Address—C. Hendricks
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Please turn with me to.
Second Peter one. Second Peter one.
And verse 3.
According as his divine power.
Hath given unto us.
All things that pertain unto life and godliness.
Through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue.
That's an immense statement of truth.
His divine power.
Hath given unto us all things.
That pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of Him.
That hath called us to glory and virtue, the knowledge of Christ.
All things.
His divine power has given us all things.
We don't lack for our pathway anything that is needed.
For life and godliness, God has seen to it.
And one other scripture in Second Timothy chapter 3.
The Second Timothy, chapter 3.
Verse 14.
But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned.
And has been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And is profitable for doctrine.
For reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
That the man of God may be perfect.
Thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Fully equipped.
We have in this book and by his divine power.
All that we need for our pathway.
His word is profitable for doctrine, for teaching, and we've had a good deal of it in these days.
For reproof, and we've had some of that too, which is needed.
And for correction. And we've had a bit of that too. And we've had instruction in righteousness.
And having this book and we don't need any other, we don't need the wisdom of man.
Because this book will enable us to be perfect, thoroughly furnished for every good work.
What does God say about the wisdom of this world?
Let's just read that in First Corinthians chapter one.
Christ is our wisdom.
He is our righteousness. He is our sanctification and our redemption.
Is all we need First Corinthians 1.
He says in verse 18, The preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness.
But unto us which are saved, it is the power of God.
For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.
Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the disputer of this world?
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom?
Of this world.
For after that, in the wisdom of God, in God's wisdom.
He determined that the world by wisdom by its own wisdom.
Hath not known God. Man will never find out the knowledge of the true God by his own learning.
By his own wisdom all the accumulated knowledge of the sages of the ages.
The wise men of this world has never come to a true knowledge of God.
And God is determined in his wisdom that it will be so that man will never.
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Find him out by his own intellect and mental powers.
Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
Why then, do so many Christians go to?
Human sources of wisdom.
To get help for their problems when we are told.
That he's given us by divine power all things that pertain to life and godliness.
We're told that all Scripture given by inspiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, fully furnished for every good work that we have all the answers in this book. The problem with us, with me, with each of us, is that we don't follow.
The the road map that has been given to us.
We will say sometimes when the Word of God is brought to bear upon a situation in our lives, yes, but don't you think? And we bring in the thoughts of men, we consult with others when we don't get the answer that we want and when it's been shown to us from the Scriptures.
Of all the things that Brother Chapter Brown taught, there's one that I remember very vividly and he said.
We're never wiser than Scripture.
Never wiser than Scripture.
The problem is we don't put it into practice. The problem is we.
We don't know enough of this book.
To pull out the answers that we need.
I've noticed that that very passage in Corinthians that we were looking at in the previous chapter and all the problems that were underlying the difficulties at Corinth, same thing. It's same thing that we've been going through, same thing. All the answers, if we would but read it right, are found in the Word of God.
But the diligent soul shall be made fat. It's the one that is, that is earnest in the scriptures.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
One brother after speaking, someone came to him and said I would give the world to know the scriptures as you do, and he said that's what it cost me.
The world. You can't have both.
You cannot serve God in Mammon.
The third chapter of One Corinthians.
Verse 19 Let this verse sink down into our hearts.
For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God.
For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness, and again the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise.
That they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men, for all things are yours. And so on.
These Corinthians, they were prosperous in this world. They were gifted. They came short in no gift, it says in the first chapter.
And yet they were a carnal bunch, and he couldn't speak to them as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
They were saying I am of Paul and I have a policy and I have Cephas and I have Christ.
The last is the worst of all.
Because it makes Christ the head of a party.
And he's not the head of a party, he's the head of the church.
All being subject to him.
But they were carnal. Then he asked the question which to ask implies an immediate answer. Is Christ divided?
The answer is no.
Now, just before I sit down, I want to read a few more verses in Colossians chapter 2 please.
Verse one for I would that she knew what great conflict I have for you and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh. And in the 4th chapter he says to them that they should see that this epistle addressed to the Colossians would be read to those in Laodicea. In Hierapolis there are three assemblies, all in a cluster if you look at the map.
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And he says in verse 16 of chapter 4, when this epistle is read among you, 'cause it be read in the Church of the Laodiceans, and that she likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.
And another place he mentions Hierapolis too.
It's instructive that of the seven churches in Asia that John writes to, the first was Ephesus.
The last was Laodicea, and of those two we have two epistles, 1 addressed to Ephesus, one addressed to Coliseum that was to be read at Laodicea, and the very thing that developed into Laodicea, which was self love and self promotion.
He deals with here in this very chapter.
And he tells them the remedy, the solution. Scripture has the solution to all our problems.
He tells them the remedy for what, because they didn't take heed to it, developed into Laodicea full blown.
Thou art miserable and wretched and poor and blind and naked. Luke warm. I'll spew thee out of my mouth. He wasn't even in that assembly. He was outside knocking.
Inviting any who was in that might be real in that Laodicean state of things.
To open the door and he would come in and fellowship and Sup with him. He with me individual. The the collective thing was over with there. The collective is in Philadelphia.
Verse two, that their hearts might be comforted being knit together in love unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding.
To the acknowledgement of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge in Christ and in the mystery.
Are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge the.
God has revealed His full mind to us.
Until the mystery was revealed, there was a part of revelation that hadn't been given yet, but.
It was given to Paul to complete, to fill full the Word of God. And now it's striking, isn't it, that in this 20th century, after the the full truth of God has been recovered some 180 years ago, Saints gathered to the Lords name with the word of God and with all that we have and all the accumulated knowledge throughout these years.
We can go to human sources.
For our problems, and I've never been, never been so many problems amongst them think that.
They can integrate the Word of God, which contains all that we need, with the wisdom of men and get the best of both worlds and put that together.
They don't mix.
Philosophy and psychology and psychiatry begin with a false supposition that man is not ruined.
That down deep there is good in him I'm talking about.
Psychology means the study of the soul. What the word means the study of the soul. Well, who knows about the soul of man? The medical profession studies the body and it knows how the different members of our body function and they can deal with it. It's something concrete. They can see it and feel it and and operate upon it, but the soul is something they've never seen.
And they only come up with their theories based upon the founding fathers of that religion.
It's not a science, it's a religion.
Deny the fundamentals of the Bible. How can you integrate that system of wisdom with God's system of wisdom? They don't go together.
The one says that man is not ruined, that there's some good in man, and the other says that he's totally bankrupt and ruined and needing, needing a new nature, a new life.
And God has made us new creatures in Christ. So he speaks of this mystery, and he says in him.
In whom or in which are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge? What folly then to go to other sources of wisdom?
For guidance in our path.
And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words, lead you astray.
To buy that lie, and it's a lie that's been promoted and has been bought.
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By the Christian.
Leadership throughout Christendom.
They then beguiled, they've been deceived, they've been LED astray, so he says.
This I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.
For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order.
And the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.
As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, how did we receive him?
We came bankrupt, we came lost, we came with nothing that we could rely upon in ourselves. We received him by faith.
We trusted him to take us out of our ruined condition and save us.
So he says, as ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him. Continue in that same.
Attitude of mind.
That we cannot rely upon our own intelligence, our own wisdom, our own understanding.
Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding.
In all thy ways acknowledge Him. He shall direct thy paths. O Lord, we know that the way of man is not in himself. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Jeremiah 10.
It's not in man that walketh to direct his steps.
What directs our steps? The Word of God, the Spirit of God-given to us. We have all that is needed, given us, all things that pertain to life and to godliness through the knowledge of Him. And we're told to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. He's the truth, He's our wisdom. He's our counselor to go to these human sources.
Is to deny that this book is all sufficient for us?
Oh, I don't intend that you say no, I'm sure that you don't, but it's tantamount to that.
Rooted and built up in Him, and established in the faith as ye have been taught, abounding therein with Thanksgiving established in the faith, going on the way we began as we received Him, with nothing in our hands to bring simply to thy cross eye cling, O Lamb of God.
I come, I come.
Then another warning. Beware. We need these warnings. Beware lest any man spoil you.
Through philosophy, that's the world's wisdom.
And vain deceit. That's the world's religion.
After the tradition of men.
After the rudiments of the world.
And not after Christ, for in him, in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.
All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in him, in that blessed man.
And then he goes on to say, And ye are complete in him.
Which is the head of all principality and power, complete in him, with all the wisdom at our disposal that we need for our pathway.
To guide and direct us through this life.
He says beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy. That's the love of wisdom, but it's man's wisdom, which God has said is foolishness.
Foolishness. And yet.
We don't avoid it sometimes. If we would heed this book, we would avoid it.
And go to this book for our wisdom, for our instruction, for our guidance.
You go to the psychologists of the day, they lay you on the couch and say, now go back. Go back to your boyhood, go back to your girlhood, go back to your childhood and resurrect and repeat to me all the evils that came upon you. There's that. There's that hidden child within, that injured child within which you have to deal with in order for to get deliverance.
The word of God says it's the opposite for getting those things which are behind.
And reaching forth unto those things which are before I press towards the mark.
Some of the most godly Saints going on well with the Lord had the worst childhood you could think of.
But that's all in the past, that's all behind them, and they've got Christ before them. That's what we've got in Philippians 3. Christ is our object. He transforms us.
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Two Corinthians 318 We all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are transformed according to the same image, from glory to glory.
Even as by the Lord the Spirit quoting Mr. Darby's translation.
We have a power working with that object to transform us.
What folly? Do not heed these warnings. Beware lest any man spoil you. Whether it's the world's wisdom or the world's religion, both are terrible snares.
To the Christian that wants to go on with the Lord.
Again, verse 18, another warning. Let no man beguile you.
Of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshipping of angels.
Intruding into those things which he hath not seen vainly puffed up by his fleshly mind. Are we to be occupied with angels? Are do we to be occupied with those things that we really know nothing about, that God has told us in his Word very little about? Or are we to be occupied with the head while He says, and not holding the head, from which all the body, by joints and bands, having nourishment ministered and knit together, increases with the increase of God?
Holding the head, having Christ before us.
That's the solution to all of man's enticements, man's wisdom.
Man's misleading thoughts.
Wherefore if he be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world here it's not dead to sin, but the very principles that this world operates upon were dead with Christ to those principles. And when we go back to those sources, we are not acting as though we were dead. If you be dead with Christ from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world are you subject to ordinances? That's man's religion. An ordinance is something that I can do.
I want to be able to do something. Isn't there something we can do to enhance our acceptance with God?
Do we have to depend entirely upon His grace? Yes, we do. There's nothing we can do or ever have done or will do that will contribute one iota to our acceptance before God. It's all by grace. And then he sums up the whole Jewish system. Touch not, taste not. And these things he says, and doctrines of men and these things he says, haven't indeed a show of wisdom and will, worship and humility.
You see, we want to be able to do something. We want to be able to contribute some way.
To our salvation, to our acceptance. It could be a humble thing.
Could be the punishing of our body, it could be something that brings credit to ourselves, he says. Not in will worship and humility and neglecting of the body.
Not in any, not in any honor. That is treating the body as though it is a sinful thing. Our body is not a sinful thing. We have a sinful nature within the body. But the body is the Temple of the Holy Ghost, and we ought to treat it as such.
That means that has a lot of meanings, a lot of ramifications. You might say that is.
I shouldn't eat to excess.
I shouldn't drink to excess, I should do all things in moderation.
I should keep my body under, as Paul says in first Corinthians 9, not with the thought that it's going to enhance my acceptance before God, but because the Spirit of God resides in this body and I should keep it in as fit a condition as I can. So he says, not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. Those that monk light punish the flesh and deny themselves earthly comforts. They do it because they think it enhances their acceptance with God.
And he says in doing that, they're not giving the proper honor to the body that it deserves.
Well, I don't want to take much more time. May God help us to understand these things and these warnings, these warnings that are given over and over again. We have everything in Christ. His divine power has given us all things that pertain to life and to godliness through the knowledge of Him who have called us to glory and virtue.
And we have all in scripture for our pathway until we get home.