimony and so here the Lord through these angels to me it's very beautiful.
He shows them why, Stanji gazing up into heaven, yes, he's going to come back again, but that is the place where now you and I are to be associated. Now granted, yes, there was going to be another chance for the Jews. And so this is Jewish in character. And the coming back again that is referred to here is exactly what we get in Zechariah chapter 14.
Where the Lord in fact, does come back right to that spot, right to the Mount of Olives. And that's not just a figure that's actual, I believe, where the Mount of Olives is going to cleave in two and so on.
That will all be fulfilled and would have been fulfilled.
Had the nation believed, but at the same time he ascends to heaven.
A cloud receives them out of their sight, and that is where the Lord wants to bring you and me in Christianity.
The as you say, it's, it's as he's bringing them into this, it's gradual because there's going to be that offered Israel. But contrast this statement of the angels to what we have in Acts 7 with Steven as he's being just before he's stoned.
Verse 55 but he being full of the Holy Ghost.
Looked up steadfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, and said, Behold, I see that heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
The angels associated with the Jewish economy.
And so strongly so that Paul has to take up how the glories of Christ are greater than angels in Hebrews. They're involved with directing their attention for time back to the earth. But when that is done, when that has been fulfilled and Israel is a nation, rejects the testimony of the Spirit of God to risen Christ, then the Holy Spirit, not angels.
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The Holy Spirit directs Stephen's gaze back up now into an open heavens.
No cloud in between his sight and Christ, and that's really the full Christian position.
And so that's why it's transitional. He's bringing them there a little at a time, but it culminates really, Steven is a picture of the full Christian position at the end of that transitional period, looking up into heaven, seeing the glory of God and our Lord Jesus Christ there at his right hand. Place of acceptance, the place of power.
Just as a short remark, I've appreciated that at the beginning of that 7th chapter.
It's the God of glory that appears to our Father Abraham.
But when Stephen looks up.
What did he see? The God of glory? No, the glory of God. Transitional time from 1 dispensation to the next.
It's important, too, to stress that in the same manner, he's going to return not only, as her brother remarked, physically there in the Mount of Olives. His second coming is not some spiritual thing invisible, in which he is going to destroy the heavens and the earth and create a new heavens and a new earth. And the Saints will go on to populate the new earth. As a millennial teaching, if I put it in a very general way, takes up.
No, he's going to come in the same way that he left. Physically, visibly, he'll return to this earth. It's not some spiritual, nebulous thing out there. So I think it's important to lay hold of those words in the same manner as you have seen him go into heaven.
Perhaps I could make one more remark.
I have enjoyed it in connection with this chapter. Undoubtedly, as we've been bringing out, this is Jewish in character, that is the angels referred directly to the prophecy in Zechariah and to the Lord's coming back to this earth. But at the same time, I would suggest, and I don't think this is stretching a point.
That morally and spiritually.
We can apply this to ourselves.
Even though it isn't the Rapture, we can look at it in that light.
That is that the same Jesus who went up from this earth?
Is coming back again, again referring to John 14. The Lord has to tell the disciples.
I'm going away. And they were sad. They were very sad.
What are we going to do now? Of course, going on in in that chapter particularly, the Lord brings before them how that they would enjoy Him and know Him even better and in a fuller way when the Spirit came down. Then they had known Him here on earth with His bodily presence among them. But how precious it is to enjoy the fact, even you and I, in the dispensation of grace.
Now we're past all this. Now Israel as a nation has rejected the Lord.
Paul's ministry has come in and we enjoy the precious truth of the assembly, but how precious it is to know that the one who went away is the same one who's coming back. He will be a man for all eternity to enjoy your company and mine. He's glorified now, absolutely. And that is only good and right. That has to take had to take place.
But when he comes back, we will immediately recognize it.
The same Jesus that went away from us.
Few more remarks about his the time and his coming back.
Lord Jesus was presented to his own people. He was a Jew.
He was of Israel, and He was presented to them as their Messiah.
And their response to his presentation was, we will not have this man.
To reign over us. And so they.
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In working with the Gentiles because they as a nation were now under the dominance of the Gentile powers power of Rome at that time.
Together the Jew and the Gentile put him to death.
In Acts 7, after the last testimony is given.
To them, in that way they're saying as it were, did you not get the message? We said we will not have this man. So they send, as it were, Steven after him to heaven to get the message across. Didn't we say it? Well, if you didn't get it, here's Steven. We don't want the man now in the respect to his return.
God is.
Resetting.
The stage of the world. Back to the moral condition it was in when he was rejected.
That's why you see Israel as a Nation Today.
It's being reset into that place and you will see it that as well, that the Gentile powers will have their control even over the children in Israel. That is the people of the land. Why is that? Because God is going to present His Son again differently.
The same man, the same rejected one, but he is going to work first in a more hidden way with their where they seeking faith among the Israelites.
Than what we call the remnant and you see the picture of that restoration of some of them.
Then Joseph.
In Joseph's case, seven times he tries.
He weeps as he is interacting with his people that he had been sent into Egypt as it were. They thought they got him put to death. They didn't. He was carried away, but in figure the Israelites, the brothers put him to death and he's taken into Egypt and he's there hidden from them and then God providentially.
Produces the circumstances where they have to go to Egypt to get their food. And there's Joseph. They don't recognize them. Seven times he weeps in the process of restoring them to himself.
Before.
These recognized by those who were in power at that time, Pharaoh, and so on the world, if you will.
And brethren, I make this comment because it's morally.
Very significant, my own soul.
When you get to heaven, is that the last time you'll cry?
You all be in perfect circumstances.
You won't have the flesh in you anymore. There won't be any pain or sickness or anything connected with you.
So it's bliss, right? It's happiness forever.
No, not yet.
You are going to see your Lord and Savior cry as He seeks to be restored during the Tribulation period, as it's called, to a remnant of His people in Israel.
I don't believe you'll be able to be dry eyed. You will weep.
As you see the pain through which he's going, as they at first they don't recognize him, even when they recognize him, finally they're afraid of him. When their father dies and he has to weep again because the faith is not fully developed in them, But that process having taken place in the world, being restored to that moral condition, then he will appear in power in glory to all men.
And despite himself and the Millennium will begin. And so it's important for us to see that God is going to see that his Son is received, putting it back into the same place it was when he was rejected and cast out. As they, the Israelites of faith, go through that process, you'll see the fulfillment of this statement. What are these wounds?
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In thy hands they'll look upon him, and they will see the wounds in his hands, and then they see them.
They will be convicted that they collectively were responsible for putting those wounds in his hand on the cross as they nailed him there as a nation. And so it's it's important too, to see how it all ends as it began, what we have in the end of the Gospels.
In Revelation chapter one, we have a little bit more instructions as to what we have in our first chapter, verse 11 and verse seven of Revelation one. As you said, Don, behold, he cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they also wish Pierce him, and all kindreds of the earth shall well because of him, Even so. Amen.
And so we'll be with them, the whole redeemed. All the Saints will ascend with him.
This is not what we say the Rapture, but His second coming that all I shall see him and will be displayed with that glory as well.
So what takes place in the beginning of chapter 2 is exactly what the Lord had told them to wait for.
That they would be baptized with the Holy Spirit and they would be endued with power from on high.
So when that day of Pentecost was fully come.
The sign that that was taking place was this tremendous as it says here in in King James rushing mighty wind.
Find Mr. Darby's notes in his translation. Speaks of a very loud breathing.
Kelly calls it a violent impetuous.
Breathing, it's different than wind. Exactly. It's a living sound because this is the Spirit of God personally coming into this world. Spirit of God had worked in the Old Testament. Times and times past came upon different ones, but He had never been here personally. In the same way the Son of God had come into this world and was personally here.
The Spirit of God now comes, and He is here personally still to this day, every bit as much as the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God was here personally in this world, now back in heaven, and He personally comes down. He fills the house. Cloven tongues like a fire appear upon those gathered in that upper room.
Do things happen in the descent of the Spirit of God? He indwelt each believer.
That was there in that upper room, but as it's expressed here, He filled the whole house. And that leads us on to Ephesians chapter 2. Read a verse there.
Patients 2.
Maybe we could read?
2 verses from Ephesians.
We'll have a chance probably to refer to it later. Verse 13 of chapter one.
And whom he also trusted after that he heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. And whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And then?
Chapter 2 and verse 22, Speaking of the church founded on the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. Verse 22, in whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit. Two things believers were individually dealt with the Spirit of God.
But that formed them together as the House of God.
The assembly and his habitation is in the assembly, the House of God as well, individually and dwelt and corporately and dwelt as a House of God. There's one more thing that happened and the verse was read to us, I think the last reading, First Corinthians chapter 12.
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1St Corinthians 12 and verse.
12 For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body.
So also is Christ, for by 1 Spirit are we all baptized into one?
Body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. And then in first Corinthians 6 it says he that is joined to the Lord is 1 spirit with the Lord. And so three things they are individually dwelled by the Spirit of God.
Corporately they formed the assembly, the House of God, the habitation of God by the Spirit, and being individually indwelt by the Spirit of God, they were all united to one another by that same Spirit, and to Christ in heaven, because he says, which is the Christ.
That comes back to chapter one and the importance of the fact that when Christ was raised from the dead, He still was indwelt by the Spirit of God. He spake those things by the Spirit of God, went back to heaven still and dwelt by the Spirit of God. And so when the believers were involved by the Spirit of God, they were united to him by one in the self same spirit. And just like you have a spirit, the spirit of a man.
In your body, and it pervades your whole body, the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit indwelling Christ. Now each believer unites us together, and there is one Spirit, the Holy Spirit, that pervades the whole body of Christ.
Those three things took place on this wonderful day called Pentecost.
The aspect of the believer having believed the gospel of his salvation like we each have.
And then indwelt by the Holy Spirit, as it says in Ephesians 1, is pretty well understood by most of us, I would think. And also we've been very well schooled in the truth of the one Body, Christ, the head, and you and I joined to him not by faith, but by the indwelling of the Spirit of God by 1 Spirit, but the aspect of the Holy Spirit having taken up His abode on this earth subsequent to a divine person going up on high.
There's a man in the glory, and again, there is a divine person on the earth.
And so the Holy Spirit has taken up his abode in the House of God. Not this is a different truth than Matthew 18 and 20.
In Matthew 18 and 20 we have the foretaste of what we enjoy being gathered together by the Spirit of God unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And the Lord Jesus says, there am I in the midst of them, of you.
But the divine person, the Holy Spirit indwells the house and this is what makes all of us who confess the name of Christ, who have been baptized unto Christ very responsible because there's a divine person in the House of God here on this earth. And just as an interesting aside that that illustrates that in first Corinthians 14 brought to mind by Stevens comments.
Let's see if I can find it here.
1St Corinthians 14 The discussion of the use of gifts.
By the Saints in assembly, when they are gathered together into one place. Verse 23, and then verse 24. But if all prophecy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all, and thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest, and so falling down on his face, he will worship God and report that God is, I believe it should be amongst you of the truth.
This was my personal experience, though I did not fall down on my face. But when I was first brought to an assembly, gathered to the Lord's name in a little farmhouse, I thought that the brethren were somehow sending people around to follow me around the whole week and knew my innermost thoughts. And I'd come to the meeting and it's just like it was all for me.
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Just like Ruth when she's in Boaz's field, the servant knew all about her.
And communicates it to Boas. It's very beautiful. And so God is amongst not just we who have the privilege of being gathered together to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, but in the whole house. Was driving along in a truck full of gravel with a brother in the Lord back where I'm from.
And he turned the corner in a little town, and there was a Baptist Church on the corner.
And I'm saved maybe a year or two, young babe in Christ. And he says spirit of God's not in there, brother. Spirit of God's not in there. Well, it it just kind of, yeah, I just kind of stored it there. But as years went on, I I came to see and I trust he did too. That was not a correct statement. The Spirit of God is in that divine person is in the house. We don't have as gathered to the Lord's name, exclusive title in any way to his presence.
But the math truth of Matthew 1820 as it's developed from Deuteronomy and from Genesis all the way through is a separate and a wonderful truth. So I just say that lest we be wrong in our thoughts towards the privileges that all of our brethren in Christ enjoy. Remember John Brearton, I think it was who made a comment that that to the extent that any group of Christians meeting together at lunch in the in the workplace.
Or meeting in somebody's house in the neighborhood on a Saturday morning. To the extent that they give acknowledgment to the liberty of the whole of the divine and Holy Spirit of God, there will be that liberty to take the precious things of Christ and show them unto us. Little bit of an aside, I'm sorry, but I just wanted to mention that that aspect which is less understood and well known amongst us than the other two.
We can see that the Godhead is working, always working together for the blessing of mankind. We begin. The Bible begins by in the beginning of God. We know that. And then we read that the Spirit hover on the face of those darkness. And then we find that it was God who breathed and noticed that blowing breathe into this pile of dirt.
And he became a living soul. And then we find that the work.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, death and resurrection, as we've been reminded.
Have brought Gentiles like us into blessing.
And then now we find here in the chapter that the Spirit is a work again in dwelling in the believer. We find a Godhead, and we find a Son who gone back up to heaven on high. And the Spirit is here, is guiding and leading us. And then we will remind it that the sun in the form of the Son of Man, not the Son of God, but the Son of Man is going to come back. In like manner. The whole Godhead is here for our blessing.
With the Lord.
Oh, blessed.
Wondrous word.
What happened?
We'll pray.
Our God and our Father, we think of how thy beloved Son glorify thee here on this earth.
And our God, we think of the glory that was brought to the Calvary's cross.
And those hours of darkness, when thy beloved Son yielded himself up, whatever the cost that sin might not subsist in thy sight, rendered a satisfaction to thee, and more than that brought thee glory. More glory, infinitely more than a sin had never even entered this world.
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And thou hast straightway glorified him, raising him from among the dead, that seal of divine approval and delight. Hence now seated at thy right hand in heavenly places, our God and our Father, we think.
What flows from that place in which thou hast put him?
Flowed from that place by descending down of the Spirit of God.
In all its wonderful results.
We praise we have this portion before us. Our hearts might enter into it.
For we are, by sovereign grace, intimately involved in the glory that thy beloved Son has brought to thee, and in his coming glory and its wonderful display.
To principalities and powers, the ages to come.
Until we look to Thee and pray for Thy help to enter into these things in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Go On for the Lord
Address—David So
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Sometimes when we change things a little bit, we pay a little bit more attention to it.
Oh, worldly palm and glory.
Your charms.
Are spread in vain. I have heard a sweeter story. I have found a chore again.
Where Christ a place prepareth, there is my love abode.
There shall I gaze on Jesus there.
Shall I dwell with God? Let's sing the last answer together.
The God and our loving Father, we give thanks again this afternoon for another opportunity to have Thy word open before us. We look to thee. We commit this meeting into thine hand. We know the meeting is called for an address to young people, but we know that there are young people of various ages, as we've been reminded throughout the day with various needs. But we do know that my God will supply with all our needs. So.
We look to Thee for help. We were reminded of the power of the Holy Spirit, so now we look to Thee. We trust that through Thy Spirit Thou would teach us more of Thy blessed weight. We pray that the message may even be the younger young people can enjoy, and that it would awaken the heart with the desire to go on after Thee. So we look to Thee now for help and for blessing.
With this meeting, committing it all into the name of our Lord and our Savior.
Jesus Christ, Amen.
Turn with me to 1St John Chapter 2.
Like to begin a meeting with this one verse to begin with first John chapter 2 verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world.
The love of the Father is not in him. If you recall, we read that stanza that we sung.
Oh, worldly palm and glory, your charms are spread in vain. You know, it's easy to say that Scripture tells us not to love the world or the things in this world, but we know our own hearts in reality.
There are many things in this world still draw our attention, doesn't it? Whether it be things or people or attractions. So we need the Lord's help not just to despise things of this world, but to look forward to something better than what this world has to offer us. That is eternal life.
You know scripture said to lay hold of eternal life.
I'm sure many in this room know and be assured of eternal life, but have you laid hold of eternal life?
When I was asked to take this as the young people meeting, I I would confess with you, I find it difficult because.
Which group of young people are we to be addressing? It's difficult, so let's pray that the Lord will work in the hearts of all.
You got young one in perhaps preteens. You've got teenagers.
You got some of us who would like to think we're still young and be part of the young people.
And you've got some of us older one that like to help with the young people. So it's difficult to think of how to address that.
And I might say this jokingly, to take an address after lunch. I know it's difficult because I've been sitting in those chairs for many years, knowing that a good lunch doesn't help listening too well. Often I'm not in agreement with the speaker, so I trust that what is before us this afternoon.
Would be from the Lord and that occurred and would touch your heart. So I'm going to begin with a little story maybe the younger one can appreciate and perhaps with the story, it's just a story. I trust that you don't go home and show your mother this story and do it. So it's just a story. We probably heard of the story of a frog in boiling water.
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So little guys, don't go home and boil frogs. This is just a story for you.
It's just last weekend we were at in Ohio and some brethren were here at the Cuyahoga Falls or the Carrollton Conference. And that is a little bit different setting. It was there was a lake, a man made lake in front of us. There are trees and grass and yeah, I guess you don't have trees here. I shouldn't tease you with that. Trees are over the place. And some of the younger one went to the back and they caught.
Frogs, and I know some of the parents were not too happy with that, but they had found that wood frog.
And I have never done this, so I will tell it as a story. And from what I understand, if you put the frog in water, it would stay there being comfortable because they can breathe air and also absorb oxygen through the water. If you were to put heat underneath this pot of water, they won't feel it.
As you increase the intensity slowly they get comfortable with it.
And in theory, they can be boiled to death without realizing it. And there was an ugly story before the younger one. They probably find that interesting. But you know, I told that story for a reason because I think, and I'm going to be careful as I say this. I think some of us that I'm pointing finger this way just in case if you're not in this category.
We are comfortable with the things in this world.
That's the way it is. We are accustomed to the luxuries given to us. And I know some of the older ones will look and say, yeah, look at the younger generations. They're doing things differently. Well, that's because we are comfortable or we were comfortable with different standards without looking to see why. Now, some of you may still laugh. I see bottled waters all over here.
I'm still old school being cheap.
I don't like to buy bottled water. The newer generation just think, well, we want water, we'll get bottled water.
So I don't know if some of you can relate to that. We get comfortable with the way we've been doing things.
So what happened to this world? Are we being comfortable with a, with the way things are so-called accepted?
I like to turn to a verse in second Timothy chapter 3. I'm not going to speak as much as about the world. I want to be even be more practical now as many of us know, the first epistle of Timothy speaks of the House of God and things have deteriorated so much that when it get to the second.
Epistle of Timothy. It is referred to as the Great House.
Yes, there are Christians in the greyhounds, but there are also many professors and many have sort of tolerated with the evil and wickedness. Now, we're not going to go into details. It's not profitable to go into details. We're told to keep simple to the things that are evil.
But this is more to bring our awareness. Let's just read a few verses.
1St I'm sorry, Second Timothy, chapter 3 beginning at verse one.
This know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous boasters, proud blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful.
Unholy, without natural affection, truth Breakers, false accusers, incontinent fears, despisers of those that are good traitors, heady, high minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.
Having a form of godliness, but denying the power.
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There thereof cause the exhortation assets from such turn away.
This is the condition in the Great House.
You know, back when I was younger even. Yes, I know that was many years ago.
Even the phrase when people are not married, living together, we had an expression for them that they were living in sin.
And it was up for to hear and see that. What's the standard today? Oh, it's okay, they're living in sin. At least they're not homosexual. How can we get accustomed to something and even start to wait? What is more sinful than others?
Is there such a thing that is worse? What is it like before God in his eyes?
Is the one better than another? I don't believe so. It's not my intention to go through this list, but to let us be aware that we like that frog in the boiling water. The heat is being cranked up slowly.
And we're just smiling and say, well, it's OK, we need to tolerate this.
Is that God's will for us not to make waves in this world?
We do know that when we present Christ, you're going to suffer persecution.
When you stand up to what the word of God have to say is the different story.
Isn't it Now I'm going to read another verse and 2nd in the same chapter.
For encouragement verse 14 so we read about how terrible the conditions they were in verse 14 but.
Continue thou into things which thou has learned and has been sure of, knowing of whom thou has learned it, and that from a child thou has known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise.
And to salvation through faith, which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
As I look across the room, I have to confess I don't know some of you.
It's interesting when we spend most of our time in the eastern side of the country, we seems to think that we know most people.
If not all come across here, there are many new phases.
And I want to apologize to some of the young people.
And some of you remember I look at you and say I don't know who you are. And you smiles and Mr. so you know who I am.
And the apologies really is this when I saw you last, I was looking down to say, how are you now? I have to look up to talk with you and seeing you holding a baby in your arms, very different time. So our young people or teenagers and our young people, young people, our parents. So I trust that some of these message regardless of your age.
Would be suitable if you're a young person, this is an encouragement for you to hold on to the word of God. All Scriptures, not part of it, all of it are good for. What is it for? Oh, instructions. Yeah, we need instructions. But what about correction? Well, I don't like that. How many of you like correction? But we need it.
For instruction in righteousness.
Or we need to be instructed and we'll talk about righteousness if our time still keep us have enough time for that. So and as I look it says and from a child and I think many in this room qualify for that many of you have from a child. The word of God was presented to you and on top of that, you probably and most likely have a godly mother and father.
Or even godly grandparents.
Been praying for you One for the salvation of your soul. Two, that you can become a man of God or man or woman so that you can glorify the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
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Oh, the Word of God is good, even though the time is terrible.
Let's I like to look at some example at that time and see what people were doing and that we need to be careful with.
Daniel, Chapter one.
I believe Daniel's time was a very difficult time.
We often read of Daniel in regard to his faith and his brave braveness before God.
But there are times too, then you'll have to learn as a young man. So Daniel, let me give you a little bit of background.
Daniel was most likely one of the royalties used to a good life and one day.
This man a king from another country named Nebuchadnezzar.
If your history buff, you can go, yeah, that was 606 BC.
And he took Daniel and his friends away. All these royal Princess were taken away into captivity to be a slave. So let's just look at that and see what happened with these.
With these children, they were taken away. And let's start at verse 3, Daniel chapter one verse.
Three And the Kings wanted these children, but he wanted something.
Jeff. Fred. You want the smart kids, kids that are very well taught, verse three. And the king speak unto Espanol, the master of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel and of the King's seed, and of the Princess children in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful.
In all wisdom.
And cunning in knowledge and understanding science, and such as had the ability in them to stand in the King's palace, and whom they may teach and learn the tongue of the Chaldeans.
They wanted smart kids. They want a good looking kids. They want one who knows science.
Who can think?
How many of our young people here that we can think of are in this category? I can see many of you good looking, well favored, smart in school, straight A students, whether it be mathematics or science. Am I correct in saying that?
This king who is not their king, Nebuchadnezzar came, he said. I want these kids.
But now, read it carefully. Who looked after these kids?
There's like in the beginning of verse three, there is a man named Espinos. What's so special about this man?
He's the master of all the eunuchs.
We don't hear that term used much anymore. Eunuch is.
Boys.
Who no longer are boys and cannot reproduce children.
Interesting. He wants them, he doesn't want them to reproduce.
As Israelites.
He just won the smartness to serve Nebuchadnezzar.
How many of you are working or be careful if you're about to choose a career, Are you going to be working for someone who no longer wants you to have the godly heritage? He wants to erase all that so that you can work.
For the king of this world.
O whirly palm and glory.
Oh, yes, he's offering them charms that they can refuse. Yeah, let me make you no longer a man. But you get to eat the King's meat. You got the best of what the king eats. And drink his wine too. Oh, it sounds so good. Oh, worldly palm and glory. And I trust you can answer back your charms.
Are spread in vain.
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I have heard a sweeter story. I've gained a true again.
Is that the world wants you. He wants you to be like this frog, not realizing that you're going to be boiled to death slowly.
So does that mean we should be no longer part of this world? Now I want to go down further in the chapter.
Chapter one, verse eight There is something special about Daniel.
But Daniel purpose in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the King's feet.
Those meets were probably has been offered to Idol and most likely.
They were from some sort of unclean animal that as a good Israelite of all, they were prohibited from partaking of it. Daniel purpose in his heart. Isn't it interesting? What if? What about you young people?
What about you, all the young people?
Do you have a purpose in your heart?
What is that purpose? Purpose of not to be defiled by the environment of this world, but to serve our God? I want to go back a little bit to verse six. It's even interesting here, if you notice.
His names are given now. Before we read this, think for a moment when we think of Daniel and his three friends.
You know how to say it out loud. Think what do we normally associate the three friends? We'll go, Daniel.
Vishak Ibaneko, right? Wait a minute, let's read this here now.
Now among these were the children of Judah. OK, Daniel, we see the name there.
Hananiah, Michel and Azariah, the king of this world, wants you to even forget who you are by giving you a new name.
What part of this world do you want? And as parents, sometimes I heard some parents that well, then we shouldn't bring children into this world.
A sad world. Well, that's not what the word of God said. Let's turn with me to the book of Jeremiah chapter 29. I believe here this is going back a little bit. This is probably.
Around 1010 years or so, maybe around 600 BC, just before Nebuchadnezzar come, they were told something. They were told that they're going to be.
Going into captivity, they were told not to resist, but go into it as God hath laid out for them. They were told it was because of their unfaithfulness that they will be going into Babylon. By the way, there's something interesting. Children of Israel were sent to Babylon as captives. We know that. Many of us know the story.
But you know that today when a Christian.
Become a backslider.
Often they go into Babylon, but in the form of the church, Babylon, the great religious system that's going to rule the world. It's interesting, isn't it? I'll just leave that as a side comment with you. Jeremiah chapter 29.
They were told, let's start with verse 4. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel.
Now, before we go further, notice the introduction to this verse. Who said that?
It's not Jeremiah, the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel. He is telling them that.
He said.
Unto all that I carry away captives whom I have caused to be carried away from Jerusalem, unto Babylon.
Bill ye houses, and dwell in them, and planned gardens, and eat the fruit of them. Take your wives and begets sons and daughters, and take wives unto your sons, and give them daughters.
To the husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters, that ye may be increased there, and not diminish, and seek the peace of the city. Whether I have caused you to be carried away captives, And pray unto the Lord for it, for in the peace thereof ye shall have peace.
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I know it's a long verse, but they're basically told go ahead.
This is God's plan. You're going into captivity. Some of you who know scriptures a little bit more, We know that the 70 years that they have to fulfill, they didn't, Sir, they didn't rest the land fulf. So they have to pay for it and the land get rested while they're in captivity. So here they're to go in and the Lord said life goes on.
You go into as captivities.
Into captivity there, you're going to build houses, you're going to live there, you're going to have children, you're going to have wives, you're going to have sons and daughters. Life goes on. Does it not remind us that we are in this place, this world, though, as a wilderness scene, where to continue on? But what's interesting here is, he said.
That they are too.
For the children.
When a wicked when the present wicked evil world.
Do we remember to pray our children and some of us can now say our grandchildren. I notice a brother came up to me as I noticed in your prayer you mentioned grandchildren too. Yes, because we have yet another generation who? Well the proper verse that No, not the Lord. I like to put it another generation here who need to learn more.
About the Word of God, we need to pray for them.
We pray for we're at prayer meeting, we commit those who are sick, who are needed, and we know that there is power in prayer. Now hold your finger at what we are elected. Just add a little thought. Let's jump to Colossians chapter 4. Just a little thought, perhaps to enhance our prayer.
Because we have the tendency to pray. Lord, whom thou love us is sick. Oh, not only that, Lord.
My best friend is sick, please heal him. We're selfish, aren't we? We have that what's in it for me attitude. I like the prayer mentioned here in Colossians 4 verse 12 and Apophis.
Verse 12 Aprophus, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salute you.
Always laboring fervently for you in prayers. You know, for many years my short attention span stops there. I enjoyed the thought that our professor was one of us and he prayed for us fervently too. Forgetting that as the verse has not stopped, there's a comma.
After for you in prayer, my thought is what is in his prayer?
That is so important for you and I to learn is that that ye may stand perfect and complete in the will of God.
Oh brethren, do we pray one another that we may stand perfect and understand the will of God, or do we remain shallow and say, Lord, I need help?
Which I'm not saying we're not to pray that way, but are we to expand?
That we can pray for one another. That we may stand.
Perfect and in the complete will of God.
So the children of Israel were put into captivity and they were told to do so.
Now let's turn to.
I want to look at the Apostle Paul. Let's turn to the 20th.
Chapter of Acts, I'm sorry, I'm looking at the clock. I find it's a little hard to think of the time in the quarter after time. You're so used to the hour and looking up and saying out of time thinking there's only 8 minutes left. So I apologize for that hesitancy there.
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Act, The Book of Acts, chapter 20.
We're going to read in verses 2425 to 27.
But none of these things move me, neither can I my life dear unto myself.
So that I may finish my course with joy and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus. So what is this ministry?
Now, as we read the three things, I'd like to speak on very briefly to encourage our hearts.
To testify the gospel of the grace of God. To stop there for the moment, first thing. Isn't it precious? We'll come here for two, maybe 3 days and we have the privilege to have two gospel meetings.
It's important, isn't it, brethren, to testify the grace of God.
That's what we do. That's what they did testify the grace of God. We're told to do the work of an evangelist, and I often say that some of us will say, but I am not an evangelist. Well, the answer is very simple, do the work of an evangelist, but I can't do the work of an evangelist. Now we don't read from Scripture that the Lord said, who's a report card after you do the work?
No, we're simply told to do the work. Sometimes the simplest word.
Would convict souls and remember is not your word. Sometimes I use the phrase it's not a good sales pitch that sells is the word of God that is quick and powerful is the word of God that has power that would affect souls. So the apostle Paul says to them, first thing we did was we preach the gospel of the grace of God.
Wonderful brethren, and we need to remember that.
To continue on to do the work of an evangelist and to preach the gospel of the grace of God.
And young man, let me address you for a moment. If you were called to take on a gospel meeting, take it as a privilege. Don't look at it and say I can't take it as a privilege that we can present the gospel of the grace of God.
Verse 25 And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom.
Of God. I stopped there. That's the second thing he told them about the Kingdom of God. What is the Kingdom of God? Well, we know it's not about meat or drink. It is about righteousness. Isn't it all in practical righteousness as we walk as if the King's here, even though we know the king is up in glory? Where to live?
For that and another thought to that is to have a Kingdom.
You have to have a king. We know there's a king coming and a lost. Some Christian will say Christ our King.
I don't know about you. I'm not waiting for Christ to be my king. He's going to be king to rule over this world.
But not as a king to the church, so the Kingdom of God.
Again, it's not my intention to go into any of these in detail. And then the third part.
In verse 26.
20 Let's jump to verse 27.
And I have not shunned.
To declare unto you.
Or the counsel of God. I know sometimes it's difficult to read when there are double negatives in there.
And I haven't done written tests in 40 some odd years. And we have a licensing test that just came out from my business. And I remember looking at some of that, look at the sample questions that they gave and I get them wrong and I look at it again, they say and then realize, Oh yes, they used to do this. What is not the opposite of something it's so we have to read it carefully, so.
He says I have not shunned. He did not stop telling you. He did not avoid telling you.
A bold.
Or the Council of God. What is the counsel of God? Oh young people, we need to know it's not again with time permit not permitting. I will leave that for you to research. It's important to understand the Council of God. We need to have a good outline of Scripture. We need to know how to cut a straight line as if it were.
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Would the council would, would the council of God? It's wonderful that God, as we have taken up a little bit, that would have us a Gentile, to be brought into blessing. Though we were without God, without hope, He brought us into this blessing. And not only are we saved by grace, we find that we're going to be heir and joint heir with Christ. It's precious to know those things.
In detail, that's the Apostle Paul.
Reminding us, yes, the world, the condition is terrible. In fact, we'll go through Paul's time, we'll find that his own people that he came to give donations to or collections to, they rejected him. The religious people rejected him. Then he have various forms of government. We find Felix want money and say he's not guilty, but give me money, I'll let you go. We find Festus find no fault in this man, but he wanted please.
People we find.
Herod that not letting him go and so on. So we know there's no justice in this world, especially concerning Christ. Just a quick remark too. He said Paul, he was superstitious. If you look through that and we'll find in the chapter we were in, they said Peter will find that reading later. He was drunk. He was full of wine. So when we present Christ, you'll find those accusations that you must be drunk.
Or you're just too superstitious. Don't be alarmed, brethren. Now, just one more portion that I have on my heart.
Second Timothy again.
No, I'm sorry. Let's go to first Timothy first. First Timothy chapter 6, verse 11. This really is the thought I really have. Or as a message I have for you as young people. I'm sorry it took so long to build up to this. First Timothy chapter 6, verse 11. I know this verse is written to Timothy, but I believe we can take and learn from it.
Verse year 11 But thou, O man of God, just going to stop there for a second.
How would you like to be considered as man of God?
Now it's interesting, I don't find anywhere in Scripture someone would stand up and say, hey look, I'm the man of God.
No, they recognize, they know. Look at that man. I think he's a man of God. You can go through Scripture and we'll find that Moses was a man of God.
How would you like to be a man of God?
Would you, dear young people?
Strives to be known as man of God or woman of God. I think it's a precious thing. Not that we want to take it as as pride, but to seek to serve the Lord thy way. So let's finish reading that first. But thou, O man of God.
Flee these things.
Now we won't go into those are the previous verses things they have to flee, but what's on my heart with a few minutes left is the following verse and follow after. There are seven things here. OK, let's look at the first one and follow after one righteousness.
Two Godliness of Piety 3.
Faith 4. Love 5.
Patience.
6.
Meekness Now verse 12 to fight the good fight of faith. I personally lumped that back into faith.
7th.
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Lay hold on eternal life.
This is how you can seek to be the man of God.
What is righteousness?
Young people go search up that word because it's important we use that word often, don't we? Righteousness.
Is it God's righteousness? Is it our righteousness? Righteousness imply godliness along with it too.
Is God righteous? How is he righteous? Why is he righteous?
God who is sinless forgive sin. If that is the case, then he is not righteous. It doesn't seem to add up.
So He has to find a way by giving His Son for us through the death and suffering and resurrection, as we will remind it, that sins are forgiven. So we are therefore justified and we became there. So God is righteous to forgive sin because the price was paid. But I think here too, the righteousness speaks more than that. What about the righteousness that we have as brethren one to another?
Then we try to treat each other with righteousness.
Well, we're so upset, our brethren, because something was said or something was done.
Do we think of it? If we think of it from that light, it may change how we look at our brethren. Do we treat it with righteousness? Let's go one step further. Do we treat that with righteousness? With godliness in mind? Meaning, how would God glorified in how I talk and interact with my brethren?
That godliness, righteousness, godliness go together, doesn't it?
Abraham.
Who was considered righteous?
By the work you have done and because of his faith. It goes together, doesn't it? Righteousness, godliness, justifications. Faith is. I have trouble explaining that.
Abraham was his faith, wasn't it?
So three things that I noticed interesting when often when you have seven things in Scripture, the 4th is the problem. You look at the seven fees of Jehovah, the 4th one has leavened in it. You look at his seven parables in Matthew Gospel chapter 13. The 4th one has loved in it. You look at the seven churches, the 4th church Thyatira, though that you weren't leaven is not used, but you see the leaven in it. It's interesting you look at that.
Here the 4th or the middle of this is love.
Love is important, brethren. We need it in the middle of it all. We need love toward one another. We need to exhibit brotherly love. But be careful.
Do we start with brotherly love and expect things to get better? Often that's how we are told. Show love first. No, I believe we need to show righteousness, godliness of piety, faith, and then we can talk about love.
Because the love need to be the same love that we receive from the Lord.
So that we can exhibit that to our brethren. And then after that we need patience.
I very hesitate to even use that word because I know I want to have very little patience or endurance, right? And remember, I really like a text. When I was in university years ago, one of the fellow that I visited with in his in his dorm, he had a little text on the wall which make me laugh. He had on the taxi. Go Lord.
Give me patience. He got dot dot dot and hurry.
Well, that's me. The boy allowed circumstances in our lives to teach us endurance.
Meekness. What is meekness?
I believe Moses was one of the meekest man the scripture mentioned.
Being meekness, that means he was a pushover. He led millions of people. I don't think he was just a pushover.
I don't know how to explain that, but the simple way I can put it is a meek person does not take offense and does not give offense.
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You know, we have, they're so conditioned to this world.
Now we say things when it's not according to our thinking.
We all have opinions.
In fact, we can back up our opinion by saying Facebook said so.
Because they have many followers, he said. What does the word of God have to say? And if you were to enforce that opinion, perhaps one test is this.
What would the result be? Would it bring glory to the name of Jesus? Would it bring unity to our brethren?
We've gone through a tough time with COVID and I see very different opinions.
And in all honesty, I thought.
Perhaps the devil will use that as a tool to divide the brethren some more. I'm thankfully it didn't. Do we hold our opinion with meekness? And then the last is that laid hold of eternal life.
What is eternal life?
Many of us know we have salvation through the blood of Jesus.
John 316 said, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have. Have what?
Everlasting life. But I believe the proper translation should be eternal life. I think that's how Mr. Darby translated that everlasting simply means to go on and on and on and on. Well, is it a good life? Do I want this life, with all the problems and difficulties I face, to go on and on and on and on?
I don't but eternal life, a life that is like our Lord Jesus before eternity begins. If there is such a word. I know it's a contradiction, but to try to explain that.
You have to use that phrase and continue on in eternity.
A life that is like our blessed Savior. That's why I believe we don't find.
The word hasn't a place as if it were that would make us happy. But is to be with the Lord a life like this? Can we comprehend that? I can't because we're 20, understand something with finite mind, something that is controlled by time.
To something that has no time, the one who inhabited eternity. Do we not think of time without this? Another few minutes meeting should be over. We can go outside.
This time. But how long would it take me to drive home? That's time. When is supper time? That's time.
Explaining everything we have is related to time. That's how we think.
And you have something with no time. I can't comprehend it, but I can surely try to enjoy it. And we are told to lay hold of the eternal life.
One more portion than I need to stop.
Second Timothy, Chapter 17.
I made a remark that in first Timothy, the portion we read But thou, O man of God, as Paul was addressing Timothy. Now this portion I believe he's addressing you and I.
Second Timothy 3 verse 17 that.
The man of God.
May be perfect, thoroughly furnished in all good works. Please let me read it in the new translation. I find that it.
Helped with a different thought, as if it were.
That the man of God.
May be complete.
Fully fitted to every good work.
Brethren, young people.
Brothers, sisters, I trust that it would be the desire for all of us that we seek to be the man of God and these instructions are given to us so that we can be complete and fully fitted for every.
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Good work.
Let's sing in closing, I know we sounded him before or during this weekend.
Hymn #330.
I found this hymn. It's so precious to me. Question was raised. What race? The wondrous thought.
That's a question, isn't it?
Verse two may it be our answer. Oh God the thought was thine thine only it could be blessing that him together.
What?
Ray.
Let's commit ourselves. Blessed God and our loving Father, we give thanks again.
For thy word before us, we do pray that thou would help us to heed, to learn, to read, to accept what I would have for us. We know Scripture exalt us to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So as we've been exalted as the man of God, though time seems to get darker and darker and wickedness seems to be abound around us.
We do thank the further provisions, we do thank the that our exhorters to continue on to be the man of God that we may shine in this Dark World. So we commit one another into thine hand. We look to thee for help. We acknowledge once more our weakness, our feebleness, but we do lower that thou art able to keep us from falling. So we give thanks again this afternoon for this meeting. We give thanks.
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In the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Acts 2:3-47
Reading
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We pray our loving God and our Father, we are before Thee, Thy precious Word, to be opened and read in its blindly inspired pages. You know Thou hast given us from Thyself, through those inspired Penman, that which is needful for our souls in the formation of our lives here, for Thy glory and the glory of Thy beloved Son.
And so we pray, as we 10 you in this portion of acts, to that thou art give us, at which would settle and establish our souls.
Present truth and encourage us in the path of faith, that we might be here for the glory of our blessed Savior, Thy beloved Son. And we would ask it, our God and Father, for His glory, and in His alone, precious and worthy name the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Maybe pick up from verse three again and read the same portion. I know if this is the last reading we might have to go more of an outline form but.
Acts chapter 2, verse three. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. And they were dwelling at Jerusalem. Jews, devout men out of every nation under heaven. Now when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because that every man heard them speak in his own language, and they were all amazed and marveled, saying one to another.
Behold, are not all these which speak Galileans, and house here we every man in his own tongue wherein we were born.
Parthians and Medes, Elamites and the dwellings of Mesopotamia and Enthrigea in Cappadocia and Pontius and Asia, Fergia and Pamphylia in Egypt, in the parts of Libya roundabout, Cyreni and strangers of Rome, Jews and proselytes, Crates and Arabians. We do hear them speak in our own tongues and wonderful works of God. And they were all amazed and were in doubt, saying one to another, What meaneth this? Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
But Peter standing up with the 11, lift up his voice, and said unto them, Ye men of Judea, and all ye that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words. For these are not drunken as ye suppose seen as, but the third hour of the day. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel. And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God. I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophecy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.
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And on my servants and on my can maidens, I will pour out of these days of my spirit, and they shall prophecy, and I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath, blood and fire and vapors of smoke. The sun shall be turned Into Darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come. And it shall come to pass that whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. He men of Israel, hear these words. Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs.
Which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know Him, being delivered by the determinant, council, and foreknowledge of God, ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death.
Because it was not possible that he should behold an oven. For David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for He is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One, to seek corruption. Thou hast made known to me the way of life. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried in his sepulchre is with us. And to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God hath sworn with an oath to him, that the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne. He seen this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did seek corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnessed.
Therefore, being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this which he now see and hear. For David is not ascended into the heavens, but he saith himself. The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, until I make thy foes for my foots whole. Therefore let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
The Lord had told them they would testify of him, and so these tongues of fire are a sign of the Spirit of God indwelling them that appeared.
On the disciples are in connection with the thought of testimony, but their divided tongues, because the testimony was not going to just go to the Jew, but it was going to go to the Gentile as well as the Lord had told them, starting in Judea, Jerusalem, but out to Samaria, and then on to the uttermost parts of the earth, so that testimony would extend far beyond the circle that they knew.
And indeed it did in time, but in circumstances of persecution and Stevens martyrdom. The disciples later were scattered and went everywhere taking the word of God and preaching with him. Up to that point it was really chiefly the 12 That bore witness there in Jerusalem and Judea and had the the responsibility.
And privilege of bearing that testimony. This is not the baptism of fire.
That John spoke of Speaking of the Lord coming, whose shoe latch that he was not worthy to unloose, that he would baptize with the Holy Ghost and with fire. This is not the baptism of fire. That is for a coming day, because he'll have his fan in his hand, as the Scripture says, and thoroughly purges floor, and he'll burn the chaff with unquenchable fire. That's a coming day of judgment. I know it's popularly said that this was the baptism of fire.
As well as the Spirit of God, but that does not comport with scripture. So they would speak and they went out, and the Spirit of God manifested his power.
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In that testimony and that they spoke in all different languages the wonderful works of God.
I just suggest that that is similar to what you get in Acts 7 with Stephen.
Where he, at the beginning of what he says, he rehearses God's ways with Israel and the wonderful things that God had done for Israel. And so they gave out and they gave a testimony of the wonderful works of God. But then when Peter finally speaks, he really brings it home in the gospel, and he brings it home to heart and conscience, the wonderful works of God in themselves.
Didn't do that, but it was that which would resonate in the heart of every Jew that God had worked with them over many years and in different ways. So they speak in these various tongues. These are not, it's not gibberish.
It's human languages. There are those from all parts.
Of the earth if you follow these lands that are named around it's like the points of a compass it swings all the way from east all the way around to West down to the South it's like all points of the compass and.
They are accused and mocked by the men of Judea.
Who did not understand, having been born in Judea, did not understand those languages.
But those who came from all these different parts, Jews who were born in Gentile lands, spoke to these Gentile tongues. They also spoke Aramaic. That's what the Jews spoke in Judea. And so it's a display of the power of the Spirit of God. He doesn't do away with Babel, but he rises above it and reaching these souls. Well, when that's mocked, then Peter comes out and he draws from Old Testament scriptures.
What other scriptures did he have then? The Old Testament scriptures he draws from the book Prophet Joel to show that what they were seeing was indeed the power of the Spirit of God and nothing else. They had been accused of it being drunkenness, but it was not. And so they didn't understand those languages, but those who from were from these various countries did. But then he turns and he speaks.
An Aramaic which all would understand, and he takes up this prophecy of Joel.
And it's helpful to understand that when he says.
In verse 16. But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel.
He's not saying this is the fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet Joel, but this is the same character, the same kind of thing, and it's a proof that it was indeed the Spirit of God come down and displaying his manifesting his power in this testimony for Christ.
Then Steve, there's those who believe that he was speaking Aramaic or Hebrew, but it was they heard it in their own language.
Right. That that has and, and I'll have to be honest, I thought that at one time myself, but that would be a miracle in the ears of the unbelievers. That was not what was happening. It was a gift of the Holy Spirit.
Indwelling these believers and they were speaking in languages that they could not have spoken in before and was an understandable language.
Language is it was a miracle of the tongue and not of the ear.
Verse 11 makes that plain. We do hear them speak in our tongues.
The wonderful works of God.
Scripture says.
When it takes up an Old Testament, New Testament scripture says when it takes up an Old Testament scripture, if it's a fulfillment or not or even a partial fulfillment, it'll say then was fulfilled, then came to pass. And so the Spirit of God is very careful to distinguish as you go through that We might understand, he doesn't leave it for us to guess that we might understand when it's a fulfillment or when he is drawing on an Old Testament scripture to say it's like this.
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It's the same character.
Why does he? Why does he go into?
He go beyond and bring out all the prophecy in that.
Joel Was Joel's prophecy very much concerns?
Jerusalem and Judea.
And I don't want to take the time to go back through it, but it much concerns Jerusalem and Judea. So it was a very suitable prophet to draw from, because what does he start his address with? Ye men of Judea and ye that dwell at Jerusalem.
And so it was very suitable.
Why does he go on and speak of those things that are connected with judgment? Because they had rejected Messiah and the sword of judgment was hanging over that nation.
And so I believe he goes on to speak of that aspect of things and and includes that in what he quotes from Joel. Though those judgments will yet be taken up and fulfilled in a coming day in the tribulation. That will be their actual fulfillment.
But it will be for the same reason, because they rejected Christ. And so when the Lord quotes from Isaiah and he says this is the acceptable year of the Lord.
He leaves off the part of that same verse that says and the day of vengeance of our God, because it wasn't. And so you say, why wouldn't Peter do the same thing with Joel? Well, no, it's because he's really bringing before them their responsibility. When the Spirit of God descended on Christ at the River Jordan, it was in the bodily form as a dove.
And emblematic of his character and his ministry here, it's Tongues of Fire.
Why? Because the wrath of God is revealed against all ungodliness of men. And the gospel not only brings the message of salvation, but it brings the message that the 1St man has been judged at the cross, and the wrath of God is revealed against sin and fully shown there. And so it's tongues of fire because it has a message not only of salvation, but of judgment too. And so it's appropriate, I think, that he includes that aspect.
Of what he quotes from Joel.
We had a little bit of that yesterday. I don't know whether you were here, Brother Vern, but we have to remember, of course, as we said yesterday, that God was giving Israel one final opportunity to accept Christ as the Messiah, this time as a risen Christ in glory. And so the Spirit of God here in the second chapter does not go all the way.
Because.
If they had been willing, they could have accepted the gospel.
And avoided that judgment. And so the Spirit of God I suggest.
Includes it here, but doesn't carry it right to its logical conclusion. You don't get that until Paul's ministry comes in after Israel had rejected this wonderful message from a risen Christ in glory. And as you brought out and others too. They stoned Stephen as it were saying we're sending a messenger after you, Lord. We don't want to be irreverent, but just saying in case you didn't get the point.
We're making sure. And after that we see the nation of Israel gradually drifting more into the background.
And then Pulse, or rather Saul of Tarsus, is saved and raised up to go forth in a totally different character with a the same message, but with new revelations that came in through him.
Satan worked and the heart of man was revealed the the apostle brings their guilt before them. But Satan, you might say, I would don't know what was all in his line. How can I know that? But I think he thought he had a victory when the Lord Jesus was put on that cross and died buried.
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He thought he had a victory. Oh, but three days later, the Lord raised from the dead.
He was raised from the dead.
He had gone down into death, defeated death, and was raised again.
And then he went back to heaven and Satan said, well, good riddance, at least he's not here. He can stay in heaven.
And that was a victory for him, too.
The day of Pentecost comes.
And Christ was here again. He's here again because as the Spirit of God came and united those believers to Christ in heaven, the body of Christ was formed on this earth, and Christ was here again. And though it was a number of years before the believers knew what had happened, Satan was not.
So long before he was aware of exactly it, what taken place, and he set about to attack it. And so he thought he got rid of Christ.
But here he is again, in this world, in his members.
And we are united to Christ in heaven by that indwelling spirit of God.
And when the head gives direction to the body, if you're one upon a nail and a piece of wood, your hat, your head says to your hand.
Pick up the hammer, strike the nail, and guess what? If I watch you do that, I can tell what's in your head.
You're saying I'm going to pound this nail in this piece of wood and as by the Spirit of God, our head in heaven gives direction through his body who is displayed in this world, the head Christ. Christ is displayed in this world and that Satan hates that and he has set about to attack it and so is the book of Acts unfolds. We'll find his attacks rise because that is what had taken place.
The disciples didn't know that.
Well, he's been pretty successful over the years and especially in the hands of man and the failure of this testimony and responsible man's hands. Nonetheless, the truth of that still abides in the scriptures. We're not going that direction are incumbent upon us to walk according to that truth of what took place on the day of Pentecost and all that flows from it.
Can I ask, can I ask a question? I don't want to get on a I don't want to take the rest of the hour. I don't want to take the rest of the hour of answering this question, but I think it's a relevant question. I'm going to point this question to Steve because a lot of us have friends that believe that they're missing out because they're not speaking in tongues. So I have friends that are not gathered with us. They're not in this room, so don't look around.
And they're wanting to know. They think they're missing out because they're not able to speak in tongues.
I had one young man that works with me and he said, you know, my dad's church, they speak in tongues, but he says when I listen to the gibberish and then I.
Listen to the man, the same man who just spoke in tongues a quote UN quote jibber. Then he translates himself what he just said and he says that's not what First Corinthians 14 says.
My other friend says I think I'm missing out. I'm not able to speak because in First Corinthians 14 it says that that is.
That Paul says he'd like to speak in tongues. I can speak in tongues more than y'all, so I know that's not what First Corinthians 14 means, but Christensen or Christensen?
Christianity.
Let me start over. The word of God, I do not believe, does not teach that. Where did that come from? Why is there this thing where they look at we're not able to speak in tongues, we're missing out on something and how can somebody take this chapter right here? Because every single time they're connecting the verse that was just read that you explained, Steve, with First Corinthians 14.
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And saying, see, that is speaking in tongues. You're missing out. You're misinterpreting this scripture to me, Ted.
Confusing question, I don't know.
No, it's not a confusing question.
I believe Peter says in his epistle, the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man for the common prophet.
And one thing we see in the truth of the body of Christ that there is diversity.
Long before people in the western world thought it was a cool thing to foist on everyone in their view of it.
In companies today, there's a vice president of diversity and all of that stuff. God was way ahead and there is diversity of operations. So the Spirit of God operating in you will operate differently than in me because one member differs from another in the body of Christ. And so those that had the gift of tongues.
Uh, where to, where to use it in a orderly, controlled way because God is not the offer of confusion, author of confusion. And so there are checks in the, when the assembly is gathered together, as we have in First Corinthians 12 and 14, that if any man speak in tongues, there is to be an interpreter. So we've had people drive up to our meeting room and places I've lived and pull over and walk up and not be in the parking lot and say, do you all speak, allow speaking in tongues? And I, when I'm asked, I say, we certainly do.
But I said, but there needs to be an interpreter. If there's no interpreter, then we're not to speak in tongues because the, the, the end result, the object is edification. And without an interpreter, a translator, there is no edification. And so to me it seems clear that that the gift of tongues was not universal. At the end of First Corinthians 12, the apostle asked a rhetorical question.
He says in verse 29, are all apostles? Of course not. Are all prophets? No. Are all teachers? No. Are all workers of miracles? Have all the gifts of healing? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? It's a rhetorical question and the answer is no. Even in our chapter in Acts chapter 2, it says in verse four they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, but then it says began to speak with other tones.
I don't assume that every single one of them was speaking in tongues. That's just my way of looking at the passage in my English Bible, because that would have been a lot of people speaking at once. But we know that there were a lot of languages being spoken and it's not gibberish. It is tongues. It is understandable languages that are were active amongst these people in that day. So I, I hope that addresses the question.
Ted.
But you're the judge of that.
OK, so the only thing I 100% agree, they tell me that speaking in tongues is different than this is what they told me this speaking in tongues. But Ted is different than speaking in this language because in First Corinthians 14 that's talking in gibberish. Where are they getting that? We know that's not true, but where are they getting this?
Let me suggest.
Ted that speaking in tongues is well known.
In different circles.
And I'm not at all suggesting that this is the case with the people you're talking to.
But it's well known that people can speak in tongues under demonic influence.
That's number one. And there are occasions when that does occur under the guise of Christianity. But most of what you are hearing in, and I don't want to label any particular group, but in Christian circles where it's not demonic power, it is, to put it bluntly, and we know what it is medically, it's simply the excitement of the autonomic nervous system under certain influences.
That gets people going into a state of ecstasy, much the same as hypnotism does. And of course there is a kind of hypnotism that is by demonic power, but a lot of it is not. It's used medically to try and get people to bring out things that perhaps they don't bring out in any other way. And there are those who are able by various Ways and Means to bring that out, and people get used to doing it.
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And they can bring themselves into that kind of a state. The difficulty is #1.
Most of the time they start to activate ridiculous now and then it's just gibberish, but then it gets to be carrying on in an unseemly way and sprawled all over the floor and all this kind of thing. And very, very, very, very loud. I don't want to be funny, but it was. When Bhutan banned the practice of any religion except Buddhism, many Christians went underground. And it was usually a certain group that got apprehended by the police every time because.
Their meetings were so noisy and upsetting that everybody knew who they were and what they were doing.
But it was not demonic in most cases. It was simply getting themselves worked up to the point where then this gibberish with a little came out and then somebody would even try and interpret. But then somebody tested them out and said, OK, no, I'm going to bring in another interpreter that didn't hear the first interpreter. And of course they couldn't agree. The 2nd interpreter interpreted in a totally different way. There was no correlation.
And so the whole thing is really quite a fraud, but man likes it because it's all an excitement from within that causes all of that. And that's where most of it is coming from. And it can be very definitely shown.
People can be induced to get into that kind of a trance, and sometimes they get so used to it that they can do it themselves.
And then of course, they're persuaded somehow that this is the Spirit of God, but it very definitely is not. They will also use this one. They first verse of 13 burn not finished yet. Oh, I'm sorry, go easy.
The point, the point is that we see this a lot and people think that it's the Spirit of God and they don't realize, in some cases really what is happening to them. They don't know what it is.
But it's kind of a state of ecstasy they work themselves into and then.
Man likes that, man likes that kind of thing, but it's man made.
And the important thing to realize is that when these signed gifts were given.
They were given by the Spirit of God.
In order to confirm the word, because this was something new. And so I like what Bruce said. If someone comes to me and says you do you believe in speaking in tongues? I say I certainly do. But I expect you to follow the guidelines in the Word of God. And if you don't, then I don't think it's of God. And most of what you see out there today does not support the word of God and does not follow the guidelines.
Which Paul gave later on to show how they were to be used and in the right way.
OK, very good. I'm sorry I interrupted you. But they'll use the first verse of 13 and this is what it says. Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, they say this is angels language, but in Scripture angels never spoke anything except language that men could understand.
I'd like to make a few remarks on 1St Corinthians 14 because I to me it's where it explains.
Is better than anywhere else the answer to the question, and so I'd like to make a few remarks about what Paul's saying in First Corinthians 14.
I'll go right to the root of the matter, he says in verse 22. Tongues are for a sign.
Not to them that believe.
But to them that believe not.
That is, this gift was given for the purpose.
Of communicating.
To those who did not know the language.
Of Jerusalem.
So that they would have the testimony given to them.
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Anyone who?
If you will, wants to be fulfilled and Speaking of in tongues and so on.
The first question that can be asked to them is, is there someone you know in a language that you do not know and that they do not have the word of God in that language that needs that gift to be used so that they can hear it?
There are very few languages in the world that don't have the word of God. And consequently, if it's a matter of communication in the day in which we live, we have what they didn't have on the day of Pentecost. And that is the word of God and the full explanation of it. And so today he says to such well, some at that point in Corinth had the gift, but they didn't have anywhere to use it.
And so he answers the question for them about their use of the gift that they had in verse 28. If there be no interpreter for what you want to say, keep silent.
You can't use it even if you have it because you're not fulfilling its purpose. It was assigned to those that did not have the word and the message that was already explained early in the meeting.
Of those in the various places that were in Jerusalem, from other places, and it was a distinct gift that could be given.
To meet their need and it was met that need. And so Paul says to those I have the gift. I have multiple languages that I have been given the gift of tongues to use. But he said I don't use it in the assembly because that's not the purpose of it. He says I use it and I'm going to give it to you at verse 14.
For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prayeth, but my understanding is unfruitful.
What is it then? I will pray with the Spirit, I will pray with understanding. I will sing with the Spirit. I will sing with the understanding also. And he goes on to say verse 19 in the church. I had rather speak 5 words with my understanding, then I might teach others than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. In other words, the purpose of communication is understanding.
And if the use of it doesn't promote fulfill that purpose, it's not to be used even if you had it. And consequently the person that says I need this, I want this in general, in fact almost every case, it's something they want for a display to themselves.
For us, the purpose for which God gave it. And God doesn't give us things.
That just are for ourselves if it's not a benefit to others. And all the gifts that are given in the church are given for the blessing and benefit of others, not ourselves only in personally. And so God gave that gift that it might be used for the blessing of others, but he doesn't. He's under no obligation to give the gift to someone that only wants it for their own use. So if you want to have that gift, I suggest you go somewhere in the world that doesn't have a Bible and speaks a tongue that's not known.
And then you ask the Lord to give you that gift, to reach that people.
And without prolonging the discussion, you'd agreed on that occasionally that still happens, doesn't it?
That's why I said it the way I said it. I don't believe we can say God doesn't, can't have that gift in use today if the circumstances according to His purpose of the gift are fulfilled. He has the power of the Spirit of God to give that gift to a soul to reach those who are unreached by the gospel.
And don't have the word of God that can be used for them.
Often when someone speak.
When people speak, there's a reason behind speaking.
In the Christian world, among Christendom, often if you listen to the way they preach or speak.
Whether it be in tongue or in other things, they want to glorify the speaker.
When the message is done, whereas we find that often when we speak, we glorify God or Lord Jesus Christ. So you can be the judge by listening to why they're doing it, who is to be glorified, and perhaps even to some extent they're going to be extra money to be raised because of whatever they're exhibiting.
00:40:27
Brother Don, could you explain verse two of chapter 14 in that life?
Somebody will have to be my interpreter. I can't hear.
Explain 14 two in that light. OK.
I think you can probably do it. I'll be glad to listen to you.
It starts the chapter that.
Verse 14 verse one is the preface to verse two. It says follow after love and desire, spiritual gifts. But the 1St and most important is rather that you may prophecy. Prophecy in the broad sense isn't simply telling the future.
Yes, that's a component of what we mean when we say prophecy we're talking about.
Someone who can tell us what's in the future and the Old Testament prophets did that. But through the Old Testament prophets and in a New Testament prophet, the even broader and more important aspect of it was they were Moses was a prophet. They were a voice of God to the people. And that's what the burden of the of the.
Gift of prophecy really is if the Lord gives it to someone is that they might be a God's voice to the people. And if a prophet really speaks and God is by the Spirit using that message, the receiving of the message is going to be very often God is speaking to me. That is, they can forget the person that's doing it and say God is speaking to me.
And use that for God uses that for their blessing.
And Paul begins the whole chapter with the thought that we should be motivated with God.
To be a voice for God, whether it's by prophecy, whether it's by speaking in tongues or some other gift that he gives to us that would be used as his communication channel for the good and blessing of another person. So he says he that speaketh in an unknown tongue, that is to those who receive it or hear it, it's useless.
Because it can't fulfill its purpose of being a help to them, you know?
Bendito hermanos muy bien que estamos aqui and este tarde para blar le Las cosas de dios castanaki and este momento. OK, I said those words to to you. There's a certain subset of you in the room that immediately could relate to whatever I said, and probably the imperfect imperfection of it.
As to its words, however, there is a certain, probably larger set of you in the room that I was speaking in an unknown tongue and it was of absolute no benefit to you. You got nothing out of it. And that's what he says. He that speaketh an untone tongue speaketh not to men. Yes, you can say I'm speaking to God. Are you going to teach Him something? You're going to use your ability to use an unknown tongue to explain some things so God can understand them.
Does he need you to use that gift to talk to him so that he is as it were?
Unto God, No, it's a mystery in that way. It doesn't fulfill its purpose.
And so and again it's.
That God gives these things for a purpose, but he doesn't give them, and he's not obligated to give them.
If that purpose cannot be fulfilled through the instrument to whom he would give it.
Those who teach these things will turn these verses on their head and make it a positive affirmation. They will say, and they do.
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In verse 4 where it says he that speaketh in an unknown tongue edifieth himself, they will turn and say we're supposed to build ourselves up in our most holy faith.
They go back to verse two and they will save where he that speaketh an unknown tongue unknown to anyone listening speaketh not unto men but unto God, for no man understandeth him. How be it in the Spirit he speaketh mysteries. So their twist on this is that it's their prayer language, unique communication with God and they will connect it with the Spirit of God commuting, communicating with groaning's.
And they will put that together and say this is a time for.
Edifying oneself in a positive sense, and it's turning this on its head.
But that's the claim and teaching that is there, especially amongst those like the Assemblies of God organization and so forth. There's a unique piece of their history. When the Assemblies of God denomination was first getting going and they began to send missionaries overseas, they fully believed that they wouldn't have to train them in the foreign languages. But very quickly they discovered as they went overseas, the Assemblies of God missionaries could not speak to these people.
Had to return home and learn the languages like everyone else. That does not mean that God cannot do that, but in the face of this teaching that was being put forth, God did not and they had to turn back home and learn the languages.
Such are not very often going to also read verse 28.
Because it doesn't support the self edification.
But in other words, God says, OK, if I give you the thing and you can't use it, you say you're edifying yourself, but you can't use it out loud with others because it's of no benefit. You're to be silent in the assembly.
So God often.
Gets to every aspect of man's arguments until man either accepts what God says or he ignores it because he doesn't want it.
In First Corinthians 13.
Eight, charity never faileth, but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail, whether there be tongues they shall cease. Whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. The force of those words. Fail, cease and vanish are different.
Fail and vanish mean in the original come to an abrupt.
Stop or excuse me? Yeah, fail and vanish. An abrupt stop.
Prophecy and knowledge are going to be needed until the Lord comes and when He comes.
That's the end. They're no longer needed tons. It says that they cease. And the force of that word is like the Brook sheriff where Elijah was. It dried up, it dwindled down, it finally petered out and dried up and that's the force of that tongues were going to dry up when?
A company is going to put a new building up.
And they start a construction site, they put a sign up front, future home of such and such corporation. That's a sign to those who are going by of what is taking place. When that building is built and they're doing business there, they don't need a sign that this is the future home of such and such corporation. They're there. And so they were signed gifts, proof that what was taking place that God was in it.
And this was indeed of God. But once the church was established and it was clear that it was of God, those signed gifts were no longer needed. And so they petered out. They were no longer needed. I would say to the, as our brother Don read that verse, they're assigned to the unbeliever. That is the chief and the foremost aspect of the signed gifts. Not even the communication of the gospel is the foremost.
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Point, but a sign because Peter goes on to preach the gospel in a language that everyone knew.
Those tongues that they spoke in were not for the communication of the gospel in our chapter. They spoke the wonderful works of God. When I came to the communication of the gospel, he spoke in a language that everyone there knew. So they were given as a sign. They were a sign.
But he goes on to preach the gospel in the language that they all knew, so they filled their place. And again, we don't forbid God can do whatever He wants. He's sovereign.
But the need for them is pretty well gone in this world.
I have enjoyed the fact that when Peter comes to preach here.
As you say, Brother Steve, it's a distinctive message from the wonderful works of God.
It's the gospel spoken in a way that all could understand.
But in one sense, and I don't suppose many of those people had known the disciples well.
But here was perhaps the greatest miracle to see the difference in Peter.
Here were those disciples who accompanied with the Lord for 3 1/2 years.
And yet how difficult the Lord found it to make them understand things that He was trying to teach them.
And over and over again, for example, he told them that he had to go to the cross and suffer and die and be buried and rise again. They couldn't get it clear. And here was a man who had picked up his sword in the Garden of Gethsemane and gone after the high priest servant. Here was a man who later on denied the Lord with oaths and curses.
And yet, what happens on the Day of Pentecost?
Suddenly the Spirit of God gives him an intelligence.
That would have been unheard of even a few days before.
And in a coherent way, he gives the most clear explanation of what had happened, pulling Old Testament scriptures together and bringing them forward, making it clear as to the purposes of God. But the wickedness and responsibility of man involved in ties it all together in a beautiful way. For those that had ears to hear, whoever they might have been, this was really perhaps the greatest miracle to show.
What the Spirit of God could do once he indwelt an individual.
And of course, it had happened to some degree in the Old Testament. The Spirit had come on.
Profits from time to time who were able to speak from the Lord and give a direct message as dawn was bringing out. But this was something even more wonderful because it was a new message, a message of forgiveness for an entire nation that had rejected and crucified their Messiah and bringing together the sovereignty of God, the responsibility of man.
Only the Spirit of God could do that.
An example of that is in Matthew 16.
After the beautiful confession Peter made, it says there that the Lord Jesus.
Began to tell them that he was going to Jerusalem to be rejected by the priests and elders.
He would be crucified, buried and raised the third day and Peter takes him aside to rebuke him. Think of it and the Lord has to rebuke Peter but here in Acts chapter two he weaves together these things that are beyond our full understanding to take in the counsel of God in his sovereignty. Verse 23 he was delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God that's.
That's the understanding that Peter had through the Spirit of God.
And then he goes on also by the Spirit of God, to point the arrow to their consciences ye have taken, and by wicked hands crucified and slain. These two things are woven together throughout the Scriptures from beginning to end. God acting in sovereignty, but taking up and holding man accountable in responsibility. They're woven together all through as a thread through the ways of God with man.
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Darren Matthew, 16, he said Upon this rock I will build my church.
My assembly and the gates of hell really should be. Hades shall not prevail against it.
So often that's taken that all the powers of Satan and demonic forces will not prevail against the assembly. That's not what that means. The gates of hell. It means the state of really, it means death. The state where the spirit and soul are separate from the body is Hades, whether it's a place of blessing or a place of torment.
Context determines that, but it's very strictly speaking. The soul and the spirit separate from the body is Hades, the gates of Hades.
Will not prevail against the assembly. Why? Because he went down into Jeff.
His spirit and soul were separate from his body, and his body was laid in that new tomb. But God raised him from the dead, and he's defeated death.
Rise triumphant over, and death will not prevail against his assembly, because even if every member went into death, they will all.
Be raised again just like him and so when it says here and he quotes.
From the 16th Psalm, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Neither wilt thou suffer, thy Holy One, to see corruption. It's the same word, the teaching that the Lord somehow went down into hell.
Place of torment, of judgment is not true, but that's very popular. We had a man come into the Vessel meeting room several weeks ago, sat down a Sunday school, thought he would like to take part, and it's one of the first things that came out of his mouth.
No, the Lord did not go down into the lake of fire.
As is commonly taught, he went into death, but he has defeated death.
And it will not prevail against his assembly, because it's founded on Christ dead.
And risen and glorified.
We think of Hades as a state rather than a place. That makes everything clear, doesn't it? Now it mentions the gates of Hades. That's AI don't know what to call it. A poetic term. A term that refers to a state but at the same time recognizes the power of it by mentioning the gates. But it is not.
Normally a place. The only thing I would just point out briefly is that when we come later on in the New Testament, yes, the Lord in one sense was in Hades because he was in the condition of a soul without a body when he was in the tomb. But when it talks about a believer who goes into death, I don't believe there is a single instance when it refers to the believer as being in Haiti's. Why not? For the very reason.
That Steve mentioned and that is that death has been enough and so where does the believer go when he leaves this world Yes, his body is put into a grave but where does he go He goes to be with the Lord. He's not just in a state of a soul without a body. He goes to be with the Lord so the scripture emphasizes the the Hades part of it with the Lord because.
It shows us that he went into death on our part when the Lord spoke to the thief on the cross.
He didn't say to day shalt thou be with me in Hades. Strictly speaking it would have been true, but the Lord says to day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.
In verse 23 says him being delivered by the determinant counsel and foreknowledge of God. We have the gospel. It wouldn't be okay for God to just say, well, sin doesn't matter, we're just going to gloss over it. The world knows that that would be injustice. Sin has to be paid for. And here's this glorious one who leaves his place in the heavens and he comes down into this world and he becomes a man. And we read that often.
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In Philippians 2 and we just read over it, just like, will this happen? Did this happen? I go to the outside door and I walk outside. He became a man. He took on human flesh.
In order to come and remedy our need, he says, Ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain. We heard the sovereignty of God, the responsibility of man, Verse 24. Whom God hath raised up.
Having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of it. And that's our hope. That's our hope. It's in him. It's not in a, it's not in a creed. It's not in a, in, in a prayer that we pray. It's in Jesus. And he's alive right now. He's a man forever on high in the glory and he's beyond death. He can't be touched by it. These ones, as our brother mentioned, they were fearless. You can't teach the gospel. You can't preach the gospel. He said we're going to preach the gospel.
If you kill us, we're going to do it anyway.
How can that be? Because they were delivered from the power of the fear of death? Because Jesus was beyond it. And the thing that comes to the conclusion here in verse 35.
Let all the House of Israel know assuredly that God hath made this same Jesus.
Whom you have crucified, both Lord and Christ. And dear beloved brothers and sisters.
We have a responsibility. God is giving the gospel of the grace of God that we can be made free, that we can walk in light and love.
And there is a response because of what he's done, we can't just sit here and fold our hands and say, yeah, whatever.
He has stepped into this world to redeem us and there is a response that is required.
It says God hath made him both Lord and Christ.
One more comment on that responsibility that our brother just talked about. We know that when the Lord Jesus went to heaven, he was no longer in the world and the work that he was doing here among men ceased from his own work. And we've had in the last couple of days how as he went home to the glory and was glorified as a man there, He sends the Holy Spirit that we've had but.
In connection with what's just been said, he's also said to us, I'm not here to be the light anymore. You are the light of the world. And so if the world is to see the light and testimony of God, he as it's brought out in Revelation 2 and three where he's evaluating how well we're doing our job. He tells us that you're the light of the world. And also if you're not going to fulfill that.
Responsibility properly, I will replace you and that's going to be the end of the day of the church. It will have to be replaced because it hasn't fulfilled its responsibility as God had given it to it. So if we sit on our hands and say, well, God's going to do his work and everything's going to turn out all right, I don't need to do anything. That's in direct contradiction to what God said the church was in the world for. And that is we individually too are to be the light of the world.
He puts that light in us when we receive the message of the gospel. He gives us the life of Christ, and then He makes us responsible to make it known to our fellow man for His blessing.
The Spirit of God coming takes in so many different aspects of the believers life.
In John's gospel, the Lord told the woman at the well that the water that he would give her would be a well of water springing up into eternal life. And he's Speaking of the gift of the Spirit there. And the Spirit of God indwelling you and I is the power for worship.
The worship of God in the Spirit, according to the truth of God.
01:05:00
Then in Chapter 7 he says of those that would receive the Spirit, out of their belly shall flow rivers of living water. He is the power for testimony and communication to others of our enjoyment of Christ and divine things. We see Him coming here in the day of Pentecost and dwelling these believers the power of testimony to a risen Christ.
And the gospel going out in this world, outside of that, there's no power for worship, there is no power for communication to others. There is no power in the testimony to a risen Christ here in this world. He formed the body of Christ. It's the display of Christ in this world, Paul said in Colossians, Christ in you, the hope of glory, the display of Christ in this world collectively in his members.
Christ in you the hope of glory.
And so he is here as the Comforter too. He comes not only in dwelling them, but as the divine administrator of all their affairs.
And I'm I know I'm only touching the beginning of all the things that the Spirit of God is.
But in every aspect of our Christian life, it's vital. It's vital.
Did we sing 231?
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First Peter, chapter 5, verse 10.
But the God of all grace.
Who had called us onto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that he had suffered a while. Make you perfect.
Establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. close in prayer.
Our loving God and our Father, we again thank thee for thy beloved Son. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for coming here as a man and giving myself.
For going to Calvary's cross so that we could be saved.
You think of how that would rise from the dead on the third day.
Then we've read in Acts One and Acts 2, the early part of the church period. We thank thee, Lord Jesus, that thou didst go back to heaven. Thou hast glorified there now aren't soon going to come.
And receive us unto thyself, but in the meantime, our God and Father.
We are alive in a world where we do have difficulty in trial and temptations too. And we just thank Thee for this time that we've had Thy word, our God, open before us to encourage us along the little time that's left and help us to be a testimony, each one of us, in the place that Thou has put us. And so we now would just pray for direction in our lives that we might obey Thy word.
That we might go on for thy honor and glory.
That we may be established in the truth of God, that we may Lord Jesus, be happy and fruitful and a blessing to others. Now we just pray that thou bless our time of fellowship together, that the times between the meetings may be for encouragement for each one of our souls as we minister Christ to one another. And so we give thanks to our God for thy beloved Son, and we pray in his most worthy, precious name, Amen.
Amen.
Gospel 1
Gospel—Sam Ludvicek
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25.
Someone please start that.
Very free, like the falling out, like the fight you know to see. Great dream and time.
Dreaming such a child in the past after the night will still be at our house and the faithful life because.
Being in someone.
Being in time.
Romans chapter one and verse 16 says, For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ.
For it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.
To the Jew 1St, and also to the Greek or the Gentile.
I have the high honor and unique privilege of preaching the Gospel tonight, and I consider it both.
It is the power of God unto salvation. It is the only thing that works.
If you run into a good salesman, he may convince you to buy something you don't want. That's not what we're talking about tonight.
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There is a blindness to the heart and mind.
Both Jew and Gentile, the Bible talks about there's a deafness that we can come under where we don't hear and there's a lack of sight where we don't see. So my prayer tonight will be that God will Pierce through that and help both speaker and hearer like Father, we just ask thee to help us tonight as we sit here together.
And we talk about the gospel. We preach the gospel, Father speaker, and hear alight alike need thy spirit. It doesn't work without it. So we rely and trust.
In Thy Holy Spirit to Pierce through any blindness, darkness, or deafness, Lord Jesus and I precious name, we commit this time to Thee. Amen.
He will turn with me to Isaiah, chapter one.
And verse 18.
So in our heads.
We're human beings, we have an inner conversation that goes on all the time, and tonight you will have one.
And the Lord will be speaking to your heart, and of course you will be considering those things. You'll have an inner conversation.
So Isaiah chapter one, verse 18 says come now and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow. Though they be light red like Crimson, they shall be as wool. Well, the reasoning together tonight won't be just with me and you, it will be between you and the Lord.
And I hope you listen my prayers that you will listen. The prayer to many here is that you will listen.
So if you're a stranger tonight or a guest and you've come in, you're welcome.
If you are a child and a young person in a Christian family, have heard the gospel message many times.
I pray that tonight you will be arrested.
In the sense you'll be stopped in your tracks.
And it will come through clearly to you that, as we sang, be in time.
Who knows? We know we have, but this moment we don't know if tomorrow will come. And if we read the newspapers tomorrow, you will find out that there are those who did not make it past the day happens all the time. So you have now. The Bible says now is the accepted time. Now is the day of salvation.
Now.
Turn with me.
To Ephesians.
Chapter 2.
There are two verses here I want to read because what we're talking about tonight is not some kind of religion that involves working your way to God in any way, shape or form. I want to be very clear at the outset. Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8:00 and 9:00 says for by grace are you saved through faith, and that not yourselves. It is the gift of God.
Not of works, lest any man should boast.
Turn with me back.
To Isaiah.
Chapter 64.
And verse 6.
But we are all as an unclean thing on this important little phrase here.
And all our righteousnesses are as filthy.
Rags.
Can you imagine coming to God?
With a basket filled with filthy rags and saying here, let me into heaven.
Based on these.
The truth there is, if that's how you think, you're getting to heaven by the works that you have done.
In your life, that's what you're doing.
We wouldn't even do that.
Down the street at the convenience store to try and buy something. They'd laugh you out. They'd throw you out. Yet we are fooled into thinking that somehow, some way, by the works of righteousness, we can do. Somehow we'll get into heaven. And then guess what? Can you see the unseemly scene? Somebody getting there on their own works, going about beating their chest, saying I got here on my own. The Restia had to go by grace.
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It's not going to happen. No such unseemly scene will take place there.
Everyone there will be there by the grace of God, as I just read in Ephesians.
Unmerited favor.
Something you didn't deserve.
Now the Bible says the wages of sin is death. You earn that.
And by the way, everyone in this room has already earned that. If you're lost in your sins, you've earned death.
You've not only earned death to die physically, but a second death where you will stand before a righteous God who will look and see.
That you are not covered with the blood of Christ and you will go into a lost eternity.
Because all you will have is a basket full of filthy rags to offer God and it will not be acceptable.
I mentioned that you may be a young person or a child who's heard the gospel many times, and maybe right now you're fiddling or coloring in a coloring book.
And maybe not listening and you've heard it so many times, it's just comfortable.
You've heard these things, I have told people over and over again through the years.
That I did not trust the Lord Jesus as my Savior until I was 11 years old. How can that be?
Brother Daniel McCoy is here. He and I haven't seen each other since I was 19 and he was 18, and we've gotten.
Greeted one another here and talked and we talked a little bit about that, how in our own families and others that we've known, it took many years before they got saved in their 30s and 40s. I had a brother that didn't get saved till he was in his 40s.
And Daniel had brothers, too, that waited and waited. What if they had died?
I don't understand it about myself.
If you had asked me when I was 10 years old, what must I do to be saved, I could have told you. How strange is that to be so familiar with the gospel? You could have said something I would have told somebody. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Look, dear friend, you may know the Christmas story. You may believe that there's some truth to it. You may know the Passion story, You may know the Easter story and say yes.
I think those were things that happened in history.
Believing about something.
Has little correlation to believing in something, and especially in a person.
And on a person because the Lord Jesus when we preach the gospel.
We are speaking on His behalf and asking you to put your faith and trust in Him.
He's alive. He rose from the dead.
He is calling you right now to trust him.
To trust in Him and the finished work that He did on the cross, nothing to be added to it. You can say that salvation comes when you put your faith and trust in Christ. His finished work on the cross plus nothing. You cannot add anything to it and you cannot take anything away from it and be saved.
The Gospel today should not be any different than it was.
In the days of the apostles and the apostle Paul, turn with me.
To First Corinthians.
Chapter 15.
Verse One. Moreover, brethren, I declare unto the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received.
And wherein ye stand, by which also ye are saved.
And he says, If you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain.
Why does he say that? Because he had preached to them before and someone had come along and was teaching them other things, adding something in there.
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Putting something extra or taking something away. And if you believe that gospel.
Whatever that was, you would have believed in vain. The world is filled with false gospels that you can.
Believe in that cannot save you because they preach a Christ that does not exist.
Let me continue, for I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures. And that He was seen of Cephas sent up 12 of the 12:00 And after that he was seen of above 500 brethren at once, of whom the greater part remained unto this present.
That's the gospel they preached in the beginning.
But if what if someone comes along like Mohammed?
Let's turn to glaciers.
I have had this conversation.
With the muscle.
So in Muhammad's story.
He met with an Angel in a cave.
And he dictated to him.
A new book, a new gospel, you might say so Galatians, chapter one.
What does Paul say?
Mercy. But though we are an Angel from heaven, preach to any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you. Let him be accursed.
As we said before, so I say now again, if any man preach any other gospel unto you, then that ye have received, let him be a curse.
Someone comes, even an Angel and says here's another gospel.
You need a new one. You need extra, whatever the reasoning might be.
Well, the first thing you should do if someone, an Angel came to you or a man, anyone, and said here's a new gospel, here's another gospel.
Run. Why would you listen? You know, even Mohammed wondered at times as he met with this Angel.
If it was the devil or a demon, yeah, he was right. But he continued to listen.
And he got a false gospel that now plagues this world. But there are others who've done similar things, received another gospel.
From whatever source, it can be human. It can be a claim of divine origin.
It could be an Angel who appears as an Angel of light. The scripture tells us the devil himself can appear as an Angel of light.
But if it's a different gospel, this book says don't receive it. Let him be accursed.
Paul goes on in Galatians and says whoever is troubling the Galatian people.
With this twist on the gospel, which wasn't another totally it was the gospel slightly twisted out of place.
Why you just put in there In the midst of the grace of God that is preached, you put works in there. Well, it's no longer grace.
It's been pointed out many times it takes but a few drops of arsenic and a pure glass of water to make it something that will kill you instead of give you life. It doesn't take much, and if you add anything or take anything away from the gospel that Paul preached and the early church preached, you've got a false gospel. And often it comes down to a false savior.
You can tell.
There's two things that the enemy attacks with a false gospel.
The person of Christ who he is.
And the work of Christ, what he did.
One or both of those, Usually both.
So if I have two people that come to my door and they want to hand me a Watchtower magazine and they begin to speak with me, I don't want to talk about all the insurance and outs of what their religious beliefs are. I want to talk about who Jesus is.
So for example, if I'm talking with one of these, very devoted and sincere and zealous.
00:20:03
You have to admire their zeal, Jehovah's Witnesses that come to the door.
I asked them a question.
I will say when Moses talked to the burning Bush on the mountain.
Who is he speaking to? And they will say Jehovah.
If I ask them when Moses said, Well, when I go tell the children of Israel about this conversation, what name shall I give them? What's your name?
He says and the Jehovah's Witness will answer correctly. I am.
And if I ask them, well, who is that? They'll say that's Jehovah.
You're right, so far so good.
Now turn with me to John's Gospel.
Chapter 8.
Starting with that question about.
The burning Bush.
I will then say to my friends at the door.
I have a question for you. You do not believe.
In the Jesus that I do.
And you have a similar problem.
To the problem the 1St century Jews had many of them, especially the Pharisees and the Sadducees.
They did not believe that Jesus was who he claimed to be either.
Now you tell me you've got the truth of it.
But here in John chapter 8 verse 24.
Jesus speaking to them, says, I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins.
For if you believe not that I am.
He shall die in your sins.
So my next question is, Jesus just called himself Jehovah. Oh no, no, no, no, no.
Or you just told me I am is Jehovah. Jesus just called himself the I am.
Very last verse of this chapter, then.
The second to the last verse.
Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, and I say unto you before Abraham.
Was I am.
Then took the up stones to cast at him.
My conversation then goes to you see, they had the same problem you do. They knew what he was saying. That's why they wanted to kill him. He was claiming to be Jehovah. I'm telling you he's claiming to be Jehovah by your own words. You said the I am is Jehovah. Hear Jesus calls himself the I am. He just said he's Jehovah. But you won't receive it, will you?
They have some they're usually about swallow their tongue.
And they circle around and they don't want to admit to it. But that's not the point. You're probably never going to get somebody to admit to it on the spot. But my prayer always is that these two verses, as they go away and I go down the road, I lift up to the Lord, those zealous lost souls, and I cry out, Lord, make these two verses ring in their brain.
So they can't sleep at night until they settle the question because.
They just really, in a roundabout way, admitted that Jesus is Jehovah. Well, that's contrary to the gospel that they preach.
To them, the Jesus they believe in is Michael the Archangel, and they will tell you that eventually. They don't do that on the first visit. So Michael the Archangel can't save anybody.
If he shed his blood, became a man and shed his blood, he couldn't save anybody.
Anybody.
Only the Son of God.
Who became a man on Calvary's cross can shed his blood and it have mean something for the rest of humanity.
Only he.
So if you have a false Jesus preached to you and you believe in that Jesus.
Can he save you? No, because he doesn't exist.
The Jesus of the Muslims does not exist. They have made-up a Jesus.
00:25:00
That they call a prophet, a Goodman even.
Prophet, they will go. But you know what they say about the crucifixion, That it was a hoax, it was faked, and someone else died and Jesus really lived.
Because after all, God would never kill his son.
Well, that's contrary to the whole Old Testament and New Testament. And if he had known enough about the New Testament, he knew enough to be suspicious.
If he'd known enough about the New Testament, you know what he had in his hands? He had the Syriac fuschetta, which is almost identical to the King James Bible, by the way.
And some of the people around him, the Gnostics who were around him, did not believe the truth of it, but he had it nearby. And I would say he couldn't read, but he had people reading to him.
But if he'd have known this verse I read in Galatians, he would have said no, I'm not listening to this.
It's a different gospel.
But we know that that's not what happened.
So if anyone comes preaching another gospel, no, no.
Even when I was unsaved as a young child, I would have known and could know that that wasn't the gospel.
But I had not yet acted on the information I had. You know, when I was driving here, I was noticing advertisements along the way. You see them on the Interstate. And when you pull into convenience stores and that there's all kinds of offers that get put up and you see the ads. Well, if you're in your local town and there's a sign that goes up that says one day only next Friday.
By two tires. Get 2 Tires free and you show up on Saturday. Guess what?
You don't get 2 Tires free. You didn't act on the information you had.
So when we sang that song about being time, you may have the correct information, but if you don't, act on it.
What's up with that?
I can't explain it except there's a kind of blindness.
And stubbornness in our hearts that resist the truth. But there came a day where God did Pierce through.
And I pray that if you have not yet trusted the Lord Jesus tonight as your Savior, that tonight is that night, that the irresistible grace of God will draw you in and you will trust Him.
Because he can be trusted.
When I was a young boy, I was having a conversation with a young boy, another young boy at school, and we got sent to the principal's office because somebody overheard us talking about hell and accused us of cursing. Well, I was just witnessing to the boy and we were talking about these things.
We got sent to the principal's office and they asked us about it. Do you were cursing? That's not acceptable, I said. I wasn't cursing. I was telling young Tim here about the Lord Jesus dying on the cross for our sins and now that if we didn't trust in Christ as our Savior, we'd end up in hell and a lost eternity. Oh. Oh, OK.
Well, we didn't get punished, it got straightened out.
What if you don't believe in hell?
What did Jesus say about hell?
Turn with me to Luke's Gospel Chapter 16.
The Bible doesn't tell us how either one of these two men we're going to read about.
How Lazarus came to faith or anything? It just picks them up in their condition.
And the Lord Jesus is the one telling the story, so you can believe that he's telling the truth.
Verse 19. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores, and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried, and in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
00:30:10
Two destinations here.
1A Place of torment and discomfort.
1A Place of comfort.
And I'll read it again in hell. He lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou and thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted and now are tormented.
And beside all this, between US and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from thence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us which would come from thence.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would send him to my Father's house, for I have 5 brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they.
Also come into this place of torment. And Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
And he said, Nay, father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto them, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though 1 rose from the dead. How true that is, after Jesus rose from the dead.
Did the majority of the people in that day around him, did they believe? No.
Though there were some who did.
They came and they believed.
In the resurrected Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
And they had their sins forgiven.
And they had a new destination that was not this place of discomfort.
Whatever you think this is about, some will try to brush it off as a parable.
My question to anybody who says it's just a parable. A parable is a true story that illustrates a higher spiritual truth. What is it illustrating?
That there's a worse fire than they described here. There's worse torment that's described here.
Does it sound like a place that you would like to arrive at?
See, we would think, just with common sense, that men would want to run as far and fast away from such a horrible place as they could towards this wonderful place.
Either paradise or heaven.
Where there is no weeping, where there is comfort, where there are no more sores or dogs licking these wounds.
A place described as paradise.
But yet.
I think it was Dante that wrote it in his writings that said of the devil that he supposedly said.
He would rather.
Rule in hell than serve in heaven.
You know, that's our rebellious hearts too, rather than bow the knee.
To anyone our rebel hearts want to just go our own way.
Well, you can do that.
You can go your own way. It has a destination. The Bible is clear about that destination.
And you have no defense when we get towards the end of the Book of Revelation.
There is a final judgment day that most people have heard of.
That if you were to stand there with your basket of filthy rags.
You have no defense.
And if you were to stand there without having trusted in Christ and his finished work on the cross.
You have no defense and you will have revealed before your eyes.
Everything you ever did.
And every opportunity that you had where God was nudging you.
Speaking to you within your heart where there are moments in your life where you are listening for a moment.
And you knew that God was speaking to you. Maybe it was through a tragedy, through a difficult time. Maybe it was at a funeral who all kinds of circumstances have. Maybe it was after an accident. I hear of people going through difficult times and they'll cry out to the Lord if you'll just deliver me, I promise you this or I promise you that. And after they're delivered, they don't keep their promise.
00:35:05
One of the worst kinds of delusion and deception is self delusion and self deception.
To delude yourself.
How messed up is that?
To delude yourself into thinking everything is OK when it's not. If you're a boy or girl in this room and you've heard the gospel all your life and you have not yet trusted in the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your personal savior.
Why? What are you waiting for? Come now. Come right now where you're sitting right now. Bow your head.
And call on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You've heard that verse. I'll bet some of you have memorized it.
Romans 10/14.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
Lord Jesus, save me.
That cry and faith.
And the simplest soul in this room or anywhere.
The simplest soul in this room.
Will be saved and God will do what he does. He will apply the blood of Christ.
He will save you. He will indwell you with His Holy Spirit.
He will give you a new life. He will give you eternal life.
And you will begin fresh and clean.
As I read though your sins be as scarlet not anymore by simple faith and trust in Christ.
Sometimes people struggle with what it means to really believe or have faith.
And I did.
Somehow I couldn't get my head around.
What it really meant to have faith.
There's a story that helped me as a young person.
Have you ever heard of Blondin, the famous tightrope Walker in days gone by?
He was a famous tightrope Walker and he had arranged to walk across the Niagara Falls on a tightrope. The day came where they'd strung the cable and blonde and went across. He performed stunts, went across, did tricks that made the crowd gasp, and he would return to the one side.
And the crowd is cheering and carrying on.
One of the tricks he did was to take a wheelbarrow with bags of sand in it across.
Then he came back and he looked at the crowd below and he said, do you believe I can take a man across?
Would you like to see me take our man across? Yes, yes, we'd love to see that. Any volunteers? The crowd went silent.
Apparently Blonda did that many times as he did these stunts.
He could never get anybody to volunteer.
Well, later in his career he got it, talked his manager into going across piggyback on his back, the only time anybody ever went, and he must have been terrified, but he did go.
That's a pretty good definition of faith getting in the wheelbarrow.
Be pretty scary to do something like that.
Because as I said before, you may believe about the Christmas story, the Passion story, and the Easter story, but it means nothing unless it's personal. I've been asked before, why do you speak of trusting in Christ as your personal Savior?
Why do you guys talk like that? What does that mean? Well, first of all.
God is a person, and you're a person.
It's personal. I can't save you. Your mom and dad can't save you. Your brother and sister can't save you.
Your husband and wife can't save you.
It must be a transaction that takes place between.
You and him.
Jeremiah.
I believe it's chapter 29.
Verse 13.
And ye shall seek me, and find me when ye shall search for me.
00:40:03
With all your heart.
Friend, I want to tell you that verse was true before it was written.
It was true when Adam and Eve were walking on the face of the earth all down through history.
Anyone who will seek God with all their heart will find Him.
So I've had conversations and I know others have as well because we've shared those kinds of conversations where I've been talking to somebody. I said, why don't you just cry out and ask God to show himself you really want to know?
And if you're honest?
And you cry out that way he will show himself to you.
That's what this verse says.
And he will make himself real to you.
I think there are people who have come to realize that God is real and they still have rejected Him.
And turned aside.
Years ago, I think it was Mordecai Ham was preaching. He was a very devout kind of fire and brimstone preacher of a day gone by. I think he died in the 50s, maybe 60s.
The three young men decided to go to the gospel meeting where he was preaching one night and mock him from the balcony.
And they did. And they bragged about going there for entertainment at the local bar in the pub where they went.
And when they got back, they were all laughing and carrying on how they disrupted the meetings with their hooting and hollering up in the balcony. Got a big kick out of that. And the leader of the three walked into this local bar where everybody was familiar with them and he banged his first on the bar and says, give me a cup of the wrath of God.
Well, that statement was a little too much for everybody in there because the whole place went silent.
That seemed a bit far stepping across the line.
Everybody went silent. Even his companions went silent, this young man.
Was served what his regular was. He tipped it back and slammed it down and fell down dead right there.
I had a heart attack.
Mordecai Ham had been preaching on that, that there is a cup of the wrath of God.
That you will have to drink if you don't trust in Christ as your Savior.
Well, that's certainly solemnized the place.
And as I understand the rest of the story, many in the neighborhood and from that bar went down to those meetings and many got saved.
Now, does that mean everyone who's ever challenged God or made it such a blasphemous comment falls down dead? No.
Not right then, but sometimes you mock God and there can be an immediate response.
Now God used it to reach the souls of those that were around, but imagine even saying something like that.
I remember it harnischfeger where I used to work.
The gospel went through that factory like a fire.
Many got saved there.
But I remember one man mocking in a particular.
Callous way and blasphemous way. And I watched unsaved men around him.
Look at him and back away looking up.
Even they were little afraid what might happen if you're speaking like that.
The Bible says the fear of God is demanding of wisdom. It seems like there are those who reach a point where they harden their own hearts where they no longer have any respect or any fear about God. Because you can see a little bit of it sometimes when you're speaking to people that there's some kind of respect or awe, maybe because of the way they were raised.
So if you were brought to a Sunday school someplace in your life, you probably memorized John 316, right?
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now some people, and this gets back to the problem I was talking about, what it means to have faith or believe. Some people look at that and go, yes, I believe that Jesus died for the world and they see it in a general way. Back to my question about why do you talk about personal Savior? Because it's personal again.
00:45:16
You must come and believe.
No one else can do it for you, and because your brothers and sisters and your friends around you have done so.
Does that mean you're safe? You may feel comfortable. I'm telling you stop. It is not comfortable. You are lost and in your sins until you little boy, little girl, older one too, have come to the Lord Jesus and trusted in Him and He's finished work on the cross.
It must be personal come.
Don't wait, don't wait.
In the prayer meeting before the gospel and in talking with some some of the local brethren.
There is almost every time the gospel is preached at a conference like this, there are those who are deeply exercised about children and grandchildren that they are not sure have yet trusted in the Lord Jesus.
Well, dear young person, dear young young person, an older one too, there are grandmas and grandpas that are praying for you, that you might come and trust in the Lord Jesus and not delay.
You know how horrible it would feel for your mother or father or mom and dad?
To be standing at your graveside someday and not know.
If you have ever trusted in the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
I have a nephew.
Who, when he turned 18, wrote a letter.
To his mother and father and he said.
I have been an atheist since I was 14.
He had professed Christ. He had been baptized. He had been at the Lord's Table.
And he said I've been an atheist since I was 14.
I heard about a young man named John in the state of Washington. Went off to college.
Same thing, profess Christ as a young person, was baptized at the Lord's table, comes back from college and says I'm an agnostic.
I'm not sure whether God even exists or not.
You know, the Scripture tells us to examine ourselves, whether it be in the faith.
It's easy, I think, to come clear and know that it's real or not.
But if you went along to get along, you did the things that you saw going on around you because your friends were doing it.
You'd better take a second look.
So first, John.
Chapter 5 and verse 13.
I.
I mentioned talking with this little boy about hell. Part of our conversation was about whether you can know you're saved or not. He was telling me you can't and I said you can. No you can't. Yes you can. No you can't. Well after this experience I went home and I talked to my mother and I said what verse could I share with this young boy?
To show him that you can know.
So this is the verse my mother shared with me. These things have I written unto you, that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know.
Did she have eternal life and that she may believe on the name of the Son of God?
And she told me.
She said.
Son, you can know now. This young boy may not know.
But God's Word says you can know. So that means that even if you don't know, you can come to the place that you do know.
And by what? By what's written? By the word of God? What it says about this matter?
00:50:00
You can come to the place where you know it.
So you can start with that.
If you're in this room tonight.
And you're not sure?
This verse says you can be sure and know that you have eternal life.
Because here's the thing.
Let me ask you this.
Is Jesus trustworthy? Is there anyone here that would tell me that Jesus is not trustworthy?
Would you say that out loud? There might be someone. I don't trust him.
Well, that's honest if you would, but is there anyone here?
That professes the name of Christ. That would say Jesus Christ is not trustworthy.
No.
So do you trust him? If the answer is yes, what's the problem?
Because that's just it. If your trust is in him and he's finished work on the cross, there is no problem.
We sometimes talk about how one of the thieves on the cross got saved. You know the story. Jesus was crucified with two malefactors, one on each side. And early in the evening, the crowd around begins to mock the Lord Jesus and say, we'll come down if you're really who you claim to be. And one of the Gospel says that the thieves likewise cast the same into his teeth, I think it says.
How in the world crucified men could be?
So jovial. To join in making fun of the Lord Jesus is astonishing to me.
Or maybe they weren't Scourge in as bad a condition, but nonetheless, the scripture tells us they both did.
But in listening to all the things that happened on the cross and happened there.
One of them.
Had a change of heart.
And it says that the other thief began to mock again. And this one.
This one who's had a change of heart.
He tells the first thief to stop.
And he says we deserve what we're getting. This man doesn't. He's innocent.
And he turns to the Lord. Did he know a rote sinner's prayer? Did he have a chance to fill out a Decide for Christ card? Did he have an altar call to go forward at?
Could he even be baptized following his profession of faith? Could he do any good works?
No.
He didn't even hardly know what he was saying.
But here's the thing, He did come to know. Notice in what he says, Lord.
You know he's hung on the cross there with his feet and hands nailed. He can't bow his knee to anyone.
If he wanted to physically, but in his heart he did. Look what he says, Lord.
He bows the need to the one in the middle.
He bows the knee.
He says, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
In other words, if you've got something for me when you set up your Kingdom.
I'm open.
What is the Lord Jesus say to him? Simple faith like that.
That's what I'm asking of you. Come and trust him as simply as this thief did.
And Jesus says, today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
I saw an interesting comment on this.
A dear brother from across the pond, as they say, was taught. Can you imagine the thief when he arrives?
At Paradise Gates and the angels said to him, Why should we let you in?
What was his answer?
Because the guy in the middle said I could.
Yeah.
Jesus said Today thou shalt be with me in paradise.
And there on the cross, when Jesus gave up the ghost and he died.
He finished the work there that purchased that thief.
And paid for his sins. And like the two I read about with Lazarus and the rich man, these two thieves.
00:55:06
One went to be with the rich man in the place of torment.
And the other went to be in paradise.
Right after Jesus got there.
Now I've thought in my mind, what?
A celebration must have been happening when Jesus showed up in paradise for those three days. We're not told about it, but he was there.
And the thief was right behind.
He didn't OfferUp a basket of filthy rags. He didn't. He couldn't offer anything up he trusted.
In the one in the middle.
He didn't understand all the doctrines of justification and.
Sanctification or any of those things he trusted in the person and.
The Lord took care of it. So if you come in simple faith and trust in the Jesus of the Bible, the Jesus that Paul preached, the Jesus that is.
Preached in the Gospels, He is the person that can save you from your sins.
From a lost life and he can give you a new life. Now I'm going to tell you this.
Becoming a Christian is a tough Rd.
It's not easy. There was an old country and western song that says Allah has a line in it. I never promised you a Rose Garden. Well, he didn't.
But Jesus said that he would go with you.
What does he promise if you come to him? He says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
So whatever you face, he will go with you. Many face life's difficulties by themselves. And let me tell you, I get it. I understand why people self medicate with drugs and alcohol because if you are in a lot of pain in this life and you don't know that there's any other way, I understand why you might do that to ease your pain.
But what happens in this life when we try to do things like that for ourselves, it just makes things worse.
So come to the Lord Jesus Christ, put your faith and trust in Him.
He's a person. He's calling it to you now.
So we have in Matthew's Gospel.
Jesus inviting, saying, Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden.
And I will give you rest. That's an invitation.
Well, hear it. Listen, come.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock if any man hear my voice.
I will come into him and Sup with him, and he with me.
I asked at camp, at Morningstar camp, I asked a young person, a young boy there and girl, I said if somebody's knocking at your door and it's locked, how do they get in? You go and open the door. It's pretty simple, isn't it? Open the door, say yes.
Someone preaching the gospel once said.
I was a lost Sinner just like you.
I needed Christ just like you.
God Himself brought me to trust in Jesus Christ.
Any finished work on the cross?
Because in the moment that took place, I knew in that moment, as clear as could be, that I was headed for a lost eternity without Christ. So are you.
If you have not yet trusted.
You end the gospel meeting and you say to yourself.
What more could you say? What more could you preach? What more?
01:00:02
While the work is between you and him, so I will shut you up with that.
I'm not going to ask you to think about it overnight. I'm going to ask you to trust Him now while we pray. Just call on His name. Father, we ask Thee tonight that if there is anyone in this room that has not yet trusted in the Lord Jesus as Savior and Lord, that they will come tonight, that they will simply call on Thy name, Lord Jesus, to save them.
By thy spirit.
Thou canst reach through any blindness or deafness.
Any veil that may be over the heart and mind.
Father, we ask it in the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Letting Your Light Shine
Children—Dan Brimlow
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.
Good morning everyone. As it's not quite time yet, but if you'd like to start singing ahead of time, so we have.
More time to sing. You can give out a song. We have the song sheets here, and if you think that you would really like to sing one that's not on this and you think we know it, you can give that out too. So you don't even have to know how to read, you just have to know the song, OK?
Does anyone have a song to start with? Yes.
#47
Especially for kids, it's on the back.
The back of the sheet.
We start with #47.
When he cometh, when he cometh to.
Morning there is bright crown adorn me they shall shine. And it's you the bright chance for his crown.
He will gather. He will gather.
I jumps for his Kingdom.
Government.
There is no.
Like the?
Morning.
His bright ground adorn, they still shine in this beauty, right down the floor in the ground.
Children who love their Redeemer are that you crash your life, and there is something like the Stars of the Voice. It is right now for me. They shall shine in this year.
Like the little ones to come up front, even if.
You're 10 or 12. Just come on up front. There's plenty of room in the front. We'd like children up front and we'd like to.
Give each one that says a verse.
A little encouragement for saying their verse.
Come. Come on up front. I see you back there.
Please, let's have another song. Children Up Front, please. This is especially for children under 12 years old. Up front is fine. And if you.
Feel young. Even if you're in your 90s, you can still sit up front.
Who has the song?
Anybody have a song they'd like to sing? Dean? Just sit up front here. Glad you're here. Come on up.
OK, that's good. We'd like to have it so full that there's no room left. Yes #25.
Could you hold that? You need a chair. There's one here. There's a couple right back here.
We can bring some more chairs around too, if we'd like.
Number what was it 25?
Do you know that what used to be one of my favorite ones, we would sing and my dad liked it too, but it's very solemn.
Life.
How long?
How long is life for on Earth?
It's it's till you die and then.
00:05:03
Then what?
The verse you're going to say this morning is it's a afterlife. It's appointed unto man once to die.
And after death, the judgment, we want to talk about everlasting life too.
But this this is very solemn to think about.
Life that best?
And you're pride because you're laying in time.
To the arms of Jesus.
By being in time.
Oh my, great at the cross, where the faithful might be cross and your Chrysler sold me lost in time.
Be inclined being in time, while the voice of Jesus follows you, being in time.
It can save you longer. Break, you can find no one can get it. And I'm your pride is just too late.
Being in time.
Boiling voice may.
You may find no love and day and your pride. Be just too late. Be in time.
You know, that's been a favorite of a lot of people. My dad used to have a wrecking yard and we had workers come. Boys would like to come after school and work at the wrecking yard and.
Then my my dad would invite them to hear the gospel and.
They would learn this song by heart. They didn't even have Christian parents, but they like this song.
One of the boys grew up. His name was Dave Stapleton.
And his favorite song?
Was be in time.
00:10:01
In 1966.
He got called to go to Vietnam.
And we didn't know if he was going to come back. He was right on the front lines. His friends were killed.
For when he came, he came back. He had shrapnel and things in his body. He was was hurt in the war.
And his song, his favorite song, still was Be in Time, but I never quite got it straight from him, whether he really had accepted the Lord as his savior or not.
It's wonderful to sing about being time the Bible talks about.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs.
Making melody in your heart to the Lord.
Well, glad you're here. Here's one here.
Would you like to sit on the on the stage over here? There's plenty of room over here. Or here's a chair over here too.
Thank you all for coming. There's still some seats in the 2nd row for children we really would like.
People under the age of.
12 to sit up front.
But you don't have to come. Yes. Come on, James.
Do you want to sit in here? Thank you. Let's pray.
Our loving God and our Father. Thank you for this time together.
Especially for the children.
And we ask that they would not only sing these songs.
Not only say these verses, but that they would.
Be in time that they would trust our Lord Jesus Christ, Thy own Son.
As their savior, Lord Jesus, we give thanks.
That thou hast come into the world.
So that we could be saved.
Saved from the penalty of sin.
We do pray that the word would be clear.
And that thy word would be hid in our hearts, that we might not sin against thee.
And that we might have peace being forgiven when we've messed up.
We pray these things in the worthy and precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I'm glad there are so many here today.
Umm, any more children up front to come up front? I see a few around, but you don't have to.
First of all.
I would like if you could say a verse to say a verse and I'd like to give a little gift for it and then we're going to sing a couple more songs.
Where is the verse in the Sunday school paper?
Anyone know the verse that was in the Sunday School paper for this week? Yes.
Hebrews 927 and 28, let's open it up and we're going to start and it just go around the room and see if we can say it. That's a very good verse and then I'm going to talk about it a little bit.
Hebrews 9.
27 and 28.
Would you? If you just want to say 927, that's OK.
Dean, would you like to try to start saying it and can you come up here with these little?
A little reward for saying your verse.
And when he's done, then you could open up and let him have one.
Do you want to say it? Do you want some help?
OK, what did I do with? Here it is.
It starts out by saying, and as it is appointed unto men.
Do you want to try it OK?
See it right into there.
It is appointed unto man.
Once to die.
But after this, the judgment.
So Christ.
Was once offered.
00:15:01
To bear the sons of many Hebrews 927 and 20.
Thank you very much.
Who else would like to say it 49 Two men that wants to die?
And after this.
But after this though the judgment of Christ.
So Christ, which? Which one to bear this into many Hebrews 928 and 29.
Help.
It is appointed unto.
Men once to die, but after this the judgment.
I'll keep going.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
Hebrews 927 and 28.
It is appointed on demand once to die, but after this is judgment, so cries.
Died was once offered to bear the sins of many Hebrews 927 and 28.
It was appointed on Timin once to die.
But after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.
Hebrews, 2728.
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many people. 927 and 28.
He disappointed Antoine once to die.
He had.
But after.
This the judgment he was offered to bear the sins of many Hebrews 928.
That's a disappointing And was it be pointed?
Unto men.
Once to die, but after this.
The judgment.
Hebrews 927.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 316.
Any verse.
Verse. Any verse.
Can you see those? Jesus came into the world to save things.
Can I help you at all?
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting long life. John 316.
Can can I help you with one?
316 I guess.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth.
In him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. John 316.
Your sins and your Iniquities Will I remember no more Hebrews 812.
That he gave his only begotten son that who's you ever believed in him should not perish, but I've ever left he Knights John 360.
You know, it's good to have a verse ready. I was.
Visiting forest Adkins and he was on his deathbed, and I thought it would be good for my children to say a verse for him.
And umm, I had a son that he'd like to say. Short ones.
And so he I said, Nathan, do you have a verse for Brother Forest? He said, OK, prepare to meet the Lord thy God Amos 4/12.
Forrest smiled. He was ready, and he left in a few days.
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
00:20:09
Hebrews 927 and 28.
And as it disappointed until then once to die, but after the judgment, so Christ was unsolved to breathe the sins of many, and unto them that looked for him shall he appear the second time without sending to salvation. Hebrews 927 through 28.
It's appointed unto man once a day, but after this the judgment so Christ was once offered.
To bear the sins of many Hebrews 927 and 28 Wonderful thank you.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and unto them that looked for him shall he appear the second time, without sin, unto salvation, Hebrews.
926.
And 28.
And as it is appointed.
Wonder Man wants to die. I'm goodbye and business judgment.
Thank you.
Matthew appointed remittance today.
After this the judgment. After this the judgment.
9/26/27.
So God to love the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
John 16 Good, thank you. It is appointed on two men once today, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of money. Hebrews 9/27/28.
That is important to me, that wants to die, but after the decisions, the crash was once suffered to bear the sins of me.
He was 9, 2728.
It is.
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment. Hebrews 927.
It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this is judgment, Hebrews 9/27/28.
It is appointed once it is appointed, and to man wants to die.
And after this.
The Judgment, Hebrews 2.
9/27/28.
I need help.
It is appointed unto man once to die. It is appointed unto man once to die.
But after this, the judgment.
Hebrews 927.
It is acquainted.
And two men wants to die.
But after.
This the judgment.
Hebrews 927.
00:25:01
It is appointed unto men want to die, but to this the judgment, So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many he be the woman. 1927 and 28.
And it was appointed unto and once to die, and after this the judgment. So he was offered a better sense of money. He bruised 9/27/28.
It is appointed on demand once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ is once offered to bear the sins of many Hebrews 9/27/28.
It is abundant on the Maryland's diet, but after this adjustment, surplus runs over the bed since many.
He would knife on each other in 28.
It is appointed unto men who wants to die. But after this the judgement spoke, Rice was once offered to bear the sins of many Hebrews 9/27/28.
It is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
It was 927 and 28 And as it is appointed her unto men once to die. But after this the judgment, so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many, and into them that looked for him he shall appear as a second time.
Without sin of anti salvation, Hebrews 927 and 28.
Be kind one to another 10.
Be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's hath forgiven you. Ephesians 432.
Thank you. That was a great verse being kind.
Country 16 For God to love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life drawn through. 16.
Good.
For God, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. John 316.
So, gods, love the word that he gave his only begotten son. So whosoever believes in him should not ever ever lasting much wonderful. So whosoever believeth in him should not perish. I like that part of it.
That he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him shall not bear with.
But have asked for lasting watch.
2016.
Yeah, as as it is appointed.
And as it is appointed on two men once to die, but after Urdus the judgment.
He was not.
9/27.
For God to love the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in them should not perish, but will have for everlasting a life. John 316.
So the sudden God who loved me and gave himself regulation since June 20. Wonderful, James.
Prepare to meet thy God, Amos 412. Wonderful. He's got it anymore.
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
Genesis 11. Good, good. That's wonderful. I'd like to.
Just talk about this a little bit.
We got a few more over here. I'm so sorry. Help me out if we've forgotten some. Yes, God, duh.
Your sister.
It is, it pointed out to men once to die, but after this the judgment. So Christ was once offered to balances of many Hebrews 9/27/28.
00:30:13
It is.
Man wants to die, but after this the direction of Christ which wants offered to bear this in Germany he was 9/27/28. Thank you very much. Did I miss somebody?
Can we? Can I help you say 1?
It's just where's it found.
Saint John just said Jesus doesn't work. No.
It's OK.
He is appointed under man wants to die, but after this judgment, so Christ once offered barely since many Hebrews 9/27/28.
Wonderful.
You know you need a seat now.
There's one over here by James. Or you want to sit by Cousin. That's good. So how many do we have left?
There's a few left if people had verses.
Umm.
I would like to talk about.
This verse a little bit.
We all have an appointment to leave this world.
And you leave this world with Christ or without Christ.
Why did Christ Jesus come into the world?
Can someone raise their hand? Why did Christ Jesus come into the world? Because he loved many men.
Yes, in love The Lord Jesus came down into this world.
Why else did he loved? He wanted to be with people. Why else did he come down?
Disabled from Russians, wonderful Christ Jesus came into the world.
To save sinners. One Timothy 115. The Bible says it. That's the purpose.
Are you saved? This is especially for children.
And if you don't know that your sins are forgiven, you're not saved.
The Lord Jesus came so that you wouldn't have to bear the punishment of sins.
So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many.
It was like the Lord Jesus became a sacrifice.
The just for the unjust that he could bring us to God.
Have you ever been?
Talked with the Lord Jesus, asked him to forgive your sins.
Believe that he died a sacrifice for you. If you've done that, you don't have to worry about paying for your sins if Jesus has paid for it, but if you've never accepted that.
It says after death the judgment.
We sang that song Be in Time.
It's offered to all, but this says so. Christ was once offered.
To bear the sins of many, many people are going to be saved.
But not all.
Why?
Because they believed not in the Son of God, whosoever believeth is not condemned.
But he that believeth not is condemned already, because he believeth not in the Son of God.
The one that the verse one of you said, The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, He did it for you.
Will you believe? If you have believed in Him, then like we've been talking earlier in the conferences, from the moment someone believes in the Lord Jesus as their Savior, they receive everlasting life.
And.
They have the Holy Spirit.
Living inside.
00:35:04
So.
When the Holy Spirit lives inside, then the life of Christ shines out of our lives.
And we have many stories in the Bible how the love of God.
Shined out of the lives of other people.
So that people could know the Lord believe and be saved.
I'd like you all to turn on your little lights.
And hold them up, you can shine them at each other.
Let me see the mall.
You got them on. That's wonderful. Do you know that song, This little light of mine?
Let's all sing it, OK? You want to, You want to sing it here in this or not?
Somebody want to sing it in here?
Oh, Maddie, thank you. I'll sing it out here already. This little light of mine. I'm going to land it. Shine. I'm going to let it shine. Let it shine, Let it shine All the time.
I'm going to let it shine, hide it under the shoe, no.
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine all the time.
Let it shine. Kill Jesus. Come. I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Tell Jesus comes. I'm gonna let it shine. Let it shine. Let it shine.
Do you want to say that one too?
Don't let Satan.
I'm gonna let it shine. Don't let Satan.
I'm gonna let it shine, let it shine, let it shine all the time.
You know, the verse says let your light so shine before men that they would see what?
Do anybody know the verse? Let your light so shine before men that they would see.
Your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.
So good. Do you know when you believe in the Lord Jesus as your savior?
All of a sudden you become a child of God. You are born again.
And you have a Father in Heaven, a loving Father of Heaven.
And part of that is he doesn't want us to be disobedient and he keeps working on us, maybe with something called discipline, so that we.
Can go the right way and we don't have to have the fruit of sin in our life. The wages of sin is death all the time.
Not only for eternity, but even in life when we sin.
It hurts other people and ourselves.
And so when we have a Father in Heaven.
He's looking down and he tells the Holy Spirit to touch our hearts and our consciences.
That's wrong.
And when we've sinned, it's even the Holy Spirit.
That brings to our our memory.
What's right? And we have an advocate.
In heaven that we can confess our sins and forsake our sins and have mercy.
So let your light so shine before men that they would see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
Can you please turn off your lights, put them down so you don't shine them around at other people? And I'd like to talk about.
Three stories of.
People that were, and maybe we can have some help with the children I've been thinking about a lot about.
Little boys and little girls and life.
Life is so important.
00:40:00
It's precious.
There is.
In First Kings 17 there is a story.
About a time when it didn't rain for years.
Grass didn't grow.
Animals started getting hungry. Animals started dying. People were hungry.
And there was a.
A little boy and his mom. She was a widow lady. She didn't have a husband to work for.
And they didn't have any food. Hardly any.
And they were.
Going to die. Does anybody know that story?
Can you tell me a little bit about it? What happened?
Then a prophet came and he told her to fill up all the she had a little bit of a olive oil left and he told her to fill up all the jars she had with it and to sell it and to sell it. Wonderful. That's that's one of the stories that that comes just before the story I was thinking about. But that that is right.
God saw that she needed it, needed help.
And.
He sent a man of God with the word of the Lord.
And did a miracle. Which one were you thinking of? Yeah. What happened? He came and asked her to make him, I forgot his cake or some stuff. And she's like, I'm going to make a smile. And she made it for him and she never ran out of food. Very good. They were about ready to die. And she could gathered a few sticks and she was on her way out to to get some sticks to cook their last meal. And then.
They were going to die.
They didn't.
They didn't want to die.
But God sent the Prophet, and he got her.
He said. You make it, you trust the Lord, and you'll get it. And they did.
So for the almost it was the whole time the Lord sustained him.
But something very sad happened in that story.
Do you remember what happened to the boy?
What happened to that boy?
He did. He got sick.
And then he died.
But one of the prophets, it blung him back to life. Or maybe it was Jesus. I don't remember.
Yes, it was the prophet with the word of the Lord. And he went in. It's in. It's in First Kings. Where's my glasses? Are they up here? Oh, there they are over here.
And this is First Kings chapter 17.
And verse 16 In the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruise of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah. And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick, and his sickness was so sore.
That there was no breath left in him.
He died and she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee? Thou man of God? Art thou come to me to call my sin to remembrance and slay my son?
And he said unto her, Give me thy son. He took him out of her bosom, carried her up to a loft, where he abode laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow, with whom I sojourned by slaying your son?
And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord, my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come back into him. And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah, and the Soviet child came to him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, brought him down out of the chamber, into the house, delivered him unto his mother.
00:45:13
And Elijah said, See thy son liveth. And the woman said to Elijah, Now by this I know thou art a man of God, that the word of the Lord is in thy mouth. In thy mouth is truth.
This.
This boy died.
But God.
Did a miracle and brought him back to life.
Do you know it's appointed unto man once to die for sure, or leave this world, but after death the judgment?
We want you to trust in the Lord as your savior.
Is this meeting over at 10:30?
Quarter after.
We are. I'm just going to tell you. I was thinking of the other story. There are two more stories that I'm going to just tell you. We've got just a couple minutes. There was another story about a woman that couldn't have a baby.
And the Lord heard her prayer, gave her a son, and that little boy died too.
But.
God sent the Prophet. He went, he prayed and restored him to life.
And then I was thinking of the little girl in.
Luke.
The Father came to the Lord Jesus and said.
My daughter is dying. Would you please come to the house and help my daughter?
And she says, yes, I will. And on the way, a lady.
Stopped him and she had a problem that the Lord healed. And then someone said your daughter's dead.
But the Lord said only believe, and he went, and he raised her to life.
The Lord Jesus cares about your life here on earth. We pray to him.
And he can answer those prayers and bring you back in life.
But more important is eternal life.
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
Are you saved?
There is a girl over at camp. I think she was about nine years old. How many people are 9 here?
1239 years old she had accepted her name was Delilah. She had accepted the Lord Jesus as her savior, and because of that someone told her you should be If you've accepted the Lord, you should be baptized. So she got baptized in the lake at camp. This year. Her name was Delilah.
And as we were going.
Out there, she said. I was talking to her mom.
And her grandmother was there too. And I.
I found out she happened to be Marvin and Arlene, Spring's granddaughter.
30 years ago.
40 years ago.
Arlene Spring was in the assembly.
In.
Winchester, CA.
The Lord is cares about your families, even if the parents go off and go wrong.
He's giving you an opportunity to trust in the Lord as your savior, and if you have.
You have the opportunity to show that you have died with Christ. That's what baptism is saying. I believed on the Lord Jesus. When I go into the water, it's like I died. I'm crucified with Christ. Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me. And the life which I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
00:50:11
If you haven't.
Trusted the Lord as your savior.
Please, this is your opportunity. Be in time if you have.
And you haven't been baptized?
You should be baptized.
It shows everybody outwardly what happened on the inside.
Well, the time is up and umm, I do.
I was going to give something else and.
I will.
But there's only a limited time and a limited amount, so after the meeting you can come people that got lights, you worked for it.
But a gift, a free gift like salvation, you don't have to work for it. The Lord Jesus.
Gave his life for us. You just have to receive it and believe it. Let's pray our loving God and our Father thank you for the time this morning. We pray blessing on the lives of these little children that they would be in time, that they would trust Jesus and that with when they have their appointment with death.
They will go straight. Their soul will go straight to be with Christ, which is far better.
We do pray that they would be prepared to meet.
Our Lord God, thank you Lord Jesus for paying the price at an awful cost to thyself that we could come and be saved.
We commit the rest of the day into Thy hands our God and Father, and the remembrance of thy dear Son who loved us, gave himself for us. In offering a sweet savour to the our God, we pray that that Savior would go up as we would worship and praise Thee for what thou hast done.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.
Comfort
Open—Bill Prost
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There's no friend of sin to win.
That's great.
Blessed God.
Our Father.
Begun to be beginning this meeting.
Going how dependent we are.
On the.
We are so thankful and grateful to thee.
That thou hast blessed us though much in these meetings.
And we do pray that the next hour might be more of the same.
And that thou was delivered from the mind of God.
By Thy spirit, that which would neither meet our needs, We are so thankful that Thou hast met those needs, and we just cried to Thee for Thy help and grace, knowing that it's only of Thee that we can be blessed.
And we cried to thee for thy guidance and direction, for whoever would come, stand up and speak, that they might be aware that we all need to be nourished and fed. And so we thank thee for those verses that.
Alan Redden.
In 2nd Corinthians 14 and just pray that there would be the liberty of thy Spirit to minister to our needs. In the name of the Lord Jesus we pray. Amen.
Reminds me of something I read a little while ago where JN Darby was attending a conference in the United States of America and I read with some gratitude and a bit of a smile on my face that two brothers were helping him along to get to the meetings too.
Not that in any way I can compare to him. I don't mean that.
I have in my heart this afternoon.
More of what?
Alan mentioned when he read that verse in First Corinthians 14.
The side of comfort. And in order to see that, perhaps we could turn for a few moments to John's gospel.
Chapter 14.
This chapter is so full.
That we could spend a whole conference on it and never get to the end of it.
But.
If we want to look at it in a, shall I say, divide it up a little bit, we get the first mention, clear and definite mention of the Lord's coming for us. And what a precious truth that is. Here were the disciples very much concerned and very sad that their Lord and Master was going away from them.
And the Lord Jesus says in verse one.
Let not your heart be troubled. Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.
I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
There is the precious truth of the Lord's coming, and of course more of that is developed in Paul's ministry. But here it is first of All in all its freshness and joy to a group of disciples who were.
00:05:15
Mourning the loss of the one with whom they accompanied for the past 3 1/2 years.
I'd like to think of all this as primarily being love to remember many years ago.
Good. Many years ago when I and another young brother were privileged to spend a few days with our late brother Eric Smith. This would be well over 50 years ago, and in the course of our time there and in the assembly there in Tampa, FL where he was at that time, we sung the hymn 195.
Worthy of homage and of praise. Worthy by all to be adored.
And one of the verses in that hymn ends up in this way, so full of life and light and love.
And when we got home for dinner, Eric Smith said to.
My friend and I, and ultimately to his wife Francis, at that time, he said there is a summary of John's Gospel beginning with life.
And then light and then love. And I would suggest the section on love perhaps begins with chapter 13. Not that we want to.
Shall I say pigeonhole everything too tightly? And so here we have the Lord's coming brought before us. But then in the next few verses, down to the end of verse 14, we have something most precious. We have the Lord developing a little bit.
Of what it would mean to be in the father's house.
And this is something that is better felt and enjoyed in the soul than explained in human language. Bruce alluded to it a little bit in the address and I appreciated it. Just think.
That God himself.
Who loves his son so much?
With a love that you and I can never measure.
Wants you and me to be.
In that same home, the Father's house, to enjoy what to enjoy? The fullness of the Father's love and his joy in his beloved son and in the exaltation of his beloved son.
We don't have time to go on to the sorry to go into all the scriptures that bring before us the fact that God.
From a past eternity did not only have you and me in mind.
He not only chose you and me before the foundation of the world, but He had before Him something over and above that, if I could say it that way. And that is the exaltation, the honor and glory of His beloved Son.
And so the necessary step toward all that was, of course, the cross.
Because if his son were going to be heir of all things, as we read in Hebrews chapter one.
We read that he was appointed heir of all things before he made the worlds. It's mentioned first whom he hath appointed heir of all things before, by whom also he made the world's. God had appointed him to that place even before these worlds were made. Man can go back as far as he wants.
Pardon me, man can go back as far as he wants and say well.
This world is so old and so on.
But ultimately.
Long before this world was made, however old it is, God had purposed.
The honor and glory of His beloved Son.
And so we have some of those things mentioned here in the verses down to verse 14.
And we don't have time to refer to all of them except to point out here.
00:10:02
That Thomas says in verse 5, Lord, we know not whither thou ghost, and how can we know the way?
Oh, what was the problem with Thomas's thinking?
The problem that I must confess I have had in my thinking from time to time.
Thomas was thinking of a place.
And.
If you and I are going to go from A to B in North America here, we do have to know the way.
And if we don't know the way, we need to travel with someone who does know the way.
Or we need to have a map, or in these latter days a GPS and so on.
We need somehow to know the way, but here the Lord reveals to them and is so precious, His thinking is so far above ours, that it's not a physical map that we need or the way that we need to know. In natural things He says I am the way, the truth and the life.
How precious that is. Well then, Philip says. But.
How can we know the Father? Show us the Father and that'll be enough for us.
O the Lord Jesus says.
Hast thou been so? I'll read it there in verse nine. Verse verse 9 of.
John 14 Have I been so long time with you? And yet as thou not knowing me felt he that hath seen me hath seen the Father? Oh, how beautiful that is, that when you and I come to know the Lord Jesus, what do we see?
Absolutely, perfectly reflected in Him. God the Father.
Now we're into a realm here that you and I cannot fully understand. I may have said this once before, but it really warmed my heart. Many, many years ago, perhaps 150 years ago, someone pitched this question at a well taught brother in a reading meeting. Well, when we get up there to heaven, will we actually see the Father?
And the brother's comment I thought was very wise, he said. I know of no scripture that actually says.
In clear and definite words we shall see the Father. But he said, if we are in the Father's house, I cannot imagine being there without being very much aware of His presence. How beautiful that is. And so you and I are looking forward to that, and it ought to comfort our hearts in the difficulties of these last days. And they are.
A sister in my home assembly now in Rio Ferry, Ontario, Canada, commented to me some months ago, she said. Bill, be glad you're the age you are.
I knew what she meant and I don't envy those that are young enough to be my sons or daughters, or even worse still, to be my grandchildren. And I actually have one grandchild now, a great grandchild, I meant to say. And I don't envy you because the world is going to get worse and worse.
Excuse me?
But in passing, before we go down for a few moments to the last part of the chapter, with Bruce's permission, I'd like to make a little comment on that event in Genesis 15 that I think he would have commented a little more on that, on that subject had he not run out of time.
You'll remember how that he commented on how Abram went and took a Bullock of three years old, and a goat of three years old and so on, and a turtle dove and young pigeons.
And he divided them in the midst, not the turtledove and the pigeons.
They signify perhaps a somewhat lesser understanding.
Of the things of God. But the Bullock and the other larger animals he divided in the midst, and he had to drive the fowls away. And Bruce already explained what that meant. But then what happened between those pieces? There went a burning lamp and a smoking furnace, after the horror of the great darkness came down.
And that is Bruce already commented on his Calvary's cross.
00:15:04
The horror of the great darkness. You and I can never Plumb the depths of that. When the Lord Jesus in those three hours of darkness took upon him.
The suffering for our sins.
But there those pieces are divided and it's dark. But then.
A smoking lamp and a burning furnace passed between those pieces.
Suggests that the burning lamp speaks of guidance. Guidance.
In the midst of that darkness, but the smoking lamp speaks of the trials in our lives that the Lord allows in order to make us more like Christ. And if I can say so, sometimes that furnace can get very hot. A refiners furnace has to be very hot so that it causes the.
Metal to become molten.
And then the impurities I understand rise to the top and they can be skimmed off.
But I want to say that that lamp and that furnace in your life and mine, the lamp will get brighter as the Lord's coming draws near. The smoking furnace will get hotter, perhaps.
But what does that picture give us?
Both the lamp and the furnace are flanked by the cross.
They are flanked by the cross.
He that despaired not his own Son, but delivered him up first all, shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? And there will always be a path for faith. The lamp will always be there. Yes, the furnace will certainly be there too, but the lamp will always be there, and it will be flanked by the cross of Christ.
Let's go on though, for just a few moments.
To the last part of the chapter, because there are a couple of precious things.
I'd like to comment on here.
I suggest in a simple way that the last part of John 14.
And it bears it's really, I don't want to keep referring to Bruce's address, but the whole thing just seemed to solidify what I had been going through my mind the last few days. And that is on the one hand, there is the glory before us.
That's Ephesians chapter one. That's the prayer, the first prayer in Ephesians, one that ye may know.
But then you come to Ephesians 3, and it's that ye may be, and the last half of John 14 is the present enjoyment of everything that is in the first half.
And so notice what it says there.
Verse 16 I will pray the Father, and he will shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever.
And what is the specific, shall we say, object of that comforter? Notice verse 18. I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you. How does that happen? He comes through the Holy Spirit, and you and I can know the Lord Jesus in a fuller and more wonderful way than we could ever have known even if we had been here on earth.
And accompanied with him.
You and I say, well, how could that be? Wouldn't it be the most wonderful thing to have accompanied with the Lord and to have known Him then? In one sense, yes. But without the Holy Spirit, the disciples often couldn't enter into what the Lord was saying. They couldn't understand when He brought things before them.
Hast thou been so long time with me, Philip? And hast thou not knowing me?
Yes, there were many things the Lord communicated to them that just didn't seem to.
Fit their understanding. But what happened? And we had it in our readings.
When the Spirit of God came down, oh, suddenly there was an intelligence that had never been there before.
And so it is with you and me. And it is not merely intelligence in the matter of head knowledge. It is the intelligence of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ, not merely knowing Him as Savior, not merely knowing that we are saved once and for all, not merely knowing that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ.
00:20:22
But rather knowing him and if you read the first few verses of two Peter chapter one.
It tells us there that we get all things that pertain unto life and godliness. Through what?
Through the knowledge of the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. It is not merely, and I don't want to be misunderstood.
The knowledge of all that is in this precious word, but rather it is allowing the Spirit of God to use the Word of God.
So that we actually do not merely know about the Lord Jesus and about the Father, but we come to know them.
Well then we go on here and we find that in verse 27 it says.
Peace I leave with you.
My peace I give unto you.
Two different kinds of peace.
And they are most beautiful, most wonderful. The first one, I suggest, is a piece of knowing that you and I are saved once and for all, and that all our sins are sheltered through the precious blood of Christ. That is real peace as to our sins. But then the second piece goes beyond that, because obviously, and I speak with all reverence. Excuse me?
The Lord Jesus never needed to have peace relative to the matter of sin.
But there was a piece in which he walked through this world a perfect peace.
That accepted every circumstance from God and took all his circumstances and difficulties.
To God. And so we read of how the Lord would daily be in the temple there, teaching and preaching.
But then what happened? At night? He was in the Mount of Olives, alone with the father.
Alone.
Why? Because he was the perfect dependent man. And in that way he gives you and me an example.
And so he says that in finishing the verse, not, as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
I say that to each one of you to day, as I say it to my own heart. The world is getting more difficult and more complicated, and it's going to be harder and harder to live a life to God's glory. But allow me to quote our late brother, Clifford Brown, and I'm old enough to remember him quite well.
And he used to tell us, he said, God will always give you and me.
The opportunity and ability to walk a clean path through this world.
God will never show you and me something in his word and we have to say I can't carry it out because circumstances make it impossible, he said. God will not be God or would not be God if he did them. That is true and so we can depend on him.
But then there's something even more precious in this chapter, if I could say it.
Notice something and going back a bit for the moment to verse 21.
Either hath my commandments and keepeth them. He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. And then notice verse 23, a very similar line of things. Jesus answered and said unto him, That is to Judas, not Judas Iscariot. If a man loved me, he will keep my words.
And my father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him.
What does it mean when it says in the middle of verse 21 And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father?
That is not the same love as John 316.
Because never in the New Testament does it ever say, nor in the Old Testament either.
That the Father loved the world? That's not an accurate expression, for God so loved the world.
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But here's the Father, loving those that are already his.
And then the Lord says in verse 23, If a man love me, he will keep my words.
And my father will love him. What does that mean? That is the kind of love.
That comes from a father's heart toward one of his children.
Who is obedient to His words? And if you and I want to enter into the joy.
Of the Lord's coming, and all that will be ours in the Father's house. May I suggest to you that this.
Is the way to go about it.
Obedience and happiness.
Go together.
Sometimes you shrink back from full obedience. I speak to my own heart. And sometimes that world about which our brother spoke in the young people's meeting yesterday can have quite a tug on our hearts. And as he pointed out, we're like that frog. I remember using or hearing that same illustration when I was in medical school to illustrate the anatomy and all that of the frog. Yeah, we learned human anatomy, too. Don't worry. But the point is.
He, one of our professors, explained it that way and I immediately thought that's a good illustration of a believer in this world.
We need to remember that worldliness is insidious. And a brother 150 years ago said I fear worldliness more among the Saints of God than I fear bad doctrine. Not that bad doctrine isn't serious. It is, but but it can be more easily identified.
And dealt with. But worldliness creeps in its insidious.
And before we know it, the world has got a hold on us. What is the answer?
Have this book before you. As Bruce said, get up early if you have to to read it.
I'm a morning person by nature, but I don't think my son would mind my saying this. We had a son who was a night owl and he did his best work after 11:00 at night. If you're that kind of a Christian, maybe late at night is your time to read. That's not the point. The point is read the word of God and then walk in the good of it.
But one more last point I want to make.
And to me this.
It caps it all off.
And it says there in verse 28, I don't know anything more precious.
And maybe this is an exaggerated statement, but very, very important. I don't know anything more precious in these last few chapters of John, with the exception perhaps of the 17th chapter. But notice verse 28.
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you.
And notice this, if ye loved me, ye would rejoice.
Because I said, I go unto the Father for my father.
Is greater than I.
What is the Lord saying there?
Reminds me of two prisoners.
Who can't simply have to tell one another they're both saved. They're both in prison, but one keeps reminding the other one. Now they were in prison for crimes they committed long before they were saved, but they keep reminding one another in prison. It's not about us.
And at the end of this chapter brings before us in full circle to what we had at the beginning, and that is that God has before him the honor and glory of His beloved Son.
And if God has that before him, the Lord Jesus counts on the fact that you.
And I have that before us too.
Here are the disciples, all sad.
And upset and worried, perhaps because their Lord and Master was going to be taken from them.
And this isn't the only reverse in the New Testament that brings this out. But we won't go to any other verse.
The Lord turns things right around and says, if you really love me.
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You would rejoice for what reason?
For my sake, for my sake, can you rise above your own grief, your own sadness that I'm going away and look at it from my point of view?
Oh.
That's something, isn't it? We're used to being, shall I say it, even in our Christianity, we're used to being self-centered.
And without wanting to be critical of any hymns that we sing, sometimes, there are those hymns that we sometimes sing.
That sometimes focuses on ourselves and without being critical of other hymn books.
Our Little Flock Hymn book is one of the few hymn books with a lot of good hymns in it that take us outside of ourselves and focus on the Lord and hymns to the Father and so on.
But many hymns focus on ourselves and all that the Lord does for us, and how that He is there in every grief and every sorrow and so on.
All very, very true and very good, and I would not diminish it in any way.
But isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to get out of my own grief and say, Lord, I know you're going to look after me and to get out of that and be able to rejoice in his joy and all that he is?
Remember a brother who ministered after the breaking of bread once on the welcome that the Lord must have gotten.
One the other side of that cloud when he was received out of their sight.
Can you and I get beyond that? I trust we can. He would rejoice. And that, I suggest, if I can say it this way, is the key to supreme happiness. To be able to get outside of ourselves, to be able to have His joy in our soul. Because what will it be like in all eternity? Will you and I be thinking of ourselves?
There will be fullness of joy in every heart, no question about it but our object.
Will be his joy, and that's why, as a brother brought out in the reading meeting, that I will cast our crowns before him. Because heaven in essence, I suggest, and words fail, but it will be the eternal.
Blessed joy of the unfolding of what?
The glory that you and I share, yes, we will share it, but it will be the eternal unfolding.
Of the glories of Christ and he wants us to enjoy all that now and what it will be like in in that bright glory. Yes, we have to deal with responsibilities in this world. There are the cares of this life and they are real. They are difficult.
But the Lord says that lamp is there to guide, and that furnace is there too.
Take the impurities out of you to try you, but it's all there buttress. If I could use that term on both sides by the cross, and the Lord is going to bring you and me through. He said he would.
And He wants us to enjoy all of it now. But that great glory will be.
Gardens
Open—Don Rule
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Want to present to you.
I don't say I want to. I believe God.
Wants to present to you this afternoon a garden that he invites you to enter and enjoy this afternoon.
Where you will see no man save Jesus only.
To get to that point, let's look at a few gardens in Scripture, starting in Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2 and verse 15.
And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the knowledge of the garden thou mayest freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it. For in the day that thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die.
And.
Chapter 3.
And verse.
Eight or verse seven in the eyes of them were both opened, and they knew that they were naked, and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons. And they heard the voice of the Lord walking in the cool of the day. And Abraham and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord amongst the trees of the garden.
The Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou? And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.
And he said, Who told thee that thou was naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldst not eat? And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest me to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
Let's go over to the end of the chapter. We're not going to develop what happens here in the Garden of Eden and.
Verse 22.
And the Lord God said, Behold, the man has become as one of us to know good and evil, and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden.
Of Eden to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man, and he placed that the east of the garden of Eden cherubims and a flaming sword, which turned every way to keep the way of the tree of life. We all know very well the story that Adam God planted a garden.
And that's where he chose Adam and Eve to live.
And he put them in the garden that he had for them, and in that garden he provided everything necessary for their happiness, for their fellowship with Himself, for the sustaining of their life, for their telling of the ground to cultivate the trees and the plants of the garden, as well as provision and responsibility to guard the garden.
Into which he had placed them.
We just read how because they partook.
When they were not supposed to of the tree of life, God put them out of that garden.
And he put a guard over the entrance to the garden that guarded what?
The tree of life.
The tree of life.
Let's turn on to John's Gospel chapter.
Chapter. I think it's 18.
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John's Gospel.
Chapter 18.
And verse one another garden scene. This garden.
When Jesus had spoken these words, he went forth with his disciples over the book Kidron.
Where was a garden into the which he entered, and his disciples, and Judas also, which betrayed him, knew the place.
Going to apply this.
In this way.
This is a point in the life of the Lord Jesus where he has to say this is your hour and the power of darkness.
This is Satan's hour.
And here we have one of his servants, Judas, who had had the wonderful privilege of being with the Lord Jesus for 3 1/2 years.
He knew the place, He knew the garden where they might find Jesus.
And So what happens?
As a moral picture, what happens is this.
Satan had gone into the Garden of Eden to deceive the man and the woman and to bring them into disobedience.
And further than that, into death.
Their disobedience cost them their life. The wages of sin is death.
And they lost their life as a consequence. That was the work of Satan, to come into that garden.
With that intent.
The little picture here that we've just read about is Satan.
Leading his servants into the garden to destroy the Tree of Life.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
That was his intent and his power at that point.
Was to go back into the garden, if you will, with a further purpose.
To destroy the very tree of life.
Lord Jesus Christ.
Turn over to another garden scene.
In chapter.
20 on Chapter 19.
John, Chapter 19.
And verse 41.
I'll read verse 40. We all know the story. I'm assuming common knowledge, not going into the explaining the details.
John 19 verse 40 And they took the body of Jesus, and wounded in linen claws with the spices, in the manner of the Jews, as to bury now in the place where he was crucified.
There was a garden.
And in the garden, a new sepulchre.
Wren was never man yet laid.
There they laid Jesus. Therefore, because of the Jews, preparation day for the sepulchre was not at hand.
Lord Jesus has been crucified.
And in Satan's way of looking at it.
The Tree of Life had now been destroyed.
And so we go into a garden.
The night falls.
And what do we find?
Jesus Christ dead.
In a sepulchre.
Where's the hope for anything for man?
At this point in the story.
You know too much, your mind immediately puts you beyond. But try to stop. Try to put yourself into the case of what we see in verse. Chapter 20. The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene. Early, when it was yet dark under the sepulchre, she enters the garden. She's the first one recorded. Does she come into the garden to enjoy the tree of life?
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No, she comes into the garden to see a dead body of her. What? The one that was everything to her heart? The one that others could say we had trusted that it had been he.
But he's dead now.
He's dead.
What can we have?
And so now we can look ahead.
If you will, and we know.
The defeat, the lasting ending defeat of Satan had taken place now.
The very one that he tried to destroy and destroy him as a tree of life in the garden of bliss and joy.
He is not here.
He's not here. He's risen indeed.
He's risen indeed.
Turn over to Revelation Chapter 2.
Verse one under the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, right?
He sang, saith He that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks. I know thy works, and thy labor, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil, and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars.
And S born and has patience, and for my name's sake has labored and has not fainted. Nevertheless I have someone against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent and do the 1St works, or else I will come into thee quickly, and will remove the Candlestick out of its his place, except thou repent.
But this thou hast, that thou hatest the deeds of the Nicolaitatons, which I also hate.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh.
Will I give to eat of the tree of life?
Which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
Get a little of the sense of what's being said here. Umm.
The letter to the Thessalonians, the 1St letter that Paul wrote to them, appears to have been written only a matter of weeks after the gospel had come to Thessalonica and souls had been saved. And Paul is giving the very simplest of all scripture explanation of what it means to be part of God's assembly and the character of Christian life.
And.
In the first chapter and one of the very first verses.
He speaks about.
The work of faith.
The labor of love and the patience of hope.
Faith, hope and love are the three daily characteristics of Christian life.
Everyday life and every one of our circumstances, regardless of whatever it is, should have the components of.
Love, faith and hope.
And here these Saints in the Ephesus assembly, which in all of Scripture is, when you look at the words that are being said to them, the work of faith is there, the patience of hope is there.
The labor is also there, but what's missing from the labor is the right character of love.
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And so they're being told, this is the assembly in all Scripture that we have the greatest things in the in the state in which they were when it in the book, the letter to Ephesus was written. The highest truths of what it is to be in the body of Christ in the church are developed for us more there than anywhere else.
And yet right there in the most blessed of all the assemblies in that way.
We find something that's a hindrance, but the Lord puts his hand on and he says.
I'm going to not be able to use you as a light to the world.
Unless this problem is fixed.
You've left your first love. The works of that love, the labor that's connected with that love was there, but the love itself that.
Motivated. That was not in the right state.
And also just a general comment, what controls your heart? And that's where your love is seen in Scripture. What controls your heart controls your life.
Everyone of us in this room has a life, whatever it is that is has the control of our heart.
As the control of our life and if we turn away from the Lord.
The true one of love will turn to something else and inevitably our heart will be controlled by an idol. It'll be controlled by the lust for money.
The last to be somebody.
The lust of pleasure, it doesn't matter what it is, it'll be something that replaces God in our hearts, because if those things are active in us, they have replaced God in His love from His place that it should have in our heart.
I'd like to give you a one sentence solution.
With a little explanation to that problem.
We won't take the time to turn over, but maybe it's important enough that we do. Anyways, let's go over to back up a page or two to the Book of Jude.
Book of Jude verse 20. Beloved, building yourselves up.
On your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Keep yourselves in the love of God. A lot of us, a lot of whatever we've learned in life has come from conferences like this, and I can well remember hearing I don't know how many times.
Brother Harry Hayhoe, make this comment. Never try to love the Lord more than you do.
Be occupied with His love for you.
I'll repeat it. It's incredibly important statement really. And that's what this verse is saying. When it says keep yourselves in the love of God, it isn't saying love God, increase your love for God, show him how much you love him by what you say to him and so on, but rather it is keep yourself.
In the enjoyment.
Of his love to you.
What's the result?
What's the encouragement to go back to chapter of Revelation? We'll read verse 7 again.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him this is an individual exhortation. To him that overcometh. How do I overcome if I've lost my first love?
Get occupied with God's love and the love of the Lord Jesus, not your own love.
Not your own things, but focus on himself and the revelation.
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Of his love.
And then what's the promise?
We get back into the garden, it says in verse 7.
To him that ever cometh.
I will.
Lost my place already.
I will give to eat of the tree of life.
If you do that.
God says.
You will eat, you will feed on the tree of life.
The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior.
And all that He is, and all His glory will be your food.
And where is it in the midst?
And he goes beyond garden now, in the midst of the paradise of God.
Adam lost the garden that God prepared for him in innocence, but when God replaces it with something and he has to replace something with something else.
What he replaces with is always better and more wonderful.
And so God's desire for you and I is to enter into paradise.
Is this something about the future?
This is the important thing, and maybe the most important.
This isn't a picture of glory.
This is not a statement about what it's going to be like in the wonderful and indescribably wonderful Father's house that is ahead of us and is part of our hope. No, this is for.
July.
2023 Aberdeen, Idaho, This room Saints.
You are invited of God to lift up your eyes and see.
And in this garden, what is only one thing in the garden that is described to be occupied with?
The Tree of Life. There is only one activity that is described here.
It's feeding on that tree.
There's no distractions in this paradise.
We have already had it and it's already true, and it's a different line of thought that we have to deal with the complexity of the world and the increasing difficulties and the troubles and so on. But I would suggest to you that this afternoon God is saying to you.
Come on into the garden.
And you'll have a time to feast.
And feed on the tree of life.
And find.
A joy and a satisfaction that will bring to your heart. I've been to paradise.
The Apostle Paul had the wonderful privilege of being taken up into the 3rd heaven and when he came back he didn't couldn't even describe his experience in any physical way. He didn't even talk about it for I think 14 years at least after he had the experience. It was a very personal and private thing to him until there was a reason for him to have to share even the fact that he had done it.
I suggest to your brethren that you can go in the paradise.
Then enjoy the Lord alone.
In a way that you don't even have to talk about it. You don't have to try to describe it to someone else. It is something that you're enjoying in your own soul.
With the Lord, one last thought in connection with it. Turn with me to the Song of Solomon.
Song of Solomon in chapter 4.
There are other gardens in Scripture and another one of the gardens is seen in.
The Song of Solomon, your life is looked at here as a garden and we could get into that side of it as to how the in chapter one we find the garden of the life of the person that's talking. She says my garden have I not kept? She had allowed other things into the garden of her life because she wasn't telling it, she wasn't guarding it, and she goes through an experience. We could talk about it as as it is.
00:25:27
A picture of the remnant of Israel and what they're going to go through and with respect to the Lord Jesus and being.
Brought into the realization of the relationship with him and the tribulation and other things, but the application at this moment, at this hour is this.
Think of yourself as you've just gone into paradise.
And are going to feed upon the tree of life.
Don't think of the next words that are going to be read as just words read out of a verse of the Bible. Allow these words to be the words of the Tree of Life speaking this afternoon directly to you.
Behold.
Thou art fair, my love.
Behold, thou art fair.
Thou hast dove's eyes.
Everything 46 in the appendix.
Oh, teach me.
To be.
73.
The Goodness of God
Open—Matt Richerzhagen
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The first line there says have an object. Lord should divide my heart with thee. Turn with me before we pray in John.
Chapter 2.
Was speaking to a brother last night about the young people and each one of us being kept in the path of faith. I think it's so important to understand the goodness of God.
First John chapter 2 verse.
15 That's a beautiful verse, but that's not it. Verse 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, the lust of the flesh is sensualism. And we understand how to make it through this scene by having a right perspective. The Lord Jesus said if we can see right, we can be right. And we understand that God is the giver of all good gifts.
Satan came to Eve and he said if you would eat of this fruit, you'd have the very best.
And what she didn't realize is if she took her eyes off that tree, she had the very best, because God gives us the very best.
By taking that fruit, they got kicked out of the garden. God created sensualism. He created pleasure for you. And it has a specific place. There's a boundary. A fire in the fireplace keeps you warm in the living room. It burns a house to the ground. God's not withholding stuff from you. There's a time and a place.
It's worth the wait. My dear, beloved young people. The loss of the flesh is is essentialism #2 The less of the eyes. It's materialism.
And we want to go through this world and we want to have nice things.
That's natural. That's not wrong, but that shouldn't be our focus. That's not why we're here. He wants us to own things without them owning us, so that we can own it with an open hand. Lord, if you want to give me more, that's great. And if you want to take it away, that's great too. Because if we hold what we have in a closed fist, if he's going to take it away, it's going to hurt.
Because he's way stronger than us. The lust of the eyes and materialism and the pride of life is egotism. I want to look good. It takes so much energy I want to look at. So what if two or three people thought you look good? Jesus said if you want to look good and people see you praying, you already have your reward. Who cares? Big deal.
Is that really that important to you? We need people to like us for us to be OK.
And we don't even like ourselves. Jesus said, you're mine, I died for you, you're mine. I cherish you, I want you. I'm, as our brother said, I'm coming for you. These things are natural things that the enemy of our souls puts before us. And he says, oh, you're going to have the very best. And I'll tell you, my dear, beloved children, young people, people that are my age, people that are older, the very best.
Is what God has and he gives us.
To those who receive it at His hand in His time, our God and our Father.
We thank thee for this opportunity to be together around thy word.
Lord, there is nothing, there is nothing that thou has not given us for our blessing, for Thy glory.
Lord, help us to see that which is not ours, at least not ours yet.
As worth waiting for.
And Lord, those boundaries, those are for our blessing that we might enjoy.
To the fullest extent what thou hast given us, without shame, without fear, without heartache.
Without regret, the bitterness of regret, Lord you, you have all the good things, You've made everything beautiful in its time. And we just pray for help that we might walk wholly devoted to Thee, that we might experience the paradise of God in our daily circumstance. As we seek Thy face, we bless thee and praise thee in Jesus mighty name, Amen.
Abraham: Election, Calling, Promise
Address—Bruce Conrad
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Well, good afternoon, everyone.
I thought for what I had on my heart this afternoon we might sing part of hymn #25.
Particularly thinking of.
The last three verses of the hymn.
Absent as yet, we rest in hope, treading the desert path.
Waiting for him who takes us up beyond the power of death, we joy in Thee, Thy holy love. Our endless portion is like thine own Son with him above. And brightest heavenly bliss. O Holy Father, keep us here in that blessed name of love, walking before thee without fear, till all be joy above.
Just the last three verses 5-6 and seven of hymn #25 if a brother could start.
Tune into that, please.
Our God, our Father, we thank Thee for the opportunity as thy children to be together.
With the purpose of having thy word before us.
And all of us, we are sure our desirous that we would have the glories of Thy beloved Son and His gracious ways with us before our hearts and minds today.
That would be for our refreshment, our encouragement.
And help us along in our pathway here, whether long or short before us. We thank Thee, our God, for having so richly blessed us in Christ. We thank thee for the blessed hope before us. We thank Thee that we can say as to our souls that all things are well. But we know too, that we need to get home. We need to get through this world.
We know that we are a needy people dependent upon Thee, so we look to thee as we open the scriptures that.
They would be before us in a way that would encourage us all through this wilderness world. So independence upon Thee, we ask, that would guide us in that which we take up this afternoon, that it would be for our blessing Speaker. And here alike we ask it our God and Father, in the worthy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Read a verse in James to start with before we go backwards to the book of Genesis.
James Chapter 2.
And verse 23.
And the Scripture was fulfilled, which saith Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness, and he was called the friend.
Of God.
I would like to speak this afternoon and trace a little bit.
Of God's ways with his friend Abraham.
And so let's turn back to Genesis, the book of Genesis.
My ears were alerted as this part of the room over here seemed to refer to Abraham different times during our readings.
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And I would like to take up Abraham primarily.
As one who was.
Befriended by God.
He was chosen.
He was elect, in other words, and chosen.
And then he was called, and promises were committed to him.
And so you and I in a similar way.
If we are believers, we know.
That we have been chosen.
Not as a group, but one by one.
Israel as a nation.
Was an elect nation and God isn't done with them yet. He's going to bring them into tremendous blessing. We had some of that in the readings this weekend.
But for you and I, it is not collective, even though we are part of that one body that is formed on the Day of Pentecost as we've read.
But if you're a believer, it's because God chose you. God is free to do that because he's God.
And he chose you at a certain time. If we could use the word time. He chose you before this world was even made.
We read in Ephesians we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
So picture this.
Picture the father and the son.
In.
Mutual reciprocal love, divine.
Perfect. Unimprovable, unincreasable. I know I'm making up words I don't.
I guess have a good enough vocabulary for these things.
Unimprovable love.
Between the father and the son.
Dwelling in light, as Paul writes in his epistle in Inaccessible Light.
This home of light and love, everything is perfect.
And there they are, through all eternity.
And there is nothing else.
But then.
And if you turn to the first chapter of the book of the Bible in Genesis chapter one.
You'll see over and over again.
And God said And God said, end God said.
And also from the beginning of the Gospel of John, we are presented with one who is the Word.
Who made everything that was made without Him was not anything made that was made. He made everything. But there they are before anything is made, rejoicing together. As we read in Proverbs 8. The Son was the delight of the Father, and he rejoiced before him. And yet in the council and the purpose of God.
It was determined that this reciprocal relationship of love and light.
Should be expanded.
And who should it be expanded to?
But to man. And so we read in Proverbs 8 his delights.
For with the sons of men before there were even any in existence.
And so the world, as you know in the Western world has it all backwards and they picture this world was made and then different things happen and somehow this evolving energy created different species of creatures on the earth. It's not that way at all. God had man in view.
It's very fashionable to bash man in the Western world today.
Amongst the intelligentsia of the Western world, man is almost looked upon like some sort of a controllable disease. You can't have too many of it, you have to keep it down.
And men seem to glory in the lower creation and feel like man is nothing but an impediment.
To that blossoming creation, it's not that way at all.
This world, this earth, this platform was spoken into existence by God.
For the purpose of God coming out from himself and the person of his Son.
00:10:04
To bring you and I into relationship with himself so that we too.
Could enjoy that perfect divine love and be at home in that light.
Quite something, isn't it really quite something in the first Epistle of John?
John writes in parentheses, at least in my Bible.
He writes.
Turned to it quickly.
First John, chapter one.
For the life was manifested.
And we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.
That's where that life was, and it was only there, but it's God's.
According to God's purpose, His eternal purpose, that that life would be shared.
That others would possess that life and join in that reciprocal.
Light and love.
And so God made a world.
He spoke things into existence and He made man and put man in a responsible place on the earth.
As his representative.
As I say, it's popular to bash man, and even as believers, you know, we can get a little bit unbalanced with pounding away on fallen man, on the old man. And sometimes I just suggest we need to back up and think about God's purpose for man in First Corinthians 11's remarkable verse.
The head of every man is Christ.
The head of the woman is the man.
And the head of Christ is God.
And then it says that the man is the glory.
An image of God.
We could put it this way that man is God's masterpiece, totally different from the world's conception.
Man is God's masterpiece.
And yet when he created a world and he put a man on it.
His goodness, as we all know, was like the morning dew. It quickly went away.
Man didn't need faith when he was created and put in the garden.
We, you and I speak about following the Lord.
Adam didn't need to follow. He didn't need faith. He was all set. He was an insider.
But he had no confidence and trust in God.
He was deceived.
They were deceived.
He listened to the adversary.
And God.
Calls man and says he called man in that condition.
That he got himself into.
Where are you?
What have you done?
We don't have tone of voice in the word of God. We have written words.
And when you hear a brethren read the scriptures, you can tell a little bit how they.
You know the intent of words that we read. It's interesting to hear brothers read the scriptures.
And put an emphasis or make something into a question or a statement and.
And when I read that.
Statement from God, what hast thou done?
Yes, God knew the end from the beginning and He had that purpose, but oh what a low valley.
Man would go into before he would come up the other side.
It's as if God was knowing all that would come because through the 1St man.
In disobedience and sin came in death.
And the sorrow and the pain, and the tears.
For centuries and centuries that have saturated this world, man's world, even the creation affected by it so solemn.
And so man has put in the outside place.
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And we know what happened. The very first man born as a murderer.
And the second man was a worshipper.
And the earth became filled with violence and corruption, so that it repented godly. It made man on the earth.
Man had turned aside, and that you could say, as I think the late Brother JG Bellock put it, it's the first apostasy.
God brings in a flood.
And on the other side of the flood outcomes, Noah outcomes these eight souls. And what happens then? Is everything fixed? No, of course not.
And then man tries to assemble himself together, making a a a tower whose face?
Faces up to heaven.
And God knows that this is just going to be more mischief and more sorrow.
But more confusion.
For man to seek to make himself a name, because that's not man's glory.
Man's glory was displayed in the man Christ Jesus.
Who wouldn't take a step?
Who wouldn't say a word? Who wouldn't go anywhere or do anything without a word from his father? And he got constantly the words from his father. Morning by morning his ear was opened like the learner.
And so it's against the backdrop of God coming down in the early.
About the 10th or 11Th chapter of Genesis, when there's, as brother Bella put it, as second apostasy.
The world filled with this indifference to God and seeking to confederate himself, leaving God out.
And it's against that backdrop in Genesis Chapter 11 That we read about Tyra, who was the father of Abram and where about when we get to I'm usually I'm always dependent on Bill bill for dates and sequence here. But I I think I think Noah's time was.
Around 1600 years after Adam was put on this earth and the earth was made fit for him.
And then you have about 200 years to Abram. So we're about halfway between the creation.
And the birth of the Savior at around 2000, as we would call it BC.
And we have God doing something which has been called the moral birth of mankind.
Maybe have read that. If you're a reader of JG Ballot, I highly recommend being a reader of JG Ballot.
The moral birth of mankind, because in the face of all this idolatry.
Of this second wave of apostasy and indifference to God.
And man failing to, if I could put it this way, to cooperate with the desire and will of God.
To be in relationship with himself because he has come out of himself to make that happen.
He calls a man out of an idolatrous country.
And so we pick up the story, as you well know, in Genesis chapter 12.
I suppose really the story starts in Acts 7, which has been quoted many times already. This weekend. The God of glory.
Called Abram the God of glory, and his brothers have pointed out, and it was expressed even in worship this morning.
The God of glory leads men into the glory of God.
As Stephen could lock up and see the glory of God.
And so God appeared to Abram.
And he had a very distinct message. He said get out.
We're going to see this if we have time, as we go through some of the.
Some of the high points or key points of Abram's life, we're going to see that.
God wasn't the only person who told him to get out. He had to be told to get out a few different times in a more humbling way.
So God appears to him, and says, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy Father's house.
Unto a land that I will show thee, and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee and make thy name great.
The men of this world sought to make a name for themselves.
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The slime in the previous chapter God says no.
I'm going to call someone out.
I'm going to work with them.
And I'm going to, I'm going to work with them and I'm going to make his name great and I'm going to bless those that bless him, curse those that curse him. And there's going to be blessing flowing out of this man.
Abram was very distinctly a project of the God of glory.
In case you don't know it, so are you.
When I was first saved, a nearby brother took me under his wing.
And he taught me the truth of what I had just.
Been brought into the possession of a few weeks before.
When my when I believe the gospel of my salvation.
And every night at the kitchen table, He taught me night after night, all of these riches that I had. He taught me what happened to me. This is what God did, and this is what you have, night after night, wonderful, wonderful times.
To sit there with a cup of coffee and to learn these treasures that I had.
But he said one of the things he said to me is his brother, you're as fit for heaven as you're ever going to be.
And I thought that's, that's cool.
Already, and I can remember walking home certain times of the year, the roads were impassable. You walk about a half a mile to the house and I remember thinking to myself, hands in my pockets, I'm all ready to go.
I'm done.
I'm all my searching, all my seeking, all my wanderings over.
I'm done. I'm a finished product. I'm ready for heaven.
And another young brother and I used to be able to say to one another, stick a fork in me, I'm done.
But in another sense, my life just began.
Brand new, everything new.
A new object.
A new purpose?
New resources in himself.
New relationships, even on Earth.
Everything new and of course I began to see that God had a lot of things to do.
With me.
In that I was a project and so are you.
And somebody back in there in the early.
One of the early prayer meetings expressed that.
Phrase.
That I think is very important. It is God, and I'll quote the verse that.
His prayer brought to mind, It is God which worketh in you both to will.
And to do of his good purpose.
Last night we heard.
The gospel of the grace of God. And we've all pretty much in this room been schooled.
In the great work of Calvary's cross.
That the man Christ Jesus allowed himself to be taken by wicked hands.
To be crucified, to be slain, but in so doing.
He was an offering for sin, as we had before us this morning.
And he laid down his life, and he offered himself as a sacrifice for sin. He was the Lamb of God.
That effectually effectively in a coming day.
Will have taken away all the sin of the world.
But you and I have learned, and we study.
For for some here, I'm sure it's 50-60 years, maybe 70 years for me.
Almost 50 years pondering the great mystery of the Gospel.
Only God could do something like that. Out of the eater has come forth meat, out of the strong sweetness. The greatest evil has generated the greatest good.
These things are wonderful.
And that's the work of Christ on Calvary's cross for God.
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And for the Sinner.
And that work is completed as we know, and it's the basis of our standing before God, just as it was for Abram. Righteousness imputed through faith, and he had the righteousness of faith. We could put it that way.
But the work in US is going on day by day.
And you're a project.
And I'm a project.
And he's pouring us from vessel to vessel because he's preparing us.
For that fellowship that we spoke about at the beginning.
Between the Father and the Son, in the full liberty of glory, we have the fellowship now.
In that same chapter in one John, we are brought into the fellowship of the Father and the Son.
The new place that Christ is one.
God has picked up you and me and put us beside Him.
So that we too can call God our Father and cry ABBA Father. What a place that is, the hymn writer put it. We stand accepted in the place that none but Christ could claim.
And in fellowship with the Father, we take delight in his son.
And we are learning.
Day by day of his glories.
And without thinking about it, or without a mirror held up before us, the Scripture teaches us and we know that as we are occupied with the glorified man Christ Jesus, lo and behold, we come become more like Him. Second Corinthians 3, as you well know.
I heard brother Lundin, some of his relatives are here.
I used to love to listen to brother Clarence Lundin. Still do, actually.
He made this statement, he says, which was harder for God.
To make a Galaxy.
Or an Abraham.
Quite something. I've never forgotten hearing him say that he could speak a Galaxy into being.
Swirl it around, however they swirl, made-up of millions of stars, all of which he knows their names.
**** he spoke and it was done. Sustains them moment by moment or morally prepare a man.
A sinful man to be brought into fellowship with himself.
To appreciate himself.
Because that's the end, the object of God's work in you and me.
That we not only understand.
But we enjoy the things concerning himself and everything that he thinks is important. His counsel.
That's where he's taking you and me. We're on the way.
He started with Abram by telling him to do certain things to separate from his kindred, his hometown, his.
Father's house. And so Abram departs in Genesis 12.
And lots along with him, his fathers along with him, and he goes halfway, and he goes to Harren, which.
I believe IS would be north of present day Israel, probably in Syria, what is today called Syria.
I picture that they traveled in sort of a Crescent along the rivers and got off to Haran and for some reason they stopped.
It wasn't a great start.
For the man that became known as the friend of God.
The man about whom the Spirit of God in the book of Matthew traces all lineage from him.
The son of David, the son of Abraham, and the name of Abraham is in most, I think every gospel, all four. In many of the epistles Abraham is mentioned, but what a start.
He goes, Dad's gone. Dad probably feels he's in charge.
Takes the nephew. Couldn't say no.
Goes part way. How did you start out in your Christian life? Was it all perfect?
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Is it perfect now?
No.
That you should take courage though.
From where Abraham started to where he ended up.
And Abrams father dies as you know in Haran and Abram completes the journey Lot along with him and he comes into the land that well known landmark in the land of Canaan, verse six of Genesis 12 unto the place of psycho more I think that Jews call it Shechem or we call it Sheikh.
And the Lord appears to Abram the second time he appeared to him when he was in or of the Chaldeans. Here's the 2nd appearing. I doubt we'll get through all seven, so don't hold your breath that we're.
Don't get, don't start feeling sorry for me that I'm behind. I know I'm behind. We may get to four or five. It's OK. I I trust, but there are seven I believe.
And here's the second one. The Lord. He's in the land now.
The Lord didn't give him directions. My dad used to leave home. He used to my wife laugh. He'd print himself this whole series of maps with highlighted and everything all laid out like he was going to cross the English Channel or something. It all figured out.
It was, I'll show you, get going. And that's the way your life is, young people, It's the way your life is. Get going.
Follow what you see ahead of you.
He gives you light. He gives you a little light. Walk in the light. He'll give you more.
You reject the light, darkness comes in.
I have never heard a brother giving a children's meeting.
Speak about that passage in Romans like Dan did this morning.
Not to puff him up, but I thought it was excellent.
It's not just the gospel verse that the wages of sin is death.
Because there can be moral death in our lives.
If we allow sin to.
Dominate in our lives, and it's not the subject of this afternoon.
But if he saved your soul.
He's freed you from the guilt of your sins, and you know that you have the forgiveness of sins.
But he's also freed you from the power of sin, and sin has no longer.
To have power over you and you're not to let it rain in your mortal body.
You are to yield yourself unto God. That's practical Christianity.
Young people always say we're not practical enough.
Trying to be practical. That's practical Christianity.
But if we allow sin to kind of get up off the ground and.
Get on all fours and then start to dominate in our lives. It leads to death, moral death.
My brother said something interesting to me recently.
Well, you really asked me a question.
He was referring to that expression in John's epistles There is a sin unto death, and I had always imagined that if there is a sin unto death for which we are not told to pray for somebody.
That the Lord just takes them. He says maybe it's not that way.
Maybe there's a sin unto death, and maybe they just flounder for a while.
Because the wages of sin is death.
And they're morally separated from God, even though perhaps a true believer. It's something to think about.
And so here we are.
Abram Not a perfect start, but he's in the land. The Lord appears to him a second time.
And he gives him a promise. He says, Unto thy seed will I give this land. And there buildeth he an altar unto the Lord who appeared unto him.
And he removed from thence unto a mountain on the east of Bethel. He's heading South, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West and AI on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord, and so on.
He's in.
His He's making progress.
He's got a tent that was consistent with the calling. He's got an altar.
He has fellowship with God.
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But then as he goes towards the South, circumstances come in.
And circumstances are going to come into your life. And they probably already have, of course.
Whether you're stealing your parents home or whether you go out on your own and start to carve out your own pathway, I trust it'll be by faith circumstances are going to come your way.
Sometimes it's going to confuse you. It could dishearten you and you feel like you've got a headwind in front of you.
Don't be discouraged.
Understand that this is God's way. He's the Potter and you are the clay.
And there's a verse in the Psalms that says he winnoweth. It's an old fashioned word. He winnoweth my path.
I believe the force of that verse is that he orders my circumstances in my life.
Because he has an end in view, he has an object in view.
It might be something that he wants to accomplish in the next two years, the next two months, the next five years.
Or throughout the entirety of your life. We see that in one another's lives.
And so Abrams journeying and there was a famine in the land circumstance.
And Abram decides to go down into Egypt.
And when he gets down there?
And we don't have any record of the Lord rebuking him for going. He didn't have that kind of a relationship.
With God at that time.
And he pulls this situation with his wife. Your passage is well known to you.
He pulls a situation with his wife which to most of us is is is hard to hard for us to take in and why a man would expose his wife like that. But that's what he did because he was nervous about his own skin.
And of course, he gets found out.
And the Lord plagues Pharaoh.
Verse 17 Pharaoh calls Abram. What is this that thou hast done unto me? Why does thou not tell me that she was thy wife?
Why did you say she is my sister? I might have taken her to be my wife. Now. Therefore, behold thy wife, take her, and go thy way.
God had already told him to get out.
Now he has to hear it from an unbeliever.
A man who was not a friend of God.
The way it sometimes is.
Sometimes God uses an unbeliever.
To tell us something that our brethren are maybe too shy to tell us, or don't know to tell us.
It's happened to me with colleagues, employees, bosses.
Clients. Children.
Tell them.
You get out of here.
Humbling Many humbling things in life. Don't be hard on your brethren, they go through trial.
It's humbling for them.
Be a brother compassionate. Bury you one another's burdens.
They are all in the same Rd. individually speaking as you are.
Show some tenderness.
So Abram goes, as we say in English slang, with his tail between his legs, and he goes back, and in the beginning of chapter 13.
Abraham went up out of Egypt, he and his wife, and all that he had, and locked with him into the South. Abram now is very rich in cattle and silver, and in gold.
And he went on his journeys from the South, even to Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning, between Bethel and AI, unto the place of the altar which he had made there at the 1St. And there Abraham called on the name of the Lord.
And so on. He's back. I so enjoyed when I was young.
The older brother, a really excellent teacher in the Mid-Atlantic states of the US when I was first saved by the name of Adrian Roach, that would be Tim Roach's grandfather for you younger ones. And he just was just delightful to listen to in his Brooklyn accent with a fast delivery of just.
Deluge you with with with information in biblical information and truth.
Really just delighted to be under the sound of that ministry.
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And he said to us younger ones, he said, when I was a young man, I read CHM, that's chapter Macintosh, and it laid a good foundation for my soul. And I'm sitting there, newly saved young man, like one of you guys, 23 years old or so. And I said, he seems like he's got a pretty good foundation. I'm going to figure out who this CHM guy is.
And so I started reading early in the morning or after work at night to CHM for a while and I read the Life and Times of David. And the thing that I remember from those from those early days in that reading was Brother McIntosh, he said in following through the life of David, he's all the ups and downs in David's life.
And he said, you know, I said, a Christian's life is 1000 fallings away.
And 1000 restorations. And I thought, wow, that kind of helps me understand a little bit about my life. 1000 fallings away and 1000 restorations. And he says even in the space of a day, it can happen.
And so it is.
We are like little, as if a brilliant man that we all have heard of can say no. Infants changing pleasure is like my wandering mind. With a mind like that, we can understand how we can get distracted and get away and constantly need to be restored. So this is wonderful that Abram is restored. He's back in the place, but he has made no progress really. But he's back. That's good.
He's got his tent again, he's got this altar. He's where he should be. But now there's something serious.
Lot was with him in Egypt. Abrams now rich, and Lot is rich too.
And I'm getting to the age now where I've known some of my closest brother friends for 45 years or so. When we were young and poor, life was in a certain sense simpler in helping each other and speaking with each other and being together in the assembly. As we get older and maybe richer spiritually and maybe more prosperous naturally.
Sometimes it's a little more difficult, takes a little more grace.
Here we have Abram and Lot and their herdsmen.
And sometimes, sad to say, you see families at loggerheads with each other in the assembly. Maybe not the oldest brethren, but the children, the second generation or the 3rd.
And the herdmen of Abram and the herdmen of Lot.
There's friction.
And so the decision is made. We're going to separate one from another. That's not a good resolution to problems amongst brethren.
If you have to separate from iniquity in accordance with Second Timothy 2:00, then that's what you have to do. But it's never the primary thought to separate from brethren from a brother in Christ. Painful, and we've all experienced it. And so they separate. And Lot lifts up his eyes and he sees the plain of Jordan.
And behold, all the plain of Jordan, it was well watered everywhere before the Lord destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. Even as the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt. I want that land because it's like where we just were. Abram, I'll take that, and he takes it.
And now the third, appearing after Lot makes his decision and goes down.
And, Lord willing, pick up lots a little later.
But the third appearing of the Lord to Abram takes place now in this chapter. And the Lord says unto Abram, after lot that was separated from him, Lift up now thine eyes, where thou northward and southward, and eastward and westward, for all the land which thou seest to thee will I give it into thy seed forever. It's not really my thought to go through this aspect of things today. But as you see, when the Lord speaks to Abram, the blessing gets bigger.
And more expansive and longer and it has more of a tail to it of blessing as it goes on. But I really want to look at Abram as as a as a fellow.
Child of God, as you and I are.
But he says to him, I will make thy seed as the dust of the earth, and so on.
Arise, walk through the land, in the length of it and the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee.
Then Abram removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mamre, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
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Now there's progress in Abram's life. Now he's dwelling. If you look up these names, and I'm sure most of you know what they mean, fatness, they mean communion. He's in even a better place now.
Sad that Lot had to be separated from him in this way, but for Abraham it's richer. And so it is that the brother somewhere back there read at the end of our morning meeting today.
The tail end of Ephesians One. The prayer at the end of Ephesians one. Save me from reading it right now.
And the prayer, the essence of the prayer for the sake of time, at the end of Ephesians 1.
Is that you? And I like my my neighbor friend, when I was first saved, it was just like this verse he was telling me. Northward and eastward and westward and southward. This is all that we have in Christ.
And that's the prayer at the end of Ephesians, one that we might know the richest that we have in Christ, that our understanding would be, would be filled up like inflated.
And and full that we would be in good understanding.
But then he says arise and walk through the land, and that's like the prayer in Ephesians 3. And I'm sorry, I know I'm speaking in shorthand.
But you've got pencils and paper and you can look these things up later.
The prayer in Ephesians 3 is for the enjoyment of those things that you came into the understanding of at the end of Ephesians 1.
In a shorthand way of speaking. And so Abraham now is getting richer.
He's getting fuller, his enjoyment is increasing, but now we have in Chapter 14, we'll have some issues here.
Lot pays the price for going down into where he went.
Lot, we read later on, was one who sat in the gate.
I'm rarely at a conference these days when a young brother or sister doesn't come up and the conversation veers over towards should a Christian really be uninvolved in politics or in the culture of, of, of this of this world that we live in? It's a good question.
And it's not our place just to spit out answers because it's by faith we stand. But I, we, we talk about the principles involved. And I think you see those principles in this chapter. Lot was zero help in Sodom and Gomorrah 0. Not only was he no help to that place where he lived, but his own family kind of thought he was a joke. I know I'm speaking very bluntly.
His own family thought he was a joke because they could sense the inconsistency in his life because he was a righteous man.
And he didn't care for all the immorality and all the filth and everything. Sodom was characterized, but he was there.
And they could see that it was inconsistent and he was number help and he's carried away captive.
And the man that was alone up in the hills with his tent and his altar is the one that takes those that were raised up in his own house, 318I think. And off he goes, and he delivers lot. He's the one that was effective in his with his brother.
We need to move along here.
At the end of that victory, there's a challenge.
And before Abram faces the challenge, the Lord says, you know what, He needs some help here. This is going to be a hard one. And he sends Melchizedek. I hope I'm not being too, too elementary or juvenile in, in, in the way I'm speaking about it. I don't mean to be disrespectful at all, but it's as if the Lord says, you know, this is going to be a tough one for for Abram.
And he sends Melchizedek.
And Melchizedek kind of recalibrates Abram and he blesses God on behalf of Abram, and he blesses Abram on behalf of God, and Abram gives him tithe the 10th. And it really had an effect because as you see, it causes Abram to kind of man up sometimes. That's what we need to do. I know, I know, in the culture you young people are exposed to.
They all all they want to talk about is toxic masculinity.
Right. I hear that all the time from you young guys.
True masculinity to be a godly man walking before God. There is nothing toxic about it.
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And woe to the family. Woe to the man himself.
Woe to his wife, to his sisters, to his aunts, to his mother and mother-in-law.
If men don't be men.
I'll just leave it at that, but Abram rises up in the beginning of the 15th chapter.
And.
Sorry, at the end of the 14th chapter I will not take from a thread even to a shoe latched, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou should say I have made Abram rich.
Save only that which the young men have eaten, and so on.
He got a good encouragement, he got a good instruction, he was inspired, animated by the interaction with Melchizedek. And the Lord will do that in our lives, sometimes collectively, at times like this, sometimes privately.
Before the sun comes up, you got to go to work early. Force yourself to get up early before the day heat of the day comes. I know some of you are on in the fields and some of your long commutes. Understand that we've been there. Try to force yourself to get up early in the first thing and buoy yourself up for the challenges that you face.
By spending time before the Lord in reading and in prayer.
And in meditation, as the old brethren used to say, that's the way the health of an engine is, the RPMS. The old brethren used to say back back in May, you got to keep your RPMS up, brother, keep your RPMS up. And that's what they meant, reading and prayer and meditation.
And now the Lord appears to Abram for 1/4 time. Fear not Abram, I am thy shield.
You're worried about revenge. Very real thing. You take a stand for the Lord in your workplace.
In your university, in your classroom, you're going to.
Possibly pay quite a price more than I was exposed to paying. And I'm sure I paid some price and I paid more price than I realized I paid. And I can explain what I mean by that some other time, because sometimes we read in the Scripture and says all that will live godly will suffer persecution. You say I don't seem like I get any persecution. You don't know how much persecution you're getting.
You don't know how much reproach you're really getting.
Because they're not giving it to your face.
Against the fear of retribution, the Lord says, I am thy shield. Against the loss of the spoils of victory, the Lord says, I'm your exceeding great reward. It's beautiful, isn't it?
And the Lord makes.
A beautiful statement to Abram which?
Is developed in the book of Romans.
He believed in the Lord, it says in verse six, and he counted it to him for righteousness.
Not my subject to take this up today, but I want to point down to the further part in the chapter where we have this very unusual occurrence.
Of the three years old heifer and the three years old goat. In the three years old ram and the turtle dove and the young pigeon.
And Abram has to chase the fowls away. He has to chase away.
That which is derogatory and.
Would work against what God wants to accomplish here.
And he gives Abram some knowledge of future.
Events with his seed, his progeny.
And then in verse 17 it came to pass that when the sun went down and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.
I cannot help but feel that this is pointing on to Calvary.
A foreshadow of how God could righteously befriend and bring into association with himself, Abraham or you or me.
The sun went down on Calvary's cross because God made it go down, and he turned the sun into blackness.
And there was a smoking furnace.
And a burning lab.
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And a horror of darkness experienced by the man Christ Jesus.
And let me say this, that if God didn't have the cross before him back in these days.
He would have never given you life.
It's wonderful.
The Lord could speak to Nicodemus and say you must be born again.
And teach him about that. Remind him about something that he should have known.
That he needed new life from God.
By the water and by the Spirit.
God never would have given life to man.
If he didn't have before him the shed blood of Christ.
But because he had it before him, he gave life.
And as we notice in Romans 3.
When the work of redemption, of atonement, as we generally call it.
Was accomplished on Calvary's cross.
One of the aspects of it that flows from it in Romans chapter 3.
Is that God has now declared himself righteous for his forbearance.
Over the sins of the Abrams and the Davids, and the Ables, and the Adams and the Eaves, and of all the men and women of faith.
He showed that forbearance because he knew in the fullness of time he would send his son.
And the debt would fully be paid.
We have that before us. I believe in Genesis 15 promises.
Prophecy and understanding given to him, covenant made, and so on.
In Chapter 16 and Chapter 17, we have some more hard lessons.
We have the lesson that even though we're believers and even though we have communion.
And even though we may have an altar and a tent.
Yet still we kind of like when the new wine is presented.
We say, you know, the old wine is better. We're so prone to use the old tools, the old tricks, the.
Everything proper to the old Adam. It's a life long challenge.
It's not going to go away when you turn 30. It's not going to go away when you turn 40 or 50.
Our brethren that are in their 90s are still there's challenges all the way. I don't mean to scare you, but it's going to be all the way through.
Difficulties, challenges, the headwinds of this life, but it's for your blessing you notice an airport. I don't know anything about flying, but I think I've noticed in airports that when they go to take off, they figure out which way the wind is coming from and they fly into it.
And brother Hayhoe, Gordon Hayhoe, used to tell us that.
Our circumstances are sometimes like the strings in a kite.
And we're like the kites. And we say, you know, if that string wasn't holding me down, I could really fly. He cut the string on this kite, shut down. It goes going through this with our children.
That's probably you have to.
And so these things, these headwinds, these challenges are for a blessing. But Abraham has to learn this lesson.
Sarah says, well, you know, it's, it's, it's getting on here. We've got this promise of a son.
And it's not happening. This is where the endurance of faith, the patience that one of our brothers was speaking about in the reading, the patience of the Christ, he's waiting too, as it was a comment that was made. And we need to show endurance and patience. And Abram and Sarah did not. But God comes in anyway and says you're going to have a son, I'm going to bless you. It's going to be extraordinary.
And what does Abram say? Oh, that issue that Ishmael might live before thee.
Oh, what is man we're that's the way we are. It's the only thing he says in the chapter. I think, oh, that Ishmael might live before they just when God has poured out to him all these beautiful promises.
The Lord appears to him the sixth time in the 18th chapter.
Judgment is coming.
On Sodom and Gomorrah and.
Abram is brought into the understanding and good of it and becomes an interceder for others.
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And the story of Lot ripens. It's interesting that when Abram rescued Lot from the kings.
Back in Chapter 14.
And Abram brings him back. He had a second chance.
Wonderful that the Lord gives us second chances.
It's wonderful that Abram got out up out of Egypt, but there was loss because as a brother, Hey Ho used to say you can have a saved soul and a lost life.
And sadly, Lot was one who was a righteous man, and in the language of the New Testament, he had a saved soul.
But a lost life.
And if Abraham had his moral bearings about him and he saw what transpired with Lot, he wouldn't just shake his head and say, I tried to warn him. He would feel deeply that he was responsible by going down into Egypt and exposing Lot to all that he saw there.
And it's been said that lot came out of Egypt, but Egypt never got out of lock.
And so, as Daniel was saying this morning, the wages of sin is death and those of us in responsible positions.
As husbands, as fathers.
I can tell you honestly the biggest failures in my life.
Have been the result of not heating.
The guidance that the Lord gave me in His Word to walk in separation from this world.
And if you think you can juggle it all?
And go back and forth. You cannot.
And you may extract yourself from it, as David after his sin had sweet, sweet communion with the Lord and met many of those beautiful psalms are after the horrible failures in his life. It was sweet and precious for David, but what a price he paid for the rest of his life.
Then I can tell you honestly here for myself, it's the biggest failures of my life were to not heed the instruction in the Word of God. Be separate, saith the Lord, and I'll be a father to you, saith the Lord God Almighty. So we see the end of lot. It was solemn. Well, we got to six anyway.
But not to seven.
Seven is the whole subject in itself.
In the whole experience of Genesis 22 and all of that.
Kind of thing, but if I could encourage you young people.
It's a happy path. The Christian path is meant to be walked with joy. The circumstances and the headwinds against you will not harm your joy if you're in communion with the Lord.
Paul writes to the Corinthians and he links up.
As sorrowful and yet always rejoicing.
In the next chapter, there's joy mixed with poverty.
There's joy mixed with all kinds of difficult circumstances.
But the Christian life is meant to be worked with joy. But be careful, walk carefully.
Take heed to the Word of God.
Abraham was a blessed man. You see, at the end of his life, he was old and full of days. You say he was 75 years old when he got into Canaan. We were lamenting how some of us get into our 60s and we start giving our books away. I'm like, what? You're just now getting to the time where you can afford the time to read them. You're giving them away like your life is over.
The I know I get I'm over.
The Apostle Paul in Second Timothy 4.
It seems as if he was in the last weeks or months of his life, the 2nd imprisonment he did not think he would survive.
He does not think that he will be preaching again, or traveling again, or evangelizing or posturing or teaching in that way again. He was restrained.
But what does he say when he writes to Timothy? He says, hey, can you bring my coat, the cloak that I left at Troas, and the books and especially the parchments. Did he want those books and the Holy Scriptures of God to prepare himself to preach? No. He wanted them because they were the food that enriched his soul. I think it's the most precious thing to see that little detail at the end of Second Timothy.
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So young and old, all of us. What a treasure we have in God's Word. It opens up His glories to us. It guides us through this world. The trials are not going to go away, but take courage. God's end for you and me. He called us from glory. He called us from that place where He was in light and love before the worlds were made.
Before he hung the earth upon nothing.
Think of it. And that's where he's called us from, and that's where he's taking us to. You're going to share in the glory, in the glories that Christ has won as a victorious man.
You're just going to share them with you.
You're going to share in those glories. Quite something, isn't it? I appreciate Paul.
Reading those, I'm going to read the verse that Paul read whole house yesterday or today, I can't remember which.
First Peter 5 The God of all grace, who hath called us.
Unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that ye have suffered a while.
Make you perfect. That means mature.
Make you perfect.
Establish, strengthen, settle you. To Him be glory and dominion, forever and ever. Amen.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee.
Though our our touch is rough.
With the beauty and preciousness of Thy word, we thank Thee for it. We thank Thee for giving us a capacity.
To be able to take in these precious things, help us to be guided by the wisdom.
Of Thy Word, help us, Lord Jesus, to keep our eye upon Thee. Guide us, O Savior, through this barren land. We pray and keep Thy glory before us, that soon we shall share in for all eternity. You give Thee thanks, our God and Father, for all Thy love. We thank Thee, precious Savior, for all Thy love to us in Thy worthy and precious name, Amen.
Gospel 2
Gospel—Bill Prost
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We'd like to welcome everyone to the Gospel meeting tonight.
Many of the faces that I see here in the audience I recognize, if not personally, at least by distant acquaintance. But there may be someone here or a few here who do not know. Most of us, and I don't know you, but we want to welcome you to the gospel of the grace of God.
The word gospel means good news, and God has good news for each one of us here tonight.
But this meeting is specially called for.
Reaching out to those who do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. So let's begin with a hymn.
And I would like to sing the 1St and the last verses of #26.
#26 There's life in a Look at the Crucified 1.
There is life at this moment for thee. Then look, Sinner, look unto him, and be saved unto him who was nailed to the tree.
Sometimes it's interesting.
To know where hymns came from and who wrote them.
This hymn happened to be written by a 20 year old girl back in 1832.
She came from a well to do home in the southwest of England. Her name was Amelia Hull.
And during that time there was a bit of a revival in that area and some gospel preachers had come through.
Preaching the gospel. And she went to hear them, while her heart was stirred with an interest. She wanted to hear more.
And she happened to mention it to her mother and father, and, to her shock and surprise, her father.
Reacted very strongly, said don't you ever dare to go to that gospel meeting again. I don't want any of that in our home. And if you ever go there again?
I will horse whip you.
Amelia was so interested that a few days later she said to herself, I love my father.
I want to obey him, but I can't. I need to hear more. So she went to the gospel meeting again.
And she got saved.
She came home and told her father that she'd gone again and said that she was saved. Well, her father, despite his rough exterior, was really a relatively kind man underneath.
He said to her. Look, I'll give you one more chance, so you go up to your room tonight.
And I want you to give all this up. I don't want to hear any more about it. And you come down tomorrow morning with your decision and if you don't reject all this and get rid of it. I meant what I said about that horse whip.
She came down in the morning.
In the den, there was her father sitting in his arm chair.
And it was very obvious he meant what he said, because there was the horse whip curled up on the coffee table.
Ready to be used on her and she handed in the words of this hymn.
She hadn't slept much that night. She had written this hymn. She handed them to her father, these verses.
Her father looked at the, looked at them, read them through, read them through again and crumble to the crumble to the floor.
And I'm happy to tell you that he got saved that day too.
Pardon me for choking up a bit at that story, but that's true. And we hope that if there is someone here tonight who doesn't know Christ as his or her Savior, that you will be able like Amelia and like her Father.
As your savior.
Let's sing the 1St and the last verses of #26.
The.
1.
There is twice at this moment.
For him then, but still I want to live in a man, be safe unto him. It was and untrue the truth.
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What day when we joy sing from Jesus?
And no way assurance I'll never can start sinning.
There's the fire and there's one man for me.
Let's ask the Lord for His help.
Blessed God, our Father.
We thank Thee for the precious truth contained in this hymn, that there is indeed life and a look at Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who was crucified on Calvary's cross, but the one who is now risen again and seated at thy right hand, are God.
And we pray tonight that Thou bless Thy precious Word as we open it together.
We know that there may well be someone here in this room tonight who is not saved, who is going down what thy word calls that broad Rd. that leads to destruction.
And we pray that whoever he or she may be.
They may indeed obtain life in a look at the Lord Jesus.
We commend the meeting to thee, and we pray too that we who are thine own.
We who belong to the Lord Jesus.
May be refreshed and encouraged, and at the same time solemnized too, as we consider the issues of life and death and time and eternity.
So we look to Thee for Thy help and ask these things in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.
Turn with me, please, to the Gospel of John.
John's Gospel, chapter 5.
If you have a Bible.
Go ahead and turn to this chapter.
If you don't have a Bible, then just listen to what we are going to read.
John's Gospel chapter 5 and we'll read from verse.
16 And just as a little bit of an introduction, the Lord Jesus, who as God had the power to heal, had just healed a man who had a withered hand, or or rather, a man who was sick beside a pool.
He done it on the Sabbath day and the Jewish leaders were very upset with him for doing that.
And so that is the context in which verse 16 begins.
Therefore, did the Jews persecute Jesus?
And sought to slay him because he had done these things on the Sabbath day.
But Jesus answered them, and my Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath.
But said that also that God was his father, making himself equal with God.
Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you.
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The Sun can do nothing of himself but what he sees the Father do.
For what things soever he doeth these, also doeth the Son likewise.
For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth.
And he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead, and quickeneth them.
Even so, the Son quickeneth whom he will, for the Father judgeth no man.
But hath committed all judgment unto the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoured not the Son on earth, not the Father which hath sent him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on Him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but His past from death and delight. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming. It now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live.
For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself.
And hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
One more verse in the book of the Acts. The Book of the Acts, chapter 20.
Again, you can just listen if you don't have a Bible. Acts chapter 20.
In our chapter it was the Lord Jesus speaking.
Here we find the Apostle Paul speaking.
Verse 20 of chapter 20 of Acts and how I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you.
But have showed you, and have taught you publicly and from house to house, testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks.
Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then one final verse in first John chapter one.
First John, chapter one I Epistle of John.
And verse 7.
But if we walk in the light, or could read, since we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and here it is. And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
In this 5th chapter of John, I would suggest we have three things that I want to mention tonight.
First of all, we have the Lord Jesus.
Claiming for himself as the Son of God, the honor that was due to him.
Number two, we find him bringing before the crowds very clearly that he was the giver of new life.
And #3 we have him bringing forth in a very solemn way that he also was the one who would be the executor of judgment.
I'd like to talk about those three tonight. Again, I say, if anyone here does not know Christ as Savior, these things are most important. We are living in a very confusing world today.
And we see many nations around us who have serious plans to try and do certain things.
Nations that perhaps in the past didn't amount to very much are suddenly jostling with one another on the world scene.
To gain ascendancy. But you know God has plans too.
God's plans were formed way back before this world was made.
And he has plans that his beloved son.
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Is going to be head over all things and to reign over all things.
Many of man's plans today are for the exaltation of man, the aggrandisement of man himself.
The God's plans which are always going to be fulfilled.
Concerning his beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and the exaltation and his glory. And we want to start the gospel off on that note because.
The gospel first and foremost, if we look at the Word of God, does not primarily and first of all concern you and me. It does concern you and me, and that's why.
If you're not saved, you have been invited here tonight, but at first and foremost starts with God's purposes in His beloved Son and then brings in you and me.
We need to be clear about that.
Because sometimes we get so concentrated on ourselves that we forget the glory that is due to God and the glory that is due to His beloved Son. And in a coming day when you stand before God.
It will not matter who you were in this world or what you were connected with.
What will really matter will be.
What think ye of Christ?
Do you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior or do you not?
It's a very solemn thing to think about.
I've told this story before, Bear with me if you've heard it before, but a good friend of mine who's with the Lord now was a chaplain in one of the big hospitals in Toronto, ON.
And one day he was called to the bedside of a relatively young woman, still in her late 30s, who was in the business world and moving up. She was doing very well. She was single, not at this point interested in marriage. She was going to have a career and she was doing very well.
But all of a sudden she was struck down with a sudden illness and I do not know the character of it. It doesn't matter.
But suddenly she was there in intensive care and she was clever enough to know that there was a very good chance.
That she might not make it.
And when my friend went to see her.
Her first words were not what's this going to do to my career or what's going to happen to my life down here and all the rest of it. Her first words were chaplain, what comes after death? What comes after death?
I go to a Barber who's a woman middle-aged.
And I learned when I went there the last time that I was in the only one that had been trying to reach her with the gospel, because another brother in Christ, whom I know very well, had already spoken to her and said to her.
If you were to die tonight, where would you go?
The chaplain's answer to that woman that I referred to a few minutes ago was excellent. He knew the business world. He knew how good it was to have the right connections and how important it was to know the right people. And when that question was asked, what happens after death? He said to her, looking her straight in the eye. It all depends on whom you know.
It all depends on whom you know. Suddenly all the connections she had in the business world didn't matter anymore because she was facing eternity. I don't know the end of the story. Whether she came to Christ or not, whether she recovered from the illness or not, I don't know.
But I ask you tonight, where do you stand with the Lord Jesus Christ?
And why is it so important?
It brings us to the second point.
And it was brought up very clearly in that hymn, and that is why I chose to sing it. There is life in a look at the crucified one. And I have to tell you on the basis of God's Word, that the way you are now, if you are not saved, is not a sufficient way to stand before a holy God.
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You need.
A new life and you may answer why? What's wrong with the life that I have now? I am doing fine.
I feel quite good. You may be young, you may be in the prime of life.
You can take a look at me and it's very obvious from the way I climb those steps that I'm not in the prime of life.
But the point is, it doesn't matter what age you are, whether you are young, middle-aged, getting older, whatever it is, or whether you're just a young child. The point is that your heart, as the Word of God tells us, and this is God's word, not mine, the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked.
I knew a man many years ago, and some here will remember him, a very faithful gospel preacher by the name of Philip Gladding.
And in those days, you didn't travel across the Atlantic on planes. Most of the travel across the oceans were in ships. And he was on board the ship crossing with his wife from England over to Canada. And while they were on that ship, he had the privilege of being invited to dine with the captain. That was a real privilege. The captain didn't invite everybody to his table, but he invited.
Gladding and his wife.
Hilda to come and have dinner with him.
Well, if you knew Philip Gladding, he didn't miss an opportunity to preach the gospel. And during that, Neil, he brought before the captain that he needed a savior because it became obvious from his conversation that he was not saved. And in that conversation, Philip Gladding used the word Sinner. And that captain fired up, his face blackened with anger, and he said.
Sinner. Don't you call me a Sinner.
Don't you call me a Sinner.
That term, in his mind, was reserved for drunkards and.
People that were in prison and all the rest of it, it wasn't reserved for a respectable man like him.
Who was captain of a large ocean going vessel?
Is that the way you're reacting tonight?
Another time I remember a young brother spoke to a young girl and he told her she needed to be saved and her reaction was from what? From what?
Oh, that brings us to the Third Point.
God is a God of judgment.
And whether you like it or not, you are responsible toward God. We have a lot of people in the world today who call themselves atheists, some who call themselves agnostics, some who call themselves by many other names. But many of those other names, and whether people are atheists or agnostics or whatever, I have to say that in many cases it is.
An shall I say an attempt?
To get rid of the idea that they are accountable to God for the way they live their life in this world.
Do you realize that that God will hold you responsible?
Yes, you say. Why is that? I can't help the way I'm made. I can't help what I do.
I admit that in one sense that is true, because ever since Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, they brought sin into this world, and every child of Adam and Eve all down through the ages has been, if we could use the term, infected with that same terrible virus called sin.
We've just recently come through a pandemic of COVID. Some people escaped it, I was one of them. Other people got very, very ill.
And many people died from it. But sin has not missed some people and infected others.
Everyone of us was, as David said in the Psalms, born in sin and shapen in iniquity. That means that we were born with a will of our own, a will that is against God.
All you say my will isn't against God. I'm not against God.
Yes, you are. Deep down inside there is something that says.
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I don't want God in my life and the natural man, and you are one of them if you are not saved.
Says I want God to give me all the happy benefits of life in this world. Give me good food, give me a nice life.
Keep me free from illness and bad times and all the rest of it, but stay out of my life. Just give me a good time.
Most of you know that I am a medical doctor, although retired now, and I remember well in the hospital in which I worked for many years. We had a young nurse there.
Very good looking and her attitude was very plain.
Very evident and a good example of the natural heart.
She said. We're not in this world for a long time, but just to have a good time.
That was her philosophy. Now there have been others who have done different things in this world.
But whatever the philosophy of life is.
Man's heart is directed against God.
You need to recognize yourself, not because I say it, but because God says it.
That before God you are a Sinner, and not merely a Sinner but a loft Sinner and you need a Savior.
But the gospel means good news, as we said before, and the good news that we have before you tonight.
Is the fact that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
That's First Timothy chapter one and verse 15, and we get it here right in this.
5th chapter of John. It says in verse 24, Verily, verily, or truly, truly I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me half what everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation.
Or judgment, but is passed from death.
Unto life.
Perhaps you say, oh, but we're all going to die someday.
Yes, if the Lord doesn't come, that is true. But for the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, what does death mean?
Death simply means a transition from this world to go to be with that one who saved me, the one who saved many in this room, the Lord Jesus Christ. Why? Because we have new life in him.
And so the woman, the young girl, I should say, that wrote this.
Hymn #26 of which we sang part of. Notice what she says in a verse that we did not.
Read it says in verse three, we are healed by his stripes. Wouldst thou add to the word? And he is our righteousness made the best robe of heaven. He bids thee put on O could spell be better arrayed.
The Lord Jesus Christ on Calvary's cross has suffered for sin.
And what is more important, he suffered there and satisfied the claims of a holy God against sin.
Now my question to you is, if I can put it this way, if God is so satisfied.
With the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, are you going to find fault with it? Are you going to say no, I don't want it?
I have had people say that to me.
I met a woman once in India. She recognized someone who spoke English with a Canadian or American accent and she started to talk to me. She turned out she was from the United States. I forget just which part.
And we chatted a little bit and after a while she said, well, what brings you to India? Oh, I said, I know the Lord Jesus Christ as her shape, as my Savior. And I know some dear believers here whom I want to meet with. And as the opportunity arises, we preach the gospel. But I'm here to try and be an encouragement to them and they to me.
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Her face suddenly hardened. Oh, she said. I don't believe all that.
Well, I said, what are you going to do about your sins? Oh, she said. I'm a Buddhist.
Well, I said, did Buddha die for your sins? Did Buddha wash your sins away?
What about your sins before a holy God? Oh, she said. Sins. I don't have any.
And away she walked.
Oh, what an awful attitude to take, pretending that she didn't have any sins. What an awful thing to say.
Somehow she had gotten it into her head that she was not a Sinner, but God's word is true.
And this precious book is the word of God. We cannot add to it. We cannot take away from it.
How do your sins get put away? God has only one way, one way to be saved. It's popular today to hear people say, well, it doesn't matter how you come to God, you can come any way you want as long as you are sincere.
Does that really work even in natural things? Does that work in natural things? You know very well it doesn't. Can remember once I was driving.
Through the city of Lansing, MI, heading towards Chicago and sometimes it can be a bit confusing if you're not paying attention.
Because there's a highway there.
Called Hwy. 69 and there's another highway there called number 96 and they intersect with one another and there you turn them upside down and you've got the same thing. And I had traveled that route before and I wasn't paying attention and I got on to number I meant to stay on 69 and then get eventually on down to.
Route 94 heading West to Chicago.
But instead I got on to number 96, which if you go West takes you to Grand Rapids, MI, and if you go E takes you right back toward Detroit. And I got going east. And after about 15 or 20 miles, I thought, this doesn't look right. It wasn't a sunny day, so I didn't have the sun to guide me. But I thought, this is wrong. And all of a sudden I saw the sign.
Route 96. Uh oh.
Was I sincere? I was very sincere.
And I was very sincerely wrong, and I had to turn around and retrace that 20 miles. And I say to you today, in all seriousness, you have to stop if you're going in the wrong direction, because going God's way is the only way to go. And God says the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son.
Cleanse us.
From all sin.
Will you come to Christ tonight and accept Him as your Savior?
Sometimes people have a hard time trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. They say I just can't do it. I just can't believe it.
Earlier today you might have been here, you might not have been here.
But a brother who's sitting here, Bruce Conrad, gave an address and he referred to a tightrope Walker who way back in the 1800s.
Had them stretch a cable all across the Niagara Gorge and he proceeded to go across it with a balancing pole and he was an expert.
And crowds came to see him, all kinds of people.
They wouldn't let you do it today, but back then you could get away with it.
And he did many stunts.
Going this way and that way, walking across different ways, and I get mixed up as to who did what, but it's interesting that children will find this interesting. On one occasion, in order to show what he could do, strap the small stove on his back and went across halfway, then put the stove down, sat on the cable stove on his knees.
Lit it up, fried some eggs and all the rest of it and it was very entertaining.
But you know, it was very interesting. On the serious level, do you know why most people came to see Blonde? And that was his stage name, wasn't his real name. I think his real name was a French name, Henri Gravelly. But anyway, the point is he was going across that tightrope and he did it a number of times and most people came. Can you guess why they came?
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They were watching because they were very sure that he'd fall off.
They were very sure that he'd fall off and they wouldn't take their eyes off him because.
I want to watch.
If he falls off.
Rather sadistic, perhaps, you say, on their part. But let's face it, that's the human heart, and it was probably what Niagara Falls is about 160 feet high, and the cable was above that. So I suppose he fell between 160 and 200 feet if he did fall.
What most people didn't know was that the odds of blonde and falling into the Niagara River.
Or at least 1000 to one and maybe even greater than that. Why? Because before he went out and tried to do all that, he had trained for many years. And his final training was he stretched the rope across his backyard. And I'm not sure how long the rope was. And he got on that rope with his balancing pole and he told his manager, he said now.
Knock me off this rope and I don't care what you do. You can grab that rope and whip it. You can.
Give me a violent shove. You can come up behind me by surprise. You can do anything you want. You can create a loud noise, but do anything you want to knock me off this rope.
He couldn't do it, couldn't do it. He tried till he got tired and he couldn't do it.
Blonde and said OK, I'm ready to cross Niagara Falls.
Could Blonden have fallen in?
We're all human, aren't we? Something could have happened. He could have had, speaking commonly, a heart attack right out there where he couldn't have. He could have gotten a terrible cramp suddenly in one leg or something along that line. What I want to say to you.
Tonight.
If you have any doubt about trusting the Lord Jesus Christ.
He's worthy to be trusted.
Because God cannot lie, and when the Lord Jesus Christ says to you, come and I will give you life, and I will give you rest.
There is no possible way that God doesn't mean it.
And if you don't think that it's real, come afterwards and let's have a talk together. And there are many here in this room who will attest you on the basis of their own experience that when God.
Says something, he means it now. I don't want to be misunderstood.
I say it with all reverence, hating the very thought God didn't have to practice ahead of time in order to be able to say something that could be believed.
That's not the point. Blondin had to do that. He had to train.
But the work of Christ on the cross is complete.
It can never be added to.
And you can trust what God has said about His beloved Son.
I've mentioned this story before, but my wife's great grandfather went to be with the Lord 110 years ago.
He had been a preacher of the gospel for many years.
Many years, all his life.
And on his deathbed, one of his sons said to him, Father, do you have any doubt about where you're going?
To me his answer was absolutely beautiful because Satan can throw doubts into our hearts, but what he said was beautiful, he said. I have no doubt as to the value of the blood of Christ.
And I have to say to you, neither do I. And there are many here in this room who would re echo that and say neither do I, neither do I.
Will you come to Christ tonight?
Our time is nearly gone.
It's a wonderful thing to know Christ as Savior, the blessings that come.
Are not merely being saved for all eternity, but God gives you a new life in Christ that.
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And indulge you with His Holy Spirit, so that you want to please Him, and He'll give you a joy in your heart that you could not know otherwise.
Is there pleasure in the things of this world and in the sinful things that men do? Yes, yes, for a short while. And the Word of God calls them the pleasures of sin for a season.
Of season.
I'm going to finish up with one story.
My father worked for a wealthy man most of his life. He owned a fruit farm, but he was wealthy enough to build houses and small apartment buildings.
And my father enjoyed working for him and I worked for him too when I was in high school and often during the summers when I was in university. And he was a good man to work for, a very good man, and most of the time in his life.
He had Christians working for him. He liked having Christians working for him. He could depend on them. They were honest, they were upright. They did a good day's work they could be dependent upon. They would come through, as we say commonly today, in the crunch.
But he didn't want to hear about Christ, and he would make a mockery of the gospel. He would use the inconsistencies of Christians. I can remember once when he made a mockery of some faith healers and people like that who would go on the television and talk about healing and so on.
He would make a mockery about other inconsistencies he saw and.
Those who worked for him, including my father, would mention to him, yes, but remember the inconsistencies of Christians.
Do not touch what God is and what He says to you.
He was only 55 years old. He wasn't a drunkard, he wasn't an alcoholic, but.
On occasions such as Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and other holidays.
He would often take a little more liquor than he should and he would normally just sleep it off the next day with a good hangover. But on this particular occasion.
On New Year's Eve, again he took a little too much and he probably would have slept it off but it was rent day because he usually collected his rents on the 1St of the month and rather than depending on people to have a bunch of post dated checks or whatever it might be.
He would go personally and collect the rent, go from house to house and apartment to apartment and collect the rent.
And he was a good landlord and most of his tenants really liked him and they would invite him in for a cup of coffee or something like that and.
Chit chat for a little bit and then he'd give or they'd give him their rent check and he'd go on to the next place.
Well, he went to this one place and it became very obvious to the ones there that he had a bit of a hangover and wasn't feeling the best. And so they said, and it's quite true, they said, you know, if you take sometimes, if you take just a little bit more to drink, not too much, just a little bit more, it'll stave off the effects of the hangover.
Well, that is true. So he took a little more, I'm not sure how much. And then they said to him, by the way, you know, there's something and I forget just what it was that's wrong. Down the basement here. And my father, of course, was the handyman that they usually called on to be Mr. Fixit, so to speak. But in this case they said this, or I forget what it was. Would you just take a quick look at it?
Oh, he said. Sure, sure, I'll do so.
So he proceeded down the basement steps.
And the Lord allowed this makes me cry to think about it. He made a misstep.
Tumbled head over heels down the stairs, smashed his head on the concrete floor and never regained consciousness. He was gone within less than 48 hours. They took him to hospital. They did all they could for him, but the injury was so severe that it was fatal.
I don't like to say for sure.
But he had no time to make a last minute decision. He had no time to accept Christ on his deathbed. He never had a deathbed.
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And I fear that he went into a lost eternity.
What an awful thing to think about.
I don't know what they said at his funeral. I wasn't living in the area at the time. I don't know who took his funeral or what they said. What could they say or could anyone say? I have an idea that his father was a believer, but certainly his mother was not. I knew her very well too, and she was had a deaf ear for the gospel. Where do you stand tonight?
We won't turn to the verse, but Scripture says he that being often reproved.
Hardeneth, his neck shall suddenly be cut off, and that without remedy.
But I don't want to leave you with that thought, because it doesn't have to be that way. That poor man.
Didn't have to go into a lost eternity and neither do you because Christ is waiting for you to come. One day that man is going to stand before God and he will have nothing to say because he had heard the gospel many times. He won't be able to say, nor will anyone else in that situation be able to say, well I don't know what all this is about or I don't know how I ended up here.
Or what I did to suddenly be sitting before the Lord Jesus as judge.
No, you will know and you will remember.
That on a certain night in July of 2023, you heard the gospel and you heard the way of salvation. We're going to have a word of prayer now, and we trust that God will bless His word to you and you can receive Christ right there in your seat. But do you really mean it?
I didn't mean to tell another story, but maybe you can bear with me for another story.
This is absolutely true.
When I was in medical school, we had some Christians in the class, but we had a lot of people who had nothing to say to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who had no use for the gospel, and this young man by the name of Lee Clark was one of them.
And he was a thorough going, worldly young man, not wicked in the sense of causing terrible problems, but he certainly had nothing or no interest in the Word of God or in the gospel. Well, my class had a reunion about every five years. He rose right on every five years. And I didn't go to all of them, but sometimes it was nice to go and see who had gotten saved.
And Lee Clark was one of them. And I said, Lee, tell me about it now. I tell this.
For each one here, I said, Lee, tell me about it. Well, he said, I heard the gospel when I was at a fall fair when I was a teenager.
And I was with three other boys, and a man with gospel tracks approached us and wanted to talk about the things of the Lord.
And I was the one that said, I don't want to hear that. The other boys, he said, stayed and listened. But I was the one who went away and said.
Meet me over there in a few minutes when you're done with this guy. But I don't want to listen to him.
But he said no. The Lord started to work in my heart, and I realized that what that man had said was true. And I forget all the details now, but someone else had spoken to him about Christ and he recognized that he needed to be saved. And so he went up to his room.
And he stood there, and he prayed to the Lord, and asked the Lord to save him.
And he said I said the right words, but I knew I wasn't saved.
And something said to me inside Lee, kneel down.
And so he thought, well, I'll put one knee down, I'll knee down, I'll kneel down on one knee. And he did it. And he said the words again. He said I get up off my knee and I knew I wasn't saved.
And something inside, said Lee.
Put the other knee down.
He said. Bill, you have no idea.
How hard it was to get that second knee down, he said. I finally had to grab that knee with both hands.
And force it onto the floor.
And then I said the words.
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And that time when I got up, I knew I was saved.
No, I don't want to be misunderstood. Does that mean you have to kneel down to be saved? Absolutely not. But for Lee, that kneeling down meant total submission to the will of the Lord and saying Lord, I come not merely as a Sinner, but as a lost Sinner, and I deserve nothing but eternal judgment.
And I want to be saved, not on the basis of any good that's in me, but I kneel down before you, my God.
Because you are worthy.
That's what you need to do.
And you can do that right in your seat. You don't need to get out of your seat and kneel down or anything like that. You can come to Christ where you are.
Let's pray.
Loving God and our Father, we thank Thee for thy precious word. Thank Thee for the light that it gives us. Thank Thee for the life, Lord Jesus, that Thou art willing to give because thou didst shed Thy blood on Calvary's cross.
Thank Thee for the grace that has kept the door open till tonight. And now we pray for Thy blessing upon Thy word and on each one here. O Lord, if there is anyone here to night who is not saved, we pray that Thy word may have its effect for Thy glory and for their eternal blessing. For we ask it, Lord Jesus, in Thy precious and worthy name.
Amen.