Conference: 1992
Table of Contents
Fellowship
Address—D. Spence
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And shall we see thy face and hear thy heavenly voice well known to us in present days? Well may our hearts rejoice. #270 Someone started with.
And shall we see thy name?
I'd like you to turn to the first key pistol of John in the first chapter.
And just like to say that the Brethren in California and Buena Park send their greetings to you and.
Ensure that.
You are in their prayers, as we pray often for brethren all over the country. I think. I often pray for you. I think of you often times in the in the farming season. When you're in the planting season, I'm praying for you and I've been praying for you. This year the Lord leads us here, that you might have a good year and realize that all of you are not farmers, but without that, we're all in trouble.
Whenever I think of Sully and this little meeting room, there's one word that always comes before me and that is the word fellowship. And that's the subject that I just want to cover a little bit in first John chapter one tonight, the subject of fellowship. It's a subject that we've talked about before. We've read this chapter and others that deal with the subject of fellowship, but every time I read this chapter I get very encouraged. So let's read it together and then we'll make a few comments on 1St John chapter one, verse one.
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That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon and our hands have handled, of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father who was manifested unto us. That which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have.
Fellowship with us.
And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And these things right we unto you that your joy may be full. This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we live and do not the truth.
But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 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. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and the truth is not in US.
Let's go into chapter 2, verse one, my little children. These things right I unto you that you send none. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins or also for the whole world. And we got counseling His words.
Fellowship.
Fellowship, and it is the word, has the thought of community.
Or communication, Or being being brought into common thought.
With someone.
Now when Adam and Eve were here, God created them so that he could have fellowship with them. God wanted to have fellowship with man, with this man and woman that he had created. He desired fellowship.
Ever desire fellowship.
Some of us who perhaps have lost our mates, we've had fellowship all through those years, and suddenly we lose that one to the Lord's presence and we miss fellowship, we miss it. But God longed for fellowship. He wanted to have fellowship with this man and woman that he had created.
But suddenly sin came in and sin marred man's.
Fellowship with God is broken, and it marred his ability to have fellowship with God. So the communication device was damaged, it was broken, and fellowship was broken up.
You know, fellowship, I suppose you might say, to a certain extent. God could have had fellowship with his angels. I suppose there was a degree of common thought there that went on between God and his angels, but.
Desire to have full communion with man. And he allowed man to go through this process of having that communion broken and then at the cross, and that's what's going to be before us here tonight. At the cross, communion was restored, the communication device was repaired, and man now through the work of the cross, would be able to look up in a fellowship with God. That's the privilege that you and I had fellowship with him.
Now what is the difference between fellowship and relationship?
Well, fellowship is something that you may experience momentarily. Relationship is something that is built over time. When I met Gene for the very first time, there was there was a longing to have fellowship and we did have fellowship, but we didn't have relationship. We didn't have a relationship. It took time to build that relationship.
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And over the years, through the trials and problems and difficulties and hanging in there together, through those times, we've built a relationship. And that relationship in time gets deeper. If we go on in fellowship, you see what I'm saying? So if you have fellowship with God and you walk in fellowship with God, that's wonderful. But if you do that over a period of time, you will build a relationship with God. That's what God wants. He wants a relationship with you.
Anthony And the only way that we will have that relationship is experiencing fellowship over a period of time. And that's why it's so important, you know, when trials come and difficulties come, not to give up on God and not to get angry at God and not to question God what God is doing. We don't know what God is doing all the time, but if we trust God and stay in fellowship with God.
Over this period of time.
We will have a relationship with that relationship will be built and we will be able to look back and say, I know, I know what God is doing and I look back in my own marriage as some of us have been married for a while. And I just thank God for the trial, the difficulties that the things that I didn't understand because through those trials and difficulties and problems, God was building a relationship. He was testing us. He was, he was testing our love for each other.
You see, you see what I'm saying? And so God brings us into fellowship with himself. But it is it is through that fellowship, over a period of time that he builds a relationship. Now he goes back to the beginning. He says that which was from the beginning we heard. That which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands and handled the word of life. He goes back to the beginning.
Because it took.
And Eternal God can solve that problem.
Nelda was telling me last night, she said with this young lady who's been saved, I think her name is Maria from France. She was saying she asked this question. This question was why didn't God send somebody else to the cross? Why didn't he send an Angel to the cross? Why didn't he send a man to the cross? Why did he have to send his son? And we were talking about that last night.
And. And your answer was something like this, because it took an eternal God to solve the problem. How long would it take you and me to suffer for our sins? In an eternity? In a lost eternity it would take forever, wouldn't it? So if God cast me into the lake of fire, how long would it take me to pay for my sins? Infinitely long. So.
If you take a load of sins.
That are infinitely long to pay for and you multiply that times the 10s of billions of people that will be in heaven. There is only one person that could ever solve that problem and that is an infinite God because in three hours of darkness.
In three hours of darkness on the cross, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, four of those sins, and he paid for every one of them, because he could bear an infinite load. He could bear an infinite load. An infinite God could bear an infinite love.
And as you and I look into the sufferings of Calvary, we will never be able to fathom the depths of it. Why? Because it was infinitely deep. And you and I, even through all eternity, will not be infinite. We will be finite, but we will be like Him. And so we will look into it, and we will say, I cannot fathom the deficit, because an infinite guy died there on the cross. An infinite savior suffered.
And He suffered in three hours what would have taken us in all eternity to take. So he goes back to the beginning, that which was from the beginning. Why? Because God had you and I in mind from the very beginning. Isn't that wonderful to think of that. And he knew the course that sin would take. And He knew He could look down into this very room tonight and know that you and I would be here, and that you and I.
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Would be long to him.
So he goes back to the beginning. My son Tim just came home a few weeks ago with his first dose of.
Evolution from school. And we were talking a little bit about it. And he was saying that I just can't sit through that stuff and listen to it. And I said, well, it might, it might not hurt you to sit there and listen to it because it might show you the holes in that theory. And we were sitting around talking about it. And I said, Tim, did they ever tell you about the beginning?
Where did where did it all come from? They say that there was a mass of gas, They say that it spun off into different galaxies and so on. But did they? Do they ever talk about the beginning? Where did it come from? Because man has this theory. It's one of the theory of theories of thermodynamics. It says that matter can neither be created nor destroyed outside of course of some supernatural means. So.
Matter has always been there then. But where did it come from?
Well, they never, they never deal with that. Another one of the theories of thermodynamics is that things are running down, you know, well, they're running down from what? And where did this all come from? It had to have a beginning. And so John just enjoys introducing us to the Lord as the one who is from the beginning. You go back right to the beginning of things when there was nothing there and when God was going to speak the Word and the earth was going to come about.
And so on, but.
He was there. He was there in the beginning. And the amazing thing is that John says we heard it and we saw him with our eyes and we touched him with our hands. Isn't that amazing that the very God who was there in that eternity past, that nobody had ever seen, that nobody had ever touched, and maybe few had ever heard, that God became a man?
He became a man, a real live person like you, like me, and he walked here in the scene. People could walk up to him and they could touch him. People could sit around and they could listen to him. People could look on him with their eyes. Three of the senses, three of the senses were affected, John says. It's always interesting to me with, with all of the evil doctrines that are going around in the cults that.
Most of the time, these cults are based on an experience that only one person saw or heard, John says. We Who does he mean? Well, All of those who saw him. So it was in the mouth of two or three witnesses. But it was also based on two or three or three of the senses, the eyes, the ears, and the touch.
There's a little song that the world has that goes something like this. You fill up my senses, and I've thought about that sometimes, about somebody who's in love. And I know the feeling. I know how there comes this flood, you know, a field that a person may have as he thinks about the one that he's in love with. But oh, there's only one person that really, Indeed.
Fills up our senses and will for all eternity, for we are going to have the experience.
Someday, and maybe soon, of seeing him with our physical eyes, of hearing him with our physical ears and touching him with our hands, we're going to have that experience. John had it, and it just thrilled it. He'd been brought into contact with the very Son of God, so that life was revealed. And then in verse two we see the the life is experienced, for the life was manifested and we've seen it and bear witness.
And shown to you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us.
So John saw that life, and he calls it that eternal life. Because the Lord Jesus Christ is the source. He is the source of life. And as you and I have come into contact with him, we have been filled with that life. We have eternal life. And John says we saw it.
And we bear witness, and we saw it. We were telling you about it, so we wanted to share it. And in verse three, that which we have seen and heard, declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son, Jesus Christ.
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So John is writing to them so that they might have fellowship with him. And what is that fellowship? Well, it is a fellowship that is based on having fellowship with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Now it's something, if I were drawing a picture here, I would draw a little picture of a person standing here, and I would draw that picture's channel just coming right down from from heaven, connecting up to that person. And I would call that fellowship. And then I would draw 2 arrows that go out on either side of that person.
And those arrows going out would show fellowship. And that's what fellowship is. God. God has this channel of common thought of communion, of fellowship that he wants to have with us. And so John says we have that fellowship with the Father and with his son, Jesus Christ. Isn't it glorious? I just think that's so fantastic. You know what I think if I? I've never had the privilege of having?
Fellowship with President Bush. I was in Washington, DC just recently and I walked around there and I looked at the White House, but I never got an invitation to come in and sit down at his table. Nobody ever walked up and said President Bush would like to have fellowship with you tonight. But one thing that I can say is the God of Heaven has, and I I have the privilege of fellowship.
With the God of Heaven now, there is nothing that is more, could you say, central or more key to a life that is victorious over sin and over the world and over everything around us in fellowship with God. We're living in a world that is probably more filled with devices and things to hinder fellowship with God than any than any generation that ever lived.
Enoch.
And in Enoch's day, they never had all of these things around that will hinder fellowship with God. Enoch walked with God. But you and I have a challenge in the day that we live in, to walk in communion with God every moment of the day. And it is that kind of fellowship that enhances our fellowship with each other. I just want to challenge every one of us here, especially young people. I know, you know, it's difficult in the day that we're living in to have fellowship with God.
But just to get up in the morning, I often find myself, you know, as I'm waking up saying, Lord Jesus today, help me to walk through this day in fellowship for communion with you. And I think that's the challenge. The challenge of today is to walk in fellowship with God. And as we do so, it enhances our fellowship with one another, with other members of the body of Christ. It brings us into contact.
With them, oftentimes we allow other things, don't we, to come in. And we often are thinking about things on a fairly low level. But fellowship with God brings us into the very communion of God's thoughts for us, and there is nothing beyond that. And then a day when when everything is discouraging, when things aren't going the way we want them to go, and we're having trials that we don't understand.
To walk that day in communion with God is a way of walking victoriously over every problem and every difficulty.
So John then writes, could we call verse 4 the effect of fellowship and these things rightly into you? That's your joy may be full. Your joy may be full. You know, joy is something that we all seek. Is that not true? Do we not all want to be happy? Is that not what we're seeking? Sure.
No, people are pursuing one course or another in life. And if you were to ask them why are you pursuing this course, what are they after? Well, ultimately they are probably after Chuck or after happiness. The problem that people have is that they're on the wrong course and they're going after things that will never make them happen because they don't have Christ. But you and I have the Lord Jesus Christ, and we have a channel that has been opened up into His presence.
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That is something that will bring about joy. Joy is something that it spills over. You know, it's like this blast full of water. If I were to walk around with it, I would spill it all over if I had it completely full. Joy is something that spills over. It's contagious, it's catching. And a person who is walking in communion with God is very contagious. You know, people look at you.
And they say, I like to be like that sometimes. Not everybody says that. Some people say, what's wrong with him, You know, why is he smiling? Why is he so happy and so on. But the person that is walking in communion with God always experiences joy. You go into a hospital room sometime and you say, I got to go encourage brother so and so or sister so and so because they're going through this serious problem, this difficult trial.
And you go in there and you come out and you say, I think I was the one that got encouraged.
Why is that? Because the person in that hospital bed is often in communion with God, and so they have that, could you say infusion of joy that you that happens when you're there?
Now verse 5. This then is the message which we have heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. It's real important to know that we've been brought into fellowship with a God who's holy.
And it is not possible for us to go on with unholiness and yet be in fellowship, which sin will always break fellowship. So he's reminding us that this God is light, and there is no darkness in him, none whatsoever. There's no darkness, no shadows in God, no darkness in Him in His person or in His presence. So we must always remember that that we are brought into this circle of fellowship that is.
No God is also loved, that's true. And we would find that from reading the the rest of first John, behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed upon us. And that's a wonderful thought. But the but we must remember that fellowship is based on life. It is based on a life that contains no darkness at all.
Now in verse six, we're going to start here some if, then statements, if and then statements, and these are conditional statements. Five of them, in fact. You'll notice that the next 5 verses begin with if.
If we say that we have fellowship with him and while in darkness we lie and do not the truth, haven't we all had a little bit of this problem? We say, yes, I'm having fellowship with God, but we're walking in darkness, that there is an inconsistency then that develops. So John is saying we love don't tell a lie. I I kind of always have trouble.
With certain books in the Bible, one of them has been the Epistles, or the First Epistle of John. Don't quite understand John sometimes the way he writes, but the way he writes is what people call in the abstract. So with John, it's either black or white. It's either black or white. Either you are or you aren't. If you're if you're in color, you're walking in fellowship with God then.
You better not be walking in darkness. He doesn't cover the in between either. You are. You aren't. It's black and white. And that's helped me understand John just a little bit. And John, what he's saying here is that there's got to be a consistency between our walk and our dog. You know, if we say that we are walking in fellowship with God, then there better be a correspondence in our walk. Otherwise we are lying to others.
And we'll notice here this is a line to Oaks, because we don't. Could you say we don't deceive anybody else? We might deceive ourselves, but we don't deceive anybody else They know. Now notice the contrast in verse 7. But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. And the blood of Jesus Christ His Son thundered us from all sin. Now in the contrast is.
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Walking in the light, and that has to do with walking in obedience to the Word of God.
That's why it's so important that I read this book every single day of my life.
It's important that I read it, that I meditate on it, that I understand it, that I memorize it.
That it becomes a part of my thought processes. That it becomes a part of my practical everyday life. You know, it's so easy to could you say, accept something in principle? Immediately you may, you may sit down and you may say, Dan, I'd like to explain to you this principle of truth. And I will say that's good. I understand that. I can understand that very well. But to put it into practice in my life takes.
Time. It takes effort. And you, if you were to look at my life very closely, you would notice that I haven't achieved perfection yet. I haven't achieved perfection. No, I have everything.
All the ability to do that and it's a goal, yes, but I haven't achieved it. But it has to do with walking in the light.
That's where the secret of fellowship is. If we walk in the light, and what is, what is the standard for that? As He is in the lake, there's no less standard than Christ and glory as He is in life, then we have fellowship, one with another. What is it? Further, what is it that enhances our fellowship with each other? It is walking in obedience to the word of God. And that's why, you know, if I allow something.
Let's suppose that I allow some evil thought in my heart. Maybe I allow a lust for someone else, but I can't go home and just sit down and have fellowship with my wife because something there is wrong. I know it's wrong, you know, And I I may try to cover it up and I may try to to to fake it, but I can't until that sin is confessed.
It is walking in the light, and that's the point. As we walk in the light, then we enjoy fellowship, one with another.
Now the basis of that fellowship is the blood. The precious blood of Christ, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sins. The basis of that fellowship is the cross and the blood that was shed there.
Now, it is not necessarily our agreement. We were talking a little bit about this at our dinner table tonight, and I don't know that I can bring back the thought, but it's something like this. You and I may not agree 100% and yet enjoy fellowship, because the basis of our fellowship is the blood of Christ that has brought us into this area of fellowship or common thought. Now it is true as we go on.
In the things of God, as we go on with one another and walk in that light, we're probably going to converge. You know, we're we're going to, our thoughts are going to convert. But it could be that you would disagree with me on a number of things. You might disagree with me on what kind of car to drive. You might disagree with me on some of the things that are listed in Romans 14 that matters of personal faith.
But that doesn't make any difference because the basis of my fellowship with you is the cross and the blood that was shed there. You see, that precious blood that is shed there has perfectly satisfied God's claims and the sin that stood between God and me.
Has been forever erased. It's gone. There's no record of it up in heaven. And that that precious blood that cost the Lord Jesus so much is the basis of my fellowship with God and the basis of my fellowship with you.
Now notice in verse 8 we're going to come back to verse 7. But notice in verse 8. Now we have another contrast that we say that we have no sin. We deceive ourselves in the truth is not in US.
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Now here is a person saying, well, I've gotten to this point of sinless perfection. I don't have any sin anymore. And if we say that.
Who are we deceiving? We're deceiving ourselves, not deceiving anybody else. In the truth is not in us. We're lying to ourselves. So we don't want to go down that pathway until the moment that the Lord Jesus comes. We're always going to have some problems.
But we will never reach His state of sinless perfection until we hear the shout and are called into His presence.
Now notice verse 9. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Now here is the basis of restoration of fellowship. This is how fellowship is restored if we confess our sins. That's why people say keep short accounts, you know when we send confess it to the Lord.
And it says, it doesn't say if we confess that we have sinned, you know that would be good. But it says if we confess our sins, plural, you know, it doesn't say if we we confess sin, you know, which might be the root. It says sin if we confess our sins, that is. I would, I would. I understand that to mean that we are to take the specific things that we've done wrong.
And say, Lord Jesus, I am sorry, I have told a lie not to say, Lord, I had a bad day and I sinned.
Now why is that? Because God is working on this subject of fellowship and it is the specific sins that are hindering them. So he says I want you to be aware of it, I want you to confess this specific sins and if we do that, what does he do? He is faithful and just to forget.
Us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That is a work that He does. That is a work that He does.
Now remember last couple of summers ago we were up at in Michigan with a bunch of young people, older young people at a camp and one of them raised this question.
He said, you know when I fall into a sin, he says I I go into this sin and then he says I.
Confess it to the Lord and then he says it takes me about one or two weeks to climb out of this depression that is caused by it. And about the time I'm just getting my head up there into the sunshine plant, it happens again, down I go, and then I can touch that to the Lord and I just barely make it out.
And over and over, he says. It just seems like I'm down all the time now. What is the problem with that person? That person doesn't believe John first. John 19. Because what first John 19 says, The moment that you and I confess what we have done, we are restored. The moment that we do that, we are restored. Fellowship is restored.
And you see, it is so easy for me to believe first John 17, that the blood of Jesus Christ Godson, cleanseth us from all sin. I believe that that record is forever gone. But when I come to verse 9, for some reason I'm having a struggle with that. I do not believe that just on the basis of my confession that I can be restored. Why is that? Because there is a tendency always to think that I must punish myself for what I did.
There's a tendency always to think that there's some works involved here, that I've got to prove myself and I've got to prove my repentance. He doesn't. The Lord doesn't say. Now, if you do sin, I want you to grapple around in the sin. I want you to think about it. I want you to shed some tears. I want you to be depressed. He doesn't say that. What he says is confessing, isn't it? It's just amazing to me. And I've had this problem myself that and so I I drew this little.
This little diagram on the board, I said here's what you're doing. You're going falling down into the scent and then you if there's this little shaky line and finally gets up and then it falls out again. And what the Lord is saying here is when we fall into a sin, immediately confess it and then we are restored to fellowship and then we go clear out here again, we fall into the sin again, confess it were immediately restored, you see, and they're resolved.
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That 90% of the time now or more, I'm going to be walking in community instead of trying to work my way back up. I'm just going to confess and I'm going to accept what first John 19 says, forgiven in plant. You ever have that problem? And I went through this in my life and it was a struggle for me just to believe that I was going to go through this cleansing process and I was going to be forgiven right on the spot. And yes, I could have a bad night Saturday night.
But Lords, day morning I could walk in and I could sit down in the presence of the Lord. And if he saw that I could take part in that meeting, I didn't need to punish myself for 2-3 weeks trying to demonstrate some kind of repentance to the Lord. Now first John 17 has to do with the eradication of sin.
God once for all but first on one night has to do with, could you say restoration from sin. Now I want, I want to go back. If you'll just turn over to the Gospel of John, chapter 19.
And we'll look at just a verse or two there.
John 19 and verse 34.
But one of the soldiers with the Spirit pierced his side and forthwith came there up blood and water. Now I want you to turn over to Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews, chapter 10.
And verse 22.
Let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience in our bodies quashed with pure white. Now you will notice that on the cross that not only was their blood shed, but there was also what I want to I want to emphasize the significance of both, and you see that from.
From Hebrews 10 that we can draw near. Why? Because our hearts have been sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water. The evil conscience has to do with that which is inward. There's been an inward cleansing, but our bodies washed with pure water has to do with our walk. Or that was without it, both of those.
The the basis of both of those cleanses was Calvary's crops, the blood for expiation. I will quote Mr. Chapter Brown, the blood for expiation.
The water for Clinton and so the basis of my restoration back in first John One if you want to turn back there, and verse 7 is the blood of Christ that made atonement manly. His death made atonement. God the blessed made atonement men. So I'm brought in the fellowship with God through that. But sin hasn't been eradicated yet, so I have a problem.
And I fall into sin as I'm walking along the pathway. The basis of restoration is the what? That's the water, the cleansing site. So when I come along, the first John 19. And I don't believe that I'm not accepting the work of the cross. So when I fall into sin, I keep a short account and I say, Lord, I'm sorry and I'm restored right on the spot. I don't know why this is so hard for me to get ahold of it, but it's true.
Someone came along to me one time at a conference and it was a fairly intimidating person. And this person said to me, I don't agree with your thoughts on forgiveness. And I said, well, what are we talking about here? So he began to tell me some of the I guess I've had a meeting on forgiveness somewhere in Matthew chapter 18, and I was talking about that verse where Peter said, Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother?
And the Lord said until 70 * 7. And I have been saying that I just, you know, feel that what he's saying there is that we just throw a blanket forgiveness over everybody. When people sin against us or they hurt our feelings or when they say something that is bad, why we just forgive them unless it's a real serious thing. And then we then it says that if somebody offends, you go tell them they're fought between you and them alone. I think that was some of the.
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With us in that meeting. And so this brother said, well, I don't agree. So I said, well, what don't you agree about? And he said, well, I don't forgive anybody until they come and tell me that they're sorry. And I said, well brother, if I felt that way, I think what I would do is I would hire a a driver and I would get a big semi trailer and I had this big record of wrong, you know, in there.
Keep this record. And whenever anybody ever came up to me and so I sinned against you, I'd go race it out of the book. And I said, you know, I don't think I'd ever be in fellowship with anybody. You know, he said, well, I just don't agree with that. So I said, well, why don't you agree? And he said, well, look at first John 19, if we confess our sins, he is faithful and just we've got to confess them, right? Right. That's right. So I said to this brother, I said, well, brother.
Tell me, how many times do you send every day?
And he didn't want to answer this question. So I said, well, would you say about 300? And he said, oh, no, that's high. So I said, well, let's come down a little bit. How about 50? He said, I think I could go with that figure. So I said, OK, 50 times you send every day. How many times? How many of these fifty sins do you confess to the Lord? And he said not very many.
And I said, well, then you're out of fellowship with the Lord all the time, is that right?
And he looked rather puzzled and he said, I don't think I understand. First John 19. And I said, well, I don't know that I do either. So I think we're in the same boat. But here is here is my understanding thinking it over a little bit and you may not agree with this.
You may not agree with this. Here is my understanding. There's a blanket forgiveness in the blood of Christ that has opened up a channel of fellowship to God. But.
There's sin in my life and the moment I get saved, you know, there's a lot of things that need the direction, but God has kind of a blanket forgiveness. But as I begin, could you say, here's this line of sin in my life, this black line. As I, as I open up this channel or this channel of fellowship opens up and I begin to confess specific sins to God. What what happens here that those sins are the ones that?
Are forgiven. Endless. Those are the ones that could you say this, This channel of fellowship is white. It's broadened. And those of you who are older here tonight, who have, could you say, read this blessed book and you know more about the holiness of God than I will probably ever know. Why? that Channel of community is probably much wider than mine. You see what I'm saying? I think that God begins to deal with little things in our life and as we confess them.
He forgives them and cleanses them out of our lives. Otherwise I would say I'd be out of. I would be out of communion most of the time. All the time. Perhaps we've got. But the point that I want to make here, I want to really emphasize it, is that in First John 19 there is restoration and fellowship with God. We need to believe it because the work is done in the cross. We don't need to punish ourselves for it. We just need to do what it says.
Verse 10 The 5th if statement if we say that we have not sinned.
We make him alive and his word is not in US. So now before we said that we had no sin, but now if we say that we have not sinned, that's in the past tense. Then we make God a liar. So this time we're lying to God and his word is not in. Now I just want to go into chapter 2 and verse one a little bit. My little children, these things right eye unto you that you sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
The goal is that we should not sin. Never give up that goal, that that is the goal. I write unto you that you sin not, but if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. That word. Advocate is a word that means a lawyer, like a District Attorney, but it is a word that means a very kind and loving person.
00:50:22
So I don't know if you know any district attorneys. I don't. But I've been in court a few times and I don't like them very well and they look like a very hard nosed person. But this person or this word, the word that is used here is a a lawyer, a District Attorney type of a person with a very kind heart, very kind.
So if we send.
If we sin, we don't have to approach the hard nosed District Attorney. You know who's going to Could you say grueless with all of these questions and make us feel about that high and condemn us?
He's one who loves. And what happens probably when we sin is the devil goes into the presence of God and accuses us or one of his demons or whatever it may be.
And Can you imagine in heaven the accuser of the brethren walks in. This is get this from Revelation 12. The accuser of the brother walks in after I have sinned and he says well.
Your servant down there on the earth, he is he ascend again. He's a terrible testimony. He's not much of A servant, you know. Can you imagine how God must feel?
That's when the Advocate steps in and he steps in with the record and he says look at the record. The record is clean. He I have no record on him, you know, because of blood, because the blood has wiped it out. And that's why in Revelation 12, when there's a battle right in the middle of the tribulation, there's a tremendous battle in the heavens and the devil is cast out. It says that they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.
The blood of Christ that destroys, could you say, the effort of Satan to condemn the servants of God? And so the work of the Advocate begins the moment we sin, and it may involve some work there in the course of heaven. But it also involves a work in which he seeks to restore to himself. The moment we sin, we the advocacy of Christ takes over, and he he wants to restore us back on the road.
Ever on the pathway of obedience, the high priest, the Lord Jesus is our high priest and is our high priest. He tries to keep us out of the ditch, but when we fall in the ditch, then the advocacy of Christ takes over and we are restored to that pathway of obedience and fellowship with him. Isn't that grant? I think it's just fantastic. We were in Pella last night. We were talking about some of the provisions that God has made for us and.
I was reminded of that verse and justice back a page or two in Second Peter.
Chapter one and verse three, that he has given us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that it called us to glory and virgin. Last summer we had the privilege of taking a little trip. My wife spokes took us up to Alaska, and we took a cruise down the inland passages of Alaska and Canada, and it was quite beautiful.
And we were off of the ship there in a number of cities, and I think this city we were off at this particular time was Juneau, AK and while Jean and her mother were shopping in some of the little shops there.
Dad and I were over at McDonald's drinking a cup of coffee and talking, and we noticed this man come in the door. While we were sitting there, he struggled in with this huge backpack.
He could hardly make it in the door and he he took it off of his back and it dropped on the floor, made a big clunk, and I happened to have a VCR along with me. So I swept this man and I said, Sir, could I take your picture? And he said, yes, sure, that'd be fine. So I said I'd like to interview you. He said sure, that'd be fine.
00:55:01
So I said while I was taking this picture, I said, could you tell me a little bit about this pack that you're carrying on your back? And he said, well, that's what you call an Alaskan Survival kit. And I said, well, where did you get it? And he said, I bought it down here at the camping store.
And I said, well, what does it happen? He said it has everything that you can imagine. And he said.
Everything that you need to survive in the wilderness. And I said, well, what? Like what? He he started showing me several things. Here's a a here is a bedroom and here's a little camping store and here's a tent. And he was telling me all about this and I said, how much does this weigh?
And he said, I would say it weighs about 100 lbs. And I said, well, how are you ever going to get this into the wilderness? And he said, I haven't got that figured out yet. He said, you know, I bought it down there. And he said I've had to stop three times on my way to McDonald's here, and I've got a lot farther to go. But he said one thing that I will guarantee you is that it will help me survive in the wilderness. I don't know how far he ever made it into the wilderness.
And I hope that he survived. But one of the things that that I have just enjoyed and thinking back on that is that God has given us His survival care. So that here we are living in the most evil day, a day just before the coming in the Lord when we expect the shop to call us home and we we know that there's just a sea of sin that's floating around out there. Can we survive? Yes, we can survive because we have been given a Survival kit.
And one of the items in that case is fellowship with God. And I just want to return to that thought and just close on that thought that that to walk in fellowship with God. Could you say we'll solve so many of the problems? There are problems of sin, the problems of discouragement, you know, the problems of unhappiness, the problems of sorrow. To walk in fellowship with him is a thing that will cause boundless children.
Close.
Joy in Living for Christ
Address—B. Anstey
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Like to speak of some of the basic elements that are needed to live a happy, fruitful Christian life. The brethren here had asked me particularly to speak to the young people, which I was thankful for. Some of my comments are right along that line. I don't I profess to be deep in remarks that I make generally, but.
The happy, fruitful Christian life is really what has been before me and I suppose if we were to begin this meeting.
By asking the young people or all of us here, are you interested in living a happy, fruitful Christian life? I think if we began at one side of the audience here and went through one by one, everyone would probably, I'm sure everyone would say, Oh yes, I want to live that happy, fruitful Christian life. I want the blessing of the Lord in my life. I can't imagine there isn't somebody here that belongs to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who would say otherwise? And if there's someone here that is not the Lord's, I beseech you that there's no better time than right now.
To call upon him for your salvation. For the Bible does say, whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord.
Shall be saved, and it's as easy as that. We put our trust in Him becomes our Lord and Savior. Thy remarks this afternoon are going to be particularly directed at those who do know the Lord of Savior and that the claims of Christ will be exercised in our lives that we might come to know in practice the happy, fruitful Christian life that I've been thinking of. I've been thinking of three basic elements that are necessary.
There could be more. I'm thinking particularly of three daily things.
That the Bible speaks of three daily things. Without these things, you and I will make shipwreck. We will not come into the present enjoyment of the happy, fruitful Christian life. Now let's look at them. Turn over to Psalm 86 for the first one.
The 86th Psalm and we read the 1St 3 verses.
Bow down thy ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy. Oh thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I cry unto thee.
Daily it's those closing words that I read, the last five words I cry unto thee daily. This brings before us the importance of crying out or praying unto the Lord daily. Daily prayer and communion with the Lord is the first essential thing necessary for the happy, fruitful Christian life.
All Christians are going to have a happy ending.
All Christians are going to have a happy ending, but not all Christians have a happy life.
And the reason for I believe is that these basic elements that we're going to speak about are missing in their lives. And if you want to have the happy food for Christian life that we're Speaking of here is going to begin with these elements that we're going to speak about. I cry into the daily, daily prayer and communion Prayer is simply.
Talking to the Lord in a reverent way. I don't think I could put it more simply.
Speaking to the Lord Jesus in a reverent way, the Bible tells us everything by prayer.
And supplication, God wants to hear the Lord Jesus wants to hear your prayers. He wants you to talk to him. And it says everything, not just some things. He says everything. And so He wants to hear what you're thinking about. He wants you to talk with Him. He died to redeem you. He loved you so much that He paid such a great price upon the cross. And He wants to have your fellowship and your communion with Himself.
As you go through this world.
And there's nothing that is more sweet than to live in communion and fellowship with the Lord as you pass through this world. There's no higher or no greater joy, I believe that a person can touch as he walks in this world.
So the Lord wants us to pour out our hearts, as another Psalm says unto him, just to tell him as how we feel about various things and what we see and what we come in contact with the day through the day, and the art of we could use that word of communion.
Learn to speak to the Lord as you would your dearest and nearest friends, just to talk to him as you would even the most dearest and nearest friend that you have. The Lord wants to hear your voice song, and says, Let me hear thy voice, let me see thy countenance. And the Lord wants to hear us, and he would delight to have fellowship and communion with you and I.
00:05:09
Communion simply means to have common thoughts with God.
To commune together. Suppose we take this brother here and I, we go off over here. We'd be up against this stage here and we'd be talking together. You might say they're communing together. And that's all what communion really is, is to talk together, commune together. The Lord wants us to be found communing with him. Now if we turn over to Genesis, we can illustrate that. We'll see that the fruit and the blessing that comes from it in Abraham's life just for a couple of plants here.
In Genesis chapter 12 There are two things that I would like to point out that was in Abrahams life that helped him to live that life of fruitfulness and happiness and blessing. There are other things but we want to just focus on these two. Genesis 12 and.
Verse 8.
And he removed from fence and unto a mountain on the east of Bethel, and pitched his tent, having Bethel on the West and AI on the east. And there he builded an altar unto the Lord, and called upon the name of the Lord. There are two things in this verse. I'm thinking of the 10th and the altar, the tent and the altar. Abraham was a man that lived by the tent and by the altar.
Turned out to chapter 13, verse 3.
And he went on his journeys from the South, even unto Bethel, unto the place where his tent had been at the beginning between Bethel and AI, and unto the place of the altar which he had made there at first. And there Abraham called on the name of the Lord.
Now the last verse of chapter 13.
Those verses that I've read, you see the tent and the altar again. Now verse 18, we'll read verse 17, our eyes, and walk through the land, and the length and of it, and in the breadth of it, for I will give it unto thee. Then Abraham removed his tent, and came and dwelt in the plain of Mammary, which is in Hebron, and built there an altar unto the Lord.
There you have the 10th and the altar. Again, we could probably find other places, but this is sufficient to show that Abraham lived with a tent with an altar.
The altar rings before us the idea of our communion with God that is, in her words, what he would put his worship upon. It would ascend to the to God, and it might bring the force or symbolize the idea of personal devotion to Christ and to the Lord in our lives. That personal communion and that fellowship with God over the.
Perfection of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The 10th would speak to us.
Of a Pilgrim like character of life that one who belongs to the Lord would exhibit as he walks through this world. You know, a tent is a temporary dwelling place and a tent is something that someone lives in when they're traveling on a journey. As a Christian, you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior. You're on a journey. The minute you accept Christ as your Savior, you begin a journey from earth to heaven. And that journey is through this world.
Opposed to God and there are many enemies and the journey that we live or we pass through.
Is a journey that should be like a Pilgrim on who does not really belong here in this world, but he's passing on to another spoken of and Peter's epistle as a pellegrum and a stranger. A Pilgrim is one that is not at home, and our stranger is one that's not at home. A Pilgrim is one who's on his way home.
And so the Christian life needs these elements.
And Abraham had a tent and he had an altar.
And the verse before that last verse I read in verse 17, you find that Abraham was encouraged by God to rise and walk through the land, the length of it, the breadth of it, and so on, and to enjoy the land that God had promised and given to him. Now that land, the land of Canaan that God had promised to him is a picture is typically of the portion that belongs to you and I as Christians, we were Speaking of it a little bit this morning.
In the Bible reading and you find that Abraham.
Touched in that and lived in that long before the children of Israel came there. Now notice another point. It says that he dwelt in the plane of mammary, which is in Hebron. The mammary means fruitfulness, or fatness rather fatness. And Hebron means communion. You may have heard that before. Hebron means communion. And so this man that lived with attention, with his altar, he dwelt in a place of fatness.
00:10:25
Place of communion, that's what it would typify for us. How wonderful and how blessed this is. And it's no wonder that Abraham lived the life of a happy, fruitful child of God. He was used in blessing.
To others. But now I want to warn each one of us because what we're going to find here is in the life of a lot, we have a warning. There's something that we find that is missing. I want to point this out.
To emphasize our first daily thing.
Let's turn to chapter 13 again and verse 5. Now Lois, what it says a lot also, which went with Abram had flocks and herds and tents. Notice that.
Verse 12 And Abram dwelt in the land of Canaan, and Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain, and pitched his tent towards Sodom.
Now there's two things that we spoke of that characterize Abraham, the tent and the altar. Now I've read a couple verses which characterize lots life.
Can you see that there was something missing?
It says that a lot had tents.
There's no mention that he had an altar. Verse five and verse 12 tells us that he had a tent. That is, he had that outward life as a Pilgrim, as a one who lived the life of one who was passing through as a child of God, for he was a child of God. But we do not find in connection with Lot that he had an altar. And the altars we have already mentioned would bring before us the idea of communion with God.
There was apparently the absence of this necessary, essential thing in lost life, that is, the communion that was necessary.
In his life and so outwardly, Lot traveled with Abram. Both had tents.
Outwardly, you may not have known the difference if you were to watch them pass along the way, but there was one who was missing this essential thing that in the life of a child of God, and that was the communion that Abraham had at his altar. Now we're Speaking of a daily thing that is required for a happy fruit for Christian life. We've spoken of that as communion and prayer and how necessary it is.
What we find in Lot's life that as he went along with Abraham, there came a time.
That he began to separate and they went different pathways. They had different objects in view and their lives separated. And it tells us of course that a heavenly minded believer and an earthly minded believer will never walk together. They see things differently. Their their motives, their values are different. And so we find that the pathways begin to move apart. Sad to say, but it's true. This chapter 13 tells us that they no longer.
Walk together.
Abraham had his altar in his tent, Lord had only tents. But we find that lot began to get on a course because there wasn't that inward a devotion to God and communion. And he outwardly went along that pathway for some time, but it began, there came a time in his life that it began to break down and his pathway begin to go off course and he left really the life.
Of a child of God altogether, that is the practical living of it.
You know, sometimes we look at young people and we're so thankful when we see them coming out to the meetings. There's a good deal of young people here. And then we come back maybe a year or two later, or if it's not where we dwell in our local assembly and we find out that this young person or that one seems to have gone off. And you wonder why they seem to be just like all the other young people. They might have the same type of clothes, they carry the same kind of a Bible. They what has happened? And you begin to wonder, well, what was it they came to?
They outwardly looked like some of the others, but there must have been something that was essentially missing, essentially from their Christian life that caused them to begin to get on a course like Lot got on that led to shipwreck and to sorrow and heartbreak. Ultimately, Lot got on a course here that I would like to warn the young people of.
00:15:02
Simply because I I trace it anyway to the fact that there was not the altar.
In his life choice is important doesn't it shows you the importance of how this is necessary essential thing that if a person like this here who is a child of God could get so far off can be traced back to the fact that it was there was enough that prayer and communion with God. Now verse 10 of chapter 13. It tells us that law lifted up his eyes. First thing we find in this course is that he looked.
Sodom he lift up his eyes. He saw the planet of Jordan, He saw the well watered everywhere, and he looked.
Toward Sodom, it seems that it began with just a look.
Then verse 11 it says a lot chosen the plain of Jordan and he journeyed east.
Not not only like look towards Sodom, but he liked Sodom and began to put his life in gear toward that. Verse 12 And Abraham dwelled in the land of Canaan. Lot dwelled in the cities of the plain and pitched his tent towards Sodom. There you have Lot leaning towards notice it says he pitched his tent.
In the cities of the plain and towards Sodom. He didn't get into Sodom right away. And declension is never something that happens all at once. We find that it is something that is generally a gradual thing. Then you look at chapter 14 and verse 12. We read it says and they took Lot Abrams brother who dwelt in Sodom and his goods.
Imparted there you have him living in Sodom then down in chapter 19.
It says in verse one, and there came two angels to Sodom at even, and Lot sat in the gate, and Sodom verse nine of that chapter says that he was a judge. So here we have him legislating in Sodom. And then chapter 19 and verse 33 it says then they made their father drink wine that night, and the first born went in and lay with their father. And he perceived not that she laid down, nor when she rose. And so on there we have he learned the ways of Sodom.
Might Beverly remember that since we're speaking to young people, I've thought of it in three or six different elves. He looked towards Sodom, he liked Sodom, he leaned towards Sodom, he lived in Sodom, he legislated in Sodom, and he learned the ways of Sodom. How could this be? What happened?
He lives with a godly man and it shows us that coming to the meetings and living and maybe being mixing amongst those who are spiritual and godly as you may think is not enough. That's going to keep us. Mixing with other young people that love the Lord is not enough. That's going to keep you to young person. There needs to be that inward devotion to the Lord Jesus Christ and daily fellowship and communion in your life.
Otherwise, there is going to be this departure sooner or later in your life, it's going to break down.
And you may get on a course like this man lot.
One more point about that word, Hebron. Turn over to number. Yes, numbers, Chapter 13.
13th chapter of Numbers. Now remember we spoke of Hebron. It means communion. Numbers 13 verse 17 Moses sent them. That was a bunch of the spies, 12 of them. I believe it was to spy out the land of Canaan and to set unto them get you up this way.
Through it and get you up into the mountain and see the land. Verse 21 And they went up and searched the land from the wilderness of Zen unto rehab. And as men come to Haman and they ascended by the South, and came to notice Hebron, where a hymen and she shy and tell my the children of Anak were now Hebron was built seven years before zone in Egypt. And they came unto the brook bash call, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they.
Between two and a staff and they bought the pomegranates and the cigs. So it's interesting that Moses encouraged these young men, the spies to go up into the land and to spy out that land. And we were Speaking of that this morning, the land speaking to us of our portion in Christ. And these men were sent to go up there into the mountain and there to see that land and to bring back report. And God would have you and I to enter into our portion in Christ.
But it can only be through this one, this first essential thing that we've been Speaking of. Notice how they went up into the land. They went up through a gateway into the land, and that was through Hebron. Hebron was the way in which they got up into the land. And it stands as, shall we say, the gate into the land for these 12 spies. Hebron speaks to us of communion. Do you want to enjoy your portion in Christ? Do you want to enjoy the things of God? And he asked.
00:20:24
Heavenlies all your blessings, it's going to have to be only through the portal, shall we say, of Hebron Communion with himself. That's the way. Now notice what else it says in that 20 second verse.
Hymen she shall tell my who they sons of annex.
Who were these people?
They were giants.
There are giants in the land and we know that these were people that loved, not God.
Let me speak to us of the enemy of our souls. And it is interesting to notice that this is where the part of the land where the giants dwelt, and it tells me that Satan would focus and gather his forces.
At the place where you and I need to be more than anything else, He comes out with all of his forces to seek to hinder the child of God from reaching Hebrews.
And so the strongest, shall we say Satan's strongest forces, is to hinder the child of God from dwelling, from living there, where Abraham lived in Hebrew. And these giants were there in Hebron.
Satan will do all he can do, a young person, the older one, to hinder you and I from enjoying communion with God. It hardly needs to be said, but that is the truth. But when they got there, what did they find? They found the grapes of Ashcall. They found fruit, pomegranates, figs.
Fruitfulness and fruitfulness that you're going to have in your life is going to come as a result of getting into the land and that through a little place called Hebron.
We don't have time. He's going to go on to our next point.
But you'll find that you turn it over to Joshua 12.
That this was the last place that they conquered in the Lamb. The whole conquering of the Lamb took place in in in two chapters in Joshua chapter 10 and Chapter 11. Chapter 10 gives you the southern conquest. Chapter 11 gives you the northern conquest. All in a summary form.
But we find that Hebron was the final place. It seems that the enemy put up the biggest struggle there to hinder them from taking that place. But it says in Joshua brought them there. Isn't that beautiful?
Well, let's look at another then turn over to Acts chapter 17. Make this the second daily thing.
Acts Chapter 17.
The 17th chapter of Acts in verse 10. And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night, and to Berea, who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind and search. The Scriptures notice daily whether those things were sold. Therefore many of them believed also of honorable women whisper Greeks, and of men not a few.
He spoke first of all in Psalm 86 of the need of daily prayer and communion. Now we speak of the second daily thing, and that is daily searching the Scriptures.
These believers that were found in Berea were spoken of as being not just noble, but more noble and more noble than those that were in Thessalonica. Back in the chapter we find that Paul visited the place called Thessalonica and he went into the synagogue as his manner was and he opened the scriptures. There was a reason why he opened the scriptures and that was to present Christ from the scriptures.
To present Christ from the scriptures and as he presented Christ from the Old Testament Scriptures there there were ones who believed and the manner of his was is that he reasoned out of the Scriptures the things to do with Christ. He did not reason into the Scriptures. He reasoned out of the Scriptures. That's verse 2. That's necessary when we take up with the word of God, we do not bring our reasoning minds to the Bible. We subject our reasoning minds.
To the authority of the Bible.
I said that's absolutely necessary if we're going to take up with the Scriptures. That was Pauls manner. It says in verse 2. But anyway, these Thessalonians were regarded, as I understand it, to be noble because it says in verse 11 That they were more noble than those in Thessalonica. That is, the Bereans were more noble than the Thessalonians.
00:25:11
We take it then that the Thessalonians were noble, but the Brians were more noble? I think I asked one of the boys through the question last night, What was it that made the Bereans more noble than the Thessalonians?
Why were they regarded more noble?
Than the Thessalonians.
Well, the Thessalonians, if you read there in the early part of the chapter, they were glad to hear Paul open the Scriptures and to read them and to hear the things of God.
They sat there and they just enjoyed it and they took it in and God regards that as being noble. That's a wonderful thing when we have people like Bethesda Lincolns who would desire to come to meetings like this and to hear the Word of God being ministered to listen to the Scriptures and the young people that are here, you come along to the meetings. It's a good thing. It's a noble thing. We're glad to see it that you want to hear the Word of God.
And if you like to come and to hear it, God regards that as to be a noble thing.
But what's the what's the Bereans? They were more noble because not only did they listen to what was told them, they went home and searched it out for themselves. And God says now that's even more noble than just to hear and listen to the word of God being ministered. So we're thankful for the young people we've got to as they get saved and become interested in the word of God that they would listen. They come along to the meetings. But you know, to be more noble is to.
Search these things out for yourself, to look into the scriptures on your own, and to study the Word of God.
And thereby can see from the scriptures for yourself.
They were more noble.
And I understand that the festival and I can that word means victory over fallacy. And so there are many of false things that are in the in the world. And the way to know the difference is to compare it from the word of God. We know in the Thessalonica letter it says.
Try all things, Hold fast to that which is good. Prove all things, rather hold fast to that which is good. How do we prove it? We prove it by the word of God.
Anyway, we find that these ones in Berea, they received the word of the apostle with all readiness of mind. Notice, and then it goes on to say that they searched the Scriptures. It doesn't say that they searched the Scriptures to see if it was so, and then they received it. They received it first and then searched it out because they recognized that this one that came with the open Bible to them was a vessel sent by God, and they recognized that and they received what he said.
But they didn't leave it just there. They searched it out for their own selves. And you know, it is necessary for you and I to get into the Scriptures just a little bit more than letting someone else minister to it, it to us. It's very noble to do that. But God would have you do young people, to take up with the reading of the scriptures yourself personally, to develop a daily habit of taking up with the Word of God.
Now.
I said read the scriptures, but this is not what they did. The Bereans did not necessarily read the scriptures. It says they searched the scriptures. That's different from reading the scriptures in the sense that they didn't just take up and just read it through and read the chapter, close it, so to speak. They searched the scriptures. It shows that there was energy involved. They were looking for something.
What were they looking for as they searched so hard in the scriptures?
Well, if you read back to verse 3, Paul said that you can find Christ in the Scriptures. And he opened and alleged that Christ could there be found in the Scriptures. And when he came to the brands, he told him the same thing because that was the manner of his preaching. And when they heard that, they went and searched the Scriptures themselves to see if they could find Christ there. And they did indeed find Christ in the Scriptures.
And so it says whether those things were so, and many of them believed. And it says an honorable woman too. Now, this is encouraging for us too, because sometimes we get the idea. Well, searching the Scriptures, you know, a Bible study belongs to those brothers, you know. But here we find that there were.
Honorable women that took up with the reading of the word of God and the searching of the scriptures to and so the searching of the scriptures is not something that's exclusive for the brothers here.
But for the sisters too, the young sisters that are here, God wants you to search the scriptures yourself.
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To read it and you know the Lord Jesus has always the example. How did he handle the Scriptures? It says in Luke 24 that he beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them the things of Christ. And so we learned from that that He went through the Scriptures in an orderly way. He began at Moses. That's the first five books in the Bible and he went on through the prophets and says also the Psalms and the prophets and so.
We need to have an orderly search of the scripture.
It's not enough for us in our Christian life or we're going to be bearing fruit for God, live that happy fruit for Christ, a Christian life that we were Speaking of. If we just aimlessly read the Bible a little, you know, today, a little tomorrow and this type of thing. It needs to be a little bit more study to show thyself to prove unto God the Bible says, and some brother who is a little more of a Greek scholar than I am, I don't profess to be anything like that.
Said to me that that word study is the same word used to describe a a battle horse that is galloping at full speed with all four hoofs off the ground.
Now he must be really running.
To have all four hoofs off the ground. But that's the way Paul speaks to Timothy as to how we should study to show ourselves, to prove them to God. That is, there should be energy and real diligence involved, and there's going to be reward. And so I remember one time when I was a teenager, Clarence Mundine came to town, or was it at one of the conferences? It doesn't matter. I distinctly remember him addressing the young people.
And he says, how do you read the scriptures? You remember his low and deep voice he used to have, still has. And he said, is your reading of the Scriptures an occasional Psalm?
Or Proverb? Or is it a study of the Word of God? And that spoke to me because I had been reading the Proverbs steadily for about a year. It was easy reading and I just suited me fine. But that's not the way the Lord wants us to take up with the study of the Word of God. He wants us to search the Scriptures, and that's all of them. Read the Bible through and get the blessing that God would have for us. Then we can be instructed in our most holy faith and we'll have Christ.
Before us now, one time I was speaking on the subject of searching the scriptures with a group of young people, and I wrote down 10 reasons why a Christian should be reading the scriptures.
I like to repeat them to you.
We're going to flip to 10 scriptures in a hurry. Would that be OK with the brethren? We don't have an we don't have a moment to comment on them. We'll just read them. John 5, verse 39. John 539. You'll pardon me if I pick up my pace here. Search the Scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life and they are they they which testify of me or should read they it is which bear witness of me.
And so here's one reason why we read the Scriptures, and that is to find Christ in them. Christian wants to know more of Christ, and so he reads the Scriptures to find Christ. We've been speaking about that second one, Acts chapter 20, verse 32.
Acts 20, verse 32.
And now, brethren, I commend you to God and to the word of His grace. That would be the Scriptures which is able to build you up and give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified. Here's another reason why we read the Scriptures to learn of the extent of blessings that are ours through the finished.
Work of Christ that we might be built up and established in the most holy faith. How are you going to learn the Christian, the body of Christian knowledge if you're not going to be willing to search the Scriptures and learn them? How are you going to know if you're going to be eternally secure or the eternal sonship of Christ or many of these wonderful doctrines? You're going to have to learn to read the Scriptures in an orderly way and to study and to search. Let's look at another one now.
Psalm 19119.
119th Psalm.
Verse 9 Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto, according to thy word. There we have another reason why we read the Scriptures. It has a cleansing moral effect in our life. We pass through a world that we get defilement. We pick it up as we go through the world, we things we hear and see and so on. And God would have us to read the Scriptures because there is a cleansing effect by the washing of the water by the Word. And so we have that as well.
And let's look at another one. Psalm 119, verse 49, verse 49.
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Remember the Word which thy servant, which unto thy servant, and upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me. Another reason why a Christian reads the Bible is because he gets comfort in times of trial and affliction. How wonderful. What are some of the most precious and sweet things we can read in the Bible that gives us comfort at a time of bereavement? There may be someone here that's passing through a sorrow, do you know that?
Can give that comfort. Oh yes, many wonderful scriptures we can read. We can let the Lord Jesus speak to us. Second Peter, chapter 3.
Second Peter, chapter 3.
Verse one and two.
This second epistle of and I now write unto you.
In both which I stood up your poor pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy Prophets, and by the commandment of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior. Well, the words that were spoken by the Holy Prophet, the Apostles, were of course, the New Testament Scriptures, and so on.
Here we have another reason we read the Scriptures because it stirs up our souls to want to press on for the Lord Jesus. Turn back to chapter two of First Epistle of Peter, First Peter chapter 2, verse 2.
As newborn babes desire the sincere mark of the word, that ye may grow thereby.
There's another reason why we read the scriptures that we might grow spiritually. I just grow in the knowledge and grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Jeremiah 15.
Jeremiah 15 and verse 16.
Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart.
That beautiful? Well, we read the scriptures because it makes us happy, rejoices our cheers our hearts, encourages us.
Now let's read another one. And I should have maybe read this when we're in second Peter ready, but it's back to Second Peter Chapter one. That's scripture about the lamp would be a good one, I suppose, for this point.
Second Peter chapter one and verse 19 we have.
The prophetic word made sure, or the more sure word of prophecy. Where unto ye do well, that ye should take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts, and so on.
The point here is that we read the Scriptures because the Lord teaches us of things to come. The Christian is the only one who has the an intelligent outlook on this world because he has a Bible and he reads it and the Scriptures glorify Christ. God wants to glorify Christ in two spheres, and prophecy tells us how he's going to do that in heaven and on earth. Head up all things in him. And so consequently the Christian is given.
The knowledge of future events.
Now the life that's #9 #10, now 119th Psalm and verse 171.
119 a 171.
My lips shall out her praise when thou hast taught me thy statues. Statues is another word for the scriptures that we have praise. It makes our hearts well up in praise and Thanksgiving to himself. Well, I've gone far enough on that subject. 10 reasons why we read the Scriptures. There's probably more. Now one last scripture we're going to look at, and that's Luke's Gospel Chapter 9.
This is the third daily thing that is necessary.
For us to live a happy fruitful Christian life. And I apologize for the turning in many scriptures, but.
It's nice to get the score for this Luke 9 and verse 23. And he said unto them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
Daily taking up the cross and following him. The third daily thing, the necessity of identifying our ourselves with a rejected Christ. You know, the world gave Christ the cross. They rejected him. They turned him out of this world by putting him on the cross. And now the Lord is speaking about the cross and he's speaking about you and I taking up with the cross and to bear it in that sense, it speaks to us of identifying, I believe, identifying ourselves with Christ.
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His rejection to accept the path of rejection. And so this daily thing would be daily obedience and following Christ in the path of rejection.
Unnecessary you know, it's one thing to to pray and and and talk to the Lord wonderful ask the first daily thing. It's wonderful to read the scriptures and to learn how richly you've been blessed. That's the second daily thing but you know the Lord wants us to go further than that. It needs to get cracked down into the practical side of our lives. That is to take up the the path of following Christ in this world and to bear our cross and that is to bear our burden in this world that he's called us to to.
To bear for Him. Well, and I don't have time to look at it, but there are three reasons why He wants us to take up the cross and follow Him. You have to turn over to Matthew 16. You can look at it in your own time because we're run out of time. Now in Matthew 16, the latter part of the chapter, he mentions the same verse and then he says four. He reads a few words and he reads again. 4 the next verse, 4, there's three fours there.
It begins at each verse and there are three reasons why the Lord would have us.
To follow Him. The first one is very simple, and that is because what's not done for Christ in this world is going to be lost.
The second one is what even if we could gain everything that's in this world, live for this world to get it all, you can't take it with you anyway. And the third one is because He has rewards for those who want to please him. There's three reasons why we should take up the cross and follow Him. May this be so. May God, people, and all of us to live the happy, fruitful Christian life.
The Ark of Testimony
Address—H. Brinkman
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Through Exodus 25, verse 10. And they shall make an ark of chittimwood, 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breath thereof, and a cubit and a half the height they're off. And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold within and without shalt thou overlay it, and shalt make upon it a crown of gold roundabouts.
Cast four rings of gold for it, and put them in the four corners thereof, and two rings shall be in the one side of it, and two rings in the other side of it. And thou shalt make staves of Chittimwood and overlay them with gold. And thou shalt put the staves into the rings by the sides of the ark, that the ark may be born with them.
The staff shall be in the rings of the Ark. They shall not be taken from it.
And thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee. And thou shalt make a mercy seed of pure gold. 2 cubits and a half shall be the length thereof, and a cubit and a half the breadth thereof. And thou shalt make 2 carabins of gold of beaten work shalt thou make them, and the two ends of the mercy seed.
And make one cherub.
One end and the other Cherokee on the other end, even of the Mercy seat shall you make the cherubim on the two ends thereof, And the cherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy seat with their wings, and their faces shall look one to another towards the mercy seat shall the faces of the cherubims be.
And thou shalt put the mercy seat upon the ark.
Ark shalt thou put the testimony that I shall give thee, and there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony of all things, which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.
My thought this afternoon is not so much to speak.
About the ark itself, other than perhaps to point out.
That it speaks very definitely of the Lord Jesus.
That blessed One who is in the midst of his people, and there I will meet with thee.
And once the throne of God in the midst of his people, and once a year.
Blood had to be sprinkled on that mercy sea so that the guardians of the holiness of God saw their blood.
And their judgment didn't have to be executed upon the sins of the people.
But that ark speaks of the Lord Jesus.
And it consists primarily of two parts, the Ark and the Mercy seat the throne, you might say, and chittimwood, or incorruptible wood.
As it is called also was the material that it was made of, and you can see at one that it speaks of the perfect sinless humanity of our blessed Lord.
But it was all overlaid with gold.
That speaks of him being a divine person, and it was dead. That was visible.
And it was to be called to mind every time when we look at the ark, that it speaks of the one who was divine.
Through the sinless one, but the one who was divine, God dwelt in the midst of his people, and this ark is called.
By different names.
And it's called the Ark of the Covenant.
It's called the Ark of the Testimony.
It's called the Ark of Jehovah and the Ark of God.
And I believe.
There are with these different names, different things connected.
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The Ark of the Covenant. I think you can easily see that the people of God are reminded of all the promises that God has made to His people. And in the fact that they had the Ark of the Covenant in their myth, it was a sure reminder to them that God was going, as far as he was concerned, live up to his commitment as far as the covenant was concerned.
But these people?
Going to walk through the wilderness and in connection with the wilderness journey, I believe that is correct to say it was called the Ark of the Testimony.
There is no greater responsibility than the responsibility that the people of God have to render a testimony that is true to the true and living God with whom we are in a relationship.
And it is this side that especially I have on my heart this afternoon, the art of the testimony and our responsibility.
In connection with that and had to be carried by the priest.
And we will find that there was a departure.
From this and the terrible consequences of their departure.
But it was also the ark of Jehovah when he leads his people in the book of Joshua into the Promised Land that was the land of Jehovah.
And in leading them into it, he lays hold of it.
And it helps us to understand when it says in Ephesians the inheritance his inheritance in the same.
I've learned from another who has put it this way. In leading his people into their blessing, He himself plays hold of it.
But then the ark falls into the hands of the Philistines, and that is called the Ark of God.
When God's people fail and God has allowed that ark to fall into the hands of the Philistines, God looks after his own glory.
And we know what happened when that ark was put into Dagon's temple.
He was laying down on his face.
Broken up.
And then we know what happened. They were punished by God until they realized it was because of the ark being in their myth, you know they had misused.
The Ark in their conflict with the Philistines.
And God had allowed that the ark would fall into the hands of the Philistines, but he didn't allow that ark to remain there.
But here comes this solemn lesson now, beloved.
And that is that the Philistines were allowed to put that ark on a cart.
And God even forced these kind, these cows to go against nature, to carry that ark back to the land of Israel.
But God would not tolerate.
When that pattern was picked up by the people of God, judgment fell upon them.
It was not only that the cart itself was not according to the divine order.
You even see in this that that was contrary to nature.
To force these cows to leave their cast behind.
And if a hollering.
While they were obeying God's.
Force, you might say, I sometimes have said, beloved.
That these cows seem to have more sense than the people of God.
We sometimes allow to let the Philistines in. Their tactics separate us from our young, and we don't even raise any voice.
Let's beware of.
Passionate ourselves and adopting the pattern of the Philistines when it comes to the testimony entrusted to the people of God.
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Who are the Philistines?
The Philistine comes from the same place where the people of God came from.
They came from Egypt, but they didn't go through the Red Sea, they didn't go through the Jordan.
They had not come into the good of the death of Christ, but they occupied.
The fear of blessing but had no claim to it.
And throughout the Old Testament, you will find that they are innovative. They are.
Introducing new things they're destroying and corrupting. Remember the digging of the wells in Genesis 26? Our brother Bob Bowman referred to it.
And what's the Philistines that clocked those wells with Earth?
They speak of those who take Christian profession but have no life from above. They have not the Spirit of God.
And they can do not do anything other than bring human wisdom, human techniques and order into the things of God. And it will always stop the flow of blessing. The wisdom of the world is foolishness with God.
And if we allow the wisdom of the world to be introduced into that which is divine.
That will corrupt.
And it will stop the flow of blessing.
Wasn't it also the Philistines that occupied the well in Bethlehem and David's men?
When at the rest of their life to gut refreshment for David there.
And there are no doubt other cases. When you read it, you can see the character of the Philistine. And especially now as far as the arc of the testimony, that which is entrusted to the people of God, the responsibility to render a testimony that is true to the name of the Lord Jesus. How serious it is.
I believe the House of God, beloved has to do with the side of the testimony.
Body of Christ.
The House of God has to do with the testimony.
And what happens and what has happened in the history of the church is this, that the condition of the people of God become such that there is not the spiritual energy to continue in the divine pattern?
And the danger is that then human way introduced to perpetuate something for which there is no longer spiritual power. Or maybe it starts out by recognizing how feeble things are among the assemblies, and we have to come and help.
We have to, with the best of intentions, give direction.
To assembly A and before long assembly A is no longer.
Able to carry out their responsibility for the Lord and holy and completely depend.
On outside.
If he tried to deal with the weakness among God's people, by introducing human waste and methods and techniques, we further weaken the people of God.
Beloved, we have to make an effort and cry to the Lord for help to give us grace and strength to continue in the divine pattern of things. Because the best intentions, and believe me, I with all my heart believe that many times things are introduced with the best of intentions, but it leads to a system of things which is contrary to the Word of God.
And actually leads to ruin what troubles me, beloved, and I say it, and I trust you take it that way in love. I've been gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus for now almost 17 years and it was a very painful experience to have to leave brethren I love and still love where my grandparents already had labored for the Lord.
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That I had to come to see that I wasn't in the wrong place.
And what troubles me among these dear people of God was that they had introduced a system of oversight.
Which?
Was really practically setting aside the authority of the Lord in the midst and the local assembly responsibility they had introduced and I'm not trying to make an accusation here, but just to give you an explanation to had introduced the system of regional brothers conferences.
Where they would take up matters.
Questions of dispute and try to arrive at a solution, taking it away from the assembly. God established order for settling such matters, and I fear that we are on the way of introducing that very thing among those gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And all.
With the pretend of trying to help.
And being a help to an assembly.
I think we already at the reading meeting were making comments.
That we have in the epistles, in the New Testament gifts.
That the Lord Jesus has given to the Church.
And the sphere of the exercise of year is the body of Christ.
The building up of itself in love.
And especially Ephesians chapter 4.
Shows us that there are gifts, men who are gifts to the church.
There is fear of service is a universal fear, and they can serve.
The Lord wherever he died, and directs them to serve him.
But we also have the local aspects of the body of Christ in First Corinthians 12. That shows the local assembly. But the primary thought in connection with the assembly as the sphere for exercise of gift is the truth of the body of Christ. Discipline is not.
The responsibility or not the function of the body of Christ.
But because we are one body when in any local assembly, discipline is carried out.
We acknowledge it because we are one body. We never separate the body from the House of God, but it is the House of God.
Where discipline has to be administered because it is his house.
He abides there, and he is holy and thin and unrighteousness.
Cannot be tolerated where he dwells. That's why it is necessary that discipline be administered there.
But we do find that it is there, not so much a question of the gift in the House of God, but a question of officers now when we reach in.
First Timothy, chapter 3.
About those overseers we do find, but let me say that whether it's overseer, whether it is elders or bishops, it all refers to the same responsibility. The office of a Bishop, overseer or elder has the responsibility of the spiritual well-being of the Saints and along with that.
If necessary, discipline has to be administered and it is those elders that have to take the lead in.
Discipline. Now we do find that what? Really.
Make the office effective. And what was desirable was that one who was filling in office also had at least a measure of ability to teach. Apartment to teach. He didn't have to be a teacher. There is a distinct difference between being a teacher or being apartment to teach.
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Because he has to have a measure of ability to bring in the truth of God while dealing with the spiritual problems and needs of the same. And shepherding is very closely connected with that, as we have seen from Acts chapter 20. We see it also from first Peter, 5 feet, the flock of God that is among you.
And shepherding is part of that. But you do not have to have necessarily the gift of a shepherd, as mentioned in Ephesians 4, in order to serve as an overseer, having the care, the spiritual well-being of the Saints in your heart in First Timothy 5.
We have this statement that the elders that rule well shall be founded worthy of double honour, especially they who serve in Word and doctrine.
So we do have again there the desire of the situation that an elder might also be able to serve in the Word and a doctrine, but we also have a very solemn statement there from which we can conclude that it is possible that an elder might not.
Rule well.
And that the same.
Are expected to be able to recognize who ruled well and who does not rule well.
And that they should not bestow honor upon an elder that doesn't rule well.
Very solemn.
But now.
What we do find is that an apostle was in office, an elder was in office, and a Deacon was an office. But an apostle was also a gift, as we see it from First Corinthians 12.
But when Matthias was chosen in Acts, we clearly see that he was going to fill an office that was vacated by the death of Judas.
But there's a distinct difference between an apostle and an elder as far as the office is concerned. The offices of the apartment and elder are similar in character and that they have the spiritual well-being of the Saints at their heart.
But an apostle, because he was an apostle, had authority as an apostle to deal with individuals and even with an assembly and discipline.
Which an elder never could do.
In other words, an elder could only.
In fellowship with his local assembly.
Deal in discipline, he couldn't do it as an individual and what our brother Clem Buchanan pointed out certainly, and I'm sure he will agree with that, does not suggest that the assembly is not brought in.
They take the lead in these things, but as we find in Acts 15 verse 22, I believe it is then it seems put to the apostles and elders and the whole church.
It became an assembly action after it had been brought before the church.
And the Church ratified what the Lord had made clear.
To the apostles and elders in the brothers meeting, but an elder.
And never act in any other assembly as an elder than the local assembly where he resides.
It's a local office.
Even the most gifted man who seeks to carry on as an elder in the local assembly cannot be exercising that responsibility in other assemblies.
Can only be done in the assembly where he resides.
We do not have official.
Elder official deacons today, the deacons just to complete the responsibilities of those who had offices, they were concerned with the material and physical needs of the same. And there's a very interesting point in connection with the deacons and that is that the qualification of the wife is mentioned there.
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And to me, that's a very wonderful point.
When it comes to physical and material needs amongst the Saints.
And a godly wife is a tremendous asset to one who has the responsibility.
Of being a Deacon in a local assembly. Those early Christians did not handle funds the way we handle them today. There were certain ones who had been given the responsibility to do that, and we see that when in Acts, the seven were chosen to serve the tables.
They were performing Deacon service among the church, and it's very interesting too that the church had a voice in who they were going to be because they were going to administer that which the church had contributed.
But only in a pastor could put them officially into the office of a Deacon.
As we see, the church picked these seven and they were all Hellenists.
The Hellenists had complained what a wonderful lesson of godliness in the early church. The Hellenists had complained their widows were being neglected. And the church says you don't trust us but we trust you. We pick all 7 Hellenists to administer the tables. Wonderful isn't it? What an example.
But they were brought to the apostles. They officially put them into the office. But when it comes to oversight.
We find the church had no voice.
You know why we have never seen a sheep, A flock of sheep picking their own shepherd, have you? And an apostle was an office superior to that of.
Oversee an elder and he could put one into that place. But here comes the thing. They wouldn't do that until these individuals had proven themselves through their persistent or consistent walk of godliness. They wouldn't pick elders on their missionary journey. They did it after they returned.
They had proven themselves.
Now you might say, what is the church to do in the mean time? What did the early Christians do in the meantime before they had official elders? And what are we to do today since we don't have apostles, you know, we find entitles and Timothy that there is an Apostolic delegate that could do that same service as the apostle could.
But what was the early church to do before the head official elders and what can we do today?
But our various scriptures that are a help to us that show.
That we have today elders in the church, not officially.
But nevertheless, those who serve in that capacity turn with me to 1St Thessalonians. First Thessalonians, chapter 5. We beseech you, brethren, to know them. Verse 12 which labor among you, and are over you in the Lord, and admonish you.
Obviously referring to elders.
Those who have to lead among you, or who are over you in the Lord.
This letter, I understand, was written only a matter of weeks after they had been converted.
And if we already dose.
Who had devoted themselves to disservice and the Apostle Paul, while not officially recognizing them. He puts the responsibility before the stains and says know them, recognize them, acknowledge them.
That had the lead among you.
We also had already in Acts chapter 20 that the Holy Spirit.
Had put them as overseers in the church.
And they were to watch especially for themselves. From among yourself, that is, from among these elders men would arise. No, simple souls are not a danger to the Saints.
Influential people are.
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And those who take the lead because they might lead wrong. Take care of yourself, watch yourself.
Well, we also have in Romans chapter 12.
Another scripture.
Where we find those who lead with diligence.
There are those in Rome, and we know that, and it's generally believed and understood there was never an apostle in Rome who had labored there. Therefore there was never an authority to put anybody into the office of an overseer. But there were those who were taking the lead, and they were admonished to do it diligently.
And you know, beloved.
I believe this is the most difficult service to be performed amongst the people of God, to serve as an overseer, to serve an elder. You know why?
There never has been a perfect elder, there never has been a perfect leader except the Lord Jesus himself, and the enemy will always try to point towards the shortcomings and weaknesses of those in the lead, because rebels have always done that to justify rebellion, whether it is in the assembly, whether it is in the home, whether it is in the government.
Rebels have always sought to justify their rebellion by the shortcoming and failure.
Of those in responsibility.
Now.
The Lord has given us those.
That lead and let me point something out to you that might be a help, especially to the younger ones among us and that is in Peter.
Where Peter speaks to the elders in the King James Version, it says that the elders should be subject to the younger. Let me read it and it's really a misleading statement.
Chapter 5, Verse two. Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind need, as being Lords over God's heritage.
But being assembled to the flock, and when the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. Likewise he younger submit yourselves unto the elder.
Ye all of you be subject 1 to another. I believe that's not a correct rendering. You read it in Mr. Darby's and you will find it. The elders are never expected to be in subjection to the younger, but all should be clothed with humility.
You know, and this is really where I believe we as elders oftentimes stumble our younger ones because.
We don't come across in a humble way.
Come across in an authoritative way. We do that often times.
In the family, well, we have to be careful, but remember in Hebrews chapter 13.
We also have the scripture that we should obey our leaders.
And we have there the leaders referred to in the 13th chapter, more than one.
The first time those who have taught us the word of God, we should remember them considering the end of their conversation, imitate their faith, not imitate their mistakes, but they are dead in their lives, which was of God and their consistent walk and finishing the course consistently.
Should give us.
To carefully weigh.
What they have taught us, beloved, there is a movement among the gathered things to attack precious truth that men of past century have taught us.
Remember what it says in Hebrews 13.
Remember your leaders.
Paul said to Timothy, Knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
Of course, that was the Apostle Paul, but if the Spirit of God is dwelling within us.
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We certainly can judge and discern whether that which brethren taught 150 years ago as to the ground of gathering in Matthew 18, whether that is still the truth of God today. Remember the digging of the wells? The Philistines had plucked them with earth, but they had to re dig these wells and they named them with the same names.
That Abraham had given.
Well, and that's so important. I believe that's how we begin to lay hold of the truth of God.
That we benefit from what others have dugout for us, and we have to redict these things and make them our own. But then we find that they dug wells of their own and found living water. But if the Lord gives you and me something that we find.
Without reading it in the ministry of the Brethren or anybody else.
He will give us something that will never contradict what He has given to the Saints of God 100 years ago.
He does not teach better in a past century that separation from evil is the basis for unity, and that association with evil defiles and tells us in our generation. Forget about that. This is not the way God teaches from one generation to the next. The truth of God is absolute and does not change.
Now, I believe the danger that we have, perhaps is that we.
At times over emphasize certain aspects of the truth of God at the expense of something else. And we have to be very careful that the Lord gives us grace and help that we be balanced. Many times error is nothing other than overemphasizing 1 aspect of the truth of God.
I'm sure.
Everyone in this room who loves the Lord Jesus wants to be preserved in the path of faith.
But we are subject to influences.
We subject to being misled.
There is none in this room that does not need the preserving grace of God to be preserved in the path of faith. All of us need that, beloved, but especially as younger ones, be careful.
Voices you listen to.
Be careful.
There are guidance in the Word of God.
When somebody teaches you something and even is so bold as to say Brother chapter found might have explained it this way, but I explain it this way. Careful, it's a red scarf for you, it should be there. Caution. Careful. I'm not saying that these brethren that only lived a decade ago did not make mistakes.
In application of the word of God or even had differences in some minor points and so on. But remember one exercise that I heard a brother say on a tape once when we traveled to Calgary. We were listening to a series of tapes and ministry that he had given.
His brother said.
Chapter Brown. One of the exercises that he had was that he wanted to pass on the truth in the purity in which he had received it. I thought it was a beautiful exercise, an exercise that we all could desire to have.
To lay hold of the truth of God and to understand it.
It's really the grace of God that gives us any understanding. There is no room for boasting, but the Lord is willing to do that for you and for everybody else here. He wants us to walk intelligently, and He has given us certain guides and guards so that we might be helped. You know that young people are very impressionable.
And they have to be very careful not to allow themselves.
To be LED astray.
Adolf Hitler said give me the youth and I have the nation. The enemy today would want to have the youth, the future of the assembly.
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Because if he leads demonstrate and the Lord tarries, what is going to happen of the assembly? I'm sure he will not succeed.
I'm sure the Lord in His grace will preserve a testimony to the end, but He might succeed.
In misleading quite a few, hopefully they will recover themselves and come back to the place where the Lord has said His name. Beloved, isn't it wonderful that the grace of God has brought us into association with God's testimony in the closing day?
Of the church, and it's not a testimony that we in any way can boast of.
But is nevertheless a testimony to the name of the Lord Jesus.
Where in our own feebleness we seek to cling to that one. Where we desire to own His authority in the assembly. Where we desire to follow His pattern. Where we want to carry the ark rather than to put it on the cart.
Let's beware, beloved, the Lord is able to preserve us and.
Do we not all desire to hear those words from that blessed one? Well done.
The good and faithful servant.
God's Things My Things
Address—B. Warr
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The brother read a verse in Malachi 3 and he didn't finish it.
Wherein?
You know, sometimes the carelessness of indifference can rob us.
Of the value of those things that we actually have enjoyed.
It's been running through my.
Starts a little lately and it.
Brother this morning spoke about the sheep. Who?
Who went into a place where they thought there was number danger?
But there really was.
But they lacked the Shepherd, the.
You and I have, so I want to read a few verses.
And share our food thoughts.
About that this afternoon.
We have a treasure that you just can't hold on your own, and God has given us to enjoy that treasure together. I believe He certainly has me.
And now as we go back to our place, individually walking through this scene.
I want to follow up a subject, maybe a little to just follow up what some of the things that really Gordon was bringing out. But first of all, I'd like to read a verse in first John chapter. I believe it's chapter 5.
For whatsoever is born of God. Excuse me, verse four. For whatsoever is born of God overcometh.
The world.
And this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our fate. It's been said about this verse that if you see that Jesus is the Son of God, the world can no longer deceive you.
If you see that Jesus is the Son of God and you see what happened to him, you know what this world is like.
Verse 19. The end of the verse. The whole world lieth in wickedness.
Chapter 2. Verse 15.
Love not the world.
Neither the things that are in the world.
In a couple of verses in First Corinthians Chapter 7 and verse 29. But this I say, brethren, the time is short.
It remaineth that both they that have wise be as though they had none.
And they that weep as though they wept not.
They they rejoice as though they rejoice not in they that by.
As though they possess not.
And they that use this world is not abusing it for the fashion of this world. Pass it away.
I was struck reading this verse recently. We live in the world's largest marketplace.
We don't know the world. We buy more stuff than anybody in the whole world.
And you know this verse says if you buy it.
God isn't complaining about you buying it, so to speak, but can you live as though you don't possess it?
To buy as though those that purchase as though they don't possess it and the time is short. There are pressures as it were, will soon be home. Now with this is a background, I'd like to look at the 21St chapter of Deuteronomy and draw a few typical pictures.
From this chapter.
To remind us again.
Where we are.
Whose we are, where we're going like to read the whole chapter and then.
Make a few comments on the different parts of it.
If one be found slain in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee to possess it.
Lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him.
And thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain.
And it shall be that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city, shall take on heifer.
Which have not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke.
And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither steered nor sown, and shall strike off the heifers neck there in the valley.
And the priests, the sons of Levi, shall come near for them. The Lord thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the Lord. And by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried.
All the elders of that city that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley.
And they shall answer and say, our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it.
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Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel. Charge.
And their blood shall be forgiven them.
So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the Lord.
When thou goes forth to war against thine enemies, and the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, and seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and has the desire unto her that thou wouldest have her to thy wife.
Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house, and she shall shave her head and pair her nails, and she shall put the raiment off her captivity from offer, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month.
And after that thou shalt go in unto her, and she shall and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife.
And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, when thou shalt let her go whither she will.
But thou shalt not sell her.
At all for money. Thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her.
If a man have two wives, one beloved, another hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the first born son of hers be hers that was hated, then it shall be when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath. But he may not make the son of the beloved first born before the son of the hated, which is indeed the first born.
But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first born.
By giving him a double portion of all that he had.
For he is the beginning of his strength, the right of the first born as his. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother in that.
When they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them, then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and under the gate of his place.
And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard, and all the men of his city shall stone him with stones that he die.
So shalt thou put away evil away from among you, and all Israel shall hear in fear.
And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day. For he that hanged is a curse of God, that thy land be not defiled, which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Chapter And I was thinking of it in this light. It's the death of Christ.
Stood alongside of our responsibilities.
We see the death of Christ, I think in the first portion of it, in two ways.
A man was found dead that marked that land.
And even to be near it was defiling even to be near it.
And we see the death of Christ there as a victim.
As a slain 1A heifer who was slain?
In the end of the chapter we see that verse. Of course, that's applied to our Lord Jesus in Galatians.
When he was publicly hung up on a cross.
Publicly put to shame.
And our meeting, the brother gave a thought, gave us a thought on that. He said, you know, God said one day, no more public shame, he comes down.
I have allowed you to put into public shame up to this point. Now he comes down off that cross.
And you know, the whole issue I believe in our pathway in our life, and I think we can see a few typical thoughts presented to us in this chapter is do we believe He belongs there? Do we live that way? Do we live that way as to say no, He belongs there on that cross? Do we take his name and then go back to this world and act like this world is right and he was wrong?
This is the victory that overcomes this world, our faith.
I see that Jesus is the Son of God. I know what this world is. I cannot be deceived by it ever again. It crucified the Lord of glory.
Well, this world, as I have said before, it's the most wicked place in all God's creation.
And yet God has seen fit to leave you and me here for our benefit. Not any wise should have us at a disadvantage but for our benefit. And this world is the most wicked place, and it was shown its wickedness the day that crucified the Lord of glory. And you and I have taken up his mantle, so to speak.
00:10:11
A brother said earlier in the meeting is a solemn thing to take the name of a Christian in this world.
Do we understand that we stepped out into an enemy's land and that we took the name of Christ as a as it were, a challenge to this enemy?
Do we understand where we are, brethren?
And do we understand where we're going and what we're doing here?
Well, in this first part of our chapter, there's a city that got too close.
To the death of this man, you know this man dies. God knows, of course, who slew this man, but he's not telling, you know, as the time yet when God is not accusing people, as it were. Finally, in the final words of who killed the Lord Jesus, He's offering everybody a chance to be saved.
He's waiting, and yet the death of Christ has marked this place.
Do I understand I am where the Lord Jesus was crucified?
And here we find there's a measure that measures and you know, God will measure us. And there's a measures, a spiritual measure that links a city with the death of this one. You know, we can get too close to this world. We can get too close, and we can get too close to this thing, the death of the Lord Jesus.
We can be careless. I think of the elders in this city. And by the way, I think a city can be an assembly. I think it'd be your home. It's what you're responsible for. You're responsible. They're you, the elders in that you're the ones that God holds responsible.
You could look at it in the sense of Revelation where he said to the Angel of the church and so and so. But you're responsible in your home to is your home too close?
Is he measuring you out? Is he measuring me out and say you're too close?
To what the world did to Christ.
And so he measures out. And I see those elders there sitting by the gate, you know, and they look out across the field and there comes some men up to them. They say, well, here comes somebody to visit us.
When they come and they say you're too close.
You're too close to this. And immediately. Immediately.
They have to go find a helper.
Not just any effort.
And they are put to motion. They have to get this resolved. And so they get up and they go find a certain heifer and they're looking all through. I need a heifer that hasn't borne the yoke. I need a heifer that hasn't yet toiled and plowed in this scene down here.
Well, we don't have one. This one has worked already. That one has worked already. Until they find one that meets the qualifications.
Hath not been wrought with.
You know, brethren, it's a solemn thing to walk through this scene and to realize that we can be wrought with.
There's an enemy of our souls that's trying everything he can do to.
Work with us.
I again say we are at no disadvantage. We've had before us in these meetings. We have new life, we have life, we have power. We've just heard before had before us the fact that God is a shield, an exceeding great reward. We have no disadvantage, we have everything going for us.
To walk free freely through this scene, this effort had to be one that had never been wrought with. That was our Lord Jesus. You know we see him here in this heifer as that one who was found down here. He has glorified God here where sin is.
And when he came down here.
And to get a heifer that had not been wrought with, which had not drawn in the yoke.
Is there somebody here and I might ask myself? I'm included.
That there's a kind of a yoke, there's some pull and tug I'm feeling toward this world or something in it.
The Lord Jesus never felt that.
He was not one that had ever felt anything like a tug toward this world.
And he's the one who's walked it ahead of us and with whom we're to walk. Well, then the elders of the city had to find something else. They had to go find a valley. Not just any valley.
00:15:06
A valley that was a rough valley, neither eared nor sown.
That is, this world is seen to be a very low place.
Not yet or some.
You know the Lord Jesus, when he was here, he never expected a crop in this world.
Is there anyone here, young or old, that we're expecting to harvest something down here?
The Lord Jesus will show us by his words and deeds that this world is a valley. That's not a year, no, so you can't expect anything out of it.
A rough valley for him. Think of what it was to come out of glory.
Be born that day in Bethlehem's Manger.
And walk through this scene down here.
And see all that was here?
You know, in it all, he never said his own words, never used his own will. He just simply was that obedient one. Walking through this rough valley and setting a pace for you and me and a pathway to walk didn't make the place any nicer, but he made the path right for us.
A rough valley, neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck. I think of this as.
When the Lord Jesus said we read in our Bibles, he says not my will.
Not my will.
I would think that as far as you and I concerned about another one of the most profound lessons we have to learn is to say that not my will, the Lord Jesus who knelt there in Gethsemane.
He would have us come and kneel right beside him and say right with him. Not my will, but thine be done.
You see no stiffening.
How many times is it that we would have an excuse? How many times is it that we would in our own wills we would have some?
Reasoning by which we can get what we think will make us happy and what we want.
But they had to break this heifer's neck, you know, I think of them having to go. It's for you and me to have a little exercise to go back again to this blessed book.
And meet the man to again way over in his presence.
Who he is, what he's done. He was here, but he's not here now.
Does that mean anything to you and me? He's not here now. We're in the place where he was.
But he's not here now.
Then they in the rough valley, they took this and then the priests, the sons of Levi. And when we do that, you know, we we have responsibility as elders and we have now we meet a priest. You know, I think if we can just see the Lord Jesus in his path through this scene down here.
It'll make priests out of us.
If I can just see everything around as it appears in His presence, everything around as He showed it to be, then we get priests. The sons of Levi shall come near, for them hath the Lord thy God chosen. You know, whenever we need wisdom, we need to get close to Christ.
We need not just to have authority or responsibility in the sense of just God has made me responsible. I need to get close to Christ about that. And I need to have a priest character. I need to be able to intercede. I need to see as he sees and feel as he feels because it's by them, he says.
For them the Lord thy God has chosen the minister unto him and to bless in the name of the Lord, and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried. So if we have responsibilities and we're seen as elders and youngsters have the responsibility, just like the olders. These are typical pictures. Wherever I find I'm responsible and I have a responsibility in this scene, I need to draw near to the Lord Jesus, handle that responsibility as a priest because it's there that God has given wisdom. It's.
Every stroke and things are decided it's handling my responsibilities in the presence of Christ so I can see again as I as he sees and handle them as he would have them handle all the elders of the city. Verse six that are next to the slain man shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley that is to have the word of God applied to our works is wash our hands over that. Well, I think of it in a couple of ways. One is you wash off the dirt on the Lord Jesus.
Oh, what a place we have to run to or what a savior we have to bring Him and bring it all to him. But again, it's to have our hands washed in the view of what He is and what He did and what He has done when he's here. The path He is marked out before us. You know, nothing really is seen as it ought to be until you bring it over alongside of the cross of Calvary. And they shall answer and say our hands have not shed this blood. Which blood? The slain man. No, they're not, although.
00:20:23
Same thing, it's the same one. It's the man who was slain is was seen as Christ who has died. He has marked this place by his death and then here this animal that they had slain in breaking his neck, He becomes that which answers for their involvement in it, for their closeness to it. It's the Lord Jesus in his workforce, the value of his finished work and the work he has today to get us through this scene and get us apart from.
This cursed place where he died. Verse 8 Be merciful, O Lord, unto thy people Israel. Now here we have responsible. They're answering for the people whom thou hast redeemed and lay not innocent blood on thy people, Israel charge. Verse 9 So shall thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you when thou shalt do what is right in the sight of the Lord. A lot of excuses could have been made. He's elder to say, I don't know who that man is. I never heard of him before. I don't know he you know.
Gold, I've been here 3 days, having gone outside the gates of this city. I couldn't have killed that man. No, it isn't. It's seeing it as God measures it. It's accepting God's measure of my practical life in view of the death of Christ. So the next portion we have here, we have an enemy who's conquered.
But there's something about that enemy I really like than the portion after that I'll just jump ahead and this woman that I like comes out of the enemy and it's all right in certain. I can use this. I can have this lady, this woman that comes out from the enemy, a conquered enemy, and I can have that.
Under certain circumstances I can have it here. The only thing there are two consequences.
One is that she doesn't please me and what happens? I turn her loose, something I've taken in from the enemy.
And turned it loose among God's people. And this woman who came from the enemy doesn't go now free from my house.
As from the enemy, she goes from my house and my commendation goes with her and I can't control her. The other consequence is that she does please me. Then she's going to draw my heart away from the legitimate wife that I have and she's going to have a son.
And I'm going to like that son more than my first born son. And it goes on down to the next little portion that we have about an incorrigible sun, which you and I have right in here. And last of all, it gets down to the one who bore the curse for you and me, our Lord Jesus Christ. If you want to go backwards, you can start with the Lord Jesus, seeing how that cross made a curse for you and me.
Time came when he had suffered and suffered and suffered. It was all over with as he were gone since. Take him down. No more public dishonor for Christ.
Then, working backwards, I have an incorrigible son who would desire something other than the ways of God.
That would ultimately be saying don't take him off the cross. The world would not take the Lord Jesus down. They still say they want him up there. They don't want him down when the Lord Jesus was taken down. Now he sits in glory. It's the finish for this world. It's all over with. They would have him back up on the cross.
You and I know he was there for us and he was made a curse to deliver us from the curse.
And now we can be free.
So let's look at this next portion about the beginning with verse.
10 When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, well, that's a good thing to do.
And the Lord thy God hath delivered them into thine hands you got, You got your freedom.
And thou has taken him captive. Well, that's nice. It is almost as if there is something in your life.
That you can have and possess it. You can hold it captive. It doesn't hold you, you hold it.
And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and has to desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife.
Then thou shalt bring her in home to thine house, and she shall shave her head and pair her nails, and she shall put the raiment of her captivity from offer, and she remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month. And after that thou shalt go in under and be your husband. She should be a wife, that is. Hear something now? I've, I've captured these people.
00:25:05
But there's something there I like that pleases me.
And so under certain and he's saying how I can have this.
We read in our Bibles about those that use this world and those that buy.
And then we read about those that abuse this world and those that don't live as though they did not possess it, but buy it and can live as though I don't possess it. That's what Corinthians were saying. But here I have one. And this has no change in her. She refuses to submit, so she has to have her head shaved in submission. That's what comes out of this world.
Pair her nails, she becomes a little civilized. You remember about.
Think of that when I think of Nebuchadnezzar and when he was committed and put out in the forest and his nails grew like bird's claws, you know he this is a thing come become civilized. It's something have, but it hasn't changed a bit.
And she bewails and mourns.
The Fall.
Of her origin, she still belongs to that of the world, she still belongs to the enemy. And I have her now in my house and I am responsible for her in my house.
Everything else, seriously, that thing, it is beloved to touch anything in this world that you can't touch it and walk away from it.
You bring her into your house.
How many things have we brought in our house that we should never had in there?
How many things have we brought in our house that got out of hand?
You see when this woman, this is there and I have her and in the sense that those that use this world.
You see, I it is, it is. It's so much in danger that I abuse it.
And pretty soon that which pleased me doesn't please me anymore. I want to tell you that's the character of this world.
It may please you right now, but it won't please you long.
And when you bring in something and you're like you, I have a bad fault, I've had to confess this. It's us. You means all of us. It's this book I trust that's speaking. When we bring something of the world into our lives, our daily lives, we can't control it.
When we are using something from this world, we must stay close to the Lord. We must remember.
Whenever it's over with, they won't please me. It will not please me, and I'm going to have to let it go. And what does that mean? It's going to mean somebody down the street is going to say, well, brother Bill does that.
For the bill has that, and that thing that I have brought in from the enemy's land goes out to my brethren with my commendation. It goes out now from my house. Verse 14. It shall be. If thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go with her she will.
You won't be able to hold it back. You won't be able to control it.
But thou shalt not sell it all for money. You are not going to get any value out of it, really.
Can't make merchandise over?
She didn't want to be there.
You're the one that was fool, not her.
What a world it is we live in that everything in it defiles.
And I was thinking this morning, your brother was speaking this morning about those are in jail.
And he reminds them, you know, where'd you come from, Where you going? What are you doing here? And I thought of a thing I've been thinking of recently. You know, the devil is a good liar. He doesn't believe his lies.
Man is a poor liar. He believes his lies.
Do we understand where we are?
Verse 15 If a man have two words, ah, now there are two things in my life which I'm and the Lord things illegitimate relationships in life are not the love things anymore become the contest in my daily path, my daily life. Verse 17 he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the first born.
By giving him a double portion of all that he had.
Well, that's the way, isn't it? For us to go on with the Lord, we need to give a double portion to the Lord and those things that are legitimate in our lives. Verse 18, if a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, I want to tell you.
That I do and you do.
00:30:02
And I think of this couple, they have a stubborn and rebellious son, and you know they love him.
And they do their best to cover up for him as long as they can. When one day they find they just can't cover it up anymore, they just have to bring it all out and open. It has to be dealt with. You see, it's public here, isn't it?
Public things. The Lord Jesus was publicly humiliated. It's public thing. Just the way we walk openly, brethren. It's not the way we talk or anything, of course. It's the way we walk. Open is public things. The Lord Jesus was publicly shamed. You and I can bring public dishonor upon the Lord Jesus.
And here we have this old, incorrigible, stubborn, rebellious son which will not obey.
You know the IT says they that are in the flesh. Is that where each cannot?
Please God that cannot obey.
Whatever there is.
That I would do that is something that pleases me. Remember this lady that I took from the enemy? This, this thing I took from the enemy pleased me.
I must remember.
Right in here I am found in the worst place in God's creation, and I have inside of me an old, stubborn and rebellious son. They just will not obey, and whatever He does is going to have that character to it.
And the only thing to do, beloved, is shouldn't we just own the truth of it?
Stone it with stones. You know, we talk about stoning. I think of stoning as.
Someone has a bad doctrine will say.
And one brother will be very much concerned about that. You would be upset. That's not right and obviously that's not right. Whatever, you may pick up a big stone.
And throw it. Or you may take a Pebble and throw it. And it may have been that the parents of this stubborn son took a Pebble off the ground and threw it at him. But a neighbor who had molested a long time picked up a big stone and threw it at him. Throwing a stone is your personal judgment or estimate of that which is wrong.
So when we have this stubborn and rebellious son.
And they bring him out to publicly end it with him.
Publicly ended with him.
And then we get down to this one, the Lord Jesus, now seen as the one who was made a curse for us.
You know, but in our lives are linked with the life of Christ. He walked down here.
And we walk, where, following his pathway, we take his name.
And really, the issues are already decided.
These issues are decided as to where we are and what we're doing here, what the world really is.
And if we're advised that, we can be advised that that's the issues of our life. I cannot walk it apart from my link with Christ.
And to walk carefully.
And to remember these things because they do affect our lives. And not be careless and not be.
Like we heard this morning, those that would do sheep that would go out into a place where there was grave danger and not think there was any danger there at all.
So as we walk through life, what would I say? All of this to bring back around to remind us what we've heard.
God is faithful.
But we do walk through a place that will never bring forth a crop. It is not planted.
And if there's anyone here, young or old alike, and we're expecting something from this world, is that it is a place never planted. It's never going to bring forth anything.
And if I touch it, if there's something in it all that pleases me just to remember the the the danger of the outcome of it all going to take my heart away from God's things over to my things. And all of it affects all of it affects the name of the Lord Jesus declared publicly in this world.
Ground of Gathering
Address—D. Bilisoly
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Second Peter chapter one, verse 12. Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things.
Though ye know them and be established in the present truth. Yeah, I think it meet as long as I am in this Tabernacle to stir you up by putting you in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this my Tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed me. Moreover, I will endeavor that she may be able after my decease.
To have these things always in remembrance. Now I suppose you've noticed.
Or you noticed as I was reading.
That three times Peter speaks of remembrance.
Remembrance, Remembrance, remembrance.
He talks about remembrance while he's yet in this Tabernacle that is still living. He talks about having things in remembrance after his decease. And you know, I trust that.
That we all feel the exercise of heart that Peter had towards others.
That we desire that the Saints of God should be mindful of the present truth.
While we're living and after we're gone, as it were, out of this scene, will the Saints hold these things?
In remembrance, I don't have anything new to talk about tonight.
All I want to do is to bring to our remembrance what I trust is the will of God, force and the truth of God for us. So Peter, Peter doesn't apologize for speaking about bringing things to their remembrance. And Paul said to the Philippians to write the same things to you. To me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.
In other words, he's saying I don't have a burden towards you Philippians. You know, the Philippians were in a good state. He says, I really don't have a burden towards you. But he says I'm going to repeat things that you've already heard for your safety. And so, brethren, I would like to talk tonight about something I trust.
Is familiar with us all, but maybe it is not so familiar.
To the younger ones, I would like to talk about the ground of gathering.
Now, there's a number of ways to.
Consider that truth. The Old Testament I really believe has abundant example for us that help us, that helps us to see the truth of the ground of gathering for the present day. We can see it in a picture, lessons examples in the Old Testament and to help us in connection with present truth.
But I would like to consider.
Four important.
Points in connection with the ground of gathering Now you've heard these things I believe most but let's.
Consider those that are younger and even ourselves. Is it not good?
That we be reminded as to why we are where we are and it's only fair to repeat the truth. We may assume that things are known, but I would just encourage our brethren in the reading meetings especially to keep going over truths as though they're not known. Because I can remember when I was first saved and 1St come into fellowship and I heard.
For example, the rapture of the Saints. It was a brand new truth to me, brand new. And so I'm thankful for everything I heard that was new to me at that time. Yet perhaps most of the brethren, the older ones especially, had heard those things many times. But I believe we should continuously.
Repeat the truth and not assume that these things are known.
Now, first of all, let's go to Matthew 1820.
You say I know that by heart.
Good. How about Matthew 1820?
Let's just look at the setting. We were talking a little of this this afternoon.
First of all, it is important to consider.
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Where this verse is found, it really is in context with the introduction of the assembly. Now you know if you backed up to chapter 16, you would see that the Lord Jesus introduced the assembly. You see Peter made a beautiful confession in chapter 16 after the Lord Jesus says, who do men say that I am? And so the disciples said, well they say this they say.
And so forth. And the Lord says, Who do you say that I am? And Peter comes out with a beautiful confession.
And Peter says.
Thou art the Christ, verse 16, the Son of the living God.
And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona, for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father, which is in heaven. And I say unto thee, that thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. Well, here we have a very solid rock.
As a foundation, that lovely confession that Peter made, thou art the Christ.
The son of the living God it had to rest upon.
That beautiful.
Statement that Peter made, and the Lord says I will build my church for now, or assembly its Ecclesiastes the same word.
This was not mentioned before. This is a new thing. The Lord introduced what He was going to do.
And so now when we get over to Chapter 18.
The Lord mentions the Church in a local way.
In chapter 16, there he was talking of the church at large, the the testimony as a whole.
The assembly. But now he's talking about the local assembly and it seems to come up in connection.
With this question of offense and.
Personal trespass.
And so.
He presents to them, when this person cannot be reached, who has caused.
A trespass, as it were, that finally, if they neglect verse 17 to hear them.
Tell it unto the church now he introduces the church. Oregon, the Assembly.
As that which was a an authority.
The assembly is an authority, a God-given authority. Do you realize that?
There's how many 4-5 God-given authorities in the world?
There is the husband as head of the wife, that is a God-given authority. There is the parents over children, that's a God-given authority. There is the powers that be, that is a God-given authority. The powers that be ordained of God. There is the assembly and the authority given to the assembly, a God-given authority. And then we see.
That God recognized the master servant relationship.
We don't have masters and slaves in this land. We take the very same principles.
And we apply them to the employer and employee, however.
The employee is not bound to the employer, but the principles are the same and very good and wholesome. But here is a God-given authority. It is the the assembly. And the Lord carries on with that thought in verse 18, where he says, verily I say unto you, that whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
Binding and losing authority given to the assembly.
Very important to see that to deal with matters in its midst or to keep the assembly pure because the Lord is there. That's the key, so.
The Lord goes on here and he talks about agreement verse 19. I believe that that that would be.
Something to be expected where the the assembly is.
Is unified and where the Spirit of God is so leading them in matters and then the Lord says for where two or three verse 20 are gathered together in my name, their mind the midst of them. Now if we just took that verse.
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And made a general application out of it. We would totally miss the whole.
Teaching of Scripture. There's got to be divine qualifications.
For that verse. And I really believe that that that gathering work is the work of the Spirit of God.
It is the work of the Spirit of God and it is amazing how the Spirit of God may gather.
Souls together unto the name of the Lord Jesus. Mind you now it's His name that comes before us for its authority, for its worthiness. And this we must consider so.
It is the work of the Spirit of God and how how the Spirit of God may go about this work is a most remarkable thing because some have come the difficult way, as it were, and and their hearts were moved to.
Fine, where was the Lord? And they perhaps went from one place to another.
But the Spirit of God could, on the other hand, lead in a very direct way for myself. Let's put it this way. I stumbled in the door.
After an exercise of heart later on, the Lord made it clear where He was.
But he works in different ways, and I really believe that he wants the children of the Saints gathered to his name to go on. That is how he largely continues on the testimony. But of course, it must be a fresh exercise for each one. But he, the Lord, is patient and he does indeed give opportunity and time, and often through difficult circumstances, even possibly missing the path.
A while till they realize surely that's where the Lord was lovely, the Lord is able. But anyway, that's an important scripture to consider, and now we need some authority, some understanding as to why.
He is indeed the true gathering center. That shouldn't be any question to our hearts. But.
Let's just establish that thought.
Without any question at all, turn over to Colossians.
Chapter One.
Now this is our first point in question. And this of course is not original in thought. You can get this from the old writers.
But our first thought in question here as to the worthiness of his name.
Is the fact that he is the creator. Notice the language here.
In verse 16. For by Him were all things created that are in heaven and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be Thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created by Him and for Him, and He is before all things, and by Him all things.
Consist.
The Creator and Sustainer of the Universe, verse 18.
And He is the head of the body, the Church, who is the beginning, the first born from the dead, that in all things He might have the preeminence back up to Ephesians. Now, Now there's two points, two things in consideration as to the worthiness of His name, that He is the Creator.
An unsustainer of all things.
And now, clearly, he's the head over all things to the church. Ephesians, chapter one.
Verse 19. 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 at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named.
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Not only in this world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church.
Which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all. Well, we know these Scriptures so well, but brethren, aren't they majestic? And see how clearly that it sets forth the worthiness of His name.
Given him dominion power might.
And every name that is named verse 21 and made him head over all things to the church.
His name is absolutely supreme, absolutely worthy.
Now, I don't believe there is a Christian on the face of the world.
That would raise any question about the worthiness of his name for salvation.
You know we put that in the Gospel. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. We have said to believers sometimes.
Did you not come to the name of Jesus for salvation? Oh, absolutely. Is there any other name? No, absolutely no other name. Why do we stop at that point? Why do we not continue on and consider?
The worthiness of his name for everything as the Divine gathering center.
I don't believe many dear believers understand or perceive that, but there it is. How important it is to to in simplicity lay hold of this and say if I needed Jesus, the name of Jesus for salvation, then I should consider his name in every respect. Now this is an important thing in connection with.
The ground of gathering. Dear young people, keep this in mind.
Keep this in mind as to the worthiness of His name as the divine center. That is a key point. And first and foremost in this consideration, we had to come to Him for Savior. Why do we not come to Him as the divine gathering center? The Lord Jesus said, he that gathered not with me scattered, that they may be gathered together.
In one so forth.
So that's a very important thing to lay hold of. Here's one other point in that connection. Philippians 2. You know it so well, but just notice it for yourselves again. And here now it has to do with humility. Who went into the humility that the Lord Jesus did?
And for that very reason, God has given him a name which is above every name. We're right back to the name again.
If we recognize the name, we recognize everything about the person. We receive his name. We receive the benefit of the person we are. We gathered to his name alone, truly by the Spirit of God. Then we recognize everything about the person, even his humility.
And his steps downward in humility, and verse five, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus.
Who being in the form thought it not robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name that.
At the name of Jesus every knee should bow of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Well, there it is. We can't overstate the importance of that point. And if in simplicity we considered the worthiness of His name.
In every respect.
Why should we want to take up with any other name as a gathering center?
No, there's no other name that should settle our hearts. Now here's point #2 That is extremely important in this line of things.
And that's in connection with.
The Comforter, the one who is here now while the Lord is on high, turn to John 14.
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And hear the Lord Jesus introduces another comforter.
Verse 16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you forever. Even the spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, but she shall know Him, for He dwelt with you, and shall be in you. That's a revelation.
The Old Testament Saints had the Spirit of God with them, but not in them.
That's that's a real revelation. And so the Lord Jesus introduces him here as the spirit of truth. But we were talking about this the other day and he is also the Holy Spirit and he is also the spirit of life like it says in Romans one the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me.
The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free.
From the law of sin and death, that is a fixed principle, and so the Spirit.
Gives life, so he is mostly referred to.
Is the Holy Spirit how important that is? Because it has to be consistent with His Holiness? And of course, if it is not, since He dwells within us, certainly He will bring it to our conscience that we judge those things inconsistent with His Holiness.
So here he's introducing the Spirit, Chapter 15.
Verse 26 But when the comforters 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. But they needed the Spirit of God in order to bear properly that witness.
So when the Spirit of God came, we see how remarkable was the change in their testimony.
Lovely to see the power in which they spoke by the Spirit of God. Chapter 16 of John. And he says in verse 7. Nevertheless, I tell you the truth, it is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you, but if I depart, I will send him unto you. And when he has come by the way, he is a person.
He is a person.
A real person of the Godhead, and when he has come, he will reprove or convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment that pertains primarily to their treatment of the Lord Jesus Christ. Of sin because they believe not on me, Of righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you see me no more of judgment, because the Prince of this world is judged.
I have yet many things to say unto you, but she cannot bear them now.
Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth, or guide you in the truth. For He shall not speak of Himself or from Himself, but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show you things to come. He shall glorify Me, for He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.
One time a dear fellow where I worked.
Couldn't understand why we weren't enthusiastic about the movement he was connected with, so he gave us a a booklet to read and said tell me what you find wrong with it. Well, you didn't have to read very far to see that that the Spirit of God really in the thoughts of the writer, superseded the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that the signs and wonders superseded the word of God.
Pitiful, isn't it pitiful? I don't think they intentionally meant to do that, but it was obvious.
By the way, they were stressing those things that they were displacing.
The person of Christ with the Spirit of God and displacing God's Word with mighty signs, as it were in wonders. But that isn't the work of the Spirit of God.
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And the dear young people, here's a good scripture you can go to to substantiate the importance of the work of the Spirit of God, and that is to glorify Jesus. He shall glorify me. Verse 14, That's the work of the Spirit of God if it doesn't glorify.
The Lord Jesus is at the work of the Spirit of God. We have a right to call it in question.
We have a right to call it in question and and not only that, he does not speak.
Of himself or from himself? No, his whole objective is to magnify the person of Christ and to set forth the truth of the Word of God. And here again he is the Spirit of truth. Verse 13. There's no way possible we can know the truth apart from the Spirit of God. And what is the Spirit of God doing? He's seeking to exalt the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We're coming right back to our basic theme, our basic thoughts.
That is, why is the Lord Jesus alone the divine gathering center?
Why do we own no other name but His name? And why is it absolutely essential that the Spirit of God do the leading? Because He is the Spirit of truth. He's the only one that can, really.
Bring truth before us, and enable us to lay hold of it, and to enter into the truth of the Word of God, and He will exalt Christ. And how more can He exalt Christ than by leading and guiding souls to be gathered under His name alone, where He is in the midst?
It seems all very simple when you consider all of these things.
And consider this work of the Spirit of God. Now does the Spirit of God.
Have the liberty that ought to be his in order to magnify the person of Christ.
And to guide and direct in the affairs of the assembly. Should the Spirit of God have that place? Absolutely, absolutely he should have that place. You know, I read of a of a most remarkable work in his objection. So also is the Christ that takes us into in that sense.
And so then he.
He states in verse 13 how the body of Christ was formed.
The Church for by 1 Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews?
Or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit. I believe the drinking into one spirit indicates that it is it is true of each individual that is joined to the body. That is, the Lord says, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. This he spake of the Spirit of God, and so forth.
In John 17, I believe it is no.
I'm not sure. 7 John Chapter 7.
But now when did this baptism of the Spirit occur?
This was really a collective thing. You don't get this thought with individuals, but it is a collective thing. Well, I believe if you hold your place, you'll see in Acts chapter one how it looked ahead to the time of this occurrence, you see?
Verse four. And being assembled together with them, commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait.
For the promise of the Father, which saith he, ye have heard of me. For John truly baptized with water, but she shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And then we've got chapter 2, when the Spirit of God comes down, obviously.
Which was the baptism of the Holy Spirit. And then we see the church is formed and in verse 47 of chapter 2 it says and the Lord added to the church or just simply added daily such as should be saved. Then turn over to Acts Chapter 11 where Peter has to explain to his Jewish brother.
That this work of grace among the Gentiles was the very same as what occurred back in action.
Chapter 2 And so in verse 16 of Acts 11 he says then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water, but she shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. For as much then as God gave unto them Gentiles the light gift, as he did unto us who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ. What was I that I could withstand God.
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Then when they heard these things, they held their peace and glorified God, saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life? So the baptism of the Holy Spirit occurred in Acts chapter 2, in that first, those first verses of Acts chapter 2. And this is how the church was formed by the Spirit of God.
And so the Spirit of God ought to have that liberty. Now, if we.
If we established a certain system of worship, and we selected a certain men or even one man to officiate in all these matters, how is the Spirit of God going to have that liberty that is His due? How can He use whosoever He will? How can there possibly be that manifestation? Now we fully acknowledge.
A weakness, a day of small things.
And there is failure, but still the way is open.
For the liberty of the Spirit of God in these things, and we all need to consider carefully how God has placed the members in the body as it hath pleased him. Verse eighteen of our chapter 12 here First Corinthians.
But backing up here to verse 13.
He said in verse 14 he says for the body is not one member but many, and then he goes into a practical word here as to our attitude in the body of Christ.
An attitude of envy and being, as it were, certain members of the body of Christ, more prominent members of the body of Christ.
So and then he sees the other side of the picture, which can be disdained for any member of the body of Christ.
Verse 21 for example.
And then finally in verse 22 he says nay, much more, those members of the body which seem to be more people.
Are necessary, and those members of the body which we think to be less honorable upon these we bestow more abundant honor. He's talking about a natural body. But but you consider these thoughts and apply them to the body of Christ, and how important that is to consider those things.
And then he brings up this question here.
And that is the local expression of it.
Verse 27 Now ye are the body of Christ, and members in particular.
That's the local expression of the body of Christ. But if the body is functioning normally and then all these things would be true, The members would recognize, as it were, their place in the body. The members would have the same care of one another. There wouldn't be schisms in the body.
But we know.
That the practical expression of the body of Christ.
Has been ruined in the world, and it's in a state of great ruin. And so you say, well, what can we do? How can we apply these scriptures now?
By the grace of God, there must be a new beginning, as it were, and I believe that the Saints of God in the last century were very much exercised about these truths in practice. And so as best as possible, we seek to express this truth now.
According to the word of God.
But wait a minute. Don't just stop there.
Let's not just stop and say the body of Christ, the body of Christ, the body of Christ. Let's consider the whole word of God.
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We cannot leave out the truth of the House of God in Scripture. Oh, I believe that's so important to lay hold in connection with the things that we have here and so.
There has to be instruction as to how we conduct ourselves when things are in a state of ruin.
Well, now this the next, the point that I've been considering here is the truth of the one body. Now, first of all, we have the worthiness of the name of the Lord Jesus. Then we had the authority of the Spirit of God and the liberty he should have. Now we're coming into the truth of the body of Christ. It's been presented to us in a very practical way here from the outset.
And you get over into Ephesians 4 and it says there is one body. That's true today.
And I might just say this, that every believer in the Lord Jesus is a member of the body of Christ. There is one body, you say, why are we not and walking with all members of the body of Christ? Because we must bring other Scriptures to bear on this problem. We must consider the present condition of the church, all the early believers in those early chapters of Acts where we.
The beginning of the Church, when by 1 Spirit they were all baptized into one body. There was perfect unity, There was harmony.
Not only in actuality there was no division then, but in real practical love and all, it was very evident. The members had the same care one for another. It was very evident. But we see early in acts trouble began to come in, to divide, to divide.
You see, the enemy is very clever in seeking to divide the Saints till it got into a state of ruin and went on that way for centuries. And it has only been for about 165 years that by the grace of God, this precious truth once again has been restored. But now it has been restored with great qualification, and that is.
That we have to bring in the question of separation.
And we are given a very strong injunction here in Hebrews chapter 13. So let's go to that. That's a very, very important aspect of the present truth as to the ground of gathering. And that is this injunction of verse 13 of chapter 13, Hebrews 1313. You can remember it that way, 1313, where it says.
Us go forth therefore unto him, without the camp, bearing his reproach.
And then he says in verse 14, for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come another statement that that is worthy of great consideration. And that's verse 10, where he says, for we have an altar whereof they have no right to eat, which serve the Tabernacle.
Verse 12 Wherefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered without the gate. Let us go forth therefore unto Him, without the camp, bearing His reproach now.
Who is Paul talking to?
He is talking to Hebrew Christians.
And so of course he is using expressions and he is making reference to things that they would understand. And so he talks about the altar, he talks about the camp of Israel. Even when he talks about the city, of course he's thinking about Jerusalem, which formerly was God's divine center. But he says, no, we have no continuing city. That's.
Phased out? That's out of the question.
So how can we apply this now? We're not Hebrews.
We are gentiles. We have never been under the law.
And that was not something we could have referred to. Well, I'll tell you. I'll tell you how we can apply this now. And that is that the profession of Christianity has taken on the characteristics of the camp of Israel. Do you understand what I'm talking about?
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They have.
An ordained an ordained priesthood, for example.
And they have an earthly sanctuary. And there is the mixture of the converted and unconverted.
And also there is the keeping the law, keeping for righteousness. You see, that was true back in Israeli history and that has been brought into the Christian testimony. And even well meaning Christians don't realize how affected they are by those principles that were true of Israel. Do you understand? I trust that you follow what I'm saying.
That these things have been brought into the Christian testimony all down through the ages since the the church began to to depart, as it were, and these things came in and they're prevalent now.
In the profession of Christianity prevalent and so we have an injunction.
To do just what those Hebrew Christians did. Since Christendom has taken on all the characteristics of the camp, we must act on this exhortation by the Spirit of God and go forth unto him. It's a person. We're right back to the person again. You get the point? That's where we started, where two or three are gathered together under my name.
They're my in the midst of them. We're right back to a person.
Let us go forth therefore unto him, and the Spirit of God gathers unto him.
The Spirit of God would draw and lead Saints out of that confusion.
And man's doing and the bringing in of all these things that belong to the former dispensation. And it's permeated the so-called Christian testimony. And there's many, many, many dear, sincere, earnest believers out there that are far more faithful than I am and will receive a greater reward than I will.
For their faithfulness and acting in the light that they have. I'm talking about the whole structure.
Of the thing, it is wrong. I'm not talking about individuals. God knows the hearts of different individuals and if they're acting in the light that they have, that's their responsibility. But I'm talking about the whole structure of the thing. And there is no other way to honor God and to and to be LED of His Spirit than to depart from.
The campus at work unto him. Now this isn't the only place we get such instruction. You know, Second Timothy is very strong in this way.
Take a look just at this again, you've heard these things before, but how important it is because now the Christian testimony, verse twenty of second Timothy chapter 2 has taken on the characteristics of the great house. But before the apostle even says that he says.
Let everyone verse 19, let everyone that nameth the name of Lord. That's how Mr. Darby puts it, and I believe that's correct because it's recognizing the Lordship of Christ. He is Lord of individuals. He's we should recognize His authority over us. Let as an individual, let everyone see it. It's got to start with individual exercise. Let everyone.
That nameth the name of Lord depart from iniquity, and I believe iniquity has to do more with sin in religious things.
Iniquity and then he states the reason of it, why it's necessary to depart.
We didn't have this kind of exhortation in connection with the early believers there in the early days of the book of Acts. They were all one.
They there was a freshness of spirit. There were no divisions even when Paul wrote to the Corinthians.
Even though that spirit of schism or division was there, they had not really divided from each other, but it the spirit of division was at work.
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But they were yet together. But now it's a totally different story.
Second, Timothy recognizes the state of ruin that exists to this present time.
And so he says, here's the reason why he exhorts them.
But in a great house that's the character of the Christian testimony there is there are not only vessels of gold and of silver that's unquestionable in quality, but also of wood and of earth, things that cannot stand the fire, things that are connected with earth rather than heaven. Finally, it's more refined. It says some to honor and some to dishonor.
Perhaps real believers in question, but in a dishonorable state.
If a man, and that's a generic term if we want to think of it that way. It applies to the sisters and the younger persons too in Christ.
If a man.
Heard therefore purge himself, and Mr. Darby add the stronger force to this that is conveyed in the original, and it he goes on in his translation to say something to this effect in separating himself. It is separation that's in question. If a man therefore purge himself in separating from these, he shall be a vessel.
Unto honor sanctified, set apart.
And meat fit for the masters use, and prepared unto every good work. Well, sometimes Saints take a a step like that, and it may be discouraging. They may find themselves alone. So we need this exhortation.
Lee also youthful us, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call upon the Lord.
Pure heart. And we could easily go to the Old Testament and find a picture, a clear picture of that when Moses separated the tent from the people.
And all those that sought the Lord went out unto Moses, unto the 10th.
You have a clear picture right there, I believe. But scripture says not forsaking the assembling of yourselves together, so God.
In this same passage, makes provision for.
A collective testimony, as it were, that there be fellowship, that there be that testimony.
Follow what? First of all, righteousness, faith, charity, peace with it, then the call upon the Lord out of a pure heart. Now I have brought before you a few different sets of fours, and four is a universal term. Just take notice of all the fours.
In Scripture, you've got four things mentioned here. Follow righteousness.
Faith, divine love, peace within that call upon the Lord. I hope your heart and I believe those four things I set before you are vitally important as to the truth of the ground together, the worthiness of the name of the Lord Jesus, the liberty that the Spirit of God should have, the truth of the one body in practice.
It has to be in practice.
And separation in connection with these truths, there has to be separation or there can't be a testimony. It'll be nothing but confusion and compromise without separation. So we don't want to to separate the word of God on these things. We want to take the whole word of God and consider.
The teaching of the Spirit of God.
In connection with this most vital and precious truth. Now I'm not I realize we're in a state of great failure and and we need to hang our heads in shame and own our failure, but not apologize for the truth. Never, never apologize for the truth of the word of God to confess and own our failure, yes, but let's.
Stand fast on these truths and principle. Don't let any man take our crowd. Hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take that crown. And you, dear young people, make it good for yourselves. You don't have to just consider what I have said alone, but you search it out for yourselves and see if these things are sold, and put these things together. Don't separate them. Don't say the body of Christ, the body of Christ, and only the body of Christ. That's part of the truth.
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Brains that we've got to bring separation into focus on these things or we don't have the whole truth of the word of God. Well, shall we pray?
Eternal Blessings
Address—D. Bilisoly
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Turn to.
First Corinthians, chapter 2.
First Corinthians chapter 2 verse 8 which none of the Princess of this world knew.
For had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
But as it is written, I have not seen nor ear heard.
Neither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.
Of course, that's a quotation from Isaiah 64 that ends at that point.
And certainly they had no revelation beyond that.
But now we continue to read.
Because verse 10 is for us.
But.
God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit.
For the Spirit searcheth all things ye the deep things of God.
For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so, the things of God knoweth no man but the Spirit of God.
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God.
That we might know the things that are freely given to us of God.
Which things also we speak not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth.
But which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness unto him, neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.
But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged or discerned of no man.
For who hath known the mind of the Lord?
That he may instruct him. But we have the mind of Christ.
Isn't that a marvelous statement of Scripture? We have the mind of Christ. Oh, how humbling that should be to our hearts, to think of this divine favor that has brought us into such a position as this. We have the mind of Christ. And so, brethren.
You know, apart from divine revelation.
We would know nothing, so we have to have the revelation, and of course we have those most important revelations.
For this age, this dispensation given primarily through the Apostle Paul.
But then God had to inspire those as Paul.
To pen the divine revelation so you have inspiration.
Verse 13.
Revelation, inspiration, and then appropriation. You can't even appropriate it except by the Spirit of God.
And so we have the Spirit of God, we have the mind of Christ. Oh, how encouraging. How marvelous to consider this and.
Do we now know? Do we have any idea?
Of what God hath prepared for them that love him.
Yes we do. Yes we do, but we can only enter into it by the Spirit of God. It's an interesting development of thought in verse 12 because he is saying that we communicate between ourselves as men by our human spirit. You can't go and talk to an animal or we might talk to animals, but you can't reason with them. They may respond to the sound of your.
Voice and to certain signals. But you can't commune with an animal, but you can with man. And we do that by the spirit, our human spirit. But in the realm of the spiritual, in God's realm, we can only know and communicate by the Spirit of God.
00:05:05
It's another realm, you see, which he has brought us into.
By his grace and the natural man can't put it together. Of course he can't figure out, he can't discern the spiritual man. It's a great mystery. Perhaps we'll say a little more about that later on.
But we shouldn't be surprised that they do not understand because they do not have the Spirit of God.
So we need to be very careful how we conduct ourselves because they're ready to find fault with the spiritual man.
Ready to find fault otherwise to the poor.
Man of the world, the natural man.
He has no understanding what God hath prepared for them that love him, but we do.
And that's what I would like to talk about tonight. I would like to consider that line of things and perhaps 7, seven most important aspects. That is the eternal, the blessedness.
That is ours in Christ in perhaps a sevenfold way.
So let's think of it now. Let's think of it from the standpoint.
Of.
Our individual blessedness. You stay right here in First Corinthians and you go to chapter 15.
And let's focus in a little bit.
On the individual status.
I see it. I see it in this 15th chapter.
Because it is the resurrection chapter.
And he gets into the question of distinctions here.
And so in verse 39 he says all flesh is not the same flesh.
But there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts.
Another of fishes and another of birds.
There are also celestial bodies.
And bodies terrestrial, but the glory of the celestials 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, so also is the resurrection of the dead. Now verse 41, for example.
Says more about the stars than what we read in Genesis one. You know, in Genesis chapter one it says and he made the stars also just in a passing sweep. And yet we know that man has research studied and is studying the stars, attempting to find out and to unlock the mysteries. And they won't give up. They won't give up even right at this very time.
They are.
Listening in with tremendously powerful instruments to see if they can pick up any alien sounds out there. They don't want to believe the Bible. That's why they don't want to bow to God's precious word and accept the fact that man is of the earth, earthy. This is his natural habitation.
Astounding that God permitted man to go out there and even to land on the moon.
We went into a mall in Winnipeg, I think it was, and here was a an exhibit of space age things indicating all the different countries that were involved in these space age things, France and Germany and India even, and England and of course Canada and the United States and all the involvement. And there were pictures there.
Of people walking on the moon.
Oh, they look so out of their element. So out of their element. But I spotted one picture and I looked and you couldn't read it, but I think it was that plaque that had Psalm 8 written on it.
Psalm 8. I understand they put that up on the moon.
Maybe God is patient with man because he made at least that acknowledgement.
Of the moon and the one who had the creator rights.
00:10:02
And will in that day assert his rights over this whole world. Doesn't it rejoice your heart to think that the Lord Jesus is going to have it entirely His way in this world? I love his appearing, don't you? Of course we're going to be with Him first of all.
But then he will have his rights in this world in due time.
Gloriously so.
But here we come to this 15th chapter of One Corinthians.
And we have more said about the stars than we have in Genesis 1.
Why does it talk about the stars in this way? For one star different from another star in glory, so also is the resurrection of the dead.
Brethren, God is a God of varieties.
I can remember looking through a book of snowflakes photographs blown up to a amazing size, every one of them different No2 snowflakes alike. God is a God of variety and so he will have glory in individuals.
For all eternity will we lose our personality.
We're not robots. No, we won't. Will we know each other in the glory I am confidently will. That's marvelous, isn't it? To think of all the vast company of the redeemed, and we'll all have our identity and we will each glorify the Lord. I believe in a certain way.
In eternity.
For one star different from another star in glory.
Oh brethren, what are we doing now? Are we really seeking to glorify the Lord Jesus now?
Here in this world, our individual responsibility, and I haven't talking, we're not talking yet about collective responsibility, but how about our individual responsibility? Do they know that we are Christians in our neighborhood? Do they know we belong to Christ down at the office, in the workplace, at school, young people?
Do they know that we're Christians when it comes noontime time to eat?
Boys and girls, do we bow our heads for a moment and thank Him for our food? Oh, you can glorify Him just in a little measure of that sort. One star differ from another star in glory. Now, brethren, this of course, is a vast subject. I couldn't begin to touch this subject. I wouldn't have the ability.
But shall we put it this way, we won't be lost.
In the crowd, that's kind of a crude expression, but.
You know, the Queen of England came to Newfoundland and came to Corner Brook, lowly little Corner Brook. The Queen came to visit Corner Brook, Oh, where the city fathers busy. They paved streets, they beautified this thing and that thing, and they made every preparation for the Queen. And when the day came.
We got down as soon as we could, but we were not soon enough and there were people packed everywhere. They must have come in from the outlying areas and the ladies were dressed up in their finest apparel. Men had suits and ties on and they wanted to greet the Queen. And I thought.
Here is a monarch. How can you ever get close at all to them? We were way back.
In the crowd and we could see her but we couldn't get anywheres near her. But it was so interesting because as this this great.
Entourage of cars came down the road.
A little girl.
Reached out a bouquet of flowers and the Queen stopped that whole.
Procession. She stopped it and called the little girl over.
And accepted her flowers. I thought that was very lovely and I could is it worthy Faces of envy, you know, that that little girl was able to get that close to the Queen.
Well, brethren, how is it possible that we shall see him face to face?
00:15:06
When you see somebody face to face is closer than I'm seeing you now.
In a certain respect, we're seeing each other face to face, but when you see someone really face to face, you're talking with them directly in front of you. How can that possibly be? Well, keep this in mind that we will enter the realm of of the spiritual, not spirits, but spiritual. We will not be governed by the law of physics.
As far as this life is concerned, and I really believe that he'll arrange it as only he is able to do. He is able. Scripture says he'll arrange it so that we all can see him face to face and talk with him face to face. And really, what is heaven all about anyway? It's a person, is it not?
What would heaven be without the person?
People talk about going to heaven, but do they want to be with Christ? Which is far better? Isn't that heaven? You know the answer to that.
I really believe that we'll have a way whereby we can personally, individually enjoy him, he said. In my father's house are many abodes. I believe it's an illusion of the Temple, which the Jewish mind would have understood.
He says, if it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there ye may be also. Is he saying that perhaps we'll each have our own way to enjoy him? Personally, I don't want to speculate, but the Lord dealt a lot with individuals and it strikes me that in the Gospel of John.
Presenting him as the Son of God.
God manifest in the flesh. He's dealing with individuals a good deal. He is.
With individuals that had great needs, like the woman at the Well of Samaria, like Nicodemus and like.
The poor blind man of the 9th chapter born blind, dost thou believe on the Son of God, who is the Lord, that I might believe? He that speaketh unto thee? Oh, He revealed Himself to individuals in such a precious and a marvelous way. And so.
I enjoy that thought and I really believe that he will identify each of us personally according to his affection. Hold your place here a minute. We'll come back here. There's more we want to talk about in this chapter, but notice Revelation chapter 2.
Revelation chapter 2.
Verse 17.
To him that overcometh.
Will I give to either 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.
Well, I believe that the Lord gave this special encouragement to Pergamus, and the whitestone was the symbol of approval. I believe they used it for balloting. They used it in court cases.
And so here he talks about the Whitestone, the symbol of his approval.
For all that they were suffering in connection with the state of things in Pergamus, and he says a new name written, which no man nor saving he that receiveth it. Perhaps something that indicated his special approval.
But giving a name a new name is an sovereign act.
Can you think of someone in scripture who changed people's names? You know Nebuchadnezzar, he changed Daniels name and he changed the names of his three friends. Daniel would never would accept the name that was given to him. It was linked with a God. But he changed Peters names name and he changed Paul's name. Paul couldn't be a Saul, you know, head and shoulders above the rest. He had to be a Paul that was little and his name.
00:20:03
Had to have a Grecian link to it and he was certainly had no Greek connection. He was a real Jew, but he had a name.
That had a great connection, but the point of it is.
That I believe he will give us a name suited to himself.
That will express his affection toward us. You like that thought? Oh, we're bought with a price, brethren. We're costly to him. And so it is very important to consider.
That we are individually loved. Can we express the language of Paul when he said the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me? Oh, that's lovely, isn't it?
When we can speak in that way, certainly he loved us and gave himself for us.
Certainly.
Now.
There's another consideration.
In connection with our thoughts and it's right here in this chapter. So we'll pursue it a little further here in Chapter 15 and that is.
In verse 45.
He talks about headships here. And so it is written. The 1St man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam, a quickening spirit.
Howbeit, that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural, and afterward that which is spiritual. The 1St man is of the earth earthy, the 2nd man is the Lord from heaven.
As is the earthy, such are they also that are heavenly, And as is the such are they that are earthly. And as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly one. That's how Mr. Darby words it. The heavenly one. We're going to be like him. Oh, that's so important to see. But now, brethren, what do we see? What else do we see? In this passage, it talks about the first Adam and the last Adam.
The first man.
And the second man, what is that all about? Oh, brethren?
That speaks to us of blessedness in humanity forever, because the Lord Jesus came into this world as a man, and he came by the way of Bethlehem Manger, and he went through this world as a man among men, wholly harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners.
Who knew no sin, who did no sin, and in him was number sin.
But he was a real man amongst men.
And he went into the grave as a man, and he rose from among the dead as a man.
And he has ascended and gone back to heaven as a man.
There is one mediator between man, God and man, the man Christ Jesus. He is a man in the glory. We know these things, but I'm trying to put together.
A combination of thought as to our eternal blessedness.
So he remains a man forever. We remain as men forever too.
And Scripture says I shall be satisfied when I awaken his likeness. We will be like him.
And it's the work of the Spirit of God to conform us more to his image now morally.
But we will be morally like him, that's for sure. We'll see that in a minute.
But now.
There's a passage over in.
Psalm 110. There it is.
Psalm 110.
Verse 3.
Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. Now, of course, that's looking on to a millennial scene.
Will be with him.
Thy people will be willing in the day of thy power, in the beauty of holiness.
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From the womb in the morning thou hast to do of thy youth. What a striking statement of Scripture. Thou hast the do of thy youth.
The Lord Jesus, I believe, is in the prime of life right now as a man.
And I feel confident that we will too.
We will not have Gray hairs up there or the marks of our problems down here. Nobody will have scars but him, which are wounds.
And.
Everyone, I believe, will be in the prime of life. Of course, remember, we're in the eternal realm, and there's things about that that are not the same as in this life. We'll talk about that in a moment. But.
We might wonder why the Lord Jesus again and again and again referred to Himself as the Son of Man, the Son of Man, the Son of Man. Psalm chapter 80 back up to Psalm 80. What an interesting Psalm. What an interesting song. Israel, of course, should have been the nation that bore fruit.
To the glory of God.
But we see that his thoughts went to the man of his right hand. Verse 17.
Let thy hand be upon the man, the man of thy right hand, upon the Son of Man, whom thou made us strong for thyself.
They would have had no idea who this was Speaking of at that time.
A mysterious statement to the old theologians.
But it went even farther than that because Agar, who frankly admitted that he was brutish without divine knowledge.
Said, What is his name and his son's name if thou can tell? Here's a statement in the Old Testament that says, What is his name and his son's name, if thou can tell? He was the eternal Son.
From a past eternity, He is the eternal Son of God.
And he became the Son of Man.
Well, God has committed all judgment unto him, because He was rejected as the Son of Man. He will come back and judge this world as the Son of Man, and He will establish His Kingdom as the Son of man, till finally He pushed down all enemies. The last enemy to be destroyed is death, and He delivers up the Kingdom to the Father as the Son of Man. But the Kingdom, I believe, goes on in an honorary way.
Its own glory forever and will never diminish as we read in Daniel.
Chapter 2 I think.
But isn't that a remarkable passage of Scripture?
All the the scriptures abound with thought. Now go over to Philippians chapter three. Well, a chapter two first of all, of course.
Philippians, Chapter 2.
And verse 8.
And being found in fashion as a man.
He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name, or the name which is above every name.
That at the name of Jesus, that's his name in humanity.
As a man at the name of Jesus.
It's no wonder Scripture makes so much of that name of Jesus.
We see Jesus, his humanity, who is made a little lower than the angels.
For the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor.
Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow.
Of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Verse 18. Verse 20 makes it very plain that our conversation or that word is the same as Commonwealth.
00:30:09
In other words, it's more than just accepting a culture or taking.
Upon.
Country Citizenship.
A person who is born an Englishman is not only an Englishman by citizenship, but they are born an Englishman. I believe that's more the force of the thought here, Commonwealth, and that's true of us, that's characteristic of us, our conversation, Our Commonwealth is in heaven.
From whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, or the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior?
But Savior here of the body, you know these things, but it's good just to rehearse.
Savior of the body.
Yes, we have been bought with a price.
He possesses each one of his.
Redeemed spirit, soul, body, we belong to Him.
So he lays claim upon that body.
We look for the Savior of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Who shall change our vile body? Or it could read body of humiliation. These bodies aren't vile to him.
But they are humiliated by the effects of sin. We have to face it. We're all subject to it. There is no escape.
Who shall change our body of humiliation, that it may be fashion like unto His glorious body, or body of glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue all things unto Himself? You know, brethren, if we didn't feel some of the groanings of this creation, we would have no real appreciation, or it wouldn't be as great.
In the thought of receiving.
Our body of glory.
But isn't it marvelous to consider?
That He wants us to have a body like his, body of glory, a body that is not subject to aging. And I believe when the change takes place, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, we will all suddenly be in the prime of life, young and old. I really believe it.
I don't want to speculate about these things, you know, but I just wonder even if those little fetuses and and stillborns won't be in the prime of life, I'm not saying what family they may represent in heaven.
But in all things he'll have the preeminence, though man bears the guilt.
Of what he's doing.
But in all things, he'll have the preeminence. I really believe we will be astounded.
When we are in the glory to see the results of his work.
Everything depends upon the work of Calvary's cross, the blessing of all past ages.
Romans 3 the sins that were passed, the blessing of all those that are ahead depends upon him, his work at Calvary's cross, but isn't that a comforting thought is good that I have been afflicted. The psalmist says we need to I thank the Lord When I got shingles a few weeks ago, I needed it. I needed it.
And these things help help us to appreciate what's ahead.
And so just keep that in mind, dear ones, when we experience some of the groanings of this creation, keep it in mind that we're going to be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. And this corruptible shall put an incorruption. Never subject to corruption again. This mortal must put on immortality, never subject to death again.
And no more of the groanings of this creation. But we'll have these.
New bodies of glory, like His body of glory that won't be affected by any of these things, isn't that comforting? We won't be disturbed or hindered in any way from the perfect enjoyment of Christ. Sometimes we get aches or pains and we don't feel too good or we're too weary that we can't enjoy the ministry or the reading of the Word. I often fall asleep trying to read the scriptures.
00:35:03
And we won't be bothered by any of those hindrances.
To our perfect enjoyment of Christ for all eternity.
Heaven is a person, and that will be.
A most blessed aspect of our eternal blessedness that will take our humanity with us, but nothing of the sinful state. All that's out of the picture.
Well, I know I'm missing many things of course, but we must go on.
What are we going to talk about next? Collective. Collective blessedness? Well, let's think that one over. Do we have anything here that we can think of in that way?
Well.
Go over to Thessalonians first.
Thessalonians.
There are some comforting thoughts.
In connection with.
What's ahead?
And over in chapter 4.
In verse 17.
It says then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together.
With them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we ever be with the Lord.
Together, together, together.
If any St. of God were missing, we would be.
Disturbed. We'd be troubled.
We're going to be together in the glory. The enemy is working.
Is working.
To in a way as never before to divide the Saints.
It is a real scattering work and it is tragic to observe it. It isn't just.
A group as it were breaking away and and not in agreement. No, we see how the enemy is scattering, scattering the Saints of God in many ways we're going to be together in the glory. Verse nine of chapter 5. It says for God hath not appointed us.
To wrath. No, no, that's not our appointment will be delivered from the coming wrath. That's not our part. That's made very clearly.
In First Thessalonians. But to obtain salvation, that's our final deliverance. You know, salvation is used in different ways we just saw.
A passage that talked about the salvation of our bodies and now it's our final deliverance out of this world.
To obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.
That whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him. It could have said we shall live with him, but it didn't. It said we shall live together with him. You see the point? We're getting these thoughts before us that our eternal portion is together with all the Saints and.
Scripture talks about being members of the body of Christ, yes.
But it does say also that we are members one of another. We are linked to all other believers. The practical demonstration of that is another thing we will acknowledge, and we should be exercised to do so as much as possible. The truth of the one body putting that loaf out on the table every Lord's Day certainly is a very practical demonstration that we, being many, are one brand.
But we can't disregard other important scripture.
To insist upon the body of Christ, precious as that truth is, we must bring in also truth connected with the House of God, which is extremely important now that ruin has come to the testimony.
In a general way.
But less we're looking on to the future. We're looking on to more blessed things.
And we're going to be with all the Saints in the glory. Now I'll repeat, as I said to another brother not too long ago, I must watch my spirit because I'm going to be with those Saints in the glory. We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. So I must watch my spirit in these matters. We must hold to the truth.
00:40:08
But in what spirit are we doing it? And if there's feelings of resentment?
And worse, perhaps against any child of God. We'd better get on our knees and talk to the Lord about it.
And pray for them.
Job didn't get released until he prayed for his friends.
And he had good reason to be very bitter against them. You know the story.
Together with the Saints, notice Ephesians.
This will all come back to you, you know it well enough anyway. But let's put it together in a thought here.
In Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 2.
Verse 4.
But God, who is rich in mercy for his great love, wherewith He loved us collectively, even when we collectively we're dead in sins, hath quickened us collectively together with Christ. By grace are you saved, and hath raised us up together.
And made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ.
God speaks of those things that be not as though they be, but this is true nevertheless. We will be together with all the Saints in the glory.
Now I'll just pass on to you something that impressed me even in connection with Israel.
You know, we see how rapidly the enmity came in between Judah and the other tribes.
And early, even before the days of the Kings, there was problems and tendencies toward a rift.
But we see that even before David.
Took the Kingdom in the time of.
Saul they separated.
And it took a while before those 10 tribes were drawn back together under David's authority. It took a while. There was feelings there.
And then finally, we see how.
They were seriously divided in the days of Jeroboam.
And how that feeling, that enmity?
Was manifested in different ways through the history of the kings. And so finally the 10 tribes go off into captivity first and and become scattered then among the nations. The Syrians took them off and took them away and so forth. And then they brought in those that became Samaritans.
So there they were, scattered off, and perhaps they were known to some extent where they were, I don't know, even up into the New Testament. But they are lost now. Does anyone here know where they are? I don't.
I have no doubt that there may be a number of them in China.
Isaiah 49 indicates that.
But is it in Isaiah 49? I'm not sure. Maybe we should better turn and take a look at it.
But it's either in Isaiah 49 or Jeremiah 31 or.
Somewhere.
That we get the thought.
That they are.
They feel this separation.
God will bring them into a state of exercise.
There it is in Isaiah 49. Here's the language of Judah.
Verse 21 Then shall thou say in thine heart, Who hath begotten me these, seeing I had lost my children, and am desolate in a captive, and removing to and fro? And who hath brought up these? Behold, I was left alone. And these, where had they been? You get the thought that they rejoice to see those 10 tribes return.
And the nation once again to be reunited in that millennial day. They rejoice over it.
Takes away the enmity between the peoples and they will enter into the blessing of that millennial age as a united nation, all 12 of the tribes. I believe that's just a little picture that should help us to realize that though we are separated from our brethren now and we can't do anything about it.
00:45:24
At least any extent.
In that coming day we will all be reunited in the glory and every bit of enmity will be removed. Will be so thankful to see all the Saints of God. We would be totally grieved if anyone was missing and the Lord will have the full glory in the end result that is so much a part.
Of our eternal state of blessedness.
That we don't want to under estimate it or we cannot overstate it.
Very important that we're going to be together with all the Saints, with one voice, one heart, one mouth. We will glorify God in that day. It's not being done now, but it will be done in that day, however.
Let us be exercised as much as possible, as gathered unto the name of the Lord Jesus, to follow these exhortations of the New Testament in that respect, and to be extremely careful of anything that brings.
Schism or a rift, or whatever it is in the assembly, whether locally or or collectively among the Saints.
Now, I'm not talking about turning our.
Our face away from evident evil and what's wrong? No, we've got to.
Hold firm for the truth. Absolutely, absolutely. But you understand what I mean. In very practical ways we need to be exercised about our attitude towards each other that we might in a collective way seek to honor God. We have that exhortation so strongly put in the New Testament, and we are responsible to be subject to the Word of God in regard to all those things not.
The failure and the ruin that has come in Well, brethren.
I believe we shall stop at that point. We've only covered a few aspects of our eternal blessedness individually.
Bearing humanity.
And collectively.
But there's far more than that. Shall we pray?
John 17
Address—C. Hendricks
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.
I'd like to turn tonight to John's Gospel.
Chapter 17.
The prayer.
Of the Lord Jesus to his Father.
In chapter 16.
13 through 16 we have the Lord speaking to his disciples and unfolding to them the the new order of things that would be introduced based on His death and resurrection and ascension to God in the sending down of the Holy Spirit.
And the 16th chapter ends with verse 33. These things I have spoken unto you.
He's speaking to his disciples still, that in me he might have peace.
In the world ye shall have tribulation, but be of good cheer. I have overcome the world and all those words from 13 through 16, often referred to as the Upper Room Ministry, is a ministry which applies in this present day.
Christ on high, washing our feet so that we might have part with him, fellowship with himself.
The Ascending of the Holy Spirit.
In the 14th chapter, as another comforter, who would?
Be with us and in US, and abide with us forever and ever to be taken from us.
Fruit bearing Chapter 15.
The reduction in the life of the Christian, of the very life of Christ himself.
And in chapter 16, again the Spirit given, and more truth, when he has come, he will bring demonstration to the world of sin.
Of sin because they believe not on me, Of righteousness because I go to my Father, and you see me no more, and of judgment because the Prince of this world is judged. The presence in the world of the Spirit of God is the proof, the demonstration of the world's sin in rejecting Christ and the righteousness of God, and exalting Him to His own right hand in heaven.
And that this world is under judgment. The Prince of this world is judged.
Satan, the God and Prince of this work, called the Prince of this world, and he's also called the God of this world. So he's the one who is over the political arena as well as the religious world.
And he unfolds the blessings that are ours.
In this dispensation of the Spirit, we were noticing in the book of Acts in the reading last night, it's really the acts of the Holy Spirit.
And the Spirit of God having come and these this ministry of the Lord in John 13 through 16 points forward to that and leads the disciples to to raise their eyes from earthly hopes and expectations to heavenly hope.
In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you now in the second chapter, John's Gospel.
He speaks of his father's house as the temple on earth, and he casts out the money changers and overturns them and drives them out of the temple. And he says, make not my father's house and House of merchandise. But in John 14, he's not talking about the earthly temple any longer. He says in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you I go to prepare a place for you. And he's gone. He's on high. He's in the glory.
And Christianity takes its character from the place that Christ is now in, and he's in the glory. He's not here.
He's been rejected here, cast out, turned out from this scene, and accepted in heaven. The righteousness of God has exalted him to his own right hand. God's righteous answer to the work that Christ has done for his glory, and He's prepared as a place. As soon as there was a man in the glory, that place was prepared. He could come at any moment, at any moment.
Well, if we were told that the Lord would come tomorrow.
If you knew that.
The first thing you would think of when you woke in the morning is he's coming today.
And everything that you did, you'd be, you'd be looking for him.
And expecting him if you knew when he would be coming, if you knew he would be coming.
June 15th, 1993 You wouldn't be looking for him tomorrow or the next day or the next. You wouldn't be looking for him because.
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You'd know his coming was way off in the distance. So he doesn't tell us when he's coming. And those that would predict when he's coming are really robbing the Christian of the present expectation of the Lords coming. Because the way it's presented in Scripture is that he could come at any moment and we ought to be looking for him every day.
And if I knew he was coming tomorrow, I would live tomorrow with the constant waiting and watching for Him to come, because I know he'd be coming. Well, we ought to be living just like that every day with the constant expectation of His return. John 17 is unique in that he's not addressing the disciples any longer. It says these words spake Jesus and lifted up his eyes to heaven.
And said, father, the hour is come.
Glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Now he's talking to the Father about the disciples. They are the subject of his prayer and of his communication with the Father, but he's speaking directly to the Father. And so we are privileged to to enter this holy of holies, if you will.
Where the Lord is alone with his Father and speaking to him.
About us, about about his own.
And they are the subject of his prayer. We are brought into this later down in the chapter. He speaks of the hour is come. And he's not talking here about the hour of the cross. He's talking about the hour of his glorification. And he says, glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee.
So from that place in glory that the Father has set him in, He glorifies the Father in a new way. He glorified Him on the earth by doing that work that was given Him to do. He says that in verse four. I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gave us me to do. I want to make this comment.
That he speaks here as though the work of the cross was passed.
It was still in front of Him, but in spirit He is beyond it. And so this whole prayer, though it was uttered before the Cross, the the subject matter of it applies after the cross, After the cross, after He had finished the work, He speaks to the Father as though that work was fully accomplished and that the Father was glorified. So He asks now to be set in that glory that He had with the Father before the world was.
Five And now, oh Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory.
Which I had with thee before the world was. The difference here is that He had that glory with the Father as the eternal Son.
Before He had become a man, before the incarnation, He was there daily, His delight, rejoicing always before him. And then he says, My delights were with the sons of men. And so he took a body, He entered his own creation, became a man. And now he asks as man to be glorified in the into that same glory that he had with the Father before the world was but as a man.
He asked to be reinstated into that glory, but it's a man who's praying this prayer, the eternal Son become a man. Well, going back now to verse one, he says, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy Son that thy Son also may glorify thee. How does the Son from the glory, from the new position that he is in right now?
How does he glorify the Father? Next verse tells us that as thou has given him power over all flesh.
You remember in Matthew 28 he says all power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth, and here He has power over all flesh, but he doesn't use that power yet in in establishing His Kingdom, but rather in communicating eternal life to as many as the Father had given to him.
Thou has given him a power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. This expression thou hast given him is found seven times in the Lords Prayer. Those whom thou hast given me and we are viewed, His disciples are viewed as the love gift of the Father to the Son. So he's especially concerned with and interested in this company.
This company.
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That is the subject of his prayer, and we're brought into it a little bit later in the prayer.
Those that would believe on Him through their word is the company that is the nearest and the dearest to His heart. They are those whom the Father has given to Him. So he views us in that light as the love gift of the Father to himself.
Thou hast given Him power over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given Him. Why is that so precious? Because it's eternal life that is Christ Himself. He is the true God and eternal life. First John 520 tells us He is that eternal life who was with the Father and was manifested unto us. And now He's communicated that life to you and to me, who believe that we might have fellowship with the Father.
And truly with the Father and the Son.
He tells us what eternal life is in verse 3. This is life eternal.
That they might know thee. The only true God is He's speaking to the Father and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
So eternal life consists in the knowledge of the Father and the Son. The Son down here revealing the Father, making known to us his name. And now he wants us to be brought into the same nearness of relationship and enjoyment of the Father. That was His enjoyment as a man down here in this scene. So he gives us.
Eternal life, the the essence of it is the knowledge of the Father and the Son.
When you look at it in that light, though, I have no doubt that when the Old Testament Saints were born again.
They had divine life, which is eternal, no question about that. But here he says this is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, thee the Father and Jesus Christ whom thou sent. So eternal life consists. It's Christian, it's really Christian.
The possession of life in all of the enjoyment and knowledge and fellowship with the Father and with the Son. This, of course, the Old Testament Saints did not have.
In that full sense. So here, when John uses the expression eternal life, there's a fullness to it, the full development of it.
The the full expression of it fellowship to know him the only true God the Father and Jesus Christ who now has sent Abraham knew him as the almighty God. I'm the almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect and as the everlasting God and Moses was told he was.
Introduced to him as Jehovah, the I Am, that I am. And then there's the name of God for the Millennium, the Most High God, and these various names of God. But none of these names is so intimate and so precious as to know him as our Father, and to know the Lord Jesus as he who was sent of the Father, He whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent.
And this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God in Jesus Christ, whom thou has sent.
That word, behold the bride. If you have that life through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, you possess the most blessed knowledge possible for a creature to possess, to know the Father and the Son. And that's that's what eternal life consists of. It's the most intimate and blessed of all.
Relationships that we've been brought into life in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Life abundantly I am come John 10 The Lord says that they might have life, that they might have it more abundantly the abundant life, and here we have it given by the the Lord from in glory He is glorified because of what He has done for the glory of the Father, and now he glorifies the Father by giving eternal life to as many as the Father has given to him, and that.
Life consists in the knowledge of the Father and the Son.
The sum and substance of all blessedness, both in this life and in that which is to come, is to know God, that He can only be known in His Son, and to know the Father, that's eternal life, The sum and substance of all blessedness is to know Him, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent.
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We're brought into that the most intimate and blessed of relationships. I have glorified the end the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gave us me to do. He others the words before the Cross, but in spirit He is beyond it here as He speaks of it as a past thing. And then asking the Father to glorify Him with the glory He had the first five. And now, Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with Thee before.
World was before the world was, before he had ever become a man. He was there with the Father.
And had that glory. Now he asked to be reinstated into it as man.
Now in verses 6 through.
13 He puts us in his place before the Father.
I have manifested thy name unto the men, the name of Father unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world. Notice that's the second time he mentions those whom thou gavest Me. The men which Thou gave us, Me out of the world have manifested Thy name. Father, thine they were, and Thou gave us them me. That's the third time he mentions that the disciples were given to Him.
And they have kept thy word. He looks at their faith, and ascribes the full.
The full value of it before God the Father when he says they've kept thy word. We look at the disciples, the 12 apostles and so on, and we might shake our heads and how could he say they've kept thy word when they failed so? But he's he's looking at their faith and their faith in him and he he puts the full value to it that he sees it has in all its in its.
Intrinsic excellence. They've kept thy word. And he says more of them. He says now they have known.
Notice this wonderful knowledge. That is the portion of those who have been brought into this intimate circle. Now they have known that all things, whatsoever Thou hast given me, are of Thee.
They've come to realize, to know, to understand that all that was given to the Son to do and all His works and all His words when He was here are of the Father. He was the manifestation of the Father.
For I have given unto them the words which thou gave us me.
And they have received them.
And have known surely, that I came out from thee.
And they have believed that thou did send me.
That was something that he said in this gospel over and over again. He was the sent one of the Father. Now he says then the knowledge of those who are his own, whom the Father had given to him as a love gift, and He has given them eternal life, that they might know the Father and the Son. He says now they have known that all things that thou gave us me are of thee, and the words that Thou gavest me.
They have received them and have believed have surely.
They have known, surely, that I came out from thee, and they have believed that Thou did send me.
Precious, precious knowledge.
I pray for them.
I pray not for the world, it isn't the time.
The the time that he's looking at in this prayer is the present day of grace. He's not looking at the Kingdom day, which is still future. He's not praying here for the world. He says, I pray for them, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine. So the subject of this prayer is those whom the Father has given to the Son, Those whom thou has given me. That's the 4th mention of.
These that had accompanied him when he was here on earth as being given to him from the Father.
He says, For they are thine Father, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them. Wonderful to hear, to be privileged to listen in on this holy, holy, holy prayer of the the Son of God as a man addressing His Father concerning those whom the Father has given to him.
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I pray for them, he says. I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me. For they are thine, and all mine are thine, and thine are mine, and I am glorified in them.
And now I am no more in the world. You see, in spirit He was out of the world, though He uttered the prayer in the world, he says. And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to Thee. So he's uttering this prayer with a view to his returning to the Father, and from that glory giving eternal life to as many as the Father gave him.
Which consists in the knowledge of the Father and the Son, the intimacy of communion and fellowship that he enjoyed. But he was here below. And he says, Now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world. And I come to thee, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me. That's the 5th mention of this.
Company those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are.
He is praying for the 12 especially here the disciples that the Father had given him, and he the the prayer expands in a moment to include others ourselves. But now he's looking at those that were given to Him when He was here below on earth. He had manifested the name of the Father to them. He had spoken to them the very words the Father had given him to speak, and he had revealed them to them, the Father, and they had come to know that the Father sent Him.
That he was the sent one of the Father, that thou didst send me wonderful, wonderful knowledge.
He prays verse 11. I'll read it again. Middle of the verse. Holy Father, keep through thine own name.
The the the power of the name, Holy Father, keep them separate. Keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one as we are, as the Father and the Son.
Were one in purpose and.
Thought and aimed and desire and will it?
So he prays that we might be, that these disciples might be one as we are. While I was with them in the world. You see, he's speaking here as though he was no longer in the world, but out of it. While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Thy name. Those that Thou gave us to me I have kept, and none of them is lost but the Son of Perdition, that the Scripture might be fulfilled.
Referring to Judas.
And now come I to thee.
And these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves. What was His joy? His joy was the conscious sense in His soul of always doing the will of the Father. I delight to do thy will. O God, I come to do thy will. It was his joy. And so he said, I speak these things in the world that they might have.
He says even as I am not of the world.
He's been shut out from it, he's been cast out, he's been rejected, and he's now on high, received into glory by God the Father. And he says they are not of the world. The world has heated them because they are not of the world. Even as I am not of the world, the Christian is one who is not of this world.
Now that's a completely different thought than Judaism. Completely different thought.
Judaism. The Jews were of this world. They were a nation, a part of it, but they were to remain separate from the other nations. But they were part of this world nation, one of the many, and they were to be true in separating from the gentile nations. Roundabout. But here he talks about an entirely different line of truth which he had unfolded in the previous chapters. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Verse 15 he says, I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world.
But that thou should just keep them from the evil, and he had said in verse.
11 Holy Father, keep through thy own name those whom thou has given me, that they may be one as we are.
And now he prays that they may be kept from the evil that's in the world, but not taken out of it. He's sent us back into it to be a testimony for him, even as he was sent into the world to be a testimony for the Father.
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And then he repeats in verse 16, They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The measure of our separation from the world is described by the words, even as I am not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Verse 17. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth.
Sanctify them through the truth. We've come to know God as our Father and as the one who has given us to the Son, and we've come to know the sun as scent of the Father. And we believe that. And we also know that the world has hated Him, and it hates us too. If we're true to Him, the truer we are to Him, the more keenly we will feel this hatred.
And the more we fellowship with him every every mark of the world.
Is a reproach to him that is heavenly. Every mark of the world is a reproach to the Christian who is heavenly and identified and associated with this heavenly man, rejected here, but accepted on high. Now He gives us his own life, eternal life, that we might have part with him who is there and enjoy the Father as he did when he was here.
So he prays to the Father. Sanctify them, set them apart, separate them through the truth, the truth that they are one with me, and know thee as Father and the only true God in Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. Sanctify them through the truth. Thy word is truth.
As thou hast sent me into the world, Even so have I also sent them into the world. He says we're not of it. He's taken us out of it. And he says sanctify them, set them apart. And then he says I'm going to send them back into the world to be a witness for me, even as I was sent into the world to be a witness for the Father, as as thou hast sent me into the world.
Even so, have I also sent them into the world?
That is, He takes this out of it. We're not of it. We belong to Him in that heavenly sphere, and then He sends us back into it, to witness to it, of our portion, and of Himself, and to bring before the world its sin in rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ.
And then he says, And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth. For their sakes I sanctify myself. Now that word sanctify here can't possibly mean to make holy because he was the holy One himself, but it simply means to set apart. And so he says, for their sakes I set myself apart.
And where does he do that? On high in the glory?
He now becomes the heavenly object for his.
For his sanctified people, for their sakes, I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified through the truth. The truth here in John's ministry is that he's been rejected here by this world system, cast out. God has accepted him, received him into glory, and He's given us eternal life that we might have part with Him where He is.
And that we might be a witness to this world. Actually, the Church is here to continue, if you will, the testimony of Christ to this world of the Father. We're here to continue. That He was that eternal life that was with the Father and was manifested to us. Now He takes us out of it, gives us that eternal life, sends us back into this world that we might be here for Him as He was here for the Father.
Again I read it as Thou hast sent me into the world, Even so have I also sent them into the world, so as the Father sent the Son to be a witness to this world.
So he has sent you and me into this world to be a witness to this world. And he says, for their sakes, I sanctify myself. I set myself apart on high to become the heavenly object for their souls. None of us, no creature can live without an object.
God doesn't need an object.
He needs. He has objects to love, but he doesn't need an object. He is sufficient in himself, but every creature needs an object.
And what is your object? Well, if you're a Christian, your object is Christ in glory. Christ in glory with his life communicated by that glorified man to you, that you might know the Father and know the Son, and then have a heavenly object before your soul, so that you might pass through this scene in separation from it morally, but witnessing to it the most powerful witness.
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That the church can render.
Our believers can render is going on in. We mentioned that last night. We saw it in Acts 431 and 32.
The the heart and soul of the multitude that believed was one. What a powerful testimony that was the Spirit of God so controlling them that there was no activity of the flesh permitted.
And the Lord says, for their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified.
Through the truth, he sets himself apart on high as the heavenly object for his people. Now let's just turn for a moment the 2nd Corinthians chapter 3, where we'll read a verse there that brings that same truth out.
Two Corinthians, chapter 3.
Verse 17 Now the Lord is that Spirit, the Spirit of the Old Testament Scriptures. He is the the subject matter. He is the one of whom it speaks. And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.
Liberty is what characterizes Christian Christian position and condition.
Instead of ******* ******* characterized the giving of the law, the legal system. Liberty characterizes the gift of the spirit. But verse 18 Now we all with open or unveiled face.
Beholding as in a glass should be eliminated, beholding the glory of the Lord.
Our changed are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord, or even as by the Lord the Spirit, the sovereign Spirit of God working within us, occupying us with this heavenly Christ, the glory of Christ on high.
There's a there's a marvelous and we can't explain how it happens, but it never fails.
Two Corinthians 318 never fails that if you're truly occupied with Christ and glory in the power of the Spirit, there will be a transformation take place. You will be transformed according to the same image from glory to glory. You can't become like Christ by trying. That's impossible. The only way we can become more like Christ is by beholding the glory of the Lord and the Spirit of God working.
Us with an object outside of ourselves altogether outside of this world, an object in glory. For their sakes I sanctify myself that they also might be sanctified by the truth. Christ in glory. God has set him there. He becomes the head of a new creation, of a new world altogether, and he becomes the new heavenly object for the Christian and the Spirit of God working it within.
Occupying us with that heavenly object, there is a transformation that takes place.
And that's called practical sanctification.
And that's the only way it can be affected.
The only way it can be affected is by being occupied with this heavenly object. We all, with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are changed, transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord. We can't explain how that process of transformation takes place. It's done by the power of the Holy Spirit as He occupies us with an object in heaven, which is Christ Himself.
And that's what I believe that the Lord is Speaking of in verse 18, Verse 19, excuse me, of John 17. For their sakes, I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
The truth here being the truth of who He is, and the position that He now occupies, that He has been rejected here. He's not of this world. He is the heavenly man, and in that same glory that He had with the Father, but there is a man, and giving eternal life to those whom the Father is given him, that they might be brought into this blessed knowledge of the Father and the Son, and to know the Father.
Him and to have that fellowship and be in the inner secrets of God's thoughts as to what is really Christianity, Christ in glory, a heavenly object, and the people sent back into this world to witness to a heavenly Christ in this scene.
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And now he brings us in.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, that is, those that had been His disciples here below on earth when He was here, but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word, that they all may be one, as Thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in US, and that the world may believe that Thou hast sent me.
Notice he says in verse 8, the end of the verse, These have known surely that I came out from thee, and they have believed that Thou did send me. That's our knowledge.
We've come to believe that the disciples that accompanied with Him, but now the testimony is to be so powerful in unity and oneness that the world will believe that the Father sent Him.
That they all may be one, as thou, Father art in me, and I in thee, That they also may be one in US, that the world may believe that thou hast sent me.
Well, we saw in X4 last night how that that prayer was answered, at least for a time in the history of the church. And from then it's been downhill all the way, sad to say. Now in verse 22, he looks on to a future day, the day of glory. Verse 21 is the day of testimony, and the most powerful testimony that the Christians can render to the world is that they get along with one another.
They walk together in fellowship and in unity and in peace. And when that is manifested, the world takes note. The world notes. And that was true in those early days of power and testimony. Now verse 22 and the glory which thou gave us, me, I have given them notice. He speaks of it as an accomplished thing, and yet it's still future. We don't have it yet.
The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them.
Because in the purpose of God it's as good as done.
That they may be one, even as we are one. One in glory. In verse 21 it's one in testimony, but here it's one in glory.
I in them and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one, perfect in the resurrection state, and that the world may know. Not just believe now, but know that Thou hast sent Me. When the world sees US1 with Christ in glory, in that display of glory, they will know the Father sent Him. They'll know something more, and that Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me.
In that wonderful that when the world sees us in glory with Christ, they will know these are the ones.
That the Father has loved, even as he's loved his Son. They'll see us in the same glory with his Son, and they'll come to that knowledge. What a what a wonderful thing that will be.
But there's something even more precious than that outward display of glory.
Glory supreme is there, glory that shines through all more precious still.
That love to share as those that love did call. And that's what we have in verse 24, something even more precious.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me. There we have the the 7th mention those whom God has given me, and that includes us. We're brought into that inner circle. The angels don't know any. The angels aren't blessed like this. The angels don't have eternal life. The angels don't know the Father and the Son like we do. The angels aren't brought into this community of life and nature that we're brought into.
The angels aren't in dwelt of the Holy Spirit.
Like we are, the angels aren't the love gift of the Father to the Son. We are, we are. I believe this is an expression that applies to the believers of the present day and not to other believers even, but the believers of the present day. And he says that he asks of this company, Father, I will, I desire that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.
He wants us with him.
And once he gathers us to himself, you know Lord's Day morning and when we come together for prayer and for meetings.
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We're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
But we haven't been gathered to him yet.
That Second Thessalonians chapter 2, verse one. I beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ in our gathering together unto Him, we hadn't been gathered to unto Him yet. We're gathered to His name now, but that day of being gathered unto Him is coming very soon. It may be tonight, and then we'll be with Him forever.
He says that they may be where I am. He wants us with him.
Precious, wondrous thought. How do I know He wants me with Him? How do you know that? Because he said so to the Father right here.
That they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me.
For thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. Here is a unique, special glory which the Father gave to the Son. It's not the glory that he shares with us of verses 22 and 23. That's the public glory that we'll be seeing displayed in with the Lord. But here is this hidden glory that only those who are in this inner circle, this favorite company spoken of as those who Thou has given me.
Only we shall enjoy beholding this glory, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. It seems as though what he's saying in this verse connects with the love that the Father had for the Son even before the world was.
It's an eternal love, and we're brought into that to behold.
The glory that he gave to the Son as man.
And we're going to be gazing upon that glory. We're going to be with him forever, never to be parted from him again. And we're going to be in that scene, which which is is love Supreme is there love that shines through all?
Thou lovest me before the foundation of the world.
Then he speaks to the righteous Father, and and he speaks about the world in connection with that expression. Oh, righteous Father, the world hath not known thee.
Why should we ever want to have fellowship with the world? It doesn't know him.
It hasn't been brought into this intimacy of knowledge. It has no part in these things that we've been considering in the in the Lord's Prayer for his own. The world doesn't know him. Why should we want fellowship with this system, with this world?
O righteous Father, he says, the world hath not known thee.
But I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me precious, precious knowledge.
We've been brought into that inner circle of knowledge to know that the Father sent him.
And I have declared unto them thy name, the name of the Father.
And I will declare it. He's been declaring it for 2000 years from the glory declaring it.
He said, I have declared it, I will continue to declare it, that the love wherewith thou hast loved me.
Love of the Father for the Son may be in them.
Die in them, Christ in us, as the means of.
Shedding forth that love in our own hearts. The love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them.
And I and them. I don't know of a portion in scripture that rises to higher heights.
Than we have here we have the full Christian position mentioned. We don't have the truth of the one body, but it's it's couched you might say in versus like verse 21 and.
Yet it's it's the unity of the family. I know that it's not the unity of the body, but still.
We have the elements that are developed in the New Testament, all in this prayer of the Father, of the Son to the Father.
And we're brought into it. How blessed a wonderful.
Well, let's close by singing #25.
Enjoyment of our Portion Brbnk
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Like to turn first of all, brethren, to Ephesians chapter one, the seventh verse, in whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, or any of the bounded toward us, in all wisdom and prudence, having made known unto us the mystery of his will.
According to his good pleasure which he have purposed in himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth, even in Him.
This last verse that I have read has often been spoken of as the key verse to the whole Bible.
Because God has two distinct purposes of blessing. He has a purpose of blessing for an earthly people, and He has a purpose of blessing for a heavenly people by grace. You and I who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior belong to the heavenly company. We are part of that church which He purchased with His own blood, and we know that God gave a testimony to Israel.
He called Abraham out, and he chose that particular nation.
He chose a city which was to be His Center for those earthly people, but the enemy was constantly at work to hinder the enjoyment of the blessing that God had purposed. Satan can never rob us of what is ours through the work that the Lord Jesus accomplished, but what He can do is rob us of the enjoyment of it, brethren, and that's His great attempt is to rob us of the enjoyment of our portion isn't a wonderful thing.
To know that God has delayed in the sons of man tells us that when the foundations were of the earth were laid, his delights were with the sons of man. Well might we sing in a little hymn. And couldst thou be delighted with creatures such as we, who, when we saw thee, took thee and nailed thee to a tree? Unfathomable wonder and mystery divine.
The voice that speaks in Thunder, says Sinner.
I am thine and I want to say to every believer in this room that God is for you.
He's not against you if God before us, who can be against us? The Sinner thinks that God is against him, but when he learns what God has done for his blessing, he finds that God is for him. Have sometimes said God looked down after sin entered and said, you've spoiled this earth that I made for your happiness and blessing. But I love you so much that I'm going to invite you to a place that you can't spoil and I'm going to pay the.
So you can be there. That's the God whom we know, the God who has been fully revealed in the person of his beloved Son. And I believe that we need to have this before us because the enemy is constantly at work to try and hinder our enjoyment. He did that with Israel, and we see that when God, by his power, he first redeemed them.
Was brought before us about the Passover lamb. The blood sprinkled on their lentil and side posts and preserved them from judgment.
But not only did God preserve them from judgment, He led them out of Egypt, and he brought them in to that land where he was going to bless them, and that land which in a coming day is to be the center of all His earthly purposes. Jerusalem is the city of the great king. No wonder things are moving in that direction today, because God has purposes in connection with His earthly people.
But the enemy was at work.
Robbed them of that which was assured to them in those eternal counsels of God and through the purposes of Christ and through the work of Christ, I should say. And so we find that he did everything he could to try and hinder Israel. After God had brought them into the land, they departed from him. God chose a Center for them to gather where they could enjoy His presence. He told them.
When they were coming to the land, they should come there with their basket of firstfruits and rejoice before the Lord their God in the good land that He had given to them. But the enemy came in first of all. He got them to depart in their hearts from the Lord. And then we see how He made a great division among them, and their 10 tribes separated from the two.
It doesn't. It didn't change God's center and God didn't preserve a remnant in Jerusalem because.
The two tribes were better than the 10. He distinctly said that he would preserve a light in Jerusalem for his servant David's sake, whom he had chosen.
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The ones who remained in Jerusalem could never boast and say, well, we were the faithful ones because it was because of the departure that had come in that God allowed this division to take place. And they were actually no better than the others. But it was the sovereign goodness and grace of God that had given them the promise of blessing.
Well, the enemy tried to even spoil that company, those two tribes that remained in Jerusalem.
And it wasn't long in the governmental ways of God that they were carried into captivity, carried into Babylon. Babylon means confusion. The two tribes were there, as well as the other ten who were scattered in Assyria. And so they were scattered from that center that God had chosen for them, the city where he had placed his name. But in his faithfulness he gathered back a remnant. And you find that.
Brought before us in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah. Also the prophesying of the prophets.
Haggai and Zechariah, they encouraged them in connection with their going back and I just like to read in Nehemiah Nehemiah chapter.
Chapter 8.
First Verse. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the Watergate, and they spake unto Ezra the scribe, to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. The fifth Verse. And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people, for he was above all the people, and when he opened it, all the people stood up.
The eighth verse so they read in the book of the law of God.
Distinctly and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest, the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto them, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the Lord your God. More not nor weep for all the people wept when they heard the words of the law.
And he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them, for whom nothing is prepared.
For this day is holy unto our Lord, neither be sorry, for the joy of the Lord is your strength. So the Levites steel is still all the people saying, hold your peace. For the day is holy, neither be grieved.
Now in the book of the law was read to them, they realized how they hadn't responded to God's claims, and their hearts were indeed sad. And brethren, if we were to think of how we have failed, how God's people have failed as a testimony, we'd all be weeping too.
Because if it grieves us, how much more it grieves the heart of God, Lord Jesus.
Wants the blessing of His people. He desired the blessing of Israel. He brought them into that good land. He wanted them to enjoy that good land that He had given to them. But failure had come in and they mourned. But in His faithfulness, God had brought back a testimony and gathered them back into that land, back into the center. And it's very beautiful to see the order in which things took place when they came back.
The first thing they did was to build the altar, Second thing they did was to build a house, and the last thing to build a wall. No, that's very interesting. Why did they build the altar first? Oh brethren, we need to give the Lord Jesus the first place in it in our hearts. There's nothing going to be right unless he has first place that in all things He might have the preeminence. And so they built the altar. And why did they build it? It says they built it to offer.
Sacrifices, but also for fear of the people. That wasn't that a strange protection to think building the altar would be the first thing they do. Why not build a wall first? Oh brethren, the Lord is our safety, our security. If we give Him his place, we can count on Him. Well then they they built the temple, the place where they could gather according to His word and worship Him.
And surely isn't it our delight too, and His delight too, to have the response of our hearts in praise and worship? He had a Center for His people all. Her failure hadn't changed the fact that was the city that God had chosen. There's only a small part of two tribes that had come back. But it's very lovely to see that when there was two, those two tribes came back.
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You read in the 8th chapter of Ezra they offered 12 bullets for all Israel.
God, lovely.
God would always have us to see the Church of God on earth as one. There may only be a few that give testimony to it, but we must never never forget the Church of God is one. Israel were represented as one nation. God didn't choose another center. They had made another center but.
There was just one center that God had, and here He gathered this little remnant back who came back to this center that He had. Well, they could have been all cast down and depressed, only a small portion out of two tribes there. We feel like weeping sometimes too, and we see the scattering and dividing that has come in among the people of God. But why did He say, don't weep, rejoice?
Why? Because the Lord.
Found his delight in a few that responded to his desires for His people. That's the force of that expression. The joy of the Lord is your strength, the joy of the Lord. Sometimes we take that verse as meaning our joy in the Lord, but it's His joy in US. Sometimes they use a little illustration just to make that thought clear.
Supposing that your friends had asked you over to their home for the evening to enjoy a happy evening together.
And it turns out to be very bad weather and awfully stormy. And you look at one another and say, well, you think we should go. Tonight is such bad weather. And then while you're talking, the phone rings. And they're on the phone. And they say, please come. Don't let the weather, India. You don't know how much we're looking forward to you being there. We really have planned a happy evening. We'll miss you if you're not there.
That gives you a fresh spirit, doesn't it? And your goal? Because you're going to give joy to those people. They want you, brethren. The Lord wants us around himself. The Lord wants us. He wanted his people, Israel. They might well weep if they looked at the condition. And they were no better because they hadn't responded like they should either. It wasn't judging somebody else, it was themselves.
Brethren, the joy of the Lord is your strength.
How are we going to have strength to go on in an evil day as we give the Lord Jesus his rightful place and realize that he found more joy than we did, and a few of us being gathered around Him as members of His body with that one loaf that told us that there is one body. And so he found his joy, greater joy. Many of us found real joy. He found greater joy.
Oh how to What a lovely thing to see this company.
Rejoice, and we have a right to rejoice too, even in difficult times. Well, we know that Israel failed in their testimony, and they had to be as I said.
They were brought back, but oh how feebly they responded to the Lord's claims. But God into goodness preserved that testimony until the Lord Jesus was born.
His first, his first coming, shall I say, coming into this world. He came and was born in Bethlehem's Manger. And there were only a very few that we're looking for him. It's interesting to read those names, Elizabeth and Anna, Mary Simeon. And what do you think of these names that I'm sure they weren't considered very important in the land of Israel at that time?
But all they, they were looking for the Messiah and they valued his presence. They valued the center that he had established. And so that's where they came. Well, the Lord Jesus came and he, he was their joy. He was rejected. And we know that in the coming day, that precious Savior that we read about in Ephesians one and 10, he's going to gather together in one.
In heaven and in earth.
God is going to gather back his earthly people and I'd just like to read in the.
Prophet Ezekiel.
37th chapter.
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This is Speaking of a future day for Israel.
The 11Th verse Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones of the whole House of Israel, behold, they say, our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we are cut off from our parts. Therefore prophecy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.
And ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people.
And brought you up out of your graves.
Then the 16th verse. Moreover, thou son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it for Judah, for the children of Israel his companions. Then take another stick, and write upon it for Joseph the stick of Ephraim, and for all the House of Israel his companions, And join them one to another into one stick, and they shall become one in thine hand.
When the children of thy people shall speak unto these, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these?
Say unto them Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph.
Which is in the hand of Ephraim and the tribes of Israel, his companions as the 10 tribes, And I will put them with him, even with the stick of Judah as the two tribes, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in thine hand.
And the stakes were on our rightest shall be in thine hand before their eyes, and say unto them, Thus sayeth the Lord God, Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the heathen, whether they have gone, and gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land upon the mountains of Israel, And one king shall be king to them all, and they shall.
They shall no more the two nations, neither shall they divided.
Divided into two kingdoms anymore at all? Well, this is a lovely future to look forward.
They're just a valley of dry bones. There didn't seem to be much hope, but God is going to bring that nation back and bring them in repentance, recognizing that they rejected their Messiah and He was going to fulfill His purposes, brethren, and He's going to bless them. He's going to make them one because it was His purpose.
When the table was made in the Tabernacle, there were 12 loaves.
And they were placed upon the table, and those 12 loaves represented the whole 12 tribes.
This morning we had one, one love, because in Christianity there's one body, but God had these purposes for Israel. They failed. They broke down a little ram that was preserved in the goodness of God. But we look on to the day when that is going to be fulfilled, which God has said that in the dispensation of the fullness of times, He'll gather together in one.
All things in heaven and in earth, God is going to fulfill His purpose in blessing to Israel.
But now, in connection with the church, we know that. Let's turn over to Ephesians again.
Chapter one and here we find this purpose that God has in connection not only with earth, but he gathered together in one all things in heaven and also in earth. Well, we've spoken of the earthly God is going to fulfill his promises. He had a testimony and there were those who valued that city of the great King, the place Jerusalem is going to be the center, the joy of the whole earth.
When? In the coming day. But you and I, brethren, we belong to heaven, we're partakers of the heavenly calling, We're part of that church which He purchased with his own blood. And this is brought before us in the Epistle to the Ephesians.
What a wonderful time it was on the day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God came down and they were all baptized by 1 Spirit into one body. Whether they were Jews or Gentiles, all were brought into that one body. How wonderful that was was formed. At first there were only those of Israel. Then we know that the door was open to the Gentiles and they were brought in too. But there is only one.
Body and God gave a testimony in connection with that and I believe first of all we should see what the church really is. The church is the body of Christ. We have this in the prayer of the apostle here. If you notice in this first chapter.
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The 15th verse.
Ephesians 115 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, or your heart 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 Saints.
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 at his own right hand in the heavenly places, 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. And has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that filleth All in all.
Here's a secret that was in the heart of God.
Was never revealed until it was made known to Paul who is caught up to the 3rd heaven. We've spoken of this earthly purpose, but God has a distinct purpose for blessing in the heavenlies and we who believe the gospel we are part of that heavenly company tells us in Philippians.
Our conversation or our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
When the Thessalonians were saved, they were waiting for God's Son from heaven.
It says in Hebrews that here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come. Israel had a city, the city of the great king, and it's going to be blessed in the coming day. Brethren, we are heavenly people. It's very important that we realize this in connection with what the church is in this world. The idea of the church has been lost in the minds of many, and they think of an organization.
But in reality, the church is not an organization. Perhaps it could be called an Organism because.
It's composed of members of the one body, and the head is in heaven. And Pauls desire in this prayer for this was his prayer for the dear Saints at Ephesus, that they might, that the eyes of their hearts might be opened, and that they would know what was the real hope of their calling.
I believe it's so important for us, I say again, to realize that we belong to heaven. We're not here to make this world a better place. The Church's business is not to improve this world. We're called from above and heavenly men by birth, who once were but the citizens of earth. Oh, may we be brought to realize this, brethren. And on the day of Pentecost, the Spirit of God came down.
And as I mentioned, with my one spirit, they were baptized.
Into one body that someone has illustrated it there were be like if I had about 120 beads here and then I took a string and put it through them and I hold it up to you and now you say, well you've got a necklace now well there were about 120 individual believers, but when the Spirit of God came down those 120 were.
Added were formed together. That was the formation of the Church, the body of Christ.
Upon earth, people sometimes say, what's the head of your church? Well, there's only one head, and that is the Lord Jesus is the head of the body, the church.
Now individuals are added, the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Very often in Christendom we hear it's sad. Well after you're saved and join the Church of your choice, but it's not our choice. The Lord Jesus said you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.
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The Church is his choice. He chose us out of this world to be part of the bride of His Son.
Oh, when you think of these wonderful councils that were in the heart of God, hidden there from ages and from generations, and then revealed after the Lord Jesus had accomplished that blessed and glorious work upon the cross. So the head of the body is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the head of the body. You don't join us when you are saved. The Lord adds you to the church and you.
One Well, when the day of Pentecost came in the second chapter of Acts, it says they were all with one accord in one place, and the Spirit of God came down and they were all baptized by 1 Spirit into one body. That was how it began. I say again, and now there's the adding taking place. How lovely it was at the beginning to see that oneness displayed. No one said that what he had was.
They had all things common. There was a wonderful display of that oneness. But the enemy didn't like that. And through the book of the Acts we see how he brought in different things. He first tried to introduce evil, and then God dealt with that. And Ananias and Sapphira were smitten dead, and he tried to get them quarreling between themselves.
And so that they would.
Fiat murmuring between the Grecians and the Hebrews.
Because they felt that some were getting a little bit more than another. But God ordered that that should be settled in a way that displayed His grace. And all through the book of the Acts, when the Gentiles were saved, there was little prejudice that didn't want to receive these Gentiles into this. But God showed that he had received them. And Peter explains how he had gone down there, and the Holy Spirit came.
As on us at the beginning, there weren't to be two distinct companies, Jews and Gentiles, sad to say, and Christendom. We have what are called national churches, but there's only one church and that is that which was formed here that we have read about. And the apostles prayer in this chapter was that they might that the eyes of their hearts might be opened and that they might know the.
That they had been brought into dear young people, do we realize the position that we have been brought into does that? Does everyone here know that when you were saved, the Holy Spirit of God united you to every other believer on the face of the earth and to Christ the head in glory? That's what the church is now. The enemy doesn't want to see a practical manifestation of this oneness, and he's going to do just like he did with.
Israel, he brought in that division, the 10 tribes and the two, he led the people in heart away from the Lord until finally God had a deal. But it didn't change the fact that they were one nation before God. And it's very beautiful to see that little remnant coming back, such a small number in comparison with the vast number in the nation, the nation offering 12 bullets for all Israel.
Even Elijah when he was bringing before the people a true God.
He took an altar of 12 Stones to recognize that the nation was one.
Well, the apostles desire in this prayer was that they might know the hope of His calling. What is Our Calling while we're waiting for God's Son from heaven? Waiting for the time, brethren, when the church will be presented a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. What a blessed hope. A few of us are here today, but if the Lord should give the shout.
All those who are his indwelled by the Spirit of God.
Be caught up, and what a day it will be when the Church is presented, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And so this power has been manifested. Christ is raised. Perhaps we could say then, that this first prayer was that they might know how richly they were blessed.
But has sometimes been said, it isn't what we know that governs our lives, isn't what we know that really molds our character. It's what we enjoy. It's what we enjoy. So there's another prayer of the apostle brought before us in the end of the third chapter.
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For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, verse fourteen, 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 bread.
And length and depth and height, and to know the love of Christ to which.
Pass with knowledge that you might be filled 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, unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end.
We could say that this prayer of the apostle was that they might enjoy what was given to them.
How are you and I enjoying what we have in Christ?
Someone has said you can be as clear as an icicle and justice as cold and we can know a lot of truth, but if it doesn't touch our hearts, why it doesn't really do us any good. Brethren, God wants us to be enjoying our portion in Christ. We might indeed mourn as we see the breakdown and failure that has come in that God is calling upon us to rejoice here.
In knowing how richly and abundantly we have been blessed. And so he said, strengthened by his Spirit in the inner man, No, there's a conflict because all the array, all the powers of the enemy are arrayed against this wonderful truth that God is, is accomplishing in this world.
And as we have in the last, which we'll look at the whole armor of God.
I've been thinking quite a little bit of that verse. 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.
We don't wrestle against flesh and blood, brethren. We love all those that are Christ. There's just as much members of the body of Christ as we are. We love them all. The conflict isn't that. The conflict is that the enemy doesn't want us to be walking in the practical good and blessing of this in our souls. We wrestle not. It's the power of the enemy that seeks to hinder those who are the Lords from enjoying what their portion.
Is and this was what Paul brings before them here in the 17th verse, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith. This is a practical side of things. He does dwell in the hearts of all believers. Christ in you. The hope of glory we have in Colossians, but maybe that is not practical in our lives. That is, we're not.
It isn't. We're not thinking daily that he is.
Dwelling in our hearts and we're not walking in the enjoyment of it. And then it says may be able to comprehend with All Saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height. Many dear Christians are just satisfied to know that they're saved, that their sins are forgiven and that they're going to heaven. But God is not satisfied that we shouldn't know all that he has purpose for us.
That's supposing there's a young man, he's going to be married.
He has a beautiful home that he has particularly prepared for the bride whom he loves. He wants her to see that home that is going to be her home that she can enjoy. And he brings her there and he brings her in the front door. And when she gets inside the front door, she said, I'm satisfied. I don't want to see anything more to the house. I'm just satisfied to be inside the door.
I wonder what he would say. Oh dear, I want you to enjoy all that I've prepared for you. And so he leads her from room to room. Every room is more beautiful than the one before, and she's just filled with admiration when she sees all that has been prepared. Brethren, isn't it true that very often we stop and just say, Well, we have it expressed in a little hymn, Trembling.
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Hope for mercy. Some low place within his door, but the crown, the throne, the mansion.
Already long before and in past and distant ages.
Here we were.
All He won with us to share. He had prepared all this for us in the eternal counsels of God, and He wants us to enter into how richly we are blessed. God could not have blessed us more richly than He has. A thing that He has given to us is the very best that God Himself can give when we think of this earth and how wonderful it is.
Just think of what is ahead for us who are Christians. So he said he wants us to know the length and bread. I want to encourage all you and you dear young people, don't just be satisfied that you're saved. God wants you to enjoy your portion in Christ. Have you read your whole Bible? It's all important we find there is. Read the Bible to the people.
And he gave the sense he wanted them to understand.
The reading and God wants you and I to know what is ours. How sad it is if I got a letter when I was away from my wife and I just read the first page and I enjoyed the first page so much I sat down at I don't need to read the rest. What would you think of me?
Has written to us a letter to tell us what we were and what he has in his purposes and counsels for us. He wants us to know it all but I want you to notice here the little word and that comes at the first part of this 19th verse and to know the love of Christ now sometimes I think there's a thought that it's.
It's the love of Christ, the length and breadth and depth and height of the love of Christ. But I believe it's an.
To know the love of Christ, Let me go on with my illustration a little bit and put it this way.
Supposing when this young man has shown his bride all that he has prepared in this grand home that he has built for her, and he says, I was thinking of you and your happiness when I build it. And then when she's seen it all, he says, and I want you to know it's all been prepared in love. And he puts his arm around her. Now she knows. And it was love.
Oh, friends, the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge.
You and I can see the wonders of this world traveling about. Perhaps we see some wonderful things, but how long is it going to take God to show us what our portion is?
That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his race in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. Now the little hymn says, Thou hast begun to show me, Lord, but what shall be the ending?
I've touched the fringe of what thou art and this is joy transcending. I'm only on the rippling shore, loves ocean depths are all before.
The enemy wants to get us down, brethren. He wants to get us depressed. He wants to get us sad. You can understand, perhaps, what Nehemiah meant when he said that they shouldn't be sad. They should be rejoicing. It isn't that we don't feel things. We do feel things. If we have the heart of Christ at all, We feel things. But, brethren, let's not allow all the difficulties that the enemy has succeeded in bringing in to rob us of our joy in the Lord.
I really believe that what the enemy is doing is getting us occupied with all these things that are going on in order to keep us from two things, from enjoying our portion in Christ and to hinder in the outreach to sinners because we're not happy, we're not telling others of His love. It's when our own hearts are overflowing with His love that we want to go and tell others of these wonderful things.
So the second prayer was that they should enjoy it.
By saying now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. We sometimes think of this in connection with answered prayer. Well, that's very lovely too. But I believe, brethren, it's a little deeper thought than that. He does more than we can ask her if they can answer to our prayers. But if God had come to any one of us sitting in this room and said, I'd like to bless you.
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Tell me.
How you, how you would like me to bless you? Well, a lot of us can think of some things that we'd ask for and things that we really would like the Lord to do for us. Would any of us ever have thought of be asking to be part of His bride, to share that place of glory with Him and to be in the enjoyment of it? In a land where there's no sickness, no sorrow, no crying or pain? Would we have asked for that? Would we have even thought about it?
He has purposed that and He's able to do it. We purpose things and we're not able to do it, but He's able to do it. So what does He do? He just breaks out in praise unto Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus. How can we sit here in His presence and think of this?
And not be just rejoicing in what He has done for us.
Well, brethren, the enemy is at work, we find in the 4th chapter.
Paul was in prison in the first verse. He said, I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as you are called.
In one hope of your calling, here we in the 4th chapter. He begins with exhortations. There is one body, that's a fact. We have nothing to do with that. We can't change it. It's true. Every believer on the face of the earth.
When he accepts, the Lord Jesus as Savior becomes part of that one body.
He becomes part of it by receiving Christ and by the indwelling of the Spirit of God.
And now he's part of that one body. But we're to endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit.
We know speaking again of Israel's history, the 10 tribes, Satan succeeded in bringing in a division and God allowed it in his governmental ways because it tells us that Rioboom would like to have brought back the ones that had left. But God said, this thing is from me. We have to submit to God's hand.
Was it because the two tribes were better? I say again, brethren, He preserved a light in Jerusalem for his servant David's sake.
The prophet, I think it was Jeremiah, told them that they hadn't responded to the Lord's claims any more than the 10 tribes. It wasn't because they were better. It was the faithfulness of God. And brethren, if there is a testimony preserved to the truth of the one body on earth, let's not lift our heads and say we're better. It's the faithfulness of God that preserves such a testimony.
What a privilege to be identified with such a testimony.
To endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
The enemy is at work, but isn't it blessed to know that it isn't our faithfulness, but we can count upon God. But He has marked out a path in His Word for us. He hasn't left us to our own devices. And our brother brought before us yesterday the truth of how God has ordered things and set up authority, and so on, so that such a testimony might be maintained.
For his own glory. And I was interested in what he mentioned about the three things.
The Lord's Supper, the Lords Table and the Lords Day. I thought there was a very lovely thing to think about. What is the Lord's Supper? Well, it was our privilege this morning to partake of the Lord's Supper. It was a reminder of the cost by which we have been blessed.
We as the bread was broken and we partook of it, we look back to Calvary and we thought of our precious Savior.
It says this is my body which is given for you. This do in remembrance of Me. Doesn't it move your heart? Is there a young person here that knows the Lord? And your heart hasn't been touched by the Lord's desire that we should remember what He has done for us? And that cop telling us of how he bore the judgment in order that the blessing might be ours, He shed his precious blood.
The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son.
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Carving, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus. That's the Lord's Supper, the precious remembrance of what he has done for us. But the 10th chapter of First Corinthians gives us the Lord's Table, the Lord's Table.
And pardon me for saying this, but I say I believe it's the truth of God that the Lord's table is only used the once, as our brother mentioned in the New Testament to show us that we cannot call anything the Lord's table. That is not an expression of the truth of the one body. The only place in New Testament where the truth of the Lord.
Lord's Table is mentioned.
The loaf on the table is the symbol of the one body, and that's why we often say we're gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
On the ground of the one body. Do you think the enemy likes to see a testimony to that? Didn't he do everything he could to spoil the fact that Israel were one nation, That God wanted to bless them as one nation, He was continually against them?
He he did all he could, and he, Satan, will always will you wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world funds against spiritual wickedness in high places. The enemy doesn't want us to enjoy this precious privilege at his table, at his table.
You say, well there are many places that could be called the Lord's Table not in Scripture.
The only thing that's called the Lord's table is where there is the expression of the one body and how few Christians there are that realize that that one loaf is a testimony to that one blessed and glorious truth, that there is one body and then it says the Lord's Day. Well, I believe that's important too. This is a very special day.
The Lord's Day, we can be thankful for the liberties that we have. John was in the Isle of Patmos. He could have said, well, they don't observe the Lord's Day here because he said I'm in exile here and every day is alike here. I'm just in exile. No, every day wasn't alike to him. He was in the spirit on the Lord's Day.
Brethren, the Lord's Day is important too. May the Lord grant that we may value this day, the day that reminds us of the mighty triumph of the Lord Jesus when he rose from the dead and was seated at the right hand of God.
Yes, that's where he is now. He's up there. And do we recognize his rights and his authority and I especially today as we think of it?
We came to partake of the Lord's Supper.
I believe we came to give expression to the truth that there is one body and we did it on his day, his day.
Well, what a great privilege, desire as well. There's one more prayer in this. I just like to say in the 6th chapter, we have the whole armor of God and we need the whole armor of God. I just mentioned briefly here. We have a few minutes and I would like to say it says in the 10th verse of the 6th chapter. Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God that she may be able to stand against.
Wiles of the 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. Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand an evil day, and having done all, to stand. Now I'd like to just point out briefly these parts of the armour, the loins.
With truth.
The lawyers speak of the desires. It says gird up the loins of your mind, be sober. And so I believe the loins speak of our desire. How? How needful that we keep our desires under control, under the control of the word of God. You say, well, I'd like this and I'd like that and I'd like the other thing, but would you like something if it wasn't according to truth?
Would the new man really desire to have anything that was not according to the?
Truth of God.
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Having on the breastplate of righteousness the affections kept under control by the claims of divine righteousness. Sometimes we want like a can. He wanted something, he really wanted something, and he let his desires go out. He loved that wedge of gold, that goodly Babylonian garment, and it robbed him of the.
Blessing of the land that God had given.
The heart that desires under control feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. I believe particularly this means that the Christian is a man of peace, not peace at the expense of truth. But I believe where it says preaching peace by Jesus Christ.
We go through this world, you can't enjoy the peace of God unless we're walking according to His Word. God won't give us that peace in our souls. But isn't it nice when?
Your brother comes, and you feel that when he comes, there's peace there, and there is peace bread. And if we walk in obedience to the Word, the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.
It's nice to meet brethren and to feel that they're just going on in peace because they're seeking to walk in obedience to the Word of God.
Then says above all, taking the shield of faith, for with you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked, Now we need that shield of faith. Satan is constantly trying to put doubts in our minds.
Perhaps some real Christians even. Doubts about salvation, doubts about their pathway, doubts about the place where the Lord would have them to be. We need the shield of faith to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
For my own self, I find the need of this. When adverse things happen, we need the shield of faith that is confidence in God just leaves matters. God has allowed a great shaking to take place among his people. If we count upon God, we can go on. The Lord is in control, everything's in his hands.
Our only responsibility is to walk in obedience to the word of God and leave the all the rest with him. And then it says.
For an helmet, the hope of salvation, I believe that's the Lords coming. That is referred to. What are our thoughts, you say, Well, I hope sometime this will get straightened out. Our hope is the Lords coming. It may not have sometimes told a little incident about some brethren who were coming out of a care meeting in an assembly and one they had a lot of problems and one brother said to the other.
Oh brother, when is this all going to end? The brother said. At the coming of the Lord.
There will always be conflict here, brethren, but for a helmet, the hope of salvation, everything's going to be right up there. Everything's going to be explained. All the hard questions are going to be answered. Let's lift the shield of faith and have the helmet of salvation. And in the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, that is, this is our only offensive weapon. It isn't, I think.
Or a group of us think this now the offensive weapon is the word of God.
The sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit. How often you and I have had some thought in our minds that a brother quoted a verse of Scripture it just caught. We saw that we were wrong. And so the sword of the spirit, that's the only offensive weapon we have.
And so this was the armor and then it says, and this was the last prayer that I wanted to mention, praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints business lovely. After giving us all these things, we have the two prayers of the apostle. First, that we might know how richly were blessed. Secondly, the prayer that we might be.
Women have the blessing that we have, and then conscious of how busy the enemy is, how strong he is there, but he's not as strong as the Lord. Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and in the confidence in Him. We just commit the matter to him. Oh brethren, may our daily prayer be preserved. May, O God, for indeed do I put my trust. There's not one of us here.
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Can say, well, I'm going to continue in the path. If we start boasting brethren, we may be the first. I heard it with my own ears, a brother in a meeting many, many years ago and I heard him say I haven't missed a prayer meeting for 50 years unless there was a good reason and I don't intend to. And before a couple of years he was outside the assembly.
Brethren, let's not boast if we have learned these things.
Only the Lord can keep us. Let's keep our heads down. We're not better than anybody else, but His grace has picked us up, has shown us wonderful things. May we walk in the good and blessedness of them as we await the Lord's return. He only can keep us.
Christ's Manhood
Address—C. Hendricks
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Begin tonight by reading a verse from First Timothy three First Timothy chapter 3, verse 16 and without controversy. Great is the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the spirit scene of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
There are six things mentioned here. I want to talk about the 1St 1:00 tonight.
God was manifest in the flesh.
Think of that.
Think of that statement, that momentous statement. God was manifest in the flesh. God became a man.
The person of Christ, who is he? Do you know Him?
Do you know who he is?
We sometimes speak of other truths developed from this, but this is the most basic, the most fundamental of all truths.
The person of Christ who he is. There's one more verse in Second Epistle of John I'd like to call your attention to.
Second John.
7.
For many deceivers are entered into the world who confess not that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.
This is a deceiver in an Antichrist. I'm going to read that just a little differently. Notice the difference for many deceivers are entered into the world who confess, not Jesus Christ coming in flesh.
They didn't so much the confession that he came, but the person who came.
It's the confession of the person who came to talk of any of us in the room here tonight as coming in flesh really doesn't make much sense because that's the only way we can come. We're just humans, men and women, boys and girls. The only way we can come into this world is is in the flesh. But here's the confession of a person that existed before he became flesh.
The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
John says, And we beheld his glory, the glory as of an only begotten with the Father, full of grace and truth.
God was manifest in the flesh, and it's this is this confession that John is talking about here to this elect lady and her children is the confession of His person, He who came in flesh. Coming in flesh brings before us His manhood, His humanity. He who came is his deity. God became a man, the most stupendous, one of the most stupendous truths of all Scripture.
And then in verse nine he says, Whosoever transgresseth and abideth not.
In the doctrine of Christ, he's just talked about the doctrine of Christ in verse seven. It's God manifest in the flesh, the person who came in flesh confessing him, and it says he that abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God.
He's warning this Christian lady, this elect lady and her children, that if one should come to her door purporting to be a Christian teacher and doesn't bring the doctrine of Christ the truth as to who he is, she's not to receive him.
It says verse nine again, Whosoever abideth not in the doctrine of Christ hath not God. Then he says it in the positive way, he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. So not to not to abide in the doctrine of Christ, and hold it in your soul.
You don't have God, you don't know him, you're not saved.
If you don't know who Jesus is and believe it in your innermost soul that he is very God and very man.
It says you don't have God, but he that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, He is both the Father and the Son.
Now he says to this elect lady and her children, verse 10, if there come any unto you and bring not this doctrine, this basic truth. Now we're not talking tonight about something non essential. There are a lot of things that.
Are non essentials. We're talking about the most essential and basic and fundamental truth in all of scripture. Who is he?
And if you're not clear on that, you haven't even taken Step 1 towards into the Christian life.
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If there come any unto you purportedly a Christian teacher, and brings you not the doctrine of Christ, the word to this elect lady is, don't receive him into your house, neither bidding Godspeed.
This is so serious that she is told have no fellowship with him. close the door.
Now we're going to look at the doctrine of Christ tonight, and we'll turn back to Genesis chapter 3.
Genesis chapter 3 describes how Satan deceived Eve and she ate of the forbidden fruit, gave it to her husband Adam, and he ate and sin entered into the world.
We will pick up the story in Genesis 3 at verse 14. This is after they had fallen into sin and the Lord God said unto the serpent.
In the Satan, in the form of a serpent, because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field. Upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat. All the days of light life. And I will put enmity between thee. God, the Lord is speaking to the serpent, to Satan I will put enmity between thee and the woman.
And between thy seed and her seed.
It that is, her seed shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. Another translation renders that it The seed of the woman shall crush thy head, and thou shalt crush his heel. Now no sooner did sin enter into this world than God speaks of a coming Savior, a coming Redeemer.
And he's called here the seed of the woman, and he says you have deceived Eve.
And through the woman you have introduced sin, man is held accountable. The Bible says by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. And yet it was really Eve that did it. But Adam was responsible. He was the head. And so he's held accountable for what he allowed his wife to do, and then he followed suit.
You know, everyone wants to be the boss.
A lot of people do anyway to be the head. It's a sound thing to be in that position because you're then accountable. You're accountable for what happens.
So man is held accountable.
While it was the woman, the weaker vessel, the one who should have kept her place of subjection to her head. Adam.
And turn the whole thing over, the whole question that she, the whole discourse that she had with the serpent, she should have turned that all over to Adam and retired in the background. But instead she took the lead and Adam allowed it, and sin entered into the world. So he enters through the weaker vessel and deceives her and seduces her to believe the lie, and sin enters in. So God says the seed of the woman, the very woman that you used to introduce sin.
The seed of the woman, the one that comes from her, is going to crush the serpent's head.
And in the process of crushing the serpent's head, he would have his heel crushed, and that was the cross.
That was when the Lord Jesus died on the cross. He paid the penalty for sin.
And he suffered, but he crushed and destroyed the power of Satan, who through death destroyed him that had the power of death, and delivered them, who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to *******. So here we have the first prophecy, if you will, the first promise, the first announcement of a coming Redeemer.
And that is the seed of the woman. It the seed of the woman shall crush thy head. Now let's turn to Isaiah chapter.
7.
Isaiah 7 verse 10 Moreover, the Lord spake again unto Ahaz, saying, Ask the assign of the Lord thy God, Ask it either in the depth or in the height above. But Ahaz said, I will not ask, neither will I tempt the Lord. And he said, Hear ye now, O House of David, is it a small thing for you to weary men? But will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign.
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You hold a virgin.
Shall conceive.
And bear a son, and shall call his name Emmanuel. Now here in this one verse in Isaiah 7.
We have the doctrine of Christ. The Virgin conceives and bears a son. That's his humanity. He's born a man child into the world and his name is called Emmanuel, which means God with us. God was manifest in the flesh, a truth that you and I cannot with our finite puny minds really grasp. God and man in one person.
In fact, the Word tells us that it says no man knoweth the Son but the Father. He only knows Him. He is past our ability to really understand how God and man could be united in one person.
We have a tremendous verse in Colossians 2. It says, For in him Speaking of Christ dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead, the Godhead, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all the fullness of Deity dwells in him. And then the last word of that sentence is the crown jewel of the sentence bodily.
In that man all the fullness of the Godhead dwells.
Now just feed on that for a moment. Think upon it.
Can you grasp it? Can you grasp all the fullness of deity dwelling in a man?
But that was true of him.
That was true of the baby.
That was born of the virgin.
Well, there are some modern translations that read verse 14. Behold, a young woman shall conceive and bear. A son should call his name Emmanuel.
Well, that wouldn't have been a sign, because a young woman conceiving and bearing a son, that happens every day. There's nothing unusual about that. There's no.
Significant sign in that. But for a virgin to conceive and bear a son, that indeed is a sign.
The seed of the woman.
And so the Virgin conceives. Now the correct, the more correct, the more literal translation says, Behold, the Virgin shall conceive and bear a son.
And she'll call his name Emmanuel. Not any virgin would have met the conditions necessary to bear the Messiah.
She had to be of a certain lineage, had to have a certain genealogy, she had to be there at a certain time so as to fulfill the prophetic word, so that when the Messiah came, he came exactly according to the prophetic clock.
And he came through the through through the line that we have outlined in the Gospel according to Luke in the genealogy there.
The virgin conceives and bears a son. Now let's let's not argue.
With anyone about whether that Hebrew word rendered virgin, I don't know Hebrew that well means always virgin or could bear the meaning of young woman, but it means here virgin. The context proves it. And all we're going to look at in the New Testament how the Spirit of God guards the person of Christ, especially his humanity. We're going to look at passage after passage after passage.
To substantiate.
These truths that we've been looking at, He is the seed of the woman born of the virgin. If he isn't that, we don't have a savior.
If he isn't that there is no savior for mankind and there's no gospel, there's no good news. Christ is the good news. Christ is the gospel. And if he is not all that the word of God says he was to be.
Then he is not our Savior, but he is all notice. Now we turn to the New Testament. Matthew chapter one, Matthew's Gospel chapter one I'm going to read.
The genealogy. I'll read it quickly and you'll notice one word that is emphasized in this genealogy in Matthew, which happens to be Joseph's genealogy. The word is begat. We'll read it over and over again. The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. Abraham begat Isaac and Isaac begat Jacob, and Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.
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And Judas begat Pharaohs, and Zahra of Themar, And Pharaohs begat Ezram, and Esrim begat Arum, and Arum begat Aminadab, and Aminadab begat Niacin.
And they asked and begat Salman and Salman begat Boaz of Reykjav, and Boaz begat obit of Ruth, and Obed begat Jesse and Jesse begat David the king, and David the king begat Solomon of her that had been the wife of Urias.
And Solomon begat Roboam, and Rabon begat Abaya, and Abaya begat ASA, and ASA begat Josephat, and Josephat begat Jorem. And Joram begat Ozias, And Ozias begat Jotham. And Jotham begat Akaz, And Acas begat as a Caius, and as a Chaos begat Menasses, And Menasses begat Ammon, and Ammon begat Josius, and Josias begat Jekyas and his brethren about the time they were carried away to Babylon.
And after they were brought to Babylon, Jeconius begat Salathiol.
And celestial begets a robabel, and Zerubbabel began to buy it. And Abaya begat Eliakim, and Eliakim begat Azor, and Azor begat Sedic, and Sedic begat Akum, and Akum begat Eliad, and Eliad begat Eliezer, And Eliezer begat Matt Fan.
And Matt then begat Jacob. Now notice, and Jacob begat Joseph.
It does not say, and it could not say, Joseph begat Jesus.
It says Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.
Who is called Christ?
Joseph is never called in the scriptures. Jesus Father.
By the Holy Spirit.
He's called that by others, but not by the Holy Spirit. The Spirit of God guards against doing that.
But Mary is called over and over again. His mother.
Over and over again, for she was He was the seed of the woman. He came through Mary. But Joseph had nothing whatsoever to do with that conception or that begetting.
Jacob begat Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus.
Who is called Christ? So all the generations from Abraham to David are 14 generations.
And from David until the carrying away into Babylon are 14 generations. And from the carrying away into Babylon unto Christ are 14 generations.
I just want to make this comment.
The.
The church that claims to be.
The Bride of Christ.
Calls Mary the mother of God.
Scripture never does.
Scripture calls Mary his mother, refers to Mary as his mother, but it's always the Mary as the mother of his humanity. You see, God has no mother, only a father. The Lord Jesus as God has no mother, only a father. The Lord Jesus as man has no father, only a mother.
No earthly father.
For Joseph had nothing whatsoever to do with that birth, with that conception genetically.
Nothing. And we'll see how the Spirit of God guards this Now verse 18, the birth of Jesus Christ.
Was on this wise when as his mother Mary often she's called that over and over again by the Spirit of God when as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph. Notice the guard here before they came together she was found with child of the Holy Ghost.
Then Joseph, her husband, being a just man and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily.
But while he thought on these things, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. Now if you have a margin in your Bible, I have one in mind. And there's a note there by the word conceived, and it reads Greek begotten. The word really is begotten. Matthew does not talk about.
Mary conceiving Matthew talks about the Holy Ghost begetting.
In contrast to all those begettings that we read of Indiana, the genealogy recorded in Matthew, it's man begetting man begetting man begetting. Man begets and the woman conceives. That's the normal birth. Every one of us in the room here tonight is the seed of man.
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There was only one man in this world that was called the seed of the woman.
And that's the one who was virgin born. That's the one whom man had nothing to do with connection with that begetting.
He was begotten in the power of the Holy Spirit, so this ought to read. That which is begotten in her is of the Holy Ghost.
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus.
For he shall save his people from their sins. Jesus, the most wonderful word in in all of creation, Jesus, meaning Jehovah, the Savior God. Jehovah God manifest in the flesh, the Savior. He became a man in order that he might die for us on the cross, shed his precious blood, cleanse us from the stain of our sins, and become our Savior.
But before he could do that, he had to come God's way.
According to the Word. And so He did, He was begotten by the power of the Holy Ghost.
Joseph had nothing whatsoever to do with that. And Luke speaks of Mary conceiving, and Matthew speaks of the Holy Ghost in place of man begetting, and his name is called Jesus.
For He shall save his people from their sins. There you have the double truth, God and man in one person.
Now all this was done that it might be fulfilled, which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying now he quotes Isaiah 714. Behold, a virgin shall be with child. There's no question about the meaning of this Greek word translated virgin. It means virgin and it has to, of course, according to the Scriptures, a virgin shall be with child and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel.
Which, being interpreted, is God with us, and there we have the doctrine of Christ.
God and Man in one person.
The Virgin bringing forth that man child, his humanity, and his name is called God with us, Emmanuel. Then Joseph being raised from sleep, that is, the Angel of the Lord, had bidden him, and took unto him his wife. And notice now he knew her not till she had brought forth her first born son, and he called his name Jesus.
Now it says in verse 18 in the middle of the verse.
Before they came together, she was found with Child of the Holy Ghost.
And this last verse adds the additional truth that he knew her not until the child was born. So that whole nine month development period, which I take to be quite normal, the the miracle in the birth of Christ was the conception. The begetting man had nothing to do with the begetting.
Of that man child he was the seed, of the woman, where the seed of man, He was the seed of the woman. So Joseph knew her not till she had brought forth her first born son. And he called his name Jesus. And after that they lived a normal married life and Jesus had half brothers through his mother Mary.
But there was no relationship, marriage relationship between Joseph and Mary until after the first born was born.
And that's so important, the Spirit of God guarding, so that there can't possibly be the thought that that Joseph had anything to do with this, this son.
Now, chapter 2. Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, in the days of Herod the King, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem. What we're reading here took place a little bit short of two years after his birth.
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 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. Notice that's a capital G It's referring to God, deity, a governor.
That shall rule my people, Israel. This is the Messiah. Now then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, 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. I want to call your attention to that expression, the young child. We're going to read it over and over again in this chapter. It sets him off and apart from the others, the one in this case, Herod, who was seeking him. He wanted.
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Kill him under the pretense that he wanted to worship him, but really he hated him. And but the young child is an expression we will meet with in this chapter over and over again, so watch it, and when you have found him, bring me word again that I may come and worship him also. His intent was to kill him. 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.
And when they saw the star, they rejoiced with exceeding great joy. And when they were coming to the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down. And you'll find the young child and marry his mother are always put together because she was his mother. She was the mother of his humanity.
Joseph never called his father because he was only his legal father. He was not genetically so.
When they were coming to 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, His deity, His God, frankincense, His humanity, perfect man, and myrrh. His sufferings by which He has atone for our sins, shed His precious blood that cleanses from our sins.
And being warned of God in a dream that they should not return to Herod, they departed into their own country another way.
And when they were departed, behold, the Angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, notice the language now.
And take the young child and his mother. It is not arise and take your wife and son.
No, the Spirit of God doesn't speak that way. Arise and take the young child and his mother. Joseph is here viewed as being often a part from the young child and his mother. They're coupled together. They're put together by the Spirit of God, and Joseph is just, you might say, one that takes them along.
Legal father, yes, but not really. So he had no human father.
Arise and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word. For Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose, he took the young child and his mother.
By night and departed into Egypt, and he was there until the death of Herod, that it might be fulfilled. Which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying out of Egypt, have I called my son? Who is speaking my son? Who's speaking God? Is God the Father speaking? He's my son.
And the one that can call him my son was either God the Father referring to him.
In that eternal relationship that he had with him as the Son from all eternity, or Mary could say my Son.
Actually so because.
He was her son.
As a man.
Out of Egypt have I called my son. Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in all the coasts thereof, from 2 years old and under. He wanted to be sure for this calculation that he got that child.
According to the time which he had diligently inquired of the wise men.
Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet saying in Ramah was there a voice heard lamentation and weeping and great morning. Rachel weeping for her children and would not be comforted because they are not.
But when Herod was dead, behold, an Angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt, saying, again, notice the language, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and go into the land of Israel, for they are dead, which sought the young child's life. And he arose and took the young child and his mother, and came into the land of Israel.
And when he heard that Achilles did reign in Judea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither, notwithstanding.
Being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee, and He came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets. He should be called a Nazarene, a despised, hated, rejected, outcast, a Nazarene. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?
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Now let's turn to Luke's Gospel chapter 3. We'll read a few verses from chapter 3 to start with.
Luke, it has often been said, gives us moral order. Mark gives us especially chronological order, order in time, one event in time after the other. But Luke gives us moral order. You will see that in what we're going to read here. Luke 3, verse 19. But had the Tetrarch being reproved by him for Herodias, his brother Philip's wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, added this. Yet above all, and that he shut up John in prison.
Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also being baptized and praying that heaven was opened, and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him. And a voice came from heaven and said, Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased, who? Speaking the Father, the Father speaking from heaven, declaring Thou art my beloved Son, and whom I'm well pleased.
There we have his deity, his father.
He was always his father. Notice now the very next verse and Jesus himself began to be about 30 years of age being Here's the guard.
By the Holy Spirit being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, which was the son of Eli, which was the son of Matt that and so on. Now I said before, and I just want to make this comment, that.
This is the genealogy of Mary. Matthew gives you the genealogy of Joseph.
The son of Eli, Well, it was common in those days. Actually, he lies.
Offspring was Mary. This is Mary's genealogy, so it ought to be. The real thought is which was the son-in-law.
Of Joseph, excuse me, which was the son-in-law of Eli? Joseph was the son-in-law of Eli, that is, this is Mary's daughter. Eli was the father of Mary, and Joseph was his son by marriage. Very common in in Hebrew and in biblical language. So we have in Luke the genealogy of Mary, and his humanity is traced.
All the way through. Read the last verse 38 which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God. Adam is here called the Son of God by creation. He was created directly from the hand of God. So he was the Son of God as created. The angels are called sons of God also because they are created directly by God.
But the Lord Jesus is the Son of God, not by creation.
But he is the Son of God from all eternity. It is an eternal relationship that he had with the Father. For all three persons of the Trinity are God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. But this genealogy traces him back to Adam.
Giving us his true humanity. And from whom did he derive his humanity was From his mother, not from his.
Legal father who had nothing to do with his birth.
But from his mother.
Scripture says he was born of a woman.
Born under law that he might redeem them that were under law.
Born of a woman.
Revelation 12 Says pictures the woman bearing a man child.
And we know that Israel but came through Mary, and she bore the manchild who would be the Redeemer, the seed of the woman. Now let's turn back while the guard here is being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph.
Let's turn back to Luke chapter one verse.
24.
And after those days, his wife Elizabeth conceived and hid herself five months saying.
Thus hath the Lord dealt with me in the days wherein He looked on me in mine affliction.
He looked on me to take away my reproach among men. And in the sixth month the Angel Gabriel was sent from God into a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph of the House of David. The virgin's name was Mary. And the Angel came in unto her and said, Hail thou that art highly favored, the Lord is with thee.
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Blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
We read in Daniel's prophecy that the Antichrist would not regard the desire of women.
Well, what was the desire of women? The desire of a godly Jewish woman was to bear the Messiah.
To bear the Christ.
And here is this Jewish maiden that has been selected by the Spirit of God to be the mother.
Of the Lord's humanity.
Highly favored. The Angel said unto her, verse 30 Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God, and behold, I shall conceive in thy womb, and there the word conceive is proper. Luke talks about Mary conceiving. Matthew talks about the Holy Ghost begetting.
Thou shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son, and shall call his name Jesus.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the highest, the highest the title for God.
And the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his Father David.
And he shall reign over the House of Jacob Forever, and of his Kingdom there shall be no end.
What a person is being announced here to her?
Then said Mary unto the Angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? She had no relationships, and no relationship with a man, with Joseph or any other man. She was the virgin.
Now verse 35 Tremendous, tremendous verse. And the Angel answered and said unto her, the Holy Ghost.
Shall come upon thee.
And the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
Notice it does not say.
Shall become the Son of God, it says, that holy thing which shall be born of these shall be called.
The Son of God. He was the Son of God from all eternity. We were looking this afternoon at Philippians 2, where it says he emptied himself. What did he empty himself of? Of the form of God by assuming the form of a servant. Did he empty himself of his love? No. Did he empty himself of His Holiness? No. Did he empty himself of his power? No.
He entered himself of His glory.
Is the outward form of God.
Did he empty himself of his sonship? No.
When he entered his own creation, he was called the Son of God.
Sun in time thou art my son, This day have I begotten thee.
Not the miserably poor and wretched translation. This day have I become your father?
He did not become his father when he was born in time. He did not become his father at any point in time.
He was always his father.
The Eternal Father, the Eternal Son, dwelling together in a past eternity in the blessedness of Deity.
He never became his father.
He was begotten in time as to his humanity.
And as that one that was born in time, he was called the Son of God. He carried his sonship into time.
He did not lay that aside.
Why does it say this holy thing?
Therefore that holy thing which shall be born of thee. I looked the word up in the original and it's it's the word holy in the neuter gender. If it was in the masculine gender, it would be holy one.
But it's holy thing. Why? Because he's talking about his holy humanity. His humanity was in the state of holiness.
When Adam was created, his humanity was in the state of innocence.
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Without sin, but capable of sinning. And when he took of the forbidden fruit with his wife Eve, sin entered into the world. Death by sin. So we're all sinners now. We all partake of sinful humanity. Adam's humanity did not change. He was still a man as much after the fall as before, but the state of his humanity changed. Changed from innocent.
To sinful We sometimes look at a newborn baby and we'll say that innocent little thing. They It's not an innocent little thing, it's a sinful little thing.
Because we're born in sin.
And shape and iniquity. There is no such thing as innocence as to the state of humanity any longer.
That was lost at the fall and when you're saved and when you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal savior, the one that shed his precious blood to cleanse you from your sins and to wash you white as snow to make you fit for heaven. When you're saved you you partake of a new nature, a new life which is holy just like Christ's. That first John three. I don't remember the verse 9. Whatever it is it says he that is born of God cannot.
Because his seed abideth in him, he cannot sin because he's born of God, he has that holy nature. And one of the blessed, the most blessed things of heaven is going to be we're not going to have the flesh anymore. We're not going to have that sinful nature. We're going to be before God in the in the very nature of Christ, that holy nature. So Christ humanity was holy. We've had three states of humanity innocent that's gone that will not be recovered, not returned to.
When you're saved, you don't go back to the paradise of Eden. That was wonderful, but it was lost by sin. But we're brought into a state of fixed and subsisting holiness in Christ. We partake of His holy life. So here it says, when he entered into the world, that holy thing referring to the holy nature of his humanity, which shall be born of thee, shall be called the Son of God.
And if you don't have that holy nature?
That holy life, if you're not born of God, if you don't partake of the divine nature by faith in Christ.
You'll not get there. You wouldn't be comfortable in heaven without a life that can enjoy him.
You need to be born of God.
You need two things as a Sinner. You need a new life, a new nature to enjoy Him, and you need to have your sins forgiven. And we have that through His precious blood.
His blood cleanses us from all sin.
Verse 35. I'll read it again it to me. It's such a thrilling verse. The Angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall over shadow thee. Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And behold, thy cousin Elizabeth, she hath also conceived the son of her old age, and this is the 6th month with her who was called barren, for with God nothing.
Shall be impossible. And Mary said, Behold beautiful, listen to what she says, behold the handmaid of the Lord.
Be it unto me according to thy word. And the Angel departed from her, She submits immediately. Immediately. No words like, Oh, I'm not worthy of this Lord. No, he just submits. He accepts what the Lord told her. I'm going to bear the Christ of God.
I'm going to bear the Son of God.
The most honored woman.
Indeed she was, and Mary arose in those days and went into the Hill Country.
With haste into a city of Judah, and entered into the House of Zacharias, and saluted Elizabeth.
And he came to pass, that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost. And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. And whence is this to me, that the Mother of my Lord should come to me for law? As soon as the voice of thy salutation sounded in my ears, the Bay bleeped in my womb for joy. And blessed is she that believed, for there shall be a performance of those things that were told her from the Lord.
And Mary said, my soul doth magnify the Lord.
And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. She needed a Savior like you and I. The doctrine of the Immaculate Conception of Mary is impossible.
Because she had an earthly father as well as an earthly mother, and so she was a Sinner, just like you and I are.
We're all born in sin, but when the Holy Ghost came upon Mary taking the place of an earthly father doing the begetting, He did the begetting.
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He preserved that holy humanity of Christ, so that none of the sinfulness of Mary's nature was transmitted to it, and He was that holy thing.
That was born by the preserving power of the Spirit of God.
And without that, it's impossible. Impossible that anyone.
Borne by the natural.
Process of man and woman Impossible that that product could be sinless. What the Lord Jesus, being the seed of the woman was the sinless one, His holy humanity? When you're asked the question, could the Lord Jesus have sinned? Can holiness sin? Holiness is delight in what is good and abhorrence of evil.
That's what it is.
It's essential truth of what holiness is.
Every suggestion to him towards sinning was painful and grievous and abhorrent to him because he was holy.
He could not sin because He was holy in humanity. He could not sin because He was God manifest in the flesh.
God would never unite to a sinful human being.
The doctrine of Christ.
Eternal.
He could not sin.
I love the one tract I picked up. It said could God Incarnate sin? The very question is answered by the by the way it's put could God Incarnate sin? Of course not. But he couldn't sin because of his holy humanity. We won't be able to sin.
We can't sin in our new nature. It's impossible because it's holy.
It's a life of Christ.
And all we're waiting for is the removal of the flesh.
At the resurrection and we will then be in a state of holiness.
Which is just like his as man.
Well.
Beautiful to read Mary's words. I want to get into the second chapter, so I'm going to Passover the rest of this in chapter one, just for the sake of time, and we'll read chapter 2. It came to pass in those days. There went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed. And this taxing was first made when Serenius was governor of Syria. And all went to be taxed, everyone into his own city. And Joseph also went up from Galilee out of the city of Nazareth.
To Judea into the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, to be taxed with Mary, his espoused wife, being great with child. And so it was that while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered, And she brought forth her first born son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a Manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Think of it.
The creator of the universe enters his own creation. Another point.
He's never called, never in Scripture a creature.
He's never spoken of, even as to his humanity, that it was created.
Never.
It says in Hebrews 10A body, Hast thou prepared me?
And we could speak a long while on that word prepared, but I don't have time tonight.
A body hast thou prepared me?
Not created.
He was the creator and he enters his own creation, becomes a servant.
Takes that place in lowly grace to reach us and bring us into blessing.
But even his humanity is never spoken of as being created, because the Spirit of God guards that truth.
He's the creator God over all, blessed forever.
Verse eight. There were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night, and lo, the Angel of Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them, and they were sore afraid.
And the angels said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
Yes, he enters his own creation as a little babe.
In poverty, in weakness, born in a stable, laid in a Manger, There was number room in the inn, no room for the Creator. Think of that. No room in their hearts and don't ever forget it. This world has no room for Christ. Don't ever forget it. It hasn't changed. It's no different. It's worse because it's the at the end of 2000 years.
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Of Christian witness.
It's about ready to overthrow.
Christianity entirely just waiting for us to be raptured, and then that will hasten speedily.
Lo, the Angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them. Verse nine. And they were sore afraid.
In the Angel said unto them, Fear not, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For under you was born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.
No. Great.
Announcement Public announcement about his coming.
Just to a few shepherds, it says in Genesis the shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians.
And here the Lord reveals his coming into the world in the lowliest of circumstances to those that were abominations to the Egyptians, the shepherds.
Unto you, as born this day in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord, this shall be a sign unto you. You shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a Manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men. He came to pass as the angels were gone away from them into heaven. The shepherd said, one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which has come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
They came with haste, and found Mary and Joseph and the babe lying in a Manger. And when they had seen it, they made no one abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these sayings, these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherd's returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen as it was told unto them. Mary kept all these things in her heart. Remember, she was the.
She was the number one person that was down here that knew how Jesus came into this world. She knew that man had nothing to do with that birth, with that conception.
She knew. Joseph knew. Those two knew.
And when 8 days were accomplished for the circumcising of the child, his name was called Jesus, which was so named of the Angel before he was conceived in the womb.
And when the days of her purification according to the law of Moses were accomplished, they brought him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.
As it is written in the law of the Lord, every male that openeth the womb shall be called holy to the Lord. We don't have time to turn back. But if you look it up in Leviticus 12, it says they were to bring a lamb for a burnt offering and a turtle dove or a young pigeon for a sin offering. But there was provision made for the poor of the flock. They could bring 2 turtledoves or two young pigeons if they couldn't afford the lamb. And so that's what it says, to offer a sacrifice according to that which is said in the law of the Lord.
A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.
We were we had before us this morning at the breaking of bread.
The he who was rich became poor, and when he entered this scene, he came into the very tourist of conditions. They were so poor they couldn't even afford a lamb for a burnt offering. So they offered a turtle dove for the burnt offering and for the sin offering. And behold, there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon.
And the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
And it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost that he should not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. And he came by the Spirit into the temple. And when the parents brought him the child Jesus to do for him, after the custom of the law, then took him up in his arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now let us thou thy servant, depart in peace according to thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of Thy people, Israel.
Notice now. And Joseph and his mother, maintaining the distinction, marveled at those things which were spoken of him.
There are that verse happens to have.
Some manuscripts that read his father and his mother marvelled at those things which were spoken of him.
I'm convinced from all the testimony of Scripture that that's a wrong rendering, That's a wrong reading. And what we have in our King James Bible is right. Joseph and his mother. That maintains the distinction between Mary, the mother of the Lord, and Joseph. That's consistent with all we've been looking at. So I believe it ought to read exactly as it reads here. Joseph and his mother marveled at those things.
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Which were spoken of him.
And then the very next verse confirms that. And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother.
Behold, this child is set for the fallen, rising again of many in Israel, and for a sign which shall be spoken against.
Yeah, a sword shall Pierce to thine own soul. Also that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.
Now we're just going to the end of the chapter and then we finished.
Verse 41. Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover, and when he was 12 years old they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast.
And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem.
And Joseph and his mother knew not of it. Now some manuscripts there read His parents knew not of it. I don't have any trouble with that. Verse 41 speaks of his parents and other passages because they were that Joseph and Mary. But I do object to verse 33 reading his father and his mother.
Says they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey. I want, I want to emphasize that in this very passage that truth is guarded again by the Spirit of God. We'll see it in a moment by the Lord Himself.
They, supposing to him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And he came to pass that after three days they found him in the Temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. And all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers. And when they saw him they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son.
Why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold thy father, and I have sought thee. Sorrowing very naturally referring to Joseph as his father. He was that legally, but not actually. Notice how the Lord gently corrects her in the next verse. A boy of 12, mind you. And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought be wished ye not that I must be about?
My father's business.
And he's referring to God his Father there, of course, my father's business. And then the next verse is quite a statement. They understood not the saying which he spake unto them.
You know how slow we are to apprehend the deep truths of the person of Christ. It was number different with Joseph and Mary, though. Mary knew far more than we do in one sense, and yet we know more, far more than she did in another sense.
They understood not.
He was only 12. They probably never told him how he got here. Maybe they thought he didn't know.
Maybe they didn't realize.
Mary pondered these things in her heart.
Says they understood not the saying which He had spent, which He spoke unto them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, was subject to them. But His mother kept all these sayings in her heart. We began the meeting tonight. Who is He?
In yonder's stall, that little baby. Just think of it. The creator of the universe becomes a baby.
Enters his own creation through the womb of the Virgin.
Conceived by the Virgin, by the begetting power of the Holy Spirit.
Born of a virgin.
God with us, Emmanuel.
Do you know him?
Do you know who he is? That was the most important question the Lord put to the Pharisees. He said, What think you of Christ? Whose son is he? They said, David's son of David. How then doth David in spirit call him Lord? Quoting the 110th Psalm, saying, My Lord said it unto the Lord. Said unto my Lord, Sit thou with my right hand, until I put thine enemies as footstool of thy feet.
If David, then call him Lord.
How is he his son?
They couldn't answer.
They didn't know who Jesus was.
They didn't know.
They couldn't answer. To them, he was just David's son.
A man.
As David's Lord, he was God.
Do you know him as very God, very man?
What thinking of Christ is the test to try both your state and your scheme. You cannot be right in the rest unless you think rightly of Him. As Jesus appears to your view, as he is beloved or not, so God is disposed to you, and mercy or wrath is your lot.
01:00:15
The most important question you'll ever have to answer is who is he?
You better know who he is, very God.
Very bad.
We've gone over, so we'll just pray.
Christ's Subjection Our Example
Address—C. Hendricks
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First Peter 2, verse 21 For even here unto were ye called.
Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example.
He should follow his steps.
And then first John chapter 2.
John chapter 2 verse six. He that saith he abideth in him.
Ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.
I'd like to consider him this afternoon.
As he walked down here.
Blessed Lord, in this scene I read these two verses because His pathway.
Is our pathway.
What Christianity is, is the continuation in US of the life of Christ.
He has given us His own life and nature and the spirit that energized him as a dependent, obedient man when He was here below.
And we are given the privilege and the responsibility of walking as he walked, following his steps.
Our rule of life is not the law, it is Christ. And what a difference that makes.
Now turn back with me to Philippians chapter 2 for some verses.
Very well known verses to all of us.
Philippians, Chapter 2.
Verse 5.
Let this mind be in you.
Which was also in Christ Jesus.
Who being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God?
But made himself of no reputation, took upon him the form of the servant.
And was made in the likeness of men.
And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
And because of that.
What he has done is perfect obedience. God is highly exalted Him, and so on.
It's not my intention of going into this these verses in great detail, but he he begins this with let this mind.
This attitude.
Being you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And what was his mind? Well, it's often been said we have in Philippians the lowly mind.
He was willing, being God.
Speaks of him being in the form of God. No creature can subsist in God's form.
He had to be God in order to be in God's form, so that's a statement which very clearly indicates his deity.
Subsisting in the form of God. Now this next expression is a paraphrase.
And it's a difficult thing to render really. It says thought it not robbery to be equal with God.
Somewhat ambiguous in our King James, as though it might mean he thought it not wrong to be on equality with God. That's not what it means.
The whole point of this passage is starts out with the mind that was in Christ Jesus.
And what was his mind? What was his thought? He presents him as being in the form of God. He emptied himself and took on him the form of a servant.
So he goes from the form of God to the form of a servant.
Subsisting in the form of God, He served none. He was the Creator. All served Him.
But now he takes the form of a servant.
And it's proper now for him to obey.
It's proper now for him to be subject and dependent and obedient, having taken the form of a servant.
He thought of that robbery to be equal with God.
Mr. Darby's translation renders that.
He esteemed it not an object of rapid to be on equality with God. You might say, Well, that's no more for help.
What it means is picture a an army coming into a city. This army is conquered. The defending army, the soldiers are plundering this this word robbery or in Darby's translation, rapping.
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It's the thought is it's a word we get the word raped from.
Plunder.
And an object of plunder. He didn't esteem his being on equality with God as as something to be prized and held on to and tenaciously retained. But his mind was to.
Give up the form of God to empty himself of the form of God, not of deity. He could never be less than God.
I should say he could never cease to be God.
But his mind was.
To become something less than gone.
A servant.
His attitude was not I am God. I will never consider being anything less than God.
His attitude, his mind, was to take the form of a servant.
That is, He did not grasp and hold tenaciously on to that which was ever His as the eternal Son.
He was in the form of God, but he said, I will come down into my own creation and take the form of a servant. And then it says he didn't. He could have done that if he have become an Angel, but he went below the angels. And it says being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
He was made in the likeness of men.
This is such a tremendous thought.
In consideration and here's the Creator, He who was ever and always in the form of God from all eternity, He now willingly takes the form of a servant.
And it's proper for a servant to obey.
It's proper for a servant to be subject, and that's the place that he took, and once he took that place, he never got out of it.
He was always consistent with that place that he had taken in grace in order to reach the likes of us, came to where we were, the Creator, the Sustainer, the upholder of the universe, and he became a servant. What a servant, perfect servant.
Now turn back with me to Luke chapter 2 for some verses that we know very well.
Verse 41 Says Now his parents went to Jerusalem every year at the feast of the Passover.
And when he was 12 years old they went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem, and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But they, supposing him to have been in the company, went a day's journey, and they saw him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.
And when they found him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking him. And it came to pass that after three days.
They found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them and asking them questions. It would have been improper for a boy of 12 to be teaching, so he assumed that always he was consistent with the position that he had taken. And here he is, a boy of 12, sitting in the midst of the doctors, hearing them and asking them questions. And it says all that heard him were astonished at his understanding and answers.
He knew more than all his teachers and yet he did not teach, not at this age.
I never got out of the position of loneliness that he had taken.
And when they saw him, they were amazed. And his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us?
Behold thy father, and I have sought thee sorrowing. And he said unto them, How is it that you sought me? Wished ye not that I must be about my Father's business? His first recorded words, And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men, whenever we read of him increasing in wisdom.
It's his manhood that's before us. As God. He never increases in wisdom. He knows everything. 147th Psalm says. His understanding is infinite. He can never know more than he knows. As God. He can never know less because he's unchangeable.
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But as man, he increased in wisdom and stature.
This is something that puzzles those that don't understand the mystery of his person.
That He is God and man in one person.
Well, we'll talk about that more at another time.
Notice at verse 51 he said He went down to Nazareth, and He was subject unto them. Now He has really shown us the blessedness of being in the subject place.
Everyone of us is subject to someone child to the parents, wife to her husband.
We're all subject to Christ as brothers, subject to our employers, subject to the government, subject to assembly action and so on. So we're all in the place of subjection. And he has shown us, we who are to follow in his steps, to walk as he walked, how to walk in this path of subjection.
Now Luke gives us his perfect manhood, but I'm not going to follow this theme out in Luke. We're going to turn to John's Gospel now, and we're going to look at a number of scriptures. And these scriptures are all the more significant because they occur in John's Gospel, which present him to us as the eternal Son.
As God in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him. Without him was not anything made that was made. That's how this gospel begins and and here we're going to read scripture after scripture presenting him to us as being in the dependent place and we'll come across him saying he was the sent one over.
And over again.
Verse 34 of John chapter 4. Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work. So now that he's become a servant, taken that form, He's entered His own creation as a man. It was his meat, his delight. What sustained him here in this scene is to do the will of him that sent him.
That was the father and to finish his work.
Chapter 5 We're going to look at a number of scriptures. Chapter 5, verse 17. But Jesus answered them, My Father worketh hitherto, and I work. Never before had a man spoken so familiarly of God as my Father. And he says, My Father worketh hitherto and I work.
Therefore the Jews sought them more to kill him, because he not only had broken the Sabbath.
But said also that God was his Father, or as the new translation renders, that his own father making himself equal with God. Did they understand what the Lord was claiming? Yes they did. They understood His words very well. He was claiming equality with the Father.
Making himself equal with God. And notice how the Lord answers. Then answered Jesus, and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself or from himself. That is, he did not act independently any longer of the Father, because he was now in the place of subjection.
It says the Son can do nothing of himself or from himself but what he seeth.
The Father do for what things so ever he doeth these also do with the Son likewise. That doesn't mean he wasn't able to do anything of himself, didn't have the power for it, but it would have been altogether out of place and inconsistent with the position that he had taken when he took the form of a servant. Now it's proper for him.
To obey when he was in the form of God.
He was the supreme Commander, and all obeyed him. He obeyed no one, but all obeyed him.
He dwelt in the blessedness of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, the Holy Spirit. They all had the same mind, and all were one of one accord, one purpose, one mind, one thought. But now he becomes a man, and now he hears and he's instructed. Notice what it says in verse 30. He says, I can of mine own self do nothing.
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Doesn't mean he didn't have the power for it, but it would have been morally wrong.
For him to have acted independently, as I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
We seek our own will often, don't we? And that's what sin is. Sin is acting over from ourselves as a source, doing what we want to do, doing things to please ourselves. Christ never did. He never pleased himself. He always acted in obedience to the Father. After he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights in the in the desert, the enemy tempted him by saying, If thou be the Son of God, prove it by making the stones into bread.
And the Lord's response was, and the Lord and Satan even quoted Scripture to him. And the Lord's response was, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God. And he didn't have a word from the Father to do that, so he wouldn't do it.
I can of my own self do nothing as I hear I judge every morning according to Isaiah 50.
He went to be alone with the Father, and he heard instruction from the Father, and as he heard, he judged. And he says, My judgment is just, because I seek not my own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.
What a delight it was to the eye of the Father to look down from heaven's glory and to see a man.
Unique and distinct from all other men. A true man, just as much a man as you and I Sin apart though.
The state of his humanity was different. His humanity was humanity, true and proper humanity just like ours. But the state of it was different. It was holy. Yours and mine is sinful.
But he was here to do only what pleased the Father.
Do the will of him that sent me, he says.
Chapter 6.
Verse 38.
For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. He loves to speak of Himself as being sent, but He also speaks of Himself in that verse as coming. I came down from heaven not to do mine will. Yes, the Father sent him, but He came. He came willingly.
He came to glorify the Father and to come to where we were.
To reach us, bring us into blessing.
Later in chapter six, he says in verse 57, As the living Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, by reason of the Father, on account of the Father.
So he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.
His whole purpose in living was the Father's glory.
He did not live for himself.
There was number self in Christ.
There was not only no selfishness in Christ, there was number self in Him.
To think the Father looking down the wonder, he opened the heavens and declared, This is my beloved Son, whom I found my delight.
Perfect delight, always doing his will. Cost would at night. And the cost, by the way, for him was infinite.
Because that will involve the cross is going to the cross.
So it wasn't an easy path.
There's never been a path more difficult than the path of the Lord Jesus.
What lay before him, and he knew what it was, and he set his face as a Flint.
In Chapter 7 he says in verse 16, Jesus answered them and said, my doctrine, my teaching is not mine, but his that sent me. So as we hear his teachings, as we hear His words, these are the words of the Father, we are learning all that the Father gave to him to tell us.
So we know the Father. He says my doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.
Later on in Chapter 7, verse 45, Then came the officers to the chief priests and Pharisees, and they said unto them, Why had he not brought him? The officers answered, Never man spake.
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Like this man?
This man was speaking the very words of the Father, doing the very works of the Father, glorifying the Father, never pleasing himself, never doing his own will.
That's what sin is with us.
Doing your own will.
He never did.
In chapter 8.
They asked him a very significant question in verse 25.
They said unto him, Who art thou? They had asked that same question of John, and he answered it three times. He said, I am not the Christ. 5 words. They asked him, I thought this one, This one He says I'm not. 3 words. They asked him further, and he said no.
No, he wasn't the Messiah. Now they asked the one who was the Messiah? Who are you? Who art thou?
And Jesus saith unto them, even the same that I said unto you from the beginning. Now that translation is very close to the to the best rendering that we can give. It's a very difficult verse to translate, but I believe the best rendering is what we have, Mr. Darby's translation, and I'm going to add a little bit to it. His answer was all together.
And absolutely what I say to you, that's who he was.
And what he said were the father's words, and what he did were the father's works. And he was altogether absolutely that he did not say one thing and do another. He was, he spoke the very truth that he was the living embodiment of an expression of in his person as a dependent man.
Verse 26 He goes on to say, I have many things to say and to judge of you, but he that sent me is true, and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him.
Here was a man on earth, speaking to the world all that he had heard of the Father.
They understood not that He spoke to them of the Father. Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall ye know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, or from myself as a source, as the thought of the expression, but as my Father hath taught me.
I speak these things.
Now verse 29 And he that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone. For I do always those things that please Him, I do always those things that please Him.
I can't say that, you can't say that, but he was a man in this scene that could say I do always those things that please him. Romans 15 says Christ please not himself. He was always pleasing the Father. What a delight. Mr. Ballot puts it so lovely. He says there was an object here below that would commend the place.
But now it is gone. Jesus is with the Father. He's not here now.
He's with the Father, but He's left you and me here. He's given us His very life and nature. He's given us the Holy Spirit to empower that life and to live as Christ lived. That's why he's left us here. That's the reason He's left us here, that we might live the very life that Christ lived in perfection. We live it so imperfectly. We get our flesh mixed up in so many ways, but here He was the perfect one. I do always.
Those things that please him.
The 9th chapter, verse four. I must work the works of him that sent me. While it is day, the night cometh when no man can work, I must work the works of him that sent me. So everything he said, every word he spoke was given Him of the Father. All his works were given Him of the Father.
So perfectly did he discharge.
That assignment.
That was given to Him from the Father. Now we come to some of the most precious verses. Chapter 10.
Verse 17. Therefore doth my father love me?
Well, the first question that comes to us when he says this is, didn't he always love him? Of course he did. The Father loveth the Son and showed him all things that he himself doeth. He always loved him. He was in the hiding place of love. He dwelt in the bosom of the Father, dwells in the bosom of the Father, never left it.
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Always in the place of affection with the Father, but now he speaks of something new.
He speaks as something that would provide a fresh motive on the part of the father to love his son. He says, Therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
Now here he seems to be speaking, doing something other from himself as a source, but let's read on.
No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself.
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again. That seems to be a contradiction to what we've been saying, that he never did anything from himself. Read on the end of the verse says this commandment have I received of my father. So the very act of laying his life down, he did it in obedience to the Father's commandment. Everything he did once he took the place of a servant. Once he assumed the form of a servant.
Was in obedience to the one that sent him.
This commandment have I received of my father. He lay his life down, he went into death, and such a death, the death of the cross, as it says in Philippians 2.
Therefore does my Father love me. His obedience during his life was always in the joy of communion, but at the Cross it was in the face of divine wrath against sin.
The unmitigated judgment of a holy and a righteous God poured out against him.
Because He was there, the sin bearer, therefore doth my Father love me. I lay down my life. He went into that place of awful darkness. The waves and billows of divine wrath against sin rolled over him.
Cried out My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Then he answers his own question. Thou art holy, Oh, thou that inhabiteth the praises of Israel. And the holy God could not look upon sin, so he had to turn his face and forsake him, that perfect, dependent, obedient man. Therefore doth my Father love me.
Because I lay down my life.
In obedience cost what it would.
Verse 25 Jesus answered them, I told you, and you believed not. The works that I do in my Father's name, they bear witness of me. Verse 32 Jesus answered them. Many good works have I showed you from my Father. For which of those works do ye stone me?
Verse 37 If I do not the works of my father believe me not. Verse 38 But if I do, though you believe not me, believe the works that ye may know, and believe that the Father is in me, than I in him.
In Chapter 11 we have the account of Lazarus. We know the story Lazarus. I'll pick up the story in verse 38. Jesus therefore, again groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. And Jesus said, Take you away the stone. Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto him, Lord, by this time he stinketh, for ye have been dead for days.
Jesus saith unto her, said I not unto thee, that if thou wouldest believe.
Thou should see the glory of God. Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid, And Jesus lifted up his eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that thou hast heard me, and I knew that thou hearest me always. But because of the people which stand by, I said it. Notice what he says. But they may believe that.
Thou hast sent me.
And when he had spoken thus.
He cried with a loud voice. Lazarus, come forth.
And he that was dead keen forth, bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin. And Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, let him go. He did not act simply as a divine person. He acted in obedience to the Father, looking to the Father, independence in prayer, doing all consistent with the place that he had taken.
The lowly subject man.
Maybe there's someone here that doesn't like being in the place of subjection. Maybe there's someone here that doesn't like to obey someone else.
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Well, he he obeyed when the cost of obedience was.
So horrible that cannot be described.
It was going to the cross.
You remember in the garden the only time he ever expressed his own will.
He says, Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me.
He looked into that cup filled with the wrath of God against sin. If it be possible, he said, if there's any other way, Father, let this cup pass from me. He expressed his will. He could not find his meat in the wrath of God.
The holy horror of his perfect soul in humanity shrunk from being made sin. Knowing what it would cost, He would be forsaken of God.
But then, in the perfection that was always his, he says nevertheless not my will, but thine be done.
You think his path was easy?
Oh no.
He met with the hatred, the rejection of man.
Finally ended by meeting the wrath of God.
Something you and I will never fathom.
Never understand, never sound the depths of He took the subject place. It was the Father's will that He go to the cross, and He did it in perfect obedience. Therefore doth my Father love me.
And so here, when he raised Lazarus, he says.
Father, I knew that Thou hearest me always.
An account of those that stand by. I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent me. I'm addressing those this afternoon that know the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. That's the most precious knowledge that we have that He sent Him. He's the sent one.
In John 17, the unity of the Church is to be so expressed, as the Lord says, that they may be one, as our Father are in me, and I and Thee, that they also may be one in us, that the world may believe that Thou has sent me.
Someday the world is going to know it when it sees us with Christ in glory, glorified alongside of Him, with the same glory as His, and then they will know that the Father has sent him. Now know something else, that thou hast loved me. Thou hast loved them even as thou hast loved me, he says.
Well, we failed in that.
Pretty badly.
He never did.
He never failed.
Let's go on.
Chapter 12.
Verse 44 Jesus cried and said he that believeth on me believeth not on me, but on him that sent me.
And he that seeth me seeth him that sent me. Tremendous statement uttered by a man on earth. He says, He that sees me sees him that sent me.
All that we're ever going to know of God.
We know in the person of the sun, become a man.
We're going to be around that blessed man for all eternity. We're going to see the Father in Him even as we do now by faith.
Now verse 49 and 50 very precious verses. For I have not spoken of myself, or again from myself, but the Father which sent me. He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak. Here He sums up all that the Father gave Him to say and speak as the Father's commandment. He gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak. And then He tells us what the moral character of that commandment is, and I know that his.
His life eternal life everlasting.
Life eternal. And as He kept the Father's commandment, as he lived out in perfect obedience all that the Father gave him to do, that was the expression of eternal life. I know that the Father's commandment, His commandment, his life everlasting whatsoever I speak. Therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak.
Chapter 13 We have the foot washing and we know about that very well.
We begin with verse 14. The Lord says, If I then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one anothers feet, for I have not. I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. He's washing our feet every day through the Word, the washing of water by the Word, washing our feet right now through the Word, forming His thoughts in us by the word of God.
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Removing that from earth, which hinders our enjoyment of heavenly things and of himself in heaven.
He says, I've given you an example that you should do as I have done to you. He got down at their feet and washed them. He's doing that from the glory right now, today. Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his Lord, neither is he that he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
Happiness doesn't come from knowing the truth, happiness comes from obeying it.
If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them.
Trust and obey, for there's no other way to be happy in Jesus but to trust and obey. If you know these things, happy are ye if you do them. And the reason there's so many unhappy Christians in the world is because they're disobedient Christians.
They are not putting into practice in obedience to the Word of God what God has said. The Word hasn't failed. It's perfect comes from Him. The ones that have failed is us. We have failed.
To carry out.
The truth of God's Word.
Then we go to chapter 14 verse.
Eight well known verses. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it suffice it thus.
Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip?
He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou? Then show us the Father.
It's so wonderful to think of a man on earth that the God man, he was very God, very man, perfect as man in expressing the Father in every way, so that he could say, he that seeth me seeth him that sent me, and hear he that seeth me seeth the Father.
Believe us, thou not, that I am in the Father, and the Father in me. The words that I speak unto you, I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me. He doeth the works there. He goes from the words to the works, all in one sentence.
Perfect expression livingly of the Father.
Chapter 15 some very solemn words in verse 22 he says, If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin. But now they have no cloak for my sin. He that hateth me, hateth my Father also. You see, it's impossible to say I love the Father. I believe in God and I know the Father, but I don't, I don't know Jesus.
Or I don't love him. It's impossible to say that. The word of God says to hate him is to hate the Father, and to love Him is to love the Father. The two are put together in the Word of God. I want to back up for a moment to the last verse of chapter 14 which I passed over. It says in verse 31 The Lord says, but that the world may know.
That I love the Father and as the Father gave me commandment.
Even so, I do arise. Let's go. Hence the proof of true love is obedience. He says that the world may know that I love the Father as the Father gave me commandment. Even so I do. It will not do, young boy or young girl, for you to say to your parents I love you and then disobey them if you really love them.
You will obey them. The Lord Jesus demonstrated and proved His love for the Father.
In obedience.
True love is obedient.
True love to our brethren. His obedient, always obedient to the Word of God.
Always doing the will of God, No better way can you take to express your love for your brethren.
And by obeying the word of God.
Impossible to improve on that.
You don't have a better way. I don't have a better way than God's way. His way is always the best.
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Chapter 16.
Will Passover that chapter and go to chapter 17 verse 4?
The Lord says I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work.
Which thou gave us need to do. We read his first recorded words in Luke chapter 2.
Wished He not that I must be about my Father's business. And his last words were it is finished. Father, into thy hands I commit my spirit, and here He is in spirit beyond the cross. And he says to the Father, I have glorified Thee on the earth. I have finished the work which Thou gave us me to do. And now, O Father, glorify Thou me with thine own self.
With the glory which I had with thee before the world was.
He was with the Father before the world was from all eternity, God the Father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit.
Dwelling in that ineffable scene of love and joy.
Now he asks to be reinstated as a man into that very glory.
He says, Glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory that I had with thee before the world was.
And he's been placed in that glory, and that's where he is tonight.
Glorified on high.
God has set him that obedient one in the highest glory in heaven, a man in the glory above the angels, above all created intelligences. He's there, the right hand of God, glorified. God has set him in that highest place. Who is he going to use? Who is he going to give the assignment to, if I can put it that way?
To reign over the millennial Kingdom, that man, that obedient, dependent subject.
Man, he's the one that is qualified now to reign. And so let's turn to 1St Corinthians 15.
1St Corinthians 15.
Verse 23.
This is the resurrection chapter, and this is the only verse that actually speaks of His coming. It says every man in his own order, Christ the first fruits afterward they that are Christ at his coming, I believe referring to the rapture. And then He goes over the tribulation period, the seven years, and he goes over the Millennium, the thousand year reign, and He goes to the very end of that.
And he says in the next verse, then cometh the end.
When he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power, For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed.
Is death death? And that will be at the Great White Throne. That's even after the Millennium is over. Death is destroyed, death in Hades. The disembodied state of things will be cast into the Lake of Fire. They'll never exist anymore. That's the most horrible thing about hell. I remember the story of a woman that was.
That woke up.
At night and she was screaming, just screaming.
Uncontrollably and one rushed in and said what's wrong, what's wrong? And she said I've been to hell, I've seen it.
What did you see?
I went there and I stood at the gates of hell and I saw the the misery.
I saw the the grimaces on the faces and the distorted looks and the agony, the pain.
And the they, they all look so thirsty. And I said, give them a, give them some water. The answer came back no.
Give them some.
Give them some rest.
Answer came back no.
Then let them die.
There's no death in hell.
Death and Hades are cast into the Lake of Fire. The last enemy that is destroyed is Death.
And what makes hell so excruciatingly awful is there's no.
End to it.
There's no exit from it.
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It's forever.
The person at the gate said go back and tell them.
And she came back to tell the story.
Well, I think of that story whenever I read this verse. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. How many people commit suicide because they cannot tolerate their existence down here? Life is so miserable for them. They think that anything will be better than that, and so they're going to end it, and they plunge themselves into a lost eternity.
After death, the judgment. If they only knew that truth.
They wouldn't take their lives.
The only one that death is not a horror too, is the Christian. It is our servant ushering us into the very presence of the Lord.
The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, for he hath put all things under his feet.
All the more striking that all those verses that we read of him in that place of of the servant as being sent here, are found in the Gospel of John, which presents his deity to us as no other gospel does. But he entered, he entered it became a servant.
Verse 28.
Verse 27 Again, For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith All things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted.
That refers to the Father, which did put all things under Him, and when all things shall be subdued unto Him.
Then shall the Son also Himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be All in all, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit All in all. And yet the Son, one of the Persons of that blessed Trinity, had taken the place of manhood. And what we learned from this passage is having completely done the will of the Father perfectly as man.
He does not relinquish his manhood. He remains a man forever in the subject place.
Whenever we have the Son spoken of is in the subject place, it's his humanity. Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under Him. Don't ever think of the subject place as an undesirable one. It's the one that Blessed One took in order to save the likes of us. He took the subject place and He'll never relinquish it. He'll be a man for all eternity.
And we'll we'll see the father in him.
One more verse in Luke 12.
Luke, chapter 12.
Verse 35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning, and ye yourselves like unto men that wait for their Lord, when he will return from the wedding, that when he cometh and knocketh, they may open unto him immediately.
Blessed are those servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching.
Verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself. He assumes once again the attitude of a servant. He girds himself for service, and he makes them to sit down to meet, and he will come forth and serve them.
When will this be?
In eternity.
And what will he service?
What will He serve us? Well, He was a perfect servant when He was here below. He served everyone. The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give his life a ransom for many. Perfect servant. He's serving us now as our great High priest. He's serving us now as our advocate with the Father. He had a limit to make intercession for us. That's His ServiceNow, His priestly service, His advocacy. And in this coming day, He's going to serve us again.
He's going to make us eternally happy.
He's going to service his own delights.
He will come.
He would cause us to feast.
On his own delights.
Those are the words of another.
He's going to occupy himself with making you and me eternally happy in His blessed presence. Sometimes the question is rather a foolish question. What are, what are we going to do all that time? Well, there won't be any time. Time is gone.
And I can't understand that.
00:50:00
I can't begin to fathom it.
That which is timeless.
We're going to spend eternity, which can't be spent, by the way.
Being served by him.
And we're going to see God.
In him, and as we look at that man, we're going to remember Colossians 2 verse nine. In him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily as we gaze on that man, say, in him dwells all the fullness of God.
We look at him, we're going to see God.
They saw him, John says. We saw.
It says no man had seen God at anytime. The only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
Only faith could Pierce The Veil of the flesh of Christ and see that eternal glory.
But God in His essence the creature cannot see. He dwells in light unapproachable, which no man hath seen nor can see.
Impossible for any creature to see God in his essence.
But we're going to see him as we gaze upon that blessed man.
The man with the very marks of the cross upon him.
It's going to service.
For all eternity.
Perfect servant, you'll never give that up.
That's the highest moral glory.
That you can think of.
The glory of that one who was willing to become nothing.
And He might bring us into the highest blessing.
God's Righteousness in Assembly Administration
Address—C. Hendricks
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.
Verse 3.
If the foundations be destroyed.
What can the righteous do?
Verse 7.
For the righteous Lord.
Loveth Righteousness.
Psalm 45.
Verse 6.
Thy throne, O God.
Is forever and ever.
The scepter of thy Kingdom.
Is a right scepter.
Thou lovest righteousness.
And hate his wickedness.
Therefore God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.
And then the 93rd Psalm.
Verse 5.
Thy testimonies are very sure.
Holiness becometh thine house.
O Lord, forever.
And in the 94th Psalm, verse 20.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee?
Which frameth mischief by Allah.
One of the most common questions that has been put to me.
In my travels is.
It's based on a statement that is often made.
Amongst us, that an assembly decision, right or wrong, is to be bowed to.
And that has to be explained.
And sometimes the answer is.
Well, hard to answer.
I read these verses that speak of what is essential to God's nature.
He is holy.
He is righteous.
And the reason that he has delegated authority to man in the various spheres.
Is to maintain order and righteousness.
Take for instance.
Romans 13.
Or just cite this as one instance.
Romans 13 Let every soul be subject unto the higher powers.
For there is no power but of God. The powers that be are ordained of God.
Whosoever therefore resisteth the power, resisteth the ordinance of God, and they that resist shall receive.
Judgment should read.
For rulers are not a terror to good works, but to the evil. That's why they've been set up to judge the evil.
Not to punish good works.
Will thou then not be afraid of the power? Do that which is good, and thou shall have praise of the same.
He is the minister of God to thee for good.
If thou do that which is evil, be afraid. Beareth not the sword in vain.
Every government has been established to judge the evil and to reward the good.
Every delegated authority.
Is set up by God, who is righteous.
We turn to Second Timothy 2.
Very well known scripture.
Second Timothy 2.
Verse 19.
The firm foundation, nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure. The firm foundation of God standeth. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His. And let everyone that name it the name of Christ or Lord, depart from iniquity. That word iniquity means unrighteousness.
So the whole basis for the assembly.
Established on the footing of righteousness.
God who is righteous.
The righteous Lord loveth righteousness.
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And he wants that maintained in his assembly.
And if that wasn't so, if he had not delegated authority to those who were gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
And given them power to deal with evil, the assembly would be the greatest iniquity on the face of the earth. Because it would be.
The place where the Lord was, and the place where it would be impossible to judge evil.
So he's committed this authority into the hands of men.
And they are responsible, a father is responsible to administer the authority that has been committed to him righteously.
The husband has authority over his wife. He's to exercise that righteously.
Every delegated authority is to be done in righteousness.
The assembly is to come down with righteous decisions.
Now that's God's thought.
And that's God's purpose and desire. But all delegated authorities are fallible. They're all made-up of sinners saved by grace or sinners.
Like you and me.
And so there is failure.
In the exercise.
Of authority and sometimes an assembly will take an action.
We had discussed this a little in the reading meetings.
But I think it needs more clarification, an action which you may judge is wrong.
What are you to do?
Well, you're to submit to the action. You're to submit to the authority of the Lord in the midst of his gathered Saints.
Whether you think it's right or wrong. And that's really what that statement means.
But it doesn't mean that the assembly has the authority to commit wickedness.
Doesn't mean that I as a father have the authority to punish my child unjustly, knowingly, willfully to do such. Now I know as a father I've made mistakes in the punishment of my children. I've made mistakes, but I've never done it to my knowledge, To my conscious knowledge, I've never done it.
Unrighteously, that is, with evil intent to punish one that I knew was innocent.
There's the difference.
Between unrighteousness and a mistake. Because we're fallible.
The only authority there is in the universe that is infallible is that of God. He never makes a mistake. He knows the thoughts, the motives, the purposes of the heart, which you and I don't. So we can make mistakes. And when the authority under which we live makes a mistake in our opinion, we may be wrong, you know, and we may find out that they were right after all. But even if I think I'm right and they are wrong, or even if I.
Right. And they're wrong. I still submit.
Authority under which I live.
That's the way of peace.
But we're never called upon to submit to known wickedness.
I'm talking about now in the assembly sphere.
In fact, if an assembly commits itself to a course of wickedness.
Then it would forfeit its right to be considered an Assembly of God, but that would only be arrived at after much.
Earnest prayer and looking into the matter.
Because we are fallible, there is a guard against the setting up.
Of any independent local authority, and that's in the truth that there is one body.
Now, it's not ever right for another assembly to come in to an assembly that has rendered a judgement to overturn that judgment. That's never right.
Because the authority of the Lord in assembly be can never be used to overturn the same authority and assembly A it's the same authority.
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The truth of the one body is seen and acted upon by all other assemblies, bowing to what an assembly has done.
Prima facie.
If the Lord makes manifest that there is more than just maybe a mistake, and that we can bear with because we are all fallible and prone to that, but there is absolute wickedness, that's another matter.
The problem that confronts us is not that at all. It's not a question of wickedness.
It's not a question of unrighteousness.
It's a question of opinion as to.
Whether a mistake was made or not, in that case I set my own opinion aside and submit and bow to the authority of the Lord in the midst of the assembly.
If we follow any other course, there's hopeless confusion and division and.
Great distress. The way of peace is submission on the part of the one who's under the authority.
But I think it's important to see.
Like the question is put is an unrighteous action on the part of an assembly bound in heaven? Well, if it's an act of wickedness, no it's not.
It's not found in heaven, not if it's wickedness.
Because God is righteous and he's given that authority to.
Be carried out for His glory.
That Psalm says, shall thee.
Have to read it again. It's in the 94th Psalm.
Shall the throne of iniquity have fellowship with thee?
But we're not talking about that in the problem that confronts us today. We're talking about judgment having been executed.
With regards to one who was local in an assembly and that assembly.
Made a decision.
And in the unity of the body of Christ, we accept it. We bow to it.
The authority of the Lord.
Elsewhere is the same authority.
That is, in that assembly there's only one authority, and it's the authority of Christ.
In the midst.
We're not talking about committed wickedness, but I think that it's.
It's a question that troubles so many.
Now in the world, he's given authority to the governments, and oftentimes they use their authority in a very evil way. What are we to do or to submit to it?
We can't expect the world to act upon Christian principles.
We have the right to expect better things in the Church of God.
The Church of God is to exercise.
The Authority committed to it righteously.
It may fail in a mistaken judgment, but that can be born with and labored with questions and so on, because we're all members one of another. Church of God is one.
And we're not a group of independent churches that have no responsibility one to another.
But what's done here has weight and force and is accepted everywhere.
It's a complete denial that's complete refutal of the system of independency and independent local churches that exist throughout Christendom.
That's a precious principle to see that we're gathered.
Principle of separation from evil. Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart from iniquity, unrighteousness. The very position that we occupy is founded upon that fundamental principle of separation from evil. That's God's principle of unity.
And if it be not that? If it be not that.
We don't have anything.
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Are coming together.
Must be on a righteous footing. That's why He's given authority, so that evil could be dealt with and put away because it's not compatible with the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ in the midst His Person. His Holiness is incompatible with known and allowed evil, and that's why He's given authority. And in the exercise of it, there could be a mistake.
But let's not call a mistake.
Iniquity.
There have been, there's been that mistake made serious charges.
Against an assembly that has acted with all good intention for the glory of the Lord. And there have been those that have labeled it iniquity, and that's a serious charge, most serious charge. So let us be very careful and how we speak upon about an action which has been taken.
In the fear of the Lord may not be perfect. I don't know of an assembly action that has ever been perfect.
Because it's composed of imperfect people like you and me.
But still done in the fear of the Lord for His glory, seeking His mind according to the Word, we can bow to it. And if mistakes have been made, look to the head to step right any mistakes that have been made. Well may the Lord exercise us and keep us in the path of righteousness. He leadeth me.
In the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Wonderful path to be in. May the Lord keep us in that path.