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Preserve free from staying. Be blameless until that great day.
Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen 288.
All those mercies.
We thank thee that thou hast set thyself apart, there in the glory for an object for our heart.
We think of the difference of being here at the conference and everything catering to this life that that was put in US.
How we enjoy each other and enjoy talking about the Lord Jesus.
But we realize the moment we step out of this place and hand out the first track, we meet resistance.
And so we think of being in this world where everything.
Calendars that life that that was put in.
We anticipate.
Being with you, Lord Jesus.
Where everything?
In that creation.
Caters to the life that we have.
What a future we have before us.
We thank thee for it. We pray now that we might gain again and.
That we might grow in grace.
And then the knowledge of thyself.
Through this little Bible reading the thy name, Lord Jesus, Amen.
If we go back to Ephesians 5, we.
Obviously have a lot of ground to cover in about an hour.
But would it be OK to start with verse 14? Is that about right?
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Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 14.
Wherefore he sayeth awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give you light. See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, and be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.
Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things, and to God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Submitting yourselves 1 to another in the fear of God, Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. Therefore as a church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands and everything.
Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with a washing of water by the word, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but it should be holding without blemish. So it meant to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it even as the Lord the church.
For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they too shall be 1 flesh. This is a great mystery. But I speak concerning Christ and the church. Nevertheless, Let every one of you in particular so love his wife, even as himself, And the wife see that she reverence her husband.
I believe this quotation is from Isaiah.
Though I can't remember the reference, but.
Awake thou that sleepest, with a minor variation.
And arise from the dead.
Yes, it's an application that could, or rather an interpretation that I believe can refer to Israel, but it's taken here in the New Testament to apply in a general way.
It could apply if someone wanted to take it that way, to an unbeliever to arise from the dead, and Christ would give him light.
Because the world is asleep and you get that also in First Thessalonians in chapter 5 don't we? Where it tells us that they that sleep sleep in the night and they that are drunk and be drunken in the night.
And so on.
But that's the characteristic of those without the light, and so we're called upon.
If we have fallen into sleep, and I believe that's spiritual sleep that is referred to here.
Were to arise and will get light. Now I say again, that could refer to an unbeliever, but it can refer to you and me too.
And it's very easy to be lulled to sleep by the course of this world, isn't it?
We live in a time scene and we have only time.
Down here to prepare for eternity.
Remember. Well, rather amusing reading about a man who was.
Largely responsible, although not completely, for building the railway across Canada. Man by the name of William Van Horn.
And he became eventually the CEO of the railway.
And he never seemed to need much sleep.
And people would ask him, why don't you get more sleep, Mr. Van Horn?
Because when you're asleep, you don't know what's going on.
And of course the before the days of.
Phone lines and all that kind of thing. The only way of communicating was by the Telegraph, and the young man that worked for the railway would amuse themselves in the middle of the night sending silly messages and jokes and everything to one another on the railway Telegraph, thinking that it wouldn't be discovered and suddenly there would be a Telegraph message sent through. This is William Van Horn. Quit your fooling around and do your job.
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They never suspected that he'd be wide awake and noticing what was going on at 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, but he was.
Well, God expects that you and I.
Will be alive and awake and noticing what's going on in this world. Intelligent observers, not part of it, but very intelligent observers about what's going on and reacting accordingly, the same way as, for example, the Canadian ambassador to the United States. In no way does he take part in the government. In no way does he get involved in affairs down here.
But I'm sure he's a very keen observer of everything that goes on. But from what point of view?
How is it affecting me and how is it affecting Canada? How is it going to affect our relations and what is my reaction as a representative of Canada?
And I suggest that's what we should be in this world.
I think it's illustrated, is it not, in the parable of the 10 virgins in Matthew 25? Because often when we take up that parable, we take it up in the gospel and we stress the side of the five virgins who were foolish and had no oil in their lamp. But I think there's something very serious for us to consider as believers, because if you had seen those 10 ladies asleep and they all slumbered and slept, it says.
If you had seen those 10 ladies asleep, you couldn't have told being able to tell who had oil in their lamps and who didn't. You wouldn't have been able to tell who was real and who wasn't. And so there was a call for them to wake up. It was evidenced later on.
Who was real and who wasn't? But I've often thought of that because a true believer can slip into a state of a spiritual, lethargic state of what is referred to here as sleep.
So that perhaps?
It's like 2 Timothy the Lord knoweth them that are His. That's a very sad condition.
And let's just go to Romans 13, where we have a very specific exhortation in this regard, which in the context in Romans 13, there's no doubt that he's speaking to believers.
Romans 13 We know this portion well, but I'll just read from verse 11 and that knowing the time that now it is high time to awake out of sleep, for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. So there's no doubt that this exhortation is to true believers.
But the day of our of the Lord's coming, and when we're going to be delivered from this world and taken out of it, and get our glorified bodies and so on, it's near, and we ought to be aware of that. We ought to wake up rather than we ought to wake up to the things we've been Speaking of, realizing that we're just about at the end. And then he goes on in verse 12. The night is far spent. The day is at hand. Let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk honestly in the day.
Not in rioting and drunkenness. Not in clamoring and wantonness. Not in strife and envying.
But put on put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof. Wealth statements are very pithy but self-explanatory and it really confirms what we've been saying, summarizes what we've been saying in the last meeting as well as what we have here in our opening verse.
The issue here is association helps you notice that the new translation says.
Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from among the dead.
It gives the picture of a person, to my mind, that reminds me of stories I've heard of people who have been mistakenly taken to the morgue and they've wakened up in the morgue, and the first thing they want to do is get out of there. They don't. They know they don't belong there, and we ought to be conscious that we don't belong among the dead. There's a very striking verse in Proverbs in connection with this Proverbs 21.
And verse 16.
Proverbs 2116 The man that wandereth out of the way of understanding shall remain.
In the congregation of the dead.
And better translation is even more striking. Says he'll rest there.
If I see a person resting in the congregation of the dead.
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That person is out of the way of understanding.
That's not That's no place to rest in the congregation of the dead.
We don't, brethren. We don't belong.
We're in a spiritual morgue in this world. We're in a spiritual morgue.
We should be demonstrably different.
So we're to be aware of what is around us.
Next verse see that she walks circumspectly, not as fools but as wise.
Circumspect the courses from the Latin circum meaning around and Spectra is the verb to look. So look around you, be aware of what's going on and react in a right way.
Very, very important.
We're not meant simply to slide through this world.
And.
Go to heaven, excuse me, and go to heaven at the end that is true, blessedly true. And let nothing take away from that but our walk and our ways ought to be.
A testimony to Christ and to those around us. And so we're to look around us, see what's going on, realize the kind of world we're living in, and then walk accordingly. What do we do if we're in an area where we should be looking around and don't look around?
We'll step somewhere where we don't plan to, won't we? We'll get into something that we're not looking for.
And so the believer.
It's incumbent upon him to look around him, be aware of what's going on, and then be careful where we put our feet here. Brings that out pretty clearly, don't they? And the first Peter chapter says here in.
In verse 8, be sober, be vigilant. Vigilant is the same as being diligent, right? And he says because your adversary, we have an adversary who has a lot of experience behind him.
And he's out. He's out to destroy us.
As a roaring lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour, he wants to take away in any way he can, our enjoyment.
And he puts us to sleep. And there's various methods that he uses. He could use our walk, I mean our our, our work.
Our our entertainment, our sports. There's a variety of reasons that he can put us back into that slumber state, spiritual slumber, but we are to be sober and be vigilant, as you say.
It's interesting too that the deck dictionary definition of the word circle.
Is this careful to consider all circumstances and consequences? I thought that was very good. It was brought out this morning that there are consequences. You know, we sometimes again think of things in relationship to the gospel, forgetting that they apply to the believer as well. And we sometimes quote that that verse Whatsoever a man soweth that shall he also reap, that applies to a believer. And what we reap, we we're going to sow.
Every step we take in our Christian pathway.
Going to have a consequence, A consequence for blessing or a consequence for something that is a detriment to us in our pathway and so we want to be careful in every step we take. I don't want to use an illustration that's mundane, but when I was growing up I had an uncle who had a farm on at Lombardi, Ontario. And as children we often spent a good part of the summer on that farm and when we went to cross a pasture because that pasture was full of cattle.
We were told to be very careful where we walked, and you get the picture very clearly. If we didn't watch where we were walking, we could step in something that wasn't very pleasant. And so as children, we would go across that field from one fence to the other, circumspectly careful to consider every step and the consequence that that step might might have. And brethren, that's how we're to walk through this world. We need to consider everything we do in our lives.
You know, this is a world, a day when people live for the moment. They don't consider the consequences. You pull out a credit card and you keep spending and spending. Do people really think that that there's a day coming at the end of the month when they're going to have to pay up, and if they don't, there's going to be a consequence. There's going to be some interest slapped on we we buy something and we enjoy it for the moment, but the day of reckoning comes when we have to pay up.
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Brethren, we don't want to be careful that we don't fall into the spirit of the world, who are just living for the moment without any thought of eternity or even consequences down the road in this life. The Christian is to live in the fear of the Lord, considering every move they make, not only in connection with this life, of course, and its consequences, but whether this is going to have eternal blessing and consequence and reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
Well then we come to the word redeeming.
And I guess we all know that redeeming means to buy back, doesn't it?
Sometimes we think our time is ours, but there's one out there, the devil, who's going to take it from us, if you can.
And we have to buy it back.
But if I buy something back, there's a cost involved, isn't there?
I well remember many years ago reading a secular article.
Sitting in a dentist's office in a magazine or reading a magazine Sitting in a dentist office. Yeah, I know. Bad use of words anyway.
And the point was made just by a secular author. If you want to do something well in this world, you will have to let go a number of other things that you could have done.
Even the world recognizes that, and so I believe the word redeeming has the sense of buying back the time and using every available opportunity.
We have time only in this life.
Will we serve the Lord up in glory? I believe we will, and the hymn we sing sometimes expresses that well. Rest Lord, in serving thee as none have served below. There will be service up there, I believe, but there's a special quality to the service that's rendered under the difficult circumstances in this world. The opposition of the world, the opposition of Satan, the opposition of our old sinful self.
The limitations of our bodies that give us trouble, especially as we get older.
Many limitations.
That the Lord values that service very much. The Lord values what we do for Him. And I don't say it all applies to service. It's the enjoyment of heavenly things too. And sometimes in the world of today, our time can be very limited, can't it?
I remember reading some of the ministry of Doctor Rossier who lived in Switzerland all his life and who wrote pretty much, although he lived into the 20th century, but he wrote the most of his ministry in the 19th century.
And I remember reading and how that he wrote much of that ministry sitting in his carriage while his coachman drove him from place to place to visit his patients.
Now I remember thinking, wouldn't that be a luxury now?
It's not like that anymore, is it? At least not for most of us, anyway. The minute you get in your car, you have to have all your senses alert and you sure can't be reading or texting or doing anything like that. You better not be anyway. And.
The point is, life is very, very full today. It has been estimated today that the average man in Business Today processes as much information in one week as the average working man.
In the 19th century did in his lifetime.
Probably true. And so we need to redeem that time. And it takes effort, it takes energy. And I may have to let some things go that I otherwise could have had. But what does it say? Because the days are evil, and so Satan is going to rob us of our time.
And it's going to take spiritual energy to take it back again and use it in the right way.
We have the same thought in Psalms 91St 12.
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Read it for us, Vern. Or.
It says, So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.
Seems like that would carry on that we only have so many days to live for the Lord.
Excellent, Virgil. That's very good, yes.
Though there's no shortage of opportunities, either.
Mr. Darby has a footnote in connection with this verse that the thrust of it is to seize the opportunities to seize on those.
Opportunities that that God gives us. And I think, brethren, we need to be exercised when we get up in the morning. Not so much to pray and ask the Lord for opportunities, that's OK, but to pray more that we would be watchful and exercise to seize on the opportunities as they avail themselves.
And I want to say a very practical word because it burdens my soul. I have interacted with some who have and I'm going to be very plain left the Lords table because they give the reason that there aren't the opportunities to serve the Lord and still be at the Lord's table. That is not true, brethren. There are tremendous opportunities every day of our lives, again, as we said in a previous meeting.
We're not all called to go out to foreign lands to serve the Lord, but to step out our door and to seize the opportunities that are given to us.
And there is a way that we can seize and avail ourselves of those opportunities that is acceptable to the Lord, as we've been saying, according to the truth of God, based on the word of God. And we can remain where the Lord is in the midst, at the Lord's table, and still have unbelievable opportunities, whether it's for service in the gospel, whether it's in service to the Lord's people.
Whatever it may be, I say again, there are no shortage of opportunities perhaps.
On my part, a shortage or a lack of energy and diligence and watchfulness to seize on those opportunities. But let's each one consider how many opportunities do we let pass in a day. And I speak to my own soul only. But how many opportunities do I let pass in a day that are there, that I didn't redeem the time I didn't buy up those opportunities?
Theater brings that out First Peter, Chapter 3.
It's and this has to do with practical sanctification in verse 15. But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts.
That's the first step. We need to be enjoying the Lord in our own hearts and seven apartment. And then it says be ready always to give an answer to every man that asks you in a reasonable hope that it is in you which make this inferior. And I I just can't even begin to recall the many opportunities that were missed because I wasn't ready. And the Lord as you say, Jim, we need to be ready in the morning.
For those opportunities that we don't miss, You know, oh, if I only had a track. Oh, if I only had this. Oh, we think about something after it's gone.
It's too late.
It's not the function of the church anyway, according to scripture, to do those things, is it? They say, well, you're not doing enough in the gospel. Well, it's not the function of the church to get out the gospel, it's the function of an individual.
At the church we.
Later will have the gospel preached here, but that's not a function of the church. That's that individual stuff responsibility, isn't it? And if there's a.
Just like we had before here when the brother spoke. That's his meeting, isn't it? We there are meetings of the assembly, but it's the individuals. If somebody can't find an A place to preach the gospel, come to Tacoma. We got we got St. Corners there that you're completely empty and plenty of people passing by there. You want to preach the gospel, but it's always just an excuse.
The assembly really is a place where the Saints get taught, but the evangelist, he goes out and brings them into the assembly. I think that's just a good because we we get these things mixed up, you know, and I was at, I was at a Bible reading one time and the brother said, well, you know, I think that people are starting to think that the Sunday School is not a meeting of the assembly. Well, it's not, you know.
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It's it's a exercise of individuals.
That's good burn. And can I just add to that, that on the other hand, I believe being gathered to the Lord's name gives us the broadest sphere of service as individuals. Because let me tell you, a little incident, it really spoke to me, Brother Garvin Seymour from Saint Vincent and I were in the South of Guyana a few months ago back in March and people always ask you what are you connected with? And Brother Garvin turned to me one day and he said Jim.
Isn't it wonderful that, and I trust this won't offend anybody, but it throw my soul, He said. Isn't it wonderful?
That in our service for Christ, both in the gospel and ministering to believers, were not shackled by some of the names that men have put on certain denominations. Because as soon as you take one of those names, it really limits you in your service and in people's minds and.
As gathered to the Lord's name, we don't take any other name but Christ. And when we go out individually with the gospel, or to help our fellow believer, and again, not just those gathered to the Lord's name, but we ought to embrace in our thoughts the whole household of faith.
And to not be shackled by one of the popular names in Christendom.
I realized at that moment gives us a broader sphere of service.
Than any other sphere of service that there is. So on the one hand, as Verne said and I think it's important we go out as individuals, we we we redeem the time as individuals. But being gathered to the Lords name and remaining with a foot in the assembly gives us a tremendously broad sphere of service. Would you agree with that Vern?
Oftentimes you just get the gospel over and over and over in some of these places.
And the people are not taught. But if a person goes out and gives out the gospel and a person comes into the assembly, he's taught.
Our time is limited and we don't want to spend too much time on this.
I will only mention one other thing.
It dates me a little bit, but this goes back to a conference 60 years ago.
Back in the 50s.
And a brother was making a strong point.
And a good one.
About Billy Graham, who was in those days fairly young and just getting off the ground and as we would say, cutting a pretty wide swath and becoming pretty well known.
And he was giving a solemn warning about connection with all of that because of.
Billy Graham being connected with those that were not clear on.
The truth of the work of Christ and the person of Christ, and how that there was compromise there, and we needed to be aware of it.
I'll never forget Harry Hayhoe's answer and I repeat it for you almost word for word.
He said. He said Brethren, my father, referring to his own Harry Hayes father, who was a tremendous evangelist in the 19th century. They used to call him the Red Bearded evangelist, apparently.
And he was very solidly gathered to the Lord's name.
But, Harry said. My father used to tell me that in the early days of brethren.
All the gospel pretty much was in the hands of the Brethren. Now that wasn't quite true, but a large amount of the gospel was in the hands of the Brethren.
And he said it was when Brethren began to fail in their testimony.
That God began to raise up preachers in what we would call the camp to reach the masses, beginning with those like Spurgeon and then Moody and Sankey, and eventually those like.
A man by the name of Tori and then Billy Sunday and then followed up by Billy Graham and so on.
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Now, he said, Brethren, don't be discouraged by this and don't be depressed by it.
But be reminded that.
These men are doing what they're doing, at least in part, because of our failure.
I heartily agree with you Vern, that.
Preaching of the gospel and Sunday School work and things like that are not assembly responsibilities according to Scripture, but.
Let's be aware of our failure in it, too.
I heartily agree with everything that's been said. I don't want to take away from it, but I believe we need to take this to heart about redeeming the time as individuals, absolutely.
Well, let's go on.
Verse 17 says be not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is, among other things. I believe that shows us that.
No one individual can convert the whole world. No one in convention. No one individual can be a pastor to the whole Church of God or a teacher, or whatever gift it might be.
One man said. If I believed an unbeliever, he said to a Christian, if I believed the way you do, it would drive me mad to think that there were so many souls going to a lost eternity and I couldn't reach out to them.
That's where the sovereignty of God comes in.
You and I don't have to reach every soul, only the ones the Lord has called us to reach.
Is he able to work without us? Indeed he is. Will any soul go into a lost eternity because I was unfaithful? No.
But you and I have the privilege of serving him, the privilege of understanding what the will of the Lord is. I remember my late father-in-law telling about a brother who's long since with the Lord, but who some of whose relatives are very much still among us, a brother by the name of Larson. And I never knew him either. But somebody pitched a question at him in a reading meeting, and his answer was.
Don't don't ask me that question. I'm a gospel preacher.
He understood what the will of the Lord was. There were other brethren there that had the gift of teaching, and they were the ones that should have gotten the question.
But he used. Now I don't say he never talked, but he used his gift as the Lord had given him. He used it where the Lord had placed him.
We see a man like John the Baptist that was martyred when he probably was scarcely 31 years of age. And yet the Lord puts him right up there along all of those Old Testament Saints, and says there hath not arisen a greater than John the Baptist. Why? Because he was where he was supposed to be. He did what he's supposed to do. And above all, he honored Christ in every possible way, so that people paid him the highest compliment, they said.
John did no miracle but everything that John said of all things that John said of this man were true.
Somebody has said encourage a man in his gift. Never encourage him beyond his gift. That's what you're saying. If a man is good in the gospel, we think he must be a good teacher and we spoil him. And so he makes a fool out of himself.
So the next verse or two.
They're pretty self-explanatory. Be not drunk with wine or in his excess, but be filled with the spirit.
The Word of God does not forbid the use of wine. If the souls feel led not to have anything to do with it, that's well and good for them. It's important, though, to see that Scripture doesn't forbid the use of wine, but it does forbid the excess use of it.
I have heard dear believers not gathered to the Lords name, but I've heard dear believers make fools out of themselves by trying to persuade people that every time wine is referred to in the New Testament it was pure grape juice and nothing else and.
I hardly I hesitate to say this in public, but a poor dear brother in in India once had such a thing about wine that he decided they had to serve.
Uh, nothing but great to set the remembrance of the Lord.
But he didn't have any refrigeration, and when he served it up at the breaking of bread, it gave you such a jolt that he didn't realize that of course grape juice without refrigeration turns into pure alcohol, but here he thought he was being a good man and not serving anything but grape juice and.
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The point is, Scripture does not forbid the use of wine, and I don't believe that using wine at the remembrance of the Lord is going to turn anybody into an alcoholic. I don't believe so. But we're warned against it. It's a solemn thing. It's a tremendous addiction in society.
And.
It's something we all need to be reminded of.
So how would you? Because a brother emailed this to me and he says, what's that mean, to be filled with the spirit? Or we live in the spirit but we're to walk in the spirit? So he said what's the difference with being filled with the spirit?
You're not filled with the Spirit by, like Danny was saying, by looking in to see. Well, I wonder if I'm filled with the Spirit, but you're as you're occupied with Christ.
The Spirit of God fills you right? Is that the way it works?
I believe so. I remember Clarence London explaining that to us, he said.
We.
Are indwelt with the spirit of God as believers, and it's very clear from John. In fact it might we might turn to it just for a moment, to the third chapter of John.
Verse 34.
And I will read it approximately as it is in the Darby. For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God, For God giveth not the Spirit by measure, period.
He said that in response to he, a believer said that in response to a man who was trying to teach modern Pentecostalism and so on.
So somehow, making it out that you could have more of the Spirit than you had the day you accepted Christ as your Savior, this verse settles that.
God giveth not the Spirit by measure. And what he said was I cannot have more of the spirit of God than I have when as soon as I am saved. But I hope as time goes on that the Spirit of God has more of me, and that's what I believe it means to be filled with the spirit. Clarence London pointed out that the Spirit indwells every believer. He is there to fill us with Christ.
To minister Christ to our souls. To guide and direct us in our Christian lives.
Just the same as if an apple tree is in the ground. It has roots, it's given sunlight and water. It produces apples. It doesn't need anything else.
But I can deprive it of water. I can throw a big tarp over it so the sun doesn't get at it. I can do all sorts of things to prevent that tree from producing what it's meant to do. And so you and I can hinder the Spirit by filling our lives and our hearts with something else so that He's displaced. But if the Spirit is given liberty, he'll fill our hearts. All we have to do is get the Hindrances out of the way.
An old brother once told me, he said.
God has given you the same thing for your heart that he has for his heart. And someday the Spirit of God will fill you with Christ and you'll never be unfilled again. That's a I look forward to that.
There's the thought of control too, isn't there? Because a person that's under the influence of alcohol is controlled by alcohol, and so he makes a contrast. Here we're not to be controlled by something like that, but to be under the full control of the spirit of God.
A person that's filled with the Spirit of God is allowing the Spirit of God to work in every aspect of their lives. And of course the main function, there are other things, but the main function of the Spirit of God is to minister Christ to us. And again, I just say this as a warning, and I'm speaking very plainly. If someone comes along and they're talking about the spirit and experiences they've had in the spirit and the spirit this and the spirit of that.
And they're filled with the Spirit. It's it's a yellow light if they really are, if they come along and they're so full of Christ. And their life shows that they're under the full control of the spirit of God and the headship, the lordship of Christ, and they're sharing Christ with you. Oh, there's a person who's who's perhaps filled with the spirit, a person filled with the Spirit is going to radiate Christ in their very being, and they're going to speak of Christ as they interact with others.
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The result of the result of that eighteen would be 19 and 20, wouldn't it? The result of being filled with the Spirit would be seen to ourselves in psalms of hymns and spiritual songs, making melody in our heart to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. There's a barometer.
In regards to that, I don't know that we need to take the time, but if you look at Steven, he was chosen as one that was full of the Holy Ghost, but then when he was martyred it says he being full of the Holy Ghost looked up into heaven.
But the testimony was here on Earth.
The supposed power of the Spirit is if you look in the book of Acts, there are 11 Times, I believe, where the the expression is used being filled with the Spirit. And of those 11 Times, only three do they speak with tongues.
That's in Jerusalem, Cornelius's house, and in Ephesus all the rest. The other eight are speaking the word with boldness and as our brother John has mentioned, Stephen being filled with the Holy Ghost. That was such a help to me. It's it's not a foregone conclusion that if you're filled with the Spirit, you're speaking in tongues. The scripture just absolutely shows the folly of that premise.
Good.
Before we go on to the discussion of wives and husbands, we haven't got much time but.
I'd like to repeat something that came from my late father-in-law, Albert Hayhoe.
And I'm not trying to be to hide behind his name but.
I took it to heart when I was young and I think it's well worth repeating.
Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of Jesus, Is that what it says?
Our Lord Jesus Christ.
And he pointed out, He said, first of all, And he said, we don't want to make a man an offender for a word. But sometimes dear brethren, get up on their feet, and they address God the Father. And then they end their prayer by saying in thy name Amen.
Or something like that.
Well, again, sometimes it's a little difficult and we stumble over our words and we allow for that, but.
This is real prayer in the intelligence of Christianity.
The Lord Jesus could say to the disciples in the upper room ministry hitherto have ye asked nothing in my name? And now you and I are privileged to go to God the Father.
And asked in his name.
But then my father-in-law further pointed out, he said when we close our prayer.
It's nice to give the Lord Jesus Christ his full title.
Again, I don't want this to offend anyone, nor do we want to make a man an offender for a word.
Sometimes we can get into the habit of saying in Jesus name, Amen. And the Lord understands that, I'm sure. But it's nice to be able to say in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, Why is his full title brought in there? Because.
He is Lord of all now.
He is not seen as Lord in this world. He is not accepted as Lord publicly. But you and I own him in His character of Lord. And when we pray to the Father, the Father loves to hear His beloved Son not only in his essential name of Jesus, not only in his Messiah name, because Messiah is Hebrew and Christ is Greek. They both mean the scent one. They mean the same thing.
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But it's nice to recognize who he is as Lord of All. I just repeat that I feel it's a very good remark, even though it was probably made 50 years ago.
1St is a challenge and has been a challenge to me.
It says giving thanks always.
For all things and I have looked at verse over the years and said.
Some of these things that happen are so dreadful, How can I give thanks for them? Now in first Thessalonians 5 it says giving thanks in all things or in everything give thanks, but here it says for all things and we look at some of the things around us, the things particularly.
The touches closely are the things in our lives. How can I give thanks for?
A great disappointment, and the answer is in chapter one.
Ephesians chapter One.
And verse 11.
It says in whom also we have obtained an inheritance being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things.
If God has his hand in my circumstance, then I can thank him.
I remember being in a prayer meeting.
A brother, Whitaker.
His. His daughter. They just had a car wreck.
And he gave thanks for it.
You know it's thanks for all things.
Because he knew that, he figured that God had some purpose in it, but it was really strange, you know?
Well, from verse 22 to the end of the chapter we have the.
Wonderful relationship of Christ in the Church and then that is used as.
An example for husbands and wives.
Most of us have heard this read over and over again, especially at weddings.
And very properly so.
Very, very beautiful to see how that God holds each one to a very high standard.
The submission of the wife is to be as unto the Lord.
Very high standard.
But the love of the husband is to be as Christ, as loved the Church.
Of very high standard too. And I don't suppose anyone of us, any husband or wife here, would want to stand up and say, and I've, I've, I've gotten there, I've reached that level. No, we haven't.
But what a what a beautiful standard the Lord gives to us. And it's adapted to human need. Because in a general way, in a marriage, a husband needs, if I can say it, respect and reverence. And a wife needs love. Now a husband needs love too, and a wife needs respect, but in a general way.
The husband looks for respect and if he doesn't get it, things don't go well. And the wife looks for love, and if she doesn't get it, things don't go well.
But what an example when we come to Christ in the church.
And something that takes us right out of ourselves into eternal realities.
That predated even the creation of this world.
You and I were chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, and He, I believe, looked on even before the foundation of the world. When he would have a bride, He would have a bride.
And So what an example it sets before us, and how much all of this ought to hit home to our souls in a practical way, in order that a Christian marriage might be that which others could look on and say.
Yes, that's something that could only be by the grace of God and as a divine example.
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So this was really what was in the heart of God at the beginning, wasn't it? We'd only have to go back to Genesis. Is it Chapter 2 and see where or three? I'm not sure. But where Eve was brought to Adam, she was taken from his side. And I've sometimes said at a wedding and Speaking of this truth, that Eve was not taken from his head to be over him. She was not taken from his feet to be under him. She was taken.
Close to his heart and under his arm. The arm would speak of support and the heart would speak of affection.
And so again, it's a beautiful picture of Christ in the Church. But in our chapter He takes that and uses it to and applies it in connection with the natural relationship that has been given to us for the blessing of man on the earth.
How can that be carried out practically? You know, when you take the body of Christ.
Is just he just done getting respect or you carry it out individually or you know, I mean this is talking about the church.
You know every believer who's born again and indwelt with the spirit of God, and you're saying that there should be submission, There's not submission and.
And there's not respect, you know what I mean?
So is it just something that there's a theory?
Well, I don't believe anything in a practical sense in this chapter is meant to be simply a theory, but we are held to a very high standard, and I suppose in one sense the picture cannot be.
Applied right across the board. Because when you're dealing with the church, you're dealing with individuals that make up the church, and none of us can.
Shall I say?
Excuse me?
Enforce what someone else is going to do. We can have an influence on others, but I believe you and I are called upon as individuals.
To submit to Christ.
And.
As it says here.
Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands, as under the Lord.
Paul, if I could say, it assumes that that is what is going to be there. Does it always happen? Sadly not.
But then what do we find when we come to husbands? We find several verses that tell us what Christ is doing, and it's the enjoyment of what he is and what he is doing that I believe will make the response in our hearts. There are seven things here.
Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. And then that we had that in the last meeting, sanctify it, cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, present it to himself, a glorious church, and so on. Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish. Is that happening now The process is, but it's not complete. And as you pointed out, Vern, though there's a day coming when it'll be complete.
When the Church will be perfectly in that relationship to her Bridegroom, Christ, that the Lord is working that in us now, to what degree it is working in my life, I have to answer to the Lord.
So there's a 26th verse that he might sanctify it and cleanse it with the washing of the water. The word that's a present thing, but it could only be individually, can it? I mean, it's not the whole church that he's washing and and.
That he might present it to himself.
A glorious church that there's a practical sanctification going on now.
How? What does that mean?
Then you just spoke on it. Can you speak to that?
Little take this.
Verse 26 is what has already been said that it is a practical thing now, but I it seems to me that Paul is speaking about the church as a whole.
You know, that settles it to me. Not necessarily.
But what the churches, Different churches, you might say, different bodies that are gathered around. He's not dealing. He's dealing with the thought of Christ and the church, the whole body of Christ. But how does he do that? It doesn't seem like it's working.
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Well, I believe, I would suggest that he has to deal with individuals in the church because we know that some are more devoted than others, some are more submissive than others. So of necessity, it's working with individuals.
But all in relation to himself as the Church.
So we're no more collectively than what we are individually, right? And that ought to exercise us individually.
Could we go to Revelation for some verses there?
In this regard, maybe we can see a little bit of what Christ is doing and maybe the end of the story.
Revelation Chapter 19.
Beginning with first 7.
Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
In responsibility.
And to her was granted.
That she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness.
Of the Saint.
I was just wondering if there were two things involved there.
The work of Christ that he has done has granted me the privilege of being righteous in God's sight. But then there's the working out of that. And he says the bride hath made herself ready, says work out your salvation with fear and trembling. And so there's the fruit of righteousness in our lives and as the as the Lord would work in US.
To bring us to a knowledge of what is right in His sight and give us the power by the Spirit of God to walk in it. We see that His work would bring the Church.
Into the place.
And that's why in the Darby translation, that word righteousness in verse 8 of Revelation 19 is in the plural. The fine linen is the righteousnesses of Saints showing that it has been the working out of our salvation down here. And that robe will be in that sense what we have worked out down here.
There is a sense in which we wear a white robe as a result of the blood of Christ. Yes, but.
We work out our salvation down here and we make, if you like, that.
Fine linen which is going to clothe us in that day. And so that can in one sense only be done individually. I can't work out a role for somebody else, but in the aggregate total of it all, we will see.
What every believer has done for Christ down here, and by the time this takes place, the judgment seat of Christ, I believe will be passed. And so everything that has not been for Christ will have been taken away and burned up. And then only that which has been done for him, I believe will be there to be displayed. And this work is going to be completed, isn't it, For his glory. And I think that's tremendous, you know, if you want to see the church in her beauty.
You have to look at her in her beginnings in Acts, or in her endings in Revelation, in in between. Outwardly, I stress, outwardly is not such a beautiful picture as we well know. But isn't it a wonderful thing, brethren? And doesn't it encourage our hearts? These meetings are coming to an end. We're going to leave and go back to our everyday situations, and I trust there's fresh exercise in our hearts to live for God's glory and to take up the practical.
Exhortations we've had in this chapter and in the meetings we've had during this weekend, but isn't it wonderful to think?
That in spite of our failure, individually and collectively, there's a day coming when it's all going to be displayed for His glory. He's going to bring it all to fruition. And there's a day coming, brethren, when no sin or failure will ever penetrate the Church of God again. He's going to present it to himself. A glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And not just for 1000 years of millennial reign.
But if we were to go on, we won't go back to it. But if we were to go on in Revelation, we would find or back up in Revelation, we would find that in the eternal state, she's still the bride, she's still the church. She's still for all eternity there in her freshness and loveliness. You know, sometimes after a number of years of marriage, we pull out our wedding albums and if we're honest with ourselves, the years bring changes down. Here we look around at the marriage.
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Tie in the world today and we see the breakdown on every hand and sad to say.
Even amongst the Lord's people we see the breakdown of that which God has instituted for the blessing of man on the earth. But, brethren, there's a day coming that when there's going to be the marriage supper of the Lamb, and for all eternity, though the bride is going to remain the Bride, the Church of God in her freshness and loveliness. And in that relationship and display in that day, nothing I say will penetrate to bring deterioration, sin, or failure.
And if that doesn't encourage our hearts, brethren, to live practically for the Lorde glory now, and seek to walk as a sanctified people now to please the Lord Jesus, then I wonder what goes on within our hearts. To think of the the thrill of our souls, to think of what's ahead, ought to exercise us to walk in practical sanctification now.
I know our time is nearly gone, but I might just make one more small remark because I've heard more than once confusion on this verse, verse 28.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
And then it goes on to say, For no man ever yet hated his own flesh, but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the Church.
I have heard it said even.
Some gathered to the Lord's name that it's OK to love yourself as long as you love others in the same way.
And I would suggest that's a misunderstanding and misapplication of this verse. It is not saying we should love ourselves. That's what the world does. The world says me first and I'm going to love myself. I remember reading again in a secular book where an actress in Hollywood said very publicly, I just love me.
And it's the question of who comes first. Well, I do.
Because if I don't look after myself, no one else will. And that's the spirit of the world today. Me first.
Well, this is not an excuse to love myself, it's simply stating what is generally a fact, and that is that normally individuals look after their own bodies.
And look after themselves. And the command here in marriage is men should love their wives as their own bodies. In other words, the Lord says you are one, and don't you take your wife and use her as a slave or a servant or something like that.
You love her as you love yourself, because it is natural for us to do that, but it's not an excuse to put ourselves 1St and to say well, because I love myself.
Or because I love others, it's OK to love myself too. That's misrepresenting. I believe what the scripture is saying. We all tend to look after our own bodies and look after our own selves. And in the marriage bond, it ought to be that that same love is bestowed upon.
Upon one's wife.
You'll be saying 185.
We have a.
Home.
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God.
And our father.
There's times like this.
When we're homesick.
And we long to be there, flesh apart.
To enjoy the Lord Jesus.
Forever. Forever. Forever.
We thank thee for such a whole.
In thy name.
Our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.