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Last night that I saw the rain all our hearts made.
You say that all of heaven helps me.
Out of the world.
So I want to give you.
We use the duration of the weather. I don't know what I have to do.
Today I'm busy.
Oh, I can have a place here for you. I have lived in my life. I have to play.
To you and I have you out for us.
Classes 3 verse 14.
And above all, these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
And let the peace of God rule in your hearts to the which also ye are called in one body, and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell on you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus.
Giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them. Children, obey your parents and all things, for this is well pleasing unto the Lord. Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged servants, obeying all things, your masters according to the flesh.
Not with eye service as men pleasers.
But in singleness of heart, fearing God, and whatsoever ye do do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men.
Knowing that of the Lord you shall receive the reward of the inheritance, for ye serve the Lord Christ, but he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, And there is no respect of persons.
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Masters, give on to your servants that which is just an equal, knowing that you also have a master in heaven.
I.
Reference was made to second Peter chapter one and verse seven. It says into godliness, brotherly kindness and brotherly kindness charity.
Brotherly kindness. I think we've enjoyed a lot of that here at these meetings. And brotherly love or brotherly kindness as my brother, is its object. Charity has God as its object.
So the greatest, I don't know who it was, he said. If I've heard it often, the greatest.
Display of love in a day of weakness is faithfulness to the truth of God.
It is the bond that.
Perfectness.
I've copied something out in my Bible at the beginning of Nehemiah and got it from the synopsis.
Might just repeat it in times of difficulty. Faith does not show itself in the magnificence of the result.
But in love for God's work, however little, and in perseverance through all the difficulty of the state of weakness.
So it's not looking for great things, but going on in love for God's work, which is love for God himself.
I was wondering if we connected with first John chapter 5 and verse two also.
I'll read the first verse also. Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ, is born of God, and everyone that loveth him, that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.
This is the love of God that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not grievous.
However, every believer born into the family of God, we have the nature of that family. Our heart goes out to every child of God. But there may be those that we cannot display that love. So it says By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments. If one of my children is in rebellion against me and my will.
You're not really showing love to the child to go and embrace them and say, well, I love you, even if you're walking that way. I do love him, but I may not be able to display it the way I show love to show the way I show love to God is encouraging the people of God to walk in obedience to His word. If I encourage a believer in a path of disobedience, I'm neither showing love to him or to the Lord.
And so by this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep His commandments.
And so love displays itself in our own personal lives. If he loved me, keep my commandments. Love to the children of God displays itself by encouraging them to walk in the path of obedience to God, never encouraging them in the path of disobedience to the word of God. So there are times when we have to be faithful, aren't there? That leads us to the next verse about the peace of God, because what is it that causes stress in the individual or strife between individuals?
You try to reconcile 2 unreconcilable things. You have two thoughts, 2 scriptures in your mind like what you were Speaking of with.
You're trying to reconcile 2 Things, my love for my brother and faithfulness to the truth, and it just doesn't seem that you can reconcile them. The only thing to do is to submit and have faith in God and be faithful to God. And so there are many things in Scripture that you cannot reconcile except simply by faith, believing what God has said.
You have man's responsibility and election, whether to unreconcilable things, and so you simply leave it with faith. If you try to reconcile it, there's going to be confusion in your mind and trouble. You try to reconcile the fact that you have the assembly's authority and yet he is the Lord of the harvest, and the Lord's servant is the Lord's servant. So the Lord gets into the servant, gets into conflict with the assembly. There is no conflict. It's simply a matter of faith.
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And so if we go on in this way, then there's not going to be this internal confusion.
And trouble in the Mind. And between brethren, there's not going to be strife because God knows how to keep the two things together. And there are many, many things like this that cause us strife in the mind. That our confusion in the mind are stoiced between brethren because we're trying to reconcile 2 seemingly unreconcilable things. There's one other thing that Mister Darby said that I thought was helpful in connection with this. I apply it to this first both the peace of God.
Is we often ask what the will of God is in a situation when the only will of God is that we not be in this situation at all. And sometimes we get in trouble by being in situations we shouldn't be in. And that has to do with our position. Maybe we take a job or enter into a relationship or something that unequal yoke, but it's also true as to things that we get taken up with and so there is peace and just occupying the sphere that God has given us and so.
That so it says let the peace of God.
Rule in your hearts.
To which ye are called in one body, and so therefore it doesn't mean that just because something has to be done.
That I'm the one who has to do it.
Is we own the head in heaven and there's peace there. It's just because often there's strife even among brethren, because we see, well, there's a job to do and I want to do it and I say, well, I've got to do that job, but maybe there's a job to be done. But I ought to look to the head as to who's to do it. And then there won't be jostling between brethren as to who's going to do it. There's going to be submission to the head. And this is what brings peace in the assembly, is when we see that and simply because I recognize that something needs to be done or taken care of or we can leave that to the Lord and when we start.
I believe to have faith and to see this, it will have peace.
The peace of God in these situations.
In James we have a verse.
That might be helpful, and that is at the end of chapter 3.
The fruit of righteousness is sown in peace of them that make peace the problem that oftentimes happens when there are differences of judgment and difficulties amongst our people, that we allow these difficulties to rile us up.
And to stir up the flesh.
And I'm sure we all have experienced that to some extent in our own lives, and have witnessed that in difficulties among the Saints of God. But the fruit of righteousness is sown in peace. In other words, it is possible to go through difficulties without allowing the enemy to rile up the flesh with ears.
And I've used this as an example at different times. You know, we bought some land out in the country and we were going to build a house on the North End of their property. And here my boys and I were working there and we found that the neighbor had taken, he had land next to us and thrown the rocks from his field and our property.
And I got so upset with him, I said to my boys, total shock back on his field.
You see, that's the opposite of what I should have done.
You know, I allow this to rise me up. I could have talked to the neighbor and I was not a good extensive to my boys, you know. Well, that is just an example of what can happen, you know, And that is not when we allow that kind of a thing to happen in the assembly, the peace of God does not control me any longer. And instead of being a help, we are going to be a hindrance. We are only adding to the confusion, adding to the term turmoil, adding to the fuel.
You know, and the peace of God is so important that that is controlling our hearts. And in that way we can live in peace and can remember that we're functioning as a body now, you know, and how important it is that we're in that state of soul.
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Question to ask, but it's difficulty. Is this Heaven's Peace upset by it?
He's having trouble by it. And that's I believe is the peace of God, is that he sees the end of it. And by faith we need to see the end of it and act for God in it. But it's just to have the peace of God in connection with a thing. God knows the end from the beginning and he knows why he's allowed a thing. And so if we're in communion with him about it and there will be peace about the situation and so that lets us rule, rules our hearts.
Instead of setting where we speaking for myself, we like to fix things. We like to be fixers of things.
Rather than really just being faithful to God and acting for God and things and leaving them with the Lord.
Darby's translation renders it the peace of Christ, the peace of Christ, and then the 61St the love of the word of Christ. It's really Speaking of things, particularly among the people of God. It is true in our relationships with others. We need to act in love and faithfulness too.
But here it's talking particularly about things among the people of God. So we have.
In the 31St for bearing one another and forgiving one another.
Even as Christ forgave you, and so on and.
Put on charity or love, which is the bond of perfectness and the peace of Christ. It's really maintaining peace among the people of God. And if we act in that spirit, what I say again, it is not love to encourage a true child of God in the path of disobedience. Love would seek their good and their blessing and be faithful to them. And so we put on love.
The motivation is love and Jeremiah was warning the people about the judgment that was going to come.
He said, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn thee.
That was right in the midst of all his firm warnings about what was going to happen to them, how they were rebelling against the word of the Lord.
But love for the people of God was the motivation for his conduct, even though he's very faithful and had to speak the word faithful.
And so I believe it goes on that the peace of Christ, the peace of Christ that is seeing is the head of the body, the church. He seeks the good of the body. And we're not upset, we just seek to act for him. We leave all the results with him. I think it's a beautiful thing, the two brought together here.
In Ephesians chapter 6, there's the part of the armor. Is the feet shod with the preparation of the Gospel of Peace if we don't hear that, brother?
In Ephesians Six, part of the armor is.
Is the feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace? I was wondering if that is similar to what we have in verse 15, or really what it means to have our feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Yeah, someone has said the Christian is not in the war cry, he's in the peace cry. Paul that says in the early part of the Acts preaching peace by Jesus Christ, he is Lord of all. And really the message that we carry to the world is a message of peace. Peace has been made through the blood of his cross. And so instead of being troublemakers in this world and going about trying to set everything right, the message is really peace.
Has been made not peace on the terms where evil is allowed, but peace is the character of the Christian.
Ellen, John 14. I believe we have a thought there that brings in the world. In 27 the Lord said, Peace, I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth. Peace I give I unto you, Let not your heart be troubled, and need to let it be afraid. So we I put it this way for myself. You know truth is precious, but it separates.
And we have what those of this world need, and we can be at peace with ourselves and with the Lord, but we can go through this world knowing that we have what they need. And you know, if we're rejected or our words rejected or hatred comes, we still have what they need. And they're the ones in trouble, not us. That's the kind of feast I think Christ has us in relation to the world. There's one other. I think it's 17.
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And 17 of John.
The last verse, these things I have written unto you, that in me you might have peace in the world you shall have tribulation. You have good cheer. I've overcome the world. So our peace is in Christ. That's it.
We're in the world without of it, and there's tribulation, there's problems, there's reproach and all that, but we have a sense in our soul that all is well. It's like the great woman in Second King's 4th. All is well. Why it wasn't well, as far as circumstances, what she was getting to the man of God. And that's it All is. Yet that peace is very precious, even.
When things are set against us which are not true, you know, that's a wonderful opportunity to manifest the spirit of Christ. We fail in that many times, but the story is told that somebody attacked Mr. Dari publicly, you know, and somebody turned to him.
And asked him whether he had anything to say.
He said if he would know me, knew me the way the Lord knows me and I know myself, he would have a lot more to say.
And that was the spirit of meekness, you know. And the Lord Jesus booked a very firm stand when it was a question of the glory of God. You know, the zeal of that house has eaten me up. But when it came to himself, you know he in meekness for many abusive things that men heaped upon him. I was thinking of that brother Heinz and the 8th of John, where they they said in verse 48.
Then answered the Jews, and said unto him, Say we not well that thou art a Samaritan, and hast the devil?
And he answered, I have not a devil, but I honor my father, and you do dishonor me. He said nothing about the charge of being a Samaritan.
And it seems to me whenever people have to resort to either.
Raising their voice or name calling lost the argument.
And they were losing the battle, and so they called them names. But he didn't rise to that. Never said a word about their charge of his being a Samaritan. Indeed, he takes that place in the tents of Luke, doesn't he? As the Samaritan, he didn't mind taking the lowly place, and that was in peace. But he did answer the charge. That has to double. He would not allow them to attribute the work of God and of the Spirit to a demon. So he did answer that.
The Lord is a perfect example. Always when he was reviled he reviled not again pretty good thing to remember. And all the accusations he answered nothing. Against him personally he answered nothing. But of course when he said I felt King of the Jews thou faith he couldn't deny himself. We can't deny the truth there we must stand but as the personal offense we don't have to get upset.
A lot of people think they've got to sort of make a war on wrong things, but there's a lot of Christians attack the wrong things that they see abortion and things like this, and they join together. That isn't the character of the Christian. The character of the Christian is his speech shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace. What will set man right? He's got to be born again. And then as the next verse says that the word of Christ dwell in you richly. How are we going to know what's right?
Well, we first of all have to be in the family of God to have a desire to do what's right.
And now we have the instruction and direction, so we don't go about fighting against these evils.
Our feet are shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, and even in difficulties that arise amongst us.
You don't war on certain things, but we present the word of God, and we bring that that the word of Christ dwell in you richly, in all wisdom, bring the Word of God in all its blessedness and in all its power, and only God can work those things out. And that gives us peace in the circumstances. And we don't have to make a campaign about things. You see this with Paul before Agrippa, don't we? That he was there really unjustly, and fellow told me this week that his pastor had tried to go on behalf of some of his people to the mayor.
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They were put in jail for something in connection with the school and this pastor's unconverted son was a lawyer, went to his father and counseled him to speak peaceably to him. But the pastor went and told the mayor that he was a hell deserving Sinner and that God was going to judge him for what he was doing. Just mentioned to the brother. It was so lovely the way that Paul entreated A grippy said I would devour it all together as I was except these chains. Paul was in a far better position than Agrippa was and we sometimes are in a more miserable state of soul in a certain sense than the ungodly with whom we deal. It's a wonderful thing to just to tell them that you know, I've not happy with these chains but.
I'm in a far better place than you are and an opportunity. That was how he had an opportunity to speak to that man.
But we have to stress too beloved brethren, and that is that if I have contributed to turmoil in the assembly or amongst the God of the Saints.
If I have stated things that are not the truth or even attacks an assembly, that ought to be straightened out.
You know, otherwise no wonder if there is not peace amongst the Goddess things you know. We cannot undermine confidence in an assembly and then expect. Forget about it, you know it's going to go away, I believe.
There ought to be made things made right. We have made statements and circulated even things attacking assembly. You know that doesn't make for peace.
There ought to be an exercise that things are made right because otherwise the enemy continues to use these things.
It denies the truth of the one body and it denies the fact that what one brother does or one assembly does affects us all. And it's solid, so it should be taken care of.
Just wonder if we couldn't look at Ephesians 2 for the.
Thought about having your feet shod with the preparation of gospel feast?
I was struck by the thought that.
2 feet.
And then Ephesians chapter 2.
1St.
13 But for now in Christ Jesus you who sometimes were far off, were made nigh by the blood of Christ, for he is our peace.
These are this is peace between man and man. We're going to see.
1St And it's the blood of Christ.
Made nigh by the blood of Christ. We sometimes you know, we know that our sins are gone by the blood of Christ.
Once for all, forever. But this is part of the effect, the value of the blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath made both one that's Jew and Gentile.
Broken down the middle wall, or partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, when the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to making himself, obtained you and Gentile, man and man, one new man's soul, making peace, and that he might reconcile both.
Unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nice, peace between man and God comes second here.
So there is both feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. There's peace between man and man, the truth of the one body. And then there is the gospel, of course, as we've heard peacefully, man and God.
And it was struck by the thought in the Old Testament of the man who deceived. He was the House of the IT was the House of the man who had his shoe removed.
And that's what we see as characteristic of a great house.
They have one hue removed. They don't even, they don't preach. They preach the gospel of salvation, peace between man and God. And that's great.
But where's the other one? Where's the other piece that is the other foot shot? That is peace between man and man, one body.
Well, for you and me, the preparation of the gospel of peace is walking in the assembly. There's no school you can go to. There's nowhere else you can go to learn how to walk in the assembly. Except walking in the assembly. There's nothing like it in the world. And the preparation of the gospel of peace is walking with our brethren, walking with one another. And as we've heard about peace between us, and that's what it says here, Let the peace of Christ rule in your heart. That's the only way we can ever have that preparation.
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Is walking in the assembly.
Thank you. I was thinking 2 of another scripture that we have in the Old Testament, First Samuel chapter 25. We have 20 feet that were shod with the golf ball, the preparation of peace. We see that David sent 10 men out to greet naval and if you read the margin there it says freedom. In my name of peace or in my name but in the margin it says freedom.
In my name of peace. And what message were they to bring? It says, Peace, people to thee, and peace be to thine house, and peace be unto all that thou hast.
And we see that that message was rejected, wasn't it? It says. And they they turned their way and went again. But these men had a testimony as they went out because some of Nabel's servants brought a message back to Abigail.
Reflecting upon the way that these ten men.
Conducted themselves as they were representing David there in the wilderness, and it was certainly a commendable testimony that was brought, but the message was connected there with that name of peace, wasn't it?
It be ye thankful you know most of us, if not all of us, have known this song. Count your blessings. Name them one by one. I believe generally people think of material things and good health and so on. But I think.
We as Christians should really think of what we should be thankful for in a spiritual way. And can't we even be thankful not only for what Christ has won for us, but also the fellowship of Saints you know, and the fact that we don't have to go through this world alone?
What a comfort we derive from the fact that we have those of light, precious faith.
With whom we can walk.
We do not often enough thank the Lord for these blessings that we have. Be thankful, you know, and.
That certainly would include the mercies that we experienced from day-to-day. But I'm, I feel I should stress, especially to be thankful for the spiritual things.
And then to think of those things and give him thanks for.
It seems to work right into singing, doesn't it? In the next verse, The Peace and the Being Thankful.
And let the word of Christ dwell on you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in songs and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And I thought of that admonishing in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, admonishing.
You know there's a lot of error.
Remembered by Faulty Songs and we have a very excellent hymn book. We should be thankful for it. A Little Flock hymn book and the Echoes of Grace. But we have a nice collection there, don't we, of scriptural hymns. My wife and I have gone through it a couple of times trying to sing each one, and lately we've tried to compare scriptures with the thoughts of the hymn.
And there's some beautiful ones. You can find a scripture for every line in the hymn.
And others, it's kind of generalized. You have a scripture that like the 23rd song, you know and.
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And it's just beautiful to see the connection of scriptures in those hymns.
And as we sing them, we are singing the truth, and we are admonishing one another.
By singing these hymns, because the truth is coming out and those hymns.
And it speaks of three categories in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs are somewhere I read.
A difference between those three. And I can I haven't found that writing. If somebody knows where it is, I'd like to see it. But I think it's something like this that a spiritual song has to do with our pathway where pilgrims in the wilderness.
A hymn is addressed to the Lord Jesus thine Jesus thine. We were singing and a Psalm might have to do with some portion of truth like the Psalms do. Now somebody has more to add. I'd love to hear it. I heard a display, Brother Tom, that the Psalms speak more of our experiences and the difficulties in the pathway, while a spiritual song expresses scriptural truth.
And a hymn is addressed. God word you know And how much truth have we learned from Him?
You know, when we came from Germany, we knew quite a few hymns in German.
But they never impressed us as much as some of those hymns that we learned here in America because we had grown up with them, you know, and some little arms. But here, for the first time, we heard some of those beautiful hymns like 88 or Blessed Savior is Thy love. That made a profound impression on us because we were now adults and really for the first time we heard some of those hymns 150.
And so on. What a treasure we have. And then we see the tendency of turning to some of those popular songs that have certain words repeated over and over again. And it doesn't really give us much of a message. But this is what is beautiful in the hymns that we cherish, that there is a lot of scriptural truth expressed, and it erases worship to the Lord Jesus.
Speaks of him and what he has done, you know, and what a difference it makes even nearer my God to thee. I read recently a comment by a brother that comments on that song. He says that song says nothing about the Lord Jesus or the work and it can be sung by a liberal, you know. But certainly I have enjoyed singing that song. But when you analyze it.
There isn't that much depth to it. It doesn't speak of him and what he has done. That's what makes the hymn so valuable. #27 on the appendix tells us we could not neither be.
Well, the little flock is worship. A little flock hymn book is worship because it's scripture and it brings Christ to our hearts. That's the whole thought. And you know, those that believe, I find out they Can't Sing the little flock. It's true. Those in Christendom admire the little flock. I've shown it to some, but they don't use that. They can't use it. And you know, it's like those.
Left. Left to go to Egypt. They were part of the Rep that the Lord had kept. And he left to go to Egypt, into the world. And they ended up in Babylon. They hung their hearts on the Willow trees in Babylon. By the waters, the wrong waters. And they said, how can we sing the songs of Lie of Zion in a land of strangers. They couldn't sing the songs anymore. And brethren, you get away. You'll find that I, at least I find it when I visit those that are gone. They Can't Sing those songs.
We had a brother that was with us so long. I loved him so much. And without naming anything, he left his children because they went to something and their parents followed. He still was a believer. He still worked. In fact, he worked more. I mean, you know, work that makes noise.
Fruit doesn't make noise. I don't mean you're not working for it, but it doesn't make noise. True proof, but anyway.
Make it Long story short, my mother was in a nursing home and I took her one Lord's Day in a wheelchair to a gospel scene. Lo and behold, it was this brother who had left about 5-6 years ago. I love that brother. And he saw me and my mother and he knew my mother. He came over and he kissed my mother and he hugged me and he held up a book.
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He said. I'm still using it. Probably echoes of great What about the Little Flock? He wasn't using The Little Flock. You Can't Sing that. Let's sing that song among strangers that don't really know the truth and let's cherish it. I just got a little track from Jacobs and Dallas, Florida, and I guess it's gone around many times, but it's musings on the little clock. You've probably seen it.
Precious 8 pages. Family. It is precious. I'd like to read some. Are you sure? Brother Bob? I'm done. I'd like to read. Tom said he'd like to hear something. I have. I carry this with me. It's taken from a calendar leaf. I thought it was quite good. Let the word of the Christ dwell in you richly and all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, hymns, spiritual songs, Singing with grace in your hearts to God. Colossians 316.
Which is what we're looking at. That the instruction to sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs occurs in two epistles. That's Colossians and Ephesians suggest an importance warranting consideration. Most serious Bible expositors agree that the Psalms of these verses are not the Old Testament Psalms, while selected portions of Psalms can add luster to our worship.
As such, they cannot be vehicles of true worship for three reasons.
In them, worship is directed to Jehovah rather than the Father. A finished redemption was not known. The imprecatory Psalms which are calling for judgment on your enemies are not in keeping with the Spirit of the New Testament. The Psalms referred to by Paul are compositions of Christians of a stately character and solemn tone which addressed the Lord in the good of his finished work on the cross.
And our standing in the heavenlies.
The hymns referred to in these verses emphasized direct address of praise and glory to God. An example might be Father, how precious unto thee is thy beloved Son.
We don't have that hymn in our book, I don't think. Fortunately, both the song and him involve direct address to God. While the sound may have in view the believers portion, the hymn will not.
The spiritual songs are generally considered to be songs primarily concerned with the Christian experience, focusing more on our blessings and our feelings. Examples of spiritual songs are those commonly sung during gospel meetings or in Sunday School about psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, William Kelly wrote. I understand them all to be the sacred metrical compositions of Christians.
Outpourings of worship, praise, or holy feelings, the word spiritual being added to the lowest class of them to make clear even their consecration to the Lord.
Well, that's the that's the extract that I have. I thought it was quite helpful.
For instance, in him 238 as the Psalm, our Shepherd is the Lord. The living Lord who dies with all his fullness, can afford the art supply. He richly see our souls with blessings from about, and makes us great roles of endless love.
Example of a spiritual sound we have to came through 25. Made sense of confusion and creative complaints. How sweet to the soul is community. With Saints to find an embankment of mercy. There's room to filling communion, a foreteast of home.
And this morning we signed up in together praise and worship. 150 We have been there and never worship. Thou art the everlasting word, the Father's only Son, God manifest God seen and heard that haven't belonged.
00:45:00
It says, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. That's a wonderful fortune, oh brethren, but I think that be thankful is the basis of that.
Thankful St. for grace and mercy is bound to be singing in those hearts. You know, I was thinking of being thankful in 1901, Captain Dunlop out in that fierce country.
Of.
Regina area.
Gravel that's got you one and then there's no place to be in the winter but lovely in the summer. I don't mean that but his wife kept a day by day diary and sister aren't here. Is doing a tremendous job, but without making a long story out of it.
I haven't read it in a long time, but the thing that impressed me was at least once a week. I believe I'm right. She named her. I think it was 10 Blessings, 77 Blessings. And if you read those blessings, you saw these plastics. But they were blessing. She was thankful for them. And one of them was. There was two brothers at prayer meeting tonight.
She was that's a blessing you see. And the other another was someone lined up their pony so we could get to meetings today to go to walk that day and that was a blessing and I guess maybe her stove worked and things like that. But these are blessed. Everything she called a blessing and I wish I could remember the things. But if you want to be printed, I think, and it's a very one between Victoria died and it's the same year.
Our brother McKinley was assassinated. It's quite a year, 1901, but you follow that diary. It is something. The last part of that verse, it says singing with grace in your hearts to God. And I'm quoting Mr. Darby's translation, but brethren is not appropriate to get up in the morning, and we should ask the Lord for a song of praise in response to his love and his goodness that we've been meditating on, maybe in the night.
Or when we wake up in the morning, what's the first thought that we should have?
A dying Savior's love, A risen Savior's power, a coming Savior's glory. These things thrill my soul brethren, and I have to sing when I'm in the shower. Even I can't hold it back. And shouldn't that be the attitude of my heart as I go through this world, that he's coming for me? The man that's in the glory that died for me in the cross. We've been hearing about him this afternoon. And you know, as the brother was speaking, I thought the remark that I make to people sometimes, every time you think of that name of Jesus, God writes it down in his book.
He says when you get to heaven, I'm going to open the book and it's going to take all eternity to reflect on that precious name that you are meditating on down there in that world. When I'm working in the shop, sometimes I'm singing God writes it down because what am I saying about making melody in my heart to God and the brother mentioned about nearer my God to me, to Thee? Maybe I'm in a low state of soul and it's all Lord.
Nearer my God, to thee. It's a cry from the heart, from the soul that I might be drawn. Nearer Is anybody here doesn't want to be drawn. Nearer to the heart of God. Well, you know, that's what should be our delight. I just mentioned that one brother. He was accused me making a noise, you know, when I was singing on the job. And I said to him, someday I won't be around to saying, that's all right, but I'm going to be singing up there a lot better. All right. Thinking in the shower. I love it too. But not if you're in a motel at 4:30 in the morning.
I apologize whoever it was.
I should have been singing in my heart. Well, isn't it true, brethren, that we do not sing as much as Breton used to sing? I'm speaking now in the families. I believe this probably here in this portion has to collective side more in view, but I do believe.
That in the past, Christians used to sing more in the home.
What we're facing today is we have to set, you know, we have discs and so on, and we listen to others singing instead of singing. And then we might be hesitant sometimes to sing because we might feel that we don't have a very good voice to say.
00:50:03
But what counts far more is where the heart is, and that what we express in song is really felt in our souls. And we have that beautiful hymn that matters not how sweet the song, you know, because.
The Spirit of God wants to make melody in our hearts, and this is what is so important. And you know, have you not experienced? I certainly have is that there are times when you're saddened and when you're troubled.
And when you have that grace of singing a song and lifts your soul, you know, and that is one way how we can use a song. And the children do well to learn to sing. And as families, we ought to set time aside to think, You know, there were some people interested in the truth of gathering, and they had not known the hymn book that we so value.
So we had.
What we call cottage meetings for over six years and we would think for half an hour or longer because these people wanted to get to know these hymns, you know, and valued those hymns. Brother Hunt is now with the Lord. He was in Virginia, you know, he was too sick to really come regularly to Washington, DC to the meetings. He has been there several times, I understand, but one thing that he valued so much.
Was that little flock him booked? He realized the depth of the hymns in that hymn book. And I think, Brother Bob, you met somebody on the plane, right, that valued you were at the hinge to him. And he was impressed with the quality and depth of those hymns. I agree the sermon on it, brother. I agree we should get together and sing more often. We used to do it more often. And I mean as I go around, it's not as often as we used to do it in assembly.
Just getting together, that's all. And you know, some of the high points when I travel is that when they get together and have a thing, you know, a little flock or sometimes echoes are great, but whatever, you are singing together, so it's a beautiful thing. At the neighbor Bay at the conference just last month, I guess it was.
After the last meeting we went got together, we had us say. It was a high point for me. I love the conference, but that was wonderful way to end it. And it was just individuals I know I was in.
Ottawa. I don't know. It wasn't Ottawa, but that's Ottawa assembly. But the sister, I was staying there, she called all the older ones in the area and said get together, we'll have a sing. Oh that was beautiful. Just to be with them. They're gone. Most of them are gone now, but.
And they were singing off key and badly. But that is the point. We made a joyful noise under the Lord. That's all he wants. Yeah, it was beautiful. We could hardly stay on key for one brother. And I love that brother. He's going to be with the Lord. Gordon Gray. He was so far, but he was so happy. This is what we need. We really need it. Obama didn't we just sing that song about harps, strong and tuned.
When is that supposed to happen? It'll happen for your glory. We'll be tuned when we get there, but we're getting tuned up now. Oh yes, it's being too long to check up to see. But I think myself, I better not say it. I think Paul and Silas were singing in the way that you were Speaking of Brother Heinz. And I believe that that's what touched the Philippian jailers conscience. They weren't singing for his benefit, but for their own. And with grace in their hearts. It's clear that they were thrown into jail wrongly.
And they needed Grace to accept that. They were later vindicated. But it was that, I believe, that really touched that man's conscience. I worked in a shop and there was a lot of machines running, and I would sing to myself, and I was singing. Death and judgment are behind me. Grace and Glory are before a married man with five children came. He said I need to see in the office. So he walked into the office. He sat down and he said, is there really going to be a judgment?
Then a little while later, the brother who had taken the gospel the night before spoke on the end of Revelation about the Great White Throne. And I opened it to him, but it was a way of entrance. I didn't know he was even listening. And then another young man came in a little while later and he said, I've got a question for you. I thought it had something to do with the work, and he asked me the same question. Is there really going to be a judgment so we don't need to go around looking? It's not, Moses whisked, Not that his face shine. Paul and Silas weren't trying to sing through the bars to the jailer.
00:55:13
But he heard maybe the maybe it wasn't a brother on the other side of the wall, Brother Bauman. But perhaps something would touch his conscience.
Scripture speaks of singing in three different ways, doesn't it? It says he had lifted me up out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay and set my feet up on a rock to put a new song into my mouth. Even praise unto our God when it's talked about in Ephesians, it says, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs so we can sing for the good of our own souls. And as you were singing, death and judgment are behind us. I'm sure that was for the good of your own soul. You were enjoying the place that grace had brought you into.
And here it's interesting. In the chapter that we have, it says.
Teaching and admonishing one another. So songs have those three different uses, don't they? Praise to the Lord.
Speaking to ourselves and also teaching and admonishing one another.
And we should always remember that, and that's the importance of them being scriptural. We want to certainly, as we sing praise to the Lord, to sing intelligently. That's the force of Romans 12, which is your intelligent. It's really your it says in Romans chapter 12 and verse one, you're reasonable. Mr. Darby translates that your intelligence service. So we should saying intelligently entering into these things. We praise the Lord, we teach others, and we sing for the blessing of our own souls. I'm sure many of us have done that.
You're just speaking to yourself. The Lord may use it to others.
And I think that's what Paul and Silas were doing. They were just enjoying the Lord, if those chains and everything and was speaking to themselves. But God used it also as a testimony to others.
But I also say that it seems here to show that it speaks of the word of Christ dwelling in them richly. But then it says teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs. And the songs are not Scripture, but they should be scriptural. But they're not Scripture. And so we have the word of God, And the songs should be written in harmony with the word of God, so that they bring out and express in song the truth that is contained in this blessed book, the word of God.
It's interesting how they're brought together. The word of Christ, that's the truth of God is revealed in his word. But then the songs that bring that truth to us in a very precious way and so that we can sing. And I've often said it's the most marvelous thing, brethren, when we think of it.
There are not. There are no two birds that can sing together. There isn't any possibility. They have songs, but they Can't Sing together. But isn't it marvelous that as men and women, God has given us the capacity to sing and 1000 voices can unite and sing in harmony and so that we praise the Lord together? It's a great privilege that has been given to us and we ought to value it and seek this thing together in harmony as we tell what the Lord has done for us.
I was thinking of how Jehoshaphat ordered the battle and Second Chronicles 20. They were afraid because the enemies had ganged up on them and they said, Lord, we don't know what to do but our eyes upon thee. And when they went out to battle and here the front of the army, there were singers. Can you believe it? Going to meet the enemy with songs And the Lord gave them the victory. And I see the same thing here. Verse 16. First of all, in 15 we had the peace and the thankfulness and then we had the singing.
And verse 17 What's so ever you do in Word or deed?
Do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. But it follows the singing, doesn't it?
We have the first time singing in the word of God after they had crossed the Rat Sea. That speaks of redemption and I think this shows very clearly that they're redeemed.
Have the privilege of singing. Redemption and singing goes together and we'll do it in heaven.
Would you agree that we sing because we're happy and the world seems to try to make themselves happy? We should express what is inside in song. But like I said earlier, sometimes I'm saddened and I can my spirit can be lifted by a song. But when it comes to worship, you know and I think it could be something that is within and then flows out.
01:00:04
Talk to.
Young brothers in our medium Montreal.
Few years ago.
And I said to them they were concerned about the hymns and the hymn books because they killed them. Some of their own speak English.
And I when the first shot I came along. Elizabeth Ann when she got to be three years of age.
I said after the reading.
We're going to sing the first payment envelope. She's young yet, but we did that by starting from the first time and went through the little block and then when she got older she was enjoying it and she after we'd gone through the book, she said tonight.
My other daughter came along. Judy Bell, we did the same. So this brother said I'm going to try that.
One of them has five children, and.
It delighted my heart when I sat where they were sitting and I heard the little French fellow singing the hymns in English. But this other brother, he was quite concerned, so he spoke to the others and now they waited quite a few of the hymns in the France and they made photostats and the folks that can speak English.
You see them at the back of the big book there, and they're reading the French translation as we sing the tune. But I think it's wonderful for to bring the family up to get their children to know that the hymns, because I guess we all do, but I know I do.
Very frequently during the month, each month.
I thank the Lord.
But I have that Christian parents.
But we're yeah, there's there's a precious name of the Lord Jesus.
And also that I'm there where his name is placed, where he's placed his name gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
I thank him that we have this in book, which I believe.
Man, God and fear.
The guidance of the Holy Spirit and many of them entered into the trials.
They passed through those temptations and trials, and I think that we should be very thankful that we have the little flock in book. And I think there's a married couple. You would rejoice if you get your children to get to know them well.
As I said of hearing these French children quite frequently going around the basement singing the hymns.
Well, talking about the Saviors, work on Calgary's crossing that, but we certainly have got them. A lot of the defensively we're talking about plastics.
I'm not contradicting you, but.
During the depression, I thought, if you haven't passed through the depression, you don't know what I'm talking about. During depression, it was pretty tough.
We went under the Wakefield and I and some other others in the meeting, visiting the people in the neighborhood who have sent their children, and we took some groceries. My member, right, there's quite a bit of peanut butter in it, and bread and I because that was cheap and no butter. But we did the best we could. We were getting $12.00. I was getting $12.00 a week. Things were tough.
But we went in there and rather than when we passed the bag there and we showed anything to the parents.
Which wasn't me there and cheese or that.
The women used to say alloy.
We sing our count our many blessings with each other.
That they're bringing us these things, but gradually we get on speaking them more and say bring in what Christ has done, but it does your hard cooking save.
About God blessing them the way he does.
Maybe the rest of the time would be good if we would sing #38 in the appendix and could we stand when we sing it?
#38 in the back of the book.
You hear me back there in the corner.
Good. Good. I guess this thing's working.
OK.
Well, I guess we're wound down to the last meeting. I'm always.
Solemnize when I think of it because.
There's no question, Brethren, that one of these conferences is going to be our last.
The Lord Jesus is coming.
You know it's now December that writes December 1St.
Just a little over a month and we're into a brand new year if he tarries.
How much time do we have left?
We don't know. No man knows the day or the hour.
One thing is certain.
Every time that clock up there in the wall ticks, it's bringing us nearer and nearer and still nearer.
In proper English to say more still near.
But you know, you get the sense of what I'm speaking about.
Time is ticking away, isn't it?
Sticking away.
And my heart goes out to the children. My heart goes out to the young people.
Because we're living in an ever changing world, and I'll tell you this, I don't believe the changes that are coming in are for the better.
Not only is the world getting worse, but it's getting worse faster.
I want to tell you some of the things that have happened in Canada in recent days.
In our legislative bodies up there. But I'll tell you this.
That it hasn't been for the better.
Do these things make me afraid?
They make me feel bad for those who haven't received the Lord Jesus as their savior.
I know this that as the day continues to darken here for.
This world.
It continues to get brighter for those of us that know the Lord Jesus, because now we know that now is our salvation nearer.
Than when we believed.
And there's one thing for sure.
Our deliverance out of this world is about an hourly probability. I'm not even using the word possibility.
I'm using the word probability because that's what I believe.
Somebody said that you and I couldn't have picked a better day to be alive than in the present dispensation.
How good is the God we adore?
Yes, we have problems. We have problems in our families, problems in the assemblies, all of these different things. But as we've been hearing, is our eye on the man and the glory.
01:10:07
It says in the book of Galatians that Peter and James and Cephas who seemed to be pillars.
Let's be occupied with the one.
Jesus, the goal before our soul. All right, I'm not going to speak on anything ground shattering. I'm just going to speak on two beautiful verses that I learned as a child.
These verses were instrumental in bringing me to the feet of the Savior.
Not all encompassed in verse in John chapter 3, verse 16. Let's read it.
For God so loved the world that he gave.
His only begotten son.
Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting.
Life, you can have it.
You can have it. God offers salvation. That precious love gave the very best gift that heaven could give. God couldn't give anything any better than his beloved Son.
And that precious savior came down into this world, and he's really saying to us, I'm going to show you what the heart of God is all about. It's really like think if he had never come into this world, we would never have known what the love of God was all about.
And he came not only down into this world, but in the truth of the Samaritan there that we have in the Gospels.
Right to where we were.
That puts a different spin on it all together, doesn't it?
Right to where we were. Because I was a bankrupt Sinner. I merely A Sinner, but a bankrupt one. You know what that means?
That means that God, according to Ephesians 28 and nine, had to give me the very faith to believe.
I would never have believed it. You present the gospel to people today. It's too fantastic, they say. I can't believe that. You mean to tell me that God would love me that much.
That he take the time out of 6 billion people to pay attention to me? Absolutely. That's the heart of God. Man can't fathom that. He can't grasp that.
But God so loved this world that he gave his only.
Begotten son.
What does Isaiah 9 and six say? He was a child born, but he was a son.
Given.
Son given.
I want to ask you this afternoon. Have you received?
This wonderful gift I wish I had the language to describe.
This blessed one in all his beauty. I wish that I did not have the limitations of the English language. I wish I could tell you exactly who this person is and what he's done. I can't do it.
But I trust that the Spirit of God has taken these few feeble things that I'm saying and seeking to bring Jesus before you.
He gave his only begotten son that whosoever doesn't matter who you are.
You may be black or white.
Rich or poor? A pauper or a Prince? A president or a ditch digger?
That's the great thing about the gospel. It's to whosoever will.
Whosoever.
When I was a boy of eight years old, although I was raised in a Christian home, my my parents were brought up in the church in England. When I was a kid of five. I can still remember that priest up there with his black robes on cross around his neck. I never heard the gospel till I was eight years of age. I want to say this to you kids in this room this afternoon. What an unspeakable privilege to be brought up in the assembly to hear the gospel at a young age. I never heard it until I was eight years of age.
Baptist minister came to my parents house. He read those beautiful verses in Ephesians 28 and nine. For by grace are ye saved through faith that not of yourselves see in the Anglican church all they ever hammered into you was works, works, works. Do the best you can. Don't hurt anybody when you get beyond the grave. Someday God will put the good deeds in the in the one side of the scale and the bad and the other. And if one balances out the other depending on which way the scale falls, that's where you go.
01:15:06
That's what I heard as a child.
That's what I heard.
Baptist ministers brought that little verse, for by grace are ye saved through earth faith? I remember distinctly my oldest sister turning to my mother and saying, well, Mom, what have you got to say?
What have you got to say, mom to that? I remember my mother saying years later. If I could have rung her neck right there, I would have.
She said.
What could I say?
The verse totally handcuffed me. I couldn't say a word. I couldn't say a word. There it is. Or by grace are you saved through faith that not of yourselves, that is a gift of God. Not all works, lest any man should boast.
That's it.
So God saved my mother.
My father was saved years before that, but Dad was a quiet man.
And he, although he did seek to bring these things before my mother, he wasn't the type to push these things.
But God in his grace reached down.
Plucked her into all of the family, thirteen of us, as branches from the burning.
No credit demand. I'm not standing here this afternoon. It's no credit to me. None. The pure grace of God. The pure grace of God. I'll tell you this, the longer I go on in the path of faith, the more I realize that it's nothing but the pure grace of God.
For God still loved the world that He gave. His only begotten Son was all grace, wasn't it, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish.
But have everlasting life to pass, eternally ruined into sinners. Hell, that is going to be the portion of all that reject Jesus.
And I'll tell you, this world does not have much time left.
Doesn't have much time left.
He came tonight. I think the four horses of the apocalypse would start almost immediately. I believe that things are in place in the world at the present time, right now.
That things are going to be launched. Ready. Look how Look how fast the Berlin Wall came down.
Look at the Soviet Union. Years ago, the gospel wasn't allowed into that place. God and his sovereignty said. I want that wall out of there because I want the gospel to go in.
In his sovereign way, he's allowed it to go in.
All right, I've said enough on this final verse.
Over in Romans 10.
Romans, chapter 10.
And verse nine, that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, as the real thought here.
And shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, or from among the dead.
Thou shalt be saved. It's got to be Confession with the Mouth.
Maybe you've accepted the Lord Jesus as your savior, but you've never told anybody. Do it. Do it. Confess with your mouth.
And believe that in your heart that God raised him from the dead, by the way.
Resurrection is the greatest power that's known in the word of God. Did you know that? It's the greatest power that's known.
The ability to bring lifeout of death is the greatest power that's known. Our Jesus has that power.
I can just get the scenario there and at the.
Tomb of Lazarus.
Just before that he says to Mary, or he says to Martha. She said, Yeah, Lord, I know He shall rise in the resurrection at the last day. What was the Savior's response? I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me, shall what never die not great.
That's the greatest power, the ability to bring lifeout of death. Jesus possesses that power.
You're spiritually dead today. If you haven't accepted him as your savior, he has the power to give you a new life.
And you need that new life. You're not going to enter heaven without that new life. You're not even going to see the Kingdom of God without that new life.
It's not done.
Thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and shall believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from among the dead. Thou shalt be saved, for with a heart man believeth under righteousness. I want to say this.
That it's with the heart that man believes, not the head.
01:20:00
And that's the way it is when we receive the truth of God too.
It's with a heart, he said to the two on the road to Emmaus O senseless and what? Slow of head, no slow of heart.
Low of heart.
That's the way it is. We've been here in these meetings, we've been enjoying these truths.
Have they gone down into our hearts?
If they do, they're going. It's going to affect our walk.
It's going to affect our walk.
I met Christians.
Very well versed in the word of God. Very well versed.
But the difference are those who walk in these things.
And it's because it's down here. It's in the heart.
A little illustration for the children.
There's two armies here, the red armies here, the white armies here. Just to kind of delineate them, separate them. 10,000 on this side, 10,000 on this side. All the latest sophisticated weapons on this side, all the latest technology and sophisticated weaponry on this side. Two Cracker Jack generals over both groups.
Who's going to win?
Who's going to win?
The Army with the heart.
That's who's going to win. The Army with the heart. The army that has the heart and justice. Push it over the top. That's all that's needed. That's all that's needed.
Do you and I have a heart for Christ?
Well, they bring in new translations and they say this. And if they say, well, if we had this in the word of God, it would make our pathway easier.
If we had that, it's the heart, isn't it? It's the heart, my son. Give me thine heart.
Why? He wants to fill it with himself. That's the difference. That's the difference.
As he attracted our hearts is that love that we see in him has it. It's so attracted us that we want nothing else.
That's the difference, isn't it? That's what will make the difference for you dear young people. It's 5:00. I've got to stop it.
That's what's going to make the difference for you dear young people, and those of us that are older too. That's what's going to help us as we go on.
In this path of faith is to be occupied with Christ, and it is the only thing that works.
It's the only thing that works, and it's the only thing that ever will work in this path of faith occupation with a person of Christ. Oh, may our poor hearts.
Be so attracted to him, occupied with that precious grace.
That we see in him and that unspeakable love.
That we elsewhere they see no one or nothing else.
Confession with the most believing in the heart.
Saved. Good for believers too, and keep us from situations that dishonor the Lord. Confession with the mote believing in the heart. OK, I'm we don't have any hymn sheets. We're going to just sing that one from memory. What can wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood of Jesus.
What can?
I talk about the bloody Jesus blood and make me whole.
Let's pray together.