Carolina Conference: 2011
Table of Contents
2 Corinthians 4:1-6
Reading
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Like to suggest that we read Second Corinthians chapter 4 brethren.
I'm not sure how far we'll get. Uh, we have 3 readings in these conferences and we'll get into chapter 5. That would be good too, but.
That is suitable unless there's something other.
Corinthians, chapter 4.
Therefore seen, we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not, but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken, cast down but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live always, are alway delivered unto the death.
Unto death for Jesus sake.
That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in You, we having the same spirit of faith, according as it as it is written. I believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe, and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus, and shall present us with You. For all things are for your sake, that the abundant grace might through the Thanksgiving of many.
Redound to the glory of God, for which 'cause we faint not, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 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.
But the things which are not seen are eternal.
I was thinking of that last verse of this chapter when it was mentioned.
Uh, earlier as to how some in this country have lost everything.
And.
Brethren, I really believe God is speaking to us.
In view of the fact that we live perhaps in the most affluent culture.
Maybe that has ever been in the history of the world. And he's reminding us that what we have that is real.
Is not visible to the human eye, but sometimes he has to take away things so that we realize where true values really lie. It speaks in verse seven of a treasure.
That we have.
In earthen vessels.
What is that treasure?
And it's a treasure, brethren, that can never be lost once we have it.
But it's something that we're going to have to.
Come to grips with that. We do not.
Uh, perceive or see physically?
Like it says in verse 18.
All there, he says, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
How do you look at things that are not seen?
This is the.
Life of faith, Brethren.
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To apprehend things that are greater than the material things that our culture has been so founded on.
May the Lord help us in meditating our portion and the tremendous place we've been brought into because of our faith in the Lord Jesus.
To apprehend this treasure.
The Lord allows us to lose everything materially.
We will still have that which really counts.
And so.
This chapter is on my heart brother, and I trust this is of the Lord.
Would like to say before we start in the first verses of the chapter that it helps when we start in verse one where it speaks about this ministry.
Go back to chapter 3 to see what he's referring to.
Seeing therefore seen we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we think not.
Go back to chapter 3. Paul has been contrasting.
The ministry under the old covenant, the law with what is that which we we have in Christianity. And notice the way he contrasted in chapter 3.
In verse 7, the law is called the ministration of death.
And.
Versus, uh.
Verse nine. It is also called the ministration of condemnation.
And that which we have now is called in the end of verse 9, the administration of righteousness.
Umm, there's another verse that huh, Verse eight, yes, the administration of the Spirit. There's the two administrations that it's speaking about. And he's showing that under the law, Moses, when he went up to receive the tables of the law the second time, when he came back down, he had seen the glory of the Lord.
And that administration of death and condemnation was so tremendously great that his face was shining. He wasn't aware of the fact that it was shining, but everybody was afraid of him, and he had to take a veil and cover his face so that they would approach him. Well, that's what's characteristic of the administration of condemnation and death.
Is that the veil is on the face. But look at the last verse, last two verses of chapter 3.
Now the Lord is that spirit and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty and then verse 18 but we all this is not just something for a few brethren. No, brethren, this is.
Something that is what is for us all.
With open or unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. So in Christianity, brethren, the veil has come off, and with unveiled faces we can go in.
And behold the glory of the Lord.
That's what's characteristic. And the more you and I are occupied with that glory, brother, and it's going to transform us. You're not going to be aware of the transformation taking place in your life, but you will be occupied with Him. It will transform you. This is the ministry that he's talking about as he starts into Chapter 4. So I just thought that might be helpful.
And so he says with this ministry, we think not.
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And just to make it very practical, brethren, if we lose sight of the Lord Jesus at the right hand of God, we're not occupied with himself. Not only will there not be a transformation or a Christ likeness in your life and mind, but we're going to paint too. And that's really what we need in the days in which we live. If we were, we won't take time, but if we were to turn over to first Peter, we would find there that in that first chapter, Peter speaks of the trials that the Saints there were going through.
Those Jewish believers that had been persecuted, scattered from their homes, they were going through what Peter refers to as fiery trials, Things that I've never been called on to pass through in the path of faith and service. But what does he say amidst it all? Whom not having seen ye love, Though now ye see him not yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. And so again, as Brother Bob said.
We don't see the Lord Jesus with the physical eye like His own did when He was here in this world.
But is He any less real to the eye of faith? You and I have a wonderful privilege this morning of my faith looking up and being occupied with the Lord Jesus, not as the lowly man of grace walking here in this world.
Wonderful privileges John and others had when the Lord was here. They handled her the word of life. But we have perhaps even a far greater privilege linked to our head by the Spirit of God. We can look up by faith and be occupied with with him where he is now. And that is what is going to encourage us not to faint. The apostle Paul, he went through trials too. In fact, to the Corinthian brethren, he lists them great trials, just one thing after another, day after day, year after year.
Why didn't Paul faint? He had Christ, a glorified man. He had one before his soul. He speaks of running the a a race in with to the Corinthians as well in another portion and so on. And brethren, maybe we've come to these meetings. We feel a little faint. Maybe we just can't go on, gotta go back and face those situations at home in the world and work and the assembly. But brethren will pre preserve from fainting.
And encouraged to press on, not with the removal of the affliction, but through the afflictions. If we have this ministry before our souls, that Paul presents Christ as a glorified man to so occupy our souls, and as we used to sing when we were young people, turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful faith, and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.
You speak, Jim, about?
Those sufferings that Paul went through, and they were tremendous sufferings, why does Paul speak of them in verse 17 as light affliction? Why? Well, it wasn't that he was callous or indifferent to them, but he compares them with what is ahead. And when he compared them with what was ahead, they were a light affliction and.
If I can just say this too, Paul knew more than any of us what was ahead. You know when he says in Philippians that he was in a bet, he was betwixt too to depart and be with Christ which is far better, or stay for the blessing of the Saints. That was more of a dilemma than perhaps you and I will ever pass through. Why? Because he speaks to these very Corinthian Saints of that time when he was caught up to the 3rd heaven.
He had temporarily been there in the in Paradise, in the very dwelling place of God. No wonder his afflictions were light afflictions. No wonder he was in a straight betwixt 2 whether to be here or to be there.
He knew what was ahead. But brethren, if we could just get a glimpse, a taste in our souls by faith of what is ahead, we'd be in that dilemma too. And we would count in the measure in which glory is before our souls. We would count our afflictions light. But I want to say this, Bob, and I think it's a good point. We never want to give the impression when we speak about our afflictions and trials that we ever get to the point where we grit our teeth or become callous or indifferent.
To what the Lord is passing us through. If we do that, then we fail to learn the lessons that He has for us in his schooling and in the allowance of what He passes us through. And so we feel it. But as Paul again said on ANO in Corinthians, sorrowful, but yet always rejoicing. He could rejoice even in the trials, but it wasn't that he didn't feel it. He shed tears, and I have no doubt plenty of tears.
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He felt the cold and the nakedness and the hunger and the thirst, but he had something more glorious before his soul. Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven and he saw that which, uh, he said it was not lawful for him.
For him to utter. I mean, there was not truly words in the English language to adequately describe the wonder of the awesomeness of that experience.
But he saw, I believe, Christ in glory, did he not, on the road to Damascus, and that was some time before, and I just enjoyed what he has to say before King Agrippa in Acts chapter 26. And I believe this vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory, it changed Saul.
Forever.
And it tells us here in chapter 26, the book of Acts, and verse 13.
Says to Agrippa at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun shining round about me, and damned which journey with me. How can we imagine what this must have been like to the saw we go out today?
And we see the sun, but we cannot look at the sun.
It's too bright, but here is a life, he tells us, above the brightness of the sun.
Who is it that Saul saw? Was it not the brightness of the eternal glory? It was Jesus, and then he hears the voice. Verse 14. And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice.
Speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul saw why persecuted style me. It is hard for thee to kick against the ******.
And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted.
When he was speaking earlier concerning this event in his life to the Jews.
It says.
That Jesus told him he was Jesus of Nazareth. You know, Nazareth was a place that was rather despised.
And scorned Nazareth, one could say, and there any good thing come out of Nazareth. But here we find that Jesus of Nazareth, the one who was despised and rejected of men, he's now exalted. And there he is in the glory. And that's why I believe that in this chapter.
Paul.
Delight to speak to us.
About the glorious gospel of Christ, which I believe is the gospel of the glory of Christ. This is what he's bringing before us, and this is not the treasure that you and I we have in an earthen vessel.
Treasure that's inexhaustible. We can look up and know that.
We're gonna share that glory with this Exalted 1.
But it affected his ministry, didn't it? From then on changed his person while he was converted.
He was introduced to the Lord Jesus.
And.
Now he has a totally new outlook.
How can we practically put this into effect? What it doesn't really mean to behold the Lord. And boy is that just the same thing as communion.
I mean, we often here be occupied with Christ.
Could you just give us a practical thing? I think all of us would like to have this.
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Verse effective in our life. Uh, I think you could do that, Brother Byrne, please.
Go ahead and do that for us.
Well, I, I think that's what it is. You know, I mean, one that we love, we like to just sit next to and just be in their presence. And this verse seems to say that if I spend that time in his presence, I'm going to be like him, change like him.
When I'm driving down the road in a car, I can be in his presence.
It's a New Testament, and particularly the epistles that present to us Christ in glory, isn't it? And while we need the whole word of God, need to read it each day, yet I believe there's nothing like going to the epistles.
Because they occupy us with the man in the glory. When you see pictures of the Queen of Elizabeth in the press or in magazines, she is usually depicted in some royal setting. Maybe it's in the throne room of Buckingham Palace. Maybe it's performing some official function with one of her diadems on her head. And you look at those pictures and then when someone says the name of Queen Elizabeth the Second of England.
Or you think about her, what do you think of, you think of what has been brought before you in those pictures. You think of her sitting on the throne, carrying out the, uh, administrations of the Kingdom. And brethren, the word of God brings that before us. It brings before us Christ where he is now, the ascended Lord. And the more we read those, uh, the, the scriptures, then the more our thoughts are going to be turned not only to Christ, but where he is now. Yes, we need the gospels.
Christ in his life as the example, the work that he took up of atonement and so on. But then we need to be occupied with him where he is now because that's really what Christianity sets before us. It sets us in relationship with Christ, the man in the glory. I would like to say this before we get off the subject. And that is in connection with Paul's sufferings that Bob mentioned because in the end of First Corinthians 11.
He brings before us that list that we alluded to. Maybe we should just take a minute. I, I wanna read us a portion there near the end of that list because we think of the things that Paul suffers physically. And as we said, they're tremendous things and it's good to go and read that list. But Second Corinthians, I'm sorry, 2nd Corinthians 11. Thank you. Yes, our, our epistle, we're in 2nd Corinthians 11.
And he speaks of the different things here, but I wanna notice what he says in verse 28.
Besides those things that are without, now the things that are without were the beatings and the shipwrecks and the hunger and the thirst and the things that are are he, uh, mentioned in the previous verses. But now he's going to talk about something else, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. No, we don't always think about that when we think about the afflictions or the trials and exercises of the apostle Paul.
You know, at the end of this list of things he suffered physically from without. To me it's almost as if he says there's a greater affliction, there's a greater care, there's a greater burden, and that is the care of the assembly. And you know, the apostle Paul, in his day, he saw much deterioration and weakness come in amongst the people of God. And at the end of his life he had to write the 2nd epistle to Timothy about the last days in perilous times and what had come in to the great house and professing Christendom and those in Asia that had forsaken him and so on.
And what a burden, what an affliction, what a care that was. How could Paul go on? You know, some of us in our short lifetimes, we, we've seen a lot of change. We've seen things come in that indicate amongst the people of God that were in the last days. What's going to keep us from fainting brethren? What's going to keep us from giving up is to have Christ before us. If we get our eyes on our brethren and thank God for our precious dear brethren. Thank God for those who desire to go on in the truth. But if we get our eyes on them.
If we get occupied with the circumstances and the deterioration and the weakness we've seen come in, in our lifetime, we're gonna faint. We're gonna get discouraged. But brother, we don't need to faint. We need to be exercised like Paul. We need to be burdened and concerned like Paul, but we don't need to faint. We can go on to the end. And this was read to us in June, the end of June, where you have again, appalling days of giving up an apostasy and turning away an indifference to the truth.
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Oh, he speaks of not even stumbling there in the past.
Why, if Christ is before our souls, if we have a glorified Christ, we're going to go on with the ministry that Paul was given and the enjoyment of it that we might not think rather than we don't need to paint or stumble in the past, even in these days we live in. I have two questions and I hope they're done digress from what is being said, but before we move on too far, could someone comment on verse six because I believe it's.
Misunderstood. Who also have made us able ministers of the New Testament or New Covenant? Because I believe that the way that's taken up today is exactly the opposite of what we've been talking about.
And unrelated to that.
Why, Jim, do you keep saying Christ and not Jesus? Again, we live in a day where men will talk of Jesus, the little of Christ.
Well, I'll answer your second question 1St and then let somebody else answer the other one. The Lord Jesus is who He was walking as a man through this world, as the rejected one. And certainly we need to have that. As I say, He's left us an example.
That we should follow in his footsteps. But Christ is our head. Christ is the Anointed 1.
Christ Jesus is the one who's risen and glorified at the right hand of God. And brethren, that's what we need before our souls to encourage us to go on to the end of the pathway. When you have Jesus Christ, it's his pathway here. And we need that to encourage us. And as I say, the example, but we also need to have the end of the journey. We need to have him, not all, not just as Jesus Christ.
But as Christ Jesus the one, the man, the lowly man that God has taken and exalted and placed at his right hand as the perfect example for you and for me, The whole title is Lord Jesus Christ, and Lord is sovereignty. Jesus is Jehovah's Savior, and Christ is God's anointed One in whom he trusts to set the whole show in order according to his purposes.
And councils.
And just make a comment about the thought of the word ministry that we have before us, and it's often thought of in Christendom as a titled position.
And uh, uh.
Wally made the comment, our ministry, and we have that not as a title position, but as a service and the word ministry or minister means servant. If you go back to Matthew chapter 20, there was a dispute about, uh, who would be the greatest? And so the Lord clears it up in verse 26.
It shall not be so among you, but whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister.
Servant, and whosoever will be chief among you, let him be your servant. Then he gives himself as the example, even as the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.
We have this ministry, our chapter verse one. We have this service.
And it's not just for those who attain a certain age, you know.
The young folks here might be in grade school or secondary school or the university and might think, well, I haven't arrived to a certain position for to qualify for a certain service. But this service, this ministry has a place for each one of us where we are as members of the body of Christ, a service to each other.
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Uh, service to those who are classmates and service to those with whom we work in the workforce, our neighbor, the service is so wide that when christened and reduces it to a titled position, it gets so limited. But it's an occupation. It's the life. It's, it's what gives purpose and occupation and, and our whole being here.
We have this ministry or this service, and we have received mercy, so we faint not.
And that goes back to verse 18 of the last chapter, which gives us the intimacy. And how could there be service without communion? But we all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, and we're at home there. Imagine that, beloved brethren, we're at home in the presence of the Lord.
Beholding us glory.
I never relished the thought as a cadet going before the Admiral of the base and having to answer for a demerit that was terrorizing.
We come before the Lord of glory as our advocate.
As our high priest, as our friend.
We have this ministry, we receive mercy, we faint not, because we all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by. And here is the power of all the Spirit of the Lord.
So the apostle Paul was a special minister, but it really like you say, brother Steve, is it applies to us all and I.
Wish I could communicate to our younger brother that they feel this importance of what they've been brought into in Christianity.
I heard some time ago of some of our some of the believers in China that we don't know too much about, but.
That the persecution is such in certain areas that some of them are taken away when they start sharing what they have learned of the Lord of the scriptures of of salvation. And so those that are left maybe two or three weeks.
Old in the Lord, they are left to carry on.
If you were left to carry on right now, you have tremendous amount. You've been sitting in meetings like this. You have heard of Christ in the glory. What would you do if you had to carry on right now instead of some older brothers in your meeting?
This belongs to us all, and it's important that we are faithful in this ministry. It's a wonderful thing that we've been brought into in Christianity, like it's been said, it's Christ in glory. You have an example of what it is, what is characteristic of it in Acts Chapter 7, and the person of Stephen, the first martyr, a man full of the Holy Ghost.
And he stands there accused, falsely accused before the council, the Sanhedrin, and he doesn't bother with answering the accusations, but he gives testimony to that man in the glory of God. And they get so furious that they're going to stone him. And he looks up into heaven and he says, behold, I see heavens open and.
The Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
Brilliant testimony, brilliant light, they put it out. But brethren, you and I have that same treasure in these earthen vessels. And so the ministry belongs to each one of us. What are we doing about it? Are we consciously enjoying the glory of the Lord? He was down here in this world like you mentioned, Jim, and that's what we have in the book of.
In the four gospels we have is pathway through this world. And of course he was always the Son of God, and sometimes those glories shone through the human veil, but there was a glory that could never be.
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Uh, veiled. It was his moral glory. And you look through the Gospels and see how completely perfect he was in every circumstance.
I've had time when I was had some legal difficulties, and I've learned to fear lawyers because they have a real way of taking what you say and twisting around to mean something that you never meant to say.
And the lawyers got around the Lord Jesus and they tried to trip him up. They always went away completely confused.
Completely confounded because there was a man who was completely perfect. Isn't it wonderful to be able to meditate on those things? It's gonna have an effect on you and I if, if we do. But what is characteristic in Christianity, like you brought out Brother Jim, is it's Christ in glory. There he is as our advocate, as our great high priest, as the head of the church.
And to be occupied with Him there, in all the difficulties we're called to pass through here. The Lord takes away every material thing that we have. We have everything in Christ, brethren. It's easy to say, but maybe the Lord will test us as to the reality of what we profess. It is true, and it really is true.
If I could just, umm, comment a little bit on the basis, uh, on which we, we enter into these things, into the appreciation of the Lord Jesus. Uh, sometimes we, we have such a desire for others to enter into the glories of the Lord Jesus and, and, and have it make an effect in their life that we forget maybe that they need a basis on which, uh, to be able to enter into these things. Each one of us here, each one of you young people that have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, You've been given a new life.
And that life has all the capabilities within it to enter into the enjoyment of divine things. Christ is a divine person, and because God has imparted his life in you, you have the capacity to enjoy the Lord Jesus, to meditate on him. But you also have something else.
You have the Spirit of God, it was given to you upon believing, and it is the Spirit of God which is the power which makes these things, these things of God, real to us.
And God has given you the gift of faith.
Faith is able to take spiritual things and make them real, and so as we.
Express our desire that you enter into spiritual things and you enjoy them. We wouldn't want to make you think that you have to do it on your own. You have been given everything that pertains to life and godliness.
You have been given everything and it's as we enter into what we've been given and we learn to use it, that things are made precious to us. And so young people, it's a.
It's, it's, it's a, uh, it's, it's a, a line upon line, precept upon precept.
The importance of allowing the spirit of God liberty in your life so that he can take the word of God and make it precious if we.
Do not allow the Spirit if, if we if we go on in a way that which grieves the Spirit of God, there won't be growth, there won't be development.
There won't be enjoyment of the Lord, and so we need to be careful that the Spirit of God has liberty.
Brother Nick, you had something on your heart in chapter 3, verse six. I'm not sure we kind of skipped over that. Uh, why don't you express what you had there? Well, I'd rather hope that someone else to express it, but let me clarify what I was saying, why I was saying that if I am able to.
00:40:24
Paul describes himself here as an able minister of the new Cus of the New Covenant.
And there are those today that believe that we are under the new covenant and.
And I think that that thought brings us right back here to this scene. The new covenant we read in Hebrews 8. I'll just read it. It's very explicit. It says I'll make a new covenant with the House of Israel, with the House of Judah and so.
Israel's hopes and aspirations were centered in this scene, and God will make a new covenant with Israel and Judah. It never says in Scripture that He has made a covenant with the Church.
And soon as our thoughts turn to a covenant being made with us that bring our, brings our thoughts right back here into the scene. So this, uh, one verse in 2nd Corinthians 3 is perhaps one that is difficult for some to understand since Paul describes himself as an able minister of the new covenant. So if someone would like to explain that in a clear way, it would be helpful. I'm glad we came back to that because it is helpful and we need to stress, do we not?
The covenants are connected with man and the earth and the church is a heavenly entity and God has never, as Brother Nick said, made a covenant with the church. Now we do come under the good of the new covenant, although the new covenant is not for us. The new covenant, as was pointed out, is for Israel, but we do come under the blessing of it. In fact, tomorrow morning when we have a cup on the table, it's it speaks in First Corinthians 11.
Of the cup of the New Testament or new covenant. And maybe I just point out when it's Testament, it's most often properly translated covenant. So in our sixth verse, and we've quoted it ministers of the New Testament in the King James. But if you notice Mr. Darby's translation, its new covenant, it really gives the the thought a little better same thing, but really conveys the thought a little a little better. And so we come under the good of it and the difference between the old covenant and the new covenant too is.
That in the under the old covenant, under the law, if man carried out his responsibility, then there was blessing. But man proved in the Old Testament under a number of covenants really, because there were covenants made with other individuals before God made a covenant with Israel collectively, there was Abraham and David and and others as well. But what the Old Testament history proved is that man couldn't hold up his end of the bargain.
That he could not be blessed on that ground. And the new covenant for Israel is on the grounds of pure sovereign grace. Israel is going to be blessed in the coming day when Zion is addressed and Zion is the undeserved favor of God and God is going to come in on their behalf, not because they can hold up their end of the bargain. You know, you think of a covenant. We do it in business. We make covenants and there's Co all kinds of covenants made and the.
Covenant being carried out to its fruition is dependent on both parties holding up their end of the bargain. If you sign a lease or a covenant to take an apartment, if you don't hold up your end of the bargain, you're going to eventually get evicted. You're going to get an eviction notice. In business, we when I was in business, we had contracts or covenants, but there was always a clause that said if either end of the party didn't hold up their.
Part of the bargain of the covenant, then the contract became null and void and the other party was able to get out from under the legal obligations of it. And so I just say that to show what a covenant really is. And so Israel is going to come to the realization in a coming day through the circumstances they will yet go through that they can only be blessed on the grounds of grace. And of course, it's on the ground of the blood, the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But let's be very clear, we're not spiritual Israel. We're not an extension of Israel. We are not under a new covenant or any other covenant. God has brought us in to blessing on the grounds of the work of Calvary, where the Church of God, the bride of Christ, and we are going to enjoy eternity in that perspective. But there is a covenant that He has made and that He will fulfill for the blessing of Israel, but it will be on the earth.
00:45:28
We have that in, uh, Jeremiah 3131. I believe this comes before us clearly as to this new covenant, and that it's in respect to Israel's House of Judah.
It says Jeremiah 3131 Behold the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the House of Israel, and with the House of Judas, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, which my covenant they pray. This refers to the law. They broke the law.
Although I wasn't husband unto them, saith the Lord, but this shall be the covenant that I will make with the House of Israel after those days, saith the Lord. I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people, and they shall teach no more. Every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, No, the Lord, for they shall all know me.
From the least of them onto the greatest of them, saith the Lord. For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
What a bright future we have recorded here with respect to Judah and Israel. You know God is gonna bless his earthly people and I think.
Always.
That the blessing of the Jew.
Is in connection with her.
Which is not so with the Christian. You know, the blessing of the Christian is always in connection with heaven, not with earth. And that's why it was hard for Jewish believers to get a grip on what Paul was bringing out with respect to the gospel of the glory of Christ. And that this is where our life truly is. He's trying to separate them from that earthly hope.
And occupy their minds with the heavenly 1.
But I think it's important to see that the covenant is with respect to the two in connection with earth. Covenant is not made with the church, but as you say, the covenant with the Jew. The new covenant is based on the work of Christ, this precious blood, which can never fail. So it depends entirely on what God has done and is going to work.
How wonderful that you and I, we have a hope outside of this world.
Uh, blesses of our blessing is that same precious blood that was shed, doesn't it? No, it's not a different basis, but it is a different sphere of blessing. And, uh, Jew today who get saved, he's really not, uh, looked at as on Jewish ground any longer as he's on the ground of the church.
Uh, going back to our chapter, it'd be nice to get on a little bit in this chapter. We've been talking about verse one.
But now going on to verse two, he says in connection with this ministry.
We have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully.
But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
However, other than how important since we are in the measure that we have been brought into this position, we are ministers, uh, we have been brought into this ministry that there is the renouncing of the hidden things of dishonesty so often in Christian circles, so much that is dishonest.
00:50:06
Has been brought forward and what? Terrible.
Uh, impediments. It presents to the gospel.
I must say, rather than recently over in Europe and in.
Spain especially.
There is a real spirit of apostasy.
Say, some say that in Spain 50% are atheists. To mention the name of God just creates repulsion in people. And I think it's because of those who have stood outwardly in the place of God and they've been involved in homosexuality and abuse of children. People have nothing. They don't want anything to do with anything related to God.
It's terrible.
I've said sometimes, brethren, we need to all be exercised on our practical level. If you do not show the gospel practically, how are you going to speak it? It's what's called an Ephesians 6, the preparation of the gospel of peace.
The shot with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. How is your walk?
Talks about fees. It's our watch and we need to be.
Shot with the preparation of the Gospel of peace. If there's something in my life that is not according to the Light, and the light is that which manifests everything in our lives, brethren, is there some detail? Is there some hidden corner of your life where you've got things hidden that you know are not right?
Right. How in the world are you going to speak the gospel?
Lord help us, brethren, it it searches my own heart.
I often have said in Sometimes people ask me what kind of work you do.
And I used to say I'm a missionary or a preacher.
You know what?
When I say that, I could just see, generally speaking, people just reach off and turn off the switch. They're not listening any longer. Yeah, I can still talk to them, but they're not listening to anything I'm saying.
Why? Because of the poor testimony of those who say they're preachers.
So I'd rather say, umm, something else. An account.
Or export bibles or something like that.
But if I say that, then maybe they'll give me a hearing. But I say to the brethren down in Bolivia sometimes if you're a bricklayer and you do your work thoroughly as to the Lord.
Time comes to say a word for the Lord because of how good a work you're doing.
People are going to listen to you, so it's important. Your personal testimony is tremendously important, and that's why it says we've renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness nor handling the Word of God deceitfully. How often the Word of God is used to twist in one way or another for personal advantage.
How sad that is.
It's very common in Christian so-called Christian circles today, but by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
Remember Mr. Lundin mentioning how the truth of God goes into the soul? It's heard through the ear, and when it goes in the ear, it passes through the conscience on the way to the soul.
And it has to go through the conscience. It's going to be received properly. There are people that are able to absorb things in the head, but it never gets into their conscience.
The way it gets home to the car, to the soul, is through the conscience.
So appeal to the conscience, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. Conscience is that which man got when he ate of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And that's what conscience is, the knowledge of good and evil.
00:55:03
In every single human being that lives on the face of the earth has conscience.
They may deny the existence of God in their head, but their conscience tells them that there's a God.
So the conscience is on your side, and if you speak the truth of God to them, their conscience is going to tell you.
Tell them he's talking the truth and that's important in our ministry is to appeal to the conscience.
Member Brother telling me that he had occasion to speak to some scientists who were trying to deny, uh, the truth of creation, and they were trying to establish evolution, and they were presenting him with some complicated arguments.
And he said.
At the end of all they're talking, he said. OK, but what about your sins?
I didn't know what to say.
Their conscience. And so the Lord Jesus and his life down here appealed to the conscience. I often think of when they brought that woman taken in adultery in the very act it says, and they sat here in the midst that poor woman, and they said to the Lord Jesus, Moses and the law said, we should stone that woman. What do you say?
The Lord didn't answer their question.
He on the ground he wrote, doesn't say what he wrote. But after they asked for quite a while, he got up and he says he that is without sin among you, let him first cast the first stone at her. That wasn't an answer to their question, that was an answer to their conscience. And it says the oldest to the youngest.
Got up and walked out because of the conscience.
Brethren, it's important when we're asked questions, sometimes there's curious questions that are asked. Let's not be so occupied in answering curious questions as in answering the conscience.
Commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. What we say will never commend itself to another's conscience if our lives and actions aren't in accordance with what we say. And Paul was a special minister raised up at the beginning of the dispensation to present this ministry to us. And it's interesting how careful Paul was to live a life that commended.
The ministry. We have a number of examples of it in the first epistle. Twice he says be followers of me even as I am of Christ. Now none of us would dare to say that, but Paul said it by divine inspiration because he was a special minister. I'd just like to notice a couple of scriptures in this connection. Go to 1St Corinthians 9 for a moment.
First Corinthians, Chapter 9.
And the last verse of the chapter verse 27, but I keep under my body and bring it into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway. Previously he's been talking about running the race. And again Paul was get was a special instrument raised up as an example at the beginning given this special ministry. But what he's really saying in simplicity at the end of this chapter is.
When I have run the race and when I have preached, when I presented my ministry, I don't want to do anything that would bring reproach on it. I want to live in a way, bring my body into subjection and live in a way.
That commends my ministry. Now let's go back to the second epistle and go to the 6th chapter where he speaks of this again in connection with his ministry.
Chapter 6 and verse 3, giving no offense in anything that the ministry be not blamed, but in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience and afflictions and necessities and so on, He gives another.
Little list of some of the things he had suffered as a minister of Christ. But again, we see very clearly, don't we. Paul's exercise was that what he spoke. His ministry would be commended by his life and back in our verse in our chapter. I just make this gentle suggestion that when he says but by manifestation of the truth. You know if you look up that word manifest or manifestation in Webster's dictionary.
01:00:24
This is the meaning it gives to clearly show, in other words, to my own soul. It's just as if Paul says.
Not only by by what we say do we want to present our ministry, but we want to clearly show it by our lives and polls like did clearly show and give weight, moral weight to the ministry that he was given by the Spirit from the Lord, by the Spirit of God. And then he says, then he says, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. You say I tried to.
Present some aspect of truth to somebody, maybe to another young person or somebody just didn't seem to reach the conscience. Well, it has to be a work of the Spirit of God, of course. But I sometimes, at least in my own case, brethren, had to look at my own soul and say maybe, maybe what I said didn't commend itself to the others conscience because of my life. You know, when Lot spoke in Sodom, what he said was the truth. It was the truth. Judgment was coming.
Sodom was about to be destroyed, but it commended itself to no one's conscience because his life was in such a moral shambles. And so I think what has been said is very good, wonderful to be able to know these things, to be able to articulate them and put them out and present them to others. But the moral weight behind it that's going to commend it to another's conscience is the life that we live.
I noticed that in one of Bruce Anstey's.
Of booklets, he repeats more than once. A little palm and it comes to mind, Uh.
Or something like this. The gospel is written a chapter a day by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say.
Men read what is written, whether faithless or true.
Say, What is the gospel according to you?
Spoke to my own heart.
And conscious too.
As we go through these chapters.
It's just good to keep in mind the simple outline. In the third chapter we have the true ministry and its results. In the 4th chapter, we especially have the characteristics of the true minister of God. As we have just been Speaking of the 5th chapter, we have that which motivates the minister of God. And as our brother Steve said, we each have or should have opportunity to serve the Lord, and that would administer and serve are the same. And these are the things that should characterize us.
I I know a young girl.
Who? Someone asked her, So what do you do Friday night? And she said, oh, I normally hang out with my friends. And the person jokingly said, oh, I would have thought you would have said you go to Bible study. And she said no, that's Thursday night. And the person was completely taken aback and became rather serious and started to speak on, well, what do you say I have to do to get to heaven on the subject? The the conversation went from there.
But it was rather remarkable that that individual who knew nothing about that girl's life, would jokingly say to her, oh, I thought you would have said, you go to Bible study.
Just noticing in that.
Book 24 when the Lord Jesus walked with those two on the way to Emmaus and they begin to describe what had taken place and they described, uh, the Lord in verse, uh.
19.
And Jesus 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 will all the people.
Sometimes we find it more easy to say in Word indeed, but I notice here it's deed that comes first.
And of course, over in Acts chapter one, we also have something there along the same line in the very first first Acts one and one the former treatise have I made all theophilus of all that Jesus began both to do, and peace there again. Eat 1St and end the word.
01:05:19
Kaufmann said. You know, people, perhaps they don't hear so much what we say. They look at what we do.
It might be good to read verse 5, for we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord. Now as we speak of that which is reflected from our lives, they want nothing reflected from our lives. It's not Christ. When the world sees us, we want them to see Christ.
As that girl, uh, spoke of worsh what she did with her, her Thursday evenings, it was.
It was somewhat a reflection, wasn't it, of an appreciation what she did with her Eve evenings, Wasn't it to spend time in appreciation of the Word of God and of the Lord Jesus? And what reflected from her life was Christ. So the apostle Paul, didn't she? He didn't speak of himself. His whole sole purpose was to set Christ before man. And that is that's the purpose of our life.
God is creating us into the image of His dear Son, and that should be the result, the fruit that is born from us.
If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.
What a tragedy we have, this tremendous revelation of the glory of Christ, glory of God, in a world that is dying.
And wrestling under the power of wickedness that we would not let the gospel be seen.
The Gospel be hidden, the Lord says in the Gospels, do not let our lamps be put under a bushel or under a bed bushel. Perhaps Speaking of business data of of uh, relaxation and leisure. So often, brethren, we allow the light to be hidden.
What a tragedy. I have to confess I'm as guilty as anyone on this, but it's something that should really exercise us. We have the answer, brethren, we do. Do you believe it or not?
Brother Steve, do you believe that we have the answer?
The context I suppose here too, is that Paul is saying there's nothing in my life that causes the gospel to be good. That's right.
Because it's because if it's hit, it's hit to those that are lost in whom and this is goes on. Now the God of this world. Of course, that's small G Satan is the God of this world religiously.
Has blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
Oh, wonderful, rather than that we've been brought to know God in the person of the Lord Jesus.
Wonderful, wonderful truth.
I think they say that there is over 1 billion Muslims in the world today and the Muslim religion says that God is unknown and unknowable.
And you and I know, God, what a tremendous treasure that is.
Do we look at it that way, brother? We have been brought into the true knowledge of God and the Person of the Lord Jesus.
He has been brought into through the Lord Jesus. The full revelation of God has been given in the Old Testament. God was known in partial ways. He's known in creation. He was known in a certain way if the giving of the law in Mount Sinai.
But it is not until the Lord Jesus came that we have the full revelation of God and the person of his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And now you and I can say we know God.
01:10:06
I sound presumptuous to say we have the answer, but let's not forget that God has spoken. There are three facts of life. God is.
God has spoken and we are responsible, but to say that we have the answer?
Is because God has spoken. And here we hold in our frail little pink hand absolute truth.
I say frail little pink hand committed to mere man, like you and like me, who always stand before our wives, and our wives before the husbands, and we stand before the children. And they see things perhaps that ought not to be sane. They hear things that perhaps ought not to be heard. You know, we all have our frailties and our weaknesses.
And I wanna make a word to the young people growing up because it's a day in which, uh, parents are judged and we're not perfect.
You cannot judge the truth by those that hold it. We're frail.
We want to do our best, we want to please the Lord, but you'll see failure.
And you don't have to look at your parents to see it. An honest person will look at themselves.
And no, the propensity of their own heart.
God is the God of grace. He's also the God of truth.
And so we can go on.
I think that's why, Steve, when we speak of the truth, we need to be clear.
I think it's third John speaks of the truth in you. He says to gas that's subjective and that may be so like you say in in part, but if you look at me to closely, brethren, you're gonna see that which does not relate to truth. So when we speak about the truth, we need to be clear that in its absoluteness, it's in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Who said I am the way, the truth and the life He is absolute truth or the precious word of God, because it says.
Thy word is true. There you have it in its absoluteness, you know, Look at me. Hopefully you'll see something that may relate to it, but there's something that may not relate to it as well. So don't look at me. Don't look at your brother, look at Christ.
Look at his precious word. And so Paul said, we preach. We don't preach ourselves. We preach not ourselves. He was a special instrument, as we say, raised up at the beginning, but he wasn't presenting himself. He was presenting Christ in the glories of Christ. We preach Christ in Christ crucified. The crucifixion is the basis of the gospel, and Christ in glory is the one who is the Savior. Christ Jesus came into the world.
To save sinners. So Paul wasn't presenting himself, he was just the instrument to present the glories of Christ. But Bob, you made a comment which I think is helpful about Satan being the God of this world religiously. And what does Satan use more to keep people blinded and insensitive to the gospel of the glories of Christ more than religion and that and not just heathen religion or false religion as far as.
Islam or Hinduism or Buddhism or all those things, but come right over to the Western world. What is Satan using to keep man insensitive to his ruin? He has is using, I tremble to say it, brethren, but he is using those who handle the word of God deceitfully and who are not presenting the gospel as it is in Jesus who are not.
A presenting Christ.
As the glorified man is the Savior of sinners, not presenting the fact that man is lost and ruined and that there's nothing he can do. And that it's on the basis of the work of Calvary and the blood of Christ and the resurrection and the ascension and the work of God in in the soul and and so on and repentance toward God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. And Satan is using false religion even taken from this very book.
01:15:01
To keep man insensitive to his ruin. It's a very, very solemn thing. And it's sometimes easier to speak to people who are steeped in heathendom, who have no knowledge of this book. It's often easier to speak to them about the true gospel than it is to speak to those who have had false teaching from the Word of God.
It seems that.
Very simple, right from the Garden of Eden that Satan's desire was to for man to make much of himself.
Listen to me, he said Satan, and you'll be as gods, you'll be exalted. And uh, we tend to make much of self and that sure hinders the, the truth. Uh, my son Benji, which many of you know, phoned yesterday evening.
Said dad make much a price.
I thought that's good advice.
Satan desires the world to worship him. That's why he's referred to as the God of this world. And we know in the Lord Jesus was tempted by Satan.
You said to the Lord, look at all these kingdoms up on a high mountain. I'll give all of these to you if you fall down. Worship me. That's his desire, and he knows that.
If.
So.
It's given to see the glory of Christ, like Paul did Saul at the time, on the way to Damascus. He's gonna lose the worshipper because we know what happened to Saul. At one point. It was on fire for the enemy, really for Satan. Didn't realize it, perhaps, but.
Now he's on fire for God and for the Lord Jesus.
And he's also referred to as the Prince of this world. I mean, he desires to rule the world.
And of course, in the coming day we find in Jerusalem the Temple will be rebuilt, and there in that temple will sit one who exalts himself above all that is called God.
This is the Antichrist. He's looking for the worship of the world, and he's gonna have this image of the beast, I believe.
Made and he's gonna call upon the world to worship the beast, but it's all part of a Trinity of evil.
It's Satan looking for worship, and that's why he's seeking.
Love is power to keep souls blinded.
The gospel would be hid from them.
It's interesting while they verse four says what's blinded are the minds and uh, man by wisdom does not know God. It comes through the light of the gospel and it comes through applying the light to the conscience. And I think that is such a important thing to remember in gospel work. Appeal to the conscience because that way it will get through.
But I was talking to a friend of mine a number of years ago who was in medical school in a certain university, and he said of all the different schools in this particular university, the incidence of atheism is highest among medical students. I said, wow, that's incredible where you were studying such an intricate thing as the human body to be able to.
Deny the existence of God in studying that. It's because the mind is blinded and you can take light and shine it in the face of a blind man. How much does he see? Nothing. When a person says he doesn't believe God, he's blinded.
The Shepherd and the Sheep
Walking By Faith and Not By Sight
2 Corinthians 4:6-10
Reading
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2nd Corinthians chapter 4 beginning at verse 5. Before we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake. For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not in despair, persecuted but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you, we having the same spirit of faith according as it is written. I believed, and therefore have I spoken. We also believe and therefore speak, knowing that he which raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus Jesus, and shall present us with you.
For all things are for your sake.
That the abundant grace might, through the Thanksgiving of many, redowned to the glory of God. For which 'cause we faint not but through, but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day For our light affliction, which is but for a moment worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 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, but the things which are not seen are eternal.
Verse five shows that it's not about us, brethren, it's about Him. Are we in the picture? Yes, but it's about Him.
And ourselves your servants, for Jesus sake.
That's where we fit into the picture.
So it's really about him, not so much about us.
The radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, who is the image of God.
That's a lot better subject than ourselves, isn't it?
When you make a comparison like that.
What a much better subject we have.
But the wonder of it is that God does use servants, doesn't he? And you're one of his servants, and I'm one of your servants of his servants. And we often think of the preaching of the gospel in connection with those who have a special ABI ability or calling. Tonight a brother is going to stand up and preach the gospel here from the platform. But every one of us have the privilege of in one way or another, making known the glorious gospel, making known Christ. Now Paul again, as we said this morning, was a special instrument raised up at the beginning. And what a preacher he was.
And what a gift he he had. But even Paul said to the Corinthians in the first epistle that it wasn't with enticing words that he presented the gospel to to them. It certainly wasn't with the wisdom of this world. His exercise and his responsibility before God as a preacher of the gospel was to preach Christ, and Christ crucified his whole. The whole exercise of Paul's life was to present Christ to the lost for salvation.
And Christ to the Saints for their blessing and edification. And you'd say, well, it's never been given to me to preach the gospel. Well, maybe not in the way that we think of it so often, but every one of us are here to reflect something of Christ, both by what we say, what we do by our lives as we had this morning, by by what we say too. You know, what we say is important too, brother. It must correspond with our life. But what we say is important too. And in the Acts, I've been impressed in going through the Acts, how often you have preaching, mentioned preaching, preaching, preaching. It's, it's, it's important. And we're here.
To preach Christ. And when we open our mouth, is it Christ that we're presenting, or is it drawing attention to ourselves?
The exaltation of Christ is the greatest and truest gain. The exaltation of self is the truest loss.
I think of the, uh, ministry of John the Baptist and you know, here's a man that had opportunity, I believe, to exalt himself.
And when they went to him as to whether or not he was the Christ, he said, I am not the Christ. And then he went on to speak how he that comes after me is preferred before me, because he was before me. And so I believe he was pointing to Christ. It ought to be the object of all true ministry, I believe, to attach souls not to oneself, but to Christ.
00:05:19
And of course.
I read about how the John the Baptist.
You could say, behold the Lamb of God.
He was so taken up with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ that tells us there were two of his disciples who were listening to what he had to say. And they stopped following John. They start following the Lord Jesus. Was John disappointed? No, I believe he was thankful. Well, I think.
Impossible was at the same persuasion. His desire was to exalt Lord Jesus and draw souls to him. But that's not the way of the world. And I know in our area there's elections coming up in Canada.
Of course, you're already talking about elections in the United States.
Next year, so on.
And what is it that people are doing? They're Tooting their own horn. That's what they're doing, trying to get.
People to promote them because of what they have to offer.
My fault wasn't that way.
Now he says here we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord.
With the Apostle Paul that said not either price.
I think I'm John the Baptist, too, he said. I he must increase, I must decrease.
But the Lord gave his approval of John's ministry. The Lord said of those born among women, there is not risen or greater than John the Baptist. John was the voice of one crying in the wilderness, just a voice. You know, you can hear a voice, but you can't see it. And John said, I'm just a voice. I'm just here to speak for Christ and to pave the way for Christ. But the Lord gave his approval and it's not what we really want, brethren, the Lord's approval. And if you seek to go on and present Christ and make nothing of yourself and just be that voice, maybe you do feel like you're crying in the wilderness sometimes. You know, you get out in the wilderness and you start talking. Seems like you're, it's useless. You say I'm not reaching anybody out here. Nobody's listening.
John might have felt that way, but he was just a voice. And if you and I seek to be just a voice, to represent to, to present Christ and leave it for his approval, then they'll be true blessing in our ministry.
This was in distinct contrast to others occurrence that we read about in the 11Th chapter.
Just a few verses like first 13 for example, contrast with what we had back in verse 2, not to go backwards, but for such a false apocalypse to people, workers transforming themselves into the apostle of Christ is a little further in that chapter, verse 19. You suffer fools gladly seeing yourselves alive. Do you suffer if a man bring unto you? Will you suffer if a man bring you into *******? If a man devalue by the way, that would suffer, I believe means permit. It doesn't mean to suffer in a physical sense.
And so there are those that current that were exalting themselves and the apostle Paul here in this chapter, uh, in this chapter in verse five, he says in ourselves, you're servants for Jesus sake. We've spoken about the minister and that how the ministry and, and the word minister is related to the word serve. But here he doesn't use that same word. He uses the word slave. So he says that they were your slaves for Jesus sake. He would go even lower in contrast to those at current that would exult and make merchandise of them.
Of the Lord Jesus.
At the image of God.
We think of him as the son of man who was here on the earth and in the world already.
And at that time.
All who lived there, they could see him.
They actually saw his image, his face, his person.
But he was the image of God also, and he still is, he could say.
That God is his Father, but was his Father, and when people see him, they see God.
John the Baptist could say that he was before him. He knew him by heart alre already before he was even shown to him in this world. God had already shown him him through his heart.
00:10:10
And he pointed him out.
Who he was, he saw his person as a man, as a son of man.
Now here I understood that we are and the buildings here we see quite a few of images that's supposed to be the images of Christ, but the only pictures, when I look at them, they don't do anything to me.
But when I picture the Lord Jesus as who he really is and what He has done for me.
Then I have the real picture of him within me. He speaks to my heart. And then the longer I think of him and I pray to Him, the more real He gets to me.
This is the actual image that we get today. That's what we read in Hebrews 1.
Where he is declared who who he is.
In verse six of our chapter, we seem to have a reference to Genesis 1.
In the creation it mentions there that the earth was.
Uh, darkness was upon the face of the deep, and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
God said, let there be light, and there was light.
It's interesting. Light and darkness are in the first verses of the Bible. Here we see it not in connection with physical light and darkness, but with spiritual darkness that enshrouds people's souls. And it's interesting how it puts it in verse six. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Wonderful. When God gives the command for the light to penetrate the penetrate the darkness, there's nothing that can withstand it.
You can't mix light and darkness. They're separate things, and so it seems so impossible sometimes when you're speaking to souls that are in darkness.
But brethren, it's not a work of ours, it's a work of God. And when He gives the command for the light to penetrate the darkness, then it will penetrate. And I think the important thing for us is to make sure that the light is shining.
Because the moment will come when there will be a change. Seems like if we were writing this, we said go to caused the light to shine into the darkness.
I hear it's shining out of the darkness that's, uh, seems to our minds sort of an impossibility. But.
There was never a darker hour in this world than Calvary's cross, and darkness covered the land for three hours.
Darkness, darkness. It could be felt, and it was from there that the light shined out from Calvary.
Uh, you were mentioning the 1St chapter Genesis of Bob and I was thinking that.
God created the light on on day one.
But we don't see the display of that light until day 4.
Before that light was displayed in all its brilliance, we have day three, which tells us of the cross when the gas waters were gathered together into one place and, uh, then the dry land appeared.
Through that work machine.
It was all buzz that the light was on display, the sun, the moon and the stars.
So as you say, our salvation, the under our understanding, being enlightened and being brought to the Savior had nothing to do with us. It was all a work of God. The work was done by the Lord Jesus. The plan was in the heart of God from a past eternity. The moment came when the Spirit of God worked in our souls. The Word of God was presented to us in some way, and the Spirit of God worked in our souls to give us that light and that knowledge.
00:15:12
And I think we need to keep that before our souls, brethren, in dealing with other souls. Sometimes we think it's going to depend on our explanation of the Word of God or what scriptures we present or how we do it. Well, it is true, we need to be exercised. It says of some they so spake that a great multitude believed. And it's an exercise to present the truth of God's Word in a way that the Spirit of God can take and use it in enlightening dark hearts. But in the final analysis, aren't you and I thankful?
That blessing doesn't depend on our ability to present the word of God. A brother again is gonna stand up and preach the gospel this evening. And I'm sure that brother is gonna be very, very thankful at the end of the hour. That blessing doesn't depend on his ability to present the Word of God. Because if it depended on our ability to present the word of God, that's a burden we couldn't carry around because whether it's speaking to souls individually or presenting the the gospel in a public forum or setting.
There's all we always feel our inadequacy. At least we ought to always feel our inadequacy. But thank God that blessing depends. Well, it doesn't depend on us. It does depend on the word in all its living power. It depends on the work of the Spirit of God. It depends on the heart of God and his desire to bless another. Nothing can change those things, brethren. That's what that's why it shined into our hearts. And if God uses us as instruments and as we said.
He delights to use us as instruments to present the word in one way or another. But if he delights to use us in in as instruments, then let's remember though, in the final analysis, the work is all his. If he doesn't shine into dark hearts, if he doesn't penetrate dark hearts, there's no blessing at all, but his desire is to do it. That's why I think, Jim, that often God uses least expected.
Instruments and letting the light shine. Sometimes the sister in her place, just living out the reality of her life in Christ.
Is a powerful testimony and it gets through. And then say the light doesn't make much noise. It doesn't say much, but by its presence you see everything clearly. That's what it takes. It's letting the light shine. Sometimes I think sometimes we try to do too much explaining and we hinder the work of the Lord. Not that that's not necessary. Like you say, preaching is necessary.
For a man down in Bolivia that had contact with and.
Mechanic shop and.
I gave the gospel to him one time and let me know that he thought he was all right.
Anyhow, I gave him a New Testament and sometime later he says to me, that book you gave me, I don't understand anything. Why don't you come over my house and explain it to me?
We set a time and it went over and we started in John's Gospel first verses. We got down to John 1/4 and him was life, and the life was the light of men.
I looked at him and I said what is light?
Just look for me at me for the longest time.
Didn't say anything, I don't think. It's just as if the light was penetrating his heart, that moment. I don't know that it was, but it was. Sometime after that I was in the shop again and he says, you know that book you gave me, I understand it now.
I understand it now. Something that happened. The light had penetrated. You know, it's not a matter of convincing people. It's a matter of letting the light shine. Your sisters can let the light shine just as much as the brothers.
So it's important in our testimony to let the light shine. The next verse of our chapter says we have this treasure in earthen vessels.
And sometimes the illustration has been given from this of Gideon when he went out to defeat the Midianites and.
ENS 300 men, remember that when he blew the trumpet, uh, 32,000 men followed him. Lord said I can't give the victory to Israel. This many people, they're gonna say that they gained the victory. So tell all those that are fearful to go home.
00:20:02
Well, reduced his army dramatically.
Anywhere left the next time I was at 10,000 or left I forget right off hand but anyhow it's too many still. So after the last Test was given it was only 300 men.
Brother, we got to learn, as it says in the end of verse 7, the Excellency of the power is of God, not of us.
The important thing is the light. And so as they went out, those 300 men, they stood around the camp of the Midianites. They had two things. One was a trumpet one hand, and another was a earthen vessel with a torch inside. And at a given signal, they all broke the vessel. And as they broke the vessel, the light showing down, that's the important thing. Sometimes God has to break these vessels, these earthen vessels.
What's his purpose in breaking us? The lights shine out.
And as the light shined out, then they blew the trumpets, the sword of the Lord and of Gideon, and the Lord did the victory.
So that's the two types of the testimony like you're mentioning, Jim, It's the life, that's the light, and it's the spoken word, that's the trumpet. So those two things God uses to let the light shine into darkened souls. Before we go on, I'd just like to go back to the end of verse six there. To me, it's exceedingly precious, brethren, God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts.
To give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God and notice where it shines in the face of Jesus Christ.
In that face that was Sormard more than any man's, is where the full display of the glory of God.
Next.
Steven is stoned.
Saw the young man taking care of Coats.
Stephen's face had shown.
Because of the presence he was realizing.
Later Chapter 9 of X and so is on the road to Damascus.
You suddenly, verse three there shine round about him a light from heaven.
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? And he said, Who art thou, Lord? Lord said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us. It is hard for thee to kick against the ******. The trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do. But we know the story well. But.
Three days later when Ananias came to him.
He then received the Holy Ghost and became a member of the Church by being baptized by the Holy Ghost and the. The fact is that he had seen Christ in glory. The object formed him, and in chapter 22.
Where he reiterates this.
He and others with him saw the light, but he was the one that heard the voice.
910 verse 11 And when I could not see, for the glory of that light, that light had.
Taken all other attention away from him.
And he could not see for three days.
And the result of that.
Uh.
He is baptized. Verse 16, and wash away thy sins. He had shared in the guilt of Israel in trying to put out all testimony about Jesus but the risen head in heaven.
Responded.
As the body hurt on earth.
In the risen head in heaven today.
Seeing the earth of our brethren in so many countries.
00:25:00
Chapter 26.
1St.
Well, I've mentioned how often souls are in darkness under religion.
Verse 12. Whereupon I went to Damascus with authority and Commission from the chief priests.
At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.
Here we get it reiterated again.
There's 15 And he said, I said to art thou Lord? And he said, I am Jesus, whom thou persecute us.
But rice, stand upon thy feet provide appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make the administer and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things which.
I will appear unto thee, delivering the from the people and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and inheritance among them, which are sanctified by faith.
That is in need.
There's still a great need today.
That souls be turned from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. These happenings in Japan, a land of about 1% Christian.
What I've read, the average church is about 13 people. In the area where the tsunami hit, there were many churches.
Perhaps there were those who were simply washed out to sea.
Those laboring there now, in a land that's prevalent with heat and darkness.
We still have by the great grace of God.
That wondrous message of the gospel, that Solid Tarsus met that person that day. It's an amazing, brethren, that we can have as he such a treasure in our heart that we may share.
Set forth the knowledge of that treasure in part.
Through the Spirit of God working that treasure to someone else and not have less treasure ourselves.
It's not like handing out money, is it?
He is the object. That's the object that forms us. God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. It's Paul's ministry that gives us.
The gospel of the glory, isn't it Christ in glory and the the earthen vessel is expendable.
Our natural.
Defense is self-defense.
The very interesting aspect is you and I do not have to live.
We have brethren in other countries that are literally laying down their life for the name of Jesus.
They may not have the light so brightly as you and I. And then I have the richness of ministry that you and I have the privilege of listening to.
That they've got the right object.
And it's the object that forms us. This is Christ himself.
But the vessel is expendable, the treasure is not.
It seems like adversity and persecution are two things which the Lord has used down through the ages, hasn't he, with his people so that the light might shine forth like Bob related to us, Gideon, and so with many believers, with all of us today. Isn't that the Lord's desire? And they're not welcomed in our life. We sometimes see them as unwelcome guests and.
We wish things could be just right. We could plan our day.
And things go accordingly. But of course the Lord knows what we need, but adversity and persecution when I think of the apostle Paul.
And, uh, especially in writing to 2nd in Second Timothy. It's a language of warfare, isn't it?
It's a language of warfare, and so again, adversity, persecution. Steven was mentioned his his face shone.
00:30:04
And as you mentioned too, and it's been on my heart to pray for the persecuted church.
As we speak right now, there are truly believers.
Who are being, who are under tremendous persecution.
You did have the reports that I heard of those in China who have decided to take the message without any support.
But simply with the conviction that the Lord wants them to carry the message on into those Muslim countries that are so close, so difficult, they go out.
Without any hope, many of them have ever returning to their families.
Any of the movies killed.
I don't know that there's that kind of mentality in our country, brother, amongst those called Christians.
Was it true that perhaps in our land and in Western Europe and Canada that Satan presents himself as a as a servant beguiling, whereas in these other countries he's as a roaring lion?
I mean, there's, there's different types of persecution and umm, you know, for us it's perhaps just being blasted by the media or going for those of us that are still working, going into the workroom floor and rubbing elbows with non believers and wanting to be a witness for Christ, not so much in Word, maybe on the working floor, but through example.
And I know personally that, uh, my state of soul is not always what it should be.
But there is, there is exercise and that's good. But again, I think of, you know, the fact that, umm, in this land, it's, it's there, there are different things that can draw away the Saints heart, but certainly in these other lands, it's, it's, uh, it's touching to, to, uh, to read and to hear about these believers who are being persecuted, but also in, uh, in, in thinking about the scriptures have.
Have any of us or any in this room ever heard of the book when Iron Gates yield? Uh, there was two books and maybe I got them confused, but the first one he never, he did not have a Bible. He did not have a testament for I don't know how long. And that whole book is written on his recollection of verses. This missionary back in the early 50s of, uh, verses that he had, uh, you know, read the Spirit of God brought it back.
And that was his comfort and stay through I don't know how many years in this Chinese prison. Umm, but he had nothing except well, he had the Lord and that was the key and the spirit of God bringing back these verses and he goes through, he recounts the life of Abraham. And these are all his musings as he spent his time in jail in this prison. And the book as a result of these musings. It's, it's an excellent book and it makes us makes me anyway realize again.
Do I, do I take for granted, you know, I, I sometimes think I do what I have.
So the treasure, brethren, is.
The light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Tell me, is it really a treasure within your bosom?
We've been brought into the full knowledge of all that God is and the person of the Lord Jesus.
Say, brethren, when you look around in the world and see so many in darkness, poor Muslim people don't have that light. Think they're serving God.
And you and I have that light.
Is there anything we're doing about it?
The light is made to shine and I really put wonder if the Lord is allowing the trials, the physical trials and infirmities.
That that light will shine.
Sometimes our thought, our only thought, is to get well again. And naturally speaking, I understand that that's very normal.
But let's remember that God permits these things, like happened in Japan.
He has a purpose in it. He has a purpose in the terrible tragedies in this country, too, tornadoes that tore through the country.
That doesn't do those things without a purpose.
But is that treasure that's within us? Is that shining out? That's what God wants.
He has to break the vessel.
Lemoyne says the vessel isn't that important. What's important is the treasure, the light. I've been amazed, brethren, at certain ones here in the States. You know who I'm talking about, too. I won't mention names, but the Lord laid upon them. Terminal counselor.
00:35:16
And they're with the Lord now.
Terrible things they have to go through to leave family behind.
But the testimony that was left behind, what a tremendous blessing.
It was the Treasury. It was the light that was shining out of a broken vessel.
So what he wants is the glories of Christ to shine in your life and mind. And I think we ought not to pass over the, uh, expression. I know we've had some things about it, but the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, because as you say, Bob, God has been completely revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It says of the Lord Jesus as the Son of God, that he was the express image of his person and, uh, that we beheld his glory as of the only begotten of the Father, great, full of grace and truth.
We get that in John's Gospel chapter one. And so the Lord Jesus, in walking in this pathway, he fully showed out the glories of God, because to be glorified is to have every attribute and quality that makes up a person's being brought into full display. And the Lord Jesus at the end of his pathway could say, I have glorified thee on the earth. Every glory, every act, every attribute, every quality of God was brought into full display. He was the express image or the mirror image of his person.
No other son, you could say, was the express image of his Father. We look at a son and we say, well, no trouble to see whose son that is, but they're not the express image of their father. But here was one who fully showed forth who God was. The light shone in this world, and yet the moral darkness was so deep when the Lord Jesus was here that it says the light shone in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not I I marvel at a statement like that. Cecil was talking about the light earlier and darkness and so on.
You know, no matter how dark a room is, you take a candle or a flashlight, it's gonna penetrate it to some degree. So deep was the moral darkness when the Lord was here that the light shone and the darkness comprehended it not Thank God it did shine into some dark hearts. And thank God it has shined into our dark hearts and is shining into dark hearts this very day. But that's how deep the darkness was. But it's interesting you meant someone mentioned Steven. And when Steven looked up, he, he said two things.
I see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. How did he see the glory of God? It was in this person that was standing there, the one who had on earth glorified the Lord Jesus, the one who had been the light here. Now he was at the right hand of God and Steven saw him there. And that's what gave Steven courage to be a witness to the very end and to lay down his life. Talking about people who laid down their lives, you'd say how could they do it? They have Christ in the glories of Christ, the glories of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
That's what gives them the courage to lay down their lives. You know, Moses went on those years in the wilderness because he esteemed the glories of Christ greater than the treasures in Egypt. He endured us seeing Him who is invisible. And so if we have that before us, brethren, there cannot help to be our reflection in our lives of Christ. The light is gonna shine out. It shined into our hearts. But then there's to be a shining out that others.
May seedy, but like and do you realize that the only light this world is going to see really is what is reflected in your life and mind? And especially brethren, in a day when they've closed the pages of this book, they've rejected the light of God's word. Don't read it in the schools or in public occasions. They've set that aside. What light is this world going to see? It's what is reflected in your life and mind and the Lord Jesus when he was here with the light of the world, but he is not the light of the world today.
He said to his own before he left them. He said, Ye are the light of the world. We are here to reflect Christ, the glories of Christ, that the light might shine into other dark hearts.
To be glorified is really to have every quality and attribute that makes up a person's being brought into full display. And that's why the Lord could say I have glorified beyond the earth. He brought every quality, every attribute of the very person and essence of God into full display. Yeah, this is really.
The first Peter chapter 2, verse nine. You might read those two verses here. Peter 29 about showing forth.
00:40:04
But, uh, our chosen generation, a Royal Free food, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that you should show for the praises of him who has called you out of darkness, and end to his marvellous light, which are in time fast, not a people, but now, but are now the people of God, which have obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
And then goes on to strangers and pilgrims in verse 12, having your conversation, or you're a matter of life honest among the Gentiles, that whereof they speak against you as evildoers, that they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation. And then to submit to all the ordinances in our verse 15. For sober is the will of God, that ye with well doing ye may put to silence the ignorance of foolish men, as free, not as used in your liberty as a cloak of maliciousness, but as the servants of God.
I love the margin there too. It says that Ye and verse nine should show forth the praises for the excellencies of him.
Called it of darkness the excellence. We have the privilege of showing the excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ of God as shown in the person of Christ. There's a few words in a verse in Exodus 24 we have spoken a little of.
Moses, face shining.
And.
I just enjoyed in meditating a little on verse 12.
Oh, we might apply this to ourselves.
The Lord said unto Moses.
Come up to me.
Into the mount and be there.
Now the opportunity for communion between.
My heart and the Lord, your heart and the Lord come to me.
It's a good place to be. And then it says.
And I will give thee. I'm gonna skip the next few words.
And.
The end of the verse says that thou mayst teach.
There's one to be occupied with, one to receive from.
Something to give from having been there and.
That we all need, don't we, brother? We need to be occupied with this blessed occupy.
The object that forms us.
These scriptures are helpful because in the context of our chapter here, this was very, very difficult for these Corinthians to understand. Naturally speaking. The Corinthians were people that naturally speaking look to outward ability and gift and that kind of thing. They were men who naturally speaking wouldn't have put somebody in a public place unless they were like Saul in the Old Testament, head and shoulders above the crowd, had some natural ability, were able to speak eloquently, and.
Were intellectuals and that kind of thing schooled in the wisdom of the world?
And so on. And it was very difficult for them to understand this concept, and yet it was very necessary. And that's why I think it was so difficult for them to accept the apostle Paul as an apostle, one with authority, because Paul did have authority and he wasn't apostle and he had seen Christ in glory. And yet they couldn't understand it. His bodily speech was, his bodily presence was weak and his speech was contemptible. And uh, I don't think Paul was.
Quite the way we sometimes picture him. And, uh, Paul, Paul has, uh, perhaps a little reticent too. And he just didn't seem to have the qualifications, naturally speaking, that the Corinthians would have looked for in a person who had this kind of authority. And so he had to bring before them that if a person was going to be used of God and the light was going to shine forth, it didn't depend necessarily on the vessel itself, the natural vessel. I'm not saying that God doesn't use our natural abilities. He does.
He links natural ability with spiritual gift and so on. We often see that, but let's use and let's go to an Old Testament example for a moment. You know, when Moses came out of the palace of Egypt, schooled in the ways of the world.
It says he was a man mighty in words and deeds, but that wasn't the kind of material God could use to lead his people out of Egypt and through the wilderness for 40 years. And so he spent the next 40 years of his life in the backside of the desert. And when he came out of that, he said, oh, Lord, I can't go in and talk to Pharaoh. I stutter and stammer, and I'm not eloquent of speech. That's not the most that she read about that came out of the palace. But that was the kind of material God could send back into the palace to meet Pharaoh because there was a man now that the vessel was broken.
00:45:10
And he could go in and Cle complete dependence on on the Lord. And we know that he did. He, he went in and he was used in a mighty way. But the vessel had to be broken. And if God is going to use any one of us, whether it was the apostle Paul or whether it's you and me today, or whether it was the Corinthian Saints, if the light is going to shine out for the glory of God and the blessing of others, the vessel must be broken. We must realize. And the Lord has to cause circumstances often in our lives to make us realize, brethren, that we are.
Nothing. Yes, he gives us abilities, but we in ourselves are nothing. And when we learn that are in the measure in which we learn that, then the light can shine out as it did in Gideon's day.
We don't have the actual breaking of the vessel here in these verses, do we? But we have the effects, umm, in these next versus verse 8910, which would have the effect of producing a broken vessel. And we see the results of these things is the, umm, that the life of Jesus Christ might be manifest in our bodies. We don't necessarily have the thought of a broken vessel, but we have, we have, uh, troubled on every side.
Uh, we have distressed, we have persecuted, cast down. These things aren't very pleasant. And we as natural men would run from the experiences that Paul is speaking about. But Paul had learned that, umm, his, his, his very life was not important. His, he had learned to value above his life the, the glorious display.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ and he was willing to put his put his life on the altar that the Excellency of the knowledge of the Lord Jesus might shine forth and so when it came to being troubled you know, sometimes umm, I, I really enjoyed a, a story that was given to us by one of the laboring brothers that came through our assembly recently and I'm not very good at telling stories so if you'll bear with me but there was a a Chinese brother who.
Uh, had come over to the United States after having been subjected to extreme persecution in his own country. And, uh, there's a book, uh, that has been written, uh, about this brother. And, and some of the, the, the persecutions that he went through are pretty phenomenal. But he came over to the United States and, and, uh, he was going about and seeking to encourage the Saints here and in the process of him serving the Lord in this country.
He umm, he was, he, he was falsely accused. He was, he was accused of being a, a farce. And you know, with, with present day, umm, media and, and Internet and everything the, this, this rumor traveled around and, and hindered his service for the Lord. And one comment that he made was that.
The greatest one of the greatest pains and the greatest suffering that he endured in his life was not what he endured in China, but it was what he endured when he came to the United States and suffered from the hands of his brethren.
And.
So, you know, there, there may be times when we're called to go through something. Uh, we've talked about the persecution and, and what our, what our brethren have gone through.
And serving the Lord and, and certainly that's all part of breaking the breaking of the vessel. Because if you, if you read his autobiography or the, the story that was written about him, you find that he, he, he learned many lessons there as he went through the fire of persecution in China. But he said the the most difficult persecution that he went through was when he was suffering at the hands of his own brethren. And I know that, that sometimes we are called to.
Feel that ourselves.
And.
Sometimes we don't like that very much and we want to just maybe react or we want to just just give up the service of the Lord, but.
00:50:04
The the purpose of it and why God allows it is so the Excellency of the glory of the Lord Jesus might shine forth from us and so if we are troubled.
On every side.
We can see that God has a purpose in it and we cannot be cast down.
If we're uh, if we're or we're not, uh, yet not distressed If we're perplexed.
We can't understand things. There are things God allow in our life that are impossible for us to understand. He hasn't allowed them so that we would understand them. He has allowed them so that.
We would, we, we would, we would not despair. He has a he has allowed them so that we can just accept what he is allowed in our life, so we can learn submission, so that we can learn to lean on him more and trust him more. And so the process of the breaking of the vessel can be very, very painful. But there's a real, real.
Good purpose in it. And I know that our brethren, you know, we, we aren't called to have to face the lions, but that doesn't mean that the believers, believers in the United States don't suffer pain.
Don't go through the process of being broken, the vessel being broken, because they do. If you're gonna serve the Lord, if you're gonna seek to.
Allow the glory of the Lord Jesus to shine through you.
There is gonna be a an absolutely necessary process and that is that the vessel will be broken.
Who are these verses speaking about when it says we?
I just looked over it a little bit.
In verse 12 it says.
So then, death worketh in US, but life in you.
Paul was writing.
To the Corinthians and with Timothy, first Timothy, I just checked it out Paul and Silas and Timothy wrote First Corinthians and now we're at Second Corinthians and I I looked and it didn't say that stylist what might not have been there anymore might have gone on, but.
Paul is saying in our verses, We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We are perplexed, but not inexperienced. We are persecuted, but not forsaken. We are cast down, but not destroyed, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus. Why? That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body.
For we are which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh.
This treasure that we've been talking about.
Every single one of us that have received the Lord Jesus as Savior, we have this treasure. We can keep giving it out and there's always more to give. It's a fountain of life that goes on and can be passed on to others and others.
Umm, but we, we might read a little bit. Would anyone like to volunteer to open the floodgates to let some of that life out?
So that others can have it. Are there any children here that would like to share the treasure that you have? Any young people would like to to share it? Paul and Timothy were talking about it here in verse in chapter 4. If you would like to, there's verses written for you and Corinthians in chapter 6.
And it tells all the opportunities where you can SHO show out. It tells you in these circumstances and by these ways. And this is the effect it will have. We're just gonna read those in Second Corinthians chapter 6 and verse 4.
But in all, all things approving ourselves as the Ministers now that we we read that.
00:55:04
I'd rather explain that means as giving service. Would you like to serve the Lord? You can improve yourselves in what the ministers of God in much patience. There's an opportunity.
In afflictions, there's an opportunity to let the treasure out.
In necessities.
In distresses, every time you you get into a distress, that's another opportunity.
To prove yourselves and to share these treasures.
In stripes, in imprisonments in tumult and laborers, in Washington, in fasting.
These are.
Not just only Paul and Timothy, but for us. Now we can have this. And how do you do it? By pureness.
Is it Are you your words pure? The thoughts pure? Find knowledge?
Find long-suffering.
By kindness.
You know there are people in this room. They need it.
There's some people going through dark times right here in our assemblies.
In our neighborhoods, Even in our own homes.
React in the flesh or you can stop.
Approved yourself, umm, a servant of God by kindness.
By the Holy Ghost.
By love unveiled by the word of truth.
By the power of God, it's not ours. Like Bob was saying, obedience.
Doesn't.
Depend on the power that's in us, but obedience to God's Word obeys no matter what we see the results are. That's vague.
And the power of God, by the armor of righteousness, that's doing what's right, no matter how it's going to affect us on the right hand and on the left, by honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report, as deceivers and yet true, as unknown, yet well known as dying. And behold, we live as chastened and not killed, as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing. You know, we can even rejoice when we're suffering.
It's joy on the inside.
That's what happens. You go to to the happiest place on Earth. At least it says that in California, Washington, when you walk into Disneyland and be the most miserable person on the inside.
As poor, yet making many rich. That's the treasure we've been talking about.
As having nothing.
And yet possessing all things, Oh, you Corinthians.
O ye brethren, our mouth is opened unto you, our heart is enlarged. Paul wanted them to experience it.
He wants the Lord wants us to experience.
I just mentioned that in these vessels that we've had in.
In our chapter we have trouble in every side and not distressed and so on. It really is outward, isn't it? It's really talking about this body that we have. It's not spiritual and that's important to see because we do. As brother has been mentioned, we do have natural problems, don't we? It says in the.
The sixteen of our chapter, but our outward man parish that's the man that's in contact with this well the scene that we're in. It says the inward man is renewed day by day and so we have trouble in every site that's output and how do we react inwardly not to stress. We are perplexed that's outward. So how do we react inwardly not in despair and so and also verse 10 always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life also Jesus might be made manifest in our bodies in our body doesn't say the death of the Lord Jesus. He talks about his dying which we speak of the sufferings that he went through his physical sufferings and so on. So as I just to reiterate it really is talking about this.
The things that we suffer in this world, the outward things that we suffer bodily, we don't need to spiritualize those.
So Paul had a thorn in the flesh that he also brings before the Corinthian brethren. It was some physical thing that was given to him by God so that he would feel his dependence on the Lord as he ministered to the Saints and preached the gospel. We're not. We may have little hints of what it is here and there, and it's not for us to speculate, but it was something physical that was given to him. And so we find here in our chapter that perhaps there's two reasons why God allows these physical things, whether it's something that's passing.
01:00:29
Something we we suffer or feel in passing or like Paul, something that he had to put up with and deal with the rest of his life for two reasons. One is that the Excellency of the power of God might be seen so that we realize that the power is not in US. Brethren, if God has given us any little ministry to do for him, he it's not our in our own strength. The power is of God and he allows these things to make us realize that we are just earthen vessels and that.
It's it's not going to be a natural strength. There are in our own strength. And so that's one thing. And then that's a life of Jesus might be manifested in our day-to-day practical walk here. And if those things that he allows, if there, whether it's persecutions or something physical that he allows us to pass through or to bear permanently in our body the rest of our life. He it's so it's not because he wants to necessarily chastise us brethren, It's because he wants us to walk independence.
U utilizing the power that we have in Him and so that Christ might be seen in our lives.
I did a study recently. I mentioned to Jim earlier about the times that the Apostle Paul uses the name Jesus without Lord or Christ in his epistles and and also I I looked in Acts as well and the name Jesus has used alone occurs most often in Acts and then Hebrews and for Philly obvious reasons if you think about it for a little bit.
And thirdly, I believe at 2 Corinthians and here we see the name Jesus being used appropriately without Lord. And so in verse 10 it should just say always bearing about the body the dying of Jesus. But the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our body. For we live always delivered unto death on account of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifest in our mortal flesh. And I would suggest that the reason why his name is used here because it speaks as the man that walked through this world who suffered physically, who did not have a place to lay his head.
And so.
As I said, this is a correct use of his precious name, Jesus.
It's interesting in both versus 10 and 11 That it speaks of the dying before it speaks of the light.
Because brethren, the life we have in Christ now is a life and resurrection. You cannot talk about resurrection unless there's been death verse. And so there is a practical application to our lives. I I often think bread in the the self pleasing lifestyle that we have been taught in these countries is not the life that we are talking about here in these verses. It's a life that is beyond death.
And we need to learn to truly.
Live the Christian life that we have and that's why God allows these things to happen because it's so real that even though there is very.
Very.
Uh, abnormal and disagreeable things that happen to us. It doesn't affect that life that we have in Christ. Often think of the apostles in the book of the Acts.
They threatened to kill him, and I suppose that's the maximum threat you can put to a person that kill you.
Can you threaten the dead man? And that's already died. That threat AB absolutely has no effect on the apostles. They were living in the power of resurrection life. And I think this comes in here, brethren. And I think it's beautiful because versus 10 and 11, if you notice them, they're very they're very similar, but there is a difference, verse 10. It's always varying about in the body of the dying.
Of the Lord Jesus. That's the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. That's what we ought to always do, brother.
Do we always do it?
I don't think so, but notice the difference in verse 11. We which live are always delivered unto death. Now here's a something you're delivered to. This is not what you would have wished would have happened, but you're delivered to something or delivered to death. Why does this happen? That the life also of Jesus might be made manifest? And notice at the end of verse 11.
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It's not in our body, it's in our mortal flesh.
Because sometimes it is a matter of touching these bodies, infirmity, and perhaps even death itself. It's not necessarily physical death, but it might be were delivered to it. The point is, is that God wants the treasure to shine out, and so he's going to allow it, rather than if we do not live this way as we ought to, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus.
What does that mean?
Jesus died. He died to sin. That means that we don't allow sin to have a place in our lives. And it's in that measure that we do that that the life of Jesus is manifest in our bodies.
Sometimes we don't do that as we ought to, and so God allows circumstances and he delivers us.
So that the life of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. And then that verse 12 That our brother read before. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.
We got succeedingly precious. He's talking to the Corinthians. Death works in us, but life in you, and it's the same principle that we have, if you want to look at it, back in John chapter 12.
Lord Jesus speaking.
Uh, John Chapter 12 and.
Philip comes in verse 21 to tell him that there were Greeks that were seeking for him.
And the Lord Jesus says in verse 23, Jesus answered and said, answered them, saying, The hour has come that the Son of man should be glorified. Verily, verily, I send to you SEPTA. Corn of wheat fall into the ground and die. It divideth alone, but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it. He that hateth his life in this world shall keep it into life eternal.
And ye man serve, may let him follow me. Where I am there shall also my servant thee and the man serve me him while my father honor.
It's the same principle. It's that corn of wheat, so that there would be fruit, had to die.
That's not pleasant to think of dying. Didn't God make us to live? But this is the principle to give yourself.
To bear about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, so that that light, that new life can be manifest. And so Paul says, so that there might be fruit for you, there might be life for you. Corinthians death works in US.
Principle of death and resurrection. Rather, that's where we stand in Christianity.
So we might ask a question, Why are we doing all these things? Why do we want to bring the gospel to others?
Why do we want?
To Co tell us about the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. And we have brought out that it's not for us to glorify us, is it to glorify the Lord Jesus. And I just like to read a verse in Ephesians 118.
Is pretty well known.
The eyes of our understanding that could also reach the eyes of our heart. But Darby says, the eyes of our heart being enlightened, that he may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints.
So we get some of the answer here. Why we are doing this? Because of the richness of his inheritance and the richest of his inheritance are the Saints.
01:10:06
They are the ones that He for, for whom he died, all the Saints he brings to God the Father. That's why he came into this world.
To have eventually to have an in an inheritance, and that inheritance is in the Saints, all those who get saved and we are.
Privileged to partake.
In this work.
To bring about that the lower Jesus has an inheritance and we are part of it.
What we have here in these verses about dying was the exercise of pulse on a continual basis, because if we were to go back to the 15th chapter of the first epistle, where he speaks of why stand we in jeopardy every hour and so on, they're in the midst of what we call the resurrection chapter. He then says, I die daily. That was quite an exercise. It wasn't something he took up just once in a while or when he went out on a special missionary tour or something like that.
No, every day Paul experienced this in a very, very real way. And brethren, when we think of what Paul could have been a solid tarsus and what he was headed for as far as the glory of this world, it really gives import, doesn't it, to realize what he suffered then, for the, uh, sake of Christ and for the blessing of the people of God. I remember when my grandfather was nearing the end of his life and different ones of us were taking turns sitting with him. My mother went in to sit with him.
One afternoon and he said to her, Amy, he said that dying is a slow, painful process.
It's not interesting and you know it it. We feel it, don't we? If we're going to live in the practical expression of what we have had before us in this meeting this afternoon, it's not easy. It's going to be painful.
Did Paul feel the things that he suffered? Did he feel what he had given up? Yes, he did. He felt it now he gained something far better. And so he could leave those things behind and he could suffer the things he did physically and so on because he had the glory before him, the glory of Christ and and the end of the journey and all those things and so on. But it wasn't that he, as we said this morning, that he was callous or indifferent to it. Dying is a slow, painful process. And if you and I are going to have.
The glories of Christ shine out in our lives, and we're going to have the power, the Excellency of the power of God in our pathway and in our ministry. And if we're going to manifest in our bodies the life of Christ, it is going to be painful. Is it worth it? Yes, Paul. Did Paul regret what he gave up at the end of his life? No, it was worth it and more. But it wasn't easy. And so I say that because we just don't want to give the impression.
That these things are gonna be easy and that you're just gonna roll along and it's you're not gonna feel it. You will, but it isn't worth it. Yes, again, Moses. He gave up the glory of Egypt and never realized till I visited there what Moses gave up. It was a glorious nation in the days of Moses. But he endured us seeing him who is invisible. Yes, he did endure. Yes, he felt those things. His spirit was provoked. He could get just as discouraged and thirsty and hungry as the rest. But what kept him going on those years in the wilderness? He had the glory before. He had glory before him.
It's interesting, isn't it, that he has seen the reproaches of Christ. Now that was a little flash of something beyond what was the normal revelation of the day. But God gave him that to encourage him through the wilderness. And if we're gonna be encouraged through this wilderness world, and if the light is gonna shine out and if the vessel is gonna be broken, brethren, we have to have the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ before our souls. So are you saying, uh, Jim, that when the apostle Paul.
Said I die daily.
Meant that he was willing to put his physical life on the line.
Day by day.
Yes, absolutely, because Paul never knew from one day to the next, did he? No, we sit here this afternoon. We're not afraid of somebody busting down the doors and breaking in here and shooting us because or carrying us off to prison because we're having Bible meetings. But you know, there's some brethren that they, they feel that in a very real way when they when they open the word of God, they do it very circumspectly and shutters closed and very quietly. And if they do it in this room today, they'll do it in another room in another part of the city tomorrow and they.
01:15:09
They they fear for their lives because of their testimony. And Paul had that, didn't he? He never knew when he got up in the morning if he was going to see another, another sunset or when he lay down at night if he was going to see another sunrise. He lived in jeopardy every hour. But why did he do it? Because there was glory before his soul. There was something better before before his soul. And the things that he once counted deer here, those things were nothing compared to what was ahead and even the physical things that he suffered.
While he was waiting to be taken to be with the Lord, those things he could endure because he knew there was something far better. You know, you can get through a difficult situation. You can suffer pain and get through it. Even the natural man can. If there's hope that things will be diff better tomorrow, you take a little medication, you're gonna heal. You're gonna get that. And so Paul, with the glory before him, he knew. He knew that things were gonna get better. He knew what was ahead. And so all those physical things and putting his life on the line from day-to-day.
He was gladly, gladly willing to do for Christ and for the blessing of the people of God. I think a lot of our brethren that are persecuted in other parts of the world for that reason appreciate these trees more than we do, but it's something that is true for us all. Brethren, if you want to, uh, enjoy the life that is really ours now, remember it's life and resurrection, but you cannot see that life and resurrection unless.
Death has been put into practical effect first. Another place where we have that principle is I am crucified with Christ.
Person that's crucified, is that painful? Yes, it surely is. But he says nevertheless I live. What sense are you living yet? Not I, but Christ liveth in me and the life that I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of Man. It's the faith it has for its object, the Son of Man.
Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. So it's life and resurrection. That's why I say, brethren, it it's been impressive to me that I believe that in many of these Western lines we've been deceived into thinking that life is living for the enjoyment of ourselves here. Naturally, that is not Christian life. Christian life is that which is beyond death. It's putting into effect the dying of the Lord Jesus now so that the life of Jesus might be made manifest.
In our bodies, Lord Jesus could say to his disciples, if any man come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. And I believe that the apostle Paul, you heard those words loud and clear and he was willing to deny himself in this world. Somebody has said the apostle Paul, he fasted on the outside, but he feasted on the inside and.
Audio parcel. It tells us in chapter one something of what he experienced, I believe is referring to the riot that broke out at Ephesus. When, uh, was it that Goldsmith, he saw that his business was in jeopardy. Apparently he's making these images for Diana and he incites the people to oppose Paul. And you know Paul, he says in the first chapter of this epistle that we're reading from.
Per SE, but we would not rather have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure above strength in so much that we despaired even of life. I believe you, Pastor Paul thought he was going to die right there at Ephesus. They had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead.
Now this is a great encouragement for each of us, I believe, verse 10 who delivered us from so great a death, and thus delivered in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us. You see, we're covered past, present, and future.
John 3
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 tonight with #23 under him sheet.
Behold, behold the Lamb of God.
On the cross for us. He shed his precious blood on the cross.
O hear the overwhelming cry, Eli Lama Sabachthani, draw near and see the Savior die on the cross.
On the cross. On the cross.
And all the graves of light.
That's life of you, Chase all night.
On the Grove. On the cross.
It reigns for you, but that's your call.
Oh my God.
The cross.
What is the time of golden Day?
While Jesus.
Suffered.
On the cross, on the ground.
Let's sing one more song #37 on our hymn sheet.
The gospel of thy grace, my stubborn heart has won.
The Gospel.
Of my.
Hand.
Around the generation, however.
I'm in life Regency in California.
I've made life.
Bring me.
Up to the translator.
And my family and.
So Jesus have gone to cross 1.
00:05:34
I awful to my heart. I was forever lost.
Lord, for another treasure.
Let's pray.
Our God and our Father, we're so thankful for another time to open Thy word and speak of the gospel, the good news of salvation for a dying, ruined on the way to judgment world, our Father.
We're not sure about everybody here tonight.
There could well be some who have made a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus but are not real, and if the door of salvation swings shut tonight, they would be left behind. Father, it's way too serious, and we ask that Thy Spirit would have liberty to strive with anybody that's in that condition.
We pray for blessing Lord on Thy precious Word wherever it goes out. Give thanks for these moments together in the name of our Lord Jesus, Amen.
A week ago I was in Mexico City.
At a conference down there.
Every year they give the children in those Mexican conferences a chapter to learn by heart. I mean the whole chapter, not just a verse or two. And the chapter this year happened to be John 3. Thrilled me just to sit in the meeting and took most of the Sunday school to listen to the verses because it was about 20 verses each child said. But.
It was a blessing to my soul to listen to them, learn those verses and think that they're stored away in their hearts.
I'd like to speak there in that chapter. John 3:00 tonight.
Because the work of salvation, I'd like to speak of it in two different ways. One, the work of God for us and #2 The work of God in us. God has done a work for us, and he wants to do a work in US. And so in this chapter, we're going to read.
A.
Few verses here and down to verse 21.
I would like to say that I requested a mic where I could walk around.
Because I find we preach the gospel in the prison too, and I have sometimes some of the same problems as I do in a meeting like this where I see young people and others talking away while we're speaking. And if you're going to get the blessing that God wants you to get.
00:10:11
You've got to listen. It's tough to talk and listen at the same time. In fact, most of the time it doesn't work.
So I like to walk around the room and look at people who are evidently not listening. You know, these big mics here, they're hiding some of those people back there, so.
I might walk around and see if I get your attention. It's important to listen, not so much to me because I'm just another person, but to God. He has something to say to you, and His words are truth and they are life. And so we want to ask you to listen. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him.
Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher. Come from God for no man.
Can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him? Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born?
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit.
He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee.
Ye must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, and can't, but canst not know, canst not tell whence it cometh.
And whither it goeth, so is everyone that is born of the spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and test. Testify that we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If we have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe if I tell you of heavenly things, and no man hath ascended up to heaven?
That he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.
But that the world through Him might be saved. He that believeth on Him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that light has come into the world. And men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light.
Lest his deeds should be reproved, but he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.
Like to speak first of all about the work of God for us, because it is extremely important to understand that God takes the question of sin extremely seriously. Maybe you think, well, I'm not that bad of a Sinner.
00:15:00
It doesn't matter how bad of a Sinner you are if you've only committed one little white lie, a sin that a little white lie, that is enough to keep you out of heaven forever. God takes it extremely serious because sin calls in question God's holy character, and if there is one little sin that he passes over, it would call in question his holy character. Absolutely impossible that that will happen.
Every single sin that has ever been committed by mankind on this planet.
Will receive it's just penalty from the hand of God, no exceptions.
No, God takes in extremely seriously, and so if he's going to work blessing you in your life, He has to have a righteous basis upon which to do it. And that's why when we come to verse 14 of this chapter that the Lord Jesus says as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness.
Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have.
Eternal life.
Where was the Son of Man lifted up? What is he referring to when he talks about this? He's talking about an event that we call the Cross of Golgotha. It was when God's beloved Son who came into this world, and you all know the story. I believe it's nothing new, but it is important to go over it so that we keep it fresh in our minds.
God sent his Son into this world. He was born into this world through a woman who we know as Mary. She was virgin. She had had no relations with any man. That is important because it was God's Son, not like us who are born, every one of us by a human father and a human mother. Jesus had no human father.
His father was God. He was born miraculously through a virgin and came into this world. And when the Angel announced to the Virgin Mary that she was to be the mother of the Lord Jesus, the Angel said to her, That holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. He was holy.
At His birth you and I are sinners. At our birth we inherit a sin nature, and it's not long before that sin nature starts to develop, evident sometimes in little babies even. They don't get their milk on time. They holler and scream because they don't have it and they want it. Well, the Lord Jesus was completely sinless.
He was holy at his birth, not only because he was God, but because he was holy humanity, tremendous truth, and therefore he could represent us to God as to the question of our sins. And so in time, after 33 1/2 years of life down here in this world, he was condemned.
Unjustly to the Death of the Cross by Pontius Pilate.
And taken outside the city of Jerusalem. And there they stretched out his hands, those hands that have done so many works.
Of mercy.
And blessing to people, they nailed them to the cross, nailed his feet there, and they hung him between heaven and earth. The Lord Jesus was hung on that cross about 9:00 in the morning. The way we count time, He died about 3:00 in the afternoon. For six hours he hung on that cross.
An abject agony. You can imagine what it must be to have nails through your hands and feet.
And hang there hour after hour, not only were the physical sufferings, but there were the sufferings of his soul, he said.
Reproach has broken my heart and I'm full of heaviness and I look for some to take pity. And there was none and for comforters but I found none.
00:20:01
They said he was the Son of God. If he's the Son of God, let God deliver him, for he's delighted in him. Did God deliver him?
God didn't come down and miraculously deliver him off that cross. Didn't God love his?
Yes, he loved him.
Or then we can never know. But you know what, He left you and me as well. There was only one way that you and I could be saved is that somebody pay the price of our redemption, pay for those sins that we had committed. And so the Lord Jesus suffered that reproach, broke his heart. You know, sometimes a broken heart is harder to take than a.
The physical suffering. But then we want to talk about one other type of suffering that Jesus went through that was very necessary if you and I were to be forgiven our sins. And it was in those sufferings that took place from 12 noon to three in the afternoon when everything got dark on Golgotha's hill outside of Jerusalem and according to Isaiah's prophecy.
Jehovah laid on him the iniquity of us all. If I was going to be forgiven my sins, somebody that God accepts had to pay the price in full. And that's just what happened on that day. God took those filthy sins of mine and laid them.
On Jesus head.
And then the full storm of divine judgment broken all its fury.
On his head for three solid hours the waves and billows of divine judgment rolled over him so that God could have a righteous basis to forgive this guilty Sinner his sins.
You never understand it. How could he have such love for somebody?
That had offended him so much, but that's the truth of the gospel.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son.
As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so.
Must the Son of Man be lifted up and Jesus was lifted up there to pay the price in full for three hours? There's no cry recorded on Mount Calvary.
Silence as the waves and billows of divine judgment roll over him.
At the end.
There's an awful cry, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? You know, the Lord Jesus and all his life down here, whenever he spoke to God, he always said Father, because God was his father.
But in this time he did not say, Father said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? In the book of the Psalms he says, Thou art my God, from my mother's belly. He was the one that had sustained him as a man down here in this world, and now that one turns his face from him and abandons him in the moment of his most awful suffering.
And he says it is finished.
He bows his head and dies. He gave his life. He died.
He pronounced before he died that the work is finished. It was a divine person pronouncing.
That the work was finished.
God accepted his payment because the third day Jesus was raised from the dead. After he died, he was pierced by a Roman soldier and blood flowed out of his sight.
00:25:09
Because without shedding of blood there is no remission.
And then they took him off that cross and they buried him. The third day, an Angel came down to push the stone away from the mouth of The Cave where he was buried, not to let him out, but to show everybody that he wasn't there any longer. It was risen. God was satisfied, completely satisfied with the payments that Jesus made.
And therefore he raised him from the dead. And Jesus as a man tonight is in the glory of God, sitting there at God's right hand. I say, if God had not been satisfied, if there had been one sin that still remained to be atoned for, God would not have raised him from the dead. But the work was finished, thank God.
And God hasn't set him as his own right hand. I can say to you tonight, the work of redemption that Jesus did for us is complete. There remains nothing more to be done.
What remains now is a work of God in you, and that's what we were reading about at the first part of this chapter. We're talking about Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews. A religious man.
And he comes to Jesus by night.
Don't know why he came at night, at least he came. Thank God he came, that's the important thing. But he starts talking to Jesus in a nice way, saying we know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou dost except God be with him.
Nice observations, Nicodemus.
But the Lord Jesus responds to him, something that kind of counters everything says Verily, verily, I send to thee, except the man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. In other words, Nicodemus, all your religious experience.
All your position in the Jewish nation has nothing to do to help you to get into the Kingdom of God. If you want to even see the Kingdom of God, you must be born again.
Everyone that's here tonight has been born once. You wouldn't be here if you hadn't been. We're born once, but we're born of the human family.
That is tainted with sin from Adam on. The whole human family is tainted with sin.
And that's why you see Gray hairs on a lot of people's heads, mine and quite a few others. That's why we get sick, that's why we die, is because soon has tainted the human race. This life that I have in my natural body is not going to last very long.
Adam lived to 930 years.
My mother got the 100 years old last year. Missus Thompson is about to get to 100 years, she said next month. I think it was. That's wonderful. But 100 years in comparison to 930? Hey, what happened to the human race?
It's totally degenerated because of sin. We can't hardly make it up to 100, just a very few make it.
But we need a new life, and that's what he's talking about here. Nicodemus found this difficult to understand. How can a man be born again when he is old?
And he entered the second time into his mother's womb and be born. He was thinking of it in the natural way. But the Lord is not talking about a natural birth here. He's talking about a spiritual birth. Notice verse 5.
00:30:05
Jesus answered, Verily, verily I sent to thee, Except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
Water and the Spirit, What is he talking about?
The water is not baptism. Many people think it's baptism, but it's not what we're talking about here. Let's turn. Don't lose your place there. But to see what the water represents, let's turn to what?
The apostle Peter has to say in first Peter chapter one and verse 23.
He makes it very clear what the water is.
First, Peter 123 Dean, born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
The word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word.
Which by the gospel is preached unto you. So the water is the word of God.
And that's why we're saying, you young people, you older ones too, listen to the Word of God, how important it is to let that word.
Get right down into your soul. I'd love to see it when people really listen. Seriously listen to the word of God, because the Word of God is.
Living. And as you listen to it, it imparts life to the dead. Lord Jesus says in chapter 5 of John's Gospel, The hour cometh, and now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they which here shall live.
Do dead people here?
There's a corpse up here on this platform, and I hollered and hollered and hollered. That dead corpse is not gonna hear me ever.
As long as I'm hollering at it. But we're not talking about a human being. We're talking about the voice of the Son of God. And when the Son of God speaks, the dead here, talking about the spiritually dead. But we know even if I'm physically dead.
The dead here because he cried out, Lazarus come out of his tomb and Lazarus came out, he heard the voice of the Son of God. Oh, how wonderful it is. The water is the word of God. And so he says in verse five of our chapter 3.
Accept a man be born of water and of the Spirit. He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God, so the Spirit of God takes the word of God.
And imparts life to souls that are dead in trespasses and sins. What is your relationship to the Lord Jesus tonight?
Maybe you've been brought up in a Christian home.
But do you have life in Christ?
Or if you just made a profession of faith so serious to think that the Lord comes again, there may be some left behind.
I just cringe when I think about it. Of the Lord's 12 apostles.
One was fake.
Is there a fake here tonight? Where are you?
Where are you?
Come on, you've got to get this thing straightened out before the Lord comes, because you're going to get left behind and there will be no more chance for you.
Oh how important it is to get it straight. One of the 12 apostles was fake. He had all the rest of the apostles fooled and the Lord said one of you is going to betray me. They had no clue who the guy was, who the one was. Judas Iscariot is in hell tonight. Terrible to think about it.
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If one of twelve were unreal, how many are unreal in this room? I say that to make you examine your heart. Sometimes, you know, we take the things of God very superficially, and it's not that way today. You've got to be serious. We're getting down to the time when Jesus is coming again. You've got to be real with God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit.
It's not a matter of you having to do something to be born again. You can't make yourself be born again.
Then why does the Lord say to him, you must be born again?
Because you must be born again if you're going to enter the Kingdom of God.
None of us.
Have decided to be born the first time into our families. That was our parents decision.
When it comes to being born again, that's not your decision either. Or you say I made a decision to accept the Lord as my Savior. That may be true, but you know why you made that decision? Because what God wanted to have children and He sent His word and the Spirit of God has implied that word. The only question I have for you tonight here.
If you're not real with God, is are you listening to the Word of God? I ask you to let His Word penetrate your heart tonight. It is extremely important to listen because it is that word that He takes to impart new life to.
Those that are spiritually dead.
You know, it's not a matter of trying to clean up your act.
For the people in South America, sometimes they use an illustration.
Say hey, we're going to go out into the countryside.
And out there in the countryside, there's a big.
Mud hole. And in that mud hole, there's a bunch of animals rooting around.
What kind of animals do you think that would be?
It wouldn't be sheep. You know what I think?
Huh. Could be. Huh, could be.
I honestly don't think it could be.
The reason is that sheep don't like mud holes.
But I agree with you. You know, they're pigs. They're pigs.
That's their nature. When a mother pig has its piglets, you don't have to teach them. Hey, go over to the Meadow. They go there by themselves. Why? Because that's their nature. That's what they like.
OK, let's pull a pig out of the mud hole. Let's clean him up, rush him down and tie him up in here so he doesn't get out into the mud again. We change that peg.
We've changed them on the outside, haven't we? But we haven't changed them on the inside. He's got the same desires. And so as soon as he gets loose, he's gonna go right back to the mud hole again. Why? That's his nature.
We all have a thin nature. We sin because we like to sin. Maybe you like a certain kind of sin. I like a different kind of sin. But we sin because we're sinners by nature.
And sometimes people clean up nicely. They put on a nice tie and suit jacket and and they look like a religious person.
But inside they're just the same as they were before.
They're sinners by nature. They need to be born again.
OK, let's take that illustration of the pig and say we're going to do an operation here. This is not possible, but we're going to suppose it is. We're going to put this pig to sleep, we're going to operate on it, and we're going to put into that pig a nature of a sheep. Sheep like nice, clean pasture. That's where they like to graze. Sometimes a sheep might fall into the mud, like you say, but it's not where it likes to be.
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But we're gonna put a sheep nature into this pig now, and OK, we saw him up and wake him up again. Now is he going to go back to the mud hole? Why not?
Because he has a different nature now, doesn't he? And it's not a matter you young people of people, you, you think that your dad and your mom say you can't do this and you can't do that. Look, if you are born again into God's family, you will have a new nature, a nature that wants to please God, a nature that loves to listen to the word of God and nature that wants to pray.
And that's why sometimes when you don't see that in young people who say they're Christians, you wonder.
If they got it straight yet, or if they haven't truly been born again.
Oh, how important it is to be born again. Ye must be born again. Marvel not that I send to you. Ye must be born again.
So that's the work of God in you. There's a work of God for you, and there's a God work of God in you, and God wants to bring you into blessing. Where are you in connection with these things that we've spoken about?
I want to use the rest of the meeting to talk about something I find extremely interesting, and that is where we are living in the present day. What's happening in this world indicates that we are getting close to what Christians call the Lord's Second coming. He came once.
2000 years ago.
He's coming again before he left.
After he died, or I should say it was before he died, he said to his his disciples, He says if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again.
And since that time, He has not come again yet. He is coming again. And you know, the Lord's coming is in two phases. And I want to talk briefly about those two phases because it has to do.
With everybody here in this room, you must meet Jesus. There will be no way to avoid Him.
If you do not accept them as your personal Savior, you will meet Him as your judge. Every human being that has ever lived on the face of this planet will meet up with Jesus sooner or later. And so it is extremely important that you understand where we are. We're getting right down to the end. We live in tremendously solemn times as I travel around and see the changes that are taking place.
I don't know if we're aware of the fact that I really believe that things are going to change dramatically in our world.
In short time can't set dates. There's a man that says saw billboard over Louisville, KY on the way down, says Judgment Day 21St of May 9, 2011.
People take advantage of the fact that it is getting close to the time to do stuff like that.
And it's going to disillusion people. And that's what Satan is in the business of doing, of disillusioning people. Be careful what you believe. Believe God. He cannot lie so you can believe Him. Sometimes we don't understand him real well and that's why we should read and meditate His word. But I would like to go over to 1St Thessalonians chapter 4 to talk about the first part of the.
Lord's second Coming.
It's going to happen.
At one of these least expected moments, Jesus is going to come. And here the apostle Paul received a word from the Lord.
To tell just how it's going to take place verse 15 of first thessalonians 4 this we say unto you, by the word of the Lord, that we.
00:45:10
Which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent or go before them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel, and with the trump of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.
And so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words. This is what we expect at any moment. There is no sign, absolutely no sign to indicate when it will take place.
It could happen at a moment's notice. Says the Lord is going to descend from heaven with a shout, with a voice of the Archangel, with the trump of God.
I understand that where the shout is in military expression in the figure speeches and military commander coming out of his barracks and giving a shout and all the soldiers jumping to attention throughout the barracks.
That's what's going to happen. Jesus is going to come with a shout, and that shout will awake all those who have died in faith in Christ from the beginning of time. They will be raised from their tombs, or wherever they are in the sea, or wherever they've died in their.
Uh, bodies have decayed.
And then says the dead in Christ shall be raised 1St. And so that's what's going to happen. The dead will be raised first, the ones that have died with faith in God from the beginning of time. And then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with the Lord. That word caught up is the word rapture. And it's not in our English Bible and the Spanish. It is in the Bible, but it.
Is the word rapture to be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air? And so shall we ever be with the Lord going to happen?
Ready or not, brethren, it's going to happen one of these moments.
I sometimes think we get so busy with our lives.
And maybe running down the street trying to get that office before it closes.
And we lift our foot up one more time to take another step, and instead of stepping on the street, we step under the cloud to meet the Lord Jesus.
Ready. Oh, how it challenges my heart. I must say that so often I kind of get out of sorts. But when I think that he's coming at any moment, oh brethren, let's be ready.
Let the Lord Jesus is coming.
At the end of the great tribulation with his people.
To reign supreme over this world. And let's just look at a couple of verses in Revelation that indicate this chapter one first of all.
Revelation chapter one and verse 7. Behold, he cometh with clouds.
And every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him, and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so. Amen.
This is what is called the revelation of Jesus Christ. It's when he will be revealed. It's also called the manifestation or the appearing. Those words are used and it takes place at the end of a time of awful judgment that's going to fall in this world that's called the Great Tribulation.
And this part of his second coming is accompanied with many signs.
Numerated in the Old and New Testaments, and some of those signs were beginning to see today. That's why we know it cannot be long before it takes place. Israel surrounded by enemies.
The European Union, sometimes I said this, it's fascinating to me to see what's taking place in Europe because.
00:50:04
Israel's support has been from the United States, but this president administration is not as friendly toward Israel.
And so they're looking elsewhere for support, and they're going to find their support in Europe, the European Union. Remember when Jesus came the first time?
When he was a baby or a young child.
Herod, an agent of the Roman Empire, tried to kill him. Another agent of the Roman Empire gave the order to crucify him, Pontius Pilate. Now the Lord is getting close to coming back again. And what do we see rising up in Western Europe? That same Roman power. And they are the ones that are going to go first to attack Jesus when he comes out of heaven with his Saints.
Thrills me to think that we are living and we can see these things taking place before our eyes.
Are we asleep? Rather than it's time to wake up, it's time to use the few remaining moments means that God puts in our hands for that eternal day of glory. Lord Jesus is going to reign supreme from sea to sea in this world, but it's going to pre preceded by the most awful, abject, awful judgments this world has ever seen. Lord Jesus himself said there was never a time before.
Nor will there ever be a time after so awful as the time of judgments in the Great Tribulation.
That's the scripture. And yes, this part of his second coming is accompanied with many signs. Many signs.
Are you aware that we're getting close? You young people? Are you ready for the coming of the Lord Jesus? You older ones too? Sometimes I wonders, by the way we react if we're being real with God.
May the Lord help us. Jesus is coming again. Let's read the uh, what Scripture says about is second coming in Revelation 19.
This is the account of when he comes out of heaven.
At the end of the great tribulation period, remember the last time this world saw Jesus, he was hanging dead on a tree. They never saw him in revel in resurrection. Only his people saw him in resurrection, his disciples. But the next time they see Jesus, he's going to be coming out of heaven. And like it says in chapter one where we read every I shall see him.
They will know.
That the time has come when they will not escape any longer. And so here's the account, chapter 19 of Revelation, verse 11.
I saw heaven opened, and behold a White Horse, and he that sat upon him was called.
Faithful and true and in righteousness he doth judge.
And make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire.
And on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written.
That no man knew but he himself, and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. No question as to who this person is. The armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that's with it he should smite the nations.
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath.
Of Almighty God he hath on his vesture, and on his thy name written.
King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
And I saw an Angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying To all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together into the supper of the great God, that he may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men both.
00:55:12
Free and bond, both small and great. I saw the beast that's the political head of Western Europe and the kings of the earth, those that support him and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. Think of it when they see him come out of there, out of heaven.
They're going to get together their powerful armies. They can fire all the missiles they want. It will have absolutely no effect on this army from heaven. The Lord Jesus says in verse 20, the beast was taken and with him the false prophet, that's the Antichrist that wrought miracles before him with which he deceived them, that had received the mark of the beast and that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. They're not even given a trial because they're caught in red handed rebellion, fighting against God, and they're taking and throwing directly into the lake of fire. The first two that arrive in the lake of fire, the remnant.
The armies were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse.
Which sword proceedeth out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.
Imagine as Jesus comes out of heaven, that sword he levels one army after another after another after another.
Tremendously tremendous glory that we're going to be witness to those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus.
People ask me sometimes if I'm into the Holy Land. I say no, I haven't, but I've got plans to go.
And it's true, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, you're going when Jesus comes back, his feet are going to touch down on the Mount of Olives. You know where the Mount of Olives is. We have a picture in our home of the taken of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.
Outside of the Temple Mount there is a valley, Kidron Valley.
And on the other side, to the east, is the Mount of Olives. And that's where Zacharias says that his feet will touch down. That's where he went up from. That's where he's coming back to. Only when he comes back, he's going to be accompanied with his people. Think of the myriads and myriads of the redeemed in that day. Think of the hosts of the angels too, that will be accompanying him. It'll be the grandest display of power and glory this world has ever seen.
You and I are going to be partnered part of it. Oh, it just thrills my heart to think of what's ahead for the believer in the Lord Jesus. I plead with you, if you haven't accepted the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you would do it tonight. Get serious. Don't fake it any longer.
If you have any questions, we're up here. We'd be glad to answer any questions or doubts that you have after the meeting. Let's just pray. Father, bless Thy precious word. We thank you for the reality of these things that we've been talking about. We do pray wherever the message goes out that lost souls would be brought to the Lord Jesus. We ask for help and direction the rest of the day now.
Bless thy precious word, make it a blessing in souls tonight. Here we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Inward Response to Outward Suffering
Address—Nick Simon
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If we could start this afternoon by singing #294.
O Come thou stricken Lamb of God, who sheds for us Thy own lifeblood, and teach us all Thy love. Then pain in life was sweet, and death were gained. Take thou our huts and let them be forever close to all but Thee, Thy willing servants. Let us wear the seal of love forever there #294 if someone could stop that, please.
You my friend's Christian.
Right away and we get, you know.
So we just look to the Lord for His help.
Our God and Father, we just created Thee for Thy health. This afternoon as we open up Thy word, we seek to be guided by it, to be encouraged by it. We would pray, Lord, for each one in this room. Thou knowest the circumstances of each of our lives. Thou dost know what we need. Let us know it before we know it. And so, Lord, we just again would pray for the encouragement and comfort of Scripture as we open up Thy word.
We just pray this in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
If I could, uh, he anticipated what I wanted.
It's not just the talking that makes your mouth dry.
00:05:03
This afternoon I would like to continue what seems to have been something of a theme that we've had before us, and that is that which we suffer in our lives outwardly and the inward response. And Brother Jim helped me yesterday and the comments that he prefaced his little discussion on Psalm 23 with, because I will also be looking at a number of Psalms. In fact, what I would like to do with the Lord's help is to look at those psalms.
Where that little heading which, as Jim pointed out, forms a part of the first verse.
Those psalms where we know the circumstances.
In David's life now we can go and we will, Lord willing, look at these, those circumstances in the book of Samuel, first Samuel in particular, and in first Samuel we find, as it were, the history. But when we open, open up the Psalms.
We find what was going on inside of David's heart. We'll find that David was very much a man of light passions such as we. Same trials, same difficulties. Now, just a little word. And again, Jim has already spelled this out yesterday, but I would like to repeat because I feel that the sums are often taken up in a way in which they're misunderstood.
The psalms are.
The language.
Of.
Israel.
Specifically, the Psalms of David are those of a man under law who did not know what it was to have assurance of sins forgiven.
Whose hopes and aspirations concerned the land of Israel?
So the Psalms are, as was mentioned, prophetic.
They're they're broken up into five books. We don't have time to look at that.
And they form, uh, a prophetic progression, as it were. The other thing that we learn about the Psalms is that they're not merely, well, I should not, I should say they're not human sentiment. They certainly correspond to those experiences that David had, but they're not mere human sentiment. In fact, very often the Psalms perhaps begin in an experience that David had.
And then move beyond, clearly beyond David's life, and in those psalms we hear very often the Spirit of Christ.
Other times we hear the Spirit or the words of the remnants of Israel in the day to come. Just to read a couple of verses to provide scriptural backing for what I've just said, look at Second Samuel 23.
Second Samuel 23, verse one. Now these be the last words of David. Dave is the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel. That's the first point to remember. The Psalms concerned Israel.
Secondly, it says the spirit of the Lord spake by me. They are divinely inspired. There are not mere human sentiments, and we should keep that in mind too.
Now, if we understand those principles, we can take the sums and rightly apply them in our own lives. There won't be confusion. We won't need to spiritualize them. We won't need to make ourselves Israel to see how they apply.
And so with the Lord's help, that's what I would like to do. I'm not going to take them up prophetically. I'm not going to take them up as it were, The Spirit of Christ speaking in the Psalms that we might touch on that here and there. I'm going to take them off as the expressions of David.
And his trials and take the principles that we can draw from that that are applicable to us who are in a Christian position and apply them to our lives. Now, this is not, I would say, the highest view of the Psalms, but let's not forget that David did write them and he wrote them in the trials that he went through. And we can learn from that, so.
Just a word of comment, I have counted 14 psalms that have in their headers.
A description of when and where they occurred. Now some of them may be a little fuzzy, but I think overall we know what period in David's life they correspond to. So there are 14 of them.
00:10:01
Of those seven occur when Saul is pursuing David, and they're the ones that we're going to focus on this afternoon when he was in rejection. Now we live in a world today that has rejected Christ. So some of the things that he speaks of, we should feel ourselves.
If we are in tune with the Lord Himself, we will find that we live in a world and we will fill the rejection of the world because it is a world that has rejected Christ. Now there is one other Psalm, umm, the first one will begin with, and it's the first of these Psalms, by the way. We'll go through them chronologically in David's life, and as we do that, we'll find out that we're going to jump around in the psalms. The sums are not going to go in the same order as David's life chronologically.
That's because the Samsa group morally and as I said, they're grouped into five books and there's a prophetic progression there. So the Psalms just remember a group for other reasons. They're they're ordered for other reasons and they're not chronological. But the very first one that we're going to look at is going to be Psalm 56. But before we go there, we need to look at the portion in First Samuel this corresponds to.
And I believe it's.
In, umm, First Samuel 19, now we're not going to get through 14 sums, much less even 7:00 or 8:00. There's eight that correspond to First Samuel. We're not going to get through them. We'll just see how far we get. Unfortunately, we're not necessary. Unfortunately, perhaps, uh, fortunately there's a lot of scripture to be read. So more scripture and less for me is a good thing.
The first concerns, first time concerns, uh, David when he saw Santa watch his house and Michael his, he was married to Michael, his wife. And since that's important to what we're going to say, let's just turn back to the previous chapters, first Samuel 18 and just read a little bit to get some context of the circumstances surrounding David's marriage to Saul's daughter.
So chapter 18 verse 20 And Michael saw daughter love David, and they told Saul and the thing pleased him. And Saul said, I will give him her, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Wherefore Saul said to David, Thou shalt this day be my son-in-law in the one of the twain or one of the two. He had two daughters and he was going to marry one to Dave. And that didn't work out. When he heard that Michael loved David, then he made sure that David marry Michael and Saul actually wanted it to be a snare to David.
Now turn over to the next chapter.
In verse 11 of chapter 19, Saul also sent messages unto David's house to watch him and to slay him in the morning.
And Michael, David's wife told him, saying, if thou save not thy life tonight, tomorrow thou shalt be slant.
So Michael let David down through a window, and he went and fled and escaped. And Michael took an image and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats here for his bolster and covered it with a cloth.
And when Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, He is sick. And Saul sent the messages again to see David saying, Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may slay him. And when the messengers will come in, behold, there was an image in the bed with a pillar of goats hair for his bolster, and salted unto Michael. Why have thou deceived me so, and sent away my enemy, that he has escaped? And Michael answered, So he says unto me, Let me go, why should I kill thee? So David fled and escaped and came to Samuel, to Rama. Now let's look at that's the history. Now let's turn to Psalm 59.
Which would give the inward so if the what we had back there in first Samuel was what was outward in David's life, that was which is affecting him outwardly in this scene. This is what's affecting him inwardly. Psalm 59 to the chief musician I I don't necessarily know how to pronounce all these words, but Alto skiff Mitchum of David.
When Saul sent and they watched the house to kill him.
Deliver me from mine enemies, Oh my God, defend me from them that rise up against me. Deliver me from the workers of iniquity, and save me from bloody men.
For lo, they lie in wait for my soul the mighty are gathered together, the mighty I gathered against me, not for my transgression, nor for my sin. Our Lord, they run and prepare themselves without my fault, and awake to help me. And behold.
00:15:05
Thou therefore, our Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen. Be not merciful to any wicked transgressors. Selah. They return at evening. They make a noise like a dog, and go around about the city. Behold, they belch out with their mouths. Swords are in their lips, for they say, For who say they doth hear? But thou, O Lord, shall laugh at them. Thou shalt have all the heathen in derision because of his strength. Will I wait upon thee?
God is my defense. The God of my mercy shall prevent me. God shall let me see my desire upon mine enemies. Slay them not, lest my people forget. Scatter them by Thy power, and bring them down, O Lord, our shield. For the sin of their mouth and the words of their lips, let them even be taken in their pride. And for cursing and lying which they speak, consume them in wrath. Consume them that they may not be, and let them know that God ruleth in Jacob unto the ends of the earth. Selah.
And that evening let them return, and let them make a noise like a dog, and go around about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied.
But I will sing of thy power. Yeah, I will sing of Thy mercy in the morning, for Thou hast been my defence and my refuge in the day of my trouble unto Thee. O my strength will I sing, for God is my defense, and the God of my mercy.
We were just touched very briefly on these as we go through them.
The first thing to note is that Michael, David's wife, seeks to deceive those that come to search for David, and when the man finally forced their way into the house, she lies as to what David said. She says that David threatened to kill her if she didn't let him go. At least that's the way I interpret who was.
David on the other hand, when we turned to the Psalm, we find out something that we don't see in Samuel. We find that David is praying. We find quite a different attitude with David. He commits himself to God. Deliver me from my enemies, Oh my God, defend me from them that rise up against me. So while Michael is depending on her own contrivances, David is trusting in God. Now the lesson here, young people, is when you pick a mate, whether it be your wife.
Orgels, whether it be your husband.
One, we don't enter into an unequal yoke, but pick someone that is spiritually your equal.
Husband and wife together can be a tremendous help and support.
But if your wife has was the case with Michael is one that doesn't know the law doesn't trust the Lord is seeking to deceive to deliver David.
I I don't know for David personally because scripture doesn't tell us, but for myself that would be such a a tremendous hurt in my life to think that my wife is seeking to lie and to use cunning to deliver me and not willing to join me in prayer.
As I said, husband and wife can be a tremendous help to each other. When one is feeling down, the other can encourage.
It's so important that when you pick your mate that you pick someone that is your spiritual equal or.
And that doesn't mean you say, well, I'm not very spiritual, so I'll look for a wife that's not very spiritual. I trust that it would be an exercise to you, to each one of you, to think about where you are in your life.
Another thing to notice, and it's also something that, uh, we found at the beginning of Psalm 23, it said, the Lord is my shepherd. Here we have Oh my God.
Is he your God?
Do you know Him? Is there a personal relationship with Him? Do you know the one that you can cry unto? You know one thing that we notice as we go through these psalms, how personal the relationship between David and God is. And sometimes David's language is quite bold.
But do you know God such that in your difficulties you can fall down at your knees and cry to God as my God?
Now there is a reason why it says God. As I said, these Psalms are prophetic and most of the Psalms, as I mentioned, those that correspond to experiences in First Samuel, mostly occur in the second book of the Psalms. In the second book of the Psalms, the remnant of Israel in the coming days, seen as driven from the city, and the language they use is to call upon God, not totally, but for the most part. Other books we find out that they refer to God more.
00:20:22
As Jehovah, the name of covenant relationship. But here in this book we see Israel driven from the land and God is the title that's preferred.
Let's just look a little further down here, verse three of the Psalm below. They lie and wait for my soul. The mighty are gathered against me, not from my transgression from my sin, our Lord. Now David's not boasting here in any way. So what he's saying is, Lord, what have I done that they're pursuing me like this? David hadn't done anything to deserve Saul's wrath.
There's a verse in First John that I would like to read.
It's in the third chapter.
It's in uh, first John 3 verse 20. If our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart and knoweth all things, beloved. If our heart condemn us not, then we have confidence toward God.
As we go through these psalms, we'll find out that the righteous are not spared trials in their life. And as I said at the beginning, we Live Today in a world that rejected Christ and as the Lord told the disciples, and I'll just read it, you don't have to turn to it in John 15.
He says the servant is not greater than his Lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. We should not expect anything differently in this scene down here in this world that rejected Christ. And so as we go through these psalms, we'll find out that the righteous do suffer.
But how much better it is that we suffer not because of things that we have done. Now, as we move on, we'll find out that David did indeed suffer for mistakes that he made in his life.
Whatsoever man soweth, that shall he also reap.
And so we do at times suffer as a consequence of choices that we have made in our life. But again, as we go through these Psalms, we'll find out there is a way back. There is a way back as we had yesterday when in connection with the word restore.
Another verse that comes to mind is first Peter, the third chapter.
In verse 16, having a good conscience that whereas they speak evil viewers and evildoer. They may be ashamed that falsely accused your good conversational conduct in Christ. So how much better again I would repeat that is to suffer because we are walking with the Lord and for the Lord and not as a consequence of bad choices that we have made in our life.
One thing that we lose in the English translation of the Psalms is a good deal of the poetic structure of the Psalms. But you notice that in verse six it says they return at evening. They make a noise like a dog and go around about the city. I don't know where you've been in your life, but have you ever felt that your problems, and they may be people, they may not be people, but are like a pack of dogs pursuing you relentlessly, won't give up.
Well, as I said, I'm just gonna pick and choose from these sounds. Look how the Psalm ends. Look at verse 14. At evening let them return. Let them make a noise like a dog and go round about the city. Let them wander up and down for meat and grudge if they be not satisfied. But what's David gonna do? But I will sing of thy power. Yeah, I'll single out of thy mercy in the morning. For Thou hast been my defense and refuge in the day of my trouble unto Thee. O my strength will I sing, for God is my defense.
And the God of my mercy.
One thing I really enjoy about this conference, and I've only been twice, this is my second time, is the adult thing that we enjoy. I particularly enjoy what our brother brings out about the hymns and the Little Flock Hymn book.
And, uh, one thing that he said to us the night before last, I believe, was have we have a meltdown and just said to the Lord, what would you have me sing to you? And that's what David does at the end of your, uh, the Psalm verse 17 Unto thee, O my strength will I sing. You know, it's beautiful to sing of someone. So guys.
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You love some girl and uh, if you came to me and said, I've composed a song about this girl, she's the most amazing person in this world. She's the most beautiful. She's the cleverest, she's everything. And you sung that song to me. I would say, wow, that's you must really love her now. What say you went and signed it to her?
What a difference. What a difference. You know, it's one thing to speak of God, and that's good. There's nothing wrong with that. And we should.
Imagine singing to God.
You know, when Burt mentioned that the other night, I have never done that. I've never knelt down and said, Lord, what would you have me sing to you?
I'm glad the Lord doesn't mind if we sing in key or not because I'm not very good at that. There's one other thing we'll touch on in this. Umm, and there's so many things that you should just sit and meditate on these psalms. Read the portion in Samuel and come and read the Psalm and just meditate on it. Sometimes it seems to be a huge disconnect. You read what's going on in Samuel and you read the Psalm and go, I don't see how they relate, but you meditate on it for a while and the Lord will bring things before you.
So there's one other expression that occurs in here. As I said before, the preferred, uh, name of God used in the second book of Psalms is Elohim, which means God. But you notice up in verse five, it says, O Lord God of hosts.
Do you know who in scripture used the title Lord of Hosts first?
And I'll take an answer if someone knows.
And I'll be standing corrected, but I'm pretty sure I am correct. It was Hannah.
It was a woman who was in deep distress.
The Lord of Hosts is a name that's particularly associated with Israel when Israel is not going on for the Lord, when Israel is in trouble. And if you read the book of Judges, you'll find out just the state of Israel.
That Hannah lived in it was not pleasant.
And I don't know what assemblies you come from. I don't know what difficulties are occurring in the assemblies that you come from. But Hannah lived in Israel in a day when things were not good, and she cried unto the Lord of hosts. That word host literally means his armies. It's not a word that we use today.
That it would mean the Lord and all his armies.
And uh, we don't have time to turn to it, but we could look at Elijah, I believe, who opened, had the eyes of a young man opened so he could see that heavenly host. And sometimes I feel so low.
Now I could wish I could see it too. But you know, as Christians, we've been poured into an even closer place.
A a much closer place, I should say, than Hannah was. It says, uh, I'll just turn to it. Read it in Galatians chapter 4. I could turn to Romans chapter 8.
Colossians chapter 4 says that because yeast sons, God has sent forth the spirit of His Son into your heart, crying ABBA father.
When we turn to the Lord, we can turn to Him as Father.
You know, when we kneel down and pray, repetition tends to diminish the importance of things. We hear it over and over again, and so it just becomes a routine. But when we pray, we pray to our Father and our God or our God and Father.
But do we realize that we're praying to God as our Father that we can approach him as a father? You know, unfortunately, we live in a world in which in many cases, fathers have given a very bad impression of what fathers are about. I trust that you're not in that position and that you did have a loving father and that you.
Feel that closeness when you approach God. OK, let's move on. So the next time will be Psalm 56.
And this corresponds to what we have in First Samuel 21. So you can hold your hand in Psalms and you can turn also to First Samuel 21.
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Now I'm going to read a lot here. Well it's the chapters only 15 verses, but we'll read it all first time. You're 21. Then came David to knob the hemp to him elect the priest. And Himelec was afraid at the meeting of David, and said unto him, Why art thou alone, and no man with thee? And David said unto him, Elect the priest. The king hath commanded me a business, and Seth and to said unto me that no man know anything of the business, whereabout I send thee, and what I have commanded thee. And I have appointed my servants to such and such place. Now therefore, what is under thine hand, give me 5 loaves of bread in my hand, or what there is present. And the priest answered David and said, There is no common bread under my hand, but there is hallowed bread.
If the young men have kept themselves at least from women. And David answered the priest and said, Of a truth, women have been kept from us about these three days since I came out. And the vessels of the young men are holy, and the bread is in a man of common. Yeah, though it were sanctified this day in the vessel. So the priest gave him hallowed bread, for there was no bread there but the show bread that was taken from before the Lord, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away. Now a certain man of the servants of soul was there that day detained before the Lord, and his name was Doeg and Edomite, the chiefest of the herdmen that belonged to Saul.
And David said unto Himalek, And is there not here unto thine hand, spear, or sword, if I have neither brought my sword?
Nor my weapons with me, because the King's business required haste. And the priest said, the sword of Goliath, the Philistine, whom mausoleus in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If that will take that, take it, for there's no other save that here. And David said, There is none like that. Give it to me, give it me. And David rose and fled that day for fear of soul, and went to Akash the king of Gath. And the servants of Akash said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? Did they not sing one to another of him? And dances, saying, soul has plain as thousands, and David is 10 thousands?
And David laid up these words in his heart, and was so afraid of Akish, the king of Gath. And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the door of the gate, and let it spittle fall down upon his beard. Then said Aish unto his servants, Lo, ye see, the man is mad. Wherefore then have you brought him to me? Have I need of Mad Men that you have brought this fellow to play the Mad Men in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house? David therefore departed things and escape to The Cave of Adalam.
Now we actually covered two sums here, Psalm 56 and Psalm 34. Psalm 56 corresponds to what we have in the 10th, 11Th, and 12Th verse where it says that David feared Saul and he went down to Akash, the king of Gath. So let's look at Psalm 56.
To the chief musician upon Jonathan, Jonathan Elam Rikokum Mitchum of David, when the Philistines took him in gas.
Be merciful unto me, O God, for a man would swallow me up. He fighteth daily his, he fighting daily oppresses me. My enemies would daily swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me. O Thou most high, what time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. In God I will praise His word. In God I have put my trust. I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. Every day they rest my words. All their thoughts are against me for evil. They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, they mark my steps when they wait for my soul.
Shall they escape by iniquity and line? Anger cast down the people or God? Thou tell us my wanderings, Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book when I cry unto thee? Then shall mine enemies turn back. This I know, for God is for me.
In God will I praise his word, In the Lord will I praise his word. In God have I put my trust? I will not be afraid. What man can do unto me?
Thy vows are upon me, O God, I will render praises unto thee, for thou hast delivered my soul from death.
Wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?
So when we look at what had just happened to David, we find that I should have kept my finger back there in the Samuel.
That David is fleeing from Saul and he goes to a Himalaya, the priest. Now what does David do? David lies.
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What does David do? He eats hallowed bread, which was not right for any man but the priest to eat. Now I know that in the Gospel that takes this up in a different light, where David is seen as the rejected 1, the rejected Messiah. But just speaking strictly from the Law, it was not lawful for David to eat that bread. Now it was actually the old bread. It's been replaced. So it was actually the old bread that had been removed. But the Lord himself says it was not for any but the priest to eat.
Secondly, David takes sword.
What goodwill Goliath sword do him? You know, when David fronted up against Goliath, they dressed him in armor and he said, no, it's not tested, I can't use this. But now he resorts to David's sword, he lies, he resorts to natural means to defend himself. He eats the bread which he should not have eaten. And what does he say in the Psalm? The most one to me of God, for men will swallow me up. He turns to the king of the to Akash.
The King of Gath for help. And what pitiful help, man proves to be what pitiful help? You know, as I said, we live in a world that's rejected Christ. And if we expect the government of this world to uphold the principles of the Word of God, we're going to be bitterly disappointed. There are times when we make use of the government in the right way, but we don't look to the government to uphold for us Christian principles. We're certainly thankful that there are, as has been said many times in these meetings, that we can hold them in peace, that we're not threatened.
You know, it does say that the governor doesn't hold the sword for nothing. We are thankful for justice. We're thankful for the things that the government provides. And we pray for those that are in power. We pray for Obama. We're not Democrats, we're not Republicans. We pray for our president.
But we don't go much on the streets. We don't try to overturn this world. When we turn to the world for its help, we find that it's a poor help indeed.
He says mine enemies would daily swallow me up, for they be many that fight against me, O thou Most High. But then it turns to something more positive. What time I am afraid I will trust in thee now. What did it say back in Samuel? It said David arose and fled that day for fear of salt. Well known proverbs.
Proverb, 2925.
The fear of man bringeth a snare, but who supporteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe. So for a moment, as it were, David forgot that, and he fled for this well's help because he feared man.
But we find he says, What time I am afraid I will trust in Thee. And then twice he says something very similar. And again the poetic structure is lost in the English, but he says in God I will praise his word. In God I have put my trust, I will not fear what flesh can do unto me. And then verse 10, it says in God will I praise his word, in the Lord will I praise his word, in God have I put my trust will not be afraid what man can do unto me?
So when we turn back to the word of God, when we put our trust in what God has said.
Then we have confidence again. What are you resting on? What are you trusting in? You know, if you're anything like me, when circumstances come that.
Umm are difficult troubles coming our lives? We try to fix it ourselves. Are you resting in your own strength? Are you resting upon the sort of Goliath or you resting upon the word of God?
And when soon as David, as I said, he rests in the word of God, it says in God I have put my trust. And I think the new translation says in God I put my confidence.
Verse Oh well so much there was something back in the previous time I think that I wanted to touch on I'll just read it. You don't have to turn to said in verse seven of the Psalm 59 that we looked at swords are in their lips here it says every day they rest or torture my words.
You know, words do hurt.
It said the sword, swords are in their lips, so words do hurt. But what do we do with those hurts? What do we do with them?
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You know, we can, just as it were, give them to the Lord and say, Lord, they're trying to hurt me, but they're hurting you. He can take them.
You know, you spoke yesterday about lawyers twisting your words, but unfortunately we don't need lawyers to twist our words. Sometimes those we think are our friends twist our words.
You know, you just need to take a sentence and drop one word out and it completely changed the meaning of the sentence. You know, I said the other day, we're talking about the difficulties of proof reading and how.
Time consuming. It is the 1St edition of the King James Bible said thou shalt commit adultery.
One word missing completely changes the sense. We've all experienced that people deliberately changing the sense of what we say. But what we can we do well.
It says in verse eight of Elsa 56 Thou tell us my wanderings.
Put thou my tears into thy bottle. Are they not in thy book?
The Lord knows our wanderings. You know, we all have a wilderness experience in our life. We must all have a wilderness experience in our life. But as someone said the other day, we don't all have to wonder in our lives. So the children of Israel, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. They did indeed have to pass through the wilderness, but they didn't have to wander there. But we find ourselves wandering in the wilderness.
And it says he knows. He knows the Lord provided for the children of Israel those 40 years He did. He provided for them all the way.
When I was a boy, I don't remember exactly how old.
I'm going to say about 10 ± 2 years.
Was a particularly dark year in my life and you might say what could a 10 year old?
What could happen to a 10 year old that would feel so terribly dark? Well, certainly not as bad as what may happen to some, but that was a year in which, first of all, a friend of the family died. And you know, after that point, I don't recall going to a funeral. Maybe I had, but I went to the funeral of that totally person and it was OK. Funerals are gloomy. But anyway, as a 10 year old.
But then, uh, I don't remember the order in which things occurred. My, either my grandfather or my aunt died. We're particularly close. I didn't have the fellowship that you young people have. You take it for granted, no doubt don't. But it was my cousins, my uncle and aunt, another aunt that I had that never married, who came together on the Lord's Day. We didn't remember the Lord that we met together.
That's a long story which I won't explain. And my grandfather was there. He was certainly the spiritual leader and head of the family. And as I said, an aunt died. She had a long battle with cancer. She had six children. I had a cousin who was my age and uh, she was the youngest and the remaining five were older than her. Then my grandfather died.
Then my uncle died.
A different uncle, not the one married to the same aunt. And uh, in that period, the, the, the husband of the very first person I mentioned, he was a friend of the family. He died.
It it seemed like the little world that I had enjoyed up to that point was just falling apart.
And my grandfather had a chemical manufacturing business with his two sons, FA Blair and sons. And as a result of my grandfather dying and an uncle dying, the remaining uncle sold the business.
And, uh, there were many interesting things at that factory that summer. I spent a good time with that uncle.
And at that factory, and there was an auction held and the people came from far because there were chemical equipment that dated back to the early 1900s.
And amongst those items was a little green bottle with a glass stopper.
And as the auctioneer carried out his business and the price rose and rose, a cousin of mine, one who had lost her mother just a few months earlier, bid on that bottle. And the price kept rising and rising until the person, other person bidding recognized that one of the family was bidding on the item. And they stopped and she bought that bottle. The next day was the Lord's Day. And as I went to my uncle's house, this was our custom.
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For a morning meeting, it was probably in the afternoon. After meeting I noticed that bottle on a dresser and there was a note card up against it.
And on that note card it said, Put thou my tears into thy bottle.
The young people, the Lord counts your tears. Dear middle-aged people, the Lord counts out tears. They're all the ones the Lord counts your tears.
You know I don't always know what to do when someone cries. I don't. You know how how there are a few gifted people that know what to do. But don't we get so awkward in situations like that?
But the Lord knows, and He counts our tears.
Then it says when I cry, then shall my enemies turn back. You know, it doesn't say when I go out to battle, my enemies turn back. How often we want to front things head on. You know, there are times when things have to be addressed head on, but I guarantee that only comes after a long delay in a long period of before the Lord. And sometimes our brethren out there when they're not there with us, it's a good check on us. We're perhaps we're being a little bit too.
Impetuous.
Too aggressive, he says. When I cry unto the Lord, then shall my enemies turn back? We don't have to go fight. Remember it said of the others that were attacking us that the sword was in their lips. We don't need a sword in our lips.
And then he says this I know for God is for me. Can you say this? I know.
You know, we live in a world where it says you can't know you're safe, you can't know there's a God, you can't know that you're gathered to the Lord's name.
Can you say this? I know why can I say this? I know because I'm cleverer than you.
No, because of what we had. I have put my in God have I put my trust.
In God, while I praise His word, in the Lord will I praise His word. It's because of His word that we can say I know, I know.
Because God has told me so. And did you know that God is for you?
I don't wanna raise of hands, but how many of you have ever felt that God is against you? No raising of hands.
Maybe we should, but I because I think, dear young people, you're sitting here right now thinking God is against me, everyone's against me, no one is for me. That you would probably find that everyone in this room at some time or another has fell to that lie of Satan that God is not for you.
You know, that's one thing that Jobs struggled with in all his trial. He didn't understand that in his trial God was for him. It says in Romans, the goodness of God leadeth man to repentance. The goodness of God, it's a God in his goodness that he sent his son. God in mercy, sent his son to a world by sin undone.
God in his love sent his Son to die for you and me on Calvary's cross. And God doesn't just drop us when we're saved. He doesn't.
Just write our name in the book that was mentioned this morning and that's it. OK, now you're on your own. I'll see you when you get here. No, it's the goodness of God that preserves us and keeps us all day long. You know, in these Psalms we come across the word mercy a lot. It's probably in this, umm, maybe not. Anyway, we'll, we'll read it many times. Mercy. It's not always mercy. In Hebrew, the word is cathedral and, uh, it's invariably translated mercy, Grace, loving kindness, loving kindness.
OK, let's move on. As I said back there in First Samuel, we've actually covered two psalms. So the first Psalm we just looked at, Psalm 56 was when David goes flees because of Saul, because of his fear of soul, he flees to a kish for his help. And as I said, he follows him, finds him to be no help at all. Then we read how David had to feign himself mad and let the spit fold down his beard and he escapes now.
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That back in Psalm 34. Now you're probably thinking, oh, David thinks himself pretty clever.
He managed to get out of that one a bit of quick thinking and he got himself out of that. Well, let's find out what was really going on in David's heart. Psalm 34 as Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before him, Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed. I will bless the Lord at all times. His praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name.
I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked upon him and were light, and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of his trouble. The Angel of the Lord encampeth the round about them that fear him, and delivereth thumb O taste, and see that the Lord is good. Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. O fear the Lord, ye Saints, for there is no want to them that fear him. The Young Lions do lack and suffer hunger, but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing.
Come, ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord. What man is he that desireth life, and loveth many days, that he may see good?
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile. Depart from evil and do good. Seek peace and pursue it. The eyes of the Lord upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry. The face of the Lord is against them that do evil, to count the remembrance of them from the earth. The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that are a broken heart, and save as such as be of a contrite spirit. Many of the afflictions of the righteous. But the Lord delivereth them, them him out of the mall.
He keepeth all his bones. Not one of them is broken.
Evil shall slay the wicked, and they that hate the righteous shall be desolate. The Lord redeemeth the soul of His servant, and none of them that trust in Him shall be desolate. Well now time is short, so this will be our last sum. And even as I was reading that, I was thinking of many things that I missed in the last Psalm that we could have spoken on. So they said. These psalms are worthy of time to meditate on that. We find in this Psalm that rather than at all.
If you have any credit to himself for escaping the clutches of a kish, he gives all the credit to God. We might think that David used his cunning, but he says quite clearly, I sought the Lord, and he heard me and delivered me from all my fear.
Perhaps it was the Lord that told him to act in this particular way, You know, when we get ourselves into scrapes and difficulties, and this was a difficulty that was of David's own doing.
As I said, he lied, he took up the sword of Goliath, he resorted to man's help instead of God, and so he made some bad choices. But you know, David didn't say I'm too dignified to let it run down my face and act like a madman. You know, the one difference between David and Saul is that when God chastens David, Davis says you are right and he takes that.
Place in that position, if he has to look mad, if he has to let spit rundown his face, he does it.
So you read Soul. It's completely opposite. We if we went on with these Psalms, we get to Osama about doeg the Edomite. And when we read back in Samuel, we find a little speech that Saul gave his people. Saul never admitted once to anything he did was his own fault. There's always someone else's fault. When I say never, someone will probably find something that will contradict that, but.
You know, there are we we sometimes grudgingly. Oh yeah. Well, I guess. But David, he takes that place, that low place you notice down in in umm.
Verse 18 the Lord is 9 to them. They're a broken heart and saved as such. Be a contrite spirit. Your heart is broken today and you. Usually we connect a broken heart with a broken off relationship and perhaps there is someone in this room today that has a broken heart because of a broken off relationship.
Perhaps you have a broken hop because there is someone that you love, but you don't free to tell them and they just seem to ignore you.
You're in a good place because it says here the Lord is near to those that have a broken heart. Do you feel the nearness of the Lord in your life? You know back earlier well.
There are so many good verses in this Psalm, but one thing, David having learned his lesson, he says in verse 11, Come ye children, hearken unto me, I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
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He wasn't afraid to speak about this. You think David wants to tell his children what he had to do to escape the King of Gas? No, no, he he wouldn't let on about that. But no, David, having learned his lesson, is more than willing to let others know about it, so they might learn, so they might learn, so he might be able to instruct them. And he says, what man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good?
You know, as I mentioned my grandfather earlier, he gave me a Bible as he did all his grandchildren when they reached a certain age. And he wrote in the front of my Bible that this verse from Proverbs 4.
And it's verse 10 and the verse he wrote in my Bible was, Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings, and the years of thy life shall be many.
Now I've spoken on this before and maybe I even spoke on it last year, I can't remember. But anyway.
As a little boy, I could not understand why my grandfather wanted me to live a long time.
But you know, the same thought is in this verse here he says David says what man is he that desireth life and loveth many days that he may see good. You know, I don't think my grandfather wanted me to have necessarily a long life on this earth that he wanted me to hear the instruction that God has given us. He wanted me to enjoy that eternal life that is ours when we put out trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the long life he wanted me to have. Now understand eternal life is more than the length of days.
But in the context of the verse he put in my Bible, I believe he wanted me to hear and so isn't it? In that case, it was my grandfather that instructed spiritually. I'm after my grandfather died, my 1:00 remaining uncle was the one that was the spiritual father, as it were to our little group that I grew up with.
But there is a right path. Keep thy tongue from evil when thy lips from speaking guile. We've spoken a little bit about swords in tongues, and we could turn to James and we could find out what a unruly member the tongue is, depart from evil, do good, seek peace and pursue it. So there's a right path, but there's also a right spirit and that's what we had in verse 18. The Lord is lying to them that have a broken heart and save as such should be of a contrite spirit. The notice in verse 17, it says the righteous cry and the Lord heareth and delivereth them out of all their troubles.
Oh, you say, that's wonderful, I like to be delivered. Then we read in verse 19, many of the afflictions of the righteous. You go, oh, I don't like to hear that.
You know.
Our lives are very much like a street full of potholes.
We walk down and we fall in the pothole and the next time around we walk down the street and we fall in the same pothole and the next time around we walk down the street, we walk in the same pothole. There's a little story about that, but I don't have time for it. How about trying a different St. because that's the story of your life. How about trying a different path?
Don't. Don't just cross over to the other side of the road, just take a completely different Rd.
But notice this, He says he keepeth all his bones, and not one of them is broken. Now I know that speaks of the Lord.
But you know, sometimes the Lord has to crush us, as it were, but He is a loving father and He will never break a bone, it says in First Corinthians 10. I'll just read it.
Mm-hmm.
That's uh.
First Corinthians.
Would help if I was in first, not second Corinthians. 1St Corinthians 10 says there is no temptation or trial taking you, but such as is common to man, that God is faithful, not suffering to be tempted or tried above that which you're able. So there are many afflictions to the righteous, but God will never break a bone. He may have to put the pressure on us, but He will never break a bone. He knows exactly what's required, exactly the amount of pressure required now.
Before we finish, as I said so often, these psalms begin with the sentiments of David, as it were in his trial, but then they move on and we have the Spirit of Christ speaking in the psalms. We know that this verse speaks of the Lord Jesus, not one bone. If his body was broken, He didn't let it run down his face. Others spat on his face.
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He took that place. So next time you feel that someone spits on you, just say Lord.
You took it for me.
I don't take it personally.
No, that's easier said than done, I granted, but how we need to be reminded of these things. And as I said, my we continued kind of the same. I believe that we began in 2nd Corinthians 4 that which is outward and the effect it has on the inward. These psalms were written by David when he was under great trial. Great trial. I don't know whether you're a poet or not I'm not. Maybe you are in your trials. Write poetry.
The Lord can use your trials in your life.
He can use them as he used David to teach others, to encourage others.
Let's just close with prayer.
Our God and Father.
How often we feel afflicted.
How often the affliction results from poor choices that we've made in our life.
But other times they just seem to come our way, and oftentimes we despair and want to run away, perhaps leave the assembly, look for help elsewhere.
Lord, just pray that these psalms might be an encouragement to us.
We know in the words of the hymn that we often sing, all the paths of Saints are treading trodden by the Son of God. We just pray that encourage us that I'll keep that will keep our eyes upward on our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, that man Jesus who walked through this wilderness scene, who tasted those things of which we taste in our lives. We just thank thee and praise thee, oh God and say, Oh God and Lord and Savior.
He is praying his name, Amen.
2 Corinthians 4:13 to 5:14
Gospel 2
Gospel—Cecil Roossinck
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I know these chairs are getting a little hard, but.
Just a few more minutes and you'll be free. Let's just look to the Lord and ask us blessing on His word. Our God, our Father, all. We thank you for our precious Savior whose love is laid hold upon us. We thank Thee for that gospel message is 1 so many of our hearts. By sovereign grace, Lord, should there be one still in their sins, we pray they might turn.
Now to close these meetings.
Find the joy of knowing the Savior, knowing sins forgiven.
Knowing God is their Father, Lord, we ask thy hope with Thanksgiving that worthy name of our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
I'd like to turn for just one part of a verse to First Samuel.
Umm, First Samuel.
Chapter One.
I'm just gonna read the part of the 27th verse.
First time you won 27 for this child, I prayed.
For this child, I prayed.
That's averse that is often touched my heart and I see.
A good share of the children we're here have gone, uh, on their way now. But uh.
A little thought that I'd like to pass on to you who are parents.
Mothers, grandmothers and fathers and grandfathers. For this child, I prayed.
Most of you.
Probably have a praying mother or had a praying mother. I did. I thank God for that.
I know all my mother often prayed for me, and I thank God for answering her prayers.
Is your mother. Perhaps it's a grandmother.
That knew and loved the Lord. She may be gone, she may have passed on.
She prayed for you for years.
If you come to know the Savior yet, has that prayer been answered?
Well.
There's one more opportunity.
These meetings, the last Gospel meeting, the last few minutes.
Once you receive the Savior tonight, if you have a praying mother or had a praying mother or praying grandmother.
She loved it to know.
Those prayers have been answered for you.
I just want to tell you a little story that's happened. Uh.
Uh, in our bookstore a couple of years ago now. Uh.
Mann came into the bookstore and I happened to be there and.
And he's so happy he said I'm saved. He said I'm saved. I want to tell you how I got saved.
So that was for years rebelling against the Lord.
And fighting against the gospel at no use for the Lord.
He said that the Lord allowed many, many situations in my life to stir up my heart, but I.
From all side, turn the Lord down time after time.
So the last time he said this was last winter.
Another fellow and I decided to go, uh uh, bird catching, shooting sea birds in January. And it was very cold. And uh, there was what we call slob in the harbor, the floating particles of ice all over, very cold in salt water. So they went bird hunting.
00:05:05
He wasn't a man that was careful about safety and things. He was, uh, reckless, shall we say, reckless. They went out bird shooting here in January and they got a couple of birds.
And by and by what he called a Rogue Wave came along, a big wave, and it turned over their boat.
Upside down and they in the water.
And uh, it wasn't a warm ducking, I can tell you.
And uh, they lost their birds, of course, but that was small concern. Couldn't swim. This man couldn't swim.
And uh, he still didn't turn to the Lord, He thought, Boy, now it's time to cry out to the Lord to save him. But no.
But the Lord had his eye on this man, I was going to say young man, but he was now.
Older than me, anyway.
Considerably older than me, I think. Uh, although a life lived like he had lived his life. It's hard to hold somebody is sometimes they get older looking, but anyway.
He was in the water, freezing cold, and the Lord sent another Rogue Wave along.
And it got a hold of their boat and tipped it back over. And when they come to think of it, the two of them are both in the boat.
Unbelievable, but it's true.
The only trouble is the bolt was 3/4 full of water and they were about up to their chest and ice and water very very cold.
Still not saved and uh.
Finally they froze. It was that cold that they lost consciousness and uh, by and by another boat saw them.
Went out to rescue them and uh, pull up alongside and there's two lifeless men sitting in this boat, water up to their chest.
Well, they said, well, we better told the thing in the shore, which they did. They told them in the shore and the men were dead, so they took them out of the boat, threw them in the snow bank.
We're gonna do these pillars.
So buying by UH, a car came along. It was it was a station wagon, the fellow said.
Well, throw them in the back of my station wagon and I'll take them down to the hospital, down to the morgue. So that's what they did. They threw him in his station wagon and they took him down to the hospital. Two of them.
And uh, the amazing thing is after two days, you know, they covered them with blankets and all kinds of things that they would do. Some medical people here know a lot more about what they would do, but after a couple of days.
He opened his eyes. Came too. Still alive. Still alive.
And while I was there in the hospital, he began to think.
I'm a law Sinner.
And my father has prayed for me for years, and I put it off and refused the love of God. And right there in the hospital, he accepted Christ as his Savior. Couldn't get any closer to death than he did.
And oh, I was so amazed at this story, I said to him.
That's so interesting, I said. I wanna pray for you, I said. Would you tell me your name so I can pray for you?
He said Abe Lehman.
I almost fell on the floor.
About UH.
40.
Yeah, probably 41 or two years earlier.
Abe's father was also Abe Lehman and myself and Mr. Earl Ensign and another brother. We have been on our knees and Abe Lehman's kitchen praying for young Abe that he be saved. And I prayed for him for a long time. But you know how it is After a while you forget years went by.
00:10:07
And here's young Abe Lehman, saved by the grace of God. It was just a thrill to meet him. And, uh, he lived in Port Abbas. If you ever come our way to visit, by the way, you're welcome. I'd be glad to see you. You come through port a bash. You might look him up.
Umm. I looked him up. Umm, a month later, I suppose it was. And here I found he lived in the very house where his father had lived. Now his father had been with the Lord for many years, and there was that kitchen floor that we kneeled on the same spot. So young Abe and I kneel together. There on the kitchen floor is a rather poor house and all, but we kneel together and praise the Lord.
That God answers prayer.
And I know there's some here whose fathers, whose mothers have been praying for you for years. If there's one here that's not yet saved, don't put it off.
God loves to answer prayers, those you that are mothers here and fathers.
Spend time on your knees for your children, for your grandchildren.
Hannah here said For this child I prayed and God granted her partition. Don't don't be discouraged. Maybe some years Abe senior he never saw the salvation of his son, but they're going to be together in the in the glory.
So.
Let's not neglect to pray. And if you have a praying mother, think of it our our prayers answered. Have you come to Christ? You know your sins forgiven, You can know it.
This afternoon. Well, now I'd like to turn to another household. Umm, John's Gospel, Chapter 12.
I'm going a little backwards here, but in John chapter 12 we find a.
A house where there's uh.
There's uh, three, three members of this household, and.
Some of them we've.
Often spoke of or thought of Mary and Martha and Lazarus. They lived in a house in Bethany, and I feel sure there was prayer that went on in that house.
We don't know.
It's also called the House of Simon the Leper. They knew what sorrow was testing trials.
But we don't want to get into that tonight. Our time is too short.
I just want to think of particularly one member of that household.
And we don't find very much about him and whether he loved the Lord.
But if we went back to the 11Th chapter of John, it's a story that's very familiar to us all. His name was Lazarus.
Lazarus.
Was sick.
He had a.
A disease which took his life. I don't know what the sickness was.
Perhaps it was a special sickness.
Because, the Lord said.
It was for the glory of God.
But God has his purposes. What does he have to bring you through before you'll turn to the Lord Jesus? I I trust that everyone in this room knows the Lord.
But if you're sitting here and that person next to you thinks you're saved?
Some others that you associate with us think you're a good Christian often hear that term. A good Christian? Well, ask yourself, am I safe? Lazarus was brought up in this house and he he knew his sister's, uh, love to have the Lord come there. He knew his sisters loved to entertain and and.
00:15:00
Give Brand have the Lord for supper. And he knew his sister Mary sat at Jesus feet and heard his word.
And Martha loved to serve.
I don't know about Lazarus fee but what I do know is he got sick.
And he died. He died.
The Lord Jesus said earlier in the chapter that this sickness is is, uh? Not under death, but for the glory of God, for the glory of God and uh.
Sure enough, he succumbed to whatever sickness it was, and he was dead. The sisters called for the Lord.
He comes.
He waited two days still before he started to come. And uh, the disciples, uh, they were a little nervous over this.
But then the news came that Lazarus was dead.
Help us dead.
Could have brought in a doctor, but too late when they're dead. Too late.
So the Lord.
Comes.
If there is one just Oneness audience tonight.
Who is dead in sins and trespasses?
Ah, the Lord knows your condition. Your friends may not. The Lord knows where you stand. You have eternal life in Christ. You can have it. It's available to whoever will.
But when you're dead.
When his body is dead.
No turning back is there for the believer. We've read this afternoon what it will be to, uh, be clothed upon with that body from on high. What a wonderful time it'll be to be finished with all the sicknesses and troubles and sorrows of this world, and to be with Christ, which is far better. But let me warn you, dear ones, there's one here that will die in their sins without Christ.
It's as hopeless and helpless as it can be.
While the Lord comes, we are not going to go into the details here, but He comes to comfort and strengthen and help.
These dear sisters who are weeping over their brother, their brother who had died.
And uh, the Lord wept with him.
Uh, gotta be careful how I express as Jim kind of set us straight on why the Lord wept with the breath with these sisters, It was indeed.
Uh, weeping with them that weep. He felt what they felt, What a gracious Savior we have. But there was the other side of it that was brought out too. The Lord saw what sin had wrought in this world.
And he wept, even though he knew what he would do, even though he knew that he was going to raise Lazarus from the dead. Still, as he viewed.
What Synod wrought his tender heart wept.
She weeping over you.
Hope not.
And I hope there will be joy this evening in the presence of the angels in heaven over 1 Sinner that repents. You know, Lazarus here I believe is a little picture to us of someone who is indeed dead in sins and trespasses. Not only is he dead, but Martha said to the Lord.
Oh, he's been dead 4 days. He stinks.
Stinks.
Before I received that was my condition. Dead and stinking. He's in the grave and the the grave is closed. They don't wanna.
Smell any of that old smell and that stink. Don't want to look inside.
00:20:02
Don't wanna face the the fact that he's gone. He's corrupting. Corruption is set in. Sin is corrupting. You're still in your sins if they've never been washed away in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus.
You're not only dead in sins, but corruption setting in setting well.
Not to take that much time, the Lord is uh.
He goes to the tomb.
Where Lazarus is.
He says roll away the stone. Oh, Martha says. Whoa, whoa, just a minute. Oh stinks. No, don't roll with stone.
Sometimes.
The Gospel.
Seems a little too blunt. We get afraid of.
Afraid of mentioning.
That the end of the road without Christ is hell for all eternity in the lake of fire. Do you think perhaps we should just not mention that because we don't want to scare anybody?
In Lark Harbor, where we've had the gospel tent for a good many years.
Umm. The minister of the certain church there. Umm was going to have a uh, Christmas sing song and uh.
Instead of singing song, she said to the audience. I was told that someone was there.
She said one of the kids at school came to me the other day and asked me about hell.
And she said they're getting their rubbish from the gospel tent, so there's no such a thing as hell is what you make it here and it's supposed to be a minister of the gospel.
And uh, very sad. Couple of people told me about it.
And.
It wasn't, I think about a month later.
She had a stroke.
The Lord closed her mouth. She never said another word. The rest of her life mouth was closed. Dear friends, there is a hell.
And as much it breaks my heart.
There's gonna be young people, there's gonna be boys and girls that are gonna they're gonna go there. Why don't we just ignore it so you can just go on right straight there?
All people tell me we don't hear about hell.
God is faithful. God is faithful, he warns us.
That the Day of Wrath is coming, The Day of Judgment, the Great White Throne.
If you stand before the Lord in your sins, that's just where you go.
But maybe you don't want to hear it.
I'd rather hear about it now and learn the way of escape.
Wait till I'm there with no escape. There'll be no escape there. Well, Lazarus was in the grave, Martha said. Oh, don't open it. Don't, don't. Don't get into that. It'll stink. We can't stand it. Well, the Lord simply said to Martha.
Said I not unto thee.
Uh, without believe I would see the power of God.
Umm.
Then they opened the grave.
They opened the Gray.
And the Lord is standing there by the grave in front of the grave.
Did you quick shut it stinks. Oh no, oh, he cried out on that voice of power. Lazarus, come forth.
Oh, what a rescue. What a rescue.
Are you still?
Dead and sins and trespasses all the Lord is calling to you tonight. Come unto me, oh ye that labor in our heavy laden, and I will give you rest. We have a Savior that's longing for your salvation, that wants to bless you.
00:25:03
You're gonna say no thanks.
You know, Abe Lehman went on for 40 years having been warned. The Lord was gracious, save him at the last possible second. So near eternity was he the Lord's savior. And you might pray for him If you ever think of it. His wife isn't saved, and she's not too happy with his telling this story. He loves to tell the story. He tells it over and over.
Wherever he goes, how the Lord saved him, not only saved him from the the freezing of his body, but the burning of his body in hell. Saved from hell and save for heaven. What a glorious message. And there's a lot here that are saved from hell, save for heaven, waiting that moment when the Lord is going to come take us home together.
To the father's house.
Oh, I'm. I'm so happy that I had a praying mother.
I had a praying grandmother too. Thank God for that.
Perhaps you have a praying mother, praying father?
Grandmother or grandfather?
May the Lord answer those prayers for you tonight.
Right. Don't put it off.
You may not be so.
I was gonna say fortunate sometimes that word isn't. Uh.
Uh, the best.
You may not.
Make it through those icy waters and be pulled out and rescued saved.
But God is speaking to you. The very fact that you're at the Gospel meeting tonight, the last meeting of these, uh uh, meetings here, the last opportunity.
Is before you come tonight. Won't you come? Come now, The Lord says, Let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as wool, though they be red like Crimson.
They should be as well. The other ones snow get those mixed up.
I was gonna say I'm only human, but I'm very human. I make a lot of mistakes, but the Lord is good. Well.
Lazarus came out of the grave and he was bound with grave clothes.
The Lord care about that.
I did always say loosen, loosen and let him go.
Well, I want to read one other verse.
And then it's time to close 12Th chapter of John.
I'll just read verse 2 to save time. Most of you know this story. They he came to Bethany and there they made him a feast. And here's what it says.
Umm, there they made him a supper, and Martha served, And Lazarus was one of them that sat at the table with him. Isn't that sweet? Lazarus, the one who was corrupting in the grave, who the Lord and his mercy called forth and set him free. Now he's sitting at the table with the Lord.
Would that be a word to someone here?
If the Lord has set you free, save your soul, you're a new creature in Christ.
He has a place set for you at the table at his table.
Once you take your place there, you'd like to have you there, you know?
Think back of amphibious in the Old Testament.
He was afraid of David. In fact, he, uh, he he wrecked his legs, running away from David because he was afraid.
But he ended up by the grace of God, by the kindness of David sitting at the King's table.
The rest of his life, he never left that position. Isn't that sweet? Well, if you're saved by the grace of God.
When you find your place at the Lord's table, he wants you there. There's a place for you there. Well.
00:30:04
That's all.
Short message, but may it touch our hearts. We'll just thank the Lord now, our God our Father. We give thanks for our precious Savior who rescued us from hell.
Saved us from hell, Saved us for heaven. Lord Jesus, we want to thank thee for that great salvation paid for in full at Calvary's cross by thy precious blood that was shed for sinners, shed for rebels, shed for me, Lord, for one.
Who cannot say this for themselves tonight?
May they learn what it is.
To know that they have eternal life.
They might know that they're saved and on the way to glory.
Oh Lord, we pray Thy blessing. We thank you for this time together with our beloved brother. We pray to bless Thy word in every place where it's gone for.
Give you thanks together in a worry precious holy name of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior. Amen.
Open Mtg. 2
Open—J. Hyland, B. Thonney
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We've seen 276.
Guide us all, gracious Satan pilgrims, through this fear and lamb. We are weak with our mighty, foolish with thy powerful hand red of heaven, feed us now and evermore.
Leave us now and everyone.
'S now and seven more.
YAVRO.
May I see the? Oh, I don't know.
There's something I should have mentioned in the prayer meeting this morning, and I'll go ahead and mention it now.
In our assembly, there's a family called the Whit and the wit, umm, first name is Ian. As a matter of fact, he was directed to the assembly for our brother Robert DeWitt. Umm, But anyway, they have a little son, uh, just turned 2 years old, who just had his right eye removed because of a very aggressive.
Uh, blastoma inside the eye.
Umm, they felt that they got everything and that there's no issue with the optic nerve and other related structures.
Albeit they noticed something on the MRI that's in his brain.
And they are still uncertain as to what it is. There is interest in biopsying it, but it might be too risky. If it is serious, it's inoperable. Uh, the oncologist.
Who the last oncologist to take a look at the situation was under the impression that it probably was not cancelled. So that was a good note right there. Uh, but we might pray for them. They've really been through the wringer the last several weeks. The eye was removed about 2 1/2 weeks ago, just at the time of his 2nd birthday, the little kids 2nd birthday. His name is Lyle, but he might pray for them that Ian and Stephanie Witt and their little son Lyle.
Gracious God, our Father.
Redrawing when we hear of a little 2 year old boy having to have his eye out.
Oh Lord, this creation is all groaning.
And it's in view of that coming day.
00:05:03
When the sons of God will be revealed?
And the ******* of corruption will be lifted from this world.
In the meantime, Lord Jesus.
We count on Thy grace for that family.
A special measure of it right now, Lord.
And we do pray and Thy gracious will, that the spot on the brain would not be anything serious.
No difficulty for thee, Lord.
But we would ask now for this meeting.
That there might be a liberty of thy spirit. Help us, Lord.
Give us each one to be exercised and if there's some message that we need to hear.
Help the messenger, we pray and give thanks in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. Amen.
Turn for a few moments to a very familiar portion of the Word of God, one we perhaps learned in the days of our youth. Psalm 23. Psalm 23 will notice the title of this Psalm, the Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for His name's sake.
Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.
And I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Well, I realize this is a very familiar Psalm and.
Those of us who had the opportunity and privilege of being together with our European and British brethren recently in France, we took up at some length this Psalm, as well as a portion in John 10, and meditated for on the subject of the shepherd and the sheep. And I have it on my heart this afternoon for a few moments just to go down these verses and glean some practical things from this Psalm that I trust, brethren, will speak very largely to our hearts.
Because I feel more and more in the day in which we live that that's what we need. Yes, we need to have the fundamental doctrines of God's Word before us. We must have the foundation and the basis of our faith, but we must have our hearts engaged as well. And as we go back to the Psalms, they really do engage our hearts, don't they? These psalms we take up in various ways. We know that these Psalms are prophetic and Jewish in their character.
Many of the Psalms bring before us the feelings and expressions of the Lord Jesus as a man passing through the circumstances of life here below and taking up the work that his Father gave him to do.
And I suppose that's why on Lord's Day morning, when we're gathered together at the Lord's table to remember him in the breaking of bread, so often, we read some of those Psalms. We read the 22nd Psalm, we read the 69th Psalm, the 102nd Psalm, and other portions that bring before us the innermost expressions and feelings of the Lord Jesus. It's often been said that in the Gospels we Get the facts concerning the life and work of the Lord Jesus.
But in the AP, in the Psalms, we get the feelings and expressions, things that we don't get in the Gospels. And I say there is nothing, we'll tug at our heartstrings like going back and reading those Psalms in that regard. You know, when they, uh, those two on the way to Emmaus returned to the, uh, to Jerusalem where the others were, and he came and stood in their midst and he expounded there not only from Moses and the prophets, but it adds the Psalms, those things concerning himself.
What a wonderful, heart touching exposition it really must have been. But we find too that many of the Psalms then are the expressions and feelings of the God's earthly people and of the remnant in a coming day.
And I have no doubt that this 23rd Psalm will have its fulfillment in a coming day when God's people finally sit down under the shadow of his wings. They recognize the Lord Jesus amongst them as that shepherd, and he's going to bring them into blessing, satisfy them, put down their enemies. And what a day it's going to be when he makes them to lie down in his green pastures and beside his still waters. But you know, the Psalms have a present application too, as all Scripture does.
00:10:29
And the psalms, many of them, can be applied in connection with the feelings and expressions of the Saints of God in any age. And don't we often find ourselves, brethren, especially in times of real trial and testing, going back time and time again to the psalms, Psalms that we've gone over many, many times, Psalms that no doubt we could quote by heart, but we go back to them again and again.
Often I have the privilege of going in to visit somebody who's sick, maybe someone who's going through a real circumstance in their life. And I'll often say to that person, what portion of the word of God would you like us to read and share together? And more often than not, they want you to read something from the Psalms, something that really speaks to the heart. And that's the way I'd like to look at this little Psalm for a few minutes this afternoon. And you'll find here that it is a Psalm of David.
Now, the young people have often heard me say this, but I'm going to repeat it because I believe it's important. When we take up the Psalms, you'll notice that many of the psalms have titles, and the titles of these psalms were not added by the translators. They are part of the original word of God, and every word of God is pure. And I've sometimes said, I wish that the song, the titles of these psalms were printed just a little bit bigger in our Bibles.
We often Passover and miss them because they're printed so fine. In fact, in traveling to other countries and languages, I have learned that in some languages, the 1St, the title of the Psalm is the first verse of the Psalm. In other words, in some languages there would be 7 verses in this Psalm. And I like that because when it's included as the first verse of the Psalm, you tend not to pass over it. And I want to encourage you when you take up the psalms, to notice the titles of the Psalms.
They set the Psalm in its proper context and perspective. They often open up what follows in the Psalm or even give the setting or the circumstance in which it was written. And I enjoy these ones that are titled A Psalm of David. Now again, I realize that the Psalms of David are prophetic in their character, but there's another way to look at them too. And that is they were the experiences of David as a man passing through the circumstances of life.
You know when you go back and you read the life of David, David did not have an easy life from the moment he was brought to be anointed in the midst of his brethren as the future king over Israel by Samuel. You find that there was one problem and difficulty after another. You find just a page or two over in your Bible that he goes down at the bidding of his father, with those supplies for his brethren who are at the camp of Israel, facing the Philistines and their champion Goliath. And when he comes to his brethren, why his own brothers question the very motive of his heart.
For coming down, they speak unkindly to them. That must have been hard for David to take. You ever have someone in your own family speak unkind to you and misjudge you? David knew what it was to be misjudged. He could say later on. Reproach hath broken mine heart. We find that he, his best friend Jonathan, didn't follow him in his rejection. David shed tears over that. He fled for his life. He left the comforts of home, slept in The Cave of a dalam.
What is a bird to the mountain? And what about after he got his Kingdom? Oh, it was a Kingdom that was plagued with continual upheaval, wars from his enemies around him, domestic problems, problems in his family. His son turned against him. He had to flee for his life. He knew what it was to lose a young child in in death, all these things. But when you go to the Psalms of David, you find that through it all, David developed a real.
Confidence and trust in his God.
And I covet that, brethren, for my own soul. We're not going to see the removal of all the difficulties.
00:15:03
David didn't see the removal of the difficulties through the various stages of his life.
But we sometimes sing a hymn through every period of my life. Thy goodness I'll pursue. And I realize that there's brethren here who are at various stages in our natural growth, our spiritual growth, various aspects and stages of our experiences in life. But wherever we are, we can, like David, prove the all sufficiency of our God, prove that he is faithful.
And this is what we have capsulated in this little Psalm. And so he says, the Lord is my shepherd. And brethren, what better person than David? Depend these words. You know. So often God put men in circumstances to give weight to what they penned by divine inspiration. David knew what it was to care for those few sheep in the wilderness. He knew what it was to rise up and protect them from the lion and the bear. He knew what it was to lead them to where the pastures were green.
Where the waters were still, and God used a man like David to pen, The Lord is my shepherd.
And so isn't it wonderful that you and I have one who is our shepherd? I know nothing about the care of sheep. I'm a city boy. But I do understand one thing. I have a shepherd who cares for me. But I want to focus in just for a moment, on another word in this first verse. And I'm going to take it a little bit out of its context and you'll pardon me for doing it. And that's the word Lord. You know, that's a good word for all of us to consider, isn't it? You know, again, we used to sing that hymn when we were young people. Lord of my life, I crown thee now.
Thine shall the glory be, We sing a hymn in our little flock. Reign thou within our hearts alone. The Lord Jesus is not recognized as King of Kings and Lord of Lords in this world, yet we see not yet all things put under Him. But brethren, He wants that place in your heart and mind. Brother Nick and I were Speaking of this after the reading meeting. How so often you hear Christians speak of Jesus and God.
And that's good, those are certain. Those are certainly aspects of his person and work. But what about the Lord Jesus Christ? Or what about the expression Lord, what about thy one who said my Lord and my God, the Lord Jesus said to the disciples, she called me master and Lord. And you say, well, for so I am, but how much is it practically true in your life and mine? And so the Lord is my shepherd. I'll, I shall not want. Now brethren, that doesn't mean that we might not suffer a little privation down here. You know, there are many.
Of our brethren today who don't have enough food to eat, there are many of our brethren today who don't have adequate shelter over their heads. There are many of our brethren today who are in prison and in deplorable situations for their testimony. That's not what this verse means, but I remember a sister in a country I was visiting. As we came down the road to her home, she was sweeping her dirt floor singing I have Christ.
What won't I more And that's really the lesson we learned from this we may suffer and in this.
Society we live in, we may, if the Lord leaves us here, know what it is to have to pinch pennies a little more and maybe, uh, suffer a little bit, uh, the things we've never unknown before. But brethren, if we have Christ, what want we more? Paul had learned in his life the all sufficiency of Christ and whether he was out traveling on the missionary circuit, whether he was visiting some of his wealthy brethren.
Or whether he was a prisoner of the Lord and of Nero, he learned in whatsoever state.
He found himself to be content. He could rejoice even in difficult circumstances. How much does Christ the Shepherd mean to your heart and mind this afternoon? If we are really in the enjoyment of Christ, that's what's going to satisfy the soul. And then he says, he maketh me to lie down in green pastures. So often the pastures of the fields and Scriptures speak of personal communion and enjoyment of the truth of God.
And so he, it says in John 10, I will go in and out and find pasture. How much do we find time to spend in those green pastures to not just read the word of God, but to meditate on the word of God? David said, the psalmist said in another place, oh how I love thy law. It is my meditation all the day. Because you know, brethren, it's not what we eat that does us any good. It's what we digest.
00:20:25
And to digest the truth of God, we have to meditate. It's has often been pointed out the characteristic of the clean animal. He was one that chewed the cud. He you see some cows and they're lying contentedly in a green pasture and their mouth is going continually. They're chewing the cud. They're getting all the good they can out of that grass that they have taken in to their system. And we need that. We need to and notice it says he makes me. We're going to find in a moment. He leads us in other places.
But He makes us rather than this speaks. I hesitate to mention this because it speaks so much to my own soul. You know, he leads us as the Shepherd, but sometimes he has to make us lie down. You know, this is a life of busyness. This is a life where everything is hectic. And as we've often said, we're on this treadmill of society that's getting pumped up faster and faster and faster. And sometimes I believe the Lord has to put his hand on us and make us if we don't do it ourselves.
If we don't take that time to be still or sit still, he sometimes has to, in one way or another, gently put his hand on us.
And make us to lie down in green pasture. And I know you've experienced it those times when you had to stop and you were taken away from the activity of life as necessary as it was. And through those circumstances, you learned to chew the cud. You learn to just meditate on the person of Christ to just to enjoy himself. What a benefit and a blessing. And then there's the still waters. He delights to lead us by still waters. And you know, I just want to say this too, because this is true personally in our lives, but I want to say something that I believe we brought out at the meetings in France a few weeks ago.
And that is, I suggest that this is a word of admonishment perhaps to those who take responsibility for the oversight, the shepherding of the sheep of God. You know, we need to lead by the still waters. If you take responsibility, brother, for the oversight of the sheep in your local assembly or area, or even on a wider sphere, let's be careful that we lead the sheep by still waters.
So often those of us who are older are in a place of responsibility. We have to hang our heads and admit sometimes we've stirred up the waters, sometimes we've muddied the waters. The sheep can't drink if the waters are stirred up or muddied. And when we come to the assembly and the word is ministered and the sheep are cared for because the assembly is to be a place of quiet and safety, it's to be a place of green pasture and still waters.
For ourselves, for our families, and for the sheep of God. Let's be careful that we don't make it otherwise. And then he says, he restoreth my soul. You know, David could pen these words very effectually, couldn't he? David had experienced the restoration of God in his life. David sinned and he sinned grievously. And there were effects and consequences because of his sin, not only on himself but on his household. Because sin does have its consequences. We do re what we sow.
But David was happily restored to the Lord and used in a mighty way. I say, well again, what better person to write this than David? He knew what the restoring grace of God was. And maybe there's someone here and you say, well, I haven't followed the shepherd. I haven't gone on like perhaps I should have. I've got a way, even allowed some sin in my life. Oh, there's restoration. There may be consequences, but we can never go so far.
In our Christian pathway in waywardness where we can have to say there's no way back, there's always a way back. When the Lord anticipated Peter's failing, he said failure, He said, but when thou art restored, comfort thy brethren. He was going to come in and restoration to Peter. And what better person than Peter to pen later on account the long-suffering of God as salvation. Peter knew the long-suffering of God in his life.
He'd experienced that restoring grace because the restoring grace of God is as limitless as his preserving and saving grace. And if there has been something in your life, get before him, confess it. If we were to go over to the 51St Psalm, we find David's confession. And David said, there, restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. What a restoration there was for David, and you can experience that restoration.
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In your life as well. He restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. When I think of this, I think of what it says in first John where it says, if any man's sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, And it says there if we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sin. That's restoration. But then it doesn't stop there. It says, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness, that is to keep us from going any further.
In that wrong path, and to turn us into a right path, to turn us into the path of righteousness, because who so confesseth and forsaketh His sin shall find mercy. We don't have to go on in that path of waywardness. We don't have to go down that, continue down that wrong Rd. It's a turn around and to be placed in the path of righteousness. And why does He do it? For His namesake. Oh, it's for our blessing too, but it's for His name's sake. And when we realize that, brethren, don't we want to get before Him and confess those things?
Get back on the right track, so to speak. Well, then he speaks of the valley of the shadow of death. Now, I realize that we often read this Psalm at a funeral or this expression, and we often apply the valley of the shadow of death to someone, go passing from this life to the next, someone who has died in faith. And certainly that is a proper application. But I don't think it's limited to that brother.
I suggest that the valley of the shadow of death is this world that you and I are walking through this afternoon. We're walking through the valley of the shadow of death. An older brother once said it's the this world with the shadow of the cross hanging over it. This world is stamped with death. We sometimes sing that hymn. We're pilgrims in a wilderness. Our dwelling is a camp created. Things so pleasant now bear to us death stamp and we see death.
And sorrow and the effects of it on every hand. We're walking through an enemy's land every day. It's the valley of the shadow of death. But David says, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. How often we're exhorted to fear not. And I know we know the verse as well. I enjoy that one, particularly in Isaiah 43, that says, fear not. I have redeemed thee, brethren. Can anything change that?
We belong to the Lord Jesus. He's redeemed us. Do we need to be afraid?
Are you afraid this afternoon? I have to hang my head and admit I'm often afraid in situations. But when I'm afraid, that doesn't come from the Lord. He hasn't given us the spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. And I've never gone through the Scripture, but it'd be interesting to go through and count how many times, both in the New Testament and the Old Testament, we have that expression be not afraid or fear not. As he said to the disciples the night he walked towards them on the water, He said, fear not. It is I be be of be of good cheer. It is I be not a be not afraid. And so we don't need to fear.
He says I will fear no evil because if you and I are walking in the path of righteousness, independence on the Lord, we don't have to fear what the enemy can do to us. You remember the the man in Pilgrim's Progress that was walking on his way to the Celestial City, and he came to a place where there were two lions chained by the road, one on each side, and he was afraid I'd be afraid too. And those lions the writer used as pictures of the enemy, Satan. And our enemy is a roaring lion walking about, seeking whom he may devour.
But you know, as the man stood there and reconnoitred the situation, he realized that there was a way that he could pass down the middle of that road and those lions couldn't touch him. And there is a path of faith for you and me where the enemy cannot touch us and where we do not have to fear. Where the enemy gets an advantage is when we get our eyes off the Lord, our eyes off the path, and we seek to walk in a way that is not for His glory.
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And then he says, For thou art with me, brethren, that's why we don't need to be afraid. We have one that's with us. Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age.
He'll never leave us nor forsake us. Do you really believe that? Do you really believe He's with you? You know, you don't have to get up in the morning and pray so much to and ask the Lord to be with you as we need to get up in the morning and pray that we would walk in the path of righteousness so that we would have a conscious sense of the Lord's presence with us. And how much is it true in your life and mind? Have we walked today in the conscious sense of the Lord's presence with us?
It's easy at meetings like this, isn't it? It's easy when we're with other believers. But what about when we go home? What about last week before we came? Did we get up in the morning with the conscious sense that the Lord was right there? That's really the thrust of the verse that says the Lord is at hand. You notice the context there. I don't believe it's so much the Lord's coming, but it's in being careful for nothing and coming to Him in prayer and supplication and so on. Why? Because He's at hand. He's right there. You like somebody that's handy, someone that you can reach out and feel the squeeze of their hand and they help you over that rough spot. The Lord is always there.
He's a present, He very present, help in time of trouble. Well then he says, thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. You know, we love to be comforted, don't we? I suppose there's never been a day when the people of God have desired comfort, like the day in which we live. But there's two things that he gives for comfort, not the staff and the rod, but the rod and the staff. You know, the order is very important here. First of all, the rod would perhaps speak to us of his training with us.
You know, we have a a father, a shepherd who trains us and sometimes he has to use the rod. It may be ever so gently sometimes, sometimes it's a little more severe. You know, we had a rod in our home. We called it the rod of correction. And sometimes we used it gently. Sometimes we had to use it a little more severe. Sometimes it would only took once, sometimes more often. We didn't use it the same on every child either. Every child, each of our children, our two children have had a different tenor as well.
And our Father and our Shepherd, he knows just how much to use. Sometimes as fathers, perhaps we don't use it enough. Sometimes we use it too much. But our Father says he corrects us, chastens us for our profit, not for his own profit, but for our profit, that we might be partakers of His Holiness. And when we learn from it, it says no chastening for the time seemeth to be joyous but grievous, but afterward it work the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. That's where the comfort comes in the rod. But there's the staff too, because if the rod is to train us and correct us.
Then it's to teach us too, to lean on the staff, to teach us dependence, not to drive us from the shepherd, but to drive us to the shepherd, and to teach us our complete dependence on himself. Poor Jacob, it took him his whole life to learn that. He tried to live life by making bargains with God. And God, if you'll hold, if you'll do this, I'll do that. And you hold up your end of the bargain, and I'll hold up mine. But at the end of his life he learned he couldn't do it.
But I love what it says. He worshipped leaning on his staff. He learned dependence.
And brethren, if we can learn that at least in some measure in our short lives, it will bring true comfort. Then there's the table. They'll prepare us, the table before me in the presence of mine enemies. A table would speak of several things. It would speak of authority. And, uh, we need to own the authority of our live again, of the Lord in our lives. We're gonna sit down tomorrow, not at the table of Jesus, but the Lord's table, because it's He that has the authority there. When I'm invited to someone's table for a meal, I have no authority at that table.
No, I come under the authority of the one whose table it is and who has invited me there. A table would speak of provision 2. Can God table that? Can God furnish a table in the wilderness? They questioned. Uh, in the history of the of God's people? Yes, he could. And so one invites you to their table. Why? Everything is provided for your sustenance. Mephibosheth ate meat at the King's table continually. It speaks of fellowship too. You sit down to eat together. Eating and fellowship are synonymous in the Word of God.
00:35:00
And notices in the presence of mine enemies, he doesn't promise to remove the enemies, but he promises to provide in the midst of them. And then he says, thou anointest my head with oil. Now oil in Scripture invariably is a type of the Spirit of God. And here you notice it's the head that's anointed with oil. David had been anointed by Samuel to be the future king over Israel. But I'd like to just make this little application because I suggest that it corresponds with what it tells us in the New Testament.
Were to bring every thought into captivity under the obedience of Christ. It tells us where to set our minds. Mr. Darby's translation in Colossians set our minds on things above. It's to have our minds to have our thoughts governed complete under the complete control of the Spirit of God in relationship to the Word of God. How much is that true of us? Do we read the word of God? Do we get the mind of the of his mind from Scripture?
And then do we allow the Spirit of God to take that and to use it to control our thought patterns? The world wants to fill our minds with everything that would defile and take us away from Christ, but he wants to have our, our head anointed with oil. And what's the result? My cup runneth over. You know, usually we think of cups running over as a mess. We give our children a sippy cups or cups with lids because we don't want them to spill it and have a mess. You someone's poor child's pouring a glass of milk and he's not paying attention and it runs over. Why we get upset as parents. But uh, here it's in a good connotation, isn't it?
What is our cup to run over with? With the appreciation of the love and joy of Christ the Shepherd. Do our cups really run over? Is there an outflow? Because when there's an outflow, then there will be blessing to others. Well, he says, surely goodness and mercy, you know, we follow the shepherd. I suppose it's one of the reasons that the Christian, the believer in Scripture, is likened to sheep. Sheep are one of the few animals that follow.
And we're to follow the shepherd, but there's something brings up the rear too. I'd like to think of it sometimes I've seen.
In Europe and other places, those vast flocks of sheep going down the road and there's always a shepherd out front and the sheep are following the shepherd, but there's a few stragglers in the back and what's keeping them from going their own way? The sheepdogs. Sometimes you see a couple of sheepdogs that dogs at the back. I like to think of them as goodness and mercy. They're what follow. That's what helps to keep us in check, to preserve us. It's just his goodness and mercy if any of us have been preserved thus far.
As his sheep, it's because his goodness and mercy follows us, and how long? All the days of our life. And then he says, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. Brethren, what a hope we have. You and I know it in a much more intimate way than David ever knew it in a much more secure way than David ever had. His hope. We know it as the Father's house and the Lord Jesus promised before he left the disciples to go to the cross and return to heaven.
That He would come again and receive them to himself. That that home was going to be prepared for them through the work of Calvary and His ascension there. And what a wonderful hope it was. What a wonderful comfort for the disciples, and what a comfort for you and for me. I will dwell in the House of the Lord. How long, brethren, it tells us we're going to be ever with the Lord. And So what a comfort this is. But in the meantime, we have a wonderful shepherd. Yes, He died for us as the Good Shepherd. He gave his life for the sheep.
But brethren, as that great shepherd of the sheep, he's there to lead us, to guide us, to preserve us. And isn't it a lot easier to follow someone than just have them give you directions? You know, he's given us directions, infallible guidelines in this book to follow. But then he says he put his own sheep forth and he goes before. I'll use this illustration just before I step down. I've used it before. So I remember one time I was in a strange city, a city I wasn't used to and.
My wife and girls were with me and I finally stopped and asked directions. Your wives know how men are sometimes they don't like to admit they are lost or confused. And so I finally stopped and asked directions and a lady came out and she said to me something like this. She said, well you go down a block and you turn right and then you'll come to AY and take the left fork and then you'll go about a half a mile and you'll see a greenhouse on the right. And when you see that house.
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Do this and so, and by that time she realized by the look on my face, I wasn't getting all that she said, that's OK, I'm going that direction, just follow me. And it was a lot easier to follow her than just have her give me directions. Our Shepherd has done both. He's given us the directions. He's laid out the path of righteousness for us. And then he says, just follow me. Some of the last words he said to Peter before he left this world were follow thou me, brethren, Is that difficult? Let's seek by grace to keep close to the Shepherd, to follow him.
To have our hearts go out to Him, that we might be preserved until that day when we dwell in that wonderful home forever. Like to read a verse in 2nd Corinthians 5?
It's a little verse in our King James Version that's in parentheses, verse 7.
For we walk by faith.
Not by sight. We're living in a materialistic world, brethren.
And I find it a real challenge.
To think about what this verse is saying to us.
It's not the way of the world we're living in.
We're taught to keep our eyes open.
And I don't say that we close our eyes when we walk. That's not the point here. But we are not controlled in our lives by those things which are visible to the human eye. There are other values.
That should guide us.
Where does faith come from?
Verse in Romans chapter 10 tells us very clearly, and I think it's worthwhile reading. Let's read it.
Romans, chapter 10.
And verse 17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.
How important to listen.
To what God has to say to us.
I've been impressed with that verse in the Proverbs, the hearing I hearing here and the seeing eye God hath made both of them.
So to have a ear that hears is the way to have faith.
You know, as we pass through this world, you young people, those of us who are older as well.
Are taught to go according to the way things are and you really I'm amazed that sometimes that the.
Perception of people of this world in connection with the finances.
Uh.
And how things are going politically.
Their ability to analyze it and to detect the way things seem to be moving. Very interesting.
That those things are not what are to be the guiding for the children of God. It's the Word of God that should always guide us in our thoughts. We walk by faith and not by sight.
Sometimes use the illustration of Peter.
He was in the boat with the disciples. Remember that time and the Lord His coming on the water toward them.
And at first they're afraid, but then when they recognize the Lord, Peter says, Lord, if it be thou, did me come to thee on the water?
He was a fisherman, he knew.
Boats in the water.
He had never walked on water before.
But he got one word from the Lord.
Come.
Based on that one word, he steps out of the boat. Doesn't seem to be any hesitation on his part. He had gotten a word from the Lord.
And he steps out of the boat, and he walks on the water to go to Jesus.
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It's interesting that as he was on his way to go to Jesus.
It says he saw the wind.
Kind of interesting, you know, it doesn't say you saw the waves. I would think you'd say he saw the waves.
And he probably wondered how he's gonna step on this next wave that was coming. I don't know what it was, but it didn't say that. It says he saw the wind. Boisterous.
And he got thinking, I suppose, how he was going to handle.
Walking on the waves in this wind.
And I suppose he started thinking how he was going to do it instead of just simply saying the Lord told me to come. And so he starts to sink.
You ever thought how far down he might have gotten?
I don't know.
But it's scripture says he just, he began to think. So I don't think he got too far, maybe down at the ankles.
And then he cries. Lord, save me.
Short prayer.
You know how to pray short prayers? That's important in our lives.
Sometimes our prayers are so long, I don't know how far down into the water we've gotten.
But he prayed short prayer. That's part of faith, too. You know, brethren, when we get into difficulties is to know how to turn immediately to Him in our troubles.
But that's an illustration of walking by faith and not by sight. Explain it, Peter, how in the world did you ever walk on water?
It wasn't a matter of explaining it, it was a matter that Jesus said come.
And so it is in our lives, brethren. There are different circumstances of life, and it's so important to be in the Scriptures.
Our brother was saying about meditating.
Oh, the profit that there is.
Of meditating the scriptures.
That talks about the man in Psalm One. He meditates in his law day and night.
Wonderful to do that. You take time to just meditate. You know, scripture doesn't use the word study because study is the effort of the human mind to comprehend something. Meditate, I think, is filling the mind with the scriptures and letting the Spirit of God give you light as to what that means.
That's meditation.
And that's important in our lives if we're going to get the profit out of the Scriptures.
I travel quite a bit my younger life with Clem Buchanan.
I must say I learned to appreciate.
That brother.
There's a man who meditates day and night.
Sometimes in the Dominican Republic, we'd be in the same room and.
About 3:00 in the afternoon, 3:00 in the morning, I'd be turning over in my bed and I guess he thought I was awake and he said, Bob, I've been meditating on this scripture. What do you think?
At that time I wasn't doing much thinking.
I appreciate there's a brother that knows what it means to meditate day and night. It was a blessing.
So the Lord help us, brethren, in.
The word because that's where faith comes by. And I think it's so important in these days when, according to our American way of life, we're taught to handle our material affairs in such a way rather than. I have been challenged by our Latin American brethren who in their poverty often know a lot more about the simplicity of faith. We kind of.
Calculate now. Do I have enough money for this?
And we have to be practically.
Uh, reasonable. I don't say that that's wrong.
00:50:02
But do we count on the living God if He tells us to do something, to simply go ahead and count on Him? I've been amazed with the way the Lord comes in and provides when there is that simplicity of faith. That's what it means to walk by faith, not by sight. Sight it says, OK, if you got enough, go ahead. I think you can swing it.
The Walking by faith is taking the living God into the picture. It's not something you see with your physical eyes.
But it's something that.
Is unseen, but is no less real. In fact, it is more real that verse we talked about at the beginning of the meeting this morning.
Those things which are seen are temporal. I mean, they just last for a little time everything you see with your physical eyes. And 100 years from now, I doubt if it's going to be around to tell you the truth.
Who am I to say it won't, but I doubt if it will. But those things which are not seen are eternal.
Been I've been hearing about David and the pathway of his life. Wonderful examples of a man of faith when he was sent by his father.
To go to see how his brethren were doing and there was this giant.
I calculate he was close to 10 feet tall. Pretty big man.
And Saul, the tallest in Israel, I take it, didn't have any courage to go out against that man.
Neither did any of the other men of Israel. Goliath had 40 days come out and shout at his challenge. Give me a man.
And after 40 days?
Down the side of the valley comes a shepherd boy.
Who in the world does he think he is to fight a giant?
You know what, brethren?
For David, the fight was not David versus Goliath. For David, the fight was God versus Goliath. There was no question in his mind how things were going to turn out.
He was counting on God. Where was God? He wasn't in the picture, was he? Oh yes, he was. For one shepherd lad. He was in the picture.
And I love the confidence with which David goes down into that valley.
You know, he had his shepherd's bag, he had his sling, and he ran toward the giant.
I often thought if it was me, I think I'd stay back aways and take my shots, but not David. There was such confidence in him that he ran toward the giant, puts his hand into his shepherd's bag, takes out a stone and puts it into the sling.
And hits the giant in the forehead and keeps right on the running and the giant by that time falling on his face. And David doesn't stop until he's standing on top of the giant, pulling the giant's own sword out of his sheath and cutting off his head.
What confidence?
Because he knew his God, he had. He did that feet in front of the armies of Israel and the Philistines.
But David had proved the Lord before that, when he was out there all by himself.
There came a a lion and a bear.
Somebody told me a while back that we're talking about an old African lion. I said, How do you know that? He says. Because when the lion rose up against him, he grabbed him by his beard.
And no other lion has a beard except an African lion.
Well, I suppose that's true.
00:55:03
But that's pretty impressive.
David was not afraid of the lion either. He had proved his God when he was all by himself and no other human eye was there.
Have you done that? It's easy to perform well when other people are what watching, but when nobody's watching, how do you perform?
You perform realizing the eye of God is on you.
We walk by faith, not by sight. David isn't the only example we have in Scripture of that kind of a walk.
We have another case in the book of Daniel.
His three friends when they were.
Amongst all the other multitudes that had congregated before, the golden image that Nebuchadnezzar raised up in the province of Babylon to bow down.
There were three men that did not bow down, three Hebrew children.
You know.
They were obedient. They were not rebellious. And I think that's important. People call it talk about civil disobedience. We're never called to disobedience. We're always called to obedience. But it was a question of which was the higher authority. Nebuchadnezzar was was a tremendous king. In fact, he's called the king of kings, a king of kings.
And to disobey him was to take your life in your hand, because he killed whom he will to kill, and kept alive those he will to keep alive.
Anyhow.
There was another authority that was higher than King Nebuchadnezzar. It's the God of heaven.
Very clearly in the law it was.
Said they were not to bow down to any image. Absolutely not.
And that bound their consciences that they would not bow.
They were called to Nebuchadnezzar's presence. Nebuchadnezzar probably thought he was being very generous to these three Hebrew children.
Giving them another chance. Is it true you do not bow down, my gods?
And they said we are not careful to answer about this matter.
Our God whom we serve. Remember they brought in the picture of God. And to those 3 Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
It was a question who was greater, Nebuchadnezzar or their God? No question at all in their minds where their allegiance was first of all to God.
Brethren, this is walking by faith.
Well, he says, if you will not bow, there is one place for you, Burning Fiery Furnace and.
They said, We will not bow to your God. And he was furious, and he was going to make them a public example of what happened to people who would not obey Him in the heat of the furnace seven times over. And in went those three men found in all their clothes. They fell down bound into the midst of the furnace.
Fiery burnt only one thing.
The cords that bound them.
Didn't even leave the smell of fire on any of the rest of them. They were walking unharmed in the midst of the fire, in the company of the Son of God.
You know, I think that will be probably if we would ask Nebuchadnezzar or if we would ask Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the coming day what was the.
Greatest moment in your life's history in Babylon.
It would say, when we got to me, walk in the company of the Son of God in the midst of the furnace.
Is there a trial in your life where you are challenged to give up something of the precious Word of God?
Just think of it this way, it's God that's allowing that test in your life with a purpose of giving you something very special, if you will. Walk by faith, by His word, and not by sight by the way it appears.
01:00:18
So they were thrown in.
And they walked around in that furnace, they stayed in there until Nebuchadnezzar said Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, ye servants of the Most High God, come forth and come hit her. And since they were not rebellious men, they came right out.
At Nebuchadnezzar's call, because there is nothing contrary to the word of God in that command from Nebuchadnezzar.
Oh, and a testimony resulted.
From those men because they chose to live simply by the word of God.
We're living in a world that is anti God and anti Christian and it is amazing to me to see how this culture in which we live here in the United States of America does war on walking in obedience to God. No, if you're going to purpose to walk according to the light of the word of God.
You're going to have problems.
They're gonna come from all directions.
But I challenge you young people, I encourage you.
We walk by faith.
Not by faith.
Translated.
By.
They come by, so the Lord's crying.
And I know.
Essential.
01:05:14
Our loving God, our Father.
We thank you for thy precious word.
We pray that each one of us may walk by faith and not by sight.
For Lord, our eyes deceive us so often.
We think of uh Elimelech of old and Ruth's time, and how he saw famine.
In that land, without graciously provided.
Yet.
Decided to leave that place because.
Sight sends to famine.
Lord, we thank that Thou has ever provide our able. Thou are willing.
We pray, Lord, that we might indeed walk in Thy company. We just pray for one another, pray our hearts will be freshly stirred by Thy word. We've enjoyed already some very precious things from my word here. We pray that we might walk in it by faith.
We think of that.
That tower.
At least four left.
It went to a strange land.
And I grace, I'll spring 2 back.
Lord.
We pray that we might dwell in the land, we might dwell with Thee, Lord Jesus and thy company. We pray for thy help this afternoon as we but open Thy word together again. We commit us to thee, Pray for the gospel and be told forth. If we're left here, here in this room. Lord, we ask these few things with Thanksgiving in Jesus worthy precious name.
Amen.
2 Corinthians 4:13-5:14