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Would we feel that it was of the Lord in view of the coming in of apostasy?
And the terrible departure from the truth.
And for the inroads the enemy is making in so many ways to take up the whole armor of God in 6th chapter every season.
I'm just suggesting this.
Someone else has some other subjects only too. Happy to.
Pick up something else.
I thought of beginning at the 10th verse of the 6th chapter of Ephesians.
Reading through the 20th verse, someone feel that to read?
April Chapter 6, verse 10.
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.
Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the Wiles of the devil.
Or we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities.
Against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Wherefore take unto you the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day.
And having done all to stand.
Stand therefore having your loins jerk about with truth.
And having on the breastplate of righteousness, and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace.
Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.
Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for All Saints.
And for me that utterance may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel for which I am an ambassador in Bonn, that therein I may speak boldly as I ought to speak.
And Joshua?
1St chapter.
And the sixth verse.
Strong and of a good courage.
Run to this people, shalt thou divide for an inheritance the land which I swear unto their fathers to give them.
And now the ninth verse.
Have not I commanded thee? Be strong and of a good courage, be not afraid, need to be doubt, dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goeth.
I'm reminded of the armor that David put on when he has stayed to go forth to meet Goliath. He had to put it off again and said that he had not proved it. But the armor that we've just been reading about this morning has been proven armor for many centuries, and we can trust it thoroughly. I suppose this exhortation is based upon the first two chapters of Ephesians, is it not, Brother Berry? There we have the.
The completed truth, as it were, of the Word of God together with Colossians, and that sets us in a certain position, and responsibility flows, does it not, from the position that we're in.
Everything in these seasons is in the heavenlies, isn't it?
1St chapter. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.
In the second chapter, we're told that we've been raised up together and made to sit together.
In heavenly places, in Christ Jesus.
And now in the well, we should say, of the 4th chapter, the Lord has ascended upon high.
And.
Given gifts to the church for every.
Spiritual blessing comes down from a glorified Christ in the heavenly. And now in the concluding chapter of the epistle.
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We are told that.
We wrestle with novel flesh and blood, but with really should read spiritual wicked spirit in the heavenly.
Our brother Brown has called our attention to the first chapter of Joshua.
And it's been often said that.
That Ephesians.
Is the Joshua of the New Testament.
That is, we got the children of Israel having crossed the wilderness journey.
And are on the other side of the Jordan.
And they're ready to take possession of the promised land.
But before they can possess 1 foot of that land.
They have to fight the Canaanites, they surreal the heights, the Amalekites and fur on so that it was a matter of warfare. Well, you know when Joshua had.
Crossed the Jordan, he threw in the flames of Jericho, a man with a drawn sword, reminding him that what was before him was a matter of conflict.
And well in this truth to brought before us.
That every spiritual blessing that we are to possess and enjoy for our souls has to be wrestled from the enemy. We have to fight the enemy in order to possess these spiritual blessings.
And I'm sure as we go on through this theme, we're made to realize increasingly the character of this world and that the only thing that is really worthwhile and important for the Christian is what he.
What he gains and a spiritual blessing. Not that we don't have to make our livelihood down here.
Young people must get enough education so as to provide for their families and their.
Passage through this scene, but really when we step things down.
The great important thing all how very important it is that our skulls are fed, that they're build up and that we gain these spiritual blessings.
For our holes and our jobs and all that we have possessed have temporal things we're so soon to leave behind and leave behind forever. But what we have gained in a spiritual way, we're going to carry those blessings into the heavenlies with us. And indeed, we're to be on the great enjoyment and encouragement.
Of those blessings down here.
It will keep us happy. It will make us a testimony for Christ.
Productive here in this 11Th verse, but on the whole armor of God that you may able to stand not against the devil, but against the Wiles of the devil. That is it. It isn't open attack. It isn't the devil king coming along and saying no, I'm the devil and I'm going to I'm going to show you the way.
But he comes with wild, clever deceit.
And that's the way that we're misled and get into serious trouble. Resist the devil and he'll flee from you. Resist him and he'll flee from you. But all he has is wild his clever approaches that cover up what he what really is at the bottom of it. So we need the whole armor. And that's what we're warned about in the 12Th verse. Is that right, brother Barry?
Brother Brown, and we should not forget the first verse we read, for I believe that is the introduction to putting on the whole armor of God, and that is finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.
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Well, that necessitates.
Increase occupation with Christ, and if we're strong in Him, where weaken ourselves.
We can't be strong in ourselves and think of ourselves as important and be strong in the Lord. At the same time, though, it makes nothing of self, and it makes everything of Christ know what it is to be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might to realize that we're wielding the greatest power that there is in this universe.
For everything has been made subject to God's beloved Son, and he has his rights, His power, and His authority.
Wonderful thing, isn't it, when the Lord was on the way to the cross.
Why He said that all power is given unto me in heaven and in earth? Well, that's really and the after the crucifixion.
But I was thinking more of the 13th of John where we find the Lord saying.
That when he knew that the Father had committed all things into his hands. I think one of the most remarkable evidence of condescension is not before us there. That knowing that all things were committed unto him of the Father, what is the next thing? He lays his garments aside.
And gird himself with a towel and gets down and washes the defiled feet.
Of the disciples, beloved, isn't that touching? Certainly that close our hearts to look up to Him.
Where delight and admiration to think of one who has such power willing to lower himself to the defiled feet of his disciples And brother brethren, if we're strong in the in the power which is in Christ Jesus, we're going to be willing to be nothing and we're going to be ready to perform the humblest servant service.
That our blessed Lord performed for His disciples at that time.
Doctor has to learn a secret when he crossed over Jordan.
As their brothers just mentioned, he was met with the man with a drawn sword in his hand. Well, he goes up to this man. He says, art thou for us or for our adversaries? And the reply is?
Nay, as captain of the host of the Lord, and I come. And we read that Joshua's cognizant of the fact that he was in the presence of the Lord himself.
And so he gets on his face before him. Well, it comes to me this way, that he was met with the Lord Jesus there.
At the very beginning of his entrance into the land. I've often thought of that, beloved.
It's just as if Joshua would say to himself, I am, after all, a great general. I brought these across Jordan, some 2 million of them. And so he's met with the Lord Jesus there in the land. And it's just as if the Lord would say to Josie, yes, Josie, you are a great general, undoubtedly. But I'm chief here. I'm chief here.
Oh, that's a very important lesson to learn.
Concerning victory.
Well, may we recognize that, beloved.
There's nothing. We read that he removed his shoes from off his feet.
Is there anything so humbling as a soldier in bare feet?
A soldier with bare feet.
I saw plenty of them in the World Checker War. There's nothing so humbling to a soldier to have bare feet. But there it was. Joshua, you were a great servant. But I'm cheap here, beloved. This is victory. This is victory. We are met with the one who has won the day. The victorious 1.
We are nothing. We are just poor soldiers in the ranks, nothing more. But to be able to in that verse five, to cast down our homemade reasonings that are not of the Word and the Spirit of God is so important in a day when the Word of God is being so lightly esteemed.
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So much disregarded.
Oftentimes, we fear not concerned, unconcerned.
It's so important that this self.
Thinking and carnal thoughts are out of place, unbecoming and defeat.
Our successful warfare.
Reasonings. That's the reading in the margin, isn't it? Casting down reasoning. Not imagination, but reasoning.
Well, he was thinking, Brother Brown, as to the progress of this reasoning business. I don't know what it was you or another brother was speaking to us yesterday as to the fact that there's just a flood of translations coming on the market, a flood of them. And the tendency is to get further and further from the mind of the Spirit of God in the Word by these.
Repeated attempts.
To improve on the translation, I believe that we need to be warned at the present time.
And as you have attempted to give us help in that pamphlet you wrote.
A number of additions have come out since that was written, and were you the one saying how many different translations were available now? Is it?
Well, it isn't that they're available, but since Wickliffe translation 1380.
Since that translation in the English language, it was the first we have enumerated or located.
250 translations in the English language that cover either the whole Bible, or the whole Old Testament, or the whole New Testament, or the Epistles. Now, besides that, there are many, many other smaller attempts, but the enormous number in general to sum it up this way.
There seems to have been a general.
Clearing up of the account of the text.
A rising improvement, declaring up the text until about 1881. Now, there were some exceptions, some bad ones like.
Joseph Smiths and other such things, but in general there was an honest, upright and increase of ability as he had more manuscripts to clarify the text right up until about 1881 when they produced when two important translations were introduced.
The English revised version.
And 15 years later, of course, the American standard version, which is a little better. But the I believe and you believe, dear Brother Brown, that God has given us the most faithful, outstandingly faithful.
Renderings of his mind in the translation of Mr. Darby's in 1881. Most excellent for anyone to compare.
To get the mind of God in the maximum of best rendering in that translation.
Is that right, Brother Brown? Yeah. And we believe that he was accompanied with an amazing intellect, naturally guarded, endowed him with that. But in his case it was accompanied by a deep devotion which perhaps wasn't exceeded by any other of whom we've read his.
His deep knowledge was sanctified by a deep sense of the preciousness of Christ and his all sufficiency.
So that Mister Darby can say, along with the apostle Paul, for me to live is Christ.
Just add one more word please.
Since about 1881, those translations just mentioned.
There has been an ascendancy of scholarship in translation.
But a descendancy of spirituality not. That's true in general. We have had a few helpful corrections added to what we'd had, just a very few. But most of them are just put out to sell or to have some new flavor. And the less we have to do with most of them, I think we're better off.
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What is the cast of the week? What is the fast of the week?
I believe probably because the picture a good translation of their brother Darby has been able to pursue it was because he lives in Ephesians truth and he had his eyes on the man of the glory.
Amen.
Remember not too long, for the Lord took our dear brother away from us.
At a meeting in Des Moines, IA, he gathered a number of the Lord servants and some of the brothers of that day together. And he gave us this exhortation. But I believe is important to remember, he says, brethren, don't give up the King James translation, he said. I believe that that was a work of God that has never been equal.
And while Mr. Darby's translation is most helpful for certain renderings that are not.
Not clear and for making certain corrections where they were either biased or else they didn't have the latest manuscript.
And then he said another thing. He said I would far rather than Mr. Darby's name was not used in coding his translation, he says. I think our dear brother, if alive, would be very much grieved to have his name made prominent.
In connection with that translation, he said this instead of quoting Jay and Darby's.
Translate and rather say a better translation. And I believe brethren that that is very important in these days. And I remember he said this too, that he says if you get too much occupied even with Mr. Darbys translation, he says you will become a.
Intellectual reader, and miss the mind of the Spirit. You'll get too much occupied with the Greek or the Hebrew.
And love with what the Spirit of God is sitting before us now. I believe our brother Potter had.
His hand on the post all the blessings of God's people in these days and I treasure that as something to be remembered for. If you'll just read J&D and I've been in some places where they substituted.
And these translations for the King James and attended to becoming very.
Intellectual and very critical of the exact word and the exact meaning, so that they really miss the.
The the words that's coming by the Spirit of God reaching the conscience and the heart of the thing. Now I wanted to just say a word in addition to what Brother Smith has just said about the man with the drawn sword.
And Joshua, you see Joshua says to that to man Arthur Forest or for our enemies. Well, it's well to notice the reply. He doesn't say, oh, I'm for you, I'm on your side. I'm against your enemies. That isn't what he said at all, but he says as captain of the Lord host.
Oh, my Sinner may not have the last word correct.
That's the problem and that was very important at that time and its instructive for us now.
That is, as long as they were walking in the past of obedience to the word of the Lord, they had the captain of the Lord host directing them. But whenever they acted in disobedience, they didn't have the captain of the Lord host with him, and the victory at Jericho is an evidence.
Of the Lord of post directing of post directing them. They want a mighty victory there, but immediately following that they have the defeat of AI and the.
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Lord of Hosts was not with them because they were acting in independence. They hadn't gone back to Gilgal, the place of Mortification of the Flake. A fortress had won such a victory that they were capable of taking things in their own hands. And instead of consulting the Lord why, they just looked at the size of their army and said, well, we have an easy victory ahead of us.
And isn't there a lesson for us brethren, and, and what we have just been Speaking of, that we can only count on the Lords blessing and the Lord being with us as long as we're walking in humble obedience to His blessed word. But whenever we depart from it, we're headed for a fab defeat. The enemy will gain.
The victory instead of those who should be.
Gaining the victory through Christ.
May I just add one more little word about the the translation before we leave it for the young people's sake. Turn together to the epistles of Paul to Timothy, and let us just notice a few slight differences which will serve to make it evident to.
Our minds what the difference is between.
Now, one translation and one that's more spiritual. First Timothy, This was helpful to me as a young believer when I came to know that beside the King James Version, there was another that had been prepared with great care. Take, for example.
First Timothy, chapter 5.
And verse one.
Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father.
Now the other version reads.
Rebuke not an elder sharply, but in dream as a father.
Sometimes an older brother.
Well, as Baker himself, sometimes an older brother may need a word of correction.
But if a young Timothy comes to him and.
Rebukes him sharply. He's not in the mind of Christ. So we notice that this is a little nicety in translating rebuke, not an elder sharply. Any spiritual mind can discern that that is a better rendering. Now go on to.
Verses 22 and 23 of chapter 5.
Laying suddenly, and no man that is approved of them, neither be partaker of other men's sins. Keep thyself pure. Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach sake and thy often infirmities. I once had an unbeliever throw this verse into my face and say, you see?
The Bible recommends that you drink wine, but I went and looked up the other translation and it reads this way.
Drink no longer own their water.
It isn't a recommendation to stop drinking H2O. It's drink no longer only water. Timothy, you need something beside water. You're a sick man and I'm prescribing a medical prescription for you.
Drink no longer only water, while the simplest young believer can see the force of that.
Yes, the accent. Oh yes, and the accent is on the word little when it comes to the medicine, a little.
Now.
The last chapter in verse 10.
For the love of money is zero of all evil.
If we read the other version, it reads The love of money is rid of all evil.
It's not the exclusive roof.
Of all evil, it is right. Of all evil, along with others in the next chapter and the next epistle.
Chapter One. Chapter 2. Verse 7.
Consider what I say, and the Lord give thee understanding.
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In all things, this reads as a prayer. I mean, the Lord gives the understanding in all things that is good. But the other version says, consider what I say and the Lord will give me understanding in all things. It's a promise.
Based upon considering what the apostle wrote to Timothy, the Lord would give him understanding and all things. Our prayer is good, but it promises even better. May I inject a word here please, Brother Smith, just for a moment, to give emphasis to that verse.
Consider what who says it? The great apostle to the Gentiles to bring out the truth as to the church, including all believing.
Gentile believers along with the Jews. Consider what I say that is Paul's teaching 13 epistles.
The weighty truth as to Christianity by Paul and all to neglect that. I just want to emphasize, consider what I say and the Lord will give you understanding in all things.
Now just two more and we shall have terminated.
Chapter 3 and verse 4.
Paul is giving Timothy the terrible category.
Of men's characteristics and characters in the last days and in verse four we read to sum it up.
Traitors heading high minded lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God. Now the other version reads lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God. These people have no love of God whatsoever. It's not a question of comparison between loving pleasure and loving God a little less.
It's lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God. He's entirely explicit.
The last one now is in chapter 4 and verse 14.
Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil.
Lord reward him according to his works, is the way it reads here. It's an implication. It's calling for vengeance on Alexander the Coppersmith. But that is contrary to the spirit of Christianity and what Paul himself laid down many times in his epistles. So we read it in the other version. Alexander the Coppersmith did me much evil.
The Lord will reward it according to his work. Simple futurity.
And not calling on the Lord to take vengeance on this man. So I'm sure that the youngest flavor here can clearly see from these few.
Comparisons between the King James and the other version that one's own spirituality as he walks with the Lord enables him to more and more appreciate the translation that is evidently of the Spirit of God because it's according to the doctrine.
Of the Word of God verse verse seven. Brother Smith of that chapter.
It fits into what you're saying. Verse seven. Do you like to read it?
All right, this is verse 7 to chapter 4, Second Timothy. I have fought.
A good fight. Well, that looks like he's proud about it, doesn't it?
It should read I have fought the good fight. Now when we come to the end of our course, all of us are the household of faith are through with the fight of faith and that's what he refers to. I have thought the good fight of faith. I've come to the end of my course. He's not saying how good he's done it, but he's it's it's a good fight.
The fight of faith, and we're all in it.
We may be very, very poor at it. Going back to our chapter in the 11Th verse, we have the wild of the devil mentioned.
Now the question may arise with some who are younger and some who have just been saved. How are they going to meet the Wiles of the devil when they are not instructed, when they they don't know a scripture, they don't have the discernment?
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Well, we learned from Corinthians that one of the things that is the second chapter of First Corinthians, one of the things that every believer has is discernment.
He has the Spirit of God, He has the anointing, and I believe the latter verses that we have in this portion that we have before us this morning.
Which bring out truth, righteousness, and those things.
Would indicate that the very same resource is available for the young believer As for the old believer.
Now, making it practical, in the epistle of John we find that those.
Who were mature and were called fathers were not fathers because they had a great deal of knowledge, but they had known him from the beginning or they had known him which was from the beginning, as either translation I think is correct. But the point is that they had an object that they followed. It wasn't the question entirely of having a great deal of knowledge, although it's important to have knowledge.
And in that connection, when the Lord Jesus was in the wilderness, being tempted, we find that he uses 3 verses from the book of Deuteronomy, two of them from the same chapter.
Well, that should help us to see that he was able to meet the enemy with those verses showing that a believer who was very young.
And he has the word of God. He may only know one verse.
But that verse will be sufficient to meet the wild of the enemy, And it is it not here a question of state of soul, and the desire of the heart to please the Lord.
I know the wild of the enemy are all around us, but I wonder sometimes if we expose ourselves unnecessarily to those Wilds. I think of a great flood of literature that is around us, which I'm afraid creeps into the homes of some of the Lord's people because it has a captive title, and the reading is perhaps a little.
Easier than some of the old writings of those who love the Lord and valued the truth and walked in it.
And also all around us in the air are these strange voices. I've heard the expression used that all these things come uninvited into our homes. I hardly think that's accurate. I think they are invited into our home and to expose ourselves. Brethren, I hope this is not harsh, but to expose ourselves to the voices and to the writings.
Of those who do not want the truth and do not walk in the truth, I believe.
Unnecessarily puts us in the path of some of these Wilds which we would be spared from if we value this precious book and value the ministry of those who loved its truth and walked in its truth, if we valued the privilege of the Assembly.
Bible reading and prayer meeting. I believe we would be spared, not entirely, but from a great flood of the Wilds of Satan. I stopped too as I heard this discussion about.
Those in Gideon's day who had a great danger around them and a battle before them, and the Lord's instruction to Gideon was bring them down to the water.
That was the step that had to be taken before they went forth to battle. And I believe that that which we have here in the armor of God would remind us of this, bring them down, casting down reasonings and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God.
It is in the eyes of the natural man, a foolish thing, a humbling thing to bow down before the precious wisdom and authority of the Word of God, but that preceded the victory of Gideons day.
Are you not concerned about the present tendency around us to modernize our methods of giving out the gospel and adorn it?
To bring it up to date so that the old fashioned gospel simply the giving out of the word of God.
Isn't enough, we've got to bring other adjuncts in in connection with it and in order to make it pleasing to the younger generation.
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That that movement has gotten in among us and it distresses me.
I do not believe we're called upon to modernize our methods. The thing to do is to have confidence in the word of God and give out the word and, and leave it there. Not go further and say, well, now I'm, I'm going to make this so attractive that these young folks, they'll, they'll all accept it because I'm going to adorn it and, and make it more cheerful and more acceptable.
Have you not discerned that?
Yes, I often think of First Corinthians 1558 when I see it. Be therefore steadfast, unmovable.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord. It seems to me that that prevents both, because there is a danger that we're so steadfast and unmovable. Perhaps I'm misapplying it, that we fail to make any outreach at all in the gospel and boast of our steadfastness and our immovability. But that first seems to me to bring both together. Be steadfast, unmovable. I believe that's what you're emphasizing.
Always abounding in the work of the Lord. Hamilton go together. Yes, by the grace of God they can. A man who is steadfast and unmovable and values the truth of the Word of God can be and ought to be always abounding in the work of the Lord. And how encouraging the rest of the verse. For as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord, if we labor according to that spirit of steadfast immovability.
We know that the labor is not in vain. It may not be as spectacular as if we abandoned that place.
But it's not in vain. We don't have to dress it up and make it modern enough so it'll be acceptable. A sort of a an allurement and a nice picture to the younger generation. We're not called upon to do that. The drift of our day is towards trying to make things attractive and even sensational.
I don't want to offend anybody, but I think you'll allow the mention of the Youth to Christ movement.
May God bless everything that's of the Spirit of God and for the glory of Christ in it. But the trend of that movement has been to decorate everything by sensational speakers, literature, the manner in which it's put out, and the programs and advertising it. Oh, it's popular. Oh, beware.
Should I read a verse in First Corinthians? The 2nd chapter and the first first few verses?
In this connection.
First Corinthians, the 2nd chapter in the first few versions, and I brethren, when I came to you.
Came not with Excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and Him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear, and in much trembling. And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men.
But in the power of God.
I think that's just to the point. They're very good, just to the point of what we were Speaking of.
And we have another very good reference in the first chapter of Galatians.
Verse six of the first chapter of Galatians.
I marvel that ye are so soon removed from that, from him that called you into the grace of Christ, unto another gospel which is not another.
That there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we or an Angel from heaven preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. But a very solemn statement how true it is. For do I now persuade men or God, or do I seek to please men?
For if I yet please men, I should not be the servant of Christ.
It's good how we do need to be on our guard against these things you mentioned, Brother Brown. I believe it. I believe it very definitely. Well, he said to the Jews. I became a Jew, so I became the Jews.
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For them without laws, without law, well, I why I fear this just one adapting is approach.
Who are the state where that one is in? You can't go to a Heath on tour. And sorry, I'm not talking to him like she would. In this country where there are open Bibles, where the gospel has been preached for years, there's a certain background, isn't there?
In preventing the gospel to such, but in the heathen country you'd have to be very simple.
And in talking to a Jew who had.
Burton twinks with the Old Testament and well, he'd have to poke them according to the knowledge under which they had been brought up. But it isn't the thought of an any wise compromising or going along and they taking voting to the synagogue with the Jew and agreeing with him and putting oneself under law for even where he says.
To them that they're under the laws under the law here again you're better translation comes in. How does it read brother Jimmy Smith. I think it reads does it not but as legitimately subject to Christ. Yeah, that's that's beautiful power, isn't it? Instead of being under the law of the 10 commandments thou shalt not.
That being subject to Christ and.
One would never for the moment take himself out of that position, and I'm sure someone else may have a more helpful way of bringing this subject before us. Only I would say it never means to compromise in any way. Not the truth.
Then King James Version says sin is the transgression of the law. Well what a.
What a blunder that translation is.
I have thought of the example of our Lord Jesus Himself when he was here. We read on him going into the synagogue, and I'm sure it was that same spirit that Paul mentioned in the ninth election. He went that he might minister the word. But I never once have read of our blessed Savior taking upon himself the phylacteries and the long prayers and the.
Desire to be seen and admired of men.
But he did go to bring the truth to science, but he did not compromise his own position in doing so. Is that not the principle I believe in? In Acts 17 we have a concrete example of what Paul means by that expression becoming all things to all men. And we read in the.
24th verse of Acts 17 After he had found an altar with the inscription to the unknown God, he addresses the company on that basis, that they didn't know God. And so he says, Whom therefore ye ignorantly worshipped him, declare I unto you God that made the world.
And all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth, dwelleth not in temples made of hands, neither is worshipped.
With men's hands as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life and breath and all things and so on. I hear he he speaks to the company on the ground in which they would understand him. They wouldn't understand him if he started talking about the Jewish ordinances. They wouldn't understand what he meant if he started to talk about.
The beginnings of Christianity.
We find he does mention the resurrection, He leaves enough there so that they can begin to enter in to the new order of things, but he starts out on the ground in which they're found simply as heathen, not knowing the true God. In the book of of Luke, the gospel of Luke, the last chapter, we find the Lord Jesus.
With his oath as they are going away from Jerusalem.
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He goes and walks with them.
But I think we'll have to consider the circumstances there that the Lord was going to recover His own. It wasn't a question of the heathen or it wasn't a question of the unsaved. It was a question of His own disciples and He went after them.
And the moment the work was done in their souls, he leaves them and then they return to Jerusalem. But that's a different case from what we're Speaking of in connection with the gospel. And we shouldn't use that expression to to illustrate that is in the 24th of Luke, to illustrate the other in the last two. And Paul flying into the synagogue, He didn't compromise in any way.
And it says that when the Jews goes up against the.
He separated the disciples, went through another place, and instructed them independent of the finito. And do we not learn a lesson that the gospel was through the Jews 1St, and also to the Gentiles? So that in the beginning of the gospel forever Paul and Barnabas have fallen. Pilots went they went to the synagogue of the Jews.
Preach the gospel to them and when they rejected it, by then they are simply separated from the whole thing. But I've had Christian freedom is that we learned from the apostles going to an affinity. That is the reason why we can go to the churches everywhere and preach the gospel now because Paul went to the synagogue.
But don't you think, brethren, that when the truth that we hold is being gathered, being gathered to the Lord's name alone?
Has been rejected by Christendom that we're an entirely different situation.
And at the beginning, when the truth was just coming out and it was something entirely new, and there were those that were just getting hold of these things but christened them as a whole have rejected the truth.
They of the one body and will not have it. And for my own thought, I believe that it is a mistake to think that we can go on with the camp and thank you to bring blessing in that way. We can't put ourselves under law and say we'd never go to such a place. An old brother.
Penfield was preaching on the street somewhere in Missouri one time, where he'd never been before, just traveling through the country.
And some man came up and said, wouldn't you preach the gospel in his church? Well, Brother Penfield wouldn't. Brother Potter said to him, Penfield, perhaps you lost an opportunity by not going. There was a place where.
Things were entirely new. We can't just put ourselves under law and say we'd never go to any place except the meeting room. But it is something that.
Where the truth is known, where it's been ministered according to it, of those places that are gathered on sectarian grounds, where I am sure are lowering the standard of what we stand for as gathered to the Lord's name alone. The synagogue was not the temple and the temple was the center of the religious worship, but the synagogue was the place where there was an open forum held and and.
Necessarily directly connected with the center of worship.
Brother Barry, the Lord Jesus, and say stay here, go ye, go ye, and praise the gospel.
He didn't say stay here, although we have a place where we got it to the precious name of the Lord Jesus Christ and we love to be there. We ought to love to be there, but in connection with the Gospel he says go ye.
Before brother Penfield, that he.
Would and we should seek the counsel of our brethren and not act in independence. Some time ago in Montreal we heard of a group of Roman Catholics that were studying the Bible and a brother who worked with some of these was asked if he would come and meet with them in the building, not in their church.
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But in the building near their church and have Bible readings with them.
This brother wisely brought it before his brethren, asked their counsel, their fellowship, and particularly their prayers, and they went to this building.
And they had reading.
A number of Catholics were there, including the the parish priest and they were given full liberty to minister the word of God and there was a real interest there, but one was thankful that the brother that had this opportunity did not go off in his own but stop the council.
And the prayers of his brethren before he took such a step.
This is what I've had to do, brethren in Bolivia.
And pardon a word here which comes from my own heart.
Truth is largely rejected in these favored lands.
Truth is largely rejected.
And there is a danger even among God's dear people, separated people, to make compromises.
To be on the good side of someone.
Now in Bolivia, I want to tell you, beloved, that our brethren there have suffered untold sufferings because of their stand.
In absolute separation.
From everything that ecclesiastical.
It may seem hard.
And when missionaries came and to Bolivia, I was 15 years alone there. When missionaries came there, there was a rift among the Saints for stock.
Five meetings left.
Turned away from the truth.
Well, there's no sadness so great as that. For five years I never was able to put my foot.
In those five meetings.
But one day.
I got a letter from 9 of them.
Seeing Brother Smith, we are in trouble. We've been making compromises and we're in difficulties. Well, that meant 4 1/2 days on you back to reach them and the rainy season going through the flood, flooded waters.
When I got there.
They were waiting.
And we talked it out from 5:00 in the afternoon until 2:30 in the morning.
And I remember saying to them, Brethren.
Is separation separation or not?
There was a long pause.
Separation is to Christ first of all, and consequently.
From this world.
Its sin and its system.
Now, beloved, excuse a personal remark.
I was ordained as a clergyman in the city of Melbourne.
Among the Baptist affiliated.
And for three years preached for them.
And it was not until my eldest brother.
Sent me such books as Mr. Darby and Kelly.
And Wigram.
And so on bail it that I was awakened to the fact that I was in the wrong place.
In the wrong place.
Now there was a decision to be made.
Just there was a decision to be made in Bolivia.
The ecumenical movement there has caused tears.
Called tears and I do thank God.
By the grace of God, those brethren got together, 150 of them for four days to thrash it out on their knees and before God with the with the open Bible, and they wrote over the whole business, separation, separation.
Beloved.
The truth of the one body.
To my soul.
Is like a new confession.
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The truth of the one body.
And the joy of being where the Spirit of God.
Is open and free to wield all His blessed truth that would separate us in heart and faith to Christ.
From this world.
Mr. CHM wrote this way.
To emphasize this.
As God separated people is not presumption but faithfulness to God.
Faithfulness to God.
The Lord delivered me. Now I just want to mention one more thing if you please.
When I went back to New Zealand.
I went back to the South of New Zealand where my brother was laboring for the Lord.
And I went back to the very place where Mr. Deck had labored so successfully.
In those early days, the truth of the one body was never taken to New Zealand until he took it.
Mr. **** I did not know him, but I knew all the family.
And I have in my possession a confession that Mister Beck made a copy.
He made a compromise.
With a strong minded lawyer from London or Bristol.
Consequently, those five meetings.
Were swallowed up.
It caused the death of Mr. **** before his time.
And he wrote a letter to his brethren, and prior to that Mister Darby went across, as you may know, write to New Zealand and so did FG Patterson and wrote a book there on lessons from the wilderness, which I recommend to the young Christians here.
He made the confession that he had seen.
And he asked his brethren to forgive him, and we know they did.
But what about his family?
One gathered to the precious name of Christ.
I spent some time in London many years ago with Doctor Northcote, a dear child of God.
And when I spoke to him I said N cup.
Are you following in the footsteps of your father? You remember his confession?
He looked down.
And said nothing. Well, he's with the Lord now.
Beloved.
May we hold fast.
May we stand fast.
And you young people, I noticed that a great number of young people are not convinced that this is the word of God.
That's the truth.
This book in your hands is the word of the living God.
And we believe it from cover to cover.
That holy men of God wrote as they were born along.
Spirit of God, it's not a private interpretation.
It's God's word.
This is the basis on which we begin.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure, and let everyone that name of the name of Christ of the Lord depart from iniquity. Beloved, I went through times of deep soul trouble, ecclesiastical error, ecclesiastical iniquity.
And broken hearted.
Was abandoned there in the city of Melbourne, just because I want to follow that Blessed one.
Yes, I had the scholarship of $5000 to study medicine to go to China as a medical missionary.
I wouldn't take a cent from that.
Which I labored with were not ascent, never did finish medicine. Now don't misunderstand me, we love every child of God.
Everyone that belongs to Christ. But we cannot work with the mall, beloved.
And if we think we can, and pardon me as an old, worn out mission.
If we think we can walk.
With those in the sects, we are wrong.
And we're selling the truth.
Consequently, there's no weakness.
That sweeps through our meetings, our direct weakness.
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I hope you'll have this. I've talked more than I wanted to, but I feel it. I really feel my soul.
Romans.
Speaks of the Apostle Paul as separated unto the Gospel of God. Well, what is the Gospel of God? Is it something which needs to be dressed up to suit others? Now the Gospel of God is concerning his Son Jesus Christ.
In the second verse we have the the promise of the Gospel. The 3rd and 4th verses we have the person of the Gospel. The 4th and 5th verses we have the preaching of the gospel.
And in the sixth verse, the product of the gospel. And the apostle Paul did never need to dress it up to appeal to others. It was the gospel of God concerning his Son and nothing else.
And that's what had the power.
Now we are Speaking of victory a little while ago. I'd like to just read a reference in the 18th chapter, Second Kings, where Hezekiah gained a wonderful victory.
And we can see why.
Second Kings in chapter 18 and verse 5. Read 3 or 4 verses.
First of all, he trusted in the Lord God of Israel.
So that after him was none like him among all the kings of Judah, nor any that were before him. Now seven things here which ended in complete victory. First of all, he claved to the Lord. How important this is.
He claimed to the Lord, and departed not from following him the Lord, but kept his commandments, which the Lord commanded Moses, and the Lord was with him, and he prospered with us, whoever he went forth, and he rebelled not against the Lord.
He rebelled against the king of Assyria and served him not he smote the Philistines. There's the victory.