Address—K. Harman
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Meeting this afternoon.
By Singing 139.
139 This world is a wilderness wide. We have nothing to seek or to choose. We've no thought in the ways to abide. We've not to regret nor to lose. The Lord is himself gone before he has marked out the path that we tread. It's as sure as the love we adore. We have nothing to fear nor to dread. 139.
This world is a wilderness.
Wide way of.
We can come as long as.
You regret water to the.
We ask God's help.
Our gracious God, our Father, we think that we can sing a hymn like this.
To encourage us in the pathway of faith.
We thank thee, our God and our Father, that Thou hast sent thy beloved Son into this world.
We thank thee that he came to do thy will.
And we thank thee, our God and our Father, that as he tread the pathway down here.
As I could look down upon him and say, this is my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased.
There only did could self fully trace a life divine below.
And so we thank the Lord Jesus that for our pathway down here, we are not left alone, for Thou hast been here before us, and now we can look to Thee for our guide and our comfort. And we do thank you for thy word that that is our instruction for the pathway. And we just pray, our Father, that as we open it this afternoon, they'll give us help and they'll give us guidance and they'll give us direction.
We pray that the Lord Jesus might be glorified in this hour and that our hearts might be encouraged that we might be reminded again of Thy grace that is extended toward us as we walk through this scene.
The grace that sought and found us alone can keep us, keep us clean. And so, our Father, we would just ask thee for thy guidance. Now. We ask thee that doubt.
Give help to the speaker and to the listeners too. And so we would just commit this hour to the Our Father with Thanksgiving in the name of the Lord Jesus, Amen.
Turn with me for a moment to the the Book of Deuteronomy.
Chapter 6.
We'll begin at verse one.
Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord your God commanded to teach you, that you might do them in the land whither you go to possess it. That thou mightest fear the Lord thy God to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou and thy son, and thy son son, all the days of thy life, and that thy days may be prolonged.
Here therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it.
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That it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the Lord God of thy fathers hath promised thee.
In the land that floweth with milk and honey. Here, O Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord. And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be in thine heart.
Thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house.
And when they'll walk us by the way, and when thou lie us down, and when thou risest up. And thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand, and they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates.
And it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he swear unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not, and wells digged which thou digest not, vineyards and olive yards which thou plantest not, when thou shalt have eaten and be full. And beware lest thou forget the Lord which.
Brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the House of *******.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God and serve him, and shalt swear by his name.
And then in chapter 12.
Perhaps we could read from verse one also. These are the statutes and judgments which ye shall observe to do in the land which the Lord God of thy fathers giveth thee to possess it all the days that ye live upon the earth. You shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which ye shall possess serve their gods, upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree. And ye shall overthrow their altars, and bring their pillars, and burn their Groves with fire, and ye shall hew down the graven images of their gods.
And destroy the names of them out of that place. You shall not do so unto the Lord your God, but unto the place which the Lord your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his habitation shall ye seek. And thither thou shalt come, and thither ye shall bring your burnt offerings, and your sacrifices, and your tithes, and heave offerings of your hand, and your vows, and your free will offerings in the firstlings of your herds and of your flocks.
And there ye shall eat before the Lord your God, and ye shall rejoice in all that you put your hand unto ye, and your households wherein the Lord thy God hath blessed thee, ye shall not do after all the things that we do here this day. Every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes.
For you're not as yet come to the rest and to the inheritance which the Lord your God giveth you. But when you go over Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God giveth you to inherit, and when He giveth you rest from all your enemies roundabouts, so that you dwell in safety, then there shall be a place which the Lord your God shall choose to cause His name to be to dwell there. Thither shall ye bring all that I command you, your burnt offerings and your sacrifices, your tithes.
And the heave offering of your hand and all.
Your choice vows which evolve into the Lord. And ye shall rejoice before the Lord your God, ye and your sons, and your daughters, and your men, servants, and your maidservants, and the Levite that is within your gates, for as much as he hath no part nor inheritance with you.
Take heed to thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest, but in the place which the Lord shall choose in one of thy tribes. There thou shalt offer thy burnt offerings, and there thou shalt do all that I command thee.
Perhaps that's far enough.
What I have on my heart this afternoon.
Is.
Primarily to those that are my age bracket and perhaps younger.
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As a young person, I was.
Brought up in the assembly, gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus. Though I didn't always appreciate the place. I didn't always know that where I was gathered was was the that which where the Lord Jesus was alone, that is where there was one table.
Now, we've heard much in this last while about there being one table. There has been an attack on this and.
As though the Lord could be, could have more than one table, more than one place. I want to tell you this afternoon that that it is not so. He has one place.
He has one table.
Well, as young people, perhaps we don't always know this. And again I'm speaking to the young people. I said it was going to be those my age and maybe a little younger.
I say that primarily because.
That is where the responsibility lies.
So much of our sometimes we direct so much of our ministry to the young people as though they were the only ones that needed this. But I feel so much in my own soul that it is.
Those who have young people.
That the word should go to.
Well, we all need it, don't we, Young and old, We need to be reminded of it. Peter could always could say, though you know these things, I put you in remembrance of these things, though you know them. And so how often we need to be reminded of all the truth of God.
We need to be well-rounded in the truth of God, do we not?
Well, as a young person, they say I was brought up in the assembly and I didn't always appreciate, I didn't always know it. And the Lord had to put me through things that whereby I came to appreciate the place. And I wonder if there's anyone in this room this afternoon that that really is questioning as to and wondering perhaps why am I here?
Why do I come to this little meeting and why don't I go down the street? I remember when I moved to the town I'm now in, it's a large Mennonite community, and my helper asked me once he saw the little meeting room we were going to and he always asked, well, how many are there there? I told him. He said, what do you do that for? Why don't you just come down? Come, come with us, he said.
Why just go on with a little group like that?
How would you answer that?
Well, I can't remember what I said and I'll leave the I'll leave it to you as to how you would answer that.
But, you know, it's a challenge, is it not? In our souls and especially as young people, they say, well.
I don't. Well, we that's where I was brought up.
And sometimes that's all we can answer, and the time comes when we have to give a little bit more than that, for our own souls if nothing else.
Well, the time came in my life when I had to, when I had to be put to this test and, and thankfully the Lord came in and undertook for me and showed me the truth of being gathered to the Lord's name.
I don't want to stay on this.
Life of mine, that's not profitable, but if I say anything, it's for the encouragement of those who are younger. But you know there is an attraction out there in the religious world for you.
And if you've got anything to offer in the line of abilities or whatever, they want you. Yes they do, and it is an immense attraction and snare.
The children of Israel found this soul in their midst. There were those attractions of the nation drawn about them.
And they were not immune to the fact that.
There were those things that they desired, and yet God had told them that they should not.
They should not take wives of those of the nations roundabout them, or give their daughters unto their sons, and so forth.
But nevertheless, the attraction was there and they failed in many ways.
They failed terribly. Well, it's so the attraction is no less.
Today, with our young people and with those of us who are older, you know, discouragement comes in sometimes and we, we sometimes.
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Lose sight of the.
The importance of the assembly.
You don't want just two or three. The Lord Jesus said it would get down to that number. Two or three gather together.
Unto his name. You know, if you don't see the Lord there, then it's very easy to stop coming, isn't it?
But you know, if you see the Lord there, it's easy to keep coming.
And so where does the where? What is the answer to this? Do we? Do we just?
Read our Bibles and and get the doctrine all up in here and.
Perhaps go because of a certain brother that is there? What? What is the answer to this?
Well, the answer is found here in Deuteronomy 6 I believe.
We'll go down. I started at verse one in reading, but I want to start here now at verse four. Cure O Israel, the Lord our God is 1 Lord.
We have to, we have to get to the place in our souls where we see that the Lord is 1 Lord and that there is one Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, and there is one body. We need to see all these things and to see them from God's point of view.
You know, it was, it took a while, a long time in my life before I understood what it meant with the truth of the one body meant I, I looked about me and I saw the, the people Christians out there and I said, well, they're all members of the body of Christ. And so I can identify myself with them. And so I did. And I, I, as a young person, I went out there and I, I.
I had fellowship with them. I want to tell you what it did to me. It made me despise the assembly.
You know, as I said before, they want what you have if it can help them.
For the sake of the young people here, I want to just say, you know, I found in my life a snare.
I one thing, music was a snare, another thing my car was a snare. Young, young fellows here, they like to have their cars and so forth. And I got involved with the.
A Christian car club affiliated with a branch in California. And I thought this was the greatest thing. But you know, as it went on with it and I didn't go on very long, but as it went on with it, something told me that there was, it wasn't right. And I couldn't, I couldn't say what, but it just wasn't right.
Well, the Lord delivered me from that.
And he gave me the desire in my soul to.
Seek out his people nor and I got to to understand what the truth of the one body was. I began to hear it in meetings like this.
In conferences, you know, I come from way back and beyond and, and I there, I didn't hear that much there, but I, I thank God for being able to get to the conferences and, and the Lord opened my eyes as to the truth and I began to pursue it and he delivered me from that which was the camp.
And I, I, I haven't had a desire for it since, because there's something that takes, that is far more valuable.
Than that which is only catering to the flesh. Oh, that's what I saw out there. You know, there's so much. There's so much for the flesh.
So much of man, but when you come into the little assembly where there isn't anything for the flesh, there's got to be something else, isn't there?
And so it's important for us as we're younger and, and I say especially for those who are a little older, perhaps raising your family, raising your little kids, if you haven't laid hold of the truth of the assembly by now, you better get busy and you better get on your knees before the Lord.
Because it's going to be vital for you and for your children if you're going to stay there.
The word to the children of Israel is here, and I believe it was to the parents here. It says, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words which I command thee this day shall be.
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In thine heart.
Dear father, mother, younger person.
Is the Word of God abiding in your heart? That's where it needs to begin.
That's where it had to begin in my heart. I had to lay hold of myself, and you have to lay hold of it yourself. The word of God, thy Word have I hid in my heart, that I might not sin against Thee.
And all these things are important.
The word of God, we must value it and we must door it up in our souls. We must read it and meditate on it. And I, I might say that that that is an important thing, meditation.
It's by meditation that the truth of God gets into our souls.
We can hear it with our ears, we enjoy it, perhaps and and and and yet, if it doesn't get down into our soul, that's the that's the resting place, the soul, the home of the truth.
Souls and it only gets there by meditation.
And you know, the truth gets into us by way of our conscience.
And so we must make much of the Word of God. May the Word of God be laid up in your heart. And that's where it has to start as.
Perhaps there's young people here that have just started their families.
I trust that you have already feeling your responsibility.
As the head of a home.
Because the next thing that comes is your responsibility in your home.
You know.
I feel sometimes that the that we have failed in this in that we have made a substitute.
Of.
I don't know how to say this exactly.
But there were those, there are those that those camps, let's put it that way. And my children went to these some of these camps too, but.
You know the danger was always there of using this as a substitute for the home.
I was talking to a young person once and she said, you know, different ones I've talked to, they said, well, I have to come here in order to get what I don't get at home.
And I said, do you ever feel that way? She says no, why not?
Because we always got our questions answered in our reading at home.
Now some perhaps you say, well, I would, I know I should have have family reading, but I I'm just so unlearned. I just, I just hesitate. I can't bring anything out of the scriptures.
That's not the important thing. The important thing is to set the example before your children that it means something to you.
And you know, we have all sorts of helps. I may just suggest my wife and I when we first were married, we we got a set of chapter Macintoshes books and we read them along with the scriptures as commentaries and it is very helpful.
And I would encourage you who are younger, young brothers to do that or something like that just as a help to get you started and keep it up, keep it up.
You know, there are habits that are good and there are habits that are bad, and I believe that's one of the good habits is to keep up the reading in your home. And that's what we get here. First of all, it has to be in your own heart.
And then it says that thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children. How can you teach it to your children if you haven't got it in your heart?
Diligently unto thy children, and shall talk of them when thou sittest in thine house.
And when they'll walk us by the way, And when they'll lie us down. And when thou risest up every facet of the home.
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Is it an awkward thing in your home to talk about the Lord? You know, sometimes it seems like that that is a is a separate entity all by itself. We talk about the Lord on Lord's day.
Is it a?
Is it just the normal conversation in your home? It should be to talk about the Lord, your circumstances, your children come home, you got a problem, you go to your mother and father. Does your mother and father say to you, well, let's just leave it with the Lord or let's pray about it or, or how do you how do you attack a problem like that? Do you just leave the word of God aside and and as though it has it doesn't enter in here.
Oh, teach it to thy children when thou liest down, when thou sittest up, when thou walkest. Talk about these things. Make them a topic of conversation.
Make it real for them.
How many young people have we heard say, well, we never talked about those things in our home?
I just couldn't talk to my dad. I couldn't talk to my mom.
What's wrong with you mothers and fathers?
And when thou walkest by the way, and when thou lie us down, and when thou rise us up, and thou shalt bind them for a sign upon thine hand.
And they shall be as frontlets between thine eyes.
Do they know about this outside your home too?
What kind of a reputation do we have as Christian parents in our community?
In the assembly.
What does it go as far as our gates or does it just stay within our doors?
This this was to be known right out so others could see it right at the gates.
Right outside your home. It was to characterize these people. These were the people of God.
And it should have characterized every home in Israel.
That they so enjoyed the Lord's guidance, the Lord's direction.
That it would characterize them. The nation's roundabout could say the Lord is there.
But what did they see?
They saw failure. They saw them giving up their children to the nations. They saw their families going after other gods.
What a dishonor to the God who had brought them through the Red Sea, through the wilderness, through Jordan, stayed with them all the 40 years in the wilderness.
And then they come into the land, and they sink into idolatry, and they forget the God of their fathers.
Well, we get on to that it shall be when the Lord thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he swear unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities which thou buildest not, and houses full of all good things which thou fillest not. In wells, digs which thou digest not, vineyards, in the olive trees. What's our planets not when thou shalt have eaten and be full. And beware, lest they'll forget the Lord.
You know, we have a mind, a wealth of ministry. We have those that have gone before us and have dug the wells and have have supplied us with with everything that we need.
For life and godliness, we have it right here in this word. And there are those faithful men and I, I tell you young people, you're not too young to start reading good ministry. And I want to warn you about that ministry that is out there that is not based on the truth that we value.
I've known of young people.
Close at home that have been carried away by that.
God LED these men of old that we value.
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To dig those wells of water.
To bring out the truth from the word of God for you and me.
To partake of for refreshment for our nurturing for you.
And me. And for our children. And for our children's children.
Our brother the other day yesterday, our brother the other day yesterday brought this home to our souls that we have lost our children.
How true.
Where did it begin?
We didn't have the word in our hearts.
And then because we didn't have it there, we didn't pass it on to our children.
We sat back in our assemblies and we didn't as though all there's brother so and so he can, I'm glad he's here so that there's somebody that can at least carry on the meeting.
You know in First Corinthians 14 it says everyone of you had the Psalm at the hymn and so on. Is that true in our assemblies, brother?
Or is it just certain ones that we lean on?
Are there fathers there that would that should be laying these things up in their hearts and enjoying them, meditating upon them?
That they might come to the meetings where their children are.
And pass them on.
Not as something that you have read necessarily, but something that you and I have enjoyed.
In our souls, how often have we heard young people say, oh, I go there and it's so dead, it's so dry, there's nothing fresh. Why?
Because I have been meditating.
I just like everyone in this room who has that responsibility in your assembly.
To think about that.
And to get before the Lord about it, you can't just turn it on.
Like a switch when you're when you turn the radio on you just that isn't how you turn it on brother or sister the sisters too you know it's not just the brothers in the assembly that have an effect on it but the sisters have a big effect.
When you see a godly sister come into the assembly and you know she's there every time, and you know that she has a word of wisdom once in a while, you're thankful for it, and you miss her if she's not there.
And so, sisters, don't be discouraged because you can't say something in a meeting. You have a great impact. Young sisters, older sisters, faithfulness is that which is needed.
It speaks of passing this word on to those faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
That's so important, you know, in a generation, slips by, slips by and what happens? We've just gone through it. Yes, we have.
Beware lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt.
From the House of ******* thou shalt fear the Lord thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name. He shall not go after other gods.
What is it that we're seeking after in our assemblies, brother?
Are we just happy to be there because the Lord is there?
Is that enough? Yes, it is sufficient, isn't it?
Is that what we're going to pass on to our children?
Or do they find in me, do they find in you some seed of dissatisfaction and they pick it up and first thing you know, they're gone?
You know there's nothing so sad as a seed of bitterness.
Is there any here in this room that is carrying with them a seed of bitterness in your soul against a brother, A sister is there? If there is, you better get rid of it.
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Because it spreads.
Just recently I've heard of a young man who was put out of our assembly 22 years ago.
He's just on his way back.
I trust.
But he said my family had a deep root of bitterness for years.
That's why they were put out, that's why they were why they were there no longer the whole family and others also.
Followed them out in sympathy.
This young brother now that has asked to meet with the brethren, has said, ten years after I was put out of fellowship, I was saved.
Not something.
I say that because it's so important for us to when I just say this in passing.
I've shared it with others, but I'll I'll share it with you too. And that is the fact that when something is done in the assembly in the name of the Lord Jesus, that we submit to it implicitly.
We didn't know that man wasn't saved.
But the Lord did.
There are other things that were hidden that we didn't know about, but the Lord did.
The brother was put out for one reason, but I believe the Lord dealt with him for another reason that we don't even know about. And so it's so important, brethren, to bow to.
The assembly decision. Now I know that isn't in this program here, but I just say that by the way.
Because these things are so important.
I trust this young man will see his way back to the assembly with his children.
He said I have come to see the importance of the authority of the Lord Jesus in the assembly.
That's a wonderful thing to hear.
In the face of so many that have left.
Well, the Word of God, brother, needs to be in my heart, and it has to be in your heart.
If we're going to remain here in the place of his appointment.
It's got to stay there.
And we have to thrive on, we have to dwell on, we need to feed on.
A young couple have been saved recently in another assembly and gathered to the Lords name.
They come to the first breaking of bread and they say, isn't that wonderful?
That's the way it should be, they said.
Beautiful.
The simplicity of it.
Is that what bothers you?
Anyone here that? Is it the simplicity of things that you don't like?
But you know when the Lord is there and we see him there.
The simplicity is beautiful.
That's what makes a difference. And if you don't have him there, you have to have all sorts of activity to make up for it because it pleases the flesh. I saw that when I was out there.
All sorts of activity, but there was nothing for my soul.
Until I heard and acted on the truth.
Of the one body.
And the Lord showed me that He was sufficient.
Does it cost? Yes, it does. I had turned my back on all those things and all my friends, and I want to tell you something else. There was a young brother who was in that assembly who was a good friend of mine.
And I let him out and he never came back.
So it costs in more ways than one cost my own soul cost him.
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I talked to his father and I apologized. He said, you know, these things don't happen overnight, it's just a manifestation of what was already there. I said I don't care, I was still responsible.
Well, beware, lest thou forget the Lord which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the House of *******.
Now I want to turn over to the 12Th before we get too far.
I don't want to take up each verse individually. I read the verses and I want to think of them in a hole.
The gist of this portion?
Take heed unto thyself that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest.
There's a thought, you know.
Very predominantly that it doesn't really matter where we go, as long as they're Christians, we can have fellowship with them and we can participate in all their love feasts and so forth.
That's wrong.
I'm not saying that we can't have fellowship with other Christians.
I I'm not saying that at all. I have many Christian friends in the community where I live and I value them. I have, I can talk with them about the Lord and when I talk to them about going to the prayer meeting, they know what I talk about, what I'm talking about.
They don't want anything to do with the path of separation.
And you have to take heed. We have to take heed that those are the ones that we don't have fellowship with.
I'm not saying you can't talk to them. I'm not saying that you can't have fellowship with them up to a point.
But take heed that thou offer not thy burnt offerings in every place that thou seest.
You know when we come together to remember the Lord Jesus in his death, that loaf that we have on the table.
Not only speaks to us of his death, of his body that was bruised for you and me.
That body that was nailed to the tree.
We think of that and we we meditate upon it in His presence, and it draws forth the worship of our hearts. It's wonderful, is it not, that we can come into His presence and just sit there in quietness? No great things, no activity, no program.
There were those who came into an assembly once, maybe you heard about it and they said.
Afterwards they were asked.
Do you think that this was all pre arranged and they said Oh no doubt about it.
Well, it wasn't, was it?
The Spirit of God is there to guide and direct our hearts as we sit there in His presence.
Just to think about him.
Well, the other thing is that that loaf speaks to us of of the fellowship that we have in the body of Christ.
We are.
One body, one bread, one loaf, and as that's looked at in its entirety, as we are there and we see that loaf before us, do we think only of the gathered Saints? If you do, you're narrow minded.
We think of all, all of God's children, all the members of the body of Christ in that loaf.
And you know, that makes us the most wide open fellowship that there is, right?
Remember Mr. Brown saying that, brethren, we are the most we have the most wide open fellowship there is, excluding evil.
Don't let anybody tell you that as gathered to the Lord's name, we are narrow minded.
That's an excuse to leave.
Let's value what these men have dug these wells. Let's value their ministry. Let's read it. Let us, let us avail ourselves of this ministry. Young people, you can start now.
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Right now you don't have to wait until you get married. You don't have as much time. I thank God for the few years I had before I got married that the Lord helped me to to take in a little bit.
It's been far more difficult since.
You have your responsibilities you have.
Many things that enter in, you get a family and then you have your responsibilities there.
It's wonderful if you have.
If you have the desire right now to to read the Word of God and to read good ministry based on it, it's helpful, very helpful. Let it get into your soul because when the time comes, you have a family or you have grandchildren.
You can pass it on to them because you've enjoyed it yourself.
You know there's nothing that they pick up faster.
Then that which is not real.
There's nothing young people pick up faster than someone who just says the same thing every meeting.
Brethren, is that where I've gotten in my soul?
Is that all I am enjoying so that I can only pass on to my brethren that which I have enjoyed 20 years ago and I've said the same thing every meeting since? Or something like that, You know what I mean?
Let's meditate upon these things, give ourselves wholly to them that are profiting might appear to all.
And that we might not just save ourselves, but those that hear us. Is that not the fun?
Young, not just young. Brother, brother, my brothers here.
We have a responsibility.
In our assemblies, to pass on the word, to encourage those to have a word, to have a prayer, to have a Thanksgiving, to read a portion of the Scripture.
Let's not just leave it to brother so and so.
Let's feel each one of us feel our responsibility.
That we might pass these things on.
That's what they were told to do here. You know, in the 6th chapter they were to it was to characterize their whole life, their whole pattern of life. I have to stand here and confess that it hasn't always characterized mine.
But the Lord knows our hearts, and we're thankful for that.
So let us remember that there is one place, because the children of Israel, there was that one gathering center.
How good to know that we don't have to go up to Jerusalem?
We don't have to go to some city.
Could the Lord make it more simple than He already has?
To sit in your home, brother or sister, sit in your home and bring us the loaf and the wine, in fellowship with your brethren in other places, and sit down in simplicity and do what he wants you to do.
Anything more simple than that?
Well, how is it that we're so ready to do things that are more complicated?
We want to do something that has more show.
It's in my heart. Is it in your heart?
But oh brother, and if we just forget about ourselves.
And if we realize why we're there with the Lord in the midst, and we see Him there, that's all we want. And we can talk to Him. We can tell Him how much we value what He has done and to thank Him. There's nothing simpler than that. You young people. Is there anyone here that still has not responded to the Lord's desire?
What's holding you?
What? What else does he have to do?
Doesn't it mean anything to you? The Lord Jesus says.
Is there any sorrow like unto my sorrow?
Do you see him standing there? Dear young person, dear older one, do you see him there with his hands on Calvary?
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Behold, and see if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow.
That's what he did for you.
For me.
What else do we want?
Do we want to follow the ways of men and say that's not I want more than that?
You know when the apostle Paul says in Philippians 3 that I do count them, but done, then I might win Christ.
That's what we need to do rather than with those things that.
Hinder us.
I thank God that He was able to give me that grace to do that.
When he showed me the truth.
Of the one place.
But you know that alone won't keep me, and it won't keep you either. You have to go on in the truth. You have to go on in your soul, and you have to feed your soul. You know if you stop eating, you soon expire.
Is it a legal thing for you to go and have supper?
Or to have your breakfast.
I don't count that as legality, I count that as my necessary food. I need to be sustained. And yet how many times people feel that it's legal because they have to go to meeting tonight?
Am I too plain on these things or is that so?
I say these things because I've gone through it.
And you know, so many times we give our children the idea that it's a legal thing for me to go to meeting tonight and they pick it up. And when they're old enough, they don't hang around.
Brethren, we have to let them know that we value the fact that the Lord Jesus is there and He is sufficient for our gathering as well as our salvation, and it's only until He comes.
Very soon he's going to come and take us unto himself.
And you know what a privilege it will be to step from the breaking of bread, or being stepping from being gathered to His name in the truth of it, and right into the presence of Him.
I like the expression that the brother said once we walk down here like Enoch and he stepped right into the presence of God.
That's the way it can be, you know, without any changes mentioned in our meetings, I believe there shouldn't be any change.
From one position to the other, that's a rebuke to my soul because I'm not always that way.
But I trust that we will see that what was true of the children of Israel.
Is true of us, brotherhood. It's true of us. We have responsibilities to fulfill in our local assemblies. And you young people, it doesn't exclude you.
You have your responsibility too, because you're coming up.
And you're going to be next in line if the Lord leaves us here, and the responsibility will rest on your shoulders.
How about the young sisters too? Yes.
Who you get?
Can affect it.
Are you going to seek those who are from the, shall we say?
The nation's roundabout.
And say, well, I can bring them into the meeting.
Well, if it's of God, thank God for that. And sometimes he overrules for a while. He, it seems there's many cases, but oh, I tremble when I think of that. It weakens the testimony.
Stop by His spirit in those early 1800s.
Then is your responsibility in mind to identify with it and to be sure we're there?
And how do we know we're there? If any man will to do my will, he shall know of the doctrine. That is a promise. It's not just a coincidence if you happen to find your way there.
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It's a promise. He promises this, that if you want to know what the will of God is in your life and in your soul, as to the assembly, as to who you want to marry, or whatever it might be, where you want to go to live, if it's all there, you shall know.
It says the doctrine that's true.
And if you want to know what how what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name you're not sure, ask the Lord about it. Don't try and be convinced just by someone that you ask.
Ask your Lord about it and He won't misguide you, He won't mislead you. Oh, how wonderful it is if you can find your way and be happy in the little assembly where you are.
Because you know what? It's not waste time because the Lord Jesus values it.
It's something you can do for him. Have you thought of it that way? Or is it something that just kind of weighs heavy on you and you just, you know, you can, you can come to despise it.
Despise it, for the Lord Jesus says there am I in the midst.
Does that not mean anything?
If we ever get that feeling, brothers and sisters, let's judge it right away. Then there's something wrong with me, not with the Lord.
And so, as it was with the children of Israel, so are the tendencies.
In our life too, it's the same. The same things that face them face us.
And yet God is faithful.
And the foundation of God standeth sure.
Shall we pray?
Our gracious God, our Father, we thank Thee.
For the truth of these verses, these thoughts, we pray that they'll bless them.
To our souls, the speaker included. Our Father we are so prone to.
Forget them. When we think of the unfaithfulness of the children of Israel, we sometimes wonder how they could be so unfaithful. The Lord.
Give us the ability to look into our own souls and realize that we are no different but for Thy grace.
We pray, our Father, for everyone in this room. We pray for our dear young people. Give them solemn thoughts about these things, and may them, may they, realize that they are important to Thee.
And the daughters want to bless them. And we can only be blessed.
In our souls the children of Israel were blessed as they were faithful.
But we know that this is not necessarily sold in this age.
Our Father, we praise that, though we we know that as we walk in obedience to these oldest blessings in our souls, and we thank you for this.
And we pray that we might value these things, and that Thou give us grace to go on in the little time that is left is here to walk in obedience to the truth.
And that we might seek to encourage one another in this path.
We would thank Thee, our God and our Father, and ask Thy blessing in the name of the Lord Jesus.