Conference: 1966
Table of Contents
Not of this World
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Well, dear young people, it has been said that the deception of this world is of Satan. The perception of it and the overcoming of it are of God, and it's much important that he should understand from God, from God's Word, just what that great system in which we live really is. God speaks of it as the world, a vast system of things that has been built up by man in his alienation from God and with.
As it's God and Prince, and we see the beginnings of it here in the book of Genesis, it's wonderful that we have the Word of God which brings these things before us. Men spend millions of dollars in their attempt to try and find out something about how this world came into being. But for us, we accept in a simple way God's description.
About this in Genesis 1 it says by faith we understand.
That the world's were framed by the word of God. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
But there is something that is immensely important to us, that it deserves our greatest consideration, and that is the system of things that is in this world built up by man and headed by Satan, who is the God and Prince of this world. And we have been born into a world like this. We see the vast physical creation around us. We see all these things.
The forces that God has set up in nature. But what a puzzle it is to man.
And the more men get of advancement in education, the more puzzled they become because they find themselves in the midst of this vast world and this system of things and have no understanding about what it's all about. They say, what is it all about? What is life on the earth for? Isn't it wonderful, friends, that God has not only told us about creation, but that he has informed us in his Word about this world? How the great.
Things about us had its beginnings. And he has also not only told us how we can overcome in the midst of a world like this, but He has actually given us a power by which we can overcome. And more than this and better than this, he has given us the hope beyond this world. And so that we we see two different cities brought before us in Genesis. One, the first city, and with that city that was built by Cain and his posterity, the beginning of the world.
System in its departure from God, in the In the last one, in the last book of the Bible, we have another city brought before us, the heavenly Jerusalem, that holy city, that place where there's no more sickness, nor sorrow, nor crying or pain, that glad and glorious future that is before the redeemed. And wouldn't men rejoice if they could have the assurance of these things in their hearts?
Oh, how many men there are who?
Say to a simple believer, all I wish I had your faith, I wish I had your faith. Man is struggling in the vast uncertainty that he has created himself because of his unbelief. But the Christian who has believed what God says does not remain in uncertainty. He lives in realities. He lives in divine assurances because he has a message from God.
And this I want to bring before you, dear young people today.
Because I know as you start out to school and as you advance in school, you will not receive this kind of wisdom from man. You may find yourself prepared for certain walks of life, but you will not find that wisdom that will enable you to overcome in the midst of a world that has been set up by Satan in man's alienation from God.
And as it tells us in Luke Chapter 11, it says that this world is Satan's palace.
And we see the beginnings of it here, and I'd like to look a little bit about how it began in the 4th chapter of Genesis.
I won't go into detail the sad story about Adam's sin and how he was first driven out of the garden and then how Cain killed his brother. So we see not only man's disobedience in Adam and Eve, but we see violence in Cain, and then we see the beginning of man's religion. That is, Cain attempted to approach God by works of his own.
And so in the system of things that is built up in this world, in man's departure from God, there is religion. Don't be surprised when you read about the various religions of the world and that there is a very great similarity to the truth of God, because Satan's great attempt is to take what is of God and pervert it and spoil it. When God placed Adam and Eve in the garden and gave them all those good things.
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Then Satan's attempt was to.
Take something that God had even placed there, and bring misery and sorrow upon man by the very thing that God had placed there to test their obedience. And Satan's attempt is always to pervert what is of God, to spoil it. And so the various religions of the world have been the result of man's departure from God.
And as he departed further and further from God, he brought in more and more of his own imaginations, but it was mingled with that which God himself had given to man of some true knowledge about how to approach him.
And so Cain's city began first by Cain's religion. He had a religion, a way of approach that he had begun himself, by which he felt capable of coming into the presence of the holy God without raising the question of his guilt before him. Oh, what a solemn thing this was. And so we find here that Cain approached God by the works of his own hand.
And you'll always notice in false religion two things.
There's a lack of the true knowledge of God, and there is that which exalts man. You'll you'll find in every false religion those two things. There is not a true knowledge of God. Either man is blinded to the fact that God is light or that God is love, or both. And then secondly, his whole system of religion is something that exalts him and makes a great man out of himself.
Whereas in the truth of God, God has made himself known.
He has revealed himself. We wouldn't find this by searching. It is by God's own revelation. And secondly, that our way of approaching to His presence is that which brings us down and exalts him. It brings us down as guilty. And so Abel put between himself and God the death of a sacrifice. He said I deserve to die. And he presented this sacrifice to come between him and God and this name.
Everything of God's provision, nothing of himself and thought is with the truth of God. God is exalted, the Lord Jesus is honored, and man is put in his right place. Well, Cain's religion was the opposite. He had no true knowledge of God, and he was filled with his own importance, bringing works of his own hands, and then violence accompanied it when he.
Saw that God would not accept what he offered. Then he killed his brother.
And then the next step, he went out from the presence of the Lord. Why did he go out from the presence of the Lord? Well, first, because he didn't want the presence of the Lord, and secondly, because he was driven out from God's presence of guilty, and God set a mark upon him lest anyone finding him should slay him. That is, he went out with a sentence of judgment hanging over his head.
And this is the condition of this world.
Judgment hangs over it. Well, what did Cain attempt to do then? Well, he attempted, while judgment was hanging over him, to make the best of things in this world. He was going to use everything that was within his reach to make this world a happy place for himself. We might illustrate it like this, as though a father should send his boy to his bedroom because he had been naughty and tell him he must stay there for an hour as punishment.
For something he has done.
As soon as the boy gets into the bedroom, he makes up his mind that he is going to make that hour as pleasant as he possibly can. And so he gets all his toys, he gets everything together he can think of. And this bedroom, which was intended to be a place of punishment, he just fills it with everything that he can think of to make him forget the punishment and to have a really good time.
And then his father comes in and about 1/2 an hour he expects to see some repentance and the boy, and he's just occupied with his own son. He says, Daddy, I'm having a grand time here. I don't care whether I come down again or not. This is the world, friends, young people, this is the world. Man has turned his back upon God and he is busy building a city and filling it with everything he possibly can to make himself happy in his alienation.
From God.
Cain, a guilty man under the penalty of God's punishment that he was going to be judged for what he had done in killing his brother. He goes out now and he builds a city. He builds a city. And you may be struck in reading about the posterity of Cain and the end of this 4th chapter, to notice that it doesn't say anything about death at all.
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Death wasn't in their calculations. Life was in their calculations. Man likes to hide death. The newer and better cemeteries, as people call them, are ones where there are no tombstones, where there's music, where there's flowers, where death is hidden. Man doesn't want to face realities. He doesn't want to think of death. And so as Cain went out from the presence of the Lord, his idea was life in this earth, away from God, to make himself.
And contented as he could away from God. You must be struck in reading the next chapter in the line of faith to see that it says and he died and he died and he died because the people that are described in the next chapter weren't ones that were trying to make the world a happy place away from God. No Enos called upon the name of the Lord. Enoch walked with God and was not because God took him.
Noah build an ark to the saving of his.
His house. These men were not ones who were occupied with making themselves happy away from God. They were ones who were walking through this world, if you like. They were in it, but not of it. And this we see an entirely different family brought before us in the next chapter. But in this chapter we find those who are building up this great world system.
So we find first of all Cain's religion. We find, secondly, where Cain's city was built. It was out from the presence of the Lord. And then the next thing we find in the 19th verse. And Lamech took unto him two wives. Here we find a departure from that order which God had established, because God only made one partner for Adam. But now?
The Lamech is going to try and indulge in indulge.
Himself and have a good time along those lines as well.
If if one wife would give some happiness, then two would give more. And isn't this the world? Isn't this the system of things that we see? Man is out for his own happiness. He's out to indulge himself. He's out to do anything. And those boys and girls, you go to school with those young people, isn't this what they have before them? It's to get the most out of life and.
If they can do things that they think will bring them more happiness, the question of whether it's morally right before God does not concern them too much. It's to have a good time. So here in Cain's world, we see the first step away from God's order in connection with marriage. We find that this man took two wives. He was going to indulge himself and make himself happy in this world.
System of things that was now being built.
Up. And doesn't it correspond to the world that we find ourselves living in today? Indeed we do.
Well, then the next thing we find that this man Lamech had a very distinguished family. Notice what it says. It says in the 20th verse and Ada Bare Jabel, he was the father of such as dwelling tents and of such as have cattle. Well, this was the beginning of the business world. Now I'm not saying this.
To condemn the business world and I expect that the families.
The of those described in the following chapter perhaps came into Cain's City and did business. But I say they were not part of it. I say they perhaps did business there. They no doubt sold cattle back and forth, but they were not part of that vast system. And we all have to conduct our business in this world. We must earn a living. But are we in business to make great men of ourselves in this world, to surround ourselves with everything?
To make ourselves happy? Or is our thought merely to go on through this world of providing things, honest in the sight of all men, providing for our families, but our real thought that we belong to another scene? Well, we see in the next chapter of that family who lived in this world but were not of it. We'll speak a little of this as we think of the other scriptures, but here we find.
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In Cain's world, the beginning of the business world, and you young people, I know you have to go and work in this business world. You have to do with it. And Saul, you find that Satan as the God and Prince of this world. And I'm sure people in business, you can see how their whole thought is to make the best of things for themselves.
And this was the place that was being building up.
By Cain's descendants.
Then the 21St verse, and his brother's name was Jubal. He was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ. Well, I believe here we have the world of entertainment, and so if this city was going to be a pleasant place to live, why it must be filled with all that sort of thing that would entertain.
As we have in job, they handle the harp.
Their children dance and the wicked have families like a flock. And so here we find this was introduced into Cain's world. Now I'm not speaking against the music, and I don't believe that's the thought in the passage here, because we find afterwards that in its proper place it was given a place in the Word of God. But I speak of the use that is given to it in the world, the world system, the bringing of it here.
Into this city of Cain, and don't we see much of this? And I suppose we could say that as we get nearer the end, Satan fixes his palace up a little better. There was a time when business wasn't done on such a big scale. But today, when you find mixed yourself, mixed up in the business world, why, it's just one vast drive.
Satan has it all built up in such a way that I'm sure you dear young people in trying to choose a line of work, you say how can I get into some occupation where I don't find myself in this great drive that is in the business world today. As one brother said to me, he was working for a large company and he said one of their head men came and talked to the younger part of the staff and said if you're going to make.
In this company you have to eat. And he mentioned the name of the company. He said you have to eat and you have to drink and you have to live for this company. You have to be all together out for it if you're going to get anywhere. This this is that part of Cain's world that is set before us. And what about entertainment? Well, there used to be a time when people had a little bit of entertainment, but now?
Everybody's got to have the very best of entertainment.
In their own home now this is the way the enemy has succeeded. The world must be entertained. People must have the very best, and when one thing has.
Sort of outlived its time. Then something new is brought in with a little better entertainment, better instruments, better, better sets of all kinds to try and improve the conditions and to entertain the world. And haven't you found it so Well, this was all introduced here into Cain's world, this system, this city that was out from the presence of the Lord, and then the next one.
It says I'm Zillah. She also bear Tubal Cain, an instructor of every artificer in brass and iron. Well, perhaps we could call this the world of science and education. That is, this man was an instructor. He taught people and they were finding out how to make better things in brass and iron. And so I say again, we have.
The Scientific.
The business world and we find that this too is advancing in these last days and saw that we find ourselves in the midst of this condition of things in the world.
And I know, dear young people, that you're faced with a very real problem. And I don't want to minimize the problem. And I feel that we who are older find it very difficult to give you the help that we'd like to in connection with what you have to face today, because it's a different world that you're facing because things are developed to a much greater degree than they were perhaps even 25 years ago.
And you find yourself in the midst of this, and you say, how far?
Where are we to go? How far do we go along with it? And it's impossible for us to say just what the Lord has for each one of you to do. But what I'd like to bring before you this afternoon is not to lay down some rule and to say how far you can go in the business world or how far you can enjoy in a in a proper way.
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The music that the world has, nor to say how far you can go in the world.
World of education and science, but to help you to see your place in it. And so that you would not be living for this world, that your sights would be set at a proper level and that you would be kept from the great onward movement of things in this world as it hastens on to destruction. Because I believe that it's a principle in God's ways, as our brother remarked this morning.
That God never allows things to smolder out.
He allows men to go on when they built the Tower of Babel, God allowed them to go to a tremendous.
Space of advancement before he came down and stopped them. In the time of Noah. He allowed the world to be filled with men of renown. He allowed the world to make great advances before he came and judged. And if we're left here, we're going to see these things become more and more pronounced.
And I am sure that we who are Christians are going to find it more difficult. But I say again, I want to bring before you the fact that the Lord Jesus is your Savior, that He was rejected and cast out in this world. And if the company that you work for requires that you take a little extra course, why you may have to take it. But all may the Lord help you to have a proper perspectives in your life that He may help you.
To have the Lord Jesus and not this world as the object before you. Satan is glittering, putting glittering lights in front of you constantly, because this is Satan's palace. This is Satan's palace, and he has it all fixed up. And he wants you to find the place somewhere in these three great worlds, or perhaps these three great spheres of the vast world system.
He wants you to be part of the great push in business, or part of the great entertainment world or part of the educational world. He wants you to have some place in connection with this. And the question is, can you be in the world but not of it? Well, the Lord Jesus said we could. He said, I pray not that thou should have take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil.
I'm not suggesting that you go and build a Hut on the mountainside and live as a hermit.
Nor does the Lord Jesus say that he suggested that this was the way his disciples should do. But He did pray in that blessed prayer in the Sabbath, that His own would be in this world, but not of it. That they would realize that they didn't belong to it any more than He belonged to it, but they were not part of it any more than He Himself was, but that they were just going through it.
Well, here we find more about this city of Lamech, of Cain's world.
It says, Lamech said unto his wives, Adam, Zillah, hear my voice. Ye wives of Lanik, hearken unto my speech, for I have slain a man to my wounding, and a young man to my hurt.
If Cain shall be Avenged Sevenfold truly. Lamech 70 and sevenfold.
Well, what a city this was.
Here we find false religion, we find a man takes 2 wives, we find the founding of the great things that characterize the world. We find murder in this city. And then we find this man so unhappy, so uneasy because he said, well, if Cain is going to be Avenged Sevenfold.
Truly Lamech, 70 and sevenfold.
And dear young people, I want to tell you, and you already realize this, that this world, in spite of its all its advancement, it has a terrible fear hanging over it. It's impossible for man to get rid of his conscience. He knows that he has sinned against God. He may try to.
Put it aside. He may sear it, He may do all kinds of things, He may try to shut God out of his own universe. But man can never, never get rid of the fact that that judgment hangs over this world. And the greatest and wisest man in this world are living in terror, as our brother remarked this morning of what is going to come. How is civilization going to be wiped out? What is going to happen? And why is it well, they know what the heart of man.
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Is basically, they know that it's bad and they know that all it requires is something to cause a flare up and they don't know what will happen. And this was Cain's world. This was Cain's city. It's highly developed today. It's made great advances, but it's the same thing. And here is its beginning. And God tells us about it in his Word.
Now let us turn over to that passage we looked at in.
Luke, Chapter 11.
Verse 21.
When a strongman armed, keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace.
Well, I remark again, this strongman armed is Satan.
And this world is Satan's palace.
And His goods are the unsaved. And what he is trying to do is to keep the unsaved from thinking about coming judgment. His attempt is to keep them in peace. And you will find that as soon as you go to talk to unsaved people, immediately what bothers them is that you are disturbing their peace. Disturbing their peace. They don't like anything that makes the uneasy and makes them think about judgment they don't like.
To be made.
Realize that they are guilty before God. And so Satan's attempt, I say, is to fill this world with all kinds of things that will shut out God and thoughts of God and man's responsibility to God out of the mind of man.
And this is the world, and don't be surprised if it becomes more beautiful. The work of a man who's building a palace is to have it better than anything else. The great ancient kings, their whole idea was that their palace should be the ground, this place in the whole Kingdom, that it would be better than the House of any other person in the Kingdom. It was a reflection on the ability of the king if some of his subjects had a better place than himself.
Satan, who has been given a certain place in this world, allowed of God because of them.
He is a leading man on and this world is becoming a better palace. It's got better entertainment, it's got better education, it's got Better Business. It's got better ways of having a good time than it ever did before. It's Satan's palace. But all young people. There is a stronger than Satan has come. There is a stronger than Satan has come.
Yes, it says when are stronger than he cometh upon him.
Them and overcome him he taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted and divideth his spoils all we have good news. The Lord Jesus came into this world it says in John 1. He was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not. There's one who came into this world. There was one who was more than a match for Satan, there was one who.
Couldn't meet him in all his fury. There was one who could upset his whole world, and that was the Lord Jesus. And he came into this world and it says he takes from him all his armor. For him he trusted and all. We always rejoice when we find someone who realizes that Satan's world isn't such a wonderful place after all.
When they begin to see that this great system of things is only a thing that is temporarily allowed of God, and that there is One who has come in and who has come into this very world where Satan is its God and Prince, and that blessed Savior came to defeat the power of Satan. And as it tells us in Hebrews 2.
That through death he might destroy him that had the power of death.
That is the devil and deliver them who through fear of death for all their lifetimes, subject to *******. Yes, the Lord Jesus has come into this world. He has met Satan at the cross. He has defeated him. And I'm happy to be able to say this afternoon that Satan is a defeated foe and we're on the side of the one who has overcome.
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For on his side, we belong to him.
And it says He takes all his armor and he trusted. And so we can say that all Satan's power has been defeated. The Christian has been delivered by being brought into possession of something better. And you, dear young people who are saved, this world may look very bright and glorious, but you have something infinitely better.
And there isn't a Christian young person here this afternoon who isn't.
Who is really enjoying the Lord? But what the world envies what you have, they envy what you have. And if they don't envy what I have, it's because they don't see what I really have in Christ. If they find me seeking after the world, they'll never envy what I have because they'll say well.
He's not happy. He's after the same things we are. But all when they see that we have something that's better, something that satisfies the heart, they know that they don't have what satisfies. They know they're just like Lamech. What a fine, distinguished family he had.
He might have said, oh, what a family I have, look at the distinguishment, look at the honors that my family have attained, but all was he able to enjoy that?
Now he realized that judgment hungover him, and this made him afraid. This made him afraid. And the world, with all its boasting, faces the future with uncertainty. It knows that it doesn't have what satisfies. It's a world of sorrow and crying and pain. And how often when the world unmasks, when it takes away that mass, you see that there's a skeleton in the cupboard.
They're not happy. They long for something that satisfies.
You and I have a dear young people. We have it, we have it. And it says he takes his armor and he divides the spoil.
Who does this world really belong to?
And the Expo says man in his world, but the Bible says the earth is the Lord and the fullness thereof. And you and I, dear Christian, are going to enjoy it in its fullness with Christ.
The Lord we were Speaking of that day, this morning, that coming time, the day of the Lord when he reigns as universal Lord, when he takes his great power. And oh, I am sure that when you and I see the marvels and wonders of that scene, we'll think, why did we ever consider this world so beautiful in its present, fixed upstate by man?
Oh, what future? What what a future awaits the Christians.
It says that the Lord is going to divide the spoil, and you and I are heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. Joint heirs with Christ.
Well, now the Lord has defeated Satan, and in that lovely prayer which we mentioned before in the 17th of John, he says.
In the 13th verse. And now come I to thee. And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. I have given them thy word, and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Dear young people, do you think the Lord wants to rob you of happiness?
Do you think that if He is telling you what this world is, He's helping you to perceive its true character, that He's doing it because He wants to rob you? Oh no, the Lord Jesus said to his own that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
The Lord wants your joy and mind to be full. He doesn't want us to be disappointed, frustrated believers. He wants us to have found in Him and to continually find in Him a source of joy and refreshment and strength to overcome.
That will keep us as we go through a world like this. And so he wanted his joy to be fulfilled in them. And then he says, I've given them thy word.
It's this blessed book that gives us what we need for our pathway. As we read it and meditate upon it, we find such a wonderful portion, but we find that the opposition of the world.
Well then, when we find the opposition of the world, we'd sort of like to get out of it, wouldn't we, while we're going to get out of it when the Lord comes. But here he says, I pray not that thou should have take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil. Now undoubtedly we who are parents do all we possibly can to protect our children from those influences of the world while we can, but there comes a time when they must face what this world is.
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When they have to see it in its true colors, and it tells us here, I pray not that thou should have take them out of the world. And so we have to go through this world. We have to earn our living here. We have to meet it. And I have no doubt, as I said, that those who are mentioned in the 5th chapter of Genesis did business with those who are mentioned in the 4th chapter of Genesis. I haven't any doubt. And it's possible that some of them learned a great deal about.
And iron from those who lived there, but they were still not part of it. They were still not part of it. And dear young people, that's what I desire for you. That's what I desire for myself. I find a continual danger, and I find it more so as we can get better cars, better homes, better things. I find how easily these things tend to get a grip upon our hearts. And we don't realize it, but God would have us to.
The true character of this world and that we're in it, but we're on the ambassadors here. We don't belong to it. We're not of the world. Even as the Lord Jesus was not of the world, He didn't belong to it. He came into it, into Satan's palace. He rode in a boat, He went about among men, but he didn't. He didn't form part of the world system. He defeated its Prince at the cross and he has set us free. We belong to him.
And now let us look again at that in the Epistle of John.
Where we read.
The first Epistle of John.
And.
14th Verse. In the middle of the verse I have written unto you, young man, because ye are strong.
And the word of God abideth in you, and ye have overcome the wicked one.
Now the Lord Jesus has not only overcome Satan's power, but He has given to us a power by which we too can overcome. Don't say the world's too strong for me. It's not too strong for you. If you're walking in dependence upon the Lord, if you're feeding upon His Word, it's not too strong. You have the one who is greater. Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. You and I have the power.
Because we have Christ, but if we neglect the word, it'll be just like a soldier and he is given the best sword available, but he puts it down and he says, I can't face the battle. You'd say, pick up your sword, man, pick up your sword. And so here it says.
I write, he says, you are strong and the word of God abideth in you. Have we been neglecting the word of God in our private life? Does it have its authority over our lives? Do we tremble at it? Is it the food upon which we feed? All this is a challenging question for us, dear young people. We may say, well, everybody's doing it. All young people do it. I didn't ask you that, I said, is the word.
God abiding in you is the Word of God abiding in you. Make the Lord Jesus your guide. Go to his word. You'll never be strong unless you have the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, where you'll be able to overcome in the conflict. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world. Satan is the one who holds this world and.
Trying to deceive your heart and mind through it. Well, it says about these ones, young men, you're strong, you've overcome because the word of God abides in you. Oh, may I suggest that you read it until you know it well, until when problems arise.
Those verses arise in your mind at the same time when someone says, will you do this? Will you go here?
What are you going to do when you leave school that those verses in God's Word that have to do with your pathway come up as second nature in your mind? Why, when you're driving a car you don't say to yourself, oh, I must put my foot on the brake. You do it unconsciously. Why? Well, it's your habit. You have done it 100 times during the day before and thought it was no unusual thing when the difficulty came to put your foot quickly on the brake.
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It's second nature, and the only way it can be second nature to us to use the word of God is to let it, let it dwell in US richly in all wisdom and spiritual understanding. Oh, you say, I wish I had a knowledge of the Word. Yes, you might wish you had a driver's license, but you have to get it and you have to be diligent in using it. And dear young people.
Are you and I valuing the privilege that we have?
If Satan is, If Satan is more busy in this world today than he ever was.
We are wonderfully blessed.
There never was a generation before. I speak in a larger sense of the generation. There never was a time before, perhaps I should say, when the Word of God was so available. Here are perhaps 600 or 700 people and every one of us have a Bible on our knee. This wasn't so in the past. If the devil is busy and he's filling the world with all kinds of things to take us away from the Lord, it's not hard to get a Bible.
Not hard to have it on your knee, It's not hard to have it in your bedroom. It's not hard to find a few minutes to read it. Even the law of the devil may say that you haven't the time for it. No, if Satan is busy.
Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Well, how lovely this is. And it says love, not the world.
Love not the world. What does this mean? Well, your heart is not to be taken up with the world system. That is, the Christian goes through this world. He accepts the things that God gives. We enjoyed our food today at lunch. We enjoy the comforts that we have. It's right that we should accept these things from God. We can be thankful that he has provided such things.
But our hearts are not to be set upon this scene.
It says this whole scene.
Has been arranged as that which appeals to the lusts of man. Whereas for the Christian, he has a new thing before him. He has a home above and he is just going through this world. And what he what he possesses in this world, it's not as his own. He's just going through. And so I'm not saying that you have to.
Sit on a hard seat or that you have to do something very difficult.
I say that God and His goodness allows us to have many things, but where are our hearts, dear young people? Where are our hearts? Can we say our hearts by Thee are set on brighter things above? Strange that we ever should forget thine own most faithful love. Oh, I want to ask your heart and mind how many times through the week when everything.
Looks that is at its very best. Do our hearts turn from this scene and say, oh, I have something better in Christ. I have something better in Christ. Oh, that's what we have. Or you say when I'm in trouble, I always do that next time. You have the very best thing that this world can offer when you have your brightest day, when you got perhaps something new that you really wanted when you got your degree at school or something.
And you're just filled with that, say to yourself, this is not the best. I've something better in Christ. Oh dear young people, we have. We have. And that's where I want my heart by grace to be. And I want your heart to be there. The Lord wants it to be there. So let us just look for a few moments of this city here that's brought before us in Revelation 21.
It says here a new.
New heaven and a new earth that says, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men.
Oh, isn't this lovely? God himself is not going to be satisfied until He has your company in mind in a scene where there will be nothing but joy forever.
Is that better than the best that this world has? Is this world still look like a grand palace when we get a view of this heavenly glory that awaits us? This is what is ahead of us. This is the home to which we're traveling. And it says God himself shall be with them and be their God.
And it says there's no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.
We've been reminded even in these meetings, before we began the meetings, it was brought before us about people into whose family's death had come, into whose family's sorrow had come, into whose family's crying had come. But oh, we're going to something better place where there won't be any of those things.
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And then it says in the fifth verse.
Right. For these words are true and faithful.
I'm sure we've all looked forward to something, we've set our hearts upon it and it didn't materialize, it didn't work out.
And when we got it all, it was such a disappointment. Hasn't it been so? Hasn't it happened over and over again? Life is just like that. Life is just like that down here. God intends it should be so. He says this is not your rest. It is polluted. But what I'm telling you about these words are true and faithful. There's no disappointment there, dear young people. There's no disappointment.
That's our home.
That's where we belong. We're passing through this world and we are just here in it, but not of it. Only the Lord deliver us from its glitter and from its tinsel.
And then this sixth verse. And he said unto me, It is done. I am alpha and almegether, beginning and the end I will give unto him, That is the thirst of the fountain, of the water of life.
Freely, He that overcometh shall inherit all things all. Dear young people, I just feel that words fail when I read a verse like this. Are you a thirst? Can you honestly say, up to this moment your life has been all that you expect it to be? That it's been it's been purely satisfaction, and that all that you dreamed has really come to be what you expected when you were a little bit younger?
When you were just about 13, you thought oh to be 16 will be 1.
Beautiful. When you became 16, you thought to be 20. Oh, that would be wonderful. And you find as you get on in life, the world is not what you expected it to be. It's a disappointment. Yes, there's a thirst in your heart right now. There's a thirst.
And the Lord Jesus says that he'll not only give you a drink, but he'll give you the fountain.
He'll give you the fountain.
You know, there's a fountain down the hall there. We can't carry it in our pockets. We can go there and get a drink, but I'm thirsty right now. But I can't carry it in my pocket.
My dear friends, dear young people, when you have Christ, you've got the fountain in here.
You've got the fountain in here. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
And it's not just partly for you. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. All things. Isn't this grand? God's not a partial giver. He's a large hearted giver. And he says it's all for you. I've prepared it for you. My heart won't be satisfied till you're there and can enjoy it fully. Satan says just a minute, just a minute. This world is a pretty grand place. Don't miss this. Don't miss that.
All dear young people.
May the Lord Jesus be more precious to our hearts. May that city that's above be compared in our minds with the cities through which we pass here. They live by. They'll disappoint in every one of them their sorrow and crying and pain. May the Lord Jesus give us not only to know that that future awaits us, but may He give us to have and enjoy the fountain in our hearts right now.
Right now, and I say if we do, the world will seem an empty place and the world that looks on will say all those people have something that we don't have. May the Lord grant that our hearts will be set on bright.
A Faithful Saying
The Christian Asleep or Awake
Where art Thou
The Life of Samson
More than These
Gospel
Gospel—G.H. Hayhoe
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Now while Paul waited for them at Athens, his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. Therefore disputed he in the synagogue with the Jews and with the devout persons, and in the market daily with them that met with him. Then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him.
And some said, what will this babbler say? Others some.
He seemeth to be a center forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection, and they took him, and brought him unto Areopagus, saying, May we know what this new doctrine were of thou speakest is, or thou bringest certain strange things to our ears. We would know therefore, what these things mean, for all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time, and nothing else.
But either to tell or to hear some new thing.
Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars Hill, and said, He, Men of Athens, I foresee that in all things ye are too superstitious. For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription To the unknown God, whom therefore ye ignorantly worship him, declare I unto you God that made the world.
And all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples.
Made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing He giveth to all life and breath, and all things, And hath made of one blood all nations of man, for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation, that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him and find Him, though He be not far from every.
One of us, for in him we live and move and have our being.
As certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone Raven, by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at. But now commandeth all men everywhere to repent.
Because he hath appointed a day in the which he will judge the.
World in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men him that he hath raised him from the dead. And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked, and others said, We will hear thee again of this matter. So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain men clave unto him and believe.
Among the which was Dionysius the Areopagite and a woman named Amarus.
And others with them.
Well, in this remarkable visit that Paul had to Athens, we have him speaking to the people concerned about their spiritual welfare. I suppose if you or I had been visiting ancient Athens, we would have been specially curious to see all the sights that were to be seen in the city. But Paul's great burden as he went from place to place was not just to see the curious sights, but for the souls of man.
Him, because he realized that every person whom he met, every man, woman and child, had a soul that was going to live on and on and on forever. And his great burden, whether it was among the Jews who had the Scriptures, or whether it was among the heathen who did not have the Scriptures, was that they might be prepared to meet God, that they might be ready for that solemn moment when life here comes to an end and when you must.
And they must stand before God. And so as he had a little time to spend in the city of Athens.
Instead of doing a lot of sightseeing, we find him going about talking to individuals, speaking to them about their soul. And it tells us here his spirit was stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idolatry. And dear friends, it makes one think of the world in which we Live Today. It seems to me that the world is wholly given to idolatry.
That is men and women.
While they're not making idols, perhaps of the same character as they did in those ancient lands, they are occupied with the works of their own hands, their idol worshippers. And every exhibition, every world exhibition, is but a display of what man has accomplished. And man almost falls down and worships the accomplishments of his own hands.
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Well, Paul's spirit was stirred in him.
And one spirit is stirred in him as he goes about in these great cities and sees brand new buildings being put up everywhere, find new roads and freeways, the face of the map almost changing with all man's advancement. But as far as the things of God are concerned, man is getting farther and farther from the true knowledge of God.
He is still erecting the same altar to.
To the unknown God, he doesn't know the one in whom he lives and moves and has his being. And if you're not saved tonight, it's because you don't know him. And Satan has succeeded in keeping you in darkness and ignorance as to what it is to have to do with God. He has succeeded in keeping you in ignorance of the true knowledge of God and we find today.
That man.
Have a God of their own imagination. They will not have the God of the Bible. But dear friends, the God of the Bible is the true God, and he is the one with whom you're going to have to do. You can make gods of your own imagination, just as the heathen did, and you can worship gods of your own imagination. But when you leave this world, you will not have to meet the God of your imagination. You will have to meet the God of the Bible.
You'll have to meet the one who has made himself known in this book, and it's with him that you have to do. It's with him that you have to give an account. And his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the one who came down into this world, whom this world nailed to a cross, you're going to look into the face of the Lord Jesus. Men put him on a cross and buried him, but he's a risen Savior.
He's glorified at God's right hand.
And it stirs one's heart to see all the advancement of man, and all his education is only leading him farther away from God, plunging him Into Darkness and ignorance as to the true knowledge of God.
And so is Paul was in this city. His burden was for the souls of these men. And it says he disputed in the synagogues with the Jews. Yes, there were religious people there, there were Jews, there were ones who professed to have the scriptures, who had the Old Testament scriptures, and I should say and profess to believe them.
But alas, they had been guilty of rejecting the Lord Jesus. And we find many people who take the Bible only pick out of it the parts that they like. They pick out the parts that please them. And so people will say, Oh well, all Christians believe the Bible. Yes, they believe the parts that they like. But dear friends, we preach the whole word of God.
And this precious book that I hold in my hand.
Is God's word, and it says the word of our God shall stand forever. It says heaven and earth shall pass away, but my word shall not pass away. And when people undertake to judge God's word, they're making themselves superior to God himself. If you gave me a book and said, now will you look over this book and tell me what you think of it?
You're expecting that I have a superior judgment to the writer of the book.
And so I can pass judgment on the book because I know more than the writer. And when you take the Bible and undertake to pass judgment on this book, you're taking a superior place to it. And this is very solemn and serious, friend, because you're not superior to it, nor am I. It's God's word, it's a revelation from him. And you're going to have to answer to God for how you treat this book and how you treat its message. And so.
Paul went into the synagogue and talked to these devout people. He disputed with them. Why did he dispute with them? Because they had rejected part of the Scripture. They had rejected those scriptures that spoke about the Lord Jesus coming in humiliation, and they had fulfilled the very scriptures that they denied in crucifying Him and condemning Him.
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It's amazing how people can actually.
Fulfill the scripture without knowing it. It tells us in the 13th chapter of Acts.
That the rulers of Israel, though they knew it not, they fulfilled the scriptures in condemning Christ, and when they had done all that was written of Him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a sepulchre. Isn't that all solemn? Doesn't it show how blind man is? That he would actually fulfill the scriptures and not know he was doing it? And then?
When they had got rid of Christ, why they laid him in a separate.
Oh, what a solemn thing were these Were these infidels and atheists? No, friends. They were religious people. Religious people. You can have religion without Christ. You may be religious here tonight, but have you got Christ? Have you received him as your savior? Religion won't save you. The world was full of religion before the Lord Jesus came. The world's full of religion today.
There are grander and better churches being built throughout the land. And the rabbit.
But this doesn't mean that people are turning to the true God. They're just erecting altars to the unknown God. There's still an ignorance of him, of his character, and they reject the revelation that God has given to him, to us through his precious word. Well, as Paul went about and talked with these people in the synagogue.
And in the market daily with those that met with him.
It says then certain philosophers of the Epicureans and of the Stoics encountered him. Notice he first was in contact with the religious people who had the scriptures, who ought to have known, but they they had rejected the Lord Jesus, and now he comes in contact with the philosophers. Well, in all there are great many philosophers in the world today.
And these philosophies?
Philosophies of ancient grace are quite well accepted even today. These two philosophies, I suppose, would represent a good part of the thoughts of man in general. The upper Korean philosophy was somewhat to the idea that whatever makes you happy and whatever seems to.
Give you pleasure must be right, and a Stoic philosophy is.
Well, what's got to be has got to be. And in my, in my encounters with people, I find that they're pretty well divided into the three classes. The religious people, the people that say anything for pleasure and happiness, and then the people who say, well, you can't change things. Whatever way they're going to go, that's the way they go. And so you might as well be resigned to it. They're Stoics.
Where the ancient philosophies of Greece and here they encountered Paul and perhaps there's someone here like that tonight. And you're satisfied with your own philosophy of life. You have formed it yourself. And you say, well, I've thought it out pretty well and I think this is the best solution to the problem of life.
My dear friend, have you shut out God? Have you shut out the revelation?
That God has given. Are you closing your ear to what God has made known to you because the Bible says can't stop by searching Find out God. Canst thou find out the Almighty to perfection man's mind cannot find out God. God must reveal himself. God must reveal himself.
And this is what God has done. He has revealed himself in His.
His word and it's not my mind feeling after God and finally finding the true knowledge of God that way. No man has ever done, has never has ever been able to find him in that way because it says after that in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew not God.
You can't find no God by human wisdom, but God has made himself known.
He's given his word. This precious book reveals God to you as a God of light and a God of love, a God who hates sin, a God who must punish sin, but a God who loves the Sinner, loves him with such a great love that he sent his only begotten Son to die on Calvary's cross to meet all his claims in life and.
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Flow and to allow to flow out His heart of love to poor sinners like you and like me.
And so have these Epicureans and these Stoics. They encountered Paul, and it says they said, what will this babbler say? And perhaps that's what you think of someone who is, as you might say, simple enough to believe the Bible, Dear friends, if that's what you want to call it. I am simple enough to believe the Bible because I'm willing to accept light from someone who knows more than any mortal man.
God.
Has spoken.
God has spoken and if you will never accept anything from anyone who knows more than yourself, I'm sorry for you. All you say, but who knows more than the wise men of this world? God does.
God does and God speaks to you through his word. It says all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
And it says the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And this book says thus saith the Lord, it's God's word to man. God addresses himself to man. And so here when Paul was taken by these people, they said, what will this babbler say?
Others he seemed to be a sitter for.
Forth of strange gods, because he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection. So they took him, and brought him down to this great court place that they had.
Great Court Heather was cut out in Rome, in Athens rather.
Where it tells us.
That the 21St verse all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. Doesn't This might remind you of the day in which we live. They spent their time and nothing else but either to tell or to hear some new thing. There was a time when things were accepted.
From the past.
But today we're living in a time when people want everything new, everything new. They don't want the old foundations. Well, you say we're living in a changing time. Yes, man is changing, but the Lord says I am the Lord.
I change not.
I am the Lord.
I change not.
Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. Why does man change? Well, he finds improvements, or at least he thinks they're improvements at least, and so he adopts them. But God doesn't need to change. God has given us these things in his Word.
In almost 2000 years ago, this precious book was finished. It was written over a period of about 1500 years and the last part of it written in the 1900 to 2000 years ago. And God hasn't had to change it. He hasn't had to alter it. Why? Because it's the truth and the truth doesn't need to be changed. And so this precious book stands and will stand forever.
Forever, O Lord.
Thy word is settled in heaven. But these men in Mars Hill, they spent their time and nothing else but to tell or to hear some new things. And I say, isn't it like the world today why they can't get out new school books fast enough?
Man's knowledge is increasing so rapidly as the Scripture said it would. In the last days it says many shall run to and fro, and now.
Shall be increased and men are getting more knowledge as to this world.
And they're running to and fro. There's more travel than there ever was. And people are finding out what's going on in other parts of the world. And so here we find that these people were like the people of our day. They wanted something new. They wanted something startling. And so here was an opportunity for this man. Paul had come to their city, and they brought him up to Mars Hill.
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The Quarterbury Ophthalmus and A.
Said May we?
May we know what this new doctrine will of thou speakest is?
Colin Paul stood up in the midst of Mars Hill. Did he undertake to meet these men on the basis of reasoning with them? No, dear friends. He met them on the fact that he was telling them something that all their wisdom could never discover. Well, this is important. He met them showing that he had something to tell which all their wisdom could not discover.
For he tells them God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth. Wasn't that a very simple statement?
Why millions of dollars have been spent in trying to find out how this universe came into being. Millions of dollars.
Vast amounts of time have been spent by the cleverest people in this world trying to find out how this world came about. Does Paul start and discuss these various ideas? No, he simply tells them God that made the world and all things therein. Yes, God that made the world.
And all things are in. And then it says seeing he giveth to all life.
And well than all things, my dear friends, I don't make any apologies for the truth of God tonight. I don't start talking to you and reasoning about your idea about how this world began online, because neither my idea or yours are of any account when God speaks.
And God has told us, He has said that God that made the world and all things therein, and it says that He giveth to all life and birth and all things. This is very solemn. This is something I say, and that is a revelation from God.
God has told us how this world came into being.
And he told them something else too. He said that we are God's offspring. Now this is not true of any of the lower creation. The lower creations are never spoken of as being the offspring of God. God created them and he gave them life. But he says the first man, Adam, was made a living soul.
And he tells us how Adam received his.
Life in a different way from the whole or creation. It says that God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul. A living soul yes, this is how man received his life and that's why man is responsible to God. The Lord creation has no God conscious part to their being the.
Animal creation, the bird creation, the fish creation hasn't any God conscious part to their being. What you do, you do. You may try to drive it out of your mind. You may be fool enough to say there's no God, you're even you're a teacher at school maybe telling you that all kinds of things about the Bible not being true and so on.
But dear friends, underneath it all, in the mind of your teacher and in your.
Is something that God has prepared and that is a God conscious part. And you know that you must answer to God. I say you may try to drive it away, you may try to drown the voice of conscience, you may try to run away from God like Adam and Eve hid from God in the trees of the garden.
You notice the animals didn't try to hide from God. Was Adam and Eve that did. Adam and Eve did. Why? Because they had a conscience through the fall and they found out that they were guilty before God through their conscience as well as when God spoke to them. And so here we find that Paul speaks to these people.
00:25:00
And tells them that God made the world.
That he gave to all life and brought in all things and that we are the offspring of God. And I want to impress this on you because we're living in days when these things are being denied. You might say, well, you're not talking to the young ones here, You're not talking to the children. Yes, I know, I'm fully aware that even the children in the school are.
Being brought to question God's word, they're being brought to question the fact, so that they are anything more than an exalted. 8 But dear friend, I want to tell you that Adam was the first man, and that you received your life in a different way, and God addresses you as one of his.
Responsible creatures. And he has a message for you tonight because.
Because you must answer to Him, Every one of us must give account of himself to God. Well, when Satan couldn't take away from man that part of his being that made him know that there was a God, you know what he did?
He tried to bring into his mind false notions and false ideas of God. That's what he's done, and that's exactly how he introduced sin in the Garden of Eden.
He came to Eve and he said to her in effect, why God is not as good as you think He is, Eve. He is holding back the best thing in this garden from you. He has given you all these things to enjoy, but there's one thing He's held back that tree from you. The very best thing in the garden He's kept from you. And now if you'll listen to me and take of that tree.
You'll have what you want, you'll have the knowledge of good and evil, and you'll be as God.
Yes, Satan himself came and brought into their mind a perverted idea of God. A perverted idea of God.
That's what he's been doing ever since. He's been seeking to bring into man's mind a perverted idea of God. And the heathen, they, they made idols of wood and stone and brass and iron and other metals, and they fell down and worshiped them. But, you know, they realized that that idol in itself wasn't anything, but there was a power behind that.
That idol. And what was that power? It was the power of Satan.
It was the power of Satan, for it tells us in 1St Corinthians 10 the things which the Gentiles sacrifice. They sacrificed to devils and not to God.
And when they talk about the Great Spirit and those things, this is Satan who has given many false idea of God, and he has himself become the object of the worship of the heathen. Oh, what a solemn thing.
Man gets from God and you know, one of Satan's greatest victories in our day is to make people think that there isn't any devil.
That's one of Satan's greatest victories. Always say, I didn't know there was a personal devil. I thought it was just the bad in you. No, friends, it's not the bad in you because the devil tempted the Lord Jesus.
And if you tell me that the if you tell me that the devil is the bad in you, then you are saying that the Lord Jesus had bad in him. So then we have no savior. If you say that because the Lord Jesus was tempted of the devil and it wasn't a bad in him, because he was holy, harmless, undefiled, he was the blessed, eternal Son of God. No, dear friends, there is a devil, a real devil.
And he is the smartest, the cleverest of all.
Gods and creative intelligences, he's smarter than you and I.
Never try to argue with the with the devil in your own language. Always meet Satan by the scripture.
You know the Lord Jesus was more clever than Satan.
But when Satan came to tempt him, the Lord Jesus didn't argue with Satan. He said it is written. You say, well, I've got a good mind and I'm not afraid to take on any other person and argue with them and show them what I believe. Well, dear friend, I am. I am. The Lord Jesus didn't undertake to meet Satan.
00:30:14
In argument, he said every time, Satan.
With the temptation, he said, it is written, it is written. And I would beseech of you, don't try to meet these temptations by arguments of your own.
And if you try to meet them by arguments of your own, sooner or later you're going to meet somebody that's a little smarter than you and he's going to get you all mixed up. I want to warn you, young people, I want to warn you children, don't try to answer the infidelity of the day with your own arguments.
Answer it with the scripture.
Answer it with the scripture. It's your only weapon against the power of the enemy, because the enemy of your soul is behind this and he is trying to rob you. How the blessedness of knowing the God who so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have.
Everlasting.
And so when Paul spoke to them of these things, then he told them about this altar to the unknown God. And he said, whom you ignorantly worship him, declare I unto you. And dear friends, I want to declare him to you tonight. I want to declare him to you.
I want this, first of all, show you that it's not by your own reason, it's not by forming your own idea, it's not by having some philosophy of life, what you have to do with God who gave you your life and brought them all things that you have, and that one who's unknown to you, He's made himself known and it says God is light.
It says that the habitation of His throne is righteousness and judgment. And I want to tell you solemnly, dear friends, that God hates sin, that God must punish sin.
And that if you reject the Lord Jesus that you are going to meet a holy God about your sins and you are going to be sent to a lost eternity.
The lady said to a Christian man that I know well, she said I disagree with you when you say that there's a hell.
And this Christian man said, he said it's not me that you disagree with, it's God.
Dear friend, it's not me that you disagree with. It wasn't me that wrote here that the wicked shall be turned into hell and these shall go away into everlasting punishment. It's God that wrote that down for you just because he loves you that he warns you. But oh, there's more to it than that. God is light, but God is love. God is love.
And he loved you, He loved me.
As we sing often, God loved the world of sinners lost and ruined by the fall. Salvation full of the highest cost He offers free to all. What did it cost God to offer salvation to you and to me? Oh, He sent his own Son down from heaven and on Calvary's cross, the Lord Jesus.
Became the sin bearer and it says in the.
53rd chapter of Isaiah on the 6th verse. The fifth verse. But he was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. That precious Savior who came down, it says.
Who his own self bear our sins, and his own body on the tree.
And I want to tell you tonight about the God whom you don't know, the God who hates sin but loves the Sinner, the God who must punish sin, but punish sin upon the head of his own beloved Son, that he might offer salvation full and free to you and to me. And as one has often said, judgment is either ahead of you or behind you if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
You can look back to Calvary's cross and say all my sins were there and the debt was paid by my substitute and he said it is finished. Oh, isn't it grand to have a sure foundation, friends, reason won't give it to you. All the searchings of man won't give it. What simple faith in this precious word of God.
00:35:21
Will give peace to your soul. Would you like to have peace tonight?
Would you like to really know that you have the true knowledge of God and that you were ready to stand before Him? And not only ready, but as another said, He shall see his face with joy.
All for those of us who know the Lord, it's our greatest joy to know that we're going to look into the face of the Savior who died on Calvary's cross. We have no doubts about it. We rest upon the word of God. Oh, you say, I don't have faith like that. I don't have faith like that.
Dear friends, it's not a question of how how much faith you have, but whether your faith is in the right person.
Of course, if you're trusting in yourself, if you're trusting in your own mind, if you're trusting in your own feelings, why, I'm sure you don't have peace tonight, because that'll never give you peace. But when you rest upon the Word of God Himself, why then everything is sure.
Because God's Word can't change. What made an Israelite sure that when the destroyer passed through the land of Egypt that his house would be untouched? What made him sure?
God said When I see the blood, I will pass over you.
And I say again, it's not how much faith you have. Well, I want to ask you, who is your faith in?
Always say I've done the best I can. Well then I know your face in yourself. You've done the best you can, so you have a lot of faith in yourself.
Or you say I don't feel safe. Well then you must have faith in your feelings.
But if you have the word of God, you can say, well, I know I'm saved because God's word says.
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 to condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Isn't that wonderful? I've often said, I know there's no judgment for me, because the judge himself told me.
Isn't it wonderful to have something like that to?
Dear friends, what's the trouble today is that people have nothing. Sure, young people have no standard of morality. They have no standards for anything. Everything is being swept away. But when you have the Word of God, you have a standard. You have something to rest upon. You have the impregnable rock of God's precious Word and boys and girls.
You boys and girls who are going to school, take your stand tonight.
On God's Word and you'll know you're saved.
Take your stand on God's word. Just take some lovely verse like John 316 For God so loved the world, he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Or that verse I just quoted in John 5 and 24. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Yes, take your stand upon it tonight, and go and tell your father, your mother, why?
No, I'm saved, Daddy. I know I'm saved, mother, because I just believe what God.
God says, and if you live to be 90 years old, you'll never have anything better to rest on than God's word. You'll never have anything better. If you become the most brilliant mind in the whole of the United States, you'll never have anything better to rest on than God's precious Word. All take your stand upon it tonight, Paul said, whom you ignorantly worship.
Him declare I unto you, and I want to tell you tonight again I say.
About the God whom you don't know, if you're not saved, you don't know him. Because there's a lovely verse in the Psalms that says they that know thy name shall put their trust in vain.
They that know thy name shall put their trust in thee. He couldn't help but trust him if you knew him. If you only knew him tonight, why you couldn't help but trust him?
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Well, and he goes on and he says here and they.
30th verse and the times of this ignorance God winked at that means these heathen were not half as responsible as those of us who have heard the word of God. They did have a testimony from God through creation, but they're not as responsible as you and I who have the word of God. And so it says that God.
Now commandeth all men everywhere to repent. I call attention to this verse because sometimes people will say, well, you know, I'm not interested in religion. Some people are naturally inclined that way. And if you're interested in religion, that's all right, but I'm not interested. I'm more interested in other things.
Dear friends, is that the way you act when you get a tax paper?
You say, well, I'm not interested in tax papers. I just saw those kind of things in the basket and you get your call to the Army. Well, you know, I'm not interested in army calls. I just throw those things in the basket. There's going to be a reckoning day coming if you treat those things in that way. And you can say tonight, I'm not interested in the gospel, I'm not interested in religion, I'm not interested in the Bible and you can put it in the waste paper basket.
That the reckoning day is coming. The reckoning day is coming.
And God now commandeth all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed the day in the which you will judge the world in righteousness.
Judge the world in righteousness.
Yes, the day has been set.
The judge has been appointed and do you think all man's advancement and all man's space travel and all his research is going to hinder that day from coming?
I am not prepared to say how far God may allow man to go. Perhaps you'll let him reach the moon. I don't know. Perhaps you'll let him make some amazing discoveries in connection with medicine and other things. I'm not prepared to say God hasn't told us how far he's going to let man go, except to tell us that knowledge would be increased in the last days.
But one thing I do know is that the day has been appointed.
The judge has been chosen, and that before that day comes, he commands you to repent.
And what is it to repent?
Well, it's just to take your place before God is guilty. Have you ever done that?
Have you ever taken your place before God as guilty?
Or God demands that you do, because if you don't take it now, in the day of His grace, He'll convict you and you'll be found guilty in the day of judgment.
But if tonight you'll get down and say, Lord, I'm guilty, I'm guilty.
Why? He'll pardon your sin, He'll blot out those sins in the precious blood of Christ, and He'll give you everlasting life. He'll give you a home in heaven. All this will be yours if you'll only receive the Lord Jesus as your Savior. And you know why God commands you to repent.
Because he doesn't want to be your judge. He wants to be your savior. I spoke a little while ago about when you get the tax paper, throwing it in the basket. But supposing attached to that tax paper was a little stubborn. It said if you sign this and return it within 10 days, there will be no taxes to pay.
You'd be very foolish if you didn't do it, wouldn't you?
And if the day of reckoning came, it would not only be the fact that you were indifferent to the to the claim in connection with that debt, but it would also be that you were indifferent to the kindness that was willing to set you free from that debt altogether. And that's what God does, because I want to tell you this, that the moment you take your place as guilty before God.
God turns to be your justifier.
You know, it tells us about a man that went up into the temple to pray and he wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven, but he smote on his breast and he said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner.
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And they know what the Lord Jesus said, said that man went down to his house justified. He condemned himself.
The man beside him told God what a good man he was, but he wasn't like other people. He was much better than most people. But that man went down to his house condemned. He justified himself, but God condemned him. But the man who condemned himself?
He was justified. And tonight, if you will take your place as guilty, do you know what God will do? He'll justify you. Isn't that lovely? Isn't that grand?
Let me give you the verse.
We are known unto you men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all belief, are justified from all things.
From the which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Oh, why not take your places guilty before God tonight? You're going to take your place as guilty before him someday. And if you do it at the great White Throne, it'll be too late then. But if you do it tonight, the Savior God will meet you, His blood will cleanse you, and you'll go to your house.
Justified. Justified.
Well, it tells us in the end of the chapter here.
The three different attitudes of these people.
Notice the 32nd verse.
And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked.
Others said, we will hear thee again of this matter.
So Paul departed from among them. Howbeit certain man clave unto him, and believed among the which was Dionysius the Arophagite, and a woman named Damaris, and others with them.
Notice these three attitudes, some mocked.
Some said another time, Paul.
But there were a few of them that believed.
And now it may be that at the close of this meeting, there's some going to mock.
You can hardly wait till the meeting's over so you can have a good life and just forget all about it as you think.
Perhaps that's true. You can throw your tax paper in the in the place bearer basket. You can throw your army call the wastebara basket. But don't forget there's erecting day coming and you can laugh tonight and say it's all nonsense, but it's not going to change the fact that you're going to have to answer to God, friend. It's not going to change the fact, boys and girls, it's not going to change the fact.
And I don't know how soon. The reckoning day is coming. The Lord is coming.
And he might come tonight, and when he does, it says the master of the house will rise up and shut to the door.
So some of these men said, well, we'll listen to you some other time, Paul, we'll hear you again of this matter. But as far as we know, Paul never returned to Athens, and perhaps they never heard the gospel again. And you may not have another opportunity, but, oh, it closes this chapter with a glad and happy note.
There were some that clave unto him and believed.
Are you going to be in that class tonight?
Are you going to be in the class that will look up and say, Lord Jesus, I'm only a poor, guilty Sinner. I deserve thy righteous judgment. I deserve to be sent down to hell. But tonight I take thee as my Savior for you. Say, is it so simple as that? All the debt was paid by the Lord Jesus. It wasn't easy for him, but for you it's simple.
All you need to do is to accept what Christ has done. Oh, don't be.
Not as fine with anything less.
Than receiving that blessed Savior, look up and speak to Him from your heart and tell Him that you thank Him for sending His blessed Son to pay the debt of sin, that you might be saved. Receive Him.