Conference: 1976
Table of Contents
Devotedness and Obedience
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I had it on my heart there, young people, this afternoon to speak about devotedness and obedience. I believe it's very important that those two things should be combined if we are to go on for the Lord in these last days. I think it has been brought before us very specially in the meeting this morning. Devoted us to the Lord, giving Him His rightful place, and then obedience to His precious word.
And with the Lord's help, I'd.
To look at some scriptures that have to do with this subject, first of all I'd like to turn to four different scriptures in Second Corinthians chapter 5, Second Corinthians chapter 5, and the 14th verse. For the love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves.
But unto him which died for them, and rose again, Then would you turn with me to Ephesians chapter 5, Ephesians chapter 5, and verse one. Be ye therefore followers of God, or the new translation reads imitators of God as dear children, and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us.
An offering.
And a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor.
And then in.
Timothy, Second Timothy, chapter 3. Second Timothy, chapter 3 and verse 13. But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived. But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
And that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures.
Which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.
And then in the Epistle of Jude, the Epistle of Jude.
And verse 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints. Well, in these Scriptures you notice how we have brought before us devotedness, that is, the love of Christ constraining us and walking in love. And then.
We have also the importance of the word of God and of going on in that which God has marked out in his word and have earnestly contending for the faith once delivered to the Saints. As I say, I believe it's so important in these days and that these two things should be combined. We find a great deal about us have devotedness. We spoke a little bit about it this morning. We can see with many dear Christians who are not.
Talking in the full revelation that God has given of his truth and devoted in us an energy that really puts us to shame. There is a real energy and love for souls, a desire to be an encouragement to other Christians, and that which we can see is most encouraging. But then very often, as we become a little better acquainted, we find.
That they are not walking in the truth. There is energy, there is devoted.
Goodness, but there is not that carefulness to walk according to the truth of God's Word, as we had brought before us this morning. But then is there not a danger for us who know a great deal of God's truth, who have been taught the truth of God as in His Word, that there should be with us a lack of devotedness and lack of energy?
And love for souls, love for the people of God.
And reaching out, that would be a real testimony in these last and closing days of the church's history. And how often we find that it's because we have gone from one extreme to the other that we have really missed the path that God has marked out in His Word. And that is, there can be that devotedness which would overlook obedience.
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Or there can be that care to stick to the word of God?
And yet a lack of affection and love that would seek sinners, and that would seek the blessing of the people of God. But it's wonderful to see how all this was perfectly combined in the Lord Jesus. He would never do one thing that was not according to the word of God his Father. He said, man shall not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Shall man live not is his whole pathway, as he says in another place? I do always those things that please the Father.
He could say to the good pleasure of Thy will, O God, is my delight. So that there was in the pathway of the Lord Jesus that full that perfect obedience to His Father. But surely He never lacked in devotedness to the will of His Father. All we find him as we trace His pathway of love, how He was unwearied in reaching out to the needs of sinners.
How he would preach to them and perhaps not be invited to anyone's place. He would sleep in the Mount of Olives, but the next day found him again in that, telling out the words that his father had given him to speak. We find how he never wearied in that path. When the disciples misunderstood and were quarrelling one with another. Who should be the greatest? All the love that shone out when?
Said he, Are they which have continued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto you a Kingdom, as my Father hath appointed me, just on the eve of the night. That they were all going to forsake Him and flee, It tells us, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. He was truly the fine flower. For I might say that in the meat offering or the meal offering, the Lord has spoken.
The fine flour. And that means that every virtue in the Lord Jesus was equally perfect. Quite often with us there is some virtue perhaps that is more outstanding than another. And so you'll hear it said, well, that's a very faithful brother, that's a very devoted brother, that's a very kind brother. But with the Lord Jesus everything was in perfection.
If devotedness was needed.
Who was so devoted to the will of his Father, untiring in his service to mankind and to His Father? And yet when faithfulness was required all, how he could say to Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan. When he saw those who would hinder the blessing, he could look round about upon them with anger, being grieved at the hardness of their hearts.
Yes, if faithfulness was needed, he was faithful. But if.
If love was to be shown, He was perfect in that too. Oh, isn't it lovely to see this? And I believe, dear young people, that this is what we need in these last days. I believe that there is a great tendency with us to lose the enjoyment of the precious truth of God and to lack in devotedness to the Lord.
And with the Lord's help, I'd like to just speak a little bit about these the afternoon as I remember.
First of all, in Second Corinthians 5, we see that it tells us the love of Christ constraineth us. Now that is, what is it that causes this devotedness in our lives? Oh, if it's going to be real, it flows from a response in our hearts to that love that has been shown to us. Oh, how marvelous the love that has been shown and as many of us look back on our lives.
How the Lord?
Lord has borne with us how He has continued to display His love to us even when we have failed, even when we have wandered away from Him. What has touched our hearts? His, as the little hymn says, And yet to find Thee still the same. Tis this that humbles us with shame. And I want to say to each dear young person this afternoon.
It's my desire, first of all, that your heart would be concerned.
By the love of Christ, and that your heart would burn again as you think of how much He loved you. When we think of what we deserved. And to think that He came down here, and that He went to Calvary's cross and took our place and bore the judgment so that we might be so supremely blessed. Oh, doesn't it create a thrill or response in your heart and mind?
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I've often commented about that verse.
It doesn't say the love of Christ ought to constrain us. It says the love of Christ constraineth us because it's a, it's a statement of what the love of Christ does. Let me illustrate it like this. If I had a magnet and I had some nails here, I don't say that magnet should pick up the nails. I said this magnet will pick up nails. It's what it does.
And so why would those nails remain unmoved on the table when there's?
There's a magnet nearby, or just because the magnet wasn't close enough to create a response. And sometimes you and I have got away from the Lord and we don't feel that response. But there's love in His heart that is sufficient to draw every heart in this room to Himself.
His love to sinners that led him to go to Calvary and his love to his own. I have been so struck of late by those 3 words unto the end. He loved his own to the end. Because in these Laodicean days as we were reminded how easy it is for our affections to grow cold, but the Lord's love is to the end. I've enjoyed how when the Lord spoke in those letters to the churches too.
In the first one what he felt grieved about was Thou hast left thy first love. But in the last one he mentions his love to them. Isn't that remarkable? His love to them mentioned and only mentioned in the letter to Laodicea? Surely when there was such coldness and indifference, why should he speak of his love? All he says, As many as I love, I rebuke and.
Some He hadn't left His first love never does never. Well, may that love stir your heart and mine. It constrains us and what to do. And we should not live unto ourselves, but unto Him. How lovely doesn't say in that verse at all about what we should do, but just that we wouldn't live to ourselves, but unto Him.
That is, you say, where are those nails going to go? I say, well, wherever the magical magnet.
Them, they'll go because they're attracted to the magnet. And so it is, if you and I feel the constraint of the love of Christ wherever He wants us to go now, that's where we'll want to go too, because His love constrains us that we should live unto Him.
And then the verse that we read in Ephesians there speaks about being imitators of God as dear children, and it says walk in love. How much we need this, how much we need it individually in our dealings with one another, how much we need it In a world like this. We can get so occupied with the evil brethren that our affections don't flow out to sinners in their sins.
And isn't it remarkable in the gospel?
Who find the Lord Jesus and his affection flowing out to the vilest of sinners as he met them in their need. It may be that faithfulness is required, and it is required in the things of God, for God never lowers the standard of holiness. But we find that they condemn the Lord Jesus on this count. They said this man.
Receive us sinners, and eateth with them.
Does your heart and mind just say, well it's no use, they're so far sunk in sin that there's no use all then we aren't walking in love as the Lord Jesus went through this world all how that love reached out. He looked down upon the crowd that had shouted away with him, crucify him and he said, Father forgive them for they know not what they do.
And then too, as I said toward his own, he loved them, and in spite of all their failure, that love was unchanged. Brethren, isn't this what we need? Isn't there a need of more of that love that would seek the good and blessing of sinners and that would seek the good and blessing of one another? Oh, how many a heart would be touched by love that was shown if love was shown in the path of obedience. And I believe that we often lack in.
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Yes, we we have a tendency perhaps to speak of these things, but how often we fail to have that love that would perhaps bridge the gap and reach someone, perhaps a wayward Christian, who has got away. Well may the Lord give us to know what it is to walk in love, and what kind of love has Christ also hath loved us?
How did he love us when there was nothing in us to like at all when we didn't?
Respond to his claims.
All how I'm sure that there's going to be many young people who are going to look back in their lives and say, well, it was the kind word that that brother said or that sister said that was the turning point in my life. And we've often failed to speak that kind word. We've often failed to walk in love. And dear young people, you can do this too with one another. You can do it. I can look back and I can think of young.
People that had a tremendous influence in my young life, things that they said to me and things that they encouraged me, perhaps even meant more to me than ones that were older.
Yes, there's a little work for you to do, walk in love as Christ also hath loved us and offered himself a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. May there be that walking in love.
What is this ever to be at the expense of truth? Are we to say, well, I love that person, and I just can't be faithful with him? No. When Paul writes to Timothy now, he has to remind him that in an evil day, when evil men and seducers are waxing worse and worse, that he is not to go along with them. And dear young people, is there not a tendency in this day?
As there is a lowering standard of what is right and wrong, a lowering standard of morals, things seem to be breaking down. Is there not a tendency that we should sort of go along with public opinion instead of following the word of God?
Well, Paul told Timothy that he could expect things not to improve, but to get worse. But he said, Continue thou in the things which thou hast heard, and hast been assured of knowing of whom thou hast learned them. And he said, You were a child, you have grown up, and things were worse than when you were a child.
But he said God's word hasn't changed. God's word hasn't changed.
Change, he said. Continue thou and the things which thou hast heard.
And I beseech of you, dear young people, in these days of lowering standards, to remember that God has given us His Word, that we have learned certain things from his Word, and God would have us to continue in those things. And that the Word of God is profitable for instruction, for reproof, for all that we need, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto.
All good works. There isn't a bit of instruction that you or I need for our life. There isn't a bit of, shall I say, standards that we need that we won't find an answer for in the word of God. It's all there. And if we're acquainted with this, we just don't need to say, well, everybody's doing it. No, we may have to stand alone.
Sometimes, but nevertheless, isn't it well worthwhile?
To please our blessed Savior. Well, Timothy was encouraged about this. And that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works. And then the last passage that we read in Jude, it speaks about earnestly contending for the faith which was once delivered to the Saints. You'll notice here that when Jude was going to write this epistle, he wanted to.
Write about the common salvation. It's to me quite striking here that this comment he gave, it says he, He gave all diligence to write unto them of the common salvation. Now, that is, He would much preferred to have talked to them about those things that would be accepted that would not be in the way of a rebuke.
But the Lord said, no, Jude, I am going to give you the words to speak. And what I want you to do is to earnest to to exhort them, to earnestly contend for the faith which is once delivered to the Saints. It's very easy often to pass over things, to be indifferent to the Lord and to His claims and to what His word says in order to just talk about the things that we have in common.
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But there was a little more than this. It tells us here that.
He exhorts them that they would earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. That is, if God's moral standards haven't changed, neither has the truth, which is the foundation of our faith, changed. And it's most important, dear young people, in these days, that we are firm for the precious truth of God.
I must say that it does amaze me as I have had occasions to.
Read books that are written by some who are not gathered to the Lord's name, to find how little by little things creep in which lead to the giving up of the truth of God. It has thoroughly amazed me to find in these last days how many there are who we profess to be sound in fundamental truth, who believe that our precious Lord Jesus Christ could have sinned.
Yes, men who are.
Looked up to as religious leaders and who are well known, whose names are well known and the evangelical world. And yet they have given up this truth. And yet if you said to somebody, well, I couldn't go along with that person, they would say, but he is doing a great work. Well, remember what I said at the beginning.
Devotedness is very blessed, but devotedness must be characterized by obedience.
To be pleasing to God. It's true that as gathered to the Lord's name, there tends to be, and I hang my own head in shame and own my part in it. A lack of devotedness to the Lord, a lack of real affection for Him, An outgoing and seeking the blessing of others. But I do say how that its most precious and that we should.
Hold to the precious deposit of truth that has been committed to us.
And not give it up in these last days. And so Jude was told and instructed by the Spirit of God that he was to exhort the Saints to earnestly contend for the faith once delivered to the Saints. Everywhere around us we see calls to activity where you can be associated with all kinds of groups which are mixtures of truth and error.
And you say, aren't they doing a good work? Yes, many of them. God has been pleased to use them and the salvation of souls. But we have to remember this, that very often those men who were much used of God were also associated with things that were not according to the word of God, and God would have us.
To value obedience, first of all, God is sovereign and He may use.
Whomsoever he will, I have no doubt that God used Martin Luther. I have no doubt that God used John Calvin. I have no doubt he used many of these men. But there are systems that are called by their names, and I believe if we examine them in the light of Scripture, we would find many things that are not according to the word of God. Was their devotedness? Yes, devotedness that would put us to shame. But there needs to be devotedness.
And obedience. God would have the two to be brought together in our lives.
I'd like to look at a few instances if you'd turn back with me to Judges. Judges Chapter 6.
In verse 12.
And the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him.
And said unto him, The Lord is with thee, thou mighty man of valor. And Gideon said unto him, O my Lord, if the Lord be with us, why then is all this befallen us? And whereby all his miracles, which our fathers told us of saying, did not the Lord bring us up from Egypt? But now the Lord hath forsaken us, and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites.
And the Lord looked upon him and said.
Go in this thy might, and thou shalt save Israel from the hand of the Midianites. Have not I sent thee? And he said unto him, O my Lord, wherewith shall I save Israel? Behold, my family is poor in Manasseh, and I am the least of my father's house. And the Lord said unto him, Surely I will be with thee, and thou shalt smite the Midianites as one.
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One man.
Here was a day of declension in Israel's history.
We find a sad declension from that energy that we were speaking a little bit about this morning. They crossed the Jordan, they entered the promised land. They went out, and God used them to subdue their enemies and gave them possession of the land. But they had neglected the Lord and His interest. Departure had come in.
The Angel of the Lord had left Gilgal and gone down to Boca Raton.
And I might say that Gilgal was the place of self judgment. It was the place where circumcision took place. And bulk him means weeping. And it's just this, I believe that if we don't practice self judgment in our lives that we'll end up at Bochim. There will be weeping, there will be sorrow because if we have neglected that.
Bringing the Word of God to bear upon our lives.
Now there will be weeping, there will be sorrow, but isn't it nice? The Angel of the Lord went down to bulk him. He met them in their tears. And if there's anyone here and you say, well I've got away from the Lord, I want to tell you that he'll meet you right where you are. He wants to bless you. He went down there. Well, departure came in and they went on. If you read in the beginning of this chapter, 7 years, they were in the under the hand of Midian about the Lord.
Lord raised up this young man, Gideon, and he didn't figure that he was very much. He said his family was poor in Manasseh, and he was the least of his father's house. There might be someone here and you might say, well, I don't think I could do anything. I don't think I'm very much use. Well, that's the way Gideon felt, but it tells us that he was thrashing wheat by the winepress. Now that is, it shows us that he he valued.
His portion and was feeding upon it, and the result was that he was in a fit state that the Lord could use him.
It looked absolutely hopeless. They were all under the hand of Midian. There didn't seem to be too much desire to get out, shall I say, and fight and seek to be faithful. But the Lord came and spoke to Gideon and tells us that Gideon was concerned. He asked why they didn't see the miracles that they had seen in times gone by.
And perhaps.
You look around in the little meeting and you say there's nothing doing. They talk about things that happened in the past, but there's certainly not much going on now. We don't seem to see very much blessing. This is just exactly the way Gideon felt. And he was so cast down and discouraged. And he says, why is all this? And the Lord said, Gideon, I'm going to use you.
I'm going to use you, Gideon. Well, isn't this beautiful to say?
Now when Gideon was willing to be used, how the Lord used him, and he didn't have to have a big crowd, first of all, we find him bringing his offering. And we had this morning about the importance of giving the Lord Jesus His rightful place. Are you and I giving the Lord His rightful place when we get along with him? Do we really seek to give Him His rightful place in our lives? Is it our desire all?
Surely done everything to win first place. He's worthy of it, brethren. Are we seeking to give him that place? Well, Gideon brought his sacrifice. Then the Lord said Gideon, there's something else. There's an altar that has to be thrown down.
Are you going to throw down that altar? Oh, my father wouldn't like it if I did that. My father would be very much opposed to me throwing down the altar. But he did get the courage and he threw down the altar and he built an altar for the Lord in the appointed place.
And then he found his faith was pretty weak and he said, if the Lord will deliver Israel by my hand. And isn't it Saul that very often? And I might hear some young person say, well, I've tried, but all when the time comes, I just feel that I can't do anything. That's just the way Gideon felt. And he said, Lord, if if you're going to deliver Israel by my hand, you'll have to give me some signs.
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So the Lord gave him 2 signs.
And so he started out with 32,000, and then the Lord reduced his army to 22,000 to 10,000, and then he reduced it again to 300.
As though the Lord were saying, Gideon, you have to learn to rely wholly upon me, and you have to be willing to be associated with the company that I have chosen for you. Because the Lord said to Gideon, Whom I say shall go with thee, the same shall go with thee. Whom I say shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. He didn't choose his own company.
He didn't say I'd like to be with this group.
If I can pick out 300 strong men in my company, that will be good warriors. Now the Lord said, I'll do that for you, Gideon, You just leave that to me. And he got his army reduced down to 300. And then the Lord used him and there was a great victory in Israel, as we know. Well, what I am seeking to bring before you is.
How no matter how dark and difficult the day, no matter how trying.
It is in your little assembly and there seems to be such a lack of concern about things. Perhaps the Lord is saying to you that he's going to make you a blessing. He's going to use you for Gideon had to go through a great deal of exercise and then the Lord did use him. And as I say, there was a a great victory and God delivered his people.
It's true that afterwards they didn't fully appreciate.
Appreciate what Gideon had done, but never mind, dear young people, sometimes you may not be appreciated, but the Lord's well done is what counts. And when we turn to the faith chapter in the 11TH of Hebrews, Gideon's name was mentioned. The time would fail to tell me of Gideon and of Barack, and of Samson and of Jephthah. He asked. The Lord took notice of it, even though it may seem.
That he wasn't too much appreciated in his own time.
Let's turn over to another one in the.
First Samuel chapter.
15 I believe it is through Samuel 14 and the sixth verse, first Samuel 14 and verse 6. And Jonathan said to the young man that bare his armor, come, and let us go over under the Garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few.
And his armor bearer said unto him, Do all that is in thine heart.
Turn thee, Behold, I am with thee, according to thy heart.
Then said Jonathan, Behold, we will Passover unto these men, and we will discover ourselves unto them.
Well, I don't intend to read a great deal and this portion here, but just to mention the devotedness of Jonathan here was another time in Israel's history when things were at a very low ebb. They had asked to have a king, and God had given them Saul, a man who really didn't have the energy of faith to deliver the people of God.
And it was very difficult for Jonathan because Saul was his.
Father, and it was, shall I say, a stand that was hard for him to take because his father was the king and his father had all the company seemingly with him. And now was Jonathan going to be willing to deliver the people of God, even though it meant that he had to do it on that individual devotedness and faith and confidence in God.
I've often thought of Jonathan and how hard it must have been for him when he thought of going over against these philistines, it says he told, not his father.
His father didn't have the faith to take this stand. We never read of Saul ever winning a victory over the Philistines, and so Jonathan must be before the Lord on his own.
Well, he didn't have very many friends in this stand that he was taking. All that we read of that he had with him was his armor bearer. He had one who was willing to stand with him and to go along with him in this desire not to make a great man of himself, but to deliver the people of God. This was on his heart that they might be delivered from the Philistines.
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And so the day came when he said to his armor bearer, come and let us go over to this Garrison of the Philistines. He said, the Lord doesn't have to have numbers. He is able to save by many or by few. He could have looked back and said, well, Gideon had 300, but I've only got 1 and what can two of us do?
And may I encourage you, dear young people, if you have a close friend, be sure that.
Friend is an armor bearer, someone who is of one mind with you in seeking to go on for the Lord. And this applies particularly if you're thinking of marriage, if you're going to have a partner in life.
Is that 1 going to encourage you in the things of God, or is that one going to discourage you in following Christ? Here we find that Gideon had at least Jonathan had an armor bearer, and this armor bearer was one who encouraged him when all the odds seemed to be against him. And I've even noticed here that it appears at this point.
When Jonathan saw the power of the enemy that he actually.
Return back, because his armor bearer said to him, Behold, I am with thee, or the 7th verse. And his armor bearer said unto him, Do all that is in my heart turn thee, Behold, I am with thee.
According to thy heart now that is. It looks as if when Jonathan saw the power of the enemy, he turned back, but his armor bearer said turn around Jonathan, this isn't a time to turn back. So he did turn around, and there was a wonderful victory. God granted a victory here again, he didn't get any credit for it.
As far as his father was concerned, he tried to take all the credit for the victory and was even going to put Jonathan to death. But God used him. And we have to be content, dear young people, to be satisfied with the Lord's approval. We have to be content to go on. The love of Christ needs to constrain us. And if it does, then we'll be.
A real help among the others. And as I say, there is such.
In need of devotedness. And I thought of these instances as being ones that particularly picture to us devotedness. Gideon's great desire was in devoted love for the Lord and for his people to deliver them. Jonathan's great desire was in devoted love for the people of God. He couldn't bear to see them under the ******* of the Philistines. He wanted to help them. He was content to be nothing himself. He didn't.
Talk about what he was going to do. Didn't tell his father. They didn't even know he was missing. In the latter part of the chapter, you'll see that they decided to number and see who was missing because they didn't even know who had gone out. But the Lord knew, and the Lord recorded it. And the Lord knows every desire that springs in your heart to be a help and a blessing. Every desire to speak for the Lord, to encourage other young people.
To win friends to the Lord Jesus. He knows all about every one of those desires and he's pleased with it. He's recorded these things in his word. Now there's two other that I'd like to speak of that seem to me to be more associated with obedience, particularly if you'll turn over now to Daniel. Daniel chapter 3.
And verse.
14 Daniel chapter 3 and verse 14.
Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Now, if you be ready that at what time ye shall hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sack, but sultry and dulcimer, and all kinds of music, he fall down and worship the image which I have made. Well, but if ye worship not, he shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace. And who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
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Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.
Answered and said to the King, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.
This seems to me a very striking instance of obedience. These three men could have easily found a way of compromise. I've often said. They could have said to one another, we don't need to worship that image. All we need to do is put our heads down and he'll think we're worshiping, but we're really not. And they could have planned some way, some path of compromise, but.
No, they were going to be obedient.
God had said that they were not to worship any graven image. They were not to bow down or serve such, and this was a deciding factor for them. It didn't matter whether there was an easy way out. They didn't look around to see what others were going to do.
They saw the word of God for themselves and obedience was of all importance to them. So we've been Speaking of.
The devotedness of Giriam. We've been Speaking of the devotedness of Jonathan, but now perhaps we have emphasized in this portion obedience. We don't see any particular result from these ones who were unwilling to bow down, and that is, perhaps no one was very much affected by what they had done.
Although the king did have to say that he realized.
That the Lord was with them. But it seems to me that the deciding thing in their lives was obedience. And there are times when we're put to a similar task. Are we going to obey? It says, behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken on the fat of Rams. There come times in our life when we have to make a decision.
As to whether.
Going to obey the word of God or not. And these three young men, they were in good positions in Babylon. They had done well in their school life. They were not ones that were not intelligent. They were, if you read in the 1St chapter, they were very intelligent and came out at the top of their classes. But they were willing to be obedient at all costs. They wouldn't bow down.
Now, nor did they necessarily expect that the Lord would deliver them for their obedience.
If the Lord doesn't deliver us, we still won't bow down. Because they were willing and they were cast into the fiery furnace. But oh, the Lord was with them. The Lord walked in the fire with them. And I've often said when we meet them in heaven.
If we were to say to them, don't you think there was an easier path? Don't you think you could have compromised a little? Do you think they will tell us? We wish we had, it would have been much easier. No, I believe they would. Their faces will glow with the knowledge of the Lord's approval. While they say the Lord was with us in the fire, He walked with us and that was enough for us.
Oh dear young people.
May the Lord encourage us in the path of obedience. He values obedience. I'm struck as I read in the New Testament how much emphasis God lays on doing the will of God.
It says the world passeth away and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. And I just want to say to you, if there comes a decision in your life, you can do like one young person said, well, I asked a number of people what their opinion was and he said I got a great many different answers. Well, if that's the way it settles it for you.
Why? I'm sorry for you because you probably.
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Cast a vote and see how many go one way and how many go another to make your decisions. But it's what the word of God says that counts. They didn't ask anybody's opinion. They said we must do what God says. They would not bow down.
They were obedient, they were devoted, but they were also obedient. And so how lovely it is to see these three young people in a very difficult day, a day when morals had gone to pieces and a day when God's people were in ruins because they had been carried captive into Babylon. But nothing changed the word of God for these three young men. And they said, we're going to obey our.
God and the Lord was with them.
Now let's turn to one more in the New Testament in Second Timothy chapter 1.
Second Timothy, chapter one, verse 12 For the which 'cause I also suffer these things, nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto them unto him against that day. Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me in faith and love, which is in.
Jesus, that good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us. This thou knowest, that all lay which are in Asia be turned away from me, of whom are Phygelus and Hermogenes.
Here is Paul exhorting Timothy. It was a day, as we read, when all those in Asia had turned away from Paul. Now it doesn't say they had turned away from Christ. I don't believe they had. I believe that in many ways they had a desire for the Lord. I believe that many of these that he might speak of here were devoted.
But they weren't going on in Paul's doctrine.
They weren't going on in obedience and they turned away from Paul because the path in which he was walking was a little too narrow. And he writes to Timothy and encourages him. He says, Timothy, I have to just commit everything until that day to the Lord.
That is when he says, I know whom I believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
He didn't mean just the salvation of his soul.
We have committed this matter to the Lord. If we're truly saved, if there's anyone here that's not saved, may the Lord bring you to himself. But it isn't just that Paul had sought to go on in the path of obedience, and he sought to commit his whole life to the Lord. And even when those in Asia turned away from him and wouldn't walk in Paul's doctrine, he still could say, I have fought.
Fight he still sought to stand for the truth of God and he writes to Timothy knowing that soon he was going to be taken away and he says Timothy.
Hold fast the form of sound words which thou hast heard of me. And dear young people, that's what I would like to encourage you to do, is to hold fast to the precious deposit of truth that has been committed to us.
I know that it's going to be more difficult. I know. And I have to confess, I say again, the lack of devotedness among us and that there isn't that energy that there should be so often, that lack of love very often. But I do say that God has marked out a path in His Word. He has given us the path of obedience.
And it doesn't matter how dark and difficult the day.
May become all my prayer for you, dear young people, is that the Lord would keep you and that you would value obedience to His word. Go on, be content with the Lord's approval. And I'm sure that if there is a stirring up in our hearts to more devotedness to the Lord, there will be blessing. There will be blessing in our among our young people. There will be blessing in our assemblies. I've been struck by.
What it says in First Corinthians 14.
Spoke about the assembly there at Corinth, and it said that if they went on according to the divine pattern, it said there would come in one that was unlearned or one that believeth not, and falling down in his face he would confess that God is in you. Of a truth. It is very much struck me because it wasn't that they told him why the Lord is here, but the man coming in was convicted.
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Of the Lord's presence. And I feel how important it is that we should be so going on together that others coming into our assembly might recognize and feel the Lord's presence. And dear young people, you can be a blessing. You can be a help. You may feel that there's not much that you can do. Gideon didn't think he could do very much.
His family was poor in Manasseh, he was the least of his father's house, but the Lord used.
Him Jonathan might have said, I can't do anything, my father is against me, I can never do anything. But the Lord used him. Those three Hebrew children might have said, there's no you standing alone, no one stands with us. But they were obedient and God honored them by the presence of the Lord with them in the fire. Timothy might have said, oh, what's the use in these last days? But Paul said.
Old fast Timothy, hold fast, and may the Lord keep us, and may he stir each one of us up to that path that he has marked out in his word, that path of obedience, that path of devotedness to the Lord. Oh, and dear young people, the Lord's coming is soon. We do believe that it's near at hand.
Many of you may not live to be as old as some of us are, but.
How lovely you can have fruitful, useful years in your life. May the Lord grant it to be so. As I go around and meet young people, I rejoice to find many young people who have a real heart for the Lord. I thank God for it, and I would just want to encourage you to keep on. Continue thou in the things which thou hast heard and hast been assured of. May the Lord give us each grace.
Go on in that path until we hear the shout, because it might be today.
The Tabernacle - 3rd Address
Seven Feasts of Jehovah
Deuteronomy 26:3-11
Deuteronomy 26:1
God's Testimony Perfected in Christ
The Lord's Purpose for us
Christ's Desire for Our Fellowship
The Woman of Sychar
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
John's Gospel in the 4th chapter.
We begin at the fourth verse.
And he must needs go through Samaria.
Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well, and it was about the 6th hour. There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water. Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink, for his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy me.
Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me which am a woman of Samaria? For the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.
Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep. From whence then hast thou that living water art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself and his children, and his cattle?
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.
The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hit her to draw.
Jesus saith unto her, Go, call thy husband, and come hit her. The woman I answered and said, I have no husband. Jesus said unto her, Thou hast well said, I have no husband, for thou hast had five husbands, and he whom thou now hast is not thy husband. In that saidst thou truly?
The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Our fathers worshipped in this mountain, and ye saith in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when ye shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father.
He worshipped. Ye know not what we know, what we worship, for salvation is of the Jews. But 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.
God is a spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.
The woman saith unto him, I know that Messiahs cometh, which is called Christ. When he has come, he will tell us all things. Jesus saith unto her, I that speak unto thee am He. And upon this came his disciples, and marvel that he talked with the woman, Yet no man said, What seekest thou, or why talkest thou with her? The woman then left her water pot and went her way into the city, and saith to the man, Come.
See a man which told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ?
Then they went out of the city, and came unto him. In the meanwhile his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples, one to another, hath any man brought him out to eat? Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of Him that sent me, and to finish his work. St. Archie, there are yet four months. And then cometh Harvest the old. I say unto you, Lift up your.
Eyes and look on the fields, for they are white already to harvest. And he that reapeth receiveth wages and gathereth fruit unto life eternal, that both he that soweth and he that reapeth may rejoice together. And herein is that saying true, 1 soweth and another reapeth. I sent you to reap that whereon ye bestowed no labour, other men laboured, and ye are entered into their labours.
And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified. He told me all that ever I did. So when the Samaritans were come unto him, they besought him that he would tarry with them. And he abode there two days, and many more believed because of his own word, and said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying.
But we have, for we have heard him ourselves and know that.
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This is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
Well, dear friends, and this wonderful passage that we have before us here tonight, we see how the Lord has an interest in the individual. We think of Him coming and spending His time just talking to one person. And so no matter how great a crowd of people are gathered together, the Lord has an interest in each one of us here individually. He cares about you. He knows all about you, just as He knew all about that woman in this 4th chapter of John.
And so this chapter brings before us not only his interest in you, but his willingness to bless that he's able to save just as he was able to save her.
There's another little word that's very interesting in the 3rd chapter and in the 4th chapter. In the 3rd chapter it says he must be born again. The little word must. He must. In other words, in order to be fit for God, we must have a new life. We were born in sin, but we need to be born again, to be born from above to receive new life.
And then it also tells us the Son of Man must be lifted up. There was no other way that sin could be put away. He must go to Calvary, and there he went to die for you and me. And then in this chapter it says.
That he must go through Samaria. And so not only must we be born again, not only was it necessary for the Lord Jesus to die, how about it was also necessary that he should seek and save that which is lost? And that's the wonder of the gospel, that not only has the Lord Jesus died, but he is seeking. I'm glad he sought for me until he found me.
In all that the very first words that God.
Spoke after sin 100 into the world were these Adam, where art thou what does that tell us? God became a seeking God Adam had sinned against him he could have said to him at that very moment, depart from me, but instead he was a seeking God and he said, Adam, where art thou and he never sent Adam out of the garden until he had first made the promise of a Redeemer he made the.
Us that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. And so Lord was long after the Lord Jesus came into this world and was born of a virgin. He was the fulfillment of that promise that God made that the seed of the woman would bruise the serpent's head. And so tonight God is a seeking God. He's seeking sinners. And so here we find the Lord Jesus was seeking.
This poor soul.
I don't suppose that she thought that in the life that she was living that God would have any particular interest in her. Surely the Lord would be far more interested in other people who are going along in life a lot better than she was. But here He takes this journey weary with his journey. Who is he seeking? A very fine living person. A person that was respected in society.
No, here he was seeking a poor Sinner.
And you know, another remarkable thing is that in the 3rd chapter we find the Lord dealing with another individual. This man was a master in Israel, a religious leader, and the Lord said to him, he must be born again. Surely if he was a religious leader, a master in Israel, teaching people the law, did he need new births? Wasn't he good enough when he was doing such a good work? No, Jesus said to that man.
He must be born again. But in this chapter we find a person who was perhaps we might say, low down on the ladder of society. And yet the Lord Jesus didn't say to this woman he must be born again, although it was necessary for her to be born again. But He showed her that He could satisfy that longing that was in her soul. Why was she living the life that she was?
All because.
Because she wasn't satisfied and she was seeking something to satisfy. And the Lord shows her that He not only can give new life, but He can satisfy. It tells us in the Bible He satisfies the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness. Here was a longing soul, and the Lord came to satisfy, and he taught her what true worship is.
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Surely if it had been you or I, we would have been teaching Nicodemus how to be a worshipper, seeing he was such a religious man. But instead the Lord teaches him that he needs to be born again. But this woman, he teaches her that he can satisfy her and how she.
Could be a true worshiper. Why? Well, what is it that makes us worshippers? Oh, it's gratitude for what the Lord has done for us. You'll never be a worshiper in heart as long as you feel that you're earning your own way of salvation. Why? You'll be thanking yourself for what you're doing. But when you realize that Christ is your salvation, then you have something to be thankful for. Then we can be true worshippers.
So he must needs go through Samaria and it tells us here he came to Samaria and he sat down here by this well and tells us that it was about the 6th hour. As far as we can tell it was right at noonday. It was at the time, I suppose, when not many people would be expected to be out drawing water, but it wasn't any accident that this woman came just.
At that time, you know, it isn't an accident that brings us in contact with God's way of salvation. It's part of God's plan because he came to seek and to save. It's no accident when a seeking Savior finds a lost Sinner. No, it's because he was seeking and the Lord was seeking this woman. And so I say again, it was no accident.
I remember a young man.
Who was brought to the gospel meeting many years ago. He didn't want to come and afterwards gone and his grace saved his soul. And I heard him say to the young man that brought him, I'm glad you dragged me here. It wasn't any accident that he came and the Lord brought him that he might be saved. And so how wonderful the Lord was seeking this woman. And it was all timed.
She came to the well to draw water at the same time the Lord Jesus.
Came weary and thirsty with his journey, and sat down by the well.
Now, you know, as we see in the story, the Lord knew all about this woman. He knew just exactly what kind of a person she was. He could have started right from the beginning to tell her that He knew all about her, but he didn't. Isn't it lovely the way the Lord approached her and spoke to her? I think it's so beautiful to see the way He talked to her. Sometimes we say things and we repel people. We make them feel unwilling to listen.
But isn't.
Wonderful what the Lord did here when he saw this woman here by the well, He didn't start to say anything about the wicked life she had lived, but he said, give me to drink, give me to drink. Was it possible that she could give refreshment to the Son of God? Was it possible that a poor sinful person like her could bring joy to the heart of the God?
Come down in manhood the Son of man, the Son of God. Is it possible for somebody in this room to give joy to the heart of God? Yes, it is. It says in Luke chapter 15. I say unto you that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 Sinner that repenteth that this woman was going to give joy to the heart of God. She was going to give joy in heaven. She was going to satisfy.
The lying heart of the Savior.
Who had come to bless? And so he said, give me to drink. She didn't know. She didn't know at this time how she was going to bring joy to his heart. Perhaps she gave him a drink of water from the well. I don't know. The Scripture doesn't tell us particularly that. And because she became so engrossed in listening to what he had to say, the water seemed to have been forgotten.
But she she got something more than just the water out of the well, and the Lord received more.
More than water out of the well and because he had come to bless her and he did bless her. She found him that day. She found the Savior of the world. She found him as her own personal Savior. So the Lord Jesus said give me the drink and then in the ninth verse and the eighth verse it says for his disciples were gone away into the city.
To buy meat. Isn't this interesting too? Because.
You know what we have to do with the Lord. It's a dealing we have to have alone. If the disciples had been there, they might have all had something to say, and she might have felt quite distracted. But it was all arranged, as I say.
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The Lord came there with the disciples, they went away to get meat, and the Lord was left alone to talk to her. Reminds me of a young man.
And he was hurt when he was playing a game and he was taken to the hospital, knocked unconscious.
And after being in the hospital for two or three days.
He seemed to be coming along pretty well.
And then one day, the nurse came in and put a screen around his bed and walked away. He thought, I wonder what she's doing that for? He said to her, what? What did you put a screen around and said? I was told to put a screen around your bed. Oh, he thought, can it be that I'm going to die? How are they doing this? Because he knew that that's what they often did when a patient was going to die. They just put a screen around the bed. Can it be? They haven't told me.
And that I'm going to die. And there behind the screen, his whole life came up before him. All his sins. He knew he wasn't ready to die. And there behind the screen, he faced that past life that he had lived. He remembered how the Lord Jesus came to save sinners. He opened his heart and received him as a sinner's Savior.
And peace came into his soul, and the peace that God.
Alone can give because the scripture says peace has been made through the blood of His cross. Dear friend, you don't have to make your peace with God. That was made at the cross. Jesus made peace through the blood of His cross. We just received the peace that He made. He is our peace. The scripture says it's a person who is our salvation. It's a person who made peace.
Well, to go on with the story.
He accepted the Lord as his savior, and in a short time, the nurse came back full of apologies. Oh, she said, I'm so sorry I made a mistake. It wasn't your bed. It was another room. I was supposed to put that screen around. Oh, she's he said, you didn't make any mistake. He said God planned that. He said, I found the Lord as my savior behind that screen. And dear friends, it was no accident that this woman was left alone.
To talk to the Savior when we have to do with God. It's a thing between your soul and God. I can't save you. Nobody can save you but Jesus. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. The Lord Jesus is the only Savior. Well.
She was a little bit, shall I say, prejudice at first.
She said to him, how is it that thou being a Jew askest drink of me, which I'm a woman of Samaria for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans. And you know, isn't this often so that people are afraid to have a dealing with the Lord Jesus just like this woman, she thought I'm a Samaritan, he's a Jew, we're just not going to have any dealings. And so she was full of prejudice, but she didn't know that he wasn't just a Jew.
He was the Savior. It's true, He was born of the tribe of Judah, but he was the Son of God. He was the one who was born to this world of a virgin. And it says that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. This was God come down into this world. But as I say, she had never had any dealing with him.
And I perhaps there's someone here tonight and you've never had a dealing with a savior.
And so perhaps you withdraw, you hold back. And so she felt that way, and she asked him, and what did the Lord answer? She said, He said, if thou knewest the gift of God.
And who it is that saith unto thee, Give me to drink? Thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. In other words, the Lord said to her, salvation is a gift. A dear friend. If it's a gift, you can't pay for it. If you came along and you offered me something, and we'll say it's worth $50, and you give it to me for five, it's a bargain, but it's not a gift.
It's a bargain, I say, but it's not a gift. In order to be a gift, it must be free. And soul salvation is a gift. The gift of God is eternal life. It tells us in the Epistle to the Romans. And so the Lord said, if thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith unto thee, give me to drink, thou wouldest have asked of him.
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And he would have given the living water if she was unwilling at this.
This point to give the Lord Jesus a dream. He was willing to give her something better than what he had asked for. He had just asked for a drink from Jacob's well, but he was a free giving God. He was there to give everlasting life. He was there to give the water of life.
The scripture says whosoever there's a thirst, let him take of the water of life freely. It's free. It isn't that it wasn't costly. When things are given to you for nothing, it doesn't mean they don't cost anything. Why? Some of the best things we have in life are free, but it doesn't mean that they're not without a cost. And so who could pay the price of sin? Who could buy salvation? I couldn't.
But Jesus could.
Someone has put it in the little hymn, there was no other good enough to pay the price of sin. He only could undo the door of heaven and let us in. So he said, if thou knewest the gift of God. Two things she didn't know. She didn't know salvation was a gift and she didn't know who Jesus was. She didn't know that the one who was talking to her was really.
God's beloved Son. And it might be too, that.
You don't know what God is willing to do for you. Maybe you don't realize.
Now that it's with him, you have to do. Perhaps you think it's with someone else, a preacher or somebody, but you know it's with God you have to do. It's with the Lord Jesus that you have to do. And so he, he said thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. And now we find this little incident, this story brings before us such a display of our natural hearts. First we find that she was prejudice she didn't want.
To listen, because she had never had any dealing with Jesus before. And then the next thing was, she began to try and reason it out. She said, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with in the well of his deep. From whence then hast thou that living water, have you tried to reason out salvation?
Well, dear friends, we just have to accept what God says as God's word. You say, how could I, just by believing, be saved? Well, you just believe what God says. You accept it because God has said it. I know I'm saved tonight because I have accepted what God says. What? What is it that gives me assurance?
The Bible says, He that believeth on the Son hath ever.
Lasting life. It tells us in first John chapter 5 and verse 13. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life. Does God want us to go on in uncertainty? Does He want everybody in this room to have to be uncertain when this matter is so important that we'd have to leave this world and not know?
Oh no, he wants us to know.
Right now. And so he says he's written these things that we may know that we have eternal life. Or again in the 4th chapter of first John it says.
That we may have boldness in the Day of Judgment, because as he is.
So are we in this world?
Notice that we have boldness in the day of judgment. Why? Because as He is, where is the Lord Jesus now? Isn't he at the right hand of God? Or isn't Savior as He is up there, the one who settled my debt of sin?
He says you have to wait till the judgment day. No, he says, as he is, so are we in this world. Isn't that wonderful? I remember a dear Christian lady back in Ottawa, Canada, where I live.
She had been brought up in a home where she had never heard the gospel, and she said she went to a meeting and she heard the preacher quote that verse. As he is, so are we in this world. Oh, she thought, that's the best news I ever heard. To think that I can be right here in this world and know that as Christ is there, so am I while still here in this world.
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That gives boldness about the Day of Judgment we don't have to fear.
We don't have to hope that somehow in the day of judgment, everything will turn out all right. The judge himself tells us there's no condemnation. Could we have better than his word? If you were going to be brought up to court and the judge was able to give you assurance that you wouldn't be condemned, could you have anything better than the judge in the final Court of Appeal? Well, the judge himself turned over to the 5th chapter, and you'll see that the scripture says just that. John 5.
In verse 22.
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent Him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. Here we find the Father commits all judgment to the Son. And what does he do?
He turns to us and says, if you believe I will not condemn you, isn't that grand? Isn't that wonderful to know?
Well, this woman tried to reason it out. She said, how could Jesus get water out of that well? She said the well's deep. How could you get water out of that well? Try to figure it out. And I know many people when they come to the Bible, they just try to Raisin everything out and they never get peace because they never rest on what God says. But when we rest on what God says, then we.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son cleanseth us from all sin shall not come into condemnation. What more could we have than His word to assure us?
He said, art thou greater than our Father Jacob, which gave us the well and drank thereof himself and his children and his cattle? You might say what an insult this was. Was the Lord greater than Jacob? Why, he was the Son of God. But there are a lot of people that just think of the Lord Jesus Christ as an ordinary man, but he isn't, He's God.
Well then, the Lord said again, Whosoever drinketh of the water of this water shall thirst again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. In other words, the Lord said, I'll put the well inside of you.
That's what makes us happy as Christians, because when we're saved, the well is put inside. We possess everlasting life and it's in us a well of water springing up into everlasting life. Or as Jesus said on another occasion, he said, he that believeth on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. People of this world go here and there to try and find something.
Satisfies. But when you get saved, it's inside. Christ comes into your heart, the well is inside, and the well springs up into everlasting life.
Well, this lady at last, now she's awakened, she she realizes that the life that she had been living hadn't brought her this kind of satisfaction. She had been trying different ways of getting satisfaction.
She had tried one person and another. These things didn't bring satisfaction and many people try. The life this woman lived shows that she was trying one thing, other people try other things, but she was trying to find something that would satisfy. And so here, when the Lord speaks this way, she said, well, I'd like what satisfies. And so, dear friend, I hope there's someone here tonight who would.
Say, well, I'd like to have a drink of the water of life. I'd like to have what satisfies. It's a blessed thing when you receive Christ to have the well inside. She said, Sir, give me this water that I thirst not neither come hit her to draw. She wanted to have it. Perhaps she would like to have the peace the Christian has. Perhaps you say, well, I wish I could say for sure, but I was saved and that heaven's my home that I didn't need to be afraid of the day of judgment. So she said, give me.
This water, now the Lord has to do something, something that perhaps wasn't very pleasant for her. What was it?
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Well, he had to show her that she needed to have her sins put away.
He needed to show her that sin could never be in the presence of God. And so in the most gracious way, he, as it were, raises the sin question. He said go call my husband and come hit her. He knew what kind of a life she lived, but he didn't say anything about it. Why did he put it that way? All he was speaking to her conscience. And dear friends, you have a conscience. I don't say you've been living the way this woman lived.
But I say, the Bible says all have sinned and she was living that way, but we've all sinned one way or another. We all have sins. And so this woman realized that the Lord had put his finger on a sore spot. He had, he had made her feel very, very uncomfortable because she found out that.
That she was in the presence of one who was searching her heart, and you know, God searching our hearts.
Every sin must be punished. God doesn't Passover sin, He punishes sin.
But the only way that we escaped the punishment is that another took it in our stand.
It says he was wounded for our transgressions. It says the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of a song. It was him that took our place. I remember going to see a dear man in the hospital many years ago, and he knew the Lord as his Savior. And the last time I went to see him, his voice was very weak because he was getting real near the end of his life.
And I I still can't.
To forget the way he looked happened with a smile on his face, he said. Gordon, isn't it lovely to know the judgments behind you and not ahead of you?
How could he say that? What did he mean, judgments behind you all? He meant that his sins were laid on Jesus. So the judgment of all his sins was passed and he was looking forward to meeting the Lord Jesus, the one who died to save him. There was peace in his heart. He knew that sin had to be judged, but he knew the sins had been judged. The Lord hath laid on him.
The iniquity of us all. You can't remember all your sins.
Nor can I, but God, who knew exactly what we were and all about us. God is the one who took up and settled the question of sin.
I remember hearing of a man and he was dying and he gathered his children around him and he spoke to each one. And perhaps the way he expressed himself was rather different, but he asked each one, starting at the oldest, have you put your sins on Jesus? The oldest one said yes, Daddy. He asked the second one, have you put your sins on Jesus? He said yes, daddy, when he came to the very youngest one in the family.
And he said unto this little girl, he said, have you put your sins on Jesus? She said, no daddy, God did that. Oh how lovely that child had learned the secret of peace. Because if I had to put my sins on Jesus, I might forget some of them. But God, who knows sin, who measures sin properly, He's the one the Lord hath laid on him, that is on the my Savior.
The iniquity of us all, well, he, he as it were, opens the page of this woman's history. When she said he said go call thy husband and come hit her, she thought she could cover it up. She said I have no husband.
I have no husband. Isn't that the feeling that we all have? We like to cover our sins, don't we?
But unless they're covered by the blood of Jesus, they're still outstanding. They're still outstanding.
And so she tried to cover it up just just the way any natural person would be, and she said I have no husband.
And then the Lord had to say, I know everything. I know all about you.
Then what did she do? Did she say, oh, I'm so glad I'm in the presence of one who knows all about me? She did just what everybody likes to do when you come to that point. She started to talk about religion. She started to talk about how religious she were. And she said, Sir, I perceive that you're a prophet.
Now she said, my father has taught me that we were to worship in this mountain. And do people say that we're to worship at Jerusalem? So she said, I'm confused. Well, you know, that's just the way people are. They're so concerned about places. Instead of a person, it's a person who saves. It's a person. She wondered whether it was in this mountain in Samaria or whether it was at Jerusalem.
00:35:23
Well, the Lord said, you worship ye none.
Not what we know, what we worship, because those Samaritans carried on a sort of a mixed worship, and they partially worshipped idols and they partially worshiped God. They carried on a mixed worship. But the Lord didn't say whether salvation was in Samaria or whether it was in Jerusalem. Because actually she got saved in Samaria. She got saved right on the spot there, right by Jacob's well in Samaria. She didn't have to go to Jerusalem to get saved.
And so you don't have to go to.
Special place to be saved, but you have to come to a special person, and that's the Lord Jesus. He's the only Savior. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we must be saved. Oh, how important to come to him, for the Lord Jesus said him that cometh to me.
I will in no wise cast out.
And so when the Lord had said this to her.
And she said, He goes on, He said, Ye worship. Ye know not what we know, what we worship. For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. In other words, it was a person who was to be worshipped, and the worship must be, as we were saying at the beginning, from a heart.
That has been filled with gratitude because we have been saved through that precious Savior, redeemed by his precious blood. And so it says.
It says the Father seeketh such to worship him. Notice the verse doesn't say the Father seeks worship, but he seeks worshippers. And you say what is the difference whether he seeks worship or worshippers? Well, let me put it this way. If God wanted to have sweet music here tonight, He could make every empty chair sing better than any of our voices.
If that was what he wanted, we could have a mechanical instrument.
Here that would give the sweetest music, far better than any of our voices can sing, if that's what it was that God wanted. But what does He want? He seeks worshippers, people, that's what He wants. There's a verse in Hebrews 13. It says by him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name.
Again, another verse says.
That we should sing and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. And you know, it's not how well you can sing. It's not a mechanical instrument that worshipped. It's whether it comes from the heart. And I'm quite sure that everyone in this room who knows the Lord Jesus as Savior who has put his or her trust in the Lord Jesus and can say he's shed his blood for me and I trusted in him as my Savior.
There is worship in your heart to Him now that is an overflow of Thanksgiving in praise to Him. It's not just how well it might be expressed, because some might be able to express themselves better than others. That isn't the point. It's whether it comes from the heart. I never told our children when they were small at home. Don't say thank you to me until you can say it plainly.
I I was glad when it was just.
Tata or whatever that I knew there was gratitude in their little hearts. That meant more to me than a big spiel from someone who was older who just said it in a way that they were trying to please me. What I wanted was that it came from their hearts. And so, you know, when you know the Lord as your Savior, you're a true worshiper. There's a verse in Matthew that says this.
This people draweth nigh unto me with their mouth.
And honoured 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. There's plenty of worship around from people who are just carrying on something, as, shall I say, a planned, ordered thing, when it doesn't come from their hearts. What God wants is what comes from the heart. And so if you really know, the Lord is your Savior.
00:40:22
Don't be.
Concerned about how well you can express yourself, but just look up tonight and say, Lord Jesus, thank you for dying for me. Thank you for shedding thy precious blood for me. And that's true worship. That's what he values. So he said the hour cometh and now is it's right now, friend, you can right now look up and thank the Lord Jesus.
You don't have to wait until a meeting is over until we all join in the song, but right now, worship can just grow up in your heart as you thank Him for what He has done for you at Calvary's cross, in dying in your place.
They that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. That is what true worship is.
Well, tells us in the 25th verse, the woman saith unto him, I know that Messiah cometh, which is called Christ. When he is come, he will tell us all things.
You know, the Lord had been leading this woman onward, shall I say, first of all, she had been prejudice and He had broken this down. And then she had tried to reason about it and the Lord showed her that it would be a well of water in her heart. Then she knew she needed this living water and she said, give me this water.
That then the Lord had shown her that she was a Sinner, and she, He had shown her that sin.
And was a serious thing in God's sight. Then she started to talk religion, and he showed her that true worship was that which was produced in the heart by the Spirit of God. And at last she comes to the point where he was seeking to bring her. And what is that?
Oh, she said, I see it now, it's Christ I need. She said, when Messiahs comes, which is called Christ, we'll have all the answers then. In other words, he said, I see it, it's Christ that I need. And what did the Lord say? He said, I that speak unto thee am He. In other words, when she came to that point, while he revealed himself to her, and she found herself in the very presence of the one that she needed.
The most and dear friend, I want to tell you when God brings you to the point when you realize you're a Sinner and you realize that you're lost, when you realize that you need him, He's right there to come into your heart. He's right there to wash away your sins. That's why he went to Calvary. That's why he died. That's why he rose again. That's why tonight He's a risen Savior at the right hand of God.
And he said, I that speak unto thee am he?
I believe at that point she passed from death unto life. I believe at that point something wonderful happened in her heart because the Bible says she left her water pot and went into the city. What did she go for? Well, someone said. Someone said she left the water pot and went away with the well. I believe she did. She left her water pot. The well was in her heart now and so she went into the city and what was?
The first thing that she did, she wanted her, her friends to know about Jesus. And that's the way it is. When you're saved, you always want others to know. You can't help but if you get something good, you always tell your friends. And so when she knew that she had met the Savior of the world, she had met him and talked to him. She thought he was only a Jew and she didn't know how he could draw a water out of the well. But now she had found.
Behavior and he had found her and she goes to the man and she said come see a man that told me all things that ever I did.
And, you know, I suppose the last person on earth that we'd like to be with is a person that knows everything we ever did. I don't suppose anybody in the world ever knows everything that we've said and done and thought. But isn't it wonderful? I'm going to spend eternity with somebody that knows everything I said and done and thought, and I'm going to be perfectly happy in his presence because he has put away all my sins and his precious blood. And you will never.
Never be happy until you've met the One who knows all about you and loves you just the same, loves you just the same, died for you. And so she tells these men, she said, there's somebody here that knows all about me. Come and meet him. Come and meet him. And so they came out too, to meet the Savior. I hope others will come tonight to know the Savior whom we have brought to know.
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Wasn't a very.
Long message that she gave them. She just simply said come see a man that told me all things that ever I did.
Well, while she was away talking to those in Samaria, the disciples came and they said to the Lord, they said.
Master ate and he said, I have meat to eat that ye know not out of.
They thought that someone had brought him some food, but the Lord said, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. Now that is the Lord's pleasure was to bless a poor Sinner like this one who had come to the well. And you know, tonight the Lord's joy is to bless sinners. The Lord's joy is to bring sinners to himself.
We're happy because we've been brought to him.
But I repeat what I said at the beginning, there'll be joy in heaven tonight if there's a Sinner receives Christ as Savior. There's joy in the presence of the angels of God over 1 Sinner that repenteth. So the Lord said I have my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work. And then he said to the disciples, you say it's four months till the harvest comes, but he said, look, look.
The fields are white already to harvest. In other words, there's always a tendency to put things off and say, well, some later time is better.
Some later time, perhaps there's someone here and you say, well, I think I'll put it off, my dear friends, now is the time.
Now is the time of salvation, and then let me say to those who know the Lord as Savior.
We have the privilege of telling others of our Savior. Are we going to put it off?
Supposing we say, well, I'll talk to others some other time, perhaps death may come. Just a couple of the Lord's days ago, just about two weeks ago when we were in Hamilton, a young lad that we knew very well was out looking after the farm chores and just as suddenly as you can turn your head, he was attacked by a bull.
And instantly killed.
None of us ever expected it. He didn't expect it. He had a diamond ring already to give to his girlfriend that week and the girl had to come to the funeral instead of to the to get the ring. And how quickly his life was snuffed out, we don't know. Now is the time. Lift up your eyes now. Now is the day of salvation.
And we who know the Lord, we want to see you saved now.
We don't want to see you put it off. The fields are white to harvest. The Lord is coming soon.
Death may overtake you suddenly. Now is the time of salvation. And so the Lord said he wouldn't even stop to eat. He'd rather speak to this woman that she might be saved. And the Lord wants to save anyone who will receive him. Again, let me quote that verse. Him that cometh to me, I will in no wise cast out.
And then it says in the 39th verse. And many of the Samaritans of that city believed on him for the saying of the woman which testified. He told me all that ever I did.
So when the Samaritans were coming to him, they besought him that he would tarry with them.
And he abode there 2 days.
And many more believed because of his own word.
And I want you to notice this 42nd verse. And said unto the woman, Now we believe not because of thy saying, for we have heard him ourselves, and know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.
They, they turned and they said to her, We have heard him ourselves. And now, dear friends, each one here is courteously listened to what I say, because you know, you can't have peace by resting on what I say. I can try like peace.
Or dead to, or like Andrew did to lead his brother to the Savior. Andrew found his brother and he brought him to Jesus. But if you want to have assurance, it must be by resting on what the Lord says. So they turn to the woman. He said we believe because of what the Lord Himself said, and we rest on His word. Ingenuity. Your friends are the only thing that'll really give you peace.
00:50:23
I am a natural doubter myself.
That's my natural tendency, and I never got peace until I rested on what the Lord said. As long as I looked inside for feelings, as long as I was trusting to those feelings, I never had any peace, because your feelings change. When I was occupied with whether I had enough faith or not, I didn't have peace. But the important thing is that you look away from yourself and that you rest upon Christ and that you rest.
Upon his word.
And the verse that I like to rest upon for my soul is that lovely verse that I already quoted to you. The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth us from all sin. That is what gives peace to my soul. It isn't my feelings because as I say, your feelings can change. Some people have a lot of faith in their feelings. I don't because I find they change.
Some people have a lot of faith in.
Their own works. But you know, God says that we're sinners, all have sinned. He says all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. But you know, to have faith in the Lord Jesus is what saves. And again, I want to say, as I've often said, it's not the amount of your faith, but whether your faith is in the right person, if your faith is in yourself.
You'll always have doubts, but if your faith is in Christ, even if it's only a little faith.
Supposing you had a check for $100 and you only had a little bit of faith that the check was good.
But when you presented it, the question is not how much faith you have, but whether the man is as good as the check he made out.
And if he is, no matter how weak your faith is, when you present it, you get the whole sum of $100 because the man was good. And dear friends, the Savior is worthy of your trust.
Of your trust, you and I can never save ourselves, but he is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him. And tonight if you just look away in trembling faith and say, Lord, I am a Sinner, I trust in Thee as my Savior. Did he finish the work? He said it is finished. Has God accepted him? He seated him at his own right hand. Has he given us his word? Yes, he has.
What more could God do to give peace to our souls that we might know with a divine assurance that we are saved, that we have eternal life? Well, you can have that Savior tonight, and just as really as those at Samaria, so you can receive him tonight. And it only takes a moment to open your heart and receive him, the blood of Jesus Christ.
His Son cleanseth us from all sin.
Law or Grace
Recovery and Revival
Understanding the Times
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn to First Chronicles 12TH chapter, First Chronicles chapter 12. I'd like to read a few verses in this chapter from the first verse. How these are they which came to David to zip lag while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish.
And they were among the mighty men, helpers of the war. They were armed with bulls, and could use both the right hand and the left in hurling stones and shooting arrows out of a bow. Even of Saul's brethren of Benjamin. And passing on to this 16th verse. And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the hold unto David.
David went out to meet them, and answered, and said unto them.
If ye become peaceably unto me to help me, thine heart shall be knit unto you. But if ye become to betray me to mine enemies, seeing there is no wrong in mine hands, the God of our fathers, look thereon and rebuke it. And the Spirit came upon Amasii, who was chief of the captains, And he said, When are we David? And on thy side did thou, son of Jesse peace. Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine.
For thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band and the 32nd verse, and of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do. The heads of them were 200, and all their brethren were at their command. Perhaps they could just look back also.
In the eighth verse.
And the Gadites, they're separated themselves unto David, into the hold to the wilderness. Men of might and men of war are fit for the battle that could handle Shield and Butler, whose faces were like the faces of lands, and were as swift as the Rose upon the mount. Well, there were two particular verses that I had upon my heart tonight, one in this chapter and one in Acts. The one here is particularly this 32nd verse, and that is.
The man of Issachar were men that had understanding of the times. The verse in Acts was the passage. We'll turn to it later. In connection with serving our own generation by the will of God. I believe in the meetings that have been held here. It's been much set in connection with the family and the importance of going on for the Lord in our family life.
And I thought these two verses were especially important for us.
Having understanding of the times and serving our own generation by the will of God. And the reason I read these other verses in this chapter is because to me, it's very interesting to see here that David was rejected. He was haunted by Saul. He was God's king, but he was in the place of rejection. And that is our place as we seek to go on in these days. The one whom we acknowledge is Lord, the one whom we recognize.
King of kings and Lord of Lords is rejected, it tells us in Hebrews 2. We see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. We look up and recognize Him as the rightful King. We recognize Him as our Lord. And so here we see that these ones who came out to David to be helpers first of all.
Who were ones that were, it says of Saul's brethren of Benjamin.
Don't cost these people something to take a stand of this kind. Saul was the king at this time, and yet here were the ones who were Saul's dragon, and they separated themselves because they recognized that David was God's rightful king. This must have been very difficult for them. It's always hard to go against flesh and blood.
Others that perhaps are very near and dear to us as those who are related to us by ties of nature, might possibly be a hindrance to us in following the Lord devotedly. And here we find these, these men. To me it's very blessed and very interesting to think that these who are spoken of as Psalms, brethren of Benjamin, they come out to be helpers of David.
And you know, if we're going to.
The Lord, He must be first, it tells us, Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. And so we see that to put the Lord 1St may often cause us to have to take a stand, where perhaps even those who are nearest to us may not understand, in order that we give the Lord Jesus.
00:05:17
His rightful place, first of all.
And then also, when we read about these Gadites in the eighth verse, perhaps you'll recall that when the children of Israel crossed over to Jordan, 2 1/2 tribes decided to remain on the wilderness side of the Jordan. And it tells us distinctly the reason they did that was because of their flocks and herds, because they wouldn't have to be in as much conflict.
So if they settle down there, it was a place that was very.
Pleasant they could leave their lives and their children their cavalier, and while they were content in some measure to fight the Lord's battles, they didn't want to be thoroughly and completely engaged in this. And Gareth was one of these tribes. There was the tribe of Reuben, the tribe of Gab, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and these had settled on the wilderness side of the Jordan. Now they hadn't decided, as I remarked, to cross over and to give.
And to give the Lord his rightful place. But I think it's very lovely here to see, first of all, those of the children of Benjamin, those who are near to King Saul, who recognized that David was God's rightful king and separated themselves to follow David and to be his helpers. And then we found these, and they had.
They could have said well.
We're part of the group that has settled down on the wilderness side of the Jordan, and we can't come and in a special way declare our devotedness to God's king across the Jordan because we've settled for something a little less than that. But here we find how this tribe come, those who decide that they're going to give David the rightful place. And so here, perhaps in the first case, it is going against what we might say, those who are.
Near and dear by ties of nature. And in the second instance it seems to me that it was setting aside that which was ease and comfort, because that was the reason they settled on that side of the Jordan, and giving this up in order to be devoted to David and to go to him in the hold. Or in other words, in The Cave where it was no easy path. For it's often been remarked that the flesh likes an easy path.
Evil path, and if we're going to follow the Lord, it's going to cost something.
One of these came all David wondered if they really knew what they were doing, because he thought perhaps that they had come to betray him. Was it possible that these men who had such ties in other directions would be willing to come out? And so he asks them. He said, Have you come out?
With true heart to me. And I think the answer here of a Maasai in this 18 verse is so lovely.
He said, one, are we, David, and on our side, as thou son of Jesse, you know there's no such thing as taking sides among the people of God, but there is such a thing as taking our side on the lower side, that is to give him his rightful place. And so as they were on the side, as they say of David and they said.
Thine are we? We like to sing that little hymn, don't we? I am lying, O Lord, I have heard thy voice.
And it told thy love to me, but I longed to rise in the arms of faith.
And be closer drawn to thee. And so here they come and say, Thine we are on thy side, thou son of David, peace, Peace be unto thee, and peace be to thine helpers, for thy God helpeth thee. Here we see the path of faith, here is the path of blessing. And these had decided to come out and choose to follow David, to give him his rightful place.
Now among these different ones, who came from all the various.
Tribes. The Spirit of God has been pleased to tell us how many there were from the different tribes that came in every case but those of the men of Issachar. And this is quite interesting to me. And that is if you read over carefully, beginning from the 24th verse, it tells you the number from the tribe of Judah, the 26th verse the number from the tribe of Levi.
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The 29th verse, the number from the tribe of Benjamin.
But when it comes to the men of Issachar, we're not told how many there were that come that came. It simply says, And of the children of Issachar, which were men that had understanding of the times to know what Israel ought to do, the heads of them were 200 and all their brethren were at their command.
The Spirit of God, as I say, doesn't tell us how many came from the tribe of Issachar, but it does tell us that they had leaders who had understanding of the times. And you know how often we realize how important this is, whatever time we're living in, in the history of God's people, whether it was Israel in their time, whether it's ourselves in our time, how important it is that we should have.
Understanding of the times that we should know the proper conduct that is suited to us at any given time in the history of God's people upon the earth. And God has given us instruction in his word for this. He hasn't left us to our own thoughts. The Lord doesn't change, but times do change and we do need that wisdom which he alone can give us. And if we have understanding of the times and it says.
They knew what Israel ought to do. There was a time, for instance, when Israel didn't have a king at all. Then there was a time when they had a king. And we found that when they first wanted a king, Samuel was very grieved. He said they rejected the Lord from being their king, and they want to have a king to be like the nations. Well, the Lord said give them a king, and then Samuel thought it was necessary.
For him to recognize that this one was in the place of the king and he sought to be faithful and to bring before Saul away he should walk. And so there was a wisdom that was needed for Samuel before they had a king. There was also a wisdom that was needed for them when they had a king and the Lord gave him that wisdom how to act and I'm sure that if we.
Take the Word of God and read it carefully. We'll find that there is something in God's Word for any time in which we live, whether it's back in the days of the apostles or today. God has described the way things were at the beginning. He has even told us the way things would be at the end. He tells us in Laodicea that there was lukewarmness, he said.
As they were rich and increased with goods and felt they had need of nothing. But there was a path of faith in every generation.
Those who desired to walk to please the Lord would find if they were walking near to Him.
And there were three particular things that I would like to speak of in connection with having understanding of the times just in a general way. And first of all, that I'd like to bring before you is the heavenly calling of the believer that we turn to first Peter chapter one, first Peter chapter 1, and verse 3.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Which, according to His abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.
Now, if we look also at John.
16 John chapter 16 and the 32nd verse. Behold, the hour cometh. He has now come, that ye shall be scattered every man to his own, and shall leave me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto you, that in me might have peace in the world. Ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer I have.
Come the world.
One more passage and 1St Thessalonians, First Thessalonians chapter one, First Thessalonians chapter 1, and verse 9. For they themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how He turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead.
00:15:17
Even Jesus, which delivered us from the wrath to come.
Far as the new translation reads our deliverer from the coming wrath.
Well, the reason I brought these three particular scriptures is because in thinking of having understanding of the times. Now these three scriptures bring before us three different things. First of all, in Peter it shows us that we have a heavenly calling, we have an inheritance, incorruptible, undefiled, and that fate is not away reserved in heaven for us, and a son can be. Is that as far as this world is concerned?
We can expect tribulation.
And then that our proper hope, what we really look for is the coming of the Lord Jesus. And I'd just like to speak a little bit about those three different things. I remember my father making a comment one time. He said no Christian home and no training of a family is proper, no matter what is said, unless we realize that we're a heavenly people.
Now those are things that are.
Important because there are many, many things in God's Word in connection with children being obedient, the proper place of husbands and wives. All these things are very precious and very important. But if we lose sight of the fact that we are a heavenly people, we have really lost our true and proper calling here in this world.
The church in this world is not part of it, but we are a people who are separated from.
In a general sense, we're just like ambassadors in this world, and wouldn't you expect that?
If they will say India sent over someone here to be their ambassador, I thought their whole family life would be patterned after India, Indias family life. You wouldn't expect them to adopt all the ideas of Canadian planning and home life and so on because they're here as representatives of their country.
And I believe that it's very, very important for us.
In our whole outlook in life, whether it's in regards our home, our children, our relationship with one another, to remember that we are not part of this world. We are really representatives of heaven here in this world and this will have a character that will be felt. The world may change, Canada may change, but still those who come from India.
Have a certain character to maintain.
Regardless of what changes may take place in Canada, because they represent another country, and you and I represent a heavenly lamb. It tells us there in that passage in first Peter. I just look at it again when it says here, which according to his abundant mercy, that's first Peter, one verse 3 hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection.
Of Jesus Christ from the dead. The reason it uses the word again is because this epistle is addressed to the leading Jews. And these Jews had an earthly hope. It was natural for them to look for blessing in their storehouse and in their barn, Was natural for them to expect that prosperity on the earth would be a sign of God's blessing. All this was proper and right to them as godly Jews. But now he says.
You have been begotten and.
Not to the hope of Canaan and all the blessing that you could look forward to in Canaan, but to a hope that is heavenly.
Here now, it was very difficult for the Jews to get hold of this after the Lord Jesus had died and risen again.
When the Lord was with them before he ascended to heaven, you remember one of the last questions they asked him was wilt thou at this time restore the Kingdom again to Israel? It was very difficult for them to give up the shall I say, the earthly calling and the earthly hope, but our.
Calling, as Peter brings before us, is a heavenly calling, as it says in Hebrews chapter 3. Wherefore holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling? And so in our home life, in the relationship between husband and wife, when Paul brings it before us in Ephesians chapter 5, what is the pattern that He gives us? Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it. He uses the pattern.
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Of that which is, shall I say, the most blessed thing in connection with our heavenly calling, that we're part of the Bride of Christ to be displayed with him another day, and that as he takes such great delight in his church, failing though it is. And that this is the pattern then for us in connection with the relationship that we're in. If it's children, why then we're brought into the place as children of God.
This was a relationship that was not known in the Old Testament. Now, that is, they weren't taught to say have a father. Now, this is characteristic of Christianity, to be able to look up and call God our Father. And then too, as I say, and that our hopes are entirely heavenly so that we don't look to remain here in this world.
But we know that our true inheritance is up there. So much so.
That the Spirit of God in Speaking of blessings in Christianity always associates them with spiritual blessings. That is, we're blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ. Whenever it talks about material things, it uses the word mercies, because our proper place is heavenly and so.
When our children are brought up home.
Important it is. You think that when this ambassador from India is in Canada that he's going to tell his children to copy the Canadians and to be like them? No, he probably constantly said. And don't forget, now we belong to India, we have a image to present here and that image is to be like our own homeland.
And so now there's an image that we are.
Present to this world and it is a heavenly 1 and we belong to heaven. I particularly enjoyed what our brother Edmund Beecham was telling one time and give us a little incident, perhaps some who were to water liking the foam. I'd remember we were talking a bit along the lines of our heavenly calling and and spoke about one time and he was going to buy a used car.
And.
He looked up the hats and the paper and he found one that was advertised. He went and looked at it and he decided to buy this car and this particular car was owned by a man who was over here on behalf of the Swiss government and this part was what he wanted. It was very pleasing to him. When he decided to buy it, this man said I'm going up to Ottawa to represent.
Switzerland. And he said, I want you to be perfectly satisfied with his car, he said. Because he said if there's anything that goes wrong with it at all, I want you to get in touch with me. I want you to call me in Ottawa if there's any problem, because he said that the Swiss government must maintain a good image in Canada.
Isn't that a is not a little practical lesson of what it means that we are heavenly people and that we have a particular image in connection with the relationship of husband and wife, in connection with the assembly, in connection with our children, in connection with our business, everything we must ever remember that we are heavenly people.
He's called us to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled in the faith in the Fadeth.
Away reserved in heaven for you.
And then too, as we notice the passage.
Then we turn to in John chapter 16, the Lord is about to leave them. Does He tell them that during His absence that everything is going to be very prosperous and easy for them? No. And do you think that when the government, I speak again of India to follow my illustration, when they send a representative to a country that is not too friendly toward India, that they assure.
The ambassador that he's going to have an easy.
Time that there'll never be any stones thrown through his window, then you'll never have any problems at all. No, they probably tell him that there may be instances that will rise up that will show the hostility of the country, where he is going toward his country. But how is he to treat them? He is to receive them patiently. Now the Lord Jesus was going away. Did he tell his followers that they could expect an easy path, that everything.
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Everything is going to be rosy for them of sometimes thought when it says in John that Mary Magdalene thought the Lord Jesus was the gardener, that there's a little spiritual thought for us in that, that sometimes we think the Lord is the gardener to make everything beautiful for us. But the Lord said no, He said, as it were to Mary, No, I'm not the gardener, Mary.
I'm going up there and he said I ascend them.
My Father and your Father, and to my God and your God.
So before the Lord Jesus went away, he told them, he said you're going to be scattered everyone to his own. But he said, uh.
In the 33rd verse, these things I have spoken unto you, that in me he might have peace. Are we to expect an easy path in this world?
When Paul preached in the book of the Acts, did he ever tell the ones who were saved that they were to expect an easy path?
No, he said, We must through much tribulation enter into the Kingdom of God, He said to the Philippians And to you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to believe in him, but also to suffer for his sake.
And over and over again the questions are reminded that their portion in this world was not going to be an easy one, but rather 1 of tribulation, one of being rejected. The Lord Jesus said on another occasion and not to be upset if the world hated them because it had already hated him. And he said that the disciple is not above his master. That verse is really spoken to my heart.
Disciple is not above his master. In other words, if I expect better treatment in this world and from this world, and my Savior had, I must think I'm a little bit above him, that they should treat me better than they treated my Savior. So he said the disciple is not above his master. If they persecuted me, they'll also persecute you. And so I believe if the Lord leaves us here a little longer.
That we can expect that we may have more.
Persecution. That it's going to cost more to follow Christ and that the pressures that will be brought to bear upon us if we seek to be loyal to Christ are not going to lessen, they're going to increase.
For the godly remnant, after the church is gone, they will be so great that one of the scriptures in Daniel speaks of how the enemy would seek to wear out the Saints. Just the pressures get so great that it just seemed like to wear you out. And the Lord Jesus said that the deception would be so great that they would deceive if it were possible, even the very elect.
So we are heavenly people. We are to represent heaven. What kind?
Treatment are we to expect from this world? We're not to expect it to be easy. We're not to expect them to treat us better than they treated our Savior In the world ye shall have tribulation. But he gave them something wonderful, something the world doesn't have. And he said in me He shall have that. In me He might have peace. He assured them that he had overcome the world.
And you know, I believe that some of those who were thrown.
To the lions in the in the Colosseum at Rome and years gone by had more peace than some of us with all our prosperity.
I believe that some of those who went to the state for Christ had more peace than some of us. Some of us know what it is to be in just in turmoil and be upset and have problems and it almost seems insurmountable. And I believe from what I have read of those men and women to that when they face the the persecution and perhaps being burned at the stake or thrown to lions, they have more peace in their hearts than we do.
That's just.
Lord Jesus assured here, He said, I spoken these things, I warned you, but he said in me, you'll have peace. The world ought to look upon us and say that lo, we do go through tribulation, that there is a peace inside that which sustains us through all the constant changes of this world and the increasing pressures that may be brought to bear upon us.
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And then the third thing that he meant.
Is in First Thessalonians chapter one, First Thessalonians chapter 1, the ninth verse. But they themselves show us what manner of engine him we had unto you, that is, they lived Christ.
And then it says to Sir, he turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and they served him. And then the third thing, they waited for God's Son from heaven. Well, we have a very blessed hope. And that's the third thing that I was thinking of bringing before us. First of all, as I said, that we are heavenly people. Second, that we can expect persecution from the world.
And thirdly, that we have a.
Hope, I have a hope and is not defined a better government. It's not that the things will improve for us. We have a wonderful hope the Lord is coming.
The Lord is coming at any moment we may hear that glorious shout, that shout of our precious Savior, the bridegroom of the church to call us to be with himself. And this is the hope we need to have before us. This is a hope in family life. This is a hope in assembly life. This is a hope in business. Many who are working know that pressures are increasing constantly. As I this recent trip that I made, I was surprised how how many.
Men of perhaps you might say a middle.
Wage are even afraid of their jobs because everything is so uncertain. They thought their jobs were secure. Now things are becoming uncertain and they wonder but isn't it lovely? We have a hope. There are difficulties in the assembly. I remember hearing about some brothers who were walking out one time from brothers meeting and one said to the other, oh where is this all going to end?
And the brothers that at the coming of the Lord.
That's our hope. The Lord is coming. What a glorious hope it is. And so here, this is another thing of having understanding of the times. Surely we'd find these things that we have to go through unbearable if we didn't have this hope that isn't nice to get up in any morning, even if we know we're going to have to face problems through the day and say this may be the day.
Perhaps the Lord is going to come today and call us to be with Himself.
Well, I thought of these three things in connection with having understanding of the times that we really have a proper perspective of our position. And I believe when we do, this helps us to adjust to whatever changes the world may make if the world is going through a period of change, and it most definitely is why for us, we know the one who said I am the Lord.
I change not.
And having a sense of our real position here in this world.
That we that we belong to heaven, that we expect tribulation in this world and we're looking for the Lord to come at any moment because this gives us understanding about how to meet other situations of everyday life as we go on waiting for the Lord Jesus to come.
Now let's turn to Acts, the 13th chapter, next chapter 13 and a 36th verse.
For David, after he had served his own generation, by the will of God, fell on sleep, and was laid unto his fathers, and saw corruption.
Hello. As we have been placed in a particular generation, we could have been placed at the time of the Apostles. Things were rather different at those times, but nevertheless what sustained them, what gave them understanding of the times, was, I believe, the things that we have just spoken of.
But then it tells us here that we are to serve our own generation. We live in 1976. Is it possible for us in this very generation in which we live, to be able to meet all the changes and to serve God wisely and intelligently? The Scripture says not to be unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
So David was a king at a certain time, we were.
About those ones who came out and owned him and David knew how in his particular time to serve his generation and the Lord used him. He wasn't perfect, but nonetheless in his generation he did seek to be faithful to the Lord and God used him to accomplish some great victories and the first times who were oppressing the people of God, he was able to.
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Conquer them. So much so that when Solomon came to the throne, it was a rain of.
Peace, the results of his conquest extended on to the reign of Solomon. And so if you and I know how to serve our own generation, by the will of God, we leave a wonderful heritage, a help to those behind. I always think of poor King Hezekiah.
When Hezekiah.
Was warned about the failure in his life. The Prophet told him that there would be peace in his day.
And he said, oh, that's good, that was good. But he didn't take any care in connection with the generation that was to follow. And so the generation that followed, poor Manasseh was one of the most ungodly and wicked kings that reigned in Judah.
Are we just satisfied to have peace in our days or are we acting in such a way that we are living in our generation so that those who follow will share in the blessing and that we, shall I say, leave because we have sought to walk to please God? Sometimes we're satisfied just to have everything peaceful in our day, but isn't it important that we should live in such a way?
That we would be faithful to the Lord in our generation.
And those who follow will help to share and reap the blessing. Well, David served his own generation by the will of God. I would like to speak of a few things in connection with serving our generation. First of all, in Two Timothy, Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 4, verse 13. But evil man and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived.
But continue thou on the things which thou hast learned, and hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them, and that from a child. Thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness.
That the man of God may be perfect.
Perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
Well, first of all, in connection with serving our own generation, the most important thing perhaps is to make the Word of God our God.
Here we find that that was what is brought before Timothy. We might say that in two Timothy we have the Church of God, or the House of God. In its ruined state it had become a great house. There were vessels of gold and silver, but also of wood and of earth, and with those to honor, those to dishonor. How was the man of God to conduct himself in a day when things were in a state of ruin?
Was there a path for faith? Could he really go on for God when everything was in the state of ruin? What was the resource? Isn't this lovely? There is a resource and that is we still have the Word of God. And as I was saying to the young people down in Montreal a week ago, what a marvelous thing it is that if there was ever a time when we needed the word of God, it's now and we have it.
In the days of the apostles there was no such thing as having a Bible reading like this, with everybody having the whole Bible sitting on his knee. No such thing. They might have perhaps had a small portion of it. Many of them couldn't read, and if they could procure perhaps one book or two books of God's precious word, they would consider themselves greatly favored. But if the enemy has come in as a flood in these last days.
God has also preserved to us.
His Word, He's made it available to us. He has given us not part of it, but his whole revealed mind. For it was given to Paul to complete the word of God, and we have his whole revealed man. And so he says, you've received these things, you've been assured of them. And he said you'll find in the Holy Scriptures what's necessary to make you wise unto salvation.
That you may know that ye have eternally life.
If there's any doubts that we have, and Christians sometimes do have doubts, it's because we're looking inward for feelings or experience or the amount of our faith or something like this. But never when we rest on God's Word and this precious book, God's Word, then he is suitable for us so that we can serve our own generation. And if someone says, why are you doing that?
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To have Gods revealed mind for our tasks way.
And if someone says, do you think that's according to the word of God? Can we say, yes, I, I looked into the Scripture and I believe it is the will of God for my pathway. So isn't this lovely that we have a resource so that we can serve our own generation? Not according to the will of a certain group, but according to the word of God. We meet friends who are perhaps associated with other groups of Christians. What do we tell them? Do we say, well, our group teaches this?
Does your group teach? Now we say the important thing is what the word God says, what the word of God teaches us. And so here was Timothy in a day of ruin. What was his resource? What did he have? How could he serve his own generation? By the will of God, He had the word of God.
And it was able to make him wise unto salvation. It was profitable for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect or full grown, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. Nothing that we need to know is left out, nothing needed for our pathway is omitted.
God has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. What a resource. Then we have to be able to serve our own generation by the will of God. To be able to say, I know the path because God has worked it out and I have his word to show me.
Well, then there's another thing. Perhaps we could speak of that in connection with the family, because Timothy was brought up in that kind of a home.
And so I've no doubt that the word of God was read constantly for it says from a child, I was not known the Holy Scriptures. And I just like to say to those who are parents, what a a privilege, what an important thing to bring before our children, the word of God, to read it to them, to cause them to see that this is a revelation from God.
The message that he has given to us. So Timothy was brought up in this way.
Thing I just mentioned.
Today it's been quite interesting and that is the kind of a home that Timothy was brought up in.
Perhaps she'd never stop to think about it. Timothy had a very godly mother and a very godly grandmother, but Timothy's father was a Greek, and we're not told that he was even saved. There's no mention whatever of the faith of Timothy's father, But perhaps you could say, well, that must have been difficult when the home was sort of divided. The father was a Greek and perhaps an unbeliever, and the mother was a woman of faith.
Isn't it nice to see that?
Hello. Timothy was brought up in that home where perhaps there wasn't just oneness of purpose. Nevertheless, God honored the fact that the word of God was brought before Timothy and at home. And Timothy grew up to be a faithful person. And not because everything was just the way it should be in the home, but because the word of God was given its right and proper place. Now let's turn to.
Another.
Message in connection with it and that is in.
Romans chapter 12, Romans 12 in the first verse. I beseech you therefore gladden by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. Or the new translation reads your intelligence service. And be not confirmed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
That ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect.
Full of God.
I've always spoken about the importance of the Word of God, and especially in the home.
I thought of this passage is to deal with the our attitude in connection with the world. The world has certain ideas. The world has certain things that are constantly set before us as being the thing to do. As they say, it is now a generation and that we are to go along with the generation in which we live. Well, it's true that we use this world. The scripture says those that use the world is not abusing it for the fashion of this world.
Passeth away. But the important thing for us is that in our lives our pattern of thought, our thinking about things, should be formed by the Word of God as He has revealed His mind to us.
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So Hewitt tells us to present our bodies a living sacrifice.
Totally acceptable unto God. Now that is when we are saved.
To just say, like Saul of Tarsus did, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do now? The world has a lot of patterns. The world has a lot of ideas. We can get books on almost every subject that will set before us the world's outlook in connection with so many things, whether it's in home or dress or whatever. We can get many things that set before us the world's way of doing things. And we have to check all these things.
By the word of God. I don't say that always the way the world does things is wrong, but I do say that we have to check it by the word of God.
And so it says, be not conformed to this world, that our pattern of thought is not formed by the world, but rather that it's taught to us by the good and acceptable and perfect will of God. And how often when we have read something of the world, when we have followed some of their ideas, then we come to the Word of God and we see that God has something different to say about it.
His the plan for us isn't just according to the world's plan. And we're faced with a very trying decision. And that is why we're going to just say, well, I'm going to go along with the world. That's the way they do it. After all, we have to follow the world. Or are we going to say, no, I have to check this by God's word?
And it says be not conformed to this world that be transformed by the renewing of your mind. There are some things, as I say, that we can use the world. We're thankful. We have automobiles, we have chairs to sit on and we have lights in this room. There are many things that we use, but there are also many things in the pattern of this world's way of doing things and the pattern of this world's thinking that when we check it by the word of God, we see.
That God's will is different. God's plan is different. The world's idea of morals, the world's idea of so many things is not according to the Word of God. And so we've come to the Word of God and we bow our minds to God's revelation and we say, well, it doesn't matter what the world says or what their pattern is, This is what God says.
And So what do we find?
Well, we not only discover the will of God, but isn't this lovely? We prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God Now that is, we have a joy and a peace in walking in the will of God. And I don't believe there ever has been a Christian who has sought to do what he does in his life just to do the will of God.
And has looked back on his life with regret and said, well I wish I had followed the pattern of the.
World instead of following what the word of God said.
Maybe at times it may be difficult, maybe at times it costs something and that it's good, acceptable and perfect. And many a Christian, when he has come to the end of his life, as he looks back over it, he only wishes that he had followed the word of God and walked in conformity to the revealed will of God instead of some of the slips that we make.
In following the pattern of this world.
How many times it's been so and so we can speak of these things. Just like I could tell you, well, if you're going to a certain place, I, I might say, well take such and such a highway. I've been over that road. I know it's a good one.
Well, you don't know it until you've been over it, but after you've been over it then you can say, well, I tried it and I do think it was the best way. Someone told me about a certain way to go and I I tried it. I found it was a great deal longer than the way I planned to go on a certain trip. And when I thought it over, I thought, well, I almost wish I had gone the other way because the road wasn't as good as I had hoped. And so sometimes when.
Try things we find out. Well, they're not quite as good as what we had expected, but no one has ever sought to follow the light and wisdom and path that God has marked out in his Word and looked back and said, I wish I'd done differently.
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I wish I'd followed my own way. I wish I'd followed the world instead of the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Our own generation, we have something that we can go by. We have the word of God and may I say to you brethren here that it is important for us because the world is gradually setting aside the Bible. I don't need to tell you that you know it. You know very well that the whole outlook of things in connection with almost every.
Moral and spiritual subject is to follow their own ideas. 1 Preacher.
Said recently, it's not for us to be governed by a set of laws that was given over 3000 years ago. We live in this now a generation. And what was he doing but setting aside the word of God and saying, well, we just have to make our own plans about life. But that isn't the way for the Christian. When we hear it's ideas, when we hear the plans of this world, let's not forget we have a standard, we have God's will revealed to us.
So whether it's in home life and bringing up our children, let us bring them up under the sound of the word. But we're making decisions about which course we're going to follow. Are we going to follow the course of this world? Are we going to say, well, I have to change my thinking a little bit to follow the word of God and I prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
Then there's one other passage I would like to turn to in 3rd Epistle of John.
Your Epistle of John and the second verse belonged. I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper, and be in health, even as thy soul prosper.
For I rejoice greatly when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.
The ninth verse I wrote unto the Church. But the atrophies, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not.
Now one verse, beloved, Fennel map that which is evil, but that which is good he to do as good as of God. He that doeth evil hath not seen God.
The reason why this passage is here was an assembly and there was a man who was exalting himself. There was a man who wanted to be in the place of leadership and everyone had to go out of his will. Was it possible in an assembly like this to really go on to the Lord? Was it possible to really walk to please the Lord when conditions were like this?
Isn't it lovely to see that in this assembly where?
There was a state of things that must have been very, very oppressing to.
Gaius and Demetrius, who was mentioned in the 12TH verse. Here were two men who really wanted to please the Lord in this assembly, one to bring up their families for the Lord.
And could they go on in such a thing as this? Could they serve their own generation by the will of God, when there was such a thing as this that made it so difficult? Yes. Isn't it lovely to see that even in this, this literally state of things that existed, here was the mention of Gaius and the mansion of Demetrius who sought to go on for the Lord.
Even in this state of things and So what I thought in bringing these.
Passages before you in connection with serving our own generation by the will of God, we see how we can serve Him in the home by having the Word before us and getting that constantly before our children. And then too, in connection with the world about us, we have our minds and thoughts renewed by the Word of God, so that we can live in this generation according to the will of God.
And then if it's in the assembly, when there are difficulties and problems, there are situations that make it very trying. Isn't this lovely that even in such a thing as this, there is such a possibility of going on? And as it tells us here, these to this family were walking in the truth here was Gaius going on. You might have said, well, how do you get along with things like this?
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Well, Gaius went on, He sought to walk in the truth himself.
Demetrius had a good report of all men. So we can see that we can in this generation. If the world is in disorder, if the home is in disorder, if the assembly seems to have problems, there is a path for faith and you and I can serve our own generation by the will of God. So God has brought before us this lovely thing. We can have understanding of the times.
And I comment again.
In connection with what it says about his, a car doesn't tell how many came out to follow David. It simply says all their brethren were at their command. In other words, the influence of a life that is lived, having understanding of the days in which we live, and seeking to serve our own generation by the will of God will have far reaching effects. It will be a great blessing to others.
And so, as another has said, whether it's a ruined word.
Or whether it's a ruined church as to its testimony, or whether it's ruined as to what we see in family life today, so many broken homes. What is the answer? Christ is the answer.