YP Address—C.D. Andersen
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For 42 in the appendix.
I'll read the last Stanford.
In thy presence, we're happy.
In thy presence we are secure.
In thy presence, all afflictions we can easily endure.
In thy presence we can conquer, we can suffer, we can die. Wandering from thee, we're feeble. Let thy love Lord keep us an eye. #42 in the back of the book.
Savior, lead us by Thy power.
What can he find?
Will I love from the straight?
I know.
And.
Not.
Say.
Progress.
More than.
We shall.
Be.
Here for us.
Can I rest as we are?
Hurry and my presence will seek you.
In my presence, all are.
We can we continue.
In my friend.
We can cry.
We can stop.
One Rain Brown Lane.
We are being more.
Glad, I love, Lord.
Keep us now.
I was thinking about.
What Paul tells Timothy.
I hadn't thought to speak much about this.
But over in Second Timothy, we have two things brought before us.
And I believe I want to begin with this, and it says in the first chapter of Second Timothy.
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Verse 15.
And this is the Apostle Paul writing to Timothy.
Timothy A Young man.
And this is.
A time given, especially in consideration of the young people this afternoon, and we are much concerned.
About our dear young people.
Because we're in an enemy's land.
And all the enemy is busy.
And the enemy would like to draw away our dear young people.
In fact, he would like to draw away everyone of us and here, Paul tells Timothy.
This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me.
This was a sad note. All this is something that weighed on the heart of the apostle Paul. To find the dear Saints of God were turning away from him. Paul was in prison for the Lord's sake and for the truth's sake.
And here they were, turning away from him. They were, I suppose, offended.
In the Apostle Paul and the Reproach, persecution was too much for them.
And they were giving up.
Well, we are in days of giving up.
And the enemy is busy leading us on, trying to get us to the point where we give up.
Turning away from the apostle Paul, turning away from the truth he has given us.
Turning away from the principles that he has given us in his epistles, you know, there was a time in my life that.
I didn't read much of anything but the Gospels.
Back then, as the Lord dealt with me in the Congo and I was translating the scriptures into the native language.
I began to see things in Paul's epistles that I had never seen.
Never dreamed of. And I thank God for these letters that God saw fit to put into our hands, these inspired words from the hand of the Apostle Paul.
And oh, there's good instruction there. We were reading some of it this morning in the Reading meeting.
And always should be so thankful for this book that we have in our hands the whole word of God.
You know the apostle.
Says also in chapter three of his second letter to Timothy, he says this know also.
He said in chapter one this thou knowest. But now he says this know also.
This is something that follows upon the other. They were giving up the truth.
And now what was it that was coming in? Oh, all kinds of apostasy was coming in. And this is what characterizes the day in which we're living this Know also that in the last days perilous times shall come, or dangerous times, difficult times.
Dear young people, do you find it difficult to live for the Lord today?
Do you find it that you're in perilous circumstances?
Perhaps where you work are going to school, you find it difficult to live for the Lord. You find it difficult to speak a word for Him. You don't even dare mention the name of Jesus.
Yes, we're living in days like that. But we've been told about it. We've been warned. It's just not as though this thing has taken us unawares.
We know that it was to come, and we see that it's upon us, these conditions. Well, I'll read a few things here, for men shall be lovers of their own selves. You see anything of that, I'm afraid.
That we, Saints of God, are characterized by that too.
Lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters proud.
Blasphemous, Disobedient to parents, Unthankful, unholy.
I'm thankful, unholy. How about holiness?
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Is there giving up of holiness?
Is there a thinking that God?
Is not going to bring us into account, even though we are a little loose. It doesn't matter what we do.
God will Passover these things. Jude speaks of that as turning the grace of God into lasciviousness.
Oh, God is good. He will not take us into account for these things. He is not so strict. God is not so narrow.
But God cannot tolerate unholiness, he says. Be ye holy, for I am holy.
Without natural affection, truce Breakers, false accusers, incontinence, fierce despisers of those that are good traitors, heady high minded lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof from such turn away.
Talking about.
He's talking about those who profess to be children of God.
He said some of the same things about the heathen as we had in the first chapter of Romans this morning it was referred to, and now the same things are being said of professing Christendom.
And dear young people, we're part of professing Christendom and we're part of that. That has gotten into a condition like this, and it's a day in which.
We need to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. We cannot get along without him, he said. Without me, he can't do nothing.
All that the spirit of God might burn this into our souls.
That we cannot get along without the Lord Jesus Christ.
I need it for myself.
Oh, how careless we become and thinking that we can go through a day.
Without talking to the law, thinking that we can go through a day without reading his word.
Things like we can go through a day without being in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Dear young people.
And this is something for all of us. We cannot do without the Lord Jesus Christ.
He said. Without me, ye can't do nothing.
All that we might have such an attachment for the Lord Jesus Christ that we be in his presence all the time.
What we need to ask the Lord for grace is that we might stay close to His pierced sigh, close to Him, just like we were singing, wandering away from Him. We're feeble. We can't do anything.
Let us turn to Psalm 27.
Perhaps you realize somewhat the dangers that are around us today.
The perilousness of the time. And perhaps you have wondered, well, what should I do?
I seem helpless.
Perhaps you have had a desire to get into the presence of the law, to be closer to him.
Well, here in Psalm 27, David is writing.
And he says in verse four, one thing have I desired of the Lord.
That will I seek after.
What was it he wanted to seek after?
That I may dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of my life.
To behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple, he wanted to dwell in the House of the Lord.
All the days of his life he wanted to behold the beauty or the graciousness of the Lord, and he wanted to inquire in his temple or meditate upon him.
That was his desire.
But he went further than just the desire, he said. I'm going to seek after.
Perhaps you dear young people have had certain spiritual desires, spiritual longings.
And you have longed that you might be victorious in your Christian life.
You find that there are temptations that overtake you, and you succumb to those temptations, and you fail and stumble along.
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All you wish that you might live more for the law.
That you might be more pleasing to him. You have a desire. You do desire to please the law, but are you going to leave it at that?
It's good to have the desire, but David went further, he said. That will I seek after.
That will I seek after.
Yes, he put forth some energy, some effort.
To get to that point. And what did he do? Well, he wanted to dwell in the House of the Lord all the days of his life. Behold the beauty of the Lord, And to inquire in his temple, he wanted to get into the presence of the Lord and think about him.
And he sought after. That's what he went after. Is that what you're seeking?
While we're living in a world where there are all kinds of things advertised.
And, you know, the Apostle Paul says that we should be content with such things as we have, But the advertising of the present day is geared to make us discontent with such things as we have. And there are all kinds of things presented to us, and we're made to believe that we need these things, that we ought to have them.
And the first thing you know it, we have a desire for them and we seek for them.
I believe if we are occupied with this desire that David had.
And we are seeking grace from the Lord to seek after this that he sought after.
We won't have time to desire these other things and to seek after them.
Oh yes, we need.
That which consists of a livelihood but the Lord will take care of that. Seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you. I'm sure if we put the Lord Jesus Christ first, he'll take care of us. We may not have everything we need.
At all times, we're not guaranteed prosperity, you know, just because we're children of God.
There may be times that we will lack some things. We may not have an overabundance either.
But the Lord will take care of us.
I'm thinking about the Queen of Sheba.
She was seeking for something. We might look over and 1St keep our second kings.
Now first Kings chapter 10.
First King.
And she had one desire.
And then she sought after it.
First Kings chapter 10 and when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon.
Concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions, and she came to Jerusalem with a very great train.
With camels that bear spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.
First of all, as you heard of the fame of Solomon.
And then there was a desire in her heart to go and see him.
And then she put forth some effort to get there, to get into the presence of Solomon.
I think it must have been at least 1000 mile journey that she took to get to Solomon and it says she came with a very great trade.
It took some energy, some effort, some planning in order to make this trip to get into Solomon's presence.
Now perhaps you have a desire to get into the Lord's presence, to walk with the Lord, to talk with the law, which means communing with the Lord because.
That's what the Queen of Sheba did. She communed with Solomon. You would like to do that. Be in communion with the Lord, going on with the Lord. As a happy Christian, all you really want to be a happy Christian.
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It will take some planning. It will take some effort.
This thing doesn't come.
Automatically no.
You'll have to set aside some time for reading of the word. You'll have to set aside time to be quiet to be in the Lord's presence.
It takes some effort. Perhaps you will have to get up a little earlier in the morning so you have time before you go to work.
But I'm sure that any effort that's put forth to be in the large presence to read His word will be abundantly rewarded, just like the Queen of Sheba was rewarded well after she got there and got into the presence of Solomon. She didn't think about that long journey. What was she thinking about?
All she was thinking about Solomon, then it says, And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not. And when the Queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendants of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cup bears, and his assent by which he went up into the House of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
David wanted to get into the Lord's presence to behold his beauty.
The Queen of Sheba.
Got into Solomon's presence and what did she see? His beauty.
The order there and all of these things speak of the Lord Jesus Christ.
The wisdom.
The Wisdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do you need wisdom?
Get into the Lord's presence.
And he'll give wisdom.
He's made unto us wisdom.
And.
The meat of his table What wonderful food the Lord Jesus Christ has for us.
Food for the soul, food for the new man. Very often we get more occupied with feeding the old man.
Feeding the Newman. But the Newman feeds on spiritual food, spiritual things.
The word of God, the fellowship of the Saints.
That's what the spiritual mind feeds upon. Being together with the Lord's people, Being over his word, Being in prayer. Are you feeding your soul?
There was a dove and a Raven sent out of the ark.
The dove returned because it didn't find any rest for the soul of its foot.
They couldn't find rest out in that scene of corruption. No doubt there was all kinds of corruption floating around on the water.
And it was a scene of death, a scene of corruption.
And it came back into the ark. No rest for it there, nothing for it to feed upon. It didn't find any enjoyment out there, came back into the ark. But the Raven, when it was let out, it stayed out. It found something that was suited to its nature.
We have two natures just like that, The new nature, the dumb nature, the old nature, the Raven nature, and the old nature of the Raven nature.
Does not care to feed upon anything but the corruption and refuge of this world.
And justice, because you are saved, that doesn't mean that the old nature got any better.
It's just as bad as it ever was, and it has the same desires as it ever had. And This is why we need to feed upon the Lord Jesus Christ, feed the new man, feed upon His Word, be filled with Christ. And while we're busy feeding upon the Lord Jesus Christ busy being in His presence, we won't have time to feed the old nature.
May God give us grace to keep busy feeding the new man.
She says in verse six. It was a true report that I heard in my own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.
Howbeit I believe not the words until I came and mine eyes had seen it, and behold, the half was not told me Thy wisdom and thy prosperity exceedeth a fame, which I heard. Or perhaps we have doubts. We don't really believe that the Christian life is a happy life. We don't believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is what we hear sometimes that different ones say that he is.
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We don't really believe what the word says about the Lord Jesus Christ, the wonder of his person.
Oh yes, we are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ as far as salvation is concerned.
We know him as our savior.
But do we believe?
But he is able to satisfy our hearts.
Your conscience is at rest. You have peace with God because you have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
You know your sins are gone and you know that.
Everything is forgiven and you know that being justified by faith.
You have peace with God, and you have a righteous standing before God.
Everything is settled as far as your conscience is concerned and you have peace with God. You are a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, but do you believe in him as your law?
Believe that he can give your conscience peace and you have peace, But do you believe that he can satisfy your heart? You know we're not all conscious. We're not all conscious.
We have a heart too that needs to be satisfied.
As she goes on and says here, happier thy men, happier these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.
That was the place of happiness in the presence of Solomon. A place of happiness is in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. He can really satisfy our hearts. Let's go over and see what the Lord says about Solomon over in Luke's Gospel Chapter 11.
Luke's Gospel, Chapter 11.
Verse 31 Here we have the Queen of Sheba mentioned.
It says the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment.
With the men of this generation and condemned them. For she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
And behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
This is the Lord telling this while he was here in this scene, he links it together with Jonah.
And he speaks of Jonah as being assigned to this generation.
Verse 30 says, First Jonah was a sign unto the Ninevites, so shall also the Son of Man be to this generation. Well, John is a sign of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and resurrection. Because Jonah, as Jonah was 3 days and three nights in the Whale's valley, so shall the Son of Man, he said, be 3 days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
And as Jonah came forth out of the whale's belly.
Out onto dry land, so the Lord Jesus Christ came forth in resurrection.
And that dry line speaks of the place where judgment can never come.
And you and I who have believed in the Lord Jesus Christ are in that very place where judgment can never come. The Lord says shall not come into judgment, but is passed from death unto life. All that gives us peace of conscience doesn't. That's the work of Christ for our souls. But what about?
Sound Why does he bring Solomon in here? Well, it seems that the Lord would not only occupy us with the work.
Of redemption, thought he would occupy us with himself, his person.
His work is for our conscience.
But himself? He himself is for our heart.
I believe this is where there's a great deficiency today in Christendom. We thank God for those who are preaching the gospel.
And there are many who are preaching the gospel who are not in fellowship with us, and we can give God thanks.
For every real true gospel message that's preached by anybody, anywhere. And we thank God for any soul that's saved through that ministry.
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But we know that so very often.
Souls are left right there. They get peace of conscience knowing their sins are forgiven.
And they are left there, and they are not let on to know the Lord Jesus Christ himself in person.
As one who can fill and satisfy the heart.
And what happens?
If they do not have Christ before them, and they are not satisfied with Him if he is not filling the heart.
They will go out into the world.
They'll go out into the world.
They will seek their pleasure and satisfaction somewhere else. You and I will do the same thing if our heart is not filled with Christ.
Oh, that we might have the Lord Jesus Christ in his person before us, Peter says, Grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in the knowledge of him. Get acquainted with him. Well, how can you get acquainted with anyone without being with them? The only way that I can get acquainted with you, dear brethren.
Is to get around in your homes and and be with you a few days. I get better acquainted with you and it's a delight.
For let's use the same principle in connection with the Lord Jesus Christ Getting acquainted with him. Let's be much in His presence. The only way that we can really get to know him and to know him is to love him.
And to have our hearts filled with himself.
Well, the Lord says here the Queen of the South shall rise up in the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the utmost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. The Lord seems to put emphasis on that. She came a long way.
To hear the wisdom of Solomon, she put forth some effort, and behold, a greater than Solomon is here.
The Queen of Sheba would go all that way to see a mere man, Solomon.
How far are we going to go to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Oh, may the Lord give us grace to put forth real effort and energy.
To get into the presence of the Lord that our hearts might be satisfied.
Another one that I'd like to turn to is over in Second Kings.
Chapter 4.
Here we have a woman that was widowed. Second Kings chapter 4.
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets, until Elijah say.
Thy servant, my husband, is dead, and thou knows that thy servant had feared the Lord, And the creditor has come to take unto him my two sons, to be bonds, men. Oh, what a sad condition she was in. What a trial, what a difficulty that presented itself to her.
And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for them? Tell me, what hast thou in the house?
And she said Thine Handmaid has not anything in the house shave a pot of oil.
While this is a pertinent question, what hast thou in thy house?
Do we have that in our house which can really satisfy us?
You know, there are a lot of things that want to come into our houses today and into our hearts.
To push out that which can really satisfy.
What hast thou in thy house? And she says, not anything in the house save a pot of oil. She didn't put much value on that pot of oil. She didn't see much.
Valuing in just a little bit of oil.
But what does it speak of? It speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
In his grace to us.
Then, he said, go borrow the vessels abroad of all thy neighbors, even empty vessels. Borrow not a few.
And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee, and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels.
And thou shalt set aside that which is full. So she went from him, and shut the door upon her, and upon her son.
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Who brought the vessels to her? And she poured out, and it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me out a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. Then she came, and told the man of God, And he said, Go sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
You see two things there in that seventh verse. She could get her debt paid now, and then there would be some leftover to live on.
And that's exactly the case with the Lord Jesus Christ. There's enough in him to get our debt paid.
And enough to live on.
I trust the young people here this afternoon know the Lord Jesus Christ as savior. I believe most of you do.
But if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your savior, you don't know anything about having your debt paid.
Now everyone is a Sinner.
And he is guilty, and he is in debt to God. And God has said, the soul that sinneth it shall die.
And what a terrible difficulty you're in.
What an awful circumstance to be in to be in your sins, and to be in debt to God.
How are you going to get out of debt? How are you going to get free of guilt? How are you going to get rid of those sins that are taking you down?
To an eternal hell.
The only way?
Is through the Lord Jesus Christ who died on Calvary's cross and shed His precious blood there.
He paid the debt. He paid it all.
His precious blood was shed and you can have your sins forgiven through faith.
Lord Jesus Christ, who died for sinners and rose again.
And what a joyous experience it is to have our sins forgiven.
To be relieved of the debt.
But is that all you're looking for? Is that all you're thinking about? Maybe you have your debt paid?
You know the Lord is your savior.
And you're happy that you're on your way to heaven, that you've escaped hell and judgment.
But there is more than that in Christ.
After this widow had sold the oil, there was enough to pay the debt. And then the man of God said, Live thou and thy children of the rest.
All There's enough in the Lord Jesus Christ to live on.
There is enough in him to fill and satisfy the heart.
That we might know more about this, everyone of us. This is not only for the young people, but for all of us.
And there's nothing else that's really going to keep us in a day like this, but to be filled with the Lord Jesus Christ, to be in His presence. Nothing else can keep us. Salvation comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. There's only one way to be saved, and there's only one way to be kept, and that's to keep our eye on Him, to be occupied with him. Now we hear much said about consecration in what we might call fundamental circles today.
And I'm afraid sometimes.
We are LED astray as to the real meaning of consecration.
I believe we get the principle of it over in Exodus Chapter 29.
There is sort of a pseudo spirituality that is being advocated in some places today.
And we have to be watched that we're not taken in by this.
They speak of consecration.
And they speak of.
Efforts to do this and to do that.
And they talk about.
The the inner mind and the outer mind, the outermost mind, they talk about the release of the Spirit, and they get all occupied with themselves and what they can do for the Lord, or what they can be for the Law.
Over here in Exodus 29.
We read about the consecration of the priests, Aaron and his sons.
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When it's Aaron and his sons together, it speaks of the priestly family, and it's typical of us who know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
And I will read just a few verses here about the consecration of the priests.
Verse 22 of Exodus 29 Also thou shalt take of the ram.
The fat and the rump and the fat that covers the inwards and the crawl above the liver.
And the two kidneys, and the fat that is upon them, and the right shoulder, for it is a rhyme of consecration.
And one loaf of bread and one cake of oil bread, and 1 wafer out of the basket of unleavened bread.
That is before the Lord. Now what does all this speak of? Well, it speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ.
These offerings are all a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And you get Christ all the way through the scriptures. It's a story of himself.
The Lord as he was speaking to the two disciples going to Emmaus, it says he spoke to them.
In all the scriptures, the things concerning himself, in all the scriptures, There's something in all the scriptures concerning the Lord Jesus Christ from Genesis to Revelation. It's a story of him or as someone who said, it's his story. Not just history, some of it is history.
But it's his story.
And God would occupy us with the Lord Jesus Christ.
And to be occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ is true spirituality.
Now there are those who would get occupied with the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, and speak much about the Holy Spirit, and I'm sure we need truth as to the Holy Spirit and the place that He has today.
But not to the point where we get occupied with the Spirit and forget about the Lord Jesus Christ.
True spirituality is being occupied with him.
Paul said to the Galatians that he travailed in birth again that Christ might be formed in them.
That's the important thing, that Christ might be formed in us, that we might be filled with Him. And here we have an example of it. In verse 24 he says, Put thou shall put all in the hands of Aaron and in the hands of his sons, and shall wave them for a wave offering before the law.
Aaron's hands and his son's hands were filled with this offering, these various things that represent or typify the Lord Jesus Christ.
And that was consecration. There we have the principle of consecration.
And when we, as the priestly family today, have our hearts.
Filled with Christ, our lives taken up with Christ.
And God by his Spirit would love to point us to the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
And you know, when we get occupied with Christ.
We are not conscious if there is any spirituality there. Just like Moses, he came down from the mountain. He didn't know his face was shining. He'd been in the presence of God and his face was shining and he didn't know it.
Oh, that's what we need today, to be in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ, to be occupied with him.
And our faces will shine for him. Yes, we'll be a light down here.
As we ought to be. If you'd look further in 9/11 Chapter of Luke, it speaks about our body being a vessel of light, but it's not until the Lord has finished speaking about Solomon, his person.
We cannot be a vessel of light here in this world unless we're occupied with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not enough just to know we're saved and have peace with God. We must be occupied and filled with Him.
Then we can be a vessel of light. But as we're filled with him, we won't, we won't be conscious of it on all. How we need this. How I need this.
To be so filled with him that I might shine for him and not be conscious of it. Oh May God give us grace to seek this one thing, to behold the beauty of the law, to inquire of him, to be occupied with him, be in his presence. That's what God would desire for us. And God by his Spirit wants to lead out our hearts to Christ, to be occupied with him. But God would not have us to be occupied with the Holy Spirit.
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But occupied with Christ.
Oh, May God help us in these days, that we might be preserved. And there's only one way to be preserved as there's only one way to be saved. That's through Christ. One way to be preserved, going on in communion with the Lord Jesus Christ being in his presence, occupied with him and filled with him. Well, I trust this is simply enough to us, but May God give us grace.
To make it good to our own soul.
Let us sing just one verse of 318.
The first stanza of 318.
Oh, Lamb of God, still.
Keep us close to Thy peace and sign.
Take only.
There Insane.
And peace we can love I.
Will falls and snails.
As I round us, I lost some years with him.
The grace that sort of found us.
Alone can keep us clean.