Conference: 1978
Table of Contents
The Model Home
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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General Meetings Saint Francisville, April 1978, addressed by Gordon Hayhoe.
Like to let first of all a verse in Daniel Chapter 7.
And verse 25 Daniel Chapter 7 and verse 25.
And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times, and the dividing of time. How can we also turn over to First Peter, First Timothy, First Timothy, and the first chapter?
And the 16th verse.
Howbeit for this 'cause I obtain mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting, and then in the third chapter in the 15th verse.
But if I tarry long that thou mightest know how thou art just to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God.
The pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy great is the mystery of godliness.
God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit scene of angels preached under the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Well, as on my heart this afternoon to speak about First Timothy and how it brings before us the House of God. In order, we often go to an area where some new homes are built and they have what they call a model home. And this model home is sort of a little example of what the home is to be like. And the furniture's all in it and it's sort of set up to give a model. Well, you know, this world is in a state of confusion and things are getting worse.
Are we just left to the ideas and opinions of man, or do we have, shall I say, a model that God has set before us in His word? It was mentioned yesterday about how Paul was not only one who was a trophy of God's grace, but a pattern to them which should hereafter believe to life everlasting. And so in the epistle of Timothy we have what is often spoken of as the house in order.
In Second Timothy we have the house in disorder, and so instructions are given to us of how to act when the house is in disorder. But it's very lovely for us to see that God has given a pattern and shown us what it is when the house is in order. Now this becomes more and more confusing to us as we see the breakdown of everything. Roundabout our brother mentioned when he was speaking in Ottawa how God is a God of order.
But Satan likes to bring in disorder. He seeks to spoil.
All God's order that He has established and we have to be careful.
That we aren't influenced by all that is about us, which would seek to breakdown the order that God has established in his word. The reason I read that portion in Daniel 7 is to show for that is Speaking of the beast in the last days. The beast as we know is the head of the revived Roman Empire and we're part of that sphere of the world that could be spoken of in that way. And what is he trying to do? Well, it says.
It wears out. The Saints of the Most High tries to change times and laws and always see this taking place. You just get worn out trying to face new situations that arise every day and we tend to just almost throw up our hands and say, what am I going to do? There's everything so changing that. Is there any place that we can turn and find the instruction that we need?
Because the Lord said I am the Lord, I change not. And when did he say that? In the very last book of the Old Testament, Hadn't plenty of changes come in? But the Lord hadn't changed. And so Paul, writing in Hebrews chapter 13, says Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Isn't it a good thing that we have an unchanging Savior?
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An unchanging friend. An unchanging pattern. We like friends that aren't always changing.
Now, I've heard people say, young people say, well, you never know where you are with that person. They're so changeable at one time. They seem to be with you the next time not. We like friends that aren't like that. We like ones that are steady, ones that really are the same to us. And that is the character of this blessed friend that we have in the Lord Jesus. Well, I say again, just as you see a model home in an area, so you go into that home.
And it's all the furnitures in it. It's all laid out in a very tasty way.
To let you see what this home was intended to be when it's properly fixed up inside, Well, God has given just that in First Timothy. He has set before us a pattern of the House of God in order. And it's very important, brethren, in these last days. And I speak especially to those who were young, although I believe this meeting is intended for all I speak, especially to those who were young.
That we need to be very careful that we don't adapt the patterns of this world, but that we go by that which God has given to us in His precious word. I say that His pattern too is the best, because God seeks the blessing of His people. When He made this world and placed Adam and Eve in it, it tells us that his delights were with the sons of man.
He tried. Perhaps I shouldn't use the word tried. He did fix up everything in this world for the happiness and the joy and the good of man. Man went about to spoil it. He immediately led on by Satan, rejected that which God had planned and tried his own way, and introduced a vast system which is really the world, a system of things which is after man's ideas.
And instigated by the enemy himself for all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh.
The lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The vast world system. It makes man the center. It shuts out God. It says we're going to plan for ourselves. It's man in his world. But how wonderful it is that God has done something in this world. He has set up a pattern. A country might send an ambassador to another country, and that ambassador represents.
His country in the other, no matter what conditions exist in that other country, the ambassador is there to represent.
Not the changing ideas of the country where he is, but rather the country that he represents.
And we are in this world as those who are intended and should represent heaven.
Oh, what a wonderful responsibility and privilege is ours in this world to represent heaven. Where May God grant that we might desire this? We know that not only has God-given us the pattern, but he has also given us the power. For it says in First John chapter 4, Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Don't say, well, I just don't have the power to go against the current. I can't do it.
Well, Satan does try to wear us out to break us down. And in days gone by the person. If a person boldly confessed Christ, he had to make a one time sacrifice and he was burned at the stake or thrown to the lions or whatever the punishment was, he took a firm stand and once for all he paid for it with his life. He was faithful to death. That isn't the way in these Christian lands.
It's a question of having to do it not once, not twice, but all the time, because Satan is trying to wear us out just to get you to finally say I can't stand this pressure any longer, I have to give in. Well, that's the way the enemy is working today and one is sometimes commented. It's rather interesting about the different crowns that are mentioned for believers, the only one that is mentioned twice.
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Is the crown of life, and that is the martyrs crown. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Why is it mentioned the second time? Well, it's mentioned in James and there it says.
Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, For when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. We might say, Well, we're not living in countries where we're likely to be martyred, so we could never get that crown from the Lord's hand. The Lord says, Oh yes, you can, You have to meet temptation 7 days in the week. You have to face these situations in school with your friends, and sometimes with even friends who are in the gathering.
Just to be faithful to the Lord. And the Lord values that to him its faithfulness in the midst of temptation. And it's remarkable, it says, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Why do you give in to a friend? Oh, well, you think a lot of that friend, and you say, I can't hurt him, I can't hurt her. You really have a love for that friend, and so you don't want to hurt that friend. But the Lord says I'm your best friend. Do you want to hurt me?
The Lord hath promised to them that love him, he is the one who has done the most for us.
He's the one who loves us most and loves us to the end. Well, as I said, I'd like to look at Timothy and bringing out some of these thoughts in connection with a model home that is the House of God that looked upon particularly as our individual homes. But perhaps I should say that in the Scripture, the House of God in its broader sense is Christendom in its sense, where the Lord himself is the builder.
Its only living stones and all that he builds are real.
And so the House of God is not how we act in the meeting room. The House of God is how we act because we have been saved and in that way brought as living stones into the house. Living stones, I say. So whether I'm in the meeting room or outside of it, I am always in the House of God, part of the House of God at all times, if I'm truly a child of God.
And was our brother mentioned to were made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to man. The world is looking on. What pattern do they have? Well, it's constantly changing, as I said. But they're looking on and they know that we as Christians prove us to recognize that this Bible is the word of God, that it is our guide. And therefore they have a right to expect, as they watch us now, that we would be a pattern to them.
That we would be like the model home and living stones before them, and so that the standards that they see, that we value, and that we seek to walk in our pattern for us by the word of God, well, there's different ones that I'd like to point out. As I say, first of all, it tells us in the fifth verse, the fourth verse I'll read of the first chapter. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogy.
Which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith, So do now. The end of the commandment is love or charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience and of faith unfeigned. He's bringing before us here that Christianity isn't a system of questions and reasoning. It's a testimony that we render before the world.
And when it says the end of the commandment, it's really the purpose of what God has given to us.
His love out of a pure heart. And so one of the great characteristics of a Christian is love, the Lord Jesus said.
He said by this Shalom and know that ye are my disciples. If he have love one to another, we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. We love him because he first loved us. And so it's not just a lot of questions that mark out a person as a Christian because you can answer certain categorical questions, but is the character of the family displayed its love out of a pure heart.
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And then of a good conscience. Dear young people, do we seek to maintain a good conscience? There are many people who are allowing their consciences to become seared, and they'll say, well, I used to think that was wrong, but I sort of changed my ideas, and they're allowing their consciences to become seared. And so the result is that, having lost that affection for the Lord, the next step is to give up a good conscience.
And very likely the next step will be doubts will begin to come in We see that taking place and christen them all about us. We see good conscience being given up. And then the next thing is people beginning to question the word of God. And we as Christians have to remember the purpose of these things that God has given. And each one of us should be exercised to walk in that freshness of first love.
To not allow anything on our consciences unjudged, and then to not to allow the enemy to put doubts into our minds. Because all failure springs basically from unbelief, the reason that Adam took of the forbidden fruit.
Because he doubted that God really had provided what was necessary for his happiness.
So he thought he'd have to try something else. And whenever we allow ourselves to reach out beyond what God has given, why we're practically saying, well, God is forbidden it, but he really didn't know that. I would have been happier with it. Oh no, that could never be so. There is love, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Well, this ought to be the whole purpose, and it is the purpose of what is given to us.
In this epistle, now I'd like to call attention to the 15th verse.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of whom I am chief. Well, that's the very first thing. You can't be a living stone in the House of God if you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior. Is there a young person here? You come to these meetings, and yet you have sat under the sound of the word, but you have never accepted for yourself.
This marvelous, this wonderful truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. You're still a stranger to him and to His grace. You're still on the Broad Rd. If that is solved, then I can't go any further with you. How can you be a pattern if you don't have divine life? How could you be a pattern if you're not a living stone in the house? And so this is the grand starting point. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.
And if there's anyone here, and you've come to this meeting and you're still without Christ, oh, May God grant that you will take that first step that you will accept that's as worthy of all acceptation. You'll accept this wonderful, this glorious truth. The Lord Jesus came to save you. He died on Calvary's cross for you. He shed his precious blood that you might be cleansed from your sins. What are you going to do? Are you going to say no, or are you going to receive him? I say this is the grand starting point.
And I can't go any farther with any unbeliever. If you won't take this first step, you're still without him. But oh, how wonderful it would be if you took this first step today. These meetings would all be worthwhile if you were brought to know the Lord Jesus as your savior.
And now we find he speaks in the end of this chapter about holding faith in a good conscience.
And then the second chapter, I'd like to call attention to the next thing that's brought before us. I exhort, therefore, that first of all supplications, prayers, intersection, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men and for kings, and for all that are in authority, that we might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.
Now here we find, I believe, our attitude toward the authorities, that God is established. That's a very important thing. Don't we find today that men despise authority? Young people are being brought up to despise authority. There used to be a time when there was a respect for authority, a respect for authority in the government, a respect for authority in the schools, a respect for authority in the home. We're living in a time when there's a complete setting aside of this.
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Are we following the pattern? Do we speak respectfully about the ruler of the country? Do we speak respectfully about the mayor of the town? Do we speak respectfully? The Bible says they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Yet even Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil, it says he durst not bring against him a railing accusation. But sad the Lord rebuked the it's unfitting for us, who are Christians, to join the crowd and start speaking disrespectfully.
Of those in authority or you say, but they're not ruling injustice, they weren't.
When the Lord Jesus was here, did he receive justice? Did Pilate minister justice? When Paul was in prison, did he get justice? And when Daniel in the Old Testament recognized that the Most High had committed authority in the hand of narrated measure, didn't he cast 3 Hebrew children into a fiery furnace? And Darius cast Daniel himself into a den of lions? Was it proper government?
You say you can't respect that kind of government. They did, They answered respectfully when the Lord Jesus addressed Pilate, and Pilate said Norse down after I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee, the Lord answered. Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except that were given me from above. We've, I've heard people say, well, you can't respect the authority if it isn't what it should be but God.
Has instituted that authority. And what is our part? Well, we have a tremendous influence. I often say our prayers mean far more than one vote because here we're told to pray. We're not told to vote in the authorities because they're ordained of God, but we are told to pray. And who can tell what the prayers of God's people can do? It tells us the King's heart is in the hand of the Lord as the rivers of water.
He turneth it whithersoever he will, and God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuchs. Did he get a petition up and try and work something out himself? No, they prayed, and God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuchs, will I say, just in a brief way as the world looks on and sees us who are living stones in this building, this model home in this world.
They ought to see that we're just not like the crowd. We respect authority. We speak with respect about them. We act respectfully to them. We pray for them, and not only for those in authority. But it says for all men, there may be certain classes of society who say we don't like that class of society. Well, we still can pray for all men. They have souls. They need salvation. They need Christ. And So what a lovely position the Christian is in in this world.
Instead of being caught up in which side he's on, in the political affairs, or whether he likes the authorities or not, here he is quietly in this world, praying for those who are in authority, desiring that we might live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty. Desiring that these men would be saved for God's desire is that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
Now the next point. We find in this chapter a point that is.
Rather in discussion in these days. And that is, who was it that planned the place of man and woman? Was it all of a sudden men's idea to be on top and had to push the woman down? Was that something that was planned by man? No. God planned the place of man and God planned the place of woman. He didn't intend the woman should be pushed down.
But he did appoint a place for the man and a place for the woman. He appointed a public place for the man. I will therefore that men pray everywhere, a public place, a place that they occupy. And I often say to the boys, we have a very responsible position. If you were working for a company and they choose you to be the office manager, you have a responsible position to fulfill.
And because you have been put in that place, there are responsibilities that devolve upon you in that place. And every boy in this company is responsible that God has placed him in a certain position. Now it's a very serious thing. Are we as man trying to fulfill the place? Do we occupy a public place? I will therefore that man pray everywhere.
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Did you never open your mouth publicly and pray?
Did you never stand up before some others and pray? Well, it says. I will therefore, that men pray everywhere. All may not be gifted, but they can all address God. And so here we find a public place assigned to the man. And is it something that he chose to take? No, it's a place that God chose. How is the world going to understand this? They say. Oh well.
It's just that man want to be on top because they don't recognize the Bible.
But they ought to come in among Christians and see that in our homes and in our assemblies we recognize God's order. They ought to see that when we work that we recognize this. And so it says here.
In the 12Th verse of the 11Th verse, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection. But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Or Adam was first formed, then Eve. Did God arrange this? Yes, he did. And this doesn't only apply to the home and to the assembly. It's everywhere. It's a certain order. You turn back. We won't take time to Isaiah. I think it's the 5th chapter.
Says all my people, children are your oppressors and women rule over you. They that lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. Who was it that said that that was the Lord that wasn't? That's not my word. That's the Lord that said that. And happily we find young people who come and say, young girls say, do you think I should take a job where I'd be in supervision over man?
What can I say? I said, well, God has an answer for you in his word. Here's a position that God has placed you in. And so here's the word of God. The world says, well, we have our own ideas about this. We're going to change these things. But are you going to be like the model home where you see what God has planned or you're just going to go and follow the ideas of the day in which we live? Well, you young people.
Wouldn't it be nice if all the young brothers assumed the responsibility of the place that God had given to them? It isn't the place where there's oppression, it's a place that is maintained by love. Because the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and men are to maintain that place in the way that God has planned in His word. The man who seeks to maintain the place of head in his home is to do it in love. That's God's plan. The end of the commandment is love.
Out of a pure heart. But it's a place that has been given. And so it's that which God has planned, and the woman's place in connection with what God has given her. The privilege of doing, of being the one who bears children into this world. Not as a privilege that is given to her, which men don't have, which they're unable to take, but the the man has been given a place and a place which is.
Appointed, I say, of God.
And then too it speaks about clothes in the ninth verse in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, and so on. Now that is the whole manner in which the woman presents herself, is to show that she accepts the place.
That God has given to her, she accepts it. And she has been made the beautiful, the more fair of the two sects. And so God gives her that place. She's to hold that place modestly. She's to hold that place. Instead of making the wrong kind of appeal, she wins the respect of man by her proper clothing. And this is what God has planned in his word. Isn't it nice to see that there is a model in this world?
Brother Potter used to say the assembly is not a democracy. It's not a democracy. God has raised up in the assembly those who take a godly oversight, and what a happy thing it is when this is so. The one who is in the oversight has a personal godly life, that it commends itself, and so that he wins by his life the respect of those who look up to him.
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And acknowledge that God has arranged leaders in the assembly.
Who are to be godly men? Whose homes are such that they have the respect of those who look up to them, then to in the material things in the assembly. There we have the deacons, the ones who in these meetings arranged all about getting the meals range about the seats. Wasn't this all planned? Didn't someone have this responsibility? Isn't it nice to see that God has all this plan marked out in His word?
The world may say, well, we have a we have a voting and we vote. Certain people in the assembly never chose those who were godly overseers in it. True, in the beginning the apostles did, but never the assembly, the assembly did choose those who looked after temporal responsibilities. You find that in Acts where they chose those who looked after the distribution of the funds. But.
As far as the godly oversight, it's nice to read in the 20th of Acts over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers to feed the flock of God and to be examples to the flock. Well, so we have an order. Where is it going to be seen? Do we go and visit man organized systems to find out what the order is? Now we find it in the Word, and the assembly is to be the.
Example of this.
And we ought to be aware that God has laid down certain things like this.
In his word, and he has marked it out very clearly.
All these instructions are given.
Now I just mentioned briefly what we read in the 15th and 16th verses, and there we have two verses which really we might say are the key to the whole epistle. The 15th verse shows that the assembly is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground or support of the truth.
And then in the 16th verse, it's the walk pattern after the Lord Jesus himself. The secret of godliness is the pathway of the Lord Jesus. And so if one could put it briefly like this, what is God's assembly on earth? It is responsible to hold a deposit of truth committed to it. One couldn't recognize an assembly as being an Assembly of God if God's truth was given up.
Because the assembly is responsible to maintain that a positive truth committed to it.
Where is the? Where is the the? The Church doesn't teach, But where are they going to find the truth? They're going to find it among those who have been brought to know the Lord and who are seeking by His grace to maintain that which is according to truth, the pillar and support of the truth. And then?
There is the secret of godliness. What ought the world to see in US personally?
That were like Christ. Why did the early church call the people's Christian that the believers Christians? Well, I believe it's just because they were like Christ. What is a Christian? I don't read in the Bible about some man saying I'm a Christian, but the world looked on and said these people are Christians. They're Christ like and so without controversy great is the secret of godliness.
They ought to see in us that we're Christ like. Do they see this in US, living stones and God's building? They have no other pattern. They don't read their bibles, but they do watch us. We are living epistles them. But now we come to the next chapter and tells us about doctrines of demons. And then the third verse It says forbidding to marry and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created to be received with Thanksgiving.
Of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with Thanksgiving, for it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
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Well, we know that Falls Church actually went to that point of forbidding to marry, but God instituted marriage, gave it a very special sanctity in His word. And where are we going to find out?
What marriage truly is, Are we going to find it out from the world? Some of the young people were going to be married a couple, and they were asked to write up their own vows. So they went down to the library to get some of the suggested things that they could put in their vows. And one of them came back and said, you know what? One of the things was that we could put in marriage vows? That we would be true to each other as long as our love doth last.
Well, you can see what the world is. Are we going to follow the patterns? Do we find the answer in the library? Do we find the answer when we ask the people of the world, Marriage is breaking down. Sad to say, it's breaking down even among Christians. And the reason is that they haven't followed the pattern of God's word. It's a tremendously serious thing. The Lord hates putting away. He hates divorce. He tells us he hates it.
And it's becoming a popular thing, an accepted thing in the world. Are we going to just go along with it?
Or are we going to take the other position of forbidding to marry No other way? We're going to find out.
The true pattern of marriage is in the Word, and the pattern is Christ in the church. Oh, what a perfect pattern we've got. God gives us a pattern. It's a perfect pattern. And so it's a doctrine of demons to try and destroy that which God instituted for man. And I beseech you, dear young people, to enter into this very, very solemnly remember in God's account, it's intended to be for life.
It's intended to be a pattern of Christ in the church. And if you don't think that you can really respect the partner that you're intending to marry, but you better not get married, because there needs to be love and there needs to be respect. And so the important thing for us then is.
That we follow God's pattern and in these days, a breakdown of marriage. Oh dear, young people go by the word of God.
Go by the word of God because there's no happier relationship that you can be in.
Than in the proper relationship of marriage, but the enemy is trying to smash it to pieces.
It's trying to found the whole thing on sex instead of on love. But God's intention, as set before us in His word, is to follow his plan. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it, but then the next one that's set before us too is about food. It's all kinds of.
Fads and ideas, yeah, But here every creature of God is good. Nothing to be received of. It would be of nothing to be refused of if it be received with Thanksgiving or is sanctified by the word of God and prayer. Now, there may be special conditions that require special food. I'm not questioning that, but I'm Speaking of generalities as we have it here. Every creature of God is good. Anybody tells you that meat is not good.
How are you going to find out? God's word, God's word? He says every creature of God is good. Nothing to be refused of. But do we give thanks for it? I know that you can go to a restaurant and you'll find very very few people who give thanks. But you and I who are Christians, we we ought to give God thanks for our food. All you say. Do we have to do it in front of unbelievers? Paul was on board a ship with 270 some people.
And as far as we know, there was only one other believer on board the ship, probably Luke. All the rest I expect, were unbelievers. But it says he gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, in the presence of them all. So it's nice for us to remember that people are so worrying about food and so on. I think a great question for us is, is it commanded by the word of God? Do we give thanks for it?
Simple instruction. Isn't that very blessed too for us? Well, this is God's pattern. This is the model home. Dear young people. This is what God sets before us. How lovely are his instructions. And then the eighth verse.
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For bodily exercise profiteth little or for a little time, the margin says. But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is and that which is to come. Does the Bible condemn bodily exercise? No, it says it's profitable for a little time. I believe it just means don't get carried away with it, don't get carried away with it. It's it's nice. We do need bodily exercise, but when we get carried away with it, why then we often find ourselves?
Getting so involved and often into wrong company, it profits for a little time, but if it interferes with godliness.
If it interferes with the meetings, if it interferes with giving the Lord His rightful place, if it interferes with the time to read His word, then it's not really profitable in the end for you. Godliness is profitable unto all things having promise of the life that now is.
And that was just to come. God knows how to take care of your body and mind.
Many that I have known in my life who have been so deeply involved in sports and have become really excelled in it, you find as they get older they haven't really gained what they expected in hell. But if you and I put the Lord 1St and are temperate in all things, he'll take care of us. Our bodies are the Temple of the Holy Ghost and so isn't this lovely here godly bodily exercise profits for a little time?
Perhaps some of you have heard me repeat this little incident, but some years ago, Albert Otter Lake, I remember one of the boys and we were talking a bit about sport and games and so on, and he told us this little incident, how he and a few other Christians went out to a park to play.
And having some good wholesome exercise. And in the park there were some others that were playing and this other group were having some real arguments about who was going to win and who who did this right and didn't and so on. They're really carrying on with some arguments.
And when the other little game broke up, one of them walked by where the group of Christians were playing.
And he said, we've been watching you fellas here. I think there were boys and girls watching you playing here. And he said, you don't seem to be arguing. We really had some fights over our game. Well, Alice Christian Boy replied. Well, we're just a group of Christians. We came out here to have some exercise and we were just having a happy time together as a group of Christians. Well, I thought that was very nice and that, I believe, was very commendable.
That was showing that bodily exercise does have its place. It's often an occasion of happy fellowship, but let's not get carried away with it. It's only for a little time, and godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is.
And that which is to come.
And now we find in the 12Th verse.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou, be thou example of the believers in Word, in conversation, in charity and spirit, in faith, in purity. Paul is exhorting Timothy as a young man. He's showing him that his personal life can be an example, that he can be a useful person, and nothing thrills my heart more than to see.
Young people who are growing up in this path, in Word, in conversation, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
They're really going on for the Lord. And as you watch them grow up, you know that if the Lord leaves us here, they're going to be useful. They're going to be useful. All I want to say to you, dear young people, don't give up the path of following Christ. Oh, you say, Maybe later on I'll get restored. But don't forget, you may do something while you're away that'll blemish and spoil your life. Many a young person has come back to the Lord.
Body has come back with something on his life that has spoiled his testimony.
Well, be thou an example of the believers in Word in conversation.
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In charity. And then it says in the 16th verse, Take heed unto thyself and unto the doctrine.
Take heed unto thyself. Sometimes we tell other people what to do. They look at us and they say, but you're not doing that and sadly you have to hang our heads. So we're to be an example not only in what we say, but in our lives. In actuality, what we say only carries as much weight as the life that we live. So here's a place for young people, a very important place. They're young people. The streets of the New Jerusalem are going to be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets.
The assembly has a place for young people. It's a wonderful thing to be brought up as a young person in the meeting and to be brought under the sound of the truth. To know God's order and to occupy a place in the assembly, that's a blessing to yourself and to others.
And now we find too in the fifth verse, fifth chapter, first verse, rebuke not an elder, for the margin says, rebuke not the new translation. Rather rebuke not an elder sharply, but entreat him as a father, and the younger man as brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity. Here is that mutual respect for one another, respect for those who are in a position of leaders in the assembly.
Do we speak respectfully about the older brethren? Do we speak respectfully there? There may be times when I need a rebuke. There may be times when any of us, whatever our age, we need a little word. But it's always to be done with respect, recognizing the position, the age now, and the way we treat one another. Do we treat one another in the proper way, bearing into account their age, their position in life? Are they widows?
Bearing also a boy girl relationship is a little different between two boys. You've got to be a little more careful. You can be quite free when it's just boys, but when they're boys and girls with all purity so that you see here, there's all this instruction. The world looks on. They see a pattern in this world, a pattern set before them when the house is in order, and then to the eighth verse, if any.
Provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house.
He hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel. The world is set up a way of providing for old people that saw that.
Younger people won't be. They won't have to feel any responsibility for loved ones as they get older. Is that the pattern that God has in his word? You go to an old folks home and they say, well those people have been here for months. Nobody ever comes to see them. Isn't it sad?
But it isn't to be so with us as Christians, we ought to remember that there is that care for our loved ones as they get older, our responsibility laid upon us. The world, I say, has their own ideas, but we have the word of God to go by.
There's the care, and there's nothing sweeter than to see this manifested, Bible says of the world without natural affection. Are we to be like this? Or you say that's the way the world does it today? Gordon, you're living in a different generation, but the Lord doesn't change. There's still a pattern here in this world, and here it is set before us, caring for our own. And now we come down to the 21St verse.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels, that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. Well, I want to call attention to that. That's perhaps we need to put it in simple English. That's being fair, you know, that's what I often hear people say. Well, it's not fair the way they did that. It wasn't fair.
Are we fair in our dealings? The world may not be fair. I'm sure your employer may not be fair the way he handles you. You may not find that the government is always fair in the things that they do and the things that they impose. But where is fairness to be seen? Are we fair in our dealings with one another and with our brethren? Are we fair in the way we talk and act with one another? Dear young people, are we older ones? Are you and I fair in the way we act to one another?
It's very easy, you know, just to do things by partiality. Say, well, you know, all those people are related to me and I couldn't offend that family. Are we fair doing nothing by partiality? Very easy to be influenced by it. But God's assembly ought to be a fair place. Is God going to be fair when he deals? Oh, indeed it says, it says in Peter's epistle.
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It says that when he judges, there's no respect of persons with God.
He is perfectly fair. He doesn't judge after the sight of his eyes or approve after the hearing of his ears. In righteousness, he will judge the poor and reprove with equity for the make of the earth all brother. And let's be fair, let's be fair with one another in our dealings.
Because the world is looking on and we are the model home. Now let's turn to the 6th chapter.
The first two verses let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not best blasphemed. And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved.
Partakers have the benefit. Now here is a little word for us in the way we do our work for our employer. We ought to do it in such a way that whether our believer or whether our master is a believer or an unbeliever, we try to fulfill our task in an honorable and upright way, giving respect to the person who is in the position of authority over us. Well, this is something for us too.
I found in the office where I was worked how little respect there often was for those who were in authority in the office. And I'm sure this is more and more so today, because all these things are breaking down. But let us be respectful, and if we do something for our employer, respect him. If we do business with a Christian, do it in a nice way, remembering how that we're partakers of the benefit. We're going to share eternity together.
We share the unsearchable riches of Christ. Wasn't it sad when in the Corinthian assembly some of the Saints were actually defrauding one another? They must have forgot that they were all heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. So here we see that respect in connection with an employer.
And then we find in the end of this chapter, we find the handling of material things. This is a great responsibility. It's a difficult responsibility to know how to properly handle what has been given to us. We're we're told here that we're not to hold it as our own. In the early church it says they had all things common, but as time went on.
And spiritual life declined, then tells us that the ones who had a little more than others were to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate. I believe the reason for that is that if everything was equally shared today might do harm to some people who are not walking with God to have a lot put into their hands that really wouldn't be for their good. But all those who have means God tells us that we are to be ready to distribute.
Willing to communicate. And in other words, we don't hold what we have as belonging to ourselves. I used to wonder why the Lord said to that young man, go sell that thou hast and give to the poor. I think I understand it now that the Lord was really saying to him, Well, you look on all that you possess as your own. But from now on you're my steward, and you just give it all to me and I'll tell you how to distribute it.
I'll tell you how to handle it. And really, that's what happens when you get saved. Before you're saved, it's my house, my car, it's my money. After we're saved, we just hand it all over to the Lord and then say, Lord, help me to use my home, help me to use my car, help me to use my money in a way that's honoring to thee, The world doesn't know anything about this but you and I who are Christians. We're in the model home. There's people visiting. They're looking on. Do they see things?
Fixed up in a nice way in the model home. This is what God has set before us in His word.
All you say, Brother Gordon, That's awfully difficult. Paul says fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. How can I do it? Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Oh, dear friends, it's far easier to go on in God's way than to go our own way. In the end, we'll find that it's far easier to follow the divine pattern. Her ways are ways of pleasantness.
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And all her paths are peace. So he says, fight the good fight of faith. Lay hold on what's really life.
What's really like to do your own will now? What's really life is to follow now that which God has given us in His word and that is closing with his 20th verse. Oh, Timothy Keith, thou which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings and oppositions of science, falsely so-called. I'm quite sure that if any of us try to follow this pattern, a lot of people are going to say, well, we know better. We're living in 1978.
We're not living in 19. We're not living in 8030. We're in a advanced stage. These are oppositions of science, falsely, so-called. They're saying, we know. Can any of us ever be wiser than God? Don't argue with them.
Just say it's what God's word says. This is the path for me. I believe it's the path of His glory. It's the path of blessing. It's the path of happiness. And so avoid these discussions. Remember, we can never be wiser than God. Follow the wisdom and light of His word. How May God grant that? We may take a visit to this model home, see the pattern that God has laid out, and see that it is really a very blessed and happy pattern.
That he has marked out in his word for us, and I'm sure if we walk in it, we'll, as the Lord Jesus said, wisdom is justified. Of all her children, that is those who walk in Wisdom's ways say I found it, You see the silent people's cars. I found it. When it says wisdom is justified of all her children, it just means that we found the path of wisdom in this blessed book. And as we walk in it, it's pleasantness, it's peace. May God grant that we might have grace.
In these last days, to follow the light of his precious word, let's ask his blessing.
He Made the Stars Also
Address—J. Brereton
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I'd like to turn tonight just very briefly, for one verse in Numbers chapter 24.
Numbers chapter 24 and verse 17.
These were words that were spoken by Balaam.
And he says, I shall see him, but not now. I shall behold him, but not nigh.
There shall come a star out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of Seth.
Now there's no doubt, I believe, beloved brethren, that Balaam was a lost soul.
There's nothing that gives us to believe in any way that he was a true child of God, but he was given.
To speak prophetically here, the truth of God, and particularly what I would like to speak on tonight, is this subject of the Star.
You know, the Lord Jesus is the one who's spoken of here as the one who is a star out of Jacob.
The one who would come, and as it says here would smite the corners of Moab and destroy all the children of Chef, the scepter that should rise out of Israel. And so, first and foremost, the star looked at separately, the star looked at as we have it here, the star out of Jacob is the Lord Jesus.
Christ.
The one who will come, establish his reign in righteousness, will rule with equity, will put down his enemies, and will establish a Kingdom that will never be moved.
What we find in the word of God, that there are stars spoken of.
Associated with this glorious star out of Jacob.
And I believe that we find that the stars are brought before us, or a star is brought before us in the word of God.
In three different ways.
First of all, we have the star or stars brought before us.
As a type of individual believers.
Associated by wondrous grace with the star, the star Jacob.
We also find that the star, I believe, is brought before us as a type of the Holy Spirit.
As the one who is the source of light from heaven.
And thirdly, of course, we have the star brought before us as the Lord Jesus in a particular character, and that is as the soon coming one.
Now, I'd like to follow these through the Word of God very briefly tonight. Would you turn with me, first of all to Genesis chapter one?
Genesis chapter one and verse 16.
And God made two great lights, the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.
He made the stars also.
My brethren, I'm sure many of us have meditated with a great deal of profit on this first chapter of Genesis.
God outlines virtually the whole truth of Scripture in type in the book of Genesis.
And there's a great deal of it right here in the very first chapter.
And we have in these first that we've just read, particularly the last clause.
That line of things which should be and I trust is enjoyed by everyone of us here in this room.
It says he made the stars.
Also.
Now the Son, that supreme light.
That was given of God to rule the day, I have no doubt is a picture in type of the source of light, the Lord Jesus Himself.
We also have the moon, the type given of God of the church that reflects that light and a day of darkness. But then it adds these simple words, He made the stars also.
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Now, brethren, the stars had nothing to do with being made stars.
If I could put it this way, they were not consulted.
They didn't have to do anything to become stars. They were made stars.
You know in Ephesians chapter one it speaks of God.
Who worketh all things after the council of his own will of his own will. That is, when God purposed to do something, he didn't have to consult with a number of other people as to whether it was should be done or shouldn't be done. He works everything after the council of his own will. And here in Genesis chapter one, we have the simple.
Precious statement.
He made the stars. Also. You look up into the sky at night and you see millions of stars.
Untold numbers of stars. They cannot be measured, but each one of those stars was the result of a sovereign act of God. He made the stars. The Lord Jesus was the one who actually as the second person.
As the one who was the one to carry out that will, who literally made them. But the fact remains, it was a sovereign act of God. He made the stars. Now you sit here in this room tonight and you're a child of God. By wondrous grace, you're a child of God. You belong to Christ. I trust that's true of everyone here. And it is a marvelous thing to look back and perhaps even be able to pick the day.
Some of us can't do it, but some perhaps can pick the day, even the hour when they accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And they rejoiced to be able to say on such and such a date, I was there, and I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior.
But there may be others here in this room who have to say, I don't know the day. I can't pick a day or an hour. I can't pick a particular moment. Some of us are like Bartimaeus. We have to say, all I can say is I was blind and now I see. But I don't know exactly when it took place. But thank God I'm a child of God tonight. But what is true of every one of us, whether we can name the day or the hour or not?
We are Christians. We belong to Christ tonight.
As a result of a sovereign act of God, He made the stars.
And he made you and I children of God.
He had to do it. We followed it through. It's not my thought to go through it tonight, But if we were to go back in the Word of God, we would find that the Word of God takes us back to God's exercise of the sovereignty of God in choosing you and I, choosing us by grace. And we sit here tonight. We belong to Christ as those who are chosen.
In Christ before the foundation of the world.
When it became a matter of hearing the gospel, the word of God says.
He called us when it was a question of faith. He gave us the faith. It is the gift of God. I was present at a meeting some years ago in Pine Grove.
And there was a man came to the gospel that night, and then the gospel meeting was over. He had taken strong exception to something that brother had said. The brother had been commenting on the verse in Ephesians chapter 2 where it says by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God.
Well, he, this man, this brother, and the Lord took exception to this. And when the meeting was over, he immediately came over to me because I, I knew him personally. He came over to me and he said, it's my faith, it's my faith. I have to have faith, it's my faith. And so I said to him, his name was Bill. I said to him, Bill, you know, I said, it's a wonderful thing. But when you and I to get home to glory.
And we're in the presence of the Lord Jesus. Everyone else in heaven is going to be able to thank the Lord Jesus for doing everything.
And you're going to be able to tell the Lord Jesus that you were the one who figured it out for yourself.
That the faith was yours.
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He looked at me and all he did was nod his head. Brethren, the truth of God will always give all the glory to Christ. All the glory, Not some of it, not most of it, but all the glory to Christ and make absolutely nothing.
Of man, nothing of man. In the second chapter of Isaiah we have that precious verse that says the Lord alone will be exalted in that day. The Lord alone will be exalted in that day. Now here in the first chapter of Genesis, we have this precious thing so simply stated.
He made the stars also. Are you a child of God?
He made you one. Do you belong to Christ tonight? It's a result of the work of God. He chose you. He worked by grace. Now in no way, and that's not what I have before me tonight, but in no way does that change man's responsibility. The word of God says whosoever will may come that stands. You know, you and I look at a railroad track. Perhaps you've done this. You stand on the in the middle of a railroad track and you look down that railroad.
Track. And you look and you look and you are positive that down at the end of that railroad track, those two tracks come together.
But you know they don't. You know they don't, but they look that way. Why do they look that way? Because your eyesight is defective.
You can't see far enough down the track. Well, we so often look at what is God's sovereignty, his sovereign will, and then we look at man's responsibility and we stand there in the middle of those two tracks and we say they've got to cross somewhere down there ahead of us. But they don't, they never do. They run parallel, side by side, both equally true. Here we have.
A precious, precious truth for our own hearts.
That settles forever any question, for instance, of eternal security for the believer.
He made the stars.
He made the stars. You and I are stars. We are able to shine here in this world as a light in The Dark World, in the night season. But he made the stars. We had nothing to do with it.
Now would you turn to the 147th Psalm for more?
The 147th Psalm and the fourth verse.
He telleth the number of the stars.
He calleth the mall.
By their names.
Now some months ago as a matter of fact, I was reading an article and it was referring to some old scientific.
Writings, and if I remember rightly, I think it was Copernicus.
Who was the one who came out with a star chart back around the year?
30 or 40 AD, Somewhere back in that area anyway, right around the time when the Lord Jesus was here.
And if I remember rightly, he was the one who came out with the chart who said in his chart that he had counted them and proven conclusively that there was something like 1128 stars.
And then this article went on to point out how that approximately 40 years later, I think it was another learned scientist came out and said Mr. Copernicus was all wrong. They had recounted them and there was 1198 stars, not 1148 stars. Now we come today and we know.
That we don't know.
That man looks up into the heavens and further he sees the more stars there are. He now talks about galaxies, millions and millions of galaxies which are made-up of hundreds of millions of stars. And he looks and he says I can't tell. Man is incapable of measuring what is finite.
Remember that man is incapable. It's God's way of testifying.
To the inability of man to measure what is infinite. Because he can't measure what is finite, he cannot look and tell the number of the stars.
But the word of God tells us that there is a number.
It is not a limitless creation. He telleth the number of the stars.
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He calleth the mall by their names.
As you know, in science today, they don't even try to name the stars. Most of them are simply given a number on a star chart. But the Lord Jesus has a name for every star. He knows the number of them, and he knows their names.
Beloved brethren, here is again the most precious picture of you and I, the children of God. He knows how many Saints of God, how many true children of God are there in the city of Vancouver?
You don't know, and neither do I. But he knows the number. He knows the number of the stars.
He calleth them all by their names.
You remember in the 10th chapter of John where it says he calleth his own sheep by name and leadeth them out? Isn't it a lovely thing to sit here tonight and realize that you're not just a number, that in all that vast family of God, you're just not number 1,150,000?
You're one who is known by name, one who is so infinitely precious. You are one of the stars made a star by himself.
And.
You're known by name, and we look at this world today and we say, are there a million Christians? Are there 2,000,010 million, 100 million? We don't know, but he knows, and each one infinitely precious, known by name.
And so it is brethren. I look back in my life and I thank God tonight He made me a star.
I look at my life tonight as I stand here and I rejoice to know He knows my name. He has called me by name. There is a personal relationship between the Lord Jesus and myself, signified in His knowing my name, calling me by name.
Now let's turn over.
To First Corinthians chapter 15.
First Corinthians chapter 15 and verse 40.
There are also celestial bodies and bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars for one star different from another star in glory.
Now, brethren, this has been written for a very real lesson to us. This is written in connection with resurrection.
You know, as you and I sit here tonight, I can say to you on the authority, the word of God, that there is not one spiritual blessing that you have that I don't have.
Nor is there one spiritual blessing that I have that you don't have, because God has given each of us every spiritual blessing in heavenly places. We all have them all. That's the way God works.
Blessed us with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. How many times have you read in the book of the Psalms such words as the Lord shall bless us, or such words as God bless us?
But when we come to Christianity, what do we read? God hath blessed us.
With every spiritual blessing in heavenly places, in Christ Jesus, how rich we are, Beloved brethren, we have everything, every blessing that the heart of God could think of, and we're just waiting to enter into our home, the Father's house. But what we find here in first Corinthians 15 is a reminder.
That one star differeth from another star in glory.
That is, beloved brethren, that when we get home to glory, there's going to be a sorting out. There is going to be such a thing as the judgment seat of Christ.
We were talking, some of us tonight at supper time, about the verse where it speaks about he that loveth his life shall lose it. There is such a thing, beloved brethren, as a saved soul, but a lost life.
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That is the life that has been lived for self, the life that has been lived for our own pleasure. The man who loves his life, he says, this is my life to live as I see fit for my own pleasure. The Lord says you leave, you live your life that way and you'll lose it because at the judgment seat of Christ where every believer will stand.
Not to be judged for his sins, but to have his works reviewed.
Their beloved brethren, everything that has been for self will be burned up.
Everything that has been for Christ will be rewarded.
And in the Kingdom it will be on display.
One star will differ from another star in glory. All brethren, what a what a bright star the apostle Paul is going to be.
That dear man of God who gave up everything for Christ, has it been worthwhile?
All, beloved brethren, we're going to see when the Lord Jesus rewards that has been for himself. The result is going to be one star differing from another star in glory. Now it's all going to be to the praise of his glory. Our old brother Kohler years ago used to say people say we shouldn't be occupied with crowns.
Well, that dear old brother said. I don't agree with that, He said I want all the crowns I can get.
Because he said the more crowns I have, the more I'll have to cast at his feet. So that's what I want him for, to cast him at his feet. Well, beloved brethren, there is going to be a difference.
Will everyone of us, members of the body of Christ, we will be part of that bride, but rewards are connected with the Kingdom.
And in that day of glory, one star will differ from another star in glory.
So when I look back, when I look at the thought of stars as individuals, I look back and I thank God He made the stars. He made the stars. There's no question of me ever being lost. He made me a star.
When I look at the present, I say thank God He knows my name, individually known and precious to Himself.
Every believer. And when I look at the future, there's a reminder.
That one star will differ from another star in glory.
I may have told this story before, but I remember so well years ago I was still in high school.
And I was really perplexed. One day there was an exam coming up.
And I was going to have to write this examination on a certain day, and there was a meeting the night before.
And I didn't know what to do. Should I stay home, study or should I go to meeting?
And I asked the brother, a dear brother that I highly esteemed in the Lord for some counsel. What do you do on a circumstance like that? And you know, the only counsel he would give me, he wouldn't tell me what to do. All he said was he said brother, he said you just act the way you want the record to read at the judgment seat of Christ, because you that that's how to act. Just act the way you want the record to read at the judgment seat of Christ. But you know, that's settled it that that that eliminated the difficulty right away.
How did I want the record to read?
One star will differ from another star in glory.
Now I'd like you to turn with me to Matthew chapter 2.
Matthew chapter 2 and verse one.
Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea and the days of Herod the King.
Behold, there came wise men from the East to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born king of the Jews?
For we have seen his star in the East and are come to worship him.
When Herod the King had heard these things, he was troubled in all Jerusalem with him, and when he had gathered all the chief priests and the scribes of the people together.
He demanded of them where Christ should be born, and they said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea.
For thus it is written by the prophet, And thou, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah, art not the least among the Princess of Judah. For out of thee shall come a governor that shall rule my people Israel.
Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise man, inquired of them diligently.
What time the star appeared and he sent them to Bethlehem and said go and search diligently for the young child.
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And when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship Him also. When they had heard the king, they departed. And lo, the star which they saw in the East went before them till it came, and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy.
And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary, his mother.
And fell down and worshiped him.
And when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts, gold, and frankincense and myrrh.
Now, brethren, we often hear, or we have heard perhaps I should say, in the popular stories that are given in Christendom of how that star led the wise men from the East to Jerusalem. But that is not what the Word of God says.
What we find is that the star appeared to the wise man in the East.
And that star in its appearing in a way that is not explained to us in the word of God, communicated to those wise men something concerning the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. If I asked you how did they know that that star meant the King of the Jews had been born, you would have to say we don't know. God hasn't revealed it to us, but the.
Communicated that truth to them, and they started out with this conviction. The King of the Jews has been born. Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the East, and are come to worship him.
And beloved brethren, one of the primary functions of the Spirit of God.
Is to take of the things of Christ and show them unto us, to make known the person and the work of Christ. What a marvelous testimony this was to these wise men. Something concerning that person he had been born.
And who he was the king of the Jews.
And so it is today, beloved brethren, the Spirit of God is today.
Bearing witness to this world, who the Lord Jesus is and what He has done.
The wonderful facts, the wonderful truth concerning his coming, concerning his death, concerning his resurrection.
Concerning the power of that resurrection, concerning the results of that resurrection, concerning the value of the precious blood of Christ, this is the testimony of the Spirit of God to this world. So we find that the star, its function, first brought before us a testimony to who it was.
And what had happened concerning him?
The Lord Jesus Christ, the King of the Jews, had been born into this world.
But then we notice a striking thing, and what to my own soul, is a very searching thing. Where did the wise men go?
The wise men went to Jerusalem.
Now the star did not lead them to Jerusalem.
They said we saw the star in the East.
And that star's appearance convey the truth to them. The king of the Jews had been born.
But it wasn't the star that brought them to Jerusalem.
It was what we might call human wisdom that brought them to Jerusalem.
Because you see, beloved brethren, the Word of God.
Said Bethlehem.
Human wisdom, said Jerusalem.
And so the wise men start off on their journey, and they go to Jerusalem, and at Jerusalem they ask, where is he that is born king of the Jews?
Now when the question is put to the scribes and the Pharisees, and the fifth verse, it says, They said unto him in Bethlehem of Judea.
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The word of God said Bethlehem, 12 miles approximately South of Jerusalem. That was where he was to be born.
And the Herod tells the wise man that it's Bethlehem.
They start out for Bethlehem. Notice.
The eighth verse he sent them to Bethlehem and said, go and search diligently for the young child.
And when you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. When they had heard the king, they departed.
And lo, the star which they saw in the East.
Went before them. Here's the star again. Now, brethren, why is it so?
This is, I believe in my own soul, most important principle that the Word of God is bringing before us, and that is simply this. The Spirit of God never leads contrary to the Word of God. Never.
The Spirit of God and the Word of God must be in harmony. Must be in harmony.
Was that the star could appear in the east and convey that wonderful truth. The king of the Jews has been born, but the star couldn't lead to Jerusalem when the word of God said go to Bethlehem.
It was impossible.
But once the word of God had been listened to but once.
The Word of God had been listened to once. The Word of God had been heard. It's in Bethlehem. They start off for Bethlehem. Now the star goes before them. The star goes before them. This wonderful picture, their type of the Spirit of God can lead according to the Word, but never contrary to the Word, never contrary to the Word. And beloved brethren, I say this to my own soul.
But let us always be conscious of the fact that the Spirit of God cannot, because He is the Spirit of God, cannot, lead contrary to the revealed mind of God in the Word.
When someone says I believe the Spirit of God led me and the word of God condemns what they did.
You know that the Spirit of God didn't lead them at all. Human wisdom LED them. Their own desires LED them. The inclinations of their own heart LED them. Whatever it is, the apostle Paul had a wonderful motive. He loved the Jews, and he wanted to see the blessing of God brought to the Jews.
So he went to Jerusalem.
But the Spirit of God said not to.
But he went anyway. He went anyway. Now God in his grace overruled.
So that Paul ended up in the place where God wanted him in Rome as a prisoner and what God wanted to accomplish was accomplished in God's over ruling way. But all what a rough Rd. Paul had to follow the lessons that Paul had to learn as he sat for those two years in that jail in Caesarea.
Because his own desires took him to Jerusalem when the Spirit of God.
Had directed him to go to Rome.
Now what we find here is that these wise men, acting on what the word of God said to go to Bethlehem, are now led by the Spirit, led by the star.
And so it is, brethren, the function of the Spirit of God to bear testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ, who He is.
And what he has done, the Spirit of God to act direct, lead in accordance with the word of God. And brethren, I cannot emphasize to your soul or to mine how important this is. We hear so much today. I believe the Lord wanted me to do this, but no effort made to search the word. Is it according to the Word? Is it according to the word?
How often I've said to the young people back home that once the word of God has spoken.
About something, you shouldn't even pray about it.
Unless it's to ask the Lord for grace to be obedient.
To have someone say I'm engaged to an unsaved boy or an unsaved young lady.
And I'm praying about whether I should marry them when the word of God says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers, should they pray about it?
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No, they shouldn't pray about it all. They should bow to what the word of God says because God never leads contrary to His Word. The Spirit of God never leads in a path that is opposed to His Word.
The star could only lead them.
When they were going by the word of God.
Lastly, you'll find.
The end of the ninth verse.
Which they saw in the east, The star which they saw in the east went before them till it came, and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child would marry his mother, and fell down and worshiped him. Brethren, the third function.
Of the Spirit of God is to gather to Christ.
To lead to him. You know, I have thought about this person, meditate down, as I'm sure others have. I've even tried it. I don't. Perhaps others have tried it too. But if you've ever stood outside, outside, especially in the country on a very dark, on a night where there's no moon but lots of stars. And you stand out there in the country and you look up at the sky full of stars and you stand there and you say to yourself, which one is directly over me?
Which one am I directly under? And if it's a good bright night with a lot of stars, it's impossible.
You look as I can't tell which one. Any number of those stars could be directly over me.
But these ones, these wise men, the Star LED them, it says, till it came and stood over where the young child was. To me, that's so precious. Oh, you say, you mean it LED them to East Vancouver or you say, no, it LED them to such and such a house.
It LED them to a person.
It led them to a person where the young child was.
And when they went into the house.
They worshiped Him, they saw the young child with Mary's mother, and they fell down and worshiped him.
All beloved brethren, have you and I seen that star, the Spirit of God?
According to the word of God, that word of God in the Spirit of God, acting in harmony.
And Luke 22, the picture, the picture that's given to us, is the man bearing the picture of water. And where does he lead? He leads to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he stands right over that person.
They weren't attracted to Bethlehem, they weren't attracted to the house. They were attracted to the person.
And what they had to offer, they didn't offer to the house, they offered to the person.
They opened up their treasures and offered to him.
Gold and frankincense and myrrh. Now would you turn with me?
To the Burke, Second Peter, Chapter one.
The 16th verse, for we have not followed that second Peter one and verse 16.
For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His Majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory. This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
And this voice which came from heaven, we heard when we were with him in the Holy Mountain.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy.
Now if you have a margin in your Bible as I have for instance, the way the margin in my Bible reads is this for that 1St 19.
And we have the word of prophecy confirmed or made sure, we have also a more sure word of prophecy. Where unto ye do well, that ye take heed as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the daystar arise in your hearts.
Now, the word that's translated here, day star, is exactly the same word that's translated in the Book of Revelation.
The Morning star, the Day star and the Morning Star are the same thing. The same star.
And what we have here in Second Peter one is, as you know, a reference to the Mount of Transfiguration.
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That is Peter and James and John stood on that mount of Transfiguration, and what he says is that standing there and looking at the Lord Jesus transfigured before them, as they saw his face white and glistening, as they saw his rope shining, as they saw that display of glory.
They had the prophetic word confirmed to them.
It's what you and I might call a preview. They had a preview of the Kingdom.
So they said what we have already knew from the prophetic word. We had it confirmed to us because we've already seen it.
And that's why, if you remember, in each one of the Gospels, in the 17th of Matthew, in the ninth of Mark and in the ninth of Luke.
The three Gospel accounts of the Mount of Transfiguration. Each one of them is introduced by those words of the Lord Jesus. There be some standing here that shall not taste of death until they see the Kingdom come in power.
That is, that they were not going to die until they'd been up on that mount of Transfiguration.
And had seen a preview of that Kingdom.
In power and glory. Well, here in two Peter chapter one, what the Peter is saying is that he's had this prophetic word.
Confirmed to them by seeing that display of glory on the Mount of Transfiguration.
We have also that word made sure, a prophetic word made sure. Where unto ye do well that ye take heed.
As unto a light that China thin a dark place until the day dawn. Brethren, prophecy is good.
Prophecy is part of the Word of God. Prophecy is given to us to be intelligent about.
And so he says it is. Well, it's a light that shines in a dark place.
And so it is as we see this world getting darker, as we see it all the corruption and misery in this world, as we seek corruption in high places, as we see moral issues being.
Laughed at today, Mocked at as we see the Word of God set aside, as we see violence increasing on every hand, as we see men's hearts failing them for fear. It's a dark scene. Aren't you glad for the prophetic word that lets you know what the end is going to be?
That lets you know that the Lord Jesus is going to reign in power, that Satan is going to be defeated.
That righteousness will reign one day in this world. That there will one day be a new heavens and a new earth where indwells righteousness. Oh, it's well to take heed to the prophecy. It's a light that shines in a dark place until that day dawns.
But then he says, but there's something better.
There's something more precious, something that he would value much more highly.
He says I'm the morning star or day star. I rise in your hearts.
Brethren, is that morning star? Is it rising? Is it shining? And all its wonderful light in my heart?
Is the precious truth of the Lord's coming a real present hope for me? If it isn't, don't talk about the day star shining or arising in your hearts. What you if, if you and I say, well, now someday? I had a lady come to the meeting at Pine Grove just a little while ago, a visitor, and we got talking to her after I found out she was a child of God.
And when we.
Chatted with her for a little while. We got talking about the Lord's coming. She said, oh, that's years off that, that's years off. Another lady come to our house and I got talking to her and finally she was a dear child of God. She loved the Lord Jesus. When I got talking to her about the Lord's coming, she said, oh that that could be a long, long, long way off. Could we just take a moment to go back to the book of Ezekiel for a moment?
16th chapter.
I'm sorry, I it's the 12Th chapter, Ezekiel chapter 12.
I just like to read a little portion here.
Beginning with the 21St verse of Ezekiel chapter 12.
And the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, what is that proverb that ye have in the land of Israel?
Saying the days are prolonged, and every vision faileth tell them therefore thus saith the Lord God.
I will make this proverb to cease, and they shall no more use it as a proverb in Israel, but say unto them, The days are at hand, and the effect of every vision. For there shall be no more any vain vision, nor flattering divination within the House of Israel. For I am the Lord, I will speak, and the word that I shall speak shall come to pass. It shall be no more prolonged, for in your days no rebellious house will I say the word, and will performance at the Lord God.
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Again the word of the Lord came to me, saying, Son of Man, behold, they of the House of Israel say the vision that he seeth.
Is for many days to come, and he prophesied of the times that are far off.
Therefore say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, there shall none of my words be prolonged anymore.
But the word which I have spoken shall be done, said the Lord God.
And what this has particular reference to is the destruction of Jerusalem. And there were those who were prophesying that that destruction was about to come.
But there were those in Israel who were saying.
Every vision fails.
People are always talking about that Jerusalem is going to be destroyed. They're always talking, but it never happens. It never happens. The Lord says it's going to happen and it's going to happen in your days. But then he says that there are other prophets, there are other people in Israel who are saying, oh, we know about that vision, but that's for years off. Someday perhaps, but that's years off. It says the vision that he seeth is for many days to come.
The Lord says not so, not so. There shall none of my words be prolonged.
Anymore and it came. The destruction that the Lord spoke of came. Jerusalem was destroyed and both the prophets, both the types of prophets, those who said it would never come, and those who said it was a long way off.
Were proven to be false prophets. What we find here in Second Peter chapter one is the reminder that what the Lord is looking for is the day star arising in our hearts.
To have you go home tonight, to have me go home tonight with the sense in my soul the Lord is coming and I'm looking for Him tonight. Tonight, not waiting and watching for something that's going to happen 50 years from now or 25 years from now or five years from now.
No, the Day Star rising in my heart tonight. Tonight we're looking for the Lord. Tonight we're looking for him to come at any moment. The Morning Star, the day stars had spoken of here are rising in your heart. And brethren, that's far more important than any amount of prophecy.
Prophecy signs are connected with the Earth.
But the day started rising in the heart.
Is connected with the man in the glory, the longing for him to come, the heart taken up with himself.
Enjoying his promise, Behold, I come quickly.
Nothing here connected with testimony, nothing here connected with anything else except the hearts response, the daystar arising, and your heart.
Now would you turn with me to Revelation Chapter?
3 Revelation Chapter 2. Sorry, Revelation Chapter 2.
And verse 24.
But unto you, I say, and unto the rest in Thyatira, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan as they speak.
I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already. Hold fast till I come.
And he that overcometh and keepeth my works unto the end, to Him will I give power over the nations.
And he shall rule them with a rod of iron, as the vessels of a Potter shall they be broken to shivers, even as I received of my father. And I will give him the morning star. He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.
Now.
The last four churches from thy Tyra. The one we just read on to the end. The last four churches.
In this account, outline of the Church's history in this world go on to the end.
The Lord's coming is connected with each one of them.
And there is a change when we come to the 4th church, the one we just read, and that is that God is no longer looking for the hearing ear in the church as a whole, but he's looking for the hearing ear in the overcomer. It's to the overcomer that he then says he that hath an ear to hear, let him hear. But what we do find is that in connection with Thyatira, the Morning Star is introduced again.
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And it's introduced in connection with.
Holding fast.
You notice it says in that 24th verse, as many as have not this doctrine, and which have not known the depths of Satan. As I speak, I will put upon you none other burden but that which ye have already.
Hold fast till I come. Oh brethren, let's look at things. Just out you look at things in Vancouver. You say to yourself, can can we, can we go on? Will, will there be a testimony in Vancouver 25 years from now?
Oh, brethren, we don't have to be concerned with what's going to be here 25 years from now.
The Lord is coming, The Lord is coming. He says, Hold fast till I come, till I come. You know, it just struck me just a little while ago I heard of a dear St. of God who?
Left the Lord's Table, just got discouraged and despondent and left the Lord's Table. And the thought that struck my soul as soon as I heard it, it's one that I'd known and and cared for deeply. And the thought that struck my soul the moment I heard of it. Giving up. And this close to home.
This close to home, here's what we have here. The Morning Star.
Given as the encouragement to the overcomer. Given as the encouragement.
Hold fast till I come. Do we have to hold fast for one more week?
One more day, one more hour old brethren, isn't it wonderful you think of some dear St. of God tonight?
Who's in a prison in Russia?
And he comes before a judge in that nation of Russia, and he hears the judge stand up there, sit on his seat there in Russia. And he says, you're sentenced to Siberia for 99 years.
What does he say? Does he go saying I've got 99 years of this to go through?
No, brethren, He hears that voice, I trust. Hears that. Hold fast till I come. Till I come. You know. I thought of it in connection with Enochs. I'm sure others have too. You know. Enoch, if he had gone by precedent.
Enoch lived in a world that the Word of God tells us was filled with corruption and violence. It was a world that God was going to overthrow with a flood. And if Enoch went by precedent.
He would have said.
I've got 500 more years of this to go through.
His father, his grandfather, his great grandfather had all lived to be 900 years old or better.
And he was only 365 years of old age.
And if he had gone by precedent, he would have said look at look at the world and the condition and how much more I've got to go through.
But the word of God says he walked with God, and he was not forgotten.
God took him. He didn't have 900 years to go through.
The time had come for the Lord to take him.
And so it is, brethren, here, the encouragement that's given in Peter, the thought is particularly the day star arising in your hearts, the heart simply taken up with himself. He's coming for us here in Revelation chapter 2. It's an encouragement to hold fast till He comes.
The Morning Star all when I hear Saints of God talking about the Lord's coming as if it's years away.
Is that any encouragement to hold fast? It's not the way God puts it to us. He's like having our hearts looking for His coming tonight and realizing that all I've got to do is hold fast by His grace for the moments that are left.
Before we enter the Father's house now, I'd like to turn your, pardon me, just going a few minutes overtime. One last verse, Revelation chapter 22.
Revelation chapter 22 and verse 16.
I, Jesus have sent mine Angel, to testify unto you these things in the churches.
I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning star.
And the Spirit and the Bride say come.
And him that here and let him that heareth say, Come and let him that is a thirst.
Come and whosoever will let him take the water of life.
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Freely the 20th verse he which testified these things. Seth, surely I come quickly.
Amen. Even so, come Lord Jesus.
Now here we have the third instance of the Lord Jesus spoken of as the bright.
A morning star. And here it is given particularly in connection with testimony. You notice it says, I, Jesus have sent mine Angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David and the bright and morning Star. And then it says, and the Spirit and the bride.
Say come.
Now, brethren, the Lord Jesus is the one who speaks of Himself as the Morning Star.
That light that shines before the dawn, the Lord Jesus will come in judgment and in blessing to this world as the Son of righteousness who rises with healing in his wings. But for us before that, he comes as the morning star. He's the light that comes and shines at the darkest part of the night. But what we have here is a testimony.
And what is that testimony? The Lord Jesus saying I'm the bright and morning star and the Spirit.
Says come.
The testimony of the Spirit. The response of the Spirit of God.
To the one who says he's the bright morning star is come and the bride.
In harmony with the thoughts of the Spirit.
Also says come.
Not come next week or next month or next year. Not come when things that I want to do are over and done with. But come. The Spirit says come and the bride says come.
And what's the result of the testimony of the Spirit and of the Bride?
In harmony, IN response to the voice of the One who's the brightened Morning Star. What's the result of their testimony? It says, And he let him that heareth.
Say come, come.
All beloved brethren, it's such a lovely thing to think that you tonight, that you and I tonight have the privilege of encouraging by our own testimony in harmony with the thoughts of the Spirit of God, encouraging other Saints of God to say come to, to be looking and longing for his coming also. So it says, he let him that heareth.
Say come.
Have you had the joy of bringing before a Saint of God the precious truth of the Lord's coming?
And have them lay hold of it and rejoice in it, and thank God for the opening up of that truth to them, that the Lord is coming at any moment. That's what we have here. The Spirit and the Bride say come, and he that hears says come.
And then it says and let him that is athirst come.
Now this is one who is not saved, one who needs to Savior, and the result, the heart then says at the thought of his coming, the Spirit and the Bride in harmony.
The effect on other believers is that they are led to say come also and then the heart goes out to those that are lost.
And it says let him that is athirst come.
Brethren, the enjoyment, and let us always be conscious of this.
The enjoyment of the truth of God enjoyed in communion in the soul will only deepen love for souls. It will never weaken it. It will never give us to have less interest in the Gospel.
Know that joyment of the truth of God will give us as it is here, as we're occupied with His coming. The heart cannot help. If the Lord's coming is a reality in my soul tonight, that can't help but be a love for souls, a desire to save. Let whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.
We come to the end of the chapter. The Lord Jesus says, surely I come quickly.
Now, brethren, I trust you understand what I mean when I say this. It is never the place for the child of God to tell the Lord Jesus what to do.
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The Lord Jesus says I come quickly.
The response is not come quickly.
But just entering into His spots, it would never do for us to tell the Lord when to come, but we can respond to His statement.
Behold, I come quickly.
Our hearts say, Even so, come, Lord Jesus, we want Him to come. He knows the best time the God our Father has appointed that day. He waits for that time. We wait for it. In the meantime, brethren, we rejoice to know that He made us stars, to know that He calls us by name and cares for us as those who are precious to Himself.
That there is a day coming when one star will differ from another starring glory.
The reminder that the Spirit of God.
Forgiven and Justified
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to speak about three things about forgiveness and justification and sanctification, particularly about the last one, but I'd like to speak first of the other two. Let's turn to Acts chapter 13 and verse 38. Be it known unto you, therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all.
Things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.
And another verse in the First Epistle of John. First Epistle of John and the.
2nd chapter and verse 12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His name's sake.
Well, first of all, and we have forgiveness brought before us through the Old Testament. There was no one that really had the conscious knowledge of judicial forgiveness. You know when David sinned by the prophet said to him, the Lord hath forgiven my sin. But it wasn't something that could be enjoyed as a present thing and knowing that the whole question of sin had been settled.
So that they could say at any time in their whole Christian or believing history.
That their sins were all forgiven, but when the Lord Jesus accomplished that blessed work on Calvary's cross.
Then the groundwork, righteous groundwork, was laid so that every believer is entitled to know.
That as a present thing our sins are all forgiven. We don't need to come to the Lord over and over again and ask Him to forgive. Forgive us, but as it says in Colossians chapter one, giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the Saints in light, who have delivered us from the power of darkness.
And hath translated us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood.
Even the forgiveness of sins, this is something that even the youngest child in the family of God is entitled to know that all his sins are forgiven. I don't speak in the way of future sins, but in another way it's true, because God never speaks of future sins in the life of the believer. He always tells us that.
If any man sin, we have an advocate. That is when a believer sins.
It's not normal Christian life, but nevertheless it is true.
That the whole question of sin was settled once and for all, and all our sins were future when the Lord Jesus died.
And he's not going to die again. And if he didn't settle the question of our sins at Calvary, they never will be settled. So every one of us here tonight who have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior and say with assurance, like it says there in First Epistle of John in the second chapter, your sins are forgiven you for his name's sake. You can give thanks that at every moment in your whole Christian life, this is true of you.
And you never need to come and ask for the forgiveness of your sins again.
Judicially that has been settled. The whole judgment of sin fell upon the Lord Jesus.
He bore all the judgment and he exhausted it. And so let me say again, your sins are forgiven you. Every one of us are entitled to enjoy this. And that's what Paul preached in Acts 13. This was a new thing to those at Antioch as they listened to him preach.
This man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. He said that couldn't be sold through the law of Moses, but it is so now that we can know and enjoy this. But then he also said, and by him, or as the new translation is in him, all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now it's more to be justified than to be.
Given, if I were to do something very, very unkind and you forgave me, I still might not feel at ease in your presence. I might feel, well, that person's forgiven me, but I wonder what they really think of me. So that God is not only forgiven us, but when it says He has justified us, it means that He has brought us into a new position before Him. And so He sees us not only.
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Given, but as justified from all things, you as a believer are before God in a position as though you had never sinned at all. And more than that, because Adam was in the Garden of Eden and he had never sinned up to that point, but he had a life that was capable of sinning and he did sin. So if you and I were only put in the position as though we had never.
Sin or them. We might lose that because Adam lost it, if that was all that we have. But oh, isn't it lovely that we have more than that it says in him. And so where is the believer seen in Christ, and how blessed to know? As it tells us in John's epistle, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, and his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because.
Born of God, or again as it says we are, He has made us holy and without blame before Him in love. So I want each one here, every young believer, to know that you're not only forgiven, but right now and in perpetuity. That is, for all the rest of the time and for all eternity. God sees you in Christ.
And this is a very wonderful thing to know.
That really gives liberty in the soul to know that God is looking at every young believer and every older one in this room tonight as before him in a life that never sinned and never could sin. The same life that you'll have in glory. So that this is where God has placed you, forgiven man and justified from how many things from all things. And as it says in Romans 8, it is.
Justifier, who is he that condemneth? Well, it's very precious for us to lay hold of these things. Anyone who enters into this truth would never think of accepting the doctrine. You could be saved and lost again, because if that's the way God sees you, why then you can rejoice in the place He has put you in and just thank Him for it. So it tells us too that.
We are before him in this way.
And this is what sets the heart at ease in His presence. For I quote the verse again in Romans 8. It is God that justify it. Who is he that condemneth? We have been justified in the highest court, and no charge could possibly be laid against the one who has been justified, so that we're entitled to know this and rejoice in it, and as it tells us in John's epistle, again it.
Because as He is, so are we in this world. Where is the Lord Jesus now? He's there in glory. He's there as the one who has settled the whole question of sin and sins and is there and we are seen in him. And as He is, so are we in this world. We, we can know this and we can enjoy it right now.
Here in this world, we will not have a better standing before God when we get home to glory than we have right now.
So how blessed to enjoy these things. Now let's turn to a couple of verses about sanctification. First Corinthians chapter one and verse two under the Church of God which is at Corinth, to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be Saints, with all that in every place, call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
Both theirs and ours.
And then in Hebrews chapter 10, verse 14, four by one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Well, here we have what I could perhaps speak of as positional sanctification. Now we've spoken about forgiveness. We all understand how a person can forgive us.
But God does more than that. He puts us before him in a new life, in a new position. We are seeing in Christ the righteousness of God in him.
But now the truth of being sanctified simply means that we are set apart.
And you know this world in which we live is under judgment before the Lord Jesus went to the cross, he said now is the judgment of this world. Just like a man who is in the death cell, the the sentence has been pronounced upon him. He's just waiting for the day of execution. That's the position in which this world is and God at the point of the day in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
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Wherever he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead, so this world is under judgment.
We're living in a doomed place, but we have been set apart. We don't belong to it anymore. As the Lord Jesus said in the 17th chapter of John, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. We're set apart. We don't belong to this world anymore. And this is our position as before God.
And as we were noticing the other night in First Corinthians Chapter 11, the Lord may deal with us.
As those who have been willful in our ways, but it says when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord that we should not be condemned with the world. We're just not part of this world at all. We belong to heaven. We are sanctified and those at Corinth were addressed as being sanctified in Christ Jesus set apart and then what we have in Hebrews chapter 10.
Precious, because by one offering he hath perfected forever.
Them that are sanctified, this is a place that we have been brought into because of the completeness of the work of Christ, because God has been perfectly glorified, and then we're not just sanctified till we sin again, but He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. So positionally, every believer has been sanctified or set apart.
Paul speaks of it too, in Hebrews.
As being set apart from all those things that they went on with before, that is when they sinned, they had to bring a sacrifice and the sacrifice had to be offered. If they sinned again, they had to bring another sacrifice. It wasn't possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away SIM, so he brings in sanctification there as.
Being set apart from all those things that were only types and shadows of good things to come.
And that's why he says forever, because in the Jewish ritual, as we know, there are many sacrifices. The Day of Atonement rolled around every year. The question of sins was brought up and it says it was constantly before them. It was, It says in those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year just constantly went on. But now since the Lord Jesus.
Accomplished this work are we're set apart not only from our world under judgment, but no longer having to go on with anything that has to do with putting away sin before God. We're set apart from all that. It's complete and we can rejoice in it. But now there's the practical side of sanctification.
When we speak about being forgiven and justified, that is what God has done for us. But when it speaks about sanctification now.
It is brought before us in a practical way. Let's turn to John chapter 17, where the Lord Jesus prayed.
And the 16th verse, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And now let's turn over to 1St Thessalonians.
Chapter 5 and verse 23.
And the very God of peace sanctify you holy. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you who also will do it. Now here the Lord Jesus in his prayer, the 17th of John.
Says that we're not of the world that is, we're positionally sanctified.
But then he also says and prays to the Father, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. So Paul brought before the Corinthians that they were positionally sanctified. But he brought before the Thessalonians that he was praying for them, the Lord was praying for his own, that they might be sanctified through the truth.
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And Paul was praying for those at Thessalonica.
That they might be practically sanctified. Now there's a difference between.
Being positionally sanctified and being practically sanctified.
Sometimes use the illustration, perhaps they've mentioned it before, that if you went into a store and there were some baskets of apples on the floor and you picked out one of those baskets and bought that basket and paid for it. And you said to the store keeper, now I'm coming back in an hour and I'll pick that up. So he writes your name on the handle and.
Marks it paid and that really belongs to you. In his mind, it has been set apart for you. It's not for sale.
It's been set apart, I say, for you. And there it sits. But it's with the other nine baskets now on the floor. And so a little while afterwards, some person comes in and says, I'd like to take that basket of apples. Well, he said, see the name on the handle that's been sold and I can't sell you that one. A little while later, someone else comes in, picks the same one.
And so he realizes there's a little bit of confusion there.
And so he takes that basket with your name on it and Mark paid and he puts it out in the back of the shop. Now it isn't any more yours when it's out in the back of the shop than when it was sitting there. It had your name on it. Was Mark paid? But there's no confusion now because it's in a separate place. And I think perhaps you can see the point that.
We're sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
He's paid the price and in God's account, we have been set apart and set apart for glory, no longer part of this world, and we belong to him. But you know, we can mix with this world and we can go on with this world and we can and make choices in life that are not according to God's will. And if that is so, we're not acting like those who have really been.
Part as we notice, the Lord Jesus said that we're not of this world.
But Peter said whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. I believe it was. James said that whosoever therefore, will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. That is, when we go along hand in hand with the world, we're not really acting as though we have been set apart as belonging to the Lord.
I would like to speak a little bit, dear young people, about the practical application of this, because I believe it's very important in our lives.
The decisions that we make in life are so very, very important and many a dear Christian can be like poor Lot. He belonged to glory and I'm quite sure I'm going to meet Lot in heaven. But he wasn't practically sanctified. He chose the well watered plains. He brought up his family under the sad influence of things down there in Sodom and he had a saved soul. But a lost life if I.
Think of it in the way I'm talking of it tonight. He was positionally sanctified, but not practically. And so how needful for us in making our decisions in life that we should seek the Lord's guidance so that we would make them in the way that would acknowledge that we are not our own. We are bought with a price. We belong to Him.
Now let's turn to this passage that we read in First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. This is a lovely expression, the God of peace.
In my mind, I connected with that verse in Proverbs where the Father is laying before his boy the path of wisdom in this world so full of confusion and sin. And this is what he says. It's he says her way, wisdom ways. That is, her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
How many a dear Christian has followed the wrong path and has found anything but peace in it? He may have found some of the supposed fawn of this world, but I'm sure that you don't find peace in that kind of a path. And so here it says, the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. Dear young people, the Lord wants you to go on in your Christian life with joy and peace.
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He says earlier in this chapter One Thessalonians 5 and the 16th verse.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, till you can see how He wants us to be happy and He also wants us to walk in peace.
And so here he says sanctify you wholly, not just in some things in our lives, but in all things. God has a positive will for us in everything and the Christian is to seek the positive direction of the Lord. When I'm traveling, I don't just try all the different roads and then finally hope that a light on the right one. I like to look at the map and start out in the right one and follow.
Right. One, I like to have positive direction that sometimes we say before we start out, let's look at the map before we start so we won't make some bad turns and then have to retrace our steps. And so this is what he's telling us here.
I and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. Now you know a man is a triune being.
When I say a triune being, I mean just what it says here. He has three parts to his being. He has the spirit and the soul and the body. When God speaks of the lower creation, he never speaks of the lower creation as being spirit, soul, and body. He speaks of the lower creation as having breath and life and a certain amount of emotions. And they have bodies, certainly, but the lower creation?
Has no God conscious part to their being, but God has made man's soul. Animals have instinct, but they're not intended to be directed by God-given commands. You notice when God placed all those animals in the earth and and birds and so on, He didn't, He didn't tell them what to eat and not to eat as a command that they might.
Obey or disobey, He gave them some instincts which certainly control their lives to a very large extent. But with man, he wasn't intending to have him governed by instinct, but instead that he might voice of his Creator and obey him in obedience and love. And so he spoke to Adam and he told him that.
He might eat of all the trees of the garden, but one tree he was not to eat of, and he warned him what would happen.
If he did so, he gave him intelligent direction for his pathway.
And as Christians too, God has given us in his word direction for our pathway. And it says.
Blessed is he that I'll read it. It's in Proverbs 8, Roberts chapter 8 and verse 33. Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it not. Blessed is the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors.
So here he shows that there is a blessing and justice waiting for instruction from the Lord for our pathway.
So I wish to speak about how man, men and women, young people too, are made-up in this way, spirit, soul and body. And this is the way the Lord directs us and sanctifies us wholly, that is in a practical sense. And we ought to make every decision in our life in this particular order that's given here if we would be preserved.
Pathway for God's glory. Let us suppose now that here's a young person, he's thinking about what kind of employment, what job he would like to have in life. If the Lord should leave him here, why isn't it nice that he can turn to the Lord in prayer and instead of saying, well, I'd like to be this and that. He can ask the Lord to direct him. And that's why the Spirit comes first, the intelligent God conscious.
Being sometimes you hear people say they like something and then after they've spent a lot of time preparing for it, then they wonder if they can really honor the Lord in that particular thing they thought they liked so well. Wouldn't have been much better to have asked the Lord in the beginning and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He has something for you to follow in life. I've seen young people.
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People who have spent a lot of time preparing and then been very disappointed afterwards because they found that they had prepared themselves for something that they weren't really sure the Lord wanted them to be in. Well, I believe it's very, very important, dear young people. The Spirit then is the intelligent, God conscious part of your being and God has given you to know whether you have first of all been fitted for a certain line of work.
Secondly, whether you can honor and glorify Him in it. You know, if I haven't the ability to make certain grades, well then I realized that perhaps the Lord has something for me other than trying to go on with something where I might require a great deal of mental training. So God fits each one to fill a certain place in life.
Just as in our bodies, God sets in the body as it hath pleased him. It didn't intend that my hand would fulfill the same function as my feet.
He gave to each a place in the body and saw in the Lord Jesus went away. It says He gave to every man his work and commanded the Porter to watch. And so I just want to say in a very simple way to you, dear young people, before you think of making that kind of a decision, pray about it. Consider it well if there's some way of finding out.
What's going to happen if you graduated this? Are you going to have to belong to some association or union?
Now that will give you a bad conscience then is it worthwhile spending years preparing for this and then finding out when you're done that you're going to have to do something with a bad conscience? Why isn't it much better, as the Scripture says, about counting the cross, thinking beforehand? And God has given you, He has given you direction and His word, and He has given you intelligence.
There are two things that we need, as we were noticing the other night.
When the Lord directed the children of Israel, it was the commandment of the Lord, and it was also looking up, which corresponds to prayer. And so I ask you, when you make these kind of decisions and search the word of God, see if you can really honor that. Honor the Lord in that particular work, and then you can fulfill what first Corinthians 7 says that every man abide in the same calling where any is called with God.
It's very happy. That's why he says the God of peace. It's very happy when you go to work day by day to feel that you're in a position where you can honor the Lord and it really gives you peace in your soul. And do you think the Lord is interested in this? By the Lord Jesus said sanctify them through thy truth. And what is his truth? Thy word is truth.
And then Paul prayed for these Thessalonians who once lived to do their own wills, but now they would be set apart wholly as blind to the Lord.
Sanctified, Holy Saw, there's first the body, and then the next is the soul. And in the Bible the soul is the seed of the emotions or desires. So it says, the desire of our soul is to Thy name and to the remembrance of Thee. Hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. The soul is always looked at as the emotions.
It says about the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David. You'll always find the soul when spoken of by itself in that way.
It's always the emotions in US and so before you say, well, I like it, I'm going to go into it play now I want to ask the Lord about this. I want to search his word about this and then you let your emotions go next and then you hear Christians say, Oh, I like my job and they if they prayed about it and they have really.
Sought the Lord's mind then how happy you can be.
And doing that job as the very job that you have the consciousness that the Lord intended you to be in. Oh, that's a very lovely thing, dear young people. And this will make your life a happy one, and it will also make your life a blessing to others. Because I've seen young people prepared for something. Then when they got into the profession, there was something about it. They just felt they couldn't honor the Lord and their mouths were shut. They couldn't say anything to anybody else because.
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There was just a little question mark about the things they were doing themselves. And so they not only weren't happy themselves, but they spoiled their testimony. So you can see there's first the spirit, the God conscious, intelligent part of your being, and then there's the soul, the emotions and that you can say when you find that work and that niche in life God intends you to fulfill, you can say, I like doing this. I really feel this is where the Lord wanted me to be.
And there's a sweet piece in that. And then of course, the last one is the body. In other words, you have to be there physically to do the job. But you first of all thought of it before God. Then you've said, I'm sure I can like that. And to allow your emotions to go and then you're there physically, the place where you are in your body.
Well, that refers to your job. That also refers to your friends.
You know, we can see how that sometimes a person might get into bad friendship. You meet some likable person in the world and maybe he's a very likable character because there are many people that you could call nice, likable people in the world. Jesus looked at a man who wasn't saved and as the Lord spoke to him, says Jesus, looking on him, loved him, but he said you lack one thing.
And so you can see admirable traits in people. You can be very thankful at all. The world isn't so miserable and impossible that it's hard to live with. I'm very thankful if the man who works beside me or lives next door to me is a kindly man. I'm glad all the animals aren't wild animals. Some of them are tame. And so God hasn't allowed us to see the full results of the fall in this world. But remember that, if that.
Not saved by If you make a friendship with that person, why you're making a friend of someone who's really an enemy of the Lord in his heart. Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God and here's a verse that gives you direction about choosing friends. 119th Psalm in the 63rd verse it says I am a companion of all them that fear thee and of them that.
Keep thy precepts. And so when you're thinking of choosing friends way and intelligently before the Lord, don't just allow yourself to get carried away with some nice person who perhaps is not saved when they lead you away from the Lord, like Peter going and warming himself at the world's fire. And then it wasn't long he was denying his Lord, and perhaps those men talk friendly to him.
Rather comfortable on a cold, cold day to sit down by the fire there. But it wasn't the right place for Peter to be. He might have to work with the ungodly, but it's another thing to find your relaxation with them. So there. He chose the wrong kind of friendship and it ended in disaster. And so there's first of all, I am a companion. First of all, the spirit.
You see those first of all who are the Lords and those who keep his word, and then you say.
Then you let your emotions go. Then you're willing to make.
Those per those persons, your friends that you can share many things with. And of course the body then goes last. You become their friend. You perhaps go out with them and have nice times of fellowship together. And then there's also the thought of where the Lord would have us to be gathered. Now I when you speak to people in the world and ask them where they go and what group they fellowship with, you'll often.
Hear them say, Oh well, we have such a nice group and we have a nice minister and they're doing a good work and I just feel so happy down there. And you say, well, but is it according to God's word? Well, I think they're doing a good work and I think there are a lot of people being saved and it's really a nice place to be. Is that the way we should be guided?
No, I believe, dear young people, we should go to God's Word.
And in God's word we find God has marked out a path. You remember what the Lord said to Gideon? He had 10,000 people with him. Nice to have that many helpers, 10,000 And they all were willing to go with him and fight the Lord's battle. But the Lord said Gideon, whom I say shall go with thee the same shall go with thee. Whom I say shall not go with thee the same.
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That must have been very disappointing to poor Gideon to see that 10,000 meltdown to 300 and that's all he had left from the Lord showed him who was to go with him. And sometimes when we follow the path of obedience to the word of God. Now you see I'm trying to bring before you spirit that is the intelligent God conscious part of your being searches the word and says where does the Lord want me to be?
What is the path of obedience to His word? You pray about it and you go there. There's not a big crowd. There's not 10,000 or anything like that. There's often less than 300 that Gideon had. That really may get down to pretty small numbers. But Gideon and Gideon was with the group of people the Lord intended them to be with. And so you and I and making the decision with whom we'll have fellowship, with whom we'll be.
Five with whom you'll gather to remember the Lord Jesus. Are we to be guided by our emotions, or are we to be guided by the Word of God? So you see, the Word of God is our intelligent direction for our pathway says in Romans 12.
Your bodies, a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or intelligent service. And I hope that you can say, I hope I can say that I'm gathered with those that I am gathered with because I believe that that's where the Lord would have me according to His word. Sometimes we get disappointed, but we learn to love the people who are walking in the path that God has laid out in his word. We allow.
Our emotions to go then and we are associated with them because we believe that that's the path and many of their Christian at the end of his life is very, very thankful the Lord has preserved him in the path. He's had disappointments and trials and but there's the spirit and then the soul, the emotions, the desires. You find your friends, you let your emotions go. You love those who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus just like those.
Went out to David in The Cave, Adelaim, why those men loved David, informed about Bam. They weren't there because they were the nicest group, because it says they were discontented people there. There were people that were in debt. There were people that were distressed. And that's what you always find among mellows that are gathered or rejected Christ. You'll find discontented people, you'll find distressed people, and you'll find people that are in debt too.
But they gathered to David.
And if you had asked any of them, why did you go there? Did you choose that crowd? I'm sure that anyone of them would have said.
But we believe that David is God's king and that's why we're there. And you know, they had great devotedness to David. They it tells us that when he just asked for a drink one time, some of them risked their lives to go on, just draw a drink for David. Their emotions were there, their bodies were there. They were in that cave, The Cave of a Dome with David. Well, we see this order then as to.
Those with whom we would be identified.
In.
Being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus and now we come also, perhaps we could say to service for the Lord. I won't say a great deal about this because we talked about it last night, but sometimes as Christians, we might think there's certain things that we would like to do to serve the Lord. But sometimes the Lord gives us things to do that aren't just exactly the things that we would choose. Maybe the Lord puts you in a place where it isn't just exactly where you would want to be or gives you a work.
That it isn't exactly what you would choose. That was the way it was with Paul. If Paul had the choice, he would much prefer to serve the Lord among the Jews. They were his own people. He understood them better and they understood him. And every line of reason would have said, well, he would make a good servant to the Jews because he loved them so dearly. But the Lord said, Paul, I have something different for you. I want you to be the apostle of the Gentiles.
I want you to go at my call. So he was to be directed now by intelligent direction from the Lord. And did he learn to love these people or just read and you'll see He spoke to them as my beloved, dearly beloved and longed for. And whenever he could, you find him with the people He was down by the Riverside embracing them before he went on his.
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Journey when he had a little stop, he sent and called for the brethren. You see he his emotions were there, he loved them.
And I wanted to be with them. That was his service to the Lord, and he found peace in that service. Even the Lord brought imprisonment.
Well, and there's also the thought of marriage, you know, and this comes in our lives as young people and do we just look around for someone that stirs our emotions and, and is the kind of person that really, as the world would say, seems to excite us and this kind of thing. There's lots of young people that think this is the deciding factor, but you know, I see that the.
The happiness that really abides begins a different way, and that is intelligence, it says.
Your spirit and your soul and your body. And I've often said to the young people, when you think about somebody, why always think of it that person? If it's a question of marriage, always think of it in that order. Think first. Is this really the person that the Lord has for me?
And weigh it well before the Lord. Can you share life together? Are you suited to one another? Can you really share the burden of life together? Are you both willing to walk in the truth? Is 1 rebellious against the truth and the other willing to walk in it? Well then there won't be oneness of mind. And the Bible says how can two walk together except they be agreed?
Can you, can a husband fulfill a place God intends in the home? And is the wife willing to fulfill the place God intends all these things?
The thoughtful young person considers always say I like the person let that come second consider the other first. Ask the Lord 1St about those things that you decide intelligently before him. Now I'm not saying that you look for perfection because no ones perfect and.
Certainly we're not perfect ourselves, and we don't expect or shouldn't expect any other person or our partner partner in life to be perfect. We're always going to have to bear with things. That only brings out Christian character. But what I'm Speaking of is a general way that we should be guided in these decisions. And if I have shortcomings myself, then it's foolish for me to expect a perfect partner. I've seen some young people and.
They have a lot of shortcomings themselves, but they're always looking for a perfect partner. If they're a little more conscious of themselves, they would often find that someone else could would be a very happy partner to share a life with them because they were suited to one another.
And so, you know, this is the intelligent part of making those kind of decisions. Go to the Word of God and consider what he tells you about what to expect in one another, boy or girl. See whether the person is suited to you. As I say and as we know, the Lord didn't form a partner for Adam from his head. He didn't form a partner for Adam from his.
He formed a partner from his side. And so the person needs to be someone who can be at your side, not someone that's above you or below you, but someone who's at your side, someone that you can share things together. Well, this is first of all, and the spirit, the intelligent part of the being. Then the next one comes the soul. That's as we would use the expression falling in love. Then you let your emotions go. You say, well, I think I really.
Lord, I really believe that that's the partner for me. And now you allow your emotions to go. And there needs to be those two things. My father always used to say to us as children, remember the two important things in marriage are those two things, respect and love. Those two come before the body. So the respect, it says that the wife is to reverence her husband. It says about the husband, he's to give honor to his wife.
And so this is the intelligent part of the being. And then love, the emotions. There needs to be emotions by there has to be because love is an emotion. But it's best to face these things intelligently first because I've seen young people fall in love and then you couldn't tell them anything because they had decided it before they even considered the first part. They had started at the second part, the emotions instead of.
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Starting in God's way that we're sanctified spirit, soul and body.
And yet I've seen many, many happy marriages that went the other way. There was the spirit, then there was the soul, and there was real love. And that love is an abiding love. And in God's plan it starts in the heart of the man because it was Christ that loved the church. We our love is a responsive love to his love. And then the body doesn't go until the marriage. And then if the marriage, the body goes. So you have spirit and soul.
And body, well, that's in connection with marriage. And then perhaps one other thing I could say, and that is the place that you would live.
You know, you could look around and think of places where there's a lot of pleasant things, nice climate and perhaps a lot of things that you would enjoy an easier way of life. But is this to be the thing that besides our where we live, the Lord doesn't want all his people living in the places where it's easiest and most pleasant and where the weather is always the nicest. He wants people saved in places where.
There's not much rain in places where it's cold, all kinds of places around this globe. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Supposing they said all but we just hate those kind of climates and the customs of those people. Why I just couldn't live there. No, the Lord was to guide them. And dear young people, when you make the decision where you're going to live.
Remember, the Lord can plan that for you.
And you can be perfectly happy in a place that may not have all the kind of climate and all the environment that you'd like. What you feel, it's where the Lord wants you to be. You feel that that's where he chose for you to dwell. And so he sent you there. And he, he, he wanted you to be there. And you were a light for him, a health blessing in that assembly where he wanted you to be.
And so first of all, and ask the Lord where he wants you to be. And then you just say, well, I like it here. A brother that I know back at home, he, he lived in a place where things were perhaps a little easier. And then he moved to another area where I don't think things were just all together as nice. And someone said to him, well.
Brother, did you like it better where you were or where you are here?
Dwelly said one place is good, a waiting place is the other. He was waiting for the Lord's return, and if the Lord wanted him in that other place, that was where he wanted to be. And so we think of the.
Of Brazilian or Idi rather and.
David said to him, Why did you come here, Eddie? I you're just a stranger in exile and we have to walk up and down here. This is no place for you.
And he said, where you are, David, that's where I want to be in life or in death. Well, how grand it is then, young people, that we can choose even the place where the Lord wants us to live, that we can settle there and be happy there. We can let our emotions go and say, well, I just love this place because I believe that's where the Lord wants me to be.
I heard of a missionary and someone said do you like the dirt and the mud and all those things?
Now he said, but he said, I do love being where the Lord wants me to be. And so this is it, the emotions then the body. Well, it's it's interesting to see here in the practical side then of sanctification, a very God of peace, sanctify you wholly and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body.
Be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Is the Lord able to give us this sweet peace and confidence and joy? Yes, He is. And we're not here to stay. We're just waiting for His coming. Certainly United States has ambassadors in a good many different countries.
And I don't think those ambassadors choose where they're going to be. The government makes a choice for them and sends them. And so in a certain sense, you and I are ambassadors in the in this world. And we ought to be ready to just be in the place where the Lord wants us to be. And he wants us in a certain place just to be there because we're really waiting for his coming. We're not in this world to stay. We're just passing.
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Through. And so, dear young people, this would be my desire for you. This was the desire of Paul for the Thessalonians, and this is my desire for you. It's certainly my desire I trust at least for myself, and that as I gland through this life and that I would be preserved spirit, soul and body, preserved in our thinking, preserved in our emotions, and preserved in where we allow our bodies to be and.
I think of what Paul said when he was talking to the elders at Ephesus in the 20th chapter of Acts.
He said that he had two desires that he might finish his course with joy and the ministry that he had received the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God and applying it to each one of us. Here I believe those two desires ought to apply to every one of us. Every Christian doesn't have a happy ending to his life, but if you seek the Lord's guidance, then I believe when.
The end of life comes.
It's like it says in the Psalms. Behold a perfect man, Behold the upright. The end of that man is peace.
Saw that, Paul said. There's just one thing that I desire, two things. Rather, he said, I want to have a happy ending to my life. Well, he did, although he died as a prisoner and I believe his head was chopped off. That was the way he ended. But he called that a happy ending, he could say.
I have fought a good fight. I have finished my course. I have kept the faith. I believe if you had talked to Paul at the end of his life and said, Paul, would you like things to have been different? I believe you would say, I'm glad the Lord has brought me. This is a happy ending to my life. He has given me grace to at least seek to follow him, not perfectly, but seek to follow him, to honor him, to stand for him and for his truth. And he said this is a happy ending to my life.
And did you accomplish what you wanted to accomplish in life? Yes. He said my responsibility was to keep the faith. And he said by God's grace, that's what I have sought to do. And dear young people, those are two happy desires in our lives and that we might fulfill in this world what the Lord wants us to accomplish. For He has something for every one of us to accomplish, and also that we would fulfill a little service that he wants.
To do finishing it with joy, well, this is a this is a great blessing and it isn't how long we live often, said John the Baptist was taken at 30 years of age.
If I had been living at that time, I might have thought it's not a tragedy a young man like that so devoted to the Lord. The Lord said among those born of women there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. And at 30 years of age he was beheaded.
Was this a calamity? No. He finished his course. He had been sent to witness to the nation of the coming of Christ. And so when he had completed that work, then the Lord comes and appears on the scene and John is given a martyr's crown. There's no mistakes in God's ways. But, dear young people, we can have a happy path. We can know that we're forgiven. We can know that we're justified. We can.
That we're positionally sanctified and we can pray that we will be practically sanctified, set apart in all the decisions and plans of our life to do what is pleasing to the Lord and to have the sense in our souls of His approval, in what He would have us do through life.
Our Blessed Hope
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn tonight to the book of Exodus and the 17th chapter, Exodus chapter 17.
Beginning at the first verse, then all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin after their journeys, according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in, and there was no water for the people to drink. Wherefore the the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them.
Why Chai Ji with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water, and the people murmured against Moses and said.
Wherefore is this, that thou has brought us up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst? And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel, and thy rod, where with thou smote us the river.
Taking mine hand and gull, behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb.
Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Massa and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not? Then came Amalek, and thought with Israel in Raphidim. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out, men, and go out.
With Amalek tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand. So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. When he looked down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him. And.
Sat thereon and Aaron and her stayed up his hands, the one and the one side and the other on the other side.
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovah Nissi. For he said, Because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have.
With Amalek from generation to generation. Well, I think we all know that the passage of the children of Israel through the wilderness, as we were mentioning last night, it's a picture to us of our passage on our way home to glory. We know that the children of Israel were sheltered in Egypt from the judgment by that blood that was sprinkled on the lentil and the two side pulse. And I say again how important it is that every one of us should know this.
That we should be sheltered by the precious blood of Christ. There's no other way of escape from judgment.
But then they started out on this wilderness journey, and there are many things for them to learn along the way.
They came to marrow where there was the waters were bitter and the tree had to be cast in saw that the bitter waters could be made sweet. And we come to bitter experiences in life. And as someone has put it like this, we cannot always see God's love in our circumstances, but we can always see His love revealed at the cross. There may be times in life where it's hard for us to see how God and His love would allow such and such a.
But we have to do like Moses, we have to go back and say, well, I know he loved me. He proved it by giving his Son to die for me. So if there's any one and you come to Mara and bitter experiences have come in your life, remember God has proven his love to you. He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. How shall he not with him also freely give us all things?
And next they came to Elam.
And there were 12 wells of water and three score and 10 palm trees. I've always enjoyed that because 12 wells of water seems as though God were showing that there was one for every one of the tribes. And so we might think, well, the Lord seems to undertake for some people, but not for me.
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But isn't it nice to see there was one for each of the tribes? And we know the Lord Jesus as our high priest bears the names of all his people upon his breast and upon his shoulders of strength. So there was one for each of the tribes. And perhaps we could think of those 3 score and 10 palm trees as representing life, because the scripture says the days of our years are three score years and 10. So it's just as if the Lord were saying.
I'm going to care for you all through life. Then we can say like the psalmist, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. And then too, when we come to the 16th chapter, we see that how he provided food for them, the manna that fell, they had to gather that manna every day.
And it's very lovely also to see that previous to the giving of the law.
Whenever they murmured, God came in and met them in grace after the law was given. When they murmured, God had to deal with them in judgment. But before the law was given, whenever they murmured, God met them in grace. As soon as they put themselves under law, they were practically saying, we're going to get the blessing because we deserve it, because we've earned it. And so God had to show them that there was no blessing on that ground.
And let's remember this, dear fellow Christians.
That when we claim anything from the Lord, let's claim it on the ground of pure sovereign grace. Never come to the Lord as though I've been a faithful Christian. The Lord should bless me because we're asking for it on the wrong ground. That's not grace. Grace is God's undeserved favor.
When that woman said that she was willing to take her place as a dog in the Gospels, the Lord said, oh woman, great is thy faith, be it under thee even as thou wilt. In other words, if God is going to bless, he only has one principle on which He can bless poor guilty sinners or failing Saints, and that's on the ground of pure grace. We need to always remember that, and so we don't want to be like Hezekiah.
Hezekiah pleaded for life on this ground. He said to the Lord.
I walked before thee with a perfect heart. And so he thought the Lord, because of this, should add years to his life. So perhaps we could put it like this. It's as though the Lord said, well, all right, Hezekiah, I'll add 15 years to your life and we'll test that perfect heart.
Well, what happened we only know too well for Hezekiah, the recorded failure of his life was in those added years he pleaded something on the ground of his own faithfulness. Oh, isn't it blessed? We're saved by grace. We stand in grace, and it's grace that will be brought unto us at the revelation of Jesus Christ. So God provided the manner and it fell every day all through their journeys. He. He met them in.
He provided for their needs, of course they were to go out and gather it day by day.
But it showed God's patient grace with them. And when we come to this chapter.
It begins here by telling us that it was by the commandment of the Lord that they pitched in a raphidim and there was number water for the people to drink. To me this is very interesting. We were talking last night about how the Lord guided the people by His commandment and by that cloud. And here we see that it was actually by the commandment of the Lord that they came to refit him where there was no water for the people to drink.
And you and I might think when we come to a certain spot in life where there just seem to be, there seems to be trouble, or there doesn't seem to be any refreshment. It just seems as if there's nothing that would satisfy our weary souls. We might say, did I make a mistake? How come that I'm here? It wasn't any mistake that they were there. It was by the commandment of the Lord that they came to fit him. This shows that the Lord sometimes brings.
To the point where our faith is put to the test because it tells us in Peter.
The trial of your faith being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Faith is put to the test when we're in a situation that we can't see any outlet ourselves. Were cast thoroughly upon God, and that confidence in Him glorifies him. He delights in it. Some of us are parents.
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And if there's a situation arises and we ask the child to do something and say.
Well, I can't tell you why now, but I'll explain to you later. And the child gladly and willingly obeys without an explanation. Just because they trust us, doesn't that please us? Doesn't it rejoice our hearts that there's that willingness to obey? Well, the Lord values that too. And He brought them to refit Him. He brought them there to test them.
Would they trust him? He had provided for them and delivered them from judgment in Egypt.
He had provided for them when they stood with the Red Sea in front of them and their enemies behind them. He had brought them through when there was no water, and when there was bitter water, He had made the bitter water sweet. When there was no bread, He had provided it. Surely they could trust Him now. But they seem to forget all that, just like we do. We forget all His goodness in the past, and we meet a fresh difficulty and we say, how are we going to get through this?
Well, he brought them to refer them. It was by the commandment of the Lord. But you know, when we get in such a spot, we're very likely to do just what Israel did here. They began to think of who they could blame, and there had to be somebody that was to blame for this situation. And so they turned and started to blame Moses. Isn't that like us, too? We got into a situation, we look around, there must be somebody to blame, somebody else's fault or something.
Instead of accepting it from the Lord.
Isn't it different with Paul? There he was in prison, a prisoner under Nero. But does he say I'm the prisoner of Nero? He said I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ is not lovely. He accepted the situation as from the Lord. Daniel was a captive in Babylon, but he said it was the Lord that gave us into the hand of the king of Babylon. He accepted the situation as from the Lord.
And that's why we talk about first causes and 2nd causes. The second cause may be somebody that was, as far as we can see, the cause of it. But the first cause is the Lord allowed it. And it's a good thing for us, brethren, when situations arise to look at the first cause and the first, 'cause I say again, is always the Lord.
His hand is in everything adverse or pleasant. Everything is in his hands and so.
When they murmured and chided with Moses, he said, Wherefore Dean kept the Lord. For in doing this they were really blaming the Lord for bringing them to refit them. It was His hand that brought them there, and Moses was simply acting as their guide and leader. But the Lord had given the commandment. Well, then, we see in the third verse what happened when they began to murmur and when they were discouraged.
They said to Moses, Wherefore it is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst. There's never a greater tendency with us to turn aside into the world when we're discouraged than when we're discouraged about our circumstances. I believe that Satan is a roaring lion in discouragement. Sometimes he is spoken of as a roaring lion in persecution.
But in first Peter Five we find that Satan is a roaring lion, not in persecution there.
But in discouragement, first Peter 5 and verse seven says casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. The next verse says, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary the devil like is a like a roaring lion, walketh about seeking whom he may devour. Persecuted Christians are usually happy Christians, but not discouraged Christians.
No Satan's really got a handle to work upon once we get discouraged.
Because he will always try to tell us, well, you should try the world. You should turn aside. You've been a little bit too careful about following the Lord. You might as well just ease up a little bit and go along with the world. And that's exactly what these people were saying here. Why did we ever leave Egypt? Why did we choose this narrow path? Why didn't we enjoy Egypt? It's true that there was slavery there, but we did have a lot of things that.
We could enjoy there, and a discouraged Christian is very likely to turn aside into the world. And some of us can look back in our lives and see that there were times when we turned aside to the world. And if we carefully observe it, we'll say it was because we were discouraged. Maybe something happened in the meeting and we blame somebody else, and so on. We got discouraged and then we turned aside. So here we see that tendency brought before us. Here they were now going.
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In heart, thank God they never got back there and God's not going to condemn any of his people with the world.
We're never going to come under the world's condemnation, but alas, we can choose the friendship of the world, which is enmity with God. So they were going to in heart, turn back into Egypt themselves, their children, their cattle. How different from what we had in Ezra on Lords Day, where they sought a right way for their themselves and for their children.
And for all their substance.
Here they were murmuring that it was hard for them, it was hard for their children, and it was hard to get a living and their cattle. So they didn't they They were thoroughly discouraged. And what did Moses do? Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. Isn't it beautiful here to see what Moses did?
Instead of.
Reproaching them, which he could have done.
He said to the Lord, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And I suppose nothing is harder for one who has tried to be a help to the people of God than to have them turn against him. We know the feelings in Paul's heart when those at Corinth spoke against him and sought to set him aside, and we see how that he got before the Lord and could say.
I am willing to love you, though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Oh, this was the spirit of Christ. And we see this brought out with Moses when he said to the Lord, what will I do to these people? They're just about going to throw stones at me. And sometimes people do throw, perhaps not literal stones, but there can be pretty hurtful stones that are thrown sometimes, and they really do hurt, perhaps more than real stones. Well, he cried to the Lord.
And what did the Lord say?
He said go on before the people. Let's always remember those those words. We need them often when we get discouraged, the Lord says go on before the people, don't turn aside your path of service, continue and seek to be a help to my people. So he not only said to go on before the people, but take with the of the elders of Israel.
But the very people that were wanting to stone him, to take them with him.
Yes, he said, you take them with you because I want to bless them. And so this is an encouragement to us not to give up, but to ever seek the good and blessing of the people of God. And if it's a question of the truth, of course we have to stand for it. But if it's a question of personal matters, let's seek grace to forgive and go on. And so that's what we see here with Moses the Lord.
Him to go on, and he said, And thy rod wherewith thou smartest the river, take in thine hand and gull.
On what ground could God bless a people like this? It was only upon the ground of the fact that the rod had been lifted up upon another. And that's what we see at at the Red Sea. There was the Red Sea. How could the people Passover? Well, Moses was to lift up his rod and bring it down and God would open through the Red Sea a way of deliverance for his people and I like to connect it with.
Little hymn, Jehovah lifted up his rod. Oh Christ, it fell on thee. Thou wast forsaken of thy God. No distance now for me. Thy blood. Beneath that rod has flowed thy thy bruising healeth me. And on what ground can God bless his people, as we were saying before, because we've been faithful.
Now, because of Calvary, his grace can flow out without limit and free.
And so the Lord was saying to Moses, I have a basis by which I can bless these people. I know they're murmuring, I know they're not what they should be, but I have a basis on which I can bless them. And that is that the rod has been brought upon another. And so God has a righteous basis by which he can bless us and bless us eternally. And it's because of that rod, it's because the Lord Jesus.
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Bore the wrath and the judgment of God.
And in the sixth verse he says, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb, and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
When it says here I will stand before thee there upon the rock in horrible, I like to think how that Moses was not to look at the people, but he was to have his eyes upon the Lord. The Lord says, I'll stand before you. And this is what we need to do. In the 84th Psalm, when we find the psalmist praying there, he says, he says, give ear, O God of Jacob, and then he says, look upon.
Thine anointed, who is God anointed one, He's the God of Jacob. As he looked at poor failing Jacob. No, he looks upon the face of his anointed, and because of that he can bless. So the Lord said, I'll stand before thee there. And just like when Balaam was hired to curse the people, God wouldn't let him curse them. And he had to say from the tops, top of the rocks, do I behold them? He has not beheld iniquity in Jacob nor.
In Israel, he didn't say it wasn't there, He didn't say there wasn't iniquity, that there wasn't perverseness, but he didn't see them that way. He saw them as his favorite people. And that is our standing before God. And so here we find He was to have his eyes upon the Lord. And then smiting the rock, the waters would come out.
We know that there was another occasion later on when Moses was told to speak to the rock.
And the water would come. Why is it here? Smite the rock? On the other occasion, speak to the rock. Oil is very blessed. The rock only had to be smitten once. The work of redemption is gloriously complete by one offering yet perfected forever them that are sanctified. And the rock will never have to be smitten again. The work of redemption, I say, is complete. But we can speak to the rock. We can speak to it.
And Moses misrepresented the Lord when he in anger smote the rock twice. And the Lord has completed the work. The ground of blessing has been laid. And isn't it blessed now that we can speak to the rock? Yes, He's up there, and we can speak to Him, as we'll see. And what follows here? We can come boldly to the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find.
Time of need. So the rock here had to be smitten. Saw that the water could flow.
And now, once that has been completed, now we can speak to the rock well.
The water flowed, and then it tells us that the name of the place was called Massa and Meribah, because they tempted the Lord and said as the Lord among us or not. There was this reminder that they had forgotten the Lord. They had looked at circumstances instead of thinking of God's faithfulness, is the little hymn puts it. We ought to praise Him for all its past and trust Him for all that's to come.
As He'll never forsake His people. But now we come to the point that I particularly would like to bring before you, and that is from the eighth verse on, we see a battle taking place here. Then came Amalek and fought with Israel in Refidium. I'd like to connect this with John 7. If you'll turn to John 7, I'd just like to read a few verses there.
John 7 and verse 37.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Then if you'll also turn to Galatians chapter 5.
Another verse in this connection. Galatians chapter 5.
And the 17th verse.
For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that she cannot do the things that she would. I think perhaps we can see from this that the water flowing from this smitten rock is a figure not only of salvation, but of the Holy Spirit of God. For when we are saved, the Holy Spirit of God comes to indwell our bodies.
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Says in Galatians in Ephesians chapter one.
After that she believed you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And so in this water flowed from the smitten rock. It's a picture to us of what takes place consequent upon the finished work of Christ. When we believe, when we rest upon that finished work, then the Holy Spirit of God comes to indwell our bodies. We see a picture of it too, in the cleansing of the leopard. The blood was put upon him, and then the oil.
Was put on top of the blood. And so the Lord Jesus, smitten, brings before us the work of redemption.
And then the Spirit of God now, and this, as we have in John 7, is a picture to us of the Holy Spirit of God. For the believer, I say, is indwelled by the Spirit. And no sooner had this taken place than Amalek came out. And so we noticed in Galatians 5, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit.
An amalek in the scripture is a picture to us of the flesh.
Or perhaps I could better say Satan's power over us through the flesh, the fallen nature that's within.
Because that's what Satan always works upon. Can't do anything with the Newman. The Lord Jesus said the Prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. He can't do anything with the new man any more than he could do anything with Christ. The Lord Jesus always met every temptation by saying it is written. He could never get the Lord Jesus out of the path of obedience and dependence, but he does have.
Something to work on in me and everyone of us here know, if we're honest with ourselves and accept the truth of God's Word, that we have within us this fallen nature. And Satan knows our weaknesses and he knows just exactly how to present temptation to us, and he always works upon that old nature. The whole world system operates on the lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life.
The whole world system is Condor Satan's control, says the whole world lieth in the arms of the wicked one. He just is the one who controls the world's system, and he knows just what appeals to each one of us. And so no sooner had they had a drink of this refreshing water than Hamleck came out. And doesn't this remind us something of our own souls? Experience all the joy of being.
All the joy of having peace with God. And yet we can look back and say it surely wasn't very long until Satan came with some temptation and we discovered to our dismay and to our sorrow that the old nature was still there and not improved. He's not improved. The old nature does not improve. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. The flesh profit is nothing. And so.
Amalek comes out now it wasn't going to be all over with Israel. Or was there a way, a victory for them? As I say, there were redeemed people. They were going to be brought to the promised land. But now it's a question of victory over Amalek. And isn't this an important thing in our lives too? Because I've often said a Christian can be the happiest person on earth or he he can be the most miserable.
If he's really enjoying what he has in Christ, he'll be the happiest person on earth.
But if he's not, he's spoiled for the world, he can't enjoy the world again if he's a true child of God because he has the heavenly guest within. Just like going on a trip with somebody that keeps telling you all the time, I'm not enjoying this. This is this is miserable. I don't like this. How would you like to go on a trip with somebody who kept saying that to you all the time? Say that was no fun at all. I didn't enjoy that. Well, we have the Spirit of God within. And when he's grieved, he keeps telling us this.
And so the Christian can't enjoy the world again. But.
He and that makes him very miserable, because the whirling doesn't have that guest within, and he may have a measure of pleasure out of the world, the pleasures of sin for a season. But I say again, the Christian spoiled for this world, and we might as well then enjoy our portion in Christ. I say again, there's nothing so miserable as a miserable Christian.
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The only way you can comfort him is comfort him in Christ, and if he's away from the Lord, you may find it difficult to bring him back to where he can enjoy the Lord again. Well, may the Lord keep us. Here's the way that God is set before us here, the way of victory when Amalek came out, and when Satan comes with his temptations and we prove that weakness within.
Then do we have a resource? Has God provided for this situation?
Well, I believe it's all brought before us in a very lovely way here in what follows.
Moses takes the whole situation in hand. Moses said unto Joshua. And I might mention that the name Joshua is exactly the same as the name Jesus in the New Testament. In fact, in one place in the New Testament, Joshua's name is given as Jesus is exactly the same name in the original, so that he represents to us the Lord Jesus, who in the power of the Spirit of God is the captain of.
Salvation leading us through this wilderness on our way home. So.
We see here Moses took the situation in hand and told Joshua to go out as the captain to lead the people against Amalek. And I say again, we have one who is spoken of in Scripture as the captain of our salvation. And last night we were talking a little bit about whether we are seeking to follow the direction of this captain.
Sometimes we're rather self willed. Very self willed I guess I could say.
And we don't follow the direction of our captain. We think we can take things in our own hands. We're like Peter, you know, who could trust himself, he thought. And we like to choose our own way sometimes. And so these people were not to say, well, I think I can overcome Amalek. I think we're strong enough to handle this enemy. You know, we're saved now, and we really are happy. And we ought to be able to overcome him. But did you ever notice that? Very often.
Greatest defeats come after some time when we seem to have been exceedingly happy. Do you know why that is? Well, for the very same reason that when the Children of Israel won their greatest victory at Jerry Call, they had a big defeat at AI. They trusted in themselves. They thought I can do it. And they said we don't all need to go up against this city. It's only a little city. And so they attempted to do it in their own strength.
I can look back on my life and I remember returning from one of the conferences. I thoroughly enjoyed it. And then I got in conversation with a man and I found out how very, very weak I was to meet all the things he said to me. The Lord let me see how weak I was in myself when the children of Israel, when the disciples, I should say, were up on the Mount of Transfiguration, I suppose it was one of the finest experiences in their lives.
But then when they came down, a man met them, and he wanted them to cast the unclean spirit out of his child.
And they couldn't do it. They couldn't do it. They said to the Lord, why can't we do it? He said, this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting. So I just warn you that sometimes you think, oh, I'm so happy now. I'm sure I can meet any situation, not without constant dependence on the Lord. And so victory is a very blessed thing, but if we rely on the victory instead of upon the person who gave us the victory.
We may have to prove our own weakness. So here they had a captain, and this captain was able to lead them in this conflict against Amalek. And so he went out as their leader. And let's never turn aside from following our leader. Let us always be dependent upon him. Let us realize that we can't take one step alone.
Without me you can do nothing. So that was the first thing.
And then the next thing was that Moses said, And I will go up on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did so, did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek and Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. Now I believe that Moses going up onto the top of the hill represents the Lord Jesus who has gone up into heaven for us. You'll turn with me now to.
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Hebrews chapter 4. Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 14.
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities that was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
If you'll turn to the 7th chapter in the 24th verse.
But this man, because he continued with ever, hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that common to God, by him, seeing He ever liveth, to make intercession for us. For such an high priest became us who is wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens. I think we can perhaps see the connection here, because in both both those passages it speaks about one who has gone up.
The heavens, who is made higher than the heavens? And so we see Moses going up onto the top of the mount and holding up his hand. Now, what did that have to do with their victory? Oh, it had everything to do with it. And what does it have to do with us? Oh, isn't it blessed that there is one who's gone up on high, and he is our great high priest. And what is he there for? Well, the high priest in Israel had to offer sacrifices for sin.
The Lord's work is completed in that He has offered Himself as the one perfect sacrifice. But He is our great high Priest, and He is there in the presence of God for us. We have a living Savior at the right hand of God, and their whole victory depended upon this. It's true that they needed this leader because He was guiding them in the path of obedience, but they needed that work.
That was going on up in the top of the hill, and you and I could never, never get through our wilderness journey.
If we didn't have that daily help from above and were invited to come boldly under the throne of grace. We spoke at the beginning of the meeting about grace. I'm glad it's a throne of grace. That is, you don't have to come and say, well, I've been a faithful Christian. I think I can count on the Lord helping me in this difficulty. No, it's grace. It's undeserved. And so we come to him in the confidence.
And that the one who died for us lives for us, and he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Now you know, there is a difference between infirmities and sins.
When we have sinned, we need an advocate, and we'll speak of this in a few moments. But infirmities means our weaknesses. And we have weaknesses, you know, when we allow those things, then they become sin. But we do have weaknesses, every one of us, because we're still here in these bodies of humiliation. And I'm greatly comforted by that verse. He knoweth our frame.
He remembereth that we are but dust. He owes all about us.
He has walked the path before and so he's there and he invites us not to come shyly or wondering if he'll hear us, but he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He knows just exactly how we feel. You get up in the morning with a headache, the Lord knows how you feel. You get up and there's a lot of pressure at work. He knows all about that too, and how unable we are sometimes to cope with situations. Isn't it very?
That He understands all about this and He's touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He passed through everything. Sin apart. The Lord Jesus was never tempted from within. We're tempted from within because we have a fallen nature. But He was the one who passed through all these things and showed us that the way to meet them was.
In perfect and constant dependence upon God.
What Satan tries to do is to get us out of the path of dependence. He tried that with the Lord.
But he couldn't do it. But he tries it with us to get us dependent on ourselves instead of on the Lord.
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So he's touched with the feeling of our infirmities, and he invites us to come in every time of need. And now in return over to this 7th chapter, it says this man, because he continueth, ever hath an unchangeable priesthood. You have a margin, it says, which passeth not from one to another.
I rather enjoy that expression because that it doesn't pass from one to another.
Sometimes you have a friend, and this friend has known you and known your family for a long time. You feel you can talk freely to that person because you feel that person understands me. I've often said what the human heart craves most of all is understanding and love. We want those two things. We have them both in the Lord, in the measure in which we find them in a creature.
By it helps us if you have someone you feel understands you, if you have someone you feel loves you in spite of all that you are, it's a tremendous help. Well, no one is perfect, but we do have one who thoroughly understands knows through us through and through and loves us just the same. And when it says he hath an unchangeable priesthood. He knew my whole family history. He knew my.
He knew my grandfather, he knew all the family weaknesses, he knew all about us. And so that's the kind of a high priest we have. Isn't it very blessed to have such a one who knows all? He knows exactly how we feel. Sometimes we we just can't tell other people exactly how we feel. But he knows and say, well, I shouldn't feel this way. He knows about that too. He understands and.
He's touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
And when it says He is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him, this is not really the thought of the saving of our souls. It's rather the thought that we have in Romans 5, where it says, if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. He noticed the difference there. Our souls are saved through the work of Calvary.
But we're saved from dishonouring him, from getting away from defeat in our Christian life by the one who lives for us. And so when Moses hand was up, Israel prevailed. When it went down, Amalek prevailed. And so when we don't have that help from above, Amalek prevails, He gets the victory. So he's able to save to the uttermost. This means that.
There never can be a situation in your life or mine as Christians.
That we can ever say, while the Lord couldn't help me in that it was just too difficult. He's able to save to the uttermost that the the very hardest day, the greatest trials we can come to Him and he's able to keep us. He's able to help us through those things and make us more than conquerors, seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them.
So there he is at the right hand of God.
And when we seek His help, then there's victory. The enemy doesn't get the advantage. But when we don't seek His help, and we often don't, we rely on ourselves. We try to handle the situation in our own wisdom, and down we go to defeat. But here he lives to make intercession for us. And such a high priest became us, who is wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than.
Why does it say such a high priest became us? Well, you know, sometimes when we have a friend and we feel that friend understands us, yet that friend sometimes will actually sympathize with us in our failures. And this is wrong. Supposing that I go to a friend and I say, you know what so and so said to me? And he said some very unkind and mean things, and then I say.
And I just told him and so we tell the person what we what our reply was and the person says.
Well, I don't blame you. I would have done the same. That person didn't help us at all. That person just encouraged us to do the wrong thing. That's not the kind of help we get from the Lord. He's holy, He's harmless. And what does he say? Oh, he says, did they say that to you? I'll give you all the grace you need to forgive them, to show love to them. That's the kind of help we need, isn't it? Otherwise, Satan does get the advantage. So that's the kind of help such a.
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Priest became us. He's holy, He's harmless, he's undefiled, and there he is in the presence of God for us. Isn't it very blessed to see He knows all about us. He understands our frame, He understands our physical weaknesses. If we go to work with a headache and we tell him, well, I'm going to need special help today, says I know all about it, I'll give you the help you need. How wonderful. That's why it says when his hand was up, Israel prevailed when it went down.
Amalek prevailed. Now it doesn't mean the Lord's hand never goes down, but sometimes we don't ask the help, do we? And therefore the enemy gets the victory. But it tells us that Moses went up on the mount and he had two hands, and on one side Aaron held up his hand because Aaron was the priest. And that's the picture of what we've just been talking about. That is, the Lord Jesus is our great high priest.
But it never tells us the other hand went down.
Perhaps you noticed when I was reading it speaks about one hand going down, but it never says the other hand went down and her hur stayed up the other hand and the word her means purity. Now that other hand represents to us the advocacy of Christ. Supposing we did fail, supposing we did say the wrong thing or do the wrong thing. Is it all up with us then?
Does that mean now, because we failed, that there's no hope? Oh, no.
We should have asked help, but when we didn't, Amalek prevailed. But the other hand was always up. And what is that? I say again, it's advocacy. It's to restore us when we have failed. Let's read a few verses about this in First Epistle of John and the first chapter.
And the eighth verse.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We say that we have not sinned. We make Him a liar, and His word is not in US. My little children, these things right I unto you that she sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
I think you can see from these verses the advocacy of Christ, and you can see why it was her whose name means purity, that held up the other hand, because it says he's he's faithful and just, and that our advocate is Jesus Christ the righteous.
I failed as a Christian. Now I have one who's there at the right hand of God? Does he overlook that sin? Oh, no, sin had to be punished. But I like to think of it in this way at the moment. The believer sins, we have won in the presence of God for us. And it's as though in the presence of God he said I paid for that sin.
I paid for that sin. The Lord Jesus is there, and this is important, I believe, for us to see.
Because it doesn't say if any man confess his sin, we have an advocate with the Father, but it says if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. And the reason I call attention to this is because I find some Christians that no wonder what's going to happen if there was some unconfessed sin in their lives and the Lord should come.
The advocacy of Christ is going on continually before we've ever confessed it. He is there in the presence of God for us.
Nothing interrupts the believers standing. He is always there, accepted in God's beloved Son, always holy and without blame, before him, in love. So there he is, before you ever confessed it at all. That hand never goes down. He's there. He maintains our cause. The word advocate means one who.
Maintains our cause, one it could be translated, a patron, one who is interested in all our affairs, and there he is in the presence of God for us.
Oh, how good to know that he's there. Will you say, what does sin do in the believers life then? Well, it doesn't change our standing, but it does get us out of fellowship with the Lord. And so when the believer sins, he needs to come and confess it. He needs to come and own it before the Lord and be restored. Otherwise he walks out of fellowship with God.
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And while our standing remains perfect before God.
Our condition of soul may not be what it should be, and if there are any of us here tonight who have some unconfessed sin in our lives, you're still perfect as to your standing before God. But I'm sure you're out of fellowship with the Lord. Because if we allow sin in our lives, then there can't be communion or common thoughts. That's what communion means. There can't be common thoughts with God. He hates sin, but isn't it blessed?
That this advocate is righteous. He's righteous because as I say, he paid for that sin. He doesn't overlook it, He settled it. And now what is the believer to do? Says here, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins. If we confess our sins, some, I've heard some Christians say, well, I asked God to forgive my sins every day.
Well this verse doesn't say to ask him to forgive, does it?
This verse says if we confess our sins, you say, well, what is the difference? Well, let me put it this way. If I did something very unkind to you and then I came to you and said, will you forgive me? I'm raising the question of whether you're going to say yes or no. You might say yes, you might say no. I asked you, will you forgive me? But.
When you supposing I came to you and and you said to me, Gordon, I've already forgiven you in my heart.
But I would like you to say you're sorry. That's quite different, isn't it? And you know, the believer has been as to his position before God, he has been judicially forgiven and is judicially forgiven at all times. This has to do with restorative forgiveness. So we're not told to come and ask for forgiveness, but sometimes it's a little harder to confess it than to ask forgiveness.
Sometimes when we were at home, I'm very thankful that our parents taught us to say I'm sorry because I find that.
It's often hard to say you're sorry for something. It's almost easier to ask somebody to forgive you than humble yourself and say I'm sorry I did it. But that's what the Lord wants us to do. We grieve him. He went to Calvary and paid for that sin. And to think that we grieved his wondrous love, what He had done for us by allowing something in our lives that cost him the judgment of Calvary, well.
Were then to confess it and it says he's faithful and just to forgive us that means there's forgiveness in different ways in Scripture this is this is we might say restore the forgiveness now we're restored to fellowship in the family and it says and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness this cleanse us from all unrighteousness means that is not just to go on with that sin but rather to have thoroughly judged it so that we.
Don't want to be careless about that sin. It's something of the thought that David had in the 51St Psalm, a passage that somewhat misunderstood. He said, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me. The correct translation is, take not the Spirit of thy holiness from me. David was afraid that he might after that look rather lightly on that sin. And he said, Oh Lord, I never want to look lightly on that.
I always want to have the spirit of thy holiness. And that's a very important thing for us when a person is really restored. And then there is again the spirit of holiness. He abhors the sin and he wants to, he wants to always look upon it as something that was abhorrent to God, not say, Oh well, I failed, but everybody does now to look on it seriously and so.
There is the confession of sin and to cleanse us.
From all unrighteousness. Well, Moses at least. Yes, Moses was up on the hill and he was holding up both his hands. And it says that.
The 13th verse and Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword. God gave a victory and brethren is blessed, and we can have that victory in our Christian life if we avail ourselves of the provision that has been made. Who had this battle in hand though? Notice the last verse. And he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation.
Generation, we sing in our hymns sometimes. The Lord is our banner, the battle is his.
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The weakest of Saints more than conqueror is so it was the Lord that provided for all this. They had the captain Moses was up on the top of the hill. They couldn't boast and say we did this by our own strength. It's the Lords battle and maybe some of us here tonight say well I just feel so weak.
Isn't this Graham? The Lord will have war with Emily from generation to generation.
And we can never lay down arms and say, well, it's all over, not until we get home to glory. But it's good to know that if the Lord has taken this whole situation in hand, that we can count upon him, that he has provided the way of victory. And it's all through him. Him as our captain, him as our high priest, him as our advocate. It's all I say through him that there's victory. So Moses build an altar and called it Jehovah Nissi, which means.
The Lord our banner, as though he said, I never want to forget this. We didn't win this victory over Amalek because we were stronger than him. We want it because the Lord is our banner. And then the going back to the 14th verse. And the Lord said unto Moses, write this for a memorial in a book and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua. For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
There were two things Joshua was never to forget.
The way of victory. And let us never forget this either. It had to be repeated to Joshua because he might forget. And perhaps as I say these things tonight, there are those who have heard these things many times. But it, it was necessary for Joshua to be reminded. And we need to be reminded of these things. And then this expression I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. This was a comforting thought and it is a comforting thought.
To me too, that there's a day coming when the remembrance of Amalek will be gone. When we reach the glory above, there won't be any conflict. No, thank God that the flesh will be gone. We won't have any infirmities. We'll have bodies of glory like Christ's own glorious body. And so there were two things the Lord said. Remind Joshua of the way of victory, but give him some consolation and tell him there.
To it, when we get home to glory, it's all going to be at an end. We'll be there with Him and like Him. This is our blessed and glorious hope, that when we reach there, by all that's connected with this scene here will have passed. We'll have the remembrance of His grace.
Walking in the Joy of the Lord
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn tonight to the Book of Numbers?
Numbers Chapter 9 Like to read part of this 9th chapter and then also part of the 10th chapter.
Verse 15 And on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle, namely, the 10th of the testimony, And it even there was upon the Tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire until the morning, so it was always the cloud covered it by day, and the appearance of fire by night.
When the cloud was taken up from the Tabernacle, then after that the children of Israel journeyed, and the place where the cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their tents. At the commandment of the Lord the children of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the Lord they pitched. As long as the cloud abode upon the Tabernacle, they rested in their tents. And when the cloud carried along upon the Tabernacle, many days.
Then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord.
And journeyed not. And so it was when the cloud was a few days upon the Tabernacle. According to the commandment of the Lord, they abode in their tents. And according to the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. And so it was when the cloud abode from even until the morning, and that the cloud was taken up in the morning. Then they journeyed. Whether it was by day or by night that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed.
Or whether it were two days or a month or a year that the cloud carried upon the Tabernacle remaining thereon.
The children of Israel abode in their tents and journeyed not, but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents, and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed. They kept the charge of the Lord by the command of the Lord, by the hand of Moses. And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make thee 2 trumpets of silver of a whole piece. Shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly.
Journeying of the camps, and when they shall blow with them all, the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the Congregation.
And if they blow but with one trumpet, then the Princess, which are the heads of the thousands of Israel, shall gather themselves unto thee. When ye blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east part shall go forward. When you blow an alarm the second time, then the camps that lie on the South side shall take their journey. They shall blow an alarm for their journeys. But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not.
An alarm, and the sons of Aaron the priest shall blow with the trumpets.
Shall be to you for an ordinance forever throughout your generation. And if you go to war in your land against the enemy that oppresseth you, then you shall blow an alarm with the trumpets, and you shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and ye shall be saved from your enemies also in the day of your gladness and in your solemn days, in the beginning of your month, you shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings and over the sacr.
Your peace offerings that they may be to you for a memorial before your God.
I am the Lord your God.
And passing on to the 29th verse. And Moses said On the whole, Bab the son of Raglan MIDI, unite Moses, father-in-law, we are journeying under the place of which the Lord said, I will give it You come now with us, and we will do thee good. For the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel. And he said unto him, I will not go, but I will depart to my own land, and to my kindred. And he said, Leave us not, I pray thee.
For as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. And it shall be if thou go with us. Yeah, it shall be that what goodness the Lord shall do unto us, the same will we do unto thee. And they departed from the mount of the Lord. 3 days journey. The ark of the Covenant of the Lord went before them in the three days journey.
To search out a resting place for them, and the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day when they went out of the camp.
And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them would hate thee, Flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, oh Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel.
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The reason I've read this portion of the word tonight is because it shows us the way the Lord guided His people through the wilderness. We know that long before that they have taken shelter under the blood in the land of Egypt and were saved from the judgment that fell there. And I trust each one here tonight can say, well, I too have taken shelter under that precious blood.
Because it's only the blood of Christ that cleanses from sin. It's only his precious blood that shelters us from judgment.
And when we are sheltered from judgment, we know that not one stroke of that judgment can touch us because the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin. But even though we know that, we're sure of being in the glory. How wonderful it is that God hasn't left us to find our own way through this world. He has marked out a path for us.
A safe path. A happy path.
Because we know we're going to be perfectly happy when we get home to glory and are in the Lord's presence. But I say again, he wants us to experience some of this joy down here in this world. When the Lord Jesus was here and speaking to his disciples before he went away, he said he spoke the things he did, that their joy might be full. He really wanted them to be happy.
And God has provided for our happiness.
And unless we follow the path that we he has marked out for us, we're going to miss something of that joy that He intends for us. And so how meaningful it is that we follow the directions of His word. You know, He has given us a new life because not only have our sins been put away in the precious blood of Christ, but we have been brought into the family of God.
And God has given us a new life. That life is a very life of Christ.
Every believer in this room not only is a forgiven Sinner, but God sees you as a new creature in Christ Jesus.
He sees you in that new life, and that's why it speaks in the Scripture of justification of life. Not merely that we're forgiven, but justification of life means that God sees you and I as believers beforehand in a life that never sinned and cannot sin because it's the life of Christ. We are made the righteousness of God in him.
What a place we have been brought into.
Well, we know the devil does all it can to keep a Sinner from coming to Christ. He doesn't want him to know the joy of salvation after we're saved. He knows very well that he can never pluck away one of the Lords redeemed ones. He's never been able to do it yet, and he never will. Because the Lord said, I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand, so knowing that he can't pluck us out.
It's strange that Satan should know this even a little. Sometimes Christians don't know it, because I believe Satan has been trying hard for a long time, but he's never succeeded. Not one could he ever pluck out of the hands of the shepherd, the Good Shepherd who gave his life to the sheep.
But he can and he does rob us of the joy of following Christ. He does rob us often of the blessedness of the path that God has marked out for us. And so just as God marked out his path for Israel, it's just a little shadow, friends, of how he is marked out the path for us as we go through this world. He has marked out a safe and a happy path.
And can these things that I've read here tonight?
Perhaps we could say there are three or perhaps four things as in are marked here as the way the Lord guided his people. It was it tells us the commandment of the Lord and the guiding cloud. I look upon those together, how he guided them through his word and by his Spirit and then the next chapter. Every time they journeyed there was the blowing of the silver trumpets and then to there was the.
Of the covenant. And now I believe that there are those three things by which the Lord guides His people. First of all, He guides us by His Word and by His Spirit. Then He also would have us to know His claim over us, because the Scripture, in the Scripture silver is a figure to us of redemption.
The reason I say that is because when the children of Israel were numbered, it tells us.
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That they had to pay 1/2 shekel of silver after the shekel of the sanctuary.
And that was called the redemption money. Now we know that in Christianity we're not redeemed with silver and gold. Peter tells us. We're not redeemed with corruptible things of silver and gold, but with a precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. So we're redeemed by blood. But when they blew these silver trumpets, it was really the recognition of the fact that they were not their own.
And genuine, if we say like the world says.
Well, I do my own thing. I go my own way. We're not recognizing the claims of Christ over us. But when we think of the great price that He paid for us, then we remember that His word says ye are not your own. Ye are bought with a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are gods. That's what it means, friends, to acknowledge Jesus as Lord, to acknowledge his claims.
For us. And so those trumpets, I believe represent that. And then perhaps you could say, best of all, this arc, the ark was a symbol of the Lord's presence with his people. For it tells us, it tells us that when the ark was made, it says there I will meet with thee, and there I will commune with thee. And so I say again, isn't it blessed the way the Lord guides us? We have the light of his word.
Look up to Him in prayer. We acknowledge His claims over us as belonging to Him, and then we have His presence. Oh, what more could He give? Well might the little hymn say, Lord, is He not? We ask no more. How could we ask more than what He has given? Well, we see here in this 9th chapter of Numbers, in the 15th verse where we began.
Says and on the day that the Tabernacle was reared up, the cloud covered the Tabernacle.
Namely, the camp of the testimony. Now you know when the children of Israel started out for Canaan.
It tells us in another place that this journey was just an 11 day journey and tells us in Deuteronomy that from Egypt to Canaan only took 11 days journey, but you know, it actually took them 40 years to go through. Was it because God didn't know the shortest way?
Oh no, he knew the way, but there were lessons to be learned. And you know when you accept the Lord as your Savior, you're perfectly fit for glory. The Lord could take you the next day. You'll never be more fit if you live 40 years after you're saved, because it's the blood and the blood alone that makes us fit. But the Lord leaves us here, and there are many, many experiences that we have in our Christian pathway.
And that are necessary.
There were two great lessons in the wilderness, and those two great lessons were these, first, to know themselves, and 2nd, to know the Lord. It says to humbly and approve thee, and to show thee what was in thine heart. That was getting to know themselves and to know. Getting to know yourself is not very flattering, it's not very pleasing. A man was asked to write his autobiography and.
He said that someone he was offered a tremendous sum of money, up in the thousands of dollars because he was quite a noted man. If he was, would write his autobiography.
He said no person can honestly write their own life. It's too disgusting. That was his comment. He didn't even want to honestly write his own life. Will your friends, we do learn in this world what poor things we are. As sinners, we learned that we had no righteousness and we needed the blood to put away our sins. And even since we've been saved, haven't we learned how often we failed? How?
How often we get out and don't please our precious Lord and Savior when we had to learn this in the wilderness, 40 years, a long journey learning this. But if that was all we had to learn, that would indeed be very, very sad. But they learned something else. They learned that God was sufficient for every situation. For it says.
Hello. He humbled him and proved them and showed them what was in their hearts. As Deuteronomy tells us, He showed them what was in his heart.
And he cared for them, He sent them manna when they murmured how he met them in grace. Oh, it was just, it's just lovely to trace his goodness to them in spite of all their failures. And that's the way it is for us as believers. We have learned our own failures and weaknesses. But if we have an any measure stop to walk with the Lord, we have learned His faithfulness.
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And many of us like to sing that little hymn. We'll praise Him for all of his past and trust Him for all that's to come.
And so this Tabernacle was reared up after the people had failed. Then God said you're going to have to live in tents for 40 years. But he said, make me attempt that I may dwell among them. Wasn't that wonderful here. Because of their failure, they were going to have to live in tents in the wilderness. But God said, I love you so much that I will come down and dwell among you. And.
Sacrifices, He provided a way of approach into his presence so that he could go on with them and that tent, because that's what the Tabernacle really was, God's tent. It just moved from place to place and every place they were why God intended that they should pitch around that standard tent because that was where the Lord dwelled among his people. And that's why it begins here with.
1St as we said, they were redeemed people, they were brought through the Red Sea.
But now the tent is here, the tent of the testimony, the Tabernacle, the testimony, the Lord among his people. Were they going to follow His guidance? And can we each ask our own hearts? I hold each one can say I know the Lord is my Savior. If you do know the Lord is your Savior, do you want to have His guidance in your life? Do you want Him to direct you?
Well, I'm sure as I read these verses from the 15th to the 23rd.
It did sound like quite a bit of repetition, didn't it? At the commandment of the Lord, it's probably said half a dozen times. They didn't count it, but it's not quite a number of times. Here it mentions that the commandment of the Lord they journey. Why did it have to be repeated?
Well, I don't think we need to ask. Don't we have to be reminded of this over and over and over again? These willful hearts of ours are ever prone to choose our own way, and so it had to be stated over and over again at the commandment of the Lord. And don't we feel the need of opening our Bibles and reading the Bible each day and looking up to the Lord that He might guide us?
To do it on Sunday and say that'll take care of seven days. No, it has to be repeated, doesn't it? Over and over again. And happy as the Christian who constantly reads the Word and constantly looks up to the Lord. Because we do need the guidance of His Word and we do need the throne of grace where we obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
So it tells us here that over the.
Camp was this cloud by day, and that cloud was a fire by night.
That was the glory cloud. It was God's presence there over the people, and it was that cloud that was intended to guide them in their passage through the wilderness. And I like to think of the cloud by day because they were going through the wilderness.
Where it was exceedingly hot, the hot sands of the desert. Wasn't it nice that in that place where perhaps there were no trees, no shelter, that they could take shelter under that cloud? And doesn't it seem like this sometimes in life, that the day is just like a scorcher? It's just so hot and just everything seems to get you. And you say.
Where can I get a little bit of relief? Oh, isn't it grand? He took not away the pillar of cloud by day.
Nor the pillar of fire by night in all their journeys. And so no matter how hot the day was, why there was the cloud, there was that shelter for them. And the Lord would have us to, to realize that we can find shelter under his wings, under his shadow. He's a shadow, it says.
A man shall be as a hiding place from the wind, and a covered from The Tempest as rivers of water in a dry place.
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Shadow of a great rock in a weary land. And so in this weary land there is a shadow. It's the the cloud that was over them. And then at night time when everything just seems so dark and perhaps out there in the wilderness where there were certainly not any electric lights, certainly not any cars passed, everything was total darkness. It wasn't for them.
At any time of the night they could look up and there it was shining, there it was shining. And so there are times perhaps when we can't sleep and it all seems awfully dark at night. And we got discouraged perhaps to look up and say, there's one up there that I can turn to. And so there was a glory cloud, and they were never to go ahead of it or wait behind it.
And you know we do that sometimes we go ahead of the Lord.
We make our own plans and we don't ask Him, and so we can go ahead. But they were not to go ahead of the cloud. The cloud was always to go before them, to mark out the way by day and by night. And unless the cloud moved, they were not to move. And then it says the commandment of the Lord, and you know, this is where we get His written direction for us.
How often you find people with the saying they're going to say they're going to do things?
And then you show them what the word of God says, and it conflicts with what they're going to do. Perhaps we're all like that sometimes. Well, isn't it good to listen to what God's Word says? You know, I'm so thankful for my Bible. The more I the more I go on in the Christian life, the more thankful I am because I see the Bible doesn't just tell you how to be saved. The Bible takes up everything connected with life.
All things that pertain unto life and godness. God is interested in everything.
He's interested in your health, he's interested in your family, he's interested in all the things of your life, and it's all found in this blessed book. Our attitudes toward others, every things in his wonderful book that God has given us. So they did have direction, says and Peter. His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness.
Well, I suppose sometimes they must have got a little bit weary because it's sort of nice to be on the move. But there were times when they weren't on the move. And it says that if the cloud carried a long time, two days, a month, a year, whatever it might be, that they were not to get restless and go ahead. It says that if the cloud carried long, they were to keep the charge of the Lord.
And you know, it's that way with us. Sometimes we just get a little bit restless and we want to go ahead of the Lord, but it doesn't do. It's better to wait for Peter. He got restless and we know what he did. He denied his Lord. And we can get restless too. We can take our own path instead of waiting for his direction.
Well, it's very important sometimes.
Just to be still in the verse that says be still and know that I am gone. Someone wrote a little poem like this.
So Christ never asked of us such busy labor as leaves no time for sitting at His feet. The waiting attitude of expectation. He often counts a service most complete. And Martha was very, very busy. But Mary had time to sit of Jesus feet and you know, to get so busy that we don't have any time to sit at Jesus feet.
Is not the happy path. You know, in home life, just to be busy all the time doesn't really make a home. We have some friends and they used to spend quite a bit of time together at home as a family, but then they got involved in making money and they've been quite successful. They've done very well. But one of the young people in the family said.
We just never have a meal together.
They're always busy, but they have no time to sit down and enjoy one another's company.
Imagine all the Lord wants us to sit down and enjoy His company, and as we sit down and read His word, and perhaps come into the meeting and sit quietly in His presence and just praise Him and thank him, it may not seem like a great service that the world would talk about.
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But it's a very blessed privilege. He likes to have his people sitting around himself. So you can see here that those two things were to characterize their whole journey. And before we go on to the next, I want to say again the importance of this. Do you read your Bible? Have you learned God's mind through his word? People say, well, I like to do this.
Or our church does it this way. That's not the thing, friends. The important thing is.
What does God's Word say? Are we going by the Word at the commandment of the Lord? They journey and I hope that each one of us are willing to have the light of God's Word shed upon our path. When Paul came to Berea and preached.
They didn't say, well, he's a good preacher. We just believe everything he says. No, it says.
They searched the scriptures daily to see if those things were so. Therefore, many of them believed there was blessing because they wanted to be sure that what He was saying was according to God's Word. And I hope each one here tonight will search the scriptures because the Word of God will abide forever. And we do need to have the guidance of His Word from a child.
That has known the Holy Scriptures.
Which are able to make the wise unto salvation. And then it says also All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine or reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, truly furnished unto all good works.
What a heritage we have. So I just like to say this before we pass on to the 10th chapter, always seek to be guided by the word of God and then look up to the Lord in prayer. There are things where we have a direct scripture. There are other things in life where we just need to look up to the Lord and ask Him to guide us. And so we need both in our life. We need the reading of the Word and prayer and I believe.
Brought before us first here, then in this 9th chapter of Numbers, and we come to the 10th chapter here. And it says, the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Make the two trumpets of silver of a whole piece shift. Shalt thou make them, that thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly and for the journeying of the camps.
Well, perhaps I'm repeating a little bit, but I want to say again about this silver that it represents to us in the Word of God.
Redemption, because that was the redemption. Money was paid in silver, and God has used it in His Word. His little picture of redemption which He thought for us, of course, is by the precious blood of Christ. And these two trumpets, the Bible says, in the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established.
And so you see these two trumpets were blown. One if somebody missed the blowing of the first one.
There was the second one. So there was a double testimony. And let us never forget the cost of our redemption. What did it cost the Lord to redeem a poor Sinner like me? I say it wasn't silver and gold. It was a precious blood of Christ. He died on Calvary's cross. He bore their judgment of God for my sins.
He shed his precious blood, and nothing less would fit me for God's holy presence all what a cost I couldn't fit myself.
But I have been fitted through what Christ has done. Well, He has a claim over me, doesn't He? If somebody did something for you more than you could ever think of doing for yourself, and it meant years of happiness to you, wouldn't you feel grateful to them?
What the Lord Jesus did for me means an eternity of happiness in heaven, an eternity, I say, of unsullied happiness. What a deadly all, little hymn says. Oh, what a deadly owe to him who shed his blood, who cleansed our souls and made us fit to stand before his God. Well, these trumpets were blown. I'd like to speak first of all.
That thou mayest use them for the calling of the assembly.
Also the journey of the camps, but first for the calling of the assembly, then it says in the third verse. And when they shall blow with them, all, the assembly shall assemble themselves to thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. Now in the seventh verse, but when the congregation is to be gathered together.
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Ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. So the first use of these trumpets was.
That they were to be gathered together to this central place, and they were to be gathered together to a person. As I say, this Tabernacle, this tent of the testimony, it was pitched right in the middle and they encamped all around. And then when these trumpets were blown, it tells us that all the assembly were to come together and gather themselves to their leader, who was Moses.
At the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation.
So what we can see here that the blowing of these trumpets was for the gathering together of God's people know the Lord Jesus, it tells us died that he might gather together in one the children of God who are scattered abroad. It also says in the 10th chapter of John other sheep I have he's talking to his disciples other sheep I have which are none of this fold them also I.
Bring, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd. Now that is the Lord Jesus himself is the gathering Center for his people. Isn't it strange when you talk to people they say, what church do you belong to? Well, the Bible speaks of the Church of God, but it never speaks of churches having different names.
There's one the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
And could you imagine these Israelites gathering a few in this corner and a few in that corner and saying that they were all gathered to the same person? No, of course not. There was one place, the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation, and there was a person to be gathered unto thee at the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And you know, wouldn't it be a lovely thing if all God's redeemed people entered into this precious?
What it is like it says in Matthew 18 and 20, where two or three are gathered together in my name?
There am I in the midst of that? It's a person that we're to be gathered to. I know it takes courage when people say what church do you go to? It's not hard to answer and give the name of some accepted name. In Christendom, people will acknowledge all those different names. You'll enter a city sometimes and be a big sign out saying the churches of such and such a city greet you. And then there's a lot.
Names there, but doesn't it take courage when someone asks you just to say, well, we're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ? Yes, it does, but that's the way the Israelites were gathered. And when these trumpets blew, there was no question whether they were going to gather around Aaron or Miriam or some other leader of 1000 and leaders of hundreds. They were to be gathered to a person and it was the God appointed leader and we're told in Hebrews.
Now that Moses was just a little picture of Christ, he's the true gathering center. And so there was a person that they were to be gathered to, and there was a place, the door of the Tabernacle of the congregation. And then there's this very beautiful thing that it says in the seventh verse. But when the congregation is to be gathered together, ye shall blow, but ye shall not sound an alarm. I really enjoy that verse, brethren.
Because they blew an alarm for their journeys. Why does it say that when they were gathered together, they were not to sound an alarm? Doesn't it make you think of the Lord Jesus after He rose from the dead, and stood in the midst of His own? They were terrified, it says. But what did He say? He said, Peace be unto you. And when He had so said, He showed unto them His hands, and His side to them. Were the disciples glad when they?
And isn't it a wonderful thing that when the Lord provides a place to be gathered around him, He fits us for the place, He fits us for the place, and it's his precious blood that fits us to be in His presence? A little hymn says, Thy precious name is all we shall, our only title, Lord, and full assurance. Now we know.
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Confiding in my word, so when they gathered together there was no blowing of an alarm.
And Janelle has very blessed and very important when we come together that we should dwell upon this glorious theme. And we come together to remember our precious Savior in his death on Lords Day morning. It isn't with alarm, it's with a joy of being around him for the tokens of his death before us, the bread and the cup reminding us that He gave Himself.
To bid us for his presence and that we might be gathered there. So here we find that these trumpets were blown and for the gathering of the assembly.
And when they gathered, there was not to be any alarm. He's fitted us for the place, he's provided the place. I say again. And he's fitted us for the place.
But now it does tell us that when they were to journey, it says in the fifth verse, when you blow an alarm, then the camps that lie on the east part shall go forward when you blow an alarm the second time, and the camps that lie on the South side shall take their journey, they shall blow an alarm for their journeys. You notice here that they did have to blow an alarm for all their journeys.
And that was because in their journeys they might meet the enemy.
And the enemy might be very strong, and so they were called upon to blow an alarm for all their journeys.
Sometimes I think that this reminds us we have to go out in the world, of course, with young people here tonight, and you know, you have to meet a very wicked and evil world. I'm sure a good many of you know that when you go down to work, there's a lot of temptations. There's a lot of things said and done that are really so contrary to our Christian life and our enjoyment of Christ. And are we just going to go along with all that goes?
Well, it says they would have blown alarm and we need to we need to remember that verse in the 16th Psalm. Preserve me, oh God, for indeed do I put my trust and many and many of the time and I hope every day as I used to go out to work. I used to ask the Lord to keep me. There's a lot of temptation so easy to dishonor our Lord and Savior. And what were these trumpets? They were to be a reminder to them that they were not.
They were redeemed people, and I belong to the Lord. And if somebody at work asked you to do something, or somebody at school asked you to do something, remember you belong to the Lord. I remember reading of a young man. He was the son of the King of France.
And he was taken prisoner and he was asked to do something in the prison. He said I'm the son of the king. I couldn't do that. Well, he, he had a dignity of being the son of the king of France. Haven't you and I got a greater dignity than this? We're children of a king.
We're in this world like ambassadors for Christ. Isn't it important, then, that we should always bear this in mind?
So they had to blow an alarm for all their journeys. So when you start out to work and when you have to meet the world, remember you and I still have that old nature inside. Even though you're saved, you still have the fallen nature inside. Know that anyone tell you that when you're saved, the old nature is gone, because you find out to your sorrow that it's still there. And if you don't, ask the Lord to keep you.
By how easily even a Christian, a real Christian, can dishonor his lonely.
We're told to come boldly to the throne of grace, to obtain mercy and find grace to help and time of need. And then too, when we have dishonored him, he's provided his advocacy so that we can be restored. So they blew an alarm for all their journeys because there were enemies in the way. And we have an enemy. We have Satan who seeks to trip us up. We have the world around us that makes such.
Appeal to our fall natures. We have the flesh within that fall nature. And don't we feel how often these enemies are so strong? But I, I love that verse and Peter in John's epistle that says greater is heated in you than he that is in the world. We're on the winning side. We have fuller journeys. This little thought on this fourth verse. They blow, but with one trumpet. Then the Princess, which are the heads of the thousands.
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Israel, so gather themselves unto Thee. I just had a little thought about the care meeting. Whenever we come together in the care meeting, we should never, never forget that we are there as those who belong to the Lord Sometimes, and there might be a tendency in the care meeting, just be a little careless about that. So seems to me that the blowing of the silver trumpet when the heads of the thousands of Israel were to be gathered together was just a little reminder of the way they should.
Even when they were gathered together in connection with the cares of God's people. So I can see how this blowing of the trumpets was in connection with all it had to do with God's people. And it says in the eighth verse, and the sons of Aaron, the priest shall blow with the trumpets. The reason it tells us this is because when we are saved, God tells us that we are royal priests that were holy priests.
And so we shouldn't ever forget this. It was the sons of Aaron who blew with these trumpets. And I believe the sons of Aaron bring before us. The church has a company of priests. And so just as in the Old Testament there were a certain number of people that were priests, so in Christianity every believer is a priest. And we should never then forget this. It was they themselves who were to blow with the trumpets.
And then if they went out to war in their land and there are times of real conflict, haven't you found it in your life? Real conflicts that we get into the enemy crying so hard to get us into something that will spoil our life and testimony. Many a Christian has found himself in a conflict, in a temptation that has seemed overwhelming. And he says along with the trumpets, like the little hymn says, take the name of Jesus.
You child of God, wherever you go, when temptations round you gather, breathe that holy name in prayer. Oh, how much we need that. In times when the devil just comes all out against us, isn't it lovely that we can just look up and say, Lord, help me, keep me. So when they blow with these trumpets, when the enemy came against them, he said, we shall be remembered before the Lord your God, and he shall be delivered from your enemies.
Can look back in our lives and think of times like that. We just cried out to the Lord and the Lord came in like poor Jehoshaphat. One time he got in a bad way. He had joined hands with Ahab and he shouldn't have done it. And then all the enemies surrounded him and it says he cried out to the Lord and the Lord helped him. Well, what a gracious savior we have to help us.
He not only died to save us, but He lives to provide grace to health and time of need.
And all the tempers too, it says also in the day of your gladness, and in your Psalm days, and in the beginning of your months, you shall blow with the trumpets over your burnt offerings, and over the sacrifices of your peace offerings. Who does this in the day of your gladness?
No, the Lord is interested in our happiness.
Many times young people get together to have a little time of fun. Should we at such times as that just say, well, it's all right to think about the Lord when you're going to the meetings, but there are times you just kind of throw this aside to have a good time. No, no, the Lord is interested in your good time and you can have a good time that's pleasing to him and.
A little hymn says no place can fully please us.
Where thou, O Lord, art not in thee. And with the ever shall find by we found by grace our life. And you know, I think I can look back in my life and think of many, many happy times I've had, but I know they haven't been times when the Lord's been laughed out. Perhaps going out with a group of Christians, we'd have some fun, but we wouldn't forget the Lord many times. Little happy times of fellowship speaking about the Lord.
Encouraging one another can be connected with a time when we have necessary exercise. Well, isn't this lovely? In the days of your gladness, it's the glove with the trumpets. And then there are some days they're really hard days in life. There are days when disappointment falls, when pressures are placed upon us, when some friend disappoints us, or perhaps we get bad news from a doctor or something. In the days of their.
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Your solemn days you should blow with the trumpets. Isn't that grand? Even in the times when everything goes wrong and it just seems that there's some crushing sorrow comes, you can look up and say I belong to the Lord, I belong to him. That's blowing the trumpets. They belong to him. Doesn't it help in days like that just to be able to look up and perhaps some bad news comes to look up and say, well, the Lord knows?
I belong to him, he paid a great price for me and he loves me.
He cares for me, casting all your care upon him for a careth for you. And then in the beginning of your month, you know, whenever you start something new, a new job, move into a new locality, make new friends, the starting point is so important. You know you don't start right. Why? Very often it's much harder afterwards, but it's very important that you start right.
And anybody here starting out with a new friend?
Start right. If you start the wrong way, it's awfully hard to correct it afterwards. But if you let it be known on the first time you go out that you belong to the Lord, that's a good starting point that you want to please the Lord. That's blowing the trumpets in the beginning of the months, the new beginnings in life, because life is like that. We're always having new things rise up, new starts, as I say, a new job, new community. And then it says.
Over the sacrifices of your peace offerings.
Your burnt offerings that they may be to you for a memorial before you're gone. I am the Lord your God. Holy sacrifices, we haven't time to dwell on them, but I might just say the peace offering means the communion offering. The burnt offering is the work of Christ and what it is to God. And this is a very blessed thing to think of that wondrous work that he accomplished and also in our lives.
Not to allow anything that breaks fellowship with God. So that was the peace offering. Well, let's turn on now to the 29th verse.
Moses said on the whole, Baptist son of Raglan Midianite Moses, father-in-law.
We are journeying under the place of which the Lord said, I will give it to you. Come now with us and we will do the good.
For the Lord has spoken good concerning Israel.
Then it tells us in the 31St, Bruce, and he said, leave us not, I pray thee, for as much as thou knowest how we are to encamp in the wilderness, and thou mayest be to us instead of eyes. You know, there's something very sad in this and that is after God had given all these instructions about how he was going to guide them by that pillar of cloud and by his commandments.
And by the blowing of the silver trumpets.
Then Moses turns to pull Bab and the son of his father-in-law, and he said, and now you know the way through this wilderness. To me, it's just as if he said to hold that. He said, now I'll never have to look up. If you just stay close. We're never going to make a move. I'll just ask you because you know the way through the wilderness. We won't have to look up to the cloud. We won't have to listen for the commandment. We won't have to listen for the silver trumpets because you know the way.
Well, don't we do this sometimes we lean on some friend and instead of going to the Lord, instead of searching his word, instead of acknowledging his claims over us, we say, oh, I can't disappoint that friend. And you know, he, he really means well. Well, maybe Hobart didn't mean well, but he was a poor substitute for the Lord, wasn't he? He was a poor substitute for the Lord who wanted to guide his people.
Because he was the one who was undertaking to guide them to the promised land. And haven't we often done the same? Somebody that we look to, somebody that we've made our guy and then the Lord removed that person. Maybe we felt badly, but maybe it was a very bad thing.
And I feel rather sad that whole bag went back to his own people, but I certainly see that God allowed it because.
Moses would have used him instead of eyes. He would have made him the guide of God's people. And the Lord intended to be a guide of his people. And so if we're looking to any person, no matter how godly he is, no matter how he seems to know the way by remember, if we're looking to him, he might lead us the wrong way. But the Bible says.
Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, we have a sure captain.
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We have a guy who will never fail and so he wanted to go before his people. He didn't want Hobart to be the God of his people. He himself wanted to guide the people and lead them. So it tells us in the 33rd verse. And they departed from the mount of the Lord, 3 days journey and the Ark of the Covenant. The Lord went before them in the three days journey.
To search out a resting place for them.
Well, it tells us then that when whole bad return, when Hobart went back, then the Lord came and he led his people. And so I say sometimes we learn this through disappointments. I expect Moses was disappointed when whole Bear went back, but he learned a wonderful lesson that day, and that was that the Lord.
Wanted to be their guide. He didn't want hold that to be their guide.
I believe we might say if we had read the intervening verses, that was really the Lord's plan, and that just as when they pitched the all the tents were all around, the Tabernacle was in the middle. So God's plan was the same for the March. If you read it carefully, the way it was planned, there were some behind and then the ark and all the all the parts of the Tabernacle were in the middle and then there was others before.
God constantly desired.
To be in the midst of his people, That's that's his desire, to be in the midst of his own.
And in the coming day of glory, it tells us about the four and 23 deemed are all around and the lands in the midst. That's God's plan. What isn't it gracious that when Moses failed here and turned to his father-in-law, the Lord was still faithful. He still went before and I say again, we do fail and we.
Know this, that often we have failed enough to others, but he has provided even for our failures.
Questions Where would we be if it wasn't for his faithfulness? That's why it says in Hebrews, it says to hold fast the confidence of the hope. For He is faithful at promise, not because we're faithful, but because He's faithful. He had said long before that he was going to bring them out and he was going to bring them in, and if they failed, he wasn't going to fail. And he didn't fail and he's going to bring his own home.
He is the captain of our salvation, but it's nice when we go forward, I say again, according to His plan, not that we could ever lose our salvation, but how much better to be guided of Him to have His plan. Well, as I say, the Lord here undertook for His people in spite of all that that had happened, and it says the ark of the covenant of the Lord went before them in the three.
Journey to search out a resting place for them. When you read about the three days journey, doesn't it make you think about the cross of Calvary? Think of the Lord Jesus going to that cross, going down into death, buried, and then you rose again the third day and he's gone back. And he said to his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again.
And receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. He's gone to find a resting place for us. What a resting place it is. What a future awaits us. And he took the three days journey so that he might find the resting place. Wasn't that better than whole bad? Wasn't that far better than any man could ever do? Well, that's the one who wants to direct us in our pathway.
Too so.
34th verse And the cloud of the Lord was upon them by day. When they went out of the camp. It's as though the Lord were saying, Moses, all you had to do was look up. All you had to do was look up. You didn't need to ask. Hold that to guide you. And we have a little song, don't we? My Lord knows the way through the wilderness. All I have to do is fall. So he went before, and the cloud went before.
And then tells us in the 35th verse came to pass when the arks stepped forward that Moses said.
Rise up, Lord, didn't say rise up, hold that, he said, Rise up, Lord, and let thine enemies be scattered, and let them hate thee. Flee before thee. And when it rested, he said, Return, oh Lord, unto the many thousands of Israel. Well, it seemed to me that Moses learned something here, and he looked away from Holdab, and he looked to the Lord, the one who is the guide of his people, and he said, Rise up, Lord.
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And then I like to connect the other expression when it rested, he said return, O Lord, and doesn't that make us think of his coming, how he longed for his return is going to return for the many thousands of his redeemed were expecting that show at any moment. We're expecting to hear him when he descends from heaven with a shout with the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God is going to call his redeemed ones to be with himself.
And so this was the way your friends the Lord died of his people of old.
He guided them, I say, through all their journeys and he wants to guide us to Israel's God is ours. Are we willing to seek his guidance who we desire to have his company. I say again that arc represented the Lord's company with his people. There's nothing sweeter in life than to have the company of the Lord Jesus and the only way we can have it is in the path of obedience to his word that's.
Will have His company. A disobedient child often doesn't enjoy their parents company. But isn't it pleasant that we can enjoy the Lord's company in the path of obedience? As a little hen says, when we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word, what a glory He sheds on our way. We do His sweet will. Our hearts He can fill with His love as we trust and obey. Well may the Lord grant that we will seek His guidance and be directed of Him.
Way because he's still going to return for the many thousands of his redeemed.
The Christian's Food
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I'd like to turn back to the People's Book Book of Deuteronomy.
And so much tonight we're noticing that in chapter 12, the place is brought before us, the place where the Lord has chosen to place His name.
And in chapter 13, it's the imitators that come in to try to duplicate the place, but they are they are evil, false prophets and so forth.
But do you come to Chapter 14, which will read tonight? It's the food for the believer.
And if you and I are going to have strength for testimony here, we're going to have strength to follow.
The steps of the Lord Jesus, it's going to take food and the right kind of food.
And perhaps so much of the weakness that has come in among us is due to the fact that we have not really been on the right food. Now I want to say one thing before I keep it going here. Would it be a fancy if I took my coat off?
Because you folks are very warm up here.
I come from a country where there's snow.
So I'm going to read part of chapter 14 to.
To give a little picture of food.
Now this verse should really read sons. Ye are the sons of the Lord your God. Though there isn't too much difference between children and sons but.
It should read Sons because a son is here for the enjoyment of his father.
And God has left us here, should we say, for his own?
Enjoyment and gain.
You shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.
For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
Thou shalt not eat any abominable things. These are the beasts which ye shall eat, the ox, the sheep and the goat, the heart and the robot and the fellow deer and the wild goat in the pie Garn.
And the wild ox and the Shami.
And every beast that part of the Hulk and Cleveland, the cleft into two claws, and chew of the cod among the beasts that ye shall eat.
Nevertheless these ye shall not eat of them that chew the cod, or of them that divide the cloven hull, as the camel and the hare and the Coney. For they chew the cod, but divide not the hoofs. Therefore they are unclean unto you.
And the swine, because it divided the whole, yet cheweth not the card. It is unclean unto you. Ye shall not eat of their flesh, nor touch their dead carcass.
These you shall eat. Of all that are in the waters, all that have fins and scales shall you eat.
And whatsoever hath not fins and scales, he shall not eat. It is unclean unto you.
Of all clean birds ye shall eat.
And now it mentions 21 unclean birds. And then again it says in verse 20, But of all clean falls ye may eat.
Ye shall not eat of anything that diet of itself.
Thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in my gates.
That he may eat it, for thou mayst, or thou mayest sell it unto an alien, for thou art and holy people unto the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt not see the kid in his mother's milk.
Well, I suppose you feel by now that I feel pretty much at home when when we get pictures of animals. And it's true because I grew up with them. I know their habits and I know how they fit in very much to God's economy. But with this, I'd like to read Titus two-part of that.
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To get the counterpart in the New Testament.
The second chapter of Titus.
And you get almost the same words there, Speaking of a special people or a peculiar people.
Tied us to.
Verse 11.
It never ceases to humble us to think of the grace of God.
When nothing else would do. Verse 11 For the grace of God that bringeth salvation doesn't demand it hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly loss, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world, looking for that blessed hope.
And the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and in purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
And while we're in the New Testament, turn to Philippians 2.
And as I mentioned in chapter 14, it's really testimony to the world. You know, the world doesn't have their own. They don't have a Bible. They may have it, but they don't read it. And so they read the believer.
So the second chapter of Philippians.
And verse 14.
Do all things without murmurings and disputing, that you may be blameless and harmless. The sons of God. Notice the expression, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as light in the world or stars perhaps.
Give somewhat the thought, and then it adds holding for the word of life.
So in Olympians to you'll have the sons of God mentioned.
And though we here assume that all have come into blessing and are rejoicing in their salvation and rejoicing in the Lord, yet we are called to manifest the blessed Lord in this world. You know, I don't know of an unhappier course than to have one foot in the world and one in the assembly.
You're no good for the assembly and you're no good for the world.
And consequently it brings real unhappiness into your life. But I believe be wonderful if we could be like it says in this first verse. Ye are the sons of the Lord your God. You shall not cut yourselves nor make baldness between your eyes for the dead. Well, who are the dead? It's perhaps those that you brush shoulders with every day.
They're the dead. They are dead in trespasses and sins.
And there's a danger with us as we work among those kind or go to school among those kind.
That we might disfigure ourselves for their sake. That is, you might just hide the fact that you're a Christian.
Now if you did that.
You wouldn't be the only one that's done it because.
As a young man I was guilty of that, to pretend that I was not a believer. Sometime I came into circumstances that I I was afraid of.
But the word is, let's not do it. You know, it's so much more wonderful if it comes out that you're a believer, however it comes out. But the sooner it comes out, the better. And I want to tell you something. You don't have to be afraid of it. There's something about even the world respects a man that'll come out and out with his belief, as they put it and so.
There's a real warning to us not to disfigure ourselves in any way.
For the dead. For for the unbelievers.
Because we can give a misrepresentation of our Father.
And this is what a son was supposed to do.
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Then it says, For thou art and holy people unto the Lord thy God, and the Lord hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all nations that are upon the earth. Well, you know it doesn't mean that we're to be peculiar, as a dictionary might give the definition, but it means a special people unto the Lord going to be wonderful to be.
A special people unto the Lord.
Well, we might say, well, life has gone along here. I have lived 20 years and I've got maybe 50 more to go. How can I go well?
Of course, that's not the right kind of reasoning, but perhaps sometimes we reason that way.
But you know, Christianity is a day at a time, just a day at time. It reminds me when I first began to work on the farm that I later on leased.
And the man, you know, it couldn't keep me busy. That was 45 years ago with just the form work. So he had me dig ditches, picking a shovel.
I know I just rather that I didn't mind driving the horses and the combine the plows and so forth. I like that. But just to fill in time with digging a ditches and the picking a shovel. And so the only thing that kept me going was the fact that when I laid the pick and shovel down at night, I had no intentions of picking it up in the morning. I forgot it because I thought, well, tonight the Lord might come and Take Me Out of this world.
And so by the time morning came, well, it was fresh to go again. And it really paid all. And it pays all for you, dear brother and dear young men. It'll pay off for you to, as it were, tread this Christian pathway. And if it gets rough, just as you lay your head on the pillow, say, well, perhaps tonight.
And this is it, and we'll be called to glory.
Now we spoke of the food that's important and necessary, but there is a first statement here. Thou shalt not eat.
Now we often hear this statement, I don't believe in the religion of do's and don'ts. Well, we don't have that kind of religion, do we have do's and don'ts.
But there is this don't that comes in before the food.
The right food is brought in.
And I believe there is a reason for that because.
To eat, you know what abominable things were. Perhaps to nurture yourself on the literature of this world and various things that this world has to offer. Maybe you're taking up certain pamphlets that the camp is produced and you go through them to see if you can find a mistake in them and so forth. Well, in a way, it's apartment to rob you of an appetite for the truth and for the.
Ministry and it's often done it now. I was in a home a while back.
And invited out to a nice dinner in the evening.
And I came in the home about 4:00 and there were a couple of nice children there.
And the Hostess, with all good intentions, I'm sure she wanted to be very.
Very hospitable, she said. A nice.
Box. Not box of chocolates, but a dish of chocolates right on the table in the front room. Well.
I'm not much of A chocolate eater, but there were two children there that were.
And she came in once and she said, have you taken another chocolate?
You know, well, she said you're going to spoil your appetite for supper and so.
She goes out again and of course the same thing happens and so.
She came in and she reprimanded him, said the well, it's going to spoil your supper, Let's see. If it would have been me, I would have taken a box of chocolates or dishes chocolates, and I had to set them up on the piano or up on a cupboard someplace. But I can't understand why she didn't do it. But anyway, it came to supper time.
And sure enough, she had told the truth.
The children began to cry. They didn't want to eat.
And they tried to force them and they wouldn't do it. And so they got sent to bed. Well, the point is, we as believers can do the same thing. We can spoil our appetite for the word of God. And so let's be real careful. We all have to admit that if we step into a home, our home or anybody else's.
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If there's some literature of the world there, we pick it up before we pick up the word of God.
Now, if you're anything like I am, that's what you would do. And the only safety that I have is not to have those kind of things in my home. That's the that's the only safety feature along that line. And so we're told not to feed on these things that would hinder.
The enjoyment of right food.
So now we come to the right food.
These are the beasts which ye shall eat.
The ox, the sheep and the goat.
Now.
These were all used for a sacrifice in relation to the Lord. I mean in relation to.
The Old Testament, they used the ox and they used the shape and they used the goat for sacrifices. And what are these sacrifices speak of? Well, we know what they spoke of. They spoke of Christ. And so we have first the ox.
What? What does the ox speak of? As I am feasting on the ox or Christ as the ox, what am I feasting on?
Well, the ox was that animal that was used to plow the ground, to sow the seed, and to harvest the seed. And so they were especially used in relation to food. Now Proverbs says where no oxen are, the crib is clean. That is, there's nothing, no food in the Manger if there's no oxen.
And so.
We think of the Lord Jesus as that one that went through this scene, the one with with endurance as it were, the one that could say, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. And in every step, as it were, there was that going forward.
If you were to read the book of Mark you would find 40 times that you get the word a non straight way.
And immediately and those words, this was the character.
Of Christ as that servant that went forward, forward. Sometimes we get discouraged.
And hardly know what to do, but wouldn't be wonderful to turn to a portion in the word.
Where our blessed Lord might have been discouraged and He wasn't, He went straightforward.
You know, I was talking to a man that that woodsman and falling trees and dragging them out of the forest and he told me.
And that's been a good many years ago. But he told me that 2 oxen.
Could skid out more logs out of the forest than for good horses.
Because he said the oxen as they, their tubs would tighten and they would just lay in there, the burden as it were, until the log began to move. And then when the log begins to move, then it's it's much easier to go. But he said sometimes you would hit horses to it and they wouldn't work together. They would seesaw and.
Well, again, there's a real lesson in that it's wonderful to be steady and not a seesaw.
You know what I mean by seesaw as a horse, One horse to go forward, the other one back, and then this one go forward and this one go back, and you wouldn't make be making any headway. Well, the Lord doesn't want us to be that way. Might we be as the ox and steady and go forward, and then we have the she. Now the sheep isn't known for its labor, but it's known for its patience.
Well, the the sheep is the character of Christ in his patient suffering.
Are we suffering? How wonderful to turn to a portion in the Word of God where we see this one.
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Suffering patiently, and I just like, for the sake of a little interest, to turn to the 53rd of Isaiah to see something of this very thing.
Now, I wouldn't have picked this up if I hadn't had a little experience with sheep, and I don't say this boastfully, but you know, it's kind of nice sometimes to know what you're talking about. I've heard folks in the city tell stories about sheep that didn't really add up.
And so it says here in verse 7.
Now all through this chapter, the Lord is spoken of as He.
And so it says in verse seven, he was oppressed.
And he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth.
He is brought as a lamb to the slaughter and as a sheep before.
Her sharers is dumb.
Now why the change?
Is referred to as a herd there when it comes here to the end.
When it comes to the slaughter and to sharing.
Spoken of as a herb.
Well, I'll tell you the reason for it is because a male.
Iran doesn't go willingly to the slaughter or to the slaughtering pen.
The some of the men that come around shearing the sheep.
They charge twice as much for sharing a RAM as they do for a you or a female. Because a female does not sense danger, a male does.
If sometimes would have to drag them, as it were, to the slaughter, because they wouldn't come willingly and the same into the shearing pen, they wouldn't come willingly, so you would lose the picture of the Lord Jesus there.
If it would say before his shavers because the shepherd would know there's something wrong here because the male doesn't go willingly. But a you or a female is absolutely oblivious of danger. You open the gate, she runs in, she's absolutely oblivious of any danger. You might hear her cry a little bit. Maybe her lamb is on the outside someplace.
But how accurate scripture is?
And so I was talking on this once and the brother came to me and said how about Acts 8 where it says as a lamb before his shares is done? Well, of course it stopped me for a minute and maybe it still can stop me. But I thought of it in this way that the cross is passed in the eighth of Acts until the Lord comes back in all the power of Iran.
Iran speaks of power.
So it's nice sometimes to see those little points.
And we know that the Lord Jesus did not have to be forced to the cross, no.
He is straightway and he went forth.
So it's wonderful to feed, as it were, on Christ as the sheep, and then you have the goat. Now the goat was also used for an offering.
But the goat speaks of. In Proverbs 30, the goat is said to be stately in going.
Well, there was a certain dignity and stateliness with the Lord in every move.
Whether he met Pilate, or whether he met Herod, or whether he met the Pharisees.
Or whether he met the woman at the well, there was always a stateliness in going.
And it's a real exercise, isn't it, for the rest of us, that we might be stately and going, that there might be some manifestation of Christ in our lives in that way.
They think of the blessed Lord at the age of 12, there might be some 12 year old here tonight, and how he, his parents rebuked him for not being with them after he had been up to Jerusalem and how he turned and went with them and was subject to them. He could say, wish you enough that I must be about my Father's business.
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I believe as much as said, don't you know really who I am?
Mary, one that said, you know the Holy Ghost shall over shadow thee, and that which is born of thee shall be Christ called Christ the Lord the Savior.
But they didn't understand and so the Lord went and was subject at 12. And I'd like to say if there's a 12 year old here tonight, that the Lord can enter into the feelings of a 12 year old. Yes, there might be a one year old. There might be a 2 year old, There might be a three-year old. The Lord can feel for you. That's something Adam could never have done. Adam was created a full grown man.
And if you don't ask him, how does a little boy feel? It's about 7-8 years old, so I don't know. It never was there, but the Lord Jesus went through all that for us.
And I believe the more we with Him, the more our hearts go out to him. It isn't a matter of do's and don'ts by any means, but it's attraction to this one person that we're going to spend eternity with. And He has walked the path before us.
And he, he speaks of following his steps. And Peter, well, then we come to the heart.
Now the heart there is. The special thing about the heart seems to be an inward desire for the Lord, as a heart panteth after the Waterbrook soul, panteth my soul after Thee, O God. Well, this is wonderful. We may have an outward appearance of going on, but in the still more wonderful to have a heart.
That thirsts after the living God.
Well, God and His wonderful grace can give that, and I believe the more we get acquainted with the Lord, the more our souls are going to thirst after Him. And then we have the Roebuck and the fellow deer and the wild goat and the piegog and so forth. The shammy. Well, personally, those are animals I don't know very much about because I've never been a hunter.
Others might we have a man in the meeting that came in late in life, and Walla Walla, Walla that.
Spent most of his life in the wilderness area of things and he told me the other day that.
Deer or Roebuck had no gall. Gallbladder, no gall speaks of bitterness and he said they didn't have any. And he says consequently, in the winter time where an elk might come along and eat the hay, it kills the deer because they're not really fitted for that kind of food. So they have to feed the deer a different kind of a food.
But again, I say I don't know much about them. Maybe you don't either.
But there are a lot of things that we don't know very much about and don't know anything about.
And so when we get to the glory, there's going to be a revelation of things, one thing after the other.
As the hymn puts it, their new wonders daily learning.
Oh, I heard an awful statement last week of a so-called theologian.
That said.
You don't want to go to heaven. What would you do there if you went to heaven?
You wouldn't be at home. I think you can't. You can't stand there. You can't have a lot of fun there. This was a man on the platform told his audience. Well, what enrolls the devil is making in in this way? But let's remember that.
That in Excuse me in the glory, there'll be no dull moment.
Let the devil prompt a man like that to deceive the people. Let's not be deceived. God has brought us into.
A place where the Word of God is taught, where Christ is honored. Let's appreciate it. Think of you, young man. You know the testimony is going to fall on you if the Lord doesn't come. What kind of a testimony are you going to be? Are you going to adopt the ways of the camp? This man, this preacher maybe once was halfway sound, but we're easy tonight.
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Well, don't ever worry that there won't be something.
In heaven.
Well.
Now we come to the characteristics of these these beasts.
Got him also the beast that part of the hoof and cleaveth the cleft.
In two claws and sheweth the card among the beasts that he shall eat. Now what we learned from that? Well, there again those animals we mentioned, they all have two a split hole.
And they all chew the cub.
And the split half speaks of separation. Separation from this world.
And chewing the card speaks of a meditation on the word of God, a meditation on the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so it isn't a walk of separation as it were. Apart from that, no, there's a, there's a rumination. The food is taken in. Now you might not know this, but these animals we're talking about have 4 stomachs and they have a rumination that goes on and they get every bit of good out of the food by time it passes through their system.
Well, so he uses the.
The chewing of the cod and the split holes.
Well, now we come to some animals that have just one of these things.
You know, Speaking of a call, for instance, she choose the card and she has a split hook.
But there's something interesting about a call.
She'll go into the Meadow and she'll graze and fill up with food, and then she lays down and she begins to what they call chew the cod. She ruminates the food.
Well then perhaps the milk maid comes along and tap sure on the back and says get up.
And so she stands there as she's dispersing the milk. I mean, the cow is giving milk.
Is the cow aware of that this milk is going to feed anybody? No, she doesn't know. But think of it, If you and I, as it were, have the split off and chew the cod, we can yield some food to others we may not be aware of at all. Again, I say the call was not aware of the fact that she was really nourishing perhaps.
Many, many people.
But now you come to something like the camel.
Now the camel has the.
The solid hoof, like a horse.
And but choose the card.
Well, see, there is a certain chewing of the cod and maybe the right kind of food, but there's no separate walk with it.
And this is very sad today, isn't it? Many souls as it were, embracing the gospel and saying I am saved.
And their life is just like it was before. Fact is, it's very sad that that kind of a gospel being preached today. I heard of a man giving up the gospel and one of his first approaches was that you don't have to change your life at all. You can have the gospel without changing your life. Well, even a man of the world knows better than that. It isn't a matter of having to change your life, but if you're truly saved, you will.
A man of the world.
Like it was asked once, why don't you accept Christ as your savior? And he said I'm afraid I'll have to change my ways. Where did he get that idea? Who told him he'd have to change his ways? Man is simply conscious of the fact.
Well, then we have something else. We have the one that has the split hole, the separate wall.
But doesn't chew the cud like the pig.
And so the sad thing is in relation to that there are, and we spoke over tonight too, there are some separated people.
Some come to our doors and they're dressed nice, they have nice haircuts and everything.
And what they present you with is another gospel.
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But it's so easy to be carried away with them because of their appearance. But the real test would be they may have separation on the outward appearance, but the test would be, do you know Christ as your own personal Savior? That would be the real test. And it's a it's a remarkable thing.
But when I was in the hospital.
My son brought a text in. I was in a hospital that's run by a cult.
My son and they would before this, they would bring poems to me and and scriptural and scripture references and things like that and go as far as to pray at your bedside. But anyway, he brought in a text just to hang at the foot of my bed.
And this text said this unto you, therefore, which believe he is precious. And some of these very devoted ones who come to the room and I say, look at the text and they're lovely text, and they would draw a blank.
Because why? Because they do not know the Lord Jesus personally.
And it's an awful thing, as it were, to walk separate and still be feeding on corruption like the pig does. You know, sometimes you've seen a pig rooting in the water and you hear crackle, crackle, crackle, and you have no idea what they could be eating, but they're getting something down there and all that.
Muck well, you know, this world maybe somewhat refined, but there it's it's mucked. If it isn't Christ well.
Then you come to the fish, which I believe is a real test now, the fish.
It's in his own habitat, he can't get out of it.
Swims down the lake or the river or the ocean. Maybe a shark comes along on one side. Maybe, maybe a swordfish. Maybe here are some little minnows he can't get out. That's his natural habitat. And you and I have our natural habitat. We have a home that we're in. We have a business that we operate. We have a place where we have to work. It's a habitat.
That we can't do anything about.
And so.
It's the real test here.
It says that they have to have fins and scales. Now fins are that which protect you from the mean. Fins are those things that motivate you and scale that that which protects you. Now there are some fish without.
Scales.
But they have fins and there's some that have scales and no fins. And So what it takes in the case of the fish, in the case of our habitat, is the ability and strength to go upstream to meet the current. You know, any fish can float downstream, but it takes a good one to go upstream. And so I believe that we are tested here especially.
In the very habitats we are in, and I believe sometimes we feel the worst in these.
Our own personal habitat.
Handle themselves at home it's so easy you know to father to come home and been working all day and tired and he lets his hair down as it were and and.
Speaks roughly to the children.
So let's be real careful that we might feed on the fish. The Lord Jesus, no matter what circumstance he was in, He went against the current.
And now we come to the birds. The birds speak, you know, of influences, whether good or bad.
And I mentioned here that the first it speaks of you may eat of the clean birds and then it ends up after mentioning 21 birds to eat the clean birds. So a lot of these birds speak of false doctrines. You know, the tree in Revelation 18 became the whole, the hold of every unclean.
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And fall bird so.
There are many of these things that are are loose today, but I believe the reason it doesn't say it doesn't say anything about having anything to do with them because it's a real danger when you try to dabble into some of these false doctrines.
You're apartment to get taken up.
With them, there's a danger some have. I was Speaking of one tonight that got taken up and carried away because.
He searched into it and so.
We don't need to search into false doctrines. Now there are those that have done it for us and that is sufficient. But it's real important to be acquainted with the genuine. If you're going to work at a bank. They don't give you a counterfeit money to test and to feel, though. They give you the real thing and they get you acquainted with that.
Remember one man singing all day long. He was given these coins and this paper money, and he was to feel it.
And So what happened when he got ahold of a piece of counterfeit, it registered immediately. And so it does with those that are trained that way. And so it is here we don't have to look into the false doctrines and see what they teach. An occupation is sometimes more talking about those things than the Lord. But we don't need to. We need to feed on the clean birds. And the Lord Jesus was that clean bird.
He has looked at it as a dog and again I'd like to say about a dove has no gallbladder. No, there's no bitterness there. And so the Blessed Lord is figured as a dog. Different places.
So there again.
You have this.
Precious portion of feeding on a clean bird.
Now we might just roughly pick out a few here. Now, the ego and his family there in verse 12, the Vulture and so forth. They feed on corruption they feed on.
Dead things. Remember years ago we used to drive through the desert leading to Aberdeen and if you drove at night you are banging something. Every little bit you'd hit something.
Something, well, it turned out to be Jack rabbits. It hit them and they were splattered all over the highway by morning when they were so prolific. Well, perhaps by 9:00 or 10:00 the next day, it wasn't the highway crew that cleaned it up. It was the vultures that came out of the desert there and they cleaned up everything.
Feathers. All you could see is little specks of blood. Well.
That's what the Vulture does. He feeds on corruption. But now you come to the Raven. It's a bird that can do bull a Raven can get.
Satisfaction from a dead carcass, or he can eat wheat.
Those are real dangers, kind, aren't they? Those that can preach in all speaks of the word of God.
That speaks of Christ and those that can eat both are are really deceiving sometimes.
Or you might meet a man and say, well I believe that man is a Christian because he said he used the name of the Lord. Well, that doesn't make a man a Christian, but this is sometimes deceiving.
So anyway, you come then to the owl. There's a brother here in the meeting that has an owl. Well, an owl is a creature, at least a wild one. He's a creature of the darkness. There remain hidden during the day, but at home become a dark, and you hear the hooting of an owl. They come to come to life, as it were.
They're an animal that loved darkness rather than light.
All some of these doctrines that are brought to you, you put them in the light and the people run they they don't want to be exposed.
And then you have the swan, for instance, a kind of a beautiful bird, a very attractive, and there are some, you know, that have been attracted to something because it's spacious and beautiful.
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And then there's the these other animals, for instance about.
Well, all these animals work in the dark.
Entrance of a cave. I went into a cave once and I looked back and littered with a bats.
I heard that they get in your hair and you couldn't pull them out. Well, it may be true. That never happened to me and I don't know if anyone had happened to, but this is what is said. But anyway, it was a place I wanted to get out of. And so there are folks, if you ever find a place where there's some of these these creatures that love darkness rather than light, get out.
And now we come to something else here.
You shall not eat anything that dieth of itself. Thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gate, that he may eat it, Or thou mayest sell it unto an alien, for thou art the holy people unto the Lord. Now what does that speak of? A carcass? Something that dies of itself?
No, we find that every once in a while. Cattle.
Go out and you find a carcass.
Maybe a coyote would be eating it. Maybe the vultures. Fact is, I was always suspicious when I began to see vultures. Something has happened now. Neither one of these animals have I ever known to kill an animal, a vulture or coyote. But they're right there when they're dead and so.
It's it's the character of a vulture to eat dead things. It feeds on something dead.
But you know, something that dies of itself has no sacrificial value to the Lord. It's cost nothing.
Being the Lord a dead thing, you know, they did that in Malachi. They brought him the crippled things and the things that they didn't, wouldn't have.
And this is worse yet to bring something that has died of its soul. Well, maybe I could with a little example explain that. And I I trust I'm not offensive in this, but when I was driving the school bus, there was a man that got saved.
And.
He seemed to know one thing would be becoming was the fact that he would give up his pipe.
And so he said. I took my pipe and tobacco and I laid it up on the refrigerator.
As I said, I always felt that that was not consistent with with.
Christianity.
And so.
He said he saw the second day there.
And the third day the largest overcame him, so he went over there to pick it up once more. But his wife had, she had one of these old fashioned cook stoves and she lifted up the lid and she dropped the pipe and the tobacco and everything in there. And that was the end of it. He just took it from the Lord.
Well, in a certain sense, he offered to the Lord something that cost him something.
Well, it's about the same time there was a young man in the gathering who had carried on this way.
And he was having problems and went to the doctor and the doctor said.
If you keep up this habit, you are in line for lung cancer. Well, so he gave it up. But see, there was no sacrificial value in it. He gave it up because he had to, not because of Christ. So when you give up, as it were something, you do it in relation to a living sacrifice.
Now I hope that isn't something over your head that is, maybe I can explain it further, but.
But some of us, you know, we, we perhaps carried on with a thing in this world that we weren't all together happy about. Maybe we were associated with a certain thing that we weren't really happy about and it sort of plagued us. There was a man like this up north. He was he was associated with a situation. And so he says, when I retire, I'm going to.
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Give this all up.
Well.
If there would have been a real exercise before the Lord, he would have given it up for Christ's sake, and not wait till he retired.
Well, a sad thing had happened was the five.
That when the man retired, the Lord took him home.
After retiring, he was going to live holy for the Lord. All associations and everything that were used exercise about and we're going to drop off and he was going to be for the Lord. But you see, there was no sacrificial value in that kind of a thing.
Now you say, you know, I may just give it into a stranger and unto an alien. What? What he got from that? Well, again I like to speak about.
A man that lived neighbor to us now that's a mile away. It isn't like you would say a neighbor here, but anyway, he was a man given to drink and.
When I drove the school bus, sometimes these poor girls had come running out of the house half dressed and crying, and their father had been in a drunken brawl and.
It was real pitiful thing. You know, you do anything if you could help such a situation, but it was impossible. But the day came where equipment he didn't get saved, but he quit it well.
There were no sacrificial value connected with us as far as God was concerned, but the alien and the stranger that is his family and others profited by it.
Well, now you come to one more phrase here.
And that appears three times in the scripture. Thou shalt not see the kid in its mother's mill.
Now what does that mean?
Now a kid and a smother.
There again, it's a very, very visual thing to me.
Know exactly what it is.
There's a mother and she's nourishing her kid with her milk.
But supposing you took the milk and boiled the kid in it.
You it would be offensive to God.
No, I might illustrate it this way.
The milk was to nourish the kid with, wasn't it? Supposing I take the word of God And has anyone ever done it? Taken the word of God and destroyed a child with him?
It's happened.
Remember a boy that I went to visit and I.
Wanted to.
You know, do a little something with him. He wasn't in the meeting, but then he was connected somewhat.
And so he said, I can't come out well, so what's the matter?
He says my.
Sister-in-law who was much older than he is making me right.
A verse in the Bible 100 times. He was a poor writer anyway.
And so he said it's going to take me all day to do that.
Well, she ended up really using the Word of God to make.
The things of God Obnoxious.
Well, perhaps we have done that in lesser degree, maybe more that we have.
Spoiled the kids, as it were, by taking the milk and using it in the wrong way.
That's very important to have our morning and evening reading, but I think it's a very important to to realize the limitations.
Of children, and sometimes there are some very interesting portions that we read.
And perhaps there could be such a thing that after having a little discussion with the children, that they might be.
Able to play, I don't mean grown ones, but youngsters. And if some of us older ones want to carry on a little further discussion, whether it's a wonderful privilege. So we want to be careful that we don't take that which should be for the kids, nourishment.
And destroy him with it.
Only one thought. There's many thoughts in relation to seething a kid in its mother's mill. It's something very unnatural, isn't it?
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And you might say, well, the mother doesn't know anything about it and the kid doesn't know anything about it, but God knows about it and he says not to do it.
I remember Brother Barry once said be careful men, brothers.
About hunting.
Said there's some 3 legged deers around here. Somebody has shot off a leg.
Those creatures belong to the Lord. They get their sustenance from the Lord. And for a poor man.
To do something like that to them again is seething a kid in his mother's mouth Now, perhaps we don't understand that, but we have time to go into it any further.
But let's do remember that we are the sons.
Of the Lord your God.
That the world does not read their Bible, but they read.
This is our only privilege, to suffer reproach for the name of Christ. We won't suffer in the glory.
And then?
The Lord has laid out plainly what we are to eat.
And what we are not to eat.
And again, that's not offered to the Lord, that which costs us nothing. David came forth with that, a dead carcass, though the Lord says keep it.
We sometimes say well done in ignorance, but remember the Lord still has his thoughts.
And his ways in these things, and then again.
Let's not see the kid in his mother's milk, and perhaps you have the opportunity to look into that a little more yourself.
Discouragement
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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That I'd like to read first of all, and Deuteronomy chapter 26. I'd like to start with Deuteronomy 25 and verse 17 and then read Deuteronomy chapter 26. Remember what Amalek did unto thee, by the way, when thou, when ye were come forth out of Egypt.
How he met thee by the way, and smote behind her most of thee, even all that were feeble behind thee, when thou was faint and weary, and he feared not God. Therefore it shall be when the Lord thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies roundabout in the land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. Thou shalt not forget it.
And it shall be, when thou art come in unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance, and possesses it and dwelleth therein, that thou shalt take the first of all the fruit of the earth at which thou shalt bring of thy land, which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shall put it in a basket, and shall go under the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place his name there.
And thou shalt go on to the priest that shall be in those days.
And say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swear unto our fathers for to give us. And the priest shall take the basket out of thine hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God.
Thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God. Assyrian ready to perish was my father, and he went down into Egypt, and sod here and there with a few, and became there a nation great, mighty and populous. And the Egyptians evil entreated us and afflicted us, and laid upon us hard ******* and when we cried unto the Lord our God.
The Lord God of our fathers. The Lord heard our voice, and looked on our affliction and our labor and our oppression.
And the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand, and with an outstretched arm, and with great terribleness, and with signs and with wonders. And he hath brought us into this place, and hath given us this lamb, even a lamb that floweth with milk and honey. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, hath given me, and thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God.
And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine house, thou and the Levite, and the stranger that is among you. When thou hast made an end of tithing, all the ties of thine increase the third year, which is a year of tithing.
And has given it unto the Levites, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. And that they may eat within my gate and be filled. Then thou shalt see before the Lord thy God. I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also have given them unto the Levites and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all my commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments neither.
Have I forgotten them, have not eaten thereof in my morning, neither have I taken away aught thereof for any unclean youth, nor given off thereof for the dead, but I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. Look down from my holy habitation from heaven, and bless thy people, Israel.
And the Lamb which thou hast given us, as thou swearest unto our fathers.
A lamb that floweth with milk and honey. This day the Lord thy God hath commanded thee to do these statutes and judgments. Thou shalt therefore keep and do them with all thine hearts, and with all thy soul. Thou hast about the Lord this day to be thy God, and to walk in his ways, and to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgment, and to hearken unto his voice. And the Lord hath about thee this day to be his peculiar people.
As he has promised thee, and that thou should escape all his commandments, and to make thee high above all nations, which he hath made in praise, and in name, and in honor, and that thou mayest be unholy people unto the Lord thy God as he hath spoken.
That in First Timothy in the third chapter. First Timothy, chapter 3.
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And the 15th verse.
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou Artest behave thyself.
In the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit scene of angels, preached under the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
And then one other passage in Zephaniah.
The 4th last book in the Old Testament. Zephaniah and the last chapter.
And the 14th verse.
Saying, O daughter of Zion, shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all the heart. O daughter of Jerusalem, the Lord hath taken away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy, the King of Israel. Even the Lord is in the midst of thee, that thou shalt not see evil anymore. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion, let not thine hands be slacked.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy. He will rest in His love. He will joy over thee with singing. I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of thee to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Well, it's very blessed in this 26th chapter of Deuteronomy to see how God delighted thee in the blessing of His people.
And how He desired their response of their heart. And when we think of all that He has done for us, surely we can say He has done everything that love could do to win the response of our hearts. Now we know as regards the children of Israel, when they entered the land and they possessed it on a conditional basis, if they were obedient, God would bless them in their land. If they were disobedient, they would forfeit that good land that God had given to them.
And we know that they were disobedient and they forfeited the land. But there is a day coming for Israel.
When they will possess the land, and it won't be conditional upon anything in themselves, it will all be because of those unconditional promises that God made long ago to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all founded upon the work of Christ, the only ground by which any blessing could come to man.
But I believe when we look at this in the 26th of Deuteronomy, while we can be assured that our blessings have all been made certain through the work that Christ has done, it is absolutely impossible for us to forfeit any blessing that God has purposed through Christ. Because all the promises of God in him are yay, and in him Amen to the glory of God by us. We can never I say.
4 foot anything that God is secured to us because it's all in Christ, that it's been made good.
But we can rather lose the enjoyment of it. It's very possible. And what is sometimes made the remark that a Christian can be the happiest person on earth, or he can be the most miserable. He can be the happiest if he is enjoying his portion. But if he is not enjoying his portion, he can surely be the most miserable, because he has realized that the world doesn't satisfy and so when he turns away from the Lord.
There's really nothing for him because he has learned the emptiness of the world. I remember a remark that was made to my father. He used to repeat to us as boys. He said when he was first saved, someone said to him, Harry, you've been brought to know the Lord as your Savior. You might as well make the best of what you have in Christ because you're spoiled for the world. Well, I think there's a lot of truth in that, brethren. And isn't it true that many of us are not the kind of happy?
We should be, and the Lord Jesus, when He spoke to His own, desired that their joy would be full. Not half full, but full. He wanted them to enjoy all that was in His heart for them all. It was one for them at Calvary. Now the reason I read those verses in the end of the 25th chapter of Deuteronomy is to show that just before we have this introduction.
That God speaks about how Amalek came out and he smoked the children of Israel.
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And who are the ones that he smiled? Well, it says he smote behind her. Most of them. The ones that were not following close, the ones who were discouraged by the way. And we know that Amalek is a picture to us of Satans power over us through that fallen nature that we have within us.
He when he ever when he attacks us, he always makes him attack on us. Through that fallen nature, God has shown us what he has done with it. He has told us that our old man was crucified with him, that we don't always reckon that old man dead. We sometimes allow it in our lives.
And Satan knows the weak point, and he attacks us on that weak point. He seeks to, he seeks to hinder us, just as he did here. He smoked behind him. Also, notice what it says when they were faint and weary. And you know, the devil likes to get us discouraged. In fact, one has commented that I believe Satan is pictured to us as a roaring lion in connection with discouragement. The only time that I can recall where he has spoken of.
Character is in first Peter chapter 5 and there it tells us casting all your care upon him, for he cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil as a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, whom resist steadfast in the faith. In other words, when we don't cast our cares on the Lord, Satan is right there, just like when.
Attacked Israel and if there any of us here this afternoon and there's some care that's bowing you down. Satan is certainly looking to attack you because when we our eyes are off the Lord and when we have allowed some care to get us down. Then he knows just how we're weak and he makes that attack. And so it tells us here that they were to cut off the remembrance of Amalek in other words.
The scripture says.
The flesh prophetess nothing. The flesh profiteth nothing.
There is absolutely no fruit for God at all from the first man. All that is fruit for God.
Come through that new life that God has given to us and the Holy Spirit is the power of that new life that he has given to us. And so if there should be anyone here who is discouraged and cast down, well, how needful that we realize three things. I'd like to just give you 3 verses and why is this? As for God, His way is perfect and the next one is.
All power is given unto me.
In heaven and in earth, and then humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time. And if I can apply that to myself, when I don't humble myself under God's mighty hand, when I don't accept my circumstances from Him, then I'm questioning His power because there isn't a trouble.
In your life or mine that God couldn't remove.
If he saw fit, there isn't a difficulty too great for him. You remember in that 28th of Matthew, when the Lord Jesus spoke to his own in resurrection? There it says that they went out to that place where the Lord had appointed, and there they met him, and they worshipped him. And it says, But some doubted, but some doubted, And it tells us that the Lord Jesus.
Both these words to them, the ones I just mentioned, all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Let me say to you that if there is a doubt in your mind, isn't that the answer? That He has all power and He could remove it and His ways are perfect? What do we think of questioning it? So I just suggest those 3 verses and I don't suggest that anyone here needs them any more than I do because it's very easy for any of us when we look at circumstances when we find it hard to submit to them. It's very hard for us then to rise above them and all. How busy?
Is how the enemy comes in like a roaring lion to discourage us. And so God would have us not to have any confidence in the flesh, but every confidence in our blessed, living, precious Savior. He's worthy of our confidence. As a little hymn says, worthy art thou art loved to win, worthy of all our trust.
So let us turn to him then with that confidence. Well, now we come to this chapter here.
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And we're reminded of how the children of Israel were to come before the Lord with their basket of first fruits, and that is, they were to come in gratitude for what the Lord had done for them. Because the Lord delights to have his own around himself, recognizing his love toward them in the enjoyment of his love. Many of us this afternoon are parents. We know how much we love to have our children around us.
How much we want them to realize our love to them and all that we would like to do for them.
And the Lord delights to have his own around himself. In the Old Testament he said, Gather my people to gather together. My people unto me are those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. Before He went away, He gave that beautiful verse in Matthew 18 forward. Two or three are gathered together in my name.
There am I in the midst of them. The energy of his Spirit gathers his own.
Around himself. And so here we find in this 26th chapter of Deuteronomy. And they had come now into the land which the Lord give a fee for an inheritance. And let's just notice that little word, Give the Lord giveth thee. Let us remember that every spiritual blessing is a gift. We don't have to earn it. We receive it as a gift.
Salvation is a gift, and we're told in Ephesians one that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
The youngest believers, if there was a boy or girl saved in the Sunday school this afternoon, he's blessed just as much as anyone who has been saved for 50 years. There is no limit because when God blesses, he blesses according to his heart, blessed with all spiritual blessings. So the Lord gave them the land. Now true, they didn't actually possess all the land, but it was all given to them.
Do we know and enjoy all of his hours in Christ?
Oh, we know too well that we don't. Is it ours? Oh yes. And that's why we like to have these meetings because it's just like a person learning a little bit more of what truly belongs to him. And so it's given. Let's remember this. There are many people who are trying to attain to something in their spiritual life. But I love that verse in Exodus chapter 14 where it's 1514 rather where it says.
Stand still.
And see the salvation of the Lord. In other words, God says to his people, don't you just stand still because the Lord is going to do it all for you. And sometimes we're just in a rush to try and swim across the Red Sea. But when they stood still and waited, they didn't match the swim across. They went on dry land. The Lord opened away. And so here he's given us for an inheritance. And then it says a little further and possesses it, and not only to know that it was given.
I don't suppose there are many of us here that would doubt that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies about. Some of us have to acknowledge that we haven't possessed these things. It's true. We're very interested in material possessions in this land of prosperity. Well, it's very easy to get taken up in my own heart too, with those things that we call earthly possession. Joseph, call them stuff, those things that they had.
He told him to forsake when they came down to him their stuff. He said don't regard your stuff. He said the good of all the land of Egypt is before you so possesses it, and then not only possessed it, but here we find something of the thought of continuance and dwell asterium sometimes have perhaps laid hold of the fact that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings. We may have gone a little step further and we have sat in the meetings and.
Hold of some of these wonderful, wonderful truths about what God has done for us in Christ. But we can ask our hearts, where are we dwelling? Where are we dwelling after these three days are over? Where are we dwelling? The little hymn says.
Well, dwell with your exalted head and let your life be there. And it speaks to my own heart. I know perhaps some of these blessings, and I hope in some measure I possess them. But what is my daily life like? Am I? Am I actually dwelling them? Dwelling in the good of these things? Is our day by day Christian experience that we're actually dwelling in the good of all these things? Then I say we must be happy.
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I don't believe it would be possible for us to be truly enjoying what we have in Christ without bubbling over. No wonder Paul said, if we though we be beside ourselves, it is to God. His heart positively bubbled over at times with all the blessings that were his in Christ, although he had to face life in a sober way as we all do.
Well then they were to take of the fruit of all the earth, and they were to put it in a basket, and they were to go under the place which the Lord thy God shall choose to place His name there. God had appointed a certain place for His people where they were to go and bring this basket of first fruit, where they were to offer their sacrifices. Now we know it isn't a geographical place today, but it is a person.
Gathered and we have the truth of God to instruct us how he would have us to gather. And I believe it is very important that we should go to the word of God because you know there are very many opinions of men. But how can we know that we are gathered according to His word by its only as we make this precious book our guide and he has given us direction.
And perhaps we could say that there are three things that ought to characterize how that which is spoken of in Scripture as the Lords Table. It is first the expression of the truth of the one body, because just as Jerusalem is a standard for the whole 12 tribes, so the truth that we are the only time in the Scripture we read the expression the Lord's Table is in First Corinthians 10 and that is the chapter that.
Us now that the Lord's table is the place where the truth of the one body is expressed, and so we have a very precious truth there gathered on the ground of the one body of Christ. People talk about choosing for themselves, but I beg of every Christian here, and you didn't choose for yourself the way of salvation. You found it out in God's word. And should we then choose for ourselves? How God?
Us to gather well we have this precious book to tell us and justice as an Israelite could discover by listening to the voice of God where he had put his name in Israel. So I believe if we seek to follow this precious book, He will show us that there is a scriptural way in which we can gather according to his mind and according to his truth. And so they were to have that energy that would seek to be where the Lord would.
Them and then it says, Thou shalt go unto the priest, and that shall be in those days. Well, I was going to mention the three things in connection with the Lords Table. First of all, I believe that it's the expression of the truth of the one body. And then to that it would be in separation from evil, because God's name is holy. And then too it is a testimony to the.
Truth of God, not part of it. It's to be the pillar and ground of the truth. And so we need to bear this in mind if we are seeking to be gathered according to truth, the one body separation from moral and doctrinal evil, and a testimony to the whole truth of God.
Not just part of it, but the whole truth. It says the pillar and ground of the truth.
Then it tells us here in the third verse, And thou shalt go unto the priest that shall be in those days, and say unto him, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country, which the Lord swear unto our fathers to give us here. We find this individual now.
He goes with his basket of first fruit, that which he has gathered from the land, and perhaps I could say it is that which we have made our own. And they were given a possession in the land they planted, and it grew, and now they could take the fruit of that land and present it. And you know what we bring when we come into the Lord's presence as worshippers.
Ought to be that which we have enjoyed in our souls of Christ.
It isn't just going through the hymn book and selecting some hymn that we like, but it's something that the Spirit of God is made good. Something like the thought of what the Lord Jesus meant when he said he that believeth on me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. Something like Mary. She had that alabaster box of ointment. She had made it her own, and now she pours.
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Upon the Lord Jesus and nothing is sweeter when we come into his presence that when the heart over clothes that with that by which we have made our own concerning himself. Oh truly, just like with Mary, it says the house was filled with the order of the ointment. It wasn't just that she was trying to look around and see whether others were pleased. Actually they found fault, but her heart was taken up with the Lord.
Jesus And she just poured forth out of her own treasure. Now that which was she had made her own, now poured forth for the Lord himself to anoint him. And so they were to bring this, and then it tells they were to go under the priest. Well, now we know that in Christianity every believer is a priest. It says that we are holy priests to OfferUp spiritual sacrifices.
Acceptable to God.
By Jesus Christ in Israel they had to go, and there was a certain family in Israel that came between themselves and God. But not so in Christianity. Isn't it blessed when we come and we sit down at the Lords Table that we are there around him as holy priests, and that we can, in the liberty of the Spirit of God, OfferUp spiritual sacrifices?
Acceptable to God.
By Jesus Christ, and we read in another place, and none shall appear before me empty. Everyone ought to have something that he has enjoyed of himself, something that we have made good, so that we can come into his presence with grateful and praising heart. It's true that everyone may not take part audibly, except perhaps in the singing, but each one can have that.
And the Lord.
Values that. And here this person as an individual, he said, I profess this day unto the Lord thy God, that I am come unto the country which the Lord swear unto our fathers for to give us. And the priests shall take the basket out of his hand, and set it down before the altar of the Lord thy God. Now he comes with his offering, and he presents it there. He sets it down.
And so isn't it a blessed privilege? All, brethren, do we really value the privilege of coming into the Lord's presence as worshippers? We look forward to that blessed day when we're going to be up there with Him. We're going to praise Him as we ought, but all he delights to have that from our hearts down here. Down here, yes, I'd return just like those men who went out and thought David's company in his rejection and the Lord.
To have us around him as David did of old. And then it goes on to say in this fifth verse, And thou shalt speak and say before the Lord thy God. A Syrian ready to perish was my father's hell. I wonder how each one of us realized how far off we really were. Ephesians chapter 2 Says, And you that were sometimes far off have been brought nigh.
By the precious blood of Christ, when we think of how far off we are we were, and how near we have been brought, doesn't it thrill our hearts? We were once ready to perish. We were once in the position of having judgment hanging over us. We were once on our way to a lost eternity. But in wondrous grace He sought us, and He found us, and just as the children of Israel.
Were redeemed out of Egypt by the blood of that Passover lamb.
Wondrous grace, that's what he has done to us. He has seen us in our lost condition, ready to perish, and he was ready to save, and he has saved us. And as we come together, how we love. As we sang this morning, to look back to Calvary and to think of what the Lord Jesus suffered for us there, all that he endured there to put away our sins by the sacrifice of himself.
I've enjoyed.
And perhaps I have mentioned before, but it's been precious to my heart how that there's such a similarity between the worship as we gather around the Lord Jesus and the gospel meeting, only to say I thought there was a great difference. Well, I see a great similarity in this way, that when we come to remember the Lord Jesus, we're there to tell God what we think of his beloved Son and of that work that he accomplished we dwell upon.
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This person and the excellence of his work. And as the burnt offering went up as a fragrance to God, so as we gathered there, we bring that blessed One as the ground of our acceptance, all that He was to the heart of God, and we have been accepted in the Beloved. 1 And so in the worship meeting we dwell upon the glory of his person and the excellence of his work and where it has brought us. And what do we do in the Gospel meeting? Well, we do the same.
Sinner, he go to the center and we say to him all we want you to know something of the excellence of that wonderful person who has accomplished redemption for you. And he has settled the question of sin once for all of Calvary. And we present him now to the center in all the excellence of his person and all the glory of the work that he has accomplished. All how precious it is. That's going to be our theme, brethren, forever we're going to be occupied with.
In that glory above the song is thou art worthy. That's his person and always clean and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation. That's his work and that's the eternal strong and so that's what they were to do. They were to bring his remembrance. Assyrian ready to perish was my father and he went down to Egypt and sodium there and became a with a few and became.
Great, mighty and populous. And then the Egyptians evil, and treated them, when God blessed them down in Egypt, and there in that land God's eye was upon them, and He blessed them. And So what did that bring forth? It brought forth their enmity, and the rejection that they faced there, and they were made slaves under cruel taskmasters, until they cried unto the Lord.
You know God didn't intend.
Of this world to be our home he didn't intend when they went down to Egypt why things went quite smoothly for a while but God didn't allow them to be comfortable there because he wanted to bring them out from that land and to bring them onto a good land. Want to sometimes commented that and I believe it's 107th Psalm we learn that the very attitude that people have toward us is.
Of the Lord in that Psalm we read about Abraham and it says that he suffered no man to touch his people and he said touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm and although there were only such a few of them he wouldn't allow those nations that were in the land of Canaan at that time to hurt his people. He made their attitude favorable even though they did some things that.
Together, what they should be, God protected them. But when they became a great nation and a populist nation in the land of Egypt, and it says he turned their hearts to hate his people to deal subtly with his servants. You say God did that. God allowed the people to turn against them, Yes. What did he do it for? All I say again, he didn't want his people to be comfortable there. He wanted them to get out. He wanted them to leave.
Trying to make ourselves comfortable here. But this is not our home, brethren. We don't belong here. Heaven is our Fatherland, Heaven is our home. And so they cried to the Lord, and the Lord heard them, and he brought them out from that land. We know how they were sheltered from the judgment by the blood of the Passover lamb.
They were actually no better than the Israelites. We read that they had actually fallen into idolatry in the land of Egypt.
But nevertheless, God had His eye upon them for blessing, and He was going to bring them out and He did bring them out, and He brought them out on the only ground that He could bring them out. And that is sheltered under the blood. Now that's the only way there could be any blessing for us is only through that precious blood that was shed there for us. And so they spoke of this, the eighth verse where God had brought them out from the ninth verse.
And he has brought us into this place and have given us this land.
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Even a lamb that floweth with milk and honey. Now we noticed here it was what they were brought out from and what they were brought into.
There may be some here, and you know that you have been saved. You know you've been delivered from the ******* of Satan. You know that your sins are forgiven. You're justified from all things. How about how are you and I in the enjoyment of the good land? I say again, the Lord wants us to be happy.
He wants us our joy to be full. So they were not only brought out from the land, but they were brought in, brought in to enjoy this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and everything there provided for their good and for their blessing. And so now He speaks in the 10th verse. And now, behold, I have brought the first fruits of the land which thou, O Lord, has given me, and thou shalt set it before.
Thy God and worship before the Lord, thy God. Notice here how intensely personal it is. Now, of course we know that we worship collectively. About each one of us is an individual. There is an individual enjoyment of the Lord. And just as we remarked before about Mary, it tells us that she was just individually occupied with the Lord. She wasn't occupied with the company. If she had, there would have been much.
Disappoint her, but she was occupied with the Lord, and so her heart is poured out in gratitude and Thanksgiving to Him.
And so I say this to myself, we can come to the meeting, we can get occupied with the state of things, but isn't it much sweeter to be occupied with the Lord and what He has done for us? I'm sure that if we are sitting in His presence, occupied with Him, brethren, our hearts will overflow. In His presence we'll be like Mary, just totally occupied with the Lord Jesus.
So that no sacrifice was too great.
They tell us that this lots of ointment, 300 pence a penny, was wages for a day, so it would represent just about a year's wages. And this was how much she had that she was pouring out at the feet of the Lord Jesus. All cost something to be a worshipper. But oh, there's a joy in his heart, and there's a joy in our hearts too, brethren, in being worshippers in his presence.
And then the 11Th person, thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord.
Thy God hath given me, and unto thine house, thou and the Levite, and a stranger that is among you all is all that we have in Christ. But aren't there so many things that he has been so good to us? Do we count our blessings? I'm afraid we often do. Otherwise we count our troubles. I'm afraid we're very much like Jacob. He started to count his troubles and he said.
Joseph is not.
And Benjamin, have you taken away? And he spoke about all his trials and then he said, and all these things are against me. But he had to learn that God's hand was behind those circumstances and actually those things were working for his good. May we know, brethren, how to count our blessings. It's so easy to count our sorrows. It's so easy to dwell upon them. And some do have, it seems a very special.
Portion of sorrows. God allows some to go through more than others.
I've mentioned before, and perhaps it bears repeating, that when you come to the faith chapter, the 11Th chapter of Hebrews, God speaks of the faith of those different ones. And then in the end of the chapter, he divides into two groups. And I won't take time to turn to it, but you can read it for yourself.
And there you read about people, and it says, who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stop the mouths of lions. And then you turn to the second group, and it says others were tortured, not accepting deliverance. They wandered about in sheepskins and gold skins, being destitute, afflicted, tormented. Notice for two groups, one turned to the Lord, and they just got marvelous answers to prayer and remark.
Deliverances And here's another group. And it just seemed that nothing went right for them. They prayed and just things got worse instead of better and they were tortured and they wandered about and God didn't seem to come in at all. And you say, oh, I'd like to be in the first group. But listen, what God says about them. It's lovely. His comment. He says these all having obtained a good report through faith.
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God was glorified in the faith that looked to him and received deliverance, but he was also glorified in the face that trusted him. As a little hymn says, trust Him. When to simply trust Him seems the hardest thing of all, but that's the time that God is glorified. Some of us are parents and when we have to ask our child to do something and say now I can't tell you now, but I'll explain afterwards, and the child has the confidence to trust us.
Doesn't that please our hearts?
And all brethren, the Lord is making no mistakes and we all like to be in the group where things workout and when we can tell about these remarkable answers to prayer and how God came in. But what if he decides to put us in the second group? Are we going to rebel? Are we going to say I can't take that? But God says the trial of your faith is much more precious than a gold that perishes, although it betrayed with fire.
Might be found under praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ.
And so they were to rejoice in all the good things which the Lord had given them. And then in the latter part of the chapter it says here, Sign house, the Levites and the stranger. Then the 12 first, when Alice made an end of siding, all the ties of thine increase. The third year, which is the year of tithing, and has given it unto the Levites, the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, that they may eat within my gate.
And be filled. I think this is lovely here too. You know, there were two things about the law. The Lord Jesus said on two commandments. The whole law and the prophets were hanging. The first one was to love the Lord with all thy heart, and the second one was to love thy neighbor as thyself. And here we find those two things brought together here.
There was first that which was due to the Lord. He had blessed them. He had brought them out from Egypt. Slavery.
They were redeemed people. He had brought them into that good land. He had given them so many good things.
And surely he was worthy of all their praise. But now there was also the thought that they had thought about the Levite and the fatherless and the stranger. Oh Brandon, don't we break down in this? We're so self-centered, we forget about the needs of others, the trials of others that they're passing through. They don't seem to touch us or make us think. But are we more ready to seek their help and their good?
To be a blessing to them. Here was this one, and I like to think of it as as a testimony of his own conscience.
When we come into the presence of the Lord, now that we think of what He has done for us, and it can't help but make us think about others. Just read that chapter that our brother mentioned to us, the 12Th chapter of Romans about presenting our bodies a living sacrifice and wholly acceptable unto God. And what do you find in the rest of the chapter? Why, the whole of the rest of the chapter is thinking about the good of others.
Thinking about the members of the body of Christ, thinking about the world, about us, thinking about showing the Spirit of Christ. And that's why I read as I did in first Timothy chapter 3, because there we have the assembly as the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. But then the next verse is have the secret of godliness. And there it says, and without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness.
No, it doesn't say the mystery of God, the mystery of godliness. And what is the mystery of godliness? What's the secret of a godly life? Well, the pathway of the Lord Jesus. He walked through this world. What characterized his pathway? All at every step. I must say I marvel as I read it. Mr. Ballard said when he first read the Gospels, what impressed him was, here's a man that never did one thing to please himself.
Even Christ pleased, not himself. He went about doing good. Did people appreciate it? No. At the end of the day, after his kindness and love, why not? One person invited them to their home and he went and slept in the Mount of Olives. Did he give up? Did he continue? Yes.
He went on his whole path.
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By telling out the heart of God, God within Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. We see him stand still at the cry of a blind man. We see him weeping over the grave of Lazarus. We see him in Jerusalem, who well deserved that punishment that was about to fall. And he wept over Jerusalem and said, If thou even thou only.
Have known the things that belong to thy peace, but now they are hid from mine eyes. And then two on the cross, when those cruel nails were driven into his hands, and they spit in his face, what did he do? He said, Father, forgive them. Is that the Spirit that we shall? Is that the spirit? Brethren, our meetings would be a lot happier if we gave the Lord his place. And there was more.
Concern about the blessing of others More concerned, as the Scripture says, bury one another's burden.
And so fulfill the law of Christ. Oh, how easy it is to forget of those things that are so practically brought before us here in this chapter. If the if the if it had closed at the end of the 11Th verse, we wouldn't have had this little passage that comes in afterwards to show us the importance of that consideration for one another.
And then as we go on in the end of the chapter, it says in the 13th verse.
Then thou shalt see before the Lord thy God. I have brought away the hallowed things out of mine house, and also out of, and also have given them unto the Levites and unto the stranger, to the fatherless and to the widow, according to all thy commandments which thou hast commanded me. I have not transgressed thy commandments, neither have I forgotten them. Well, we might wonder, does this mean that the one who was boasting? Well, I just suggested, brethren.
It's no thought of a bull's peer. It's just a testimony that Paul sought to maintain.
He said the testimony of a good conscience, and you know it isn't that any of us should both, but in the Lord's presence it's very important that we sit there with a good conscience. That's why it says about coming, It says let a man examine himself and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that cup. Should we sit down in the Lord's presence with a good conscience or there are some things that we haven't made right, things that we haven't confessed to the Lord?
Things that we haven't made right with some of our brethren. Is that the way it is when we won't enjoy the privilege? The Lord has done everything to make us happy, but we won't enjoy it. So there needs to be that searching of heart because the Lord is coming soon. Do we want to have something that has been unsettled, something allowed in our lives, something between our brethren that we haven't thought, by God's grace, to clear?
It's lovely to see this and then to the 14th verse. I have not eaten there oven my morning.
Neither have I taken away ought thereof for any unclean use, nor given author of for the dead, but I have hearkened unto the voice of the Lord my God, and have done according to all that thou hast commanded me. I was taught the other day, and noticing about what it says about the redemption money, it says in half circle after the circle of the sanctuary. Now I wondered why it said that because the Bible calls money filthy lucre, And why did?
After the shekel of the sanctuary. But I believe, brethren, it's this thought that we'll only learn the true value of money and possession in His presence. Out of His presence, it's all out of proportion. We put a high value on things that are just going to pass away. But in His presence, material things take their right value. They're necessary.
The Lord cares, it says. Your Father knows that you have need of these things.
He cares about everything in your life, He cares about your clothes, He cares about your home, He cares about your friend. How is it concern to him? May we learn to value things though, in the light of the sanctuary, even material things. And so there's all this that shows the testimony of the conscience. And then the 15th verse looked down from my holy habitation from heaven.
And bless thy people.
And the Lamb which thou hast given us as thou swearest unto our fathers, a land that flow us with milk and honey. I noticed that up to this point he's been saying aye, because as I say, we have to be before the Lord as individuals. We come to the meeting as individuals. And it's true we're part of a collective testimony, but we must individually before the law, be before the Lord for our pathway. But I think.
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15th verse is so lovely. Now the heart goes out in enlargement for the blessing of all the of all God's people. I think this is so beautiful. Just as we said at the beginning, we're gathered on the ground of the one body, and so the heart goes out and we desire the blessing of all the people of God. Is this our real desire?
Do we look over the Saints and earnestly desire their good and their blessings? Is this the burden of our heart? Well, what blessing there would be.
He now tells us in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and a good work. We all know how to provoke one another the wrong way. But this is the right way. Now a dear old brother, not over many years ago he said to his sister, Sister, do you provoke the Saints? And she said, well, I hope not, brother. Well, he said, you ought to. And I was kind of surprised she was kind of.
And he said, Well, you ought to provoke them to love and the good work. What does it mean, brethren, to provoke our brethren to love and the good work, to steer one another up to the more occupied within the Lord, more devoted to Him. Are we doing this? Are we thinking of one another in this way? For their good, for their blessing? Isn't this lovely? Look down from my holy habitation from heaven, and blessed thy people.
Doesn't it remind you of another verse in the Psalms that says praise for the peace of Jerusalem?
They shall prosper that love they How do we truly seek the good of the people of God? Are we praying for the peace and blessing. God loves his people. He loves them so much that no failure ever will change that love of his he loves to the end. It's an unchanging love and so on the end of the chapter we see how that it was his desire to bless the people and to make.
Praise to Him. And so in a coming day it tells us that when He does bless them as he will, it says, this people have I taken for myself. They shall show forth my prey. And I love that verse. When the Lord Jesus comes out of heaven with his own head, precious to my heart. It says this, when he shall come to be glorified in his Saints and to be admired.
In all them believe, because our testimony among you is believed. The world is going to look up and they're going to see Christ in every one of the redeemed, and it's going to be his joy to introduce us to a wandering world as those who are the subject of His grace. Could we just look at that passage we looked at in Zephaniah before we close?
Zephaniah, the last chapter.
Here we find how the Spirit of God delights to look on to the future day of Israel's blessings. He just quoted the verse that tells about how the Lord Jesus is coming to be glorified in His Saints and to be admired and all them that believe. Here we find the joy that He will have when Israel are brought into blessing, when all that He has had to do in dealing with them in judgment has then come to its end. And it says in the end of the 15th verse.
Not see evil anymore, or how many trials there are among the same? How many difficulties, thought? Isn't it lovely to look on to the time? But we'll not see evil anymore. There'll not be a trial among the people of God. There will not be a tear in the eye. There must be a thing among us that will dishonor Him. Everything will be for His glory. In the 16th verse. In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not, and to Zion let not thine hands.
The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save. He will rejoice over thee with joy.
He will rest in his love. He will joy over thee with singing.
Isn't this precious to think of, that time when the Lord will find his eternal joy and satisfaction in his people? Doesn't it thrill your heart to read a verse like this? He's mighty. He's he's going to rejoice with joy. And it says he's going to rest in his love. The margin says he's going to be silent in love. Now, sometimes love flows deepest when you just don't say anything.
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You just feel it as the as the world has, the saying goes, it's better felt than felt. And you know, just that thought. I think it's so lovely. It says he shall be silent in love.
So that his love will be so tremendous, so great, that it just can't be expressed. So he just silent, but his whole heart blowing out in love, as he sees of the fruit of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied. And then isn't this 18th verse something for us to consider? I will gather them that are sorrowful for the solemn assembly, who are of these to whom the reproach of it was a burden.
Oh, brethren, is it a reproach to us? Do we realize?
That this isn't always the way it is with us. We're not always occupied with the Lord. We're not always a testimony for Him. There is that which is certainly sufficient to cause everyone of us to bow down in his presence and acknowledge how little we have responded to his claims. I say do we feel it? Do we feel it? Is there a remedy? Yes, there is. If we get occupied with Christ, it's going to affect our hearts and if our.
Individuals get affected when you affect the assembly whenever the a blessing to the people of God, it's going to give glory to his name, and we'll experience something a little poor taste of that which awaits us above. When the Lord Jesus has his own around himself and joys over us with singing is silent in his love. All the future is before us. May he give us more foretaste of it here. May we be exercised, brethren, about anything.
Everything that hinders the enjoyment of that which is brought before us in a typical way, but when we come into His presence, to present to Him now that which He is worthy of, everything that we have, all that we are, is by His grace. How may our hearts respond more to His love, so that while He leaves us here, there may be more of the joy of heaven upon earth?
As gathered to his precious name.
Mark 1:21
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When we look at a part of Mark's gospel first chapter, perhaps starting from the 21St verse, from the first chapter of Mark, Mark Gospel chapter one, verse 21. Then they went into Capernaum, and straightway on the Sabbath day he entered into the synagogue and stopped, and they were astonished at his doctrine.
Where he taught them as one that had authority.
They're not as described.
Than there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, saying, Let us alone, what have we to do with these? Our Jesus of Nazareth, art thou come to destroy us? I know these who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Can Jesus reduce him, saying, Hold thy peace and come out of him?
And when the unclean spirit had turned him and cried with a loud voice, he came out of him, And they were all amazed in so much as they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is that?
What new doctrine is this?
Where was authority commanded He, even the unclean spirits, And they do obey him.
And immediately estranged spread abroad throughout all the region round about Galilee.
And forthwith, when they were coming out of the synagogue, they entered into the House of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
For Simons wife, mother lay sick of his fever, and a non they tell him of her, and he came and took her by the hand, and lifted her up, and immediately the fever left her, and she ministered unto them.
Benedeva When the sun did that, they brought unto him all they were diseased, and then they were possessed. The devil and all the city was gathered together at the door.
And he healed many that were sick of diverse diseases and cast out many devils, and suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him.
And in the morning rising of the great wild before day.
Dear widow and departed a solitary place, and they're afraid Simon and Lisa were with him, followed after him.
And when they had found him, they said unto him, All men seek for thee. They said unto them, Let us go into the next town, that I may preach there also. For therefore am I became I'm for.
Any preached in the synagogues throughout all Galilee, and cast out devils. And there came a leopard to him, beseeching him, and kneeling down to him, saying unto him, If thou wilt, thou canst make me clean.
And Jesus moved with compassion, put forth his hand, and touched him. Southern him I will be thou clean.
And as soon as he had spoken, immediately the leprosy departed from him and he was cleansed.
Administrative charged him, and forthwith sent him away, and said unto him, See thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way. Show thyself to the priests, and offers of the cleansing, thy cleansing those things that Moses commanded for a testimony unto them.
But he went on and began to publish it much and the blaze abroad the matter influence that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city, but was without in desert places, and they came to him from every quarter.
Believe we have the person of the Lord Jesus before us in this passage, and the person of the Lord Jesus sets before us the path of faith.
Dependence and obedience being its character, you perhaps remember that him writer Kurt Stegan.
And he made this comment.
Across the will of nature lies the path of God.
Now it's natural for us to follow our own hearts.
But we have to be instructed from the word of God.
And how much better could we do than to follow the path of our blessed Savior, as Peter says, to follow in his steps?
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Here we have the Lord Jesus in a peculiar different way than from we have what we have in the other Gospels. He's seen as the servant Son of God.
Servant Son of God in this book.
And so that there are particular things outstanding in regard to service here that we should notice because it's in this very same book that he says he appointed to every man his work.
And so it doesn't leave any Christian out.
The great thing is to discover the particular work that the Lord wants us to do. It might be prayer, it might be visiting, it might be preaching, it might be simply having that confidence. Cast not away there for your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward. But whatever it is, we find the pattern of it in the blessed Savior.
Now in this chapter we have the early days, possibly the first few days of his service.
John the Baptist been put in prison.
And as soon as he's put in prison, the Lord begins his service. Because it's in Mark, we get the chronological order.
In a general way of his ministry, that is the events as they happened one after the other.
And so we have a great deal of instruction for the server, but not only for the servant, the general principles that should guide us as Christians.
Down here we've been just hearing about the doctrine of it in the book of Timothy. Here we see the practice of it in the person of the Lord Jesus and how beautiful to trace, especially in this last meeting. Now that which has to do with the person himself.
And that we might walk as he walked, as John says in his epistle.
Now it's true that in Luke's gospel we have the pattern.
In which the enemy approaches the Lord Jesus and the wilderness.
The flesh, the world, and the devil. But in this passage we've read, we find that the devil.
Comes first. He's going to seek to upset the path of the Lord Jesus at the very start, and so we notice that.
In the 21St verse they come to Capernaum. Now that's the Lord's own city. That's where he made his headquarters, at least for a time.
And in the 22nd verse.
Teachers with authority. And now we have a man with an unclean spirit, and he cries out.
Well, it's the power of Satan immediately attacking the power of Satan.
The Lord is speaking with authority.
We find he's just been.
In the wilderness he has withstood that enemy of our soul.
And now he's beginning his ministry sealed for that ministry.
And he speaks with authority.
Now this is important for anyone who would serve the Lord.
To have a sense in their soul that they have been sent, it doesn't matter.
Whether it's to visit your neighbor or whether it's to preach on the street, to have a sense in your soul that you've been sent.
It's been said by another that if you and I have a real sense in our soul that we have been sent, we can be sure that the message we bring will command the consciences of those that hear it.
Because the word of God says, Inasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
I make these comments introducing this because I believe that here we have a series of events in the early first days of the ministry of the Lord Jesus that set before us some very practical principles where this was standing the enemy, or whether it's prayer, whatever it is, we have very definite things mentioned here that would be helpful to us.
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In our Christian pathway.
Whatever that pathway may be, and they certainly are buried today, striking in the Gospel of Mark the use of the Word, and we have it over and over again. Notice how many verses in this chapter begin with the Word and almost every chapter in the book begins with the Word and.
For the Lord's service was an uninterrupted service with us. We may be very diligent and then we get discouraged and sort of slow down or give up, and then we start again. But I believe in the pathway of the Lord Jesus and the straightway and forthwith are very noticeable in the Gospel of Mark because the Lord's service was not interrupted service.
Of perfect obedience to his Father's will, always knowing his Father's will.
Always doing it for us. We're not always aware of his will.
We should be, but we are often not near enough to the Lord to discern His will. When we have. There isn't a spiritual energy always to do it, or perhaps there is a delay before we do it. How beautiful to see this perfection in the Lord Jesus.
He went on in that path constantly.
In a general way, one that's enjoyed of thinking of the Gospel of Mark as corresponding to a section of the book of Isaiah, we turn to the 42nd chapter of Isaiah.
It begins with a verse which you can easily see goes along with what's been said.
God had in Israel one who was.
To represent Him down here below, that is supposed to represent God here below. But we know the failure of that people. But now it's as it were that the Christ comes along and he steps into that place of servants.
And perfectly fulfilled that in which Israel had failed. Behold my servant whom I uphold mine elect, in whom my soul delighted. I have put my spirit upon him, and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And that goes right through. Oh, you find it in the 49th definitely, and the 53rd we know so well.
And perhaps the 61St, where he reads from that chapter in Luke's gospel.
And so we find Christ now in the little book of Mark. That's perfect servant, the one who is upholding, and as soon as he is sealed with the Spirit, he goes forth in this wonderful field of service. I was just wondering that might correspond to the remarks our brother made this morning about the Hebrew servant. Surely it does well.
Trace steps into that place and brings honor and glory to God. He is uphill.
I like to relate just a striking incident that happened in the Dominican Republic.
In December last when I was there. Generally in that island there is great religious liberty and you can give out tracks and speak to almost everyone and get a pretty nice response, but not always, and this was the exception.
Perhaps about the last day of my visit, we had got into an old taxi. That's the way you travel around the city and they pile on phone until they're running on the riding on the fenders. But.
We have, I have two of my local brethren along and our local brethren are so good at giving the gospel down there. And so they, this young man got in and they gave him a track and.
He turned around and asked this question. He says Why did Jesus wait till he was 30 years old to begin in his servicing? What did he do from the time he was 12 years old? Why did he do something when he was 20 and 25? And so on.
I always leave our local presidents an answer and they are good at it, but they seem to be kind of stumped about it. They just didn't hardly know what to say to him.
So I asked the young man this.
How old was the first man when he was tested? I said you've read your Bible and how old was the first man when he was tested? He couldn't give an answer. You see, we don't know. But he was a whole grown man, wasn't he? The 1St man was a full grown man when he was tested and so was the 2nd man. Jesus began to be about 30 years old and as soon as he was sealed with the Spirit.
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Then in the section we're reading about, he went forth and he showed all the power of God, imperfection, the perfect servant to overcome all the power of the end. That's what we're reading about, isn't it?
Your comments about.
Isaiah.
Are so beautiful in grace.
Because after Israel had failed.
Then God says, thou art my servant, O Israel, and the Lord Jesus takes up that failure.
And beautifully sets forth the perfection of the path of service.
And then when you get to the end of Isaiah again you find.
Him turning the service back over to Israel again and he speaks. These are my servants.
And you'll read, we won't turn to it, but you'll see it in the 63rd chapter and earlier to where the services turn back to Israel again and they will be his witnesses on the earth in the millennial day. Now, I think this is beautiful.
The Lord Jesus first of all, has to show the pattern of true service, because they didn't know it. They weren't even believers. They had turned against their God. But sovereign grace comes in and puts a beautiful example before them. And of course they'll be taught of God. That is, they'll have a new spirit. But then they become his servants.
Well now, isn't that just what he did with us?
We were far off from God and then he saved us and then he set this beautiful pattern before us.
Of the Lord Jesus, and then he sends his disciples forth to serve, and he sends us forth to serve to that's great sovereign grace. But now we see the pattern of it. How are we going to walk? How are we going to serve? Here we have it in our chapter.
Would you also say in connection with the Lord's service beginning at 30, that was when the priests began their public service. Their service was from 30 to 50 in the book of Numbers we find. And so with the Lord Jesus, He spoke as one having authority. He rebuked scribes and Pharisees, and there was a proper.
Age in which a man took the position of responsibility in Israel.
And the Lord Jesus, who is the one who is perfect in everything, followed that pattern that had been marked out. The priest was put in that position publicly at 30. The Lord takes that position at 30 years of age. We certainly are sure that his pathway was perfect up to that point. Bird of God hasn't been pleased to tell us all the details, but we know He was.
The perfect one. Everything about him. He did no sin. He could not sin.
But the public part of the Lord Jesus work began at 30 years of age, didn't it? I think he made a pretty good yoke of oxen tooth for the oxen too, didn't he? When he made, when he was a Carpenter that would fit. And this, this really teaches us, doesn't it, that whether it's making a yolk for oxen or whether it's preaching the gospel.
This, we learn here, is the service of God.
And I believe that we must remember that.
Everyone doesn't take the same place.
But whatever ye do, do it as unto the Lord and.
He's going to reward whatever is done to His name. If I do it for myself and my own interests, it's one thing. But whatever path I am placed in, if I do it to the Lord, I don't do it for the reward. But He's going to reward it because it's done to His name no matter what it is. If I do it to the Lord and it's a path He's put me in, He's going to meet His reward in that day. Is that right?
Servants in the 14th of.
Romans, at least it seems to fit some of us. It begins there with him that is weak in the faith. Well, that's kind of a rebuke. We ought to be strong in the faith, like Abraham giving glory to God. Well, here's the one who is weak in the faith. But what it says about this one in the fourth verse?
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Who art thou that judgest another man's service? You see, we all are in the service. And then it says to his own master, he standeth or false than this. Yeah, he shall be old enough, for God is able to make him to stand.
Does not that even apply to the Lord? By the Spirit we shall whom I uphold, My servant whom I uphold. All the acts of the man, faith, Jesus were in the power of the Spirit.
And we have the same spirit.
Am I going too far there?
Everything that you do, the position on the principle of grace is not real services.
And so he takes the weakest vessels.
Well.
You're saying that the Commendation and.
Too much, but it speaks of some of those kingdoms.
You know, it's a wonderful thing.
To be when the Lord wants us and be there when he wants us.
Now that's more important than seeking out great service.
And that takes waiting upon the Lord, doesn't it? It's not just saying I want to go to a certain place and do a certain thing. We learned that at the end of this chapter.
Everyone was running to hear as far Jesus Allen always said and disciple. I was supposed to power, but where I went back. Why didn't we go to the throne? Just let him hear it. You know that wasn't the fast. Oh how we missed the Lords mind because we're moved by what people say or what you see in our eyes a national sentence.
But it's grace and embrace the wall that enables us to serve directly and service of the Lord and all. How much we have to learn just from this first chat. How much we have to learn to pass the place and how we see our deficiencies in our daily life as we read this first chapter. The first 2-3 days of the Lord's ministers figure out our life.
I think it's very important saying that we should be sent to anything. Go in Isaiah chapter 6 where it says here am I send me. The emphasis is on the word send, not on the word me. Sometimes we take it here am I send me, but the emphasis is on the word sent. He didn't want to go unsent, and you and I should always remember that.
It isn't the need that puts us to work, for there are needs everywhere. It ought to be the call of God. And if we're going to wait for that, it may be like it was with Phillip. There were many that were hearing, many that were being saved. If blessing was the proof that he was sent of God, there was much blessing in Samaria.
But the message was to go down into Gaza, which is desert.
And he arose and went, he was sent to another place. And the important thing was that he was sent, being sent, that he had a message and a service for the Lord to fulfill there. Well, I think that's good for all of us, young or old, to desire to be sent. And I believe if we turn to Galatians chapter 5, we have this point brought before us.
Galatians chapter.
Six, I should say Galatians chapter 6, verse 3. For if a man think himself to be something when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. But let every man prove his own work, and then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone.
And not in another, For every man shall bear his own burden.
I believe that this is taken up from the service of the Levites that we spoke of a few moments ago. The Levites were brought to Aaron, and each one was appointed to his service and to his burden. And the Coethites were the ones who carried the holy vessels. The others, Gershom and Murari, carried. The other vessels were the ones who carried the ark, thinking of themselves more highly than they ought to think.
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To undertake that service of carrying the holy vessels and need. The others feel that they were doing an unnecessary work, because they were not given the work of carrying the holy vessels, but another work had been appointed to them. Well, it was a joy that they could have in knowing, just like the Coabites, that they were doing what they had been called to do.
And sometimes we hear people say, oh, I wish I was out in some foreign field preaching the gospel.
As though that were the thing that would be the most important, but for a sister in her home or for a brother in a more quiet work in his own assembly. If that's where the Lord wants him to be, he can have rejoicing in himself alone and not in another. That is, instead of saying, oh, I wish I was able to leave home and go to some important work like.
Some foreign field.
No, he says. If that's the word that you're appointed to get before the Lord, discover what that work is. Let every man prove his own work. Then you can have happiness in knowing that you're doing that which has been appointed to you, your service and your burden.
I think it's very possible to go through life without ever discovering what the Lord wanted us to do. But it's a great loss. For God has, for every one of us who are saved in this room this afternoon, a service and a burden. And how happy it would be if each one of us in his presence discovered that and did that. And the service becomes important because of the one who has given us the work to do and that we're doing.
The appointed work, well, it's a very lovely thing that God has brought this before us because.
We measure service by how much it puts us in the public eye. But service that puts us in the public eye is much more dangerous because we're liable to have wrong motives. We're not so likely to have wrong motives for a service that hides us from the public eye. We have to be before the Lord to continue in a work that's unnoticed, like Epiphyrus in prayer.
But we can very lightly want a public place.
And so missed the mind of the Lord. Because we like public service. We like something that puts us before others.
Natural heart wants a place.
Now is the natural thing for the Galatians, wasn't it because they were turning back to law and that would be setting man up into place?
Oh, how different the law is from grace and how much we have retained of the spirit of the law, each one, even though we were never under the law as a people. But it's been said that the law is in every natural heart because of pride. And so we're always thinking of something we can do that will be approved.
Before man by and this is not the path we see here.
Because the Lord Jesus, as he begins his work, He was the servant Son of God. That is, He was the servant of God, not of man, and he did everything regardless.
That which would please his father, regardless of whether men were pleased or not, he always did that which pleased his father. And I believe this is one of the great points we have that that we begin this gospel of Mark that he was the servant son of God.
I can remember an older brother when this was mentioned once that this book gives us the the the servant character. He said remember he said it gives the servant Son of God character.
And I believe that is important to remember for everyone who served that.
We are serving, it's true, we serve our brethren, but the purpose is to serve the Lord, no matter how small the task may be. We serve the Lord because He is the Lord and He appoints to every man his work and were responsible to the Lord. He's the one who rewarded.
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A verse in the 13th chapter I'd like to ask a question about in this gospel Christ. It's been mentioned the 13th of Mark and the 34th verse. I'll just read it.
For the son of mine is as a man picking his, picking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work, and commanded the Porter to watch. The question is about the authority. As far as I know, it's the only mention that I can find of authority given to us during this time in a very direct way.
And I just wonder what the comments are. What is this authority? Well, I believe it ought to characterize the servant, that he is delivering a message from God. And of course, that is what the authority is. Sometimes we can.
Say I think this or I think that, but where we have the direct word of God, it should be given out with His authority, shouldn't it? And I think it's important we find that as it speaks about the Lord Jesus.
He spoke as one having authority and not as the scribes describes, gave out things and sort of apologized for them. When we give out the truth of God, we ought not to make any apologies for it. It's the truth that's given out as the word of God.
In that connection.
We could have just turned to Matthew's Gospel the the 9th chapter.
And the 38th verse.
And it's connected with the multitudes and their need and the disciples ministry. And so he says, pray there for the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth laborers into His harvest. I connect that with the verse that you have just called our attention to. Now there is such a thing as praying to the Lord of the harvest because it's His work and He's appointing His servants.
I don't mean to be legal about it. We pray to God and prayer is general.
Supplication is specific.
Certain thing we have in our hearts. Prayer is general. Intercession is really for others.
Should always be accompanied by the giving of thanks. We learned that from the passage that was brought before us this afternoon. And Timothy?
So that prayer is general. We pray to God in a general way and for many things. But now when it comes to the gospel, he says, pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest. And I think it's nice when remember that we we have that privilege of praying directly to the Lord Jesus, who's Lord of the harvest in connection with that harvest.
Not that we want to be legal about it, because most of the time we address the Father when their prayer seems even in a.
A prayer for the gospel. But I believe that we have a principle here, that we pray the Lord of the harvest, that he will send laborers into his harvest. And Brendan, when do we need a prayer like this? When did we need it more than we needed today?
We need to pray that the Lord will send laborers into His harvest. There is a need for this very thing this very day. 22nd verse of our chapter.
Your Lord taught them as one that had the forest. No question about where his authority came from. He was and is the Lord. But it seems comforting to me that in the one instance in the 13th chapter.
While he's away, the one who has gone into the fire country, he has given authority, has delegated authority so that we can go with the force of knowing that God is behind us too. Is that right? Yeah, that's Colossians. And the power of his might is put that way. So.
Elder or Deacon in that way?
Not a hierarchy. That's not the authority, is it?
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Goes right up to the head, to the Lord.
Word that gives the authority. I was thinking of First Peter chapter four. We have a similar thought there. First Peter chapter 4. If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God, or the sayings of God. Any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth, that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ.
To whom be praised and dominion forever and ever.
Amen. You sometimes hear a comment. Well, everyone has as much right to speak as another.
None of us have any right to speak unless we have something from the Lord to say.
And it's a very solemn responsibility. Of course, the Scripture says let the other judge. So we're not the final judge. But there ought to be a consciousness in our souls when we speak that God has given us something to say and that we have the authority of his word for what we're saying. If not, I believe it's our business to be quiet.
We should have something from God and it has the authority of His Word.
For our own glory, not to show off any knowledge, but as it says that God in all things may be glorified. all-purpose of ministry is the glory of God and the blessing of His people or of sinners. I believe this is quite interesting. May I introduce a verse in in Luke 12 Connection what's just been said?
1241 Luke 1241.
Then Peter said unto him, Lord, speakest thou this parable unto us, or even to all? And the Lord said, Who then is that faithful and wise steward, whom his Lord shall make ruler over his household, to give them their portion of meat in due season? Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing.
Of a truth I say unto you, that he will make him ruler.
Over all that he had. Now I believe here we have a principle that's very important.
I know it's found in the Gospel of Luke, but still it fits the subject.
Because Peter isn't told. Now, Peter, you go to such and such a city, and you.
Preach there this was.
Definitely told in the acts to certain ones we know, but we're living in a day when faith must be an exercise and there has to be.
The discerning between soul and spirit. We get that on the 4th chapter of Hebrews.
We won't turn to it.
That is, I may have a desire in my heart to do a certain thing, but I have to consult the Word of God in the power of the Spirit. That is, I have to be there under the guidance of the Spirit of God.
For my directions, there isn't anyone going to say to me now you go to a certain city at a certain time and do a certain thing, but I'm guided by the Word of God and the principles of the Word of God.
And what is laid upon my heart and in the presence of God.
Uh, to provide meat in due season, if that happens to be the work that Peter was to do, well, then he was to provide me to do season. And that's a responsibility. And he, he had no doubt real exercises from time to time as to what meat would be in due season. And so that if the Saints might be edified by what is introduced.
In ministry. So that's an exercise of faith in the presence of God, but on the principles laid down on the Word of God.
I believe it's a very important thing.
25th song we have that says the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.
And and as I see it, there are many decisions that.
We face from day-to-day can be practical decisions of life, can be those in connection with the service of the Lord, but there are many decisions that we face where we don't have a definite scripture that we can turn to that specifically gives us the answer as to what the Lords mind is. The principles as we've had brought before us the principles of the Word of God are given to us to guide us and direct us in the path of faith.
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If I could use an example for the benefit of our young people here, that a decision might be called upon in your life.
As to where the Lord would have you to go to work, well, it may be that you have two cities before you, and in one city there's a gathering where you can meet with the Lord's people and remember the Lord Jesus and his death and seek to be an encouragement to the Lord's people. And in the other specificity, there's no meaning at all. Well, the principles of the Word of God forsake not the assembling of yourselves together, as the matter of some is, for example, would give you.
Principles of the Word of God to guide you in that particular decision. But suppose there were two places where you go, both of which there is a meeting.
Where you could be a health in both locations, where the type of job is one that in both cases you feel is commendable and one that a Christian could happily be engaged in. Now how are you going to decide which city to go to? Well, there is only one way and that is to be before the Lord in communion seeking the Lord's mind. And that's why it says the secret of the Lord. I believe it says the secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him.
To there seek to be guided by the Lord's eye, to have him bring before your soul just in communion.
Him communicating with your soul, what is the path of obedience? The mind of the Lord for you in that particular occasion. In that case, you wouldn't go and tell someone, Well, the Lord told me to go there. You might have a sense of it in your own soul. But that verse in First Corinthians 4 is in that connection where it says, I know nothing by myself, yet am I not hereby justified? But he that judgeth me is the Lord.
So if you have a definite scripture, we gather to remember the Lord Jesus and His death. This morning we had a definite scripture this due in remembrance of me. We had definite instructions in the Word about the proper way of gathering according to His Word. So we had something to follow. It was discerning His mind through His words and fulfilling it in obedience.
But when it's a question of.
Going to such and such a city where you have no definite Scripture, then we ought to always be very humble in speaking about it. The Lord can give us the confidence of it in our souls. Be not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is. But when it's talking about Speaking of it, then we have to be careful. We have to be humble. It's very easy for us to boast. And if we say.
Told me to go there. We're practically telling all our brethren and our friends. Well, you know, I'm just walking so near the Lord. I'm so much in his secret that I couldn't have missed his mind. He told me to do that. That kind of thing is spiritual pride, or it leads to that.
It's not found in the Word so that we can have that hostile faith. Have it to thyself before God. We can have that secret as You've called our attention in our souls. But let us not boast before others and say what the Lord told us to do when we don't have a Scripture.
In that 25th Psalm that says, The meek will he guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his way. They must be meek instead of proud about these things.
On this first instance.
How that the Lord meets Satan?
As it were at the very beginning.
And he takes away as we noticed in the.
Wilderness. He took away his armor when he trusted, but now he takes away the attack that the first attack upon the Lord. Here is this man possessed with the demon and the Lord.
Cast out the demon and now there's there's fame in the 28th verse.
So there is a temptation to the natural man immediately to say, well, now I have really gained a reputation here, I think I'll take advantage of it and I'll see if I can get some people together and, and, and make use of this now for the Lord. But no, the Lord, he goes into the House of Simon.
Why? Because he was directed by the Spirit of God and.
His activity here wasn't that which would correspond to the fame.
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No, it was a corresponding to true service, independence and obedience.
And So what does he find in Simon's house? Simon.
Had been called to serve the Lord Jesus, but he had trouble in his house.
Now, do you think the Lord Jesus is going to have someone go out and serve him and then have to carry all the worries of home with him? No, no. As soon as there's trouble in Simon's house, Simon turns and there's Jesus standing there to take care of his problems. This is beautiful.
Never an occasion.
For one who is sent on any mission but what the Lord will come in, and He's always there ready to meet the particular need of His people. We can count on it. We learn it from this scripture. He may not meet it the way we expect it, but He will meet it. And so we find that.
He entered into the House of Simon and Andrew with James and John.
Simon's wife's mother lay sick of a fever and they tell him of her.
And he came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. And immediately the fever left her. She ministered unto them. Now that's Philippians ministry, we have some of it already.
We we just cast all of our burdens on the Lord.
The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, will keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
I was told of a brother years ago who was serving the Lord and as he left the house.
There was, there was hardly enough bread for the family, but he went out to serve the Lord just the same. And before the day was over there was bread in the family to take care of the family.
Others know of what I'm speaking here, but the Lord will never send a servant but what he sustains him and meets his need, and he'll meet the need of his home too. But what he wants us to do is to ask him, to ask him. And the problem arises. Do we ask him always say, well, I, I think I can take care of this myself some way. I'll make some arrangement, No.
Ask him and then they tell him of her.
And so the Lord just takes his hand and lifts her up.
And then what happens?
And the fever left her, and she ministered undo them.
Now she's serving. So by simply turning the matter over to the Lord, He takes care of the affairs of the household for Simon. And not only that, but she's raised up from her favor and she goes back to her service. Beautiful, isn't it Beautiful? Is there a suggestion to us in the 24th verse the way it's put when it says, what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth?
Art thou come to destroy us?
I know thee, who thou art, the Holy One of God. I have taken from the way this demon spoke to the Lord, that there is the very real evidence here that he knew who the Lord was. But there was no understanding of the counsels of God, of the purposes of God, of how God was working. So he, he says, art thou come to destroy us?
Well, this was not the time for destroying these demons. Cast them out was true.
But it wasn't the time for the destroying of them. But they nevertheless knew who he was, that he was Jesus, the Holy One of God.
It seems to me that we find from the Scriptures that there is every evidence that Satan and the demons know who the Lord is. But over and over again Satan is tripped up and frustrated because he doesn't understand what God is working, what God's purposes are. Even what God was accomplishing in the cross. He had little understanding.
Of justice what God was working in his counsels and purposes the.
Pearl we singular eye in that same verse, and we don't know how many demons were possessed in this man.
We find it similarly with the man of the legions of legion of devils. We find unspoken of his eye and then as we it's difficult to see that sometimes the demon speaks through the man. Sometimes the man speaks himself as being under the power of the demons. And it's really hard sometimes in the record to distinguish.
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And but it it appears that the man himself becomes the mouthpiece of the demons at times. Sometimes it speaks himself as an individual.
Yeah, I think we see this in different instances. It's an awful thing, that demon possession and how a man comes under that power. Is there a suggestion to or or a principle brought out? What I've taken from this chapter in in three instances we have the one who is delivered from the unclean spirit. Then we have Simon Peters, wife's mother who is delivered from the fever.
And then we have the leper who is given positive instruction.
And who doesn't go by that instruction? And at least I have enjoyed thinking, thinking of it in this way, that first of all, we needed to be delivered from the power of the enemy. And the Lord Jesus had one risk. Grace has done that. But then we also need to be delivered from the, I might call it the fever of nature to have that rebuked too, because there is no more room for that fever of nature than there was for the demon.
Be occupied in the service of God, and so both have to be set aside, delivered first from the power of the enemy, and then given to see that, as I might say, nature or the flesh has no place in the things of God. It had to be rebuked too, and set aside. And then when we come down to the case of the leopard, we find that the Lord Jesus after cleansing him.
Says to him straightly charged him.
See thou say nothing to any man, but go thy way, show thyself to the priest, and offer for thy cleansing those things which Moses commanded. No doubt there was a testimony here to who he was as Jehovah, the one who could cleanse leprosy, but nevertheless it is what he went out and began to publish it much at the blaze abroad. The matter in so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city. And that is that while we, as I say, we need to be delivered from Satan's power.
We need to see that the flesh has known in all its feverish activity, has no place also in the things of God, and then to see that the only real path for faith is in obedience to the Word. Here was this one. Even though he loved the Lord, even though he was grateful for what the Lord had done, his disobedience to the direct instructions the Lord gave him hindered the testimony rather than helped him and actually hindered the work that the Lord would have done.
Says it actually says that in so much that Jesus could no more openly enter into the city. Disobedience to the word can actually hinder the work of God. Well, it's even now the sun is setting. This is where we are today I believe there's a real voice for us in this next verse I am hurting a little because there are.
Main points here that I had in my heart when I suggested this chapter.
And there's much detail we could occupy ourselves with, but I'd like to call attention to some of these points that I feel are so important and not even.
There is such a thing you know as even in these present day of grace.
We are at that, even just at the time, just about the time when the Lord's coming.
And it's remarkable how the Spirit of God has revived the truth for us, and with it He's revived exercise of soul with many.
Even Elijah had to confess that there were 7000 that he didn't know about.
If there was exercise of soul the 7000 and there are many around us who are really believers and we don't know them, but that's to our shame a great deal. But here it's even.
And the sun is setting and what are we doing? What did they do?
These are very practical things, I believe.
They brought unto him all that were diseased. I memorized being I was in Tacoma once and my brother asked me if I'd go down to the street with him to preach. So we went down and he found.
Two or three soldier boys, he said, Will you come to the gospel with us? That was after the preaching was over, and they said sure.
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So he put him in the car and he took him to the room.
And when he got the room, why there was number one there? So he said, you just wait here for a moment and I'll go get the key.
So when he came back, they were gone.
He gets in his car and he goes back and gets three more and brings them back to the gospel. Now that's real energy of faith. He went back and got three more and he brought him to the gospel that night, and I was very much impressed by his diligence, his energy of faith. That would not be discouraged because the three had left, but he went back to get three more.
When the sun did set, they brought on him all that were diseased.
Them that were possessed with devils.
Here was the man, the man, Christ Jesus, the servant, the Son of God, and they knew that He was able for it. Now we know that the Lord is able to save souls even in this late hour.
And we have this happy privilege. We may not be able to do many things others can do.
But we have this happy privilege of bringing souls to the Lord Jesus in some way.
And it's a happy privilege to do so.
And.
All the city was gathered together at the door.
It makes us think of that little song that the children sing.
Christ being the door, Well, here it is, the door. I know this is a a long simpler line, but perhaps this is what we need tonight.
Simpler lines of truth being gathered at the door. What does it mean?
It'll it'll mean a great deal to a soul if there's one soul saved tonight in this room when the gospel goes out, it mean a great deal, and there should be rejoicing with us as there will be in heaven, if one soul is saved tonight.
What a happy thing it would be if someone here has brought someone to the door tonight in this little room. Lord wouldn't allow the enemy to be mixed with the work either, would he? Suffered not the devils to speak because they knew him.
Find Paul doing this in the 16th of Acts might have seemed very convenient to have that girl crying out these men are the servants of the Most High. God would show unto us the way of salvation was almost like a public advertisement for what was going on. And he might have thought this at least brings people together, but he didn't want any help from the enemy and I believe it's important for us.
God is going to accomplish His own purposes.
He gives us a work to do, but we never have to have the help of the enemy to do it. God will accomplish it. No man can come unto me with because the Father, except the Father which has sent me draw him. Sometimes there's the thought, well, we just got to do a few little things. The question is, are these things scriptural? If they are, well then we can follow the Word of God.
But to bring in our own ideas or anything of that is of the enemy.
To help along the work is really a hindrance in the end.
The message to Laodicea.
The Lord says, I counsel thee, Devi of me. Gold tried in the fire.
The thalamus be rich and white Raven and so forth. I believe that at least the thought that's committed itself to my heart is that there may be methods.
In carrying on the work of God.
That are dubious, but they will probably get results.
I believe the Lord would have us leave results to himself and if he uses someone else.
To get the results that we would like to have. Then let the other brother have that honor or and let us.
Seek the goal that is the glory of God. I believe in this case to honor Him and His word, if we.
He that knoweth to do good and knows it not, to him it is sin. So if we know scriptural principles, it will bring honor to the Lord.
And we?
Go across those principles, then we're going to lose out. I believe that's a spirit of Laodiceanism.
That is Luke warmness to the glory of God, he says. I counsel you by me, Gold cried in the fire to tell me it's the.
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Rich they were rich. Increase was good but.
No, they knew not that they were miserable and poor and blind, naked and so forth. We look over the fence and we see others getting good results. Souls are genuinely saved and we would perhaps like to try some of their methods.
But we know better from the word.
I just going to say it's interesting here to see how the Lord didn't suffer the devils to speak, but in the next verse we find him in a solitary place and they're praying. They could have, as we said, have used some of this publicity, but He did His Father's will. He was in total dependence upon Him, and so he goes into a solitary place and their praise.
And then we find.
Them saying, all men seek for thee, and we find the leper coming to him, and we find the Lord, the perfect obedient one. He would be dependent upon his father in that service. He didn't seek popularity. He wouldn't let the devil speak. But there are results in the end of the chapter.
The work is still going on, but it's going on in the path that his father had marked As for him. Now that expression early in the morning, we get that with Abraham.
And others.
And does it not suggest to us, although literally early in the morning would be good because?
One is fresh in the morning, but still, does it not suggest the energy of faith?
I noticed the in a home I was recently a little poem. Some of you may know it and I can't quote it, but it it was just in that line giving the Lord.
That part of your life early in the morning.
I believe that's very important, and especially young people.
Who remember that the Lord is entitled to that time, and not only that, but our lives are going to be richer.
If we're occupied with the Lord early in the morning, the first thing, give him his place early in the morning. But here we find the Lord rising.
In the morning, rising up a great while before day.
Find that.
Mary Magdalene was there a great while before day at the tomb, and she certainly was rewarded.
And she was occupied with his death. What a subject. But here the Lord is rising.
Great while before day in a solitary place, they're afraid.
Now the Lord had the mind of God, and the disciples did not.
In the 9th chapter of Luke we find the Lord praying.
Twice.
And the disciples were with him, and they were not praying.
And in that chapter they make several mistakes, or at least, shall we say, they miss his mind at least seven times.
But in the 11Th chapter.
They say, Lord, teach us to pray.
And so he answers them. Which of you shall have a friend?
And I believe that that is the answer to it. If we really believe that the Lord is a friend, then we will pray.
Otherwise, there's a sense of distance with us and we're not ready to go into his presence.
We're not ready to drop on our knees when we get home from work or school and justice for a moment get into his presence. We would if we regarded him as a friend.
All how many problems there are in life today?
And there's not a problem.
Too small, but what the Lord is interested in it and wants to hear about it, and He wants to take care of it for us. Well, if the center comes in his need by the Lord is ready to meet him.
Taught us how Eli said to Samuel, that when the Lord called, he was to say, Speak Lord, for thy servant heareth. But when the Lord came and called Samuel, all he said was, Speak for thy servant heareth.
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Well, Lord didn't just want him to repeat a certain phrase, but He did. He did desire to hear the message, even though He didn't just phrase it the right way. And so we could tell the Center exactly how He should speak and tell him the very words to say. But there may be an omission in the way a thing is said.
But the Lord who looks on the heart knew what was in this man's heart.
His feeling of need and that he had come to the right person for that need. Well, to me that's very encouraging because very often we make mistakes and slips and I don't say things in just the right way. But isn't it encouraging? The Lord knows the heart. And could I say even more that if the servant is in communion with the Lord, he doesn't pick a person up just because he doesn't say exactly the right words, but he rather seeks to judge the.
State of soul. And in that way, very often you can be a help to a person even along things are not expressed the way you might feel is right.
Don't you think that the Lord will do as He said to his servants?
That he would give them.
Words to speak in the hour of their testing.
I remember in Ottawa one night after the gospel, there was a man standing at the back of the room.
And I asked him, I said, are you saved? He said no. I said, would you like to be saved? Oh, yes, I said, why aren't you saved? He says, I'm too timid. I don't know what to say.
Well, I said, would you like to go up in the little room? Remember you had a little room upstairs in the older meeting room.
So two brothers went up with him up in the little room.
And you ought to heard the lovely confession of Christ. It was a man who was too timid to speak. He was too. He didn't know what to say. He was too timid to speak to anyone.
And he gave a lovely confession in his prayer.
Of receiving the Lord as his Savior. And then he went around and came down and started shaking hands with people and telling him he can receive Christ as his Savior.
That was just an indication of how the Lord came in with a man who in himself was absolutely too timid to even speak to the Lord or confess him, and when he actually took the step, why he was at liberty so.
I believe that we need that simplicity of heart, and I believe Mark's Gospel suggests this to us.
One thing here that.
Is important to notice in connection with what's just been said about the leper.
That's very important to me.
That the Lord could have spoken to multitudes.
On this occasion his fame was spread abroad, but his instructions for the day were to go to this leper.
And this leper was healed. Now there's a lesson here for us.
We might feel that we have great opportunities in a certain place and in a certain way, but if we are before the Lord and we actually do the things that were instructed, Scripture says in as much as she know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.
And so faith can recognize that the service done to the Lord if we are independence is going to meet its reward whether we see the results or not. And here this one leper.
Was saved as a result of the Lord.
Walking in complete dependence upon.
To His Father's will, and the disciples didn't understand it. Some have asked why the Lord told him not to publish it, but I believe it's interesting to notice that the Lord said this on more than one occasion when it was something done to the body. He never told anyone to be quiet as to what had been done for their souls. Now we know, of course, that the healing of leprosy is a picture of.
Cleansing from sin. But the actual fact was this man was a leper and he was cleansed.
It could talk a lot about what had been done for his body. And you'll hear people talk a great deal of something miraculous has been done for their body. Seemingly not ashamed to talk a great deal about that. But to say the Lord saved my soul for that man who was under the power of Satan to go home to his friends and say there's one who set me free.
01:10:21
Well, this was really a testimony to what the Lord had done for his soul. It's always right that we should.
Here and I will tell what the Lord has done for my soul and other scripture says.
But we can do a great deal of talking about things that attract attention to ourselves and what has been done for us in a physical way or material way. God wants us to speak more of those things that have to do with our souls. I don't mean that we never mentioned the other, but.
This is rather striking in the Gospel of Mark that you find this to be a done what the Lord said to what a testimony it was.
To all those that may place that the priests were, that here was one among them who could cleanse the leopard, that was the proper testimony. The Lord wanted him to. That would have been a spiritual testimony of who the person was who was in their midst. Because our brother said he wasn't only the servant, he was the Sodom. Never, I suppose, that the priest ever had to invoke those commandments in connection with the cleansing of the leper.
Was a man he sent now to show who was really in their midst. It seems he didn't do that, but a lot of the other the popularity that would be given to himself, talking about himself.
And isn't it solemn that he had to say to those Pharisees, You both know who I am, and also was it where I've come from?
That was solemn, wasn't it, when they knew it, When they were acting contrary to the light that they had?
Luke 4:1
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John's Gospel chapter 13 and verse four. He rises from supper.
Laid aside his garments and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples feet and to wipe them with a towel wherewith he was girded.
Then cometh he to Simon Peter. Peter says unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter says unto him, That shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter says in the implored, Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, He that is washed needeth not safe to wash his feet.
But it's clean everywhere near it. Clean, but not all.
Or he knew who shall betray him. Therefore, said he, he are not all clean.
So after he had washed their feet and taken his garments, and was sat down again, he said unto them, Know ye would have done to you. He called me Master and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am.
If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye ought also to wash one another's feet. For I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you.
The servant is not greater than his Lord, neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. I speak not of you. All I know who am I have chosen that the Scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.
Now I tell you before it comes, that when it has come to pass, you may believe that I am He. Verily, verily I say unto you, He the Receiveth, whomsoever I send, receiveth me.
Neither receiveth me receiveth in this sent me when Jesus had thus said.
He was troubled and spared, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.
Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom His faith.
Now there was leaning on Jesus wasn't one of his disciples, and Jesus loved Simon Peter, therefore beckoned to him. They should ask who it is, who it should be, should be a plummet state.
He then lying on Jesus breast, as unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered.
Here it is to whom I shall give us stop when I adept it. And when he did the stop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
And after the stop, Simon entered into him, then said Jesus unto him, that thou doest do quickly.
Now no man at the table knew for what intent he faked this unto him.
Some of them thought because Julius had the bag, that Jesus said unto him by those things that we have need of against the feast, or that he should give something to the poor.
He then having received the software immediately out, and it was night. Therefore when he was drawn out, Jesus said, now as a Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself. Angel straightway glorify him.
Little children.
Get a little while. I am with you. You shall seek me. And as I said unto the Jews.
Whether I go, you cannot come. So now say I to you.
The new commandment I give unto you that you love one another, as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Why this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if he had loved one to another.
Simon Peter said on the end. Lauren, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him. Whether I go, thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards.
Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. Jesus entered him. Good thou lay down thy life for my sake. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, the **** shall not crow. So thou hast denied me fright, glory and the towel.
00:05:18
And indicating the place of service that he took.
Hurting himself with a towel that be the mark of the servant and he could tell us something brother, about the water. Now in verse five, but with the water or there may be any significance in putting it in a basin.
The water in the basin that he uses.
To help another. It's the opposition of the Word of God.
When you are walking away and that causes.
Awesome. We're going on in some course and a scripture is brought before us and the power of the Spirit of God, and it has the effect of cleansing that is it brings before us.
God's mind about our pathway and that produces self judgment. So we need to always be willing to allow our walking ways to be brought under the light of God's Word, wherewithal to the young man cleans his way, but by taking heed thereto according to thy word.
In connection with the basin, I was just thinking before when it was red, there is the contrast, as we mentioned yesterday, between the washing all over.
And then that cleansing in connection with the firemans along the way. And the Lord poured the water into the basin. And so perhaps it would bring before us the thought that when we seek to be a help to another, why we should bring the word that applies to that particular situation before Him and.
We find the Lord does this with us in our own pathway. There may be many other scriptures but.
He brings some particular scripture that suited to that situation and brings that before our heart.
I was thinking of the passage in Romans chapter 15. Is it?
Romans chapter 15 and verse 14.
And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that ye also are full of goodness.
Filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
You notice here, when we apply this to the Lord Jesus, how perfectly true it was, full of goodness by surely as we think of His pathway, as the Scripture says, He went about doing good.
The love and the grace that He showed to the disciples and as it brings before us in our chapter. Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. And then He had full knowledge of all that was going on in their lives. And also we know that as the perfect One, He could bring that word before them, just suited to their present needs.
And I have thought how this is practical for us too.
We might go to a brother to whom we had never shown any kindness and try to speak to him. And perhaps he doesn't receive it too well because he has never known us as a person who has acted kindly toward him.
Isn't it nice when what characterizes our pathway as Christians is full of goodness? And then if it is necessary to correct why, then there are two things I believe that are important.
First of all, that we know what we're speaking about so that we don't just speak on hearsay that we know what we are Speaking of. And then we also know the scripture that would apply to the situation and be able to bring that before the person, not just as our opinion. I think you shouldn't be doing this, but rather the light of God's Word, which would.
Have power over them and bring them to an exercise.
Because self judgment is really the application of the word of God to our walk and ways. And so we have that principle in that verse that says that if thine enemy hunger feed him, if he thirst give him drink, for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. We might wonder what does this mean?
Heaping coals of fire on his head. Well, fire in the Scripture is a figure of judgment.
00:10:05
And so if you show kindness to a person, it may be the means in God's hand of producing self judgment in that person. If I have been unkind to someone and then he shows a kindness to me, then immediately I begin to think well.
Think of the way I've acted to him and now he's turning around and acting this way toward me and this produces self judgment. It changes our thoughts. Well, the Lord Jesus was the perfect example of all this, I believe. And it is good for us to remember there's all these different things. The Lord laying aside his garments, He could have come in his Godhead glory, but instead He took.
Servant, He took the humble place. If one could speak reverently, taking his place at their feet, they could have kicked him. But the Lord took his place there in humble grace to correct them. He was full of goodness. He applied the word, and the result was blessing. Well, it's a lesson for us all. And the Lord said, if you know these things, happy are you if you do them.
Presented as an example, does he not?
For his disciples to follow. And I think that Father the the water port in the basin is a very good thought. And I'd like to just add, it seems to me the basin of course is a receptacle. It's that which was to hold the water. And so one who would undertake as the Lord here to wash the feet of another.
He would apply the word which he himself has received, not merely something that he knows is true, but something that he has received. You might say that he himself has become a receptacle of that, of that truth, of the word that would apply at the time, something that he has received himself that he might be able to use for the help and blessing of another.
And also not to get ahead in our.
Going through these verses, but perhaps we might make a comment in regard to the general part of of the washing of the feet, because he does say that he gives us an example that you ought to wash one anothers heat. And no doubt the verse our brother referred to in Romans is a good example of this able to admonish one another.
It seems to me that the washing of the feet of one another.
Has is not so much the thought of of restoring one who has gone off into dishonorable path and has had to be put away, perhaps in the large table. It seems to me that it's the removal of those things that hinder 1 going on in the enjoyment of the Lord, where there is an exercise to do so.
Because it appears that the washing of the feet here is not some gross sin into which they might fall.
But it's those tendencies to take up with earthly things that will hinder our enjoyment of the heavenly things. And we can where we see that there is an exercise to go on and follow the Lord in the truth.
And there's a real desire to please the Lord, and we might detect something in the walk and in the pathway or associations that is a hindrance to this. And it seems to me that this is where the foot washing comes in. And one who has been a receptacle, as it were, of the word himself that he has been able to.
Take in the word as the Lord has taught him, He might be able to be used of the Lord to.
Wash the feet of another, so that the little hindrances to going on in a path of of obedience and service and submission to the Lord, that that would not be hindered by these, you might say.
Blemishes, not so much. I I don't think the thought at least. Maybe others might have another idea, but it doesn't appear to me to be the thought so much of of sins that would require, for instance, the putting away from the Lord's table.
It seemed to be more in connection with the things that might hinder those who are seeking to go on with the law.
00:15:03
To make sure the water is not too hot and how new IT is in athletic state to notice. And he made sure that he drives his feet to make them comfortable. Don't you make that version Psalms, which says?
Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, the light under the path. So many times we've been saved from many states that followed. We've seen maybe young people going on and how nice it is to do it in love and be able to say that there be witness.
Lord's power keeping up falling into Satan way of trying to get us to go straight and you think that would have a very.
Well, I'm sure that's true. It's like the connection of our brother, Johnson would say. I was thinking of the last.
Verses of the chapter before because I believe it's connected.
The 49th verse or I have not spoken of myself, but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His commandment is late, everlasting, whatsoever I speak. Therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak now before the peace of the past, where we can see the connection here.
That the Lord Jesus spoke the words that had been given to him by his Father. And so very often, perhaps some of us have sat in a meeting and the brother has spoken and we have felt, well, that's the message just for me, and we have received it.
The Scripture says if any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God. And so the one who speaks, if delivering a message from the Lord, it is suited to the needs of those who are present. And then that 50th verse is very lovely because when it says I know that his commandment is life everlasting. It's not like under the law. The law demanded something of man that he had neither the heart nor the power to give.
But isn't it lovely to think that when the Word of God is brought before a soul who truly knows the Lord, the new man within him responds to the claims of Christ, His commandment, his life everlasting means that when God asks us to do something, it has the power of a command over the new man. When?
Someone we love wants us to do something we don't say. Is that a request or a command?
It has the power of a command because love responds to the claims of that person.
And the Newman in the believer responds to the claims of Christ.
And so one has often made the comment, God will never ask us to do anything, that the new life within us doesn't delight in doing His commandment, His life everlasting. And so as we wander, he may use ministry of this kind to touch us, to bring us before us. The water is poured into the basin. I believe it's the needed word for the occasion.
And it reaches the conscience, it reaches the heart, and there is the exercise that our feet might be cleansed with a desire to walk in communion with Him, because that is the desire of every renewed man, is to walk in the company of the Lord Jesus. I remember our brother Walter Gill one time at Des Moines.
We were washing.
Up Walter Jaleel, Frank Gill, Walter's father's father. We were watching before.
A meal in Des Moines and he put one hand behind his back and tried to wash the one hand all alone.
We wondered at first, wife was doing this, several of us standing by and he said, did you ever try to keep one hand clean?
When the other was not able to help and he struggled and struggled and it was just about impossible, so he pulled out the other hand and he went on just kind of talking to himself for our benefit. He said the left hand cleans the right and the right hand.
Cleans the left. He went about it. Then he picked up the towel and he said and the left hand tries the right and the right hand tries the left and the job is well done. He walks out and really left us with something to think about. If you've ever had one hand incapacitated, I had the experience. It's almost impossible to keep that hand clean as you would like it to be all along. And there's never a complaining between.
00:20:17
Hands, you're always getting soiled and I'm always having to clean you up. Because we are members together of the same body. This kind of service should really be accepted and valued and appreciated and perhaps one reason or maybe two reasons why we fail in it.
One is because we feel ourselves that we have failed so badly in these matters that our our attempt to help in the washing of another brother might only reveal our home failure and inconsistency and so we hesitate to say anything.
And the other is we're really trying to spare ourselves and not our brothers by our hesitation to speak in a way that would wash the feet of another. We're perhaps a little afraid of the reaction that we might receive. And I think what we've heard about.
Full of goodness, filled with all knowledge in a very, very needful preparation for the washing that has been spoken of.
I know I was just reading Mr. Jarvis on that about that facing.
He takes a linen towel. It's a linen towel and.
I heard himself.
Then he pours water into a washed hand base. Although that was interesting is the connection with what you've been saying, Brother Albert a wash and basin and then he.
Began to wash the feet of the disciples. That's an interesting connection.
What can they might suggest that it would take clean hands to do this, but it's not our own hands clean in the process of washing the feet of another.
We look at one verse in First Timothy 5 verse 10.
Speaking about the widow, well reported of good works, if she hath brought up children, if she had lost strangers, if she had washed the same feet, if she have relieved the afflicted. Now may I ask, how does the sister do that?
Wash the feet of the thing. Well, I suppose then the what is referred to here was actually done a literal thing, because that was a kindness that was shown to people as they traveled and their feet were dirty. Why? I believe sometimes the host or Hostess might take the humble place and wash the feet of the guests. But of course it can be applied in a spiritual way, and I'm quite sure that many sisters have done.
And I've done it in a very lovely way. Perhaps I've done it in a way that is better than a brother at times because being able to get a little closer to the person, they might be able to do it in a more helpful way.
So that certainly it's not limited to Brothers I, I believe that this is a work that can go on. In fact, it speaks of the older women teaching the younger women.
And there are things that a sister can say to another sister which perhaps would seem very difficult and almost out of place for a brother to say. Saw the service of the sisters as most important. And although we spoke of ministry as it might be given in the meeting, certainly much of this is carried out in a private way and perhaps no other person but.
Too involved? Know anything about it?
But the Lord knows about it and the Lord takes account of it. I think it's so lovely, the verse which we mentioned before, that the Lord should say, if he know these things, happy are ye if He do them. Because so often things remain, and little things that could be, that could be cleared up or not, because there isn't that willingness to seek the good of one another before the Lord.
So that's what happiness there is when there is that freedom of spirit one with another, and that willingness to talk things over in the light of God's precious Word.
00:25:03
We don't want to limit the fall here in this chapter of the foot washing having to do with.
Removing an obvious defect from someone.
It isn't. It isn't merely dealing with someone who has failed. Seems to me that this foot washing applied to all of the disciples. They all needed it. And sometimes there is a tendency to neglect those who are going on faithfully. It appears outwardly as if they do not need any foot washing. But I believe we all need it. We we all need the the cleansing.
Effect of the word that that would remove anything that hinders our ones continuance in the past it I don't think we an answer to our brother Francois question. I agree that I think primarily it refers to hospitality that the sisters would show it's their province, their home and they take in strangers and show hospitality. But we do know that.
A sister without formally teaching.
Or even.
Something of that nature can wash the feet in a spiritual way of the Saints by a word and by her own conduct. We read about those women who can win even their husbands without the words, by their chaste conversation, and so forth. And no doubt her sisters can in that sense encourage others to be.
As it were less earthly minded too, as they observe the conduct of the wall manner and the spirit.
So that these are things that that a sister can do. I think if we limit the foot washing to merely correcting a brother or a sister, we will lose a lot of the thought here.
Is this too better than the emphasis in our contact with one another? Ought to be on the word, not on social. Get together when we're together.
Apart from the assembly meeting in a home.
We might, by being occupied with the Word, talking about the things of the Word of God.
Unknown to us might perform their service. I don't think many times this is taking place and we really know that we are performing that service. This is certainly a danger in our day. Christened them all around.
The work is getting less and less of play in the interaction and intercom union of Christians between one another.
And other things take that place. But this passage should clearly show to us that the emphasis has to be on being occupied with the Scriptures, with the Word of God, and we might perform that service and not realizing we're doing it.
Chapter 15, verse 3 Lord says, now are you clean through the word which I am supposed to unto you? So it's the word that cleanse us.
And that's how we can do it. Well, I believe the apostle of 1St Corinthians 10 says.
Give none offense as the Jew nor the Gentile. Sometimes, you know, we might bring the word before some money and we, we might give an effect. Well, how are we going to do it? Well, I believe there's only one way, and that is to bring the word of God before one another and the meekness and the gentleness of life.
And if their last spirit, there will be the effect, there will be the time following to the one that perhaps we have an intent for. But we're done.
Well, when it says they're giving none offense, I believe it means personal offense.
Because there are times when the word of God does offend, we find that the Lord when he spoke faithfully, He had to say that this offend you. And the disciples came to the Lord on one occasion and said that most thou not that the Pharisees were offended at this thing. Well, the Lord of course was perfect in everything. He could not, he would not apologize, but he had spoken was the truth.
And so there are times when the Word of God may offend and we can't help it, but we should do it in the right spirit, as you said, and then we have to leave the results with the Lord. Speaking of a sister's part I, we were just reading the other day at home about Abigail and Shirley. She would be an example. David was just about to act rashly.
00:30:25
In the matter with Nabel and we see how Abigail came out.
And occupying her proper place as a sister, she took the humble place, bowed before him, she brought gifts to him. And then she spoke to him and told him. And he, so to speak, had his feet washed. He didn't carry it out. And he said, Blessed be thou. He thanked her for what she had done, and she had brought before him something that kept him from.
A rash act, and while I agree that it hasn't necessarily to do always with some special things.
Nevertheless, we can see the Lord tells the reason for it, and that is that we might have part with Him. And so there are so many little foxes, little things that can come in and hinder our communion with the Lord. They may be one specific thing, they may be just earthly mindedness. There may be a great many little things perhaps that we are hardly aware of.
What other things have replaced the Lord Jesus place in our hearts and ministry helps to correct that and restore.
That fellowship with him, what is sweeter in our lives than to have part with him?
To be able to look up and talk to Him at any moment as our dearest friend, and to be in the consciousness of His presence, Well, ministry always should have that before in view, so that the hearts might be drawn nearer to the Lord. And if anything is necessary to be removed, the water of the word will have that effect.
The very fact that the presence of the towel is mentioned.
It seems to be something of a body connection with this type of people. Are you, for instance, when we see an example, a situation like in Galatians, where the Apostle Paul had to rebuke the Galatians Saints so sharply, there is no thought or suggestion of a towel. No, no, no, Father suggestion of leaving the Saints feeling comfortable. They called for the strongest possible review.
And in the second chapter of Galatians, when the apostle Peter.
Had to be rebuked for sitting apart with the Jews again. There's no thought, it seems to me, of that application of the towel. The Word is used. It's true. The word is always what cleanses. But what we have so beautifully brought out here is that before even the Lord applies, the water provision is made in the towel.
The Saints to be left healing restored, feeling that there has been that which has ministered to their refreshment. And so we find that when he when the Spirit of God brings this proportion before us.
The thought in the heart of Peter comes out finally when he says, not my feet only, but also my hands in my head. The desire of his heart was to enjoy the Lord's company, to have the fullest possible part with him. That's what he wanted.
The reason I mentioned that, brethren, is because.
As husband mentioned, there are times when the word of God has to be applied faithfully brought before the soul in the can I say the sharpest possible way is a voice to the conscience. We, we, we, we see a, a, a something of a picture of it. In the case of Finnehas, when he took the spear, there was no question of of any kind of comfort. It was a, a type of sin that had to be rebuked.
When we see in First Corinthians chapter 5 where we have moral evil that has come in amongst in the assembly, the word is put away from among yourselves, that wicked person. The sharpest possible rebuke is given for that kind of moral evil. That's allowed. But what we have here, as mentioned already, is that defilement that that which comes into the lives of each one of us.
And and so a brother comes to me, and he sees that something is something is getting in between my soul and the Lord.
Something is hindering my enjoyment of the Lord, something I'm allowing in my life, something I'm allowing in my family. And He comes to me with the precious word. The basin doesn't clean. The basin simply holds the word. But He brings the word. But with the word He also brings the cow.
00:35:06
And so in ministering the word of God, He also brings the towel so that he drives my feet. And the lovely thing is the attitude of heart that we see that the Lord is seeking here is that they might have parts of it, and that what they passage that we have before us applies to.
Because, you know, we can take the Word of God and we can take the attitude of the Lord here and the example He gives and the admonition to his disciples, and we can apply it to cases and circumstances that do not apply. For instance, as you mentioned about having to to withstand or to rebuke. We find that First Thessalonians 5.
That the apostle says, now we exert you, brethren, warn them that are unruly. Well, that's one attitude.
And then he said comfort. The feeble minded are literally encouraged to play Hardy, but you don't encourage the unruly.
He warned the unruly, but you encourage the faint hearted and so I believe in the foot washing here. It's not just a matter of setting someone straight if you think has gone wrong. I think it's in order to further their spiritual progress and their enjoyment in the things of the Lord that they might have more part with Christ. It's not really dealing.
With someone who has going on in self will and disobedience.
Who might were warning or where some form of discipline might have to take place. It seems to me it has to do with the seeking to help on and further the progress and the enjoyment of those who haven't exercised to follow along with the Lord. But as our brother said, there might be something, some little hindrance that.
One detects in US and the desire is that they that they have, they're watching for our souls.
And we have in Hebrews 13, there are those that watch for our souls. And so when they would seek to bring something from the word in the way of washing our feet that would affect our walk and our ways, it's not just to set us right.
Or to show us where we're wrong. But in order that we might have heart with Christ, we might have that practical and have that practical and personal enjoyment of the portion that belongs to us in association with the Lord Jesus. I believe that's the Spirit which is taken up.
I hope this application is not too remote, but I must admit I was thinking of it last night after what was said concerning the cleansing of their feet in preparation for the position that was to be presented to them in the following chapters.
I thought of your name. And when he was cleansed and he was about to return to that idolatrous land from which he had come, he he wanted, he asked for.
Two new burden of Earth. Very, very strange request, but it would seem that he felt, I don't want to go back there and stand in that same position that I left when I come up here to be cleansed of my leprosy.
He wanted to go back and occupy a position that would be in keeping with the God of Israel whom he had come to know, and I thought of that perhaps as a little example of his feet being washed, that he might stand in that new position.
But what really impressed me was that he asked for two mule bird in the earth. One would be sufficient for him, I would think.
But faith asked for two and I have wondered could it be the dear name and thought, I really don't want to have to stand alone, and I don't expect to have to stand alone. I want to have two mules burden of earth in order that not only my own feet might stand in that place that would be suited to the God of Israel.
But I'm going to trust him that someone else will share that place with me, perhaps thinking of the Israelites made perhaps thinking of his own wife or someone else to share that new position with him. And so if by the grace of God, our own 4 feet have been washed.
That we might realize the joy and privilege of standing in a place that would be suited to a wonderful truth presented to us in the following chapters. Surely we would like to see that place shared by others, and perhaps even in that sense.
00:40:12
There is the washing of the feet of others. The very place that we occupy, the truth that we enjoy, we trust, shared with others might be the means of washing their feet, that they might also stand in that new position. Washington, and that which it implies.
Is it not good to see the attitude in which the the act was done?
That is the end of the fifth verse. And to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. It wasn't just that he had a towel, but it was a towel wherewith he was girded. And I believe that that would suggest the position or the attitude of a bond slave.
Their brothers said in this prayer at the beginning of this meeting that the Lord Jesus went lower than we, that is, He took the lowest possible place. And so the attitude and loneliness, all loneliness. Why he was able then to wipe the apostle or the disciples feet. Now if it had to deal with that which was sin, it could not be in that attitude because sin must be judged if the stewardship.
But here it's defilement, and so it's the lowest possible position. That is that which is nothing of me, no reason for myself, but it's really to accomplish the will or the attitude of another, the one to whom we are bond, slave responsibilities brought before us. Here one is the responsibility to receive the word.
To allow the Lord to wash our feet. We see in Peter when Peter first of all says, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
But then when the Lord says what thou canst, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
Then Simon Peters answer is, Lord not my feet only, but also my hands in my head. The desire, if this was going to be what was needed for him to enjoy the Lord's company. Then we see in the heart of Peter not only my hands only, but also not only my feet only, but also my hands in my head. Now there was a lack of understanding at this point.
And I suppose that's, I believe that's what's referred to when when the Lord says.
What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. That is that at this time there was a lack of understanding and entering into these things what the Lord was doing. But the time would come when the Spirit of God had come, when there was the intelligence in divine things and an understanding of what the Lord was doing and entering into these things and what the Lord was doing. But there is the responsibility, brethren, seeing Peter, to allow the Lord to wash our feet.
And when a brother comes to me with the Word, my responsibility is to receive the Word, to realize that it's the Word of God and allow that Word to speak to my soul, that my feet might be what now? His responsibility is to come, as it were, in the guise of the servant, with the girded towel, with the basin full of water.
That is, with the word that the Lord has given him.
To bring to my soul, to bring to my conscience, to bring to my heart, whatever it is His responsibility is the best part. But my responsibility is to receive what the Lord has to say to me, and I can never be justified in rejecting the Word because a brother came to me in the wrong spirit.
Because He said it in the wrong attitude. Perhaps he didn't have the towel, but the washing is by the Word. And as I say, the part from my soul is to allow that Word to have its way with me in order that I might enjoy the Lord's company. The question as to the spirit in which it's done, that's left between the servant, the one who brings the Word, and the Lord. He's the one who has the responsibility.
I'm in the position of the one to bring the word to be sure that it's done on my knees as a servant. Garments laid aside, towel provided for, and the base is full of water.
Yes, we see how that in the their expressions that emphasize the mutuality of these things says here that you should wash one another's feet, not merely to wash the feet of another one, but one another. And that verse, it was referred to in Romans, able to admonish one another. It's not merely able to admonish others, but be able to admonish one another. There's a feeling of mutuality.
00:45:21
That could exist among the Saints with a desire to help one another in our seeking to go on together in the truth, the thought of mutuality. I believe not only the washing the feet of another are admonishing another, but in that spirit of admonishing one another and the washing of the feet of one another.
There are some people who take this literally, and I think it should just call attention to that verse. It's already been mentioned, that seventh verse. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Life was just literal meat washing. Well there was number problem. Peter quite understood what it meant to take a basin of water and literally wash a persons feet. But for him to understand the spiritual significance of it was another thing. And the Lord said he would understand that later. And I believe if we could say humbly that that is what we are seeking to get is the spiritual meaning of it. For that's what the.
Had before him and what he was doing Undoubtedly as it was mentioned, the sister might literally wash another feet when they came to her home in the way of hospitality. But here the Lord goes into it to show that it's more than that. It's a spiritual thing that he is bringing before him before Peter's. I was also thinking how when Peter made this reply.
Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. I thought of how.
Many there are who profess to know the Lord and think that if they fail they have to get saved all over again. And really, in that sense Peter was talking as if why the one washing was not sufficient to cleanse him once for all. He had to have that repeated. Isn't it lovely to see that that never has to be repeated by one offering us perfected forever them that are sanctified?
The believers standing before God is always perfect because it's in Christ. We are made the righteousness of God in Him.
Now that standing is unchanged, and so the thought of having to be washed all over again, the Lord shows that that is not necessary. And so let us see clearly that no matter what failure has come in as a believer, if a true believer ever and always stands in perfect acceptance before God, but he may be out of fellowship with God and out of fellowship with the Lord Jesus, and that needs to be restored.
By the feet watching, I wondered myself if Peter really entered into what the Lord was bringing before him. It was true he wanted to have part with the Lord, but there still seems to be a measure of self-confidence. As though in this case too he would place himself a little above the rest and say why I wouldn't mind being washed all over. And we see by what comes in the end of the chapter.
That that self-confidence in Peter had to be dealt with and we can take a superior position of feeling we are better in a more spiritual, more willing and all and others. And the Lord has to let us see how very, very weak we are in ourselves. And so while it is important and necessary as it's been brought before us to allow our feet to be washed, let us always take the humble place.
And.
Realize what the Lord did to restore Peter was to say.
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? More than these? He had taken the place of having more affection for the Lord, and even here it seems, is saying about why he would be glad to have even his hands and his I mean his hands and his head washed too, and then saying he wouldn't deny the Lord.
How slow we are to learn that we are nothing. The flesh profiteth nothing.
So that let us ever be humble before the Lord and realize that the only place of blessing for us is to realize that we are nothing, and the Christ alone is the one to be exalted.
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In connection with that, verse seven also rather like to make one a comment. We find that that which exists exist around us today.
In Christendom seems to take on the character of evolution, that is a religion of evolution. It seems as though the doctrines of some of these denominations change with the current of the day, with with the popular demand, we might say. And so there are those that do practice.
Foot washing as a literal thing.
But in looking into the history of this, we find that the the beginning of the foot washing in their in their doctrinal position was to wash away the sins that were committed since the last time that you had your feet washed. And it was also that which was preparatory to the remembrance of the Lord, so-called.
But today they've changed that and they have many strong argument as to their position.
But I believe it's so important to understand the beginning, oftentimes of where these things began.
Because God requires that which is passed, and to see as we have here, what it is that the Spirit of God.
Is actually bringing before us that is that spiritual application as we have been Speaking of it here at these meetings, a one to one basis. But are we not right at the present moment getting our feet washed as we hear one and another give a little word and explanation and that's those things that would apply to ourselves?
And have been brought out. Peter had to accept this. We have to accept what we hear, whether it's an individual speaking to us as another individual.
Whether it's one on the platform, whether it's someone exhorting us in a reading. And I recall some years ago that a reading, it was not an assembly reading, but after I recalled speaking to another brother who had been there and some remarks had been made during that reading, that seemed to apply to myself.
And I remarked this to the other brother, he said, oh, I thought that was meant for me.
Well, it's good if we can apply the truth to ourselves, isn't it?
Washing may not rather be the defilement may not be something that we detect ourselves. There are things because we are in association with this world, we are surrounded by it. We become defiled and then someone speaks in a reading, a word is passed, perhaps individually.
But that word is just what we needed to cleanse that he promised we didn't know we had. But it's it's a collective thing, isn't it? As well as by individuals as it appears that the as we the figure here is of.
Those who have been.
Bathed their clean every fit that is only computers.
He makes the exception there. They were not all clean, because Judith of course, had not been born again, and he did not have that new moral nature, but the others did, and as possessing that they were entirely clean, but.
The figure is that one having faith in the course of his walking.
On the ground, on the earth, his feet with compact the earth, and the result be would be that they would become soiled.
And so then the feet only needed to be washed. And this is what I had referenced to a few moments ago. And I believe that we, we need to see that we all need this foot washing. It doesn't just apply to someone who has gone astray.
We all need it, because when they come in contact with this world, even in the necessary things of life, we come into contact with that which has the stamp of death upon it and that which is contrary to God. One cannot in his work, in his business, his employment, wherever he is, failed to come into contact with that which is defiling and which is not according to God.
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And if we are not being cleansed by the Word, these things will attach to us and they'll become a part of our thoughts and our motives and our desires. And This is why it's necessary, this foot washing regularly and in various ways as it's been brought before us. It could be, I believe the Lord can wash our feet on our own as we read the Word in His presence.
The washing of water by the word. It may be that he might use another Christian.
Another brother or even a sister, and it may be as our brother Thomas mentioned in ministry for the reading of the word. But there are various ways. But we all need it, and we all need it regularly, that our feet might be continually cleansed, because we do come into contact with this world where there is defilement on every hand, the very scene itself as the staff of death upon it, and it defiles us as we pass through it.
Well, of course, with the Lord Jesus, there's no thought at all in connection with the application we're making here. The Lord Jesus could go through this perfect, this defiling scene and remain perfect, undefiled by anything. So I take it in connection with the woman that it was just simply the humility that here she was the center of the city.
One who in true repentance, was taking her place before the Lord Jesus.
And his feet would show the humble place, the place of blessing for the Sinner, or the place of blessing for the same is always at the feet of the Lord Jesus. And so it was her tears, her true repentance. And then of course she anointed the Lords feet. But I wouldn't in any way connected with the thought here that we have a washing.
I would take it that the other was just her place of repentance before the Lord Jesus.
In fact, I believe it's well for us to see that as the Lord walked through this defiling scene. And yet He was always perfectly clean because there was nothing within the Lord Jesus that responded to all the defilements about Him.
With us, there is something that responds. However, I would say that there's no excuse for us to contact, to pick up the defilement along the way. There is provision for it. That's why it says in first John Chapter 2 if any man said.
And so we find that there was provision made in the 19th chapter of Numbers. Here was death and a tent about the vessel that had the covering bound upon it was preserved clean in spite of the fact that death was there. And so we are going through this world, we're surrounded by death. There can be that covering bound upon us, so to speak, so that.
It's possible for a young person to go and work in an office.
And still, if the covering is bound upon him to maintain his soul in communion with the Lord, in actual fact, we all offend. But in the provision that God has made, now there is sufficient provision so that we might be preserved. The thing is, we don't always avail ourselves of it. I believe someone asked Mr. Darby the question one time, Is it possible for a Christian to live?
Sins. And his answer was, I don't know of anything stronger than the grace of God.
Or anything weaker than the flesh. So that provision has been made.
Let us never excuse ourselves for picking up the defilements. For myself, I have enjoyed that little thought in the Song of Solomon where the bridegroom looks at the bride and says how, how, how beautiful are thy feet with shoes, all Princess, daughter. And I thought of how I can walk through the most.
Defiling mud pile and not have my feet defiled if I have shoes on.
And God has provided for us so that we can go through a defiling scene like this and be preserved happily. He has provided that when we do get the files that there is provision and that is what we have before us. So we're not to excuse ourselves. The grace of God is sufficient. But also where to realize how weak the flesh is.
01:00:08
And constantly we are in need of this cleansing in our pathway.
I like this thought too, that the Lord turned to the host on that occasion and said, Thou gave us me no water for my feet. The thing that would speak, if you wish, of refreshment and honor was really lacking on the part of the host on that occasion, but she provided it for him. And it's so very, very lovely to think.
Until I say that shortly, this.
Rejecting world will be pretending to honor the birth of the Lord Jesus. Does that refresh him? Does that bring him joy? Or does it not rather refresh him, bring him joy and honor when someone would bow his feet with tears?
So I just love to think that on that occasion he really found joy as that poor woman bowed and wept at his feet, that which the host had failed to give him, and in this world that pretends to honor the Lord Jesus.
How delightful is the privilege of vowing it is seated. You wish with fear that really brings him joy and refreshment and honor. Albertsons. It would be the customs to provide water and let the person wash his own feet, which would then magnify what the Lord Jesus did in watching his disciples speak. He didn't merely provide his water and say here it is, but we couldn't by reading the scripture for ourselves perhaps.
Be clear of the file. But the Lord Jesus took a lower place until and watched his decisive thinking of theaters here at his question about in the ninth verse, Peter sat unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. And the Lord Jesus answered to him. I was thinking too, that Peter.
Someone has said if he didn't have Peter's history.
We might be very discouraged, but Peter, he failed in many ways, but he was the Lord, wasn't it? And so the Lord Jesus washed his feet here. And then he leaves them. He says that they might. I've given you an example that you should do as I've done unto you. What poor Peter here couldn't do that We find following this, that.
He he had to speak from John as to.
Who it was that was to betray the Lord. And then I was thinking too, going over to the 21St chapter with references to me, to His, his being restored.
We know there was failure, and we know we fail too, but I'm thinking of of the way in which we can wash one another's feet. The only way is to be before the Lord ourselves, as the brother has been saying in Washington.
Wash hand facing with our own hands. But in the 21St of John, where the Lord Jesus there brings before Peter the need of.
Exercising his heart and conscience. There we find even here Peter says in John 21 and verse 21, Peter seeing him.
That is John.
Set to Jesus, Lord, what shall this man do? Peter still had his eye upon what another might do. Sometimes we get in that position too, don't we? We're not in in exercise before the Lord as to our own position, our own case. And so I like the answer. The Lord Jesus says in the 22nd verse, Jesus says unto him, If I will, that he carry till I come, what is?
The following I believe this is a very precious worry for us, isn't it? What is that? That he follows our needs? And then what do we find in those two lovely epistles of Peter? We find him washing the Saints feet. I think this is very blessed because we need as we are thinking of it in loop 6 where?
The Lord Jesus there continued all night in prayer.
Always in communion with the Father. And it wasn't isn't that thing for us. The secret of being able to help others and wash others feet is to be in communion with Him, having our own hands washed and our own feet washed, as Peter did here. I think this is very precious because Peter then those epistles, as has been already mentioned.
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The ministry that we get in Peter's epistles for the pathway.
It surely is that which washes our feet while we're here.
In this chapter that the primary thought does not seem to be so much.
One who has sinned where other forms of discipline might be necessary. This, however, does not mean that when other forms of discipline are necessary that the Word of God should not have a primary part.
In laboring with that person.
I remember story being told in Germany. They had a brother who had.
Gone astray and the friend on front of brothers meeting sent several brothers to that brother to labor with him, and he labored with his power without accomplishing anything so they came back and they.
At one of the leading brethren much used of God at that time and would you please go so if they felt that they had not accomplished what they were sent and hoping to do well, his brother went to this brother visited him. He didn't even sit down. He just read certain scriptures to that person.
That applied to that situation.
And then walked out. But it accomplished that his brother came to see his error. So I'm only seeking to make sure that we do not think that the word of God in more serious cases does not have to have a prominent heart in dealing with one who had gone astray. It might not be with the thought of comfort.
As much as to exercise the conscience, and we have nothing else for cleansing for our pathway but the word of God.
Well, His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness. I feel it is very, very important that we should make the Word of God our guide in all things, where we can only be sure that we have the truth when we have it in the words of Scripture. As soon as anything is put in our own words, it might slightly be changed, but in the words of the Scripture there is the truth of God.
Of Numbers 19 a little while ago, and you just spoke concerning that the word of God must be that which is.
Is used, is that not the principle that we get in Numbers 31 Concerning everything that was brought back to the camp as regard to the battle, that is, regard to the victory on the field, It had to be cleansed before it could be brought within the camp.
Is the application of the word of the application at a water purification which came from Numbers 19? I believe that would be that which would allow it to be fit to come into the presence of the Lord, and so how to apply that in every way to all things of our life.
The application of the water purification, that's the Word of God in every way. And it's so easy, is it not? Rather to bring home our trials and our troubles from work or from school, wherever we happen to be, Or to meet our husband or our loved one at the door with the troubles that confronted us through the day? How much better to meet one another with the Word of God cleansing one another and being able to enjoy then the Lord together.
It's true we need to talk to one another, but I just think of it as an application of these things.
And verse nine, I'm sorry, verse 10.
It reads there if the iron be blunt.
And he do not wet the edge, then must he put two more strength?
But wisdom is profitable to direct. This is what our brother Brinkman was referring to, I believe the principal brought out here.
And that is so often as a result of our own lack of communion. The iron is blunt.
That is, that the edge hasn't been wet in our own souls and being in God's presence. And the result is that when we go, we carry a blunt instrument. That is, we don't have the sharp edge of the Word of God-given to us by the Spirit of God, directed by wisdom to be the very word that God would use to the conscience. And the result is.
01:10:19
That the same speak for one's own soul. The natural inclination, then, is to put two more strengths.
We think if we argue longer, perhaps if we talk louder, if we if we allow the flesh to get in and act a little bit that we're going to accomplish the purpose of God. Whereas all is required is the sharp edge of the word of God and the reminder to our own soul that it's A2 edged sword through with the loss to deal with the under burning person, somebody that may calculate these.
Would be well believed with the portion of the Word of God. I much prefer a bumper sticker with a few words of scripture on it than any saying that might be ever so true. The Word of God is what the Spirit of God can use. Lord, just not live with us.
Way of doing these things I remember many years ago.
At a conference like this there was a the same chapter before us and the brother related this story and I believe it is in fit as well. There was not a word said yet there was restoration.
It was a brother.
Gradually had a strange to coming to the meeting.
It was missed first, now and then, and born more.
Things himself from his brother. There was this exercise in prayer before the Lord how to deal with this, and the brother had as much on his heart to visit his brother, and he asked the Lord to show him what he should talk to about his brother. He came in the evening.
And it was the winter time, and after the normal greetings, they sat down in the living room in front of the fireplace.
And there's stores that have a fireplace. Know what this means? When the fire falls apart, it says the coals roll aside and soon they turn black and the fire stops burning nicely, his brother having looked to the Lord.
He took the poker, another word was said and he broke these coals back together.
And soon the flame started burning again, brightly.
His host watched what was happening, and when the fame started, tone brightly says brother, I got the message.
Brethren, we keep close together with our brethren.
We all know what it is. When we get separated, things will hold.
Listen to your brother was restored without mentioning a Scripture, but it was the wisdom God gave because the one was thinking of that the Lord spoke in parallel to be understood by his listeners. And I think this was the wisdom of he had received from the Lord to just apply a little peril to his brother's conscience.
I know I never forget this, how it speaks to us. Keep closing together with your brethren. Don't think in the path of isolation.
We can have these enjoying, enjoyable times like we have here together right now.
Luke 4:1
Reading
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Some of the 1St 10 verses, but I'm sure that we need to go over a little bit of it again, so it might be well to read early in the chapter.
Luke's Gospel, Chapter 4.
And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness.
Being 40 days tempted of the devil.
And in those days, he did eat nothing.
And when they were ended, he afterward hungry.
And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone, that it be made bread.
And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.
And the devil, taking him up into a high mountain, showed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them.
For that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will, I give it.
If thou therefore will worship me, all shall be thine.
Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan, what is written? Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
And he brought him to Jerusalem and set him on a pinnacle of the temple.
And said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down from hence. For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee, and in their hands they shall bear thee uplast at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone.
And Jesus answering, said unto him, It is said, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee. And there were the theme there went out of theme of him through all the region roundabout, and he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
They came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the 7th day, and stood up for the read, and there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Isaiah.
And when he'd opened the book, he found the place where it was written. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me because he has anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the broken hearted, to preach deliverance to captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord. And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister and Saddam.
The eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.
He began to say unto them, This day, is this scripture fulfilled in your ears?
No vain witness. And wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said, Is not this Joseph's son? And he said unto them, You will surely say unto me this proverb, physician, he thyself, whatsoever we have heard done in Capernaum, do also here in thy country. And he said, Verily, I send to you no prophet.
Is accepted in his own country. But I tell you the truth, many widows were in Israel in the days of Elias.
When the heaven was shut up, three years and six months. When great famine was throughout all the land.
But until none of them was alive, sense save unto Surrepta, the city of Sidon, unto a woman that was a widow. And many lepers were in Israel in the time of Elijah's the prophet, and none of them was cleansed, saving Naman the Syrian.
And all day in the synagogue, when they heard these things were filled with wrath.
Narrows up and thrust him out of the city, and let him under the brow of the hill where on their city was built, that they might cast him down headlong.
But He passed him through the midst of them, went his way, and came down to Capernaum, the city of Galilee, and taught them on the Sabbath days. And they were astonished at His doctrine, for His word was with power. There are three forms that temptation.
00:05:14
Challenge. He doesn't take up the challenge, but the devil offers him all the kingdoms of the world. Now we bear in mind that in the second Psalm God says to the Son, Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. That is, Christ had consciously the Father's promise that in his time He would receive the Kingdom from the Father.
Now the word of God that we know, the Lord Jesus, the Word of God was his daily meditation. Now we need to be fortified with the Word of God before the temptation comes. Here the temptation comes. Christ could very well have quoted the 2nd Psalm and said, oh the day is coming when the Father is going to give me the Kingdom.
But we see that the Lord would not receive the Kingdom from Satan. He is waiting for the Father's time. So on the 17th of John he says, I pray not for the world, but for them that was given the out of the world. This is not the time for the Lord to pray for the world.
But when the 2nd Psalm is fulfilled, he will let me declare the decree. The Lord have said unto me, Thou art my son, this day ever forgotten thee. So we see the the the Lord Jesus Christ, as dependent upon the Father is waiting another day to take the Kingdom.
Three forms, then, that that the temptations take. And isn't it marvelous and wonderful that God has been pleased to give us this picture before our hearts of His own Son coming down into this condition, shall we say?
Where He can be set before us in this way to show our hearts the right path to go.
So there's no mistaking.
And we find, first of all, that.
The flesh is mentioned and we know that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit.
We get that in the 9th chapter, I mean in the second chapter of the first epistle of John I believe.
And the Father and the world opposed to one another.
And of course.
The devil himself opposed to Christ, but everything that has to do with that, which has to do with the glory of God is seen manifested through Christ. Now you will find these three same things mentioned in the 13th of Matthew. We find that.
They see good seed is sowed.
And it falls into four kinds of ground.
But three that bear no fruit.
And.
We find it falls into Stony ground. That's the flesh.
That's the natural man, his flesh.
As opposed to the Spirit of God and when a man hears the gospel.
Immediately his flesh, I will not. That's the young man that said to his father when he said go work in my vineyard. I will not.
That's the flash. But later he repented and went.
Now the Spirit has taken hold.
But then we have also.
The thorns and the thistles.
Not now the the Stony ground, but we have where the seed was sown among thorns and thistles.
Thus the cares of this world.
But the first one that's mentioned is the seed sown by the wayside, and the fowls of the air, the fowls of heaven, pick it up.
Now that's direct wickedness.
On the part of Satan, that's what we have here in connection with the.
With the.
Jerusalem and the pinnacle of the temple that's connected with the pride of life.
The pride of life.
So that.
00:10:01
We might say in a younger years one is more or less affected by.
The simple things.
Bread, all that that suggests to us the lusts of the flesh, or put it this way, the desires of the flesh.
The same meaning, I believe.
But then we get a little older. Perhaps our thoughts are not quite along the same lines.
And the world comes in.
It's not so much in ourselves, but it's now going out and laying hold of what's around us, becoming objects for us. It's the sunny South as we put it, as we see it, another place of scripture.
It's the pleasant land. It's the things that outwardly attract us.
But oftentimes, you know how we need to be guarded, especially some of us who are older, how these Scriptures should lay hold of our hearts because it's here the enemy brings out the pride of life, the danger of going too far, the danger of allowing the enemy to make a suggestion to us to go beyond Scripture.
To go beyond the spirit of Scripture, because in the 4th chapter of the first Epistle of John.
Try the spirits. That's for the last days. Try the spirits.
Oh, how dangerous when the Spirit begins in the wrong path and then the whole being is ruined. So we have these three particular temptations now, the Lord Jesus Himself.
Could not be touched by any of these and the right reading here at the end is.
And when he had ended every temptation. This chapter gives us the whole complete outline of all temptations. I'm Speaking of the outward ones. The Lord knew nothing about what would go on inside of one who had sinned, because he never sinned, but the outward temptations when He had ended.
All Temptations is the real reading.
Another thing just to mention here, the Lord does not say I believe in the original, we do not find Get thee behind me Satan. We get that in the 16th chapter of Matthew.
There Peter was being used as a tool of Satan, and so he says to Peter to get back behind me, Satan, you don't relish the things of God, because the Lord is going to the cross that it was only through the cross.
You and I would ever have blessings. Peter didn't understand that. But here it's not just the behind me Satan, because the Lord never asked Satan to get behind him.
No get get the hence Satan is rather the thought. But I don't even think we get that expression in this chapter. We do elsewhere.
Yeah, we might wonder. We might wonder.
Why?
The last part of that verse is omitted when Satan quotes it in verse 10.
For it is written, He shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee. That is omitted. Then in all thy ways comes after that that's omitted. Then he says, In their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against the stone. Why did Satan omit that? Well, I believe Satan was aware that all of the Lord's ways were ways of dependence.
Ways of pleasing God, so he leaves that out.
And I suppose this is.
Something that we have to be careful of. It's so easy for us to Passover some little portion of Scripture. That perhaps is the very thing that we need.
But the Lord couldn't be deceived. The Lord was aware of Satan's wild and subtleties. That's why it's so wonderful to have him as our Savior and to have Him as the one who cares for us and keeps us. Because He knows just exactly what Satan is going to do, what he's going to try to do to us, how He's going to tempt us.
And if we are cast upon the blessed Lord all the time, I believe it's just like we read in in first John chapter 5 where it says he that is born of God keepeth himself. We might just look at that.
00:15:15
First John, chapter 5.
Verse.
18.
We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God keepeth himself.
And that wicked one touches him not.
Well, he that's born of God.
Has a new life in nature that's altogether dependent upon God. Now, if we don't go on independence upon the Lord, if we get independent feelings, where does that come from? That comes from the old nature, the sinful self. But he that is born of God keepeth himself. That is, if we go on.
In the power of that new life that we have, and we also have the Holy Spirit who is the power of that light.
If we go on in that an independence on the Lord, as that new life wants to be and is dependent upon the Lord, the wicked one can't touch us, but how often he does touch us because we're going on an independent and pride. We're going on with these three things, the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life.
Maybe one of them more than others, but I don't suppose there's any of us that's free from any of them at any time in any measure. We must be careful.
Because we have in us that to which the things of the world can appeal.
There can appear an appeal made to the flesh, there can be an appeal made to the eyes. An appeal can be made to the pride of life in us. It's there. The seed of it is there because we still have the old sinful nature, and that's why we have to walk with the Lord in communion.
And in self judgment, reckoning ourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive to God through the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we're going on in communion with the Lord, we get strength, we get power to overcome just like the Lord. In him there was that divine power to overcome what we have that same life in US.
And we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us. And I'm afraid, beloved brethren.
To use a really common expression, we don't use the Lord like we ought to, we don't go to Him like we ought to, we don't express our dependence upon Him as we should, and we get into all kinds of difficulties. We know that their dear Saints of God getting into all kinds of scrapes and difficulties and problems today.
Why?
They're not going on with the law. They're not going on a dependence upon him.
They haven't learned to trust the Lord to sustain them in their troubles and trials. They get discouraged, They say, well, I'm going to give up. And the first thing you know, they're gone. They've left the Lord's table, they've left their brethren, they've left the law. This is going on all the time and the enemy is busy.
He wants to pull.
The dear Saints, she wants to pull us away from the Lord, away from his table.
Away from himself.
And the only way we can be kept.
Is to go on independence in the dependence of that new life. He that is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one touches him. Not if we're trusting in the Lord, dependent upon Him all the time. Satan can't touch us, but when does he touch us? He touches us when the shield of faith is down. When we're not on our guard. We need to keep up that shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Because we have that to which Satan can appeal, the flesh, the eyes, the pride of life. And we can't trust ourselves either. Trust in his own heart is a fool.
How Satan twisted this quotation. He not only left out those four important words, but he stopped short, and this is an important thing.
00:20:08
In weighing the truth, take Psalm 91 and.
Verse 11 is where Satan quotes from.
For he shall give his angels charge over thee to keep thee. Now he left out in all thy ways, because he was trying to get the Lord out of the way. But he goes on. Let's go further. They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest they thou dash thy foot against the stone. But why didn't he quote what's in verse 13?
Thou shalt thread upon the lion and Adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample on defeat. Now Satan quotes and misquotes scripture the way false teachers do. They leave our words in all thy ways he leaves out, and then they quote short. Whenever there's someone trying to bring a false doctrine to get you and me away from the truth, away from the Lord's table, or away from the truth of eternal security, what do they do?
They leave out part of Scripture. And then he stopped short in the quotation. And so we see the subtlety and divisive Satan in the very way he approached the Lord. There was another thought I'd like to express. Going back to verse six. We see how Satan works there too.
He says all this power will I give thee, and the glory of them, the glory of them, the glory of what a world that's understanding wretchedness.
All the heroes and mighty men of earth who have sought glory, what was it? The glory and rule over a world that was under the dominion of Satan and sin. Make sure there was who at what age it was. The devil doesn't say. And the glory and misery of them. The world was filled with misery.
He says the glory of them, and that's what appeals to man, and it's going to appeal. Our brother referred earlier to the beast and the Antichrist who were yet to come on the scene. Satan will offer the kingdoms of a certain area of the earth to the beast, and he'll accept them and he'll have all the glory of it, the honor that comes from it. But what will it be? A miserable, wretched human state of things. But when the Lord takes the Kingdom all at a different story it'll be.
He cleans it up before he takes it, doesn't he? Yes, yes indeed. Isaiah 66 gives us that.
Verse in John 17, the high priestly prayer of the Lord Jesus at verse 14 I have given them thy word.
And the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Now in the translation of the of verse 15 into the Anchor tongue, we've added a little word there which is in the original. I pray not that thou should take them out of the world, but that thou should keep them from the evil 1.
Evil 1.
And Mr. Scott used to say?
If you could look into that first heaven, you would see millions of demons there that broke heaven.
He used to say that and these are embassies of Satan, and I remember him taking us over to Ephesians and explaining about these powers, these.
Demon power that's manifested. He first of all mentioned that our blessings are in the heavenly place in Christ.
And five times these words do appear. Then he mentioned verse 10 of chapter 3 to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church, the manifold wisdom of God. Well, he said, who are they? And he said, these are good angels.
And then I said, well, how is the translation of that in the original, Sir?
And he said that to the intent, that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the Church than many colored wisdom of God.
That's how He put Then He turned us over to Ephesians 6, four verse 12, chapter 6, verse 12. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
00:25:06
Or heavenly places. So he said that first heaven is full of millions.
Of Satan's embassies and the remedy is given in the same chapter. Then he took us over to one thing that very touched my soul, he said the Lord Jesus.
Never sinned, could not sin. He did no sin, but he drew my attention to.
Some shadows that have crossed the pathway of the Son of God.
And have crossed the pathway, he said of every human being that ever put foot into this scene. And the first one is sorrow.
Sorrow. Well, I was wondering what he was going to say about that. Then he mentioned, think of the sorrow of this world because of the power of Satan in it, and think of the sorrow of this very City of London.
And then look at all the cities of this land and then look the cities of the world, the sorrow that's caused in all the cities of where ones heart is broken to think of the sorrow even at this section of this mighty city of Chicago.
Then he drew our attention to that verse, Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, where the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Then he went on, If you don't mind me mentioning this, because they impressed me so much. And he said, The next is Thistle.
Thistles. And he said Thistles really speak of desolation. And if you read the book of Hosea, you'll find it there.
And Thistle shall grow up upon thine altar. Everything is cursed, everything is curved, then thongs. Well, Bolivia is the land of palms. And as I mentioned yesterday, it's really according to botanist and aborted branch which never comes to maturity.
Because of the lack of water or rain and excessive heat of the sun therefore turns into a thorn, and you never saw thorns like the Bolivian thorns. Then he mentioned the thorns that they pressed upon the brow of that blessed Son of God.
And the tears came down his old face and his white beard. I'll never forget, as he mentioned that the thorns that were squeezed on the brow of the Son of God. Then he went on to speak of Swift.
Sweat, he said, speaks of restlessness. Restlessness. Was it possible for the Lord to have restlessness?
Father, if thou wilt remove this cup from me, nevertheless, if thou will, but as as I will, but as thou will.
He thought of you and he thought of me at that moment. He thought of this dreadful, ruined.
Creation through Satanic intervention of sin, Nick.
And dust.
The dust, he mentioned.
Dust. Cheapest thing in the world Dust. But we do read that thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
And there's gone into death. He has beloved and and brought forth life and incorruptibility. I like that word better. We put it into the Inca tongue and incorruptibility to light through the gospel.
Make this a bit shorter, he said. These are the things that have crossed the pathway of the eternal sound of the living God.
And what then? I can hear his voice. He's born them all. He's born them all for the same. He's born them all.
What a Savior we have. And so when we turn back to Luke, Paul, there you have that precious Savior, that blessed man.
Bearing it all. It is written. It is written. It is written, it is written. What a wonderful portion this is. It really humbles us, doesn't it?
00:30:15
Also encourages us two brothers, doesn't it?
I thought true that it was perhaps a little lesson to us to see the blessed Lord Jesus having presented to him all the kingdoms of the world.
And the glory of them. None of us will face anything of this kind, but perhaps we might face just a little corner of this world dust, a little corner of its glory. And we find it quite a test, quite a temptation. But you know, if it's all right to picture the Lord Jesus on that exceeding high mountain, having presented to him all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and you suddenly say to yourself, but from.
He come from the very glory of God's own presence, all to one who had from all eternity dwelt in that glory. To stand on that high mountain and look at all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. How must it have appeared in His eyes?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
And all my beloved bread and I speak to my own heart, and perhaps it may speak to yours too. As we pass through this poor corrupt world, so soon to be judged, Satan tries to do the same to you and me. He tries to put before our eyes, before our hearts, a little little corner of this world, something of its glory. Do we find it rather hard to turn from it? Do we find it quite a test to us? It wouldn't be such a test if we had our eyes fixed.
Wonders glory. Oh, when I see the blessed Son of God standing there and realize from whence he had come. And then I realized that's my home too. That's where I belong. Oh, how everything else would fade away in a moment.
And then I was thinking too, as I heard rather frequent mention of the omitted words In all thy way. Satan purposely omitted them to keep me in all my ways. Every time we say those words, somehow we think of Proverbs 3. And if you and I want to be kept, we do well to remember the significance of those very words, as they present a challenge to us.
In all my ways.
And he shall direct thypans, even thy want to have our paths directed in a way that would be for the glory of God, for our happiness and blessing along the way. All that. No one for one moment think that God has presented to us a restricting pathway in which we're going to be deprived of this or that. Indeed, it's nothing of the kind.
It's a pathway filled with the richest blessing of the Lord, and the end of it will be by the grace of God, we do acknowledge Him in all our ways and abundant entrance.
And a full reward. So those little words which you were omitted here purposely by Satan, and miss quitting or short quoting the word of God, are so applicable, should be so applicable to every one of us In all thy ways. Acknowledge Him, and He shall direct my path back in the Old Testament.
There is a very lovely chapter which we're all acquainted with, which brings me for us in a picture the truth. Much of what we have here I refer to.
David and Goliath. And you remember that scene there so well now, that David was just a stripling, a ready youth, and this giant, a man of age and a giant. Oh, the picture is that giant, the enemy of our souls, Satan. And the David, of course, is the Lord.
And he goes, David goes with that sling and the pouch full of five stones, a picture no doubt of the five books of Moses. And as has already been said here, David used one stone, the Lord Jesus used one book and the giant bell.
00:35:00
Let's read in Luke Chapter 11.
Her brother referred to Matthew 12 about the blinding. Here. It's put a little different in Luke.
But it brings the whole story out.
In Luke 1121.
When a strong man armed well, there's Satan, keepeth his palace, that's this world, the glory of them. He talks about that, but oh, there's a lot of misery too. But the glory attracts the flesh.
This goods are in peace, but when I'm stronger than he shall come upon him and overcome them. Here's the Lord Jesus, that's the 4th of Luke. He came upon the strongman, he overcame him with the word of God. That's the giant fell by the stone. But you remember David ran up to that giant, and he took his own sword.
He cut off his head. Now let's read on in the verse here.
He taketh from him all his armor. For him he trusted and divided his spoils. Let's go to Hebrews 2.
Verse 14.
For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he didn't take on him the seed of Abraham of angels. He kept on him the seed of Abraham. He also himself likewise took part of the same. And that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death. That is the devil.
And deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. For verily He took not on him the nature of angels, but he took on him the seed of Abraham. He passed angels by, He came to us four sinners. He went to meet the giant, He met Satan, He overcame him.
He went on to the cross in our chapter. We're coming to the verse. Let's notice.
In our chapter.
Four and verse 13.
And when the devil had ended all the temptations, he departed from him for the little season. Oh, he returned.
I believe in the garden.
But the Lord Jesus said there the cup which my Father had given me, shall I not drink it?
He took even that cup from the Father. Satan, I believe, pressed it upon him.
No, he wouldn't say no. He went right down into death. He took that which was the power of the enemy, and he robbed death of its sting, as our brother just quoted, and brought light and incorruptibility to light through the gospel. Well, this is the great picture, and we shared his victory over putting the same position as he is.
So are we in this world?
James chapter one.
Where we have temptations mentioned in verse 2.
Of chapter one, my brethren, founded all joy when he falls into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience, but that patients have a perfect work.
That he may be perfect and entire, watching nothing. Also in verse 12, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation. For when he's tried, he shall receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to them. They lock him. Let no man say, when he attempted, I'm tempted of God.
For God cannot be tempted in evil, neither template any man.
But every man is tempted when he is blown away of his own lust and entities, then when lust has conceived and bringeth forth sin, and then when it is finished, bring it forth there. I'm reading these verses because it's wonderful to see how perfectly the Lord Jesus went through the temptation.
We face the same but to me it almost sounds strange but the of course ball too much scripture says to consider it a joy to be tempted and.
00:40:11
It seems to be that there is a difference even here in the temptation mentioned in verse two and the temptations mentioned later on in this chapter. One has called the temptations in verse 2 The holy temptation connected with our faith, with the enemy, seeks to overthrow but.
Mini is there in us which was not in our Lord.
The sin, the flesh, and.
The apostle says blessed is the man that endures temptation, and so we can learn from the Lord Jesus in the way he met temptation and especially when it comes to matters of faith. And there are those things where Satan seeks to tempt us, not necessarily using the flesh.
But undermining our faith.
Or others might be able to explain that a little better, but doesn't just fit in here beautifully to encourage us to not when we are tempted, when we are facing difficulties, not to be depressed and but really be thankful because he will not only insert his temptations, but also help us.
To go through them for His glory.
Let us see, as you point out, there are two kinds of temptation. Or maybe we better get hold of that. Well, because in the second verse, these temptations are going to be connected with joy.
But in the 12Th verse there are the temptation is connected with endurance. That would be the trial, and why should we have to endure it if the enemy presents a temptation? I claim the truth of Romans. 6I reckon myself to be dead indeed unto sin.
But alive unto God through Jesus Christ. We have the power by being dead to sin, to refuse it, not to endure it. But suppose you get hit with one trial after another, sickness, the loss of property or one thing or another. Why the danger is to break down. James says It's blessed that you endure that temptation, endure that trial. I think it's good to get hold of the difference between being tempted, as you say, by faith.
In one place, tempted by trial and tempted by evil 3 two different things. You get it in first, John. There's the lust of the flesh in you. That's very prevalent, of course, lust of the flesh in you. And there's the lust of the eye in middle age. This is also a very strong temptation, beloved. And then.
Latterly, last of all is the pride of life.
Which effects we old folks. So we need your prayer. How many of God's their people have gone on well and have used been used to the law and they've forgotten their nothingness and have boasted in their what they have done and they have become as useless vessels?
The pride of life. This is a very, very grave thing, brethren, and each day.
God has blessed my little servants of 58 years. In the real way it is true, but.
Brethren, let us ever remember that we are nothing.
And as Mr. Darby said, and I read it as a young man after I was laid out of sectarianism, men called of God into His service go forth from a place of strength.
Realizing their own nothing.
All that impressed me. I said, Lord Jesus, may I be just that, just that. So we have the pride, the lust of the flesh in you, how strong it seems to be today, and the lust of the eye.
You know the Indian I brought from South America below?
He made failure because he wanted to live like the American people. He wants to possess beautiful homes. He'd been used to a very humble home. He was a humble man. He was useful and he wanted to bring his three children home to this country to be college collegiate.
00:45:07
And he had a he had even a diplomatic passport to do it.
The justice gave it to him because of his testimony. You know the justice had him in his own home to give his testimony in the gospel. Think of it, the justice.
He thought so much of poor Francisco, but what happened?
Is lust of the eye. He wanted to be something he wanted to acquire something. Now this is very common Raven in us, but the pride of life. Well, I wrote the ducks a little note saying justice. Please cancel that.
Passport of Francisco here. Please cancel it. And it was cancelled to this day.
Well, he did send his boys to school. Some of them have graduated. Once an engineer, another accountant. I don't know what the other does. I think he's a mechanical man.
But all what happened, he was a lost dynamic from that very moment because it was the love of money.
He saved money to come to this country and live like the American people.
And I warned him so often.
That he didn't listen.
That God put him on his back for three years until he said yes. Yes, he's a lost dynamic still, but he's in fellowship.
Brethren tell me he's in fellowship still, but for a long time he was away.
One of the first of the boys to be saved, not the first. One of the first to be saved is now 72, more or less.
He's a lost dynamic.
Well, may we be very careful.
Oh, do pray for this old Jacob. That's all I am. Beloved, God has been pleased to use of nothing.
He has.
For which I read the month painted. Thanks.
But there are places that in the dust, if we're ever going to be any good for God, we have to be on with on the peanuts, with our faces in the dust called God, we are nothing.
Well, it says, it says concerning Jacob speaks of Jacob, but it does add the Lord of hosts with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. If it had been Abraham, poor Smith would have been a mess in a mess, but it's the God of Jacob is our refuge.
The God of Jacob is our refuge isn't that sweet danger of the pride of life and old age It makes us think about dear JG ballot was exercised about we.
I'm sure we have some of his writings over here. He's one of the.
Teachers among the gathered Saints.
More than 100 years ago and his younger days, he he felt the Lord would leave him here to old age.
He won't hear you. His great concern was that he would not dishonor the Lord, And when he reached old age.
Now that's a word for the young. He was exercised about that, not when he got old, but when he was young. And the law did leave him here to be old, and he didn't get off the path either. The two expressions, you know that that isn't the same. I don't know Greek and I confess that, but that one of them is a solicitation to do evil that comes from the flesh, and then the other, of course, is as a trial.
In order that that which God allows, in order to bring out in the soul that which is of God.
And you take also there are other places in Scripture. It just reminded one that sometimes in our English language, we only have perhaps one word there, which in the Greek there are different words. For example, remember when the Lord restores Peter at the end of the Gospel of John, Lovest thou me? And there's what the two words?
AGAPAO&PHILEO in Greek, and they're they're, they're just translated the same way.
In our English language, but if you saw the Greek, you would see what the Lord, you know, was really saying to Peter about love is found me with a deep love and Peter he had been chastened in spirit and I liked the Lord. You know he wouldn't he wouldn't go so far as to Oh no, Oh Lord, I love thee with that deep love. He had had self-confidence once before. So there's a a a lesson in the usage of these words. God allowed the Greek language to be at that time.
00:50:25
Precise meanings you take in the Gospel of Matthew and the 20th chapter, where the householder goes out and employs those various ones at the several hours to do his work. And then finally he says this word, Friend, I did thee no wrong. I bargained with thee for a penny. And this is what I gave you, friends. And then there's a man who comes into the.
Wedding without a wedding garment on. And the Lord says to him.
Friends in the same gospel the Lord says to Judas, friend in the Greek they're all the same word and they mean acquaintance. That's all just acquaintance, far different than when the Lord says in John 15, ye are my friends. It's another word altogether which implies intimacy of relationship. And so how, how marvelous are are these words you know and.
Wanted to say, is this lead up to we have in our hands the King James translation, the authorized version and it is good, it's fine. And I, I trust that by the grace of God will continue to use it. And then we have Mr. Darby's translation of the scriptures that we can use to get these fine shades of distinction, distinction. And I believe, dear ones, that's all we need.
That's all we need. A brother right here has said that the devil is in the Bible business.
And many of these translations, and I trust by the grace of God, if you've got them on your shelves, if you're just using them for reference work to show where the air is, that's one thing. But if you're using them for reading, burn them. Just like our brother said the other day, burn them. They're wicked. They're transliterations being pawned off on the public as the word of God and setting the ground, as it were, for just doing away with the word of God, I say.
And I insist we have sufficient in this book we have before us together with with shades of distinction with Mr. Darbys translation and one other thing before done in verse eight of our chapter. Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve. I know it's repeating things, dear ones, but I don't know about you. But I'm a leaky vessel and I have to have things repeated in order.
Really get them in the in the mind. How often have we seen these two things together in the Word of God? Worship 1St and then service. Earlier in this Gospel of Luke we have Anna and she was there in the temple and she was offering up prayers. Then she went out and spoke to all of those that look for redemption in Israel.
First, there was the holy priesthood.
Going up to God. Then there was the royal priesthood, that which goes out to man.
And in acts, we have heard it before, but again, an act when they are thrown into that prison.
They are exercising the holy priesthood and they are singing praises unto God, but also their faithfulness. There's the royal priesthood and others are being told of the way of salvation. Oh dear ones, and christened them again. What is it? Get somebody saved and immediately get them ready for the mission field. Get on the wall filled with service and we believe there's a place for service.
But service, in order to be effectual for God, should always flow out of communion.
Worship be first and service later. Here we have Jesus before us again.
And we had one who was passed through the.
The testings.
And he's coming now in the power of the Spirit.
Into Galilee.
And then we find that he goes into the synagogue being glorified all of all, and we find that he had a custom.
He came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and stood up for it to read.
00:55:08
Now I know that we're on Jewish ground and away here a transition period, but may I just say that we are all creatures of habit?
Now what is our custom?
Have we very fixed, definite habitats in the things of God? Do we read the word of God? Do we pray?
Someone made a remark the other day.
In speaking to a relative.
In connection with something that has taken place in their life, a young man.
He said I prayed. He said. I haven't been praying for a long time, but I prayed.
And things went well with him.
Now, how much better it would have gone with him if he had continued praying instead of neglecting it. It hadn't been his custom.
Here we have a custom.
And we find in another place.
Of the Lord Jesus, that he increased in wisdom and stature.
In favor with God and man. Now it's the man Christ Jesus that this gospel speaks of.
A man, God as he is, but as a man down here among men, he has a custom, a practice that he follows. It's a good one. And also.
We find the development and it was in favor with God and man God first.
Now it wasn't until the Lord Jesus touched the consciences of men that he lost that favor with them.
It wasn't until he began to speak, as we see a little later in this chapter.
Of that which would raise the national feeling of Israel, who now are in captivity to the Romans and give them to feel this captivity. It wasn't until then.
Turn against him, but they wonder at his gracious words.
And we find that until the conscience of man is reached and he's seen in his true life, why you can get along pretty well with most anyone. But the moment you apply Christian truth, that's the truth of Christ dying for the Sinner and the truth of man's moral degradation and sin, the moment you bring in those subjects, you're going to find out that you won't have many friends in this world.
That right brother, when I see this as the customs spoken out here and reminded that twice in chapter two, such customs are spoken of in connection with his beloved mother and Joseph. And I think it's very, very interesting to think that even though he was of course the perfect son of God, yet there was in his very early infancy and childhood that.
His parents go to the synagogue, according to the custom of the law. They take their dear son with them. And I thank God for the memory, if you wish, of such customs when I was a child, to have our earliest memories associated with that which to me at the time was only accustomed.
But I thank God for that custom that prayer meeting night was prayer meeting night. Bible reading night was Bible reading night.
It was a pattern of home and family life, though, though I say again, it was only accustomed when I was a child. I thank God for the custom, and when I see it here in this chapter, I'm reminded that it's twice mentioned in the second chapter during the childhood and youth of the Lord Jesus Himself, as we were coming to the conference here.
We were going through.
Iowa and Illinois.
Passing along the highway and there were many cornfields.
On either side of the road.
And most of those cornfields were delightful to look at, the stocks all grown up luscious and green and beginning to set ears. And we were talking about that, how nice they looked, how wonderful it was, What a wonderful thing to look upon, part of God's creation. But we were also talking about.
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What we might call a custom in connection with those cornfields.
Having been a farmer born raised on the farm, I know something about what is needed to raise corn.
And there are certain customs we go through, there are certain habits we follow. Well, there are certain natural regulations or rules perhaps that we have to follow.
First of all, the soil has to be plowed up and properly prepared.
And then in these days especially, fertilizer is applied, that which nourishes the plant.
And then there has to be caretaking, too, that the weeds are removed from that cornfield. Now the farmer might say, well, this is a lot of bother and this is a wearisome thing. I'm going to just forget about this custom, these natural rules. What's going to be the result?
Well, the cornfield is not going to look very good.
If the fertilizer isn't applied, you look stunted. If the leaves are weeds are allowed to grow. They'll SAP all the strength and you won't see a nice looking cornfield. The corn won't grow.
Now, what is the farmer interested in? He's interested in seeing that corn grow and produce corn.
What are we interested in as Christians? Are we interested in what Peter speaks of, grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ?
Are we interested in what we know the Lord would have us do? Produce fruit for Him for His glory? We know all of this.
Yes, we are interested in those things and growing and grace and knowledge and producing fruit for the Lord's honor and glory, but we have to remember that there are certain customs and habits we must follow.
And I don't know of any better custom to have than to read the word of God and meditate upon it, and to spend time in prayer. And in judging ourselves and judging ourselves, we get rid of the weeds.
And reading the word of God, and in keeping in tune with the Lord in prayer, we are feeding our souls.
There's going to be fruit.
Are we going to give up the custom well?
This young man that hadn't prayed had given up the custom of prey.
He was losing out in his soul and the Lord was losing out, and the Lord misses that fruit.
Oh, how it must delight the Lord to look upon a company of Christians and see them growing, like we looked upon that field of corn with pleasure and saw it growing. Let's think about the large side of it. Does he appreciate it? Does it bring joy to him? I'm sure it does. And we can be defective and deficient.
If we're not following this custom of reading the word, meditating upon it, getting it into our souls, praying, talking to the Lord.
We'll miss just what the Lord wants us to have and be for him might read from the second verse. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God let thee these 40 years in the wilderness.
We're at the time of testing for Israel 40 years.
And I suggest that the Lord Jesus had his time to prove himself, so that all might see who is God's Son, who is the one called out of Egypt, I mean the true one. It says here to humble thee.
And to prove thee to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know that he might make thee know that man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord, thoth man live.
And then you could read more verses.
Which the Lord brings before Israel. And how did Israel come out at the end of God? Recalling all these things to them? Did they come out pretty good?
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They failed on every point.
Don't we see the rider of the same gospel that we're reading in in Acts, quoting what Stephen spoke of? What was their actual 40 year pathway? They were given up through their gods, their rampant and Mullah, whom they served in 40 years.
But here's a man, he is my son, called out of no wonder. But our brethren, whether we do not see that man enter in the service of God, being called out of Ethiopia. He has his forty teams, He has that approval of God here when he was all approved. And I wonder if in that connection he does not go to the synagogue as was his customs.
He continued to be what Israel should have been. He went to the synagogue.
What did he do there? I brought the greatest sauce, the hottest man there. The first thing to read about taking up that book of Isaiah was he the one that in place of Israel, approved himself where Israel couldn't. Now he was following in that pathway. He brought truth to God as a faithful Israelite now just as it's you, but as a faithful Israel.
They continued in that service in the way that was pleading to God. All seems so lovely to my own heart to see the Lord Jesus being approved in every way that He appeared to us.
Enjoyed the thought last Saturday brought out that in Luke, more than in any other gospel we have the Lord Jesus presented the fulfillment of the type of the Old Testament, the Israel aspect of the Messiah, the keeping with the whole ministry of the Lord Jesus here.
Particularly in Luke, that is, he stopped short of judgment as he quotes Isaiah.
Our blessed Savior came down.
And does not take up the subject of judgment. Now he refers to judgment.
But even when the young man came and said, Master, will you tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me?
Who made me a judge or a divider over you? The Lord Jesus came in lowly grace with truth, but grace. He leaves judgment for another day. Judgment's coming, but he stopped short in that verse in Isaiah, and He brings out all that has to do as far as could be revealed at the time of what was in the heart of God.
For the blessing of man the Lord Jesus came, and not only lowly grace, but he came in love command.
And he came to manifest that love which is in the heart of God for everyone who is in this room this afternoon.
And I wouldn't be a bit surprised if there were those in this room this afternoon who do not yet know the love of God, who do not yet know their sins are all forgiven.
Well, the Lord Jesus came to manifest that love, and here in this first appearance shall be saved.
Of the manifestation of this aspect of things.
Where he's about to be rejected.
Actually in the 9th chapter. But he is about to be rejected. He is about to be set aside as a Messiah.
He's already introducing that greater, that larger sphere of things when he speaks of name and the Syrian and the woman of Sarepta. Now those are the two ministries of the Lord Jesus. One has to do with the earthly ministry.
And the other has to do with the heavenly ministry through the Apostle Paul, but they're introduced in this chapter and at the time when he stands up.
On this occasion.
And so that men will know that there's going to be a tremendous change.
When the Kingdom of God is introduced to see that expression here where he had been brought up.
It's a note, shall we say, of human interest when the Lord came down from the Mount of Transfiguration.
And heal that lunatic son. Only Luke says he restarted to his father. Neither Matthew nor Mark say that because we have the human side of things. The One would just make this statement too. We have Nazareth mentioned. I believe there are four cities that have connection with the Blessed Lord's pathway in Bethlehem. He's born of the seed of David.
That's the city of his birth. Nazareth is where he was brought up. He went down to Nazareth and was subject unto them.
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He went out on his ministry. He went and dwelt in Caponia. But what about Jerusalem? Oh, we see two things about that. It was the city of his rejection, the city of his death. And yet there's a day coming when that will be the city of his power. Bethlehem is the city of David. Jerusalem is the city of David. One is the city of his birth, the other is the city of his power. And so there's a day coming when the glory of the Lord.
Who entered Nazareth as a man here and loneliness. He's going to display his power.
The True Fruitbearing Vine
Address—C.E. Lunden
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We turn to the 15th chapter of John John's Gospel.
I am the true vine and my father is the husband then.
Every branch in me.
That beareth not fruit or not bearing fruit. He taketh away every branch bearing fruit. He purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit. Now you're clean through the word which I have spoken unto you. Abide in me, and I in you, as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself.
Except to abide in the vine, no more can ye except she abide in the vine.
Abide in me, I am the vine, ye are the branches. He that abideth in me, and I in him the same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
If you abide in me and my words abide in you.
You shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
Herein is my Father glorified that you bear much fruit, so shall ye be my disciples.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you. Continue or abide ye in My love. If you keep My commandments, you shall abide in My love, even as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
Here my friends, if you do or practice whatsoever I command you.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I've called you friends, for all things that I've heard of. My father I have made known unto you. You have not chosen me, but I've chosen you, and ordained you that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain.
That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father, in my name, he may giveth you.
These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
If he were of the world, the world would love his own. But because you're not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his Lord.
If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they have kept my sayings, they will keep yours also.
But all these things will they do unto you for my namesake, because they know not him that sent me. If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for their sin.
He that hateth me, hateth my father also, if I had not done among them the works which none other man did.
They had not had sin, but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me.
And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning, if you'll turn with me to Isaiah the chapter 5, Isaiah chapter 5, and.
Starting with the first verse, now will I sing to my well beloved a song of my beloved touching his vineyard, my beloved at the vineyard in a very fruitful hill.
And he fenced it, and gathered out the stones thereof, and planted it with the choicest vine, and build a tower in the midst of it. Also made a wine press therein. And he looked that it should bring forth grapes, and it brought forth wild grapes. And now inhabitant of Jerusalem and men of Judah, Judge, I pray you betwixt me in my vineyard, what could have been done more to my vineyard than I have not done in it?
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Wherefore when I looked that it should bear forth grapes.
Brought it forth wild grapes, and now go to I will tell you what I will do to my vineyard.
I will take away the heads thereof. It shall be eaten up.
And breakdown the wall thereof, and it should be trodden down.
And I will lay it waste. It shall not be pruned nor digged, but there shall come up briars and thorns. I will also command the clouds that they rain. No rain upon it. For the vineyard of the Lord of hosts is the House of Israel.
And the men of Judah, his pleasant plant, And he looked for judgment, and behold oppression, for righteousness, behold a cry.
Now in this passage we've read in Isaiah.
We have a vineyard.
That vineyard was the House of Israel, and it bore nothing but wild grapes.
It had every advantage. It had culture, it had care. It was enclosed.
And everything was there except one thing. It didn't have a nature that could bear good fruit.
But beside that, everything that was connected with it was fear.
Because this vineyard was under law.
So that this do, and thou shalt live.
But now in our chapter, we have an entirely different line of things.
We have a vine.
And it's spoken of as the true vine. The first one could not have been.
It was there by profession, but it was not a true Vine.
But we have something connected with this vine in our chapter which is just contrary to the other, and the other was law and fear connected with it.
But as we've noticed in the previous chapters, we have something introduced that was not known in the Old Testament in this way.
And that's love.
Now, if you'll turn with me to one more verse before we speak of the chapter, and that's in the Epistle of John.
This 4th chapter of the First Epistle of John and the 18 first.
There is No Fear in love.
But perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment.
He that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him. That's God, because he first loved us. Now this is what's connected with what we're Speaking of tonight. I have no doubt that most Christians.
I'm not saying most in this room, but I'm saying most Christians worldwide do not realize that they're in a position.
Where perfect love has cast out all fear.
Because fear has torment. As long as you and I expect something from this first man, there will always be fear because the 1St man cannot produce.
But what we have in our chapter tonight is the true vine that bears fruit.
And the branches that abide in him bear fruit.
But it's on the new principle of love.
And it's love that has drawn the believer to Christ, who is the true vine now as long as you and I have, hiding within our bosom something that makes us fear, that cannot be much fruit.
Because we haven't yet seen ourselves as completely dead and raised again in Christ.
We've been raised with the new life that there's No Fear attached to it whatsoever.
The judgment.
Is gone as far as the believer is concerned. It's true all of our works will pass in review for reward. But fear?
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Has no place in the new order.
If it's there, it's because we have salvage it from the old order.
Man in the flesh.
And you'll notice in.
The third verse of our chapter. Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
Ye are clean.
I know some are older ones here may think that this is being overemphasized.
But.
These natural hearts of ours have allowed to act, will always revert to expect something from the flesh.
And immediately there is fear introduced.
We can't go on in perfect liberty in our souls as long as we're expecting something from self.
The emphasis in this chapter is abiding in the vine.
There can be no nourishment flow out to bear fruit unless we abide in the vine.
And we are told that the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, and that that settles it once and for all.
The branch cannot bear fruit of itself.
And now this is what puts away all fear, and we know that if there's to be any fruit for God at all, it has to come by abiding in the vine.
We were noticing some of us the other day how the Lord could speak of himself, or the Prophet could speak in that way. Thou art my servant, O Israel.
Two things. The true servant was Jesus, but he had taken the place of Israel who had failed.
Before God.
We find the same with the prophets. Every prophet was used no doubt as a type, but still they failed.
And the last prophet spoken of in the Old Testament.
Speaks of.
God would send Elijah before that great and notable day of the Lord.
And he would restore the hearts of the fathers to the children, the children to their fathers.
Lest gods might fear Earth with a curse.
But Elijah is long gone.
And God will never bring Elijah back as a person.
And so in the Gospels we read of John the Baptist. This is Elias, which was for to come.
Why? Because he was just a continuation of the type.
It was moral.
The answer comes in the third chapter of Acts. If you'll read it carefully, we won't go into it tonight.
But at the end of the chapter we find that it was Jesus and no one else who would restore the hearts.
Of the children to their fathers, and the hearts of the fathers to their children.
And this he will do when he comes again after all the prophets have passed out of the scene.
Jesus comes and he does everything that the others could not accomplish, yet they're going to be rewarded for the place they took that God gave them in that line of faith as types and shadows.
But now we have the Lord Jesus as the true vine.
God has not only given us a new life.
But he has given us an object in that life, and that's Jesus.
The chapter we have tonight does not have to do with salvation. It supposes that it has to do with fruit bearing on the part of those who are saved.
Fruit bearing on the part of those in whom there is No Fear now.
Because perfect love has cast out all fear.
Is that not the proper atmosphere for fruit bearing?
So we have.
Every branch in me that are not bearing fruit, he taketh away.
Now some have applied this to Judas, and perhaps it is Judas we have Judas referred to in the sixth verse.
But there could be an application also to a believer not bearing fruit.
And being taken away as we have in the.
11Th chapter of First Corinthians. Now this is a very solemn thing, because the believers here in this world not to live for himself.
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And if he doesn't abide in the vine, he will live for himself. And there is such a thing as, as it says in First Corinthians 11, for this cause, some are sickly among you, and others sleep. That is, they're, they're taken out of this world, very solemn.
What cost? Not discerning the Lord's body?
Not discerning that present testimony that rests upon the death and resurrection of Christ.
However, I say that may be an application of this verse.
And every branch bearing fruit.
Every branch bearing fruit.
He purchased it that it may bring forth more fruit.
Now what is fruit?
A vine bears grapes, and grapes in Scripture are more or less of a universal type of joy. Joy.
It is also the spirit, but it's the Spirit who brings that joy.
So we find that.
The fruit of the vine.
The Lord says he would drink no more the fruit of the vine until he drank it anew in the Kingdom of God.
Well, that's the that's the joy that belongs to Christianity.
Now, the character of joy that he speaks of in this chapter is a little different from the joy that we speak of or he spoke of in connection with the Kingdom of God.
When we go into the heavens.
And we'll notice that in a moment, the kind of joy that he speaks of in connection with the pathway down here.
And then we have commented on verse three. You're clean through the word which I've spoken unto you.
That is.
The word is preached, faith believes it, and the person is clean.
If the word is mixed with faith, there's an immediate and eternal.
Connection with God.
It isn't a question of how much a person knows. It's whether there's faith, whether the word of God is mixed with faith. If it is, then he which hath begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.
Now he says, abide in me.
And I in you.
Abide in me.
And I in you two things, this must be meditated upon.
Abide in me.
And I in you.
The person is before us in each case.
But in one sense we realize that we're in Christ, and the other that He's in US.
And that's why it says the Spirit of Christ in the eighth of Romans. It means the character of Christ.
And the 8th of Romans.
The Spirit of Christ. The character of Christ.
Perhaps you speak of a person and you say what a lovely spirit that person has.
Well, it's in that sense, it's the character of Christ that the believer has.
And dear ones, you and I will never get anymore. Never.
Than we have now.
Oil will be brought into the realization of it more.
And we'll know as we're known, as soon as we're taken home.
But everything that the believer has was provided for us at Calvary.
That was the basis of all our blessings.
We'll never get anymore, and we'll never need anymore.
Because the Lord Jesus.
Fills all things.
Is there anything fuller than that?
And he, we are his. He's ours.
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Now inviting in him there's fruit.
The branch can't bear fruit of itself, that's clear.
So this just turns all fear away, as though there was something required of the flesh. It's not nothing required except abiding in Him, and then the fruit will take care of itself.
Supposing I take a branch off an apple tree and lay it on the ground, will it bear fruit?
No.
But supposing that branch is left on the tree, why does the branch bear fruit? Because it's attached to the to the trunk of the tree, and so with the vine.
The branch bears fruit because it's abiding in the vine.
Now I know that Scripture uses many illustrations that you can't say, well, this fits every point and that's not the intention. The intention is to give us the thought that's all abiding in the vine bearing fruit. Now he definitely states in the fifth verse, I am the vine, ye are the branches.
He's not talking about certain Christians who are more faithful than others. He's talking about all of his people.
There's no partiality with God.
He that abideth in me, and I in him the same, bringeth forth much fruit.
Now we've had fruit.
But we've come now to much fruit.
We've had more fruit also in the second verse. Fruit.
More fruit and much fruit.
But you notice how it's connected. He that abideth in me and I in him, I in him.
The same bringeth forth much fruit, for without me you can do nothing.
The sixth verse no doubt applies to Judas or one like Judas.
If a man, he doesn't say you, he says. If a man, if a man.
Separating him from the disciples Couldn't be a disciple, a true disciple. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered. And men gather them and cast them into the fire. That is, they're tested by God's own character, and they are burned. That's the end.
As far as this life is concerned and fruit bearing, they couldn't bear fruit because they didn't have life.
They didn't abide in the vine.
If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
And one who abides in him will ask a right because.
Holy Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered, and He knows the mind of the Spirit.
Which is according to God, as we have in the eighth of Romans.
Here it is, my father glorified, that she bear much fruit.
So shall ye be my disciples.
Our disciples are seen in Scripture in more ways than one.
There were many who took the place of disciples, but with some He, he would not.
Attach himself because he knew all men, and he knew what was in man.
One can be a disciple and not be saved.
But one can be the Lords and not be a disciple that is not walking as a disciple.
Solemn, isn't it?
So are you my disciples?
So are you my disciples?
As the Father hath loved me, now all this is connected with the Father.
You will find that.
The vines have to be pruned.
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Anyone who grows grapes knows that heavy pruning will bring forth more fruit. In other words, discipline.
Now chastening discipline is done by the hand of the Father. This you get in the first chapter of Peter.
Peter.
On the on the Lord loves, he chases. We get in Hebrews as well.
And so the fathers connected with this.
Now it says.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you, continued ye in my love.
Or a baiji in my love it's the same word. Abide.
And how do we know then that we are abiding in His love?
Is this something that we can tell by looking inward? No, no, it shows here exactly how we can tell.
If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love.
Now we noticed a previous evening that commandments and his word were were just a little different.
Commandments were the immediate things that he had asked them to do.
I believe we have the expression in this chapter, however.
There were certain things he commanded them.
But His word includes the whole mind of God from the very beginning of Scripture to the end. That's His Word.
Commandment with certain things that he specially spoke to them up.
As we noticed the other evening, like if a mother were asked the child to go to the store to buy something, that would be a commandment, but the child also would know all that was expected of that child in that household. The commandments were something specific for that moment.
No doubt connected with this Upper Room ministry of these chapters, we have here in a special way.
If you keep my commandments, you shall abide where?
In my love, not under law. In my love.
I'd like to turn to a verse in the Epistle of John again.
First Epistle of John in the third chapter.
19 first.
3rd chapter of the First Epistle of John in the 19 verse.
In this book of the Epistle of John we have.
Things that test our own hearts.
Not something that tests somebody else's heart that we use, but as we read it, it tests our heart. That's the way we read the Epistle of John.
1819 Verse And hereby we know that we are of the truth, and shall assure our hearts before him. For if our heart condemn us, God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God, and whatever we ask we receive of him, and so on.
Now that's connected in principle, although there is Speaking of the truth.
With what we have in this verse.
Abide in His love.
Connected with our conduct down here.
This is the way we know it.
These things, now you'll notice this expression that we have pointed out already. These things have to do with a special commandments or instructions in these chapters. You get it repeated over and over again in the 16th chapter, the first verse, these things.
Third Verse. Fourth Verse.
And so on down through the chapter that we have several in this chapter and some in the previous these things.
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You know, just to know the mind of the one you love, to know of something they want becomes a commandment to you.
Because you want to please the one you love.
It's not the law.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Now we were speaking about joy moment ago.
And in His presence, this fullness of joy, but His right hand there are pleasures forevermore.
When we get home to glory, there will be nothing but joy. We experience sorrow here, but it's not our portion.
Sorrow is something passing.
It has to do with child training. It has to do with preparation for that coming day of glory. But it's not our portion. It's something we pass through. Like the psalmist speaks of passing through the valley of the shadow of death, He passes through it.
That's not his portion.
So he says these things. Have I spoken unto you that my joy?
Now he's talking about the joy he has down here in this world.
As he's doing the will of the father.
In the midst of all the trials and sorrows of the way, the Lord Jesus had a special joy.
He was down here under trial and testing and his spirit was up there.
His spirit was up there. That's the kind of joy he speaks of. And beloved, you will never experience this in heaven.
Because you won't have any trials in heaven.
You'll never learn the love of God in heaven the way you learn it here.
Because you learn it here under need.
And his love and the joy that goes with it.
My joy might remain in you, not just with you, but in you.
It's really an indirect reference to the Spirit of God who dwells in the believer.
And that your joy might be full. It's the practical.
Experience of the believer down here under trial, whose spirit rises into the heavenlies, as it were, because that's where his home is.
It was, it was said of a little boy. He was on a on a vehicle traveling home and.
With others, whether it was a bust or what it was, I don't know. It was a very rough Rd.
And someone when the pastor said the little boy, my this is a rough Rd. Oh no, it doesn't see that light over there. That's my home.
It's my home. That's what's meant here, I believe.
My joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full abiding in Him.
This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
Now the Lord Jesus loved all of his disciples without partiality.
There's a tendency on the part of.
Ourselves.
To be partial.
Love is seen in Scripture in more than one way.
We find in the Epistle of Peter.
Love mentioned.
And then love again mentioned in the same verse. What was the difference between the two?
Well, one was.
Brotherly love which has a motive.
The others divine love, which has no motive, is just its nature, that's all.
Divine Love loved us when we were unlovable.
But brotherly love is attached to a brother because of some kindness he has done to him.
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He may have helped him financially when he was in distress. He may have visited him when he was sick.
He may have done any number of things for him and there was a special affection went out to that brother and it should be so. And that's why it says let brotherly love continue.
But Divine Love loves when there's no reason to love at all.
It's just its nature and it can't do anything different.
Now that's the kind of love that's in the heart of every believer.
And this is the kind of love the Lord speaks of in connection with.
The joy that he had.
And the love that went with it, in which he gives now as a commandment. A commandment.
That she loved all the Saints now that she loved one.
Another as I have loved you.
John was one who appreciated this in a special way, and he speaks, he being the writer of this gospel, he speaks of himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved.
Now, he didn't say that Jesus didn't love the others.
But he appreciated the love of the Lord Jesus for him.
And I believe it is surreal with John that he was used as a special vessel to manifest and to write about that love as we have here and in his epistles.
But something else about John?
Having such a deep sense of the love of God for him.
God could place in his hands those revelations, those awful revelations in that Book of Revelation.
Of things that will yet come upon this earth.
Because he had a sense of that love in his heart.
So the Lord puts before them his own love.
In the 13th 1St Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. If you're my friend, you're my friends. If you practice, it should read whatsoever I command you.
Dear my friends.
Now what is he talking about? A branch bearing fruit? No, he's talking about friends now.
I've heard it said by some. You know that there are different grades of Christians.
Some are his friends and some are disciples, and some are this and some of that.
But I warn you, that kind of doctrine is bordering on the same doctrine that says there will be several raptures.
No, my friends will be just one rapture.
And all the Saints will be taken up.
All the Saints, there's no partiality with the Lord Jesus.
Man likes to use his reasoning powers.
And introduce things that he never finds in the Word of God. There's no partiality on the part of Jesus with his disciples and even Judas. The very moment when Judas leaned forward to kiss to cover Jesus with kisses. It literally reads.
The Lord Jesus says, Friend, wherefore art thou come?
Was there any partiality with Jesus, even to the end?
Judas was his own familiar friend, and he did not divulge what was in Judas's heart.
Until the moment had come.
When Judas had to leave.
No, there was no partiality with the Lord Jesus on the part of his disciples.
Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth. But I've called you. That's all of his people.
Friends.
For all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you.
Now the Lord Jesus, when he was here, had not yet made known what he would make known later.
But the Lord Jesus never made anything known until he received it from His Father. As a man, He walked in perfect dependence each day, and all that He had received up of His Father up to this point He revealed to his disciples.
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That's perfection in manhood.
Later on he revealed through the Apostle Paul the full truth, as we have in Colossians, but that was when he went on high. Still a dependent man on high.
Now he's made known his counsels far beyond what Israel knew, but yet not what the full councils would be when he went on high.
Now this refers to all of his own. There's no dividing up of Christians.
There is a dividing up, of course, in the sense that there are various families in heaven and earth, but that's a different thing.
But the church is one family. There's no divisions in it. There are one family.
There'll be a family, no doubt, of little babes that have gone on that really are not a part of the church.
And there's a family of martyrs and the great tribulation. They'll be in the glory, and they're all have a part in the first resurrection.
But not in the rapture we're Speaking of in the 4th chapter of First Thessalonians.
Christ is the first fruits, then they that are Christ that he's coming.
Then the martyrs all belong to the first resurrection.
And so we have the love of Christ here in the 13th verse, He lays down his life for his friends.
Another place we learned in ladies life. Down for his enemies.
But here he's speaking to friends, his own disciples.
He says I won't call you anymore servants.
Because the servant doesn't know what his Lord doeth.
And so he reveals to his people, the church, the whole council of God.
You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you and ordained or really set you.
That you should go and bring forth fruit. Now the word set is a little stronger than ordained. One may be ordained and not do anything.
But he was he was set in a certain place for certain things.
Is a thought.
That you should go and bring forth what fruit?
Fruit.
Now.
Fruit may take various forms.
But fruit?
Is what the father enjoys because he planted the vineyard.
It's the husband man that is looking for the fruit.
And there will be nothing in the way of fruit except what he sees in the believer.
In which the believer has imitated Christ.
That very life that is in Christ the believer in the measure in which it flows out its fruit for God.
It might take the form of preaching the gospel or caring for the sick.
It might take the form of breaking the alabaster box. Does it work? And praise and worship.
Whatever it is that the believers called upon to do, it may be prayer, which is also much needed today.
Visiting the widows and fatherless in their affliction.
Or it may be simply to keep himself unspotted from the world. All that is fruit for God, because it's according to the pattern.
That your fruit should remain.
Someone has said I would rather have quality than quantity.
Because if it isn't according the word of God, it isn't fruit.
That whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, He may give it you. These things I command you. These are His commandments, not the law of Moses. These are different. These are the commandments of love, in a place where perfect love is cast out all fear.
And why is it a command? Because you and I would never know what to do if he hadn't commanded us.
Never know.
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There's not one thought that comes from the natural mind. That's right, not one in the things of God.
That she loved.
One another.
Now this chapter is practiced, beloved. It will make for a very peaceful home and a peaceful assembly and a testimony to the world.
Because the Lord said in the last chapter, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.
In that you have love, one for another.
Now, if the world hates you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
Now, if you were of this world, the word would love its own, he tells us.
The world loves its own.
Doesn't love the Christian, at least the one who's walking with abiding in Christ.
Because you are not of the world, but I've chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.
Remember, the servant is not greater than his Lord.
They persecute me, They will also persecute you. If they've kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
Now all these things will they do unto you for my namesake, because they know not Him that sent me. Again He refers to the Father.
The Lord Jesus came to reveal the Father.
And the father is the husband, men, as you see in the first verse.
Here's the one that directs all this. The Lord Jesus is the one who carries it out down here while he was here.
But he's leaving them now, and he's going to place that privilege on the shoulders of his disciples, and that includes all his people, because he's going to leave them.
The same line of things that were true of the Lord Jesus are now true of His people.
The same powers there, the same intelligence, not the same measure, of course.
That is on account of our still being in the flesh and the flesh hindering it.
The principle that's in us that oftentimes acts and hinders the truth going forth in power.
But still, it's the same line of things that were true of him.
Now this is brought out in the epistle, because in the epistle we have what is true of the believer down here.
This the thing which is true in him.
And in you? In the gospel it was true of Christ. In the epistle the same thing is true of the believer. Which thing is true in him and in you?
He that hateth me, hateth my father also.
Now in the 24th verse we have.
One of the credentials that the Lord Jesus presented to Israel.
To prove who he was, there are two.
The one is in the 8th chapter.
And it's simply this, which of you convinces me of sin?
That's the credential he presented to Israel.
Could anyone else say that no.
And immediately that verse commands their conscience. They may not accept it, but it commands their conscience. Because no one else could say which of you accused me of sin?
But this?
I'll try to explain. Back in the 4th chapter of Exodus, Moses was the leader to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt, and he was to have two signs.
One was that he was to have a rod and as he cast on the ground and became a serpent and he fled from before, that's the natural man, but at the command of God, he takes it up and becomes a becomes a rod of power in his hand. That's the type of the Lord Jesus in perfect obedience to the Father, he takes the power over the serpent Satan, and he uses it as a rod down here.
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To deliver God's people as Moses did.
Next was to put his hand in his bosom and took it out as leprosy snow.
That's the natural man before God.
He's altogether sin.
But now at the command of God, Moses puts his hand in his bosom, at the command of God, perfect obedience, and it says his other hand.
Now he says, which of you accuseth me of sin? He was pure within. And now in this verse we'll see the 24th verse of our chapter, He's pure without.
The very spittle that came from his lips cured the blind man.
If I had not done among them the works which none other man did.
They had not had sin.
He had come as the one that Moses spoke of.
One like unto me, Moses said, That was Moses saw God face to face, at least his representative. That is, he saw God in the form God was pleased to take.
Face to face and he spoke to him face to face.
So a prophet like me shall God send, and him shall you hear, and the soul that will not hear, that prophet shall be cut off in the midst of his people.
But now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. Jesus had done the works that none other man did. He had proved who He was outwardly pure, that Satan had no power over Him. He had power over Satan whatever He did, but also He manifested the purity within. Which of you convinced me of sin? Now He was the one not to lead them into the earthly Canaan.
But he was the one who was to lead them into the father's house.
He was the leader of Israel by these credentials. But this comes to pass, that the word might be fulfilled as written in their law. They hated me without a cause. But now he changes back again. But when the comforter has come.
Whom I will send unto you from the Father. We notice in the last chapter the Father sent the Comforter to them because they were orphans.
He left them, but now he's going to send the comforter himself.
Because he now is Lord over all, He's gone on high and he's the one who commands. And it's a question here of testimony. He'll bear witness, but they will bear witness also because they had been with him from the beginning.
Justified from All Things
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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See it known unto you therefore, men and brethren, that through this man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins, and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.
And another verse in the First Epistle of John.
First Epistle of John and the.
2nd chapter and verse 12 I write unto you, little children, because your sins are forgiven you for His namesake.
Well, first of all, and we have forgiveness brought before us through the Old Testament. There was number one that really had the conscious knowledge of judicial forgiveness. You know when David sinned by the prophet said to him, the Lord hath forgiven my sins. But it wasn't something that could be enjoyed as a present thing and knowing that the whole question of sin had been settled.
So that they could say at any time in their whole Christian or believing history.
And that their sins were all forgiven, but when the Lord Jesus accomplished that blessed work on Calvary's cross.
Then the groundwork, righteous groundwork, was laid so that every believer is entitled to know that as a present thing our sins are all forgiven. We don't need to come to the Lord over and over again and ask Him to forgive, forgive us. But as it says in Colossians chapter one, giving thanks unto the Father who hath made us meet to be partakers of the inherent inheritance of the Saints in life. Who?
Delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the Kingdom of His dear Son, in whom we have redemption through His blood. Even the forgiveness of sins. This is something that even the youngest child in the family of God is entitled to know, that all his sins are forgiven. I don't speak in the way of future sins, but in another way it's true.
Because God never speaks of future sins in the life of the believer.
He always tells us that if any man sin we have an advocate. That is when a believer sins. It's not normal Christian life. But nevertheless it is true that the whole question of sin was settled once and for all. And all our sins were future when the Lord Jesus died and he's not going to die again. And if he didn't settle the question of our sins at Calvary, they never will be settled.
So everyone of us here tonight who have received the Lord Jesus as our Savior and say with assurance, like it says there in First Epistle of John in the second chapter, your sins are forgiven you for his namesake. You can give thanks that at every moment in your whole Christian life, this is true of you and you never need to come and ask for the forgiveness of your sins again.
Judicially.
That has been settled. The whole judgment of sin fell upon the Lord Jesus.
He bore all the judgment and he exhausted it. And so let me say again, your sins are forgiven. You. Everyone of us are entitled to enjoy this. And that's what Paul preached in Acts 13. This was a new thing to those at Antioch as they listened to him preach.
This man is preached unto you the forgiveness of sins. He said that couldn't be sold through the law of Moses, but it is so now that we can know and enjoy this. But then he also said, and by him, or as the new translation is in him, all that believe are justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses. Now it's more to be justified than to be.
Forgiven. If I were to do something very, very unkind and you forgave me, I still might not feel at ease in your presence. I might feel, well, that person's forgiven me, but I wonder what they really think of me. So that God has not only forgiven us, but when it says He has justified us, it means that He has brought us into a new position before him. And so he sees us not only.
Forgive them, but as justified from all things, you as a believer are before God in a position as though you had never sinned at all. And more than that, because Adam was in the Garden of Eden and he had never sinned up to that point, but he had a life that was capable of sinning and he did sin. So if you and I were only put in the position as though we had.
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Sin, by then we might lose that, because Adam lost it, if that was all that we have. But oh, isn't it lovely that we have more than that it says in him? And so where is the believer seen in Christ, and how blessed to know? As it tells us in John's epistle, whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, and his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin.
He is born of God, or again, as it says we are, He has made us holy and without blame before Him in love. So I want each one here, every young believer, to know that you're not only forgiven, but right now and in perpetuity that is.
For all the rest of the time and for all eternity, God feeds you in Christ.
And this is a very wonderful thing to know that really gives liberty and the soul to know that God is looking at every young believer and every older one in this room tonight as before him in a life that never sinned and never could sin the same life that you'll have in glory so that this is where God has placed you forgiven them and justified from how many things from.
Things, as it says in Romans 8, it is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? Well, it's very precious for us to lay hold of these things. Anyone who enters into this truth would never think of accepting the doctrine. You could be saved and lost again, because if that's the way God sees you, why then you can rejoice in the place He has put you in and just thank Him for it.
So it tells us too that we are before him in this way.
And this is what sets the heart at ease in His presence. For I quote the verse again in Romans 8. It is God to justify us. Who is he that condemneth? We have been justified in the highest court, and no charge could possibly be laid against the one who has been justified, so that we're entitled to know this and rejoice in it. And as it tells us in John's epistle again.
It says as He is, so are we in this world. Where is the Lord Jesus now? He's there in glory. He's there as the one who has settled the whole question of sin and sins and is there and we are seen in him. And as He is, so are we in this world.
We we can know this and we can enjoy it right now, here in this world.
Will not have a better standing before God when we get home to glory than we have right now. So how blessed to enjoy these things. Now let's turn to a couple of verses about sanctification. First Corinthians chapter one.
And verse 2.
The Church of God, which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be Saints, with all that in every place call upon the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours. And then in Hebrews chapter 10 verse 14.
For by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. Well, here we have what I could perhaps speak of as positional sanctification. Now He's spoken about forgiveness. We all understand how a person can forgive us. But God does more than that. He puts us before him in a new life, in a new position. We are seeing in Christ the righteousness of God in him.
But now the truth of being sanctified simply means that we are set apart and you know this world in which we live is under judgment before the Lord Jesus went to the cross, he said now is the judgment of this world. Just like a man who is in the death cell the the sentence has been pronounced upon him. He's just waiting for the day of execution. That's the position in which this world is and God at the point of the day in the which he will.
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The world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised him from the dead. So this world is under judgment. We're living in a doomed place, but we have been set apart. We don't belong to it anymore. As the Lord Jesus said in the 17th chapter of John, they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
We're set apart. We don't belong to this world anymore.
And this is our position as before God and as we were noticing the other night in First Corinthians Chapter 11. The Lord may deal with us as those who have been willful in our ways, but it says when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. We're just not part of this world at all. We belong to heaven. We are.
Sanctified and those at Quorum.
Addressed as being sanctified in Christ Jesus set apart. And then what we have in Hebrews chapter 10 is very precious, because by one offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. This is a place that we have been brought into because of the completeness of the work of Christ, because God has been perfectly glorified.
And then we're not just sanctified till we sin again, but.
He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. So positionally every believer has been sanctified or set apart.
Paul speaks of it too, in Hebrews.
As being set apart from all those things that they went on with before. That is, when they sinned, they had to bring a sacrifice and the sacrifice had to be offered. If they sinned again, they had to bring another sacrifice. It wasn't possible that the blood of bulls and goats should take away sin.
So he brings in sanctification there as being set apart from all those things that were only types and shadows of good things to come.
And that's why he says forever, because in the Jewish ritual, as we know, there are many sacrifices. The Day of Atonement rolled around every year. The question of sins was brought up and it says it was constantly before them. It was, It says in those sacrifices there is a remembrance of sins every year just constantly went on. But now.
Since the Lord Jesus has accomplished this work.
Set apart not only from a world under judgment, but no longer having to go on with anything that has to do with putting away sin before God. We're set apart from all that. It's complete and we can rejoice in it. But now there's the practical side of sanctification.
When we speak about being forgiven and justified, that is what God has done for us, but when it speaks about sanctification now it is brought before us in a practical way.
Let's turn to John chapter 17 where the Lord Jesus prayed.
And the 16th verse.
They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And now let's turn over to 1St Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23. And the very God of peace, sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body.
Be preserved, blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Now here the Lord Jesus in his prayer the 17th of John, says that we're not of the world, that is, we're positionally sanctified. But then he also says and prays to the Father, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.
So Paul brought before the Corinthians that they were positionally sanctified, but he brought before the Thessalonians.
That he was praying for them, the Lord was praying for his own that they might be sanctified through the truth, and Paul was praying for those at Thessalonica that they might be practically sanctified. Now there's a difference between being positionally sanctified and being practically sanctified of sometimes use the illustration. Perhaps they've mentioned it before that if you went into a store and there were some baskets of apples on.
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Floor and you picked out one of those baskets and bought that basket and paid for it and you said to the store keeper, now I'm coming back in an hour and I'll pick that up. So he writes your name on the handle and marks it paid and that really belongs to you.
In his mind, it has been set apart for you. It's not for sale. It's been set apart, I say for you.
And there exists, but it's with the other nine baskets now on the floor. And so a little while afterwards, some person comes in and says, I'd like to take that basket of apples. Well, he said, see the name on the handle that's been sold and I can't sell you that one. And a little while later, someone else comes in, picks the same one.
And so he realizes there's a little bit of confusion there.
And so he takes that basket with your name on it and Mark paid and he puts it out in the back of the shop. Now it isn't anymore yours when it's out in the back of the shop than when it was sitting there. It had your name on it. Was Mark paid? But there's no confusion now because it's in a separate place. And I think perhaps you can see the point that.
We're sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
He's paid the price and in God's account we have been set apart and set apart for glory, no longer part of this world, and we belong to Him. But you know, we can mix with this world and we can go on with this world and we can.
Make choices in life that are not according to God's will. And if that is so, we're not acting like those who have really been set apart. As we notice, the Lord Jesus said that we're not of this world, but Peter said whosoever will be the friend of the world is the enemy of God. I believe it was James said that.
Whosoever, therefore, will be the friend of the world, is the enemy of God.
That is, when we go along hand in hand with the world, we're not really acting as though we have been set apart as belonging to the Lord.
Now I'd like to speak a little bit, dear young people, about the practical application of this because I believe it's very important in our lives. The decisions that we make in life are so very, very important and many a dear Christian can be like poor Lot. He belonged to glory and I'm quite sure I'm going to meet Lot in heaven, but he wasn't practically sanctified. He chose the well watered plains. He.
His family under the sad influence of things down there in Sodom, and he had a saved soul, but a lost life, if I can speak of it in the way I'm talking of it tonight. He was positionally sanctified, but not practically. And so how needful for us in making our decisions in life that we should seek the Lord's guidance so that we would make them.
In the way that would acknowledge that we are not our own.
We are bought with a price. We belong to him. Now let's turn to this passage that we read in.
First Thessalonians chapter 5 and verse 23 and the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. This is a lovely expression, the God of peace.
In my mind, I connected with that verse in Proverbs.
Where the Father is laying before his boy the path of wisdom in this world, so full of confusion and sin. And this is what he says.
He says her way, wisdom, ways, that is, her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. How many a dear Christian has followed the wrong path and has found anything but peace in it?
He may have found some of the supposed fun of this world, but I'm sure.
That you don't find peace in that kind of a path. And so here it says the very God of peace sanctify you. Holy dear young people, the Lord wants you to go on in your Christian life with joy and peace. He says earlier in this chapter, first Thessalonians 5 and the 16th verse, rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing, so you can see how He wants us to be happy.
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And he also wants us to walk in peace.
And so here he says, sanctify you fully, not just in some things in our lives, but in all things. God has a positive will for us in everything. And the Christian is to seek the positive direction of the Lord. When I'm traveling, I don't just try all the different roads and then finally hope that I'll light on the right one. I like to look at the map and start out in the right one and follow the.
One, I like to have positive direction that sometimes we say before we start out, let's look at the map before we start so we won't make some bad turns and then have to retrace our steps. And so this is what he's telling us here.
And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly. And I pray God, that your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless. Now you know a man is a triune being.
When I say a triune being, I mean just what it says here. He has three parts to his being. He has the spirit and the soul and the body. When God speaks of the lower creation, he never speaks of the lower creation as being spirit, soul, and body. He speaks to the lower creation as having breath and life and a certain amount of emotions. And they have bodies, certainly, but the lower creation?
Has no God conscious part to their being, but God has made man's soul. Animals have instinct, but they're not intended to be directed by God-given commands. You notice when God placed all those animals in the earth and and birds and so on. He didn't.
He didn't tell them what to eat and not to eat as a command that they might obey or disobey.
Gave them some instincts which certainly control their lives to a very large extent. But with man, he wasn't intending to have him governed by instinct, but instead that he might listen to the voice of his Creator and obey him in obedience and love. And so he spoke to Adam, and he told him that he might eat of all the trees of the garden, but one tree.
Not to eat of and he warned him what would happen if he did. So he gave him intelligent direct direction for his pathway. And as Christians too, God has given us in his word direction for our pathway. And it says.
Blessed is he that I'll read it. It's in Proverbs 8, Proverbs chapter 8, and verse 33.
Hear instruction and be wise and refuse it. Not blessed is the Mass watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. So here he shows that there is a blessing and just waiting for instruction from the Lord for our pathway.
So I wish to speak about how man, men and women, young people too, are made-up in this way, spirit, soul and body. And this is the way the Lord directs us and sanctifies us wholly, that is in a practical sense. And we ought to make every decision in our life in this particular order that's given here if we would be preserved.
Pathway for God's glory. Let us suppose now that here's a young person, he's thinking about what kind of employment, what job he would like to have in life. If the Lord should leave him here, why isn't it nice that he can turn to the Lord in prayer and instead of saying, well, I'd like to be this and that. He can ask the Lord to direct him. And that's why the Spirit comes first, the intelligent God conscious.
Part of the being.
Sometimes you hear people say they like something, and then after they've spent a lot of time preparing for it, then they wonder if they can really honor the Lord in that particular thing they thought they liked so well. Wouldn't have been much better to have asked the Lord in the beginning and said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? He has something for you to follow In life. I've seen young people who have spent a lot of time.
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Preparing and then been very disappointed afterwards because they found that they had prepared themselves for something that they weren't really sure the Lord wanted them to be in. Well, I believe it's very, very important, dear young people. The spirit then is the intelligent God conscious part of your being and God has given you to know whether you have first of all been fitted for a certain line of work. Secondly, whether you can honor.
Glorify Him in it. And now if I haven't the ability to make certain grades, well then I realized that perhaps the Lord has something for me other than trying to go on with something where I might require a great deal of mental training. So God fits each one to fill a certain place in life.
Just as in our bodies, God sets in the body as it hath pleased him.
He didn't intend that my hand would fulfill the same function as my feet. He gave to each a place in the body. And so in the Lord Jesus went away. It says He gave to every man his work and commanded the Porter to watch. And so I just want to say in a very simple way to you, dear young people, before you think of making that kind of a decision.
Pray about it. Consider it well if there's some way of finding out.
What's going to happen if you graduate in this? Are you going to have to belong to some association or union that will give you a bad conscience then? Or is it worthwhile spending years preparing for this and then finding out when you're done that you're going to have to have to do something with a bad conscience? Why isn't it much better, as the Scripture says, about counting the cross, thinking beforehand, and God has given you He?
Direction and his word and he has given you intelligence. There are two things that we need. As we were noticing the other night when the Lord directed the children of Israel, it was the commandment of the Lord and it was also looking up, which corresponds to prayer. And so I ask you, when you make these kind of decisions and search the word of God, see if you can really honor that. Honor the Lord in that particular work.
And then you can fulfill what first Corinthians 7 says that every man abide in the same calling for any is called with God. That's very happy. That's why he says the God of peace. It's very happy when you go to work day by day to feel that you're in a position where you can honor the Lord.
And it really gives you peace in your soul. And do you think the Lord is interested in this?
By the Lord Jesus said, sanctify them through thy truth, and what is his truth, thy word, his truth. And then Paul prayed for these Thessalonians who once lived to do their own wells, that now they would be set apart wholly as blind to the Lord, sanctified, holy. So there's first the body, and then the next is the soul. And in the Bible the soul is the state of the emotions or desires.
So it says, the desire of our soul is to thy name.
And the remembrance of thee, hungry and thirsty, their soul fainted in them. The soul is always looked at, as the emotions says about the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David. You'll always find the soul when spoken out by itself in that way.
It's always the emotions in US. And so before you say, well, I like it, I'm going to go into it, say now I want to ask the Lord about this. I want to search his word about this. And then you let your emotions go next. And then you hear Christians say, Oh, I like my job and.
They if they prayed about it and they have really thought the Lord's mind, then how happy you can be.
And doing that job as the very job that you have the consciousness that the Lord intended you to be in. Oh, that's a very lovely thing, dear young people. And this will make your life a happy one, and it will also make your life a blessing to others. Because I've seen young people prepared for something. Then when they got into the profession, there was something about it. They just felt they couldn't honor the Lord and their mouths were shut. They couldn't say anything.
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Anybody else? Because there was this little question mark about the things they were doing themselves. And so they not only weren't happy themselves, but they spoiled their testimony. So you can see there's first the spirit, the God conscious, intelligent part of your being, and then there's the soul, the emotions. And that you can say when you find that work and that niche in life God intends you to fulfill, you can say I like doing this. I really feel this is where the Lord wanted me.
Be and there's a sweet piece in that. And then of course, the last one is the body. In other words, you have to be there physically to do the job. But you first of all thought of it before God. Then you have said I, I, I'm sure I can like that. And to allow your emotions to go and then you're there physically, the place where you are in your body.
Well, that refers to your job. That also refers to your friends, you know.
We can see how that sometimes a person might get into bad friendship. You meet some likable person in the world and maybe he's a very likable character because there are many people that you could call nice likable people in the world. Jesus looked at a man who wasn't saved and as the Lord spoke to him, says Jesus looking on him, loved him. But he said you like one thing and so you can see.
Traits in people you can be very thankful at all. The world isn't so miserable and impossible that it's hard to live with. I'm very thankful if a man who works beside me or lives next door to me is a kindly man. I'm glad all the animals aren't wild animals. Some of them are tame. And so God hasn't allowed us to see the full results of the fall in this world. But remember.
That if that person is not saved.
Why if you make a friendship with that person, why you're making a friend of someone who's really an enemy of the Lord in his heart. Whosoever, therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. And here's a verse that gives you direction about choosing friends. 119th Psalm on the 63rd verse it says, I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy.
Sex and so when you're thinking of choosing friends way and intelligently before the Lord.
Don't just allow yourself to get carried away.
With some nice person who perhaps is not saved when they lead you away from the Lord. Like Peter going and warming himself at the world's fire. And then it wasn't long. He was denying his Lord, and perhaps those men talk friendly to him, was rather comfortable on a cold, cold day to sit down by the fire there. But it wasn't the right place for Peter to be.
He might have to work with the ungodly, but it's another thing to find your relaxation with them.
So there he chose the wrong kind of friendship and it ended in disaster. And so there's first of all, I am a companion, first of all, the spirit. You see those first of all, who are the Lords and those who keep his word. And then you say, then you let your emotions go. Then you're willing to make those those persons your friends that you can share many things with and.
Of course, the body then goes last. You become their friend, you perhaps go out with them and have nice times of fellowship together. And then there's also the thought of where the Lord would have us to be gathered. Now I And when you speak to people in the world and ask them where they go and what group they fellowship with, you'll often hear them say, Oh well, we have such a nice group and we have a nice minister.
They're doing a good work and I just feel so happy down there. And you say, well, but is it according to God's Word? Well, I think they're doing the good work and I think there are a lot of people being saved and it's really a nice place to be. Is that the way we should be guided? No, I believe, dear young people, we should go to God's Word.
And in God's Word, we find God has marked out a path.
You remember what the Lord said to Gideon. He had 10,000 people with him. Nice to have that many helpers, 10,000 and they all were willing to go with him and fight the Lorde battle. But the Lord said 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.
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That must have been very disappointing to poor Gideon to see that 10,000 meltdown to 300.
That's all he had left when the Lord showed him who was to go with him. And sometimes when we follow the path of obedience to the word of God. Now see, I'm trying to bring before you spirit, that is the intelligent God conscious part of your being, searches the Word and says, where does the Lord want me to be? What is the path of obedience to His Word? You pray about it and you go there. There's not a big crowd.
There's not 10,000 or anything like that. There's often less than 300 that Gideon had. It really may get down to pretty small numbers. But Gideon, Gideon was with the the group of people the Lord intended them to be with. And so you and I and making the decision with whom we'll have fellowship, with whom we'll be identified, with, whom we'll gather to remember the Lord Jesus. Are we to be guided by our emotions?
Or are we to be guided by the word of God? So you see.
The Word of God is our intelligent direction for our pathway says in Romans 12, present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable or intelligent service. And I hope that you can say, I hope I can say that I'm gathered with those that I am gathered with, because I believe that that's where the Lord would have me according to his words.
Sometimes we get disappointed.
But we learn to love the people who are walking in the path that God has laid out in His Word.
We allow our emotions to go then, and we are associated with them because we believe that that's the path. And many of their Christians at the end of his life is very, very thankful the Lord has preserved him. In the past. He's had disappointments and trials. But there's the spirit and then the soul, the emotions, the desires. You find your friends and let your emotions go. You love those who are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
Just like those who went out to David in The Cave of Adelaim. Why are those men loved David informed about band? They weren't there because they were the nicest group, because it says they were discontented people there. There were people that were in debt. There were people that were distressed. And that's what you always find among mellows that are gathered or rejected. Christ. You'll find us contented people, you'll find distressed people, and you'll find people that are in debt too.
But they gathered to David, and if you'd asked any of them, why did you go there? Did you choose that crown? I'm sure that any one of them would have said.
But we believe that David is God's king and that's why we're there. And you know, they had great devotedness to David. They it tells us that when he just asked for a drink one time, some of them risked their lives to go on distraught. I drink for David. Their emotions were there. Their bodies were there. They were in that cave, The Cave of a Dome with David. Well, we see this order then as to.
Those with whom we would be identified.
In in being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. And now we come also, perhaps we could say, to service for the Lord. I won't say a great deal about this because we talked about it last night, but sometimes as Christians we might think there's certain things that we would like to do to serve the Lord.
But sometimes the Lord gives us things to do that aren't just exactly the things that we would choose. Maybe the Lord puts you in a place where it isn't just exactly where you would want to be, or gives you a work that it isn't exactly what you would choose. That was the way it was with Paul, if Paul had the choice.
He would much prefer to serve the Lord among the Jews. They were his own people. He understood them better and they understood him. And every line of reason would have said, well, he would make a good servant to the Jews because he loved them so dearly. But the Lord said, Paul, I have something different for you. I want you to be the apostle of the Gentiles. I want you to go at my call.
So he was to be directed now by intelligent direction from the Lord.
And did he learn to love these people or just read? And you'll see he spoke to them as my beloved, dearly beloved and longed for. And whenever he could, you find him with the people He was down by the Riverside embracing them before he went on his journey, when he had a little stop, he sent and called for the brethren. You see, he, his emotions were there. He loved them and.
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He wanted to be with them. That was his service to the Lord.
And he found peace in that service. Even the Lord brought imprisonment.
Well, and there's also the thought of marriage, you know, and this comes in our lives as young people and do we just look around for someone that serves our emotions and, and is the kind of person that really, as the world would say, seems to excite us and this kind of thing. There's lots of young people that think this is the deciding factor, but you know, I see that the.
The happiness that really abides begins a different way.
And that is intelligence, it says.
Your spirit and your soul and your body. I've often said to the young people, when you think about somebody, why always think of it that person? If it's a question of marriage, always think of it in that order. Think first. Is this really the person that the Lord has for me? And weigh it well before the Lord. Can you share life together? Are you suited to one another?
Can you really share the burden of life together?
Are you both willing to walk in the truth? Is 1 rebellious against the truth and the other willing to walk in it? Well then there won't be oneness of mind. And the Bible says how can two walk together except they be agreed? Can you can a husband fulfill a place God intends in the home? And is the wife willing to fulfill the place God intends all these things?
The thoughtful young person considers always that I like the person.
Let that come second, consider the other first. Ask the Lord 1St about those things that you decide intelligently before Him. Now, I'm not saying that you look for perfection because no one's perfect and certainly we're not perfect ourselves and we don't expect or shouldn't expect any other person or our partner in life to be perfect. We're always going to have to bear with things that only brings out.
Character, but while I'm Speaking of is a general way that we should be guided in these decisions. And if I have shortcomings myself, then it's foolish for me to expect a perfect partner. I've seen some young people and they have a lot of shortcomings themselves, but they're always looking for a perfect partner.
If they're a little more conscious of themselves, they would often find that someone else could would be a very happy partner to share a life with them because.
They were suited to one another and so, you know, this is the intelligence part of making those kind of decisions. Go to the Word of God and consider what He tells you about what to expect in one another, boy or girl. See whether the person is suited to you. As I say and as we know, the Lord didn't form.
A partner for Adam from his head.
He didn't form a partner for Adam from his feet, he formed a partner from his side. And so the person needs to be someone who can be at your side. Not someone that's above you or below you, but someone who's at your side, someone that you can share things together. Well, this is first of all, and the spirit, the intelligent part of the being. Then the next one comes, the soul.
That's as we would use the expression falling in love, then you let your emotions go. You say, well, I I really been before the Lord. I really believe that that's the partner for me and.
Now you allow your emotions to go, and there needs to be those two things. My father always used to say to us as children, remember the two important things in marriage. Of those two things, respect and love, those two come before the body. So the respect, it says that the wife is to reverence her husband. It says about the husband, he's to give honor to his wife. And so this is the intelligent part of the being.
And then love, the emotions. There needs to be emotions by there has to be, because love is an emotion. But it's best to face these things intelligently first because I've seen young people fall in love and then you couldn't tell them anything because they had decided it before they even considered the first part. They had started at the second part, the emotions, instead of starting in God's way that were sanctified.
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Spirit, soul and body. And yet I've seen many, many happy marriages that went the other way.
There was the spirit and there was the soul and there was real love and that love was an abiding love. And in God's plan it starts in the heart of the man because it was Christ that loved the church. We our love is a response of love to his love. And then the body doesn't go until the marriage. And then if the marriage, the body goes. So you have spirit and soul and body. Well, that's in connection with marriage and.
One other thing I could say, and that is the place that you would live, you know, you could look around and think of places where there's a lot of pleasant things, nice climate and perhaps a lot of things that you would enjoy an easier way of life. But is this to be the thing that besides our where we live, the Lord doesn't want all his people living in the places where it's easiest and most pleasant and where the weather is always the nicest?
He wants people saved in places where there's not much rain and places where it's cold, all kinds of places around this globe. The Lord Jesus said to his disciples, go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. Supposing they said all but we just hate those kind of climates and the customs of those people. Why I just couldn't live there. No, the Lord was to guide them. And dear young people, when you make the decision where you're going to live.
Remember, the Lord can plan that for you and you can be perfectly happy in a place that may not have all the kind of climates and all the environment that you'd like. What you feel, it's where the Lord wants you to be. You feel like that's where he chose for you to dwell. And so he sent you there and he, he, he wanted you to be there and.
You were a light for him, a help, a blessing in that assembly where he wanted you to be.
And so first of all, then ask the Lord where he wants you to be. And then you just say, well, I like it here. A brother that I know back at home, he, he lived in a place where things were perhaps a little easier. And then he moved to another area where I don't think things were just all together as nice. And someone said to him, well.
Brother, did you like it better where you were?
Or where you are here, Dwelly said. One place is good, a waiting place is the other. He was waiting for the Lorde return, and if the Lord wanted him in that other place, that was where he wanted to be. And so we think of the.
Of the Brazilian or Idi rather and.
David said to him, Why did you come here, Eddie? I you're just a stranger in exile and we have to walk up and down here. This is no place for you.
And he said, where you are, David, that's where I want to be in life or in death. Well, how grand it is then, young people, that we can choose even the place where the Lord wants us to live, that we can settle there and be happy there. We can let our go and say, well, I just love this place because I believe that's where the Lord wants me to be.
I heard of a missionary and someone said do you like the dirt and the mud and all those things?
Now he said, but he said, I do love being where the Lord wants me to be. And so this is it, the emotions and the body. Well, it's it's interesting to see here in the practical side then of sanctification, a very God of peace, sanctify you wholly and I pray God, your whole spirit and soul and body.
The preserved, blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Is the Lord able to give us this sweet peace and confidence and joy? Yes, He is. And we're not here to stay. We're just waiting for his coming. Certainly United States has ambassadors and a good many different countries, and I don't think those ambassadors choose where they're going to be. The government makes a choice for them and sends them and so.
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In a certain sense, you and I are ambassadors in the in this world, and we ought to be.
Ready to just be in the place where the Lord wants us to be, and He wants us in a certain place just to be there. Because we're really waiting for His coming. We're not in this world to stay. We're just passing through. And so, dear young people, this would be my desire for you. This was the desire of Paul for the Thessalonians, and this is my desire for you. It's certainly my desire. I trust, at least for myself.
And that as I gland through this life and that I would be preserved spirit, soul and body. Preserved in our thinking, preserved in our emotions, and preserved in where we allow our bodies to be.
And I think of what Paul said when he was talking to the elders at Ephesus in the 20th chapter of Acts. He said that he had two desires, that he might finish his course with joy and the ministry that he had received the Lord Jesus.
That testify the gospel of the grace of God and applying it to each one of us here. I believe those two desires ought to apply to everyone of us. Every Christian doesn't have a happy ending to his life, but if you seek the Lord guidance, then I believe when the end of life comes, it's like it says in the Psalms. Behold a perfect man, behold the upright. The end of that man is peace.
So that Paul said there's just one thing that I desire. Two things, rather, he said.
I want to have a happy ending to my life. What I did, although he died as a prisoner and I believe his head was chopped off, that was the way he ended. But he called that a happy ending. He could say I've fought a good fight. I have finished my course, I've kept the faith. I believe if you had talked to Paul at the end of his life and said, Paul, would you like things to have been different? I believe you would say I'm glad the Lord has brought me. This is the happy ending to my life.
He has given me grace to at least seek to follow Him, not perfectly, but seek to follow Him.
To honor him, to stand for him and for his truth. And he said this is a happy ending to my life.
And did you accomplish what you wanted to accomplish in life? Yes. He said my responsibility was to keep the faith. And he said by God's grace, that's what I have sought to do. And dear young people, those are two happy desires in our lives now that we might fulfill in this world what the Lord wants us to accomplish. For He has something for every one of us to accomplish, and also that we would fulfill a little service.
That he wants us to do.
Finishing it with joy, well, this is a this is a great blessing and it isn't how long we live, Bobby said. John the Baptist was taken at 30 years of age.
If I had been living at that time, I might have thought it's not a tragedy a young man like that so devoted to the Lord, The Lord said among those born of women, there has not arisen a greater than John the Baptist, and at 30 years of age he was beheaded.
Was this a calamity? No, he finished his course. He had been sent to witness to the nation of the coming of Christ. And so when he had completed that work, then the Lord comes and appears on the scene, and John is given a martyr's crown. There's no mistakes in God's ways. But, dear young people, we can have a happy.
Path We can know that we're forgiven. We can know that we're justified. We can know that we're positionally sanctified.
And we can pray that we will be practically sanctified, set apart in all the decisions and plans of our life, to do what is pleasing to the Lord and to have the sense in our souls of His approval, in what He would have us do through life.
Prayers of Ephesians 1,3 and 6
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn tonight to the Epistle to the Ephesians, like to speak about the two prayers and the Epistle to the Ephesians and then the last chapter. And perhaps we could put it like this, that in the first chapter we have the apostles prayer that the Saints might know how richly they were blessed. In the third chapter he prays that they might enjoy this and their souls. And then in the last chapter he shows us how.
Can be preserved because even though we know these things and are even brought into the enjoyment of them, how we need to be preserved because there is a conflict and our enemy is busy. So in the last chapter we have the whole armor of God provided for us. Let's notice this prayer in the first chapter of Ephesians.
In the 15th verse.
Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints, cease not to give thanks for you, making mention of you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and what the riches of the.
Of His inheritance in the Saints. And what is the exceeding greatness of His power to us? Word who believe according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set him in His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power of might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come and have put all things under.
Feet and gave him to be the head over all things to the church.
Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
Well, it's often been said that Ephesians brings before us the very highest truth in the Bible. And it's very wonderful when we think of how these Ephesians were once worshippers of the great goddess Diana, the image which they thought had fallen down from Jupiter. And they were all taken up with that idolatry to fill that city. And shortly after they were saved, brought to the knowledge of the Lord, tells us there was a great bonfire.
They burned up all their books, all those things that were once valuable to them. It says there was a great bonfire and the price of it was very great. Still, it didn't sell the books to other people even. They just burnt them up because they had seen something far, far better than the great goddess Diana. They had seen that there was a real man in the glory, that the Lord Jesus was up there at the right hand of the Father.
And they had learned something of what we have brought before us in this epistle, that they were blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, and all how blessed it is that we have been delivered from all those things that might attract us. I'm sure that if they could dig out in some way or excavate that great goddess Diana, there would be tourists going from all over to see this fine thing.
But, old brethren, how much more wonderful.
Our portion in Christ and we could ask our own hearts. Or do we know these things? Are we in the enjoyment of them because this is what we need.
In Christianity, it's not as it was under the law system of thou shalt and thou shalt not, But instead of that, God has given us something better, and having that which is so much better, we're set free. Paul didn't tell him to go and burn up all their books.
But when they had found what was so much better wasn't hard for them to part with those old things. And so here we find in this first epistle the great desire of the heart of the apostle, that they might enter into these things and know them in their own souls. And I might say that in the 18th verse where it says the eyes of your understanding, being enlightened, that I believe the correct translation is the eyes of.
Aren't being enlightened. I call attention to this because it isn't just what we know intellectually. We could know a great many things intellectually, but if they don't touch our hearts, if our hearts are unmoved, why? It won't be hard for us just to give it up because it was only in our minds. But if these things have touched our hearts, if we really know them in our hearts, then it's like what the Lord Jesus said.
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He said he that believeth on me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, not just out of his mind, something that he's learned, but something that he's taken in and enjoyed. And tonight with the Lords Health, I would like to bring before our hearts some things that many of us know, but how precious to be reminded of those things that we do know.
So that again we might think of how richly were blessed.
And as I say, it's not them hard to refuse the lesser things. You have a job that's paying you a large amount. Why someone offers you a job for half the amount, it's not hard to turn it down because you have something better. And all the unsearchable riches of Christ. How blessed this is. How wonderful in comparison with all that this world has to offer.
So he tells us here.
In this 15th verse, after he had heard of their faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints in all his faith and love go together. Indeed, it tells us in Galatians that faith works by love, because when there's faith in the Lord Jesus, there's always love to others. There's a verse in John's epistle that says we know that we have passed from death unto life.
Because we love the brethren.
You know, when you meet people, isn't it true that it's not so much what they know that you talk about as whether they're really enjoying those things that they know? Someone has said that the Church was in its happiest state when it knew the least on the Day of Pentecost. Why? They didn't know very much, but it tells they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.
How was this knowing so little that they were so happy? Oh, because they were enjoying.
That which they knew. Trouble with many of us is that we know a great deal, but we're not in the enjoyment of it. Just like having fine food in front of you and you're sick and you can't eat it. The food is good. If you're feeling healthy, you'd enjoy it. But when you're not healthy, there it sits. Good food, but you don't enjoy it.
So the apostle could speak of their faith in the Lord Jesus and love unto all the Saints, and it's a proof of divine life in the soul that the heart goes out to the Lord Jesus.
And to his people, I believe that's the greatest proof in the whole Bible. A man is saying that he loves the Lord Jesus and that he loves those who belong to him. It tells us in Corinthians, if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema Maranatha. That means a curse when the Lord comes. And then the other verse, I'll quote it again.
We know that we have passed from death unto life.
Because we love the bathroom. So here Paul could rejoice at the faith of these Saints and their love to All Saints. And then he said he didn't cease to give thanks for them making mention of you in my prayers. He not only prayed that they might know and enjoy certain things, but he gave thanks for what he could see that was.
A manifestation of divine life, and this is very important for us.
It's very blessed for us, brethren, to look for that which is of Christ in one another. I'm sure if you look for false and may, you could find them. But it's very needful if we're going to go on together, that we look for that which is of Christ and we seek to stir up that which is of Christ.
Just like a well and the pump isn't working very well, you know, perhaps that.
If you pump away and pump away you don't get any water. But it's amazing if you just take a half dipper of water and pour it into the pump while you get far more than what you put in. Why? Well, there was plenty of water there, but the pump wasn't working just right. And sometimes we lose the enjoyment of Christ and a little bit put in will often bring out quite a bit more than we put in. So isn't it good for to try and do this?
And to encourage the hearts of God's people. And there may be a far greater return than we ever expected.
So Paul, when he thought of these Ephesians, and he knew what they were exposed to in that city where the whole town was a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, while he gave thanks for what he had seen of Christ. And then he sought to stir them up to a fuller knowledge of himself, to a greater enjoyment of himself, and that they might be preserved too, because it's rather sad to notice.
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That someone has called the letter that we have in Revelation chapter 2.
As the second epistle to the Ephesians, the first epistle he set before them.
These wonderful things that we read in this epistle, the highest truth in the whole of the New Testament. But what about the 2nd Epistle to the Ephesians? Well, John was right into that same church, and he had to say something that was very sad about them. He said, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Now he could say a lot of outward things were still maintained.
So they couldn't bear those that were evil. They had tried those that said they were apostles and were not and had found them liars.
They hated the deeds that deeds of the Nicolaitans. There were a lot of awkward things that were maintained.
But his heart was saddened, and that letter, written by the energy of the Spirit of God, was telling that they had left their first love. All the inner spring was gone. May the Lord grant that that first love may be kept fresh in our souls. The Lord values that first love toward Himself.
So he made mention of them in his prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. He prayed that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of Glory. Oh, blessed to have this brought before us, because in this epistle.
He says in the third verse of the first chapter.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. You remember how in the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, that he said, I ascend unto my Father and your Father, and to my God and your God. That precious Savior could speak of God as his Father and could tell us that we're brought into the relationship of knowing God.
As our Father, he could speak of my God.
Because the Lord Jesus had taken the place here of the obedient 1 to do his Father's will.
And then he could say, my God and your God. And I like to think of what Paul said in the last chapter of Philippians. There he was in prison, forgotten and deprived, and he said, My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. We trust in the living God, brethren, one who has all power, the.
And the gold are his, a cattle upon 1000 hills, so he could speak to them here of the God of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Father of glory may give them to you the spirit of wisdom and revelation. A lot of wisdom in this world, but the Bible tells us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What a blessed thing to have the wisdom that comes from above. Not just wisdom.
Marbles in this world and electronics, electricity and all kinds of things that we could study, necessary perhaps for our daily employment. But to think that God has brought us into his secrets, isn't this wonderful? The very God who made the universe has spoken to us. And like Jesus said to the disciples, he said, I haven't called you servants, I've called you friends, because all things that I've heard of my Father, I've made.
Unto you a friend is someone that you can converse with freely. And so to think that he has brought us into his secrets. And one is often said, the Christian is the only person who has an intelligent outlook on what's going on in the world. Now the world don't know. They're all confused what is going to happen. They say something has to happen.
Isn't it wonderful that we have, in God's precious Word, wisdom?
Solid here in this day when we see everything breaking down, that we have the wisdom of God in his word, wisdom for our pathway. Do we have to follow all the opinions and ideas of man? No, we have divine wisdom, the wisdom that comes from above. And then he says and revelation in the knowledge of him. This book is not just an extension of man's wisdom. No, it's something.
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Superior to man's wisdom, it is a revelation from God. A revelation, I say, because God is telling us in this book things that we wouldn't know if He didn't tell us. Man may be able to study electricity and find out various uses for it, but in this book you find things that man could never discover if God couldn't didn't tell him.
Cast thou by searching. Find out God. Is it possible for a man, no matter how brilliant he is?
To get the true knowledge of God by his intellect, no God must reveal Himself.
And that he has done. Can man find out where he came from? Not if he doesn't believe the Bible. One great man at the end of his life said, I've spent all my life trying to find the answer to two questions, where I came from and where I'm going to. How can he find out with all the wisdom in the world? Tell him the answer to those two questions. But we have a revelation from God. We have divine light. And so he said he prayed.
That there the same I, the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledgement of in the knowledge of Him. And apart from the knowledge of God, apart from the knowledge of Christ, we remain in darkness of these.
Psalms things. You know, there are men with great intellects, but if they don't bow to this Bible, they'll never find the answer to those two questions.
They'll never know what's going to happen in this world. They may talk about the year 2000 and the year 3000 and so on. Men don't know, but isn't it wonderful to have the light and wisdom of God's Word? Oh, how thankful we should be, and then we can face the future with peace. But we not only know the future, but we know who holds the future. We know the one who keeps it, and it's all under his control. For it says in the Bible, who hath.
And brought it to pass when the Lord commanded it. Not, oh, whatever God has planned, he's going to carry out and he's going to carry it out on time. He's not going to be behind schedule. So we trust in the living God. So we pray that the eyes of their heart would be enlightened, that they would know the hope of his calling and the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the Saints.
He desired that their hearts might be in the knowledge of this. And what is the hope of His calling?
That we should try and improve this world and make it a better place. No, friends, we belong to heaven. Paul said in this epistle that he was an ambassador in bonds. He we belong to heaven. That's our home. And so he desired that they would know the hope of their calling. What is Our Calling? Oh, we're called from above.
We're heavenly men by birth. We belong to a brighter sphere.
Heaven is our Fatherland and heaven is our home. And how rich are we?
Man dies and people say how much did he have? Well, some are millionaires, some multi millionaires. How rich are we? Oh I say the unsearchable riches of Christ, heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. What'll keep us from envying all of this world has to offer?
It's the knowledge of this. I'm quite sure when I'm talking to you that there are people, young people too, I expect, up in Siberia, in prison camps and labor camps. How can they endure the kind of treatment they're getting there? Do you think their hearts are full of resentment? Oh, I'm sure if we could take a trip up there and talk to them, they would talk to us about their portion in Christ. They would tell us that they're rich.
That they belong to heaven.
And this is what sustains them and this is what Paul desired for these Saints. And then what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe men often have great plans, great plans with they can't carry them out. Every new politician that comes along has some great plan. People listen to his plan. They think, oh, this is going to change the outlook of the country. But as soon as they get into power.
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They find out that they.
Can't carry out the plan that they intended, but all God has a plan, friends, and that plan is just as sure of being carried out as God himself. He's going to and he has already raised and seated at his own right hand the man of his counsel, and he's going to fulfill all his will. The scripture says so we not only know these councils.
The hope of Our Calling, the glory of the inheritance in his Saints, but we also know that he's going to carry this out according to the what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us were to believe according to the working of his mighty power. He has shown that power and raising Christ from the dead.
And see him at his own right hand.
Brother Oscar Mayer was saying how it was going through the hospital one day and there was a man lying there in the bed who was a Buddhist and he knew that Brother Myers was a Christian. And he said, he called me over to him. He says I don't believe in Christianity, I don't believe in Christianity. He said, we have **** up. You Christians just have an empty tomb. Well, he said, praise God, we have an empty tomb.
We have our risen Savior. We have a glorified man at the right hand of God.
God has raised him from the dead. Shall I say. Christianity is unique. It's the only religion in the whole world that has a rhythm. Savior, one who has come from the dead and is seated there at the right hand of God. And so he told him that there was not only these plans. And I might just mention at the end of this 18th verse the riches of the glory of his inheritance.
In his Saints, you know, the Saints are not the inheritance, but the inheritance in his Saints means that he is not going to take what is rightfully his until he has his Saints with him. Just like if a man build a beautiful mansion and someone said when are you going to live in it? But he said I'm going to get married and then we're going to live in that mansion.
And so all this scene belongs to the Lord.
The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof. Why hasn't He taken possession of it? Why does He let wicked men rule? Well, the time will come when He will have His Saints with Him, and then He'll come forth with His bride, and the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever.
But where is the Lord Jesus now? He's far above all principality and power and might and dominion.
And every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come. Now this one and whom we have put our faith and trust, he's there at the right hand of God. He's far above all principality and power. He's the very highest authority. And there he is. And every name that is named is above them all. And.
It's not only in this world, but also in that which is to come.
And he have put all things under his feet, all has been placed under Him. He hasn't yet taken his place of headship, but it all belongs to Him, as it says in Hebrews. We see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering, suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor. There he is at the right hand of God tonight.
And now notice this and gave him to the be the head over all things to the church, which is his body. Oh, how wonderful. What is the Spirit of God doing here in this world? Now he is gathering out of this world a bride for Christ, and that Blessed One is up there in the glory, the head of the body, the church.
Sometimes when you tell people that you go to a certain meeting place.
They may ask you, well, who's the head of your group? Well, here's the one who's the head, the head of the body, the one who's head over all things to the church, which is his body. And let us remember this all power is his, and nothing happens by chance.
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To any of the members of the body, He's in complete control. He may allow us to suffer, but it says all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose. And to me it gives great comfort to my soul, no matter what happens, that I know who's in control. Here was Paul and his epistle. He was in prison. He was in prison under Nero.
Did he call himself the prisoner of Nero? No, he said.
I Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ, he recognized this person as head over all things to the church. Has something gone wrong in your life? And then you say, well, it was that person that did it. Why isn't it nice that we can just take it from the lower and know that he's had over all things to the church? And I say again, brethren, absolutely nothing happens by chance. He allows it and he can turn.
Trials into a blessing when we take them from Him.
And you know, there's a little difference in the expression and Ephesians it says here he's had over all things to the church. In Colossians it says he's the head of the body, the church. Now the reason I believe is this, that the point in Ephesians is what the church is to Christ. The point in Colossians is what Christ is to the church. And so.
He is head of the body. That's what he is to the church. He's the head of the body of the church.
But when he speaks about what the church is to him for he loved the church and gave himself for it. Then he said, I'm, I'm doing all for the good of my church. Just as it says in the 5th chapter. That he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water, by the word, that he might present it to himself. A glorious church. Isn't it grand to think of, head over all things, love the church so much He gave himself for it, and now he's looking forward to.
Time when the church will be presented without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing. And it says, which is His body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all. So much so that Christ and His church are one. Just as my head and my body are one, and the head is to control the movements of the body, so Christ, the head in glory, and His body are looked upon.
One in the scripture he is the church is the fullness of him that filleth All in all. That's the way it is and a happy marriage. A man doesn't feel complete in himself. He feels that his partner that the Lord has given to him is the one who completes him. Isn't it wonderful to think that Christ?
As the head of the body has that which completes him. And no wonder we see such a disruption of things in the world today because Satan is at work to break down everything that's of God and God had a plan which is shown to us in marriage. What is Satan trying to do? Break it all up so that he would spoil that which is a type of this wonderful relationship between Christ and His church.
And any man who's in his proper place in the home looks upon the wife, his partner, as the one who is the completeness of himself.
And he wants to love her and serve her, and she on her part looks up to him as her head. That's God's plan and it works. It's God's way. And what a pattern we have in Christ and his love to His church. What a failing church we have been. Has it changed His love, having loved his own, which were in the world?
He loved them under the end. So here we have the desire of the apostle. The Saints would know these things, that their hearts would be open to know these wonderful things.
As I say again, nothing else will keep us in a world like this. It's so full of attractions and temptations. What'll keep us? We have something better. It's not hard to refuse other things when we have something better.
Now let's turn over to this third chapter and we find the second prayer.
Ephesians chapter 3 and the 14th verse for this 'cause I found my knees under the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named. That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. That she, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breadth and length, and depth, and height, and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge that she might.
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With all the fullness of God now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in US, and to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. Well, here we find Paul bowing his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And his prayer was that the dear Saints at Ephesus.
Might enjoy these things rooted and grounded in love. They might know the love of Christ which passed knowledge. And so it is so important that we enjoy these things. Now let's notice this 15 verse of whom the whole family or I believe the correct translation is every family in heaven and earth is named, that is in the purposes of God.
Christ in manhood is to be the center of the whole new creation scene of glory in heaven.
And in earth is to be the center. And he prayed that all the Saints might enter into this and know the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he said that they would be strengthened by with might, by His Spirit in the inner man. You know, the Spirit of God has been given to us as believers to bring us into the good of these things. It says the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. And so he prayed that they would be.
Strengthened with might in the inner man. And isn't it true with us how much we need this strengthening?
As I say, there's so many things to lead us away, to take us away from the enjoyment of Christ in our souls, that it does take a real energy of faith to be like Moses, who refused those things that were offered because he had what the Scriptures said. He esteemed the reproach of Christ.
Greater riches than the treasures in Egypt because he had respect.
Unto the recompense of the reward.
And then that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith.
No, of course it is true that Christ does dwell in the heart of every believer, but He desired this for them. In a practical sense, we always remember.
Crazy really lives in US. Praise in you, the whole.
Lori and the enjoyment of this, this is what keeps us.
From the things of the world Christ lives in us, we have a new life, and the Spirit of God is the power of that new life that we possess. And then to the chief being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ.
I call attention to this because when he says in this 18th verse, the breadth and length and depth and height is not really speaking there.
Of the love of Christ because we can never comprehend the love of Christ. But what he is praying is that the Saints might know the measure of their blessings. You know, there are many dear Saints that don't know this. They need children of God. They think they can be lost again. You find them trying so hard to get sanctification, trying so hard to get.
Certain things that they think will be necessary to their spiritual life.
And instead of entering into the fact that we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, someone said to a dear Christian man whom I know, do you have the second blessing yet? Said, I don't know what you mean. He said, the Bible tells me that I'm blessed with all spiritual blessings. I'm not just getting the second. They're all mine. Well, isn't it lovely that we should know this?
And perhaps it could use an illustration like this. And just a while ago, we spoke about man who builds a beautiful home or his bride. Well, supposing the time comes when his bride comes to look at this home and when she steps inside the front door, she said, oh, this is such a beautiful home. I'm just satisfied to be inside the front door.
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It's just so beautiful here. Don't bother showing me the rest of the home. I'm just satisfied here.
Feel disappointed.
And if he played with her and she said no, it's just enough for me to know that I'm inside the front door. Well, you know, there's a lot of Christians like that. And they're satisfied to know they're saved. And they don't seem to have a desire to learn the length and breadth and depth and height. That is all they have. Can't you imagine that young man saying, oh, please come. I want you to see through the whole house. You know, I built this for you.
It was because I had my heart, the thought of sharing it with you, if you knew how much you meant to me. And all this is built so we can enjoy it together. Can you imagine the girls saying, I'm just satisfied to be inside the door and you do need Christians like this constantly. He said, oh I know I'm saved. You try to bring before them the truth of the church.
Of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus of all these wonderful things that we know reveal to us in the Word.
And they don't want to go through the length and breadth and depth and height of the house. They don't want to see all the rooms. They just want to know they're saved. Oh, I say to you, God wants you to know it all. He wants you to know how richly you're blessed. He wants you to enter into these unsearchable riches of Christ. Paul counted that his great privilege. He said that I should preach among the Gentiles.
The unsearchable riches of Christ, and even carries a little farther in the 20th of Acts.
Or he's talking to the elders of Ephesus there. And he said, he said, he said, I am free from the blood of all men, for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. He said, I wouldn't be fulfilling my responsibility of God as God's servant if I didn't tell you how richly you're blessed. I don't want to stop at just telling you you're saved. He said, I want you to know how richly.
You're blessed, and it's a great joy to your friends to tell out some of these unsearchable riches of Christ.
Well, he desired that they would comprehend the length and breadth and depth and height and then and to know. So let's speak again of this young man. He's taken his bride to be through a little house. Every room is just the most grand that money could spend to fix it up. Just a beautiful mansion and everything is just the best that money could buy. And when he's all finished.
And I want you to know the love that I have toward you and it's not just the house, it's the love that I have towards you that I want you to enjoy. Now that was the apostles prayer here. He said, I want you to know how richly you're blessed. But he said and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge. So I want you to notice those two things. Sometimes a little hymn is given the hint that it's the length and breadth and depth and height of.
Christ. But in reality, friends, it's the extent of the blessings and the love that provided the blessings that is brought before us here. And it's a love that passes knowledge. The reason it passes knowledge is because human love always must see something in the object to love. It's impossible for us naturally to love a person unless we see something in them to love.
But God loved me when there was nothing in me to love. That's divine love. There was absolutely nothing in me. I was his enemy, an enemy in my mind by wicked works. And he loved me and that's why he says it passes knowledge. Why would he ever love me? Oh, that's what he wants us to know. And it's a love that passes knowledge. It's a love that knows no. And having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them under the end. When did the.
Say that the very night the forsook him and fled. Did that change his love. We sometimes somebody does a mean thing to us and we say I find it hard to love that person after what they did. That's not the way the Lord is active isn't most precious. So his prayer here that we might know that we might know this love that we might enjoy this love that passes knowledge.
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And that she might be filled with all the fullness of God.
It doesn't say that we can contain all the fullness of God, but be filled with it. I might go down here to the Pacific Ocean and take my cup and fill my cup and bring it up and it's filled out of the Pacific Ocean, but I haven't got the Pacific Ocean in my cup. The Lord Jesus, in him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. All you and I can do is fill our little cup, but I tell you, it really fills.
It fills it to overflowing, and so he desired that they would be filled with all the fullness of God. And then miss 20th verse. It's often used in connection with prayer. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in US.
Sometimes we speak of this in connection with answered prayer, but I believe the thought in the verse goes farther than that. And supposing the Lord had come to you and said, what would you like me to do for you?
Would any of us have ever asked that we should be heirs and joint heirs with Christ? That we wouldn't just have a little corner in heaven, but we would be heirs of all that belongs to Christ? Wouldn't we have ever asked that we should be part of his spotless bride?
I don't think any of us would ever have thought of such a thing, but God thought about it and God purposed it and the Lord Jesus did the work to make it possible. He sent down his Holy Spirit to should have brought his love in our hearts. And now he said he's able to carry out this plan. It's more than we can ask or think. It's true. He does answer prayer about what we ask or think. But brethren, when we get to glory, I believe when we get there, we will say.
Certainly never asked for this, and I never thought it was going to be so grand as this. He's able to do it and He's going to carry out His purposes. And then what does this produce in US unto Him? A glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. That is all we can do is praise Him for it. We can't. We can't contribute something to that glory, but we can praise.
We can thank Him, we can give glory to his name, but he that glorious, let him glory in the Lord. And so I hope that this does cause more praise to come forth from our hearts to Him. Unto Him be glory in the church. It could be translated to the ages of ages because we never stop praising. Even when we get the glory, it's going to continue on. Eternity is too short to utter all.
Praise. But down here there should be that glory to Him, that glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Well, may the Lord grant that there will be more praise in our hearts for what He has done. I just want to look briefly at the last chapter, 2, the 6th chapter here.
We read about the Armor of God.
Devil, For you wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places or in the heavenlies. Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that she may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
Stand, therefore, having your loins gird about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness.
And your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all taking the shield of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching there unto it all perseverance and supplication.
For All Saints, well as we mentioned, there is the Apostles prayer that we might know.
Things there is the apostles prayer that we might enjoy them, and then there's God's provision for the conflict and we know how the devil is doing all he possibly can to keep us from the enjoyment of our portion. I don't need to tell you that because if you're saved, you know that. You know that as soon as you go to work in the morning. It just seems that so many things come in. It's like it says in Daniel Chapter 7.
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The enemy's attempt is to wear out the Saints of the Most High, and doesn't he just try to wear you down? Everything that pressures and all. Well, has God made provision? Prayer is a very blessed thing, but there is a conflict, and in this conflict we're told to be strong in the Lord and the power of His might. What is our conflict against?
Well, it says we wrestle not against flesh and blood. You don't go and punch people in the face.
We don't take physical swords and cut people down. Now, that was the Jewish conflict. Ours is a spiritual conflict. But we have a powerful enemy and Satan knows just exactly our weak point and he doesn't want us to enjoy these heavenly things. That's why it says spiritual wickedness in higher in the heavenly places. Satan will do all he possibly can to keep you from enjoying.
Portion up there and if you go out to work in the morning and all that you've got to think about is this earth why then they'll get you down. They'll perhaps tell you oh, it is worthwhile it's too great a conflict and you'll just put a cloud between you and that glory about he doesn't want you to look up. I believe, friends, that that's why in this epistle Satan's called a Prince of the power of the air because just like that airy atmosphere comes between US and the.
And how often the clouds are floating through that area atmosphere and hiding from us the sun. And so Satan is doing all he can surround us with everything so that we won't see how bright our portion is up there so that we won't be enjoying it. And if you go to work and you're not enjoying what's above the sun if you don't do.
What we need to do, get up above those clouds. You know, sometimes you say, oh, the sun is not shining today.
Yes, it's shining. We just need to get above the clouds. It's always shiny. And so this is his prayer, his desire here, that the Saints would realize that there is a real power, the rulers of the darkness of this world. Satan is the God and Prince of this world.
He has religion, the blind people, and he has the whole political system and the pleasure system and everything all arranged but for to take away our hearts from the Lord. And you know it as well as I do. He just got everything and he knows just what's inside there. We still have the flesh within. And so everything's just arranged for this. And we say, how can I meet these pressures? How can I stand it?
The rulers of the darkness of this world, wicked spirits in heavenly places. So we're told to take the whole armor of God. Notice, notice a little bit the provision here stand therefore having your loins gird about the truth. Well, I believe when it speaks of the loins here it means.
Perhaps we could say our bodies, our emotions, our desires.
Are they kept in the loins? Dirt about means that they're under the control and direction of the word of God. We're living in days when people are just casting off restraint. It says in the second Psalm, prophetically, this is what it says. Let us break their bands asunder and castaway their cords from us. That's what the world is saying. Let's forget about all these blue laws and all these old.
Ideas and they're all exploded. We're living in a different age. And so this is what he's saying here. We need to have our loins girded out with truth. Are you ideas of morality and what's proper and right? Are they decided by the opinions? Is that what you think about marriage? Just what people are saying and what passes in the courts of the land when everything is made easier and easier for sin? Is that what you use as your guide or?
Good about the truth you said I want to know what God says about this, not just what opinions are. What does God have to say? So you notice the very first thing is the Lawrence heard about the truth because once Satan has LED us into sin to them, we've lost the enjoyment of the Lord until we get restored. So he's going to do this if he possibly can. And so the loins are to be gird about with truth and then we have on the breastplate of righteousness.
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Say I'm a loving disposition, be careful, he's just going to get your love. Let your love go out like the prophet had to say to King Jehoshaphat, he loved a man that hated the Lord and the prophet came to him. He said, should thou love the ungodly, and should thou help the ungodly and love them that hate the Lord. And he also said.
It also says in James it says Whosoever therefore will be the friend of the world.
Is the enemy of God because this world is an enmity with God and so we love sinners for their salvation. But this is another point that he's Speaking of here. We need the breastplate of righteousness and often you'll we'll say, oh, I love that. Is it righteous? Is it according to God? Can you do it in fellowship with your Lord and Savior? Can you take him along with you in the plane?
We're to have on the breastplate of righteousness. Our affections are to be controlled, In other words, under the control of the claims of divine righteousness. And then your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace everywhere the Christian goes is to bring the peace that the gospel brings. Isn't this beautiful too? So you can go down. Maybe you say everybody in the place where I.
Fighting with one another, Well, isn't it nice to go in with our feet shot with the preparation of the gospel of peace? The Scripture says blessed are the peacemakers, and it's a very lovely thing. As a Christian, we have to stand for truth and holiness. But I'm Speaking of the whole characteristic of the Christian. He is one whose fate is to be shown with the preparation of the gospel of peace. And so people.
In the place where I work that my feet are shot. They know what happens when things go wrong. They probably explode and there's a perhaps a volume of bad words come on. But how do they see with us? Do they see that the peace of God rules in our hearts? Well, our feet are to be shot with a preparation of the gospel of peace. Can't you see how we need this? We have those two prayers, but oh, now we're dealing with realities. We just have to go out and.
Kind of a world and God hasn't sent us out without the armor. It says in the Bible no man goeth to warfare at his own charges. What did you think of a country who sent out their their soldiers unarmed and unprepared? God doesn't do that. He has provided the armor so that we would be able to stand. And then it says above all, taking the shield of faith.
Where is wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked?
All how we need the shield of faith. Isn't it true Satan does what he can to get us doubting? I'm just talking to a Christian the other day and he said he said I get so overwatched sometimes. Satan tries so hard to put doubts in my mind. He said I want to speak for the Lord and he said he just so succeeded in getting me into doubting that I can't even be a testimony for the Lord.
Whenever you find any attempt.
To put unbelief in your mind, remember you need the shield of faith. Satan. How did he get Adam and Eve to partake of that forbidden fruit? He did just that. He caught them with a shield of face down. And if they had believed what God said, they wouldn't have taken of that fruit. But they believe what Satan said instead.
What Satan is dead? And remember, a little track perhaps some have seen. Why do I believe in Christ?
And it begins like this, Why is a man an infidel? And the answer was because he believes in himself. And the next one was, why is a man a Christian? And the answer was because he believes in Christ and not in himself. Well, friends, I can tell you that's why I'm a Christian, because I don't believe in myself. People. Peter believed in himself and he had a bad fall.
The shield of faith was down. Don't believe in yourself.
He that trusteth in his own heart is approval. Don't believe in yourself. But in this grand we have the shield of faith that quenches all fiery darts. When Satan comes with a doubt, just turn to him and say, I believe what God said. And sometimes it may be hard because he'll start and reason with you. And you know Satan can beat you in an argument anytime. You can beat me at an argument, but he can never, never.
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The Word of God, the Lord Jesus himself didn't argue with Satan. He answered it is written and every temptation that Satan brought, it is written. And when temptations comes, temptation comes to you, lift the shield of faith, answer it by the word of God, so that says, and take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit. I believe the helmet of salvation.
The helmet, as we know, is for the head and that means what are we thinking about? What are we thinking about? We can get our let our minds run to the end of the earth. The Bible says gird up the lines of your mind, be sober. And you have to do it often in a world like this, don't you? There's so many suggestions constantly in the world. If the gird up the loins of your mind, you need to have a helmet on so that you just don't let your mind run everywhere.
Because if we let our minds run everywhere.
Now then the enemy can work through the mind. The God of this world lines the mind, puts evil thoughts into the mind. So they were to have the helmet of salvation. We're waiting for the Lord to come. Another passage says for in helmet the hope of salvation. Then we're going to be delivered. He's coming soon and then.
The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Well, that's the only offensive weapon. Notice that the other ones are all for our protection.
But this one is an offensive weapon, and it's good for us to remember, we were saying.
The Lord Jesus. Jesus used one offensive weapon. He used the word of God.
Don't use human arguments. Don't say, well, I think this is wrong or I think this is right.
Acquaint yourself with the word of God, and if you want to repel temptation, an evil doctrine and things that come If someone asks you why we need as we do, someone asks you why you don't do certain things. I don't say, well, I just think that I shouldn't do that. Try to show them the word of God.
It's the Word of God that settles it. And if you and I have the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, by then we have that which Satan cannot stand. We have that which is, as it says, another place, mighty through God to the pulling down a stronghold. Oh, what a weapon it is. And we need to acquaint ourselves with God's Word so that we can answer these temptations when they come.
And then again we have dependence, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit. I'm watching thereunto with all perseveres, perseverance and supplication for All Saints. Isn't this beautiful? We pray constantly, asking the Lord to help us, and then we pray for others.
Because we need one another's prayers, Paul didn't say. Well, I'm a devout Christian. You don't need to pray for me. I'll pray for you.
Now he pulled, and over again he asked the Saints to pray for him. We need one another's prayers. And so we're not going to ask prayer for help for ourselves, but for others. There are others in conflict too. Maybe there's friends you know, and they're in special conflict. They're meeting some onslaught of the enemy. Don't only pray for yourself, pray for them.
To Paul prayed for the Saints, and we do need one another's prayers.
Well, it's often been said there's no armor for the back in all this armor that's provided, there was an armor for the front, but none for the back. God doesn't intend us to turn our back to the enemy. We're we're to stand and then when he commands, we go forward, but never to turn our back to the enemy. Well, may the Lord grant that the desires of the apostle for the Ephesians Saints would be answered in our.
We might know more of how richly we're blessed, we might enjoy our portion, we might enjoy His love, and that we might put on the whole armor of God. We surely need it rather than these days, because the Lord is coming soon, and surely we would desire that. We would be a watching and waiting people, waiting for Him, ready, as it says, to open the door immediately.
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When he comes, if I'm doing something and someone comes the door and I think, well maybe they wouldn't like that, then I don't want to answer the door.
Right at once, because I don't want them to see that, but it says that when he opens, when he knocks, they would open to him immediately. May we be living in such a way that we can at any moment of the day or night, say, Lord Jesus come.
Ephesians 4
Address—R. Thonney
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.
Before reading here, perhaps it would be better to go back to the first chapter a few minutes just to brief ourselves as to the.
Theme of the book of Ephesians I think the most of us know pretty well.
The heavenly position of the Church that is brought out in Ephesians.
But I'd just like to run through chapter one just briefly again to refresh our memories.
I only feel my own soul, brethren, the need of keeping it fresh.
And its wonderful power, the truth of chapter one before my soul, because it's only in the way, it's only in the measure that I enjoy this precious truth in my heart and my soul that it's going to have practical effect on my life.
It is really impressed itself upon me as I go down to South America.
And if any of you ever were led to come down, you'd notice that I think too, brethren down there are not as well instructed as the brethren generally are up here in the States. But what little they do know, they do enjoy tremendously in their souls. And it's been really noticeable how.
That the enjoyment of these precious truths really is what affects our life.
And especially for for us who are younger in the faith.
I really feel the importance of not only understanding these things.
But to get them right down into the soul and to enjoy them there and let them sink into our lives, let them have their practical effect.
I just feel sometimes when I see younger brethren.
They probably can explain these scriptures well, but you do not see the practical effects in their lives. Why?
Why? Oh, it's from lack of getting it into the soul and enjoying it there. This is the power of separation into the Lord. It's the enjoyment of those things that God is so richly blessed us with. And until we enjoy those things in our souls, we're not going to. There's not going to be the power in spiritual walk.
You know, it seems like in these countries, United States and Canada, the emphasis from the very start as we begin school is.
On the mind to use your head, think it out for yourself.
This is stressed and it's even to abandon old thoughts that just to use your head. It's stressed and this is the main theme that guides this world is to think it out for yourself. If you don't understand it, don't accept it until you understand it. And so it makes man's mind the measure of everything that is accepted.
Well, that may be all right in scientific circles and in business circles.
It's all right. God has given us a head to use, but when we come to spiritual matters, these things that we have written in this book are written for the heart. They're not written merely for the head. This book is written for our hearts. And if we don't get it into our souls in enjoyment, it's not going to have any practical effect in our lives. And I feel in the measure that we do not live in it.
Practically, that we're really losing it, brethren, it's true.
We don't live in it. If we don't enjoy it in our souls, we're losing it.
And so we'll just briefly go over, I'm not going to read chapter one, but let's just notice a few of the tremendous spiritual blessings.
That we have been given in Christ in verse 3.
The apostle says that we have been blessed in God is blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
All spiritual blessing is ours.
You know, this is a tremendous fact to think about and to enjoy in our souls. But, you know, a verse like this, if we're geared to this world's thinking, has not much attraction to us. This world, again, is geared to think of profit and loss in a material sense. It's all materialism that guides the society that we live in.
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We don't have to be affected by it, but I must admit for myself.
Often I am too much. I am affected by this way of thinking, profit and loss when the business must be running this basis or we couldn't continue in the business. But when we come to the Word of God, we have to have our eyes open in a different direction. The eyes of our faith sharpened. All our blessing now is spiritual.
One believer may have more material possessions than another believer. That does not mean he has more blessings.
No, these are merely the things that God may place in our hands.
Are merely mercies that God has given to us to use for him in this world a brief time in view of eternity. That's all those material things are. They're not blessings. There's a common thought, and it's preached largely and christened them today, that a person who has a lot of material things has been blessed especially by God. That is not in the scope of the New Testament where we have the church mentioned.
No, that is the scope of what we have in the Old Testament, where Israel is mentioned.
Had their blessings in the earth, but all our blessings are spiritual. Can't see them. I can't show you. If you'd ask me, can you show me the forgiveness of sins that we have mentioned in verse seven? I couldn't show you a piece of paper that says my sins are forgiven. No, I could show you the word of God. That's all. But it's something that's spiritual. These blessings are spiritual. They're not seen.
And so if we're going to be geared by what controls this world, we're not going to have appreciation for the vast spiritual wealth.
There is in this chapter, well that's verse three. And then in verse four we have that we were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world. Verse five, that we were predestinated and to the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to himself. Verse six, we are accepted in the beloved verse seven, we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins.
Verse eight. God is abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence.
Verse nine is made known unto us the mystery of His will, and what is that will? Verse 10 is that in the dispensation of the fullness of time all things might be gathered under the headship of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in verse 11 we in Him have an inheritance.
Oh, how wonderful, the vast panorama of spiritual blessing that we have here.
Have we stopped to let it sink down into our souls? What is ours? We are the wealthiest people on the face of the earth. We may not appear so materially, but we are. And we ought to let it show that we're the wealthiest people, least spiritually on the face of this earth. Maybe I've told some of you.
Have one experience that I really enjoyed in the Dominican Republic. It's in the Caribbean Sea.
There is probably 20 assemblies in the Dominican Republic, but in this one assembly, little assembly called Michis, there's a dear old brother.
He is poor, very poor. His house at the time I visited him last consisted of a few sticks stuck in the ground in the form of a rectangle, leaving space for the doors of course, and the roof was made of banana leaves. So when it rained.
The water came through quite freely and as we sat down he invited us to a meal in his house, so we sat down at his table.
Table was rickety, and the bench, you had to be careful how you sat on it so it didn't go through to the floor. But as he sat down, the dear old brother got out his Bible. You know, he didn't have much to talk about materially. He couldn't talk too much about his house. There wasn't much else to talk about. He couldn't talk about his possessions, he was too poor. But he took this Bible in the open and began to enjoy.
Some of the rich blessing in.
Christ, that we have is our present possession.
And I tell you, a brother, in my soul, I felt as one of the richest experiences I've had, one of the poorest homes that I've been in face of the earth, but one of the richest experiences spiritually. Oh, do we know what this is, this richness to enjoy these things? These things are ours. Do we enjoy them? God has given to us.
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To enjoy right now or what is our life consist of? What is our day-to-day tone of light?
It's driving certain directions. Oh, that we might stop a little. Enjoy that rich wealth of spiritual blessing that is ours in Christ.
And then on later in this same chapter, we have the Spirit of God.
Who is the power, the earnest of our inheritance? God has said. I want you to be so sure that the whole inheritance is yours. I'm going to give you an earnest right now.
I am going to give you the my Spirit. The Spirit of God dwells in US.
Is the earnest of an our inheritance. And so this is the vast wealth of spiritual blessing that we've been brought into. This is Our Calling.
Now let's go over to Chapter 4 and we get the setting, the right setting for Chapter 4.
Starting with verse one, we'll read.
Few verses. I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith you are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit.
Even as ye are called in one hope of your calling.
One Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. But unto every one of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of?
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might feel all things. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some pastors, and.
Some evangelists and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God.
And to a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, carried about with every wind of doctrine by the slight of men, and cunning craftiness whereby they lie and wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.
From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply at, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love.
Well, like we were mentioning.
Chapter one, we could say chapter 22 is the setting for verse one here when the Apostle Paul speaks of the vocation wherewith we are called. This is Our Calling vocation or calling the same word. This is Our Calling, our heavenly calling. This is the place that is ours right now. And you know a vocation or a calling is something that should occupy us.
Right now.
You know, if a person is called to be an engineer, in a natural sense, that's his calling. He occupies himself in that. If this is Our Calling, then our heavenly calling is to be occupied in it too. It's not something that we think about just when we come to meetings. It's not something that we think about just when we sit down at night for a Bible reading.
Or in the morning? No, it's something to be occupied about.
Something that should occupy us all our day long. I must confess, brethren, that I'm no example of this. And oftentimes other things come in to occupy me, other motives. But this is what should occupy us. And I say, if we are in the enjoyment of the rich heritage of spiritual blessing, there is in chapter one.
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Then this exhortation will take its effect.
If we're not, we could stand here all night long till 12 midnight and later and exhort, please leave off worldly ways. Please don't do this. And that would have absolutely no effect. Why? Because there's no enjoyment, positive enjoyment in the soul of those spiritual blessings that are ours, often given the illustration.
Simple illustration to the brethren in South America. Supposing we have a dog up here.
And this dog has a hold of a bone.
We like to pull that bone out of that dogs mouth, but that dog wants to keep its bone and he's going to fight for it.
How can we get that born away? Well, if we'd have up here a nice piece of juicy meat, throw that down on the floor, let the dog leave the bone, then sure, simple. Why? Because he's got something so much better. And this is the power of the truth, of the truth and the blessing in chapter one. If we really enjoy it in our souls, well, it's going to have power in our lives. Those things the world offers.
Are so poor.
They don't satisfy, but if we don't have the enjoyment of these things in chapter one of Ephesians, Satan has a multitude of other things to offer us and we're going to fall one or the other. We're going to fall for what he has to offer us. And so this is the spiritual battle that there is going on today and tonight even.
In this room there is a spiritual warfare going on right now.
Oh we don't see anything, but God has his angels and Satan has his demons as well. And sometimes it's by 1 means, sometimes it's by another that God that Satan tries to take away the enjoyment of these things. I still remember enjoying Ephesians one in the Dominican Republic.
In little town Rio San Juan one time.
Really enjoying with the dear breath in there.
And.
We'd enjoyed it down in Bolivia a few weeks previously, and I'd noticed how that Satan, directly after a meeting, would put something into somebody's life to try to take away the enjoyment. So I just mentioned what had happened in Bolivia, and I said to him, brethren, I know if we're really enjoying this, Satan is going to do something to try to take away the enjoyment.
After the meeting we went home. I was staying with the dear brother Santiago Caravallo. His name was and.
Dear brother, he was single at that time and he took me home. I was single too, and we slept in his house. I slept in his house and about 4:00 in the morning somebody come and pounded on his wall.
Said Santiago. Get up, get up. They robbed your store.
So said OK, I'll be up.
He got up out of bed and I thought he'd pull on his pants real fast and running off, but no. Before he even opened the door he got down on his knees and spent a little time in prayer and in LA to the store, still dark. I slipped on a few hours and about 7:00 he came back to the door.
I'm awful sorry. I had heard by that time that they had gotten away with maybe about $25.00 worth of things, which is quite a loss for those people.
And I said I'm awful sorry to hear about that lost Santiago, he said.
And he said to me, oh, brother, he says, when I think of that vast amount of spiritual blessing that we were enjoying last night, he says, that's not anything, that's nothing. That's nothing. Satan had tried to take away his enjoyment by occupying with his earthly material things. He had failed. And so I continued to enjoy. And that brother continues to grow on his soul. Oh, how astute Satan is to do this. In one way or another, he's going to do it if we're enjoying in our souls.
Be assured that he's going to do something. Try to try to take away your spiritual enjoyment.
Well, in verse one Paul addresses himself. He says I therefore the prisoner of the Lord. Paul was in prison when he wrote this epistle. He was a prisoner might say, of Rome, but he doesn't say that. He says I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.
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Oh, do we know what this is? To be prisoners of the Lord? Oh, he didn't look at Rome.
No, he looked at the Lord. The Lord had allowed what had come into his life. He had allowed every circumstance that he was.
Where he was at that time, it allowed everything and he looked at himself as a prisoner of love. Oh brethren, a prisoner cannot go about as he likes. He's at the charge of another and that other has control over him. Do we know what this means? We are not set free from sin and Satan to do what we like, what what seems good to us.
We're at the orders of another of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are prisoners of His. And if we haven't learned this truth, being prisoners of the Lord, being at His orders, then there won't be much enjoyment of these spiritual blessings that He's given for us to enjoy.
All to let his.
Love captivate our souls, brethren. This is what's going to have effect in our lives.
This is what's going to will draw us after him. It's not laying down rules and regulations. No, that will never do. It's the heart that needs to be affected. And when the heart is captivated with the love of Christ, then we're prisoners, prisoners of love. And so Paul says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you.
That you walk worthy of the location where with your call.
Suppose we should say, too, that the world has no use for a man who has enjoyment of heavenly things. No, they want a person who will dedicate themselves to material things, a company. They're looking for a good man. They want him to dedicate all his power and his strength to the forwarding of that business.
And you can understand their point from an earthly point of view.
And all it really sometimes burdens me a bit rather than I speak frankly, I trust.
In the Lord I speak that see so many dear young people who are gifted, but they're using all their talents, their gift, their strength is for some worldly prosperity.
And all is going to be wiped away one day very soon.
Nothing to remain.
What are your energies dedicated to? Not saying that you can't occupy in some occupation for the Lord. We ought to occupy till He comes, but oh, let it be for the Lord. Let her object be not a job or anything else. Be here below, be to please, to honor, to glorify the Lord Jesus.
And so we're exhorted to walk worthy of this vocation. We have such a high, a heavenly calling.
How isn't it worthy? Isn't it worthy of God that we walk? Worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called?
Supposing the president of the United States wanted to adopt me into his family. And let's say he did it.
There would be a way to walk worthy of being the son of a president of the president of the United States. I couldn't just walk the way I would like. I just couldn't go anywhere I'd like. No, I have to reflect. I have to remember always that I bear the honor of the President of the United States being his son now that we are sons of God that high.
We ought to walk in all the dignity that becomes us as the children of God, not in pride, but in dignity, because the name of the Lord Jesus Christ is placed upon us. We bear that name, bear it worthily in this world.
And then in verse two, he says the way it should be done, with all worldliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. Oh, here's a verse that is really spoken to my own heart in many ways. We have quite a few words here we want to stop and meditate on a bit. That first word is loneliness. Second one is meekness.
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What are loneliness and meekness?
Loneliness is not giving offense and meekness is not taking offense in the Old Testament.
Moses was called the meekest man in all the earth. And if you look up the place, I think it's in Numbers, it's the place where Aaron and Miriam were complaining of Moses. And if you notice, Moses never answered a word in his defense. He didn't get offended by their complaints against him. The only thing Moses did was pray for his sister that had been smitten with leprosy.
So this is meekness I really feel In that same chapter, it says that he was the meekest man in all the earth. How important these two things are. Then if we're going to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called, we're called in one body, We're to reflect that wonderful truth now walking together. But all there's things in my brother that irritate me, and there's things in me that maybe irritate you.
And it takes real self-discipline. First of all, there's going to be discipline in the assembly. There is discipline in the assembly and it ought to be carried out. But the first discipline that ought to be carried out is self-discipline. And here it is.
All lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. This takes much grace sometimes, but oh how important to do it.
If we're going to manifest that, we are one body in Christ.
This should be something that is evident as souls come in and witness are gathering together in the presence of the Lord Jesus. It should be evident that we are one body in Christ. But if these characteristics are absence.
It will not be evident. And so there's need of loneliness, not giving offense, meekness, not taking offense. Sometimes we're lowly. Maybe we don't give offense, but we take offense very easily. And maybe we're the other way around. Maybe we don't take offense, but we give offense.
I have to confess that it softened the case with myself that oh, how important to recognize this.
And then it says with long-suffering. long-suffering.
Oh, how important this word.
How long-suffering our God has been with us?
How long has He waited for some of us till we came to Him as poor lost sinners? And then how long-suffering has He been until we learn to walk in obedience, and how long-suffering He still is with many of our ways?
Now it doesn't become us to be long-suffering one with another as well.
Forbearing one another in law, forbearance, oh, that's real self-discipline to be able to forbear. But it says in love and that's an important thing. Think to see that this is divine love. It's not natural love that's spoken of here, natural love.
Or I should say, maybe the love that is expressed in this world is.
You be lovable to me and all of you, but if you do something wrong to me, I may have to return that wrong, maybe a little bit worse so you'll feel it.
Get my vengeance on you. That's the love of this world. But the love of God is different love.
It's love that loves because God is love. That's the only reason.
It doesn't love because the person is lovable.
Forbearing one another in law, forbearance, oh, that's real self-discipline to be able to forbear. But it says in love and that's an important thing. Think to see that this is divine love. It's not natural love that's spoken of here, natural love.
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Or I should say, maybe the love that is expressed in this world is.
You be lovable to me and all of you, but if you do something wrong to me, I may have to return that wrong, maybe a little bit worse so you'll feel it.
Get my vengeance on you. That's the love of this world. But the love of God is different love.
It's love that loves because God is love. That's the only reason.
It doesn't love because the person is lovable. Is there something that irritates you and your brother?
Is there something there that irritates you?
Oh, let's let this love be active. Be active. It's a love that loves with self sacrifice.
The love of this world doesn't know sacrifice, no, as long as it receives, it will love. But the love of God is love that gives. Where God so loved the world that he gave the Son of love, God loved me and gave himself for me. It's a love that gives freely of itself.
And then we have that verse three, such an important verse two, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. How important this is in our going on together as the people of God, as the body of Christ expressing unity or endeavoring to keep, says the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace.
The Spirit of God is called also the Holy Spirit.
Called the Spirit of truth in another place a spirit of life. And so the unity of the Spirit, seeking to keep the unity of the Spirit. We are all bound together by 1 Spirit. It says in First Corinthians chapter 12, Ye are all baptized into one body.
That Spirit, the Holy Spirit of God that came down on Pentecost in Acts 2.
Took those believers, about 120 of them they were before, and baptized them, made them into one body.
And then ever since that time, God has been adding Every time a person receives the Lord Jesus as his Savior, God seals that soul with his spirit, and by that spirit, that person is also united to the body of Christ. Now we are exhorted in this exhortation to keep the unity.
Endeavour. That implies something that needs to be there needs to be energy.
Endeavor to keep it. It's not something that's going to easily slide into place. No, there's going to have to be an endeavor on our part to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. How important this is to keep unity of the Spirit.
Then verse four is something that is a fact we don't really have. In verse 4-5 and six exhortation. The Lord Paul is bringing before us things that are factual. Fact says one, there is one body and one spirit, even as you are called in one hope of your calling.
One Lord, 1 faith, one baptism.
One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all, I think.
You've all seen and probably heard of the three circles, one within another. Verse four we have the small inner circle. Verse five, we have a larger circle that includes all profession. And verse six, one God and Father of all, who's above all and through all we have the whole world.
Included.
And so in that circle, verse six, we have unbelievers. It's something that God recognizes. Even though a man may say he's an atheist, he is not. He doesn't believe in God at all. Still in all, he has one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all.
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He is still responsible to God.
But in that verse five, we have the circle of Christian profession. I think it's important for us to distinguish these circles. God distinguishes them. As he looks down at this world, He sees these three circles. And if we can get these three circles clear in our own mind, it's going to help in our understanding also the Word of God. So in verse five we have the 2nd circle that includes all profession.
There may be many who are not true believers at heart, but they have taken the name of Christ, they have been baptized. They are in this circle of Christian profession.
One Lord, 1 faith, one baptism. They own the Lordship of Christ, in an outward sense at least.
By that one baptism they professed the one faith. And this is important to understand, I think in connection with baptism. Baptism is identification with the Lord Jesus Christ. I think it's important we understand that baptism is not identification with some denomination or with some group of Christians. Baptism is identification with the Lord Jesus Christ.
A person who is not baptized is not identified in this.
Public, outward sense, yet with the Lord Jesus.
Like it says in First Corinthians chapter 10, Paul speaks of all our fathers were baptized in the cloud and the sea and to Moses.
What did he mean there? He means simply that before the children of Israel left the land of Egypt and crossed the Red Sea.
As they came to that Red Sea, they were still in some sense in Satan, Pharaoh's territory, where Pharaoh had authority.
And as they looked around and saw the hosts of Pharaoh coming after them, they were scared. If you would ask them, are you saved? I'm sure they would say no. They were saved from the wrath of God on the first born through the blood of the lamb in Egypt. But in the fullest sense of the word, they weren't in the enjoyment of that. It was only when they went into that Red Sea and came up on the other side and looked back and saw their enemies dead on.
Seashore that they could say in the fullest sense of the word, were saved. We're saved. And then the song of redemption came from their lips. But it says there that they were baptized into Moses so that when they got to the other side of the Red Sea, they were no longer identified with Pharaoh, no longer in Egypt's terrain.
They were no longer to own Pharaoh's authority. Now they own the authority of Moses.
And so a person who says he's a believer but doesn't want to be baptized is an effect saying I want to stay in the sphere where Satan is still God and Prince. That's an effect. What he's saying, although there are many we have to bear with them that are ignorant as to what the true signification of baptism is. But when a person is baptized, he says in effect.
I no longer recognize the authority of Satan.
In this world, I recognize the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've taken that position outwardly. And so this is verse five. There is one one Lord, 1 faith, one Baptist. By baptism, a person enters that 2nd circle.
But the fourth verse is the vital circle. Only those who have truly in their hearts receive the Lord Jesus as their Savior have been sealed by the Spirit of God, as it says in chapter one, and by that same Spirit united in one body are included in verse 4 where it says one there is one body and one spirit even as you're calling 1 hope of your calling.
Now let's go on to verse 7.
Rear seven, it says, But unto everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure.
Of the gift of Christ. And so we have in connection with the body of Christ, the gifts mentioned.
I think this is really important to understand and it's been a bit of a help to me to see that.
Wherever.
The gifts are mentioned. It is in connection with the body of Christ. In First Corinthians 12, we have the gifts mentioned. It's in connection with the body of Christ in first. In Romans 12, we have the gifts mentioned. It's in connection with the body of Christ. It's mentioned right there if you notice.
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And.
If we were speaking, if we had time tonight, we could speak of another.
Sphere another way, the church is looked at as the House of God, and in connection with the House of God we have offices, if we might say that.
Have elders, bishops and deacons, those who care in the assembly and the local assembly for the spiritual affairs of the brethren, and those who care for the material matters in the assembly.
The bishops and the deacons were the elders that we might say those that have oversight. We don't have official elders today because we don't have apostles to appoint them. But I think we can recognize some who are leaders who seek to be.
Guide in a spiritual sense amongst the people of God in our local assemblies.
And so it it's good to distinguish whenever you're Speaking of bishops and deacons, it's more in connection with order in the House of God, those God has put there to maintain order, but in connection with the body of Christ, we have the gifts mentioned. And so here in verse seven, it says unto every one of us is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
You know.
For a long time I felt as a young person.
I saw the brethren who seemed to have a real gift, maybe in preaching the gospel, maybe in teaching the Word or in pastoring, said, oh, it mustn't be nice to have a gift like that. And you know, never came to me that I ought to be exercising my own soul. The Scripture says, like in verse seven, that every one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
Some may have a greater measure than another, but every one of us who is a member of the body of Christ has a gift.
Have we been exercised about it? Oh, I think this is so important as members of the body of Christ that we be exercised.
When we come together.
In our meetings to be exercised and speak especially to the younger brethren sometimes.
It seems, and I have to confess, I had the same thought.
To for a long time I came to meeting. I had it almost settled in my mind. Well, I'm just going to sit down and and listen. There was little exercise in my own soul as to being a vessel ready for the Lord's use if you wanted to use me. And I think we all ought to come in that attitude to the meetings. I want to be ready for the Lord's use if He wants to use me in this meeting.
Where do we come down and sit down, clunk ourselves down in a chair and say, well, the older brother, they're going to take care of the whole meeting? And we just sit there kind of dead. You know, that has a deadening effect on the whole meeting. And I really feel even this applies to the sisters. The sisters, according to the Scriptures, cannot take.
Apart and lead in the assembly. They cannot speak in the assembly according to 1St Corinthians 14. But if they come with a real exercise in their souls to be an exercise before the Lord in prayer, perhaps oh how that lifts the tone of the assembly. And you know, in a body, if I'm going to split my body in two and say this side over here is going to be active and this side is not going to be active.
Well, I'm not going to even be able to get out of bed. I'm not going to be able to activate and you know.
If there is that type of attitude when they come together in our meetings, then there's going to be a deadening effect. No, there needs to be an exercise in the part of all.
To be ready for the Lord's use. He is the head. He will command. There's no brother that's going to say you do this, you do that. No, He must command. He must. He's the one that gives the gift, the Lord Jesus. And every one of us has a gift. Every one of us has a gift. Have we stopped to think of that? Are we using our gift?
Oh, I feel there's much gift amongst his brethren that's not being used.
It's being hidden in the Earth.
And all we need to be stirred up. Paul had to exhort Timothy, I exhort you there. Excuse me, I'll have to read it.
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I'll just read it, you don't have to turn to it.
Wherefore I put thee in remembrance, that thou stir up the gift of God that is in thee by the putting on my hands. Timothy had a gift, but he must have been a timid person, and Paul had to exhort him to stir up that gift. Or if we have a gift, we're not exercised in the Lord's presence as we come together.
I say tonight, let's stir up that gift that God has given it. Let's use it. Let's make ourselves ready for the masters use when we come here together as a an assembly.
And then he will drop on down because our time is going to verse 11. We have the gifts mentioned.
He gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. We have 5 gifts mentioned here.
In the first two apostles and prophets, I'd like to read a verse in chapter 2 That clarifies their position.
Chapter 2 of Ephesians, verse 20.
Maybe we should read verse 19 to make the connection.
Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the household of God.
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone.
So here it speaks of the the same that we have the 1St 2 gifts in verse 11 of chapter four. We have in this verse Ephesians 220. They are the foundation. They have laid the foundation. Paul says in chapter three of first Corinthians I have laid the foundation and another.
Bill there on and so the apostles and prophets and the Scriptures, they have left us.
Have left the foundation work for the church. All building that is done should be built on the revelation that they have left us, especially the apostle Paul. This is really important, I feel because.
Sometimes there is the tendency and I think we need to keep everything in its scope. I want to say this so I won't be misunderstood, but.
I feel sometimes there's a tendency to go to the Old Testament to take scriptures, to apply directly to the church.
The Old Testament is not the writings of the apostles and prophets that we have here. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and His profitable. So the Old Testament is profitable. We cannot lay it aside. It's profitable and we ought to read it, but it doesn't apply to the church. It applies more directly to Israel. We can take principles that are found in the Old Testament and look at them in the light of.
New Testament principles of the church and we'll get light on New Testament principles and sometimes how we should act, but it's important that we realize that the church is not based on in Old Testament truth. Old Testament speaks majorly of Israel and earthly people who had earthly purposes and designs down here in this world.
That the New Testament is the Church, a heavenly body, and so the apostles and prophets the 1St 2 gifts that God has given.
Have laid the foundation and once the foundation has been laid, you know any of you who are builders, there's some builders here tonight.
Once you put the foundation, you don't go start and put in the foundation again. No, that's done. You go on with the rest of the building. And so the rest of the verse 11 speaks of three more gifts that we have today. The 1St 2 apostles and prophets we do not have today in the sense of apostles and prophets we do have.
Prophecy in Romans 12 speaking unto men to edification, exhortation and comfort, but not in the sense.
Of prophets here, Prophets here were those who lay the foundation of the church. They're gone now. They don't have them anymore. They've left us the foundation work and were to build on that foundation. But the three that we still have are the evangelists.
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Pastors and teachers, evangelists bring the material to the assembly. Pastors and teachers build that material in. And so the building continues to go on. And how important these three gifts are, the evangelists.
You know, we lose a desire to take the gospel to the last. I fear you're going to get out of focus. In our souls. There is a tendency sometimes I really feel.
To lose that focus that love of God has for lost souls. Timothy doesn't say it was an evangelist. Paul commanded him to do the work of an evangelist. Well, some of us may be evangelists here. Others, more of us than not, probably aren't evangelists. But we can all do the work of an evangelist. It's just given a tract. But not to lose that love for souls.
I heard a statement recently that a bit.
I trust the brother said it in in a right way, but I feel feel we have to be careful, he said. The trooper, our true purpose here today is not the gospel, it's the truth of the one body and manifesting that truth.
And I just fear rather than that we need to keep the truth in its focus. We cannot divide the truth of the gospel from the truth of gathering to the Lord's name.
It's one glorious whole centered in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, and so we can't lose the focus on the truth in that way. I really feel it's important that we have an active and ardent interest towards souls in the gospel.
And then the evangelist goes out to bring in the material and brings them to the assembly. This is important too. And then those patent, the teachers, pastors and teachers are the ones that build into the assembly. How important to have these pastors and teachers, all the work of a pastor. How important it is, brethren, to go after lost sheep, to bring them back.
To seek to show them their place in the assembly assembly where they can be fruitful.
And active for the Lord's glory and for the profit of other members of the body of Christ.
And the teachers are to teach us in the assembly. The assembly does not teach. It is taught by the gifts that God gives in the assembly.
And so that's important. It's not The church does not teach.
The Church is the pillar and ground of the truth, where the truth ought to be maintained, but the assembly is taught by teachers given of Christ.
And then in verse 12 on we find the purpose of all these gifts that Christ has given.
For the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God, and to a perfect man.
Unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, God has no other measure, no other standard than this, the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. We do not have to lower our standards because of the ruin that we that surrounds us to day. And let us know that there is tremendous ruin and let us feel that we too are part of the ruin. We're not just.
Some faithful 1 standing out here in the middle. We're part of the ruin too. Let us feel it.
But let us remember that God hasn't lowered His standards. Those same standards apply today just as much as they ever did.
Verse 14, That we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. Oh, there's so many winds of doctrine today, brethren, how important to let these gifts be active, to put ourselves at the Lord's disposal so that.
There will be in the measure that the Lord gives us the ministry in the assembly, so that souls will not be going listening to one wind of doctrine, another wind of doctrine.
These gifts are given that we be no more children carried about with every wind of doctrine. There are dangerous doctrines today floating around and christening them. The charismatic movement is a is a powerful wind that's blowing and it's sweeping many that don't even want to go along with it, sweeping them right in if we're not founded in the truth of the that the apostles and prophets have left us the doctrine of the apostles as it says in Acts.
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We're apartment to be carried away with these winds of doctrine.
But the purpose and the supreme purpose that I wanted to really get to tonight is verse 15. But speaking the truth in love may grow up into him in all things which is the head even Christ. This is the purpose of supreme purpose of all ministry is to direct to Christ. He is the head you know sometimes God uses.
Some person, perhaps in our salvation he used some person. Person.
Perhaps in our spiritual life to encourage us on in the Lord's things, He's used some brother who has a real gift. And God forbid that we should despise any brother. But let us remember, brethren, that all ministry is to direct to Christ, is to make us to grow up to Christ. And sometimes there's a tendency to be looking to one brother. Problems arise in the assembly.
Immediately take counsel with one brother, another brother, another brother and we OFT times get more confused.
No, the purpose of true ministry is to make us to grow up into Christ, to be looking to Him. How important that if souls come in through our meetings that they have that sense that there is one in the midst.
And that, that one is the one that is looked to in all our activity as members of the body of Christ in part.
Philippians 3:8
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Philippians, chapter 3, verse 8. J doubtless might count all things, but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things in Duke Compton. But done that I may win Christ, and be found in him not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, for that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God my faith.
That I may know him in the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.
If by any means I might attain under the resurrection of the dead.
Not as I had already attained either were already perfect, but I follow after.
If that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.
Rather not counting up myself to have apprehended but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching present to those things which are before I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
That of therefore as many as be perfect to be thus minded.
And if in anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you nevertheless.
You have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing, brethren. We follow it together of me and mark that much walks towards you have us for an example for many walk of whom I've told you often, and I'll tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ.
Who's ended destruction, Whose God is our belly, and whose glory is in their shame? Who mind earthly things?
For our conversation is in heaven, for whence also we look for the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Those were changed our vile bodies, that it may be fashioned like unto its glorious body, according to their working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto himself. To me important to notice that the things that all counted lost are what men would speak of as good things. When you read verses 5 and six, which we had this morning and.
It's a standing amongst men which is rated.
Highly and even pertain to a God-given religion.
Another thing that seems to me interesting to notice, the Bible is so interesting that Saul of the Old Testament and Soul of the New Testament.
Some similar things about them.
They were both of the tribe of Benjamin in one way or another. Both were head and shoulders above the rest.
So the Old Testament was that way physically. Saul of the New Testament in his religious character, head and shoulders, they were chosen. Men saw of the Old Testament was the People's Choice, a choice man in the flesh.
But how did Saul of the Old Testament turn out?
Could he produce for God?
Well, his end was just dreadful.
But Saul of the New Testament with all that?
Marvelous standing in the religion of that day, he met Christ and it just changed everything. It even changed his name. So I understand means ask, perhaps even ask of God like Samuel, that is Saul of the Old Testament was asked by the people. So the New Testament seems to me was asked by God himself.
But he had to learn that that high standing was for nothing and he had to have his name changed to Paul, which means little.
What a lesson it is for us that all men think of as good, even in a religious way. Cannot produce for God. It's Christ and Christ alone.
Progressing this too, because in the seventh verse he says.
Those I counted lost for Christ, but then in the eighth verse when he speaks of the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, then he says I've suffered the loss of all things and do count them, but done wasn't something worthwhile that he counted that he had given up, but things that were actually abhorrent to him now.
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To think that he would want to value those things which ministered to his pride.
And the very first thing in the list of what God hates is the proud look. So here we find him now, as you said, little. He's become little in his own eyes because he has found the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus is Lord. He knows nothing else to run for in his Christian life but to win Christ to be not only.
Like him down here, but to be with him at the end, well then that's looking forward to the end.
Whether it be righteousness or or what resurrection brings or.
Whatever the subject here may be is looking on to the end, is he not of the road? And so perfection is used in two ways. Then it's there won't be any perfection until we get there. But in another sense, the apostle sees this path with one object before him as perfection in his experience down here. Does he know?
Because there won't be any actual perfection in the life of the believer until we get home.
But there is such a thing as having a pure object before us, and in that sense Paul was walking in that perfect path down here. It's really maturity, isn't it? That is, a mature person is one who has learned this wonderful truth that Christ is all that has him as the sole object before his soul when we are first saved.
There isn't that maturity. There's a great deal of self occupation very often.
This is in the Song of Solomon you find the bride says first of all I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. Then she turns around and says it the other no first time she says my beloved is mine and I am his. Then she turns it around and says I am my beloved and my beloved is mine. Then she goes a step further and says I am my beloved and.
Desire is toward me first, the wonderful thought that Christ belonged to her.
Then the thought that there was more wonderful that as she belonged to Christ, if I can apply the figure. And then last of all, to enjoy this and his desire toward her was really to lose sight of herself. And that is really what is brought out before us here, I believe with the apostle, and I believe it's progress, it's maturity.
In the Christian life.
When we're not occupied with self except to judge self, but to be occupied with Christ.
About progress in whole, I think it's just nice to look at his conversion, how he was smitten down there by that light from heaven. It's called in the ninth of Acts. And then he recounts about that twice over. Wants to the Jew and wants to the Gentile.
And there's progress there in the intensity of that light.
In the 22nd chapter where he's talking to his own brethren, the Jews in the sixth verse at the end that says suddenly they're shown from heaven a great light round about me. In Pauls own thoughts, the the glory of that light increases. That's that's progress in his soul. But now notice what he says in the 26th chapter.
Where he relates it before.
King Agrippa in the 13th verse of 26 Acts 26 at midday, old king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun shining around about me, and then which journeyed with me, so that in the apostle there was this progress in growth in, I believe, even the apprehension that he prayed for.
To know Christ, he learned more of Christ as he went on and his his race down here in the wilderness. And he was just as we often say, a homesick man wanting to be right where Christ is Christ, but here he says to be found in him. And so it's really the the experience and enjoyment of the pathway.
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As he anticipates the glory, is it not? And then the same thing about righteousness.
Not having mine own righteousness is the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith. He's looking on to the time when all this will be true and it's full of sense when He'll be at home and in the reality of it and the enjoying full enjoyment of it without any hindrances here.
Yes, he says that that I may win Christ. He already had Christ as his Savior.
That He might be found in him that was already His possession, not having mine own righteousness, while He already was the righteousness of God in Christ. And then in the 10th verse, that I may know him, all these things actually positionally were his, but He desired that He might solely hold of them, that they would be real in His soul, in the sense that He had the glory before him.
And in glory all these things.
Will be fully realized, that is now we already have Christ, but at the end of the journey we're going to know him in the much more blessed and wonderful way than down here. Now we know in part and we prophecy in part. So as we think of a man running the race, he had the prize at the end. He already possessed Christ, but the prize was having him in the fullest possible way.
At the end of the journey, and this ought to be the desire of our hearts too, and the more we get to know of Him, the more we desire that time when we shall know even as also we are known.
Resurrection or the power of His resurrection in verse 10.
It's this, It seems to me that at some point in Paul's life he learned that he was going to die.
Did he expect that here?
In the early chapter he said that having a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better, he was Speaking of to die as gain. In speaking to the Thessalonians he said we which are alive and remain. He was classing himself as living when the Lord came there. But apparently toward the end he he could say, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.
He was looking. Evidently it was revealed to him that he should die. Now the question about this.
That I may know Him and the power of his resurrection. Was he applying that to himself?
As expecting to die and to be raised.
I don't think so. I have taken that in two different ways, that that I may know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his sufferings being made conformable unto his death, something that could be in a practical way experienced while we still live.
We sing in a little hymn, Oh, teach us saw the power to know of risen life with thee not we may live while here below, but Christ our life may be.
And so there is that sense that there ought to be the power of resurrection life manifested in us in a practical way, and it's only going to be solved in the measure in which we are conformable to his death. And it takes Second Corinthians chapter four. I think this expresses that. Second Corinthians chapter 4.
And verses 10 and 11.
Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body, for we would deliver all we delivered unto death for Jesus sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. Well, that is what God is seeking to produce in US, is the manifestation of the risen life in US. And I thought of those.
Who came out of the graves after the Lord's resurrection as being a little illustration of this, or as they appeared in the city of Jerusalem and anyone were to ask, well, who are these people? We could say, they could say, well, we rose because Christ rose. So that what was seen in them was resurrection life. I'm Speaking of it now in a type.
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Well, I believe that's the well that was the great desire of Paul's heart.
It ought to be the desire of our hearts. But he presses the point a little farther when he comes to the 11Th verse.
If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.
It was as though the enemy said, Oh, but Paul, if you live that way.
You will have to suffer martyrdom. You will die. You will physically go through death. Well, he said that would be all right. I would experience it then in a practical way. That is, he would actually go through death and experience in a physical sense the power of his resurrection. For the dead in Christ will rise first saw that he desired that it should be so in a spiritual sense in his life.
If the path of pursuing this.
Meant physical death. By then it would be realized even in the practical way.
Saw that it was all precious to him, and so whether it was, as he says in the first chapter, that Christ might be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.
Could be that he desired to be conformed to his master even in this, but it not.
Even to pass through death just like his master, so you might be conformed to him in every way. Well, he was willing for it. He sat in 2nd Corinthians 5. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. I believe that the proper hope before every Christian is the Lord's coming, it says.
There in 2nd Corinthians 5, not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon.
That mortality might be swallowed up of life, and so even when you visit one on a sick bed.
It's lovely to be able to present to that one the hope of the Lord's return. He may not have to pass through death. However, if it does come, he's confident in the presence of death and in a sense it's gained. To die is gain. But the proper hope of the Christian should always be, I believe the Lord's coming. It wouldn't be a proper Christian hope for any of us to say, well, I hope I go through death.
This. But if we do, it will be a wonderful experience to be that much more like our Blessed Master and to experience in that way.
The The resurrection from among the dead.
Comfort about that power we read of in Ephesians 1.
And it's, I believe, the greatest act that God has ever performed.
They might just read in Ephesians 1 verses 1819 and 20.
For it associates the believer with Christ in this most mighty act.
Ephesians one, the eyes of verse 18. The eyes of your understanding, being enlightened.
That you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the St. And what is the exceeding greatness of his power. Now notice to Oswald, who believed according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ when he raised him from the dead, and so on.
That great act of resurrection, the greatest act of God.
And raising price, the believer is associated with it. To us word who believe, well, it's a comfort just to know that.
I didn't hear you. You mentioned that it's not quite a proper hole.
Something you said about to die. The proper hope is the Lords coming. I think that's normal, but I'll just mention what I remember. Perhaps Pauls evident can corroborate this about arms to Barry's father. I heard once as he got toward the end that he said he wanted to pass through death so he would experience just a little of what his savior did for him on the cross.
Now to me, that was a tremendous statement. I don't I've never heard of that about anybody else. I believe he was near the end of the course. Do you remember that, Paul?
Will change though, and there will be. At the time of the resurrection, we'll all be caught up.
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But there will be those, of course, who pass through death and resurrection, but all will be changed and all be caught up.
Will not that be the power of the transaction too? It changes, I believe so. It's it's the time of it and the power of it and it's our brother. Read it first chapter of Ephesians. It's it's the mighty power of God.
That same power that raised Christ from the dead, that will raise those who are dead of the believers. But it's, it's that same power that takes us into the glory, isn't it?
In Romans chapter 8, the thought of resurrection and the thought of our bodies being changed are brought together in this 11Th verse of Romans 8.
But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead, notice this expression shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you.
He speaks of resurrection and he speaks of how these bodies that we have even as living people here on earth.
Our mortal bodies. So at that blessed moment of resurrection at the Lord's coming, there will be the calling forth of those from their graves. There will be the quickening of our mortal bodies by His Spirit who dwells in us. The thought is kind of brought together here, as though it were also an act of power, like the resurrection, although not exactly the same.
It's nice the way they're it's brought in there, I think.
On account of his Spirit that dwelleth in us, I think is the right rendering. That's one of the sure the things we can rest on as to our salvation. The Spirit of God dwells in US and they'll never leave us forever. So the apostle then is is looking on in the 12Th verse.
He hasn't, He hasn't reached that perfection yet in the glory, but He follows after. I may apprehend that for which also I'm apprehended of Christ Jesus.
So he is taking possession of by Christ.
And now his thought is to take possession of Christ practically in his soul, in connection with all that he knows had been taught from the words. Still he wants to make good in his soul without the thought.
Yes, I like to read it sort of like this, but I may lay hold of that for which the Lord laid hold of me.
What did He lay hold of me for? Well, to make me fully like Himself, to have not only a body of glory like Him, but here and now, that the life of Jesus might be seen full conformity to Christ. That was His purpose in laying hold of us.
Well, Paul desired that this might lay hold of him, so that his whole life but be molded by that fact. But God is seeking to produce in us now his likeness to Christ morally. When the Lord comes, both will be true, will be like him morally and physically. So he desired even before he got there, that this would sole a hold of him, that his whole life would be affected or molded by it.
He couldn't say in the next verse that it was fully solved, but it was his desire. And none of us here would boastfully say that this was our whole desire. It should be. We desire that it should be solved. But I'm sure we all, we're all conscious of how often other things come in, rob us of the enjoyment of this.
Natural desires control our lives in some matters.
And we could ask ourselves, however, is this our really our desire that it should be so pressing on with this before us? Because in addition to that head all this behind him in a religious way that he forgets, Is that not so? He forgets.
All the glory that was connected with the path he was pursuing as a Jew, because he was probably among the highest in his land, among his people at least, and everything has to go.
00:25:07
He forgets it all, rather than I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do.
I think there are five one things that are used that are ready to go together in scripture. This is one of them. This one thing I do.
Forgetting those things which are behind in reaching forth unto those things which are before everything down here is expendable, isn't the thing here that we're going to take with us to the glory except souls?
Abraham took soul, didn't he? So when he went out of Haran, that's the place of death. Does he have souls with him? Well, we can take our children with us.
We take souls with us and we can't think of anything else, can we?
I think it's important what you were saying about forgetting those things with Char behind.
Sometimes you hear this first used as though we should forget all past failures, but that isn't the point in the verse at all. We find in the Ephesians chapter 2 Paul saying to those believers at Ephesus, wherefore remember that she being in time past Gentiles in the flesh.
He also says to the Corinthians, Don't forget, such were some of you, but ye are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified. In writing the Titus, he says we ourselves also were sometimes foolish. He never himself forgot that he persecuted the Church of God and wasted it. Remembering past failures helps to keep us humble.
And while, through wondrous grace, they're no longer on the divine record.
The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin. We ought to be humble as we think of past failures so that we might walk in loneliness, but we should forget anything that had been done for the Lord. When Paul found it necessary to mention things that he had done to the Lord, he said, I am become a fool in glorying.
And so it wasn't only forgetting those things that he could have gloried in as a man in the flesh.
But even since grace had saved him, for him to boast about his own loyalty to Christ, it was wrong he could leave that have often said we don't need to remember. We don't need to remember things we've done for the Lord because he has a record and it says God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labor of love.
He says you can forget them because I'll remember them.
But about our sins, he says, I have forgotten your sins, but I want you to remember them.
It'll help to keep you humble, and I feel that it is good for us to remember this. And I'm sure that all of us, as we think of the grace and patience that God has had with us, it does help us to keep humble. But if there's anything to be done for the Lord, leave it for the divine record. Don't talk about it because we might get ****** ** down here. We won't at the judgment seat of Christ.
Turn to Hebrews Chapter 11 and 12.
Mentioned there where we see the word perfect used in the sense you speak of Hebrews Chapter 11.
And the.
40th verse God having provided some better thing for us, that they that's the Old Testament Saints without us, should not be made perfect. And then in the 12Th chapter, this is made perhaps more clear in the 23rd verse to the General Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of just man made perfect.
There is the thought of resurrection. That's the time when the redeemed will be there with and like Christ. But there is a sense of full growth and maturity down here. That's what Paul desired for the Saints.
And if they were full grown, the proof of it would be that they had Christ as the object before their souls. They wouldn't be talking about what progress that they had made. The proof of maturity would be that they were occupied with Christ. When a person starts to talk about how much progress he's made, then you know he's not spiritually mature. But when he talks about Christ and the loveliness of Christ, you say, oh, I believe that person.
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Coming the spiritual maturity because that's what it is that Christ is all and in all. It seems to me that at the same time that we speak of maturity, we can speak of it in this way that.
One may be even occupied with service for Christ.
And.
He's so taken up with service that he's not in the enjoyment of the one object that the impossible. Speaking of here.
So it may not only be in the sense of maturity, but it may be in the sense of the practical exercise day by day, because it's so easy for our attention to be drawn to something else, is it not? And the apostle didn't want anything, whether it was his past or whether it was the things around him, he didn't want anything to disturb this.
Position that he was in in the enjoyment of this one object.
So he says.
In our chapter, I pressed toward the mark, I press. Seems to me it's a continual exercise with the apostle here, and this we have is normal Christianity in Philippians. I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God, or some have translated the calling of God on high. I suppose it's just as good.
The high calling of God in Christ Jesus. So the apostle wants this exercise to be a continuous one in his circumstances.
Not simply to say, well, I'm, I'm mature Christian now I'm in a new position, although that's true that it's maturity, but still it's a it's an exercise continually at the same time. Is this thought that not in the calling calling on high of God in Christ Jesus is really where the path ends, isn't it? The Lord Jesus walked that path down here, the perfect obedient one ever having his Father.
Him and that ended in him being called on high and this was what Paul was looking forward to at the end of his life.
Turn to First Timothy three. I think this thought is similar in First Timothy 3.
And verse 16.
And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit seed of angels, preached under the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory or in glory. What is the secret of godliness for our pathway? Well, it's the path of the Lord Jesus.
And that path ended in the glory.
We don't have the atonement brought before us in this, in this 16th verse, because it's the secret of godliness and you and I cannot imitate the Lord Jesus in that, but we can imitate his blessed pathway. He that saith, he abideth in him on himself also, so to walk even as he walked. And so it's very precious here, the pathway of the Lord Jesus.
God was manifest in the flesh.
And so in us, the life of Jesus is to be seen. In us. That's true godliness.
Not that self would be asserted or that I would think I'm somebody in the world who set myself forward, but rather that the life of Jesus would be seen in US. And then when it says justified in the Spirit, are we satisfied to have the Lords approval? That's what the Lord Jesus had all through his pathway. He was often misunderstood.
Even Peter would have kept him from going to the cross.
But he was justified in the Spirit, and at his baptism the Father's voice said, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased. And again the Mount of Transfiguration, when Peter would have put him on the.
On the same plane with the others in the father's voice again.
Marks him out. He was justified in the spirit, and then he was seen of angels. They looked down and saw for the first time a man here upon earth walking perfectly to please God, and then it says, preached under the Gentiles. I like that little expression because he came to his own, and his own received him not. But if one could speak in this way.
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The grace of his heart could not be limited.
And when he was rejected by the nation, the branch goes over the wall and reaches to the Gentile. How do you and I act when someone gives us a rebuff or sets us back a little? Does Gray still go on or do we say I give up? People don't appreciate what I am trying to do.
Well, with the Lord Jesus, how lovely to see that branch going over the wall.
And then believed on in the world, we might say, where is the fruit of that blessed pathway? At the end, His disciples forsaken and fled. He didn't receive the Kingdom, and the nation rejected Him. As far as outward things were concerned, it seemed that there were no results from that perfect life. But there were.
There were results. They were sort of hidden, but there were.
And so you and I need to be content to leave the results till the coming day of manifestation.
And so his very precious brethren, this verse, the secret of godliness in your life and mine is the pathway of the Lord Jesus, and so is Paul Preston in his pathway, someone remarked all those in Asia turned away from him. We found that the Jews hated him and he was in prison. But what was it that sustained him?
I was just looking for that home call.
When he be received and be in the presence of the one whom he desired to be with and like. Well, this is the secret for you and I in our pathway. This was what maintained the apostle. I believe in his pathway of service to his Lord and Master.
This 16th verse would suggest the same thought as we have in the fourth of the seasons, unity of the Spirit. Does it not walk together in the measure that we can in a different ones have different light? Perhaps, but.
We're to walk together in that measure of light that we have same room. You get this expression same or like in this Thistle over and over again.
Have the same combat, same mind, and so on. Here we have the same rule that this mind, the same thing, all have not come to the same point in their Christian pathway. So here's a race and they're starting at different intervals, but they're all heading toward the same goal. Some are farther along than others, but you meet one that's just starting out in the race.
One that's right near the end and say what are you pressing on to? They both are pressing on to the same thing.
So in this room this afternoon, there are babes, there are young men, and there are fathers.
We haven't all come to the same point of maturity in the things of God, but I trust we have the same object before us. And if we have that object before us, there may be differences, but the closer we get to Him, the closer we get to the end.
The more I believe we learn in our Christian life that Christ is all and very often things that we didn't see as we go on in our Christian life, the Lord reveals them to us if we have himself before us. I never liked the expression that some people use well.
You know, there's been a lot of very fine Christian men and they didn't think alike in these things.
So who are we to think that we could know the Lord's mind? That's as though the Lord were not willing to reveal His mind to us. Certainly we ought to be very humble in those things that we speak of where we don't have perhaps a definite verse of Scripture. But I do believe that God is willing on His part to reveal His mind to us. And if there's any failure in the apprehension of it.
On our part, not on His. He does want to reveal it to us. Any man will do his will. He shall know of the doctrine. Be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. So if there are differences, we ought to be humble.
The Lord didn't teach one person one thing and one another. Willingness on our part would lead, as our brother said, to that oneness of mind in the Lord, that unity of the Spirit.
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Was given an offer.
Of one of the highest positions in England in education.
And.
He refused it, and you know whom I'm speaking.
And they said, well, don't you know that you would have a very high position in the world? His only answer was which world? So that it's a question of the world or Christ.
Now in this next verse that we're considering.
In Timothy first chapter, Paul says.
In the 16th verse.
I'll be it for this, 'cause I attained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting.
That is, the apostle here in the 16th verse of our chapter says, Nevertheless we're unto. We have already attained.
Let us walk for the same rule, Let us mind the same thing, brethren, the followers together of me and mark them which walk so as you have aspirin example.
That is the apostate Paul was set apart as a vessel to to leave a pattern for those who afterwards should believe on Christ Jesus. It was grace, a pathway that grace had wrought in the apostles life that left a pattern for the Saints in another place. He said follow me as I follow Christ.
So here we have him following Christ, I believe should say be followers together of me, because he had seen Christ in glory. He knew he had had that experience. He had been caught up to the 3rd heaven.
He never forgot it. It wasn't possible for him to describe it, but it was the goal before his soul. He, as it as it were, was just living in view of that, that goal before him. So he says the followers together of me in here, and I suppose that he's not speaking just of this assembly.
Or perhaps not of this assembly at all.
When he speaks of those who were the enemies of the cross of Christ.
There might have been some in that assembly who weren't real, but.
Perhaps he is Speaking of the testimony in general of those who made a profession of Christ, that among them there were those who had turned back and they had manifested it by making this world their object instead of Christ. It's just that simple, isn't it? It's either Christ or the present thing. So the object of the heart, one of the two.
Still at the point in the verses is they where the path ends.
Rather than whether the people were actually the Lords or not, So he says in Ephesians.
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from among the dead, and Christ shall shine upon me, or give thee light. So you see some people lying down, some are sleeping, some are dead. The only way you can tell is to give a shout, and the sleeping ones will awaken. So I believe in the Scripture. God often sets before us the end of the path.
For instance, a verse like this, And through thy knowledge shall a weak brother perish, for whom Christ died. There is no possibility of me ever sending a person into a lost eternity by some action of mine. He's talking of a real believer. Thy through thy neighbor shall a weak brother perish. But I may set him on a path, and that's where the path ends, if God didn't intervene.
And the path that he's describing here ends in destruction.
A Christian might get involved in those kinds of things, and very often.
A person will get so involved in worldly things that you hardly know whether he's saved or not.
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All you know is that the path that he's treading ends in a lost eternity. If he is truly the Lords, he'll never be allowed to go to the end. The Lord will intervene. The Lord will come in and stop him. But the Scripture often speaks somewhere the path ends again, another verse. No man having put his hand to the plow and looking back.
Is fit for the Kingdom of God, which he might be counted worthy of the Kingdom of God, for which he also suffered.
There are many practical exhortations showing where the path ends, but we mustn't confuse these with verses that speak of the security of the believer. A believer can never be lost, but he certainly can walk hand in hand with the world. And the path of the world ends in destruction and judgment. And what a sound thing it is here.
It doesn't say they were the enemies of Christ.
Enemies of the cross of Christ, and I believe we realized that in the Scripture.
The cross of Christ brings before us the rejection side, the shame side. What did this world give to our blessed Savior? They nailed Him to a cross. And sometimes we don't like the reproach of the cross. We don't like the offense of the cross.
We would like to have something a little more popular and accepted and so.
It's it's very easy for us, perhaps even a real Christian, to be an enemy of the path of following a rejected Christ is a very good expression for our conscience as though, is it not?
Glory was in view for the apostles, but here are the glories in their shame remind earthly things. This is the path of the world. Christian may be found in it, but it's the path of the world. The glory is in their shame. How we see it in every hand today and what a what a word for the conscience who mind earthly things Now we're all exposed to these things but.
The apostle here is Speaking of the mind. What is associated with.
The object before the mind or the heart is really the thought, but the mind is unearthly things. So the heart is too this be the case. But what a contrast we have with what we've just had before. And that's taken up again at the end of the chapter. See there is these things where it's Christ.
Or the normal Christian pathway and if one pursues this pathway of worldly things.
That very strong evidence that he doesn't know the Lord at all. Picture takes up the subject of those who mind earthly things. In the Book of Revelation find a certain class of people are called in the 6th chapter. They're called them to dwell on the earth.
8th chapter.
It's the inhabiters of the earth and it's wool, wool, wool. Woe to them. Well, it's the end of the pathway. If one living now, for instance, is living for the earth, he is earth minded. He could very well go right into that Book of Revelation and be one of those people at that time. And So what a contrast to the end of the pathway.
To those who are.
Are followers of Christ who press down toward this goal? Well, it's one or the other, isn't it? The end of the pathway.
For us to practically now exercise us as to our course, and it's certainly very solemn and very lovely in that way that the Christian who really has that goal before him, and I've enjoyed the way Paul puts it down to the goal. I pressed just as though it's right there. He's just ready to reach out and get it.
Well, if he looked that way, certainly we can be even more in the anticipation of reaching that goal, which is Christ and glory. Another thing one has enjoyed is that the end of the course is just as sure for the true believer as it is for Christ. He's there, but just as sure as he is there, we shall be there.
So different with some of us marks about, we're entering the course at different times, we're in different stages of the.
Race, but the end of it is held out before us as certain and secure as an object forest for every one of us. In that race he uses the word, the rule in Galatians he speaks as many as walk according to this rule, peace be upon them, and mercy and upon the Israel of God. And then here in the 16th verse is going back.
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Nevertheless, where two we have already attained that it's walked by the same rule.
Let us mind the same thing. Person is going to run in a race. He wants to know what's the what are the rules? Because if he breaks those rules, he's going to be disqualified. Well, there's just one rule to remember, and that is to have Christ and his approval before us. And here is someone just starting out. He wants to know what are the rules of the Christian life? Isn't this lovely? They're all reduced to one. He doesn't say rules, but the rule.
And he walk according to this rule.
Let us walk by the same rule. What a blessed and simple thing the Christian path is, if we only have this person before us and had but one desire to do his will. But the contrast, as we've seen with others, is things, earthly things and their belly, and all those things that are going to pass away.
In contrast with the great prize, which is Christ himself.
At the end we have it in Peter again that we follow in his steps. I believe that's the same here. It really reads steps, this word rule. So we're the following his steps. That's the only path that's been pioneered for us, isn't it? Same rule or same steps? What would you say as to the meaning of destruction? Is there any thought of annihilation here, people say?
Well, destruction in the Bible never means.
Annihilation. Or does it mean it in common English? That is, if you took an axe and destroyed this table with just as much material when it's lying useless on the floor as when it's sitting there as a table. But once it's destroyed, it's no longer useful as a table. That's all. And man was created for the glory of God to praise Him.
But when destruction takes place, why then he is not any longer in that position that he was created for?
Is banished from the presence of God, unable to enjoy all those good things that God prepared for man when he made this earth for him. So it's spoken of his everlasting destruction. It can never be regained to break the table. You might rebuild it, but everlasting destruction is that man can never, never regain again what he's lost. There is a great golf fix.
But destruction, even as we use it in English, doesn't mean annihilation.
But just The thing is no longer useful for the purpose that it was made this expression conversation then is is a Commonwealth is it not citizenship? That's that's the place of the believer heaven. We're really seated in heavenly places in Ephesians, but here are our manner of life.
Our Commonwealth, our citizenship, even though we're here in this world.
In heaven, and so it's from thence we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, all of our hopes, everything that's before us. We've had that word before going on things which are before all this. And we look to heaven for there's nothing here. Our conversation, our manner of life, our citizenship is in heaven, whence also we look. That's the whole.
Four of the Savior, the Lord.
Jesus Christ, it's nice to see the title here with his name isn't it? They have the expression Savior used in the First Thessalonians, the 1St chapter at the end. It's really the delivers it not wait for his son first chapter in the last verse First Thessalonians. Wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus.
Our deliverer from the coming wrath. That leaves the thought.
Coming wrath there, the judgments of the tribulation period, more of that than hell itself. So it brings in the distinction of the end of the pathway. The earth dweller steps up, tries to go on on the earth and really can't. But he might go right into that terrible tribulation. He might go right into it.
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Oh what I thought, well, what's our end? The pathway for the for the heavenly minded man, it's Christ and Lord.
Philippians 3
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The profitable, the concern Lithium Chapter 3. Philippians Chapter 3. Someone would read it for us.
Chapter 3. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same thing to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
Beware of God, beware of evil workers, beware of the confessions, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh. Though I might also have confidence in this language. If any other man thinketh that he aware of, he might trust in his life, I'm worried.
Circumcise the 8th day.
Of the Doctor of Israel, of the private Benjamin, and Hebrew Of the Hebrew, are such in the law of Pharisees concerning zeal persecuting the Church.
Touching the righteousness which is in the law, flameless.
But what things regained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ.
The Goddess and I count all things, but lost with the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and you count them but done, that I may win Christ, and be found in him not having my own righteousness which is of the law, for that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.
That I may know Him and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering.
Being made conformable unto his death, if by any means I might have pain under the resurrection of the dead.
Not as though I had already attained either were already perfect.
But I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count on myself with apprehended. But this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth under those things which are before I press, are the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Let us therefore as many as be perfectly thus minded, and isn't anything ye be otherwise minded? God will reveal even this unto you.
Work your way have already attained. Let us walk by the same rule. Let us mind the same thing.
Brethren, we follow it together of me and mark that much walk so that you have us for an example.
For many walks to whom I've told you often and now tell you even the weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end of destruction through God of their belly and his glory is in their shame through mine earthly things.
Where our conversation is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. It was a change our vile body.
So there may be a fashion like unto its glorious bonding according to their working, whereby He is able even to subdue all things under Himself.
Him and opening Lord, Thou hast drawn us after Thee. Now let us run and never tire. And here we have one who was really running in that race with Christ before him. And I was thinking how this chapter sets before us in contrast.
The two paths Paul was pursuing at first in a religious way.
And then he was brought to know the Lord, and his whole prospect in life was changed. He had Christ in glory before him.
Everything was valued in connection with Christ, but then there is also pursuing it in an earthly way.
Now that is minding earthly things, and so I believe we have the two paths.
He was, as I say, first pursuing it in a religious way. There is also a danger, perhaps even after we're saved, of pursuing that the path that ends in destruction, but going on in those things that are all going to pass away, minding earthly things. But in contrast with this was the apostle who had a complete new sense of values.
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Measured everything as to how it compared with Christ.
And it changed his whole life. And he said, I pressed toward the mark. Well, that's our desire. I trust, President, as we have been singing that hymn together, Lord, thou hast drawn us after thee. It's easy to tire along the way. But the little hymn said, now let us run a never tire. What a portion we have in him. Well, I just thought of these few things in connection with this chapter before us.
The world today is very energy conscious.
They're talking about energy and.
Fearing an energy shortage.
I think that we can apply that picture here for energy and spiritual things comes from seeing Christ up there and there's really no shortage of a supply. It's all there. If we just see Christ in glory, then there will be energy to go in that race that you're talking about.
Characterizes this epistle.
Now this may seem strange when we think of the Apostle.
In prison.
And with nothing that would provide for temporal happiness.
So the joy that he's Speaking of belongs to normal Christianity, which is really the subject of this epistle.
Normal Christianity has an object, and that is what directs the heart, and the feet will follow the heart.
And so if we have Christ as the object.
In measure, we can be like Paul.
Having a joy even in the midst of sorrow or tears, we can have a joy that can never be taken away from us as the Lord speaks of in the Gospel of John.
And never can be taken away from me. It's a permanent thing because it's found in Christ. And so this is the way our chapter begins. My name is my brethren, rejoice the notice in the Lord.
And I suppose that we could say that it's only with a sense of who he is that we can really rejoice. Not only that, He's Lord in the sense that we must obey. We love to obey because we have a nature that loves to obey.
About his Lord in all of our circumstances, and that's a practical part of this epistle in everything that takes place in our lives down here as Christians, He's Lord, and he's able to alter and order all things for the blessing of his people. That's why we're encouraged in the latter part of the next chapter.
To to phrase because he's able to meet us in all of our circumstances.
Finally, my brother rejoiced in the Lord.
And then he speaks of that which is safe for the believer to speak of, and he's going to enlarge on the subject. Our brother has been mentioning that which is natural to man, and that is to, in his pride, to think of his own righteousness and glory in it.
But the Christian has no such righteousness to Gloria.
No human righteousness to glorious.
And the moment we think of our righteousness as natural men.
Why we've gotten off of the path entirely. What we glory in now is the righteousness that's of God. But here in this epistle, the apostles looking on to the end when he comes into the full blessing of it. And so he's looking on to that righteousness, although he has it in a sense still when he gets home to glory, where righteousness will dwell.
This is what he has in mind. I believe in this. If this first chapter and the 18th verse we have rejoicing in connection with the rejoicing in our chapter, we might notice that he rejoiced in the preaching of the gospel. 118 What then, notwithstanding every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached?
I therein do rejoice ye, and will rejoice.
And then in the second chapter.
He talks about rejoicing in connection with.
We might say martyrdom.
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In the second chapter and.
Verse 17 Yeah. And if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith.
I joy and rejoice with you all for the same cause also. Do you joy and rejoice with me? Well, think of those two things. They rejoice in the gospel, and then even to rejoice if he was going to be offered up, but he says finally, just rejoice in the Lord.
That sacrifice you mentioned?
In the second chapter.
It was customary of certain offerings to to provide.
A hand of our own and a hint of wine. In other words, it would be the same measure of oil, the same measure of wine to be added to the sacrifice. Now the the oil would speak of the spirit, and in the manner in which the spirit is in control of the believer, there will be that measure of joy as a result.
So the apostle is lightning his sacrifice and martyrdom.
To this cup of wine, let's be poured upon the sacrifice.
It was just something, it was their sacrifice, he says. You've taken up the work that I was supposed to do and now I'm in prison and I'm rejoicing that you're able to do it and I'm going to be offered up just like that. That end of wine was offered on top of the sacrifice. So the the joy of the Saints and it is joy to see soul Saints.
Joy of the Saints, and the joy that he has as he sees all this being carried out, a work that he could not complete.
Because he was in prison, he's filled with joy. And it's likened to this. This wine is poured on top of the sacrifice. Rejoicing in the life of the Christian can be and should be a steady thing because it's not founded on circumstances at all. It's not founded on anything that we are in ourselves. We have righteousness in Christ.
He is our portion, He is our joy and all this.
Is outside of circumstances, and so in the first chapter and in the second chapter he could rejoice because even though he was in prison and coming up on trial.
He could still be happy because his portion was outside of this life altogether if it meant parted him. Still, his portion was outside of this life, and I believe that's what he's bringing before the Saints here. Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. We may not always be able to rejoice in our circumstances. They may be very unpleasant.
But we can always rejoice in the Lord. He is unchanging.
And that's why the Lord said, I believe your joy, no man taketh from you. It's a portion that is not affected by anything that goes on here, anything in ourselves, it's outside of ourselves altogether. And this is what gives steadiness to it. But the attempt of the enemy is to get our eyes off the Lord, and then he brings in other things. So immediately after speaking about.
Rejoicing in the Lord, he immediately gives warnings.
Because don't we know it only too well? Perhaps we get up in the morning and we're very happy in the thinking of the Lord. We read His Word, we kneel in prayer, then we meet circumstances in life, we meet situations that make it very difficult for us, and we need to be exhorted that we wouldn't allow those things to come in and rob us of the enjoyment of His presence.
We feel them, of course, the Bible says, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing.
God hasn't made the Christian without feeling even the Lord Jesus himself said, Reproach hath broken my heart. I am full of heaviness. We see him in the agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, how fully he felt what it was to anticipate the bearing of sin. So we have feelings, but we also have the ability to rise above these things in occupation with the Lord Jesus.
And we find that so perfectly in the Lord, in His whole blessed pathway.
In Matthew Chapter 11, when he was rejected, he could take it from the Father and say.
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And in Luke's gospel were the same instances recorded, we find added to it these words at that hour Jesus rejoiced in spirit, because in Luke's Gospel he's the perfect dependent man, the perfect pattern for us. And so, though rejected, he could rejoice.
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In the Garden of Gethsemane, feeling all the awfulness of meeting sin.
He could still say not my will, but thine be done. So we need the encouragement to rejoice. We also need the warnings lest other things would come in to rob us of the enjoyment that is truly our portion.
And to die is gain.
Their contrast to that statement that Hezekiah X and Isaiah 38 verse 16. Oh Lord, by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit.
So will thou recover me and make me to live, so we can prophet by what we pass through in the trials. But of course, death was the king of terrors in the Old Testament, and the future that was before was not really fully revealed. There was a knowledge of resurrection. The interval between death and resurrection was not revealed.
Someone mentioned this morning that passage in Timothy. I believe you read it. Read it to a second Timothy, chapter one.
It says life and incorruptibility have been brought to light by the gospel. And saw Hezekiah feared death, all could say that he pardoned me with Christ, which is far better. It was a known and enjoyed portion. Because now all this has been revealed and made known in Christianity in the 63rd Psalm.
Psalm 63 and verse one. Oh God, thou art my God.
Early will I seek these my soul searches for Thee, my flesh longest for Thee, in the drive and thirsty land, where no water is, to see Thy power, Thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary, because Thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise Thee. And then when we go down to the.
Pittsburgh, my soul shall be satisfied, or better reading it is satisfied as the Maryland Platinum.
My mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips, when I remember thee upon my bed and meditate on Thee, and the night watches, because Thou hast been my help. Therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.
We find that this Psalm was written by David by the heading of the Psalm at a time when you might say, naturally speaking his his outward.
Health.
We're at a minimum. He had seemingly lost everything. He had been driven out into the wilderness of Judah. He had had to leave The Cave of the Dullum. He found that the Philistines were after him. He found that the the people of Kila were prepared to betray him. That all the props that David might naturally lean upon were taken away 1 by 1 until the time came when David, as we're had nothing left with the Lord.
And then he could sit down and write the 63rd Psalm. Because thy loving kindness is better than life. My lips shall praise thee. And he could speak, speak about being satisfied. He had no certain dwelling place. He was being chased about in the wilderness of Judah. And yet, as he thought upon the Lord, as his heart was taken up with the Lord, he found that he rejoiced.
Well, when we come to the third chapter of Philippians, we find another 1A philosophic servant who again has had all the natural props taken away. He's in a Roman jail. As far as the world was concerned, his future was, to say the least, uncertain. Martyrdom was surely to be his court, as it eventually was, I believe. And yet we find that as a result of a heart taken up with Christ.
He's able to rejoice, he's able to echo the words of the 63rd Psalm, in effect rejoicing in the Lord as his heart was taken up to him.
It seems to me, brethren, that it's a little indication of how we can speak of some of these things as we do today, this morning. But when the texting time comes, that's when they're put to put a word to reality. We're tested as to whether we really mean what we say. I think of the 11Th chapter of John's gospel where we have Martha saying to the Lord, she said, I know that whatsoever thou hast asked of God, God will give a thing.
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So then the Lord says a little while later, roll away the stone. All right away Martha sees all the difficulty. He's been dead 4 days now. She had already made a profession. She had said, well, I know whatever you ask of God, God will give it thee. But then the test comes, and all the way to stone. Now she said, oh, he's been there for four days. Also. It is with the apostle Paul. When the gospel was introduced in the Philippi, they saw a rejoicing surgeon.
When the Philippian jailer got saved, he had a testimony of a man who rejoiced more when he was in prison, in stocks, his back beating, he was still rejoicing in the law. The testing time came then. He was rejoicing in the Lord. Many years later, the testing time comes again and Paul's confidence hasn't changed at all. He finds that the same one who satisfied his heart so many years before.
Was still able to satisfy his heart and enable him to rejoice when the testing time came, even though years had passed by. This was a very practical subject for us.
It seems that the Spirit of God would always exercise our consciences.
Even when He brings before us, we might say positive truth.
Now in the case you mentioned as to Martha after he relates to her.
Who he is, he says, believe it's thou this.
Believe it's thou this Well, let's place it immediately upon her conscience. Now we have most of us pretty well fixed in our minds certain truths. And if someone were to ask us.
About certain truths we could in a general way set them forth, but the question is believe it's thou this? Are they really practical with us? I'm reminded of a young man who had some background, but he was not a believer and had gone a long way off from the truth. And he met an atheist in the Navy.
And the atheist began to questioning scripture and so he thought, well, I'd better get a Bible and do a little argument with him.
With with him. So he got a hold of a Bible. The result was he was saved. Now he knew these things, but he didn't believe them.
And there is the danger, you know, and this is a good test when it comes to circumstances. We know the Lord is able. We know that He will come in and meet us. He promised Israel that in their day, if they had failed, they cried. The Lord, he would come in and deliver them.
Do we believe it? And if we act upon it in the simple way, it will prove that we believe it. We say that dogs are a figure of shameless evil. And this is the character of things in the world constantly that we're surrounded with more and more. As we get nearer the end, man's evil becomes more shameless. And we might say, well, I can see all those things are wrong. They don't affect me, but we find they do affect.
More than we are aware, and if we're not careful to maintain in our souls that communion with the Lord.
And the standards of his precious word, we can become affected.
We can begin to think somewhat like the world. And so these warnings are given to us, that as the world casts off all sense of shame, and that we as Christians are to maintain in our souls that which is suited to God. Or we can't have the joy of the Lord in our souls and be careless in our walk. It's impossible for these things to go together.
The joy of the Lord is a holy joy.
And tells us about the heavenly city without our dogs. They have no place in that scene where all will be eternal enjoyment in His presence. And we need to watch. We still have the old nature within us. So this warning follows right away after the encouragement given to us that we've been talking of, to be rejoicing in the Lord.
You would rejoice in the fact that he came from a certain tribe, a certain line of people.
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And so he says, beware of the concession. I suppose the evil workers here would include those who.
Having had the gospel presented to them, rejected it, and would be the open public enemies of the gospel. It was the energy of the flesh, and setting aside the truth, whatever else there may be in it, we have that.
Things that followed the Apostle all the way through the book of Acts and in his ministry in general. Those who were.
Showing great energy and setting aside the truth. But when we have the concision, we have those who are particularly occupied with their genealogy and all that belongs to them as Jews.
When actually if they.
Would look back, they would see that it was the first born, it would be Esau that would have the right, and they couldn't trust in that line of things to talk.
God has always done well, dealt with man on the principle of His sovereignty and grace, or there never would have been any blessing to man at any time whenever man was placed in responsibility.
Or rather, placing himself under the law, we find he failed in that.
And yet he's glorying in the fact that he has a traditional background of being God's people outwardly. But in the book of Romans, in the third chapter, we see what the apostle says about this, how that you say a man should not steal. Do you steal?
And so it's a question now of what they were not the outward association that they might profess.
Being God's people, what's the reality in the heart? Did they have a righteousness that would stand before God?
But here they are glorying in the fact that they have a certain genealogy, a certain background.
That would put them in the place of God's people. Could we say here that the concession is set in contrast with the circumcision? That is the concise. The concise dictionary is one that shortens things down, kind of put things in concise words. Why we cut out certain things and shorten it down.
So that the concision is something in which the natural heart can glory. I gave up this, I gave up that. And that's what the Jew did. He could make broad his philac trees and enlarge the border of his garments. He could be so sincere in going on with the outward things that it wouldn't even go into the Judgment hall because he wanted to keep the Passover the next day.
That was the concision that we can be like that too. We can say, oh, I gave up this and I gave up that. I've done quite a bit for the Lord.
But what is the circumcision Why it's no place for the flesh at all. Concision is cutting off some things. The circumcision was the end of the flesh before God and that's what took place at Gilgal. It Gilgal means rolling and it was the reproach of Egypt that was rolled away. And so how easy it is for us even as Christians the glory have done this or I've done that. But when we get.
Presence of God, we are led to say the flesh prophetess nothing. And so they're set in contrast here I believe. Beware of the circumcision, for we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
So our worship is by the Spirit. When the temple was dedicated, there were 120 priests sounding with trumpets. Some Christians would say, oh, but you wouldn't just object to one musical instrument certainly wouldn't have 120. Well, that's something of the flesh that remained. It's the concision. But the circumcision is not to give the flesh any place.
In life or in our worship, all that God values is that which is produced in our hearts by the Spirit.
Whether it's in our lives, whether it's in our service, whether it's in our worship, all that is of value in the eyes of God is that which is produced in us by the workings of the Spirit, He Himself producing it. No heart, but of the Spirit taught, makes melody to Thee. No man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me draw him. There's a great deal of the concession in Christendom.
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But it's it's very.
It costs something to take the place of the circumcision, to get to Gilgal, as it were, and to learn that the flesh profiteth nothing.
Incision is to fix up the flesh. Maybe cut off a little bit to fix it up so it looks or appears.
Better and what a contrast that is to the entire cutting it off. I was thinking as you're Speaking of the musical instruments that in connection with the worship here.
It's by the Spirit and if you look at Acts 1725 you have a verse which applies in a way Acts 1725.
All preaching on Mars Hill.
Using that inscription to the unknown God and then preaching of the true God.
Says of him in verse 25. Neither is worshipped with men's hands. We don't need musical instruments that are played with the hats. And in Romans 15 you find out the music that can be produced for God. These things are so simple, but I think they're helpful to see that musical instruments played with the hands are not to be used.
Today.
In the 15th of Romans and.
Verses 5 and six. The God of patience and consolation.
Grant you to be like minded one toward another, according to Christ Jesus, that he may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, so we can certainly sing and worship Him in our praises.
Chapter 2.
References made there to the 11Th verse. And whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands.
And putting off the body not of the sin, but the body of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ. And then when we come down, I read in the other translation, I believe it's a little clearer. The end of that chapter, the 23rd verse, it says which things after Speaking of touch not, taste, not handle not.
Says which have indeed an appearance of wisdom and voluntary worship and humility and harsh treatment of the body not in a certain honor to the satisfaction of the flesh. Those are things that the flesh has can find where not to glory in the cross of Christ is made of none effect. The flesh finds that which it can take pride in.
Find glory in a harsh treatment of itself, having rules and regulations.
Whereas you and I, beloved brethren, have begun to see that in the circumcision of Christ identified with Him, the flesh is set aside entirely tired. I've also been struck in noticing that perhaps we could turn to it in Second Chronicles. Second Chronicles, chapter second.
Second Chronicles chapter 8 and verse 11 reads there Second Chronicles 811 and Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh.
Out of the city of David, onto a house that he had built for her. For he said, My wife shall not dwell in the House of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, where unto the ark of the Lord hath come.
Then if we notice the First Kings Chapter 11, First Kings Chapter 11 and verse one.
Says, But King Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, and so on of of the nations, concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go into them, neither shall they come in unto you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their dog.
Solomon Cleveland to these in love in the fourth verse. For it came to pass when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods.
That struck me in comparing those two passages in Second Chronicles 9 First Kings 11 That we see an example of a man who had confidence in the flesh. Solomon knew that that the daughter of Pharaoh had no place and no place in in that in the House of David.
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That the things of God were holy, That the one they had to do with was holy. And so he built a separate house for her. But.
The result of, as it were, feeling he could handle the situation. I mentioned this for our beloved young people here today, particularly the thought brethren, that we are capable of handling a situation of going into something knowing in our hearts that it's not of God, but we're not going to be stumbled by it. A relationship, a friendship.
Perhaps even a marriage so thinking that you can disobey the word of God, knowing full well what the word of God says.
But that you are able to handle the situation, you can keep yourself so that you won't be stumbled by it. But we see an example in Solomon. He knew it was wrong. He knew that there was no place for the daughter of Pharaoh and those things which were of God. But he went into it knowing full well that it was wrong. And the result was that he ended up having his heart turned away from the war.
Well the word of God says keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues of life.
And the moment we feel that we can trust, feel in any way that we are capable of controlling situations apart from the Word of God, we're going to fail. We're trusting in flesh, and the flesh in the believer is no different than the flesh and the unbeliever. It's just as capable of doing anything to the dishonor of Christ and the ruination of your life and mind as depression and unbelievers.
And the only safe path for us is in subjection to the Word of God.
Not trusting the flesh at all.
13 We would have the.
Remember, we start to do an open role again. You have now the pronouncement is on the train. Swallow.
IF11C brings out the Broadway skin and the left will see cover all the skin of him that have to play from his head even to his clay. Where to live the priest look at him, then the priest should consider.
Before the leprosy had covered all of his flesh. He shall pronounce him clean after play. It is all eternal life. He is saying. It's just to cover me. I believe in time. Here we have.
The soul injured, who can look upon his flesh? The priest can look upon his flesh. And as Isaiah tells us in the first chapter, there is no more challenges in from the soul. Of course, to the crown of the head there is nothing but wounds and bruises and sacrifying swords.
And suddenly comes to that where we see that there is nothing.
That is good in the flesh. What a subtle scenario is that the the look upon some of us and said, well, that's good. Here's a man, that's another where he looks no matter where the priest trust, he sees no soundness. It's all leprous.
But when we come to judge ourselves before God is that like that there's absolutely nothing in us which is acceptable to God in the flesh. Then he said he is clean and it's not necessarily repent and just ourselves ally the most awesome part, the most inconsistently universities and proud Christians.
One who thinks highly of himself in any way.
How did we become Christians is by judging ourselves before God.
What a wondrous thing is when we get into the presence of God and Joe got into the presence of God, we have to say identify. I'd rather be by the hearing of the year, but now I'm not. Excuse me, wherefore I or myself when Peter got into the presence of the Lord Jesus.
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You know, he said he parked from the old world. We realized what we are in the presence of infinite folders and then it says when we come to that, all of them like to keep that every force what we the pit commercials indeed and what is brought us into. That's why he follows with what he does.
Because someone might say, oh, but you've never had those things.
So it doesn't mean anything to you, but if you had a position, you'd realize how much it costs to give up something like that. Paul had everything as a natural man in which the flesh could glory. He wasn't like someone who really didn't have anything naturally. He had everything. There are young people who you might say have everything. They have a great deal of personality, personal gifts.
All these kind of things, possession, Paul had all this, but it was a question of getting into the presence of the Lord, as it's been mentioned, when he got into the presence of the Lord, when he saw that light above the brightness of the sun, his whole sense of values was changed. And all those things that he could have had confidence in. Now he said that they were only lost. They were worse than that. They were dumb. He, he was through.
Because he had found something, some person who was so infinitely better. So we could, we can perhaps give up things that were of no real value anyway. We're going after empty things, and we found their empty. It may not be so hard, but for a person who had all these things looked up to and respected by his fellow man because of them, and then in the presence of the Lord.
Say there are nothing. I found infinite value, infinite worth in Christ himself. I think it's so lovely here because when God is going to teach us a lesson, he always picks out a person who had certain things. If he wanted to show the need of new birth, he picks out a man that was a master in Israel and said that man needs to be born again.
He wanted to teach us true worship, what true worship is.
He takes the one who was sunk in the very depths of sin brought to Christ. Now she could learn what true worship is an overflowing heart and Thanksgiving and praise to the Lord. And so to show us the emptiness of earthly things. He picks a man that had everything and shows us this very remarkable to find how this is brought before us. God knows just who to use as the instrument to set.
Certain truths before us.
That of all the men who should be given to write, that all is vanity and vexation of spirit, God should choose a man who was made the richest of all the men the world had ever seen. Given wisdom that marked him out as above any other man that had ever been here in this world. Given him power where he had the power of life and death.
And even as far as pleasure was concerned, he was in a position where he could write and say that he held himself back from any joy.
And as he tried everything, well, someone today might have great wealth, but they might be in a position where they say, well, I've got all this off, but I would like to have power. I would like to be in a position to have power. I might say, well, I'm, I'm very rich, but I'd like to be the president of the United States and so on. Well, God took a man who had it all, gave it all to one man. And then that one man said, I've tried everything and there's nothing there.
The heart can give us a man who emptied himself up at all, the man Christ Jesus.
And there we see not only the picture of what he did and his suffering for us, but.
The gracious way in which he did it, which really is set before us as a pattern here in this book of normal Christianity. It's the gracious way in which the Lord gave himself and offered himself and the joy that he had as he does so.
In serving the Father that gives us the pattern in this book, if it's not thinking of the apostle Paul.
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What a contrast. When he was unsaved, breathing out, threatening and destruction, this is what characterized the religious man. But now these writings to us about normal Christianity, he's talking about joy even in the worst of circumstances. Here we see a tremendous contrast.
And her brother was remarking about Leviticus.
Now there's nothing. With the clash, we have the end of Luke 14.
Except the man forsake all, he cannot be my disciple.
And in the 15th chapter we learned there that then came all the publicans and sinners for the hearing. Well, they're the ones who had realized that they not that they had nothing, and they came to hear the Lord Jesus. And I'm afraid today there are many young people who.
We're surrounded with so many things in a natural way. They don't realize that their sole need for eternity. They haven't come to realize that they have a need and sometimes the Lord reduces us to that position where we feel it the mercy if He does. But with many they pass on with the circumstances being.
Such that would.
Give them sort of a temporal happiness here in this world, and they don't realize what true happiness is found in Christ. Happiness of knowing your sins are forgiven and that you have an eternal portion that can never be taken away from you. That's the joy we have in this chapter. The question here of trusting in one righteousness or another is not the apostles bringing before us.
The righteousness which is of the flesh, or the righteousness which is by faith. And so He's bringing before us all that He first.
Trusted in as a natural man.
Or religious man, they might say.
And that righteousness which is of the flesh, which you could glory in until the the Word of God came home to his conscience and smote him. Thou shalt not come. Then he realized that he had nothing because of the offenders. In one point he was guilty of all. He knew that well. It's only getting into the presence of the Lord that enables us to get the right sense of values.
Tells us about the Corinthians. They measuring themselves by themselves and comparing themselves among themselves, were not wise. And we can often do these kind of things, compare ourselves with others, speak of our advantages. We may see here how the Jews rejoiced in their genealogy and all that they had in this way, but we can.
We can think of this to our own families and how perhaps God has come in and blessed our families.
We have to be careful that we don't allow these things to minister to our own spiritual pride. And so all this is set before us to show us that all those things in which the natural heart can glory, not just a Jew, but one brought up in the meeting, can be of this kind too. And if we're not in the presence of the Lord, we can allow these things to give us something in which to glory in his presence. There's.
Complete change, a seventh verse. But what things were gained to me, those I counted lost for Christ. One thinks of what it says in the Proverbs, a false weight and a false balance, or an abomination to the Lord. Every one of us know that to be dishonest in business is an abomination to the Lord. But brethren, isn't it possible to for us as Christians to have a false sense of values too?
And I used to wonder why it spoke about after the shekel of the sanctuary, because money is spoken of as a filthy lucre. Why does it mention after the shekel of the sanctuary, where we only learn the true value of things, even money itself, in the Lord's presence. In His presence we learn what really has value, and God may enable us to use these things for His glory.
But unless we have brought them into the sanctuary, like the children of Israel when they came in and possessed Jericho, and they were to bring all the silver and gold and put it in the treasury of the Lord. And that's the only way in which we can learn the right sense, right value of anything, whether it's money or spiritual things or position or anything. Only place we get the true sense of value is.
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His presence, well, I suppose there were few who could bring the credentials of the apostle, brought us to the flesh. It might be that others, like the Kadimus, were of a like character.
Upright, and as far as any outward manifestations were concerned, there was no fault that could be found with them.
But that wasn't before God, was it? And who would want to try to stand before God in their own righteousness?
Surely that would never do, even though we may have a reputation before men who would want to try to stand before God in their own righteousness. And so when Paul finds out that there is a righteousness that will will make him stand in good stead before God, why he just takes the other and throws it overboard completely.
But he had to have this revelation from God himself.
It wasn't anything he discovered by research. No man by searching can find out God.
So it is really the sovereign grace here, like it has always been with blessing for man, God coming in in His own goodness. But the point for us is, are we listening when He does come in to reveal to us the truth?
We might be like Pilate, who said what is true and then he changed the subject. We know at that moment it reached his conscience, but he didn't want it. And sometimes I believe that we resist the truth. In fact, more often than we realize, we resist the truth when we should say.
Speak, Lord, for thy serve, and hear it ourselves in so many ways.
Speaking to myself I'm not trying to be critical of anyone but this subject is joy Lord brother John are the same testing I was thinking every today is testing time, but the captain on the floor not to be the most joining the people on the face of the earth. Despite all the evils of the commander. We have a savior in the glory we have a.
Our sins are all forgiven without the end of this journey. We're on the side of the picture to belong to Christ where it is where children against all.
You don't do this season, but we create that so little thing. I have to improve my own heart. The world is so affected us and affected us with this, with this drawing and soils. It's appeals of all like assault and young people today.
As they ever live before some of us are looking back on our lives, the best part of our lives speaking in a natural sense gone and strengthens way, but all for those who do that kind of would like to be only separate friends before they sell. They have the word study of they never have the time. I think today about my life.
Is is travelling and I'm not real old and I know many noise threatening.
But all studying the word when you're done. And that's what we come back to now. Bridge Park.
Downtown.
All of our joy in the Lord which is our strength facing benefits.
Thinking of John chapter 15 in connection with what you were saying. Brother Hendricks. John chapter 15.
Verses 9:10 and 11:00 As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you.
Continue ye and my love. If ye keep my commandments, she shall abide in my love.
Even as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in His love, these things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. We can quote this ninth verse and speak about joy in the Lord, but if there is something being allowed in our lives that is not.
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Consistent with the fellowship with the Lord.
Why we're not going to have the enjoyment of this love? That love is ever unchanging. Having loved His own, which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. But when the Lord had spoken these words continually in my love, He immediately tells them how this could be.
If you keep my commandments, she shall abide in my love. And isn't it often true, speaking in a practical way?
We want to enjoy his love, but there's something that's come between.
Something that has been allowed that we haven't really judged in his presence. And the result is we can't enjoy his love until it's been acknowledged, until we're restored to communion with Him. Then we can be in the enjoyment of his love again. We see something of that in our chapter because Paul said in the seventh verse.
What things were gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ.
Not Speaking of the in the past tense, I counted laws, but now the eighth verse Yeah, doubtless and I count all things but lost. Now he speaks in the present tense. And if there was a time in our lives when the love of Christ had more claim to us when we were in that fresh firstness of freshness of first love and joy in him and and now we're not having that enjoyment of.
There isn't that freshness of first love and it's because something has come in. He hasn't changed, but we have changed and with many of us I believe if we get into the Lords presence we find that there is something that's robbing us of that. Joy. Was very much struck by a comment that I read that the church was in its happiest state when it knew the least, and that was on the day of Pentecost.
Why was why were they all so happy? Just filled with the Holy Ghost, filled with rejoicing, rendering a powerful testimony in Jerusalem. Great grace was upon them all, while there was nothing allowed. All the truth that had been made known to them, they were walking in and enjoying, but as they learned more of the truth and didn't walk in it.
Them little things began to come in.
Has selfishness, as with Animias and Sapphira murmuring because they didn't feel they were getting their share as we have with the widows, and that little things began to come in. But when they were walking in the enjoyment of what they knew. Then there was the enjoyment of his love. And so when Moneys first saved.
Probably walking up to all the light that he knows. He's happy, he's rejoicing.
But we're sitting here, we're learning a little bit more. Are we going to put it in practice?
If we don't, we've learned more, but if we're not going to walk in it, we're going to lose the joy of the Lord in our souls. So we can speak of this joy, and it's very, very important, but let us also remember that there is what is necessary.
And that is, it's in obedience that we enjoy it. A child who is in disobedience to his disobedience to the parent will not be enjoying the parents love. But when he comes and says Daddy or mother, I'm sorry, then he enjoys that love. The love was there all the time. He wasn't enjoying it because he hadn't acknowledged his wrong.
Immediately.
He feels the warmth of love, the hog and the kiss. It's it's settled now. He can enjoy it again. It was always there for him to enjoy. Well may the Lord give us to really be before him that like the apostle, it isn't just what we knew the day he saved us, when we counted all things but lost when we said that I have decided to follow Jesus, but I doesn't go on in our Christian life.
May we be exercised that would be a present thing to count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge.
Of Christ Jesus our Lord. There are different things in Scripture which were instructive, but I was thinking of of John that says, he says of himself, the disciple whom Jesus loved, I believe well, was he not one of the sons of Thunder?
01:00:13
It's very definite in Scripture that that was his past history. He's one of the sons of Thunder, but I don't believe the corrections in his life were made because someone continually hammered at John and told him that he was the son of Thunder.
I believe it is because he was conscious that he was the disciple of Jesus Love.
And we find that the Lord could even trust him. We speak in this way, that the Lord does use certain ones in certain ways, and he could trust him with the Book of Revelation with almost terrible judgments, because he knew that John was in the enjoyment of that love that that he had learned down here.
This was.
Was true, as we noticed of the Apostle Paul too.
What a change there was in the apostle, the time he was breathing out, threatening until the moment he was.
Speaking to the Saints of Thessalonica, I believe it is.
To that he would be.
Like a nurse who would cherish her own children as a father who would exhort his own children. Well, there was quite a difference between.
Paul and his beginnings.
And then you take Peter and the two epistles. There's a lot of difference between the first epistle and the 2nd and the salutation. The first Peter, he says Peter the Apostle, but in the second epistle he speaks of a servant and an apostle. So I believe that there is growth seen in the apostles.
And it wasn't because someone had hammered at them about.
Their faults, but it was because they were conscious.
Of that love when they were living in the joy of Peter also mentions you know.
In the 18th chapter of Luke, where he said we've left all the following what should we have? Therefore, this may be from another gospel, but it's the same passage in Luke 18.
While the Lord says you'll have manifold more in this present time. And so he learns that word manifold and in his first chapter, the first epistle, he speaks of the manifold tribulation, but in the 4th chapter he speaks of the manifold grace.
That goes along with it. So I believe that one who walks in communion learns not on the principle that the law brings out. Do this and thou shalt live.
But on the principle we're considering in our chapter in Philippians, there's one object before the apostle in this chapter and is spoken of his perfection here. Not that there's any perfection in man down here, but in the sense that he has an object for his soul, that's Christ. It's perfection in his pathway. That is, he has only one thing before it.
And that's Christ.
It's. He hasn't reached that object yet.
Although he's in Christ, but he's looking on to the day when he'll be in his presence and in the full enjoyment. All the gospel of Christ pray. Genesis chapter 14 and verse 18 says that Melchizedek, Genesis 14 and 18 and Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine.
And he was the priest of the Most High God, and he blessed him and said, blessed be Abram of the Most High God possessed.
Of heaven and earth, and blessed be the most High God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hand.
And he gave him tithe of all. And the king of Sodom said unto Abram, Give me the person, and take the goods to thyself. And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up my hand unto the Lord, the most High God, the Possessor of heaven and earth.
That I will not take from a thread even to a shoelace, and that I will not take anything that is thine, lest thou should say, I have made Abraham rich. And then in the 15th chapter, after these things, the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram, I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward. Fifth VERSE. And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward.
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And tell the stars that they'll be able to number them. And he said unto him, So shall thy seed be. And he believed in the Lord, who counted to him for righteousness.
To me, we have a picture presented to us here of the priesthood of Christ in Melchizedek, of the one who meets Abraham and reminds him before the testing time comes, reminds him that all that he has, it comes from God. And he goes on to say, blessedly, Abram was the Most High God, possessor of heaven and earth.
And blessed be the most high God, which hath delivered thine enemies into thy hands. And so it is that the function here of Mount Kisselbeck.
The priest is to remind Abraham or Abram that everything that is good for him comes from God. The result is that then when he meets the king of Sodom, and the king of Sodom makes his offer, take the good, and he wanted the person. He says, give me the person to take the goods to thyself.
It's the very offer, beloved brethren, that safety makes to our souls. Now take the goods. All He wants is the person. All He wants is to have our lives ruined as a testimonies of Christ. All He wants is to have our lives taken up with the things that He offers.
And the result will be that he'll give you the goods. He'll offer all sorts of things. He can offer all sorts of temptations towards your young people. But what he's looking for, the enemy of your soul and mind, is to turn us away. I notice, I believe Mr. Darby translates that verse. Give me the soul and take the goods to myself. Well, when the testing time comes for Abram.
The result of the priesthood is that Abram meets the temptation and says I won't take from a threat to a shoe like.
I won't take anything that is on, lest thou should say I have made Abraham rich. And then the result of that is that the Lord appears to Abram and said, I am thy Shearer, and thine exceeding great reward. And then he says, Look toward heaven. Well, when we come to the 17th chapter of John, we find there what I believe might be considered the Lord's high priestly prayer, and we find him there praying that they might be kept.
From the evil that they might be kept, that there might be that oneness of communion, as well as oneness of testimony, and oneness and glory. And then he sets before their hearts, even in that prayer, the desire of his heart. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am. Just as if, like he said to Abraham, look toward heaven, look toward heaven. The desire of His heart is that we might be with Him there in the glory.
But what does he seek for us from us now? Well, beloved brethren, he seeks our comfort. He seeks that that joy for his heart and of what will be for the joy of our hearts, that we might have his company now, that we might bring joy to his heart by walking with himself. And So what he said to Abram was, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. Not only I will be not only look toward heaven.
Going to be in the future, but I am thy shield and thine exceeding great reward. And so the apostle Paul, when he looked back, he said he counted his loss when he thought of his present circumstances in a Roman jail. If we could put it that way, if you and I could have said to Paul, Paul for all your life, you've given up perhaps 30 years of your life for Christ and all that's got you as a Roman jail.
All you've got here is a light year. Many have turned away from you. The time was going to come when he was going to have to say all latency of Asia turned away from me.
The time would come and the Apostle Paul's life when he had to write, they only looked disliked. But the time that we have here for the apostle, the testing time, the question is, was it worthwhile? Oh, he says Christ makes it all worthwhile or Abraham wasn't worthwhile. I am thy shield and I'm exceeding great reward. And look toward heaven. And so it is, brethren, for you and I when the testing time came forth, Steven.
He looked for heaven.
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And he saw Christ. He saw Jesus standing at the right hand. His heart was taken up with heavenly things. The result is that when the enemy of our souls comes and says, here are the goods I want to give you, the answer of faith is as a result of the intercessory priesthood of Christ, the reminder to impart our hearts of all that he is and all that he's done.
The result will be, brethren, at least been measured, that the answer of faith will be, I will not take from a friend to issue right.
Conduct in God's House
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to look first of all a verse in Daniel Chapter 7 and verse 25. Daniel Chapter 7 and verse 25. And he shall speak great words against the Most High, and shall wear out the Saints of the Most High, and think to change times and laws, and they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the.
Time. How can we also turn over to First Peter, first Timothy?
First Timothy.
And the first chapter and the 16th verse. Howbeit for this 'cause I obtain mercy.
That in me first Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering.
For a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on Him to life everlasting. And then in the third chapter, in the 15th verse.
But if I carry long, that thou mightest know how thou art just to behave thyself in the House of God.
Which is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
And without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh.
Justified in the spirit scene of angels preached under the Gentiles.
Believed on in the world, received up into glory.
Well, as on my heart this afternoon to speak about First Timothy and how it brings before us the House of God in order, we often go to an area where some new homes are built and they have what they call a model home. And this model home is sort of a little example of what the home is to be like and the furniture is all in it and it's sort of set up to give a, a model.
Well, you know, this world is in a state of confusion and things are getting worse. Are we just left to the ideas and opinions of man, or do we have, shall I say, a model that God has set before us in His Word? It was mentioned yesterday about how Paul was not only one who was a trophy of God's grace, but a pattern to them which should hereafter believe to life everlasting.
And saw in the Epistle of Timothy we have what is often spoken of as the house in order.
In Second Timothy we have the house in disorder and so instructions are given to us of how to act when the house is in disorder.
But it's very lovely for us to see that God has given a pattern and shown us what it is when the house is in order. Now this becomes more and more confusing to us as we see the breakdown of everything roundabout. Our brother mentioned when he was speaking in Ottawa how God is a God of order.
But Satan likes to bring in disorder. He seeks to spoil all God's order that he has established. And we have to be careful that we aren't influenced by all that is about us, which would seek to break down the order that God has established in His Word.
The reason I read that portion in Daniel 7 is to show for that is Speaking of the beast in the last days. The beast, as we know, is the head of the revived Roman Empire, and we're part of that sphere of the world that could be spoken of in that way. And what is he trying to do? Well, it says it wears out the Saints of the Most High.
Tries to change times and laws.
And always see this taking place, you just get worn out trying to face new situations that arise every day. And we tend to just almost throw up our hands and say, what am I going to do? There's everything so changing that. Is there any place that we can turn and find the instruction that we need? Because the Lord said.
I am the Lord, I change not.
And when did he say that in the very last book of the Old Testament? Hadn't plenty of changes come in? But the Lord hadn't changed. And so Paul, writing in Hebrews chapter 13, says Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and forever. Isn't it a good thing that we have an unchanging Savior, an unchanging friend?
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An unchanging pattern.
We like friends that aren't always changing. You know, I've heard people say young people say, well, you never know where you are with that person. They're so changeable. At one time they seemed to be with you, the next time not. We like friends that aren't like that. We like ones that are steady, ones that really are the same to us. And that is the character of this blessed friend that we have in the Lord Jesus.
Well, I say again, just as you see a model home in an area.
So you go into that home and it's all the furnitures in it. It's all laid out in a very tasty way to let you see what this home was intended to be when it's properly fixed up inside. Well, God has given just that in First Timothy. He has set before us a pattern of the House of God in order.
And it's very important, brethren, in these last days.
And I speak especially to those who were young. Hello. I believe this meeting is intended for all. I speak especially to those who were young. That we need to be very careful that we don't adapt the patterns of this world, but that we go by that which God has given to us in His precious word. I say that His pattern too is the best.
Because God seeks the blessing of His people.
When he made this world and placed Adam and Eve in it, it tells us that his delights were with the sons of man he tried.
Perhaps I shouldn't use the word tried. He did fix up everything in this world for the happiness and the joy and the good of man. Man went about to spoil it. He immediately led on by Satan, rejected that which God had planned, and tried His own way.
And introduced a vast system which is really the world, a system of things.
Which is after man's ideas and instigated by the enemy himself. For all that is in the world. The lust of the flesh and the lust of the eyes and the pride of life, the vast world system, it makes man the center. It shuts out God. It says we're going to plan for ourselves. It's man and his world. But.
How wonderful it is that God has done something in this world.
He has set up a pattern. A country might send an ambassador to another country, and that ambassador represents his country in the other, no matter what conditions exist in that other country. The ambassador is there to represent not the changing ideas of the country where he is, but rather the country that he represents. And we are in this world as those who are intended and should.
Represent heaven.
Oh, what a wonderful responsibility and privilege is ours in this world to represent heaven. Where May God grant that we might desire this. We know that not only has God-given us the pattern, but he has also given us the power. For it says in first John chapter 4, greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Don't say, well, I just don't have the power to go against.
I can't do it. Well, Satan does try to wear us out, to break us down. And in days gone by, the person, if a person boldly confessed Christ, he had to make a one time sacrifice and he was burned at the stake or thrown to the lions or whatever the punishment was. He took a firm stand.
And once for all, he paid for it with his life. He was faithful to death.
That isn't the way in these Christian lands. It's a question of having to do it not once, not twice, but all the time because Satan is trying to wear us out just to get you to finally say I can't stand this pressure any longer. I have to give in. And well, that's the way the enemy is working today. And one is sometimes commented, it's rather interesting about the different crowns that are.
Mentioned for believers, the only one that is mentioned twice is the crown of life, and that is the martyrs crown. Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Why does it mention the second time? Well, it's mentioned in James, and there it says, Blessed is the man that endureth temptation, for when he has tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.
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We might say, well we're not living in countries where we're likely to be martyred, so we could never get that crown from the Lords hand. The Lord says, Oh yes you can. You have to meet temptation seven days in the week. You have to face these situations in school with your friends and sometimes with even friends who are in the gathering just to be faithful to the Lord and the Lord values that to him.
Its faithfulness in the midst of temptation. And it's remarkable, it says which the Lord hath promised to them that love him. Why do you give in to a friend? Oh well, you think a lot of that friend, and you say I can't hurt him, I can't hurt her. You really have a love for that friend. And so you don't want to hurt that friend. But the Lord says I'm your best friend, do you want to hurt me?
The Lord has promised to them that love him.
He's the one who's done the most for us. He's the one who loves us most and loves us to the end. Well, as I said, I'd like to look at Timothy and bringing out some of these thoughts in connection with a model home that is the House of God that looked upon particularly as our individual homes. But perhaps I should say.
That in the Scripture, the House of God in its broader sense is Christendom.
In its sense, where the Lord himself is the builder, it's only living stones, and all that he builds are real. And so the House of God is not how we act in the meeting room. The House of God is how we act because we have been saved and in that way brought as living stones into the house.
Living stones, I say so whether I'm in the meeting room or outside of it.
I am always in the House of God, part of the House of God at all times, if I'm truly a child of God. And as our brother mentioned too, were made a spectacle to the world and to angels and to man. The world is looking on. What pattern do they have? Well, it's constantly changing, as I said.
But they're looking on, and they know that we as Christians prove us to recognize that this Bible.
Is the word of God that it is our guide and therefore they have a right to expect.
As they watch us now that we would be a pattern to them that we would be like the model home.
And living stones before them. And so that the standards.
That they see that we value and that we seek to walk in our pattern for us by.
The word of God.
Well, there are different ones that I would like to point out as I say.
First of all, it tells us in the fifth verse. The fourth verse I'll read of the first chapter. Neither give heed to fables and endless genealogies which minister questions rather than godly edifying, which is in faith. So do now the end of the commandment is love or charity out of a pure heart and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.
He's bringing before us here that Christianity isn't a system of questions and reasoning. It's a testimony that we render before the world. And when it says the end of the commandment, it's really the purpose of what God has given to us is love out of a pure heart. And so one of the great characteristics of a Christian is love the Lord Jesus.
He said, Brother Shalom may know that ye are my disciples, if he have love unto another.
We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. We love him because He first loved us. And so it's not just a lot of questions that mark out a person as a Christian, because you can answer certain categorical questions, but is the character of the family displayed? It's love out of a pure heart and then of a good conscience, Dear young people.
Do we seek to maintain a good conscience? There are many people.
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Who are allowing their consciences to become seared? And they'll say, well, I used to think that was wrong, but I sort of changed my ideas and they're allowing their consciences to become seared. And so the result is that having lost that affection for the Lord, the next step is to give up a good conscience. And very likely the next step will be.
Doubts will begin to come in, we see that taking place, and christen them all about us.
We see good conscience being given up and then the next thing is people beginning to question the word of God. And we as Christians have to remember the purpose of these things that God has given. And each one of us should be exercised to walk in that freshness of first love, to not allow anything on our consciences unjudged, and then to not to allow the enemy to put doubts.
Into our minds, because all failures springs basically from unbelief.
The reason that Adam took of the forbidden fruit was because he doubted that God really had provided what was necessary for his happiness.
So he thought he'd have to try something else. And whenever we allow ourselves to reach out beyond what God has given, why, we're practically saying, well, God has forbidden it, but he really didn't know that I would have been happier with it. Oh no, that could never be so. There is love, a good conscience, and faith unfeigned. Well, this ought to be the whole purpose, and it is the purpose of what is given to us.
In this epistle now I'd like to call attention to the 15th verse.
This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief. Well, that's the very first thing. You can't be a living stone in the House of God if you haven't accepted Christ as your Savior. Is there a young person here? You've come to these meetings and yet you have sat under the sound of the Word, but you have never.
For yourself, this marvelous, this wonderful truth that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, you're still a stranger to Him and to His grace. You're still on the Broad Rd. If that is so, then I can't go any further with you. How can you be a pattern if you don't have divine life? How could you be a pattern if you're not a living stone in the house? And so this is the grand starting point.
Christ Jesus.
Came into the world to save sinners as there's anyone here and you've come to this meeting and you're still without Christ. Oh, May God grant that you will take that first step that you will accept that says worthy of all acceptation, you'll accept this wonderful as glorious truth. The Lord Jesus came to save you. He died on Calvary's cross for you. He shed his precious blood that you might be cleansed from your sins.
What are you going to do? Are you going to say no? Are you going to receive him? I say this is the grand starting point and I can't go any farther with any unbeliever if you won't take this first step, if you're still without Him. But oh, how wonderful it would be if you took this first step today. These meetings would all be worthwhile if you were brought to know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
And now we find he speaks in the.
End of this chapter about holding faith in a good conscience. And then the second chapter I'd like to call attention to the next thing that's brought before us. I exhort, therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intersection, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men.
For kings, and for all that in authority, that we might live a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.
For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior.
Now here we find, I believe, our attitude toward the authorities, that God is established. That's a very important thing. Don't we find today that men despise authority? Young people are being brought up to despise authority. There used to be a time when there was a respect for authority, a respect for authority in the government, a respect for authority in the schools, a respect for authority in the home. We're living in a time when.
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A complete setting aside of this Are we following the pattern? Do we speak respectfully about the ruler of the country?
Do we speak respectfully about the mayor of the town? Do we speak respectfully?
The Bible says they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities, yet even Michael the Archangel when contending with the devil, it says he durst not bring against him a railing accusation. But sad the Lord rebuked the It's unfitting for us who are Christians to join the crowd and start speaking disrespectfully of those in authority.
All you say about they're not ruling injustice, they weren't. When the Lord Jesus was here, did he receive justice? Did Pilot minister justice? When Paul was in prison, did he get justice? When Daniel in the Old Testament recognized that the Most High had committed authority in the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, didn't he cast 3 Hebrew children into a fiery furnace and Darius cast?
Himself into a den of lions. Was it proper government? You say you can't respect that kind of government. They did. They answered respectfully when the Lord Jesus addressed Pilate and Pilate said Noah's down out that I have power to crucify thee and have power to release thee. The Lord answered, thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given me from above.
We've I've heard people say, well, you can't respect the authority if it isn't what it should be.
But God has instituted that authority. And what is our part?
Well, we have a tremendous influence. I often say our prayers mean far more than one vote, because here we're told to pray. We're not told to vote in the authorities because they're ordained of God, but we are told to pray. And who can tell what the prayers of God's people can do? It tells us.
The King's heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water.
He turneth it whithersoever he will. And God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuchs. Did he get a petition up and try and work something out himself? No, they prayed. And God brought Daniel into favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuchs. Well, I say just in a brief way, as the world looks on and sees us who are living.
Stones in this building, this model home, in this world, they ought to see that we're just not like the crowd. We respect authority. We speak with respect about them, We act respectfully to them. We pray for them, and not only for those in authority, but it says for all men, there may be certain classes of society. We say we don't like that class of society.
Well, we still can pray for all men. They have souls.
They need salvation, they need Christ, and So what a lovely position the Christian is in in this world.
Instead of being caught up in which side he's on in the political affairs, or whether he likes the authorities or not, here he is quietly in this world, praying for those who are in authority, desiring that we might live quiet and peaceable lives in all godliness and honesty, desiring that these men would be saved. For God's desire is that all would be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.
And the next point we find in this chapter, a point that is rather in discussion in these days, and that is who was it that planned the place of man and woman? Was it all of a sudden men's idea to be on top and to push the woman down? Was that something that was planned by man? No, God planned the place of man and God planned the place of woman.
He didn't intend the woman should be pushed down, but he did appoint a place for the man and a place for the woman. He appointed a public place for the man. I will therefore that man pray everywhere a public place, a place that they occupy and are. I often say to the boys, we have a very responsible position. If you were working for a company and they choose you to be the.
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Manager, you have a responsible position to fulfill, and because you have been put in that place, there are responsibilities that devolve upon you in that place. And every boy in this company is responsible that God has placed him in a certain position. Now it's a very serious thing. Are we as men trying to fulfill the place?
Do we occupy a public place?
I will therefore that man that pray everywhere.
Did you never open your mouth publicly and pray? Did you never stand up before some others and pray? Well, it says, I will therefore that men pray everywhere. All may not be gifted, but they can all address God. And so here we find a public place assigned to the man. And is it something that he chose to take? No, it's a place that God chose.
And how is the world going to understand this?
They say, Oh well, it's just that man want to be on top because they don't recognize the Bible. But they ought to come in among Christians and see that in our homes and in our assemblies we recognize God's order. They ought to see that when we work that we recognize this. And so it says here.
In the 12Th verse of the 11Th verse, let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
But I suffer not a woman to teach nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence. For Adam was first formed that Eve. Did God arrange this? Yes he did. And this doesn't only apply to the home and to the assembly. It's everywhere. It's a certain order. You turn back. We won't take time to Isaiah. I think it's the 5th chapter it says.
All my people.
Children are your oppressors and women rule over you. They that lead thee cause thee to err and destroy the way of thy paths. Who was it that said that? That was the Lord that wasn't. That's not my word. That's the Lord that said that. And happily we find young people who come and say, young girls say, do you think I should take a job where I'd be in supervision over men? What can I say?
I said, well, God has an answer for you in his word. Here's a position that God has placed you in. And so here's the word of God. The world says, well, we have our own ideas about this. We're going to change these things, but are you going to be like the model home where you see what God has planned, or you're just going to go and follow the ideas of the day in which we live?
Well, the young people.
Wouldn't it be nice if all young brothers assumed the responsibility of the place that God had given to them?
It isn't a place where there's oppression. It's a place that is maintained by love because the end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and men are to maintain that place in the way that God has planned in His Word. The man who seeks to maintain the place of head in his home is to do it in love. That's God's plan. The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, but it's a place that has been given.
And so it's that which God has planned and the woman's place in connection with what God has given her the privilege of doing, of being the one who bears children into this world. Not as a privilege that is given to her, which men don't have, which they're unable to take, but the the man has been given a place and a place which is.
Appointed I say of God, and then to it speaks about.
Close and the ninth verse in like manner also that women adorn themselves in modest apparel and so on.
Now, that is, the whole manner in which the woman presents herself is to show that she accepts the place that God has given to her. She accepts it and she has been made the beautiful, the more fair of the two sects. And so God gives her that place. She's to hold that place modestly. She's to hold that place.
Instead of making the wrong kind of appeal, she wins the respect of man.
Buy her proper clothing and this is what God has planned in His Word.
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Isn't it nice to see that there is a model in this world? You go to that place, you see a model home. How's the world going to see? They don't read their Bibles. We're living epistles. We're a model. Do they see dear young people at Christian Boys occupy the place they should? That makes me feel badly when I come into a room and I see all the boys running for the best seats and and try and take the best seats.
Girls arrive. Is that taking the place God intended? No. There to give honor to the wife as to the weaker vessel. God has a certain plan. Where is the world going to see it? They're going to see it in Christian people. That's the plan. And how nice it is when this plan is followed. Because it's God's plan, not because I want a top place or you want a top place or I'd like to place somebody.
Says if you're placed in that position in the office's office manager and someone else comes and says, I've got more brains than you have, I'm going to take your job. You would probably say, well, you'll have to ask the manager if you can have my job because I was put in this place and who has done it. I'm not saying that women are less intelligent. Many of them are more intelligent. But the question is the place.
And all through the Scripture, it's wonderful to see women who occupy the place. What man has ever been great in the world that there hasn't been some woman who has been an influence for good in his life? That's what the 31St of Proverbs sets before us. So here's God's order. I just leave it with you. Now we come to the next one in the fourth chapter.
And we see the Bishop and the deacons. Now we come to an order that God is established in the assembly.
As I understand our brother Potter used to say the assembly is not a democracy. It's not a democracy. God has raised up in the assembly those who take a godly oversight, and what a happy thing it is when this is so.
The one who is in the oversight has a personal godly life that it commends itself.
And so that he wins by his life the respect of those who look up to him and acknowledge that God has arranged leaders in the assembly who are to be godly men, whose homes are such that they have the respect of those who look up to them. Then to in the material things in the assembly. There we have the deacons, the.
In these meetings arranged all about getting the meals range, about the seats, wasn't this all planned? Didn't someone have this responsibility? Isn't it nice to see that God has all this plan marked out in his word? The world may say, well, we have a we have a voting and we vote certain people in.
The assembly never chose those who were godly overseers in it. True, in the beginning the apostles did, but never the assembly.
The assembly did choose those who looked after temporal responsibilities.
You find that in acts where they chose those who looked after the distribution of the funds.
But as far as the godly oversight, it's nice to read in the 20th of Acts, over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the flock of God, and to be examples to the flock. Well, so we have an order.
Where is it going to be seen? Do we go and visit Man organized systems to find out what the order is?
Now we find it in the Word, and the assembly is to be the example of this, and we ought to be aware that God has laid down certain things like this in His Word, and He has marked it out very clearly.
All these instructions are given.
Now I just mentioned briefly what we read in the 15th and 16th verses, and there we have two verses which really we might say are the key to the whole Epistle. The 15th verse shows that the assembly is the Church of the Living God, the pillar and ground or support of the truth.
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And then in the 16th verse, it's the walk patterned after the Lord Jesus himself.
The secret of godliness is the pathway of the Lord Jesus. And so if one could put it briefly like this, what is God's assembly on earth? It is responsible to hold a deposit of truth committed to it. One couldn't recognize an assembly as being an Assembly of God if God's truth was given up, because the assembly is responsible to maintain that a positive truth committed to it.
Where is the where is the church doesn't teach, But where are they going to find the truth? They're going to find it among those who have been brought to know the Lord and who are seeking by His grace to maintain that which is according to truth, the pillar and support of the truth. And then there's the secret of godliness.
What ought the world to see in US personally?
That were like Christ. Why did the early church call the people's Christian, the believers Christians? Well, I believe it's just because they were like Christ. What is a Christian? I don't read in the Bible about some man saying I'm a Christian, but the world looked on and said these people are Christians, they're Christ like and so without.
Controversy Great is the secret of godliness.
They ought to see in us that we're Christ like, Do they see this in US living stones and God's building? They have no other pattern. They don't read their Bibles, but they do watch us. We are living epistles them.
But now we come to the next chapter, and tells us about doctrines of demons. And then the third verse it says forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats which God hath created, to be received with Thanksgiving of them which believe and know the truth. For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused.
If it be received with Thanksgiving.
For it is sanctified by the word of God and prayer.
Well, we know that false church actually went to that point of forbidding to marry, but God instituted marriage, gave it a very special sanctity in His Word. And where are we going to find out what marriage truly is? Are we going to find it out from the world? Some of the young people were going to be married a couple, and they were asked to write up their own vows.
So they went down to the library to get some of the suggested things that they could put in their vows. And one of them came back and said, you know what? One of the things was that we could put in marriage vows that we would be true to each other as long as our love doth last. Well, you can see what the world is. Are we going to follow the patterns that do we find the answer in the library?
Do we find the answer when we ask the people of the world? Marriage is breaking down? Sad to say, it's breaking down even among Christians, and the reason is that they haven't followed the pattern of God's Word. It's a tremendously serious thing. The Lord hates putting away. He hates divorce. He tells us he hates it, and it's becoming a popular thing and accepted thing in the world. Are we going to?
Along with him, where are we going to take the other position of forbidding to marry? Now the way we're going to find out the true pattern of marriage is in the Word, and the pattern is Christ in the church. Oh, what a perfect pattern we've got. God gives us a pattern. It's a perfect pattern. And so it's a doctrine of demons to try and destroy that which God.
Instituted for man, and I beseech you, dear young people.
To enter into this very, very solemnly, remember in God's account, it's intended to be for life. It's intended to be a pattern of Christ in the church. And if you don't think that you can really respect the partner that you're intending to marry, but you better not get married because there needs to be love and there needs to be respect.
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And so the important thing for us then is.
That we follow God's pattern. And in these days, a breakdown of marriage. Oh dear young people, go by the word of God. Go by the word of God, because there's no happier relationship that you can be in than in the proper relationship of marriage. But the enemy is trying to smash it to pieces. It's trying to found the whole thing.
On sex instead of on love.
But God's intention, as set before us in His Word, is to follow His plan. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. But then the next one that set before us too is about food. It's all kinds of fads and ideas here, but here every creature of God is good. Nothing to be received of. It would be nothing to be refused of if it be received with Thanksgiving.
Or is sanctified by the word of God in prayer. Now, there may be special conditions that require special food. I'm not questioning that. But I'm Speaking of generalities as we have it here. Every creature of God is good. Anybody tells you that meat is not good, how are you going to find out? God's Word? God's Word? He says every creature of God is good. Nothing to be refused of. But do we give thanks for it?
I know that you can go to a restaurant and you'll find very, very few people who give thanks. But you and I, who are Christians, we, we ought to give God thanks for our food. All you say, do we have to do it in front of unbelievers? Paul was on board a ship with 270 some people and as far as we know, there was only one other believer on board the ship, probably Luke.
All the rest, I expect, were unbelievers.
But it says he gave thanks to God in the presence of the mall, in the presence of the mall. So it's nice for us to remember that people are so worrying about food and so on. I think a great question for us is, is it commanded by the word of God till we give thanks for a simple instruction? Isn't it very blessed too for us? Well, this is God's pattern. This is the model home, dear young people.
This is what God sets before us. How lovely are his instructions. And then the eighth verse.
For bodily exercise profiteth little or for a little time, the margin says. But godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is, and that which is to come. Does the Bible condemn bodily exercise? No, it says it's profitable for a little time.
I believe it just means don't get carried away with it. Don't get carried away with it.
That's nice. We do need bodily exercise, but when we get carried away with it by then we often find ourselves getting so involved and often into wrong company. It profits for a little time, but if it interferes with godliness, if it interferes with the meetings, if it interferes with giving the Lord his rightful place and it interferes with the time to read His word, then it's not really profitable.
For you, godliness is profitable unto all things, having promised of the life that now is and that which is to come. God knows how to take care of your body and mind. Many that I have known in my life who have been so deeply involved in sports and have become really excelled in it, you find as they get older they haven't really gained what they expected in health.
But if you and I put the Lord 1St and are temperate in all things, he'll take care of us. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Ghost. And so isn't this lovely here? Godly bodily exercise profits for a little time. Perhaps some of you have heard me repeat this little incident but some years ago.
Up at Otter Lake, I remember one of the boys and we were talking a bit about.
Sports and games and so on. And he told us this little incident, how he and a few other Christians went out to a park to play and having some good wholesome exercise. And in the park there were some others that were playing and this other group were having some real arguments about who was going to win and who.
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Who did this right and didn't? And so on. They're really carrying on with some arguments.
And when the other little game broke up, one of them walked by where the group of Christians were playing and he said, we've been watching you fellows here. I think you were boys and girls watching you playing here. And he said, you don't seem to be arguing. We really had some fights over our game. Well, Alice Christian boy replied, well, we're just a group of Christians. We came out here to have some exercise and we are just having.
Happy time together as a group of Christians. Well, I thought that was very nice, and that, I believe, was very commendable. That was showing that bodily exercise does have its place. It's often an occasion of happy fellowship, but let's not get carried away with it. It's only for a little time. And godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise of the life that now is.
And that which is to come.
And now we find in the 12Th verse.
Let no man despise thy youth, but be thou, be thou. Example of the believers in Word, in conversation, in charity and spirit and faith, in purity.
Paul is exhorting Timothy as a young man. He's showing him that his personal life can be an example, that he can be a useful person.
And nothing thrills my heart more than to see young people who are growing up in this path, in Word, in conversation, in spirit, in faith, in purity.
They're really going on to the Lord, and as you watch them grow up, you know that as the Lord leaves us here, they're going to be useful. They're going to be useful. All I want to say to you, dear young people, don't give up the path of following Christ.
Oh, you say, maybe later on I'll get restored, but don't forget you may do something while you're away that'll blemish and spoil your life. Many a young person has come back to the Lord, but he has come back with something on his life that has spoiled his testimony. Well be thou an example of the believers in Word, in conversation, in charity. And then it says.
Verse Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine, Take heed unto thyself. Sometimes we tell other people what to do. They look at us and they say, but you're not doing that. And sadly you have to hang our heads. So we're to be an example not only in what we say, but in our lives. In actuality, what we say only carries as much weight as the life that we live.
So here's a place for young people, a very important place. They're young people. The streets of the New Jerusalem are going to be filled with boys and girls playing in the streets. The assembly has a place for young people. It's a wonderful thing to be brought up as a young person in the meeting and to be brought under the sound of the truth, to know God's order and to occupy a place in the assembly. That's a blessing to yourself and to others.
And now we find two in the fifth verse. 5th chapter, first verse. Rebuke not an elder, for the margin says rebuke, not the new translation. Rather, rebuke not an elder sharply, but entreat him as a father, and the younger man his brethren, the elder women as mothers, the younger as sisters, with all purity. Here is that mutual respect for one another.
Respect for those.
Who are in a position of leaders in the assembly? Do we speak respectfully about the older brethren? Do we speak respectfully there? There may be times when I need a rebuke. There may be times when any of us, whatever our age, we need a little word. But it's always to be done with respect.
Recognizing the position, the age and all, and the way we treat one another.
Do we treat one another in the proper way, bearing into account their age, their position in life? Are they widows, bearing also a boy? Girl relationship is a little different between two boys. You've got to be a little more careful. You can be quite free when it's just boys, but when they're boys and girls with all purity, so that you see here there's all this instruction. The world looks on, they see.
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A pattern in this world. A pattern.
Set before them when the house is in order, and then to.
The eighth verse, if any, provide not for his own, especially for those of his own house.
He hath denied the Faith, and is worse than an infidel. The world is set up a way of providing for old people that saw that.
Younger people won't be. They won't have to feel any responsibility for loved ones as they get older. Is that the pattern that God has in His word? You go to an old folks home and they say, oh that those people have been here for months, nobody ever comes to see them.
Isn't it sad? But it isn't to be So with us as Christians, we ought to remember that there is that care for our loved ones as they get older, our responsibility laid upon us. The world, I say, has their own ideas, but we have the word of God to go by. There's the care. And there's nothing sweeter than to see this.
Manifested, Bible says of the world without natural affection.
Are we to be like this? Oh, you say that's the way the world does it today, Gordon, you're living in a different generation.
But the Lord doesn't change. There's still a pattern here in this world and here it is, that before us, caring for our own.
And now we come down to the 21St verse.
I charge thee before God and the Lord Jesus Christ and the elect angels that thou observe these things without preferring one before another, doing nothing by partiality. And I want to call attention to that. That's perhaps we need to put it in simple English. That's being fair. You know, that's what I often hear people say. Well, it's not fair the way they did that.
Wasn't fair? Are we fair in our dealings? The world may not be fair. I'm sure your employer may not be fair the way he handles you. You may not find that the government is always fair in the things that they do and the things that they impose. But where is fairness to be seen? Are we fair in our dealings with one another and with our brethren? Are we fair in the way we talk and act with one another? Dear young people, are we?
Older ones, are you and I fair in the way we act to one another? It's very easy, you know, just to do things by partiality, Say, well, you know, all those people are related to me and I couldn't offend that family. Are we fair doing nothing by partiality? Very easy to be influenced by it, but God's assembly ought to be a fair place.
Is God going to be fair when he deals?
Indeed, it says it says in Peter's epistle.
It says that when he judges, there's no respect of persons with God.
He is perfectly fair. He doesn't judge after the sight of his eyes or approve after the hearing of his ears. In righteousness he will judge the poor and reprove with equity for the make of the earth. All brethren, let's be fair. Let's be fair with one another in our dealings, because the world is looking on and we are the model home.
Now let's turn to the 6th chapter, the 1St 2 verses. Let as many servants as are under the yoke, count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not best blasphemed, blasphemed.
And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them because they are brethren, but rather do them service because they are faithful and beloved partakers of the benefit. Oh, here is a little word for us in the way we do our work for our employer. We ought to do it in such a way that whether our believer or whether our master is a believer or an unbeliever, we try to fulfill our task in an honorable.
An upright way, giving respect to the person who is in the possession of authority over us. Well, this is something for us too. I found in the office where I was worked how little respect there often was for those who are in authority in the office. And I'm sure this is more and more so today because all these things are breaking down. But let us be respectful and if we do something for.
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Employer respect him. If we do business with a Christian, do it in a nice way, remembering that we're partakers of the benefit. We're going to share eternity together. We share the unsearchable riches of Christ. Wasn't it sad when in the Corinthian assembly, some of the Saints were actually defrauding one another? They must have forgotten that they were all heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ. So here we see that.
Respect.
In connection with an employer.
And then we find in the end of this chapter, we find the handling of material things. This is a great responsibility. It's a difficult responsibility to know how to properly handle what has been given to us. We're we're told here that we're not to hold it as our own. In the early church, it says they had all things common.
But as time went on.
And spiritual life declined, then tells us that the ones who had a little more than others were to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate. I believe the reason for that is that if everything was equally shared today might do harm to some people who are not walking with God to have a lot put into their hands that really wouldn't be for their good.
But all those who have means, God tells us.
That we are to be ready to distribute, willing to communicate, and in other words, we don't hold what we have is belonging to ourselves. I used to wonder why the Lord said to that young man, Go sell what thou hast, and give to the poor. I think I understand it now that the Lord was really saying to him, Well, you looked on all that you possess as your own, but from now on you're my steward.
And you just give it all to me and I'll tell you how to distribute it. I'll tell you how to handle it.
And really, that's what happens when you get saved before you're saved. It's my house, my car, it's my money.
After we're saved, why we just hand it all over to the Lord and then say, Lord, help me to use my home, help me to use my car, help me to use my money in a way that's honoring to thee. The world doesn't know anything about this. But you and I who are Christians, we're in the model home. There's people visiting, they're looking on. Do they see things fixed up in a nice way in the model home? This is what God has set before us in His.
All you say, Brother Gordon, that's awfully difficult. Paul says fight the good fight of faith. Fight the good fight of faith. How can I do it? Greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world. Oh, dear friends, it's far easier to go on in God's way than to go our own way in the end.
We'll find that it's far easier to follow the divine pattern.
Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace. So he says, fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on what's really life? What's really life to do your own will. No, it's really life is to follow now that which God has given us in His word. And now it is closing with his 20th verse. Oh Timothy, Keith, thou which is committed to thy trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings.
And oppositions of science, falsely so-called, I'm quite sure.
That if any of us try to follow this pattern, a lot of people are going to say, well, we know better. We're living in 1978. We're not living in 19. We're not living in 8030. We're in a advanced stage. These are oppositions of science, falsely so-called. They're saying we know.
Can any of us ever be wiser than God? Don't argue with them, just say.
It's what God's Word says. This is the path for me. I believe it's the path of his glory. It's the path of blessing. It's the path of happiness. And so avoid these discussions. Remember, we can never be wiser than God. Follow the wisdom and light of His word. Oh, May God grant that we may take a visit to this model home. See the pattern that God has laid out and see that it is really a very.
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Happy pattern that he is marked out in his word for us and I'm sure if we walk in it we'll as the Lord Jesus said wisdom is justified of all her children. That is those who walk in wisdoms ways say I found it. You see the sign in people's cars. I found it when it says wisdom is justified of all her children. It just means that we found the path of wisdom in this blessed book and as we walk in it.
Pleasantness. It's peace. May God grant that we might have grace in these last days to follow the light of His precious word.
Love of God
Address—C.E. Lunden
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First John chapter 2, verse 18.
Verse 18.
Little children, it is the last time, and as you have heard that Antichrist shall come. Even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know that it is the last time they went out from us, that they were not of us, For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
But you have an ocean from the Holy One, and you know all things.
I have not written unto you because you know not the truth, but because you know it, and that no lie is of the truth. Who is a liar, but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, He is anti right that denieth the Father and the Son, whoso denieth the Son.
The same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledget the Son hath the Father.
Also let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning.
If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the sun and in the Father. And this is the promise that He hath promised us, even eternal life. These things have I written unto you concerning them that seduce you, but the anointing which you have received of Him abideth in you.
And you need not that any man teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things.
And His truth and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, you shall abide.
In Him and now little children, abide in Him, that when He shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. If ye know that He is righteous, you know that everyone that doeth righteousness is born of Him. Now we read in chapter 4. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, but they are of God.
Because many false prophets are gone out into the world, hereby know you, the Spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God.
And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God.
And this is the spirit of Antichrist wherever you have heard.
That it should come, and even already is in the world.
Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. They are of the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. We are of God. He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know with the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
Beloved, let us love one another.
For love is of God, and everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God.
He that loveth not knoweth not God, for God is love.
And this was manifested the love of God toward us, or really as to us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him here in his love. Not that we love God, but that He loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. No man has seen God at any time.
If we love one another, God dwelleth in US and His love is perfected in US.
Hereby know we that We dwell in him, and He and us, because He hath given us of his Spirit.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he and God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Here it is our love made perfect. Or rather, herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world.
There is No Fear and love, but perfect love casteth out fear.
Because fear hath torment, he that feareth is not made perfect in love. We love him because he first loved us.
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If a man say I love God and hateth his brother, he's a liar, for he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
And this commandment have we from him, that he who loveth God?
Love his brother also. In Second Thessalonians we are told that there will be a great delusion come upon those who have made the profession of Christianity.
Not because they didn't believe the truth.
But because they received not the love of the truth, there's a great deal of intelligence in this world today.
And there are many who can expound the scriptures well.
But the question is, have they received the love of the truth?
To receive the love of the truth.
As to not only know the Lord Jesus as a personal savior.
But to be an enjoyment of continual communion with him, to receive the love of the truth.
And so unless one is saved, of course this could not be.
He might, of course, make a profession.
And he might pass with most, but there's a day coming when all will be tested as to that statement.
Those that received not the love of the truth.
Now really, the truth is Jesus. I am the way, the truth and the light.
And no matter where you start in Scripture, if you keep going, you'll soon find that.
The subject is Christ.
The subject is Christ.
And you know, when we get home to heaven, the subject will always be Christ.
The seller of all of God's counsels.
And he's the one who lies in the bosom of the Father.
And we have been accepted in the Beloved, and that is our eternal portion.
Now God is love, as we read tonight, and Christ is the center and the full expression of that love in his person.
And so as we're occupied with Christ down here, we're in the enjoyment of that love.
This we find in the Gospels in a very special way. And if we neglect the Gospels?
Our hearts will grow cold no matter how much intelligence we may have in the Epistles, because the Gospels present to us Christ the Man, Christ Jesus walking in the very circumstances in which you and I are found down here.
And so we have him as our example, Peter says.
To follow in his steps. How would you know how if you didn't read those steps?
And that's in the Gospels.
Now we find in the first part of John that we read tonight the two great apostasies.
That soon will coalesce and come to a climax.
It's the apostasy of the Jew and the apostasy of Christendom.
It's found in those verses.
22nd verse Who is a liar? Second chapter and 22nd verse.
But he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ, that's the Jew.
He denies that Jesus is the Christ. He is Antichrist.
That denieth the Father and the Son. That's Christian apostasy.
Denying the Father and the Son, and so the two will bring be brought together and they'll be the worship of the beast and also the Antichrist in Palestine.
What an awful day that will be when seven spirits, 7 wicked spirits will take over.
That nation of Israel, that nation that was so favorite of God, but has gone completely astray. And before they're ever recovered again, the judgment of God will allow seven spirits more wicked than any things ever known before take over that nation. And they will actually worship a man, an Antichrist, because as it says here.
They deny that Jesus is the Christ.
He will give expression to what is on the hearts of the people. They will deny that Jesus is the Christ.
That What about Christendom, Those who have heard the gospel of the grace of God and rejected it?
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They will deny the Father and the Son both, and all what a judgment will fall on Christendom, those who had more light even than the Jew. And so the day is coming when those who receive not the love of the truth will be given a strong delusion.
That they might believe a lie, that they might be damned. But solemn days are ahead for those who have had the highest truth that God has ever given to man. Now, of course, this is just the opposite of love. This is hatred on man's part for his Creator and for the One who would be his Savior. The apostle John is the one who gives us, shall we say, the last message.
He gives us the ministry that not only was good at all times, but has its special application in the very closing days of the Church's history.
It's when everything else is broken down and there's absolutely nothing to cling to. John tells us why. He tells us that he that hath the 23rd verse, whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father, but he that acknowledges the Son hath the Father also. Let everything break down. The believer has the Father and the Son.
Is that not enough? Father speaks of all the affections that we have been on another occasion.
Speak me a little bit of love.
And the 13th of First Corinthians, and in Ephesians one and three love.
Affection, relationship, that's the Father. But the Son is the one who's brought us to the very bosom of the Father. That's our place now. This is all we need for all eternity. We still have that. Let all that which has been set up in testimony on the earth break to pieces. We still have this. And so how fitting John's ministry is then.
When we see things decaying all around us, we have that confidence God doesn't change. His purposes will never have changed. They'll all be fulfilled, and that in Jesus his Son. But in the 4th chapter we have very definite instructions.
Lest we should be seduced, as it says in the second chapter.
But you'll notice how he begins the exhortation. This is characteristic of the apostles.
It should be characteristic of us. Should we be called upon to exhort someone beloved?
God always speaks to His people in the position in which they are found.
The father, if he is in his right attitude toward his child, would address him in this way, beloved.
You know, oftentimes when we would speak to one another in connection with some little thing that might need correction, we forget the position that person is on. He's in a position of relationship. He's beloved.
His beloved. And so the apostle says, beloved.
Believe not every spirit.
Have something that should.
Make us think.
What characterizes the last days?
Is a false spirit. Everything else may be right that there may be a false spirit at work.
And so that false spirit would lead then.
One might have the truth.
But they wouldn't have the love of the truth.
False spirit is in control.
And you'll find that most false, or shall we say most, heresies, begin in a way that's deceitful, and very few can detect it.
And men are seduced and LED away by false teaching.
And not because they're not always too well instructed.
But because they're not in the enjoyment of communion, communion now it says believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are God. Because many false prophets are gone out into the world in the Epistle of John.
We have a series of tests.
Something we can test things by, for instance.
In the second chapter and the third verse. And hereby we do know that we know Him.
If we keep his commandments, this is the way we know it.
5th Verse Whoso keepeth his word, and him verily is the love of God perfected.
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Hereby know we that we are in him. There's a test, you see.
It's not to test you, it's to test me when I read it. And so if we want something for our own hearts to test them, here we are. And John, the epistle of John, we have the same thing in our chapter. Hereby know you, the Spirit of God.
Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God. That's the test.
On the next test, and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh.
Is not of God, and this is that spirit of Antichrist whereof you have heard that it should come and even already is in the world.
Someone spoke to me on the When we run away to Newfoundland in the campground and I answered them this way. I said, is Jesus Christ the eternal Son of God? Was he always the eternal Son of God? Will he always be the eternal Son of God? They said no, He was created just like we were.
See. That's the test. That's the test. Simple test, isn't it?
And that's what lies underneath all of these false things that we see around us today.
I met a minister of the gospel.
And I said to him.
I said, can you give Peter's confession in Matthew?
Out to Christ, the Son of the living God. Oh yes, he said.
I said then you believe that Christ is the eternal Son of God? No, he said, I don't believe that. I believe that he was created just like I was.
Lion leaders of the blind, Both shall fall into the ditch. This is the test.
Turn with me, if you will please, to an Old Testament scripture.
It's in Second Kings, the 4th chapter.
We read from the 38th verse, but before we read, I'd just like to say this.
Elisha's ministry.
Is a little picture of the present ministry of grace with Christ gone on high.
The present ministry of grace with Christ gone on high.
You'll recall when Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind.
And Elisha was given his mantle, but before he went up.
Elijah had gone with Elijah to four places. He went from Gilgal down to Bethel, from Bethel to from Bethel to.
Jerry calling from Jericho to Jordan.
Now, after Elijah had gone up, Elisha retraces those steps.
Because Elijah is not going to follow in the path of his master.
In new creation life, he's gone over Jordan with him. Now he's going back in new creation life to retrace those steps.
And so having begun at Gilgal.
And ending at Jordan. Elisha starts at Jordan. He goes through Jericho, Bethel, and he ends at Gilgal. Now Gilgal is not the Gilgal by Jordan because you'll notice if you read carefully that when they left yoga, they went down to Bethel. It's there are three Gilgals and this one is on the top of the mountains. It's a picture of the heavenly places.
Because God always starts from Himself in blessing to His own.
And we find in this chapter, we're going to notice now that.
Elijah came again to Gilgal. He's he's been retracing these four steps, as it were. That's the church's history down here. It's the believers history down here in this world. And it's the Epistle of John that we're reading tonight. It's the end of the path, dear friends, we're at the end of the path. Didn't we read in the first, in the second chapter of the epistle? That is the last hour.
Read my new translation. It's the last hour. That's where we are tonight. In the last hour, we're at Gilgal, as it were.
We're just ready for the Lord to take us home. Are you going home too?
Are you trusting in that precious blood? Are you going with us if we go tonight?
Perhaps we will.
Tonight are you going with us? If we go tonight, Gilgal, then I should claim again to Gilgal. And there was a dearth in the land, and the sons of the prophets were sitting before him. And he said unto his servant, set on the great pot, and see the pottage for the sons of the prophets. Now the great part is the food for the people of God.
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Not a new one, it was the one that was there before but just set it on again. This was done about 150 years ago.
But all the precious truth was revived for the people of God again.
All of it. Today we have the full revealed mind of God, not only in His Word, but ministered.
And you can find ministry on every subject, and so there's no reason for not knowing the mind of God in a day like this.
There were four distinct things that were brought back to us.
We might speak of them as cardinal truths. The 1St is redemption.
And that means that we have been brought back those who are believers, and we have been set free. Isn't that precious? All at liberty to be bought back from the hands of Satan and then to be set free. That's where we are tonight, if we're Christians before God.
But the next point is that he sent down his Holy Spirit to indwell every believer.
That's the second point that was recovered for us.
The third is that God has made his habitation by the Spirit in the assembly on the earth.
The third cardinal truth.
The 4th is the Lord's coming.
Now those four truths should command every conscience here of a Christian.
They should be before us continually.
These four truths.
And so we have the the pot is set on again, and this is for the sons of the prophets.
And one went out in the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine, and gathered thereof wild gourds, his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of pottage, for they knew them not.
Now there's mischief here. Someone has taken, and they've taken something wild.
To introduce into that which God had already provided, which was ready for the eating of the sons of the prophets.
They didn't need any more attitude. And beloved, there's a special penalty for those who add to the Word of God.
Or take from it.
That here's someone who adds, but not only does he add these guards, but he shreds them.
This is the same as we have in Matthew, where the 11 leavens, as it were, the whole lump. The leaven won't leaven the whole lump until we're gone.
But the leavening is going on now.
And so it says, they knew it not. They knew them not.
They knew them not. They were unaware.
Of what was going on.
And they pour out for the men to eat. Came to pass as they were eating with a pottage, that they cried out and said, Oh thou man of God, there is death in the pot.
Now there are three things that we have in the first part.
I believe it's the second chapter of One Corinthians.
That the believer has when the Spirit comes to indwell him.
He first receives the truth by the power of the Spirit. He's enabled to communicate the truth by the power of the Spirit.
And is enabled to discern whether it is the truth or not by the power of the Spirit. And so they cried out, there's death in the pot.
Now the question is, what were they going to do?
It's a picture of evil doctrine introduced among the people of God.
What are they going to do about it?
Are they going to now go to work and try to pick every bit of that poison out? They can't do that. It's shred.
What will the cure be?
And as we find ourselves today surrounded by everything that's evil.
Doctoral moral in every way. What is the cure? What is the remedy? How are we going to avoid all this?
Well, we have the instruction very clear here, just like we had in the other passage in John. But he said then bring meal and he cast in the pot.
And he said pour out for the people that they may eat. And there was number harm in the pot. Oh, how simple a remedy.
The meal.
There's no question in our minds what the meal is.
It's Christ himself, the one who came down from heaven.
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The bread of God that a man needs to ever not die. Just put Christ in it and it takes care of the whole thing.
O beloved, you and I are surrounded by everything, defiling every day.
How are we going to avoid it? Just have one pure object before our hearts. That's Christ.
No other remedy. Don't look for another because you won't find it.
And again I say, how can you have Christ before your hearts if you don't read the Gospels?
Not just the Gospels, of course.
There are three parts of the word of God that give us Christianity.
The first is the life of Christ down here in detail.
The second are the epistles written in the most perfect language that we can have, Greek.
There's no mistaking the mind of God.
In that language.
But then we have in the Old Testament, as we've just been noticing picture after picture to fix in our minds.
And that forever the precious truth of God. But we should eat old store.
That's the 26th of Leviticus. And bring forth the old because of the new. Never try to build doctrine on the old, but garnish the new with the old.
That's the way God intended it. It's the illustrations of the old that help us to see the truth of the new.
And so they just threw the meal in the pot and everything was taken care of. Oh, how simple the precious truth is for our souls.
And will you not confess with me that the reason we are so taken up with these poor, paltry things of earth is because we don't have Christ before our souls?
Is it not so? Am I wrong? Well, that's the that's the way then.
We won't be seduced, we won't be turned aside, and this is the way.
To have the love of the truth.
The love of the truth.
Such will never be under that strong delusion who have the love of the truth.
Year of God, little children.
And have overcome them, because greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world. Who is that? It's the Spirit of God.
Did it ever occur to you, dear, dear Christian? Oh yes, you say, I know that doctrine.
That we all have the Spirit of God.
But did it ever occur to you that you continually have that holy guest within? Always, always.
Always there, the Spirit of God.
And he'll not leave you forever.
It's one of the sure signs that we have eternal life, as we'll notice in the moment because the Spirit indwells.
Now we can quest the Spirit and hinder his operation.
But we can also grieve the Spirit if we sin. And then the Spirit, instead of occupying us with Christ and the inheritance, he'll have to occupy us with our ways.
So that they'll be corrected.
So that he again can fill our hearts with Christ, because that's his object.
They are the world, therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. You see here we have a distinct line of separation, and that's where you and I should be walking today as Christians.
Completely separate from this world. Not because we have a doctrine to do so, beloved, but because we're following Christ in the path of separation. It's just that simple.
It isn't that we're under laws and commandments and ordinances. Oh no.
And if it's presented that way, it only becomes a burden.
That if it's presented as a path in which we follow Christ, it's not a burden.
We are of God or how positive the language.
He is at lowest. God heareth us. Those are the apostles.
If you and I do not plead to the truth that the Apostles gave us, we are in trouble.
He that knoweth God heareth us. He that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. How did we receive it? The Apostles. The apostles doctrine.
And from the very beginning of the church.
They followed together with the apostles of doctrine, the breaking bread and prayers, the very beginning of the Church.
Now again, beloved, let us love one another for lovers of God. And everyone that loveth is born of God and knoweth God. He that loveth not, knoweth not God, for God is love. Very simple tests are enough.
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Now when it says God is love, it brings us to the very source of all.
And we must remind ourselves, as we noticed in First Corinthians, that we have been to the very center.
By receiving Christ, who lies in the bosom of the Father, who have been brought to the very center of all, and that is God, and God is love.
That's where we are.
Now this is what we should give expression to, John says to one another.
By this shall all men know that you are my disciples.
How in that you have love one for another.
Did he say and let you have love for all the Saints? No, no, that wouldn't be personal.
And that you have love, one for another. This is what tests our hearts.
Because I might avoid someone continually, Because I may not have judged my heart as to my attitude toward that person. Now we'll notice three ways in which God has manifested His love to us. And there, after all, that's a better subject, isn't it, than to be occupied with ourselves?
Because it's God's love to us. It's a foundation of all our blessings.
It says in this was manifested the love of God. The word here is toward, but it could read as to us. It isn't simply toward us, but it was the love of God as to us.
Now he gives a reason in each case. Why?
In this was manifested.
The love of God.
As to us, because that God said his only beotten Son of the world, that we might live through him, that's the measure of that love. There's no possibility of going any further than this in love because God has spent all he gave his Son. And when it comes to Jesus, it says he gave himself. He didn't give something, He gave himself.
You can't go any further than this.
This takes us into the vast eternity of love.
Landing to this. And so the love, first of all, is asked to us.
God loved, and it was because He gave His Son.
That's the way it's manifested.
Here it is, love.
This is the love here in His love. Not that we love God, no, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Because we have the same nature as we noticed before we have that nature, and so that nature expresses itself. All was in the same way.
Honest.
If it doesn't, it isn't that nature.
No man has seen God at anytime. If we love one another, God dwelleth in US and His love is perfected in us. Now we have the love in us, not as to us, but it's the love of God in US.
Now how do we know that the love of God is in us? Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He and us, because he hath given us of his Spirit. Two things I want to notice in this verse. The 1St is that instead of putting it this way, first He and us and we dwell in Him. He puts it just the reverse. We dwell in Him, and He and us. Isn't that lovely?
It's not only love, but His grace piled upon the top of it.
He puts us first, He puts us first all the marvelous grace of God. And in doing so, He doesn't only say that the Spirit dwells in us, but it says we dwell in Him.
We dwell in Him, and He in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
Now I believe that the thought here subject to correction, but I believe the thought is included here.
Not only that, it's the Holy Spirit.
But it's the very character in which God displays himself.
If you know what I mean.
His devilness of his spirit. You speak of a certain person and you say he has a lovely spirit. That's what I mean. He's given us a very sane kind of a spirit.
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And if this is so, and it's true of us, it'll be easier than to show it towards others if we realize this. In other words, it's just like God.
Yes, just like God, He gave His Son His Spirit. She hurts the Holy Spirit, but it's the kind of spirit that He manifests towards us. That's in view here.
And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son. What for? To be the Savior of the world. Oh what a God we have.
The Father sent the Son, he gave him, but now he sent him, and he sent him for a definite purpose, and that was to be the Savior of the world.
And I ask your dear friends tonight, have you availed yourself of this salvation that God has provided in His Son?
Are you going to be with those who will be in His presence for all eternity?
Because you said yes to Jesus, you took the Lord Jesus Christ as your own personal Savior while it was called a day.
You may not have a chance tomorrow. Tonight is the time.
If you haven't done so, tonight is the time. I ask your dear friend tonight, have you availed yourself of this Savior? The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world?
Now this is your place tonight, if you haven't done so, whosoever shall confess.
Confess that Jesus is the Son of God. He shall be saved. Oh yes, of course he will. But something more. God dwelleth.
In him and he and God. Isn't that lovely? And this very night, if you take Jesus as your Savior.
On the strength of God's Word, you will know just what it says here.
God dwelleth in him.
And he in God.
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love, and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him. Now we've had summed up in this verse, we just read the two first of all that.
God sent his Son.
That we might live through him is the reason of their love.
Towards us or as to us?
But also that God dwelling in us proves that we have the Holy Spirit of God also within.
But now we have another in the 17th verse.
It isn't our love that's mentioned exactly as it's put.
But if you read the margin in your Bible, you'll notice what it says.
Herein is love with us made perfect.
And then the reason is given why love with us is made perfect.
We have the love of God towards us for salvation He has given His Son.
We have the love of God in us. He's given us his Holy Spirit. Is that not enough? No, he says that isn't enough.
I have to add something to that. We have the love of God with us. Why? Because it's a day of judgment coming. A day of judgment. Now we have the love of God with us. You know, sometimes when you're going through a deep trial, it's nice to have someone with you, isn't it?
That's just what we have here. We have the love of God with us, not only in the day of judgment, but all the time.
But especially because of the fact that there is a judgment, we have the love of God with us.
Oh, how many a soul has enjoyed this without knowing the doctrine of it.
The love of God with us.
You know, they used to be story books they've been throwing out in the past few years. And I've heard people speak of these stories that our children used to read. And I asked them why they didn't sell them anymore. They said there were *** stories. You've heard that, haven't you?
With Beloved, I wished we had some more *** stories.
We're living in a day where there seems to be no sense at all.
And what it means to repent, what it means to be in the presence of God as to our sins.
When I was a young man, I went to meetings where I saw people weeping over their sins.
In a gospel meeting, we don't see it anymore, do we?
No.
There seems to be a deadly.
In these very last days when there should be a brightness with us in the enjoyment of what we're just about to enter into.
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What does the herd if a tear drops once in a while? Is there any harm in that?
My blessed Savior was a man of sorrows and He wept too well. Love with us.
Turn with me to Revelation.
The 4th chapter.
The second verse and immediately I was in the spirit. When was this? The moment John was caught up into the heavens for these visions.
All, beloved, the moment you and I, according to the heavens, will be in the Spirit, or what you say you say. I thought you said we had the Spirit. Yes, we do, but we're not always in the Spirit. We will be then.
Wouldn't it be nice if we were in the spirit now?
We won't be leading Jungle Stories all the time for our children.
I'm serious, brethren, some of these things may have their place, but don't replace the scriptures.
The stories.
Replace the Scriptures with stories. We may be forming a pattern that will take our children away from the precious truth of God. He was in despair immediately. And behold, the throne was set in heaven. What for? Judgment, of course. Judgment. This is the love of God with us, the love of God with us. And once sat on the throne. The eve that sat was to look upon like a Jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow roundabout.
The throne insight like unto an emerald.
And round about the throne, with four and 20 seats and the poundless seats, I saw 4 and 20 elders sitting clothed in white raiment, and they had on their heads crowns of gold. And out of the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices, and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.
Now we have a thrill of judgment and all this judgment praying for from the throne.
And those who were sitting on these Thrones because they were Thrones, it says seats, but the word is interchangeable and it means Thrones, in this case, 4 and 20 Thrones. And on one of those Thrones, beloved, you'll be sitting because this is a picture of the church and the Old Testament Saints. You're going to be sitting here. If you're a true child of God, you'll be sitting on one of these seats.
And you won't be the least bit disturbed by the judgments that are going on below you.
Why? Because of the love of God with us. The love of God with us.
The love of God to us and sending his Son to die for us.
The love of God in us with the Holy Spirit and dwelling not only the believer but the assembly down here.
And the love of God with us.
And what does it say in our chapter in John that we may have boldness in the day of judgment?
We'll be there, but we won't be the objects of judgment.
No, we'll be sitting beside the one who is judging, and you'll have the love of God with us.
Now we may apply this practically to in our everyday life. We have the love of God with us.
What great calamities come into the lives of the Saints of God sometimes?
Oh, to have the love of God with us, to have a friend standing beside us at that moment, have the love of God with us. How precious. The truth, the one who died for us, the Spirit of God indwelling, and now the love of God with us. There is No Fear of love.
Perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. There's no reason for the believer to be in fear. We love him because he first loved us. I understand that Mister Darby made this remark shortly before his death.
I never realized before that meant God. I thought it was Jesus.
It's God the Father, God the Son of God, the Holy Spirit, all three and one.
We love him because he, that's God loved us.
All three persons of the Godhead included in this, in that precious oh, how safe the believer is now. Is there a proper response from my heart and from yours?
Is there some little response to this?
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Is there an answer to this love? That's what love expects. An answer. Have you read the Song of Solomon lately? You should.
If any man say I love God and hate his brother, he is a liar. So I'll plain John is for he that loveth not his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And so he says he loves God. That's the matter. That's the demonstration of it. This is the test for my heart tonight.
Do I love God that I love my brother and this commandment? Have we from him that he will loveth God, love his brother calls?
Revelation 8-11
Address—A. Roach
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.
Chapter 8 and beginning of verse one. And when he had opened the 7th seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. And I saw the seven angels which slipped before God, and to them were given 7 trumpets. And another Angel came and stood at the office having a golden century, and it was given unto him much incense.
That he should offer it with the prayers of All Saints upon the golden Author, which was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense which came with prayers of the Saints, descended up before God out of the angels. And the Angel took the center, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth. And there were voices.
And thunderous enlightenment, and an earthquake. And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound. The first Angel sounded, and they followed. Hail and fire mingled with love, and they were cast upon the earth. And the third pot of trees is burnt up.
And all.
And the second Angel sounded, and as it were, a great mountain burning with fire, was cast into the sea. On the third part of the sea became blood, and the third part of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and the third part of the ship to destroy. And the third Angel sounded, and there from a great star, from heaven, burning as it were, a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the river.
And upon the fountains of water.
And the name of the star is called Wornwood. And the third part of the water became Wormwood. And many men died of the water, because they were made bitter. And the 4th Angel shouted. And the third part of the sun was missing, and the third part of the moon, and the third part of the stars, so as the third part of them was darkened, and the day Shaun not for a third part of it.
And the night, likewise night is held and heard.
An Angel, or rather the should read. I beheld and heard an eagle flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Whoa, whoa, whoa, to the inhabitants of the earth, a reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound. I will go to the 10th Captain.
And I saw another mighty Angel come down from heaven, clothed with a cloud, and a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire. And he had in his hand a little brook open, and he sent his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth, and fried with a loud voice when a lion roared.
When he had tried 700 others their voices.
And when the seven founders had uttered their voices, I was about to write, and I heard a voice in heaven saying unto me, Feel up those things with the seven founders others, and write them off. And the Angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth, lifted up his hand to heaven, and swear by him that liveth forever and ever who created heaven.
And the things that therein are, and the earth and the things.
That therein are.
And the three and the things which are there in that there should be.
No longer delayed. No longer delayed, but in the days of the voice of the 7th Angel.
When he will begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as He had declared.
To a servant department, and the voice which are heard from heaven, spake unto me again.
You could go and take a little book which is open in the hand of the Angel, which standeth upon the sea and upon the earth, and I went up to the Angel.
And spread out to him, Give me the little book. And he said unto me, Take it and eat it up, and it shall make thy belly whistle, but it shall be in my mouth.
We respond when I took the little book out of the angels hand and ate it up and it was in my mouth. Sweetest honey.
And as soon as I have eaten it, my father.
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It's better. And he said unto me, Thou must prophesier can again. I'm going to correct.
This thou must prophecy again about many people and nations and Congress continue.
Perhaps tonight will take up the 8th, 9th, 10th and 11Th chapter to follow out the line of things we're noticing on Monday evening. On Monday evening we had before the opening of the first six seals.
And those fields brought in certain providential judgments upon the earth.
And then he found a parenthesis coming in. He found the whole 7th chapter as a parenthesis in which God brings out his care for his ancient people, Israel, and setting apart a certain number to be preserved in the tribulation, and then a great company of Gentiles. Now the 8th chapter gives us the resumption of the field, but notice what happens here.
I might just say this is my resume so we get the thought in the 8th chapter.
We have.
Christ seen as the Angel priest.
And we have.
Four of the seven trumpets founded.
In the 9th chapter we have the 5th and 6th trumpets which are known as the first two world trumpets. The first one is a is a judgment upon Israel, the apostate, unbelieving part of Israel and the second one a judgment upon the Gentiles is perhaps some of the details. Later in the 10th chapter, I believe the marvelous heartwarming chapter for any one of us who love his appeal. There we have Christ.
Not as an Angel priest, but as a mighty Angel asserting his right.
And power over the earth and God answering him with the 700 as to the rightfulness of his claim. Then in the 11Th chapter, we come down to a smaller area. We're brought into contact with Jerusalem, the temple, and God giving an adequate witness to the two witnesses that are mentioned there. And at the end, all this comes in the 10th chapter, comes in as a parenthesis, the 10th chapter mostly.
The parentheses between the six trumpet and the 7th trumpet and the end of the 11Th chapter. The 7th trumpet is founded on the 11Th. Trump of the 7th trumpet, which is the third world trumpet, brings us to the end. It brings us to the Day of Judgment of the Lords, power as universal Kingdom, the punishment of the wicked, reward of the righteous. It brings us to the end in the general ledge.
Well, that's thought. Now let us notice the 8th chapter a little in detail.
Upon the opening of the 7th field, there was in heaven. That is, there is a temporary suspension of judgment. It is the law before the storm. I remember as a boy, I often think of this. We'd be playing in the streets on a summer day and the streets of Brooklyn, NY. Maybe there's a little rumble of Thunder and then the clouds will be clouds roll over and then it's a great period of silence.
So silent, and then there's a little gust of wind that swirled of dust around, and then the lightning flash and a Thunder came with great force and the rain poured down. That little temporary silence, that little period of silence that just before the real storm broke. I believe that's what we get here, that this period as a period of silence in heaven, about the state of half an hour, that is just limited.
God is suspending a judgment for the moment, but only that man may take note because now God is going to bring in not the fear judgment, but the trumpet judgment and the trumpet judgment are by far more severe than what we've seen under the seal. Now it says here immediately we see a verse, verse two I saw.
The seven angels which stood before God for them were given.
7 Compos.
While the trumpet brings before us the loud announcement.
Of God's intervention at Mount Sinai, the prophet glow, people see it, and I say, 18 the Lord says when you hear the trumpet sounding, when he sounded the trumpet, hear you, Joel says in the second chapter.
Laura the trumpet and Zion found an alarm in my holy mouth. The trumpet is that which is calculated to arrest the attention of men.
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And we know that the city of Jericho, how those puppets were blown in warning day by day as the priests and the people went about the city. So the trumpet freeze in the thought of God speaking more loudly than under the seal. And this will be evident as we go along.
Now these 7 angels have had the prophets, they are created angels, their service. But in verse three we have another Angel, another Angel. Now what this Angel does, marching out as being Christ himself, pronounced creative Angel, could take the place that this Angel takes. And he's another Angel. He's not one of the seven. He's not one of those creative angels. He stands on a different plane.
Christ is seen under the field as a lamb under the trumpet, it seems an angelic God. He's, he's not only seen hears an Angel, but in the 10th chapter, when we come to that, I believe it will come out more clearly that this Angel is Christ himself. And now notice what this Angel does. There are two altars in this chapter. I think we'll understand it better if we realize that.
In the third chapter, the third verse is the brazen office, and in the third verse it's the golden author.
The brazen altar was at the door of the Tabernacle where the sacrifices were offered. And when the priest went in to burn incense, he couldn't take any fire that he wanted. He had to take fire from off the brazen altar to consume the incense that he carried it in. Now two priests failed to do that and they died, Nadab. And if I you offered grain fire, they did not take the fire from off the also find offer.
Here this Angel is seen standing at that paralysis with a golden fences, and it was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with a prayer that All Saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne.
Notice that here is Christ interceding for some Saints, but we are in heaven here to believe in all the believers up to the coming of Christians. Glory, who is he interceding for? Oh he's got Saints on earth. In the 5th chapter we find that the heavenly Saints, they also offer up the prayers of of things. They OfferUp the prayers of those things on earth. We've already seen in the 6th chapter how some of those Saints will put to death God will have a people on earth.
After we're gone and committed to them will be an entirely different testimony than what we have. It will not be a heavenly testimony. It will be a testimony to the coming King who is to set up his earthly Kingdom. But those things will pass their persecution. As we proceed through the revelation, we're going to see how severe these persecutions will become and require faithfulness to be to resist on the death. And so here.
We see the Lord is interceding, He's indirected in those things.
Of course we can take the print of the last cell and enjoy that thought. And now notice what he does first floor. The smoke of the incense which came with the prayers of the Saints ascended up before God out of the angels hands. God accepts the praise of his faith as the fragrance of Christ is joined with them. So I'll worship too. But that's another line of things. You're thinking of these things here.
Their friends come up, maybe uttered feebly, maybe in desperation.
The fragrance of Christ associate yourself with them and they offend before the throne. So we see then that God will have suffering Saints on earth. We've already seen that some are modern that's in the 6th chapter but some are going to pass through they're going to live through the tribulation. Some will pass right through it but they'll pass through it in suffering here. Then we see Price and that priestly guide now notice what he does he takes the fence that fills it with fire of the author that's.
Again. And he passed it into the earth, and there were voices and Thunder and lightning and an earthquake. Now in the 4th chapter, when we saw the throne, there were lightning, thunderings and voices. Now there's a full state edge. The judgment is going to be more severe. An earthquake is added now and voices come first. God is going to speak more loudly. So you'll notice each time this is mentioned as we go on through the.
Something additional is added the lightning, the Thunder, the voices and an earthquake later on his great pale apparel. So God is increasing the severity of the judgment and how blessed may these interposes brought that you and me, beloved St. of God, that we're going to be above this team. We're not going to be here when this happens. We are looking for Jesus as our deliverer from coming round.
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And notice the Angel sound. And we might just give this resume first.
The first prophet falls upon strikes the earth, the 2nd trumpet strikes the tree, the third trumpet strikes the rivers and the springs of water, and the 4th trumpet strikes the symbolic cavern, the sun, the moon and the.
The.
The stars, these are symbolic. When we come to the fifth trumpet, we've already indicated it falls upon the Jews of the Israelites as a nation. And the next trumpet after that, the six falls from the Gentiles. So there's a definite order. Let us know to some of the details and let us remember that this is symbolic language and we're to take it in that way.
The first Angel sounded, and that followed Halo and fire.
While hail.
Is God sweeping judgment the 28th of Isaiah he says the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lives in that 28th chapter the man of Jerusalem are trusting him lies that trusting in the promise and word of the Antichrist and the beast. God was a hail of sweep away the refuge of lives that brings in here. This judgment is a sweeping judgment that man cannot resist. Now notice.
Have taken here from literal plagues that fell on Egypt, that hail and the fire went along the ground. These things happen literally in Egypt, but here. But here the Spirit of God is taking that literal figure and applying it in a spiritual sense. So here we get the this judgment and it will produce apostasy. The blood here things in the thought of spiritual death, not physical death. In Egypt there might have been physical death, but here.
Apostrophe blood brings in moral apostrophe from God that spiritually into the cut off and filing in some connections with God. We know in the book of Jude you get that we learn there are men spoken out there who are twice dead, white, white dead.
Well, they were dead by nature. Being born into this world and living as sinners. They were dead by by nature.
But now they were dead by apostasy. They had three without fruit.
Wrapped up by the roof. So we'll see in this in this coming day, those who cycle with the proof of God is going to feel the weight of these judgments. Now it says the third part of the tree is burnt up and all green grass is burnt up. Now when you get the third part, such kind of the 12Th chapter to get our clue to this because I believe the third part.
Refers specifically to the Roman Empire, 12Th chapter of Revelation.
Where we get the power of the dragon and verse three it says there appeared another wondering heaven and behold a great red dragon having seven heads and 10 horns and 7 lbs upon his head and his tail through the third part of the stars of heaven and attention to the earth. That is if the dragon gets control of the rulers of the Roman Empire. That's more developed again in the 13th chapter, which Lord willing.
But here we see that the third brings in the Roman Empire. So I believe these judgments are limited to the third judgments. The dog will pour out on faithless and jobless Western Europe. Western Europe where they had such light in the gospel in the days gone by, where God raised up such men as Martin Luther over Wingley and John Calvin and other men who brought out the gospel.
Europe was reversed by such a man as Mr. Darby, who spread the truth through Germany, through Switzerland, through plants, Spain and Italy. All that land, it had all that privilege. We know we'd have that privilege on this side of the ocean too, in a way. But there, that land that is going to be revived into the Roman Empire is going to have the wrath and judgment of God. And that reminds me of something. We've all read it some years back when there was a meeting of the.
Committee in Europe.
There were two men, but I was just thinking about one of them said or combined what they both said, what they had this thought in mind. They're looking for a man who can take over everything without committing, who can make short cuts and have things accomplished. And they want this man to be able to take care of the economic situation and to be militarily strong enough to hold hold against Russia or any other nation. And notice this, what one of them said.
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Be he God or the devil.
We will accept him that isn't just declared a vow person of man in Europe. And so they're waiting for a man. He's living over there somewhere. I don't know who he is and where he is. He's going to be on the scene one of these days. And so we see this judgment falling there. Now, the next Angel we have to pass on the green grass things in general prosperity which is destroyed.
The second Angel sounds and as a great mountain burning with fire cast into the streets, and the third part of the sea became blood and the third part of the creatures that were in the sea and that life died. That is here is a great power in the earth. God said of Babylon and Isaiah and Jeremiah 51. I will Rosie as a first mountain.
Down into the state, Babylon is their seat as Burns already destroyed.
The first mountain was seen here, a great nation falling under the judgment of God, and becoming the means of judgment to others. This great power falls in such a way as to destroy the whole part of commerce. The ships will bring in the thought of commerce some great power, which powers indicated the word of God doesn't say, and it would be purely speculation to name any country, so we may have private thoughts about.
This is a great power that's going to fall.
And it's going to bring in death that is apostrophe, and it's going to bring in the destruction of commerce in verse 9, the knowledge passed on to the 13th.
There we fell a great star from heaven, burning as it were, a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the river and upon the fountains of water. Here we have a star again. We noticed that the star represents an individual that is a place to get light and guidance. And this is a great person that's been falling from his plate and he throws, he's seen as a lamb that doesn't take the place of one who's going to give light and and instruction.
What we find instead, he causes the water to be filled with bitterness.
That's what the Wormwood is. God said He was seasoned with Wormwood and gall because of their sin and because of their iniquities.
We have many proof scriptures we can refer to it as we mentioned the other evening. We have to prepare to cover the ground we have in view now this morning upon the ribbon rivers bring in the influence among nations rivers as pass along that current and they carry Thomas clue. But it's it's it seems before the thought of intercourse between nations and certain influences.
Isaiah 18 who's land the rivers of spoiled the rivers will land oil sources of of intercross with between man and the world.
There'll be this Wormwood of bitterness and the screams or the.
Thousands bring in refreshments. That was the command. Refreshment will be poisoned, filled with Wormwood. Do we not see that even now? Every source of communication today is painted with iniquity. It doesn't make any difference what the subject is. It might be a magazine about housekeeping and it's filled with corrupted, corrupted articles in it. You look at the title and you don't. You leave it alone.
Just have household incidents now. It's got immorality in it. These are the poisoning of the screens. We're seeing some of that now. But one of the these men will want state panic influence, and God will let them have it. And so as the Lord said to the Jews, I came in my father's name.
And you receive me now if a notice will come in his own name. And you will receive, if man doesn't want God after all applause, all the chores of grace. God will let them have what they want, and then only to bring in His wrath and judgment upon Him.
Now the four things will bring in a judgment upon the ruling power, son, the moon and the sun, that is the song of supreme power, the moon that represents derived rules, subordinate authority, the stars, again, great leaders who take their place in the system. And here we find that this judgment snipes them in such a way that there's darkness.
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Very far. That's the Roman Empire. Again, I believe what will happen, God will allow Europe to be preached in such dreadful conditions and allow them Satan to bring in the beast and seemingly give them relief because the fighting chapter shows the beast will arrive out of the troubled water.
He'll come in and set things in order. Then he'll begin to say peace and safety. This is what we're looking for, peace and safety. But then of course, sudden destruction will come upon them. Probably this is sufficient to give us the thought to the 8th chapter. We want to concentrate more on the 10th chapter, but let us see what the 9th chapter give us.
The typing first of the 8th chapter. However, we find this eagle flying in the midst of heaven, the bird of prey, and he says woah woah woah to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpets of the three angels which are yet to sound. That's why the next three tropical Rd. crumbles. Because of this, we roll 3-4 row associated by this ego.
Bird of praise with the three angels with the yet to sound.
So now we get the 6th trumpet, and the 5th trumpet rather, which is the first of the world trumpet. And it says, I saw a star fall from heaven under the earth. And to him was given the key of the bottomless pit, And he opened the bottomless pit, and then arose the smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air.
Were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.
Matters that some personage will be used here to let loose upon the earth the blinding influence of states. What a state is doing now he blinds the minds of them which believe not. Why let the light of the glory glorious gospel of Christ to shine unto them? Satan will have greater power. Think of it, The Holy Spirit gone, the Church removed the restraining influence the swath of the earth.
And though there will be another testimony, yet Satan will have greater.
Liberty to spread those as illusions that men really want rather than the truth of God. And so we see that there will be a blinding influence let loose from the bottom of head. The bottomless head is not Al. The bottomless pit is not the lake of fire. The bottomless pit is a place where evil is chained up, but not punished.
In the lake of fire. And so here there's a letting loose of the blinding influence of that early pitch. There, at this very moment, there are fallen angels and chains waiting the day of judgment. Here then we see God allowing this now out of that smoke come locally.
They need to change little opus, because they have power like scorpions, and they're told not to eat the things that locusts usually eat. They should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their forest. Other four. First is to close to the fact that this judgment is upon the unbelieving in Israel.
For the 7th chapter.
Sealed out of each product. And this judgment is on those that were not sealed. So those that were not sealed would be the rest of those in Israel. The greater part of the nation, we know in the end will follow Antichrist will be under the power and influence of the beast. And so here, this judgment, this trumpet falls upon the apostles in Israel.
Those men who would not trust and who persecuted really those who had received, those who had to feel, are not touched by this judgment.
But only those men were not the feel of God. And then in verse five, we learned that this is a limited judgment. It's limited to five months and it's deployment of a scorpion when he strikes a man.
Which was bringing deadly terrorists.
And in those days shall men seek death? Shall not find them. Think of a person being in such mental torment, but a desire to have his mind so absolutely close to it. All that is in a state of mental death, or spiritual death, or death to his conscience in all about these things, might not plague him. In torment him. It certainly does not mean physical death.
The men saw physical death. That would be an easy thing to accomplish. That would not be difficult.
But here it's a mental death, a death of conscience. You know that even now there are those whose conscience in the spirit you're the red hot iron. Here is the question of them being tormented as those things come before them that God will allow to fall in those days. Now it tells us the shapes of the locals, the life of the horse we pan of the battle and on their heads well, as it were.
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Crowned like gold.
And their faces were the faces of men, and they had their hair as a hair of women, and their teeth was a piece of lying the crowns of gold. I believe thing in the spot, that whatever this wickedness represents, stable claims to have God's authority behind him. When Sennacherib.
Was encamped at the libner or late this he sent grab shack at the Jerusalem with an army and told Hezekiah surrender and one of the claims that Rabshika matrices the Lord sent me. I came up with the Lord. The Lord sent me, which is a false claim, but he was claiming divine approval for what he was doing. Men, no matter how wicked they are, have a conscience and we've seen it in the past war.
When this right off Hitler wanted to invade a country he had to have a prepaid for minority being impressed he got to go to relief.
Why, why did that show he had a concert he had to have an excuse to go in and split those people. I only picked him out there other councillors the same way. And so here we see where we claim the divine title anointed ones that stood before the God of the earth. And so this shows that God is going to bring back to Israel again, both royalty and Facebook. The two olive trees here are seen sitting there with witness. Now notice in verse 4.
It says they're standing before the Lord because it should be of the earth, the Lord of the earth. Spare that mind to be condemned further.
Now we see that during their testimony, they've got power to destroy their enemies.
I can call fire down from heaven and they can shut the heavens when it rained not and they can turn water to blood. May I call attention to this fact? The fair miracles are the miracles that Moses did in Egypt and the miracles that Elijah did. That's why some have tried to bring out that this is Moses of Elijah. We find again, I don't believe that's a fraud here. Elijah will return. The Lord says so He will come. We, we don't.
Details about that, But the character of their miracles has a very important point here. Why do we have brought in the miracles that Moses did? Why is that brought in? And why are the miracles brought in that he liked it did? Because it represents the moral state of Israel at this time. When Moses brought forth those miracles, Israel was in *******.
Israel will again be in ******* when this takes place.
When he lied to all his miracles, Israel had departed. They were in a place of apostasy, they had turned away from God, and that's exactly what their position will be here. So God brings back the principles that were from the beginning, their restoration, their deliverance from Gentile power, and also delivering from their own cells in their own way with waywardness.
Now it tells us when they finished their testimony and trust I might take 5 minutes more.
And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beasts that ascended out of the bottom of the pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them and kill them. Notice they finish their testimony. And everyone of God's fervent is immortal until his work is done. God will maintain his servants until our work is done, and throw the beast who arises out of the bottomless pit can't touch them until.
Their testimony is finished.
And then we find them caught up that killed and put the death. And this is in Jerusalem.
What they told us was that the Jerusalem is identified in verse 8. The city that great city was virtually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified, not our Lord, but their Lord, the Lord of these witnesses. Well where? Where does the Lord? So this is a positive identification of the city of Jerusalem. Now they dwell upon the earth with joy.
In verse 10 and make merit, but the other general lot of people in the ninth verse are indifferent.
But they do not have the same hatred for these men as they as well on the earth.
They that dwell upon the earth are those holding left behind when the Lord Jesus comes. God will send them strong delusion that they should believe alive who leave not the truth that has pleasant and unrighteousness. Every professional Christian who received not Christ is one of those that dwell upon the earth. Dwell upon the earth and revelation is not all the people around the earth. It's a plan. It's a special plan that people who chose earth, not heaven.
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And so we see that they make merits, that it sends gifts one to another.
Then there's resurrection, and this is brought in close to the end, and now it's closing. We have to notice the 7th trumpet.
In the.
14 First, the Second World was passed, and behold, the third world cometh quickly, and the 7th Angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven.
Saying the Kingdom of this world or become the Kingdom of our Lord and of his presence, and he shall reign forever and ever. Then we have the 4th by the elders coming in again and notice their intelligence, what they say in verse 17. We give these thanks to the Lord God Almighty with art and love and art to come because I was taken to leave our great power in this range.
The nations were angry and Virat is fine at the time of the dead, that they should be judged.
And the bachelor of chimney ward of thy service, the prophets and do the things and for them that feel our name more and great and should have destroyed them if it's destroyed earth notice to be sent before which brings us to the very end of things because you cannot go beyond what we have here, the world Kingdom of our Lord and it is Christ is calm. That is that this is just simply an aggregation of kingdoms as this might indicate he has afforded.
Kingdom does that mountain that fills the whole earth there in second of Daniel Christ Kingdom will be from the river to the end of the earth. And then that being brought in, we have broadgrass, we have the dead judge, we have the reward for the service department and the destruction of those who destroy the earth. This propaganda brings us to the finality of things and again the love of Brazil. What a precious thing it is not only the.
Say, I don't know what eternity is secure for us, but God has taken this trouble to unfold. What will happen in this world after we're gone? All may we value the fact that He's taken us into His secret. The last verse rightfully belongs with the self. Captain Soil omitted.
The Building of the Wall
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Last week we were speaking about Ezra and the company that came back to Jerusalem. And this afternoon I'd like to look at Nehemiah and the third chapter where we have brought before us the building of the wall of Jerusalem, so the third chapter of Nehemiah. And there are 10 gates that are mentioned in this chapter, and I'd like to just speak about these gates in the order in which they're given and also the comments.
Spirit of God has been pleased to make about each one of them because I believe they have something for us to learn.
So I think I'll just read the little portion that refers to each one of the gates. Let's start then at the first verse, just the 1St 2 verses. Then Elias Shiv the high priest, rose up with his brethren, the priests, and they builded the sheep gate. They sanctified it and set up the doors of it even under the tower of Mia. They sanctified it under the tower of Hannah Neil. And next unto him builded the men of.
And next to them builded Zachary, the son of Emory.
Now, I believe it's very important what we have brought before us in connection with the building of the wall, but I believe it's also very necessary for us to notice that the book of Ezra precedes the book of Nehemiah. And historically it was before Nehemiah. God in his goodness brought back a remnant from Babylon. His people had been carried into Babylon, into captivity.
And Babylon no doubt represents the confusion and to which Christendom has sunk. And when God finally judges the false church it's spoken of his Babylon, well, God's people were actually carried into Babylon. And even though God had faithful witnesses like Daniel and Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in Daniel, it never was the place where God would have his people to be, although he sustained those who were faithful.
And we know that even during all those dark ages, God had his faithful servants, man and women too, who are faithful to him even to death. But we find that God and his goodness brought back a company. We were reading about them last Lords day from Babylon back to Jerusalem.
And I believe it corresponds in the history of the Church to the goodness of God and bringing back the truth to us of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, gathered according to His Word, gathered where He would have us as members of His body around himself.
Well, that little remnant in Ezra, when they returned, the first thing that we find them doing was to set up the altar of burnt offering that was giving the Lord His rightful place. Then we find them building the temple, and this was before the building of the wall. And I say I believe this is very important because we must first of all have a center before there can be separation. If we had separation apart from God's center, it would just be.
Like the Pharisees and they were boastful and they shunned and looked down upon others, but they didn't know what it was to recognize the true center. The Lord Jesus was among them and He was rejected. No wonder that He had to say when He went out of the temple. Your house is left unto you desolate. What was the empty building if He was rejected? And what is separation if it's not to a person? Let us go forth there for.
Him without the camp bearing his reproach. I believe Mr. Darby once said, anyone who speaks of separation without being humbled by it only shows his own unbroken spirit. And how could we speak of separation when we think of what failures we are, but when we think of the person around whom God has gathered us in His grace?
This is what makes the place, and This is why separation is important.
Not separation in itself as a cold fact, but separated unto him. Even when we read of separations in Second Corinthians, in Second Corinthians chapter 6, it says that if we would separate, the Lord says that come out from among you among them, not go out, come out, it's to a person. And he says, I will be a father unto you, and he shall be my sons and daughters saith.
Almighty. So let us always remember this. And so I say again, they first built the temple, the place where the Lord had chosen to put His name, and then in the time of Nehemiah, there was the building of the wall. Well, we find too the constant danger, and I might just mention this. And I believe there's a purpose why the Spirit of God mentions it. Nehemiah.
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Even though he was occupied in this, we find that he often mentions.
In his prayer, Remember Me, O God, for good, He was really occupied with himself.
And, you know, it's quite possible for us to be doing the right thing and be sort of proud that we are doing the right thing.
And I believe God lets us see this in His Word to show that it's very important to do the right thing.
But let us seek grace to do it in the right spirit, and the spirit in which we should always do anything for him. His humility, What God requires. We are told to walk humbly before thy God. And it seems that there was that spirit with Nehemiah. I was rather struck in noticing. When Ezra saw the condition of the people of God, he pulled out his own hair. He felt so badly about it that he was really cast down in himself.
But Nehemiah pulled out other people's hair. He was more concerned about the wrong that other people were doing and perhaps forgot to apply it to himself. And it's very easy for us to do this, but we need to first of all be before the Lord. The hairs, as we know, a picture in the word of the glory. And so he said that he wanted to acknowledge how badly he had failed because he was the leader of God's people.
Got Nehemiah seemed to be very occupied with what he was doing. Well, may the Lord give us grace to do the right thing.
In the right spirit, in the right way. I just mentioned this before we speak about this very interesting chapter about the building of the wall. There are 10 gates that are mentioned here in this chapter, and I believe there's a beautiful order. We know that when the heavenly Jerusalem is brought before us in Revelation 21, there are 12 gates, but here we only have 10.
And perhaps that brings before us the fact that we are not to look for perfection down here in this world.
No, when the apostle was writing to those at Corinth, he sought to bring before them many things, but he added this little expression and the rest. Well, I said in order when I come. And if we're ever looking for a perfect group, we're going to be disappointed. We're not perfect ourselves, but we can seek to fulfill our own responsibility. And 10 is the number in the Bible that represents responsibility. Godward, there were 10 commandments.
And so we have 5 fingers on each hand. There are 10. It always brings before us that thought of responsibility. And so, as I say, we don't look for perfection, not as long as we are here upon earth. But we do have a responsibility to God, our responsibility to the One who loved us and gave himself for us. And perhaps that's why there are 10 gates in this chapter.
We notice here that it was.
Elias Ship, the high priest, who rose up with his brethren, the priests, and builded the sheep gate. This chapter begins and ends with the Sheep Gate. It was actually, as we know, going around the city, and so it started there at the sheep gate. The 9 intervening gates are brought in, and then it comes back again to the sheep gate. Because there's no progress beyond this. I'm sure that each one of us can think of a verse that applies as we read this here.
Says they build the sheep gate and we think of John's Gospel chapter 10.
Where the Lord Jesus said I am the door of the sheep, And then he said I am the door.
By me, if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture. So I don't think any of us have any difficulty in seeing what the sheep gate is brings before us the precious Savior. And it tells us in that same 10th chapter of John that he entered in by the door. He came in fulfillment of all the Old Testament scriptures that pointed on to him.
The one who would come as the Good Shepherd to give his life for the sheep.
And that's the grand starting point. How could any of us be brought into any place of blessing whatever? As I said before, what would separation be worth unless we had a person to whom we can be separated? So it begins with that blessed One who came and himself entered in by the door, and then himself became the door He entered in, because all the Old Testament prophecies told about the coming of the Messiah and the work he would do. And that's why it says to him.
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Openness, I believe it was the Holy Spirit bearing witness to this One who came fulfilling all those scriptures. And then as we know, as the Good Shepherd, He gave His life for the sheep, and now He is the door. He is the way of entrance. And unless you have entered by that door, unless there is, unless you have received them as your Savior, why, you haven't even made the start of what this chapter brings before us. So how very blessed it is.
Behold of this high priest rose up and the priest and they builded the sheep gate. That is the Lord really, I believe is given his rightful place. You notice too, it's rather interesting to me that on some of the on some of the gates, it speaks of locks and bars. But in this one here it doesn't mention anything about that. Now some have thought that perhaps there was failure in not putting locks.
Bars on all the gates. But perhaps there is also a reason why the Spirit of God has omitted that in some of them. And I would just suggest here that it's very blessed to my soul. There are no locks and bars to keep one from coming to that Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus says I am the door, and he invites us. His arms are open wide, inviting whosoever will to come.
And enter in and be blessed.
And so there were no locks and bars here. And if there's one here who hasn't come, I want to tell you there's no locks and bars now to keep you out.
There is a free entrance, and the Lord Jesus has, as the Good Shepherd gone to Calvary that he might have his sheep. He has borne the judgment and he enters He He invites you to come in. Notice too, that it mentions it was sanctified, set apart.
This is very blessed too, because the Lord Jesus, as we're told in Hebrews chapter 10 by 1 offering a perfected forever them that are sanctified. And then it says by the which will we are sanctified by the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. So that precious Savior has done the work, and then it tells us that next unto him builded the men of Jericho.
Well, we know that Jericho is the city of the curse.
Isn't that just like this world, this world, it was under the curse because it says in Galatians 3 curse, it is everyone that continue with not in all things that are written in the book of the law to do them. This world was exposed to judgment just like Jericho beautiful city though it was. It was a city that was under judgment and here are the men of Jericho building the sheep gate and we were once exposed to God's judgment. We were under.
Curse as it were, but isn't it very blessed that Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law being made a curse for us? Oh, what a precious Savior who has redeemed us. And so here we find the high priest, we find the his brethren, the priest who perhaps bring before us believers. And then we find the men of Jericho, which we were once under judgment.
Once in condemnation, like the little hymn says, Once we stood in condemnation, waiting. Thus the sinners doomed.
Christ in death has wrought salvation. God hath raised him from the tomb.
So this was the start, and the fish the sheep gate rather. Now let's read what it says about the fish gate here. The third verse on to the end of the fifth. At the fish gate did the sons of Hasana build, who also laid the beams thereof.
And set up the doors their oven locks their oven the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Merrill Moth the son of Urijah the son of Cause. And next unto them repaired Mashhilum the son of Berakaya, the son of Meshes Bill. And next unto them repaired Zadok the son of Vena. Next unto them the Techowites repaired. But their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord.
Now perhaps when we think about the fish gate, perhaps we could turn just for the connection to Mark's gospel.
And I think we can learn something from Mark chapter one and verse 17.
And Jesus said unto them, That was Simon and Andrew, Come ye after me, and I will make you to become fishers of men. And straightway they forsook their Nets and followed him. Well, you know when we've entered by the door, and we know that we belong to the Lord. Isn't it true that that's what we desire? Why, we want to have part in telling others the good news?
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Just as the disciples were now to become fishers of men, the Lord was going to give them that privilege.
And he took them from their employment of being fishermen in the sea, and said they would be fishers of men. And I know all the children have sung that little song. I will make you fishers of man if you follow me. We know that we have a very blessed privilege. The Lord Jesus is absent now. He's gone back to glory, but he gives us this privilege. And how can we be used of Him in this work? Well, he said, come ye after me.
And I will make you to become fishers of men. This isn't first. It follows the sheep gate, doesn't it?
And then we find this.
Privilege given of building this, and it says they laid the beams thereof and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. Well, I believe this is very important here because we need to be very careful when we preach the gospel that we preach it according to truth. There are some people who perhaps would call it the gospel and tell people that they have to keep the law. They would tell them they have to do certain works of their own. They're not setting up the gates.
And the bars showing that there's only one way of salvation and we need to be well established in the truth of God. I believe it's very important when we speak for our precious Savior and that we make the gospel very clear. There's no compromise. We often hear in this day of what is called a watered down gospel, a gospel. It really doesn't stand for the truth of God. And I think it's important.
That we should remember this saw that these who were engaged in building the fish gate, they were very careful at this fish gate was set up in such a way that the beams, the foundation, the doors were set in a certain way. There was no other way but through Christ.
It says in Acts 4 and 12, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Some people will think, well you need to be broad minded in this, in this age when we stand for God's truth, we must stand firmly and faithfully and especially when it has to do with the gospel. And so the disciples weren't sent out just to do as they.
Pleased he, the Lord said you stay with me, and I'll make you to become fishers of men in his company. They learn how to do this, and you and I want to be used of the Lord. Do we want to be used of Him?
Well, it's very important then that we spend time in his company, that we're with this blessed One, the one who is the Good Shepherd, the one who knows. For it says he that winneth souls is wise. And sometimes we're not very wise in the things we do. We repel people. I think Peter meant well when he defended the Lord by cutting off a man's ear. But that wasn't a very good thing to do because then the man couldn't listen to what he said. And sometimes we do very.
Things and we cut people's ears off and then we expect them to listen well. We need to be careful and that we seek to do what the Lord's work in the Lord's way and by being in the company of the Lord Jesus. What they learned how wonderfully he spoke to every person he knew just exactly how to approach each one and he always did it perfectly and wisely.
So.
This brings before us the Fish Gate, and then it tells us about these different ones that were engaged in this and their names. Here we find the name of Michelle who was one of the leaders, and we'll speak a little bit about him later. Michelle, I'm the son of Barakaya. But now let's notice what it says in the fifth verse. And next unto them the Techowites repaired, but their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord.
Now, there were some that apparently were quite diligent in this work, but here were those who were nobles. Maybe that means that they thought they were someone kind of important and so they they didn't put their necks to the work of the Lord. We all know, I think, what that means. They just weren't willing to put energy into doing these things. And I'm sure that all of us have to hang our heads.
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Sometimes we just get so busy.
We think that we're somebody important and somebody big. And so we're so occupied with maintaining our own importance and our own place in life that we're not really diligent. We're not really willing to put ourselves out in serving the Lord. It was the nobles, the ones that ought to have known better and have done better, and they just didn't apply themselves. And I want to say this, and I say it to myself as well as to each one.
The scripture says cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently. The Lord wants diligent workers. He wants those who really have a true interest in souls. And we're not just going about it in 1/2 hearted way when we realize what a master we have and the value of the soul. Let's put our next to the work, sometimes even in trying to get those who teach Sunday school or who will help in the work of the Lord.
You find it very difficult to find ones who are willing to be there every Lord's Day.
To try and help in the work and visit the children and take an interest in the children. Or perhaps they say, well, I just have so many other things, I can't do it. Their nobles put not their necks to the work of the Lord. If you undertake to do anything for the Lord, put your neck to the work.
It says about some in Romans 16, Priscilla and Aquila, I believe it was. It says who have for my life laid down their own necks. That doesn't mean they had their heads cut off, but they were so diligent they were willing to, as it were, sacrificed their own interests and let put down their heads and said we're going to work as much as the Lord gives us strength in his work. Well, this is all in connection with a fish gate, which undoubtedly brings.
For us, serving the Lord now, we have next the old gate, beginning from the sixth verse.
Down to the end of the 12Th verse. Moreover, the old gate repair Jehoiada the son of Passaya, and Masholam the son of Vesediah. And they laid the beams thereof, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. And next unto them repaired Melatia the Gibeonite, and Jaydon the Maranatha knight.
The men of Gibeon and of Mizpah, under the throne of the Governor on this side of the river.
Next unto him repaired as the oldest son of Hirhaya of the Goldsmiths. Next unto him also repaired Hananiah, the son of one of the apothecaries. And they fortified Jerusalem under the broad wall. And next unto them repaired Raphael the son of her, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem. And next unto them repaired Jedi Aya, the son of Harumpa.
Even over against his house and next unto him repaired Haddish, the son of Hashem NIA Mel Qaeda, the son of harem and hashish, the son of Path Moab. Repair the other piece and the tower of the furnaces.
And next unto him repaired Shalom, the son of Helloish, the ruler of the half part of Jerusalem, and waters. I would like to just turn to a verse in connection with the old gate. It's in Jeremiah chapter 6, Jeremiah chapter 6, and the 16th verse.
Thus saith the Lord, Stand ye in the ways, and see and ask for the old paths, where is the good way? And walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.
This is very interesting to me why the old gate follows on the fish gate. You know, we're told that we've got to go to modern methods, and sometimes these modern methods take us out of the path of obedience to the Word of God. Now I know that we do need to have understanding of the times and to serve our own generation according to the will of God. And the Lord can show us how to live and act in our generation, but we don't have to.
Compromise the truth. We don't have to depart from the truth. And sometimes in order, as people will say, to accomplish something, you have to sidestep the path of obedience a little bit. Is that so? Is that what the Lord wants us to do? No. Here we find a great deal said about the old gate. It's rather remarkable to me that there are all these verses from the sixth verse down to the end of the 12Th all about the old gate.
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And it must have been very important. And when we connected with that verse in Jeremiah, we can see, I think, what it means. Stand in the way and ask for what? A new path for a different age. No, ask for the old paths. But some said, Oh no, we're not going to walk in those old paths. And so we say it was a loss to them when they didn't.
But here we find that there were those who were very busily engaged here, building up, setting up the beams and the doors and the locks and the bars.
These were the old paths. They were not going to allow something to come in, even in the work of the Lord, that was not according to His word. They were going to seek to follow His directions. And as our brother Brown used to say, we can never be wiser than God. If we think that we can accomplish something by getting out of the path of obedience, we're really saying we're wiser than God.
And sometimes we do it for various reasons.
We might do it because we're put under pressure. We may do it for friends, we may do it because we say, well, other people see results.
I often thought of what you have in acts there, when Paul came up to Jerusalem and he had been serving the Lord very faithfully and James said to him, Thou seest brother, how many thousands of Jews there are that believe, and they're all zealous of the law. And now they tried to get.
Paul to go along with Judaism, that was quite a difficult thing for Paul, wasn't it? Well, he was really. James was really saying, well, look.
All the results we're getting thousands believe what have you got to show Paul and.
And we have far more. Therefore it must be right to put the Lord's people under the law. Was it? Was that right to put them under law? Was Paul the compromise, his position? Well, it was pretty hard not to give in to this kind of pressure. And sometimes these very pressures are brought to bear upon us. And now what are we going to do? Here's the old, the old gate. And Jeremiah talks about the old.
Paths. What are we going to say?
Are we going to say we will not walk there in, or are we going to do like these workers who build it up this old gate and all these different names are mentioned? Because, you know, when you try to work for the Lord and do it according to His word, people won't make much of you. Your name will hardly be known in Christendom. You'll be somebody. That seems very unimportant. But I think it's quite interesting that the Lord records more names here in this than in the rest.
Because what the Lord values is obedience. He tells us to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of Rams. Isn't it better to have your name on God's honor roll? That's what really counts. And so here are a lot of names given, and there were ones who were.
Of the Goldsmiths, and there was the son of one of the apothecaries and different people. That one was a ruler of the half part of Jerusalem. These noble people, these people who had, we might say, good jobs and all.
Were they going to go along in the old paths? Oh, may the Lord give us grace to walk in obedience to his word, to follow in that path that He has marked out for us. And it's rather interesting in the 12Th verse, this is the only one of all gates that it talks about He and his daughters. And to me this is quite interesting because.
People might say, Oh well, this is a different age and now women take a prominent part in business and everywhere. Why can't they have a prominent place in the service of the Lord? But the only place where we find the women mentioned was in the old gate. There is a service for the sisters, a very important service, but it's not to get out of what God has said in His Word. It's in that path.
So we find there were those who labored in the gospel, but it doesn't say that they were up in public preaching. We find in the Old Testament different ones who were very faithful to the Lord, women whose names were mentioned. And so I believe this is helpful for us to see this. There is a place there's a young lady back in Ottawa.
A home where her parents were not saved and she was staying in this home and someone came to stay there.
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A woman preacher, a woman preacher, and she got talking to this girl and she said, I hear in your group you don't give women any place. Oh yes, she said, we give women a very important place in ours. Oh, I didn't know that. She said, well, she said we give them the place that God's word gives them. And isn't that what we want? The place that God's word gives them? We believe that women occupy a very important place.
Sometimes more important than men.
And no doubt in that coming day of manifestation, we may be surprised that it may be sisters who will get the greatest rewards. God gives to them a very important place, but He has given the place that pleases Him. He has set in the body as it pleased Him. May we all be willing to occupy the place the Lord intends for us.
Now we come to the next one, the 13th verse. Just one verse here.
The Valley Gate repaired Hannon and the inhabitants of Zenoa. They build it and set up the doors thereof and the locks thereof and the bars thereof, and 1000 cubits on the wall onto the Dung Gate. Here we find this rather brief mention about the Valley Gate. Well, I won't turn to it, but I like to connect this with the 23rd Psalm where it says, yeah, though I pass through the valley of the shadow of death.
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. And perhaps that's the reason that we have this brought before us after the old gate. We were talking a little bit about this last night with the young people. How lovely it is when we come to the end of the journey, when if the Lord leaves us here, someone like the apostle Paul.
Must come and lay down his life to be able at the end of his life to feel.
That He has sought, with the Lord's help, to walk in the path of obedience. We were mentioning how?
Paul said when he was talking to the elders at Ephesus that he had two great desires, and that was that he might finish his course with joy and that he might fulfill the ministry that the Lord had given him to fulfill. And you can't have any higher desire than that. And when you come to the end of life, if the Lord leaves you here to have finish your course with joy. All Christians don't sometimes Christians who have.
Away from the Lord, they come back and have to look back on a wasted life. They don't finish their course with joy. They just wish that they had devoted their lives more for the Lord. But it's too late, as a little poem says. Lost 1 golden hour somewhere between sunrise and sunset. Set with 60 diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for it's gone forever.
You can never recall yesterday. You can't bring it back. But I'll tell you this, that if you seek to walk in the path of obedience.
As you get on in life, He'll praise the Lord that He has preserved you and kept you.
And it's a very happy thing as we go on to find that the Lord is able to sustain us in the path. We may be weak, indeed, we are weak in ourselves. But here we come to the to the valley gate. And when we come to the end of the journey, how lovely it was to hear the Apostle Paul say, I know whom I believed and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.
That didn't mean that he simply committed the salvation of his soul to the Lord, it meant that he committed his whole life to the Lord, and he left it until that day. Well, this was the happy path. So this, I believe, would be brought before us in the Valley Gate, the end of the journey, no doubt. Now we come to the next one, the Dungate, the 14th verse. But the Dung Gate repaired Malkai, the son of Recap, the ruler.
A part of Beth Hackerum.
He builded and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars there are. Maybe we could turn to this verse because mightn't be so familiar. Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians, Chapter 3.
Verse 7.
But what things were gained to me? Those I counted loss for Christ, Yeah, doubtless. And I count all things but loss for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and to count them but dung, that I may win Christ.
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Here was the apostle Paul, who was very accomplished. He had many things that he could have boasted about.
As a natural man he had been well brought up. He had many things that made him quite a great man among his peers. But when he found the Lord Jesus, his sense of values was changed and all those things that he once counted very important. He said I counted them, but lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. And it wasn't only on the day he got saved, but it was also afterwards.
He said that when he met the Lord, he said, I count them but lost. And then afterwards he said he had he still counted them lost when he was saved. He said rather that he counted them lost afterwards he said and I still count them but loss. And he said I count them but down something that.
He actually abhor because he abhor something as filthy as that. And so he said those things that made a great man of me in the world. He said I don't want them now I count them, but dung for the Excellency of the knowledge.
Of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things.
And dear young people, I speak to you especially as you're growing up. We talked about the Valley Gate just before.
And now the Dung Gate. And I'm sure if you and I think of the end of the journey, we'll be something like Paul. He considered himself in that third of Philippians as a runner, and there was a prize at the end, he said. I pressed toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. There were a lot of attractive things around that might have appealed to him, he said.
I have a prize at the end and it makes everything along the way just seem as nothing and worthless.
Even abhorrent if it hinders me in running this race. So here we come to the.
Dungate and there are many appeals along the way.
As we're seeking to walk in the path of following the Lord, isn't it true that the devil seems to drop diamonds and gold all around us and say, oh, you can't miss this, you can't miss that. And so we stopped to pick up these things and first thing you know, we find that they get hold of our hearts.
And we're not pressing toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ.
Perhaps there's some meaning to that verse. In a spiritual way. A false weight and a false balance is an abomination to the Lord. The Lord wants us to be honest in all our business dealings. That's true. But isn't it possible to have a false balance about spiritual things?
To have the wrong sense of values. And I think that many of us are guilty of this in life, we have the wrong sense of values. I always used to wonder why it said that all the weights of the bag were his and that the money was after the shekel of the sanctuary. Because another verse says that money's like filthy looker. But why does it say that all the weights of the bag are his and the the shekel was after the shekel of the sanctuary? Because we'll never place a right value on money.
Unless we are in the presence of the Lord, we'll always have a wrong sense of it. We'll think it's something that's really important and in the Lords presence, why? It's just something that we can use for Him. It's not something that's really important. So how lovely it is to see here. The ones who.
Repair the the Dung Gate. They wanted to have a right sense of values. Now we come to the next one.
And there are quite a few verses about this, beginning from the 15th all the way down to.
The end of the 25th.
But the valley of But the gate of the fountain repaired Shalom, the son of Calhouse, the ruler, a part of Mispa. He built it and covered it, and set up the doors, the rod, the locks, the rug, and the bars thereof, and the wall wall of the pool of Siloa, by the King's garden, and under the stairs that go down from the city of David. After him repaired Nehemiah, the son of. Asbuck, the ruler of the half part of Bethsur, under the place over against the sepulchres of.
And to the pool that was made, and after unto the House of the Mighty, after him repaired the Levites, Rehome, the son of Bani. Next unto him repaired Hashibaya, the ruler of the half part of Kela. In his part after him repaired their brethren Bavia the son of Hemaded, the ruler of the half part of Keela, and next to him repaired Easer the son of Joshua, the ruler of Mispa.
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Another piece over against the going up to the Armory at the turning of the wall after him, Barrack, the son of Zabiai, earnestly repaired the other piece from the turning of the wall unto the door of the House of Eliaship. The high priest after him repaired Miramar, the son of Garage, the son of Cause, another piece from the door of the House of Eliaship.
Unto the end of the House of Eliaship.
And after him repaired the priest, the men of the plain after him repaired Benjamin and Hashib over against their house. After him repaired Azariah the son of Messiah the son of Ananiah, by his house. After him repaired Benui the son of Henedad, another piece from the House of Azariah under the turning of the wall, even under the corner.
Powell, the son of Uzziah, over against the turning of the wall and the tower which lieth out from the King's high high house. That was by the court of the prison after him. Pettia, the son of Parrish. Now we find here about the gate of the fountain. Perhaps he just turned to the Song of Solomon, and we might have something in the Song of Solomon that.
Has a reference to this.
The end of the fourth chapter of the Song of Solomon.
Beginning at the 12Th verse, a garden. Enclosed is my sister, my spouse, a spring. Shut up, a fountain sealed. Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates with pleasant fruits, campfire with spikenard, Spikenard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon with all trees of frankincense, myrrh, and Alice with all the chief spices.
A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters and streams from Lebanon.
Isn't this very lovely? It was the gate of the fountain. And doesn't this make you think of this fountain that was shut up and sealed? Well, seems to me to bring before us this very great secret in our lives, and that is that we should keep ourselves in the love of God. It's a very sad thing when a Christian loses in his solely enjoyment of Christ. You and I can be LED into almost anything if we lose in our souls the enjoyment of Christ.
And the devil is at work to do this, just as we've noticed about this Dung Gate. It's got all kinds of things sprinkled around for us to pick up. And what's it for? So we'd lose our enjoyment of the Lord. And so this, this fountain, it had to be sealed. It had to be protected because.
We have to. I like the way the little hymn puts it. Take thou our hearts and let them be forever, close to all but Thee.
Thy willing servants let us wear the seal of love forever there. And that requires a great deal of energy at the gate of the fountain, that our hearts would be preserved in their freshness for the Lord. Because when there was this fountain seal, this garden that was closed in, well then there were all kinds of lovely fruits and spices. And when the north wind blew, it just made that.
Garden send its fragrance all around the countryside.
And there's nothing like a Christian who's walking with God in the enjoyment of Christ. What a fragrance he is. In the meeting when Mary came and offered her alabaster box, it says the house was filled with the order of the ointment. And Mr. Darby once said, our testimony to the world is our joy in the Lord. We can say this is wrong, that's wrong. But what the world realizes is that they have nothing that satisfies. And when they see a Christian that's really enjoying.
Lord, they may see a testimony and when you and I come to the meeting with.
Hearts just bubbling over and overflowing with Christ. Then there's a blessing that reaches out and so we can see about the King's garden here and the stairs that go down to the city of David. Reminds me of another verse in Ecclesia in the Song of Solomon that says.
That his beloved was on the secret places of the stairs seems to me that we can be going up in the right direction, but we can sort of stall off. We can go off to the side and he was hunting for she was on the stairs all right, but she wasn't continuing to go up those stairs. And it's very easy for us to to get discouraged along the way, so.
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Here we have all these workers, just so many of them that are mentioned from.
There's 15 verse on to the end of the 25th verse, all between the gate of the fountain and the water gate that we read about sold it. This represents to us, I believe, the enjoyment of the Lord in our souls and I just wanted to call your attention here. We mentioned about Eliaship at the beginning. Let's notice this 20th verse.
After him, Barrack, the son of Zambia, earnestly repaired the other piece.
From the turning of the wall unto the door of the House of Elias Ship the high Priest. Now why does the Spirit of God call attention to this, to the door of the House of Eliashim? Some of these men, you notice they repaired against their own house. But here we find people repairing against the door of the House of Elias ship the high Priest. How could it be that he neglected to repair in front of his own door?
Well, just if you turn over, you'll see perhaps a little secret about this in the 13th of Nehemiah.
The fourth verse and before this Elias shipped the high priest, having the oversight of the Chamber of the House of our God, was allied unto Tobiah. Tobiah was one of the enemies of God's people. He was the one who was trying to hinder them building the wall.
And here Elias shed the high priest he was allied to him isn't his son. Doesn't it show us that no matter who we are, no matter what position we might occupy, unless the Lord keeps us by, we can become a hindrance to the people of God instead of a blessing? And dear Elias ship who helped to build a sheep gate, whose name is mentioned as at the first of the chapter, and the scripture tells us that he was.
In this important place of oversight. And yet here we find him allied with Tobiah. Can we hardly believe such a thing?
We know that our own hearts are like, and oh, how easy it is. How very important then that we should do what Elias ship didn't do. He didn't repair in front of his own house. He was very occupied with a very good work in connection with the sheep gate, but this part against his own house he seemed to have neglected. Well, may the Lord keep us. It's a very blessed privilege to communicate the truth of God, but we need to.
Always apply it first to ourselves. It says about the Lord Jesus, what is so beautiful. He began to do and to teach. Jesus began to do and to teach. He put the doing and then he began to teach. And that perfect life up to 30 years of age was doing His Father's will. Was she not that I must be about my Father's business? And then we find him going forth in His blessed pathway of service.
Well, now we come because we don't have time to deal with all the details.
The 26th verse and 27th Moreover, the Nathanyms dwelled in awful unto the place over against the Watergate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out after them. The Techoids repaired another piece over against the Great Wall at lieth even unto the wall of Opal well the Watergate perhaps Hardy of time, but I'd like to just call your attention to the Scripture in Ephesians chapter 5, where it speaks about the.
Jesus, it says that he might sanctify and cleanse the church, that he by the washing of water, by the Word, that he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. Remember how when the Lord wanted to wash Peter's feet, the Peter said, Thou shalt never wash my feet.
That even though he was clean, he still needed to have his feet washed. I mean, he was clean as to his standing.
But he still needed to have his feet washed. And the Lord said to him, if I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. And this is something for us and I take it to myself too. Hope each one of us will. When we read God's word and it shows us something that has been allowed in our lives, it's not according to His word. Do we put our feet into the Lord's hands and say, Lord please, I want to have my feet washed. I.
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To have part with thee. Are we willing to do this? And so here we find about the the Watergate after the gate of the fountain, and we've seen how easily we can lose the enjoyment of Christ because that's really having part with the Lord, fellowship with him. But then if we're not watchful, why something comes in and isn't it true that we often often have him wash our feet? Perhaps we read a verse in the Bible and the Lord says you need that verse.
Come to the meeting and some little verse is brought before us and I say that was for me tonight. The Lord was seeking to wash my feet. Are we willing to let Him wash our feet? We need the Watergate too. That's a very important thing because if we are not constantly watching things creep into our lives and the Lord would have us going on in such a way. He's looking forward to the time when His church will be presented a glorious.
Church without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
And now the next one, the 28th verse from above the horse gate, repaired the priest, everyone over against his house after them repaired Zadok the son of Emmer over against his house, and then come to the next one. So the next one was the horse gate. Perhaps I could turn to a verse. I don't think I can quote it word for word in the 20th Psalm.
Psalm 20 and verse 7.
Some trust in Chariots and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. No, it's rather surprising when you read through the reign of King Solomon that he multiplied horses. Why did he do that? Well, you know, there seemed to be a great deal of strength by having a number of horses, and he felt that having all these horses that he would have strength to handle.
That might arise. The Lord had said that the king was not to multiply horses.
Why did the Lord say that He wanted them to rely on him? And so here, here was the horse gate. In other words, we need to remember that our strength is in the Lord. Some trust in Chariots and some in horses. What are we trusting in? Says we will trust in the name of the Lord our God. Are we trusting in some arm of flesh that's only going to disappoint us?
Well, perhaps that's what's brought before us here about the horse gate. And everyone repaired over against his house.
They were careful because we can be so self confident. Everyone of us have this tendency. I wouldn't do this and I can do this. That's self-confidence. We need to repair the horse gate so that our confidence would not be in an arm of flesh. Our confidence would not be in horses or Chariots, but in the Lord, the one in whom we can safely trust. Trust ye and the Lord forever.
For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.
And then we have a brief mention here about the Eastgate.
The end of this 29th verse after him repaired also Shamiya the son of Shekinah the keeper of the Eastgate. After him repaired Hananiah the son of Shalomaya, and Hannon, the sixth son of Zelip. Another piece after him repaired Mashon the son of Berekaya over against his chamber.
After him repaired Malcolm the Goldsmith, son of the under the place of the Nathaniems and of the merchants, alvered against the gate Miff CAD and to the going up of the corner. Or you've mentioned 2 gates here. First of all, let's speak about the keeper of the Eastgate. Just to get the connection. Perhaps you'd like to turn to Ezekiel. Forgotten the chapter.
Ezekiel, chapter 44.
Verse One. Then he brought me back the way of the gate of the outward sanctuary, which looketh toward the east, and it was shut. Then said the Lord unto me, This gate shall be shut. It shall not be opened, and no man shall enter in by it, because the Lord the God of Israel hath entered in by it. Therefore it shall be shut. Well, I think we can see that this gate represents this Eastgate represents.
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The place that belongs to the Lord. And one has often said, there ought to be a place in your heart and mind that nobody else can take.
Sometimes don't like the expression all my love when we speak about any earthly person because I feel that there should be a place in our hearts that's reserved for the Lord. There was a gate in Jerusalem that only one person could enter, and that was the Lord.
And I hope this is true with us in our lives, that there is a place in our hearts that belongs only and solely to the Lord. He, he's worthy of our all. But it does seem important that we should give him that place in our hearts that no one else can have. Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness. It's first place that in all things He might have the preeminence. Doesn't matter how good the friend is or.
What he offers you or whatever. Never allow anyone to steal that first place in your heart.
The Lord Jesus is the one who is to have that place. That gate was shut, I believe we quoted to Him before. Take thou our hearts, and let them be forever closed to all but they Thy willing servants, let us wear the seal of love forever there. And this is noticeable. This is the only gate that had a keeper. The others had the bars and gates and so on. But here was a keeper, and we do need a keeper. Keep thy heart with all.
For out of it are the issues of life. Have you got a keeper for the Eastgate? Are you careful to see that that first place is always reserved for the Lord? Nobody can steal it. Not your best girlfriend, boyfriend, anybody. That place belongs to the Lord. He must have the preeminence. So here was the keeper of the Eastgate. And then the 31St verse. In the end it says the gate myth CAD. Now there seems to be.
Something a little bit mysterious about this and I just have one little thought about it.
And I'd like you to turn to Revelation Chapter 3.
Or is it Revelation chapter 2, Revelation chapter 2 and verse 17?
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna, and will give him a whitestone. And in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. Now it seems to me that there's something that's rather a bit mysterious about this name. Myth CAD. I don't know where else it's mentioned in the Scripture.
It seems to me that this name is given here about this gate to show us.
That there is something that we can't just fully identify. And that's why I connect it with that passage in Revelation 2. The Lord giving a name which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it. To me it represents this, that we have to go on in life sometimes with a secret sense in our souls of the Lord's approval. We just have to walk on and just have that sense in our.
The precious Savior here was despised and rejected of man, but he walked in fellowship with his Father. He had the sense of his Father's approval. And if we seek to walk in obedience to the Word of God, then even if others condemn us, why, we can say, well, I'm seeking to walk in obedience to the Word and we need to have that sense. Paul lived to see the day when all those in Asia turned away from him.
Don't you think he loved them? Oh, he had said to those in Corinth that he was willing to love them, though The more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved. Certainly he loved them.
But he wanted to have the Lord's approval most of all, and he wouldn't give up the path even for his dearest friend. So we find here that there was this gate myth CAD, and isn't it nice? You know, perhaps we understand a little bit of it like this, that sometimes there is someone we like very much and we have a little nickname for them. We just don't like other people calling them that name. That's just a sort of a little secret.
Between two people.
Saul of Tarsus and The Son Given
Address—J. Brereton
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Elder young people, I'd like to turn first of all this afternoon to a verse in the book of Isaiah Chapter 9, Isaiah Chapter 9, and verse six. For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given.
And the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called wonderful.
Counselor, the mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Now, What I would like to speak to you about this afternoon, dear young people, are these five names that are given here?
In connection with this prophecy.
Concerning the Lord Jesus Christ.
You notice it says his name shall be called Wonderful.
Counselor, the mighty God.
The Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
I remember some years ago.
Some of the young people were playing a game, and the game consisted of trying to think of names in the Bible that began with each letter of the alphabet.
And if I remember rightly, when they came to the letter W, they fought and fought and finally somebody came up with the word. Wonderful.
Now the apostle Paul.
In the 9th chapter of Acts, I believe in a sense.
In a very real sense, discovered in his own soul the truth of this, this verse, you know, this beloved young people, that these names that are given here, these five names are more characteristics than they are actual names. In other words, each name that's given here.
Gives to us a certain characteristic.
Of the Lord Jesus Christ, the child that was born. I would like you to bear in mind these five names. Wonderful.
Counselor the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace, now would you turn with me to the 9th chapter of Acts and rather than read this chapter all at one time?
I would simply like to read it in sections connected with each one of the names that we found in Isaiah Chapter 9.
Acts Chapter 9 and verse one.
And Saul yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went on to the high priest, and desired of him letters to Damascus, to the synagogue, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem. And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus.
And suddenly there shined round about him.
Our light from heaven.
And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?
And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus.
Whom thou persecutors, it is hard for thee to kick against the prickness. His name shall be called wonderful. And you know, dear young people, on this day in the life of the apostle Paul hears called Saul of Tarsus.
He met.
This glorious person, as he was on his way to Damascus, there shone a light from heaven. And you know, dear young people.
Soul of Tarsus never, never was the same man again on that day when that light shone into the light.
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And into the heart of the Apostle Paul.
When that light from heaven caused him to fall to the ground, and when those words came from his lips, who art thou, Lord? And he heard that answer. I am Jesus, whom thou persecutest.
Solve Tarsus was never the same man again. You know, beloved young people, what I have to say this afternoon.
Is particularly for those who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. I trust, I pray that this glorious light from heaven has come into your life too. You know, I had a young man at my cottage the other day when I was there. He had come to be baptized.
And when I talking to him, I asked him when he was saved.
And in the sweetest way, he said I was saved when I was six years old. Now, he was a young man of about 11 going on 12, but he could tell me he had been saved since he was six years old. It isn't that it's absolutely necessary to be able to pick a day or an hour when you were saved. But, you know, it was such a lovely testimony coming from that young man. He had known the Lord for nearly five years.
That light from heaven had shone into his heart when he was only six years old.
And there are men in this world today that are 60, that know nothing about this light from heaven at all.
But you know, we find out something else about the apostle Paul. We're going to come right back to this chapter, But I'd like to turn you to the 22nd chapter of Acts for a moment to something that you've heard I believe commented on many times before. 22nd chapter of Acts in the sixth verse.
And it came to pass.
That as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly they're shone from heaven a great light.
Round about me.
And then if you turn over to the 26th chapter of Acts for a moment, the 26th chapter of Acts and the 13th verse at midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven above, the brightness of the sun shining round about me, and them which journeyed with me, when Paul told the story of his conversion.
There in the 22nd chapter of Acts.
Something in the order of 25 years had passed.
25 years, and in 25 years in the heart and in the mind, that in the thoughts and in the memory of the apostle Paul, that light from heaven had become a great light. And then we find that two or three years later, when he tells the story again in the 26th chapter of Acts, that great light.
Had become a light above the brightness of the noonday sun. All beloved young people. Had Paul forgotten that great event in his life? It had become more real and more precious to him as the years went by. He had discovered what it means.
His name shall be called Wonderful.
Wonderful. And you know, right here this afternoon there are dear beloved brethren that have been gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ for over 50 years, perhaps some who have been gathered over 60 years. And I have no doubt at all that they would tell you if you could ask them this afternoon.
Is that name more precious? More wonderful?
More real this afternoon than it was 50 years ago. And the answer would indeed be yes. I remember a dear brother many years ago. He was commenting on the second chapter of John's Gospel, the marriage feast, the king of Galilee. And all he said was he said. I sometimes feel I have to say what the governor of the feast said. The best wine has been saved until now.
The name is wonderful, all beloved young people, do you know that precious Savior?
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The apostle Paul says who art thou, Lord? And he found out the name of the person who is wonderful. I am Jesus boomed out persecuted beloved young people, you have been.
Brought to know a wonderful, wonderful person. And what I pray for you, and what I pray and covet for my own soul is that as each day and each month and each year goes by until we see him face to face, He is more wonderful and more wonderful.
And more wonderful still.
Now, what does this mean in a very practical way? Well beloved young people?
This person can and he's ready this afternoon to satisfy your heart and mind. He is wonderful, wonderful. The apostle Paul found this day a person that he could walk with, a person that could satisfy his heart, a person that could replace.
All that the apostle Paul gave up.
And have Paul say that he was the gainer for it, that he gained far more than he lost. You just read the third chapter of Philippians and hear the Apostle Paul saying those things that were gained to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yeah, I'm doubtless. And I count all things but loss.
For the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
All beloved young people, was he wonderful? Did he satisfy the heart of the Apostle Paul? When they took the Apostle Paul and put him in prison, When they beat him, when they put his feet in the stalks, when he was there in that prison and at midnight, what was he doing? Why, he was singing the praises of this wonderful person, this wonderful person.
But then you know, beloved young people.
There's another step that comes into your life and mine, I trust it has already come into your life. I can well remember the night that I confessed the name of Jesus as my Savior, and that was 31 / 31 years ago now. And then there came the time shortly afterwards when I had the very precious privilege of being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Of being able to take my place at the Lord's Table and there sit down in his company, gathered to His name, where he has said that he is in the midst of his own, only to find out that he was wonderful, wonderful to sit down in the presence of the Lord Jesus.
Christ.
And find it wonderful. I had a privilege just a little while ago, something that I'm sure some of my brethren here have perhaps done many times. But for me it was a completely new experience. And that was for three of us, a man and his wife and myself, just the three of us, to sit down and remember the Lord Jesus Christ together.
And all to find out, beloved young people, that that wonderful person.
Was there according to his promise. And that wonderful person made-up for all the thousands that were missing, for all the people that I would have loved to have seen there but who weren't there. But he was there. He was there. That's what it is to find him wonderful. His name shall be called.
Wonderful. But now let's follow it a step further and think of what happens at times.
Sometimes as we meet together around the Lord Jesus Christ, sometimes in the little assembly that you come from, things don't go very well. Sometimes a brother or a sister says something that's very unkind. Sometimes there isn't much that attracts you. Naturally. You say, oh, well, there aren't any young people where I'm the only young person there. I'm the only person of my age group there.
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Or perhaps you hear it said, but there there's a brother that isn't very nice, or a sister that says unkind things or things that have or somebody hurt my feelings.
And then we find, sad to say, that there's someone stays away from the meeting, they stop coming. What has the wonderful person changed? Has that person whose name is wonderful, has he changed? Has he ceased to be wonderful? If I'm honest in my own soul, if I'm honest.
What I will have to say is he's not as wonderful to me as he used to be.
Because I've allowed what that brother or that sister or what that person did or said to get my eyes off that wonderful person. And the result is that I find my feet get turned aside and LED into some other path, some other way, something else. You'll sometimes hear of young people.
And those not so young too, that will say, well, I didn't like what that brother said.
I didn't like what he said. What he said was perhaps according to the word of God, but I didn't like it. And the result is feet turned aside again. What happened to the wonderful person to whose name you were gathered? Has he changed? Oh beloved young people, remember this. His name is always wonderful.
Always wonderful. He never changes.
We heard this morning that beautiful verse. The same Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and forever. And if that precious name is not as wonderful to me this afternoon as it was a year ago, remember, He hasn't changed.
His name is wonderful and the beloved apostle here met this wonderful person.
Found out that it was Jesus.
And what did he do? Let's read the next portion.
The sixth verse.
And he, trembling and astonished, said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
And the Lord said unto him, Arise and go into the city. In it shall be told thee what thou must do. And the men which journeyed with him stood speechless, hearing a voice, but seeing no man. And Saul arose from the earth, and when his eyes were opened, he saw no man, but they led him by the hand and brought him.
Into Damascus.
His name shall be called Counselor. Counselor. His name shall be called Wonderful.
Counselor, you know I believe in the best translations. This verse here.
What wilt thou have me to do in Chapter 9 of Acts is lacked out, but when you come to the 22nd chapter of Acts, it's there in its proper place.
I believe there's a reason for that, and I just will mention it in passing because I believe that what is particularly brought before us in the 9th chapter is what Paul found in that person. And then in the 22nd chapter, when he's explaining something of the course of his life to those Jews, then he lets them know where he got his direction from. He had said to the Lord, what will thou have me to do?
Beloved young people, have you found him to be wonderful?
But what about the next step, counselor, or how that speaks to my own heart this afternoon?
Counsel here we see the Apostle Paul, or as I mentioned, we find it brought out particularly in the 22nd chapter of Acts. What wilt thou have me to do, beloved young people? I was talking to one young man here. I won't mention his name so I won't embarrass him, but I was just talking to him just before this meeting.
And I asked him how things were going and he told me, fine. Then I said you're still at school. And he said yes. And then he said and I, I'm planning to go to college after I finished school. And he told me that he was what grade he was in in school. And then he said I'm planning to go to college after that. And all I said to him was I said.
You know, I said this isn't a time for long range plans. And then I said to this young man, I said, well, why did I say that? And after he thought for a moment and and mentioned one or two things and he said, and the Lord is coming. Yes, the Lord is coming. Oh beloved young people, this isn't the time for long range plans. The Lord is coming.
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The Lord is coming and all. I trust that your heart and mind this afternoon.
Is saying simply these words? Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? His name shall be called.
Counseling counselor, are you getting your direction, beloved young people, from the Lord? Are you going to Him to ask Him for the direction to make the choices for you in your life this afternoon?
Speaks to my own heart. Am I asking the Lord to make those choices for me? You know, you've perhaps heard me say it before, but I've often told the young people back home that there are two ways for us to pray. One way to pray is to say, Lord bless my plan. And the other way to pray is Lord make my plans for me. And there is a considerable difference between those two.
One is to say this is what I want.
Now, Lord, I'd like you to open up the way for me or the other is as the Apostle Paul. Lord, what wilt thou?
Have me to do to have the Lord make the choice. All beloved young people to have the Lord make the choice. His name is wonderful. And if that name has that sense in any measure, in my soul He is wonderful.
Surely, I want him to make the choice for me. I want him to choose the schooling for me. I want him to choose the job for me. I want him to choose the partner for me in life, if I'm to have one at all. I want the Lord to make those choices. I want the Lord to choose where I'm to live.
That's what the Apostle Paul was saying. Lord, what will thou?
Have me to do. And the apostle Paul found that this person, whose name was Jesus, this wonderful person, was ready to take complete charge of his life to tell Paul what the next step was. Arise, go into the city.
And it shall be told thee what thou must do now, I believe. I just suggest to you, dear young people, that there is a reason.
A real precious reason for your heart and mind as to why it says, arise and go into the city and it shall be told thee what thou must do. You know the city is a picture, a type that God uses of the confused state of affairs in this world. It's the place of multitudes of people and the Lord has a place for you in the midst of all this confusion.
All the multitudes of people in this world.
He has a course for you and for you alone, but it's in the city. It's in the city that is God isn't asking you to go and shut yourself up behind some monastery wall somewhere. It's here in the city. In the 22nd chapter of Luke, if you remember, the Lord Jesus said to his disciples, Peter and John, go and prepare us the Passover.
And Peter and John.
Had found his name to be counselor So what do they say they say Lord where wilt thou that we prepare and the Lord said go into the city go into the city there's a testimony beloved young people to be rendered a personal testimony and a collective testimony to be rendered for the Lord here in this world go into the city it doesn't mean for one minute that we're.
With all of us, the sin and the.
Disgusting things that go on in this world, not for one moment, but the testimony is here. Are you working in an office? Is that the place in the city where the Lord has put you? Are you at school? Is that the place in the city where the Lord has put you? All beloved young people, what a precious thing. Go into the city that is. It's here in the midst of people that were to render a testimony.
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And what does the Lord say and hear the apostle Paul?
Says It will be told thee what thou must do, and all you know. I love to think of that. I love to think. I have no doubt that it applies.
In its first application, the main thought here is exactly what Paul was to do in that city. But you know, those words characterize the whole of the life of the apostle Paul. Go into the city and it'll be told you what you must do. Do you want to know, young people, what God's plans are for you next year?
Hasn't promised to tell you that, but he'll show you a plan for today. He'll direct your steps for today. He'll show you where in the city to go and what to do. It will be told you. And you know, beloved young people, it is a great source of comfort to my soul to be able to stand here this afternoon and say to you and say to myself, particularly to myself.
This is a promise. It will be told you what you must do.
The Lord will show you, the Lord will show you. Are you ready to turn to that one whose name is Counselor? Counselor, All beloved young people, how many dear young Saints of God? And again I say, and older ones too, who have decided to follow their own counsel.
Decided that their way is best only to find out that in turning away, in turning away at least in spirit, from the one whose name is Counselor, they have chosen a course of sadness and sorrow and hearty. All beloved young people, listen to the one whose name is Counselor. Listen. Listen.
Say it will be told you what you must do. Ask him to direct your life. His name is wonderful, he's worthy of it.
The 17th verse. And Ananias went his way, and entered into the house, and putting his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest perceive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been scaled, And he received sight forthwith, and arose, and was baptized.
And when he had received meat, he was strengthened.
Then was Saul certain days with the disciples which were at Damascus, and straightway he preached Christ in the synagogue, that He is the Son of God. And all that heard him were amazed, and said, Is not this he that destroyed them, which called on this name in Jerusalem, and came hit her for that intent, that He might bring them bound unto the chief priests? But Saul increased the more in strength, and confounded the Jews which draw the Damascus.
Proving that this is very Christ.
All the apostle Paul had discovered something else.
You know, the Apostle Paul, I had no doubt, knew the scriptures concerning the Messiah. I have no doubt that he knew, for instance, that the 9th chapter of Daniel spoke of the Messiah that would be cut off.
Here we find that the Apostle Paul preaches. Notice the language the 20th verse preach Christ in the synagogues, that he is the Son of God, not simply the Christ. It goes on to mention that He is the Christ that is the Messiah, the anointed one, but that He is the Son of.
God and you know that verse in math in Isaiah Chapter 9?
It says his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor.
The mighty God, the mighty God, all beloved young people, do you realize who it is, Who it is that your Savior, who it is that it is your companion, who it is that is your friend?
Who it is that?
Wants to have complete charge of your life and mine, and I emphasize that and mine, you know, in the second Corinthians chapter.
Six Second Corinthians chapter 6 We find there we have those words, be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. And then it goes on to say, For what fellowship hath light with darkness hath right with Belial hath he that believeth with an infidel? And then it says, And come your part, and be ye separates at the Lord.
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And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters. Seth what? Seth, the Lord?
Almighty.
Now, dear young people, let me tell you a little bit about that word Almighty for just a moment. You know, the Lord appeared to Abraham in the Old Testament, and he was calling Abraham to walk in a very special path. He's going to have to leave all his friends and all his family. Who's going to have to leave the country where he was born? He was going to have to leave his father's house. He was going to have to go on this long journey into a country that he knew nothing about.
And that's when the Lord says to Abraham.
My name is Almighty. Almighty. It was the almighty God that was going to go with Abraham.
And look after everything for it. Now, when you come to the New Testament, apart from the Book of Revelation, apart from the Book of Revelation, which takes us back and connects up with the prophecies of the Old Testament, the Lord never calls Himself the Almighty anywhere in the New Testament except in that verse, Second Corinthians 6. Why is that? Well, I suggest to you what I've found a great joy to my own soul.
There the Lord is calling upon His own to walk as Abraham.
A separated path.
And all you can immediately think, can you not, of all the difficulties here, I'm going to be going to school, and if I'm going to be separate, if I'm going to walk to please the Lord at school, it's going to make things very difficult there. Why? What does the Lord say? The Lord Almighty, the Lord Almighty is the one who will receive you and be a father unto you, and ye shall be his sons and daughters.
It's the Lord Almighty who will take care of the circumstances.
And here we have the same precious thing. The apostle Paul discovered that it was the Son of God that he had met on the road to Damascus. It was the one who was truly.
The Almighty God.
In Matthew chapter 28, we have that beautiful voice where it says I am with you.
Always, even unto the end of the age. Now why did he put that verse in there? How come that verse came in there? Well, if you noticed, it says.
The Lord Jesus had appeared with his 11 on top of a mountain.
They had come there because the Lord had said that He would be there. And I trust that each one gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus here this afternoon is gathered because the Lord Jesus has said that He is there. We found his name wonderful. We've asked Him for counsel and He brought us to that place. And I trust that we're asking him for counsel day by day to be shown what to do. But in Matthew chapter 28.
It says of the 11 That came together, it says they worshipped him, but some doubted. And what is the answer the Lord gives? Oh, I just love that 28th chapter of Matthew. You know, if I, if I could put it this way.
If you read that, and you come to those words, and some doubt it, surely you we would be entitled to think the Lord at that point would say, What more proof do you want? He had appeared to them, He had shown them, the women had held him by the feet. And how here it is, some are doubted. For what's the Lord's answer? All power is given unto me in heaven and earth.
All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth, and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the age. All beloved young people, what it is, what a marvelous thing it is to know the Son of God.
To know the one who is himself.
All mighty God, the Almighty God, can you conceive this afternoon? Can you conceive of any problem, any question that could arise in your life or mine that is too difficult for the Almighty God? You know you cannot. There have been dear Saints of God who have gone out counting upon the Almighty God, and they have discovered.
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What that verse means in the 107th Psalm when it says they that go down to the sea and ships that do business in great waters, they see. They see the wonders of the Lord. They see his glories in the deep. They see what he can do. All beloved young people, put him to the test. May God give you and I the grace to put him to the test. He's the almighty God.
Oh, and I think of the Apostle Paul here.
Making known right there in Damascus, right there in the very place where he had come to bind these people and cast them into prison.
And now he's outstanding there saying he's the Son of God. I trust beloved young people that your lips and my lips are saying he's the son of God. But all what I covet more than that is that my life might be saying he's the son of God. He's the Son of God. All beloved young people, you may be misunderstood.
You may be criticized. You may find that people don't understand why you do the things you do.
But your direction comes from the Lord. And remember that dear beloved apostle, he could say in Galatians chapter one, if I yet please men, then am I not the servant of Christ? Get your direction from the Lord, count upon him. Remember he's the almighty God. He's the Son of God. Now notice again, please.
The 23rd verse.
And after that many days were fulfilled. The Jews took counsel to kill him, but they're laying awake was known of Saul, and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. And when Saul was come to Jerusalem, he is saved to join himself to the disciples. But they were all afraid of him and believed not that he was a disciple.
But Barnabas took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way.
And that he had spoken to him, and how he had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus, And he was with them coming in and going out of Jerusalem. And he spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus, and disputed against the Grecians. But they went about to slay him, which, when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea, and sent him forth to Tarsus.
You know, the next the next clause of that verse.
Says his name shall be called the everlasting Father. All beloved young people what it is, what a great thing it is to know the loving care, the loving care of a father's heart that the Lord Jesus has for his own has for you. You know what says his name shall be called the everlasting Father or.
Father from Eternity is another translation of that same verse. And here we see into what to me is the sweetest way, how the apostle Paul learned that the Lord Jesus is an everlasting Father. We find in While he was in Damascus, the Jews took counsel to kill him. The Lord has a basket.
The Lord has a basket. You know, it was quite a come down for the Apostle Paul, that basketball.
If you read the account in Second Corinthians Chapter 11, I believe it is you find there the apostle Paul tells us something of what that basket meant to his soul, how the Lord used it to teach Paul what it was to be nothing, to be content to be let down over the wall in a basket. Here was the great apostle of the Gentiles sliding down a basket over a wall.
But all the Lord was looking after him, and you notice too, it says, and I think it's so beautiful.
They're laying await was known of Saul and they watched the gates day and night to kill him. Then the disciples took him by night and let him down by the wall in a basket. You know, that's to me is so beautiful. These were the people that the apostle Paul had come to cast into prison. And here they are. They're taking as it would seem, perhaps their life in their hands, but here they were caring for the apostle Paul.
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All beloved young people. What a lovely thing it is to see that everlasting father looking after his own, and so often using his own in their care, one for another, to have that same care, one for another. To see here the ones who Paul hated.
And who now he loved caring for him and lowering him down over that wall in a basket.
To see the apostle Paul willing to take that humble place, get in a basket and go over the wall. And then the apostle Paul comes to Jerusalem. And now in Jerusalem, he needs a sponsor. He needs someone that's going to speak for him. No problem for the everlasting Father.
No one for the problem for the kid, one who has a care for his own. The apostle Paul comes and the brethren are afraid of him. But there's a Barnabas. There's a Barnabas and you know, beloved young people, the Lord always has his Barnabases. If we had read the middle part of that 9th chapter of Acts.
Ananias, we would have found another one of the Lord's part of us is there in the Ananias. And you know what we find There is is a voice to my own soul and I trust it is to yours. When you if you read the 9th chapter of Acts again, perhaps you've noticed it already. You find there that when the Lord appears to Ananias and tells Ananias that he wants him to go to the Apostle Paul.
And be used to recover Paul's eyesight to him.
Ananias speaks freely, he has liberty and he speaks freely to the Lord about his concern. But you know, then the Lord says to Ananias, go thy way, that Paul was a chosen vessel. But then what he says to Ananias is this. He says Paul has already had a vision saying a man called Ananias, a man called Ananias would come in and restore his vision to him.
Our beloved young people, what does that mean to your soul and mind? Well, let me tell you how it speaks to my own heart.
What the Lord is really saying to Ananias is Ananias.
I was so confident, I knew so well that you'd do exactly as I told you that I've already told Paul you're coming.
Beloved young people, how I covered that for my own soul.
How I covet that for my own soul.
To be ready to go where the Lord stands.
Counting upon the mighty God and the everlasting Father, Knowing full well that when a basket is needed, it'll be there. Knowing full well that when a Barnabas is needed, it'll be there.
And then we find when it comes to Jerusalem.
The end of the 29th verse it speaks about the Grecians, the Holiness Jews, that they went about to slay him, which, when the brethren knew, they brought him down to Caesarea and sent him forth to Tarsus. These were the very ones that had been afraid of him just a short while before, and now here they are carried for their beloved brother Paul, their beloved brother Paul.
The Lord, the Father from eternity.
Father cares for his own and beloved young people. If you're going through a trial right now, this afternoon, if you are knowing sorrow or difficulties or problems, remember, Please remember the everlasting Father knows all about it. The everlasting Father is looking for you to turn to him.
To count upon the power of Almighty God and the compassion and love.
Of the everlasting Father to enter into all your circumstances, there is no circumstance that He doesn't know about. And beloved young people, He wants you to cast your burdens upon Him.
For he cares. Now let's just read the 31St verse. Then had the churches rest throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified.
And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost were multiplied.
His name shall be called the Prince of Peace.
Oh, beloved young people, what a precious thing it is to realize that the Lord Jesus not only made peace by the blood of His cross, but He's given us His peace and it is His intention.
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It is his desire that the Assembly should be the place of peace.
That the Saints, you and I, beloved young people, that we might walk in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, and see the Lord, do the multiplier. See the Lord add those whom he draws by his Spirit. See the Lord add his blessing.
The Prince of Peace to thank beloved young people that we can, by the grace of God, walk through all the turmoil and upset of this world in the company of the Prince of Peace. In the in the 16th chapter of Romans it says the God of peace.
Shall brew Satan under your feet shortly.
Yes, dear young people, that victory is going to be manifested. The victory has been accomplished at Calvary. It's going to be manifested soon, and we're going to enter into the rest of God. Think of that. That's Hebrews chapter 4. Enter into the rest of God. But meanwhile, what it is to have the presence of the Prince of Peace?
To know not only peace with God.
That's the piece that has been purchased for us by the death of the Lord Jesus at Calvary.
To know not only the peace of God.
Which is the result of taking all our circumstances and putting them in the Lord's hands.
But to know the company of the God of peace.
To know what it is, beloved young people, to find that person whose name is wonderful, is the counselor for my life, the Almighty God for everything that's arrayed against me, the Everlasting Father for all the cares and compassion and love that I need along the way, and the source of peace.
That I might go on in peace.
With my beloved brethren, until he.
Great peace have they that love thy law, and nothing will offend them. May the Lord keep you and keep me. May we, I say this to my own heart, learn something of what the apostle Paul learned. And beloved young people above all else, as we ask the Lord for counsel.
As we count upon the Almighty God, as we feel the love and care of the everlasting Father, as we walk in the company of the Prince of Peace, may the Lord keep us from ever, ever allowing anything to come in by the grace of God into your life and mine. That diminishes in our vision how one is the person of Christ.