Conference: 1967
Table of Contents
An Acceptable Offering
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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And the breasts and the right shoulder Aaron waved for a wave offering before the Lord, as Moses commanded. And Aaron lifted up his hand toward the people and blessed them, and came down from offering of the sin offering and the burnt offering and peace offerings. And Moses and Aaron went into the Tabernacle of the congregation, and came out and blessed the people. And the glory of the Lord appeared unto all the people.
And there came a fire out from before the Lord, and consumed.
Upon the altar, the burnt offering and the fat, which, when all the people saw, they shouted and fell on their faces.
Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put fire there in, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord, which he commanded them not, and there went out fire from the Lord, and devoured them, and they died before the Lord. Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified.
And Aaron held his peace.
And Moses called Mishael and Elzaphan the sons of Uzziah the uncle of Aaron, and said unto them, Come near, carry your brethren from before the sanctuary out of the camp. So they went near, and carried them in their coats out of the camp, as Moses had said. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eliezer, and unto Ithamar his sons. And cover not your heads, neither rend your clothes, lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people. But let your.
Better in the whole House of Israel beware the burning which the Lord hath kindled.
And you shall not go out from the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you. And they did according to the word of Moses. And the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine, nor strong drink thou, nor thy sons with thee, when ye go into the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die, shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy.
And between unclean and clean. And that you may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord hath spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar his sons that were left. Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar. It is most holy.
And ye shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy dew and thy Son's due.
Of the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire. For so I am commanded. And the wave breast and heaved shoulders shall he eat in a clean place, thou thy sons, and thy daughters with thee. For they be thy dew, and thy sons dew, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace. Offerings of the children of Israel. And the huge shoulder and the wave brass shall they bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat, to wave it for a wave offering before the Lord.
And it shall be thine, and thy sons with thee by a statute forever, as the Lord hath commanded.
And Moses diligently sought the goat of the sin offering, and behold, it was burnt. And he was angry with Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons of Aaron, which were left alive, saying, Wherefore have ye not eaten the sin offering in the holy place, seeing it is most holy, and God hath given it to you to bear the iniquity of the congregation, to make atonement for them before the Lord.
Behold, the blood of it was not brought in within the holy place. He should indeed have eaten it in the holy place as I commanded.
And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord, And such things have befallen me. And if I had eaten the sin offering today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord? And when Moses heard that, he was content.
Well, there's one principle that runs through the Scripture that is very precious to our souls when we get hold of it, and that is that God always shows His purpose before man is placed under responsibility, that his purpose is to bless, and his purpose is to bless in and through the work of Christ. And then when man fails under responsibility, God always comes in in blessing, because blessing is secured to us, not through our.
Works but through what Christ has done. So we find going back even before sin had entered, we find that God made a helpmeet for Adam, a beautiful picture of Christ taking a bride. And then after sin entered we see everything breaks down in the hands of man. But when we turn over to the end of the Bible, we see that God's purpose is fulfilled, and that the Lord Jesus, the second man and last Adam is seen there.
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With a bride associated with him, How could it be? Well, it's all through the work that was accomplished on the cross of Calvary.
And we see this principle continually. God brought the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt, sheltered under the blood. They were delivered from judgment. They were brought through the Red Sea. They were given food in the wilderness. The manna came down, the water flowed from the smitten rock, and Moses held up his hand the picture of the priesthood and advocacy of Christ. All this is brought before us before the people asked.
For the law at all and then when they asked for the law we know what happened they'd no sooner received it than they brought the first commandment they made a golden calf and they worshipped the golden calf. Well how could God bless a people like that well he had shown beforehand that is purpose to bless them was not going to be through their law keeping but through the through the blood that.
Sprinkled on the door and.
And how that He had shown too now that not only would they be sheltered, but that there would be 1 living for them in spite of their failure. And all this was beautifully brought before us before they ever were put under the law at all. And so when they did fail, then God instituted the sacrifices and the priesthood so that He could go on with that people in spite of all their failure.
Oh, it's a wonderful thing, brethren, to get hold of this.
Because we see what a wonderful book the Bible is. I often say the proof of the truth of the Bible is not found through science. It's not found through our ecology and what man can discover, It's all found within the pages of this blessed book. There's no book to be compared with it so wonderfully does it bear the stamp of divine inspiration from cover to cover and the only reason that.
Unsaved men can't see any beauty in it is because they're blind until their eyes have been opened to see beauty in the Lord Jesus, to see him as their Savior. The little hymn says. Blind unbelief is sure to her and scan God's page in vain. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. And so he has given us his Holy Spirit, that we might know the things that are freely given.
To us of God. And so we find this order again brought before us in the book of Leviticus. We find the various sacrifices brought before us. In the early part of Leviticus. There was the burnt offering and the meat offering and the peace offering and the sin offering and the trespass offering. These five offerings were pictures of the various aspects of the work of Christ.
Also perfectly set before us in those various.
Sacrifices, and this was before the failure of the priesthood at all, because God saw in the work of his beloved Son a fullness that was going to meet all the people's needs and all. How good it is for us to see this too wonderful to know that the work of Christ has fully glorified God, has fully met our need as sinners, and has brought us into a place where we can have fellowship.
And communion with God for the burnt offering brings before us what the work of Christ is to God, how he was glorified in it. And the meat offering or meal offering brings before us the perfect humanity of the Lord Jesus, the one who came down and was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death. And then there was the sin offering and the trespass offering, the sin offering bringing before us.
How God has met our need as to what we are in our natures and the trespass offering, what we are in our actions and these are brought before us in the trespass, the sin offering and the trespass offering. And then the one that comes between was the peace offering for seeing God has been glorified and our need has been met. God glorified in the first two and our need met in the last two.
Then God and the Sinner can be brought together and Saul.
There's peace. We have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and the peace offering is the one between. It could be called a communion offering because God was always seeking the blessing of man. God never needed to be reconciled, but man did. Man did. God needed to be glorified about the question of sin because He's holy. And our needs had to be met because God can't have sin in His presence. But they have been.
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That and how lovely that the Sinner who has learned the value of the work of Christ can now commune with God. He can. He can look up and call God his Father and have fellowship with God for the Word. Fellowship and communion are really the same in the original, and they mean common thoughts. Isn't it a grand thing that we who have gone so far from God can actually enter into?
His thoughts and have fellowship with him. Well, all this was fully outlined in the first part of Leviticus.
And how the priests were to sacrifice these things and feed upon them. And so you and I too can feed upon the work of Christ. And then in the 9th chapter, of which I read a few verses, we see the time brought before us when Israel as a nation will enter into the value of the work of Christ.
Because that's really what what is brought before us in the 9th chapter.
In the end of the 8th chapter.
Aaron and his sons were inside the Tabernacle, and in the 9th chapter we see them coming out and the glory of the Lord appearing to all the people. Well, our place now is inside the veil as worshippers. But there's a time coming when God is going to bring that guilty nation of Israel into rich blessing. They're going to learn the value of that work that was accomplished on the cross of Calvary.
And just as Moses went up and blessed the people, so blessing will come to the nation when they see the value of that sacrifice, that which they could never obtain through their own works, they're going to see is theirs through that sacrifice. What was it that was accomplished on the cross of Calvary? Well, all this is all beautifully brought before us in the opening part of the.
Book of Leviticus.
Here and then it tells us in the first verse of the 10th chapter. And Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took either of them his censer, and put farther in, and put incense thereon, and offered strange fire before the Lord which he commanded them not. Now God had already shown that his purpose was to bless them in and through that which figured the work of Christ.
But oh, how?
Side it is to see that as soon as they act in their own possession of responsibility, there's complete breakdown, there's failure. And so it is, if we looked at ourselves, we'd say, oh, what failures we are. How can we ever claim any blessing? Well, everything that has ever been committed to man and responsibility, he has always failed.
But God purposes and will carry out those purposes of blessing.
Founded upon the work of Christ. And just think that after the Lord had outlined to his people all about these sacrifices, and the way that he intended to bless them, then to think that they would try to approach him in some other way than that which He had provided. What was this strange fire? Well, in the 16th of Leviticus we find out that.
The fire was to be taken from.
The altar where the sacrifice was made and any other kind of fire was not acceptable to God. It was strange fire. Now the incense might smell the same. It wouldn't matter what kind of a light you put under, some insensitive smell. The same to you or I. No matter where the fire came from, all but to God there was an immense difference. It was strange fire. It didn't come from the altar. It didn't come from the.
Place where the sacrifice was made. And we can speak of this in two different ways. That is, first of all, if a Sinner attempts to approach God in any other way than through the work of Christ, the judgment will fall upon Him. Oh, how solemn this is. The very same fire that in the end of the 9th chapter had consumed the sacrifices and been the ground of Israel's blessing went out.
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And slew those who approached God with strange fire, with strange fire. Now you know there are many people in Christendom and they can sing well, and they build fine buildings and they pretend to go through the rituals of Christianity. But there has never been any dealing with God about their sins. They have never seen themselves as guilty, and they have not received the Lord Jesus Christ.
Savior, if you or I were listening to them sing, we might say, well, one can sing just as well as the other, but all there's an immense difference to God. Unless what we sing comes from our hearts and is the fruit of the fact that we have received Christ as our Savior and that we enjoy the knowledge of salvation through Him. It's strange fire before the Lord. It's not acceptable to Him.
Because only that worship.
That comes from the knowledge of Christ as Savior is acceptable worship. The Lord Jesus said when he was here. This people draws nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. Truly in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines, the commandments of man. And we find much of this, but isn't it something for us to carefully consider?
That the fire and the end of the 9th chapter consumed the sacrifice, but when they tried to approach God apart from the sacrifice, the fire consumed them. And I want to say if there's anyone here who's unsaved, unless you are resting upon the sacrifice of Christ, unless you see the judgment of God falling upon Christ as your substitute.
Then it will have to fall upon you. It will have to come upon you.
Because God is holy and God must punish sin, He never passes over sin. It tells us every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompense of reward. And the reason that we can rejoice in the forgiveness of sins is not because God has passed over our sins, it's because the fire that those sins deserved fell upon the sacrifice, the Lord Jesus.
Yes, the one.
Who was sacrificed for us, our blessed Savior, who it tells us in the 53rd of Isaiah was wounded for our transgressions, was bruised for our iniquities. The chastisement of our peace was upon him, and with his stripes we are healed. And so 1 is often said, judgment is either ahead of you or behind you. If you can say, well, the Lord Jesus bore the judgment for me.
Then there's no.
Judgment left because he exhausted it. Indeed, he was the only one who could exhaust it. He was the only one who could say it is finished. Never will an unsaved man in all eternity be able to say it's finished. And all the judgment that the Lord Jesus bore, he exhausted. But that which will fall upon the lost, they can't exhaust it. Only the Lord could do that. And what a solemn thing. That's why judgment is eternal, because the Lord Jesus is the only.
One who could exhaust the judgment, and he has for the believer. And we can sing in those lovely words. Death and judgment are behind us. Grace and glory are before all the billows roll. Lord Jesus, there they spent their utmost power. Well, it tells us here the Lord had commanded them not. That is, they ought to have known better.
But I say again, man breaks down under his responsibility.
And now is God going to bless this guilty people, their priesthood, the ones who were to approach to God? How could there be any blessing? Oh, how wonderful that God could now still bless the people in spite of their failure because he looked upon the sacrifice. He looked upon the sacrifice. And so I believe we learn a second lesson here, and that is.
In connection with God's governmental ways when man breaks.
Down and man has always broken down. The church has failed. Everything committed to man has failed. Yet God can go on in blessing because of the work of Christ. No blessing, of course, to those who refuse the work of Christ, but those who remained and who still went on with the sacrifices, why there was a way of blessing in spite of the fact that they had.
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Failed in connection with the priesthood.
And so in the third verse it says, Then Moses said unto Aaron, This is it that the Lord spake, saying, I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified. And Aaron held his peace. Well, I say, this is a this is a lesson for us who are the Lords too, and that is, that we should never.
Attempt to come before God with anything of ourselves. The only way that even we as Christians can offer acceptable sacrifice is to approach God on the ground of the work of Christ. And I think this is a little lesson for us too. We might get occupied with how well we could express ourselves. Perhaps a brother might say, well, I don't like to get on my feet and pray because I I don't think I can.
Express myself as well as some others. Well, it's what comes from the heart. It was where the fire came from that caused the savor to be sweet to God. And it says that it would be better to speak 5 words with one's understanding, and it would be better just to rise up and say a few words of Thanksgiving from the heart than to try.
And make everything sound well to everyone else. The important thing is.
Because that it comes from the heart, is produced in the heart by the Spirit of God. And so even in connection with those of us who know the Lord as our Savior, I believe this is a very important consideration for us, that our worship ought to be the overflow of our hearts in praise and Thanksgiving to the Lord for what He has done for us.
And so when we come into the Lord's.
Presence to thank him. Remember the words of the little hymn put it nicely. O Lord, we know it matters not how sweet the song may be, No heart, but of the spirit taught makes melody to Thee. And so isn't it lovely that we can. And this is true of even the youngest, even a boy or a girl who kneels down by his bedside.
And just thanks the Lord from his or her heart.
For what the Lord Jesus has done, that's acceptable to him. It may be more acceptable than an older person like myself, say, because when we get older, perhaps our minds wander into a lot of other things. But isn't it nice to know that the Lord sees where the fire came from, That is, if there is in our hearts an appreciation of the work of Christ and of what he has done.
All how sweet and acceptable it is to him.
Did it ever strike you that the person whom the Lord taught about worship was the poor sinful woman in the 4th of John? I have sometimes said that for him interviewing Nicodemus and the woman in the 4th chapter of John, the Woman of Samaria. I'm afraid that I would have been talking to Nicodemus about worship and talking to the woman about the necessity of new birth. But isn't striking that it's the.
The opposite. If there was a man who thought he was very good, he was a master of Israel. He needed to learn that he must be born again, because all lists that gave him position before men didn't make him acceptable before God. He needed a new life. But this woman who had learned to see in Christ that which met her need, that dear woman who saw that she was a Sinner in the presence of that blessed Savior, and received him, then she could.
Worship, and not because she knew so much, but because she knew Him, and her heart would overflow in Thanksgiving. And so the Lord Jesus said, the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship Him. So it shows us that a person doesn't need to be saved very long to be able to offer.
Acceptable sacrifice to the Lord because this.
Was taught to that poor sinful woman who had just, if one might speak in this way, had just received a drink of the water of life, and now it could well up in her, because she had learned that blessed One who had met her need.
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So it tells us here the Lord will be sanctified in those that come near to him. And this explains for the sake of the young, why we don't arrange to have an orchestra and a choir, because the only acceptable sacrifices, that which comes from the heart. And that's what the Lord values in Judaism. Why God did provide those things because man was being tested would find music.
What a nice building. What good singing.
Change the heart. God tested man in that way, but it didn't it doesn't change the heart. So now in Christianity, why what comes from the heart is acceptable, but I say in the types of the Old Testament we can see this point brought out because it's brought out here that the only incense that had an acceptable.
Reception before the Lord was that that came from the altar of burnt.
Offering. And so here it says, I will be sanctified in all them that come nigh, and before all the people will I be glorified. Well, I believe this should be a great lesson to each one of our hearts as to what acceptable worship is before the Lord.
And now we see on Aaron's part submission, it says an Aaron held his peace. I think this is a very important thing. You know, we're not allowed to have our own thoughts when God expresses his, because it says my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. And so when God has expressed his mind about a thing, it's our part to set aside our own reasoning.
In that connection it says.
Casting down reasonings and every high thought, but exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ. Now it may be all right to figure out the way you should do your job at the office. God has given U.S. intelligence and connection with these things, but we should never use our minds against divine revelation. We should never allow any in submission in our hearts. Did you ever notice?
First, Peter chapter 5, that it says, Casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. But the verse before says, Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, and is part of the same sentence that goes on casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. How can we cast our care upon the Lord?
Only as there is complete submission.
To His will. That's the only way that it's possible to cast our care upon the Lord. Many of us have cares. We're carrying those cares. We want to leave them with the Lord. But I think we often discover that it's because there isn't really submission. And here, what a sad thing for dear Aaron. He lost two of his boys so suddenly, and he didn't answer back to the Lord. There was perfect submission to the will of God.
Perfect submission. He recognized that As for God, his way is perfect. Well, brethren, we need to cultivate this habit. We're living in days when people let their minds go to work against God. We're living in days when children are taught from the very time they start school that you're to think everything out. Well, this may be fine in some things, but when God speaks.
Where to bow? Where to listen to what he says?
And were to bow to his will even the gospel. It says that the gospel is made known to all nations for the obedience of faith. What does that expression mean? That God requires the submission of my mind to His revelation, and of the way to the way of salvation He has provided?
So Aaron held his peace.
And it tells us here that the relatives.
It says these sons of Ozioli, uncle of Aaron, they came near and carried them out.
Very. This is a very searching thing too. So often you know there's trouble because.
We and perhaps relatives don't submit to the dealing hand of God, but it's important here to notice that Aaron submitted. He held his peace and his uncle and his sons, they had to bow to, They had to submit. Well, it's a great thing for us to learn this many troubles would be spared among God's people.
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If there would be submission to the will of God on our part and on the part of our relatives when God speaks. So here we find that these relatives of Aaron came and carried these ones out. There was submission to what God had done.
Now on the 6th verse. And Moses said unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar, and unto Ithamar, his sons, uncover not your heads neither.
We're not your heads, neither ran your claws, lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people. And let your brethren, the whole House of Israel, bewail the burning which the Lord hath kindled. And ye shall not go out from the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die, for the anointing oil of the Lord is upon you.
And they did, according to the word of Moses.
And here we find another thing brought before us. We see the brain together of two things. Here we find that there was a morning in connection with what had taken place. But we also see that there was a continuance in the service to which God had called Aaron and his sons. Well, I believe this is an important lesson for us too, because when God speaks.
It's very easy for us to let our hands hang down, isn't it? And say, well, I'm not going to do anything more.
And what's the use? And it's very easy for us to adopt that attitude. Indeed, it tells us in Hebrews chapter 12 where it speaks about chastisement and God's dealing ways. It says, lift up the hands that hang down on the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet. And so I'd like to say to myself and to anyone here, if the Lord has brought any trial upon us or upon our families.
Let us not and give up.
Going on for the Lord, serving him and following him, the Lord gives us a responsibility as well as a privilege to go on in faith and faithfulness. And so Aaron at this time might have been so discouraged. He might have said, well, I can't continue with this work. I've lost my two boys. But now the Lord said, go on, Aaron, go on and let your other two sons continue.
It was all right that they should mourn over what had taken.
Place in the camp of Israel and sympathy has its right place and is owned of God it isn't natural. It isn't it isn't scriptural to be without natural affection. We should feel things tears have their place. The Lord Jesus wept at the grave of Lazarus. But here we find that this is a solemn little word to Aaron and his sons to go on with their priestly service because.
It says here.
Lest ye die, and lest wrath come upon all the people. That is, if they gave up their priestly service, the Lord might take them away.
Paul said, woe is me if I preach not the gospel. He had been given a work to do, he was responsible to do it. And then too he would fail to be the blessing that God intended him to be to the others, for he was chosen and his sons to be the priest.
To approach to God all had a loss is often felt in some assemblies because someone gives up being a useful brother in the meeting. Well, I believe there's a little word here for us to continue. The Lord does allow trials to come into our assemblies, into our homes sometimes. May the Lord give us grace to go on in faith and faithfulness and seek to be a blessing.
To his people. And so this I believe is a very.
Sweet, lasting, and yet I saw one in connection with Aaron and the two sons that were left.
Then we find another thing here the Lord spake unto Aaron, saying, Do not drink wine, nor strong drink thou, nor thy sons with thee, when you go into the Tabernacle of the congregation, lest ye die, and shall be a statute forever throughout your generations, and that ye may put difference between holy and unholy, and between unclean and clean.
Well, I believe the bringing in of this thought here is.
One strong drink would be that which would excite nature. It would be the thing that would mar their keenness of judgment if they drank wine or strong drink. And you know, I believe there's a spiritual lesson for us too, and that is that when spiritual life declines, we like to bring in things that nature enjoys.
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Where there's.
Where there is spiritual power, the ministry is such that the hearts of the Saints are warmed and encouraged. Where that is lacking, then we want entertainment, we want something else. And so here we're told here that even though this failure had come, they were to continue in their priestly service and they were not to resort to something that was only a substitute. I believe we see this very solemnly all about us in Christendom.
We find that more and more music and entertainment is having a place in the Christian world. And why is it? Well, because the truth of God is gradually being lost. The power of the Holy Spirit is being lost, and it's being replaced with something else. It's being replaced with that which appeals to nature, which excites nature by all. May the Lord keep us, as gathered to his precious name, from bringing in those kind of things.
That only make an appeal to nature.
Here I say again, that which God values is the worship that comes from the heart. And if we see weakness and failure, and we do, and we're part of it as Aaron was, let us seek to go on. Let each one be exercised. And instead of saying, well, we'll have to introduce some other things to keep our young people together, let us each be exercised to act and live in such a way that Christ would be ministered, that souls would be.
To the Lord Jesus, and that each one of us would fulfill our place in the body of Christ as a helper, like joints and bands in the body, that there might be nourishment ministered to the members of the body as we have in Ephesians 4. The joints and the bands all had their part, not only the gifts in connection with the ministering of the nourishment to the body. And may the Lord give us each.
To feel and exercise our part in this, and notice what it says, that ye may put difference between holy and unholy.
As soon as we introduce these other things, discernment begins to go and we see the truth of God being given up. You ask people, well, why? Why do you go to such and such a a group of Christians? Well, you know, there's a nice group there and they're very active and there's all kinds of things that we enjoy. We've got a nice choir there and so on. All these things are brought in.
And you say, well, is the truth of God held there?
Can you take your Bible and this does what is given out measure up with the word of God. Oh well, they're an active group and they're doing a good work. All you see, they've lost the discernment between holly and unholy God would have us to hold the truth. It says hold fast that which thou hast. Let no man take thy crown, rather than it may mean that our numbers are small, but better to stand for the truth of God.
God with fewer numbers than to have large numbers who are only brought together by those things that appeal to nature instead of minister Christ to the heart. So here we find that the purpose for this was that they might but difference between unholy and holy and between unclean and clean and one feels it very much how we find the truth of God being given up and even groups that were once considered sound in the faith little.
A little. The truth of God is slipping through their fingers, but there's more entertainment than ever before. There's plenty going on, but the truth is slipping away. Oh, may the Lord give us to value it. It's precious to the Lord. The little remnant that came back from the captivity. They had golden and silver vessels to bring back, and they were weighed into their hands and they were weighed in again when they reached Jerusalem. May the Lord give us to walk in His truth and to.
Evaluate that ye may teach the children of Israel all the statutes which the Lord has spoken unto them by the hand of Moses. Not some we hear it said all the well, they have the truth of the gospel.
Yes, but it says all the statutes, not some, and God holds us responsible to maintain the whole truth of God. The Church of God, it tells us in First Timothy 3 is to be the pillar and ground of the truth. That is the Assembly of God is responsible to hold the whole deposit of truth that has been committed to us, not just some of it, but all of it. So they were to teach the children of Israel all.
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Which the Lord has spoken.
Now the 12TH verse. And Moses spake unto Aaron, and unto Eleazar and Ithamar his sons that were left. Take the meat offering that remaineth of the offerings of the Lord made by fire, and eat it without leaven beside the altar, for it is most holy, and you shall eat it in the holy place, because it is thy dew, and thy sons do of the sacrifices of the Lord made by fire.
For so I am commanded.
Well, I mentioned a few moments ago that they.
The meat offering is a figure to us of the Lord Jesus, perfect humanity. It's a picture to us of the Lord and His humanity and in His blessed pathway here through this world, even to the cross. Well, I believe the thought here in this brethren, is that they were to feed upon Christ, that is, they were to make Him.
In his blessed pathway, their example, and they were to eat it, it says without leaven beside the altar in the holy place, for it is most holy. I believe the point is that no matter how much failure comes in, God never lowers the standard God bears with failure.
We see that he had a purpose, but when man began to act.
Failure came in, weakness came in. Did God then lower the standard? Oh, not at all. When they came and asked the Lord about marriage when He was here, He took them right back to the very first marriage. He said, what was it? In the beginning He shows them that God made a certain plan, and that was the plan that He intended. Now he he may bear with many things because of human failure, but He does not lower the standard.
In the beginning of the church's history, Adam and Eve, I mean Ananias and Sapphira, they told a lie and they were smitten dead. God showed his mind as to what was becoming to his presence. And the first person that made a public sin was smitten dead. And now God bears with many, many failures in his people since that. But has his standard changed? Has he lowered the standard because.
Because we're living in 1966, not at all. Now all his standard remains the same. And it's a great thing not to make one another the example. Don't say, well, it must be all right because brother Psalm, so does it. And he's a godly person. Must be all right because that girl does it and she's a godly girl. Oh no, Christ is the example. Christ is the example. Let us make him our example. And so they were told.
To feed upon the meat offering without leaven, and they were to eat it in the holy place beside the altar. Well, may the Lord help us in these days. I believe if He leaves us here, we may see more breakdown, we may see more failure. But let us not lower the standard. God's standard is the same. We may have to bear with things, may have to bear with more things.
But let us remember where to feed upon Christ.
As the example, He is the 1. He is the true meat offering. In Him. Everything was in perfect evenness, that's why it was fine flour. Everything in Him was in perfect evenness, and then it was anointed with oil and mingled with oil. Everything the Lord Jesus did was by the power of the Spirit. Everything that He did was according to the mind of God.
There was the perfect one for us.
And now we find another very precious thing here in the 14th and 15th verses. And the wave breast and heave shoulders shall he eat in a clean place thou and thy sons, and thy daughters, for they be thy dew, and thy sons due, which are given out of the sacrifices of peace, offerings of the children of Israel.
And the heaved shoulder and the wave breast shall lay.
Bring with the offerings made by fire of the fat to wave it for a wave offering before the Lord. Well, I think this is very touching and precious, at least to my own heart. And that is that although failure had come in, although there was this sad instance, the smiting dead of Nadab and Abihu, isn't it nice that the Lord said to?
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Aaron, and to his sons and to his.
His daughters, that they could still feed upon the wave breast and the heaved shoulder. Well, the breast would speak to us of the affections of Christ. That's the heart, you know. And then the shoulders would speak of His strength.
And isn't it precious for us, even when weakness and failure comes in, that we can still feed upon Christ and not only themselves, but with their sons and their daughters? Oh, I think this is sweet. We're living in the last days, brethren. Everywhere we see the breakdown of all that's been committed to man. Breakdown of everything. Family, life, morals, everything. All is going to pieces.
How do we feed?
On Oh, it's easy to bring things into our homes that will feed us upon the breakdown of things. Always say we have to be acquainted with what's going on. And so we find ourselves feeding on this kind of thing. But isn't it lovely here? After all this, the Lord says, well, you can still feed on the wave breast and the heaved shoulder in a clean place. In a clean place.
All how needful is is I feel it for my own.
Heart. It's so easy in days like this to get occupied with evil. Everything you pick up, every newspaper, every magazine, everything you listen to, you see more and more of it. What are we feeding on? What are we feeding on? Are we feeding on the affections of Christ and the strength of Christ?
Is His love sufficient for an evil day? Is his strength enough to carry us through an evil day? Oh, how lovely this was.
And it was for the whole family, thy sons. And he even says, And thy daughters, thy daughters. Yes, it was sufficient for the whole family. Oh, may the Lord encourage the hearts of those who are parents to see here that there is that which can fill the heart and give the strength to go on for the Lord in these days. And then to the second.
Thing it says they were to wave them before the Lord.
They were to weigh these things before the Lord. Well, that that was what was done in the end of the 9th chapter before the failure came in. And now after the failure came in, it says you can wave it before the Lord. Well, in the end of the 9th chapter, as I remarked before, it's a little picture of what the Lord will do for His people in the coming day. Will His love and His strength carry the people through and bring them into blessing in the land?
Oh yes it will.
We can be sure that God's purposes are going to be fulfilled, and that the the affections of Christ and the love of Christ and the strength of Christ is going to carry His people into the blessing that He has purposed for them. Well, and after failure comes in, why, we can still turn to the Lord with confidence, as though we should say, well, Lord, we failed, but we know that thou art able to accomplish thy.
To carry thy people through. And how lovely this is. And so not only in the enjoyment that which we feed upon, but in speak, in bearing up his people before him. Isn't it lovely to have the confidence of this in our souls?
Saul, he says, they be thy dew and thy son's due. That is, Failure hadn't altered that, and failure doesn't alter his faithfulness.
He is, He is faithful, He's going to carry his people through and nothing will ever, ever alter those purposes of love on behalf of his people. And all what a day it will be when he has his own with him, and he shall see of the travail of his soul and.
Shall be satisfied. It says in Hebrews 2 That he is a captain of our salvation, bringing many sons to glory. Yes, he's going to bring his own through. He's going to bring them home.
Now just in the and in the end of the 15th verse. Notice.
Thy sons worthy by a statute forever, because more failure might come in after this and did you only have to read about the House of Eli to see what failure did come in. Well, it's as though the Lord said and there's nothing that's going to happen after that's going to change my heart of love and my power to carry my people through all had an encouragement.
To face the future with his confidence.
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Latter part here.
Tells us about how even Eleazar and Ithamar, the sons that were left alive, they hadn't fulfilled their responsibility and privilege in connection with heeding the sin offering in the holy place. This is quite instructive for us too, because here is our remarked we see.
Failure. Even after the failure of Nadav and Abihu, we have.
Failure here perhaps of a lesser sort, of a different kind. I believe it's a it was a lack of spiritual energy. It's something that is tremendously lacking in these days and that is eating the sin offering in the holy place was the fact that the priest identified himself with the sin of the people.
And acknowledged it as his own.
Before the Lord. Well, this is what is so lacking in these days. We look at the other person, all that person failed. That person is getting away from the Lord and how often we fail to identify ourselves with it. We don't, we don't, as it were, acknowledge our part in the breakdown and the failure that's come in.
We find a beautiful spirit with Daniel.
When he realized the condition of the people, he confessed their condition as though it were his own. And if you read in the book of Daniel, you find him weeping before the Lord, and he says we have sinned, we failed, we haven't responded. He acknowledged that as though it were his own. He identified himself with the people. Brethren, this is a spirit that we tend to lack. This is something.
That is.
So easy for us to forget that is to identify ourselves with the weakness and the failure as though we were part of it. And we are. I believe that if there was more of that spirit, there would be more blessing thought. It's so easy for us to look at others and to condemn them, and not to acknowledge our own part in it.
It just makes me think of a little incident I heard of a brother back in the east some years ago.
And someone had got away from the Lord and they had to deal with him, and he was put away from the Lord's table. And when he was an older brother got up and he said, brethren, I'd like to acknowledge my failure in this. He said, perhaps if I had been more considerate and visited this young man and tried to help him, this would never have happened. Well, I believe that was eating.
Offering in the holy place, it was identifying himself with this person in his failure. How often when we see another going astray, we we don't like to take the humble place and go and try and help that person. It's much easier to just say, well, they're getting away from the Lord. It's much easier than to go and try and help them identify ourselves, get on our knees and pray for them.
Well, here we find that Eleazar Nissan mar the two sons.
That were left. They failed to do this.
And so it tells us here that.
Moses spoke to them about it. It says he was angry with Eliezer and Itamar, the sons of Aaron, which were left.
And so in the 19th verse. And Aaron said unto Moses, Behold, this day have they offered their sin offering and their burnt offering before the Lord. And such things have befallen me. And if I had eaten a sin offering today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord? And when Moses heard that, he was content.
Well, as I said, we see here the failure in connection with the part of Eleazar and SMR and not identifying themselves with this failure, but Aaron speaks up on their behalf. Aaron in this case is a picture to us of the Lord. And isn't it precious to know that in spite of the fact that we do fail, that we have one who is living for us?
If the priesthood fails and may dab and abihu or smitten.
Said if the two sons that remained failed, there's one who's faithful, there's one who's faithful. And so it's beautiful to see here that Aaron speaks up and he identifies himself with this failure. He said they hadn't eaten it. But notice what Aaron says. As such things have befallen me. And if I had eaten a sin offering today, should it have been accepted in the sight of the Lord? How beautiful this is.
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And all, brethren, isn't it lovely?
We might get occupied with our failure, we might get down completely under it, but we have one who never fails. We have one who's living up on high for us. And in all our weakness and in all our shortcomings, we can come to Him. We can come to Him. For He not only bore our sins on the cross, but He's our advocate before the Father. And it tells us any man's sin. We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And so it says when.
Moses heard that he was content, and so isn't it lovely to know not that Moses was pleased. The Lord is never pleased with any failure in your life and mine, but He goes on with us in spite of it all, because there's one up there who never fails. There's one whose arms are always steady, who's up there before the Father on our behalf. And so in spite of all that we are, we can look to Him, we can count upon Him. But I believe that there are many precious.
In this chapter that we can lay the heart. But to my own heart at least, it's exceedingly precious to see that when when failure comes in, to find that we still have our portion in Christ. And that when we have to acknowledge, and we all do, how much we fail, that we can look away from every failing instrument to the one who is ever the same, the One.
Whose love remains? Whose strengths remains?
And who's up there on our behalf, and will be all through the journey? May our hearts, may our eyes be turned to Him. But may we be given grace, brethren, in these last days, to go on and not allow ourselves to be discouraged and turned aside by failure, but rather to each be exercised to occupy with Him and for Him.
Till he comes.
Cities of Refuge
Nature and the flesh
The Lord's Coming
Gospel
John 12:1
Living for the Lord
Life of Elijah
Revelation 3:14
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Revelation chapter 3, beginning at the 14th verse. The Angel of the Church of the Laodiceans rite. These things saith thee. Amen. The faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God.
I know thy.
And that thou art neither cold nor hot, I would thou art cold or hot.
So then, because thou art was warm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. Because thou slayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. I counsel ye to buy of me gold Cried in the fire that thou mayest be rich. And wait, raiment, that thou mayest be clothed.
And of the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eyes, Thad, that thou may have seen. As many as I love, I rebuke and chaste them. Jesus. Therefore in repentance, behold, I stand at the door and knock. If any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him, and will suffer with him, and he with me.
To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my in my.
Wrong, even as I also overcame, And I'm set down with my Father in his cross. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit left unto the churches.
I expect most of us are acquainted with the fact that we have in Revelation 2 and 37 assemblies in Asia Minor brought before us. These 7 assemblies actually existed. There was a state of things in each one that differed, and the Lord in the midst of the 7 golden candlesticks, looked at each one and passed His comments upon what pleased him and what displeased Him gave.
Special word of encouragement to the overcomer and each one, and called upon them to he that happened here, Let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
But I believe that we can say in general now there is a decline. I say in general because we do see that God has grabbed it through the church's history revivals at different times. And so these seven churches bring before us the history of the church in a prophetic way as a Candlestick in the earth during the Lord's absence.
And the character, things have been declined, but God in His goodness and in His faithfulness has granted revival, He has granted recovery at different times.
But when we come to the, we come to the last stage, we come to that part which perhaps we could say would characterize the last days in a special way. We feel this all about us. We feel it within our own hearts now that we're living in days of indifference to Christ.
Well, perhaps you might wonder why I read how this sad and dismal picture where the Church is so signally failed the Candlestick, but perhaps I could put it like this.
That a person's true character is known by the way he acts when everything is disappointing, when his love is unappreciated, when his feelings are hurt. The way a person acts under such circumstances, declare, shows up what is really designed. And this, to my heart, is exceedingly precious, that in this last phase of the Church's history, we see the Lord acting in such a way that he displays in such a perfect manner.
His feelings unchanged toward his own, in spite of their indifference to him, in spite of their coldness of heart, and in spite of their travel appraisal things, he looked upon them with love.
Perhaps you could answer in a little way to the book of Malachi and the Old Testament. Now there we find the last stage of Israel's history. The prophet Malachi was the very last one recording before the Lord Jesus himself came to Israel, came to this earth to be the Savior.
And what character things existed all what grieved the Lord's heart greatly. But how does he begin the message too of this assembly? Or he had been to this company addressed in Malachi says the burden of the word of the Lord by Malachi. I have loved you, saith the Lord. Isn't this touching? I have loved you, saith the Lord.
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They have departed, they grieved His heart, but his feelings toward them remain the same, and he fled with them. And also we find another characteristic which answers to what we have in the address to Laodicea, now that the Lord says in Malachi.
There may the fear the Lord spake often one to another. And the Lord hearkened and heard. I ask the Lord in the midst of this saw those whose hearts respond to His love, and He found His joy in them. The same state of things is brought before us here in this last church, Laodicea.
Another thing that I think is so touching that in the first one.
The Lord had to say to Ephesus, We will have been reading in our Bible readings through the past two days, the first epistle to Ephesus as it was mentioned now that high, that wonderful truth set before them. But in the second epistle, as it was mentioned in the letter to Ephesus in Revelation 2, the Lord felt it and he said.
Thou hast left thy first love.
But in this very last one to Laodicea, he shows that he had not left his first love. It's the only one of the whole 7, and perhaps the one where it would least have expected it, where he assures them that he loved them. He said as many as I love, I review can chase them. I am aware, of course, that he mentioned.
In.
In the Philadelphia that in the coming day He will manifest that He loved are the ones who kept His word and did not deny His name. But I'm Speaking of loving them in the condition which was so contrary to His heart and to His mind. And I say to these He speaks that word that would touch their hearts and that would constrain them. For it's the love of Christ that constraineth us.
Notice the way the Lord addresses himself to this assembly, he says.
These things saith the Amen.
The Amen this word means.
Let it be established well, how wonderful are all God's plans and purposes concerning His people, those precious things we had before us in Ephesians. Are all those counsels and purposes going to be carried out in spite of the Church's unfaithfulness? Yes, the Lord addresses himself to lay Odyssea as the Amen.
I ask their failure, a failure of the children of the church, is a Camelstein.
The earth is not going to frustrate the purposes of God, but the church is going to be presented without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. The Amen. How doesn't this refresh your heart?
Are you discouraged? Can you come from a little gathering? There's weakness, there's coldness. Here's the Lord speaking and he says these things, saith the Amen. Oh yes, all those counsels in connection with his people are all going to be established. And then it says the faithful and true witness.
Church had been anything but a faithful and true witness. The Church has failed to be that.
She was called to be that, but she hasn't been. And we have fought in this common failure. But who is speaking?
The one who is the faithful and true witness present, isn't it lovely to have our eyes upon Him, to know Him is the one whoever continues in the freshness of his first love and in the midst of ruin can address himself in this way and say the faithful and true witness?
Yes, feel up to Him, pay our eyes, return to that blessed one. He's going to be the center of the redeemed company in the coming days. And then the beginning of the creation of God. This is a verse misused by those who deny the deity of Christ.
In teaching that the Lord Jesus at a beginning, there's no such thought in this. And a new creation begins with a person, the first creation. The first man, Adam, was placed at the head of the creation, and he failed. Everything connected with the first man has ended in failure, whether it's in Israel's history or the church's history.
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Everything connected with the first man, I say has always been marked by.
But there's a new beginning. A new beginning, And who is it?
That blessed One who went into death, who rose triumphant over all the power of Satan and is now crowned. The glory and honor of that man is the head. The beginning of new creation. New creation that we feel discouraged as we look around and we feel this calmness creeping into our own hearts too often. Oh, isn't it lovely?
To know that God has a new beginning, He has one who is going to be the head of a new creation, scene of glory. And in addressing himself to this assembly, he addresses himself in this way. The one who will establish all things, the one who is the faithful and true witness where the Church has failed. The one who is the beginning of a new creation.
And if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.
Or the new translation reads, there is a new creation. All things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
And he says, I know thy works, I know thy works. Well, we find this in each one of the seven churches. To those who were departing from him, it was a word of warning.
To those who are going on with him and with the word of encouragement.
And how would it be to us rather than we can ask ourselves this question personally? I can ask myself, you can. Supposing the Lord came and stood before me and said, I know thy works, Would this give comfort to my heart? Perhaps I've been misunderstood by others. Would it be a comfort that he should say, align all thy works? I know what you've done, I know your desires. Would it be a comfort? Well, if we're seeking to go.
For him this is a great encouragement. It was to the dear Apostle Paul when all those in Asia had turned away from him. He said, I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day. He had committed this all life to him. He was seeking to live before him. And he said, It's all going to be manifested in that day.
But if there's coldness, if there's something we're hiding, if there's something that's not writing our.
Lives it makes us feel afraid that he should say I know thy works. I ask that made David afraid when the prophet pointed out to him that there were things hidden but not right in his life. And so here this word is a searching word and he had an encouraging word if we're seeking to please him.
Well, I suppose on, he says our leader, cold nor hot.
That is there with lukewarmness. There was not coldness. That is, perhaps it would be most easily expressed as in indifference. And I don't know of anything that hurts a person more than indifference. Yet. Rather a person says I don't like you, and I try to pretend in both ways. It just makes you feel so.
Uncomfortable. You just don't know where you're at, as people would say.
And the Lord feels that when there's indifference and there's indifference to Him, He would rather us acknowledge in His presence that are away from Him. The point of blessing is when we acknowledge our true condition. And so He didn't value for this lukewarmness. Nor may I say to each one of us here, let us be real in His presence. He knows whether our hearts desire to go on for Him or whether we're just putting on something.
For others, but it's not real. He sees that He doesn't want unreality. He wants us to be realized, say before Him, and to acknowledge our true condition. When the Sinner comes to this point and said by sin there's blessing for him. And when we come to the point where we acknowledge our true condition, our coldness, why that's the point where He comes to assure us.
That he loves us still. When did the Prodigal find out?
Really, what was in his father's heart?
When he acknowledged what he was, he said, Father, I have sinned against heaven before thee. Never before he realized the love that was in his Father's heart. Is it away his father couldn't, Shall I say he couldn't show any limit to the blessing? He said all up from the house belongs to this boy, this guilty boy. He's acknowledged his true condition. Bring forth the best role, put a ring in his hand, choosing his feet.
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Kill about his calf, no sin.
Yes, how the Father valued that reality, and so he didn't. He doesn't value here this coldness or this, shall I say, this lukewarmness. Now the 17th verse, Because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods, and have need of nothing, and knows not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind to make it.
Surely this answers to the materialistic days in which we live.
Have some increased with goods and I've need of nothing. Never before has there been, at least for many years, such a time of prosperity when within our reach, within the reach of our young people.
Is all kinds of things that we can have, material things, and we're in danger of getting occupied with these things and losing in our souls.
The Lord had heard this. Boss, I am rich and increased with goods, but this was hiding the real feelings within.
Rather than we have to confess it to in our grasp after these material things.
There is often within us an emptiness, something that we feel is unsatisfied.
And while they were saying, I am rich and increased with goods, who does the Lord remark? And no smoth, that thou art fretured and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked? Who, you say, How can it be a person doesn't know when he's wretched? Don't we know when you're wretched?
Some of us parents, some of us have had children, but we've seen him that there was something wrong. If you said you're not happy, they'd say, well, there's nothing wrong with me, There's nothing wrong that we knew underneath that they were wretched.
Added a lot. You fill with us all. You often put on a great appearance before others. We can make others think that we're getting along and that everything's all right. But all the Lord's sadness, You don't know that you're wretched. I think this is very lovely. He didn't say you know it, He said you don't know it.
Oh, the Lord loves till I say, to put down such things as sins of ignorance. When Israel had crucified their Messiah, he said, They know not what they do of the Gentile, He said, which none of the Princess of this world knew, for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. Brethren, isn't it often true with us that we don't really know what's the matter with us? We don't know. There's something like.
The wretched were miserable. We're poor. We look at our possessions, we look at the things that we have and we say there's still something mighty, there's still something lacking. The Lord knew what it was.
All these things, these possessions will not bring happiness. It's a person. It's Christ, it's that blessed lion who died for us on Calvary. And none of these material things or characteristic of this day can ever fill up.
Wretched, miserable, poor, blind, naked, all in condition. Don't we have to confess that this is true, That this is exactly descriptive of the very time? And I fear, brethren, we don't always know it. We don't know it. We don't realize it tells us about have Samson that he wished not.
That the Lord had departed from him, He thought he could act just.
Yet when he was an object of ridicule with his long hair, no, he thought he could act as if things were just the same as they had been before. But they weren't now. He had lost the secret of his strength. He had given up his hazard shift. He had given up bearing reproach for the Lord. And now he knew. Or at least he should. I should say he didn't realize what had happened until.
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The situation arose.
And he found that he had no strength. He had no strength. Well, the Lord says and knoweth not that thou art wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind and naked. Then he goes on, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich, and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed, that the shame of thy name must not appear.
And anoint thine eyes with thyself, that thou mayest see.
No, the Lord is wanting to bless them. He saw their condition and now he wanted to help them. He wanted to bless them and he said, I counsel thee to buy of me. Why is this word by you?
Cost something to go on to the Lord in days like this. May not cost in dollars and cents, but it's going to cost something.
Going to cost us having the time for the reading of the Word and the prayer. It's going to cost us time to get in His presence and have let Him search our hearts. It's going to cost us perhaps a little misunderstanding from even laws of love to seek to go on with hearts true to Him.
The please happen of the Lord, says I counsel aid the five of me gold frighten the fire that thou mayest be rich.
Tells us in Peter's epestle trial of your faith being much more precious than a gold, and perishes, though it can try to fire might be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
And oh, let us not, let us not.
Be grieved over the trials of the Lord sins, Little Song says.
Blessed is sorrow kind the storm.
Drives us nearer home, as though the Lord should say you were more rich when you were passing through trial, and you were enjoying my presence and my thing, than you are now when everything is coming your way.
Don't we often have to confess this? We we draw back from trial, We're living in a time, sometimes called a welfare state, where everything seems to be taken care of. Don't have to worry about.
Anything you can plan and you can have protection and pensions and insurance and everything so you can just look in the future, say, well, everything's taken care of. Yes, you can just kind of rest back and say I don't need to worry about trial, it's all taken care of.
Sometimes they try all the blessings.
Sometimes the Lord sends them that we might have this goal tried in the fire and be truly rich. Often these things have proved a real blessing in our lives and in our soul.
And he says.
White, Raymond, that thou mayest be clothed, and if the shame of thy nakedness do not appear here we have that practical righteousness.
And I believe gold is divine righteousness. And the white raiment would answer in the Scripture that we have in Revelation chapter 19, the fine leaven is the righteousness of Saints. It's a practical righteousness.
And if we don't have this for them, the shame of our nakedness appears. That is, it shows.
Circumstances arise that show that there isn't a practical going on with God in our lives. And then it goes on to say, and anoint thine eyes with eyes to have, that thou mayest see the glitter of present things keeps us from seeing our real fortune.
Yes, the Lord wants to sit before us. What is our real portion? Is it here? Oh, it's in itself. It's above. It's up there for Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. Oh, I think this is very sweet. The Lord felt the condition of Satan and Laodicea, and He writes to them because He loves them. He writes to them and tells them as all He should say. We don't know what's the matter, but I see what's the matter. I'm telling you.
Ally providing for you.
Oh Lord wants to bless us, His heart is full of richest blessing for us, and so he would have us to have our eyes anointed that we may see as many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore and repent. It's in love He speaks this now the 20th verse.
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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 suffer him, and he with me. I believe here we might say that in the collective state of things that is described in Laodicea, the Lord is looked upon as thee on the outside, but it serves His knocking, and we can.
Have individual communion with him.
We can go on, no matter how dark and difficult the day, no matter how much weakness comes in rather than I feel it's so important that we should call this individual communion with God. I feel it as one travels about it. I might mention my own personal feeling. What is needed is.
Our individuals who seek to go on in communion with the Lord.
And can be a help to their brethren in the condition of things that exist. Often we're concerned. We say there's a sad state in our assembly. There's a sad state in that assembly. But you and I can have personal individual communion with the Lord. And if so, we can be a blessing in the midst of his own. I've quite often mentioned, and I believe it bears repeating.
This remark that I think has been some help to me through my whole Christian life since I read it. That is, Christianity is known by what it brings and not by what it finds.
Wherever we go, I love life. If you personally are enjoying the Lord Jesus, you can be a blessing among the young people, you can be a blessing among the Saints, you can be a help. All you say, all the state of things is sad. It's law. Never was it any worse than that described here in Laodicea. But I say again, a person's character comes out when there's frustration, when there's disappointment.
When his his love and feelings are not appreciated. While the Lord himself the condition of things here. His heart was grieved. He felt that there wasn't a response to his love, but he said I haven't given up my love toward you and I want to hold personal communion with you. I want you to enjoy this as your portion and so he stands at the door of the box.
You know, he says, any man hear my voice and open the door. Brethren, this verse is often used in inviting sinners, and I think it's lovely to use it in that way, but it's not the real meaning of it. The real meaning is the Lord addressing himself to an individual who is not locking in personal communion. And the Lord is saying.
I want to have communion with you.
Or are we enjoying this? Can we say that in our own personal life as we go on from day-to-day, now that we know what it is to sit down with the Lord and be with us and hold personal communion with Him?
Never needs to be competitive, not even in the darkest day. Our brother just read to us of the Lord Jesus there in the Garden of Gethsemane, with all the horrors of the cross pressing upon him. He said all. My God, there was that communion with His Father. The only time that was ever broken was when he was bearing sin in those hours of darkness.
And there he says, My God, for his Baptist taken. But when he is there with all that awful burden before him, he says, Oh my heart, oh, how precious, brethren, may we desire this.
We needed it in his last days.
Which feel the coldness and indifference, we feel it creepy into our own hearts. But I believe if we gain one thing from these meetings, and that is to go on with having personal communion with the Lord, our lives can be a blessing. I think it was brought before us this afternoon by our brother in connection with Gideon. There was a sad state of things in Israel, but there was one man.
And he valued the precious wheat. And he was thrashing.
By the winepress. And the Lord said to him that he would deliver Israel by his hand. He would deliver Israel by his hand. So let us think of these precious things as though the Lord were knocking at your heart and mind this afternoon saying, I want to sit down and have communion with you. I will suffer him.
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And he is with me.
All, let us seek this, let it be the sweetest and most wonderful portion of our life. In these days of materialism, in these days of indifference, may we value this precious, this wonderful privilege. And then it says to him that overcometh. Will I grant this it with me in my throne, even as I also overcame and am sat down with my father in his soul all the forever a darker day in his room.
History than when the Lord Jesus walked here, and they all rose against him and fed away with Him, away with him, that he overcome.
Yes, his love was strong in death. Many waters couldn't quench love. He went to the cross and as they gathered around them with their ears, he said, Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. They still want to bless them. And he went into death, but the blessing might be secured. What a savior. This is your savior of mine. And now he says, I overcame.
Don't be discouraged, you can overcome.
You can overcome.
Its value, the hymn that is of thirst, will I give the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. Oh, may the Lord grant that we may not be overcome by the state of things, but in communion with the Lord, by the enjoyment of His presence. Personally we may have grace to be above.
The circumstances, the conditions.
Or creeping in on every hand so that we might be overcomers for His glory and that our lives might be a blessing to others from our brethren. Until that blessed time when we come into His presence and see how wonderfully He overcame, and He overcame for us, the blessing might be secured to us. May He keep us then, and may this little message given to the Assembly.
See ya, He brought home to our own heart, so that we might go on in these closing days of the Church's history for His glory and praise.
Salvation
The Flesh Profiteth Nothing
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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40th chapter of Isaiah comforts my people, saith your God.
Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand double s for all her sins the voice of Him that crieth in the wilderness. Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be.
Made straight, and the rough place is plain, and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it. The voice said, cry, and he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field. The grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it.
Surely the people is grass, the grass withereth, the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever.
O Zion, that bring us good tidings, get thee up into the high mountain. O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings, lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up, be not afraid. Say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God, behold the Lord God will come with a strong hand, and his arm shall rule for.
Him he hold, his reward is with him and his work before him. He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead as those that are with young.
Now on the last part of the chapter in the 28th verse.
Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the end of the earth, fainteth not, Neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding. He give us power to the faint, and to them that have no might He increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall.
Up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint.
The first verse that our brother read to us was in the end of the 16th chapter of Matthew where it tells us that the Lord Jesus said there be some standing here that shall not taste of death till they see the Kingdom of God coming in power. And that is the Lord had just told his disciples how he was going to be rejected.
And now what would prepare them and enable them to go on in this time?
Time of following him in his rejection. Well, it was just what our brother brought before us. It was a vision of the glory that was coming. And Brad and I was thinking of this in connection with ourselves. Our brother has been bringing before us that glorious time, and our hearts have been stirred and refreshed as we have thought of the time when the Lord Jesus has his rightful place.
When everyone acknowledges him as the center of the whole coming scene of glory.
And our hearts rejoice, I say, But we're in the period now of his rejection. And what is going to sustain us as we go through this period?
What we notice here in the 40th of Isaiah, it says, Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God, Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her that our warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received of the Lord's hand.
Double for all her sin.
Well, you know, if we didn't understand the ways of God, this would be a difficult passage for us to understand. What was very comforting and knowing that they had received of the Lord's hand double. Was this a very comforting thought? Well, I believe it brings before us something very important for each of our souls. And what is that?
That the most important lesson for us to learn is that all flashes of grass, that the flesh profiteth nothing. Someone asked dear Mr. Darby how he could study the Word of God. He'd like to have a knowledge of it like Mr. Darby did. So he asked Mr. Darby for a little advice.
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And He said study well. 4 words. The flesh profiteth nothing, the flesh profiteth nothing. Well, is it a comfort to find this out? Brethren, it takes us a lifetime to learn it. And God has to pass us through so many things because we're so slow to learn that lesson over and over again. He has to pass us through things.
We're so willful. We're so sure.
That there's something good in the flesh, that there's going to be something accomplished by man's efforts or by our own in the flesh. And so we get all taken up with what's going to be done by man's efforts. And what does it end in? It ends in disappointment. And the Lord has to pass it through so many things. I speak of it for myself. We can be confident about how we can even do the things of God. We can think, Oh well, I can.
Handle this little service for the Lord. I can handle the bringing up of my family. I can handle such and such things. And what does the Lord have to pass us through? He has to show us that we can't do anything of ourselves. He has to reward us for that self will by passing us through things where we learn that we can't do anything of ourselves.
And so when we've learned it, our hearts are comforted.
Because we rely only upon him. Oh, it's a blessed thing when he brings us. Is he going to bring his people, Israel to that .0 Yeah.
You remember when the law was given, how confident they were, and they said all that the Lord has spoken we will do and be obedient. Were they able to keep the law? They miserably failed as we know.
They were unable to keep the law. Now we see them gathered back in their land. Are they confident that they're going to establish themselves in prosperity in their land? All full of confidence. The press is full of what they're going to do. They're just overjoyed and gloated with their victory. Then in six days, they got back the Old Town of Jerusalem and much other territory.
But they're going to have to acknowledge someday, they're going to have to say.
We have not wrought any deliverance in the earth. Who is going to do it? The Lord is going to do it. He's going to come in. But oh, what they're going to have to pass through before they come to the point where they bow in the presence of that blessed Savior and say.
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. They will have come to the end of themselves. They will have learned that Christ was all for them, and they will rejoice in the deliverance that He has accomplished.
Now passing on to the third verse, the voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. We remember that this was quoted by John the Baptist when he began his ministry. He spoke of this because the nation had failed. They had utterly broken down. They'd been unable to keep the law. They'd failed under the prophets. They'd failed under the priesthood. They'd failed under the kings.
Because there's someone who could set things right for them. Yes. And he had just come. He was about to present himself to them. And the cry went out and prepare a way for him. Were they ready to receive him? Oh, no, they said, if we let this man go, the Romans will come and take away our place and nations. They thought that something depended upon man instead of everything.
Depending upon Christ. Well, let us apply this.
Our own heart are we looking to some plan that we have, some scheme, something that man is doing that is going to finally accomplish something great in the earth?
Well, it says here, prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God, you and I, giving the Lord Jesus his rightful place. Nothing will be right until we do, because our own efforts are doomed to failure. But everything is sure to be accomplished in him because he's the man of God's counsel. He's the one whom God has purposed that everything will be brought about.
In and through him. So it says every valley shall be exalted. Well, I believe the valley is bringing before us the low spots, the and the times when it seems that we go down. And it says here every valley shall be exalted. I like to think of it in this way, that when we look back from the glory on our pathway here.
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We'll see that all those experiences that humbled us, that brought us.
Down that brought us to the point that we saw the emptiness of the all our own resources and we saw the helplessness of the flesh that these were good things for us and the valley will be exalted. Yes, we'll thank him for those experiences and then it says.
And every mountain and hill shall be made low. Well, often difficulties stand in our way like mountains. The Lord said that if we prayed to Him that we could remove mountains. But many times when we pray we have a scheme, and we hire with something like the one that we read of in Acts. Here was Peter in prison.
And they were praying for Peter's deliverance. I think they had a plan.
In their own mind about how this was going to be worked out. And they thought probably that when Peter appeared before the council that God would come in and grant him liberty. But when he came in and worked a different way from that they expected, they were so surprised that they didn't even open the gate when he came before the door. Haven't we done the same thing? We prayed about something, but we already had a plan in our own mind and we were sort of telling the Lord now this is the way.
Could work out. And if it works this way, my prayer is answered. Well, the Lord has a plan, a better plan than ours. And oh, how lovely when we can commit it to Him. And so the mountains, the difficulties are made low. When are they made low? When we have learned in some little measure at least. We never fully learn it here, but when we learn in some little measure at least.
That the flesh profiteth nothing.
That the Lord Jesus is the one who must be everything to us, and then our hearts are comforted. How often they're full of care and trouble because of disappointment and frustration.
And the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough place is plain. The wisest man in the world said, That which is crooked cannot be made straight, and that which is that which is rough cannot be made plain. And he had wisdom, great wisdom.
If you could go to someone as wise as Solomon and all your problems, you'd probably cross the continent to talk to them. I think I would. But the wisest man said that the crooked couldn't be made straight and the rough couldn't be made plain. But there's one who can. There's one who can make the rough places smooth and the crooked places straight.
Oh, how wonderful it is to look to him. What a blessing in our lives.
When we have come to the point where we realize this wonderful, this so important lesson about everything must depend upon Christ and upon His plan, His counsel. And what are those counsels? Is He working against us all? Brethren, He loves us, He died for us, He lives for us.
And his own heart will not be satisfied until we're supremely blessed.
And it's only necessary for us to learn this, so that we would realize that He is not only the one who can accomplish everything, but the one who desires our richest and fullest blessing. So it says. And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.
Yes, when his glory do we have his glory before us?
All is the time when His glory is going to fill the whole universe. We love to look forward to that day. Our brother has been bringing it before us in such a touching way about how good it is to have it as the thing that sustains our souls. A highway in the desert. Where is it leading to? Where is this highway leading to? All over the place. Where are the precious Savior has His rightful place?
And the voice said, cry. And he said, What shall I cry?
What a strange thing was the answer, it says.
All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof of the flower of the field. The grass withereth. The flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth upon it. Surely the people is grass, The grass withereth, the flower fadeth.
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Let the word of our God shall stand forever. Here was the message, he said. What shall I cry?
He said and tell that all man's glory is just like grass. And let me pause to speak a little bit to you, and I speak also to my own heart. We're living in times when man's glory is blooming forth in a way it never did before. It's it's almost astounding what God has allowed man to accomplish in these last days.
It's the wonder of the world and you young people are growing up in this age.
You're more acquainted with the progress that is being made in science and in many other fields than I am. And it's very easy, as we see these wonders taking place before our eyes, to be taken up with them and to be taken up with them to the point that they dim the glory of Christ in our soul. Now, I know there's a certain measure in which you have to prepare.
And living in this world that you have to be prepared and have an.
Understanding of these things. But what I want to impress upon you and upon my own soul is that it's twice repeated here. It's given to us twice. All flashes of grass.
And all the goodliness thereof as the flower of the field, all is glory. All this advancement is going to end in disappointment and failure and the judgment of God. But there's going to be a scene of glory brought in under Christ that will be so blessed that the other will hardly be remembered or brought into mind. It will have passed away.
By the voice, said Cross.
And so he cried and I cried to you this afternoon not to set your heart on anything here. You say that's not a very comforting message. Now that's a that's a disappointing message to speak that way. Oh, but if you and I have our eyes and our thoughts turned away from these things to the Lord Jesus, why we have a portion that will never disappoint us in him.
Let me say.
To you that if you have the finest prospects in this whole company, if things are working out as they might say just to the tea and everything's coming along perfectly.
There's disappointment ahead. If you're relying on anything that is of the flesh, there's disappointment ahead. But if you and I have our eyes upon that man of God's counsels, the Lord Jesus Christ, everything is going to be accomplished in him. And my desire is that your vision and mine should be lifted above this present thing.
All I want you to realize, and I want my own soul to realize.
That all flashes of grass, that all this thing that is so attractive to the eye, this present prosperity in which we live is all going to come under the judgment of God. Not all. There's a brighter, there's a happier day ahead. And if you really want to walk in this world with peace and joy and comfort and quietness in your soul.
Don't get your eye on what's sure to disappoint you. Absolutely.
Sure to disappoint you sooner or later.
And so it goes on here. The word of our God shall stand forever. The word of our God shall stand forever. Now the world says this book is getting outdated, but for the Christian, as our brother said, it was never more up to date. It was never more up to date. It's suited to the very age and the day in which we live. The more I read it, the more I am impressed that we have the.
Up to date book in our hands, because it not only tells us about things that are transpiring, but it tells us about the future and tells us where to set our hopes on that which will never fail. The word of our God shall stand forever. So he says, O Zion, that bringeth good tidings, Get thee up into the high mountains. O Jerusalem, that bring us good tidings. Lift up thy voice with strength, lift it up.
Be not afraid, say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God. Oh, he says, get up above all this grass, get above all this glory of man, and see what God has in store for his people. And you and I need to get up and dwell upon our high place. Enjoy that which is ours in Christ. And then.
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How happy we would be. Of course I know that this is an earthly scene, but I speak of it in its application to ourselves. We belong to a heavenly scene. We belong, as our brother brought before us, to the heavenly heart of the coming glory and all. What a rich portion is ours. And if this could cheer the heart of an Israelite, how much more it can cheer our hearts who are going to be with the Lord Jesus.
As part of his bride.
Now this 11TH verse.
He shall feed his flock like a shepherd. He shall gather the lambs with his arms and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young. Oh, isn't this most touching? The Lord knows this scene that we're going through. He's pointed us to that glory that is ahead of us, and now, as it were, He Stoops to take notice of us.
As we go through this world, he shall lead his flock like a shepherd, and then it says He shall carry the lamb with his arm. How do you feel so helpless that you can't take one step? Well, he says, I'll lift you up and carry you. Then I'll lift you up and carry you, and he shall gently lead. As those that are with young. Are you in the pressure of some circumstances and you say you don't know?
Difficult it is for me. You don't enter into my problem. Oh, He even takes notice of those that are with Young. Perhaps unnoticed by others, the Lord takes notice. Perhaps you carry a problem in your breath. Perhaps you carry a sorrow inside of you. You say nobody knows but the Lord. It's something that's inside. Isn't this lovely? He shall gently lead those that are with Young. That is, He knows what.
Passing through and he is able to come in and help you and lead us and he does lead us.
Then in the verses that follow, he speaks of God's greatness and His power in creation, the One who not only made everything, but who upholds everything. And then just to pass over to those verses, at the end of the chapter it says, Hast thou not known, hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary. There is no searching of His understanding.
Now he asked us the question. He says, Hast thou not known? Well, I'm afraid we ask them. We act sometimes as if we didn't know this.
You say, oh, I know that God is the one who made everything. I don't question that. But isn't it true with us that we act sometimes, all too often, as if we didn't know it? And so he addresses himself to the nation, He addresses himself to the Israelite, and he says, have you not known? Have you not entered into these things?
And then he goes on to encourage us to give us power to the faint.
Or perhaps there's some here that are faint. Well, he gives power to the faint.
To them that have no might he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. It isn't a question of natural strength. A youth has natural strength, but the young man controlled. But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength.
They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. And so we have 3.
Beautiful things brought before us here They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
That flies above the earth. They shall run, and not be weary. That's hurrying along.
They shall walk and not faint. Well, I like to think of those three different things.
It says they shall mount up with wings of eagles, that is to rise above the circumstances. And then there are those that run, that is, we run through this world in a hurry to get through. But then there might be some of us and say, well, I'm afraid I don't get above circumstances, I don't fly.
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And I don't run while you're just walking. You'll just feel as if you were slowed down, that you couldn't get above things, and you feel that you don't have the energy to run. It says they shall walk and not think. They shall walk and not faint. Why? Oh, because their eyes are upon him. No, brethren, may the Lord give us to see the full import of what our brother has brought before us. That glory that.
Coming upon this world for Israel and that glory that is ours up there with him, what effect does it have on us? What is Satan doing? Well, he's just filling the world with all kinds of things to make us think that there's glory for us down here. But the Spirit of God this afternoon is lifting our sights above this world. And isn't it sad that He has to pass us through so much?
Before we learn.
In this great lesson, Israel had to go through all kinds of things before they were comforted and they let rested. Now everything was past. The Lord had His rightful place. All He made passes through things, but He has His grand and blessed purpose in view now that the Lord Jesus should be the center and the object before our souls and ourselves entering, entering into and sharing without hindrance.
The blessing that then his purposes for us. Oh, May God grant that here and now our sights will be lifted above this poor world. You will be comforted, I will be comforted. If we're not expecting anything down here, but we're expecting everything from Him. As a little hymn says, in thee and with thee ever is found by grace.
Our lot.