Burbank Conference: 2002
Table of Contents
John 10:1-6
Reading
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I'd like to just read a brief note.
We're grateful for many that have come great distances.
In response to an invitation that went out last September.
That time we wrote.
Our Lord Jesus was quite emphatic, even insistent, that his sheep should be fed.
Peter was instructed to do it in John 21 verses 1516 and 17. Feed my sheep, feed my lambs.
And Peter later wrote, feed the flock of God, which is among you.
Being in samples to the flock, first Peter VS two and three, then Paul instructed the Ephesian elders.
Take heed to feed.
The Church of God, Acts 20, verse 28.
Next paragraph The world around us is vigorously offering to young.
And old alike food which is but ashes, and the emptiness of wind.
We do have something better to feed on.
Jeremiah put it this way.
Thy words were found.
And I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart.
Jeremiah 15 verse 16 then Psalm 37 three says trust in the Lord and.
Verily thou shalt be fed.
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We are painfully aware of our weakness, yet cannot turn our backs on the OFT repeated desire of our Lord's heart that we should be fed.
Just note that if we had an electronic apparatus to tally up numbers and what hunting, you might find that the number of young folks here that just draw an arbitrary date folks under 21.
Maybe a third of us or more.
So this is a plea.
For simplicity.
John, Chapter 10.
Delightful.
Chapter 10.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep.
To him the Porter openness, and the sheep hear his voice, and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out.
And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him, and they know his voice.
And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him, for they know not the voice of strangers.
This parable spake Jesus unto them, but they understood not what things they were, which he spake unto them.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep.
All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.
The thief tell us not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I am come that they might have the life, and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
But he that is in hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and flee us, and the wolf catcheth them, and scatters the sheep.
The higher length fleeth because he is in higher length and careth not for the sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one fold and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No, ma'am, taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father.
There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings. And many of them said, He hath the devil, and is mad, Why hear ye him? Others said, These are not the words of him that hath the devil a devil open the eyes of the blind. And it was a Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter. And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him.
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How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believe not The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. They give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave them me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
I and my father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them. Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me?
The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, Ye are gods, if he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken. Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world?
Thou blasphemest because I said I am the Son of God.
If I do not, the works of my father believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Therefore they sought again to take him, and he escaped out of their hand.
And went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at the first baptized, And there he abode.
And many resorted unto him, and said John did no miracle, but all, all things that John spake of this man were true, and many believed on him there.
I believe it is helpful to see.
That what happened in Chapter 9.
With the man that was born blind, and to treatment that he received of those who were in a position outwardly of shepherds in Israel who cast him out.
They were not good shepherds, were they? And that prompts the Lord Jesus to present himself.
As the Good Shepherd.
What a wonderful thing that we know Him who have come to know Him as Savior.
But what is especially?
Important is to see.
That is, hearing His voice and listening for His voice is what first of all brings us to Him and also should characterize us after we belong to Him. And I trust that in these meetings we will hear the Shepherd's voice, because that makes all the difference, does it not?
He is not personally here, but He is nevertheless in the midst, and the things that might be expounded and brought before us might be indeed as led by Him through the Spirit, so that we can hear the Shepherd's voice.
Might be well also to just at first verse.
Would remind us as young people that anyone who comes the.
Other way is a thief and a robber.
They would do no good.
They come up some other way.
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It's helpful to see too, that you have in this chapter the sheepfold in verse one.
And later on in verse 16 he says other sheep I have which are not of this fold.
That's the sheepfold again, that's the Jewish enclosure. They were a separated people. They had a God-given fence build around them. That was of God in the Old Testament times. But here in verse 16 to go on, it says them also, I must bring and they shall hear my voice and there shall be one.
Flock is really the word there. It's not fold and one shepherd.
So that the Lord Jesus is, especially in John's Gospel.
Brother AC Brown used to say we have the buddings of Christianity and so here's something that is characteristic of Christianity.
Not a fold, not an enclosure, but a family, a center to which we are attracted. That's the sense of the word flock. And so in connection with the blind man who received his sight in Chapter 9, he got thrown out of the sheepfold, that Jewish enclosure, but he was attracted to the Lord Jesus.
And that is the principle of what we have in Christianity, the flock. And like you say, it's so important to have an ear tuned to the voice of the shepherd, the Lord Jesus. When he came, He came to that sheepfold, to that Jewish enclosure, and that's what it refers to in the first verses here. He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but cometh up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber.
But he that entereth in by the doors, the shepherd of the sheep, he came in by the door.
He came in by the way that scriptures had designated that he would come. That's coming in by the door, isn't it? There were false messiahs in Israel's history. They didn't come in by the door.
For us today in applying this.
Whether Bill mentioned.
The thief and the robber. It is striking, isn't it, that this sublime passage, which brings before us the character of the Lord Jesus as the Great Shepherd, the loving Shepherd who gives his life for the sheep, starts with a warning.
About thieves and robbers, that's the first thing we read. There's the warning and then there's in verse 2, the shepherd. And I think we want to.
Remind all of our hearts that when it talks about the.
A thief and a robber when it talks about them.
Climbing or mounting up some other way than by the door.
Let's remember, beloved brethren, that that which would.
Come in to wreak havoc among the people of God, the sheep of Christ.
To steal our hearts away from that Good Shepherd who only and ever would do us good, will go to.
No small amount of energy to gain entrance somehow, either through subtlety or through open violence. The thief and the robber. And I'd like to turn just for a moment, just to see the character of that a well known.
Passage, but one which is very, very solemn to ones heart whenever.
This is pondered, turn back with me, please. The second Samuel. We're going to see a character that I think we see today that would seek to come in and take us away from the shepherd, whether for the young people it might be in one form, for those who are older in another.
But no amount of effort, and if I can say it this way, no, its expense will be too small to expend today in seeking to get us somehow away from our blessed shepherd. And that's in Second Samuel 15. And not to read very many verses. We know the story well about Absalom. What strikes me about Absalom was he answers to the thief and the robber morally.
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But it's very important to recognize he was beautiful.
He didn't look frightening. He didn't look obnoxious, He didn't look repulsive, nor did he act that way. And what he was about was to steal the hearts of the children of Israel away from the true shepherd, David. And he did that. And I just want to read those verses to remind us how he worked.
He comes up first of all, there's quite a display of His glory and His beauty in verse one. And then in verse two he pretends to be interested in the individuals that came up to Jerusalem. So he says in the end of verse 2, of what city art thou? This is Absalom, and he's calling out to the children of Israel as they come. What city are you from? I'm interested in you.
And then he goes on and he says something else that we are constantly hearing.
That is so effective in taking our hearts away from the shepherd, he says. Your matters are good and right. It doesn't matter what you're concerned about. It doesn't matter what your circumstances are. It's good. It's right.
No conscience, no effort to in any way in faithfulness, say to any of these, you know you're not on a very good path. Whatever path those people were on, it was just fine with Absalom. And he told them.
Everything you're doing is just fine. And then he says there's no one interested in you. Verse three, no one is deputed of the king to hear thee. You know, David isn't really got time for you. He's not really interested in you.
That's another thing that the thief and the robber does, tries to get us to see, get our eyes away from the person of Christ and to perhaps start looking at brethren and say, see, they're not really very interested in you. They're not interested in your circumstances. And then he goes on and he says, now if I were in charge, verse 4I the last few words, I would do him justice. I'll give you what you want, I'll take care of you. Your causes are right.
And justice, let me come in, let me take over, and I'll do what's right. And then he says it says.
He kissed him affection, pretended to love, and the result is Absalom steals the hearts in verse six of the men of Israel. Well, brethren, we need to have our eyes focused afresh on the Lord Jesus because without that there is, it's been mentioned, a world out there full of every kind of trick and every kind of effort by one who doesn't come as a roaring lion.
But he comes as an Angel of light. He looks so good. What he offers seems so right.
He makes us feel so good about ourselves and the whole effort is that as a thief and a robber, he might steal us away from the only one who will ever do us good now and for all eternity. And beloved young people, beloved brethren, I need and you need to have our hearts freshly stirred and our eyes freshly focused on our blessed Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd.
Otherwise.
There is going to be that which would seek in character to steal our hearts.
Before we leave that portion, let's go back to the 14th chapter. And it gives a very striking in the 25th verse, a very striking contrast to the Lord. So this is Second Samuel 1425. But in all Israel it was none to be so much praised as Absalom for his beauty.
Now notice the opposite direction from the.
Glories of the Lord in the Song of Solomon, from the soul of his foot, even to the crown of his head.
There was number blemish in him and then we turned to the Song of Solomon, which we won't take time for.
But it starts at his head and goes down.
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Because the man of this world, of which Absalom is certainly a type, where is he centered? He's centered on this earth, on his feet, and it's not on solid ground. But the Blessed Lord, when he's eulogized, it starts with a head and goes down.
But a duck what you were saying?
You certainly imply that that is a danger that exists among us, the gathered Saints.
Anytime when anybody is willing to justify and ignore the sin that is manifested or the sinful relationships amongst the Saints. He's an Absalom and that has happened.
And we are in danger of that, especially in the loudy sea and state in which we live that manifests itself even amongst the gathered Saints, because the emphasis is unmanned and not on the glory of Christ. But it is wonderful, as already indicated by our brother Barr, that the Lord Jesus came fulfilling all those.
Scriptures.
That prophesied His coming, but then we find true that the doorkeeper.
Opens the door. Now who is that doorkeeper? Recently somebody ministered among us and said that that was the law. That was not the law. That is the spirit of God that opened the door to the sheepfold. I know that Bruce some time ago gave us these various.
Types or how the Spirit of God is referred to.
In John's Gospel and he mentioned that this is one of them, right, Brother Bruce, can you give us the seven?
You mentioned seven ways in which the Spirit of God is referred to in John.
I'm not sure if I can remember them now, but the dove in chapter one we have the.
The wind in chapter 3.
Of the fountain in chapter 4. The river in chapter seven, quarter in chapter 10.
And help me now, is it Chapter 14 where we get in 1516 where he's the the guide period of truth, spirit of truth has the guidance.
Well, the point is that it is not only for the Lord Jesus that the Spirit of Lord opens the door to the sheep. I think that is even the case today. Anyone that he raises up.
To have a genuine concern for the sheep and to serve them, the Spirit of God will open the door so that he can get an entrance.
And so that he can be a source of blessing. But then we find that the Lord Jesus enters, as it already was pointed out, the bold. And then he leads them out of the fold, never to return.
And not only does He lead them out, we have a stronger term in verse four when He put us forth his own sheep.
You know, sometimes the sheep might not be as willing as willingly and not as ready to listen to the shepherd leading them out of the fold. Maybe he has to use a little more force putting them out and hopefully we allow him to do that. You know, many Christians who love the Lord sincerely have really been.
Forced into a legal enclosure, A fold.
And the Spirit of God would seek to leave them out of such a legal exposure enclosure, and maybe the Lord sometimes has to use more of a force to push them out. There was a man in Germany who was in a system of men, and he learned a lot about the truth that is many, many years ago.
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And he thought he would share that with these fellow believers in the systems where he was. Finally somebody told him, you belong among the brethren. He had to tell him, what are you doing here? You don't belong here. You belong with those that where you gather what you're trying to bring before us. So the Lord used that man, you might say, to push him out, you know, and hopefully.
We will be kept from forming a pole. There are tendencies, beloved Saints. We have to be faithful to point not only out what is in the system. There is a tendency among us to set up legal rules and regulations. You cannot have an unbeliever at a wedding of believers. You cannot have them at a funeral of believers. Those are legal things that people try to subject the Saints to.
Let's not succumb to that, oppose it, object to it. That's not the moving of the Spirit of God. That might be the only time that an unbeliever hears the gospel at a funeral of Christians. So just I'm just saying that because these things occur among those gathered through the name of the Lord Jesus. Now there's the danger and the one extreme to be come a legal system.
And then there is of course, the other extreme to go to the other extreme and to be too liberal. But we don't want either of these extremes because if we stay close to the shepherd, listen to His voice and bow to his word, and do not read something into his word that isn't there.
We will be preserved in the path of truth.
I think we need to establish at the beginning of the our readings on this chapter that the subject before us is the Lord's leading his people out of Judaism and into Christianity. And the two figures that have been brought before us, the fold and the flock, depict these two principles of gathering. The fold really brings before us a Jewish principle of gathering. As has been said, the law and all of its principles were keeping the.
Nation of Israel together and they were fenced off and separated from all the other nations and kept together by that legal way. But now we find that the Lord is introducing something new and that is the flock, which depicts Christian principle of gathering where there is no need for a fence around anymore because there's a Workman done in the heart of his people that are attracted to.
The Lord who is in the midst and they want to be together. There is no need for force. And so the subject here is to lead them out of the fold and into the flock. The Lord did not do that in His lifetime in His ministry. His ministry was primarily to the circumcision, as we learned from Romans chapter 15. What He's Speaking of here is really what He would do by the Spirit of God after He.
Rose and went back to heaven and would lead his people out, and we see that in the book of the Acts.
And emphasized also, of course, in the Epistle to the Hebrews.
Actually, they were permitted for 35 years to continue.
With the temple and with the Jewish order of things, the liberty that was established in Acts chapter 15 was established for the Gentile believers. But we find in the very next chapter that Paul circumcised Timothy, you know, But then by the Spirit of God, Paul was used to write Hebrews for this purpose, to deliver them from the Jewish system. And when he has showed them.
That all of that which they at one time so valued were nothing but types and shadows. They had their fulfillment in Christ. Why even continue to cling to them? So at the end of Hebrews he says, Go unto him outside the camp. The Lord Jesus isn't in that place any longer. He was rejected. He's outside. Go unto Him outside bearing his reproach.
So the Spirit of God leads Paul to write that epistle for the distinct purpose of leading him out. And from history we know that they did leave that system, not only the system, they left Jerusalem and they weren't there, the Christians when Titus destroyed it. 78 D. So the Lord was patient with them, and we can certainly be patient with people that come from a legal system.
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And attend meetings that might take some time for them to get delivered from some of their legal ideas. But.
That is nevertheless God's purpose. We have to go unto Him. He is not involved in any of these legal systems that men have set up, even under the name of Christianity. He's outside of it, and we go unto Him, bearing His reproach.
I'd like to point out, just as a means of emphasis, I think some might be happy to see it that is, and it's already been referred to a voice, verse 16.
Where the Lord says And other sheep I have which are not of this fold Judaism.
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one, and that should be flocked, according to Mr. Darby.
One fold, but one flop, which reinforces everything that's been said. And I think that's lovely. And you'll notice one shepherd, well, that's Christ, the head of the church. So that's just a simple observation, but it's right here. And that's Mr. Darby makes that change and it bears out exactly what we've been hearing.
I think it's good to recognize, brethren, that a natural tendency of our hearts is to return to the Jewish system of things, to return to the idea of a fold of.
An enclosure and that's why we have the book of Hebrews. That's you find the tendency in the also in Galatians.
It's, it's, it's a natural tendency of our hearts to do that. And I, I think it's because we see that.
Souls start wandering from Christ and then immediately we want to put up a barrier. What is the answer to that, brethren? It is the presentation of the glory of the person of the Lord Jesus and if He is presented properly.
Souls that are real will have their hearts drawn to Him. That is the power of Christianity. And there will be no looseness as you say.
Brother Heinz, if souls are truly.
Attracted to the person of the Lord Jesus? There can't be.
It's going to be the remedy and I think that is a real challenge for us in our days, brethren.
Is Christ magnified in our midst? Do people see us who gather in a certain place, or do they see Christ Himself? Oh, that it would be so, brethren, that.
We could say when we go away from a meeting, as the disciples said to Thomas, we have seen the Lord and if we've seen the Lord presented.
Then our hearts are going to be drawn after him. That is the power of gathering brother attraction to his glorious person. Could we add to that brother Bob that say that it would be good, and I hardly agree. That's wonderful that we could each of us from our hearts say we have seen Jesus in Acts chapter 4.
We might add this they took knowledge of them that they had been with Jesus.
If we're going to.
Encourage the flock, beginning with ourselves, not to stray away. It's going to be by my looking at you and you looking at me and seeing Christ, seeing him as the object and delight, something that is exciting and precious and wonderful to me. And if you see that and I see that in you, I'm not going to want to go away and look for something else.
The world, with all of its thieves and robbers, I say again in moral application, has all sorts of things that look very exciting and sparkling and bright and inviting.
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But brethren, what a challenge to our hearts to so personally be found.
In the enjoyment of my precious Savior, your precious Savior, that that just is there and someone looks at you or looks at me and sees and takes knowledge that they've been with Jesus and I want to be there too.
Might be well to remind us that.
We have an enclosure.
And then we have a center.
Been stated before that enclosure has a wall around it, a fence around it, and a walk has a center.
But then once we find in the New Testament that there is a flock with a center, there is also an enclosure.
There are some that are within it, some that are not, called discipline.
And if we walk?
Close to the center, the shepherd, we don't encounter the wall, we don't encounter the enclosure, but if we don't, we get out to where God has provided for us. Shall we say a little wake up call. He he would, he would remind us there is that which would turn us back to the separate the center as discipline and there are many believers in the Lord Jesus Christ who are not within that.
Enclosure, and that's for us, is a warning for us too. Grace has brought us here. We're sitting here by Grace may keep us there.
But a Bill, would you perhaps allow to speak of that more as being in fellowship when the Scripture speaks of being within, not so much an enclosure, but being inside of those that are in fellowship? You would allow that, would you? Yes. That is the inclusion. That is the, that is the difference between we'll say us and them.
But we we say it in in pride.
What have we said? That we are better?
But he was here as the grace of God that finds us here. What there is a difference between?
Those gathered and those not gathered is called being in fellowship.
That's why I prefer that to put it that way, because it might lead sold to things that there is now a new fold. But how wonderful that in order to hear the Shepherd's voice, we have to be close to the Shepherd.
You know, we cannot hear His voice if we don't stay close to him. That requires communion and fellowship with him. But there is even a closer position indicated than being close enough to hear His voice, and that's in Psalm 32.
That he was guide us with his eyes. You know, we have to be even closer then, because all we have to do is look into his eyes and we know exactly whether he's approving or disapproving of what we might.
To intending to do or are involved in so closeness to Christ.
Is the basis for security for the believer. While we are here in this scene, of course, we also have.
A fellowship with those who are part of the flock. While he is the Good Shepherd, there are under shepherds. You know the verse was referred to.
Feed the flock of God that is. Among those are the under shepherds that are.
Thus admonished, so the Lord, even in his goodness, gives us those that he has raised up among God's people that can be shepherds. And we would all, I'm sure, readily agree that that service, the service of the shepherd, is needed more than any other service. Not that we want to belittle teaching and other aspects of the service, evangelism, and so on, but.
The shepherd is especially that which we probably feel the greatest need of amongst the gathered Saints. They are under shepherds. They are those who take the lead, and hopefully they will lead well. That's what Paul says to Timothy. Those who lead well, the elders should be counted worthy of double honor. Yes, there are those under shepherds, but the flock does not belong to them.
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It's his flock, and they better do remember that, that the Saints are not their flock, as even in the systems of men they refer to the people that they head up as my flock, My people. They are his flock, and they ought to be guided by the chief shepherd in their service in shepherding the sheep.
First Peter chapter 5, verse two, feed the flock of God.
Which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint, but willingly, Not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind.
Wasn't Peter's flock, it was the flock of God. Just thinking about this brethren, The man in the previous chapter who was in an enclosure.
In that system of Judaism.
Had no liberty until, although he had a blessing because he was healed.
Marvelous blessing. But one of the greater blessings, perhaps, was that he was.
Excommunicated.
He was cast out of that enclosure.
Verse 34 of Chapter 9.
And then what does it say? In 35 Jesus heard that he had been cast out, and he found him.
And he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? And he answered and said, Who is he Lord?
That I might believe on him.
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee. And he said, Lord.
I believe and he worshipped not in a system or an enclosure.
But he worshipped him.
A great day for him when he was cast out, excommunicated. The happiest thing that ever happened in his life.
Chapter 8 does give us the thought of the Word being rejected. Chapter 9 is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Shepherd being rejected. Chapter 10 that we're in and joined together thus far, is the Shepherd himself rejected.
But if we go to Chapter 11, it is the believer rejected, as our brother Heinz mentioned, going forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach, there will be a reproach connected with being identified with the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst. We don't suffer much, do we, brethren? But if we were faithful, there would be that sense of being rejected as a believer identified with the person in the midst.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
And we learned from verse four that the Lord was behind it. In our chapter it says when he putteth forth his sheep. Now that word putteth is exactly the same word that's translated in the 9th chapter cast.
So the Lord was behind it, and we learn here from the latter part of verse three and the first part of verse four that He has two ways in which He is leading and putting His people out of the Jewish fold that He might lead them to the flock. The standard way, shall we say, would be that there is an attraction.
In the soul of the believer, the sheep. And so he goes before and they follow him out. But because he knew his people would be attracted to, at least entrenched in the Jewish ways, their hearts wrapped up in it, it would be very difficult for them to leave it. He uses pressure as well, and that's what verse four is Speaking of. He putteth forth his own sheep. And so by them enjoying Christ and Speaking of Christ, they get themselves cast out, but behind it.
The Lord is working because he's seeking to leave them out of the fold and to the flock.
I'd like to give a very brief outline. There are two mentions of the Father's house in the Gospel of John the Second. The first one is in the second chapter, and very clearly it's Herod's Temple, but the Lord calls it my Father's house.
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From that point.
Until we get to the 10th chapter that the Lord is dealing with a people which according to the fifth chapter rejected the testimony that he gave in connection with the impotent man. And so we get to the 7th chapter, they reject his words, the 8th chapter they reject his person, and the 9th chapter they reject his words. And so now we have the 10th chapter.
And as it develops further in the 11Th chapter, we find not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. So we haven't a strengthening of the flock and mentioned in the 10th chapter. Then over in the 12Th chapter we find, except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It abideth alone, but if it died bringeth forth much fruit.
And so then in the next chapter, the Lord is in the upper room washing his disciples feet and we have then the whole sphere that I like to think of it as a golden staircase from the 2nd chapter to the 10th, the 11Th, the 12Th. And then by the time the Lord is at the 13th chapter for getting Judas for the moment, we find that the Lord is entirely with his own apart from all of the the words and and.
Bickering and complaining and and judgment that they wanted to bring against the Lord. Now the 14th chapter, my father's house, it's a heavenly thing. So from the 2nd chapter, which the Lord to repeat it very clearly with Herod's temple. But the Lord says my father's house. But from then on we can see a pathway that he's seeking to lead his own. And in the 10th chapter we find it and we have it strengthened in the 11Th, the 12Th, we get to the 14th.
And we can find in my father's house or many mansions, and that's the position of Christianity that we're brought into, separated entirely from the father's house. And the 2nd chapter never were as Gentiles. But now as we get into the 14th, 15th, 16th and 17th, it's just an outpouring of the green pastures for the sheep that he's LED out in the 10th chapter.
We have different doors in this chapter. First door is the door that he enters into the fold. Then he himself is the door out of the fold, but then he also is the door into Christian blessing. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
And then we find he shall go in and out and find pasture. He is not the door into a legal fold. There is liberty. They go in, but they also can go out. And and it begins with going in in to enjoy him and then to go out in blessing for others. That's Christianity. How wonderful to see these different doors.
He is the door out of that fold, never to lead them back in. But then He is the door into Christian blessings, and by having Him we're introduced into these blessings. We don't go to a literal door.
But by having him, he's the door into Christian blessing.
We should remember.
Knowing the book of Acts in chapter 2.
The Saints ascended in chapter one, the steps there to the Upper Room as a group.
But they came back down a body.
And that should be a reminder for us that.
Come to be gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and sit before Him.
Members of one body.
If I want to be a member of a group, I've got to go find a sect for that.
But for to be members of one body sitting before him, at his feet, to hear what he has to say, that brings us to the center of his fold, that position that belongs to Christianity. It belongs to every believer.
00:55:08
That position.
There's a lot said in this chapter about hearing His voice and not hearing the voice of strangers. And I think it's something to think about, brethren, to hear His voice. We need to cultivate that in our daily lives, not merely in assembly meetings when we come together, but in our individual lives.
To cultivate a hearing voice, You know, so often the Lord speaks and we do not have ears to hear, and that's why the challenge goes out so often in the Gospels and also in the seven churches. He that hath an ear, let him hear.
I am challenged when I think brethren of the Lord.
Speaking to the disciples so often during his life down here, telling them that he was going to go to Jerusalem and be rejected of the chief priests and scribes and be crucified and rise again the third day.
And the 12 didn't get it. They had so fixed in their mind the idea that he had come to set up his Kingdom that even though he said it plainly again and again, they didn't get it. And so often we have our preconceived ideas, and to come to the Word of God with an open heart is so important, brethren.
Open to listen to his voice. In fact, it seems, brethren, that there was one person that seemed to get the message.
And it was, you remember, Mary of Bethany.
Who sat at his feet and heard His word? You don't hear a lot about what she said, what she did, some serious listening. And you don't find Mary at the cross, not Mary at Bethany, nor at the tomb, because it seems the Lord gives her credit at least for having anointed his body beforehand for the burial, so that she's not there at the tomb because she realized.
He was going to rise again. Brethren, do we listen? I have to challenge my heart. It's so easy. And I have to say that oftentimes in my own personal readings at home, I get the Bible out in the morning. I read my chapter. But so often after I've read through a whole chapter, I stop and say, no, What did I read? My mind was.
Off in 10 different things that I had to do that day.
And I wasn't listening.
To go back then over the chapter again.
Until his voice comes through clear, brethren, it's vital. It's important to listen to him, says in First Corinthians 14. There are so many voices in this world. There are a lot of voices, and we're always listening to one thing and another. I'm amazed how people seem to be able to listen to two or three things at the same time.
You can't listen very well that way.
You need undivided attention when it is God who is speaking. And let's encourage our young people and let's encourage those of us who are older to take time.
Premium Time Quiet time in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
In our daily lives to listen to his voice.
The other day I asked a young man if he was reading the Scriptures. Nice young brother, nice testimony. Not in this country. But he says I don't have any time to read the Bible.
He said, But he says I pray so he said to him.
If you pray but you don't read the word, it's like sin to the Lord.
Lord, I want you to listen to what I have to say, but I really don't have any time to listen to what you have to say to me.
Is that right?
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He said wow, I guess that isn't right and we really need to take time to listen, brethren.
I say premium time, quiet time. After all, who is he?
Who's speaking to us in His word? Who is that? Is it just some friend that we listen to once in a while? Might take his advice or not? This is the Lord of glory. This is extremely important to get the message clear. And it's interesting. Sheep, you know, are pretty stupid animals.
Generally speaking, kind of humiliating for the human race that we're compared to sheep, isn't it?
But that's what Scripture does, and I think it is interesting.
That even though sheep don't know a lot, they do know one thing.
They know the Shepherd's voice, and if we trained our ears to listen better, brethren, to the voice of the Shepherd, other voices really wouldn't distract us too much.
The Lord help us to cultivate a listening ear, a ear tuned to His voice. Brother Bob, my wife and I have developed 2 little simple principles at home to be able to hear one another. The first one is that we have to see one another. She thinks that maybe I'm there and I've gone down the stairs to the computer room. The first one is to be able to see and the other is that if I'm in the bathroom and the water is running.
I can't hear her. So that if you're at the source of noise, you can't hear the person talking into it because there's a question of energy against energy. So the first criteria is make sure we see one another, and then the second is make sure that you're not making some noise. And it's a very practical example of being able to hear the Lord, that if we can see him and if we're not occupied with noise of mind or spirit.
Were much better in a condition to be able to hear his voice.
But above, how old do kids have to be before they read the Bible for themselves?
1520 years old.
No early will I seek thee, the scripture says and.
It's a pleasure to see young people, children, reading the Bible for themselves, I asked one of my granddaughters on the phone. Are you still reading the Bible for yourself? Yes, she said. Where are you reading? In the Book of Revelation? Oh, I said. That's not an easy book.
Yeah, she said. It is, but the first chapters are not that bad.
Well, you know when a brother was sitting reading the Bible and was told and then.
Somebody came by that was at work. We saw him read. What are you reading? Oh, I'm reading the Bible. Where in the Bible are you reading? I'm reading in the Book of Revelation. Or do you understand that? Older brother said I there's a lot of things I don't understand, but I see that the Lord Jesus is going to win.
Yes, so the blessing in reading the scriptures for ourselves, you will have questions, no doubt as children and hopefully the parents can answer these questions or if they can, some brother in the meeting can. But even reading the Bible as families, you know that the father and the mother bring the scriptures before the children. It's one thing we have to stress in Malawi because.
The culture is not lending itself to that kind of thing, sitting down as families having meals and reading the Bible and praying. We stress that very much, and hopefully there's nobody that negligent in this part of the world to sit down, read the Scriptures with the children and pray with them.
And there's also the story told us to knowing the Shepherd's voice.
A simple sister.
Who was visited by some of those peddlers of error. They came to the door and she listened for a while and she said, would you please leave? Because what you're saying is not the voice of the Shepherd. She couldn't refute them, but she recognized that was not the voice of the shepherd. Well, don't listen to people that want to tell you things that will tend to confuse you.
01:05:27
And.
There is such a wonderful lesson even for us in the book of Ruth.
When she gathered in the field of Boaz. Boaz is a picture of the Lord Jesus.
And what this bore us tell her, first of all, he told the servants not to harm her. That's good for us who are servants who remember that the Lord instructs us not to harm God's people. But also he told her not to gather in another field.
Now what do we gather from that together in the field where His authority is owned? I believe that is the lesson. Many times even those amongst the gathered Saints get into confusion because they listen to all kinds of television programs and radio programs. There might be a lot of good things on there, but you might also pick up some error. We have good written ministry, written by men that God has raised up.
To recover the truth, make use of them and do not glean in another field. I think that's a helpful.
Advice.
Gather where His authorities on When is it that the Lord recovered so much of the truth? When was it?
When Christians simply came together in the name of the Lord Jesus, recognizing His authority, looking to Him as head, and giving Him that place of headship, these are things that hopefully you will consider and that you will benefit from it. I'm not saying that there is nothing good presented by those not gathered to the name of the Lord, but be careful. You might also pick up things that will lead you into confusion and might even.
Lead you to doubt the position that the Lord has given us.
As being gathered on the ground of the one body.
Gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. Before we get too far from verse one, I would like to share with you what the Lord gave me yesterday morning on the way from Saint Louis to Dallas.
We had made arrangements reservations for flying on Wednesday.
And.
Wednesday my wife had 24 hour flu. She couldn't possibly do it, but we had a rather heavy snow, three or four inches I guess on Tuesday and the flight was cancelled.
I speak of this because there are those who are thieves and robbers.
When we got on the plane yesterday morning.
My wife was next to the window, I was in the middle and there was a gentleman on my left. And after we got started, I got acquainted with him, found out he was a college graduate, but he had gotten his education from a Catholic college. So I thought what shall I share with him? So I asked him, Micah, what?
Can you explain to me what the sin of presumption is?
And he says, well, I'm not just sure. Well, I to make a Long story short, if I can, he, I said, generally speaking, those people who say I know my sins are forgiven, I know that heaven is my home. I know that I can never, never go to hell.
I cannot be punished after I die for my sins. Well, this is something new.
To him, but he did not reject it, and I gave him scripture after Scripture, Romans 81 and John 316 and other other scriptures, and he embraced everything that I said and there was no question about it.
01:10:06
Then.
He said I had told him how that we were supposed to be there the day before and.
The Lord worked it. Otherwise, he says. Let me show you something. He pulled out his wallet.
He says this is a Christmas present from my brother and in it was this note.
There are.
There's no cash gift for your Christmas as such, but he said here's a ticket to the ball game that you would like to go to for yourself and your two boys in San Diego. I don't know exactly what it was, some professional or college deciding game and.
Here are the tickets for you and here is a plane fare. The plane tickets for you and the three two boys and says room and board is free because we'll be at mom's house.
He said.
I would not have been here.
To hear what you have to say.
If God had not worked for my blessing for eternity.
He says.
What you have said, I've never heard in my life.
It's true, I believe it. He was delighted with all that I had to say. So there are those.
Who are?
Thieves and robbers. He recognized that all he had heard in his life through his childhood, through college, was falsehood. But now he said, he said, I cannot go to hell. There is no purgatory. He says, I said, why is that? He says my sins were laid on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And he died the wages of sin for my eternal welfare. Well.
It was such a pleasure to be with him and he said the same thing.
So he heard the Shepherd's voice through you, Dave.
Precious Word of God.
And we need to cultivate listening, don't we? I think God uses instruments to speak to us that we least expect. Sometimes He isn't limited. When it came to rebuking Balaam, He could use the mouth of a donkey to rebuke the madness of the prophet.
So God uses instruments and we need to have a voice ear ready to listen.
Remember as a younger believer.
Saying to an older brother who was kind of a spiritual father to me, I said to him.
And that particular brother speaks. I can't hardly listen because of his testimony.
And their brother said to me.
Despise not prophesying, he says. You may not appreciate that brother, but listen. God may be saying something to you through that brother. And that was a good rebuke for me, brethren, to listen.
Abusers, people, instruments. Human instruments. Sometimes the least expected instrument we need to have.
Ears open to hear, even in the assembly meetings.
Doesn't mean that we might not say something wrong. Sometimes things are said that are wrong, but that's why it says in First Corinthians 14. Let the prophets speak two or three and let the others judge. You've got the standard in your hands, brethren. You're listening to what is being said this morning. Measure it. Just because it's being said by some brother doesn't mean necessarily that it's completely true.
Maybe it's unbalanced, and that's why in an assembly meeting we have the privilege of speaking. And when there is something that is not balanced, something that is not right, there is opportunity in the leading of the Holy Spirit to correct. So it says, let the others judge, and that means to measure it by the word of God that we have in our hands. This is the standard, not what we say about it.
01:15:27
Impressed me the other day, somebody said it seems like we put a lot of emphasis on what we say about Scripture. Maybe we should put more emphasis on what Scripture itself says. It's helpful to have reading meetings like this, brethren, but remember what we say about Scripture.
The value of it is so that Scripture itself may be clear to our understandings, and then Scripture is what guides us, not what brethren say about it. May the Lord help us.
To listen in a right way. Good to be Bereans, is it not?
They didn't even accept what the Apostle Paul said per SE without searching the Scriptures to see if it was so.
Show all things hold fast that which is good.
Sing hymn number 84.
We hear the words of love, we gaze upon the blood, we see the mighty sacrifice, and we have peace with God.
Verse stanza 6 And Yonder is our peace, the grave of all our woes. Now these closing verses. We know the Son of God has come. We know he died and rose we know.
He liveth now at God's right hand. Above we know the throne on which he sits.
No, His Truth and love 84 Let's stand.
John 10:7-13
Reading
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Our shepherd is the Lord, the living Lord who died with all his fullness can afford. We are supplied. He richly feeds our souls with blessings from above and leaves us where the river rolls of endless love.
Our share.
Ten with verse 7 be a good place to begin.
Verse 7.
Then said Jesus unto them again, Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers. But the sheep did not hear them. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
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The thief cometh not but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy.
I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep, but he that is in hireling, and not the shepherd whose own the sheep are not. See if the wolf coming and leaveth the sheep, and flee us, and the wolf catches them and scattereth the sheep.
The hireling fleeteth because he is in hireling and careth not for the sheep. I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received in my father.
There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings, and many of them said, He hath a devil and is mad, Why hear ye him?
Others said, These are not the words of him that hath the devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
And it was in Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter.
And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch.
Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long does thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly.
Jesus answered them, I told you, and he believed not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.
I and my father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
Jesus answered them, Many good works have I showed you from my Father, For which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, Ye are gods, if he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken. Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous, because I said, I am the Son of God, if I do not the works of my Father, believe me not, but if I do.
So ye believe not me, believe the works that ye may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at first baptized. There he abode, and many resorted unto him, and said John did no miracle. But all things that John spake of this man were true, and many believed on him there.
00:10:42
Pointed out that he's the door out of the fold. As we have pointed out, the fold was that legal enclosure where goes from Israel were, but there were those who were his sheep, and he leads them out. If anybody before the Lord Jesus would have attempted such a thing, that would have been awful.
But because of who he was.
He had the right to lead them out, but he does not only lead them out, he becomes the door for them.
Into Christian blessing. It's wonderful that that is what he wants to lead all of us into, to come to the enjoyment of what is available for us in Christianity.
Which is so far superior.
What those under Judaism had there were those who were his sheep, but he leads them out, and he leads them out, as already was pointed out after.
He had died and gone to the cross and it took him a while before they were really delivered from that Jewish system.
But hopefully he will be able to deliver us from anything that is borrowed from Judaism, and there is so much of that in the Christian profession that we need to be delivered from. But that is the negative side of things. The positive side is to enter into that which he has won for us, for which he has become the door into Christian blessings.
Interesting to notice that between verses 14 and 15.
Brother Darby and I think Brother Kelly both put a comma. They are not a period.
And they would read then.
I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine as the Father knoweth me. Even so, I know the Father, the lady on my life for the sheep. It's those Christian blessings that were brought into He's opening up a whole sphere that is the heart of the Father toward the Son.
I know my sheep and am known of mine as the Father knoweth me.
Opening out that and it comes after we read in verse.
Ten. They might have life, and might have it more abundantly.
That's what belongs to us today.
In our chapter, you bring up in Kansas with knowledge.
In connection with love, much the same thought as in the 15th chapter. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love, and down in the 12Th verse. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
And so we have the connection between.
The Father and the Son and the disciples, in case with knowledge in our chapter and in case with love in the 15th chapter.
And like to mention this, that if you added up the number of verses in the 10th through the 17th chapter and divided it by the number of verses that either have the word know or love, you come with it with four. Which means on an on average from the 10th through the 17th, every fourth verse on average has either something about not knowing or loving marvelous.
00:15:15
And it's, as you said, that which we have as the result of life in Christ. We have knowledge. You say, oh, I don't know as much as I should. That's not the point. It's what we have because of a new nature. Well, I really don't love like I should. That's not the point. We should but. And so the Lord puts those two words together in connection with his dealing with Peter.
Knowledge and love, and we're not going to take that up now, but as you go through it, you see that when finally the Lord uses the words that he had used, it breaks Peter down South in summary. And there may be other words, belief, but at least those two on average we find for every fourth verse there is something of knowledge and something of love in what we find once.
We're LED out of Judaism in principle and we have eternal life.
In Christ we're brought into knowledge and divine love.
In verse seven we have the door of deliverance from Judaism. As has been pointed out, the door out of the full.
He says I am the door. And I think that's a very important thing to get a hold of that really the way in which a person will be delivered from Judaism is that they get a hold of the glory of the person, of the Son of God himself. And the more they're taken up with him and his beauty, his greatness, his glory and so on, and then see he that he is entirely outside of that system altogether, that will lead to their deliverance.
The eighth verse brings out how that there have been ones that have come and have sought to.
Lead ones out, but they have been false messiahs and false leaders, false prophets. And I think you have an allusion to that at least an example of that in Acts chapter 5 where you you read a Thudius and another that rose up and tried to lead ones out of the fold, but it was not of God and it didn't work. But now the Lord has come and this is the first time in scripture where we actually get him leading his people out of Judaism for anyone to leave Judaism before this.
Would have been a mistake, it would not have been the will of God, but now that Christ is leading ones out.
The door is open, but the way of it is to be taken up with His person. That's why in Hebrews 1313 it says, Let us therefore go unto Him outside the camp, not outside the camp to Him, but it puts the person 1St. And I think that that is what really should be the attraction, to lead one out, the person of Christ himself.
Judaism itself was a system that foreshadowed.
The glories of the Lord Jesus. So we knowing that it does that, we go back and read the Old Testament with quite a bit of profit.
That way knowing that God had in mind his own beloved Son.
But when the reality came, why hold on to the shadows?
That is what is addressed in the Epistle to the Hebrews as apostasy.
And the person leaves the glorious reality that we have in the Lord Jesus and goes back to forms.
Of religion. That's the principle of apostasy, and it's a serious thing.
But.
That is what is happening in some cases around us today. People have left the true knowledge of God and have gone back to systems of things.
Apostasy is a reality in our world. No real believer can ever become an apostate. But a person who makes a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus? Perhaps we think they're real.
But they aren't in heart. They turn back.
And become a prostate to go back to the forms.
00:20:00
Of religion. And that's where Judaism is wrong.
Dead wrong when it takes the place of the glorious Person of our Lord Jesus. Lord, help us brethren, to focus on God's beloved Son there on the Mount of Transfiguration.
And Peter suggested putting Moses and Elijah on the same level as the Lord Jesus.
A cloud immediately covers those two servants of God.
Mighty servants of God, useful servants of God. And a voice comes out of the cloud and says, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, Hear ye him. Oh, how important to understand the preeminence of the person of the Lord Jesus.
Like you say, to be occupied with him completely delivers you from those systems of things.
Apostasy.
To allow to add something to that is really giving up. To go back to Judaism was also connected with giving up Christian truth. Now we don't have the apostasy that is coming, according to Tessam, Second Thessalonians 2.
The day of the Lord cannot come before.
That apostasy takes place. That is the total giving up of Christianity. But the spirit of apostasy is already at work today. Whenever Christians have professed something and give it up, that's the spirit of apostasy. Have we not witnessed that among us, beloved brethren, that they were brethren that were teaching?
Truth as to the one body and the ground of gathering, and they gave it up. That's the spirit of the pastor, See, We dare not call them apostate, but it is to giving up the spirit of apostasy. That's very solemn.
Hold fast that with thou hast that says in revelation, how important love and Saints of God. You cannot hold fast what you don't have, dear young people, so you better get a hold of it.
First of all, and then ask the Lord by His grace to cling to it. Keep it and don't give it up by the truth. You know, salvation is free. We don't have to buy salvation, but buying the truth. There is a cost connected with it. Don't give it up by the truth and sell it. Not for whatever advantage you might have in when you do give it up, but how wonderful.
Here too, in this chapter, the Lord speaks of thieves and robbers.
And already it was pointed out, there were those who came before the Lord came. They were thieves and robbers. And if I may be allowed to make a difference between a thief and a robber, the Lord explains later on, they come to steal and to kill and to destroy the thieves.
You know, they're really trying to trying to draw their sheep after themselves.
But the robbers want to rob the sheep of what is available for them. Dear Saints, there are robbers around. They might not necessarily go so far as to try to kill you, spiritually speaking, but they want to rob you of what the Lord has for you. Just be careful. But what a difference.
The Good Shepherd doesn't come like a thief to kill. He comes that they might have life, and may I render it or give it away? Darby renders it to give it abundantly. The rendering in the King James suggests that the Old Testament Saints had abundant life and we just have it more abundantly. That's not accurate.
We have it in Christianity, we have abundant life. Sure, they had life, but they didn't have the certainty that we possess as Christians. Neither can that be spoken of. What they had as eternal life. We find that developed also in this chapter because.
00:25:00
Eternal life is more than a life that never ends, and in the King James.
Unfortunately, many times it says everlasting life. I believe Mr. Darby consistently renders it eternal.
Because it is more a quality of life and there is a relationship connected with it that could not be enjoyed before the Lord Jesus came.
I am referring to John 17 verse 3. This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou has sent. So before he was come and made known the Father. That's the one he is addressing in John 17. You cannot really speak of Saints possessing eternal life.
They were not in that relationship, in the enjoyment of that relationship, but they had life. But we have it abundantly more than what we really need. And we knowingly we enjoy what we possess. You know, that's why you don't have the certainty in the Old Testament that the Saints enjoyed what we know, that we could never perish. And all that is developed later on.
In this chapter I have come that they might have life and that they might have it abundantly. And how could he give that life? He had to lay down his life for the sheep. That's how we could become His sheep only because He would lay down his life to be, to make us His, so that we be His forever.
Abundant life is really eternal life and.
Like you say, it's in John 17, three it says this is life eternal. They might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ who now is sin. There's no wonderful brethren, that we can say we have the knowledge of the true God. You look around the world and see the concepts people have.
Of who God is even in our country today with the new age movement strong, the ideas that people have of who God is is sad, extremely sad. Go over to India and I understand they have in Hinduism approximately 300 million gods. You can choose what kind of God you like, one of their greatest.
Forms of God is the cow that wanders through the streets in their cities, and you're not supposed to molest it because that's a form of God.
Sad you, you laugh at it, but we have the knowledge of the true God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and to know Him is life eternal. It is life in abundance.
It is what Timothy is told by Paul and First Timothy.
Chapter 6, that which is really light. It's translated in the Darby translation. You want to know what really is to live?
Yet to know God in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that is life in abundance. Like you said, it's eternal life, but it's not so much the thought of the duration of it. Sure, it never ends, but the thought is life in abundance, quality life. That's the thought of eternal life through the power of the Spirit of God, yes.
Is it not possible, brethren, to have that abundant life, possess eternal life, and not be in the enjoyment of it?
I think we had our brother mentioned to us a few choices that we can make in this life that would cause us to be out of the enjoyment of it.
Choices that we make. The Lord Jesus Christ, as Brother Bruce mentioned, is spoken of here, personified as the door. It is not a door, but He is the door. We came into this room through a door in the back of the room.
We entered into this place of enjoyment and there are many doors that you can enter into the paths of entertainment, the paths of opportunity, the paths of Business Today and higher education. Some of those things, there's nothing wrong with them, but as to the choices we make, it certainly will steal the joy as an enemy is so busy depending on what door we go through. He's so busy to rob us of the joy.
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Of our eternal life, our relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ is enough. Our brother was just telling me at the table a little while ago, the dinner at the lunch table, he said that.
His son wrote him a letter.
And told him that he was so in love with the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the blessing of his love. He trusted that he would never take it, allow it to disappear from his life. But the enemy came first of all and stole from this young man very much. In fact, he made some bad choices in his life. He ended up in a difficult situation.
And he suffered much because of it, but he took it from the Lord. And we were singing in that little hymn. Our souls he doth restore. And it's wonderful that we have a shepherd, the Good Shepherd, that does not want to give his life for the sheep, but he restores his sheep. He restored this young man such that he is now living in the good of that abundant life.
And it's, it's a choice that choices that we make will rob us of that joy of eternal life. We can never have eternal life taken away from us. He can never, never rob us of that. But the joy of it, the good of it, the blessing of it. And by the power of the Spirit, I think our brother Stan mentioned, there is a love that is available to us that he can pour into these vessels of ours as we sit at his feet. And it is not limited to the older brethren, young people.
It's available to young folks of all ages as you sit at His feet as we had before us, He will pour in a love by the power of the Holy Spirit that you cannot find in this world that is not available to you in this life. And it's a love that passes all understanding and I.
I never realized that when I was a young man, but it is true. And if you realize that when you're young.
It will save you from a lot of pitfalls in this life.
You can rise above.
Unpleasant circumstances if you're in the enjoyment of that abundant life. I think of the apostle Paul, who is in prison in the third of Philippians. His testimony is so beautiful, he says. I count it.
Let me read it. Chapter 3. Philippians.
And verse seven, what things were gained to me? Those I counted.
Loss for Christ, yeah, doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things in due count them, but dumb that I may win Christ.
Pretty unpleasant circumstances he where he was in.
But if you had to choose between the Apostle Paul and the 30th of Philippians.
And putting in contrast Solomon.
All his wealth and all his wisdom, the book of Ecclesiastes, and he comes to the conclusion at the end.
All is vanity and vexation of spirit. Which one is enjoying abundant life? The one on the throne with everything he could ever wish.
Or the one who lost everything in this world and was in the Roman prison? Which one you answered?
He could say he wished that they would be all like him except these bonds. You know, he was the only freeman.
And eternal life, Christ himself is the eternal life. That's what we find in first John. And if we have him, we have eternal life in possessing Him. He that has the Son has life. So young believers, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you have eternal life in having him.
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And but there is such a thing as living in the enjoyment of it. That's why the verse that you.
To enter into what really life is, to come to enjoy that life and the devil would want to introduce things into our life that hinder us from enjoying it. All this garbage that is being offered in the world system nowadays. You know, if you involve yourself in debt, don't be surprised if you don't have the joy that.
Is available for us and enjoying that life, but we do have it. And like I remember Brother Gordon said, the life that we now have is the same life that we will have for all eternity. There's not going to be any improvement or change in that life. But what will be different is there's nothing to hinder it anymore, you know, and, but we have the same life, the same nature.
That we will have for all eternity. We have it already. So the grace of God can help us to lay aside what hinders the enjoyment of that life, and to live in the enjoyment of that which the new nature enjoys. So starve the flesh.
Feed that Newman, feed on that which strengthens the new nature.
That's the secret. And you don't have to be an older brother before you can come into the enjoyment of that. You can come into that as a young person, but you read the scriptures prayerfully. Ask the Lord in humility, Lord, I can't understand this. Please help me understand it. Will He not do that? And if you still have some questions, go to somebody that can help you understand it. And if their brother doesn't have an answer?
Maybe that will even help him to look things up and he will benefit from the very question that you have by looking into it. It's a wonderful thing that we can live in the enjoyment of what we possess and hopefully come into a fuller enjoyment of it.
In the beautiful, the simplicity of this verse 9 brethren, I think it's so wonderful. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. This is a door that every single person must enter, not the door out of Judaism. It's the door into salvation and it's he himself that you must deal with. You cannot avoid Jesus.
You must.
Meet with Him. If you do not accept Him as your Savior, you will meet Him as your Judge one way or the other. Every human being that has ever lived on planet earth will meet up with Jesus sooner or later. Absolutely unavoidable. But here He says I am the door, not some complicated doctrine that you've got to figure out and understand.
No. A person, a real living person. He himself is the door. Nothing quite as simple as that. What do you do at a door? You go in.
And as they say to the people when I'm preaching the gospel, there's windows in a house, there's a chimney in the house. You can technically get down that maybe into the house, but there's the door that is put there to get in. That's the proper way. And you want salvation. Jesus said I am the door. That beautiful simplicity of it that now lead us into what the meaning of the rest of the verse is. Go right ahead, Brett, I asked you.
Still waiting?
Let's not have an impasse.
I've enjoyed it, but beginning with verse nine, you have the great distinctive blessings that belong to those who enter at the door. And as you have said, it's the door of salvation or the door into Christian blessing and privilege. And they are as follows. In verse nine you have salvation being saved, and then a little further on it says they shall go in and out there you have Christian liberty.
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And then thirdly, it says they shall find pasture that would bring before a sustenance.
Food for the soul. And then in verse 10 we have eternal life, the abundant life.
And then in verse 14 and 15 we have the intimacy of communion with the Father and the Son. Then in verse 16, where it says there shall be one flock, there you have unity. And then down in verses 28 and 29, where he says they shall never perish, and neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand from my Father that gave him is greater than all, and no man shall be able to pluck them from.
Or out of my father's hand. There you have security.
Salvation, Christian liberty, sustenance, eternal life, intimacy of communion, unity, and eternal security.
These are things that were not known in the fold. It required that they would come out and to enter at the door of salvation that these things may be known. These are our distinctive blessings that belong to Christianity.
You need to revel in it and enjoy it, know it, walk in it.
It's interesting to connect a few of these thoughts with.
Ephesians where it says.
First of all, I'm thinking of referring to the ceiling of the Spirit.
Simple thought to.
Chapter one and verse 13 you were sealed with the Holy Spirit will not seal doubts.
He doesn't come to seal doubts, but to seal certainty.
And that's what the Old Testament, as we've heard, didn't have.
I say that if Abraham had had the indwelling of the Spirit of God, he would still be frustrated.
He would be wanting to say ABBA father, but he couldn't.
Because by that one spirit we have access.
To the Father.
I was thinking of this in Ephesians chapter 3.
Verse 14.
Well, this 'cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would give you, grant you. This is a gift from God, a gift from the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the riches of His glory. He reaches into the fullest extent of His own glory to give us this.
To be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge.
That you may be, you might be filled with all the fullness of God.
Inside the believer.
This is the work done completely inside of a person who has come through that door.
Entering into eternal life. And he's doing a work in the believer today. And I've connected that with where it says in the Old Testament, the glory of the Lord shall fill the earth as the waters cover the sea. Oh, but what about the believers today when the riches of his glory will be displayed and set forth in you and me?
Oh, there's a day coming in the millennial scene when the glory of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. But nothing like this. Nothing like this, where the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ reaches into the riches of his own glory and puts into you and me something that ends with being filled with all the fullness of God.
You think the apostle Paul?
Was moved by the Spirit of God to write this prayer, while certainly he was.
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Spirit of God.
Giving this prayer.
Certainty.
Certainty, certainly there's there. I remember Bill Frost some years back spoke on these two prayers of the apostle Paul in Ephesians 1 and Ephesians 3, and I put it to memory. I enjoyed it so much, he says.
In the first chapter you have the inheritance pointed clearly out that the Saints would lay hold of that, but in the third chapter.
That they might come into the enjoyment of the inheritance. I like that. And you know, it's wonderful to intelligently enter into the truth of God, but to really come to enjoy it, that's what He desires, you know, and that gives us strength to go on.
Even in the midst of difficulties, because we are in the enjoyment of that with the grace of God.
Has brought us into and hopefully that will be the case with us, that we come into a fuller enjoyment. Of course you cannot enjoy anything that you don't understand but.
Hopefully there's more than just an intelligently entering into things, but we enjoy it and then.
The love of God which passes knowledge.
It is the inheritance that is not the same as when he says.
And to know the love of God, there are these two things that we hopefully live in the enjoyment of. But he and two beloved brethren, we have to mention.
The hireling and the.
Wool.
Because.
We hopefully.
Are aware when the wolf comes.
And the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd would not flee, because the sheep are his.
And he defends the sheep, but the hireling fleeth.
Now none of us.
Can really put himself in the exact position as the Lord Jesus, but there are under shepherds.
And I thankfully look back upon times when they were shepherds that took in the breach and did not run and defended the sheep. They were under shepherds, faithful under shepherds, just like the Good Shepherd. They couldn't necessarily lay down their life, but they defended the sheep against the wolf who would scatter.
The flock? Haven't we witnessed gathering of the flock well.
The hurling flea. Hopefully we won't manifest that characteristic that we defend the sheep just like David.
That shepherd, you know when the lion and the wall came.
Or the lion and the bear.
He defended the sheep, he destroyed them because they were his sheep. And so hopefully we will be shepherds that do not fear the difficulties that might come upon us personally in connection with the conflict of duels that will try to mislead.
The sheep, you know, there are these kind of wolves around, like it says in Acts chapter 22, things I mentioned there on the outside, both will enter, not sparing the flock, but from among yourselves. When men arise, each teaching perverse things, they were leading astray, drawing them after themselves. Well, hopefully.
Those of us who seek to serve the Lord and God's people.
Will not be characterized by death, but by what characterized perfectly to Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd.
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I suppose in one way while.
Of course, it's obvious that none of us, as you say, Brother Heinz, as desiring to.
The under shepherds if you will, those that would seek to help one another, we certainly can't at all in the sense the Lord Jesus laid down his life for the sheep. But there is a sense that a shepherding work requires laying our life down, doesn't it? We are going to have to give up. There's going to be a cost to us, whosoever shall lose his life for my sake. So if you and I are going to trouble ourselves in seeking to care.
And guide and help those that are precious to Christ as flock. There is a sense in which we will lay down our lives and.
That's a worthy goal, if I can say it that way, for the sake of that which is so precious to the heart of Christ His own.
His sheep to give up those things that we might rather find and enjoy and achieve and attain in this life. What a precious thing if we lay those down for the good of the flock. And what he will be able to prove up then in the coming day. What about in case with what you say?
Very clearly in first Peter 5 and verse four. And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory, because invariably the shepherd is misunderstood.
Quite possibly.
Misunderstood. He doesn't get credit. And so the special crown is a crown of glory. And you know, it's a mercy really, that whoever is a shepherd doesn't get a crown of glory now because it's going to be such an enhanced crown that he should be thankful that his brethren don't bestow too much upon him. If it is misunderstanding, it's following in the Lord's footsteps and in a chapter or two before that.
Peter had said because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps.
A crown of glory, to think of it, of the anticipation in any sense of getting any crown from the blessed Lord that looks down and He sees so little really that conforms to His image. And yet he, he gives us credit in that day for what's of Himself.
If any of us, beloved brethren, get some little sense in our soul.
Of the infinite preciousness to the heart of Christ, that one of his sheep or one of his lambs is, if we can get even the slightest sense of that in our soul.
There will be not too much that we can spend for that which cost him so much that he loves so much and I think if we can.
Seek to look at one another, the lambs and the sheep of Christ.
In the way that the Lord Jesus does, in the measure that we are able.
It will give us all of the, may I say, motivation needed.
Seek to help and to shepherd and to care for one another how much He paid for you.
And for me.
These this is my commandment. I think this has been quoted before.
That she loved one another as I have loved you. What a standard.
Should we not put a dock and connect with what you said earlier? Lay down our life for our brethren? Isn't that a statement from Scripture? You know, could you die for a better 'cause than to lay down your life for your brethren first? John 316, Yes.
There's John 316. Then there's one John 316.
And sometimes we forget about that. I often think that divine love or agape love.
Is love that loves with all cost to itself.
God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it.
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Now what have we given brethren to show we love those sheep that he gave his life to save?
It's easy to say I love you.
But they're just words.
True love is shown by the sacrifice we make.
Let's turn just not to read it at length, but just for a couple of verses that bear on what you've been sharing to Jeremiah 23. Don't want to get off the subject of our chapter, but just to point this out, just that we might be exercised. It's a very solemn and sobering and in a way very sad account to read through Jeremiah 23.
Just read the 1St 2 verses. Woe beyond to the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pastor, saith the Lord. Now this verse therefore thus saith the Lord God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people. He have scattered my flock and driven them away and have not visited them.
May the Lord help us to see one another in a measure of the preciousness and value that Christ does. We not be like these. They'll be willing, willing to spend and be spent. The apostle Paul said I would gladly spend and be spent for you, though he wasn't doing it because he was going to get something, as you say. One of the brothers talked about not getting something here. I guess, brother Stan, that was you about the crown fossil. Paul said I would gladly spend and be spent for you to the Corinthians.
Though the more abundantly I love, the less I be loved, he knew that as he would spend and pay the cost of seeking to be a help and a blessing to those dear Corinthians, his children, by the faith that the more he did that, the less they would love him. But that didn't stop him.
His love and his heart was such for Christ that he said you can treat me that way if you want to. You can love me less if you want to. I'm going to go right on loving you and seeking to be a blessing to you. It really comes home when you see the way the Lord Jesus restored Peter the 21St of John. He had boasted above all the rest that he would never deny him even if all the rest do Lord, I, I won't.
And he denied him three times.
Brethren, sometimes I feel that to be able to understand.
Souls that get astray. Sometimes the Lord allows us to fail, and then perhaps we can have a little more sense of grace with those that have gone astray. Have we never failed, brethren?
We have all of us who can stand up and say I've always been straight. None of us can do that. But it's a sense of that grace in our soul that restores us. Then he says to Peter.
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me three times over?
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And he says.
Yeah, Lord, thou knowest I love thee, says feed my.
Lambs feed my sheep. So like you say, Doug, it's not a matter. Are you going to get some response or some remuneration from loving the people of God and ministering to them? It's not a matter of getting anything from them. It's a matter the Lord Jesus says, do you love me? Do you love me? Do you realize how much I paid for these sheep, these wafer, wayward, willful creatures that go astray?
Paid my lamb's.
Deed, my sheep, O brethren, what a challenge to our hearts. Do you and I love the Lord Jesus?
Here's one way we can show how much we love him by going after those that have gone astray.
Have we perhaps, Bob, been guilty in not helping those that went astray and maybe they went astray because we didn't give them the help that we could have given to them?
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I believe that is something that should exercise us. If we would have been faithful, maybe some could have been prevented from going astray. But that verse in Psalm 23, thou restore us my soul. It's a wonderful verse. I don't know if you heard me explain to you the way it is rendered in German. In German it doesn't go quite as far as in English.
That says a quicken. That means refreshing my soul. I believe that is even included because as we go on in the service of the Lord, maybe sometimes we become weary and He needs to refresh us.
That German translation doesn't go far enough because it certainly includes when we go astray. But even do we not sometimes.
It varied in the way, hopefully not off the way, but really in the way and He refreshes us and but how often do we need His restoring grace? We all do that at one time or another, do we not? Because He paid so much for us that He will not let us go on.
Indefinitely, you know he will seek to bring us back.
Into happy communion with himself and with those of like precious faith, he restores my soul. I believe that that is necessary before a person can be restored publicly. You know Peter, you mentioned him.
You know, when did he have this meeting with the Lord Jesus? According to Luke 24, before he met the rest of the disciples, according to first Corinthians 15, He's given us the first witness. That's when the Lord restored him. But then it was necessary that he was restored publicly, and that is in John chapter 21, and he restores him publicly. Loveth thou me? We do well to remember that, you know, if the soul is not restored to the Lord personally.
He cannot be restored publicly, but He is the one that really restores our soul. Yes, He might use one of his own to reach the conscience of one that leads to repentance, but really, that is him. It brings about the restoration of the soul, bringing us back in happy communion with Himself.
Because when that is lost, our happiness is gone, the joy of salvation is gone. But the Lord Jesus wants us to go on in the enjoyment of what He has won for us and enjoyment of himself. That's the greatest joy that we have, isn't it? Him? He's the greatest object and the greatest joy. Thou art my portion. The Son is already says.
Where we have a greater portion than him. Isn't it wonderful to see how the Lord Jesus worked with Peter and prepared his heart and taught him how to shepherd the sheep where he could then exhort him to do so. And I think of what Job said who teach him. Like him, he learned through exercise. He learned through seeing something of what he was himself and.
The Lord Jesus worked in his heart to bring him to where he could speak and where he could look with this at the sheep through the eyes of Christ. And I thought of that, beloved brethren, as we're sitting here and we see each other to think of one another, look at one another through the eyes of the Lord Jesus. I gave, I gave my life for thee, thy brother for whom Christ died. If we would look at one another and realize that every heir of each head, everything that each of us go through and I suppose.
If we would hear the story that each one would tell in this room, we'd find that there's been reason for many tears, there's need for encouragement, there's need to .1 another to Christ. But what was it that most significantly taught Peter how to shepherd the sheep? It was by being near the shepherd, near the Lord Jesus himself. How we need that.
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Thinking of Peter a beloved brethren, the pathway of Peter is so instructive to our hearts because we can relate to it, especially when it comes to his failure. But it was a gradual departure which may not begin have begun when he was following the Lord afar off. It began way back in Luke Chapter 9 when he.
They were reasoning among them, who would be the greatest? I think that's Luke Chapter 9. You can check it out. But then as time passed by and this accumulation of pride began to grow among the disciples and the apostles, there was a strife among them in Luke chapter 22. Who would be the greatest? It was no doubt a very.
Real.
Striving among themselves persistence. And so Peter steps out on the platform. And he said, Though all forsake thee, Lord, I will never forsake thee.
And he said, I'm ready to go to prison and to death with the self-confidence marked the man. And then of course he was sleeping in the garden. He was boasting and sleeping and following afar off. And then he denied the Lord. So it led to a path of sorrow. And he wept bitterly. And then of course he was restored in conscience, as has already been suggested with the Lord in that private meeting. But in this last section here of John chapter 21.
It is the most wonderful thing when we think of the heart of Christ, restoring someone publicly that had fallen as far as Peter had, and had brought bitter tears and sorrow to his own heart, to Peter's heart, and as well as to the Lord Himself as he looked upon Peter with wounded love.
But here in the last statement he makes to Peter in John 21, he said, Lovest thou me?
And Peter said unto him, Lord, thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love thee. He could not get Peter to use the strongest word of love, which I believe is agape. Someone can correct me. He would not do that. He was a broken man first. He was a boasting man. Here he's a broken man. He could not get Peter to use that strong word of love because he had lost his self-confidence. Thus he was ready to be a servant of Christ.
And among the brethren that were with him here at this wonderful scene on the lake, the Sea of Galilee, he restores Peter amidst his brethren. So there was public restoration. Wonderful. We can relate to this, can we not? There's two verses that might be helpful in connection with what you've said, Dave, in Luke the 22nd chapter in verses 31 and 32.
I learned this from Norman Berry, that the prepositions that start with T are singular and the prepositions in the King James that start with Y are plural. So with that as a background, notice the 31St verse of Luke 22. And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has desired all of you.
That he may sift all of you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee that thy faith sail not.
That's really the point of those two verses. Satan has desired to have you, and that word for you is plural. He desired to have all of them, that he may sift all of you though you as an italics the second time. But I have prayed for thee that thy faith shall not, because he had made himself a special target sort of above and beyond the other disciples, and so the Lord had prayed for him especially.
But Satan desired to have all of them. But Peter made himself a special target, and the Lord is mercy and understanding told him that he was going to pray for him.
The Lord was really digging deep with Peter. As already was pointed out, He uses a copy. Peter uses the word love. I'm attached to thee. The last time the Lord asked him, He uses the word that Peter uses an answer. Are you attached to me?
That must have really cut deep. That was necessary for Peter.
You know the Lord was not unkind, but it was necessary.
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And if Peter would not have been restored in the midst of his disciples, the Lord had a place for Peter, a special place. Would they have accepted him in that position? You know, he was the apostle of the circumcision, you know, and what a prominent place he had. And it touches me very deeply when this man that is restored stands before that guilty nation and says.
Whom ye denied, they might have said, Peter, what did you do? But he was so completely restored that he could speak that way, you know. And whom ye denied, I think, beloved Saints of God sometimes.
We do not accept the restoring grace of God in others. Isn't that true? You know, we do not accept the restoring grace.
In others, I hope we learn from Peter that this man who so denied and so dishonored the Lord, is given such a place of responsibility. But what was the basis for his shepherding the sheep and even the lambs loved for the Lord Jesus?
Love for the Lord Jesus, beloved brethren, is the purpose for anything we do for Him. It ought to be.
You know, and it helps us all when we look at the restoration of Peter.
And do you question that that was his motive in his service?
Or that it became the motive in his service. It certainly was. I wonder, brethren, if the apostle Peter did not feel like he was an unprofitable servant, such after he denied the Lord, even though he had been restored in his conscience. Chapter 21 bears that out, because at the 1St of 21 he says, I go fishing.
Well, that's where we're introduced to Peter in Luke chapter 5 and the other gospels when he's fishing. Well, is he going back to his occupation that he had left when he followed the Lord Jesus Christ? Perhaps if he would have never had this experience in John 21, he would have never felt suited to go back into the ministry of being a servant or the one he had initially followed. And here we see that he is restored in his conscience because he's out on the boat fishing and John sees the Lord on the sea shore.
And Peter jumps in the water and swims to the Lord to get the Lord first. What a wonderful example of one who is restored in conscience. But the Lord had a greater restoration too, or a follow up to do, and that was a public restoration so that he would be useful in service again and not to be a lost dynamic in a certain sense, to go back to his occupation and just make money, make a living for his family and others. He had a greater work to do and the Lord saw to it that he was going to restore him so that he would be.
Encouraged to go on.
Dave, in that connection, give us the the blessing of John Mark Restoration in the book of Acts.
Well, you can help us on that, brother. There was a brother that was discouraged, no doubt in Acts 13, I believe it is when he went home from the work and there was tremendous opposition to the to the work of God and the testimony such that it probably was an appalling thing for him to see the power of the enemy expressed so expressed. Maybe he didn't feel capable or up to it, whatever the case may be, but we know that later the apostle Paul.
After some period of time, is it in Timothy, 2 Timothy he says bring Mark for he is profitable, or John Mark for he is profitable for the.
Or the ministry, and then the Lord Jesus Christ uses this beloved servant who had failed to write the Gospel of Mark to portray the Lord Jesus Christ as the servant, the perfect servant. You have more to say. No, all I'm going to ask is a question which is rhetorical. If we had today to deal with a brother like that, would we have used him?
As the Lord, as God used it, we'd say, brother, I'm sorry, I we accept what you've said, but your ministry is over.
John Marks only began to think of what it means to see that there was a contention between Barnabas and Paul because of it. The serious matter, though, the same word is used in the English and there's a different word intended that at first we might say that John Mark was merely carried their bags. You might say that, but when Paul is using that word profitably for the ministry.
01:15:23
That is a ministry that has to do with giving out the Word of God.
And so if there's restoration, I don't mean that there aren't circumstances to the contrary, but we can really say from that, that if God restores a soul, he wants them to have more of an appreciation of his place in Christ and in the purposes of God and usefulness than he did before.
I guess not, because I feel I've said it all, but I really just say Amen, that that's what God's purposes are for each one of us. There's a doctrine that says there's a blemish priest. Remember that. You might have all heard of that doctrine of the blemish priest. I don't like to think about it. I don't either. And Mr. Kelly said there is no such thing in Christianity. Now, there might be circumstances.
Where a person is in a relationship and in a position that hinders him to come into all Christian privileges, but there is no blemish priest in Christianity, I very strongly feel that that is not to be accepted amongst the gathered things.
Whatever there may be on that subject, we can certainly say that Peter was not blemished, John Mark was not blemished. And if we use the examples of Scripture and apply them to an individual case, we can say that Peter can was used in kings with the epistles in connection with the day of Pentecost. And so positively we know that a brother like Peter in the present day.
That can thus be used. And if there's a John mark that didn't understand the difference between Antioch, where Christianity was first known, and go back to Jerusalem, he's going to have to learn. And when he learns the difference between the old order and the new, he can, he can be, as it were, rewarded by the Lord to be profitable for the ministry. That's the positive side. And what I mean is about lame priest. There may be, and I have to admit something.
There are things in which I feel very incompetent, and so that's why I'm going to leave it alone just to accept that there was a Peter and there's a John Mark. And every time we read the Gospel of Mark, to think of that perfect servant that's being written about by inspiration concerning someone who caused such a contention between Barnabas and Saul and Paul. So there's the positive side. Restoration, usefulness, and we can take courage, can't we?
To sense in our souls too, that what it means, the grace of God, the position it has put us in. It seems, brethren, I trust I have learned it in some measure in my own soul, that through failure on our part in areas of our life, we have come to realize that we are nothing in ourselves. As long as Peter thought he was important and the disciples were wrestling.
For a position in the Kingdom.
Brethren, that spirit of things is going to hinder the work of the Lord.
And so God allowed Peter to fail.
So miserably the Lord allowed it. And then, after he had denied him the third time, the Lord Jesus and that wonderful grace turned and looked at Peter, and their eyes met for a brief moment. Peter turned. It was necessary that he learned who he was so that he could appreciate in fuller measure what the grace of God was. And if there isn't that sense, brethren?
In our souls, perhaps God will have to allow us to stumble or have a fall too.
It's not necessary to fall.
To learn by falling.
We can learn by reading the Word of God that so often there are things that are ingrained in our personalities and we.
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Have to learn that way. And God in his wisdom allowed it in the case of Peters. So that it is, brethren, if there is anything, absolutely anything that will meet his approval at the judgment seat of Christ, we're going to have to admit at that day that it was the grace of God that produced it. Nothing, absolutely nothing that I'll be able to glory in in myself at that day of glory.
There's a story told of a very famous missionary to China go forth to China that a dream that he had was a real help to him. He dreamed that there was a woodpecker pecking away at a tree. And during that time there was a a storm that came up and a lightning bolt hit that tree and split it. And after he flustered around a bit, he came back and he says, oh, look what I did.
He split the tree well that his little pecking was so insignificant in connection with.
The force of that lightning that I'm afraid that we think sometimes that we have something to offer in strength and purpose for the ways of God.
That he might get the glory, How often the Lord will allow it, That the lung, one we might least expect, would be used. God will use that in him.
As scripture says that he might have their preeminence and so if we're looking to man.
Sooner or later we're going to be disappointed. And if we have confidence in ourselves, we have lessons to learn, don't we? And of course, this is a daily thing, how we need the Word of God daily to adjust our thinking and to correct us.
Might learn by a bad experience humility if you need a lesson in humility, but somebody has said.
Experience is a good teacher, but the pool learns by experience only. We don't have to learn by a humbling experience. We have many examples in the Word of God where people had to learn by humbling experiences.
That is not what we should look forward to, to learn in that way we can learn without going through humiliating experiences. But unfortunately, the way we are made-up, that is how many times.
The way the Lord has to use to teach us. Let this mind also be in you, which was in Christ Jesus. Here we have an example and I believe in this day in which we live.
Perhaps like never before, the enemy of our souls is attacking the mind.
Felling us with fear and other things, many other things that would trouble us and focus our attention away from him. But as we read that second chapter of Philippians, a well minded exercise our hearts is to see that perfect blessed One and then to read also ye have the mind of Christ. If we sing 172.
Will teach us more of Thy blessed ways.
Only Lamb of God 172.
John 10:14-18
Reading
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Bob to hear we love to sing it's worth it. Sounds like music in our ear. The sweetest name on earth. It tells us of a saviors law and guide to set us free. It tells us of his precious blood, the sinners perfect plea. This name shall shed his fragrance. Still along this thorny Rd. shall sweetly smooth the rugged hill that leads us up to God. And there the whole triumphant throng of blood bought Saints on high.
Shall sing the new eternal song with Jesus every night. Hymn #184.
And verse 10.
The preacher's thoughts declined out acceptable words.
That which was written was upright with words of truth.
The words of the wise, nor his goats and his nails fastened by the masters of assembly, which are given from 1 shepherd.
Thanks.
Forgot.
After 10.
Verse 14.
I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep and am known of mine.
As the Father knoweth me, Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
And other sheep I have which are not of this fold, them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down.
And I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my father. There was a division therefore again among the Jews for these sayings, And many of them said, He hath the devil, and is mad. I hear ye him.
Others said, These are not the words of him that hath a devil. Can a devil open the eyes of the blind?
And it was at Jerusalem, the feast of the dedication, and it was winter, And Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about him, and said unto him, How long dost thou make us to doubt? If thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you, and he believed not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me.
But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.
And are given to them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father, which gave them me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand.
I and my Father are one. Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. Many good works have I showed, showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answer to him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou being a man, makest thyself God.
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Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, Ye are gods, if he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken. Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous, because I said, I am the Son of God?
If I do not, the works of my father believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at the first baptized, and there he abode.
And many resorted unto him, and said, John did no miracle, but all things that John spake of this man were true, and many believed on him there.
I.
It was mentioned a little yesterday in.
The victory of Christ.
And we referred to the verse several times.
That you love one another.
As I have loved you.
That is in the victory of Christ. Send it on high.
He can give us to think his thoughts.
The love as he loves.
And take us out to be with him.
The love of Christ constrains us that we've read.
But what a marvel it is that not only does he justify us, forgive us our sins.
But he takes us off into another sphere.
Where we now belong.
That is his having, his nature, having eternal life, that's where it belongs, is up there, and I believe that's where we get here.
Other sheep I have which are not of this folk.
And to bring them in, he would say, Therefore doth my father love me.
What a triumph.
It is.
That we find in the Lord Jesus Christ. I'm just thinking of that. Him we just sang.
From Marvel it is, and not only can he go up there himself, he can take us with him, such as we are. What a display it will be in the day yet to come when he displays us as his victory, his handiwork.
We consider the character of this one.
As he says in the 11Th verse, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. Down the 14th verse she says again, I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine. As the Father knoweth me. Even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life for the sheep.
Work, and then in the 17th and 18th persons.
We get an expression. I don't believe we get it anywhere else.
I have power to lay it down. No man taketh my life from me, but I have power to lay it down. I have power to take it again. We get the answer to this in John 19 and probably the 30th verse.
When he had finished the work and he said it is.
Finished and he dismissed his spirit. That's the answer to this verse here, isn't it? I lay down my life of myself. No man taketh it from me. What a marvelous thing that the Lord Jesus as God here on earth.
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Very man and very God, and he expresses his feelings to these, not just to his disciples here, because there were the Jews all around him.
And he tells them what he was about to do, and that is give his life for his sheep. And then he says, I'm going to lay it down on myself. No man taketh it from me.
Peter could say in acts whom ye took and slew.
Well, that was true, because they did it out of a vicious art, but they really didn't. He laid down his life. He gave his life.
And then he took it again.
What a marvelous expression he gives. No man takes it from me. He came into this world. He was born in this world for the express purpose of laying down his life. And that's what he tells us here.
He did not die as a result of the physical sufferings inflicted upon him.
You know if one dies slowly gets weaker and weaker.
He cannot cry with a loud voice as the Lord Jesus did. He cried with a loud voice and healed it up. The ghost. I mentioned that once in the ministry in Canada, a doctor was in the audience and he said we in the hospital have a saying.
The open mouth syndrome.
When somebody is close to death, he gets so weak he can't even close his mouth.
You know you cannot say any word anymore. You know, I saw my dad. We had been on a trip W just hours before the Lord took him home it looks like. It looked like he was hanging on. He wanted to see us once more and he recognized me and he was trying to say my name. He couldn't.
He was so weak. But the blessed Lord cried with a loud voice, and yielded up the ghost. Wonderful. Was it you, Brother Dave, that said there are three ways in which he was raised by the glory of the Father, by the Spirit, and He Himself?
Raised himself. That's how it is presented in the Word of God, because He is God the Son. That's why it is presented here in John's Gospel in that way.
He laid down his life as an atonement for sin, including the atoning sufferings in the three hours of darkness. The laying down of his life and the shedding of his blood is one complete work of atonement accomplished by who? The Son of God became the Lamb of God, you know, and that's how he's presented He and his gospel. That's why we have the blood mentioned here that flowed from his pierced side.
He's the lamb, and what a value.
That person added to the work that he accomplished. I suppose the work encompasses every single particle of that situation.
His birth, his life, which was a demonstration of who he was. But then when we come to his death, we have his death, his burial and his resurrection. It's all part of the work, isn't it? The resurrection was evidence before everyone.
That God was pleased with that finished work, and he raised him from the dead.
And then he ascended after 40 days back to glory. And in Hebrews 1, where it says after he had made prorogation for sins in the second verse I believe it is.
It says it should say he set himself down when he got back to that glory, that authority that he had for the work that he had done and who he was. He sits himself down. And I believe in Hebrews 10. It's the same expression.
After he had finished the work. But this man, after one sacrifice was in, set himself down.
One other thought concerning the life of the Lord dismissing His Spirit, Had He not done that? The soldier was breaking the legs of those that were being crucified, and it was pointed out to me medically the purpose of that was so that they would not be suffering on a Sabbath, and by breaking the legs, their diaphragm was so press on their lungs that they would expire.
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But scripture said not a bone of him was broken, and so the Lord.
Dismissing his spirit ensured the accuracy of this blessed book.
He had power to lay down his life and to take it again. But at the same time, it's beautiful to see, he says. This commandment have I received of my Father. So there it is in obedience.
To the Father's sending him into this world, the Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. So it was true He had that power to lay down his life. He had power to take it again. But at the same time, it was an obedience to the command of His Father. This commandment have I received my father. I think it's beautiful to get the balance there.
A beautiful treasure hunt for each of the Gospels is to.
Read and detect the first mention of the possibility and the reality of the Lord as a sacrifice, and it may be in the third chapter of the 4th chapter whatever of some of the gospels, but in the Gospel of John it's in the first chapter, isn't it? Behold the Lamb of God.
There's no other purpose for a lamb as far as God was concerned, except his sacrifice.
So it's in the very first chapter. Beautiful, isn't it?
There is a point that we should not overlook, and that is that He refers to some as his sheep before they have heard the shepherd's voice.
I have sheep which are not of this fold them also he must I must bring. He wasn't bringing them at that time, but he was already referring to them as his sheep.
And then in verse 26.
He says, But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep.
As I said unto you, I learned that from Mr. Darby pointing out.
That they are referred to as sheep before they have ever heard the shepherd's voice.
He know, he knew who they were that were to be saved.
And he says to Paul that he should continue in Quran because he had much people in that city.
There was there were many that were yet to be saved in that city. Wonderful to understand the gospel is to bring in the elect of God. Therefore endure all things for the elect God, the elect of God, that they also may obtain the salvation that is preached to all.
And the gospel preacher preaches to all, but he does well to remember those whom God in His grace has chosen before the world was.
Will be the ones that will respond, just like in Thessalonians. When he was preaching there, he didn't know who the elect were, but then after faith, love and hope was manifested in them, the response and that which the work had accomplished in them. Then he says, knowing beloved of God, your election, I thought I'd bring that in. They are referred to as sheep before they have ever heard the shepherd's voice.
That takes the frustration out of gospel work, and since we don't know who they are, we preach to all.
We know that only those who in his grace were chosen before the world was will respond, and here he refers to them as his sheep already before they ever heard the shepherds voice in that connection helped me and, and I I mean it genuinely. In the 12Th chapter it says there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship of the feast. Sir, we would see Jesus. Philip cometh and telleth Andrew and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
No, I don't mean this to be a foolish question.
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But did they get to see Jesus? It doesn't say. So why is that left out? It says and Jesus answered them saying the hour has come, except a corn of wheat fall on the ground and die. It appears as if that they didn't get to see Jesus.
Now, I'm not making a statement that they didn't, I just need some help in connection with the passage.
Do you really believe, brother, then, that anyone that sincerely wants to see him will not get that opportunity? That was already, I believe, an indication that the grace of God was working in the streets, wouldn't you think so?
The groundwork for the Gentiles to be brought in was what was addressed in the following verses. That was the thought that I had as an embryo. Yes, I think so, yeah.
Death had to come in, so he's presented in verse 23 there as the Son of Man.
The title he takes in connection with his rejection.
But whether it was the Greeks or whether it was the disciples, there was number union with Him apart from his death and resurrection. I shall draw all men to me when I'll be lifted up.
Did he refers to his crucifixion? His death and resurrection is the basis for union with Christ. Even the disciples were not in union with Him.
Yes, they were in association with Him, but there was number union with Christ apart from His death and resurrection. Amen.
John VI verse 40 says And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the sun.
We have seen the Son, beloved brethren, have we not? By faith, we Gentiles?
And they were Gentiles, everyone which seeth the sun, and believeth on him.
May have everlasting life, and I will raise him up at the last day.
Maybe something like you get in.
The end of the when the Gospel of John when he says having said this.
There was nothing more to say. He had said all he could without going to Calvary, ascending on high, ascending the Spirit of God back then.
Was all said.
When he brings in the Gentiles.
That is a work.
And I look at it as surpassing glory.
Because the glory that's shown in Moses face was the glory of God.
But Christ surpassed that glory. He surpassed the glory of God.
And that's what I believe we might encounter there in chapter 12.
John Gospel came up to that point, but he had to go on and finish the work.
I think it's important to see that in the first part of the chapter he's been Speaking of the sheep, but he's Speaking of Jewish sheep.
They're in the fold and he's been Speaking of how he's going to lead them out. But when he comes to verse 15 where he says I will lay down my life for the sheep. Now he's broadening out his thoughts and he sees not only the Jews sheep, but also Gentiles. And so he goes on in verse 16 to speak of the Gentile sheep that would be brought in, but they were not going to be brought into the fold. That was not his object to bring them into Judaism. It's always a new thing altogether that he is going to form. And that is the one flock that we've spoken about yesterday.
In the latter part of verse 16. So it's beautiful to see that there was going to be this oneness in life.
In the flock that he was going to form.
This is not union in the body here.
You don't get the truth of the body of Christ and that oneness in John's writings. It's more the oneness in life.
But nevertheless, it is unity.
In John, it's the one flock, as you say, dear brother Bruce, in the epistles that Paul wrote, it is the one body, beloved Saints, we belong to.
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The one body of Christ there is one body, and He is the head of his body, the Church.
How much this is unrecognized today? Someone may quote that as a Christian, but practically speaking.
Is there the recognition of it in our hearts by obedience?
Keeping the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. If I obey that verse, then I recognize Him as the head of the body.
Of his church.
That wonderful verse we oftentimes read or quote on Lord's Day morning. For where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there are in the midst of them. If we could just go a little bit further. Enjoy the blessed truth.
That we are gathered upon.
That is written in Matthew's Gospel before the epistles were ever given.
It was like the Lord anticipating the joy of that truth that He was going to give to.
The Apostle as the ascended Christ.
So that His Church could enjoy the truth of His presence on earth by the Spirit, though He was ascended into glory. And one of our beloved writers has put it this way, and I know that we have all enjoyed it as we've perhaps heard it before and read it many times.
For where?
The divine place.
Two or three.
The divine testimony.
Are gathered.
The divine power of the Holy Spirit, and in fact Matthew 1820, is in the original. It has to do with a power outside of ourselves, outside of our human intellect.
To understand the truth. But we're gathered by the Holy Spirit unto one center.
Are gathered the power, the divine power of the Holy Spirit together.
Divine Unity.
Unto my name, Divine authority.
How blessed that is, beloved Saints. We own His authority when times in the assembly are difficult and one must be put away from the Lord's table or received in blessing at the Lord's table. We own His authority in this and His authority in the truth that governs the assembly.
There am I, the divine person. I remember our beloved brother Chapter Brown years ago saying when he came out of the systems of men.
And there was given a place to serve and perhaps even on the mission field as a missionary. But when he came into the assembly.
It was such a blessing to him to sit.
Not just to hear a man preach as he had before, but to sit at the Lord's feet.
And hear his word. It was a different experience than he had at other places altogether.
There am I in the midst, the divine center? Are there 2?
There were those who sought to raise up in Bethel and Dan other centers.
Did that change the truth of the one center in Jerusalem? No.
It was in rivalry to the center in Jerusalem. There is one center today, beloved Saints.
It is the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that we are gathered to.
May the Lord keep us from wandering in our human intellects.
Or discouragements or whatever may take place in our small or large gatherings.
To hold that fast which we have, and let no man take that thy crown.
There am I in the midst of them, the divine center. How blessed. Anyway, there's so much in that one little verse, and we quote it so easily, so quickly. May the Lord just bless a few of those little thoughts to our hearts.
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In this 16th verse.
As Heinz has mentioned, and other sheep I have. What a remarkable statement. Other sheep I have, where were they?
I'm going to read a verse in the 49th of Isaiah.
6th Verse And he said, It is a light thing, that thou shouldst be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
A thought way back 800 years approximately before this verse was and.
Other sheep I have.
Each and everyone of us in this room today that know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior fit into this verse. Other sheep I have. We're the sheep of that pasture.
And what did it take for him to?
Get these other sheep. What does it take for him to?
Lead out in the first part of the chapter those that were in the fold and he says.
I lead out my sheep, and I go before them.
It was the cross, wasn't it? And that's the.
17th and 18th 1St the cross The cross of Christ is, as one poet has put, at the center of two eternities, and how true that is everything in the Old Testament looked forward to the cross, every single.
Offering that was ever made.
And the verse in Hebrews 10/4 verifies that.
For it is not possible that the blood of bulls or goats should ever take away sin.
So every single offering that was before the cross, God looked at it and looked at the cross. Everything that's happened since then looks back and you know, in Ezekiel, it tells us that some of the offerings are going to be restored. It'll be a commemoration, won't it? Looking back at that cross of Calvary, at the Lamb, the Lamb of God that we have in the first chapter of this book. Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
And so the verses 17 and 18 are of that, and that's what it took.
For the Lord to say other sheep I have.
Well we have in Ephesians chapter 2 verses that fit in that speaks of us the same.
The Jews and the Gentiles, and we read in chapter 2.
Verse 13 But now in Christ Jesus ye.
Who sometimes were far off. That's us gentiles.
Are made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace.
Who has made both one and has broken down the middle wall of partition between us?
This peace has to do with peace being made between the Jew and the Gentile, not the peace with God. And has broken down the middle wall. That's that fold. He has broken it down.
Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandment contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of trains, that is, of Jew and Gentile one new man.
So making peace.
And that he might reconcile both unto God again, Jew and Gentile in one body, by the cross having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace. Now that has to do with peace with God. Peace to you which were of power, and to them that were not.
For through him we both have access by 1 Spirit, both Jew and Gentile, again unto the Father. Well, isn't that wonderful to see that that there is the animosity removed. And we see that in Acts chapter 10, don't we, when Peter is sent to the Gentiles?
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And then bringing them in.
Because the church was to consist out of Jews.
And Gentile. At this time in the history it is predominantly Gentile.
Like we have it in Acts 15 that from among the Gentiles are people should be gathered at people to his name. But I'm very pleased whenever I meet a Jewish Christian because he is part of the church.
And we cease really to be Jews or Gentiles when we come to the Lord, like Paul relates his conversion.
In Acts chapter.
26 That he was, that he would be taken from the people, that's from the Jews and from the Gentiles, and he was sent to the Gentiles. Well, to bring them into what position?
From which the Lord took him out of the Jews. Ridiculous. That's what the covenant theologians tried to tell us.
That the mystery is that the Gentiles are brought into Israel blessing. That's nonsense. They brought into the position where Paul was apart from Jew, apart from Gentile. And since then humanity is classified in three classes, Jew and Gentile and the Church of God.
There's a brother in the audience here that I greeted some years ago. I said, how is my Mexican brother? He didn't like it, and I don't blame that he didn't like it because as a brother, he's now part of the Church of God. Well, they referred to me as the German brother. Well, the Lord took me out of that nation and put me into the church. We're part of the Church of God. That is how God looks at us, and that's how we ought to look at each other.
Nationality sees in the Church there is neither Jew nor Gentile.
That's the way we ought to look at it in connection with the.
Body of Christ and we've heard that there is one body. You have the truth of the headship of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's interesting how the Scripture presents that truth and so.
We say we gather on the ground that there is one body.
Brethren, we need to be exercised by what we say, and if we say that we are gathered on that ground, it is to recognize Christ as Head. Sometimes when we gather together in our local meetings, it seems like.
We're all looking around at some particular brother that may take the lead, and there's nothing wrong with taking the lead in the right way. But brethren, are we looking at that brother, or are we looking at Christ the head? These are real things. And in this chapter we have the people of God presented as one flock, beautiful to think about it. And in connection with the one flock, there is one shepherd, not a head here.
But a shepherd, the flock is the place where the sheep are tended by the shepherd. And so to consider this, it has been a real comfort to my own soul, rather than to realize.
The faithfulness of this shepherd.
There's a brother here who has a lot to do with sheep, and I suppose he could speak a lot better than I can. But I have seen sheep tended in Bolivia, sometimes a flock of 200 or 300 sheep. There was a sister on the High Plains of Bolivia who, between sheep and yamas, had over 300 animals, and when she came in at night she knew every one of them. I was amazed.
And as she stood at the door, the corral where they went in to spend the night.
And watch the mall file in. She knew which ones were missing.
If they were missing, tremendous, but that was the care of the shepherdess in that case. I've watched them in the countryside too. Down there they have different kinds of enemies. One of their enemies is the Condor of the Andes that swoops down and can grab a little lamb and fly off with it.
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And they're always watchful.
Out there in the countryside, and sometimes the sheep will get off, way off, too far to the side, and they take their slings and they're very expert with a sling and they sling a stone over by that sheep. And that sheep, when he hears the stones, knows what it means, and it comes to running back to where it belongs.
That oh brother, and isn't it comforting to realize, even though in an outward way, in the outward testimony there has been so much scattering of God's sheep, there is one who watchfully and faithfully watches over it?
Some time ago I was in the countryside of Bolivia, up into an isolated area.
And met some believers in this particular town. I said, how did you get saved? Well, a missionary came through here some time ago and preached the gospel and we heard the gospel and got saved. I said, do you have meetings? No, we don't have a pastor.
I say.
Isn't the Lord Jesus the Good Shepherd? Can't you get together and read the scriptures together?
And pray and sing. You may not be able to explain the scriptures.
But you can at least read them and listen to the shepherd's voice that way. It seemed like an idea he'd never thought of before. But we have a shepherd, brethren, that takes care of us. There are under shepherds. But oh, the faithfulness of this one shepherd. He loves the sheep. And brethren, it is amazing to me that in the midst of such confusion that is taken the public testimony.
The faithfulness of our God in providing for His people in one way and another. Thank God He's faithful in spite of it all. He has one flock, brethren. There's not a number of flocks. There is one flock. Isn't that beautiful? So when you and I meet up with some of those who are part of that one flock, isn't it a privilege?
To seek to be an encouragement in the measure that we can.
And take them where they are. Don't expect that they'll understand everything that we understand right off the bat. It won't happen. But to give them some morsel of spiritual food, something that will be a help and an encouragement in the right direction.
Have you ever seen Bob where the little sheep, the little lamps are by themselves?
Apart from the mothers, you try to separate them and they put up quite a fight, don't they? I'm using that because there is one flock. I'm not against a brother having an exercise in a local assembly to get the young people together and try to be a help to them. I benefited from that in my own life as a young believer. But we always have to remember there is one flock.
And that we have to work toward a harmony between all the sheep. But we have experienced in the years that we were gathered to the name of the Lord, where it's almost 30 years now, is people arose among us that took the young people and let them astray and brought alienation in between the older and the younger. Be careful. That's the wolf, you know.
There is one flock, but what it also means, brothers, that we who minister the word in the Assembly.
Better be exercised that there is something broad that is for the Lambs, not just for the.
Chick, you know, we have more children where we are than adults. And I told the brethren some time ago in Brothers meeting brothers, we better remember that we have more children here than adults and we better be exercised to bring something even India simply meetings that they can get a hold of. And like I said, I don't want to be understood.
00:45:04
That there is no possibility for a brother that has an exercise to be of encouragement to the young people and.
Has a time with them, but the efforts must be to bring a closer harmony between old and young, and so that we go together as one flock. See, they have ladies meetings in the churches and meetings for the married couples and all this kind of a thing if the Spirit of God is free.
To minister in the assembly for the needs of All India Assembly needs are met in the assembly.
That doesn't mean that there cannot be individual contact of by shepherds or teachers with individual people and be of help to them, but the emphasis has to be on the assembly life and that we harmonious harmoniously go on together as one flock all minister both publicly and from house to house. And I think there are subjects that need to be addressed, brethren.
That in the context of the house and it should be without, like you say.
Ever detracting from the truth that there is one flock. Brother Doug, you said something that was told to you yesterday to me about when you were up in the Maritimes about speaking on a level. Would you please repeat that?
It was something that.
We had the privilege years ago of spending, I think it was five years with our beloved Brother Barry up in Nova Scotia during the summers and I remember the first time that we were up there. I was quite a bit younger and Brother Barry asked me to speak at the gospel meeting that night and generally there would be quite a few.
Kids that would come out and he said something like this to me, He said when you speak tonight, Douglas, don't talk to the brethren that are sitting in the gospel tent. Talk to the children. Talk to the kids.
And then he went on to say, he said, if you speak so that the.
Kids can understand what you're saying so that the children can understand what you're saying.
The rest of us will understand it too.
I've always enjoyed that, though I've often failed in it, but it to me is a wonderful principle. I'd like to look a little bit at that. Verse 16, The flock.
One flock.
There are in this community around us.
Probably thousands.
Thousands of Christians.
They're part of that one flock. You know, brethren, I'm afraid that we often get the idea that we're the only part of the flock. Amen. You know, that's, that's, that's bad. That's bad.
We are not the flock, we are part of it, but every Christian, not just in this huge community that we're in today, but every Christian that's in this world and every Christian that's been in this world and will be in this world when the Lord comes.
Is part of this 16th verse one block and we ought to be very careful.
How we conduct ourselves when we're in front of other Christians.
You know, we can stumble them terribly or we can be very, very encouraging to them.
Let's remember that God loves every single blood bought child just like He loves you.
Thank you, Brother Dave, because I'm thankful to know that there are doors not gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ who are being fed.
That the Lord has raised up men, even in the camp, in the systems of men that are true shepherds that feed God's people. And I fear sometimes in some of these fundamental groups, perhaps people get more food than in some of our assemblies, you know, And I'm thankful that the Lord raises up men that feed his people elsewhere, you know?
00:50:18
The mightiest prophets, where were they raised up?
They were raised up in Israel, you know, so I'm glad you mentioned that because sectarian gods have to be avoided by us. They're all in the family of God. They're all in the flock of God. And when we meet one, it's nothing wrong in saying happy to meet another family member, you know, because God has his people in many places. They don't necessarily understand what the Lord and his grace has given us to understand.
But I'm thankful that there are those that feed God's people and faithfully. They might be in the wrong position taking the place of pastor, but there are those that feed God's people and the Lord is looking after them even there. The book of Peter, Peter says that when the chief shepherd shall appear, then he'll issue a crown of glory.
Note our lives should be acted and directed in view of when that takes place, when the Chief Shepherd shall appear. This chapter gives us the Good Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, the one who went to Calvary's cross. Other scriptures give us the Great Shepherd, the one who leads and guides us during our.
Transfer through this world. But there's going to be a day when the Chief Shepherd will appear.
And then we'll get a crown of glory if we've been under shepherds that have been faithful.
There was a brother in the meeting in Saint Louis and his wife who recently left the fellowship. They were driving 30 miles approximately to the meeting. We got there for the Lord's Day morning meetings only and a dear brother, but he he deplored the drive and a few other minor things, but he stopped coming and he found a little meeting.
There where he lived, that was Church of Christ and in many ways they meet similar to the way we do remembering the Lord in the breaking of bread each Lord's day and so forth. Other things, but they demand baptism for salvation and there are quite a few things that.
They're astray on.
They're pretty serious things, but the worst is the baptism or salvation. I told him I agreed with him that a believer should be baptized, but that wasn't his thought you were baptized in order for salvation, and he doubted.
Despite the fact that I made a very clear testimony, excuse me, I'm talking about another neighbor of ours. There's a mile from where we live. There is a Church of Christ. And so I went over and.
Got some pamphlets to see exactly what they believe. And I was talking to him and this young man, whether he was a clergyman or not, I don't know. But anyway, he was well educated in the doctrines and he doubted that I would be in heaven. He, he was going to heaven, he trusted if he was able to maintain faithfulness.
In his life until he died.
But he had no assurance at all of eternal security. So he was.
Well, a field in quite a few doctrines. But he doubted that I would be in heaven.
Because I didn't maintain that baptism was essential for salvation. But he did call himself the Church of Christ, the body of Christ. And if a person wasn't a member of that, it was doubtful that they would ever be in heaven.
I'd like to just add a thought and again mention our brother Norman Barry, who has been mentioned several times this morning. But on a visit to where we then lived, he and I were driving around visiting Chauvin's and so on and had a marvelous time to discuss things. And So what came up was what he viewed as our role using the term that's been used this morning as gathered Saints.
00:55:09
We, Matthew 1820, were gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said He felt that our chief role as we go through this Pilgrim journey awaiting a call of the Lord was to maintain the truth and practicality of being gathered to the Lord's name on the basis of the headship of Christ in the one body.
But recognizing that if it were up to us alone, this poor world would not hear the gospel fully. And So what he said is that.
To me, and I valued it greatly is that we are to be careful to walk as best we can in the light of Scripture has already been pointed out. We value every other believer. We're thankful when the clear gospel is preached, recognizing for example, that a radio preacher now ATV preacher preaching the gospel can touch more souls in that one broadcast than we might in a lifetime. And so we can be truly happy and thankful that there is at liberty.
With the word of God and recognize too that God through the various sects and denominations might reach people that we could never reach. So we have to be very careful. And I've been listening carefully that we don't use terms that make it sound as if we are the only ones who really understand Scripture. We we have to walk humbly. We have to walk thankfully, but it is our joy.
As already expressed in these meetings to sit around this table.
Lord's Day morning to remember the Lord in that way. So we really should be careful to walk softly and as the Lord gives us opportunity to speak to others and has already reported, when we find a fellow believer to rejoice in that and let them know it. But please, I ask this for myself. Let us not be lifted up because we feel we have a superior knowledge of the Scriptures or our walkers.
More separate or holy than some other believers. We have to walk humbly. They shall hear my voice. That's the characteristic of those sheep, whether they're Jewish or Gentile. And I think that is why it's important, brethren, when we meet up with souls in the simplicity that we can to present the precious word of God, because if their hearts are true.
They will respond to his voice we were mentioning yesterday, as sheep is a rather stupid farm animal, maybe one of the more stupid of them all. But they know the voice of the shepherd, and that's characteristic of a true believer in the Lord Jesus as well. So may the Lord help us not to make ourselves the point of reference in connection with the sheep, but make the precious word of God.
The point of reference, they shall hear my voice. Now we have to be careful. While we are happy that people not gathered unto the name of Lord Jesus. Many times people bring a clear gospel, We cannot join forces with them. We can even pray for.
When there is a gospel campaign.
That's what Brennan have done, that the gospel might be blessed, but we cannot join them in their labor. When we were in Africa on time in Malawi, we came to a rest house, and here the Superintendent of Pentecostal churches and another pastor and a third Christian came to see us. They had heard somehow.
That we were in that part of Malawi and they said we have arranged for you tomorrow to address a huge audience. We have invited our churches to come together and you will have an opportunity to talk to them.
Well, I said to them, I appreciate that you have confidence in us to do that, but we don't have liberty to do that.
01:00:13
We do not work in an interdenominational way.
We didn't quote that verse, but the verse that came to mind. If I build again the things that I've destroyed, I constitute myself a transgressor. We have separated from that. And I said we do not mean to say that we are the only ones that carry on the Lord's work.
But we have to carry it on in the way we have seen it from the Scriptures, and that is in separation from the systems of men. Besides, I said, if we would be forced to speak to those people, as a servant of the Lord, it would be my responsibility to point out the error that they are identified with. Would you want us to do that?
But I believe there are many souls in Africa that get saved through that system. Many of our brethren, that's their background. Thankfully, they came to be delivered from it. But I'm just saying that while we're thankful for what the Lord is doing to others who haven't come as far in their understanding as the Lord in His grace has given us.
We cannot link with them.
Because we believe the Lord separated us from the systems of men, and if we go there and build them up again, then we constitute ourselves a transgressor. That's what Paul says in Galatians. So we can even pray when the gospel is being announced, there will be gospel meetings that the Lord in his grace will use it. But I just put that before us as an exercise.
Just because something good is being done by other Christians, it doesn't mean that we should link up with them. Would you agree with that? In southern Peru, when we went through the mountain valleys preaching the gospel, I still remember in one town.
They offered us the Catholic Church to preach in. We would go into a town and we would ask the authorities for a place where we could have a public meeting to preach the gospel.
And they offered us the Catholic Church.
We didn't say why we.
Didn't accept that, but we requested the schoolhouse and they accepted that. But if I would have gone to preach the gospel in the Catholic Church in a certain way before men, I would be taking that ground in preaching the gospel. And I did not feel at liberty to do that. Souls would say, well, he's preaching there. That must mean that that's OK for us to be there. So thankfully the Lord granted liberty to preach.
In the schoolhouse where I was not identified with any denomination. And that's why I say sometimes I want to be open to minister the truth of God.
In his Mitch as is possible according to the light of the scripture as I see it. But there are certain places where I do not feel free to go because it does not embrace the whole body of Christ.
That I am called to recognize.
When?
Moses set the Tabernacle outside the camp. There were two that prophesied in the camp and it was told him. And he says that's all right, that's all right. And when they came to the Lord Jesus and said there are those that are casting out devils in thy name, the Lord says, and they said they're not with us. We forbade them because they're not with us. The Lord says, no, he that is Horus is not against them. And so we have to be very careful, as you see.
That's not offend those that are Christians. We can give them the truth. And I think your comment, Bob, is excellent. Just present the scripture to them and that won't offend them. If it does, that's between them and God. But let's not be offensive.
It's interesting to notice, brother, in the verses you just quoted. Let's turn for a moment to March Chapter 9 and the verse 38.
01:05:01
John answered him saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils.
In thy name and he followeth not us.
And we forbade him, because he followeth not us. But Jesus said, Forbid him not. For there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part the issue that seems to should exercise our hearts.
We're not gathered to us, are we? We're gathered to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And how precious it is. I've enjoyed this little thought. The general, the mentality often is, and it's a it's a wrong question. But to illustrate, we might ask if the Lord Jesus were to come.
To Burbank.
What church would he go to? What church would he endorse? It's a wrong question. Carefully say that. But how precious that it is the privilege and should be the exercise of every Christian to go to where he is, that blessed place. And what a privilege, brother, to be gathered through his precious name.
Would like.
Would like to.
Consider a little practical, it seems to me.
Result. We've been talking very much and.
Have had very helpful and good instruction about the one flock and the.
Church Body of Christ.
The ground of the one body.
And things that would encourage us to not only know those in our heads.
But to walk in them?
It seems to me that if I really lay hold in some little measure of the.
Wonder and the beauty of what the is being brought before us in John 10 as to.
The one flock.
That there will be a along with a realization and an enjoyment and a walking in.
The truth of it, there will be a practical working out of it within.
And I'm going to use these words for convenience within the gathering those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus that we who have a a incredible precious privilege of sitting down around the person of the Lord Jesus that we will allow in our practical.
Actions with one another. The truth of the one flock.
I'm thinking of, for instance, we don't need to turn to it for time, but in Philippians, Paul says, I beseech the odious and I beseech synteke that they be of the same mind and the Lord. There are other passages that can be turned to. Here were those who were members of one flock. They were gathered in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and yet with all of that wonderful truth, they weren't acting according to it with each other.
They weren't treating each other in the sense of the unity of that one flock that they were each members of.
And I would suggest that while, beloved brethren, it's vital that we understand the doctrine of the one flock.
And we understand the doctrine of the body of Christ that we appreciate in.
And and.
God grant, more so as we go on, the joy of being gathered to His precious name.
The brethren, in our daily lives, sometimes we forget to act on it with one another and among those of us who are gathered to His precious name, we sometimes don't treat each other like we're members of one flock. We forget it and we begin to get at odds with each other. We allow bitterness to come in. We allow things to come in. I'm not saying that there aren't things that would exercise our hearts and we need to seek to help one another. But brethren.
While we talk about the grand and wonderful truths.
Of one flock and one shepherd, the body of Christ.
The Church of God, let's see to it.
That in our daily lives with each other, that we're acting according to that truth.
01:10:07
That I am looking at you and treating you and praying for you.
And seeking to walk with you as a member of one flock, not looking. And I want to be very careful with this, but not looking for the slightest little thing that comes up so that I can find out how to separate from you. You know, Bob, that was amazing to me when she said that the shepherd takes a sling, I thought you were going to say, and whacks the wolf with it.
But that's not what the shepherd did. The shepherd is reminding the sheep, you're getting away from the flock, get back here.
And too often, brethren, we who.
So often and so easily talk about the joy and the truth of being gathered to the Lord's name.
Being members of one body, we like to. Maybe I should say I.
Have the tendency to get off by myself because I don't like the way you dress or act or talk or walk or eat or whatever it is. I find all sorts of little reasons to practically not act according to the truth we've been talking about. May God help us, brethren, to live and walk according to the truth with ourselves as gathered in the Lord's name and in the measure that we can.
In the whole body of Christ.
Practically daily as an individual, not just as a doctrine.
Not just something that this is the truth, but let's use it with one another. And when someone gets cantankerous with me and seems to get off in their own little world within the assembly, wouldn't it be nice if I could figure out how to take a sling, not with a rock, but with divine love and prayer and somehow remind that sheep.
I want to be with you, not separated from you. We're members of one flock, Doug. Everyone can't say this, so I'm going to say it for for all of us. We have just one word to add to what you said. Amen.
Somebody has said that maybe you could change those two names to odious and so touchy, so touchy.
To be of one mind in the Lord. It's so important, brother.
If I could go back to Ephesians chapter 4. Just a minute, brethren, in this connection. Excuse me, Did you have something? No, go ahead.
I'm sorry I interrupted you. It's all right.
Ephesians chapter 4 and the first verses.
Because here we have the truth of the one body presented in its simplicity. In verse four it says it's a statement of fact. It's not an exhortation, it's a statement of fact. There is one body, but the 1St 3 verses are exhortation to be considered in view of that truth. I therefore the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called.
With all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
What really gets me, brethren, Paul is speaking as a prisoner.
Not of this Roman Empire, but of the Lord.
Have we stood at the cross, brethren, to see the terrible price that was paid to bring us to God?
Can we say to that we have come to recognize ourselves as prisoners of the Lord. There's a prisoner demand rights. Does he tell the jailer what he wants to do and what he doesn't want to do? Now he is told. And brethren, we've got to give up the idea that we have rights in the assembly. There is one who holds all the rights and it's none of us that are sitting here, it's the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
But notice verse 2 with all lowliness and meekness.
Anybody here have all of it?
I don't think we'll be that way to say such a thing. Brethren, here's some place we need every one of us to learn all loneliness. Loneliness is that character that doesn't cause offense in others. Meekness is that which doesn't take offense. When perhaps I'm somebody does something against me, I don't get offended by it. With all loneliness and meekness, where are we going to learn those characteristics?
01:15:27
So I find sometimes there's people that are lowly, but they're not meek. Maybe there's people that are meek, but they're not lowly.
And so where are we going to find these characteristics from the Lord Jesus, brethren? Oh, to accompany more with Him, as He says in Matthew Chapter 11. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me.
Who am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls.
To be yoked with him, brethren, have we taken his yoke upon us to learn those things? I have to confess, brethren, I'm still learning, and I got a lot to learn. Anybody that's around me very much knows that. But it says with long-suffering.
They remember brother **** Gorgas saying we don't pronounce this. We're very right. It's.
Long-suffering.
We expect our brethren to learn right off the bat what maybe took us 10 years to learn. Brethren, let's meditate on this word. long-suffering. Then it says forbearing.
We speak about discipline in the assembly and there is discipline in the assembly. Scripture clearly teaches that. But this is self disciplinary, brethren.
First of all, we must learn to know how to discipline myself, and forbearing is that characteristic when there's something in my brother that rubs me the wrong way.
I just take it that's forbearing. And we got to learn to do that in love, one with another.
To remember a brother in South America and one of the places I lived for a while.
It seemed like we were always rubbing each other the wrong way. I don't know if it was him or me or the both of us. Probably the both of us.
They had a chance to talk to him and I said, brother, it's evident we've got some differences. But you know what, brother? I didn't choose you to be a member of the body of Christ and you didn't choose me. Somebody else chose us both and put us in the same body and we'd better figure out how to get along together because.
We are members of one body. May the Lord help us brethren, to to meditate on the this is the truth, this is the reality. And to me it is. It is incredible how the enemy makes war on this truth. There is one flock and one shepherd. There is one body and there is the head of that body. The Lord help us to lay hold of Him in a practical way.
I don't want to take anything away from.
What Brother Bob and Brother Doug has said, but one of the scriptures that comes to my mind is the disorderly walk in Thessalonians that instructs us not to keep company with such a one. This is not a pleasant position that one has to take, but that is nevertheless what the Scripture teaches. And you mentioned discipline. That is personal discipline.
You know and him that since rebuked before all that others might fear. I believe that is also personal discipline. So there are a number of scriptures that speak with personal discipline. We probably overemphasize as times, love and patience and grace and are not faithful when the other scriptures applied, you know, immodesty. That is becoming more and more a problem.
Even among us, these are all things that Scripture teaches, and so we have to have a balance of truth and do not just emphasize one line of things. And the glory of the Lord ought to be that which is predominantly governing our conduct with one another as well. So.
01:20:07
We perhaps neglect.
To take heed to those scriptures like in Thessalonians and other scriptures that tell us that we have to be our brother's keeper and that we have a responsibility to seek those who are going astray. Like I said yesterday, I'm afraid.
Because we do not faithfully exercise.
And practice these scriptures.
Perhaps that sometimes leads to excommunication. Had we been faithful, that could have been avoided because it's just like with the sheep, they don't always go straight and they need to be corrected. And I understand the shepherd, brother, Landin said. When the sheep comes into the fold in the evening, you know the staff and the rod, they comfort me.
He puts that stick out and the sheep have to jump over it, and that will give him to see whether the sheep.
Has a physical defect and then he can look after it and these are all part of being one flock. We are responsible to try to help our brethren and it might not go on in a spiritually healthy.
Way So all of this is part of going on together.
And hopefully the motive for anything that we do, even when it seems harsh to some, is love, you know, love for the Lord. They are his people, and love for the people that we seek to help.
Maybe the Lord can help us in these areas and even young people.
Can be of help to other young people. But what has also been pointed out, the shepherd doesn't drive sheep. That's never the way the shepherd takes care of sheep. He leads them and they follow him.
So what is far more important than our words is our example we lead, and that they can, by our example, be helped.
The shepherd doesn't drive the sheep, he leads them, but we sing. 100 and 74174 O patient spotless one, our hearts in meekness train 174.
01:25:16
Very closely in life then before us, and in the interest of time, I'd like to read it to you. It's him 250.
From various cares our hearts retire, Though deep and boundless their desire we've now to please but one Him before whom each knee shall bow. With Him is all our business now. And here's the key point. And those that are his own. With these are happy Lotus cast through the world's deserts, root and waste, or through its gardens There, whether the storms of trouble sweep, Or all in dead supine asleep.
Be all our care, oh Lord, the way, the truth, the life. Henceforth with sorrow, doubt, and strife Dr. Off like autumn leaves, Henceforth as privileged by the simple and undistracted. Be our souls, which to Thee cleave let us in our feebleness recline on that eternal love.
John 10:27-41
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Three. When Israel by divine command, the pathless desert Tron.
They found throughout the barren land a sure resource in God. Jesus, the bread of life is given to be our daily food. Within us dwells that well from heaven. The Spirit of our God, Lord tis enough.
We ask no more.
By grace around us pours it's rich and unexhausted store and all its joy is ours 303.
Pray just the last verse of the Gospel.
Which is John 21 and verse 25.
The expression of an enlarged heart. There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written everyone, I suppose that even the world itself.
Could not contain the books that should be written. Amen.
For God and Father, we.
00:05:00
Verse 27.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life. They shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
My father, which gave them me, is greater than all. No man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I and my father are one.
Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them. Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me? The Jews answered him, saying.
For a good work we stone thee not, but for blasphemy, and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law? I said, Ye are gods, if he called them gods, unto whom the word of God came, and the Scripture cannot be broken. Say ye of him whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, thou blasphemous?
Because I said I am the Son of God.
If I do not, the works of my father believe me not. But if I do, though ye believe not me, believe the works that you may know, and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.
Therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand, and went away again beyond Jordan, into the place where John at the first baptized, and there he abode. And many resorted unto him, and said John did no miracle. But all things that John spake of this man were true, and many believed on him there.
Before we go into this part of the chapter, I'd like to just make a short, very short comment in regards to that last verse of John.
John's gospel on the surface seems to be simple, but I believe that John's gospel has depth in it that we could never plump, and I believe that's what that last verse means. And there are many other things which Jesus did for which if they should be written.
The Gospel of John, I believe, is insuitable. There's things that are in it that we can never plummet.
What we've just read here I and my father are one and we.
Dig into that. No, it's beyond our comprehension. I'd just like to say that.
Just to mention two brethren, the verses that we perhaps ended with the last meeting. I know we started verse 27 this time, but thinking of the the wonder.
Of the blessed Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Him being brought before us in the 17th verse and the 18th verse, we could ponder those verses for hours and again never Plumb the depths.
Of the joy of what a life lived on this earth.
By the Son of God, meant to the Father.
Is it not the burnt offering character of his?
Giving himself up.
To his father, the intrinsic value or essential value.
Of him in the father's eyes, giving himself up. Therefore doth my father love me.
Didn't the Father love the Son? Indeed he did. This is my beloved Son in whom I find all my delight. And yet we know the first words that he ever spoke in this world.
00:10:09
I must be about my father's business.
The pathway from the Manger led to the cross, and he knew where it would end.
Obedience unto death, even the death of the cross. But was that not a fresh cause in the Father's heart to love his Son, who had never passed that way before?
Obedience unto death, even the death of the cross.
And Leviticus chapter one, it speaks of the burnt offering that the offer brought when it was slain with his hand upon his head.
And that creature was slayed, lame, played before them, and laid upon the altar the head, the fat, the inward, and the outward parts of that creature.
Laid upon the altar, and it went up to God.
As a sweet savour all night.
Is this not a little picture of what the Lord Jesus Christ was to God the Father?
In his pathway on this earth that led to the cross, it does say.
I lay down my life for the sheep. Verse 15.
But therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life for the sheep?
No, I lay down my life in obedience to the perfect will of my father.
The end of chapter 14, it says that the world may know that I love the Father.
As he hath given me commandment, Even so I do.
Arise, let us be going.
John chapter six, another verse. I came not down from heaven to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. Hebrews chapter five. He learned obedience by the things which he suffered.
Or how this magnifies the love of God to the Son, of course, but even.
To you and me, beloved brethren, God so loved the world.
That it caused Him to give His only begotten Son at such a cost for you and me, to bring us into such a sphere of blessing. Therefore doth my Father loved me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again. No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father, and in the Garden of Gethsemane.
If it be possible, let this cup pass from me. We've read those words so many times, but they're in agony in anticipation of the cross of suffering.
There was that inward cry of his soul knowing what it was going to be, and he said, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.
I'm glad you bring up that side of thing, Brother Day, because it has been said the burden offering sacrifice of the death of the Lord Jesus is our acceptance sacrifice. And when the Israelite brought the burnt offering, he put his hand at the head of the sacrifice, just like with the sin offering, but the action is reversed.
The excellencies of the sacrifice was transferred over to the sacrificer in the burnt offering. In the sin offering, our sinfulness was transferred over upon the sin bearer. But we are accepted in the Beloved. You know, we are accepted on the basis of what that sacrifice meant to God. Beautiful to come to see that.
And we many times think of the fact that he died for my sins, you know, when we come together. And there's nothing wrong with that. But I think it would be nice if we would rise above that sometimes and think what it was for God. While he was punished by God, yet at that time was he ever greater, a greater delight to the heart of God the Father.
00:15:06
And when He offered up himself. And that's the basis, beloved brethren, for our acceptance, what that means to the heart of God. That's why we are accepted in Him.
Beloved Saints, there were three hours in eternity in which.
They were more most wretched. It is my opinion strongly that when the Lord Jesus said I mean when the scripture says.
His visage was so marred more than any man's vision.
That it must have been when God forsook his Son, The only time in all eternity that God forsook the Lord Jesus. A most wretched 3 hours.
There was darkness over all the land, and God said No man, no profane eyes in all the world are going to look upon my son.
While he is made.
Sin.
He was made sin for us, He who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
God laid on him.
The iniquity of us all.
God was satisfied entirely with sinners who embrace the Lord Jesus as their sin bearer. It's true also, Christ died for our sins.
The weight of that is beyond any comprehension of any human mind. The suffering that the Lord Jesus Christ went through.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me? And from the words of my roaring? I cry in the daytime, and now here is not and in the night season, and I'm not silent, but thou.
Are holy.
Thou art holy, oh thou that inhabit us, the praises of Israel.
Those moments.
Decided the issue.
For all eternity, for every single soul in all the world, from able owned down who embrace the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. Can we say I know now?
This friend that I met on the plane day before yesterday had been taught all his life.
It's the sin of presumption which must be confessed if it's if it's involved in.
Is the sin of presumption to for one to say I know that heaven is my home, I know my sins are forgiven. I know I cannot go to hell. I know that heaven is my home, but we can confidently say the Lord Jesus Christ in three hours bore every stroke of judgment that I deserve. Therefore there is not there is therefore now.
No judgment.
To them which are in crisis, it's true, as he mentioned to me. Doesn't it say that?
For us to confess our sins. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us, forgive us our sins. That's for restoration of fellowship that's broken with sins. But in case I don't, I don't go to hell. When he was going through those dark, dark hours, He endured the wrath of God for every single soul.
Maybe we can go now to the verses that we have read, and I like to suggest that here it is not so much the question of hearing the voice of the Lord Jesus, the Good Shepherd, in order to get saved, but here it refers to that is what becomes characteristic of His sheep. They will hear His voice and will always.
00:20:06
Listening.
To the voice of the Good Shepherd.
We have already pointed that out earlier. And my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. Knowing in scripture does not just imply knowing about somebody.
We find in other scriptures those who are outside.
He says I don't know you or I never knew you. That means I never had any relationship with you, ever.
But we are known by him. I like to suggest that it's what he's referring to. We are in a living relationship with him. He knows us.
And.
We follow him. That is what is characteristic of a sheep. Now that has hurt. The shepherd's voice was drawn to him, and from now on that should be characteristic of us, that we're listening for his voice and then following him, staying close to him.
We have a brother in the meeting.
Who was with a group of believers.
Where the pastor resigned.
And those who were heading up, the elders or deacons, whatever they call them, would ask.
Certain ones, if they were willing to take the service, and they asked his brother who was not much beyond 20, but they knew he was intelligent and knew the scriptures, but they wouldn't let him pick what passage he could speak on. They dictated to him and dictated to him to speak on John chapter 10. And he looked into it.
And clearly saw eternal security and preached it. He got into trouble, you know, but it ultimately led him to be gathered. And he scattered there now for about 13 years. And he's become a very useful brother in the meeting, intelligent, diligent in the Scriptures, helpful in expounding the truth of God. Isn't it wonderful that these verses here speak of that side of things?
Eternal security. They shall never perish. They have eternal life. The sheep.
That's true of every child of God, even the simplest child of God, a babe in Christ who might not have come into the full understanding and enjoyment of what they possess.
And that's true too, of the dear ones that think.
Think that they can lose their salvation? Yes, and what a joyful thing it's going to be to them when they awaken His likeness.
In the first part of this chapter, we have the Good Shepherd dying for the sheep. But as you've already said here, we have him presented as the one that leads us now more or less as the Great Shepherd rather than the Good Shepherd here. And he leads us in this path of righteousness and faith. And what a marvelous thing that each and everyone that I hope and trust that everyone in this room realizes the significance of this verse.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. I've had someone say to me, yes, that's true, I believe that. But you can **** yourself out of his hand. No, that's not true.
Were safe. Now this does not give a license to go out and sin. That's not what this is giving us. This is telling us that the work of Christ on Calvary's cost was of such a nature that God accepted it completely and totally to cover all sins as we have in first John first chapter. What would I have to do to take myself out of the hands of the Lord Jesus Christ?
00:25:28
Well, you have to sin also. Christ hasn't suffered for those sins of mind.
That I commit my in the future. No Christ, all of my life was future at the time of the death of the Lord Jesus and he saw into the future what those sins would be and he took them off of me and laid them on the Lord Jesus Christ And that's how I got saved in 1944 in England when I was on my bicycle and I was.
Recalling what was said that night in a cottage meeting and the brothers spoke on Isaiah 53 in the sixth verse, the Lord laid on him the iniquity of us all. So that included everything that I would ever do, right or wrong. Wrong, I mean, So it's impossible to take myself out of the hands of the Lord Jesus.
If we could, then the Lord would have told an untruth by saying they shall never perish.
It's it's impossible, impossible. This is like you say, eternal security. I do think it is important for us when we speak about this truth, and I think it is wonderful to get a hold of it, that there are those who say they are believers but are not real in their souls. This does not apply to them.
They were never saved.
And they will perish, even though they say they believe. It has to be a question of the heart. If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thy heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. I say that because from the time I lived in South America, brother, and I saw that there was.
There is a the truth of God is in balance.
But there is a ditch on either side of error and one side is that a person that's saved can be truly saved, can be lost again, that is error can never be. And I remember speaking to one who believed that had been in that system where they taught that. And I went to tell them about the Lord and he said.
Please go on to somebody else.
I tried to be a Christian and I'm sorry it didn't work for me. I'm hopeless. Go spend your time with somebody else. Awful to think of a despair that a person like that is in. That is not true.
Because they think that somehow holding on themselves, they can stay saved. This is fairly common. And when they hear us talk about eternal security, they say you're giving license to do whatever you will. And on the other side, the other ditches.
To say it doesn't matter what a person does, they can be saved and then they can do anything they ever want.
If they are truly saved, they wouldn't want to do anything they ever want. That's the point. Yeah, that's the point. And I think that is where the reaction has come from. One side creates a reaction from the other side. And brethren, we need to hold the truth in balance. Brother Gordon Hayhoe gave these three scriptures that helped me in connection with this question. First of all, the Lord says I know my sheep.
He knows who they are that trust Him. Then as to ourselves, we know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. You and I can have the certainty that we know that we passed from death into life. But then as to others, the Lord said.
By their fruits ye shall know them, when there is a person who says they are a Christian.
That shows no fruits of being a Christian.
00:30:04
By their fruits you shall know them. And we have no reason, brethren, just because a person says they're a Christian, if there are no fruits to say they are a Christian, that indicate that we don't have a business believing just simply because they say they do. And I think that's where it becomes searching a true believer.
Will give the fruit of the Spirit. It will be evident. It may not be evident immediately.
But in time there will be fruits to show. What we're talking about here is the Lord Jesus with his sheep saying, I know my sheep, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never that word never evidently is a strength and negative. You could read it. They shall never, never perish. Anybody that says, I can pluck myself out of the Lord's hands, Hey, the Lord already said.
Never, never perish. You are contradicting what he says. So there is real security here, but the truth needs to be held in balance. And there was one case in Bolivia of a man who one time was in fellowship. This shook me to the core, brethren, and I think we need to think this through a bit.
He was in fellowship, He broke bread, but he ended up wandering off and later on found out this man had murdered 12 People and done things. I don't even want to speak about it, but he was taken by the military government out into the country under the pretense of doing an investigation. And they let him kind of go on his own and he started running for the woods.
They just pulled out their pistols and ended his life right there. That's the way they do in the military government. And I don't think he was saved. The last thing I heard that he said was that he when he gets loose, I'm going to do even worse. No sign of fruits of a believer, but it humbled me to the core to think I broke bread with that man. You know, we don't know.
And the apostle Paul says the Lord knoweth them where it is, and let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
This is the sheep and it does not. You've said it, I said it, we'll say it again. Does not give a license to go out and sin. Absolutely not. What is characteristic of a sheep is that they follow the shepherd, They follow me.
If you are not following the Lord Jesus, if that's not the characteristic of your life, if you better.
Examine yourself in the presence of God. You have to even be careful.
How we refer to somebody that has to be excommunicated, put out a fellowship.
Because many times we say he is removed from the Lord's table. I don't read that in the scriptures to you, but I do read in the scriptures put out from among yourself that we could person. That means you have no longer any company.
Keep company with him any longer and he is not put out as a brother. One who is called a brother.
His profession is called into question.
While he is going on in sin, we should not refer to such a person, our beloved brother so and so, as we sometimes ignorantly do, we do not consider his profession to be real. We call it into question. Thankfully, the one in First Corinthians 5 proved to be real, and Paul had to admonish them to restore them. But while he was going on in sin.
He said, Put out from among yourself the wicked person, and if one is called a brother. And so these are helpful things, brethren, but I have enjoyed Psalm 23, where when the shepherd finds the sheep, where does he put it?
00:35:03
On his shoulders.
The government in Isaiah says it's on his shoulder, singular, but the sheep that is found is put on his shoulders, the seat of strength and security, and he takes that sheep home. That's where we are. My wife and I were in a store and they had a little figure there.
Of a shepherd and he had his sheep on his shoulders, the front feet in one hand, the hind feet in the other hand. I said forget it. We have to buy that because it reminds me of where I am on the shoulders of the shepherd. We have it sitting in our family room, you know, and Albert used to say the government, he doesn't need both shoulders, it's on his shoulder, but.
The sheep that he carries home that says he put them upon his shoulders and he carries them home, would he let anybody pluck them off of his shoulders or out of his hands? No way, you know, is there anybody stronger than him. And not only is.
His hand, the one that holds us, he says. Nobody plucks them out of my father's hand. That's double security that we are in. But we better be careful.
If we go on in sin.
Maybe we prove that we're, after all, not true. People say you shouldn't judge.
No, but we are fruit inspectors, you know. By their fruit he shall know them. And there might well be times when we have serious questions in our mind whether somebody's profession is real. He might, after all, prove that he is real. But I believe that person will be restored.
He will not go on and be permitted to go on like that.
In his sinful course the Lord will bring him back. So it's so important the flesh in US is as bad as it is in the unbeliever, and the devil would like to use that flesh in a believer sometimes to do worse things than in an unbeliever, because why? It brings dishonor upon the name of the Lord Jesus.
So the pressure is not improved when we get saved, it's as bad as it ever was. And in order to not let it surface and get into control, we better stick close to the Lord Jesus and do not feed their flesh. Darwin, repeat the new man, let the shepherd feed us as we have it in Psalm 23, Green Pastures.
Still waters, you know He takes care of us not only so that we are secure, but also that we are fed, refreshed and nourished. It's beautiful how the Scripture here goes in a proper order.
He tells us that we shall never perish, and no man can pluck us out of his hand. But then he says, My father, which gave them me.
So, as we've often heard, we're a gift.
Is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. But then he adds more to that. I and my father are one, so the two of them.
Have us in a secure place.
And it's impossible to ever be taken out of that place.
Marvelous truth and until you grasp the fact that as we have in 2nd Corinthians 517 and in Romans chapter 6 verse 6.
Where we really are, we really can't go on in an enjoyable way, but here we're told exactly where we really are.
Were in the hand of the Lord Jesus and in the hand of the Father.
The Godhead, if you might say. However, the Spirit is not mentioned here. Is there any way that man or or Satan or any other creature. I think it's the end of Romans 8 gives us the picture.
Heights, nor depth, nor any other creature can take us. Let's read it.
00:40:02
End of Romans 8. It's beautiful, and it just goes right along with what we have here in this portion in the 10th chapter, the 38th verse of Romans 8. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things that come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God.
Which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The reason?
That we can't get out of the hand of the Lord Jesus. One main reason besides the death of Christ, the death of Christ, which of course is the important issue, is because God is righteous. The centurion in the 23rd chapter of Luke spoke of.
Certainly this was a righteous man, a righteous man. How could a man, How could God? I mean lay.
Upon his beloved son all every stroke of judgment we deserve.
Fully satisfy God right to death the wages of sin and then.
Because we slipped and sin is can be a very minor thing, but not to God. God is righteous and holy and a little sin is disqualifies us from heaven. So God is righteous, he has punished.
Our sins so they are punished. God himself can do a lot of things. He can't send us to hell. A true believer.
But a day When did the Father give us?
Through the sun before the world was made. Amen. Thank you. We are the love gift of God the Father to the Son. Isn't that precious? Before the world was. That was all assured. He gave us already. Den to the sun. It's a love gift of God the Father to the Son.
Tell an interesting story. About 40 years ago in the city of Seattle, we were asked to visit her. But we did visit Missus Lemo that wrote Turn Your Eyes upon Jesus.
At the time that we visited her and some brethren in Southern California remember her being at Dreyers Clinic. But this, she was in a rest home, she was blind. And I'll never forget her quoting those verses that our brother Dave read. And she, she could tell where I was sitting and she couldn't see me because she was blind. But she says from the scriptures you have quoted and the things you've said, I know you believe in the Lord's coming, but do you believe he could come now?
Never forget it, dear, dear St. I never forget. I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. I'll never forget the effect. We didn't know that she was blind, but when we went in we saw a group of women, as you usually do in a rest home, encircled or at least half arc around a television.
And we were going to visit a sister that wrote turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face. And you know I'm not exaggerating the effect on my heart. I can still feel it isn't that I have.
A damaged heart, but the sensation of going to visit a sister who wrote turn your eyes upon Jesus. And she was looking at television in the in the main room. And so I rather timidly asked where she was and they said, oh.
She's over here. She was probably about 18,000 miles from that television and we went into a small room. She was short. Those of you that knew her, her hair was completely white and it was a beautiful, beautiful time.
Of a sister that wrote to him, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face.
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory. Told us a story.
That some missionaries were going into a head hunting tribe in Africa.
And as they got closer, they heard chanting and one of the natives that was with them said, we don't need to worry, somebody has gotten it ahead of time. And they were singing. The natives were singing. Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full of his wonderful face. And so never forget, nor height nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus.
00:45:17
Our Lord.
The teaching in these verses are so wonderful, brethren, the perfect security of every believer in Christ, from the youngest to the oldest. It doesn't make any difference how you feel. And I remember as a child feeling like I was unsaved. Do you feel that way? And yet you know that you believe in Him. You believe that.
He died for all of your sins according to the scriptures, and that he was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures. You believe that?
The Bible says in one John 5 about verse 15 whosoever.
Believe it that Jesus is the Son of God. God dwelleth in him.
And he and God, period.
It doesn't make any difference how you feel. It's wonderful when the joy of eternal security of that security is felt. He wants his family to feel or to be at least secure by faith.
And then the joy of it will will flood your soul so that it will affect your feelings. There's no doubt about that.
But there are so many, even right here, perhaps with young people, children.
That do not have that joy of security. It's a common malady perhaps among the family of God, especially in circles that are not taught the truth. Of course, the doctrine is all tangled up today and some do not want to even go that far as to say I'm saved forever, but because it would cause them to be too careless in their life.
How sad there can never be complete surrender or devotedness or worship in our hearts until the entire scope of the grace of God is embraced. And part of it is not just forgiveness but eternal security. I remember years ago our brother Whitaker and Dave or Gordon can correct me on this, but he said about these verses when we were reading them together. He said just think of it, I am his little finger.
Because we are members of His flesh, of His body and of His bones, we have that kind of intimate connection. We are one with Him. When we believe in the Holy Spirit indwells us, we are sealed by that Holy Spirit of promise. We belong, beloved Saints, to Him, such that we are His little finger. Could we say, will He ever cut off a little finger? No, we're so valuable to him. It didn't make any difference to the children of Israel.
When the blood was upon the doorpost in the lentil. I know we've heard this 100 times, but perhaps one more time won't hurt.
There were children in those households. There were middle-aged, there were teenagers, no doubt, with the blood on the doorposts and the lentil. It didn't make any difference how they felt about it. God had commanded Moses to tell the children of Israel to do that, and they were safe. They were sure, because it was His Word. And they were safe because they had applied the blood to the doorpost in the lentil.
And it didn't make any difference how they felt in that household within themselves, their feelings have absolutely no effect upon their security. And so it is with you, dear young folks, with each one who may have doubts that come in. And the enemy is quick and swift to charge us, who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect, as it was mentioned were chosen in Him before the foundations of the world. Is he ever going to lose 1 No.
Those that the Father have given me, it says in John's sake. None of them are lost.
You'll never lose 1 to the enemy, so it doesn't make any difference how you may feel. We have to look outside of ourselves and not be occupied with our feelings because the enemy can affect through doctrine our feelings or not understanding the doctrine properly. It could be, however, that there may be one in our company or more. I've been in this state myself, beloved Saints, where I have failed and my conscience is heavied by or burdened with a failure in my life and I've lost the joy.
Of that security and peace, be quick to keep short accounts with Him concerning it. And as our brother already mentioned that verse first John 19, that we should confess our sin to Him. He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And the joy of that security and peace will be restored again. When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
00:50:25
Somebody's given a little illustration of a train and the up front is fact and.
The coal car that we used to have, coal cars and the engines is faith and the one that follows his feelings. Don't get your feelings up front. Feelings are very real and you've got to deal with them, but they are not first.
Fact is, first Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. He was buried, He raised, raised again according to the scriptures. That's fact, historical fact. Then faith is simply laying hold of what God has said about what Jesus did. And then feelings will follow the proper feelings. If you get feelings up front and think because you don't have right feelings.
Must not be saved. You've got the thing switched around. You need to get it in the right order.
One other illustration that helped me too, brethren, I've given it to the Latin brethren a number of times. Go out in the countryside and there's a big mud hole and there's an animal walling around in the mud. What kind of an animal is that?
I always ask him a pig or a sheep? Well, everybody knows that's a pig. He's doing what he likes to do. That's its nature. Can a pig, can a sheep be in there too? Well.
Possibly if there's a bank there and he's not careful, he might follow it, fall in there. But you look at that animal and be one miserable animal in that mud hole, he's going to be trying to do everything he can to get out. Why? Because his nature doesn't like that. And a true believer falls into sin. It may be like happened with Peter. Poor Peter was one miserable man until he got the thing straightened around.
And so you show by the nature.
What you really are feelings are a mighty poor foundation to build on.
I can speak for everyone in this room, which I think I can. You might have feelings of one thing one moment, you might have feelings of something else the next. Don't build on that as a foundation. It's worthless. Build on what God says, what the brother said yesterday. Abraham believed God, and it was accounted unto him for righteousness.
He gives the same thing to you and to me. We believe God is going to count it to us for righteousness. Marvelous.
Going on in our chapter it says I and my father are one, and it says the Jews.
Took up stones again to stone it. We would return and let's do that to the end of the 8th chapter and we'll see where they did that previously.
The Lord Jesus says unto them.
Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it and was glad. Then said the Jews under him, Thou art not yet 50 years old. And hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, before Abraham was I am.
Then took up the Jews stones with cast at him. They understood every time he said I am. In that sense they knew what he was talking about. They knew that the I am of the burning Bush was this very one that stood in front of him. They knew that.
And they just hated the fact that there was this one who was standing in the form of a man that told him what they had done wrong. His very presence condemned them. Just like if you walk into a room with a Bible where it's full of sinners, there's going to be a reaction to it.
And so they hated him for that. And when he says I and my father are one, they took up stones again, cast at him. And that hasn't changed. That attitude has not changed. This world is just as much in opposition to the person of Christ at this very moment as they were in that day.
00:55:14
The Man Christ Jesus.
Is more than a man.
He's God manifested in the flesh. He took humanity into union with his person. But when he comes.
The Triune God is revealed.
And.
In him the fullness of the Godhead throughout bodily, he said.
To the disciple, when he said, Show us the Father.
Am I so long a time with you and you have not seen the Father? You see, the Triune God was revealed in the man Christ Jesus.
It dwelt in him bodily and beloved Saints of God, we never see need to see more of God than to see the one that we know as Jesus to know that we have.
Seen the triune God I and the Father are one I think here he speaks more of the authority, you know, that is equal with him as well as with the Father. But a wonderful to we couldn't understand that with our minds like a philosopher wants to understand that that there is a man who is also God.
And that it is the Triune God revealed. That doesn't mean we cannot enjoy it in our souls, although we don't pretend.
To understand that mystery, the union within the Godhead, you know he could never be separate.
From God to Father, He was one with him, and it is really marvelous even when you consider the fact that this one went to the cross. Did he stop to be God when he went to the cross?
Put a mere man.
Have borne the eternity of our judgment in three hours. Exhausted divine wrath against sin in three hours.
Or all the sins of all the redeemed and paid for them in three hours. If he had not been more than a man, he couldn't have laid down his life had he not become a man. But he never stopped to be what he always was.
And his person gives such a tremendous value to that sacrifice.
What a tremendous thing it is, and we will appreciate more what the Paul said. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Only he could have borne that heavy loads. Only he could have made full atonement for sin.
In three hours, exhaust the divine wrath against sin, because he was.
More than a man, beautiful Savior that we have, but forever is now man and God in one person, two natures united in one person, the person of the Lord Jesus.
Not to sing it, of course, but just to read it in the most perfectly expressed. The Father's self. The shine, fullness of God. Head to the blast. Eternally divine. Thou art the everlasting word, The Father's only Son. God manifest. God seen and heard. The Heaven's Beloved, One image of the infinite unseen, whose being none can know. Brightness of light no eye has seen. God's love revealed below.
The higher mysteries of thy fame the creatures grasp, transcend the Father only thy blessed name of Son can comprehend.
Well, that's the famous 150.
In the end of verse 33, the charge they make is that thou.
Being a man maketh thyself God.
The opposite was really true, Philippians 2 Says who being in the form of God.
01:00:03
You always was God. Never was there a moment when he made himself God. He was God blessed forever. But then it says He.
Was made in the likeness of man. So they had the thing completely switched around and if what they said was true it would have been blasphemy, but it was completely turned around.
The beauty of the.
This chapter gives us not only His work to save the soul, but it gives us who He is, what He has done, and that He's still there today, as we heard this afternoon, the Great Shepherd.
Leading us?
And.
Five times in this chapter we see I am.
48 times in the book of John we.
See the expression I am eight times. In the 8th chapter we see the expression I am. Who is that? I am the eternal one, the ever existent one, the one who never had a beginning, never has an ending. I am.
The essence of life, that's who I am is. And he declares that over and over and over again in the Gospel of John and they.
They understood Moses, they knew that Moses was at the burning Bush, they knew that the great I am spoke to him. And every time the Lord Jesus I believe said I am, it brought enmity out of their hearts because of this verse that she just mentioned. Because thou being a man maketh thyself God. But he, he was God, He was God, the eternal God.
The Jehovah of the Old Testament was the man that was standing in front of.
But this wonderful person is our shepherd.
This wonderful person is our ship.
What a qualified shepherd.
He's well qualified. Yes, thank you.
Her brother mentioned.
And also he read the verse in the 150th hymn and in the 11Th chapter of Matthew, the Lord Jesus mentions that toward the end of the chapter.
Turn to Matthew 11. I think it's important.
And it's beautiful the way the Lord brings it out. Matthew 11.
And the.
27 first.
All things are delivered unto me of my Father.
And no man knows the Son but the Father.
Neither knoweth any man the Father gave the son.
And he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him, do not.
Dissect the son. No man, nor the son, but the father. But when it comes to the father.
Every time we look at a person of Christ, we see the Father, how beautiful that is, how beautiful that is, and it's always been mentioned, he says to Philip. How long have I been? A long time I've been with you, Philip, and dost thou not know me?
That has seen me, has seen the father.
Of beautiful in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily. And that's what means so much to us. We have a God. If he's remote, He's in the heavens, which we cannot approach to. We have no sense of identification with him, really. But the Lord Jesus became a man. He walked this earth. He knows our state, and that's why he is so precious to it, because we can identify.
With him as a man, but still in him, dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily beyond our comprehension.
01:05:06
Then it says, And ye are complete in him.
What more could we want rather than him?
I often think of the Lord Jesus becoming a man. It's it's sort of like a general of an army who never did anything but go say, to a West Point and became an officer and then descended and ranked until he's at the top of the heap and there's some poor private out walking along a muddy Rd. not sure where he's going to sleep that night and so on.
And he says, what does he know about what I'm going through? He's a general. He's got everything taken care of. Well, that's the difference with our Lord Jesus having walked this earth as a humble man, working with his hands, enduring the sorrows and the the weariness and so on. That's what makes him so precious to us. But I have to bring up one part that always, always touches me as I think about him as a man. But if you look in the last chapter of First Timothy, it's familiar. But still, I think it'd be worth looking at.
We have a verse there that should ever keep us humble.
About our Lord Jesus Christ.
At the last part of verse 14, chapter six of First Timothy, our Lord Jesus Christ, which in his times He shall show, who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of Lords, who only have immortality, dwelling in the life which no man can approach, unto whom no man has seen.
Nor can see to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
As much as he was at lowly obedient man. This is our Lord Jesus Christ. And when we say Lord, there is everything we can expect of the highest of all our creation. That scripture you just read in first Timothy marvelous. Now let's look at.
Hebrews 416.
15 For we have not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin marvelous. The Son of God, the one who you just read about dwelling in light that can't be approached, was here.
And he went through everything we go through, every single thing apart from sin. But you know, sometimes we can say, well, he doesn't know. Speaking of our brethren, well, they don't know what I'm going through. We can never say that about the Lord Jesus. He knows everything we've ever gone through or ever will go through. What a Savior we have.
Even if it is sickness, which he could not possibly experience, because sickness is a consequence of sin, but in a sympathetic way he can enter into it, and he does in a sympathetic way. When it says in Matthew that he bore our sicknesses, recording it from Isaiah 53, that doesn't mean that he was really sick.
Like Mr. Darby says, in a sympathetic way he entered into that which he took away in his power. So he feels in a sympathetic way what we experience, even that which he himself could not experience, because sickness is a consequence of sin. And even when he died, death had no claim on him. He laid it down as we have had it, voluntarily.
But.
Everything else, you know, the opposition and the hatred and all of this, the disappointments, even having his own arguing who is the greatest among them when he is occupied with the cross, you know, no entering into what was before his soul, that all was a disappointment to him. But even if we go through things and I better might not be able.
01:10:10
To enter into it or don't seem to be much.
Concerned about entering into it? The Lord Jesus does and how wonderful because He was a man and that is how it is presented in Hebrews chapter 2. You know that He is our great heart priest because He was here.
As a man, and this is what we most often think of, connected with the priesthood of Christ and he is able to succor us.
Who are being tempted?
But how wonderful, too, that he is the high priest, the minister of the sanctuary. You know, like tomorrow, if we are still here, and we enter into the inner sanctuary, into the holiest of all. He's there, beloved brethren, to assist us in our feeble worship. And that which we might present imperfectly goes through his hands.
And he presents it to God perfectly, but especially for our hearts in connection with the trials and difficulties of the pathway. What a comfort to have a high priest that is able to enter into our circumstances and is able to comfort us, succor us in these circumstances.
Further than I'll just ask the question. If I understand correctly, this will be the last Bible reading of this conference tomorrow being launched today and we're pretty close to the end of this chapter. Have we covered those points that we would like to cover in the next few minutes?
There may be one missing if I can get close enough to that mic.
Everybody hear me? All right.
Little comfort. Psalm 23. I'll just read it.
The heart is my Shepherd.
I shall not want.
He maketh me to lie down.
Sometimes there's compulsion. He maketh me the lighter in green pastures. He leadeth me.
Beside the still waters.
Not a big storm.
He restored us, my soul.
When I wander, He restores my soul. He leadeth me. Notice who does all this? He verse two twice the word He verse three twice the word He.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his namesake.
Yay though, I walk through the valley, the shadow of death.
Appeared no evil, for thou art with me.
Iran.
May have to be correction.
By Rod and thy staff.
Or support. They comfort me.
Now preparest not.
Some effort on my part to construct some apparatus. Now prepare us to the table before me in the presence of my enemies.
Something else that he does. Thou anointest my head with oil.
And happy consequence. My cup runneth over.
Maspers certainty.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
After my life is over and I will dwell.
House of the Lord.
Forever.
01:15:00
Psalm 23.
Just 6 short verses.
I might mention too, brethren, the last two or three verses of this chapter.
Certainly.
Should speak to our hearts in a certain sense.
Are the one who has gone beyond Jordan or death, our Lord Jesus Christ, the Great Shepherd of the sheep, into the place where John at first baptized, and there he abode. He takes a new position and redemption.
And there he is, the center.
And many resorted unto him.
Tomorrow we'll have the blessed privilege.
Of gathering together by the spirit around him, owning him as the center.
He is the person that attracts our hearts and of course at his table that speaks of unity outside of all division and all of man's system of things.
To be there to answer to his blessed request. The Upper Room, so to speak.
This new in remembrance.
Of me.
I was also wondering whether Dave, whether.
It could be taken also this way, that that is where they were to come and repent, you know.
That was still needed, you know, the Lord Jesus went there where John the Baptist had baptized unto repentance, and then many joined him there. You know, that was still needed for this nation that rejected him.
But I enjoy what you said, you know that he is now beyond Jordan and we can be.
Identified with him who has gone through that and be associated with him there?
We sing #277 Two 7/7.
Little bit of water, shepherd.
Verse 24. June 24.
Now under him that is able to keep you from calling and to present you faultless.
For the presence of His glory with joy.
Our God.
The Shepherd's Work
Address—R. Thonney
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.
Let's start our meeting with #103.
We'll sing of the shepherd that died, that died for the sake of the flock. His love to the utmost was tried, but firmly endured as a rock.
I know how it is.
In the afternoon meeting, this is probably one of the harder ones to stay awake and I'm suggesting we stand up and.
Sing #103.
With.
Let's pray.
Let's go back first of all to our.
Chapter in John chapter 10 just to.
Reread a verse. We've been.
Thinking about a lot.
Verse 11.
I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Now verse 16 and other sheep I have which are not of this fold.
Them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice.
And there shall be one full alternate reading is 1 flock.
And one shepherd.
Now go over to the 11Th chapter.
And we're going to read the prophecy of a man who.
Was not a true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, but he occupied the place of the high priest in the nation of Israel and God used his mouth to say something that is quite significant. Let's read it, Chapter 11 of John.
Verse 49 And one of them named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider.
That it is expedient for us that one man should die for the people.
And that the whole nation perished, not in this spake he not of himself, but being High priest that year.
He prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation, and this is the part I'd like to draw attention to, and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad.
00:05:21
The purpose of the death of the Lord Jesus was to gather together in one.
The children of God that were scattered abroad. Wonderful to think about.
In chapter 10, we were reading about the Good Shepherd. Let's go over now to.
Hebrews chapter 13 to read about.
The title that the Lord Jesus is taking.
Perhaps we can say in this present time that we live in when He has gone home to glory.
And sent the Spirit of God down here into this world. He is still working as a shepherd. And to me it is wonderful to get the eyes on him. Brethren, you look around, doesn't take very long to get discouraged what you see. But when you look up and realize that there is above one who is still working as a shepherd.
To take care of his sheep.
Chapter 13 of Hebrews verse 20.
Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead.
Our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect.
In every good work to do his will working in you.
That which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen. Here we have the Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, and he is working now.
To perfect.
Us in every good work.
Sometimes, you know, we don't understand his workings. And I must say as I go around and see God's dear people in different countries of this world.
You know, brethren, life isn't easy anywhere I go. It's downright hard in lots of places and people often say why? Let me tell you, I don't have a whole lot of answers other than that we have a God who is above and that He is working to perfect.
In us His will in every good work. How He works that out I do not know. The verse that often comes to my own heart is the one in Isaiah 55 that says My thoughts, the Lord speaking, are not your thoughts, neither are my ways your ways.
That is certainly true.
He works in ways that I can't figure out.
And the verse that comes to me in that connection is, we know in part.
Don't judge the Lord by the difficult circumstances you may be passing through right now, because you only know in part one day He's going to pull the curtain aside.
At the judgment seat of Christ. And he said, I know you didn't understand it. I just ask you to trust me. And now I'm going to show you why I did it the way I did. And I'm convinced brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, that when we see it from heaven's side, when we see the wisdom and the power and the love.
00:10:02
That were involved in every single circumstance in our life, we're going to say.
I wouldn't have wanted it anywhere else. He did it right. Right now we don't see.
At all. And it takes simple faith to trust the Shepherd. He's leading in ways we do not understand. But one of the things that really comes home to my own soul in these last days when things are hard, downright hard in so many other, in so many areas of life.
Don't mistrust the shepherd. That's what the enemy comes to you and whispers in your ear.
I hear it lots. God could have done better for me than this.
Why does the Lord allow this to happen to me? And the suggestion is that God is not as good as he makes out to be. That's the hiss of the serpent. Don't listen to it. God is as good as he makes out to be.
And He proved it. And if you want to know how good God is, don't look at your present circumstances that you only understand a very small part of. Look at Calvary. Look at that cross where God's beloved Son hung in terrible agony, not only physical agony, but the agony of his soul as He was made sin for us.
To pay the debt we owed, to pay it in full. He did the will of God in the face of the wrath of God.
And he finished that work completely.
Said it is finished and then God raised him from the dead. There is the fullest display of the truth that God is light and God is love that there will ever be. I'm sure when we get home to glory, we're going to see that every one of our lives is going to be a vivid testimony to the goodness of the heart of God.
In that coming day, he's going to display the exceeding riches of His grace in those ages to come.
In us, the church. But in the mean time, brethren, we're going to have to learn to simply trust Him. Don't give way to the doubts that want to flood into your soul. He is working, and He is working with this purpose in mind, as it says here, to make you perfect in every good work, to do His will.
You know the Lord Jesus is referred to and I think it was mentioned by someone in the 5th chapter of first Peter. I'd like to read that verse too. And this is something that is future. He's referred to as the shepherd. Once again, the 5th chapter, first Peter and verse.
For here Peter who is given charge to feed.
The lambs and the sheep of the flock of God is.
Passing that charge on to the elders that were among them. And he says in verse four, And when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory, that they doth not away. I love the way the Spanish translation reads here. It's the Prince of the shepherds.
He is the Prince of the shepherds and oh, the glory of that day. If you and I have been involved, and this is what I want to encourage you to, dear young people, you don't know the effect you have on your fellow young people to be somebody, to steer them in the right direction at the right time. You can either have a very negative effect or you can have a very positive effect. I remember when I was a young person.
Growing up and there were tendencies, there were circumstances that were negative in my vicinity.
God used a young brother to steer me.
00:15:00
In the right direction and I thank God for that young brother that steered me that way at a crucial time. Young people don't realize how much effect you have on your fellow young people. Make sure that you are being an influence in the right direction because you too can be used in this work that the Lord Jesus is doing of shepherding His sheep.
I'd like to go first of all to some examples of how the Lord Jesus.
Shepherded his sheep, you know, it says. Maybe we should read it in.
Matthew's Gospel. Just to get it straight, it's a quotation from Zechariah, but it is quoted in Matthew chapter.
26.
Verse 31 Then said Jesus unto them.
All ye shall be offended because of Maine.
This night, for it is written, I will smite the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered abroad. We've read about gatherings here, we read about scattering, and scattering is a very tremendous reality amongst God's people here. It was the death of the Lord Jesus that it was referred to.
Smite, the shepherd and the sheep shall be scattered abroad. They couldn't understand it when Jesus was crucified. They thought he had come to set up his Kingdom. And when the shepherd was hung on a cross and died, they were completely disillusioned.
You know, sometimes we don't listen very well to the Word of God. We have our thoughts and our ideas, and they're not always right ideas we get. We need to constantly challenge our thinking by the light of the precious Word of God that we have in our hands. That's why it's so important to be reading the Scriptures daily.
Anyhow, when the Lord Jesus was smitten the sheep.
Were scattered, and when he rises from the dead, he begins the work.
Of regathering those poor scattered sheep.
To me, it's so instructive to see the way the Lord Jesus worked in his dear people to bring them back to himself. And I just like to briefly go over it because it's such an encouragement to me. Let's go over to John's Gospel chapter 20. The first one he appeared to in Resurrection was Mary Magdalene.
Kind of a challenge to us brothers. I think that he didn't appear to.
One of the disciples, The 12 disciples or the 11 at that time?
No, it was a woman he appeared first to. Why?
Why did he appear to marry Magdalene first?
The only answer I have, and perhaps there are other reasons, is that Mary's heart be true to Jesus.
Completely true to him.
She wasn't very intelligent. She really hadn't listened to what he had to say before he died.
Or else she might have been like Mary of Bethany, not been there, but she was true hearted to Jesus and to me this is extremely precious.
How is your heart toward the person of the Lord Jesus, dear brother, dear sister?
Does it be true to Jesus?
You know, I was challenged the other day when we were down in Argentina. We were in the city of Tucuman where there's a small assembly.
Lemoyne Smith and I and we had to leave fairly good time early hour the next morning and we were in a taxi on our way to the airport and pulled up to a stoplight and.
00:20:15
Since economic times have been hard there, why there was this man selling newspapers?
At the corner and.
Now they're all, all the cars are stopped. So you'd run along beside the cars seeing if anybody wanted a newspaper. And as he came by the taxi were in Lemoyne held a calendar out to mullet calendar and gave him a calendar and he ran on by. But when he realized what it was on the calendar, he came back and he stuck his head in the window. He says Jesus is my life, Jesus is my love.
He's gone to prepare a place for me.
And he's coming back soon. Again, the light switched to green and the taxi took off.
So the warmth, that brother's heart.
I've never broken bread with that brother.
I've never known him before, may never see him again on this side, but his heart was beating true to Jesus.
And sometimes I see brethren I break bread with.
And other things are so much more important.
But the meetings don't seem to be important. Or Jesus isn't it?
I think that's why the Lord appeared to Mary. First of all, He appreciates a heart who is true to Jesus, wasn't well instructed. And there are so many of those brethren sometimes we criticize because they're not in the right place perhaps, or they don't know their doctrine properly.
Not discounting doctrine. It's important. Very important.
But let's remember how much value the Lord Jesus.
Puts on true heartedness to Him. Mary was true hearted to Jesus. Let's read this account because it's so touching to my own heart. I know we've read it before, brethren, but I'm not going to apologize for going over it again. Verse one, the first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark.
Any ladies like to be in the cemetery when it's still dark by themselves? Here was one.
She wasn't thinking about herself, she was thinking about somebody else.
Seeth the stone taken away from the sepulchre. Then she runneth and cometh to Simon Peter and to the other disciple.
Whom Jesus loved and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulchre, and we know not where they have laid him. Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple came to the sepulchre. So they ran both together. The other disciple did outrun. Peter came first to the sepulchre, and he's stooping down and looking in, saw the linen clothes line and went. Yet when he not in, then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulchre, and seeth the linen clothes lie.
And the napkin that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself. Then went in also that other disciple which came first to the sepulchre, and he saw and believed the linen clothes had just been vacated, and under the weight of those spices that were in those, that sheeting that was wrapped around his body.
It was just laying there because His body was not there any longer. He had risen from the dead. He saw, He believed, for as yet they knew not the Scripture, that He must rise again from the dead. Then the disciples went away again into their own home, unto their own home. But Mary stood without at the sepulchre weeping.
And as she wept, she stooped down and looked in into the sepulchre, and see two angels in white sitting, the one at the head and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain.
How interesting, I've always thought I'd kind of like to see an Angel. Maybe we have seen him. We didn't realize they were because they appear in human form as they did to Abraham. He saw three men standing there. One was the Lord and two were angels and we have seen him. Don't know, but I think they keep their themselves out of line of vision because they are not the object of faith. The Lord Jesus is the object of faith. But here they are sitting there.
00:25:31
And.
They say, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord. Isn't that beautiful? First she says to the disciples, They have taken away the Lord. Now she says, My Lord, and I know not where they have laid them.
And when she had thus said, she turned herself back. She was not interested in angels.
And saw Jesus standing and knew not that it was.
Jesus, isn't this beautiful? I think this is a tremendously beautiful way that the Lord Jesus gently brings back those scattered sheep to Himself. Jesus said them to her woman, why weepest thou? Whom seekest thou? Didn't he know? Sure he knew, but he drew her out. I think that is so beautiful.
When you're trying to be a help to somebody, allow them to express.
Their feelings give them a chance.
She supposing him to be the gardener.
We have our suppositions, don't we, brethren?
Saith unto him, Sir, if thou hast borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.
Jesus saith unto her.
Mary.
That's a touching scene, Mary. It was the shepherd calling his sheep, and instantly she recognized his voice. Mary It didn't seem to be.
What she saw, she didn't seem to recognize him when she looked at him, but it was when he called her by name. She immediately turns herself. She had turned her back on the gardener, but she turns herself back.
And said unto him, Rabboni, which is to say, Master Jesus said under her, Touch me not, for I am not yet ascended to my Father and two, but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my father and your father, and to my God and your God. Mary Magdalene came and told the disciples that she had seen the Lord, and that they had spoken these things under her.
Mary wanted to have the Lord Jesus back again as she had known Him before.
He said in a gentle way. No, Mary, you're not going to have me.
Like you had me before, don't touch me, you're going to have me in a new way. And that's what we have in Second Corinthians chapter 5 when it says, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now knowing him, hence no more.
No, we don't know him after the flesh. We know him now in resurrection.
We are united to him in resurrection. And then he tells her, go to my brethren, and tell them, I ascend unto my Father and your father. This is the gospel of John, brethren, bringing us into relationship with God as Father. Oh, what a tremendous blessing and communicated first to this dear woman.
Whose heart be true to Jesus?
Here Mary Magdalene is back on track. She had gotten to see her Lord if they'd like to go.
To Luke's Gospel Now, chapter 24.
To talk of.
A couple people.
One was.
Cleopas and the other doesn't give his name.
Since they were both going together to their home in Emmaus.
00:30:00
Why, it could easily have been his wife.
Man and a woman doesn't say so he can't say definitely, but let's read this. Behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus. To us from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs, about 7 miles the way we would calculate distance.
And they talked together of all these things which had happened, and it came to pass that while they communed together and reasoned.
You know when you don't have the Lord clear before your soul, all the reasoning in the world doesn't resolve anything. Here they are, they're walking together, they're talking about what's happened, their reasoning, but nothing comes clear.
But it says here Jesus himself drew near and went with him. What a beautiful text. Jesus himself drew near and went with him. Do you know the Lord is with us, brother? He has promised never to leave us, nor to forsake us.
He said before he left to go back. He said, lo, I am with you alway.
Until the end of the world, until the end of the age, is with us. His personal presence, with every one of his people individually, that's a reality. Sometimes we don't feel like he's with us.
Young sisters some time ago said to me, it seems like the Lord just abandoned me. I got so many problems.
I said to her.
Will you please read?
Hebrews 13/5.
And six. And she read it and I said, what does it say? He says, you'll never leave me nor forsake me. I say, OK, your feelings say that he's left you. The word of God says he will never leave you. Now what are you going to believe your feelings or the word of God? She says, I guess I better believe the word of God. I said, yeah, I think that's the best route to go.
Feelings go up and down like a seesaw with the Word of God remains constant. Always trust God's Word, He's always with us. So here He comes, He goes with them.
Their eyes were holding that they should not know Him. So often we don't understand that He's right there, brethren. Oh how many words we would desist saying if we realized Jesus is right here.
Oh, how many places we wouldn't go if we realized he's with us at all times.
Verse 17 And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that ye have one to another as ye walk?
And are sad. And the one of them whose name was Cleopas.
Answering said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem? That's what he was to them.
And hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days.
And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him concerning Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty indeed, and word before God and all the people, how the chief priests and our rulers can delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And beside all this, today is the third day since these things were done.
Yeah, in certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre.
And when they found not his body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels which said that he was alive and certain of them which were with us went to the sepulchre and found it. Even so, as the women had said that him they saw not. Isn't this interesting? I think it is so instructive to if you want to be a help to somebody else, you're going to have to learn to be a good listener.
00:35:06
Sometimes people just pour out their heart. Remember Brother Eric Smith telling me when I started traveling with him into South America, He said, you've got to learn to listen. If you don't listen, people are just waiting for you to stop saying what you're saying so they can keep on talking. Let them get out what's troubling them. And that is a very helpful instruction. And we see that the Lord Jesus himself did it. He could have said to them, whoa, stop right in your tracks, don't go another step, I'm the Lord.
Didn't do it.
He walked those seven miles. How long does it take to walk 7 miles? I suppose it was hilly country. I would guess between anywhere between two and three hours. That's quite a bit of time.
And the Lord in a rush to get everything taken care of. We get in a rush, you know, not the Lord. To me, this is so beautiful.
We don't help when we get in rush about things. I'm not saying that criticize anybody out here because I get in a rush way too much of the time, brother, but this is something that really attracts me to the person of the Lord Jesus. He took all that time, walk all that way, all the way to Mass. He never said, hey, go back, you're going the wrong direction. Never said it.
Never said it. He walked right alongside of them.
But notice in verse 25 he begins to talk after they had gotten out what was.
On their hearts then he said unto them.
O fools, and slow of heart, to believe all that the prophets have spoken, you know reproof is in order.
And this is pretty correct and serious reproof. I'm not suggesting anybody.
Of us call somebody else a fool. The scripture tells us not to do that, but the Lord could because the Lord knew the hearts as we don't know them. But reproof is in order. Brethren, what Heinz said at the end of the meeting is good love is faithful, faithful are the wounds of a friend. And sometimes we need direct words.
But brethren, let me suggest something when direct words are necessary, something that Albert Haygel used to draw our attention to quite a bit that I have found extremely helpful. Turn over to Don't lose your place there. In Luke, turn over to Romans chapter 15.
And verse 14.
I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren.
That ye also are full of goodness.
Filled with all knowledge.
Able.
Also to admonish one another.
And our dear brother used to make mention of this. Admonishment is necessary at times, brethren. I have needed my share of it, and thankfully there were those who were able to give it to me. Thank the Lord for that. But notice the order. Admonishing does not come first. What comes first?
You're filled.
You're full of goodness, second filled with all knowledge, and 3rd able also to admonish one another.
Just to put that into perspective if I need.
Some admonishment and there is a brother who comes up to me.
To take care of that task, which is not an easy task.
If he is one who has been known for his goodness and seeking sacrificially, seeking my good.
And then he's filled with all knowledge. He understands the problem that I'm in.
00:40:05
He doesn't understand just one side of the question. He understands the complete thing.
Then when admonishment is administered, it has tremendous effect.
But brethren, if those first two things are not in place, it has negative effects sometimes, and so may the Lord help us to be exercised in being a help to souls. This is part of shepherding. Admonishment is necessary. But if I'm going to admonish one, let me ask these two questions first.
Do I have I sought the good of this individual? Does he understand that?
And #2 do I really understand the problem completely? It's happened too often in my own experience, brethren, that I've understand one side of the question, and then a little later I understand another side of the question, and my feelings completely change. And so if I go to admonish with just a partial understanding of the problem, I'm going to do more damage than good. May the Lord help us.
Brethren, admonishment is necessary, and the Lord admonished these said, O fools and slow of heart, to believe. And sometimes we need a little bit of a shake to get the listening mode in place so that we can listen.
We don't listen very well sometimes.
Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory?
I'm back in Luke 24 again, verse 27, and beginning at Moses and all the prophets he expounded unto them.
In all the scriptures, the things concerning himself, I think this is so beautiful.
He opens the Scriptures to them. Oh brethren, the power of the precious Word of God to a soul who is true to Christ, he may be off track, but if his soul is true to Christ, the power of the Word of God cannot be underestimated, cannot be overestimated. It is tremendous. So the Lord opened the Scriptures.
To them all those Old Testament scriptures, verse 28 and they drew nigh into the village.
Whether they went and he made as though he would have gone further, isn't this gracious? He doesn't impose on them that they have to take him in. No, he makes as though he's going further.
Ever homeless stranger thus dearest friend to me. But they constrained him, and said, Abide with us for his toward evening, and the day is far spent. And he went in to tarry with them. And it came to pass, as he sat at me, he took bread, and blessed it, and break it, and gave to them.
And their eyes were opened, and they knew Him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another. Did not our hearts burn within us as he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures? And they rose up the same hour and returned to Jerusalem, and found the 11 gathered together, and then that were with them.
No complaining, it's too far to go tonight, let's wait till tomorrow when they got their eyes open to Jesus, to His person, His glorious person.
They knew exactly where they belonged, and they turned and went back that very night. Brethren, I'm convinced that so much of our problems are because we get our eyes.
On Brethren.
We get a full diet sometimes of fried brethren, and then we take off in another direction.
Brethren, we need.
To turn to the Lord.
To get our eyes different. You can see the tendency in my own heart.
And it's a natural reaction, wanting a place amongst the brethren.
God deliver us from such thinking.
It will only bring trouble when we are in the presence of the Lord of glory.
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How can we think in such terms? When we get our eyes open to Him and to His glory, we'll know where we belong. And it wasn't too far to go that very night, even though it was on foot to go back to Jerusalem to tell the news they'd seen the Lord. Well, we're not going to be able to take up. I wanted to talk about Peter too, you know Peter.
Says in verse 34.
They said when they got back there, the Lord is risen indeed and it appeared to Simon somewhere in there he had come in contact with Simon Peter.
And that was what was referred to in one of our readings here as the private encounter.
Of the Lord Jesus with Peter. You know when we fail first of all.
In the course of restoration is private restoration with the Lord to deal with the Lord individually. Until that happens, there can be no public restoration and Peter is restored in John 21 to publicly.
Take a position of feeding the lambs and the sheep of the flock of God, and it's so beautiful to see it. Peter goes back to fishing and you know, I've thought about that a lot. That's where Peter met the Lord the first time.
And he was perhaps a bit disorientated. Was it right for him to go back fishing? I don't suppose we could say it was right, but maybe, he said. That's where I met Jesus the first time.
And you know the Lord met him there the second time again. Sometimes when souls get off track, they don't know where to go to start over again.
So he goes back where he met the Lord the first time, and the Lord met him there the second time. I think that's beautiful, brethren. And he gives him his Commission, and it was an important Commission.
But before we finish this afternoon, I'd like to turn to another portion in John's Gospel, chapter 13, that I think is so helpful in connection with shepherding. Because the Lord Jesus is risen, He's ascended, He's at God's right hand, but he is working there as a great high priest and our advocate.
And.
He is doing what we have here in this chapter.
Washing our feet.
Now this is not just a mere physical thing, no feet speaking the word of God of our walk.
And sometimes we contract contamination from this world. Let's read here a little bit now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that is hour was come, that He should depart out of this world into the Father, having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
His love is never going to change, brethren.
It's love to the end, all the way home.
To the uttermost, it says in Hebrews Chapter 7, and supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simonson to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God. O the majesty of this person we're talking about, what does He do in that position? He rises from supper.
Laid aside his garments.
Took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter. Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never oyst my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He that is washed needeth not to save, not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit, and you're clean but not all, for he knew.
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Who should betray him? Therefore he said he, ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Knowing what I have done to you, ye call me master and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am. If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example.
That you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I send to you. The servant is not greater than his Lord.
Neither is he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. Here is the Lord Jesus, and what we have here is really a picture of what He is doing at the present time in the glory.
You can imagine.
Feet, they probably had sandals on them. How dirty they get sometimes how smelly they can get to and hear the Lord of glory, Tremendously wonderful to think about it, brethren gets up, lays aside his garments and takes a basin of water and puts himself.
At the feet of the disciples to wash their feet. So beautiful. You know, if you're going to wash somebody's feet, you're going to have to lay aside your garments. Your garment speaks of what you may be in society. You know a soldier by his garments. You know a policeman by his garments. You know a doctor by his garments. At least in a hospital.
And so all that you may have in ranking in society at large, if you're going to be a help to others who may have contracted some kind of contamination, you're going to have to lay that to one side. You're going to have to get down at the feet of those that need their feet washed.
You know, sometimes I think we just don't know how to get down.
Remember.
Brother Paul Wilson, he often suggested this chapter for readings at conferences and I remember him talking about it and he says sometimes we use a long handled brush to wash our brethren's feet and it doesn't work very well.
No, brethren, we shouldn't use long handled brushes.
We need to get down there right at their feet. And he also said sometimes we use scalding water or maybe some other time we use freezing water.
I don't think that's what the Lord Jesus did.
And then it says he wiped their feet with the towel with which he was girded.
Oh brethren, this is such a beautiful example for us to learn from. He left them comfortable. Sometimes I have to confess, rather than I've gone to perhaps try to help somebody, but I'm afraid when I left, I left those people feeling totally uncomfortable. Sorry I messed up. I didn't use the towel to dry the feet. He left them feeling.
Refreshed.
And comfortable.
The Lord help us to meditate these things so that we can be a help to one another. It's not just one that does it for all the rest. We are to do this one for another. And foot washing is perhaps to wash away some contamination, but it is also to refresh. And that's what the Lord did this and it's interesting.
Peter was also always a person given to extremes.
But I'm sure glad we have Peter, because we make a lot of the same mistakes and now we know the Lord has to say to us in our mistakes first. He says, Lord, you Peter, I'm sure felt properly. The Lord was worthy of a place of honor and me. You're going to wash my feet, Lord, never.
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Brethren, he's interested in our dirty laundry.
And he's there and he's applying the water of the word in these days of special meetings.
To address some of those things that perhaps otherwise are not addressed.
May the Lord help us to respond to Him and can I say a word to our young people?
Sometimes, you know, it may seem that the older brethren don't really understand my problem.
Maybe they don't.
But let me tell you.
Look beyond your brethren. There is that great Shepherd of the sheep and the glory above who is using perhaps a poor, failing human instrument to wash your feet and take it from the Lord. Don't take it merely from the brethren. If you're just looking at brethren and what they did wrong and what they said wrong, you're not going to get the blessing.
You'll get the blessing when you take it from the Lord.
Still remember when I was younger I spoke in a public meeting one time and her brother came up to me afterwards and said quite sharply he said, did you say such and such? Bob said yes, is that what you meant? Said yes, that's what I meant.
He said if that's what you meant, go home and get down on your knees and ask the Lord what it means, because you're really badly mistaken.
The old water started boiling inside, Let me tell you. Thankfully, I didn't let any words out of my mouth. I turned and walked away. I got home, I was uncomfortable.
I got down my knees and said Lord.
How am I supposed to understand this?
And the Lord showed me, Bob, you were kind of proud that you had spoken pretty good and I wasn't pleasing to me. And I used that instrument. Maybe it was a little rough on you, but don't you hold it against him. It was me trying to deal with you about being proud. Brethren, take everything that happens, even maybe a brother who speaks a little bit brass to you, Take it.
From the Lord, you're going to find that the Lord does not make mistakes. Your brother may make mistakes. The Lord never what He allows to happen in your life and mine. And if you can take it from the Lord, you're going to find there is a very real blessing for you in it. Well, brethren, let me just quote that verse in Hebrews again. It's such a comfort to my own heart these last days.
That we live in.
So much confusion on every side, but listen to this again. The God of peace that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do His will working in you that which is well pleasing in His sight through Jesus Christ to whom?
Be glory forever and ever. Amen. Let's thank the Lord.
Father, thanks for thy precious word.
Victory in the Midst of Adversity
Address—S. Jacobsen
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76.
Rise, my soul. Thy God directs the stranger hands no more Impede Pass thou on his hand protects thee strength that has the captive freed someone. Please start number 76.
My God. My God.
I forever.
Lord, every day and all the time we pray.
I have 3 scriptures that I would like to read in the New Testament before we turn to the old.
The first is in Romans, the 15th chapter.
Verses 4:00 and 5:00.
The.
Romans, the 15th chapter and verses 4:00 and 5:00.
Take the liberty of reading without particular comment, except now 2 words in this verse and in the fourth verse as they appear in the Darby translation.
Whatsoever things were written before time were written for our learning that we through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures might have hope now the God of endurance and.
Encouragement grant you to be like minded one toward another.
According to Christ Jesus. Now let's turn to the 12Th chapter of Hebrews.
The 12Th chapter of Hebrews in verses 2:00 and 3:00.
In the second verse it's looking and in the third verse it's considering.
Hebrews 12 and verse two, looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him.
Endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand.
Of the throne of God, for consider him that endured.
The third is in first John the 5th chapter.
And verses 4:00 and 5:00.
I noted that in the Darby translation, each word of overcome is victory, so we'll read it that way. First John 5 and verses four and five. For whatsoever is born of God has the victory over the world, and this is the victory that that is. And this is the victory that we have, victory over the world, even our faith, who is he that has victory.
Over the world. But he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God. What I have in my heart is to go back into the Old Testament.
And take 3 examples from the story of Joseph and three stories from the.
The Incidences of David.
As an example of having a victory in the midst of adversity, so let's turn to the 37th chapter of Genesis.
But with special emphasis or awareness that these two individuals, probably as much or more than anyone else in the Old Testament, are beautiful types of the Lord Jesus. So that's why we read the verses in the 12Th chapter of Hebrews. Consider him now in the 37th chapter of Genesis without.
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Reading as much as we would like, he goes to see his brethren, and they conspire in the 18th verse. And when they saw him afar off, even before he came nearer to them, they conspired against him to slay him. Well, Reuben seems to have some degree of of desire. But now let's read down in the 23rd verse. And it came to pass, when Joseph was come unto his brethren, that they stripped Joseph out of his coat, his coat of many colors that was on him.
And they took him and cast him into a pit, And the pit was empty.
There was no water in it. Now this particular circumstance, I'm sure that we're not going to experience, but as we go through the three examples of Joseph and the three of David, if we can see that something of them that we can walk in his footsteps, we can consider him and we can look unto Jesus now as we go down.
We find that Joseph is sold and we find him now in Egypt in the 38th chapter.
39th chapter. Joseph was the first verse. Joseph was brought down to Egypt.
And Potiphar, an officer of feral captain of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him.
Out of the hands of the Ishmaelites which had brought him down thither.
And the Lord was with Joseph, and he was a prosperous man, and he was in the House of his master in Egypt.
We'll see that as we progress to this one and the next one, that all things work together for good to them that love God.
And to think of the adversity that each one of us and some that we know of, we've prayed for the.
Parents, the children that are left and adversity in so many ways, the widow in Bloomington. And so we we take from these incidences that encouragement of the Scriptures for endurance and encouragement for you and for me in the wilderness that we're in now. We know in the rest of the chapter 39 that Potiphar's wife saw indeed.
Without too much explanation of it, in the sixth verse Joseph was a goodly person and well favored. Makes us think of the Blessed Lord, doesn't it? Here it's more physical. And so she falsely accuses him further down in the chapter and his employer, if you will says.
In the 19th verse it came to pass when his master heard the words of his wife, which he spake unto him saying after this manner.
Did thy servant to me that he was wrath was kindled, and he put him into the prison, a place where the King's prisoners were bound, and he was there in the prison. But the Lord was with him to see how the circumstances that Joseph went through, however.
Degrading they were that he kept God before him, and he was encouraged, and he was the Lord was with him, and showed him mercy, and gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison, and so for the encouragement of each one of us.
That sometimes we wonder just how much we can take and the difficulties. But if we see in this story of Joseph that whether he was in the pit.
There was number water in it. What a picture of the Blessed Lord. All God's waves and billows passed over him.
But for Joseph he was despised of his brethren, because he had told them.
That of his dream. Well, he maybe didn't understand when that would be fulfilled and surely.
When he was in the pit, he certainly didn't. I'm sure he'd wondered just how it could possibly be fulfilled.
And you know, sometimes we take that verse in Romans 828. All things work together for good to them that love God.
We say I don't.
Understand how it's possible, but you know, it's through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures. And so when we're through, we'd like to summarize and we give a little summary of it right now, that the circumstances of David, the circumstances of Joseph may not exactly fit your circumstance or mine, but it's an example of what there is in the ways of God with each one of us.
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And be encouraged to find throughout Scripture.
Many.
An illustration that just fits just exactly.
Fits our needs. So now he's in prison.
Is he in despair? Well, let's find out.
In the 22nd verse. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph's hand all the prisoners that were in the prison, and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it.
The keeper of the prison looked not to anything that was under his hand, because the Lord was with him and that which he did, the Lord made it to prosper.
Beautiful to think of being able to make the circumstances of my life and yours.
Into that which the Lord can use and prosperous not in basket and store, but in a state of soul. We covet that, don't we? It says to covet earnestly the best gifts, and I'm not sure that's a gift, but it certainly would be a gift down from above in that sense. And so the desire of your heart and mind is to be able to take the circumstances that were found in not not to get out of them, but to find in them that which God can prosperous in our souls.
All right, let's go on. In the 40th chapter, we find that there are two.
New prisoners and they have a dream.
And he tells the meanings of those dreams and down in.
The 14th verse of the 40th chapter, he says Think on me when it shall be well with thee, and show kindness I pray thee unto me and make mention of the anti Pharaoh and bring me out of this house.
Let's read quickly after what we've read, the first verse of the 41St chapter.
And it came to pass at the end of two full years. It doesn't say about. In the book of Acts there's several incidences of about about 12, about this many thousand. But it says it came to pass at the end of two full years. Could we say without too much imagination, That was prolonged waiting, wasn't it? Here he was given everything under the.
The hand of the keeper of the prison. He could tell exactly what was going to happen to those two.
And he had to wait two years. We'd like it to go like that, wouldn't we? And so we learn patience, tribulation, work of patience and patience, experience and experience, hope and hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. To think of how God in the desert God will teach thee what the God dost thou hast found. And it's through circumstances.
Some of which may be pleasant, some of which may not be, but they all work together for good. Well, we we know that after two full years, Farrell has a dream.
And he interprets and he's brought out of the prison. So we've started with Joseph in a pit.
And we now are not going to read it, but we find that at the end of this portion that we're that we've taken up, that we find that Joseph now is taken out of prison. He changes his garments, he comes before the pharaoh, and he's given charge of of all of this vast planting and harvesting in preparation for seven years. Brethren, we may not be called to that kind of thing.
But we can see by the endurance and encouragement of scriptures that we might have hope. So now let's turn to David in First Samuel 16.
We found.
Joseph in a pit.
To start with, and we're going to start with David, 16th chapter in the 11Th verse.
We're going to find him in the next chapter, fighting with.
The Philistine, but first of all.
I'm reading in First Samuel 1611 to pick up a thread.
Of what David's occupation was before he was on the battlefield with Goliath.
And I really believe that there's a lesson for me and for you in connection with it.
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said.
There remaineth yet the youngest, and behold, he keepeth the sheep.
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Lonely out in the hills. He probably had two things. Three things. He had a staff.
He had a harp of some kind and he had a slingshot.
And.
He had a sense of the presence of God.
God, in secret thee shall keep.
There is no opportunity for anyone of us to do a work of God until there has been a work in our souls. It is God that worketh in you both the will and the dew of his good pleasure. And so that's First Samuel 1611. Now let's go to the 17th chapter and the 34th verse.
We find what happened out in the hills. We have assumed that he had his harp and and he played and and he had this slingshot. But now notice in First Samuel 1734. And David said unto Saul, thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock. Did he care about the lamb? Well, obviously.
He did. And I went out after him and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth, And when he rose against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him.
What kind of supernatural strength did this young man have?
It wasn't a question of having gone to a health spa to develop muscles and that kind of thing.
But it was in God in secret, thee shall keep, and I desire it for you. I desire it for myself to experience in the wilderness that closeness in communion with God, in private, in private.
So that if there is anything that is done in public, it may be the result.
Of what God has wrought in your soul, and mine in private. So let's go on in the 44th verse of the 17th chapter. And so we must progress, and so we won't read at all. Unless. So let's read the 48th verse.
And it came to pass, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew nigh to meet David. And David hasted, and ran towards the army to meet the Philistine. And David put his hand in his bag, and took thence a stone, and slang it, and smote the Philistine in his forehead, that the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell upon his face to the ground. See his statement was I come to thee in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied.
That all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, when once we have been with God in secret.
Everything that's done in public is going to be given credit to the right source.
Is going to be given to God, and if there's anything that comes to man, we need to recede back into the shadows.
To go back into the secret of the presence of God, so that what's manifested will be clearly of him. So now the first example of David that we've chosen is the background of being a shepherd and of killing Goliath. Let's go on to the next one. It's not a very pleasant one, but let's look at it in a pleasant way. The 1St 2 verses of First Samuel 22.
First Samuel 22 verses one and two.
David here is no longer the champion in the field, but he's being hunted by Saul.
But we don't really. Well, let's read it. But I want this to be the emphasis we don't find.
David lamenting, but he's now a source of encouragement and Center for those that are First Samuel. 22 David therefore departed thence, and escaped to The Cave of Dullum. And when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in debt, and everyone that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain over them. And there were with him about.
400 men. It doesn't tell us that he was discouraged.
That later, he did say.
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I shall one day die at the hand of Saul, but not here.
But he is a center. He is an encouragement to those that.
Are in debt and discontented. What a beautiful picture. What a beautiful picture. What the Lord.
Does for each of our hearts. And you know, brethren, I'm not looking out at you and saying that you're in debt and discontented and and and so on. But there may be that element with each one of us that we need a sense of the Lord that brings us together. And we're not brought together because of of compatibility. We heard about the two sisters in in in Philippians. They were placed by God in that assembly.
And you and I are placed in a particular assembly. And you know, I'm not saying you can't move.
I certainly am one that couldn't say that, because I did. But let's put it this way. If I moved, and if you move to get away from a circumstance, you'll you'll never get away from it. It'll it'll be right in another form because God is working in your heart and mind all the time. For what purpose, according to Romans 8, that we might be conformed?
To the image of his son. I don't always see it that way. You don't always see it that way. But the circumstances of your life are such good, bad, indifferent, plus or minus or zero. Therefore the purpose of making all things work together for good. To the conformity of your heart and mind. To God's beloved Son. Let's go on.
Cave of a Dolem.
Now the next story in the 30th chapter of First Samuel.
Pretty serious situation for Samuel 30.
First Samuel 30 verse one, and it came to pass when David and his men were come to Ziglag on the third day.
That the Amalekites had invaded the South in Ziglag and Smitten Ziglag and burned it with fire.
And had taken the women captives that were therein, that they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.
Why did they go to ziglag? Well, if we turned in a chapter or so before.
When David defected to the Philistines, the head of the Philistines had given him ziglag. Now I believe that there's a lesson here, whatever we may get.
If, if we've defected a bit from the truth, we're going to have to give it up and have it restored by God's grace, and not because we got it from this weary world, now another thing.
If David had followed the Philistines to Mount Gilboa, he would have been more to the north and the east. Ziglag is more to the South and the West. And so God and his Providence kept David as far, not maybe as far as could be, but a great distance from Mount Gilboa, because there the anointed was slain, and God spared David that blemish in in his life of having anything to do with having put a hand against.
The anointed beautiful How God works. God in secret Thee shall keep all the circumstances of your life and mine are so ordered, so that we're kept and preserved and encouraged.
Well, it says in the end of the sixth verse, David encouraged himself in the Lord his God.
Do you and I, in the midst of the circumstances that we find ourselves in and you say, brother, you don't know what I'm going through. You talk about God in secret, in secret. I'm going through a great deal. I I respect that. I respect that. But David encouraged himself in the Lord his God. And there's a verse that says.
It's an eighth verse.
Thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover.
All to think of how God delights to give us. He may not give us basket and store.
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But he can, he can enrich us like that verse says in in First Corinthians.
Enriched, not made rich, but enriched. And to think of how your life and mine.
Have been enriched by what the Lord brings in in connection with.
Adversity.
Before we go to the New Testament.
To pick up 3 examples in the Lord's life, let's sing the 1St 6 verses of #64.
And at the conclusion we'll sing the last four verses of #64, so #64 and the 1St 6 verses.
To the gospel of Mark. And we have chosen, I trust, not arbitrarily.
Or randomly, but we've chosen 4 stories incidences in the Lord's life.
Where there was a need of his power.
And his inclination, his sympathy.
When there was on the part of those that were to be recipients, there was some doubt.
In their minds concerning his willingness, his caring.
Or his power?
Don't we see?
If we didn't even look into the scriptures, which of course would be a loss.
Don't we see that in your experience in mine?
In life we sometimes.
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Tacitly doubt his willingness or his care.
Or his power. So let's look at it the first chapter of Mark and the 40th verse.
Mark the first chapter in the 40th verse. There came a leper to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, and saying unto him.
If.
Thou wilt thou canst make me clean.
There is no doubt in the leper's mind that the Lord was able.
But was it his willingness at this time to exercise that power?
Does the Lord rebuke him? Well, no. And Jesus moved with compassion. Put forth his hand.
And touched him, and Seth unto him I will be.
Thou clean.
The leopard got exactly what he asked for.
But he also got an expression from the master himself that he was willing.
To do.
Do we cry out sometimes?
Why leave me?
In this circumstance, it doesn't seem that you're willing well.
Joseph waited.
Two full years. Let's go on to the next one in the fourth chapter.
And we have a little song we sing at Sunday School in Kings with this story. A little ship was on the sea. It was a pretty sight. It sailed along so pleasantly and all was calm and bright.
Doesn't really say that here, but that's the song, the 4th chapter of Mark and the 36th verse.
And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him, even as he was in the ship. And there were also with him other little ships, only mentioned in the Gospel of Mark.
And there arose a great storm of wind, and the waves beat into the ship, so that it was now full.
And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow, and they awake him and say to him.
I hesitate on purpose not to be dramatic.
But because it's a little hard to think that those disciples so misunderstood the person of the Christ.
They said, Master carest thou not that we perish. There's a similarity between his willingness and his caring. But you know, there's a verse in Peter that says he cares about you. And you know, I it doesn't say that Peter was on board this ship, but we're assuming that he was. And you know, he may have been one of them that said.
Carest thou not that we perish? And so by inspiration, years later, he's given of God to say, cast in all your care upon him, for he cares about you. You know, there's little touches throughout the 1St and 2nd Epistles of Peter that reflect certainly the guidance of the Spirit, but the guidance of the Spirit using a vessel that had learned through experience.
And don't you and I learn through experience?
Is there ever a doubt in our hearts of his willingness, or of his caring? And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea peace.
Be still.
And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
In this case, this is probably the most severe.
Rebuke that the Lord gives his own. That's not Matthew 23, where they're not his own scribes, Pharisees, hypocrites. But he doesn't say that to these Why are ye so fearful? How is it that you have no faith? And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
We can enter into it, can't we? We're in the little ship. We may be in one of the other little ships, and if we were, we knew that the storm abated and the sea was still, but we never would have known that the Lord is the one that said peace be still. So I want to be, and you want to be as close to the Lord in this our wilderness experiences as we possibly can be.
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Now that ship wasn't big enough for all of us to get into it.
The ship that, as it were of protection and care that the Lord has for us, is big enough for everyone of his own. And that's a beautiful little word in the 10th chapter, when he leadeth forth all his own. He didn't want one of his Jewish sheep to be left behind, and he has provision.
Certainly not a boat, but in the figure he has a boat that's big enough for every one of us.
And we don't need to worry about not being wanted, not being appreciated.
He wants us to be as close to him as we want to be. And he said, why are you so fearful? Let's go on to the third one.
In the 9th chapter. Now we could spend a great deal of time, but I have some other things in my heart and I'm watching the clock and so this one.
Is more extensive. It's more involved. And I ask myself, and I ask you the question. Starting down with the 14th verse. The Lord has come down from the Mount of Transfiguration and there's a crowd.
Let's get the picture. There's a crowd. There's the disciples.
There's the Father, there's the Son, and there's the Lord Himself.
What's the story? Well, let's set aside for a moment.
What the father wants for his son.
And that's because I really believe that the the exercise that was needed was not with the boy, because he was, we might say, out of it, but the father was coherent.
But let's find out what he had that was faulty.
22nd Verse and OFT times it hath cast him into the fire, and into the waters to destroy him.
There we have to stop again, but if thou canst do anything.
Have compassion on us and help us. Can't you just feel the pathos?
His disciples hadn't been able, and he thought, they've been with Jesus. Why can't they do something? So he says to the Lord, If thou canst do anything, have compassion on us, and help us. Now I may not remember exactly, but I think that the Darby translation reads in the next verse. This way Jesus said unto him, the if thou canst is, if thou canst.
Believe.
I don't want to put words that the Lord didn't say, but just to help to understand it, the Lord really said, don't put the if thou canst on me, the if thou canst should be put on you as far as belief.
Beautiful. Think of how the Lord dealt with that father. He's going to deliver the boy. That's not really the issue. The issue here is.
The working into effect in this father's heart and life.
An understanding of the heart of the Shepherd.
Certainly not the shepherd in the gospel of Mark, but of the Lord himself.
Now notice in the 24th verse and straightway the father of the child cried out and said with tears.
Lord, I believe help thou mine unbelief.
Now there's a crowd.
And they didn't seem to understand. And so they they were coming closer. So the Lord delivers the boy. But the real work was with the Father.
So now we've had three stories of Joseph, three stories of David, three stories of the Blessed Lord, in circumstances that maybe we can fit into the glean something of the encouragement that the Lord would have us know that through endurance and encouragement of the Scriptures might have hope. And so this dear man.
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The leper.
Said if thou wilt.
The disciples said, If you care.
And the Father said, If thou canst.
We need to be closer to the Lord, don't we? So that we understand His mind and if there are circumstances that we don't understand. I know with all my heart I trust how easy it is for me to be able to say this, but much more difficult to prove As for God his way.
Is perfect.
Perfect.
Now.
With just a few minutes, let's turn to the second and third chapters of Revelation.
And there in those two chapters.
There are several parallel threads.
That go through these seven.
I have no intention of bringing out the consecutive history.
Of the Church.
Which we believe, and I think rightly, is the teaching. But let's take them as examples in everyday life of a state of soul or of circumstances that we find ourselves in. So let's go hurriedly through them. What are the seven churches? Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos, Thyrotyra, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodicea.
The first one.
We may not bring out what you would like and may not bring out what I would like.
For the sake of time, but I believe there's something here because in each one of these there's an opportunity for the believer to be an overcomer.
And overcomer. And that's why I read that verse in first John, What is the victory that overcometh the world?
Our faith and it used the word victory instead of overcoming. It doesn't use the word victory here.
But I would like to take the liberty of saying that that's what it is. Now what's the opposite of a victory?
As the defeat, chagrin, disappointment. But the Lord wants you and me, whether it's the story of Joseph, the story of David, the story of the Blessed Lord, to see in these seven churches that there's an opportunity, whatever the state of soul, whatever the circumstances that we find ourselves in, that we can be by His grace and overcomer.
And overcomer, are we going to say, the speaker or are all. Yes, I'm always an overcomer. Yes, I've stopped before we get started. It's not true. So the first one, the seventh verse to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God. We recall that there was a tree of life in the garden. And they were.
They were.
Taken out of the garden so that they wouldn't eat it. But now here is an opportunity.
For those in the Ephesian assembly that.
Left their first love. We can overcome that by his grace.
I'm not saying that we can be restored to Apostolic.
Power or grace? But we can in some measure be an overcomer, and we can eat of the tree of life. Let's go on to the second one in the 11Th verse. And that's Smyrna. He that overcometh shall not be hurt. Of the second death there was persecution.
Can we in these favored lands talk about persecution? The most that we've probably ever endured is maybe some neighbor won't have anything to do with this. I know of a couple that had an exercise. They moved to a new location and they had in their old location a big Gospel of John that they put up at Christmas time.
And they noted afterwards that the neighbors didn't have that much to do with them.
Well, in a way, it's not that I think we shouldn't have to do with our neighbors because we want them to be saved, but that's a mercy in a way. He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Oh, that's just think of the encouragement for whatever trial or difficulty to think of the second death.
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We should not be heard of down in the 17th verse.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden.
Manner. And we'll give him a whitestone, And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it Beautiful hidden manner hidden God in secret thee shall keep.
Let's go on.
26th verse.
I haven't mentioned the assembly that they're a part of, which is an omission on my part, Thyrotyra.
26 Verse And he that overcometh and keepeth my works, notice it's the only time of the seven that something like this is added. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end to him will I give power over the nations. See, there was an environment in Thyrotyra that wanted to.
That had great works, but here it's my works.
Will I give power over the nations during the Dark ages? Oh, Thyrotyra had power over the nations. But to think of the overcomer always think sometimes. How can I be an overcomer with such circumstances surrounding me? But there is an example. Now on to the next chapter.
5th verse he that overcometh Sardis.
Defiled garments, but he that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment. Isn't that beautiful? Is there an opportunity? Is there a chance? Is there a possibility? Is there an occasion to have white garments in the midst of a defiling world, A defiled Christendom not trying to say anything about?
Dear Saints of God.
I have one right next door.
Because we have a common wall and in the other section of of.
Of townhouses, dear Christian couple, I believe.
All my heart that they.
Have been.
Over comers.
And they're going to have, even now, a sense of being in white garments. We've had them to our home.
They've had us to theirs and they've given testimony.
Of white undefiled garments.
12Th verse.
Him that overcometh Philadelphia.
Maybe it's to overcome an attitude that we might think we've arrived.
Just take this as a state of soul, concerning which the Lord could say.
Thou hast a little strength, and has kept my word and not denied my name. I desire that individually. But you know, if I can't do that, at least I can respond to the knock and the voice of Laodicea. But here, and it is so rich that 12Th verse. But let's go on now to the 21St verse. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his throne.
Who are those that overcome in Laodicea? Maybe it's those in the 20th verse that have responded.
And the Lord has come in and supped with them. And he I will suffer with you, and you with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am sat down with my Father in his throne. Laodicea, Laodicean tendencies, and spirit.
We can extricate ourselves from that. We can be restored from it if we just hear the knocking at the door and respond to the voice, and then he says we're going to be an overcomer.
In conclusion.
Let's turn to 1St John, the third chapter.
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And the second verse.
I believe in summary that what the circumstances that God puts us through Indiana, our lives. We can be an overcomer. We can at the moment be defeated, but it's all to to bring us into conformity to his beloved Son. Now here is the divine and eternal consummation of that desire on the part of God. Beloved now are we the sons of God and it does not yet appear what we shall be, but we know.
That when he shall appear, we shall be like him for.
We shall see him as he is.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.
It produces A moral change in our hearts and ways, and here.
Is the blast eternal divine consummation?
Of all that God purposed in your life and mine, that when we see him we're going to be changed.
Let's sing the last four verses of #64.
Frame is there, glory that shines through all, more precious still that love to share.
As those that loved it call like Him, O grace supreme like him before thy face, like him to know that glory beam unhindered face to face, all love supreme and bright good to the feeblest heart that gives now as heavenly light, what soon shall be our part hymn #64 starting with verse 7.
I just want to reread the last two verses like him, O grace supreme like him before thy face, like him to know that glory beam unhindered face to face. Oh love supreme and bright good to the feeblest heart that gives us now.
As heavenly light, what soon shall be our part?
Our God and Father we.
Choices
YP Address—D. Nicolet
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Let's open our meeting this afternoon, singing hymn #42 hymn #42 in the back of the book.
Savior, lead us by thy power safe into the promised rest. Choose the path the way whatever seems to thee. Oh Lord, the best be our guide in every peril. Watch and keep us night and day. Else our foolish hearts will wander from the Strait and narrow way. Hymn #42 in the back of the book. Would a brother please raise the tune to that?
Particularly thinking about that phrase in the first verse that we sung choose the path.
The way whatever seems to Thee, oh Lord, the best.
With the Lord's help this afternoon, perhaps we'll talk a bit about choices.
Let's ask the Lord's blessing.
You know, beloved young people. The word of God is full of accounts recorded of those who made choices.
Accounts of those who made good choices and were blessed and happy Accounts of those who made.
Very sad choices and suffered terribly for it. It's not my intention this afternoon to go through a list of choices, but that's the theme that I'd like to.
Take up a little bit, but what I really have on my heart after.
With the Lords help, some introductory remarks they'd like to present to you, not what choices to make.
But why to make them? The reason for making them the reason for making.
Good choices.
Let's look at a.
Couple or three verses to begin with. To just introduce a little bit our subject, let's start in the book of Joel, the little prophet Joel.
Joel Amos.
Obadiah, Jonah. The Little Book of Joel and the Last Chapter.
In that book.
A verse that I'm not going to take up in, certainly in its prophetic.
Aspect, but just to apply the words of it to our hearts, this afternoon, Joel, chapter 3.
And the first phrase of verse 14.
Multitudes. Multitudes.
In the Valley of decision, beloved young people, you more than perhaps most sitting here.
Answer morally.
In application to this phrase, multitudes multitudes in the valley of decision.
Our dear brother Ryan this morning mentioned to us that perhaps the third of those who the Lord is allowed to be here at this very happy occasion, our young people.
That was quite a solemnizing thought to me. So many lives.
On the line.
What do I mean by that? I suppose I'm talking to the vast majority this afternoon here, who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
I hope that so. I hope if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, I hope if you're not sure.
That you know that Blessed One as your own personal Savior who shed His blood on the cross. That.
Your sin washed away. I hope that's the first decision you'll make right now.
This afternoon, right at this moment.
You perhaps are looking forward to three days of fellowship and joy and.
Certainly that's not wrong. It's a wonderful thing to be able to be back here, see so many beloved brethren, and to enjoy indeed the fellowship and the hospitality and the facilities and all of that. But people have young people you may not be here to see those three days. None of us may. Lord Jesus has promised to come momentarily. He's been waiting some 2000 years now to gain, to claim that which cost him the agony of Calvary's cross.
And I think it's not wrong to say that we can, with some measure of assurance, say he's not.
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Going to wait much longer.
So now you have a decision to make. If you don't know Christ as your savior, make it.
Now, in faith, I can't make you do that. No one else can. We pray and desire that it might be solved.
But my comments this afternoon are going to be directed more in the sense of those sitting here, especially the beloved young people who do know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
And you are making decisions that if the Lord should leave us here, those many of those decisions you are going to.
Experience the effects of them for the rest of your days.
The world would talk to you about not thinking and worrying much about tomorrow, just having fun today.
Not taking things too seriously.
Grab the moment. Enjoy it.
Live it.
Bright, exciting world out there that offers so much.
The beloved young people. The reality is every decision you are making today.
About your life, about all that attaches to it, about your relationships.
Everyone of those decisions.
Is going to be part of whether or not you live a happy, joyous, fulfilled life as the Lord Jesus desires you to live.
Or whether your life is one of sorrow and misery.
That's kind of an oxymoron, isn't it? A child of God redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
A member of the body of Christ, one who will form the part of the bride of Christ.
Having cost him so much agony and grief, having heard him say.
Rejoice evermore. It's kind of an oxymoron to say that such would live a miserable life, but it's possible. It shouldn't be, but it's possible. You're going to meet lot in heaven someday.
He lost everything because he made a lousy choice.
You're going to meet Adam and Eve in glory someday.
And the sorrow and the sickness and the death and the violence in this world was the result of a terrible choice they made.
Cain made a horrible choice when he decided to spurn the sin offering that lay at the door after he had committed that.
Abominable act of murdering his brother.
But rather than taking heed to that sin offering that lay at the door, he turned his back and went out from the presence of God.
And said, as it were, I'm going to build a place in this world where I will be happy.
Without reference to and apart from God, a terrible choice.
And you can go down through the annals of history and you can see individual after individual, recorded in the word of God that made terrible choices, terrible decisions.
You can also see those who made very wise decisions.
And I hope this afternoon that that's what you will be encouraged to make turn with me to.
Next to the book of Proverbs, the first chapter.
Look at the negative and then we'll look at the positive.
Proverbs, Chapter One.
And we'll read of Wisdom personified here as this.
A wonderful woman.
Verse 20 Proverbs one wisdom crieth without.
She uttereth her voice in the street. She crieth in the chief place of the concourse, in the openings of the gates in the city. She uttereth her words. Nothing hidden, nothing hard to find out, nothing difficult to discern.
About Godly wisdom, it's there. Will you lay hold of it beloved young people to guide you in making the decisions and the choices that you are making now. And if the Lord leaves us here, you'll be making tomorrow for the for the coming days as you're left here. That will have such a profound effect on your life, your testimony, your happiness.
00:10:19
But look at this.
She calls out.
In verse 23 Turn you at my reproof. Behold, I will pour out my spirit upon you. I will make known my words unto you.
Free wisdom, May I say it this way reverently and carefully.
Guarantee.
For your happiness and your satisfaction, don't you want that?
But here were some who made a lousy choice.
Verse 25 Ye have said it, not all my counsel. There were those who heard the wisdom of God. We talked about that this morning, to open the word of God and read the word of God, and find the wisdom of God written for your joy and blessing, and for mine. There were those that heard it.
And they rejected it. They spurned it.
The result so solemn.
Verse 28 Then shall they call upon me? But I will not answer.
They shall seek me early, but they shall not.
Find me.
Why? For they hated knowledge and did.
Not choose.
The fear of the Lord.
They chose to make their own decisions.
They chose to do what was satisfying to them, what was best for them.
Without reference or regard to God. That's the fear of God.
To take him first into account, to seek his face, to determine what is pleasing to him.
And to bow to it and they wouldn't do it.
And they call for wisdom in a time of trouble and because there's No Fear of God.
They get no answer.
You look around this world today and you find.
Innumerable multitudes of people desperately looking for answers.
To solve the enigmas of the choices that they have made apart from God.
Looking for ways to get out of the holes they've dug for themselves.
Because when the wisdom was there and available to them.
They said I'm not interested in religion.
I don't want to hear about Jesus anymore.
God is not part of my thoughts and plans.
What a stupid.
Choice.
That's the negative.
Let's look for a moment at the positive.
Turn to the prophet Isaiah.
The 7th chapter.
Isaiah Chapter 7. Just one word. Again, I'm using this as a wonderful moral principle.
The Word of God, beloved young people, is an absolute treasure chest of the most precious, priceless principles, every one of them the Spirit of God, can take and use to some facet of your life. Never a circumstance, never a difficulty, never a problem, will you ever face that the word of God?
Applied by the power of the Spirit of God is not sufficient to give you life.
And answers and direction. What a resource?
Verse 15 Butter and honey shall he eat, that he may know to refuse the evil.
And choose the good by nature apart from a relationship with Jesus Christ beloved young people.
00:15:00
You will always.
You will always man will always choose evil over good.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked who can know it? It's a heart. It's a spring that will lead you only and ever to choose the wrong thing, to make the very worst choice.
In every circumstance of life.
Unless.
You have dwelling within you Christ by the Spirit of God.
Knowing Him as Savior and Lord. And let me just add what you have heard so many times before from so many.
Standing at these kinds of podiums, speaking beloved young people, make no mistake about it. It is altogether possible to know Jesus Christ as your Savior, to be on your way home to heaven every one of your sins washed away in His precious blood, and not know Him as Lord, not allow Him Lordship in your life, because to do that requires something.
It requires that you set aside all of your wisdom, all of your thoughts, all of your plans. Not that you can't go to him and tell him every single desire and plan and everything that you would wish to have. Of course He wants to hear that. But you set aside all of your thoughts about how to achieve happiness in this life if you own Christ as your Lord, if he is your savior.
And you want him to be the Lord of your life. You give him full rights to control you.
In everything without question, and this is, may I say, the controller.
You know, this morning Brother Bob said something that made me very uncomfortable.
Not because it was wrong, but because I far too often find it for myself. And that is so often I read this precious treasure chest and when I'm done, I get up and walk away and I'm not letting it control and give me wisdom.
Beloved young people, let me ask you where you're sitting this afternoon.
Ask yourself This is Jesus, Lord of my life.
Does he have unquestioned rights?
In my life.
Do I submit?
Without question, without argument, without debate, do I submit to his clear.
Understandable.
Divine, perfect and unchangeable word.
Or do I decide?
That my path to happiness and I say this reverently needs.
Jesus and me.
No needs Jesus, Jesus only.
Would you this afternoon ask the Lord Jesus?
To teach you the joy of finding the richness and the sweetness.
Of his presence. That's my application of butter and honey, the richness and the sweetness.
Of fellowship with him, of sitting with him, of reading of him, of learning of him.
Of talking to him, Butter and honey. And what will that do for you?
You'll learn.
To refuse the evil and choose the good and.
Don't be fooled, you've already, I'm sure in many ways.
Realize that the evil in this world does not always look evil.
It very often looks very, very refreshing, bright, happy, promising and the good in this world, according to the world at least, looks so dull and boring and restrictive.
And legal and hard.
Don't expect it to be anything different in an enemy's land, The enemy of your soul and mind, who has disguised himself, at least in our western world, as an Angel of light.
Will not show himself always as violent and wicked and horrible and detestable.
You can go to parts of this metropolis and you can find those results.
00:20:01
But you'll find far more on the surface that looks very beautiful.
Very much worth your efforts and your life to achieve and to attain.
The only way you're going to have wisdom to make the right choice.
Is to eat butter and honey.
To feed on the Lord Jesus.
And find the richness.
And the sweetness?
That you'll only find wanting.
And whatever you try that the world has to offer.
Will you do that this afternoon? Will that be your first choice, my beloved young friend, sitting here this afternoon? Will you seek the Lord's face and in some way express to Him the desire of your heart that you do truly want?
To find satisfaction and joy and sweetness.
In him.
You know what this at times very beautiful world did to him? You can read about it four different times in the word of God, in great detail. Detail. It ought to put us on our face, weeping in tears, when we realize what the creator of this universe had to go through.
If I can say it this way, to buy my redemption and happiness and to give me eternal life and you.
Did he do that?
Did he let those people spit in his face?
Did he stand there?
Without answering or fighting back when they beat him.
To the utter those words, father forgive them, for they know not what they do.
Hanging with nails through his hands and feet from across a crown of thorns that had been beaten into his head.
And hanging there a spectacle to people who thought it was part of their entertainment to watch a man so agonize and suffer.
Did he do that beloved young people so that you can have a lousy, miserable, unfulfilled life?
Is that why you suffered?
So what the world will tell you in 1000 ways.
Let's be very, very plain about it, my dear young friends.
Though it may be cloaked.
In very acceptable forms.
What the world is seeking.
To get you and those of us who are older too, this is an address to young people, but I'm going to address all of us.
I trust the speaker first of all.
But what the world is seeking to get you and I to say, whether we will say it with our words or not?
Is by our actions to say Jesus isn't enough.
He alone can't make me happy.
Let's lay it on the line. Let's be honest. Isn't that what if we're going to be honest?
The world seeks to get us to say.
You can have your religion.
But you've got to have something else too.
Something that he won't give you.
Satan is a murderer and a liar.
The father of it. Don't expect the truth.
Out of the scene, the world over which Satan is presently the Prince, you'll never get the truth from the world.
You'll get it from this precious book.
And from the one who wrote it.
Manual.
Which you followed will give you indeed true happiness.
And satisfaction.
Butter and honey she.
Shall he eat?
That he may know to refuse the evil even if it doesn't look evil.
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But if down the road, choosing it will result in sorrow, unhappiness.
Destroyed lives.
Broken dreams.
He'll give you to refuse the evil.
And give you the ability.
To choose the good.
I'm not going to go through the word of God and give you in the remaining.
Moments. We have together a list of things to do, a list of choices that you ought to make.
I feel it gets to be a kind of a.
I want to be careful with my words, but it seems to me.
Kind of a dangerous thing.
To set a list of rules up that guide you as to what choices are acceptable.
And what choices are not acceptable? Some of those things are so obvious from Scripture that there's no question.
But much of the things that you face and are going to face if the Lord leaves us here, beloved young people in your life, will require real fellowship with the heart of the Lord Jesus for you to determine if in your life to please Him and for your ultimate good and happiness.
If that is a choice you should make. And sometimes what throws us is we see other Christians who have made those choices and they seem to be getting along fine. Don't let that throw you. It may if they had been in the presence of the Lord asking his wisdom, it may have been the right thing for them to choose. I'm not talking about drunkenness and immorality and corruption and violence.
I'm not talking to a bunch of bricks this afternoon. You know what the word of God has to say about that kind of life.
I'm talking about the infinite number of choices.
That you must make for which there is no chapter and verse.
That tell you what to do or what not to do.
The kinds of choices that will require you to come into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
As your savior, your Lord, your very best friend, the one who alone truly wants you to be happy.
And there to hear the shepherd's voice.
Talking to you with a personal message.
To direct and guide you personally that you might have joy and enjoy his fellowship.
And so while I don't want to.
Give you a list of rules and I won't try to do that.
I do want to give you 7 reasons in closing this afternoon.
For why?
You need.
To get to the Lord Jesus.
To find out what choices to make.
I want you to not have a list of rules. I want you to have a person.
To whom you can go.
And find out what he wants to tell you, not what I think you ought to hear.
Because if you will go to the Lord Jesus.
There at your on your knees, as it were, at his feet.
In his presence, I assure you.
In listening and being obedient, you will make the right choice.
Turn to the Gospel of Luke. We're going to look at 7 times. I've enjoyed this recently. It's been very precious to my heart for those perhaps who have.
Heard some of these thoughts.
I'll ask you to bear with me and remember what the Apostle Paul said that.
It wasn't a grievous thing for him to repeat what he had said, and it was safe for those who were hearing it more than once.
Turn to the Gospel of Luke, please.
And I'd like to follow through the seven times it seems to me in that gospel you find someone at the feet of the Lord Jesus and beloved young people. I'm doing this to encourage my heart and yours to see that it's that person and in that place humbled at his feet, at the at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's there.
That you will be given the wisdom and the direction.
00:30:00
To make the right choices.
Turn to Luke chapter.
7.
The city which was a Sinner.
That's not very good qualifications, is it, For making good choices.
If that's the only thing that qualifies someone to.
Make decisions that are supposed to grant them a full and rich and satisfying and joyous happy life.
We might rightfully say there's trouble ahead.
But this sinful woman?
Found the right person in whose company she was welcome, who would give her the answers?
To take care of that which Sin had robbed from her up to that point.
And that's the person I want to direct you to. That's the person I want to direct my own heart to afresh this afternoon. Jesus Christ.
To be found at his blessed feet.
And to find.
There all that I lost.
Through stupid self willed decisions that I made on my own.
When she knew that Jesus sat at meet in the Pharisee's house brought an alabaster box appointment.
Here's the first one and stood at his feet behind him.
Weeping.
You know, when I've read this before, I'll just suggest these thoughts. I don't press them dogmatically.
But I'll just suggest these thoughts when she stood at the feet of the Lord Jesus behind him, weeping. I've often read that and thought to myself.
That's because she wasn't accepted in front of him. She wasn't good enough.
To be in front of him.
No, she was accepted there.
And not even for the cultural significance, for as I think any who have studied the culture of this day, the biblical culture, they weren't sitting on chairs at a table.
They were laying at table and there in the center of the room was a table where the food was placed.
And the guests were given couches, and they lay on those couches, their head toward the table, their feet.
Away from the couch. It was normal custom in those homes in biblical times that it could afford.
To open their homes and show such hospitality. And so if you read Mr. Darby sometimes or Mr. Kelly's translation of the Gospels, you'll find at times the phrase lay at table.
So here was the blessed Lord Jesus reclining at the table.
And the woman stood behind him.
And had access to him. You know what's beautiful about that?
The very word that we might shudder out when we first read it. She stood behind him.
That's not because she was a second class citizen. That's because in the center of that room serving was a Pharisee.
Who thought she was a pretty awful person and wanted to send accusations.
This man, if he were a prophet, would know what manner of woman she is. He wouldn't touch her.
She's a Sinner and I'm a Pharisee and that gives me right of judgment.
To look down on someone and accuse them.
And rebuked them. But you know what if you love it? Young people.
His rebukes had to get through Jesus to get to her because she was behind him.
You're welcome there.
Whatever has happened in your life, you're welcome there at his feet.
You're welcome there with your tears of repentance.
And nobody's going to accuse you.
Because they got to get through, I say reverently the Lord Jesus to do it.
What a wonderful place to be.
At the feet of the Lord Jesus behind him, expressing.
Her sorrow.
She was weeping.
And she was going to find something very, very precious, beloved young people. She was going to find that what she thought she had lost was not lost at all.
00:35:05
She was in the presence of perfect love.
Perfect holiness, Perfect power.
And she was going to find that in his presence.
What she had done.
Could be and was forgiven.
And she had no longer to fear an accuser. She had to enjoy a defender savior.
Beloved young people get at his feet.
Whatever's happened in your life, find yourself there, 211 brethren. Let's find ourselves there, because that's the first place that we need to go weeping.
To find the right choices.
The next thing?
Began to wash his feet with tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head.
I pondered this and I understood. I don't understand it. I've heard people try to explain it in biblical culture.
About tear bottles and so forth.
But what comes home to my heart? Beloved young people.
Is that she had to cry a lot.
To have enough tears to wipe the dust of Galilee.
Off the feet of the Savior.
This wasn't a game with her. She was serious and beloved. Young people, I want you to be serious this afternoon.
Beloved brother and I want us all to be serious about these things this afternoon. He's there and forgiveness is there, and he wants us there and we're welcome there.
But we, may I say it this way, better enter that presence.
In a spirit of repentance.
Being able to display the fruit of a repentant heart.
Do you know what Pete Washington did? It did two things, I believe. Perhaps more, but it showed respect.
And it brought refreshment and comfort.
If you want to show respect, I say reverently to the Lord Jesus.
Try repentance.
Don't try to do better tomorrow. Don't try to turn over a new leaf tomorrow. Repent.
Right and I'm wrong?
What a comfort that's going to be, I say reverently to him.
It's the tears that come from that that brought not only showed respect but brought comfort to those blessed feet that walked this pathway to the glory of God and for your blessing and mine.
She laid her glory down. All of her thoughts, all of her rights to choose, She laid them down.
The hair of her head wiping his feet.
With that glory.
Lay your glory down.
Just get at his feet.
What refreshment it will bring to him, what joy it will bring to you.
The third one kissed his feet and anointed them with ointment.
He'd like something from you.
He'd like to receive a display of your heart's affection.
And you say, but I made such lousy choices.
I think that's lost to me. I don't see how I can respond.
And satisfy his heart any longer.
I don't see how I can kiss his blessed feet.
And anoint them with ointment.
That's the beauty of being there in repentance, to find out he's looking for something from you.
He's looking for an expression of love.
An expression of affection.
You give that to him, you can.
And I want to suggest that if your heart is presenting love and affection.
Real heartfelt.
00:40:02
Expressions.
Of love to the Lord Jesus.
Your ear is going to be tuned to not just hear what he has to say.
But you're going to be listening.
And we'll read about that a little later.
Beloved young people, She was a Sinner.
She was despised. She was not in the top 20.
Acceptable.
Ladies of society in the village in which she lived.
She was as low as you could go.
And she was welcome at Jesus feet.
And she was welcome to give him something that he desired.
That's the one.
That will make the choices for you and not one of you here, beginning with a speaker, is barred.
No matter what has happened in your life from finding yourself there.
Turnover.
To.
Chapter 8 the next chapter.
You know these stories well, so we won't dwell on them.
Just to remind us, now we're going to be hearing about a man.
Who was naked, unhappy, friendless, and spent his day, the days, the hours of his life wounding himself.
Shackled with chains.
As an attempt to control him and snapping those chains.
Miserable, unhappy existence.
Maybe he made some really bad choices in his life, and here's the result of it.
And then Jesus comes.
Blessed Jesus the person.
That I want to know more about in my heart and life, and that I want you to know more about Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus casts those demons that legion out.
And now what do we find?
We find one who in another gospel read how he walked about crying and cutting himself with stones.
Living in the cemetery, in the tombs, naked, destitute, without friend, without hope, We can say it, perhaps in the language of the apostle and the epistles, without hope, without God, in this world.
And now where is he?
Sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Clothed and in his right mind.
What peace?
From an absolute miserable existence where he knew, I'm sure not a moment of peace.
To sitting quietly at the feet of Jesus in absolute peace.
And joy.
Covered Young people Who do you want to make decisions for you?
Someone who can take the most hopeless, one of the most hopeless cases written on the pages of the Word of God.
And bring peace.
And a right mind and fellowship and comfort.
Or a world that tried to help him by wrapping him up in chains.
Which ones you want to make your decisions this afternoon?
Who do you want to turn to to make your choices?
Want to be careful, but you know, beloved young people It is really, isn't it? Kind of a number brainer of a question.
A world that's got chains or Jesus Christ.
That has healing, liberty and peace.
For the sake of time, we'll go on down to the same in the same chapter.
Verse.
41.
And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was a ruler of the synagogue. This is not a despised person. This is a very prominent person, a very acceptable person, someone who has.
00:45:14
A certain position of honor and dignity in the community.
But you know what?
He's got a need to.
I need that he can't meet, and it's one I would suggest is tearing his part apart. Much worse perhaps than that man possessed by the demon whose heart was being and life was being torn apart by that legion of devils. This man upright, religious. Acceptable.
Was being torn apart because the object of his heart's affection was dying.
His little girl.
And he found a place.
At the feet of Jesus.
To plead.
For what was so precious to his heart?
There's something dying in your life, beloved young people, or you fear it's dying, Something very precious to you that seems to be sick and wasting away.
Something you've dreamed about, hope for, prayed for, and instead of growing stronger and brighter and more promising, it seems to be.
Fading away and your heart is being torn up.
As you see it seemingly slipped beyond your grasp and beyond your hope of ever.
Realizing it.
And behold, there came a man named Jairus, and he was ruler of the synagogue.
And he fell down at Jesus feet.
And besought him that he would come into his house.
He got rid of his pride so he could plead.
Don't let pride keep you from the presence of the only one who can make the right choices for you, the only one who can give you wisdom to make the right choices.
He fell down.
His position, his knowledge of Scripture.
His authority, everything. It was worthless.
I'm not in any way.
Denigrating. Living a careful life.
But when his daughter was dying.
His careful, religious, acceptable life.
Was meaningless.
But he found one where he could lay down his pride fall at his feet.
And plead with him and you know the story.
Your daughter lives.
What he thought he was losing, he got back.
Only Jesus can do that. For you, beloved young people, beloved brethren, only the Lord Jesus Christ can do that for us.
Sometimes we talk a lot about being brethren gathered to the Lord's name. I thank God.
That I'm gathered to the Lord's name.
Tremendous blessing.
But that position.
Doesn't mean a whole lot if my heart isn't occupied with the person.
To whom I am gathered, there is no room for pride.
And being gathered to the Lord's name.
There's lots of room.
For praising him and thanking him and worshipping him and being at his feet.
Chapter 10 Very quickly this was mentioned this morning.
I'm going to read this twice. Luke chapter 10 reading about Mary will just read verse 39. I'm going to read it first in the King James translation and then I'm going to reread it in Mr. Darby's translation. And she had a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.
Now, Mr. Darby's translation, which puts dimension to this, that is very precious.
00:50:05
Chapter verse 39 and she had a sister called Mary who also.
Having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening.
To his word.
I had the privilege of being involved in teaching for 32 years and I can assure you on multitudes of occasions.
I talked and my students heard what I said, but they didn't listen.
I can assure you that I find painfully often.
Perhaps as we're driving down the road and my beloved is sitting next to me.
That I hear what she's saying to me, but the rude realization comes pretty soon that whoops.
I haven't been listening.
We hear a lot.
We don't listen very much.
Mary listened to the Lord Jesus.
She took every word that blessed man, and drank it in for herself. We were talking about the shepherd and hearing the voice of the shepherd and the sheep, knowing his voice. The way you'll get to know his voice is not just to hear him. And I say that carefully, it's to listen to him.
Listen to what he's saying to you today, right now.
Mr. Norman Berry.
Told a story up at the Nova Scotia tent work one time that I still shake my head at as I think about it.
He talked about a man who was an agnostic.
But a brilliant man with an absolutely incredible photographic memory, who had memorized the Bible so well that he could repeat it from memory backwards.
I'm going to try that. Start in Revelation 22, the last verse and from memory go backwards to the Bible.
What good did it do him? He didn't know. He didn't even know if God was.
But he heard his word he wasn't listening.
Listen in in closing.
Chapter 17.
You have the Lord Jesus in the end of Luke, telling his disciples, Behold my hands and my feet.
Here's the 7th time we find somebody at the feet of Jesus.
Chapter 17.
And the lepers.
Who are healed 10 of them.
And the Lord Jesus heals them. Go show yourselves. Verse 14 to the priests. Verse 15. One of them, when he saw he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God, and he fell down at his face, at his feet, giving him thanks. And he was a Samaritan. He wasn't a politically or religiously correct person. He was a despised Samaritan, but there was room at the feet of Jesus to praise him.
Beloved young people, wouldn't you like?
To get at his feet.
And let him make the choices in your life.
I would.
And though I've made some dumb, rebellious decisions in my life.
And I felt them.
I can assure you he never has.
Not once.
And he never will.
Let's get at his feet.
Enjoying.
Worship. Praise.
Find peace there.
And let him make the decisions. Let's pray, Father, we thank.
Open Mtg.
Open—H. Brinkmann, D. Jaeger
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Oh, Lord Dom, Now are seated above the heavens on high the gracious work completed, for which thou came to die so forth, Number 86.
And with our hearts, I mean.
God.
But I'm just going to sleep.
If.
I'm gracious about grace. Come on.
To second Timothy.
Chapter One.
Most of us here.
I'm sure have heard.
That the first epistle to Timothy.
Presents the church in order.
The Second Epistle of Timothy.
Shows the church.
The public profession in disorder.
And they are valuable instructions in that epistle.
But what is especially?
Of interest is that while it shows the sad condition in the Christian profession.
There are many things in that epistle that the individual can enjoy.
In spite of this condition, and that is especially on my heart this afternoon.
You know we have two beloved Saints of God admit.
That we are part of the divided state of the Christian profession. We cannot divorce ourselves from it.
And I would even go so far as to say we are part of the divided state.
00:05:02
Of so-called brethren, that which God raised up.
175 or so years ago.
We cannot divorce ourselves from that either. We have to even admit beloved Saints of God that we have contributed to that condition.
But I'm not trying to dwell on that side of things so much, but dwell on that which is given to us to encourage us in the midst of the ruin. Even in the Old Testament, we find that those who were faithful among God's people in the midst of ruin, they found grace to go on for the Lord.
How they could? How could they go on for the Lord in the midst of ruin, if they would not have?
In measure in India, enjoyment of Jehovah and the privileges that they had as being part of a people who in general were in a sad state, and they found grace in the midst of that state to work, walk for God.
You know, there are many young people in this audience.
And I can see that when they see the ruin.
That exists, and sometimes even disharmony and various ideas as to principles, even amongst the gathered things.
That they might become discouraged, but let's emphasize and dwell on the things in First Timothy that encourage us in the midst of ruin. We read in verse one of chapter one.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according.
To the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.
Has the promise of life changed, beloved Saints of God? It's the same, isn't it?
We still can enjoy that life that was promised long before, and now we can enjoy.
The promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. We still have him.
And in him we have that life. He that has the Son has life.
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son.
Grace, mercy, and peace from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
Is it not available for us beloved Saints of God, the grace and mercy?
And peace that God can give us to be enjoyed in our souls in the midst of all the sad condition. Roundabout, yes, we can still enjoy that.
What's the difference between grace and mercy?
Mercy doesn't give us what we deserve, and grace gives us what we don't deserve.
God is merciful to us, and His mercy and grace is available.
For us.
And the peace. Not only can we enjoy peace with God, but the peace of God can be enjoyed.
That's what was characteristic of our Blessed Lord as He went through this world.
He had peace in his soul, happy communion with his father.
How much was round about him? That would tend to discourage him.
But the peace of God was in his heart, and we can enjoy peace.
I thank God.
Whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience.
That without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayer night and day. It's an amazing statement, isn't it? That he served got rid of pure conscience.
Even when he was opposing that which was dearest to God.
00:10:00
In his conscience, he thought that he was doing God a service.
What we learned from this beloved young people is that conscience is not a guide.
The conscience has to be enlightened by the word of God. I don't have any conscience against these people might say or it doesn't trouble my conscience. Maybe your conscience is an exercise by the word of God, just like with Paul. But when that light.
Penetrated that conscience that struck him down, and it led to repentance.
But.
He also remembered Timothy.
He had a fellow servant in Timothy.
He calls him his son.
Isn't it a pleasure, dear brethren, when we find young brothers and sisters in Christ that mean business?
For the Lord, it's a tremendous enjoyment to me when I ever come across.
Young people that mean business for the Lord.
You can, as young people, be what Timothy was for Paul to some of your older brethren.
You know, we might need that kind of an encouragement.
I don't think I go too far, do I in making that application?
But Paul?
Prayed for him.
Night and day we can do that for each other, beloved Saints of God.
Greatly desiring to see thee.
Mindful of died tears that I may be filled with joy. It wasn't just that Paul had love for Timothy. He knew of Timothy's love for Paul, and that Paul knew that Timothy missed Paul.
When I call to remembrance.
The unfriend faith that was indeed.
Which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice.
And I am persuaded that indeed also.
Beloved Saints, we can have unfeigned faith.
In the midst of the circumstances in which we find ourselves, what is unfeigned, nothing put on real faith.
Not pretense. And how wonderful young people you many of you are in the same position that Timothy was in.
You had a grandmother and a mother.
Who were characterized by unfeigned faith.
And hopefully it will also become your portion. It cannot be passed on.
Spiritual things and faith cannot be passed on like material things.
But what an example?
Our parents and grandparents have been to us.
My mother.
Wonderful.
I owe her more than anybody else in this world.
Is it in vain that you have had such a mother and such a grandmother? Such a grandfather, such a father?
Now I used to think.
That Timothy's mother marrying a Greek.
That that was not faithful on her part, but my wife one time when I questioned that or expressed that, she questioned that, she said. At that time, did Timothy's mother really have any choice?
You know, I've been in countries in the world where marriages are arranged.
Where the girl has no choice.
That was probably the situation here.
But the father most likely arranged it for her.
But the mother went on in faith and was able to be a source of blessing to her son.
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Therefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is indeed by the putting on of my hand. Timothy, In spite of the condition in which you find yourself, you have a gift.
Dear brothers and sisters, dear sisters, God is still giving gifts today.
Maybe when you realize the condition you tend to be discouraged and you say what's the use, Why I should, why should I use what the God, what God has given me?
Bob might excuse me for quoting his brother Don.
He gave this explanation.
He said in First Timothy. Paul says do not neglect your gift.
Here in two Timothy, he says. Stir it up.
He says. When you're in an assembly where there are good circumstances, faithful brethren, good conditions, spiritually speaking, a young person might say, well, why should I open up my mouth? There are all these capable men.
And Paul has to tell Timothy, Don't neglect your gift. Of course, it wouldn't be nice and wouldn't be proper, would it? If.
A young man.
Would try to take over.
And ignore the fact that there are other older brethren, and he might well give them a chance to express themselves first. But don't neglect the gift. But here, now, when there are bad circumstances, it takes more spiritual energy. Stir it up. That was Dan's explanation. I like that.
Maybe we have to stir it up. There's nobody that is without a gift, according to.
Ephesians.
The gift might vary, and it does vary. Thank God it varies. I'm not expected to do everything. Neither are you expected to everything. That's why the Lord gives different things to get to different ones. And hopefully we can complement each other. What the one cannot do, the other can do.
But we all have a gift.
And while the ladies do not and are not expected to use that gift in public.
But Scripture speaks of even in the New Testament, the daughters of Philip prophesied right.
That didn't do it in the assembly.
And who did Apollos benefit from?
That couple. That godly couple.
Equivalent. Priscilla took him in and they taught him the way more perfectly. Priscilla is included in that in the home sphere.
In the leadership or under the leadership of her husband, she evidently was even the source of help to a palace.
Older sisters should teach the younger sisters.
Yes.
You might not know.
Early in life, what it is that the Lord has entrusted you with. We received the young man a few years back, and when we talked to him, I said, Conrad, you might not at this point know what your responsibility and the assembly is, but we're receiving you as a member of the body of Christ. That means a functioning member.
Hopefully the Lord will come to make you realize where you fit in and then fill your place as the Lord enables you in humility to go on.
Yes, we are all functioning members in the body of Christ. What troubles me is that at the conferences.
Who do who are the ones that have to pray?
Or even participate during the breaking of bread, those that we classify as the Lord's servant. What about the bread on back there? I was glad there were some that read this morning way in the back there, you know.
00:20:00
The exercise of the priesthood is universal. That's not the exercise of gift.
And every St. is a priest.
Yes, but we all have gifts, and hopefully we will be exercised before the Lord What that gift is, have him show it to us, and then find grace to exercise that gift for the glory of the Lord Jesus and the blessing of God's people, or the lost if it is evangelization.
For God has not given us.
Or the gift Was anybody putting on of my hands?
In the first epistle, it is the laying on of the hands of the.
Presbytery the leaders. Here's by Paul. Apparently a prophecy had been given as to Timothy. Maybe it was through Paul and Paul laid his hand on Timothy and had part in this. We don't expect some individual to have that kind of a position today, but we can lay our hands on somebody that the Lord raises up.
We can have fellowship. That's what the laying of on of hands means.
Have fellowship with such.
Should we not desire that fellowship?
And maybe if I think that I have something that I do not have from the Lord, maybe my brethren have to be faithful to me and say hi, and you're trying to do something that the Lord didn't give you to do, and I better listen to my brethren.
We desire, do we not, the fellowship of our brethren?
God has not given us the spirit of fear.
But of power and of love, and of a sound mind. Yes, beloved brethren that is still available for us today, that's the same spirit that he has given to us.
We do not have the power of performing great miracles.
But it takes the power of God in any of us to do anything for God. We have no strength of our own, no wisdom of our own, but how wonderful and how encouraging these things are.
And of a sound mind or wise discretion.
Is Mr. Darby's rendering.
But then, now, Timothy, don't be ashamed of the testimony.
Of our Lord It's the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner.
You know when you think of how few.
I really, truly gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
That might lead some to become discouraged.
Brother Smith.
Was told by somebody in Bolivia. Why don't you join us?
There are so many more.
His answer was Could you have more of Christ with the many than we with the few?
Don't be ashamed of the testimony just because of this week and feeble.
And perhaps even imperfect.
Don't be ashamed. If it is the Lord's testimony, it's His testimony, and we should not be ashamed of it. We might be ashamed of our conduct within the testimony, but we should not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me, his prisoner. You see, some people, they might well have said we Paul is in prison because he was unfaithful and trying to discredit Paul.
And even what Paul stood for.
Don't be ashamed of the testimony, nor of me his prisoner. Paul looked himself as being the prisoner none of the Romans, but of the Lord Jesus.
And then be thou partaker of the affliction of the gospel according to the power of God.
00:25:05
Afflictions are connected with presenting the gospel or the truth of God today.
Don't shrink from it.
We find in Chapter 2 Endure Hardness.
As a soldier, when I was a young man, a brother told me, Heinz, don't be surprised if you're in the front line if people shoot at you.
Don't be surprised if they shoot at you.
We are too into hardness.
We ought to be willing to.
Suffer affliction.
According to the power of God, he is able to help us even in such circumstances who has saved us and called us?
With an holy calling again, Brother Don, I heard him say.
In Timothy, when the divided state of God's testimony is presented.
We are reminded that Our Calling is holy. Why? Because we tend to lower the standards, beloved things.
And change even the principle to adopt things that the Scriptures very plainly teach to be wrong.
Remember, Our Calling is a holy calling.
In Hebrews, it's a heavenly calling.
Because they were reminded that their blessings were no longer on earth, it was in heaven.
And in Philippians calling on high.
Wonderful, but the gospel is used by God to bring us to himself and.
He has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose of and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
That's a tremendous statement. Get ahold of it.
That which we received through the gospel was actually given to us, assured to us before the world was yes.
God knew that I would come into existence in 19130 before the world was, and he says I want that Heinz to be mine.
And by him.
Picking me out.
Salvation was assured to me.
For you, if you're saved, it was given to us before the world was.
Time is no problem with God.
You know, and all my sins.
In order to bring me to himself in righteousness, when was it dealt with?
Almost 2000 years ago.
When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, God, as the hymn writer says, knew it, 'cause who knew them my sins laid them on him.
On the cross and believing I'm free, then I come into the good of it.
By accepting it by faith. But why do I have faith? Why do you have faith?
Can you post of it over those who don't have faith? It's the gift of God. Ephesians chapter 2. By grace are we saved through faith? This is not of ourselves. It is the gift of God. Not only the grace, that faith is a gift of God.
I talked to an orthopedic surgeon, a relative of my son-in-law, and some of his children are safe.
And he wanted to talk to me privately, so we went aside, he said. I just cannot believe.
Well, I said, if you really want to believe, why don't you ask God to give you the faith to believe? Would he not give you the faith?
By grace are we safe through faith? It's not of ourselves. It is the gift of God.
00:30:01
But how wonderful, how can I can you and I not enjoy that that that was given to us before the world was, God assured it to us before the world was.
But it is now manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who has abolished death and has brought incorruptibility. It should read to light through the gospel.
What a wonderful fact it is that we live at this time.
In the world's history, after the work of the cross is accomplished and the spirit is given, and.
That it has been manifested what was in the heart of God, the fullest extent of His love, manifested in the giving of his Son, and when he died on the cross, and what He wanted.
Us to be brought into.
It has been manifested.
He has abolished death and brought incorruptibility to life through the Gospel.
Even if we die.
You know that dear girl.
Caroline Hadley, Beautiful young lady.
With the Lord Jesus.
Is that a terrible thing that had happened? Very painful, no doubt, for the family, the relatives.
Could you wish anything better for her?
Death is not the king of terror for the believer. It's a servant that ushers the believer into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Although we die, the Lord Jesus said we shall live.
The soul goes on living in the presence of the Lord Jesus. The body sleeps and it is only used as to the body of the believer in the New Testament as sleeping, not for the unbeliever. And then it will be raised and be reunited with the soul. And then we will stand or be forever with the Lord Jesus. But have you noticed? Somebody quoted?
Revelation The Judgment Seat of the Great White Throne. Judgment those who stand there, although they're raised.
That isn't spoken of as being alive.
The dead shall be stand there, and then when they are cast into hell, it says, This is the second death.
When Adam sinned.
That day he would sin, he would die. People say, well, he didn't die. He lived a long time after he sinned. He died that very day because death is presented in two ways, Alienation from God.
And in Ephesians that says of us Gentiles dead in sins and trespasses.
And the wonderful grace of God can make us who are dead, spiritually speaking, alive. But even when those who have died in unbelief are raised, they're not spoken of as being alive. The dead stand there, and then they're cast into hell. That's the second death, eternal separation from God.
We who were spiritually dead in sins and trespasses, by the grace of God, have been made alive, have been quickened.
But there is no such chance for those who are cast into the lake of fire. That's the second death. But.
For us death, where is thy sting? Death, where is thy victory?
We don't have to be afraid of it. He has abolished death.
And brought incorruptibility to light through the gospel. We shall not all die. Some of us will not go through death. And maybe most of us in this audience who know the Lord Jesus will go through a change.
And don't have to die. We won't have to corrupt in the grave as the bodies of those who have gone through death. He has abolished it.
And Paul was appointed a preacher.
00:35:02
And brought this gospel before souls.
What a joy it was for him to do so.
We might not all be evangelists, but isn't it a joy for us when we have an opportunity of telling of the love and grace of God to somebody who isn't saved? And although we might not claim to have the gift of an evangelist, but what joy does it bring to the soul when we were able to be of little help to somebody that comes to know the Lord Jesus?
And then the service of Paul.
He had committed it unto God.
You know, we find that many turned away from him.
But.
I'm not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day that has to do with his service.
He has committed it unto him against that day. But then.
Hold fast.
Hold fast the form of sound words or.
Have an outline of truth.
You cannot hold fast dear young people and dear brothers and sisters, anything you don't have. The challenge is, do you have something that you can hang on to? Do you have an outline of truth? Of sound words?
And Timothy had heard it.
Saint Paul. We still can hear it from Paul when we read the Epistles.
But the Lord also has raised up men that taught us.
And.
What we bring before the Saints today, Where have we learned it?
We didn't dig it out of the scriptures all by ourselves.
We learned it from others.
But I trust what we learned was.
Sound words, not fanciful interpretations.
Novel interpretations, sound words, the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me by faith.
And love, which is in Christ Jesus. You can really hold it only for God and for the glory of God.
Through faith and love.
That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Spirit. You see, the Holy Spirit is not only given to us to give us the understanding and enjoyment of the truth, but also to hold it and to keep it.
In the power of an ungrieved spirit we can lay hold of these things and also keep it.
That he dwells in us. That's what makes you a mere Christian. That makes us different from.
Any other believer that ever lived before that our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit.
No Old Testament Saints ever possessed that he came upon, but could also leave a believer. But the Lord Jesus says this to us. He would come, and she shall dwell with you and in you.
And then there were those in Asia that had turned away from the apostle Paul.
And he gives the names.
When Don and I were in Belawi.
The first time there had been some men that used to be in fellowship with us.
And separated cost of division and they took advantage of the fact.
That Brother John Camp and Art Swansick had had contact with Brethren over there and when they got there they the division had occurred and they didn't tell them that they were no longer in fellowship with John Kemp and Art Swansic and Brother Don read these verses also referring to the people mentioned in chapter two. He said we don't.
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Enjoy pointing out the names of those that oppose the truth or have given it up, but sometimes has called us here he had to mention them by name.
But then there was a man.
That was different on a Sephora.
For he OFT refreshed me and was not ashamed of my chain.
How wonderful. Don't you want to be an honest Sephora that will encourage the servants of the Lord instead of turning away from the truth that they present?
None of us claims to be in the position the Apostle Paul was in, but hopefully what we bring is the truth of God.
And if you turn away from what I present to be the truth of God, it isn't that you're turning away from me, you're turning away from the truth.
That's the seriousness. But with Paul they turned away from him, and what he stood for, and his teaching. But on a Sephora, how wonderful the Lord grant unto him that he might find mercy of the Lord in that day.
And in how many things he ministered unto me in Ephesus thou knowest very well. Well we find then that in chapter 2 There is another in verse 1A tremendous statement that can be an encouragement to us. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in their grace, that is, in Christ Jesus.
Grace is not only that, we're saved.
But we can also be strong in the grace.
And what does we what do we read in Titus? It teaches us how to live godly.
It's not just that we are supposed to be gracious. Sure, Peter says, growing grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But here be strong in the grace, Timothy.
You can't be strong in yourself, but grace is available for you, Timothy, and that's available for you and I. Be strong in the grace.
That is, in Christ Jesus, and the things that thou hast heard of Maine, among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men.
He doesn't say to gifted men.
To faithful men.
What is a faithful man?
I heard a Brother minister the word on a tape listen, Ernie and Forget and I were traveling listening to that tape and he quoted Chapter Brown.
That one of the exercises he had was to pass on the truth that he had learned in the purity in which he had received it. That's the exercise of a faithful man.
It's just like the Israelites when they returned from captivity, the vessels of the House of God were entrusted to them and were weighed out to them. And when they got to Jerusalem, it was weighed out again to make sure they had not lost any of it. That's the point, isn't it?
What thou hast heard of me in the presence of many witnesses, committed unto faithful men, who are able to teach others also.
We certainly thank the Lord for those whom he raised up.
Taught us to teach us the truth of God.
And then he had to endure hardness. You know, there's the soldier, and there is the.
Farmer.
And.
And do a hardness as a soldier.
And then the athlete.
You know, all of these things give us spiritual essence.
We have to be willing to endure hardness and we have to go by the rules.
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Otherwise, we won't be rewarded. It's not enough that we want to serve the Lord. We have to be willing to serve Him according to the teaching and principles of Scripture.
And.
We must continue faithfully like a farmer.
Because the farmer, before he can reap, you know it should be.
In verse six it should read the husband man that laboreth or he must first labor before he can partake of the fruit.
There's a lot of work that goes into what the farmer has to do before he can harvest what he has sowed.
In other words, continue. Don't start like a house on fire and then throw in the towel. Continue, continue, continue like the farmer.
That's the point.
But I don't want to dwell on every verse. But there were those.
Who, like Paul, had to suffer, suffer trouble, experience trouble.
In connection with the gospel, like an evil doer. But what a comfort verse 9 is. The word of God is not bound.
Was bound, But the word of God isn't bound. The word of God isn't bound today.
And we have to preach the word.
It's the word of God that God has decided to be used for blessing to man, to quicken him, to feed him, and to cleanse him from defilement, the word of God. And it is not bound.
Tremendous encouragement, isn't it? But then also.
That even if we are not faithful, he abides, faithful he cannot deny himself.
Well, many times we have to admit that we are not living up to what he really can expect of us, but he doesn't give us up.
And he is faithful even if we are not what we could be.
And then studied to show thyself approved unto God. Use all diligence.
To be approved unto God.
A Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, cutting in a straight line the word of truth.
Use all diligence to be approved unto God, not to become popular with the people.
Certainly if a brother goes on faithfully and presents the word of God faithfully, those who.
Are spiritually exercised, will be happy and supported. But we are not trying to get the approval of man, we're trying to get the approval of gauze.
And we better cut in a straight line, the word of truth.
You know, in the Philadelphia in the loudest sea and condition in which we find ourselves, the tendency is that we are adjusting principles to fit. The condition of the people of God troubles me that there are those that try to teach things differently about Matthew 5 and Matthew 19 than what we were taught by brethren who lived only a few decades before us, to adjust it to the condition that has come in amongst God's people.
We exercise to cut in a straight line the word of truth, but then even when it comes to the collective path and the individual, having as an individual to separate from vessels to dishonor, from iniquity, and from vessels to dishonor.
There is a collective path. Pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace with them that call upon the name of the Lord. Out of a pure heart, isn't that reason to be thankful loveth Saints that there are those that we can walk with on that basis?
That desire to live godly.
And they'd want to, with us, pursue and notice righteousness is first, not love.
You know in the word in German and in the original I understand, for iniquity is unrighteousness.
We're separating from unrighteousness.
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And then the first thing in the collective path is righteousness.
Love isn't left out, but the overemphasis is on love. Unconditional love. Throw your arms around somebody that lives in sin.
Righteousness is the first thing mentioned in the collective path. But.
We can be thankful, beloved brethren, that we don't have to go through this world alone.
We have doors of light, precious faith.
That we can pursue righteousness, faith, love, hope with faith. What does that mean? Faith.
It doesn't. It isn't used here for personal faith that saves.
That is the Christian faith, that which we have faith in or that which we desire to accept for our direction in our lives.
In June, that is used this way, content earnestly for the faith once delivered to the Saints.
You see, that's the Christian teaching Contend earnestly, not to be contentious, but to contend earnestly for deep faith.
Delivered to the Saints. We were here at this conference some years back and we spent a few days at Desert Hot Springs and there was a German fellow who was a freelancer and he would go to.
Bible schools to teach. He married a girl from Los Angeles, A young lady from Los Angeles.
And be being German, of course, We taught them. I gave him Bruce's book on God's order for worship and ministry, Ministry and worship. And he went in his room and read it for five hours and he came out. He was all excited. It's the truth. It's the truth. It's the truth, he says. But people don't want it.
Well, I said. Brother, can't we ask the Lord for help?
To still live it and practice it. But you see, if he would, he would be out of a job. But you see, he did not want to pursue faith. Get the point?
We have to cling to the Christian teaching, and the Lord is able to help us to get a clear understanding of it by the Spirit, also to keep it by the Spirit, and to walk for the glory of God. Well, I hope.
That I brought before you was of the Lord, and maybe, if some of these things were not presented very clear, maybe that will lead to an exercise.
For you to search these things out, we cannot expect that every time we hear something for the first time it is very clear to us and that it all sinks in. But hopefully sometimes what it will lead to is that we search these things out for ourselves. We have to redict the wealth. Remember that in Genesis 26 the Philistines plucked the wells with earth.
That Abraham's servants had dug.
And Isaac's servants reduct these wells. You see, the Philistines speak of those who occupy the place of blessing but has no claim to it. They entered the land the way the Israelites did, but without going through the Red Sea and the Jordan. They haven't come into the good of the death of Christ, and so by human, intelligent and system.
Introduced into divine things, the source of blessing stops.
But I have sometimes said every generation.
Has to predict the wealth. They have to make these things their own by the truth. Sell it not.
And then ask the Lord to not only intellectually enter into it.
If he wouldn't have an intellect, we couldn't enter into anything anyway. But.
The power for spiritual apprehension is the Spirit of God.
And then not only to understand, but to enjoy, and to walk in and find grace to walk in it, don't you think, dear Saints of God the Lord, looking down in the midst of all these sad confusion in the Christian profession, when he sees souls that sincerely desire to please God and to get ahold of his truth and walk in it by grace?
00:55:30
There must be a great delight to the heart of God, you know.
You know, they're like jewels. They will be like jewels in his crown. You know that song, that.
Says that children will be the jewels. I believe the point is where you read in the Old Testament about it, it is those that go on faithfully for the Lord.
In a sad day, well may the Lord help us. And we can't do anything in our own strength and our own wisdom, but the Lord is able to.
Preserve us and keep us. Keep us especially in the enjoyment of these things and income. Union with our blessed Lord.
Brother Hanks has talked to us. He gave what I consider to be a narrow definition and comparison between mercy and grace, which I think can limit our own enjoyment of what those phrases mean, and to just remind ourselves of how grace is such a important theme in our.
New Testament grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
The Law came by Moses, but grace and truth, those two things. And of course the Lord Jesus later told us, I am the way, the truth, and the life. But grace came by the Lord Jesus Christ. Grace is found at the beginning and end of almost every epistle we have in the New Testament. And Heinz quoted this verse where to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now, sometimes we can learn or understand the meaning of some of these terms by the context and what where they're used. So interestingly, I'd like to turn now to the first chapter of First Timothy, First Timothy.
And there we'll see an example given by the apostle Paul of both mercy and grace right within.
A few verses.
So the first chapter of First Timothy.
Verse 12 verse Timothy 112 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord who hath enabled me for that He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry.
Now here we'll learn the definition of mercy. Who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious? And we know that's exactly what he was when he was on the road to Damascus, when the Lord struck him down with a bright light and the voice from heaven.
Now going on.
But I obtained mercy. Why? Because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Now we have a verse in Romans, and it's several times in the scripture where God says I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy, and what that means Is God acting in a sovereign way. Nothing to do with the recipient of the mercy necessarily, except for His purposes.
But He determines to have mercy on whom he will have mercy.
He had mercy on Paul here, did he not? Paul was showing enmity, we know.
After he was struck down and heard the voice, he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the response was I am Jesus, whom now persecutest.
Now Ball was an exceedingly bright man. He didn't need an explanation. He understood immediately.
He was persecuting these believers and he says here he did it ignorantly and in unbelief. Now ignorance means a lack of knowledge. I've heard some equator to stupidity. But ignorance is not stupidity. Ignorance is just not oriented, not knowing. So he didn't know that this one that they had crucified was indeed the Messiah. So he was persecuting these believers.
01:00:31
In unbelief.
And he recognized immediately when he said, Who art thou, Lord? The Lord didn't say I am.
Jehovah, I am the Son of God, he said. I am those that you're persecuting.
And he recognized his error and he changed right on the spot. And of course we know subsequent things where he was blinded, he was taken into Damascus, and so on. But that is not the point I'm trying to make because here in verse 13 he in a sense defines mercy. He said I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. So God acted in a sovereign way with Paul.
Paul wasn't looking for mercy. He wasn't looking for anything except to go out and apprehend those believers and take them back and bond to Jerusalem. Now the next verse 14 and the grace immediately here we have grace in contrast to mercy, and the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. How? With faith.
And love, which is in Christ Jesus.
Now we'll look a little bit more to see what that grace meant. But now that he had been awakened to the fact that he was persecuting these believers, and in so doing he was acting contrary to God, who he really wanted to serve, there's no question about that. But he was acting ignorantly in unbelief. Now awakened, he can have grace.
Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Grace is not something that's operative with somebody acting ignorantly in unbelief. We sing a very good gospel and we sang it the other night. God and mercy sent his Son to a world by sin and done that was an act of God's mercy sending the Lord Jesus Christ.
There weren't believers or godly people asking God send your sin and send your son, but God had mercy sent his son.
To a world by sin and done apart from that, none of us would have any hope.
Apart from Christ. So that was God's mercy. Now as soon as he believed, he now can exercise grace and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ was exceeding abundant. How would faith? Heinz quoted this verse several times and it's absolutely one of our most favorite ones from Ephesians 2. For by grace are ye saved. We don't stop there by faith.
And I think with a.
Study of the applications of the term grace and their multitudinous. Believe me, in the New Testament you have them so many it's really hard to see them all. There's a grace of God, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who though he was rich, yet for your sex he became poor that he through his poverty might be rich. We are to have grace, Paul when he besought the Lord because of his eye problem. God said my grace is sufficient for thee. So we have so many applications of grace.
But in almost every case, I can assure you, if you look at it and think about it and reflect on it, you'll see it's tied with faith.
And so we have that in Ephesians 2 For by grace are ye saved through faith, and that's not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.
Now we are saved by faith. We know that it's the gift of God.
But that's the grace of God. But God wants us to have grace, and he wants us to exercise grace.
Heinz also quoted the verse that really started my own personal Oh, preoccupation almost if you will, with the word grace, the last verse of Second Peter, but grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I think everybody in a room would agree it's easy to understand how we grow in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. We have this lovely book that God has preserved to us which tells us about our Lord Jesus. We have the four Gospels and we learn about him so we can be instructed about Christ. But what started me on my preoccupation with grace was if a young brother came up to me and says, well, it tells me here in the end of Second Peter to grow in grace.
01:05:31
What do I do?
Now I just suggest you think about that. If you were asked that question, what would you tell somebody to grow in grace?
It's such a lovely term. It's a beautiful term. Heinz indicated that when he used the word gracious. But in our language we have gracious, graceful.
And it's it's lovely, the thought of grace.
Can move our hearts, but when you think of it, it's an injunction to us at the beginning of every epistle grow in grace.
What am I to do?
Have grace? Well, I'm still thinking about this. In fact, I can tell you that I actually tried to write an article and and it was looked at by some of my esteemed brethren, and they thought it was most interesting and encouraged me to go on. But I didn't, because I didn't feel that I had in any way even near touching the breath of that subject, the beauty of that subject, the fullness of it.
So I want to just.
Point to one verse. I didn't tend to take much time except that.
The way Heinz described grace is one that I heard from another brother at this conference, and it was that grace is getting what we don't deserve, where mercy is not getting what we do deserve. And I'd like to suggest that that is a very trivial definition. I'll give you one about mercy, which I thought about as an illustration in my own.
Life. I think it was God's mercy when I try to change my job.
Some years ago.
That what seemed eminently practical. I wanted to stay within the same corporation but get another assignment. And I didn't get it.
That was God's mercy. Mercy doesn't necessarily mean not getting punishment that you deserve. That's maybe a good way to put it. That mercy was just prevented me, God and his wisdom and love. And as a matter of fact, the wonder of that episode was that several weeks after I was rebuffed about that, why I got an opportunity to go to another job. And that's the one where I met my brother.
Who brought the truth to me? So I got saved. But that was God's mercy, wasn't it? See, I was like.
The Apostle Paul ignorantly and unbelief, but the Lord put me where I was going to meet this faithful Christian who was interested in me as an individual who brought the gospel to me, and I got saved.
That was mercy. It has nothing to do with not getting what I deserve. It was just God working in a sovereign way. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. That's what the Scripture says. He can act in an authoritative way because he is God and he will of course do this to attain achieve His purposes. It may be for blessing for the individual upon whom He's having mercy.
But that person doesn't know. But Grace, I think, has this sense of now being.
At least quickened, and I think most of us understand how we use that term. Quickened. I'll try to define it, perhaps someone will straighten me out later, But Quicken means that you have.
The Not eternal life, but you'll have life before God. You're sensitive now to the things of God, and you're open generally when there's quickening to hear the gospel. But you're not saved until you have that saving faith.
But quickening means that you're open to it.
So I think grace is operative during the stage of quickening, which may be in our experience, but as we read here with the Apostle Paul, he says.
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Let's see if I can.
Verse 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, or exceeding and abundant with faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. Well, how was that?
When?
I think was it Nicodemus, the man that was in?
Damascus, who God sent to Paul and he I I love that episode by the way, because when the Lord said I want you to go to Paul.
Eight it wasn't Paul, and he was Saul of Tarsus. Still, this man had the liberty showing our liberty and speaking with God, he said. But Lord, he's the one who's come here to take us back in *******. And the Lord says, yes, that's so. But he's a chosen vessel, and he'll stand before kings, and he'll be a servant of mine. So he went to the apostle Paul, and he gave him or brought him back his sight.
So all of that was on the basis of Grace, because now Paul was.
The Lords so I believe grace is something that is uniquely a blessing for us as believers. I think we can all learn to exercise grace and and I suggest as you read you'll be amazed at the number of things of grace. Now a verse I discovered recently that I enjoyed that I want to share it with you is at the end of you know of Hebrews.
And it gives you an idea why we want might want to exercise grace. So it's the next to last verse in chapter 12, Hebrews 12, verse 28.
Now the first part of the verse connects to that which went on before, which by the way is interesting because it relates to what we've just are having right now. It says refuse not him that speaketh and this is how God can bring light and understanding to us. Now verse 28 it says wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, we believers.
Let us have grace.
Why? Whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, isn't that striking? Let us have grace, that we can serve God with reverence and godly fear. So that just gives you an example of the many dimensions of grace.
There's a verse which I value. I send the 4th chapter Romans. We won't turn to it. Well, maybe we will, because I don't want to misrepresent it. It'll only take a second to look at it.
Chapter 4 of Romans.
Speaking by the way of Abraham, Abraham believed God was counted to him for righteousness. We heard about that the other night, didn't we?
Now verse 4 just makes reinforces a point I just made. It says now to him they worketh is the reward not reckoned of grace but of death. So grace is connected with our salvation as has already been pointed out through faith. But going ahead in the 4th chapter there verse 16, it says therefore it is of faith that it might be.
By grace, so that verse particularly in my.
Reflections upon grace has led me to believe that grace is inextricably connected to faith. It's a New Testament for our.
Stage, you might say, if God's dealing with men this.
Current age that we're in is the age of grace. Grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. That makes it very plain. And God wants us to walk by grace.
And I'll close by just telling you what I feel. I try to come up with a concise statement of the essence of what I think grace is. But as I told you, I I never finished or submitted that article to anyone because I felt I had just begun to get an appreciation or understanding of grace. But the state at which I am right now, and I'll give you that definition, is this.
01:15:03
That grace is that which God.
Provides to us as believers that will enable us to walk in the good of all His promises for us.
That now ties them with growing in grace in a nice way. Wouldn't it be nice to say every promise God gives us?
I walk fully in at trusting him for what he wants to do for me, which without question is for blessing and for good. That's grace. That's growing in grace. And again I submit that we have it at the beginning and ending of every epistle, and if that shouldn't challenge every one of us, there we have every time we read an epistle, we have grace, often times mercy and peace.
Mercy. We want God's mercy.
Although we have grace, we want God's mercy.
To me, it's a mercy if I'm driving down the highway and there's a man coming at me that's going to fall asleep, it's God's mercy if he doesn't hit me.
I have nothing to do with that. I don't even know enough to ask the Lord's help for it.
But God can have mercy and protect me from that. That's mercy. Grace is that which God has given us where to grow in it. And I think it is to avail ourselves of all the love of God, all his wonderful promises for us, and we can grow in it. Now I'll get back to my original point, and I'll say to my brother Heinz, I wasn't being critical of him because what he gave you as the definition of grace or in the comparison with mercy and grace.
Is not his at all.
Absolutely widespread amongst all the gathered Saints in other parts of Christendom too.
But I submit to you, that's a very narrow definition of mercy and grace. Mercy is not just saving us from what we deserve. Mercy is protecting us from things we don't even know about.
God will have mercy on whom he will have mercy. Grace is.
God's love for us as Christians that we can walk and all the goodness of His promises and love for us.
Saver Saver birthday.
From.
My.
December.
Rise to the streets against everything.
That's all.
Right.
John 3
Gospel—D. Jaeger
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Greetings.
We have before us an hour in which we trust, with the help of God, to present the most wonderful message this world could receive. That is the gospel. And gospel means glad tidings, good news. And we hope that in what is said, we'll make it very clear as to why that gospel is good news. Shall we begin our meeting this evening by standing and singing Hymn #6?
On him she hymn number six, and as you're standing I'll read part of it. God and mercy sent his Son to a world by sin undone. Jesus Christ was crucified to us for sinners. Jesus died. Oh, the glory of the grace shining in the Savior's face telling sinners from above. God is light and God is love Number six.
Now I just want to say a brief word about myself, not to make anything of myself, but to point out that.
At any time, one who was yet in their sins can put their trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's never too late, nor is it too early. In fact, God's Word says today is the accepted time. Now is the accepted time to put one's faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. In my case, I was 29 years old.
Some here may find that hard to believe, but it's true. I was 29 years old when I finally heard a clear gospel.
And accepted what I found in God's word through the help of a very godly brother. And since that time I have been supremely blessed and happy and at peace. So you're looking at a man that has experienced that and that one could not say I was raised to believe that I was raised in a home of a lovely mother and father, very moral, But they themselves had no light from God's word.
And I'm happy to say that by the time the Lord took them, they both had to confess Christ as their Savior, much to my joy.
But the thing that would disturb my peace and happiness tonight is to think that there are.
Possibly some in this room who have not accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their own savior.
You know, one of the things that you find as you go through life and you speak to others about the Lord Jesus is that they often have notions which they have. Oh, I believe that God is fair, or that my good deeds outnumber my bad and things of that nature. I just want to quote a verse from the book of Proverbs which is spoken very strongly to my own heart. And the verse is as follows. There is a way that seemeth right unto a man.
But the end thereof.
Are the ways of death, and that's an interesting bit of.
Word structure because it says there is a way, singular, that seemeth right to a man, but the end thereof, meaning all the different ways that men have apart from this book that we're holding tonight, are the ways of death. So it is not what man thinks, it's what God has told us in this book.
And the reason I say that is I'm going to be speaking from this book tonight. What I say will be on the authority of this word. It will not be any notion of mine, and I trust it will be accurate and understandable. So with that in mind, I'll ask you to turn to the first chapter of the apostle of the Gospel of John in the New Testament, the first chapter of the Gospel according.
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To John in the New Testament.
And we read in the opening verses something most remarkable.
In the beginning, it doesn't say the beginning of what, but it's in the beginning. So as far back as your mind might go.
That was the beginning.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Notice Word is capitalized, so that's another name you might say from God. So in the beginning was God was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, making it very emphatic. All things were made by Him, and without him was not anything.
Made that was made. And I'll just stop there. You can go out on a clear night and look up there. He made it all, all the stars. He made this earth. He made you. He made me. He gave us what we have as we know in our life today. And we are creatures of two things. Time and the clock is moving along and space. And we live in three-dimensional space.
That's things have width, depth and height, and God made it. And it tells us in this book and one of the epistles that by his word all things consist meaning God said let there be and there was, so let there be life.
He created, as we know from reading in the book of Genesis.
All the creation as we now know it, the animals, the sky, the plants and men. So God said let there be and there was. God is absolute, God is supreme, God is eternal, God is all powerful, we sang, God is light. And that's one of the things if we had continued reading here in the first of John, he is light.
And he is loved. And that's the most wonderful thing. Now just to make it certain so we see it for ourselves in this first chapter of John. Let's just go to verse 14.
And the word.
Capital W Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. So that person, that one God that we read up in the first verse is the Lord Jesus Christ, because he became flesh and dwelt among us. There is no other story, no nothing in this world.
That this could be taken from, This is the absolute word of God that we have in our hands tonight. And if someone says to you, well, I don't believe that, or I think these are just old mythological tales that have been handed down through the ages, that's their problem. Believe me, this is the word of God. God has told us that heaven and earth shall pass away and He created it all. And so when he says pass away, it will, but His word will endure forever.
So that's what you're hearing tonight, and I hope seriously, you'll consider that this is not really a choice on the part of any of us we don't make.
Often here mentioned, but it's clearly in the scriptures that we are to be obedient to the word of God. In other words, God has told us the truth. This book is truth. We hear it, we should act on it because it comes from God and He's telling us.
What we need to know, and I want that to be a point that's clear too, that this book is not written for theologians or PhDs. It's written for you and for me. It's been said that the truths of the Bible.
Simple, straightforward truths can be understood by the smallest child, but the deepest things in this book can't be touched by the brightest intellect of man that ever lived, because it's from God.
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He has given us in this book that which we need.
So now what I'm going to do, And so we don't have to keep flipping back and forth, I'm going to quote a few verses that are in the Bible, which are absolutely fundamental, basic, and need to be understood by each one of us. The first one is.
All, all men have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's God's word All, no exceptions.
The one exception we could say, of course, is the Lord Jesus, who was the flesh, the one, the Word who was made flesh and dwelt among us. God sent apart. And this book says that about him as he walked on this earth as a man. But apart from him all have sinned. And it's not just that and come short of the glory of God. So that means where are we going now? Another thing this book teaches is.
That man, once he's born as a man, is eternal.
As we walk this globe right now everyone in this room is really has three parts Triune and that is they are body. That's our body. Warm hearts are beating, bloods coursing through our veins. Soul the soul is our feelings. And one thing I came across recently which I really enjoyed is.
Soul is self consciousness.
In other words, the soul. I know I'm neat. I'm not you, and I know you are within yourself. You have feelings. I have feelings. So that speaks of the soul. And then the third part of man, which makes them distinct from all other animal creation, is spirit because man is conscious of God. Even the atheist is conscious of God because why?
They love to argue about it.
If they could and they can't believe that there is no God and there would be no nonissue with them. But it isn't. Atheists want to argue about it, but there's a few years ago, when the word was out that God was dead. But I had to thought that if on a certain second across the face of this globe, everybody could shout God is dead, would it have changed anything? No, we know that.
God is there. We are here. He's made us conscious of Him, and that's what sets us apart from the rest of creation. And we know from this book, too, that we're made in the image and likeness of God. It tells us that right in the first chapter of the beginning of Genesis can imagine that God has made us God. Like we can speak with God because we have a spirit. We call it prayer.
We can ask of God.
We can tell God we're sorry if we offend him. We should tell him that.
Now consider this. If God made us in His image and likeness, he is wholly pure light. Perfection, joy, peace, All the lovely adjectives you can think of.
Now he's made us in his image and likeness. If we sin, that's an offense to him. That isn't why he made us. He didn't make us to sin. Sin is wickedness. Sin is darkness. We may read some verses. We'll see how the time goes tonight of what this book says about sin and wickedness. And God tells us in this book that he is of holier eyes than to behold sin. That means he cannot have sin.
In his presence in heaven. And I sort of like and have to say, I visited a farmer and I went out into his barnyard where he had some cattle. But I didn't turn around and walk right into his living room. And you know why? Because he had a lovely house and living room and and so I wasn't suited to go in there. Well, if you're in your sins, you're the same way. You cannot go into the presence of God.
But God is love. As we sang light, He knows everything in love. And what has He done in love? God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. That whosoever and he went in his room believeth in him his Son.
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Should not perish, but have everlasting life. And the only way you can have everlasting life in the presence of God is to have your sins put away. Now that brings us to the purpose of this meeting. This is called a gospel meeting. Gospel is the story. Good news, good news from God. God is saying, all right, you who are among the all who have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
I have a solution so that you can spend eternity with me.
I gave my son my beloved son.
To be a man walking the face of this earth. And of course the Lord Jesus accomplished many lovely things as he did. He revealed the heart of God. He showed that a perfect man could walk on this earth. He showed God for what he truly is. But as we all know, at the end of that earthly path, and he came by the way to bring deliverance to his people. They rejected him, Cast them out. They said We will not have this man to reign over us.
And then he became the sacrificial Lamb of God. That's one of his titles. And he died as a sacrifice to the satisfaction of a holy, righteous God in that matter of sin. That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. Now I hope each one at that point will say to themselves.
Do I have everlasting life? I know many here can say that I can say it. I say it. And they do too on the authority of this book because they believe what kind of said and.
We had it in the hymn the Word whosoever believeth.
It's an interesting thing when you analyze what God has given us in this book, that God is not looking for us to walk as perfect men to do good works. God is looking for us to believe Him. There's a verse that tells us about the famous Abraham, who was the father of all the Semites, and that's interesting. Jews and Arabs.
But Abraham, who lived, by the way, at least 400 years before the law, was given to Moses on Mount Sinai. Those temples, tablets of stone with the 10 commandments, Abraham 400 years before. So he wasn't even alive at the time of Moses. So the law, the the Law of Moses as it's called, didn't exist, but what the Bible tells us.
Is that Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness.
It doesn't say Abraham did what God said. It says Abraham believed God. Now how did God know that he can read the hearts? So he knows. If you say I believe in Jesus Christ, he knows whether it's real or not.
If I were talking to you I might not be able to tell. Although generally speaking, and this is almost the truism, if we spend enough time together the reality of your faith or non faith would show forth because ultimately we must live what we believe. But the point is getting back to Abraham, God was pleased with Abraham because Abraham believed God truly believed God and we know it.
Because later on Abraham moved from Ur the Chaldees and finally got to the Promised Land.
The long late in his life he fathered.
The child of promise, who was Isaac? And then Isaac had Jacob and Jacob in heaven, 12 tribes of Israel, and it all expanded. But the point was, and it tells us several times in the New Testament, Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness.
So I'll ask you right now, as we are in the beginning of this meeting, do you believe what this word says?
And by the way, it's been observed that this being the eternal, perfect Word of God, heaven and earth shall pass away. But this word won't pass away.
If you believe it, then your faith is in the right place. God knows it and He values that. It tells us not by works of righteousness that we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us. We thank God. Mercy sent His Son. What was His mercy? His mercy was to send His Son when this whole world, every human being.
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Had sinned and come short of God's glory. That's God's mercy. He sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.
He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son.
Now, do you believe that? Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the eternal Son of God?
You probably know many elements of the story. We all do. We learn it as we go through life. But that he was born of Mary. He didn't have a natural father, but she conceived through the Holy Ghost.
And he came as a lowly man, so lowly they couldn't find a room in the inn. And sometimes I don't think we really realized what it meant to take a newborn child and put them in a feeding truck with straw and a Manger Than if you've ever been in a barn, you know what a barn is like. And that's exactly where they were. It was a stable. And that's the way our saviors thought it was life on this earth. Very humble.
It tells us in the book of Philippians that he emptied himself of his heavenly glory in obedience, came down and took the place as a lonely man. And you know it was only obedient, and coming here as a man, but obedient unto death, because he possessed the divine power. He says it right in one of the Gospels. He could have called upon 12 legions of angels to deliver him from the hands of those who were seeking to take his life.
But he allowed them to do that.
So that he could become the Lamb of God. These sacrifice to the satisfaction of God.
And the question of sin.
Well, with that was supposed to be a brief introduction. It's taken half of our time. I propose now to turn to the third chapter of the same gospel, John.
And I'll read right from the first verse, because it's going to make an important point.
John's Gospel chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews. So he was what we would call a clergyman. He was religiously important to the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night. Why was that? He didn't want any others to see him. And he said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest except God be with them.
And that was good reasoning.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God, so we'll stop right there. The Lord often does this as you read the gospel accounts of his walk on the earth. That is, he doesn't directly answer a question or an issue raised by someone who goes to see him, because he knows the heart and he knows what's needed, and he knew what was needed by Nicodemus.
And he tells Nicodemus, thou must be born again. Now this is very puzzling, and no doubt we would have reacted the same way.
Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter it the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered. And again he says, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. So now he's not talking about physical birth.
Again, he's talking about being born of water and of the Spirit. And you might say what is this about water? God considers his work to be water by the washing of the water of the word is a clear scriptural expression and so it's really the word of God. So unless one is reborn, you might say according to the truth of God and of the Spirit meaning.
Work of God, the Spirit. You'll notice spirit here is a capitalist. That's the third person of the Trinity. So unless a person is born of the water and of the spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Now we've heard in the Scotland and popular usage about being born again, but it's very real. It's true.
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God cannot take natural man of the fleshes. We are born into this world and allow us to go to heaven, because we have sin upon us. And as we said earlier, God is a full of your eyes than to behold sin. So we need a new creation, not the physical one, but we need a new person, you might say, born again, born of.
Water and bone of the spirit.
So let's see what happens.
The Lord goes on to say.
In verse six that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that is which is born of the Spirit, the Spirit.
And the Lord gives the answer right there. Marvel not that I said unto you, Ye must be born again.
So the Lord is making a flat statement now, the new birth when one accepts Christ as a reality.
We have some verses in the Epistles that tell us that if any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, all things are become new. I can tell you about me. I told you I was very mature individual when I got saved. And my own mother said to me, she said, Richard, you're different. This is my mother after almost 30 years said that to me because she could see the reality of the fact of the new birth faith in Christ.
There was a new, how should I say, person inside me, reacting to what I was learning from God. A new value system, looking out on the world and seeing things in a different light.
Very much a man. I mean, I know. I think how people think.
And so on. But now I had a new spiritual length, so I can give you my own testimony. And any real believer here can do the same, That when you put your faith in Christ, you're born again. You're a new creature in Christ, and it's real.
So verse 7 The Lord says, Marvel not that I said unto thee, he must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and now here is the sound thereof can't not tell once it cometh, and wherever it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Very simply, that means you can't go down to the local bookstore and get a book and read about how you get born again. You can't go to a doctor's office and say I want to be born again.
We don't know. It's the working of the Spirit of God.
The spirit of God. And that's part of our makeup. We have that within us.
Which is spiritual. And so this new birth is the work of the spirit, cannot be seen, cannot be felt, except that through the change in our makeup. So everyone at a so is everyone.
That is born of the Spirit. We can't tell exactly how it happens, but we know it does. Nicodemus answered and said unto them, How can these things be? Jesus answered, and said, unto Whom art thou a master of Israel? And knowest not these things? Third time? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know and testify that we have seen and you receive not our witness, speaking as the Son of God, the divine person.
We speak of the things that we know and have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I had told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you heavenly things? And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of Man which is in heaven. And of course that's Christ being divine. He was in heaven, but he was on the earth. We don't question the fact that God is omnipotent. He's everywhere. He's in this room tonight.
On Lord's day morning, we will remember the Lord and his death with the elements on that table Speaking of his body and his blood. And he has told us that where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst. Will we see him physically? No. Will we know He's here? Yes, we will know He's here, because he is a spirit and we have a spiritual body.
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Or a spiritual makeup and the presence of the Lord is known to us, where new creatures in Christ.
And then he goes on in verse 14 and brings up an event that took place in the Old Testament, when fiery serpents were sent into the camp of Israel as they went through the wilderness from Egypt to the Promised Land. And they were complaining. And so they were dying from these fiery serpents which came in and bit them. And so the Lord brings that up and tells.
Reminds them, or reminds Nicodemus what had happened there, he said, As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of man be lifted up. Now this is interesting, what Moses was told by God when Moses said, What are we going to do about these people who are dying from these serpents? He was told, Make a serpent out of brass and lift it up on a pole. And whosoever looks at that serpent will be cured. And it was true.
Now think about that. You'd say, is that a form of idolatry? No, it's a form of faith. Because they were told, go out and look, suppose somebody was in this tent and he was languishing in pain and felt as if he was going to die shortly. And they said, well, just get up and go to the door they sent. Look at that. Oh, you're crazy. But those that did, look, they did live because God said it, by the way, it was faith. It was just like.
Abraham Abraham believed. God. Those who looked at the serpent believed.
Leaved and they had the reward from God because they believed God. Now you're going to believe what we're learning in this book.
So what? The word here is that as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up.
So what he's saying is this is anticipating by the way the Lord Jesus being lifted up nails of the cross.
But whosoever would look to him in faith would be cured from the sickness of sin.
And notice there's an interesting word in that verse, and this is typical of the scriptures. Even so, must the Son of Man be lifted up? In other words, God had to have that suitable sacrifice to put away.
Our sins to satisfy God, the holy God who could not have sin in his presence. So his Son, his beloved Son, his only begotten Son as well read in a minute, was the sacrifice and he had to be lifted up.
Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, Otherwise no one in this room.
Would have any eternal hope other than the opposite of heaven.
Which is hell? The lake of fire, where there is consciousness for all eternity, and suffering where there are worm. Dieth not is the way Scripture says it. The terrors of hell are awful.
Some who think they're very flippant and so on, if you try to talk to them about these things, which are very serious, and they said, oh, all my friends will be in hell and we'll be playing cards and having a good time. No, no, no.
God did not create hell, by the way, for men. He created it for the devil and his angels.
Because they cannot be redeemed the way we can through faith. And so hell was only for fallen angels, for the devil and his angels. But that's the only place men can go if they're not suited to go to heaven for all eternity, so.
So that brings us to an important point. There are only two things ahead of us as we go through this life, Heaven or hell. God makes heaven.
Available to each one.
God doesn't want you, if you're still in your sins, to go to hell. He does not want you to go to hell. He loves you too much.
Tells you in this book what to do. He gives you the remedy.
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And what more can I do? It's a free gift. There's a verse in Romans that says the wages of sin is death, and that's what leads to the lake of fire. But the gift of God, the free gift of God, is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So if you're hearing the gospel, the glad tidings, the good news of salvation, full and free and complete.
It's faith in Christ.
It's availing yourself of the work that God had done through his Son, that you might live eternally. Now we'll go on. You'll notice we're very close to one of the most well known verses in the Bible, and it says here in verse 15, So the Son of man be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have a possession.
Eternal life for God so loved the world.
Even though I was full of sinners, that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Now maybe that's the point we didn't emphasize, and I'll just touch on it now. Once you're born as a human being, you're going to live eternally.
Now I say maybe a better word would be to exist eternally.
Life in Scripture is really thought of being in the presence of God.
And that's for those whose sins are forgiven through faith in Christ, but those who refuse.
God's free offer of salvation, that gift and a gift as you well know, is of no value unless you accept it. If I said here's a gift of something you say, no, I don't want it. It's no gift because you didn't accept it. So if God offers us the gift of eternal life through His Son, that's because you have accepted His Son as your savior. So here we have should not perish whosoever, and that's an important word.
There are no.
Limitations on that term. It's not who's whoever lives in the United States.
Or whosoever has a job or any other condition, it's whosoever believeth in him just like Abraham. That's the reason I brought Abraham up. Abraham believed God and it was counted to him for righteousness. If you believe in Jesus Christ you have everlasting life. I'm going to just flip ahead and I'll tell you where it is. But you need current to it as a verse in Romans and it's chapter 10 and verse 9.
But it tells us.
What relates to this?
That if thou shalt confess with my mouth the Lord Jesus, and shall believe in thine heart, believe that God hath raised them from the dead, Thou shalt be saved. So there it is. You accept the free gift, you believe, believe in your heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. Now it puts it's pleasing to God if you'll have Christ as your savior.
And it should be lauded and savior, because she should have power in your life that you tell others. And so if thou shalt confess with thy lips. But I just wanted to read that. And it's something we like to point out to children in Sunday school, too, because we sometimes learn and that, yes, I accept that the Lord Jesus, the little child. And then you say, have you told anybody? Have you told your mother? Have you told your father, your brother, your sister, or playmate? That's pleasing to the Lord if we confess him to others as our Lord and Savior.
Well, back to John Three. Now verse 17 is very important, and that's one reason I felt like to take up the safe portion tonight. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. So God sent him here to be the Savior. And what does that mean? The world doesn't have to be condemned by God sending someone. The world is condemned itself by sin.
And you say, how is that? Well, we know what goes on in this world. There are robberies. There are wars. There are unkindness untold, the selfishness. There are all those things that are really, really.
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Of a nature to condemn those that committed. This is, by the way, the nature we inherited from our first mother and father, Adam and Eve.
Because they sinned in the Garden of Eden, as we know through the forbidden fruit.
And we inherited their nature, so that's why all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, who are born with a nature that's prone to sin.
So God says he didn't send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be safe. Now just think about that. If you tonight listening to me cannot say I'm on the way to heaven. And I say to you, oh, that's nice, why is that? And you say because Jesus Christ died for me, he put away my sins at Calvary. Then I say wonderful, you're my brother. We are both believers in the Lord Jesus Christ.
God sent the Lord Jesus to be the Savior of the world.
Put away the sins of the world. He didn't send them here to condemn the world.
Now verse 18. If you are in the right state, he that believeth on him.
Is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already.
Because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now what does that mean if you're sitting out there?
And maybe it's a young person from a Christian family and saying to themselves, as I'm talking, I said, oh, I've heard this over and over again so many times and they're thinking about, boy, if they just didn't have to be here, they don't want to be bothered.
God, in all seriousness because he loves you, is telling you that he that believeth.
Not is condemned already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God. Now why is that?
Suppose in the next few minutes, for whatever reason, you expire, you die in this life, and you're now on your way to eternity. If you die in your sins, nothing can be done once you're dead in a scene. That's a clear teaching of Scripture. Absolutely clear.
You have to make the decision in this life, and since you don't know how many heartbeats you have left, you should not put it off. You have no idea what's going to happen.
We don't like to frighten people, but the truth of it is so young people dying, old people die. You can be driving on a country Rd. and somebody can be coming in the opposite direction and you're doing everything right. You're in your lane, you're under the speed limit and so on, and they swear right in front of you and you're gone.
So you're condemned already. In other words, that's your state you right now, and we term that we use from Scripture. You are in your sins, and as such you cannot come into the presence of a holy, righteous God.
That's solemn, you know, as I think that, and I'll tell you something, by the way, going back to the little account about myself, until I believed in the Lord Jesus, I was afraid of death. I really was. I had that clear sense that I was not ready to stand before a holy and a righteous God, and I wasn't a waste roll or a, you know, what should I say, violent or sinful?
Overtly sinful person. I was just the average.
Type. But I knew that I had sinned. We all have sinned. Anybody that denies it doesn't understand about themselves.
You know, God knows. He knows right into the heart of our mind. If we have a sinful thought, he knows it. But I had a sense of that I was raised with a fear of God. The Scripture says, by the way, the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. I love that one.
I was with a man, a fellow employee of the big corporation I worked for and I remember so clearly in a cab in San Francisco. And we were going to the corporate headquarters there. And I quoted to him the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom. And he immediately responded and said, that's terrible. God is love. How can you say?
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That we fear God. We shouldn't fear God. He didn't know this word.
You know why we fear God? We don't fear God because he's mean or hurtful. We fear God because he has all power.
He is absolute. We cannot argue with him. We cannot reason with him on the matter of sin. He tells us he loves us, so he says, I'm telling you what the rules are in this game of life. I wrote the rules on the umpire. I'm the judge and we go by what I say.
He's God is absolutely. And so we fear him. It's in the sense of not cringing fear, but it's in the sense of recognizing where the power is if you work for a big corporation and the chairman of the board comes into your office and starts to demand things and so on.
You know, tell them I'm busy. Get lost.
He's the one that has all power, right? And so you hop up and do what he does. You you fear him in that sense, Well, that's what the fear of God is. And it's wonderful thing, by the way, to have the fear of God because that can affect how you walk, how you think, and it should affect how you look at eternity.
That's all important. You don't know whether you have another heartbeat. Well, we only have 5 minutes left, so.
It says then this is the condemnation.
Verse 19 The light has come into the world, and men love darkness rather than light because their deeds were evil. The light that came into this world was the Lord Jesus Christ. Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
And by the way, we flew in last night into the LAX LA airport over the city, and it was an unusually clear night. The famous smog wasn't around. The city was just glittering with all of those St. lights. But why are those bright St. lights down there? Because where there's light in the neighborhood, crime is reduced. That's the reason all big cities have bright St. lights.
To reduce crime men through their wickedness in the dark. That's their nature.
So the sad thing is, light has come into the world.
And so.
I'll read verse 21 again. Well, verses 20 and 21. For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God. And the Lord Jesus, in the first chapter, where we didn't quite read to it, said, I am the light of the world.
If you have Christ, you have light.
You have your sins forgiven. Now we only have a few minutes left and there's one more verse in this chapter that I want to read because I think it's one of the most solemn verses in the Bible. It's the last verse of chapter 3, verse 36.
And it sums up tonight.
He that believeth on the Son hath.
Has present position right now. Everlasting life. You believe in Christ, you say He's my Lord. He's my savior. He died for me. He put away my sins. On Calvary's cross he shed his precious blood to wash away my sins. You have everlasting life, and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
So that's the point that was made before that you're condemned already if you don't have Christ. But as I think of the wrath of God, abiding on is like a cloud over my head, just waiting to have a cloud burst. That's the wrath of God, the judgment of God, the anger of God. It's sin. God is pure and holy, and he cannot have sin.
God loves you. He doesn't want you to go to hell. That's for the devil and his angels. God said, I so love you that I gave my only begotten Son. And if we think of what had caused Christ, our Creator, just think of that. Christ, the Creator of this whole universe, became a man.
Lived in the mountains of Galilee in Nazareth. Carpenter's son then went out and did wondrous miracles.
00:50:04
If you read the Bible carefully, the crowds that would follow the Lord Jesus were astronomical. He'd go around the other side of the Lake of Galilee. They'd all run around to be there. Then they'd feed the 5000 with 7 loaves and seven fishes.
Just the the person of our Lord Jesus is something that we believers are just waiting that moment because when we see him we shall be like him.
We believers, and we shall know as we are known. That is right. Now I may have a question. Should I or shouldn't I do this or that? But then in that day, when I'm caught up to meet him, see him, be like him, then I'll have the same judgments He has perfect I'll be perfectly suited to spend all eternity in His presence.
So in this closing, now I'm going to ask the question.
I hope that you understand that this is the word of God, This is truth. This is not the writings of men. I know a man, he's a brother. Now. He's in the meeting in North Carolina and he started to read this book in resentment against his believing grandmother to prove that she was wrong and he found Christ.
This book to almost everyone that has ever researched it to try and prove error or whatever, have generally come to see that it's divinely inspired. It's given to us of God. So what I've tried to indicate to you are some of the key points number when you're a Sinner, you're short. God sent his son as a gift that if you receive him, believe in him, your sins will be put away the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son.
Cleanseth us from all sin. That's the exact quotation of a verse in this blessed book. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son cleanseth us from all. All no exceptions, all sin. It's never too late. It's God's gift. A true gift is not hard to receive. We know that. We say is it a gift if I have to work for it? You don't have to do anything. One of the words that we have in this book is repent.
Now, what does repent me? It means that you recognize that you have offended God as a Sinner and you're really sorry for it. And you say, Lord, you know, this is something I shouldn't do here, my creator. You love me, you take care of me. I have clothing, I have shelter, I have a job, I have a family, lovely children. God, I don't want to offend you, but sometimes I do, because I have that old nature, which I won't lose until we're caught up into the glory.
But God loves us. He doesn't want us to go to that lake of fire. So my question to you tonight.
Number one, be clear in your mind. Just simple faith in Christ and say I believe in the Lord Jesus. He died for me. He washed away my sins with his shed blood at Calvary.
And say, Lord, receive me and he will. It will be a reality in your heart.
But if you don't, just think of what you're refusing the God, the great God of this universe.
I can't describe it. I was thinking about preaching tonight. And I was thinking, oh boy, just to describe how wonderful a universe is, how wonderful this earth is, how marvelously the Earth is created, you know, with a tilted axis. So we have winters and summers. And then he put the moon up there to give us tides to flush out the bays and the rivers and and that this world regenerates it itself after men pollute it and misuse it.
And this. I told this to a brother during one of the breaks. I just learned this. It's cheaper. God, it's so generous to us. It's cheaper for us to buy a gallon of gasoline than it is to buy a gallon of water.
Now you think about that. And yet a gal and a gasoline will do what it'll move a heavy automobile 20 miles. Just think of what it would be if you wanted to push that car for 20 miles. God has given us that gasoline from where pumped the oil out of the earth. That's our great God. He loves us. He made us in his image and likeness.
And he'll bring you into that position of eternal blessing in heaven with him. If you have the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. Shall we close by singing hymn #1 on the hymn sheet?
00:55:09
Almost persuaded now to believe, almost persuaded Christ to receive.
Seems now some soul to say Go, spirit, go thy way. Some more convenient day on the alcohol almost persuaded. Come come today almost persuaded. Turn not away. Jesus invites you here. Listen to his voice so clear now falling on an ear. Come, Wandra, come.
Oh.
Gospel
Gospel—D. Whitaker
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In 2002.
That was since I was a little boy.
I enjoyed singing this song. We sang it last night.
Just as I am without one plea.
But that thy blood was shed for me. I'd like to sing it tonight again, because we all know it brings back a lot of memories to those of us that have known the Lord Jesus a long time.
It's a precious hymn.
And this may be the last time.
Is ever sung on earth?
Could someone start #12?
That's why I.
Watching I am, I am.
Years ago, the early part of the early days of this country, there was a man.
He was walking across the Midwest in the winter time.
And he came to a river. It was cold.
And the river had frozen over, and he came to that river and he thought to himself, here I am, I'm alone. And if I get out on that river, on that ice, he wanted to go cross country. There was no bridge. If I get out on that ice and I fall in, there'll be nobody to help me. So I need to get across there. I know what I'll do.
So he got down, he spread out like this, and he got down on the ice to spread the load. And he starts scraping his way across that ice, listening for cracks, worried, wondering. And he hears a noise and somebody whistling.
He turns around, he looks back up and he sees a man with a team of horses and a load of coal.
Sitting up there, holding on to the reins and he's going across that body of water. That ice was thick.
And So what did he do? He got up and he dusted himself off and got the snow and the ice and everything off of him. And with confidence, he walked right over to the other side. I love that story speaking. Thanks, Spurgeon, for that one.
Yes, and tonight there's a way.
That seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. But there is a way that God has laid out in his precious word.
And you can put your full weight, strength, confidence in it.
If you were to look down in the ice, as it were, it's solid all the way down to the bottom.
According to our little proverb here, you can put your complete trust in what we're going to say tonight. From the word of God. Don't put your trust in what I say.
Every word of God is pure. Every word of God is pure. Try well purified 7 times. Tried in the furnace of earth.
The Lord Jesus was down here and he spoke those words of life.
He spoke those words of love and compassion to mankind, and men came out.
With deadly intent to take him and his words out.
Those words were tried in a furnace of earth, purified 7 times. There's no dross tonight.
When a verse of scripture is read, you can do like that older sister.
She would put AT and AP right beside these verses and someone says what does that T period P period stand for?
She said that means tested and proven.
Now tonight you need the Lord Jesus.
00:05:04
You say, who is this group of people here tonight? Well, I think I saw it on a bumper sticker out in the parking lot. I think it was the back of a white van.
It said redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, that's who we are.
I think if I were to make a bumper sticker, it would it would say this, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. Who do you belong to?
Oh, he's worthy. He's wonderful and the most of us In this room tonight, I see many, many faces that I know and have known for 50 years of them.
The Redeemed.
They're happy, they're at peace. I also, I noticed in the paper that was thrown our front door at the hotel there, it says Powerball winner plans to share the jackpot. His name is Whitaker, Andrew Whitaker. And there's not too many of us in the country. So I might think he's given, he's given this money away, he's going to some of it. He's conscience has already got him. He said he's going to give some to this and that and that he promises to give it away so.
But anyway, you know.
He's going to collect $111.6 million after taxes. That's quite a bit.
I wouldn't have. I wouldn't trade and you wouldn't either, brother.
For an hour and a half this morning.
In the presence of the Lord Jesus.
There it is. Wouldn't trade any of it, none of it what we had today.
We had the eternal One on our hearts.
We had God's beloved Son on our hearts.
And tonight it is my desire and the desire of the believers in this room here tonight that just one person be magnified. That's the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I love that name.
Well, I'm going to fill you in for one or two minutes here. Who are these people?
The redeemed from the Earth.
Children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. Those that have bowed their knees in the presence of God, both of them.
Which reminds me of the story Paul Hadley had a Sunday school and he had the children put their hands or point to their knees and at the time hold their tongue and he says, you see those knees, those knees will bow to the Lord Jesus.
Someday they don't do it sooner. Well, somebody had this gospel tape from Brother Paul Hadley and they had it in their tape deck in their car.
And they went, they were playing it. And when they turned the engine off, the tape went off and they told the guy to change the oil. The guy, the technician climbs in the car. He turns on the ignition and the tape comes on and it says, do you see those two knees of yours point to them?
Those knees will bow.
In the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Someday.
It's in a donut shop.
And sitting there, doughnut glass of milk right a couple tables away where some old timers.
And they could take that precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and they could blend it in with their conversation fluently, in the wrong way.
That precious name?
That goes out like fragrance on the breeze.
Covers the earth, the precious name of Jesus.
They would use it in connection with the worst words you could find.
Oh yes, God still has an issue with this.
World Tonight.
Young people.
Old people, everybody. Have you been in the presence of God? Have you ever for 5 minutes?
Sat in the presence of God with no distractions, no sports going on, no this, no that. Just quietly in the presence of your home, perhaps the seat of your car.
00:10:03
And you've let God speak to your heart.
There's lots of things coming and going nowadays. There's a ongoing noise that presses in upon the folks here in the United States. There's hardly a quiet moment. But don't you think it's time to get quiet in the presence of God?
Well, besides you, is a friend or an acquaintance tonight?
You say, well, the person beside me is my friend. Let me ask you this does that friend sit beside you? Have a care for your soul?
Well, they never talk about it and we we have good times and Friday night and so on and so on. So they're friends. If that person doesn't have a care for your soul, that person is not your friend. That person is an acquaintance.
Is that right?
We're here from all walks of life, Christians.
There's.
Old, young, different parts of the country, different countries represented.
My desire is to introduce you to the Lord Jesus tonight.
In the beginning, God, Genesis chapter one, I'm not going to read there, but I'm just going to look at that with you. What a marvelous way for God to hope to begin his word in the beginning. God, you know this book here is not a book about dinosaurs. Some people when they get the book of Genesis open, they immediately start talking about.
50,000 years ago and so on. They want to talk dinosaurs, they want to get a spade, and in their doubt they want to go over and start digging around in Israel.
God says in the beginning I was there.
And God created the heaven and the earth.
You believe that now. If you don't believe that, there's no sense in going any further.
The Spirit of God will have to awaken you to see that we're dealing tonight in realities.
God is like reaching out his hand to you and saying, Sitter, I want you to be saved. I want you to know I made this world.
I want you to know I love you.
I want you to know I gave my son to die for you on the cross.
There's no collections will be taken tonight at all. As a matter of fact, folks, we have something to give now. There was a lady that lived in this town.
Oh, maybe 60 years ago. I think her name was Mary. Mary Lundeen if I'm not mistaken.
And lived in a nice home. Someone came to that house.
And they had, I don't know, they had a vacuum cleaner or maybe some kind of cookware or something in this hand. And here they had a gift. They had a nice little introductory gift, and they walked up to the door.
And this lady came to the door and she said, hi, how are you? Yes, how are you today? She's this sales lady said I have a gift for you I would like to give you. And she said, oh, thank you. She reached out and took the gift and she quickly slipped inside and shut the door.
That was a gift with strings attached.
Now I'm sure she went back out because she was just showing this young lady a lesson.
Teaching a lesson.
The gift that we have tonight is amazing because when the Lord Jesus healed somebody, he said you go home, go home.
Go home.
But do I have to follow you? I didn't say that. Go home.
No. Another time he healed 10 lepers. The Lord Jesus did. He said go show yourself to the priest. Oh, they all turn, and they and they and they let you go.
Oh, but there was one. There was one.
00:15:02
He turned and was a loud voice. He glorified God. I'm asking you tonight, have you ever bowed your knees before that blessed one?
It says in the Old Testament every knee should bow.
It says in Philippians every knee shall bow, and it tells us in various places of scripture every knee did bow past tense.
There is coming a time in this world right here when the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is going to be exalted. It's going to be extolled and it's going to be very high. And those this morning that we're sitting here and company, we're singing praises to him and if he was here and he was said.
You have an opportunity to bow the knee. There would have been 5 or 600.
People that would have bowed the knee.
Well, he's in heaven, and it's by faith.
Yes, I enjoy that story. Man came into the shop and he told about his.
I believe he was a pilot and very intelligent fellow.
But God was speaking to him about his sins. He knew he was a Sinner. And you know what happens to sinners? The wages of sin is death. Now that's the minimum wage. Talk about wage. Minimum wage is death. A little sin, you die.
Think about some of us that have been on the road a while.
This man knew that he had never bowed his knees to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Spirit of God was working on him.
And he went into his bedroom. This has happened, the more it has happened to one of Bill Prosperance similar situation.
This proud man went into this bedroom with just God and himself, and he knew that the wages of sin was against him and the penal payday was coming someday. He didn't know when, but he was going to get right that day. But there was a problem.
He got down on a knee.
That's how far he got and he couldn't get down any further.
You know, that's a wonderful thing. I hear someone get up and they, they say, Liz, bow our head, then pray. And you see heads bowed, you see eyes closed. A man, he even sitting in his chair, he's willing to break himself down a little bit. But this man knew that if he didn't get down on both his knees, that's the way he figured it. He was not going to make it through those heavenly gates because his pride was standing in the way.
He pondered the matter. One fleet, one knee was on the floor and the other was not.
Terrified.
Just full of fear and emotion. He took that other knee and he jammed it down onto the floor and he got saved. That's what he that's what happened. He got saved that day.
What about you?
Oh, you don't have to do that. Just let yourself go in those blessed arms of the Lord Jesus Christ, for God so loved the world.
And he gave what a gift that he gave His only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
Will have everlasting life, for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.
You know, they said I was reading a children's book and it said it was about alligators and various species.
And it started out 50 million years ago.
Well, I kept thumbing through it because I thought that's pretty interesting. They got into the story little ways and they said if somebody tells you that an alligator lives 75 years, don't believe him because we don't know actually know how long an alligator lives.
That's amazing, isn't it? Well, you want to know when time begins. Turn to Genesis chapter one and verse 14. This is where time is first recorded. Now we must remember that God is God and time belongs to Him. We belong to time. Time has control over us in a certain sense, but God has control over time. Remember the time back? Was it in Joshua's day when he was fighting a battle?
And he needed more time. And so God had the Son stand still.
00:20:03
Was of Hezekiah's date. He wanted a sign from God that he was going to recover, I believe.
And the prophet said you want the dial of Ahaz to go down 10° or back 10°. Well, he said, it's anything. They go down 10°. It does it every day. Make it go back 10°.
The Lord Jesus walked up to a big tree.
And he spoke to that tree, and it was withered up from the roots.
God has control of time, and for us to be discussing time in the in the presence of God is just as ridiculous as it can be.
Here we have the beginning of recorded time and God said let there be lights, verse 14 and the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night and let them be for signs and for seasons for days and years. So children, if say if somebody says 50 million years ago, you can just turn them to this verse and you can let the Lord work on them.
Now it also tells us a very sober and serious thing when time shall be no more.
There's a necessity for you tonight, Sinner, to come under the shelter of the precious blood of Christ so freely given at Calvary.
Because there's coming a day when he will have rolled up this tapestry of life, as it were, where he has displayed in his wisdom and in his love and his kindness, all these beautiful characters and attributes that he needed a very black backdrop to display them on.
And he's going to show who is the blessed God.
Potentate, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, He's going to show that. He's going to show what grace is. He's going to show what mercy is. He's going to show what kindness is redemption, union with Christ.
Substitution, propitiation, atonement, he's going to show all these wonderful things in this period of time, and it's all going to be to the glory of God's Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Where will you be when he takes He rolls up this vast tapestry of time where these millions of souls have had to be accountable to God.
Where will you be then A man will stand up and say, What about the ********** in Africa that never heard?
My father went to a little village one time in Africa.
And he had some porters with him and some natives, and they got into this village and they the smoke was coming out of the huts there like they'd been cooking and so on.
And there wasn't a soul around. Oh, they were all sitting up in trees. They'd never seen a white man before. There are people on the face of this earth, thousands of them, millions of them, that have never heard the precious name of Christ.
Are you worried about those people?
Well, it does say for men fears God and works righteousness. He's accepted with God. I have to leave that all with God.
But tonight, you've heard the gospel over and over again. We're at the end of the year 2002 and about to step into a new one, God willing. And you've heard the gospel many, many times. Why should you hear it again, young man? Why should you hear it again when there's millions that have never heard it once?
Think about that.
You're responsible young woman. There will come a time many a young person will take their last cold drink of Coca-Cola or Pepsi or whatever it is they drink. I saw someone rushing into the hotel the other night. There's lots of young people from elsewhere and they had their alcohol with them.
There was a rich man.
He cried. Was that the rich man that cried out for a drop of water?
Cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame. God is righteous and God is holy along with it. He's love. And the book is John. First John. It says it.
God is light.
It twice it says God is love. Oh, God wants to display his kindness and his love to you tonight in your fallen, broken condition.
00:25:03
Well, I've kind of strayed away with my thoughts.
This world tonight is like a cemetery it would take.
Take a lifetime to walk around it. We've been in cemeteries.
Looked around.
This cemetery of this world could take a lifetime to walk around. You couldn't do it in a long lifetime. And this world is shaped like a great big tear. Someone said it is. It's a sad place.
And I was standing in a memorial.
And there were granite walls all around me, arches and steps and granite face. 55,000 names.
8:00 every night that bugle would play taps.
And there was silence, 55000 that's soldiers.
Think of the tears. Can you picture? Can you imagine That was Flanders field by the way, Belgium.
Can you imagine the river of tears that that represents the sorrow in this poor world we're living in?
The Lord Jesus, he looked over that city who was brought up the other night. Oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee. How often will I have gathered thy children together, as a hen gathered through chickens under her wings? But she would not. Therefore your house is left unto you desolate.
The Lord Jesus, he came to a grave. Oh, they were weeping there. It was a sorrowful sight. And they said if you'd have been here, Lord, he wouldn't have died.
The Lord Jesus surveyed the scene. What did he do? Oh, he wept.
John 1135. It's one of the most amazing verses in the Bible. I think that's one of the most amazing verses. John 1135.
And I think the chapter that our brother read at the remembrance time this morning is the most amazing paragraph that was ever written down anywhere.
Jesus wept.
Oh, he could see a procession coming out of a city, a woman and her son. Oh, he stopped the whole thing.
That's the one that men despise and slight.
Old Samuel Rutherford said. I have borne scorn and hatred. I have borne wrong and shame. Earth's proud ones have reproached me for Christ's thrice blessed name. Where God his seal set fairest, they've stamped their foulest brand.
But judgment shines like noonday.
From Emmanuel's land.
Where do you stand tonight? The question that was asked What think ye of Christ?
What think ye of Christ? You can't get around that question tonight.
The Bible says believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. The chief was saved.
It is appointed unto men once to die, and after death. The judgment.
A newspaper article one time, written by some kind of a cleric. He was trying to offer some comfort to somebody.
And here's how I put it. Is appointed unto men once to die. And then he went on with the subject of death, and so on and so on. He didn't put the rest of the verse in there. It is appointed unto men once to die, and after this the judgment.
Isn't there somebody that could take the responsibility of our sins and stand before this righteous and holy God that demands righteousness on our behalf and have that debt completely cancelled and wiped clean? Isn't there somebody that can do that on our behalf because we can't?
Well, there is the Lord Jesus.
That blessed one, when he went into death, not only did he pay for my sins, the full penalty, and there's a lot of them.
He went down into that citadel that.
Fortress of the Enemy.
Any strongman took on.
00:30:01
The enemy.
Stronger than he took on the strongman, but that whole Kingdom, he brought it into shambles.
And he annulled the power.
Of the devil, the enemy of your soul tonight.
Oh, blessed be his name.
Just going to take a moment here in the middle of this meeting, say this.
This morning was beautiful, wasn't it, brethren?
We sat there using thinking.
Realizing the greatness of this one.
Now as time goes on.
He becomes more and more precious.
We find constellations that are deep, don't we, brethren?
Old lady sister, elderly sister.
Lost her husband recently. I said, how about the consolations of God?
Oh, they're precious.
She said they're wonderful. The old lady was walking up the street one time. The track was handed to her wrinkled face. She looked like she might have been alone on the earth. She was having to make her way by herself. She just thought what a pathetic situation She was probably 85 years of age, and she was just hobbling up the street like this, step after step after step. And when that gospel tract was given to her, he said, this is a little gospel tract, ma'am, that tells the way of salvation. She stopped. She closed her eyes.
And then with a smile, she said.
He gives me songs in the night.
Do you have songs in the night?
Was there fear? Is there fear like Adam when he got away and he sinned, and Eve and he said to God, I was afraid, I was afraid, and I hid myself among the trees of the garden.
Oh no, there is one.
That can stand on your behalf tonight, stands on your behalf before a righteous and a holy God, and he'll take the full load and responsibility of your sins.
You can't do it.
And he'll present that precious blood that cleanseth us from all sin.
Now, if you want to offer something to help out God in this matter, you don't get anything. You get nothing because God is going to see to it that his Son is glorified and his Son is magnified and you're blessed. That's the that's the way you get in. There's no other way.
If you want to offer 10% of your works, or your works equal 10% of the debt, you get nothing.
You'll go to a lost eternity bankrupt. Is that right, Ernie?
Flexibly is the name. I love that. Now we're going to go into another little subject here. Who are these people? Oh, their hearts have been touched. They've been moved by the grace of God. And on that table was a loaf of bread. It was a big loaf. Did you see how big that was? Big loaf. And then there were several cups of wine. I would like to talk for just a little moment about that.
Loaf.
A man may come and say Dave.
Matter of fact, I told this story.
I made-up the story, then I told it to the man whose name I used.
Men might come and say Dave.
Where do you fellowship? So I want to start talking, he said.
How many people does your fellowship represent? I said. Well, I'll tell you what, I'll ask you a question. How many people does your fellowship represent?
Well, he said, we have quite a number, he said. There's 5000 chairs and they're, they're, they're full.
I said that's big, isn't it? Yeah, it's large. I said, can we go over there? Yeah, I'll hop in the car. So we go over to this place, we call it the Overlake Church.
And walk through the door. It's a little bit early. And I say, well, now how many? Well, let me, let me show you on the wall here we have the names of the folks. And there's actually, there's 6000. We have two services. Wow.
So they're alphabetical and I go over and I look, my name happens to be Whitaker. And so I look under W at HIN is not there. I see Tom, he's assistant Pastor Tom, my name isn't here. Well, he said, yeah, I know Dave, I've never seen you here before in my life.
00:35:14
Oh, so Tom, come with me.
So we got the hills about a mile away, a mile and a half, and maybe a few minutes before 11:00.
And we come in here, Tom, and we look inside the door there. There's a loaf on the table, Tom, I said. How many people are represented here?
Right. I don't know, boss. I'll tell you, Tom, every child of God upon the face of the whole earth.
Not one less 5000 is too small. There's church in Korea I think has a quarter of a million. Too small. Way too small.
That loaf on the table represents.
Be his name that represents the one body of Christ. Oh, what a subject that is.
That left so many questions. Just go by the way and drop off like autumn leaves. The person of Christ to be gathered there and to bow our hearts in his presence and sing that song.
Royal robes will soon invest thee royal splendors. Crown thy brow, Christ of God.
Confessed King Sovereign right now.
Fills my heart with joy. Getting back to that story, who has the smaller fellowship? 5000 is poultry.
Paltry, hardly, hardly noticeable. All children of God, things mixed up. Dear children of God, beloved children of God. Some of them, they come in and I visit with them because our business is close to them.
They have a better knowledge of the word of God than I do. They have a better prayer life than I do. They have a fruit, far more fruit, it seems, than I do.
What should I say?
Sovereignty. Sovereignty. Put me there. Sovereignty. Do you have a do you have a Christian companion sitting next to you? And if I would have went up to you, do you deserve it? No, no, no. Well, how come you got a Christian companion, brother? All because of sovereignty? Isn't that beautiful? Do you fight against it? The sovereignty of God is wonderful. Do you submit to the sovereignty of God?
Oh, there's things that are so beautiful in the word of God. We'll look at some more.
Psalm chapter 102.
Pardon me. Psalm 102.
And verse 19 Psalm 1/02/19 I'm sorry, I should speak up.
For he hath looked down from the height of his sanctuary from heaven to the Lord. Behold the earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner.
To lose those that are appointed to death.
My Oh my.
What grace that was that he would do a thing like that.
He looked down upon you in love. Another thing you say, well we talk about God selecting and choosing.
And here's the man that was chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. We'll talk about this for a moment.
Man may come along and say I wasn't chosen.
Well, the gospel goes out to that man, and God commands that man to repent.
And he finds the goodness of God drawing him to repentance. So you have God pulling, and you have God pushing on him.
And.
You ask him, remember when grandma sang you that song on her knee, Jesus loves me. And you scooted off her knee and wanted to get outside. And he got a little bit older and someone handed you a gospel tract and you took it up. And you said, I don't want that. That ruins my fun. And later on, you might have heard a street preacher standing out there crying out the message.
00:40:19
And you beat your horn and took off.
And the Spirit of God stroll with you.
And what did you say? You said no, no, no, no, no.
Sovereignty or not, the responsibility of false right square on your shoulders.
You are responsible.
And you're lost, and you will pay the penalty for all eternity for your rejecting.
Christ as your Savior.
Think about that young man, young woman, older one.
Oh, the gospel is free tonight. It's full and it's for you, tailored for you, Sinner. You need it. And I found it. Rather, God found me.
Well, let's think about this a while.
At the cross he yielded up his life that just for the unjust to bring us to God.
He gave his life, he suffered, he bled and he died. He went into the grave, and the third day he rose again triumphant.
And they rolled that stone away from the front of that tomb there.
To show that he was a resurrected savior.
I think of it this way. We think of this strong archway. You've seen these stone bridges and they have coming up the side. You have these stones, and then there's a cornerstone at the top there. Think of all these wonderful truths of Christianity, so wonderful and so true substitution. Think about that.
Blessed truth.
But there's a capstone that fits right in the center. Let's just let that stone they rolled away from the grave, put that right in there. Clump right there. Resurrection.
Resurrection is a wonderful thing.
If you're a save soul, if your lost soul, it's a terrifying thing because God knows all about you. They're coming up with his DNA business. That's just astonishing.
Inside this little cell that you can't hardly even see, Many of them you can't see.
10 and 15 feet.
Of the map of your body.
And these men say they can identify 15% of it and they have the audacity to say 85% of it is junk DNA. Stupid.
Stupid.
Resurrection. We're talking about that.
If you looked out your window at your neighbor and you hated him, you just hated him.
If I could only get rid of that man. I hate him so bad. So you went over there.
And you shot him.
And he's dead.
And nobody saw it happen. And you went to the funeral and you saw a shirt up. That man was dead. The coroner put him in the ground.
And you're sitting there a couple days later and you're drinking coffee, and you lookout the window at your neighbor, and there he's out in his garden again, hoing his weeds.
Terrifying, isn't it? That would terrify a man.
Oh, resurrection.
Non believer. It's a terrifying thing.
But for those of us that believe it's precious.
It's comfort. It's sweet.
Oh.
Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. I'll go over a couple of things here.
Matthew, we find.
The Lord Jesus looked at as the King Mark he's looked at as a perfect.
Servant.
Luke he's looked at as the Son of Man and John.
He's the Son of God. Let's see what the world thinks about him in that aspect.
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This one, royal robes will soon invest him. Royal splendors crown his brow. What did they do? They took him to the place of a skull.
They crowned him with the crown of thorns.
They beat his head with a Reed.
Oh, there were those that anointed him.
It says in Psalms, I think it's 103 or four. He crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies.
That was a king. Now how about a perfect servant? Oh, you find those hands ministering daily? 3 1/2 years.
They took a rope and they found his hands.
His feet.
You will find in the book of Luke the son of man came down and he walked this world.
And they ran.
Nail through his nails, through his feet. Oh, he said. Look at my feet.
Look at my feet.
There were many in the book of Luke. Look it up sometime. The feet was found in the book of Luke. Over and over again you find the people at the feet of the Lord Jesus getting blessed.
Now we come down to the book of John.
We think of that there from his.
Head, his hands and his feet, Sorrow, love flowed, mingled down.
Beautiful down here now to the Son of God.
And as a last act of hatred, you know, man is so broken, he's such a Sinner, he's so twisted that he would.
He would step out with deadly intent against his own maker. Are you still an Adams family?
And he took a spear, and they pierced that blessed side, and forthwith came there out that shaving blood.
Water.
Thousands have fled to his spear pierced side.
All have been welcomed, none are denied.
Weary and laden, they all have been blessed.
Joyfully now in the Savior, they rest.
Precious, precious truth.
Where do you stand? There's no reason why this country.
Should last another 5 minutes.
Rejecting daily that name of the Lord, Jesus Christ has blasphemed every day, and his enemies take his name in vain. Are you a friend of those that take His name in vain?
Jan Darby says he that is a friend of the world constitutes himself enemy of God. You want to know how to determine whether you're an enemy of God or knight or not.
Check your path, check your friends. He that is a friend of the world constituted enemy of God.
Terrible responsible.
Let him crown you with loving kindness tonight and tender mercies.
Let him instead of we binding him.
Let him gird himself and serve you.
Whosoever will.
Oh, that's precious, whosoever will.
Again, we'll say it if you want to add anything to this salvation that he's got offered tonight.
If you want to add anything to it, you don't get any of it. It's not yours for the taking.
But if you come God's way and you tell him that you're lost, and you tell him that you're a Sinner, and you tell him that I deserve what I know I deserve.
I deserve a lost eternity because of my sins.
And you bow yourself down, get down in the presence of the Lord Jesus, and you pray the sinners prayer.
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What is the sinner's prayer?
Customer of ours, black lady. She was talking about taking her mother to the hospital.
Dear old lady, she was worried. She knew she.
He was going to go in the front door of that hospital, a wheelchair this way, and she wasn't going to come out that way. There's a door Outback where they quietly slipped you out. She knew that's it.
And as she is being pushed in by her daughter, she turns and she says, my daughter, I'm afraid.
I'm afraid you know what that daughter said. Oh, this is good.
Mama, have you prayed the Sinner's prayer?
Well, she said. What is it?
Do you know the Sinner's Prayer? And have you prayed the Sinner's prayer? Old man, old lady, older lady, I speak respectfully.
Time.
Time has gone by and you've never prayed the sinners. For what is the sinner's prayer?
Tonight, do you know? It is so simple, it's so short, and it'll save your soul.
God.
Be merciful to me, the Sinner. That's it.
And there is the Lord Jesus the Savior. And what do you have to do if you just bring that load of sins?
And you put it all down there in front of him and said this is me, Lord, this is me. I'm lost. What if your life was added up?
And everything you did in your lifetime.
Now let me ask you a question.
Who won the Rose Bowl in 1938?
I don't know who won the Rose Bowl in 1955. You don't know.
Who won it in 88? Well, probably nobody here knows that.
Nothing.
But that's what men fill their minds and their hearts with tonight. I enjoy sports, but oh, let it not turn my eyes away from Jesus.
Where will you spend eternity?
Think about it.
Where will you spend eternity? I know where I'm going to be. The Lord Jesus is going to descend from heaven with a shout.
That arc angelic voice, the dead are going to hear, the alive are going to be raised up. We're going to meet the Lord in the air and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Does that terrify you? It says to me, comfort one another with these words, bless it. Bless the Bible that we have here.
Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Whosoever is thirsty, let him come and drink. It says in here, this book is closing, the time is over.
You'll be going home, you'll be going back to your school, you'll be going back to your business. Don't go back lost. God is. I can't imagine how he could give. He gave Nineveh 40 days. He gave Sodom a few hours.
He gave Noah the people in that time, 120 years perhaps, and then there was another seven days. What if the Day of Grace is closed on this country some years ago and this is an extension?
Because God doesn't want us. You'd lost. Think about it.
Bow your knees tonight, children. Don't tell me. Tell your mom. They're the ones that have been dead. They've been praying for grandma. Grandpa's praying for you. Wants to see you get saved and saved tonight.
Oh, shall we pray.
And our loving Father.
What a marvelous story we have tonight.
Lord Jesus, Thou just go to a cross.
Shameful cross thou dost bear, and thine own body, our sins on the tree. What grace?
And Lord, we've been the recipients of this kindness.
By grace, we've been saved through faith.
Not of ourselves a gift of God always thank thee.
And this conference is over God. We feel a solemnity of it.
This world has reached its terminus because of sin, we believe.
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And those of us that know the Lord Jesus are going to go home singing.
So, father, my weakness.
Our lack of love for souls. Thou dost love Lord Jesus, save by thy grace. A little boy, a little girl tonight.
May heaven rejoice, Lord Jesus.
May the heart of the Father rejoice.
A wandering one, brought back from the fields of sin.
Lord Jesus.
We call upon Thee this last and closing day of grace, Lord Jesus, Amen.
What Shall I Do With Jesus
Gospel—L. LaBenne
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How wonderful it is to know that in a world of sin and ruin, and in a world where all the powers of hell itself, of Satan, would oppose the presentation of the Gospel, that we can sing a hymn like number.
26.
There is life in a look at the crucified One. There is life at this moment for thee.
Then look, Sinner, look unto him, and be saved unto him who was nailed to the tree. Look, look.
Look and live.
There is life in a Look at the Crucified 1.
There is life at this moment for thee.
There is no.
I don't mind what you mean. They have so much. They have been against heaven and we say, I have to say my name is Joyce Nails. You know what you dreams.
I have one compelling.
Penetrating question.
Recorded in the precious Word of God.
To bring before us tonight.
The answer to that question?
Will determine your soul's eternal destiny.
This night someone here may know.
What it is to pass from darkness unto light, and from the power of Satan unto God.
Something else?
You may have only another hour or less or maybe another minute to answer that question.
We found that. We find that question recorded.
00:05:03
In the 27th chapter of Matthew.
And verse 22, we can turn to that in our Bibles.
I'm going to start reading at verse 20.
The other night, the other day, I should say, our brother brought before us those verses in Joel about multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision. And tonight the decision that you make, the answer that you give to this question.
Will determine does determine your soul's eternal destiny.
It's so wonderful to know that we have such a message to give beloved here tonight from the heart of God, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
Verse 20 But the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus.
Before we go to verse 22, let's look now just back to chapter 26 and verse 66. Here we see something of the heart of man and what the heart of man would do and what he would say. The thoughts of man are here exposed. Verse 66. What? Thank ye.
They answered. This is what they came up with. He is guilty of death.
The life giving Savior, the one who came to seek and to save that which was lost.
This the heart are we have natural hearts that reject him. Oh, I look around this.
Dear ones here tonight, and I'm wondering, is there anyone here who has not closed in with God's offer of mercy, One whose attitude is that of the world that is still saying away with Him will not have this man to reign over us? You've never thought seriously about what God, the one who gives you every breath that you breathe, every heartbeat, is a gift from Him.
Let's go to that verse now and look at the question. Pilate is the one who asks it.
It's quite a scene that is before us here.
The Lord Jesus on trial.
The maker of heaven and earth, such as the heart of man, pilot Seth unto them.
What shall I do then with Jesus? That's the question. There's a little hymn that reads like this. What will you do with Jesus? Neutral. You cannot be. Someday your soul will be asking, what will he do with me? This question?
Is a question that I would hope would penetrate into your mind, be burned into your memory.
And that you will never forget it, because as a child of God, one who is redeemed.
It's a question for us to search our hearts, perhaps.
Your special weakness is pleasure. What will you do with Jesus? Perhaps you have a special lust for money. What will you do with Jesus? Perhaps his power. What will you do with Jesus? Perhaps it's fame. What will you do with Jesus?
Will you let him come into your heart?
I love the words of a little hymn that reads like this. Why unbelieving? Why wilt thou spurn? Love that so gently, Please thy return. Come with a broken heart. Come helpless as thou art. Come, choose the better part to Jesus. Come, the invitation goes out. No such invitation like this has ever been offered. Nothing so glorious.
Nothing so wonderful that a lost, guilty Sinner can come.
And have their sins forgiven and be made me to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints and light. You know what reminds me of the story of a little 7 year old boy?
00:10:03
Who had a heart conditioned, very serious condition.
And he was at the doctor's office and with his parents.
And this little boy was told by the doctor.
Young man, we're going to have to open your heart. We're going to go into your heart and open it up. And the little boy said if you do, you're going to find Jesus there.
And the doctors, a little bit annoyed, said I don't think you understand. You have very serious condition. Your heart is deteriorating, the muscle is atrophying.
And it's very serious, but we're going to go in there and see what we can do to help you all. When you do, Doctor, you're going to find Jesus there.
Well, the doctor said that he just doesn't understand. He doesn't understand. So the doctor went back to his office and.
With frustration. And he was saying to God, God, why did you allow this to happen to this precious little boy?
And I don't think I can help him. The doctor then operated on him and his worst fears were only made were realized. And now again, he was just, he was angry. He was angry with God. You know, a lot of people get angry with God. They blame God when terrible things come into their lives.
Well, the doctor started to think about those words. That little boy had annoyed him, and yet.
He couldn't get it out of his mind.
And there was a deep soul plowing that began to work in his heart.
I've got Jesus in my heart.
And that doctor came under deep conviction and he got down on his knees and said, Lord Jesus, come into my heart.
Then the little boy he was coming to and he was able to talk a little bit and with somewhat of a groggy voice he said doctor.
What did you find in my heart?
The doctor said.
I found Jesus. I found Jesus.
Yes, indeed he did. He found Jesus.
Is there someone here tonight who can say that tonight I found Jesus?
The only Savior of sinners, He stands with his arms open right now.
He knows what you're thinking, He knows all about you, and He is not willing that you should perish and go into a lost eternity. You know we sing in a beautiful little hymn those words, all solemn hour O hour alone in solitary might, where God the Father's only Son is man. For sinners to atone expired amazing sight.
I'm thinking tonight of that solemn hour, and may the hearts of each of us be solemn as we think of that cross of Calvary. May we kneel at the cross of Christ tonight.
By faith.
I think of the words of a dear man who wrote about that cross.
And it wasn't. Let the words go like this. Perhaps some of us are familiar with them. All day of mightiest sorrow.
All day of unfathomed grief when thou shouldst taste the horror.
Of wrath without relief.
All Yes, my dear friend, stroke upon stroke of God's holy wrath fell upon the head of the blessed Savior.
Sinners undone and ruined, now covered because of that perfect work, that all sufficient work of Calvary.
All what a Savior Jesus is, God the Father could look down upon that blessed one and say this.
Is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
Well pleased with that work and so tonight, dear ones, here.
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We want to present him.
There's a little song that we sometimes sing, and you know, I'm thinking of the how it begins. Awake each soul, awake each tongue. The subject is divine.
The Savior's praise demands our song. Let all his people.
Join Awake We hear a lot today about wake up calls. We think back over a year ago now 911.
It was a wake up call for a little while and perhaps still with some other tragedies come in where life is seen. Life at best is very brief, as we say.
Like the binding of a sheep, as we sometimes sing.
A little while and this life will be over. What about your lifetime?
There's another song.
Similar to that that says no subject.
All what a privilege, no subject so glorious as he.
No themes are affecting to us. How precious to think.
Of the Lord Jesus Standing here, they marveled at the gracious words that came from his lips.
I'd like to read a little tonight of some of these words that came from the lips of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
Perhaps before I do, I should, just as we're Speaking of his love.
As we're Speaking of his looking down into this audience with infinite love.
That verse so familiar to so many. I remember speaking in a jail one time in Walla Walla WA a number of years ago and.
There we asked some of the men, the prisoners, if they knew John 316. I was surprised to see how many knew it.
It's a familiar verse. Think of the message that it gives. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. The first half of that verse is what God has done. And think of that word, for God so loved the world.
May we meditate much on that word, the measure of His love. He so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son. The center word of that verse is Sun.
The apostle Paul could say, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
The last half of the verse has to do with the response of your heart and mind that whosoever believeth on him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
In the 57th chapter of Isaiah, we read about the God who inhabiteth eternity. Eternity. We have that alert word. And as I look into your faces, beloved, tonight, I know that your life is only a matter of time. Your days are numbered. Someone made the remark. We are all terminal as far as this world is concerned.
And if it should be your night tonight, we were sober just a few minutes ago as we were reminded of our beloved sister Caroline Hadley, now up there in his blessed presence. And I've enjoyed thinking about it in a simple way. If you were able to get on the telephone just to speak very simply, and you were to speak to Caroline up in heaven, and you would say Caroline.
What's heaven like?
Tell me.
Jesus, like, what's it like to be with Him?
You think she'd want to come back? These are blessed realities. She's there. She knows that. She feels what it is to be there. What about you? If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity, dear one?
00:20:06
I think in contrast to those who know the Lord of Judas.
It says of him, and I just mentioned this one thing, that which would apply to anyone here who rejects Christ, who refuses to see eternity's values as God would have presented to them. It says of him, it would be have been better for that man if he had never been born.
Never been born.
But there is no excuse, no excuse, because the Gospel is going out tonight to whosoever will, whosoever will let him come and drink of the water of life freely. Thou never can't die since Jesus.
Thy righteousness lives.
I remember, in fact, it must have been about 60 years ago, maybe 61 years ago.
As a young man, 1011 years of age.
My parents went shopping for a house and I went with them.
And we came to this very fascinating house, beautiful house. They didn't buy it, but let me tell you a little bit of the story of what happened. That house had stood vacant for 40 years. The real estate man told us about it.
And what had happened was that man, before he died, was engaged to be married, and little by little, as he anticipated that day, that wedding day, when he would take his bride and carry her over the threshold.
He worked on that house and he bought all kinds of beautiful furniture for the house and he had everything looking just absolutely lovely, beautiful, expensive, nice furniture. The finish of the house was lovely, but it was sandy. It stood empty for 40 years because.
Just a few days before the wedding date, he got that dreaded call that she had been killed in an accident.
And so.
He mourned her. He waited all that time to the day of his death. He never went in that house himself, never went in that house.
It makes me think of the words of a little hymn. And yet it must be Thy love. Had not its rest? Were Thy redeemed, not with Thee fully blessed, fully blessed. The furniture of that house was 40 years old, but it was like new. It was beautiful.
But all think of that. Think of the heart of Christ here again, dear ones, here yet it must be thy love have not its rest. He's reaching out to you tonight. His hand is reaching for you. Come, come. But Satan is whispering to you. Go after the pleasures, Go after the things of this world. The God of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ.
Should shine in unto them and they should be saved, saved for all eternity. How wonderful to know that all my sin so great, so many in his blood are washed away for the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. And so there's an invitation. There is a decision. You are in the among the multitudes in the valley of decision, the decision that you make tonight.
What will you do with Jesus?
Temptation comes. Dear fellow Christians, what will you do with Jesus? What a powerful question to my own soul this is What will you do with Jesus tonight as he is begging, as he's pleading with your precious, never dying soul, asking you to come to Him?
There are many times in the Word of God that we have the exhortation to behold, behold, behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. We're reminded of that again in the reading meeting this morning. Behold the Lamb of God, those other beholds. And perhaps we could look at the the there's in the 20th chapter of Luke.
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We find a very solemn story and one thing I want to call your attention to here is that this story that I'm going to read in Luke 20 starting with verse verse nine are the very words of the Lord Jesus himself and listen to what he says in a parable and what he's thinking about. Then began he to speak the.
To speak to the people this parable, a certain man planted a vineyard and let it forth through husbandman, and went into a far country for a long time. And at the season he sent a servant to the husbandman, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard, but the husbandman beat him and sent him away empty.
I don't have the list with me, but I would just make this remark. It's solemn thing to see what has happened to those who have come with the gospel of Christ, the many that have been martyred, the many who have been tortured because of that name. The world is truly stealth, crying away with Him. For the whole world lieth in the wicked one. And how we're reminded of it today, perhaps as we go, before we go any further. I just thought of this.
I thought about that airplane that was traveling along, and the people in it learned that they were.
That they were in the hands of terrorists.
And it was headed toward the Trade Towers, and they knew that they were going to die. You wonder what all went on in their minds. You know what makes me think they were in a helpless condition?
Perhaps for a moment, they could have thought would flash through their mind. Why didn't I wait? Why, why, why, why this?
Everything was fine. Right now I'm perfectly healthy, nothing is wrong, but they were locked into that plane headed for certain depth.
And such is your condition and mine without Christ, if you're without Christ tonight.
You're locked into that position and you cannot escape in your own strength, not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to His mercy, He saved us.
How wonderful if someone could come along and scoop them right out of that plane and save them. But all think of what God has done.
He gave his only begotten Son, He gave the Savior to come into this world and go into death.
Even the death of the cross.
That you and I might be redeemed. The jaws of death and health.
We'll go on reading here.
Verse 10 about that season he said a servant to the husband, that they should give him of the fruit of the vineyard, but the husband beat him and sent him away empty. And again he sent another servant, and they beat him also, and treated him shamefully, and sent him away empty. There is reproach connected with that name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every nation bow that blessed name, that glorious person, our Lord Jesus Christ.
Again he sent a third, and they wounded him also and cast him out. Then said the Lord of the vineyard, what shall I do? Now think of this. The Lord Jesus is telling this parable. What is going through his blessed mind as he tells the story, tells this parable. He had set his face steadfastly as the flip to go to Jerusalem, well knowing all that would be accomplished in him there and so.
Then said the Lord of the vineyard, What shall I do? I will send my.
Son.
Notice what it says if you have your Bibles open there, it says I will send my beloved son.
It may be that they will reverence him when they shall see him.
We were speaking about beholding that they would reverence Him when they shall see him. And I pray that tonight our eyes might be open to have a fresh glimpse of the Savior, a little understanding of that love that was stronger than death.
00:30:17
That made him the willing victim on the cross in obedience to the Father's will.
There where he suffered, where the weight of the brass could not be found out.
What a time, what suffering the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I've wondered sometimes why it is that we have the example of what we know by nature, a little at least the world does. They can describe something of the torture, the physical torture of the cross.
The agony, the suffering unspeakable, someone had said. There is not a a kind of suffering that compares with that physically. But all of this was not his atoning sufferings.
All of this does not compare with those hours of darkness.
When He suffered for sinners, when He was made sin, the Holy One who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Oh, if you understood, if I understood something of what it meant for Christ in those hours of darkness to take my sin upon Himself and to bear them in His own body on the tree. I love the words of the little hymn I gave. I gave my life for Thee. What hast Thou given for me? What is your response tonight?
Love like this you used no other friend, so I'll the Savior is pleading with you tonight and it may be that you know the scripture says they shall go away. Those who reject Christ into everlasting punishment. Everlasting punishment. There's only one time that I know of someone can correct me.
Then I think you find the word eternity, that word in the Bible, but you have many many words that would be the equivalent of it everlasting, eternal.
Eternal.
Yes, we're headed for eternity, each one of us.
We're headed for eternity. It's very solemn to think of it to the audience that is here tonight, each dear one that is here tonight. And we enjoy fellowship with one another. We've enjoyed considering the blessed Savior, the Good Shepherd of the sheep, and the great Shepherd. And we've enjoyed fellowship between the meetings with one another as those of like precious faith. What is it that brings us together? We know that we've passed from death unto life because.
We love the brethren. It's because we've been redeemed with the precious blood of Christ.
And how wonderful it is to think of love like the saviors that can look down on preachers such as we in all of our sin and our rebellion. The one who could say, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. I love that little him. Who is he in Yonder stall, and whose feet the shepherd's fall Tis the Lord. Old wondrous story tis the Lord, the King of glory at his feet. We hungry fall. Crown him, crown him Lord of all.
And throughout all eternity, the redeemed, the sweet employee of the redeemed, will be to sing on him who loved us and watched us from our sins in his own blood. I love to think of the sufficiency of the perfection, of the beauty of that perfect work of Calvary that so delighted the heart of God.
And it was for me He died Wasn't for me. For me alone, the Savior left his glorious throne.
Left the mansions of the sky. Was it for me? He came to die. Oh, I love that him. It was for me. I want you to make it personal. And the question that we have before us tonight is a very personal question. It's a question that every single soul, every boy and girl, every older person, every man and woman must answer the question like Pilate asks, what shall I do then with Jesus? What shall I do with Jesus?
With every decision that comes up in your life.
What shall I do with Jesus? Again, I say your answer to that question.
Well, determine your soul's eternal welfare. You know what's very solemn to think of? What Scripture says. I'm thinking of the 45th chapter. I believe it is of Genesis where Reuben says about Joseph.
00:35:15
He says.
Due to the heart do the child no harm. And then we read.
But they would not. Perhaps we could look at that. I think it's the 42nd chapter.
And.
Verse 22 Thank you. And Reuben answered them, saying, Spake I not unto you, saying, do not sin against the child, and you would not hear. You would not and ye would not. Oh what a solid word. I think of another case where the Lord Jesus standing over Jerusalem and weeping and saying, let's read it also in Matthew 23.
Matthew 23. Take me just a moment here and verse 37.
What solemn words are these as the Lord Jesus was standing there and looking down over this city?
Just as he's looking down and let's remember the Lord. I love to think of what Jacob said. The whole, behold, the Lord is in this place.
And I knew it not. He's here tonight, and he knows exactly by faith we can realize that he's here. He knows all about you. All things are naked and open before the eyes of him. With whom? With whom we have to do.
Every soul is responsible to him.
And so he says, oh, Jerusalem, Jerusalem.
Thou that tell us the prophets, and stone us them that are sent unto thee, How often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings? But she would not. But she would not.
You know I am solemnized as I think of a dear old man.
Quite elderly. One day he was sitting there and he was enjoying the Lord.
But he was also grieving because he saw in the audience those who were joking around, those who were not interested. He saw apathy, apathy. I don't care. I just just don't care. I'm not for or against. There is no such position that you can take. There's no such position. But anyway, he, he waved to the preacher, he said. Then he said, could I just get up and say a couple words?
Just a couple of words. And so this kind of got the attention of those who were not listening. And he got up there and he stood there and he said, you know, I'd like to tell you a little story about a boat. And they were, there were these people out on this boat and a storm came up very suddenly and the IT was so boisterous that it tipped the boat over and we were out there on the water.
And he said there was one man, the father in this case, he had a hold of the boat, even tipped over, and he had a lion out there. He had a son on that boat.
Who knew the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior? But they had invited another young man to go out on that boat also.
Who was lost and in his sins he was not saved. He was interested in pleasure. He was interested in things down here. Perhaps they had taken him out with a thought of maybe saying something to him about his soul, about his eternal destiny. But now the Father had only a moment to make a decision, and he had to throw the light line to one or the other, one or the other.
He said to his son. Son, I love you.
And that he through the lifeline to the unsaved man.
And after that?
The old man, he went over and he sat down and he was weeping.
00:40:05
And at the end of the little talk that the preacher was giving.
The he said does anyone have any questions? And some of the happen to be some of the young men could have been older men or women too. But they said the story that that fellow told seems a little absurd. It seems a little unreal. Why would he?
Allow his own son to die for the sake of the other.
Well, the dear old man stood up again, and he said, Let me tell you a little story.
I am the man that was unsafe and he threw out the lifeline too.
You know, I'm reminded, dear ones here tonight and I'm trying to bring out something that would help us to understand just a little that we might open the door a little to know something of that love that is so great. But I think of the of what God said to Abraham of old. Take now thy son. What was God thinking about when he said this to Abraham thine only son, Isaac.
Whom thou lovest?
And offer him.
There offer him there. Why does God give us these examples? All he wants us to understand He wants us to. He's reaching out to us. He wants you to come to him tonight. Come while the door is open. They that were ready went in with him to the marriage and the door was shut.
And then it was too late, just like in Noah's day.
When Noah was doing this illogical thing in the eyes of men, there was one thing that motivated more. No, it was obedience and faith. He built an ark in a place where there was no water. It was a big one. There was no way to take it down to water. And he built this ark. And I can just imagine the mockery that took place, the ridicule, the the words that were spoken to him.
And we read a little of it.
But when the rains came, when judgment began to fall, now they wanted to.
Come in. But let's remember that God had shut the door to the ark. And so, dear one, today the door of grace is open. When God shuts that door, it will be forever too late, Forever too late. But we have such good news for you tonight that God is offering you a full and a free salvation. More than tongue can tell. Your highest thoughts could not begin to describe the blessings.
That is the portion of those who come to Christ. We have all things in Him. Without Him we have nothing. I'm so thankful that a wretched Sinner like this speaker that has no right.
To get up here to open the word of God within himself, wretched and undone. Jeremiah says the heart is 17 chapter. Believe it is the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. We often stop there. The next verse says who cannot and then we read I the Lord search the heart.
He knows all about you, and you know that little Him is so beautiful. I often quote hymns because the words are often so beautifully put together. But here it says, just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed to me for me, and that Thou bids me come to the old Lamb of God. I come all we were speaking about beholding Him. I'm thankful that He in revelation.
Chapter 3 says behold, I stand at the door and knock.
He's knocking at your heart store. Why is he knocking? Why do you knock at somebody's door? We had someone come to our hotel room the other day, one of our children, and they were. They wanted to get our attention. So what did they do? They knocked on the door and we opened the door. Will you open the door tonight? Dear young man, dear young woman, dear little boy and girl, dear older person, do you know that you are exceedingly.
00:45:03
Precious to him.
You know that he loves you with an everlasting love. You know that He's waiting for your answer right now.
Do not disappoint, do not break his heart.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. And you know, it's a very solemn thing to think in the Book of Revelation, we just might turn to it. And there we find a 22nd chapter.
Verse 7.
And verse 12 have the same words. Behold, I come quickly.
Behold, I come quickly, but if we would go back to the 20th chapter.
Just before I close a couple more verses.
We read I saw verse 20, verse 11. I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away.
And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. Notice that it says the dead were there. Notice that it's a great throne. There's power there. The judgment is final.
The judgment is final. No one will have a lawyer that they can have debate their cause because the judgment is true and accurate. And to go into that, to stand before the great white throne where the dead will be, will be to be ushered into that place of eternal torment, eternal torment. But I don't want to leave on a solemn note like that. I'd like to turn to a verse that we heard quoted earlier today.
In the 8th chapter of the book of Romans, before we close.
How lovely to think of this.
Verse one.
And this is for those who are in Christ. There is therefore now no condemnation to them.
Which are in Christ Jesus.
No condemnation, precious word. Consider it by soul. Thy sins were all on Jesus laid, and he has made thee whole.
The best remarks that the speaker has sought to make have fallen so far short in an attempt to describe him. They're so weak, they're so insufficient, all that the Spirit of God would so speak to your heart that your eyes might be open to see something of the loveliness of that blessed man. I remarked of the story a little track. I don't know if I have it anymore, but.
The name of the track was Young Lovely Man and it was the story of a man who was mentally very handicapped and he had never put a sentence together in his life, but the Lord Jesus was presented to him and he put his first sentence together and it was this.
Young lovely man. Young lovely man. He is altogether lovely. What a savior Jesus is.
All what love, what grace is His? Do you know Him tonight?
Who are you living for? What about life? You know? I think of Absalom and how he wanted to make a name for himself. We were reading about Absalom.
And it says about him when David warned him, he in his lifetime. And then we read also of the rich man. Thou and thy lifetime hast thy good things. Our time is over. Maybe we can close with just that one little hymn that we.
#12.
00:50:02
Just as I am.
Without one plea.
I would like to request that if you are not saved, if you're not willing to come, don't sing it.
I hope I'll hear every voice. I hope everyone, those of us who love to save you, how we love to sing it. But if you do not know him, if you still choose to reject him, If you still choose to go out in your sins.
Don't sing.
Let's all sing it.
And.
00:55:21
Do.
Jesus.
Blessed God our Father, we do.
Mothers
Children—D. Mearns
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44 #44.
#44 This is about the gypsy boy.
This is a favorite where we come from. We come from back in Canada, up north in eastern Canada where there's lots of snow and you know when we have Sunday school there.
There's boys and girls just like in the front row, and there's dad and dads and moms like me, and there's grandmas and grandpas. They all go to science school, every one of us. And I see that's the situation here too. I hope we can all have a happy time this morning at Sunday school. So let's sing #44.
Into.
Nobody ever has. So beautiful.
There is no love being out for Let's go away.
And continue. I can fight without joy.
In my heart, cherish my nationality, troll. Nobody ever must worry has gone.
Now again, now there come back again. Salvation story repeat all around the world.
No one can say no one, no friend of men, nobody ever has. Won't be before.
Ending with the last word. God will bless.
Me.
Then I am sure that he thank him for his.
Valentine's lunch again.
Who else has one? For us, we had a girl. How about a boy? You have one.
40 #40 Jesus loves me.
How about we sing the 1St and the last verse of #40 Jesus loves me.
Jesus.
00:05:01
Well, just before we carry on, how about we just ask the Lord for His help?
What? We may sing a couple more, maybe one in the middle of our little talk, and maybe we'll sing some at the end. We'll see how the time goes. But you know, boys and girls.
I have something special on my heart to talk to you about this morning.
And I trust it would be for all of us.
And sometimes we have a.
Sense in our soul that the Lord has something special, and we trust that as we open the word this morning, it would be for each of us. I would like to turn first of all to.
The first Kings.
Where we read a little story.
First Kings.
And the.
Chapter 3. First Kings. Chapter 3.
What I'd like to do this morning.
Is I would like to look at some of the mothers that we find in the word of God. We find some mothers. Anybody here have a mom?
Somebody here have a mom, and the older folks have a mom.
And we see lots of hands. We all have a mom. Some of us have moms that have passed away. But we're going to look at some of the characteristics of a mom.
And you know, before we look at the mothers that we're going to see in the word of God, I'd like to look at this little story which shows the characteristics and the features that we find in a mother. And so, you know, there were these two ladies in in first Kings chapter 3. And you know, these characteristics are wonderful because it doesn't matter if it's a mom that loves the Lord Jesus or if it's a mom that doesn't love the Lord Jesus or if it's.
A If it's a Robin that's a mom that has four little little birds in a nest, the characteristics are much the same.
And we're going to learn a little bit about those characteristics. And here there are these two ladies, you know, these two ladies, they, they didn't live very good lives, but they each had a baby. They each had a baby.
And these two ladies, they went to sleep and, and one of the ladies, they, she rolled over and on top of the baby and the baby died. You know, it's such a sad thing. The baby died and she, she realized what had happened. She realized that the baby had died. And you know, she wasn't very happy about that. And so she woke up and, and she, she saw that her baby was dead. And she saw her friend over there that also had a baby. And she went and took her dead baby and she put it beside her friend and she took her friend's live baby.
And you know when, when the other lady woke up in the morning and, and she, she saw that her baby was dead and she, she looked and you know, it wasn't her baby at all. It was the other lady's baby.
And she says that's not my baby.
And the other lady said, yeah, it's your baby. That's your baby. Well, no, it's not. It's not my baby. It's not. And you know, they were, they were really struggling over this. You only heard about two ladies yesterday. I'd never heard those names before, about so touchy and odious, those two ladies that couldn't get along too well with these two ladies. They were having this squabble. And also they came to Solomon and we read and they told the story to Solomon.
And in First Kings chapter 3 and verse 23 it says, then said the king, the one saith, this is my son that liveth, and my son is dead. And the other saith, nay, but thy son is dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, divide the living child in two and give half to the one and half to the other. Can you imagine such a thing? Can you imagine such a thing? Boys and girls, any of you here have a baby brother or sister? Anybody here? You know, I've seen some babies here.
I can't imagine King Solomon taking out a big sword.
And saying, bring the little baby to me. And these, these ladies are fighting so badly over this that we're going to take the baby and we're going to cut it in two and each of them can have half. Can you imagine such a thing?
00:10:02
Well, you know what happened the, the lady whose baby it was, she said, oh, don't cut the baby in two. Just give the baby to her. She can have the baby, just don't cut the baby in two. You know what that displayed? That displayed what God has put into your mom's heart. That's what God has put into your mom's heart and my mom's heart. And my mom isn't alive anymore. She's with the Lord Jesus. But then the King said as soon as she said that, she says, ah.
She's the mother. And so we find here. Then spake the woman to verse 26, who's a living child.
Was unto the King, for her bowels yearned upon her son. And she said, Oh my Lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divided. And the king answered, and said, Give her the living child, and in no way slay it, for she is the mother thereof.
We're going to keep that in mind as we look at some of the mothers in the Word of God this morning.
Because we find that although there are many mothers in the Word of God, they're not all called a mother. And almost every time one is called a mother, it's in connection with deliverance for the people of God. Almost every time, almost every time we read of someone that's a mother and we find that term mother, it's in connection with deliverance for the people of God. And so I'm going to look at 7:00 if we have time. And the first one I want to look at is in the book of Exodus. If we would just turn there for a minute, the book of Exodus.
This is the story Exodus chapter 2.
Of a mother who had a pretty hard portion, because if we were living in Egypt at this time and a mom gave birth to a baby and it was a little boy, he was destined to go to the river. The king had commanded that all the baby boys be thrown into the river to die.
What we read about this mother here in Exodus chapter 2. And before we go any further, I would like the boys and girls to come up here, and I'm going to give you something.
Everyone of you come up here, you know, there are some boys and girls that are not in the front roles that are out in the back. And if your parents wouldn't mind bringing you up and you can have one of what I have here in the bag because it'll be pretty important for us as we go through this meeting. So come on up. Come on up here.
You just go ahead and take one of these, OK, Just take one.
Take one of those.
There you are, any of the little ones that would like to come up.
There you go.
Here's someone that's shy, but we'll come right over.
We have these little twigs here. They look like little twigs. I wish I could have brought what they really are.
You don't have any of these boys and girls, but what this is, it's the head of what goes on the end of this little twig that you have in your hand. And it grows pretty tall. I have one in my, in my.
My family room, in fact, one of the last things I did before I came on this trip, which I went and cut a bunch of these off and brought them along. Thought maybe we'd use them at Sunday school and I would have liked to have had a long piece that they stand about this high. So I went out yesterday to some of the nurseries to see if I could find a piece, you know, and I went to one nursery and there was a lady there that was from Egypt. And I said.
Do you have any papyrus? She looked at me. She said, you mean Egyptian papyrus? I said, well, yeah. She said, well, no, we don't have anything like that here. It's interesting that she would know that. Well, you know, boys and girls, what you have in your hand here.
Is the very plant.
Which made-up the little ark that Jochebed took. She took this little ark, and we're going to read about it here in in Exodus chapter 2. There went a man of the House of Levi, and took a wife, a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son. And when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hit him three months. And when she could not longer hide him, she took for him an arc of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child there in. And she laid it in the flags by the river's bank. And his sister stood afar off, to wit, what should be done to him.
00:15:03
And we find in this little story, we all know the story where Moses was put into this little ark.
If anyone else feels to come up and get one, there's lots here and even.
Afterwards you can come and get one.
But what you know at this time? When?
Moses had this little baby and the little baby was going to have to go to the river. She she took the sidelark. You know, sometimes we we look at the story books and it shows jockey bed making this little arc. But that's not what happened. She didn't make the ark says she took it. Well, notice that there in verse three, it says she took for him an ark of bulrushes and that bulrushes is really papyrus. It's the papyrus that grows in the Nile and it's this little thing that you have in your hand.
That little stick it was. It's what composed that little arc, this very, very plant.
The one I have that grows in our family room, it was from over in Egypt and it grows in water, it grows well, but it reminds me sometimes of Moses little Ark. And So what we find in this little portion that at a time when it was such a dark day.
In in the history of the children of Israel that there was a mom, there was a mom that availed herself of the provision that God had made for her child.
And I'm so thankful that there are moms here that avail themselves of the provision that God has made this morning in bringing you to Sunday school where you can be under the sound of the Word of God. Isn't it a wonderful thing to be able to sit here under the sound of the Word and to learn about the moms? Well, let's go now to the book of First Samuel.
The Book of First Samuel.
And we find another mother.
First Samuel, the 2nd chapter.
And there was a there was a boy whose name was Samuel.
You know, when she before Samuel was born, this mom, she prayed to the Lord.
Boys and girls here, ever seen your mom pray to the Lord?
Ever heard your mom pray?
I used to hear my mom pray, and this mom, she used to pray.
And she just wasn't praying for her son. She hadn't had any children. You know, she wasn't just praying for her son. She was praying for a deliverer for the people of God. That's what she wanted. And you know, the Lord granted her prayer. And we find here that that she took him to where the Lord had placed his name. And we find in First Samuel chapter 2.
And verse 18 it says, But Samuel ministered before the Lord, being a child girded with the linen ephod.
Moreover, his mother made a little coat and brought it to him from year to year, when she came up with her husband to offer the yearly sacrifice. And in verse 21 it says the Lord visited Hannah so that she can. She conceived and bear three sons and two daughters, and the child Samuel grew before the Lord. And verse 26 it says the child Samuel grew on and was in favor both with the Lord and also with men. You know, boys and girls, when.
A little baby is born. It doesn't stay a little baby, does it? It doesn't stay a little baby.
That's right. And you know, I'm going to pick on someone here. Well, here's a little girl. You know, I'm not going to, I'm not going to embarrass you. I won't make you stand up. But I just see you're wearing a little coat here. And I expect, you know, if you came back to the conference here, if the Lord leaves us here in two years, you suppose that little coat would fit you?
You know, I probably wouldn't. It probably wouldn't fit you.
And we're thankful for that. You know, Hannah here, she, she, every year she brought Samuel a little coat. And I expect it was a coat that was a little bit bigger each year a little bit bigger. It'd be a sad thing if, if every time Hannah came to visit Samuel that the coach she brought was exactly the same size. That'd be sort of sad, eh? If the baby never grew, if the little boy never grew. Well, the Lord expects in our Christian pathway that we would grow a little bit, each one of us. No boys and girls. That's what the Lord desires. There's a little girl over here. She's got a little sweater.
You know, I don't think this sweater is going to fit in a couple years. I don't think it is. I don't think it is. And that's good. But it's a solemn thing. You know, I wonder if if.
Sometimes we can look at these things in a spiritual way. Sometimes we wear a spiritual coat and you know, sometimes.
It's been solemn to me to think of of last year's spiritual quote. I wonder if it still fits me. And the Lord wants there to be growth in our Christian pathway as boys and girls grow and they get a little bigger. As we read about Samuel here, he got a little bigger each year, a little bit bigger. And the Lord expects that in our lives that we would get a little bit bigger in our Christian pathway. Well, let's turn over now to.
00:20:17
Second Samuel. Well, we read about another mom.
Second Samuel.
Chapter 20.
Second Samuel chapter 20. You know we had this read to us the day before yesterday, just the first verse that a man by the name of Sheba.
And, you know, he was a wicked man. He decided that when David was raining that he didn't want to have any part of David's reign. And he was going to gather some people and he wanted to he wanted to look after things. What we find to know that he had some people that gathered around him. And Joab went after him with an army. And the man ran and he ran to the city, the city that was called Abel. And he went into the gates and it was closed there. And Joab came with his army. And they thought, you know, the only way we're going to get this man is if we if we go in there and we just massacre everyone.
And then?
We'll get the man that we're looking for, but you know, boys and girls in that city, there was a mall.
And we read in verse 16.
Then cried a wise woman out of the city Here here say, I pray you unto Joab, come near, hit her, that I might speak with you. And when he was come near unto her, the woman said, Art thou Joab? And he answered, I am he. And she said unto him, Hear the words of thine handmaid. And he answered, I do hear. And she spake, saying they were won't to speak an old time, saying, They shall surely ask counsel Abel. And so ended the matter. And one of them I am one of them that are peaceable and faithful in Israel, and now seek us to destroy a city.
In Israel, why wilt thou swallow up the inheritance of the Lord? And you have answered and said, Far be it, far be it from me, that I should swallow up or destroy. The matter is not so. But a man of Mount Ephraim, Sheba the son of Bickery by name, hath lifted up his hand against the king, even against David. Deliver him only, and I will depart from the city. And the woman said unto joy, Behold, just notice what it says here, it's so solemn. His head shall be thrown to thee over the wall. And the woman went into all unto all the people in her wisdom, And they cut off the head of Sheba the son of Bickery, and cast it out to Joab. And he blew a trumpet.
You know boys and girls.
I thought about this portion.
Let's just pretend we're there. Here's this city.
And there's all the people in the city, and here's this army outside the city, and they're going to totally annihilate that city. They're going to take everybody's lives.
But you know, boys and girls in that city, there was a mom. There was a mom.
And you know, that mom, I don't know if she had a boy there. We don't know. They were not told that. I expect she had a child of some sort because it said she was a mother. And I don't know if if.
If the boy was there, but she could see that perhaps her child was going to die. And she said, you know, this is senseless. And she had a message, You know, we heard about that message in the first day of our our meetings here. And the message was that we need to read the word of God. And you know, we read the word of God with our eyes, but we need to read the word of God with our ears. That's something that we need to do as boys and girls is to read the word of God with our ears. It says here, here, here.
Now I have some boys and girls at home and when I want to talk to them.
Sometimes, you know, they're upstairs and they're in their bedroom and I call something up and I call their name and they answer and we have some sort of a conversation. But you know, when I really want them to listen, when I really want them to hear, I go up to their bedroom and it's the girls. I knock on the door. And if it's the boys, I go in and I look right at them and I say, you know, I've got something to say to you. I want you to listen. And I look right at them and I ask them to look at me. And, you know, they get the point because they're really listening. And this mother, she had something to say.
To Jovan in the 17th verse she says, hear the words of thine handmaiden. You'll do. I have answered and said I'm listening, I'm listening.
You know, boys and girls, this was a wise woman, a wise mom. And this whole city was saved not because of a big strong dad, not because of a grandpa that was wise and was strong, but because of a mom.
00:25:00
Because of a mom. Isn't that wonderful? Isn't that wonderful that the Lord has provided moms and our assemblies to bring us to Sunday school to listen to the word of God?
Wonderful thing happened that day that this man lost his life. Can you imagine being there and all of a sudden his head came over the wall? You know, I don't think she cut the man's head off, but she said it says she told that she told it to her people and it says they cut the man's head off and the whole city was saved because of this. Mom. Well, let's go over now to the book of Romans.
The book of Romans Read Romans chapter 16. I'd like to sing another little hymn. Let's get at your hymn sheets.
And how about we sing #45?
#45.
To let.
Well, in Romans chapter 16 we read about another mom.
Romans, chapter 16.
And it's the apostle Paulie writes to the Romans and he says this in verse 13. It says salute Rufus, chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.
I'm so thankful for this little verse in our assembly we have, and this would be an encouragement to the sisters here.
We have some moms and we have two, two ladies that they spent a lot of time with my children. They're really good to my children. You know, they've never had children of their own, never have. And I don't believe this was the Apostle Paul's natural mother, but she, you know, she had a mother's heart and she just fussed over the apostle that would seem she was just like a mother to him, just like a mother to him. And I'm still thankful for that. And, you know, sometimes in the little assembly where you are, there are other ladies that.
They pray for you, boys and girls. They do because they love you and their desire is that you would go on for the Lord Jesus. So we have here this mom that performed that function as a mom for the Apostle Paul. Well, let's go back now to the book of Judges.
And we read about another mom in Judges chapter 5.
This happened a long time ago.
And there was the enemies that came against the people of God, and there was seemed to be no one that had energy.
To deliver the people of God? Nobody.
Then we read.
In Judges chapter 5.
And verse seven, it says the inhabitants of the villages ceased. They ceased in Israel until that I, Deborah arose. I arose a mother in Israel.
In the first second verse when she starts, it says then sang Deborah the son and Barack the son of I know him on that day saying, praise ye the Lord for avenging Israel when the people willingly offered themselves, you know boys and girls, there was the enemy that came against the people of God.
And there was no one that had the energy to go against the enemy. You know, we read about people there that they willingly offer themselves. But it wasn't until Deborah Rose, who was a mom, she said, I arose a mom in Israel. You know, she wasn't out of her place, but she came to that position where.
If it wasn't for Deborah, the people of God wouldn't have been delivered.
And that's been such an encouragement to me to realize that, you know, in this company that we have, we have the boys on the front row and the girls. We have moms sitting back there in grandma's.
And so often their hearts have been such that they've been encouragement to others and there's been deliverance for the people of God. Deborah Imam, you know, I'd like to look now at a little portion that.
00:30:10
That if there are boys and girls here that know the Lord Jesus just often.
Where the faith came from that you have in your heart. And let's look now to the book of Two Timothy.
The book of Second Timothy we read about Timothy, you know, he had faith.
And it really came from the Lord. It came from the Lord Jesus. And if we have faith in our hearts, it comes.
From the Lord, but we find here in connection with Timothy in Two Timothy chapter one.
And he says here, when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt in thy grandmother Laws and thy mother Eunice, and have persuaded in me also, wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee.
You know boys and girls.
We talked about earlier about how a lot of you have moms that love the Lord.
And their desire is that you would love the Lord too. That's their desire. And you know, that's why they bring you to Sunday school. That's why my mom brought me to Sunday school because her desire is that her desire was that I would come to know the Lord Jesus as my Savior. That's what my mom wanted. That's what your mom wants too. And we read that also. There was a grandma here. You know, there's a lot of grandmas out there this morning. And those grandmas, you know what they want? They want their grandchildren to come to know the Lord Jesus. That's what they want. They earnestly desire that in their hearts. And there are those the characteristics that they have, you know, boys and girls.
In our house when my children were little and one of them would fall down and they'd scrape their knees, you know, if Dad was around and Dad was the only one that was around, they'd come to Dad. But.
If mom was around and they had scraped their knees, it just seemed that they went to mom. Mom just just knew how to look after the situation in a special way.
It's not that dads don't love their children, but it's just that mom has those characteristics where they can just pick things up in a special way. It's a God-given characteristic. You know when you scrape your knee or you bang yourself or you cry?
Mom can just fix it up just a wonderful way. And we find here that there was a mom that desired that Timothy, go on, and also a grandma. Well, let's look over now to the book of Luke's gospel, and we'll look at one more.
Luke's Gospel, the 2nd chapter.
And here we find there's a lady. Her name was Mary.
It would be nice if we could go through the prayer in the first chapter, but we don't have time. We find that, you know, the Lord Jesus was with Mary and Joseph and the company and he got lost, or so they thought.
Anybody here ever got lost, got separated from your dad and mom? There's someone you know, I've been separated from my dad and mom when I was younger, and it wasn't a very happy time. Lord Jesus got separated from his earthly father and from Mary. And that was a solemn thing for Joseph and Mary. And I appreciate this portion because we can really learn from Mary and from Joseph because I know that, you know, God the Father was.
Very particular in the selection of.
Couple that was going to raise the Lord Jesus down here in this earth and so we do well to look at the characteristics that we see in Mary. We don't have the time to look at them now but she had some very special characteristics that.
Was such that God the Father had him born into that little home, and was raised naturally by Joseph and by Mary. And so we find here one of those characteristics in the end of Luke chapter 2, it says they went down, verse 51 And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. Here's our little subject, his mother.
It was a characteristic that Mary had that she kept the sayings of the Word of God.
In her heart and that's, that's probably boys and girls. That's probably why you're here this morning. That's probably why you're here because your mom has kept the sayings of the word of God in her heart and her desire is that you would be here this morning and perhaps your dad too. What a wonderful thing. You know, boys and girls, those characteristics that we've looked at of the various moms in the word of God, they came from somewhere and we've read about it yesterday and I'd like to look at it again in Matthew's Gospel chapter 23.
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Matthew's Gospel, chapter 23.
Those characteristics that a mom has that.
I don't have.
They come right from the Lord, and we find the Lord Jesus in Matthew 23 and verse 37 as he stood there perhaps and he looked over Jerusalem.
And it says here the Lord Jesus speaking, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that kill us the prophets, and stone us them that are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gather through chickens under her wings, and you would not.
Those characteristics, they come right from the Lord, right from the Lord. Let me tell you a little story.
A little story.
It happened quite a long time ago. It's in connection with my dad. I'm just going to turn to a verse here before we.
Look at the story.
In some, the older ones might want to turn to this verse in Psalm 36. But you know, boys and girls, my dad, when he was when he was younger, he was a little younger than I am. He was in his early 20s. He went to war. He had to go to war and he was in the Navy.
And he was stationed up in this place called the Orkney Islands, and the time was heavy on their hands. And so they parked sometimes in a harbor for a long time, and sometimes they'd get leave and they'd be able to come to land. And this one day he was able to get in a little one of the little boats and come to land. And there was a little village there and.
He saw a man and his wife, they were sitting out on their on their veranda. Anyone. He spoke to them and he found out that that they knew the Lord Jesus.
As their savior. And he spoke with them for a little bit and he had some time and he said, you know, do you have any work for me to do around here? And they used to keep warm. They used to burn this stuff called peat. And it was out in the woods. And they could cut it into chunks and they'd bring it in and they'd put it in the stove. And that's how they kept warm. And that they were talking away. My dad said to them, do you have a bomb shelter here? And the man said, oh, yeah, we have a bomb shelter. We have two of them, two bomb shelters.
And so my dad said, well, how come you need two? He said, well, I'll tell you about them. One of them is a cement one. And he took my dad out to the back where there were some stairs that went down into the ground and there was this cement bomb shelter that they could go inside. He said, we have this bomb shelter here. And he said, you know, I don't have much confidence in this one, though. I don't have much confidence in this bomb shelter. But we have another bomb shelter and it's made of feathers.
And my dad said made of feathers. And the man turned to this Psalm, Psalm 36, and he read my dad this verse. And it had a real effect on my dad because my dad had a little girl at the time, a little girl. He just had one baby. He had five later on, but he had this little little baby. And this man read him this verse and said in Psalm 36, verse seven, he said, how excellent is thy loving kindness, O God. Therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings. He said, you know that cement bomb shelter that I have, I don't have much confidence in.
But this one that's made of feathers, I've got a lot of confidence in, and it's just like the Lord Jesus as he looked over Jerusalem, you know?
He said, you know, he just wanted to be just like a hen that would spread out its wings and cover the little chicks, you know, boys and girls.
There's many of us here, and we find ourselves in that haven of being under the wings of the Lord Jesus.
But I would like to ask you this morning that as we considered this little subject of the moams of Scripture, the mothers of Scripture, do you have a haven?
Do you have a haven in which to be under? Do you have a bomb shelter like that man and that Lady had that was made of feathers?
That he had such confidence in. Do you have that? It's a wonderful thing to have that many of us here have that, you know, boys and girls. And if your mom brought you here, you know, she's got that. She does. And your dad, too.
I've got that. You know, the shelter that we have is really because of the Lord Jesus and how he shed his precious blood so that we could be brought into such blessing. And the moms here, I know they want you to come to the Lord Jesus. If you haven't come to the Lord Jesus, then I know, I know. You know, we read it in our family reading this morning in the motel room. We read about a little prayer meeting where Peter was in prison. And you know, he came out of he came out of prison and he came and knocked on the door and Rhoda came to the door and you know, they're having a little prayer meeting.
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And you know, those folks were so thankful that their prayers were answered. But I know that this morning that there are moms and there are dads here this morning and that they're praying that you would hearken to the message that that wise woman of Abel had. And she said here, listen, I want you to listen. And that you boys would listen in these meetings that we have and that you'd come to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Oh, you have a haven of these wings.
You know, boys and girls, we're going to see another one now.
You see these little twigs that you have in your hand?
That meet up, the little basket, the little ark that Moses was put in. And most of these are going to find their way into the garbage. But, you know, boys and girls, there's probably going to be some moms here. They're going to take one of these and they're going to stick it in a place where they can keep it, you know, and it'll remind them of the mothers of Scripture. And I have to ask, you know, if there's any of the moms or grandmas that want one, they can come up here afterwards and they can have one.
But let's remember the mothers of Scripture and be thankful for our moms and to realize that their desire is for us to come to the Lord Jesus. Now who has one more hymn for us on the Backpage that we can sing this boy over here, Which one would you like to sing?
Number 42.
That's good #42.
Let's just commend ourselves.
Old Men of Scripture
YP Sing Address—B. Anstey, D. Nicolet
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.
I'd like to speak about 3 old men.
Now I know you're probably thinking that's an unusual topic to take up with a bunch of young people, and this is a young people's meeting. But I'd like to just speak about these 3 old men. Not so much about the old men, but what they were doing at the very close of their life. Because what they were saying, what they were doing is something that's very pertinent to this generation. So let's look in Second Samuel chapter.
19.
Second Samuel in chapter 19. Read a few verses there of our first old man.
Second Samuel 19, verse 33.
And the king? That's David.
Said to Brazilian. That's the old man.
Come thou over with me, and I will feed thee with me in Jerusalem and Brasilia. I said unto the king, How long have I to do to live, that I should go up with the King to Jerusalem? For I am this day four score years old, and I can discern. Can I discern between good and evil? And can thy servant taste what I eat or what I drink? And can I hear anymore the voice of singing?
Men and singing women, Wherefore then should thy servant be yet a burden to my Lord the King?
Thy servant will go a little way over Jordan with the king. And why should the king recompense me for such a reward? Let thy servant, I pray thee, turn back, that I may die in my own city, and be buried by the grave of my father and my mother. But behold thy servant Chimham.
Let him go over with thy Lord the King, and do to him as thou would seem good unto thee.
And the king answered, Jim Ham shall go over with me, and I will do to him what seemeth good unto thee, that whatsoever thou should require of me, that will I do for thee. And all the people went over Jordan, and the king would come over. And the king kissed Brazilian eye and blessed him. Reed returned to his place. Then the king went on to Gilgal, and Chim Hamm went with him.
On with him, and all the people of Judah conducted the king.
And also half of the people of Israel. OK, here we have the first old man, and we find this is the last recorded act of Brazilian. And what was he doing? Well, he's a picture to us of the aged Saints that are no longer able to get out to the place where the Lord has put his name. David was telling him to come with him back to Jerusalem, which was the place where the Lord had put his name.
But Brazilian eye was too old and was not able to go.
But what he sought to do is what I want to pass on to this group here this evening, and that is he sought to encourage the younger generation to go in and to fill up the ranks in Jerusalem. And he suggested that ones like Chimham would go over with the king, who was young and strong and belonged to that next generation, that he would fill up the ranks in Jerusalem and be there ready for the King's service and in the King's army.
And I believe that that is a tremendous exercise that the ancient brother and the old brethren should have, and that is to strengthen and encourage the next generation to come on that they would value the place where the Lord has put His name. To understand the truths and the principles of gathering. Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst, the Lord could say, and to be willing to be at the Lord's disposal for his use and service.
And for blessing of his people. You know what Jim Ham's name means. It means with a longing desire, longing with great desire. And I believe that that's the attitude that each one of us need to have when it comes to this subject of seeing our place at the divine center where the Lord has put His name. We need to have a desire to please the Lord and to be willing to be.
There to support his testimony and to be used of him if he should choose to use this in whatever way.
And so we find in verse 40 that Chim Ham was willing and he went over with the king and with the people, and that's something that we all need to be exercised about, and that is to be willing to be found there with the Lord and his people in the midst. The latter part of the chapter, I'm not going to read it. It tells us that things weren't perfect there in Jerusalem. In fact, it was a time of a lot of turmoil. And we're never going to say that the place in the assemblies.
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Are always.
Perfect there's always going to be some difficulties at times, but still we need to see that the Lord is there that he's put his name there and that he is inviting us there to that place and so I'm not saying that the Lord's people are perfect anytime amongst them you'll soon find out that we all have shortcomings and but we find here that even though there.
Things weren't all perfect there.
It was a tremendous opportunity and privilege for ones like Chim Ham. And so this was the last recorded act that we have of the great man, Brazilian. He was about to leave the earth. He was passing on. He didn't have the energy or the strength to go himself. But his last desire was that the next generation would be there. Now the Lord wants you and I.
To answer that call, are we willing? Are we like Chim Ham? Do we have that longing desire to not only see our place at the Lord's table, but to be there as a support to it and to be willing to be used to the Lord? You know, every generation that takes the path of faith is going to be tested in some way. And if you were to read on into the next chapter, you'll find that there was a man who would be a picture of a heretical person.
Who sought to take advantage of the fact that there was turmoil among the tribes in Jerusalem at that time and he sought to lead a company away from David.
And from that divine center, and I believe that every generation is going to be faced with a sheba that was the man's name in chapter 20. And where there's going to be a testing as to whether we really understand why we are where we are ecclesiastically, why we're not with a Baptist Church or with some other group, why we're with the Saints that are gathered to the Lord's name. We need to have a firm understanding of the principles.
Upon which we were gathered, and I want to encourage the younger ones here to read the material that is available, pamphlets, books and so on, on the subject of the place where the Lord has put His name. And so when there comes the test, and it's going to come for this generation, it comes for every generation when there will be a sheba, someone will rise up and have a lot of good reasons why we need to leave that place that we'll be able to, from the Word of God, be able to say.
Why we are where we are and we're not going to get moved off that ground. May God give you the grace to answer to what we see in Chim Hem. Let's look at another, the second old man back in Joshua.
14th 15th chapter of Joshua.
Joshua, chapter 15.
Here we have the second old man, and we have here the last recorded act of his life.
Verse 13 And unto Caleb Now on the 14th chapter he too said he was fourscore and in five years of age. But now we read here it says in Caleb the son of Jefuna.
Gave he part among the children of Judah, according to the commandment of the Lord to Joshua, even the city of Arbor.
The father of Enoch, which is the city Hebron, and Caleb drove out thence.
Three sons of Enoch, Shishai, a hymen, and Telme, the children of Enoch. And he went up thence to the inhabitants of Deber, and the name of Deber before was Kurja Seaver. And Caleb, said he that smiteeth Kerja and taketh, and to him will I give AXA my daughter to wife Anil, the son of Kenaz.
The brother of Caleb took it and gave him, and he gave him AXA his daughter to wife. And it came to pass that as she came to him, that she moved him to ask of her father a field, and she lighted off her *** and Caleb said to her, What wouldst thou?
Who answered, Give me a blessing, for thou hast given me the self land. Give me also the springs of water. And he gave her the upper springs and the nether springs. Here we have the second old man over 80 years of age, and we find here in this last recorded act of Caleb's life, what was he doing? He was encouraging the next generation as well, and he sought to encourage them to go up and take the inheritance.
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And particularly the city Kerja Sievert. Of course, there was a little encouragement along the way.
He offered to his daughter that for any man that was able to take that city and so that would show us that this Caleb, or at least the man that was going to marry this man's daughter, was going to have to prove himself. Not in the way in which we might think about a man proving himself that he might marry a girl that is he's got a good job and he's able to look after the girl and so on that most parents are interested in. No, this man proved his ability to have that girl.
By the fact that he had an interest in the inheritance, and that was the man to whom Caleb desired to give his daughter. And So what a wonderful picture we have here of Caleb, the old man, encouraging the younger generation to go in and take the inheritance and to make it their own. And so often we find here rises up, he meets the challenge, and he conquers that city.
And he wins the prize.
And it's interesting to see, too, that Caleb's daughter was not just along for the ride. She was a New Girl that had an equal interest in the inheritance. And we see that in the verses that follow that I read. You see there that when she and her husband were brought together, I take it that they were married at that point. And then she, she urges him to ask for her father for a field. And so she was urging him or moving him on in the direction of taking more of the inheritance. And there I see a good sister.
This is good for the sisters that are in this room here that you have an interest in when you get married to encourage your husband.
To get on with taking up with the inheritance that God has given. Now what you might say, well, what is the inheritance? Well, if you're reading in Ephesians, you'll find that the inheritance, as one has said, is under your feet.
Now what that means is that the inheritance is every created thing. It's the material universe. It's what we're standing on.
And Ephesians, God has given to us the whole inherit the whole universe. Someday we're going to share it with Christ.
But that's not the aspect of the inheritance that's here.
And first, Peter, you have another side of the inheritance, and that's where it is a spiritual thing that is reserved in heaven for you. It's our portion of Christian blessings that are ours by title and right through what Christ has given and what he's done on the cross. And everyone of us have an inheritance in that way. But what he wants us to do while we're waiting for the Lord to come and take us home is to have an exercise to enter into those spiritual things and to make them good in our lives, in our souls, and to live in the enjoyment of them.
And we need a Good Wife, and we need a good husband to do that with together.
And so you see here a very important marriage. It's been said it's the first marriage in Canaan. And what an example it is a young man that has a desire to take the inheritance that was his interest. And he lo and behold, we find he has a wife at his side that was encouraging him to ask for even more. This is what we want to see amongst the young people, an interest, a thirst, a desire for the things of God. You know, there's a lot of dead fish in this world.
Floating downstream, so to speak, but God has given to us at least we should have the exercise to want to go on the spiritual energy.
To take a hold of our blessings that we have in Christ, to enter into them and enjoy them in a fuller and deeper way. This is something that's an individual thing. We don't do it together and it's something that each one of us need to be concerned about.
And look what happens here when he there was they asked Caleb for the field. You find here that he gives not just the springs of water, but he gives the upper springs and the nether springs. So he gave them even more than what they asked for. And this searches my heart. If someone was to ask us, give us a little of the inheritance, could I do that? Could I impart something that would be for the refreshment of that next generation that is coming?
And what turned out with this lovely marriage? Well, if you turn over to the book of Judges, you'll find just what happened. The people of God got themselves into an awful state. They were under oppression from a king, from a faraway land, and they were in big need. And it was their fault that they were under that trouble because of their sin, their waywardness, their carelessness, and they needed to deliver. And God knew where to look for a deliverer. And this man, Othniel was raised up at that time to lead the children of Israel against that enemy, to overthrow that enemy.
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And he is what we speak of as an overcomer. And as we've said many times, there's only two kinds of Christians, you know, as the overcomers. And there's the overcome. Those who are overcome with the cares of this life, the world, the flesh, the devil, have precedence in their life, and their lives are rendered useless for the service of the Lord. That's the overcome. We hope that there are none that will end up that way in this light in this room.
Then on the other hand, there's the overcomers, ones like Osneil, who showed himself to be one that was interested in the inheritance. Now let's look at the last of these old men that's in the New Testament, and that's the apostle Paul in two Timothy chapter one, second Timothy chapter one. Now we have here this third old man, and we find his. This is the last recorded act of the apostle Paul.
He's spoken of.
In Philemon, as Paul the agent, he was an old man. I don't know exactly what his age was. And what do we find him doing here as he writes his last epistle, and as at the end of the Pistol he speaks about the time has come when he is going to lay down his sword, so to speak, as he has served the Lord, and the Lord was going to take him, and he was given a sense to know that his time was now come to an end.
So what was he doing?
He was seeking to encourage the next generation to take up with the the batons, so to speak, the torch. And he speaks to Timothy. And in this chapter, what is he doing? Well, there's many things, but one I want to just read here is verse 13, second Timothy chapter one, verse 13. He says hold fast the form of sound words. This should read have an outline of sound words.
Which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus, that good thing or good deposit which was committed to thee.
Keep by the Holy Ghost, which dwelleth in US.
This thou knowest, that all day in age should be turned away from me, of whom are fat, jealous, and homogeneous. The Lord give mercy unto the House of Anastasia first, for he often refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome, he sought me out very diligently, and found me the Lord. Grant unto him that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day, in how that many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus, that thou knowest very well. Chapter 2. And thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace.
That is in Christ Jesus and the things that thou hast heard of Maine among many witnesses.
The same commit thou of faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
So here we have Paul the Aged and he's seeking to encourage the next generation to get an outline of sound words. Now I've heard people speak in this verse many times and they usually use it in this way that they tell the next generation, the brethren, that we need to get ahold and learn Pauls doctrine.
And get it and learn it in an outline form. Now I don't want to set that aside altogether, but that's not exactly the point of this verse. Now, the reason why I tell you that he's not exactly telling Timothy to learn his doctrine here is because in the third chapter he says, thou hast fully known my doctrine. So he surely wouldn't be telling him here you need to learn my doctrine. No, Timothy already knew that. But what Paul is telling him to do here is to take it a step farther.
And the purpose of that is so that he may be serviceable to the Lord, that he may use it in the dispensing of the truth and communicating it to others.
As we had in the second chapter.
You see, it's important that we get the truth, not just that we know the truth in our souls, we know what is right about this point or that point, but that we get it in an orderly way in our our souls so that we are able to use it for the blessing of others. For the object here in this chapter and second Timothy is that Paul was seeking to get Timothy to use his gift and to be serviceable to the Lord and that he may be able to communicate the things that Paul had taught him to others.
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And it was necessary that he would get it in an orderly way, that he would get it in an outlined form so that he could communicate it.
And that was Paul's great exercise before he passed on. Sometime prior to this, he had been teaching Timothy all along.
But now he's telling Timothy, take it a step further and get it in an orderly way so that you're able to communicate it to others. And that's what I would desire for you. Let me give you an illustration of this just happened about a week ago. A brother came to me, maybe it was two weeks ago, and he said, you know, someone asked a certain sister.
They run into a person that had tried to tell them that the church was going to go through the tribulation. The sister said, no, that's not true. I know that the church doesn't go through the tribulation. So they went to this brother and said, I don't know any verses about that, but how do we explain, you know, that the church doesn't go through the tribulation? And he said, I knew that the church didn't go through the tribulation, but I didn't know how to tell her. That's my point. He didn't. He knew the truth of it, but he didn't have it in a way that he could.
Have ready use of it and say, well, This is why. Here's the six or eight verses that you need to look at and there it shows you right there. See, now you can have it and you can communicate the truth.
Used of the Lord we call this working knowledge of the truth and that's what we need to be exercised about if we're going to stand in an evil day. If we're going to be used in a day like we live, it's important that we get the truth down in an orderly way in our soul. Now Darby says that this.
These few words here are the most difficult words that he had to translate. And so he said that there's no real English word or even a couple of words that describe what is being said here, but he has a footnote and I couldn't.
Quote that to you, but it's something like this, he says. Get a systematic expose of these things, which I have taught you.
Outline point form that you may be able to clearly tell.
The things that I have taught you to others.
That's kind of a mouthful, but you get the picture.
In other words, he's saying you need to get it in an orderly way. So when we're talking about the subject of forgiveness, you say, oh, well, the forgiveness, yes, that's simple. You know, there's four aspects of forgiveness. There's this kind, there's this kind, there's this kind and this kind. And this means this. And you know, we can take it up in an orderly way so that people can get a hold of it. We are not going to be much of A help to pass on the truth if we can just say, well, I know the church doesn't go through the tribulation. I know it because Dad said so. But does that help anybody? The man that maybe really interested and wants to know, maybe he's mixed up on that. You can't help him because you can't point it out from the word of God.
And what Paul is saying here is you need to keep it by the Holy Ghost, not by a bunch of argument, not by determination.
We need to be able to show it by the word of God. He says that in the second chapter. A little further on. I won't read that. And so we have in this third old man. His parting exercise was that Timothy would now get the truth that one step further than having learned it, but get it in a way so that he could be serviceable in the time when Paul was going.
And so in chapter 2, verse two, he says the things were stars heard of me and many would among many witnesses the same commit thou a faithful man. They're able to teach others also. You've heard this many times. There's four generations there. The things that he heard from Paul went on to Timothy. There's a second and then he says commit thou to faithful men. There will be the third generation who are able to teach others also. They pass it on to a fourth generation. So there you have it. That's how the truth is going to be passed on. We are going to have to get a hold of it ourselves.
For ourselves to walk in for our own personal enjoyment first and then to be able to communicate it as best we can to the next generation. Let me ask you, are you up to the challenge?
Caleb threw out a challenge. Who can get to the city? I ask you, Are you ready to take up with the scriptures? Are you ready to take up with the truth that has been once delivered to the Saints? Are you ready to take it up in such a way as that you can be used of the Lord in His vineyard for the blessing of His people? I challenge you tonight that you may make a decision to want to get into the Word of God more deeply than you've ever done before, because the time is short.
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Let's pray our God and Father, we just, it's an incredible privilege. I wish I could tell you all what it means to me to be able to stand here and talk to you for just a little while. And I do promise it will be just a little while. I'm going to tell you two stories. They're both true stories. One of them, some of you have heard the first story. I'm going to guess that quite a few of you have never heard this true story.
The other story we've all heard many times.
For those of you who have heard the first one, bear with me.
Little girl.
Six years old.
When she was 4.
She was an auto accident.
Lost her dad and mom was orphaned.
When she was 5.
She had a stroke.
Perhaps due to the auto accident?
Left her right side totally paralyzed. Five years old.
We're going to call her Susie. I don't know what her name was for sure. I just know the story is true.
When Susie was six years old, something else went haywire with her.
She began to go blind.
And so she found herself in a hospital.
Being prepared to undergo, and I think they call them an MRI.
Put them in the put a person in a tube and the things spin around. They get pictures and they were going to do an MRI to see if they could determine the cause of the problem of the blindness.
And it was a busy day.
They had a lot of people lined up, a lot of work to do, a lot of Mris to do. Things needed to go quickly. They needed to go right the first time, and though it was a helpless, partially crippled little girl, they needed to get her in and out quickly. So in a fairly brusque manner, the technician said. Susie, remember when we put you in there, don't talk, don't move.
If you talk or if you move, it's going to cause a shadow on the picture. We're not going to get a good picture and we'll have to do it again.
So they slide Susie in and close the door and they begin the procedure.
And justice As they're starting, the technician notices a blur.
They hear some sort of muffled sound from the tube.
So they stop. They pull Susie out, and with a measure of impatience.
The technician said Susie, remember what we said.
Don't talk.
Don't move.
We've got to get this picture taken.
So they put Susie back in.
Start up the procedure again, no more than get started, and again there's movement and sound.
The picture is blurry.
This time the radiologist, who was just a bit perturbed by now.
They pulled Suzy out and he said Susie.
We said no talking and she looked up with that crippled.
Half smile on her face and she said I wasn't talking.
He said. Susie, we heard the noise. We saw your movement. You can't talk. I wasn't talking, Susie.
What were you doing?
I was singing, you said. No talking.
You were singing.
What were you singing, Susie?
I was singing Jesus loves me. I always sing that when I'm happy.
You happy tonight?
Can you sing Jesus loves me?
In whatever circumstance you find yourself.
Everyone of us.
Has a whole bunch more reasons.
To sing Jesus loves me.
Than Susie did.
Wonder if he's real?
00:30:01
To my heart.
I'm not talking about salvation. I wonder if he's really real to me, to you.
So that every circumstance of life you and I meet.
We can sing Jesus loves me.
Matthew 27, The question that was asked tonight, this is the other story.
Just a few verses, we'll read them.
And I want to talk about them again.
Matthew 27, verse 11.
If you and I are going to be able to get the good of this account.
For our hearts and lives that we might have the joy and the happiness that Jesus wants us to have.
We're going to have to be able each one of us individually.
To make a better decision, a better choice than Pilate made.
Jesus stood before the governor. Verse 11. I want you to think about that for a minute. Beloved young people, here's a man like you and me, Pilate.
He's an important man.
Carries a lot of power, a lot of authority. He's got the strength of the Roman Empire behind him and the armies if needed to back him up.
He's in a pretty good position.
He's sitting on his throne on the judgment seat, carrying the authority of Nero's Arab Caesar, whichever Caesar it was at that time.
Making decisions that mean life and death.
Acting as and in behalf of, I suppose, what we could call an absolute monarch.
If he says you die, you die.
If he says you live, you live.
No lawyers.
No debates, no Supreme Court.
Pilot's word Period.
And sitting there in that room, in his robes, on that seat.
Standing in front of him.
You think about this beloved young people with spit running down his face.
Having been beaten and mocked.
The one who held that man's breath in the palm of his hand.
God.
The Son, the Creator of the universe to.
Standing as a common criminal to be judged before a mere man.
The one standing there with the word of his mouth. The life of Pilate, with all of his.
Dignity and glory snuffed out.
That's the picture.
Get that into your hearts because beloved young people, tonight I'm going to ask you to do a little bit of role-playing.
I want you to put yourself in the place of Pilate.
I want you to think of yourself as Pilate.
Not as an unsaved man, which I fear he was.
But as one who in your life beloved young people at your age?
Make determinations in your life, every day of your life that you alone make decisions that you alone make.
And in the sphere of your world, you are like Pilate.
You decide for instance.
When you get up to go to school or go to work, in a measure at least, what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat, what you're going to say, what you're going to do.
At least in some measure. If you're in school, Oregon working, maybe not as much as you'd like. Lots of decisions that at your age you're making now.
It's your world, and I don't say that flippantly or in a negative sense.
You're responsible.
You are, in a sense, ruling and governing.
Over the sphere.
Of the world called my life.
And every day that you get up and every day that I get up to do that.
00:35:02
The creator of this universe.
My blessed Savior.
And I hope yours.
Stands before you and you've got a decision to make.
And you've got some pressures that are going to try to cause you to make the wrong decision.
The scribes and the Pharisees, the religious leaders.
And the people, The world.
Let's read a little more. Jesus stood before the governor, and the governor asked him, saying, art thou the King of the Jews in the Greek? I was noticing that a little bit earlier, probably that could be spoken this way. Pilate looks at Jesus Christ and he says, Thou art the King of the Jews.
And that's why the Lord Jesus said, And thou sayest.
Who's the one that's going to have the rule in your life? You see, there were two.
And Pilate had to decide which one of those two was going to walk free.
And he was going to be brought under the pressure, as I said, of the religious leaders.
And of the people.
And he was going to ask them.
The question we heard in the Gospel tonight What will ye that I do with Jesus?
You have a choice, beloved young people.
Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.
Creator God.
Or Barabbas.
The son of the Father who is Barabbas. He is the substitute, the son of the Father.
They can't both be really the son of the father, can they?
One is truly the son of the Father.
The other is.
A murderer.
A robber.
When he was accused of the chief priests and the elders.
You know, there's a lot of things.
With a religious, a Christian flavor that are going to come to you every day and accuse Jesus. And what I mean by that is to give you plenty of reasons to not get too taken up with this religious stuff. Don't want to get too legal. I don't want to get too religious. There's a world out there.
And so there's going to be pressure to tell you that you can go part way, you can play the role of a Christian, you can kind of be religious. You can talk about God, you can talk about the Bible, you can talk about church.
But don't you be talking about Jesus.
Religion isn't interested.
In the Son of God.
It's interested in.
Comfortable, politically correct terms. Christianity, like I said, Bible, God, work, school. You can you can get into some good debates and discussions about those things. I don't say they're wrong.
What happens if you say, hey, I want to tell you about Jesus?
Then how much interest is there in an in depth discussion?
So the.
Chief priests and the elders accused him. The Lord Jesus didn't answer. He didn't have to answer.
He's God.
Beloved young people, you've heard about how much he loves you. You've said in meetings today and heard about the Great Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, the Good Shepherd, how much he cares for you, how much he wants you to have a happy life. But I want to tell you something about Jesus my Savior, and I trust your Savior.
He doesn't have to answer to anybody.
Not you and not me.
Because he's gone.
And I see this reverently. He can do and he does do.
00:40:05
Just exactly what he wants.
And it's.
Pretty solemn.
And if you'll excuse me, I say this in love to myself first. Pretty foolish.
To think.
That I get to make choices.
Irregardless of what he thinks.
Pilate said unto them, Hearest thou not how many things they witness against them, against thee?
He didn't answer a word.
Pilots wanted to get some reaction. He had to make a decision. He's got Barabbas here. He's got Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews. And I think down in his heart he knows somebody that's even more than the king of the Jews, and it's really bothering him. And he's got him. And one of them is going to walk free. Who is going to beloved young people tomorrow in your life, have liberty and freedom? Who are you going to give the reins to your life to tomorrow?
A robber, a murderer, a liar who says he's the son of the father.
Or the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who hung on a cross? And while he was hanging there, suffering was thinking about you personally and me.
And not only thinking about you, knowing everything you've ever thought, said or done, and everything that you and I ever will think, say, or do.
He knows it all.
And He hung on that cross, and if you know him as Savior, beloved young people, He not only knows it all, He paid for it all.
And only he can.
And now there's a decision for you to make. Who's going to be freed in your life? Who's going to be given liberty in your life to act?
In his own wisdom and way and purpose for your blessing.
They had a notable prisoner, verse 16, called Barabbas.
Therefore, when they were gathered together, pilots said unto them, Whom will you?
That I release unto you, whom will ye earlier it says now at the feast, the governor was won't to release unto the people a prisoner.
Whom he would.
Nice guy, one person gets to go free.
Think of it God.
And a murderer.
And he's got to make a decision.
Who's going to go free in your life?
Who's going to be free?
To order and direct your life tomorrow, beloved young people.
There's a world here.
That is doing everything it can to rob you.
Of every joy.
Happiness. Satisfaction that the Lord Jesus Christ wants you to have.
More than that, that the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross to ensure that you.
Can have it.
And there's the world Barabbas.
Who wants the liberty?
And the people want him to be have liberty.
And the rulers want him to have liberty.
And you, like Pilate, have to make a decision now.
What will you do? Who will you release?
In your life.
I want you to really think about that.
Because, beloved young people, the issues of your happiness.
For the days that God has ordained, you're going to live upon the face of this earth, and he alone knows how many days that is.
You don't know.
I don't know.
Insurance companies that calculate average ages don't know.
Nobody knows how many days you personally have from this moment yet to live on this earth.
God does.
Barabbas doesn't.
00:45:02
And how you live those days.
Didn't the Lord Jesus say that He wanted our joy to be full?
Now I want to ask you bluntly, beloved young people.
And I say this very reverently. Was he kidding?
Was he fooling when he said I want your joy to be full?
Think for just a minute what out there in Barabbas world can promise you full joy.
Joy that lasts.
It can give you a lot of joy and a lot of excitement. It's kind of like that roller coaster ride.
And it's quite a kick for 3456 minutes.
And then it's over.
And you've got to go back for more.
That the kind of joy the Lord Jesus wants to give you.
Why he hung there and suffered so you'd have a few minutes of fun and then months of sorrow.
A few hours of excitement and a lifetime of regret.
That's what Barabbas gives.
Not what Jesus gives.
So, beloved young people.
May I say reverently tonight?
The Lord Jesus is standing before you.
And Barabbas is there.
Which one are you going to release?
Which one are you going to say, Lord Jesus? I meant it when I said Lord.
You have rights in my life. I'm done planning.
I'm done thinking my own thoughts.
From now on, I want to hear what you have to say, Lord Jesus.
It's not wrong to dream. I hope everyone of you is dreaming.
In a good way.
Talking to the Lord every moment of the day, letting Him know what's in that heart of yours.
What you care about, what you'd really like to have, what you'd like to be, what you'd like to see developed in your life or the life of one you love or other loved ones or friends. That's good.
But stop with that.
Just tell him what's there.
Don't take it in your own hands and say I'll release Barabbas because I think he's going to get me there.
That's what the world is telling you.
It's got all sorts of systems and plans, philosophies, and if this philosophy doesn't work and you end up wrecked and miserable from that one, hop over across the street to the building across the street. They got a different philosophy and you can sign up there and for a certain amount of money they'll give you some life skills according to their philosophy.
Or.
You can release Jesus.
And you can tell in Lord Jesus.
I want you.
To be in charge in my life.
Whom will ye that I release?
Pilate made his decision.
I don't think we're going to see Pilate in heaven.
Don't know, maybe we'll be surprised.
But I'll tell you what, for the last 2000 years if he's not there.
He's in an agony about the decision he made that day.
I hope you've accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And I hope you'll let him give you the life he wants to give you.
A life of joy and happiness and satisfaction.
And fruit.
I don't know what that life is. I don't know what direction it will go, but he does, and he has the power to make sure.
That it goes in your best interests.
Beloved young people.
Barabbas, this world doesn't.
It'll only do.
To you.
What we said Absalom did to the hearts of the men of Israel.
Stole their hearts and LED them to try to kill and destroy their rightful king.
00:50:09
We're going to pray now.
I'm going to ask you to do something. I don't want to be melodramatic, and you don't have to do it. Only God knows if you will. But I'd like to encourage you while we pray.
To give the Lord Jesus freedom.
In your life.
Tell him you want him to be free.
To move and act for your best blessing.
I can tell you something.
It's a wonderful decision to make.
And he wants to hear it.
And he will not.
Fool any of you.
None of us.
He only gives the best.
Let's pray.
Three Old Men Talk