Address—J. Brereton
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.
When we open the meeting tonight by singing 275.
Our God is light, and though we go across a practice, wild.
Our Jesus footsteps ever show the pot for every child. The mana and the springing wells suffice for every need and as called Greatest Story Tell of where Thy Path Doesn't Lead and #275.
If I have.
All.
Heart-shaped our crystals are.
All right.
I would like to look tonight, dear friends, beloved brethren, at the 8th chapter of Deuteronomy.
But before I do so, I would like to read a few verses in the 7th chapter and a few verses in the 9th chapter in order to understand the setting in which we find the 8th chapter placed for us. If you look at Deuteronomy Chapter 7 for a moment.
And the sixth verse.
For thou art and holy people unto the Lord thy God. The Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself.
00:05:08
Above all people that are upon the face of the earth, the Lord did not send His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people, but because the Lord loved you.
Well, if you turn over to the 9th chapter for a moment.
And the third verse.
Understand therefore this day, that the Lord thy God is he which goes over before thee has a consuming fire. He shall destroy them, and he shall bring them down before thy face. So shall thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly, as the Lord hath said unto thee. Speak not thou in thine heart. After that the Lord thy God hath cast them out from before thee saying.
For my righteousness the Lord hath brought me in to possess this land. But for the wickedness of these nations the Lord doth drive them out from before thee. Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart dost thou go possess their land, but for the wickedness of these nations, the Lord thy God, that drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the word which the Lord square unto thy fathers.
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
It doesn't. Keep your finger there for a moment and turn over to Romans chapter 15.
Romans, chapter 15.
And verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the scriptures, might have hope.
We find in the word of God.
But we are authorized by the New Testament and the teaching of the Spirit of God there.
To go back into the Old Testament and find that instruction for us, that builds us up, that shows us God's care. It enables us to see how God cared for his earthly people, the Israelites, and from that to see how God cares for us.
We also find that in the types that we have in the Old Testament.
Many of these types, brethren, overlap one another. That is, the same type might be used of God to bring out two different lines of truth for us.
And that is true as far as the land of Canaan is concerned.
The land of Canaan is viewed in the word of God in two different ways.
One way is that way in which it was presented to us at the Wheaton general meetings.
Some of us were privileged to be there, and that is that it is the land that we enter into at the end of the wilderness journey. When the wilderness journey is over, we enter into our rest.
For Israel, that was the last of Cain. For you and I, it's heaven, the presence of God.
But Canaan is viewed in another way too.
And that is, that is, it's viewed in the Word of God as the sphere of heavenly blessing.
That is that blessing that God has brought us into. Now in Christ you and I belong to him. So we find that the children of Israel entered into their rest in the one sense when they finished traveling across the wilderness, but in the second sense.
In which they were called upon to enjoy the good land that God has given to them. They found that they have to fight many battles. And you know, if you follow the history of the children of Israel, you will find that they fought far more battles after they entered into the land of Canaan than they ever fought in the wilderness.
00:10:10
Because, beloved brethren, the Satan, the enemy of our souls, cannot take our salvation away from us, but he will do everything that he can.
To rob us of the enjoyment of it, to rob us of the enjoyment of what we have in Christ. And so it is that it's a constant battle against the enemy of our souls. We find this brought before us particularly in the New Testament, in the book of Ephesians.
There the Saints of God are skewed as being in the enjoyment of heavenly places.
Of being blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. But it's there in that book where they are introduced into all those wondrous blessings that they have in Christ that the Word of God says take up to yourself the whole armor of God. Because if we're going to be in the enjoyment of them, if we're going to enjoy what we have in Christ, we need the whole armor of God.
Satan is going to attack us in every way that he can to rob something. Now when we go back to the book of Deuteronomy, we find God has set before us in the 8th chapter in particular That way he had of working with his people in the Old Testament, the Israelites, to introduce them into the fullness of the blessing of the land.
What we find, as I might say, we would expect to find.
That God showed first of all.
That a blessing originated in the heart of God so we find in the 7th chapter. The Lord did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for ye were the fewest of all people. But because the Lord loved you. And so it is we find that God would first of all remind our hearts.
That our blessings are Richard, made in the heart of God, and that those blessings came forth to Israel not because of any merit on their part, but because the Lord loved them. He says. In that sixth verse that we read Thou art and holy people unto the Lord thy God you'll notice the language of the word of God. It doesn't say thou should be a holy people. He says thou art.
Holy people unto the Lord thy God, the Lord thy God, hath chosen thee to be as special people unto himself. Again, not a question of saying, this is what God has in mind. He had chosen them. Exercising his sovereign right as God, he chose them to be his people. And beloved friend. Tonight if you and I belong to Christ, that is true of us. We are.
A holy people.
Unto the Lord our God we have been chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and not just those of us that are here, but every one that has been washed in the precious blood of Christ. Every child of God is numbered among the chosen people.
That God has chosen to be a peculiar people unto themselves, and he has set his love upon.
Why? The answer, and the only answer we have in the word of God is because of love. If I could put it to bring the 2 answers together, it's as if God says I love you because I love you. That's the only answer He gives us. We look at our own hearts and we might well indeed say why President, We won't find the answer in our own hearts. The answer is in the heart of God, not in our own hearts. And He gives us the answer. Your love tonight. Because God chooses to love and He would have you rejoice.
Simply in that large group. Well then when we come to the 9th chapter, we find the other side of the coin and that is that God has not only loved us, he loved the children of Israel, but he also had a purpose. He purpose was that the nations that were already in the land of Canaan should be put out and the children of Israel should be put in. And he says to the children of Israel there in the 9th chapter.
00:15:03
Don't think that because you're being brought into the land, it's because of the uprightness of your hearts. Don't think it's because of any merit on your part or anything that you have done. But he says it's because I have purposed to do so. God had purpose, they should have the land and they were going to have.
And beloved president, God has purposed God has purpose, and God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And that blessing, that purpose of God, is not dependent upon our obedience at all. It's dependent upon God. And God has purpose that it should be solved. And so if you belong to Christ tonight, if you're his.
Then you are blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God says in the first chapter of Ephesians He hath blessed us not He will, but he has, and that's your possession tonight. Every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. God's purpose for Israel was that they should enjoy the land Now we find.
That their actual enjoyment of it.
Their actual enjoyment of depended upon their want, their enjoyment of it depended upon their walk. And beloved brethren heavily places all God's blessings in heavenly places. In Christ Jesus are ours tonight. They're our possession. They've been given to us God, but our enjoyment of them depends upon obedience, the Word of God. Now let's look at Jack of her own.
All the commandments which I command thee this day shall be observed. To do that he may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your heart.
Here was the promise. It was going to be their last, I might say. For those who look forward to the Kingdom that's coming into this world, Beloved brethren, this promise is still going to be fulfilled in its entirety to Israel. The land that has been promised to Israel is going to be theirs to be enjoyed to the full. The promise that the land would go to Israel was an unconditional promise made to Abraham.
You go back to the 12Th chapter of Genesis, and there you'll find it an unconditional promise made by God to Abraham. The land will belong to the children of Israel, and that promise is still going to be carried out. They're going to have what we find here, though, that to go in and possess the land. They say God says all the commandments which I command in this day shall be observed to do you know at a second in the book of Nehemiah.
Book of Ezra A. Beg your pardon.
We have Ezra saying that he searched her. He studied the law of God, to know it, to do it, and then to tell you, Well, God would have us to observe the love of brethren, all that has been written, to read this precious word of God, to find out for ourselves what the Lord would have us to do for them to do it to them to do it. What do you belong to Christ tonight, beloved grandeur, young people, those who are younger here, you belong to Christ.
Has the Lord shown you from his word that which is his will for you? And then May God give you the grace to do it, Because you will never be in the enjoyment, never be in the enjoyment of what you have in Christ as one of God's children, until you walk in opinions who wasn't revealed to you from His Word. So we find it. First of all, it's shall be observed to do that He may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the Lord swear unto your father your father's home.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God lent thee these 40 years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou would keep his commandments or no.
Brethren, did God need the trials of the wilderness to find out what was in the heart of Israel?
I'm sure the answer we all make immediately is no. God didn't meet the trials the wilderness to find out what was in their hearts.
But they needed the trials of the wilderness to find their goals in their heart. They needed to see what it was to be hungry. They needed to see what it was to have opposition, to be thirsty, to have enemies on one side and enemies on the other. To see are they going to walk please God and you know the other president. God allows these trials and difficulties. He allowed these problems to arise for Israel for 40 years.
00:20:24
For workers in television to humbly and to prove thee, and no one was in thine heart whether thou wouldst eat His commandments or not. There are rather here tonight that are much older than I am. And I'm sure they can look back much further than I can, and see the testing time that have come up amongst the Saints of God, the testing times that have come up amongst those gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And those testing times, brethren, have been allowed God. They have been allowed of God. And that one of the purposes must uncomfortable us to humble us through our brethren, that we might be cast upon the Lord. You know, sometimes we feel perhaps if we can get along pretty well by ourselves. I sometimes think of Peter as he walked on that water, and he looked at the boisterous waves, and he began to sing.
You know, brethren, if he had thought something out, I'm sure he didn't take some time to do it. But he had thought the thing out. He would have realized that he couldn't walk on the water even if it was food. He needed the Lord Jesus to hold him up even on the smooth water, let alone the voice of the ones. Well, the Lord allows these trials. The Lord has allowed trials amongst the gathered Saints in recent years.
And those trials, brethren, heart tests, allowed God. True, much of it we thought upon ourselves, and it humbles us. And the Lord intends that it should humble us. But they've been allowed God to see. Are we prepared to walk in obedience to the word of God? Or are we going to look for a path of compromise to solve the problem some way around the problem and let obedience to the word of God?
We downgrade. Well, this is what he did for Israel.
Whether thou wouldst keep his commandments or not. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger.
And friendly with man. Here they were in the black in the wilderness, and the Lord Jesus allowed them to be hungry. He allowed the time to come when they would be hungry and they would have to cry to God. All beloved friend God allowed to trial. He suffered them to hunger, he said. He said, couldn't he have provided, couldn't he have provided so they wouldn't have needed to hunger? Yes, he could have, but it wouldn't have cast them on the board the way he became. He allowed them to hunker And then.
We met the people. He fed them with manna, which thou doest not. Neither did thy father's know. I remember, if you're part of me, selling a personal story about myself, that I stuck with me for many years. I remember being in high school at the same age, some of these young men that are here tonight. And when I was in high school I was writing a mathematical exam.
And there was a question on that exam, a question that was for a lot of marks.
And when I read the question, I realized I didn't know the answer. I just didn't know what the answer was.
And I did the only thing I could do. I asked the Lord to help because I just didn't know how to answer the question. Well, I worked and worked and worked, and I finally worked in the answer to the problem, took pages, pages and pages to work out the answer to the problem, and I got a full mark for the answer, but I was shown afterwards that there was a much, much simpler way.
There was an answer in the textbook that would have allowed me to do the whole question in a couple of lines, and it took me about 3 pages. You know why? I thought to myself after? Why was it that when I asked the Lord to help me, why was it that he showed me this long way, this long complicated wedding? Why not just a short one?
And I realized rather than if he had shown me the short way, I would have said to myself, I might well have said to myself, I remember. I remember the answer of the textbook, and I would have taken the credit to myself.
By showing me a way to solve the problem that even the teacher had never heard of before, had never seen before, that I had to acknowledge this was the end of that God was the one who gave me the answer, the children of Israel. They have to acknowledge that this manner, that was right on the ground there for them to pick up this manner. So he says in the word, and feathy with manner which thou doest not. Neither did thy fathers know.
00:25:11
That he might make me know that man does not live by dreads, but by every word that proceedeth out the mouth of the Lord. When they picked up that bread, that manna from the ground, they had to acknowledge This was God. God was provided, and for love the Lord is allowing the prize, the trials in your family life, the trials in my family life, in the assembly life, wherever they are.
He's allowing these trials to humble us.
To prove us as to whether we're prepared to walk in obedience to the word of God or not, in spite of the trials. And when He suffers us to hunger, when He suffers the problems to arise, it is only that we might turn to Him and cry to Him that we might see His hand. He loved the children of Israel, and when He suffered them to hunt, it was for their blessing. So He says that they might man that.
He might make me know.
That man does not live like rebel and all the presence.
I sometimes feel I speak for my own heart, not for anyone elses. But I sometimes feel that we would be much more satisfied with Christianity if it was that it satisfied us with bread. If it was that we could just find something, we would just satisfy all our needs. Then we think Christianity was a wonderful thing. You know, in China they used to talk about the rice Christians, those who were prepared to confess Christ the Savior in order to get a bowl of rice. Everything.
All this one not, that's not what God attempts, even in suffering of the Supper, hunger and feeding them with manna. It was to teach them.
That man departed by federal, but by every word see without nothing thought of my head. Now we go on and says, Thy arraignment waxed on hold upon thee. Neither did thy foot swell these 40 years.
We find that Children of Israel walked through the bonus.
For four years, with the same code, with the same truth. For 40 years, the same truth. They've never moved, They've never fought. Now who Who could conceive of a God that was so scared of his pain that would even think about their feet? Beyond says that neither did I put swell sport, The love of God. This is our God.
In the 7th chapter, where we read in the ninth course, it says Know therefore that the Lord thy God he is gone. The faith God, the faith of God and for love. This is the one who calls upon us for walking obedience. He's making every provision for us along the way. There was not one thing that the children of Israel needed in the willows that their faithful God did not provide.
God wants faith. All the aspirants was the big walking.
His love for the business depends upon their obesity.
They're entering into the land was a promise of God that didn't depend upon their obedience either. She brought them there, and it brought them into life, but all their triumph of the presence of God, their enjoyment of what God had for them in the land.
So.
So it is with us. And so he says. He cared for their Raven, he cared for their feet. And then the next person says, Thou shalt also consider in thine heart that as a man chasing up his sons. So the Lord thy God chastened me as a father.
That as a man chasing his son, we were noticing the other night over a pillow, and the 12Th chapter of Hebrews how it speaks about the Lord's chastens every son.
As you can see, and it is the evidence that there is chastening that the Lord deals with us.
Is evidence that we are in science and all that our children here tonight? Well, if you get a glove tomorrow and get into a fight with one of the children down the next fire, we're out on the road somewhere your mother or father sees you. They're not going to call it the other child and punish them. And they call you in and punish you. And the reason they called you in and cut you is because. And the reason they called you in and cut a shoe is because you are their child. And the very fact they call you in and punish you with the evidence.
00:30:17
Is an evidence that you are their child. This is what God is going to perform as a man chasing his son. It was in the relationship of a man with his son.
That is how God deals with me as a member of his family. He's dealing with me as a father to his son.
Why is it?
Why is it that we sometimes achieve?
Under the discipline, why is it presently sometimes feel that you know that particular trial? I didn't really leave that book. I didn't really need that. You know what she said? I said it correctly, but simply sometimes feel this one trial. Somehow it got away from the golf, it got away, got past them and it got to me from other seven. That's not so. Nothing gets to me, but that my father arrived. Nothing.