Buena Park Conference: 1971
Table of Contents
The Church as Seen in Matthew
Power Over Sin
Luke 19:11-27
Zacchaeus
The Church
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to speak a little bit tonight and in connection with the truth of the church in a very simple way.
And if we could turn first of all to the second chapter of Acts.
The 2nd chapter of Acts.
And the last part of the last verse.
And the Lord added to the Church daily, such as should be saved.
And then one other portion in First Corinthians chapter 12.
And verse 13.
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 been all made to drink into one spirit.
Well, I just read these a couple of verses because they bring before us what the church really is.
In the Old Testament, God had a people, a special nation that he was dealing with, the nation of Israel.
And he blessed them. There were 12 tribes, and they were represented by 12 loaves that were placed upon the table of shellbread in the in the Tabernacle and again in the temple. But we know that since the death of the Lord Jesus, something new has taken place. And just as the Lord said in the 16th chapter of Matthew, that was read to us.
Custody it says the Lord Jesus speaking to Peter, I will build my church, not I have been building, but I will build. In other words, the church did not begin in the Old Testament. It was still future when the Lord Jesus spoke on earth, but it was something that was going to take place. And if we were to carefully read in the 1St chapter of Acts, the Lord said that they would be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.
And so when the day of Pantecost became Came Now, then something wonderful took place. There were about 120 believers in an upper room, and the shirt of God came down, indwelled the body of each believer, and filled the house where they were sitting.
And they were, as we're told, baptized by 1 Spirit into one body. Previous to that, there were about 120 individuals, just as if I had on this table 120 beads and the other lines. And then we put a string and put them through each one. And then we have one necklace. And so on the day of Pentecost, the coming down of the Holy Spirit.
Now what gathered are those 120 and they were baptized by 1 Spirit into one body, and that was the beginning of the Church of God on earth. Previous to that, God had been saving individuals about. There had never been of that which could be called the church, the body of Christ on earth, and that was the beginning. I might also just add that the baptism of the Holy Spirit in Scripture is never spoken of in an individual way.
It's always spoken of.
Collectively of ideas, it's only mentioned on two different occasions in the second of acts where the.
Was the baptism of the Holy Spirit that was the forming of the body of Christ? And then again for those were all Jews or Jewish proselytes.
In the 10th chapter of Acts, when the Gentiles were brought in, it is rehearsed in the 11TH chapter and.
Peter speaks like this. He.
And I bet the baptism of the Spirit as on us at the beginning, So there are not only Jews as in the second of Acts, but Gentiles in the 10th of Acts were now baptized by 1 Spirit into one body. Something wonderful existed on earth as a church, as a body of Christ.
Now as individuals were saved as the Lord added them to the church, it says the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved. And so that everyone who has believed the gospel on believing is indwelled by the Spirit of God and is united to every other believer on earth and to Christ the head in heaven. For that's what the church really is.
And that is, if the body of Christ and the head is in heaven.
So let us not confuse that which is the true church with what man has done. Man has formed various groups. He has called things by different names. He often calls a building a church. Or you might speak of an organization as a church. The Bible doesn't speak that way. The Bible if it's Speaking of a spiritual building.
Then it's the church composed of living soon if.
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It's Speaking of, shall I say, the body of Christ. It's not an organization, it's an Organism. Now that is my body's not an organization, but it is an Organism and there is a head. And so the Bible speaks in that way. And as each individual, it says he's added to that church.
Well now, if this is a blessed truth, and it is, then everyone in this room and everyone in the whole world who has accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as His Savior is part of the true Church of God.
But now in the Acts we find that there were local expressions of this precious truth. That is, if you had visited Thessalonica, or if you had visited Colossians, you would have found a few believers who were gathered together in the name of the Lord Jesus. And this was a local expression of the one body of Christ. It was all very simple at the beginning, because the Spirit of God was very careful to maintain that oneness.
And as our brother remarked yesterday, bless. There should be a Church of the Samaritans. Lester should be a Church of the Gentiles. Less there should be a Church of Jews only. Why, we see how careful God was that the Spirit of God was given on the day of Pentecost. Then when the Samaritans believed, they didn't receive the Holy Spirit until Peter came down from Jerusalem and laid hands on them. And this was the way God named.
That one that saw that there would be 1 Church even though there were now Samaritans being brought in and then when the Gentiles were brought in last, the Gentiles would be a separate body. Why? We see that God uses Peter and he goes down from Jerusalem and we rather is sent there I believe from Joppa and he goes down and proclaims the gospel.
Our brother mentioned used the teas, and now the Gentiles are brought in. It was 1 spirit, 1 Church, and each little assembly that was formed was intended to be a local expression of that one body which was composed of every believer on the face of the earth.
Oh, now we know that man has brought in a great deal of ruin. He has set up these different bodies and even Christians who recognize us, it's only we should only be gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus. How often there have been differences and divisions take place. So the question for us in such a day as this is, is there a path for faith?
Is there a way, in the midst of all the confusion, that we can still give?
Expression to this precious truth that there is one body. For if I were asked what is the most wonderful thing in this whole Christian dispensation, I would say that the Spirit of God is here on earth as a divine person, gathering out a bride for Christ. 1-2 brides, one bride dear to him, and going to be presented someday as the Church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. How dear it is to his heart.
And how it must breathe his heart that there should be all these different names and companies.
Well, is there a ground marked out in the practice word of God by which we can meet according to the revealed mind of God? Well, I believe there is. I believe that God is faithful, and in spite of all the failure, that it is His delight that there should be a testimony, for He has asked us to remember Him until He comes.
So I'd just like to give a few thoughts in connection with the manner in which we meet. Let us turn first to Matthew chapter 18.
And verse 18.
Perhaps we can read the 17th verse also. And if you shall neglect to hear thee, tell it unto the church. But if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and republican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, that if 2 of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them.
Of my Father, which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, or as our brother remarked unto my name, there am I in the midst of them.
Well, the Lord Jesus, as we said, had announced in the 16th chapter. I will build my church. Now when we come to the 18th chapter, we find something of the functioning of that which He had established and that which gives authority and blessing.
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I won't speak of the details that are given here. It was a matter of problems between 2:00 and it couldn't be settled by those individuals or by two or three others. So here we find the truth of the Church is brought in.
And the reason I'm mentioning this is because I believe very often there is a misunderstanding about this 20th verse forward. Two or three are gathered together unto my name. There am I in the midst of them. That is, I've seen a few Christians just voluntarily come together and say, well, here are two or three gathered, and we claim the Lord's presence.
Now I believe it's very important for the youth.
Of the name of the Lord Jesus. I'm sure if a group of people in this country were to gather together and say that they were gathering in the name of the President of the United States, it would be very wrong for them to do it unless they had his sanctions and authority. I would say that it would be independence for them to attempt to do such a thing. But if he gave his sanction and his authority, then they could use his name.
And the Lord Jesus is the Lord of glory.
And so we cannot just use His name to support any thought or idea or group of our own. It must be that which He established. It must be with His authority. And the reason I have read these verses before is because when long ago God established a center in Israel, we know that there was a city where the Lord chose to put His name.
And there were two particular things that are mentioned connected with that place.
There was, of course, I won't speak of it here, the offering of sacrifice, because now the one sacrifice is complete. Why there isn't the thought of offering a sacrifice? There is a remembrance of the Lord, of course, but there were two other things that were connected with it. If you will turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter 17.
And when you read this in connection with Matthew chapter 18, I'm sure you can see the connection.
Deuteronomy 17 and 8 If there arise a matter too hard for thee in judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, and between stroke and stroke, seeing matters of controversy within thy gates, then shalt thou arise and get thee up unto the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.
The 10th verse. And thou shalt do according to the sentence which they of that place which the Lord shall choose shall show thee. And thou shalt observe to do according to all that they inform thee, according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee that thou shalt do, Thou shalt not decline from the sentence which they shall show thee to the right hand, nor to the left.
Now I'm sure you can see a definite connection between this and what we have in the 18th of Matthew. Until I put it this way, God was about to set aside Israel as his specially favored people for a time. Was there going to be such a thing as a place where the Lord would meet with His people when Jerusalem was set aside? You remember that when the Lord Jesus.
Left that place, he said. Your house is left unto you desolate. The grand building meant nothing.
If the Lord was not there, and brethren, we as a group of Christians are nothing unless the Lord is there, that is what gives authority back, which is the ground of blessing. And the reason I have read this in the 17th of Deuteronomy is to show that just as we read in the 18th of Matthew and the authority for binding and loosening tendency, in the 17th of Deuteronomy there was once that same authority.
Associated with what God established in Israel and I wanted to call your attention to two things there in Deuteronomy 17, and that is the 11TH verse according to the sentence of the law, and that is it must be according to the word of God. That was the first thing and then and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee that is.
There was first, that it must be according to the word of God, and then when the matter was enacted, why there was to be submission to it. Now, of course, there could not be any authority to set aside the word of God. The only authority we have is the Word of God, and God could never give us authority in His Word to set aside His word.
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So an action must be founded upon the word of God. But then.
Of course there is wisdom and connection with situations that arise. And so we find the two things, the authority of the word and the wisdom that God gives in the place where he has established to put his name there. And those two things are brought together in the in the 70s of Deuteronomy, and they're brought before us here in the 18th chapter of Matthew.
And now the second thing, if you'll turn to 1St Kings.
The 8th chapter.
First Kings chapter 8.
And verse 38.
What prayer and supplication so ever be made by any man, or by all thy people? Israel, which shall know every man the plague of his own heart, and spread forth his hands toward this place. Then hear thou in heaven, thy dwelling place, and forgive, and do and give to every man according to his ways, whose heart thou N for thou even thou only know.
Knowest the hearts of all the children of man. Oh, here the second thing, man is mentioned in the 19th verse.
Says a special blessing in connection with prayer. And you remember the Lord Jesus said my house shall be called of all nations, the House of prayer. And so I just like to say that I believe that when God was about to set aside Jerusalem and to establish something new, we find the two things that were associated with that place in Israel now associated with that which is to be established in Christianity. Isn't this lovely authority.
And blessing I think this is sweet God delights to bless his people. How about all must be according to his mind and his will and that's why it follows four were two or three are gathered together in my name. Now that is it isn't just using his name, but it must be with his authority. It must be something.
That is according to his mind and so.
The thought in his name is his authority. As I've often said, you could connect the name of Christ with anything. Elias Airport we see in Christendom, we see the name of Christ connected with all kinds of careless practice, with all kinds of evil doctrine, and still it's called as being in the name of Christ. But it must be, I say, with his authority. So I I would say.
That when Christian's come together.
To have a little gathering in a home, why we can enjoy His presence individually, but His presence collectively is associated with that which He has established on earth. What should be called, as in this portion, His assembly. Our belief is a difference. And if you were to turn to the last chapter of Matthew, you would see those two things brought together.
And that is, there was a mountain that Jesus appointed.
And that mountain was a place where the disciples could gather. And the Lord appointed a mountain. And in the energy of faith the disciples came to this mountain where Jesus appointed, and there the Lord met them. There they enjoyed his presence collectively. Then afterwards when they were about to leave, the Lord said to them, upon departing, Lo, I am with you always. That was His presence individually.
See the same thing in Israel, God established the center in Jerusalem and then afterwards we find out that 10 of the tribes separated and left that place. Would you say that none in the 10 tribes ever enjoyed the Lord's presence individually? Oh, I believe many were true people of faith in the 10 tribes and enjoyed the Lord's presence individually.
And there were prophets even in the 10 tribes who enjoyed the Lord's presence and.
Blessing from him, but God didn't own them collectively. Turn to a verse in the I think it's in First Chronicles.
Chapter 25 I think.
Second Chronicles, 25.
And verse 5.
Moreover, Amaziah gathered Judah together and made them captains over thousands and so on. Now the sixth verse. He hired also an 100,000 mighty men of hour out of Israel. Those of the 10 tribes who had left God centered.
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Out of Israel for 100 counts of silver. But there came a man of God to him, saying, O king, let not the army of Israel go with thee. And Otis these words, for the Lord is not with Israel, to wit, with all the children of Ephraim. Now that didn't mean that the Lord wasn't where many of them individually, but it's showing us clearly that God did not own them collectively.
And I believe we should see this distinction in the Word of God. If we don't see it, how could we discern the path of faith in a day like that in which we're living? Well, I just mentioned this in the 18th chapter of Matthew. Because the secret of all blessings is the Lord Jesus Himself. And to be in his presence we often sing, What can full joy and blessing be, but being where thou art.
We find even in the day of Israel.
Ruined there were those who still valued the place, and when the Lord Jesus was born, Anna and Simeon valued it in spite of all the failure that had come in.
We find, too, that God has always given direction in His precious words so that we might enjoy His presence. And I like to think of that a description that is given of the beautiful temple that will be built in a future day in Jerusalem. And after giving us all a wonderful description, it ends in the last verse of the last chapter of Ezekiel. The name of the city shall be called what?
Grandeur, beauty. No, the Lord is there, the Lord is there, and when it describes the heavenly city, it says the city had no need of the sun, neither the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light thereof. All. Let me say to my own soul, and to each one here, the sweetest portion that we can have in heaven, and the sweetest portion we can enjoy on earth, is to have the sense of His presence.
And I believe we can have it individually, and I believe he has marked out a path where we can enjoy it collectively. And it's with that thought in mind that I just like to speak of a few other passages. Let us turn to.
Acts Chapter 20.
That's chapter 20.
And verse 7.
And upon the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread.
I just intended to read the first part of this verse because it shows here that the custom of the early disciples was to come together to break bread, not once a month apparently, but it says on the first day of the week. Now I know that we might say, well, the Bible doesn't say definitely that we're to do it every first day of the week.
Nor does it say definitely that we're only to do it on the first day of the week. Yes, I fully.
Recognize this because the privilege of remembering the Lord is not laid down as an ordinance, but as that which is intended to create a response in our hearts. And so when it says in First Corinthians 11, which we'll look at later.
As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, the God would naturally arise in the heart of every Christian who has affection for the Lord Jesus.
Why does it say as often? I wonder, how often should I do it or can I do it? And so God gives us an example because he wants us to do what we do out of the response of love. And so he isn't saying, well, just do it every so often, but as often. And then he shows us that the custom of the early believers was to meet on the first day of the week. I've heard Christians say.
All but if we did it every week, it would become commonplace. But you know, if there's someone you love, you don't talk about it being commonplace. If you think of them too often, you know your delight in thinking of them just because you love them. And when a person talks about the remembrance of the Lord being commonplace, oh, I think there's something wrong with our heart's affection. Surely when we get to glory and every hindrance is removed and we won't have to work.
Living up there, we won't have the responsibilities that we have down here. Then I believe, shall we say, that we'll be just occupied with Him and Himself and His love all the time. There shall be no night there. That is, it will be our delight and joy, not just once a week, but forever to be occupied with Him and sing His praises. But in His mercy and goodness, I believe we can say He has given us this pattern.
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Now I'd like to turn the First Corinthians chapter 10.
And.
I'll just read a little of the first part of the chapter here.
Moreover, brethren, I would not that he should be ignorant how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, and were all baptized under Moses and the cloud, and in the sea, and it all ate the same spiritual meat, and did all drink the same spiritual drink. So they drank of that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. But with many of them God was not well pleased, for they were overthrown in the wilderness. Now these things were our examples, or the margins.
As our figures to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted, neither be idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, the people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play. Neither let us commit fornication as some of them committed. And still in one day three and 20,000.
Now the 13th verse. I speak out to wise men. Judge thee what I say. The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ, The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? For we, being many, are one bread and one body, For we are all partakers of that one bread. Behold Israel after the flesh. Are not they with heat of the sacrifices, partakers of the altar?
But say I then that an.
The idol is anything or that which is offered in sacrifice to idols is anything but. I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice the devils, and not to God. And I would not that he should have fellowship with devils. He cannot drink a cup of the Lord and the cup of devils. He cannot be partakers of the Lord's table and of the table of devils. Do we provoke the Lord's jealousy?
Are we stronger than he?
Now perhaps you might wonder why I read these few verses in the beginning of the chapter. Well, the reason why I read them is this, because it isn't just a form that God wants us to go through. Israel had a form. Now that is how they passed through the Red Sea. They ate the same spiritual food. They drank the same spiritual drink. Now that is. And then he went on with that which God had given to them, but their hearts were not in us.
And it isn't just to go on with an ordinance. It isn't just to submit to certain doctrines. But oh brethren, it's our hearts He wants. It's our hearts He won. And so unless our hearts are right now, there's no value in what we do. When He died for us and won our heart and asked us that we might remember Him, was it because He just wanted us to go through a form?
No, he wanted to respond.
Of our affection and more than this I would like to add that I believe there's a state of soul in connection with the reception of the truth of God. It says the meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. Another verse says whom shall he teach knowledge that they inter wean from the milk and drawn from the breast. Now that is God would have us to be in that state of soul in that simplicity of faith how that would.
A lesson to His voice, not the thought of reasoning about robbers. That we would have willing hearts. I've often said that the Bible has been written for willing heart. God hasn't written things in such a way that if a person wants to get around it, he can get around it, as people say. But if we want to please Him, He's given us this promise. If any man will do his will, he shall know of the.
So I mentioned these two things. It isn't a form that God wants, and in order to lay hold of the truth, there needs to be a submissive state of soul, a childish looking to Him. And I would suggest too that when it says they are weaned from the milk and drawn from the breast, it brings in this thought. We naturally, like a newborn child, depend on nature.
But the time comes when we have to be weaned from that to dependence upon the Lord.
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And this experience comes in the lives of young people brought up in the meeting. It came in my life. I thank God for many dear things that I learned from my dear parents. But I say the time comes when we have to learn truth from God Himself. And unless what we know has really been received from the Lord Himself from the testing, time comes, we won't be able to stand.
The Lord, Speaking of the future days, said to the people when He was here, they shall be all taught of God. He was referring to the millennial time. But I say to you, dear young people, I say to each one here that we only have that truth that we have really received from the Lord. We have to be weaned from nature to be dependent upon a new source of strength, and that is dependent upon the Lord.
Learning of him.
Sitting as it were, like barrier Jesus feet to hear his word.
Now in this 15th birth, he says, I speak as to wise men, and judge ye what I say, He's not talking here about human wisdom. What is it that will make us wise? Well, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to depart from evil, that is understanding. If you and I would be wise, we can never in God's account be wise above what's written.
No, we can only be wise as we listen to his voice through his words.
Now we notice here is something quite remarkable.
The sun became the 10th chapter is the Lord's Table. In the 11TH chapter the subject is the Lord's Supper, and I'd like to call attention to a few thoughts. No doubt many here have laid hold of them before, but there may be some who have never just considered these thoughts before.
It is remarkable, isn't it, that the cup comes first here in the 10th chapter, whereas in the 11TH chapter the loaf comes first and then the cup. Now we can be quite sure now that it's not by chance that this comes before us in this way. And God always has a purpose in everything, in his precious words, when the Lord Jesus himself.
First established the remembrance of himself in death. Why we know.
When he first brought the bread and then passed the cup to them. And so there is a reason why the cup comes first instead of the loaf. Well, I believe it's because of the truth that is being brought before us now, the Lord's table. When I come to some person's table, the first thing that comes into my mind is, well, I wonder if I'm fit to be here.
My clothes acceptable.
Have I really been invited here? Do I really have a place here? I wouldn't come up and fit at someone's table unless I was conscious that I had been invited, and I would also want to be conscious that I was accepted at that table. Well, isn't this very lovely? What is it that gives us title to be in the presence of the Lord of glory? Well, I like to connect this with Hebrews 10. It says having therefore brethren, boldness to enter into.
By the blood of Jesus. So what is it that gives me title to be there? Well, I say, it's His precious blood that gives me title. Now there is no other title to be there but his precious blood. Now I might just mention in passing that there might be those who are excluded because of their careless watch. When Paul wrote these words in 1St Corinthians 10, he had already said in the 5th chapter that there was.
The man in the family who was to be denied that privilege. And yet that man was really a child of God. He was really a member of the body of Christ, and yet he was excluded. And why? Because he hadn't been made fit for the Lord's presence. No, but because the Lord's Table has a certain testimony on earth. The title to be there definitely is the precious blood of Christ. But when we speak about the Lord's Table, there is.
Testimony and that's why I began by bringing before you how that in.
In the truth of God there is one body, and there's only one church, and every saved person who is indwelled with the Spirit of God is part of that one body. And yet he may not be associated with that which gives expression to it for two reasons, either because of carelessness of his walk by which it has been necessary that he should be excluded, or it might be.
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Through carelessness on his own part in.
Not being there. And so I just mentioned this in passing because I've heard it remarks, Well, if the Lord, if the Lord's table, we have no right to exclude anyone. This very epistle that tells us about it and lays down the very authority by which a person who was a real believer and who was restored in the second epistle had to be excluded from this wonderful privilege.
Well, I just mentioned this last week, shall I say, go to some extreme, it's often been said.
Error is often one sided truth. We need both sides of the truth, brethren, in order to keep in the middle of the road.
Well, let me say again, isn't it blessed to know that the blood of Christ has given us title to be in his holy presence, and we couldn't have a better title than we already have through his blood. Now the second thing, the loath here in the 10th chapter is brought before us as a symbol of the mystical body of Christ, the Mystical Body. Now when I say the mystical Body.
I mean that which is spoken of as being.
The church, which is his body.
That is, it's a great mystery that every believer forms part of the body of Christ.
Now I say that there are many dear Christians.
Who partake of the Lord's Supper, Who have never laid hold of that which is truly expressed at the Lord's Table. There are two thoughts in the loaf. There is the thought that it is the expression of the one body of Christ. And there is also, as we have in the 11TH chapter, that it symbolizes the physical body of Christ given in death for us. Who? His own self. There are sins in His own body on the tree.
This is my body which is given for you. That's your physical body that was in his own body on the cross, but he bore our sins. But when it speaks of the Lord's table, why it says we being many are one bread, or it could be translated one loaf. Therefore we're all partakers of that one loaf, and that's why.
To be gathered according to the scriptures, there must be just one loaf on the table.
Because that one loaf represents the one body of Christ. It doesn't just represent the little company that's there. It represents every member of the body of Christ. I've sometimes gone to a very small little company and they had a large loaf. Why did they put a large loaf? Well, they realized that that loaf didn't just speak to the little company that were there, but that loaf was an expression of the one body.
Sometimes I've used an illustration.
Because I think sometimes.
It's not understood as to how we give expression to the truth of the one body if all the members of the body are not there. Let me just suggest this is an illustration supposing a father was dying and he said to his ten children, now I want you.
To come together each week and I want you to take one loaf and put it on the table. And I want you to express the fact that you're one family and to Remember Me. I just use this as an illustration. Pardon me for for this illustration, but I want you to see the thought. Well, let's go on happily. And the whole 10 children gathered and what a happy occasion it is as they recognize that their one family.
And they think of their father. Well, brethren, when we come together, when the early church came together, that's what they did. And there were no divisions among them. There were no divisions at the beginning. And So what an occasion it was as they gathered to give expression to the wonderful fact that there is one body and in Ephesus and in Colossus and in Philippi, that they gathered and they placed the one loaf. And you didn't have to come to the city and say, Well, where do the.
Made here because they all met together under one loaf on the table was a happy symbol of that oneness.
But now something sad happened.
Five of the families say we're not going to come, we're not going to come anymore. We're going to meet and think of our father in another place and we're going to call ourselves by some name that we have chosen for ourselves.
Well, the other five feel very, very sad about this.
But now they're faced with a challenge. Are they going to give up doing what their father asked them to do? Or are they going to continue as fulfilling what they believe to be his desire even though the other five are absent?
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If they gave it up, it seems to me that they would be giving up something their father wanted them to do. But supposing they came together just as their father asked them, and they put the one loaf on the table and said, that loaf doesn't just represent the five of us, it represents the ten of us. It represents our whole family. We're sorry the other five are not here, but we're going to fulfill our father's request just the same.
I say I believe those five in.
In brokenness could fulfill what their father asked them to do. I say that they got down so there was only two of them that wanted to do it, and they could fulfill what their father asked them to do, even though there were only two there. And if I could use that as a simple illustration, I trust I use it reverently and to explain what it is to me to gather with the one loaf on the table. I mourn the fact that I know that there are hundreds of.
True believers and dwell by the Spirit of God who are represented in that one law who are not there, but I don't think the Lord would have me to give it up just because they're not there because he's asked us to remember him until he comes. That's why brethren, we speak of being gathered on the ground of the one body and I believe that if if two or three companies met in division pretending to express.
Of the body, you'd say, well, there's something wrong. There's something wrong. If you came up to Ottawa, Canada and you inquired where is the American embassy? And I said, well, I'm sorry to tell you that there are three different groups that that represent themselves in Ottawa as the American embassy. They don't have anything to do with one another, but they all claim to represent the unity of the American nation.
Would you believe that?
I'm sure you'd just laugh in my face. Watch this say unity. It couldn't be. I'm sure you'd say the United States only recognizes one of them. And can it be that in a day of confusion, the Lord of glory is gathering some of his people one place and some another? True, He loves all his people. True to all members of the one body if they've been saved and indwelled to the Spirit of God. But I say God.
Faithfulness, I believe, will preserve a testimony. I don't say it, brethren, I trust. I say it with all humility, or to both, or to tell you where you'll find it. You have to be before the Lord as to where to find it. But I do say that I believe the Scripture gives us assurance that we can gather according to His mind we can fulfill His request.
So the one loathe and is a symbol of the one body.
And may I add this to some will say, well, it should be unleavened. It should be unleavened. Now I just mentioned this too, that on the day of Pentecost, if you lead in the 23rd of Leviticus.
When they kept the feast on the day of Pentecost, they didn't keep it with unleavened bread. The 23rd of Leviticus shows us very distinctly that on the feast of Pentecost, which was the feast of 50 days, they kept it with leavened bread.
Why? Well, because if that one loaf represents believers, I still have the old nature in me. True, it was to be bacon, it was to be in the place of death. But still, that one loaf represents the body of Christ. And the old nature isn't gone yet, but we're told to keep it in the place of death.
Well, I just mentioned that in passing. Then I'd just like to also bring in one other thing, and that is that many Christians in remembering the Lord, they don't think anymore of the wonderful and blessed truth of being forgiven sinners.
But you know, there's more than remembering the Lord is a forgiven Sinner. There's something very precious about remembering Him as a member of the body of Christ. And I have often used this illustration pardon as some have heard it before.
But in the Old Testament we read about Rahab the harlot, and that dear woman, although she was a Sinner, she turned to the Lord, and she put the scarlet line in her window. And when the judgment fell upon Jericho, her home and all in it was safe, preserved from the judgment, sheltered, if we might speak in figure, by the precious blood.
But there's more to the story than that. This fair woman, Rahab, married into the royal line of Israel.
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Your name is given in the 1St chapter of Matthew in the lineage of Christ. The time came when she sat down at the table with her husband, and as she looked across the table to him. Supposing she looked at the table across the table to him and said, It's a wonderful thing to be a forgiven harlot.
That was true, He was that. But what do you think? He would reply? I believe he would look back across the table and say, Oh, you're more than that to me. You're more than that to me. You're dear to me. You're the bride of my choice. I don't see you with a spot on you. And isn't that what the Lord says? Thou art all fear, my love, There is no spot in this. And brethren, you'll never enjoy the Lord's remembrance as you should unless you break bread.
Not only as a forgiven Sinner, but as a member of his body. Could there be a more near place?
And I'll came to see why this comes in in the 10th chapter.
First of all, our setting us through the blood, and our place there in association with the Lord Himself as part of His bride.
If I came to your table, I first think that I'm accepted, but it makes me a great deal happier if you're looking on me with affection and I feel that I'm really wanted there and somebody that's dear to you all. Isn't it lovely that you and I can sit at the Lord's table and know that we're not just forgiven sinners? He's finding His joy in having us there, the joy of the Lord. His joy is what gives us the strength to go on in days of ruin and weakness.
The joy that He has in having us there. And may I say again, next time, if you're remembering Him and you sit there, just think of Him looking upon you, not only accepted through the blood, but dear to Him because you are part of His bride, members of His body. Well, can't you see them? Why the thought of fellowship comes in so remarkably in this chapter?
The thought of fellowship and people talk about taking communion.
Chameleon means common thoughts. You can't take common thoughts. You can have common thoughts. I can have common thoughts with you. And you know what the Lord wants you and I to do? He wants us to have common thoughts with Him. If I consider your table and have common thoughts with you, surely it's a happy occasion. And isn't it wonderful that we can sit there and have common thoughts, know that we're accepted, know our place of acceptance, and remember Him.
In his death. Well, when you get hold of this now then the reason it mentions these other things here is because of this.
We cannot call other groups of Christians tables of devils. It's not talking about that here, it's talking about heathen them. But the point that is being brought out is very important. And that is wherever I break bread, I have fellowship with that which the table stands for.
If a Jew partook of the sacrifices, he had fellowship. He became a partaker with the altar. If a heathen went into his temple, he had fellowship with the idol. And so when you and I have learned what it is to be gathered as members of the body of Christ, that's enough for us. We can say that we have been gathered in fellowship as members of His body.
Sorry, the separation is a very simple thing.
It's when we learned that and that's why perhaps some Christian has said, well, why won't you come over with our group? Well, once we have learned what it is to be gathered as members of his body, Well, that's that satisfies our souls. What did you think of Rahab wanting to go back into the old company again? Oh, you say no, it would never do. And when we have learned this, it isn't it isn't that we.
Lay down some rule. But it's a question of the heart, brethren. Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?
She loves us, He's jealous for our affection. He died to win our affection and he wants us for himself. He said to Israel, I'm a jealous God. I want you, I want your affection, He wants ours. May the Lord make it precious to our thoughts and hearts. Now let us turn over. Pardon me for spending a few extra minutes on this 11TH chapter.
23rd verse.
For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, that the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he brake it and said, Taste, eat, This is my body which is broken for you. Let's do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup when he had sucked, saying that this cup is the New Testament in my blood, this two years off, as you drink it in remembrance of me. For as Austin, as you eat this bread.
00:50:18
Drink this cup ye do show the Lord's death till he comes. Wherefore whosoever shall eat this bread, and drink this cup of the Lord unworthily.
Shall be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh damnation. Or the margin says judgment to himself, not discerning the Lords body. For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep. For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned.
With the world.
Now there's some practical things that come between the 10th and 11TH chapter, and it ought to be so that when we have learned the truth, it does produce a practical change in our lives. But now when we come to this 11TH chapter, in the 23rd verse, we have the actual Lord's Supper, the remembrance of what He has done for us. And there is a reason why the loft comes first here. And again I call attention to the fact that.
It's the physical body of Christ, and that is as I partake of the loaf, I think of the Lord Jesus during the wrath and judgment of God for my sin. I see those awful billows of judgment rolling over His blessed head, and He bore it all in my place.
And then we partake of the cup, and the cup speaks to us of his precious blood that was shed for us.
Now there is an important reason why the loaf comes first and then the cup, when it's the actual remembrance.
I say again, in the 10th chapter, it's the thought of what it is that brings us there and our place there. But when it's the 11TH chapter, it's what it caused him to bring us back. It's the greatest provision he's made for us.
Now why does the law come first, and why is it important that it should be first? Well, for this reason.
Now that in all the sacrifices of Judaism, the blood of the animal was shed before the sacrifice was made. And as you looked at the blood of the animal, you couldn't say the lead blood tells us something that's finished. As you looked at that blood, you had to say, well, that blood was shed before the sacrifice was made.
But when the Lord Jesus had exhausted the judgment and cried, it is finished. The soldier with a fear pierced his side after he had died, and so it told of something that was sent.
Yes, how wonderful.
That as John looked at that blood and that water, he saw that precious blood, and he could say, well, that tells me of something that's finished.
And so we partake of this loaf and we partake of the cup. And in this way, in our, in our simple way, we remember his suffering, his death, what it cost him. Now we know that there is a communion in Christendom that has the loaf and the cups. Shall I say in one, they speak of it that when you partake of the wafer that you are actually partaking of the body and blood of the Lord.
The scripture always speaks of the blood.
Separated from the body as a sign of death. The blood in the body is not the sign of death in scriptural terms, it's the blood separated from the body that is the sign of death. So when you have the body and blood together, you don't have that which speaks of redemption, My blood which is shed for you. So we partake of them, the loath and the cup. And I, as I say, we remember.
What it cost the Lord Jesus to put away our sins.
Occupied with the suffling, he endured with His precious blood, and had glorious finished work. Now you can easily see why these verses follow in connection with eating and drinking unworthily.
If you and I had been writing it, we might have placed these in the 10th chapter, and we might have said, Well, He should come in the 10th chapter, because how are we worthy to be at His table? Well, the worthiness is through His blood. Our place there is in perfect acceptance as members of His body. But if I could put it in this way, the thought in the verse is in an unworthy manner.
And remember, he's not talking about unbelievers.
Here he's talking about real Christians. You'll see this by noticing the 32nd verse. When we are judged, we are adjacent of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. A true believer will not be condemned with the world, but he may be chastened in his life here. Well then, what does it mean about eating and drinking in an unworthy manner?
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No. Pardon me for using another illustration, supposing that I had a great debt of $10,000.
And I have been a very, very careless person and that I had encouraged this grade debt.
And in the kindness and goodness of your heart.
Sell your house and pay my debt and come over and hand me the receipt. And there I look on it and it's marked paid in full. Well, I certainly owe you a debt of gratitude for what you've done. So I decide that I'm going to make a special trip over to your house about a month later and thank you again for what you did for me.
But in that month between, I have been going on in the same careless way that I did, incurring that debt in the first place.
And so when I come over to thank you, I thank you very profusely and say how much I appreciate you paying your debt. And you look at me and you say, Gordon, I don't understand you. I don't understand you. Do you realize what it cost me to do that?
And here I understand you're doing the very thing that caused that great debt in the first place.
Oh, now I believe this helps us to understand what it is. If I come to remember the Lord with those things in my life unjudged that cause the Lord all that suffering. The Lord speaks of that as eating and drinking in an unworthy man. There is no reality in the heart. I'm just doing it as a form. And shall I put it this way? It's as though he looked down upon me and said.
Well, Gordon, if the thoughts of my love and what I suffered for you.
Don't make you want to please me. I'll have to put my hand upon you in discipline to win your heart back. And that's just what he's telling us here. And I've really enjoyed that. The simplest verse in connection with self judgment is associated with remembering the Lord.
Well, because we never truly judge ourselves except in the light of what he had to suffer for our sins. If I say, if I tell a lie and then say that, I'm sorry.
And then I sort of have the thought, well, everybody makes the slip sometimes. There'll be no real self judgment in that. But as a little hymn puts it, in his spotless soul distress, I have learned my guiltiness. And when I come into His presence to own before Him as His child, that I have grieved His heart, even though I know He paid the debt for me already at the cross. But I come to tell him that I have grieved His blessed heart. I see him.
For me, I see what it cost him, and it makes me really judge the things in His presence, in its proper way and in its proper life. And we'll never truly judge sin unless we judge it in the light of the Cross.
This is typically brought before us in the 19th of mountain numbers in the red heifer. But I just mentioned this because isn't it lovely that these verses about self judgment should be brought in in connection with the Lord's Supper? And you know many dear Christians who are remembering the Lord because that are going on in their lives with careless things that are unjudged. The Lord has to deal with them. He says many are weak among you and many sleep the Lord.
Deal. He loves us too much, brethren, to let us go our own way, but isn't it blessed that He has provided for us a place and a manner in which we can remember Him until He comes? And I just say in closing to that, hello, the testimony may be very weak, and although there may be much failure, I do believe that in spite of it all, there is a privilege, and will be a privilege, as the Lord has asked us here to remember Him until He comes.
I believe that he'll provide a place, a manner in which we can do it, pleasing to him, and I believe if we're before him and looking up to him, he'll show us. We will not expect perfection. There isn't one of the assemblies that are addressed in the New Testament where there was Sussexion, but there was that gathering, according to the truth of his word, on the ground of the one body.
And gathering 2IN separation from moral evil.
And in separation from doctrinal evil. And what a privilege this is. Oh, may we value it. The Lord is coming soon, but He has given us this privilege. And I'm sure that to those of us who are looking for His coming soon, our hearts rejoice as we think that each Lord's day may be the last. But he gives us one more privilege. May we value it. May He keep us so we cannot keep ourselves.
The Church in Acts and 2 Timothy
The Church
Christ the Builder of His Church
The Church in Ruins
Deity of Christ
Psalm 23
Gospel
Gospel—G.H. Hayhoe
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Return tonight to Isaiah chapter 55. Isaiah chapter 55.
Oh, everyone thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money come ye buy and eat. Yeah, come buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfyeth not? Hearken diligently unto me.
And each ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness, incline your ear and come unto me. Hear, and your soul shall live.
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the surer mercies of David.
Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. Behold, thou shalt call a nation that thou knowest not, and nations that knew not thee shall run unto thee, because of the Lord thy God and for the Holy One of Israel, for he hath glorified thee. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near.
Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts.
And let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.
For as the rain cometh down, and the snow from heaven, and returneth not thither, but wandereth the earth, and maketh it bring forth and blood, that it may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it. For ye shall go out with joy, and be LED forth with peace.
The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. Instead of the thorns shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the Myrtle tree. And it shall be to the Lord, to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off. I just also like to read a few verses.
In Acts chapter 13, Acts chapter 13 and verse.
Verse 36 For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption. But he whom God raised again saw no corruption. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sin, and by him all that believe are justified from all things.
From which he could not be justified by the law.
Moses. Beware therefore, lest that come upon you which is spoken of in the prophets, Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish. For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you. Well, Isaiah has often been called the gospel prophet, and how often we turn to this lovely prophet, and we find in the first chapter.
There's an invitation. Come now and let us.
Together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like Crimson, they shall be as wool. Then when we come to the 53rd chapter, another example, those well known words. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with His stripes we are healed. And then we come to this chapter.
And we see a glorious invitation.
A wonderful invitation to anyone who wishes to come so that his thirst might be satisfied. I was just thinking, friends, that when God created man, placed him on this earth, he gave him everything necessary for his happiness. He gave him everything in the garden that was good for him, everything possible that would make him happy as a creature here upon earth.
But what did man do? Why we know what he did.
He turned away from God. He sought contentment and happiness apart from what God had provided. He took of that tree that was forbidden, and in doing so he brought sorrow into this world. And I was thinking that there are two things that man has received through the fall. He has received a conscience, A conscience that tells him that he is guilty.
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For conscience is a plague to many people, because it tells.
Tells you that you're guilty, but conscience itself will never set you at liberty in the presence of a holy God. God only can remove sin from your conscience and make you satisfied to be in His presence because he has made you fit to be there. But I believe there's a second thing that man also received, and that is he found in himself.
Athirst, A longing for something that could not be satisfied.
By all the things around him, a thirst that could only be satisfied by the very one that he had sinned against. How wonderful that is. And that God allowed man to receive a conscience through the fall. And then he himself provided a way that his conscience could be purged of all guilt. That he could be perfectly clean in the presence of a holy God, and returning to his presence in even a better.
Enjoyment of the heart of.
God than before sin entered, and more than that, because of his sin, why He created, shall I say, a longing now that could not be satisfied by all the things that God had given to him in the garden. And then God himself undertakes to fill that heart in such a way that He fills it to overflowing. And dear friends, that's why I've read this little portion here tonight.
I believe as our brother reminds to.
Yesterday that there is a longing in every human heart, a longing that cannot be satisfied by all created things, can't be satisfied with all the reasonings of a man's mind. It can't be satisfied with human love, even though human love is a wonderful thing, A longing that can only be satisfied by the very One who made your heart and mine. And he invites you tonight because he can.
And he wants to satisfy that longing in your heart when the Lord Jesus was here upon earth.
He went up to Jerusalem at the Feast of Tabernacles. Now, you know, the Jews had many feasts. They had 7 feasts through the year. The Feast of Tabernacles was the last. They had gone through, we might say, a cycle of religious observances. And time after time they had gathered to observe these feasts through the year, and they came to the last one. And it was the last day of the last feast, for there were eight days in the Feast of Tabernacles.
And on the very last day of the last feast, the Lord Jesus stood up and said, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. So, dear friends, not only cannot the things of this world satisfy, but you may be the most religious person, and religion can't satisfy. You may go on with all the outward forms and ceremonies of religion.
Boys and girls brought up in the meeting might come to every meeting but just become.
You come to the meeting doesn't mean that your soul has been saved, doesn't mean that you're ready to meet God. Those Jews went through strictly and religiously all those faiths, and they came, I say, to the last day of the last feast. And what did they need? They needed Jesus, they needed him. And friend tonight, you need him. Young people here tonight.
You need him, and if you haven't yet found him as you're safe.
You haven't found a satisfying portion, but his invitation to you tonight is this call ho everyone thirsteth.
If there is that thirst in your heart, if you say there's something lacking in my life, there's something that I feel is not just right in my life, friend, it's the Lord Jesus Christ you need. It's not to turn to religion. It's not to try your own efforts. It's not to make a new fling into the pleasures of this world. It's not to try what the world so many young people are trying today, drugs and entertainment and even going.
According to evil spirits, anything at all to try and find something to satisfy that inner longing. But here it says he hold everyone that thirsteth, Come ye to the waters, who has that water of life? O the Lord Jesus said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He met a poor Sinner.
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In the 4th chapter of John and she was trying a life of sin.
To find satisfaction for her lusts. And the Lord Jesus met her at the side of the well. And he said, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again. But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst. For the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. And that is the Lord Jesus can put the well inside.
Yes, he can come, right?
Into your heart and fill your heart, because He himself dwells there when you are saved.
Have you come to those living waters? I'm sure you've tried many things for satisfaction. Have you come to the living waters? One of the last invitations in the Bible is whosoever will let him take the water of life freely.
Well, it says here too. And he that hath no money, you know you have to pay for almost anything in this world. You know very well how it costs for anything that is considered worthwhile. One time a newspaper offered a definition for money, a reward rather for a definition for money. Could anybody give a good definition of money?
Well, they received various definitions, but this is the one that.
They gave the reward to someone gave this definition for money. Money is a universal passport to every place but heaven and a purchaser of everything but happiness. How true it is, dear friend. You can get almost anywhere in this world if you have money. Yes, you can unlock almost any place and get in if you have enough money.
And yet it doesn't buy happiness. Some of the most wealthy people.
People have jumped over the bridge and committed suicide. Money didn't bring them happiness. It's a universal passport to everything but happiness and universal.
And it's a passport to every place but heaven. Oh yes, dear friend, you can only get into heaven by the precious blood of Christ. There is no other way. So money is not required for this wonderful gift that God gives. And yet it says, come me, buy and eat. Why does it use the word buy? Well, I would suggest that there are two reasons.
Some people are hindered from coming to Christ.
Christ because they love their sin so well and just like a man won't part with money as they won't part with their sins, they want a life of sin. They love them so well that they'd rather go on in their sins than have Christ Oh what a terrible decision, but there are many like it. There are many that are making that decision Oh friend, I plead with you. If there's something in your life that's hindering you from coming to Christ, if there's something that the.
Is holding up to your soul and say you can't part with that. That's part of your life. Oh, I plead with you not to put such a high value on it. In the day of judgment you will have to answer to God for that sin. In the day of judgment, you will have to answer to Him for allowing that thing to hinder you from receiving God's great salvation.
But then there's also another reason, and that is salvation is costly, very costly, but the price was paid by another. Sometimes people say, oh, the salvation that you preach is too easy. I cannot believe that salvation is as easy as you say it is. Oh, friend, the price was tremendous. The price was more than you or I could pay. Who could pay the price?
The Lord Jesus and He has paid it, and He paid it in full on Calvary's cross. He paid the debt. As the little hymn says. There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could undo the door of heaven and let us in. Yes, there was One who could pay the price, and He has paid it. He has paid it that you and I might be saved. He was. He has paid it so that you.
Might have salvation full and free, and so it says by, but without money and without price.
When someone gives you a gift, perhaps the gift costs that person a great deal. You don't say the gift is not valuable. You say thank you and that's all you can do. My friend, God wants you to come as a bankrupt Sinner, and He just wants you to say thank you. He just wants you to receive it. There is no price to pay. Oh, you say, I feel I must do something. Supposing that you saw something very valuable in the store window and the price is marked.
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$1.00.
Perhaps the value of it is much more than a dollar, and you go in and pay the dollar and get it. You tell your friends, I surely got a bargain, but you can't say it was a gift. You paid something for it. And if you and I can pay anything for salvation, it's not a gift. But the Bible says the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
By grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves it is.
The gift of God. Salvation is a gift. And just like when someone gives you a birthday present, you take it and you say thank you, the Lord Jesus is offering to you tonight the forgiveness of your sins. He's offering to you a home in heaven. And what he wants you to do is look up into his blessed face and say, thank you, Lord Jesus, for paying the debt for me. He's paid the debt, He's paid the price.
And he says, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Yes, those things that men find pleasure in, those things that provide nourishment for us.
Those are the things men live for. How many people there are at this time of the year who thought more of entertainment and pleasure than of their precious souls?
Oh friend, God can give you something better than all that this world has to offer, without money and without price.
Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread and your labor for that which satisfies not all? How many people are spending their money for that which doesn't satisfy? Yes, how? What high prices they will pay and then only be disappointed? Yes, the prices of entertainment in this world continue to go up.
As someone said to me, why it seems that?
Business isn't as good in so many lines, but anything that has to do with pleasure, it seems that there's always a demand. Men are looking for pleasure. They're searching for something to satisfy.
Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which satisfyeth? Not all people work so hard to have a good time. They work so hard to have a good time. How many there are? There's there's a beautiful home out in the Saint Lawrence River in the east, and there's that beautiful home. And sometimes people who tour through that area take it out in boats and they're shown this beautiful home.
A very wealthy American built that home, and it was just surpassing in its grandeur. He loved his wife very much, and he intended to enjoy this home in her company.
By just about the time it was finished, she died and there is that home. It's still empty. He didn't enjoy it because the one he intended to enjoy it with was taken from him. Old friend, that's just an example of so many in this world. If you live for the things of time, they pass away, they don't satisfy. Disappointments come. Perhaps there's been a disappointment in your life.
And you wonder why? Why did God take?
Away from me, the thing that would have brought happiness. Oh friend, he often does those things to make you realize you're in need of him. If you read carefully in the 33rd chapter of Job, it tells us there that sometimes God has to speak loudly and lay a man on a sick bed, cause him to get so sick that it says his bones that were not seen stick out and then.
Why does he allow this? It says, Lo, all these things worketh God, oftentimes with man to keep back his soul from the pit, that to be enlightened with the light of the living. And perhaps that man who built that beautiful home in the Saint Lawrence on one of those islands and never occupied it to enjoy it.
Perhaps God spoke to his heart through that sorrow. Maybe when he couldn't.
Enjoy that earthly home. He felt his need of a heavenly home, a place where there will be no disappointment. And perhaps he'll thank God in eternity that God had spoken so loudly if that brought him to Christ. I've often told of a dear man whom I met down in Kentucky, sitting in a wheelchair with a broken back.
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When I met him, he'd only been in the wheelchair for a year, but he sat there, I believe for 19 years in the wheelchair with a broken back. But I remember well the time I went to see him and his face was bright. His face was shining. And this is what he said to me. God had to break my back to save my soul. Yes, dear friends, God has to speak pretty loudly sometimes.
Before we'll turn to him, sometimes he has to take away the things that we think are worthwhile so that we'll feel our need of him. Why are you living for these things that pass away? They don't satisfy if you. I know a young man who worked for a very wealthy man.
Who had his ambition to become a millionaire?
And this person who spoke to him said, well, when you become a millionaire, what will you do then? Do you know what his answer was? I'll be the most miserable person in the world. That was his own confession. I'll be the most miserable person in the world. Why? Because he had obtained what he wanted, and he knew it wouldn't satisfy him.
The only pleasure in this world is in trying to attain something.
A teacher that was addressing A graduating class in school said to the students, never set your goal as something that you can attain to because if you ever attain to it, you won't be happy. The only pleasure is in seeking after it all. What an admission, friends, what an admission. It's not that way in the things of God.
To find Christ, to know Him as your Savior.
To have a home above is what really satisfies. And I'm sorry for you if you haven't found Christ, because I'll say this to you, if you haven't yet found out. The world will disappoint you. You're going to find it out later.
Every person in the world has either found out that it's a disappointing thing, or he's going to find it out someday.
There's only One who can satisfy, and he invites you to come. He says, Hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness. Incline your ear and come unto me. Yes, just open your ear and listen to the call of the Savior. What does He say? Come unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. What an invitation.
From the Savior of sinners. Are you heavy laden tonight? Do your sins trouble you? Jesus invites you. He wants you just the way you are. You don't have to clean up to come to Him. You don't have to make yourself better. He wants you just as you are in your sins, and that's the way He'll receive you. He came to save sinners.
It says here, and your soul shall live.
That is, have you got an ear to listen to the voice of God? God says that we're dead in trespasses and sins, but hearing His voice gives life.
You remember the story in the Bible where the Lord Jesus stood by the grave of Lazarus. There was a man in that grave that had been dead for days.
And the Lord Jesus said Lazarus, come forth.
And the dead man came out, he asked the Lord Jesus is the resurrection and the life. And tonight, if you're still dead in sin, if you will hear the voice of the Son of God, your soul shall live. Your soul shall live. He'll give you new life. That's what you need. That's what I received. And it says.
He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me hath everlasting life. Yes, he will give you new life here, and your soul shall live, and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David. I love that expression. I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
We don't have to ask God to give us the assurance. He's already given it to us in His Word.
00:25:02
And it says I will make an everlasting covenant with you.
I enjoy that expression because if I thought that when I received salvation it depended on me to keep it, why, I'd be afraid that I might lose it tomorrow. I've often said when I meet people who say, well, if you don't live the way you should, you can lose salvation. I say, if I believed like you, I would never be happy.
I would always be afraid that I might do something that would lose.
My salvation but all how wonderful that when the Lord Jesus saves you, He makes an everlasting covenant with you. An everlasting covenant our brother brought before us last night those lovely words in John 10. My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one.
One time a father wanted to illustrate this to his boy.
And so.
He put 1/4 in his hand, mixed his hand and he said to his boy, now if you can get that $0.25 out of my hand, you can have it.
And saw the boy set to work to try and get that $0.25 out of his father's hand.
He worked pretty hard, you know, he got one finger up and then when he went to get the second finger up, the other one snapped down. And he tried for quite a little while and he said, oh, Daddy, I can't get it. So his father put his other hand over like this and he said, well, try again. Well, he said, if I couldn't get it out of one hand, I'll never get it out of two.
And, dear friend, that's the security of the believer. That's the security of the believer.
The Lord Jesus says no one can pluck them out of my hand, and then he said no one can pluck them out of my Father's hand. And he said I am my father are one.
He wants to make an everlasting covenant with you. There's a lovely little portion in the 8th chapter of Romans that I have very much enjoyed, and this is what it says. It says, I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things that come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord.
You know, there's something quite remarkable about that passage. Did you ever notice that it begins in the singular and it ends in the plural? It says, I am persuaded that nothing shall be able to separate us from the love of God. And I like to say this to those who have trusted in the Lord Jesus but are not persuaded about the fact that they can never be lost. I like to say to them like this.
Well, I'm persuaded that nothing can separate me from his love.
But I'm glad that the verse ends and it doesn't say that, that no one can separate me, but it says no one can separate us. I'm persuaded of it. But it's true of you, whether you're persuaded of it or not. If you have Jesus as your Savior, he wants to make an everlasting covenant with you.
If you doubt His Word, if you're under the shelter of His blood, you're secure, because nothing could make you more secure than the finished work of Christ. Oh, how wonderful the assurances of God's Word. Some people worry that they haven't got enough faith.
But I say this for some who are young, perhaps some brought up in the meetings, and you say, well, sometimes I wonder if I've got enough faith. Dear friend, never get occupied with how much faith you have. The question is of whether your faith is in the right person. That's the important thing.
I'll use a little illustration supposing I had a check for $100.
And I have very, very strong confidence that that check is good. I haven't got a doubt in my mind that that check is good and that I'm going to get $100 when I take it to the bank. And I take it to the bank with all the confidence in the world and present it to the teller. And he says, well, I'm sorry, I can't cash it for you. Oh, I say, I was so sure that check was good, I didn't even have a doubt.
Well, he said. You put a lot of confidence in the wrong man.
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My dear friend, my faith was great, but it was in the wrong person. Well, I have another check in my pocket and I pull it out almost trembling and I say well and what about this one? I always said sure. He doesn't even look up the account. He hands me the $100.00 with no question.
The first person I had a great deal of faith in, but he wasn't worthy of my confidence. The second one I had just enough faith to present the check and I got the whole amount. Dear friend, don't get occupied with the amount of your faith. The Lord Jesus said if we had a faith like the green mustard seed, we could remove mountains. And many of us who are saved tonight and who are rejoicing in God's salvation.
Would never, never boast about our faith. We say it's exceedingly weak, but we know it's in the right.
Person we don't trust in ourselves, Doctor Heyman Reifert said. Why is a man an infidel? Because he believes in himself.
And why is a man a Christian? Because he believes in Christ and not in himself.
And dear friend, that's me. By the grace of God, I don't believe in myself. I don't believe in my works. I don't believe in my feelings. I don't believe in anything about myself. I'm just a poor Sinner and a poor daughter too. But all I know that there's one in whom I can trust. There's one in whom I believe. And I can say with the apostle Paul, I know in whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed.
Unto him against that day, oh here, and your soul shall live. Listen to his loving voice. Don't look in to see how much faith you have. Look to Jesus, look to his glorious work finished on the cross of Calvary.
And God will bring you into the glorious fruits of salvation just by looking to Him.
So it says, I will make an everlasting covenant with you. Even the sure mercies of David. I like this, you know, because I often think when I read this about David's sin, was David worthy of those mercies? Oh no.
But God made a covenant, and the covenant depended on his faithfulness, not David. David failed, but God's word would stand, and God's word will always stand. That blessed, precious Savior settled a question of sin, that you and I might be saved. Then there's another thought in this fourth verse. Behold, I have given him for a witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people.
That is.
He not only saves us, but we need, we need leadership, we need guidance as we go through this world. Oh, how blessed now that not only can we rejoice that our sins are forgiven, but we're brought to know that one who is the captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory, That one whom God says, if thou shalt confess with thy mouth, Jesus is Lord.
And shall believe in thine heart.
That God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. We need someone to guide us through a world like this. There's so many by paths, there's so many snares and pitfalls. The one who saves you undertakes to lead you all the way. Yes, he undertakes and he is faithful. He'll bring us through. How far did the sheep carry the shepherd that he picked up?
The sheep that he picked up, how far did he carry it?
Carried it home, He carried it home. And as the Lord Jesus picks you up in His grace, I assure you He'll carry you home. The sure mercies of David, a leader and commander to the people.
Now the sixth verse.
Seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. This is a warning. And what is the warning? Well, this is the day of grace.
God is offering you salvation tonight, but we can't assure you that He offered to you tomorrow. We can't assure you that He'll offer it to you. One hour from now. Two things may happen. Death may overtake you, or the Lord Jesus may come. And oh, I plead with you to turn to Him now, before it's too late. Seek ye the Lord while he may be found.
Yes, he can be found tonight. He's near you.
He's as it were pulling at your at your coat sleeve and saying, won't you come? Do you feel him as it were pleading with you? Well, he says, my spirit shall not always strive with man.
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Sometimes people say, well, I don't like to be pushed, I don't like to be pushed, they say. But it always makes me think of a little incident my brother told me, he said when he was over in England one time.
He stepped off the train of the station to get some food that was being sold along the side by where the train came in. There were some vendors selling food there and he wasn't very acquainted with the operation of the trains. And he stepped off and went over to buy some food and without any warning he turned around and he saw the train starting to move.
But the guard was right there, he said.
And he said he caught a hold of my sleeve and he helped me onto the train. And with a little push, he said he put me right there. He said I was glad of that push. And dear friend, you will be glad of a push tonight. If you get onto the train for heaven, you'll be glad somebody pushed you. You'll be glad like one dear young boy said who came to a gospel meeting much against his wishes. He didn't want to go, but God.
His grace saved him, and after the meeting he said to the person who brought him, I'm glad you dragged me here. Oh dear friend, God wants to bless you. He wants to save you, but seek ye the Lord, while he may be found. Call ye upon him while he is near. There's no easier time to be saved than tonight. Jesus is near.
He's right in this room. He's pleading with your soul. When this gospel meeting is over, there's going to be a lot of talk.
They're going to be a lot of plans being made to do this and the other thing this evening. And it's very easy to forget what you've heard in the gospel meeting. The Lord Jesus said that when the good seed is sung, the evil one comes and plucks away the seed out of a person's heart. And that's why the devil says, I'll just wait until you get home. Perhaps he'll pluck out the seed before you get home.
He's nearer to tonight. He's near right now.
Is there any more wonderful time to be saved than right while you sit in the gospel meeting just to look up to the Lord Jesus and say Lord Jesus is a Sinner? I take thee as my Savior and I do it right now.
It says, Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
Yes, there's the same question to be settled. God sees us as sinners, vile sinners, lost sinners. He sees us guilty in his presence.
Not, I pray, I plead with you tonight to turn from your sins and come to Christ. Those sins will only drag you down into hell. Those sins will only work your eternal ruin. But I plead with you to turn from them right now and come to Christ. Come to him while it's still the day of his grace that the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Perhaps I hear someone say, well, I'm not.
Wicked person. I don't think I'm such a bad person.
But would you like your thoughts to be written up on the wall here for everybody to read? I wouldn't.
God says the thought of foolishness is sin.
God says every idle word that man shall speak, he shall give an account thereof in the day of judgment. He says within, out of the heart of man proceed evil thoughts, adultery, fornication. He said these things come from within and defile the man. You may not have done them, but God couldn't take you to heaven with that sinful fallen nature that's having all those evil thoughts, even if you don't carry them out.
You need a new life, you need cleansing, and God can do both for you. He can give you a new life and He can cleanse you. That the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isn't that lovely? Abundantly pardon.
Oh, there's an abundant salvation for you. God isn't.
Going to forgive you grudgingly. He isn't going to forgive you half heartedly. He's going to forgive you with an abundant pardon. I often think of that dear prodigal as he returned home. It says his father saw him a great way off and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. Did you ever notice?
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The father fell on his neck and kissed him before he said a word.
As soon as his footsteps started for home and his father, looking down the road, saw him, he threw his arms around him, and he didn't make his confession until his father's arms were around him. And oh, dear friend, if you only knew how much God loved you, you wouldn't be afraid to confess to him your guilt. Why are we a little afraid sometimes to tell people about something wrong?
That we have done.
How we wonder if they have enough love to overlook it. We wonder if they have enough love to overlook it. But all friend, God not only has enough love to overlook it, He paid the price himself in the gift of His Son. God is holy and He can't overlook sin. He must punish sin. Every transgression and disobedience must receive a just recompense of reward.
But for those of us who were saved, we can say death and judgment are behind us.
I remember going to see a dear old brother named Brother Paul.
Back in Ottawa.
The last time I went to see him, his voice was very, very weak before the Lord took him home. And I can still remember as he looked up and said with such a weak voice, he said, Gordon, isn't it lovely to know the judgments behind you and not ahead of you?
Oh, friend, that's a wonderful thing. God didn't overlook my sin. He punished my sins. He punished them on the head of my substitute. Judgments passed for me, Jesus for it. And I can say like he did now, that judgment behind me, not ahead of me, but it's one place or the other. If judgment is not behind you, it's ahead of you, my friend. There is a hell. There is judgment to come.
Hell is a reality and if you die in your sins.
A holy God must put you there, but He doesn't want you to go there in order that you might be saved. He sent his Son. He loves you. Will you receive him tonight?
Well, perhaps you say, well, I have a lot of questions. There are many things in the Bible I don't understand. And what about the heathen?
And there's just so many things that are a puzzle to me in life. Well, here's the answer to it all.
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my way.
For as the heavens are higher than the earth.
So are my thoughts higher than your thoughts?
Dear friend, if God couldn't think something that was beyond me, he wouldn't be God.
If God couldn't do something that I couldn't understand, He wouldn't be gone.
And I am satisfied to believe what I can understand of His wondrous love and of His great salvation.
I know that there are things that I don't understand, but I recognize that His thoughts are above mine, that His ways are above mine. And I beseech you not to go to hell just because there was something in the Bible you couldn't understand. I beseech you not to reject the pardon that God offers you just because you couldn't understand some point that's troubling you.
Maybe someday God will make it plain to us, but for now He makes 1.
Very plain, and that is we're sinners and we need a Savior, and God has provided A Savior. How simple it is. So God just speaks of it in this simple way that His thoughts are above our thoughts.
And then it speaks of God sending the rain and how this rain comes down and makes the seed grow. And so he says, my word is like that. He said just as the rain comes down and makes things grow in the earth, so God has sent down these showers of blessing. He has sent his word down to this world.
And if you reject that Savior, it's in vain as far as you are concerned. That's why I read those verses in Acts chapter 13. It says, Beware lest that come upon you, which is spoken of in the prophets. Behold, ye despisers, and wonder and perish.
For I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.
00:45:00
There was an infidel man said he didn't believe the Bible. He didn't believe in heaven, he didn't believe in hell.
But he died, and someone said after he died, well, he knows now.
He knows now.
Friend, he will know someday. You will know someday. But has God sent His word to you in vain? Does it come down in vain as far as you're concerned? Has that wonderful message of pardon been sent to you in vain? And you reject it and you refuse it? You'll remember someday in a lost eternity this very gospel meeting. If you reject the Savior, you'll remember the pleadings of God's Spirit with your soul.
I'm only a man who I'm trying to declare it to you. You may look at the instrument and say, well, he doesn't know that much. Dear friend, it's not important how much I know. I want you to listen to God's Word. I can't save you. I can't give you assurance. I can't give you eternal life, but God can. And I point you to him and to his beloved Son. I point you to that finished work.
Then there's something else brought in in this 12TH verse.
That I think is lovely. It says, For ye shall go out with joy and be LED forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
You know, I think of these, the mountains and the hills.
Sometimes when people would like to be saved now they have difficulties about the Bible and other people see difficulties in their path.
People will say, well, I'd like to be saved. How about you don't know what my life is like. You don't know the problems that would come if I confess Christ, Why, if I went home and told my husband or my wife that I'm saved, why it would break up our marriage. The lady said that one time if you went home and told your father and mother, you said, oh, I'd get all kinds of opposition. Yes, you see a lot of mountains in the way, don't you? You see a lot of.
You see a lot of difficulty.
Here's what it says. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing. Perhaps God will say that wife of yours. Perhaps God will save that husband of yours. Perhaps God will save that father or that mother of yours, and he just wants to save you first. And then when you go out, you'll find that that mountain will break forth into singing.
Some years ago I was coming across the down on the train, the Spokane, and a man sat beside me and he told me how God saved him. He told me how he resisted the pleadings of the Spirit of God for a long time, and at last God saved him. But he said my wife gave me an awful lot of opposition. She made it so hard for me. But now the mountains broke forth into singing.
His wife got saved. He's preaching the gospel himself.
And his wife is saved too. Dear friend, God is able to overcome those obstacles. You see in the way how many a person can say. When I got saved, I didn't know what was going to happen. I saw a lot of problems. But the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. All the things that you think could never work out, God can make them work out.
As I look back on my own life, I just marvel at the goodness of God. I marvel at how He's undertaken for me through so many problems. He's sufficient for every circumstance. Oh, just come to him and let him save your soul and he'll do the rest. He's the leader, He's a commander. Everything's under his control. And so don't let that difficulty stand in the way. The mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing and all.
Trees. The fields shall clap their hands.
And then again, instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead the briar shall come up the Myrtle tree.
Yes, you think of the thorns and the briars in the path. You think of how hard it's going to be. But God changes the thought of the thorns and briars into evergreens. Isn't this nice? He changes them into evergreens. That is, instead of them being a hindrance, why They brighten the dark days. How lovely it is in the winter time to go through the country and the law. You see all the leaves falling off so many trees.
To see those evergreens that keep their green all through the wintry blast. Oh, it's wonderful to know the Savior. I commend Him to you tonight.
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To you boys and girls, it's a wonderful thing to be saved when you're young. It's a wonderful thing to receive the Lord Jesus.
Why not take him now as your Savior? Why not just bow your heart in his presence and just say, Lord Jesus, I'm a Sinner. I come to thee for pardon tonight and He'll save you. He'll do the rest.
He's done the work at Calvary and he'll do the rest and save your soul. And after some older one here tonight and you've got a lot of questions, you've got a lot of problems, why not come to the Lord Jesus? His name is wonderful counselor, Almighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. You'll find all you need in him. Won't you come to him tonight?
Or if you receive him, he'll save you. But if you reject him?
I must warn you solemnly, my friend, if you reject him, judgment is ahead. Judgment is ahead. Hell is a reality. Don't go out of this room without Christ. Now is your opportunity to receive Him this moment.
Shall be gone.
Deep Waters of Trial
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Ezekiel, chapter 47.
First one.
Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house, and behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward to the forefront of the house, stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under the right side of the house at the South side of the altar. Then brought he me out of the way of the gate northward, and LED me about the way without under the utter gate by the way that looketh eastward. And behold, there ran out waters on the right side.
And when the.
Had the line in his hand and went forth eastward. He measured 1000 cubits, and he brought me through the waters. The waters were to the ankles. Again he measured 1000 and brought me through the waters. The waters were to the knees. Again he measured 1000 and brought me through the waters. Were to the loins. Afterward he measured 1000. And it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters were risen waters to swim in a river that could not be passed.
Over and he said unto me, Son of Man, hath thou seen this? Then he brought me, and caused me to return to the brink of the river.
Now when I had returned, behold, at the Bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, These waters issue out toward the E country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which move us whithersoever the rivers shall come, shall live, and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters.
Shall consider, for they shall be healed, and everything shall live. Whether the river cometh.
Shall come to pass, that the Fisher shall stand upon it from Engedi, even unto an eglium.
They shall be a place to spread forth Nets. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea exceeding many. But the miry places thereof and the marshes thereof shall not be healed. They shall be given the salt, and by the river upon the bank thereof on this side and on that side shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall a fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his.
Because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary, and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the least thereof for medicine.
Now you just turn over to Revelation chapter 22.
In verse one.
And he showed me a pure river, a water of life.
Clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street of Epstein, on either side of the river, was there the Tree of Life, which bear a 12 manner of fruit, and yielded her fruit every month, And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation.
Well, it's lovely portion in the 47th chapter of Ezekiel look forward as we can see to a time when God will bring in wonderful blessing to this earth and when the Millennium will be seen upon this earth. The Lord Jesus will reign in righteousness and things will be set right in this poor troubled world.
But I was thinking of it more particularly in its practical application to ourselves. Because surely if God is going to come in such a rich blessing to this earth, the only way that this blessing will be brought about is through the Lord Jesus. And we who know Him as our Savior are able by grace to produce something of this kind of fruit even here and now. What a wonderful place is ours to be in the enjoyment of these things beforehand.
Because when we are saved, we possess a new life and we have a life that is able to produce fruit for God. Because it says he's a sappy about us. In him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked. So I just like to look at this chapter in this practical way.
If we were to take time to read some of the chapters before, we would see that there is a pattern given in these chapters for the temple that will be built during the Millennium. And this temple will be a surpassing grandeur. It will be in the place of God's appointment, the city of the great King, and such detail is given. And as we read over the chapters before, we see something of the glory of that house that will be seen during the millennial.
But after giving all the description, then we come to this 47th chapter and we see the source of refreshment. And the reason I mention this is because it is quite possible for us to be clear as to the truth of gathering. It is quite possible for us to be clear about a great deal of the truth of God, and yet not practically to be producing that kind of fruit that is pleasing to God and that will enable us to go on together as we had in.
00:05:23
Readings in the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. So he doesn't stop by merely giving us a description of this grand house that will be built for the Lord in the Millennium. Wonderful as it will be, there needed to be a source of refreshment. And after giving us the whole pattern of this source of refreshment and the effects of it are set before us in this lovely chapter. And so, brethren, we through grace.
And know what it is to enter into a great deal of the truth.
God, I'm sure many of us are rejoicing in the knowledge of Christ as our Savior. We're rejoicing in the truth that God has made known to us as to Christ, His person, His work, our standing in Him, and what it is to be members of His body. But oh, how easily we can know these things intellectually and yet not be in the practical enjoyment of them in our lives, nor be producing that kind of fruit which is acceptable to God and.
The blessing of others.
So hereafter He had shown them all this, it says in this first verse. Afterwards He brought me again under the door of the house. And behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward. The house faced toward the east. And we noticed that the glory of the Lord appeared from me. The Lord entered by the Eastgate and the Prince who will sit upon the throne in the millennial day, and He entered from the east and.
Perhaps we could turn back to the.
44th chapter and we'll see that.
Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord, the God of Israel hath entered in by us, and therefore it shall be shut. And you know, I like to connect this verse with that little hymn that we sing. Take to our hearts, and let them be forever closed.
To all the same, thy willing servants, let us wear the seal of love forever. There. This gate was shut, boy. Well, because the Lord had entered by us. And if one can put it in this way, that there should be a place in our heart that belongs to the Lord, that no one can steal that place, It's His. It's His by right He has entered. We know him because He has redeemed us with His precious blood, and we belong to Him.
And so how lonely to see that.
There was that Eastgate and the house face toward the east. And so the important thing about this house was not merely the grandeur of the building, but that the Lord had His rightful place. And indeed, in the last chapter you'll see that it says in the last verse of the last chapter.
It was round about 18,000 measures and the name of the city from that day shall be the Lord is there isn't this lovely And that is his presence was what made the place. And so these waters issued out from the forefront of the house which faced toward the east. And it's been often remarked that the heart of God and the will of God are the source of all our blessings. But there also had to be a ground for the blessing. And so it says it came out.
At the South side of the altar. And I ran in Revelation 22 to show that this same river is seen in a more full way in the 22nd chapter of Revelation, and it says that the water of life was proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Now that is the heart of God is the source of it about the Lamb.
The guard's lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the ground on which God can bring blessing to us. And seeing the Lord Jesus has accomplished that work and has fully glorified God, now God can come out in all the riches of his grace.
Because the Lord Jesus said I have a baptism to be baptized with and how am I straightened or restricted until it be accomplished and unsure at work was finished, could the heart of God could come out? So in Ezekiel it says that it flowed from the South side of the altar. But when we come to the Book of Revelation we find that the Lord Jesus has accomplished redemption. And so again this river is seen proceeding out of the throne.
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God and of the Lamb.
Well, we find then that this prophet Ezekiel was taken and was led around to see and to experience something of what this river was doing. And I'd like to just bring before our hearts this this practical point that you and I must lay hold of these things first of all for ourselves. And that is if Ezekiel was going to see that something of the good that this river would do.
He must himself be brought through the water. It's something of the same thought and what the Lord Jesus said, He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. That is, it's taken in, it's made our own, and then it flows forth. And that's always the way how God works. That is, it's not just truth learned in the intellect, but He leads us experimentally through the truth and when we have been LED through.
Truth experimentally, then it becomes something that we have proved, we have experienced, and we enjoy as something that we know in our own soul. There's a great danger, brethren, of trafficking in truth that has never really been made our own. And so we don't find here that the Prophet was even allowed to observe the good results of this wonderful water of life until he, first of all himself had been LED through the water.
Then may I suggest there?
That when we read the word of God, we don't read it for others, we read it for ourselves. Read it to get a blessing for your own soul. When you read it, speak to see Christ in US and as food to your own soul. And when it has been made a blessing to your own soul, and then you can say, as the scripture says, we speak, that we do know and testify that we have seen.
Control little incident. That to me was very interesting.
About the 23rd Psalm.
There were two people that were asked to read the 23rd Psalm. 1 was a very well educated man and he read that Psalm very, very nicely, putting the emphasis in the right place. But then there was another person who was asked to read the 23rd Psalm and he wasn't very well educated. He didn't. He stumbled over the words. He didn't read it too well.
Now, but after someone had listened to these two people reading the 23rd Psalm, this person was asked for his comment. What do you think of the way those two people read the 23rd Psalm? This was his reply. Well, he said one knew how to read, the other knew the shepherds and bravo, that's the point for us. Do you know how to read or do you know the shepherd? Do I know the truth intellectually or do I know that something that?
In my soul, it may be with stumbling, it may be with faltering lips, than it is that one speaks of Christ. But the important thing for us all is that we experience what is set before us here. That is the going through the waters.
Crown odysseys brought around to the very front of this house the source of all blessings. And now it tells us that there was a man there who had a line in his hand and he led him forth eastward. May I mention again eastward, because in the Millennium, the floor. Jesus is the son of righteousness rising with healing in his wings. And so to speak, as he moves, he's getting closer to the Lord. He's moving toward the east, He's moving toward the.
Rising towards us and worth it. One who alone can bring the blessings. And it says he measured 1000 cubits. He brought me through the water. Well, that was a long way. 1000 cubits is about 1/3 of a mile. And I'm sure that if any of us walk through water for 1/3 of a mile, we'd think why that's a long way and only to the ankle.
But how slow we are to make progress in the things of God? How slow?
We are how often, as it were, we drag our feet. And that's the feeling you get when you're going through water. You'll feel as if your feet are being dragged. And so it is any in divine things. We don't learn it in its right way according to our intellectuality, but according to our willingness to have Christ before us. Every step he made was toward the east. And if you and I are going to make progress in the things of God, we need to have the Lord Jesus before us.
And as I say, we mustn't expect to learn everything in one day. We mustn't expect that we're going to get hold of the things of God all at once. There's a verse that says if a man thinketh and he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he ought to know it. In other words, if, if learning the truth of God doesn't humble us, then we're not learning it in the right way. If I were to say I know all about the Lord's coming, that would be a proof that I didn't, because when?
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Think of what that truth means, and what a little effect it has in my life, Why, I only have to say how little I know about it. And so when it is the moment we boast about knowing something in the things of God, God says, well, you know nothing yet as you ought to know it. The knowledge of the truth of God humbles us, but it exalts Christ. 1000 cubits 1/3 of a mile. Moving on. And it was only up to the ankles. Now I just like to suggest a few.
Thoughts about these different places where he measured up to the ankles? I'd like you to turn to the book of the Acts.
And the third chapter.
Acts 3 and verse 7. Verse 6.
Then Peter said, Silver and gold, have I none but such as I have Give I thee in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk. And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength, and he, weeping up, stood and walked, and entered in with them into the temple, walking and leaping and praising God.
In the 16th verse. And his name, through faith in his name hath made this man.
Strong Tunisian now, Yeah. The faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all. Well, I just like to speak of this. Going through the waters to the ankles and sitting before us, our standing in Christ. Here was a man that was a cripple from his mother's womb. And isn't that the way we were born? We were born in sin. We had no standing before God. We were helpless in his presence.
Now the Lord and his wondrous grace has, as it were, picked us up our feet and our ankle bones have received strength and we have perfect soundness in his presence that we can be in his presence not only knowing that our sins are forgiven, but be able to say in Christ it is we stand. Yes, everyone in this room who is truly saved has a perfect standing before God because.
Because God sees us in Christ, as we have in John.
The person that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. Not only are your sins forgiven, but wonder of wonders, every believer is accepted in God's beloved Son.
I believe some young Christians don't see the distinction between having our sins forgiven and being accepted in Christ or being justified, but perhaps I could illustrate it like this.
I had a a great debt and I couldn't pay the debt and someone else pays the debt for me. Why this is wonderful to know that my debt is paid, but that doesn't mean that I'm brought into any favor in the eyes of my creditor, does it? It's just simply to know that my debt is forgiven and my debt is paid. But supposing that my creditor sees that debt on his book and he says to his son.
Will you pay the debt for him?
And then I'll be able to send in a receipt. So his son pays my debt, and he sends me a receipt like this, paid in full through the kindness of my son. Oh, now I've learned something of my creditor's heart. And so I go to thank him and he says, well, I want you to know something. Not only is this debt wiped off my book, but you're in the same favor and acceptance before me as my own son.
Oh, isn't that more than forgiveness?
Brethren, it's a wonderful thing to know that God is not only forgiven us, but we are accepted in the beloved. We're holy and without blame before Him in love, and there are many dear children of God who haven't got any further than the forgiveness of sin. But is this blessed if the Lord has, as it were, taken us by the hand and LED us through the waters?
Representing to us the precious Word of God and brought us to the place where we have seen.
That not only are our sins are forgiven, but God has brought us before Him in favor, in acceptance, in righteousness, and so that He Himself cannot find one single spot upon us.
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First, John chapter 1 and verse 7 it says, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin. God has brought us into the light and He fitted us for the light. The holy light of His presence can never discover one spot upon us because the blood has so perfectly cleansed us and we are before Him in Christ.
Well, here he was led through the waters to the ankle, but he didn't stop there. There are some who stopped at the knives that their sins are forgiven, then their others. And when they come to this wonderful knowledge that not only are their sins forgiven, but there before God in Christ, they stop there. They don't make further progress. And so we find here.
That the man with the measuring line didn't allow him to stop there.
That wasn't enough. The Lord wants us to know all that He has for us. He wants us to enter into the fullness as we had in our chapters at the meetings in Glendale. And He wants us to grow up under Christ in all things. He wants us to come to the perfect man, to the measure of the stature, the fullness of Christ. So he took him by the hand and led him another.
1000 cubits. Well, shall I say it was a little harder walking.
Because anybody that's walked in water knows very well what I'm talking about, that it's not too bad when the water is up to your ankles. But the deeper you get, the harder it is and the slower the progress, shall I say. There's more of a tendency to drag. And isn't it true with us how slow we are in making progress in the things of God, how we find our feet dragging? But it says here he brought me. It doesn't say he led me, but he brought me through.
And, you know, the Lord has to pass us through some things to bring us to a fuller acquaintance with himself. He knows just what is needed to bring us through these things so that we would have a fuller acquaintance. Perhaps He's passed us through some things in the past years. He may have to pass us in through some more experiences. But it's because He wants to bring us through the waters to have a fuller appreciation of himself and to have a deeper knowledge of what we have.
Him, him as a little hand says, Blessed is the sorrow kind of storm that drives us nearer home. Well, he brought him through the waters till he came to the knees.
And hearing what would the knees suggest to us? Well, I don't it won't take time to turn to the passage in the 6th chapter of Daniel. But here we find a man, and he was a man very much like ourselves. He was a busy man. He had an occupation that made it exceedingly difficult for him to be faithful to the Lord. He was in a high office in the government in Babylon, and he could have easily said, well in my possession.
I just can't be truly out and out for the Lord. He could have said that because it was a very difficult spot that Daniel was placed in. He was the highest man in the government and you say how could he be faithful? But let me say that whatever your position is, the Lord can enable you to be faithful. And if you can't be faithful in it, why you cannot abide in it with God. But if you're in a position, the Lord can direct you and give you grace to be faithful to him.
But it may cost something. The king passed a decree that no one was to ask anything of God and man for 30 days. And now the challenge came for Daniel. What is he going to give up that time of prayer for? This is what the knees suggest. Was he going to give up that time? It was so needful that he might be sustained in the surroundings in which he found himself.
Oh, how easy it is for us to give up, to find ourselves so busy.
Find yourself so engulfed in things that we just don't have that time. And when we find it's a little bit difficult, we put it aside perhaps for a day. But not so with Daniel. And we find with Daniel that his custom was that three times in a day he went to his room and he opened his window toward Jerusalem and kneeled on his knees and prayed to his God.
Isn't that lovely? And nothing was going to interrupt that.
And all may I say to each one here, don't allow any pressure of business, don't allow anything that happens, anything in your life to keep you from that time that we so much need upon our knees. We may know truth, brethren, we may have got to the ankles, but there was something more. And that is to be brought to the knees. And that's where the truth properly brings us. And that is the knowledge of the truth brings us to our knees. In other words, we learn.
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Upon the Lord. For we cannot walk in the truth of God in human strength, and we cannot carry out the principles of the Word of God in human strength. We need power from the Lord. We can say this is what should be done, but we can't carry it out unless we get to our knees. And the devil knows how to put all kinds of obstacles in the way. And how cleverly he put the obstacles in the way for Daniel.
It might have meant his job. It might have meant his life.
It certainly meant his friend because everything was against this time being spent on his knees, but he wouldn't give it up and all. Sometimes, as I say, we find it so difficult. But here were 1000 cubits again, 1/3 of a mile again. What a long way what drying your feet and getting harder each step. But all Daniel wouldn't give up that time.
Daniel wouldn't give up that secret of his.
Strength as a man of God. He was a man of God because he knew what it was to confess his dependence upon God and his confidence in God three times in a day. Oh brethren, may we allow the Lord to bring us through the waters. And if we are going through waters of trouble, the enemy may say, oh, it's too difficult. How easy it is to get a little bit rebellious. How easy it is to say, why does this happen to me and almost.
Feel that the Lord doesn't hear our prayer when we cry to Him. We all know how the enemy suggests these things, but it takes a real effort to go on constantly without getting before Him and pouring out our hearts before Him.
And Daniel might have said, well here I have been faithful, and I have prayed 3 times in a day, and God let this come upon me fly. And then when the day came and he hoped that the king might let him off, the king tried and the king couldn't work it out either. And he's dropped down into the den of lion. Oh, he might have said, for all my praying, things just went worse. Did the devil ever wished for them in your ear? You prayed and things seemed to go worse instead.
And you thought, well, why is that, Bob? Daniel still trusted in his God? And you know, brethren, sometimes we glorify God more by taking adverse circumstances from Him than by seeing His delivering hands. I've often called attention to the 11TH chapter of Hebrews, and there are two groups there. There are those who cried to the Lord and received deliverance and says they wrought righteousness.
Promises they escaped the edge of the sword. God wrought remarkable deliverances for them. But then there's a little change. And it says others were stoned, they were sawn asunder. They wandered about in sheepskins and goat skins. You say I'd like to be in the first class. I'd like to feel that my prayers were answered with glorious deliverance. But I don't like to be in the second class where you just suffer and you pray and nothing seems to happen and you just seem as.
The Lord let you go through the things and doesn't interfere. And I don't like to be in the second class, but what is the comment of the Spirit of God?
These all obtained a good report through faith. That is God gives you a report not just because you got deliverance, but because you trusted him. That's what honors him, his faith. Oh, as he's leading you or I through the waters, as it were, and bringing us to this point where we learn this greatest important lesson. It's all.
Worthwhile Daniel wouldn't give it up no matter what happens. And finally, God did come in at his own appointed time and deliver Daniel.
Well, that wasn't a stopping point either. It says in the fourth verse again, he measured 1000 and brought me through the waters where the loins. Well, here we find another 1000 feet, 1000 cubits rather. And this perhaps we could say was more difficult still to be brought through as the waters, because as they got deeper it became more difficult.
The waters to the to the lines. Now that was becoming a little harder.
And thought is, brethren, as we go on the things of God, we find it takes that energy of faith to continue to look to the Lord. It costs something to walk in the truth, but all it's worthwhile when we get to glory. Won't it be worthwhile to hear his well done? And so I would just mention that I think these loins suggest that very thought to us for in the 6th chapter of Ephesians where we have.
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Brought before us, and it says Having the loins gird about with truth. Having the loins gird about with truth. I believe that the lines suggest to us our desires.
And, you know, sometimes.
Our desires hinder us from walking in the truth. Perhaps we want to take a little easier path. Perhaps we can think of some way that it would be a little easier than walking in full obedience and devotedness to the Lord. We say, oh, if I take my place at the Lord's table, it's going to cost something. Perhaps my friends will not understand the position if I seek to take a stand in obedience to Him.
In connection with some other step in my life. It's going to cost something. It may jeopardize my job, it may jeopardize something else. And so it becomes, shall I say, more costly. But the scripture says by the truth and sell it not. And so may I say, are your loins? Are my loins girt about with truth?
Now that is when the loins were good about with truth life.
They were able, that was part of the armor, to go forth and meet the enemy. And so we need to walk in the truth that we know. Some people are greatly concerned about things in the Bible that they don't know. But as one man said, what concerns me is what I do know that I might walk in it. And can we each ask ourselves, are we walking in the truth that we know?
If so, God will give more, but the important thing is to walk in the.
Truth that we know how to have our loins gird about with truth. Sometimes you'll hear a Christian say, well, I like to do that.
Well, this is a question of what we like or what the Lord likes.
Sometimes there's a choice to be made. Are we going to follow our own desires or are we going to hold in our own desires? The loins gird about with truth is as it were. We hold in our desires and we have bring them into subjection to the truth of God. And so it isn't a task that we ourselves in the flesh might choose, but it's the path of his choosing. It's the path in which he would have us to walk. The blessed Lord Jesus in his pathway down here could.
Say, I do always those things that please Him. In another place it says, The good pleasure of Thy will, O God, is my delight. Another place, says even Christ please not Himself. So hereafter being brought through another thousand cubits in the water, He comes to the place where the waters were to the loins. And so I think you can see in these three that there.
A progress, first understanding our position in Christ, which is of course so important if we would go on in the things of God, and then realizing the need of constant dependence upon the Lord and confidence in him. For prayer expresses those two things, dependence and confidence. And then that the truth that we know control our likes, control our desires.
So that we would only desire.
To do with all the things which are pleasing to the Lord.
And then it tells us he didn't stop there in the fifth verse afterward he measured 1000. And it was a river that I could not pass over, for the waters were risen waters to swim in, a river that could not be passed over. In this connection, I'd like you to turn with me to Ephesians 3. I'd just like to read a few verses there.
Verse 17 of Ephesians 3.
That Christ may dwell in your heart by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breadth and length, and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fullness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us. Unto Him be glory in the Church.
By Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen.
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Well, here we find in our chapter that there were waters that couldn't be passed over, but waters to swim in. And brethren, we can never, never lay hold of all the fullness that's in the heart of God. But we can come to the point where we swim in those waters where we live in the enjoyment of that which proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And he delights to lead us on to this in our souls. And I just like to mention in this.
Passage that we read.
In Ephesians, the 3rd chapter, that I believe there are two things brought before us there in the 18th verse, may be able to comprehend with All Saints, what is the breadth and length, and depth and height. I want you to notice that little preposition, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. I believe there are two things. Many times the verse 18 is read as though it were saying the breadth and length, and depth and height of the love of Christ.
Which passes knowledge. But I want you to notice that there are two things there, the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.
I believe that there's the waters to swim in.
That is the breadth and length and depth and height is the measure of the blessings, and then with those the love that goes with it. Perhaps I could use an illustration that will help to convey the thought. Supposing that there is a young man whose wealth is a very, very great and he's going to be married and he gets a beautiful home ready.
And he has it built and it's just.
The grandest tone that you could possibly think of. And then he brings his bride to be and together they walk through the house and each room is more beautiful than the one before. He takes her through each room and as she looks upon this beautiful home, why she's filled with admiration. This grand home is going to be her home.
And she sees it all, and she sees that it's been provided.
For her to enjoy. But that isn't all. When he's done showing her through the home, through every room, and through all that's been provided, he puts his arm around her and says, And I want you to know the love that goes with it. Not just the house, but it's the love that went with all this provision in each room. It was built with love. It was built not only to show what I wanted to give to you about that. It was love that wanted you to enjoy.
With me and brethren, isn't this lovely? And that's what is brought before us. I believe in the waters to swim in. That is that we might be able to comprehend with All Saints the breadth and length and depth and height. God doesn't want us to stop short of enjoying all the jewels in the jewel box because they're all ours. He doesn't want us to be Supposing that girl when she stepped in the door and saw what a grand home it was, she said, Oh dear, I'm just satisfied to be.
In the door, I was never in such a grand home in my life. And just to be inside the doors enough for me, wouldn't He be disappointed? And may I say to each one here in this room, if we don't want to enter into the wonderful things that are in God's Word for us to know and enjoy, we've grieved His heart as well as lost something for ourselves. And then, as I say, He not only wants us to know the blessings, but He wants us to know the heart of the blessing. And that's why.
Unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. Now we often apply this verse to prayer and say, well, the Lord is able to do more than we can ask or think. Thank God, it is blessedly true. But the context of the verse is, would you and I ever have asked to be part of the bride of Christ? Would we ever have asked?
To the heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Would we ever have asked?
Be associated with Him in reigning over this earth in righteousness. We would neither have asked it nor thought it, but he purchased it, and He's going to carry it out, and nothing short of all the blessing that His own heart can bestow will satisfy him. He wants the brethren to enter into it now by faith, that Christ might dwell in our hearts, by faith as we shall soon know it in its fullness above. And that's why it says that she might be filled with all.
Of God. That doesn't mean that we can contain the fullness of God. I could take my cup down to the Pacific Ocean and I could fill it. I could fill it out of the fullness of the Pacific Ocean. But I haven't put the ocean in my cup. And you cannot. You and I can never take the ocean into our cup. The little poem says, Thou hast begun to show me, Lord, but what shall be the ending? I touch the fringe of what thou art. And this is joy transcending. I'm only on the rippling shore, love.
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Ocean depths are all before but we can be filled with the fullness of God. And so here wasn't this worth, shall I say, Polly dragging my feet. I'm sure if we picture this to our ourselves and our minds. Just think of walking through water for over a mile, dragging your foot through water for over a mile, you'd say, well, I'm sure I'd be tired out, but all to come to these waters that swim in and brethren.
The Christian pathway may sometimes be difficult. There may be times until lay hold of the truth and walk in at cost us something. But you'll never meet a Christian whoever says, well I'm sorry I laid hold of so much of the precious things of Christ. Never. Because the more we lay hold of these things, the more precious they become waters to swim in.
Now we find a very startling thing, and that is after all this lovely experience, Command is brought back to the shore again. He has to make his way back, all the way back to the shore. What is this brought in here? Well, I just suggest this thought and that it's a blessed thing to enter into and enjoy these things. But now we have to meet the practical realities of life. We have to come back and find that this world is still a desert.
Have to come back and see that there's a need here in this world and how is that need going to be met? So this very man who had been brought all through these waters and LED down down this long distance over a mile, and it was swimming in these waters. And now he's brought back to the shore. And when he comes back to the shore.
He finds that there's a desert place there, and he finds that there is fruitfulness wherever these waters flow. And, you know, as I say, and I repeat it, we have to come back and face the realities of this wilderness world through which we pass. We can sit in the meetings and enjoy the precious things of Christ till our hearts overflow. But when the meeting is over, we have to go back, as it were, through the waters, and we have to go down and see that there's still desert places there.
Miry places, they're still marshes yes, there are places that we have to meet situations and difficulties, but all. How shall I say, how prepared this dear man was after he himself had been through the waters and so he looked around and what did he see he viewed the results wherever those waters flowed, wherever those living waters flowed, what happened although there was fruitfulness, there was blessing and there was everything to.
His heart, so it tells us, when He came back to the brink of the river in the seventh verse. Now when I had returned, behold, at the Bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said He unto me, These waters issue out toward the E country, and go down into the desert, and go into the sea, which being brought forth into the sea, the waters shall be healed. Perhaps we could compare those trees.
To the to the the Saints of God.
Because it speaks of believers as being trees planted by the river. And so perhaps we could compare these trees to the Saints of God. But what is It'll make these trees grow. What will make them produce fruit? One will make their leaves green. Oh, it's a desert place. There's no water refreshment here in this world. It's a dry and thirsty land. But wherever these waters flowed, the trees brought forth fruit.
There was the hurtfulness and blessing.
And then he saw it going down into the place where there was desert and finally flowed right down into the Dead Sea. Oh, that stagnant place, the Dead Sea, No inlet, no outlet. There it was. And perhaps you say, well, I see a situation in my life just like the Dead Sea. It just seems that there's no inlet or outlet. Everything seems so dead.
About here, for the waters slowed down into the Dead Sea and even the Dead Sea.
Healed. Even the Dead Sea. Oh, isn't this lovely all brother, There are situations that we have to meet in life that are too much for us. There are situations we have to meet in our assemblies that are too much. And it just seems that there's nothing that can be done. But isn't it so beautiful that wherever these living waters flowed, the waters were healed and the trees began to and put forth their leaves and their fruit, and there was great blessing?
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And notice too, it says in the ninth verse, And it shall come to pass, that everything that liveth, which move us.
Wheresoever the river shall come shall live, and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither, for they shall be healed. Then in the 10th verse it shall come to pass that the fishers shall stand upon it from and hedai even unto Eniglium.
They shall be a place to spread forth mess. Their fish shall be according to their kinds, as the fish of the great sea, exceeding many. So here perhaps what would suggest to us as a blessing of the gospel, and how often the blessing of the gospel is hindered because we're not walking in the enjoyment of the truth of God ourselves. How sad it is when the world has to look at a Christian and say, well, it's that man, the Christian I wouldn't want.
To be 1. What a sad thing it is when the world has to see such a testimony. It has been said by another Our testimony to the world is our joy in the Lord. This world is gradually finding out now that material things can't satisfy. Why are young people turning to drugs? Well, I'd suggest that when they're young, they have far more opportunity than young people ever did before to try everything the world has to offer.
How they go out and they try this and they try that. I believe we could say that by the time a young person today is 20 years old, he's seen more than most people did 30 years ago in their whole lifetime. They see everything and then they say, oh, there's nothing. So they may turn to drugs. And now we find people turning even to the power of Satan, wanting to get in touch with the spirit world.
Oh, brethren, what's the matter? Oh, they're trying everything, and they're, they're finding.
That this world doesn't have what satisfies, and perhaps we're the hindrance why they don't turn to Christ.
Water, it's haven't been floating amongst others. These waters haven't been flowing in our lives and they don't see it in us that we have found a truly satisfying portion. They don't see that we have proved that the Lord is sufficient. And maybe we've read about these things, but we've never been through the waters ourselves. When this man returned, he could say, Oh yes, I know about all those waters. I was through them. I was out swimming in them. They're wonderful. No wonder they bring such blessings I've experienced.
And brethren, it's not the things that we know in our heads, it's the things that we get hold of in our hearts and lays hold of our lives. That's what counts. It's getting it down into our our feet.
Someone said, oh, I'd like to get a knowledge of the Bible like you to a dear eminent servant of God. And he said, oh, I'd like the truth of the Bible to get hold of me. Oh, that's what we need, brethren. It's for the truth to get hold of us till it affects our lives. Are we swimming in the waters? Are we enjoying these things? Then we can come back and look on this desert world. We can look at its Dead Sea. We can look at the problems that arise in home life, in business life.
School life in assembly life, and we can, as it were, bring that experience that we have had with the Lord Jesus, that knowledge of Himself and His love into these situations, and then we'll see that He is sufficient for every situation. There wasn't a place where these waters flowed that there wasn't healing. If it was a desert place, the desert was healed. If it was the Dead Sea, by the waters of the Dead Sea were healed. And so they threw in.
More attaching faith and I believe brethren, we'd see more blessing in the gospel if we were walking more in the joy of the Lord ourselves. If when people came in they saw what we had and then one time was asked how he got saved. Well, he said I went to a gospel meeting and he said I don't remember a single word that was said, but he said the lady that stood up beside me to sing, she shared her book with me and she was so happy as she sang. There seemed such reality to.
That he said it spoke to my heart and I thought there must be something to it. Ah brethren, the world looks on. They want to see that what we have has really filled our hearts that were filled with all the fullness of God.
Well, perhaps there's one little thing that puzzled us, and that's the 11TH verse. But the miry places thereof and the marriages thereof shall not be healed. They shall be given the salt. Why is it that there is this one exception?
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Well, I believe it's because these were places where the waters flowed and stagnated. They didn't flow on, they didn't flow through. And may I say we can listen to these things, we can talk about them, we can know them. But unless the truth of God has its practical effect upon our lives, all the ministry that could be given, that doesn't change us at all, doesn't change us at all. It has to be flowing freshly, and that is.
Has to be, shall I say, and no hindrance to it flowing through. If it stagnates in US now, that is, we receive it and it stops right there. It just stagnates there. But God has always given the truth so that it enters into us and it flows on. It reaches out in blessing to others. We have no monopoly on the truth, or we have it for ourselves, but we have it and so that it might flow on in blessing to others. And there's nothing so sad.
As a receiving truth and there not being any outlet, no outlet in praise, no outlet in gospel work, no flowing on as it were. We just become stagnated. Oh, God wants us to be, shall I say, channels of blessing to others. The important thing then is that the channel is kept cleared so that you and I would be the channel of blessing to others. For whether it's worship or whether it's service, it's the overflow of the heart in worship.
And it's the overflow of the hardened service reaching out to others.
Says in John 3A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven. None of us have any blessing in ourselves. It's not personality, it's not knowledge. It's something that must flow through us and it comes from above. And if you and I watch and walk until judgment, then there's no hindrance and it just flows on and reaches out to others. So if there's anything in any one of us that's hindering the blessing, if there's something in our lives that's stopping.
The flow of this water of life, may we get before the Lord and own it before Him. Sometimes our pipes get plugged and we have to get them open so the water can flow through. And sometimes these things allowed in our lives and they're a hindrance to the outflow of blessings. May we have grace to judge them with all this wonderful supply of fresh living water. To think that there were still marshes, places given to salt, and what a sad thing to think.
That this truth that we know should not be practical in our lives. Who May God grant it, will be so. Now just this one more verse, the 12TH verse.
And by the river upon the back thereof on this side, and on that side shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed. It shall bring forth new fruit according to his month, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary. And the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine. Isn't this a very lovely and interesting clothing to this subject?
Here this servant.
God, Ezekiel stood and he looked at both banks of the river. Both banks. So I consider two sides to everything. He's still on both. And he looked at both banks. And here on both banks, he saw that there were trees that were growing for meat and their leaf didn't fade. And why? Oh, because the waters proceeded out of the sanctuary. And so no matter what our position may be.
Perhaps you say, well, I'm caught in one position or I'm caught in another.
Proceed from the sanctuary. They're sufficient for every place that we can stand, whatever the place may be. If the waters come from the sanctuary, there will be that blessing. And I think it's nice the way it reads here. Brought forth new fruit according to his month. Now that is, each new month brought some a new display of fruit.
And you know, if the Lord leaves us here through the months of this year.
Supposing he leaves us through the 12 months of this year, they're going to be different situations arise every month. They're going to be new situations where it's going to require the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is Lovejoy, peace, long-suffering, meekness, gentleness, goodness, faith. Against such there is no law. Is this going to require?
That that fruit of the Spirit, that certainly we must stand for the truth of God.
And God would never have us to compromise His truth, but let us do it in the spirit of Christ. Let us do it in that way now that is pleasing and honoring to Him. And so there is fresh fruit for each situation. And we can't live on. We can't live on something that we have enjoyed in the past. Just like the Passover, it had to be enjoyed freshly.
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You shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. When they gathered the manna, they couldn't keep it till the next day.
And the fruit was fresh every month. And it says that the fruit thereof shall be for meat. Oh, surely the Saints of God would be fed, if you and I were displaying in a practical way in our lives the precious fruit of the Spirit. Yes, the Saints of God to be Fred. There would be meat for the table, and then it says the least thereof shall be for medicine. Yes, there would be medicine. There would be curing. There would be that which would heal in every.
Situation that might arise. Oh how blessed has a full provision that God has made for us in his precious word Well may the Lord grant that as we consider this lovely chapter and we're in the first month of 1972. If we were to read in the Book of Revelation. It says that bear 12 man earth fruit and yield to their fruit every month we're beginning a new year brethren, I say again, if the Lord leaves us here. We don't know what's ahead of us but.
We know the Lord goes before we know that He's sufficient, and may He grant that by looking to Him and cleaving to Him, we may be able to be in some little way a messenger for Him. And as He leads us through these experiences in our own personal lives, may He also bring us back and give us to view the situation in the light of what He is, not what we are in ourselves, but in the light of what He is in all. His blessed, all sufficiency for every.
Situation through the whole year and until he comes, he is able and he is willing.