Chicago Conference: 1996
Table of Contents
1 Peter 1
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Peter and Apostle Jesus Christ To the strangers gathered drug haunted, Galatia, Pappadocia, Asia, and Pathinia elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through sanctification of the Spirit, and to obedience and springing of the blood of Jesus Christ. Grace unto you and peace be multiplied. Let it be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ and the dead.
To an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled from the state of not away reserved in heaven, for you who are kept by the power of God through faith and the salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time, wherein you greatly rejoice. So now, for a season if need be, you are in heaviness through manifold temptations.
That the trial of your faith is to be much more precious than a golden heritage, though if he tried with fire, which might be found in the praise and honor and glory, at the appearing of Jesus Christ, whom having not seen he loved, and whom so now you see him not yet believing, he rejoiced with joy, unspeakable and full glory, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls, of which salvation the prophets have inquired in search, diligently prophesied of the grace that should come unto you.
Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them to signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ and the glory that you followed.
And to whom it was revealed, that not of themselves, but unwested units of the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the holy gold sent down from heaven, Which thinks the angels desire to look into. Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought into you as a revelation of Jesus Christ, as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance, But as he which has called you is holy, so be equally in all manner of conversation.
Because it is written, be holy, for I am holy. And if you call in the Father, who without respect to persons, judge it according to every man's word past this time of your sojourning here and here. For as much as you know that you were not the game of corruptible things, as silver and gold from your vain conversation received by position from your Father, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lion without blemish and without spot, who barely was forward named before the foundation of the world.
Manifesting these last time for you to by him to believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory. That your faith and hope might be in God, seeing he have purified your souls. And obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unseigned love of the brethren, see that he loved one another with a pure heart, Conservatively being born again, not a corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever for all fleshes of grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass.
The grass Withers, and the flower thereof falls away, but the word of the Lord endureth forever, and this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
But in this first epistle of Peter.
He mentions the sufferings of Christ in each chapter.
And he speaks of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow.
In the second epistle he tells us about that excellent glory.
In The Night of Luke, where they saw it, the three of them, Peter, James and John.
We find that Jesus had been rejected as the Messiah in that early part of that chapter and.
They are not to speak of him as the Christ. Or he does speak of himself as the Christ. He speaks of himself as the Son of Man, and then he shows him that glory.
But those who saw it? Peter.
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James and John.
Peter is the only one that wrote about the glory, and he didn't write about it until he got to his second epistle.
It's the order of the path for every believer, suffering and the glory.
We're always headed for the glory, but were tested down here.
Peter writes here to the stranger scattered throughout upon this Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Virginia, and he says elect chosen according to the Punisher, God the Father.
I'd like to go to the second episode and notice how he introduces that one.
In the first verse.
He adds Simon Peter he he takes himself and thought back to himself as a man in the place appreciating what he had been brought into.
I think it's a lesson for all of us. We started out as children of Adam by grace, were saved through faith, and we kind of get a new name and a new position.
Simon Peter. A servant, he says, and an apostle. He'd taken up ServiceNow of Jesus Christ.
I'll notice to them that have obtained light, precious faith with us.
I hope we can all enjoy what he says there, Peter.
Those who have obtained light, precious faith with us now that's the apostle.
The Faith of the Apostles. You and I have lived on Jesus through the word of the Apostles.
And it brings us into the fellowship.
Of the Apostles Doctrine, The Apostle doctrine and Fellowship in Acts 2.
They continued steadfastly in the apostles doctrine and fellowship, and breaking of bread and prayers.
So when Peter says like precious faith with us, I think it's the position the gathered Saints whole today gathered to his name, enjoying the apostles, doctrine and fellowship and then the breaking bread and prayer.
Another thing that Peter mentions, the lock is great. We go back to that night to look and look there for a minute.
There was something that they.
We're learning.
I'm living in the 9th of blue for that virgin says he know not what manner of spirit you're of. It's the 5th, 5th verse.
They had seen the glory.
The three of them that come down from the mound and failure comes in because they were not praying as dependent like the Lord was. Instead of that they were having a struggle among themselves, reasoning which of them should be the greatest. That's the 46th place. It's a failure of the three in at least comes out there after they come down from the mountain.
And they have to learn, and we have to learn. And Peter had to learn what manner of spirit he was of. That's the 55th verse.
He turned and rebuked them and said he know not what manner of superiority for the Son of Man is, not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. They went to another village just to go over this, to bring us to Peter and his writing.
And he begins in our vessel with.
Elect.
Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, I say. That would bring us in.
All saved ones chosen, chosen of God.
And to learn what Grace is, Peter had learned, and he never forgot the cross either. The cross is the basis of everything. So in our epistle he mentioned the cross, the suffrage, in each chapter.
Then in the second epistle he takes up the glory that should follow. But all through each epistle I think you'll find grace. Just notice in the 5th chapter of the first epistle and he speaks of gone. This is Peter. He has learned what manner of spirit he was of.
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He was a great and we're in the Age of Grace. What does he say in this tenth verse?
The God of all grace who has told us unto his eternal glory By Christ Jesus. There's a story. Grace and glory. That's I guess the 84th or the 85th Psalm. He will give grace and glory. That's the order. Grace comes first. We have to learn that. Peter had to learn it. He did that. He seeks him. God is the God of all grace who has called us.
Unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus.
Just one more word on the first one.
Of our chapter.
Three things in the second verse elect according to the four knowledge of God's the Father.
Romans 8 brings that out.
But how does it come to us? Through the sanctification of the Spirit. This is the age of the Holy Spirit, and that sanctification that's setting apart of the Holy Spirit is an actual work in it. If you're saved by grace, the Spirit of God has set you apart. Sanctification of the Spirit is an actual work of the Spirit in US.
And then?
Orderly, sanctified, too were to obey. We have to learn how to conduct ourselves as believers and to obedience.
And the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ, the obedience of Jesus Christ is that you and I are to obey as Christ obey He obeyed as delighting to do His Father's will. Now when we get saved, we got a spirit that can and does do that with us.
So we're set apart.
Marked out to obey his Chrysler buyer. Obeyed. When there. Then there's this sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's the that's the application of the blood. That's what blend us from our sins, these three things.
Sanctified. And then the obedience of Christ and the way, Olivia, the blood of Christ.
Then he began to embrace it.
In order to really understand the force of this passage.
We have to turn back, he's writing to the says to the strangers scattered throughout Panasonic murders of the It's really writing to to Jews that were dispersed in these different places.
In the world to turn back to Exodus 24, I believe it is.
Exodus 24.
When they got the law.
In verse 3.
And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice, and said all the words which the Lord hath said, Will we do? So they committed themselves to obey, to obedience to the law. And then it says, Moses wrote all the words of the Lord, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar.
And you read on a little.
And.
Verse seven he took the book of the covenant and read in the audience of the people, and they said all that the Lord had said, Will we do?
And be obedient. Verse 8 Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, behold the blood of the covenant which the Lord had made with you concerning all these words. And here you have these same two things We have obedience that they commit themselves to having heard the law, And then the blood is sprinkled on the book and also on them as a sign of death.
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To the disobedience, should they not obey, they would pay with their lives and.
So you have these two same things, except in a very different sense. They committed themselves to a legal obedience, failing in that the result was death and judgment signified by the blood.
Blood speaks of the death, but here they're sanctified to the obedience of Christ, not their own obedience, which they failed in, but to the obedience of Christ. His Clem has just told us to obey as he obeyed, and not to judgement. Should we fail in that obedience, but to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ which sets us before God in perfect acceptance.
Even if we fail in the obedience, and we know we do so, it's an entirely different thought. It's the result of grace, isn't it? We are sanctified to obey as Christ obeyed. And should we fail in that we know we all do. We're sanctified to the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ. That doesn't speak of judgment, that speaks of salvation. So we have the same two things, but used it in a very different sense from what Israel committed themselves to when they heard the law.
Thank God we're not under the law.
But we're under grace. This is what Peter is bringing out here.
So he says at the end of verse 2, Grace unto you, and peace will multiply.
Well, the.
Living hope in verse three, with a different hope from what Israel could take up under fleshly Lockheed. They would have lived if they kept the law, but that didn't work.
What would you say about Begotten again?
Wouldn't you say he took them up once?
On the ground of law, that is. They had committed themselves to that and failed in it, but now he's taken this, he's taken these to each other.
By grace.
Taking them up by grace.
And that produces, through the work of God and the Spirit in them and in us, a living hope, a hope that can never, ever change. God tested the first man, and it turned out quickly to be a dead hope. He couldn't do it.
And it's according to his abundant mercy.
How they needed mercy. They were guilty, were they not. They had failed. They had not kept the law. They were guilty. They were deserving only of judgment and death. But His mercy is abundant mercy.
That's Ephesians 2. But God, who is rich in his mercy, who is great lover with his love, and we were dead in trespasses and saying lawbreakers, guilty, helpless, who wants to do nothing.
But the mercy of God comes in and does everything for us, so we have a living hope now.
By the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, we have one man who is already reached the glory. He came down in grace and walked in perfect grace.
Dying under the penalty of a broken law occurred for the curse, and brought life and incorruptibility to light through the gospel and has reached the end of the course. There is a man in the glory.
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In Romans 9, we are called vessels of mercy.
Vessels of mercy and trophies of His grace, to have a sense of that in our souls, that it's nothing we have done.
It's all the work of Christ. Christ obeyed even unto death, and that the death of the cross and that has secured our eternal salvation through His precious blood shed their cross. And it's an abundant mercy that has been bestowed upon us.
Nothing we have done. It's all His work and it's all His mercy and grace that has brought us into blessing.
The strangest thing is a proud Christian. Because in order to become a Christian, we have to give up our pride, don't we? To give it up completely and hold our We're lost and guilty and sinners, and we're the only of judgment.
The hope that the Jew had had he obeyed the law, was an earthly hope.
Was blessing here on earth. But he's talking here about the heavenly hope. Yet we got this again unto a living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled. And that fate is not away reserved in heaven for you. It's not an earthly hope. It's not something that can fade and perish and become corrupted. It's that which is eternally secure and sure and certain.
That is ours now in Christ.
They had hope for in the mind of the Israelites, they had hope for glory on earth, and they're going to, and that nation is going to have it in the coming days. But in the meantime, this church period.
There is what?
Paul refers to as the Israel of God, that is a little remnant.
Who presently believe in Christ and have been added to the assembly preserved there, But it is mercy, and so.
Paul says that in room 11 That they would be partakers of York, That is the Gentiles.
We have been brought in by the mercy of God, and Israel would be brought in in a coming day by the mercy of God. But here presently there were these Jews who were scattered throughout because of their disobedience. And that's what Moses had promised them, that if they disobeyed God, or God had promised them, he would scatter them. But if in those distant lands they turned to the Lord, he would gather them again.
But all of that is future and on hold, but for the present. The Lord had saved this company of Jews, Paul says, the remnant of the Jews. And they're given a hope before them now in heaven. But the principles apply to you and me, even as Gentiles, you know, wouldn't say of us has begotten us again or in the next chapter.
Year Return to the Bishop and shepherd of your souls. We We never had a relationship with the Lord at all, without God and without hope. But God has come in and on the same principles, and He has given us a future hope. We're saved in hope Our salvation isn't realized in this life, though we have it now. So this epistle will be of real interest to us because.
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What it makes us here on earth as those who have no country and we're just pilgrims and strangers, We don't. We no longer. There's nothing down here that we belong to. And so this chapter and this epistle is of real interest to us because it will affect how we hold things down here. So you might say this Jew.
The Jewish believer here, he could be quite discouraged.
Because having put his faith in Christ, all that it did was complicate his life and bring additional sufferings. It was bad enough being a Jew, but now being a believing Jew, not only was he suffering from nation, but from his own countrymen. They hated him for having put his trust in Christ. So down here our faith in the Lord adds affliction to trials to our lives that we never supposed would be.
No, We came to the lawyer. We thought, well, it's going to be all well now. We've put our trust in Christ. Everything's going to be OK. But oftentimes, and characteristically, just the opposite is true. So the epistle is written to encourage faith to wait because we have something eternal into heavens. It was read a little bit ago, the eternal glory.
Before the present, we should just expect.
Suffering and be content with it.
In the second chapter, in verse nine, Peter says to this the leading elect.
Company of Saints among the Jews, you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood and holy nation, a peculiar people. And that's what Israel was to be. If you look at Exodus 19, I think it is.
He had chosen them to be that well, they had failed completely in that and forfeited it because of their disobedience. And now he's find those very things to this company that had received the Messiah, the Lord Jesus as the true Messiah. He says that you should show forth the praises of him who had called you out of darkness in his marvelous light, which in time passed were not a people. Many apply that to the Gentiles. I think it's referring here.
To the fact that on the nation of Israel Lo am I not my people was written upon them. And so he says in time past you were not a people, but are now the people of God, which had not obtained mercy. Long Mohammed not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy. That's still future for the nation. But the remnant of Jews who believe in this present day, as Henry was just saying, come under this now.
And they are now his people, and they're the ones that have obtained mercy. Well, of course we Gentiles enjoy that too, but not quite in the same sense that it applied to the Jew. To be a Jew was to be persecuted for being a Jew and also a Christian now. And so they got double persecution.
Henry, you mentioned the Israel of God. I believe that expression is in Galatians.
Six and verse 16. I'd like for you to enlarge upon that a little bit more because I think it fits with was what's being said.
There is a verse that's helpful to me in.
Profit my acre into.
Chapter 5.
And it speaks of, I believe, the present Israel of God, and her position before God and.
And that's the remnant of from amongst the Jews who trusted Christ. All of the figure of them pre trusted in Christ, but in the mic of chapter 5.
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In verse three it says Therefore will he give?
Them up until the time that she would travail at her brought forth.
Now Israel is going to have to go into travail to bring forth and that will answer to the tribulation period before she is brought into her proper hope. That is the millennial blessing of Christ. But there is a rim that it says she would feel it. That's all. For then the remnant of his brethren shall return to the children of Israel now.
Again, at the hands of their own countrymen.
Because of their true faith in Jehovah. But at the present time that remnant is in the assembly depicted typically as a city of refuge where the man Slayer could flee. So Paul takes advantage of that passage and says albeit I obtain mercy for I did it in ignorantly and in unbelief. So he identifies himself with that remnant at the present time from a monster Israelites.
Who have been placed into the church and their preserves until such a time when the Lord will take the nation up again, and a little remnant will return to Israel. Now you might say, take it out of the assembly. I speak only as what they represent, and identify again with that nation, but simply arrive there.
So that verse in Galatians 616 read it as many as walk according to this rule. That's the rule of the new creation.
Peace beyond them and mercy and upon the Israel of God. That would be the believing Jews in this present day. You get that also in Romans chapter 2.
Romans chapter 2 verse 28. For he is not a Jew, which is 1 outwardly, neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh. But he is a Jew, which is 1 inwardly. And circumcision is that of the heart in the spirit and in the letter. Whose praise? That's what Jew the Jew means. Jew comes from Judah, which means praise, not a little in the letter, but whose praise is not of men but of God.
So the true Jew today, the true Israel of God, are those that believe Jews, that believe. And that's what they're rights to, isn't it?
To the Jews that believe the elect.
You have that feather Chuck in again. I'm going towards the Millennial day in Chapter 30 of Deuteronomy.
Says in verse 6, the Lord thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed to love the Lord thy God with all thine heart. Well they promised to do that under the law, but they had no heart capable of doing it. But the Lord will. Peter uses the expression in our chapter being born again.
He will cause that remnant to be born again, and they will have a heart capable of loving it. It will be a circumcised heart.
And it will be by mercy.
That's mentioned in the chapter of League 2. The Lord will have mercy on them and gather them out of the nations from which they have been scattered. But.
Then when it says peace be upon thee and upon the Israel, Christ shows that we move in the same on the same principles. And so we can learn from this, if this, so that the Lord is looking for a response from our heart.
He is interested in.
Simply correctness in outward form, and for taking up things in the way of a duty. But he is looking for in our lives the outflow from our hearts that bring us into obedience, The obedience of Christ the Lord never with his obedience to God. It was an obedience of joy.
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I delight to do thy will, O God, it was something that he delighted to do.
Not something that was exacted from him. Well, the same thing is true for you and I as believers. He has been given a heart that he likes to do the will of God and so we can take up this chapter and see the pentacles.
So the subject is that remnant from amongst Israel.
The principles, Paul says they would be saved by your mercy, and if they mercy that faith them that save the Gentiles save them. And so it's a great interest to it isn't.
You mentioned their heart in Deuteronomy 5, where the law is given.
After he he gave the law.
Verse 28 The Lord heard the voice of your words when he spake unto me. And the Lord said unto me, I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken unto thee. They have well said, All that they have spoken, they have said, All that the Lord has spoken, We will do and obey. And then he says in verse 29 all that there were such a heart in them, that they would fear me and keep all my commandments always.
That it might be well with them and with their children forever. He knew they didn't have the heart. He knew that the old nature which they had was not capable of keeping His word, his law. And they were self confident. They thought they could do it in their own strength. They could not. And when we think we can do it in our own strength, we do not know our own hearts.
And we haven't really learned the sense of mercy and grace.
He brings up the inheritance next and when they could not and did not get the inheritance under the law.
God comes in.
And immersion. Grace saves them and keeps them. And us who are brought in under the same principles, mercy and next, we get here.
To an inheritance incorruptible, you've begotten us under living hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead verse 4 to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. So God tells them, I'm going to keep the inheritance, I'm going to have a people there to have it.
So in principle, he keeps us too. He saves our souls and keeps us, and he will bring us into that inheritance too. It's kept for us. We're kept by the power of God through faith under salvation, ready to be revealed in the fifth verse.
That's the salvation through the desert journey.
In contrast, already verse nine, we have the end of our faith, even the salvation of our souls.
Gentile Jews get the salvation of the soul and God takes care of the inheritance too for us.
When salvation is mentioned in the Old Testament, it almost always refers to deliverance from their enemies. Israel's deliverance from their enemies. It had to do with an earthly deliverance. The salvation of the soul. The He talks about in verse 9 is Christian truth.
Not Jewish truth. Don't believe they had that truth. In the Old Testament, salvation of the soul was If you were born in Israelite, whether you were born again or not, you were part of that favored nation of Israel. That is, the issue of new birth as such was not raised then. The Lord Jesus taught Nicodemus about that, that being a Jew was not enough. And if you notice in the New Testament when he talks about the new birth being born again.
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He always uses it.
Being born again is always used in dressing Jews.
Because their tendency was to trust in their first birth. We have Abraham for our father. The Lord said no, that won't do. You must be born again. Now the gentile doesn't have to be born told he needs to be born again because he wasn't trusting in his first birth like the Jew was.
He needed to be quickened. He needed a life, a new life. Of course, it's the same operation of the Spirit, just put in a different way. The quickening of the spirit and new birth are one and the same thing, but it's the being born again that's applied to Israel, to the Jew, because he was trusting in his first birth.
And he needed to be told he needed a new birth, a new life, a new beginning altogether.
I.
It's a wonderful thing. How God.
Orders what he tells us here.
Speaking about strangers and pilgrims, as the Jew was, and in a spiritual way as we are as well. And what is it that is going to draw out our hearts to follow him and to look on? And the Lord gives us right in the beginning of an epistle that takes up a lot of suffering. He gives us at the very beginning those things that would set our hearts and establish us in a way that.
Would have us to go on.
1St is to whom we have the relationship is blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and it's important to know whom we are related to that we might go on. And then he brings before us this living hope that is ours, and it's founded on the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. Almost every hope, if not every hope of man, that he really strives for, ends with death.
Man always looks for things, but if you tell them you're going to die tomorrow, what does that do to his host? In most cases, that's the end of them. In fact, he might say, I'll give anything I have or can accumulate if there's a way to save me from death. And yet, what is it that encourages us? We have a hope which is based upon the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. That is, we have a hope that is beyond death, and that death has already been conquered for us. And then it brings before us the wonderful inheritance that is to be ours.
And we need to remind ourselves of that because whenever present difficulty or trouble of the way of life comes in, then the heart tends to get discouraged and down and give up sometimes and say, well, it's not worth it, it's it's too hard, it's too difficult and so on. So it's a gracious provision for us that in the very beginning of this epistle we are given those things that would attract our hearts, that we might respond, that we might go on.
And continued the journey to the end in faith and confidence, until the Lord gives us the full realization of our hope, which is to be with Him and like Him in his very presence.
Oh, it changes our lives, brother Don. If if Christ is our life and we can set our minds on things above how it affects the way we live for the present. Because.
As natural men, the earth is our natural habitat and it takes the energy of faith and virtue. Peter Peter speaks of later.
To overcome our natural tendency to live down here. And for the present time. It was doubly hard for the Jew because he had a little piece of land over there that he could say this is mine. We speak, and rightfully so, of this is our country, but we don't have this isn't our country, but they do have a little country over there, but they had to put that all in the backs of their minds.
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And realize that they were going to now live for the future.
That's what the Lord would have each one of us to be exercised. What are we living for, today or for the future?
The question in that.
5th verse who are kept by the power of God through faith.
Unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Verse 9 talks about receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls. But isn't verse five looking on to?
That which is still future.
I'm asking the question. I'm just thinking we don't have time to turn to it, but.
In Loop 2, Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist prophecy and he said raise up a horn of salvation. Believe it's coming in the line of David and Jesus Christ. Inform them.
And he is the only one that can bring the Jews into the fullness of everything, and us too, that we're going to get. So I would suggest that salvation, ready to be revealed, is the whole thing. Perhaps he always looked down. The grace praises the end of prophecy. And the end of the House of Light of David is in that chapter too. That's the truth. That's Jesus.
He's the one that's going to restore all that he didn't take away the salvation To be ready to reveal, I think is the full thing that Christ gets at the end.
For the salvation of the body is the first thing we want, isn't it? We'll get that pretty soon.
I.
#10
Grace is the sweetest.
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One that falls can't swallow and jump to the ground.
Floor and creation of our Creator.
Father and our Lord Jesus.
Thank you for what we have indeed, Lord Jesus.
We thank you while we presently enjoy the salvation of our soul, that there is coming a time manifestation of the sons of God, where they will be shown to all that salvation that we have, But as we wait for it a full blessed Savior, We pray that we may even know about ourselves and our sons of God in the midst of appropriate and perverse generation.
Help us, our God and Father.
And strengthen our faith to go on and confidence in Thy word and entrusting indeed and or Father that do not have any way dishonesty. We thank you for what thou hast done saving us and calling us with the heavenly calling our Father we get nice and precious being our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen, Amen. Amen.
1 Peter 1
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Father, we thank thee again for the words of this hymn we have sung together.
We do trust that.
These words express the thoughts of our hearts.
Surely indeed.
Thou must lead us, blessed Savior, through the desert, for without thee we cannot go.
But we have also sung together not shall move us while we see thee Savior dying.
We know how easily we sing these words, and surely we know the truth of them in our heads.
But all we pray that it may be true in our hearts.
We do own how easily things do move us.
How easily there are things which discourage us in the pathway of faith. How easily there are things which occupy us with everything except Thyself. Lord Jesus, we own this before Thee, but we thank Thee for the desire in our hearts to go after Thee. We thank Thee for Thy word in our hands. We thank Thee for thy Holy Spirit here to make it good to it.
And we thank the Lord Jesus, the Thou art that object for our souls.
And so we pray that as we are here before thee, that once again thou will just minister as thou dost see the need. Whatever the character of this meeting should be, we pray that it might be of myself, and first of all for thy glory, and then for our blessing. For we ask it in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Amen.
So now for a season if needs be here and having this.
Trial of your faith to be much more precious.
Who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you, searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ, which was in them to signify when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves but unto us they'd administer the things which are now reported unto you.
By them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, which things the angels desire to look into.
Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and hope to the end for the grace that is to be brought unto you as the revelation of Jesus Christ as obedient children, not fashioning yourselves according to the former lust and your ignorance, But as he which has called you, is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written, be equally for I am holy. And if you call on the Father, who, without respect of persons judgeth according to every man's work, pass the time of your sojourning here in fear, for as much as you know that you were not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold.
From your vain conversation received by tradition from your Father's, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a land without blemish and without spot, who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times. For you who by him to believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave me glory, that your faith and hope might be in God, seeing ye have purified your souls, and obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unseamed love of the brethren, see that you love one another with pure heart, fervently.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
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For all flesh is grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endures forever, and this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
Mother David, if you had turned to look to and read the Last Verses of Luke chapter 2, there seems to be a relationship between what Zacharias.
Wrote and what Peter is writing here. At least I discerned that from what was said this morning. If you would read in Luke 2.
Verse 67 to the end.
Chapter One, Chapter One is usually yes.
Luke Chapter one then and verse 67.
And his father was Zacharias. And his father Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost and prophesied, saying, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel. For he has visited and redeemed his people, and has raised up an horn of salvation for us in the House of his servant David, as he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets, which have been since the world began, That we should be saved from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers, and to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swear to our father Abraham.
That he would grant unto us, that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies, might serve him without fear in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life. And thou, child, shall be called the prophet of the highest. For thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways to give knowledge of salvation unto his people, by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God, whereby the dayspring from on high has visited us to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death to guide our feet into the way of peace.
And the child grew and waxed strong in spirit and within the desert, until the day of his showing unto Israel.
And this gives us the right expectation of a godly Jew when Jesus came the 1St.
That thing of it is that Israel wouldn't have this.
And so it wasn't fulfilled then.
This within the plan of God. There's no second thoughts with God.
And he hasn't given up on Israel. He's going to get them.
The Lord told the 12 disciples he shall sit on prayer Thrones. Judging the 12 tribes of Israel that's still going to take place. What has happened for us Gentiles to enjoy is that because the Jews did not take the Messiah but rejected him?
God has over on all bounds of nationalities.
And it's not birthed by natural birth, as we heard this morning, but it's quickened, born of God that brings us Gentiles in but the very language of Zachariah, who was a contemporary or judge with Peter.
And.
He begins here, Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for he had visited and redeemed his people, and had raised up what and horn of salvation, the power of salvation, for us, in the House of his servant David.
Now the true David is going to get that the son of David.
It's going to get that place and it's the power of salvation, but now we've got.
Salvation in our chapter. The questions were asked this morning about.
The.
Ready. Salvation. Ready to be revealed.
In the last time in our fifth verse.
Well, I answered that I'm not satisfied with what I said.
That salvation certainly is the rapture for us who are sitting here.
And the salvation of the body.
But the good of the Lord he is the horn of salvation.
He's the true son of David and he's going to get that power and redeem his people, that is nationally, there'll be a resurrection for them. We heard some nice words about the Israel of God this morning and now we come in on the same.
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Principles of the blessings and the salvation of the body and the salvation of the soul. There's two other things.
In verse 7.
To praise and to honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus, he speaks of the appearance. Now on the 13th verse he speaks of the revelation of Jesus Christ.
I suppose he is appearing as when Jesus manifests himself to whoever he manifests himself to.
But this Grace and Peter writes about grace. He learned grace, the 13th verse. It's tremendous to me to think of this. Gird up the loins of your mind and be sober and hope to the end. That's practical exhortation for you and I are sitting here.
For the grace that is to be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. I've often thought of that. And we've gotten grace, grace upon grace.
But it seems to me that the first time that you see Jesus, the first time that I see Jesus, will be the revelation of Jesus Christ and the graceful just magnify and be fuller than anyone can anticipate now. So grace is the subject that Peter brings before us quite a bit.
But some remarks were made about suffering. So we begin here.
The trial of your faith. What's that? What's the trial of your faith?
To Thomas.
The Lord said, Because thou hast seen me, thou hast relieved. Blessed are they that have not seen me, and yet have believed.
It's faith all the way through. To believe God, it's.
Test of faith.
We say we believe God.
Paul said it as he was about to be shipwrecked, he heard the words of the Lord speaking, I believe God.
That test of faith seems to me to come every day. Do you believe God? Do I believe God?
Well, it's a precious faith.
Could we suggest that we get two things here in this in these six and 7th verses which ultimately the human mind cannot really put together? I don't mean that we can't in inexperience, but there are two things here that are difficult to understand when the Lord allows trials and sufferings in our lives down here.
Unquestionably, in the life of every believer, these two things are present.
On the one hand, there is the trial of your faith as we get in verse 7. The proving of your faith, we could say.
And the reality of what is within is proved by the way that we go through the trial, isn't it?
If an automobile manufacturer gets a new car, a new model ready.
They put it through some very severe trials, don't they, before they put it on the road? Sometimes we might wonder about that, but they apparently do, and they test it under very severe conditions and if the believer always had an easy pathway.
Oh, the world could look on and say, well, no wonder they're happy. No wonder they're at peace. Everything goes well for them. But here it says that the trial of your faith.
Being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
That's what it's all going to be. The time of suffering down here is going to result in praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
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But then with each one of us.
There's the need to be, isn't there, with our blessed Savior, There was not. He was tempted, He was tested, and nothing but the fullness of all that he was shone out. But in verse six it says, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptation. And could we suggest that every trial that you and I go through has a mixture in some way of those two things? No doubt there is the trial of our faith which the Lord is going to.
Show is real and which will result in praise and honor and glory at his appearing. But then there's the needs be that I have to go to the Lord about because there no doubt is something in the trial for me, Something that the Lord is teaching me, something that I need to learn, something that He is attempting to purify by putting me through that trial. Well, sometimes it's difficult, isn't it, to say where one leads on and the other takes over.
Sometimes we can know a person very, very well and yet make a wrong judgment about those things. But in the presence of God, I believe the individual involved, by being before the Lord can discover on the one hand what is the trial of our faith that is going to result in praise and honor and glory, And what is for blessing and for correction and for the needs be that's mentioned in verse 6. So I've enjoyed this in my own soul that here are two things.
Which the human mind cannot totally reconcile. And yet the individual going through the trial realizing that there's always an admixture of those two, can discover it in the Lorde presence and on the one hand get the blessing from it, but on the other hand be encouraged by knowing that it is the trial of his faith that is going to result in praise and honor and glory.
I'd like to ask a question and it's an honest question.
In verse five it says.
Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. And that was brought before us this morning, No doubt as that which is the full realization of everything that Christ has won for us, when we shall be freed from the presence of sin, when we'll have our glorified bodies. And in Peter no doubt it is looked at in a general way.
As that which will be ours at the end of the pathway.
But then the reference to it in verse 9 seems to imply, and this is the question, does the reference to that in verse nine, in the way that it's worded, receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls? Does it imply that if I go through a trial in the right way, that if I am before the Lord about it in the midst of suffering down here?
But if that Blessed One is before me as we get in verse 8.
If I am really rejoicing with joy, unspeakable and full of glory, is there the sense in verse nine that I can enjoy in my soul now, something of what I am going to enjoy in its fullness in the coming day? Is that a correct thought?
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Well, that's always in the mind of God, that his people should enjoy everything. They can enjoy everything that's made known, these things rightly under you that your joy might be.
Polls where John puts it.
Because they because they helped them out in the new translation on verse 9.
Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, the note reads literally. Salvation of souls, in contrast with temporal deliverances to which, as Jews, they were accustomed to look.
Receiving the salvation of your soul.
It was brought out this morning. That was not something that the Old Testament dealt with. It was the temporal deliverance that the Old Testament dealt with.
But here he's talking about soul salvation.
Brother Bill, what you say is?
Born out in that verse. Eight, though now you see him, not it, it it it isn't revealed yet, but even though it's not revealed to us, we don't see it, nor does anyone else see it Yet. Believing that is by faith. We rejoice with joy, unspeakable and full of glory, That everyone who comes to know the Lord as their Savior has this privilege by faith.
Of entering into this joy, unspeakable and full of glory. And if we don't, it's because of the faith is lacking in our life, because faith takes the promises of God and makes them realities to our souls, so that we see more by faith than we do by our natural eye. And our whole life then is molded by that faith which is active. And that's why.
God is interested in exercising this faith and developing it in our lives so that it in reality becomes a truth that when we wake up in the morning and begin our day, it's a day that's going to be lived by faith. And so if it is, then presently we have this joy which is described here as unspeakable.
Perhaps we don't know too much about that joy, but it's open and available to each one of us. And the wonderful thing about it is that it doesn't depend on the circumstances. And so these trials come into the light. They can't touch the joy that is produced by faith.
Little brother, you can say to us one of the most helpful things on this that I ever heard of Everything that you have that you will always have, you have by faith, not by sight.
It forever looks my favorite.
Read that again when it's when the Mike didn't pick it up at the beginning. Everything that you have and I have as a believer, we have by faith that we will always have. What we have. By sight we will not always have, but what we have by faith we will always have.
And he goes on here to bring us into the glory and the Old Testament. Travis wrote about it. And they didn't understand their own writings. Verse ten of which salvation. The prophets have inquired and searched diligently. I judge that they read their own writings. They didn't understand them, perhaps who prophesied of the grace that should be?
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Should come under you. They seem to know, At least it states here that there was a grace that was going to come to the following people.
And then the 11Th verse goes with it searching what?
Or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them. And you have the Spirit of Christ in you. And I he was in the prophets writing these things.
Writing for us and bringing thoughts concerning us, A development of the plan of God.
Now does it come in? Who testified?
Beforehand of the sufferings of Christ.
And the next noun should be for and the glories that should follow. And the glories are infinite because they are the glories of Christ, and that's the order brethren sufferings. We shouldn't think it's strange concerning the fire trial that comes upon us, but look on to the glories that shall follow.
And really, I think we're getting very close to getting into it. Both Peter and Paul use that word, unspeakable.
Verse 8. Joy unspeakable and full of glory.
Paul was caught up to that glory, and he saw and heard things that were unspeakable. He couldn't even write them down. Well, that's what's coming.
Did you ever think about David and Isaiah?
Writing.
And this 12Th verse, unto whom it was revealed that.
Not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you, with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven.
Which things the angels desire to look into? Not only did the prophets consider and wonder about what they wrote, the Spirit of Christ in them, giving the words.
And they couldn't understand it and see it. And the angels can't either. But you and I can. What a revelation has been brought out in this age in which you and I live, and we're down at the end of it if you consider the Writings, the prophets.
Writing back in Old Testament times, then picking it up in the time of the Lord and that century that followed. Bringing to completeness the Bible so that it's all given to us.
Paul writing the last subject matter and completing that. And there it was. And how many people knew about it back in the first, second And in the Dark Ages, how many people knew about these wonderful things?
Not very many, but God in his plan.
He let man, maybe 'cause man to produce the printing press, and the Bible was printed in many different languages three and four and 500 years ago, and has been spread over almost the whole world now.
Well, that's that's words that are written down.
Wonderful to have them and we've got the whole thing.
But besides that, there was the recovery of the truth.
So that beginning 170 years ago more or less the light of the truth.
Now the Poles doctrine and of the New Testament doctrine was brought out completely, I believe, and has been spread over.
Much of the Western world we're sitting here with, perhaps.
More current knowledge here in this nation, maybe in this place, than anybody in the world has ever had before in the history of man. How much do we appreciate, How much do we value these wonderful things? And that unspeakable glory is just around the corner? But we have triumphs. We have fiery trials, hard trials. Things have come up in my lifetime I've never dreamed would ever come up.
00:30:24
Well, there must be a need to be there, must need to be shaken up.
And learn to appreciate the truth and what we have got and the expectation of that living hope being fully brought out at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
And the revelation of Jesus Christ. Peter uses both words.
Chuck, what's the difference between appearing in Revelation here in this chapter?
Yeah, I I don't know what distinction to make.
See what he's going to say about appearing and revelation.
I don't know a difference between them.
We look forward with anticipation to the day when our Lord Jesus Christ will.
Have his place in the world that rejected him.
And so it goes beyond what we speak of as the rapture to that time when our Lord is going to have God is going to give him the kingdoms of this earth as his own, and his own people will be identified with him in that time and in that day.
And so our lives today are to be characterized as people who are waiting for the one who loves them to come to take them to be with himself. That we might see him face to face, but more than that, that he might have his place.
And we will be identified with him in it.
I'd like to comment on that one version Titus that we used so often. Perhaps ask a question too.
Titus 2.
13.
I'll read from verse 11 such choice ministry here Titus 211. For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. Now that's what we're getting about salvation that Peter writes about.
It's appeared to all men, not just the Jews.
Teaching us it teaches us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live righteous, soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. That's a clear and exhortation you can get as to your behavior down here and what is desired of the believer. But we have an outlook looking for the blessed hope.
And the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Sometimes I think we pull this verse apart too much.
There are not 3 comings of the Lord Jesus. There are two. He came and he is coming.
They're both aspects of the Second Coming are in this verse.
And I say for myself, maybe we pull them apart too much. It's all one coming.
He's going to come and call us up and the world won't see him.
But then he's going to come and manifest himself. He's going to appear and take control, which brings in judgment before the glory. But it's all one appearing. Jesus came and he is coming. We live in between those two comings. Well, we ought to look on to when Christ has his.
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What belongs to him? The first part of it is him getting us.
He's just going to call us up. He won't show himself to the world then, but it's all one appearing.
Once thought of God to glorify Christ and set him up over everything.
I just I just looked it up.
And at the end of verse 7 King James it says at the appearing of Jesus Christ Mr. Darby renders that the revelation of Jesus Christ and the end of verse 13 at the revelation of Jesus Christ. And the Greek word is the same in both places. So revelation is the same, but there is another word which is appearing or manifestation. And the two the two thoughts you reveal something or you manifest something.
Very, very similar thoughts, aren't they?
Maybe we ought to get some of the practical truth out of this going on to verse 13.
Wherefore, gird up the loins of your mind. That's the seed of strength.
God has created man with a mind.
That is the greatest part of the first creation, I think. That can't even commune and communicate with his Creator and it must be on God's basis.
Gird up the loins of your mind. Be sober.
And hope to the end don't give up. Faint not.
The.
End is the grace that's brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ when He appears to us, when He is revealed to us, when we see Him. All this time we must learn how to behave and soberly and seek to gain the light of the truth that God has for us. I think for our joy to press on while we're crying.
Because we are tried, we are tested, we do suffer. We know what pain is our Lord Jesus does to.
And he knows what death is.
He's the only one who knows what death is and has conquered it, so he feels with us.
Behold him that him whom thou lovest is sick, the sister said to Jesus. Well, he had compassion, He wept with them. He said, This sickness is not unto death, but to the glory of God. So he looks unto resurrection, and that's what's coming for those who have died in Christ. Resurrection and a change, and the glory for us, meanwhile, were to behave.
So to the end.
Or to hope perfectly or with perfect steadfastness.
New Translation reads it. It's really the word. Perfectly, consistently, constantly. Don't give up, don't turn aside out of discouragement, but persevere hope to the end, all the way through all the trials and difficulties. Having loved his own, he loved them unto the end. And he'll never cease loving us, no matter what we go through, no matter how we might fail. His love to us is always the same, perfectly He loves us. And so we are to hope in that way, isn't it not? Is it not?
So we are to hope and cling to him and keep going. Don't give up.
Persevere press on until he comes and reveals himself.
And what grace will then be brought to us at the revelation of Jesus Christ?
I was thinking, Brother Chuck, as you were speaking, that perhaps there's a little picture of that in the life of Caleb. You might look at that real quickly in Joshua chapter 14. Here was a man whose faith was severely tested. He knew what trials were.
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Joshua, Chapter 14.
And.
Verse six In the middle of the verse, Caleb, the son of Jeffy and of the king of Kanazite, said unto him, That's Joshua. Thou knowest the thing that the Lord said unto Moses, a man of God concerning me and thee. And Kadish Barney of 40 years old was I. When Moses is served, the Lord sent me from Kadish Barnea to spy the land, and I brought him word again as was in my heart. Now here's a test. Nevertheless, my brethren that went up with me made the heart of the people melt.
But I wholly followed the Lord my God. How did he do that? That was faith.
He had seen something and he was going to lay hold of that. He didn't give up because the people couldn't lay hold of it. But look at what goes on here.
He says in the end of verse 9.
That Moses had sworn to him that he was going to receive it, because thou hast totally followed the Lord my God. And now verse 10 Behold, the Lord hath kept me alive as he said these forty and five years. It was a long time, He wondered for a long time in the wilderness. What did he have to prove? He had seen something, and the children of Israel didn't go into it. But for 40 and five years he kept in that wilderness. He kept going on. And I love verse 11 as yet I am as strong this day.
As I was in the day that Moses sent me, As my strength was then, Even so is my strength now. For war both to go out and to come in. Wherefore now? Give me this mountain? Well, went through a lot of trials and testings, didn't he? But at the end of the path, his strength was just as as great as it was when he started 45 years before. That's what faith will do for us, brethren. Back in verse four, it talked about this inheritance that fadeth not away. If we try to walk and claim that in our own strength, it's going to fade away.
But that wasn't how Caleb was walking. He was walking in the strength of faith, and that inheritance was this good. 45 years later and he entered into the joy of it. He didn't give up. He was just as strong. So we can do that, but it's only by faith we can go on. Lots of trials, lots of difficulties, lots of sadness, lots of people that you might say that fell in the wilderness and didn't make it. Caleb went on, and his strength was just as strong at the end as when he started.
We're now in first class for the next few verses. We didn't notice that as we read the chapter earlier, but it says who are kept by the power of God and it doesn't stop there through faith. In other words, God's power is for us.
In every possible way. But it's only as strong as our faith is. So if we believe the promises of God, then God's power is for us. So we're not called to have that power. We're called upon to believe, and not only to believe, but to walk in it.
Let's make just a little a side comment on this. Do you really believe?
Do I really believe?
The Lord is in the midst of two or three gathered to his name.
Do you really believe that?
He is present.
When the Saints are so gathered.
Do we really believe that he is there if we do?
Now that's that's your faith. That's my faith. If we really believe it, if it's active, if we're hoping with perfect steadfastness to see him there in the midst of his gathered people.
Could we even entertain the thought of not being there?
The saddest thing that one encounters.
In traveling from assembly to assembly today is the very poor attendance.
Saints will come out Lord's Day Morning to the breaking of bread. The assembly also has a meeting in the evening, but using something some places you can count those that will be present on one hand.
Why is there so little energy among us to be to all the meetings? Why is that? What has happened to us?
00:45:16
When we allow that to take place.
All that we can come up with, 1000 reasons.
I failed in this and others have one is not pointing fingers, but we have to.
Ask ourselves. We're talking about faith. Faith is laying hold upon something we do not see.
It's laying hold upon God's word and acting upon it, not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together as the manner of some is. Even back then it was happening when Paul wrote those words. It was happening back then.
But pressing on.
Continuing being there.
Sisters.
I know come to some meetings and I look around for sisters that I expect always to be there.
And they're usually there. And if they're not, it's because of some sickness or some physical affliction where they can't get out.
But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about our state of soul that can take being amongst the Saints when gathered together. So what has happened to us? You go back not too many years ago and you come to a meeting and you know everyone will be out. It's not a question you don't say to your children. Well, should we go to meeting tonight? It's understood. We go to meeting. There's a meeting tonight we go.
But that has changed.
There is something that is settled among us, a casualness, an indifference to to the Word of God. Faith lays hold on Scripture, on the Word of God. God wants us there, even if we don't contribute where we fill a seat. And of course he wants us to be there and exercise to be there so we can we can help.
Give out us. Get out of him. Sisters don't take an audible part, but their presence is so valued and so needed and so important.
Maybe someone could?
Give us something you mentioned, Brother Clam, Something practical. Well, that's very practical, and it's certainly a need that is amongst us. It's not just amongst us, it's amongst Christian everywhere. There's a lethargy. There's the Laodicean indifferent latitude and Aryan spirit that has crept over us and we think we can take it or leave it. It doesn't matter, but it does matter. And the one that loses is our souls. We lose in our souls.
And the Saints lose because there are so few out.
Anything that will warm our hearts.
It's the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The sufferings of Christ.
And the glories that should follow. Peter speaks of it here.
We need the gospel. We need to realize what it cost Jesus to save my soul.
We need to think about his sufferings.
But he carries us on to the glories that shall be revealed.
I think of the way God called Abraham. It's in the 7th of Acts.
Told us by Stephen, the God of glory appeared unto our father Abraham, when he dwelt in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in China.
Now he was an idolater the 24th of Joshua tells us that.
But God appeared to him, and more than once.
I think for ourselves.
To be able to go on and persist in going on, we need to get a hold of that glory that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But lacrosse enters in but.
God would make known the glory.
And the Lord.
00:50:00
Took the same way to pick up Paul and cause him to be such a faithful servant.
Struck him down on the way to Damascus. Made him blind for three days.
And the glory of God was there the Lord Jesus.
Saul's words are Who art thou, Lord?
He knew the glory together. He knew there was a person there.
But he didn't know who that person that was Lord was.
And the answer was simple. I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest. We need to get a hold of the fact that Jesus, who went to the cross, is the Lord, and all that glory belongs to him. And then, if we believe what he said, he says, where two or three are gathered together into my name, there am I in the midst of them. We will be, we will want to be there. We will desire to be there. It'll be a joy to be there.
And to listen to some of that revelation which is written down here by the prophets.
Might mention that Peter goes on and gives us warning in a prophetic way in second.
Peter.
In second Peter.
The prophecy is taken up of what's going to happen in the coming day.
And it's told to us and based upon that there is a very.
Serious exhortation given to us.
We won't go into much of it, but in second Peter 3.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. Verse nine. That is what God has promised will come to pass.
But his long-suffering to us toward not willing that any should perish Now that's the character of the Lord today. He doesn't want anybody perishing.
But that all men should come to repentance. Then he tells us what the day of the Lord is.
Now listen to this. What the day of the Lord is, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, into which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with Ferrari. The earth also in the works that are therein, shall be burned up. Do you believe that? I do. That's in prophecy, seeing that in all these things shall be dissolved.
What manner of person? Here it is the exhortation. What manner of persons ought ye to be in all? What holy conversation we're getting in our chapter? Be holy, for I am holy. Holy conversation is what to characterize us. And godliness, then looking, looking on into that prophecy, looking for, and hasting unto the coming of the day of God past the day of the Lord.
In the day when all things are settled out, we're in or in that time, the heavens.
Being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
Nevertheless, we now that's us rather according to the promise we're talking about it. It's getting, it's given in the prophetic scripture the promise look for new heavens and new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
Wherefore, beloved, seeing that he looked for such things, be diligent, Let ye be found of him in peace in your local assemblies, without spot and blemish. Going on enjoying the Lord at the breaking of bread and the ministry meeting and growing in grace, is the last verse says Peter's last words are so precious.
Grow in grace, not law. Grow in grace.
And in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. And Peter has to break out and praise to him be glory both now and forever. Amen. So maybe we get stirred up and be more faithful being at meetings, brethren.
The great encouragement to me, a brother, Chuck said. Do you believe the Lord Jesus is in the midst? And I do.
00:55:09
And one of the prophets said, show them the pattern of the former house, or show them the pattern of the house. They might be ashamed, but look at the assembly in the Book of Revelation in chapter 21.
And we've spoken about the glory of the Lord, but there's glory that we're going to share in in that.
And it says in verse 9, Come, hit her, I will show thee the bride, the lamb's wife, and so on. And in verse 11 and having the glory of God, well this is not Paul's aspect of the assembly, but it's the assembly connected with the 12 apostles.
And it's the thought of the assembly in administration. And that's the thought of Matthew 18 and 20, only in Matthew 18.
It's administrating right now here on earth in the assembly.
A privilege, I believe.
I enjoyed by those.
Company. That company of people of two or three gathered to the Lord's name.
Rather than we either exist because of the Spirit of God gathering us together to the name of Christ, or we we are we're just another self-made group of brethren. But I believe we are an assembly that the Spirit of God has formed. And I've just enjoyed in recent months that when I leave this earth and step out of the little gathering their home in Des Moines.
It's just to step into it on the other side. I'm not going to have to change churches and it's going to step out of the two or three, the company of two or three forming that little Assembly of God here on earth into this glorious Jerusalem, which will take part not only during the millennial reign, in the administration of the millennial reign, but it's going to go on as the assembly.
For all eternity.
Well, now when you like to in that day when John gives the assembly, when it comes forth to share the reign of Christ during that millennial reign.
When you like to have been able to say, oh, I'm so glad.
That back there on earth I was at the prayer meeting. I came to the reading, and I was tired that night. Add to your fake virtue, that is to say, well, I believe the Lord is there, but.
And you let something overcome, you know, add virtue to it. Add power to that faith and go ahead and go. You won't be disappointed.
And you certainly won't be ashamed when the revelation of Jesus Christ and all that he has accomplished and everything is displayed as his work in that day. That's going to be a glorious church. It's going to, well, you can read about it, but that should Do you really believe you're going to be in that assembly? Then why wouldn't you want to be in this assembly here on earth? It's the same assembly.
Not going to be a different assembly.
Oh, let us forsake not the assembling of ourselves together, as the matter of some is. And I know what you mean, Brother Chucky. None of us here have ever been encouraged by an empty chair, have we?
No, David's place was empty. Or rather, it's.
What's his name? He wasn't there with the disciples. Thomas, his chair being empty, didn't encourage anyone.
But that state, But if if faith isn't active, that New Jerusalem doesn't mean anything to me. It's just something in the, perhaps even the distant future. If there's no faith there, it is the distant future. But if faith is there, and that's a living reality to my soul, that that's where I'm going to spend 1000 years in that assembly, why I'd want to be in that assembly here on earth.
As often as I can be.
01:00:08
The latter glory of that house will exceed its former glory.
It will surpass Pentecost. I speak in a figure.
OK.
153.
Spring. The water is free. All other streams are dry.
Whom had way more?
Than the heart and all of the rain flow.
All the rest of the day.
Open Mtg.
Open Mtg.
Open—R. Jaeger, T. Drown, R. Klassen
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.
Referred to in these meetings in First Peter.
But in the connection of faith in this first Peter one.
Verse 5.
And the verse is.
Speaking of us as believers but primarily to the strangers scattered throughout Asia Minor is in verse one. But Speaking of our position that we've been called.
To a wonderful portion were begotten again, verse 3.
According to his abundant mercy to a lively or living hope. But then it says who are kept.
By the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be ready to be revealed in the last time. And what throws my soul is to think that the great God.
God, whose power and majesty and glory are just beyond our words, to express that we're kept by that power.
Were kept by that power. But there's a key in that verse. God doesn't keep us by that power.
Except that we have the faith to open that power, if you will, and it's that thought of connecting it with faith, which appears in other places in the Scripture, that's on my heart.
If I expect to be kept by the power of God as I go along this earthly journey, I have to walk in the path of faith. I have to believe God's promises. I have to be able to fully trust Him, and that's when God's power is there. So now I'd like to look at some other portions. Now I'm going to look at one that's very familiar to us, and that's in Ephesians 28 and nine I often hear.
Grace referred to in the way that it's as if God is acting by grace in a sovereign way.
That grace is something that God exercises. But there is a very unique thing about grace that I found in reading the Scriptures and it's clear in this verse that's so familiar to us. Ephesians 28 and 9:00. Well, 8 is really the verse for by grace are ye saved? And it doesn't stop there. It says through faith.
And that is not of yourselves. That is a gift of God. But God's grace is not operative unless there's faith. And we have other scriptures to show that we might look at a few of them. In fact, we can look in Romans chapter 4.
We're Speaking of.
God's purposes and His plan, and where those of the Jews fit into this wonderful plan of salvation.
God's justification through faith.
And then in Speaking of that, and Abraham and Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. That's faith.
In verse 16 it says therefore in Romans 4 therefore it is of faith that it might be by grace.
In other words, that grace wasn't operative really, unless it was that faith, and then it was the grace. And another portion that is very striking to me is in First Timothy, where Paul gives an account in the first chapter of his walk before he was saved. He doesn't refer to the road of directly to the road to Damascus, but it certainly relates to that.
And we might read from verse 12 and First Timothy one. And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me for that. He counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry, who was before a blasphemer and a persecutor and injurious. But I obtained mercy because I did it ignorantly and unbelief. Now I'll just stop right there and cite a verse that's familiar to all of us.
That is, God says I will have mercy, upon whom I will have mercy.
And what God is saying, it has nothing to do with the one who is the object of that mercy. If I want to show mercy to that individual, I will. And this is really quite in contrast to the things that we're Speaking of where it's through faith for grace. For by grace are you saved through faith.
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And what we started with that verse in first Peter, where we're kept by the power of God.
Through faith, but when God has mercy, he's acting in a sovereign way. And that's exactly what we read here in First Timothy because we know there was no faith as we think of it on the part of the Apostle Paul. He was on the roads of Damascus. He was and he had already persecuted many. He was greatly feared by the early believers and they knew him to be a man that was really an enemy of the truth. And he he validate or he supports that thought here.
Describing himself before as a blasphemer, a persecutor and injurious. But what happened to him? He doesn't say anything about grace, but he says, But I obtain mercy.
Because I did it ignorantly in unbelief. There was number faith there. Paul did nothing other than that God chose him. He was a chosen vessel, as we know, and God showed him mercy. But notice the next verse. Because we know what happened on the road, the bright light from heaven. He was struck down and immediately he says Lord, and he knew that he was. And he asked who art thou, Lord and Jesus, whom thou persecute us? And he immediately believed. He immediately believed.
And he said, and he asked the Lord what he should do. So what happened then? Verse 14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant. And here it makes it so plain with faith, with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus. So when Paul got saved and he had that faith, then there was grace, then there was grace. And there was no grace before. It was purely mercy. God says I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy.
Well, really, the thought before me is the thought of faith.
And that we as believers, we walk by faith, we live by faith. These wonderful promises of God to us are ours by faith. We're kept by the power of God through faith. Therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God. We have a wonderful, wonderful portion as believers when we walk by faith. Now I I've often said this, but it's still I think it's worth thinking about to some of us who are older, remember a brother from Brooklyn by the name of Charles Kohler, who.
In his later years went about and ministered amongst the Saints and he was a lovely, lovely believer and it was my privilege when I was first gathered that he was still with us in Brooklyn. And I remember him saying what unbelieving believers we are now. That sounds as if it's a contradiction, but we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins. We're indwelt by the Holy Spirit. God makes it good to us and we know that we're saved. That's one of our proofs as a believer. Satan may attack us, but.
When all is said and done, we know.
In whom we have believed.
And so we have that. But then the question is, do we exercise faith in connection with every promise of God that we find in the Scriptures? And we know we have exceeding, wonderful, precious promises. Romans 8 is so lovely. You know, all things work together for good.
If God before us, who can be against us, why should we ever Fearfully we sing that in a hymn, since such a God is ours.
Do we believe his promises? So just to make us brief and just to make the thought plain.
Reading this at the beginning of our meetings yesterday when we took up the 1St chapter of First Peter, were kept by the power of God. Isn't that wonderful to think that it's not our power, it's not our cleverness, It isn't that which we would sit down and figure out how we can get out of this problem or that problem or even going to another person, even perhaps another believer, and say what should I do here or what should I do there?
But we each won as a believer.
Can call upon the promises of God that we find in this wonderful book and say, Lord, I believe you, I believe your promise to me, and I'm counting upon you. I'm sure if I were to ask how many here have had answered prayer, every hand would go up.
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A prayer is an act of faith. We're coming to the Lord, We're laying before Him.
Our problem, our question, whatever it may be, Scripture doesn't answer everything that comes up in our lives. We know that it does in principle.
But it won't tell us what we should do about buying a new car or things of that nature. But we can come to the Lord and faith and we can say, Lord I need help on this. Should I even do it? Should I do this or should I do that? We know that we get into trouble when we act in self will when we say I want to do that.
But when we act in faith and we look to the Lord and we have confidence that He loves us and He really wants to bless us, when we have confidence to know that even though we may be encountering a trial, He has a purpose in it. And sometimes a purpose may not even directly involve ourselves. It may affect those who are around us. It may be that the trial we have and the way we act under that trial can be used for the eternal blessing of someone else.
But we have that confidence in that faith. He's given us a wonderful promise. He'll never give us anything that we cannot bear. But with that trial will give us a way of escape. Do we believe that, or do we go to extreme measures sometimes when we're faced with a problem to avoid it?
No, the the basic line, the bottom line is faith. God loves us. God is for us. If he's for us, who can be against us?
Do we really believe that that's acting by faith now? We're kept by the power of God through faith. That's our path, brethren. And I'll say for myself that too often the tendency is to sit down and say, I'll figure this out and I'll research the problem or whatever, and by my own cleverness or efforts, I'll take care of this problem.
Know where to cast our cares upon the Lord because He cares for us. Do we really believe that? That's what's on my heart. We're kept by the power of God.
Through faith.
Could we turn to mark chapter 4?
Mark chapter 4.
Mark chapter 4 and verse 35.
And the same day when the even was come.
He saith unto them, Let us Passover unto the other side.
And when they had sent away the multitude, they took him even as he was.
In the ship.
And they were also with him other little ships, and there arose a great storm of wind.
And the waves beat into the ship so that it was now full.
And he was in the hinder part of the ship, asleep on a pillow. And they awake him, and say unto him, Master, carest thou not that we perish?
And he arose and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace.
Be still.
And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.
And he said unto them, Why are ye so fearful? How is it that ye have no faith?
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?
I just wanted to read this portion.
Because it is true that we are kept by the power of God through faith.
And yet at times our faith is so little, the Lord says, even as a.
It's not even as big as a grain of mustard seed.
And so many times in my life I've been conscious of the fact that there doesn't seem to be any faith in me as to my circumstances, as to.
Perhaps even at times as to my salvation when I was younger.
But it's wonderful that.
00:15:01
Underneath are the everlasting arms.
That these disciples, as the Lord said, they had no faith and yet revealed to them.
The Lord revealed Himself to them in such a wonderful and beautiful way.
And they feared exceedingly, and said one to another, What manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him? That the Lord Jesus in perfect grace acted towards his disciples not because of what was in them?
But out of the goodness of his own heart towards them.
And he secured their blessing. They were secure all the time.
In the ship even though.
It didn't feel like it.
And so while it is true that, and I believe what is said is true, that without faith it is impossible to please God, that we are not left to our faith to look at our faith to make ourselves.
The objects of faith, but instead to make Christ.
The focus and His grace and His love as He shows here. They didn't lose, as it's been said that the disciples never lost anything through the rebukes of the Lord.
What a wonderful thing was revealed to them that day, that the Lord was still with them.
That he was still in control of all their circumstances, still acting towards them in grace.
And so for us, the foundation of God stands sure the Lord.
Knoweth them that are his. I'd like to go back just for a moment, back to Psalms.
Psalm 61.
Psalm 61, verse 2.
Well, let's start with verse one. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth. Will I cry unto Thee? When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than I.
The Thou has been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in the Tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of Thy wings.
So sometimes, even when circumstances seem impossible, when it feels like we don't have enough faith, maybe even as to our salvation, there's a rock that is higher than us. We can cry out to God to lead us to that rock that is higher than us.
And it's Christ, it's the same rock. Christ is the living stone on which the church is built. He lays in Zion a living stone. And none that put their trust and believe in Him will ever be ashamed or confounded.
Down in Psalm 62, verse two, He only is my rock and my salvation.
He is my defense. I shall not be greatly moved.
Verse five My soul wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation. He is my defense. I shall not be moved, and God is my salvation and my glory, the rock of my strength and my refuges in God.
Trust in Him at all times, ye people, pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us.
And if we there's a beautiful progression in this song from verse 2, David says he only is my rock and my salvation. And he says I shall not be greatly moved.
Verse 5. Verse six, he says.
I shall not be moved. And in verse 7 the eye is gone, and he's fully trusting in the rock of his strength. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God.
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We may change, but God never changes, and so underneath us.
Forever those of us who have called on the name of the Lord for salvation, those who have trusted in Him.
The rock is underneath us. We may flail and.
Be cast about on the rock and feelings may go up and down, but the rock never moves.
It's unchangeable.
Just very briefly in Matthew Chapter 7.
Matthew Chapter 7, verse 24.
Whosoever here at these sayings, and mine and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, and it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock.
And we've often heard that it wasn't the house, it was the foundation that was underneath that house, in that house.
For us practically is hearing for practical ways in this world is for a practical walk. If we hear the words of Jesus and do them, He likens us unto a wise man which built his house upon a rock. And the rains come, and the floods come.
But they don't. They cannot harm the house because it's on a rock.
And finally in first Peter.
First Peter chapter 2 and verse 6.
Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone elect precious.
And he that believeth on him shall not be confounded unto you, therefore which believe he is precious.
And unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders disallow, the same has made the head of the corner.
And a stone of stumbling.
But for the youngest and the oldest alike, if we lay hold, if we put our trust in the Lord Jesus, He is that rock that lays in Zion, a chief cornerstone elect precious, and it's him.
It's him that makes it so that we are not confounded or ashamed.
One last verse in Matthew 16.
Matthew 16.
In verse 18.
I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The confession of Christ is the Son of the living God. The gates of hell shall not prevail against His church.
And so.
As to our eternal standing before God, as to our position, as to our daily circumstances.
It all depends on one thing and that is the person of the Lord Jesus.
There's one expression that we had before us yesterday that has been on my heart, and that is in first Peter one as well, and that is in verse 11.
Says, Searching what or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them, did signify, when he testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ.
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And the glory that should follow.
We know that.
After the Lord Jesus had risen from amongst the dead.
He came and joined company with the two that were on the road.
To Emmaus.
They were going.
Back again because they were discouraged.
And sometimes we too may be discouraged because we think of suffering as being a strange thing.
But the Lord Jesus.
In accompanying them.
Told them of the scriptures, all the scriptures concerning himself.
Of the sufferings of Christ and the glory.
That should follow. I'm thinking of an example in the Old Testament.
In First Samuel 22.
Concerning David.
And his rejection?
In first Samuel 22 it says David therefore departed thence and escaped to The Cave Adalam.
And when his brethren and his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And everyone that was in distress.
And everyone that was in debt.
And everyone that was discontented.
Gathered themselves onto him and he became a captain over them, and there were with him about 400 men.
I don't think we need to enlarge upon that story too much, but we know that David was fleeing from Saul.
Who was seeking his life?
But there were those that joined themselves to David. Why? Because he could give them.
Position and lands and so on. No.
There was nothing outward that David could give them.
But they appreciated and valued David.
David, beloved, is a picture of our precious Savior.
With whom we are identified, and now we are here in this world.
As sharing his sufferings here, well, we say we don't suffer too much.
Well, I think that God evaluates that.
I want to turn to a verse in Philippians.
I can find it.
Yes, it's in Philippians chapter one.
And verse 29.
For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also to suffer for His sake.
Do you ever feel it? It was a privilege to be able to suffer for the Lord Jesus.
The Spirit of God tells us that it indeed is a privilege it's given to us to be able to suffer for Him.
And we are living now in the scene of his rejection.
The name of Jesus is hated. Men will talk of God, but when you speak of that name of the Lord Jesus, they don't like it.
00:30:00
But when we think of the blessedness of being able to share in his sufferings, now it is.
Worth it?
And I would just like to share.
With you.
That we don't get a whole lot about what heaven is like because the glory is undescribable.
I remember my wife's father.
About six months or so before he passed away, he said to.
Another brother who was with him in the place, he says, you know Joe, he says I got a vision of the glory last night.
And he said you did. He says, What is the glory like?
And he says nobody can describe the glory.
And that is the way it is. But how do we know that it's going to be so positively marvelous and wonderful?
Turn with me to.
2nd Corinthians.
Chapter 12.
Verse 2.
I knew a man in Christ about 14 years ago.
Whether in the body I cannot tell, or whether out of the body I cannot tell, God knoweth.
Such and one caught up to the 3rd heaven and I knew such a man.
Whether in the body or out of the body I cannot tell. God knoweth how that he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory, yet not of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities.
When it says here this man, and we know who that man was, that was the apostle Paul, it says.
I heard unspeakable words which it is not lawful for a man to utter. It doesn't mean that it was against the law to utter those words, but there was words.
There were no words in the human language to be able to describe what the glory was like.
Well, how are we going to find out if it was not described what the glory was like? How are we going to know that it was so wonderful?
If we turn to the previous chapter.
And.
And read a little bit and 2nd Corinthians 11.
It says.
In verse 23.
Are they ministers of Christ? I speak of a fool. I am more in Labour's more abundant in stripes above measure, in prisons more often.
And death saw of the Jews five times received I-40 stripes. They won. Thrice I was beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I suffered shipwreck a night and a day. I have been in the deep, in journeyings often in perils of waters and perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city and perils in the wilderness, in perils.
In the sea, in perils among Paul's brethren, in weariness and painfulness, and watching so often in hunger and thirst, in fastings, often in cold and nakedness, besides those things that are without that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the churches. When we read an account like that, I don't believe that any of us are going to have to go through.
The sufferings that the apostle Paul went through when Saul of Tarsus was.
Struck down on the road to Damascus.
And.
The vision came to Ananias to go.
To this man, Saul.
00:35:00
The Spirit said to him.
He is a chosen vessel unto me, for I must need showing.
Him. How much I'm going to read it and get it right How he.
Go thy way, It's in Acts 915. Go thy way. For he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how great things he must suffer for my name's sake.
Paul was a chosen vessel by God himself.
To bear the sufferings of the Lord Jesus. What enabled him to bear all those sufferings that we read about?
In 2nd Corinthians 11.
I believe what gave him the strength and the power.
He saw Christ in glory.
And what is going to enable you and me to be able to endure sufferings?
Nothing less than that, to be able to see Christ in glory.
I don't believe that any of us will be able to see.
Now as the apostle Paul saw the Lord Jesus there in his glory.
But the very fact that he was willing to suffer for the name of Jesus tells us how wonderful the glory is.
He could say in First Corinthians.
Chapter 4.
He could say 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.
Paul, what are you saying? Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, could we look at those things that the beloved apostle Paul went through in 2nd Corinthians 11?
And call him a light affliction.
Paul could.
Because.
He got a glimpse of Christ and glory.
These things are written for you and for me to lay. Hold on. I don't believe that we would be.
It would make it much more easy for us to suffer for the Lord Jesus if we could only get a glimpse of the glory that awaits us.
And that's your portion and mine right now it seems like it's very difficult because we're living in a, a day of, of, of self affluence and, and in the self is the object.
Instead of that wonderful object that God has given us in the Lord Jesus.
God can say of him, This is my beloved Son, in whom is almighty light. God is so pleased with the Lord Jesus that He raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in glory.
And he has sent his spirit down to bring home a family.
Just like the Lord Jesus.
If you belong to Christ, you're part of that family.
And we have been given the privilege well here and now, to be able to suffer a little bit with him, to share in his sufferings.
We may shun from this, I know I do, and I I tremble even being up here Speaking of these things. But when I think of the glory that awaits us.
What is the sufferings of this little while? Just for a moment, and it's all going to be over.
00:40:01
Your life and my life. James tells us about a vapor which appears for a little while and then passeth away. There's nothing in this world that we have to seek or to lose. It's all far eclipsed by the glory.
Then one last.
Thought I would like to bring before us, and that is that in Psalm 19 it says.
The heavens declare the glory of God.
And the firmament show up his handiwork. I believe that the Spirit of God would give us a picture.
Of that glory.
In that verse, although we know that that speaks of the creation.
And truly, as we look up in God's heaven.
We are in awe because we cannot enter into the greatness of the glory of creation.
And it's beyond us because and.
Isaiah 55, it says.
My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord.
But as high as the heavens is above the earth.
So are my ways and your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts.
So we as we look into the heavens, it surpasses our mind. We can just see.
A vast man in his.
Intelligence and his quest to search out the heavens have never found the end of them. And yet for our God.
He knoweth all the stars, He calleth them all by their names. That's our God. That's the God we have to do with. That's the God that came down here. The God.
That became a man and hung upon a cross.
That's a God.
But when I returned to Revelation.
Chapter 21.
Beginning with the last clause of.
Verse 9.
Says come hit her.
I will show thee the bride.
The Lamb's wife.
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain.
And showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was upon like unto a stone most precious, even like a Jasper stone, clear as crystal. And then it goes on to describe the holy city.
But there we see the lamb the the the bride, the lambs wife.
You and I are going to be present in that glory.
And it's going to be a full display of the glory of his grace. What a wonderful thing that is.
It will eclipse.
His creatorial glory.
Because the Lord Jesus is there as the Lamb.
Who has brought?
You and me, poor sinners by nature and practice.
He has brought us there to display us before the universe.
What a marvelous thing that is. We can't possibly imagine it.
But.
We have, we can read it, and so we can see what the glory is really going to be like.
Are we willing, and I'd say this to myself, to share with him in his sufferings?
Just for a moment. Then comes the glory forever.
00:45:04
And a.
1.
Do We Live What We Teach?
Address—B. Imbeau
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.
Till chapter 43.
And we'll read 3 verses here.
Ezekiel 43 and verse 10.
And thou.
Son of Man.
Show the House to the House of Israel that they may be ashamed of their iniquities, and let them measure the pattern.
In amphibious chained of all that they have done, show them the form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof.
And all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof. And all the forms thereof, And all the laws thereof. And write it.
In their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof.
And all the ordinances thereof and do them. This is the law of the house.
Upon the top of the mountain, the whole limit thereof round about shall be most holy.
Behold, this is the law of the House.
I, and no doubt many others, were much exercised by.
Many of the comments made yesterday afternoon.
Some of the practical.
Results.
Some of our practical actions in connection with what the Lord has brought before us.
It seems that so much of scripture and I'm thinking at the moment of like prophecy.
Where the Lord has revealed thanks to His people.
And the expectation.
Number one, it was true #2 The Lord expected His people to know and to understand what was said.
But there was the expectation.
That even though some of those things were far off in the future.
He was expected that it was to affect their behavior.
At the moment.
In fact, much of prophecy.
Was given.
To bring the people of God to repentance.
Now.
And also strikes me that not only prophecy, which is something often the future, but that God tends to work that way.
And observe many times before that.
The epistles of Paul give, you know, a lot of teaching in the beginning parts and then what we often call practical things at the end.
That there's things for us to know and to appreciate.
But God expects that it will affect our pathway.
Of course, the subject that's before us is not necessarily what's here in Ezekiel, which was a temple that was to come.
But we've had before us some of the thoughts concerning the church.
And I have a question.
If I were in a household.
600 years ago.
And I was in a household of some means so that they were able to have a Bible.
And knowing that they were able to teach me how to read, which was not always two things you could take for granted 600 years ago.
What would I think about the Church of God?
It bothers me to ask that question of myself.
Because how much of my thoughts concerning God's word.
Has to do with my friends.
The home I was born in.
The folks who have spoken with me.
And how much have I really gleaned?
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As being taught by the Spirit of God.
In reading the word of God.
We sometimes hear the expression.
Well brother, practice what you preach.
You know, the reality of that is.
We preach what we practice.
And so often depending on our culture.
Depending on our set of friends.
We take the precious Word of God and we mold it to fit.
Our own thoughts.
And I trust that as we sit in these meetings from.
Day-to-day that.
We can be challenged to listen to the Word of God.
Hear what God is actually saying, taking the opportunities to mold our thoughts to God's thoughts.
And then molding our lives from that.
Show the house.
Let them measure the pattern.
Show them the form.
Of the house.
Let's turn to Ephesians chapter 5.
I'd like to make a comment which.
Number one is.
True #2 is sad. The comment is this.
I'm really hardly qualified.
To really speak a whole lot about the church.
You might nod in agreement. So yeah, it's true.
Why is it sad?
Because we are all in the church.
It's something that we should all be so familiar with in our conversation.
In the things that we just consider even from day-to-day, it should be so, so fluent in our minds.
That none of us should have to say, well, I feel kind of unqualified to talk about church.
And yet.
I know when I'm asked, what church do you go to?
You know, I'm not always real quick and and often afterwards I say, well, I wish I'd said, you know something a little different.
I'm just not fluent in it.
Like we all should be.
Yes, there are those that the Lord has raised up in a very special way, I believe, and they should be acknowledged as such. Who are teachers?
But it doesn't mean that I need to sit on the back row. And I am literally sitting on the back row.
That oh, well, you know, I let them talk about it, let them kind of work it out and really get the details and, and, you know, but I'll just coast.
Now the things of God.
Are for the people of God.
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Jude speaks.
Of the faith which was once delivered to the Saints.
That's all of us.
That's all of us.
To the six year old sitting here who belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
The faith has been delivered once.
Has been delivered to you.
And not only that.
But I need to know it.
In my own heart, and surely in my mind as well, but in my own heart.
My own being to have the thoughts of the word of God.
That I can enjoy at anytime because you know I am a member of the Church of God on Monday as well as on Lords Day.
Ephesians.
Chapter 5.
And the expression that I just.
Wanted to bring out verse 25.
As Christ.
Also loved the church and gave himself.
For it.
What more central event is there in the entire history of mankind than the death of the Lord Jesus Christ? Nothing.
As profound as moving.
As important to both God and to man, and indeed to all creation.
At that time when the Lord Jesus Christ was on the cross.
And in particular those three hours.
And of course, his whole work.
His death, shedding of blood, and the rising again from the dead.
It took that event.
To form the church.
It took that event to form.
The church.
It does not take a shovel.
And a cornerstone and a foundation to make.
Church.
It was the death of Christ.
And only the death of Christ.
Occasionally you'll hear expressions like, well we better get seated, you know, church starts in about 5 minutes.
Have you ever heard that? I have.
No.
The church started on the day of Pentecost.
Do you know that?
Show them the form of the house.
Do I know, do you know what the church is?
What makes it that the death of Christ formed the Church?
Perhaps you've heard the expression in one place or another. Well, you know, we should do things, we should behave in a certain way when we're at church.
If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, can you tell me? Can you tell me?
When you're not in the church.
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You're always in the church.
Every redeemed soul is in the Church.
At all times.
Show them the form of the house. It's just the way it is.
Turn with me please.
Acts.
Acts Chapter 19.
You're going to say this is a very odd passage to look at.
But you know, it's a passage that has an exception in it.
In most cases in Scripture.
In most cases in scripture where the word church is used.
What does church mean?
I think brother here mentioned it yesterday.
It means called out ones, called out ones.
And.
That's what it means. That's the word that we read when we read in our Bible church.
It's called out once. It's not a building, it's not a structure, it's called out ones. It's you.
Show them the form of the house. That's what it is. It's called out ones.
We sometimes use the word assembly.
And that's an excellent word.
I have a slight problem.
Because when I use the word assembly I think of the English.
Instead of the Greek.
For obvious reasons, it's all I speak is English.
And sometimes we miss the thought of called out ones even when we use the word assembly.
But there's an exception here in Acts 19 where in almost every place where it's called out ones.
In the Greek it's been translated as church.
And is used.
In connection with.
God's what God has formed in this world.
When acts 19 if I understand right?
It's apparently the same word, and it seems to be used in a completely different context. And indeed, it is a different context.
So let's read.
In verse 29 and the whole city. You can read the rest of the story if you wish.
Yourselves. The whole city was filled with confusion. Having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions and travel, they rushed with one accord into the theater. And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not. And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theater. Some therefore cried one thing and some another for the assembly. And if I understand right, I believe that's the same word as we usually translate church.
In King James was confused and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.
And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward, and Alexander beckoned with his hand, and so forth.
And then the city, the town clerk, who's like the mayor, he came.
And he says in verse 39, But if he inquire anything concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly. For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no 'cause whereby we may give an account to this concourse. And when he thus spoken, he dismissed.
The assembly.
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You know, sometimes exceptions in Scripture give us.
An insight, and I trust that this is an appropriate thought. There was this city.
And there was also.
A time when the same exact citizens of that city.
Went out of the city and came together into a place.
And that's and that's the thing.
They were part of that city, but to have been part of this, what's called an assembly, they had to actually, they had to get out. They had to.
To be separated from their homes, their individual homes, in the street that they lived on.
It was like they were called out.
And that's what God has done to us as we are saved.
We are called out of our circumstances by nature.
Shall we say the street and the house that we live in, on?
And been drawn to a different location.
And it's called the assembly.
And if you look at that little city there, I don't know how little it was, emphasis was probably a good size city.
If you look at that as the world.
God has called you out of that, has moved you, brought you along, and now has called you through His power.
The assembly.
He's done that through what Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. That is the power.
Is brought to us by the Spirit of God to bring us out of a city of destruction.
And made us these called out ones.
To His glory and His honor.
Now where is the practical part of that? Show them the form of the house.
So that there would be some practical result.
God has already pulled us out of this world system as called out ones and made his church. He's already done that.
Now come, Lord, say morning.
Or Tuesday evening, Wednesday evening, Thursday evening, whatever it might be in your city.
What are you physically, literally going to do?
Has already being a called out one as already being a part of the Assembly of God.
To use the expression from last.
Maybe yesterday.
Already having that position, is your seat then going to be empty?
Why do you break bread?
Let me ask another question.
Why don't you break breath?
Who breaks bread?
Christians break bread.
Are you a Christian?
Will breaking bread make you something different?
If you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you are already.
Are called out one you are already part of the assembly.
To take the bread and the cup does not make you a different person.
You already are a Christian.
It does not make you a Christian.
00:25:04
It does not make you part of the assembly.
You already are.
But you know.
I'm yeah. You know, there's some things that I do that, well, maybe it's not quite like it should be. And so I'm a little fearful to break bread.
You're a Christian.
Christian means Christ one.
Do you feel more responsible to men?
Than to the God of the universe.
As a believer on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Already being called out from this world.
Already a part of the church that Christ has formed, you have but one to please.
And it's not your dad.
It's your savior.
Let us just see just a little bit.
Of what we are part of as Christians.
The Lord Jesus Christ prayed.
In John 17 there was a verse read from that chapter yesterday.
That they may be one even as we are one.
That expression that they may be one is used.
Is it three times in that chapter? Anyway? Several times.
Is that statement true? Has it been accomplished? Has the death, the work of Christ done it?
Yes.
It's done.
You're part of that.
Because you're a Christian.
Because you've accepted Christ as Savior.
You are one.
With all believers.
In this world.
We live in a dispensation that we call the Dispensation of Grace.
Many of us have been to a dispensary where we got some medications. What do you do at a dispensary? You hand out the medications. You dispense them.
And so we live in a dispensation where God has handed out grace.
He has not handed out law to you, he's handed out grace.
It's also the dispensation of the Spirit of God.
Where God has handed out the Spirit.
There's a sister in this room that gave me this illustration.
In connection with the Spirit of God in our time.
You take balloons.
You make them into water balloons.
You put them in a barrel.
You then fill that barrel with water.
And so the Spirit has been dispensed.
To you inside that balloon.
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The Spirit has been dispensed to us.
In that barrel.
It's true of you when you're born again.
Christ has been accepted as your own Savior.
You are that water balloon in that barrel of water. Scripture speaks of the unity of the Spirit.
How strong is the Spirit?
The unity of the Spirit.
Now keep it.
In the bond of peace.
We go from what is what is already true.
And we support it as a testimony in this world.
And so we're part of the church we're in. Dwell through the Spirit of God.
We're united by the Spirit of God to one another.
We are one.
Then, of course, comes the practical part. What God has thrust upon us always has in His Word, has always given to His people to hear it, to understand it, and then let it affect.
Your behavior at the present.
Moment.
Can I see as I sit down in the Lords presence?
Can I see and know?
That the work of Christ.
Has formed the church.
And then encouraged in my own soul, having that joy before me.
Of what the Lord has done.
Can I go on in faithfulness?
To that truth and faithfulness to my Lord.
There's a House of God.
You're part of that House of God.
There's also a great house.
There's a testimony given to things that has collapsed.
But does man's failure change God's truth?
We have an anchor.
And Anchor is not affected by whether I was born 600 years ago and lived in such and such a family or whether I live now.
God's truth is all predicated, all based on the work of Christ.
Every part of it is based on the work of Christ.
But am I willing to go on in some way that's in conformity with that?
With that.
I'm part of the body of Christ.
Because I'm a Christian. Because you're a Christian, you're part of the body of Christ.
If you happen to go somewhere else, it doesn't mean you're in a different part of the body of Christ.
00:35:01
No, we're set in the body of Christ as it hath pleased him.
To see his hand, his work.
View his form and pattern of that.
House to go again to Ezekiel.
All these things.
That you have been brought into.
That is the pattern that Christ has already given to us in His Word.
Smile.
He's done it for His pleasure and for our blessing.
Now go on.
In conformity where your practical existence from day-to-day, not from Sunday to Sunday, but from day-to-day.
Is in conformity with what Christ has already done.
And brought us into.
All right.
And I fooled her with it. All of us where?
00:40:19
311.
We thank the.
This afternoon, our God and Father.
For the privilege.
That we have had we've been reminded of before the.
Of being called out once we're reminded in the breaking bread this morning that it wasn't because we were anything special without it. Set thy love upon us.
But because thou didst love us.
And because not its love is not its give.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
And because he has died.
We are called out to him.
And we thank thee for reminding us.
What that means?
Reminding.
Us that we are members of the church.
His body, his bride, for whom he died.
Called out to him. We ask that as we separate this afternoon, some going on that we might remember.
His claims upon us.
And the reality of that call that it's not merely.
Not merely a claim.
But it's the claim of the Son of God.
That that claim bears absolute authority.
That the Lord Jesus Christ has gone.
To the cross to establish it, and he lives to validate it. And that claim, whether we recognize it, our God and Father is still.
To ring in our ears.
To echo in our hearts.
And we are responsible.
We thank thee.
For the hope before us.
For all that thy love as prepared.
We again ask my blessing upon each one, and commit ourselves to thy care. In Jesus name, Amen. Amen. Amen.
Gospel
Gospel—D. Nicolet
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Our blessed God and Father.
We would indeed tonight, those of us in this room.
Who know the Lord Jesus as savior.
Would with joy echo these words. Hallelujah, What a savior and Father to night we would simply pray, and that by thy spirit thou wouldst work.
And bring a blessing which we are incapable of bringing.
Thou Father, who dost know thee needs of each heart in this room.
We ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that thou wouldst meet by thy Spirit.
Those needs.
We thank you for such a message. The Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Help us. We pray tonight. In thy name. Lord Jesus, we ask this. Amen.
I'd like you to open, please, to the Gospel of Mark.
The 12Th chapter.
And beginning at verse one.
Mark chapter 12 verse one.
And he Jesus began to speak unto them.
By parables.
We trust tonight that.
What will be said?
That we believe.
That it's from the heart of the Lord Jesus speaking to each one in this room.
Do we trust that the Spirit of God might make it good? But, you know, it's a very solemn thing, dear friends, that yet tonight in this world such a thing can be said, He began to speak unto them.
The gospel is an intensely personal thing, each individual sitting in this room tonight.
Will someday stand at the very presence of the one recorded here.
Who began to speak to these?
Who were gathered around him, and each soul in this room will give an account of what?
You did with what that blessed man?
Spoke to your heart tonight.
Not the vessel delivering the message. That's very unimportant.
But to realize that there's a message tonight from the heart of the Savior.
To you.
It's being spoken by parables.
And I just want to apply it as we are going to do tonight in the various passages that we look at with the Lord's help.
We're going to apply what we see, what we read in the sense of the gospel. But he spoke in parables so that tonight it's going to require faith for you to understand what he's saying and we just pray and trust that there might be.
Submissive hearts and spirits here tonight to listen by faith, not again, I say to the speaker, but to the one who is speaking to your heart, desiring your blessing tonight, you know, those that he was speaking to rejected him. And that's very solemn. And we're going to look at that Now go down to verse.
12.
And they that's those that he was that the Lord Jesus was speaking to.
Sought to lay hold on him, but feared the people, for they knew that he had spoken the parable against them.
And they left him and went their way. They sent out to him certain of the Pharisees and of the Rodians, to catch him.
In his words.
Is that what you're doing tonight, dear friend?
Knowing in your heart and in your conscience that the Lord Jesus is seeking to reach your heart, that He's speaking to you and has been speaking to you faithfully for many years perhaps.
And are you reacting the way that these reacted?
That rather than allowing their hearts to be bowed in submission to that message that was being spoken to them.
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Their hearts were hardened, They were angered and they left him and went their way. Is that what's going to happen to you tonight? Are you going to leave this room?
Where by the grace of God, the gospel, however feebly it may be presented, but the gospel is being presented. Are you going to leave this room tonight and go your way?
Or will you listen by faith, as it were, to that parable being spoken for your blessing?
Not for your destruction.
And will you go from this room tonight following the Lord Jesus going his way?
You know they sent two groups to catch the Lord Jesus, and they were.
Two very awesome groups of people, the Pharisees and the Herodians. The Pharisees with a vast religious knowledge.
The Herodians with a vast political savvy.
At odds with each other, but united against the truth presented by the Lord Jesus, and they were sent to catch him in His words. You may be here tonight and have a great understanding intellectually of the word of God.
You might be a very savvy person understanding how to get through this world quite well.
It may be a goal to learn more to be able to find your way through it.
Don't try to catch Jesus in his words.
You'll be a loser tonight and for all eternity.
What a sad thing to use the mind that God has given you.
That you might submit it to his love. That you might repent and turn around and come back.
To use that mind to seek to debate.
With your creator, Men are doing that tonight. So proud, so foolish, they think that they have somehow the ability.
The expertise to debate with God.
It doesn't matter your level of education or your level of ability, your level of talent.
Think of it to catch him in his words.
He who speaks the words of life to you tonight.
The words that will bring blessing and joy, salvation, happiness.
For now and for eternity.
They're not to be debated. They're not to be argued. They're not to be reasoned with.
They are to be bowed to humbly before God.
And so they asked him a question.
In the end of verse 14, seeking to catch him, is it lawful to give tribute to Caesar or not?
It's quite a question.
If he answered yes, it's lawful to give tribute to Caesar. He would anger the Pharisees.
If he answered no, it's not lawful to give tribute to Caesar. He'd anger the erodians if he was a mere man. This was an impossible thing to answer.
He was not a mere man. He is God the Son.
A perfect man.
And the best that minds could bring to trip him up is utterly futile. And so I say again, dear friend, don't do it.
Don't seek in your mind to catch the Lord in his words to find some way to wiggle out of a conviction that the Spirit may be laying upon your heart tonight for your blessing.
And so the Lord Jesus does something very, very strange, naturally speaking.
Something very important. He's going to give an object lesson, and so he asks to see a penny. I think that's, as I understand it, a little silver coin, a little smaller, perhaps a little thicker than a dime, Called the denarius.
00:10:02
And that penny, that coin is going to teach.
A very valuable lesson.
Because that coin is going to bear testimony to something.
Now you know a coin is something of value.
And if we were to turn over to Luke 15, we'd read about a coin and I think there it's a drachma. But.
As I understand it, be happy to be helped on this later, but as I understand it, it's about the same value as a denarius, a small little silver coin that was a Greek coin. This is a Roman coin.
But there there was a woman.
Who had 10 coins and one was lost and she lit a candle and she swept the house until she could find that coin. That coin had value.
And dear friend, tonight you have value to God.
Far more value than that little silver coin, but it's a little picture.
Of the value that you have to God. Now the Lord Jesus asks to see a coin, because on that coin there's a testimony to something that's going to give a very solemn.
Response to these who are seeking to catch him in his word, and so as he is given this coin.
In verse 16.
He saith unto them, Whose is this image?
And superscription. And they say Caesars.
There was a testimony plain to all that something.
Was very, very tragically wrong.
Think of it.
They're in their very presence. I say reverently, stood the image of God with a superscription. There he was the person God manifest in the flesh, the Word made flesh dwelling amongst them. There he was.
And he says, whose image is on this coin?
And they say Caesar's whose image should have been on that coin.
Had that nation of Israel bowed in belief and submission when John Baptist came calling them out to repentance? Had that nation, their leaders, gone out as a nation?
Would they have been looking at a little silver coin with Caesars inscription on it?
There was a testimony being rendered. Something was very, very wrong, and they should have known it, and they should have realized that in their very presence was the very image, very God himself, and they were blinded to it.
Now what? I want to spend a little bit as the Lord leads tonight.
Is to liken this coin to each one in this room.
Each soul in this room is far more valuable individually to God, of far greater value than this little silver coin. And each soul in this room tonight bears an image showing to whom you belong.
Either the image.
You might say of Christ.
Your savior or you sit here tonight?
A soul with priceless eternal value.
And you sit here bearing the image of the Prince of this world.
Which isn't.
And I've often heard this said, and I'll say it again, I look around this room and from the looks I would say every single person here.
Belongs to the Lord Jesus. That would be my judgment in looking on the outward appearance.
What is stamped on that coin as God looks down into this room tonight?
What image does he see? Does he see the image of his beloved son, who went to the cross and hung there, shed his precious blood on that cross, that he might have you with him forever?
Or does he see, as it were, the image of Caesar?
That you belong to another under the power and domination of another. There is no such thing as belonging to yourself. That's one of the most foolish things that I hear.
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That somehow you're your own man. You're your own woman.
That you can make your own decisions. You and you alone have the right to make those decisions. It's not so.
You're bearing an image tonight, either the image of Christ by faith.
Or the image of Caesar.
And what we want to do now is to look at three who bore images, as it were.
Images that I think as we look at them, you'll agree you'd not like to bear.
Images that you would agree, I believe you would hope, would not characterize you tonight.
I trust it so and to see how.
In our application, the image of Christ, the image of liberty, joy, eternal blessing.
Was given in the place of that image that was born, you might say, by these 3 coins we're going to look at, you know, those coins very, very well and we could almost talk from memory, all of us.
But let's turn back to Exodus to look at the first coin.
Exodus Chapter one.
I want to be careful in my comments, but I'd like to say especially for the beloved young people here tonight.
That I believe, in a moral sense at least. There are three images. If you do not, as you sit here tonight, bear the image of Christ, There are three other images, in a sense, at least as to their character, you may be bearing or are bearing.
It might be most prominently the world.
It might be most prominently the flesh.
It might be most prominently the Devil.
Morally. But if you don't bear the image of Christ tonight, having put your faith and trust in him as God's answer to man's sin, I say if you don't bear that image by faith, one of those others morally characterizes you tonight, and it's a sad image.
So sad when you can have that image traded changed now and forever in a moment by simple faith and trust.
In the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, Exodus Chapter one.
We're going to.
See Israel as a coin. The children of Israel and they're in Egypt.
In verse 11, therefore they that is, the Egyptians did set over them the Israelites taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens, and they built for feral treasure cities, Python And Ramses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel and the children of Israel.
I'm going to read this in another translation, the J&D translation, verse 13.
And the Egyptians made the children and visuals serve with harshness, and they embittered their life with hard labor in clay and bricks, and in all manner of Labor in the field, all their labor which they made them serve with harshness.
It's quite an image to bear, isn't it? The image of the world. It's quite a demanding image. Is that what's important to you tonight, what this world has to offer?
I know very well.
As a teacher.
That the world makes wonderful sounding claims for your times and your talent, for your time and for your talents. And it tells you a very cleverly conceived lie. It tells you that if you give everything to it, it's going to give a lot back.
Take a clue. Beloved young people, dear friend, take a clue.
You tell me if serving with harshness is a fair trade for a life of giving, of your talents to bear the image of this world.
Is it worth it?
You think the children of Israel felt it was worth it when each day they got up feeling the whip of the taskmaster, knowing that their talents and time were going to be spent.
Building treasure cities for the one who ordered the lash for their back.
00:20:09
Was it a good use of their architectural abilities? Of their physical strength?
Of their mathematical intelligence. Is that a good way to use it, bearing the image of that world?
To serve in that way.
Sure, the world wants you.
And it will tell you anything it needs to get out of you what it wants.
Because it sees that there are coins sitting in this room tonight. You have value to this world. There's a system that requires manpower and intelligence and gift and ability and energy to make it all work.
I'm certainly not suggesting that we don't need to work.
I think you know exactly what I'm saying, however.
There's a system.
That needs you to make bricks to continue building that system, and it wants to stamp you with that image.
And the result is.
Reading now from the King James and they made their lives bitter.
I am just amazed.
It may sound almost contradictory.
But in the college where I teach, I see so many men and women, not just young men and women. But I'm going to speak about some that I see frequently in the classes I teach who are in their late 30s and early 40s and even older.
And they have been serving in this world. They have been burying the image that coin they represented a value to this world. And they have been serving in this world, building bricks. Only the problem of it is all of a sudden the world that they've been serving, the image that they've been bearing doesn't need bricks anymore. It needs something else to build with and they're cast over, thrown out.
Nothing more to do.
Because they can't give to the world what it needs any longer.
I see some very, very bitter, frustrated people sitting in my classroom trying to figure out how to use a computer.
It's really not a funny thing. It's a very sad thing.
They spent their time working with their hands, laboring on assembly lines, driving trucks, working in stores, doing all sorts of things, building bricks for this world. And they were very happy to bear the image of the world. It needed them. It paid them.
And then it didn't need bricks anymore.
And it didn't need them anymore.
And they learned what bitterness and harshness is. And you will too, dear friend, if this world is your object and your goal, their beloved young people.
You walk through this world as I do, as each one does, and we need to provide things honest in the sight of all men. That's true, but we're walking through the world.
And there's a difference between walking through it and settling down and reaching out and embracing it and accepting its image and its superscription to be identified in.
Your ways.
And in your words.
With a world that is such a taskmaster.
They made their lives bitter.
Hard *******? We're going to skip over the story. Well known.
They want to notice in the end of chapter 2.
Verse 23 the end of the verse.
Verse 23 Let's read the whole verse. And it came to pass in the process of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the ******* and they cried.
And their cry came up to God by reason of the *******.
They got a new leader. Did it make any difference? Did they quit crying? If the Lord leaves us here in a few days, we're going to get a perhaps new leader. At least some changes will be made in government.
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The world will change some things. It prides itself on doing that every two years and every four years.
The old leader goes, The new leader comes in all the promises, all the expectations.
And in a very few days, the ******* is felt just as keenly.
They didn't stop crying.
They sighed by reason of their ******* and their cry. But here's a wonderful thing. Their cry came up to God. Do you realize tonight that there is one who is interested in you personally, the God who created this world?
Has a personal interest in you and a personal love for you. Is it possible you sit there?
And I certainly don't belittle anyone who works on an assembly line.
But whatever your job, whatever my job is.
Not very important. Daily, working faithfully, trying to do our job. Nothing important, nothing valuable, Nothing that's going to make the headlines of the newspaper. Is it possible that God is interested in you and in me? Yes, we're a coin, as it were, that has value and he wants.
You to be bearing a different image than the image that's making you or is going to make you sigh and cry by reason of your *******.
He heard. Is there a heart tonight that's aching in here for some reason that you may not even be able to describe to your best friend? But there's a heart that hurts. There's a heart that has burdens and sorrows, and you don't even know how to express them.
There is a God who loves you, and he knows what's in that heart.
And he's hearing that sigh that's coming up, and he wants to reach out to you and do something about that. Will you let him?
For the sake of time we will not go on but with this, but I do want to turn over.
To chapter 12.
I.
Verses that perhaps most of us could quote from memory.
Chapter 12 And verse three speaking unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, in the 10th day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb according to the House of their fathers.
A lamb foreign house. Verse five. Your lamb shall be without blemish.
A male of the first year, he shall take it out from the sheep or the goats.
And you shall keep it until the 14th day of the same month, and in the whole assembly the congregation of Israel shall kill it.
In the evening, and they shall take the blood and strike it on the two sideposts and on the upper doorpost of the houses.
Wherein they shall eat it.
You know very well tonight who that Lamb pictures.
Can you listen to these verses from the Word of God Read Picturing to us the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God's providing, coming into this world, laying down his life, shedding His blood that you might be delivered from the very thing that's causing your heart tonight to sigh and cry.
And to still think God doesn't love you, doesn't care about you, that you don't have value to God, that he doesn't desire as it were, that his image.
Be upon you tonight.
Is there something more that you?
Feel God should do.
To prove his love for your soul than what he's already done.
I say reverently, Is there anything God could do?
Is there anything God can do? You know the answer to that He's given the very.
Very best that he could possibly give, and as we've often heard.
And we love to say it. Those of us who know the Lord Jesus as savior, the very best.
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For the very worst.
That you might bear that image.
To night blood had to flow. The Blessed Lord Jesus Christ had to lay down his life. His blood had to be shed. Without the shedding of blood is no remission.
Tonight. Why, how you would sit here?
Knowing this is true, it's God's word and still say no, I'd rather bear the image of the place that makes me sigh and groan.
I would rather be spending my life building something up in this scene that, as we heard today, is going to be burned up with fervent heat.
We make a lot of choices in our life.
I tell my students.
That there are two ways they can use a computer.
For the particular thing that I'm responsible for teaching them, at least they can.
Work with a computer in two ways. They can work smart or they can work stupid.
What else? I want to be careful. What a stupid thing.
To sit here tonight reading such verses.
And still be debating with God whether or not He loves you or wants to bless you when He's given His own beloved Son who dwelt ever in past eternity and perfect divine complacency in his bosom, the Eternal Son.
Made flesh dwelled among us. Lay down his life and you sit here tonight and still want to debate with God.
About whose image you're going to bear.
It's working stupid.
Let's look at the next one.
I.
For Samuel.
And so I said, there's an image of the world that you might bear tonight if you don't bear the image of Christ.
Or you may be bearing an image of the flesh that is.
It may be your object in this world. Not so much to do something for the world, not so much to be something in this world and please the world and work for the world, but to please yourself.
To satisfy yourself, there's a lot of people like that. We have that tendency. That's within us.
That we want to do what's pleasing to us. Let's read about one who did.
You know the story well. First Samuel, chapter 30.
And it came to pass when David and his men were coming to Ziklag on the third day.
That the Amalekites had invaded the South, and Ziklag and smitten Ziklag and burned it with fire, and had taken the women captives that were there, and they slew not any.
Either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. So David and his men came to the city, and behold, it was burned with fire.
And their wives and their sons and their daughters were taken captive. And David and the people that were with him.
Lifted up their voice and wept until they had no more power to weep Her say. David inquired at the Lord St. Schlie pursue after this troupe.
And he answered him pursue.
We'll stop there for just a minute.
I'm going to draw an application.
That I have learned from others.
Amalek is a picture.
Of the flesh, or perhaps we might say of Satan acting on the flesh.
He was an enemy that was going to have constant battle with the people of God from generation to generation.
An unending battle.
There would be victory if the people of God simply walked in obedience to Jehovah.
But they would have that battle.
And so here's David and David and his followers have something that's very precious to their heart, existing in a city that belonged to David.
But the flesh wants to come, not to kill, but to take for itself.
To take what belongs rightfully to David and to use it for itself.
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Do you know, dear friend?
That not only is God interested in you, not only does God love you.
Not only does he desire your blessing tonight.
But even if you're rejecting him.
You really are responsible.
Before him.
Think of it. Every soul that can understand what's being said tonight is responsible before God.
But there is an enemy. There is, you might say, an image that you may be stamped with.
You who ought to be, you might say, that possession that brings joy to the heart of David.
Joy to the heart of the Lord Jesus.
But you may be like the one we're going to read about who was serving the Amalekite.
Stamped with a very, very different image.
Down in verse 11 and they found an Egyptian in the field and brought him to David.
You know, if we just stop there.
We didn't have any more from this scripture than that, and we.
In our minds, wanted to finish the story. Think of it.
Here's this Egyptian and we learned later.
His confession of serving the Amalekite? What could he expect from David, rightfully?
Perhaps we should read that.
We show the kind we see the kindness of David.
But let's skip down to verse.
13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou, And whence art thou?
Would that be a fearful question to be asked by one that you knew was responsible in his life for slaying a giant that perhaps stood 10 or 11 feet tall?
And to answer that question, knowing that you were part of that which had stolen away what was precious to his heart, that you were part of his helping his enemies.
To take what belonged to him. How would you like to answer that question?
What do you think belongs to the heart of the Lord Jesus tonight?
What do you think belongs to the heart of God, your Creator, tonight in reference to you?
Have you been serving?
The Amalekite.
As that which God values that coin, if you will that you are that has value to God got the image.
Of the servant of the Amalekite stamped on it because instead of serving and pleasing God, you've been pleasing yourself.
And as it were morally stealing away that which belongs to him, which would bring his heart joy.
What an awesome question to be asked Whose image and superscription?
Who are you? Where are you from?
And he says.
I'm a young man of Egypt.
Servant to an Amalekite.
Was it worth being stamped?
As a servant to an Amalekite, 3 days ago my master left me because three days ago I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the South of the Cherub Lights and upon the coast which belonged to Judah and upon the South of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire.
You'd expect the sword would fall now.
That would be justice.
But it's not the love of Christ.
It's not the heart of the love of God who tonight wants to bless you.
There had been bread.
For life there have been water for refreshing. There had been figs so that there could be fruit. There had been raisins, joy, all of that, instead of a sword of judgment, all of that given.
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To one who had been serving and was stamped with the image and the superscription.
Of the Amalekite.
And then David?
After eliciting this honest.
Confession.
Says something very interesting.
Canst thou bring me down to this company?
Oh, beloved friends, I feel tonight. And it's good. So inadequate my blessed Savior, who died on a cross for me and shed His precious blood for me.
As it were in saying I've got a company of prisoners down there that I love and I want them to be delivered. Can you bring me down?
And we trust by the Spirit of God.
That Christ can be brought down.
To deliver you tonight.
I can't deliver you.
Beloved brothers and sisters sitting here love the Lord children sitting next to them that they would die for.
They can't deliver them.
May God grant that somehow David is brought down tonight.
That there might be the image of Christ.
Replace that image, you might say, of the flesh.
This young man, an Egyptian, a servant to the Amalekite.
Was shown such incredible grace and kindness.
Do you suppose he could have possibly said no? He was still fearful of David. I get fearful of the Lord. That's not a good thing. That's a terrible thing.
He doesn't say no, he says.
Verse 15 Swear unto me by God that thou wilt neither kill me nor deliver me unto the hands of my master.
He had never known the kindness that he knew at the hands of David. He didn't want to go back to that master.
There's a new image he's bearing and he's not interested in getting that old image back. And so when David says, can you bring me down, he says that and then he says, and I will bring you down to this company. Another has pointed this out years ago and I love to think of it. David didn't say, I'll swear to you. David didn't say anything.
It says I will bring thee down to this company. And when he had brought him down, what happened?
Well, I like to think that this Egyptian young man, even as he said those things, was saying, what is the matter with me? This one who had every right to destroy me, to slay me, has shown me such infinite kindness. Is he now going to slay me?
No, he was enjoying little by little in his soul the growth of such wonderful divine love that David didn't have to even answer that rather foolish question.
He knew, as he asked, that all he could ever expect from David.
Would be kindness and mercy and grace, and so can you tonight.
Which image do you want to bear?
The image of a servant of Amalek.
Is that what that coin is going to bear tonight?
Or the image of Christ, who only and ever will do you good and show you kindness and mercy.
Let's look at the last one.
The Gospel of Math.
Let's see.
This may be Mark.
Yeah, The Gospel of Mark, Chapter 5.
And they verse one, that's the Lord Jesus and his disciples came over unto the other side of the sea into the country of the Gadarenes. And when he was come out of the ship, when Jesus was come out of the ship immediately and met him there, met him out of the tombs, a man with an unclean spirit. Here's one stamped, you might say, with the image of the Prince of this world.
The Lord Jesus comes there and this one comes out to meet him.
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Under the power of an unclean spirit, I want to say something.
You know, we live in a world today which is marked to such an extent that we're hardened to it by the ravages of.
Immorality, drugs.
You name it. Every kind of deviant behavior marks the world in which we live.
To such an extent that it really we have to say with sorrow doesn't.
'Cause our hearts to ache as it ought, we're so surrounded by it, and you may be sitting here thinking.
That's going a little too far. I'm not under the power of Satan. I don't get involved, but I'm not a drug addict. I don't get involved with the kind of filth that goes on.
I'm not talking about someone who's in the gutter.
I'm talking about very upright, decent looking.
Clean living, well educated people who have been captured by those very things.
I'm going to tell a story. I've told it before. I trust those who have heard this will forgive me.
Several years ago.
A 747 airliner took off with a full complement of passengers from the Tokyo airport.
And it continued on through the night. On its journey, it had veteran pilots and navigators.
A veteran crew.
And after it had gone 12 or 1300 miles on its journey.
It was destroyed by missiles fired from Russian military aircraft.
All lives were lost. I don't know 200 and 5300 people on that 747.
All lives were lost.
The Russians claimed that that aircraft had strayed over sensitive Russian military land and they had a right to protect their sovereignty to shoot it down.
Inquiries were made and this is, as I understand it, the sad and tragic reason why that awful thing took place beyond the.
Unutterable wickedness of man's heart.
They said that evidently the various instruments that were necessary for the pilot to navigate a course laid out by the navigator and laid out by whatever requirements were given for that airplane to fly its course.
Was off about 110th, I'm going to say, of a degree.
It was off so little.
That they said the pilot, though a veteran, would not have been able probably to pick it up.
There was a very, very slight malfunction, but in fact it was off.
And the result was down the road 2 1/2 hours later. It wasn't off a little bit, it was way off.
The elephant Young people. You want to mess around with drugs. You want to mess around with the things the world messes around with tonight.
And think you're just going to touch it a little bit.
You're off just a 10th of a degree.
Where is it going to end in a couple of years if the Lord leaves us here?
Destroyed.
You don't have the wisdom.
To make a calculation, there's a Prince of the Power of the Air who is far stronger, far more capable of destroying you than you have any concept of. And here's a perfect example. Here's one who was marked with that image. You may think tonight you're not marked like this.
But I want to tell you, you're in a world that is encouraging you.
All the time that it's setting these big banners up saying don't do this and don't do that at the very same time.
In all of its advertising and marketing schemes, it's really encouraging you to do the very thing it's telling you not to do.
Because it's making those things seem like a really neat, fun, exciting.
Thing.
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Well, let's look at what this one, this coin enjoyed being stamped with this image in Superscription.
He had his dwelling among the tombs. A nice place to live in a place of death.
You know, we came to the school today and we drove up here and my wife commented, boy, there's some beautiful homes in this neighborhood.
But you know, if the people who live in those homes are strangers to the Lord Jesus.
Those homes, in a sense, are tombs because that's where they're dwelling.
So here's one who was dwelling in tombs and no man could bind him. No, not with chains because he'd often been bound with fetters and chains and the chains had been plucked asunder by him. You know, I'm reminded we got a a few years ago in the little town where we used to live. After a big fuss, they finally got the horse track to become a casino and they put all the equipment in so people can gamble they didn't have the equipment in there. A month before the billboards were going up saying you got a gambling problem. Call 1800, bets off.
They're trying to bind the thing they started.
With chains and it's not working. You just heard recently of a man, a very, very wealthy man. He was a millionaire two or three times over.
And except for the quick, as I understand the reaction of the emergency Rescue Squad.
He would have made good on his attempt to kill himself because through gambling he lost every cent of his fortune within a very, very short time.
Did 1800 bets off keep him chained and bound? You think the and I don't discount them because there are some horrible things and and the people in general have a conscience. We can be thankful for any conscience they have. So what I'm about to say is not a discounting of this but But listen, beloved young people, dare DARE isn't going to bind you if you're stamped with the image of the Prince of this world.
That's not going to keep you from the ravages of drugs.
And so this man was bound. And what did he get to do? How much fun was he having? What did this one who ruled his life give him to do?
And always night and day he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying and cutting himself with stones.
Our time is up.
I want to tell you of another superscription.
This is Jesus of Nazareth the King.
Of the Jews, you know very well where that was.
Placed on the cross above the head of the Blessed Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who hung there and died and shed his precious blood, that tonight you need not bear the image and the superscription that these three we've talked about had to bear.
That that coin, as it were, can be held up in joy. The question asked. Whose image?
And superscription is this, and say by the grace of God my blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He suffered. He was cut far more deeply, I say reverently, than the stones of that man under the power of Satan was cutting himself with. But he wasn't cut because of himself. He was cut for me.
And he was cut for you.
What you have in tonight?
It's not really much of A choice.
But it's a choice that's going to have its effect in your life.
For all eternity.
May God help you tonight, beloved friend.
To accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior.
That's great, Father. We thank thee for the Lord Jesus.
We thank you for thy precious word.
As we pray tonight, that by thy spirit.
Thou wouldst do a work in souls that we cannot do?
That there might be blessing, eternal blessing. Tonight we ask this Lord Jesus and thy precious and worthy name.
Gospel
Gospel—D. Buchanan
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.
We have a big room with a lot of empty chairs.
There's God has lots of room in his thoughts for you tonight.
But you know, one day every.
Vacancy is going to be filled and the Lord is going to come.
There's not going to be one empty seat.
Will you be there?
That's what the gospel is about.
An invitation to God's house. We'd like to start tonight with hymn #6.
God in mercy sent his Son to a world by sin undone. Jesus Christ was crucified. Twas for sinners Jesus died.
Oh, the glory of the grace shining in the Savior's face, telling sinners from above. God is light and God is love.
This is the Gospel message we want to present to you tonight. A person, the Lord Jesus Christ, not just a religion, not just a way of life.
A living reality for your soul. Pay attention some brothers. Start this please.
Jesus Christ, what?
On the grass grinding.
Yes, I sing and pass to bring you up.
On the floor of my way, all of the grace shining in the scandalous days.
Laughing sins come upon.
Rise along with my hands.
Where it once will reign and grace on, and the last will alone shake sunscreen. It's his lawyer alone.
One of them all against it.
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My breath shining in, the Sager says.
That makes sense from the world.
God is light and God is all.
Shall we look to the Lord for His blessing in prayer?
Our God and our Father, we thank thee for the gospel message that.
Comes from above and tells sinners that God is light.
And God is love. We thank Thee, our God, the Way for the way. Thou hast come out in the open, in the light, and made Thyself known to us. We thank Thee for the Scriptures that reveal to us Thy word.
And so, Lord, we pray tonight as we open this holy book, this book that will never pass away.
Will never be contradicted.
That thou wilt bless the reading of it.
To our ears, give us attentive hearts, Give us willing hearts.
And open our mouth to speak. Now we pray in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Like to speak tonight, dear friends, dear Christian friend.
About.
Light. God is light.
God has manifested himself to us. He's come out in the open. There's no uncertainty about many things of God.
We have in our hands, I hope you have one, a Bible.
God wrote this book.
It's infallible. It has.
No errors as God wrote it.
And we can read it.
We can base our lives on it with confidence. It is God's Word to us.
And tonight I would like to read a few passages from the book of John, the Gospel of John, beginning with chapter one, verse one.
Like to notice?
How the Lord Jesus.
The light of the world makes things known.
The wonderful thing that God has revealed himself to us.
Like to study things? They will spend endless hours of research and time to discover.
Things of this creation in the finite things and in the grandeur of the stars, and so on.
Wonderful God can be known in many different ways, but tonight we'd like to look at him as revealed in the Scriptures through the Lord Jesus, the light of God, the one who came down from heaven to make known to us in human form what God was like and reveal Him to us. And if nothing else gets accomplished tonight.
I hope you feel that you know the Lord Jesus, the light of the world better.
After this meeting is over.
And if your soul hasn't come in contact with Him as your Lord and Savior.
That you will learn to know him tonight as such.
John chapter one, verse one.
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men, and the light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
Just that far for the moment.
We have here the Lord Jesus Christ presented as.
The words, the declaration of. What is the expression?
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Of it come down here a full never has there been a better.
Expression of what God is.
Than what the Lord Jesus brought.
And made known to us in person.
He was a living demonstration.
God here on earth.
All things were made by him.
Everything that you can see made by him, including ourselves.
And then it says in him was life, and the life was the light.
Of men, and I'm told that this is a receptor expression and that you can read it the other way around to light.
Was life, and so that is the gospel.
Life.
People are searching for life. What are we living for?
Advertisement is geared towards it today live and there is presented all kinds of ways that are better ways to live to make you have a better life.
Here we have the Lord Jesus.
The light in him was life.
This is real life.
And we'll notice as we read some accounts here through this book, of how the light of God brought life.
We're living in a creation that's constantly dying.
Death is all around us.
We need life.
We need eternal life.
And the Lord Jesus has brought it to us.
The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not.
Sometimes perhaps we have this can have this concept that.
We're so self-sufficient that we can decide our own.
Problems and decisions.
Things are presented to us and we feel quite capable, often to.
Choose what we think is the best.
But you know, when it comes to.
God coming down and making himself known.
Nobody.
Has ever attained to come.
With a strong enough light to search him out and find him and decipher and know God. We don't get to know God in that way. God is the one who has come out and revealed himself to us.
When the Lord Jesus came, it says, the darkness comprehended him not.
Oh, it's a great thing to just get in the light and let it shine.
Let it reveal what is.
I believe it reveals two things in a general way.
It reveals what God is, and it reveals what we are.
And you will notice as you read through the Gospels and particularly this Gospel, John.
Every person that came in contact with the Lord Jesus, He revealed what they were. He made it manifest, good or bad.
That's God. When you get into the light, things become apparent.
And so this is what God does. This is the way God is. God is light. God has no shadiness about him. We talk about shady characters, that is, there's there's inconsistencies, there's hidden things about them, there's unknown. And sometimes we like to live that way too.
You can't get near God and have anything hidden, dear friend.
Are you hiding something from God tonight? Are you living a lie in your life?
Something that's not apparent that you haven't made manifest before him or anybody else.
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Come to the light.
Get it out into the open. It's a terrible thing to live with a bad conscience.
Who are you fooling?
Can anybody fool God?
No.
The light makes everything known.
Just like read a few more verses here in the first chapter before we go on down further.
Verse nine It says that referring to the Lord, the Word, that was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not, but as many as received Him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.
Oh, here we get the life.
How do you get saved? How do you get life? How can you live with God your Creator? Here's the remedy. Here it is through faith in His name.
Life.
A new life, born again, as many as received him. And so the Lord Jesus is presented to you here tonight. We offered him to you tonight. Receive Him. Let him shine in your life.
And he will give you life.
Now let's turn over to the third chapter.
And we'll read an account here, a little part of it.
We will begin reading with the 17th verse.
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 is come into the world. And men love 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.
I believe this portion is really an answer to Nicodemus, who came to the Lord by night.
Why did he come to the Lord by night?
He didn't want to be seen.
But there was a desire to know the Lord in his with him, apparently.
And so he went, and he came to where the Lord was.
Even though by night and there may be someone here like that tonight.
Maybe you didn't really want to come here. Maybe it was your parents that brought you.
And maybe there is something in your life that is still hidden.
And so when the light starts to shine.
You feel bad, there is something unresolved. There is something in your conscience, there is something hidden.
Not really hidden from God, but in your own mind you are hiding it.
Now the purpose of the Lord Jesus in coming as the light wasn't to make anybody feel bad or to condemn them. And that's where we started reading for God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world. You see many times when we start talking about the light and how God is and his righteousness and His Holiness and who he is.
And how he does things.
Immediately people start.
Recoiling, drawing back and as it were, hiding because there's something wrong. And oftentimes they'll say, well, who are you to start condemning?
00:20:04
Oh, you've misread the representation. He didn't come here to condemn.
All the light may reveal things that are to be condemned, yes, but that was not his purpose.
He came to save.
And did God want heaven to be full of a lot of people that had all those hidden things?
Just put under the rug, as it were, temporarily and.
Certainty that at some future day they would never be brought up against you again.
Is that your ideal of heaven?
Oh dear friend, God has a better way than that. God's way is to bring everything out into the light.
To take care of it.
And so he has done that.
And so dear Nicodemus, who came to the Lord by night.
He's getting a little lesson here.
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.
Plain John makes these things very simple.
He that believeth on him is not condemned.
Now, what's your situation? Are you condemned or are you not condemned?
The Lord Jesus didn't come to condemn.
The fact that the light came and shone here to Nicodemus.
Or to you tonight.
Isn't what makes you condemned what makes you condemned is if you reject him as your savior, then you are condemned? That is the big question.
Oh, dear friend, you needn't go out of this room condemned. You know, back in our town, we have a a building in a little town there where I live.
And it's about to fall down. And because of the danger of it.
There they have roped off the sidewalk so that nobody can pass in front of this building, and then there's some signs on there to the effect that that building is condemned.
And they rope it off so nobody can go by there because they are afraid that if somebody, while somebody is walking by there, a brick could fall off and it's in such disrepair.
It is beyond ability to fix up and renew, and it is going to have to be torn down.
Day.
It's a rather foolish thing to have a building like that and justice. Keep it up and keep it there and keep it there. Why not get it over with? Why not tear it down?
Well, you know, that's really a little picture of what we are without God.
Really, when the Lord Jesus came here, he proved that to be so.
Now, oftentimes we may misrepresent God in our presentation of the gospel.
And there may be, because of our poor representation of God, some excuse for someone not accepting God in the gospel. But when the Lord Jesus Christ came, he so perfectly represented God that there will never be an excuse not to accept the revelation that God has made.
Oh dear friend, that's why.
To reject Christ is to be condemned because he was the perfect litmus test. We might say he was a perfect representation of God.
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And if anybody rejects him, that's why.
They are condemned.
He that believeth not is condemned already.
And the Lord Jesus made that fact plain because of his presentation of the gospel.
Sometimes, you know, we get questions about.
People and that haven't heard the gospel.
And I think sometimes it's used as a way of, as it were, passing the buck on.
But you know, we've heard the gospel here tonight, the Lord Jesus.
Has been presented. He is the Savior and he.
Was that perfect representation of God the light?
And so because of that, if you reject the Lord Jesus.
As your savior.
There is no other way to be saved.
And that is what brings condemnation.
And so just the fact that light has come in itself doesn't bring the condemnation, but the rejection of that light.
And your soul to say no to the Lord Jesus.
Is to what will bring condemnation to you.
And men love that, and men go on, many in that state before God.
They do not want their life revealed before God.
Well, dear friend, it's lovely to think that the Lord.
Didn't want anybody to be lost.
And he made known the way of salvation.
And so that only those who reject them, him as their savior, will be condemned and lost in their souls.
How good it is to come?
To the light.
Let God shine in your heart, dear friend. Let God reveal Himself to you.
It's for your good and for blessing. I will go on to another case in John in the 8th chapter.
I'd like to read a little bit of the 8th chapter of John where we have the light shining again.
John chapter 8 and verse 3.
The Scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery, and when they had set her in the midst.
They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery in the very act.
Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned. But what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.
So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest even unto the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? Hath no man condemned thee? She said, No man for And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee.
Go and sin no more. Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
This is so beautiful of the light of life shining out here.
Now put yourself in this situation.
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To whom would you like to commit your soul's welfare?
The Lord Jesus or those scribes and Pharisees?
Now let's look at the different attitudes.
The scribes and Pharisees here, they had a point of contention against the Lord, and they were seeking how to convict him, to prove Him wrong, to find a fault. And what would they do to do that? They would sacrifice a poor woman to do it, and her reputation, and bring a scandal out into light.
In order to accuse the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now last night we had spoken to us about the world and how it will treat us and here you get another picture of it and what people won't do in the right situation or in the wrong situation.
Talk about abuse.
What a what a pity for this poor woman. And so this is the scene. This is the predicament that the Lord Jesus has put in.
Would he forgive a person like this? If so, where is the righteousness of God?
All the light of God shines perfectly. What beauty comes out here of the Lord Jesus?
What a difference on his part.
He, On the contrary to them, took away all the accusers.
And this is what the light of God does for us, beloved.
The light of God that shines out.
And shows, yes, that we are sinners and we are dear ones. That's our natural condition, born in sin. We can't get around it. And it comes out of our hearts all the time.
And the closer we get to God, the more apparent it is.
But what a savior he shows himself to be. What compassion.
What beauty.
Of taking care of all the accusers.
He put them all away.
They had come and used her as a scapegoat to get him.
And he?
Blessed be his name.
Did not want to condemn neither that poor woman nor.
The ones who had brought her. And to me that is even more remarkable.
And that's why he stooped down to the ground and wrote.
If he were to rise, the only one who had a right.
To take up stones, the only one who was without sin.
If he had started throwing stones, he wouldn't have started with the woman, he would have started with the eldest.
And they realized that the light of God was shining in their hearts.
But there are two different reactions.
One reaction was to go away from it and flee and walk away. The other is to stay there and let the light shine. Oh dear friend, what are you doing with the light of God?
Are you running away from it?
Consider what you are running away from.
Is this the kind of man you really want to run away from?
Oh, when you really see what he's like, I don't believe you'll want to run away.
Maybe this woman didn't have any other choices.
And how good of God to take her up in that way. She couldn't get out of the situation.
In a certain sense, she couldn't run away. And if God has allowed something in your life, so you can't run away.
Stay there where He is and let the light shine in your heart. Let Him give you life. Let Him put all those sins away and let Him show you what life is really about.
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That's what he did to this woman.
And so he stooped down.
And wrote on the ground.
Waiting for those.
Dear ones.
And then he stood up and.
Said he that is without sin, let him cast the first stone. They went away.
Until finally only the woman was left. And as we have commented, he asked this woman where are those thine accusers?
God knows how to put the accusers away.
If this doesn't win your heart, what would? Oh thank God, it's one my heart over.
To see the beauty, the forgiveness that is with God.
Now I'd just like to comment on this, that this chapter doesn't tell us how those sins are put away, but the rest of the book does, and so we have to turn to other scriptures to see how the sins are put away. The Lord wasn't just passing over.
The sins here? Oh no, nothing of that.
You see the Lord Jesus when he died there on Calvary's cross.
He took care of those sins.
For you and me.
He bore them there.
And in order for him to say this to this woman.
Go and sin no more, neither do I condemn thee.
He had to go to the cross and bear those sins for her, and for you, and for me. And so the light of God puts the sins away and brings the Sinner into His presence in a perfect harmony and bless.
You can be comfortable in God's presence, it's been said, you know.
That if a Sinner could get to heaven, he would be the most miserable person that ever was.
Because he'd still have his sins on him.
That's not the way God takes us there in our sins. He puts the sins away and then he brings us in.
To his presence and the light shines, and it can shine in every corner because there's no dirty spots.
There's nothing left to accuse.
This is our God. This is the fullness of the gospel. When God does something, he doesn't do it half heartedly. Who? He doesn't do it just in part. It isn't a question of God doing his part. And then you have to do your part and you meet halfway in between or somewhere in there. Oh, God has really done it all, and he invites you to come.
And so he says.
Neither do I condemn thee. Not only does he take the accusers away, and now he says, Neither do I condemn thee. What consolation to the heart have you heard the Lord Jesus say that to you? Neither do I condemn you.
That's what the gospel is about. Take the Lord Jesus as you as your Savior, and you will never face a condemning God.
Go and sin no more.
Liberty, liberty of life, you see, when you take the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
He puts the sins away and He gives you a new life that cannot sin, that will not sin. Yes, we still have the old nature, but the life that the Lord gives is perfect liberty to go out and live and please God.
Blessed place and those who accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior already have the life that we will share and have in heaven for all eternity. It's ours now. And so He can say go and sin no more. No restrictions, no words of warning. This is the grace of God teaching her.
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Now let's turn over to the 9th chapter of John.
Verse one.
And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man or his parents, that he was born blind? Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.
I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day. The night cometh when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. When he had thus spoken, he spat on the ground, and make play of the spittle. And he anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay, and said unto him, Go wash in the pool of Siloam, which is.
By interpretation sent. He went his way therefore, and washed and came.
Seeing.
Now we have another interesting little episode in the life of the Lord Jesus, of the light of God and the purpose of the Lord Jesus coming here to shine. This fell the darkness to give life and light.
And here is the case of a man born blind, and the disciples are perplexed by this. How is it that this man was in this condition?
Where did what started it? What was the cause? Was it his parents sin?
Or was it his own sin? If it was his own sin, how come he was born that way?
He never had a chance, as it were. This is the reasoning here, the thought.
Oh, a wonderful thing comes out of this story.
You know, there's many awful things that happen in the world and I enjoyed the comment that was made.
Yesterday about peace and the throne of God.
That is, when God's presence, there is nothing out of order, there is no trouble, there is nothing disturbing. It is all perfect bliss and peace.
And in a certain sense, I really believe that when the Lord Jesus comes down here, he makes the same thing real here on earth. And so this case of a predicament of a blind man, he takes care of it.
What a beautiful story.
The works of God, that the works of God should be made manifested. That's why God let this man be born blind.
Maybe, dear friend, you have some terrible predicament in your life, some unexplainable thing, and there's a lot to do made about abuse and the evils of this world today. And it's certainly true. There is a lot of horrible things happening out there. Why is it that God allows it?
Oh, I believe we have a wonderful reason right here that the works of God should be made manifest.
And that's the purpose of this gospel meeting and your being here, that the works of God should be made in your life. God has a remedy. He had the remedy for this blind man. You may have a different problem, but God has the remedy. And so the Lord Jesus gives a demonstration here of it, the works of God. God has let the world go on.
In his present state, where sin has ruined it in a large extent, so that the gospel could be preached, and souls saved and delivered from it, and brought into God's family in God's house, a far greater blessing than if man had never sinned in the beginning in the Garden of Eden.
Nobody can say because of this that God is unjust in letting things go the way they are, temporarily as they are.
There's a coming a day, dear friend, when I believe according to Scripture, that God will put everything in its proper place, but He hasn't chosen to do it now at this time yet what has God chosen to do now? He's chosen to take and reveal Himself to special ones like this poor blind man and magnify His love and grace in saving them and delivering them from their present condition and giving them eternal life.
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And that's why it's to your advantage to take the gospel, to let the light of God penetrate in your life, dispel all the bad, the wickedness, the sin, the darkness to give you light and life in your life give you new meaning, a motive to live the eternity of bliss with his Son Jesus Christ in glory.
And men rejected.
What would we say if? What would people say if this man here?
This blind man had gone down there until after the Lord anointed his eyes with mud or with clay, and then he said, oh, I don't think I want to do this.
He has no right to tell me what to do.
What a fool to say that, but how many people?
Are oblivious to God's offers today.
Now this man here, the way the Lord healed him, is a rather interesting way.
He put clay on his eyes.
Mixed with his saliva, his spittle and told the man to go wash in the pool of Siloam. Now that is a picture, I believe of the scent. One who came down the light of the world.
And it's a picture of.
Our need of accepting the sent one and taking him, applying him to your eyes so that you may see.
Just as we were saying in the beginning, the light was made in the the light came into the world, but the darkness did not comprehend it.
But God in his faithfulness has worked, and so He did with this man.
To receive the blessing, all this man had to do was to obey.
And I'd like to say this about our preaching of the gospel.
You don't have to understand everything about the gospel to receive the blessing of it.
You have to just believe it.
Just believe it.
Accept and obey it. Do what God says.
And so it was simply a question of obeying for this man.
But how many times our hearts are unwilling?
And we're not going to read the rest of this story, but it's it's pitiful to read the contrast in the rest of the chapter of this Inquisition that the Jews put this blind man through afterwards to find some fault with the Lord, and again, as it were, sacrificing this poor man here that have been healed.
Of his sight and they cast him out of the synagogue in the end.
And at that moment, the Lord Jesus comes along and picks him up.
And makes himself known to him in a fuller way.
The light of the world.
Was here.
Opening the eyes of the blind.
Dear friend, let him open your eyes. Not just the physical eyes with him. It was the physical eyes for us. Oh, it's the eyes of faith in seeing God. Let God reveal himself to you in your heart. Let the light penetrate down into your soul.
It will bring blessing.
The scent one was here. That's why he came. He came all the way from heaven to make this message, to bring this blessing to us.
Well, we'll pass on down to the end of the chapter.
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I just want to read a few of the other verses here.
In the verse 34 we have the end of the discourse of the the rejecters. And they say, They answered and said unto him, Thou was altogether born in sins and dust. Thou teach us. And they cast him out. Jesus heard that they had cast him out. And when he had found him, he said unto him, Thus thou believe on the Son of God.
He answered and said, Who is he, Lord, that I might believe on him?
And Jesus said unto him, Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with heed. And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshipped him.
Beautiful. What a contrast the Jews were looking for every pretext to not believe.
And every time they brought out another testimony.
It turned against them and it did and.
The Lord proved that He was right in what he did. Now here's the contrast. A man who hadn't had the opportunity yet have ever seen the Lord Jesus. You see, the Lord had sent him away in the condition of blindness, and his hot sight had been recovered, and he hadn't seen that blessed man yet.
Now the Lord Jesus goes and looks him out.
O the Lord Jesus, He doesn't just get us started on the right path of life, but He follows through with His plan of salvation and He makes a worshipper out of this man.
And so when the Lord presents himself to him, he says, who is he that I might believe? What a what a blessed way went to God. There was someone here in this room tonight that would be that willing to accept the Lord Jesus as their Savior.
Many have.
Thou hast both seen him, and it is he that talketh with thee.
And he said, Lord, I believe, and he worshiped him.
Oh, leads us all the way up to worshipping God. What a thing. Bring a Sinner.
To a worshipper of God, this is the gospel.
Now there's one more case I would like to mention briefly in the 11Th chapter.
We'll read in John 11.
Verse four. When Jesus heard that he said this, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby. Now Jesus loved Martha and hit her sister and Lazarus. When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he about two days still in the same place where he was then after that.
Saith he to his disciples. Let us go into Judea again.
His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee, and goest thou thither Again Jesus answered, Are there not 12 hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not because he seeth the light of this world.
But if a man walked in the night, he stumble us because there is no light in him.
These things saith he, and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth, but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.
Now I believe most of us know this story of Lazarus and how the Lord went and raised him from the dead. And so I would like to suggest here that.
The light of God is also that which even death.
Itself, the darkness, the gloom of it, is dispelled, and the gospel has brought life and incorruptibility to life, and so that death is no longer the unknown.
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And here he uses this case of Lazarus.
One he loved.
And they had heard that Lazarus was sick, and after the Lord heard Lazarus was sick, he purposefully remained 2 more days there. Why the works of God?
Needed to be manifested. We needed a testimony.
That the light of God could go all the way down into the grave and bring back us to life again.
One of his Saints.
And so the Lord let this happen on purpose, and he abode there two more days. And then when the disciples, when he spoke about going back there to Judea, the disciples as there were, sought to dissuade him. With that the Jews would kill him, they said.
You better not go there. And the Lord speaks of the light. How wonderful that the Lord did not hold back on those for fear of those things. Oh, he could not. He was the Son of God.
And the light was to be here only a certain amount of time.
There are 12 hours in the day and then the sun goes down and then it's darkness. The Lord was only to be here a certain amount of time and then he was leaving and he must do.
But God had given him to do, and so he goes down there to Judea.
And I think, I believe it was on that occasion that he was eventually delivered up to be crucified.
Where he himself went down into death, robbed death of its sting, and brought life incorruptibility to light.
Through the Gospel.
The light of God.
How strong it is, what power, what it has revealed to us.
The king of Tares, it's called death, dispelled it all. And so for the believer it says that neither death can separate, not even death can separate us from the love of God.
Wonderful. The light dispels it. The light of life, its eternal life and death cannot touch it.
It touches the body. Many of us have laid dear ones aside, but it's spoken here of asleep because it's temporary, and so that in faith we lay them aside with hope of resurrection. A life beyond death is what the gospel gives.
Well, I believe this is the last mention of light in this book.
There is one. There is a reference here in the.
The end of.
This chapter.
No, I want to mention one other word of warning.
In the 13th chapter, our time is is up.
In John 13.
Verse 30.
It says he then, having received the *** went out and it was night.
Dear friend, this was the last time that Judas.
Was with the Lord in blessing.
He did. He went out, He delivered up the Lord, and it was night.
A picture of what it is to reject the light.
What a poor, what a horrible end that man had.
To leave the light and go out in your sins.
Darkness.
Shall we close with prayer?
Our God and our Father, we thank thee for the Lord Jesus Christ, the light of the world that has come down at such a cost to Himself.
To give us the light of life.
Realize, Lord Jesus, that it cost the hanging there on that cross during those three hours of darkness.
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When sin was brought before thee and laid upon thee.
And thou hast made sin for us.
When it was all put away, forever settled in order that the light of God.
Might shine on us for all eternity. We thank Thee, Lord Jesus, for doing that for us. We thank Thee for giving us the gospel, and we pray thee thy blessing upon each of our hearts here to night that we might.
Realize, Lord Jesus, who thou art and what thou canst do in our lives.
And so we pray thy blessing on each of us here and others too that have heard the gospel to night, and commend them to thee for thy blessing to work in their hearts for Jesus and each of us, our God.
Have You Been Born? Have You Been Born Twice?
Children—E. Munck
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How many of you here have been born?
We've all been born once.
But what counts is to be born again. Besides a license plate out in the in the parking lot yesterday morning and it said 2X born. What does that mean?
Maybe one year. Exactly right.
Here that night, it's nice to be born once, but if you're if you've only been born once, that's not enough.
You need to be born again, because to be born once means that you'll die twice.
To be born twice means that you may not ever die, and if you do die, you'll only die once.
That's kind of a puzzle, isn't it?
To be born once into this world.
The verse in the Bible says we're born in sin and shaping in iniquity, you know, and boys and girls have all sinned. We have all sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's what the Bible tells us. And so if we've been born once.
And we die in our sins. Then we will die forever, because God can't stand sin.
Scripture says that God is too pure eyes to behold sin and so we need to be born again, we need to have our sins washed away. That the ruler that that song talks about, that was Nicodemus and he came to the Lord Jesus by night and he said, master, what do I need? What do I need to do?
In the Lord Jesus said you must be born again.
Need to have your sins washed away and those of us who.
Have had our sins washed away.
We might not ever die because our hope is to go to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and not have to go through death. But if we do die, then we'll only die that once, because when the Lord Jesus comes, then we'll be raised and live together with him forever.
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Who else has a song they like to sing?
#40.
Jesus loves me, the sign of.
Musicians from.
Wherever you live close to me, Yeah. I don't like this. You have no miserable miseration. Never mind.
And.
She's as far as may be well spanked. Roger Stacey's wife kissing all the run away.
In the pride of him should I die? He's been throughout the whole day. He's rolling on my mind.
That means it is double stranded. Yeah. I'm not sure that he's got his life.
You have all that friends today. It's not a lot of things, it's not a lot of people that are made so.
I appreciate the accuracy in the words of this song. One time I heard the song sung like this.
The fifth verse it went like this. If I trust him when I die.
He will Take Me Home on high.
Now that's just a subtle difference, isn't it? But you know, children, if we trust the Lord Jesus Christ, then we will go home to be in heaven with Him. And when, when those people were singing that song, if I trust Him when I die, that would let you believe that you had to trust Him at the very moment you were dying.
Otherwise you wouldn't go to heaven to be with him. But see, when we sing, if I trust him, should I die? That means that once we trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, then we are eternally secure. And that's a big word. That means we will go to heaven to be with him. And so that's a wonderful thing. The Lord Jesus is not going to save us and then let us.
00:10:18
Go. He will keep us in his hands. Jesus loves me. This I know. What a wonderful thing to know that the Lord Jesus loves us. And that's what we're here this morning for.
I know a man that.
Lived in fact he grew up in in going to meeting and he must not have been listening in the Sunday school because later on in life he said I never knew that God loved me until I was in my 30s now isn't that sad you must not have been listening in Sunday school because.
When we sing Jesus loves me, that tells us that God loves us.
And you know, God loved us so much that he went to Calvary's cross.
And he died for us.
Greater love hath no man than this, than a man lay down his life for his friends.
You know, children and we were we were enemies of God because we have sinned.
Quote that verse again. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God, and so we can't quite reach up to God.
So God has to reach down to us.
He has to provide the way so that we might be saved. So it's important to know that God loves you and God loves me. Otherwise we wouldn't. We would be wasting our time here this morning.
If God didn't love us, we would be wasting our time. But God does love us. And so it's important that you understand and that I understand that God loves us and we need to come to him and have our sins washed away. Littlest child in the room is a Sinner. You know, when I told my little boy he's left, he's just over a year old. When I hold him, sometimes he stiffens his back against me.
He's rebelling in his own little way.
He doesn't want to do what I want him to do.
And so he stiffens his back against me and.
That's what we do to God too. We stiffen our backs against God and that's sin. Bible says the plowing of the wicked is sin. Up in, up in my area where I live, I drive around in the in the country all day long and I see, I go from farm to farm and I see men out there and they just finished corn harvest and now they're plowing the fields.
And we look at those people and we say, well, they're just doing what they need to do to make a living.
But God says the plowing of the wicked is sin and.
So we must realize that, like it says in the book of Romans, God has concluded the mall in unbelief.
That you might have mercy upon all. And so God says you're a Sinner, you sinned, you've come short of the glory of God.
Why does he say that? So that he might come out in mercy and provide you a way of salvation, a way into heaven. How many children say I'd like to go to heaven, but never think that they must have their sins forgiven?
We need to have our sins forgiven, otherwise we can't come into God's presence. Who has another song you'd like to sing?
So number what?
Number one.
OK.
Almost persuaded.
Now.
You know, you may be almost persuaded to come to the Lord Jesus Christ.
But almost.
Is not enough.
Somebody said almost counts only in horseshoes and hand grenades.
But almost is not enough when it's talking about the Bible, when it's talking about your salvation, you need to come to the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
There was one other boy here that had a song. What did you want to sing?
Behold.
OK.
We can, I think we can sing it from memory. Behold, behold, I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock, behold, behold, I stand at the door and knock, knock, knock. If anywhere near my voice, if anybody near my voice and will open, open it, open the door right now.
It's that simple. Lord Jesus is standing at your heart store. We sing another one that goes like this at the heart store, the singers waiting.
At the heart of Launceston. Can you hear me?
And let him in. And so, boys and girls.
The Savior is standing at your heart's door, and he's knocking and wants to come in and He wants to save you, and He wants to wash your sins away, and He wants to give you blessing and wants to make you happy and joyful and give you peace.
And he wants to be with you.
And all you have to do is let him into your heart.
One time there's a man up in the in northern Idaho.
And his name is Philip Roche and Philip Roche.
Is a man that.
Would come to the Spokane meeting every once in a while when he could, when he could come and he'd drive down in an old rickety 4 wheel drive.
Truck and I think I think Philip Roche always wore.
The same clothes.
He didn't have a lot of money, but that man loved the Lord Jesus Christ and he would go up up in the area where he lived.
He was known as the as the preacher. He lived in a place called Roche Valley. His his ancestors had settled in that valley and it's a very pretty place up in the mountains, but he'd go in into Saint Mary's, Idaho.
And he'd tell the people about the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a he's a faithful man in the gospel.
And.
He told me one time, he said, you know, you just need to ask some of these people if they'd like to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. And so today I'm asking you, would you like to accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior? Would you like to know that your sins are forgiven? Would you like to go to heaven?
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If so, why don't you just bow your head right in your chair, right where you are right now?
And say, Lord Jesus, I want to go to heaven, please save me. You know, it's that simple. Somebody has said that it's easy to be saved or it's simple to be saved, but it's not easy.
And that means?
It's the Lord. Jesus has provided a way.
He's provided everything that you need to be saved, but there's something in your heart that says I won't, I won't. I won't. Every time the Lord Jesus knocks at your heart store, knock, knock, knock. You're saying I won't, I won't. I won't.
You know you need to change that and say I will.
Because it's simple to be saved. That's all he asked is that you say I will. It's simple to be saved, but it's not easy because of that thing in you. It's your. It's called your will. And your will says I won't.
You can ask the Lord Jesus to come in and say I will. Then he'll come in and save you.
I'd like to say #44.
Into a tent where a gypsy boy.
Our celebration.
I don't get some story reaching your head or you know, you'll have to get a lot of you can't say I'm going to get to stay on the line.
Salvation. Sorry.
How much children are men? Nobody ever has told me before.
How many people were this were with this little boy when he was lying there in that tent? I'm sure it was a dark tent.
Not a lot of electric light bulbs in tents usually.
And.
Probably not real warm in the winter time, not air conditioned in the summertime.
And if you live in a tent, there's there's not a washer or a dryer around, so you can't keep things real clean.
I suppose that boy had a few smudges on his face because there's no bathroom in a tent.
So here's this boy, and he's a little boy and he's lying in his tent.
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And it might. It's probably dark because it's at the end of the day, how many, how many people with that boy?
Says in the song.
If you remember.
How many people were with that boy when he was dying in the tent at the end of the day?
More than one. More than one. OK, that's not what the song says.
Honey, when the later on when people came in tell me no one says he was lying alone at the close of the day. How many children in here like to be alone?
I don't see any hands.
What you know, somebody, somebody took a poll. And I'm sure we, most of us know what polls are. Polls are where people go ask other people questions to see what they think.
Somebody asked people what what the what the scariest word in the English language was. What do you suppose that word was?
Alone. Exactly.
You know, in my house.
If I ask my child to go upstairs or to go down in the basement, that's even worse. Go down in the basement and bring me up something.
My little girl doesn't want to do that because it's all right if she goes down with some. If I go down with her, it's all right, But she doesn't want to go down alone. And so here's this boy.
Lying alone at the close of the day, it's getting dark.
And.
He is dying.
He realizes that he doesn't have much longer to live.
Is that a nice situation to be in?
Would you like to be in his bed?
How many boys or girls here would like to be in his bed?
Lying alone at the close of the day in a dark tent.
All by himself.
I wouldn't want to be in his in his bed.
And all of a sudden the tent door opens and somebody comes in and says.
Umm, they they came in and they brought news of salvation.
Now this boy has been alone, and it's kind of hard to imagine that because we're in this room and there's bright lights on and we all feel pretty good and there's lots of people around us and it's early in the day. It's kind of hard to feel what he felt. But that little boy, I'm sure, was afraid.
And then somebody came in a tent and told him the way of salvation.
You know, that little boy didn't hesitate, he said. Tell it again.
And then at the last, he said.
God sent His Son. Whosoever then I am sure that He sent him for me.
And God has sent his Son for you today too, even though you're not in the same situation that that little boy was.
God sent his Son.
So that you might be saved.
Well, boys and girls.
Our prayer today is, and I would hope today that you would come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior because you don't know what a day will bring forth. Pretty soon the Lord Jesus is going to come and take us to be with Himself in heaven.
And.
Umm, a prayer is that you would be saved.
So that you could go to heaven too.
What's?
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Just for his, for his help. And then I want to open the Bible briefly and we'll look at something else for God and our Father. We look to thee this morning and we pray that.
Thou by thy Holy Spirit.
Would convict lost boys and girls and in men and women, and bring them to thyself. We realize, Lord Jesus, that the work begins with Thee.
Ends with E and so we pray that thou and my goodness.
Would bring these children to the.
And so we look to thee and pray for Thy blessing as we open Thy word. In Thy name we pray. Amen.
I'd like to look this morning just briefly at.
Luke, Luke's Gospel.
And and I, I'd like to look talk about prayer a little bit.
Umm, let's let's look at.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 18.
And I'm, I'm what I'm doing. When you build a house, you want to build a foundation first.
So I want to give a little bit of a foundation to what I'd like to say this morning, and I'd like to read in Luke 18 and verse 13.
And the publican standing afar off would not so much as.
Lifts up so much as his eyes into heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying.
God be merciful to me, a Sinner. And so before we start, I'd like to say that.
You need to ask God to be merciful to you. If you're still a Sinner, that's the first prayer that you need to pray.
Now I'd like to look at Daniel.
I will turn over to the book of Daniel.
And.
We want to just look at Daniel briefly.
You know, Daniel was an amazing man.
As a young boy, he was.
He was taken away from his country and he was sent to a far off country and he was separated from his family and everything that he had known changed.
And.
Yet Daniel loved God, and he had confidence in God that God would help him and.
You know Daniel. The other thing about Daniel is he had an active relationship with God.
And to to illustrate that I would like to read in Daniel chapter 6.
In verse 10.
Daniel dropped down. A few words went into his house.
And his windows being open in his chamber toward Jerusalem, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God as he did before time. Now Daniel, this was, this was a story about Daniel being thrown into the lion's den. And so Daniel was in a ticklish situation. He was, his life was in danger. There were some men out to destroy him.
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And we live pretty sheltered lives a lot of times. But there are men in this world who.
Through jealousy and through pride.
I seek to destroy other men's lives, and so these men were trying to destroy Daniel.
They wanted to do him in and.
What did Daniel do? He went into his room three times a day.
And he kneeled on his knees, and he prayed and gave thanks before his God.
Just like he always did.
As he did aforetime, it says now when Daniel was taken.
Taken captive.
We read that.
The King.
The King was looking for good people to surround himself with. We heard last night in the gospel meeting the brother that spoke he talked about.
About the world offering you all all kinds of.
All kinds of things. They want your skills and they want your talents.
And they'll offer you all kinds of things. And yet it turns out to be hard labor and *******. But it. But this king wanted Daniel and his friends to be around him because it says.
Daniel, Chapter one.
Verse three. And the king spake unto Ashburn, as the master of use of his eunuchs, that he should bring certain of the children of Israel, and of the King's seed, and of the Princess children, in whom was no blemish, but well favored and skillful in all wisdom, and cunning, and knowledge, and understanding science, and such as had ability in them to stand in the King's palace. And so.
The king was looking for the cream of the crop, as we say. He was looking for the best of the children of Israel to stand before him.
And.
He and Daniel was one of these men. Now how do you suppose that Daniel was?
Was picked.
Well, I think that Daniel probably had some natural God-given talents and abilities, but I think there was something else that about Daniel that the king saw.
I think that Daniel.
New God and it says in verse 17 God gave them knowledge and skill in all learning and wisdom.
So.
We go back to the 6th chapter, we see that Daniel prayed three times a day as he did a four time. And so the clue here is that Daniel, I think throughout all his life, every day he went into his room and he prayed before God for wisdom and he gave thanks.
Says he prayed and gave thanks before his God.
And so Daniel had a relationship with God. Now, the first relationship that we talked about earlier is that you need to be saved. And so if you don't, if you aren't saved, if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, then you don't have a relationship with God And you can't. And God can't give you wisdom and knowledge.
Skill and learning and wisdom. God can't give that to you because.
Because you don't have a relationship with them.
But Daniel had a relationship with God. He talked to God and God talked to him.
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And boys and girls.
That's what we need in our lives.
We need to talk to God and give thanks and ask for wisdom and help in all that we do. How many, how many children here are in a DARE program at school?
Anybody here in the DARE program at school?
I see a few hands that kind of not really want to raise their hands, but.
I'd suggest to you another, another dare. There's a song that goes like this. Dare to be a Daniel. Dare to stand alone, Dare to have a purpose, firm dare to make it known. And so here was Daniel.
In a far away country.
We know from scripture that Daniel was taken away from, he was probably a kings, maybe one of the King's sons or a Prince at least. And he was taken to a far off country and as a captive. And you know, when when kings come and take captives, they don't.
They don't send the captives back to their country in air conditioned buses.
I'm sure that those captives walked along and they probably had chains on their hands and their feet were probably bare and they were walking and walking and it was a dusty, long, long hot, dirty Rd. that they had to walk along.
And Daniel wasn't used to that. He hadn't been raised that way.
And so as those captives walked along.
They were probably thinking, you know, I'm kind of alone.
But Daniel had God with him, and Daniel never lost confidence in God.
We read in the 6th chapter again where Daniel was in the habit of of talking to God.
And so God gave him wisdom and.
Knowledge and understanding.
And children, that's what I'd like to leave with you this morning.
You know, we need to, we need to talk to God. What kind of a what kind of a house would you live in? What kind of house would you live in if your dad and mom never talked to you?
Would you know what they were thinking?
We need to talk to God.
And we need to read His word and so.
It says God gave them.
Knowledge and skill and learning and then over in.
Over in the 5th chapter of Daniel, this is the reputation.
That Daniel obtained because he walked with God and he prayed three times a day to God. Daniel, chapter 5.
And.
Verse 10.
The Queen came into the king. This is where. This is where.
The King.
What had a party and he was the king. Belshazzar had a party and he he just he.
Was totally ignoring God. He was not thinking about God and.
God sent a warning to this king and he wrote on the wall meaning meaning tico ufarsen, which means your Kingdom is weighed in the balances and found wanting. But that king didn't know about that.
So he asked, he asked how do I find out what that means? And so the Queen.
Said the queen heard about this and she said.
Verse 11 There is a man in thy Kingdom in whom is the spirit of the holy gods, and in the days of thy Father, light and wisdom, light and understanding and wisdom, like the wisdom of the gods, was found in him.
Whom?
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Whom the king Nebuchadnezzar, thy father, The king, I say, thy father made master of the magicians, astrologers.
Chaldeans and soothsayers for as much as an excellent spirit and knowledge and understanding.
Interpreting of dreams and showing of hard sentences and dissolving of doubts.
Were found in the same Daniel.
Now Daniel, it says, had an excellent spirit.
And so, boys and girls.
That's what we need to have, too. We need to have an excellent spirit.
And how do we get that excellent spirit?
Well, we need to have, we need to have a relationship with God. We need to pray to him and read his word and he'll give us that excellent spirit and wisdom. First of all, First things first, we need to know the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. We need to pray that first prayer that is God, be merciful to me, a Sinner. And then he'll give us an excellent spirit and wisdom and understanding so that we can walk through this.
This world and we don't have to walk alone.
The Lord Jesus will be with us.
Let's just ask closing for Lord Jesus, we look to thee this morning.
God and Father, we give thee thanks for.
The Lord Jesus Christ.
And for what he has done for us.
And we would just ask thee that, these children.
Might dare to be Daniels.
Might.
Seek to follow thee, that they would.
Pray three times a day and not just give thanks for their food, but that they would pray to thee and talk to thee. And above all, Lord Jesus, we ask thee that these children would all know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior, because that's the most important. So we look to the this day in Jesus name, Amen.