Burbank Conference: 1995
Table of Contents
God's House in Order and Disorder
Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
First Timothy 3 and verse 15.
But if I carry long, that thou mayest know how thou Artest to behave thyself.
In the House of God.
Which is the Church of the living God?
The pillar and ground.
Of the truth.
And turn to Second Timothy 2.
And verse 19.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure.
Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.
And let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house.
There are not only vessels of gold and of silver.
But also of wooden, of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these.
He shall be a vessel unto honor.
Sanctified and meet for the masters use.
And prepared unto every good work.
We also youthful us.
But follow righteousness, faith, love, peace.
With them.
That call on the Lord.
Out of a pure heart.
And chapter 3 and verse.
One this know also that in the last days.
Perilous.
Are difficult times shall come.
And then in the following verses in the third chapter.
Paul lays before us.
What would characterize these last days?
In the First Epistle to Timothy, we have the church viewed in order. The House of God it's called.
In the second epistle it's the same house.
But it's in disorder.
The enemy has.
Done his work, the Apostle Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20. After my departure, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things.
To draw away disciples after them.
And then he gives the resource.
In the midst of this, which the enemy would introduce, he says, But I commend you to God.
And to the word of his grace.
Which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me.
God and His Word, the word of His grace.
Are the resource of the faithful.
In a day of ruin.
First Timothy In those days you could enter into a city.
And you could say, where are the Christians? Where do they meet? Well, they meet down there.
They were all together.
The church.
And that's the way it began.
All the divisions that have come in over the years have been the work of Satan.
The work of the enemy.
And even disciples from amongst the ranks of the Christian body have arisen and drawn away others.
And formed parties, divisions and sects.
And so we're living in those last days when all this has happened.
These are difficult days.
How does one find his way?
In the midst of these difficult days when there are groups, hundreds, thousands actually.
In Christian In Christendom calling themselves Christian.
How does one find his way?
How do you know where you should go?
With whom you should meet.
These are difficult days. In those early days when the Church of God was 1, you didn't have to go through that kind of exercise. You just went where the Christians met and they were all together.
Going on together.
But now it's different.
The House of God has become like unto a great house.
Where there are vessels of gold and of silver wooden of earth, some to honor and some to dishonor.
Second Timothy was written the last epistle that Paul wrote to give instruction for these very last days in which we are found.
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In the last chapter, he says the time will come.
4/3 when they will not endure sound doctrine.
But after their own lush shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will be turned unto fables.
This has happened, this exists. This is the state of things around us.
We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Satan has done his work.
He has scattered the flock of Christ.
That for which he died to gather together into one.
One of the very purposes of his death was that he might gather together into one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
And the enemy has sought to.
Destroy that. He's the great destroyer.
The Great Destroyer. How do you find the way?
I remember talking.
To one recently.
And I said to that person, I said.
I can't tell you where to go.
I can't tell you with whom you are.
To be in fellowship.
But I can tell you of one that will tell you.
And he'll never, never, never mislead you.
And for that, and that's what I have upon my heart. And I was thinking of this when our brother Gordon gave his very helpful address just passed.
To follow his words up with these, turn back to Luke 22 for a few moments.
Luke chapter 22 and verse 7.
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed, and he sent the Lord. Jesus sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover.
That we may eat.
And they said unto him, Where wilt thou?
That we prepare.
Well, that's a wonderful question.
He didn't leave the choice to them.
To go where they thought best, to seek out a suitable lodging place, a place where he could celebrate the Passover with his disciples. But they addressed him. Now that's the first thing, if you're seeking guidance from the Lord in this day of ruin, in this day when the the House of God has become like unto a great house.
Not in order any longer, but there are vessels.
To honor and vessels to dishonor. We saw what the faithful one was to do. He was to separate from iniquity.
Did you depart from iniquity?
And separate from vessels that were going on with things which are dishonorable to the Lord.
And then?
Having done that, he'd be a vessel to honor.
And those are wonderful principles to guide us. And then he was to follow righteousness, faith, love, peace with them, that calling the Lord out of a pure heart, an undivided heart, a heart that is fixed on Christ.
If you really have a pure heart and desire in the midst of this confusion that we are found in in these last days to do his will, he will not disappoint you. And the reason I've I've turned us to Luke 22 is we have some some very precious principles here to guide us. The first thing they said to the Lord is where wilt thou?
That we prepare and if you're seeking his mind as to whom you are to fellowship with.
In the Christian profession that we call Christendom, that we're a part of.
The first question you should ask him is Lord wherewith thou.
Guide me, direct me, show me, Lord, free me from my own choice, my own will to be an activity. I want thy thoughts, and I want thy direction and thy guidance. Where will thou that we prepare? And he said unto them.
Behold, when ye are entering into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in. Well, in those days the women bore the pictures of water.
So when he entered the city.
This was an unmistakable sign to guide them, and they saw a man most unusual, bearing the picture of water. They would say there he is. Now if there were ten of them doing that, they'd say which one? No, all the others that were bearing pictures of water were women.
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But there was one man.
Who is he A figure of? Who is he? A type of? Not of any of us, not of gifted men, but of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit.
And what is the picture of water? A Figure out the word of God.
The word of God Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word.
Now ye are clean by the word which I have spoken unto you. The word of God is often used.
Water is often used in Scripture as a figure of the Word of God. So here we have an unmistakable direction, a sign. Follow the man when you have entered into the city, the man bearing the picture of water. We have heard in these meetings that God has magnified His word, above all His name. That's the way we'll find the place that the Lord would have us to be in.
Following the man with a pitcher of water. I was giving this instruction to a young couple and I just said to them, follow the man with the picture of water and I could see a blank look on their face. And I say the man speaks of the Holy Spirit.
Using the picture of water, the word of God to lead and guide us.
In the truth as to where He would have us to be.
Now that man, the Spirit of God, will never mislead you.
I may mislead you if I would say to you, will you come to where I go?
I may be wrong.
The Spirit of God will never mislead us. If you follow the man with the picture of water, and you follow the man with the picture of water, and you follow the man with the picture of water, the Spirit of God guiding by the word of God, we will of necessity end up at the same place.
He does not lead us one way here, another way there. He leads us.
According to the word of God, that's our safety.
I commend you to God and to the word of His grace.
I've heard those that have said I entered into a meeting room.
Little small place and I said.
Sat down and observed things I said. This is it.
I think that's premature.
We have to test everything by the word of God.
What do you hold here? What do you teach here?
What do you hold on the person of Christ? What do you hold on the work of Christ?
Is it according to the scriptures?
And if the Spirit of God is leading us, He will lead us to that place where the truth is upheld as it should be by the whole church, the pillar and ground of the truth. That's what the church was to be when it was in order.
Still is to be that, but it's a sad failure of it.
Today.
That's still the standard.
Well, let's read on.
Verse 10 He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in.
And you shall say unto the Goodman of the house.
Now who's the Goodman of the house? This man bearing the picture of water leads us to the house. Well, that's a picture of the church.
But then there are many rooms in that house, and especially in the last days of Second Timothy.
There's all kinds of confusion.
So that we need further guidance.
And so the Goodman of the house, another type picture figure of the Holy Spirit.
Who is dwelling in the house? Who inhabits the house?
That's the characteristic truth of Christianity, the Spirit of God. When he first came down on the day of Pentecost, he filled the house where they were sitting.
Before they were filled individually, he filled the house.
And that's a picture of the Spirit of God dwelling in the House of God.
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Well, it says.
The Master saith unto thee, Ye shall say unto the Goodman of the house. Verse 11 The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber?
Where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples. Now I know this isn't the Lords Supper yet it comes a little bit later.
It's the Passover. It's the end.
The Passover, the death of Christ. It's that which ended the previous dispensation, and then his resurrection introduces us into the new order of things that we're a part of.
He shall show you a large upper room. It's large enough for the whole family of God, for all the Saints, large enough to include every member of the body of Christ. And it's an upper room. It's it's a room that's away from the noise and din of this world. It's an upper room. It's a heavenly place. We've had that before us in our readings.
A heavenly people.
And upper room, it's large enough for all.
And it furnished, He's done it. All the work is finished, he's furnished it. We don't have to do a thing.
We don't have to bring in any of our ideas or thoughts or ways. It's all furnished. It's all according to what's written here in this book. When the Tabernacle was built, it was stated very, very strongly to Israel. Take heed that thou observe to do everything according to what has been given to thee, the pattern in the mouth.
Everything according to the pattern pattern of the word of God.
The Word of God is our standard, not some feeling that we might get when we come into a meeting and say this is the place, but we must test it.
By the word of God.
And the Spirit of God will guide and lead us.
In that now that of course supposes that you know the word of God.
That supposes that you are in the word of God, that you read it daily as your daily food, that your dead earnest with God about finding this place.
We were hearing, and I fully agree, that there's only one table.
There can't be more than one. There's only one body.
There is only one place where the Lord would direct us. He didn't say to the disciples when they said, where will thou that? He didn't say. Well, go into the city and justice, find anyone of several nice places and that will be suitable. No, he didn't. He gave specific directions.
Follow the man with the picture of water. Then, having come into the house, you ask the Goodman of the house, where wilt thou that we prepare? And he directs to a large upper room furnished.
All has been done, provided for by our faithful God.
And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. Now I could say this to that, dear.
Couple that I was speaking to.
I have gone and found as he has said.
You have to do the same.
You have to follow the man with the pitcher of water, not me, not any other brother or sister that you esteem very highly, but the Spirit of God will lead you by His word to where He would have you to be.
Now that may disappoint some.
Some you might think, well, I thought you were going to tell me specifics and how to find it. Well, that's as close as one can come.
You see, I may be wrong.
You may be wrong.
But the Spirit of God is never wrong.
And he will never misdirect us. He always leads according to the word. And if you come into a place and you think it's, it's the place, and then you find things there that are not according to the word of God.
And yet they say, well, the Spirit of God is leading here in these meetings, but it's not according to the Word.
The Spirit doesn't do that.
He doesn't act contrary to his word.
He has magnified his word, above all his name, and so we test everything.
By the word of God.
And, as we heard in our readings yesterday, by sound.
Doctrine.
That has to be the basis of our fellowship.
The early Christians continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
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And if your fellowship is not based upon the apostles doctrine.
It's not the Apostles Fellowship.
The Apostles fellowship flows from the Apostles doctrine.
Breaking of bread, we had that this morning. How precious it was.
And prayer.
Four things. 4 pillars.
For the assembly.
Guide us in these days.
Verse 13. They went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover, and when the hour was come, the Passover was his death.
That's what the Jew was to celebrate.
They didn't have the Lord's Supper that hadn't been instituted yet, but they had something they could look back to.
Their deliverance from Egypt, a beautiful type of our deliverance from this world.
Through the death and resurrection of Christ, the Passover being the very foundation truth.
Of all Israel's blessings, and ours too, for Christ our Passover.
Has been sacrificed for us.
When the hour was come, he sat down within the 12 apostles with him, and he said unto them, verse 15 With desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom.
Of God.
And he took the cup. Now this is the cup connected with the Passover still.
And he gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves, for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come.
He will not enter into the earthly joy of the Kingdom and all the blessings attending to it until it is established here in this world. But in the meantime something new was to be introduced, and so He introduced it now, and He took bread.
And gave thanks and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Testament or the New Covenant in my blood which is shed for you.
And this is the memorial that we celebrated this morning.
And we're told in One Corinthians 11 to do this until I come.
Until the Lord comes back, we have the privilege of announcing the foundation for all our blessing His death.
When we came into the meeting this morning, there was a loaf on the table and the cup.
Came into a scene that speaks of death, the death of Christ we remembered.
One who is not in that condition any longer.
We remembered Christ in his death.
One who had died.
He doesn't exist in death any longer. He's risen and glorified.
But we didn't remember him glorified.
We remembered him in death.
That's the foundation.
For all our blessing.
It's significant that.
Of all that.
The Christian world revels in and celebrates.
His death is not prominent. It ought to be.
It's that which.
Cost him everything.
In order to secure our blessing and salvation, they continued steadfastly in the Apostles doctrine and fellowship in breaking of bread.
And in prayers.
Remembering him.
In his death.
Well, here we have in Luke 22, just a figure, just a picture of how we can find our way.
In the midst of the confusion of the House of God, which has become like unto a great house.
It's difficult days that we're living in.
The man bearing the pitcher of water, The Spirit of God leading us by his word.
And then the Goodman of the house directing us to the place in that house, which is today a house in confusion, in disorder. There's a large upper room there. All has been prepared. It's furnished.
It's large enough for every.
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Member of the body of Christ, every believer on the face of the earth. It's a great privilege to be in that place, the place of his appointment, the place of his choosing, the place where the Spirit of God will lead each of us if we are yielded to him and subject to his leading by the Word of God. May God help each one who is under exercise as to.
Where wilt thou?
That we should prepare. He will not fail you.
He will lead you, the Spirit of God, according to His Word, to the place of His appointment.
Remember Now Thy Creator
The Person Of Christ
Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Tonight, I'm the person of Christ. I've been struck of late.
By some who have been misled.
Misdirected.
Wrongly taught.
But they've left the path of the truth.
For what they consider.
Light.
And it's not light.
It's darkness.
I think of the Lord's words, If a light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness.
Turn with me to Matthew 22.
And verse 41.
While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, saying.
What think ye of Christ?
Whose son is he?
They say unto him, the son of David.
He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit?
Call him Lord saying.
The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand.
Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?
And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth. Ask him.
Any more questions? Now keep your finger in this place and just turn back to the 110th Psalm. This is what the Lord quotes to them.
And we'll come right back here, but I just wanted to read.
The Psalm that he quotes.
That verse of it, the 110th Psalm, verse one.
The Lord.
This is a Psalm of David. David speaking.
The Lord said unto my Lord.
Sit thou at my right hand until I make thy thine enemies.
Footstool.
That's what the Lord quoted to them.
They had answered. He asked them a question. Usually they were asking him questions, trying to ensnare him. They didn't know who they had they were dealing with, of course.
And this time he asked them a question, and he's asking it of the Pharisees, He's asking it of those that were.
Umm of the sect of the Pharisees among the Jews that were the fundamentalists of the day, they should have known their Bibles.
And he asked them, what think he of Christ, whose son is he? They should have known. They should have known that question, that answer, and they answer correctly. They say the son of David. And he was he is the son of David. He's called that over and over again in Scripture.
The blind man cried out. Thou son of David, have mercy on me.
But then the Lord asked them this question. How then?
David in spirit call him Lord, saying, The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, so I make thine enemies the footstool of thy feet.
Is David calling Lord? How is he his son?
And.
The last verse of this passage says they didn't know. They couldn't answer him.
They didn't know who the Christ was.
They didn't understand how he could be David's Lord as well as David's son. And the doctrine of Christ that we're going to look at this evening involves these two truths that he is Davidde Lord, he is God.
And he is David's son. He is man.
As God, he is the Son of God, as man, he is the Son of Man.
And as we were singing, the union of both joined in one.
The Divine in the human, united in one person.
Formed the fountain of love in his heart.
Whenever we read of him as the Son of God, we're talking about his deity.
It's what he always was and always is.
He never became the son, he became a man.
He became a servant, but he was always the son. Thou art my son. That's a statement of who he is.
This day, that's a point in time, I have begotten thee. He was begotten in time and born of the Virgin.
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That's his humanity.
But thou art my son, that's his deity. That's why they crucified him.
Because he made himself the Son of God. That's what they said. Those were his, their quotes, their words about him. But he never made himself the Son of God. He always was the Son of God.
Another passage says he said he was the Son of God.
And so they crucified him. The Jews understood that when he claimed to be the Son, he was claiming deity. He was claiming equality with God the Father.
The temporal sonship doctrine.
Which?
Was introduced many years back by a company of brethren.
And is being promoted today by Christian leaders.
In the camp.
Is based upon an error, and it's based upon the error that sonship implies inferiority.
But On the contrary, it implies equality.
Equality, and we'll see that as we look, as we look at the scriptures tonight.
Amazing that these religious leaders the best taught.
Of the sect of the Pharisees did not.
Could not understand, could not answer the question how can he be Davidde Lord and Davidde Son at the same time?
If you look at the 22nd chapter of Revelation, last book in the Bible.
We see that same truth.
Revelation 22 and verse 16.
I, Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root.
And the offspring of David the Bright and Morning Star.
As the root of David, he is Davidde, Lord. As the offspring of David, he is Davidde Son. So here we have that truth again brought before us. We get it over and over again in Scripture. Look at Romans 1.
Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God, which he had promised afore by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son.
Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh. That's his humanity, David's Son.
Seed of David.
And declared to be the Son of God.
David's Lord with power according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. So here we have another passage presenting him as David's son and David's Lord.
As Son, as man, as God.
Now let's turn to second John, the second epistle of John.
Where we have this brought before us.
The second Epistle of John it was written to.
An elect lady and her children. The elder unto the elect lady and her children. Verse one.
Wasn't written to a brother like 3 John was written to Gaius a brother and he was commended for his hospitality and how he had housed the Saints and and took care of them and so on.
Normally what a woman would do, but here he's laying upon this sister, this elect lady and her children.
Solemn responsibility to know who Jesus is, to know who the Son is, and to refuse those that would come and not bring the doctrine of Christ.
The truth as to his person in verse 7 he says for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. Now the way this reads in our King James, it sounds like the confession is the fact that he came, but that's really not the point of the passage.
You could ask anyone in the world, even not necessarily Christians today, was there such a personage down here in this world?
Jesus Christ, Yes, absolutely. Our calendar is dated from the time of his birth.
They would say.
But that's not exactly what John is saying. I'm going to correct it just a little. Many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not Jesus Christ, come in flesh. The confession that they don't make is the person who came in flesh, not so much the fact that he came.
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But the person who came now, it wouldn't make any sense to talk of any of us coming in flesh. That's the only way we can come.
Because we're just creatures. We're just men, women, boys and girls. Of course we come in flesh. But here's the confession of a person who pre existed before he became a man, before he came in flesh.
Jesus Christ is his name and he came in flesh and he was there before he became man. That's the confession. So it involves the the truth of his deity and also his humanity. That's the doctrine of Christ. In verse 9 He says whosoever transgresseth.
And abideth not in the doctrine of Christ. The doctrine of Christ is the truth of his Person.
That he is very God.
Very man.
Son of God, Son of Man.
Mr. Darby renders that ninth verse, whosoever goes forward.
And he has a nice note and he says what is?
Called.
Development.
Progress in the things of God.
And those who deny his person.
And there's various ways in which it can be denied. We can touch him in his deity or touch him in his humanity.
Either one we can sully His glory. Could the Lord Jesus have sinned? This question was addressed to a very prominent man.
In the Christian circles today, living.
He has a pastor, he pastors over maybe 3000 huge congregation and my brother told me and I asked him, I said Are you sure you heard him right? He said I'm positive.
He was dealing with the question, Could Jesus have sinned?
And his answer was.
I don't know, we'll just have to wait and see.
In other words, he would find out at a later time after he got home to glory, but he didn't know, and it's sad that he wouldn't know the answer to that question.
Because the Lord Jesus in his humanity was holy.
Not innocent like Adams before the Fall, not sinful like ours since the fall, but holy humanity. You remember the Angel said to Mary, you're going to have a son.
How shall this be? She said. Since I know not a man?
The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee. Wherefore also that holy thing, that holy thing which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God. Notice the precision of Scripture language doesn't say shall become the Son of God. He never became the Son of God. He was always the Son of God.
That's his name, the only begotten Son.
But he was called the Son of God, that baby, that one who became a babe.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us, was called the Son of God. But it says, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. His very humanity was holy.
Holiness can't sin. Holiness abhors sin and delights in good. That's what Holiness is, and his humanity was that.
And so the.
The answer that he gave was very inadequate. And then there's another man out here in California. I won't name them. I can name them.
Who denies the Lord's eternal sonship?
He espouses temporal sonship. He says that he didn't become son until he became a man.
And this company of brethren.
That can say as we can. We have Darby for our father.
They don't believe that he was Son from all eternity.
Their teaching is that.
You cannot define the persons of the Godhead before the Incarnation.
They're inscrutable.
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Unknowable. Undefinable.
And the one that taught that.
Later on in his.
Comments went on to define what he had just said is undefinable.
You don't even know that.
There were three persons to the Trinity, to the Godhead.
He does use the word Trinity.
And what is the Trinity?
You see, the denial of the eternal sonship really involves the denial of the Trinity.
I was talking to a young man who has left us and gone with that company.
And.
I said to him.
I said the brethren you're now with don't believe Jesus is the eternal Son of God. Oh, they believe that he is God from all eternity. I said. That's not the question.
That's not the point. Yes I know that, but they don't believe that he was the Son from all eternity and God was the Father from all eternity because the 2GO together.
And I said to him, I said, you know, you remind me of the man that Paul, you remind me of the what Paul read when he was in Athens. He saw.
A marker that said to the unknown God.
As you have an unknown God.
You have a God that cannot be defined.
That has not been revealed.
But the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He hath revealed Him, He hath declared Him. And if the Father, if the Father has not been revealed, and the Son and the Spirit by the one who came, then God is unknown still. And that's really their position. It's a very serious thing.
Not to know.
The truth of this person. They even deny that the word was eternal. They say that it only applies to time.
And he said, well, he was only called son in time. And I said, tell me.
When before time did anyone exist?
To hear him being called anything.
Of course he was called Son in time. No one existed before time began except God Himself.
The revelation had to be made in time. The argument is nonsense.
The revelation was made in time of what God was from all eternity.
Baptizing them. The very Christian formula for baptism in Matthew 28 is baptizing them in the name. Not names, but name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.
Three persons, one God. Why did the Seraphim cry Holy, holy, holy?
Lord God Almighty, the whole earth is full of his glory because there's three persons.
In the beginning Elohim God created.
A plural subject and a singular verb.
God Elohim, plural.
In the Hebrew they have a singular number. They have a dual number, which means only two. Singular is 1, dual is 2, and then the plural is 3 or more in English.
The plural is 2 or more, not so in Hebrew.
In Hebrew, the plural Elohim, the plural is 3 or more, and so there has to be at least three and there are three persons.
One God.
The name of that God is the Father.
In the Son, in the Holy Spirit, it's a name revealed and declared by the Son. In time, the Son become a man revealed and declared by him.
A declaration of who God is.
In His eternal relationships among the Persons of the Godhead.
But this has all been denied.
Do they know? Do they have the doctrine of Christ? It's a very solemn thing.
Verse 9 Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, these are not my words. These are the words of inspired Scripture, half not God.
Most solemn.
He that abideth in the doctrine, he hath both the Father and the Son.
And then he gives instruction.
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To the elect lady and her children.
You children as most adults here tonight, but there's.
One that's a child and and you're responsible to know who Jesus is. You should know that if you're asked a question, Could he have sinned that No, he couldn't have sinned. I know who he is. He's holy.
Is God manifest in the flesh sinless?
Not only that he didn't sin, but that he couldn't sin.
To say that he could have denies his person, denies his impeccable humanity.
To say that he is the Son only in time, that is the temporal sonship doctrine.
Denies the eternal relationship between the Son and the Father.
From all eternity.
This company teaches.
That he didn't enter the Father's bosom until he became a man.
That's blasphemy.
We sing in the 27th hymn, the second verse. Of course, they struck that hymn out of their hymn book.
Son of God, thy Father's bosom ever was thy dwelling place.
That's the truth of Scripture.
He never entered the Father's bosom.
He never left it either.
He's always been there.
In the bosom of the Father, Mr. Bell, it puts it so beautifully. In his Son of God, the hiding place of love.
The hiding place of love, the place of delights in fellowship.
And joy.
That he enjoyed.
Between himself and the Father there's a lovely hymn.
It's not talking about the Father's bosom in the hymn.
It's talking about the father's house.
But there's some expressions in it that you could just apply to the Father's bosom.
The son who knows how does it go?
What, what, what? What him is that?
It may come to me.
I'll think of it right now.
The sons. The the the the flow of affection and the flow of love.
That characterizes that place. That's what characterized the father's bosom.
It was his dwelling place from all eternity. Well, we'll come more. We'll get into that more.
127 that's what. Thank you.
Verse 2 it says.
Or at home the son who knows he only all his love.
And brings us as His well beloved to that bright rest above dwells in his bosom.
Knoweth all that in that bosom lies.
And came to Earth to make it known that we might share.
His joys. Oh what a home.
And as we think of that, not just as the Father's house that we'll enjoy, but the place that he enjoyed from all eternity, their fullest love flows through its courts of light. The Suns divine affections flow throughout its depth and height. There's some expressions in that lovely hymn that suggests the Father's bosom, the enjoyment that the Son had in that place of nearness and blessing from all eternity.
Well, all of this is denied.
And then it said.
What's been lost? What's been lost?
What's been lost?
So much the relationship.
No, they don't deny that he was God.
But they deny that He was in the place of Son from all eternity, and God was in the place of Father.
Well, I want to make a comment on verse 9 before we leave it.
Whosoever transgresseth, whosoever goes forward.
New Translation.
Abideth not in the doctrine of Christ Hath not God? I was passing out tracts on the elevated platform in Chicago as a young man.
Loyola Station, there was a theological seminary there. That's where you changed from the L and the Loop to Loop and took the subway, if you so chose. And I passed a man attracted. We sat next to each other on the train and I got to talking with him.
And he asked me what I believed.
And I told him, I believe in the virgin birth of Christ. I believe He is God, man, and one person. I believe in his bodily resurrection. I believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the all sufficiency of Bible, and so on.
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Various foundations of the of the faith. And he smiled at me and he said that's nice, but now you have to go on into the deeper things. Now that's what John's talking about in verse 9. Whosoever goes forward is what is called development in the things of God. In this company of brethren I'm talking about, they speak of fresh light and new light. It's not light, it's darkness.
It's not truth, it's error.
And we have to.
Know what the doctrine of Christ is and recognize when someone comes to us under the guise of a Christian teacher.
To reject them.
Notice what he says in verse 10. If there come any unto you, and he's speaking to this elect lady and her children.
And bring not this doctrine.
Jesus Christ coming flesh.
His Godhead and his manhood.
Receive him not into your house, neither bid him Godspeed.
For he that biddeth him godspeed, or greets him is a partaker of his evil deeds.
So there's a solemn responsibility laid upon the very youngest in the family of faith, the children even.
To know who the Lord Jesus is and not to receive one who comes under the guise of a Christian teacher but does not bring the doctrine of Christ.
Remember the Old Testament?
There was the Ark.
Of all the vessels in the Tabernacle, that was the most holy and sacred. It spoke of Christ.
It was the place where God dwelt.
It was a box made of shithim wood or a quiche wood, an incorruptible wood, Speaking of the Lord's holy humanity.
And it was overlaid with pure gold, Speaking of his deity.
And a gold plate called the Mercy Seat. A cover for the Ark was placed upon it with two cherubic figures.
Looking down upon the mercy seat where the blood was sprinkled.
That speaks of his work and they were looking down at the blood of of the sacrifice.
Well, in the history of Israel at the time of Eli, who was.
A failing priest and he had two wicked sons, Hofnion and Phidias.
They did some very evil things and he didn't restrain them.
Israel went to battle against the Philistines and the Philistines defeated them. They brought the Ark into the camp. Great shout was given.
And the Philistines heard what is this shout? And they said, the gods of the Hebrews have come into the camp.
Quit yourselves like men. Be strong. These are the gods. They called, of course, the true God. Gods because they just. That's all they knew is God's.
These are the gods that delivered them from the Egyptians.
Pharaoh.
Fight and they fought, and they defeated Israel.
And they captured the ark.
Now God would not allow.
The art having been brought into their into the camp.
To gain them the victory because of their state state that Israel was in was deplorably bad.
But the Philistines were going to.
They were going to learn.
The awful consequences of.
Capturing the Ark.
And it went from one city to the next, and a plague broke out in this city. It was placed in the same place with Dagon, their God, and Dagan was falling in his face. They set him up again the next day. And the next day Dagon was falling on his face and broken.
Before the ark of God.
It speaks of Christ.
Speaks of his person.
There's instruction given to the Levites that they were to carry the ark. There were rings in the sight of the ark and staves that were also made of ******** wood overlaid with gold and the.
The Coethites were to carry the ark on their shoulders.
They were not to touch it, lest they die.
It was holy.
Spoke of Christ.
Remember how many times they tried to kill the Lord?
I remember Mr. Ballard and his son of God, he said.
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All these plagues broke out and every city, one city got it. They didn't want to keep it. They said get rid of it and it went to another city and they went to another city and every city it went to, there was judgment on the Philistines.
Why didn't they just break it? Why didn't they?
Destroy it with just a box.
I love his answer.
Said they couldn't.
You remember how many times they tried to destroy the Lord?
In Luke 4 when he spoke of grace, mercy to the Gentiles in the Old Testament.
They took him. They were filled with rage and anger in the synagogue, and they took him to the top of the hill to cast him down headlong, but he, passing through the midst of them, went his way. Had they cast him off the hill, he would have walked away at an unharmed at the bottom.
Because he said, no man taketh my life from me. I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received of my father.
They couldn't touch him until he allowed it. Another time in John 8, he got into a discussion with them and they said.
Thou art not yet 50 years old. And hast thou seen Abraham?
Who makest thou thyself?
And he said before Abraham was I am.
You remember when Moses was told by Jehovah to deliver Israel, He said, when they asked me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And he said, I am that I am.
I shall say unto them, that I am have sent thee.
And so that's the name of Jehovah.
The I am that I am the one who is who He is the one who does not change the unalterable, unchangeable God.
An eternal God be I am the one who lives in an eternal present.
The equivalent expression in the New Testament of Jehovah. We don't find the word Jehovah in the New Testament.
We find the word Lord, but the equivalent expression expression is in Revelation one verse 4 from him who is and who was and who is to come. That's that's what Jehovah means, the eternal, the eternal he is, that's the present. He was, that's the past. He is to come, that's the future. He's a timeless being he inhabits.
Thus saith the high and lofty One, who inhabits eternity.
Timeless.
Jehovah and the Lord claimed to be that.
And they took up stones to cast at him, but he, walking through the midst of them, went his way.
When they came to him in the garden with lanterns and torches and weapons to take him, he said, Hum, seek ye.
They said Jesus of Nazareth, and he said I am and he I am.
And they all went backward and fell to the ground.
And he said, I told you that I am here if you seek me. Let these go their way and they.
Then took him.
And when Judas, who had betrayed him with a kiss, saw that he was delivered into their hands, that he did not deliver himself as Judith had seen him do over and over and over again, but that he was taken.
Judas existence became intolerable to him.
And he went out and hanged himself.
The Lord did not die as a martyr.
He freely gave himself to their hands.
They could not touch him until he allowed it.
And then he did it to accomplish the eternal purpose of God.
Well.
This person, this glorious person, is symbolized by the Ark.
And so finally, the Philistines, they had had enough of having the Ark.
And.
They sent it back.
And they made a test.
They took 2 milk kind.
And they took them away from their calves.
They were attracted to, of course.
I live right across the road in Allendale in Illinois. Southern Illinois now right across the road from afar.
And whenever they are, they have taken the calves from the mother cows.
All night long you hear those cows bellowing.
Quite a quite a noise.
I don't like it.
And so they took these two milk kind put the ark on a cart.
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And they said if it goes straight, straight.
Into the land of Israel to bashmish.
Then we'll know that the Lord has done this if it doesn't.
Then we'll know it was just a chance thing and the cows went on. Cows were done mowing as they went, missing their calves but still going straight on.
When they knew, and then the men of Bashemish, they saw the cart coming. The ark was put on the cart. That's not the way they were to carry it. But the Philistines didn't know anything about that.
And so they put it on this card.
And it came to the men of Bashir.
And we read they did a very serious thing that was in the land of Israel, now back in the land of Israel.
Those times had had enough of it.
And says the men of Bashemish looked into the ark.
And the gods smoked them with a great slaughter.
And this is what men have done, beloved. Today they have looked into the Ark.
They appeared into that which is inscrutable. In Matthew 11. The Lord says no man knoweth the Son, but the Father either knoweth any man. The Father saved the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. But you don't have that qualifying clause of.
The Father revealing the Son there is that in the Son which is inscrutable, which is past our understanding as creatures.
Which we will never fathom.
Reunion of the divine and human in one person.
That's beyond me. I believe it with all my soul, but I don't understand it.
None of us really can understand that.
How can he know everything and yet?
Not know the day nor the hour.
These are all mysteries of his person.
How can he?
The Jehovah who neither slumbers nor sleeps, and yet be asleep in the boat.
Because He is God and He is man.
And you can go through many, many things. I remember speaking to a Hindu boy and he could not understand how the Lord Jesus could not know the day nor the hour if he is God.
I said because he's the perfect servant and it's not given to the servant to know.
What his master is doing in keeping with the character that he was taking.
And had taken.
These are wonderful mysteries concerning his person.
But men have gotten to reasoning upon this, these things, trying to explain these things.
Which are beyond us. And they have peered into the ark. And when the men of Bashemish did that, they were immediately judged.
Then they sent the Ark to another place. They were afraid.
And it was put in the house.
Can't remember the name man.
There for 20 years.
And then there's a break in the history for Samuel, and then we get other teaching, and then you get into Second Samuel. And let's just look at that in Second Samuel Chapter 6.
We'll pick up that account.
Very, very interesting.
Two Samuel, chapter 6.
Again David gathered together all the children. The Chosen men of Israel 30,000.
And David arose and went with all the people that were with him from Valley of Judah, to bring up from thence the ark of God.
Whose name is called by the name of the Lord of hosts that dwelleth between the cherubims.
And they set the ark of God upon a new cart.
This was a mistake.
David made the mistake that the Philistines made.
And he brought it out of the House of Abinadab. That was his name, that was in Gibeah.
And Uzza and Ahayo, the sons of Abinadab, draved the new cart.
Now these were two sons of Abinadab and it had been there in Abinadab House for 20 years.
And they were very familiar with the Ark and Ohio went before and gave the.
Drive the cart.
It says they.
Brought it out of the House of the Vinadab, which was at Gibeah accompanying the ark of God. And Ohio went before the ark. Verse 5. And David and all the House of Israel played before the Lord on all manner of instruments made of firwood, even on harps, and on psalteries, and on timbrels, and on cornets, and on cymbals. And when they came to Nakin's threshing floor, Oza put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it, for the oxen shook it. That was one of the sons of.
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Ohio drove it, and he was by it, and he went to steady it.
The anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzza, and God smote him there for his error, and there he died by the ark of God.
They were told in Leviticus.
Not to touch you.
Not to catch it. And heroes it does. And he's immediately smitten when David was displeased because the Lord had made a breach upon Oza.
And he called the name of the place, pursues it to this day. And David was afraid of the Lord that day, and said, How shall the ark of the Lord come to me?
So David would not remove the ark of the Lord unto him into the city of David, But David carried it aside into the House of Obedom the guitar.
And the Ark of the Lord continued in the House of Obadiah the Gittite 3 months.
And the Lord blessed obed him in all his household.
And it was told, King David, saying, The Lord hath blessed the House of Obed Edom, and all that pertaineth.
Unto him because of the ark of God. So David went and brought up the ark of God from the House of Obed Edom into the city of David with gladness. Now it's not told us here.
How he did it but if we turn over hold your place we're coming right back here to First chronicles 15 we'll see that he he learned of his error and.
Corrected it.
In First Chronicles 15 where you have this account.
With some more details.
And I'll pick it up at verse verse 11. And David called for Zedek and a buyer through the priests and for the Levites.
For Uriel Asaya, and Joel Shamaya and Elio and Aminadab, and said unto them, Ye are the chief of the fathers of the Levites. Sanctify yourselves, both ye and your brethren, that ye may bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel into the place that I have prepared for it. For because ye did it not at the first the Levites were to bear it on their shoulders. Remember, they put it, David put it on the cart.
Because you did it not at the first. The Lord our God made a breach upon us for that we sought Him not after the due order.
So the priests and the Levites sanctified themselves to bring up the ark of the Lord God of Israel.
And the children of the Levites bear the ark of God upon their shoulders. This is according to the due order. Now with the staves thereon, as Moses commanded, according to the word of the Lord.
Now go back to Second Samuel 6 and let's just read a little bit more in that chapter verse 13. And it was so that when they that bear the ark of the Lord that was the Levites now had gone 6 paces. He sacrificed oxen and fatlings.
And David danced before the Lord with all his might, and David was girded with a linen ephod.
So David and all the House of Israel brought up the ark of the Lord with shouting and with the sound of the trumpet.
And as the Ark of the Lord came into the city of David, Michael.
Saul's daughter looked through a window and saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, and she despised him.
In her heart, she had no value for the Ark.
She did not value it. That's the brightest spot in Eli the Priest.
That when he was told.
Israel went to battle with the enemy and he was told.
That.
His sons were dead.
And Israel had been defeated.
And the ark of God was taken, and when he heard that, he fell backward and died his neck break. He was an old man, over 90 and fat.
But he had real value in his soul for the ark of God.
Michael didn't, and so she criticizes David.
Verse 17 And they brought him the ark of the Lord, and set it in his place in the midst of the Tabernacle that David had pitched for it. And David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord. And as soon as David had made an end of offering burnt offerings and peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the Lord of hosts. And he dealt among all the people, even among the whole multitude of Israel, as well to the women as men, to everyone, a cake of bread and a good piece of flesh and a flagon of wine. So all the people departed.
Everyone to his house. Then David returned to bless his household. And Michael the daughter of Saul, came out to meet David and said, How glorious was the king of Israel today, who uncovered himself today in the eyes of the handmaids of his servants, as one of the vain fellows shamelessly uncovered himself. And David said unto Michael.
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It was before the Lord which chose me before thy Father, and before all his house, to appoint me ruler over the people of the Lord over Israel. Therefore will I play before the Lord, and I will be yet more vile than thus, and will be basing my own sight and of the maidservants which thou has spoken of.
Of them shall I be had in honor. Therefore Michael, the daughter of Saul, had no child until the day of her death. Saul was a man after the flesh, and evidently Michael was a woman after the flesh. No value for the ark? No value.
Do we value the ark? Do we value the person?
Of Christ.
His presence.
It was the ark that made all the difference in Israel.
It's Christ's person that makes all the difference.
You remember in Matthew 16, I don't have to turn to it. You know it as well as I do, he said, who say that I the Son of Man and, and they said, some say that thou art John the Baptist, others Elias or Jeremias or one of the prophets.
And all of those came short.
Of his Person. But whom say ye that I am? And Peter confessed, and said, Thou art the Christ.
The Son of the living God. That's the doctrine of Christ.
Thou art the Christ, that's his humanity.
The Anointed 1.
What think he of Christ? Whose son is he? The Son of David. The Christ is the Son of David, yes.
David called him Lord.
And so Peter goes on to say in the other two gospels, Mark and Luke, Peters answer is the Christ of God. That's all he says. But here where it's going to to become these confession is going to be the rock foundation upon which the church is built. It's a full confession. Lord the Christ is humanity, the Son of the living God, his deity.
That's the doctrine of Christ. And then the Lord says on this rock, Peter, I will build my church.
The church is built on that truth, and the church is the pillar and ground of the truth.
And the truth of this person is the most important truth that we have to carry through this wilderness, as the Levites had to carry the ark.
To uphold it and to maintain it.
What thinking of Christ is the test to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of Him. As Jesus appears to your view, as he is beloved or not, so God is disposed to you, and mercy or wrath is your lot.
Most important question will ever have to answer. Or think ye of Christ. Whose Son is He? He is the Son of God, and He is the Son of man, very God and very man.
The son of David, David's Lord, the root of David, the offspring of David.
The eternal Son.
Came to where we were.
He is our kinsman, Redeemer. He had to become a man. He had to become one of us. Since the children partake of flesh and blood, He also Himself likewise took part of the same, that through death He might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. The children partake of flesh and blood. He also Himself likewise took part of the same sin apart.
The only difference? But his humanity is just as much.
Just as true humanity is yours.
But the state of it is holy.
But it's true. Humanity, spirit, soul, body, blameless.
And so he grew in spirit, in wisdom and stature, before God and before men.
Because he was a true.
Born as a.
There was nothing miraculous about the birth. That was very normal. The miraculous part was the conception.
Conceived, begotten of the Holy Ghost.
That was his humanity.
But this false teacher from years back in the last end of the last century.
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He said.
Where the idea of the union of the divine inhuman in one person came from, I know not.
It seems to me perfect nonsense.
Patrick Nonsense.
God and man in one person. What was His formula? His formula was in person. He is God in condition. He is man. To Him the humanity of Christ was a mere condition that He took up in time.
Didn't make it part of his person united to himself.
Which I believe is the truth spend the orthodox confession of Christians throughout the years.
God and man in one person, very God and very man, eternal Son.
Let's just look at a few scriptures before we close.
John, Chapter 1.
John, Chapter one in the beginning.
Was the word.
How in the light of that statement?
They teach that the word didn't begin to exist as such until he became a man.
This is talking about the dateless past.
In the beginning of anything that had a beginning, the word was He never began, but he was in the beginning. The word was the word that's his eternal person.
And the Word was with God. That's his distinct.
Personality with God the Father.
The word was God. That's his proper deity.
In that one verse we have his eternal person, his distinct personality.
And his proper deity. And then it goes on to say in the same was in the beginning with God.
He was there, a distinct person in the beginning with God, in the beginning, back in that time where this, Mr. Taylor said You can't define it.
The Word of God says He was the Word back then.
I'm using words to express what's in my mind.
You're hearing those words.
It's an amazing thing.
You're hearing those words and then.
Your brain.
Conveys to you.
What I need?
It's amazing.
I was out working in the backyard before leaving and dogs next door were barking. They just just hit me. All they can do is bark.
They can't form a word.
All they can do is Yep, Yep, Yep.
They're just dogs.
Only man.
Can speak words.
Only man can can write.
If you want to read a tremendously interesting article under the heading Writing in the New and Concise Bible Dictionary, look it up.
They have a story in there that has to do with writing.
An Indian chief.
Was talking to this missionary.
And.
They needed a hammer.
And the missionary said, give me a piece of wood.
He handed no piece of wood and he scratched something on the wood. He said just take this to my wife.
He took it to his wife. The boy did, took it to his wife, gave it to his wife. Wife looked at it, went into the tool shed and brought the hammer out, brought the hammer and to him. And the Indian chief said we'll talk, we'll talk.
He had never seen writing before.
Only man can do that. Only man can form words. And all I am doing in speaking to you is uttering sounds. That's all it is. It sounds. If you didn't understand English, it wouldn't have any meaning to you. Tremendous is the word. I'm using words to convey what's in my mind, and then you are receiving those words and it conveys to your mind what I'm trying to convey to you. And that's what the Lord was. He was the word. He was the very expression of the mind of God.
And he was that from all eternity.
And then it says in verse 14, the word became flesh and dwelt among us.
And we beheld His glory. What glory did they behold? The glory as of an only begotten with the Father.
That's the glory of an eternal relationship that John saw by faith. Through that veil of human flesh, he saw glory that was his from all eternity.
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What was it? It was the glory of an only begotten with the Father, and the Word. Only begotten has nothing to do with time.
It has to do with.
Essence, it says in Genesis 1.
Every animal begat after his kind. You'll never find a cat coming from a dog.
You'll never find a wolf coming from a fox. They began after their kind, after their kind. And so if there isn't one who is called the only begotten Son, he is of the same substance.
And the same essence.
As the father.
It has nothing to do with time at all. It has to do with essence.
Has to do with kind.
If the Father is God, the Son is God.
So the expression the word, the name son implies.
He is one with the Father.
And so he is.
Verse 18 No man hath seen God at anytime, the only begotten Son.
Which is in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared him. Now there's something in the original.
That you don't see in English.
And it used to puzzle me and I think I understand it now. It's in the original Greek.
I would have thought that that little preposition in was the Greek word en.
But it isn't.
It's ice.
Which is translated into unto or for, but you cannot translate it that way here.
The only begotten Son, which is unto the bosom of the Father, into the bosom of the Father. For the bosom of the Father doesn't make any sense. You have to translate it in.
But why is it ice? I used to say why is it ice? Ice means motion towards.
What he's talking about, you see these false teachers, they use that to say, see, he entered the father's bosom at some point in time when he became a man. That's why it says ice wrong, false. That's not correct.
What does it mean then?
It means what we were looking at in that hymn 127.
The sons divine afflict affections flow throughout its depth and height. There was the sun in the Father's bosom, the hiding place of love, the affections of the Father for the Son flowing to him, and He is his affections reciprocating and flowing back to the to the Father.
That's why it says ice.
It's the movement within that place of love, of the divine affections between these.
Two persons, the father and the son, most precious and most beautiful.
One more passage I want to call your attention to, and then I'll close in John 5.
I said that I would point out a verse that showed and refuted the idea that sonship implies inferiority.
On the contrary, it implies.
Equality, verse 17 of John 5. But Jesus answered them, my Father.
Worketh hitherto, and I work. He refers to God as my Father, the only one that ever did, the only one that ever used that expression. He did teach his disciples to call for us to pray our Father, which art in heaven, and so on, but not my Father. That was his distinct privilege, being the eternal Son. So he says, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work.
And that the Jews understood what he was claiming. Notice their reaction. Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father.
That means he was his son. He was claiming equality, making himself equal with God.
That's the divine comment.
That's what they understood and they were right. He was claiming equality with the father.
By addressing him as my father.
Well.
These truths are very, very precious.
And of all the responsibilities that we have, beloved?
The carrying the ark through the wilderness, not touching it, not looking into it, not trying to understand what he has told us we cannot understand.
But upholding and maintaining the truth as far as He has revealed it to us.
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And upholding it till we're home in glory.
The Place of His Appointment
Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Be pleased First Timothy Three try to make my comments brief.
First Timothy 3 and verse 15.
But if I carry long, that thou mayest know how thou Artest to behave thyself.
In the House of God.
Which is the Church of the living God?
The pillar and ground.
Of the truth.
And turn to Second Timothy 2.
And verse 19.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure.
Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his.
And let everyone that name us the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house.
There are not only vessels of gold and of silver.
But also of wooden, of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor.
If a man therefore purge himself from these.
He shall be a vessel unto honor.
Sanctified and meet for the masters use.
And prepared unto every good work.
Ple. Also youthful us.
But follow righteousness, faith, love, peace.
With them.
That call on the Lord.
Out of a pure heart.
And chapter 3 and verse.
One this know also that in the last days.
Perilous.
Or difficult times.
Shall come.
And then in the following verses in the third chapter.
Paul lays before us.
What would characterize these last days?
In the First Epistle to Timothy, we have the church viewed in order. The House of God it's called.
In the second epistle it's the same house.
But it's in disorder.
The enemy has.
Done his work, the Apostle Paul told the Ephesian elders in Acts 20 after my departure.
Shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock?
Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things.
To draw away disciples after them.
And then he gives the resource.
In the midst of this, which the enemy would introduce.
He says, But I commend you to God.
And to the word of his grace.
Which is able to build you up and to give you an inheritance among them that are sanctified by faith that is in me.
God and His Word, the word of His grace.
Are the resource of the faithful.
In a day of ruin.
First Timothy In those days you could enter into a city.
And you could say, where are the Christians? Where do they meet? Well, they meet down there.
They were all together.
The church is 1.
And that's the way it began.
All the divisions that have come in over the years have been the work of Satan.
The work of the enemy.
And even disciples from amongst the ranks of the Christian body have arisen and drawn away others.
And formed parties, divisions, sex.
And so we're living in those last days when all this has happened.
These are difficult days.
How does one find his way?
In the midst of these difficult days when there are groups, hundreds, thousands actually.
In Christian In Christendom calling themselves Christian.
How does one find his way? How do you know where you should go?
With whom you should meet.
These are difficult days. In those early days when the Church of God was 1, you didn't have to go through that kind of exercise. You just went where the Christians met and they were all together.
Going on together.
But now it's different.
The House of God has become like unto a great house.
Where there are vessels of gold and of silver wooden of earth, some to honor.
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And some to dishonor.
Second Timothy was written the last epistle that Paul wrote to give instruction for these very last days in which we are found.
In the last chapter, he says the time will come.
4/3 when they will not endure sound doctrine.
But after their own lush shall they heap to themselves teachers having itching ears, and they will turn away their ears from the truth, and will be turned unto fables.
This has happened, this exists. This is the state of things round us.
We cannot close our eyes to the fact that Satan has done his work.
He has scattered the flock of Christ.
That for which he died to gather together into one.
One of the very purposes of his death was that he might gather together into one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
And the enemy has sought to.
Destroy that. He's the great destroyer.
The Great Destroyer. How do you find the way?
I remember talking.
To one recently.
And I said to that person, I said.
I can't tell you where to go.
I can't tell you with whom you are.
To be in fellowship.
But I can tell you of one that will tell you.
And he'll never, never, never mislead you.
And for that, and that's what I have upon my heart. And I was thinking of this when our brother Gordon gave his very helpful address just past.
To follow his words up with these, turn back to Luke 22 for a few moments.
And verse 7.
Then came the Day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover must be killed, and he sent the Lord. Jesus sent Peter and John saying, Go and prepare us the Passover.
That we may eat.
And they said unto him, Where wilt thou?
That we prepare. Oh, that's a wonderful question.
He didn't leave the choice to them.
To go where they thought best, to seek out a suitable lodging place, a place where He could celebrate the Passover with his disciples. But they addressed him now. That's the first thing if you're seeking guidance from the Lord in this day of ruin.
In this day when the House of God has become like unto a great house.
Not in order any longer, but there are vessels to honor and vessels to dishonor.
We saw what the faithful one was to do. He was to separate from.
Iniquity.
To depart from iniquity and.
To separate from vessels that were going on with things which are dishonorable to the Lord.
And then having done that, he'd be a vessel to honor.
And those are wonderful principles to guide us. And then he was to follow righteousness, faith, love, peace with them, that calling the Lord out of a pure heart, an undivided heart, a heart that is fixed on Christ.
If you really have a pure heart and desire in the midst of this confusion that we are found in in these last days to do his will, he will not disappoint you. And the reason I've I've turned us to Luke 22 is we have some some very precious principles here to guide us. The first thing they said to the Lord is where wilt thou?
That we prepare and if you're seeking.
His mind as to whom you are to fellowship with in the Christian profession that we call Christendom, that we are a part of.
The first question you should ask him is Lord wherewith thou.
Guide me, direct me, show me, Lord, free me from my own choice, my own will to be an activity. I want thy thoughts, and I want thy direction and thy guidance. Where wilt thou that we prepare? And he said unto them.
Behold, when ye are entering into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in. Well, in those days the women bore the pictures of water.
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So when he entered the city.
This was an unmistakable sign to guide them, and they saw a man most unusual, bearing the picture of water. They would say there he is. Now if there were ten of them doing that, they'd say which one? No, all the others that were bearing pictures of water were women.
But there was one man.
Who is he A figure of? Who is he? A type of? Not of any of us, not of gifted men, but of the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit.
And what is the picture of water? A figure of the word of God.
The word of God Wherewithal. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way, by taking heed thereto, according to thy word.
Now you are clean by the word which I have spoken unto you. Word of God is often used. Water is often used in scripture as a figure of the Word of God. So here we have an unmistakable direction, a sign. Follow the man when you have entered into the city, the man bearing the picture of water. We have heard in these meetings that God has magnified His word, above all His name.
That's the way we'll find the place that the Lord would have us to be in.
Following the man with a pitcher of water. I was giving this instruction to a young couple and I just said to them, follow the man with the picture of water and I could see a blank look on their face. And I say the man speaks of the Holy Spirit.
Using the picture of water, the word of God to lead and guide us.
In the truth as to where He would have us to be.
Now that man, the Spirit of God, will never mislead you.
I may mislead you if I would say to you, will you come to where I go?
I may be wrong.
The Spirit of God will never mislead us. If you follow the man with the picture of water, and you follow the man with the picture of water, and you follow the man with the picture of water, the Spirit of God guiding by the word of God, we will of necessity end up at the same place.
He does not lead us one way here, another way there. He leads us according to the word of God. That's our safety.
I commend you to God and to the word of His grace.
I've heard those that have said I entered into a meeting room.
Little small place and I said.
Sat down and observed things I said. This is it.
I think that's premature.
We have to test everything by the word of God.
What do you hold here? What do you teach here?
What do you hold on the person of Christ?
What do you hold on the work of Christ?
Is it according to the scriptures?
And if the Spirit of God is leading us.
He will lead us to that place where the truth is upheld as it should be by the whole Church, the pillar and ground of the truth. That's what the Church was to be when it was in order.
Still is to be that, but it's.
A sad failure of it.
Today.
That's still the standard.
Well, let's read on.
Verse 10 He said unto them, Behold, when ye are entered into the city, there shall a man meet you bearing a pitcher of water. Follow him into the house where he entereth in.
You shall say unto the Goodman of the house.
Now who's the Goodman of the house? This man bearing the picture of water leads us to the house. Well, that's a picture of the church.
But then there are many rooms in that house, and especially in the last days of Second Timothy.
There's all kinds of confusion.
So that we need further guidance.
And so the Goodman of the house, another type picture figure of the Holy Spirit.
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Who is dwelling in the house? Who inhabits the house?
That's the characteristic truth of Christianity, the Spirit of God. When he first came down on the day of Pentecost, he filled the house where they were sitting.
Before they were filled individually, he filled the house.
And that's a picture of the Spirit of God.
Dwelling in the House of God.
Well, it says.
The Master saith unto thee, You shall say unto the Goodman of the house. Verse 11 The Master saith unto thee, Where is the guest chamber?
Where I shall eat the Passover with my disciples. Now I know this isn't the Lord's Supper yet it comes a little bit later.
It's the Passover. It's the end the Passover, the death of Christ. It's that which ended the previous dispensation, and then his resurrection introduces us into the new order of things that we're a part of.
He shall show you a large upper room. It's large enough for the whole family of God, for all the Saints, large enough to include every member of the body of Christ.
And it's an upper room. It's, it's a room that's away from the noise and din of this world. It's an upper room. It's a heavenly place. We've had that before us.
In our readings.
A heavenly people.
And upper room, it's large enough for all.
And it's furnished. He's done it. All the work is finished. He's furnished it. We don't have to do a thing.
We don't have to bring in any of our ideas or thoughts or ways. It's all furnished. It's all according to what's written here in this book. When the Tabernacle was built, it was stated very, very strongly to Israel. Take heed that thou observe to do everything according to what has been given to thee, the pattern in the mouth.
Everything according to the pattern, the pattern of the word of God.
The Word of God is our standard, not some feeling that we might get when we come into a meeting and say this is the place, but we must test it by the Word of God.
And the Spirit of God will guide and lead us.
In that now that of course supposes that you know the word of God.
That supposes that you are in the word of God, that you read it daily as your daily food, that your dead earnest with God about finding this place.
We were hearing, and I fully agree, that there's only one table.
There can't be more than one. There's only one body.
There's only one place where the Lord would direct us. He didn't say to the disciples when they said where will thou that? He didn't say. We'll go into the city and just find anyone of several nice places and that'll be suitable. No, he didn't. He gave specific directions.
Follow the man with the picture of water. Then, having come into the house, you ask the Goodman of the house, where wilt thou that we prepare? And he directs to a large upper room furnished.
All has been done, provided for by our faithful God.
And they went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover. Now I could say this to that.
Couple that I was speaking to.
I have gone and found as he has said.
You have to do the same.
You have to follow the man with the pitcher of water, not me, not any other brother or sister that you esteem very highly, but the Spirit of God will lead you by His word to where He would have you to be.
Now that may disappoint some.
Some you might think, well, I thought you were going to tell me specifics and how to find it.
Well, that's as close as one can come.
You see, I may be wrong.
You may be wrong.
But the Spirit of God is never wrong.
And he will never misdirect us. He always leads according to the word. And if you come into a place and you think it's.
It's the place, and then you find things there that are not according to the word of God.
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And yet they say, well, the Spirit of God is leading here in these meetings, but it's not according to the Word.
The Spirit doesn't do that.
He doesn't act contrary to his word.
He has magnified his word, above all his name, and so we test everything.
By the word of God.
And, as we heard in our readings yesterday, by sound.
Doctrine.
That has to be the basis of our fellowship.
The early Christians continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, in breaking of bread, and in prayers.
And if your fellowship is not based upon the apostles doctrine.
It's not the Apostles Fellowship.
The Apostles fellowship flows from the Apostles doctrine.
Breaking of bread, we had that this morning. How precious it was.
And prayer.
Four things. 4 pillars.
For the assembly.
Guide us in these days.
Verse 13. They went and found as he had said unto them, and they made ready the Passover, and when the hour was come, the Passover was his death.
That's what the Jew was to celebrate.
They didn't have the Lord's Supper that hadn't been instituted yet, but they had something they could look back to.
Their deliverance from Egypt, a beautiful type of our deliverance from this world through the death and resurrection of Christ. The Passover being the very foundation truth.
Of all Israel's blessings, and ours too, for Christ our Passover.
Has been sacrificed for us.
When the hour was come, he sat down with and the 12 apostles with him. And he said unto them, Verse 15 With desire, I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.
For I say unto you, I will not anymore eat thereof until it be fulfilled in the Kingdom of God.
And he took the cup. Now this is the cup connected with the Passover still.
And he gave thanks, and said, Take this, and divide it among yourselves, for I say unto you, I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the Kingdom of God shall come.
He will not enter into the earthly joy of the Kingdom and all the blessings attending to it until it is established here in this world. But in the meantime something new was to be introduced, and so He introduces it now. And he took bread.
And gave thanks and break it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of me.
Likewise also the cup after supper saying this cup is the New Testament or the New Covenant in my blood which is shed.
For you.
And.
This is the memorial that we celebrated this morning.
And we're told in First Corinthians 11 to do this until I come.
Until the Lord comes back, we have the privilege of announcing the foundation for all our blessing His death.
When we came into the meeting this morning, there was a loaf on the table and the cup.
Came into a scene that speaks of death, the death of Christ. We remembered one who is not in that condition any longer.
We remembered Christ in his death.
One who had died.
He doesn't exist in death any longer. He's risen and glorified.
But we didn't remember him glorified.
We remembered him in death.
That's the foundation.
For all our blessing.
It's significant that.
Of all that.
The Christian world revels in and celebrates.
His death is not prominent.
It ought to be.
It's that which.
Cost him everything in order to secure our blessing and salvation. They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship in breaking of bread.
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And in prayers.
Remembering him.
In his death.
Well, here we have in Luke 22, just a figure, just a picture of how we can find our way.
In the midst of the confusion of the House of God, which has become like unto a great house.
It's difficult days that we're living in.
The man bearing the pitcher of water, The Spirit of God leading us by his word.
And then the Goodman of the house directing us to the place in that house which is today.
A house in confusion, in disorder. There's a large upper room there. All has been prepared. It's furnished.
It's large enough for every.
Member of the body of Christ, every believer on the face of the earth.
It's a great privilege to be in that place, the place of His appointment, the place of His choosing, the place where the Spirit of God will lead each of us if we are yielded to Him and subject to His leading by the Word of God.
May God.
Help each one who is under exercise as to where.
Wilt thou?
That we should prepare you will not fail you.
He will lead you, the Spirit of God, according to His Word.
To the place of his appointment.
New Birth And The Two Natures
Upper Room Ministry
The Mystery Revealed
Address—C. Hendricks
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Last night in the reading.
We talked a little bit.
About the mystery.
And I'd like to look into it more fully.
And we'll start with the passage we had last night in Romans 16.
And verse 25.
Now to him that is of power.
To establish you according to my gospel.
And the preaching of Jesus Christ.
According to the revelation of the mystery.
Which was kept secret since the world began.
But now is made manifest.
And by.
It ought to read prophetic scriptures.
According to the commandment of the everlasting God.
Made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.
To God only wise.
Be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
First thing I want to notice is that whenever the mystery is spoken of in Scripture, there's always the mention of God's wisdom.
Are a similar statement, such as in verse 27 to God?
Only wise.
It's God's wisdom that has purposed us.
For such immense blessing as is brought out in the truth of the mystery.
The mystery was something that was not revealed in the Old Testament.
Something that was hidden God.
And not made known. You can search the Old Testament scriptures and you won't find the mystery revealed there.
Here, it's spoken of as something that was a revelation.
I was meditating last night.
As I often do after reading meeting on the passage.
And.
That 25th verse, now to him.
That is of power to establish you.
According to my gospel.
He mentions his gospel a number of times in Scripture. The 2nd chapter, this epistle, he mentions it. He mentions it in Second Timothy 2.
My God spawn.
And we spoke a little about that last night. Gospel of the Glory.
And the preaching of Jesus Christ.
According to the revelation of the mystery, not the preaching of Jesus Christ.
According to Old Testament prophetic utterances connected with the Kingdom.
But the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
It was revealed in particular to Paul.
And he tells us that, and we'll see that as we look on in Ephesians 3.
That it was something that was revealed to him.
He did not acquire that knowledge by the study of the Old Testament.
But it was a fresh and new revelation, and it completed.
The Word of God, it was that segment of divine revelation that God was going to bring out in time that had not yet brought been brought out and when it was brought out through the apostle Paul.
The Word of God was complete. That is, God has nothing more to add. Oh, He added more in revelation to the prophetic utterances of the Old Testament. But that was not a new thing. That was not different and distinct. It was the same ministry that was given by the prophets in the Old Testament. Just more details added to it. A little flurry, but the revelation of the mystery Christ and the church.
Was that which completed the word of God?
Now to him that is of power to establish you.
The Saints need to be established.
According to his gospel, a man in the glory.
And Christianity takes its character from that truth.
And the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery.
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Not just Jesus Christ preached as the Messiah to Israel, as the coming one that was, that would establish the Kingdom here.
But all that is connected with the revelation of the mystery.
And this revelation was kept secret since the world began. It had not been disclosed before, but now. Now.
Is made manifest and by the scriptures of the prophets or prophetic scriptures. Clearly, if it hadn't been revealed in the Old Testament, it wasn't the prophets of the Old Testament that he's talking about here. It's the prophetic scriptures of the New Testament.
And it's according to the commandment of the everlasting God, the eternal God.
Has an eternal purpose that's brought out in Ephesians 3, eternal purpose. And that purpose has to do with Christ in the church. It's it's the highest, it's the highest revelation that God has been pleased to give us. It completes the word of God.
And it's been made known in the 1St chapter, it says the gospel has been made known for the obedience of faith, the gospel of the grace of God, which is developed in this epistle so fully, more fully here than anywhere else. But here it's the revelation of the mystery which is made known for the obedience of faith, faith, obedience. It's not the obedience of doing something so much as having.
Thoughts brought into conformity to this revelation that we understand what the mystery is and what the consequences of it are for us as we went our way through this wilderness scene.
To God only wise. It's God's wisdom that is brought out, the highest wisdom, that which never enters the heart of man, the mind of man. It's a wisdom that comes only from him. To him be glory through Jesus Christ forever. Amen.
That's the first mention.
In the New Testament of this mystery. Now if you turn to 1St Corinthians 2, we have it again.
1St Corinthians 2 and I, brethren, when I came to you.
Came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom. That is the wisdom of the world, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, you Corinthians, save Jesus Christ and him crucified. Many have thought that that's the sum total of all that Paul preached, but it isn't.
But he had determined that among them, who were a carnal group of Christians living on the level of the world, he said. What I determined to bring before you was the person Jesus Christ and the person Jesus Christ crucified.
The person is the object that he sets. Before the Saints they were occupied with men.
I am of Paul, I am of Apollos, I am of Cephas. And then there was that company that said I am of Christ.
And they were indeed carnal.
With their parties.
And he set before them Jesus Christ instead of all of these men, however great they may have been.
And him crucified the end of the first man.
Was at the cross.
And they needed to see that they were making too much of men.
And.
Even identifying the Lord Jesus with a party.
I am of Christ. Probably the worst of any. The worst form of sectarianism is that which makes Christ the head of a party.
It's bad enough to make Paul or Apollos or Cephas the head of a party, but to make the Lord Jesus that he's not the head of the party, he's the head of the church.
And all members of the one body.
Are identified with Him, united to him by the Holy Spirit.
But sectarianism is the most natural weed of the human heart, and it was in full bloom here at Corinth.
So he says, I determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and him crucified. They needed to have Christ before their soul and Christ crucified, which is the end of all that man puts so much value on.
And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling. I remember some years back, before the division.
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I came to an assembly.
It was out in the West.
With fear and trembling.
Because I knew that that assembly was a divided assembly.
I knew that there was. You could just walk in and feel it.
You could feel the, the, the the.
The tension in the atmosphere.
And I don't think I've ever prayed so fervently as when I visited that place.
I was with you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
Paul said.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom.
But in demonstration of the Spirit and of power.
He wanted their faith to be established not in man's wisdom, but in the wisdom of God and in the power of God.
That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Howbeit, we do speak wisdom.
Among them that are perfect, they were not. They were carnal.
They were not mature, full grown Christians, but they were.
Going along with their parties, their preferences, this one and that one. And they were not perfect, as he uses the word here.
But he says we do speak wisdom among them that are perfect.
And this wisdom is the the truth of the mystery.
Yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the Princess of this world that come to naughty.
That wasn't the wisdom that he spoke to them with. He didn't. It didn't derive from man's schools.
But it he says we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, and whenever that word mystery is found, we will find wisdom connected with it, the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto.
Our glory.
Which none of the Princess of this world knew.
For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
That eighth verse is often misinterpreted.
To mean that had they known who he was, they wouldn't have crucified him. That's not what the verse says.
Let's read it carefully. Verse 7 again. We speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory. Which which hidden wisdom?
That's the antecedent of which.
Which none of the Princess of this world knew.
For had they known it? Had they known the mystery? Had they known God's hidden wisdom and what He was going to bring out?
Of the death of Christ, they would not have crucified him.
The man's hatred is such that.
Had they known the good and the blessing that would flow?
From Christ crucified. They wouldn't have done it.
You remember in Mark 12 when they saw him, having therefore one son, his well beloved, he sent him also, and when they saw him, they said this is the air.
Let us kill him and seize upon the inheritance.
They knew who he was.
He says in John's Gospel, Ye both know me, and ye know whence I am.
Now I'm not come of myself, but the Father sent me.
They knew who he was. In one sense. They did in their consciences. They did in their wills. They refused him.
Didn't know him.
So it wasn't himself.
That's in view here. But the mystery?
Had they known the mystery, the Princess of this world?
They would not have crucified the Lord of glory, but as it is written, I hath not seen, nor ear heard.
Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
That is the truth of this mystery, this wisdom, this hidden wisdom of God found in the mystery is something that will never enter the mind of man.
It's a revelation from God.
Man will not rise to its height, will not understand it, it never enter his heart or his mind.
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But God hath revealed these things unto us, us the believers.
By his spirit.
Spirit searcheth all things. Yeah. The deep things of God and the truth of the mystery are the deep things of God. We were mentioning last night and we read that verse in second Peter where he speaks of our beloved brother Paul, who, according to the wisdom that is given to him, has written to you.
Some things that he has written are hard to be understood.
Nothing harder for a Jew to understand is the indiscriminate grace of God that flows out to Jew and Gentile and unites into 11 body and to the glorified man in heaven. By the Spirit this union is affected. That was hard to understand. It was totally outside of, beyond anything.
That he had ever read of in the Old Testament scriptures.
We mentioned last night it's there in type. Once you know the truth of it as revealed in the New Testament, you can go back to the old and see the beautiful picture of it. Adam and Eve is 1, Isaac and Rebecca another, and so on. Beautiful types of Christ in the church.
God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit.
For the Spirit searcheth all things, yeah, the deep things of God.
The deep things of God.
Now let's turn over to the epistle.
To the Ephesians.
Chapter 1.
And I'll begin at verse 6.
To the praise of the glory of His grace.
Wherein he hath made us accepted in the Beloved.
Taken us into favor.
Made us the objects of grace in the beloved.
Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence. Now that's the keyword, the wisdom that's mentioned here. He's going to talk about the mystery.
He talks about his abounding towards us in all wisdom, and we've just seen in these two passages we've looked at already in Romans and 1St Corinthians that when that word is mentioned, it has to do with the mystery, and so it is here.
He's abounded towards us in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of His will.
According to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
This is something which was, according to the good pleasure of God, the delight of God.
Which he purposed in himself. It's altogether beyond any merits, anything that we could have done to acquire this in any way. It's something that flows altogether of and from himself, this mystery.
And verse 10 tells us here what it is, the mystery of His will.
And before reading it, I'll just state it. The mystery of His will is to head up everything in Christ, heavenly and earthly.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, that's the Millennium.
Still future.
He might gather together in one, literally. He might head up.
He might head up all things in the Christ.
Both which are in heaven and which are on earth.
Even in him.
Now many times when it says the Christ and this is one of them.
It doesn't just refer to him personally, but it refers to Christ and the Church.
There's a passage in.
Well, this is not developed in Corinthians, but it's mentioned in first.
And let's look at it, and we'll come right back here to Ephesians 1.
In First Corinthians 12 verse 12, in the first part of the chapter, he talks about the different members who have been gifted by the Spirit.
To 1 is given verse 8 by the Spirit, the word of Wisdom to another, the Word of Knowledge by the same Spirit, to another, faith by the same Spirit, to another, the gifts of healing by the same Spirit, and so on.
Now in verse 12 he says for as the body is 1.
And have many members and all the members of that one body, being many are one body. So also is Christ or the Christ. Again, the article is there in the new translation. He's not talking about Christ, he's talking about the church. But he gives the church the name of the head.
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As it says in Genesis, he called their name Adam.
So the the the wife Eve was given.
His name, and so it is here. So also is the Christ. It's talking about the church, talking about the members.
And then it says in verse 13 how this union is affected.
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.
Now that's the mystery.
That's the truth.
That Jew and Gentile without discrimination Now not the Jew 1St and the Gentile subordinate to the Jew, but Jew and Gentile united together into one body by the Spirit, and that's called the Christ.
Now going back to Ephesians one where he talks about the mystery of his will.
Verse 9 Again, Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to His good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself.
That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might head up.
All things in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him. The Christ embracing the head and the body. Christ in the Church we are going to.
Sit with him.
In his reign over this scene, we're going to be identified with him and.
Will be in a special place of blessing as His bride.
His wife. There's a If I can find it, it's in Nehemiah.
Just want to read you a verse. Illustrates this very nicely.
Nehemiah, chapter 2.
Verse 4 Then the king said unto me, For what does thou make requests? So I prayed to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, If it pleased the king, and if thy servant have found favor in thy sight, that thou would have sent me unto Judah, unto the city of my father's sepulchers, that I may build it. Now here's the verse.
And the King said unto me, the Queen also sitting by him.
For how long shall thy journey be, and when wilt thou return? And so on. The king said unto me, the Queen also sitting by him. I think that's a beautiful little illustration of the millennial reign. We will be sitting by him and reigning with him.
And that's the truth of this mystery of his will to head up all things in the Christ, Christ in the Church. Adam and Eve were given dominion over this earthly creation.
And he called their name Adam. And so Christ in the assembly will be given dominion over this scene in that coming day, the dispensation of the fullness of times. Everything will be subjected to Him, the Queen also.
The church also sitting by him.
The Old Testament spoke of Christ reigning.
King shall reign in righteousness. That was not new.
But Christ in the church reigning.
The church wasn't even mentioned in the Old Testament.
I know that in our King James translation you will read by the translators who did not understand when I'm talking about tonight.
Did not understand the mystery. They'll write the church does this and the church does that is the heading to some psalms and to some of the prophecies, but it's not the church at all. It was Jerusalem or it was Zion, it was the Jews, it was Israel, but they didn't understand that what the church really was.
We've been given further light than they had at the Reformation, much further light and.
The truth of Christ in his assembly, His bride, his heavenly bride, not his earthly bride. That's Jerusalem. Song of Solomon brings that before us, but his heavenly bride, the assembly.
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Reigning with Him, alongside of Him. That's not, that was not revealed in the Old Testament. That's the mystery of His will to head up all things in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him.
Now turn to the 5th chapter of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 5.
And here he deals with the.
The 3rd circle.
The first sphere is the assembly sphere in Chapter 4.
Up to I think verse 17 or so, and then the spear of the world and now the family spirit, the family spirit. And he says in verse 22, wives.
Submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord, for the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church. He is the Savior of the body.
He is the one that preserves his body, that cares for his body, that suckers and nourishes it.
Therefore, as the Church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
We have the the marriage relationship elevated here to a height that had never had before.
It's a picture of Christ in his assembly.
His heavenly bride.
And he goes on to say in verse 25, Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it.
That He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. Verse 25 is the past He gave himself for the church. Verse 26 is the present.
He's sanctifying it, cleansing it with the washing of water by the Word. He's doing that tonight as we're under the sound of the Word.
And in verse 27 we have what is future that he might present it to himself. A glorious church. Church glorious.
Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and blameless without blemish.
Sought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife.
Loveth himself.
Now the first couple, Adam and Eve, she was literally a part of himself.
He caused Adam to fall into a deep sleep. And then he took, he opened up the flesh and he took his rib and he builded a woman and he brought her to it, to Adam. And when he saw her, he said, this is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh.
She shall be called woman because she was taken out of man. She was not a unique, excuse me, she was a unique. She was not a separate creation from the ground like the animals were.
Adam was created from the dust of the ground, but she was unique in that she was created from him.
She was a part of him. Of all the types of Christ in the church in the Old Testament, there's none so perfect as Adam and Eve because she came from him and she was of him, a part of him. And that's the very that's the very type that sets forth Christ in the church.
So beautifully, so ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. So when Christ loves the Church, he loves himself. She is a part of him. She comes from Him, just as Eve came from Adam.
For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as.
The Lord, the Church, He nourishes and cherishes His assembly. There isn't an object on earth anywhere that is so precious to Him.
As his assembly of which you form a part, we all form a part.
Nothing so precious to him.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be 1 flesh.
This is a great mystery.
He is taking the marriage relationship and applying it now to Christ in the Church. This great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the Church. That is the mystery. That is the great mystery. Christ in his assembly.
His bride.
Nevertheless, let everyone of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself and his wife see that she reverence.
Her husband.
This is a great mystery.
Christ in the assembly.
Now who makes up?
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This.
Or this wife who makes up the bride. Well, we turn back to Ephesians 3 to get that in Ephesians 3.
I, Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles.
If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God.
Which has given me to you word, the dispensation, the administration of the grace of God.
The assembly exists as.
A product of entirely the grace of God.
The grace of God.
Something that was above and beyond anything that had been revealed in the Old Testament.
And it's composed of Jews and Gentiles.
If you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God, which has given me to you word.
I just want to comment, the word dispensation has been rendered administration, it's been rendered economy.
It's been rendered stewardship.
It's the same word in these different renderings and it means the the management of a household.
And.
God's management.
Of his affairs.
In that infinite wisdom of His there came a time when He would bring out this wonderful mystery concerning Christ and His assembly.
And part of that mystery that's brought out here in Ephesians 3 is that assembly is composed of.
Jews and Gentiles, those that had nothing to do with one another. When the law was in in force, the Gentiles were viewed by the Jews as dogs, unclean, not even to eat with them.
But now we have a mystery.
That you and Gentile are made one.
In Christ, only the grace of God could do that. Only the grace of God could affect such a thing, and it has done so. The assembly is a miracle of grace.
That Jews and Gentiles could be united together in one body.
And go on together harmoniously for His glory.
Verse 3 Now how that by revelation.
He made known unto me the mystery.
It was a revelation never known before, given specifically to the Apostle Paul.
As I wrote it for in few words, whereby when you read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ. His knowledge in the mystery of Christ came not from studying the Old Testament Scriptures. It came by a distinct heavenly revelation, heaven.
The Lord Jesus as He revealed this to the apostle.
Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit.
I used to ponder that many times. It was revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, but they didn't bring it out.
Paul did.
Paul brought it out. He received it as a direct revelation from the Lord, and the Spirit of God revealed it to these other apostles and the prophets of the New Testament, so that when it was brought out.
It would be received, not opposed.
If they had just used their Old Testament scriptures when Paul spoke of this grace to the Jews and to the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and putting them on all the same level, no advantage of the Jew at all.
Over the Gentile in this present day.
Something foreign to their their ears. If they're Jewish years, they could say. Show me that in the Old Testament it isn't there.
This is that which was hid in God and brought out at the time after Christ had been crucified, rose again, and ascended and glorified to heaven. Then was the time to bring out this mystery. It's required a special vessel, an elect vessel, Saul of Tarsus, and he became great Apostle Paul.
But it was revealed to these other others so that as Peter says, in which in referring to Pauls ministry and in which there are some things hard to be understood.
Truth of the mystery was very difficult for a Jewish mind to accept.
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Because it went so beyond in grace. It went so beyond anything that he was used to thinking.
The Old Testament spoke of grace to the Gentiles, but subordinate to Israel, always subordinate in the Kingdom. The Gentiles will be blessed, yes.
But not as it is during the time of the mystery.
Christ in the Church.
Composed of Jew and Gentiles.
Verse 5 again, which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that the Gentiles Here it is consists of three truths, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs. Fellow heirs with whom? With the Jews? Joint heirs with Jews.
And of the same body, a joint body, Jew and Gentile, united together.
And joint partakers, I'm reading it as it is in the new translation, gives the force of it joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. These promises in Christ were appropriated by the Jews for them. But now he talks about joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. The Gentiles partake of the blessing just as much as the Jew.
These three grand truths, the Gentiles should be joint heirs.
Joint heirs, All that Christ has won by his perfect life of obedience and submission down here, He now shares with you and me, whether we're Jew or Gentile.
And of a joint body, one body composed of these two dissimilar.
Contradictory and contrary, people's Jews and Gentiles now united.
Into one.
As you think of it, as you think of what the Church is and the grace that has brought us together and made US1, it just makes division that much worse.
100 times worse.
Because it's only grace that has brought us together, and we don't have enough grace.
To walk together.
With our brethren.
When I say we, I'm talking about all Christians.
The flesh has gained ascendancy with so many. The enemy has done his work. Scripture tells us it would happen.
But it's such an awful sin. I'm convinced, having gone through this last trouble, I'm convinced the worst sin that we can commit is to be a leader in division.
To divide the Saints of God. Terrible, terrible thing to be a party to that.
And I was talking to a couple recently at home and we're going over some of the things I was talking about Monday night, those that have defected and gone into.
Groups where the fundamentals of the person of Christ are denied, the sister says. How could they do that?
How could they do that? And I said, maybe you don't know your own heart enough.
Because we're all.
We're all.
Capable of doing that.
We're all capable of allowing our intellect to swamp.
The leading of the Holy Spirit.
And being LED away into serious air, we're all capable of doing that.
I'm not, you're not. Not one better, one bit better than any of our brethren elsewhere that have been ensnared.
And if the Lord has kept us?
We can just continue to to pray that 16th Psalm preserve me, oh God, for indeed who I put my trust.
Only He can preserve us.
Well.
The truth of the mystery is that the Gentiles should be joint heirs, and of a joint body, and joint partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel. And then he goes on to say, Whereof I, Paul, I was made a minister.
According to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me by the effectual working of His power.
He suffered more than they all. He labored more than they all.
The truth of the mystery brought suffering from his Jewish brethren.
The kind of suffering that he had inflicted upon the Christians before he was converted, now was being inflicted upon him.
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But they hated the message.
They hated this fresh revelation. They didn't like it. You remember when the Lord spoke in Luke 4 of grace, mercy to the Gentiles? They took him up to the top of the hill and we're going to throw him down, get rid of him.
He talked about.
There were many lepers in Israel in the time of Naaman, but only one was cleansed nail in the Syria.
There are many widows in another time, and only one was.
Was was blessed.
And these two were Gentiles. They hated it. The very thought that God would show grace to the Gentiles.
Jonah.
The reason he didn't go to Nineveh at first is because he said I knew thee. Thou art a merciful God. And he didn't even want to give them the opportunity to repent.
And they did.
And God said I won't judge them.
It came about maybe 150 years later, but at that time.
The idea to a Jew, a strict Jewish mind, Grace going out, mercy, compassion to a Gentile.
They didn't like that, didn't like that at all. Remember when Peter went into the household of Cornelius and preached the gospel to them when he got back to Jerusalem? Thou wentest in to men that are uncircumcised and gets to eat with them. Give account of yourself.
And then he told them.
How that God had showed him by that sheet that was let down from heaven three times the rise, Peter, slay and eat. Not so, Lord, I've never eaten anything common or unclean in my life. What God hath cleansed called that not common. The Gentiles were going to be brought in. They were no longer to be considered unclean.
But to be brought into a place of favor and blessing alongside of the Jew. And it's beautiful to read Peter's message in Acts 15. He says We believe we Jews that we shall be saved even as they That's not the way a Jew would put it.
You put it just the other way around. But he had, he was forced, you might say, to put it.
By the Spirit of God in a way that magnifies the grace of God.
Well, this is what God has wrought. This is what he has done.
He goes on to say, verse 7, whereof I was made a minister according to the gift of the grace of God-given unto me by the effectual working of his power unto me.
Who am less than the least of All Saints.
Is this grace given?
That I should preach among the Gentiles.
Not the Jews now, but the Gentiles, the unsearchable.
Riches of Christ The other apostles preached among the Jews the unsearchable riches of Christ, but it was given to Paul to preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and more.
And to make all see.
What is the fellowship of the mystery? Or I think it should read What is the administration?
The dispensation, the economy, the stewardship of the mystery.
Which from the beginning of the world.
Hath been hid in God, Not in the Old Testament scriptures, but this mystery was hidden in God.
Who created all things by Jesus Christ?
It was given to him to make all men, as it says in the New translation, to enlighten all.
What is the administration of the mystery?
Which was kept secret.
From the ages.
Who created all things by Jesus Christ to the intent that now in this present day of grace, 2000 years has lasted almost that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places, that the angelic hosts, the principalities and powers in heavenly places might.
Be might be made known to them by the church.
The manifold wisdom of God. May you have it again. Whenever he talks about the mystery, he brings in the wisdom of God. The manifold wisdom of God.
According to the eternal purpose, remember in Romans 16 it said the eternal God or the everlasting God, He's the one that's focused this and it's an eternal purpose.
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According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus.
Our Lord.
Now let's turn to Colossians Chapter 1.
Colossians, chapter 1.
Verse 23.
If you continue in the faith grounded and settled.
And be not moved away from the hope of the gospel which he have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven, whereof I, Paula, made a minister. He was a minister of the gospel.
Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and I fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh, for his body sake, which is the Church.
Says he filled up.
That which is behind of the afflictions or the tribulations of Christ.
That is the truth of the mystery that he brought. Brought suffering, persecution.
Afflictions to him.
And it was 4.
Christ's body sake, which is the Church.
Whereof I am made a minister. Not only was he a minister of the gospel, he was a minister of.
This mystery Christ in the Church.
According to the dispensation of God, which is given to me for you to fulfill the word of God, I've already covered that that word fulfill means to complete.
The mystery, the truth of the mystery that was given to Paul to bring out completed the Word of God.
It was an area that was left untouched before.
Paul was raised up to bring it out, to fulfill, to complete the Word of God, to perfect it, even the mystery.
Which hath been hid from ages and from generations, but now.
Is made manifest to his Saints.
To whom God would make known.
What is the richest?
Of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles.
Which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.
In Ephesians, the mystery is that we are in Christ.
And God sees us as such, in here, in Colossians, Christ in you, the hope of glory.
Whom we preach, warning every man.
And teaching every man. Here it is again in all wisdom.
That we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus. A Christian that does not know the truth of the mystery.
Is a babe.
Is not mature.
Paul's burden was to present every man perfect.
In Christ Jesus.
Whom we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, if all of the Saints knew this truth.
That we are united to one another, Jew and Gentile, and to the head in heaven by the Spirit on earth.
One body.
Joint heirs, joint body, joint partakers of all his promises in Christ by the gospel.
Christians wouldn't be spending their energies as many are.
Seeking to set the world right.
Because we can't and we're not called to that.
You're called to a much higher calling. It's a heavenly calling.
When Paul was laboring that we might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus, understanding who we are, what a Christian is.
My burden in the message Monday night is that we understand who he is.
And the burden tonight is that we understand who we are as Christians. What is Christianity?
What passes as Christianity in the United States of America is a pseudo Christianity.
It's not biblical.
In large measure.
Paul says whereunto I also labor driving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily.
For I would that she knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh.
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It's striking, isn't it, that the two epistles?
That to the Ephesians and here to the Colossians, and the one to the Colossians was to be read to those of Laodicea and Hierapolis, the surrounding assemblies, Coliseum, Hierapolis, I believe they're in a cluster of three, that this was sent to the Colossians. But these two are the 1St and the last churches that are addressed in Revelation 2 and 3.
But to the church which? To the Angel of the church, which is at Ephesus. And what was it that he fought them for? Thou hast left thy first love. That's the assembly We were just looking about where the truth of the mystery was unfolded in its fullness. Ephesians.
And here we have Laodicea Coliseum. Laodicea was read here. What he wrote here in the Colossians was read to the Laodiceans. And what does he say about Laodicea? You're lukewarm, neither cold nor hot. I would. You were cold or hot, I will spew you.
Out of my mouth.
And if they didn't repent in Ephesus, he said, I will remove thy Candlestick out of its place, except I repent, and here it's he's going to disown it as a testimony for himself.
The church has not been true to her calling.
She has not been true to the truth of the mystery. Have we been? We have to search our own hearts.
I would that you knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea.
And for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love, and unto all riches, of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ.
In whom?
Hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. I believe in the new translation that reads the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, in which.
Are hid all the treasures?
Of wisdom.
And knowledge all the treasures God has.
Exhausted himself, if I may put it that way, in giving us his wisdom.
And we're brought into the highest place of blessing. We were noticing just the other day that in Isaiah 40 it says Jerusalem has received double for all her sins.
Revelation 18 When it speaks of apostate Christendom, it says, Render unto her.
Double. Double.
Double. Double.
You read it, read it in Mr. Darby's translation, and you'll see that the intensity of the judgment on Christendom.
Is twice as much, twice as severe as that on Jerusalem. Much more light, much more blessing, much more responsibility.
And so.
All the wisdom.
And knowledge are hid in the mystery.
And we've been brought into it.
Where the recipients of it.
We're those that are so favored and so blessed.
And what is it?
That characterizes the Christians nowadays.
Immense worldliness.
Pursuing things down here.
When our portion is all above.
With Christ.
Let's close by singing 330.
What raised the wondrous thought?
Or who did it suggest?
That we the Church to glory brought, should with the sun be blessed, O God, the thought was thine.
Thine only it could be fruit of the wisdom, love divine, peculiar unto thee. For sure no other mind for thought so bold, so free greatness or strength could ever find Thine, only it could be the motives to Thine own the plan, the counsel Thine made for Thy Son. Bone of his bone in glory bright to shine, O God, with great delight Thy wondrous thought we see.
Upon His throne in glory bright, the bride of Christ shall be healed with the Holy Ghost.
We triumph in that love by wondrous fact.
Has made our boast glory.
With Christ above.
3:30.
Let Us Run With Patience
God's Desire Toward Us
Future Events
Strong Confidence