Conference: 1965
Table of Contents
Gospel
Gospel—G.H. Hayhoe
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Shall we ask the Lord's blessing and prayer?
Could you turn with me tonight to job the 9th chapter, Jobs, Chapter 9?
Then Job answered and said, I know it is so of a truth.
But how should man be just with God? If he contend with him, he cannot answer him. One of 1000.
He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength, who hath hardened himself against him, and have prospered, which removeth the mountains, and they know not which overturneth them in his anger, which taketh the earth out of her place, and the pillars thereof stumble.
Which command of the sun riseth not, and sealeth up the stars?
Which alone spreadeth out the heavens.
And Fred us upon the waves of the sea, which make us archerists, Orion and Platies, and the chambers of the South.
Which do us great things, time finding out Gray and wonders without number.
Love by me and I see him not. He passeth on also, and I perceive him not. Behold, he taketh away. Who can hinder him? Who can? Who will? Say unto him what to us? Thou if God will not withdraw his anger, the proud helpers who stoop under him, how much last shall I answer him, and choose out my words to reason with him?
Whom I were righteous, yet would I not answer, but I would make supplication to my judge.
If I had called, and he had answered me, yet would I not believe that he had hearkened unto my voice?
But he breaketh me with a Tempest, and multiplieth my wound. Without cause. He will not suffer me to take my breath. But Phyllis me with bitterness. If I speak of strength, he is strong. And if of judgment, who will set me a time to please? If I justify myself, my own heart shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse.
Why we're perfect? Yet would I not know my soul? I would despise my life. There is one thing, therefore I said it. He just He destroys the perfect and the wicked. If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent. The earth is given over into the hand of the wicked who covered up the face of the judges thereof. If not where? And who is he?
Now my days are swifted in the pulse. They flee away. They see no good.
They were passed away as the ship. They are passed away as a swift ship, as the eagle that haste us to the prey. If I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself. I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent. If I be wicked, why then labor I in vain, if I wash myself with no water and make my hands never so clean?
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Plunge me into the in the ditch, and mine own clothes shall abhor me.
For me is not a man, as I am, that I should answer him, and we should come together in judgment. Neither is there any days man betwixt us that might lay his hand upon us both. Let him take his rod away from me, and let not his seer terrify me. Then will I would I speak, and not fear him. But it is not so with me and just one passage in First Tennessee.
Chapter 2. First Timothy, Chapter 2.
And verse 5.
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men.
The man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom for all to be testified in due time.
Well, the book of Job is full of deep interest to us.
And I think it is vastly interesting because it shows us God's interest in the individual. We're living in days when people are grouped together. We're living in days when individuality is perhaps being lost. What I want to tell you, dear friends, that you are an individual before God, that he has given your life and breath at all things, and that you have to do with Him.
And above all things, the most glad and joyous message that God.
Loves you, that is looking down upon you sitting in this street in this room tonight.
And he knows all your history. He knows everything you have said and done, thought He knows every sickness in your life. He knows what your friends have said about you. He knows everything. And yet, knowing all that, He loves you. And He not only wants to pardon your sins.
But he wants to have you as a companion there in that bright glory.
He wants to bless you far beyond your highest thoughts or expectations, and at great cost to himself. He has devised means that this might be so. And so I would beg of you tonight not to be indifferent and careless, as I seek to present to you that precious failure, but the two would realize that it's a message for you. When the Lord Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate, his wife sent a message to him and said.
Have around. Nothing to do with that, just man.
For I have suffered many things in a dream this day because of him, and perhaps that's the thought that's in your mind.
Because you have been troubled at times about your spiritual state before God.
You are perhaps taking that same attitude and you say I don't want to have anything to do with these things. Every time I think about them, they bother me, a dear friend. I want to warn you that is impossible to escape having to do with God.
He advised The pilot's wife gave to him was very truly and yet very many people that thinks the very same. They don't want to have anything to do with Jesus. They want to live their lives as they wish and they don't want to feel their responsibility to answer to God and to God's beloved Son. But I want to tell you tonight that this is an absolute impossibility to escape your responsibility to God.
It's not something that is optional. Optional. What is something that is obligatory?
It is the responsibility that rests upon you. You're going to look into the eyes.
Of the Lord Jesus, who is the judge for it tells us in Acts chapter 17.
That God is appointed today in the which He will judge the world in righteousness.
By that man whom he hath ordained, For as he hath given assurance unto all men.
When he hath raised him from the dead, it also says in that passage, God now command us all men everywhere to repent. I say again, this is not something that is optional, you may say. Well, if you're interested in religious things, that's all right.
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No, I'm going to bother you, but I'm not interested in those things. But friend, you must be interested. You're going to meet God someday. The day has been set, the judge has been chosen, and God commands you to repent. Why did he command you to repent?
Is it because he wants to judge you? Because he wants to bless you? It's because he wants to save you. That's why he commands you to repent. Because it's still the day of his grace. It's still the time when he is offering salvation, full and free, to whosoever will. And he's offering it to you tonight. He wants you to enjoy peace with God. He wants you to know that your sins are forgiven.
And that you're ready when the supreme moment comes, when you leave this world, not to come to the end of your existence, but to begin an existence in another place where your eternal destiny will be fixed. And it's our desire that that destiny should be to be with Christ in glory and not with the loss in hell. God only tells us of two places. He tells us in His words, who shall go away into everlasting punishment.
But the righteous Hindu life eternal, there are only two places. And your bone for one of those two places tonight.
If you're bound for judgment, if you're still going on without Christ, it's not too late to turn. It's not too late to be played. God has held the door of grace open till another Lord, till another Saturday evening that you might have this opportunity and wouldn't it be a grand thing hit this night. This Saturday night was the birthday of your soul when you receive the Lord Jesus into your heart.
Has your own personal failure.
Well, I say again, God has an interest in you as an individual. Just think of this book, 42 Chapters long, and it's all about one man and about a sickness that he had in his life. What safety said about him, what God said about him, what his friend said about him and what they said to him, and how Job felt when he lost his money, when he lost his family, when he lost his health.
And when his friends talked against him, all this is faithfully recorded.
And perhaps you've had some similar instances in your life. Perhaps you've had some great sorrow.
Perhaps you've seen the things that you live for crash before your very eyes.
And everything seemed to come to nothing. And you said, what's the use? And you didn't know that behind that thing, that there was a loving God who was looking down upon your life and that that crash went with, robbed you of something that was near and dear to you. That that terrible sickness. That Doctor Who told you that you had a serious condition. That this was no accident that came in your life any more than it was in the life of jobs.
And God blesses aside the curtain and lets us stray that he is working behind the scenes, and that he was interested in this man, and that he was so interested that he took 42 Chapters out of his word in the whole book to tell us his dealings with this individual. All, dear friend, I say he loves you. Tonight he is concerned about you, that big sorrow, that great disappointment, that trouble that has come.
Is with a purpose.
As it tells us in the 32nd, 33rd chapter of this same book.
Low all these things work of God oftentimes with man to withdraw man's and his purpose to hide pride from man. And it goes on to say that he might be delivered from going down to the pit because God has found the ransom. And so I say tonight.
I trust that this will speak to your heart because you may be in the very same position that we find Job here tonight, and perhaps full thoughts of Job has expressed in this chapter, our thoughts that are very common to many of us. Perhaps these very things have risen in your mind and you have raised the same questions of Job raised and you felt they have been unanswered. But I say God has an answer.
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Job had one supreme list. He said, oh, there were a days, man, there was only someone that could put his hand upon God and put his hand upon me. He said all my questions would be answered in him. Oh, I want to tell you that. That's the one who I have the privilege of announcing tonight that blessed Saviors, the one we've been talking about in our Bible readings today.
God, eternal Son, who came down that he might be a Dave man, a mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus.
Well, our chapter begins by telling us about God's answer. His friends had said some things that.
Hurt Job somewhat. They had said that God deal dealt with sin and that was true. And you'll notice what Job says in this second verse, he says. I know it is so of a truth, he said. I know God deals with sin, but how?
Your man be just switch off. How can a man whose conscience tells and the word of God tells is a Sinner? How can he be just with God if God knows everything and sees everything? If God is of your eyes into the whole evil and cannot look upon iniquity, and the Bible says he is. If this is so, how can you and I who are sinners?
Be just with God.
Well, this is surely a very important question. How should man be just with God? How can I afford guilty Sinner stand up here before you and tell you that I'm just with God all. The only answer is that God himself has provided the ransom God himself has provided the Savior and blessed be His name. And that lovely verse in first John one and Seven says.
The blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanse of us from all sins, Acts 13 Verse 38 says, Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man his preached unto you the forgiveness of sins.
And by him all believes are justified from all things, from the which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.
Yes, God gives the answer to the question that Job are how could a man be just with God the blood cleanses from sin and believing on the Lord Jesus. All who believe are justified come from something because if God left anything we couldn't settle it because we cannot put away our own sins.
It is impossible for any of us to put away sin in the presence of a thrice holy God, because the word of God says none to by any means redeem his brother, her gift to God, a ransom for him. It says not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Your best friend can't do it for you. You can't buy your own work for the way sin. So the answer must come from God.
But to know we're slow to accept God's answer, isn't it strange that we'll try everything else before we'll humble ourselves to accept the provision that God has made? And this chapter shows us, believe me how the mind of Job here, and I suppose it's common, as I said this to most of us that we that we try to.
Shall I say we try to work things out by our own wisdom.
Don't notice here it says if you will contend with him, he cannot answer him one of the thousands, he says. There are many things that I just can't understand. It is not true.
Aren't there many things that about God and about God's ways that are quite beyond us? And God will pleased to ask us an array of questions that he could ask us 1000 questions and we couldn't answer one of them.
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God knows so much more than we do.
The way people speak today, they would have a God who was one bit beyond their own minds, who is nothing beyond their own ability to understand and explain. But you know, God could raise 1000 questions that you or I could not answer. He is beyond our minds. He is infinite. He is eternal. It isn't the eternity of matter. It's the eternal God.
It's the one who created all things by the word of His power. And it says in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Yes, it's the one who made all things. And truly the one who would bring before you tonight is 1.
Who is far greater than you are I, And yet I say she has an interest in US.
The fact that he's asked 1000 questions and we couldn't answer one of them, but he made these stars.
Archerists, Orion and Platies, and the chambers of the South. Who put the sun in it? To put the sun in his place? Who did all these great things? And then to think that he should be interested in us? Little him says. And could thou be delighted with creatures such as we, who, when we saw these clothing, and nailed it to a tree, unfathomable wonder and mystery divine.
The boys should seek and Thunder, says Sinner. I am thine.
If he is interested in you.
Says he is wise and harsh and mighty in strength. Who hath armed himself against him and has prospered all. There are many people who harden themselves against God all. It's sad. We need it every day because people can't understand God's ways, because he does something that they can understand. They harden themselves against God.
Oh, I just keep you, dear friend, general, educated or uneducated, whoever you may be. I do speak you and I don't harden yourself against God, who's your creator. He has given you life and breath and all things. All you say I can do as I like. Yes, fall. In fact, if you want to go to a lost eternity, God may allow you to go to that awful place, but He doesn't want you to.
He wants to save you. Who wants to bless you? And I beseech you don't harden yourself against him. If there's been some great sorrow in your life, as there was in Jobs, and I think Jobs probably was greater than any that any of us in this room of experience, why, in one day he lost all his wealth and his ten children all in one day, all his positions and the whole cannabis children in one day.
Yes, he did, And he didn't harden himself against God. He said The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed to be the name of the law. Oh, how wonderful. Yes, that was faith that glorified God and your friend, even if you can't understand, or I can't understand, or I beseech you, if God has brought some great sorrow into your life.
Don't pardon yourself against God you won't prosper. I don't mean that you may not have a good bank account and that you may not have a nice home and a nice car, but I'm Speaking of the things that really count. You may prosper in this world. The rich man in the 16th of Luke who lifted up his eyes in hell. He'd been a prosperous man in this world and it was said to him in hell.
Now in my lifetime receded by good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this between US and you there is a group dull 6.
Yes, if you harden your heart against God, you may prosper in this world. You may have the best job in Montreal. You may help, You may live without much sickness. You may get along. But remember.
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After death, the judgment. After death the judgment, who has pardoned himself against him and has prospered, and I plead with you tonight.
Do not look at things just as they appear in time, because the things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
Which removeth the mountains, and they know not which overturneth famine is anger.
Then the tenth verse, virtuous great wonders past finding out, yay and wonders without number. Oh, what a mighty God with whom we have to do. One who has such great power, who not only made all things, but sustained all things, as it was said to Belshazzar the night of his great ball, when he invited so many guests and was having a merry time.
That was said to him.
The God in whose hand thy glass is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not glorified? Garrity was having a good time, as this world turned fame. But that night the decree went forth, that that night his soul would be required of him, and it was told him, God hath numbered thy Kingdom, and finished it, and it failed in that night.
His bell shazed of the King's flame. Yes, he had a good time while he was slain that night, he hardened his heart against God, the very God who gave him life and breath. And so I said to my God is the one who's giving you that breath that you're drawing tonight. That's the thing. I wish I'd die. Some people think that to commit suicide or to die at the end of all his troubles.
But it's not so. Was it the end of that man's probably the 16th of Luke when he died? No. It was the beginning. A far worse trouble than he ever knew here upon earth. And I want to warn you, my friend, how did you die? On your sins? Your friends may say nice things over your casket, but after death comes the judgment and all the nice words that may be said.
Will not change the fact if you die without Christ as your Savior. So the first thing that's brought before us here was God's great power, His great power. And you have to do with Him that one who made all things and He's given you your life.
Now we come to something else from the 11Th verse on, it says.
By me and I see him not. He passes on also, but I perceive him not. Behold, he taketh away. Who can hinder him? Who will say unto him, What doest thou? Yes, he said, And God not only created the universe, but he said, He passes by, and we don't see him.
When one of those communists went up into face some time ago, he made the comment I didn't see God in faith but he forgot this verse. It says LO. He goes by me and I see him not. He passes on also and I perceive him not. But man was flying around his face in his capsule and saying that he didn't see God.
God was looking at him, and he passed him by as he flew through space. Yes, He saw him there, and he passed him by. And God is passing you by tonight. He sees you. And the cry went forth long ago. When God the Son was here upon this earth, Jesus of Nazareth passes by. He didn't pass by unseen at that time.
Who came down that he might be seen by mortal eyes?
He came to look down upon us in our troubling sorrow. He came to die for you and I, That one who is invisible became a man in the person of his son, and went through this world and died. And as we were reading today, it tells us in John One no man has seen God at any time.
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The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him that one has come down.
And then it says He taketh away. Who can hinder him? Who will stand to him? What doest thou? That is, God has a right to do as he pleases. And it's not for us to say why are you doing this? We haven't the right to question his ways. We may learn by them, but not to question them. It says, if God will not withdraw his anger.
The proud helpers do stoop under him.
And sometimes men, when God begins to deal with them.
They become rebellious. But it says that if God doesn't withdraw his anger, the proud helpers or the margin says the helpers of tribe stoop under him. Men have many helpers of their pride. Perhaps you have something that helps your pride such a good look, such of a good mind. Perhaps you have many possessions. These things help your pride and make you think that you're somebody in this world, somebody very important.
Well, God can take away those things. He can take away your good lips. He can take away that keen mind that you have. He can take away our wealth. He can take away anything that we have. And if God doesn't withdraw his wrath, he brings down those helpers of pride and all. How many a man has been brought down, down, down till he's come to the feet of the Savior and then willing to acknowledge.
And he was a Sinner. Oh, God doesn't want to ask you use these means upon man who wants to bring us to see us ourselves, to humble ourselves before him, as your job did in the end of the book, and say early 10, and abhor myself in dust and ashes, he took his true place before God.
So he goes on here and says in the 14th verse, how much less shall I answer him and choose up my words to reason with him? That is, in the first party recognize God's great power and creation. And then next he recognized that God could do as he pleased and that there was no use telling God that we didn't want to take this or take that.
We hear people say, well, I'm not going to take that, but when God begins to be old friends.
There is no saying that to God. You can't say that to God, because if God doesn't withdraw his wrath, the helpers of pride stoop under him, and you and I can't reason with him. We can't come to him and question his way. He can come as sinners. And indeed he does invite us to reason if we want to reason about those things that he has brought before us as necessary for our souls.
He gives us this lovely invitation in Isaiah 1 and 18 Come now, and let us reason together, say of the Lord. So your sins be a scarlet. They shall be a quite a small while. They be rad like Crimson. They shall be as well your reasoning with God and questioning his ways. Why he may not answer you. He may not give up an account of choice in another place. Try to self try it against him.
Please give us not a pound of any of these matters. But if you want to raise the question of your sins and how you can have your sins put away. He asked you to come. He asked you to come. He says come. I want to talk to this over with you. I want you to have your sins put away. I want you to be white as snow. Oh, what a savior he is. He wants to be your savior tonight. He wants to bless you, my friend, young or old, He wants to bless you.
And he wants to make you fight as snow and presence.
Well, now we find a third thing brought before us, and they 20th verse. If I justify myself, mine own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. Yes, when man becomes awakened, then the first tendency is to justify himself.
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How often do you find that when we begin to talk to people either say that they're not concerned or they begin to justify themselves, They begin to tell us what good living people they are. And it tells us here, if I justify myself, my own mouth shall condemn me. And you know very well if you try to contend that you are, that you're perfect and that you haven't any sins.
Your own mouth, your own heart condemns you. You have a conscience. You know God has taken care in the fall. That man received a conscience. And every responsible being before God knows that he is a Sinner. He knows it on 2 Counts. He knows it because God says it in his word, and he knows it because his constant tells him people that haven't seen the Bible.
Know that they're sinners.
Because they have a constant photo of tribe, if you like, in the dark places of the earth.
Who never saw a Bible and they have a conscience that certain things are wrong.
Man does know that he is a Sinner and he has a religion away of trying to justify himself before God. But it says here, if I justify myself my own, my own mouth shall condemn me. If I say I am perfect, it shall also prove me perverse. There's no use trying to make out that you're not a Sinner, you're a Sinner. I'm a Sinner.
God says all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
What are you that is me, all these person in this room tonight? There's no escape from this verdict. When Job and did speak of his own righteousness, why the Lord said to him, Wilt thou condemn me that thou mayest be righteous? And if you say that you're righteous and that you don't need salvation?
You're you're condemning God's verdict. You're as good as looking in the very face of God and saying why you reverted to both me is untrue.
God says you're a Sinner, He says I am a Sinner. He says there is none that do us good. No, not one. Well, it's a good thing to see the progress that is taking place, even the orders reasoning going on. He recognizes that he needs to be just before God. He recognizes that God as power and creation. He recognizes the God as a right to do as he pleases.
And then his conscience begins to be awakened, and he says if I justify myself.
My own mouth shall condemn all. I hope that you'll feel condemned in the presence of God tonight. Or you say you like to see me miserable, do you? The Bible says her joy in the presence of the angels of God. Although one Sinner that resenders notice, it doesn't say there's joy over 1 Sinner that gets saved. Why does it say there's joy over 1 sinners of Lieutenant? Here's a Sinner on earth miserable. He can't sleep.
His sins are bothering him.
God rejoicing. Why? All because until there has been a sense of guilty for God.
Man doesn't turn to Christ. He goes on his own careless way. And I thank God tonight with your sins are troubling me. I hope they are. I hope there's a boy or girl here tonight. And a man or a woman that's not saved that your sins will trouble you. Because if they don't trouble you in time they'll trouble you in eternity. And it's too late to have them forgiven. If they trouble you now the salvation for you.
But if they trouble you in a lost eternity, there's more blood. There's no salvation, There's no pardon.
In that place of eternal judgment.
Well then he begins to argue again in the 22nd verse.
There is one thing, therefore I said it he destroy us the perfect in the wickedness. If the scourge slay suddenly, he will laugh at the trial of the innocent earth is given into the hand of the wicked hope. We often hear people pleasing like this. When their sins begin to bother them, then they say, well, there's no justice in the earth. People do wrong and they prosper and they do right and they suffer. And he said, I don't understand.
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If God is righteous and God is holy, then why are these things existent in the earth? Why is it that ungodliness things to prosper? Why is it why? He said. The only way I can see is that God laughs at the trial of the innocent. All your friend want to tell you one thing that perhaps you've never thought of before. This world in which we live is not an adequate platform to display God governmental wealth.
We can't tell by what we see about us God's governmental way. God does overrule.
But he does not openly interfere now in the things of this world.
Or perhaps you say I wish you were. Well, I'm glad he doesn't. Because if God did begin to interfere, and did did begin to judge sin, why, where would any of this be?
The Psalmist said, And turn not into judgment with thy servants, for in rise sight shall no flesh living be justified. He said in another place, if thou lordships market equity.
Thought there is forgiveness where they that thou mayest be fear. I see. I'm glad God doesn't openly interfere. I'm glad he doesn't openly judge sin because he would have sent me to hell because I was a Sinner. I'm glad that this world is not the place.
Where he adequately displayed his government, he does work behind the scenes, his very dealings with Jobs, all that. But he doesn't openly make manifest these things, And I want to say to any unsafe one here tonight, don't judge God's ways in connection with sin by what you see in his ways with man in this earth. There is a day when righteousness will reign, but it's not now.
There is a day when it says a king shall reign in righteousness and Princess shall decree justice. But you and I ought to be thankful that that day hasn't come. Every time you repeat the Lords prayer and say thy Kingdom come, if you're not saved, you better stay in your heart. Thank God it hasn't come yet because when the Kingdom comes it says you'll gather out of his Kingdom all things that have sinned and will pass them into a furnace of fire.
And shall be reaping and mashing his teeth. And if you say the Lord's Prayer and you're not saved, it's a good thing God doesn't answer us, because it would mean judgment and a lake of fire for every person outside of Christ. Or I beseech you, friend, be real about these things. Gold couldn't understand. He raised the question. Perhaps you've raised it. I suppose most of us have raised the same question and asked why this was.
Well, it's nice that God didn't leave Job there.
25th verse, he says. Now my days are swifter than a Pope. They flee away. They see no good. They are passed away as a swift ship. All realized that time was passing. And I want to warn you, my friend, Trust, you say? Well, I'd like to think this thing out, but I want to tell you that time is passing. You don't know when you may have had your last opportunity of salvation.
How many a person has been cut off in the prime of health? How many a person has an asset from time and eternity without a moment warning and Jew or I may be the next.
Our days are as it tells us here.
My.
Days are swifter than a post. They flee away from other places, says They're flicter than a Weaver shovel.
Never watched the Weaver shovel. Why you can hardly see it move. It flies around so quickly your friend. Time is passing by. Life at best is very brief and while you are beginning to argue and reason with God about his ways.
Moments are passing by.
Time is hastening you on. Is it hastening you on heaven or to hell? Is the pick of the clock hastening you on the eternals glory with the Lord Jesus or do a lost eternity without him? There's no time to be wasted. A man that's thinking of trees doesn't argue about the why the man who was a little slow and throwing the life belt or why the life belt was this or that.
00:50:05
No. He's glad to prevent his reach. He puts out his hands. And I was teaching you tonight. There's no time to be wasted. Divine moments are precious by time, for departing from Earth draws nigh.
All come now this moment, and he will receive you, and stand your eternity with him on high.
Felony, he says in the 27th verse. If I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself.
Well, sometimes the devil whispers this in people's ears, too, when they begin to get troubled, he said. Oh, forget about it. You're just going to make yourself sick thinking about these things. Forget about it. And that's just exactly the point that Job comes to, he says Here, if I say I will forget my complaint, I will leave off my heaviness and comfort myself.
I am afraid of all my sorrows. I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.
Don't forget it, friend. Don't forget it. Don't walk out of this meeting and say, oh, I I don't want to hear those things. They bother me. They make me uneasy. I can't sleep after a dose for me. I'm going to try to forget it all that the solemn thing, young man. At one time she was troubled about his soul. He could hardly sleep, so he got out of his bed and asked God to leave him alone. God did leave him alone.
He left him alone.
And as far as I know, he died in his sin. Be a friend. You want God to leave you alone. Are you going to go to somebody who tells you you must be taking these things too seriously? Just forget about them. This is too important. The way out is not to forget about them. It's to receive Christ. That's the way. That's the way to receive him.
Now he comes to another step. This is his last struggle, if we might speak in that way, he says in the seventy 30th verse.
If I wash myself with no water and make my hands never so clean, yet shalt thou plunge me in the ditch in mine own clothes, sell of horns, all he said, as it were. If I try to straighten around, If I try to do what's right.
I just seem to get worse instead of better. I just seem to get worse, he said. If I make myself never so clean, God just seems to plunge me into this. He just finishes. It just seems I'm worse. And I guess many in this room were saved tonight. Can say yes, I had that experience. I had it. I tried to clean up. And the harder I tried, the worse it seemed to become. Well, that was the last struggle God brings at that point, my friend. I hope he's got to that point. I hope he's brought you to the point.
So you've tried to clean yourself up and you found at the harder you try, the more unhappy, the more uncomfortable you became. But isn't it lovely to see that when it comes to this point, it's just like a drowning man Knowing a man is drowning, they don't go and rescue him while he is struggling full strength. They have to wait until he's exhausted. They're knocking off. They have to bring him to the point.
Where his struggles were over. And he's willing to have somebody save him. Willing to have somebody save him. And sometimes people have to be almost unconscious before they come to that point. Well, isn't it lovely here that when this when this soul is brought to that point?
He says in the 33rd verse. Neither is there any days man betwixt us that he might lay, that might lay his hand upon his US both. All, he said, I've struggled, I've struggled, I've tried to think this thing through. All he said is if there was a day's man. I don't know, a day's man said if there was one, but there isn't one.
Dear friend, there is one, there is one. There is one God, and one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a ransom. For all I want to tell you tonight there is a day.
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There is someone who is just waiting to put his hand of love upon you. He's already settled with God about the question of sin. At Calvary Cross, that blessed precious Savior came down and died for sin.
It says in First Corinthians 15 Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures, He was buried and he rose again the 3rd day according to the scriptures. And I want to tell you tonight, there's a living savior at God's right hand tonight. Don't despair, don't give up. There is a day's man. There's a man in the glory tonight, the Savior who died on Calvary's cross, whose blood cleanses from all sins.
He's up there tonight, and he has settled a question of sin before God. He wants to put his hand upon you. He's the day's man and he wants to speak peace to your soul. He wants to speak pardon to you all up tonight, to that blessed Savior. Don't despair, don't give up, don't say it's no use. God blessing stranger is waiting without stretched arms up there in the glory, he was saying.
Come under me all ye that labor and their heavy laden, and I will give you that this is a boy or a girl. That you're a young person here tonight. Is there an older one. And you'd like to have peace with God, not religion. You need it's not arguments you need it's Christ. You need it's Christ. You need the oldest. Brought to the point where he said about the days man the woman at the well in the 4th chapter of John where it was brought to the point where every prop was knocked out.
And she said, I know that Messiah Thomas, which is called Christ, Lord Jesus, that I would speak unto him. He Lord Jesus made himself known to her, and she came right to the end of herself. And if you've come to the end of yourself, the Lord Jesus is right there Without such calm, full of love, full of grace, He settled the question of sin. I say he wants to pardon me tonight.
What are you going to do?
Bob said How did man be just with God?
It says in ask 13 that we already quoted and by him all the believe are justified from all things from Malinsky could not be justified by the law of Moses. You can be just for God, you can have peace with God. You can know that you're saying don't let anyone deceive you into thinking that you can't know in this life. You can know it says in Who's John 5 and verse 13.
These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that he may know that you have eternal life all you receive that precious Savior tonight if he troubled you, but he's brought you to the point where you realize you can't cleanse yourself.
You can't make yourself fit for his presence. He can do it in one moment, He'll do it in one moment. Or won't you just close in with his offer of mercy? I say again, dear friend, it's not religion. We're preaching to you. It's Christ. It's a living failure to the God's right hand tonight. He's the savior of many in this room. Many would be glad to stand up and say thank God he is my own personal savior.
He wants to be yours tonight. He's holding the door of grace open. Receive one this moment and peace shall be done.
So we trained 25 pin number 25.
Sing the first and last verse of #25.
Draw Near
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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.
After 45.
The fourth verse Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom he sold into Egypt. Now therefore be not grieved nor angry with yourselves that she sold me. Hit her, for God did send me before you.
To preserve life for these two years, have the famine been in the land?
And yet there are five years in the which there shall neither be earring nor harvest.
And God sent me before you to preserve you of prosperity in the earth.
Time to save your lives by a great deliverance. So now it was not you that sent me, Heather, but God. And he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.
Hastie, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph. God hath made me Lord of all Egypt, come down unto me.
Thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen. Thou shalt be near unto me.
Thou and thy children, and thy children's children, thy flocks and thy herds, and all of thou hast.
There will I nourish thee, for yet there are five years of famine.
Lest thou and thy household and all thou hast come to come to poverty.
A little further down the chapter.
17th Verse. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph.
Say unto thy brethren, this do ye laid your beasts, and go get you unto the land of Canaan.
And take your father and your household, and come unto me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat.
The fat of the lamb. Now thou art commanded this. Do ye take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones?
And for your wives, and bring your father and come also regard not your stuff for the good of all. The land of Egypt is yours. And the children of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. To all of them he gave each man changes of Raymond, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of.
And five changes of Raymond. And to his father he sent after this manner 10 ***** laden with the good things of Egypt, and 10 Shias laden with corn, bread and meat for his father by the way. So he sent. So he sent his brethren away. They departed.
And he said unto them, See that she fall not out.
By the way.
And this precious scene is well known to us all. Her brother has just been Speaking of a time when the Lord Jesus.
Will be manifested in his glory as the Son of Man when he takes that place of headship not only over his people, Israel, but as over the whole earth. And I believe it's brought before us here in this portion where we see Joseph in his exalted place. But I believe we also have.
The provision made before his brethren came down.
To partake of all this, and I think there's much precious encouragement and instruction for us here.
First of all, we see Joseph making himself known unto his brethren.
Well, they were troubled since a sense of guilt filled their minds.
And they were afraid at the presence of Joseph. But isn't this lovely in the fourth verse?
Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you.
Isn't this lovely? Joseph, the one who made soul into Egypt, wanted to have those guilty brethren near him. He had waited until repentance had been rotting their hearts. It had taken some time before they were broken down, and God had to work that with us. And it took some time before we were broken down.
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There was a realization of their guilt, and it was coupled also with a sense of the kindness.
Of Joseph. For those of the two things, there is the sense of our own guilt and the remembrance of what we have done.
But also what leads to full repentance is the knowledge.
Of God's goodness knowest thou not, old man, that the goodness of God?
Leader thee to repent them, and it was Joseph's goodness that finally broke them down.
Now they stood in his presence, and he said, Come near unto me, I pray you. Oh, how lovely. And He wants us, brethren, to be near him. He doesn't want us to dwell at a distance from Him. What a privilege was ours in a special way this morning, as all we could hear him saying, Come near unto me, I pray you. And we came into His presence in the remembrance of his.
And death. And it says here they came near, they came near all. If there's one here who hasn't responded to his invitation, he is saying, come near. Oh, you say, I feel so unworthy. But weren't Joseph's brethren unworthy? Indeed, each one of us that we were to look in would be overwhelmed by a sense of our own unworthiness.
But Joseph invited them. They came because he invited them.
They came to protect the provision he had made, not any provision they had made for themselves.
And now he also adds.
Be not angry with yourselves that you sold me, hit her, for God did send me before you to preserve life.
We might be occupied too with our own failure and shortcomings. But isn't this lovely? Be not angry with yourselves. Surely there needed to be self judgment and there had been on their part as to all that was unfitting to his presence. Not having felt it and judged it. Now he could say it's gone, as it were.
You don't need to be angry with yourselves. And if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
And to cleanse this from all unrighteousness.
And then he points them to the fact that it was the hand of God that had sent him there. And how lovely it is that this morning we had the privilege of remembering God's side of the cross. But God had in that work he was glorified, our needs fully met.
And this is the privilege that we had of remembering all that has come to us, because God has been glorified about the whole question of sin.
But what particularly was on my heart was the provision that was made.
Four of them the rest of the time. Notice the sixth verse.
For these two years has the famine been in the land, And yet there are five years.
There are five years and we don't know, brethren, what trials there may be ahead.
We know that there have been trials in the past. We know that God has been faithful and that he hasn't failed.
He has brought us through and he cared for his earring brethren, and in those two years when they came down in their need, he supplied their need and returned their money in their sacks. But he said they're five years more, five years more of famine. And there's enough ahead of us, too, to test us and show us our own weakness.
For the wilderness, lessons are twofold. First, our own helplessness.
For five is human weakness, and then God's whole provision.
He said to Israel, Thou shalt remember all the way, the Lord thy God LED me these 40 years to humbly and to prove thee. But along with that also was the fact that he fed them, He clothed them, He took care of them through those 40 years. And so isn't it lovely that we can look ahead?
Not knowing what is ahead of us, but there will be famine.
But they weren't to dwell in a land of famine, if one might speak that way. They were to dwell in a place of plenty. They were to dwell in the place where Joseph, in the midst of the famine, made full and abundant provision for them.
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And so he said.
In the eighth verse, the ninth verse, paste you, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph.
God hath made me Lord of all Egypt, come down unto me, tearing up.
Thou shalt dwell on the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me. Yes, here's the whole secret. He didn't tell them how he was going to care for them for the next five years, But he said, you'll become my charge. You'll be near to me, and there I'll nourish you. And we don't know how the Lord is going to lead us through the problems and difficulties.
That may be ahead of us, but we do need to be near him.
And if we're near him by then, we have his precious promise.
I will nourish. You know how beautiful this is, how it solves every doubt. If he had told him how, it might have raised many questions in their minds as to just how this plan would work out. But he didn't tell them how that he said.
And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me.
And he said, this is lest you come to poverty, to know how many of us come to poverty in our lives because we don't dwell near him, we don't keep near him until we come to poverty. It isn't the provision isn't there for us. It is a fallen abundant provision. But we need to be near him.
And so this was Joseph's word to his brethren.
And he also says hasty, hasty.
And the reason he said haste was because there were certain links with their place down in Canaan.
That they might be loyal to break in a hurry. And perhaps there are things.
That we have two links that connect us with a land of famine, things that we say, well, I can't get away from this situation. I can't get away from that. Well, Joseph said. Hey Steve, beloved brethren, if there's anything that's hindering us from dwelling near to him, let us haste and remove that difficulty in his presence.
Let us through haste and come down to him.
And so he told them to come there because he was Lord.
Of all Egypt. And now there's more here. And he said, Thou and thy children, and thy children's children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast. Yes.
Children, children's children and flocks and herds.
Know how often there is a hindrance here? We say for ourselves, it's all right, but what about our children? They're not prepared for the difficulties of the path of faith. But isn't this beautiful to see Joseph anticipating? He said, not only yourselves, but your children.
And your children's children. And as we look at the children, the young people, isn't this the precious promise that we can seek to be near the Lord and we can seek to bring our children into that position? They're going to face new problems, difficulties that we haven't had to face.
But the one who has met our need is able to care for theirs too.
And in the five years of famine that are ahead, he's not going to fail if we keep near to him all how much we need to be reminded of this. And I flocks and I heard that is that would connect, I believe, with their business, their possessions, and so with us.
00:15:01
They're often entanglements. Well, they were to bring not only themselves.
Their children, but their flocks and their herds. Doesn't it remind us of when the children of Israel came out of Egypt? Why, Moses said, we'll take our children with us, not blocks, and our herds, not a hook shall be left behind. Yes, they were going to bring them all out, and God would make them his charge as they passed through the wilderness.
That Alaska, their faith failed and as they looked at their little ones, they said, have you brought us out? Us and our little ones and our cattle would perish here in this wilderness. The Lord says, I'll bring your children in and their faith failed, but he brought their children in. Oh, how beautiful to see God's grace.
Caring for those children and bringing them in.
And all how good it is to turn to him in the years of famine that may lie ahead.
And now there's a place of security in this world through which we're passing.
Where there's so much to remind us that it is a world of famine. Now going down further in the chapter.
17th Verse. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren.
This do you laid your beast, and go up, get you unto the land of Canaan.
And then further down, he says in the.
21St Verse And the children of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons.
According to the commandment of Pharaoh and gave them provision for the way.
Isn't this lovely? He didn't send them down and say, well, you have to straighten out this problem yourself of getting down there and getting cleared from all those entanglements down in Canaan and then getting back here. No, he even made provision for that and saw that when they went down into the land of Canaan, they had wagons that they had.
For the way all how gracious is our God, oh how full his provision. And we are going to shortly leave this time of fellowship together. We're going to face some of the five years of famine perhaps as we return to our homes, to our businesses, to our assembly life and we realize this.
And he's given us wagons, he's given us that which would carry us along.
And saw that in spite of all the hardships of going down into Egypt and getting back to Canaan here where the wagons provided for them and for their little one, for their wives. Now in the 20th verse also regard not your stuff. What a word for all the things that they had once called.
Worthwhile.
I suppose before this they wouldn't have called this stuff. They would have said these are our possessions, these are our hard earned possessions and they would have considered them something worthwhile.
But Pharaoh and Joseph say it's just stuff. It's just stuff. I don't regard that, he said. Because the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
And brethren, isn't it true that we have a lot of stuff? A lot of things that we place a great deal of value upon? But the Lord says it's just stuff. We have better possessions. The little hymn says. Our hearts by thee are set on brighter things above. Strange that we ever should forget.
Thine own most faithful love, nor may we look upon those possessions as being.
Just.
Stuff and this 22nd verse.
They had 21St verse rather the end of the verse and gave them provision for the way.
To all of them he gave changes of Raymond, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of Raymond.
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Well, this, these changes of Raymond, what would they speak about? Well, we mentioned in the young people's meeting about how those wise men went to their country another way, and the garments in Scripture are a figure to us of the associations of life. The leper was to wash his clothes.
And blade them is flashing water the man that was unclean when he was cleansed?
Wash his clothes. But here we find these people all outfitted with new garments. They were given changes of Raymond. And so when they went back, instead of their neighbors looking on them and saying, well, there are those poor travelers, they said, oh, where have those people been clothed from? They've got Raymond from a king.
How beautiful her clothes are.
Yes, they have received raiment from the king of Pharaohs, which they could display to the people whom they met. Brethren, God has given us a change of reign. If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And I hope as I return and you return from these meetings.
People will see that we've received raiment from the king that we carry, that we carry, have a different way by which we carry ourselves through this world.
As those who have been, as it were, in the King's palace, in the presence of the one who loved us.
And who has preserved and saved our lives by a great deliverance? Oh, why does it say that he gave the silver and the five changes of Raymond to Benjamin? Well, I just pass on this little thought. Benjamin was specially near to Joseph. Benjamin was one who felt a special.
Endearment of relationship with Joseph.
And so Joseph made a special provision for him.
And you know, the nearer we are to the Lord, the more we're going to appreciate His grace and the more we're going to show that we've been in His presence. And so here were.
300 pieces of silver. Silver speaks of redemption all. How lovely. Why don't we appreciate what the Lord has done for us more? Well, where He is. Perhaps all the other 10 brethren were brothers of Joseph, but here was one who especially near to Joseph.
And so he went back with his 300 pieces of silver.
Rather, I hope we'll return with a deeper appreciation of a redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
I hope we'll return with a deeper sense of what the Lord has done for us.
To make us his arms and the nearer we have been to him and the more we have enjoyed his presence in these meetings.
The more we will carry away with us of that appreciation.
And these five we mentioned the five years of famine.
Well, here were five changes of raiment. Perhaps it would speak of the whole five years that were ahead, because Joseph, or Benjamin rather, was one who was specially near. Having Joseph said the ones that were near unto him would be cared for. And so here's one who in advance gets his five changes of Raymond. All beloved brethren, how good it is to look out.
Upon a future of famine, and know that being near the Lord.
All taken care of all the way. He's not going to fail every step of the way.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today.
And forever some of us say, well, I know that the Lord undertake for me in the present difficulties. Yes, thank God he will, but he'll undertake for us all the way home. Five also speaks of weakness, and it's a confessed sense of weakness. It's no boasting only in him each.
00:25:00
New garment that Joseph display that Benjamin displayed as those years passed by.
Was but a fresh reminder that he had been near to Joseph.
Who was Lord of all Egypt? And May God grant that as the time goes on in our lives and new difficulties and problems face us if the Lord leaves us here, that it will just be occasion to display again that we have been in His presence. We have, I believe, that thought in 2nd Corinthians 3 and 18.
For it says, we always open face, beholding the glory of the Lord.
Are changed into the same image from glory to glory.
Each one of these garments came from the king, came from Joseph, but each one had a different glory to it, I'm sure. And as we go on in his presence, there will be that reflection that will increase in our lives. More of himself that will be seen. And so as others looked on and saw Benjamin.
That youngest son.
And saw what the others didn't have. The new garments they must, they must have said.
He must be a special favorite. He must be a special favorite.
Well, Joseph perhaps, or rather John perhaps had a little of this in another way. In the New Testament he leaned on Jesus bosom. He called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. Or you say, has the Lord got special favorites? While everyone who appreciates nearness to him is a special favorite of his?
Every one of the disciples could have called himself the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Because it says having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. He loved Peter, he loved James, but John was near enough to him to gain a special appreciation of that, and so he called himself a disciple whom Jesus loved. May God grant that we all consider ourselves.
To special favorites. He loves us, brethren, and he's going to love us through the whole five years of famine.
Well, these were brought down.
And it says special things were taken for Jacob, who wasn't there. Well.
Perhaps there's somebody that wasn't at this meeting. Perhaps there's a discouraged soul that says, well, I'm not going to go to the conference. It's a lot of effort and all. You just go there and you meet a lot of people and sometimes you don't get all you expect at the conference. Well, isn't this wonderful?
Here are a special provision. ***** laden and everything carried home. The poor unbelieving Jacob.
Poor brethren, what are we going to carry home? Are we going to go back and find fault with the brethren that didn't come?
And they were a bit discouraged and said, well, I'm not going to go too much effort. Well, they didn't go back and find fault with Jacob.
They went back and said, look, Jacob, he said all this for you. He said all this for you. What did Jacob do? He says I'll go, I'll go down. I'll, I'll get near him too. But that's the way he provides. Oh, how lovely. May we carry something home with us of the provision that he has given to us and.
Also for those who are not there, the ones that carried by the stuff.
Samuel's time they were depart alike. May we carry something home for them?
But then there was one little word he gave them. 24th verse.
So he sent his brethren away, and they departed, and he said unto them.
See that you've fallen out. By the way, wasn't it sad they have to add a thing like that? He said you might get quarreling. You know, on your way home you might get quarreling. He said, watch that. Well, how sad it is. The Lord's done so much for us. He's won our hearts. He's made so many gracious provisions for us.
And promises for the future. But all I'm afraid we have hearts just like Joseph's brethren. Our libel to fall out, by the way.
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May the Lord give us grace to watch this. See that she fall, not out, by the way.
One is sometimes said, the only thing that we're going to take home with us to glory when we leave this scene is not our possessions. What are we going to take home? Our brethren? Our brethren, the only thing that I look on in this world that I'm going to have in heaven is my brethren. That's all.
Not any money, not any automobile or possessions. Useful as they may be down here, they're all going to be left behind.
But you, dear brethren, into whose faces I looked this afternoon, we're going to spend eternity together.
That's what we have that really come that we value our brethren. Are we falling out of them?
Do we value them? We ought to maybe things that cause us exercise.
There may be things that cast us our knees before the Lord about one another, and perhaps our brethren about us, but all at us seek to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace. May God grant that as we face those years that may be ahead of us, till the Lord comes for those days or those moments, whatever it may be.
That in the meantime.
We will seek to dwell near him and enjoy the gracious provision that he's made.
Power Against Amalek
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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.
Like to turn tonight to Exodus chapter 17. And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in rapidum, And there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. Moses said unto them.
Why charge you with me? Wherefore do he tempt the Lord?
And the people thirsted there for water, And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. The Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take will be of the elders of Israel.
And thy rod wherewith thou smartest the river, take in thine hand and go.
I will stand before thee there upon the rock in horrible, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Massa and Meredith, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Then came Amalek and thought with Israel in her fitum, No, the son of the Joshua chooses out man, and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hands, that Israel prevailed.
And when he left down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
But most of the times were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat there on, And Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side, And his hands were steady until going down to the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, or I will utterly put.
Remembrance of Amalek from under heaven and more of us build an altar and call the name of it Jehovah Messi, for he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
While I was thinking of this portion tonight, brethren, because it follows immediately the 16th chapter, where we have the children of Israel eating of the manna, the blood that came down from heaven. And I believe the Lord has richly fed our souls in these days that we have been together. It has been like the manna to our souls, and with like the children of Israel, they found that which satisfied them in that manner that God provided.
But it wasn't long after till we find the Lord brought them to a place where there was number water to drink. And there isn't any past experience in your life or mine that will keep us, or that will be the assurance that when fresh difficulties arise.
Will be able to meet them unless there is a constant looking to the Lord we can be in the enjoyment of himself and his things, and yet an experience may rise very shortly in our lives and unless we see that he has made provision for us for to turn to him in these trials and difficulties. Just like I'm like attacking Israel.
So we'll be overcome.
So here we find the opening part of our chapter here.
That the children of Israel came to this place where there was number water, and it says it was according to the commandment of the Lord. We might think that this was perhaps a mistake, that they came to such a place where there was no water to drink. Sometimes when we get into a situation where there doesn't seem to be refreshment and blessing, we might say, what have I done?
Not the circumstances arisen in my life.
Well, it may be that the Lord is speaking to us about something, but sometimes, I believe, as we have here, He brings us to such things that He might test us, and that He might teach us to our own nothingness, our own helplessness, so that we might look to Him and to Him alone. What is often said that the children of Israel had two lessons to learn in the wilderness.
00:05:09
They had to learn their own utter insufficiency.
And they also learned God's all sufficiency tells us that when they look back on the wilderness, they were to remember how the Lord humbled them and proved them and showed them what was in their hearts. That was learning themselves, learning their own helplessness. They're the evil of their own hearts. But that it also says in the same chapter how the Lord fed them, how he gave them water to drink, how he.
Caused the third clothes in the world and their shoes didn't wax. Old God provided for them.
So I say they learn those two things. And brethren, we learn those two things too. We have to learn our own nothingness. We have to learn our own weakness.
How blessed it is in learning this when we learn the all sufficiency of God. And so if He has brought any of us to a point where there's no water to drink, if He has brought us to a point where the streams of refreshment that we have enjoyed seem to have failed, it isn't because His resources have failed. But He teaches us in this way how we should turn to Him.
So here it tells us wherefore the people did chide with Moses.
Isn't it natural to us when things go wrong in our lives to want to blame someone else? Oh how natural to think what someone elses fault this person did that this person did the other thing, and if they hadn't done that, why everything would be all right. So here they were blaming Moses.
I remember a brother telling me how someone who had left the meeting came to him and said, well, you know, I'd still be in the meeting if it wasn't for brother son.
Well, brother, I thought the Lord gave him wisdom, and the answer he gave, he said that the Lord put that brother there.
Well, instead, if it hadn't been for him, I'd still be in the meeting.
And he said, the Lord put that brother there and sad to say, this dear man never came back to the Lord's table because he was blaming someone else. Now it's true that that brother may have failed. I no doubt he did. But the Lord allowed it as a test. And the Lord allows these things rather than to come in your life and mind to test us. And so here when they didn't have any water.
How they blame most.
And they chatted with him and said, give us water that we may drink. Not as they expected something from him. But the Lord was the one who had provided the manna in the chapter before here. If we go back farther, wasn't he the one who had provided shelter from the judgment? Isn't he the one who had met their needs when they came to the bitter waters at Mara?
Over and over again, they had found a sure resource in him.
But when this occasion arose, they seem to forget that and don't we do the same?
Look back on our lives and see how wonderfully the Lord has undertaken. Situations have arisen and the Lord has undertaken for us. First of all, he saved us when we didn't deserve it at all. And then in our pathway there were the children of Israel on the banks of the Red Sea, the enemy behind them and the Red Sea in front of them. Everything looked so impossible.
But the Lord opened away.
So I say over and over again, He showed that he was sufficient. But when a new circumstance arose, they began to doubt again. They began to blame someone, to blame Moses. And Moses said unto them, Why chij with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And let us stop and remember that when we find someone else to blame.
Is it not that we're really blaming the Lord because He allowed the circumstance?
He allowed what came in, and so if we would just take it from him and think the prophet by it, there would be blessing. Because we were noticing that verse yesterday that in tribulations and trials, in all these things, we can be more than conquerors. We can not only have the grace to overcome, but we can talk about this feeling the Lord allows.
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On the people face together for water. On the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou's blood is up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children and our cattle were first.
Notice now many of us, they're turning back into Egypt. I have no time more dangerous in our lives than when we begin to question God's Word, when we begin to blame others for circumstances in which we're a place. That's a very dangerous position.
And here we find, as I say, and their hearts are going back into Egypt. And they say, why did we come out of Egypt? They didn't say, why did we ever take shelter under the blood? And no doubt they were very glad that they had taken shelter under the blood. Under the blood they had been delivered from the judgment that God brought upon Egypt, and their first born had been spared.
But you know, it's one thing to be under the blood, it's another thing to leave Egypt. That's another thing to find our joys and our resources in Him. And so there while no Christian would ever turn his back upon Christ.
No person would ever turn his back upon the blind. There is a possibility, and our hearts get cold, of turning back to the world, turning back to its pleasures or its ******* or something that it has to offer, like the children of Israel, the lake from the onions and the garlic.
They're almost riders have the slavery of Egypt and to the earth there in the wilderness where they were entirely depending upon God and where they were learning their own hearts. And so here they actually said.
Why have you brought us up to kill us and our children and our cattle were first themselves and their children, then their cattle, it seems to me, to speak of their business.
Is enough that he interested in our family? Sometimes I've heard a point say, well, I wouldn't mind, I could take it. But if some was my children, my children can't take things like that. It hurts them. Yes, Here we find that they first thought of themselves and then they said in our children and then they thought of their business, their interests, their living our cattle.
And how easy it is for us.
When we get away from the Lord to start complaining and then begin to wonder if the path of following the Lord is too difficult for us, too difficult for our children. Too difficult if we're going to try and earn our living in our crooked world like this, where there's so many times at all that the Lord is sufficient for ourselves, for our little one, and for all our subjects.
Think of that little running as they left babbling, and there they started back to the land of Israel. Perhaps they realized something of what would face the man. Everything knew that there were enemies in the way, and they looked at them. They asked the Lord to provide the right way.
For themselves, and for their little, and for all their substance. And it says they faster than they prayed. And the Lord was intrigued of them. The Lord was entreated of them, and his difficulties arise. And if we see things in the way, if we see obstacles in the way, for our children steal our resource within the law.
Let us cry to Him and if it means fasting, if it means giving us something on our part.
That they might go on.
It's really all worthwhile, and so here we find other people coming out.
And Mervis cried under the Lord. Mervis moved to whom he could turn. If they blamed him. They don't find him. They would speak retaliating on this occasion. Alas, on another occasion he did. He lost his patience with the people. On a similar occasion later on, he called him rebel.
But here we find these turns to the right person.
When I see you and I get blamed wrongfully. If someone blame this for something and we know that we're not to blame, did we get annoyed or should we turn to the law?
Then we have, I would say it's very difficult not to get annoyed. You remember I've often thought about dear Moses, he lost his patience once, just money. Have you lost your patience once? Have I lost my patience once? Always been one man, I'm afraid. But the Lord and the Lord tells us that Moses only lost his patience once with the people and called him rebels and.
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The Lord said before that he couldn't go into the land.
Or may the Lord help us to go on with his people, and before his people, patiently speaking their good, and when circumstances such as this arise, that we might do what Moses did hear, and he cried under the law.
And he said, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. This was a very unpleasant situation for Malibu, to say the least. He realized that all these people whom he had brought out of Egypt, and who just a short time before had been singing on the banks of the Red Sea, rejoicing that they were delivered, had now turned against him.
And were blaming him and were even almost going to stone him.
Billy asked the Lord what should he do and what did the Lord say? Isn't it lovely? And the Lord sent under Moses, go on before the people. Aren't these good words, brethren, for us to remember when these circumstances arise, and they do arise from time to time in our lives when things come up and that really try our faith and and try our patience. Let us hear the Lord saying.
Go on before the people, go on, don't leave the meeting. Don't give up serving your brazen. Go on before the people. Oh how sweet it is and how meaningful for us. More of us forgot it later on. This was to be written in a book and we heard so that they wouldn't forget how they got victory over Amalek. But we do forget sometimes. But at least we can say that at this time.
Mervyns found Grace to meet this difficult situation and he had that lovely answer.
Go on before the people and take with thee of the elements of Israel. I think this is nice too. The Lord didn't say, well, no, this you and Aaron go. He said take windy of the elders of Israel.
And on earth he still identified himself with assailing people of God. He didn't disassociate himself from him. He identified himself with them and took with him of the elders of Israel. And thy rod following this beautiful too. And thy rod, all this lie it tells us, you know all that law that was lifted up.
That opened the panties through the Red Sea so that the people could go through.
There were two rods, you know, and there was the rod that was used to smite the river, and there was the priestly rod. In this case it was the rod that was used to Mike the river and here to smite the rock, Old brethren, that leads us back to the ground of all blessings. It leads us back to Calvert.
How could God ever bless you and I so failing things that we have been since His grace picked us up. What is the ground of it all?
He would fear not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things? So the Lord said to Moses, Take that love, that rod refused to smite the river, that rod that brought the people out of Egypt. Take that rod in your hand, and take the elders of Israel.
Well, again I say, the ground by which God can belong with his people is the cross. It's what Christ has done. The question of sin has been fully taken up and met their calories, and now God can go on with his people and can bless them according to his heart of love for them.
And behold, I will stand before thee there upon the lock in horror.
Yeah, the Lord would stand before him. And as he took those elders and as he went with that rod in the town, the Lord said, I'll be before you, I'll stand there before you. And it's to have the Lord before us, not, not the people.
Not our brethren, but the Lord. We need to have him before thousand. 16th Psalm. I accept the Lord always before me.
Because He is at my right hand, therefore I shall not be moved. We know that song prophetically speaks of the Lord Jesus. It was always true of Him. And if it were true of us, we wouldn't be moved. There'd be a steadiness in our path that would be glorifying to Him.
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And there, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink, Thou shalt smite the rock. You remember on a later occasion, as we remarked, Moses was told to speak to the rock.
This time he was to smite the rock.
The reason he was to speak to it the next time was because the Rock only needed to be smitten once. The Lord Jesus only needed to die for sin once, and His death there for our sins has opened up the way of blessing. And now, when there's a time of need arises, the Rock doesn't have to be smitten again. We can speak to the rock.
He asked the Lord Jesus is that rock and we can look up and turn to him.
But Moses, on the next occasion he smoked the rock twice.
He seemed to forget that.
The Lord.
Had provided water from that rock before, and he failed in maintaining how the glory of the Lord in the midst of His people.
Well, it tells us Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Masa and Merida, because of the chiding of the children of Israel and because they attempted the Lord saying, is the Lord among us or not? Yes, there was a name given to that place. And as I say, they came back and they were tested there again. And there are times in our lives when.
Teaches us things, but sometimes we have to learn again. We have to come into situations again, and there ought to been the remembrance of how good the Lord had been to them in the past.
But now we come to this eighth verse. Then came Amalek, and thought, with Israel in refinancing. Now these, these Amalekites as they were, they were a picture to us in the word of God.
Of the flesh of Satans power through the flesh. They were really descendants of Ishmael and.
The we know that Ishmael was born after the flesh and so am like pictures to us. How?
Satan works upon that fallen nature within us. I'd like to connect it with passage in John Chapter 7 and verse 37. In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink.
He had believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He is the Spirit which they would believe on Him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
I believe in this water coming from the smitten rock. We have a picture of what is spoken out here in the 7th chapter of John that is.
The Lord spoke about the Spirit and it tells us in Galatians chapter 5 the flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that she cannot do the things that she would.
And so here, as soon as the children of Israel had a drink of this water that came from the smitten rock, why then Amalek came out? And the moment the Spirit of God leads our souls into the enjoyment of some precious things, why Amalek gathers his forces and attacks us through the flesh within.
Isn't that true? Over and over again, when we have just come to a fresh enjoyment of some portion while we find Amalek right at the doors, as it were, He's gathered his armies together and he's come to attack us. And so here the children of Israel were, sorely fresh by this water that came out of the rock, and they look and here are the armies gathered against them. What could they do?
Well, we don't find here that the children of Israel were responsible, so to speak, for this victory. It says, and Moses said unto Joshua, Notice he didn't speak to the people here. He said unto Joshua, Oh, I think this is beautiful because the battle is the Lord. He is the one who came down into this world and defeated Satan's power.
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So that Satan has no power over the believer.
Keeps the flesh in the place of death. But if we allow the flesh to act in US, then Satan has power. But the Lord Jesus not only put away our sins, not only sheltered us from judgment and brought us into a new position, but before God, that old nature, that old man was crucified with Christ, and we are to put it in the place of death.
But here Amalek comes out and saw Moses.
Joshua, Now Joshua figures to us Christ in the power of the Spirit.
He was the one who led the people into the promised land, and so there was a leader for the people as they went out in conflict against Amalek. And the only way that you and I can overcome when Satan seeks to tempt us through the flesh is to be walking in the spirit. It says walk in the spirit.
And ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.
And so if the if you and I are enjoying the precious things of the Spirit that the Spirit of God would bring before us.
Of Christ, and that means love, and of our portion in Him.
One of them, the world, doesn't have very much attraction to us. But if we've lost the enjoyment of this, then Satan comes and works upon the flesh, and here we find he comes and he attacks the people. Well, as I say, they had a leader, and if you and I would keep upon our eyes upon Christ when Satan attacks, there would be victory.
If the children of Israel went out counting upon Joshua.
The one who was leading them there would be victory for them. Well, I think this is a very practical lesson for us because we often get in positions through our own self will and then we wonder why the Lord doesn't give us victory. It's something like this. Supposing I said, well, I'm going to some worldly entertainment, but I'm sure the Lord will keep me. You might well say, and you know it tells us in another place that the.
Who Amalek actually killed were the very hinder most of the people, the ones that were farthest from Joshua, like Peter, he followed the Lord, but he followed him afar off. And those are the ones that I'm like actually attacked. He didn't come to the front because Joshua was in front of their armies, but he came around the back. And those ones that stayed a long way from Joshua fell under the attacks of Amalek.
And so, you know, if you and I get away from the Lord, why Satan knows where there were stragglers. He knows whether we're away at the back like for Peter following afar off, and then he knows just how to tempt us. Peter was following a far off he he lost sight of the Lord. He got into the palace there and started warming himself with those around that fire and the high priest.
And the next thing was he was denying his law.
And so here there was a leader provided and they were to go out.
But it's nice to see also.
What Moses did, and it says in the end of this ninth verse, tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him and fought with Amalek.
And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. So you see, there was a leader down below. And again, I'd like to say to each one of us here, especially to those of us who were young, be sure you don't go to any place where you can't say. I believe I came here to please the Lord before you go out for an evening before you go any place.
Always get down and ask the Lord.
If it's his will that she should go because unless you and I have him as our leader.
Why, we may be just like those who are at the very back, so far away that they weren't protected by their leader. And so let us remember this. And if some person comes and asks you, will you go here or will you go there? Ask the Lord what you should do. Makes me think of a little incident that I heard of a man who visited a small town.
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And they were having a dance, sort of a, I think it was a street dance they were having.
And when he came, some of the people saw him kind of pushing his way through the crowd and getting up to where they were dancing and asked him if he'd like to take part in the dance. Well, he said, I have a friend and I'd like to ask him what he thinks about it. Well, he said, that's all right. So right there, whether we're all dancing, got down on his knees.
And he started to pray out loud, and he told the Lord right out loud that these people had asked him to join in the damned.
And he wanted to please him should he do it. And when the ones that were putting on the music saw this man on his knees, they stopped playing. And so the people stopped dancing. And so he got up off his knees and he said, well, I think the Lord's answered my prayer. I don't think it's his will that I should join in the dance. And this gave him an opportunity to be a testimony for the Lord Jesus.
Well, I believe if we would ask the Lord what He would have us do.
Why we find that he would show us. And so again I say the people had a leader here.
They had Joshua, and then up on the top of the hill Moses went up, and it tells us here in the 11Th verse. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand that Israel prevailed, and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. Well, we've noticed about Joshua leading the people. Now what about Moses up on the top of the mountain?
Well, I mentioned before that Joshua brings before us Christ in the power of the Spirit.
But Moses on the top of the mount with his hand up, I believe that brings before us Christ up on high as our great high priest. If you turn with me to Hebrews, I think we'll find a little about this Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14, seeing them that we have a great high priest, that is.
Passed into the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God.
Let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmity, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come barely under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now in the 7th Chapter.
And the.
24th verse.
But this man, because he continueth, ever hath an unchangeable or if you have a margin, you'll notice it says which passeth not from one to another priesthood. Wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them. For such an high priest he came up who is whorely, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and.
Higher than the heaven. Well, I feel we can see in these verses the one who is passed into the heavens. Just as Moses went up on the top of the hill, so there's one who has gone up on high for us, and as we sometimes sing it for us, his hands uplifting in sympathy and love. And so there the Lord Jesus is up there and.
He's touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
Now notice the priesthood of Christ is not connected with our sins. The Lord has settled the question of our sins. His advocacy has to do with our sins, but His priesthood is connected with our infirmities.
Well, I believe when it speaks of our infirmities, it means something like this, that we we feel the trials of the wilderness. Perhaps we have weaknesses of body. Perhaps you wake up in the morning with a headache.
Takes a lot more grace to be patient when you have a headache than when you're feeling well.
You woke up some morning and you only slept half the night. Well, I'm afraid we're liable to be more disagreeable when we didn't get our proper sleep, so we need someone to help us on a day like that, don't we? Before we ever run into the difficulties and snags and trials of the day, the Lord looks down, he said. I know it's going to be difficult today. You didn't sleep very well last night. You've got a headache.
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Now you're going to need my help in a special way today.
And if we don't ask them what happens, well, a situation arises and it's too much for us. The enemy comes. And because of that miserable flesh within, just like the Lord said to the disciples, they were tired and they fell asleep when they should have been watching. And the Lord said, the Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. And so here we find the children of Israel.
And they face the enemy with a leader.
But they also needed one who was up and high, holding up his hand for them. And we face the enemy. But there are times, special times in our lives, when we feel our infirmities, when we feel the way is especially difficult. And the Lord looks down and He says, let us come boldly under the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. So if that.
Need a little more than other days. Why the Lord is there to supply that little extra. And if I don't ask His help, then what happens? Amalek prevails. Amalek prevails. When Moses hands were down, the hand was down.
Because.
The thought in his hand going down is that we failed to ask the Lord's help and so when Moses hand went down, Amalek prevailed.
And now it tells us in this 7th chapter where we read.
But this man, because he continueth, ever hath an unchangeable or a priesthood which passeth not from one to another. Well, you know, I, I think this is very beautiful. Perhaps you have a family doctor and he's known the family. He knows all the physical weaknesses of the family.
But he dies.
All you feel if I get a new Doctor, you'll never understand this the same because that doctor just knew all about us. Well, the one who is our high priest, he, he has a priesthood that doesn't pass from one to another. He knew your father, he knew your mother. He knows the whole family history. And whether we like to admit it or not, we all have family weaknesses. We all have things that we have to contend with in a special way.
Isn't this lovely that here this one is a has an unchangeable or an intransmittable priesthood, and he knows all about us? And you remember how when Hannah came into the House of the Lord and was praying, why the priest looked at her and thought she was drunk?
Well, your high priest will never misunderstand you.
Jesus will never misunderstand the situations that face us. Sometimes they may be very oppressing and trying. The Lord understands perfectly. Isn't it wonderful to have such a high priest? And so it says he's able to save them to the uttermost. This is not the salvation of our soul that is referred to here. I mean when we are saved.
Saved from judgment to come. But here it speaks of saving us from failure.
It's the same thought as in Romans 5 when it says if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. How are we saved by His life? It was his death that saved us from hell and judgment to come. But it's His present life up there as our high priest that saves us from defeat, from dishonouring him, from doing things.
Would rob Him of glory, rob us of our testimony and our joy in Him.
And so he is able to say to the uttermost and never say, I couldn't help losing my patience, I couldn't help doing this or that because the circumstances were so trying. But the Lord says no matter how difficult they are, that He is able to save them to the uttermost, who come unto God, by him never.
Did Amalek prevail? As long as Moses hands up and never will the enemy be able to get the victory over you and I, unless we fail to seek help.
From the Lord at the moment that we needed, Oh, you say, I did ask him in the morning, but it says grace to help in time of need, in time of need. And that might come 100 times in the day. We need to form the habit of just looking up to the Lord like Nehemiah did.
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When the king asked him a question, before he answered the question, it says, so I prayed unto the God of heaven, and I said unto the king, King asked him a question, and he didn't even answer the King's question until he had sent a swift prayer up to the Lord, because he knew it was a very difficult situation in which he was placed.
So such a high priest became us who is holy, harmless, unbefiled, separate from sinners. And I believe the reason it says this is such a high priest became us who is holy. That is, sometimes when we lose our patience or say something we shouldn't, we go to some friend and we seek sympathy for our failure.
We say, well, you know what he said to me and we tell our story and then we tell what we said and we want the friend to say, well, I don't blame you. That's just what we'd like the person to say. But when the Lord, when we go to the Lord and we tell him about how trying it is and what they said to us, He says, I'll give you the grace. I'll give you all the grace you need.
And so that's the kind of help we need, isn't it? Our friends may not help us in time of need. They may actually hinder us.
For for Naomi, she really was a hindrance to Ruth and encouraged her in difficult circumstances to turn back to her people and to her gods.
But all how blessed that there's one we can go to and no matter how trying it is, he'll always supply the help that we need and never encourage us to do what's wrong because he's there so that we would triumph over Amalek.
But then we notice here that Moses had two hands when the one hand went down.
Why am I like prevail? But it tells us that there were those two hands and on one side Aaron, who was afterwards the priest in Israel and her, which means purity. That's the meaning of the word, was on the other side. And so they stayed there and held up Moses hands until the going down of the sun.
Well, we learned two lessons that when his hand went down, it was really failing to ask his help.
The Lord's health, but the fact that his hand was steady means that the Lord.
Is going to be there as our high priest right until we're called home. He'll be the priest all through our wilderness pathway. But the other hand, it never says the other hand went down. Notice the accuracy of Scripture. It says when his hand went down, Amalek prevailed. But it never says the other hand went down. It says all the hands were steady. Why didn't the other hand go down?
Well, that's the advocacy hand. And when we fail?
It's not up with us.
It isn't over with us when we fail, the other hand is still up and so although we allow the flesh.
Isn't it lovely to know that even when we do let the flesh act, we shouldn't, but we have an advocate with the Father. Let's notice that in the.
First John, First Epistle of John and the first chapter.
Eighth verse.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in US.
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and justice to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in US. My little children, these things right I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Well this is the other hand I believe. And notice the verse doesn't study. If any man confesses sin, we have an advocate with the Father. It says if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Because that hand never goes down and the Lord Jesus is our advocate.
Before the Father on our behalf, the very moment we sin, even before we confessed it. The confession of sin has to do with restoration to communion. But His advocacy maintains us in a perfect standing before God at all times. And so even a failing Christian is still as to his standing wholly and without blame before God in life.
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We may not be enjoying it. We can't be until we confess it.
It's something like this, supposing you had a very good lawyer.
An advocate at the law, and he's looking after your affairs.
Anesthesia makes some slip in your business. You're not aware of it just yet, but he thought, and he immediately, as a good advocate, as one who's looking after your affairs, he immediately undertakes to take care of you and to protect you in that error that you made. We'll say a couple of weeks later, you notice that you find out about it and you come to him and say, well, I'm afraid I'm going to get into trouble over this. I didn't realize I made.
Here all he said I've already acted on your behalf. You were uneasy until you had come and told him about it, but he had already acted and isn't this beautiful that we have that advocate and so just as her, which means purity. So the one who is there it says Jesus Christ the righteous. If I broke one of the laws of the city of Detroit.
And I hired a lawyer to get me off. How could he do it?
Well, I'm afraid he couldn't do it righteously. He couldn't do it righteously if I was guilty. But here I've sinned and I have a righteous advocate before the Father. How can he do it all? How blessed. And every sin, every failure was once fully met at the cross. And the Lord Jesus fully, completely glorified God. And so when He maintains our cause, it's because.
He has settled the whole question of sin to God's glory once and for all of the cross.
Or how good it is to know that we have such an advocate.
But on our part, it isn't trying to say that we haven't sinned. Why It says if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. If we say we haven't sinned, we make him a liar. We know that there are groups that say that you can live. That's because they don't understand the advocacy of Christ. We only deceive ourselves if we say we don't have a fallen nature. I know I've got the flesh inside of me and I know Satan.
To work on that flesh too, and a life I failed too. I wouldn't dare to stand before you here and tell you that I hadn't failed as a Christian. But how good it is that my standing is before God in Christ, perfect because of what he did. And there he is as my high priest to keep me from failing. As my advocate when I have failed.
And So what is the believer then to do?
When he has failed, his standing is maintained before God. What is our responsibility now if we confess our sins? He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And notice it doesn't say if we ask forgiveness. I've heard some Christians say, well, I asked the Lord to forgive me when I fail.
No, you and I don't need to ask forgiveness, because to ask forgiveness is to raise the question.
However, God has a righteous basis to forgive us.
If I did wrong to somebody and then I go and say will you forgive me? I'm raising the question whether he's going to say yes or no.
He said to me, Well, in my heart I've forgiven you, but I would like you to say you're sorry.
Oh what a different feeling I have now. Oh, isn't it lovely that when the believer comes that he can come and we confess our sins, Have it all out with the Lord, tell him what it was that we did and get to the root of it and why we did it with Peter. It was because of self-confidence. It was because of following afar off. And when we confess, then we need to get to the root.
That unjudged flesh in us, we need to own before the Lord that self-confidence, that pride, and perhaps something else that might be the cause of our failure. So it says if we confess our sins, he is faithful and he's just, He's just because as I said, it was already settled at the cross and we enjoy the forgiveness when we've confessed it and.
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Because that hand never goes down. That hand of advocacy is always there. He, he was there before the Father on our behalf, before we came to confess it. He's faithful and he's just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. And just like, say a little word about that and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In the 19th chapter of Numbers we have about the red heifer and when a man was unclean.
It says that he was sprinkled with the water on and in this water there was the ashes of the red heifer and, and scarlet and hyssop and cedar all together in the in the ashes of the in the water. And this was sprinkled upon the man. And that's why I speak about getting to the root of it, for the ashes of the heifer speak of Christ dying.
For sin. But the cedar and the scarlet and the hyssop, they speak of man's greatness. The scarlet speaks of human glory, and the hyssop speaks of man and his littleness, and all these things reduced to ashes.
Because I believe those are the things that cause us to fail. We may think we're somebody big like the cedar. When you drive through the Redwood forest out there in California, you can realize something of how those Cedars speak of pride. There are those mighty trees.
You're almost overcome with awe as you go through those great trees. Well, must be a great thing when one of those trees come down. But the cedar had to be brought down and burned along with the ashes of the heifer. And some of us are so important, so big, so great, we think we could never have a fall. And the Lord has to see us. Let us see that we could.
And then there's the the scarlet. The scarlet, I say, speaks of human glory.
Maybe, like Peter, we don't want to be laughed at by some friend. We want the world to think well of us. And so we dress and act and everything to please the world because we wouldn't want the world ever to look down on us and say, well you, you act that way because you're a Christian. And so there's something of the human glory, the element that we don't want to be despised by the world. And Peter didn't want that girl to laugh at him and so he denied.
And then what about the hyssop? You say, isn't it good to be small? Isn't it good to be nothing? Well, you know, sometimes we can be so much occupied with our own nothingness and with our own littleness that were occupied with that instead of Christ. And sometimes you'll find a person and he says, oh, I can't do anything right. Everything I do is wrong. Is nobody. No use asking me to do anything. Other people can do things so much better than.
And so that's another form of self. Well, it was thrown into. And so when this man was sprinkled with the water there, it had the ashes of the heifer and the cedar wood, and the scarlet and the hyssop reduced to ashes, mingled with the water, and it was sprinkled on him on the third day.
The third day, well, I believe the thought of the third day brings before us.
Lord Jesus had to suffer not only for our sins, but to put away.
Shall I say to bring the end to our old Adam standing before God, For he not only bore our sins, but he died under sin. It was the end of all that we were before God. And so if you and I, when we judge a thing, really get down to the root of it and judge it before God.
Now I believe there is a real restoration and so when the man was sprinkled on the third day, it says he was clean on the 7th, which is the perfect number, but it distinctly says that if he was not sprinkled on the third day that he would not be clean on the 7th.
Perhaps I could make it a little simpler by saying like this.
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If I were to tell a lie and I tell the Lord, I'm sorry, but I I sort of have the thought in my mind that everybody fails sometimes. And after all, it wasn't so bad as all that.
I don't believe I'll really get the star. It's a nice thing to own it, but I don't believe that I would really get restored.
Because I haven't really got down to the bottom of it and realized how God abhorred that sin.
But supposing when I confess it, I see the Lord Jesus dying there upon the cross.
Bearing the agony for my sins and putting an end to my old Adam standing before God.
I see the end of that before God. Oh, it's a solemn thing. Then I don't think lightly of that lie. I don't say, oh, that's only a little thing because the Lord Jesus had to suffer so to put it away, and to put away before God that nature that produced those sins. And so as I get to the sense of that, why then there's a real thorough judging of the thing before God.
And there's a real restoration.
And so it says. And to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. So when we confess, then let us not be light about it.
But let us realize that sin is a serious thing. It robs the Lord of glory, it hinders our testimony, it robs us of communion, and it just opens the way for Satan to get further victories for Amalek, as it were, to come and attack us.
A little more the next time.
And so here the children of Israel then learn these wonderful lessons that way. I don't suppose they entered into them in a spiritual way, but they learned that they could not meet the enemy without Joshua as their leader and Moses up on high holding both his hands.
And so the Lord said, now Moses, write that in a book.
And tell Joshua about this over and over again. I may have spoken on this subject before. Perhaps some of you have heard me speak on it, but I think I have the warrant of Scripture. You're taking it up again because the Lord said here you write it down and repeat it in the ears of Joshua. He might forget, He might forget. And we do forget, brethren, we do forget.
Our weakness and the need.
Of the advocacy and the priesthood of Christ in our pathway here. And then it says here, I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Oh, I think this is beautiful. There's a day coming when we won't have to worry about Amalek again. There's a day coming when God will completely put out the remembrance of Amalek and when we get home to glory.
We'll not have these conflicts. The flesh will be gone.
We'll be able to enjoy His presence, and when we rest the not blessed at home, as the little hen says, we'll look within and see no stain. But it says in the 16th verse.
For, he said, because the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Yes, as long as we're here from generation to generation, we're going to have this conflict. But let us remember, the Lord didn't say you will have war with Amalek. It says the Lord will have war with Amalek. The Lord, Yes, the battle is his. He's the one who alone can overcome all. You say that flesh within me so miserable. I feel so helpless.
Always in the bless of the sea the flesh lusteth against the Spirit. The Spirit of God who dwells in you, is the power to meet those to meet the attacks of the enemy.
I May Dwell Among Them
Address—A.C. Hayhoe
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The 25th chapter of the Book of Exodus.
Exodus chapter 25, verse one.
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, verse 8.
And let them make me a sanctuary that I.
May dwell among them. That's to me a very, very marvelous and wonderful statement.
Here is the Lord expressing to His people through Moses.
The desire of his heart in these wonderful words. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. The first time we ever find any such expression or any such thought in the Word of God. If we were to go back to the book of Genesis, we'd find there the dog looked down at Adam and Eve in their innocence in the garden.
And he accompanied with them, he conversed and walked with them in the cool of the day that he made no suggestion of dwelling. With that we find that he visited with Abram and Sarah at their tent door and enjoyed their hospitality and communed with Abraham. But he made no mention of dwelling with Abram. But now he looks down and in the 25th of Exodus, for the first time he reveals something.
Something new. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them.
The loving heart of God. I believe in expressing itself here in a way that should speak afresh to each of us tonight. The desire of God's heart for the company of His people, expressed in this language that I may dwell with them. Why would it be that we find this first of all in the 25th of Exodus? I believe perhaps we could say that God for the first time is able to look down on.
And redeem people. Israel is now a redeemed people. They were sheltered by the blood of the slain lamb while yet in Egypt, and their houses were passed by because the blood was sprinkled on the door. And just as we mentioned that there is to me a lovely little thought in that story. We sometimes hear it told as though.
Judgment fell on this home and on that home, but judgment didn't touch this one because there was blood on the door.
Well, when I think of the story, I like to think of it this way. I believe that judgment fell on every home in all the land, Egyptian and Israelite alike. On some homes it fell on the 1St thorn, on others it fell on the land.
Isn't that right? Judgment fell on every home, but in some cases it was the first born. In others it was the Lamb. By the grace of God, your judgment and mine has already been born by the land of Gods providing our Lord Jesus Christ. But the children of Israel were not spoken of as a redeemed people until they stood on the other side of the Red Sea and sang with joy of heart.
Thou and thy mercy has LED forth thy people, which thou hast redeemed.
We would find if we went back to the 6th chapter of Exodus, that the Lord promised them that wonderful condition. I will redeem you to me with a stretched out arm. I love that thought. I will redeem you to me. Ah, that's the purpose of redemption, That those who enter into that glorious place now belong to the one who paid redemption price.
Would you forgive a little story in that connection?
When I was going to Sunday school, my teacher told me the story of a boy who had a great deal of time and labor, built a beautiful sailboat, and one spring day he took that sailboat out on the lake near his home. He had a long string attached to the prowl of his boat, and to his delight it performed beautifully. It sailed this way and that, and he was so excited that he let go of the stream, and he stood there in sad disappointment.
His sailboat grew fainter and fainter in the distance. He came home weeping. He said, Daddy, mother, I've lost my sailboat. The wind caught it, and away it went across the lake, and I don't suppose I'll ever see it again. He asked all his friends, but no one had seen his sailboat. Well, about a week later they were passing through the street of a town not very far away down the river, and he saw his sailboat in the window of a pawn shop.
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He went in full of eager excitement. He said, Mr. that my sailboat there in the window, I have made it. The man lifted it out of the window and showed it to him, and he said, yes, Sir, that's mine all right.
Well, a man said, I'm afraid if you want it, you'll have to redeem it because I paid so much for it and it will cost you $10 to redeem this boat, even though it may be yours in the first place.
Well, the boy was glad to find his boat, but he didn't know where he was going to find the $10, and he had to work very hard, $0.10 at a time, $0.25 here, until at last he had saved up $10. He eagerly went to the pawn shop, and there the money was all counted out on the counter, and the man handed over the sailboat to the little boy, and he took it home, most thankfully. And he walked in the door of his home. He didn't say a word to his father and mother. They watched and he went.
Threw up the stairs carrying his boat and into his bedroom of all places, with his boat. Well, his father tiptoed and looked around the door to see whatever he had taken his sailboat in there for, and the boy was kneeling down with his arms around his sailboat, kind of talking to it. He said both. I made you and I lost you. I found you and I redeemed you, and I'll never let you go again.
That's the story my Sunday school teacher told me, and I enjoyed it because I just knew that it fit my case.
He made me in the 1St place but I got away from him. He found me and he redeemed me and I know he's never going to let me go.
But that both belonged to that boy, isn't that right? He had double title to that book by makers, right and by Redeemers, right? He owned that book. Dear child of God, is that soul in your relationship with the one who died upon the cross? Indeed it is. Do we enjoy that relationship?
I didn't intend to get off of this branch of things when I read this verse, but I'll tell you another occasion, and this is even more solemnly practical to every one of us. A young Christian man stepped into the compartment of a train in England some time ago. If you've ever been in those compartments, you'll realize that they usually have four or six passengers. There were three young men in that compartment, and this believer made the 4th.
And presently one of the young men pulled out a deck of cards and shuffled them and offered some to the 1St and to the second, and offered some to the newcomers. And he just sat there with his hands folded in a very happy smile on his face. He said, no, Sir, He said, I don't play cards, you see, I don't have any hands.
Well, they looked at his hands and see that they could see that they were perfectly normal. So he smiled again and he said maybe I should explain. He said these hands don't belong to me. Well, that didn't help the picture anymore. They bewildered young man and he said, well I'll tell you, I am redeemed with the precious blood of Christ. I am not my own. I am bought with a price. Is that true? It is beloved, if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior, you.
I are redeemed and we now belong to Him who paid redemption price.
Why did He redeem us? That's the question I'm sure I can never answer. Thus the wondrous, eternal love of His heart that could look down at you and me and choose us to be part of redemption, toil to His own delight and joy and satisfaction forever. Now I think if we're honest, when we read the story of the children of Israel, we do shake our heads once in a while, don't we? And say, how could they be so, so complaining? How could they find fault so often?
How could they forget the Lord's goodness and blame Moses, and blame the Lord for every problem that ever came upon them? That we ourselves, I greatly fear, are no better. And yet, when we do read Israel's history, and their departure from the Lord, and their carelessness and their complaining and their idolatry, we marvel at the God who knew their whole history before it ever took place.
Could look down and say this to Moses.
Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Oh, I delight in this language to think that God's joy would be to dwell in the midst of his people. Well, you remember that Moses was called up to the top of Mount Sinai, and there he received from the Lord those 10 commands on two tables of stone.
Solemn, solemn commandments they were, and Moses came down from the mountains.
And before ever he entered the camp of Israel, he heard the sound of idolatrous revelry, and he took those two tables of stone and smashed them in pieces at the foot of the mountain. If he had walked into the midst of that camp carrying those two tables of stone, I quite expect that everyone in the camp would have been smitten dead. God could do no less. I'll tell you a strange thing. But sometimes in reading my Bible, I put my hand right over the next verse like this.
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And I say to myself, what would you expect God to do now if you had never read this before?
Have you ever tried that? It makes the next verse all the more marvelous when you do that.
And that's what I have done. When I have come to the point where Moses broke those two tables of stuff, I cover the rest and I say, what would I expect God to do now? Well, I'm sure my own conclusion would be I don't know what He's going to do, but I know what He certainly can't do. He'll never be able to give those same 10 commandments over again. You have to tone them down a little bit. Maybe he'll cut them back to 9:00 or 8:00 or 7:00, or maybe he'll.
Soften down their demands a little bit, but he'll never be able to give those same 10 commandments because we are so guilty.
But He did, He gave them the second time written with the finger of God, but this time he said, make me an ark, and cover that ark with gold, and put those two tables of stone within that ark of gold, and cover it over with a mercy seat, and put it in the very midst of that. And very people, they were still the same people. Their hearts and their conduct was just the same as before. But God found a way whereby He could dwell to the delight of His heart in the midst.
Both earring and guilty people. He dwelt there according to all His Holiness, but he dwelt there encased in that part, covered over with the blood sprinkles. Mercy seat. Oh dear Saints of God, what a marvelous picture we have in the Old Testament of a loving heart of God that would in no way lower His Holiness, and yet would find a way whereby he might dwell in the midst of His people.
And we know, although we're not going to go into it tonight, that God left absolutely nothing for Moses or for the people of Israel to decide for themselves. He didn't say, now you build a sanctuary according to the materials that you might find available. You build it just as you wish. And I'll sanction your opinions. Oh no. The instructions given for the building of this Tabernacle and for all that it contained.
Most minute detail, and every detail of it has the most marvelous lesson for the heart. Marvelous. Some time ago with a group of young people back home, we said about trying to build a model of the Tabernacle and the furniture in it. And I'm glad we did, because I made a mistake in every piece of furniture I tried to make.
I was surprised and every mistake I made I just would read the instructions rather carelessly and go about making the.
Piece of furniture. And then I'd look at them and find that my own ideas, my own thoughts that entered into it, and I had to change every piece I made.
I'm marvel, and I delight as I read the beauty and the wisdom of the accuracy of God's account. And Moses, dear obedient servant of God that he was, saw to it that everything about that Tabernacle was just exactly as God had ordered, even the direction that that Tabernacle would face.
Everything that went into the building of it was exactly as God had ordered it.
And where did they get all the materials for it? Perhaps that has puzzled us once in a while. Here and there perhaps we find a little hint of where those materials came from. For instance, I puzzled for a while over the badger skins, and I wondered wherever would they get those badger skins in the wilderness?
Well, you know, it tells us in Ezekiel. I shod you with badger skin.
It's evident if we look it up in a good Bible dictionary that badger skinned. If they were exactly the same as we know them now, I can't be sure. The alternate suggestion in a Bible dictionary is porpoise skin. Quite a different thing I will admit, but that's the alternate rendering of that same word. And apparently porpoise skins were very common in Egypt and were used also for footwear.
The Bible suggests that too in saying I shall do with badger skin. Well, my conclusion is this, that when the children of Israel left the land of Egypt, they knew they had a long walk ahead of us. And so I suppose they brought along some extra skins to mend their shoes along the way or to build new ones if their shoes should wear out. But they just got nicely started on their journey and God said, let me have those badger skins, I have need of them.
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For a covering for the Tabernacle. And they handed over their badger skins, which they brought along for their footwear. And what did the Lord do about it? He took care of their footwear.
Their shoes didn't wear out and their feet didn't swell for 40 years of walking. I believe there's just a little thought there that if you and I are ever called upon by the Lord to just turn over something that we might consider to be useful for our own advancement to Him, don't you think?
Don't you think that He will make it up to us? Indeed, beloved, He will. Well, suppose we go on a little bit with this thought. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them. Now, in addition to this, we won't turn to it. But if we were to turn to the book of Deuteronomy, we would find that 21 Times in that one book alone. God told Israel that He was going to choose a place to set his name when finally they arrived in the.
21 Times Now I believe there is a purpose in that. I am not an extremist, I hope, in using numbers and stretching a point to make it fit. But I believe that when you find the same thing repeated 21 Times in one book, that there must be a reason for, and I believe we all would accept the thought that seven is God's perfect number.
And three, we find in Scripture be to be total and complete witness. In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
Two is adequate witness, but three is complete witness, and when God repeats something 21 * 3 * 7, I believe there's no shadow of doubt in any mind that wishes to bow to it, that God is firmly, she firmly establishing His right to choose.
And to tell Israel what his choice is. Well, let's turn over then to the book of Joshua, shall we? The book of Joshua.
And the 18th chapter and the whole congregation of the children of Israel assembled together at Shiloh and set up the Tabernacle of the congregation there. Joshua 18, verse one. The whole congregation of Israel assembled together at Shiloh.
And set up the Tabernacle of the congregation there. Here we find that which God first of all owns in the land. He owns this Tabernacle as having been constructed according to His own plan and purpose. He honored it with His presence, His visible presence there in the wilderness. And now as they enter the land. And set up the sabernacle at Shiloh.
God delights to own that place as the place of His choice, and the whole congregation delighted to gather together there.
To me, the picture is beautiful and marvelous. God looks down and sees his beloved people gathered together. He sees that, but He Himself has presented to them, and there they gathered together, and the Lord delighted to be there in their midst, because he loved their company. But the rest of the story begins to become more and more sad.
We find that the children of Israel.
Began to turn in hearts away from the Lord. They still had the Tabernacle, and they still had the arc within it containing those two tables of stone. But we find a sad picture that in hearts they gradually became more and more careless, more and more indifference to the claims which ought to have had first place in their lives.
Oh dear child of God, I trust these thoughts will search my own heart afresh tonight.
To have this precious living Word of God, it's one thing to have in our souls by matchless grace, I trust, I say it humbly, the sense in our souls that we are gathered where His precious Word would gather us around Himself. But is there not the danger that this very thing might simply become to anyone of us a form?
Or a doctrine that is held by us, however firmly we might hold it, and in our hearts perhaps the attraction of the person of Christ might be more dim to us.
I remember one time we were having a meeting in Trinidad.
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And we had our meeting that evening on the Second Epistle to the Ephesians.
I announced that night that we were going to have a reading from the 2nd Epistle to the Aesthesia. Then they turn, hit her and sit her in their Bibles, and looked at one another in great bewilderment, whispering one to the other. What did he say? And I repeated the second Epistle to the Ephesians. You'll find it in Revelation chapter 2.
Well, it hadn't occurred to them before that that little letter written in Revelation chapter 2 to the church at Ephesus was actually a second epistle to the Ephesians. And do you know why I introduced it that way? Because the law that I wanted to stress the point that burdens my heart as I stand here tonight, that assembly had received that wondrous revelation of truth in that glorious epistle to be of reason.
That which lifts us up and seeks us in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that same assembly before the Word of God flows.
Had to receive the solemn reminder from God's heart that they had left their first love. He says. I remember thine lay thy work and thy labor and thy patience, but they had left their first love. Oh dear Saints of God, as I read of God's loving heart that gathered his people together and delighted to be in their midst, my heart is saddened when I come to the story that shows their hearts changing, not his their hearts.
Told not his, and as I see it in Ephesus, I cried of the Lord that it may not come into our lives.
I remember there was a dear brother sitting on the front row that evening. And I said to him, Brother, I've been to your home quite often. And I said, suppose that after you and your dear wife had been married for 20 years, that she could cook better, she could keep house better, she could care for your clothes better than she did when you were first married, but she didn't love you as much. What would you do? Just like that, he said. I'd cry, brother. That's the way he felt about it. I'd cry.
Oh dear child of God, you and I might possibly know a few more verses of our Bibles than we did the day the Lord redeemed us. And what about the affections of our hearts? Let's turn over to the Book of Judges.
It's sad to do this, but here's the record. The last chapter of the book of Judges, Judges chapter 21 and verse.
19.
Then they said, behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Silo yearly.
Now you notice these words in a place are in italics, and we could easily get the sense by omitting them. I'm going to read the verse without those words. Then they said, behold, there is a feast of the Lord in Shiloh yearly, which is on the north side of Bethel, on the east side of the highway that goeth up from Bethel to Shechem, and on the South of Le Bona.
This to me is a very sad verse. The children of Israel are now being told of a certain remote, unheard of, forgotten place called Shiloh. Shiloh, the moment you mentioned that word, every Israelite ought to be able to say, I know where that is. That's where the Tabernacle is, that's where the Lord dwells. That's where I'd be like to be. But now we've just turned to the next book and we find that the children of Israel.
Are being told at a certain place called Shiloh and they have to be given the most minute and detailed instructions where to find this place called Shiloh. Now dear child of God this does speak to our heart. We're not pointing our fingers back across the centuries and finding fault with the children of Israel. I trust we'll point the finger right here and search our own heart that in all the confusion that abounds around us in what is known as.
Where? Where shall we find ourselves gather together? Do we have any answer from this in the Word of God? I believe I can say this, and I trust it will speak to each of our hearts. Everyone redeemed by the precious blood of Christ ought to be gathered where they know the Lord would have them to be gathered, or they ought to be prayerfully seeking for such a place. Anything else? I.
Is indifference.
The claims of the Lord's own name. I say again that everyone redeemed by the precious blood of Christ ought to be thankfully convinced by the grace of God that he is gathered where the Lord would have him to be, or he ought to be prayerfully seeking for such a place. Well, I would like to turn over then from this to the New Testament, the history, as you know, as we continue to become more and more sad, and yet from time to time.
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There is a very, very happy and encouraging note. In fact, perhaps we could turn to one in Second Chronicles. Shall we just do that? Second Chronicles, chapter 30?
Passing over all these chapters, perhaps we should give a little account. As you know, the Lord finally chose Jerusalem.
The Temple was built there, the ark was brought up to the Temple at Jerusalem. And here also I think it is a very interesting and remarkable thing that art contained three things. It contained the two tables of stone on which were written the 10 commandments. It contained also the golden pot that had manner, and it contained Aaron's rod that budded.
Those three things were carried in that ark between those two poles all through their years of wandering in the wilderness, and I believe they would remind us of these three things. The two tables of stone on which were written the 10 commandments, would remind us surely of a holy and glorious person of Christ.
The one in whom is no variableness nor shadow of turning, but also along with those two tables of stone we find.
The golden thoughts that had manna, I believe that would remind us of the matchless and wonderful grace of God, that in spite of our murmurings, has met our needs every day of our journey. For six days in the week that manna fell and met the need of Israel, in spite of all their complaining, they got tired of the taste of it and they lusted after the food they had eaten in Egypt. Did the Lord stop the man? And no, He did not that.
Can you defeat them for all their years of wandering? The golden thought that had manna was right inside that ark and journeyed with them all the way through their wandering and Aaron's robbed and budded. There are various meanings, I'm sure, in that interesting type, but I believe we could take from it a reminder of the government of God that also accompanies us in our journey through the wilderness.
That rod was.
Placed in there just after the rebellion of Cora Faithan and Abiram, and I believe would most certainly remind us of the government of God. Now, dear child of God, is it not true that all the way through your journey and mine, from the day of our conversion until the day when we reach home, we will have with us Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever, and we will also have with us.
The wonderful grace of God. What would we do without it? Every day we need it, and every day we receive it. But what about the wrong? We have a government of God too. The grace of God and the government of God to accompany us all the way through our wanderings. But this is a very interesting thing. When that arc was finally brought in. First Kings eight, I believe.
I better not give you a false chapter. I think it's first King's faith.
First Kings eight chapter verse 8:00 and 9:00.
And they threw out the stage, that the ends of the stage were seen out in the holy place before the Oracle, and they were not seen without. And there they are to this day. There was nothing in the ark, say, the two tables of stone which Moses put there for it. That's surprising, isn't it? All the way through the wilderness there were the two tables of stone and.
The golden pot that had Manna and Aaron's Robert budded. Now when the ark is set down in its final resting place in the Temple in Jerusalem.
The Word of God says there was nothing in the ark but the two tables of stone. To me, that's marvelous up there in the glory. Are we going to need the grace of God? No, we're not. Are we going to need the government of God? Thank God will not. But what about the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ forever and ever, that same glorious presence which we have enjoyed all the way through the wilderness?
But will no longer need the manner or the rock. And it tells us furthermore, that the staves were taken out from that arken place, so at the end of the stage could be seen in the holy place.
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Just think that God will give them instructions what to do with those days. You're not going to need them anymore, but just place them so they can be seen as a reminder of His faithful care through the wilderness. Won't that be a sweet memory up there in the glory? Our wanderings will all be over, but we'll have the memory of them. We'll have what is simplified by those two rods, that which will remind you and me, beloved Saints, of God, of His.
His faithfulness, his grace, his government that went with us all the way through the journey when at last we're at home with himself.
Well, we were turned to Second Chronicles 30.
Verse one.
Before this chapter takes place, there has been, as you know, a separation in Israel. A man named Jeroboam has gotten quite disturbed because of the rather rough words of King Reable and terrible in anger, took 10 tribes with him and turned his back on the House of the Lord at Jerusalem and admitted that he was doing so and took these 10 tribes off. And no sooner had he done so than he realized that he would need to have.
Center for them immediately, or they would return to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. So he set up a center at Dan and another at Bethel.
Now I'm sure you've noticed that in reading the subsequent history of the kings of Israel who often find this expression, they sinned after the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Knee Back, who made Israel the sin. That sounds familiar, doesn't it? And nearly all those ungodly kings are said to have sinned after the sin of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who made Israel descend. I used to read that and think that man was probably so evil that God has covered over the wickedness of his life and just told us that.
Side effects on those who follow, but God didn't cover it over. I just hadn't read carefully enough. All of a sudden God tells us what that scene was. To wit, the setting up of those two false centers in Van and in Bethel. It was what we would call an ecclesiastical sin. He had two competitive centers. If you wish. There was Jerusalem, chosen of the Lord with the Lord's name established there. There was Dan and there was Bethel and those who met there outnumbered.
Jerusalem by 5 to one. And now dear King Hezekiah is raised up to reign over Jerusalem in the 30th chapter of Second Chronicles. And in the first verse Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to eat Freeman Manasseh, that they should come to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem, to keep the Passover under the Lord God of Israel.
Isn't that wonderful? Oh, I love this spirit. Here was their large hearted king Hezekiah.
He realized that a matchless grace of God, his feet were planted where the name of the Lord had been placed.
And he looked away off to his departed fellow Israelites that were meeting together as Van and Bethel, and he said, let's send them an invitation to come up to the House of the Lord at Jerusalem. Was that bigotry? Was that narrow mindedness? And no, it was God-given largeness of heart. That's what it was. And what were the results? Verse 10.
So the posts passed from city to city, through the country of heathrie and Manasseh, even under Zebulun, but they lacked them to scorn and mock them.
I pause at this verse when I visualize it. It happened a long time ago. Someone knocked at the door, and an Israelite answers the door and finds himself faced with an invitation from King Hezekiah in Jerusalem to come up to the House of the Lord at Osland to keep the Passover. And what does he do? He laughs and he mocks at the invitation. And he didn't realize when he was doing it that you and I were going to read about it tonight.
It happened a long time ago.
Does God actually record the attitude of man's heart to A to a thing like this where he worships? Does God care? Are we not entitled to make our own choice in these matters? Beloved, here is an invitation, I believe laid on Hezekiah heart by the Lord Himself. It sent out from door to door. And they laugh and they mark the invitation. I wonder why they did that. Don't you think Jerusalem ought to have stirred a deep feeling?
The soul of every Israelite, Jerusalem, that desire, my heart had always been to be there. But no, when they heard the name Jerusalem, this is what I believe they said to themselves. I've worshipped in Dan all my life. My father worshipped there and my grandfather worshipped there. And it's good enough for me. But the next verse really touches my heart nevertheless.
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Divers and Asher and Manasseh and a Zebulun humble themselves.
And came to Jerusalem.
Do you mean to say it was a humbling thing for an Israelite to go to Jerusalem and ought to have been a moment of profound joy? Picture this one of the tribe of Asher. He reads the invitation. He bowed his head, and the memory returns. The name of Jerusalem, the House of the Lord, the name of the Lord. How do we come to be down here in Dan and Bethel? He humbles himself.
He takes his family and they start down the road towards Jerusalem and the neighbors see them going. Where are you going?
We're going to Jerusalem. You'll mean at the invitation of Hezekiah, you're going all the way to Jerusalem to keep the Passover. Yes, Sir, we're going to Jerusalem. For we believe that the House of the Lord and the name of the Lord is at Jerusalem, neither a Dan or a Bethel. It would be a humbling thing.
But I believe there's a happy and lovely sequel to this you remember in Luke's gospel.
We read when the Lord Jesus was born and was brought into the temple.
That there was one Anna of the tribe of Asher waiting to welcome the Lord Jesus. How did she happen to be in Jerusalem? Only the two tribes, Tudor and Benjamin, were in Jerusalem at the time of the birth of Christ. The rest had been carried to end of captivity and are lost to this day. How did Anna of the tribe of Asher happen? That's not a very good word to use, is it? How did she find herself in Jerusalem? I believe the answer.
Here I believe Anna's forefathers, Anna's ancestors, went up to Jerusalem to worship in the days of Hezekiah and never returned again. I believe they found the place where the Lord had said His name. Oh beloved, by the grace of God, I want to be there when He comes.
I want to be found where his name has been placed by sovereign grace, and I desire that that may be true of you too, my dear foul believer. It's a privilege which we cannot make up for. After we reach home, could we just turn over then to the New Testament? Suppose we turn to John's gospel.
And the verse that suddenly comes to my heart is a strange one to read. But.
Perhaps it will present a lesson for us and 9th taste of John and the 17th and 18th verses.
And he bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew, where they crucified him and two other, with him on either side, one and Jesus.
In the midst. Now that's the expression that came to my heart, Jesus, in the midst.
Way back in the 25th of Exodus, the Lord looked down and said, Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
The desire of his heart so beautifully expressed that His irons are realized. As He dwelt in the midst of that rebellious people, farther and farther their hearts were turned away from him. And here, beloved, we find this one who spoke in the Old Testament. He comes down among men.
He was born in a Manger. He started both to minister unto unfold a loving heart of God to his people that were so dear to him. And they lead him to the brow of the hill where on their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong. They take up stones to cast at him. And finally, beloved, this is where we find him.
The 17th verse He bearing his cross went for. Oh, I remember one day reading that verse, and I stopped right there. He bearing his cross went forth, and the word suddenly struck home to me. He bearing his cross went forth.
Let us go forth, therefore unto Him. That's the answer that came to me as I read this verse. And I pictured my blessed savour with a crown of thorns upon his brow, and the cross upon his back. He looked out from pilot's judgment on there he sees Golgotha.
And he went forth. And why did he go forth? Because he loved you and because he loved me. Even though he was rejected by those who were so dear to his heart, even though he was not wanted in the very temple that was supposedly to his prey, He's rejected by the nation. He goes forth. He's going to go right clean outside the city. He goes forth for you.
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And he turns and says, will you go forth?
For me, wouldn't it be lovely if all the Lord's people responded as he would love to have us respond, but the next verse says they crucified him and the two malefactors on either side one and Jesus in the midst. That had a familiar ring, doesn't it?
Jesus in the midst.
Is that what the world thinks of the Lord Jesus? That's what they thought of Him then. That's the place they afforded the Lord Jesus in the midst of their malefactors. If he came back again, would he find that men had changed their minds? You know he would. You know He would find this poor world remain that heart just as antagonized and just as rebellious to the precious and worthy person in the name of the Lord Jesus.
As they were in the day when they nailed him in the midst of their malefactors and set up over his head.
The only accusation that could be found against him? Jesus and Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
But that is not the end of the story, beloved. The end of the story is found in Revelation. So we turn to Chapter 5.
Revelation 5.
And verse 6 And I beheld, and lo, in the midst, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain. All this is what's coming, that blessed One whose name is so despised, that blessed One who this world placed in the midst of their malefactors, and crucified him there with the crown of thorns upon his head.
That glorious one will, in a coming day, occupy that place in the midst of all the majesty and glory of heavens worshipping hosts. Your Savior and my Savior is going to be in the midst of that glorious company. How do you feel about it when you read it? Doesn't it thrill your heart and make you think, yes, and thank God, I'll be there to see Him.
Receive His honored and deserved place, my voice by matchless grace.
Will be heard among those who will say desire worthy. For thou are slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. And I rekindled. And tongue and people and nations. Oh, if this language doesn't thrill your heart, my beloved friend, there's something sadly wrong. The one who was so despised, the one who is still despised.
Will in the coming day, with all worthiness receive that place in the midst of the worshipping host of eternal glory, and we'll see Him, occupy, see him. Yes, more than that.
Will share it with Him as His redeemed bride. In fact, we're not going to take time, but if we turn over to the 21St chapter of Revelation, we would find that Tabernacle of God is with men and He will dwell with them. Perhaps we should just take a look at the verse chapter 21 and verse 3.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. They love. This to me is most marvelous, the desire of Godfather expressed during the 25th of Exodus. Let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.
Is God going to be frustrated in the purposes of His love?
Has man been such a failure, and has Satan been so successful that God is going to have to turn aside from those purposes of love? No, thank God for it. The Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. God's delight, the delight of the heart of the Lord Jesus, eternally realized in dwelling.
Where surrounded by is redeemed.
You and me, yes.
He's going to find more delight in your company than in all creations, or in all the worshipping hosts of angels. It was brought to our attention at the meetings in Toronto recently from the top Dr. of Hebrews concerning the place now occupied by angels in the administration of God's purposes.
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And of how they are now gathered in worshipping obedience.
Around the throne. But the day is coming when God is going to have, when the Lord Jesus is going to have near to his heart forever. Not those worshipping hosts of angels, but you, my beloved and I and all the redeemed. And the thought just swept over our soul, so that after meeting various ones were speaking about it and the language expressed was something like this.
As though the Lord would say, stand aside Michael, stand aside Gabriel, here comes brother, might as well use the name. Here comes brother Tail and here comes brother Alan.
Just think of that. The angels who never sinned step aside, are the redeemed of Adams race, draw near and are united to the Lord Jesus Christ and the eternal chosen Bride. He will dwell with them and He will find His eternal delight in having us close to His loving heart. But I believe we skipped over something that God has in wondrous grace provided.
We noticed in the 19th chapter of Dawn, and the Lord Jesus was placed by this world in the midst of their manufacturers.
That's what they thought of Him, and that's what they think of Him. Still we turn to the fifth of Revelation, and we see Him in the midst of the worshipping hosts of heaven. We find ourselves looking back to Calvary and looking ahead to glory. But it seems to me as though the Lord would say, you needn't wait until you reach that home. I'll give you the privilege now of being where the Lord is in the midst.
Let's end, shall we, with Matthew 18 and 20. Matthew chapter 18.
Verse 20.
Forward two or three.
Are gathered together in my name. There am I in the midst of them.
We're not left to stand here in the wilderness looking back to Calvary and thanking God that we are no longer numbered among those who placed Him in the midst of the world malefactors. We're not left any longer looking ahead and saying, well, I'll have to wait for the day when He has his rightful place in order to see him in the midst. But I believe you're a child of God that there is offered to us while we are on our way through the wilderness, the opportunity.
To show before Him, before angels, and before this world, the value that our redeemed heart ought to place upon the Person and the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. There were not many in Israel who value that place.
The name of Shiloh and its location were soon forgotten.
Jerusalem with the House of the Lord was soon forgotten and it was a humbling thing to be found on your way to Jerusalem and how it is today. Is the privilege of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus a highly esteemed and honored privilege in this world, even in this religious world. I remember on one occasion in Ottawa I was called upon to go to the home of one of the highest church dignitaries there.
His wife was an invalid in a wheelchair and not able to get out.
And she needed certain services and so they asked me if I would come and do what?
I felt to be done, and this man in the position he occupied was of course every inch of polished gentleman. He met me at the door and ushered me into the beautiful home with all courtesy, brought me into the room where his wife was, and I tried to do what I felt could be done. Eventually she seemed very relieved and comfortable.
And as I went to leave, I felt that something perhaps ought to be said to this dear man. I hoped from 1 believer to another. So I looked on his desk and I saw there a Bible and a prayer book and a few other things that seemed to me to be a little out of place on a desk of a man like that. But I said nothing about these other objects. I just pointed to the word of God. And I said, Sir, I love that book.
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Well, he seemed to be a little disturbed by that and he picked up his prayer book and he said.
Here's a wonderful book. Well, you know, I've never had a prayer book in my hand, and I just didn't know what was in it, so I didn't say anything at all.
And then he did become suspicious. He said to me, what denomination do you belong to?
Well, I said, Sir, I don't suppose I belong to anything that you would call a denomination, but I do love the Lord Jesus and I'm gathered to his precious name.
He just turned and walked toward the door like this and held the door open and I walked out and I heard the door closed behind me. Something like that. That was the end. What had I said to that man? I said I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I have gathered to His precious name.
Do I have scripture for a confession like that? Supposing I had said to him while I am an elder in such and such a proof or this or that, he would have said, oh that's fun. I've got some very fun friends in that group. Wouldn't he not? But beloved, the name of the Lord Jesus, the all sufficient name of the Lord Jesus Christ, the name that was nailed to the cross, the name that will be magnified and glorified forever.
Is that name enough for us here? It ought to be. It ought to be to see His desire expressed back there in the Old Testament, to see it gloriously fulfilled and eternally realized in Revelation 21.
It ought to stir within our hearts a fervent, prayerful desire to honor that name as He has given us opportunity to honor it while we wait for that precious day. If this book is all sufficient to us, we will be found honoring no other name than the name of the Lord Jesus. Will you spare a moment while I give you 1 illustration that I have presented?
And it speaks to my own heart and I trust maybe of hell.
I have been confronted, as you may imagine.
Pretty strong pressure and opposition from those who despise and reject.
The insignificance of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. Well, I say something like that. I believe this to be the word of God from cover to cover. I believe it contains all the light and all the wisdom that I will ever need at a side of God. Now let's keep the cold that instead of holding my hand, a King James Version of the Word of God, I hold instead.
The Word of God in the native language of one of the tribes in the heart of Africa.
And I present that book in its native language to a man of that part in Africa. And that man has never heard the denominational names that abound around us in Saint Louis or where I come from. He's never seen a curve. He's never heard those names. And I asked this man.
Do you suppose that that dear native, through reading the word of God, I alone?
But look up from that precious book and finally say thank God, Thank God. I know that although I have been guilty in the sight of God, He loved me. He sent His Son the Lord Jesus to redeem me. And I believe from this wonderful book that all my sins have been washed away in the precious blood of Jesus. Well, if the man is a believer, he will say, yes. I do believe that a native in the heart of Africa could find that wonderful truth from reading the Word of God alone.
So I asked the manual, do you suppose then if that man continues to read this book and he finally gets to the Book of Revelation and he closes the book, would he look around and say, oh, if only there were such and such a church here, I'd go and join it because that's what I find my Bible tells me I ought to do.
Wouldn't he say that you know very well he wouldn't.
Would he turn around and say, well, if only there were this kind of church in Africa, I'd go and join it because that's what the Bible tells me on how to do. Would he, these names that are so popular and highly esteemed in Christian, and would that man was this book alone come to such conclusions? What might he say? I believe if he read this book with an obedient answer, Missus Hart, he'd look up from his pages and say all, if only.
There were some fellow believers here we could meet together.
To show forth the Lord Satan, to exalt His precious name together, feared pile of God. I just want to leave that thought quickly. It is a heart of God's question, Love. Let them make me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them and dwell among men He will, but in the meantime He leads to us the privilege. May it be sweeter and sweeter to our heart while we wait for the sound of His welcome voice.
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For two or three are gathered together in my name.
In the sense of it.
Gospel
Gospel—P. Glading
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They returned to the 6th chapter of Joshua.
Joshua Thick, now Jericho was straightly shut up.
Because of the children of Israel, none went out and none came in.
And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given into thine hand Jericho, and the king thereon, and the mighty man of men of valor, and he shall compass the city, all he men at war, and go around the ******* city once Thus shalt thou do six days, and seven priests shall bear before the ark 7 trumpets of ramthorns.
And the 7th day he shall compass the city 7 times, and the priest shall blow the trumpet. And as you come to pass, that when they make a long blast.
With the ram of horn. And when he hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great charity, and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up, every man straight before him. And Joshua the Son of Man, called the priests, and said unto them, Take up the ark of the Covenant, and let 7 priests spare 7 trumpets of ram.
For the ark of the Lord.
And he said unto the people, hath on, and compassed the city, and let him let his arms pass on before the ark of the Lord. And it came to pass, when Joshua had spoken unto the people, that the seven priests bearing the seven trumpets of Ram's horns passed down before the Lord, and blew the trumpets, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord followed them.
And the armed men went before the priest and blew the trumpets.
And the real world came after the army, the priests going on and blowing with the trumpets.
And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, He shall not shout, nor make any noise with your voice, not a shining word proceed out of your mouth until the day I envy you shout. Then ye shall shout. So the ark of the Lord compass the city, going about it once. And we came into the camp and lodged in the camp. And Joshua rose early in the morning, and the priests took up the art of the Lord.
And seven priests bearing 7 trumpets of ram horns before the ark of the Lord went on continually and blew the trumpets.
And the armed men went before them, but the real one warned came after the earth of the Lord the priest, going on and blowing with the trumpets. And the second day they compassed the city once, and returned into the camp. So they did six days, and it came to pass on the 7th day that they rose early about the dawning of the day.
And encompassed the city of the same manner 7 times.
Only on that day they encompassed the city 7 times, and it came to pass at the 7th time when the priest blew the thrombus Joshua set out of the people shout for the law has given you the city, and the city shall be accursed, even if and all that are therein to the Lord. Only way had The Alchemist.
She and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messengers that we sent.
And G in any way keep yourself from the accursed thing, lest you make yourselves accursed when you think of the accursed things, and make the camp of Israel across, and trouble it. But all the silver and gold, and vessels of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord, They shall come into the treasury of the Lord.
So the people shouted when the police priests blew the trumpets.
And it came to pass when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him. And they took the city, and they utterly destroyed all that was in the city, both man and woman, young and old enough and sheep, and asked with the age of a God.
But Joshua had said unto the two men that had spied at the country.
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Go into the college house, and bring out bench the woman, and all that she hath, as ye swear unto her. And the young men that were spies went in and brought out Rayhad with, and her father, and her mother, and her brethren, and all that she had, And they brought out all her kindred, and left them without the hand of Israel.
And they burned the city with fire and all that one they're in, all the silver and the gold and the vessels of brass and iron.
They put in the treasure of the House of the Lord, and Joshua said Ray had the heart of the life.
And her father's household, and all that she had, and she dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent aspired Jericho. And Joshua adjured there at that time, saying, First be the man before the Lord, that riseth up and buildeth his city, Jericho. He shall lay the foundation thereof in his first form, and in his youngest son.
Shall we set up the gates of it? So the Lord was with Joshua and his famous noise throughout all the country.
In this chapter, Israel is about to commence aggressive warfare but is confronted by the towering walls of Jericho.
But the Lord had given the Joshua the promise, he says in the second verse. And the Lord said unto Joshua, See, I have given the divine hand Jericho, and the Kingdom of, and the mighty men of valor.
Part of terrible condition of things response.
Everybody in the city of Jericho had shut their homes and their hearts against the messengers of God. They would not receive the message nor yet the messengers. But there was one woman, a poor woman of Harlow, living on the City Hall to open her home in her heart to the messengers of God and believe the message, and she took the messengers in.
Well here in the first verse it says now Jericho was straightly shut up.
What a solemn statement this is. Shut up. Man went out, and none came in. What a picture of the way in which Satan 45 is the National Heart against the Word of God. Every summons to surrender is disregarded, and although judgment is about to fall, the Sinner apparently is untouched and unknown, and does not turn to the one who can save from coming judgment.
And so we find that this poor woman, what a character she was too. She opened her heart and her home to the messengers of God, and she believed the message too. Have you opened your heart for the message of God? Everyone here? Have you believed the record that God has given us his Son? Have you accept your feel that God is true? Do you believe that judgment is coming?
Is your heart closed against the love and grace and salvation of God? Dear friends, if I remember, judgment is coming.
Oh yes, it is. And judgment was about to fall upon this perfect city. And it did fall as we read further on. But before the judgment fell, we found the Lord gave Joshua this wonderful word of encouragement. And what a word of encouragement is. It is to the evangelist who ventures alone in the enemy's country.
About to attack the strongholds of Satan.
You remember what the Lord said to the very first evangelist. He says, all power is given unto me both in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore. And now the Lord gave this wonderful promise to Joshua. He says, the Lord said to Joshua, see, I have given him to thine hand, the city, and all of these areas. What a wonderful promise. And it is a promise that Joshua could rely upon because the Lord carried.
In connection with that first.
Declaration by the law to the very first evangelist and very scripture, beloved friends, was a wonderful source of encouragement and strengthened me. In China, I used to visit the soldiers camps every week, two camps of thousand men in each camp. And as I entered those camps, the air was filled with blasphemy, without, with purses, with filthy language. And I stood at the gate and trembled many times and said, Lord, give me courage, give me strength to go in.
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And very, very frequently this very verse came before me. All power is given unto me. Go ye, therefore that's all I need. The Lord didn't say I'll give you the power, said It's all mine, both in heaven and in earth. And now you go on the strength of that.
And serve his 31St. So I've just frozen has been a great source of strength and comfort to my own heart, my own experience. So I can imagine how Joshua fell within the middle when he was confronted by a towering wall to this great city and everybody in it except one person opposed to them. Enemies, enemies of the Lord and enemies of Joshua.
And get the Lord to say, see, I've given you the city.
And now he says, Anisha Joshua says, you shall compass the city all in many war, and go around the bath of sitting once last shalt thou do six days.
Now the assembled armies of the living God going around the city of Jericho and brought no tariff or Rayham whatever, nor yet to her household. Why? Why she lived on a City Hall. No, she can look down upon the host, the back, and make yourself without fear at all. Why? Because she had the scarlet thread in the window, that's why.
And because she had the word from the messenger, our life for yours.
You remember in the.
In the second chapter of Joshua, this poor woman says verse 12. Now therefore I pray you, she's speaking to the messengers, Swear unto me by the Lord, since I have showed you kindness, that she will also show kindness unto my father's house, and give me a true token to see. A woman was pleading for a true token.
Well, the messengers gave her true token. They said our life be yours, and they stood by it.
The Lord given us the true token, beloved, indeed He has. Why the resurrection of Christ? Is it not a true token? He was delivered for our offenses and raised again for our justification. What a glorious true token we have from God Himself. And so Joshua had this. This woman rather had this true token given her.
And you notice what it says a little further down verse 15.
Then she let them down by a cord through the window, for her house was upon the town wall, and she dwelt upon the wall.
I've had the privilege of going around one of these wall cities in China, so perhaps I can picture this in some little measure.
To see this four women's house on the city wall, she could see whatever was going on in the city and outside the city. And it's wonderful how far one can see when standing on this high, wide wall around the city. And there she was and says she left the messengers down by a crawled through the window.
Now you remember what they said to her.
Verse 18 The whole when we come into the land.
Thou shalt bind this line of scholar thread in the window which thou just left us down. By now that very scarlet lion, which was the means of their salvation and deliverance from that city, was the very means by which Murray had was sheltered from cunning judgment. And that would suggest to me, your friends, that there is only one way of safety and salvation.
And that's true the precious blood of Christ, which was shed of Calvary.
How beautiful. The notice that is very same line which she used to let the fires down by was the very line which shelters her from judgment. And they said, when we become into the land now you put the line window. Did she wait until that moment? No, she did not. She put it in right away. Right away she was in earnest. She was not going to lose an opportunity. She took advantage of the first opportunity.
And before the men had hardly left her house, that scarlet line was in the window. And so, as I remarked, she could look down upon the host about and make the assault without fear at all. The scarlet line was in the window. And she handed her the messengers word for it. Our life to yours. And so you and I, beloved, as believers on the Lord Jesus Christ.
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We can look down upon the judgment, so to speak, which is about to fall upon this Christ rejecting world without being moved at all. Why?
Because we're sheltered by the blood of Christ and will never reach out, but all have solemn to think it's going to reach some people. It's going to fall upon the rejected of Christ civil in their sins, that awful judgment which is about to be poured out upon this Christ rejecting world. It's going to fall on those who rejected Christ, those who are not sheltered by his precious blood.
But we who through grace are sheltered by the blood of the Lamb.
We can.
Rest unmoved while contemplating that awesome judgment which is about to fall on this world. And surely it will, and the day is appointed for it. How solemn the thought that God has appointed the very day in which judgment will fall from this world, and the one who is to execute the judgment has been appointed by God the Father to execute it. We get that in John five, do we not? I think.
22 it says, they are the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment under the sun. And in verse 27, little further down, it says, And hath given him the Son authority to execute judgment also, because he is the Son of man. But in the three moves, two precious verses, there it is.
Between the 22nd and the 27th we have that precious statement. There, verse 24, the one who is appointed to be the judge, he turns to the Sinner.
And he says, verily, verily, I send to you have personal, this is verily, verily. You have noticed possibly in John's Gospel we get that double oath of affirmation 25 times. Verily, verily, it's the Son of God speaking. He says, verily, verily, as much as to say, I want you to understand that I'm speaking to you and I want you to listen.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believe upon him that sends me half of a lasting life.
And shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life.
We do not read, as far as I recall in Scripture that we have saved, but we do read that statement with past from death unto light. That's how the Lord puts us in His very precious food. You and I through a graceful believe that pass from death unto life.
Isn't it wonderful to realize and rejoice in the night where we find them here?
Now let us look at the manner in which the army of the living God approaches the stronghold of the enemy, because it's full of instruction to every soldier of Jesus Christ.
There were seven priests. What a strange anomaly this is. It seems 7 priests should occupy such an important place in the arm. You're about to engage in conflict. 7 priests. What would that suggest to us? I believe that would suggest that God's soul is not being worshippered. Yes, or not. Now we find many dear Christians today who in love the.
Lots of souls busy themselves with much service. How often they seem to forget that that's not the first thing that God values serves. No, God values worship You remember what the Lord says to the little Samaria The Alchemist. Now is when the true worshippers shall worship the power in spirit and in truth.
For the Father seekers that to worship him, you know, beloved Saints of God, God is seeking worshippers.
Not workers. God is thinking worshippers. The Lord is looking for servants.
But we find that men often reverse the order and cease by working to become a worshiper.
It's not the way at all. No, no. And let us not forget, beloved, that worship is the very first thing in John called in the Scripture. You turn the pieces of person, you find it there. You turn the Hebrews, you find it there. You turn the first books, all books of the Bible, you find it there.
00:20:00
In Genesis we find man's fallen, he's a Sinner. In Exodus man is redeemed with the blood of a lamb, we find the liver. In Leviticus man is worshipping but the numbers he served so it's in divine order and that's when God values worship more than service. They both have their place and not condemning service, but there are many today who put service 1St and it's absolutely wrong.
Well, happier than these seven priests.
Taking up our position just in front of the arm.
And that's the place where God met worshippers, you know. Do you remember what the Lord said the most as there alive commune with thee. Now I'd like to turn a description in case I misquote it. I think it's the 25th chapter of Exodus. Yes, the 25th chapter of Exodus and verse 22. Or we could read verse 21. And that shall put the mercy seat above it on the ark, and in the ark that shall put the testimony that.
Give thee, and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat.
So the art is a place where God met worshippers, and there were these seven priests worshippers, and they had to go before the ark, and they were to blow these random horns constantly for seven days. And that was the only sound which must be heard during the whole seven days. And where was the sound? Where did it come from?
Next to the art, thus drawing attention to the Lord only.
And we find here in this chapter that little farther down, perhaps we're going a little too far. I'll just refer to it now. Verse 10. And Joshua had commanded the people, saying, He shall not shout nor make any noise with your voice, neither shall any word proceed out of your mouth until the day I bid you shout. Then shall he shout.
Fuel an action or anything of man coming in would have nullified the whole thing.
And would have evinced the spirit of willfulness so contrary to a man walking the power of his consecration.
In obedience and depends on God. Now there are two things that characterize these seven priests and it was that dependence upon God and obedience to his word. They need have no fears about the results. They were not armed at all. They were not the fire shot they would just walk around the city in the car that consecration because the Rams horn the ram was the animal killed at.
Of the priests, often rather at the consecration of the priests, of course killed food.
And the horn denotes power. So these seven priests would walk around the city in the power of their concentration, independence upon God, and in obedience to His Word. And what a glorious result. They didn't fire a shot, they didn't have to fight. They were not depending upon their souls and Spears and guns. No, they were just depending upon the word of God.
And you remember what Joshua said to the children of Israel and Joshua 3 verse 10.
He says the living God is among you. What the cheer this must have been to them. They were in the land and they had seven enemies to fight and overcome before they could enjoy the land. Now you and I through into the grace, we have no set of enemies to overcome. When we get into glory, there'll be no enemies there. But when they enter the land, they still have 7 enemies to overcome before they could take possession and enjoy the land.
And I'll just read the verse in the third chapter of Joshua.
It was so encouraging to the children of Israel. Verse 10, the third chapter. And Joshua said, Hereby ye shall know that the living God is among you. What would the power involved in Jericho mean? And the numerous enemies, what would they mean to the living God? Nothing, no, the living God could overcome them and begin. But what a word of encouragement this must have been to Joshua, the living God of among you.
What a precious word of encouragement. And so he says, and that he will without fail drive out from before you the Canyon ice. Count them the hicites, these private ice, the parasites, the Gerbesites, the Amorites, and the Jebusites.
What a precious word of encouragement. The living God is among you, and the love of thanks of God. Have we not the same promise? Is not the Lord Jesus with us every step of the journey? Indeed He is. He's promised never to leave us more to faith. Shall we need not fear the enemies? We can go on the strength of the Lord God, not in our own strength.
00:25:23
These seven priests didn't go on their own strength now they had the word of the Lord, and they were to walk in dependence upon His word without any fear whatever and.
Seven, it's very remarkable of many times we find the number seven mentioned in this chapter and seven really expresses the perfection, the perfection of all the resources we have in the living God.
And so they would just walk around the city once every day for six days in the power of their consecration. Nothing to fear, nothing to fear. They hadn't got a fire shot at all, just to walk around and blow the round form. And although the ram thorns might be the subject of ridicule to the people in the city, they were walking in the power of their consecration.
The Rams formed in those power, and there's the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord followed them, and the armed men went before the priest.
That blew the trumpet and the rearward came after the ark. The priests going on and blowing of the trumpets. Yes they were to blow the lambs horns every day for seven days. The 7th day when this day arrives, this wonderful baptism. Joshua rose up early in the morning and they started off around the city 7 times and you can imagine the really cold with the people in the city would make.
Possibly. Call them fools. Look at those people walking around the city just blowing around for them. What good will they do?
Yes, but then had the word of the Lord for it, and the Lord was going to give them the victory on the strength of their obedience and dependence upon Himself.
And so now the seven players arrived. Now they go around the city 7 times.
On the lowering Miranda's own trumpet, and the 7th time Joshua gave the word to all the people to scout. Now we find God's palm manifested in answer to the shout of faith.
All the people shouted, and you can imagine what a shouted must have been will not hold how many people there were there, but the most of being, I suppose hundreds or thousands. They all shouted as loud as they could. And what happened?
The walls of the city fell down flat, yet God, how manifested announces of the shout of faith. And your dear friends is another shout to take place. We are reading about it today. Are you ready for that shout? Will that be a shout, a signal for you to be delivered from coming Judson? Or will it be a signal for your destruction? It'll be one or the other.
Are the Lord shall descend from heaven with a shout.
And dear friends, we might hear the shout tonight. I say we, we who are believers, I do not believe the unbelievable here to shout. Remember going around the camp in Shanghai was in one of the soldiers house.
And the bill goes down and all the soldiers jump into the uniforms and ran out on the parade grounds as quickly as it could.
And one soul who passed me gave me a little nudge and said, look at that guy. He pointed to a young officer. And being the service long, you can look at him. He doesn't know what it means. All the other men heard the sound of the trumpet and they responded to it N they went to the parade ground. This young officer stood there looking bewildered, didn't know what it meant. I often thought of that since he was attached to the Army.
But as far as he was concerned, there is no combustion. He didn't know what it meant. He didn't respond to it.
Those who heard it responded to it, and they are way in the moment. And dear friends, soon we're going to hear the trumpet sound. Yes, they'll be a wonderful shout. And we who are ready will hear the shout and respond. Good. Be gone in the moment. Leave the scene behind forever. Are we all ready for the shout?
Well, the blessed thing it is to be like the way he had the harlot, and isn't it striking that God should call of the harlot on every occasion? Why would she saved and not be honest in this June city, whether it tells us in the 11Th chapter of Hebrews?
00:30:17
Hebrews 11.
Verse 30 and 31 by faith. By faith. Mind you, the walls of Jericho fell down after they were accomplished about seven days.
I think the Harlot Ray had perished not with them that believed not.
When she had received the spies with feet, it was not the case of the spies receiving her. It was a case of Ray had receiving the spying, the messengers of God and their message. Yes, she received it. All of the houses and homes and parks in that city were closed, he said. It was shut up because of the children of Israel.
But her home, and possibly a wicked home, she was in the heart of his days. Her home, her ears, her harbor open, received the the voice of the messengers and the solemn message. And she believed it.
And they told her of one way of escape from judgment which was coming upon the city. And dear friends, there only is one way of escape from coming judgment upon this world. Mr. Be sheltered by the precious blood of fight to put your faith in Christ and the shed blood. There's no other way of safety or shelter whatever.
And working took advantage of that, that God prayed. She put it in a window even before the men had popped and left her home. As soon as had been let down by that cord off the city wall, she put it in her window. That is the sign of her confidence in the God of Israel and His Word. Where is your confidence, friend, is in yourself.
Is it in anybody in this world or is it in Christ? Or how precious to have your confidence in faith?
In God, in the Son of his love, the Lord Jesus.
You know, we find a scholar thread running throughout Scripture from Genesis to Revelation, and we need to turn just for a moment, to the 31St chapter of Proverbs.
It's in connection with a virtuous woman first hand.
Father 3110, who confined the virtuous woman for her price, is far above Ruby, the heart of her husband, that safely trusting her, so that he shall have no need of spoil, she will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
Verse 21 She is not afraid of the snow for her household. Why? For all her households are clothed with God, all beloved. How fresh as it is when the whole household of a family clothes with God.
That is shelved by the precious blood of Christ. She was not afraid of the snow. She was not afraid of that which is to come, the storms of winter. No, a household of scarlet. And we get in the Song of Solomon. I think it's chapter 4.
My turn doing the case I'm wrong.
Chapter 4. Verse 3.
Thy list are like afraid of scholars. This surely prefigures the confession of the Sinner, the confession of Christ as the sinners only hope. Scarlet instructor speaks of dignity and Sharia. A name of dignity is mentioned in Roman 79. The name of the Lord Jesus Christ is satchel confessed to thy lips by mouth the Lord Jesus.
By lifting like a Freddie's column, If thou shall confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in mine heart that God was raising from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Well, how precious it is to be clothed in scarlet, that is, to be sheltered by the precious blood of Christ, Or when we find a whole family sheltered by the blood of Christ and happy it is what a precious thing it is. Well, how is it without? Tonight? Are we close with scarlet?
00:35:00
This I do believe proficiency sentence compassion of Christ as his only hope of salvation. Christ, the only one who can felt like an incoming judgment by his precious blood. Well to get back to oncaster.
It says in brought 16 and it came to pass at the 7th time when the priest blew the trumpet Joshua set unto a Beatles shout for the Lord that's giving you the city and the city shall be encouraged, even it and all that other into the Lord only bring him to harmony to live. She and all that are with her in the house because she hid the messages.
That we spent twice. We're told that in this chapter.
Hid the messenger which we sent. Yes, she had room for them. Your friend, you have room for God's message tonight, the message of powerful peace and salvation. Blue faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember that child is coming. This is a mighty shout result lost the whole city collapse.
And then the whole city was devoted to judgment. Yes, it was a picture of this world, and this world is going to come under the judgment of God. But there is a way of escape tonight.
And it's faith in the Lord Jesus and when he sheds love. And there's no other way of escape, friends, none other escape at all. And so how informed that is to have this matter settled tonight. Where will you spend eternity? Where you go? We all know that we are on a journey. We cannot dispute the fact we're all traveling together. But where are we going?
We're going to one of two places. Everyone in the hall tonight is going to one or two places.
By the heaven or hell for everyone here tonight, let's make no mistake about it. We need to speak plainly these days, you know.
People are really not disturbed at all by the gospel. If you Thunder at them with the back of judgment of God, it makes no difference. If you speak to them of a wondrous love of God, it makes no difference.
But all the things that the moon is coming, when such so disregard gone off of mercy and grace and salvation now will stand before that blessed one, the Lord Jesus in faith to be judged for their sins and tossed into hell finally.
What a terrible caution in the blackness of darkness. Forever tormented day and night. Thinking as friends, tormented day and night. We have a picture of that in Luke Gospel. The rich man in here that says he was tormented but Lazarus was confident. What a difference.
Is going to be comfortable for all eternity or tormented for all eternity? It will be one or the other, friends with everyone of us, or see to it that will not. Tormented day and night, forever and ever in the blackness of darkness, away from God, where there's no salvation, no second chance, no blood, no Christians, no hope, nothing but judgment.
All the terrible caution, and yet men, women and children are going on today heedless, regardless, regardless of their eternal destiny.
No acting as if there's no Christ, no hell, no salvation, no heaven. But there is. There is an heaven and a hell. And I say again, you and I, dear friends, are going to one of those two places, and we may reach that stronger than we realize. Yes, the coming of the Lord may take place tonight. Are we ready for it? Dear young ones, Are you ready for Lord's coming?
He may come tonight. Daddy and Mummy gone to heaven. What about you?
Johnny left behind the gods Guzman that's the thing that's gone mentally when I was a youngster about your age and you might your father, mother was crazy and they are going to be with the Lord Jesus Christ. And I used to go and listen to King Hall of their bedroom at night. If I couldn't hear mummy's voice or daddy's voice, I thought oh, has the Lord come and taken them and left the judgment and that tremendously the whole night through.
But all in the morning, like when I heard them getting up, watering meets and now they were still there.
And I knew and the Lord had not found. But if the man came tonight, you be a young ones. Are you ready for it? Have you received the Lord Jesus Christ? You will say again, I am sheltered by the blood of the Lamb, which for a woman she deserved nothing else but eternity in hell. She is a wicked woman.
00:40:04
She saw lying she was a harmless or she deserves an eternity in hell. But God had mercy on that dear woman. And the lame is recorded in the lens of Hebrew as a face chapter and it requires the old fashioned mind to remind you of the wondrous grace of God of such a person. Yes, God's grace and glass of the violence it has done in my own case.
And the grace of God can go after you, and it does. What are we going to do about the grace of God tonight?
He's offered pardon, pardon for all our sins, behold in the glory of Christ Himself and to escape the judgment of God. All this is a free gift for those who put that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ and receive in the best Savior. Well, if the shout took place tonight, Henry would be left beyond his feet.
If the Lord gave us doubt within the next 5 minutes, who will be left here?
In the books of challenge on her, would it be me? Would I be left behind? Would mine be a daddy and mummy be gone and me lashing behind the gods judgment? What an awful thought. And there's no need for it. Though there is a way of escape. There is a way of escape for that wicked woman. A solid.
Rahan yes, there's one way of escape. The message of judgment came before she received that. She believed that, and she escaped adjustment because she received the message. She believed it. Are you going to receive a message of God waiting for forgiveness tonight through faith in Christ and escape God's government? You can.
The salvation is available right now. It may not be tomorrow. I dare not stand here and say, well, friend, you can be saved tomorrow. No, I would not say that because I have no authority to say so.
Have this authority from God's word to say you can be saved right now, this moment.
God uses that little word so frequently in instructions that falls. Now is the accepted time to hold. Now is the best salvation. Come now, have this reason together, acquaintance with him, and be at peace. It's now, my dear friend. It's now when she says, if you're gone to me, do not put it off another moment.
We're not sure the next moment why? When they hear the fact, we will know the Lord will be gone. What about you?
He left behind and nowhere to stay from God's awful Johnson and you could not say I'd never heard the gospel. I'd never heard the word salvation. You be young people here at the. I suppose every week faithfully put and so you have no excuse. Why haven't you accepted Christ. You remember what we get in the 14th of Louis it says when.
This great couple of after two and they all with one consent began to make excuse.
I hadn't one ready, but I too made one and it's amazing how people can make excuses.
Nor indeed it is if they do not want to come to Christ, and we find in that very Chapel that man does not want to come into close quarters with God.
Suffer salvation is offered, the invitation goes out to all and sundry, And they all, with one consent, began to make excuse. And what foolish and poultry excuses they were. They were just polite refusal.
What exclusive? You made this and the friends are not coming to Christ. Why haven't you received Him? He's available. He loves you, He dies for you. He wants to save you and to bless you, and He will if you let Him. He wants to do it now. Do not put it off. Do not go out of the door on your sins. You invent your parody in hell.
What a terrible thought, and it's true.
It's calm to be able to believe it, but nevertheless it's the truth of God's word. These are not our own concoctions or thoughts or opinions. God words. So we find here than the whole city was devoted to judgment when the shark was made, the city's house left in answer to faith.
And there's but all the silver and gold, investors of brass and iron are consecrated unto the Lord. They should come into the treasury of the Lord. So the people shouted. When the priest flew, the compass came to fall from the people, heard the sound of the trumpet, the people shouting, the Gray shark that the wall fell down flat, so that the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city, and they actually destroyed.
00:45:22
All of us in the city, not one, escape the plant from Rahab the harlot and her family.
The father of Harry, not one escape.
All right which would bear the action of the fire was consecrated under the law. The silver, the gold above the line, and so on. There are good be put in the treasure for law. They stood with fire, but the other didn't know. They perished. Everybody perished, and it says he has. They were slain with the edge of the saw. The first time we hear the saw being mentioned in this shall we call the great battle? And yet it wasn't.
Then the storm was not used until the city fell flat. So the sword was not used in order to execute or to gain the victory rather. No, it wasn't. The Lord gained the victory. He gave the word and he stood by him and befriends. God will forever stand by His word. What He says he will do.
When He says He'll appeal to give you on the ground to what Christ has done, he means it. He tells you He'll save your soul through this simple faith in Christ. You need it, and He will do so.
All others rely upon this Frankish word. How thankful we should be beloved that we have His Word to rest upon. What a foundation when everything around us is going to pieces. We still have a solid foundation of the immutable Word of God, that which can never pass away.
All have questions again and his fearing word is being attacked to down every hand, disbelieve, rejected and constituents worthless of all how valuable it is to us and should be when we realize it's the voice of God from my heart and soul.
And be your stood or how is your friend God for His Word? We can turn to it now and read it and I'll measure and enjoy the truth of it and comfort of it, assurance of it.
But Joshua said unto the two men of despised that the country going to the harvest house.
And bring us dance to women, and all that he hath. And she swear unto her.
And the promise was made, and it is to be paradise. And the young man that was fired went in and brought out Rahab and her father, and her mother and her brethren, and all that she had. They brought out all her kindred, and left them without the camp of Israel, and they burned the city with fire. And all that was there in what a terrible end to this wicked city.
And it affected their friends of the end of this world. It's going to be burned up. Where are your interests tonight? Are we in this world? If so, they're going to Paris with us.
Yes, this world, you find this tool to come under the judgment of God, people will not believe it.
You know the possible for this. All things continuously work on the beginning. There's no change. Everything is going on just the same. And people say, and naval artists have said to me, why don't you burn your Bibles? What good are they? Burn them, get rid of them.
Well, we have to remind that, naval officer, what the Lord says in John 1248. He that rejected me and receiveth not my word hath won. The judges him. The word that I have spoken the same shall judge him in the last day. It's a solemn thought, you know, to think of the word of Mendes 5 is going to judge them.
God bless her member leading a young soldier on the street in Cape Town. I was giving a gospel, the gospel according to Saint John. There were thousands of young soldiers.
Walling Streets and I had lots of thousands of these gospels. The Lion haven't had one to a youngst older who's alone and looked at it and said, you know, I used to print these in England. I said, did you? That's very interesting. He said yes, I did these very books I printed in England and said, do you mind if I ask you a question about them? Sure, he said.
00:50:00
So do you believe what you printed?
Really, can I printed them? I said yes, but do you believe what you friended? I said, you know, in that very book you printed now these words, my quote of that first John 1248, The very word you print is going to judge you if you do not believe it and receive it. The very word you printed and come to judgment and it's a fallen thought really is, but it's true. But what is your attitude to the word of God tonight? What is your attitude of the Christ?
The only save your sinners.
He's gonna receive him by faith into your heart tonight. He's going to say no to him. Are you going to be like this condition of things here? Jericho is straightly shut up.
Is your heart closed against God's salvation, beyond people, against His grace and love? Remember, judgment is coming. If you'll shut up or shut your heart up to Him, you'll be shut in hell for all eternity. You'll be shut up and shove in, shut out of heaven, and shut in hell for the loss of loss. But it's true.
It's really too strong to think about and talk about.
Well, there's much more than this in the chapter, but there's about 25. And Joshua stayed. Raha Ray had the hall of the lion and the Father's household and all that he had, and he dwelleth in Israel even unto this day, because she hid the messengers which Joshua sent us by Jericho.
Well, there was a way of escape from the judgment for 1/2. There's a way of escape for the Senate tonight. And if you take the same advantage of the remedy for God was provided like very handed through the state of judgment of God. But if you despise the remedy or the place of safety and shelter, you'll have to perish in your sins and the Lord beg himself if you believe not that.
And ye shall die in your sins. And remember dear friend, if you die in your sins, you will be raised in your sins to be judged for your sins and finally cast into hell. What a terrible thought isn't it? It's the Paul. Terrible things are by the swamp we have in the word of God. This is the simple truth in heaven system.
He perished not within the belief, not because.
He received the spies and feet, yet she received them.
Didn't turn them away and the other people did. I wouldn't have to find him. They shut them up, says there goes straightly shut up. There wasn't another family that opened our home and passed with the messengers that she did. His poor wicked woman who deserved nothing else from eternity in hell. And yet the Lord had mercy on us and brought her out of that terrible city.
She escaped the judgment that fell upon us.
And the city was brought to fire and level through aligned with slavery of the soil for the terrible condition of things. And all this was accomplished without firing shots, yet not one shot of fire on this occasion. It was the word of the Lord. And remember, you and I have the same as Ray has. We have the blood to shelter us from coming judgment, and we have the word of the Lord to withdraw our hearts.
As we are sheltered, all have questions. Appears it's all the children of Israel had. They were sheltered by the blood of the lamb.
And I had these words from the Lord himself. When I see the blood, I will pass over you. Was this sufficient? Falling indeed. Why indeed? It was sufficient for me. Yes. Thank God. That's all I have. That's all I need. That's all you need to be sheltered by the brothers. The precious blood of clay. It's the only blood in Scriptures, both of us. Precious blood.
Thorough has precious of the eggs.
Because it's the blood of heights. And so we have the blood of Christ to shelters. We have the word of God to assure our heart that we are sheltered. A man brings peace, double peace to the heart and conscience. Well, just a shout to play place tonight. How will it find you? Are we ready for this house? Will there be the signal for our destruction or signal speed to be delivered from Jackson taken home?
It must be one or the other.
Two Men who wanted to go home
Address—A. Larson
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For him like that, we've sung it frequently in Kentucky.
And many souls have been warned in the singing of this hymn.
And it has brought comfort to the hearts of those who believe.
We know there's a bright and glorious HomeAway in the heaven time.
We've done of the rules of life.
And of the freed of gold, and of the joy of thy seed.
So the night we would have others.
To come into the joy that the believer possesses through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
In one of the southern cities.
A couple of brothers are so oftentimes to go to the jail.
To speak to the prisoners.
And him books are used in the past out.
And sometimes the request is made.
For any hymn thy would be desired on the part of those that are in the jail.
And they often like the thing. What a friend we have in Jesus.
Or perhaps the choice one is darkly and kinderly Jesus is false.
Old sinners come home.
But on one occasion.
There was a smart man in the prison.
And he suggested that he would like to.
Everything I want to go home.
Of course we didn't sing that because we didn't know it.
And evidently it's a foolish popular song.
And it could be that that's the kind of song that some of you present tonight. It might be singing.
But his request did suggest the subject.
And tonight, let us consider from the Scriptures.
Till men not wanted to go home.
We'll turn to the 15th of Luke, verse 11.
The Lord Jesus.
Speaking.
And he said a certain man had two sons.
And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country.
And there wasted his substance with riotous living.
And when he spent all their rules of mighty famine in that land.
And he began to be in warmth.
And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country.
And he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
And he would then have filled his belly with the hearts of the swine, Did he?
And no man gave unto him.
And when he came to himself, he said.
How many hired servants of my father's have read enough and despair, and I perish with hunger?
I will arise and go to my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I sinned against heaven, and before thee.
And am no more worthy to be called thy son. Make me as one of thy hired servants.
And he arose and came to his father.
00:05:02
But when he was, he had a grade way off. His father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck.
Kiss them. And the sun said unto him, Father, I sinned against heaven.
And in my sight, and I'm no more worthy to be called thy son.
But the father said to his servants.
Bring forth the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and chews on his feet.
And bring hit her the fatted calf, and kill it. And let us eat and be merry.
For this, my son was dead and is alive again.
He was lost and is found and they began to be mirrored.
Isn't this a lovely story of God's grace?
The delight of the Father's heart to bless the repentant soul.
He's a young man.
He chooses to go away.
And in him.
Let us think that we see at least.
A partial history of the human race.
However.
We must remember that broad statement that all inclusive word of Roman Free that all of sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But here is the man that wanted to get away.
He resisted the restraints of hope.
He became perhaps rebellious.
And he exercises his own will and follows the path of disobedience.
And after a little time, he finds himself in a far country.
Sin leaves anyone far away from God.
And let us be warned tonight that if you pursue a pathway of sin, my young friend, you'll have your regrets in the bitter end.
You may live to see your regrets in this life even.
But all the bitter remorse of an endless hell.
Will be worse than regret experienced in this short life.
The younger said to his father, Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.
And he divided unto them his living.
And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together.
Naturally like to do.
Gather things together for ourselves.
And he gathered all his possessions together.
Perhaps he condensed it into ready cash.
And he packed his luggage cases.
And he?
Availed himself of transportation and he set out on that journey to the far country.
The human race has departed from God through sin and disobedience.
This young man went away so that he could indulge himself.
In a life of willfulness.
He gathered all together.
And took his journey into a poor country.
Or there's another that has taken a journey.
We see in the word how one time he was at Capernaum.
And the next day a widow's son was to be buried at me.
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And he walked overnight, perhaps 25 miles, in order to be present when that funeral procession was going outside the city.
And there he could speak words of comfort to that widow who had lost their only son, and he could speak words of power, and say unto that young man arise. And he gave him back to his mother.
But that was only a part of a longer journey that he'd taken for you and for me.
For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
That though he was rich.
Yet for our sake he became poor, that we through his poverty might be rich.
All that embraces that journey that he took in leading the courts of glory above, all the way down into the sin cursor and finally to the cross where he became poor.
The way through his poverty.
Made to be rich.
Or there's nothing to equal that story.
Here we find it in God's Book, and that's why you can safely believe it and depend upon it the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.
For grace and truth came by him.
And by grace, are you saved?
Through faith.
But here we read that this young man.
Soon found himself in the four countries.
He doesn't worry about it now.
He thought everything would be all right.
And we usually hope for the best. And we usually think of our ways the right way.
And.
There he wasted his substance with riotous living.
We don't give it a list of the various sins that he committed.
But it's summed up in this statement that he wasted his substance with riotous living.
Oh, that was a terrible life, wasn't it?
He indulged himself in the places of sin for a season.
But you know, there's an end to that sort of thing.
Oh yes, you come to the end.
You can't go on forever in sin.
When sin first came into the world.
The angels were placed with the flaming sword to guard the way of the Tree of Life, lest man could get back into that garden and need of the Tree of Life and live in sin forever.
They must pursue its course. It must be completed. It must have an end. It must be taken away.
The old Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world.
Our judgment will come in to do that, but tonight the judgment has not arrived.
It's not yesterday of judgment, or it could come shortly, very soon.
The door of grace is still open, and now is your opportunity. This is the night that you ought to accept the Lord Jesus as your own personal Savior. You should not delay another moment, for time is short. Life at best is very brief. The coming of the Lord draws nigh, and the master of the house will rise up and shut through the door.
And then you'll be left outside.
That will be worse than this poor country that we're reading about here.
We need it all. He exhausted his resources.
And something else takes place.
There arose a mighty famine in that land.
And he began to be in warmth.
He was becoming needed.
And he looked around for employment. His money is gone.
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There's a famine in the land.
He's in rags and ruined now.
And he seeks something to do.
And he's forced to join himself to a citizen in that far country.
Who sent him in his fields to faith twice?
A pathway of willfulness and disobedience leads to many unpleasant things.
This was a very unpleasant task that this young man was assigned.
No doubt he despised what he had to do.
He was sent into the fields to feed swine.
That is very distasteful that this young man for likely was a Jew.
But that's the way it goes.
In my lifetime through observation.
We've seen, we've observed the history of different souls.
Of those who've gone on for the Lord.
All those who've gone on for themselves.
Oftentimes we are called upon.
To assist.
To conduct the services of someone that has died has been called away from the walks of his life.
And.
Oh, it's a very much easier task.
To speak when one has gone on for the Lord who has made his calling and election sure, and you have no doubt about where that individual has gone.
But sometimes it's otherwise to judge how the earth will do right?
But you cannot speak as freely as you would like to.
Now we have this young man joined to a citizen of that country, feeding swine.
And always wish that he could have something to satisfy.
His desires he would fain have filled his belly with a hust of destroying.
And no man gave unto him.
Oh, he would have been quite willing to have taken anything, but his friends had deserted him.
Perhaps they grouped around him, they flocked about him when his funds were sufficient, but now he reached the end of his resources. He did not for country alone.
And there's a Maya sermon on the land and what can he do?
Except to experience.
That distasteful work that was given to him as he observes the swine, and he was so hungry, so famished, that he fain would have eaten or they, and still no man fell to his soul. His friends had deserted him.
Then we read.
When he came to himself.
All there was a day of realization.
There was a time when his thoughts turned homeward.
He looked back from whence he comes.
And all you need to weigh this story well.
This is given by the Lord Jesus. It's the part of the parable that you get in the 15th of Luke.
When he came to himself.
All that's a good moment in the history of a soul.
Oh, tonight.
If you've never come to the Savior before.
If you've never realized your need of him.
This is a time.
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To come to yourself.
To realize your need as a Sinner.
He was thinking upon what was back home.
Or the planet that was in the Father's house.
And he mused, and he thought, and he made this statement, How many hired servants of my father's have read enough and despair, and I perish with hunger?
Othavo Zoo perished with hunger.
To suffer the needs of food for the body.
And many do in this world.
But it's worth to not have the bread of life.
Do not eat of that bread that cometh down from heaven.
Oh, he was perishing with hunger.
He began to realize his needs. He came to himself.
And he said I will arise and go.
Through my Father, and will say unto him, Father, I sinned against heaven and before thee, and I'm no more worthy to be called Thy Son. Make me as one of Thy hired servants.
And he acted upon his decision. He arose and went to the father. He retraced his steps. Perhaps it took him longer.
But he knew the direction, he knew the place, and he returned.
And what is taking place back home?
What is going on there? Oh, he knew that the Father's house was a place of plenty.
And so it is when we think of it as being the Father's house above. It's a place of plenty.
And when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
All this should touch your heart tonight.
Just think of the love of the Father's heart and how glad He is to bless the soul that will come to Him.
He was looking down that road in the direction of the experience, in that direction from when St. airing land would return.
And oh, how his heart must have leaped with joy when he saw way down at the end of the road. Almost.
That first manifestation of life, of some moving objects. And as it comes closer and closer, he realizes the person, and then he sees that it's that young man returning.
The father was looking that way.
And heaven is looking at your way tonight. That's the purpose of this meeting. That's the reason we have this word open tonight.
Heaven is looking your way. Heaven desires your blessings, your blessings.
And they are blessing for you. Oh yes, there is blessings for every soul present here tonight. For the Lord Jesus has been in this world and gone to the cross in order that the way to the Father's house might be open to you.
When he was there at railway office, father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.
And the sun said unto him, Father, I came.
Oh, why not come to that simple fact in your history tonight? You'll never get blessing without it. And who is it that has been sinned? I have sinned.
We just as well face the fact.
What is true? And we read it in God's words, I have sinned.
Against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.
He didn't finish his statement, didn't he? He's interrupted, but the father said to his servants. Only he was going to request that he would get in as a server and in that way satisfies hunger. But Oh no. The father interrupts, but the father said to his servant.
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Rainforest Success Robe and put it on him.
Or he didn't have to put the rope on himself.
There He is, and the Father says bring forth the best rule that was ready. He didn't have to send out for it. There's nothing like Him tonight. The work is completely done by the Savior of sinners on Calvary's cross and the best robe of heaven.
I'll wait your succession of things all the night. If you will say I sinned. If you come to this decision, it will arise and come.
Oh, what a welcome away to just think of this reception that this young fellow God.
Oh, it's the joy of the Father's heart to welcome this interview. God loves the world.
And he gave his son.
That you might be saved to faith in Him. Bring forth the best robe and put it on him. Put it right on his hand. Everything's done for him. Everything's been done for you. Why not accept it? There's nothing like oh, there's nothing like this in all the world.
Put the robe on him and put a ring on his hand to put shoes on his feet. Bring him to the padded caravan killers.
Let us eat and be married or he couldn't go into the house until the traffic calf was killed. And there's no salvation apart from the debt and blood from the setting of the precious blood of Christ. The calf was killed, blood was shed in order that this young man might be sustained and the owners sustainment that we can have.
Is through what's right our Savior has accomplished.
Their children's cross as he died. The dust or the unjust.
Who bring us to God.
Only comes from the father welcomes him. Oh, he didn't say get the gun.
Or he didn't say he deserves the heat. You must have so many stripes. All he said. Put the best globe on him and all tonight that best robe is for you. That ring is for your hand. There are shoes for your feet. There's everything that you need. There's a padded cast. And there's the joy that begins.
In the Father's house.
Can you miss this? Can you afford it? Can you pay the price?
Oh, what a price you'll have to pay if you neglect this great salvation that God has provided so freely to me. It was costly for Him.
It's free to you.
This young man wanted to go home. He found out my experience, the bitterness of steam and its consequences.
Perhaps you say this is not a picture of me?
Or you may not have gone to the extent indicated here, but you've got a heart that would take you in that same direction. You could go to that same extent. You have that willfulness within your head and within your heart. Have you ever been disobedient? Have you ever wanted to get away? Have you ever tried to have your fling in this world? You have yourself that you'd like to.
Or you need to make the same decision.
You need to say I sin. You need to come to the Father.
Come and receive everlasting life.
Now let's notice briefly as we turn to the epistles of the Philippians.
Something of the other individual, no doubt. He's an older one. Philippians, chapter one.
Verse 21.
These are the words of the Apostle Paul as he writes to the Philippians. He'd been there preaching the gospel. Souls have been saved. They believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. There was a meeting in that city and he writes to them, he's in prison now. He's been saved about 25 years himself. And he writes to these Christians that Philippi, and he says to them, is it right for me to live his Christ?
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Oh, it wasn't that way with the young man.
He wanted to live for himself. And who are you living for? Are you living for yourself or crying? You can't live for Christ until you come to Him, until you own your needs and your sinfulness and receive him by faith in the heart. But here's the beloved apostle, and he says for me to live is Christ.
And to die is gain. Can you speak of the future in that way?
If you died, would it be gained to you or torment that couldn't be gained?
For Paul, it would be gain. It would be more Christ.
But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my laborers. Yet what I shall choose I want not, for I am in the Strait betwixt 2 having a desired department to be with Christ, which is far better. He has a desire to depart and be with Christ, which was very far better.
He wanted to go home.
He known the Lord now for 25 years or more, and he'd been over much rough sailings.
Oh, he was beaten with the last. She was beaten with Rod.
And he was in shipwreck.
And in many difficulties in the way, in perils at the scene and perils in the wilderness.
Or he's seen the roughness of life.
Oh, he knew the blessedness of the Savior's love. He had perfect peace and confidence as to the future.
And he was in the straight matrix too. He'd like to stay a little longer for the good of the Philippians, but all he knew for himself that it was very far better to depart and that he was right. How did it turn out?
Well, he discerned that he would be left a while, and he was left.
About four years.
Now, how would it be with you Christian friends, fellow believers, if you knew that you had only four years more? What would you do with those four years?
If you knew that you had only four months more, how would you like to spend those four months? And let's bring it down to four weeks.
To four days.
To four minutes.
4 seconds and 14 people die in four seconds.
They leave the walks of this light.
Our falls start to be useful to those Philippians and to others doing those four years that he had left and in the time of his departure team.
And he was taken home. How would it be with you?
Or won't you come tonight?
These are verities, these are certainties. Just think of these two men. Did they make mistakes or it was wise for this young man, though he was forced to it to say I will arrive and go to my father and say I think and all, you know, realize that he'd been.
He had a robe, you know.
As a religious man.
Oh yes, indeed, he was a Hebrews. A Hebrews. He was a Pharisee. He was religious and attaching the law as the concerning righteousness. He was blameless.
And perhaps there are those here tonight that think all is well because you know the verses in the in the papers, in the Sunday school papers, because you come along to the meeting and because your folks have been associated with the meeting so long.
But that won't do. Religious practices and exercises will never save a soul.
Only Christ can save the soul.
Be sure that you have Christ. Be sure that you make this decision.
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And come.
To the Savior, the Lamb of God.
And be able to sing the wanderer will know moral.
The lost one to the full hath come. The prodigal is welcome home.
All Lamb of God to thee, so clothed in rags by sin defile the Father did embrace his child.
And I am pardoned to reconcile the old Lamb of God indeed.
It is the Father's joy to bless.
His love has found for me. Address.
A robe of thoughtless righteousness.
O Lamb of God, in thee.
And now my famished soul is fair.
Feast of love for me is spread. I feed upon the children's breasts.
All Lamb of God in me.
The only way is through the Lord Jesus, the Lamb of God. He's the way to the Father's house.
And you must honor the Son in order to honor the Father.
You can't bypass the sun. You may bypass Spring Zeal or Bloomingdon or some other city on the good highway, but you'll never be able to bypass the broad stunt. You must have him to be safe. And oh, why not? Tonight the eyes thin and honor God stunts to confessing him as Savior and Lord.
The Sinner's Friend
Address—E. Wakefield
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.
Luke 23 verse 33 when they were come to the place.
Called Calvary. There they crucified him and the manufactured 1.
On the right hand, on the other, on the left.
Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.
And they parted his raiment, and cast lots. And the people stood behold in, and the rulers also with them to ride at him, saying, He saved others, let him save himself, if it be Christ the chosen of God.
And the soldiers also mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar, and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself. And the superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek and Latin and Hebrew. This is the king of the Jews.
And one of the manufacturers which were hang railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ.
Save thyself and us.
But the other ancient rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God seeing art in the same condemnation?
And we indeed justly, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. But this man hath done nothing amiss. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.
It was about the 6th hour and there was a darkness over all the earth until the 9th hour.
And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rented in the midst. And when Jesus had cried, with a loud voice he said, Father.
And to thy hands I command my spirit. And having said thus.
He gave up the ghost now when the centurion saw what was done.
He glorified God, saying certainly this was a righteous man.
If we were to turn to the other three gospels tonight, we would see that there were three crosses that stood at Calvary.
And in the Gospel of John, it says that Jesus was in the midst, the cross of Christ stirred in the midst, in the center of these two thieves, these two manufacturers, these two men who represent tonight, I believe every man and woman in this world, These two men stand as representatives of the whole human race tonight.
And the cross of Christ has divided this world and the two classes.
And only two classes, my friends, Only two. The Word of God doesn't tell us about a third class. Only two classes. Every man, every woman, every boy, and every girl in this room tonight stands on one side of the cross of Christ. You can't get away from it. You can't dodge it. You can't stand on neutral ground.
You stand on one side of the cross or the other.
On the left side, you stand with those on the way to hell.
On the right side, you stand on those on the way to heaven, and there's no other way, no other section, no other crowd saved or lost. Tonight, as you sit in that chair, you're saved or lost. Tonight. We'd like to bring before you seven things about this thief.
But before I do so, I'd like to bring you into the very presence of God. You know, my friend, you'll never get blessed.
You will never get saved, you will never get right with God until you come into His presence.
Until you have brought face to face with eternal realities, first of all, you are a Sinner.
You know you're a Sinner. I was speaking to a young lady recently and I said to her, do you believe you're a Sinner? And she said, I know I'm a Sinner. My friend, God says you are a Sinner. He says there's no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That means you, that means me.
And happy is a man or woman, happy as a boy or girl, who's discovered on this side of eternity that they're a Sinner.
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And happy, my friends, as a man or woman or boy or girl who finds out on this side of eternity that they're lost Sinner, that they're a dead Sinner, that they're a hell bound Sinner unless they come to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so tonight we like to bring you face to face with eternal realities. We sang in our hymn The Side for Christ today.
And I want to, if I may, use the title of this gospel message as decision for Christ.
Decision for Christ.
Everybody in this room tonight has either made their decision.
Who or has not made their decision? Everybody in this room tonight is either for Christ or against Christ.
I speak plainly, my friends. I speak with that fear of rebuke tonight. They're either on the side of God or you're on the side of the devil. And there's no middle ground. There is no neutral stand. You may have a godly mother, a godly father, as we heard in the faithful message last night, our brother preached.
You may have a godly home, but if you have never yet come to Christ, your loss. Just as lost as the man in the jail, just as lost as the man who's drunk. This is the loss of the blasphemers, the most wicked man in this world. You're lost tonight. And the Lord Jesus said he that believeth not shall be damned. What a solemn thing.
Friends, we live in a wishy washy day. We live in a day when, sad to say, man who used to preach the faithful gospel gospel.
Are now putting on the soft pedal. They say we can't preach about hell because we won't be popular.
And people don't like to hear about it. I like to hear about the love of God. They don't like to hear about hell or judgment. But I say tonight, my friends, that never in the word of God of the New Testament did anybody speak more of hell than the Lord Jesus himself. He warned men to flee. He said, accept ye, repent, you shall all likewise perish.
Recently I was speaking to a person who said Do you believe there's a hell?
And we said to them, it's not a question of what I believe, it's a question of what God says.
God says there's a hell. God says there's judgment coming. God says that man will be under that judgment for eternity. Without Christ, who am I? Who are you? Who my friend is? Infidel, or the atheist? Or the modernistic preacher?
Today to stand up and say there is no hell when God says solemnly says there is a hell.
When the Lord Jesus solemnly preached that there was a hell, who are we? Poor worms of the dust, sinners saved by the grace of God, the soft pedal, the gospel, my friend, their salvation to life for you. We heard last night that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I say again.
To the cross of Christ is divided this world in the two classes to make you stand on one side of the cross or the other.
To make you stand on the right side of the wrong side. The cross is divided this world. The cross is divided homes. The cross is divided offices. The cross is divided loved ones. The cross, the cross of Christ, has separated this world and two great camps. Heaven bound or hell bound on the side of God or on the side of the devil, my friend, it's not popular, but it's true.
The Lord Jesus said you cannot serve 2 masters. He said nothing but a third. Why? Because there's not three, there's only two.
All my friends, are you saved tonight? Let me earnestly ask you. Let me solemnly bring you into the presence of God now.
Let me ask you, as we've often asked, and I'm sure the Christians in this room will bear with us. You've heard these things before. It's the old story we've heard of hundreds of times. When the preacher opens his Bible in Montreal, we've heard the story hundreds of times. It's nothing new. It's the old story ever new. Let me solemnly ask you tonight if you were a corpse now.
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If your body was cold and still silent tonight, now, right now.
And the undertaker's parlor, the flowers deck your caskets. The funeral notice was in the paper. I ask you, in God's name, where would your soul be now? Now it'll be too late, my friends, too late to make a decision for Christ. Then you must make your decision in time.
You must make your decision in this Christ rejecting world.
You must make your decision in the world that crucified the Son of God. You must make your decision now.
Not in the future eternity. There is no second chance. There is no purgatory. My friends, I speak solemnly for God tonight. I say there is no second chance. The Lord Jesus said, if you believe not that I am He, he shall die in your sins. And where I am, there he cannot come. Who said it? Christ said it. Christ said it, my friend, He cannot come.
What a solemn thing these are, the words of the Lord Jesus Christ himself, the Son of God.
The only man who never told a lie, he cannot come. If ye die in your sins. And if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins. Where I am, there ye cannot come. Friends, it's solemn, isn't it? But it's true. Without Christ, there's hell for every child of Adam's race.
Regardless of religion, creed or color.
Without Christ there is no salvation without Christ and his death on Calvary's cross.
His resurrection and His precious blood. There is absolutely no salvation for any child of Adams race. And so to make it simple as Christ or hell, my friends, you must decide for or against Christ.
Seven points about this man who was condemned to death. First of all, he was just like you and me. He was a man. Second, he was a Sinner in the third place.
He come under the judgment of the Roman government and he was condemned to death.
And he is the only deathbed repentance mentioned in the word of God. He's the only man who on his deathbed, which was a cross, turned to Christ and he received mercy. He was a Sinner, my friends. He was just like you and me. He was no better. He was no worse. He was a Sinner and he was, he was nailed to a cross.
And first of all, the first thing we noticed about this man.
Is in verse 40 and the 39th verse. His companion railed on him.
And the other gospels, we find they both railed on Christ, as Mr. Darby's translation, I believe, says they both insulted him. Think of it. But something happened to this man. Something happened to the man on the right side of the cross. And I believe that the Word of God brought light to his soul. I believe this man saw the light and he had the Scriptures. He only had two verses.
But he had the word of God in these two verses.
The first verse was a very prayer of Jesus.
Father forgive them.
That is all. Not what they do. The second verse was nailed over the cross. This is Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
This robber, he saw one verse, he heard the other verse, and he believed them both. And the entrance of thy word give us light. And he found there was a man on the cross who could pray for his enemies. He himself, no doubt, would desire to kill them all. All his tormentors, all those who dared to put him on the cross, he would like to get down and kill them all 1 by 1.
But here was a man who was praying for his enemies.
He was in the presence of God, my friend. He realized that he was in the presence of God. He was brought there in the presence of God.
God allowed it the devil to insult the Lord Jesus had a nail between two thieves, but the blessed Lord Jesus had his eye on that Robert.
An unsaved friend, the Lord Jesus has his eye on you tonight, Young man, young lady, you heard last night of your mother's prayers and your father's prayers. The Lord Jesus has his eye on you to bless you. He wants to save you. Isn't it wonderful? God is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
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We saw this man first of all in verse 40.
He came into the fear of God. He said verse 40 does not thou fear God? Friends, we live in a godless age. I don't suppose there's ever been an age like this age, a godless age. People tell me mockingly, is the old world turning over? It's the old world, the same old story. It's not true my friends, I believe we live in the most ungodly age since God created man. Tonight is the.
Ungodly age and there is No Fear of God. Man do not fear God. Man blasphemy God. Man mock God. Men laugh at God. And recently in our papers we had a story of a man who was even written that the Lord Jesus planned his own crucifixion. What a solemn thing planned his own crucifixion. Took advantage of the scriptures in the Old Testament.
To make believe he was the Messiah.
Well, man doesn't fear God. There's No Fear of God before their eyes. And my friend, tonight I want to ask you, do you fear God? Last night, if you're not saved, you went to bed. You shut your eyes. You slept through the night. While you were sleeping, your heart was beating.
If you are in that sleep, your heart has stopped beating. You would be an eternity now.
Eternity, he would say, there is a God, there is a God, The Bible was true and I am lost. I am lost for eternity. Think about what a soul this is soul, isn't it? This man fear God.
And the fear of God at the very beginning of wisdom. God says get wisdom.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. This man was brought to this place. He said, does not vow fear God. Young man, young lady, old man, old lady, I asked you, do you fear God tonight? Thus thou not thou fear God. Well, that was the first thing. He was brought into the presence of God. He feared God, and while he might, he was on his way to eternity.
Death faced them all, my friends mental mocked.
When they're healthy, men will mock. When the doctor says, oh you're healthy, you're strong, nothing wrong with your heart, you're good for 20 more years, then man can sneer and mock at God. But my friends, when death stares you in the face and you hear the solemn verdict, 3 months to live, three months of the very most to live, you're face to face with eternal realities.
The word of God says.
Point under man wants to die after death the judgment what a solemn thing so this man feared God in the second place in the end of the 40th verse he says see thou art in the same condemnation and we indeed justly next thing he did was he owned that he deserved this punishment he deserved it he.
Place of one who deserves this punishment. In other words, he owned he was a Sinner. He only deserved this judgment. My friends tonight, have you ever found out you're a Sinner? I don't ask you, is your neighbor a Sinner? I don't ask you if your boss, your school teacher, your principal, your doctor, your dentist. I ask you, have you found out on your knees before God that you are a Sinner?
That you're vile. That you're a Sinner. You were born that way.
Man, go, the stray, says. God from the womb. His turn. He's born with his back turned against God, and he starts for hell. Full speed, full speed.
Unless he comes to the Lord Jesus Christ, my friends, the only Savior that God has for sinners, He'll perish. Surely he'll perish. Or it's a solemn thing, isn't it? It's a very solemn thing to stand here and tell you this.
You know, my friends, the devil is so clever. He's so clever that he even has men in the standing up in pulpits, stand up in platforms saying the Bible is not the word of God. You don't have to believe it. You don't need to be born again. They're saying it's old fashioned stuff. We don't believe it in this enlightened modern 20th century of brain power.
00:20:15
Where everybody's educated, we don't need that, says the devil.
Tonight I bring you back to divine realities, eternal realities. Face to face with God, face to face with God's truth, face to face with eternity, face to face with heaven or hell. I bring you these solemn realities. You have to stand in the presence of God. My friends, do you fear God? Have you yet found you're a Sinner? Do you say I deserve this justly?
I deserve to have the justice of God in his wrath poured upon me. What's the next thing he says?
Where we list verse 41, for we receive the due reward of our deeds. What a wonderful confession we receive. And I'm sure that every Christian in this room tonight who knows anything about the Bible, anything about the grace of God will say I deserve to go to hell.
By the grace of God, the preacher says it, I deserve to go to hell. But thank God. The Lord Jesus Christ on the cross of Calvary bore my sins in his own body on the tree. He received from God's hand the judgment that I deserve the punishment of God poured down upon Christ. Blow after blow struck the Savior. My sins were laid on His sacred head.
The curse by my Lord was born. He loved you, my friends, He loves you.
Oh, isn't it wonderful that God loves you? And we said before we say it again in that wonderful verse that Jesus said, John 316. I like to think of it as if the Lord Jesus, and I say this reverently, as if he said, I can't tell about God so loved the world.
That He gave His only begotten Son, Whosoever believeth in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Those are the words of the Son of God, my friends, wonderful words. The Son of God said them. My Savior the Lord Jesus says them. He again He said, He that believeth on Him is not condemned.
He that believeth not all Sinner friend, are you here tonight? He that believeth not is condemned already because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation. The light has come into the world, and man love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. What a sound thing.
The next thing he says?
In the end of the 41St.
First verse. But this man has done nothing amiss. What a wonderful revelation. What a wonderful thing. He spoke well of Christ. All he condemned himself. And that's what repentance is. Repentance and all is not crying and weeping and falling down your knees and crying and weeping and just crying and crying and crying. No, my friends, that may be remorse, but repentance before God has taken sides with God against yourself.
This man did that. He condemned himself, and he spoke well of Christ. This man had done nothing amiss. Isn't it wonderful, peaceful well of Christ? Have you ever spoken well of Christ? Do you ever speak well of Christ in this world? Oh, young gospel preachers tonight.
We appeal to you, dear young brothers who are growing up. Some may get 20, some of your 25, some of your 30. If, if the Lord doesn't come soon, the older brother are going to disappear into glory. You're going to be left here. And your responsibility, young brothers, is to preach the gospel of the grace of God, not to remove the landmarks as we heard yesterday, not turn away from the Bible, not say, oh, well, that was all right in the.
Century, but not today, my dear young brothers, stand faithful for the gospel of Jesus Christ the Lord. Preach the gospel that there's a Savior on high in the glory, a dear loving Savior. Thorse friends be few, how few they are my friends. Many are calls that Jesus, but few are chosen.
The Mass, my friends, tonight I believe the large crowd around the broad roads of destruction.
00:25:03
Everyone of us who are saved tonight are saved by the grace of God. We have nothing to boast in, nothing to glory in save a Savior slain on the cross of Calvary, whose precious blood cleanses from all sin. He spoke well of Christ. Oh, as we read these words, He spoke well of Christ. I asked you young men, what about you? Have you ever spoken well of Christ?
I know young men.
They follow the athletes of this world. They speak well in the great baseball players, the great hockey players, the great prize fighters. But I ask you tonight, young man, did you ever speak well of Christ? This man did. He cleared the whole life of the Son of God. How did he know?
I believe he only met the Lord Jesus that day, probably never saw him before, and yet he clears his whole life. This man has done nothing amiss. All my friends, isn't it wonderful in the word of God that the Apostle Paul, Peter, and John all say he hath done no sin? He knew no sin.
A34 chord is not easily broken. God testifies three times.
By three of us apostles, that this man had done nothing amiss. And here's this robber on the cross, and he speaks well of Christ. This man had done nothing amiss to do to say these words, my friends, he had to take issue against the Pharisees.
The great leaders of religion of that day, the scribes and the Pharisees that we had asked those sneer and hypocrites below the cross, what do you think of this man in the center cross? They would have said he's an imposter. We don't believe in him at all. He casts out demons by bells above the Prince of demons.
Robber on the cross, he says, this man hath done nothing amiss. He spoke well of Christ and tonight, my friends, I say this for the benefit of those who were young Christians. We must speak out faithfully against the religious world. We must speak out about the scribes and Pharisees of of this country and the country of the north, the modernistic creatures who are the Pharisees of 19165 the Pharisees who deny the.
God, you and I as Christians must speak out against these men who speak blasphemous things against our Lord Jesus Christ in the Word of God.
It's time for the young Christians after me in Montreal two weeks ago. It's time we woke up and took issues with these blasphemers who dared to deny the word of God, the Pharisees in 1965 or the modernist preachers, the modernistic preachers who say the Bible's not true. And the dear brother told me today, one of them told him.
When he asked him when it was a young man, this is years ago, you see, asked him about the new birth, he put his hand on his shoulders and said, never mind that stuff, you don't need to be born again. I say these modernistic creatures are the Pharisees of the 20th century.
But this robber, he said, this man hath done nothing amiss. He spoke well of Jesus.
Or will you speak well of Jesus tonight? He loves you all. What love he had. Just imagine he himself said greater love with no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. And then I like to think of him saying, I'll prove a greater love.
Die from my enemies. I'll give my life for those who hate me, for those who reject me, for those who despise me. He gave his life for his enemies. He loves you. My friends, Let me say again and again, God has blocked the road to hell by the cross of Christ. Will you go to hell? You must pass the cross. Oh my friend, the cross, the glorious cross. There's no place like the cross where Jesus died, Where he.
And glad and gave his life for sinners. He's the sinner's friend. You know, you might commit some crime. You wouldn't want the police to know. You wouldn't want your father to know. You wouldn't want your mother to know. Who would you tell? Who would you tell? Only one. Who is it? The sinner's friend, The friend of sinners. Jesus, the sinner's friend. Your mother may say, I'm ashamed of you. Your father made his own you. But Jesus puts out his arms has come.
Love you no matter what. You've done all your sins like great mountains all around you. I love you just the same. I died for you. I prove my love. I'm the sinners friend. All sinners friend. Think of it, The sinners friend. Are you a Sinner tonight? Jesus is your friend. He loves you. He wants to save you. He wants to take your sins away. He can wash them all away in his precious blood. He died for you my friends. He loves you. What a Savior, Jesus.
00:30:20
Says or what love, what grace is his next thing we find in this verse is.
The 42nd verse. And he said unto Jesus, Lord, isn't that wonderful? He called Jesus his Lord. God says in Romans 10:00 and 9:00, If thou shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in thy heart.
That God hath raised him from the dead. Thou shalt be saved. That's what God says.
Jesus as Lord, who is Jesus for the spies, Nazarene, the spies by this world? God says I've exalted that man to the very highest heaven, He's Lord. I've made them both Lord and Christ. If you will confess with that multi earth Jesus as Lord, and believe in that heart of yours that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved on the authority of God himself. What higher authority can you get?
Well, the robber turns to Christ, and he says, Lord, what does he say next? He says, Remember Me when thou comest into thy Kingdom.
Well, that's the fifth point. He calls them Lord. The 6th point, He speaks about his Kingdom. What faith is this? Here's a man that is. Let us try to look back those 2000 years of the cross. See his hands? They're bleeding. They're nailed to a cross. His feet are torn by the nails and bleeding. There he hangs with a crown of thorns across his head. His face is covered with spits. His back is broken and bleeding.
By the Roman scourge, there he is hanging a sight for God and for angels, for men.
For the devil and for demons look upon and this man says, Remember Me when thou cometh into thy Kingdom. There's this lolly despised, hated man have a Kingdom. All the robbers eyes look beyond the cross. Look beyond that wondrous cross and that glorious savior hanging up on the cross or to spite my friends bleeding and bruising bleeding, bleeding and bruised under the.
Of those creatures whom we came to save, He left for heaven, as we heard last night, came down past the angels into this world, and here they were stepping on them, feeding them, taking their God-given strength and punching them in the face. And they bruised and broke his face. Oh, how solemn often told the story. I want to tell it again. One night I stood.
In the old Matt Royal Arena in Montreal and I saw a man come out of the prize ring. I stood faithful side him three feet from his face, was bruised and beaten.
I'll never forget his face. His face was bruised and beaten, my friends, While the punches of his opponent there he came down the stairs. His face was broken and bleeding. And I've often thought of my precious savior, his face more marred than any man, beaten under the cruel tortures of his creatures. He came to save all my friends.
Here was a robber saying, Lord, Remember Me, his friends that have found me Christ.
Save thyself and us. But this man's faith says, knowing that salvation is personal, he says, Remember Me, just me, nobody else but me. Remember Me when thou cometh into thy Kingdom. Hear. The Savior and the sinners were brought together. Here was the joy of a Savior's heart and all his sorrow and his misery, his pain, his agony. Here was the Savior's joy, the joy of.
When this poor robber turned, I like to think about. I've often said it before. Let me say it again, Mr. Modernist. What could you do for the Robert? What could you do, Mr. Modernist? Preacher for the robber from Mr. Pharisee And tell us what you would do for the robber. What could you say? Go to church, live a good life. Keep the 10 commandments. Do the best you can. Turn over a new leaf to late, my friends, this man neither.
Jesus was the Savior. Lord, Remember Me when thou cometh into thy Kingdom.
00:35:00
What does Christ say to this robber? What a challenge my friends. What would he say to this robber? Sinner friend, isn't this wonderful news for you? I remember when my sins bothered me. I remember when the gates of hell seemed to be opening up for me to enter in. I remember when the judgment of God seemed like a great mountain to crush me into hell. I remember here in the story of Jesus and His love.
Hearing the story of the love of Christ. The melting love of Christ.
Is tall under the cross, All my friends, what would Jesus say to the Sinner, this robber, this thief?
Unfit for society, unfit for society, unfit for the Roman governor.
For the Pharisees and scribes, but fit for Jesus, fit for Christ, fit for heaven. Hear the Savior. I love to think of it. He turns and says, verily I say unto thee, a personal Savior. He speaks to the robber. He says, I say unto thee, today thou shalt be with me in paradise, because God's a giving God. The man asked for the Kingdom.
Christ says no, I'll give you something better than the Kingdom. I'll give you myself my company in paradise.
Not in a future day, for the Kingdom hasn't come yet after 2000 years nearly.
Have rolled by, Jesus said, today thou shalt be with me in paradise, a robber and a savior together, a robber and the Son of God. My friends, what a what a wonderful thing this is, a robber and Jesus together in paradise that very day, not tomorrow, not ten years hence, not after being punished in some other place, a third place for 10 or 20 or 30 years.
No, my friends, this very day, this very day thou shalt be with me in paradise. And I like to think of a robber as he hung upon that for the 7th point I believe, is this is the assurance this man had. The assurance he had. I like to think of the Pharisees. They would pass by and say to that robber, listen, Mr. you're going into eternity, you've only got a little while to live. What about your soul? What about the.
Where are you going to be? Hadn't you better give some money and you better tell us where you're robbed, where where? Where your loot is hidden so we can get your money and get you into heaven? I like to think of the robber looking down, smiling, saying all my friends, the man, the center cross has given me assurance. The man in the center cross has told me that today I'll be with him in paradise. And I believe it. I know it's true. The man is assured me. The man of Calvary, the man of the.
Cross that assured me that today I'll be with them in paradise. Or isn't it wonderful? My friends, tonight, what about you? Where are you going? Are you on your way to heaven? Are your sins forgiven? Have you come under the cleansing power of the precious blood of Jesus Christ shed upon the cross of Calvary? Have you ever yet decided to receive him as your Savior? Is Christ live in your heart? Are you born again?
I was speaking to a party the other day and they said.
Yes, I'm a Christian. And we said to them, what kind of a Christian are you? Because remember, remember that nearly everybody says they're a Christian, unless you're a Jew. They all say they're Christians. I said, what kind of a Christian are you? Are you a born again Christian? My friend, I ask you, are you a born again Christian? Have you been born again, born from above? Have you received that life from God? Well, along with our story?
The Lord Jesus.
After this wonderful revelation to this man, this man had this assurance. First of all, he had the fear of God. Second, he took his place before God as a Sinner. Third.
He spoke well of Christ. 4th He called Jesus Lord. 50 spoke of the Kingdom.
60 had that assurance in his seventh. He believed that he believed the message. He believed the words of Jesus. That settles it Doesn't matter what the preacher says, Doesn't matter very much what the preacher says if Jesus says it. Oh, isn't it wonderful, my friend, think of the very words of Christ. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me.
Half everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment.
But is passed from death of the life. Now we have these seven things about this robber. Let me tell you, we have the love of Christ, the mighty love of Christ. He loves you. He gave himself for you. But I want to ask you now, maybe tonight there's somebody in this room that's coming off the street. Maybe you've never heard the gospel before. All we who are Christians, we say, how is that possible? How is it possible? I want to tell you my friends.
00:40:19
People right here in Detroit who've never heard the gospel, you say is a possible Yes, it's possible. It's possible. I remember, you'll pardon the personal reference of the young man going to church every Sunday morning, every Sunday night, 52 * a year, twice to 104 times. I never heard the gospel. We heard sermons about politicians. We heard sermons about other great men. We heard how to live a good.
We heard, Sir, flowery sermons about education and the value of getting money in the bank and being insured and all that, but never heard the gospel. Never heard that by one simple look of faith to Christ, my sins would be gone for eternity. Praise God, under the power of the blood of Jesus Christ the Lord.
My friends, and like you can be saved, you can leave this hall and the authority of the word of God that your sins are gone forever, forever gone forever, never to be brought back again. Never, never, never.
And we look forward with joy of the day. You're not glorious place above.
When we meet the robber. When we meet the robber. Oh, I've often thought of the robber. As we walk that eternal St. of gold and meet the robber and say, Oh, my dear brother Austin, I preached about you, Austin. I told sinners how you got saved. Tell me, my friend. Tell me the story again. Tell me the story of a cross.
Robber will stop and his face will light up, but he tells the story of the cross.
And when he comes to the part where he said, Lord, Remember Me?
When our cometh into thy Kingdom. And he says with joy in his face, eternal joy.
You should have seen his face when he said those words.
Truly, I say unto you today thou shalt be with me in Paradise.
I like to think of the robber saying oh brother, I'll never forget the look of joy in my masters face.
He said those words today. Thou shalt be with me in paradise.
And then together I say, by the grace of God, together with the robber we abound adoration and worship at the savior speed for praise. God, the robber savior is my savior too. A robber savior is my savior too. Is the robber's savior your savior to all tonight God loves you.
Dear young man, young lady, who has a Christian mother and father, and solemn I know as you leave this room tonight, the devil will try to rob this from you.
I know he'll tell you. Don't believe it. Or just wait. No, tomorrow night. Tomorrow. And I come back again. You have another chance. Why? Tomorrow is the Lords day. This is Saturday night. I might have joy and happiness. Forget about this question. That's what the devil will say. I want to solemnly warn you because I tell this story so solemn.
This young lady who went to the Gospel meeting many times under the urge and pleas and prayers of her mother.
Who prayed for her soul, and her father, who wept on his knees for their daughter, who rejected Christ. She went and went and went again and again and again to the gospel meeting. And she said no to Christ. No, no, I won't receive it one morning she said, Mother, I had a strange dream last night.
And in my dream, it seems as if God himself spoke to my soul.
God himself spoke to my soul and he said, young lady, I want you to take your Bible. I want you to turn to the book of Ezekiel Chapter 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00 and read those two verses. And then she said, my dream seemed to leave me, and I went to sleep again.
But again, the voice said Ezekiel 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00.
And again the third time, Ezekiel 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00. And her mother said, My daughter, did you read the verses? She said, mother, I'm afraid to read them. I'm afraid. Will you please read them to me? These are the verses from the Word of God. Ezekiel 7 verses 8:00 and 9:00. Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee.
00:45:18
And accomplish my anger upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways.
Will recompense thee for all an abominations, and mine I shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thy abominations that are in the midst of thee, and ye shall know that I am the Lord that might have.
The mother read these verses and fear and trembling, and she looked back to the bed, to her daughter, and she was an eternity. She was an eternity. Oh dear young man with a Christian mother, young lady with a Christian mother, I solemnly warn you that you're playing a losing game. You'll lose your soul. What can this world give you?
6 feet of ground, a casket with a cover on it.
And that cover will open when that voice of God calls you to meet Him in the air.
Meet him there, standing in space with the heavens and the earth went away. You'll stand before the great white throne all tonight. Jesus raises his hands. There are the nail prints. There are the nail Prince. Jesus is a savior. He loves you. He longs to save you. God waits. Heaven waits. Angel hosts are musing.
Or this sight, so strangely sad, God beseeching.
Man refusing to be made forever glad, young man, tonight you're on the on the losing side. You're on the losing side of the cross. Oh, I say come bow your knees to the lowly Jesus. Accept them as your Savior. And lo, and the authority of the word of God, that you're saved for eternity. God loves you. Christ died for you.
The blood of Christ has power to cleanse from all sin. Will you say yes?
Or will you say no? There is no neutrality as you leave that room tonight you're either on the side of Christ or the devil. You're either saved or lost. You either heaven bound or hell bound. There is no third place my friend. Tonight will you receive Christ as pray?
Two Natures
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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.
Like to turn this afternoon to a all known portion in the third chapter of John.
There is a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher comes from God.
The No man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except the man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus said unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I stand to thee, except a man be born of water and the Spirit.
He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
Not which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. More than not that I sent him to thee, he must be born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but can't not tell whence it cometh, and whether it God.
So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou master of Israel, and most not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know and testify that we have seen, and you receive not our witness, if I have told you earthly things and you believe not.
How Shoni believe, if I tell you of heavenly things, and no man hath ascended up to heaven.
But he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of man be lifted up. And whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world.
That that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. When I purpose in reading this and some other portions this afternoon.
Is because I would like to speak about the believer having two natures.
In this chapter we don't have the mention of the forgiveness of sins, but we do have the necessity of new birth and possessing a new life. And you know, there is much that is preached in Christendom about the necessity of having our sins forgiven.
And this is a very blessed thing and a very important thing. Without the forgiveness of sins, we could most assuredly never be in heaven. But I believe we could say that the truth of what new birth really is and the truth of the two natures is something that many have not entered into. And the result is that there is no real liberty and joy in their souls.
That God's word shows us.
Not only forgiveness, but that we receive a new life and are brought into a new position.
Might I illustrate it like this? Supposing I were a thief and I stole something from a man, and in kindness he forgives me. Yet if I were to meet that man on the street, it would be fine to know that I was forgiven, but somehow I wouldn't feel thoroughly at ease in his presence. Somehow I'd almost wish I didn't meet him, because I would think he looks on me as a forgiven faith.
But proposing that when he forgave me, he told me that he would not look upon me as a forgiven thief, but he wanted me to know that he was going to always look upon me with the same love and affection as his own boy. He would not look on me as though I had ever committed the crime, but as one who was in this position of love and favor and affection before him.
Well, now I could meet him.
Perfect ease and liberty. I would know that I was forgiven, but I would say he doesn't look at me as a forgiven thief.
He loves me like He loves His own boy, and now I can feel at home in His presence. Well, God not only forgives our sin, but He has brought us into the position mentioned in Ephesians 1 where He tells us that we're holy and without blame before Him. In love, He tells us that we are accepted in the beloved 1.
00:05:22
That this is something that we are often slow to lay hold of.
Because.
Perhaps we don't realize about these two natures, and perhaps when we discover that the old nature is still there after we're saved, it causes us a great deal of concern, has caused some to even doubt their salvation.
Because they have found that old nature still within and not improved. Well, I believe it's it's well for us to get hold of the truth of God from the children of Israel were sheltered under the blood. There was a wonderful security to know that God said when I see the blood I will Passover you, but it wasn't God's intention to leave them in Egypt at all.
Not only was he going to shelter them from judgment.
But he wanted to bring them clean out of Egypt, and he did. He brought them to the other side of the Red Sea.
Where they not only knew that they were sheltered from judgment, but they were in a position where they could say judgment is behind us. They looked back and saw all their enemies dead upon the seashore. All that was the first time they sang. They didn't sing when they were sheltered under the blood, but they did sing when they came up on the other side of the Red Sea.
And I believe there's great joy in the soul when we see not only that we're sheltered from judgment.
But brought in to blessed a new position.
In order to go back to our chapter here we find that this man Nicodemus, he came to the Lord Jesus by night and said we know that thou art a teacher, come from God. That is the shows very clearly that he didn't see the necessity of new birth.
He thought that what he needed was good teaching and the Lord Jesus was a very wonderful teacher.
And that if he were just, here are some of the wonderful teachings of the Lord Jesus, that he could improve his life and do better. But the Lord said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man, be born again.
He cannot see the Kingdom of God, how much how much preaching there is in the world today.
That would recognize the Lord as a great teacher, teaching men a better way of life, teaching them how they should be kind to their neighbors and love God and all this sort of thing, but not recognizing the fact that man is totally fallen depraved.
That he's lost now, that he doesn't have any nature that's capable of loving his neighbor as himself or loving God. No, the law only proved this because the law said thou shalt love thy neighbor as thy soul. But the law only condemned because the word of God says by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight.
No one ever got righteousness before God.
Through keeping the law, for it says by the law is the knowledge of sin. There is nothing wrong with God's law. It was holy, just and good. But the trouble was with us, because good laws don't reform bad hearts.
No, they only show that they are bad. If my face were dirty and you held a good mirror in front of me, that wouldn't make my face clean, would it? It would only show it was dirty. And the law was. The nod gave the knowledge of sin, but it didn't wash away. Sin took the blood of Christ to do that. And so the law only condemned man. And it wasn't good teaching he needed. It was a new life that he needed.
There was new birth. And so the Lord's answer to Nicodemus, a man who was perhaps we might say morally upright, better than the average. And yet the Lord said to him, except the man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
For if he would teach us the necessity of new birth, he didn't pick up a man who was sunk in the depths of sin. He didn't pick up one like we read of in the 4th chapter who was looked down upon by society and say to that person, he must be born again. Noah picked, God would bring me for us the very best, the finest of humanity, and would show that such a man needed new birth.
00:10:18
And so it doesn't matter who it is.
Whether it's the finest living person in Saint Louis or the person that is sunkless, new birth is a necessity. As though the Lord could have said through Nicodemus, you can't get to heaven in that life with which you were born. You'll have to have a new life.
And everyone of us, every baby that was ever born to this world was born with a sinful fallen nature and could never get into heaven with that fallen nature. We have to have a new life. We have to have a new life in the very best and finest.
Need that new birth, need a new life from God. And if there's anyone here to this afternoon who is clinging to your own works and remember the Lord Jesus said he must be born again. You must have a new life.
Because that life that you and I received at birth before God.
Is fallen depraved, but the Son of Man came to seek.
And to say that which is lost, perhaps someone may say, well, I don't think I'm as bad as other people that I know.
Well, the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart. I try the reins. Let me illustrate it like this. If I had two rotten eggs sitting here on the table and I dropped one on the floor.
All the bad of that egg comes out. You say what a horrible smell, what an awful smell. Yes, I say the other ones just as bad too. So you pick it up and you smell it and you say I don't think so. No bad smell from this egg. I don't believe it's half as bad as that other.
Oh, I say yes, it's just as bad. The only difference is that when the bag came out, the other the bad still in. And perhaps you've had a good bringing up. I thank God for our Christian father and mother. That restrained me, that kept me from doing many things. But when I got into the presence of God, I found that my heart was just as bad as the vilest person able to do the same things.
Restrained by a Christian father and mother.
But until I receive Christ as my Savior, I was still guilty before God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that egg, whether it spills out on the floor or whether it remains inside the shell, it's rotten. That's what God says about your nature and mind.
He says as in water, face answers to face.
So the heart of man to man, that is if you look into.
A wall and the water is nice and still. What will you say? You'll see your own heart. You'll see your own face reflected in the well.
For God says you look into somebody elses heart and you'll just see the reflection of your own, that's all. There's no difference before God, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
While Nicodemus couldn't understand this and so he tried to reason about it, he knew how natural birth took place and he wondered how this new birth would take place. And so the Lord said, except the man be born of water under the spirit.
He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. All in the Lord spoke of water under the Spirit.
He didn't refer here to baptism because.
Christian baptism hadn't been instituted at this time, for one thing. And later on he says in this chapter that Nicodemus ought to have known these things, and how would he have known them if Christian baptism had never been even mentioned yet? So you can see that the Lord didn't refer to Christian baptism. But if you were to turn to the 36th of Ezekiel, it says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you and.
Clean a new heart will I give you. And so the Lord was Speaking of what Nicodemus ought to have known.
The necessity of receiving a new heart.
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And as far as the water is concerned, the scripture uses that as a figure.
Of the Word of God. It tells us in Ephesians 5 that He might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word.
Solid water is a figure of the word of God. And more than this, if there is any question about it, we could turn the Peters epistle. And Peter says being born again by the word of God which live us and abide us forever. He didn't say that you were born again by baptism. He said you're born again by the word of God which liveth and abideth forever.
You turn over to James and he says in the first chapter of his own will be God. He us by the word of truth.
So Paul speaks of water as a figure of the Word of God. Peter speaks of being born again by the word of God. James speaks of being born again by the word of God. And not one of them ever spoke about being born again by water baptism. Now it's a figure here.
Of the need of cleansing and God uses two things for the new birth of the soul, and that is.
His word and His spirit. And as the word of God is preached, the Spirit of God applies it to the soul. And God gives a new life, a new life. And this is how one is born again. He's born again by the word of God applied by the Spirit. And so there are many that have heard the word of God and conclude verses.
But the Spirit of God hasn't yet applied it to their hearts and consciences.
But when the Spirit of God applies it to your heart, and you find yourself a Sinner in God's presence, and then you see what Christ has done for you to meet you in your need, not only does God put away your sins, but He gives you a new life. And that's what the Lord is speaking out here. And so the Lord says in the sixth verse, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit.
His spirit, that is, it's not improving the flesh, and the new life that He gives doesn't need any improvement because as we shall see shortly, it's the very life of Christ. So it doesn't need to be improved. And the old nature that we were born with can't be improved. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And so the Lord is saying to Nicodemus.
That he hadn't come to improve the fallen nature of man.
But that man might receive a new life. And so he said to Nicodemus, Marvel not that I said unto thee, He must be born again. And then the Lord says, The wind blow for at least us, and now hearest the sound thereof. But canst not tell whence it cometh, and whether it goes? So is everyone that is born of the spirit Nicodemus had.
Mentioned about the birth of a child into the world. A little baby is born. We see that little baby.
We see a drawing breath. We know that a child has been born into the world. But now he speaks about new birth. And he said it's just like when the wind blows, because you never saw the wind in your life, did you? And neither did I. But I've often seen the results of it. I've seen the snow flying. I've seen the dust flying. I've seen the trees bowing down and the wind. I didn't see the wind. I saw the result of it.
And this is what the Lord is mentioning here.
That when one is truly born again, it's not talking about some great experience. I know people that rest on their experience.
That their lives make you wonder if they were ever born again. Their lives make you wonder. But they can talk a lot about experience. But I would far rather meet someone who said, well, I'm afraid I can't tell you much of an experience. I really can't say very much about how the Spirit of God began the work in my soul.
But I know the Lord Jesus is precious to me. I know his blood has cleansed me from my sin. And you see in that persons life, love for the Lord Jesus and a desire to please him, I have much more confidence that that's a real work than someone who can do a lot of talking about an experience. And so the Lord here speaks.
Have it been just like the wind blowing and you might say, well, how can I be sure?
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That I have been born of the Spirit. I'd like to really know well, as the Lord said, the word of God and the Spirit of God.
What is What is it that gives 1 The assurance of salvation? Why he rests upon the precious Word of God.
As we were telling the children yesterday, how simple for an Israelite to rest upon that wonderful message, when I see the blood I will pass over you. And how simple it is when a Sinner comes to the sense of his guilt before God, just to rest upon God's precious word that says he that believeth on the Son.
Half of a lasting life.
Or perhaps someone might say, well, I've heard it said you might believe in your head, not in your heart. How could one tell that he really believed in his heart and not just in his head?
Well, when one believes in his heart, his heart goes out to the person, to the Lord Jesus. And I'd like to just give you a couple of scriptures in connection with that. In first Peter two it says.
Unto you therefore, which believe he is precious. And another one in first John chapter 3 that says, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And so if one has really believed in his heart, the Lord Jesus will be precious to him, and his heart will go out to others who love the Lord Jesus too.
If you were walking down the street tomorrow and someone put his hand on your shoulder and said, do you love the Lord Jesus?
Would that make any feeling of response in your heart? But I'm sure of this, that if you're born again, there's something inside that responds to the precious name of the Lord Jesus. You know that you're saved because you rest upon the Word of God. But as we see here, there is new birth, there is a new life given when one is saved.
And that new life is the very life of Christ, for it tells us in Colossians 3.
When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall He also appear with Him in glory. It also says in first John chapter one, we declare unto you that he, and show them to you that eternal life.
Which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us now, which we've seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon.
The apostle John said yes, he'd actually looked upon that eternal life. He had seen him with his eyes. It was the Lord Jesus himself. And so Christ is the believers life. And again I say, if you really have received that new life, your heart responds when you meet someone else who loves him.
I might have a piano here and if there are no keys inside of that piano.
It might look very nice to everyone that was in the audience, but if I touched one of the keys, you just get a thumb. You wouldn't get any music at all. There's nothing inside. Looks all right on the outside, but there's nothing inside.
But even if the piano is a little bit shabby and some of the keys were chipped and didn't look so wonderful, if there were keys inside, if you just touched one of those keys, you'd get some music.
To get a response from touching the key, because there's something inside, and I know this, that if you have received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, your heart responds to that precious name and the proof I say that one is really born again.
Is that his heart goes out to the Lord Jesus? Oh, I don't say that. We love him as we should.
None of us would ever boast and say, well I love the Lord Jesus as much as I should. Everyone of us have to confess.
How cold our hearts often become. But I do say, and I say it confidently, that I don't believe it's possible for a real Christian to meet someone else who speaks about the Lord. That there isn't a response in his heart because.
The new life is there, and So what the what the Lord is speaking out here is that the new birth evidences itself in the result. And I say this because some people make a great deal of experience, but I believe that God makes far more out of the result that is evident in the life. And so here the result that would be evident in the life is.
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Love for the Lord.
Love for his people and a desire to please him.
While Nicodemus asked how these things could be. And so the Lord Jesus goes on to make this very simple. Notice the 13th verse. And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
I believe it's important here the first thing the Lord brings before Nicodemus in connection with new birth, and that is his own person.
Notice what the Lord said. He said that while he was talking to Nicodemus, he was also in heaven.
That is, he said, No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven. Even the Son of man which is in heaven, How could the Lord be in heaven and still be talking to Nicodemus?
Well, I remember asking that question back in the Sunday school in Ottawa, and a little boy put up his hand and I wondered what answer he was going to give. And he said because Jesus is gone. Well, that boy had the truth. That's exactly the point. And it's most important too, because we're living in days when the deity of the Lord Jesus is denied, and what the Lord brings before Nicodemus is.
That this one who had come, her forgiveness, new life.
As God himself, it says, it says he's not the Lord Jesus quickness whom he will. I can't give you a new life. The finest preacher on earth couldn't give you a new life. But the Lord Jesus can give you a new life. He can impart a new life to you because he is God. He is God the Son.
And when one believes the gospel?
No life is given, but I I mentioned this again. I want to press it upon each one here because we're living in days when the deity of Christ is denied. When people come to your door selling literature that they tell you that the Lord Jesus is not really God.
Well, if he's not really God, we have no savior. We have no savior because of all this says that there is one savior. And if the Lord Jesus isn't God, then he isn't a savior. He isn't the savior, but thank God he is. And while he was talking to Nicodemus, he was in heaven too, as the little hymn said.
How wondrous the glories that made in Jesus and from his face shine his love of eternal and sweet.
Is also divine, His glory not only God standing manhood, He had his full part and the union of both joined in one form the fountain of love in his heart. He asked the one who is talking to Nicodemus and the one who I hope is speaking to your heart this afternoon is perfect man and perfect law.
Now the next thing the Lord brings before Nicodemus is the necessity of redemption. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. And we often speak of these two things, the importance of the person and the work of Christ his person.
That he is God, God the Son and his work.
The one who accomplished redemption on the cross, and so that one who is lifted up upon the cross, was none other than the one who was there to bear the wrath and judgment of God against them. Perhaps you might have wondered, why wasn't there a lamb on a pole? Why was it a serpent on a pole?
I believe there's something for us seeing this and that is the serpent was that which had bitten the Israelite and so the serpent was put on the pole. And So what we need to see is that the Lord Jesus.
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Didn't just die as an example of love. Many people would say yes. The death of Christ was a wonderful example of the world of divine love.
But all I want to tell you, it's more than that. It's Christ made sin for us.
It says in Second Corinthians 5/21 He hath made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him says in Isaiah 53 and verse 6, All the like sheep have gone astray. We have turned every one to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him.
The inequity of us all. And if you just see the Lord's death as an example of sacrifice.
I'm afraid that you're not saved, but if you see him as the one.
Who was bearing your sins, settling the question of sin before God?
So that God could come out in blessing to you. That's the way that the Lord was bringing before Nicodemus here. And I know it's so important that we should see this because.
Unless the question of our sins was settled at the cross, we could never settle it ourselves. We could never put away our own sins. We could never be in heaven. Perhaps the Lord Jesus is the one who has borne the judgment of God against sin.
And I love to think of it this way, that it was God himself who placed my sins upon Jesus.
I were to have to put my own sins upon Him. Sometimes it's so. Have you put your sins on Jesus? Could you remember them all? Could you put them all there? Why you and I weren't there? On the question of sin was settled. And more than that, darkness covered the whole scene, that it was God Himself that took up the question of sin, settled it to His own glory and to His complete satisfaction.
And the Lord Jesus said it is finished, He died, he rose again. And this afternoon we tell you of one who has accomplished redemption, as one dear man said to me, is the approach the end of his journey and to see him in the hospital. And he said, Gordon, isn't it lovely to know all the judgments behind you and not ahead of you, our dear friend, That's what took place at Calvary.
Judgments behind because the Lord Jesus.
For all the judgment. So here in Nicodemus had asked how this new birth could take place. And the Lord brings before him his person and his work. Then he says, the God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, and whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. And so because, because the question of sin has been settled.
As we sing in little hymns sometimes.
Says God could not pass the Sinner die. A sin demands that he must die.
But in the cross of Christ I see how God can save, yet righteous be so. The question of sin being taken, taken up and settled. Now the heart of God can come out without limit. God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son. And how simple it says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have not hope to have, but have a relaxing life. Yes, we can.
Know this, we can rejoice in it. And this is the new life that we speak of. This is new birth. To get eternal life is new birth.
And it's a life that the Lord gives to one who is born again. And so one is sometimes said like this, when we are saved, our body becomes like a house that has two tenants in it. We have the old fallen nature that we received at our natural birth, and then God gives us a new life.
That new life is the life of Christ. And so the believer then.
Within him, two natures. This is why the Christian is sort of a paradox. He is often misunderstood because he has a new life that has new desires and new affections, and he also has the old nature there. And sometimes if he's not careful, he indulges the old nature and yet he also has the new. Now I'd like to say a little bit about those two natures and what God has done.
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In connection with those two natures, and how the believer can live in the enjoyment of his new possession even below the old nature still there. But I'd like to turn first of all to Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 22, that she put off concerning the former conversation, the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind.
And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness.
And true holiness.
And they also turn with me to the Epistle of John, First Epistle of John, and the third chapter in the ninth verse. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
Where we find the character of these two natures, one called the old man, the other called the new man.
Promise, the fallen nature we received at birth, sometimes called the flesh or sin in the flesh, and the other one, which is eternal life, the life of Christ, which the believer has all says that one is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, tells us that the other one is created in righteousness and true holiness.
It tells us in this passage in first John three and verse 9.
That we have a life that cannot sin, cannot sin? Why not only do we have a life?
Of that hates sin but a life that cannot sin because if we had received a new life that could sin then when we got to heaven we could bring sin into that place and it wouldn't be the life of Christ because.
If God gave us the life of Christ, and that life could sin, then that would be a denial of the very deity of Christ Himself.
Now it's very clear in the Scripture that we have Christ himself as our life. It's very clear, the many Scriptures, that the new man was created in righteousness and true holiness and that it cannot sin. And so I say again, the believer has two tenants in his body. He has a life of fallen nature, and that nature is characterized by sin.
By wanting to do its own will, turning to its own way, perhaps sometimes on the clean side of the broad Rd. sometimes on the broad on The Dirty side. But it's the same old nature. It's just wanting to do its own way that the new life.
That is the life of Christ. Now we can easily see that if the believer has this new life, then it's a very blessed thing because the new life doesn't have to be improved. We don't have to set up standards for the new life because it's the life of Christ.
We need to feed it there and we feed it by reading the Word of God and prayer. We feed them their life by attendance the meetings so that as Peter says, we grow in grace and the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and a Christian has within him.
If he's truly a Christian, that no life. And I've seen some Christians that have got very far away from the Lord, but after talking to them for a little while and speaking about the love of Christ, I've seen a response from within because that new life is there. It may have been that through neglect of the Bible and prayer that maybe they've grown cold.
But I say that every born again child of God possesses that new life.
And that we need to nourish it and feed it. And when you meet someone, if you're not sure whether he's a Christian, just begin to talk about the Lord Jesus, begin to talk about his love. And he'll say that if he's truly a child of God, there will be a response because the new life is there. And so this new life doesn't need a law.
To put one under law is to say that the that the new life that God has given needed some kind of restraint.
Now the old nature, of course the law was given for the old man, but what did the law do by it only condemned.
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But God has given us a new life. Now it will turn over to Romans 6 why they'll see a little more of what God has done.
Connection with this new life. Romans, chapter 6.
First one, what shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abandoned? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein, knowing not that so many of us as were baptized under Jesus Christ were baptized into His death, therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death.
The life of Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father. Even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed. But henceforth we should not serve sin, but he that is dead is freed from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him, knowing that Christ, being raised from the Dad, dies no more. Death, hath no more dominion over him. When he died, he died under sin once, but then when he liveth, he liveth unto God likewise.
Like an ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin that allowed unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the less thereof, neither you your members as instruments of righteousness, of unrighteousness unto sin.
That heals yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members of instruments of righteousness unto God.
Now I just like to read in May 8th chapter and the third verse.
So what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh. God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and force, then condemned sin in the flesh.
Now the question is brought up, what has God done with that old nature? And this brings in what we often speak of as the believers standing. Now this is very important for us to see because when we are saved, as we remark, God gives us the new life, but he also brings us into a new.
Standing, and he no longer looks upon us as in the old man before him.
But he sees us in a new standing in Christ. I quote that verse again in 2nd Corinthians 5 and 21. He hath made him to be sinned for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him says in Ephesians one, He hath made us accepted in the beloved.
And the believer is brought into a new standing before God.
Upon him as being in the flesh, although he has the flesh in him, he looks upon him as being in Christ. And what has God done with that old nature? Well if you noticed in the different verses that I ran that in the 8th chapter, in the third verse it says he condemns sin in the flesh.
And the 6th chapter and the sixth verse it says.
Our old man was crucified with him. And then in the third verse of that 6th chapter.
A rather fourth verse, it says buried with him by baptism. So we can say condemned, crucified, buried so before God. As far as that old nature is concerned, while it's still there, we have been brought into a new standing.
And God did not attempt to improve the old nature. He condemned it. He condemned it. The Lord Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Ephesians 4 said it was corrupt according to the deceitful lust. You have something rotten. What do you do? You try to improve it.
No, you probably bury it. And when God had tested man under the law.
And he had showed his own helplessness, his utter helplessness to do what God required. Then God said the trial is over, the trial is over. And now God is not looking for anything good in the flesh. He has already condemned it.
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And in the death of Christ, our old man is crucified with him.
And so don't expect that that old nature is going to improve because God himself has condemned it. God himself put it to an end in the death of Christ. And in baptism we recognize that by burial which which baptism figures. And so we can see that before God it is the end of our standing in the first atom.
And in by new birth were brought into an entirely new standing before God.
Perhaps to make it a little more simple and I'd use the illustration of citizenship. Perhaps most of you realize that I'm a citizen of Canada. But if I decided to become a non citizen of the United States and was accepted as such, when the eyes of the United States government, my standing becomes different. I once stood in their eyes.
As a visitor who belonged to another country.
And I was not a citizen of their country, just here on a visit. But if I was accepted as an American citizen, I have an entirely new standing before them. And as far as they are concerned, Borden Hail the Canadian citizen would be dead and Gordon Hale the American citizen would be alive. That is, there would be an end 1 standing and being brought into a new standing in.
Well, now that's what God is seeking to show us here in these chapters. He is seeking to show us that we have been brought into this new standing before God and every believer is seen before God in Christ. Isn't it a grand thing, dear fellow Christian? But as you sit in this room this afternoon.
With that old nature within you that God tells you.
He said I don't see you in that old nature. I see you in Christ. That's where the believer stands. That's true of the youngest believer. That's where God has brought us. Now you know there are many people that try.
By efforts to attain a kind of a holier standard by which they feel they can elevate themselves and improve themselves, and then they get into a higher bracket, shall I say.
Where they feel they're living what they call a victorious life and others are on a lower plane. That this is where God starts. He puts you in a new position and He gives you a new life that can't do anything but please Him.
That urge you we read out there and John's epistle, Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, and his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin.
Because he is born of God, you know, sometimes it said, ought to be justified as to be before God, just as if you'd never sinned. Well, that's only part of the truth. Because the Scripture says justification of life to be before God as if you had never sinned would indeed be fine. But isn't it better to be before God in a life that never did sin and never cannot sin?
That's where the believers stand. That's where God sees you not only as if you never sinned, but you are before God in Christ in a life that never sinned at all and never could. And that's where you stand before God now He goes on and exhorts on that basis. He doesn't say that we're by effort and by attainment to finally come to this.
Standing and he says, that's where I put you, that's where I put you. Now he said, I want you to live in the good and the enjoyment of it. And this is what God always does. He always tells us what he has done for us. And behold, our Christian life is founded upon what Christ has done for us and not attained by any effort of our own.
All that we can do.
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Is only to live in the enjoyment of what the Lord has done for us, so that the Christian, the simplest Christian, the fabulous Christian, could not have a better standing before God than he has. But all many are not in the enjoyment of it. But whether you're in the enjoyment of it or not, it's yours. And that's where God has brought you. And you can never live a happy, joyful Christian life.
You're trying to attain something because if you're trying to attain a standing before God.
You're either proud if you think you have attained it or discouraged because you think you haven't, and neither one are the happy state of soul to be in. But when you see where God has placed you, then how blessed to look up and thank Him and to live to please Him because of what He has done for you.
Well, now we see exhortations founded upon this notice.
On the 11Th verse.
And the 6th of lemons likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Now there are others that would say, well, you can attain a point in your life where the old nature is finally burned up. Oh no, you're standing before God is that?
Your the old man before God is dead.
And you have a new life, but you wouldn't be told to reckon the dead if it was actually dead. And Gordon had a Canadian citizen didn't die at all. But as to his standing, he did as to his standing. And when God puts you in that new standing, the old nature still there.
And it doesn't improve. It doesn't get any better. God says it's corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. And so don't expect that after you're saved that somehow this old nature is going to get better and improve.
No it doesn't.
But God, God condemns it and puts it in the place of death. And now he says you do the same.
Reckon you yourselves to be dead in deed, and to sin that arrived unto God?
Was talking to a young man while I was on this trip and.
He was telling me about how he was brought into a temptation in his life and how the Lord enabled him to overcome in this temptation. But he said what bothers me is that I found an impulse within that wanted to do what's wrong. And he said I feel so badly to think that there was something in me that wanted to do that wrong thing, even although the Lord delivered me.
And I said, oh, I said that that old nature will always be there.
And God tells you that it doesn't improve after you're saved. Bob tells you in his word in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth nor good thing. I also gave him that verse and John and Peters epistle where it says he that hath suffered.
In the flesh have ceased from sin. I said that that old nature.
Will still want to do what's wrong, but God tells you to put it in the place of death.
Now you're making yourself unhappy thinking that that old nature should have improved of God himself hasn't attempted to improve it. He condemned it. He condemned it. And when you find an impulse in your heart to do that's wrong. So I just look up and give thanks that God can put an end to that old man in the cross and that he's given you a new life and he tells you to reckon.
That old nature death. And now he goes on in the next verse and tells us.
To yield our members not as instruments of unrighteousness descend.
But to yield ourselves unto God.
I spent a few moments ago about the body being like a house with two tenants. So I've got in my body those two tenants. Now God says you once let the old nature tell those hands what to do. You once let the old nature tell those feet where to go. You once let the old nature tell those years what to listen to, and you once let the old nature.
Tell those eyes what to say. But he said now, Now, he said, there's a new tenant in your body.
And now don't yield yourself to the old nature which God tells us to put in the place of death, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead. And so instead of saying, oh, isn't it terrible that I had such an impulse, isn't it lovely to say instead?
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Well, God's given me a life that wants to please Him, and now I just want to use my hands and my feet and my eyes and my ears.
I want to just heal my whole body to the new life that he has given to me and that's what he's exhorting us here to yield yourselves and to God as those that are alive from the dead and and your instruments as instruments of righteousness under God. Pleasant lovely to know that God tells us about that old nature being there and then tells us that we have the privilege.
Putting it where he has put it, he's put it in the place of death. He says you do the same. Now let's turn to the 7th chapter, and I'd like to point out a few little thoughts here in the end of the 7th chapter, beginning at the 18th verse.
For I know that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good?
I found not.
Now there are three little things that I would like to bring out from the last part of this 7th of lemons. This is the first. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Did you ever have an evil thought? And then you said to yourself that I never thought a Christian would think a thing like that.
Perhaps you have. Well, if you did, it's because you didn't believe this verse. Because if you really believed it, you wouldn't be surprised at any evil that you sigh in your heart. I'm not surprised at any evil that I see in my heart because God himself has told me that there is absolutely nothing good in that form nature.
Has it improved since I've been saved? No. This is the apostle Paul speaking here and he says.
When me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And if you're saved for 50 years, the old nature wouldn't improve. And if you ever expect it to improve, you're only going to be disappointed.
Well, perhaps this may sound kind of hard to say that it doesn't improve, but isn't it a comfort? Perhaps you when you had an evil thought you were so upset about it?
Perhaps the devil even whispered in your ear. Maybe you're not saved when you had a thought like that. Well, God tells us in this verse what he has done with the old nature and what we are to realize about it, so that when that old nature.
As it were, pops up and makes a suggestion or something about instead of instead of being discouraged and cast down.
That we can just say, well, isn't it good that God doesn't see me in the flesh?
That he sees me in Christ.
This is the first thing for us to realize that the flesh does not improve after we're saved.
In thee that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now the second point that I'd like to bring out is this 20th verse. Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. If we had read through this chapter, you would find the man is in a great conflict, and the conflict is because.
In one breath he is calling the new nature eye.
In the next breath he's calling the old nature I and so this he can't understand why that he does want to please God, but he also finds that somehow he wants to do what's wrong and because he doesn't understand the truth of the two natures.
Why he has he is so troubled and so upset. He thinks that perhaps if he put himself under loud he would help to keep this.
This old nature in the place of restraint.
But in the 18th verse, he's come to the point where he's realized about the old nature does not improve. When it comes to this 20th verse, he no longer calls the old nature eye. He said if I do that, I would not. It is normal, I would do it, but sin what dwelleth in me.
Seven-fold Blessings
Address—P. Glading
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The seven mainly. Just look at the Father's sevenfold blessings.
The first one we look at is in John 6.
Verse 38.
John, 638.
For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which have sent me, that of all which He has given me I should lose nothing.
Much, and raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, And I will raise him up at the last day.
I'm sure none of us would dispute this truth. In verse 38, the blessed Lord says I came down from heaven. Well, we believe that we are sure that He did, and we wouldn't dispute it for a moment. But He tells us here that He did not come down to do His own will. He came to do the will of another, and He came to do the will of His Father.
And the question that might be raised, well, what is the will of his Father? Hell might allow this. Well, how precious to see that the Lord Jesus Christ has revealed to us what the Father's will is for us.
And that's a precious thing to know. He has not revealed this to the world, but he has revealed it to us and we can thank him for it. Now verse 40. And this the Lord says is the will of him that sent me. Now we know what the fathers will is that every one which seeth the sun.
And believe upon him may have everlasting life. And I will raise him up again at the last day. Now we know what the Father's will is. Yes, but what is it? Well, the Father's will is that you and I should be saved. How precious this is. Surely this would remind us of the Father's heart of love. He willeth not the death of a Sinner, and it is his desire that we should be saved.
Yes, but how? We saved, he says.
That everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him may have everlasting life. Well have we all seen the sun, not the midday sun. The Son of God by faith, hanging upon the cross for our sins, have we all seen Him with the eye of faith.
Have we all received Him as our Lord and Savior? Well, as the Father's will hear that we should be saved.
And to me, that's exceedingly precious. And so we have it expressed here. It's not his will that any should perish, or what a heart of loving has for us, hasn't he? And we read in the I think it's Matthew.
Believe it's 18. You might just look at it.
Matthew 18.
Cross 14 Even so, it is not the will of your Father, which is of heaven, but one of these little ones should perish.
Now it's his desire that all should be saved, but there is nothing to suggest in the word of God that everyone will be saved. They may be at the wish and but you see often the will comes in the way. They will not come to Him. The Lord said that when He was here He will not come to me that you might have liked. But if we come to Him in simple faith, there is the gift of eternal life waiting for us. And that's why the Lord says in Isaiah 45.
22 Look unto me and be saved. How simple it is. That precious little monosyllable look implies that the salvation I need is found in the one to whom I look. It's there already for me, and one looks, secures it. And so the Lord says, Look unto me and what? And be saved. How blessedly simple. And now we have in our chapter.
The will of the Father is that we should be saved. Well, I believe I'm addressing save people tonight gathered to the Lord's name about should there be one here?
Well, how is it with you? It's the Father's will that you should, you should be saved, and is not his will that you should perish. And so we have here the knowledge of the Father's will. That's very precious. Now he turned to John 1028.
These are very well known scriptures, I'm sure, but I think they're so important today because of the uncertainty of many so-called Christians.
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John, 1028.
And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father which gave to me is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one.
Now in the first scripture we read, we read them what the Father's will is. The Father's will is our salvation. That's his will, that we should be saved. Now we find after we are saved, we're in the Father's hand, a place of eternal security. Beloved Saints of God, what more could we have than this? You and I as believers are in the hand of Christ, and we're in the Father's hand. The Lord says, here I give unto them eternal life.
And they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. And then he goes on to say, My father which came to me, is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of my father's hand. I am my father one. Well, how precious these words are. A member of dear sister in England. She was just about to pass into the presence of the Lord.
And her dear husband sat by her bedside, and I believe her last words were these.
She turned to her husband with a very weak voice. She said, Albert, this Scripture is so precious to me now. And she quoted it very faintly. And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. And she soon slipped into the presence of the Lord.
Oh, how sweet and precious this is. This was a blessed reality to that dear sister about to leave this scene. She was resting upon this. She had already received Christ as her Savior. Now she had the assurance from God's Word that she was in the Father's hand and in the hand of the beloved Son. How could she perish? And so these words are very precious, aren't they? And this is a position of every true believer in the Lord.
And in the Father's hand. Now you've all heard of Brother Willis, of course, in China, while I had the privilege of being with him for four years there. And I remember on one occasion we had some naval Manian for the gospel meeting. And in China, of course, I had picture posters to illustrate gospel subjects. And dear Brother Willis produced a big picture of a big hand and a man inside the hand. The.
Clasped round this man and on every finger and on the farm with cords attached and dozens of Chinese men pulling as hard as they could pull to try and release that man so he'd fall out and they couldn't. And there's a naval officer there. And he said, well, if that speaks of the security of the Christian, I want to be a Christian. I want to be there. If that speaks of certainty and eternal security, I want to have it.
And through that simple illustration, he was saved. And how precious it is to know that we are in the hand of the Father who can touch us, who can pull us out. No one. Or the peace it brings to the heart and soul to know that we are now as believers in His hand, and we're there for all eternity. No one can ever pull us out. And so it's very sweet to know this. They shall never perish.
Never perish. And the Lord says my sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me. Yes, it's his sheep he's Speaking of here. His sheep. They have eternal life and they will never perish. They'll never be ****** out of Christ hand. You know Jacob was a shepherd, was he not? Read of him in Genesis? He was a shepherd and a Good Shepherd too, but he had to admit that in spite of all his unceasing vigilance.
He said in last time, But when we turn to John 17, the blessed Lord, the Good Shepherd could say, Those whom thou hast given me, I have lost none. Oh, how sweet that is. The Good Shepherd can never lose a sheep. Never.
And it is precious to read such assurances as these. Well, now you turn to the 17th of John. Well, before we turn to that, however, I think we should turn to the 14th of Matthew. Because, you know, today there are those who say, if you do not hold on to Christ, you'll be lost. I suppose you've heard that statement. Well, is that a true statement?
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No, it is not. There's no such suggestion in the Word of God.
That you and I have got to hold on to Christ. I could not do that for a day about people say if you do not hold on after your sage, you'll be lost. Well, just read a few verses in the 14th of Matthew and we'll see if this is true according to scripture.
The 14th chapter of Matthew. We'll have to read a few verses to get the connection.
Verse 23 Well, 22 And straightway Jesus constrained his disciples to get into a ship and to go before him unto the other side. That's where we bound for, isn't it? We're bound for the other side, while He sent the multitudes away. And when He had sent the multitudes away, He went up into a mountain of heart to pray. And is He not up there now? Not on the mountain, but He's in the glory, and He's interceding for.
How precious this is. And when the evening was calm, he was there alone.
But the ship was now in the midst of the sea, tasked with wave, for the wind was contrary. And in the 4th watch of the night Jesus went under them walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea without trouble, saying it is a spirit, and they cried out for fear.
But straightway Jesus spake unto them, saying, And be of good cheer. By the way, we have this expression three times in the Gospels. Be of good cheetah. The first occasion is the good cheer of pound. The Lord had forgiven the person's sins. He said, Be of good She, and thy sins are forgiven thee. Here we have the good she had mentioned near the good cheer of His presence. He says, Be of good cheer. Desire be not afraid.
And in John we have the good cheer of his power.
They have good shear. I have overcome the world.
That's just by the way it is. I be not afraid. And Peter answered him and said, Lord, if it be thou.
Bid me come under the underwater. How personal this is. Bid me, he didn't say, Bid us come to thee, Bid me come unto thee, and that's very personal and beautiful. Bid me come unto the underwater. And he said, come, That's all the Lord said to Peter. And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid and beginning to sing. He cried, saying.
Save me now. Notice the next verse.
And immediately Peter stretched forward his hand. No, And immediately Jesus stretched for his hand, and caught him, and said unto him, All thou of little faith, wherefore did thou doubt? Now did Peters safety depend upon Peters holding on to the Lord? The Lord bid him to come out of the ship to walk on the water, to go to him. And the first few steps were in faith, and everything was all right.
But then it says he saw the wind boisterous, he was looking at the elements and not Christ. And it says he, beginning to sink, cried, Our Lord saving well, didn't feed him without his hand and hold on to the Lord. Indeed not what happened. Now the Lord put out his hand and held Peter. That's the point, isn't it? You and I are being held in the precious Saviour's hand and in the Father's hand.
Our security beloved does not depend upon our holding on with him. We couldn't do it.
But you find here that the Lord, it says immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand and held Peter. Did Peter sink then? Indeed not. What happened?
Well, it says in the next verse. And when they would come into the ship, the wind ceased. To me, beloved, that's a beautiful picture of the Lord holding you and me all the journey through until we're safe in the ship.
Yes, you and I are going into the ship, you know, in the Father's house, I may put it that way. And so the blessed Lord took Peter back to the ship, a place of safety. He didn't let him drown. He didn't let him go. Peter did not have to hold on to the Lord. The Lord held Peter, and that's what he's doing for you and me. And to me that's very precious. And I not only went into the ship, but what was their occupation?
Then they that were in the ship came and worship him all to me. That's a beautiful picture.
Of the Lord, holding the believer in His hand until he takes him home to glory. Then our occupation will be to worship Him. Yes, that will be our occupation. It's our privilege even now to praise and worship that blessed One who has loved us even unto death. But for love of the time is fast approaching when we will be delivered from the scene. We'll be in His very presence and free and able to worship Him as He is worthy.
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And so we can look forward to that moment and that will be our eternal occupation Will not be occupied with one another there, the Occupy the Christ, He'll be the center of the throng and the center of attraction and the center of our praise and worship and adoration. But what a sweet picture this is Jesus holding for sinking Peter. Yes, sometimes perhaps we feel like sinking, but He'll never let us go.
How precious to know they were in that powerful hand.
In the hand of Christ and in the hand of the Father. And he is soon going to take us into the Father's house, the ship, and our occupation will be to worship Him, to adore the grace that saved us and that blessed One Himself. And now he turned the 17th of John.
And verse 8.
For I have given unto them the words which thou gavest me, and they have received them, and have known surely that I came after thee, and they have believed that thou didst send me. Now, verse 14 I have given them thy word, and the world have hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not in the world.
Now we have the love of the Father's word as our assures the first scripture we read we have the Father's will is our salvation.
The next one we have the Father's hand is our security. Now we have the Father's word as our assured. What greater authority could we have than this? What greater security could we have than the Father's word? The Lord says I'm giving them thy word. Here is something solid to rest upon.
We often hear different foundations being built. I remember a big building was going up in Shanghai, China, and the architect had got out his blueprints and drawings and they started the building.
By the fifth story and the whole thing collapsed and sunk in the mud and the poor architect committed suicide. Yes, there was no solid foundation for the building to rest upon. Shanghai is built upon the mud flats and this building just began to sink and collapse. He committed suicide. But all you and I, beloved, we have a solid foundation to rest upon, not given to us by the world. No, the world cannot give us solid foundation.
Their only foundation is their own word, which changes day by day.
But we have the Father's word. We read in Titus that God that cannot lie. Think of that. We read of others in that same chapter in Titus. Accretions are always lives. But it says in contrast, God who cannot lie. And so we have the Father's word to rest upon. What a solid ground we have, have we not?
Nothing can alter it. Nothing can shake that foundation why God's Word is forever settled in heaven.
Remember a naval officer telling me to burn all the Bibles? He said. What good are they?
Well, if we collected all the Bibles and burned them, would it destroy God's word? Would it change the truth of it? Indeed not. What foolishness, He said. I'm educated. I don't want that stuff. Why don't you burn your Bibles? Well, we had to remind this naval officer and what we have in John 1248, the Lord says he that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words.
Hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken.
The same genre, judgment, the last day, two baddies is too bad and it will be too bad for that man. Yes, he was educated. He was educated for hell. He didn't want the Bible. He didn't want the word of God. He didn't want Christ. He was going his own way. What a sad end he will come to if he pursued that course, if he continues in that path. But how precious an hour here we have. The Father's words are assured.
Oh how sweet. This is a solid foundation. Nothing can shake it.
Nothing can change all the powers of Hell and Earth cannot shake that foundation or destroy it. And so how thankful we should be tonight when everything beloved around this is going to pieces, is it not? Is there anything stable in this world? Nothing. Whatever. It's all going to pieces. Everything is stamped with death and uncertainty, but in the face of it all, we have a solid foundation to rest upon.
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The finished work of Christ.
And the eternal Word of God. And so here we have the Father's Word.
As our assurance, now we turn the 14th chapter of John, the 14th chapter.
And verse 21.
He I have my commandments and giveth them. Here is that love of me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him him, and will manifest myself to him.
Now there's once an old sister living alone, quite old she was. The brother went to visit her and she complained that she is feeling so very lonely. He said, well sister, do you love the Lord Jesus? Indeed I do. She said, Well, he read this first to her. He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, He it is that loveth me, and he or she that loveth me shall be loved of my Father.
And I will love him or her, and will manifest myself to him or her.
Only said, Sister, do you not see you have a lover here to walk with you, the Lord Jesus Christ? He says, If you love me, I will love you and I'll be with you. And so there's a cheer to our heart when he read the 23rd verse to her. And this goes further still. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he will heed my words now, and my Father will love him.
And we, not I, we will come.
Under him and they are abode with him only said sister and I have two lovers for your companions, 2 lovers, the father and the son. Well, she said, I haven't seen that before. I certainly shouldn't feel lonely, should I? And discouraged. And it is so, isn't it? To think that you and I have these two companions with us, the father and son. How precious.
And now here we have then the Father, the Father's presence, our comfort and joy after we're seeing.
We have the Father's will from salvation, the Father's hand from our security, the Father's word for our assurance, the Father's presence for our comfort and joy. Now we'll turn to the the 15th chapter.
Verse 9.
As the Father that loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love.
Now we have the love of Christ made known to us, He says, As the Father hath loved me, can we?
Measure the depths of the Father's love for his beloved Son. Impossible. And yet note what the Lord says. As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love. Be occupied with my love to you. We cannot be occupied with our love for Christ, how poor it is, how frail it is, but we can be occupied with Christ's love for us. And so he says, as the Father have lovely.
I love you. Isn't that quite just to know that we love so dearly by the Lord Jesus Christ? Now we look at the 16th chapter and see how much the Father loves us.
Verse 27. Fifteenth chapter.
For a father himself loveth you because you have loved me. For now, how much does a father love you? How much does he love me? Turn the 17th Chaplain. There we find it.
We know exactly now how much the Father loves us.
23I and them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou hast loved me. Now we know how much the Father loves us. We know how much the Son loves us as much as the Father loves him. Now the Lord tells us, He says, that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and has loved them as thou.
Love me? Isn't that wonderful, beloved, to realize that you and I are loved by the Father as much as he loves his son. Well, it's, it's really hard to take in, isn't it? But it's true. And so then we have the farmers. Love as our resource. The farmers will as our salvation. The Father's hand is our security. The Father's word is our assurance, the Father's presence, our comfort and joy for the pathway.
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Now we have the Father's love for our resource.
And watery salt we can draw upon that love day by day. And that love, remember, is going to last return. Human love fails, Indeed it does very often. And we are disappointed perhaps in one another because the love fails. But not so here. All this love is an eternal love. And the thing beloved, the Lord loves you as much as the Father loves him. The Father loves you as much as he loves his Son. It's.
Too much to take in, but it's true. And He wants us to rejoice in the fact. And so we get here. The Lord says, continue ye in my love, not in yours in my love. And then in Jude's epistle we read that heat yourselves in the love of God, be occupied with his love too. And if we're occupied with the love of Christ, it tells us in Ephesians 3.
And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.
Think about the love of Christ passes knowledge and in the 5th chapter of Ephesians we read that Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. What more could give? Nothing. And so then we have the love of Christ made known and the love of the Father. Now you turn the 2nd Corinthians first chapter.
The third verse of the first chapter of the 2nd Epistle to the Corinthians.
Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
God has always been the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, but the Lover? He's now our Father too. How sweet to know that. Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
Now in him a God whose seeks to comfort our hearts, we have a Father of mercy. Have you ever tried to count the mercies of one day alone? The mercies you and I receive from the Father's heart and hand that they could we count them well. How precious to know that we have now a Father of mercies and the God of all comfort.
We often find when a loved one is taken from us, perhaps the neighbors come around and say, well, you have my sympathy. Well, it's all right as far as it goes, but how frail it is, how small it is in comparison to this precious Scripture, The Father of mercies, the God of all comfort, says, who comforteth us in all our tribulation.
That we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
Now we have the Father's mercies and the God of all comfort for the pathway for every step of the way. The Father of mercies, it's of his mercy were not consumed. His compassions failed up and knew every morning we read so much about the mercy of God.
And that's just what we needed when we were in our sins, and we need it still. So we have the the Father of mercies from the God of all comfort for every step of the journey. Now go back to the 14th chapter of John.
Another well known chapter, Let not your heart be troubled. Isn't it wonderful to notice that in the previous chapter the blessed Lord said that he was troubled in spirit. Now he turns to his dear disciples. He's about to leave and He says, let not your heart be traveled.
Ah, that blessed on one was travel. He was traveled in spirit, and yet he says where his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. He was about to go to Calvary, and yet he just speaks out precious words of comfort to his own.
We believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's Harrison many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you.
I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be also. Now here we have the final. Now we have the Father's house as our home. All beloved, how sweet and precious to know that soon we shall enter the Father's house with our precious Savior. And it could take place tonight.
Are we all ready for that moment? Yes, we long for that moment, do we not? Can we not say, beloved, with truth and Thanksgiving from our hearts?
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Even though come, Lord Jesus, come, Lord Jesus, come and take thy waiting people home. That's what we're waiting for, the Lord to come. We're not waiting for a better time here because we'll never get it.
Even so-called Christians are trying to improve conditions here. But beloved, this is a sinking ship. This world is soon to come under the judgment of God.
Why at the first of I came round your home and condemned it and he said this is unfit for have a patient you better get out before it collapses. And soon as he's gone, you go and buy some paint and start decorating it. Well, that would be the height of foolishness, wouldn't it? That's just what many so-called Christians are doing today.
Trying to improve this world, make it a better place to live in, but without its condemned. It's condemned not by the Boris of air. It's condemned by God and soon to come under God's judgment. And so how thankful we should be that we do not belong here. The blessed Lord can say they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. And he says, and ye are not in the flesh.
Two precious truths to get hold of. Sometimes we hear people say for an excuse for failure. Well, we still in the flesh, you know. But that's not true, beloved. We're not in the flesh.
Romans 8 tells us though we're in Christ, that's opposition. We're not in the flesh. The flesh is in me to screw, but I'm not in the flesh. I'm in Christ, accepted in the beloved. How precious to realize then the flesh is in US, and will be until lemon comes. But our position is in Christ, not in the flesh.
Well, here then, we have the final. How precious it is. First of all, we have the Father's will is our salvation.
The father's hand on security, the father's word are assured, the father's presence are comfort and joy.
The Father's love is our resource, the Father's mercies and comfort for the pathway. And now we have the Father's house for our home. And beloved, how soon may we be there? Could be there tonight. How sweet and precious isn't it, to realize that any moment the Lord may come to take his waiting, longing people home. Oh, do we not long to be there.
Well, I'm sure we do from our hearts, because what is there here to hold us? Nothing but sin, sorrow, disappointment, death and tears.
But the time is coming when God is going to wipe away all tears from their eyes. There'll be no more thickness, no more pain, no more crying, and no more death. What a moment to anticipate. That's the turnless state when we get home. We know tears there, beloved. No trials there. We get them today, but they'll soon be passed. Yes, we are looking the other night at John 16, where it tells us there seven times in four verses.
Little White, It's all of this. A little while. Oh, our heart should be encouraged, shouldn't they? When we realize that we're actually on our way home? Yes. Every step we take is one near a home. The Father's house. That's the final. Lord says if I go away and prepare a place for you, I will come again. I will. Do you think you'll change his word? Do you think you'll disappoint us? Never. Never. He.
For that moment, far more than we are. Why? To have all His redeemed around himself and the glory forever that He will see the travel of His soul and be satisfied. And surely, beloved, you and I'll be satisfied too, when we get home to glory, when we see our precious Savior face to face and our forever with Him in that bright scene above.
Well, what a relief it will be to leave the scene, will it not? Yes.
We have the trials and difficulties here, the clouds and the partings, but there will be none of that. There will be absolutely perfect. Who's made it so? The blessed Lord Himself. The ground of all our blessing is Calvary. The Lord Jesus went to the cross and gave his life's blood Redeemer to bring us to God and to bring us into a place of eternal relationship and eternal blessing.
And thorough. Let us try and remember these few precious thoughts, these seven things. And the final is the Father's house is our home. How sweet and precious. And we may be there sooner than we realize. Yes, the Lord could come at any moment now and give a shout, and every believer would respond. We were speaking last night of the great supper provided.
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And those who made excuses and would not respond to the invitation and did not come.
But beloved, the moment that shout takes place, you and I will hear it and respond to it and leave this poor old world behind forever. Water relief, What a joy. Well, it should produce eternal praise and Thanksgiving to my heart, so that Blessed One for alone is made as possible.
Breaking of Bread
Address—A.C. Hayhoe
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.
Like you to turn with me tonight, please, to the book of the act.
To a very familiar.
Little account in the 20th chapter of the book of the Act.
Acts Chapter 20.
Verse 7.
And upon the first day of the week.
When the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.
Ready to depart on the Morrow and continued his speech until midnight.
And there were many lights in the upper chamber, where they were gathered together, and there sat in a window as certain young man named Utica being fallen into a deep sleep. And as Paul was long preaching, he sat down with sleep and fell down from the third loft, and was taken up dead.
And Paul went down and fell on him.
And embracing him said, Trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him. When he therefore was come up again, and had broken bread, and eaten, and talked a long while, even till break of day, so he departed, and they brought the young man alive, and were not a little comforted.
I believe considering these verses slowly we might see in them.
That which could be a very, very needful lesson to all of us, and that which perhaps I hope may direct us and encourage us.
You notice that it says upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread. I feel sometimes we become accustomed to certain privileges and forget how much we owe to the very wondrous grace of God that has established these privileges for us.
The first day of the week you and I wake up, I trust with gladness of heart to realize this is the Lord's Day.
But I'm sure there's not one of us that realizes as we ought, to the wonder and the privilege of that first day of the week and the triumph that it really represents. For it reminds us, does it not, of the end of that which once held ******* over guilty men by the matchless grace of God, by the finished work of Christ?
You and I have been delivered forever from that which held us in captivity and in *******.
And as we look upon that open grave, that empty tomb, and realize that on that first day of the week our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ rose from among the dead, I hope it makes that day very, very real and precious to every one of us.
Living as we do in a land where the first day of the week is called Sunday and is set apart, perhaps perhaps doesn't give to us the significance that it ought to have to us. I remember quite a good many years ago.
I was.
In another land and I was confronted with a group of Muhammadan.
And having a little time to converse with them, I asked them if they prayed. Yes, they said promptly. Indeed we do. Where do you pray? Over in Yonder mosque? To whom do you pray? To the Prophet Mohammed?
To the Prophet Muhammad, is he dead or alive? Oh, he's dead. How long ago did he die? And they promptly told me, and I said, does it not seem strange to you to pray to someone who has been dead so long? Well, it didn't seem strange to them at all. But I know it sounds strange to you, and it did to me. And I tell you it came before my soul with a fresh delight and a real gladness that it is our privilege, yours and mine.
To know that our Savior who lay in that grave rose from among the dead, and on the first day of the week we see him living triumphant over death. And on that first day of the week, we here see the disciples coming together to break bread. This is the day that the Scripture calls the Lord's Day.
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Now, I'm sure you've noticed that there is but one mention in God's Word of.
The Lord's Day there is but one mention in God's Word of the Lord's Table, and there is but one mention of the Lord's Supper. I hope those three things are very precious to you. I hope they mean a lot to you. The Lord's Day, the Lord's Table, the Lord's Supper, and yet each of them is only mentioned one. You know, if we were.
Back to the Old Testament, we would find that God had to remind His people over and over again other restrictions and responsibilities of the Sabbath day. How many times? I have no idea, but you and I know that over and over and over again they were reminded of that solemn day.
But you and I are told once and only once of the Lord's Day.
The Lords Table and the Lords Supper. But when someone that you love very much makes mention one of something that would be very, very delightful to them, you really don't need to be told the second time, do you? It registers immediately.
You recognize that once here is something that would bring joy, delight, gladness to the heart of One whom I love. O beloved brother, beloved sister, young or old, isn't there something sweet about the fact that He just makes one mention of this and leaves it to your heart and to mind to respond promptly to the glad and sweet claims of the Lord's?
First day of the week. What a wonderful privilege it is to be able to come forth on that first day of the week to break bread.
Now, I want to be careful in what I say. I don't want to be in any way critical, but I believe this is important. They came together not to worship the Lord, but to break bread. That was the purpose of their coming together. I'm quite sure that it's proper. It's in order. There would be something wrong.
If our coming together in the presence of the Lord Jesus, with the privilege before us of breaking bread in response to his request.
There would be something wrong if this did not produce that worship of which He is so worthy. But, beloved, I believe that God's Word would suggest to us here that the purpose of our coming together on this first day of the week ought to be to break bread. It ought not to be a secondary thing, but rather the delight of our hearts as we leave our homes and come to this or that place.
Where he has said his name in order that we might share together the glad and happy privilege of breaking bread, well, there is a second thing that I think is indicated here.
Paul preached unto them.
I believe there's a significance here, for I believe it sets them apart as a company of people who appreciated, who valued, who had an ear for the ministry of the Apostle Paul. Now I think you and I realize that in the religious world around about us, the particular ministry entrusted to the Apostle Paul has.
Very little claim upon the hearts of so many.
And when that which was specially entrusted to Paul is presented, they turn a deaf ear to it all. That was Paul wrote that or Paul said that, and they find various excuses for turning a deaf ear to the marvelous truth.
That was entrusted by a risen and an ascended Savior to his servant Paul. Paul did not know the Lord Jesus after the flesh here on earth. His first meeting with the Lord Jesus was the sound of that voice from heaven that addressed Paul on the road to Damascus. And Paul was caught up to the 3rd heaven to receive that special communication of truth that I hope, beloved, means.
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A great deal to you and I hope also to me.
Why was he caught up to the 3rd heaven to receive such a revelation of truth? Oh dear fellow believer, that's the origin. That's the source of the sweet and blessed truth entrusted to God's beloved people that I, I feel, should lift us from this poor world through which we're journeying and called us to rejoice in the wonder of being already.
Citizens of that land to which we're traveling.
Fellow citizens, with the Saints and of the household of God, From whose pen do such words come? The pen of the apostle Paul. Where did he hear such things? Not from his fellow disciples, not from the lips of the Lord Jesus while here on earth, but from that One who was up there in the 3rd heaven. Is there not a danger that we become accustomed to these statements and fail to think about them? The 3rd heaven.
Where is that?
While you read in Genesis chapter one, I believe of the creation of the 1St and the 2nd heaven, the starry heavens that challenge the search of man, and the atmospheric heavens or the firmament as it is called in Genesis chapter one. We read both of those heavens in that first chapter, but where do you read of the origin of the 3rd heaven?
You will search your Bible and you will not find it I believe.
That it's beyond the boundary of all that is created, beyond the 1St and 2nd heaven, Beyond all that has been created, is the eternal dwelling place of a God who knows my name and loves me. Beyond all that has been created is that home of uncreated glory in which the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, has been received and from which He communicated.
His servant Paul, the precious and significant truth that I hope means a great deal to your heart and I hope also to mine. I was just meditating and enjoying the other day the three distinct mentions of the ascending of the Lord Jesus and.
What shall I say the significance of the wording that is used? He is spoken of as having passed into the heavens.
And in connection with this, he has control over all that is taking part in this world, angels and principalities and powers being made subject unto him. All that goes on in this world as regards the authorities and principalities and powers are all under the control of Him who not only rose from among the dead, but is passed into the heavens. That's the language, I believe, of Second Peter.
But then we also read that he passed through the heavens.
Doesn't that sound a bit more exalted still through the heavens, And for what purpose? In order that you and I might have a merciful, faithful, sympathetic, understanding High Priest up Yonder in the glory. I believe to my heart, it would suggest that that which concerns you, my dear brother, that which concerns you, my dear sister.
Calls for a greater term of exaltation.
The man which concerns the control over all that is going on in this poor world.
He passed into the heavens as the one who has control over all principalities and powers, but He passed through the heavens in order that as a merciful High Priest, he might care for you and me from day-to-day. But then, far above all heavens, For what purpose is this language used? There He sits as head over all things to the Church.
Which is his body. Oh, when I think of that place of supreme exaltation, when I see the Apostle Paul not caught up into the heavens or through the heavens, but up there into the 3rd heaven, in order that he might receive this marvelous communication of truth, it thrills my soul. And at the same time it saddens me. It thrills my soul to realize.
That it concerns that which unites me together by God's matchless grace, in bonds of eternal relationship with every other believer.
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For together we are living stones in the Church of God. Together we are made members of the very body of Christ. These things were communicated to the apostle Paul. And I say here I see a company of people on the first day of the week gathered together to break bread, listening to and enjoying.
The precious ministry and trusted to the Apostle Paul.
But then the third thing significant about them is this, that they met together in an upper chamber. We know from having read the story that it was the 3rd loft.
And I might pause here to remark that as far as I know, there are only two hints of description.
As to the kind of place in which the Lords people met.
One is a large upper room and the other is 1/3 loft.
Neither one seems to suggest anything that you would point out to your friends as being this is the place where I meet. There's something about it that has sort of a Pilgrim character, a large upper room, the third loft, the third loft, that indicates a very real degree of separation, does it not? I think perhaps in this connection we might consider it as a picture of death and resurrection.
1/3 lot leaving behind completely and absolutely all the religious activity that was going on around them.
And dear fellow believer.
You and I who know the joy of being gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Know that the enjoyment of His sweet and happy privilege involves separation. Separation to the person of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, bearing His name alone. Now I know that the very sound of the word separation causes some folks to shudder as though it were a restricting term.
And it were going to involve some very, very difficult steps to take. But I believe when it comes to the claim of a heart that really loves and a heart that responds to that love, separation is not difficult, but very, very, very precious. We read in the 43rd chapter of Isaiah.
I have redeemed thee. I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. Does that sound?
Awkward. Or does that sound sweet and precious?
Oh, I don't want to say anything that would sound out of place, but I know if you could just picture someone that you love very, very, very much.
Reaching out and taking your hand and saying thou art mine. Would you find that difficult to listen to?
Would you consider that that involved a claim that was going to be awkward for you to recognize? Dear young people, dear brother, dear sister, let me tell you this. There's someone who loves you with a love that shines far above any human affection that has reached out a Pearson hand to me and said to me.
I have called thee by thy name.
Thou art mine. Who said that to me?
None other than the one who was nailed to the cross in love to me, the eternal Son of the living God has said to me, Thou art mine. Should there be, should there be some response in my heart to this, to be separated to the one who said that to me and paid such a price in order that he might claim me as his own? Should there, I say, be a response in my heart and yours also to such a claim?
And is that response difficult?
Forgive me for repeating what I know you have heard before, but I think every time I attend a wedding I experience this same feeling over again as I see a couple stand side by side and turn and glance at one another with that happy look of love. And then I hear a challenge like this addressed to one and then the other. Do you promise that? Forsaking.
All other you will cleave to him only so long as he both shall live.
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You've heard that, and I've heard it pretty often too over the years. And I've never heard any hesitation in the reply. I've always heard the reply. I do, I will. There's no hesitation about it. There's no thought in the heart of either one or the other. This is going to involve separation. This is going to involve a kind of ******* of some kind. Not for one moment.
The claims of love are recognized, hands are joined, and those bombs are expressed there in the sight of all others, all beloved. There's One who loved you and me, One who went to Calvary Cross to redeem you and me. He has claimed us as his very own, and now I believe we see in this picture.
A company of those who have responded to those claims. They're called disciples.
And on the first day of the week, we see them gathered together in that third loft, leaving behind all that was going on around them, separating themselves, I believe, with gladness of heart.
To the person in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And there they met.
But there was a sad, sad interruption that entered into this picture.
And in verse seven we read ready to depart on the moral. Now those words used to trouble me, ready to depart on the Morrow. And in reading them I used to think, why does it say on the moral, Are we waiting for tomorrow to go home? Are we not ready to leave right now?
I couldn't quite fathom the significance of those words. Ready to depart on the moral?
But I read it again and again, and it began to present to me a picture that I want to try to present to you tonight, for I feel it might be helpful, it might be encouraging.
Paul continues his speech until midnight and there were many lights in the upper chamber where they were gathered together.
Now comes verse nine and the sadness of it. There is sat in a window. A certain young man named Utica is being fallen into a deep sleep.
And as Paul's long preaching, he sunk down with sleep and fell down from the third loft.
And was taken up.
I'm going to digress here a moment to introduce a practical thought in connection with this experience before we try to fit it into the picture.
And the thought is this. Here was a young man who had the spiritual energy.
To go up those flights of stairs, to be found within the company, to be under the sound of the ministry of the Apostle Paul, to be numbered among those who met that day, to break bread. But the first thing he did that was rather questionable was to seat himself.
In the window.
I wonder if this would perhaps?
Perhaps suggest a certain responsibility that I ought to feel and perhaps we all ought to feel. Have you ever seen this happen? Have you ever seen among those with whom you meet someone whom you feel is in danger of a fall, someone who perhaps seems to want to keep one eye on that which is going on out there in the world?
And one eye, perhaps directed toward the people of God.
One ear tuned to what's going on out there and the other ear halfway listening to what Paul is saying in the 1St place. It's a very, very dangerous position, a very, very dangerous attitude. And I have wondered as I read this story, I have kind of wondered why there wasn't someone there who moved, who moved over and said Uticus, come and sit by me.
You're in a dangerous position.
This is a challenge to my own soul, for over the years I have seen those who have fallen out the window. I have seen those who once enjoyed this happy place and privilege and they're gone. But it didn't happen suddenly. You know very well it didn't happen suddenly. And I feel myself solemnly chargeable with some of those occasions when I think of those whose faces I saw at the meeting and I see them there.
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Why didn't someone go and put their arm around Euticus and say Uticus, come and sit by me? That's a risky place for you to be.
Furthermore, I doubt very, very much if Utica was wide awake one moment and sound asleep the next. It doesn't happen that way. You found yourself dozing off and meeting, I suppose. I know I have. And it doesn't happen all at once. The voice kind of fades out, and then it comes back, and then it fades out again, and you find your head nodding and you try so hard to stay awake. You don't fall asleep suddenly.
And I quite expect, as Utica sat there in the window, his head may have nodded a few times.
And I doubt not. There may have been those present who saw it happening, maybe even nudged the person next to them and said, look at that young man, he's going to fall out the window if he's not careful. But no one did anything about it. No one got up and went over and said, you, Dickus, watch out, you're going to have a fall. Don't you think it would have been a kindness? Maybe it would have disturbed things a little bit, but I'm sure you'll realize that it would have been a kindness.
There was a dear old brother in the meeting back in Ottawa.
Who loved the young people with a very, very watchful, careful, prayerful love. His name was RJ Watson.
And I can remember from time to time when the arm of that fear, faithful old man, would be laid on my shoulder, and a faithful word would be addressed to me. Why?
Because he loved me, that's why.
Oh, you'll excuse one occasion.
It doesn't sound like much, for in those days it was considered quite the thing to have a white handkerchief sticking out of your pocket, and I'm afraid I was one of the first ones to do it.
And brother Watson.
Knew very well that this was just a sign.
That I might be heading in the wrong direction.
Sure enough as I might expect it after meeting, that dear man, because he loved me, came up and reached out his hand with a big broad smile. And as he grasped my hand with one hand, he tucked the handkerchief in with the other, and said, Glad to see you at meeting Albert. And away he went. Why did he do that?
He wasn't trying to be rude, he wasn't trying to be funny. He loved my soul and every little thing that he thought about us that he felt might lead us in the wrong direction, he loved and he cared enough to speak to us in such a wise and loving way too. I love the memory of that brother. I remember one day he come into where I was working.
And he had tears in his eyes. I said, Brother Watson, what's happened?
Well he said I just saw sister so and so passed by on the street and I said but what happened? Why do you look so sad Albert? I'm afraid, I'm afraid I saw she passed by the 1St signs of trying to make herself.
Appear as those who do not love the Lord.
I was so surprised that young sister that he was speaking about wasn't even gathered to the Lord's name, nor was anyone in her family. She was just someone who, from the Sunday School effort, had been attending the meeting and attending them faithfully and rejoiced in the Lord. But he had seen, and he discerned rightly, he had seen the first sign of turning towards those things which would lead her astray. And she was led astray. She wandered away. She missed the path.
She's with the Lord now.
But I Revere the memory of that brother.
He was the kind of man who would have gone over and put his arm around Eudicus and said, Uticus, sit by me. And then when I see this man fall out the window and they go down and find him their lifeless. Or how would you feel? How would I feel if I had seen the signs of it coming and failed to be faithful in shepherding? Dear young people, just let me pass this message on to you.
If some dear brother, If some dear sister.
Comes to you with such a word. Don't resent it. Don't resent it. Perhaps they may not present it to you in a way that would make you recognize love, but take it from the Lord and remember Utica.
I believe the incident here is more than simply a warning of how very, very easily any one of us can slip from this place of precious privilege.
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Back down to the level which we once had left. But I believe it's a picture also of a history of the testimony from the day of Pentecost until that glad moment so near at hand when we're going to see the face of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Notice that the story begins with a company of disciples gathered together in that upper room. 3 things characterize them.
Complete separation from that which was going on around them religiously and in every other sphere. They were separated from it. Then also they were listening to and valuing them.
And they were breaking bread.
Both three things characterize this original testimony. But then there comes the darkness of midnight.
That testimony seems to be interrupted by a dark midnight and by a fall right back down to the level that they had left, and such a tragic fall that it says he was taken up dead. Now what a picture. Instead of this happy testimony continuing, there is this grievous interruption.
The darkness of midnight, a fall back down to the level that had been left.
And an apparent lifelessness. And isn't this the way it has taken place? Is it not sadly true that that testimony which began so brightly, and we read of it in the book of the Act, we read the letters addressed to the gathered believers in the epistle, and we see the privileges that they were enjoying and the separation that they experienced.
But there came and it it came too soon.
A darkness. A very sad and real and long period of darkness during which to the natural eye, there was nothing but absolute lifelessness. There's a dead body lying on the level of the street and the midnight darkness is upon them.
Hall embraces him and says trouble not yourselves, for his life is in him. And I have no doubt that during those dark ages the eye of God could see a very real evidence of life which was not observed perhaps by the historians who wrote about it. But the eye of God could see the light that continued through the whole years of darkness. But thank God, the story didn't end there. The story doesn't end.
A midnight. The story ends, as we notice, with a break of day. Beloved, this was God's purpose from the very beginning. And I'm sure you've noticed that the very first day of recorded time is written in these words. The evening and the morning where the first day.
I remember inquiring of my Sunday School teacher in Ottawa years ago. Mr. Warricker, that's backwards, is it not? The evening and the morning were the first day, wasn't perhaps the right way for me to put it to my Sunday School teacher, but that's what I said. Is that not backwards? Why we would say in the morning and the evening were the first day and Mr. Warrior couldn't answer the question.
But I believe you know the answer. God's intention, beloved, is.
And it will be gloriously realized that his timetable is going to end with a break of day. And the first recorded day of time was an evening followed by a morning. Man has chosen that his day begins at midnight. And of course it ends also at midnight. But not so with God. I say again, the first day of recorded time ended with.
A morning.
Break of day and so does this happy picture we're looking at. Notice now in verse 11 when he therefore was come up again by the grace of God, there is a restoration now to that same place of separation which was enjoyed at the beginning before the midnight hour came.
Come up again, oh beloved, can we not thank God for this, for His grace and His faithfulness?
That has restored a testimony by which we find ourselves called, according to the pages of this precious book, to know the wondrous joy of being gathered outside of that which man has arranged away from all his boasted names and efforts. To know again the wondrous, precious, sweet privilege of being gathered around a person, and unto the precious name of our Lord.
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Savior Jesus Christ.
Is this something that we profess with a little bit of embarrassment? I hope not. If you ever feel embarrassed to tell anyone that you're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, surely that name has lost its wonder, its worthiness, and its charm to you. Surely it ought to be a joy to your soul to confess that name, even if it's adore to Him.
You confess it, don't expect it to be a popular confession in this world, because you and I know that the confession of that name and the joy and wonder of being gathered to that name is that which in itself condemns the systems of men.
I remember one time being called to the home of one of the highest church dignitaries in Ottawa.
He was a man greatly looked up to by all his.
Fellow clergymen because he had a title that to excel them all. His wife was an invalid and was not able to come to the office and so I went to the house.
And after I'd done what I could and the man had proven himself to be one of the most polished gentlemen I had ever met, oh, he was just continually bowing. And he was so grateful for all that I had done and this kind of thing. And I thought I must not leave this house until I say something for my blessed Lord. And I looked around for something that would give me an opening without annoying this gentleman.
And I spotted a Bible, so I pointed to it and I said, Sir.
I love that book.
Right away he looked at me with suspicion.
And he picked up a prayer book and handed it to me and said, here's a good book.
You know, I had never had a prayer book in my hand in my life and I didn't know what might be in it, so I didn't say anything.
And again he looked at me with deepening suspicion, and he said, What church do you belong to?
How should I answer that? How would you answer that? Should I feel embarrassed? Should I feel humbled? I tell you, beloved, it was a joy to my soul to answer that question. I said, Sir, I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ and I'm gathered to his precious name.
And you know what he did? I'm sad to tell you what he did. He turned immediately to the front door of that fine home and just held it open without a word. And I walked out the door and I heard it closed behind me and I was out to stay. And I stood on the porch and said to myself, What did I do? What did I say? To change that man from a polished gentleman to one who would act so rudely?
And I recall the words that I had spoken, and I've repeated them to you. I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I'm gathered to his precious name. Oh dearly beloved brothers and sisters.
Let us thank God for the privilege of such a confession. Let us thank God for His grace and His faithfulness that has restored to you and me in these last days of waiting the marvelous, the wondrous privilege of being gathered thus.
Some of us, and I'm numbered among them, and thank God for parents and grandparents who paid a price for such a step.
And some of us have come into it so easily. I'm numbered among them. I was brought up to know nothing else, nothing else in all my life.
In all my life, I've never sat down in a church and heard a sermon.
Missed something, beloved, I stand here to say by the matchless grace of God, that I thank Him forever, picking me up and redeeming my unworthy soul. But oh, how I thank Him for the joy of being gathered to His precious name when I was a young fellow and sat back there in the meetings in Ottawa and saw that company passing the loaf and the cup among them.
I looked upon them and longed that I might be numbered among them.
But I knew there was a hindrance. I was not worthy. Oh yes, I was the Lords. I knew I was forgiven. I could give an answer to anyone that asked me on that score. But I was not worthy to sit among those who were remembering the Lord. And so I sat and watched from week to week and began to think within myself, How long am I going to have to wait? What am I going to have to do before I am at last worthy?
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I said to myself, will there ever come a day?
When I will say now I am worthy to sit up there.
And take of that loaf and of that cup, if I were to ask any of those who are sharing in this privilege.
Would they say to me, yes, there came a day when I felt worthy. I knew very well, as I considered it, that such a day would never, never come. And I knew, as I knelt before God in this precious book and thanked Him for having redeemed my soul at that infinite cost, that He who had loved me and died to redeem me had not only made me worthy.
But had invited me, had invited me. And I thank God that the day came at last.
And I'm surprised at the courage it took. Yes, I am. I'm surprised at the courage it took. I went first to my own father and said, father, I would like to remember the Lord.
Well, he said, son, I'm thankful for your desire. I think it would be well if you mentioned it perhaps to some other brother in the meeting. I would sooner not bring your name, my son's name, before my brethren. And you know, it took many months before I had the courage to go and ask one of those other brothers.
I don't say this dear brethren, I trust with any other thought than to encourage perhaps the heart of any here who may truly love the Lord Jesus but feel a timidity in this matter. The time is short, the moment of our Lords return is so near at hand, and the wonderful privilege of remembering our Lord Jesus in death is that which cannot be fulfilled up there in the glory.
It's a privilege that many of us are going to look back upon with deep, deep Thanksgiving to the Lord when we see Him face to face and hear the worshipping host of the redeemed praise His name forever. Don't you think that there will be just that sweet and special understanding between your heart and His that while you were yet here in the place of His rejection?
You bore his name.
You remembered him in death.
I don't want to make a comparison that perhaps is a bit out of place, but I sometimes think of dear married who brought 1 LB of ointment.
And poured it upon her beloved one, the Lord Jesus.
And the Scripture says of that ointment that it was very costly, and it speaks of the sweet and precious odor of that ointment that filled all the house where they were sitting. How much ointment was there? 1 LB. And you remember, after he was gone, there came Nicodemus and Joseph. And what did they bring?
£100.
Was it very costly? No mention is made of the cost of it. What about the older? The perfume of it? No mention made. He was gone. He was dead.
£100 No mention as to whether it cost a lot. No mention of its odor. O beloved, excuse the illustration, but it touches my heart to think that there's something so sweet, so precious about being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus right here and now, where he was cast out and rejected.
And in a world that has never, never changed its mind nor repentance.
There has been restored by the grace of God, as I believe we see in this precious little picture.
The wondrous privilege of being in that place of separation. And let me repeat it, if you truly love him, you'll be glad to be separated to him and to him alone.
It will be no problem to turn away from that which would not be suited to the one.
Whose name you bear and whose love has stirred your heart. You wouldn't want to be found in the company of those who don't love your precious Savior. Oh, just let me say one more word about this happy privilege and challenge of separation. Dear young people, I have a wife at home whom I love very, very dearly. Now I'm going to ask you to suppose that during my absence from home.
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The neighbors break into that home, brutally beat my wife, drag her outside the town and put her to death.
And I come home.
And I see absolutely no evidence of sorrow or repentance with anyone of them. They know what they're they've done that. There's no sign of repentance. And after some time they decide to get together and have a little party.
And their procedure at the party hasn't anything about it that would perhaps be considered wicked or wrong.
And they invite me to be a guest with them.
At their party.
Would it be a difficult decision for me to make?
Would I wonder whether I ought to go or not? And if they laid down to conditions? One was this. We don't want you to say anything kindly about your wife while you're here. We might put up with it once, possibly twice, but that would be it. If you mention your wife with love, we'll have to ask you not to come back again. And while you're here, you might hear us say some pretty rude things about your wife too. But we're in the habit of talking that way, so you'll just have to excuse it now.
And enjoy the evening with us. But I consider separation from such an invitation to be any great difficulty. Would there be any hesitation? Would there be any question in my heart as to whether I ought to go or ought not to go? That wouldn't be the point. Loyalty to what I love would answer that immediately. Beloved young people, as I look around in this world, I see the friendly hand of invitation stretched out towards so many of you and that which they offer you.
Not seem to be that which is in itself wicked or sinful or wrong, but in loyalty to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose face they spit, in hatred, whom they nail to the cross of Calvary. Can you, can I reach out and join hands with those from whom loyalty to our blessed Savior would cause us to walk in separation?
Well, I say, I see this company restored again to the place of separation.
Breaking of bread is mentioned again too. I don't suppose they remember the Lord on these two successive days. I really feel that in verse 7 the remembrance of the Lord is referred to. I expect that in verse 11 They partook of some food together. However, I believe the Spirit of God chose to use the term breaking bread.
On both occasions in order that this picture might be complete.
Now, I don't say there's anything unscriptural about breaking bread on two successive days. I've done it more than once. I've broken bread more than once in the same day and enjoyed the sweetness of it too. But I believe that this picture presents to us a restored company in that place of separation, once again breaking bread, once again listening to the faithful ministry of the beloved Apostle Paul. But it says nothing.
Now about ready to depart on the moral, it says until the break of day. Oh dear fellow believer, is this not where we now stand? By God's matchless grace, By God's matchless grace, I say, restored to that place which was established long ago outside the camp, gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In separation from that which is contrary to the word of God.
Privilege to break bread in remembrance of our blessed, precious Savior.
Listening to and I hope valuing the voice, the ministry of the apostle Paul. And the picture ends with the break of day and it's going to end with that picture at any moment.
You remember that when the children of Israel long ago built that glorious temple, and then their temple was destroyed and they themselves were carried away into captivity by the matchless grace of God, a remnant of them were restored again to that same place where once they had been gathered. The foundation of the House of the Lord was laid. There. The prophet Haggai encouraged them as the Lord promised His presence in their midst.
But there was one thing lacking.
And I wonder if I might make mention of this.
In the days of Solomon's glorious temple, there was a visible sign of the Lord's presence among them. That cloud of glory dwelt there over that temple, and anyone could take a look and see the visible outward sign of the presence of the Lord in the days of Solomon's glory. But after the captivity and the restoration again.
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To that same place, and there the House of the Lord is built, and there the Lord says through his servant Haggai.
With you, saith the Lord. Yet that visible sign of the Lord's presence was not restored, was not granted to them. I believe that if we look back to the time of Pentecost, we see not only those things which we have spoken of, but I believe we also see the outward and visible sign of the Lord's presence.
Healing tongue.
And such things as marked the presence of the Lord.
But when the midnight has passed and the grace of God has restored a testimony, it is entirely false and wrong and dangerous to expect to look for, to pray for, to ask for a return of that visible sign which existed at Pentecost.
I believe, and I know you will accept this word of warning. I believe that we see all around us today that which is a dangerous, very dangerous effort to look at those outward signs that existed long ago. I believe it's an entire mistake and a failure to recognize that we are about a restored remnant. And I trust that the Saints of God may be spared from tampering with any such thing.
Doth permit me to say I had no notion of saying such a thing when I stood here, But permit me to say, dear brethren, and particularly perhaps the dear young people who are faced with this, that anything?
Anything that is supernatural that does not have the full and complete support of the Word of God, avoid it as you would avoid the devil himself. Avoid it, don't tamper with it. Don't even out of curiosity try to investigate it. Leave it alone. Anything that is supernatural that does not have a full and complete support of the Word of God. I am not surprised to see Satan openly.
Revealing himself in his last days.
You remember that it was the last of the three presentations in the temptation to the Lord Jesus that Satan came right out and revealed who he was and demanded worship from the Lord. Now over the years Satan has been leading his deluded followers down the broad road to destruction, and he has been deceiving them all the way. He has been offering them one form of entertainment and attraction after another.
The kind of hiding himself, but it seems to me to be a very significant evidence that we are at the end of our journey.
When I see that Satan no longer is trying to hide himself, why should he? He's right at the end of the road, and he knows it too. I believe he knows that he's at the end of the road, doesn't need to disguise himself any more. He doesn't need to take any further steps. I believe he's led his deluded followers to the very brink of hell, and now he has come right out in the open, has revealed himself, identified himself, and demands worship.
Again, I say, dear young people, this may seem like something way over Yonder that you and I would dread to have anything to do with, and I hope it is.
But in the meantime, I believe the devil has a very cleverly disguised staircase from the very truth of God to the very darkness of his own Kingdom. And I believe you and I do well to stick to the precious living Word of God and not tamper with any of these things.
Can we not thank God with all our heart then for the precious and wonderful privilege?
Of enjoying together that restored and wondrous delight being gathered in separation from that which this world boasts. Of breaking bread, listening to, and, I trust, valuing and walking in the ministry of the Apostle Paul and waiting together for that glad and wondrous moment, the break of day. Shall we just look to the Lord in prayer?
Five Words
Address—A.C. Hayhoe
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First Corinthians chapter 14 and verse 19. Yet in the church I had rather speak 5 words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also.
Than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue in the church. I'd rather speak 5 words with my understanding that by my voice I might teach others also than.
10,000 words in an unknown tongue. That's a remarkable verse. We were hearing in Des Moines with considerable warning, the danger of these things which we see all around us, the presence to the supernatural activities which we hear about, and perhaps some of you have even encountered it, but I very, very much struck with what the Apostle Paul here said in contrast to it all.
I'd rather speak 5 words. With my understanding, he specifies 5 words as compared to 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. Now I believe that when Paul specifies 5 words, he means that. I believe he means that your heart and mind could be edified by 5 words.
And you know, in reading this verse one day it it interested me and I began to look here and there through Scripture to see.
What there was inspector in five words that could be of flashing to my heart and I must admit that the result of that little meditation really spoke to my soul and perhaps you invite us afternoon could look through the scriptures at various little five word sermon. Shall I say that I believe God has hidden there that can be of real help and encouragement to us.
And after all, 5 words are not too hard to remember, and I trust perhaps we may remember some of them and prophecy them.
The first one that comes to mind is found in John's Gospel, John's Gospel chapter 12.
And verse 20.
And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feet. The same came therefore to Philip, which were the best seder of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Now there's the first little five word sermon that came to my attention. Sir, we would see Jesus, and it first came to my attention this way.
Our daughter Charlotte at home one day seemed to be very busy at her death and as I passed by I noticed she quickly covered what she was doing she didn't want Daddy to see.
Oh, I was very curious, but I thought I'd better respect her wishes. And I just looked the other way and paid no attention to what she was doing. He worked the way at it for quite a long time, and then she brought the result of her laborers into my room, said Daddy, I have something for you.
And there printed very nicely and colored very attractively. With this text, Sir, we would see Jesus.
You can imagine it's been a voice to my heart ever since.
To have a daughter give that text to her daddy.
Sir, we would see Jesus. I wonder if those of us who are parents.
Realize that although it may not be expressed that often in the hearts of our dear children, put there by the grace of God, they watch father and mother. Your neighbors watch you to those at school watch you, those where you work watch you. As opposed, there should be in your room at school, or in the shop or the office where you work, someone in whose heart there is that feeling of aching emptiness.
And they realize that there is something vital and real in this poor, sad world.
And they wonder, Where shall I find him? Where shall I turn? Could it be that they would think of you and say to themselves, Well, I know someone that has something real and vital and satisfying, I'm going to turn to them and see if they'll tell me what it is. I believe that's why these Greeks who were among those that came up to worship at the beast came to Philip.
Why did they come to Philip? Well, I believe there was something about Philip's testimony that made them realize here was a man who will be able to lead us to the Lord Jesus. And they expressed the desire of their heart in that one little statement. Sir, we would see Jesus.
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Now there might be with some of us a certain knowledge of a few verses of Scripture and some of the doctrines of Scripture, and we might find ourselves defending them quite vigorously. But I believe, right as that may be, that there is nothing that can take the place of what would produce this exercise. Sir, we would see Jesus. I believe, dear child of God, that you and I have that privilege, and, if I might use the word, that challenge.
In this world that has rejected the Lord Jesus and cast him out of soul living, and of so being occupied with Christ, that this very desire might be found in the heart of those who know us. Oh, I say again to my own heart, and I trust it may perhaps speak to other hearts too.
In the testimony of your life or of mine, such that anyone would ever be led to come to us and say, Sir, we would see Jesus. Well, that seems to me to be just the beginning. 5 words. It's true, but it opens up a thought which I hope we may be able to trace through the Word of God. Let's turn back to the first chapter of John's Gospel.
John one and verse.
35 again the next day after John stood.
And two of his disciples and looking upon Jesus as he walked, he said, Behold the Lamb of God. I think this is the answer to that question, Sir, we would see Peter. The answer also is found in five words, Behold the Lamb of God. You've noticed, of course, that in the 29th verse when John sees Jesus there coming unto him, he said.
Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away.
The sin of the world. That's a marvelous statement, a delight for the heart to read words like that. And I believe the scope of those words is very, very broad. If I might just digress a moment, I believe that it looks onward to the day when every trace of sin will be forever removed from all creation.
It's true, you and I take it to our own hearts, and rightfully so. And we rejoice to know that all the stains of sin have been removed from the sight of God, from our guilty hearts, through the value of the work and precious blood of the Lamb of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. But this verse says, behold, the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world. Oh, I believe our souls can well revel and rejoice in that thought. There is a day coming, dear.
When everything that hath breath shall praise the Lord, won't that be a wonderful day? You know, I feel that in Christendom among professing believers there is quite broadly this thought that the eternal picture is something like this. All the redeemed are taken to heaven, all the lost are cast into hell.
The earth and everything that's in it will be burned up.
And that's the way the picture ends. Is that true? If that were so, God would be frustrated in the purpose for which He created this world.
I think you've possibly heard a brother say from time to time that the key to the whole Bible is Ephesians 1 and 10. That in the dispensation of the fullness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth, even in Him. I thrilled the sound of that verse.
God's eternal purposes are going to be gloriously and fully and eternally realized. There's going to be a heavenly scene and an earthly scene, and in both there will be forever absence.
Every trace of sin and of its results, and all to the praise and honor and glory of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ in manhood will be the head and the center of that whole new scene of coming glory, both heavenly and earthly. And you and I, beloved marvel, of all marvels, we are going to have the nearest and dearest place.
In the affections of the heart of the Lord Jesus.
Forever and forever. He's not even going to enter into that inheritance until he has you and me with him. His inheritance in the Saints. I think of that sometimes when I'm traveling and I'm all alone and my dear wife and family are not with me, and I see something very unusual, very interesting that the family has not seen.
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It almost brings a feeling of disappointment. I almost looked the other way.
I don't enjoy looking at it all alone nearly as much as I would enjoy it if my dear wife could stand by my side and we could share it.
Together to me that's exceedingly sweet that all this coming seed of glory is his by right, but he says I'm not going to take it. I'm not going to enter into it until I have my bride with me and will enter into it and share it together. All that is the work of the Lord Jesus Christ as included. I believe in John one and 29.
But when we come to verse 36, we find John say Behold.
The Lamb of God, there is no mention made here of His work. There is no mention made here of His taking away the sin of the world. This, I believe, is a heart occupied with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and that occupation is expressed in those five glorious words of worship. I don't want to be dogmatic, nor to make too fine a line of distinction.
But I could suggest that the difference between praise and worship is this.
We praise the Lord Jesus for that which He has done for us, and very rightly so. May we praise Him more. We worship Him because of who He is and I feel that that is just a bit lacking. There is a difference and to me a precious difference.
May I use a homely illustration? I hope my wife and family never find out the things I say about them, but I'm going to use an illustration involving my wife. I consider her to be a good housekeeper and a good cook and all the rest of it. And from time to time I thank her for.
The way in which she performs those duties. And I think that's only right. I don't do it as a matter of duty. I do it because I really mean it. I praise her for some excellent cooking or something of that kind. But suppose this. Suppose my wife has been sick in bed for a month. She hasn't done a stroke of housework for a month.
She hasn't baked me a pie for a month. She hasn't done any of those things that I have often thanked her for for a whole month. And I looked down at my wife line on that sick bed. Would I have anything to say to her? Would I love her just a little bit still? You know I would.
What would make me love her? One thing? Who she is, that's why.
And which do you think is more deeply valued or expresses a deeper thought?
The bomb that knits hearts together simply because of who that individual is, or any Thanksgiving or praise expressed because of what they have done. You don't need to answer that dude immediately. You know that that which knit parts together because of who the individual is, is far more deep and more profoundly valued than any words or phrase that ever might be uttered for what that person has done.
Oh dear Saints of God, this speaks to me and humbles me. What do we know?
About attachment of heart to the person of Christ and worship because of the whole, the Lamb of God, because of who he is. I believe that's the burnt offering, don't you? I believe that is a burnt offering, the offer. And the priest stood back and watched the whole thing go up.
God as a sweet smelling savior. It was back which God could see in that sacrifice. The priest and the opera partook of nothing of that sacrifice. They stood back and watched it go up as a sweet savour to God. And I believe that there is that in the person of Christ and in all his work, which is a sweet savour to God and should draw out the heart in worship. Well then I.
To think that we find it as a little answer to that first query.
Sir, we would see Jesus. And the reply is.
Behold the Lamb of God. You've noticed too, I'm sure, that it was not when John said, Behold the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. They didn't follow Jesus when he said that, did they? It was not until this 36th verse when he simply said those five wondrous words, the whole Lamb of God, and the two disciples heard him speak and followed Jesus.
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Or I believe there's nothing like heart occupation with Christ to attract other hearts to Christ.
Suppose we turn over again in John's Gospel to the 20th chapter and the 24th verse.
But Thomas, one of the 12 called Didymus, was not with them when Jesus came. The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord.
The 26th verse and after eight days again his disciples were within, and Thomas with them. Now there's a little five word sermon in there. You noticed it, didn't you? We have seen the Lord.
And there was a very lovely effect from that little statement, wasn't there? There the disciples were gathered together. The Lord was in their midst, but one of their number was missing. His name was Thomas, called Didymus. You know what Didymus means, do you not?
It's rather significant that it should be mentioned here that he was called bitterness, for Didymus means a twin.
A twin. Thomas had a twin brother, and I just wonder if the Lord put that in here just as a sort of warning to us that there might not be any twin brothers to Thomas in the Saint Louis assembly. Those who are not always present when they could be. That's what I take for myself from this. Thomas was a twin. He missed the happy privilege of being where the Lord was in the midst.
And his brethren noticed it, and they loved dear Thomas.
They missed him, and they found him, and they preached the sermon to him of five words.
We have seen the Lord. Wouldn't that be a good thing for you and me? As we realize that there are fellow believers whose hearts perhaps have become a little cold, a little indifference. From time to time, they miss the happy privilege of being where the Lord is in the midst. What will warn the heart? There's nothing that will warm the heart like the expression that's found here.
If you and I can visit one among the others.
With this overflowing thought in our own heart, we have seen the Lord. Oh, I'm sure it must have shown in their faces as they spoke to Thomas, called Vitamin. Thomas, even although he expressed his doubts, I believe must have known the reality of it, for he was there on the next occasion, and he too had the joy and the privilege of seeing the Lord and of being in His presence.
Oh, I trust and pray, beloved Saints of God, that this may be the testimony of our lives.
That as we visit one with the other, that it may be truly recognized that we have seen the Lord, our conversation so easily slips away into this channel and that Channel. But we know this, don't we? That there are those whom we meet whose conversation almost always seems to be concerning the Person of Christ and the wonders of this grand Book that we have opened before us.
Do you think they feel they just ought to talk that way all the time?
Or do you think that it's tough? Simply the delight and joy of their heart. I've seen brothers like that, and I have seen sisters like that grow old and get near the end of the journey. And what are their last days like? Filled with disappointment and grief? No, filled with the joy of the Lord. Brethren, the more you and I are in His presence, the more we are occupied with Him and with His loveliness and with His beauty, the more that beauty might shine.
Out to others, the more as the journey grows, grows older, we'll find the reality of the joy of his presence. Not very long ago I heard of a dear Christian lady in our town, not gathered to the Lord's name, but a very dear old believer.
And I said to my wife, I'm going to go and call on her. And I did, found her very, very weak in bed. And as I sat by her bedside and saw her dear old face lighted up with joy at the prospect as soon slipping away into the presence of the Lord Jesus, I didn't need to say very much and I didn't say much. She was just overflowing with a glorious prospect.
Of very, very soon leaving that sick bed and slipping away home.
I came back to my wife and I said, you know, it just feels as though the Lord has taken me by the hand and said, come with me. I'm going to take you all the way to the end of the journey. I'm going to take you to the very gate of glory and I'm going to let you see what it's like just before a soul steps into my presence. And so he took me to the bedside of that dear old believer that was just about to slip away home. And what a thrill of joy it was to my heart and then to leave the gate of glory.
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Speak and come back again. It left its impression on me. I just felt as though I had been in the presence of someone of whom these words could truly be said. We have seen the Lord. Well, suppose we turn over to another verse back in the Old Testament.
The Song of Solomon.
Psalm chapter 5 and verse 9.
What is thy beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved? The daughter? So charge us.
Now this is a very, very searching matter. Here was one whose occupation with her beloved bridegroom was such that everyone could see it and take note of it. And they asked her with real interest, What is thy beloved more than another beloved? They could see that she had found a delightful and a satisfying portion for her heart, and they came and asked her about it.
That's a searching thing, isn't it? The scripture tells us that we ought to be ready to give an answer to every man that asketh.
A reason of the hope that is within us? When did anyone ask you a reason of the hope that was within you? Do you and I usually have to open up the conversation into those channels? Do you and I usually have to present it to someone that's not the least bit interested? That's the way we usually find it, don't we? But the scripture says, ready to give an answer to every man that asketh the reason of the hope that is within us. Dearly beloved, let me tell you this. And I feel it deeply in my own heart, if ever there.
But I believe our souls are challenged in this matter. It's the day in which we're living now, because I don't think there ever has been a day when the hearts of men have been so disillusioned and so disappointed and so fearful of the future. I believe that even in school there is that wretched feeling of dissatisfaction, that mad searching for something new and something different until you know as well as.
That the conduct and behavior of young people and men and women generally, to me, evidence is that a frantic search after something that will give them just a little spark of honor, pleasure. They're totally disillusioned as to what they thought that wealth and luxury and entertainment would bring them.
I'm pretty sure this 30 years ago you had outlined to the average working man in the United States.
What his income would be, what his home would be like, what his possibilities for travel and entertainment would be like. He would gasp in unbelief. He would say no, no, it can't possibly be. And you say, yes, Sir, in 30 years time, this will be your income. Here's a picture of your home. Here are the picture. Here's a picture of the conveniences in your home. Here's the title. Entertainment will be offered to you. Here's the way in which you can travel around and see the world.
The man would say, look, if you could guarantee me that I'll find a statement that I'll never complain and I'll never go on strike, I think they would have done that 30 years ago and they wouldn't have believed it's possible. But now they have all those things and more and how are their hearts reacting?
Are more disappointed, they're more grasping, they're more disillusioned than ever they were. And beloved, what is your challenge in mind in the midst of all this? I believe it's the challenge of a radiant, confident joy in the Lord. I'm pretty sure you have found already that to try to argue with the conclusions that men have come to.
Try and talk them out of their atheistic and infidel ideas.
Doesn't seem to produce much results if the dear young people go to school equipped with all kinds of.
Now, please don't misunderstand this statement because I feel that God has raised up those who have been and are being a tremendous help to us in these respects. But I say this again, if the dear young people go out to meet the the challenge of infidelity and atheism with a lot of pamphlets and that kind of thing.
They're going to find themselves in very serious difficulties. I'll make a statement that I fear you may.
Think a little too extreme, but I'm going to say this that I don't believe any young person is equipped to step into high school until they've read this book from cover to cover.
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That may sound a little extreme, but I say it again and I address it to our own children. Home. You are not equipped to enter high school. So you've read this book from Genesis to Revelation.
All if you and I as parents realize the power of Satan.
And would rob our dear children.
A simple, implicit faith in the precious Word of God.
It is a challenge to us as parents. It is a challenge to the children and to the dear young people. I wonder how many of us here with no age limit have read this book from Genesis to Revelation and not Mr. Word in it. It's all there for your protection, your shelter, your blessing, your food, your guidance, your joy, your strength. Everything you need is found within the covers of this glorious book. Everything you'll ever need in your personal life.
Family and home life, your assembly life, I believe you'll find in His Word of God. And I say this, that as we mingle with those whose hearts are so disillusioned and so disappointed, there's nothing that will produce a more profound effect upon them like meeting someone who is radiantly and confidently happy in the Lord.
I was just speaking to a nurse up in Canada. Well now I shouldn't say a nurse. She works as in what they call medical technologist in one of the hospitals and she is a very, very happy child of God and it shows in her face.
And although it was a little embarrassing for her to mention, as she was Speaking of someone who works there, who was profoundly interested in the gospel, and I wanted to know how this person became so interested. And it took a little coaxing and questioning to find out. But that was the very source of it. This individual had seen in our dear sister that unshakable joy, that radiant consonants that caused the question to arise. What is thy beloved more than another beloved?
And I just challenged my own heart with this.
You and I have a satisfying portion. Of that portion is Christ and our very enjoyment of Himself.
Ought to call this question to arrive in the hearts of others. Well, her answer to the question is.
In the 10th verse, my beloved is quiet and ready, the chiefest among 10,000. She starts off by making a comparison, and it's a very wonderful comparison too, isn't it? The cheapest among 10,000? That's a marvelous comparison. In other words, there's just no one else like my beloved.
But you'll notice that as she goes on with her description, she leaves out all comparisons. The 10,000 are completely forgotten. And in the 16th verse we read, his mouth is most sweet. Yay. He is altogether lovely. And those are the five words that stuck my heart in reading this chapter. Yeah, he is all together.
Lovely. Is that the attitude of your heart and mind? Is that what we have found in Christ? I am just a little greed sometimes.
When I meet those whom I am informed are real Christians, they'll say, Oh yes, that young man is a believer. So I'll enter into conversation with the young man, and with quite a bit of questioning and probing, I'll finally get the word yes. But that's about the most confession that I've ever heard out of some folks, and it leaves a little feeling of disappointment. You know the story of my services, don't you? You know what David did for.
Poor Mephibosheth was far away in the land of Lodi Bar, and his heart was filled with terror. Oh, he thought of a day ever comes that David finds out where I am and will be all up with me. I know he'll order me up to Jerusalem and either lock me up in prison or put me to death, one or the other. But the day came King David found him. King David brought him up to Jerusalem. And when Mephibosheth arrived in Jerusalem, what did he find? He found that King David's heart was at overflowing with.
Blessing and before the first day was over, Methodists found that he had 36 servants to take care of him. But all the land of saw his father the king was now his that he was one of the King's sons to sit at the King's table. But a change in one day.
Instead of the barren place in which he had lived, he finds himself brought into the King's friend as one of the King's sons, to sit at the King's table, to have 36 servants to take care of him with all the land who saw his father's now his own possession.
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Now I sometimes in reading that story, ask myself this question. I wonder if my if I met Methodist riding along on his rule in Jerusalem the next day and said, Mephibosheth, I'm surprised to see you here. I thought you lived in Lody Barn. I thought you were afraid that King David might find you someday.
Well, yes, but I met David yesterday. Oh, you did? Are you not afraid of him? No. And did he not punish you because you were one of his enemies? No. You think Mr. Bushes would answer like that?
I think my feather shifts would say. Now that you've got about an hour to spare, I'll begin to tell you what I think of King David. I'll tell you what he's done for me. I can just hear him say it. Oh, dear child of God, you and I call ourselves believers. You and I say that we are redeemed by the practiced blood of Christ and by the grace of God. It's true. What about the language found here? Yay. He is altogether lovely here again, is it not? Heart occupation with Christ?
Was it not perhaps something like this that even caused the question raised by those Greeks in the first place?
Sir, we would see Jesus. I think it was. In fact, I think the first verse of our next chapter would tell us so. Chapter 6, verse one.
Whither is I, beloved Donald, thou fairest among women? Whither is thy beloved turned aside, that we may seek him with thee? Isn't that a wonderful response? Where there is my beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee?
All that our occupation with Christ might be such that it would produce this result in others, They too desired an acquaintance with the one who had won the affection of this bride. Is that our testimony? While we're here, I think of Isaac.
A bride was sought out for Isaac, and she traveled across that wilderness in the company of Eleazar the servant.
And there came a day when off in the distance, she saw one whom she didn't recognize, and she asked who he was. She was told that it was Isaac, her bridegroom. But I've been struck by the fact that Isaac didn't have to ask who she was. Isaac saw her coming, and I believe he recognized her immediately. How would he recognize her? I believe she was wearing the ornaments that he had provided he sent.
Tournaments for her to wear, and I believe she wore those ornaments and gladly wore them. And as she came across the wilderness and Isaac's eyes rested upon her, he recognized her body ornaments of his own providing.
Dear Saints of God, I wonder as you and I go through this world.
Can we even be recognized as those who belonged, were rejected Christ, and are happy with our loss? It's a happy experience when someone speaks to you as a Christian. I'm going to tell this even though it's a little embarrassing. I think sometimes it's a special privilege for the sisters because somehow they're, oh, there just seems to be that difference in appearance that is a little more noticeable, I think, with a sister than with a brother.
Remember one time I was in Eaton's store in Toronto and I had just bought a suitcase?
And I paid for it, and was just turning to leave, and I had my wife in the street seldom with me, and a clerk came hurrying over from another department a long way off. And he came up to me and warmly shook my hand and said, I'm so glad to see you. I said. I don't think I know you, do I? No, he said. But I know a Christian family when I see one.
I just stood there and bowed my head. There wasn't one thing about me that made him say that, but I just addressed myself to you. Dear sisters, isn't there that about the ornaments of His providing? That ought to shine out and cause a feeling of mutual recognition when we see those who belong to the Lord Jesus?
It happened to us in London, England.
Walking along the street of what they call the mall, very very busy place and I heard someone running behind me. I turned around and this wasn't quite as quick but with a little embarrassment he said pardon me, but are you folks Christians? I said yes Sir, thank God we are Will do you mind if I just shake your hand and get acquainted? Dear child of God, let me tell you this, it is true. There is a reality to it. There ought to be in our life and in our testimony by.
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Grace of God alone. We said that which would cause others to say, whether is thy beloved gone, and we may seek him with thee. We're not trying to present this afternoon anything in the way of instruction. We're not expounding. The Scriptures don't believe they have the ability to do so. But surely as we open the pages of this glorious book, we can see in it that which ought to answer that question.
Sir, we would see Jesus.
He's not here. He's risen. The world has put him out. The world has shaken their fists after him and said we will not have this man to reign over us. He's gone. And in the meantime, beloved, you are here and I am here. And this poor world, with all the aching hearts that are in it, have no other place to see Jesus than reflected in those of us who belong to him.
And I believe we see it abundantly in Scripture.
You know, sometimes we read about dear John, dear loving, tender hearted, gentle John, and we even find ourselves coveting his disposition a little bit and we say, oh, I wish I had a gentle, loving disposition like John.
Have you ever found yourself wishing that when you find your I shouldn't point to anybody but right here when you find the very opposite to what John displayed in our own heart? But you know, I found myself soundly rebuked one time when I was entertaining that thought. I suddenly remembered that when the Lord picked up John, what did he call him?
You remember, don't you, Bow Energies, which is a son of Thunder. What does that sound like?
Well, I'll just leave it in the very words in which the Lord used it. John was a genuine son of Thunder when the Lord picked him up, and you can interpret that however you wish. But I believe that what you and I see in John's pathway is a reflection of the loveliness and gentleness and beauty of Christ seen in that sun of Thunder.
Who was it that said, Wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven and consume them? Was that Peter? No, that was John. That was gentle, loving John. Yes, it was. I think it was a little of the sun of Thunder that suddenly broke through. But I believe, dear child of God, as you and I look at some of these sweet and lovely characters in the word of God and covet their disposition, we're doing wrong. I believe they were reflecting the beauty and loveliness of Christ. And you and I have no.
For it whatsoever, perhaps we look around the assembly and we say, oh, I wish I had his disposition. He never seems to get disturbed or annoyed about anything. But the president will just have to forgive me because I'm naturally quick tempered, or I'm naturally proud, or I'm naturally easily offended. We have no right to talk that way. What we are naturally belongs where God has put it. And where has he put it?
He's put it in the place of death. He hasn't asked you to do that, he says. I put it there.
And I want you to remember it and reckon itself.
I'm getting off the subject, but I'm going to digress a moment in that very connection.
I'm guilty of reading the Bible altogether too carelessly, so often finding my mistake out years later. I used to enjoy reading the story of the children of Israel crossing the Jordan River. And I'm going to recount to you that crossing. And I'm going to make a bad mistake. And it's the same mistake that I made for years and didn't know it. And I'm just going to ask you.
Quietly to see if you can detect the mistake in this story when the children of Israel arrived at the Jordan River.
The Lord caused that river to divide far back to the sea, Adam, all the way down to the Dead Sea. The children of Israel went down into that river and crossed it safely. And one man out of each of the 12 tribes picked up a stone from that riverbed, put it on his shoulder, and carried it over to the other side and set it down in the lodging place where they lodged that night.
One man, also out of each of the 12 tribes, took a stone and set it back down in the bottom of that river.
And left it there. And when the river flowed over its course, the scripture says. And they are there until this day. I made a bad mistake in telling you that account. That's not the way the Bible tells it, but somehow that's the way I always read it.
I'm not going to ask you, but you can just check with yourself. Have you detected the mistake?
It was not one man out of each of the 12 tribes that took those individual stones and set them down in the bottom of the river.
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Joshua picked them all up one by one himself and set them down in the bottom of that river. He did it alone. Joshua alone put 12 Stones in the bottom of the river, and the river flowed over its course. And the Scripture does say, and they are there under this day. And I'm glad the Scripture says that too. Aren't you? Because I believe that that stone represents you and me, one out of each of the 12 tribes.
To me, the picture is this. An Israelite could stand at the brink of the Jordan River and save beneath that water. There's a stone that represents me, and I didn't put it there. Joshua put it there for me, but I know it's there.
Isn't that what you and I ought to do to your children of God, to remember about a matchless grace of God? And through the death of our Lord Jesus Christ, all that I am as a fallen, guilty son of Adam has come to its end in the death of Christ.
God does not tell me to take that which I was as a child of Adam and put it to death.
He says that has been done for you, you couldn't do it yourself. The Lord Jesus has done it for you. Just stand by the brink of the river and don't forget that you, as a child of Adam, have been placed by the Lord Himself where you belong, under the waters of death. Oh, it was a very great lift to me when I found that that was not my responsibility. Mine was to remember what He has done for me.
And so we have here this happy expression again. 5 words. Yay, he is all together.
Lovely.
That reflection of Christ, that enjoyment of Christ, which would cause others to say, Whither is thy beloved gone, that we may seek him with thee? Could we turn over to the Book of Revelation, chapter 22 and verse 4?
They shall see.
His face.
I just like to think of this as a glorious and eternal fulfillment.
Of the question that was raised at the beginning of the meeting, the question that was raised by those dear Greeks.
As they came to Philip and said to him, Sir, we would see Jesus. And we've tried to trace through just a few passages of Scripture, but our responsibility ought to be in view of that question. First of all, behold the Lamb of God. Then we have seen work and then.
Yeah, he is altogether lovely.
But here is the end of the whole picture. Isn't this glorious? They shall see His face. It's going to be fully and gloriously and eternally realized. You and I and all redeemed are actually going to look upon His face. Oh, that's a lovely thought to me.
I was at a wedding recently over in New York.
And I was sitting there on the front row. And each wedding seems to have its different arrangements. But the young man and his best man, I guess you call it, were standing up at the front facing the door. And I heard some music start. I heard footsteps coming up the aisle, but I, of course, didn't feel I should turn around. I just watched his face, that's all. And I saw no change come over his face. I thought, that's not the bride. And I heard a second.
Footsteps start up the aisle, still no change. He was just looking at the door and all of a sudden I said to myself, here she comes out. I don't know music very well. I didn't know at what point she'd be coming in, but I knew from looking at his face when she had stepped out that door you could have told it to. His whole face just lit right up. There was his pride in her long white gown, all beloved if here on earth.
The thoughts of Jesus love lift our poor hearts, this weary world above, and even hear the taste of heavenly springs.
So tear the spirit that the Pilgrim sings, What will the sun shine at his glory? Proof.
What will it prove? All, beloved, here we have the culmination of it all. They shall see His face. We're going to enter into that eternal form of glory. We're going to see His face. Now, don't try to visualize it, because you can't do it. I can't do it. Every attempt to visualize this will only cause us to feel the impossibility of it.
Because it's exceeding abundant above all that we ask or think.
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I have had folks try to describe heaven to me. They labored over the language of Scripture and they've come up with some conclusion whereby they present quite a picture of what heaven is going to be like. The last brother that tried it, he was much older than myself. When he was all done, I, I shook my head and I said, Brother, I'm very glad to know that you're wrong. It was an awful thing for me as a young fellow to say, but I knew he was wrong because I know this. The scripture says he is able to do exceeding abundant above.
That we ask or think. Suppose the Lord Jesus gathered us together and all redeemed and said to us. Now I want you to express the fondest, fullest wishes of your heart. Leave nothing unasked, express every desire of your heart, and I'll fulfill it all, and that will be your heaven forever.
Would you dare accept an offer like that? Of course you would. Not for a moment you wouldn't. You know this.
That if you had unlimited resources at your disposal right here and you were given the opportunity to choose the finest sight in America and build the finest home in America, you wouldn't have that home halfway finished Before you would be saying, now if I had this to do over again, wouldn't you? Now you'd be thinking of some changes this way and that. And if it were up to me to decide what I would like heaven to be, it would not.
By my heart for any measurement of time that I can think of. But brethren, we have eternity before, and He is able to do exceeding abundance above all that we ask or think. And when I read these 5 words, they shall see His face. Surely that ought to satisfy the heart. We're going to see the face of the One who loved us and died to redeem us.
My attempts to visualize this experience always leave me standing at the edge of a big crowd of people. There are always a lot of people in my mind's eye.
And the Lord Jesus is in the middle of that crowd and I'm aware on the edge, kind of waiting for my turn to get closer. And after I have just a little visit with the Lord Jesus, I realize it's someone elses turn. And I think to myself, well how could it be otherwise? There are going to be a lot of us there and there's only going to be 1 Lord Jesus.
How will it be anyway?
Well, as I say, if we try to visualize it, we'll never never realize the fullness of it. Let me tell you this that I believe that you and I will have an eternal personal sense of the Lords old, near and loving presence which you will never need to surrender to anyone else.
In revelation to you get perhaps a glimpse of it that white stone, and on the stone rich man new name was no man knows saving heed that received it. You and I are forming now our capacity for the enjoyment of this verse. When you see his face, that which it will mean to you forever is being formed in your life day by day. Now that's a solemn thought.
That's a solemn thought. Here I go again, betraying my thoughts about my wife. But we were married.
23 years ago this week.
And I thought I loved her a whole lot the day we were married. But, you know, we've often confided in one another that that love which we bore toward one another on our wedding day was as nothing compared to the the way in which by the grace of God, it has grown and strengthened and deepened until this day, by the grace of God. I said, in fact, I was visiting a couple on the West Coast a while ago. They've been married five years.
And we were chatting away happily together and all of a sudden she turned and looked at him and she said, you know, I don't think I could have loved you at all on our wedding day. I love you so much more now. I was glad to hear her say it.
That's the way it ought to be, and I just put it this way.
If you were brought to know the Lord Jesus when you were a child, you'll thank God for it forever and forever. For during those years, beloved, you have been given the opportunity of forming a capacity for the enjoyment of His presence that will not be the same as that as a poor thief who confessed him and then went home to glory.
Picture, if you wish, a man sitting at the table and around his table are ten sons. This one on this side is 21 years old and the little fellow over on this side is one year old. Now there's a very big difference in which in the way in which those two sons look at their father and understand their father and enjoy their father's presence. A big difference. This little one year old boy is as happy as a one year old boy can be banging on the table with his spoon and he feels very happy. He loved his daddy.
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But he doesn't have the same feeling toward his daddy as his 21 year old brother. Nor does he look across the table and covered his brother and say, oh I wish I knew my daddy like my Big Brother does. He doesn't even have the capacity for that.
Oh dear child of God, let us just remind our hearts afresh this afternoon, that day by day, as you and I are here, that which we have tried to speak out together this afternoon ought to be the occupation of our heart. It ought to show, and it ought to leave others to say, Whether is thy beloved gong, that we may seek him with thee? And so we find they shall see his face. And I think that if these things that we have.
Are a reality to us. Then we'll end as the Word of God ends with another little five word statement. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Even so, come Lord Jesus, perhaps you'll forgive me then for having read that strange verse in First Corinthians 14. I'd rather speak 5 words with my understanding than by my voice. I might teach others also than 10,000 words in an unknown tongue. We've just gotten a little start out of this afternoon, but if you want to, take your Bible and watch for some of those precious little five word sermons.
They'll be very, very helpful to your heart. I believe, dear Saints of God, that when you and thy need is to read this precious word diligently and submissively and with meditation. Can I say that again, diligently and submissively and with meditation.
For I find this sometimes. I have found it in my own heart, I know.
Perhaps others have had the same thought passed through their minds. You're in the presence of a brother who knows this precious book so fully, so well. He's well instructed in the wisdom that's in it. And as you hear the Scripture being expounded, we just naturally seem to say within our hearts, well, it's to be expected, of course, that he would know his Bible well because, you know, he's a gifted brother and I'm not.
But I entertained that thought for a long time, and then I suddenly thought, Have I any right to think that way?
True, that is a gifted brother, and I'm not. But is there such a thing in Scripture as the gift of taking in the truth? I don't think there is. There is recognized in Scripture a gift for giving out the truth, but there's no such thing in Scripture as a gift for taking in the truth. And if you and mine are the Lord Jesus as our Savior and have this same precious book that others have, we needn't hide behind the excuse that we don't know our Bibles very well, because we're not.
Gifted. There is no gift in taking it in. There is recognize the gift in giving it up. All dear Saints of God, I believe this. If we read this book diligently, submissively, and with meditation, we'll find it will open up in our hearts and be seen in our lives.
Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Begin on the first verse, Revelation chapter 2, under the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, Right? These things are he that is, he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand. So what up in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks?
I know a lot of work and brought our labor and patience and how thou canst not bear them that are which are evil.
You always try them with Savior Apostles, and are not, and has found them liars, and hath borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast labored and hast not fainted. Nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the 1St works.
Or else I will come under thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestick out of his place, except our repent. But this thou hast, that thou hatest the beads of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. He that happened year, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
And unto the Angel of the Church in Smyrna, right these things say at the 1St and the last.
Which was dead and is alive.
I know that I worked in tribulation and poverty without rich, and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews and are not, but I have the sinning God of Satan. Hear none of those things which thou shalt suffer. Behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that you may be tried, and ye shall have tribulation. 10 days.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
He that half of me, or let him hear what the Spirit said under the churches. He that overcometh shall not be heard of the second death. And to the Angel of the Church in Pergamos writes these things, that he which hath the sharp sword with two edges. I know thy works, and where I'll dwell us even where Satan's feet is.
Now hold as fast my name, and hath not denied my faith, even in those days when Amethyst was my faithful martyr, who was plain among you, Or Satan dwelleth. But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there than the whole adoption of Balaam.
To pass the stumbling block before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. So hast thou also then that hold the doctrine of the Nicolaitans, which thing I hate the pant, or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth, even half an ear. Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
To him that overcometh will I give to eat as the hidden manna, and will give him a light stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man N saving he that receiveth it. I was just thinking particularly of these first three of the seven churches.
Perhaps most of us know that in the letters that are written here to the southern churches in Asia Minor that we have a prophetic outline of the churches history right from the days of the apostles until the Lord comes. And in these seven churches we have them outlined prophetically, I'd say. And we can see the failure in the beginning.
Their first love coming right down to the last condition. Lukewarmness, indifference, and the Lord Himself on the outside.
What I was thinking particularly of these first three, not so much in the thought of this prophetic aspect, but in the way that we might apply it to our own house because, you know, it's always easy for us to speak of how these things apply to others.
I forget the application to ourselves, and I believe we can see if we carefully look at these letters, to these first three churches especially.
How our hearts tend to grow cold, and how the Lord in His own way seeks to draw us back, perhaps through affliction and trial. And then to how you encourage us even in times when things are broken down and then ruined. He would encourage us just to go on for Him.
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And know that he takes notice of any faithfulness that it is. And so I speak of it more particularly in its personal aspect. And I believe that in the first three churches here we have a certain order brought before us and that it would apply to the testimony gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And as we think of the freshness, the happiness that there was when God first raised up a testimony, he added to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. But then how quickly?
And there was that tendency which we find in our hearts to leave the freshness of First Life.
Then God allowed testings and trials to come in among the Saints. Perhaps we could save in the many divisions and things that came in.
Were testing us as to whether we really value the place and privilege of being gathered to his name. And then we can stay in Pergamos, the church in the world coming together.
And the great fraud in connection with bergamot is that there would be faithfulness in the midst of such a favorite thing and valuing the Lord's approval. So the Lord addresses himself in a different way to each one of the churches, each one of the settlement, as a matter of fact.
By saying we're Speaking of these first three will notice that the Lord and addressing himself to them.
He speaks to them each in a different way because he addressed himself to them according to the state of things that existed. And so the Lord knows the state of things in which we are called upon to overcome. Those who live in Greenville face a different situation perhaps than those who live in Saint Louis or Ottawa. Each one of us has to face different situations in life.
And the Lord knows all about these things that we have to meet. He knows all about the difficulties and problems connected with each personal life and each gathering. And so in addressing himself to these assemblies in a different way, we can see how he entered into.
All they were going through and encouraged them to go on faithfulness as well as perhaps student to bring before them those things which are to have exercised them. Then we also find in each one of the churches that there was a special word to the overcomer, special according to the state of things that was to be overcome.
And we all know how easy it is to be overcome instead of overcoming.
And that is how to overcome means to go up all over, doesn't it? But it's very easy to allow the things to get over us from here underneath.
And so the word here is to the overcomer, that is, no matter what the state of things may be, imprisoned them at large, and our homes are in the assembly. The Lord can always enable us to be a father in our own soul, and to live to please Him.
And so these words spoken to each each assembly.
Are special words of encouragement because of the conditions in these assemblies as a very striking thing. That nephesis is the first one mentioned, and we know the officials of the Ephesians, but that's of course an emphasis. It was the assembly that perhaps received the very highest truth.
I am not the pistol. We see the church.
Seated in heavenly places in Christ, we see the unfolding and the most precious truth that the Church is the body of Christ.
And all those things that are so adhere to us, especially as gathered in the name of the Lord Jesus.
And so we can see how it would have a special application to ourselves because I believe we could safely say.
That there is no company on earth so responsible as those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. For it says, Unto whom much is given of the same shall much be required. And if God has given much to us, then it ought to stir our hearts to more affection, more devotedness, more earnest desire to please him.
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And more responsibility if we're unfaithful. So here this first one was addressed to Ephesus, that assembly that was so blessed.
As there are these good things that he that holds the seven stars in his right hand, on the end of the first chapter we find that these seven stars.
Where the angels of the seven churches.
Now when it speaks to the angels of the churches, the word Angel in scripture is representative, and so far it says the Angel of the church. It means that in each assembly there are those who are looked upon as being responsible before God.
It's a very serious thing to be in a possession of responsibility among God's people. And so the each letter is addressed to the Angel of the church, and then in the end it says he would have ears to hear, not appear. That is none of us are exempt from responsibility.
But some of us are more responsible than others because we have been.
Entrusted with more.
We have taken certain responsibilities and God holds us responsible in this way. And so the letters are addressed first of all to the Angel of the Church. But here it says that the Lord holds those in His right hand. Well, this is the proper condition that they should be. That is all those who seek to take a place of responsibility.
Ought to remember and will not to be acting for our own personal glory.
I would not think of ourselves what people say or think of us, but we ought to act as being in His other responsibilities. Even if I might speak of myself tonight, what a responsibility to stand up here before you and to seek to speak on God's behalf.
I remember one time another brother and I were asked to take a funeral and the undertaker said to us now how long is this service going to be?
Well, in the time we said, well, perhaps about 1/2 an hour. Well he said you know such and such a church takes 15 minutes and another church takes 12 minutes. And he said you do want to please the people, don't you? Of the other brothers spoke up really quickly and said we have a message from God for the people. Well, such is our responsibility. We have a responsibility.
To act before God. And so here we find these seven stars were in his right hand.
And so I'll say again all the responsibility in God's assembly that we should act as under His control for his glory and for the blessing of his people. Doesn't He desire the blessing of his people? Christ loved the church and gave him some fun. And then it says to who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks?
When we sell golden candlesticks, that tells us in the first chapter, and they were the seven assemblies that are addressed here, and it's just a lift alarm. Should make a little visit, shall I say, to the various assemblies and then tell us what pleased him and what grieved him, or wouldn't we be very interested to hear that?
Supposing the Lord were to write a letter and it was to start it Ottawa, Smith Falls and Toronto and the assemblies in Ontario.
And tell us what he felt about each one of those testimonies. Or wouldn't that be a very serious thing? Wouldn't we be very much concerned with what the Lord had to say?
I'm not sure that we would, and those of us who live in Ontario, well, how much more? But we think that he has written this down. He walks in the midst of the sudden golden candle sticks. What a responsibility to be a testimony in this world.
Or Christ, and particularly in this church period when the Spirit of God is here gathering out a bride for Christ. What a responsibility that servant had who went to get a bride for Isaac. How anxious he was that that bride would be 1 suited to Isaac. And what a responsibility we have now as those who have been called out of the bride of Christ.
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To be in this world for him. I'm the people in Greenville, elsewhere.
Are working on and they're watching because as Paul tells us in Corinthians, we have been espoused to the chaste virgin cracks and Paul said he was jealous over the Saints from the gods and jealousy. He wanted to see them going on in the way.
That was pleasing to the one who was The Who was the bridegroom of the church.
Well, when it says I know thy works, you'll notice those four words, 5 words I should say, and four words about it. You'll notice those four words in every one of the seven churches. The Psalm, it must have been an encouragement to others. It must have been something that stirred their consciences.
They were seeking to please the Lord, the great comfort to know that the Lord knows what you're seeking to do. But if you and I are doing things that we're not sure are pleasing to the Lord, perhaps not even realize we're not pleasing to him, then it's not so pleasant to hear him say, I know about looks. But here in each one of the churches, I say the Lord uses that same phrase.
On and all their own works. Well, we commended all we possibly could. He said, By works, and thy labor, and my patience, And how thou canst not bear them which are evil. And thou hast tried them which say that they are apostles, and are not, and has found them liars, and has borne, and has patience, and for my name's sake hath labored, and has not fainted.
Or here we can see the Lord took Noah's.
Was commandable and as less encouraging for us. The Lord takes notice of all that's commendable in our lives.
Let me speak from that first before he says one thing against them. And so he's looking down upon us tonight, and every little desire that there is a new apartment in mind to please him, he sees that he values that. He's taking notice of it. And what an encouragement this is. Perhaps we're conscious of the fact that there are failures in our lives.
But the Lord first acknowledged that which was.
Commendable. And so there was much that was commendable in emphasis.
If you had looked upon the low assembly there, you might have said what a faithful assembly.
They're very faithful in judging what's evil, and they're careful too, that they don't allow things in that are not according to the mind of God. And they seem to be a very active little assembly too, that is for my name's sake. Has labored and has not fainted. Yes, always on the exterior looks very nice and very good.
Thought he said, I have against thee. Thou hast left thy first life. All the world didn't normally look at what they were doing.
But he saw the spring behind the dog and all the Evelyn. Doesn't it speak to your heart and mind? We may come to the meetings. We may be faithful, perhaps giving out gospel tracts, perhaps speaking occasions to speak to others. But I wonder if we're enjoying the love of Christ in our souls like we should.
Is there the freshness of that first long witness?
Can we do we have to acknowledge that there was a time when we were enjoying the Lord more than we are now?
And the lower regular at the meetings, we just don't enjoy them like we used to all in the Lord feel blessed. He feels it. You say well we've lost something too. Indeed we have the best portion we have on earth is to walk in the enjoyment of his love by the Lord has lost something because you know he not only died to save us from hell. It was to win our hearts.
The little hymn says Himself, He gave our poor hearts to win. Was ever love Lord like thine from the piles of falling shame and sin filled in the joy of divine. He's going to find His eternal joy in our company.
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Responsible the affections of our hearts, He is going to find his eternal joy and the storm all that love can bestow upon us, and the objects of his love. Or doesn't this touch our hearts? Or the Lord spell it? Thou hast left thy first love.
Remember, therefore, from whence thou God, that was our remarks. If you have looked at the assembly, you'd say, Well, I think everything is in order in that assembly. Everything is very nice. But the Lord said they have fallen, because if they had left their first love, which they had, they wouldn't be long until other things.
Would soon begin to.
When to?
For lost, we have lost first love won't be long until we'll be letting things slip. We'll be giving up this that when we begin to understand ourselves from the meeting, when we begin to neglect a little time leading God's words and prayer, that's not the first departure it's because.
Sometime before, perhaps, we began to lose the freshness of first life.
That's all. The things weren't so dear and precious to us as they used to be. And the Lord, I say, speaks to them about that which you saw at the very beginning of departure with them. And the Lord knows that our hearts are growing cold for Him. Well, how can we get to the store? He said that? He said to do the 1St works and do the 1St works well.
Didn't he say that they were very active and that they had labored and not planted?
Outwardly they were doing the 1St works of What did the Lord mean by doing the 1St works? All He wanted what they did to be done as well. He wanted what they did to to be done with affection for Him and all brother, and that's what He desires. He wants us to do what we do out of love for Him, and so He calls upon Him to repent and do the 1St works.
What do I say again? What is it that will restore our hearts affection?
Can we try to love the Lord more? Impossible. You can't love a person by trying. You never loved anyone in your life by trying to love them. Now the way we love Him is by thinking I thought he was done for all. I don't believe it would be possible for us to really meditate upon what the Lord has done for us and going to Calvert and bring us into such a rich place of blessing. I said I don't think it would be possible.
Over meditate on that without having our hearts affection spirit. Why is it that when we perhaps go to a three day meeting, we come home with more desire to please the Lord? It's just because our hearts affections have been warm. We have been reminded of who's allowed to us and it has created a response to us and so many of us find that our hearts have grown cold for him what we need.
It's a more occupation with him and with his love. This is what will give us that freshness in our soul. This is what will give us to love Him more. It's not by effort, I say. And so he says, to repent and do the 1St work. And Rodney says, Or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy Candlestick.
Out of his place. Now this is a very solemn thing. I will remove thy Candlestick out of his place.
And no other help in places that I can think of many places in Ontario where I live where the views the established, but there's no assembly today. There isn't the company in many of these places gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus like we used to be. Why is it, well, very often?
If we look back and we find that there was that there was unfaithful.
There was first coldness apart when the meetings began to be neglected, and it wasn't long until the Lord removed the council. There was no longer a testimony there, and I believe in the last days after exercise, each one of us.
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In a place where we live, while there's been greens on our wall, wherever it is that we would seek to go on in the enjoyment of Christ. And then I believe we can count upon the Lord and His faithfulness to preserve the testimony. It's not our faithfulness, it's His faithfulness. But He wants our affections. He wants a testimony that would be honoring to Him.
And so here he says.
I will come on to me quickly, and we will move by Candlestick out of this place, except our repent and if you were to go over the Asia Minor and visit these seven places, Ephesus, Merlin, Pergamon, Thyatira, Saudis, Philadelphia, and Lady Sia.
There isn't a cap of Slick and anyone.
There is no assembly got into the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, you find that almost all Mohammedans.
One solemn thing there were once little assemblies there, there were once they were charged to the Lord's name as they didn't keep in that freshness of first love and see what's happened or some great responsibility. It's a great privilege to be gathered through the name of the Lord Jesus. Another word I just mentioned this in the sixth verse. This thought half that thou he was the deeds of the Nicolaitans.
Which I also hate. I believe this Nicolaitans.
Comes from the same root word is what is often called in the church is the levy. You often hear about the clergy and the levy, while it comes from this rude word Nicolaitans, and it just simply means this and I've run when there is not the freshness of first love, there's always a tendency to drift into the principle of clergy.
This is not even coming in among the gallery Saints. That is, if we're not enjoying the Lord, we hope somebody else will go ahead and take the whole responsibility of the meeting and we'll be related. But if we're enjoying the Lord, we're glad to feel our own little privilege to open our mouths and Thanksgiving and praise and assume our own responsibility in the local assembly.
Or I'll say again, if our hearts are grown cold and we're not in the freshness of these love, why we tend to want somebody else to take all the responsibilities. And this is the very thing that was coming in at at Ephesus and came out in its full blown fruit and cry of fire because.
When spiritual life decline and freshness to a love for the Lord Jesus wanes.
By them this sort of thing comes in and what is that one is because this was already beginning back there in emphasis, but now the word to the overcomer.
It says in the seventh verse to him that overcometh will I give to read of the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
All this is most beautiful because the soul is here, lifted entirely above all the ruin that man has brought him. You remember in the paralyzed spirit that God made for man in the Garden of Eden, how soon came in and man wasn't able to partake of the tree of life. And man's history has always been one of constant failure.
Even the Church as a Candlestick has failed in the earth. But what is it that encourages the soul in a day of coldness and departure, all to look on the other brethren to those bright and blessed things where sin can never come, and saw What is hauled out to the one who overcomes here is that he will eat with the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.
That is, that he would enjoy.
And all its freshness, and all its power and blessedness, and a seeing her sin could never all that was in the heart of God for man and all. What a funny encouragement this is. We might feel discouraged by time as we look out and see the ruin that has come in.
But by the Spirit of God would lift our souls above the state of things here and occupy us with and that which is before us. And if we have this before our souls, we will be overcomers because.
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If you and I are enjoying the love of Christ and we have a vision of that coming glory before our souls, then when we come to the meeting I will not be thinking about the sad state that we might see perhaps.
Instead of that, we'll bring something to the assembly that will be a blessing to others because of this deal. Mr. Darby said that he said Christianity is known by what it brings, not by what it finds. And wasn't there ugly of each one of us would be exercised when we come to the meeting to bring that which would lift the souls of the Saints to be a blessing to them. And in this way we overcome.
And the Saints of blessed.
Go away feeling refreshed, just like in the case where Mary broke that box of Alabama, the feet of the Lord. I don't believe she had any thought at all that she was going to be noticed in what she was doing. But it says the house was filled with the Order of the Honor, everyone there, particularly of the Order of the Ottoman, because there was one person there.
Was pouring her all at the feet of the Lord, and so it will be that if you and I are in the enjoyment of the Lord, the whole assembly will be benefit and blessed by so here is the word then to the overcomer. He's lifted the ball. The condition of things.
To have a vision before his soul of that scene above where we'll have we will be able to enjoy inform us all in the heart of God for his people.
And then remember we come to the next one under the Angel of the Church in Smyrna. Write these things that the 1St and the last which was dead and alive. Well Smyrna was that period.
Our persecution that followed the death of the apostles and many who have read church history know that there were 10 successive Roman rulers who.
Persecuted the people of God.
And we know that God allows this because departure had begun to come in. And I might say, this is all this God's way with us. He first of all called us to repent. He first of all would seek to warm our hearts and draw us back by his love.
But if we're not ruled by love, we have to wean us through circumstances.
I'm sorry for the churches history. He brought this period of persecution, this period of testing so that the hearts of his people would be drawn back. And I said God Berlin, it will not drawn back by his love. One is a faithful God.
And he may have to allow things in our own lives to draw us back to the Lord, love us, He chasing us. And how many times we have found ourselves drifting along. And then the Lord has brought some crimes to our lives, and we've been reminded that the things that are seen are temporal, that the things that are not seen are eternal.
And those things down here, even though they and we accepted them as blessings from the Lord.
But we can even set our hearts upon them, and the Lord desires to clean our hearts heavenly, to be occupied with him. A little bit touching the way the Lord addresses himself to this church, he says.
These things that the 1St and the last which was dead and it's a lot, well really passing through the time of persecution. Wasn't it beautiful as well? The Lord should say why?
I've been through the whole pathway before, even into death itself and risen again. Part of encouragement. Little him says all the paths of things are threading trodden by the Son of God. All the stars in our feelings felt by him along the road. Highly trial in your life, a little or no level thoughtful.
The Lord's halfway with one of the amount of stars and acquaintance of Greece.
Even a lot of wireless could be inspired and rejected. You know what it allows to be misunderstood? You know what it wants to be humbly, thirsty, weary, and then finally more. Our sins upon that cross over. What a word to this little assembly here at Smyrna. I know that I worked in tribulation and poverty.
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Without rich, well, they didn't have much as far as the riches of this world were concerned.
History tells us that during this period they were living under the city of Rome in those miserable catacombs.
Where they're just these passages that were dugout under the city of Rome and they lived in abject poverty of rich yes, they had riches with always in that grand city of Rome is 95.
And you and I have wretches in Christ, which is untold.
And how often the Lord has to let us see that the things here that we grasp so much, they're all going to pass away. How good it is when He allows us to realize that our true riches are up there and nothing can touch them.
And so he says, I know of a blasphemy of them which clearly are Jews nor not.
But are the synagogue of Satan, unless I remark before there was the beginning of this sort of thing, clergy and Judaism, that was coming in in the early church.
And the Lord, the lot of the affections of these people was speaking to them in this world. He mentioned disease in a glasses. Then he mentions those that failure Jews.
Judaism. Don't we find Christian and Paul, that sort of thing, all kinds of things borrowed from Buddhism.
Find the bonding buildings, music, observance of days, Rd. salt. This all comes from Judaism. It appeals to the senses. Well, the Lord was allowing this to come in to the early church so that they wouldn't get taken up with these things that they could see. How could they have a fine building when they were down in the catacombs under Rome?
How did they have grand pipe organs?
When they were down there in the darkness of both passages under Rome, that they could enjoy the war, and they did.
Those those places under there were sayings that I'm sure will be remembered from all for all eternity are those dear souls.
Didn't have anything material that they could look to that they were enjoying the water.
They were enjoying his precious life. And now he says, feeling all of those things which thou shalt suffer.
Behold, the devil shall cast some of you and the person, that she may be tried, and he shall have tribulation. 10 days.
This is very beautiful. Here you shall have tribulation 10 days. The Lord had it all numbered before man.
And the thinnest encourage into our heart. Sometimes we're going through a trial. We say, well, how long is this going to last? I can only bear so long. The Lord has it all, number. It has it all planned. He told them before the first day started, but it was in the last 10 days. Well, the Lord has all. He has it all.
Not just for us to and this time in Scripture is.
Our responsibility to offer, and the Lord knows just how much is necessary in each one of our lives or our goods, and for our blessings. And so here he tells them, Thou shalt have tribulation 10 days.
Our heart, including this, would be to their hearts as they pass through these different kinds of persecution.
To be able to realize.
And at the Lord knew all about it, and he said that he thou faith unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. He doesn't speak about their mistakes in this, in this church. That is, you don't mention anything about their failures because when they were going through trial, he would seek to comfort and encourage them. And this is most blessing for us too, because.
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When we're going through trial, the Lord, the Lord will speak to us of himself.
He will tell us of His love, He will seek to produce enough the desired result from these trials that we have to go through. And so He just encouraged them to be faithful unto death, not to give up, not to compromise, but to stand faithfully for Him. Oh, may we have grace too. Or I believe, brethren, there's no time when we're more likely to give up and under trust.
I believe that this is the time when discouragement comes in, you know, and while the great attempts of the devil is to discourage the people of God, and when trial comes, then to say, well, it's no use.
That's why it tells us in first Peter 5 and verse seven it says passing all your care upon the employee care for you. The next verse is the sober be vigilant because your adversary the devil is a roaring lion walk at the park speaking whom he may devour. And shall I put it like this, if when trials come, if we don't cast our care upon the Lord?
Then the enemy gets the advantage through discouragement and leads our souls away from him.
For the world here in the midst of the trial was not to reduce them, but to say, you know, clinical brother, and if any of us are going through any trial, let us remember the enemy is going to try and use it to discourage it. May the Lord give us grace to be faithful in the midst of them, to turn to Him, and to know that He has numbered the days of the trial.
And that he's able to sustain it. And he said, And I will give thee.
Crown of life, oh how beautiful this is. The Lord will reward any faithfulness to Him, even will. Perhaps it might come through some failure on our part, because I believe this was allowed in Smyrna because of departure. Yet the Lord would encourage them. He values any place for us, but there is in our lives, even Charles, He might bring upon ourselves.
To our own mistakes. Still, it was faithful in the mysticism.
Embodies that law that counts upon him for the Lord prays for Peter when Peter denied the Lord or before he denied him. I should say the Lord said I have prayed for these of God, but they don't mind what a word for Peter, he said. And Peter, I know that when you fail.
Why? The enemy is going to try and encourage it, but I pray that your faith won't fail.
And then he said still no, he said, and I'm going to use you again here after they are converted. Strengthen my brother, because the devil very hardly whispered in the ears of Peter double up with you now. The Lord will never use you again. Peter, how lovely that was or touching grace. And so here this word of encouragement is given to the.
Things that Smyrna he placed along with death and I will give the crown of life and that mentioned here.
That this is the only crown that's mentioned twice in the Bible. There is a crown of righteousness and found glory, but this is this is the only one that's mentioned twice. I mentioned again James first chapter it says plus it is a manager endure a temptation.
The running of pride he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has come for them that love them and why I was mentioned twice. Well, you or I might say, oh, we're not living in days and marketing them. We're not likely to be called upon delay on our lives for Christ. So we can't expect an artist crown the crown of life. Oh yes.
James tells us that it's not just for the martyrs, but it's for those who endure.
Competition, but you and I are called upon in everyday life to enjoy temptation, and if we seek to be faithful to the Lord in the midst of these things, while He said there will be a crown of life, if some might put it in this way, it can be a marker every day that is based on us to Him, putting obedience to Him and believing Him.
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Before life itself is what pleases the law.
And now the special words of the overcomer here.
And so he that overcometh shall not be heard of the 2nd.
All the devil could do was to bring in physical death, and only if God allowed that. But he could never bring in the second death. The devil has no power beyond his life. He has. He has no power beyond this life. Sometimes in man's imagination. Why?
They think that that hell is a place where the devil has his domain. It's not true. Satan himself in that place will be under the judgment of God. He will have no liberty in hell. The place where Satan has powers here in this world. And you and I have a way of all those coming to power.
It says greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. And so the word to the overcomer is and to be faithful, the devil has no power beyond his life.
It might be allowing God to bring him death, but always can never rob us of the future that's beyond the Lord. Jesus has the keys of hell and of death.
Now the last one that we read here, programmer.
Notice how the Lord addresses himself to Fergimon these things, that he which hath the sharp sword with two edges.
Well.
In one sense, the way the Lord addressed himself to the others might bring in some heart of encouragement, but here in Pergamos, when the Lord says that he's the one that has the sharp sword with two edges, it seems to me it's very strong.
And with the period when the church in the world was coming together, and surely that's the time, it's very similar to the day in which we live.
That is, the great popular idea today is that Christians should go along with the world and not reform it, not to be in separation from it, and that we should be like the world so that we can win the world.
I will never till we try and win the world. God is gathering out of the world of people for heaven. It tells us in the word of God we are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world, God has visited the Gentiles to take out of them a people for His name.
And I believe the thought in this sharp story with two edges is that it takes realism.
The next day to know how we should how we should live in such a time so that we don't compromise or don't settle down to the level of the world. The sharks soared with two edges means that it's dividing and separating from those things that are not according to God.
And we all know how much wisdom it takes.
All were confronted with situations. Every day of our lives were confronted with problems.
Is this worldly necessary? Is it not? Can I do this and be loyal with Christ? These things are continually facing us and those who meet the world in business.
And who have to do with the world in their calling in life on their own very difficult is well, the Lord is says I have a shock sword with two edges and I can enable you to walk in the midst of a day like this. The policeman and that's the word that is given here to Pergamos and I believe especially fixed holiday. He says I know.
Albella even worse he did where is Satan state I was just remarked a few moments ago.
This world, he's the God and Prince of us. And here we found the church is actually down where statement seed is, right down to the level of the world.
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And that was where they were. And now here in this condition of saying how could a person overcome, well, surely we can say that we find ourselves in such a condition right now. And we find those that are known as church people occupy high positions and government or social leaders and all kinds of things.
They're they're the line that marks between the church and the world.
Is almost unnoticed, and so here the Lord says the Lord for Satan he did, and the oldest past my name and hast not deny my faith. There were those in such a condition.
Or seeking to be faithful and the lonely God of God, the Lord God is right and you and I see the value or we say, well, everything has been ruined to day. I will just have to go along with things as they are. And so we're all said in Rome, Do the wrongs do and we just have to go along with things. Is that what we're told here All in all in the midst of this condition.
Why it says?
Thou holdest fast my name.
And has not denied my faith all driving or neither howl difficult the days may become. No matter how much we find the church in the world link together. There is a path for faith. There is a path for faith and you and I was looking through the Lord and following his word that sharp stars with two edges we can find in the midst of all the confusion.
A path bounced out or we can walk to please God. And how encouraging this is.
To those who want to please the Lord or not give up, don't say it's no use. They can't help it. In a day like this. There is a path with the vultures. I have not seen the long 12 is not flattened and it says even in those days when Oedipus was my faithful martyr.
Slamming among you for Satan dwelleth. Yes, we find that even in professing Church of those who seek to act in faithfulness to God are persecuted. And how true it is that often ones who seek to please go and find themselves persecuted, but they're still attacked for fight.
And he says in the 14 first that I have a few things against me, because I have there then the whole the doctrine of Balaam.
The top better art contrast assembling blocks before the children of Israel, each thing sacrificed unto idols and to commit fornication.
Well, many of us recall the story in Numbers of how big a life hired Balaam to curse the people of God. And when Balaam came, God wouldn't allow him to curse the people of God. Instead, God turns into a blessing and they don't bless the people.
But we find that Darren did something else.
When Bellum couldn't curse the people of God, he suggested to Daylight that daylight would prepare sacrifices and then invite the children of Israel and their young people to come over and for take of their sacrifices and mingle together.
And in this way he broke down a new separation. In this way he made them part of the Amorite company. And God had to bring judgment upon his people.
Was mingled in this way with the Moabites. And that's exactly what the present danger is. That's what the enemy does. He can't curse the people of God, because God loves his people and a blessing has been pronounced upon them.
While he will do what he can to break down separation that there should be between God's people and the world. And this is what they're on me. They like bailing to do. And so it says that each thing sacrificed to idols and they sat down and mingled with these more lights. And then the next thing was.
Open moral stem over the kind of sad thing it is, and how clever.
The enemy is almighty. Give us grace. Walk in separation from the world. Never was there a time when it has such an appeal to us. And when we'll say, well, we're Christians just like you are. We're not Mohammedans, we're not even. We're Christians too. Don't treat us as if we were any different to yourself.
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And so here we're seeing our plan that the bailing brought about.
These mobile bodies, one of these Moabites, were defendants of lost amount. Lot was the one who picked his tent towards Sodom, and Abraham dwelled on the mountain top. But now we find Abraham's seed and lock seed mixing together. And that's the way it is world. That's the enemy's plan.
And then he saw in the 15th verse there were those that held the doctrine of the Nicolaus.
But then I hate that is, this is a very small expression, isn't it? Which thing I hate that is, for the Spirit of the Lord is great liberty, and God delights in his assembly to have a go and gather there in liberty.
Around around the Lord's evening, so that he might lead out our hearts and praise, time is given to Him.
How would you like it if when the family sat down to the table, someone came up and said no, I'm going to tell everybody here when to speak and they're not to speak or unless I tell them and do the math and to do it at all. They did something, stuff to take control of your table. Would you like that? Very well. I'm sure I wouldn't like it at my table.
Well, at the table of the Lord, the Spirit of God.
Threatened from the lawyers and the medals and he would seek to leave out the hearts of his people and praise and by his and it's very, very hateful. It says here to the Lord and any person should take the part that belongs to the Spirit of God so that each one there might be land by the Spirit.
And praise amongst his lost.
Now he says the 16th verse was Tantra, Else I will come under you quickly and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.
That is, you have used the word to rebuke them. Now what a lovely word of encouragement here is given in 17 First, he that happened here, let him hear what the Spirit said unto the churches to him. And all the cometh will I give to either the hidden manner, and will give him a white stone. In the stone a new name written.
Which no man not stating he that receiveth it or seems to me there's something very rich and gracious and encouraging here in this word to be overcomer. There was a condition of things existing in Furthermore that must have grieved the heart of those who sought to keep his word and.
The Holy Cross, my name and hast not denied in my faith.
Them it was very easy to give way and exposed compromise. It was very easy to go along with this favorite thing. But there were those who overchained. There were those who sought to be faithful in the midst of all this. And not His word is given to Him that overcometh. Or I give to eat of a hidden manner.
Well, a manner brings before us the Lord Jesus and his pathway here, and so the Lord his pathway here.
On the path of cruise separation to the office here we find you walking in this world, and he said I will always do those things which place the Father are you and I content to have only the large approval, even if we're misunderstood by others, I satisfied just to have the Lord's approval.
I said there'll be a special.
Communion with the Lord.
That you will enjoy and glory that you have shared something of that down here.
That is, if one might put it in this way.
The apostles call was imprisoned for Christ.
When he gets the glory, what an intimacy there will be between him and the Lord. And the Lord himself was imprisoned, and Paul was imprisoned for Christ, and there will be an intimacy and joy between Paul and the Lord.
01:00:06
Person that has never been in prison for Christ wouldn't understand. So he said I'll give him to read man. And if you and I try to escape the research of following a rejected Christ, the loss is going to be his honor. But if you and I share something in common with what the Lord Jesus shared in his pathway, but he was rejected here and he still rejected 1.
If we're content to share his rejection.
Right now will be a special communion with him up there as to the path that we walked for His glory down here, the hidden manner. And then it very low gave him a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man nor saving he that receiveth it.
Our strong was a storm was a special.
Special and must say just the same as you give a person a ring and that person holds that random value that because it was given by you it it's a special mark of affection. And so the Lord says I will give him a Whitestone minister on a new name written. I like to think of that in connection with the.
Your name is no man N saving he that receiveth it. I've come up with where I live, our intimacy.
No. You love someone very much. You have a sort of what I call a pet name, and you call that person by that name. That's the name that's expressive of your affection.
No one else uses that name. To your, to your loved one. You're the only person that uses it.
It's an end of monthly until it's an affection. The male may be just some funny little name that doesn't mean a thing in itself, but it expresses an intimate feeling soul. I think this is beautiful.
Philadelphia, Laodicea
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Revelation 3 and verse 7.
And to the Angel of the Church in Philadelphia, right these things, said He that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, either openness, and no man shutteth, and shutteth and no man openeth. I know thy works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength.
And I've kept my word, and has not denied my name. Behold, I will make them of the city village of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not but to lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.
Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth.
Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out, and I will write upon him the name of thy God.
And the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God.
And I will write upon him my new name, he the half of the year, 11 year. What the Spirit saith under the churches, and under the Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans. Right these things, said the Amen. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God. I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou art cold or hot.
So then, because our lukewarm are neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth.
Because thou sayest I am rich, and increased with good, and have need of nothing, and knoweth not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. I constantly to buy of me gold. Pride in the fire, that thou mayest be rich.
And white layman that thou mayest be clothed, And if the shame of thy nakedness do not appear, And anoint thine eyes with eyes style, that thou mayest see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. He's Ellis therefore, and retent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will Sup with him and he.
To him that over cometh will allow Grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and I'm sat down with my Father in his throne. He the path of the year. Let him hear what the Spirit said under the churches.
Last night we spoke about the first three of these churches and how they bring before us.
Certain order in which God would speak to us, first of all reminding us of departure, then perhaps bringing trial into our lives that he might draw us back, and then giving us wisdom when we see the general state of things imprisoned. And such about the Church and the world are coming together, that there is still a path for faith.
Well, in the two of the churches that we omitted.
We have Fire, Tyra and Sardis. I might say that these last four, Biotire, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea, and each one of them we have a mention of the Lord's return, because I believe we could say that these last four conditions go on until the Lord comes.
I believe in fire, Tyler. We have brought before us that great system that seeks world domination, because it speaks about in the 26th verse. And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end. To him will I give power over the nation, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
As the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father? Well, we know that the great intention of that system that is spoken of is Babylon and the Book of Revelation later on.
00:05:07
Is to have the place of rule. It speaks about the woman riding the base, and we know that she seeks control of the political power of the Western world. Well, there's a special word here given to the overcomer that he doesn't have to seek that position because the Lord Jesus is the one who is going to rule all things.
The Lord Jesus is the one who is going to set everything right.
And you and I are the just waste his time. We know that in this time in which we live.
There's so much thought in the minds of Christians that we have a certain part to do in making the world better, in improving it. But we can see here that the Christian is to wait the Father's time. The Lord Jesus says, even as I receive of my Father, has he taken his place of world dominion yet?
Has he undertaken to such things right in the world as yet, now that that time is coming?
But now he's not seeking that one could speak in that way, He's not seeking that the kingdoms of this world. Now in the 17th of John and his prayer, he says, I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine, that is the Lord Jesus.
Is seeking the blessing and good of his own and is not asking now for the kingdoms of this world.
But there's a time coming when the Father will say, Ask of me, and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. And in the meanwhile, brethren, our place is just to go on patience, just to wait. Do we see things getting worse? Well, this is the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
Now we're just to leave these things and we have nothing to do with setting the world right, but we're associated with the one who will.
We're going to be with him when he comes out of heaven upon that White Horse and when he subdues all under him. And we can patiently waste that time. And if you hear people saying, well, Christians should do something to stop the tide of evil and to help to build a better world, why you can just reply, we're waiting the time when the Lord Jesus will do that.
And he's going to take us up to be with himself.
Before that time comes and then he's going to come back with us. It says the Lord, my God shall come and all the Saints with thee. It says the Lord cometh with 10,000 of his Saints to execute judgment. Yes, He's going to come and we'll come within that so we can waste that time.
And then we find in the next one in Sardis.
It tells us.
In the end of a first verse.
Thou hast the name that thou live us and our dead. Well, I believe this is very solemn, and that it refers to Protestantism, that which God raised up in the Middle Ages and restored the truth of justification by faith, so that the Gospel was preached.
And many souls were brought to know the truth of salvation.
Through the work of Christ.
But how about many of those systems?
That once had the truth of the gospel. Always the sad thing to think that many of them, although they have a name to live, are dead, and that I believe we have pictured to us in Sardis. And so he says.
In the second verse the watchful and strengthen the things which remain that are ready to die. For I have not found thy works perfect before God. Remember, therefore, how thou has received and heard.
And hold fast and repent. If, therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on me as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Well, when the Lord speaks of coming as a thief, that's the way he's going to come in judgment upon the world. It tells us in Thessalonians. But he, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
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Know when the Lord comes as a thief, it will be upon the unsaved.
And what a solemn thing to think that that part of Christendom which once had the knowledge of the Gospel, which once preached salvation through the finished work of Christ, should be in the position where the Lord would come upon them as a thief. And so they were called upon here.
To strengthen the things which remain, which are ready to die and can't receive, and in this very time in which we live, more and more and more.
Of the true Gospel being given up in that which once professed to know the way of salvation. What a solemn picture we have here in Sardis, of the many systems that we see all about us. Well, the word to the overcomer is in the fifth verse. These that overcometh the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name out of the Book of Life.
But I will confess his name before my father.
And before his angels, this is an encouragement. Thank God that there are those amid the great systems who are true children of God, whose names will not be blotted out of the book of life. But what a what a solemn thing to think that much of this that we see about us will in the end have to be spewed out of Christ now.
Well then, when we come to Philadelphia, we find those who especially met the Lord's approval.
It says here.
Some verse. And to the Angel of the church in Philadelphia, right these things, that he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, either openness of no man shutteth and shutteth, and no man openeth.
Now in Speaking of this one was not at all.
Boats that they're that we could say that we occupy the place of being Philadelphians, but I do believe that we see in this Church of that which meets the Lord's approval at the end. And if you and I would seek to walk in a path that meets his approval.
I believe we would find that his mind made known to us here in connection with Philadelphia.
So the Lord addresses himself to them. He's of his holy He's it is true. You know, holiness is the importance of evil. And don't we find that every hand an indifference to the claims of Christ? And you and I must never allow the standards to be lowered. That is, God has made known his mind, and you and I are not to give up any.
We are responsible to hold the precious, the positive truth that has been committed to us. It tells us that the Church is the pillar and ground of the truth. And if we start to give up any part of it, by who can tell how much we may give up? So the Lord, addressing himself to Philadelphia, says he that is holy.
And holy, I say, as a nature, it is the abhorrence of that which is evil. And he that is true, that is, we are responsible to maintain the truth of God.
Either hath the key of David.
Well, when we think about the key of David, we think of the one who is able to keep the doors open even in the last days.
And so he says here.
Either openness and no man. Shut up and shut up and no man ultimately.
And we know that God has allowed doors to be shut. We know there are places where the testimony to His truth and His gospel have gone forth. And today those doors are shut. What a very solemn thing. And we should remember that to despise the truth of God is a serious thing, because it might be taken away from us.
We were speaking about those places where the seven churches were over in Asia Minor, and God has given them over to the darkness of Mohammedism.
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The Gospel was once preached and known in China, but what about it today?
What a sound thing that says, either open up, no man shut up, and shut up, and no man open. And if God has granted an open door in this country, what a responsibility to us who know the truth to walk in it, to proclaim it while we have the open door. And I believe that each one of us ought to be exercised.
That we might seek to walk in the truth.
And as I say, to proclaim it while the doors are still open.
It's always says in the first, I know thy works well. This was an encouragement to this little assembly of Philadelphia. It was an encouragement to them to go on in the truth.
As I mentioned before.
These 4 words are given to us in each one of the seven churches. This summit was a warning because the Lord knew and saw the departure that had come in, but it was an encouragement. Here I know of our works. Behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man could shut it. This is a special word of encouragement given to Philadelphia.
And I believe, beloved brethren, that if we seek to walk in the truth that God is committed to us, that He'll preserve an open door to us until the Lord comes.
In First Corinthians Chapter 11, the Lord Jesus has asked us.
To remember him until he comes, it says as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, he to show the Lord's death till he come. And if he wants us to remember him until he comes, we can be sure that He will provide for those who seek to please Him a path, a place where they can do it.
And so I don't know.
When he says on the set before the unopened door.
I believe this is a special encouragement to us to walk in the truth and that as long as we seek to keep His word and not deny His name as He will preserve this open door to us.
In those places where the door has been closed, I believe it was first of all a giving up of the privilege of the of meeting according to the mind of God. And I believe if we don't walk in the truth, and then God may take it from us, and then he himself may close the door.
For thou hast a little strength.
Well, we can't expect in the last time that there will be great numbers. When the Lord Jesus came into this world, why it was only the shepherds that heard about his coming, and they came, worshiped Him there in the Manger. And then when the Lord Jesus was brought into the temple, why we find.
The two older ones, Simeon and Anna, were the only ones to meet.
Oh, there wasn't great strength. There was only a little strength.
Sometimes people will say, well, if the testimony is of God, if it's the truth of God, one or more. Well, here we find that in this assembly, the only one I believe we could say where the Lord places his special approval upon. He doesn't say that they have great numbers. He didn't say that they were a strong group. He said that thou hast.
Strong, our little strong, and in the last days we can always expect that that which is according to the truth of God will be characterized by weakness, not an outward display of strength.
And then it says.
And hast kept my word for one point. This is we're living in days where the truth of God is being questioned. Part of the word of God is being set aside. Oh how the Lord values that devotedness that would keep His word. Sometimes it might seem that it's difficult to keep contending for the truth.
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Sometimes people will say, well you're so narrow minded that you won't allow other people's thoughts at all.
All we must stand for the truth of God. I have no right to my thoughts. You have no light to yours. We only have a right to the truth of God on each one of us ought to seek to by our minds to the revelation that God has given in His precious word. Now it's true that we do make mistakes sometimes.
But are we willing to be corrupted by the word of God?
Are we in White Rose in Berea? When Paul preached, it says they searched the scriptures daily to see if those things were solved. And if you and I have some different thought about some matter in connection with the truth of God, our willingness to sit down and look into the Word of God with subject minds to be taught by His Word.
All brought him were responsible to keep his word. Last kept my word. May God grant that we especially as gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
May stand for the whole truth of God in these last days, not for justice part of it, but for the whole truth of God. Indeed, I would say about for any assembly to be truly an Assembly of God, it must stand for the whole truth of God. Now, of course, I know that we fail in carrying it out.
But it's one thing to fail in carrying it out. It's another thing to give it up.
And certainly do not grant that we will always seek to walk in the truth that God has recovered to us. And then the next thing it says.
And has not denied my name.
Well, in the time that it's very, very difficult not to have some name, people say, well, you must have some name. And even when we want to get a meeting room, then immediately the authorities want us to have some name, don't they? They want to have some name. They don't like to find the trumpet. The enemy doesn't like to see a company.
Who? On no other name but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But all that's the only scriptural ground it says in Matthew 18 and 24, where two or three are gathered together in my name. There are mine in the midst of them, and I have noticed in my contacts with people.
Well regarded to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why, there's a reproach at once. But if you say, well, we're known as brethren, Oh yes, Oh yes, they're quite ready to accept any other name but the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ of all beloved brethren, how dear it must be to the Lord Jesus deceived all the earth, who value his name alone.
What would I think if I came home and my wife was calling herself by some other name?
Five people say there's nothing in the name. A name is not important. Well, I'm sure to every married person here, while it is very important and how you would feel lack of affection if your wife was to call herself by some other name than yours.
And so high the earth must be to the heart of the Lord Jesus, that there are those.
Who value his precious mind and are content to bear his reproach also receive three things I believe that characterized those of Philadelphia. A little strength, keeping his word and not denying his name. And if you would seek to find the company that is guided according to his mind, don't expect great numbers.
For it says I'll ask a little strong, but expect to find the truth of God there.
Expect to stop to see them standing for the truth of God, even though sometimes they're misunderstood for and expect to have find them having no other name but the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Lord specially valued. This is what he approved of us was dear to him in a in a bit of room.
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And then he says in the ninth verse, Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, nor not but to lie.
We noticed in the second chapter, in the ninth verse, it says, I know the blasphemy of them which say we are Jews now not but are the synagogue of Satan.
We see how seriously God looked upon this, that those who profess to be his church were taking the position of Israel. You know, Israel are God's earthly people. God has two distinct circles of blessing. He's going to bless Israel on the earth.
But the Church is blessing is heavenly.
And for the church to make herself an earthly company and to borrow that system of things that was given in Judaism as a denial of the finished work of Christ, and it's a denial of our proper relationship to Christ.
As members of his body with a heavenly calling and we can see how seriously the Lord looked upon this because each time it's mentioned he speaks of it being of Satan and I believe that it's Satans attempt to Judaize the Church of God.
To rob us of the precious liberty of nearness that we have in coming into the very holiest of all as purged worshippers, and bringing us back to that system of things that was given to Israel which caused worship at a distance.
Where you know, in the ritual in Judaism, the work had not been finished. The high priest alone could go into the holiest.
The villa was not right and they had a grand building. They had all have to appeal to the flesh. Why hasn't God-given these things in Christianity? Or because in Christianity it's a new and living way?
It's a new way because it's not an improvement on Judaism, it's an entirely new thing, and it's a living way because one has to have a new life to be able to worship.
In the Lorde presence.
Without anything with Judaism. So I'll put it like this. A man didn't have to be saved to enjoy a fine building. He doesn't have to be saved to enjoy fine music and robes and all that kind of thing. An unsaved man can enjoy that. But one has to be truly born again and have a new life to be able to enjoy the simplicity of meeting in the presence of the Lord himself.
Enjoying his presence and worshipping Him out of a full heart.
That's why I've spoken out as a living wine and let among you say man, come into a meeting where we're just gathered around the Lord.
In true Christian simplicity. And he'll say, oh, this is a very strange place. Why, I miss that. I miss the organ, I I miss the roads, and I miss the preacher.
I remember our dear brother Walford up in Canada.
We went to a little meeting down how to work. He had never been to one of the meetings before and he had been invited to calmness laws in the morning. And when he walked in it was just a small hall and he saw near the back and he looked and there was the loaf on the table and there was the cup and there were the seats arranged around it.
I was sad, but I wonder where the preacher is.
Well, he was perhaps 5 or 10 minutes early, so he sat there and he said, well, this is strange that the preacher hasn't come yet. And he said run 11:00 came.
Someone gave out of him and he thought, well, I guess they're just filling in until the preacher comes. And they sang to him and everyone seemed to enjoy it. And then everyone sat quietly for a little while. And when someone else gave him and he felt that strange, the preacher must have, he must have been delayed this morning.
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And then someone said I got up and in simplicity, thank the Lord.
Oh, he stabbed. This is a meeting that's led by the Spirit of God.
This is a meeting that's led by the Spirit of God. And he told himself how sweet it was to his soul just to sit there and see that there was no need for a human leader. But the dispirit of God was taking the lead in the meeting. And he went home to his wife and he said, oh, he said, I was at a meeting this morning that was linked by the spur of God. He said, that's where I want to be.
And that dear man was gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, how sweet it is that we can meet in that way.
And so he says here, they say they are Jews and are not but to lie. Behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. I believe that the Lord is going to show his approval of those who sought to meet according to his word in a coming day, just like it was with David.
We know how Saul is on the throne.
And David and his men were in a despised and rejected place. But the time came as that David had the Kingdom. And then what did David do about those men that were with him in The Cave who shared his rejection? While he spoke of them as his mighty man, He appointed them to positions of honor because they had shared his rejection.
Well, I believe that's just what it's telling us here.
That in the coming day the Lord will show how He valued those who seek to affair His reproach. Let us go forth, therefore, unto Him, without the Cam bearing his reproach. Or may we value this place, not because we're looking for the time when the Lord will honor us for us, but just because we want to be in His company? I don't believe that any.
Man who went out to The Cave of the Dog for anything of honors in connection with David. They just wanted to be where he was, but he rewarded them for him. And you may be assured that if you do 1 little thing to please the Lord Jesus in obedience to His Word in that coming day, he's going to take notice of it.
Oh, what a joy it is to give give joy to him, the one who enjoyed so much for us.
Now this tenth verse.
Because thou has kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation which shall come upon all the world to try them that dwelt on the earth. Now some have taken this verse to teach that.
All the Lord's people will not go on at the Lord's coming, but only those who have kept the word of His patience.
Well there's a verse that simply answers that. In First Corinthians 15. It says they that are Christ. That is common.
No, every true believer will go off when the Lord comes. Not one will be left behind. There is no such thing in scripture as a partial rapture when the Lord Jesus gives a shout all those that have died in Christ from the Adam Delmar.
They will all be caught up, and all the living ones who are trusting in Christ will be caught up at that moment to be with the Lord. In fact, I might say this, that whenever it speaks about the rapture in Scripture, there is no mention of responsibility in connection with the rapture. Responsibility is always connected with the appearance.
Because the thought and the rapture is the joy of leading the law. But after we get up there, there will be a manifestation take place in His presence, and then when He comes out of heaven to set up the Kingdom, Why then the results of faithfulness to Him will be manifested when the Kingdom is established, but when He comes?
We just go up because we belong again. And I think that's so sweet. It's precious to my own heart.
Supposing one of my boys were naughty when I was away from home?
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And every time he thought of my coming home, he thought of the fact that I might have to punish him. He wouldn't look forward to my coming, would he?
But I wanted to, I wanted to look forward to my coming. And so when I talk about coming home, it's just the joy of seeing my family and loved ones. It isn't any thought of the responsibility at all. But after I get home and I see some mention of responsibility, but the joy of meeting is the joy of relationship. I know how blessed it is that when the Lord comes, He's going to call all his own.
Be with himself, faithful and unfaithful Christians. We're all going to meet him with joy. The manifestation takes place afterwards.
But now to mention why this verse comes in here, and I believe it's important, and that is.
It says because I've kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee. That is, this special word of comfort and encouragement is given to those who kept the word of His patience.
Shall I illustrate it like this, supposing that I have four or five children?
And we're going to go on a picnic.
And there's one of them that always seeks my company. He's very close to me. He's obedient. And I go to him and I see him and tell your little secret. We're going to take the family on a picnic. But I'm telling you because you always are so close to me and you like to please me. So I'm going to tell you ahead of time. Well, the whole family is going to go on the picnic.
But that boy has the joy of entering into it beforehand.
And that's the problem is first, the Lord values those who keep His word and do not deny His name, and He gives special words of comfort and encouragement to them. I know how sweet this is. And I might say that we find Him Christendom, that there are those who think the church is going through the tribulation. There are some that would even.
Have the Lord's coming at the end of the Millennium. That's how far they'll put it off.
Quietly lost discomfort, all because they're not keeping his word and not denying his name. All they're going to go up when the Lord comes, but they haven't got the precious comfort of it. There are many dear Christians that are afraid that the country is going to be destroyed by atomic bomb and all kinds of things, and they're worried about the conditions that are coming in.
Or what a comfort it is to know that before God's judgment falls.
The Lord is going to take His church away. Well, this is a special word of comfort and encouragement given, enjoyed by those who keep His word and don't deny his name. And now the excitation, Behold, I come quickly. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown.
Well, I believe that we need this word. The Lord is coming soon. Hold up fast. Which thou hast. We're living in days of giving up.
Really, we don't need to lookout of from among those gathered to the Lord's name. We find funny to discourage, we find funny to cast us down in these last days. But all brethren, it's not a time to give up. It's not a time to give up, no matter what difficulties may arise in the assembly, no matter what trial, no matter how few there may be that seem to come.
Remember.
It's not a time to give up. It's a time to hold fast. The Lord's coming is near.
You know, Semi and Anna that we spoke of in Jerusalem, they might have said, well, nobody seems to care very much about the temple anymore. What's the use of going? Not only the two of us, we're the only ones that are usually there. So why should we stir ourselves to go? We might as well stay at home too. All what they would have missed.
Just to think that they were the ones that were there.
When the Lord Jesus was brought into the temple and wouldn't you like to be at the prayer meeting if the Lord came that night, Wouldn't you like to be at the remembrance of the Lord and at the Bible reading It's the Lord Jesus was the common such an occasion. All this is the word that's spoken here. Behold, I come quickly, hold that fast which thou hast, but no man.
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Take thy crown. So this is a little word of encouragement for them not to give up.
In these days when there was but a little friend, now the 12 First him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. And I will write upon him the name of thy God, in the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God, and I will write upon him my new name.
Let me know if you go along with a little company gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
You'll be told that you don't amount to very much in Christendom. Why are there many other great large churches which are accomplishing a great deal? And what are you accomplishing by this seeking to go on with such a feeble little company? What's the Lord's answer to this? He says I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.
The world may say what it don't amount to much here. The Lord said all values, that devotedness in that come day all manifested, and he shall go no more out. Well now the question of going out, isn't it? Christendom has become a great house, and it says, If a man therefore purge himself from thee, he shall be.
Honor sanctified and meet for the Master's use. Now there is nothing more difficult for one who loved the Lord than to find that he must walk in a path of separation, sometimes even from others that know the Lord and love Him. You know when I was a young fellow and we used to walk to meeting quite a bit.
I remember how often we used to pass true believers, ones who loved the Lord and they were going to other places.
And I always used to have a heavy feeling in my heart every time I passed them. I thought how sad it is here. We love the Lord, and here's this person passing me going someplace else. Isn't it too bad that God's people are divided, yet we must seek to maintain the truth and walk in well as a time coming when you'll never have to go out and nor.
That moment when the Lord Jesus gives a shout every St. will be a gathered son.
It doesn't succumb. Thessalonians, the 2nd chapter. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto Him.
As I passed those people, they met under various names. But all is a moment coming, when the show will be heard and we'll all be together. And who will be who will be gathered around the Lord Jesus Himself. Whose name will we own? His name?
And I believe here, when it says I will write upon him my new name, I believe that refers to the special truth that has been recovered in this present dispensation, and that is.
That Christ is the bridegroom of the Church, and that He is gathering out a bride for Christ, and that you and I are part of that bride.
In the Old Testament, that secret wasn't known.
And so it was hidden God.
Now it's been made known, and here we're living in a time when the Lord Jesus has been made known not only as the God of Israel, but as the Bridegroom of the Church, the head of the body of the Church. You and I value this precious place. Well, how lovely the word to the overcomer here, the New Jerusalem.
My new name.
Now we come to the Church of the Laodicean, and this is the last one. It's the general coldness and indifference that characterizes Christendom, and which is liable to creep into all our hearts as the end approaches. And so I believe that there is much for us to learn from this exhortation.
That given connection with the Church of the Laodicean.
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It says these things that the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
No, the Church had failed as a Candlestick in the earth, but here's one who's a faithful and true witness.
All isn't it good for us present in these last days?
To look away from all the failure that we see within and around and look upon the one who is a faithful and true with the one who never has failed. And I believe if we have our eyes upon him, we'll be kept in these last days. It's easy to get occupied with the failures of our brother. It's easy to look within and see how discouraging it is.
Father's blossom, when we look to Him, the faithful and true witness, the Amen for that word. Amen means, let it be established, yes, He's going to accomplish all the purposes of God. It says all the promises of God and him are yay, and in him all them under the glory of God by us.
Now this expression, the beginning of the creation of God. We know that this is misused by those who teach that the Lord Jesus is a creative being.
I just like to make a comment about this. The Lord Jesus is not the created being. The Lord Jesus is the eternal Son of God and when it says he's the beginning of the creation of God, it simply means that the head of new creation, the beginning of new creation, is the Lord Jesus himself. When everything failed under the first man, then God said I'm going to make a new creation.
And the beginning of it, if God's beloved Son, he's the one who is the head of the whole new creation. Everything under the first man has failed, but everything under the second man and last Adam is going to be established and all God's purposes are going to be fulfilled in him. Well, this is the encouragement given to us.
In the evil day.
And then he says, I know I watched that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou art cold nor hot. So then because our Luke warm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew the out of my mouth.
Well, certainly these verses describe the present day. People are so indifferent to truth.
When you take a stand for the deity of Christ and for the work of Christ, you're liable to be met with an expression something like this. Oh, well, you have to respect other people's ideas and other people's religion. And so we're told that we we shouldn't be too firm for the truth of God.
They're just lukewarm. There's indifference or blasphem. It's dear to the heart of God that we should maintain the glory of His Son.
And the blessedness of his finished work. I know he may be misunderstood for it sometimes, but let us remember now that it's most important that we should earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the same.
And these days there is so much, as I say, of lukewarmness and people say, well, we shouldn't be so dogmatic about the things that we believe. If it's the truth of God, we have to stand for it.
God's glory demanded in the blessing of souls demanded, because if we give up the person and the work of Christ, we have no gospel to preach.
How can we preach the gospel if we deny the deity of Christ and the work of Christ? We have no message for fallen man.
And how can we, how can we have a place where people can come and hear the truth and be delivered from all a wind of doctrine and Christendom if we don't stand for it in God's assembly? Well, May God grant that we may be faithful and hold the truth that's been committed to us.
Because our service I am rich and increased with goodness and have need of nothing. Oh, I'm sure everyone who travels through the country in these days is in perhaps by the beautiful new churches. Every place you go you see the finest and grandest churches that I suppose were ever built and.
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You see more and more of them all the time.
Increased with good.
Now those that profess to be the servants of Christ are given positions of honor with plenty of money. Why? This is the day when the profession of Christianity is flourishing in Europe. That's why it is still rich and increased with goods. You can have need of nothing. But what does the Lord say?
And knoweth not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blindly naked.
Does God value all these attempts to build these fine buildings?
Oh, he says that they're wretched and miserable and cool and blind and naked. And how many of these foreign buildings?
The Bible is given up. The truth of salvation is denied by the era of these grand buildings.
Sad thing he says, I'll constantly above me go fraud in the fire. The family has to be rich and white. Raymond, the thou mayst be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear.
I believe gold cried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, His divine righteousness.
And then when it says.
By agreement that thou mayst be called its practical righteousness.
How sad it is to think that those who forecast the name of Christ should be careless about their walk, and yet how often it shows that those who profess the name of Christ.
Are not careful to in any way walk in a way that honors the Lord. How often when you go to speak to someone about the way of salvation, they will say, well, so and so so he's a Christian, but.
Maybe doesn't act like one.
Well, he says, I consolidated by white raiment, that thou mayst be clothed.
That is practical righteousness. The fireman is the righteousness of Saints.
And then it says an amongst thine eyes, with eyes thou, that thou mayest see.
Well, it says in Peter about those who were short sighted and couldn't see a far off that is occupied with present thing. Are you and I taken up with present things? Do we think that the Lord saved us so that we would get along in this world? We'd be able to get a better job and have a better home and drive a better car?
Because we're saved.
Why we need to have our eyes set on something beyond this poor world. And I believe very often that we who are real Christians set our hearts upon things down here, and then the Lord has to come in and stir up the net.
I believe he does that and he's faithfulness.
You know, when the children of Israel and her Jericho, the Lord told them about the silver and the gold was to be brought into the treasury of the Lord, and that if they took any for themselves, it would be a curse to them. And I believe the lesson for us is just this, that anything that we have and hold, that we can hold as belong to the Lord.
His only snare to it. It's only a snare to it. Oh, may the Lord grant now that we will anoint our eyes with eyes, thou that will look beyond this poor St. and have our eyes upon the glory that's coming.
It says where no vision is, the people perish. And to those of us who are parents, are we bringing up our children for this world, for positions in this world, or is our desire for them that they would live for Christ? Or as one looks at the dear young people growing up in so many of the assemblies, how one's heart often desires so earnestly that there would be those who would devote their lives to the Lord Jesus?
Who would give their young liars, when they're in the freshness of youth, to live earnestly for Christ? Oh, what a privilege. Well, we can only do it because we have before our vision something more than just this world. May the Lord grant that we all anoint our eyes with eyes are that we may see.
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As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, in repentance. That is, the Lord often deals with us because He wants our heart to suction, and if we're not moved by His love, then He has to lean us by circumstances.
Now the 20th verse. We often use this verse in the Gospel.
But primarily, this verse refers to real believers.
Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him, and will Sup with him. And he was made. That is, in this Church of Laodicea the Lord is seen as being on the outside.
But he's standing and knocking. And now the cause to the individual, if the state of the professing body is such that the Lord is on the outside, the individual can still hold communion with him. Now, I don't mean that there will not always be a collective testimony. There will be until the Lord comes. But I say that it's most important for us.
In days of ruin and weakness and breakdown.
That we should hold personal communion with the Lord. And if you see coldness and indifference around, don't make it an excuse for yourself. The Lord wants to hold personal communion with you. And no matter how difficult things may become, no matter how weak the testimony may be, we can hold that individual communion with the Lord.
And he says, I will come into him and will suck with him. He was made. And how often one has seen him, and going about the country and going to various assemblies, one has seen, I believe I can say, those that have answered the Lord call. And in the midst of great weakness, they're enjoying the Lord, the fresh and happy in their soul. And why?
Well, because.
He, the Lord has come in, and.
They are stopping with him. They're enjoying that sweet communion with him. Oh, may the Lord grant that we may value this, that we may in each one be exercised to have that communion with him.
To him, not all the cometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and I'm set down with my father in his throne.
When our Lord knows just how difficult it is to overcome in the day of lukewarm, I think it's much harder than persecution. If people openly persecute you, why it sometimes is a great encouragement to be faithful to Christ. I found when when I've been persecuted for the name of Christ, while as it says in Peter, there was real happiness.
A real joy that filled my heart, but I don't know anything harder.
And then to go on in the freshness and sweetness of the love of Christ, when you have this feeling, well, nobody else seems to be interested. Nobody else seems to care.
Oh, and that's the character of things that we can expect in the last days, and that's why it's written here.
As even as I also overcame, and I'm sat down with my Father in his throne, the Lord Jesus saw all his disciples forsaken and played. Did he give up?
Did he give up in his love to them? Oh no, He went to the cross to die for him. Did he give up in his faithfulness? No, He did his Father's will even when all the supplement fly. And so the Lord said, I overcame. And he says no matter how dark and difficult today, why you can overcome. And the Lord Jesus is now gone there and he's sitting.
With his father on his throne.
I might say that at present this is where the law is. He's sitting with his father on his throne.
While the time is going to come, as we remark before, when the father will say to the son.
Ask of me and I will give you the heathen for thine inheritance. Then the Lord will take his own throne. Then the Lord Jesus will take his place of headship. Now he's sitting with his Father on his throne. He's waiting for the time that the Father will speak the Word. Now this is our place. This is the time of the Kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
01:00:12
But the Lord Jesus said, I'm going to take my throne, and then you can sit with me on my throne. Oh, brethren, may we go on in faith and patience and affection for the Lord Jesus in these last days. He's able to keep us. And no matter how dark and difficult today, may he grant that we may value his approval. So I say again.
In connection with Philadelphia that we have in that little assembly and that which met the Lord's approval.
You and I desire to have his approval. Well, let us seek to go on that path of keeping his word, not denying his name. Even the Lord is great weakness. And then if things seem to be in a state of general decline, may remember that there's a special encouragement then to individual faithfulness. And so instead of excusing ourselves and saying well.
They're such indifference and no one seems to be very interested.