Chicago Conference: 2023
Table of Contents
1 Corinthians 15:2-3
Gospel—R. Thonney
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It was First Corinthians chapter 15 that I read. Before we start at the start of this meeting, would like to go back there.
And speak from those three major facts of God's salvation.
Christ died for our sins #1.
He was buried number two. He rose again the third day.
According to the scriptures.
Tremendous facts of the gospel.
This we're talking about the salvation of God for us.
You know, there's a work of God in us that's necessary as well, and I want to touch on that a little bit later. But first of all, it's important to understand clearly.
The wonderful truth of the salvation of God for something that was accomplished almost 2000 years ago.
In this world, God sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world.
And it's amazing to think about his advent into this world. He came into this world.
But the world did not know him.
Imagine here is the one that spoke the whole universe into existence.
And when he comes into this world.
Who is it that knows he's come into this world?
Almost nobody recognized him.
His poor mother, when he came into this world, you know, he was born of a virgin, of a woman who had never had relations with a man, and that is important because he was holy. At his birth the Angel declared to the Virgin Mary that holy thing which shall be born of these shall be called the Son of God.
It was important because if he was going to take on the question of our sins before a holy God, he himself had to be holy. If he had his own sins, he'd have to answer for that for himself alone.
But because he was holy.
And so he came into this world holy.
But when he was born, his poor mother was relegated to the stable where the animals were, and there she had to give birth.
To her son.
Imagine.
She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in the Manger.
And who was it?
That side all Was there any human witnesses?
Joseph was there, of course.
But it was the angels that came down because they had never seen their creator.
In human form. And here for the first time, they see their creator. And I'm sure they must have thought, where are these people, the people that have the Bible or the Word of God in their hands?
They should know.
That he came into this world and they didn't seem to have a clue.
So the angels had to go out into the fields, and there was the shepherds, and they were the first ones to get the news.
That this day in the city of David is born unto you a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Oh, what a tremendous message.
Later on.
Wise men came from the east. I find it very interesting to hear.
Different reports on wise men. You know how they painted in the pictures? Three wise men. And they always have him out there where he wasn't the stable. That's not accurate at all.
The wise men came almost two years later.
Because when Herod tried to kill those little boys that had been born, he ordered them killed from 2 years old and under.
So the Lord Jesus was probably at that time when the wise men came close to two years old and what we'd call a toddler.
And so they came from a far country it's not.
Said that there were three wise men. I heard one.
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Comment on it said it was probably closer to 20 or 30 wise men.
Because if they travel just three wise men, they would get assaulted by thieves and and they came with gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Things that were very costly there were probably close to 20 to 30.
There's a report and it's very interesting from China.
That there was an astronomer that was well known in the Chinese court and that he reported.
This is not scripture, but this is a report that reported that is seen the king star in the sky and he got permission to go.
And the record in the Chinese documents is that he was absent for close to two years after he'd seen the Star.
And that could have been possibly. Then we don't know for sure. But they came to Jerusalem and they said where is he that is born King of the Jews? We have seen his star in the east and we have come to worship him. Just think of it these people way away.
Far away came to worship him. His own people didn't recognize him. I find that so incredibly sad, but it's the truth of the matter.
And so they came to Jerusalem, and Herod and all Jerusalem were troubled at the news.
And they asked the scribes and the Pharisees.
Where he was to be born and they gave him the answer from the Bible. Is it possible that you know the answers from the Bible and you don't know him?
Yes, that is possible. It happened before. It could happen tonight too.
Oh, how important it is to be real with God.
Anyhow.
They told them the that it was in Bethlehem that the King of the Jews was to be born.
And so they left and went towards Bethlehem, and the star that they had seen in the east went before them until it stood over where the young child was.
And I just try to imagine it.
When they came into the house because they were in a Mary and Jesus, that little boy Jesus was or in the house.
And here the door opens.
One day an in file all these of these wise men, and they fall down on their faces and worshipped him.
Just wonder what Mary must have thought as she saw that happen. And they took out their treasures and offered him gold and frankincense and myrrh.
They recognized who he was. They worshipped him.
But then they were warned to go back another way. And so.
They left, and the people of Israel in general did not recognize him, but there were a few that did.
As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God to them that believe on his name.
And so there were some that recognized who he was, but in general.
He was rejected. Can you imagine a man that could heal the sick, that could even raise the dead?
That could multiply food for the hungry.
Wouldn't you want a kind that kind of a person around? You would think they would, but in the end the Jewish people rejected him completely.
They didn't want him.
And so they pressured Pilot, Pilot declared three times. I find no fault in this man, but at the same time he.
Condemned him to the most awful death, the death of the cross.
And they took Jesus outside the city of Jerusalem.
He had his head crowned with thorns.
Pilot had had him scourged. I don't know if you've ever heard anything of the Roman scourging.
It was called, according to one book I've read about it, The living death and many of the criminals that were scourge died at the scourging. It was so terrible.
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Ripped.
Stripes in the back of the person that was being scourged and then they took Jesus outside the city of Jerusalem.
And they nailed him to a cross.
And they nailed him through the hands and the feet. Can you just imagine the pain, the excruciating pain that it would be?
To have your hands and feet nailed and then that cross picked up and dropped into a hole. And that's why he says one of the Psalms. All my bones are out of joint.
At shock as it jolted down into that hole, all his bones were out of joint.
And there he hung from 9:00 in the morning.
To 3:00 in the afternoon.
With life.
For six hours he was there in life on that cross suffering. The first three hours he suffered from the hands of man. They mocked him, they jeered him, they spit on him, he said. Reproach has broken my heart and I'm full of.
Trouble. And I look for some to take pity, and there was none, and then for comforters, but I found none.
Oh, my friend, how awful he suffered there.
They said to him, if God is his Father.
Let God deliver him.
Did God deliver him?
No. Why not?
Can God love his only Son?
Yes, he did.
But he loved you, too. And he loved you with so much love that he let his own son go on to suffer.
The last three hours of darkness on that cross.
Says at 12 noon everything got dark. And it was in those three hours of darkness that God laid on him. The iniquity of us all. It says in Isaiah chapter 53. He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. In those three hours God took all our sins.
I sometimes think of it this way that Jesus said to God, Bob, Tony can't go to heaven because of his sins, but I'll pay for them Father. And so in those three hours of darkness my sins were laid on him who was completely holy, and the full wrath and judgment of a holy God fell in old fury on God's beloved Son. In those three hours he paid the price of redemption for our sins.
And justice before he died, he said. It is finished.
I should mention, too, that he said toward the end of those three hours of darkness. Because in those three hours of darkness, it was basically silence.
As he suffered those awful waves and billows of divine judgment against sin, he said, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? No, God was his father. Why didn't he say my father? It wasn't because he that God was his father. He was his father, but it was because God was dealing with him as God.
In the holiness of His character, His Holiness had to be satisfied if He was going to extend forgiveness to you and me.
Oh, what a tremendous price he paid. And so at the very end, he says, Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit.
And he died.
That's the first of these three.
Major truths of the Gospel Christ.
Died for our sins according to the scriptures.
The next one, he was buried after he'd given up his life on that cross. They took him down and they wrapped him, as the Jews do, with linen clothes, and laid him in a tomb we know belonged to Joseph of Arimathea. It was a tomb where no dead person had ever lain, because here was one who would not see the corruption of death because he was holy.
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In every way, he was holy.
And so he was laid in that tomb.
And then the third major truth of the gospel is he was raised again.
According to the scriptures. He rose again according to the scriptures.
He was buried on Friday afternoon, the way we count time.
And then Saturday, and then Sunday early, the women came to look for his body, to anoint him with those perfumes, and they saw the stone rolled away from the mouth of the tomb.
And he was not there.
Mary Magdalene was the 1St to see the Lord Jesus in resurrection. But before she saw him she ran to tell the disciples Peter and John and they came to the tomb and they saw.
And they went back to their own homes.
Poor Mary.
She hadn't found him, and she wasn't satisfied, and she stayed there, and all of a sudden she sees some angels there. They say, Woman, why weepest thou whom seekest thou? She said. She thought he was the gardener. She said, If you have taken him away, tell me where you've laid him, and I will take him away.
A woman bearing the carcass of a dead person.
She didn't think about that. She just wanted to see him.
And then she turns around me. She turned her back on the angels.
She turns around and there's Jesus standing. She didn't know it was Jesus.
And she thought he was the gardener. And she said, Sir, if you've taken him away, tell me where you've put him and I will take him away.
And Jesus said one word. I think it's so beautiful.
Mary. She knew immediately who it was. It was the Good Shepherd calling his sheep by name, and she knew immediately who it was. Oh, the beauty of the fact that he has risen again. And we know he was amongst his people in this world for 40 days, 40 nights.
Before he ascended back into heaven. And I've tried to think of the glory of that moment when the Lord Jesus went back into the heavens.
To say, Father, I finished the work you gave me to do the glory of that moment no human, no other human eye could ever witness.
But we know he's there in the glory.
A real, living human being is in the glory of God tonight.
And that amazing to think about. I find that so amazingly so that's the work of God for us. God accepted what Jesus did on that cross. If he had not been fully satisfied with what Jesus had paid on that cross, he wouldn't have raised him from the dead. The fact that he did is a testimony to the fact that God was satisfied with the payment that Jesus made.
Oh, I think it's so amazingly wonderful to think that God is satisfied with Jesus without work of redemption that he accomplished on that cross.
So that's the work of God for us.
But I need to touch on the work of God in us, because that's important.
As well.
And for that, let's go over to John's Gospel chapter 3.
Here we have in the life of the Lord Jesus, the Lord Jesus talking to a Pharisee.
A ruler of the Jews. There's a man of position. His name was Nicodemus.
John 3 verse one there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews.
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The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Nice religious talk, Nicodemus.
What does Jesus answer?
Verse 3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee.
Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Basically, he was saying Nicodemus.
All your religion.
Counts for nothing if you are not born again.
And so if you're not born again, you can't see the Kingdom of God.
And Nicodemus found that very strange.
Verse 4 Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he be enter the second time into the mother his mother's woman be born?
He's trying to think of it in a natural way.
Jesus answered.
Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
No, he's talking about it in a different way.
Be born of water and of the Spirit. Many people think that water is the baptism.
But that's not the case. Baptism speaks of death, not life.
What is the water?
We go over to First Peter, Chapter One. You'll see what the water is.
Just read the verse.
First Peter, chapter one and verse.
23.
Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible.
By the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.
The word of the Lord endureth forever.
And this is the Word which by the gospel is preached unto you.
So the water is the word of God.
So he sent it to Nicodemus, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit. You notice that spirit is capital S It's the Holy Spirit of God.
The Holy Spirit takes the word of God and makes it penetrate into the hearts of those that hear.
Are you listening?
Tonight, are you hearing what God says? It's not so important what I say.
But it's what God says, and when God says something.
We need to listen.
God, by his Spirit takes the word of God and makes it penetrate.
And in that he creates a new life in a person. That's the work of God in US. God has done the work of God for us. But you need as well the work of God in you, because if you're not born of water and of the Spirit, you cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
Oh, how important these things are.
And you know, we're born, as it says in Peter of corruptible seed.
By our parents. That's why I've got Gray hairs on my head. That's why I got a knee that hurts me when I walk lots of times.
It's because I've been born of corruptible seed.
That's the way we were all born the first time.
But that is not sufficient. If you want to see, if you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born of water and the Spirit and that seed.
Is the word of God the incorruptible word of God? I think that's so amazingly wonderful.
Again I say what I say this evening is not important. What is important is what God says in His Word. And here it is.
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Except she be a man, be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter the Kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
So no matter what, I would do as a natural man to try to make myself acceptable to God and sorry, it's not going to work.
I need to be born again of water and of the Spirit of God.
I often have given illustration in Latin America speaking to the Spanish people of.
The sinful nature that we all have.
And use the illustration.
Of a pig.
You know what pigs like?
They like to lay down in the mud and wallow in it.
Let's pull that pig out of the mud hole. Let's wash him down really good. Let's take a brush and get him really nice and clean.
And besides that, we're going to tie him and make sure he doesn't get back out in the mud.
Have we changed that pig?
What do you kids think?
No.
He's only changed on the outside, that's all.
What's going to happen?
When he gets loose.
You know what's going to happen? Go right back to them. And so there are people who dress up nicely. Oh, they're nice religious people. Yeah, I'm religious.
And they think that they've got it together with God.
But there's just on the outside, nothing on the inside.
And so if it were possible, I know this isn't possible, but if it were possible, we could operate on that pig.
And put in him.
A sheep's nature.
Then we could let them go and he wouldn't go to the mud hole anymore because he has a different nature. He has a different life. And that's what happens to a believer in the Lord Jesus when he's born again. He has a nature that wants to do the things of God. That's why it's so important to.
Listen to the word of God.
Your children thankful to see that many of you have parents that read the scriptures daily.
I did. When I was a boy, I had a mom. My dad had to leave for work really early in the morning, and my mom every morning read something of the scriptures and then pray before we went off to school.
And it was one of those mornings that the word of God seemed to register with me, and I said Lord Jesus.
I'm a Sinner. I need to be saved. Will you please save me? And he saved me.
That's almost 73 years ago that that happened and I'm so glad I did it when I was young.
So I want to encourage you to do it when you're young.
Place your faith in the Lord Jesus.
And so you must be born again. That's the word of God, work of God in US. It's the work of God for us, what was accomplished at the cross of Calvary almost 2000 years ago. But also is necessary the work of God in US.
Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
That's why it's so important the Lord Jesus said multiple times in the gospel he that hath ears to hear, let him hear.
Book of Revelation It says he that hath, and eager let him hear.
You got ears there?
On your head.
Listen. Hear what he has to say to you. So important.
But I want to touch something that I believe is really important.
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You know why I am burdened.
Because.
I.
At least four.
Men that are alive today.
That used to break bread.
In our assembly meetings.
And today?
They say they are atheists.
What in the world has happened?
Where have they been?
Does it mean that somebody that's saved can lose their salvation?
No, I don't believe that's the case.
If they were not saved.
It was that they were never saved.
But they can appear as people that are saved.
And that's what scares me.
I don't know if I've told the story here, but if I have, please forgive me, I don't remember.
Where and when I told some of my stories.
When Barb and I after we were married.
Went from.
Oak Park to Bolivia to establish our first home in Bolivia.
We decided to build a house on a lot next door to the meeting room in Montero, Bolivia.
And we contracted a brother and fellowship there to build us a house.
And he had working for him a young man who was a bricklayer they built with bricks there.
And he did his work well, I thought he was a believer.
And he would go on us sometimes in the weekends to visit different meetings in the Amazon Basin area where there were different meetings.
After we got done building the house, he disappeared. I guess he went somewhere else to work and I lost track of him.
Sometime later I got.
Met up with him in a marketplace. Where have you been?
Don't worry, don't worry. I'm going to come back to meeting. I'm going to come back to meeting, I said. I don't talk about meeting, I said. Where have you been?
Anyhow, I lost track of them again.
But if you've ever been to Montero, Bolivia.
You're going to find that there we have taxis, they use motorcycles for taxis and you can climb on the back of a of a taxi, motorcycle taxi and they'll take you where you want to go.
Well, these taxis.
The men that had those taxis started appearing.
Outside the city in different areas.
Dead.
With a bullet through their head.
Nobody knew who was doing it. Who in the world is doing it?
234567
Anyhow, one day, Amen.
Was found at the side of the road and he had been shot in the head too, but the bullet had gone around his skull.
Didn't go through his brain, he's still alive and they brought him into the hospital.
And he told who it was.
That did it was this man.
That had helped build our house for us.
And at that time there was military government in Bolivia.
And they don't handle it like a democratic government news.
But he confessed.
Under I don't know if they'd use torture what it was to having killed 12 People.
They decided to do an investigation as to where he had taken the.
Motorcycles of the people that he had killed and sold them. And so one day two soldiers and he were taken out into the countryside where he said he had sold one of the motorcycles.
And I think they did this purposely. They kind of let loose of him and he started running for the jungle and they called for him to stop. And he didn't stop. Boom, boom, boom, boom.
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They killed him.
That was capital punishment.
You know, I cringe. I cringe. I cringe to think that I broke bread with a man that is in hell now.
Is it possible?
Where are you With the Lord? You can fool me. You cannot fool God. He's looking down into your heart and he knows exactly.
Where you stand with God.
And I'm here to say to you, be real with God. Don't fool around with God. You can fool around with me. Been plenty of people that fooled me.
You can't fool God.
So I want to talk the time we have left. Let's go first of all to a verse in Acts chapter 20.
That is important. That talks about.
Salvation.
Acts chapter 20 and verse 21. This is the Apostle Paul speaking and he says testifying both to the Jews and also to the Greeks.
Repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Two things that are necessary for salvation.
Repentance toward God.
Faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ.
Look at a couple verses or few verses in Luke chapter 13.
Luke, Chapter 13.
Verse one.
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things.
I tell you, Nay, but accept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Or those 18 upon whom the tower of fell, and slew them.
Thinking that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem, I tell you, Nay, but accept ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
If you want to be saved, there's something that's necessary repentance.
What does that mean? Repentance.
Pent comes from the Latin root. To think Spanish, it's Pennsylvania.
But it's to think repent means to rethink.
To have a change in your thinking, you know, I think it is especially critical here in the United States because we are taught that we can. We are the masters of our own destiny. We can take our own course of things just as we think best.
For a question of justice, man to man, that might be right. But it's not. We're talking about God and man.
And so there needs to be a repentance. And if you don't repent.
You're going to perish.
Let me be clear.
Repentance does not save a person.
What saves a person is faith in Christ.
We are saved by faith.
Through grace.
And that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.
But if you don't repent, you won't be saved. And that's what has to happen. And that's what costs, sometimes terribly, in the life of a person.
We have to come, and sometimes it takes a crisis in a person's life to bring them to repentance.
I'm not getting it right. I'm not getting it straight with God.
You know, it's interesting to me that the verse we often use in the gospel.
Romans 8, Romans 10.
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9.
If thou shalt confess with thy mouth.
Jesus as Lord, and believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved.
Confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord.
In other words, to recognize I'm not Lord of my life any longer.
I surrender.
I repent of my own ideas. I surrender to the lordship of Christ.
How important that is to recognize him as Lord. You know what I see so often as people think? And if I just ask the Lord to save me in a minute and then I can go on living my life just like I want to, and nobody's going to say anything because I'm saved. I'm already saved now because I trust in the Lord. But there's been no repentance.
That's scary. That's scary.
No, you need to repent and then believe in the Lord Jesus. And so I want to.
Speak about 3 persons in scripture.
One who repented but didn't have faith.
Another who had faith. At least it says he does did.
But he had never repented.
And then another who had repentance and faith.
Let's go to the book of Matthew chapter.
27.
Matthew Chapter 27.
Verse 3 This is talking about when the Lord Jesus was taken.
To deliver him to Pontius Pilate, to the Governor. To crucify him.
You remember what had happened? Judas Iscariot, one of the Lord's disciples, one of the 12 disciples.
Had made an agreement with the chief priests and the Pharisees.
To deliver him to them for 30 pieces of.
And it does seem like Judas that the Lord has walked out of so many traps.
Well, he'd just walk out of this one and I'll have the 30 pieces of silver in my pocket. No one will ever know.
It didn't happen that way.
When it came, the time when he betrayed him, they took him, and it was the time for the Lord to go to the cross.
And so here's the story about Judas, verse 3. Then Judas which had betrayed him when he saw that he was condemned, that Jesus was condemned.
Repented himself.
Another translation says filled with remorse, and brought again the 30 pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned and that I betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, what is that to us? See thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Oh, the awfulness of the end of Judas Iscariot.
One of the Lord's disciples.
One of the apostles, I'm sure. He had done miracles. He had preached the word.
And here he is.
Betraying the Lord.
And after he had done it, it was so shameful what he had done.
That he went and hanged himself.
The book of Acts, chapter one, gives us a detail that we don't have here. When he hanged himself, he fell down and his body broke in two.
All is inside spilled out. What an awful end to one who is so close to the Lord for 3 1/2 years listening to him, whereas Judas Iscariot now.
In hell fire.
Oh, what an awful thing.
Couldn't he have turned back to the Lord to say I'm sorry? Forgive me, with the Lord have forgiven him, I'm sure he would have forgiven him.
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Didn't have that faith.
Says it. Repented himself. Is filled with remorse. I'm sure realized how awful it's going to look between for everybody.
And there he is now.
And that lost eternity.
Repentance in itself doesn't save, so let's go over to the book of the Acts, chapter 8, to see a man who believed.
And was baptized even.
Here Philip verse 5.
Went down to the city of Samaria, and preached Christ unto them. And the people with one accord gave heed unto the things which Philip spoke, hearing seen the miracles which he did.
Verse.
12:00 But when they believed, I'm sorry, let's read verse 8 or verse nine first. But there was a certain man called Simon, which before time in the same city used sorcery and bewitched the people of Samaria, giving out that himself was some great one, to whom they all gave heed from the least to the greatest, saying, This man is the great power of God, and to him they had regard because that of a long time he had bewitched them with their sorceries.
But when they believe Philip preaching the things concerning the Kingdom of God in the name of Jesus Christ.
They were baptized both men and women.
Then Simon himself believed. Also he believed.
And when he was baptized, he continued with Philip, and wondered, beholding the miracles and signs which were done.
Verse 14 Now when the apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent it to them. Peter and John, who when they were come down, prayed for them. They might receive the Holy Ghost.
For as yet none he was fallen upon none of them. Only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. Then lay they their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost when Simon saw that through the laying on the hands of the Holy Ghost.
Apostles hands the Holy Ghost was given, He offered them money, saying, Give me also this power, that on whomsoever I lay hands he may receive the Holy Ghost.
But Peter said unto him, Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money. Thou hast neither part nor lot in this matter, for thy heart is not right in the sight of God. Repent.
Therefore of this thy wickedness, and pray God, that if perhaps the thought of thine heart may be forgiven me, for I perceive that thou art on the gall of bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
With Simon the Sorcerer saved.
No, he believed he was baptized.
Wasn't saved.
He had never repented of his sorcery.
He was a great man in the sorcery world.
Now greater power comes to Samaria, power of God in the gospel.
And he wants to be a great man in the Church of God.
Peter detects that he had never repented. Oh, how solemn this is. There's no evidence with Simon that he ever repented. He does say to Peter in verse 24. Pray ye to the Lord for me that none of these things which thou has spoken come upon me.
Poor Simon. I don't know that he ever really, truly believed because he never had repented.
So believing without repentance.
It's not salvation, and I think that's what the Apostle Paul was referring to in the book of First Corinthians 15 when he said except you believed in vain. What does it mean to believe in vain?
So believe in a way.
That God doesn't recognize when there's no repentance, He doesn't recognize believing.
Pretty interesting to think about, and I just challenge you to search your hearts in the presence of God. Have you surrendered to the Lord Jesus?
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Or are you still maintaining you're going to do things your way which how you want?
Well, the third one is in Acts 16. Quite well known story of.
Paul and in the prison at Philippi.
And their backs were beaten and their feet were put in the locks.
In the prison.
Verse 25 says, and at midnight Paul and Silas prayed.
And sang praises unto God, and the prisoners heard them.
Not interesting.
Didn't happen right away, I'm sure they.
We're kind of feeling bad.
Especially their backs and their feet.
And the impossible situation that was on their hands.
But at midnight.
Sometimes it takes us a while.
To realize that the Lord is still over all.
It says verse 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. Immediately all the doors were opened and every man ones bands were loosed and the keeper of the prison awakening out of sleep.
Seeing the prison doors open, he drew out his sword and would have killed himself, supposing that the prisoners had been fled.
Paul cried with a loud voice, saying. Do thyself no harm for we are all here.
Then he called for a light, and sprang in, and came trembling.
Fell down before Paul and Silas. There is the evidence of his repentance.
Brought them out and said sirs, what must I do to be saved?
They said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved in thy house.
They spake unto him the word of the Lord, and to all that were in his house. And he took them the same hour of the night, and washed their stripes and.
Was baptized he in all his straight way. When he had brought them into his house, he set meat before them and rejoiced.
Believing in God with all his house.
There we have a man.
Who was repentant and had faith in the Lord Jesus and he was saved and all his house. What a wonderful thing.
And so I just wanted to say to you.
Where do you stand?
In connection with God and his great salvation.
Not enough?
To merely repent. But you need to repent and believe in the Lord Jesus to be saved. And so this jailer was and all his house.
Oh, I plead with you.
Be real with God.
Don't go for him, don't fool around anymore.
If you have any questions, I'd be glad to talk to you afterwards. Don't feel intimidated to come and talk to me or anybody else too that you have confidence in. It's so important you get this straight. Let's pray.
Discipleship: (Partial)
Sing—Eugene Soare
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Now we're going to have a short talk for Mr. Eugene. Sorry.
Let's of course ask for help, you know, having a little talk.
I trust it'll have an impact on your lives and it will be a help along your Christian pathway and it's not.
What I say in my own thoughts and.
But but it's what?
Trust the Lord has for you tonight.
Luke, Chapter 16.
Just be part of verse one. And he that is the Lord Jesus Christ said also unto his disciples.
So he was speaking to his disciples, verse 10 of chapter 16, Luke. He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much, And he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much.
If therefore he have not been faithful in the unrighteous Mammon, who will commit to you your trust, the true riches? And if he have not been faithful in that which is another man's, who shall give you that which is your own?
First off.
You know.
There's there's a lot of addresses on whose faith follow, and there was one recommended to me by **** Gorgas on Discipleship.
And I think it's very, very helpful.
Bob, Tony spoke tonight, I believe.
Of claiming confessing the Lord Jesus Christ as Lord, And that would.
Own ownership.
You know, you kind of give up your ownership of my will and you say Lord, and you know.
I know it's not in the original, but you know, Lord, what will thou have me to do?
Asking the Lord what you should be doing.
And when I say you, you know you got four fingers pointing back at me, so.
Is he?
Your Lord is he my Lord? And do we express that practically? So a disciple is one who is a learner and a pupil.
And certainly the ones here, you know, all throughout the Gospels, they're called disciples. There were some that were apostles, but disciples a learner.
And some of the most powerful.
And you know.
Joyful and preserved disciples were the ones that were closest to the Lord. I think of John the disciple whom Jesus loved. He was close to the Lord, and he was preserved during that.
Very difficult scene of the Lord being taken in the garden.
And all the way to crucifixion, John stayed. It seems right with him through that.
What about Mary? She sat at the Lord Jesus feet. You know, discipleship is not just about men, it's about sisters, also in the Lord.
She sat at the Lord's feet and it seemed that she had intelligence she wasn't found going to the grave.
She listened and had intelligence.
So.
The Lord has quite a few things to say.
Start the time. We'll knock off 2 minutes.
About being a disciple of his.
And.
Before we get into that.
With what we read here in Luke, and the reason I read it was it talks about being faithful in that which is least and so as.
Children and young people.
There's a responsibilities that we have in the in the home. Perhaps it's chores, perhaps it's just getting along with family or helping out with father and mother at home or at work.
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But that's the being faithful in that which is least so.
I thought of the word.
Earnestly Contend for the Faith
Open—Sam Ludvicek
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This very book that we're just in.
Our brother made an application of verse.
3 Contrasting faith with.
Unbelief.
But if you don't get this last part of verse 3.
This exhortation. Without it, none of the rest of this means anything.
Unto you, and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.
Read it again.
To write unto you, and exhort you, that you should earnestly contend for that body of Truth.
Which was once delivered under the Saints.
I have been shouting from the mountaintop that the main battle, the hottest part of the battle against Christians in the West, is to undermine this book.
To do everything to get you to lack confidence that this thing is a real sword and that you can use it. I see the attacks against young people. It's even migrating into their grandparents. There's a lady I had a talk with who's older than I am. Her grandson has been coming home with stuff from the Internet, casting doubt on whether the word of God can be trusted, and she's begin to doubt it.
And she's been saved since a child raised amongst the gathered Saints. But in her discussions trying to be a help to her grandson, it's actually affected her fate.
Because she's begun to doubt that she can trust the words that are in this book.
And that's that's the main effort that the enemy's using in the West.
Do you know that the Chinese government has made a translation of the Bible?
And Jesus is a bad guy in it.
Why are they doing that? I don't know how that fits into the enemy's plans.
But it's certainly part of undermining that you can trust this book.
There's another word here in verse four that I want to mention. Lasciviousness is a synonym for licentiousness and I like that word license because turning the grace of God into license, permission, license to do things. So there's two things going on. You get undermined that what the word of God actually says. Things get dismissed as being cultural only and don't really apply today. So it's being used like that.
Well, if you don't know that body of truth that was once delivered to the Saints, if you're not really familiar with it, if you're not grounded in it, how are you going to stand when something comes against you?
Do many people even know that God promises to preserve His word?
Well, this dear old sister didn't even know that we had a nice conversation about it, and one of the things that her grandson had brought up, which was half truth.
Now I'm going to tell that story.
He went on the Internet and found out that that story about the Lord Jesus writing in the dirt.
With the woman caught in adultery.
Part of that story he read on the Internet was added to the Bible in the 4th century.
And that there is no Greek manuscript in existence that has that whole story before the 4th century. Well, that's half true.
And I told her that it's half two. There is no Greek manuscript that has all of that story in it that we have in our possession or anybody has in their possession that has that full story. But guess what?
Early church fathers writing about that story told the whole story, and they had a Greek manuscript sitting on their table that they wrote from when they commented on that scripture. So it existed just because we don't happen somebody didn't find one. I said that's evidence, and it's evidence that could be used in a court of law in a criminal case to show that even though they can't find the actual original copy of that.
There are multiple people who commented at it and quoted the whole story. That's evidence for it.
And as I talk with this dear sister, I said, you know this has come up before and my conversations with people this very exact same. And I said so I happen to know the answer to this. There are multiple sources that say that whole story belongs there way before, as early as I think the 2nd century, maybe been the end of the 1St century, but certainly then other translations that were made between 1:20 and 1:50 AD.
00:05:02
The Bible was translated into the Syriac language and something that's called the Old Latin or the Italia.
The Old Latin was the Latin that the the Christians of the Dark Ages often had in their possession up in the mountains as they hidden, ran from the persecutors who came after them. But those translations, because people also add to it, the Catholic Church took the Bible, changed it and did all this stuff, and we can't know anything about it. Well, the Roman Catholic Church didn't have those Bibles in their hands. They went amongst the Arab Christians, those kinds of things.
I said God has preserved his word, He's never allowed anybody to take it all away, and even these corrupt translations that exist like the Jehovah's Witnesses.
It's remarkable to me. I would not want that.
To be my daily reading at all. But if you're talking with one of those folks, God has not even allowed them to take everything out of there. That's the truth.
And you can actually sit down and take their own Bible and show them some things and have a conversation. Because if you don't have a sword that you believe you can use and it will cut, why would you take out a rubber sword? You won't. So dear Saints and young people that are being undermined and told and taught and influenced to not trust this book, that's the main attack of Satan in the West right now. And then behind that is to get them to doubt things that have been held.
As fundamental truths.
By many evangelicals for many years and to just throw it aside. So how can you get?
Two people who claim to be devout followers of Christ who say they're in a married gay relationship and it God is blessing it and it's OK. Unless you don't believe this anymore or you have a Bible that's been translated into a way that waters it all down.
So the enemy's attack, the main attack is against and part of that body of truth, that body of faith is that God has inspired and preserved his word and he has brought it to us and we can trust it. And you can do a little research if you need to, to prove some of those things out and and show that some of these things that are being said on the Internet and other places and books being written, people like Burt Ernham who.
Claim to be a fundamental devout Christian, went to the best schools and now writes books against Christianity and and is used by the Muslims by the way to show that Christianity is wrong or not trustworthy. But those things are either half truths or just out and out lies. But if you don't know what the Bible says.
About itself. And if you don't know the fundamentals of the faith that solid truths that were delivered us, how do you have a defense against it?
And we have this Bible study. I mentioned Marengo. There's people there from all kinds of backgrounds. There's one old lady there. She went to a Methodist Church and she came to our Bible study and she said we have a lesbian pastor.
Wow. Wow. How did that happen in the Methodist Church? That used to be fairly fundamental years ago. Well, they gave up contending for this. They gave up contending.
We need to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered on to the Saints.
Ephesians 1:1-5, 1st Reading
Reading
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Before Moses.
Died. The Lord took him up into the mountain to view the.
Panorama of the inheritance of the children of Israel.
And you can think of he saw the whole land before him.
At Spiritual Inheritance and Brethren, I like to think of this chapter.
As what we have in contrast with what Moses saw, which was a portion of this earth.
Are as far supersedes. So what we have in chapter one is a panorama of spiritual blessings that belongs to us now.
Oh, we don't grasp it. But we need, like David was saying, to be reminded of it. I find again and again the tendency of this world is to occupy us with earthly things. Not that that's wrong.
But sometimes it occupies us to the point that we lose sight of what we are called to brethren.
What a tremendous heritage is ours. And so we have in verse three of this chapter. We've been blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
You cannot ask for more blessings than you already have.
It's not a matter of how much we enjoy them. It's a matter of having them. We have them. If you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, you have been blessed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ.
Oh, what a tremendous thing it is to enjoy that brethren. And it's the enjoyment of these things that has a transforming effect on our lives the Lord help us to.
Enjoy it.
Just want to say before we get into this chapter that at the end of the chapter you have a prayer of the Apostle Paul.
From verse 15 down to the end of the chapter.
And he prays in verse 18 that the eyes of your understanding.
May be enlightened that you may know what is, and there's three things that he asked for #1 What is the hope of his calling?
They're calling the spiritual blessings of the believer. Perhaps we can say that's from verse 3 down through verse nine. And the second thing is.
What the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints?
And I say I suggest that that's verse 1011 and 12.
And then the third thing is, what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us? We're to believe according to the working of His mighty power.
And that's what we have in verses 1314.
Of this chapter, but I just suggest that's kind of an outline of the chapter.
And may the Lord help us to meditate on these things and to enjoy them.
Must say in my youth I remember taking up this chapter and governor at times at conferences.
And those dear older brother and that enjoyed these things so much and I don't remember.
Who it was It might have been Paul Wilson.
Said, you are not blessed more now than you will be in heaven. You will have you have the same blessings that you will have when you get to heaven.
Oh, brethren, do we really believe that?
That's the truth of this chapter. Lord, help us.
He begins the chapter by saying that he's an apostle, so he's showing some authority for us to be reminded of because often we find some letters he doesn't say he's an apostle becoming much softer. So we should give us some heed of warning that this is serious stuff here. And then he said that known as an apostle and he's an apostle by the will of God and is to who is? Who is he writing to?
Now I believe it's the same group of people, but in as if the two characteristics of those here he wrote to is to the sinks. How many of us consider ourselves to be Saints? Well really that's a trick question isn't it? If we are believers, we are Saints. It's not how well we walk with God, it's not how much we walk with God. All the redeem one are sinks. So here he's specifically addressed to which are in Ephesus. I believe we can apply it.
00:05:31
To us as well.
And then just the sinks. No to the faithful in Christ Jesus. How many of us would like to be in those two categories? The first we don't have a choice. He put us in there that we are sayings before God faithful. Do we have the desire to walk in faith so that we could be considered as faithful? Then he can go on and say grace be to you and peace from God our Father.
And from our Lord Jesus Christ, and there you talk about God the Father, you talk about Christ, and the next verse talking about the spiritual blessings. So we find He's letting us know here that the whole Godhead is involved for yours and my blessings and the future that is not here but is heavenlies. And while that will find the phrase in heavenly places, which I believe should be translated to the heavenlies.
Is repeated throughout this book of Ephesians. It mentioned at least five times. We see that I mentioned twice in our chapter in the third verse and in the 20th verse. That's just to help us to keep our eyes gazed. Everything is heavenly, not about this earth.
It mentions in this first chapter the will of God, I think four times.
Verse one.
Verse 5.
Verse 9 and verse 11.
So in this chapter we have the will of God.
Man's will is not mentioned till Chapter 2.
And there we have the.
Will of man mentioned in the 1St 3 verses.
And it's fairly negative.
But the will of God is for blessing.
Wonderful. And I like to think you mentioned David.
Saints, that is every true believer.
And to the faithful, it really includes all the Saints. Faithful means those that have faith.
And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus.
You have faith.
You are those of the faithful. I trust we can be faithful. Like you say, it's the result of enjoyment of these things that will make us faithful.
But it's beautiful to think that every believer is part of the Saints and faithful in Christ Jesus.
There's two mentioned grace, and they mentioned peace.
Raise We are exhausted to grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. So that's every believer should and should do just that. To grow in grace. Well, how do you grow in grace? Well, I think the more we think of price, the more we think of what he has done for us. Then we will realize the grace that was bestowed upon us. And that should be a constant exercise in our heart to grow in grace. But then peace.
This is a little bit different piece because it's a topic in this world often that people have no peace, though we want peace. So peace is from different sense. There's peace from war, but then what about peace in our own hearts? That often is forgotten and we find when in a society that we may be financially very well off, but many people have no peace. It's common to hear somebody say I can't sleep, I have trouble sleeping. Now I know that even Christian.
Said that difficulties. But as a whole, why can't we sleep? Because there is no peace. But more so here is the peace of God that we have knowing what we're going to spend eternity. The peace of God letting us know that what happens tomorrow or what happened this afternoon is according to the will of God. This is something I believe among Christendom is getting more and more difficult to accept that we think we can control what's going on.
00:10:02
I remember the first trip. I came back down here to a conference from Canada, and I was greeted by some brethren that I haven't seen in a while. And the first phrase is what happened to Canada? You're losing your freedom, Oh brethren, we don't lose our freedom.
Whatever it is, it is the will of God. Now how do we act accordingly? What if you did lose your freedom where you are?
Is it because things got so bad or is it because God that God appeased have put those circumstances into your life. This morning it would we were read the verse we're to pray for the authority to be well if you lose your freedom would you still pray that that government who put you in jail or whatever the circumstance be?
Would it be right to pray for that government? And I see in Canada, sometimes some would say, what I'm not praying for that president or the Prime Minister. I don't like him, but I don't believe that's the way the word of God have it. And the hardest thing I believe to learn, even though we mentioned it here, the will of God is the opposite and is do we trust in His will? Do we learn to say that thy will be done And when we learn that and we will learn.
To have the peace that we get from the peace of God, knowing that it is according to his will and his mind.
So we found the 1St 3 verses as if he laid the principle of what we how we should think, how we should act. It gave us that big picture. And then in verse four as if he expound a little bit more how precious to think that he has chosen.
Us this election, isn't it? In him, before the foundation of the world, he chose you and I for what you were chosen.
Before you were born, before this world even existed. He has chosen us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy.
Oh, that's a word. We don't use much today, do we? Well, we need to be able to not offend people. We find our speech need to be so careful and often needs to be so-called politically correct and we're afraid to even mentioned what the word of God have to say. Or we inject our own opinions into something of what holiness is. Now I'm going to say something that may not be popular. I know at home one of the big, big thing among Christendom is they are so against homosexuality.
And now just let me clarify that I'm not supporting that, but yet I'm seeing Christians OK with people living in sin.
Is one that much worse than the other? Well, depending who's eyes, as if there is a different degree of sin. Well, to me, both. God said he's a horror with both. So why do we pick one over the other as it was better? We are to be holy, to be holy. No sin should be allowed in his presence.
So here we were, chosen that our life, our our walk should be holy and without blame before him. In love, you know, it's so easy. We find it especially in politics. When they want to discredit someone, what do they do? They dig up dirt, as if it were, and from that point forward.
Then it shows how bad a person is. We have to walk as if we're holding as the board is.
Dimension in verse three, that is blessings we have.
Are spiritual blessings.
In heavenly places in Christ.
It's in contrast with.
Israel. In the Old Testament, they were a people blessed by God. But if you go back to Deuteronomy 28, you see the character of their blessings.
Deuteronomy chapter 28. I'll read a few verses here. It shows the contrast of their blessings.
Shall come to pass, if thou shalt hearken diligently into the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all His commandments which I command thee this day, that the Lord thy God will set the unhigh above all the nations of the earth.
And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the Lord thy God.
00:15:01
Blessed shalt thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle. Never increase of thy kind, and the flux of thy sheep bless it shalt thou be, shall be thy basket and thy store. Blessed shalt thou be when thou comest in and and blessed shalt thou be when thou goest out. So there is blessings, but it's all connected with.
Material things. And that was true in the Old Testament.
Of God's earthly people today, there's quite a movement in Christendom to say that the church is just an extension of Israel.
Brethren, our blessings are not material, they are spiritual.
I'm going to ask John Kaiser.
Can you name one of your spiritual blessings to me, brother?
Eternal salvation, Eternal salvation. Can you show me it too, please? Can you show it to me, please?
No, because it's spiritual, isn't it?
Another one is the forgiveness of sins. Brother Ed, can you do you have the forgiveness of sins?
Please, I'll go into some kind, some kind of document you got to show that.
But it doesn't say that, Ayersman. You possess it by faith, don't you? And I think that's that's what it is. It's spiritual, something you do not possess in a material way, like the children of Israel did.
But it's spiritual blessings.
And the spiritual blessings are forever.
These material blessings that Israel was promised were on the condition of obedience.
Thankfully.
Our blessings, Brethren, are not conditional. They're unconditional.
They're based on the work of Christ and God's eternal purpose to bless us.
And it's so wonderful to get a hold of this. There's spiritual blessings, all spiritual blessings.
In heavenly places in Christ.
In Christ, in him.
Continues to be expressed through these verses. It's all in him, brother, and it's not in us, not depending on us. Wonderful these things to get a hold of them. So God has.
Two spheres of blessing. Remember when God promised to Abraham blessing, he said, Your descendants shall be like the stars of heaven and like the sand by the seashore. 2 Spheres, the heavenly and the earthly.
And we, the Church, are the heavenly sphere, brethren, and the heavenly sphere is spiritual blessings.
Sometimes people say when they have had a good crop.
Well, the Lord has really blessed me.
Well, I understand what they're talking about, but it's really not blessings, Brethren. Their mercies that the Lord puts into our hands for a time, He can take them away too if He wants to, but they're not spiritual blessings. These are mercies that we have temporarily to use for Him. So I think it's good to see the contrast between the two.
That right, Bruce.
They're not only spiritual blessings, but they're presently possessed.
If there were a A born again.
Israelite.
But Jews say.
Have not yet been brought into the saving knowledge of Christ. But he's reading the scriptures, and he would read through Isaiah or Jeremiah. It would make him sad because he would realize the the heavyweight of judgment that has fallen upon his his nation, his people. But he also he could be encouraged by seeing a coming time of blessing. But it's all in the future.
Secured by the 1St coming of Christ, but brought into reality when His Second Coming takes place, which hasn't happened yet. But for you and me, our blessings are presently possessed. I I I think that is good to to stress that there's one thing I lack and you lack. That is we're not glorified.
When the when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven.
Then even these bodies are going to be changed and we'll be like him. But we've been chosen, as we'll see in this chapter.
00:20:08
We've been chosen for a certain destiny. As we'll see in this chapter, we've been called We've been Justified.
And in Romans 8, where it speaks of it speaks of it in our English Bible as something past tense he has glorified.
But it's a difficult tense in the Greek, and I don't understand Greek. But there's a tense we don't even have in our English Bible in our English language.
And it just speaks of the character of a thing without reference to time. And we are as good as glorified. But it hasn't taken place yet with respect to time. So I think it's good to enjoy the fact that our blessings.
Are presently possessed, every one of them. With that exception, maybe you can think of another, but that's the one that comes to mind that is yet future for you and me.
Because we have a God who speaks of things that are not as though they were, we have confidence that it belongs to us in that future.
I find it also very helpful to know that it's because we have the person and we have the person now. It says blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. As a man walking, perfect man walking on the earth, he enjoyed that perfect relationship with his God. Even on the cross in the middle of those hours of suffering for sin, he says my God, my God. He doesn't put any distance between himself and his God. He doesn't say God, God. He says my God, my God is the perfect enjoyed relationship.
As that man who walked this earth and the Father, he came to reveal the Father. He came to bring us into that relationship. And so he addresses him directly here. And then he goes into these verses that begin the chapter one after another of these blessings we're talking about. But they're all related to a person. They're all in him in whom? And so on. It's directly related to that person. And throughout this whole chapter, the Church hasn't even mentioned until verse 22.
It's individual at the beginning because we're brought to know that one and we know Him. Now, where is He? Is in heaven. So our blessings are heavenly, but we're enjoying them because we're in Him, we're chosen in Him, we're related to Him, we're brought into His relationship.
As holy and without blame before him in love. What's God? God is light and God is love. What are we? We're made like Him. We're brought into that same.
Work, and it's going to be in fullness later, but we're there now.
And we can enjoy them now. And what we have in heaven is a is a I don't know how to put it. Maybe a more purified version practically, but it's not different in character than what we have now.
The life that we have now will be in the element that's proper to it. I've heard it put that way, and I I think that's a way to consider it. We have, we are in present possession of eternal life, but when we are glorified with Christ, we're going to be in a sphere. We've never been there yet, but I believe when we get there, we're going to feel.
Immediately at home because we have a life.
To which that place is suited.
Comment was made that we can't see, we can't display any of these to the outside world, which is true. It's too hard to. It's too difficult to explain. Unless they have the light from the word of God, they're not going to see the Kingdom of God. However, as it was said, these are the things we have already, which means if you and I live in the enjoyment of it, often they will see the result of that.
Christian walk is very interesting. Other people notice when we walk with the Lord, you know, perhaps, perhaps I use a different example. Maybe it's the wrong season. But if this was summer, early summer, and perhaps Chicago is not a good example, you down to the coast by the seashore. Or suppose here too you can go down to the beach along Lake MI on a Sunday day and you seems to enjoy that you spend the day there. You come home.
Well, I think people would know that you were enjoying the sunshine on that beach because there were evidence on your face that is turning red. Well, depending on your skin tone, some would turn bright red, some would turn lobster red, and some would be tanned. But nevertheless, there is evidence that you were on the beach. You can't hide that. So when enjoy the Lord, people know when we walk with the Lord we became.
00:25:07
A testimony to his word, I think. Steve, you mentioned light.
Well, we become now the light of this world. We reflect perhaps some of the light that was shone on us in this Dark World.
I must say, Brother David, that I've been challenged in my own soul to see.
People who are some of the poorer of this world that have the enjoyment of these spiritual realities.
Never forget the time I've mentioned this before, I'm sure, brethren, but Clem, Buchanan and I were in the Dominican Republic and we were invited to a brother's house for lunch.
And his brother was poor.
His house was just made of some sticks in the ground and leaves for roofing.
And we went in and the only place to sit was at the table where we were going to eat. So we sat down there.
At the meal wasn't ready yet, so my brother didn't have any nice house to show us or nice car up front.
But he got out his Bible.
Never forget, brethren, the joy that radiated from that blackface.
As he opened the Bible.
And I thought he was reading.
Afterwards, I understood. He didn't know how to read. He quoted it. But the joy.
That radiated.
From his face.
That was a moment I had to bow my head and said, Lord, please help me not to get so blinded by material things.
These are spiritual realities.
And when you contrast what is material with what is spiritual, brethren, it tells us in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
That which is material is temporal. That which is spiritual is eternal.
So, brethren, we have something that is eternal. It is our portion, here and now. How much are you and I living in the enjoyment of it?
If you don't know about it, you can't enjoy it. That's right and what it was mentioned. What a treasure we have.
The Bible study in Marengo.
Bernie Brecht, host.
Here recently something as simple as what we had here in those first verses that David was talking about.
Simply knowing that every child of God is the same and there were several ladies that are older.
In this Bible study. And that was a new discovery to them, that they were Saints.
And one of them in the beginning as we were talking about this subject, Oh no, you know, I'm not to that level, this idea that only Saints are super Christians of some kind and but as we begin to open up the scriptures and talk about it, the look on their faces that they were really sings.
And how God viewed them, That was a new discovery to them. Well, they began to enjoy it.
But they hadn't been able to before because they didn't know it. We know so much. We are so privileged with what we know, entering into the enjoyment of it.
A good admonition for us, but we can share those things with people. There's so much that's been kept from our brothers and sisters in Christ that are around us. They just don't know, and they can't enjoy the things they don't know. And it is a delight to see the look on someone's face as they you help them understand something that we may have known since a child.
Greater than the blessing.
Is the blesser.
That's what verse three begins with.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
More important, more significant than the blessings, is the blesser.
And when we're brought into the desired of God relationship with himself, it makes us worshippers.
And worshipping him for who he is, is greater than all the blessings that we have in spiritual in the heavenlies in Christ.
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And secondly, greater is the one through whom we get the blessing than the blessing itself.
The means of the blessing, that God's mean of bringing the chief blesser to us is through the sun, through Jesus Christ.
To illustrate it in a feeble way.
Everybody who's a parent, at least, can imagine.
Birthday for your child.
And when birthday day comes, there may be a set of presents.
And then this illustration there the blessings. And so you give the child.
The Blessing, the present.
And sometimes they open it. If it's wrapped, they look at it and they're immediately thrilled with it and they start to play with it.
And then mom or dad says thank your brother for it.
Thank your sister for it. Their object was in the the blessing itself and not the bless her.
And yet the opposite in the little example is when a child opens something up and looks at it and jumps up and gives brother or sister or mom or dad a hug and says thank you.
Because what they see draws their heart to the giver.
And nothing can I say so satisfies the heart of God when we enjoy a blessing when our mind immediately turns.
With grateful, Worshipful hearts, and we bless the blesser.
That's what's going to be our privilege and opportunity for eternity.
First, Timothy chapter 6, verse seven says for we brought nothing into this world and it is certain we can carry nothing out. So thankfully, when we look at the list of blessings that there are from verses 4 through 14, none of them can, as it's been mentioned, be seen. None of them can be carried.
There's so often the thought that if we have a problem with our health, a blessing has been taken away is when if we have something that happens economically, it's been taken away.
And it's the confusion between understanding what God blesses us with is not something that's on loan. It's ours forever if we have something that's on loan.
She was a simple example.
When you lived here many years ago.
My boss, the president of the company I worked for, drove a nice Mercedes-Benz and twice a year, he said.
Would you mind exchanging it with me because he wanted the station wagon. I drove to go take his daughter to university in southern Illinois and he wanted his.
The station wagon at the end of the university year to go pick her up, it was the most uncomfortable weekend driving because it wasn't mine. It was something that was on loan. I didn't enjoy driving it. I thought if I have an accident, this is not going to be very good. And so if we understand that, the things that we have on loan, we're thankful to have them, but they're not ours. And so when he provides health, when he provides material things, when he provides whatever, it's on loan but it's not ours and it's not to be used for ourselves.
Just as an example, continue with what Bob said.
Week ago today I was sitting in a.
In an area, rural area.
Where only one person lived in a house that wasn't made out of mud walls.
Not a person owned a car.
The one person lived in the house that made out of mud walls was the only one who had electricity. It was because he had the money. You've gotten a solar paneling and a battery inside the house. I asked that brother how many people in this area of about 2000 are believers? He estimates that they're 85% of them. Who's blessed?
Who's rich? The world has a totally upside down view of what true riches are. That's what we have in Christ. It's what's for eternity and so often.
What to the world appears to be blessings, or things that actually get in the way of what's forever.
Like to turn to Romans chapter 8 for make a comment on several verses in connection with our chapter.
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Romans, chapter 8 verses 32. He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things, and in our chapter freely give us all spiritual blessings.
Who shall lay anything against the charge of God's elect?
It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died. Yeah, rather that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God who maketh intercession for us.
That is, who can come along and take the blessings away?
Who has the power to in temporal things, earthly things? Frequently they come and.
On loan is sad, but we lose them, something comes along and they're gone, but here, he says.
Verse 35.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
Who's going to separate us from the love of the one who brings the blessing?
Will tribulation.
Distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, peril, sword.
Are any of those things going to be able to separate us?
From that which.
Connects us with the blesser.
As he says.
And all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded that neither death.
That's a pretty good separator.
The strongest separator you can have on Earth is death.
Nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature.
Shall be able to separate.
Us from the love of God the blesser.
The love of God which is communicated to us in Christ Jesus our Lord.
May we ever enjoy the connection we have with our blesser and enjoy the blessings which He gives to us with the realization.
That we can never be separated from Him who brings them to us and those spiritual ones we will have already have.
Cannot be taken from us.
We have it, as you already mentioned, can be taken from us, but sometimes the hindrances that stop us from enjoying the good of it. But what are those hindrances? Let's turn to 1St John chapter.
Chapter 2.
First John chapter.
Two just gave leave on diverse 15 First John 2 verse 15.
Love not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world, if any man love the world.
The love of the Father is not in him.
On the surface will go well. If you love the world, then the Father is not going to love you well. I don't think that's what he says here, is it? No. Things of this world have attractions. I know When we have conference like this, we ask him to walk and look and talk so brightly before the Lord. We know what it's like when we go home, when our friends are not with us, when we have to stand alone. There are many things, many attractions in this world.
Yes, persecutions could come. And as Christian we know, that's part of the path, part of the trials the Lord have for us. But temptations. The love of this world is great. I see young men here. How many of you would love to have a 56 Chevy or dress up? Oh, it's nice, isn't it? And I'm sure too. What young ladies? Well, I don't know what example to use, so we'll stay with that. There are things that would attract us.
Anything that takes us away from the enjoyment of Christ as the things of this world could be the lusts of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life when we are attracted by things in this world.
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Then the our exhibition of the love of the Father. In other words, we are not going to be a good light for this world. Now the Father's love does not cease to be with us, and we have to remember that and young people.
I tell you I still enjoy young people hymns. I was thinking, actually this is more of a children's hymn that goes somewhat like this, he said. Though I forget him and wander away and I'll tell you young people, that is not difficult to do.
Though I forget him and wander away, does he still love me?
Wherever I stray back to his dear loving arms, would I flee? When I remember that Jesus loves me, he's always there for you. The love of God is always there for you.
But when there are other things coming to life, the world, things of this world.
Would disrupt the communion and the enjoyment we have.
Verses four and five, we begin the numeration of some of the spiritual blessings, and I think you mentioned it already, Brother David. In verse four we have election.
Chosen He's chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love.
The verse five is predestination. There are two separate things that go together.
When it's choosing, it's choosing persons. When it's predestinations, it's the place he has in mind to set us.
When He has chosen us, and so I think it is good to see the difference between those two blessings. He's chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, because our blessings, Brethren, have nothing to do with this earth. With that fact that we are here in this world is a brief moment of time.
But he began to think of us when there is no creation in existence at all.
Before the foundation of the world. Just want to show you a verse in Matthew chapter 25.
That speaks about those to inherit.
Earthly blessing. It's the judgment of the nations at the end of the great tribulation that's going to take place.
And notice what he says in verse 34.
To the ones on his right hand that are going to inherit earthly blessing, it says come.
Ye blessed of my Father, inherit the Kingdom prepared for you.
From the foundation of the world, because their blessings are connected with this world.
But for us, we were chosen in him before the foundation of the world.
Brother Eric Smith used to talk about an Indian.
And where he started his works amongst the Indians in Bolivia. And he said he he explained verse 4 this way.
Before God ever dropped a stone in place, he was thinking about this Indian.
I enjoyed that.
That's chosen in him.
Before the foundation of the world.
That we should be holy and without blame before Him in love. This is position, brethren. It's not condition. Are we holy and without blame?
Well, in reality, there might be some things to blame.
In us. But this is the position in Christ. You have a position that no one can ever call in question.
Holy. Completely separate from everything that is outside the will of God.
That's the position you occupy and, oh brethren, to enjoy it.
Is what's going to give us power to walk in the truth of it?
Sometimes say.
If a young woman is going to get married and she has this beautiful wedding dress on.
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Spotless white.
And she's going down, walking down the street to the place where she's going to her wedding ceremony.
Do you think she's going to be careful how she walks down that street? There's dirty cars, there's other dirty things. I think she's going to be mighty careful how she walk. Why is she so careful? Because of the beautiful dress that she has on. And, brethren, when we realize that you, before God, in Christ, are holy and without blame, it makes us want to be careful.
Not to attain this, but because we have it. I think it's so beautiful to see. That's the context.
Israel's sonship or adoption was national or corporate.
It was a particular blessing that that nation had that none of the other nations had.
He said to them. You only have I chosen.
But that was a national and a corporate election. It's not that way with the Church of God. Sometimes people get the impression that God chose to have a church and that one by one, through doings of ourselves, we work our way into getting a position in that church which he chose. That is not what Scripture teaches. As Steven said almost an hour ago, the blessings in this chapter are largely individual, especially in the first part.
And so it says, Individuals. We were chosen one by one. He chose us. He had you in mind before, as we read in Proverbs 8. Before he laid the foundations of the world, his delights were with the sons of men. So he chose you individually. He called you individually.
He works with you in your present.
Privileged place, as one of his sons to conform you to the image.
Of his son. So it's good to see that it's individual going back to Romans 8 again it says, in whom we have been predestinated.
Again, it's not in which if it were the church, it would be singular, but when you see it plural, it's a plurality of individuals.
And we have been chosen one by one. He had his mind on you. There was a brother in Palmyra in the early days.
Named Geo. We called him Geo. He was very challenged.
In his Physiology, he had extreme seizures.
And had to have medication to control the seizures. He was when I was saved and gathered. He was my peer, about my age, in his early 20s.
And he never could learn to read. When he stood up in the breaking of bread, somebody noticed his Bible was upside down as he read the scriptures. Beautiful passage and he would quote it from memory. But when I would visit in later years, he would.
Catch up with me in the parking lot and he would always say, Invariably say this to me. He would say, you know, brother, he said. I came to a point in my life where I realized if I was the only Sinner down here, he would have come from heavenly glory down here to save me.
Geo got laid hold of that.
Precious appreciation of the personal love.
Of God the Father, and of Christ for himself the Lord took him home.
Snowstorm and he's been with the Lord for some time, but I often think when I think of.
This beautiful passage chosen us in him before the foundation of the world. How personal.
How personal it is?
The last part of Galatians 220 proves that.
Even that those kinds of blessings, it's.
Sad. So many believers. They're kept at a distance in their systems.
They don't understand that they you were talking about appreciating the blesser.
What if you've been taught that you're at a distance from him and you don't know that there's that intimacy or that you feel that it is more of a corporate thing? Yeah, I know he died for all of us. And how does he pay attention to little old me while it's being brought? Those things brought before you like that? How can anyone say the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me and really think about that and not realize how personal that is?
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And that he does pay attention to us. And if you don't know those things, how can you enjoy them? And how can you draw close to somebody you've been taught is my heavenly father way off in the distance, way up there someplace. And you know it's a distance. And there's other people that kind of bring blessing into my life and that you're taught this distance between you, you don't know that well. When you discover those things, they be like little Nuggets of treasure.
So verse five then goes on to speak of predestination.
Which speaks of the position when he chose you, he had something in mind for you to occupy. And so we have it here predestinated us into the adoption of children. New Translation says Sonship by Jesus Christ to himself.
According to the good pleasure of his will.
So he has brought us into that place of intelligence in his presence. It makes me think of the prodigal son. When he came home, he had this prayer made-up that he was going to say to his father at the end of that prayer, he said, He said, make me as one of Thy hired servants.
The father wasn't interested in having more hired servants. He had enough.
What he wanted was a son to sit down at his table to enjoy fellowship with him. And that's what we have here in this verse five Brethren. It is that we are predestinated to this position of sonship.
Intelligence and fellowship with him that has chosen us and predestinated us to this position. How wonderful to enjoy that brethren.
It's far beyond what was ever known in the Old Testament, but now this is the portion that you and I.
Can enjoy it is ours.
Like you say though, brother, if we don't understand it, how can we enjoy it? And so it's important to go over these things and to challenge ourselves. Is this real? Is this true? You young people get a hold of it when you're young because it will affect your whole life development in spiritual things. This is reality.
It goes right down to the very basic thing, where you were born, where you've been placed, where you're the family, you're in the assembly you're in, all of those things. God had predetermined that. And it makes a difference if you believe that, if you know that's the truth, because you may feel that you don't like where you're at. And then if you realize that God had placed you someplace in your life and he has a purpose.
Maybe you ought to be thinking about what that might be.
It's not your will, it's the good pleasure of his will. And we live in a world, brethren, that is so.
Centered, centered on. You have your rights, You can do what you like in life.
We got to get beyond that. That's not going to help us in delaying hold of what we have here.
According to the good pleasure of his will, leave your own thoughts to one side.
Get your soul occupied with his thoughts about you.
Maybe we could look at what it is that hinders us.
From laying hold of these things, and you quoted that to us, Bob. It's in Second Corinthians chapter 4.
This is sometimes a difficult concept for us.
In Second Corinthians chapter 4.
So what you quoted was the 18th verse.
Which says.
While we look not at the things which are seen.
But at the things which are not seen.
So just take a look at that.
What that verse says is we look not at the things which are seen, but we look at the things which are not seen. How can you look at things not seen? That's exactly what the verse is saying. So then he says, for the things which are seen are temporal.
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But the things which are not seen.
Are eternal. I appreciated a comment that.
Hamilton Smith made.
He he made it. He was actually quoting.
A statement that Mister Darby said. I didn't read this in Mr. Darby's writing, but in rather in in Hamilton Smith's writings, but he he made this comment, he said.
For a believer.
Things that are not seen.
Are more real.
Than things seem because things seem bring with them a deception.
So everything we can see, it brings with it a deception.
And.
That's why it's difficult sometimes to be able to lay hold on the things that are not seen.
The and the enemy of our souls. He uses circumstances.
To to provide a fog for us, so we we just can't see, we can't see the things that are not seen. And so the what the verse is really saying here is.
While we look not at the things which are seen when he says at the things that are not seen, that's with spiritual eyesight.
So he's talking about two eyesights Here. The things that are seen, that's with our natural eyesight.
But the things that are not seen, they can only be seen with our spiritual eyesight. That's the only way to see them. And anything we look at can bring with it a deception that stops us from being able to lay hold on these very things that we've been talking about.
Ephesians 1:5-23, 2nd Reading
Reading
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Like to mention before we start on verse 6 here, forward.
In verse.
18 One of the requests that the apostle Paul.
In his prayer for the Ephesians was that the eyes of their understanding would be enlightened.
And, brethren, we live in a world that tends to make us look at everything.
According to the way anybody else in the world looks at it.
And we need to have our eyes opened as to the reality of these spiritual blessings.
You remember in the Old Testament?
Elijah was in, I think it was Dothan and he was telling the king of Israel where not to go and.
The king of Assyria was worried, he said. Somebody's.
Give an intelligence to the king of Israel so that he doesn't come by where we are.
And one of his servants says no one.
Sir, but Elijah the Prophet tells what you say in your bed chamber.
And so he sent a horse to the army to surround Dothan.
And in the morning, the servant of the man of God gets up and sees the city surrounded with the Syrian Army.
And says What shall we do?
And Elijah was didn't seem to be worried at all.
And he prayed.
Lord, open the young man's eyes that he may see.
And he opened his eyes, and he saw the hosts of the Lord.
Chariots.
Fire round about It doesn't say Dothan roundabout Elijah.
Oh brethren, we need to have our eyes enlightened, and this is what this chapter does, doesn't it?
The tremendous blessings that we've been blessed with and we get so bogged down with material things, Lord, help us brethren. I'm not saying that material things are wrong in themselves, but.
They are a positive hindrance at times to our enjoyment of spiritual realities.
What we are taking up here in these first verses is spiritual blessings.
So in verse six he says to the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he is a has made us accepted in the beloved. Here's one of our blessings.
Accepted.
In the beloved.
I love this brother. I see so many people that just don't feel accepted.
Sometimes they don't feel accepted in their own home meeting.
Sometimes they don't feel accepted in the school. They're going to the kids that go to school.
You, if you are a believer, are accepted in the highest level possible.
Accepted in the beloved Where is the Lord Jesus now?
At God's right hand accepted there. And one of our spiritual blessings is that you and I are accepted in the blood. I mean, it is tremendous to think about.
That is, the whole Godhead is involved with this blessing. I just love to go back just a little bit, perhaps just section out the the verses we're going to talk about. I believe verse 4 to verse six we find there we can perhaps call that what what God has done. This is the work of God.
Chosen or election and predestination is the work of God.
Now I'm not trying to go ahead too far, but just to outline it briefly from verse 7 to verse 12 it tells us that what we have and are in Christ. So now we got God's to work toward us, now the the work of our Lord Jesus Christ he has in US. And then verse 13 and 14 will find that.
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The Spirit of God is working in us as well.
So we have to hold Godhead working together for our blessing if we notice that the result is to be the praise of His glory.
Now I just want to go back a little bit too, as we're to start at verse six There, I just want to mention a brief comment predestination.
We don't normally preach that in our Gospel meeting. We don't preach and say that while you were chosen, you were, some of you were predestinated and so on. And I enjoy.
A illustration that Brother Lloyd Judge, some of you may remember him.
As a young man, he gave me that. I didn't understand this, so we said, and I'm sure he also got a story from somewhere else, he said. It's like you enter into this city gate.
And on the outside of this gate is that whosoever will.
No one is turned down. You are allowed to come in, he said. But once you got inside this gate or this city, you look back on that gate.
A different sign on there, that's when it said chosen. So those many of us are chosen, but those who are lost can say that because they have the opportunity.
As the gospel of God's grace is presented to them, so they are just as responsible to it.
Many years ago a boy. Hopefully I'm not mixing up names and things.
I was at the gate of Windsor Palace.
And London?
And.
He was speaking with the guards and he said I would like to go in and see my queen.
And the guard said, you know, if you just, I'm going to put it in my terms, but you can't just show up and go in and see the queen. He stood there. He was persistent, said I want to see the queen.
Didn't get anywhere.
This wouldn't happen in 2023.
Along came another boy.
And got to the gate.
Guard saw him. The guards opened the gate.
And.
The boy was standing there, said. I want to see the Queen and.
The boy whose gate was opened said, Come with me.
The two of them went together.
Went up to Queen Victoria's room and he saw the Queen.
Who is he with?
He was with the Princess, The Prince. Excuse me, He was the son of the Queen.
That gave him acceptance that he wouldn't have on his own.
And our acceptance him before God is in Christ. We have access.
There wasn't any question as to whether Prince George could go through.
But there was a question for the other boy on his own. Well, thankfully we have a complete acceptance in the glory.
Through our blessed Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ accepted in the Beloved.
So it doesn't mean you have to be faithful to get in.
They didn't ask about his faithfulness.
It's a question here of position and I think that's important to see.
It's the place that you have been brought into by God if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus.
Accepted in the Beloved. I think it is so amazing that you young people that sometimes don't feel accepted in certain circles think about this.
Because this is wonderful.
You are accepted in the highest level possible.
Enjoy that. Let it sink into your soul.
So another way of saying the same thing, although at this point I'm going to assume things have gotten a little bit informal. Bob said we just done 5 verses in the first time we were talking about it. I'll just note that we'll do very well if we finish one sentence.
The sentence begins in verse 3 and ends in verse 14. In the Darby translation, that's one sentence. And that that brings together.
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The unity of the thought that's being described here.
But the comment I want to make is that.
We've been talking about spiritual blessings.
And verse sentence from 3:00 to.
14.
What would you have as a spiritual blessing if you took the Lord Jesus out of it?
0.
There would be no sentence here to talk about period.
Absolutely all of your spiritual blessings and mine that are being brought before us here.
Directly connect us with the Lord Jesus Christ, and without it we wouldn't have one of them.
So and that is in the beloved.
God has blessed us in the beloved.
For his son's sake.
Yes, for our blessing, But again, I want to emphasize comment made. Everything we have here starts with the blesser, and it's the delight of God to bless us because of what He sees and enjoys in the His beloved, His Son.
And we we we can relate to that a little bit when sometimes someone wants to do something for someone else because.
They see that they're trying to please maybe someone does something for a child and a family because they want to bring joy to the mother and that that child is identified with its mother in some way.
And so all these things have to do with the blessing that we receive, because the delight that the Father has in his own Son, he wants to bring joy to his heart.
And he can do so through us.
Following two verses, verse 7 on I believe speaks of what was just said, giving us, expounding to us why we have been accepted in the beloved. It's because well, as we read it, I think it's easy just to read and it tells us what it is in whom we have redemption through His blood. Well, that's the beginning of it all, isn't it? That it is through the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And that blood is said the forgiveness of sins. And that is always a big question for man. For all have seen and come short of the glory of God, and all this is according to the richest of His grace is His grace that have brought this blessing to us as mankind, and then to continue on to say we're in here abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
We need wisdom. We need understanding and all this. And someone mentioned Proverbs 8 this morning. That was wisdom personified, isn't it? And and I'm thinking of verse that we had on the Sunday school paper not a few weeks ago when we said the fear of the Lord is beginning of wisdom. But then to go on in the sense that to have understanding of the holy we need to go a step further than just having wisdom.
We need to have understanding or to have the knowledge of the holy. So he gives us that and then it tells us to. More than that, he said there is a mystery as if it were in verse 8, having made no unto us the mystery. What about that mystery? With this particular mystery really is the mystery of his will, God's will. And we mentioned yesterday that his will was mentioned a number of times.
We find in verse five there it was according to the good pleasure of his will. And here in verse nine we find that it was made known unto us the mystery of His will. And if you go down to verse 11, we'll see that is after the council of his will. What is that? Will of God, I believe, is important for us to know. So it tells us further that according to good pleasure which he has purposed in himself.
1St 10 That in the dispensation of the fullness of time, it's going to come that time.
00:15:01
The fullness of time in that millennial reign, that he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. Do we enter into that mystery, something that seems to be a secret, but it's not a secret, something that you and I that have been revealed have been made known to us, that Christ the one who today was despised and rejected.
The one whom this world would mark, the one we know and seen him as that man of sorrow.
But now it tells us that he's going to gather up together all things in Christ, the mystery of his will. I know there are many mystery, this mystery of God, this mystery of Christ, which is something we should learn in order to understand his will.
Mentioning verse 7 again, we have there's a present possession.
Redemption and redemption is the basis, the groundwork of all blessing. And the blessing we have here is the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
Brethren, this is a wonderful blessing. I don't know if we stopped to think about it, but.
I have found in my own experience in talking to believers.
That are with different Christian groups that many of them do not have the knowledge of the forgiveness of sins.
Member visiting a brother on the High Plains of Peru one time and he was an older man.
And he said, I've been a believer for 41 years and I ask for the forgiveness of sins every day of my life.
Well, we opened this verse.
In whom we have the redemption through His blood.
The forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace, I said. Do you see it, brother? We have it. You don't have to ask for it any longer. You can just say thank you God, for the forgiveness that we already have. But there's so many that don't enjoy this truth.
And I think it is a, he said to me. He says I've been a a believer with a evangelical group for I forget how many years and I've never heard that said.
Isn't that tragic? Here it is written out pretty clear.
We have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of His grace.
One time in the penitentiary in Walla Walla WA, we were preaching the gospel and we took up this question of the forgiveness of sins.
And I said, if God is offering the forgiveness of sins as a free gift, you don't have to ask for it. All you have to do is accept it.
And I said if I had my hand extended and I had $100 bill out there, I say anybody that comes up can have it.
And somebody comes up and keeps asking for it, I say you're not understanding what I'm saying this, you can just take it.
There is an older man sitting way in the back of the group. I have no clue what he was in there for.
But he came up afterwards and said, All these years I've been asking God to forgive my sins. Today I accepted.
In this beautiful run, you know, it seems like a kind of a basic question.
But this is a spiritual reality. We have it.
The forgiveness of sins. And it's not because we're great.
It's according to the riches of his grace.
I think another fabulous part of it is the rest of the verse is so beautiful. We skipped the 1St 2 words in our thoughts, but it says in whom.
It's so it's it's it's something that's not transactional. I've used the illustration, just used I think it's an excellent one and I'm glad I heard it again about reaching out to receive. I just used it very recently and and sharing the gospel.
But it skips over part of the beauty of it. It's not transactional in the sense that forgiveness or redemption is something handed to me which I could lose.
00:20:06
It says I have it in whom we have. Doesn't say by whom, doesn't say through whom. It's through the blood, but it's in whom because that's the Fort Knox where it's going to rest forever and it can't be lost.
Christian creeds include the phrase I believe in the forgiveness of sins, and it's something that people desire greatly.
It's something they anticipate from God, but as has been brought out, it's not something that they've recognized is.
Available.
And acceptable. There's another verse. I think it's helpful in Colossians chapter 2.
Colossians chapter 2, verse 13 And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh.
Have he quickened together with him?
Having forgiven you all trespasses, it's nice to see it in the historical perspective.
And not mention to people that the Lord Jesus in the so-called Lords prayer taught his disciples to pray. Forgive us our sins as we forget our forgive our debtors. So that was a proper thing to ask for.
Before redemption was accomplished.
But after redemption was accomplished.
You'll never find in Scripture, in the book of the Acts, or in the Epistles that says anything about asking for the forgiveness of sins.
Yes, amongst brethren we might have to ask for forgiveness, but not of God we have it and look through the book of the Acts.
And the epistles, you'll never find any place that says that we should ask for the forgiveness of sins. We have it. I think this is so amazing because people go back to that so-called Lords prayer and they say, well here it says we should.
But put it in its place. That was before redemption was accomplished. That was proper then, not now.
Romans It seems that the Spirit of God builds from the from the bottom up.
He convinces all after the introduction. He convinces all that there is no difference. All have sinned, and it begins to build from the bottom up, the blood of Christ on the mercy seat.
Justification by faith, and he builds it up piece by piece.
How God has addressed the believers sins and then the wonderful truth that we have a justified life.
And we're freed from the power of sin, and up and up he goes until at the end of.
The chapter 8, and even at the middle of chapter 5, there's joy at being reconciled to God, but he builds it up piece by piece. But here it's it's from the top down.
And that's why we didn't get to forgiveness of sins until verse verse seven and eight is because it's from the top down. There's a type of construction they do in inner cities called top down construction.
Where they start at St. level and they build a certain structural pad that can keep everything in place. And then they then they dig down in the next level and the next level and they get down to the hit hit the very bottom and that way they save tremendous money and effort in trying to hold back the foundation under the surrounding buildings. It's called top down construction and I think of Ephesians one as top down because it starts at these high blessings of.
That have come from the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. They're all spiritual blessings.
We've been chosen to be in this place of being holy and without blame before him in love. We've been predestinated unto sonship, which is relationship. It's kind of what Dean was bringing before us with the other son. He's there because of the of the of the special son, and he's given not only access but.
In the story, I'm sure that little boy went home again at night, but the sonship that you and I have been given is to be in in in Christ place before God.
00:25:07
As as Steven has been saying, and this upper aspect of it is to the glory of his grace, it's that you might say, the top end, the display of what God has done to display the excellence of his of his glory.
In grace.
Accepted then in the beloved. And now we come down to the riches of His grace. He's so rich that he could afford to pay such a price for our redemption. He gave his Son who gave all that he had to redeem us. And so it comes down from from these.
This wonderful place and condition he's put us in because we have a new position and a new condition.
By the grace of God and comes down and gets to the foundation that you as you point out of the riches, the forgiveness of sins, redemption through His blood, and then of course moves on to other blessings. But appreciate the sequence of it here.
God unfolding.
From his own vantage point, if I could put it that way.
What's Here begins.
Not only at the top, but what's the top?
It's the heart of God.
And the truth of this chapter is God bringing out to us what's in his heart.
Toward his son, the beloved, and toward us.
To try to illustrate by contrast, we've talked about the little boy and Buckingham Palace area, whatever. Suppose you met?
A child on the street that was ragged.
Without food.
What would it be if you decided to take him, buy him some clothes and give him some food?
In and of itself, that's mercy.
Mercy is looking at the need of someone and meeting that need.
And so if you took that child, and you carried your compassion and care for the child, and you met that need, you were showing mercy.
But suppose you looked at the child and said I'm going to adopt them.
Is going to be my child.
That's love and grace.
Because it starts with what's in your own heart that goes beyond meeting the need. Grace is an expression of the heart, of the one that gives it and does it.
That's why here it's not according to his mercy that we're redeemed.
Because what's being brought out here is not so much our need. We had it. We needed forgiveness.
Another scripture gives us that side of it, but here it's the bringing out of the heart of God. And that's why it's the glory of his grace and the riches of his grace, because that's the expression of what God is in his love for his beloved and in bringing us into the blessing. I would say that's also why it says in whom?
Because it's looking at.
The Beloved 1.
And God will do in the greatness of his love to Him anything that brings pleasure to him.
Always says to take those and work redemption to bring about forgiveness and bring them into that place of those that you've said, Father, I will.
Concerning them and the heart that the Lord Jesus had toward them. And then God and grace does what is necessary to bring us into that place of goodness and blessing. And so it's very top down and it's really to take just one other example of forgiveness and it's absolutely true. You don't have to ask for it.
You wouldn't ask for it if you had any true sense of the heart of God.
You wouldn't wonder if God was going to forgive you if you truly entered a little bit into what his heart is toward you.
Sometimes a child.
Does something wrong? And there's a matter of, you might say, the need for forgiveness. But I never wondered in my family if my father and mother was going to forgive me or not. I might have to answer for what I did, and sometimes I did.
00:30:11
I wore a belt that I always reminded me the last time I'd gotten a spanking and the but the point though, in it was I never remember having a question of have I done something that my father mother will not forgive me because they had shown their heart toward me, even in that which required discipline. And of course I knew I was a child in the family.
But I think it's important for us, when we're trying to help a person to realize that they're forgiven is to realize that the heart of God is toward them more than simply exacting governmental judgment.
After.
At the Brett his Joseph's brethren came to them, came to him.
And concocted. It seems to me they concocted a story that.
Hey, please be kind to to to your brethren.
And Joseph having already reconciled to him, to them, to himself, and forgiven them.
They come and ask for forgiveness again. What does Joseph do? He weeps. He weeps.
Just it just touched it disappointed his heart that they had not already long ago.
Accepted the grace that he had shown to them.
Yes.
Multiply examples. I either like thinking of the in whom as the eye of God.
Looking on the blood of Christ, That's the redemption side. Looking on the blood of Christ, It's the eye of God. Looking on it and the lighting in it and the.
Forgiveness, the part of the in whom is the year of God. Listening to those words it is finished, And listening to them on repeat forever.
It's in whom?
Saying God, looking on and listening to his Son, that we have that redemption and that forgiveness.
We can have a tendency to have a greater appreciation for what we have in Colossians and what we have in our chapter.
In Colossians.
The first chapter.
The 27th verse to whom God would make known, which is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you.
And there's that tendency, as as young believers to have a great appreciation of Christ in us, which is is much different than what we have. If you look at the Acts 13, it's really what we have in our chapter.
Acts, Chapter 13.
And verse 38.
Verses 38 and verses 39 Verses 38 is really what Peter and John preached.
They preached. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. But 39 is what Paul preached. I appreciate you making the comment, Steven, that it's not by him, and if you look at verse 39 it says by him. But Mr. Darby renders that in him. It's not by him, it's in him. All that believe are justified from all things. So if we look in our chapter to see how much that is emphasized.
In in Ephesians 1.
Just to see the number of times we have that expression.
Just to go through them in the first verse we have, it's addressed to the faithful in Christ Jesus.
In the third verse, it's blessed with all spiritual blessings.
In heavenly places in Christ the fourth verse, according as he hath chosen us in him the sixth verse that we've just looked at.
Made us accepted in the beloved.
The verse that we're looking at now, in whom we have redemption, the ninth verse, the end of the verse He hath purposed in himself. The 10th verse, which is often looked at as the the key verse to the whole of Scripture, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one.
00:35:13
All things it should read in the Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in him the 11Th verse, in whom also we have obtained an inheritance.
The the 13th 1St in whom he also trusted, the middle of that verse in whom also after he had believed.
The 15th verse we're also aware for I also after I've heard of your faith.
In the Lord.
The 20th verse, which he wrought in Christ. It's a much different concept than Christ in US. And so over and over and over again we have this truth of being in Christ. It's really beautiful.
Going on to verse eight, he says, wherein he has abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
And the Spanish translation is super abounded.
And I still remember Eric Smith talking about this verse. He says this.
Is thinking God's thoughts?
He has super abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
And what is the purpose? Is because he has made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure, which he had purposed in himself.
Never. I don't think it'll ever happen that the president of the United States would come to my house and say.
Mr. Tony, I have chosen you to share all my purposes for the United States of America. I'd say what in the world would he choose me for that?
But rather, and we're not talking about the president of the United States. We're talking about the God of the universe.
And his purpose is to bring us into the intelligence of his thoughts. That mystery. And what is the mystery? It's in verse 10.
Like David said, it is the.
Somebody said it was. It's the key to the whole Bible. It's.
We that all things are going to be brought into one in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are in earth. That's the mystery that it's talking about here, brethren. It is an amazingly wonderful how many Christians today understand and enjoy.
These things that we're talking about, I don't think it's very well known in general, but that you and I can enjoy it, and that's what God means us to enjoy. And because of that, he is super abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Wonderful grant when my oldest children were three or four.
Or five years old.
Really delighted in them.
On the weekends, my, my little, my boys would do stuff and they'd be full of questions and it was just a sweet and happy time.
But how much richer and fuller as the years have gone on and now that they're in their mid 30s or in their early 40s?
And you can sit down at times when there's opportunity and rehearse things and talk about things. They have children of their own, and the communication is richer and fuller and in a sense, more satisfying.
And so it is that God wants us to enter into to His thoughts.
That's a desire that he has. He desires to be loved and he desires to be understood. A servant doesn't know what his master does, he just he gets tasks and he just does them. But he's brought us into the place of sons, and he wants and appreciates when our understanding and capacity grows, that we can enter in in a practical way more to the fullness.
00:40:06
That's in God himself. He wants that relationship, and so Paul reproached the Corinthians severely.
Because their carnality kept them as babes, kept them as little 3 or 4 year olds.
And whoever wrote the book of Hebrews, I suspect it was Paul.
Exhorted them because they were remaining as babes, because of the position that they lingered in, and they weren't moving on and out into the liberty that was theirs in Christ, so theirs was a positional hindrance. Later on, in Ephesians, the apostle exhorts them in chapter four they be no more children, you know, no more babes tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine, and so on, But holding the truth and love may grow up.
Unto him and all things which is the head, even Christ. So they needed to avail themselves of the nourishment and the gifts that would provide that nourishment in the in the body of Christ and grow up. But my point basically is this, that it's God's desire that we grow because he desires intelligent fellowship with us.
That's connected with Just make a few comments on the word mystery.
Generally in the New Testament, where you find the word mystery, it's referring to something that had not previously been made known, particularly up to that point in time. And so it was a mystery until it's made known and it's no longer a mystery.
The things we have in this chapter are not mysteries to us. They are revealed.
Truth concerning God's heart and God's work.
But to look at it from God's side of it, we had already that there were certain things before the foundation of the world that were in the heart of God.
And purposes of God, and will of God.
God is a God of patience.
And for 4000 years after he brought man into this world, he couldn't reveal what is in his heart, in its fullness.
There was some mystery. It was in the heart of God all through the history of the Old Testament.
But it couldn't be made known yet.
It wasn't the time yet, but once the Lord Jesus went to the cross, and as we had this morning on that very point in time, the veil of the temple is rent.
Why? Because up until then, there was no one that could go in, if you will, and enjoy the the mysteries of God.
Man was on the outside.
But I think in part when you see the veil rent in the heart of God is I'm now free.
Now I can start to make known what's been in my heart since before the foundation of the world.
And I'm going to make it known.
And so we have when Christ.
Rose from the dead.
And return back to heaven. That's the point at which many mysteries could now be.
Made known, I say. That's the point. It goes beyond the cross itself because as was already brought out in the last meeting.
The eternal life which we have, the character of eternal life, is resurrection life.
And that is life beyond death. And it wasn't until Christ rose from the dead and returned to glory that that he's the first one, if you will, as a man.
That was to live out that character of life in man. And now it's imparted to us. And so in those ways, there's nothing in the heart of God that no longer, for God has to be kept as a mystery.
But I'll make this comment.
Don't make it harder for God.
To be able to reveal it to your soul and mine very often it wasn't at first given to the Corinthian Saints, as was just said, because their state of soul wasn't in a state that God felt free because of the carnality to reveal what was in his heart to them in its fullness.
00:45:08
And the first time really in Scripture that it's given to us is to those in Ephesus, because there was nothing in that assembly that was a hindrance to God using the Apostle Paul to start to reveal all the blessings of his heart.
And the delight that he had to do it. And so again I would just say, may the Lord help each one of us, that they're not be things in our lives that are a hindrance.
To God, bringing out what's in his heart. To us individually, the mysteries made known, but through our enjoyment and entering into it individually, there can be things that are a hindrance. And so we want to.
To put it this way, not for our sake, but for the joy of God's own heart.
Let him do it and not hinder him.
So we find perhaps in a quick brief summary, is that what three things in the sense that our Lord Jesus have done for us. We talked about that in the seventh verse, Redemption. We've been redeemed. And that's important to know, isn't it? And then the second thing is that mystery.
Has been revealed to us and for us, as it was mentioned already, it should no longer be a mystery. And the third one thing we haven't touched on yet in verse 11 is that inheritance in whom we have obtained an inheritance. How precious that we because we were made sons of God and we now have inheritance. And in other place we learned that we are air and Co air with our Lord Jesus Christ.
So in verse 10 he says that in the dispensation of the fullness of times.
That's the millennial day, I believe, isn't it?
He might gather together in one all things directly brought unto thee.
Control of the Lord Jesus.
Both which are in heaven.
And which are on Earth. Even in him we think of the Earth. That's the sphere we live in. And I suppose that's why most of our thoughts are centered on Earth.
But in heaven?
Satan still has access.
As we have in the Book of Revelation.
To those heavenly places and is the accuser of the brethren.
Is that what we have in verse 10? Well, those things are going to be rectified in that millennial day. Everything brought directly under the control of the Lord Jesus.
O brethren, as we look around this world and see the.
Conflicts. The misery caused by.
Mankind and their aspirations.
You have to shake your head and say what is the answer to it all? Here it is, brethren.
God's eternal purpose is to bring everything directly under the.
Control of our Lord Jesus in that millennial day.
Those in heaven and those which are on earth, even in him.
And then it goes on from there to talk like you mentioned David the inheritance because when the Lord Jesus.
Takes his place in power and authority is going to be accompanied.
By his pride we heard in the last meeting. I think it's so tremendously beautiful. We're going to have an intimate place in it as well. Oh brother. And the Lord help us to think God's thoughts about everything. It seems like so much of the time we are.
Wound up with things down here, I have to confess myself.
The end of a day, Stop and think What percentage of today have I been thinking about heavenly things? We're told they were exhorted to set our mind on things above, not on things on the earth. But how much of time do you spend the things above in a day's time?
00:50:15
Rather, the percentage is pretty low for me.
I don't know about you, but I say it's a challenge, isn't it, when you think of the vastness?
Of what we are called.
To enjoy and the Lord help us breath. May the Lord help us.
When the Lord Jesus was born, the Roman emperor was Augustus. Caesar Augustus was adopted. Augustus was named in Julius Caesar's will, and when Julius Caesar died, Augustus received the name, the lands and allegiance of Julius.
When Augustus Caesar died, the Caesar that was then took his place. As Tiberius Caesar he was.
Augustus, Caesar's adopted son, and he didn't come into the good of his position until the will of Augustus was executed. He was the one sitting on the throne of Rome when the Lord Jesus was put to death on the cross.
We have that adoption and the Roman ears that would have heard these verses would have known all about Augustus and Tiberius that would know enough a lot about them.
The we have that adoption, but what it says, and they've already brought it out in verse 10, is can one all things in the Christ.
Christ, and we had a truck sitting out here these last two days. Bremen and Sons, there's going to be a reigning over this millennial scene, and it's Christ and his sons. We come into it as his adoption through adoption, but we don't wait for the death. We only come into it because he's alive.
We enter into it in that way, in a way that's even better than, far better than those Roman emperors. We enter into it because he's there, because he's alive, and as his sons won all things in the Christ.
Christ the head body united to him.
In the New Testament, where the word inheritance, and I'm a little foggy on this, the word inheritance speaks of our spiritual inheritance that we have.
In other places like here, I think it speaks of that which Christ will soon take to himself. It's already his by right. He will take it in fact when he comes in power and glory, and we as the Lambs wife will, will reign with him in that coming day.
But right now we are joint heirs of it. Is that the right thought, this inheritance is, is all things that have been created by him in heaven and in earth. He will head it all up.
And I believe that's the inheritance that's referred to in verse 11, if I'm not mistaken.
Ask of me I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth, for thy possession shall break them with a rod of iron. Thou shalt dash them in pieces like a Potter's vessel.
That's what you're talking about, isn't it?
We're getting close to that moment when.
We're going to be raptured out of this world and then after seven years of tribulation, there's going to be the appearing.
Brethren, it's thrilling to think that you and I will be eyewitnesses of the most glorious event in in human history. I really believe, brethren, that the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Is there will be nothing like it in the past, nothing like it in the future. This will be the event when God.
Brings back the Lord Jesus.
In power and glory.
The world saw him last in that battered body on the cross dead.
He's going to be bringing bringing him back in power and glory.
With the hosts of heaven.
Think of the millions, the billions of the redeemed that will be accompanying him.
00:55:04
And think of the host, the innumerable hosts of Angels as well.
I like to refer to it as a major invasion from outer space.
Into this world and he's going to take the Kingdom.
I really believe it'll be the most glorious event ever in human history.
You and I are intimately connected with it.
This should really form our thoughts, brethren, about our lives here in this world.
We're here, yes, but it's a brief moment.
Like to connect what we have.
In the inheritance with the last address.
And join the two together. A little bit in thought.
In the Revelation.
Where we have Christ to take His inheritance, we have His right to judge the current state of the earth and change it.
To take control if you will, and administer it in chapter 4, it's by right of creation.
In chapter 4, his rights to the earth are by redemption.
Thank you, Bob. Then Chapter 5, it's the right of redemption. And then in six on to the end is the activity to do it.
But I I want to go back and connect it, and he's sharing it with us, with what we had earlier in Genesis, when God said it is not good that man shall.
Dwell alone.
I will make a help mate for him. God was thinking in the very creation of us, of his Son.
His son was going to become a man.
In order to redeem.
In order for the salvation of souls.
But once he becomes a man, he becomes a man forever.
Is he going to remain alone?
In manhood.
That's the very thought of marriage that is in the heart of God before we came into it. No, it's not good that man should dwell alone and be alone.
I will make it help me his like.
And consequently, God's work is so that when his Son the beloved.
Takes his inheritance. It won't be alone.
And he won't be alone in it. He will have his helpmate, his like and in order to accomplish that.
To make a suitable helpmate, it had to be his like.
And the work of the Lord Jesus at the cross opened the door for God to give us the very life that we had in the previous meeting, that eternal life, the life of the sun. The life I have is the life of Christ. Does that make me like him? Yes, it does.
Do I have the same desires in that life that he has? Yes, I do. Do I enjoy the same things he enjoys? Yes, I do, because that's the life I have.
And so there is that work of redemption that removes the sin.
Of the first Adam and the results of the first Adam. We could never be a suitable helpmate in Adam.
There had to be new creation and so in the new creation we are made suited.
To satisfy the heart of God, to satisfy the need, if I can use that word, the need of Christ as a man, not to be alone.
And now look at his side of it.
Both Christ's side of it.
If you go to the Revelation, you what I might, if I were writing it, decide of course the wedding is going to be.
Time sequence revelation Chapter 4.
Because of course, immediately you want to have a marriage.
That's the 1St order of business, if you will, in that sense of love. And yet it's not till the 19th chapter.
01:00:00
Why? Because there's somebody on earth that claims to be his bride.
There's a rival, there's someone else who's making claim and will make claim after we are raptured before the marriage that it will be here on earth and say I'm the bride of Christ.
I have that claim, and it's not until the 18th chapter that that bride and that claim is put down.
And then the marriage can take place and it's after the marriage takes place.
That the Lord patiently, even in his work, does not claim his whole inheritance until he can have it with his bride.
And so it's a it's a wonderful expression of the heart of God before the foundation of the world, that mystery which is now made known to us, even why marriage exists, even why we have that natural relationship as to the earth. But in the heart of God it was for his Son before he ever created the world.
I was thinking when you mentioned the Book of Revelation, we know the CEO's being opened. We're trying to make a connection in the 32nd chapter of Jeremiah. We don't have time to turn to it. If you recall, Jeremiah went and bought the land and he took the deed and he put it in a jar and he sealed it.
Why did he see all that? And I believe that when he or his his descendants returned back to the land, he will open the seal to prove that he is the rightful heir of that land. So we find our Lord Jesus will be the one. He's the only one who's worthy. He's the only one who's able to open the CEOs. They're off to claim what is rightfully his.
In advance of.
Of the redemption of the purchased possession, that is, when he comes and takes.
It in power and in fact.
It's amazing, Italy gracious, that he gives us an earnest in advance as a.
I don't know what word to use as a as a pledge that we're going to have part in that inheritance. That's verse 14. Not to skip over those other verses, but the Holy Spirit, given when we believed as individuals the gospel of our salvation, we were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Then it says, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession that God should.
Give.
I think to myself I should be able to just trust him that this is what's going to happen. But even beyond that, I'm going to give you the Holy Spirit, among other reasons. He's the pledge. He's the earnest until the purchase, possession till you're in the good with with my son of the actual possession of the inheritance.
Speaking about that and given this illustration, he said.
Supposing there's a piece of property that somebody is selling for $100,000.
You say, well, I want to put a down payment on it and so you put down $1 million.
And say, well, it's only costs $100,000, but that's really what God has done, isn't it? The earnest of the inheritance is the Holy Spirit of promise. Which is greater, the inheritance or the earnest? The Holy Spirit of promise. Definitely the Holy Spirit.
Amazing. That's our God.
And actually take possession of it. The earnest is given back or dissolved, but this earnest is going to be with us.
The earnest is for enjoyment.
The Lord help us, brethren.
Fathers and Mothers
Address—David Mearns
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I would like for the next little while with the Lord's help.
I see a lot of children here.
So that means that there are a lot of parents here.
I would like to make some remarks with regards to fathers and mothers.
Both in the natural sense and also.
Fathers and mothers in the Assembly.
And there may be those here that never had children, perhaps will not have children.
That does not leave you out.
When I was growing up.
Those that were fathers and mothers to me, many of them didn't have children of their own and I know as I had my own family bringing them up, there were many in the assembly that were fathers and mothers to my children that never had children of their own.
So I would like to to look at this.
Last night.
I got on the elevator with a young father.
I remembered back to when.
I came to a conference with my young family and I took one of these hotel carts and it seemed to be filled up to here and I was looking around making sure nobody was looking when I shipped this into the hotel room.
And I got in the elevator with a young brother, of course that had the same thing, and I asked him if he was moving in.
Well.
I went upstairs and.
I thank the Lord for him.
And I prayed for him and his wife and his family.
And thank the Lord for the care.
That he had for his wife and family.
And despite all this stuff that showed the care.
And brought his family here.
And I there are so many, I think, instructions we we find in the word for those of us who are fathers. There are young fathers here. There are grandfathers here. There are young mothers here. There are grandmothers here. And I just appreciated starting off this this him with recognizing someone who is a father to all of us and perhaps we.
Little understand.
Heart. I'd like to turn to John's Gospel if we could there.
John's Gospel chapter.
15 just for a verse.
John, Chapter 15.
We recognize this chapter speaks of the Lord Jesus as the vine, but he makes this comment in the ninth verse. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. The Lord Jesus mentions his Father I think 120 plus times in the Gospel of John. That's without using pronouns.
That relationship that he had with his father, it's very, very much expressed in the Gospel of John.
We know the first time that we have the the word love in the Bible. It's in the book of Genesis. It's the love of a father to a son.
Well, turn with me to Matthew's Gospel of the 10th chapter.
So.
I'm starting off by looking at some of the thoughts concerning a father.
You know, as as a father myself and as a grandfather, it's the area that I have made by far the most mistakes. It's a humbling thing to take this up and perhaps in a little while to address those of you who are mothers. Even more humbling, not being one and.
They're not being opportunity for a sister to stand up here like this and address mothers. So Matthew's Gospel. Matthew's Gospel, Chapter 10.
And we we read this.
In the 29th verse, are not two sparrows sold for a Farthing?
One of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.
But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.
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Fear ye not, therefore ye are of more value than many sparrows. I love this little portion. We have it. We have it also in, in Luke's gospel the the thought of the care that God our Father has for us, as we read here.
It says the very hairs of your head are all numbered. I remember doing a little study a long time ago on the word numbered in the scripture and it caused me to look at the meaning of it in Webster's dictionary. I'll read it to you. I also looked at the word count. To count is to estimate or to tally?
To number is to assign a specific number to or to include.
I appreciate that because, you know, we would count the chairs here.
We might count the meals that are that are eaten here, but the people are not counted, they're numbered. And notice what it says here, the very hairs.
Of your hair.
Are all numbered.
To me, that's just fantastic care.
That God our Father, has for us as His children the fairy hairs of our head.
Are numbered. Now turn with me. We're going to go to 1St Corinthians.
First Corinthians.
Chapter 4.
First Corinthians chapter 4.
The apostle writing to the Corinthians.
And he makes this comment.
In verse 15.
For though he have 10,000 instructors in Christ.
Yet have you not many fathers?
For in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Wherefore I beseech you, be followers of me.
And then he goes on to speak about Timothy.
I've been very thankful in my life.
Having been local in three different areas, three different assemblies for those that were fathers to me.
There's been many as we have here that were instructors, many that were teachers. Not all the teachers were fathers.
And I've been very thankful for those that had that father's heart that was expressed to me. I'll relay one incident.
I remember I had asked for my place at the Lord's Table. I was 17 and I was exercised to come to the prayer for the gospel.
And I've done that for number of weeks and this one.
This one evening.
We got up off our knees off the there's a little room at the back of the Montreal meeting room where we prayed, got up off of our knees and we are walking to our seats.
Was my my portion to be walking down the aisle with our sister Barbara, Ann's father.
Norman The two of us are walking down the aisle and.
This brother.
As I reflected on it after he thought, you know, this young man he really needs.
To be found cast on the Lord.
And as we're walking down to our seats, he turned to me and he said, so David, you'll be taking the gospel tonight. And he went and sat down.
It was it was terrifying.
But it really cast me on the Lord. It really cast me on the Lord. And I thought, you know, here, here's someone who has.
Who had spent time with me for years.
He knew me very well. You know, Sister Barbara and I used to ask this brother a question and he would answer my state of soul and then he would answer the question. But you were someone that that that as a father knew exactly what I needed at that given time. And I was so thankful. So that's just one incident of someone who is a father to me over and over again, different ones that were fathers to me that.
That had the interest in me.
00:10:03
To know just what I needed at a specific time. You know, we we just read here of the hairs of our head numbered. You know as parents we make we make a big deal of the first tooth of our children make a deal of the of the first step that our children take or our grandchildren take. We make a big deal of the of the first word that they take.
But those who are fathers in the assembly?
They have that kind of care.
For those in the assembly, they look for those little things in our spiritual life that that that need to be, that need to be encouraged and need help with. And I've been so thankful for those who have drawn alongside me and been such a help to me.
At times in my life, when it when it was so needful. Now let's turn over to the book of the Acts.
You know, maybe before we go there, we're still we're here in First Corinthians.
The apostle writes here in back in First Corinthians 4. He writes here just before he's He mentioned to the Corinthians that they didn't have many fathers. He says in the 14th verse I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons, I warn you so here he was. He was speaking to the Corinthians as his sons.
And you know there's there's a number of times that we find the the Apostle Paul addressing those and it was as a father to a son. Maybe we could just look at a couple of those, turn over to First Timothy for a moment, First Timothy, the first chapter.
First Timothy chapter one.
The Apostle writing to Timothy.
He says here in the in the first chapter, the second verse, first verse, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the commandment of God our Savior.
And Lord Jesus Christ, which is our hope, unto Timothy my son, my own son, in the faith. Now turn over to the the second Epistle, where we have a a very similar.
Comment made as he writes to Timothy.
The Second Epistle, the first chapter Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the will of God according to the promise of life which is in Christ Jesus to Timothy, my dearly beloved Son.
Look at the second chapter.
Thou therefore, my son.
Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
Turn over to the Book of Titus, next book we find he addresses.
Titus in the same way Titus chapter one.
The fourth verse.
To Titus, my own son, after the common faith. So why do I read these these scriptures? I read them because.
I've had a sense in my soul.
Of those over the years who have presented the truth.
As a father would to a son and when it's presented that way.
It's it's very easy to receive. You know it's it's it's it's easy and some people can mechanically present things. But when it's provided, when it's presented as a father presents something to a son.
There's there's the heart that's really involved and the Saints, all of us, whether it's as parents giving something to our children spiritually, or whether it's.
Those in the assembly that are speaking to the assembly, if the truth is presented as a father presents things to a son, it's really food for the people of God. And that's what the people of God need. That's what we all need here. We've all come here. We haven't come here to to get information. The Saints don't need information. The Saints need food. That's what I respond under. When there's food that's presented to me spiritually, I really respond to that.
And that's what that's what the apostle was doing as he wrote to the Corinthians, as he wrote to others, as he wrote to Timothys, he wrote to Titus. Now, what was it that that made him have that father's heart? Let let's turn over to the book of Acts, Acts chapter 20.
00:15:03
Acts, Chapter 20.
All these portions that we're reading, they're very, very familiar portions. Nothing new.
So here in Acts 20, which is a very familiar portion.
In verse 17 it says from my leaders he sent to Ephesus and he called the elders of the church.
Just maybe a comment as to who that would be.
The Peter writes to the elders as well. In First Peter chapter five he makes some comments to the elders, he says, who also am an elder.
Those who the Lord has raised up.
In the assembly, as those who are in a position of oversight would be.
Would be pastors and would be deacons. There's only one there's only one book that is addressed.
To those in oversight, it's the book of Philippians. It's addressed to pastors. It's addressed to deacons. Deacons are those who.
They look after the practical needs of the Saints, the, the pastors. They look after the spiritual needs of the Saints. And there's an overlap. Sometimes there's, sometimes there's those that do both. I look around the room here, I see some microphones. I see a table here with a lecture, and I see chairs. Somebody did that. Don't know who it is, but there was those that.
Perhaps did that work of a Deacon and got everything set up for us here. There was those were expected. We're going to eat shortly. Somebody looked after that. Those are the needs of the Saints that that are very necessary.
Whereas the the pastoral needs of the states are are more the the spiritual needs that that all the Saints need. And if we were to go to a Timothy, we were going to Titus, we would see that which is appropriate for those to have that kind of.
Local local service that that local oversight and one of them is that.
They have children.
The pastor's the deacons. When he's speaking about deacons, he also mentions their wives because often a Deacon, his wife helps out in that area. These are areas that that are very needful, but when it's it's done.
With the the heart behind it as as a father and as a mother.
The the the result it is so much different.
So that's why I've so appreciated the way the apostle writes to Timothy Rice to Tice writes the Corinthians as a father.
To his sons, to his children. So now here in in Acts chapter 20, he calls the elders of the church when they come to him, he said unto them, You know from the first day that I came to Asia, after what manner I have been with you at all seasons?
Serving the Lord with all humility of mind, with many tears, temptations which befell me by the lying in weight of the Jews.
How I kept back nothing that was profitable unto you, but have showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house.
This is quite an introduction here that he, he, he speaks to to those in oversight, they're coming to him. And he says, you know, I've been with you as it says here in the 18th verse, after what manner I've been with you at all seasons. The Apostle Paul as someone who is a father, he was someone that was consistent. If we were to go to the book of the Acts, we find that there's three chapters there and the first chapter.
Takes up godliness. In the assembly, the the, the second chapter, there's the three chapters. The last chapter takes up godliness in the world, whereas the the middle chapter takes up godliness in the home. And you know, I had AI had a brother, we were discussing some business dealings and he made this comment to me. He said, you know, business is business. And what he was saying by that is we treat business in a different way than perhaps we treat other things.
And the Apostle Paulies is showing here that when he was with them, he was consistent in every area of his life. He was not a chameleon.
He was the same at home as he was in the assembly. He was the same in the assembly as he was when he was preaching. And the Lord's desire is that every one of us be consistent in that way as well. And that's what gave him moral power as a Father.
00:20:00
Children could always expect.
Those who are fathers in the assembly, they can always expect what what to come from someone that's a consistent father.
Well, the Apostle Paul was consistent, he says, serving the Lord with all humility of mind.
I thought of that in connection with this hymn that we sang.
And I'll tell you why.
I just came back from the West, Cindy and I Cindy flew out West, I drove out and then we drove back together. One of the things I did when I was out West was I wanted to go and see Gordon Whitaker.
I've done some Zoom meetings with him when I come back from Africa. He's very interested in what goes on in Africa, having been born there. So I thought, well, I'll, I'll do this one face to face. So I I went to the home where he and his he and his wife are.
They're they're in a retirement home. He's not Well. You might pray for Gordon with his Parkinson's and.
His brother David came over as well, but what I particularly wanted to show him was when I was in Mozambique.
Number of weeks ago I walked into a brother's home.
And he was playing a CD of Gordon and Mary Jane singing.
And I thought, wow, here we are in Mozambique. And I got my camera and I took a video of it and when I was in Kirkland, I got my camera out and I played the video to him.
And the whole trip was worth it, just to see Gordon sitting there and these two drippy tears come down.
As the work that so many of us have appreciated that I'm not sure how many people have thanked them for here was being enjoyed in Africa. What am I telling you this for? One of the things I really appreciated was the way they sang this him.
And you might remember he goes through the hem.
And when he gets to verse 8.
He and his wife they sing it this way. Oh, keep us love divine near thee, that we are nothingness. And it cuts off. That's the end.
It really makes the point.
It really, really makes the point. And I thought of the apostle and how he presented himself to those in oversight, as we have here, serving the Lord with all humility of mind. It's not something I know much about.
But I have appreciated it in others. I've appreciated it and those that have been fathers to me.
Then it says with many tears, temptations which befell me.
By the lying and weight of the Jews and how I kept back nothing that was profitable.
Just think of someone that's a father that keeps back nothing.
That's profitable for the Saints. But then it says here and I've showed you.
And I've taught you publicly.
Notice the order which.
Is so important.
The apostle. He showed those in Oversight how it was to be a father, how they were to conduct themselves in oversight. And then he taught them. But he first showed them Beautiful, beautiful to see that here showed you and have taught you publicly from house to house.
Well, we could go on down through this chapter. Many things. Maybe we'll just look.
At the 28th verse.
28th verse.
Take heed therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers.
To feed the Church of God which he has purchased.
With his own blood.
You know, that which the apostle brought before those in oversight first and foremost was.
The Saints need food.
That's what it says. Peter does the same thing when he's writing to those in Oversight in First Peter 5.
Here the apostle says feed the church, Peter says feed the flock.
All of us benefit with food. We're looking forward to having some right after this meeting.
In in, in the spiritual sense, we we benefit when there's food.
I've been guilty.
Of of sharing something that I enjoyed from the word that maybe it wasn't food for the Saints. Just because I enjoy something. Maybe it's not a reason why I should put it forth. And I appreciate that the apostle he was in touch with those that he's speaking with. You think of him saying in also in Corinthians that which comes upon me the care of all the assemblies is mind boggling for for me to consider.
00:25:23
The care that the apostle had for each one.
Well, those who are fathers in the assembly, they they they can act a little different than those. There can be very, very good teachers but not necessarily in touch. But those that are fathers, they're in touch with the Saints and and the the apostle, he he was here and so he he he says to those here in that he's speaking with. He said you know that the Saints need food and so that's what he says here he said feed.
Feed the Church of God.
I had AI have a brother-in-law that has a number of chickens and he was telling me this story about one of his hands that was that was broody.
And it made its nest in the in the garage where he has, right beside where there's some.
There's some fiberglass insulation.
And the the the eggs hatched out, and the hen herself.
Knew that.
That this insulation wasn't good, but for some reason she made the nest there and the little chicks when they were when they were hatched.
They fed on the on the installation and one one after another they all died, every one of them. It wasn't good food for them. And so you know in the assembly we're not worried about the Saints dying when there's insulation fed to them. But there needs to be a real in touch relationship of fathers in the assembly that know exactly what the Saints need because we we we all need food. And so he says here to those who are in oversight, as does Peter.
They need food.
You know, if we go to, let's go to the book of the Exodus for a moment.
The Book of Exodus.
There's a responsibility here.
That we see in Exodus 16 in connection with the manna.
The Lord gave the manna.
And says here it fell in the dew.
Notice it didn't fall in the people's mouths. They didn't step outside their tent and open their mouths and have the do. They had to go and get it. But the responsibility fell if you notice here.
In verse 16 this is the thing which the Lord hath commanded. Gather of it every man according to his eating, and Omer for every man according to the number of your persons. Take every man. Now this is the point I'm trying to make here. Take every man for them which are in his tents.
So I see back then that there were those that were fathers, those that were heads of their homes, and they calculated how much manna was needed for the household, and they went and got that for their family. And I've appreciated being brought up in a household where my own father did that spiritually. He fed me what was needful, but also those in the assembly that fed me those things that were needful. There was a there was a brother in in Montreal.
Who?
Was a big help to me.
Remember him calling me one day? This would have been.
A little time after the incident that I had with our brother Norman, he called me, he said. You know, David?
There's a need for us and he had a science school in his home. There was three Sunday schools or maybe four Sunday schools in Montreal at the time.
He had one in his home and he said there's a need for the young boys that are 8 and nine. Could you, would you consider taking that class so?
I said I would pray about it, and I did pray about it.
And I ended up taking the class and what it did was it drove me into the word.
It's I I I read, but this this put me in a position where.
I I read with zeal because I wanted to have something to provide for these these these young boys and.
00:30:02
As I realized later and spoke to him, I said, You know, brother.
Remember that time you asked me to? This was years later, I said. You remember that time you asked me to have a Sunday school? And he kind of nodded and he got a little grin in his face. And I says, what you really, what you really saw was here was a young man.
That needed to get into the word, and he nodded. He says. That's right. So here it wasn't for the yeah, the children benefited, but that's not who it was for. It was for me.
And you know, as I look at that, I thought, no, here's someone who had a father's heart for me and he knew that I needed to get into the word. And if I was going to be able to present something to these children for food, I had to get it for myself. So I'm so thankful for for those that that that provided that.
That fatherly care for my soul as someone was growing up. Well, let's let's turn over now to.
I'm looking at our time here, which is not going very well.
Let's go to.
The book of Genesis.
The book of Genesis.
Where we'll make just a few comments to those.
Who are young Fathers here?
I remember, remember the first time I opened my mouth, actually on the street corner. We used to go down as young boys and we'd hand out the tracks while the older brethren would would preach. And one of the brothers who was also a father to me, he came to me and he says, you know, Dave, I'll just stand up there and have a little word.
I was again, I was terrified, he said. You know, you can quote a verse, you can make a few comments. In fact, you can make all the mistakes you want. Nobody's going to notice.
And I I thought, you know, here was he was something that had a real care for my soul. And he, he, he, he could, he could see that it was going to be difficult for me to do. I I think I stood out in the on the street and I think I quoted John 316. But what I remember of it is someone who was a father to me that was such a help. So here in Genesis, let's go to Genesis chapter 31.
I'm sorry, Genesis chapter 33.
Because I as I look around the room, I see a number of young fathers here.
And as I rode the elevator with one yesterday.
And, you know, life's busy. I was at Joseph and Lydia's last night, and life is busy. You know, these little children, and life is just busy. It is when there's a young family. But the truth of the matter is.
For those of you who are young fathers, you think that you're you're you've got these children in school and you're bringing them up. But the truth of the matter is you're the ones that are in school as the Lord is preparing you to be fathers in the assembly. That's this is what it's happening when when you've got a young family.
That the Lord is is is is is putting you through all these little things and it's it's preparatory.
For those coming days, which will come very quickly, when you'll be a father in the assembly, I I just it the wisdom of God is just wonderful. So here, let's look at a bright spot in in in Genesis, in Jacob's life.
Jacob speaking to to Esau here.
He's to be commended for not wanting to spend time with his brother, as we see. But he makes this comment when he's talking to Esau in verse 13. He said unto him. My Lord knoweth that the children are tender.
The flocks and herds with Young are with me, and if men would OverDrive them in one day, all the flock will die. I love this character.
That Jacob displays as a father and the care that he had for his family. Well, let's turn over to the New Testament for a couple verses.
Colossians.
Colossians the.
3rd chapter.
Colossians Chapter 3.
And we have this, we have this, this verse. We have husbands and the 19th first children, the 20th 1St. But then there's this, this word to fathers at verse 21. Fathers provoke not your children to anger.
Lest they be discouraged.
Now turn over to Ephesians. Ephesians, the 6th chapter.
00:35:00
Ephesians chapter 6.
And the fourth verse, ye Father's, Provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and the admonition.
Of the Lord. This has been very striking to me that we have this instruction to fathers that is never given to mothers.
Never is and we're going to see perhaps the character of the mother in a in a couple minutes and I can say.
As I said before, as a father, I've made all the mistakes that it's possible to make and I I can honestly say I think the times which has not been off and we all, we all see our children get upset. But the times that I've seen my children furious, it's been my fault.
And I just suggest that for those of you who are young fathers, that this is an instruction to fathers. It's never given to mothers. So now what about those here who are sisters? There's others here.
There's those here who have never had children, but you have the character I was. I was at Joseph and Lydia's last night. I was watching a young sister.
Who was interacting with the children?
In a in a very, very easy way, they loved her. They they I was just observing the character of a sister. That's the character of a mother that's in her heart and she doesn't even have any children. So let's maybe turn to to the book of First Kings just to see the character of of the mother, which I think explains it perhaps better than.
Anything that I could say First Kings chapter 3?
It's this little story about the two harlots, but I think it best expresses the the character that you, sisters, have all of you, doesn't matter how old you are, how young you are, you all have this, this, this, this this female character that is so needful in the assembly that that those of us who are brothers we don't have. And that the Lord refers to it a number of times in the word, you know, he takes up the the thought of the red heifer in in numbers. It's that female character.
If you if you go to Isaiah 53, Speaking of the Lord it says that as a sheep before her shears is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth. It's again that that female character. It's that that character that the Lord displayed when he was weeping over Jerusalem and he said how often would I have gathered thee as hen gathers her chicks. It's that female character. Well here we see it. First Kings chapter 3, verse 16 there came two, two women that are harlots under the king.
And stood before him, the one woman said. O my Lord.
I and this woman dwell in one house. I was delivered of a child with her in the house. It came to pass the third day after that I was delivered that this woman was delivered also, and we were together. There was no stranger with us in the house. Say we too in the house, And this woman's child died in the house because she overlaid it. And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while thine handmaid slept, and laid it in her bosom, and later dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, he was dead.
But when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son which I didn't bear. And the other woman said, Nay, but the living is my son, the dead is thy son, And this said, No, but the dead is thy son, and the living is my son. Thus they spake before the king. Then said the king, the one said, This is my son, That liveth thy son is dead. The other said, Nay, but thy son is dead, and my son is the living. And the king said, bring me a sword. And they brought a sword before the king.
And the king said, divide the living child in two.
Give half to the 1/2 to the other.
Then here's the character. Here's the character. You dear sisters that are here. Then spake the woman.
Whose living child was under the king? For her bowels yearned upon her son, she said, Oh my Lord, give her the living child, and know why slay it. But the other said, Let it be neither mine nor line, but divided.
The king answered and said, Give her the living child.
And no wise slay it, She is the mother thereof.
I don't think any comments needed.
To portray the character that you sisters have.
00:40:01
That is so, so needful in the assembly. Let's go to Romans, Romans, Romans 16.
Romans, the 16th chapter.
Romans 16.
Just going to isolate a little verse here 13.
Salute.
Rufus chosen the Lord.
And his mother.
And mine.
So what do we make of that?
Someone was a mother to the Apostle Paul.
I don't believe this was Rufus, his brother.
Someone that had that mother character, you know that if you were to go back in the book of the acts to.
Aquila and Priscilla. Actually you have it in this chapter two In the third verse, the Apostle says, greet Priscilla and Aquila, my helpers in Christ Jesus, who have for my life laid down their own necks, unto whom not only I give thanks, but also all the churches of the Gentiles. You know, let's go back to 18 where we have them mentioned three times.
Just to look at the One Time Acts chapter 18.
Where we have this, this incident.
Acts chapter 18 and verse 24.
We don't know if Cool and Priscilla had any children, but we read this. A certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue, whom, when Aquila had heard they that's not what it says. Whom? When Aquila and Priscilla.
Had heard they.
Took him unto them and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. What exactly did that look like? Well, we know that she would not have been in a in a place beyond beyond what the Lord had given her. But here was she was with her husband, and here she was.
Part of this this help that Aquila and Priscilla.
Were to to a pause. I was just in Mozambique a few weeks ago and while I was there.
I was with a brother and he spoke about two sisters.
From.
Canada and the United States.
That had spent time in Mozambique.
And he he isolated the two sisters and said, you know, those two sisters were mothers to me this, this brothers 58 they're in Mozambique. And his his memory was of a couple of sisters that were mothers to him. And I I've been thankful for that in my my own life.
In the assembly, I remember being in Montreal and I was I was preparing to make a move.
And.
I before I made the move, which was I was going to be gone for a couple years.
I think the time that I was had spent there was a good time, but the fact that I decided to move there perhaps was not a good idea and I had a sister come to me, an older sister, and she says David.
Do you really think you're doing the right thing?
And I I wasn't sure. My own soul. And here's this godly sister, and she's asking me if I'm doing the right thing. And I said, Oh yeah, yeah, I'm, I'm doing the right thing. And, you know, a couple days later, another sister, another older sister, comes to me and says the same thing. She says, you know, David, you're making this move. Do you think it's a good thing?
It was mothers in the assembly that had a godly desire for my soul. It was, it was, it was a there were people like you. You remember the story of the wise woman of Abel and how she she she saved the city. She saved the city. Why? She was a mother. In Israel, we have so many, you know, there. There's so many mothers in the scripture, but there's not very many of them that are called a mother. There's very few that are actually called a mother. You have Hannah, you have Eve. That's the mother of all living. We would perhaps say the mother of all dying.
But that's the way it's written. You have a person like Hannah. She's called a mother. Jacobet is called a mother. There are a few, and it's beautiful to see their character. Maybe we could turn to one of them.
In John's Gospel.
The second chapter.
00:45:03
John's Gospel chapter.
2.
And those of you who are young parents.
I would encourage you.
We don't have the time now, but I would encourage you to look at the life.
And the characteristics of Joseph and Mary.
And why do I say that?
I say that because I'm sure and I don't know how to say this. It's maybe a feeble way of saying it, but there was tremendous care taken.
Into a couple.
That was going to raise the Lord Jesus.
And the characteristics of Joseph, the characteristics of Mary are beautiful as a mother and a father. And I would, I would encourage you who are younger to to look at those those two here in in John's Gospel chapter 2:00, we we have Mary. She's never called Mary in John's gospel.
She's always called the mother of Jesus or the mother of the Lord. So here we have in John chapter 2, the third day there was a marriage.
In Cana of Galilee.
The mother of Jesus was there.
And both Jesus was called, and his disciples to the marriage. And when they wanted wine, the mother of Jesus said unto him, They have no wine. And Jesus said unto her, Woman, what have I to do with thee? My hour is not yet come. And his mother saith under the servants, This is the best advice that any mother can give to anyone.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Beautiful.
Beautiful characteristic that that Mary had.
And why do we make these comments with regards to the mothers that we have in Scripture? Because in the same way.
That the Lord is exercising those here who are young fathers to be fathers in the assembly. So the Lord is doing the same thing with you who are young mothers.
You know, at the end of the day, you can hardly think, but you're being prepared to be a mother in the assembly, which there have been so many that have been such a help to me. Let's let's go to the book of the book of the Acts, Book of Titus.
Book of Titus where we have.
Instruction there.
Tightest the.
3rd chapter.
Second chapter.
And the third verse, the aged women.
Likewise that they be in behavior as becometh holiness.
Not false accusers, not given too much wine. Teachers of good things that they may teach the young women to be sober.
To love their husbands. To love their children.
To be discrete.
Chaste keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed. Now I love this because this, this instruction is for those who are older, older sisters in the assembly.
And I viewed this.
It's beautiful to observe and if I could practically say what what what the spirit of God is is telling us here is that there are those here who are older sisters. And you know you look at, you look at the younger sisters and perhaps there's perhaps one of them is having a real struggle with their teenagers and don't know what to do. You know, it's it's the older mother's in the assembly.
That draw alongside a sister like that. Say you know sister.
See what's going on, the difficulty you're you're having with your teams. I had the same thing. I could be a help to you with that. I can really be a help. I've made lots of mistakes, but I can be a help to you with that. And for for those of you who are younger, the Lord is preparing you in the circumstances that you find yourself now to be that kind of a help later on in the assembly.
When your children are gone.
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To be a help to those who are younger, you know this, this instruction is is so good and practical for all of us in the Assembly, the the, the relationships that the Lord has given us in families, and for particularly those of you who are young fathers and young mothers.
To realize that you're in a training ground, it's not just your children that are being in a training ground, it's you that are in the training ground as the Lord seeks to raise you up to be such a help in the assembly that is going to be helped to so many people.
If directed by the Lord, I think this is probably enough for for for now. So just may the Lord bless His word with regards to what we've had with regards to mothers and fathers. Let's just pray.
Gospel
Gospel—Dean Rule
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Mountains and it's not. It's unusual actually, a day I don't see a dead dog along the road.
The thing that made me even more sad than to see the dead dog is that there was another dog lying on the side of the road.
Peering to this dog that was on the median strip.
And you can tell by looking at that dog that that dog was sad because his friend was dead.
You know when a dog dies and it's sad if you like dogs? I've cried when our dogs have died.
Because you know you'll never see him again, but you also realize that they're.
Have one life and that's it.
Is there anyone here tonight?
That if your family were to meet up in heaven.
You'd be missing.
I'm looking forward to a family reunion in heaven with our four children.
You may say, Well, I thought you only had three.
A little over a month into my wife's first expectancy.
It was a difficulty with pregnancy and miscarriage and we went to the hospital.
So after the Lord Jesus, the first person I want to meet in heaven is our first child. I know he's he or she is there. I don't know if it's a boy or a girl.
Will your family be complete?
Well, everyone in your family be there together to have a family reunion in heaven.
Before we pray, I'd like to read one verse in the Book of Revelation.
Very near the end.
I can't read hearts. I've been fooled a lot of times.
I think there's going to be some surprises in heaven as to who's there, and also some surprises as to who's missing.
I hope there's not a single person in this room that's going to be missing.
We'll look around for you.
But then.
I hope you don't think it's cruel.
We're going to forget about you.
Because the fact if you've rejected the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
Is not going to spoil our eternity.
If there's someone here who says no, or someone here who says tomorrow, you might as well say never, because you have no guarantee that you're going to be around tomorrow. Revelation chapter 21, verse 4.
And God.
Shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
One of the things you find with advancing age, and I think others can agree with it. It takes a little longer sometimes to remember names.
Other things, memories become a little more difficult.
But in heaven, God is going to give us a selective memory.
Is going to allow us to forget certain things.
So that's why he's given an opportunity tonight so that we don't have to forget about you.
Let's pray.
In Jesus name, Amen.
About a month ago.
On a Sunday afternoon.
We didn't get the news until Monday.
Alegria.
A close friend of.
Our youngest daughter.
Got the message to our youngest daughter.
That on Sunday afternoon.
Jorge Miguel.
Her boyfriend had been killed.
On Tuesday afternoon, my wife and I were at the funeral.
And I went up behind the casket because there were other people standing there.
The casket was opened.
I look down in the face that, if I remember correctly, I've seen Alegria many times. She's come over to the house to dog sit and been friends and for meals and everything else.
But I saw the face of someone who I wonder if I will ever see that face again.
Riding his motorcycle at that point in time, we didn't know. They didn't know what had happened and Uncle paid.
Some investigators and found out that a drunk taxi driver.
Had hit him.
00:05:00
Crushed him. Bones crushed. Dead instantly on the side of the road, the pictures in the online newspaper, you could see a puddle of blood.
He had no time, absolutely no time. If he was not ready, he had absolutely not one minute.
To make a decision.
To be saved.
Many years ago arriving in Madrid, Spain, with Gastonia and Milka Villegas a couple.
We were going from the Madrid airport to the flat, the apartment where they lived.
And then a dangerous curve.
Where now it's very clearly marked.
The vehicle went into a spin two or three times and then rolled up on its side.
I can't figure out why to this day except an Angel pushing it back. It should have gone upside down. We should have been in a water viaduct ground.
The vehicle flipped back on the road.
Total couple of us went to the hospital.
Some staples in the head and that sort of thing.
Again, the lesson that I learned out of that little accident is when it comes time to die with, the best advice I can give you is make sure the only thing you have to do is die because you may not have time to do anything else.
I don't know where he is.
And so when I think, yeah, it was sad to see the dog, but it was even sadder to say probably we'll see. I'll agree with you. This week our daughter came home and working from home in Ecuador and one of the one of the things, the primary purpose is to be with Alegria.
I'd be able to give any comfort to her.
I didn't hear anything.
You know when you go to a funeral and you listen to the person who speaks?
No one gets up and says wait, this was a rotten person. No, they're they're all.
Become practically proclaimed for sainthood by actions at the funeral.
But I'll tell you something if it's your job, if the Lord Jesus doesn't come first.
To speak at my funeral, you're totally free to get up and say he's a rotten Sinner.
But I know where he is.
Not because he's any good, but because he has a savior who loved him.
And died for him, and worked in his heart that he would repent. Think again about where.
Worry what's done, what was done for him, and believing on the Lord Jesus, you're totally free to say that, because that's the truth.
You don't have to proclaim any good things or anything because there's nothing good to proclaim. But there is a savior. And when I we were listening, my wife and I to the person who was speaking at that funeral.
You'd think that.
Manuel was sitting there and just staring down at all of us that were there. You know, he's watching the whole thing. Well, as far as I could tell, his eyeballs were in his head when they closed the door of the casket, and I have no indication at all. There's no indication that that.
That that's what's happened.
So when the time comes, you better be ready, because if you're not.
It's forever.
I'd like to look at a verse in Psalm.
Book of Psalms.
Psalm 103.
Verse 15.
As for man?
His days are his grass.
As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. It flourishes.
I went outside before this meeting and I grabbed some graphs.
Very unusual plant.
Because when we go out and see most plants.
When you go and prune it when you cut it off, you're cutting off the youngest part of the plant.
Not a grass.
Everything in the grass family, including Bamboo, the biggest member of the grass family, when it grows, the leaves, they grow from right here.
And so this is the oldest part. And so if you cut the lawn today and you cut it again in a week.
The part of the grass you cut off is.
The oldest part.
00:10:01
And so a lot of times, what's left there may be only a week old.
People think that they're going to be around for a long time.
You live to be 100 years old.
Put that over Infinity and it's absolutely nothing.
The decisions made for forever are made while we're here on this earth.
I know I've told this story many times, but I'm going to tell it again. My father-in-law had someone with whom he shared the gospel many times a man named Joe.
And Joe lived to be past 100 years old. And Joe's comment when my father-in-law would speak to him is I'm going to go be with my friends. We're just going to shovel coal on the fire in in the lake of fire.
Joe's in hell.
He's not shoveling coal.
No friends there, because friends are something that God provides. There's not a friendship in.
The Lake of Fire.
If you choose that, you're choosing eternal solitary confinement.
You won't need eyes because it's absolutely black.
You won't have friends to talk to.
Romans says the goodness of God leads to repentance. You will not repent because you're going to be in the one place in all of the universe.
Where God's goodness does not reach.
A lot of people try to worm their way out of it. They say, well, maybe for 50,000 years an annihilation and it's all over.
No, it's forever.
My father-in-law.
Had a statement that I've repeated many times because it really struck me.
He would talk about a person that when they went into when they died, he said. They woke up dead.
Yeah, the body's there.
But their solar spirit are in one of two places. In friend tonight you are going to be if you die before the Lord Jesus comes back, you are going to be in one of two places.
You're either going to be in paradise with the Lord Jesus.
Waiting to have your body transformed or you're going to be in hell. Waiting for your body to be.
Functional, if I could put it that way.
And where you go, you're going to spend eternity.
Barry Eisenberg, A fellow student, worked in the same laboratory under the same professor when we were doing our thesis in the university.
When I talked to Barry Eisenberg about this, he said everything in my life, I've made the decision. When I've come to the situation, I've made the decision then.
It very hasn't changed his mind.
When Barry's dead.
It's too late.
No one makes a decision when they're in eternity.
About eternity. The decisions about eternity are made now. You have no guarantee. I have no guarantee that we're going to get to the end of this hour.
So our days are like grass.
I want to read one more verse, and then I'm going to do something differently than I think I've ever done.
But the verse I'd like to read first is in Psalm 1, Psalm 18.
Psalm 18 verse 30. We know it as it is for man, but let's ask about how about God?
As for God, his way is perfect.
The Lord Jesus said I am the way, the truth and the life. That's God's way. It's through his Son.
Through the finished work of his son on Calvary's cross, it says the word of the Lord has tried.
Everything else you read and everything else I read, everything you see, everything you hear, apart from the word of God. We have to examine it on the basis of what this book says. But this book?
His White examines everything else.
And this book tells me that I'm a Sinner. It tells me that I need a savior. But it tells me that God, in his perfect way, sent his son to be that savior. And so, As for God, his way is perfect. He is a buckler. To all those that trust in him, a buckler is a small shield.
Because I wanted to protect us from all the attacks that there are.
As we talk about what we're talking about tonight.
I'm going to tell you the formula to gain 3 instant enemies.
00:15:01
You gain 3 instant enemies the minute that you believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
The rotten, the worst enemy I face is my own flesh. This rotten flesh that hasn't gotten any better and all the years I've been alive.
Sometimes I think at the Rapture it's going to be easy to fly when I can leave that behind.
You've got an enemy and Satan.
Satan's number one goal is to get as many people into a casket as possible, because he knows that once they're in a casket, they cannot decide about eternity.
This world. This system of this world.
Was like that table we saw this morning.
Looked good and nothing was wrong with those snacks, but it was something far inferior to the value of that coin.
Tonight, this is a change in thought.
I'm going to.
If liberty.
I'm going to take a notebook out that I made some notes.
And I would when I was teaching in some sciences in a school in different places.
One of the things that I had the students do because I knew it made it almost impossible for them to cheat.
Was to write things in the first person.
And so.
I had one student who she had such a habit of cheating that when I would take attendance, I called her Xerox.
Because she was always trying to copy.
Well, tonight.
If I could have the liberty, I'd like to take you and I on a journey.
Many years ago, when I was a child, I really liked reading biographies. And so I'd read the biography of Abraham Lincoln and the biography of George Washington and Benjamin Franklin and George Washington Carver. And I thought, this is really interesting. How could these biography they. Because this is what he said to his teacher, and this is what he said to his father and his mother and everything else I said. Who knew it was important enough that they would be someone there writing down what he said.
Well, they found out later that the dialogue was made-up.
But what we have in this book is not made-up.
So if we could go back and we could take a journey.
If we can imagine if take the liberty of.
Taking a journey of the two weeks or so before the Lord Jesus.
Went to Calvary's cross.
And we're going to assume, and I know they didn't have paper like this, they wrote on a scroll. We're going to assume that.
There was a reporter assigned by the Jerusalem Times to follow the journey and then write a report later.
And that reporter was making notes as he went along.
And after.
The first day of the week when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, there's and this, if I can say imaginary story, a man who comes up from Hebron, South of Jerusalem, and he says, you know, went to this person and said, I understand you reported that, you know what went on the last couple of weeks. And he said something very unusual happened last Friday. I was down in Hebron and right around noon everything went absolutely black, dark.
Couldn't see a thing.
We looked up and said was that the clouds? No, it went really there wasn't a cloud a day. We looked up there were no stars and that lasted for about 3 hours and and can you explain to me what happened on that day So, well let let me take you on the journey.
I want to take you on a journey.
That.
Where my assignment was to meet up with him.
Up in Galilee, up north of Jerusalem.
You know, you know what that is. You know there's this C and this C is actually fresh water.
And you know this this person that I was assigned to cover, They call him Jesus. You've heard about him. This first thing that I was assigned to cover. He spent a lot of time up there.
And.
So I was assigned to cover him and I, you know, I wrote down notes of the things that I heard him say.
And I was assigned to follow him up through the Passover. And so so you know, the one of the first things I heard him say is that the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the hands of men, and they shall kill him. In the third day he shall be raised again.
00:20:04
He's talking about himself.
I heard him say that.
And it was an unusual thing because, you know, usually if someone knows that they're going to be killed, they they go the other way. They get out of there. I mean, they they could head up north towards Syria or or head east toward Jordan or something like that, but not him. You know, he wasn't going to, he wasn't going to avoid anything of what was happening.
And so there was a group of people that were heading down to Jerusalem with him.
That joined him. They were on their way for the Passover that was going to take place in Jerusalem. And you know that's not a short.
Little jaunt. That walk is about 90 miles.
And he didn't have a horse to ride on or he didn't. There wasn't any carts or anything. So you can imagine what that would have been like. You know, I think we, that journey took us a good five days to walk at about almost 20 miles a day.
And along that journey, here's another thing I heard him say. It says, except ye be converted and becomes little children, you shall not are enter into the Kingdom of heaven.
So people said, well, what do you mean by being converted? He said. Well, he told him you need to have a change. There has to be a change in you.
And so you know, one of the there was a young man along that road, and he he asked him a question. He said, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?
I may have eternal life.
You know what, a lot of people that I met along the way, they were thinking that you know that what what can you do? You know, here's a man who we've observed what he's like. And I said, well, what can he do to get eternal life? What can he do when he said.
He looked at me and he said, why? He looked at this, this man. Jesus looked at that young man. He said, Why call this thou me good?
And then he listed off a list of things which I don't think that young man was capable of doing.
So we went along in the road. And so another thing I heard him say is, behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man shall be betrayed into the chief priests and unto the scribes, and they shall condemn him to death, and they shall deliver him to the Gentiles to mock and discourage and crucify him. And the third day shall rise again said, It's the first time I've ever heard in all my years as a reporter.
That someone was telling the future. Well, I wrote it down. I wrote it down because I was going to examine if what he said he completed.
Because a lot of people make predictions, but I wanted to see if this man, what he said, he was actually going to happen, because that was pretty specific about what he said was going to happen.
Well, another thing he came and said along the way is that the Son of Man?
Came to give us life as a ransom for many.
There's only.
One man has ever come into this world with the purpose of dying the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said he came to give his life as a ransom for many. And you know, the question is.
How could he could pay it? I'm going to have to ask some of those who are closely following him.
Well, when we got close to Jerusalem.
And we came up before we hit the Dead Sea.
We started up the road and part way up the road there was this town called Jericho.
Along the side of the road.
There were two blind men.
The Lord Jesus had been helping people along the way, but he said.
Have mercy on us, O Lord son of David.
These two blind men.
Had no way to see.
They couldn't go to a Doctor Who was going to put some salve in their eyes to allow them to be able to see.
But these two blind men asked for mercy.
And so the Lord Jesus, I wrote this down. He said. What shall I do to you?
And he said that her eyes may be open. And you know what happened in that moment?
Those two blind men that we saw along the side of the road got their sight.
Never seen anything like it in my life.
00:25:01
So.
When we got to.
Jerusalem.
On that Sunday, there were people.
Who when he went into the city.
I observed that there were people who took their actually clothes, their robes and things off. They put them in the middle of the road, they cut palm branches down.
They said Hosanna to the son of David. Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Hosanna is the highest. They gave him praise here, here's someone who's coming in to die, and we watch what happens on that Sunday and they're they're praising him.
You think he's going to be dead within a week? Well, we didn't know what was exactly going to happen.
Well, Monday.
Monday went into the temple.
When he went into the temple on that Monday.
He was the maddest I've ever seen him.
And tried to understand what was happening when he was in the temple on that Monday.
He inquired about how things were being handled.
And you know, there were people coming up there with a turtle dove and some coming with bigger animals and when they got to the door of the temple.
The inspector there looked at it and said this ones no good. You're not going to use this as a sacrifice. I can see a fault in it. But I'll tell you what you can do. You can change your shekels into temple money.
The exchange rate wasn't very good, he said. But if you'd buy some temple money, you exchange their money when you get into the temple. With that temple money, you can buy an animal that's certified. It's already approved.
Upset because he was upset. He took those tables and flipped them on their side because they said what have they done to the House of my father?
Well, during that week he went back and forth. He walked to the east. He had several friends there. The House of.
Mary and Martha and Lazarus.
Good friends.
Not the first time he'd spent time with him.
You know, Lazarus was that man.
That.
He'd been dead and buried for four days. And you know, if you have a body that's buried for four days, then there's no embalming. Then the body starts to stink.
But he didn't, you know he when they said why can't you come in time to save him, he didn't do it. He wanted to show something else and so when he went into that, that family.
They were upset.
But he did something miraculous and they were telling me about it.
When he went into that family.
He raised that man from the dead.
No one had a doubt that that man was actually dead, but that man, Lazarus, But he raised him. And when they got him out, you can imagine he was all wrapped up in the cloth that they wrapped around him and so they helped unloose him.
And so he, you know, the Lord Jesus. He would he'd go some of these nights into Bethany. He walked E out of Jerusalem and spent the spent with those families, those friends. You know, he was a man who made friends wherever he was.
So when people ask.
As he was coming into Jerusalem.
The town was stirred up.
With this man that came into Jerusalem.
And so they ask, who is this?
Who is this?
And you know what? He said? This is Jesus, the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
This man's coming to town.
We've known about him for a long time. We've seen the miracle, We've heard about the miracles that he's done.
He's now, he's now coming to town.
And he told people, he said, whatever you ask in my name, believing you shall receive.
He kept giving messages as he went along.
Umm.
Then he encountered the religious men.
The Pharisees.
These guys who thought they were above everyone else, that they were in a special class of themselves, that they thought that they could sit there and they acted when they were talking to him like they were the judges, and that he was some common man.
00:30:03
And he he asked him a question. He said, What think you of Christ? What do you think about Christ?
Whose son is he?
And sometimes he left him speechless.
Well.
As that week went on Thursday night.
He got together.
It was an unusual sight to see.
He was going to have his last meal and so I wasn't invited. I couldn't go along, but I was observing it and and then that night he.
He followed a man.
Carrying a pitcher of water, they went into house. They went up to the second floor.
And so I asked some of them that were there, Well, what happened? What did he do when he said, well, we went up.
There was a loaf of bread on the table and there was a cup and.
One of the things they said for this is the my blood of the New Testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
You know, that night was kind of a surprise for us as we were, as these people came out because.
I saw 13 people go in.
One of them came out instead of the others and we said what happened? They said, well, you know, we've been walking together with this man called Judas for three years and it turns out he's a fake.
Is a fake.
Well, if we go on.
That night.
He went from where they had that supper.
He went part way up the Mount of Olives and you know, there's this Grove of olives that he spent a lot of time. He sometimes would go spend all night there.
And.
Those who were with them when they were awake.
Heard him say, Father.
Oh my God, if it would be possible, let this cup pass from me, but nevertheless not as I will, but as thou will.
In the darkness.
Was sweating, but it wasn't typical sweat. It wasn't the sweat that you get when you're exercising and you're hot. It was threading drops of blood. You know, maybe that happens when you have high blood pressure. I can't imagine what the what the pressure was on him that night, but.
After a while.
A man, Judas, came back and came with some soldiers and they arrested him. They took him away.
And you know, he went through.
Some pretty bad stuff. That night he spent time taking to Annis and the high priest and the Caiaphas the ex high priest and and you know he was by now he'd been up for at least 24 hours. It was early in the morning and and they said, you know the high priest with the report out of the Sanhedrin out of those 70 men was.
That high priest ripped off his clothes. And you know, I understand that in in the old, in the Bible that we have in those books that it the high priest was never supposed to do that. But those people seemed so determined to put that man to death.
They wanted to make it official, so we understood that they got together at about 6:00 in the morning.
They put their stamp of approval.
On putting that man to death.
You know, he said, that night. Hereafter you shall see the Son of Man sitting on the right hand of power.
Coming in the clouds of heaven.
And it's just pretty upset about that.
Here's this man that we want to put together and he's telling us this is what he's going to do.
You know, he's he's competition for us. The people want to follow him instead of following us.
This, this really is something that that bothers us a lot. We've got to carry through with this.
And so.
Yes, if you go down from the Garden of Gethsemane.
You went to work, Caiaphas's house was and Anise and everything else. And then then he.
He had some time before Pontius Pilate.
The ruler.
Designated ruler for Judea, sent there by Rome. And you know Pontius, you know, if you know, you know, I I understand that he really was not very happy about having to come up to Jerusalem.
00:35:08
He said. I really would rather hang out down in Caesarea Maritime, you know, the the Caesars had built these towns around and the Roman Empire, Caesar's towns.
To give them the best taste they could have. Rome away from Rome.
If you go to Caesarea, there's the leftover tracks of where they would have the races around. There was a kind of like a little stadium where they could observe different things. They could maybe eat some of the best food brought from Rome.
It was his obligation to come up to Jerusalem, but he wasn't really very happy about it.
He came up with his wife.
And.
He started.
Ask questions of Jesus.
He asked a number of questions.
In most cases he waited for the answer, but I understand that the last question he asked him was what is truth and he walked away.
Now, if Pilate really wanted to know the answer to that question, he wouldn't have walked away. He would have stayed around and gotten the answer to the question. But he didn't.
Umm.
He got shuffled over to Herod. He said, well, you know you're from Galilee and that's his jurisdiction. And so Herod, for his curiosity, spent some time with him and and then he sent him back to Pilot.
And as a typical politician, you know what they're like this report, you know, you know, they they bow to the pressure of the people. So he bound to the pressure of the people. And he said this man hasn't done anything wrong. He's done nothing worthy of death.
And the people, you know, when I listened, they were crying out, Crucify him, crucify him and nothing worthy of death. And he, his wife even warned him, he said, have nothing to do with that, just man. For I've suffered in a dream because I'm in this day.
He would have been a lot smarter to listen to his wife than to listen to the crowd.
But to listen to his wife? No. He listened to the crowd.
And so he was a coward and I don't understand why, but you know, we watched and so.
They started up.
From where the brick of Kidron is, they started up Calvary's Hill.
As a man, Simon, who helped carry the cross, and they went up to where they put that cross in the ground.
Nailed him there at 9:00 in the morning.
He was there with the crown of thorns on his head. His back had already been beaten. They were spitting in his face.
They were mocking him.
That were speaking out against.
And I'm sitting, you know, if you can imagine, it's this report. I'm sitting there watching. So what's happening? This man was a Goodman. He he'd done so many good things, and yet this is what they were doing to him.
And then suddenly.
At noon.
Everything went dark.
Absolute black darkness.
You might have looked up in the sky and said is there a solar eclipse? No, there was number solar eclipse. It went absolutely dark at noon.
And it lasted that way until 3:00 in the afternoon.
And these are some of the things he said.
And said, father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. And they said, you know, that really surprised me. How could you be there when you were being so cruelly treated and see this man that was up there on the cross and asking for forgiveness for those who were doing it. So they don't, I don't understand that very well.
You know, he was there before.
Before it went dark, he wasn't alone. There were two other crosses and there was this discussion going back and forth between the people on either side. One of them, those guys, you know, they were bad men, so that's why they were there. But I have but the one one-on-one side said.
You know, if you're the Christ, you can get down from here and you can take us down.
And.
You know, he said. You know you've got the power. You've shown it with what you've done during your life.
The man on the other side.
Said This man's done nothing wrong, this man's done nothing amiss, so we deserve what we're getting. But he hasn't done anything wrong.
And he spoke to the Lord Jesus. In that moment, you know, we could hear him say, Remember Me.
00:40:01
And the words we heard coming out of the mouth of the Lord Jesus for today you'll be with me in paradise.
It was pretty hard to understand because I knew that by the end of that day, we'd all be buried in a grave. They were going to make sure that this was done before 6:00 at night. They were going to make sure that this was done before it would interfere with anything in the Passover. But you know what? That's what I heard him say.
And then?
He looked down.
From that cross he saw his mother.
Woman, Behold thy son.
Tender moment showed love to his mother.
To a mother who had been questioned before he was born, as to how she could be expecting a child when she'd never been with a man, never been with Joseph yet.
He asked.
John to take care of her.
Then, as it approached the end of those three hours of when it was dark, getting close to 3:00 in the afternoon, we'd lost track of time because.
We didn't. The sundials wouldn't work in the darkness.
We heard him cry out. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?
Can't imagine the pain that it was going through.
And he said, I thirst.
Then he said, it is finished.
In thy hands I come in my spirit, and the light came back on.
When the men that were around there looked and they said, well, what shall we do? Do we need to break his legs? Why do they break legs? Because the way that a person on the cross stays alive as long as they stay alive as they push up with their legs so that they don't asphyxiate.
But when they wanted to finish things up, they wanted to wind this process up that afternoon. And so I saw that they they didn't break his legs because he was already dead.
But I saw one of the soldiers take a spear and Pierce it in his side, and out there came blood.
And then?
They took him off.
Wrapped him in.
Cloth up the hill. They put him in a cave, which was offered.
And then they put a stone in front of the door. They put guards there.
You know, I understand that they were afraid that that body was going to be stolen, it was going to be taken away, so they put the guards that were there.
You know now it's late afternoon.
On Friday.
So it counts as a day.
And then from 6:00 PM till 6:00 PM the next day, day 2.
From 6:00 PM on Saturday to early in the morning on Sunday, maybe it was a total of some 40 hours.
There were some women.
Followers his who were.
There.
The stone was rolled away.
When they went into that tomb, I understand that when they went into that tomb, it wasn't like Lazarus. When Lazarus was given life, they had to unwrap him.
When they went into that tomb, it was like he just stepped right out of that cloth and it was there exactly as the shape of a human being. He didn't have to be unwrapped.
And so.
They took him to.
Well, he was out walking around.
And the rumor is that some of the people who had been following him.
The people have been following him, have seen him alive and we haven't. No one's been able to convince him of anything other than that because this wasn't any fake. He was, but he hasn't been seen of any of the people that he wasn't.
They weren't following him before, but they've seen him alive.
And so that's all I can tell you.
00:45:04
I would say to this man from Hebron.
That's all I can tell you.
We'll try to keep you updated as to what happens.
The Lord Jesus did that for you.
He did that for me. Why? Because he wants you, and he wants me to be with him.
Forever.
And so I'd like to read in just a couple more verses before we close.
Psalm 55.
Verse 15.
As for me?
I will call upon God, and the Lord shall save me.
He's listening tonight.
Sometimes you try to call to solve something that you need to solve to a number that's on a web page, and it's functioning from Monday through Friday Central time, from 8:00 in the morning until 7:00 at night. And on the Saturday it's until noon. And on Sunday there's no attention. When you call upon God, when you call upon the Lord Jesus Christ, it's 24/7, always available, always ready to hear. And if you've never called upon the Lord Jesus is your savior, now is the opportunity you can call on him.
Psalm, Chapter 17.
Verse 15.
As for me, I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake with I likeness.
My father-in-law would talk about waking up dead.
I haven't been at the I've seen a lot of dead people, but I have not been very many times where very seldom where I was there at the moment that someone passed away. I think my brother Don will remember when we were at the foot of the bed of my mother, 96 years old.
And we were there the moment she went into eternity.
I didn't cry.
Why? Because I said this is absolutely the best moment she's ever had in her 96 years. She's with the Lord Jesus. She's left behind all of those pain, all of the the, you know, the the, the the being a widow for over 30 years, the the, the, the struggle with the loss of memory, the the all the physical things, everything else. She is in the best place.
The best moment for 96 years?
I look forward to being with her, but I don't want her back because it's far better for her.
How about you?
When you wake up dead.
Is it going to be?
In hell, waiting to be in the lake of fire forever. Or when you wake up dead, if it's before the Lord comes, are you going to be with the Lord Jesus?
Yeah.
And one malefactor was put in a grave, and the other malefactor was the other evil man was put in the grave. One of them evidently to spend eternity separated from God in the lake of fire, and the other to spend eternity already that day. Yeah, they left their his body in the grave, but he was going to be in paradise with the Lord Jesus. What an absolute, marvelous promise that is.
Forever.
You know, I I look forward to the day where I can be with.
Perhaps billions of people.
And know everyone by name.
Without ever having to learn their names.
I look forward to the day where, as I said, I'm looking forward to that family reunion.
With the child that we don't know if it was a boy or a girl, but.
He or she is there.
I look forward to the day when you know my little list in my mind to the people that I want to meet there. And I put second on the list. My my wife's mother went home to be with the Lord before I knew her, but I want to thank her for what a special daughter she has.
Marvelous daughter. There's other people I look forward to meet, but you know, I'm going to have forever to do it.
And that's what you're going to have and we're going to, we're going to be in.
This marvelous place. That's only one house, because God's made the biggest house there ever is.
The Lord Jesus, when he said I go to prepare a place for you, I used to think that was some construction project that he was going back to heaven. But I realized what he went to prepare was what he did on Calvary's cross when he went and died for a rebel Sinner like me.
00:50:02
When he went and died, suffered what I could pay the debt that I could never pay for all eternity.
That's what he did.
So first and foremost is to be face to face with him and with our Father in the glory we're going to have forever.
Never get tired of it.
No boredom or anything like that.
But if someone tells you that if God is a God of love.
He won't send anyone to hell.
You know, God's prepared everything but one thing. One thing he left out of his preparation. The Bible never says that He prepared a place for those who refuse to accept the Lord Jesus Christ to receive the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior. He made heaven, and he prepared a place for the devil and his angels.
Ever says he prepared a place for those who refuse his offer of salvation, but he has no alternative.
He has no alternative.
Someone said to you tonight that instead of going and sleeping in a bed like we're going to sleep in in different places, that you're going to spend the night in a pigsty in the slop along with pigs. You'd say, hey, wait, no, that's not for me.
Well, the lake of fire wasn't made for you either.
So be sure that's not where you're heading. Let's pray.
Hymnsing
Sing
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The Bible stands like a rock and not invent the raging storms of time.
These pages burn with the two needs for lining with the whites of line. And why don't stand the Legos. Rain from the wind will burn. They stand when the years shall rumble. My gate eyes firm Foundation for the Bible.
The Bible stands, and it will forever when the world has passed away.
My inspiration has been given all its presence. I will obey.
Don't buy no stands on the hills, rain tumbling with friendly stand with your show crumble. I will land my feet on a firm foundation for the Bible.
Thank you #105.
This is ranging that was right, costing high. The sky is overshadowed with lightness. Don't shelter. Your health is not here. Is thou not that we perish?
I can spell Lion asleep.
When this moment so mad, we are threatening.
A grave of the angry being.
Always and the wind shall obey my will.
Please miss me still.
Whether the rise of the storm tossed sea, or demons, or men, or whatever it be, no water can swallow the ship. Where lies the master of ocean and earth and sky?
Harm shall swim.
Obey my will.
Please be still yes, please tell.
Yourself sweetly all day my will.
Please please please tell me.
Master with language and spirit.
I bow in my dreams today.
The depths of my sad heart are troubled. Awaken and save my friend.
Sin and a banquet sweet for my sinking soul.
And I perish, I perish their master.
Always in and take control.
No winds and no wind shall obey my will.
Be deep sleep still.
Whether the wrath of the storm cuts see for demons or men, or whatever it being, no water can swallow the ship. Where lies the master of the chin and hurt the skies?
They all shall sweetly obey my will.
Peace be still. Peace be still.
In my will.
Peace, peace be still.
Master, the terror is over.
Me alignment. Sweetly rest.
Earth sun in the farm lake is mirrored and it happens within my ground.
Girl flesh and redeem her. Leave me alone. No horn.
And the joy I shall make the rest farmer, and rest on the blissful shorn.
00:05:08
Winds and the wind shall obey my will.
Peace be still.
Whether the wrath of the storm, not sea, or demons or men or whatever it being no water can swallow the ship where alight the master of ocean and earth disguise.
May all one else will be obey my will.
Please be still. Please be still.
They all shall swing me, obey my will.
Peace, peace be still.
OK, 101. Thank you.
Love me, final praise and sailing joy of heaven to work on down.
Let's just win by rich indwelling.
All right faithful mercies ground. Stay worthy we still be blessing. Serve thee here as soon as.
Praise me sacred without ceasing.
Glory in thy dying world.
First rings I'll find you creation faithful holy. May we be joyful.
My full salvation.
More and more, conform to believe change from glory into glory.
Till when the time we take our place, then to worship and the Dory washed in wonder of love and praise.
189 versus one and four, OK, 189 versus one in four.
When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, count your many blessings with 1 by 1 and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.
Count your blessing thing them one by one.
Count your blessings. See what God has done.
Count your blessings even 1 by 1.
Can't even when you want the Lord has done.
So in the conflict rather great or small if you want to be mysterious, body's over all come to many blessings. Little intend help and comfort give you to your journeys and.
Count your blessings. Name them one by one.
Count your blessing. See what God has done.
Count your blessing. Hang on one by one, counting them so closely with the Lord has done.
Can I do one 82182?
God in prayer.
01 Peace, we often pour it, oh, it must make me bear.
All because we do not care.
Everything to God in prayer.
All retrials and temptation.
Is in trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged.
Take it to the Lord in prayer.
And we find our friends afraid for who will always share.
00:10:04
Jesus knows our every.
Wednesday, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Or we **** and heavy laden.
Pray with the load of care.
Precious saviours still are rest of you.
Take it to the Lord and pray.
My friends dislikes for save me take it to the Lord in prayer.
It's time to take and chill.
I will find a soul there.
Two more.
Jesus loves me. OK, Yes. Have you seen that one?
Jesus loves me. This I know, for the Bible tells me so.
Let no one's dream be long. They are weak. But we need a song.
Yes, Jesus wants me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me. He will die and instinct to open white He will wash away my sin. Let our rental time coming. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, he loves loves me. Love by a goat tells me so.
Jesus blows me while we still when I'm buried, we can't tell from the shining hole on high. He will watch me where I lie. Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
The Bible tells me so.
Jesus loves me. He will stay close beside me all the way.
If I test him, should I? He will Take Me Home on my mind. Yes, please, I just want me.
Yes, Jesus wants me.
Yes, he just wants me.
Now what? I don't tell me so.
OK, 103 will be the last one.
Jesus, my Savior.
Raising the country.
Jesus, my Lord.
Baby heroes with the mind, he triumphs.
Hallelujah.
Jesus, my Lord, my Lord, apart from the great deer, old with the mighty.
00:15:11
To rain he arose, he rose.
How do you?
Rise a rose.
OK, good singing everyone.
Jude
Open—David So
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Turn with me to the book of Jude.
We were enjoying the blessings, the heavenly blessings in the book of Ephesians.
And I, my thought digress a little bit to the book of Jude, because we talk about hindrances sometimes in this world to hinder us from those enjoyment.
And thought this book is quite appropriate because it speaks in many way.
The time before our Blessed Lord come back for us. In fact, sometimes I look at the Book of Jude. I like to liken it to be an introduction to the Book of Revelation, because Book of Jude tell us how we ought to walk in this present evil world, and then it tells us how wicked it is. Especially Enoch would describe the condition of this world, how he preached to the ungodly, and then not the subject this afternoon.
The Book of Revelation would.
Speak of the churches, the seven churches, as if it were the judgment begins at the House of God, and then the world will face God's judgment. So I thought. I trust that it may be an encouragement as we read this because.
It's so similar to the conditions were in today.
So let's just read a few verses to begin with, the book of Jude, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserve in Jesus Christ and called a mercy unto you, and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you.
Of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you, and exalt you, that you should earnestly content for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints.
For there are for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of all ordained to this condemnation, Ungodly man, turning the grace of God, of turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We'll just stop there for a moment. In there it is.
A short chapter.
But I thought this is not my desire to expand verse by verse nor do I profess I know the chapter that well. But just a few thoughts here that why one of the thought I had was the fact that why did Jude write such book?
Is short is almost to the point.
Sometimes we there are people like me that.
Hinting doesn't work. You have to be get hit with a baseball bat as if it were over the head and would go, oh, now I get it, so Jude get to the point there's no fancy words beating around the Bush as if it were, and it's nice to see that he start off by saying he's a servant.
Servant of Jesus Christ.
I thought, it's so nice. Are we not all servants of the Lord Jesus Christ? Do we serve our blessed Savior? And he's the one. Now then it's interesting too to see here, he said. He said he's the brother of James.
And he stopped short of saying up the brother of the Lord Jesus. He didn't brag about that, did he? He just said, I'm the brother of James. And we know that the book of James is most likely written by his brother, the Lord's brother James. But he just asked if I'm just like you guys. I'm one of you, right? I'm thinking of the portion where talk about aquifers, he said He's one of us. And I like to think that way, Jude, he's really in a sense, one of us.
So he want to encourage us that he wanted verse three was his purpose, I believe. Let's just read verse 3 again, he said Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation.
It was needful for me to write unto you, and exalt you, that you should earnestly content for the faith which was once delivered unto the sinks.
00:05:05
The faith We know what Christianity is known for. Three things.
Faith, hope and love.
That's what characterized Christianity. Well, we know that from the book that John wrote to the Ephesians in the Book of Revelation, he said to them, thou has left.
My first love, he said. I have somewhat against thee, actually from what I understand, that's not even the proper translation because the word somewhat sort of soften that as if you're really upset as someone and you say, David, there's something I'm really upset about. No, I am upset about something. So Can you imagine? You take the word somewhat out. I have against it. Oh, I think that's a stronger language.
For thou hast left thy first love.
Faith, hope and love the Ephesians.
They left the first love, and then we know it's not the thought again this afternoon, but we know and see that degradation. From there on they have left the first love they have toward our Lord Jesus Christ. We find the Thessalonians. If you were to look at the first chapter, the apostle commended them on the work.
And the faith.
But then in the second epistle, we find that something was missing.
They have faith. They have love.
He didn't mention about hope, so in a sense perhaps they have given up hope. But here as if the apostle saying to us, don't give up the faith.
Don't give up the faith. So he said he want to that you should earnestly, earnestly content for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints.
Oh, it's if almost sounded like perhaps.
It is on a downward slope already, but don't give it up.
How many of us here?
A challenge by perhaps either one of these three that Have you lost sight of hope?
Have you lost sight of love?
Or perhaps in this case.
Faith. But it's interesting. It's hard to know what faith is. I know there are many definition of it, but I rather think of the verse that say faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Could we look at it and say perhaps I stopped listening, Perhaps I stopped reading the word of God.
And because of that.
Our faith failed.
So here to content his word is to encourage us not to lose sight of faith.
Verse five that read just a few more verses. Verse 5 to verse 10 he gave some example of what happened in the past, although is not quite chronological. And as we read it we'll see that the main problem in these five or six verses is the fact that.
Unbelief comes in, so let's see as we as we're reading it, if we would notice that verse five. I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt.
Afterward destroy them that believe not.
And the angels which kept nod their first estate, but left their own habitation, he had reserved in everlasting change unto darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Then next story, verse 7, even as Sodom and Gomorrah.
And the cities above them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flush, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal life. Likewise also these filthy dreamers.
Defile the flesh.
Despise dominion and speak evil of dignitaries.
Yet Michael the art Angel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, Durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. But these speak evil of those things which they knew not, but what they know naturally as brute beasts. In those things they corrupt themselves.
00:10:24
Again, not my desire to spend too much time out there. As we read this, I believe many of these are self-explanatory. We find Egypt.
Or rather, they left Egypt.
We know Egypt, often in scripture, is a picture of the world. We are saved and delivered. We were on the way as if it was through Canaan. And of course we know the conflicts along the way.
But unbelief sets in. Have we questioned ourselves?
Is unbelief and issues with some of us, or perhaps even most of us.
So we find that those who left Egypt we find in verse 7 the I'm sorry, verse 6. So unbelief comes in verse 6, the angels I like to sub. You sum that up with one word really is rebellions of the so-called angels. We don't know exactly what had happened, but they rebelled.
It's unbelievable, a problem with our lives.
Is rebellion against the authority of God's Word part of our lives?
Do we need to make a point to prove that we are right to declare our right in this world or?
Have we been reminded in the last meeting that there is one that we need to do his will and walk according to his will and then that's rebellions. And then we see in verse 7 Sodom and Gomorrah immorality set in even someone like Lot scripture can say this righteous man, he vex his righteous soul.
Has that have we become someone like a lot too? That we may say that is terrible, but I guess that's the way it is.
Do we stand?
And what the word of God would like us to do, You know, sometimes it could be simple thing. I find there are times that we're even afraid or perhaps ashamed to give things in public places. You may say, well, it's no big deal, it's only giving thanks. But I believe that's still a testimony.
Is it OK to give thanks when there are other people in there? Why would you not be able to become a testimony? In a sense, we have been in cases where I say the waitress is coming. Now the waitress can wait and we seen that she'll walk up and start saying things and they go oh oops, and they'll wait until the giving of thanks is completed.
Right. I'm not saying you have to make a scene at the restaurant. I've heard a story and I think it was only a story saying certain brother would say, folks, quiet down for a minute, please, as we're going to give thanks. Well, I think that's pushing that a little bit. But to stand up and quietly or not quietly, audibly giving things with a group you're in, I believe as small as a testimony that may be in a Dark World that we're in for immorality sins.
Disobedience. Unbelief. We can go on and on with those description.
I believe is a bright testimony.
Because we are to be the light of this world.
You see, well, we're not much of A light.
Well, if there's bright sunshine out there, you can bring a very strong, powerful flashlight and it's not going to do much.
But have you ever bring a small light in a dark place? Because light is not the opposite of darkness.
Darkness cannot control light, but light would dispel darkness. I'll digress so slightly. We were in a cave one time with the children and remember the tour guys said blow out your candle. But there wasn't flashlight. It was just a candle and total darkness. You couldn't see your fingers in front of your eyeball.
And then she lit a match to light her match. Just the light from the from the lighting of her match, the whole room lit up. It wasn't much of A light, but in a dark place it could be a very bright testimony. So the darker the world is.
Even though it's more testimony, I believe is still a bright testimony that can be seen.
00:15:01
So here we got various conditions. They have rebellion against God, They have.
Immoralities. They have unbelief. That's the condition that's true. Rd. is it that much different than what we face today? I know often we use the expressions that.
This world is getting worse.
And it is compared to a few years back. But is it that much worse than when it was years ago? Here we're only around 66 AD is less than 30 years after the Lord's death.
It wasn't that long after Pentecost, and we see darkness crepping in. Even Paul himself said to the Ephesian elders. He said upon my departure. What happened?
Grievous wolves are going to come in not sparing the flock. Now, I'm not trying to justify that this world is better. I'm saying do not be discouraged because we have one who is greater than this world. We have one who's who's a judge standing right just outside that door. We have one who is going to come and she's going to rule this world in righteousness.
But at the meantime, we are waiting for the patience and the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse 11. We're going to read verse 11 to verse 13.
We just read how bad the conditions of this world.
Are, excuse me, are in. And now we read as if it's going to still get a bit worse, especially in the religious world, not just the world as a whole.
Verse 11 Woe unto them, For they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the era of Balaam, for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Cory.
These are spots in your feasts of charity when they feast with you feeding themselves without fear.
Clouds they are without water carried about the winds, Trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea forming out of their own shame. Wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness.
Of the darkness forever.
Oh, it's sad to see. And it's not just the darkness and the wickedness of this world. We see now the religious system, as if it were in verse 11. It speaks up, perhaps three classes of religious people. So he begins by saying, Woe unto the for they have gone the way of Cain.
That's the first group, isn't it? What did Cain do?
Kane went and decided that he has a better way to worship God.
His way without blood.
That's the system of man, isn't it? We can choose a man to be our minister. We can choose a man to be our leader. We can choose a man to decide things for us, so we can communicate with God. We can choose a man so we can control God.
Is that the way of Cain? That's the religious system, isn't it?
Woe unto them that have gone the way of Cain, man's way of approaching God.
Then the second group is they ran greedily after the era of Balaam. What did Balaam do?
He would curse Israel for money. He would do things religiously for money. Isn't it sad?
And Cora rebellions against the people of God.
Religious system, isn't it that either for gain of money doing it man's way, a rebel against the proper godly order that God has set out. And we read those verses of God's condemnation toward them. So I'm just looking at time here to leave room for others. Let me just finish it quickly. Verse 14.
It's refreshing to see that among those dark days God always have a testimony for Himself. Verse 14, and Enoch also the 7th from Adam, prophecies of these saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with 10 thousands of his sayings to execute judgment upon all and to convince all that are ungodly among them.
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Of all their ungodly deeds.
Which they have ungodly committed, And of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against him, These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speaketh grace, swelling words, having man's person in admiration because of a vantage.
Oh, you know, we got as if kept it silent. We don't know much about Enoch in the Old Testament. We know he walked with God and God took him.
But here we find out not only did he walk with God, he preached as that preacher of righteousness, and it wasn't soft.
Politically, politically correct speeches, he warned of the people back then. This is very early days, and that even tells us he's the 7th from Adam from the very early on that he preached that God.
Is going to come and execute judgment against this world.
We didn't read of it, but we read off that preaching as if went on to his grandson Noah, also known as the Preacher of righteousness.
Noah preached a long time too. And what was the result?
Did this powerful preaching between Enoch and Noah save souls?
Well, suppose you can say yes, there were a souls that were saved, Noah, his three sons, and the wives.
But interesting, just a sigh remark. What is Noah's wife's name?
What are the son's wives name?
What was Adams first made?
That was me for Him's name before Sin came into being. It's interesting to see this mother's.
Of our our.
These mothers of mankind, when they first came in, did not have a name Eve. Didn't Adam name Eve after the Fall, and we don't know of Noah's wife's name or their son's name. I'll leave you that as some thoughts on there. So he preached.
I think that's a good lesson for us too, that we may not see any result in our preaching, but nevertheless we are to preach as God have commanded us and want us to do that. We can preach today the gospel of God's grace.
Verse 17 I'm almost done here. We talk a lot of negative things, a lot of things. That doesn't sound pleasant. But verse 17. Now Jew is going to encourage us. But beloved. We spoke of sayings earlier on here, Beloved.
But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that they told you there should be markers in the last time who should walk after the own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves sensually, having not the Spirit. But ye, let me just stop there, so we know that this world hasn't gotten better.
And I'll add a comment to this too that the Lord Jesus, when he was in this world, didn't receive a good treatment from the world. They set away with him, crucified him.
If we seek to be a follower of our Savior, I do not believe the world would give us a treatment that's any different than they did give our Master and Savior. So when we present Christ, we too will be rejected for the Gospel's sake, But the word of God tell us to carry on. So these these enemies, as if it were, will still reject the word of God. But we are to continue on.
Verse 20 Oh, this is the part I meant to say, the encouragement, but ye beloved.
Building up yourselves on your most holy faith.
Praying in the Holy Ghost.
Keep yourselves in the love of God.
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Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unto eternal life. I don't think we need to expand on that that we Yes, beloved.
Is the love of God before you, or we occupied with the difficulties we have?
Is the Lords soon return fresh in your hearts?
Verse 24 Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory, with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever.
Amen.
Stir Up Your Gift
Open—R. Thonney
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Just two verses in.
One in first Timothy.
And another in second Timothy.
That have been.
Exercise.
For for us to think about first Timothy chapter 4.
And verse 14.
Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy, with the laying on of the hands of the presbytery.
Then second Timothy chapter one.
And verse 6.
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on of my hands.
Just this thought, brethren, and I want to lay it.
On the hearts of each one present.
That gift is something that is given to every single member of the Body of Christ.
It's not always the same gift, but each member does have a gift. Let's notice it in.
Three places where the gifts are mentioned. First of all in Romans chapter 12 and here the gifts are given by God.
But notice how it puts it.
Verse.
Four. We'll read from there for as we have many members in one body.
And all members have not the same office, so we, being many are one body in Christ and everyone members one of another.
Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, and then he goes into the different gifts prophecy.
Ministry or service?
Teaching.
Exhortation.
Giving.
Ruling, showing mercy.
These are gifts given to who?
Every member of the body of Christ.
Now in First Corinthians chapter 12, we have the gifts of the Holy Spirit.
And notice what it says.
About these gifts.
Verse 4.
1St Corinthians 12 verse 4. Now there are diversities of gifts.
The same Spirit, and there are differences of administrations with the same Lord, and there are diversities of operation, but it is the same God which worketh All in all.
And then it goes into the different gifts that are mentioned.
Now this, the last one, is gifts given by the Lord Jesus as head in heaven in Ephesians chapter 4.
And there again, it's to all the members of the Body of Christ.
Notice verse seven of Ephesians 4 but unto.
Every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, and here we have gifts that are given that are in person.
Verse 11 He gave some apostles and some prophets. That's the foundation work of the Church.
And some evangelists and some pastors and teachers.
I thought this afternoon is not to go into those different gifts so much, but to show that every one of us have been given gifts.
Brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, what are you doing to stir up that gift?
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I honestly believe that the majority of the gifts that have been given to members of the Body of Christ are not being used.
And so the exhortation.
To Timothy is so appropriate.
Stir up the gift of God that is in thee.
Still remember.
Chuck Hendricks one time was asked by a young brother. But how am I to know what gift I have?
And that's probably a good question to think about.
Gift is something that is given.
But it's developed.
Think some of you used to know brother.
Albert Hayhoe.
And he was gifted in evangelism.
Giving the Gospel.
Still remember some of the messages he gave.
Very powerful messages.
He himself told.
Us young people one time to encourage this, he says. The first time I got up to preach the gospel.
In Toronto ON, it was an assembly where there were a lot of older brethren, serious older brethren, and he says I got up there, he says.
My mouth went dry, so I took the glass of water to take a drink, but my hand was trembling so that I had to hold it with my two hands.
If you have tasks to be developed.
The fact is you have a gift.
You need to be exercised before the Lord to use that gift for the good of others. If you don't, you're not only robbing yourself, you're robbing all the fellow members of the Body of Christ.
And I must say, I've been impressed in my own experience in Latin America to see those that the Lord raises up.
There is one that the Lord used.
Quite markedly in the South of Bolivia name was Delphine on Cassie.
But when he got saved, he didn't know how to read.
But his hunger to read the Word of God was such that he taught himself how to read the Word of God.
What a blessing that man was.
Without any human education.
He was very gifted in explaining the scriptures in the Quechua Indian language, which is still used in a number of assemblies in the South.
And he could minister in that language.
Very effectively, but it was something that was developed, but I want to.
That question that was asked Chuck Hendricks. How am I to know?
Chuck's answer was very interesting and helpful to me. He quoted that verse in John chapter 2 That I think was mentioned today. Forget exactly where it was, but I'm going to just read it.
What Mary, the Lord's mother?
Said to the servants.
At the marriage feast.
It's in chapter 2 of John's Gospel and verse 5.
His mother said unto the servants.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it. And I must say, I found that a very helpful little statement.
Not determining, oh, I've got such and such a gift, That's kind of hard to do. And perhaps the gift the Lord may have given you is not developed yet. But if something is laid on your heart to go visit somebody or to call somebody on the phone and to encourage them, do it.
It might seem insignificant, but if you follow the direction of the Spirit of God in that way, little by little it will turn out, it will show what your particular gift may be.
Timothy had a gift.
But we don't know exactly what it was.
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Something that it was an evangelist because he is told in Second Timothy 4 do the work of an evangelist. I think that shows that maybe he didn't have the gift of an evangelist and that we, even though he may not have the gift of an evangelist, should evangelize.
Give a track to somebody be exercised about it.
Dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, I just want to encourage you to be exercised stir up. What does that mean? It means that you just you just.
Activate what you can. Do what you can to be a blessing to others. That's the principle of the Body of Christ. It's made-up of different members.
And each member is necessary. In its place might say, what in the world is this ear doing? It's just kind of fastened on the side of my head. It's done not lifting any any heavy weights or anything.
What is the purpose of this?
It has a purpose. God put it there so we could hear better. And so every member has a place and a purpose.
The Lord encourage us and exercises to use what He has given us.
I don't know what's your particular gift might be, but the fact is, if you are a member of the Body of Christ, you do have a gift, and that applies to the sisters as well. They don't exercise their gift publicly.
In assembly especially. But they do have a gift and you look at one that was mentioned today, Priscilla.
In the book of the Acts, what a blessing that woman was to her husband.
And she was used of the Lord in a signal way. And so there is a place for women to exercise themselves as well. Point is, when there's exercise, there's growth. And I sometimes say to young people.
To exercise, you need.
Time and you need energy.
And that's what sometimes we do not take time. We do not take the energy to get into the word of God, to ask the Lord in prayer what he wants us to do.
That's what it means to stir up the gift of God that is in thee. It's interesting.
In First Timothy, it's shown fellowship by the hands of the Presbyterian, the elderhood. In other words, the assembly must have detected there's something in this young man that is very useful, and they laid hands on him to show their fellowship with his activity.
In Second Timothy, where the ruin has come in so greatly and sometimes that's an in discouragement to people saying what's the use anymore doesn't seem to be anything around. But Timothy was encouraged and he said by the laying on of my hands to the apostle, Paul sought to encourage him to.
Stir him up.
Brethren, that's my desire this afternoon.
To stir you up, may the Lord encourage you to give whatever He may have given you for His own purposes of blessing. I like to think of those gifts that are mentioned in Ephesians 4 that we read. There are only 5 mentioned. Two, like I say, are the foundation work, the apostles and prophets. That's the New Testament prophets that gave us the scripture.
Our brethren spoke to us from the book of Jude. He was not an apostle.
And James was not an apostle, but they were prophets because they gave us the word of God.
And that is what our faith is based on, the apostles fellowship or the apostles doctrine and fellowship. And so they gave us the foundation work, but what we have today are those three that are after that.
Evangelists. The Lord exercises brethren. Like I say, Timothy. We don't know that he had the gift of an evangelist, but he was told to do the work of an evangelist.
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I must say it's a blessing to reach out and to do what you can.
Down in Lawrence County, we've had the privilege of going into the prison there, Lawrence County Correctional Facility and recently they've changed that from a medium security prison to the highest security prison. Only lifers and death row inmates are in there and and so we've had a hard time trying to keep going in but.
I find it such a blessing.
In and to speak to those men, you know you can't speak on a level with all the brethren ease that we use sometimes in our local meetings to speak down at their level.
And I find that a challenge and I think that is a healthy exercise to speak at the level that people understand. And so I encourage you to reach out to do what you can to and it's it'll be a blessing to you.
And then it says.
Pastors and teachers.
Pastors are to take care of the flock of God.
Teachers are to teach.
Somebody said, and I think it is important point that the church does not teach.
That's what the Catholic Roman Catholic system says, the Church.
Teachers. No, the Church does not teach. The Church is taught by the teachers that Christ is given.
As a gift in his church. And there are those who are specifically gifted in that way.
And I really appreciated our brother Chuck Hendricks, whom the those in this area knew quite well. He could lay things out in such a way that were very clear. It was a definite gift of that particular brother and many.
Were helped by his gift. It doesn't mean he was a pastor, exactly, but he was a teacher, and so those are things that need to be cultivated.
I think there must be pastors and teachers here.
My exercise is, I'm afraid, that many of the gifts that Christ is given are not being used.
When we are called to go to the Lord's presence and stand at the judgment seat of Christ, is he going to say, Did you use that gift I gave you?
What are you gonna say? I didn't know I had a gift. Are you gonna say that?
Well, I know it's not easy to determine what gift you might have, but I say be exercised in the Lord's presence to be a vessel, a minister, in whatever way you can be a blessing to others, not only you.
Will profit, but all those that you minister to would be a prophet as well.
The Bride
Address—Bruce Conrad
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I would like to start by reading a few verses out of Proverbs 8.
I think today is the 8th day of the month.
And I was raised spiritually.
To to read the chapter a day from Proverbs right through the calendar, wherever else I was reading.
Brethren used to say Proverbs as the young man's book.
So anybody, I think under 80 probably would profit from reading proverbs every day, along with everywhere else you read.
So, so applicable to us in so many ways.
While we're here in this world.
Heavenly wisdom it's been called for for our earthly path.
But I'd like to extract out of Proverbs 8 this morning a look way back as we would think of it into eternity.
Before anything made was made, that was made.
Hard for us, isn't it, to just sometimes just close our eyes, sometimes do.
And I try to what was it like before anything was made that was made?
We read in John chapter one about a beginning that in a sense had no beginning.
There was the Father, and there was the Son.
Dwelling in Supreme.
As we would say as men, unapproachable light.
We read in First Timothy 6.
That's the dwelling place of God, a place unapproachable by any creature, Angel or man.
And there was the Father, and there was the Son.
Dwelling in light, perfect light, supreme pristine light, and love.
And in Proverbs 8 we get a little view of the latter. In verse 22 The Lord possessed me in the beginning of His way. Proverbs 8 and 22 before His works of old I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning or ever the earth was, when there were no depths that was brought forth, when there were no fountains abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before the hills which I brought forth, when as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world.
When He prepared the heavens, I was there. When he set a compass upon the face of the deep.
When He established the clouds above, when he strengthened the fountains of the deep, when he gave to the sea his decree that the water should not pass his commandment. When he appointed the foundations of the earth, then I was by him as one brought up with him, and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him. We'll just stop there for a second.
So we have before all these this wonderful creation when God spoke, as we read in the first, very first chapter of the Bible.
Over and over again, maybe 8-9 times and God said.
And God said, down it goes. And God said he spoke and it became.
The material, everything material we see in this universe that we can see with our eyes or that we're aware of how to beginning in God. God is a spirit and as the Lord Jesus told the woman at the well.
God is a spirit.
And in that in His Majesty he spoke, and it was so.
And he spoke from that place of light and love, and as we had in verse 30 as well verse 31, rejoicing.
I'm sorry, verse 30. I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him.
And saw not only light and love, but joy of a father's love for a son in whom he fully delighted.
And a son's delight in his father, and whom he fully delighted.
A sphere of only two.
The Holy Spirit as a divine person there too, but I I don't even feel competent to speak about him in that way. I don't know how.
But we do read of the Father and the Son, and we read of rejoicing and of light and of love before the world's were made.
And in the next verse verse 31, rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth. And my delights were with the sons of men.
His delights were in the children of men before there were any.
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And so I know it is popular nowadays to speak about the fragile character of the Earth.
And man has been put, as will perhaps see, in, in a position of responsibility and stewardship over the earth.
And we don't want to be careless in that way.
But the earth in a certain sense is very robust.
It was made as a platform.
It was made, and God anticipated the carelessness of man, the power of man that would be developed in a natural way with bombs and all the other stuff that men to to blow up things and change things and carve the rock and all the rest send rockets out into outer space and all of that.
As a brother mentioned, a couple years ago I heard him say it and it was an interesting comment. He said, you know, every man, every woman, every human could be taken off the face of the earth today, right now.
Just he could call all breath back. It's not a single human on the earth. You know what the Earth would keep spinning. The sun would set, The sun would come up in the morning, the rivers would row down and would flow down into the sea.
The water would go up into the clouds. The birds would fly, the fish would swim.
It's a. It's a robust place.
But he put man with us in a special position as we know, to have dominion over it. And let's turn back.
Can't tarry too long here to Genesis chapter one.
The series of N Gods saids.
The first one.
In verse 3.
But in verse 26.
Maybe the 7th or 8th?
And God said, let us make man in our image after our likeness.
And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth. So God created man and his own image in the image of God created him, male and female created he them, and God bless them, and so on.
And then over in chapter 2.
In verse 18 and the Lord, God said it is not good that the man should be alone.
I will make for him, and help, that is, meet for him, and help meet for him. And out of the ground the Lord God formed every beast of the field and every fowl of the air, and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them. And whatsoever Adam called every living creature that was the name thereof.
And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beasts of the field. But for Adam there was not help found in help meet for him.
And the Lord God calls a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept.
And he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof. And the rib which the Lord God had taken from man made he, or builded he a woman, and brought her unto the man. And Adam said, This is now bone of my bone, and flesh of my flesh, She shall be called woman, because she was taken out of man.
Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife.
They shall be 1 flesh, and they were both naked, and the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.
We have here the history of the first man and the first woman. God didn't create a woman separately from a man. He didn't create a man over here and then a woman over here and bring them together or permit them to come together. He created one man.
And out of the man, the woman is not of the man. The man is not of the woman we read in First Corinthians 11, but the woman is of the he created one man. And these things, as we now know, are a picture to us. They're types to us of spiritual realities of the 2nd man.
Called in Scripture the last Adam, the Lord out of heaven.
And so it was that. A deep sleep.
Was necessary for Adam to undergo to go through.
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In order that God would build out of Adam a wife, a a woman, that would be meat for him, and so when he looked upon her.
He said.
She's me.
Everybody in this room. Well, maybe I could put it the other way around.
None of us in this room are fully responsible for our children. We're partially responsible. Every one of us doesn't have. Each of us doesn't have. Excuse my grammar, but one parent, but two. We have two. We have a mother. We have a father. But Eve.
She came from one, and so it is in our spiritual life. We all come from one, and as we know, in the beautiful picture, in the beautiful factual exposition in the New Testament.
That it required the death of the Lord Jesus and the shedding of His precious blood, that there would be anything or anyone who could fulfill.
An answer to the statement that God made that is not good for the man to be alone when the Lord Jesus walked here as a perfect man down below, having come out from God from that place where man could never see or penetrate or enter.
That unapproachable light, the sun came out from that place.
And he came down into this world and took manhood to himself.
But even as a man walking here, he in a certain sense was was alone. He felt spiritually alone, and he was factually alone.
And so when those Gentiles, those Greeks, came to him and said, and you feel so sympathetic to them, they said, Sir, we would see Jesus.
They didn't come to him, I don't know why, whether they were intimidated or whether it was the the structure of who was standing where. But they asked 1 disciple and that disciple asks another and then they communicate the message to the Lord Jesus himself.
And I'm sure it it struck the heart of the Lord that he could not come out and answer the desire of those Greeks who would want to see him, to know him, to ask questions of him.
To to be in in in a way brought into some fellowship with him, and he had to say, accept a corn of wheat, fall into the ground, and die it abideth alone.
It's not good for the man to be alone.
And so he proceeded.
All the way to Calvary's cross.
And not just a deep sleep that you may have had last night.
Especially the younger ones. They sleep better than we do.
You may have fallen down in a deep sleep and you wake up refreshed. Sleep is a miracle to me. How that works, I don't know how that works, but it's wonderful when it works.
But the sleep that is pictured here is what our brother spoke about last night in the Gospel.
It was the death of the Lord Jesus.
Having exposed himself with hands outstretched to the wrath of God against sin.
And having bowed his head after that.
And given up the ghost.
And the testimony to it was in a soldier piercing his side.
And forthwith came there out blood and water from a Christ who had already died from a dead Christ. The water of the blood and the water flowed.
And God is so particular about the testimony.
To the life, the death, the.
Burial and the resurrection of Christ, that he surrounded every single aspect of it with totally competent witnesses.
We were speaking last night at the motel.
About about what they call in certain industries, traceability. There has to be traceability of some special material that is made if it's going into a nuclear reactor and they don't. They're very fussy about those things. As you would imagine. It has to be a set of eyes and a competent witness. For every step somebody makes a piece of welding wire, somebody has to, somebody has to certify that it was made of the proper mixture of of of metals.
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And somebody has to certify that it was stored properly. And somebody has to certify with their own eyes and their own reputation, their own professional life that it went here and that it was stored there. And when the welder comes and takes it that it's that same material and it's put by a certain process into a certain traceability all the way through.
People are trained in that.
And God if you if you stop and think about it, Perfect traceability.
In the life that it was, actually it was that same Jesus. There were women who followed him from Galilee. There was his own mother, there was his disciple.
And they spoke with him and it was really him.
God knew the cynical attacks on these facts down through the ages, and he knows how important it is.
And with his death, he bowed his head. And they witnessed it, and they witnessed the other things that happened.
And the soldiers pierced his side, and they were convinced themselves that he was dead already. So they break not his legs.
And those dear men go to pilot because they had access, because they were men of that of that character of life. They could go in and see Pilot Joseph of Arimathea Nicodemus.
They begged the body of Jesus and Pilate didn't just say, yeah, go ahead, yeah, you can have it. No, He sent a centurion to make sure.
A centurion is no slouch.
It's not going to be careless and say, yeah, I looked from over the hill and he looked like he was dead to me. No, he's going to make sure.
That's the way they were trained and that's the way they kept their position. Their position was everything in their life.
And so they come back and they give testimony to Pilate and pilot releases Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus to take the body of Jesus.
And people watched him take him down.
And put him.
Wrap him and they watched, and Joseph of Arimathea volunteered his burial place, in which Never man was buried.
And the other saw where it was.
And they saw him put in there.
And vain man puts, puts a puts, puts a big rock and seals it and puts soldiers there, Roman soldiers there.
Everything is done with with profound divine care and testament for the testimony as to what took place on Calvary's cross and thereafter.
They saw where he was laid, and they came back before dawn the next morning to that same place. They knew where it was. They had seen it with their own eyes. They knew him. They knew what happened.
And they come. And the rest, as you know, is history.
Where the Lord reveals himself to Mary, and then to the other disciples, and so on. And then above 500 brethren at one time. And then they see him go up into heaven.
What care?
The woman is taken out of the man.
And the great foundation of Calvary's cross.
Is that now God can righteously bless sinners like you and me.
They say, well, how did he bless Abram? How did he bless Noah? How did he bless all these Old Testament Saints?
He blessed them on the principle of faith, just like he does with you and me. But he proved at Calvary's cross that he was righteous.
In his forbearance with their sins.
At Calvary's cross, he proved himself to be just and the justifier, and he showed his righteousness in the forbearance of those sins that were passed, and so any debt that was accrued.
Any credit that was assigned to any Old Testament St. to any believer in those days.
Was paid in full at Calvary's cross. God glorified in it.
The beautiful picture here as to the bride, this first picture of the bride.
Is that there is oneness of life. Adam could look at Eve and say she came out of She's 100% me. God made her right out of me. She's me and they were one.
Now we read in the New Testament.
That the truth of the one body of Christ and the Church, in that character of one body of many members indwelt by the Holy Spirit, united to the head in heaven, was a mystery hidden God.
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It's not hid in the Old Testament, even. It was a mystery hid in God and I submit to you and I'm often.
Questioned or challenged on this. I don't believe there is any type in the Word of God, of the truth of the one body of Christ and the members of the Church as one. I have never seen a type in the Scriptures of that aspect of the Christ of Christ, the Head and the Church.
But there are types and shadows, are there not of the Church as the Bride of Christ. And I believe this is the first one that we see. And we see here the aspect of yes, they were given dominion, a brother read the other morning.
Application in Psalm 8. Dominion assigned to the Lord.
According to God's purpose, wonderful thing, they were given dominion.
But here in this passage, we read that they shared a life, a same life. And as a believer, you have, in a certain sense at least two connections to Christ.
We are pretty familiar that when we put our trust in Christ, the Holy Spirit indwelt us. We're sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise.
And were united by the Holy Spirit to one another and to Christ our head. But we also share a life in nature.
Because we are as it says in Hebrews chapter 2.
He that sanctifieth, and they who sank, and they who are sanctified are all of one.
You read the rest of the verse here.
Hebrews Chapter 2.
Verse 10 It became him for whom are all things and by whom are all things.
In bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect or complete through sufferings. For both he that sanctified, and they who are sanctified are all of one.
For which 'cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren?
Adam and Eve were not ashamed to be naked because they were in innocence.
As soon as they were deceived.
Into partaking of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil their eyes were opened. But the lie, as the brother said this morning, was that they would know good and they would know evil, but they would be absolutely powerless in choosing the one and ignoring the other.
What I ordered is what a deceitful lie.
But here, when soon as the man and the woman, their eyes were opened, they realized they were naked and they go and hide.
But at this point, they're not ashamed.
And I think it's in a certain sense a picture really of the fact that the Lord Jesus has so brought us.
Into connection with himself by giving us a life that is actually, as Scripture calls it, eternal life, that he's not ashamed to call us brethren.
You can look on your relatives, close relatives and say, well they we have the same we have Buchanan life or we have rural life or I sat with a bunch of cousins yesterday and they they they share that that natural life to a certain extent.
But here the man and the woman, they share one life, and you and I, by virtue of the work of God in our souls, now share the very life which existed in Christ eternally, but only in Him.
And now you and I, by the grace of God, share it.
That's just an astonishing thing to consider.
I should be. I should just sit down right now and leave that. That thought just hanging out there, It's such a wonderful thing to consider. In him was life. We read in John Chapter One. All others, in a certain sense, dead and trespasses and sins.
And in John, but in John's first epistle, looking back at the effects of the work of Calvary.
He says there in in first John chapter.
First John Chapter 3.
Which thing is true in him?
And it was for all eternity, and in you.
That's the new thing.
First, John 3. See if I can pluck that out of here.
00:25:24
Bit of a digression, but I'm not. I'm not finding it. If somebody wants to shout it out, you can.
But to me that's a wonderful part of the wonderful essence of the First Epistle of John, that that which once subsisted or existed only in the Son himself.
Is now communicated to you and me. That life which was alone in him, is now in you, and in the first epistle of John he unfolds different aspects, different attributes to what that life is like. It loves its obedient, it trusts.
It's holy. It has discernment and all those other characteristics.
Chapter 2, verse 8.
Thank you. I'll read it.
Thank you, Bob.
First John two and verse 8. And again a new commandment. I write unto you which thing is true in him and in you, because the darkness is past or passing, and the true light now shineth.
And so we have this life we're as.
I think it was, Abigail said to David when she interceded for her extended household.
She said the soul of my Lord is is bound in the bundle of life, is the expression she used. I think we may get to that.
And so it is. We share the life in nature of God's Son. These are amazing things to think about or to speak about. Yes, you're united to Him by the Holy Spirit indwelling you, which Old Testament Saints were not.
But now eternal life has been given to you and me.
Upon the work of Calvary's cross.
And the Descent of the Holy Spirit. The next bride I'd like to speak about is in Genesis 24, well known.
Passage.
We have another man that's alone.
Named Isaac in type. He is a type of Christ as a risen 1.
If you notice in particular and it's been pointed out before that in Genesis 22.
After God provides a lamb for a burnt offering instead of Abraham's son Isaac.
Then it says Abraham returned in verse 19 of chapter 22. So Abraham returned and his young men.
It doesn't even mention Isaac as if as if he's risen and as if he never came back down that mountain. We know that. In fact, he did.
And in Genesis 23.
Sarah is set aside a picture of Israel.
In her first estate and in chapter 24, Abraham is now old.
The sacrifice having been accomplished in type in Genesis 22.
Then Abraham the father. Abraham is a type of the father, and he sends his servant out to get a bride for his son, because it's not good for the son to be alone, and so he.
The long, long chapter which I will not go into in any detail really at all.
And the servant, very dutifully follows the wishes of his master, presents a testimony to the household of Rebecca.
Gives a verbal testimony as to why he was there and who he was the servant of.
And it boils down to a question that is presented to this woman. Wilt thou go with this man?
All the other stuff, well, it's a different country.
Or what? What's the economy like there? Is it industrial or agricultural? Is it? Is it, is it this or is it that? All of those other things? It comes down to that one question.
Wilt Falco with this man.
It was probably not an everyday occurrence for a young lady or for a woman to be asked if she wanted to marry someone.
00:30:01
Oftentimes women.
Were, I suspect in those cultures looked upon as very much the the property and under the domain of the head of the house. Her father in this case was her brother.
And so this is an unusual picture, it seems to me, where the woman is the one who who decides in the Western world, we're all this is, this is normal, right? People decide. I asked my wife. She was free to say no.
And you all have been most likely. And so it comes down to that. There's the call. Wilt thou go with this man? And of course, the beautiful answer, she says. I will go, and off they go.
And then she's in the wilderness.
And so you have a woman, unbeknownst to herself, that is really repeating what her soon to be father-in-law had experienced because the God of glory had appeared to Abraham. And he said get out and I'm going to tell you where to go, but get out.
Leave.
Your your country.
And your kindred and your father's house.
Unto a land that I will show thee of There wasn't even a an object out there. It was this beautiful, really the command of God to go. And he went.
He didn't fulfill every aspect of that, as we all know, but he went.
And Rebecca goes to, but she has an object now. She has one that she is probably hearing about day after day on that long journey across the wilderness. And like Abraham, she goes out not knowing whither she went. But she's on her way to a man. And so we have in Rebecca a beautiful picture of the call and she comes and she's ushered into Sarah's tent. And Isaac, it says at the end of the chapter, brought her into her mother Sarah's tent and took Rebecca, and she became his wife.
And he loved her. And Isaac was comforted after his mother's death.
Every believer is called.
If you are saved, if you have the salvation of your soul, you have been called.
Romans 8 says that you were chosen.
You were chosen for a certain destiny, as we had in Ephesians Chapter one.
God had chose you individually.
And if you are a believer and he had a destiny in view that he was choosing you for.
And having predestinated you for that destiny, he called you.
And then he justified.
And maybe later today he will glorify you.
That's the the last piece.
But not everyone We read that is called.
Is called effectually.
We read in the parable in Matthew 25, Matthew 22. I believe it is of the certain man that has a great feast.
And everybody initially declines the offer, and he sends his servants out into the highway to to both good and bad compelled him to come in, and all these people come in.
And the the, the the host of the of the feast comes, and he sees a man.
That doesn't have a wedding garment on. I take it from that that wedding garments were supplied.
And he, for some reason, didn't think he needed one.
And so he met with a horrible fate. He's cast out.
And and the pronouncement is made that not all that are called.
Receive the blessing because we read it. We we take it from that parable that a person must put on the wedding garment. They must accept, as Bob was bringing before us last night, repentance towards God and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.
And when by faith you put your trust in Christ, God reckons you through faith as righteous before him.
It doesn't mean that you got so changed by your faith that he can just look at you and observe that now you are righteous. And so I consider you that.
Now, he says, on the basis of your faith in my sight, I reckon you to be righteous. That's what Scripture calls the righteousness of faith.
And so in Rebecca, we see one called, We see the happy result, and we see Isaac comforted. Let's go to Genesis 41.
I think it's the next one.
00:35:11
In the first two pictures of the man.
One that was alone, all creation passed before him, and nothing that would satisfy his heart or his nature.
Not one. And so God creates one out of him.
In Isaac, we didn't read it, but he's out in the field meditating in the evening. A lonely, separated type of a man Isaac's character was.
But here in Joseph we have a man.
Who was of a different bent and who had a different experience? And as you all know the story, he was taken by his brothers in envy and sold into Egypt.
In Egypt, his natural competence elevates him in his position until God decides, as he does with with his children, he pours us from vessel to vessel. He's like the Potter with the clay, and he works us. And he decided, you know, Joseph's not quite ready for what I have in mind for him.
Into the prison he goes, He's there for a certain number of years, and you would send he was and the Baker and the butcher.
The Butler, the Baker and the Butler are taken out one to a a a deliverance, and one to the fate of death.
And Joseph is wondering. I thought it was my time to come out.
When God says no, I think you're going to be a little longer.
And so, so it is in our lives. I I was in a very humbling trial. Humbling to me.
And I thought I'd gotten the blessing out of it and humbled myself and and.
And gotten the fruit of it in my soul.
And I experienced it because of my own failures.
And we go on. And the Lord has to bring almost the same thing to me again.
It's like I thought I had gotten the blessing out of this. I thought he had accomplished what he wanted, but no, you know.
Little more back in the oven, and so it was with Joseph, but at this point he's exalted.
And we read there in Genesis 41.
Thou shalt be over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my people be ruled. Only in the throne will I be greater than thou.
Pharaoh said, See said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee over all the land of Egypt. And he took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed him investors of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck. And so on verse 45. And Pharaoh called Joseph's names Afnath Payania, and he gave him to wife Asanath the daughter of Potiphar the priest of An. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt, and Joseph was 30 years old. And so on.
Down in verse 50, verse 50 at Joseph unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came which Asanath the daughter of Potiphar priest of Anne Baron to him, and Joseph called the name of the first born Manasseh.
For God said He hath made me forget all my toil and all my father's house.
And the name of the second he called Ephraim, for God hath caused me to be fruitful.
In the land of my affliction.
This is before the.
Recovery of Joseph's brethren to him.
Before the recovery to Jacob of his long lost son.
Which prefigure?
The coming blessing of Israel.
When God brings them through repentance.
Just like with the Sinner, he brings them through repentance and to the acknowledgement of Jesus as the Christ.
And that will be a touching moment, a touching time, and I believe we will be able to observe that wonderful time.
It strikes me.
That every every significant event.
In the moral history of the world from today forward.
You and I will be part of our witness.
The Lord comes today. We're going to be part of that.
00:40:02
There's going to be the judgment seat of Christ.
There's going to be the marriage of the lamb and the marriage supper of the lamb.
There's going to be the Lord coming out of heaven with 10 thousands of His Saints when he appears back in this world and he comes with a vesture dipped in blood.
Like Joseph Fester, all of that, we're going to end the recovery.
Of his beloved people.
And the tears that will be shed.
I believe we will be.
Able to witness that.
Because Joseph has a bride here, she's not. Not much has said about her.
We don't read about her having an active role in the recovery of his brothers.
Or with the interaction with Jacob later on, but she's there and she's she's the bride.
Of the rejected one that has now been exalted before the before the recovery of Israel.
And this, of course, to you and me, speaks of his present exaltation at the right hand of God.
And if we kept reading there in Hebrews, we would read the passage that says we see not yet all things put under him.
But we see Jesus crowned with glory and honor, and there he is. All the work has been done.
God has been glorified and raised him in righteousness to that place.
And God now in.
In long-suffering is gathering out of the nations, one by one of people for his name, and when the last one is brought in.
Then the Lord Jesus will begin his work with His beloved earthly people.
But meanwhile he I think Asanath's name means beauty.
I can't exactly remember, but I believe her name means beauty and there she is with Joseph.
Who's a stranger but an exalted one, and she has these two children which Joseph names Manasseh, which means forgetting, and Ephraim means fruitful.
Don't want to tarry too long on this, but.
There must be a lesson that there's a certain amount of forgetting that has to happen in your life and mine if we're going to be fruitful.
Forget also the bride was told, thy father's house. He is thy Lord, worship thou him.
It doesn't mean that we just obliterate memories of things.
As the way I see it, I just submit this to you, but in a certain sense forgetting something.
Is processing something in a proper, moral way so that we're able to move beyond it if we don't do that?
Then what happens is this horrible weed grows in the human heart. That's called bitterness.
And bitterness chokes the human the believers heart, and robs him of fruit, robs him of peace, robs him of joy.
And he or she becomes such a one that defiles many. It's a horrible re wheat in the human heart.
If you lived in in forests, deciduous forests especially.
The forests are designed in a special way that when the limbs and the dead branches fall down, God has organized a way that all of that debris and those leaves and twigs and stuff all gets processed.
And and and it doesn't just build up and build. Otherwise it would just build up and build up and just choke all the trees.
And so it is that there is a right, moral way to process the difficult all the circumstances of our life.
And in doing so we became become fruitful. We see for example with the 12 spies that were sent out, two of them prostate both, they all 12 Saw the same information. They all had like the same data, right As we would speak in modern terms with you younger ones, they all had the same data on the table, but two had a completely different interpretation, interpretation.
Than the other because they processed what they saw in a different way according to their state of Seoul.
And so I I just think it's a beautiful little picture of Manasseh comes before Ephraim. And of course, later on there's the flip. Now let's move to Exodus chapter.
Two I think it is.
In Exodus chapter 2.
We see another man.
Who is in a place of rejection?
00:45:05
Moses, beautifully in faith, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
He has an exercise in his heart by faith to help his people.
And he goes about it in exactly, I guess, the wrong way.
And any of us that are a little older that have sought to be helpful.
To our brethren or to serve the Lord. Maybe we can relate to rough starts.
And and.
We sometimes.
Have to take a few steps back before we go forward.
And so it is, I think, of Isaac's in Isaac's state when Jacob and Esau came to him.
Jacob deceived him with a hairy garment and all the rest.
And he said.
What's his exact words? It's Jacob's.
Going back there right now, I think it's around 27.
And Isaac says.
Seven and what? Thank you again.
And Jacob went near onto his Isaac, his father, and he felt him and said, the voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands were the hands of Esau, yes.
And sometimes when we're young, or even when we're old, we can we can have Jacob's voice, that is, we want the right thing, but our hands are the hands of easel.
And so God wants us to communicate spiritual things in a spiritual means. We are enabled to take in spiritual things in a spiritual way. He's fitted us that way. And when we respond in service to Him, it's to be done in a way that is in accordance with His Word and with His with and in the right Spirit. And sometimes we have to back up and and realize that.
Those principles of things. And so it was with Moses. He spends, as you know.
40 years I believe it was. And here he is, a great man of the world with all the wisdom of the Egyptians.
He's got all the credentials, and God says, you know what you really need. Moses is the backside of the desert.
What you really need is to learn how to be a shepherd. Because when you're leading my people, you're going to see what unruly people they are, and Egypt is not going to prepare you to lead them in that way. But being a shepherd is is the best way that you can be prepared for what I have for you.
And so in verse.
17/18/17 And the shepherds came and drove them away. This is the daughters of Midian when Moses is out there.
And Moses waters the flock.
And Rule finds out that someone has been helpful to his family.
And says in verse 20, Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man?
There's the man again.
Call him that he may eat bread. And Moses was content to dwell with a man, And he gave Moses Zipra his daughter, and she prepared him a son, and he called his name Gershom, for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.
Zipper, when you look it up, means a little bird or a Sparrow.
And it reminds me of.
Passage in Psalm 102.
Where the Spirit of Christ in that Psalm.
It says I'm like a Pelican in a wilderness and like a Sparrow alone upon the housetop.
There are certain birds that you see and they're just always in flocks and then you sometimes you see a bird that's proper to.
Flock of birds. And they're alone. It always makes me think of that passage.
The Lord Jesus, of course, walked here.
As a stranger from heaven, and as a lonely man in a certain sense. And he was called by prophetically, the man of sorrows.
00:50:02
And He prepared his disciples before he went on high, that it would be our pathway to.
To walk as strangers and pilgrims in this world. And yes, we have the fellowship of others of like precious faith at times.
But largely our pathway is is is somewhat alone and singular and we need to get, if I could put it this way, to get comfortable with that.
I was saved and gathered in an assembly where there was only one other young brother.
And but there were all these other brethren, maybe 15 or 20. They were all my parents generation.
But I never felt deprived. I had all these these new, new I was in a new family and we did things together, go fishing together, we go cut wood or do stuff.
And then I went to my first conference and I realized that I was really suffering because there were no young people's meetings where I was and everybody was lamenting and and almost weeping about how bad I had it because I didn't have this, all this young people's.
Infrastructure where I was and I'm like, man, I've never felt like I was missing anything.
And it's good if if you have fellowship of your peers where you are, it's a bonus. But let's remember that we're walking in his steps and we're following him. And oftentimes it's a lonely path. It doesn't mean that we need to be discouraged.
Loneliness and the sorrows that can come from loneliness are different than discouragement.
You can be joyful in tribulation.
You can have joy and sorrow mixed together. It's OK.
It's not a spiritual deficiency when you feel loneliness or feel sorrow and young people if you are isolated as the Western world veers off into its confusion and you find yourself more and more isolated from that.
Take courage. The Lord can sustain you in it. It'll bear sweet fruit in your life if you just walk in that separated path. The last one. Our time is gone anyway in First Samuel 25.
Abigail.
Abigail's the wife of Nabal. He's a wealthy man. He's from the House of Caleb, which is exercising.
And David in his need as he's fleeing from Saul.
Send some of his young men in verse 8.
See if I can pick it out here.
And they come in the name of David. Verse 9. David's young men came. They spake to Nabal, according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.
They came with his authority, even though they were young men.
And they presented his claim. And Nabal, whose name means fool.
Decides to ignore the claims of the Lord.
As expressed in David.
And David, as you know, gets indignant. Everybody ***** ** your armor. They're going to go, and they're going to take vengeance on Nabel and his household, And Abigail beautifully intercedes.
In keeping David from making that.
From vindicating himself.
And she has the vision of faith, and so in verse.
28I pray thee, forgive the trespass of thy handmaid, for the Lord will certainly make my Lord a sure house, because my Lord fighteth the battles of the Lord, and evil hath not been found in thee all thy days. Yet a man has risen to pursue thee and to seek thy soul. But the soul of my Lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with the Lord thy God, and the souls of thine enemies. Them shall he sling out as out of the middle of a sling.
David doesn't have to avenge himself on Navel. Navel is given a testimony.
And for 10 days he no doubt pondered what had almost happened. His heart became like a stone, and his life was taken from him.
00:55:03
And by the taking of navel in death, Abigail is separated through death from that former marriage and she's freed.
And David, so.
Encouraged, Thankful. Impressed, if I could put it that way, with the virtue of Abigail.
Asked her to become his wife and she does the beautiful thing about Abigail. One of the beautiful things is what her name means. I think it means the father's joy.
And perhaps you came to Christ because you were burdened about your sins.
Perhaps you came for to Christ because you realized that he said I am the truth.
Perhaps you came looking for peace, or whatever else you came for.
In your soul's experience, But the father actually drew you to himself and to his son.
And God the Father.
Appreciates profoundly the love that you have expressed and the fact that you have bowed the knee to his beloved son. We sometimes, I think over, emphasize, you know, we sing that song sometimes, and in that din of voices, rude. I recognize my own.
And we know that that's where we were in our natural condition.
But on the other side of it, you've been brought by faith to God's beloved Son, and you've bowed the knee. You've confessed Jesus as Lord, and you've believed that God has raised him from the dead, and it has delighted the heart of God.
In John 16 we won't turn to it because our time is gone, but the Lord Jesus says there. I believe in John 16 the Father himself loveth you because you have loved me.
And have believed that I came out from God. It's something, I suppose, we don't often think about, but what appreciation the Father has for everyone that has put their trust in his Son. He witnessed, he observed, and he exercised divine restraint when wicked man took him.
Can you imagine as a father, many of you in this room are fathers? Can you imagine the divine restraint it would have taken when he could have interceded in a nanosecond and he allowed him to be taken by wicked hands and slain? It's just like it happened yesterday to him.
And so, on the other hand, how He appreciates those who have from the heart, with their trust and their love and adoration, into His beloved Son. And so it shall be that throughout all eternity we're going to be.
The intimate companion with Christ, because the mystery of his will is that not only is this Christ that was prophesied of all the way back through all the prophets going to be the head over things on this earth.
And bring peace and rest and joy to this earth. But he's head over all things in the whole entire universe, Angels included, are under his feet now as an ascended man, But the mystery of that as well is that in that place of exultation, he's going to have someone right next to him.
Who is his bride? Who is completely one with him, from him of his nature, completely, as we would say in English on the same page.
Loved reciprocal light and rejoicing, and you and I are part of that wonderful glory.
May the Lord give us to be in the present appreciation.
Of the.
Blessings that we have in Christ. Let's just pray.
You Have a Choice Between That Old Coin and the Good Stuff Here
Children—Clayton Jennings
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.
Is it OK if we start singing in just a few minutes early?
Is that all right?
OK, you want #2? That's actually #40 here. Well, that's the second verse. That's Jesus loves me. You want Jesus loves me, Easton?
Yeah. OK, we'll sing. Jesus Loves me.
Well, seeing the 1St.
And let's do just the first and the second verse. OK? 2 verses of Jesus loves me.
Jesus loves me this silo, for the Bible tells me so.
When someone wants to then belong.
They are a ring, but he is strong.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
And white he will wash away my sin.
Whether it'll stop coming.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
Yes, Jesus loves me.
With all my world tells me so.
OK, who's got another one?
What number do you want?
#46 Glad TIDINGS, Glad tidings. OK very good.
Glad TIDINGSIBRIN G.
LNJ.
SUS has come.
To a savings.
And he calls and he calls all the DIRLS, and he wants all the Bois too.
TRUST in him and have all their sins I washed away.
What number you want 3232? OK #32.
Let's see here.
Let's sing the 1St.
We'll see again the 1St 2 verses the 1St 2 verses of #32.
What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the water of Jesus.
So that not one's fun remains nothing but the blood of Jesus.
Oh precious is the flow.
That makes me wireless.
Jesus for my heart and their spicy nothing but the blood of Jesus.
My cleansing this, my brain. Nothing but the bad Jesus.
Oh precious is love for.
That makes me white as snow.
No.
Water found, I know nothing but the world of Jesus.
OK.
Now I bet somebody walked in this room and looked at this and wondered what it was.
I bet there were some. Look.
00:05:02
You are not going to be disappointed with this.
You're not going to be disappointed. I'm going to leave it a secret for now. But when I when I lift that, that, that.
Sheet off, you're not going to be disappointed.
Who's got another? Who's got another song?
#14 #14.
Let's see again the the first and second verse.
Have you been to Jesus for the cleansing pump? Are you washed in the blood of the land?
Are you fully trusting in his graces out? Are you washing the blood of the land?
I.
In the soul cleansing blood of the lamb.
Iron garments? No.
Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb?
Nor are you walking daily by the Saviour's son. Are you washed in the blood of the Lamb.
Do you have a speech, Romanian, my cruciferous, Are you want in the blood of the Lamb?
I was in the blood in my soul, cleansing blood of lamb.
Iron garments. Are they white as snow?
Are you washed in the blood on the land?
You guys getting excited for this?
Getting excited for this.
I hope so. There's a lot to look forward to.
Who's got another song in the mean time?
What song do you want?
#50 You know, is there a #50? There's not a #50.
There's not a #50. You got another one.
Number six. OK, Number six.
OK.
Again, we'll just do the first and second verse.
God in mercy sent his Son.
Into a world by sin, I'm gone.
Jesus Christ was crucified.
Twice for sinners, Jesus died.
Oh the.
Glory of the grace shine.
In the singer's face.
Telling simmers.
From a long.
God is.
Light and.
God is love.
Sin and down to the water is so rain Jesus, and slides and lives again.
In the Glory's highest time.
Same gods to bring delight.
Oh my glory.
Of the grace.
Shining in the state of displays.
Tell me sinners from abroad.
Have any kids been to an all you can eat buffet?
00:10:00
Have you been? Yeah, yeah.
Listen, listen, have you ever been to an all you can eat buffet with just snacks and candy?
Have you ever been there?
Hold on, who's got another song?
What song did you want #8?
#8 #8.
Let's see again the 1St 2 verses.
Come every soul bite. I'm sorry. I'm sorry #8 You said #8. I'm sorry. Sorry 1St 2 verses.
Gather at his.
Coming.
When the dead in Christ.
Arrives.
Shall we hear the Savior call us His only on the sky?
I swear together at his coming, his glorious, his glorious.
Coming.
Yeah, the Saints and is coming.
If and by the same yours long.
Is coming.
This makes all his own rejoice.
Who are they? Appear to me.
Those who now love God is voice.
Yes, we'llgether is coming.
His glorious, his glorious.
Coming.
The other way the same service coming.
And plans by the Saviors.
Love.
OK, let's ask the Lord for help, OK. Amen.
OK, so from what I understand the verse for this week was Romans chapter 5, verse 6. Is that right?
Romans chapter 5 and verse six. Well, I'll read it and then we'll whoever wants to say it, they can say it. But we're going to we're going to get we're going to move on to.
Our activity here pretty soon so Romans chapter 5 and verse six, it says.
For when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died.
For the ungodly who wants to say it?
We'll just start right here. Go ahead, bud.
When we were without strength in due time, praise died for the ungodly.
First Romans.
Five verse 6.
Yeah, without strength in due time. Questioned for the ungodly Romans 58MH6.
Yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
Romans 5-6.
When we were yet without strength and new time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5-6.
Yeah, I thought we could do time. Play time for girls.
Almost five or six. Very good. Good when we were yet without strength and due time crested for the ungodly Romans 5-6.
When we when we were yet was, how strengthened due time Christ died for ungodly Romans 5-6. Well, we are yet without strength. In due time, Christ died for the ungodly Romans 5-6. When we were young. With our strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5-6.
When we were yet without strength to do time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5-6.
Ungodly woman's 5-6.
00:15:01
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly woman's 5-6.
You want to see it?
When When?
Without strength, without strength.
Christ died for the young God, Christ died for the ungodly.
5-6 Yeah, very good.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5-6.
I'm here yet without strength. In due time, Christ died for them. Golly. Rounds 5-6.
Without strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly.
And is 5/6.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. Romans 5-6.
When we were yet without strength and due time, Christ died for the ungodly Romans 5-6, good job. When we were yet without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly Romans 5 verse 6.
When we were yet without strength in due time, Chris died for the Angola first, John.
Romans.
5-6 When we were yet without strength in due time Christ died for the ungodly Romans 5-6.
Are we here yet without strength?
And due time.
Godly Romans 5-6, Romans 5-6.
Pass.
That's OK. That's all right. You want to say it?
When?
Strength and do time car starts for the angled the woman's 566. That's good. Good. We were yet without strength and do type right side for the ungodly 5656. Yeah, very good. Well, good job everybody. That was really good.
I tell you what.
If you don't mind, we're going to talk about something a little bit different than the verse.
And.
I wonder why, kids? What kind of snacks and candy do you like? What is your favorite kinds of snacks and candy?
What? What? What? What kind of Skittles. Skittles. OK, what kind do you like? Chocolate. Chocolate. Oh, well, you came to the right place today.
What kind do you like?
Jolly Rancher. Eminems. Eminem's What? What kind do you like? I like Ritz crackers. That's my favorite Ritz Crackers.
Boy, well, kids.
Look.
What you're about to see.
Is everything you could possibly dream of.
I mean, this is, this is this is exciting stuff. OK, so here we go, here we go.
Wow.
Wow, jackpot.
Wow, isn't that great?
Man, you know what? You know what?
I have got something for each one of you kids today.
I got something for each one of you kids today.
But you got to make a choice and frankly.
The choice is very clear. OK, there's really there's hardly there's no, there's really no question what the choice what what you should choose.
What you should choose, there's really no question, but you do have a choice.
And you're going to have to choose. But like I said, I mean, don't think too much about it. Don't think too hard about this choice. It's a pretty clear choice.
But.
Kids.
You're going to have to make a choice.
OK. The choice is obviously you want that, right, obviously or there's this old coin.
00:20:08
I mean, it's like a scratched up old coin.
And you're going to have to choose between this old coin, this old coin.
And all that good stuff there.
You have to choose between that old coin.
Just an old coin. Just an old coin.
And all that good stuff there. Look, I mean, we're touching almost all the food groups right here. You can tell your parents, Look, I got breakfast. I got, I got, I got wheat. I got my, I got my grains. I got fruits and vegetables.
I got a little bit of sugar in here, a little bit of sugar.
Basically, I mean what what more do you need? I mean that's all that's basically you could live on that.
You could live on it. I mean, that's that's it folks. So.
I'm going to go around.
And I'm going to pass out a snack bag.
And you get to you can either. You can either choose this old coin.
Who wants an old coin, Right? An old coin. Or you can load up this snack bag with as much as you want.
OK, OK. Is the choice pretty? I mean, the choice seems pretty clear to me, right? Wouldn't you say snack bag or coin?
You know, all the snacks.
OK, snack bag or coin?
The coin? It's right here.
Well, if right here, that's, that's the coin. I mean, if we'll coin, well, it's a real coin. Yeah, it's a real coin. What's that? Well, we'll work it out. If that's what you choose, we'll work it out.
But.
You have, you have to. You have to choose. Do you want the snack bag or the coin.
You don't what? You don't what?
You're not sure what you? Well, you know what? I'll give you this. I'll give you this anyway.
What do you want, the snack bag or the coin?
Of course, of course. Of course. There's no question, Is that right? Yeah. Snack bag or coin? I probably choose.
Well, well, OK. I mean that's that's fine. Snack bag or coin?
Snack bag? Yeah, snack bag or coin? I don't really care.
Well, you have to make a choice.
You want the snack bag or the coin? I mean, look all that. Look at all this good stuff you wouldn't want to pass up. I mean, the coin, it's all like, look, kids, I'm going to point something out to you. I'm going to point something out to you. If you took this coin, if you took this coin to the grocery store, you know what they do with you. They probably call the police.
Because the person in the register would have no idea what to do with it, and they would think that they're just. You're just.
Giving you a piece of an old piece of junk. You know, some counterfeit coin.
Look, there's no doubt in my mind.
The answer is very simple if you ask me, but do you want a snack buyer coin? Yeah, good choice. Good choice snack buyer coin.
Yeah, yeah. Snack. Oh, good. Yep. Snack Bagger. Coin. Snack bag? Yep. Snack bagger. Coin. You want the snack bag? Yeah, I would do Good. Good choice. Snack bag or coin?
You want snack bag or coin?
Snack bagger coin. You want the snack bag? Yeah, we're getting a lot of takers on the snack. Snack bagger coin. It's not a good choice. Good choice. Snack bagger coin, Snack bag. Yeah, yeah. Good, good. You guys are boy, you guys are good snack. Bagger coin.
Whoa, hold on, hold on, hold on. Why do you want the coin?
You want it. But look, what can you do with a coin if you took that coin? If you took that coin to the store, you couldn't even get anything with it. I know, you know. Well then why do you want it?
Cuz cuz.
OK, no snack bag for you. Snack bag or coin? Is the coin real?
00:25:01
Well, it is real, but it's, I mean, what good, what good is it to you?
It's made of metal. It's made of metal.
Look look.
I don't. I don't know. You guys are. You're missing out. You see all your friends up here, they're all going to be enjoying all this good snacks and you're going to be sitting on your on your seat.
OK, Snack bag or coin. Good choice. You've got. Now we're back on track. Snack bagger coin. Good, good, good snack. Bagger coin. You got it. Snack bagger coin. Snack bag, You got it. Good choice. Snack bagger coin. Yeah, snack bagger coin.
You got it. Snack bagger coin. Snack. Bagger coin. All right.
Have at it.
Load them up. Help yourself, my wife said. Don't take any home so it's all yours.
Have at it.
Have at it. Dig in.
Say again?
Yeah, load up those. Load up those.
Hey boys, snack bag. You want it?
Trade it for my point. You can trade it, yeah, you can trade the coin for for a snack bag. You're not, you know, snack bag. Come on. But listen, all your buddies, they're all going to be eating their Doritos and their Reese's and and and all this good stuff and you're going to be sitting there.
You're going to be sitting there.
You're going to be sitting there. You won't have anything.
Look.
It's your choice. But I'm telling you one thing right now, I The choice is clear to me.
Choice is clear to me.
Snack bag.
Snack bag.
You're missing out. Don't listen.
Those people behind you, they don't know what they're talking about.
They don't know what they're talking about.
OK guys, well.
All right. OK.
I'm going to. I'm going to give you guys another chance.
Look, I mean, I don't. You guys are the you're the only two boys on the road that are missing out.
I hate for you to. I hate for you to miss out.
You know what?
I've got something for the adult. I'm going to pick an adult.
And.
Do you, Mr. Conrad?
I can get you a snack bag. You got a snack bag or you want the coin?
Kind of partial to the coin.
Well, listen, Mr. Conrad, I understand completely.
That snacks and candy aren't really your thing. That's true. But listen, I've got something just for you.
I got these. This is this is a supplement.
It's guaranteed. It's guaranteed to roll back 20 years.
You know, can I have it?
I've been suffering with a bad back for 40 years, well more than those. I'll give you twice the dose you want the the supplement, this is good stuff. Supplement or the coin. There's something about that coin that I I I think I should stay with it.
Forever missing out.
Forever missing out. There's three individuals in this room that have lost out big.
00:30:05
Let me tell you a little something about this coin.
You got a good bag, don't you? Yeah, you got a good bag. I want to tell you something about this coin.
This coin.
It was sold at an auction.
And there's three people in this room who have just become very wealthy.
There's three people in this room who have become very wealthy. This coin was sold at an auction.
In 2021 for $18,872,250.
$18 million this coin was sold for.
Wow, boys, what are you going to do with all that money?
You hit the jackpot.
And you know what I said. What I said wasn't wrong.
You know, if you took this coin to the store, they probably would wonder what you were up to because they wouldn't have any idea what it was for Oregon, how much it was worth.
You have no idea.
You know what I said about it being all scratched up? And yeah, it's kind of scratched up. It's a little bit scratched up. It's an old coin.
But you know what, kids?
Its value.
Is infinitely worth more.
Then that can be. It looks so tempting on the table.
You know, kids.
It's an illustration of something.
That's far more valuable.
Than a coin. It's far more valuable than an $18 million coin.
This is just a very small illustration.
Of the value.
Of your soul.
Your soul is of infinite value, Infinite value. And there's a verse in the Bible.
We all know it. What will it profit a man or a boy or a girl? What will it profit a boy or a girl?
If he gains the whole world and he loses his soul.
It's also an illustration.
Of something very, very sinister.
The thief.
The thief has come.
To steal, kill and to destroy.
There's a thief.
Not only is he a thief, but he's a liar.
He's a liar.
Satan is a thief and a liar, the Bible says.
That Satan.
He is a liar and the father of it. He's the he is the originator of lies.
You know, I told you some things that were not that, well, they weren't exactly 100% true. They were deceptions.
There were deceptions to make you fall for something that was that was far less in value.
Then this coin.
Far less value than this coin. You know what Satan is doing today.
Do you know what Satan is doing today?
He's going around.
Telling lies.
Telling boys and girls that your soul.
Is not all that valuable? Don't worry about your soul, he says. Don't worry about your soul. You live for all the all the fame, fortune and fun you can possibly get your hands on.
You live it up. That's what he says. That's what he Live it up. Just enjoy every moment, Suck every moment that you can get out of it.
00:35:09
Because this is all you have. This is all you have.
God has a different.
Message for you today.
God has a different message for you today.
The Bible says that God made man out of the dust of the ground.
And he breathed into man the breath of life. God breathed into you the breath of life, and you became a living soul.
A living soul. A soul that will live forever.
A soul that will live forever.
And you know, kids, we've fallen from God. Sin has come into our lot, into this world. We've fallen from God by nature. We're fallen beings.
And God in his great mercy.
Sent his Son the Lord Jesus.
Because your soul is valuable.
Your soul is valuable.
Far more valuable than this coin.
What will it profit a man?
If he gains everything, this whole world ever, If you could, if you could sum up all the wealth in this world, it would fall in comparison to the value of your soul.
It falls totally short.
The value of your soul.
There's another verse in the Bible.
In Psalms 49.
Psalms, Chapter 49.
It says in Psalms chapter 49 verse 7.
They that trust, I'm sorry, Verse six, they that trust in their wealth and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches. None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him, For the redemption of their soul is precious, and it ceases forever. What does that mean? What does it mean?
The redemption of their soul is precious and it ceases forever. What do you think that means?
What does redemption mean?
Does anybody know what redemption means?
You want redemption means.
Yeah, to redeem. Yeah. To buy it back.
You know, we're stuck in sin and our sins have separated us from God and we have to be brought back to God. But there's a price, There's a price that that it costs to be brought back to God, it says.
It says the redemption of their soul is precious and it ceases, for it's costly.
To buy back your soul from sin and Satan.
It cost an infinite price.
A price that no one can put, no one can understand. The massive cost to bring you back to God. No one understands it because you and I are brought back to God. We're redeemed. We're brought back to God. By what means? How are we brought back to God? What does it say in First Peter? It says we're brought back to God with the precious blood.
Of the Lord Jesus.
You see?
When you and I were separated from God.
God sent his Son the Lord Jesus. God sent the Lord Jesus into this world.
Because your soul is valuable.
Your soul is fat and he loves you. Each one of you kids, God loves you.
And he said, I do not want that soul to go into a lost eternity forever. I am going to pay the infinite price. I'm going to pay the infinite price so that I can have each one of you kids if you'll put if you, if you will put your trust in the Lord Jesus.
00:40:19
If you will put your trust in the Lord Jesus today.
You can know your sins are forever forgiven.
And yours you will go and live with the Lord Jesus in his house in heaven forever.
But of course, if we decide to pass up.
On God's great salvation. And it's like if we decide we're just going to chase all the fun, fame and fortune we can have in this world, that's that's good enough. If that's all we're going to live for, God says you're going to have to pay. You're going to have to pay an awful, awful price.
Awful price for all eternity in hell.
Kids, you know.
It's my deep hope.
It's my great hope.
It is my great hope that each one of you kids.
Will come to know the Lord Jesus as your savior.
It's, you know, every single one of your parents here, Every single one of your parents. If your parents brought you here, they have a concern for your soul.
They want your soul.
To be in heaven with the Lord Jesus.
They want you to be in heaven with the Lord Jesus.
That's what each one of us want.
And so.
I plead with you today.
If there's anyone?
Who doesn't know who Jesus is their savior today?
Today is the day of salvation. Today is the day to recognize that that you're a Sinner, that you're a Sinner, that that you violated a holy God.
And that the only way that you can be brought back to God.
Is through the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus made on the cross.
Satan. Satan will be. He will be the trickiest, cleverest guy you can ever imagine. We are no.
We are completely weak against the lies of Satan, completely weak against the lies of Satan.
And he loves to trip up people.
Just like I tricked you guys. Most of you guys. Oh, don't worry. I'll have something for you too, Actually, maybe some of your friends here. We'll give you guys a bag. We'll give you guys a bag, and maybe you can see if there's some handouts.
Yeah, yeah, that's right.
Like kids, you know?
I love each one of you kids and I know that all the parents in this room, all the adults in this room, they love each one of you kids.
And like I said.
It is my greatest desire. Our greatest desire for each one of you precious kids is that you will know the Lord Jesus is your savior, not only know him as your savior.
But that you'll know him as your father, the one who provides for you, and that you'll live for him because it's so worth it.
It's so worth it to know and to walk with the Lord Jesus. It's the greatest life.
It's the greatest life you can imagine.
OK, you know what? Let's sing. Maybe. Maybe somebody has a song that they would like to sing here.
What song would you like?
#47
#47.
We'll sing this whole. We'll sing this whole one, this whole song.
When he cometh, when he cometh.
00:45:00
To make up his dreams, all his dreams.
There's one and it's on.
Like the stars of the morning.
It's right round.
Avoiding they shall shine.
It was all the bright ones.
It's loved and it's long.
Like the stars of the morning.
It is bright ground of glory.
Nature shining.
His beauty.
Bright jumps for his drum.
Little children. Little children.
For long marrying.
Are the Jews precious to the most?
Is lovely.
Like the stars of Love Morning.
Is right from the glory.
OK. I just have one request before we close and that is there are two boys here who have empty bags and those of you who have full bags, can you please share a little bit with these two boys just if if the people that have full bags can like donate some chips or a couple pieces of candy or there you go.
We can do that after. OK, That's good enough. That's good enough. Well, I tell you what. Let's do that after we get done praying and then and then you can you can help. You can help our friends. Thanks for being good sports, guys. That was that was good. Let's let's pray. OK, Let's pray.
YP Singing