Open—D. Gorgas, C. Little, C. Hendricks
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Let's turn to the 17th chapter of Deuteronomy.
Deuteronomy, chapter 17.
And verse 18.
Deuteronomy chapter 17 and verse 18.
And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his Kingdom.
That he shall write him a copy of this law in a book out of that which is before the priests.
The Levites, and it shall be with them, and he shall read therein all the days of his life.
That he may learn to fear the Lord his God.
To keep all the words of this law.
And these statutes.
To do them.
That his heart be not lifted up above his brethren, and that he turned not aside from the commandment to the right hand.
For to the left to the end that he may prolong his days in his Kingdom.
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He and his children in the midst of Israel.
These few verses, beloved brethren, are very heavily on my heart.
There are instructions that were given with regard to the Kingdom.
To the man who would sit upon the throne of Israel.
They're not all the instructions. There are some that precede it.
But I have before me, especially starting with verse 18.
And it shall be when he sitteth upon the throne of his Kingdom.
That he shall raise him.
And I'm going to change it a little bit.
All the reforms that have been upon his heart.
All the things that he wanted to straighten out in Israel.
What it says.
You know.
I think that's a tendency that perhaps men have, is that?
When they get into a position where they can do something about something, they want to do it, and they want to do it right away.
But that's not what the king was to do.
His first act was to be was to sit down and write him.
A copy of the law.
In a book.
His own personal copy doesn't say he shall employ A scribe to do it. It says he shall write him.
A copy of this law.
Now I realize that there was a very limited amount of scripture that they had available to them at that time.
But they were he was to make his own personal copy of it.
Sometimes my heart is touched as I read of.
Places where Bibles are scarce, where Christians will actually sit down and instead of using the one Bible that they have, they will take paper and copy the passage of Scripture that they have before them.
And put the Bible back in a safe place, having written out what they want to do.
Read.
And I remember when I was a boy.
And had trouble with.
Discipline. Sometimes, yes, I did.
That they would give me a card of long division problems to do.
As punishment.
I learned how to divide.
I didn't like dividing when I first started, but I learned how to do it.
What you write out and what you copy for yourself, you retain.
And so they were required to write a copy of the law.
And where were they to take it from?
They were to take it out of that which is before the priest. The Levites. There was an original that they were to take it from.
Not a fallible copy, but an original.
What's my point in mentioning that?
Well.
There are many shortcuts you know to going to getting truth.
And go back to this one or that one that wrote it out.
That had a good grasp of it.
But that's not what we're to do. We're to go back to the original, to the word of God, back to the word of God.
And I just like to suggest that writing it here is a word to you and me to make it real and good to our own souls.
To make it good and real to our own soul.
This is somewhat amusing story I sometimes tell, and I hope if you've heard it before you'll pardon me for repeating it, but I recall in Wood Shopping school.
They taught us how to make rulers.
I don't even know if they do such a thing today, but we learned how to make a ruler.
Cut a piece of wood and mark it off.
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Send it first and mark it off and then varnish it and we had a ruler.
And I thought that was fun. I thought that was a nice thing to do.
I said Wouldn't it be fun to make more of them?
And so I took the ruler that I made, and I made more rulers.
Gave them away.
Always kept one of the production, made another one.
Well, you know what happened. The last one I made was short.
The last one I made was short.
Why? Because I was going from my copy rather than from the original.
You and I, beloved brethren, are not going to get the truth of God the way God wants us to get it.
Unless we go back to the word of God.
Back to the word of God, am I putting down the written ministry that we have? Not by any means. My shelves are full of it, and I love to go back and read it, and I thank God for it.
If you haven't had the joy, some of your younger brothers of, of picking up a book of ministry and reading it.
But if you really want to get the truth in its full and pure and.
And perfect way, you've got to go back to the word of God.
Back to the scriptures.
Not even back to.
Although I esteemed them very, very highly, men like JMD and Wigram and those you've got to go back. How about the reformers? Now we've got to go back to the word of God, To the word of God.
Verse 19 says, And it shall be with him.
I think that's important.
How many times I see, and it sometimes grieves me to see someone leave his Bible in the meeting room.
Now I know sometimes some people have one for a meeting room and some for home. I'm not talking about people like that, but the working copy of their Bible they leave in the meeting room.
It shall be wisdom.
It should be our companion, what we work with, what we live with.
Some of you know that when I was in Chile a few months ago.
I was in a place getting copies made and I put my Bible case down next to me.
And within 5 minutes, after talking to the man about the copies, I looked down and my Bible case was gone.
Believe me, that hurt.
I've asked the Lord to bless the man who took it.
And it might read, but I lost 4 bibles to.
To hymn books.
My tickets. My plane tickets.
And another thing that I missed very much was a little fork that Charo Adama had given me that.
Said horn and hard art on it.
Had a special meaning to me because when I was a boy, I stole one of those from the restaurant and my father made me take it back to the manager.
And I had been using that with children to give them a little lesson. I don't have that anymore.
But what I missed most is that Bible.
It shall be with them.
Oh, I have my Bible.
When's the last time you opened it?
Notice what it says here, and he shall read therein.
Every Lord's day.
Is that what it says every Sabbath?
Lord Day is not the Sabbath, but I'm trying to relate it to the Hebrew culture here. It shall be with him, and he shall read therein all the days of his life, all the days of his life.
You ever get to a point where you don't have to read the word anymore?
I'm sure if I asked our brother Barry, who knows the word very well, Are you at the point now where you really don't have to read it every day? I know what answer I get.
More than ever he says he needs it. He shall read therein all the days of his life.
This is our food, our sustenance, Beloved. This is what our souls feed upon, is the word of God.
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It bothers me when some people ask me, is there any scripture that says you should read every day that I have to read every day?
There's no commandment.
So to speak for everyone of us to read every day. But I think this is the closest that I've seen to coming to it. He shall read therein all the days of his life.
There wasn't a day to go by, but what he wasn't to open that and read it.
Have you ever been to a home? And I have. Where you ask if they have a Bible? Oh yeah, yeah. There's that one we bought. Remember the salesman that came around about five years ago? It's up on the shelf over there, I think. No, it's not over there. And there's a little argument goes by and pretty soon they find it and.
Blow the dust off it.
You know what good that Bible has done to them.
Don't let your Bible gather dust.
Read in it every day. Every day.
I know some of you young men.
If I suggested to you that you only ate once a week on a Saturday afternoon, I know what kind of an answer I get.
Because I raised three boys.
I was a boy.
Shall read therein all the days of his life. This is our food. This is what we are sustained by.
And then it says that he may learn to fear the Lord his God.
It's a terrible thing, but I believe the fear of God is something that is lost on this generation.
And why? Because we don't read in the word. That's where we learn the fear. The Lord.
Is reading the word.
And then it says to keep the words of this law, to keep them.
I suppose we might like it not to maintaining the doctrine.
Is that enough?
It says the last three words of that verse are so important and or just to do that, to do them?
There is no truth in Scripture that God gives us that is just to hold as an intellectual doctrine.
Nothing.
Mr. Kohler used to tell us in Brooklyn.
That no truth is ours until it gets into our boots.
What did he mean by that?
Until we walk in it.
That's why it says to do them.
And it says in verse 20 that his heart be not lifted up above his brethren. All brethren. There's such a danger that our hearts get lifted up above our brethren.
It's a terrible danger.
It's a terrible danger to think we're better than our brethren.
We have a better version of Christianity, a better kind of piety, than they do the reading of the Word of God. The daily reading of the Word of God is a safeguard against that because it lets me know what I really AM.
I don't think there's anything more destructive than the ones heart be lifted up above his brethren.
It's destructive.
And when saying that, I'm not going to tell you that that hasn't happened to me.
But the remedy to it is the reading of the word of God.
Then it says that he turned not aside from the commandment to the right hand or to the left.
It's a sad thing, but I'm afraid that we have a tendency.
To go up this way or that way when it comes to the truth of God.
What will keep us walking straight down the path that God has marked?
Out daily reading and meditating on the word of God.
There is no way that can keep ourselves from deviating.
Becoming either.
Leftists or Rightists and the things of God.
I.
To the end that he may prolong his days and his Kingdom.
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Now, beloved.
We're not kings in the sense that it's talking about here.
But everyone of us has been given a realm of responsibility, a realm of.
Of.
A place where God holds us accountable and we're to exercise that responsibility.
And if we go on with the word of God, following on with what's marked out here?
Will our.
Will be prolonged. The days of our Kingdom of our responsibility will be prolonged.
Then it says he and his children.
Oh, I don't think there's anything that.
Touches our hearts. So is our children.
And our children, how we long for them to go on with the Lord.
The Apostle John says I have no greater joy.
And to hear my children walking in truth.
But our children will not go on.
If we ourselves are walking carelessly with respect to the word of God.
The word is to be.
Emphasized in our homes.
Now one more verse in Ezra.
I might say in preference and preface to this verse that.
When my father realized he was going home to be with the Lord.
He called those of us who could be there with him.
Two of my sons and.
Myself.
Perhaps someone else, I think a grandson.
One of my grandsons.
And he read this verse to us.
Ezra 7 and verse 10.
For Ezra.
Had prepared his heart.
That's the first thing, an exercise of heart. He prepared his heart.
To do what? To seek the law of the Lord.
Just to put it in a very practical way to find out what the Word of God teaches.
To take hold of it.
In a doctrinal way.
And to what do it?
And to do it.
And to teach in Israel statutes and judgments.
It's a threefold responsibility.
God laid that on us very strongly in his last days.
Prepare your heart.
To get a hold of what this book teaches.
So you can teach it to others? No, not first.
And that's one of the troubles Sometimes young people will ask is, well, why don't we have Bible schools and seminaries like other people do? One of the great dangers of a Bible school or seminary is just this that people learn and teach.
And don't do first.
So God's order is that you learn what it says that you do it.
And then teach it. May the Lord help us to do those things.
The return, please, to Second Timothy.
Two Epistle to Timothy.
I have a few thoughts on my heart.
Concerning the care that we should have as to this precious book that we had before us and in our hands as we've been reminded.
Just notice first.
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First Timothy.
I'm sorry, two Timothy is what I want to get. Second Timothy.
Chapter One.
And beginning at verse 13.
Hold fast, the form of sound words.
Just so we've been reminded, holding fast, the form of sound words. But we want to see in this epistle, which is Paul's last epistle, that this was not always so.
And all beloved, if there is anyone here.
That is any thought of turning aside.
Or neglecting the word of God, I appeal to you.
Don't do it.
It's only a downward course.
Two Timothy One verse 14, verse 13 Hold fast the form of sound words.
Which thou has heard of me in faith and love, which is in Christ Jesus.
Could we have anything more glorious than that, more blessed than that, this truth?
Hold fast the form of sound words, or the outline that God has given you and given me.
What a responsibility we have. Then he says That good thing which was committed unto thee, keep by the Holy Ghost.
Which dwelleth in.
Well, these are wonderful excitations.
Beautiful excitations.
Hold it fast.
And keep it.
In the joy of the Lord.
But I want to call attention to the next.
Verse here and we'll find there's three sets of two here.
Very interesting things because we see.
If one is that we have in a book it's mother Micah. If two of agrees shall on earth. If two of you shall agree, and we find that these are in in in sets of twos. So in in the second epistle of Timothy we find three sets of twos.
And I've been, I meditated on this much and I think it's a very, very important thing for us to see.
What happens here? I just want to read verse 15 now he had just been enjoining them to keep that form of sound words and to hold it fast. But what happens?
This thou knowest that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me. And now he names two of them.
Does God know your name? Does he know what your desires are? Other. Is there anyone in this audience?
That has ever even thought of departing or turning away from the truth of God.
I appeal to you according to the word of God. You know it's only a downward course, and we want to see that.
Of whom is fight jealous and homogeneous?
Now I know there are different.
Torn names are put differently, whether it's Greek or or Roman or or Hebrew, whatever. But I just want to point this out.
Phi jealous?
Is little fugitive.
That's one meaning of it. Little fugitive. Why?
He turned away from the truth of God and became, as it were, a fugitive. You know, every child of God here. We're not fugitives.
Where pilgrims on our way home. We're not Wanderers.
But here was Fie jealous Who was?
A little fugitive?
But notice what happens. He finds company.
And dear young people, you know, if you get away from the Lord, you may find company too.
But remember, it will only be a downward course as we want to look at.
So then he finds homogeneous.
And I understand now this is 1 interpretation, 1 meaning of it means.
Lucky.
Lucky.
Umm.
It's in connection. It's connected with Lucky.
Which has nothing to do with our pathway at all. Nothing.
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But here was a Phi, jealous and homogeneous, and he joined the company together. But it says.
It says that they.
They turned away from the dear apostle Paul. Now, this doesn't mean they were lost, doesn't mean that I've mentioned this, the different ones. And he said, well, you mean where they're lost. Doesn't say that. It says they turned away from the Apostle Paul.
Paul's ministry is that which has been given to us the truth of the Church of God.
And if man turns away from that, then he's only on a course that reads downward.
So again, I'm not going to take a lot of time here, but I just wanted to point out these things that I thought of myself and meditated upon so we find here if I jealous and homogeneous. And you know what this brings before us. Our feet are going in the wrong direction.
Our feet.
And we have to be careful on that, don't we? Of course, as we look at these, we'll say well.
He brings in the thought of their feet going astray, but then drop over to verse to the next chapter.
And reverse 15.
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.
What a responsibility it says.
OK.
Study.
Study.
That doesn't mean a cursory reading of the Bible. It means to sit down, meditate, study the word of God, and you'll profit by it. There's a prophet in it. But what happened here?
Study to show thyself approved unto God, a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed.
Rightly dividing the word of truth.
But shun profane and vain babblings, for they will increase into more ungodliness.
So now we have two more.
Now we don't know whether they're connected or not, but they're connected in this way that it's a downward course.
That God is marking out here in this very last epistle that Paul wrote.
Solemn truth that he wrote here.
It is the last epistle he wrote, and so he is warning sounding the warnings.
And yet, at this late date, there are those that will turn away and follow their own path. Well, I believe here what we have is a very subtle thing. Now I understand that, Hymenius.
Is.
A wedding song.
And also.
Pilitus is.
Beloved.
You know, this is the most deceptive thing I know. And you too, you have to talk to those that have been turned away from the truth of God. And they go out and they go down and they meet up with others.
And I meet them and I speak to them and say, well, how are you doing? Oh, we're so happy where we are. Wonderful now.
Are they happy?
They turned away from the truth of God, as it says here.
Their their word, their word will eat as doth a tanker.
Looks so loving and so care and so wonderful or so much love there.
Have you heard that? I've heard it many times.
But that's not true, because we see here these ones as it says.
What was the thing that they turned away from? What was it that they were teaching in their love? They were teaching a truth that is the most precious glorious truth in all the word of God as it says here, who concerning the truth of verse 18 concerning the truth have earned saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the faith of some. Now we're not going on to the rest of these verses, but just to point that out.
Here they were.
Concerning the truth.
Have urged saying the resurrection is passed. You know there's something about that.
The resurrection is the most attested truth in all the word of God. And here was this little couple who were going on in a very loving spirit, but they were teaching false doctrine.
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Turning people away from the resurrection.
And, you know, if you and I are turned away from that, you know what the path is. We're going to do what we please now, because if there's no resurrection, we find that in the 15th of First Corinthians.
To no resurrection, might as well do what you like, do what you please. So we see the subtlety of this turning away and saying that it didn't say there was no resurrection, but they're saying that the resurrection that was passed, that's that's all gone. Well, that is not the truth either, because we're waiting for that very moment when the Lord Jesus is coming to take us home to glory, and that will be a part of the resurrection. The dead are going to be raised 1St and we're going to be caught up together with them.
To meet the Lord in the air. And what a precious truth this is, and we enjoy it to the full.
But here they were teaching this kind of thing, so I believe here we see.
That their heads were wrong.
Their feet were wrong and turning away, and now we see this couple brought before us.
And they are teaching something that is false or in error and their heads are wrong.
Is that not true, that when we leave the divine center, what we turn away? If our feet take us away, there's only one way and that's the downward path, downward path. So we have to be very careful on this. Then it says here again, as I say, I'm not giving an expose on Second Timothy, that's not it. But just these thoughts concerning the turning away, their feet turn away and now their heads are wrong, Their feet are wrong and their heads are wrong.
Then go over to the third chapter, we find again another set of two.
The third chapter.
Now we find something else, as it says here.
I'll just go back a few verses.
Verse 5 having a form of godliness.
But denying the power thereof from such.
Turn away for of this sort are they which creep into houses and lead captive silly women laden with sins.
LED away with divers lusts.
Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, you see what the path of departure turns into.
Ever learning and never able to come until the knowledge of the truth. Oh, this is wonderful where we are. There's lots of love there.
Well, it's a downward path because they have left the divine center. And if there's anyone in this audience today that has ever had that thought, dismiss it.
Because it's only downward, it's not going to be an upward path, I assure you. So here were those.
It says ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. Now as Jannies and Jane Breeze, we have two more.
Three sets of two and it's always downward. It's always downward, as it says here.
Jenny's.
Is.
Vexed or confused?
This is what it is. These are the prophets. These are the the ones in the book of Exodus that were tricking the people. Now they've got another. They've got something else going. Jenny's.
Beloved.
Or be set, be beaten. They were, they were beset or what's the word? But anyway they were they were confused.
And then the other one says the other one. The other name is.
For me. For me, For me, healer, You know now God is going to come in.
They're going to do a great work, but what was the work that they did?
Imitation.
What do we have around us? Imitations.
Imitation.
I don't want to talk about those that left, but just to say this.
That when we leave the teachings of the Word of God, if we leave the Apostle Paul's doctrine.
You're going to get into imitations, and that's exactly what Jenny's and jamborees did.
Imitations.
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So do these also resist the truth? Men of corrupt minds we find here their hearts were wrong, their feet were wrong, their heads were wrong, their hearts were wrong. When we turn away, turn our back upon the word of God.
So we see that, as I say, it's not an expose of Second Timothy, but it's just those thoughts of these sects that God has brought marked out for us that we might learn from this, that we might as we go on in the word of God. Just as I think of any departure these verses come to me, I think of these different, different ones. God wants me to go on in the path of truth and the doctrine, Paul's doctrine that he's brought before us and so all these years.
But so here we find feet wrong, hearts wrong, heads wrong. And just to drop over to verse to chapter four we find also.
Verse four. And they shall turn away their ears from the truth. Ears are wrong now.
But you know God has given it. I meditate upon this, and I thought, why does he tell us the feet first?
Usually the ear is picks up the sound and the heart. It lodges in the heart and then we go wrong. But you know, I believe that God has given us a picture of what we can see. That is, we see the man leaving, We see his feet first. We don't know what's in his heart, but God does. So he's brought that out for us. And I think this is very, very precious. But in closing, I just want to turn over to the 4th chapter and drop down a little bit to show you two more.
And here we find dear Apostle Paul.
Well, we could read a lot of verses here, but we're not going to do it.
Paul speaks about fourteenth verse. Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil.
The Lord reward him according to his works, Of whom be thou where also? For he hath greatly withstood our words. Alexander Alexander the Coppersmith.
Notwithstanding no, and that my first answer, no man stood with me.
He had said Paul has said they all forsook him in Flint, but there was one who stood with Paul. Notice verse 11, only Luke is with me. Isn't that lovely? So here's again our two. But here's the dear apostle Paul and Luke stands with him. But then there's something else too. Notice.
It says at my first 16 at my first answer no man stood with me, but all all forsook me and and I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge. The Apostle wasn't going to have the God lay any charge upon them at all. He's pray for them. And then it says, Notwithstanding, the Lord stood by me and strengthen me.
That by me the preaching might be fully known, that all the Gentiles might hear.
And I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion. Isn't that beautiful to me? I just thought of it. The digression here. Feet wrong. Heads wrong. Hearts wrong. Ears wrong.
Why has God told us this? To exercise each one of us?
So we need to be reminded of this. We need to be exercised as we pick up this precious book. It's the light for our feet, for our pathway.
And it lightens our pathway too. So we need, as our brother **** has already said, we need to cleave to the word of God with purpose of heart. But how lovely it is to see. Here was Paul, who could say only Luke is with me dear Luke was with him.
But then, notwithstanding verse 17, the Lord stood with me. What a beautiful thing.
Is it your diary to go on for the Lord? If it's your desire, the Lord will stand with you regardless of all the evil that's going on, regardless of all the missed failures and the false steps and the downward trend that we see all around us.
Well, I just submit these thoughts.
In much feebleness, but just to think that here Paul marks this out in the end of this.
Of His epistle. Their feet were wrong, their heads were wrong, their hearts were wrong, their ears were wrong. But God was still over, still cares for those who have a real desire to please God. May it be so with each one of us.
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Psalm 19.
We had in Romans one the two becauseses the.
First was.
Why the wrath of God was revealed?
Because God had given a testimony in creation.
And then through his word and we have those two things in this Psalm.
Psalm 19 The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament showeth his handiwork.
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
Their line has gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he said, a Tabernacle for the Son?
Which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strongman to run a race.
Is going forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it, and there is nothing hid from the heat thereof. There you have.
Beautiful verses, the testimony of the heaven.
The sun in its circuit and its rising, we can depend upon it every day and setting at the same place.
Always rising in the east and setting in the West and the circuit.
Covering the whole Earth, there's no place that hasn't seen that witness.
Declare the glory of God. The firmament showed his handiwork.
It's only the fool that cannot see the hand of God in his workmanship.
And then at the end of the chapter verse 7, the law of the Lord.
Is perfect.
The word law is used in the Old Testament as it is here, many times, just for the word of God, and that's the way it is here.
The law of the Lord is perfect converting the soul.
The testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple.
As we read this, it reminds us of 119th Psalm where you have all of these.
Words used to describe the word of God. First it's the law of the Lord, then it's the testimony of the Lord.
Then it's in verse 8 the statutes of the Lord are right rejoicing the heart. And then in verse 8 again the commandment of the Lord is pure.
Enlightening the eyes.
Verse 9 The fear of the Lord is the is clean, enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are true and righteous altogether. All of these.
Descriptions of the The testimony that God has given to us. The word of God. We are indeed a rich people. We have God's word.
My brother was speaking about one Bible put on a shelf collecting dust. Never opened, never looked at.
That's pretty much the way it was in my family before I was saved.
Just a Bible to put your hand on when you swore to something.
And not to be opened and read.
That's too bad, because that's the way it is with so many today. This book is not known to them. We know it. We have the inestimable privilege of of having not just one Bible, but maybe many in our homes, Bible in every room, so that wherever we go, we can we can find it and turn to it.
Have have you ever noticed if you come to a place and on the table next to the chair where you sit down there is a Bible and there's a newspaper?
Which will you Pope pick up?
1St.
Most of the time.
He's going to tell us.
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She says. The Bible, good girl.
But I'm afraid she's right. It's the way it should be, but I'm afraid it's often not that way.
A little child shall lead thee.
Just saw an example of it. She had the right answer.
The Word of God is pure. It is precious. It enlightens the eyes. It gives understanding to the simple.
It shows us the path wherein we should walk. It answers all the questions that we have in life.
It does. It really does. Where should I live? Where should I work, you say? Well, that's not answered in the Bible. Well, not directly.
But there are precepts in it to guide us and to keep us from making some serious mistakes.
For instance, settling way too far away from meeting if I can settle more closely.
Those are mistakes we may make because after all, the job that's farther away pays more.
And.
I was refreshed by a brother that.
Took a much lower paying job so that he could be where he felt the Lord would have him to be. That's to be our guide, not circumstances. Oh, the Lord will guide us by circumstances sometimes, but this is the book that guides us. If we knew his mind and if we were so familiar with this book, we would be kept beloved from many a mistake which we make.
Kept in the path the meek.
Will he guide in judgment the meek? Will he teach his way?
The one who was the meek and lowly 1.
Invited us to follow him.
It's not a popular path.
It's not.
The majority path.
It's a path of rejection.
A path that he has marked out.
A path that he tried.
And we learned that path as we read this book.
More to be desired, verse 10.
Are they than gold?
There will be some of us.
Many, maybe many of us, when we get home to glory, if we have a regret, we'll say, oh, that I didn't spend more time.
This book.
Learning his mind, becoming better acquainted with himself.
So that I could walk hand in hand with him.
A little while left is here.
More to be desired, are they? Than gold. Yeah, than much fine gold.
Sweeter also than honey and the honeycomb. Is there anything sweeter than honey?
Word of God.
Moreover by them as thy servant warned.
Many warnings in scripture. Many.
We need them.
Danger stay out close door, don't go in it. One has fallen into some sin. It's because he's gone through many stop signs or many stoplights in his life.
You don't just all of a sudden fall into these things, but you've taken a step, another step, another step which, if we were acquainted with this book and heeded its precepts, we would be kept from it.
By the word of thy mouth have I kept me from the paths of the Destroyer.
Moreover, by them as thy servant warned, and in keeping of them, there is great reward, I guarantee you, if you keep his word, if you follow his word, if you do it as we've had before us, you'll never say I'm sorry I did it.
You'll never say that.
Great reward.
Who can understand his errors and so on. Now I have one more passage and then we'll close.
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Ecclesiastes 12.
Ecclesiastes 12.
We had before us in Romans, in Psalm 19 and again here.
The creation here, it's the creator.
And the word Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth.
While the evil days come, not.
Nor the years draw nigh when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in that.
There are many Gray hairs tonight, this afternoon amongst this.
And oh, how quickly they come upon us.
Remember now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth.
Think of him the one that gives you life and breath in all things.
The one in whose very breath his hand is.
You your breath is in his hand.
While the sun or the light or the moon or the stars be not darkened.
Nor the clouds return after the rain.
These are all things experienced by old age, creeping on of of feebleness. In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, we see some like this keepers of the house, are trembling.
Can't hold their hands steady anymore.
And the strong men shall bow themselves.
The grinder shall cease false teeth.
They are few.
And those lookout of the windows be darkened.
Glasses.
Some the glasses don't help. They don't see well anymore.
And the doors shall be shut in the streets.
When the sound of the grinding is low.
And he shall rise up at the voice of the bird. Sleep is.
Not easy.
And all the daughters of music shall be brought low, the hearing goes.
And when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish.
Gray hairs.
And the grasshopper shall be a burden.
I've heard several interpretations of that.
The smallest thing.
Something that you might stumble over.
Now you young ones don't know what that is.
But some of us know what that is.
Everything's a problem. It takes me 3 hours to do what I used to do in 15 minutes.
Some of us can relate to that.
Desire shall fail.
Because man goeth to his long home.
And the mourners go about the streets.
Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern. Death comes in.
And we pass on. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the Spirit shall return unto God, who gave it vanity of vanities. All is vanity, saith the preacher.
And moreover, what should we do then if this is what's ahead of us and we can't avoid it?
You can't avoid it.
The Lord may come and rescue you from it, but otherwise you will get old.
Moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge. Yeah, he gave good heed and sought out and said in order, many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words, and that which was written was upright, even words of truth. And what did he do during the time that he he had the strength to to do it? You're young, so many young people here. Now is the time to gather up.
These precious fragments, these precious truths. Now do it. Don't wait till you get older. Don't wait till these first verses of Ecclesiastes 12 apply to you. It's too late. It's too late then.
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The preacher sought to find out acceptable words do that.
And that which was written was upright, even words of truth. Find them out. Store them up.
The words of the wise are as God stirs you on to action.
It prides you, it says This is the way going that way, and it keeps you from going in the wrong way. The words of the wiser is goats, and you can use them to guide someone. That's your friend.
You see them going astray and you use the goat. And no, that's wrong. That's not the way go this way.
I'm going to correct this. I'm going to correct it by the new translation a little bit, and the collections of them. The collections of the words of the wise, collect them.
Are as nails fastened in you can hang something on it.
Come in, you take your coat off, you hang it on the nail.
Collections of them as nails fastened in a nail fastened in a sure place.
They're given from 1 shepherd. One shepherd has given us.
These words of the wise.
Further by these my son be admonished.
Of making many books there is no end. In much study is a weariness of the flesh.
Those of us that have gone to college know what that means.
Collect the words of the wise. Collect those things that are given from that one shepherd.
And let them be that which you can hang your hand upon.
And lift yourself up should it be necessary, and gold others on in the path that he's marked out for us in these dark days.