Address—P. Geveden
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In our meeting.
#8 in the appendix, the back of the book.
My soul repeat his praise, Whose mercies are so great? Whose anger is so slow to rise, so ready to abate.
Eyes, the heavens are raised above the earth. We tread so far the riches of God's grace, Our highest thoughts exceed #8 of some brothers started. Please.
Shall we pray?
Our blessing Go.
Shall we open to the book of Proverbs?
Chapter 30.
Beginning with a statement in verse 5.
Every word of God is pure.
We're in a world of impurity.
We're in a world of sin, corruption and violence.
We're in a world where man is doing his own will.
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And we need to know the will of God.
And we find God's will in his precious word.
And isn't it good to know that we have this source of purity from God Himself through His Word concerning His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ?
Every word of God is pure.
This stands in marked contrast to the writings of men.
For there we find impurity.
And filth that comes from the cesspool of human nature that has fallen and has been ruined by sin that came into this world at the very beginning of the race.
A little later in this chapter, we read of four generations.
Verse 11.
There is a generation that curseth their father.
And doth not bless their mother.
There is a generation that are pure in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness.
There is a generation oh, how lofty are their eyes.
And their eyelids are lifted up.
There is a generation whose teeth are as swords.
And their jaw teeth as knives to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.
Are these generations good or bad?
Certainly you will agree, as described here, that they are wicked generations.
Now, is this a description of the world to come when our Lord Jesus Christ shall put down all evil?
And reign in righteousness over this world.
No it isn't.
Is this a description of the state in the Garden at the very beginning of the human race? Not at all.
These descriptions apply now.
Do they not tell us of this world that we are in?
Doesn't this describe conditions with which we are familiar?
There's a generation that curseth their father and does not bless their mother.
Do we not find something of that element?
And greatly increased and this day of ours.
For it brings before us resistance to authority.
You know, the parents, The father particularly, is the Divinely appointed channel for the instruction that we need as we grew up here in this world.
But this generation?
Rebells.
Against that instruction.
That comes in that Channel.
A generation that curseth father.
And does not bless their mother.
Then in verse 12 we have the description of a generation that are pure in their own eyes.
And yet is not washed from their filthiness.
In the days of Our Lord, during His personal ministry on the earth, he spoke of the Pharisees, those religious leaders.
Then delighted in making the outside appearance quite suitable.
But they did not pay attention to that which was inside.
They were occupied with externals.
But you know, we must face the real facts of life.
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If we arrive at blessing.
They were not washed from their filthiness.
Thus corruption that comes in in a situation like that.
And it's always associated with man's religion.
For man is a corrupt being.
And the best that he can do is to Polish up the outside.
But you know it's necessary to be born again.
It's necessary to be washed from our filthiness.
It's necessary to have the precious blood of Christ applied for our sins.
Oh, that is the only remedy for man's sin.
The Precious Blood of Christ.
Shed for the remission of sins.
And there's a generation, oh, how loftier their eyes. You know, men have great ambitions.
Man is proud.
And he lifts up these goals that he wishes to attain.
Are you caught in that kind of generation?
Are you taken away with man's ambitions here in this world?
The things that he enjoys, the fashions and everything of that sort to make himself happy here in this world without God.
These are snapshots, so to speak.
And perhaps there are those present who fit in with this description that we have before us.
Do you come in under the first hitting of those that?
Rebel against authority, those that resist the instruction of the Father, the instruction that comes from God's precious word.
And who does not bless or appreciate his mother?
And, you know, these are the generations.
That men.
Are using to establish new standards in this world.
Men today consider that everything is a development. The human race is a development.
Society is a development and even government is a development.
And we're gaining ground all the time, according to the wisdom of the men of this world, and they're struggling forward and upward and trying to establish better things for the people that inhabit this world.
How can new standards be set?
The number of times that you do a thing, the number of people doing a certain particular thing has no basis for establishing a standard.
We do not need a new morality.
And we do not need to go by situation ethics.
These things that men are promoting in our day in this world where we live.
Every word of God is pure, and we have the right standards laid down in this precious word that God has given to us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
And there's no improvement upon what we have here in this book that God has given us.
The word from himself.
And in verse 14 there's a generation whose teeth are swords.
And there's your teeth as knives. Your teeth are not usually sharp.
But these are this is an extreme sort of condition.
And in this generation we have violence indicated.
So we have resistance to authority, religious pretension.
In verse 12.
And the ambitions of men in verse 13.
Going after Worley pursuits and that was mentioned in this invitation that has brought us together in these meetings.
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And also there was mention of the low moral standards that prevail in this world at this time.
But God's standard is always the same.
And we can never be wiser than God's precious word, and we need to respect it, to honor it, to keep it, to go by it. And we'll have no regrets.
Now with this background.
There's a need of special wisdom.
In this world where we are, so we'll come down to the verse 24.
There before things which are little upon the earth, but they are exceeding wise.
Then, Sir, are people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer. The cones are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.
The locusts have no king, yet go they forth, all of them by bands.
The spider taketh hold with their hands and is in King's palaces.
Now this can be helpful to us.
You don't have to be strong to be wise.
These are weak things.
Little things, little upon the earth.
And why seek to be greeted in an earth that is to pass away?
Or the fashion of this world passeth away.
Everything that man is and the glory of man is soon gone.
But therefore little things that are exceeding wise, and these would teach us lessons that we need as we pass this way.
Thence or are people not strong?
Yet they prepare their meat in the summer.
You know, this is the summertime of God's grace.
This is the day of the gospel.
This is a day of privilege.
And certainly we ought to prepare for the future. That's what the end does.
And the first thing needed in preparation for the future is the acknowledgement of the fact that you have sinned and come short of God's glory.
And that you confess your need of Christ owning Him, our Savior and Lord.
That's the first thing needed in preparation for the future.
But oh, there's much more than this.
We're saved to begin with Christ, and we ought to begin with Him, go on with him, and end with him in the glory.
And there is much for us to have in the way of preparation for the future.
As we seek to go on as those that believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
To live by faith as Christians as those that are no the Lord.
All we ought to make use of the precious word of God the directs us into those things.
That will enable us to enter abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
We need that because it abides. We can lay up treasures in the heavens, and that's the indication of this. Here they prepare their meat in the summer, they make ready for the stormy winter, and so you can make ready for the future too. And that is the lesson that this little people would teach us.
The answer of people not strong, yet they prepare their meat in the summer.
Then next we have the corners.
And they are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks. Perhaps this is the rock badger.
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A little animal about the size of a rabbit.
But he is a defenseless creature. He's not able to take care of himself.
His feet are very soft underneath.
And are not very strong, and he can't dig into the earth or Burrow into the ground as other animals may and can.
Is a defenseless sort of creature, but oh, he's wise.
And he finds his safety in the rocks.
And you know, there's a place of safety for everyone of us. We read in a certain place of a man.
A man shall be in hiding place from the wind.
And are covered from The Tempest as rivers of water, in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a wearied land.
That can be none other than Christ.
He's the Rock.
He's the one that will give you safety.
Protection.
And security in the face of all this evil generation with which we are surrounded.
So we need not only the lesson of the Ant, but that of the corny.
And also that of the locusts in verse 27. The locusts have no king.
You can't go there, forth, all of them by bands.
Well, that's unusual, isn't it?
Is naturally an organizer.
And he thinks he can get along without a captain.
Or some director.
But though there's a certain wisdom in not having a king.
If you get into organization, then you will necessarily go along with the.
But if you gather to the Lord in the midst of his people, who is absent.
To cite.
You can go along in safety.
According to the presence of the Lord in the midst of his people.
The marginal reading is different, the locus of no king. Yet go they forth, all of them, and gathered together.
All their safety in being gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Matthew 1820 and also a verse in First Corinthians 5 that comes to mind about the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Verse four in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when you're gathered together, and my Spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, they had a problem there. How could they take care of it? Only through the presence of the Lord in their midst and by His power in His name?
Or let us think of what a privilege it is. It is to be associated with those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And let us go forth as being gathered together.
And if you gather with those that are doing the right thing, you usually do the right thing yourself if you go in the way of those that are doing the wrong thing.
Then you'll likely do the wrong thing too. So there's safety in this going forth in bands as the locals having no king but to going forth as gathered together.
And in verse 28.
We have the spider.
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That taketh hold with their hands and is in King's palaces.
Now this can be either the spider or perhaps a little animal.
Lizard like.
That is found in many places, even in the King's palaces.
And this little lizard taketh holder with her hands.
And those feet are hands.
Our little vacuum cups.
So you can look up and see this little being clinging to the wall going across the top.
And how can it do it? Well, it's because of that little vacuum.
That works against the principle of.
Force that pulls downward.
The law of gravitation.
Well, in this do we not see something of the principle of faith?
It's only by faith that we can escape the troubles that would come to us from this series or this group of generations by which we are surrounded.
The just shall live by faith, and that's what we need, young people.
Are our lives actuated by faith? Do we believe God's word?
Do we act upon the precious word, the instruction that He's given us for our safety, good and blessing?
In these numerous pages in the various books of the Bible.
Or there's all the wisdom that we need for our earthly journey, and should we not make use of it?
Perhaps this verse would lead us over to the Epistle to the Ephesians, where we read about being blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies, blessings in Christ up there.
And those are the blessings that really count.
What we have here can be soon gone is transient, temporal, short lived.
And goal. But what we have in Christ, what we have by faith, abides.
It is forever.
Always and let us.
Take heed to these lessons.
That of the end, that of the Coney and that of the locust, and also the spider, or that little animal that walks in the King's palaces. That's our destiny, and we can be in the enjoyment of those precious things already.
Why are we here?
Oh, we need that. And since we've made reference to the word.
Let's notice something in John 14 as we turn over to read about another generation and one of the epistles, John 14 for the moment.
In John 14.
We have the promise of our Lord's return.
I go to prepare a place for you, he says.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also.
We read this often.
We are glad about this statement.
And we cling to this promise. And he will never disappoint us. He is coming again to receive us unto himself. He wants us with him.
But you know, there's another coming in this chapter.
And sometimes we miss it. We fail to see it. Look in verse 18.
I will not leave you comfortless or as often.
I will come to you.
Have you realized anything of that?
Have you had that experience?
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We read a little further verse, 21 He that hath My Commandments.
The Lord has left with us certain orders or teachings.
He speaks of these as his commandments, not the commandments of Moses. Those are not in question here.
He left my commandments, and to keep them it is that loveth me.
And he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him.
And will manifest myself to him.
The Lord comes to his people in that way.
And if you own His authority, submit to him, you will have some realization of that manifestation in your heart and life.
And no doubt this would generally apply to all of the Lord's people, for at some time or other they've enjoyed the Lorde company, the sense of his presence with them, something of the preciousness of his word.
But below in another verse, we have something that goes beyond this. This is a conditional sort of thing.
Verse 23 Jesus answered and said unto them unto him.
If a man loved me, he will keep my word.
And my father will love him.
And that we will come under him.
And make our abode with him.
All this seems to be connected with the attention that we give to the precious word of God.
And our souls being drawn into communion with what has been revealed to us.
And we have this constant abiding presence of the Father and the Son in our hearts and lives.
Oh, do you know anything better than that, dear young people?
Why not consider it? Why be satisfied with less?
Why turn to the occupations of this world, its pursuits?
And disappointments, of course.
When you have this open to you.
All that is what you need.
Attention to the precious word of God that brings before your soul the Father and the Son.
Now we'll turn over Q, the first epistle up there.
We could read about a generation in Matthew.
Of which the Lord remarked that it wouldn't pass away until all those things had taken place that he was telling about at that time.
And you know, that's a long generation, isn't it?
We usually think of a generation as being about 30 years.
But the Lord was Speaking of a generation that has lasted now for 2000 years.
There were Christ rejecters when he was speaking.
There have been Christ rejecters ever since he went away. And there will be Christ rejecters here in this world when He returns. So that generation has continued a long time, But there will be an end to it. Yes, judgment. What must one day overtake this world? But we were turning to Peter's first epistle to notice.
A generation that is brought to our attention there.
At first Peter chapter 2 and verse 9.
But ye are a chosen generation.
A royal priesthood?
And holy nation.
A peculiar are purchased people.
Rajee should show forth the praises or virtues of him who have called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.
Or is this where you fit in?
That would be best.
This would be correct.
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And why not, if you've never before been connected with this chosen generation, this royal priesthood?
Come to the Savior today.
And have a place among his people for he wants you.
And he gave his life for you.
He was willing to go to Calvary's cross.
And there lay down his life, and take it again in order that you might have this which abides.
And have the privilege.
Of showing forth the virtues of him with calls you out of darkness.
Into his marvelous light.
Oh, that's where you belong. That's where you are in Christ. You've been called out of darkness into his marvelous light. So why dabble with those evil generations?
That will spoil your happiness and blight your soul and ruin your testimony, robbing you of the enjoyment of Christ.
And your need Christ, not only as Savior, but as your Lord and as the object of your heart.
And having him as the object of your heart, and that vision of the glory that belongs to the believer and given to us in this precious word, you can be preserved.
Unto that coming Kingdom, and kept in simplicity as gathered together unto himself.
Shall we use number?
#15
in closing.
All that we were, our sins, our guilt, our death with all our own, all that we are, we owe to Thee, thou God of grace alone, #15.
As I.
Glory.
Our Blessed Lord, our Father, we.