Burbank Conference: 2022
Table of Contents
2 Timothy 1
Reading
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He received the recording and with the appendix #42 Tobacco.
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Prayer wing and stop mirroring and God.
One great.
People.
Whoever I love, who are the Lord for me?
God our Father, we look up this morning and we give thanks for the opportunity to be gathered together like this, to give thanks for our brother and here locally, having the courage and the willingness to host the conference. And Lord we're we're gathered here for the reading meeting this morning and we only have many needs.
We have need of comfort, we have need of encouragement and we have need of excitation. Lord, you know that there are so many areas of our lives.
That we struggle in and we struggle because no doubt there's lack of faith and.
There's lack of obedience to the Word of God. There's lack of many things. We just pray this morning that our hearts should be open to receive Father. We pray that the Spirit of God would have liberty to minister to the needs of our hearts.
Father, we just, we give thanks that you have allowed us this privilege. We knew what it was like to go without conferences and to go without coming together. And Lord, we feel the effects of the enemy pressing in and the world around us and the coldness of our own hearts.
00:05:09
We're just so grateful for the open door again. And we cry out to thee for a blessing. Father, we just think of these ones too that have been mentioned in the prayer meeting. We think of ourselves. We just cry out to Thee for him and his dear family. Lift him up before the throne of grace. We think two of our brother in Cuba. Lord, we just remember our sister Karina Clausen. We just commit her into high care. Lord, there are many that are going through deep waters and deep struggles and afflictions.
We just commit each one. We give thanks to God that thou art will able, and that though we feel pressed, we know Lord Jesus.
That you don't willingly afflict us, but your desire is that each of us would turn to you with an open heart, that we would look through the eyes of faith to that one, our Lord Jesus Christ. And the by your grace, we would have the privilege and the opportunity to prove you every step of the way in this wilderness journey. We just, we give thanks and we ask all this in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Amen.
I'd like to suggest a possible chapter for us to take up Second Timothy chapter one.
Reason I have it before me and I've been on my heart for several days.
And well, we can go into it in a few minutes, but it brings before us on the one hand.
The difficulties that we are expected to encounter.
In these last days, but also brings before us every kind of encouragement in order to meet those difficulties with the Lorde help.
Would my brethren be happy to look at that chapter, at least for this reading meeting?
Had the same chapter on my heart brother. In fact, I thought perhaps we could go on to chapter 2. We get through chapter one, We have 4 readings. We have 4 readings. I hadn't noticed. Well, that's excellent. If you have time to get into chapter 2, that would be all the better.
Maybe our brother could read chapter one course then, if everyone's happy with that.
Second Timothy chapter one, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus. To Timothy, my dearly beloved Son, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with a pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day.
Greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy.
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice, and I am persuaded that in thee also.
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us to the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.
Nor of me his prisoner, but be thou partaker of the afflictions of the Gospel, according to the power of God, who hath saved us, and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began, but is now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and mortality to light through the Gospel.
Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, for the which 'cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am 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. Hold thou fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee. Keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us.
This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia he turned away from me, of whom are I jealous and homogeneous. The Lord give mercy under the House of onus Sephorus, for he OFT refresh 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 granted to him, that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. And how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest.
00:10:28
Very well.
It might be good to go over a bit of background to this epistle, although most here will be familiar with it. But we know that the 2nd epistle to Timothy is the last epistle that the apostle Paul wrote.
It would seem that after he was imprisoned initially and wrote what are commonly known as the prison epistles.
Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon. Although scripture does not explicitly say so, it would seem that Paul was released from prison, at least for a short time, and was able to be out and traveling at least to some extent. But then he was evidently re arrested and this time he wasn't under what would be.
In our day termed house arrest the way he was the first time in perhaps slightly more comfortable circumstances. This last time it would appear that he was in a real prison in Rome under somewhat harsher conditions. And the Lord revealed to him that this time he was not going to be released. And so at the end of this epistle he has to say, I am now ready to be offered up.
And the time of my departure is at hand. But in the meanwhile, Paul had taken note to his sorrow that things were starting to go downhill, at least in some of the assemblies where he had labored so strenuously. And that's why, he says toward the end of this chapter, all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
And I have remarked before, thank God, that all Paul's laborers weren't in Asia.
It didn't mean that they had turned away from Christianity, but rather the full truth, the full measure of that precious truth, what Paul calls all the counsel of God in Acts 20. All that he had labored so strenuously to give them, They were evidently beginning to give up.
And so here's Paul writing to an individual, one who had spent a lot of time with him, one who was like a spiritual son to him, one who could be relied upon to carry on faithfully in the footsteps that Paul had marked out. And we find Paul here writing to Timothy in that tone, on the one hand.
Greatly burdened because of the condition of things amongst the Saints, but on the other hand, as I have often said before.
While Paul was greatly burdened, greatly saddened, yet at the same time there is not one hint of discouragement in the whole book, not a hint of it. Sorrow, yes. Burden, yes.
Concerned, yes, but discouragement, no. And I believe there is a voice for us all in this epistle in this day and age, because you and I are in the very last days to which Paul refers in Second Timothy. And we too are facing a giving up. We are facing trouble and difficulties of every kind. We are seeing them not only in the world around us, we're seeing them.
Within within the profession of Christianity. And yet it is not a day to be discouraged. It's a day, as Paul exhorts Timothy, to go on in faithfulness, knowing that the Lord is coming soon and that there is a reward for those who carry on in the pathway of faith.
00:15:20
It's an interesting comparison.
Into trick or chapters of the Old Testament.
And Ezra chapter 2 and again in Nehemiah Chapter 7 if we read a few verses in Nehemiah 7 first.
We have a list of some here.
For example, verse 10 and the children are 650 and two. Then it goes forth with a further enumeration.
And we see it when we compare this chapter with Ezra 2. For the most part, the numbers are greater.
And Ezra 2 There was a decreasing and yet in some cases there were. There was an increase in. We see that Nehemiah's list was a revised list.
There were those that came down.
With Zerubbabel but lost heart, but then there were some that did not.
And their numbers increased, which was encouraging, and that was due, I believe, to a later exercise in their hearts. So what's all discouraging news that we read about in Nehemiah Chapter 7?
One individual who I believe was greatly discouraged was Jacob.
He could say all these things are against me.
But we have the antidote in Romans chapter 8, do we not?
All things work together for good.
Yes, the word discouragement is the opposite of encouragement, isn't it?
Encouragement is to have courage, to take courage.
To be willing to go on counting on the Lord, whereas discouragement and I speak now particularly in spiritual terms, means that I have lost my courage and ultimately lost my faith in the Lord. It has the sense of fainting or losing heart and feeling that I cannot go on.
Because the pathway is too difficult.
And there were those in Paul's day who found it that way because it is not an easy path to walk through this world as a heavenly citizen and yet at the same time to walk in all the dignity of a Son of God through all of the difficulties of the pathway down here.
The world does not understand that kind of a person. The world does not respect that kind of a person. Essentially, the world does not want that kind of a person. Is that right, Brother Bob?
Yes, I find it interesting kind of along that line to see that the word ashamed is used three times in this chapter. Maybe you've noticed it first time is in verse 8 where he says to Timothy, Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoners.
But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God.
Then he says himself in verse 12 for the witch, 'cause I.
Also suffer these things. Nevertheless, I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded. That says persuaded. It means that there is evidence is being presented to you. And I've come to this conclusion. Given these evidences, I think the Apostle Paul who went through so much suffering in his life, but there was a time when he was caught up into the third heavens.
00:20:05
And afterwards, he could say, the afflictions of this life are light and momentary in comparison with the exceeding great weight of glory that's before us. And brethren, that's it, when you consider what's before us.
Is it worth doing here, Paul? They probably said to Paul.
Oh, aren't you ashamed? There you are. You got yourself in prison.
And they're going to cut your head off and couldn't you just be a little bit more?
Conciliatory.
Paul says, I am not ashamed. I know whom I have believed. I am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. I like the way it reads in the Darby translation. Is that deposit? In other words, we're depositing into a heavenly bank account rather than oh.
Are you working for something down here? Are you struggling to get material means that's going to pass very shortly and those that struggle so are going to be ashamed in the future. Paul says I'm not ashamed, but there's one more here and it's in verse.
16 The Lord give mercy unto the House of Anissa for us.
For he aught refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain. But when he was in Rome he sought me out very diligently, and found me. Here's one who was not ashamed either.
Is this something that we're talking about, brethren? Is this something to be ashamed of? Oh, what a challenge that comes to my own heart, I have to say to taking into account.
The different things, brethren, that we go through, yes, there are real difficulties in the path of faith.
But, brethren, in comparison with that coming glory.
I am not ashamed. I'm persuaded that this is the pathway of faith. Lord help us pray. There's a difference between being ashamed and discouraging and when we have mixed emotions and maybe depression and things coming in. I understand my brother's question to answer it directly, Webster's 1828 dictionary says.
The act of disheartening or depriving of courage. The act of deterring or dissuading from an undertaking. The act of depressing Confidence that which destroys or abates. Courage that which depresses. Confidence or hope. That which deters or tends to deter from an undercaving. You can distinguish that you're having several emotions by the red flag that you're feeling like giving up.
That's it.
You're feeling like giving up because discouragement, if it keeps going on, you quit. You give up. And you may feel that way, but when you meet that head on with what our brother Bob's been saying, I am persuaded. You can be depressed, you can be sad, you can even be discouraged if we go through all of those things. But when you start getting to the point where you say, I think it's not worth it, I'm going to give up, you may not be ashamed.
But you've lost courage. And when you encourage somebody, it literally means to pour courage into someone. And if we see somebody that is discouraged and we get a note of that, maybe a sense that they're about to give up, we can actually be Effective in coming alongside someone like that and pouring courage into them and seeking to lift them up from that. Where? Just hang on, brother.
Don't give up, it's worth it. And when you're reading these words here, I know who I have believed. And maybe you are discouraged, maybe you're depressed, maybe you're feeling beaten up. But you can still say I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep. That's what which I have committed unto him against that day. And then pick yourself up and say, Lord, I choose you in the midst of this trouble.
I choose you, you're worth it all, and take one more step forward and hopefully the Lord will send somebody along like we have here in our chapter. Some brother goes out of the way, tracks him down and finds him. Have you ever done that with someone? Go out of your way, track him down, find him, come alongside, encourage them.
00:25:21
Well, perhaps he was concerned that Paul might have some discouragement that he needs needed encouragement.
Somebody to come and say I'm with you, brother. Well, that is. That's how you dispel discouragement.
Of thinking of a resource that we have with the story true story told some years ago there was a Scottish settler that had a homestead in Canada and often would face very severe conditions working out the woods and they.
Open And one night the storm came in and found shelter in the woods and returned to his cabin. The next day his wife was there weeping bitterly. And he said to her, what's wrong? She says. And of course the storm and snow covered the windows. She said I couldn't see out. But he said.
You can still see up. So there was a resource there for them and I was thinking of some of the Psalms that we have. David expressed a word of discouragement. Some of those Psalms, one of the Psalms that I think of as Psalm 124. It begins if it had not been for the war, who was on our side. So he had that confidence that the ward.
What's on his side? And verse seven of that Psalm says our soul has escaped as a bird out of the snare of the flowers. The snare is broken. We are escaping. Our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
I'd like to say too as we start this chapter.
That it has been a help to me realize that First Timothy, we have the House of God.
In its order, look at chapter 3 and verse 15, it says, But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself.
In the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So in first Timothy you have the House of God in its order, whereas in Second Timothy was a time of ruin of the public testimony, so much so that the mention of the house.
In chapter 2.
It really doesn't say the House of God. It says in verse.
20 A great house. And so it has become a testimony in ruins. And brethren, it's been a help to me to realize that even though the testimony in ruins is in ruins, there is a path for faith in the midst of it all. And that's what he's encouraging Timothy with and giving him the principles.
But that has been a help to me to see the general outline of these two epistles.
Remember the first Timothy, the House of God in order, Second Timothy, the principles for when the testimony is in ruins, the testimony of the house. And so we still go on, brethren, even though there's ruin, there's a path for faith. Remember that.
Yes, that's very good, brother Bob, because.
God allowed the declension to begin before the apostle Paul had passed off the scene. Otherwise we might today throw up our hands and say well.
What do we do now?
But God has given us, long before it happened, instruction as to how to deal with things.
00:30:04
When the church is in disorder, how? Because he allowed the beginnings of it before the apostle Paul passed off the sea. And we might mention as well. And if I may be allowed to as a grandfather and recently a great grandfather, believe it or not.
To say a word to the young people.
Paul doesn't minimize the difficulties.
They're real.
And one of our sisters in our local assembly said to me the other day, Bill, be glad you're the age. You are not a young person.
Meaning that by leaving us here a little longer, the Lord was going to fill his house. No question.
But that things would get much more difficult and it would be the younger generation that would have to face them. That is true. But the same Lord that met the difficulties in our day is prepared to meet them in your day and give you everything you need. He knows, for example, and I don't know whether it's as bad in this area, but up in our area many young people find it almost impossible to.
Buy a home, they're so expensive, can't hardly manage, can hardly manage to do it. Interest rates going up, making it all worse and worse. Many young people through COVID have had their careers interrupted and faced all kinds of difficulties. It's very real.
And perhaps some of you look at people in our generation and say, well, they are easy for you to talk. You didn't live in that kind of a day. And when you grew up, things were relatively smooth, which they were.
But the Lord knows how to provide for you. He knows how to provide for all the difficulties. And his advice way back in the Sermon on the Mount was, seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
Is that a promise? Yes, it is. Will the Lord keep His promise? Yes, He will. The pathway may be more difficult, but He is going to provide for you in every way. But first and foremost, He is going to provide a pathway for faith. As Bob has been bringing out, no matter what the pathway may be, no matter what the conditions I should say may be light, there will be a pathway for faith.
That doesn't deny the truth of God right to the end.
That's why it's so important these in these first verses.
The different expressions, the will of God.
In verse 3.
A Pure conscience.
Verse 5.
Unfeigned faith.
What? What tremendous things to have before us, brother? Does God have a will about things down here in this world?
Yes, he does.
But it's going to be, like you say, against the current and it's going to take unfeigned faith, not just a pretension of faith, but real faith to be able to make make the challenges. What kind of a God do we have anyhow? Is he real? Does he know about these situations? Yes, he does. We have evidence in the Scriptures of how he.
Met the difficulties for the people of God in the wilderness 40 years.
Some 2 to 3 million people out there in the desert. Can you ever imagine how much water they need? Where did they get the water?
It came out of a rock, of all things, out of a rock. Who's ever heard of that?
But that's our God, brethren, and fruit for all those people and clothing.
Were all their animals too, the food necessary? I say it's incredible amount of that's what was needed. What was God up to that?
00:35:11
Brethren, our God is a God of infinite characteristics that we cannot measure, and he wants us to prove that we trust Him. And so he sends into our life difficulties to see if we're really going to trust Him. And so everyone has different set of problems in their life. Problems you face are not what I face.
But our God is up to it, rather than He really is. Lord help us.
Play.
It's probably natural for us when we get into a difficulty.
And we sit there and we say, Oh my, now what have I done or what have I gotten into?
And we question ourselves and we say, how did I get here?
And to me, in the first verse, when Paul says I'm an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, that it was a.
A great comfort and assurance to him that he had gotten where he had gotten this, his brother Frost was saying in prison.
Because he was following in the footsteps of his master. For him I'm here because it's the will of God. He could say in one of his prison epistles, not that he was in a prisoner of Rome, but a prisoner of Jesus Christ. So what a comfort this is to have.
As has been mentioned, unfeigned faith.
Conscience. There's much about the conscience when Paul writes to Timothy in the 1St and 2nd of this. What a valuable, necessary thing to have a good conscience. So when all is said and done and we're sitting there shaking our heads sometimes, well, I believe the Lord has me in this path and I can leave the results with Him. And this is what encouragement can. This is how encouragement can be experienced by us in the midst of difficult circumstances.
In contrast, we were reading with some other brethren through the book of Acts.
And Paul goes back to Jerusalem.
And it's not Paul's finest hour. Just say that. And finally he gets he's, he's trying to make defense and he gets the Sadducees and the Pharisees all wound up with each other and it's just a mess. And he gets extracted by Roman soldiers and he ends up in prison. It's very interesting. Acts 23, it says the night following the Lord stood with him. I believe the Lord let him Stew in his juices a little while that first night.
And Paul must have said, look what I've done.
How how good was this? I, I know I'm a child of God. I know the Lord has sent me, but that was like, you know, Jacob's voice in Esau's hands that that just wasn't right. And the Lord the next night the Lord stood by him and graciously said, you've been as you've been a witness to me in Jerusalem. What a gracious master we have. I could say you're going to bear witness for me in Rome and so.
What a comfort it is to not have a bad conscience. And so I believe he starts it off here. He could have said all kinds of things in this, in this, in this opening of a letter, you write a letter, all kinds of things could come to mind. But he says an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus.
I appreciate it. Last night one of the brothers prayed it's It's so easy to get all doom and gloom.
As Billy said, to look within, to look around, to look even further around and in this Western world, and to be all doom and gloom. But this brother catalogued in his prayer last night all the things that are unassailable by you or by me or by any government or anybody. There's still a head in heaven who loves us and who is the head of the church, which is his body. There's still a Holy Spirit indwelling.
Together, this word is forever settled and is never going to change or be undermined in any way. And we have all things one for us by Christ. There's so much to be thankful for. So yes, we feel, we feel our responsibility and outward testimony and we ought to. Well, that's not the whole story. And I appreciate the comments about Paul being here and being not discouraged. The Lord Jesus was never discouraged.
00:40:24
He wept, He was sorrowful, He was indeed the Man of Sorrows, but he was never discouraged. His meat was to do the Father's will. That never changed.
The joy before him he endured, what he endured for that joy be formed the reward. And so the apostle Paul says, the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus, that hadn't changed either. That was still there before him and.
He was pressing on for it.
Two Christians could be in the same circumstances and see things exactly opposite.
What's the difference?
Yeah, the story of David, who arrives on the scene. Every single soldier, including the king, are trembling in their boots, afraid.
He comes upon the scene.
It's interesting the brother and I were talking about this.
Finally, when he comes before Saul.
Chapter 17.
He says.
And David said to Saul, let no man's heart fail because of him.
Well, how come his heart wasn't failing?
He's just a kid. Some of you young people, sometimes you feel all alone. As it has been expressed, there is a path of faith. Your act in the path of faith may affect a whole bunch of people.
That are afraid, that are discouraged, that whole army was What does he say?
He's told all you, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him rather out, buddy, you and he a man of war from his youth. David said unto Saul. Thy servant kept his father's sheep, and there came a line and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, and I went after him.
And smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth. And when he rose up against me, I caught him by his beard, and smote him, and slew him. Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear. And this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, seeing that he hath defied the armies of the living God. He had a different perspective.
And a young person who comes upon the scene, I mean, his brothers want to send him back home. They say he's foolish for being there, but he believes in the God who delivered the bear and the lion. He grabbed the lion by the beard. That's an African lion. He grabbed him by the beard and he stuck a knife into his heart. He saw sheep in trouble, and he went after them and he knew that it was God that delivered it. What's the difference here? This giant, the whole army is discouraged. They're afraid. And here's a young man saying, don't be afraid.
We have this in verse seven of our chapter. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. What if those realities kind of go by the way because of our circumstances? Can we not read this verse and say, well, wait a minute, I don't need to be like this because God has given us not the spirit of fear. I don't need to be afraid. There's power and it's God's power.
And he's given me and filled me. He said, let his love abroad in my heart. The love of Christ constrained with me. And he's given me a sound mind. I don't need to think this way. And what if you acted like David? There might be a whole bunch of other young people and others that took courage and went on from there. It certainly changed things. And it's interesting to see. When David goes out to meet Goliath, he runs at him, not away from the trouble.
That's a good example for us.
Is to have courage. Sometimes we can have an inner conversation that we need to have with ourselves and the devil's good at getting us to go down a negative path.
But what if you just remind yourself once in a while? Is Jesus trustworthy?
Is God trustworthy? And your answer, if you're a believer, is going to be yes. Well then, trust Him.
00:45:05
Right. And I know from talking to a lot of young people that many often feel very alone, even though when they're in a group and things that are going on, you can be made by the enemy of your soul to be felt very alone.
Are that you don't belong, or that somehow you don't fit in. Well, you fit in within.
And if you can just stand in that moment and take courage in the Lord, it says, David says he encouraged himself in the Lord when no one else was there to encourage him. He encouraged himself in the Lord and he found encouragement there. We can do that. And us taking a stand with the mustard seed of faith may actually have an effect on others.
In a positive way to go on for the Lord has been pointed out in this chapter. Things are coming unglued and in our day, as brother Bruce was saying, it's there's a lot to be just upset about. There's a lot that just looks horrible. We wonder what's coming on this earth and if the Lord carries, will we see persecution here in this country? Who knows. But as our God changed, Brother Bob made it very clear he has not. And is Jesus trustworthy? Yes he is.
So why don't I just trust it?
Problem with the sand, with the Israelites where they saw themselves against Goliath. David had a different perspective. It was God versus Goliath. And that changed the whole picture. And that's what gave him his confidence. And that's what it is with us too. And I think we need to be refreshed by this. Timothy was a young person.
He evidently was a timid young person and so he's encouraging in here and I just to go on to verse three and speaks of thank God whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience.
Thou ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. Like Briscoe, I mentioned it mentions the conscience a number of times in First and Second Timothy.
Look how back at First Timothy chapter one and verse 5.
Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience.
And of faith and things, verse 19.
Holding faith.
In the good conscience which some, having put away concerning faith, have made shipwreck important, that is that good conscience here in our chapter.
Verse 3 It's a pure conscience and there's a difference, I believe.
And he says, I served from my forefathers with pure conscience. Even before Paul was saved, he was doing what he thought was right.
But when he met the Lord, the Lord said unto said to him, It is hard for thee to kick against the bricks. When he saw Steven die with his face shining like an angels, he must have had terrible ****** of conscience. Was a pure conscience, perhaps because he was acting according to the light that he had, But it wasn't a good conscience. And so it's important to have a good conscience.
Notice what Paul says in Acts 24.
To me, this is such an interesting statement.
Verse.
16 I believe it is.
Acts 2416. And herein do I exercise myself to have always a conscience void of offense toward God and toward men.
Interesting statement. Conscious is what man obtained when he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God had said don't eat of that tree.
And they ate of it and immediately they had conscience. Before that they were innocent. You take CON off a conscience, it's science that's left with knowledge. And so we have the knowledge of good and evil. It's in each human being. Even the youngest have conscience. And so we need to exercise ourselves, like Paul says here to have.
00:50:23
Always a conscience void of offense, He doesn't say. I always have a good conscience.
No, he says. I exercise, brethren, it's a daily exercise to walk in the light of the Word of God and to be conscious of the fact when we fail to get into the Lord's presence and get it straightened out before it becomes more complicated.
Lord help us, brother. It is so important to have a good conscience, to exercise yourself, to have a good conscience. Is there something in your life right now that you know is wrong and you're trying to cover it up? Don't do that, you. You won't be prospered in that.
Get it out, confess it to the Lord, and perhaps to others too.
Oh my God, against you whom you may have sinned, but.
Practice the matter of having always a good conscience toward God and toward Him. Very important.
Well, Paul prayed for Timothy, didn't he?
Remembrance of Thee at the end of verse three in my prayers.
Night and day.
What earnestness in prayer, night and day.
Greatly desiring to see thee. But he was mindful of something, mindful of Timothy's tears.
Why were those tears there? Was Timothy shedding tears for his own sake?
Because things were getting rough and things weren't going very well with them.
I don't believe so.
There's nothing wrong on occasion with shedding tears for our own sake, shedding tears because of things that have happened. But I believe Timothy's tears in this case were of a higher order. They were tears because of the condition of the profession of Christianity, tears because of the state of the Church of God. His brother Bob was bringing out the House of God, was in order in First Timothy.
And there the House of God could be acquainted with the Church of the Living God, And God calls the Church of the Living God the pillar and ground of the truth. The Church was called to be that. It always should be that very, very important, but, sad to say, no longer could.
The Church of God always be called the pillar and ground of the truth.
In fact, in fact, if we go through Second Timothy.
We do not find the Church of God mentioned at all.
Very significant. No mention of the Church of God. Why? Because it had failed.
And no longer could the church be looked to as the pillar and ground of the truth.
Anoto Timothy shed tears because of that.
Paul was mindful of those tears. I'm sure Paul shed tears too. And Paul, as we said earlier, could have been the most discouraged man. He could have looked back on his light, whatever time it was, 25 years, maybe 30 years that he spent.
Seeking to preach the gospel.
Preach the things concerning the Kingdom of God as we get in Acts 20, and then I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
And at the end he has to say all they were chair in Asia be turned away from me. Paul could easily have said to Timothy, Timothy, we must be doing something wrong.
We've got to change. We've got to modify the message a little bit. Something isn't working. This isn't working.
00:55:06
Let me tell you a story. This happened many years ago when we lived in Hamilton, ON, and that's only a little over an hour away from Buffalo, NY. And I was put in contact with a Christian there whom I didn't know, but who wanted to meet up with me. So I drove down there and we had lunch together.
It was a very interesting conversation, he said. Bill.
I want to start a church.
And I understand that you've had a bit of experience. A friend of mine told me he knows you.
He said, you've traveled a little. You've been here and there in this world and been involved with people in different cultures, different areas. I want to start a church, he said. Tell me what works. Tell me what works.
I don't think he liked my answer.
Because I turned into this passage, I said, well, let's see what worked for the apostle Paul. Wouldn't that be a good example to go to? Well, yeah, I guess it would after all. So we turned to this passage, and I said, here's what worked for the apostle Paul.
And I quoted him those verses from Acts 20. And then I said, look what happened. Did it work? No, it did not work, rather worked in the opposite direction. People started defecting it saying, Paul, what you've given us is too much. We can't walk in that pathway.
Well, we parted good friends, but I don't think he liked my advice and I don't think he took it. The point is, we're not called upon.
To say what works, we're called upon to shed tears because all the precious truth that God has given is not being walked in.
The point is, it's not about us, is it? It's not about us.
And if that blessed man in the glory were to step into our midst and hold out his peers at hands this morning and say.
For me, it was worth it. It was well worth it.
To go through everything in order to have you with me in that glory in the Father's house.
Is it worth it to you to walk in the pathway that I have marked out for you?
Would anyone of us stand there in front of him and say no, Lord, that's too much to ask, I can't do it. It's too much.
I can't believe any of us would stand there and say that. And yet it happens practically, doesn't it? And Timothy sheds tears on that account.
What does Paul say if I can see your face up filled with joy? Why?
Because there would be mutual encouragement in knowing that here was one, a spiritual son who was ready with the Lord's help. And as Bob has said, he was a timid man. He wasn't a forward man. He wasn't an Apollo's. Someone that could stand up for himself. Normally, no Timothy could do it, but only with the Lord's help.
And the Lord was going to use him. And it's that kind of a man that Paul confides in.
Recognizing his tears, but the one also who brought him joy.
I There is a verse in Philippians 112.
That I want to read.
Andre Lavoie.
And crystal interpretorio.
Yeah.
Los Hermanos cobrando animo.
Presiones treven mucho masala palabra, verse 12, verse 12 to verse 14.
I would should understand, brethren, that the things which happened unto me have fallen out rather under the furtherance of the gospel, so that my bonds in Christ are manifest in all the palace, and in all other places. And many of the brethren, and the Lord, waxing confident by my bonds, are much more bold to speak the Word without fear.
01:00:15
La preuntes germano que piazos.
The question, brethren, is what has happened to you and do you have reson experto?
The devil is an expert at trying to use what has happened in your life to discourage you.
But for those that love God, all things work together for good.
It uses an expert to para convert and God is an expert at converting those things that are against us to work for us.
Recognizes that the things that happened to him worked for the blessing of the others.
I was thinking also of the fact that the world notices our countenance, and not that we would have a sad look on our countenances all the time. I think of one who served the Lord in Burma many years ago, missionary by the name of Adenorum Judson, and the Burmese had a name for him, and translated into English that expression or name was.
The man with the shining face.
So his face just shone with love and it was a testimony to those roundabout. But I think of another scripture that's before us. When I was thinking, when brother Bill was talking about the tears that were shed of Nehemiah in the second chapter of Nehemiah and in verse two it says, Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy count and said.
Seeing thou art not sick, this is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live forever. Why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchre's lieth and waits waist, and the gates thereof are consumed with fire? Well he had.
The welfare.
Of the children of Israel and mine, and when he saw that deplorable condition.
That city in ruins. His heart went out and he wanted to do something. We see that the Lord answered prayer in connection with Nehemiah.
The king granted him his request to go to that city. We see the extent of the ruin, but the ward honored the faith of Nehemiah, so should be an encouragement to us. So he had reason to be sad, and in our chapter 2 There was reason for those tears.
It was mentioned that we have in Second Timothy that the resources to meet difficult days, as well as the difficulties themselves and.
I've appreciated a couple of these resources. Well, I might say three of them here in verses three and four and five you have.
Paul says I serve from my forefathers. He reminds us of those who have gone before. And then in verse five he does it again. He says the unfeigned faith which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. And I am persuaded that in thee also, you know, over in the display here, there's a lot of biographies of Christians who have gone on before and there's others that you could obtain from other sources.
But I find those things to be a tremendous encouragement to read of how other Christians have faced difficulties that are far more than I've ever had to face. And the Lord has brought them through and and blessed them. So I would just like to encourage.
01:05:00
Perhaps those that haven't read those things to to read them and find encouragement for your faith. Also there's this other.
At the end of verse three, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day. And certainly that's another thing that another resource that we can pray for each other and what a wonderful service that is to be able to take up. We don't use it. At least I speak for myself near enough.
But what a what a help to pray for each other. And then there's this verse 4 greatly desiring to see thee. And you know, that's why so many of us have come to this conference. I don't doubt is to see each other and to encourage each other.
And that's another resource that God has given us in difficult times.
Could we sing #19 in the appendix?
#19.
With me.
Going on, Father, we thank you for this chapter, for this portion.
And above water, it's an encouragement to remind us that no matter how dark the day gets, there is a path to walk for each one of us that is pleasing to be. And we know from that word, Lord Jesus, that as long as we are left down here, there will be attack that we can walk, which Thou won't sustain us and help us.
So we thank you for that, Lord. We think to our God Father, how the apostle Paul worked his last epistle. Look through this assembly and to an individual and it reminds us, Lord Jesus, that we all individually have to make that choice. Walk before me.
Even when we think of that word, we're thankful to that. We're not left the moment we can look around us right this very moment.
You just thank thee, Lord, thy goodness to us that thou hast put us in a place where there's so many. The Abbott is there to walk that path to and to encourage one another. Lord Jesus, we just pray us we're here to get it for at least three days.
We all will make a real effort, Lord, to be those that build up, those that encourage one another.
Just commit the rest of the time to be Lord Jesus and pray and Thy word, the most precious Name, Amen.
2 Timothy 1:1-12
Reading
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Can we sing number one 81181?
Yes. No.
For safety.
Great crime.
The Lord is our heart. Lord, Lord will.
We read one verse at the morning reading and the hymn brings to mind and Psalm 18.
Psalm 18 and verse 29.
Or by thee I have run through a troop by my God have I leaped over a wall. He's asked God's blessing. Our God and our Father, we thank you for the encouragement of the Scriptures. We pray our God is thy word is before us this afternoon that thou was used to stir our hearts. We realize while the enemy is great and thy people of all they had to say. Our brethren have discouraged our hearts.
So that they did not go forward to take the land or God. We realized the tendency of honest is our brother has exhorted this morning that to complain even as we sit in the laugh of spiritual luxury.
Grant our God, that thou hast used thy word to store our affections and our minds, and that we might to spend whatever little time might be left to us for our Lord's glory and honor.
Realize to our God there are unique challenges, difficulties of the hour. They need that wisdom and need that comes from above through thy word, our God, our dear younger brother and families, our God, as well as us who are a bit older however own set of issues. Our God, we look to thee for thy blessing on thy word, for the strengthening us collectively, and as we've had reminded to the very intensely personal character of what we're reading. So we look to thee for thy blessing, the help our God and Father and our weakness. We look to thee.
But I undertaken and blessing upon thy word to their hearts would be renewed afresh, drawn after Thee, Lord Jesus, for Thy love. It took Thee all the way to the cross, there to pen that ultimate sacrifice for sins, that we might forever belong to Thee. Bless thee and praise the Lord Jesus. Now seek Thy blessing our God and Father, as we ask all in His precious name, even the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
00:05:23
Second Timothy. Chapter One.
Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God, according to the promise of life, which is in Christ Jesus.
To Timothy, my dearly beloved son, grace, mercy and peace from God the Father in Christ Jesus our Lord. I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing, I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears, that I may be filled with joy when I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois and thy mother Eunice. I am persuaded that in thee also.
Wherefore I put the in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner. But be thou partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the power of God, who had saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works.
But according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
But has now made manifest by the appearing of our Savior Jesus Christ, who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel. For unto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles, For the which 'cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am 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 hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost, with which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are jealous and homogeneous. The Lord give mercy under the House of.
Onusiferous.
For he off to refresh 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. And in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well.
We did get through the first part of the chapter this morning. For any that have arrived since the meeting this morning, I would suggest that we start perhaps with verse 6.
Here we have Paul exhorting Timothy to.
Stir up the gift that is in him.
I personally feel this is a very needed admonition.
For some here in North America, if I may be so bold.
I feel there's a lot of gift out there that could be used.
And.
What is the problem?
I don't know for sure but.
The very next verse, Paul says God hath not given us the spirit of fear, and we can be afraid to use what the Lord has given us. Now of course there can be problems in both directions. There can be those who have a gift in one point and who try to exercise themselves outside of their gift, and that's not right either.
But the Lord has given each one a gift.
It may not be an outstanding gift, could be not may not be a public gift, but God has given each one of us a work to do and given us the ability to do it, and He would have us to exercise it.
00:10:07
And here we see.
Here we see that the gift does not always reside in those that have a bold outward personality that finds no difficulty.
In ministering to a crowd, or in getting up on a platform, or in putting oneself forward, your God had given a gift to Timothy, who by nature was a timid and somewhat retiring man.
And he would probably far rather have listened to other people.
As get out there himself.
And the Lord, through Paul, says Timothy, stir up that gift.
I have had more than one young person ask me how do I know what my gift is?
How do I know what my gift is?
I would suggest this.
Don't ask what your gift is. Do what is right in front of you. Do what the Lord has put in front of you. Is there something to be done that is right there, available in your own local area? Then do it. And if you honor the Lord faithfully, where you are.
You can depend upon it. If the Lord wants to use you more widely, He will see to it that that happens. But in gift, and we don't want to get sidetracked into a long discourse about it, but in the Scripture, and we won't go over the scriptures now, it would take too long. We get three things in connection with Gift.
We get the individual in his own or her own. Yes, sisters have gifts too. We get brothers and sisters.
Fitted naturally in their personality, constitution and in their bodies actually to receive the gift.
Then we get the giving of the gift.
And then we get the development of it through the use of it.
God recognizes all three and so if you have something that if you would like to do something for the Lord.
Don't ask what's my gift? What should I be doing? Should I be preaching the gospel? Should I be going out and visiting people or what should I be doing?
Do what is right in front of you, because there comes a time later on in this epistle.
When Paul has to say to Timothy.
It's in the 4th chapter, he says.
In verse five, do the work of an evangelist. Was Timothy naturally an evangelist? I don't think so. I don't think so. God doesn't usually equip evangelists with a timid personality.
Least most of the good ones I've seen are not equipped that way.
There comes a time occasionally when we have to do something that isn't naturally our gift, but at the same time, we each have something that we can do for the Lord. God has given us what we need to do or what we need in order to do it. And there's sometimes a need, as with Timothy, to stir that gift up. Rather than have so many things in my life.
Taken up with the cares of this life and other matters.
That my gift.
Lies. What is? What happens to it? It's either wrapped up in a napkin or maybe it's.
Put aside like the man who buried his talent in the earth. We need to be reminded of that, I believe, here in North America.
I'd like to go back for a test very quick moment to the fifth verse where we have.
Mentioned made of Timothy's mother and grandmother and I think of a verse in Proverbs chapter 14, the first verse it says every wise woman buildeth her house and so this is an encouragement for the sisters here and.
00:15:05
If we go back, especially to Second Chronicles, the latter chapters, when it mentions a king, it will often mention who his mother's name was, and that influence was either for good or for bad. If we looked at those chapters, the 29th chapter, the 22nd chapter, and some other chapters, and see, we could see that there was a decided difference in cases.
So what a happy situation we had here where Louis and Eunice were able to exhibit that unfeigned faith which was later found in Timothy.
At the risk of lingering a little longer, Brother Christensen on verse five, I would like to reference a few other things. If you read that Proverbs 14-1 in the Darby translation, it says the wisdom of women built of houses. It's true, it's a wise woman, but I believe it's put that way in a particular way is because there is a certain character of wisdom that women have. And in Proverbs it says I was my father's son.
Tender and only beloved in the sight of my mother. There is a distinction, and Paul takes the place of the spiritual father to Timothy in this chapter. But let's not lose the influence, the impact of Lois and Eunice.
When we come to the 4th chapter we read of not only Timothy but another young man that was influenced by Paul. His name was Mark. John Mark. If we turn back to Acts chapter 12 we find that there was a prayer meeting in the House of who? Mary, the mother of John Mark who was her husband.
Doesn't say was she a single mother? Was she a divorcee? Was she a widow? Scripture does not say, but it does say the prayer meeting was in the House of Mary and that's where the apostles went. What an influence that they had upon John. She had upon John Mark, for the Saints of God were in their home. And we know that John Mark failed in the pathway. But at the end of Paul's ministry, he's referencing the Timothy to take John Mark with him. He's profitable to the ministry. And so there was an influence of Mary, the mother of Mark. And so Timothy, again, it's not only his.
Mother, but his grandmother. What about his father? We don't know his name, but he knew he had when he was a Greek. As far as we know, we have no scriptural support to say that he was a believer. Now, here's a woman from another challenging situation. Maybe she was married and had a husband, but he was an unbeliever. What a challenge that that would be. What a what an excuse to to fall into the ways of the world having to go against the current of your husband. And so we find that the godly influence of a mother and a grandmother had tremendous impact.
In the life of Timothy, and so we speak of do the work of evangelists. What greater work of an evangelist is there for a mother and a grandmother to bring the gospel before their own children and grandchildren. So what a mighty sphere of services is and so we just want to emphasize the the importance and the influence many of us can thank back to not only a mother but grandmothers that impacted us and influence in very significant ways in the ways of the Lord.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. And so that ends.
On Feign, faith evidently came through the teaching of the Word of God.
Go to chapter four or three says From a child, Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, How old is a child?
Brother Bill, where does that start? I've heard this is the thought of an infant and it could go all the way into the womb.
Yes, I think that's important that sometimes we don't realize that even in their young years when we think they're not taking in anything, they are taking in a lot more than we realize it. How important to read the scriptures to our children on a daily basis.
I think that must have been the case with Timothy. And faith grows.
But I have enjoyed this thought, Brethren, the disciples said to the Lord Jesus, Lord, increase our faith.
I've wondered about that.
Brother Bill, what would you say if I say it, Brother Bill, increase my faith in you? Is that a positive statement or what?
00:20:05
Well, I guess my reaction would be faith is increased by using what little faith I have. If I had faith in someone and I never exercised that faith.
What good does it do me but if I have a little faith and I use it?
Is the Lord going to let me down? Of course not. Some of us are older, old enough to remember Brother Harry Hayhoe, who used to emphasize in strong tones.
God may test your faith, but he'll never disappoint your faith. Is that is that a fair answer? Yes. And I think instead of saying to the Lord, increase our faith. The more you know our person, the more you know that they are worthy of your confidence. And so it's just as if the Lord would say get to know me better, then your faith will automatically increase.
And so I think that's what we need to do, brethren, is reading the Scriptures is the secret to increasing our faith.
Going back to what you were saying, Brother Bill, on the question of gift, I think that is such an important thing. Like you say, I would like to go back to First Timothy chapter 4 where he speaks to Timothy in the context of First Timothy chapter 4 and verse 14. Neglect not the gift that is in thee.
Which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the Presbyterian or the Elderhood.
And so there he was told too, to not neglect the gift in second Timothy, stir up the gift of God that is in thee. There is a tendency, I'm sure, like you say, is that we.
Neglect those things. We need to stir them up.
And I say to the young people here, when you get home to the Lord's presence above.
Stand at the judgment seat of Christ and you say, what did you do with the gift that I gave you? Are you going to say, Lord, I can know I had a gift? Are you going to say that we need to be exercised, brother? And then like you say, Bill, I don't think we know necessarily. I remember Chuck Hendricks was asked that question.
By a young person.
How do I know the gift that the Lord has given me? He made a quote from John chapter 2 and what Mary said to the servants that were at the marriage feast. He said this whatsoever he says to you, do it not like that the Lord has laid something on your heart. Do it. You may say, I don't have a gift.
Do it. If he's laid it on your heart, then we need to be exercised, brethren. And I find that when you use your gift, like you say, gift develops.
So remember your father-in-law telling us younger brethren about the first time he got up to give the gospel, If you remember that too, I surely do. Anyhow, the way I remember it, you can correct me if I don't give it right. But it was in Toronto and I guess there was a lot of.
Nice serious older brother in there, and he was pretty nervous when he got up to give the gospel.
In fact, he was so nervous his mouth went dry, so he took the glass of water to take a drink, and he had to hold it with two hands to be able to get it to his mouth.
But those of us who knew Brother Albert Hayhoe know that the Lord gave him a real gift in presenting the gospel. I think that shows that gift is something that is developed. So Lord has put something on your heart.
Develop it, use it, do what you can and don't be afraid of making mistakes sometimes. I've made lots of mistakes and thanks to my older brother and they corrected me. Learn to take it and profit from it, but use your gift. It's for use in this present day and I've been amazed at some younger brethren how the Lord has used them.
00:25:31
When there's exercise that's important, you grow by exercise.
Brother, you gave me a gift and I opened the package up. I didn't know what it was. I would just ask you, what is this? Why wouldn't you tell me?
Why is there any more complicated than that?
Why can't I just go to my Savior and say this book tells me you've given me a gift, at least one. Would you show me what it is? Will he not answer that?
Why does it have to be more complicated than that? My father will answer.
You run into people, run into people all the time that say that I don't know my gifted or another one from Christians often that are from other backgrounds. They'll say I don't know my ministry is, I know what one is, Paul says. We've all been given the ministry of reconciliation, so there's one.
And what kind of gift goes along with that is another thing. But why can't I just go to my father and say, I don't understand this gift you've given me, it's here, will you tell me?
Very interesting to see the English word that's used here. It's stir up I believe in another translation that word is rekindled that gives the thought that there was something there that would be responsive. We sometimes.
Use a wood stove in our home to get additional heat in the winter time and sometimes.
That fire goes down, it's almost out, but then you look.
At the stove and you still see some blowing embers. Well, you take the poker and you move those around.
You add another piece of wood and you have that fire rekindled. So I think that that's somewhat the thought of this passage here in Timothy.
It's interesting that here in Second Timothy, it's by the footing on of my hands.
Whereas in first Timothy chapter 4, where you have the House of God in its order, it's by the laying on of the hands of the presbytery for the elderhood. And I think it shows that one, there is a desire to use our gift and whatever measures that may be that we seek the fellowship of our local brethren. And I think that's that's proper.
In its place, so the Lord help us rather than in Second Timothy.
Evidently he doesn't speak of the elder Hood is by the putting on of my hands so those who are older can encourage those that are younger. I just take it that the pudding on of the hands is just a way of showing fellowship that we understand.
Yes, although I I would suggest that in those early days of the Church.
Paul, as an apostle and as he could call himself a wise master builder, could recognize in this young man Timothy potential and that God could have used him as the instrument by which Timothy was made aware that God was.
Giving him that gift is that. Is that possible?
But yes, in the normal way the elder hood would express fellowship and I think that comment is very good that it's always good to work with and with the.
Fellowship of our brethren, especially our older brethren.
Brother Bob, when I was a young man, almost every time you saw me and greeted me, you said stir up the gifts. That's in you, brother.
00:30:09
You must have said it 100 times. I don't remember that.
Thank you.
Thank the Lord.
Well, this next verse, the seventh verse is.
Of real importance.
God hath not given us the spirit of fear.
And that fear can take many forms. Fear of ourselves, fear of failure, fear of the condition of things in the professing church, fear of the world around.
And shall I say it?
Fear of failure and perhaps being corrected by my brethren, as Bob has said.
God hasn't given us that spirit of fear, but of what power?
The word here for power is the same root word that is used in.
Our English word dynamite.
Dynamite. Wow. In a day of ruin we can talk about power. In terms of something as strong as dynamite, Yes we can.
As we've emphasized, the Lord is the same and in the pathway of faithfulness to Him.
All his power is behind us.
You never need to have that spirit of fear.
Burden. Yes, and as we will find out later in this epistle, it is a mistake to pretend to have power as it was in the days of the early Church when everything was in order.
To go out there pretending to have the power of Pentecost is a mistake. To pretend that souls are going to come to Christ and that there's going to be that oneness of believers that we had or that we rather read about in the early church. God is not going to turn back the clock.
We must recognize very clearly that we are living in the days.
Of the ruin of the testimony. And to try and pretend that that is not so is a mistake. But once we have taken that position, there is no limit to what God can do in faithfulness.
And then it goes on to say end of love.
The word there is the word used in Greek for divine love.
Love how very, very important, and that's already been emphasized today. And finally, of a sound mind, you have a right mind.
There can be different thoughts as to this, but to me it implies a mind that is under the control of the Spirit of God. I believe that JND uses the term.
Wise discretion.
What does that mean? It means knowing when to say something. It means knowing what to say.
And the right time to say it.
Wise discretion. Do we need that in these days? Yes, indeed we do.
But God wants to give all this to us.
In a day of room.
And it's available for us. Paul has to encourage Timothy along that line. He encourages you and me today, every one of us, in the same way.
I was thinking in connection with Timothy, who by nature appeared to be timid. I was thinking of the admonition that's given in Acts chapter 4.
It says verse 29. And now Lord, behold their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants, that they with all boldness speak thy word. So it's very important, isn't it? Some years ago there was a brother that attended a few meetings in Woodbridge. He was originally from Romania.
00:35:10
And he spoke about the very difficult times.
Living in Romania under the dictator there with a very harsh regime.
And very often he would smuggle Bibles from his house.
And the authorities came in and caught him on one occasion and brought him before the court.
And when he got there, the judge said to him, is it true that we found the Bible in your house?
You said no, it's not true. I had many Bibles in my house.
And the Lord gave him boldness under those circumstances. Naturally he was a very timid brother, but on that occasion the Lord gave him boldness.
That probably he was detained for a short period of time but then released. So we're thankful for that bold testimony that he gave.
Bill, assuming the sound mind.
Is just that a sound mind? We know our brains. Our physical brains are not the same as our mind. Our minds are above that.
It survives our death. Is that right, Our minds?
What courage?
Could someone who's beginning to fail.
Baby with dementia or something?
What encouragement could they take from this verse?
That God has said something and the mind that's above the brain.
To thy faith.
Take encouragement from that as they see a deterioration.
I can only tell a short story, but it could be repeated a number of times. I remember well a few years ago having lunch with a dear brother and his wife who had fairly advanced Alzheimer's disease.
And if I talked about anything natural?
To use a common expression, he was all over the map.
But as long as I stuck to spiritual things in the Word of God, you'd never have known there was anything wrong.
And maybe others have had experiences like that. I've had it several times and I don't believe this term sound mind means a mind that's in full control of itself in every aspect of life. I believe it means a mind that is under the control of the Spirit of God. And how often we find that as we get in 2nd Corinthians 4.
Though our outward man perisheth, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. And how often have some of those who we say it very kindly, those who have been what this world would call mentally challenged, and who have not been born with what would naturally be termed a sound mind, and yet God has used their minds.
Under his control to say words that have been such an encouragement and such a help and just the right word at the right time.
I remember well reading a story, and this happened many years ago because the Telegraph was invention invented way back in the 19th century and this young man was fairly if we would.
Say it kindly, simple minded, couldn't really do book learning, couldn't really grasp many things, but he knew the Lord and he knew the word of God.
And someone came to him and told him about the Telegraph. This was long before the days of the telephone and how that they could send messages from A to B and get there in very short time.
He had a beautiful answer.
He said, oh, he said, I know something even better than that. And he started a quote from Isaiah. Just imagine, he said, I know someone and he says before they even call, I will answer, he said, if they got that yet.
00:40:19
Amazing. And there from a boy that probably, I don't know whether he even knew how to read.
But he knew the Word of God, and he had the right word for the right time.
I believe the Lord can give that, wouldn't you think, brother? There's.
Concurred with their.
Thank you for that.
Again, I say let's not pretend to be what we're not. A dear brother back in the 19th century wrote something like this, and some will recognize the source of what I'm going to say, he said. Wherever there is an attempt to set up and display the position in the unity, there will be nothing but a mess and a failure.
Really.
Yes, he said. God will not take that place with us. In order to be in the place of his strength, we must be in the place of his mind, and that is in the recognition of the ruin of the church. But once we take that place, there can be no limit to the blessing that the Spirit of God can give.
He was referring to the fact that some felt because of the recovery of the truth, Oh, we're back in the days of Pentecost. God is going to reunite all, christen them together. Everything is going to be happy again. We've got the truth that Paul committed so faithfully to Timothy. God has restored it to us.
We can enjoy it, we can, but no. Is there going to be a reuniting of Christendom?
Not in God's way. It will come in Satan's way during the Tribulation, but not in God's way. But if we want to walk in the pathway of faith, there can be no limit. The blessing that God can give, and we need not have the spirit of fear.
50 years ago that all those young people were getting saved in Cedar Rapids, word came from people who heard about it and said that can't be a work of the Spirit of God because this is a day of ruin.
It's a day of small things. Remember how discouraging that was to hear that not just to me, but others?
And I remember the Lord speaking to my heart and saying, let me decide how small small is.
Brother Bill, what you just said is there's an open door set before us and I remember the Lord pointing that out and all we have to do is walk through it and let him decide how small small is.
But it is so important, isn't it? In our day, we've gone through that pandemic.
And.
See so much fear on every side.
Rather than we need to be careful, we need to take precautions, but don't let fear dominate our lives. That is not the Spirit that God has given us. I must say I enjoyed 2 verses in Psalm 56 that were mentioned in connection with fear.
The first one is in verse 3.
Sound 53 six and verse three. What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. So what is the remedy when we do feel fear?
Trust in God. But now notice in verse 11.
In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid. He puts God first, and there's no place for fear there. In fact, somebody has said that this is the first and second class.
Trained to heaven.
First classes in God I have put my dress, I will not be afraid. Second class, you'll get there too. What time I'm afraid so there's there's fear there. I will trust in thee. So the Lord help his brother not to give place to fear in our life. Yes, we need to be careful and walk discreetly, but don't let fear dominate.
00:45:30
We need to learn to trust the Lord is over all circumstances and He has proved himself again and again as a God that can be trusted.
If I walk up behind you in the dark, Bob and I go boom. You'll jump, you'll be afraid for a second. Things like that happen in our lives, all kinds of things. Everyone in this room has experienced fear, but what you do next is what you just said. What do you do next after you jump? Something startles you, life comes at you, and suddenly there's fear on. Reeves gave me some advice once, and he says there's a verse in the Bible that says be not afraid of sudden fear.
What a strange idea that verse suggests.
And he said, I experienced that in the Dominican Republic. I was walking along one day and all of a sudden I was filled full of fear for no apparent reason. And I took it that that was an attack of the enemy. And I thought of this verse not to be afraid of sudden fear. And then he trusted and it was gone.
Remember some years ago Brother Ernie Wakefield from Montreal was preaching the gospel and he mentioned that one of the first places fear was mentioned was in the early chapters of Genesis and.
He took up several of the sayings there. I was one of them. I was afraid. And there were four things that began with the letter I and he said that they were erased by the cross of Christ. And in connection with fear he turned us to 1St John 418, I believe, which says perfect love casteth out fear. So there was an antidote for each one of those.
Fears and difficulties that surface there in the book of Genesis.
We might mention one thing in connection with this seventh verse, not to be labored too much. You know, Brother Bob, you thought of getting into the second chapter and we'll do our best to get there, but.
One thing we need to remember is that.
Having confidence in the Lord and not being afraid is not at all compatible with pride.
We cannot talk about pride, we never could, but far less so in a day of room. And if the Lord says, as he says here, God hath not given us the spirit of fear, that's true, but it also needs to be mixed.
With a very healthy humility.
In that we are part of the ruin of the church.
Sometimes there gets to be the tendency.
And I must confess that when I was younger, I was guilty of it too.
That if in the great house that's mentioned in the 4th or in the second chapter, rather a great House of Christendom, there is moral evil and doctrinal evil.
Thank God there's one corner of the great house where things are done right, and although we wouldn't say it out loud, by implication it was well. And that's where I think we are.
No, no 1000 times no. I had to learn that the failure will be most evident where the truth is sought to be maintained.
Now that sounds like a paradox, but it's true. The more you and I seek to maintain and walk in the truth of God, the more the failure will be evident because there will be such a contrast between what is reality and what is not.
00:50:10
And that humbles us. It ought to humble us, and we ought to be humbled into the dust.
But as we've said earlier, and we emphasize it again, that does not mean discouragement, It does not mean being afraid. It means going forward with what God has given us. But I like the way you brought that out, Bob, from Psalm 56.
Put God between US and the fear and things will come in their right perspective, won't they?
Like to just say a word to well I think.
It's important to say that the ruin is of the testimony to the church. And when we look at God's eternal purpose of blessing for the church, you can't say that they're ruined there. It's in the testimony that we are responsible for. That's where the ruin is.
And like you say, when we profess to have everything doing right.
Be careful, because you're going to be right on the edge of some pretty serious things. Let's not do that, brother. Let's go on individually with the Lord and with our brethren. But God professed to be where everything is done right. We should seek that which is right, Definitely.
And enjoy the truth of God as much as we can. But to profess that we are the ones that have it right is is going to be ruining itself. And so the Lord help us.
The testimony is in ruins. If you go out into the city of Burbank, how many places say they're the church?
There's any number of places, but I thought the church was one. The body of Christ is one. Yes, it is. It continues to be one even today. But the testimony to that truth is in ruins. And so you see what has resulted. The Lord help us, brethren, to distinguish that. I I trust that that's clear. Maybe you can clarify it more. If that's no, that's very clear, Brother Bob and I say a hearty Amen to that.
The Church is the bride of Christ and.
She will be presented, how does it say, a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing? But it's the outward testimony that is in Ruth. Amen.
I was struck forcibly some years ago by hearing a statement made by Mahatma Gandhi, known to some as one of the fathers of Indian independence and for many years the British.
Or occupiers of India.
And there was a nominal Christian profession.
There, but the statement that he made was that wasn't for Christians. I would be a Christian. So Doctor Lee, he was acquainted with what Christianity taught, but he could not see that connected with the way the professors walked so.
What a lesson that should be to us today.
When my mother was young.
And I was young.
She was very vigorous, very competent, very busy.
In a little boy's brain, I didn't really evolve. It's the only mother I had. I just, that was my impression of her.
Fast forward.
80 years or so into her, when she's in her late 80s and early 90s. I go to visit her and to walk from here to that door probably take 45 minutes.
And she was shrunken down, and she was reduced. And I used to think of that verse, Despise not thy mother when she is old.
And so we have in verse 8. Be not therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord.
00:55:01
It's possible, I suppose, to be ashamed of the Lord in the sense of disappointed, as we had this morning, which leads to discouragement because our hopes are somewhere they don't belong.
We get called up short and we realize that we have had our hopes somewhere there, and we have to be brought down and realize our confidence is in the Lord. But to be ashamed of the testimony. It can be a response to seeing the weakness and outward testimony as you put it off, and not ought not to be that expression. The day of small things comes behind a phrase, if I remember right. Don't despise the day of small things.
And so we recently had the experience of visiting some very small.
Gatherings, literally two or three. It was so encouraging.
You go there and they're just.
They're just for the Lord, they're engaged with Him, they're digging into the Scriptures, they have various personal ministries and all the rest. It was so heartwarming. And so we ought not to despise the testimony our mother when she is old.
Near neighbor of mine brought me to a little farmhouse over 45 years ago, and it became that testimony. There became a mother to me, it nourished me, it protected me, all those things that Bill Brockmire was talking about. So yes, it's weaker. We ought not to despise it. It's precious to him and it's a great privilege.
To be in any way identified with it. Oh, I gotta drive an hour and a half and there's only four or five old people there. No, you get to drive an hour and a half only and there's four or five people there. It's as you say, it's, it's a perspective. And yes, your testimony is old in, in, in North America. Other places it's not. But let's not despise it. It's precious to him. We ought to be able to look back and see how precious it is been to us.
And value it as such.
It's been said that in First Timothy we have the testimony of the Lord, and in Second Timothy we have me as prisoner.
And it seems like the line of things we're bringing out is really ashamed of me as prisoner. Paul cast out. Paul not listened to.
May I suggest to brethren, the testimony of the Lord goes beyond the practicing of the truth that there is one body.
One body isn't even mentioned in First Timothy.
But there's many things that are brought in that I believe are encompassed in the testimony of the Lord.
Chapter 2 we have the furtherance of the gospel. There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified and detained time. It's part of the testimony of this, the gospel. You come into proper place of the man and the woman. You get the place of the care for. You have the care of oversight brought out in that chapter. You have a matter of diet. You have a matter of of exercise in chapter 4 you have the matter of.
Caring for the widows, we have some very intense things and yes, we even have the matter of relationship to government in terms of prayer and for on the chapter 2, chapter 6, we have the matter of stewardship and money and things of this sort. And so I don't, I appreciate very much the remarks that have been made. I, I do think we, we get a little bit off track when we limit the testimony of the Lord to the, to the gatherings that were in as small or large as they may be. I connect that more with Paul, me, his prisoner that was reproached. There was a day when the Christian testimony was mighty and powerful.
And impactful and now we see our great weakness and especially in our local assemblies. But let's not be afraid of be a let's not be ashamed of me as prisoner either. But I I would just like to add that in regard to the comments that have been made.
As you said, we get to drive there. I love that. It's a privilege to do that because he's there.
And if we forget that sometimes, and I know it's, I'm sure you've experienced in others talking to a young person who's discouraged because they go someplace where there's only a few, well, how about doing something about it?
There's power.
Not like what build he exhorted us. It's not, it's not Pentecost power, but there's power. Doesn't Philadelphia? Aren't they told there's an open door before them? Isn't the Spirit of God the same Spirit of God? Isn't he still gathering people? Isn't he still saving people? Well, by faith, can't you act and do something about it?
01:00:31
I don't believe that the Apostle Paul was just being sentimental.
Here in the early part of this chapter.
Though it you could think that.
In verse three he refers to his forefathers. In verse five he goes back a couple generations with Timothy.
As if he's rehearsing in his mind, looking backwards.
It very much reminds me of Deuteronomy, where I think it's around chapter 8 of Deuteronomy. They were considered the way that the Lord LED them.
And Paul here is we'll get as one would get if we cut all the way to the 4th chapter. I'm now ready to be offered the time of my departure is at hand. He's.
He's very reflective and he feels like almost like he's Moses and.
It but I I'm going to be going to.
But the reflection.
As he sums it up to Timothy, as Timothy is going to be more like the Joshua, Timothy is going to be serving the Lord.
Hopefully, as Paul would put it, with power and love and of a sound mind. And so he rehearses these things from the past as they did, they were told. Consider the way the Lord led you. He led you 40 years through the wilderness. You went through that ball earlier, but then it was now I'm going to bring you into a good land, a land of brooks, of water and wheat and all these wonderful things that's ahead of you. And so to me, it seems like Paul is in this, in this between things.
Not for him personally. He knew from the Lord apparently that it was personally the end of his spiritual life, but but not for not for the the Saints and not for Timothy. And he's encouraging him. You, you can see what the Lord did, but you got to go forward. And whether I'm here or not, you're going to need power and love and of a sound mind. And don't be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord and so on or of me as prisoner. And then he points forward.
In verse nine, Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works.
I don't believe this is a gospel theology that we're saved by faith and not by works, though that's true. We get that in other places, but it's not works of any kind spiritually that supported testimony here. As to responsibility, there has been failure. But what does he say but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began.
Paul, by the Spirit of God, had this remarkable buoyancy or resilience to be able to keep looking forward to that which was sure and solid. And so as, as we could say about this, this second epistle, Paul is optimistic. He's realistic about what's going on, but he's optimistic. And it's not discouragement to to to bring Timothy down, but to glue him up.
It's a good land like like like Caleb. It's out there and and and the Saints of God are loved by him and serve them. You're going to need.
Love, power and love of a sound mind.
God's eternal purpose cannot fail, can it?
Given us in Christ Jesus before the world began. Here we are in time.
As I'm going to say, it works. Maybe I'm stiff necked and hard headed, but who do you think's going to win in the end? God and His eternal purpose for me and my stiff necked and hard heartedness. God knows how to handle that and He will, but His eternal purpose is going to be fulfilled. That's so wonderful to keep in mind.
01:05:10
So it's just beautiful to connect verse 8, brother. And again, we mentioned it before with verse 12.
You're saying he says to Timothy, be not thou therefore ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor be his prisoner.
Verse 12 For the witch, 'cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless.
I am not ashamed. Oh brother, this is such a encouragement to us. I know.
From my belief and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed unto him against that day.
What confidence?
The apostle Paul speaks with a theory should encourage us.
What a contrast with John the Baptist who won, the Lord said.
Greater than all the prophets.
He got to a point in his service where he's in prison and he has to send messengers and say art thou he that should come or look we for another?
That was the essence of his testimony. And yet he got in his in his mind, in his heart, his spiritual mind. He got his heartened and confused. What a contrast here with the Apostle Paul. He's at the end too. He's in prison and he says, I know whom I have believed.
It's not intelligence that.
Brings a clear testimony, I think, of the testimony of the blind man that was healed.
His statement was one thing. I know that whereas I was blind, now I see.
He didn't have to testify about anything else. Maybe he didn't have any knowledge about anything else, but he could testify about what he knew.
Perhaps in closing, we could sing the last two verses of 200 and 34234, verses 4:00 and 5:00.
Made mighty expose most feeble are we yet trembling before our great leader they flee. Verses four and five of 234. My voice is in much good today, so maybe some other brother could raise the tomb, please.
Why did your soul.
Hurry.
Yeah, traveling before.
Greatly.
Are.
Never the bad wall. Is this lonely?
Yeah.
Regarding our Father, give thanks for another opportunity.
Have our hearts drawn toward these to the heart. Lord Jesus, we just would thank Thee for the glory that soon ahead. In the meantime, Lord, help us to.
The gifts that we do have to use them for thine honor and for the blessing of others too. We thank Thee for this time together, our God and Father, and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Followership
Address—Bruce Conrad
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I forgot how big this room was. I should have brought my long distance glasses for seeing your faces out there.
I got my my readers anyway, so that's the important thing I guess.
I'd like to start with singing.
Hymn #278.
I would I have it upon my heart to talk about following the Lord.
Being a follower.
And I thought 278 would be a good him.
To express some of that as we get started here. 278 if her brother would raise a suitable tune.
Our souls.
My strength and grace.
In me we can die, for we are one with you.
Lord Jesus, we rejoice to know, consider.
Thee is the one who has finished the race.
Finish thy course here below, to God's delight and satisfaction. And has been raised out from among all the rest of the dead.
And also been caused to ascend to the very right hand of the Majesty on high.
So, Lord Jesus, we rejoice and we are happy to look with the eye of faith that thou hast given us through the open heavens to see thee there already crowned with glory and honor, soon to come again into this world and take thy rightful place. We look forward to that great day. In the meantime, Lord Jesus, we look to Thee.
For Thy for nourishment in food from Thyself, we commit the little time we have this afternoon to Thee. Guide us in that which we take up from Thy precious Word. And our God and Father, we pray for each of us, young and old.
00:05:01
Thy word would be effectual in us to stir up our hearts affections and guide us. Lord Jesus, in the little time that remains for us, we might be here for Thy glory. We ask these things, precious Savior, in Thy worthy name, Amen.
Well, I've had in my work life for a number of years later in my career.
Responsibility to teach younger up and coming managers.
Worked in the construction business.
The company was large enough to have its own university. Small.
Building kind of like this with all different places in it you could have instruction.
And what they asked me to do, and I used to go up there to Nebraska twice a year and teach a course on leadership.
And as the years went on and basically what I did, it was not hard, I.
Basically, I just went through all the mistakes I made in my career.
So that the content was pretty easy. I have to say it was a four hour presentation and it I didn't lose sleep about it. And and I mean, I was engaged in it, but because I love those guys, but it wasn't a hard thing to do. But as the years went on, I started to feel like, you know, those guys, they don't need leadership training, they need followership training because a lot of their.
Comments that they would make.
You know, it's just in a natural way in between the sessions and and at launch would be about really issues of of their own following and their own learning. And not everybody is called to be a leader. When I was in school, everybody seems to be talking about leadership and.
I never thought much of it until it fell upon me many, many decades later. That must be why they want to talk about it so much. But not all of us are leaders are going to be leaders. But by the grace of God, we're all followers. And I would love to have switched it up towards the end there and just had a a session on following. You'll notice before we get started here, you'll notice in a very interesting passage, I find it interesting in Matthew.
I think it's chapter 8.
With the centurion who had the servant.
Who was deathly ill?
I.
Is Matthew.
Verse five. And when Jesus was entered into Capernaum, there came unto him the centurion, beseeching him, and saying, Lord, my servant, life at home, sick of the palsy, grievously tormented.
And Jesus saith unto him, I will come and heal him.
The centurion answered and said, Lord, I am not worthy that thou shouldst come under my roof, but speak the word only, and my servant shall be healed, for I am. This is the verse I was thinking of, For I am a man under authority, having soldiers under me. And I say to this man, go, and he goeth into another, come, and he cometh, and to my servant do this, and he doeth it. When Jesus heard it, he marveled, and said to them, that followed, Verily I say unto you.
I have not found no so great faith, no, not in Israel. But it's interesting that the that the centurion says I am a man over and were in authority, no, but under authority and as it's been expressed to me before and I and I really think it's true that the properly express or to carry out authority, one has to be under authority.
And when you stop and think about that, I think it it, it shows that.
That and if you think about it in the life in your work group or in your.
Assembly or in your family or in your marriage if you are walking.
Under authority and submitting yourself to the will of the Lord for you in the position you are in in life.
When it comes upon you to direct another or to direct others, there will be an authority to have those things happen properly. So anyway, that's all I want to say about leadership there. I want to get on to followership and to do so, I would like to turn first of all, to John's Gospel chapter one.
00:10:14
And so I've pondered this subject and I trust it. The Lord has put it on my heart to take up.
I have come to see lately that there are two aspects of following the Lord.
The first aspect, which we read about mostly in the Gospels and there, as we all know, even the youngest, the Lord Jesus, was here physically. Here He came into this world and he took manhood to himself and he walked through this world as a man. And so when he spoke to others about following him, it was a literal following.
I just sometimes we get so out there with with pictures and types and all of those things that we forget.
To start where things start. And so he was physically here and yet as he spoke, as we'll see, we'll just touch a few points in John's gospel and then I'd like to go to Paul. But as we'll see, he spoke things literally about following him that you and I now some 2000 years later, we they have another meeting for us. And surely the Lord intended that and they take on a meeting in our spiritual lives having to do with following the Lord.
And so in John chapter one, just read a few verses. It's hard to even start without.
Referring to these first couple verses of John's gospel verse one in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God, and all things were made by him and without Him was not anything made that was made in Him was life.
And the life was the light of men.
The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
It just staggers your mind, doesn't it, when you think about it.
That the God who existed throughout all eternity.
You can go back if scientists want to tell us.
That there was created matter nine or ten, 12 billion years ago, I have no idea.
Fine, this verse tells me before that in the beginning, whenever that was.
There was God, and there was one who is called here the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
And so you have one who had, who had a personality, if I could say that. Not a human nature, but a person, a divine person is here.
And he is with God, and he is God.
And as we go through, and one of the things we see, some of the things we see in John's Gospel.
Or that the Lord is walking.
He's walking, he walks into our page in a certain sense, in John chapter one. He's meeting with individuals characteristically and not so much in groups in John's Gospel.
And he's displaying that life, he's displaying love, he's displaying light. All of those starts in John chapter one.
But it's when we start to think about following the Lord.
It's helpful to realize that God has been pleased to come out from that eternal.
Place, if I even know what words to use, where he was the Father and the Son.
And the Holy Spirit of God to come out from that place into this world that he made.
To just rule over it? No, he will do that. The Son will rule all. All judgment and all power is given to the Son of Man.
But even beyond that, he has come out from himself to fit.
Some many of the children of men to be able to be brought into relationship with himself.
That's just a staggering thing. He's got spirits. The universe is probably filled with angelic beings that are great in power, far greater than us. He could make as many as he ever wanted to make. He made the stars also, as we know, he makes all the planets go around and his men are smarter and smarter and looking into the interior of things, into a cell and into an atom.
00:15:19
It is just more and more astonishing and profound. It's an exciting, I think an exciting time, notwithstanding some of the subjects we covered in our reading. It's an exciting time to be here in this world as one who knows God as Father and who is in fellowship with His Son. What a tremendous time it is here to be, but to just think.
That one who had power to do anything.
And everything that he wanted.
Should make this globe as little as it is because it's a small, it's a small. This is a small world we live on.
But what took place on it? Mr. Darby said. What took place on it is not small at all, because God chose that it was here in this earth, and not with angels, but with the children of men. His delights were with the children of men before the worlds were framed.
Just we're not ever going to get over that.
I don't think ever get over that, the knowledge of that. And he chose to come into this world.
So that he could accomplish everything that was necessary to give you and I the capacity, which includes the desire and the love of himself and everything that concerns himself. All of the word of God can be tucked under that can be tucked right under that. And so we have these profound verses which.
Were I don't feel we're we're the sake of time. We're not going to go into those.
But in the same chapter as we go down in John chapter one.
In verse 35.
We have the next day after John stood and two of his disciples.
And looking upon Jesus as he walked.
He saith, Behold.
The Lamb of God and the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Then Jesus turned and saw them following, Saith unto them, What seek ye? They saith unto him, Rabbi, Which is to say, being interpreted Master.
Where dwellest thou, He saith unto them, Come and see, and came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour.
If they had said, where are you from? They didn't ask that question because they probably assumed he was from Nazareth and they knew where that was. But if they had really said, where are you from? What? What majesty the Lord could have rolled out, and he did later on in this gospel. I am from above, yeah, from beneath. He had to say, here's one who came from and never left, in a certain sense, eternity. But they said.
Dwellest thou so in the space of about 30 verses, we've gone from one in this majestic language in John's Gospel that that was.
Their dwelling in his full conscious glory before anything else was made and Fast forward and now he has come into this world and he's walking little water that John could say, behold the Lamb of God. That was a revelation. He was given to know that.
Revelation from God. Behold the Lamb of God.
And they said they followed him.
They heard John speak. It wasn't preaching from John, it was maybe just an just adoration, and they followed him. So we go from this eternity to here they are in the Lord's house or home spending the day with him. And I think that illustrates in a certain sense the point.
God coming from that uncreated glory down, sitting a man who is God.
Sitting in a hole and speaking with these young men, I assumed they were young men.
Well, to skip on further, in John chapter 2 we have some pictures there of of.
Of coming glory.
In the wedding feast at Cana and in the matter of setting things right, judgment. And then we go to chapter 3. We don't know the condition of the men in John, chapter one of Andrew, and maybe the other one was Peter. Peter. Maybe he was there initially or he came later. We don't know what they were all about, but we have a man named Nicodemus who comes.
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And he has to learn some lessons and he has to kind of be put a little bit back on his heels a little bit because he wants to just take up with the Lord as if they are somehow collegial as men that are interested in religion.
Lord says.
You've got to be born again. You can't even see the Kingdom of God, let alone enter it. And so there's that discussion, profound discussion in John chapter 3 in the early part as to the necessity for a work of God.
And if you're going to follow the Lord, you're going to have, there's going to have to be a work in your soul too. And I trust it has taken place. I trust that that work where God sovereignly said in your heart, let there be light. And there was light. Nicodemus went out. There was a little more work to do with him, I suppose. And then the chapter moves on to the wonderful reality, the sobering reality.
That it's not just new life.
That fits you and I to be in fellowship with God, with a holy God.
But the Son of Man must be lifted up. There must be a work on Calvary's cross because God requires that which is past. When we get both of those in John chapter three, He has to do a work in you, and He had to do a work himself on Calvary's cross to shed His blood that there might be a propitiation for sin because God is holy.
And that was accomplished. The Lord Jesus through John's gospel is hitting.
Through all of these six situations, he's walking. He's walking not just to the cross, as it's often been said, but back to his father. He's has his view, his his compass is set on doing his father's will and going to his father. But along the way, we have him walking and encountering individuals. In John chapter four, we linger a minute or two.
We can't hit all of these on the way through.
But in John chapter 4.
In verse.
Three, he left Judea and departed again into Galilee. He's walking north, as we take it. He was walking.
And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Psychar, next to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus, therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well.
And it was about the 6th hour.
Now I take it that this was 6:00 AM and I.
If I'm wrong in that some somebody can correct me later because I take it in John that that's the way the time works.
And I checked one time to walk from Judea or from Jerusalem to to to Sheikh really is what this is.
In the Bible times it would be Neapolis because the Romans renamed it at least that vicinity. It would be a walk of 222324 hours.
So the Lord Jesus arrived that well, Sychar, and sat there by the well.
Having walked a long time.
Probably 6065 miles. It's a long way to walk, but he had an appointment. He had an appointment with this Samaritan lady, and the disciples go away and he's there alone, as they say in John's gospel. As you've noticed, he's alone with Nicodemus. In a certain sense, he was alone with Nathaniel.
And in a certain sense, and as we go through the gospel, we see he's alone with different ones.
And so it's a little bit easier, I think, with her than it was with Nicodemus. Nicodemus made it complicated.
And the Lord knows how to deal with all of that. But with this lady, she wants to talk religion too. She wants to compare the Samaritan mongrel religion, as I call it, half Judaism and half something else with what the Jews held as the true religion of Jehovah. And she's happy to have that conversation. But the Lord gets to that point where he says to her.
Go call thy husband and come hit her.
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And it's beautiful that she's frank enough to give an honest answer. And she says, I have no husband. And the Lord says, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands. And he whom thou now hastest not thy husband in this, in that saidst thou truly?
When the Lord doesn't work with us, it's been said it's a hook. It's the fishers hook with two prongs. He's going to he's going to catch your conscience with one and catch your heart with another. And this lady, he started with her conscience and surely that stung when he said in this thou said truly, yes, he exposed the the sordid.
Marital history, but also.
Their dishonesty.
And so the Lord begins to unfold to her that which she did not know.
And.
He gets to the point in verse 25 where the woman saith unto him, I know she says OK your rights and all of these things. But here's one thing I know. I know that Messiahs comes which is called Christ. When he is coming he will tell us all things.
And I just marvel at this simplicity and forthrightness of this answer. I that speak unto thee and he.
Nicodemus didn't get that.
I'm not sure. It seems like the young men in the first chapter of John kind of got it. We have found the Messiah.
Speaks right to her. Her conscience had already been opened. And now the reality of who she was and that he was willing to talk with her, that he was willing to engage with her, that hook was set to in her heart. And she runs and evangelizes the whole city and you know the rest of the story.
And so we turn now to John Chapter 8. I just want to skip through some of these.
In John chapter 8.
And verse 12 Then spake Jesus unto them.
Let me just paint the picture here in the early part of John 8, as you know.
The men take the woman that was taken in the act of adultery. Apparently the man. They let him go his way.
And they bring the woman only as far as we know.
No comment on that, but they bring the woman and they want to get the Lord into a difficulty to see if mercy can triumph over righteousness.
And you and I know how they've met together.
But of course he confounds them.
By being able to carry out both.
And so he finally says to her in verse 11.
In verse 10 Woman, where thine accusers hath no man condemned thee, she said, No man, Lord Jesus under head unto her, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more.
Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world.
He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
In contrast with the law. In contrast with me trying to.
Condemn you with the law or you trying to condemn me with the law. The Lord says, no, I am the light of the world. I am the light of the world. And it's in contrast, you know, theologians tell us that the early part of John 8 shouldn't even be in the Bible. You probably read that. I know I've been.
Confronted with that thought, I believe it is part of the Scriptures and it's therefore a reason. And the contrast with this passage that we've read, I think brings it into bright relief that as opposed to the law which God gave, and the law was wholly just and true and gave God's standards for man, that man should live this way as before God.
Came from God and it it and it was.
What it was as a standard for mine.
But now we are going beyond that. Here's one who says, I am the light of the world. And so, as he says here, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
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And so at this point, we're part way through John's Gospel.
Where we've encountered one who came from eternity, One who is God manifest in flesh.
The one who brings grace as well as truth.
The one who is more than perfectly divinely capable of dealing with this religious.
Master or rabbi, whatever Nicodemus was.
He deals with the with the Samaritan woman.
He transcends this issue of trying to condemn the law and he's walking through this world on the way to Calgary. How does this apply to you and me? As our conscience been awakened? Do we realize we're walking in light? Are we walking after a person? Because if we go to the next.
One of the next places in John chapter 10.
We see here that the Lord presents.
A figure to them of a door and a sheep feeds sheepfold.
A thief, a robber, and a true shepherd in John chapter 10. And he presents himself as the door to the sheepfold, and he presents himself as the shepherd that leads out through the door.
And so it says there just to summarize it in verse 3.
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, for they they know his voice.
Andrew and the other disciple follow Jesus after listening to John the Baptist's expression of adoration or awe.
And they heard that, and it was their ear that took them, and they heard wonderful things that day from 10:00 AM to whenever they left. I think it was 10:00 AM when they went to his house.
We know that the woman at the Well of Saikar, she heard things that changed her entire life and probably her entire eternity.
And so the year has such a prominent place. We take in things through our ear, and here we have again the shepherd's voice, and he leadeth them out. The shepherd walks in the same path as sheep walk in, or I should put it the other way around. The sheep are going to walk in the path that the shepherd walks in. And we have a man God has been pleased not to give us when I was. I see a lot of young people here.
When I was your age, I had no idea what the truth was, but I I thought it was out there.
I thought it was out there somewhere, and I didn't know whether it was a philosophy or a mathematical formula or I had no idea, but it bothered me. It's out there somewhere. There is such a thing as the truth that everything else is a subset of.
Then I came to realize all of a sudden in one the space of an hour or two.
Jesus saying I am the way, the truth and the life and that the truth is a person.
What an astonishing revelation it was for me to lay hold of that. How did I live in a Christian country? How did I go to Sunday school with my perfect attendance and my pins showing it all those years, and I never got it?
That Jesus was gone and that he was the way. The truth and the life never got that. But at that same day I had to learn something. I really didn't want to learn either. That was that I was a Sinner.
And yet I was still alive. How do you? How did that fit together? I realized I was worthy of death. And here I was sitting on a bus with my hands, my fingers, my feet, and all my faculties, still alive. When I was worthy of death, I was a Sinner. I never heard anybody talk about sin that I ever recalled in my whole life. And now I knew I was one.
And so the conscience is touched, the heart is touched, and we realize we've been brought into association with one who came from eternity so that that could be accomplished.
Oh, what a wonderful thing that he desired to come down to create all these mountains and all this world as a platform and a place where he might have a relationship with you and me. And that he would bring you and I into a place where we can appreciate and enjoy and love the things that he enjoys and loves.
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What a wonderful thing this is.
In John 12.
We have these Greeks coming. I always felt, I always felt for these Greeks, these gentiles.
They're on the right track. They come, they come to Philip.
Verse 21 Sir, we would see Jesus. Oh.
These guys, they're on the right track. I don't know why they said that or why they came. They must have heard something and they wanted to come and see him.
And they kind of work through the disciples and then Philip and Philip goes to Andrew and Andrew and Philip go to Jesus how the heart of the Lord Jesus would have wanted to.
Encapsulate them at that moment in His purpose to bring the Sinner to himself, to bring the Gentile as well as the Jew to himself.
But he realized, and he expresses it here.
The hour has come that the Son of Man should be glorified.
It wasn't the time yet for Grace to flow out in the way he wanted it to flow out.
Except the corn of wheat fall into the ground and die abideth alone, but if it dieth, bringeth forth much fruit, and so on.
And so.
The desire of these Greeks could not be realized at that time, for the Lord Jesus had a baptism to be baptized with, and a blessing was going to come out to the likes of you and me, and to these Greeks He had to go to calories cross first.
Let's go to John 13.
If we're talking about walking and following, we're talking about the feet as well as the ear and the heart.
And so the Lord Jesus goes to wash their feet.
And you know how? Peter being Peter.
He says to him.
You're going to wash my feet.
And the Lord says in verse eight, 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 in my head. And Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not to save to wash his feet, but is clean every witch and ye are clean, but not all.
And so on.
When we go to the end of John chapter 13.
The disciples are starting to pick up what the Lord had been telling them for some time, that He was going to go away.
And so in verse 36, Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him. Whither I go? Thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down my life for my sake?
When we Fast forward to John chapter 18.
When the Lord Jesus has been.
Confronted by armed men in the Garden of Gethsemane.
And he is submitting like a lamb before the shearers with a slaughter.
And in verse 15, Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple.
And you know the story that he ends up not really being able to follow Jesus.
And the Lord Jesus alone goes to Calvary's cross.
And Peter is broken hearted because he feels very deeply that he has failed the Lord and weeps bitterly.
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But he has to learn a lesson.
And the Lord is so devoted to the lesson that he wants Peter to learn.
That he doesn't spare Peter the pain or the embarrassment or the awkwardness of it. And it's the same in your life and mine.
He's invested in our he's the Potter and we the clay.
And he's invested in our lives.
And if you are a believer, you will learn in the scriptures that he chose you individually.
Before the foundation of the world.
And when the time came and you arrived on this world.
He called you.
And then he justified you.
And you belong to him now, and he has a destiny in view.
Because this isn't just a casual walk that he's going on. Yes, he walked through this world to Calvary's cross and back to be with his father. But along the way, he accomplished a work whereby you and I can join him.
The conscience needs to be reached, the heart needs to be engaged, the feet need to be cleaned day by day, and we need to learn the lesson that it cannot be done in our own strength. And Peter had a lot of strength and a lot of a lot of enthusiasm, a lot of natural energy.
But it wasn't going to avail to follow the Lord and the way the Lord wanted to be followed or in the way Peter wanted to follow him when we jumped to the 21St chapter of John.
We have the.
Awkward.
Interaction between the Lord Jesus now has risen from the dead.
A risen man, first one.
He's still the first risen man.
The first part of the first resurrection has now taken place.
Resurrection has started. The first group has been raised from among the dead. It's a group of one, the Lord Jesus himself. It's a risen man.
The disciples are a little bit.
Disconcerted. Obviously they're not sure what's going on or what happened. Perhaps they're discouraged. We spoke about discouragement a little today.
And so Peter says I go efficient.
And seven others or seven of them together. I think if you count there's seven of them, not all the whole 11.
Seven of them go.
And Peter must have gone back and he had no doubt been gone for the better part of three, 3 1/2 years.
So maybe he went back to to his his father.
And he said, can I, can I borrow the boat? Can I use the gear?
I thought you were following Jesus.
It's like, can I just use your boat?
So off they go back in the old life. We're going to go fishing. We know how to fish. I'm going to do something I know how to do.
And they fish all night, get nothing.
You know the story.
And so there's a man on the shore.
Children, have you any meat?
No, grumpy. It's tough to be around a Christian with a bad conscience, isn't it? A Christian in a bad state of soul is trouble.
You don't want to even do business with a Christian that's not walking with the Lord.
It's like worse than an unbeliever.
No, well, he says Castanet find the place 21.
I.
He said other than verse. Sorry, he said Castanet on the right side of the ship. You would think that would have been the hint right there.
Has the net on the right side of the ship.
And you shall find. And so they do it. It is puzzling to me.
Why would you take if you're an experienced fisherman, why would you take somebody's advice on the shore? You didn't even know who this was like a like a.
Construction business. We have retired men that used to stand alone and watch us work and they never told us what to do. They just want to see cranes and stuff going on.
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But they do it. And of course then net fills up and John, John says it's the Lord.
They were pretty slow. Here it's the Lord.
And so Peter beautifully, he throws his, throws his some of his clothes on, dives in and goes to the shore and so on. And they have this exchange.
And so the Lord shows the disciples and shows Peter, and has a conversation with Peter that shows him that.
He understood this was going to happen. He had prayed for him before it happened.
That it happened, that he still loved him, that he understood why it happened, that he wasn't all finished.
That he had a work for him to do.
That this sad experience that he had to go through was going to even fit him in.
Unlikely way to be the servant of the Lord. Who would shepherd and who would feed are two different things, His lambs and his sheep, and I don't want to go into that very much now.
And so he says that in front of the other. So it's all established.
And then they go walking and he's going to walk in a certain sense, right off the page here we're at the end of John's gospel. He walked on from heaven. He's walking along. We don't have the ascension in John. Why go back to heaven has come down and the person of the Son of God, and it's as if it's never going to leave. He's just walks off.
And John and Peter are walking with him.
And he says to Peter that, yes, you wanted to die for me. That was your affection. You're going to die for me. He showed him what death he would die. And Peter would now be enabled to accomplish what the Lord, what he wanted to accomplish. But now it was on a new ground, going to be on a new ground and a new basis. The doctrine of that is not brought out.
But the statement from the Lord is here.
And he has something else for John, if I will, that he tarried till I come. What is that to thee? Follow thou me.
We've just touched a few things on the Lord walking through this world.
And his desire to have some follow him.
Some time ago I looked up the word follow because I was curious. Is it the same word that Paul uses when the when Paul says problem and I was intrigued to see that it's not.
The word in the Gospels mostly, and in John's Gospel, I think every occasion we just read is a word that means something like accompany me. Isn't that interesting? Accompany me, follow me, come alongside, come walk with me.
When the big executives would come to my projects when I was younger and running projects and they'd come flying in and everybody's nervous.
And I'd say to them when they come into the office and say, well, well, what do you want to do? What do you want to see? You want to see the cost report? What do you want to see? I want to see the work.
OK, let's take a walk. I can't tell you how many walks I've taken with with these with executives and you're always a little bit intimidated. You know what they're how they're going to see things. But they weren't making the walk because they wanted to so much visit with me. They wanted to see their own investment. The Lord Jesus, he says accompany me, walk with me. You can look it up yourself. It has to do with being a fellow traveler.
Road or a highway accompany me. But now in just a few 5 minutes that we have left, let's turn over to Paul.
As to this issue of following because it's different.
We all know even the youngest here that can listen. We can't literally follow the Lord.
Because he's in heaven, and yes, he's here in spirit.
He says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake.
With you till the end of the age.
But he's not walking here the way he did in the gospel. So it's in a certain sense though he walked with them. Literally, it was a picture of walking with the Lord. And we take it that way, don't we? And we read about following him. We read about denying ourselves. We read about taking up our cross. We read about about the fact that it's not a volunteer army because there was a rich young man that came up and says, I'm going to follow you wherever you go.
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I'm going to follow you whithersoever you go. And the Lord said the foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. You're going to follow me in rejection. And if there's one thing other than the little points that I've inferred as we've gone through John's gospel, I want to leave you with this that you need to remember, and that is that you're following Christ. You're following a rejected Christ in this world.
When I was freshly saved and living by myself in Palmyra.
They call a high school actually a middle school friend. We went all through school together and and he went and got a prestigious degree.
In biology I think it was and he got done school and.
And Graduate School, too. And he came to visit me.
In my simple working life I had been saved a few years.
And I came home for one day and he would, you know, just be around my property and, and I came home one day and he was different. And I said, what's up?
He said, You will be interested to know that I accepted the Lord Jesus as my Savior today.
I I said yes, I am interested to know that.
I said what happened because this was a man that was all involved in biology and evolution and all this stuff.
And he said I was trying to get the Lord, I was trying to figure all that out.
And the Lord said to me, John, you're not going to figure that all out.
What you need is to put your trust in me. So he got down on his knees, He told me in my kitchen, and he accepted Christ as the Savior.
So I took him to visit some of the brethren that lived near me, an older couple that had taken me under their wing.
This was probably a 40 ish years ago 40 plus.
And the sister, she was 20 years older than us. Her husband was there too. And as we were going out the door, she said, well, John, she said, I'm very.
I'm very happy to see that you've come into the family of God.
She said I hope you follow the Lord. But she said never forget you're following a rejected Christ.
Fast forward.
30 years later, I don't know what it has been, 30-40.
Was some interval of 10. I go back to my high school reunion. I see John there.
He said whatever happened to Charlotte? I said, oh, she's with the Lord.
She's of the Lord.
He said. I always remember what she told me said What'd she tell you?
She said, John, never forget you following a rejected Christ. It made it quite an impression upon him.
Of course it made an impression upon me, and I hope it makes an impression upon you.
The conscience, the heart, clean feet.
Understanding that we need the power of Christ, as we are starting to read in our chapter, to be able to follow Him properly and not just with bravado and natural energy. To be able to follow the Lord, but His desire is that we would.
That we would come alongside him and he would.
Be accompanied by him to look up the work.
When we switch to John, to Paul's gospel, to Paul's what he calls my gospel, and to Paul's line of things, now we have a Christ in glory. We've got just three minutes. That's OK.
Now we've got Christ in glory. We're not walking down a road with Him. We're not going walking all night to make an appointment at a well.
We have Christ in glory.
And so the apostle uses this language if we go to 1St Corinthians, First Corinthians 11 as an example.
First Corinthians. Sorry, 1St Corinthians 10, the last verse.
Even as I please all men and all things, Paul writes to the Corinthians.
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Not seeking my own profit.
But the prophet of many, that they might be saved.
Be followers of me, even as I also am of Christ. We've got a different word now.
This is not the word of accompany, this is the word of imitate. He could say, if we could translate it that way. Be imitators of me even as I also am of Christ.
This is following for you and me in a present Christian sense.
The Lord Jesus is up on high. You and I are down here indwelled with the Holy Spirit of God, and we have this blessed book to guide us with spiritual intelligence as we take it in and we follow Him in the sense that we have His word and we have Him as an object. Now let's go to Philippians chapter 3, just very briefly.
Different aspect of following with Paul than with John.
In Philippians chapter 3.
Verse.
Verse 8. Doubtless 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, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
Verse 10. That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, The fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death.
Even if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead, not as though I had already attained either with what were already perfect, but I follow after.
And then verse 14, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. The word for I press and the word for I follow is the same word. And it's a word that means I pursue, I'm running after something.
And there is a sense now for this aspect of following that.
We're following someone who we have not laid hold of yet. We're following something we don't yet have. I have as he says here, Not that I have apprehended.
Either or already or already attained or were already perfect but I follow after I pursue.
Beautiful Verse 14 I pursued toward the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and then in verse 17 be followers together of me and the Word Hearers, be it be a Co imitator.
Imitate with me. Be a Co imitator with me.
And mark them which walk so as she have us for an example.
You say, well, did Paul forget to be, to be gracious? Because in Chapter 11 he said, even as I also am of Christ?
Was he kind of getting kind of big in his britches here and now he's just saying follow me? No, because there's an aspect of following and we don't have time to take it up.
But when there's an aspect of following where we run to be something that we are not fully yet.
And Christ never rang a race like that. In Him Everin always dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He was that holy thing born into this world, confirmed Son of God.
Just in case there's anyone wondering, that's what the testimony was at his birth is the Son of God.
He always was that One in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwelt broadly. He never ran, He never, he never pressed to be something other than he was because of what he was, was the fullness of divine everything.
So this other kind of running that you and I have as believers today seeking to be conformed to the image of his Son and to know something of the power of his resurrection is something that God raised up, you might say a prototype of a believer in the apostle Paul. Paul said, I want to be like Christ. I want to be more like Christ. That's all I want.
Everything else, forget it. The good things, forget them. What I've already attained, forget it. I'm pressing for the mark.
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I want him and I want him in a practical way as soon as I can have it. And so he pressed for that, he pursued. You can look up the word yourself. It's very beautiful. So we have these two aspects that the accompaniment, The Walking along with him.
Because we have his comfort in his love.
And compassion in our pathway. And then we have him as our object, out in front of us, bright and fair.
In closing, I want to read 2 verses which I think illustrate two different sides of things from the book of Joshua.
I was noticing this the other day and it really struck me.
If I can put my eye on it quickly.
Joshua 11.
Verse 23. The last verse in Joshua 11.
So Joshua took the whole land.
According to all that the Lord said unto Moses, Joshua gave it for an inheritance unto Israel, according to their divisions by their tribes.
And the land rested from war.
He took the whole land, He's got it all, and the land rested from war.
That's like the Ephesians, the first half of Ephesians, that's that side of things.
That's walking, that's being accompanied with someone who is a fullness of all divine personality or essence. But then you go just 30 verses later in the beginning of chapter 13.
Joshua 13 and verse one. Now Joshua is old and stricken in years. And the Lord said unto him.
Thou art old and stricken in years, and there remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.
That seems like a contradiction, doesn't it?
That's Philippians 3. There remaineth much land to be possessed. But I know this is intended to be a young people's meeting but those of us that are older.
The most damage we can do a lot of damage to younger Saints.
If we don't have Christ as an object, if we don't run after him, if we don't grow and we don't change.
When I was saved and brought to the assemblies, and I started to go to different assemblies and visits around, there were all kinds of Christians my age raised in those assemblies by their parents who were at the Lord's Table, and these young people were leaving and I'm coming in.
And what they have to say was basically, I hear all this high doctrine.
I don't see anybody change or grow. That old lady has been that way for X number of years and this guy is this way. And this is all very wonderful and good, but I don't see it happen. That's on us.
I'm sorry, Caleb, I know this is young people's me, but that's on us.
It's on us. It's important that we allow the Spirit of God to work practically in our lives.
There's a lot of land to be, much land to be possessed.
This is the Paul side, this is the Philippians three side. We need to be serious. Is that this little gathering in Carolina not too long ago? I was so encouraged.
The brother in the middle of the Reading meeting says we're all five of us were old, he said. We we can't coast.
Yeah, we, we can't coast. You know what? You know what I mean by that? You can't just relax and coast. Well, we have the truth and we're we're all set, We're all good. We're coasting. Let's not coast older ones, because the younger ones, you're our children and these young, they're looking us. Does this work?
Elijah comes back from from seeing Elijah caught up. That's Philippians 3 again. He takes the mantle that Elijah left behind. Is it going to work? He's going to smite the water. Is it going to work?
This works if we carry out, if our hearts are engaged with the Lord in the Philippians, three kind of way it will work.
Brother got upset with me and I'll finish it. This brother got upset with me.
We were on Zoom. We had known each other 40 years ago and the assemblies in the east.
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And he got upset with me for something and he emailed me. He said you've changed.
So we had a conversation. He says I haven't changed. I said, brother, I hope you're wrong, I haven't been around you that much. But I'll bet you you have changed. And I hope you have and I hope I have. And I know you meant it as an insult, but I'm actually flattered that we haven't been around each other very much and you think I've changed. I trust the Lord has put me through some experiences that have caused me to change.
So anyway.
Sorry to go a little over, I know you have a desire to everything be on time but.
We are where we are. Let's just commend ourselves to the Lord.
Our God, our Father, how we thank Thee.
Thou descend thy son to carve a path through this world.
We think of how Adam and Eve, there was number following, they were just there.
But sin has come into the world and death by sin, and we've been praying about its consequences this morning and.
Speaking about it and not hearing we have a need to get through this world and Lord Jesus we bless thee and thank thee that Thou hast shown us a path.
To follow, and that thou art the one to follow, we thank Thee. Thou hast made thyself the object of our hearts. How we need to have these, our object bright and fair. Help us, Lord Jesus, to have our eye upon Thee, that each one of us, young and old.
Would be found following hard after, as Psalmist would say, We ask thy blessing on that which was of thyself, from my precious word to the hearts of young and old, the speaker included, who bless thee, our God and Father, for all thy love, and the worthy name of the Lord Jesus.
Amen.
Taste and See That the Lord Is Good
Gospel—Phil Fournier
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I was going to read a couple of verses but it seems there's a lot of folks still wandering in. So how about if we sing a hymn first? The 1St 2 verses of hymn #7 in the hymn sheet. God loved the world of sinners lost and ruined by the fall.
Salvation fall at highest cost. He offers free to all. Oh twas love, Twas wondrous love, the love of God to me. It brought my Savior from above to die.
On Calvary somebody started please 1St 2 verses only of #7.
God loves the world.
And break with the land by the world.
Celebration.
For the fire resource.
He offers free to the world.
And what my savior from above?
To the heart of the dream.
And brought my Savior from the blood to God.
So let's read 2 verses before we pray.
The first one in Matthew chapter 22.
Just a part of.
Verse 42.
Matthew, 2242.
What think ye of Christ?
And now let's turn to Luke chapter one.
And we'll read.
31 to 33 of Luke chapter one.
And behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David, and he shall reign over the House of Jacob Forever, and of his Kingdom there shall be no end. Let's pray.
Blessed go on, our Father, we think of the solemn question that's before us tonight.
What thinking of Christ, Blessed Lord Jesus?
Many of our hearts respond. He is my Savior.
He is the one who went to the cross and there laid down his life, that I might be redeemed and brought to God. And yet we fear that perhaps there are some in the room here.
Who are not possessed to the faith that was described.
Of Timothy that was unfeigned, unpretended.
We fear that there may be some who are pretending blessed had gone. We pray that by Thy Spirit that will touch any heart like that tonight, that they might feel the need of their Savior, the Lord Jesus might come to Him.
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And have their sins washed away, be brought into that family of God.
We ask for help tonight, the power of thy Spirit to touch hearts that we might have ears to hear Thy word as it speaks to us. We ask this in Jesus precious name, Amen.
I want to read one more verse in Psalm 34 and then we will spend.
The balance of our time, I believe just in Luke's gospel.
But I'd like to read this verse from Psalm 34.
And then I want to read you 3 verses of a poem that has been very special to me over a period of years.
Psalm 34 and verse 8.
Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.
Now I want to look at Luke's gospel. Our brother Bruce went rapidly through John's gospel.
In the context of following the Lord Jesus.
But I want to look at Luke's gospel.
And I want you to taste and see that the Lord is good. I spent the last year.
Delighting in Luke's Gospel and I have our brother Bruce Anstey to thank at least for part of it. I want to read to you first before I read this poem, the title that he has on his his book on Luke's Gospel.
And the operation of heavenly grace among men in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, that's Luke's gospel. My brother Bruce very eloquently LED us through John's gospel that the divine person that came out of heaven, I want to look at him tonight as a man among men down here on this earth.
And I want you to ask your heart this question.
What does Christ mean to me?
And you know, if you say to yourself, well, I don't think anything about him, that is not one of the options.
We read there in Luke chapter one, God's pronouncement as to who that man was.
That verse was on the choice gleaning calendars a couple of days ago. It struck me with its impact of who this man was who came down to this world.
Do you know him?
Brother debut Mark De Beau spoke to the children last, largely in Hemet.
And he spoke about knowing and it made a particular impression on me because the day before I had a little meeting with the brother and down at place in Cuba called Chambas, and we were in the 13th of Acts. And there the apostle Paul said something like this. I can't quote it. I don't want to turn to it right now that our rulers.
They knew him not.
What we're going to read tonight in Luke's gospel, They should have known him. They had opportunity to know him. He made himself known so fully to them. But Paul tells us they knew him not, nor yet the voices of the prophets that are read every day on the on the every Sabbath day. Well, they knew the Scriptures, but they didn't know them.
And they knew the Lord, but they didn't know Him. And I hope you gather what I'm saying here.
Because I want you to taste and see that the Lord is good. I want you to know Him. And so I'm going to read you 2 verse, 3 verses out of this poem. It's got 44 stanzas. I think I counted them one time. It's titled the Man of Sorrows. It was written by Brother Darby.
Oh, ever a homeless stranger thus dearest friend to me, an outcast in a Manger, that thou mightest with us be.
Come now and view that Manger, the Lord of glory. See a houseless, homeless stranger in this poor world for thee.
Oh, strange, yet fit, beginning of all that life of woe. These last two lines are what I want you to think about tonight. In which thy grace was winning. Poor man is God to know.
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Do you know? Go on.
He has made himself known in the Lord Jesus. So let's turn to Luke's gospel and we'll read a few scriptures there. We'll have to do it very superficially. I'm aware that our brother Bruce had trouble keeping within his time limit.
And I probably will have the same problem if I'm not careful. Let's go to Luke chapter 5. So you'll forgive me if we read these things superficially. I hope that you will not.
Take them superficially.
Because they're not superficial.
But we have but 30 minutes to cover this entire gospel, and obviously we can't be very deep here.
Verse 27 of Luke chapter 5. And after these things he went forth, and saw a publican named Levi sitting at the receipt of custom. And he said On him, Follow me. And he left. All rose up and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house. And there was a great company of publicans and of others that sat down with them. But their scribes and Pharisees murmured against his disciples, saying, Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners?
And Jesus answering, said unto them, They that are whole need not a position, but they that are sick.
I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
This portion here lays out before us Luke's Gospel because we have two groups and you can follow this through the gospel, those that are worthy and those that are not worthy.
Praise God I was not worthy because that's the group.
That receives a blessing, those that do not deserve it and those who take the place of the righteous like these Pharisees and scribes here, they miss out on the blessing and Paul has to say about them, they didn't know Him.
That is a great sadness and a tragedy to be in that position, to have been so close and yet so far. They did not know this man who came down so that poor man might know his God. Oh, I hope you know him tonight in that way. Not superficially. A Brother Mark asked us if we knew Brother Ben Clawson's birthday. None of us did.
But if you ask the world if they know a Jesus birthday, they'll say December 25th.
But that's not what I want you to know tonight. I want you to know his person, this lovely man. So come with me and let's look at him here in this gospel. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. This man, Levi was in the business of making money. He was a public and he collected taxes for the Romans and he made a lot of money.
But he left it all behind to follow Jesus and what happened to him.
Well, I took some of that money and he made a great feast. I don't know that he had done that before. And he invited everyone to come in. And who came? Publicans and sinners, those who were not worthy. And there were those who pointed out, well, these folks are not worthy in the Lord Jesus said, that's right, Those are the ones I came to to call. Those are the ones I came to heal.
They that are whole need not a physician, but they that are sick, these ones are sick, and I came for them.
That's why I'm here. Let's go down to verse 37. And no man putteth new wine into old bottles, else the new wine will burst the bottles and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish. I read that verse purposely.
It's different in the other gospels.
Because there it seems to imply at least that the wine is is lost. But I submit to you, and I may have got this from Bruce, I couldn't find it, but I think it was in there.
In Luke's gospel, we have grace in the person of the Lord Jesus, the new wine, and it bursts the bottles, but it's not lost.
It pours out and it's available to all. The author of this gospel was a Gentile. Maybe it was one of the two from John 12. That would be a wild supposition on my part. But his name was Luke, and we find him included in the group of Gentiles and we see coming through in this gospel as he looks back because we believe he wrote it.
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At least afterwards, perhaps after the Book of Acts, which of which he's also the author.
But we see he had perfect understanding of all things and I just enjoyed going through this gospel to think of this Gentile.
He was unworthy. He fell in Ephesians chapter 2 without Christ, aliens from the Commonwealth of Israel's, strangers from the covenant promise.
Having no hope and without God in this world, all but he had been brought to know Jesus.
And he writes that gospel, his soul overflowing with joy about this lovely man, Son of man, dispensing grace that could not be restrained. You know, they tried to restrain him. They tried to tie him up with the law and with the commandments, but they couldn't do it. It would flow out and there would be blessing beyond that broken bottle of Judaism.
Let's go on now to my favorite chapter in Luke, Chapter 7.
And we're only going to read a little bit. Please read this whole chapter.
And if it doesn't fill you with joy, ask yourself, do I really know?
The Lord Jesus.
It is unparalleled in its expression of grace that flows out without limit to a needy world.
Let's read verse 4. Now. This is about the centurion that Bruce read to us about, and it's the same story, but it's a little bit different.
Let's read verse 3 and when he heard of Jesus. This is a Gentile. He's a Roman, a Roman official with 100 soldiers under him. We understand a military man.
And when he had heard of Jesus, he sent unto him the elders of the Jews, beseeching him that he would come and heal his servant. And when they came to Jesus, they besought him instantly, saying that He was worthy for whom he should do this. For He loveth our nation, and hath built us. A synagogue has stopped there a minute. He's worthy. That's what they said. But the Lord didn't come to call worthy people, but sinners to repentance. So let's see what this man.
Answers himself. This is a testimony of the Jews.
Who thought that those that are worthy should get the blessing? And they said, This man is worthy. Verse 6 Then Jesus went with them, and when he was now not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to him, saying unto him, Lord, trouble not thyself, for I am not worthy.
Was this man going to miss out on the blessing? He came just exactly as he had to come. I am not worthy. The elders of the Jews had a different opinion, but he knew that he had no place in the Commonwealth of Israel.
I am not worthy.
He didn't miss out on the blessing. And this is the two groups that we have throughout this gospel, those that are worthy and those that are not worthy.
Will you take your place tonight as those among those who are not worthy and receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior? Oh, He has blessing for you if you do. O taste and see that the Lord is good. What think ye of Christ?
There is no more important question than you can have tonight than that question. Let's go to the end of the chapter. I would love to read the center of the chapter before we find a woman who was manifestly.
Without anything to offer, a widow with a son who had died, an only son, and the Lord meets her need. Let's go to the end of the chapter though. Verse 36. And one of the Pharisees desired him, that he would eat with him. We see this over and over again in Luke's gospel. The Lord Jesus sitting down and eating in a Pharisees house more than once, and in the House of Levi and in others houses.
This is a lovely man that we have before us here.
He went under their Pharisee's house and sat down to meet verse 37. And behold a woman in the city, which was a Sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at meat in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster box of ointment, and stood at his feet behind him weeping, and began to wash his feet with tears, and did wipe them with the hairs of her head, and kissed his feet, and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee which had bitten him saw it, he spake within himself, saying, This man, if he were a prophet.
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Would have known who and what manner of woman this is, that toucheth them, for she is a Sinner. Jesus answering, said on him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Master Sayon, there was a certain creditor which had two debtors, the one owed 500 pence and the other fifty, and when they had nothing to pay.
He frankly forgave them both in the middle of chapter where I didn't read.
When they saw the Lord Jesus raised from the dead this widow's son, they said a great prophet.
Is risen up among us.
And perhaps Simon had heard about that, and so he invites Jesus to his house.
And he watches him, and he sees this woman come in, and she sits at his feet behind him. They didn't sit in chairs, so his feet were not under the table, but rather out behind him. They they leaned on their elbow at a low table.
And and ate that way in the custom of the day. And so she could come in there behind and wash his feet with her tears and wipe them with the hairs of her head.
And anoint his feet.
She was a 500 pence debtor.
She was a Sinner.
And what happened to her?
She had nothing to pay and she knew it.
And you don't have anything to pay either. And neither did I Nothing at all. Oh, but what does it say? He frankly forgave them both. And you know, it doesn't tell us here, but we learn if we read on in the Bible that there was something to pay. There was a price to be paid for your sins and mine. This lovely man.
This holy man, this sinless man.
Went to a cross and there was nailed and hung between heaven and earth.
To pay the price.
For your sins. For my sins.
For the sins of the world.
But it will be of no value to you unless you put your trust in him.
Unless you come in this way that this woman came with nothing to pay.
And she found in the Lord Jesus what we have in verse 48. And he said unto her, Thy sins are forgiven.
And when and they that sat at me with him began to say within themselves, Who is this that forgive us sins also? And he said to the woman, Thy faith hast save thee, Go in peace.
We see these two sad groups, the one who knew who he was.
A 500 pence debtor with nothing to pay the other. A man perhaps upstanding in his community.
He was a 50 pence debtor, but he didn't have anything to pay either. And that's the problem, you see, we were bankrupt. We cannot pay. We have to beg.
Who received the blessing? You know, I'd like to think, and I don't know if it's a supposition.
Stretching scripture too far.
But, you know, he said he frankly forgave them both. And so I would love to think that, Simon.
Would be found among those who believed in the Lord Jesus. I don't know that and perhaps I'm sure we won't know it till the glory but for now it's as I thought that I enjoy because he frankly forgave them both and that's would have to have been that he recognized that he wasn't among the righteous but that he was a Sinner and he repented of his sins and came to the Lord Jesus Let's go on now to.
Chapter 13.
And you know, something very sad here.
Because these ones that Paul said, they knew him not, they knew him enough that they came to him here with a very sad thing to say. And I'm going to take it well. I don't know that it's out of context, but verse 31 of Luke 13.
The same day there came to him certain of the Pharisees saying On him, Get thee, get thee out, and depart. Hence I don't know why, but it struck me much more strongly in Spanish Sal ivette Aqui.
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Go and get out of here. Now they had a pretext. They said Herod will kill thee. But essentially they were saying we do not want you here. And so we see from Luke 9 and on.
The man who was rejected, they said we do not want him. Let's go down and read verse 34.
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which kill us the prophets, and stone us them that are sent unto thee.
How often would I have gathered thy children together as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings? And ye would not. Have you ever seen this? I'm a city boy, raised in the city. But my dad bought us a chicken. I don't know why he bought a chicken, but he bought us a chicken. Any penny. And I love that chicken. I was a little boy.
There's a few photos that remain of me holding that chicken. I was perhaps five years old.
And then my dad bought, or maybe my mom bought some fertilized eggs and put them out there in that chicken, sat on those eggs and hatched some little chickens.
And I don't remember much. If you ask my wife, she'll confirm this from when I was little.
But I remember that chicken.
Strutting around the grass, pecking here and there and the little chicks following her close by. And then she would make a little clucking sound and she would lift up those wings. And it was a beautiful sight to see those little chicks and they all nestled there under her wings. Oh, you know, the Lord uses illustrations of these animals to draw pictures in our minds. And to me that is a lovely picture.
That's what the Lord Jesus wanted to do.
To those children of that nation, and what do they say?
Salivate de Daquis, go and get out of here. We don't want you here.
All the blessed Lord Jesus, are you going to say that to him?
Or maybe just say, well, no, I'm not going to say anything. No, that's not one of the options.
What thinking of Christ? You have to answer that question. You cannot ignore it, pretend that it doesn't exist. It is vital that you answer that question. Can you say, Oh yes, I know him as my savior? Bless God, I know Him, He's mine. He's my savior.
I hope you can say that. I hope you've tasted and seen that the Lord is good.
I hope that as we read these verses, they touch your heart.
And they enter into your soul and you are enjoying this blessed man that we're reading about here that would have gathered Israel's children like that mother hen, Penny. Penny gathered those little chicks under her wings was a lovely thing that I enjoyed as a boy. Let's go to Chapter 15. And you know, we could spend the whole evening in chapter 15, but we're not going to. I just want to make one point. And I, and I owe this to Bruce.
But I enjoyed it.
Luke 15 in verse one then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners.
For to hear him those who were not worthy. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners.
And eateth with them all. They spoke the truth. They meant it as an insult. Ah, but it was true. And you know the Lord tells three stories here and says, I won't tell you something better.
I know it not only receive them, I go looking for them and that's what we have here in Luke 15.
Three stories of God seeking the Sinner, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, all three of them illustrated by these three different illustrations.
He not only received sinners, he seeks them.
He's seeking you tonight.
What are you going to say?
Yes, Lord Jesus, I want you as my Savior. I'm not worthy, and that's OK because neither am I or anybody else in this room. We have nothing to pay. We're bankrupt before God.
But bless the truth, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. Let's go on there to chapter 18.
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Luke 18 and verse 9.
And he spake this parable on a certain which trusted in themselves that they were righteous and despised others. Are we seeing a pattern here?
There's just two groups here, those that are righteous and those that are unrighteous, those that are worthy and those that are not worthy.
I trust you take your place with those who are not worthy.
Now let's listen to the prayer of these two men.
The two men verse 10 Two men went up to the temple to pray, the 1A Pharisee and the other Republican.
The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust adulterers, or even as this publican I fast twice in the week, I'll give ties of all that I possess. And the publican standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying.
God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
God be propitious to me, and says in the Spanish.
You know, Plato was quoted 500 years before Christ as saying it may be that the deity can forgive sins, but I do not see how. I was very interesting, but that was recorded of him saying that because he could not see that God could sweep sins under the rug. But you know, the Lord Jesus has made propitiation on the cross.
That means that he paid for sins, not his own.
And God was propitiated, that is, He was.
Brother now with the Lord didn't like me using this word, but I don't know what else word to use. He was happy, he was satisfied. Seems insufficient. And I know that's the word we typically use, but God was completely and fully vindicated as far as sin was concerned by the work of the Lord Jesus on the cross. And so this man says God.
Propitious. Be merciful to me.
It just says in Spanish Sinner.
He was not worthy. And what happened? We got to finish it, don't we?
Verse 14 I tell you this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
Well I don't want to talk about the other. I think it's self-evident that his prayer was just telling God what a good person he was and how righteous he was.
And the publican just said a few words, but they were the right ones. God be merciful.
To me Sinner.
So he went down to his house justified. What does that mean?
Well, I'm going to borrow from our brother Albert Hajo that was mentioned earlier. He told this story and it it struck me as being so forceful. You know, we had a president back from 1968 to 1974. His name was Richard Nixon. And in his second round of election, he did some unethical things and some illegal things. And his shame was so great that he had to resign.
President. And so the man that took his place had been appointed vice president and his name was Gerald Ford. And so he was the only president we ever had that was never elected to that office. So it was an interesting chain of events.
And Gerald Ford decided that he would pardon Richard Nixon.
And so Richard Dixon, in spite of the offenses that he had committed, he was pardoned and he didn't have to face the consequences of what he had done. And there was a lot of noise about that in two directions, positive and negative. In any case, the president's word passed, and there was nothing anybody could do about it. And so Richard Nixon could not be prosecuted for what he had done.
And her brother Albert Hagel told us that story. And then he told us about a picture he had seen.
Of Richard Nixon sitting in a wheelchair in a hospital waiting room.
And he drew a word picture, which I don't think I can duplicate, but it came through very clearly to me. And my brother passed away in 1981, so this is a long time back, but I remember how he spoke of how this picture showed this sad, decrepit looking man sitting there in a wheelchair, shamed.
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By what he had done. And yet he'd been pardoned.
Didn't have to face the consequences of his wrongdoing.
But he wasn't justified.
All the world knew that he was guilty.
But he didn't have to pay for the consequence of what he had done. But you know, that's not what it says about this Sinner here. He went down to his house, justified. And dear one, if you don't know the Lord Jesus here tonight, I want to tell you that he offers pardon, and you will not have to face the consequences of your sin, as I will not because the Lord Jesus.
Bore my sins on Calvary's cross.
But it's more than that, isn't it? Justified, brought into the family of God?
You know, if Richard Nixon had been justified, I suppose he could have gone on being president. But no, he was pardoned, but he wasn't justified. But the Lord Jesus says that this publican went down to his house justified.
Oh, that is a wonderful thing. Would you like to be justified? Put your trust in the Lord Jesus.
And you will be justified.
By him all the believe are justified from all things.
That's what Paul said in the 13th of Acts. Do you know what it is to be justified?
What think ye of Christ?
Is His grace winning your heart?
To know you're gone.
That's what the gospel message is.
Let's carry on here to Luke 23.
And in this chapter we have the crucifixion.
The men who had said go get out of here.
They hadn't been able to convince him to leave, and so they come about with a plan to put out the light to get rid of him entirely, and they falsely accuse him before the Roman governor. They had their own accusation ahead of time, and then because they were under the Roman authority, they had to bring him to the Roman.
To condemn him to death, and Pilate didn't want to do that.
He knew he was an innocent man and he said so I find no fault in this man. And yet he said I'll chastise him and let him go. Well, you don't chastise an innocent man. But he was trying to satisfy their their anger and their blood lost and they said no, no, no, away with him. Crucify him. We will not have this man to reign over us.
They rejected their Messiah, they said we don't want him.
So they nailed them to that cross. And what did the Lord Jesus do? Verse.
34.
Then said Jesus.
Father forgive them, for they know not.
What they do?
Didn't they know?
Well, the Lord gave him this out.
They don't know what they're doing.
And you know.
Peter says in Acts chapter 2.
That that man who ye have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain.
Was available to them as their savior and 3000 souls said yes Lord Jesus, you know, maybe it was some of the ones that were here. I don't we don't know that, but it could have been he said you deny the holy one and the just and desire to murder to be granted unto you and killed the Prince of life.
He didn't mince any words about what they were guilty of, and yet he offered them forgiveness if they would come in repentance and receive the Lord Jesus. In that case, it was as their Messiah.
Tonight I'm not offering you the Lord Jesus Messiah, but as Savior.
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The gospel went out to the Gentile because the Jew took the man that was a messenger, and they said we don't want him either, and they stoned him. And as Stephen died there in the 7th of Acts, he said Lord lay not this sin to their charge, but he no longer said that they didn't know what they were doing.
Where do you stand tonight?
What do you think of Christ?
Is he your Savior? Does your soul delight to hear about Him?
Is your heart singing tonight as you think about this lovely man that we see in Luke's gospel? Grace flowing out without limit, bursting out of the bounds of Judaism and reaching beyond the bounds of Judah to all the world, right here. Burbank Marriott Hotel, December 24th, 2022.
There was a man there that was crucified. Two of them actually.
Verse 32. There were also two others malefactors LED with him to be put to death.
We read in other gospels that they mocked him too. They cast the same in his teeth. That is, they said the same things that the rest of the crowd, but at some point in this.
Terrible scene, this man.
We don't know which side he was on, but he looked up there and he heard those words of grace from the lips of the Lord Jesus. Father, forgive them.
For they know not what they do.
And in his heart a work went on and he said I am not worthy. And he didn't say it quietly. He said it out loud. Let's read about it.
Verse 39 in one of the malefactors which were hand railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us. But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds.
But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And Jesus said unto him.
Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise. What happened with this man? He said, I am not worthy.
We receive the due reward of our deeds. I'm getting just what I deserve. But this man had done nothing amiss. He knew who Jesus was. And he turns to Jesus and he says, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom. And what a blessed response today shalt thou be with me in paradise. Will you come tonight?
Like this thief did say Lord, I'm not worthy.
But I want you to be my Savior. Let's sing the last verse of #7.
And from my Savior.
From the heart to God.
Of glory let's pray. Bless the God Our Father all, we thank thee tonight for the Lord Jesus.
We know that He is precious to most souls in the room tonight, but perhaps not all. Lord Jesus, we pray that by Thy Spirit Thou art such the heart of any.
Who do not know thee in that personal way, and that they might come having nothing to pay.
00:45:05
But owning that thou hast borne it all, blessed Savior, thereon Calvary's cross thou to shed thy precious blood, that our sins might be washed away, that we might be justified. We thank Thee for this blessed truth. Thank thee for thy precious word. We pray in thy precious name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
Yes, Lord
Sing Talk—Paul Froese
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.
So I brought some bowls with me with little papers in them that are this size, and I'm going to pass a bowl down each row. I want you to take one paper out of it.
They're a little bit on cardstock, so they're thicker than you might expect. And then if you could, please.
Pass the bull on and someone else will take the next one. They're all the same.
So don't bother fishing through.
The one other thing you're I want you to keep it. You're welcome to throw it away.
This is the kind of thing that I would keep in my hymn book for 10 years and then find it again. Just please don't throw it on the floor if you do, throw it away. So I'm going to start passing these out and then we can talk about it.
OK, let's pray. Father, we pray for your blessing on your word tonight. We give thanks for the opportunity to share it with these young Saints and we pray that it would be a blessing to each soul. Here we ask for your help in Jesus name, Amen.
So you'll notice on this scrap of paper 2 verses.
On one side is a verse from Matthew 1527 and the others from Acts 1014. So I want to begin speaking to you from Acts chapter 10.
And if you remember the story in Acts chapter 10, this is a man named Peter, and Peter is.
Hungry.
And he's waiting for the people he's staying with to cook him a meal. And while he's waiting, he has a.
Trance or a vision?
And in the vision he sees a sheet come down out of heaven, and inside the sheet are all manner of unclean animals. And the Lord tells him something. He says, Peter, arise, kill and eat.
And this is what Peter says he says.
No, Lord.
The other side is Matthew chapter 15 and verse 27.
Little different story.
In this story there's a woman who if you read in your Bible, it'll say that the heading maybe of the the section calls her the Syrophoenician woman.
That means that's where she's from.
So some of you may be Canadian women or American women or Mexican women.
Or Californian women. This was a Syrophoenician woman, and what was different about her is that she was not.
A Jew.
And she had a problem. Her daughter was demon possessed, so she went to the Lord with the request, she said.
I'm going to read it because I don't remember what she said.
She says.
Have mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed with the devil.
But he answered her not a word, And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I'm not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the House of Israel.
Then she came and worshiped him, saying, Lord help me.
But he answered and said it is not me to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs.
And she said, Yes, Lord, or truth Lord, yet the dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
00:05:04
What I have to say to you tonight is.
Summed up on the little piece of paper you have in your hand.
And it is the responsibility that you have.
To a man named Jesus Christ.
And in the scriptures he takes a title, and the title is Lord.
And Lord means something.
Sometimes we pray to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Lord means master.
I have a question for you.
What as a as a human being, what are your rights?
Who would venture in answer?
Life. Liberty.
Those may be your rights as a citizen of America, but those are not your rights as a human being.
As a human being, you have one right, and that is to remain.
Silent.
You know, there's a verse in the Bible that says that every mouth may be stopped.
And everyone would become guilty before God.
The only one with any right is God.
And that's what his name Lord means.
Peter had a program that he was on.
And the Lord told him to do something that didn't fit with his program.
And So what did he tell the Lord?
No, Lord.
The Syrophoenician woman had no program.
She had a problem.
And she said, yes, Lord.
Now I want to suggest that you do something.
And it might be tonight.
And it might be later this weekend.
If you decide to hang on to this piece of paper, I suggest you take it by yourself and think about it.
Turn it to the side that says Acts 1014.
And take a pen.
I would suggest you cross out one or the other of those two words.
Because.
If you're going to say no.
You can't say Lord.
And if you say Lord.
He can't say no.
And I want to tell you that the Lord has a plan for you.
And if you say yes, Lord, to his plan for you.
That would be a good choice.
Because it is the only and the best plan.
I copied out a poem I would like to read, actually two poems and I wouldn't read you the first one if I didn't have the second one.
To read after and these two poems illustrate what I am trying to tell you.
This is a problem that begins when we're born. I have a niece that is 2 years old. He's she's learning to talk and when she says the letter C.
In her words, it comes out as AT.
00:10:03
So she talks about the.
***** in my wallet.
Which are actually cards.
And she tells her daddy, Daddy, I can't.
I can't. She says that when she doesn't want to do something and he says you can't or you won't. So it's not a it's not a problem that just.
Kids have it's a problem that is with us until we take this decision to.
Say yes instead of no.
So the first poem I'm going to read to you might be familiar to some. The title is Invictus is written by William Ernest Henley.
A man who probably today is burning in hell, and I want you to listen to what it says.
Out of the night that covers me, black is the pit from pole to pole.
I think whatever gods may be for my unconquerable soul.
In the fell clutch of circumstance, I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance, my head is bloody but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears looms but the horror of the shade. And yet the menace of the years finds and shall find me unafraid.
It matters not how straight the gate, how charged with punishment the scroll. I am the master of my fate.
I am the captain of my soul.
You know, that sounds pretty brave.
But it's stupid.
I want to read to you what St. of God named Dorothy Day wrote and she titled her poem Conquered because Invictus apparently is Latin for unconquered.
She says.
Out of the light that dazzles me, bright as the sun, from pole to pole, I thank the God I know to be for Christ, the Conqueror of my soul.
Since his the sway of circumstance, I would not wince nor cry aloud under the rule which men call chance my head with joy.
Is humbly bowed.
Beyond this place of sin and tears that.
That life with him and his, the aid, that spite the menace of the years, keeps and will keep me unafraid.
I have No Fear though. Straight the gate he cleared from punishment the scroll. Christ is the master of my fate.
Christ as the captain of my soul.
So what do you think about that?
You find that little paper?
In the leaves of your Bible.
Or your hymn book.
Which side will it be for you? Let's commend ourselves to the Lord.
Lord, we give thanks tonight that we can turn our lives over to the loving hand of God.
Thank you that you do have a plan and a purpose that is the best. We ask for your help. We know that as children this begins and is a life long exercise to bow.
And surrender.
We pray for each dear St. here in the path of faith that each would have the courage and the will.
To say not my will.
But thine be done, we give thanks as well for any refreshment that may be served here tonight. We give thanks for the opportunity to enjoy our company with each other.
We seek your blessing in Jesus name, Amen.
Good Food
Children—Virgil Redman
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.
OK, well, the children's songs I think are in the back. We can sing a couple of songs.
So anybody have a song they want to sing?
We have no singers here, huh?
What do you want?
Children's songs are on the back.
Which one?
4.
All right, let's just sing the 1St and the last verse, all right?
Christ is a second for me.
I must change it since our blessing is like free.
Say the big girl, said Nurse. Savor sinners like me.
Shady is one for my friend.
Come, this is the same morning.
But without the black sun changing.
What I said love blessings so free I'm sure I'm like tell them please praise.
It's sinister for me.
That's a good, good song. Anybody else have a song on the back sheet? What do you have?
#10.
OK. We're just going to avoid the back sheet.
Let's see #10 we'll just sing the 1St and the last verse as well, all right?
I received.
I thought I are doing all earth to do all through the grave sea meet my faith.
In their heart.
Woke up to Jesus.
I care about insane.
You're crazy in this moment and he shall be gone. Well, we've been singing.
A couple songs already about sinners. You know, there's two kinds of sinners.
00:05:01
And there's the lost Sinner. And there's the safe center. Which one do you?
Which one you want to be? Well, I'm thankful I'm a saved Sinner and I have a Savior that that went to the cross to bear my sins in his own body. Isn't that wonderful? Oh, the love of God sending his beloved Son to die on the cross to put away our sins. I hope all you boys and girls can say, well, I'm a safe Sinner because I love the Lord Jesus because he died for me to put away my sins. Isn't that wonderful? We have such.
Savior. All right. Anybody have another? Which one?
Well, OK, we're in the back now, OK.
Which one?
Oh, 41? OK, well, you know my hearings. It's gone. Just the first and last verse, please.
Around the throne.
The Savior shadows what to wash away their sin.
Now watching that most precious one, behold the Why can't we see me?
Glory.
Glory.
Reason God.
Well, this meeting is for the children and I've got a Cindy school lesson that's just not for the children, but it's for the young people out there. Well, actually, it's for everybody. It's for me as well as these kids are. So you're going to like this little demonstration. But before we pray.
Sorry we Can't Sing much more, but.
The older you get, the more long winded you get. You got to take more time to explain yourself so.
Sorry about that. Anyway, I'm going to read that verse that our brother read last night in the gospel meeting.
It's the same verse that I was going to read in Psalms 34 and verse eight. It says O taste and see that the Lord is good. Happy is the man are the people that trust in the Lord now wonderful? You know sometimes when I go out to dinner.
I might order something different, you know what is that? OK, so.
And just tasting. Yeah, I don't want that, you know, eat something. Hey, that's pretty good. Bring some more, you know? Well, that's what the Lord wants us. He wants us to know him.
To trust him because he loves you so much and he's all.
Just taste and see that the Lord just try. The Lord isn't that wonderful? The Lord gives us the opportunity. Well, let's look to the Lord, my God and Father.
We thank you for the Lord Jesus, whose loved ones made him willing to come down to this scene knowing what was in our terrible hearts.
We just pray for our time here. We pray that every boy and girl her knows the Lord Jesus. Oh the opportunity is now for them to accept the just pray for help and thank you Lord for this opportunity and give thee thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Now.
I better put this over there.
I don't want to get it instead now I know you usually say your verses.
But time is short for me.
So I'll just read. I think this is the memory verse, isn't it? If any man or any people, any person, if any person be in Christ, he is a new creation, new creature, and old things are passed away and new things are become new. Is that the memory verse for this week? You probably already know it, right?
Yeah, I know you do. Well, I'll give you a day off and you can say the verse next. Lord's there. OK, say because.
00:10:08
Well before I get started.
I got up kind of late this morning and I didn't get a chance to eat some breakfast, so I'm going to make myself.
A little bowl of cereal.
Right, a little bit. You laughing at me?
It's a little pole who eats cereal here?
Yeah, everybody likes cereal.
How about doughnuts?
And doughnuts are good. You have Donuts with Mel hot chocolate.
Orange juice and maybe with coffee.
I don't drink coffee. Or you can eat coffee. You can eat doughnuts by itself, Right? So. OK, well, then let's see what he got here. Hey, this is going to be a very special cereal. Yes, Sir.
Yes, Sir.
We're just, we're just put some Donuts in here, OK? We're just, we're just.
Can I just put it in here?
OK.
OK, OK, OK, OK. So.
What about cookies? Who likes cookies? Who? I love cookies. OK, well we're going to make this. We'll put some cookies in there.
I should have done this ahead of time.
No, I'll take it out of there. I can't eat the bag. OK, there we go. Cookies. Yeah. OK. What else? Let me see.
Candy. Nobody eats candy right now. You know, I I'm, I'm known as the M&M Candyman. You know why? Because in my big old motorhome, I got that M&M dispensers. Do you ever see those things, Eminem? You pull the guys arm down and candy comes out. I got all kinds of people love coming to my motor home, you know, so I don't care. Well, let's see what we got. Oh yeah, Yeah. OK, I got some candy. So we're just.
I love Eminem. Yeah. OK, so we gotta put some M&M's in there and let's see what else we got.
You guys don't eat potato chips, do you?
Huh.
OK, well, I eat potato chips, so we'll just put some potato chips in. This is wonderful, wonderful cereal. All right, well, let's let's break it all up. Sorry. OK, we'll put that in here. Well, listen, I got 2 bags of that, so let's really do it up, right. OK, so we'll put some.
OK, that's good.
OK.
Kind of dry. Well, let's see.
You kids don't like ice cream, do you?
That's that's my favorite OK, OK well I got some ice cream here now look see it says no sugar added. So hey, am I thinking about good health yes you know so we're just.
It kind of melted. Who knew?
Well, it's still kind of dry. What do you guys put in your cereal? Make it.
Milk, yeah.
Water and cereal.
Is there a doctor in the house?
Well, he's strange anyway, OK.
All right, well, I don't have, I don't have any milk, but who likes soda pop?
Yeah, OK. Well, hey, it's, it's liquid, right? You said water. This has got water in it, so.
Which is.
Well, we won't pour it, you know. No use overdoing it, right?
OK, OK, so.
00:15:02
OK.
Yeah, I got this room. Yeah, OK. Oh my.
You want me to eat it?
You want to buy.
I guess if I ate this I I probably get sick, wouldn't I?
You know, it's not very healthy, is it?
I guess if I ate this every day I'd be pretty sick so.
Is, is your health, physical health, is that important? Is it really important? Yeah. And you know what we call this? What do we call that?
Anybody know?
Yeah, she's smart. Junk food. That's right. Too much of that. It ain't good. It ain't good at all.
I suppose one day, one evening, you sit down at the table and you're going to have a wonderful dinner, a healthy dinner, and your parents come. All right, kids, I know you like your junk food, so we're going to give it to you all at once. One night only. Here you go. Eat up.
Mom. Dad.
Is there something wrong with you? You think they you know. Well anyway, they wouldn't do that, would they? Because they love you and they care for you and they want you to eat healthy. So what does it take to be physically healthy? What do we need on a regular daily?
Apple Yeah, Well, what do we need to maintain good, healthy conditions?
Starts with AD.
Yes.
It starts with ADA. Good healthy what? A diet? Yes. Do you all get good healthy diet?
It's very important. OK, so you have a cookie, maybe have a little chips and a little bit of ice cream. All right, but you know why they call it junk food? Because there's no nutritional value. It's just it isn't good for you. But we all have a cookie. We all have little piece of candy once in a while, but.
We should hold it down. We want to be, we want to be healthy, so we need a good, healthy diet.
What about?
Spiritual Health.
How's your spiritual health? My spiritual what? Your spiritual health?
You know.
We all said that physical health is really important, but you know, your spiritual health is far more important. And I believe everyone in this room will tell you that your spiritual health is far more important than your physical health, and that's what I want to talk about.
And I will give you a good.
Story.
To show how spiritual health is so much more important. But you know, Satan or the old devil.
He's your enemy. He don't like you. He wants to destroy you. He wants you to keep you away from enjoying the Lord. He wants you to keep as far away.
And he wants you to be occupied with what I call the junk food of this world to keep you busy with this and that and everything. What are some of the things that just really eat up your time? It just takes so much time. And it's not wrong in itself. No, I'm not saying it is. But I'm saying we just spent way too much time and.
Satan, he don't care how much time you spend on whatever the world will offer you.
Now what are some of the things? Can you tell me?
You have them, I'm sure you do. I don't own one, but that's another story. What is? What's some of the things that takes your time up?
That can become junk, and I'm talking about food. I'm talking about.
Stuff that takes a lot of time. What are some of the things?
You have any idea?
Anybody.
What about your cell phones, huh?
How about those you know?
00:20:06
Yes, television. Yes, it can take a lot of time. And what does you some kids do on television or on the computer?
Video games, wow, how much time can that take up that can drain your clock. I mean, it's just I know kids all day long they play on video games. Nothing wrong with video games. I don't play them, but you know, there's some games. I guess I have some benefit. I don't know what it is, but boy, we get a ticket to this stuff and it doesn't do our soul. It doesn't do us any good because.
Well, we just get spiritually sick.
It doesn't do anything for our spiritual health.
So what other things, the cell phone, you know, you're going to the doctor's office, dentist office, you go to a restaurant and all these people sitting around the table and they're all doing this, You know, they're all talking to each other, but their lips ain't moving. That's what happened. I mean, and the most scariest thing I see out there is people driving their car and they're driving their car. How can you drive a car and be taxi?
If you see your parents doing that, you tell them. Put that down.
Or pull over because your car you're carrying some very precious cargo.
Yes, you.
And they're being distracted, OK. I know a lot of people that have these phones they have.
Hands off. You know, you don't have to have your hands, but you're still being distracted. The business of driving a car is driving a car, right? That's what you're supposed to be doing. OK. Or what else? Well, there's a lot of things that can take our attention away. Do you have something?
Yeah, movies too. Yeah. Well, you can have sports, you know, you guys like sports. You know, you can be taking up too much time with that. With me, it was playing chess. Everybody knows I played chess. Well, I was just too taken up with that. And the Lord said Virgil, don't you have anything better to do with your time?
Yes, well then get busy and we were just waste too much time.
You know, there's a lot of things in this world that will draw our attention, that attracts us.
You know, and that's what Satan wants. He wants us to be busy with this and busier that, you know.
Remember Peter, Apostle Peter? What do we what do we know about Peter? What was what was he good for? What do we remember what Peter did? Anybody know what Peter did when the Lord was on earth? What happened to Peter? What did he do?
Anyway.
Well before that, when the Lord Jesus was on earth, he did something that was very bad.
Why he was?
He denied the Lord, didn't he? How many times? Three times?
You sure made a point of it. Well, you know what happened.
He was spiritually sick.
Wasn't he? And you know, all Satan don't care how sick we get, not physically. Now we're talking spiritually, our soul. And poor Peter, he came out later on real good, didn't he? As you were saying, he preached the gospel and 3000 people came to the Lord. Wow. But at this time he was spiritually sick.
Well, this is what God wants us to do. This is we're going to turn to Psalm 107.
This is what God wants to do for us.
I like this first.
Psalm 107 and verse eight. It says all that people would praise the Lord for His goodness.
And for the wonderful works to the children. For here's the verse. For he satisfies the longing so, and he fills the hungry soul with goodness.
Are we hungry for the word of God? Are we hungry to know more about the Lord Jesus? You know, and, and there's another verse I like I came across once I thought, wow, that's a that's interesting verse. It's in Psalms 81.
00:25:05
This is interesting because I got a lot of birds around my house. A lot of nest in Psalms 81.
And.
Verse 10.
It says at the end of it, I am the Lord thy God. And it says, Open thy mouth wide.
And I will feel it.
Is that what we want? Do we want to open them out? You ever see the birds in a nest? And the mommy, the mommy bird comes around with a big juicy worm and the birds are going me, me, it's my turn. I want it. I want the worm, you know? And they're all chirping real loud.
And my house, it's almost, it's almost real. It's real loud because I got a lot of birds. That's what God wants us to do to his to this. He wants to open our mouths wide, Renee. What? Fill it with junk food? No, he wants to pour in the word of God. He wants to talk to us about the Lord Jesus. He wants us spiritually.
Healthy.
And like our physical health.
What do we have to do for a good physical health? What do we come up with? We need a good what and what do we need with our spiritual help? What do we need?
A good spiritual diet, right? Yes. So we read later on and Peter, I'll read that in a few minutes. That's in second Peter, chapter three, one of the last words he speaks.
Oh, what a change that took place in Peter. You know, he, he really learned his lesson and he got filled with the Spirit of God and he really got spiritually fit. And I like that. So before that, I want to tell you that story, how important it is.
Yeah, the last words he spoke of second Peter, chapter 3 and verse 18. Anyway, that story I was going to tell you about how important it is.
Your spiritual health is so much more important than physical health. Not that physical health isn't important. We've proven that.
Yeah, eat that and I'll show you how your physical health can deteriorate. And just anyway.
Long time ago, my wife and I went with a group of people to Israel.
To the land of the Bible oh, the Bible just came alive there we saw all the different sites we went with this other couple several couples and we had a nice visit and they were both very very healthy this brother and this sister this couple so we ended our trip he went back east and I would I live out here and we heard a couple years later that he got sick he got real sick oh man let's let's go and.
Back east and we'll visit with this, this dear brother who was very sick. And we walked into his house and you know what we saw? He was in this great big wheelchair and he had a monitor in front. And this dear brother, all he could do was move his finger and move his eyes. His body had completely shut down. He couldn't do anything.
And we went there to to cheer him up and to encourage him.
And you know, by the time we left here, our hearts were praising God and saying thank you Lord, we were encouraged. How could that be? His body had completely shut down and yet he was enjoying the Lord so much in reading the Word and praying for others. Oh, his mind was perfect. He had perfect mind, but his whole body. So, you know, sometimes we get sick, sometimes the Lord lays this down and.
We can still praise the Lord, you know I.
Few years ago, I wasn't expecting to get out of the hospital. My body broke down. Yes, you did. And I was in the hospital and they didn't give me much chance of getting out. But I just remembered that him that we sing sometimes, how good is the God that we adore? And we thank him or praise him for all that's passed and we'll trust him for all that's before us. And that that that song just kept going over in my mind. And I said, well.
Good. And I was laying here in an extreme pain and I said, how good is my God? Oh, I was enjoying the I was trying to maintain that, that spiritual fitness that the spiritual health and the Lord was giving me because my mind was set on the Lord Jesus. And that's what God wants us to do, you know.
00:30:17
And here's Peter. OK.
We talked about having a good spiritual diet. That's how we're going to maintain our spiritual health and that's so important.
And Peter?
After the Holy Spirit came down and.
Join them all together in one body, he preached to.
A lot of people and a lot of people got saved because of what he said. And so he wrote a couple of letters here and the last words. And this is amazing when you think about when the Lord Jesus was with his disciples and how at that time Peter got very spiritually sick. I think physically he was fine.
Pretty strong, but here he says in Second Peter chapter 3 verse 18.
But he says grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Grow in. What does he mean by that? How do you grow in grace? You know, we sing that song, don't we? Read your Bible, pray every day and you grow. Well, that's physical. We're not physically growing. We're spiritually growing in our hearts before God, before the Lord. How do we grow in grace?
I'm out.
Should I drink that? No.
Somebody should have opened this for me. Somebody, folks.
She OK? Excuse me.
How are we going, Grace?
It's not physical growth.
OK, do you ever hook up a water hose to a faucet? You take the hose over to the garden.
Nothing's coming out.
What's the problem?
What's the problem?
You've got to turn it on, don't you? I've got to go back to the faucet.
That's how we grow in grace. We have to connect to God through prayer.
When we're in the presence of God, we're praying by faith, don't we?
No one's seen God. I haven't seen the Lord yet. So it's always by faith that you're praying because we know that we, he hears our prayer and he knows he will answer our prayer and we know that we have confidence and we can trust the Lord Jesus when we pray. So what a wonderful and our brother Bob was speaking about how we have access, how we can go in.
And we don't have to be afraid. Sometimes when we've been bad, we're kind of afraid to go into our parents, aren't we? We don't know what's going to happen.
But with God, even if we make mistakes, and I've done Lenny, we still have complete access and we can go there with No Fear.
No hesitation and go right into the very presence of God.
And when we do that in prayer?
What happens? The water flows through the hose, doesn't it? That's grace. When we pray to God, his grace comes down and we need grace. Oh, we need grace because we're always, we're always coming across something, aren't we? One way that you kids deal with things that I don't deal with, but I have my own problems too, but.
And I can't say, well, I can carry over. I didn't use some of the grace I used yesterday, so I can carry that over. No, it's not like arithmetic. You can't carry it over.
And I can't borrow on tomorrow because I may not even be here. We need fresh.
Grace in prayer before the Lord every day. How important that is. And the more grace we have, the more we grow. Spiritually fitness, spiritually fitness.
A good spiritual and what else? Well, he says.
And in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, where do we get more knowledge of the Lord Jesus? Boy, that's an easy one. Where do we get the knowledge of the Lord Jesus?
00:35:00
Anybody can tell me?
Yeah, well, of course. Where else would you get in a phone book? No, I don't think so. So.
We learn about the Lord Jesus and His love for us and His care for us.
That He has went to their cross to bear our sins in His own body. He shed His precious blood to wash our sins away.
What a savior we have.
And he's always readily available. So we need prayer and we need to read the word of God.
Oh, we need that so much. Here's a test for you kids. The appearance ain't gonna like this one. But maybe, you young people, I'll put you to the test. Let's say you're too busy, you're running around and you forget to pray or you didn't read the word of God. Well, don't read. Don't eat that day. Go all day without eating. See how you feel.
Boy, that's all you think about is food. I've tried that. I've tried that.
I mean, I don't purposely not try to read the word of God or pray, but I just tried to see what it would be like to go all day without eating and all you think about is food, food, food, food, food, food, you know, but don't. I mean, that's just a suggestion. Your parents are probably grinding your teeth now, but that's a good chance. If you don't read the word of God and pray, well, why should you eat? It's the same thing. You need spiritual nourishment.
We need to feed on the Word of God and we need to pray. Is your prayer less important to God than mine? Is my prayer more important?
No, sometimes your poor is probably better than my prayer, you know, So your prayer is important, kids, they are. And boy, your purse can move mountains. You really can. That's what the Lord Jesus said. If you have prayer, if you have faith, like a little grain of mustard seed, you can say to that mountain.
Get out of here. Take a walk. Well, that's a mountain is like trouble, you know? Oh, that's a mountain. That's Mount Everest in front. No. So how important it is to maintain a good, healthy spiritual life.
Now you all have physical life. I can see you all got good physical life.
Who's your physical life come from? Who gave you your life?
Well, yeah, but through who?
Well, yeah.
Let me put it this way. How did you come into the world?
Who gave you life?
Yeah, your parents, right? You got a life because of your parents. Who gives you spiritual life?
You know Nicodemus, You know, remember we mentioned Nicodemus and he was a big religious leader.
For the Jews. And he came to Jesus, didn't he? And he tried to talk about religion and Jesus said love, you need to be born again, Nicodemus, you need to be born. What? You need to be born again. We couldn't understand that he should have. But we need a new life, don't we?
Well, I think we went to a graveyard and you saw a grave there and you said, all right, whoever's down there. If you eat your vegetables and get plenty of rest, well, forget that he's already getting plenty of rest. If you eat your vegetables and you get a healthy diet and you get plenty of exercise, you'll have a healthy life.
With that work, why?
He's dead.
So can you have a spiritual?
A healthy spiritual.
Life if you don't have the spiritual life.
You know the Bible says.
If you don't have a spiritual life.
You're dead in trespasses and sin. Spiritually dead, not physically. Trespass means just another fancy word for sin.
But without the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you're dead. You don't have a spiritual life. So how can you be spiritually healthy if you don't have spiritual life? So the most important thing, kids, is everyone of you have to have spiritual life 'cause you'd never be spiritual fit. You'll never be spiritually healthy without the spiritual life. And God has sent his Son.
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To die on the cross, you see that I got.
To put away our sins. And that's why it says here if any person be in Christ, he is a new creation we need.
A new life that God gives us isn't that wonderful when we come. And I did this almost 60 years ago.
I heard about that. I was a Sinner, that I was lost and guilty. OK, I'm a Sinner. So what? Well, you have to answer to God. What? You'll have to stand before God and give an account for every sin you've ever committed. Oh, I said I don't like that. But you know, God has sent his beloved Son. He went to that cross and they nailed him to the cross by those nails.
And he says, Father, forgive them for they know what love, what grace. And then those three hours of darkness, God poured out his judgment on the Lord Jesus. God made him sin. Who knew no sin that we might get the righteousness of God. That's what you need. You need the righteousness God. So I heard all this and I said, Oh my, I need to be saved. I need to be saved because I'm lost and my sins are going to.
Separate me from the love of God and for his forgiveness and his eternal life forever. I don't want that. And I never went to church. I didn't know anything. I didn't even know who Jesus was. I didn't know Jesus was, you know who Jesus is? I didn't. So I got on my knees and I said, dear God, I'm a Sinner. I'm like that man that.
That a brother mentioned in in Luke's gospel, he said he came to the temple and he got on his knees. He said, oh God, be merciful, me a Sinner.
Well, he went away justified because he, he came to God as an unworthy Sinner. And that's what I did. I came to God. I wasn't worthy of his forgiveness, but I came to him anyway, counting on his grace and his mercy and his love. So I said, dear God, I'm a Sinner, I'm lost. I need to be saved. Lord Jesus come into my heart and I didn't know. I didn't know what John 36, I didn't know.
I said, Lord, come into my heart and save me, and thank you for dying for me, the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Oh, that's how you get life. You come to the Lord Jesus, you come to God and you have to confess. You have to confess or doesn't God know our hearts? Doesn't he know we're sinners? He knows all about you. He knows whether you have spiritual life.
Or you're spiritually dead. He knows that. But why do we have to confess? Why do we have to acknowledge that we're sinners?
Because he wants to hear it from your own lips. You have to take your place, as her brother said last night, as a unworthy.
Lost Sinner. Oh, and then Jesus is the Savior of sinners. Wow. So he doesn't just leave us in that condition. No, not at all. So boys and girls, you don't have that spiritual life.
You have the opportunity to write today to ask the Lord Jesus to come into your heart to have your sins washed away by that precious blood that He spilled. That blood will never lose its value, you know.
Things we own will lose their value, but that will never lose its value. Insight of God. So we can't have a spiritual life.
Well, we can't have a healthy spiritual existence without the spiritual life. We need the spiritual life.
And let us grow in grace and in the knowledge. Let's let's get on our pray you guys out there, you girls, let's let's pray more prayers is very effective and we need it.
And let's be in the Word of God, and let the Spirit of God guide and lead us.
As to more about the Lord Jesus, well, if you're saved, if you have spiritual life, you're going to be in His presence pretty soon all eternity. All we need to know now more about Him now. We need to enjoy Him now in the Word. So that's about all I have. So let's look to the Lord my God and gracious Father, we thank you for this opportunity.
And we pray, Lord Jesus, that everyone of these boys and girls and anyone they can hear my voice.
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Has that spiritual life and we pray that we can grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
Help us, Lord, in these last times not to get involved and entangled and and so taken up with what this world offers. It's no good. It's not good for our soul. The Lord wants to feed us with good things, things that will last for eternity. And we thank you Lord, for whatever we do for thee.
It will last forever. One life we have, only what's done for Christ will last.
So bless it, Lord, we pray for the message and ask a rich blessing and thank thee and that worthy name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
The Father's Home
Address—Bill Prost
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My guess I didn't need this.
Before we start, I'd like to tell a couple of stories, if that's all right. This is to be an address to Christians, but I think that includes every Christian, whether children or young people or middle-aged or older ones.
I can remember probably about 25 years ago now, being asked to take a meeting at a Bible conference. And as I was walking up to the podium, an older brother, older than I anyway, and I knew him fairly well. I'd stayed in his home and he set out in a he said in a fairly loud voice.
Everyone heard it, but if I could use the term, a kind of a plaintive voice, he said.
Have you got something for the heart?
I appreciated that.
We need.
Ministry for the heart and we need ministry for the conscience, and it's good to have both.
But this afternoon I proposed to speak a little bit more to the heart.
I'd like to sing hymn #225.
But before we sing it.
I'd like to tell you a bit of the story behind it.
Makes it come alive.
You know, back in the late 1700s, there was a man born in the United States here by the name of John Howard Payne.
Payne.
And he was involved in acting in an opera work and that kind of thing, and spent much of his time in Europe.
And in 1823 for one of the operas which he was involved in.
He wrote that well known worldly song Home Sweet Home.
Mid pleasures and palaces, though you may roam, be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. A charm from the skies seems to hollow us there, which seek through the world is not met with elsewhere, and so on.
An Englishman by the name of Henry Bishop wrote the tune to it, and it became instantly popular.
They tell me that it was the most popular song sung by the soldiers on both sides, the North and the South, in the American Civil War.
Sometimes they would.
Sit on either side of the river and see who could play it the loudest.
But if you look in the back of our hymn book, well, we'll stop. We'll say it. We'll say a little more about John Howard Payne.
His life didn't always go very smoothly. It seldom does, or did anyway in those days for actors and actresses. And many times he found himself in very difficult circumstances.
And I remember reading a story about him, how that one day he found himself in London, England, in the Hampstead area, the wealthy area of London, and he had no hope, Imagine no home, no place to go, and he was huddling under the bushes in the garden in front of one of those well to do homes.
In that Hampstead area.
And while he was there, suddenly he heard the strains of music coming from the.
Living room of that home. He was sitting right under the big Bay window. He heard the piano playing and then people singing. And what do you think they were singing?
The song that he had written Home sweet home and the chorus goes home, home, sweet, sweet home.
There's no place like home. There's no place like home.
Very, very sad and I don't know that he ever got home. He ended up being buried abroad, I think later on the American government.
Exhumed his body and brought it back to America, but I don't know that he ever knew the Savior or knew what it was. Took forward to that home in heaven.
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If you look in the back of your hymn book beside this number, you will see the name Denim DENH AM Denim David Denham.
He lived almost exactly at the same time as Howard Payne, was born almost the same year, lived almost the same time on into the 19th century.
And he was a bit of an outcast too, but for a totally different reason.
He could not bring himself to belong to the Church of England, and in those days, if you weren't part of the Church of England, you didn't count. In fact, they weren't even allowed to be buried in the regular cemeteries, had to be buried in the cemetery for dissenters.
Just as a little aside, he's buried in what's called Bun Hill Field Cemetery in London.
And there are all kinds of excuse me?
All kinds of hymn writers buried there. Joseph Hart who wrote How Good is the God we adore, Joseph Stennett, who wrote some of our Little Flock hymns as well as this man John Bunyan was buried there or is buried there. Missus Wesley, the mother of John and Charles Wesley, and a number of others. If you're ever in London, it's worth a visit.
But back to David Denham.
He knew the Lord, and he wrote this hymn as the spiritual counterpart to Home Sweet Home, set to the same meter.
Made to be sung to the same tune.
And it has a chorus too, that we don't have in our hymn book.
I already quoted you the course from Howard Payne's hymn or song.
David Denham's course went like this.
Home, home.
Sweet sweet home.
Prepare me, dear Savior, for glory, my home.
Beautiful.
That's what we're going to talk about this afternoon.
Let's sing this hymn together though 225. I'll try and start it and the rest of you can pick it up.
It seems of confusion.
And priceless, sustained.
I cannot see these.
We.
Are.
Seeing.
Glory.
The glory.
Where all high reading.
From the earth, from the truth.
To commit to my grace.
Let's say and say ignore.
Let's look to the Lord for His help.
Blessed God our Father, we thank Thee that we can sing with confidence concerning that whole, that home, Lord Jesus, which Thou hast gone to prepare for us.
We thank thee for that blessed hope.
As we open Thy word today, we pray that Thou make it more real to our hearts.
Fill our hearts, bless Savior, with a sense of thy love, a sense of the Father's love.
A sense of all that thou hast prepared for us.
And all that Thou art giving us to enjoy in our hearts and souls, even now.
We commend our time together to Thee, then, seeking Thy help, our God, and the leading and guiding of Thy Holy Spirit. For we ask it, Lord Jesus, in Thy alone, worthy and precious name, Amen.
I'd like to turn to John's Gospel chapter 14.
It's already been referred to once today, and we'll probably spend most of our time in it. We won't move around very much. We may make reference to a few other scriptures.
John 14 and verse one. Let not your heart be troubled.
Ye believe in God, believe also in me.
And here's the verse In my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am.
There ye may be also.
And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know.
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Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.
And from henceforth ye know him and have seen him.
Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.
And how sayest thou then?
Show us the Father.
We'll stop there for a few moments.
What a beautiful expression that is the Father's house.
I don't know of any other place in the Word of God where we get that exact expression. Many references, of course, to that home, many references to where the Lord Jesus is going to take us and His presence there. But this, as far as I know in the Word of God, is the only reference to the Father's home.
And there's a reason for that, and we'll get to that in a few moments.
But what an expression the father's house.
I suppose pretty much everyone here has a place that they can call home.
And we enjoy being at home as we sung in that hymn and as John Howard Payne.
Brought out so vividly in the song he wrote.
Home has a special place for us.
I can still remember, long after both of our children were growing up and married, that one of them came home and I wasn't surprised. She didn't ring the doorbell, she didn't knock on the door, she just walked right in.
Wasn't her home, properly speaking at that point? No, but she felt at home. She didn't need to knock on the door. She didn't need to ask to come in. She knew that she would be welcome.
What a home the Lord has gone to prepare for us. Have you ever tried to imagine what it will be like to be there? I must admit that I have tried. I will remember when I was about 5 years old having a conversation with my mother about it. I was brought up in a Christian home and heard the gospel.
Right from the younger my youngest years and I was saved as a small boy.
So at this point I was truly saved and I remember having a conversation with my mother about heaven.
And she didn't say very much about what it would be like to be there, except that she emphasized it's where the Lord Jesus is. Isn't that beautiful? And throughout the Word of God we don't read, at least not very often, about a believers being taken home to heaven.
Yes, it is heaven and there is no question about that.
But what will make that heaven a home are two things. Two things. One will be the presence of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ as a man, as a man. Turn over a little bit here and we'll go down a little further in the chapter.
It says there.
Oh, here we are. Later on in the chapter verse 28.
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away.
And come again unto you.
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Now here it is, If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said I go under the Father, for my Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass, he might believe.
I wondered for a while why the Lord Jesus said that. Why does He at this point in time emphasize my Father is greater than I?
In one sense, if we could say it with all reverence, the Father is not greater than the Son. Both are Co equal, both are fully God.
Both.
Are part of the Godhead, and in that sense there is no superiority or inferiority in the Godhead. But there are different things to do with each one in the Godhead. And what the Lord Jesus, I believe is emphasizing here is when he says my Father is greater than I, He emphasizes that He will be there.
In that glory, as a man.
For all eternity.
Why? So that he can enjoy your company and mine.
What will it be like to end up in that hole?
I've often tried to imagine it and I haven't gotten anywhere and it reminds me of the Apostle Paul how that when he was caught up to the 3rd heaven he did not try to describe.
What he saw, he doesn't say that he didn't see anything, but he says I heard things that were not, that wouldn't be lawful for a man to utter. What did he mean by that? He meant that the things up there were of such a dimension, and there was such glory there that he couldn't begin to describe it in the.
Time scene of this world.
The Lord Jesus will be there as a man for all eternity, and I have no doubt I say this. Perhaps I hope it's OK for me to talk like this. But dear brethren.
Sometimes you and I and not at, and it can happen at any age. We may think to ourselves, well, it's going to be kind of strange to be up there in heaven. Things are going to be so different. Am I going to feel right when I get there?
I have been in some rather fancy homes in this world from time to time, sometimes invited there as a guest, sometimes simply there is a tourist going through them and I could marvel at the many rooms in that home, the way they were decorated, the pictures on the walls and everything that.
Made that home what it was for the individual who either owned it or had owned it.
But I felt strange in most of them. I felt this just doesn't feel like home to me.
And you would, I think, feel the same. But I have no doubt that when you and I, whether through death or the coming of the Lord, are suddenly taken to that heavenly whole.
I have no doubt that instantly you and I will feel perfectly at home. We will immediately feel I am whole. And for the sake of some of the children here who may wonder and perhaps not be able to relate to what I'm talking about, in a few minutes I'm going to tell you a couple of stories.
About a couple of children that saw clearly into that hole.
What else will characterize that hope?
Ah, it's the Father's house. And Philip here was a little confused. He could say, well, Lord, show us the Father and we'll be satisfied. And going back a page, we find that Thomas could say, we don't know where you're going, Lord, and how can we know the way? And the Lord gives that wonderful verse that is so often used in the gospel.
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I am the way.
The truth and the life and it's right to use it in the gospel, but I'd like to use it in a little different sense this afternoon, if I may. I am the way. The way to what?
The way to the Father.
With away to the Father. Have we been able to see the Father? Yes we have. How and where? In the person of the Lord Jesus Christ as he walked this earth. And he could say so clearly, He that hath seen me, hath seen the Father, how beautiful I am the way.
The truth. The truth, O Pilate could say to the Lord Jesus what is truth?
The Greeks were always searching for truth in that day, and they discovered a lot of things in this world.
But they could never discover anything that could only be known by divine revelation.
What takes place after death? Will reason tell me no? Will philosophy tell me no? What? What will tell me what happens after death? Only the revelation in this precious book.
How do we know how this world came into existence? Man has invented all kinds of theories, but we can know it only for sure from divine revelation.
But the Sun has revealed the Father, and it's the Father's house.
The Lord Jesus could say to his disciples in another place, The Father himself loveth you.
I've tried to think of that in relationship to God as my father.
We all in one way or another, had earthly fathers. Some people here may have not had a very good upbringing. Maybe you didn't have a father that loved and cared for you the way he ought to have done. But many here I know grew up in loving homes and had fathers. But is there anything to compare having God as our Father?
Many years ago, back in the 19 century in a Bible reading.
The question was raised by someone. Well, when we get up there in that glory, will we actually see the Father?
Good question, isn't it? Will we actually see the father and the answer given by a brother and some will recognize the source of this?
I thought was beautiful, he said. I know of no scripture that actually says that we will see the Father. But then he went on to say, but I cannot think of being in the Father's house without being very much aware of his presence. Isn't that beautiful? Will we enjoy the Father's presence? Indeed we will.
And that home is going to be characterized by the presence of the Father and the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as man.
But what else is going to characterize it?
What will heaven really be like? Oh, I suggest one thing that it will be.
It will be the continual unfolding for all eternity of the glories of Christ connected with the love that exists between the Father and the Son, that love that existed from a past eternity.
Look at a verse in the 15th chapter, I said. We'd refer to one or two other verses.
To me this verse.
This verse is beyond our understanding. Verse 9.
John 15 and verse 9 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.
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A brother under whose ministry I grew up, Harry Hayhoe, used to tell us young people, he said. Memorize that verse and say it over to yourself every day of your life.
I can't say that I have fulfilled his exhortation, but I can remember when I was in my final year of high school and I had a good friend in the class who was a true Christian, not gathered to the Lord's name, but I invited him to come with me for a day to the Bible Conference in Toronto, ON. He gladly came.
Very much enjoyed himself and after the gospel meeting that evening, and I cannot even remember who took the gospel, I remember walking out of the auditorium and the two of us bumped into Harry Hayhoe. I'll never forget what he said. He recognized me, of course, but he didn't recognize my friend. That didn't matter. He burst out right to the right into our face as he said.
I'll be singing in the Father's house.
I will. I'll be singing in the Father's house.
What made it even more interesting to me was that in this life, he couldn't sing.
Couldn't carry a tune that was well known.
But he looked forward to the day when he'd have a voice, when he'd be singing in TuneIn, the Father's house. The gospel had been a particularly solemn one, but also a very heartwarming one, with the love of God brought out. And it reminded him that there was coming a day very soon when the Lord would take him home and that he would be able to sing in the Father's house.
Well, our time is going. Let's go on because there are some other things we want to talk about here.
Perhaps, you say, and I'll tell another. Well, I was going to tell a couple of stories for the children. I don't want to forget about that. And there's at least one family here that has heard me tell this story before, and I'd ask them to bear with me.
What is it going to be like to be in the father's house?
Reminds me of a true story, and I don't know whether I can tell it without choking up, but many years ago, back in the 19th century, before medical treatment was what it is today, there was a family that had several children and the youngest was a little girl about two years old. Beautiful little girl apparently, but then she got very, very sick.
And she was so sick that it didn't look as if she were going to make it.
And the mother, not understanding completely the truth of the Word of God, was terribly distraught.
Because the little girl had never been baptized. And in her simple mind, as she thought about it, to her that meant that that little girl, if she passed away, was going to go into a lost eternity, going to go to hell. And she worked herself into an awful state, thinking that her beloved little girl was probably going to die and going to go to hell.
Well, the father was more intelligent.
He knew the Lord, he knew that wasn't going to happen, but all his attempts to console his wife were totally fruitless.
Finally he looked up to the Lord, and he said, Lord, you'll have to show her meaning his wife. You'll have to show her the reality of the father's house.
The little girl didn't die an easy death, she ended up with convulsions and that sort of thing. An awful thing to witness. I seen it a few times and thankfully had medication able to control it, but there was nothing in that day that they had, and she had to watch that poor mother, that little girl, go through awful convulsions as she neared the end of the journey.
Was the Lord going to answer the Father's prayer? Indeed he was right. At the end of the journey, just as she was about to pass out of this life, suddenly the convulsion stopped.
The little girl's body became totally normal as far as you could see from the outside.
00:35:08
Big smile came into her face.
She reached up her little arms like this and looked up with the brightest mile.
And was gone.
Anyone here that knows children at all knows that if a strange adult goes to pick up a very young child, you better be careful.
Our daughter was the kind of a girl that would go to anybody, didn't care who it was. It was almost dangerous. But most little children of that age are.
Not too careful with strangers, but did that little girl feel that way? No Why? Because it was the arms of the Lord Jesus that she was reaching out for.
Another little girl.
Lovely story took place back again in the 19th century.
She was a little older, maybe 7:00 or 8:00, and she was truly saved.
And not too long beforehand, someone had read to her the 21St chapter of Revelation about the holy city coming down from heaven, out of heaven, from God, a picture, no doubt, of the church. But the little girl had grasped the truth of that, that this to her, was what heaven was going to be like.
She got very sick too.
And she wasn't going to make it either.
But she told her parents on her deathbed. She said don't cry for me.
I'm going to be in that heavenly city that we read about.
And right at the very end and you and I can't understand this.
Suddenly her face flashed with a bright smile, and she said, Oh, she said.
I see the heavenly city, the wall that's made of Jasper, just like the Bible says.
And she was gone.
How did she know at that age what Jasper looked like? I don't know.
What did she see? I'm not sure, but all I can say to you is.
The Lord tailored His vision of coming glory.
To suit what that little girl knew.
Is there going to be any different for you and me? Most of us here know much more than that.
But the simplicity of it all is wonderful.
But now let's go on. It says the second part of the chapter, beginning with verse.
15.
Gives us two other aspects of Coming Glory. Number one, it says.
Verse 15 If ye love me, keep my commandments, and I will pray the Father.
And He shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know Him, for He dwelleth with you. That is, He was dwelling with them in the person of the Lord Jesus.
And shall be in you that's looking on to the day of Pentecost.
I will not leave you comfortless. I will come to you.
I remember well meeting a couple on the streets of Toronto when I was handing out tracks.
And I spoke to them clearly about what lay beyond death and what.
They needed to do in order to be sure of where they were going.
And the man's response was well, that's all well and good Sir, but I need something right now. My wife and I are in trouble. I need something right now.
Does God give you and me something right now? Yes. He wants us to have the enjoyment in our hearts of that home before we get there.
Always say. How can that be?
00:40:00
Well, it tells us right here, it's by the power of the Spirit of God that the Lord wants that home, the Father's house.
To be a present living reality in your heart and mind. And I believe that's why Brother Harry Hayhoe said to say that verse in the 15th chapter, the ninth verse over every day of your lives. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Why did he say that?
Because the present enjoyment of heaven down here.
Is through the enjoyment of the Father's love and the Lord's love and in that home throughout all eternity, we will enjoy not only the glory that will be wonderful. We will celebrate the grace that brought us there that will be wonderful, but will what will also be wonderful will be.
To see God the Father and God the Son.
Each one fully satisfied. Satisfied with what?
Satisfied with having you and me there with them.
Isn't that something hymn #64 in our hymn book expresses it rather well. Our God whom we have known well known in Jesus love.
Rests in the blessing of his own before himself above.
That is what God is going to rest. And can God rest now? God can't rest. Can the Lord Jesus rest now? In one sense, yes, because the work has been done. But sin still exists. It exists in this world, it exists in this whole universe. And God will not rest completely. Until again quoting another hymn, all taint of sin shall be removed.
All evil done away.
Shall dwell with God's beloved through God's eternal day.
Pardon a personal note. That was my father's favorite hymn. We sung it at his funeral.
And it's dear to my heart.
He rests, God rests in the blessing of his own, and he's going to rest up there because you and I are there, fully conformed to the image of His Son, fully enjoying all that He is, all that the Son is, and His love flowing out unhinderedly.
But does it not flow out now?
What will we have up there that we don't have now? Think of it for a few minutes.
Our glorified bodies, yes, but not much else.
Do we have new life in Christ? The title to be there. It's ours today. We have eternal life. Do we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us? Yes, we do. And this chapter tells us that He's going to be with us forever. When the Lord comes, the Spirit of God leaves with us. And just think, the Holy Spirit will be there for all eternity to minister to.
Heart and mind, the enjoyment of Christ and the glories of Christ.
But does God want that to begin down here? Indeed He does, and that's why He has sent the Holy Spirit down.
I say it looking around the room, is it a present living reality in each one of our souls? You know, we can be truly saved and we can truly be indwelt with the Holy Spirit, and yet at the same time we can live at a distance from the Lord. And the Spirit being grieved is not able to minister Christ to our souls. He has to take us, has to occupy us with the waywardness, the sinfulness.
The worldliness in our lives.
But God wants us to enjoy that now.
That home but then there's one other thing here verse 15 if he loved me, keep my commandments.
00:45:00
What would you think if someone offered you a beautiful home?
Sometimes it happens. Sometimes people get a beautiful home offered to them.
And suppose the individual that offered that home to you were to say. But there are just a few things that I'd like you to do for me.
In order to be able to enjoy that home and I've given you the new life that wants to do those things.
And I've given you the Holy Spirit as the power of that new life, God says.
Would anyone of us here want to say?
Oh, I don't know. I'd like the home, I'd like to enjoy it, but I'd rather have my own will. I don't want to do.
The commandments of the one who is giving me that home.
And yet I speak to my own heart how often that happens in our lives. And I say to your heart and mind going back to the first verse of our chapter.
Let not your heart be troubled. And later on in the chapter we have the same expression.
In verse 27, middle of the verse, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
The world is in trouble today and we scarcely want to take a look at the news.
Because of all the trouble in this poor world.
We're pretty secure in North America.
Our brother who gave thanks for the food today, expressed it well. How many there are in this world today who can't look down at a nice plate of food and enjoy it, or who perhaps are living under very difficult circumstances? Is that going to change? It may well change, it may well change, and we may well suffer some persecution even in these favored lands.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Whether it's the Covic pandemic with all the ramifications of it, or whether it's the war in the Ukraine, or whether it's trouble in government with all kinds of things going on and everyone throwing up their hands and saying I don't know what's going to happen to this country. Whether it's Canada, whether it's the United States, and we could name a few others where it's just seeming to be one thing after another.
Let not your heart be troubled.
Why? Oh, because the future is bright and God wants us to live in the good of that now.
But it means keeping his commandments and you and I need that.
Admonition. I certainly do, but it does say in another place, His commandments are not grievous. His commandments are not grievous. God does not give you anything to do for Him.
That the new life that you have in Christ doesn't want to do.
Sometimes we have a hard time with that, but remember talking to a young man my own age many years ago and he was truly saved, I have no doubt about it.
But he was living for this world.
And we talked about some things at one point, and I asked him, I knew him well. And I said, you know, which nature wants to do that, which nature is wanting to do that when you talk like that.
Well, he said I don't get this about two natures. He said I want to do something, I want to do it. I don't have any 2 natures.
Ouch.
Did he have a new life in Christ? I know he did. I heard him confess Christ and I know it was real.
But that new life had been pushed so far into the background.
By the allowing of the old sinful self to take its place in prominence in his life. That for all practical purposes I wouldn't have blamed anyone if they said I don't think that he is a Christian.
While our time is going, keeping his commandments is important.
Very important if we want to have the enjoyment of that home.
00:50:02
And what an enjoyment it is in your soul and mine.
Sometimes, perhaps as we get to the ward, the end of the journey. I've talked to a few people at the meetings here, and I guess it doesn't hurt to say we've shared a few of our physical problems that come upon us when we get older, some of them worse than others.
And it reminds me of a story.
Again, of my late father-in-law, about whom some of us talked a little bit at the dinner table today.
Albert Hayhoe and I remember his telling us he was in years gone by. We used to have a Bible conference at in the assembly where I grew up in Hamilton, ON and it was a nice facility.
Had very good a very good kitchen so that we could make our own meals. Beautiful auditorium with good good sound projection. You didn't need mics at all. And there was only one drawback. There were two long flights of stairs to get up and down from the auditorium to the dining room. And of course, as a young fellow in those days, I sprinted up and down and thought nothing of it.
And my late father-in-law apparently was doing the same thing, being relatively young in those days. And as he was sprinting up the stairs, he passed a couple of elderly sisters who were going up just slowly, one step at a time. He knew them. And he stopped beside them and kind of with a grin on his face, said.
Don't you wish you were young again and could Sprint up these stairs the way I'm doing?
Well, he got an answer that I don't think he was expecting, but he appreciated it. The one sister looked at him with a smile and a twinkle in her eye and she said.
When we're this near home. When we're this near home.
You want me to turn back the clock when I'm this near home?
Oh, she was living for the glory, for the future. That's what animated her heart.
I guess it's all right to tell this story another one.
My wife's late aunt Ruth Smith of Ottawa, ON and I always called her Auntie Ruth too. When to be with the Lord a few years ago at the age of 96.
And she had lived all her life in the one home, been born in the home, lived in it as a girl growing up.
Married. Her husband came to live with her on the ground floor of the hall, and when her parents, Harry and Irene Hayhoe, went to be with the Lord, they took over the whole home. She lived in that home all 96 years of her life.
The house was built a couple of years before she was born.
She had to go into Hospice care and the Hospice was only about 5 blocks from the house.
And as she was being taken to Hospice care by ambulance.
Her nephew met her, her sorry. Her grandson Matthew, who is a paramedic, was in the ambulance with her and as they were going from the hospital to the Hospice.
He said Grandma, would you like to drive past the house one more time?
Was a nice thought, wasn't it?
Would you like to drive past the house one more time?
Later on I found out what her answer was. Beautiful.
Oh no, Matthew, I'm not looking back. I'm looking forward.
Imagine.
She was fully clear, right to the end. I'm not looking back. She wasn't thinking of that home, with all its memories, right from her earliest girlhood.
I'm not looking back, I'm looking forward. One more small point, back to verse 27, John 14 and 27.
00:55:09
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.
Without dwelling on it, I believe the first piece is peace with God as to our sins through the Lord Jesus Christ.
But the second piece is the peace in which our blessed Savior walk through this world.
Accepting everything from the father and taking everything to the father.
But then in the 28th verse, which we've already referred to, I'd like to refer to something else there, because there is an expression here the likes of which I don't know where to find in the whole Bible.
The nearest that I can come to it is in 2nd Thessalonians 3 and if you read the verse in the Darby translation.
It reads like this. Now the Lord directs your hearts into the love of God.
And into the patience of the Christ.
He is waiting for us with far more, what shall I say, love? Far more wish to have us with Him than we are waiting to be with Him. But notice what He says here in verse 28.
Ye have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. Now notice this, If ye loved me, ye would rejoice, because I said, I go under the Father, for my Father is greater than I. What is the Lord Jesus saying ye would rejoice?
If he loved me, ye would rejoice because I said I go under the Father. You know God likes us sometimes to get right out of ourselves and see things from his point of view.
The patience of the Christ, our King James says. The patient waiting for Christ, and that's true. But the patience of the Christ, think of his patience.
In waiting for us. And what is it saying here if you really loved me?
If the response of your hearts were right, instead of being troubled, you would be happy for my sake, because I'm going back to the Father.
He had left that home, that home of uncreated glory, in order to come down into this world, to make you and me fit for that glory. All that the Lord Jesus had done, and now He counts on the response of our hearts.
Are we ready to think of his happiness? His happiness up there now with the Father, But it won't be complete until he has you and me with him.
I know our time is gone, but can we sing one more hymn? Somehow it just seems to fit so much him 100 and 27127.
Maybe I tell too many stories about hymns, but I love. If you look in the back of the book you'll see.
The author of this hymn, Mrs. JA Trench.
Mrs. JA Trench.
I've read a little bit about her. They came into fellowship later on, after some of the early ones like JN Darby and JG Ballot and others like that. But there was a tremendous interest in the things of the Lord. And she was a very, very godly woman. She had a very pretty name. Her first name was Jeanetta, Jeanetta Trench.
Her married name?
And look at the expressions in this hymn. Just amazing. Verse three. Oh, what a hole.
Their fullest love flows through its courts of light. The sun's divine affections flow throughout its depth and height and full response the Father gives to fill with joy the heart beautiful.
01:00:03
Let's sing it together #127.
How blessed a whole world.
Father's heart.
Is.
Gone.
And change us our swathes.
Hey, Cortana, Make.
US.
All our hearts abortion.
Again the boy shall.
I'll hurt murders towards someone.
Let's just go on to the fourth verse. Thank you.
And all it's all creature.
The power of yourselves.
Love our sorrow.
One more short story. There have been others who have seen very clearly.
Into that heavenly home.
And I can only think of one that comes to mind.
Thomas Edison was a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, accustomed all his life to scientific.
Experiment and careful looking at what he saw.
On his deathbed, as he lay there quietly waiting for the Lord to take him home, all he said was.
It's very beautiful over there.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, what more can we say in Thy presence as we realize that Thou didst send thy beloved Son down into this world in love to us?
01:05:11
In order that we might enjoy thy home and thy love.
We pray that it may become a more living reality to us, Lord Jesus, as Thy coming draws near. But if thou shouldst tarry, blessed Lord, we thank Thee for Thy Holy Spirit that can make these things good to our souls, and perhaps even more so as the days grow darker. We commend ourselves to Thee in Thy word.
Praying that it might have its effect on each one of us.
For we ask it, Lord Jesus, in thy precious and worthy name, Amen.
Set Your Mind on Things Above
Open—Bob 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.
Perhaps we could sing #230.
#230.
* Wars.
Student of God.
Like God.
To say.
When you follow my son and Bethlehem Smith daughter, that's the only life.
Loudness I fathers.
Make progress and it is well-being life I knew, I say.
Matter of law.
Clause I drive a chill.
It's the desire of the local brethren here in Shadow Hills that the next 60 or 70 minutes be spent with an open meeting.
It's a lot of different thoughts and feelings and opinions. I'm learning about open meetings.
Sometimes it seems kind of.
Contentious. I hope not.
Want to talk a little bit about a little bit before we start.
A little story about a recent care meeting we had in Shadow Hills. The brethren got together. It was a good group. We were at full strength, which is always encouraging. We we're going to talk about the speakers for this.
Conference.
So we got out the whiteboard, actually it was a chalkboard because we're kind of old school in Shadow Hills, but put, started putting down some names and, and with different meetings and, and we got through all the speakers and that was encouraging. We, we, we were of one mind. We thought we were making good progress and.
Quite a few of the brethren canceled.
The other day, so our well laid out plans were.
Changed thankful to say that the Lord provided suitable alternatives and to those of you that filled in, we want to say thank you.
Back to the care meeting, we got to the end and somebody says, well, what about that TBD meeting to be determined? So that led to a discussion. Well, we could have an open meeting, you know, but it might make more sense to have a fifth reading meeting. Sometimes there's there's merit in that. And then somebody else thought, well, maybe an address would be good, you know, and.
We talked for a while.
Actually, quite a while.
00:05:01
I.
And at the end, at the end of the meeting, we concluded that.
If we can look to the Lord for these three days of meetings to provide for a spiritual help blessing financially that that there wouldn't be any serious health or sickness.
We should be able to rely on him for 60 minutes or 65. So I'd like to read a few verses. Turn, please, to a familiar portion in First Corinthians.
First Corinthians, chapter 14.
And verse 29.
1St Corinthians 1429 Let the prophet speak two or three, and let the other judge, if anything be revealed to another that sitteth by, Let the first hold his peace.
Free e-mail prophecy one by one, that all may learn and all may be comforted.
Or encouraged.
The spirits and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, for God is not the author of confusion, but of peace.
As in all churches of the Saints.
One more verse first, Peter.
A.
First Peter chapter 4 and verse 11.
If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God.
If any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth.
That God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion forever and ever. Amen.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee.
For answered prayer with respect to the last day and a half, we thank the again that so many of our brethren.
Had the desire to spend their.
Holiday weekend here with us. We are honored and we thank thee.
For this we thank you for undertaking for us in so many ways. Now at this time, we ask for help.
On the hour ahead, we just pray, Lord, that it would be a blessing. We pray that there would be a brother or two, possibly three, that has a portion indeed for myself that they would in fact have the liberty to take the podium and.
Share it with us.
Just ask this request now and I alone worthy and precious name.
I want to turn to Colossians chapter 3.
And read the 1St 4 verses of that chapter.
Let's say that what our dear brother Bill had to say in the last meeting.
Echoed a lot of some meditations I've had on that same subject of the Father's house, but I'm going to go from this scripture.
If then ye be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.
Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.
Set your affection or the margin says your mind.
On things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
00:10:11
So here we have the exhortation.
To seek those things which are above.
Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God to set our minds. This means that you and I take a definite measure.
To think on things that are above and I must say, brethren, when I look at my life sometimes at the end of a day and reflect how much of today.
Have I had my mind on things above? The percentage is pretty low.
O brethren, at a moment's notice, we're going to vacate planet Earth, and we're going to go into that glory above.
And as Bill was saying, to try to imagine what it's going to be.
Is pretty much beyond this and I find that so often we say well.
There's no way we can understand those things and we kind of dismiss it and we don't really carry out what this exhortation is telling us to set our mind on things about.
Say brethren. It's kind of interesting. At one time at a outing in Bolivia we had in our local meeting at that time, it was Cochabamba.
We went out into, we had a.
Day where we all got together out in the countryside.
Some of the beautiful Andes mountains and.
They wanted to have some kind of a Bible study. So we took up this these verses and we had a chalkboard there and it says here set your mind on things which are above.
I said OK now.
I want somebody to stand over the chalkboard and write down the things that are above.
You know, at first glance around everybody.
What are you talking about? Well, there's Lovejoy Peace up there and there are things like that. But things I said, come on, brethren, it talks about things above.
Let's come up with some of the scriptures that talks about.
Those things which are above one of the things that was listed was when Brother Bill took out the Father's house.
Oh, I find that so thrilling, Brendan.
The Lord Jesus didn't sit in my house, no.
In my father's house. Why isn't it his house?
Yes, but he doesn't present it that way. It's in my father's house.
Yesterday we had.
John chapter one and our brother.
Mentioned that question.
That the two disciples that followed the Lord Jesus asked.
Where dwellest thou?
And I must say, brethren, I have really enjoyed thinking, where was the Lord's dwelling place even when he was down here in this world?
It says if you go back to the 14th verse of chapter one.
The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father.
He hath declared him.
Where was his dwelling place?
The bosom of the Father, that was his dwelling place from all eternity.
And even when he was passing through this world, it was his dwelling place.
And brethren, I like to think of the fact that the Lord Jesus, when he was here in this world, didn't really have a House of his own. He said the foxes have holes, the birds of the air have nests, the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head. Why didn't he have a house? Was it prohibited? No, wasn't prohibited.
00:15:21
But he came from the Father's house.
And he couldn't find any place down here that equaled that.
Frankly speaking, he wasn't interested in anything else.
Because he had come from the Father's house. It's the place of the enjoyment of the Father's love, that place that he enjoyed from all eternity.
You know, brethren, I must say, I get such a thrill out of mingling with other countries where we have those who are in fellowship, the Lord's table with us and.
The beginning of this month we were down the Dominican Republic.
And quite a few of those countries they have.
Large families.
And I this time we were with a brother in the meeting of Loma Alta. It's a big it's a high hill that overlooks the Caribbean Sea on the north of the island.
He has eighteen children.
That's something that's not.
Much known in this country. So I was with him and I said, your 18 children, brother, which of them is your favorite?
He looks at me and shakes his head. I don't have favorites.
I thought that was so interesting. You know how children are different? Each one is different from another.
And.
I think he could have said they're all my favorites.
And it would be true.
But when we think of the Father's house rather than when we think of the glory, have you ever thought of the millions, I suppose we could say billions of the reading.
We're going to feel lost in the crowd up there, and I kind of get lost in the crowd down here. Where is that person I was looking for?
Oh, brother.
Everyone will have a special place for him. There's been a place for you that I can't feel. There's going to be a place for me that you can't fill. And I think that's the sense of.
In my father's house are many abodes is really the word. It's a place adapted for each one. You will not feel lost in the crowd. How do you explain that? I can't do that, sorry.
But that's what I believe to be the truth. Everyone is going to have a special place.
Suited, adapted for you. I find that so amazingly wonderful. You know, I was in a big crowd one time in La Paz, Bolivia. They were having.
A political.
Rally for some candidate and I don't remember who it was.
But I can still remember who we must have been 5-6 thousand people on that big open Plaza.
And I can see the candidate way up front, barely see him.
As he started addressing the crowd.
Talk about being lost in the crowd.
But rather than we're not going to be that way when we get to the glory. The Father's house has a place. He says I go to prepare a place for you. I hope I'm not interrupting any of your thoughts here Bill, but I must say I enjoy this so much and and to think that God has a place for everyone. And so these are some of the things.
That are above.
What else can we say about those things which are above?
And I'm not going to be long up here, brethren, but you know, we have Revelation chapter 21 and chapter.
00:20:14
Two verse five of chapter 22 describes the heavenly city. The 1St 8 verses of chapter 21 describe the heavenly city in the eternal day.
After the 1St heaven and the first earth had passed away.
And it's very interesting what it says. One of the things I just like to point out there and just turn over to it in Revelation 21 That I find very interesting.
In verse 7.
Talking about that city.
And those that will be there, he says, he that overcometh shall inherit all things. Excuse me, I mean verse six. He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega. The beginning and the end I will give unto him that is.
Thirst of the Fountain of the Water of Life.
Freely, freely.
1St in heaven.
In eternity.
And you know, thinking through that, what has come to my own heart?
His brethren, even in that eternal day where everything is perfect.
Where there is no more sin tomorrow anything.
We will never be sufficient in ourselves. We will always depend on our God to satisfy.
The thirst of our souls, I must say I thoroughly enjoy that to think about it.
So we have a lot to be said and like I say the 1St 8 verses are the eternity and then from verse 9 down through chapter 22, verse five, you have the heavenly city in the millennial day. There you have walls. Interesting. What do you need walls for?
You need walls to keep something out.
And so that won't be necessary in the eternal day. So you don't find anything about walls in the 1St 8 verses. It's in the next part which deals with the millennial day because they're still going to be sin in occasions on earth. And so there's walls, there's gates.
And so those things will be necessary in the millennial day. There's the Tree of Life there, the Tree of life that was found in the Garden of Eden.
Really. A picture of the Lord Jesus?
But here is transplanted to the heavenly paradise.
And.
Isn't that wonderful? It says.
That the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nation. So there is not going to be any sickness anymore in the millennial day. Can you try to imagine this world without hospitals, without doctors, without medicines, without pharmacies? It's hard to imagine those things, but that's what it's going to be.
Oh brethren, these are things that I must say. I just want to challenge you.
To set your mind on things above.
Where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Find it so beautiful. One further thought and I want to leave.
The rest of the time for others, but that I must say I have enjoyed when the Lord Jesus says there in John 14 I go to prepare a place for you.
I remember years ago somebody saying when he entered there as a man.
The place was prepared. Never before was there a human being in resurrection glory in the presence of God.
00:25:04
When he entered there and took his seat at God's right hand as a human being, as a man, he will be there, a human being for ever. The place was prepared for us. O brethren, these are wonderful things.
To think about, to meditate on. And I think the more we do meditate on it, it's going to have the effect of transforming our lives, to take away so much occupation with things down here. Yes, we need to.
Have a job and provide for our families. That's very proper. Scripture tells us that.
But brethren, it gets overwhelming sometimes, and as I say when I reflect on how much time I spend on the material instead of those things which are eternal, it really.
Must say it really is a challenge to me. Just before I close, I want to read the last verse of Second Corinthians chapter 4.
Two Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 18.
He says while we look.
Not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporal or connected with time, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
O brethren, the Lord help us. Ye dear young people, spend your time.
Your extra time on things that will last forever.
We have to be occupied in a certain measure with things of time, but the Lord help us in the time we have over and about to set our minds on things above.
The Lord Wants to Use Us
Open—Rafael Gonzales
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Good evening, brother.
I want to read a verse in chapter 22 of Luke.
Verse 31.
32.
The Lord said Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.
But I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not when thou art converted. Strengthen thy brethren. De SE en espanol dico Tamil El senor Simon Simon a quisa tenas osapedido para saranderos comatrio porti que tufenofalte ITU una vesuelto con Firma atus hermanos. He just read the verses I read.
I want to speak about this story of Anna in First Samuel.
Capitolo Uno de Primera esamuel Jana. Sorry, brethren, it's not Hannah. It's Hannah.
First Samuel. Chapter One simplemente como recordar que esta epoca antes de Anna Y de Samuel.
To remember that before the time of Samuel and Anna.
Skura, the people of Israel lived in a time that was very difficult, very dark.
This we see in the Book of Judges.
There is a chapter that is very sad, very dark.
And mano Stamos viendo tiempos de fisiles, We are living in times that are very difficult.
We in truth believe that the Lord is going to come soon.
In that time it said that there was number king in Israel and everyone did what was right in their own eyes.
And in our times, in the great house, it's the same way. It seems like everybody does what is right in their own eyes.
And that's what happens sometimes in our families, in our assemblies, we do.
What we think is right in our own eyes.
And we are not listening and looking to the Lord Jesus.
Cuba This story of Hannah. The Lord permitted me to use this with our dear brethren in Cuba.
El manito que conocid Delgado SUS posa Tami in Delgado suicide.
There was a brother that I knew that I met there. He's very thin and his wife is very thin and his daughter is very thin.
They had very much infirmity.
And at times I found I didn't have anything to say to him.
I just could give him a hug and cry. He knows. Have you Compartir? No, I didn't know what to share with him.
But all my bustes Historia Diana is the Penina. But I was I enjoyed this story of Hannah and Penina.
But Anna Hannah was a woman who didn't have any children, and she was sad.
As I said before, Penina had several children.
She wasn't so much thinking of them.
She wasn't taking them out for a excursion.
00:05:01
First Samuel 1/6.
Her adversary? That was Benina.
Also provoked her sore for to make her fret because the Lord had shut up her womb.
Nosotros omos como penina entre Los Hermanos in. It can be that sometimes we're like Penina amongst our brethren.
And there are those who attack us and make us feel like what Panina did to Hannah.
Buscoy dependio de dios.
But the important thing was that Hannah, in her necessity, looked to the Lord.
And Cuba, Podemos Compartile Hermano, Michel Piaget. And this trip to Cuba I was able to meet up with Michelle Payette from Montreal.
No necesita dios, he sat. In Canada, you can't hardly give out tracks because people don't want that kind of thing.
Perencano Cuba pesar de tanta necesidal la gente esta ambrienta de conocer radios that in Cuba, because of the poverty, the people are anxious to get something that talks about God.
IOS And it's interesting that Panina that was had children was not in the temple praying to God.
But Hannah was in the temple, prayed.
And Eli, who was in charge of the things of God.
He was, really.
Asleep in the things of God.
Verse 9.
This is levanto **** espose cubo committee vivido and silo imitreces oteli estabas Antonio Sia Hunton pilar del templo de Hua. So Hannah rose up after they had eaten in Shiloh, and after they had drunk. Now Eli the priest sat upon a seat by a post of the temple of the Lord.
El capitulo que siege Los vemos dormido and so Eli is either seated.
Or is asleep.
But sometimes I feel like that's me. Sometimes I'm seated or I'm asleep.
The Lord wants to awaken us and make us aware of where we are.
Doesn't mean that you have to go to another part of the world.
Is implemented.
It's simply to leave off mean thinking about ourselves.
And to think about others, it's implemented.
Not think about ourselves.
And to be occupied with the things that are Christ Jesus.
Might be in your house, or in the assembly or in the street.
Anna una de Las cosas que esta borando Y epidio dios unico.
And Hannah was in the temple praying, and asked the Lord for a son.
Was there and he looked at her and he made a bad judgment. He thought she was drunk.
And sometimes it's that way with us that we sometimes see our children and we don't realize what they're going through.
Sometimes they're going through difficulties and we're not understanding them and there are young people in our assembly and we're not really understanding what they're going through.
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They say, can a pidio idios de consider tener athenal unico. Hannah asked for a son, and the Lord was gracious in giving her one.
Capitola dos chapter 2 Diana, We have the prayer of Hannah Parenthesis Mujeres here. I want to speak to the sisters here.
Muchas mujeres Iglesias, you know this is sometimes in the great house. We see the women taking part that is not really supposed to be for them.
Sometimes they are preaching and sometimes they are pastors.
And sometimes I think maybe the sisters want to get up and say something. Eli sit there and.
Asleep.
It is very interesting because we have the prayer of Hannah recorded here.
There's no prayer on the part of Eli that is registered.
She kept her place.
Respect and her place as a woman. But now we are leading reading about her and learning from her.
So their sisters, be encouraged because God can use you.
In the order and the way that God wishes.
Now let's think about what happened to Samuel.
Naze Samuel is madre despues quelo esteta quisalos cuatro cincuenos Nos hermos sacramente Samuel. He's born and after.
Two to three or four or five years. We don't know how long it was. He's ready now to be.
Weaned from his mother.
En la Casa de dios. And so she takes him to the House of God.
Tres in verse chapter 3 Uno idos verse one and two Loren Espanol ministra delima Diaz confrecencia dia.
Model que no podia ber Samuel estabador miendo en El temple arcadios antes queeran paradios fuze a pagada.
1St 3 Verses. And the child Samuel ministered unto the Lord before Eli. The word of the Lord was precious in those days. There was no open vision came to pass at the at that time when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see, and ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the Lord, where the ark of God was.
And Samuel was laid down to sleep.
Yenberger manos tamos vindos momentos viende fisiles tristes para testimonial de la iglesia. We are living in times that are very sad and difficult in the Church of God.
But the lamp of God has not been put out.
And the Lord wants to use you, brother and sister.
Memos Ali Kestaba Acosta here it says that Eli was laid down.
His eyes were dimmed.
And so in verse four, the first call to Samuel is given.
That the Lord called Samuel, and he answered, Here I am.
Isamuel Bacon, Elise, Eli Eliquier quires and Samuel runs to.
Eli and says what do you want?
And he says I didn't call you. Go lay down and sleep.
It happened the second time.
The third time, Eli understood that the Lord was calling the young man.
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We have to learn, dear brethren.
And to encourage the younger brother.
That God wants to use them too.
And so we see something interesting here.
Elias Samuel Bay acuestate is it a jamares de Ras habla queua porque porquet to serve oyen ace accustoms uluar verse 9 Therefore Eli said unto Samuel, Go lie down.
And it shall be if he called thee, that thou shalt say, Speak, Lord, for thy servant heareth. So Samuel went down, went and lay down in his place.
No quirozer mistiko pero embarradios Nos JAMA muchas versus. I don't want to be a Mystic, but sometimes God calls us.
We were 12 years ago in Cuba.
And there were times that were very difficult then.
One time the police detained us for three hours because I had Bibles.
What time I was.
Being put up in a home of one of the brothers and the police came and made me go to a hotel that was two hours away.
They don't permit us to sleep in the houses of the brethren.
And there were things that kind of discouraged me.
And about five months ago.
My wife and I started praying about going to visit them again.
And we had the desire to go.
My brother Mano Felipe 4 near So one day brother Phil Fournier spoke to me.
And he said, Brother, how are you? I am.
There's some brethren that have sent funds to help the brethren in Cuba because of the hurricane that went over that island.
And I want to know if you can go.
And so the Lord was showing me that I wanted that I should go.
Perot tresa mana sante de sanada but three weeks before that call paraciek estavallo como Eli. It was like I was Eli sentado or acostado citador laying down.
Spoken to me in another way and I hadn't understood.
Because three weeks before Phil called me.
I was driving close to where my house is. It was at night.
And I saw on the ground a hat laying there.
And so I returned and picked up the hat.
Says Cuba.
Young people, the Lord is real and he has his ways of telling us and he wants to use this.
Problem And so I said to the Lord, why do you want to use me if I have problems and difficulties?
I feel like Peter that was was tried.
The Lord said to Peter, I have prayed for thee that your faith does not fail.
And he said, once you are restored, encourage your brethren.
The Lord wants to use this.
The Lord Wants to Use Us
Open—Sam Ludvicek
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 want to continue with what was just being said.
Turn with me to.
Matthew, Chapter 7.
Last night I was visiting with some brothers and there was a group standing here. I listened in on and afterwards till about 11:00. I had a nice visit with a dear brother, really enjoyed it. We talked about a number of questions and things and he made a statement that you could title a whole message by.
He said. Sometimes we're unbelieving believers.
I said that's really good.
In the context of that was the thought that we know things from this book.
And we'll say they're true, but we think of them almost like an abstract idea.
So I want to read verse 7.
Through 11.
Ask and it shall be given you. Seek, and ye shall find. Knock, and it shall be opened unto you.
For everyone that asks us receiveth, and he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Or what man is there of you whom, if his son asked bread?
Will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?
If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father, which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask him?
This kind of conversation.
We were talking about witnessing for Christ and sharing the gospel with people.
And over the years, I told him, I've been asked many times by older and younger people.
That come and talk with me and they'll ask me questions about leading souls to Christ.
And I've had older ones too that say to me, I've been witnessing and sharing the gospel all my life and I've never LED one soul to Christ.
They said you tell stories about it sometimes the experiences you've had, and I said yes I do. They're thrilling.
And I usually ask and sometimes young people ask me this and I got asked this at John Lebens camp and when I visit in different places.
And I will say to them, have you ever asked the Lord to give you a soul to win for him?
And almost every time the answer is no.
That surprises me.
Why would you? If it's a desire that you have, why wouldn't you ask the Lord to give you that?
Well, a young man in Denver had me over to his home, and we were having a visit about this. And I asked him the same question. And I said, why don't you ask for it? And he gave me an unusual answer that I hadn't gotten before. He says, because I'm afraid.
Well, I said thank you for being honest. I said, what are you afraid of? And he said, I'm afraid of the responsibility that would follow.
It would mean that if I lead a soul to Christ, I am there at the end.
I tell people it's like being a midwife, you don't have anything to do with the conception. There's a whole lot of work that's going on before.
You get to catch the baby. That's what it means to win a soul to Christ. You're there at the end.
And God has you placed in somebody's life where they have.
Being worked on and they've heard things and all of its down to this last moment where you have this wonderful, glorious experience.
Of being able to bring that soul, just that last mile, so to speak. And it is a thrill and it's a joy. And any anybody here who's done that will say that it is. And that is a joyful experience. My wife was watching a YouTube series about midwives and she was sharing with me how much she was enjoying it.
And saying how these women who practice this just love doing it because they like catching the baby.
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That last experience and doctors who do that, they love it because there's this new life in their hands. Well, this young brother said, well, I'm afraid of the responsibility. I said, don't you think the Lord will help you?
Wouldn't it be thrilling to lead a soul to Christ and then lead them into the first things, the truth our brother went on and on about? The Lord wants to use you.
Yes, he does. You know what else sometimes people are afraid of? They're not good enough. They're not perfect enough. They don't know enough.
I've got problems in my life. Well, OK.
Why not ask him?
If there's a problem, he'll point it out to you.
Try me, Lord, search me, see if there's any wicked way in me and he'll show you and then deal with it. But He does want to use you. He wants to use everyone for His honor and His glory. Last night we were talking, I said, you think that the Lord.
Prefers to use the faithful young Baptist fellow down the street or the the evangelical of whatever stripe down the street to lead a soul to Christ. He prefers that.
Does he prefer to use the Assemblies of God guy down the street who is leading souls to Christ? He will use whom he will. And thank God there are faithful people preaching the gospel and witnessing from all kinds of stripes and backgrounds. Thank you, Lord, for that.
There are many who are leading people to Christ we know nothing about and have all kinds of backgrounds. But if you really want that privilege.
I can't imagine a Christian who doesn't.
But if you really want that privilege, ask him.
I just read you verses that tell me and I read some before at the prayer meeting when we started.
About the wisdom that if you ask and you ask and you persist in asking and you ask in faith, you're going to get it.
Why wouldn't you ask?
Why don't you ask?
Are you afraid?
Well, OK, go ahead anyway. And when you are thrilled by the first time.
The Lord gives you that privilege and I'm talking to young boys and young girls, men and women both.
The Lord can bring it and drop it in your lap. This brother I was talking with, he was saying, well, you kind of have to plan how you're going to do this and this stops a lot of people. Well, I got to go give out so many tracks. I've got to prepare this. I've got to really study and, and get make sure I can answer all the questions and all this and I have to plan some kind of effort. No, you may do that.
But do this first. Just go to the Lord and tell him your heart's desire, Lord Jesus.
Blessed God and loving Father, I want to lead a soul to Christ. I want that gift from you. Give it to me, please and keep praying that Lord make it happen.
He will do it.
He'll make it happen. He'll surprise you. He'll put you in a spot someplace and you can't even. You'll just suddenly realize, you know what? He's doing it. He's doing exactly what I asked. He's helping me.
To lead a soul to Christ. Many of you already you are at any opportunity witness for Christ. You'll share the gospel, you'll hand out a track and you'll do that.
You already do that because you can't almost not help yourself because if the opportunity arises, you're going to answer those questions. But I'm talking about a particular thing. And that is literally being given that opportunity to lead a soul to him at that last part where you have the joy of that. And it might be passing in the night where you just don't meet him anymore.
My brother-in-law, Bruce, told me a story about one of his drivers.
That drove him, I think, from the airport, and now he had the privilege of leading him to Christ. I don't know. Did you ever see the man again?
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Did you see him again?
Or maybe sometimes you wouldn't and you have that privilege and they're gone, and who knows, maybe you get contact and can call him and talk to him and so forth. But sometimes it may be just like ships passing in the night. Yet you had that wonderful privilege, and certainly you've done that.
Many of you with tracks and sharing the gospel, but I'm not talking particularly about that. I'm talking about winning a Soldier price.
And as our brother was exhorting us, he does want to use you. Now, some of you young people, you will say things, and I've heard you, and you've said it to me and you say it to others, how sometimes it seems the Christian life is pretty boring. And maybe it seems pretty boring what you see practiced in front of you. Sometimes you can't use it as an excuse, though, right?
Why don't you do something about it?
And I will tell you, just think about it, if you had that chance and God gave it to you and a soul came to Christ, young person, man, woman, child, how excited would you be about that experience? Thrilling. That's not boring.
It's not boring. It's been pointed out at this conference.
How unbelievable the treasure of information and knowledge that we have.
That's been given to us.
By our spiritual ancestors.
People have a lot of different backgrounds and we have such a treasure and the world is starving.
Christians are starving. I have the privilege of going down to little town in Iowa called Washington.
And another man set it up for me. He didn't know how to have a Bible study, but he got permission to have one.
He was working in the place he was going to Bernie Breck's Bible study in Marengo. And he said those people, there's Christians there and they they're not getting any food and they've been abused by people who have treated them badly in the past. He got permission to have a Bible study.
I got the privilege of going down there at 6:30 on Friday night, so I went the first time and about 20 people showed up. They're in their 70s and 80s.
Most of them are women. They know the Lord, or at least most of them did or do.
And they're getting nothing. They go to this church and that church, there's nothing there. What I'm telling me, there's a lesbian pastor teaching in her church. There's no food.
We had a brother give a Sunday school about a funny one mixing food in a bowl. Junk food. They're not even getting junk food, they're getting poison.
And these dear old ladies, a couple of old men, one of them is blind, he can't see anymore. They come and they sit and they ask questions. And the first part of the message that was given tonight.
About talking about the things that are above all. Do they love that? They love going to this last part of Revelation?
Thinking about the possibilities, what that's going to be like to be there because.
They are not far from getting there and it thrills their souls to talk about these things, some of the simplest things.
That perhaps most of us learn when we were children. They don't know.
And they are thrilled to find it out and see it in the pages in front of them.
To the little old ladies after a while came to me after one of the Bible studies and said.
It's an hour drive.
And I they said when you leave here, how do you feel?
Do you feel like it's a burden to come here every week? I said no.
You know what I'm doing? Usually when I leave here, I'm singing in my little kick out. You're singing, I said. Yes. It's a real privilege to come and sit with people who love the Lord and are thirsty for His word.
I said I'm thrilled. He said, well, are you getting paid? I said no.
I'm happy to come because you're hungry for it, and as long as the Lord allows me, I will come. I said if I travel, I can't be here.
Dave Thurston and Huey will take my place, and they do. And those old ladies love them too.
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But they're not getting anything.
They're getting something, though, when we sit down. We started going through a book.
But you know what? We haven't gotten very far because usually it's questions, and they have questions about what they've read and they've been reading or something they've heard, but what they've been reading in the Bible, because now they're starting to read their Bibles more than they ever have, and they have sometimes simple questions.
Would you be thrilled if you were sitting in that circumstance and you had a Bible study? Bruce said last night, telling you talking about a brother who had a Bible study, neighborhood Bible study. And he said.
Would that all the Saints had a neighborhood Bible study.
Having people that are hungry for this truth that we have.
What a thrill to your soul. It's exciting, it's wonderful, it makes your life fuller. We have so much.
And I talked to people here at the conference from time to time and I'll ask are you enjoying the meetings? Everybody has said yes so far. And some of them will say that something they heard or whatever that they've enjoyed. It's so good that what we have it is very good.
But back to the Lord wanting to use you. How about that? What if every young person in here went home and said, you know what Brother Sam said? I'm going to start praying that way.
And I'm going to ask Lord to give me one this year, this next year, if he tarries, just what?
And then I'm going to invite him to come to the conference with me.
This place wouldn't have any room.
But how about just starting with that and say, Lord, I would really like to do that. I've wanted that. I'm asking you to give me the privilege of leading us all to You and then give me the wisdom to do what comes next. He will do that. Can't you trust Him for that too?
My brother was talking about.
Believing unbeliever.
Treating things that you read in the word of God and maybe repeating them and saying I hate this thing that sometimes I hear people do and I have done it myself so bad on sand, saying the Lord's will be done and using it like a throwaway line. And this brother told me the same thing. He's I've done it and he told me a story about his children.
And one of his children had his bike stolen and they prayed about it like.
Being returned. But he said, you know, I was saying Lords will be done as a throwaway line because I really didn't expect it to come back. But you know what? The Lord brought it back. So he shared that with me.
Let's not be unbelieving, believers.
We know that our God acts.
He saved you, He saved you.
Some young people are at a crossroads. Maybe you're about to depart. Maybe you're facing something.
Maybe you think it's all boring.
Take one last shot.
Ask God to give you a soul to lead for Him.
And see if you're bored.
The first time it ever happened in my life, I said now this is far. I've been rebuked for saying that it's fought. It is fought.
It's some of the most fun I've ever had in my life. You want to have some fun? Dear young person that thinks Christianity is boring, ask God earnestly to give you a soul to lead to Christ for him, and he will use you. Not because you're perfect and a perfect evangelist or perfect anything. He will use you because you ask in faith and He will answer.
I promise he will answer.
13 in the appendix.
So.
Relationship.
Praise my God and our Father.
We're grateful.
For your word.
For your son.
The blood of Jesus Christ which cleanses us from all sin.
We're grateful for life, for life.
For a path to walking.
For your Holy Spirit which guides and teaches.
To the power.
You get it.
To honor you.
And the vessels that you've chosen?
We offer praise. We give thanks.
Our glorious God.
For the knowledge that no amount of darkness.
Can quench life.
Brave Jesus name, Amen.
I Am
Gospel—Bob 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 this evening with #18 on the hem sheet.
God loved the world so tenderly.
His only son. He gave that all who on his name believe.
It's wondrous power will save.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son.
God loved the world so tenderly.
It's only sunny day.
It's 1 crystal will save.
For God, so.
Whatever.
Lasting life.
And only.
For God, So God the world.
So bad for me blessing him.
Should not perish, but I've never lost in mind.
Before we pray, I'd like to read 2 verses in first John. The first verse is.
In chapter one.
Just three words out of verse 5.
God.
Is.
Light.
The other one is in chapter 4.
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And verse 16.
In the middle of the verse, another 3 words.
God.
Is.
Love, let's pray. Gracious God our Father, what a privilege to be able to open my precious Word and to speak of the glory of Thy person.
A God of light and a God of love.
Oh, our God and Father, help this evening as we read thy precious word and speak about it. We don't know.
Each one that is here present, if they are ready for that eternity that's ahead. We pray that thy word might penetrate. If there's anybody that still is not ready that tonight, bite me the moment.
That they would be saved. We pray and give thanks, Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Wonderful privilege to be able to speak of a God of light and a God of life. You know what? He knows everything about you. There's nothing that you can hide from him.
But at the same time that He knows every single detail about you. He loves you and He loves you with a love that can never, ever end. It is a love that is eternal.
We go to a prison back east and the state of Illinois and get to talk to the prisoners and sometimes I say you may not accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. You may decide to go to a lost eternity, but you will never be able to say nobody ever loved me because there's somebody that.
Loved you so much He went to the cross so that there might be a way for you to be saved. Oh, what a God. The God that has been revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus. You know, this is the day that most people celebrate the entrance of God's beloved Son into this world. We don't really know if it was.
Today.
There's those that say it was different times in the history of the people of Israel. Perhaps in October is more a time that it might have been. The point is it is a tremendously marvelous thing that God came into this world, the eternal God, the God that.
Existed always as something that just doesn't fit in my brain.
But that's what the word of God reveals. He is a God that always was there.
And he loves you, and he loves you so much that he made the sacrifice.
That I can never understand His own beloved Son He gave to go to that cross to pay the price of my redemption. What a God, what a tremendous God and Savior we have come to know in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So it is a incredibly wonderful thing that God came into the world. You know, when I used to work at a hospital in the city of.
One of the ladies that worked in our department, she was Jewish and she said to me, why don't you celebrate the 25th of December like everybody else, she knew that I was a Christian. I say I celebrate the fact that Jesus came into this world every day of my life, not only on.
December 25th.
Oh, what a wonderful thing it was. But I said to her, Jesus never asked us to remember his birthday. He asked us to remember his death. And that is far more significant than the fact that he came into the world. Yes, he had to come into the world to be able to go to the cross and pay that price of our redemption.
00:10:09
You know, this morning a brother read.
In the breaking of bread meeting a verse in Exodus that I would like to read again. Exodus chapter 3. It's in the life of Moses.
In the Old Testament and Moses, the Lord was going to send him back to Egypt to deliver the children of Israel from the slavery of Egypt.
And so Moses says in verse 13 of chapter 3 of Exodus.
Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you, and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them?
And God said unto Moses.
I am that I am.
And he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me unto you.
That rather interesting.
Name. I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to say I'm Bob.
But he just says I am. He is the ever existing one. He always existed.
And so God has come into this world in the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus, and then our brother. Read in John chapter.
Eight, just read it again because it's good to get this from scripture, not because what I say.
John, Chapter 8.
And verse 58 Jesus saith unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was.
I am. They took up stones to cast at him. They knew what that meant. It was God's name, the eternal God.
And they thought that Jesus was blaspheming because he used that name. The truth was, he is the everlasting. I am. And I'd like to go back to the book of John.
Brother Bruce went over some of these scriptures the other day, and our brother Bill referred to them too. And I just like to go back to, let's go first of all to Chapter 6.
Of John's gospel, because the Lord Jesus says a number of times in this gospel, I am, and in each case it's something different that we need, desperately need in this life.
Chapter 6 is the miracle of the loaves and fishes that the Lord Jesus multiplied to feed the 5000. But notice what he says in verse 35.
Jesus said unto them.
I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst.
There is a void in the heart of every human being.
That only God can fill. That on the Lord Jesus can fill.
And I know you young people, sometimes I watch the year young people as they sit in meetings and I've seen some that look just totally bored.
And I can tell.
That they have not eaten of this bread.
Of life because when you eat of this bread, you will be satisfied forever. You know, this world offers a lot of things to try to fill that void. So many different things in this culture we call so advanced that is supposed to help fill that void.
00:15:05
But it never really does.
And so people drugged themselves so they don't have to deal with the emptiness they feel.
Some people like sports. Just had the World Cup played.
And it was kind of a surprise that Argentina came out with a World Cup.
You think that's going to satisfy them? I watched a little bit of the team when they went back to Argentina and the welcome they got, wowie, pretty impressive.
Do you think that filled their hearts?
I'm sure they were happy at the moment. I remember as a young person going out on a Saturday afternoon and praying football. This is American football with the young men and boy, I enjoyed it. I really liked to play football.
But I can never forget when I was returning to my home after the football game.
And there was an emptiness in there.
It did not satisfy that void and you might try any other thing that this world offers as well. I don't say that football in itself is wrong, but what I'm saying is that it will not fill the void. There's only one.
That can fill your heart so that you will never hunger again or thirst again.
It is the one who says I am the bread of life. You know what bread? I can have a loaf of bread in my hand and it doesn't satisfy my hunger by having it here in my hand. I know it's good, Brad. I've got to eat it. I got to put it in my mouth, chew it up and swallow it and make it my very own. And I say to you.
People don't just think because your parents have taught you that that's enough.
You've got to take it into your heart and soul yourself.
Notice the Lord Jesus repeats this in verse 47. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. I am that bread of life. Verse 51.
I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever.
Oh, it makes such a difference when you just simply accept the Lord Jesus when you take this in for yourself.
Dear young people, I fear that there are those that are here that have been raised in Christian homes and you know how to answer all the questions maybe your folks think she had, that you're a believer, but you haven't made it your very own yet.
I ask you tonight to accept Him as you would taking a piece of bread and ingesting it, eating it. Take the Lord Jesus as your very own. Let me tell you, He does fully satisfy the heart that trusts in Him.
Now let's go over to Chapter 8. Here's a one that our brother Bruce touched on the other day yesterday.
Says Jesus went into the Mount of Olives, and early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him, and he sat down and taught them. The scribes. And the Pharisees brought unto him a woman taking an adultery, And when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken.
In adultery, in the very act now, Moses in the Law commanded us that they that such should be stoned.
But what says thou This they said, tempting him that they might have.
To accuse him. But Jesus stooped down.
And with his finger rode on the ground, as though he had heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience.
00:20:20
Went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last.
And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers, that no man condemned thee? She said, No man, Lord Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.
Go and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the white light of life. You're the Lord. Jesus says, I am the light of the world. Oh, this is.
A interesting story how they brought this woman. The Lord Jesus was fully aware of the hypocrisy.
To have adultery, it needed a man in the picture, and they let the man go somehow.
And there was that poor woman. Think of the shame of it, standing in the midst of those Pharisees accused, and he, they want to stone her.
It was a serious sin. Sexual sin is serious before God.
Dear young people, make it serious. Your sexual purity is important.
And so here is this poor woman. She's guilty.
Caught in the very act.
And they asked the Lord Jesus we should stone this woman.
But the Lord knew if we're going to stone that woman, there was a man that had to be stoned as well.
And so instead of saying anything about that, he just says he that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone at her, and then he stooped down a road on the ground.
If you look around this room, is there somebody without sin? God says in his Word. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And if you don't realize that, you need to get into the light, because the light is going to show you how sinful you really are.
That's what happened here, those men convicted by their own conscience. Yes, God has given you a conscience.
The conscience is the knowledge of good and evil, and you have that.
Sometimes I've seen a little boy.
In his mother's living room and his mother has told him not to touch that vase on the.
On the table in the middle and he goes up to that table and he knows what his mom has said and he wants to touch that vase. He looks around and looks at his mom, see if she's looking before he tries to touch that base. Why does he do that?
Conscience. You have a conscience. There's such a thing as having a seared conscience. When somebody sends a whole bunch, they don't feel the ****** of conscience like they need to, but still.
Be beneath. The conscience is still there.
And that's the light that makes you realize how sinful you really are.
And saw out they go, the oldest 1St, until there is only that poor woman and the Lord Jesus. And he stands up and he says woman where are your accusers as no one can accused you.
She says no one Lord.
Wait a minute, there is one person there that's without sin. Wait a minute, he has the right to stone her.
But he says, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. What a Savior God is this. You know what it cost him to say, neither do I condemn thee. He was going to have to go to the cross to pay for that sin, to absolve that serious.
00:25:09
Sin she had committed.
I am the light of the world, and that light is shining in your consciences, dear young people.
I don't know. I don't know how you stand with God, but I say if you haven't rectified your accounts with God yet.
The light of God shines into your conscience. Don't try to avoid it. Don't be like these Pharisees that went out instead of facing the light. You cannot escape the light.
Now go over to the 10th chapter where we have the Lord Jesus presenting Himself twice again as the I AM. Notice.
Chapter 10 and verse 9.
I am the door by me if any man enter in.
He shall be saved, shall go in and out and find pasture. Here's the door of salvation. It's not about religion.
It's about a person.
You have to do with Jesus.
He is the door, he said. I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved. How many people struggle with being religious on one side and another? It's not about religion. Religion may have its good points, it may have its points that are questionable. But I say it's not about religion. It's about.
Person. It's about God's beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.
You know, when we come into this room, we come in through the door. I suppose you might be able to get up and come in through some place in the attic up here, but that's not the normal entrance. It's through the door. And so the Lord Jesus is the only way of salvation. There is no other way.
Now go down to verse 11. The Lord Jesus says I am again.
Here it is, I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Verse 14 I am the Good Shepherd and know my sheep, and am known of mine.
God's or the people of this world are looked at as sheep. You know, there's a lot of ways in which we are like sheep.
On the High Alta Plano of Bolivia, they have a lot of sheep and it's very interesting to hear the brethren talk about their sheep and I you probably know some of it, But once they start following one of the sheep and they start running, the whole group runs. And if they run over a Cliff, the whole flock will run over that Cliff if they can't get them stopped.
That's the way sheep are.
But the Lord Jesus says I am the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Isn't this wonderful? And this is where we want to stop and talk about how He gave his life. If there was going to be blessing for you and me, there had to be a substitute that would give his life for the sheep, and that was the Lord Jesus himself. God's beloved Son is that Good Shepherd that gives his.
Life for the sheep. You know God as God.
Cannot die. God is immortal. It's impossible for God to die.
But to be able to die, he had to become a man. And that's what happened when he was born into this world. He became a man in the person of our Lord Jesus. Wonderful, wonderful truth and the end of his 33 1/2 years.
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They let him outside the city of Jerusalem they had.
Shredded his back, they had crowned him with thorns, they had spit in his face, and there they stretched out his hands and they nailed him to that cross. And there they hung him between two other malefactors to make it look like there were three malefactors that were to die that day.
The Lord Jesus.
Suffered.
Physically, in ways that I don't think we have much clue.
And then?
He suffered as well and says reproach has broken my heart. They said if he's the Son of God, that God deliver him, then did God deliver him?
No. Why didn't God deliver him? If it was His own beloved Son, why didn't He deliver him? You know why, folks? It's because He loved you and me, and there was no other way for us to be saved than that His Son would go to that cross and die. But it broke His heart.
And then at 12 noon, everything got dark. And in three hours of darkness, you don't read of any sound that comes from that center cross where Jesus was hanging.
In those three hours, what happened?
That's when Isaiah 53. He was wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him. And with his stripes we are healed within those three hours that God lay on him the iniquity of us all. And God let the fury of his divine judgment fall.
On His beloved Son in those three hours, Jesus suffered what we can never understand, the judgment of God. God's name had to be vindicated, and it was fully vindicated by the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on that cross. He is the propitiation for our sins.
And not of our eyes only, but for the whole world.
Lord Jesus paid the price in full, and it wasn't until the end of those three hours of darkness that there's a cry from the center cross.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Can we ever answer that question? It was because He didn't want to forsake us in the Lake of Fire forever. He wants you to be saved, and He paid the price of our redemption in full before He died.
He said it is finished.
The price was paid in full by the Lord Jesus on that cross, and he gave up his life. No man took it from him, He gave it up of Himself.
And then after he was dead.
There's the body of Jesus.
Mangled body on that cross, and a soldier comes up with a spear and pierces his side and out blows blood and water.
Price of our redemption was paid by the blood.
Of God's beloved Son can never forget that awful price that was paid for me. So I feel a debt of gratitude to that person and I can never pay, but I'm going to do a high possibly can to show my gratitude.
He saved me by his grace, thank God.
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Notice a little further down in this chapter, the Lord Jesus speaks again about his sheep.
And notice, he says in verse 27, 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. Understand that is.
A strong negative in the original language you could say, They shall never, 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.
Can a sheep of the Lord Jesus ever?
Be lost. If they could be lost, the Lord Jesus would be a liar.
It's not possible.
Once a person is truly saved, he is saved forever. And this is such a beautiful thing, but notice what it says in verse 27. My sheep hear my voice.
Do you hear his voice? Because sometimes I see people when you read scripture to them. Yeah, OK, but they don't seem to really listen to it.
What's characteristic of the sheep of the Lord Jesus is that they hear his voice. Not only that, he says, I know them, and he says they follow me, and he gives them eternal life, and they shall never, never perish.
Oh, the security of a true believer. But make sure you are a true believer.
Not just a pretend one. That's what scares me sometimes. Sometimes people go through life living like the devil and they end their life ends at the funeral. They say, oh, he was a believer.
Scripture says by their fruit she shall know them and if there is not fruits of a believer there is reason.
To question.
Make sure you're real. It's too awfully important to make a mistake in this question of eternal life.
Let's go on over to Chapter 11 where we have the Lord Jesus again saying I am in this chapter. One of Jesus's friends had died. He got sick and died. His name was Lazarus and he had his two sisters, Mary.
And her sister Martha.
And they call him because they thought he could.
He could heal him in time so that he wouldn't die.
That the Lord didn't come in time, at least not according to their time frame.
Why not?
Because Jesus wanted to show something further. And here we have in verse 25.
Jesus saying to Martha.
I am here, we have another. I am the resurrection and the life. For he that believeth on me, though he were dead, shall yet shall he live. And whosoever believeth and believeth in me shall never die. Believe us thou this. This was something that is wonderful to think about too. I am the resurrection in the light. Resurrection is what takes place after.
Has taken place. God is the only one that has the power of resurrection, can take a dead person and raise him back to life. And this is what was happened. You remember the story of Lazarus?
By the time the Lord Jesus got there, he had been dead 4 days and he was dead buried.
They used to bury him in caves, and so the Lord they let the Lord Jesus to the place where he was buried.
And the Lord Jesus says, take away the stone, and they took away the stone. And Jesus stood outside that grave and said, Lazarus come forth. And even though he was bound hands and feet, the Son of God had spoken, the one who had created the universe by the word of his power.
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And now he commands Lazarus to come out of that grave. And Lazarus came out.
Bound hand and feet. Lazarus could have said, I can't walk. But the Son of God had spoken and he came out.
Oh, how wonderful this is. I am the resurrection and the life.
We live in a world full of death.
And it's going to get worse.
We've gone through the question of the.
Virus that went around and killed a lot of people. That's nothing in comparison with what I had. Far worse is painted in scriptures. That's going to happen during the Great Tribulation period.
How important it is to know the one who is the resurrection and the life if death does touch this body of mine?
He is the resurrection and the life. Oh, what a wonderful thing to know the Lord Jesus Christ. I ask you, do you know Him? Do you have that certainty? We don't have to fear death, because we know that even if death touches this body.
We ol be raised from the dead. But now let's go to the last one that our brother Bill read this morning in The Breaking of Bread. That is such a wonderful verse. John 14, verse 6.
Jesus.
Said unto him, This is Thomas.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
I am again.
The way.
The truth, the life.
There is a children's song that says without the way, there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. Without the life, there is no growing.
It's the Lord Jesus is the way, the truth and the life. It's not a religion. Again, I say to you.
But it's a person, a glorious person that came into this world. He is the way.
There it says.
At the end of the verse, no man cometh unto the Father, but by me there is only one way, and I find that people will listen to me by saying that Jesus is the way.
But when I say this part, that he is the only way, that's where people get uncomfortable with me lots of times.
The truth is something that is absolute. When you talk about God's word, when you talk about the person of the Lord Jesus as the truth, that is absolute. Sometimes people like to refer to themselves as I have the truth.
Well, I like to think that I understand the truth, but it's not me, it's Him. It's that glorious person. He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the light. Where do you stand with God in relation to these things? Remember, we started out.
I am the bread of life then.
I am the light of the world.
Then I am the door.
Then I'm the Good Shepherd that giveth his life for the sheep. Then I am the resurrection and the life. Then I am the way, the truth, and the life. You have Jesus. You have it all. Oh, I plead with you to think seriously to accept the Lord Jesus as your Savior. Open.
Your heart to him tonight. Accept him by believing.
On his name let's just pray. Gracious Father, bless thy precious word.
00:45:04
We ask that for each one present tonight, we don't know there might be some here who are not ready for that eternity that's ahead. We pray for blessing, commend ourselves the rest of the evening in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Thoughts from David
Sing Talk—Conrad Troyer
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Good evening. Maybe we can start with order prayer, our God and our Father. We're thankful for the privilege to be around these young people hear this beautiful singing. The end of a long day. We ask for help. Lord reopen from your word be a little portion for us praying the worthy name of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, Amen.
For Samuel chapter 22, if you have your Bibles, you can turn to it. If you don't, that's not a problem. You can listen.
For Samuel chapter 22. David therefore departed thence, and escaped to The Cave of Dolom. 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 they were with him about 400 men.
And David went thence to Misbo of Moab, and he said unto the king of Moab.
Let my father and my mother pray thee come forth and be with you.
Till I know.
What God will do for me?
Till I know what God will do for me.
Verse 20 Awful things happen between versus what we just read in 20.
Many priests are slain. Verse 20. And one of the sons, and one of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of a high tub named Abiathar, escaped and fled after David. And Abiathar showed David that Saul had slain the Lord's priests. And David said unto Obiathar, I knew it that day when Dove the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul.
I have occasioned the death of all the persons of thy father's house.
These words from David 23 abide thou with me.
Fear not.
For they that seek my life. For he that seeketh my life, seeketh thy life.
But with me, thou shalt be in safeguard.
With me.
Thou shalt be in safeguard.
Let's go back to the last phrase in verse 3.
Until I know what God will do for me.
Was that apathy? Was David thinking like a victim and thinking I'm just going to have my parents stay here and after I find out how many bad things happen to me?
Is that a thought process? It was an apathy. That was patience.
I think that was confidence.
Who is godly, confident? And we read what he said to presumably this young man. And let's remember, David is running for his life. He's being hunted like an animal.
And he said something like this till I know what God will do for me. And another man that's being hunted comes and he says, but with me thou shalt be in safeguard. Was that arrogance? Was that self-confidence? What do you think that was? I think that was godly confidence.
I think he was speaking about.
Peace that passes understanding and the prior meeting was dealing with peace.
With God.
That's not the subject tonight. Here the pieces.
From God of God.
Hopefully most all of you are saved. You have peace with God because of Christ's atoning work on the cross. Do you have peace of God? Do you have peace from God?
Do you have that confidence?
We'd say, well, David is one of the greatest characters.
In the greatest book we have, how did he have that? Why is it so hard for us to be confident? And what are the reasons it's so hard for us to be confident is because we're we're composed of different things. And to go through this as quickly as I can, as humans were composed of body, soul, and spirit. Within body, soul and spirit, all of us are born with an old nature. We might call that component #4 or we could say that's component 3A of our spirit.
00:05:15
If you're saved, you have a fifth component. You have a new nature. Those five components, by very definition, cause a lot of conflict in your life. We should expect it. We know it's going to happen. The Word tells us going to happen. But what about God? Is God made-up of components? Absolutely not. He is a unified.
Unitary being everything he does.
All of his aspects are completely In Sync and they are completely perfect.
So here we struggle. How do we get access to all that power that he has?
Sometime in 2019, I was diagnosed with a couple of severe diseases and went through some medical treatment and didn't really know the full extent of some of those diseases and then.
In early February of 2020, after visiting with some doctors, I was.
I was informed that there was another.
Ongoing treatment that was going to be needed for me.
And.
I.
That treatment.
Required some travel out of town and there was a sense of urgency to getting the treatment started and.
I didn't know much about it, booked a ticket. The forecast wasn't looking good. It looked like there's going to be a lot of heavy snow.
I went back.
February 2.
Of 2020.
By God's grace, I wrote these words.
Leaving for first LDL, he freeze his treatment in the AM.
Never dreamed the disease would come to this stage.
At peace.
And zero anxiety about tomorrow.
The true source of peace.
Has super abundant.
Available end of quotation.
Am I proud of that? Not at all. I'm humbled by that.
So how do we get this?
How do we get subtle peace? How do we get godly confidence?
We can't have it without knowing him if you have a partnership with someone.
Let's make that partnership term very broad. Girlfriend, husband, somebody you work with, your family you farm together. That's a partnership. That partnership is held together by a bond we call trust. What creates that trust?
Well, speaking to a lot of young people, if you want to get to know someone and you want to marry them, what do you do? You spend time with them. You spend time with them alone, don't you? Isn't that what you want to do? So what do we what happens when we look at David's history? What happens when we look at Moses history? Let's let's just think about David's history for the sake of being concise. Was David alone ever in his life?
When he was that young man, I don't know how old he was, and he's out there and he's taking care of sheep. That lion and that bear come around.
There are a whole bunch of manpower standing by to help him. When he had that problem, there was nobody there, but there was somebody there that was not visible. He understood.
And I'd suggest for you young people, the isolation, the times when God takes you away from the things that are so important to you and He lets you understand and learn about himself. Don't resist those times. He's giving you things that can't be replaced.
Early in 2021 I went to clinic and it's going to get treatment and saw a young man there and never met him before, 28 years old and I give him a little.
00:10:10
I give them a little rundown on my health and drop what I call a little faith bomb on them and explain to him what has helped me and.
What Christ has done for me and what he did in taking care of my sins and how I have him as a constant companion. So I said, so what's your deal? What? Why are you here? Well, I've got this rare kidney disease. And I said, oh, that's interesting, you're pretty young, I said, so tell me about your kidneys.
Well, Cameron said. I have three of them right now.
I have two that I was born with and.
In my early 20s, they failed. They're probably about the size of a grape right now. And I have another one. I have a third one.
My early 20s, when my kidneys failed, my mother gave me one of hers.
A kidney was in there for a little bit. It didn't work. His body rejected it. Went through many, many struggles, years of dialysis.
And he said now I have another kidney.
So I have 3.
I said, where'd you get the second one?
He said I got it kidney from a Good Samaritan who never wanted to meet me.
From a Good Samaritan who never wanted to meet me.
When I had surgery, he said.
They put me on a different floor for recovery than they did the donor, because I didn't want to make sure our families didn't ever speak to each other, because the Goods of America wanted to make sure he was completely unknown to me, he or she.
Good Samaritan who never wanted to meet me.
Two weeks go by, Cameron and I are both back at the same clinic.
Both scheduled for repairs, blood starts pumping and he's 6 feet away from me and being worked on and I said Cameron.
Do you know where the term Good Samaritan comes from?
He looked at me and he said I have no idea.
I had the wonderful privilege.
To tell him.
About a Good Samaritan.
Who not only wanted to meet him.
But we wanted to have a relationship with him.
And the question for you young people tonight is not.
Do you have a Good Samaritan who wants to meet you? That's not the question. We know the Good Samaritan wants to meet you.
And that he once had a relationship with you. But do you treat the Good Samaritan?
As if you're just so thankful that he picked you up at the road, he put you on his animal, he rode you to the inn, he paid the money to stay at the inn. Do you treat him as if you don't want to know him? If you don't get to know him, you can't get the resources he has for you.
And we can all say, well, we're saved and we're happy with that and we can get by. The world is a difficult place. It gets more complicated. If you don't put a premium on peace and godly confidence, you have missed everything. I have lost so many things, physically speaking, in my life.
So many physical comforts are missing to me.
But has been replaced by something.
That is so valuable to me. I can't begin to explain it to you because it's like it says in the verse in Philippians, it's peace that passes understanding.
John chapter 17 verse three-part of the verse starting in the middle of a life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
And I'll close with this verse, part of this version, Ephesians chapter 3.
To know.
The love of Christ which passeth knowledge, and I'd suggest that if you are in pursuit of the peace that passes understanding.
00:15:04
Lay aside your own ideas.
Get comfortable with some isolation.
Thank the Lord for bringing you into a place that may at the time seem difficult, when in fact all He's doing is showing you more about himself. Because if his love passes knowledge.
That's a pursuit that's something that will never end as long as we're left here.
I really enjoyed what shared today. When we understand this piece and we have eternal life, we don't understand exactly what eternal life means because our minds are unable to comprehend it. But when we have this peace and we have this confidence, so many things that are going on around us are nothing but noise because we know exactly where we are going. I'm looking forward to going there. Let's close.
Around her father, thankful for this privilege.
Thank you for the words of David.
Till I know what God will do for me.
Give us patience, Lord, give us godly confidence.
Give us the subtle peace that's available only through.
Knowledge and a full relationship with our Savior, the Lord Jesus.
Thank you for the refreshments. Pray in the worthy name of Jesus, Amen.
2 Timothy 1:12-18
Reading
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.
238.
238.
Our shepherd is the Lord.
Living.
To God.
Is so understandable.
We are.
Someone.
God Restore.
Sin his way.
Really makes our goal of George LeBron.
Romney.
Mercedes.
Benz.
Wherever we believe our love and we're faithful.
Shall we be as much as we shall live in?
Rejoice.
Before we pray, I'd like to read.
4 verses out of Acts 16.
Acts 16 verse 11. This is Paul with his group, therefore losing from Troas who came with a straight horse, to Samantha Rosia and the next day to Neapolis.
And from thence to Philippi, which is the chief city of that part of Macedonia.
And a colony. And we were in that city abiding certain days.
And on the Sabbath we went out of the city by a Riverside where prayer was want to be made.
And we sat down and spake unto the women which resorted thither, and a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple of the city of Thyrotyra, which worship God, heard us whose heart the Lord opened.
And she attended under the things which were spoken of Paul. I'd like to read the last half of that verse again.
Whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul. And when she was baptized in her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged me to be faithful to the Lord.
Come into my house and abide there.
And she constrained us.
00:05:02
Notice the prayer meeting was consonant at the Riverside. Paul went there, and when she heard Paul, her heart was changed. She attained into Paul's doctrine.
And she has now a new purpose. It's beautiful to see this change in this dear sister's heart after hearing the words of Paul. We had the words of Paul before us here in the reading meeting. Let's give thanks. Our Father, our God. We're thankful for the portion before us. These last words, a servant Paul gave through the Spirit that we can enjoy 2000 years later and take in. We pray our Father and our God, that the Holy Spirit.
We would continue to lead and guide.
And direct in this portion before us, as we're sitting here in the last days, our Father, we recognize this.
And that we may come away from a prayer meeting as well as attaining into these words of Paul that have changed lives as well. So we're thankful, Lord Jesus, to have thyself before us and thy precious name. We give thanks, Amen.
It might just interject a personal note in connection with the scripture that was read.
Some years ago I had a chance to go down into Macedonia.
And I stood on a high Crematory or point along the coast overlooking the Aegean, and just down below was that city of Neapolis.
And my heart overflowed when I saw that city because I realized that was the 1St place on the continent of Europe that the Apostle Paul set foot off. And I felt if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't be in the place of blessing that I'm found now.
I had suggested the barrier. I think about verse 12.
Is that that reasonable? Yes. Maybe you could read into chapter two. Yeah, I had suggested possibly going down to verse 13. Go ahead. Have you got another suggestion? That's good.
Second Timothy chapter one starting with verse 12 for the which cause I also suffer these things.
Nevertheless I am 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. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. That good thing which was committed unto thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest that all day which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are fie jealous.
And homogeneous the Lord give mercy under the House of onus. Ephraus. For he off 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 granted to him, that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day, and in how many things he ministered unto me at Ephesus thou knowest very well. Chapter 2. Thou therefore, my Son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully.
The husbandmen that laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits. Consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead, according to my gospel.
Wherein I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even under bound bonds with the word of God is not bound. Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation.
Which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him. If we suffer, we shall also reign with him. If we deny Him, he also will deny us if we believe not. Yet he abideth faithful, He cannot deny himself.
00:10:40
If we want to stand for the whole truth of God, we are going to suffer for it, as Paul did.
Most of the time the opposition came from the Jews, and we still find today.
The Judaizing principles that have been brought into the professing church, which have brought Christianity down to the level of a worldly religion, and Paul suffered on that account. But he says here.
I am not ashamed. Why could he say that? He could say that because he knew that what he had taught, what the Lord had given him, was the truth of God. And even though it was not widely accepted, even though, as we find out in verse 15, that all they which were in Asia had turned away from him, Paul says to Timothy.
It's the truth of God. It's worthwhile. Carry on with it.
And what we have here, which has always been a particular interest to me, are the two deposits that are mentioned, one in verse 12 and one in verse 14. And it's not clearly evident in our King James translation. It's far clearer in the Derby. But when it says there in verse 12.
That which I have committed unto him against that day.
The word there should is accurate in the Let me start again. The word that more accurately describes that is the word deposit.
But then in verse 14 we have that good thing which was committed unto thee.
The good depot.
And we all know, all of us what a deposit is. It's something that we put somewhere for safekeeping.
And here there is a deposit that the we have or we should be committing to the Lord. There's one that Paul had committed to the Lord, but then there's a deposit the Lord commits to us. Maybe we can enlarge on that a little.
Every time you and I speak well of Christ and live and walk before him according to the precious truth that God committed to Paul, you and I are laying up a deposit there in heaven.
Down here in this world, men pay a lot of attention to their investments, pay a lot of attention into where they put their money and what kind of a return they're going to get, and.
Sometimes they get into the stock market and well, now what's going to happen is the market going up or down and what kind of predictions can we make and so on. And they get listening to various people that are supposed to know what's happening and they're very concerned about what is going to happen to that deposit. And at least in the past, not so much today, there have been banks that have failed.
And people have lost their money.
There's one place where you can put a deposit up there in glory and you'll never lose it All in all.
God keeps it for us, and Paul says he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against.
00:15:04
That day, what's that day? That day refers, I believe, to the judgment seat of Christ.
When your life and mine will be reviewed and God will place His stamp either of approval.
Or disapproval of how we have used what He has committed to us. And I say to myself, what kind of a deposit am I making up there? But then just to make the comparison in verse 14.
Paul says to Timothy, The good deposit which was given unto thee by the keep, by the Holy Ghost.
Which dwelleth in us. You and I have been given a deposit as well.
And it may be different for every one of us, it may be different for other people out there in other parts of Christendom, but whatever the deposit is, the Lord says.
I want you to keep it. Are we keeping it or are we giving it up? Are we valuing it or are we throwing it away?
Our brother yesterday was mentioning the importance of all that we have been given.
And we have.
Without boasting, many here have been raised under the sound of excellent ministry, ministry that very few people have the privilege of hearing. Are we willing to live and walk in the good of it? Paul says that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in US. Now I know I've skipped over verse 13, but.
Those two deposits are very important to us, one that we make up there with the Lord, one that the Lord makes down here with us.
It's interesting here in Matthew chapter 6 where the Lord brings in that two aspects of depositing, one what we should not deposit and one that we should deposit. In Matthew chapter 6 verse 19, he says.
Deposit not up for yourselves treasures upon earth where moth and rust does corrupt.
For these breakthrough is still but the posit up for yourselves treasures in heaven where neither moth nor Russ corrupt and we're thieves do not ride through nor steal. And here's the the secret of all that for where your treasure is here's where your heart he also well we know where Paul's treasure was, wasn't it his object was the Lord Jesus and he was running a race and he was going through.
Race and faithfulness. And so in the in the second.
Chapter that we're going to be getting into.
He could say.
And I've lost my place here. Just a second here.
Yeah, and.
Excuse me a minute here in in Titus.
Chapter 3.
He could say lost my place here, I'm sorry.
In in the 4th chapter Second Timothy, he could say I have fought a good fight.
Finish my course, and I've kept the faith, and henceforth there is deposited up for me a crown of righteousness. Mr. Lord, thy righteous should shall give me in that day, and not only me, but unto all them also that love is encouraged.
Was 13 is good to connect I think with verse 14 isn't it?
Deposit is the outline, that's what the new translation reads, holds fast the outline of sound words which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. It's the.
00:20:01
Teaching that Paul gave us, and I just want to encourage young people to get an outline of Scripture.
I still remember a meeting that Gordon Hayhoe gave up and I think it was in Toronto. He went over the whole book of First Timothy in one meeting. I can still remember how edified I felt after that meeting. He gave us an outline and once you have an outline, you know where to put the pieces and that is very helpful. So try to get an outline of Scripture.
And I think that is sometimes we go into Scripture in a lot of detail, and I don't say that's wrong, but we do need an outline. And So what is First Timothy deal with? It was the House of God in its order. That's what he taught us there. And he went through every chapter and gave us an outline. He didn't go into details too much, but it was an outline. And I found that.
Very helpful. Somebody is going to build a house, they have the plans for that house and they know where to start and they know where to put everything because they have the outline, the plans. And so in Scripture it is the same thing. I must say, dear young people, I too was brought up in the meeting and I must say when I was a young person.
Walla Walla, I didn't really understand very much of what was said.
But little by little, as I grew, I picked up something here and something there. And as time went on, I could pick up more. And it has become a treasure in my heart, the knowledge of the truth of God. And it's so important, especially when we're talking about Paul's doctrine, because he brought in the heavenly calling of the church.
As no other one did. And he was a special instrument chosen for that purpose. And today when I see how covenant theology has affected the Christian testimony, which basically teaches that there is no difference between the Old Testament believers and the New Testament. It's all one group.
Not to understand that there is an earthly people and a heavenly people hinders a lot that needs to be understood.
When God promised blessing to Abraham, you remember how he said it, that his descendants would be as the stars of the heaven and as the sand by the seashore.
Two spheres of blessing in God's eternal purposes, and the church is part of the heavenly sphere. And to understand that is so helpful and that's why we need the outline of Scripture.
I think of the first few words of this verse hold fast.
And some years ago I was reading in the first chapter.
Judges. And I was very puzzled by a few verses that I read there, beginning at verse 6.
An Adoni Vizac fled, and they pursued after him, and caught him, and cut off his thumbs and his great toes.
Dhoni Bizak said three score and 10 kings or 70 kings having their thumbs and their great toes cut off, gathered their meat under my table as I have done and so forth. I thought, well, that's a very puzzling verse. Why does it go into those details? Having your thumb cut off, having your great toe cut off.
But then I realized, without the thumb there could be no grasping, there could be no holding. And I thought of those scriptures that we have that exhort us to hold fast. Without the great toe, there is no real balance that would enable us to stand. And so we have so many injunctions, admonitions to stand fast.
00:25:03
After that, I realized why this verse occurred in the first chapter of Judges.
What you were saying about verse 13, the outline fits well.
With that verse in the second chapter, verse 15. Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed in this part, rightly dividing the word of truth.
My godly mother taught me an interesting lesson when I was young. Confused sometimes about where to put things. Like you get a bit here and a bit there, but how it all fits.
We used to put puzzles together in the winter in our house and play board games and that kind of thing, and she said to me, it's like putting a puzzle together. You have 1000 pieces dumped on the table. Where do you start? You start with the corners in the outline.
And then how do you rightly divide? You put the colors that are the same in the same spot. And I remember playing with kids who put a puzzle together. They find a piece and it looked like it fit, and they'd be trying to force it in there. And I said, what are you doing? Why are you trying to force it in there? You're not going to get the right picture. But there's people like that. They're impatient. They want to force it into the spot. We'll put it with the colored pieces and then you'll come along.
And this is my mother. And you'll know where it fits. And then you put it in and the picture slowly grows. I've never forgotten that idea, that thought. And I've shared that with young people and newly saved folks saying don't worry about getting that thing together overnight. You know, the Lord will help you. And you just do that like a puzzle. It will fit together and the Lord will guide you that. I think that's a good illustration of those two things.
Get in the outline and then rightly dividing.
Learn something if we have to unlearn something first.
Much easier if we would come to a subject open and willing to to learn the truth rather than having to other amount experience or others to have to overcome a wrong understanding the passage.
I say that I know we need to press on to the chapter, but I would just like to reference back to verse 12 again in regard to what Brother Bill has already mentioned.
Passage that I misunderstood for some time. And we may sing a gospel him. For I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed against unto Him against that day. And what are we thinking about? What are we singing about? We're singing about our souls committing that to the Lord. It's not what the verse is talking about. The context of this verse here.
Was the end of Paul's ministry and there is in prison. What does he have to show for it?
Didn't have anything to show for it. He shows all that are in Asia. He turned away from me. I'd like to reference the passage back in Isaiah 49. Again, not to linger too long on this, but I believe it's a beautiful word of encouragement for us in a day when you see there's so little to show for our efforts but Isaiah 49.
Verse three. It's in reference to our blessed Lord. And said unto me, Thou art my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naughty and in vain, Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord and my work with my God. When the Lord Jesus ended his earthly ministry here, what did he have? A few devoted woman that came to the grave says and Daniel that he'll be cut off and have nothing, nothing in regard to Israel. What did he have to show for his labor? He said, I've labored in vain, but what does it then say? Yet surely my judgment is with the Lord.
In my work with my God.
And now saith the Lord that formed me from the womb, to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him. Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God shall be my strength. 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 preservative Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
We see the end results of the Lord's ministry blessing that has come to us Gentile dogs even in this day, and Israel will be restored in the coming day. But I say that as a word of encouragement because sometimes we come and just say, as we sometimes say between us, we don't say I've tried and failed anymore. We say we failed, but we tried. And yet the Lord is going to take that up and His own purpose and His own accomplishment since this is the context.
00:30:10
That Paul is ministering and seeking to encourage start off without as a groundwork. He's in prison and yet he is his words of encouragement for him to go on and again, as you mentioned brother Sam in chapter 2 just to anticipate a moment in verse eight of that chapter. The reason the Darby remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead according to my gospel were to remember him of the seed of David. Where is he now? He's in resurrection. His ministry down here. There was nothing outwardly of show, but in resurrection He sees the food of his work.
And established and bolstered in that truth will give us great encouragement to go on in the day of of weakness and great outward failings. It's good to be reminded if you have that we need to get a correct understanding of what the text is actually teaching. But we're application of it is also wonderful. I don't know how many times in my life that inner conversation that I've had with myself that we all have.
Being troubled that I have said to myself, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded he is able to myself those words. I'm not talking about the the doctrine that's being taught here except this, this idea, this principle. Why wasn't Paul ashamed? Why could he say this? Because he knew somebody and he knew him well. And if you know somebody and you're facing something that's.
Very believe our impossible in full. You may say this to yourself. I know whom I have believed that confidence there in this person. You can express those things and make that application. We know what the doctrine is for here, but how helpful is that and realizing that's why Paul could say that because he knew him and you can say to yourself, well, maybe I need to get to know my Savior better so that I can have confidence to say something like that.
Because any believer can say that and then stand on that in the face of all kinds of trouble and difficulty.
I think that's that's good that we realize that before Paul starts out with this idea of an outline, he says this. He does not say I know what I have believed. He says I know who I believe.
It is, it is critical for all of us. There's so many situations where we come to the end of our knowledge, where we come to situations we don't know how to face and we have to just turn to the one who we believe.
That's what we believe because we don't know. Maybe some know a lot more than I do, but I come to that quite regularly and.
Yet it's important that we have a knowledge, it's important that we have an outline, it's important that we understand the truth. But sometimes we come to the point where we just have to say, I know who.
Well, the truth of God, properly understood in the soul, will always lead us back to the source of it, won't it? And that's so important. If Christ is not the object, then mere truth by itself is not really enough to keep us. It has to be connected with the source. But as we've been saying, Paul brings out, and he was the special vessel given that truth.
Brings out the truth of the assembly.
For this dispensation.
Very, very important and his brother Bob was saying it's very, very helpful to have a good outline of sound words and without going wanting to go ahead you get it expressed in the seventh verse of the next chapter, chapter 2. Paul says consider what I said and the Lord give thee understanding in.
All things.
We will never understand the Word of God.
Unless we understand the Church of God, the truth of the assembly.
And how everything fits around it. It's central to the understanding of everything. One brother expressed it well, he said.
Paul gives us the truth of the assembly in which everything is displayed and it's true. And he could say there in Colossians he was given the privilege and responsibility to complete the word of God.
00:35:17
There's no further revelation after Paul's ministry. Filling in the details, yes, but no further revelation as to God's ways with man beyond Paul's ministry. And if we lose sight of that?
And a brother, brother said one time I thought it was very good. And it's true, I never quite seen it that way before. But he said when the church loses the sense of its heavenly calling, humanly speaking, it loses everything.
Now we need to clarify that.
The Church is the bride of Christ will be carried up to glory when the Lord comes.
And she'll be his bride there for all eternity. Nothing will spoil that. But as to the testimony down here, if the church loses a sense of its heavenly calling, humanly speaking, for testimony in this world, it loses everything. And I believe that's why Paul was so concerned here for Timothy, because essentially Paul knew that that was where things were headed.
Satan was going to pull the church down to the level of a worldly religion and in that sense he was going to render their their testimony null and void in this world. And sad to say, we see that still going on around us.
And so how important is it says here to have an outline of sound words and understand the ministry that God gave to Paul and then how everything else fits perfectly in around?
That this epistle is written to an individual, it puts an added perspective into these exhortations.
Because we might comfort ourselves and say, you know, someone may ask us at work or at the, you know, at the coffee pot or at school about a line of things. And we say, well, and we, we, we caught up, draw a blank. We say, well, you know, the brother know. And, you know, we have that collectively. And, you know, Tuesday night or Thursday night, you know, I'll hear about it again. And it's there.
Well, that's good that it's there, but this is a personal exhortation from one man to another and the truth. Yes, reading meetings have been a blessing for the Saints for almost 200 years.
But there is something we don't talk about that much, which is that truth in a vital way is communicated from person to person, from grandmother to mother to little boy to little girl, older brother, younger brother. It is. It's the way the truth is passed on. It's personal. It's in a personal context that it's passed on and it needs to be held personally. And so he writes to Timothy in that respect. And so it says here.
Uh, which thou hast heard of us? Not heard of me. I know Paul was unique in that he was impossible and unique even in his apostleship, but we can apply it to ourselves in that way. Heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. There are many brethren in North America in their homes. They have a shelf full of black books. You know what I mean? There's about, what, 35 or 37 of them? I've seen them in many, many homes.
I was in a home once for lunch years ago.
The assembly was, in my judgment, tipped upside down on a certain matter that I thought was very simple, but it was upside down.
And this couple had us for lunch. We were young, they were older. And I said, well, it seems to me from Scripture that it ought to be this way.
And the sister said, well, this is the way we've done it for a long time. And she pointed in the sitting shoe. We have all the books. And she pointed to that long black robe. Now, don't get me wrong, I have a black robe too. I love it. I love it. I travel with someone all the time for business and now for other business. So I value it. That's not my point. But my point is we have to lay hold of these things individually.
00:40:04
When when the children of Israel that were in captivity in Babylon.
Were released by the by the Persian king Cyrus, I believe it was.
The Lord stirred up their spirit to come back.
It wasn't everybody that came back. It was some that were stirred up by the Lord. They came back and before they left there was weighed out to them by weight and by number, precious vessels of silver and gold. They were numbered and they were waved when they got across that dangerous travel and they got to Jerusalem.
On the 4th days, I think it says eight, they were weighed out again. And it exercises me personally because much has been weighed out to me and to all of you much, and it's precious. But when I get home to see the Lord and be with the Lord and he reviews everything He's given me, it's going to be an exercise. Was it weighed this much and now it was this much.
How much did I lose along the way? How much did I spend? And years ago I was reading some ministry by that brother who wrote, whose writings were collected in those black books on Matthew 25 and the talents. And at the end of it, he said it all boils down to this. Have we sufficient love to trade? Oh my. I must have shared it with my wife or else she read it on her own, because whenever I would get.
Spiritually lazy.
She would Zing me back with that comment. Well, do we have sufficient love to trade? That's exercising, isn't it? Paul was seeking to stir Timothy up. He needed the power of the Holy Ghost to keep what had been committed. We get that of verse 14 when it's in the context of faith and love.
Expand on that thought a little bit. That phrase.
Please.
Sufficient love to trade.
Well, we're reading Galatians where they were struggling with legality. This little expression I think of sometimes in the 5th chapter, Faith which worketh by love.
And you say, well, you know, we need to. I heard some brothers speaking between the meetings today about contending for the faith. So on all of that, there's been a lot of contending amongst us over the decades that I've been alive. But has it always been with that absence of contentiousness? Has there been love driving it? Because faith works by love and.
I suppose that's all I can say about it. You know, it's, it's very personal.
In the early verses, and not to go back, but why does Paul?
Why does Paula, why will he point to an onusiferous as we get to it?
Why does he say in verse 4, greatly desiring to see thee, being mindful of thy tears?
That I may be filled with joy.
It was personal between him and Timothy. And that was kind of like the, the, the medium of these, this communication of spiritual things. We're not robots. And I read a comment the other day.
About grace and truth. Truth is simple.
Older brother said that in his writings, truth is simple. It's a light. It turns on. You can see turn on the light. It's it's all there. But grace is what's needed by us and faith, which worketh by love. So I don't have much to say other than that we've received the truth personally. We're drawn where our hearts are knit together. And it's not just a robotic thing in the assembly. If it becomes robotic, we're going to be the losers.
What assemblies? Where there is, where there is personal, Where there is Phileo? Bob and I were talking earlier this morning where there is.
The the affection side of love.
There's an atmosphere for spiritual growth and for holding that good deposit which has been deposited with us.
And ultimately.
As we said earlier, the mere enjoyment of truth will not keep us. I can trade in truth.
00:45:06
Without really being close to the Lord. Now don't get me wrong, we need the knowledge of the truth, but ultimately.
We will, if I could use the term run out of steam unless our affections are involved and if our affections are involved.
That's what keeps us going. And you find that constantly in Paul's ministry, constantly over and over again, expressions that bring before us faithfulness to Christ, the love of Christ, the enjoyment of His love, and the enjoyment of the truth. Why? Because it is connected with the One who is our Lord and Savior. And if that element isn't there, then we can. We can.
Talk about truth, we can even minister it, we can delineate it and all the rest of it, but it will not keep us without our affections being involved.
Just recently.
I read something that I hadn't read before.
Some years ago, my Uncle Guilford wrote a history as much as he could remember the gathering in Woodbridge, NJ.
And it goes back.
Into at least the early 1880s.
And he recalled some of the early brethren and sisters that were in fellowship.
And I found out some things that I didn't know before.
For example.
My grandmother's parents.
Were in the assembly in New York and my great grandmother as a girl.
Was a servant in the house in Germany.
Where Brother Darby used to regularly visit.
And he was given the title Hair Doctor.
A name of respect.
But she commented on the fact of how gracious Brother Darby was every time he came and visited, and what an encouragement he was not only to his hosts, but to all of the staff in the house as well. And so we need to cultivate very much of that same spirit, do we not?
The Song of Songs, which is Solomon's Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth. For thy love is better than wine, because of the savior of thy goods, or thy name is as ointment or forth. Therefore do the virgins love me, draw me, we will run after thee.
The King that brought me into his chambers. We will be glad and rejoice in thee. We will remember thy love more than one.
Someone once said that I don't know that they used the term trading and truth as you have, but when you're about the business of trading and truth, I guess if you have a sense that you're being about your father's business, it makes a difference.
You think it's your business?
Or if you think you're being about your father's business, it makes a difference in how you approach what you're doing for the Lord.
You realize the value of the truth rather than the form of sound words? Then it's something you want to hold fast to, I must say.
Mention was made of the reading meetings and how the Lord has used reading these. It says let the prophet speak two or three.
Let the others judge, our brother Clem Buchanan said. I think that applies more in a reading meeting than it does in what we call an open meeting, although the principal still applies there as well. But and I, I can say that that I have really profited by that because there's a balance in a reading meeting. I can say something and I might be a little bit lopsided and one sided. Another brother sees that and helps by bringing in some other scripture and I found it very helpful reading meeting.
00:50:28
It's interesting in Latin America, or I should say not all over Latin America, but in Bolivia and Peru, and I think in Argentina too. If you go there, you probably will never be asked to have a meeting. They don't ask speakers, brother. They come together with the recognition that the Lord may use somebody to give them something. And I find that that I come to a meeting like that with exercise.
I've not been tapped but I come with exercise. But not only I, but.
The others come with exercise too, and we need to come to a meeting with exercise and somebody is, and I don't discount having an address, brother, but not criticizing that. But I say when we come with exercise, then there's a different attitude. If I know somebody else is going to have the meeting, I kind of sit back without the exercise that perhaps I shouldn't have anyhow. I think that is part of holding the.
Form or the outline of sound words and I just want to express again the importance of understanding Paul's doctrine in relation to what was the truth in the Old Testament times there's a distinct difference between Israel, God's earthly people, and God's heavenly people in the present day, the church and that is not distinguished in the.
Much of christened and today even evangelical Christian.
One of the things they say that the temple is a building. There's the temple there. When you go there you have to be respectful of the Lords presence. Isn't the Lord always with us? Shouldn't we always be respectful of his presence? Where is the temple now? We are the temple and we should always live in the fear of God. So you see the difference there was between the the.
People of Israel and they have their temple, which was a sacred place, no doubt about it. But that's not the case in the New Testament. We need to distinguish what is the temple. Now, another thing that I found interesting, and I mentioned this for the young people, sometimes they say why don't we use instrumental music in our meetings?
That was something that was proper in the Old Testament, and David says in the 150th Psalm, praise the Lord with all kinds of spirit of instrumental music.
But in the New Testament, where do you find instrumental music? There's two instruments that God.
Speaks about in the New Testament that we are to employ in the praise of our God. One is the heart and the other is the lips. Those are the instruments we use and I find that so interesting and important to keep before us. There's a reason for these things.
Another thing is the clergy in the Old Testament was only one tribe, Levi, that was chosen to do the service of God. Of that one tribe, only one family, the family of Aaron was to be what could go into the holy place. Know that one family, only one person could go into the holy of Holies only once a year. That's the one it was in the Old Testament.
Today we have what is called the clergy, certain ones that are qualified, other believers. No, they just sit there and do nothing. Brethren, I think we need to be exercised about this. And I've been thankful for some of the exhortations that have been given to our younger brother and especially when it relates to prayer and praise to be occupied, to be exercised with expressing our praise to the Lord that.
Belongs not only.
Two brethren who sit up in the front row here belongs to us all, and it's important, I fear sometimes that we get to looking at a special class amongst us as if they are the labouring brethren. We're all laborers in different ways. Let's not give place to the idea of a special class amongst us. Thank God for what we can do for the Lord. But everyone should be laboring for the Lords and so.
00:55:25
Idea of clergy has been imported into the church.
And it's done tremendous damage, I must say. I look at some of those that are called pastors.
And they really don't have the gift of a pastor. I feel sorry for those men. They are loaded with all sorts of responsibility that they were never really meant to exercise. God is working amongst us all. Dear brethren, One other thing I say for the young people that one of the things that has been imported from the Old Testament is the principle of tithing.
10% for the Lord, 90% is yours. I sometimes say to people who insist on that. I say if you tithe, you are really robbing God of 90% because it's all his, you and I are only.
Administrators, to use what God has put in our hands, don't think that tithing is the answer.
Dear brethren, these things are some of the things that show the difference between what Israel was in the Old Testament and what the Church of God is in the New. And this is what the apostle Paul brought out so clearly in the New Testament. And may the Lord help us to hold fast these precious truths.
I'd like to ask a question if I could. I trust in the light of what we've been considering. We have an expression. We've read it five times. I think it's seven times in this epistle, began in the first verse. This expression, the promise of life. This is what I'm thinking of, which is in Christ Jesus. What does that expression mean? Paul uses it over and over. It seems to me there's something very important that he wants us to grasp.
When we consider this thought of what it is.
Be in Christ Jesus. We're just considering faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus. And I just was thinking to make my question maybe a little clearer. You know, the man in Romans 7, he had a difficulty and it wasn't until he came to see this truth of being in Christ Jesus that that difficulty was settled. If also Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
And he brings right off the beat, right out of the beginning, this thought of their sanctified in Christ Jesus. God has made it. Christ is made into them, wisdom in Christ Jesus. They were carnal assembly. They they were not in the good of this truth, but he lays it out before them. And we come here to Timothy and it's a day of ruin as we've had before us. And there's all this breakdown.
And he brings before them continuously this thought of in Christ Jesus. It seems to me it's someone could explain it. It's foundational for us to lay hold of this in a real way that we understand it, that we can grasp it, and we'll have a real effect upon our soul.
Well, for my own soul.
Then it seems, it seems to me, that yes, we get the expression in Christ many times in Paul's ministry, don't we? It was one of those special revelations received by Paul from a risen Christ in glory, that the believer is in Christ.
You get that way back in the book of the Acts. We could turn to it. Acts 13 is one of the earlier references to it and.
Paul says there. Paul says in verse 38, Acts 13 and 38. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man.
01:00:10
Is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. That much they had already heard from men like Peter and John and Stephen and others that had labored. But then Paul says in verse 39, and it's much clearer in the J&D translation it should read. And in him all that believe are justified from all things from which she could not be justified by the law of Moses.
That is, the believer is not only forgiven.
But he is now seen as being in Christ and.
Without giving a complete explanation of it, it seems to me that in Second Timothy we find that there is a giving up. There is.
A laying aside of the precious truth that Paul had given. And Paul has to say all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. What does he come back to? He comes back to everything that is in.
Christ Jesus, the promise of life. Do we not have that life? Indeed we do. But the enjoyment of it, the laying hold of it, the present, living in the good of it, that is something that we need to have and all the other things that are in Christ Jesus.
It seems to me that Paul wants to refer us back to the one who was the source of it all and to point out that this is not just some esoteric teaching, this is not just some high sounding teaching that he is going to bring before them, but that everything that they have relates back to that Blessed One who gave that truth, who gave all those things.
Arisen Christ in glory. Do we have the right? I say it reverently. Do we have the right to say, well, I don't really. I don't really care too much for all that. I don't really. I can remember a young, young man of my own acquaintance. He was also raised, gathered to the Lord's name, and I can still remember his words. He said, I know I'm saved. I know I'm going to heaven when I leave this world.
And that's all I need to know. That's that's it for me. That's enough.
And I still remember a much older man who was not gathered to the Lord's name.
And he said, I'm not interested in all these points of teaching that you get into the epistles. There are souls out there that are going into a lost eternity. That's what I'm aiming for. I don't care too much about all this ministry of Paul, really. Really.
Where did that teaching come from? With whom is it connected?
So precious was it and is it to the heart of the Lord Jesus, that He commits it to you and to me, not merely to be held as a deposit, although that is important, but for the enjoyment, because it connects us with Him Himself.
Would you agree with that, Ben? You've obviously had some meditation on it. Usually the brother that asks the question has some thoughts of his own.
I'm just thinking about this morning meditating on a little I have been.
Really, really enjoyed reading a bunch of Bruce Anstey's exquisitions on the New Testament books. What a blessing they've been to very, very many.
Saints, whenever this expression in Christ Jesus comes up in the passage that Bruce is writing about, invariably he'll, he'll spend a paragraph or two on it. And, and, and the essence of it is, is that we are in Christ's place before God. And I appreciate that simple way of how he he expands on it, of course, and you can see it for yourself. But that's a wonderful thought to lay hold of. We are in Christ's place before God.
There's a hymn in our Little Flock hymn book that says we stand accepted in the place that none but Christ could claim. And this, this, this put so much value on the truth of the resurrection and the ascension of Christ. Because there's only one man that has been raised from the dead and he has taken a place as man that no one else has. But he associates us with him self in it even while we're still down here.
01:05:25
We just briefly touched on that in Philippians 3 the other day and you see it all through the scriptures. There is a man.
In heaven, a glorified man, spirit, soul and body. When I was a teenager, I remember walking through a living room of a friend's house.
And the the Americans had just, I think, landed some sort of a little buggy on the moon, and a man was walking on the moon, I think it was.
Around 1969.
And and the the words that he uttered were no doubt rehearsed in advance. He said one small step for a man, 1 Gray giant leap for mankind. Well, I don't know if it was a gianty. I know it wasn't a giant leaf for mankind because man is still what he was before that. And he'll be that way outside of the work of God's grace and his power in a human heart. So it hasn't been a great but when the Lord Jesus stepped foot in heaven.
He positioned himself there for you and my blessing for all eternity. And it's our privilege to be now in a spiritual way, identified with him in that new place. So I appreciate Bruce's clear exposition on that. To be in Christ is to be in Christ's place before God. Bill, you're going to say something. I can see that across the room. Yeah. With, with strong concurrence of what you say, brother Bruce, with regard to our place in Christ.
Christ place before God, that is our place.
I would take it here though in Second Timothy we are not so much on doctrinal positional truth per se. And I, I take it here that this expression such as you get to chapter 2 and verse one, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. That's not a positional thing per SE. And I take it here are these exhortations. We sing that little hymn, yet I may come and come again to thee. Where are we going to get the grace to go on in this day of giving up?
Day of opposition and hostility, it's in Christ Jesus. That's where we're going to go. How about faith and love? Where are we going to get that which is in Christ Jesus? So I take it that he's the great resource for us in these things as well. So I've just considered it in this way that while those verses are very clear and we want to have them established, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new and so on and.
We want to, that's clearly established, but I just taken it here that in these practical matters when there's discouragement and disharmon.
Where are we going to go to? The world would say dig deep, look within, pull yourself up, move forward. No, see Christ Jesus if that's all right.
Let me do my part to move us along in the chapter, if I may.
In in coupled up.
Coupled up with the realization that Paul is writing to a personal letter and surely the Lord knows the end from the beginning. New millions of us would be reading it over the over the centuries. But still it's a personal letter. And so he gets personal and he calls people out by name. It's it's the contrary, I suppose is is important for us when when it's not personal to not call out by name in a negative way.
We were noticing in our readings in the book of Acts, we learn in Galatians that Paul went up to Jerusalem for that very vital conversation with the brethren in Jerusalem about the Gentiles and others keeping the law in Acts 15. But on the way he stopped in these different cities. And what did he talk about? It says he he.
You find that in Acts 15 it says.
In verse two, there is no small dissension in disputation, but then they go up and on verse three of Acts 15, brought on their way by the church, they passed through Phoenicia and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren thus beautiful. And along the way, and I'm sure Paul was really concerned, deeply concerned about what was going to transpire at Jerusalem, but along the way he shared very positive things.
01:10:03
In Acts chapter 20, when he had that meeting with the.
The Ephesian elders, they came down on the coast to meet him. He says I kept back nothing that was profitable. And so we we all need to be exercised about about the tongue and about being what do we share and how much detail we share it here. Paul felt it was important to give Timothy examples of what he was talking about because these two phagellis and homogeneous weren't the only ones that were turning aside from this this heavenly.
Pauline doctrine, as we call it. There were other.
And he gives just two examples by jealousy and homogeneous. And then he passes on to a beautiful person. An example of onusiferous. In other epistles he calls out people in a positive way. What an encouragement they were, where he seeks to exhort them and stir them up. I'm not aware, correct me if I'm wrong, that he calls out in a negative pointed way for for Timothy's warning some that were causing mischief in the Church of God and dragging down the Saints.
Your time is nearly up, but when we.
Read of one that OFT refreshed the Apostle Paul. We are reminded of some of the verses that we have in Romans chapter 16.
The.
No mistake that the word off is is mentioned, and it's no mistake. In Romans 16 when we read verse 6, read Mary who bestowed much labor.
On me or on us? And again.
The end of verse 12, which labored much in the Lord, was no mistake. God notice these little details and brings them out, doesn't He? For our encouragement.
May we seek to emulate those that acted in this way.
Just one more comment about Onessa Force I believe.
As we've been saying that he's a most beautiful character, and as we were saying earlier, how much affection is needed in the things of the Lord? And here was one that had it who sought Paul out very diligently and found him in role and encouraged him.
But there is an expression in connection with Onessa Force that.
Could be very puzzling, at least it was to me for quite a while.
In verse 18, Paul says the Lord grant unto him.
That he may find mercy of the Lord in that day.
What does Paul mean by that?
That day can only refer to one time, the judgment seat of Christ.
And he uses that expression back up in verse 12.
He is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
And then he says, the Lord grant unto him, that he may find mercy of the Lord in that day. I've asked myself, how could Paul ask that someone find mercy at the judgment seat of Christ?
I'll share this with you. It puzzled me for a long time. I had my own thought on it.
Just about all of our good writers, including the one that wrote the Black Books, skirt around it, don't talk about it, don't mention it. And I thought that's interesting.
Why are they skirting around it? Finally 11 reliable writer came through.
And without wanting to say this in any boastful way, he had the same thought as I had, I really believe. Where was Vanessa Forest from Ephesus? Where was Ephesus in Asia?
What had gone on in Asia all day, which are in Asia, be turned away from me. I really feel that dear owness of force for a while had been carried away by the crowd. He had missed the path. He had forsaken Paul's doctrine, probably under the influence of others. But it was in the end of the journey. It wasn't the end of the chapter, it wasn't the end of the book later on.
01:15:15
He was restored. He comes to see Paul in Rome. He realizes the mistake he had made and Paul.
In the character of intercession with the Lord, says Lord, I, I, I hope you'll remember the judgment seat of Christ, all that he did for me, even though he did for a time fail. And I say that as an encouragement because some of us have failed, Speaking of myself.
Others, perhaps have failed.
And yet Paul takes his time to record what happened with Vanessa Forest after the failure. No, others may disagree with that explanation, and that's fine if you do. But I believe for myself that that's the thought that Onessa Force, being an Ephesus, have been LED away by others and had for a time given up on Paul's teaching. But then he comes back again.
And this time he's stronger than ever. And Paul says, Lord, you remember that, please, when you come to the judgment seat of Christ, because he really deserves a reward for all that he's done. And I believe Paul had the mind of the Lord in saying that.
#18 in the next number 18.
When they deserve.
To stay.
Glory.
To.
Right, so sunrise and.
Now.
Yeah.
Oh.
God.
We glory.
Worldly.
There with joy shall be.
01:20:30
Before we pray, I'd like to.
Read a verse in Ephesians. Chapter 4 has already been referenced.
Ephesians chapter 4 verse 20. Ye have not so learned Christ, if so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus.
Hmm.
So appreciated.
Brother just brought out spent a wonderment to my own mind. It seems like the Spirit of God.
Through Paul.
Speaking of Vanessa Forest brings something toward our souls. It gives us to realize how cast upon him we need to be that someone that that was such a helpful fall and such a refreshment to fall.
How he could be turned aside?
We know those that have.
Enjoy this very same truth that we've enjoyed here this morning and then they've somehow been able to go.
And to to be connected with and associate with what our brother Bob has brought out all these things that that have sought to Judaize Christianity. And we say, how can they? How can they be in that and go on in that?
I thought I knew them differently, but I just so I think of this verse.
It's so important that we hear him and I believe this afternoon, this morning we have by his grace and to be taught the truth.
With our affections.
The truth being spoken in love and held in love.
So that because so often the truth is given up, we're told in Proverbs by the truth and sell it. Not so when the truth is given up, it's generally sold. It's something that I gain for myself, and I'm willing to sacrifice some of the truth in order to have a present gain.
We've been exhorted, encouraged not to, but rather to hold fast. And if we learn it as it is in him.
Then we learned it in our affections that we can't anymore give it up than we can give him up.
Our God and Father, we thank Thee for answered prayer this morning.
We thank Thee for searching our hearts.
For encouraging our hearts.
To keep the good deposit.
That's been entrusted to us.
And to trust the.
Our God to keep out which we entrust to thee.
Even when they may feel.
That our labor has been in vain, and there is out that has seemed to overwhelm it and destroy it. And so may each one of us.
Heard thy voice this morning, Lord Jesus.
And the precious truth that we have heard.
May appease from thee and find its lodging place in our hearts.
To stay there.
And to buy it.
Not to sell it, but we just thank Thee for Thy wonderful goodness to us. We thank Thee for our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the truth. Livingly, may He become more precious to us.
And his worthy and precious name we pray. Amen.
2 Timothy 2
Reading
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That's seven or 7070 in the back of the book.
We sing all the.
Pleasure.
And shortly we also shall. And here, what is the one in? It's a spiritual spirit of being delighted.
Lord Jesus, it will be wonderful to be there.
But in the meantime, we're thankful for the light of Thy precious Word, and for Thy Holy Spirit that dwells in us to help us to understand.
We pray that there might be on our part willing hearts to walk in obedience. We pray and give thanks, Father, as we start this meeting. In the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
Would it be OK to read the whole of chapter 2 Then?
All right.
Second Timothy, chapter 2.
Thou therefore, my Son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, in the things that thou hast heard me among many witnesses, the same commit thou faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.
Thou therefore endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life.
That he may please him who hath chose him to be a soldier. And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully. The husbandman that Laboureth must be first partaker of the fruits.
Consider what I say, and the Lord give the understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ of the seed of David was raised from the dead according to the gospel, according to my gospel, wherein I suffer trouble as an evil doer, even unto bonds, But the word of God is not bound.
Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they may also obtain the salvation, which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. It is a faithful saying, For if we be dead with Him, we shall also live with Him.
If we suffer, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, he also will deny us. If we believe not, yet He abideth faithful. He cannot deny himself of these things. Put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord, that they strive not about words to no prophet, but to the subverting of the hearers. Study to show thyself approved unto God, A Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
00:05:30
But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase unto more ungodliness, and their word will he eat, as doth canker, of whom is hymenace, and philetus, who concerning the truth have erred.
Saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood, and of earth, and and some to honour, and some to dishonour. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel into honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work.
Flee also youthful lusts, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart.
But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender stripes. And the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men. Apartment to teach, patient in meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves.
If God, her adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
And that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.
I want to communicate briefly.
I didn't have opportunity this morning, but something in the end of chapter one.
Verses 15 to 17.
You read verses 1516 and 17.
I want to read a verse in Proverbs chapter 8 and verse 17.
Posito comuni version Elabora Elias.
Verses before speak of the deposit that we have from God.
Versus proverbs.
And versus 17 to 19. I love them that love me. Those that seek me early shall find me. Riches and honor are with me. Yeah, durable riches and righteousness. My fruit is better than gold, yet in fine gold my revenue then choice silver. Asical context.
In the context of those verses in.
First Timothy or Second Timothy, Chapter one.
Many abandoned the Apostolic instructions.
He esteem scarce and Roma and Rome. There was many jails or prisons and it speaks of omicipuro.
And he could find.
After looking very diligently for him.
Come on, come on. Persecution. Sometimes when we want to follow the truth, there's persecution. As a result, Pablo Carson Paul was in prison.
Jeremiah was in prison.
So I just want to talk about the Prophet.
In the time of the king Ahab.
00:10:03
And the kings Joseph, Jehoshaphat a via Cuatro Ciento's prophetess, there was 400 prophets.
That went in a different direction.
And there one was one prophet, that one contrary.
That was Nikki I had.
A trabajo verdad and sometimes the young people are going to find that it's going to be worked to follow the truth.
It isn't easy when there's so much of Christendom that goes in another direction. There were 400 false prophets.
And he was only one.
And this.
Calls my attention to.
Horn of.
Metal.
His doctrine.
Cuerno And for the young people it is difficult at times because they see these things that are so attractive.
And sometimes when they're in the assembly, they see so much that is so weak.
Maybe that's not the case here, but in Quadrinto where we're from, it's the case.
And we want the young people to be encouraged.
Sometimes one brother is asleep.
Maybe not even singing the songs and it's difficult.
But the point I want to make is.
Not ashamed of the Apostle Paul.
And I want to encourage the young people not to be ashamed of being in the Assembly.
There are many other churches in.
Nana Vernon Pools is Ronnie Mccomber Uno. They have shame on me sometimes for meeting where I do.
Because there's nothing that great.
But it is worth seeking the Lord. Well, perhaps this is saying something a little too strongly, but.
If we don't get anything else out of this afternoon's meeting, let's make sure that we get a grasp of the first verse.
In the first chapter, we've been seeing how that the truth that Paul had so strenuously labored to teach was being given up. And all in Asia, he says, have forsaken me.
Turned away from me. What a position for Paul to be in.
And now he's exhorting Timothy to go on and to have an outline or the form of sound words to keep the good deposit that has been entrusted to him.
If I had been starting this second chapter, I probably would have said Thou therefore my Son, be strong in the truth, that is in Christ Jesus. But that's not the way the Spirit of God puts it. Be strong in the grace. And why is that?
Because when things start to come apart and when things are not what they should be, there is.
A tendency, and it's in my heart too, to say, well, we have to tighten things up. We have to, as we would say, whip the troops into shape, keep them in line and we can end up with a narrow, sectarian and sometimes a harsh attitude.
00:15:00
And that will never go in the things of God. The whole spirit of that is wrong. Yes, we need to be faithful.
And Jude tells us we are earnestly to contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. No question about it. And Paul would not advocate for one moment giving up any of the truth. We had that this morning. But how is it to be done with grace?
Be strong in the grace which is in Christ Jesus. Grace will never compromise the truth of God.
True grace will always insist on the precious truth that God committed to us, but in the spirit that connects us with Christ himself, and in a spirit that brings that truth home to our souls in a way that we recognize. It's not, I repeat, it's not human energy that can keep it. It's only.
In an understanding of the grace of God.
And that's why at the end of his second epistle, Peter says.
Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. How do we grow in grace? It means that we understand more and more.
All that the Lord has done for us and all that He has brought us into.
Suppose I meet with opposition to the truth. How do I react to it?
If I may be allowed to, I will quote my father-in-law once again, he said. There are two ways of maintaining the truth. One way is I'm right and you're wrong and I'm going to prove you're wrong if it's the last thing I ever do.
Do we get into that spirit? Sometimes it can come to that. The other way is this truth is so precious to me. Why? Because it connects me, as Brother Ben was bringing out this morning with Christ himself. And this truth means so much that I cannot bear to give even one small part of it up.
We will both.
In both cases maintain the truth of God, but the second case will have a much different effect.
On the here.
Is that right, brother Bob? Yes. And I say grace touches the heart and the heart is the mainspring of Christian life. And and if the heart isn't touched, you're not going to go on that long. So how important it is, I think how you mentioned Peter, how the Lord restored him so graciously.
His public restoration that we have record of is in John chapter 21 and the Lord Jesus and those.
Versus there you don't see he never said anything about Peters denial in front of the others disciples and the deadly had had a private session with Peter that it speaks of in Lukes gospel chapter 24 that there he only says.
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? He touched the heart of that man.
And at the end, after he said it for three times, why Peter says, Lord, you know all things. You know that I love you. Peter did love the Lord and I trust he learned, like we all need to learn, that you can't trust in your own love for the Lord, have to trust in the Lord's love for us. And so Peter was restored and he gave him the care.
Feed my lamb's, feed my sheep.
And so Peter at the end of his abyss first epistle says, feed the shutlock of God, which is among you, I think is so, so beautiful. So.
Peter learned that grace too, doesn't he? And so that is so important, the the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Be strong like you say, we tend to clamp down and try to be more rigid. It's not going to work.
We need wisdom how to be a help amongst our brethren?
We could spend the whole meeting on this subject.
00:20:05
By.
Reviewing the verses that our brother Bruce read to us from the Song of Solomon, Draw me, We will Run after thee and the attractive power of Christ in grace.
There's nothing that can duplicate it.
When you're.
If you were to picture in your mind a £50,000.25 ton block of steel in the middle of this space, to hold that up in the air would take so much steel. You'd have to have all kinds of columns of pipe or big wide flange beams, and that wouldn't be enough because they buckled. And so then you got to start bracing them. Pretty soon you got tons and tons of steel. So I hold this up.
But you could take two little cables, inch and 3/8 of steel and you could hold it up that way because the way tension works, this is the way cranes work. And so the Lord works that way with you and me. He draws us, He pulls us. And I like what you say. Well, he fastens the rigging is attached to the heart and he draws us along. It's beautiful. But in the assembly when things get routine and and.
You know when when when the heart is not engaged anymore, you can bring during you could better drag in a lot of steel because you need to push things along or hold them up. You're going to take a ton of energy and it's Lord it's not going to be in that. But this drawing is is beautiful and John 21 The Lord drew them along drew Peter along may draw us along. I appreciate it Bruce reading that very much. We could have spent the whole meeting on that.
Just thinking of the 2nd 1St to this is the things that thou hast heard of me.
Among many witnesses the same commit thou to faithful men.
Word here is not successful.
It's not ambitious, it's faithful.
In Proverbs chapter 20, there's a premium placed upon faithful men.
Says a faithful man who can find they seem to be in the minority, but they were the ones to be singled out and we read in scripture of certain individuals that were faithful and God places a premium.
Upon faithfulness.
And then if we go on to the next verse, I don't want to go on too rapidly.
There's endurance connected with the Christian pathway.
In Hebrews Chapter 11 in that faith chapter, we see that Moses endured.
And then it brings before us the soldier.
Of Jesus Christ, the good soldier of Jesus Christ.
In Psalm 78 we read a very striking situation and a very sad situation. It speaks about the children of Ephraim. It says they were armed.
They were carrying boats.
But then it says they turned back in the day of battle. So may we not be like those children of Ephraim?
May be may we be like those that are spoken of here in verse 3.
Verse two we have 4 generations. I think it's good to see this is.
God's way of maintaining the truth. It's Paul taught Timothy amongst many witnesses. That to me is important.
And then he was to commit the same to faithful men like you say, Brother Bruce.
And they would in their turn be able to teach others also.
Faithful men. What is a faithful man?
00:25:03
He doesn't say like you mentioned, Brother Bruce, he didn't say.
Look around for some good preachers and eloquent.
Men. No, he says. Faithful men. Faithful man is one who does the truth of God. You not only knows it, he walks in it. That's a faithful man, and that's important.
And I believe that's why some of these further exhortations are brought in, because walking in the truth is going to involve enduring hardness as Bruce is bringing out Bruce Christensen, The truth is not going to be popular. And.
Yes, it's wonderful for those that are willing to be faithful with it.
But it's not going to be popular. We're going to have to endure hardness. And that word hardness can mean many different things. It can involve the.
Constant exercise to hold and walk in the truth. It involves perhaps some of the difficulties of the way where you see other dear believers who are dear to your heart, not willing to walk in it. And as we'll see later on in this chapter, it eventually may come to separation, which is a very difficult thing. And then in verse 4.
No man that warth entangleth himself of the affairs of this life. That takes real exercise and real discernment before the Lord. Because we do have to manage our affairs in an orderly way. We have to work to earn a living. It's not right to maintain a slovenly lifestyle and not to manage our affairs properly. That's not honoring to the Lord. But.
Entanglement. That is the problem.
We need to be exercised. What can we let go in order that we might have more of Christ? I really enjoyed a remark made by a brother once and it came second hand to me.
But he said something like this. He said never. No more of anything than you know, of the things of God.
Never know more about anything than you know about the things of God.
Was it you that quoted that to me, Bruce? Or quite possibly?
OK, you, you enlarge on it a bit then, because I'm trespassing on your territory. No, no, no. It's, it was a brother Bill and I have talked about and brother Ralph Reed senior and who's still living back in Pennsylvania. And he was a very busy and incompetent business person, you know, and he, he had to really study and prepare to accomplish his day's work, you know, to advise people and.
And he would put his younger associates really through the Inquisim and Quism and Quizzum because they needed to, to know their potatoes, so to speak. And and then he would come into the meeting and tell us young, he would look at SEC. You should never know more about anything than you know about this book. And that was 40 plus years ago. And I know I've remembered that. I trust the other younger ones did too. But it's good advice, I think.
I was just on the phone the other day with brother Ralph Reeb and every time I call is a big encouragement to me.
But I can recall our gospel meeting that he held some years ago. As Brother Bruce was saying, he was a very competent individual and.
Much of his business had to do with executives and hospitals.
And on one occasion he was touring a big hospital. I don't know whether it was in Philadelphia where it was with the leading hospital administrator.
And.
A nurse came out of one of the patient's rooms and she was very agitated.
00:30:05
And.
Hospital administrator could see this and he went over.
To work the presence of her brother Ralph and he said what's what is the problem? Can we be of any help to you.
And this nurse said, I promised this patient's wife that I would record his last words.
And she said I think I failed. I only got 2 words.
Hospital administrator said to her, what were those two words?
Absent present. Well, brother, Ralph said. I hope you don't mind if I try to give an explanation to this nurse. So.
He turned her to that. He had a New Testament with him, to that portion in Corinthians where one was absent from the body and present with the Lord. This nurse was so relieved. She said thank you.
Now I can convey that message to his wife.
She had the lady on the phone.
And the lady?
That nobody knew said thank the dear brother for that. And so the CEO of the hospital looked at Ralph Rabia is always impeccable in a suit.
And just shook his head. How did you know this lady? Anyway, we go on with Ralph's stories. But you know, I can really relate to this third and fourth verse. When I first read it, I was in the military and this really stood out for me.
To be a good soldier, as brother Bill Brockmire pointed out.
When you first some of us, when we first get saved, we have to unlearn a lot of things.
And I had to unlearn being a civilian. In boot camp. They teach you how not to be a civilian. So there was a lot of hardship that I had to endure going through boot camp. But to be a good soldier.
For the government.
There was a line that if you cross then you would dishonor the uniform. So there was a lot of things that we had to adhere to, to not get entangled with because we serve the commander in chief at that time. This is during the Vietnam War.
But you know, young people, we're in a warfare right now. It's not the same with guns and bombs. But make no mistake, we're definitely in a warfare and we're being bombarded from all angles and.
We have to be.
Unentangled, we have to cease.
How is it ceased to do evil and learn to be good? We have to learn how to depend on the grace of God, to grow in the grace of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, and to be entangled with affairs of this world.
You really?
Are not going to be strong in the grace of God.
It's impossible that.
And we need to, you know now the Lord, like they did in boot camp to me, they, they tried to wean me from being a civilian and start thinking military. Well, the world is dealing with us to wean us from from the entanglements that will take us down. We've got to be prepared and ready for the world warfare that.
Surely come, if we're living honoree before the Lord, we will suffer and we will be tested. And believe me, the enemy knows just where to go into just where to attack. So we really need to be strong in the grace of God. That's that's where we first got to start. But let's, let's not get entangled with well, the politics and we're heavenly citizens now and all this is all going to be burned, burned up. All this is going to go away.
00:35:19
And we're ambassadors now for Christ. Let's display Christ. Let's not get entangled with these and be overcome and and oh, what's happening to this God run. You know, let's not get 10. They're caught up with all this because it won't do our our standing as a good soldiers to fight a good fight.
Thank you for sharing that story you guys about Brother Reeves.
Bruce, that's one of the mentors you're you like talking about. That's what this is talking about. Scripture here, mentoring.
That's a good mentor and a good example.
Verse three in the Darby translation says Take thy share in suffering as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. We tend as Americans to try to avoid suffering.
I think we need to rethink that. I remember hearing a story of some persecuted Christians over in China who said.
To somebody, when you go back to America, tell our brothers and sisters there that they don't pray that the persecution cease. That's what's making us grow so much. And so we tend to shy away from suffering.
Don't do that. And another thing in verse 4 is.
Pleasing him who has enlisted him as a soldier.
Brethren, we're not here to please ourselves. That's ingrained in the American Dream. Do what you like. You owe it to yourself.
Or what Burger King says. Have it your way. That is not Christianity.
Even Christ pleased not himself. The Lord. Help us, Lord, in that room.
But you can seek after something is a high calling. Her brother was mentioning the military. I remember the advertisements that used to be for the Army as they were seeking a few good men, now a few good women too. And people who went after that who becomes a SEAL team member. People who want to see if they can meet the standards, if they can survive the difficulties, they could go through something every SEAL.
Goes through something they call hell week and most don't survive. Why would anybody seek that?
Now, in natural things, there's a glory to it, right?
Well, don't we have a glory before us to seek to go and be at the highest level, to serve the one that died for us to be one? Want to be about your Father's business and be there, be in the game.
Be in the battle, there's a glory to that, and those who stand at the judgment seat of Christ one day who've entered the battle, who've been willing to do that, they will have endured difficulties, but they haven't focused on the difficulties. I don't want to go and hurt myself or suffer needlessly, but if I am pursuing my Father's business and it comes.
Then I should be willing to go.
And be willing to bear up under that I tell you this.
There's a big difference about enduring something I might have to go through if it concerns my wife whom I love, or a brother or sister whom I love. Who will you get up in the middle of the night and drive across hours to go meet? Unless it be somebody you love that's in trouble. If there's somebody you would do that for, who CARES about the trouble of it? Who CARES about the hurt of it?
Well, that's what this is talking about. It's what you're talking about. Be willing to do that because you love him and he's asked you to go someplace and it may involve a brother or sister in Christ that you love deeply. Well, that's nothing to get up and go and help, even if it's a lot of trouble to do so if you love them. You mentioned being drawn on Bruce afterwards. Brother John Leben likes to quote all the time.
00:40:20
About being constrained by the love of Christ. It draws you. It pulls you.
While you can endure a lot if that's what's drawing you and encouraging you along.
Rate the exercise as you mentioned.
Quite often this meeting and the prior meeting and brother Bob mentioned about the brother is being exercised before going to meeting so can somebody.
Define that to be exercised at #1 #2. Is that something just the brothers?
Can do or or should do or is that something that sisters can also develop that and?
Young people, for that matter.
There is no growth without exercise, is there? Physically, you want to grow properly, there's exercise. And it's the same in spiritual matters. And I say, brethren, exercise takes two things. It takes time and it takes energy. And if you want to grow, that's what it's going to take.
About the meetings that we had lately, we, we, we've spoken extensively about encouragement not just in the reading meetings, but in open meeting as well and the, the idea of encouraging that young people have been brought up repeatedly and I think that we need to.
Take a look at these two verses at the beginning of this chapter. It has already been brought out that there's four generations here, but what's significant about these four generations is that none of them are related that we can see.
And.
We often.
We often point out in these two chapters that Paul spoke of Timothy as a son.
But they weren't related. How is that possible that he could do that? And I think it goes back to Paul's part. Paul had a heart of a father. He was not his father, but he had a heart of a father's. And it's been brought out that as we pass these things from one generation to the next generation.
It's personal.
It's going from one man to another man.
But it has to be done with love and.
That is only possible if it's done with a father's heart. The father will sacrifice. The father will expand as much as it takes to establish the next generation.
And he would do it with love.
The teacher won't do that.
The teacher will teach and teach and teach.
But it's the Father of Allah, and what we have here is we have on display to us the Father's heart, teaching one generation to the next.
Like to think too, rather, that we have in Scripture discipleship. And I look back in my own life at some of the brothers I accompanied on trips, sometimes to Latin America, sometimes to other places. And I learned not only by what they said, but by what they did. And I think that's the thought of the discipleship.
Those disciples, those 12 disciples accompanied the Lord. They learned not by what he said only, but by what he did. And I must say, some of the lessons I learned from those older brothers are engraved in my heart. I treasure that because I saw it was something they live by. And that's discipleship. And I think that's important thing. And I think we could say that Timothy was a disciple.
00:45:09
Of the apostle Paul, our brother was asking questions about exercise and if I understood it correctly, he was saying how it was mentioned that men should be exercised, but what about others? What about women or children or young people? Yeah, it makes a difference in a meeting.
11 Lord's Day after the breaking of bread in our meeting, we have these times, there's a wonderful spirit in Cedar Rapids that has come about through all the different, different difficult years and so forth. And we call it the meeting after the meeting. There's this time after the breaking of bread, it seems like nobody wants to go anywhere. They just sit there. We talk. 1 Lord's Day I ask because I notice certain things I noticed.
Just Lynn over there looking at him and this one and this sister over here looking at pages in her Bible in between when somebody was partaking. So I started asking them, what were you looking at?
And there was a whole other meeting going on or along with what was verbally being done. And it was the women there as their thoughts were occurring and and something that was said or something that was prayed.
Occurred to them and they looked at it and they prayed about it, Not out loud, but I really enjoyed that. And then in the prayer meeting, similar kind of thing, I got to visit W Richland last year and they were like just a small group out and there were some young people there, young children, and I asked them if they took part in the prayer meeting as they sat there.
And I said to them.
People. Some people know the story about how.
We had a dog die in the middle of the same December 24th, 2004 in West Palm Beach and how when all of those children and young people in the scene prayed, God brought our dog back to life after it was dead.
And I told that story to them. I said, you know how much I value children's prayers? A whole lot. And I said, when you're in a prayer meeting and your brothers are praying, are you praying along? I don't care how young you are. I don't care if you got a coloring book. You're coloring most of the time. But do you does sometimes things you think about maybe somebody in a friend in your family is sick or hurting or maybe somebody at school's going through something, you know?
That while they're praying, you can add your prayers and your amens to that. Do you know that God hears that and sees that yeah, it makes a difference. And when children and and the women that are in an assembly meeting, even though they're not taking a verbal part and they are taking a part, the tenor of that meeting will have a whole different thing. And if they were not. And I think that anybody who's been.
Amongst the gathered Saints for very long can tell you that that's the truth.
Does that answer any of the question?
Get a definition brother Bob mentioned about. It takes time and energy.
But what does it mean to do that? So a definition of what it is to exercise.
How about a sister who reads the portion in the reading meeting before she comes, and she's enjoying it even before she gets to the meeting. And her prayers, along with her brethren add something to that meeting, even though she doesn't say a word.
I often find that the sisters are more alert than the brothers in places where I visit. And even though they don't say a thing, their attitude has a definite effect on the whole meeting. And so I just want to encourage the sisters, You are part of the meeting just as much as the brothers. Your attitude is extremely important. Sometimes you might say, well, we can't say anything.
So it doesn't really matter if I pay attention or not. It does really matter.
00:50:00
I want to say something.
There was a sister in Christ.
Who began to talk to me about the truth of the word of God?
I mean metal Postamento Asynchronous Anosa Aronaki and who invited me for the first time to a meeting like this?
The name.
He said. What's your name?
Erin de Lamour.
And he said we've learned more from love than we do by the words.
America.
Sister Beverly, we made this trip to South America.
I never saw her in a pulpit speaking publicly.
She taught me a lot with her loves.
To think of two individuals that are mentioned very prominently in the New Testament equivalent, Priscilla.
Few instances his name.
Is mentioned first, but there are several places where her name is mentioned and it's in the proper order. But God valued the service of both, and both were in their proper spheres.
There's five. Go ahead, Bill. We just add a word to that in terms of the word exercise. For myself, I sometimes prefer the word conviction, but we know it exercises in a physical way. It's out which tests us that which strains us at times in order that there is growth and we remain in good health. And it says in First Thessalonians 2 about the word of God that effectually works in you that believe Hebrews 5 speaks about those whose senses are exercised.
And I believe the point of it is it takes the word of God from the level of theory and it implements it into practice. And there's exercise connected with it has to do with our state. It has to do with our walk on our ways is so that we know more than just being on paper, but that it's implemented into our life. And these things are often not, not pleasant for us to to to work through. If I get it. Just a couple other things that what Aaron brought up. You know, first Corinthians 4 Paul says, though, you have 10,000 instructors in Christ.
Yet not many fathers and we need 10,000 instructors in Christ, those that would teach the word of God clearly. So we understand that we separate truth from Aaron, probably rightly divide the word of truth. But you know, a father will do things for a son that a teacher won't. Whether it's an act of sacrifice and also willing to get in his son's face if need be. A father will do that for the good and well-being of his son. Just had a couple other things here you mentioned about the the service.
And you know, in Mark's Gospel, there is no genealogy mentioned of the Lord, is there? There's a genealogy in Matthew, a genealogy and Luke from Joseph and Mary respectively, but none in Mark. Why? Because in Mark, the Lord Jesus has set forth as that perfect servant. And it's irrelevant who your father or your grandfather is as it relates to the service of God. God calls us each individually, and while we can thank God if we have a godly heritage like Timothy had with his mother and grandmother, that's not what constitutes the call of God.
And so in the path of service, how intensely practical it is. It's so individual.
One more thought and this Harkins back to over 40 years ago, but I want to we want to get this in when we're in second Timothy 2 before the meeting is over over 40 years ago as in the Tacoma was a fellowship day and her brother Leonard Peril patrol spoke from this chapter and he brought out seven points that I've enjoyed ever since 7 figures of the individual Christian in this chapter. We've had the first one in verse one my son and say that was Timothy. That's not us. No, it is us, those of us that have come under the good and benefit of blessing of Paul's teaching. In that sense we've come into the sphere of being Paul's son influenced by him.
We've had the soldier mentioned here we come down to verse five and we'll have the athlete. In verse six we have the husbandman or the gardener. That's the 4th. Go down to verse 15. We have the workmen of the student. It's #5 drop down to verse 20. We have the vessels mentioned, another figure of the individual believer. And then in verse 24 we have the servant of the Lord. And so just as in our readings, we've had reference to the body of Christ and the House of God.
00:55:21
Is symbols of the assembly and different characteristics and different responsibilities connected with it. So we have these seven points mentioned in this chapter that everyone of us believers needs to be quote UN quote exercised about that we implement the instructions thereby.
Excuse me, Bob.
No problem brother, just was going to say that verse 5, like you say, is the athlete and he's not crowned except he strive lawfully. You cannot win the prize unless you go by the rules of the game and you cannot ignore the principles of God word, God's word and when in the end you have to take them into count and that's an important lesson.
The next one is the husbandman, and the Darby reads it clear, as it should be. It's not that he must be the first partaker, it's that he must labor first.
Just read it here in the Derby. It says the husbandman must labor before partaking of the fruit. Sometimes we don't see the results.
Immediately of living by the word of God, let's remember the husbandmen or the farmer, the gardener, whatever you want. You have to work before there's a harvest. And you don't get discouraged if you don't see immediate results. And that's important too. These are things that we know in natural life and they are to be implemented. So he says, consider what I say. He's teaching lessons here.
And the Lord give the understanding in all things. And then somebody has already mentioned verse 8.
I think this is so important to brethren, remember and in the Garvey translation is remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead according to my gospel. And it was I think you Bill, that mentioned before that the Lord Jesus at the end of his life, his life appeared to be a complete failure. How many disciples? He had 12 disciples. Is that all after all that labor?
Yes, just that much. But one of them was a a fake and then another one who professed that he loved him and was willing to die for him, denied him three times and all the rest take off.
And there he is condemned to the death of the cross. It looked like one mighty failure. And now here's the apostle Paul at the end of his life. What do you got to show for Paul? Not much either looked like complete failure as well. But this is what really so challenging and wonderful, brother, remember Jesus Christ of the seed of David raised from the dead according to my gospel.
Brethren, God's answer is not in this life. God's answer isn't that coming day. Let's labor for that day, not for anything down here.
Yes, there.
Paul is not asking Timothy to remember the fact of the resurrection. He says remember the one who rose from the dead and all the results of the work of the Lord Jesus came in resurrection, didn't they?
And the reward for faithfulness likewise will usually have to wait for resurrections.
That's hard to do sometimes.
And that perhaps is a bit of an answer to verse six. I happen to grow up on a fruit farm, and I remember well planting small trees, little tiny trees, little little things that high.
Did we get fruit the first year from them? No. The second year? No. The third year.
Maybe, but not usually. Quite often you had to wait 4-5 years before you saw any fruit, and it was very exciting to get one little bunch of cherries on a small tree or something like that.
01:00:12
This is going to produce fruit, but it took time.
And you and I will have to wait in most cases for resurrection in order to see the reward of living for the glory of Christ.
Mm-hmm.
And that's why Paul says in verse 9 and 10 I suffer trouble as an evildoer.
Difficult doing the work of the Lord, being faithful to Him, and being called an evil doer. That has special meaning for us today because those who hold out for the truth of God's Word are being called evil doers and being.
Being accused of hate speech and things like that and what is totally contrary to the Word of God is being exalted and paraded around with pride.
Terrible.
Will there be a reward and resurrection? Yes, there will. And so Paul says in verse 10, I endure all things for the elect's sakes.
Why? Because the word of God is not bound. And how precious it is to see the word of God in the world today going out in a way perhaps is never before in terms of numbers. And it's not bound over it. I don't think it hurts to speak of this Over in India there are a number of states that have instituted what are called anti conversion laws.
That is, if you want to change your religion, you have to go before the magistrate or the local judge or official, whatever it might be, and he determines whether you have been persuaded by force or allurement to change your religion. It's been very interesting to see how the Lord works. Is the word of God bound? No. Our souls still being saved in large numbers, Yes.
Do they need to go before the magistrate to get saved? No, they don't. A word of God is not bound.
Earlier this morning, Bill Brockmire mentioned the desirability of not having to unlearn too much in order to proceed with the the good work of learning.
I have seen.
Such profit from teaching newly converted Saints the truth of election that they were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
When I was in the process of being drawn to the Lord, I of course thought it was all me, my heart pounding, my head just about exploding. And then I did it. And then a few weeks later Lord had it that an older brother brought me into his home and started to teach me from the Scriptures what I now had, and indeed what had happened to me. And I can remember the sense of awe as a new convert when I learned that He had chosen me.
In himself before the foundation of the world. What a foundation for a person to be a worshiper before we even get home. Because it raises the question in your heart, why would he choose me? Why me? And there isn't an answer to that. And the gap between what we can understand and what is the reality of it is filled by worship. It fills up that gap in my estimation. And so it's a foundational truth.
And it carries a certain tenor with it. As we learn the Scriptures more and more we see that God acting in sovereignty, in sovereign goodness really, and giving life is interwoven with the fact that man is indeed very, very responsible. Both are extremely true, as one brother put it. And so as but as people learn it later on in their Christian life, they have to undo a lot of things that they thought.
And that becomes a challenge. And I notice a lot of the younger brothers on the reading meetings I'm on are struggling with that. And they say, well, if you think that it's just God's work alone in a soul, that why even preach the gospel? Because they're going to get saved anyway. And we like to point to this verse and verse #10 the apostle Paul understood deeply.
01:05:13
That souls were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
And it became a motivation to him, not an encouragement just to sit back in his hotel room, so to speak, and say, well, they're going to get saved one way or another. He said, no, the elect are out there. They need to hear the gospel. They need to hear the word. And that's why he endured all things for the elects sake.
And so rather than being a discouragement and drawing back into some sort of theoretical mental Calvinism or whatever people call it, it was a real motivation to him. I must bring the word. They're out there and they're going to receive it. And I it's, it's, it's been laid upon me to bring it. So I, I just put that before you. I where I was very thankful these older brothers that grounded me in that truth. And it was very precious.
And it really had its fruit in spiritual worship of the Father in spirit and in truth, because all of us knew that we could say, like the prophet, I am found of him.
As you go out, it sought me, not as you go out to preach the gospel, though, Brother Bruce, you don't know who the elect are, do you? So we are told to preach the gospel through every creature and that way every man is responsible, correct? Spurgeon was challenged by that idea. And he was a ******** Calvinist and he said.
If God painted a blue stripe up the back of everyone that was elect, I'd go around lifting shirts. But he didn't, He said, preach the gospel. So I preached the gospel.
There's another point I want to touch you that I think is so wonderful, brethren, to get a hold of. It's in verse 13. If we believe not yet He abideth faithful, He cannot deny himself. I love that, brethren. You can't depend on our own faithfulness.
Should I be faithful? Yes, I should.
Am I always faithful? The Lord is the judge of that brother, and not anybody else. But to realize, brethren, it's not a matter of our faithfulness. It is the faithfulness of him that it speaks of here that cannot deny himself. God is God and God is faithful. He cannot be anything else.
Thank God for that.
If God has chosen souls.
In Christ, before the foundation of the world, are they ever going to go into a lost eternity because I was not faithful enough in preaching the gospel? No, that won't happen. And I had to bring that before some of our brethren and a foreign land where they were just terrified of souls that were going to go into a lost eternity if they were more energetic and didn't do more for the Lord and didn't preach more often and so on.
I said, well we should use.
Every available opportunity, absolutely. But let's remember that if God has chosen souls, He'll see to it that they receive the gospel. Even if you and I can't get to them. He's going to look after the situation. And that gives a real peace, doesn't it? Because we can't be everywhere.
We can't reach every soul, you and I as individuals cannot, but the Lord can. Example of that connection with the Apostle Paul.
He says he has saved or a purpose to go to Pathinia, but the spirit suffered him not.
Does that mean that the gospel never reached Athenia? I don't think so, and I was encouraged to read the first few verses of First Peter where it speaks of those in Bithynia that had received the gospel. So the gospel got to that location through another instrument, didn't it?
01:10:10
Our responsibility, submitted those followers.
282.
182.
There's a brother here that had a word to share, which could you go ahead, Brother Andy.
I would just like to make a comment to the young as we close this up.
And I want to paint a word picture if I could. I'm not saying that it happened this way by any means, but I think it's helpful to realize that Timothy may not have been quite as young as we would have perceived him to be. Paul had met him 15 years before he wrote this epistle. And I was impressed after the last reading that a young brother came to me and he said, you know, he said, what's interesting is between the first epistle.
In the second epistle there was really not very much time, and it was possibly.
1 1/2 to two years as best as I can tell he said it while it just seems like the declension came in so quickly.
And so I want to paint this word picture to you young people to perhaps make it relevant.
Think of going out to your mailbox. You open the mailbox, you pull out a letter.
That letter is addressed to you.
And it's from a man that you knew, that you labored with, and that you know is in prison.
And you go inside, and you open that letter, and you begin to read it.
And you finish reading it and suppose Timothy's mother comes to him and she says, Timothy, I see that you got a letter from Paul. How's he doing?
I realized somewhere he's in prison, he says. Mom, it's amazing.
He's persuaded that nothing is going to be lost. He's not ashamed of his life.
None of them.
And then our next question is Will, why did he write to you?
What was his reason for writing to you?
And if you look through this epistle, it's just.
It's a man who it's been brought out so well, it just looks like his life has been a disaster as far as fruit. And yet the energy that he's imparting to that younger one and he's saying, Timothy, it's been worth it all. I love to sometimes ask older men who have, after they're done with a career, you say, if you had it to do all over again, would you do the same thing? I think Paul's just saying absolutely, Timothy, I haven't. My mind isn't changed one moment. It's worth it all.
And so he's saying you go forward with energy. And I just want to leave my younger brother with this.
I've been impressed.
And I'm not going to give the names of denominations because I'm not here to bash any of my brethren in Christ.
But there are some very conservative denominations that are giving up. They're being divided and scattered in this nation on principles that the Word of God clearly teaches.
And I look at my younger brother.
And apart from faith and confidence in God, it seems like there is an overwhelming tide of apostasy that is just going to.
Sweep over everything and all is lost. But I just want to encourage your hearts.
Take this letter as it's written directly to you because it's very individual. There is a collective side to it. We didn't get to it, but even that collective side is the result of you following personally righteousness, faith, love and peace. And so may each of us take heart and ask ourselves, why did Paul write to me? I realize he was inspired by the Spirit of God, but why? What's the purpose? And I think that's been brought out so.
Thank you for your patience.
01:15:04
282.
Master.
We were no longer.
I was scratched from.
Light swallowed oil, and sunlight was aside to join the joy to know.
I shake.
Contact however we're trying.
Or thou must go toward that group seafood.
We welcome.
Steal my baby over.
We shall run my servant soil.
And.
We shall hear the same.
Arise, my Lord.
Shall we no more?
But perhaps the sun and the earth?
The Book of Second Samuel.
In Second Samuel, Chapter 11.
Verse 8.
David said to Uriah, go down to thy house.
And watched. I paid and to Raya departed out of the King's house.
And there followed him a mess of meal from the king.
Papa Raya slip at the door of the King's house with all the servants of his Lord.
And we're not down to his house.
And what they had told David said Uriah was not down unto his house. They decided to hurry up.
Him's thou not from thy journey? Why didn't this thou not go down unto thine house?
El Raya said unto David the Arkansas.
From Israel.
And Judah abiding tents.
My Lord, Joy and the servants of my Lord are encamped, encamped in the open fields.
Should I then go into my house to eat and to drink?
And to live with my wife as thou lives, and as thy soul live, that I will not do this thing.
Well, we're in intimidated the things that thou hast heard of me about snagging this.
The same commit out to faithful men.
That should be teach what the Lord looks is faithful servants. I don't explain what is a faithful but I can see through the scriptures faithfulness.
01:20:12
Like Joshua when he not departed from the tent, when the people of Israel, they were worshipping the golden. Like this soldier Uriah, the head tied.
Taking care of the Ark of Israel.
While David was asleep.
When David was.
Thinking.
Iniquity.
But the role always reserved faithfulness, isn't it?
Did they learn the lesson this reading Psalm 84?
Psalm 84, verse 10.
For a day in the course of.
Of thy core is better than 1000.
I had rather be a door keeper in the House of my God.
Not to dwell in the tents of wickedness.
Will all that were soldiers, isn't it?
But we are not faithful to the banner, to a country.
We need to be faithful to the Lord and I always encourage the young people.
Follow the Lord.
Be committed.
No matter the circumstances that you have around.
The unfaithfulness that in the assembly there is not too much truth to learn from, because you are not gathered to the parade and you are gathered to the Lord.
And it's very important to see who's in the midst, how much volume.
All found in the Lord Jesus Christ who is strengthened unto the end. I have fought the good fight of the day, even to the end, because He was looking on to the day when he was going to receive the crown of righteousness of those that wait for his return.
By the truth and sell it. Love this pray.
Our God of our Father, we we thank you for the privilege we have before us.
Our souls and our hearts to be reminded.
That in spite of.
Unfaithfulness.
Error in spite of so much ruin of the testimony as part of.
The foundation just stands firm. Or even unto this day.
Oh Lord Jesus, within the power risen, and see you at the right hand of God.
Are objects, but we think that we can rely on God precious truth that we can be strengthened that we can be strong in that grace that is in Christ Jesus that man that has passed into the heavens as it is city of the lion man of God and we pray that we might not.
Despite all that is being heard in this meeting, such a blessing for our souls, and we thank you that we might meditate each one individually. How much?
Precious truths we possess are not selling them, but they keep them whole, fast. It's been committed to our precious souls.
01:25:03
Within the collaborator here in Shadow Hills to give us the opportunity to be here under the sound of Thy word. And we pray for each one of us that we might be strengthened and encouraged in our souls. We take the Lord Jesus and we just pray for the rest of the day. Thy precious name, Amen. Amen.
Turning
Address—Paul House
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Can we start today with number six in the appendix please? Hymn number six in the appendix. Someone started please.
Lord, my heart.
S from and from for me.
Great people.
Many words to change that found me of the Lord has loose.
Them all.
Arms of mercy.
No, they're around me.
Small.
Save your kidney.
Save your kids and give me thy servant. Thus it fall.
S there's a scene that light skinned *****.
Jesus.
Is.
The Lord for me, listen to my soul.
It's problems.
I want to say first of all, I thoroughly enjoyed the Bible readings. The address is here and I thoroughly enjoyed the remembrance of the Lord yesterday.
And I trust, with the Lord's help, that we can make this meeting this afternoon.
Very personal.
Very personal.
When the World verse 4.
Would bid me leave thee.
Telling me of shame and loss. Save your guard. Me lest I grieve thee, lest I can't. I cease to love thy cross.
My responsibility and privilege this afternoon.
Is to speak to your heart.
I trust that everyone here will listen.
Let's pray for the Lord's help.
Our loving God and our Father, we would like to thank the this afternoon.
For the Lord Jesus Christ.
And Lord Jesus, we thank Thee for going to the cross.
For suffering there for the likes of us.
For stretching out thy hands.
And dying there.
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Because out it's love us.
And now, Lord Jesus, we live in a world that wants us. He wants to take us away from Thee, from those arms of love, that place of protection and joy. And we just would pray that as we have a few moments this afternoon, that we might be encouraged to turn Lord Jesus to thee.
To see thee in all thy beauty, Thy loveliness, our Savior, one that has redeemed us to God by thy blood. And we just pray now that we might go on together and individually to honor and glorify the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray in thy name, Amen.
I want to read some verses in Revelation chapter one.
As an introduction to what I want to talk about this afternoon.
We've had a couple of fellows that have.
Come to the assembly in Rideau Ferry where I live.
One of them in particular has asked me a series of questions about this Book of Revelation.
I haven't studied it for quite a few years in detail, and so with the Lord's help, I'm trying to go through it again.
With a book of ministry that I've enjoyed before by Hamilton Smith, that has been a help to me because I can understand a little bit of it.
I started in chapter one and.
I love the gospel.
But I love the young people too.
And.
I was struck with these verses and I'll start at verse 10.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day, and heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet, saying, I am Alpha and Omega, the 1St and the last, and what thou seest write in a book, and send it on to the seven churches which are in Asia, on Ephesus, and on to Smyrna, and on to Pergamos, and on to Thyatira, and on to Sardis, and on to Philadelphia, and on to laid Asia.
And I turned.
Turned. That's what we're going to talk about today. I turn to see the voice that spake with me.
And being turned, I saw 7 golden candlesticks, and then in the midst of the seven candlesticks, one like unto the Son of Man.
Clothes with a garment down to the foot and gird about the paths with a golden girdle.
His head and his hairs were white like wool and white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a furnace, and his voice as the sound of many waters.
And he had in his right hand seven stars, and out of his mouth went a sharp 2 edged sword, and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength. When I saw him, I fell down. I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not, for I am the 1St and the last. I'm he that liveth and was dead, and behold I'm alive.
Forevermore, Amen and have the keys of hell and death.
Verse 10.
I was on in the Spirit.
On the Lord's Day, I want to make just one little point to your dear young.
Young people.
And that's the Lord's Day.
The Lord's Day I want to tell you a little story about when I was a boy. I can't tell you what year it was.
But I specifically remember a party getting in power in the province of Ontario, where I live. The first thing they did was they struck down the Lords. They act.
There was an act in our laws in the province of Ontario that limited the Lord's Day for other things.
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Than religious things.
All of a sudden all the stores were open, all the trucks were on the roads, and everything else in the Lord's state changed overnight.
That was a disappointment to me.
My parents had taught me to value the Lord's Day.
And I hope each one of you grew up in a family like that where you valued the Lord's state. You know, the longer I live, the more I value the Lord's Day. It's a day for the Lord.
When I have a little more time.
For the Lord, you know we're all busy.
With the Lord's Day.
What does it mean to us? Let's value it.
I emphasize the word turned.
I want to talk today just a few examples in the scriptures about those who turned or returned.
There's many that come to mind, no doubt you've thought of some already in your mind.
And if you've spent some time in the Word of God and you've valued the Scriptures.
You have those things in your mind about those who turned.
And you know, what we're going to see today is those who turned and in general.
It was a positive thing.
I want to ask you this afternoon.
To just pay attention as we talk about these things.
And I want you to think about yourself for a minute.
As we talk about these things.
And ask yourself the question as to whether you need to turn.
I'm asking myself that as I'm speaking. I'm not just preaching to you, it's to me.
Do I need to turn somehow?
The Lord knows.
If you need to turn and so do you. And so as we read these things.
I want it to be very personal. I want it to be for you. This meeting is for you.
You know, I was thinking about the Apostle John. I've read that he was an old man when he wrote this. We read about how that he was on the Isle of Patmos. I looked it up. It's a little insignificant island. People go there for tourism now to see the sights where the Apostle John may have been.
But it's a pretty small island near Greece.
John was banished there.
What had been his privilege?
As a younger man, he'd had the privilege of leaning his head on the breast.
Of none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. What a privilege he had.
The love that he experienced, the miracles that he saw, the tenderness that he heard when the Lord Jesus commended his own mother to John.
But what does John see when he turns?
A very different.
Situation than what he was.
Used to before.
His head and his hairs were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were as a flame of fire, and his feet like undefined brass, as if they burned in a furnace. And his voice has the sound of many waters, and so on. You know the Book of Revelation is a book about judgment.
It's a revelation.
Let's read it in the first verse, says the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Which God gave on to him.
It's the revelation of Jesus Christ. You know, the Lord Jesus was a rejected man here.
He was a humble and lowly man, but he was a rejected and a scorned man and he still is in this world.
But there's a day coming when the Lord Jesus is going to be the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
Here and by God's grace.
We have the opportunity to identify with this wonderful man even now. You know, I was impressed in the readings.
And how many comments there were directed to you young people?
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You know why?
The older ones love you. That's why they love you. They want you to be happy. They want you to go on for him, for the Lord Jesus, honor and glory. But not just that, they want you to be happy, they want you to be full of joy too.
They want your blessing, that's why there was comments to you specifically.
I appreciated that they didn't forget you and this afternoon?
God hasn't forgotten you either. God wants you. God wants your heart.
Young person, don't turn away from him, turn to him.
You know, I've been, I haven't had the easiest life at times.
And eats part of our life. We have the choice. When we're in, we're in a tough situation. What are we going to do? Are we going to turn to him or are we going to turn away from him?
And may it be that each one of us will turn to him. I want to turn now to Averse and 1St Thessalonians.
First Thessalonians, chapter one.
Verse 9.
They themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had on to you, and how He turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Verse nine, at the end it says he turned to God, you know, and that's the beginning.
Turning to God, you know I enjoy giving the gospel.
I want to just give the gospel for a minute before we get into the subject for believing young people. Perhaps there's a young people here, person here this afternoon, and you haven't done this yet, You haven't turned to God. Now these people in Thessalonica, they turn to God from idols.
Idols of stone and wood.
Gold, silver, whatever they were, they turned from idols to God.
You say I don't have any idols. Oh yeah. Why haven't you come to the Lord Jesus yet? What are you living for? Because if you haven't come to the Lord Jesus yet, you're living for an idol. Something else?
Perhaps it's this world.
Perhaps you're good at sports. It doesn't matter what it is, the devil will keep you out of heaven whatever way he can.
So the beginning of the meeting is this. The most important thing you can do is turn to God, turn to God for salvation, first of all. Now we're going to talk a little bit to you believing young people.
What a great expression believing young people.
Are you one of the believing young people here this afternoon? This is a great story for you, so let's turn first of all to First Samuel Chapter 14.
This is a story about somebody who turned.
As far as I can remember.
This story has only been taken up twice.
At meetings that I have ever heard.
One was almost 40 years ago by Gordon Hale.
Last time I heard it was by his son-in-law Andy Newman in September this past.
We'll read it this afternoon. First Samuel, chapter 14.
Verse one Now it came to pass upon a day that Jonathan the son of Saul, said unto the young man that bear his armor, Come and let us go over to the Philistines Garrison, that is on the other side. But he told not his father. And Saul tarried in the uttermost part of Gibeah under a pomegranate tree, which is a Negron, And the people that were with him were about 600 men.
00:20:22
And Ohio, the son of a Adam, Ichabod's brother, the son of Finna, has the son of Eli, the Lord's priest in Shiloh, wearing an ephod. And the people knew not that Jonathan was gone.
And between the passages by which Jonathan sought to go over onto the Philistines Garrison, there was a sharp rock on the one side and a sharp rock on the other side. The name of the one was Moses, and the name of the other Cena.
The forefront of the one was situated northward over against Mick Mash, and the other southward over against Gibeah. And Jonathan said to the young men that bear his armor. Come and let us go over onto the Garrison of the uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
And his armor bearer said unto him.
Do all that is in thine heart.
Turn thee.
Behold, I am with thee according to thy heart. Then, said Jonathan, Behold, I will Passover.
Onto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them. And if they say unto us, tarry until we come to you.
Then we will stand still in our place and will not go over.
Go up onto them. But if they say thus come up unto us, then we will do.
Then we will go up, for the Lord hath delivered them into our hand, and this shall be a sign unto us. Both of them discovered themselves unto the Garrison of the Philistines. And the Philistines said, Behold, the Hebrews come forth out of the holes where they have hid themselves. And the men of the Garrison answered Jonathan and his armor bearer, and said, Come up to us, and we will show you a thing.
And Jonathan said unto his armor bearer, Come up after me.
For the Lord that delivered them into the hand of Israel. And Jonathan climbed up upon his feet, and upon his hands, and upon his feet, and his armor bare after him. And they fell before Jonathan, and his armor bearers slew after him. And that first slaughter which Jonathan and his armor bearer made was about 20 men were in, as it were, 1/2 acre of land, which a yoke of oxen.
Might plow, and there was trembling of the in the house.
In the field, and among all the people in the Garrison and the spoilers, they also trembled, and the earth quaked. So it was a very great trembling. And the Watchmen of Saul and Gibeah Benjamin looked, and behold, the multitude melted away, and they went on beating down one another.
We'll read this far.
Jonathan.
Had an armor bearer.
Do you have any friends?
Do you have friends here at the conference?
Jonathan had a desire that was right.
Do you have a desire? That's right. Do you want to do something to please the Lord like Jonathan? May it be so.
Jonathan had a friend in his armor bearer, and you know Jonathan had a good desire.
But he got afraid.
Verse seven his armor bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart turn.
Thee, you know what that means to me, means that Jonathan had a good desire. But.
He kind of chickened out. He turned around and the armor bearer said. Jonathan, turn around, keep going. Don't give up.
You know this is just a simple little example.
But Jonathan had a good desire, but he had a good friend.
And his good friend was able to help him, encourage him when he needed it.
Let's talk for a minute about Jonathan.
00:25:00
Jonathan's dad was a failure.
But Jonathan had a good desire.
This afternoon, how is it with you?
Has the Lord put something on your heart for you to do for Him because you love Him? You want to do it, don't you?
May you have that desire. And you know what? Jonathan's friend helped him.
By getting him to turn around.
You know somebody else.
That you're very dear friends with may have a desire for the Lord, and you can help them when they need it. That's what we're here for.
You know when I grew up.
I used to come to meetings like this.
There were brothers that stood up at the front and pleaded with my heart that I'd have good desires for the Lord Jesus Christ.
And pleaded with my friends to encourage me in my desires.
You know, that's what we're here for. We're here to help one another. We can help in the simplest ways.
You know, we've been exhorted to pray for one another, and that's so important to do.
But I want to tell you something else.
When I look around this room.
There are some people in this room that have been my friend since I was a kid.
And they still encourage me.
Why? Because they've gone on for the Lord Jesus Christ. And my desire for you young people is to be a help to one another and to want to please the Lord and do things for him and encourage each other to go on. And when somebody needs a bit of help, help them. Help them along. Turn and what happens?
Jonathan goes up the hill and Jonathan is followed by the armor bearer. There's no mention of this armor bearers name, we don't know who it was.
But the armoured bearer said the right thing at the right time, and the result was tremendous blessing. Blessing for Jonathan, blessing for the armor bearer, but blessing for Israel. The whole country benefited from the faith of one man and the encouragement of his friend.
Now think about this room.
There's empty chairs because of the weather, We know that. But there's empty chairs because.
People were discouraged and nobody said turn.
Why I'm guilty. I'm no better, but that's our privilege this afternoon, young people.
A friend of yours wants to do the right thing. Help them, encourage them. Why? For blessing. And you know that blessing can go on for years.
I said some of my friends are here. Jim, Dorothy, NJ. We've been friends since we were kids.
He has a word for me of encouragement every time we meet. We need that.
What a blessing.
OK, let's turn over to second Samuel.
Samuel, Chapter 2.
We're going to say a few things that maybe are a little bit difficult.
But necessary.
You know, sometimes we need to turn, but we won't.
Sometimes we need to turn, but we won't.
Is there a young person, a boy or a girl, and you love the Lord Jesus? He died on the cross. He bore every one of your sins. You're going to heaven, praise God, but you need to turn. You say, What do you mean?
00:30:11
I'm going to say this. What are you allowing in your life that's wrong?
Is there something that's taking all of your time?
You get home from school.
And you pick up something and you play something instead of.
Thinking about him instead of reading your Bible.
Or doing something profitable with another young believer.
Verse 18.
Maybe I should explain a little bit of the setting here.
After King Saul.
Died in battle.
David came to the forefront.
He was made the king over Judah, but there was a general who was.
Who like power, Abner and he?
Basically got a puppet son of Saul to be the king and he had power and so he kind of ran the country. The 10 of the other tribes, the 11 tribes.
And there were constant skirmishes and difficulties and battles between them.
And this is one of them.
And the men of Israel were beaten and were retreating.
And David had a first cousin.
And his name was Asahel. So verse 18, there were three sons of Zariah. Zariah was.
AI guess actually.
Forget what the relationship is, I think Soraya was the sister of David so these would be his nephews.
Joab Abishai and Asahel and Asahel was as light a foot as a wild Roe, and asked how pursued after Abner, and in going he turned not to the right hand nor to the left from following Abner. Then Abner followed.
Then Abner looked behind him and said, Arthur Asahel. And he answered, I am. And Abner said to him, Turn thee aside.
To the right hand, or to the left? And lay thee hold on one of the young men, and take thee his armor. And But Asahel would not turn aside from following him. And Abner said again to Asahel, Turn thee aside from following me. Wherefore should I smite thee? To the ground? How then should I hold up my face to Joab, thy brother? Howbeit he refused to turn aside.
Wherefore Abner, with the hinder hand of the spear.
Smote him under the fifth rib, that the spear came out behind him, and he fell down there and died in the same place he came to pass that as many as came to the place, whereas the hell fell, fell down and died, stood still. Joab, also an abishai, pursued after Abner, and so on.
You say, well, this is kind of.
An interesting.
Story to read and address to young people.
And I would say, yeah, it is. I've never heard it read in that young people's meeting before.
But it makes the point that I want to make this afternoon, and the point is this young people.
This man asked the hell he refused to turn.
When he was given good advice.
By somebody that was a seasoned veteran.
Who was a tremendous warrior and asked the hell was not? He wasn't even armed and yet he wouldn't listen.
And the point I want to make this afternoon is that.
When there's a situation that you've you know is wrong.
You need to turn away from it.
When somebody warns you.
Who's been around the block a few times?
Maybe an older brother?
00:35:00
Maybe your dad, maybe an older brother in the assembly.
An older sister says.
Maybe you shouldn't be doing that.
And you know you shouldn't be, then you need to turn.
From that thing. If you don't, the result can be terrible.
You know, we all know people.
We can think of people who aren't here today.
Because.
They're doing other things.
That's a shame and it's sad.
But it's true, and so I speak to you young people.
I speak to me, there's something that I know is wrong.
Whatever it is, get rid of it. Turn from it.
Oh my.
We would be so much happier in our souls if we turned from the things of this world that are robbing us of our joy and our happiness in Christ. Let's just look at a verse in Proverbs 4.
Proverbs 4, verse 14.
Enter not into the path of the wicked.
And go not in the way of evil men, avoid it.
Pass not by it. Turn from it and pass away.
The homework from this meeting.
Is for me first.
But for each of the young people.
Read Proverbs.
After Revelation.
Proverbs is my next book.
But we need heavenly wisdom.
For our earthly pathway.
You know, the sins of this world are getting more and more blatant and obvious.
I'll just share with you a story that one of my customers told me.
They asked me, they said why is all this stuff?
That's so wrong, so immoral, so gross in the word of God.
Why are all these stories about immorality?
And things like that in the scriptures, in God's Scriptures.
I said to her. I said, you know why? Because that's the way the world is. It's full of evil.
And this is God's Word warning us faithfully.
What the world really is, you know, this is what the word of God tells us. Avoid it, pass from it, turn from it and pass away. You know, you can think of later on in this book of Proverbs, both the young men.
Who's allured by a lady into immorality? That's all around us. Young people don't fall in those ways. Tells us to flee fornication. Those are the things that we need to do. Why?
For the Lord Jesus first, but for our blessing too. May it be that we'll be.
Encouraged to follow the Lord Jesus.
Now Luke chapter 24.
This is one of the most precious stories to me in the Bible.
I can relate.
To these people.
We're going to read the story in Luke 24.
Verse 13.
And behold, two of them went that same day to a village called Emmaus, which was from Jerusalem, about 3 score furlongs. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. And it came to pass that while they commune together and reasoned, Jesus himself drew near and went with them. But their eyes were holding that they should not know him.
00:40:11
And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these, that you have one to another as you walk, and are sad?
And the one of them, whose name was Cleavis answering, said unto him, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and has 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.
And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be delivered, him to be condemned to death.
And have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. 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 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 as the women had said.
But him they saw not.
Then he said unto them, Oh fools and soul of heart, to believe all the prophets have spoken. Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them, and all the Scriptures, the things concerning Himself.
They drew nigh onto the village where they went, and he made as though he would have gone further.
But they constrained him, saying, abide with us, for it is 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 meet with them, he took bread, and blessed it, and break and gave to them.
And their eyes were open, and they knew him, and he vanished out of their sight. And they said one to another. Did not our heart burn within us while he talked with us, by the way, while he opened us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour and returned?
To Jerusalem and found the 11 gathered together in them that were with them saying.
The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Simon, and they told what things were done in the way.
And how he was known of them.
In breaking of bread.
At the beginning of the meeting I mentioned about enjoying the breaking of bread.
Brethren.
Who saw the Lord?
We saw the Lord in the breaking of bread. We did.
What a privilege we had.
Back in 13.
They'd gone about 8 miles, seven and a half, eight miles. It walked away from God Center.
That they knew in Jerusalem and they went to Emmaus. You know, I looked it up once.
And Emmaus is like the Hot Springs.
You know, I sometimes get refreshed by going to the Hot Springs or.
Sitting out where it's nice, especially when I'm from a cold country.
But this is a little different. These people were going away from where the divine center was. The Lord Jesus had been crucified. They were discouraged. They were walking away.
They were walking away.
Does that fit you?
This afternoon.
You say, well, I'm not walking away, I'm in a chair.
I can't see in your heart. The Lord Jesus can see in your heart. Are you walking away in your heart?
They were discouraged.
And you know.
00:45:01
I've been there.
I've walked away in my heart.
I've had to return. There's been a blessing for that. I would encourage if there's somebody here today, to return to the Lord in your heart, don't walk away.
You know, the Lord was so gentle as he came up to them, He walked with them.
He listened to them.
What things?
What a kind way to say it. He knew all about it. He'd gone through it himself.
The Lord Jesus loves us young people. You say, well, you don't understand my life.
I've had this problem and that problem and I don't look nearly as nice as her.
I have problems with my hair.
And whatever it may be.
The Lord Jesus is willing to come up.
To hear everyone of your problems. But you got to tell.
They did. He listened, and then you know what he did? He revealed himself to them in the sweetest way.
In the scriptures.
You know, the scriptures are so important for us to read, we need to read them.
I have a question for you, young man. Young lady, are you reading your Bible?
Are you reading your Bible?
Are you praying?
You say well.
Of course, when you pray, are you talking to the Lord or is it just words?
You have a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.
My desire for you is your blessing, young people, and this is the way to get it.
Tell the Lord everything.
And you know the Lord will give you things to do.
And people to do it with that love you and want your encouragement, want to help you, but you got to turn if you're not going on well to him and he'll help you.
You know there was a reward.
To these people, you know, they retraced their steps, they returned, they were with others who had similar faith in the Lord Jesus. And that's what you'll find when you draw near to the Lord yourself. You'll find others who do, who want to please the Lord too, that you can be an encouragement to and be happy with.
And have fellowship with and then with the Lord Jesus.
While in closing I want to turn back 2 Chapters.
I.
Lord help me.
I need help on this.
For 61.
Verse 61.
The Lord turned.
And looked upon Peter.
And.
You know, we've talked about Peter today.
And his denial of the Lord? Excuse me?
Peter denied the Lord with oaths and curses. He denied the Lord three times.
But Peter loved the Lord.
I'm not better than Peter.
I've denied the word.
I love this verse.
The Lord is going to the cross.
He's been treated by terribly by people like me.
The Crows.
The Lord Jesus turns.
And he looks on Peter.
He cared about Peter as an individual.
00:50:02
In the midst of his suffering, he cared for his mother at the cross, but this afternoon he cares for you.
Young person.
He cares for you.
You know, the Lord Jesus is turning this afternoon. I can say it that way, and he's looking at you.
There's anything in your life, any obstacle.
That's keeping you from enjoying him. He's turning to you this afternoon and he wants you.
To deal with that thing.
So that you can be useful. So that you can be happy.
So that you can be a testimony for His love and of His love and grace. Can you think?
Of what happened years later.
Years and years passed and Peter served the Lord faithfully. Yes, he had failures, he had disappointments, and yes, he did die as a martyr for the Lord Jesus.
But we have first Peter.
We have second Peter.
And each one of us has learned verses in Sunday school in First Peter.
We've learned verses in Second Peter. We've learned so much truth in that, those two books.
Peter has been a blessing to me.
You know Peter went out and wept bitterly when he realized that the Lord loved him.
Young people, it's no different today. The Lord loves you.
The Lord wants your heart. The Lord wants your affections.
He wants your joy.
He wants you to be happy in this world.
But if there's things that you need to turn away from and you know what they are.
Do it for His honor and for His glory.
In closing, can we sing?
340.
340.
Someone start it please.
So I'm free, it's about it's not less tremendous. Save your money.
Confusion. Yeah, we turn.
And find our rest.
The miscarriage.
In the world, turn to thee, and know where my last.
00:55:12
That's the words passing.
Our dear God and Father, we give thanks this afternoon for thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.
Lord Jesus, again we thank thee. We're going to the cross, the suffering there for us.
Forgiving thy life's blood so that we could be saved.
And now our God without us see down into the room this afternoon.
Thou art able to see into each one of our hearts.
We know the things that we need to turn away from.
Lord Jesus, we thank Thee that we can.
Turn to please thee.
And now we think of thy eye upon us this afternoon.
And we just pray that.
As that asserts us, Lord Jesus, that we may be willing.
Whatever the problem is, whatever the shortcomings, whatever the difficulties, to be able to come to thee, Lord Jesus.
Now we just pray for each of the young people that are here this afternoon. Lord, we love them.
We desire them to be happy and fruitful, to go on as a testimony to please thee, to be an encouragement to Thy people.
And O Lord, we, we just ask for a work by the Holy Spirit.
Each of our hearts.
That we might be more devoted to thee. That we might read our Bibles and pray.
And most of all, our God, we thank thee again for our Lord Jesus, and we pray in his most worthy, precious name, Amen.
The Rest of the Story
Gospel—Bruce Christensen
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Like to warmly welcome everyone tonight.
To the Gospel meeting.
We have a message to proclaim.
And that message.
Is concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
And perhaps before we even sing the first hymn.
I might mention it's with a sense of responsibility.
That I stand here.
And it's a great privilege to once again.
Speak well of the Lord Jesus Christ the one.
Who died on Calvary's cross for me, The one who shed his precious blood.
That I might have a place in glory.
Perhaps we can sing.
The beginning and opening the meeting. A favorite hymn of mine and I'm going to ask someone to please.
Raise the tune hymn #31 Perhaps we could all stand up and sing.
On all of the crows.
See the sun?
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We look at these three stanzas of this him.
First it says I will sing of my Redeemer.
Then the second verse that says I will tell the wondrous story.
And we've had much brought before us this conference about sharing the good news with others, telling forth the blessed news of the Lord Jesus and His love.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me.
I think of that verse 2. This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation.
The Christ Jesus came in to the world and save sinners.
I'm thankful for that because I was a lost Sinner and at one point in my life I realized that I was lost and that I was on my way to hell and I needed a savior.
The first verse here speaks of his death upon the cross of Christ.
And the refrain or chorus says, Sing, O sing of my Redeemer.
With his blood, he purchased me.
We are reminded that without the shedding of blood is no remission.
A related situation when I was asked to take the Gospel at the conference in Saint Louis about one of the earlier Deans of the Theological School at Princeton University.
And before.
Each graduate would go out.
He would bring them into his office and he would say to each one.
Make much of the blood of Christ.
And the churches today.
We have largely preached, we have largely preaching of a bloodless religion.
And that thread, the precious blood, runs through scripture.
We think of that night in the land of Egypt.
What was it that sheltered those? It was the blood that was applied.
And so tonight that is the only remedy for sin.
The precious shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
I have somewhat of a theme to my remarks tonight.
The threads might be a little loose.
Some of the stories might be disjointed, but I think that they follow the same thread.
Some years ago there was a radio common commentator. His name was Paul Harvey.
And he had a program where he would.
Review.
A new story, but he had a different perspective.
And his broadcast was entitled the rest of the story.
Well, often if you read a newspaper today, you're left wondering.
What has happened in this situation, or what has happened in that situation? How did it end?
I was struck just on Thursday when we were lining up.
For our flight in Newark to come to San Francisco and then on to Burbank.
There was a couple ahead of us.
And we were going through the TSA screening. Most of you perhaps are familiar with that.
00:10:04
They ask you questions, one of the first things that you have to do.
When you get up to the desk, is to present your passport.
You present your ticket.
Well, there was a couple, probably they were in their mid 20s. They came up to the counter, they placed their tickets.
On the counter, the TSA agent said to them, do you have your passport?
No, we don't have a passport.
Do you have a driver's license? No.
We don't have a driver's license.
Do you have a utility bill or something to say or a medical card to say who you are?
No, we don't.
Well, I'm sure there were thousands of people that passed through that airport on Thursday.
And perhaps they were the only ones that were found in that same condition. I'm very sensitive when I fly. I make sure I have this form of identification and maybe even a backup form of identification because I'm afraid of being left behind.
Now we were the next ones in line, the agent said. You wait here, I have to call a supervisor.
Well, we checked through.
And I wish I knew what the rest of the story was in that case, whether that supervisor said it's all right, you can send them through.
But I know what the story or what the decision would be if you tried to enter heaven.
Without accepting the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
I'd like to turn to a few scriptures tonight and, following the same theme, the rest of the story. Some of these passages have already been referred to at the conference.
1St is in John's Gospel.
And it was referred to earlier today.
Beginning with.
Verse 35 John one again the next day after John stood.
And two of his disciples.
But before we continue this story, let's look to the Lord for His help.
Our loving God and our Father. Tonight we would think of many.
That are undecided and so we would just pray that they might.
Open their hearts and accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
We thank Thee for that death upon the cross of Christ, and we just thank Thee for the efficacy and value of that shed blood. We seek thy help, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Well, here again.
It says the next day after John stood and two of his disciples.
And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God.
And the two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. Again. We think of our brother Bruce's message to us the other day about the need to follow.
And Jesus turned again. Think of our brother's message to us today.
And saw them falling, and said unto them, What seek ye? And they said unto him, Rabbi, which is to say, Being interpreted, Master, where dwelleth thou? And he saith unto them, Come and see. And they came, and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day, for it was about the 10th hour. And one of the two which heard John speak, and followed him was Andrew.
Simon Peters, brother.
We're going to stop the story here.
We're going to stop after it mentions one of the two.
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But what is the rest of the story?
It says.
He findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messiah.
Which is being interpreted the Christ we have found.
Rather, we have found the Messiah and.
We see in verse 45 another person mentioned, Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We have found him. We have found him a person, not a religion. We have found him. Have you found him tonight?
I was thinking of our brother's admonition to witness to others.
And many years ago, my Uncle Guilford quoted a little line that has stuck with me concerning personal evangelism.
And that is a play on words. I'll quote it first without spelling it out.
But once we spell it out, I think we'll know what it means. Goes like this if each one won.
11 How many one ones would be one for Christ?
OK, the first one is WON.
The second one is ONE, so I'm going to repeat it again. If each 1111, how many one ones would be one for Christ?
I'm going to relay this story now that was brought to my attention some years ago.
By our brother Cam Wilkin, who brother Bill knows well.
He had a love for souls and was a personal evangelist.
And he said Bruce.
I'd like to recommend a little video on YouTube.
And after I got home from that conference, I looked at the video. The title of the video was The Man from George St.
Perhaps some of you have seen that video?
And I'm going to relate the contents of that video.
Some years ago.
There was a Baptist minister in London, England and at the end of the service.
A man raised his hand in the back of the church and said, could I give you my testimony?
And the Baptist minister said you certainly can. And he said a number of years ago.
I was in Sydney, Australia.
And I went down the street.
And a little old man jumped out in front of me.
With a pamphlet.
I didn't know what this was and he said to me, if you die tonight.
Where would you spend eternity?
Said this struck me.
Soon I went home. I was troubled all night.
I went to a local Baptist Church. I talked to the preacher.
And I was led to Christ.
Sometime afterwards.
This Baptist preacher in England had a chance.
To go to Australia and one of the first places he was at was.
Adelaide and Australia.
And.
He related.
That incident of this little old man in Sydney.
And.
He said. Is there anyone here?
Also would like to give a testimony concerning their conversion.
So there was a man that stood up in the back.
He said I also was on George St. at a certain time.
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And a little polite man came out to me.
Handed me a pamphlet and said if you die tonight would you go to heaven?
Again, he was troubled that night.
He sought the help of a Christian that he knew and was led to Christ.
This Baptist preacher's next stop was in Perth, Australia.
And.
He was invited out to dinner by one of the elders.
Of the church there.
And this elder said to him.
I was a regular churchgoer when I was young. I was in the Boys Boys Brigade.
But I wasn't saved.
But he said one day I happened to be in Sydney.
I was on George St. and this little old man came out with a pamphlet and said if you die tonight.
Would you go to heaven?
He said. That really irritated me, angered me.
And I went back to my home church and I told the pastor.
Pastor said.
That was a good message. You had better heed it. And as a result, he came under conviction and accepted Christ as his Savior.
Six months or so later.
The same Baptist minister from England went to a convention in Keswick, England, and after a series of meetings, he asked.
Those assembled there if anyone wanted to come up and give a testimony.
There were four people that stood up and all four spoke about a little old man, Gray headed man in Sydney, Australia.
That handed them.
A track and asked them if they died tonight would they go to heaven?
A little bit later he had to go to a pastors conference in the Caribbean. And again.
At the close of the meeting, he asked those in the audience if they wanted to share a testimony.
And five pastors got up and testified.
And confirmed the same fact that they had been presented attract on George St. in Sydney, Australia.
One of them.
Said before I entered the ministry, I was in the Navy.
And I lived a pretty rough life.
In fact, any time I was given leave, I would go to the nearest bar and I would really hit it up.
And I said, I remember this one night.
I was very drunk.
I wasn't thinking correctly, right?
I boarded the wrong bus.
And the bus dropped me off on George St.
Was that an accident?
No, it was a divine appointment.
And he went on to say.
I thought I had an apparition.
I thought I saw a ghost. This little white headed man came out to me, handed me a paper and asked me the question. If you died tonight, would you go to heaven?
He said when I sobered up, the reality of what he said hit me.
And he accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior.
About a year later, the same Baptist minister went to a pastor's conference in northeastern India.
Where there are roughly 500 missionaries assembled.
And he asked.
Anyone there to give a testimony concerning their salvation?
00:25:05
And four or five individuals got up and mentioned that little man.
From George Street in Sydney.
One of the men said I was on an Indian diplomatic mission.
To Australia. I was doing some shopping for my wife.
On George St. and I was handed a track and it was a result of my salvation.
Now I'm going to tell you the rest of the story.
This by this time.
This Baptist minister was very, very curious.
And he wanted to know whether this little old man, as he was, referred to.
Was still alive.
And someone thought that he that they knew who he was and where he lived.
So he made a trip to Sydney.
And there he found out where this man lived. His name was Frank Jenner.
And at this stage of life he was getting quite feeble. He could hardly hold the teacup still in order to be able to take a drink of tea.
And this Baptist minister related.
The account that he had.
Been given.
And tears flowed from this man's eyes and he said.
In over 40 years that I've been out on the street.
I never heard of one person accepting the Lord as their savior.
This man, Frank Jenner, was in the Navy at one time, LED a very rough and wildlife, and he was saved when he put his trust in the Lord Jesus and the precious blood that he shed.
And.
He was determined to share.
The story of his conversion to others and.
He was not a man that was very eloquent.
But he thought that there was something that the Lord would have him to do and so.
He felt that each day he wanted to present.
A gospel pamphlet to at least 10 people.
And this went on for a period of 40 years that this man stood on the street corner.
Pleading for souls.
I think of that line of that hem, which is very sad.
God beseeching.
Man refusing to be made eternally glad.
As you sit here tonight and you hear of the claims of Christ, you hear of the love.
That blessed love of God that sent his Son.
What is your response?
And I don't want to be complicated in my in my remarks tonight, but.
Just want to be simple Even so even the youngest can understand.
And that message tonight is God loves you. Christ died for you.
And he?
Wants you to.
Be with Him in glory or in heaven.
I have a couple other incidents that I would like to.
Relate to concerning.
The rest of the story?
As some of you may know.
I taught history for nearly 37 years.
And certain aspects of history interested me very much.
And I'd like to relate a story.
Concerning.
A brother in the Lord who was useful.
00:30:01
In many ways, a man by the name of Iris Sankey.
He was an associate the evangelist DL Moody.
On this one occasion, Sankey was coming back from a crusade.
In Europe he was on a ship. The ship was a little delayed, wouldn't reach port.
On the designated date.
So the captain of the ship knowing that Mister Sankey was aboard.
Asked.
Mr. Sank if he would lead a song service.
And so they gathered some of the passengers together on deck and they sang a lot of well known gospel songs.
And someone gave out that him. We don't sing it too much here now, but it's like a tender shepherd lead us.
And as they were singing that hymn.
Mr. Sankey looked over the audience as I am doing right now.
And saw a man with tears in his eyes.
And after the service.
Mr. Sankey approached this man.
And this man said to Mr. Sankey.
Were you ever in the Union Army?
Mr. Sankey said yes.
Were you ever stationed at Sharpsburg?
Mr. Sankey said yes.
He said I was in the Confederate Army at the same time.
And.
It was my position or I was actually a Confederate sharpshooter.
And he said to Mr. Sankey.
And, he noted, a date.
What was your duty on that date?
And Mr. Sankey said I was a union sentry.
Sent out to guard the perimeter of the camp.
This man said to Mr. Sankey, I was a Confederate sharpshooter and it was my duty.
To shoot and kill.
Any century that I saw.
And he said I stood there with my rifle raised.
I had the century in my sight.
And just as I was ready to pull that trigger, the century started to sing at him.
Like a tender shepherd, lead us much we need.
Thy tender care.
He said my grandmother.
Used to sing.
That him to me.
As she prayed for me.
And he said.
My rifle fell to the ground like a piece of lead. I couldn't pull the trigger.
Well, thankfully Mr. Sankey, the end of the story, the rest of the story was that Mister Sankey could lead that person to Christ that night.
I see our time is getting along. There were many things that.
Were before me.
But I'd just like to.
To jog my memory.
And.
As some of you may have may know that I'd like to visit cemeteries.
And I was very interested when Brother Bill was talking about that cemetery in London, a cemetery that I would like to visit.
Just this past August, we visited a cemetery in Halifax, NS, where 121 victims of the Titanic are buried.
00:35:01
And it was very interesting to note that some of those individuals had faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
One of the tombstones said I've anchored my soul. Oh, it's important to anchor your soul, but what is it important to do? Anchor your soul on the Lord Jesus Christ and the blood that he has shed. But I'm going to read another epitaph.
That appeared on a tombstone.
And again.
There was someone that passed by.
That was very struck with the words.
I'll read it now.
In reading this as you pass by as you are now.
So once was I as I am now.
So you will be.
Prepare at once.
To follow me.
You're going to read it again. There's a lot to think about.
In reading this as you pass by as you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, so you will be prepare at once.
To follow me.
Brother Bill, if you were to reply to that epitaph, what you would you probably say?
OK, you've heard that before. OK.
It said later 1 passing by through the cemetery added the words.
While this may be, I'm not content unless I know the way you went.
Today each one in here is either saved.
Or lost. And if you died tonight in your sins, you would be in a lost eternity.
But if you accept Christ as Savior and that finished work upon the cross of Calvary.
You will be with him in that home that was.
Described and read to us in John chapter 14.
Going to note something else and again tell you part of the story.
And part of the rest of the story.
During the First World War, there was a popular song song by the soldiers.
Marching out the battle.
And some of the older ones probably have heard this song was Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag and smile, smile, smile.
These men were some of them would not come back.
Didn't seem to be an appropriate him.
To be singing when you're going out to battle.
It's not an easy thing to pack up troubles and smile, smile, smile.
The only person that could smile is one that had assurance of their sins forgiven.
And.
I've always been thankful for the fact that at least during the.
American Civil War There were those on both sides that were concerned about the spiritual condition and welfare of the soldiers under them.
Both Robert E Lee and Stonewall Jackson Thomas Jackson.
Readily gave permission for ministers of the Gospel to come into the southern camps.
And preach the gospel.
Some time ago, my daughter.
Was able to get a book for me. It was called Christ in the Camp that talked about many of these efforts by those godly men that came in to speak to those soldiers just before they went out to the battlefield. I have a similar book too about efforts in the Union army to bring Christ and his salvation.
00:40:07
Before men.
I quoted those words of that song. And there's another part of the story too. The rest of the story.
And the rest of the story is tragic, the very individual that penned the lines of that hymn later himself.
In despair, committed suicide.
We sing that hymn now. None but Christ can satisfy.
Boy or girl?
Man or woman present in the room tonight?
I can attest to the fact that the Lord Jesus is the only one that can give lasting joy.
And satisfaction.
But just a couple other brief mentions that I will make make of some individuals.
One happens to be.
A noted war criminal.
A man by the name of Albert Eichmann, who?
In its position in the Nazi government was responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of Jews in concentration camps.
And he succeeded in fleeing Germany at the end of the war.
He ended up in Argentina.
And a number of the top Nazis ended up in either Paraguay, Brazil or Argentina.
But later on, the Israeli secret police were able to go down to Argentina.
Apprehend them, sneak him out of the country, and put him on trial in Israel.
And there was a Baptist minister.
That was given access.
To Adolf Eichmann.
We'll stop here for a moment.
And I'm going to tell you the rest of the story.
This Baptist minister struggled with the enormity of the crimes that were committed by Eichmann.
And.
He had a struggle.
Can I present this man?
With the plan of salvation, the forgiveness of sins. And then he was reminded of the Apostle Paul, who referred to himself as the chief of sinners. And he said, if the chief of sinners can be saved, I have the responsibility of presenting a clear gospel to Adolf Eichmann.
So on the appointed time, Adolf Eichmann.
I.
Had well Adolf Eichmann met with this Baptist minister?
And it was tragic.
To hear Eichmann's reply.
That reply was I neither need nor want.
The forgiveness of sins.
I neither need nor want the forgiveness of sins.
How many sins?
Are necessary to keep a person out of heaven. I think the youngest here could probably tell me just one. We are reminded in God's precious word, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
Another individual I will just mention very briefly. I see our time is going.
He was a dictator, a cruel dictator in Uganda, Idi Amin, who put many of his own people to death.
And he again.
Was presented to the Gospel Presented the Gospel in a rather touching and unique way.
He sent his son to a mission school even while he was committing some of these atrocious crimes.
00:45:07
One day his little son came to him and he said.
We've learned a little chorus in the mission school, he said. What is that chorus?
Can you sing it to me?
And so this little boy started singing the words. I took Jesus as my savior.
You take them too.
It's not the end of the story, sadly. The end of the story was the fact that Idi Amin.
Closed his heart to that message that his little son brought to him today. Have you closed your heart to the Lord Jesus? He's bleeding.
We think of that verse, Suffer the little children to come unto me, forbid them not.
For of such is the Kingdom of God.
We think of that word of invitation, too.
That is extended to all and we are realized too.
The brevity of this time.
Behold now.
As the accepted time, behold, now is the day of salvation, I'm going to close with.
Quoting of one of the saddest verses I believe that we find in the Word of God, and it's found in the book of Jeremiah.
And that would read something like this The harvest.
Is past, the summer is ended, and yet we are not saved.
Boy or girl, man or woman, have you accepted the Lord Jesus tonight and again if you were handed?
Attract and if you.
Were asked that question.
If you die tonight.
Where would you spend eternity?
Might we just close in prayer?
Our loving God and Father, we think of the solemnity of these words.
We.
Would think of the encouragement that we had at the outset of the meeting.
We think of those who sought to win others to the Lord Jesus, and may that be our desire to.
That we would think too of some prayers of a mother and grandmother that were answered and a soul accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior.
We would think two of those hundreds of individuals.
That were presented the gospel there on George St.
Accepted the Lord Jesus as Savior, and so tonight we would just seek Thy blessing upon Thy word, and we seek all of the glory for the Lord Jesus. Amen.
I may just point out in connection, I didn't have time tonight to go from John's Gospel to Luke chapter 5, but we see that Peter and those that are mentioned in John one.
Were commissioned to become fishers of men.
And I'm not a fisherman naturally myself. I have a grandson that likes it.
Loves it in fact, but I remember.
A hint.
Story about a hint that was given in terms of being a Fisher of men.
Some years ago, our brother Alan Hadley in Chatham, NJ, told Astoria of a man that took up fishing.
And he bought a fancy pole and that and everything else. He spent an hour or so by the river, caught nothing.
Then he caught sight of a pile of fish on the sand.
A little ways from him and he didn't see any fishermen there, but finally a little boy came out of the bushes.
And.
00:50:02
This man said to him, I see you have a lot of fish there. What is your secret?
And this little boy said to him, first of all, you have to keep out of sight. And so anyone who seeks to win others for Christ has to keep out of sight and give all the glory to the Lord Jesus. Amen.
Who are You?