Open—Enos McCavour
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Enjoyed the thoughts that were brought before us and uh.
A lot of the prayers this morning were centered around our life.
How the Lord would have us to live and so on. What we have for us and.
I was thinking about that.
And I'd like to look at a a verse in Revelation chapter 2.
Church has mentioned here chapter two and three.
They give us a snapshot of.
Of how things would be from, you might say, the birth of the church, day of Pentecost, right down through the ages, including.
Here today, until we hear the shout and the Lord takes us home.
But it gives us a snapshot of.
Things and how they have digressed down through the church period. I don't want to go through all the the churches. I just wanna take a few moments.
Uh, to look at the very first one and she.
Chapter 2, but emphasis.
It stays on to the onto the Angel of the Church of Ephesus, right? These things, that he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks.
I know thy works, and thy waver, and thy patient patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil.
And thou has tried them with say they are apostles and are not, has found them liars, has born and has patience for my name's sake, has labored and has not fainted.
Now, if you're looking at something that would please the Lord in your life.
That would make him happy, would make him glad. These are things written here that the Lord desires from us that he delights in.
These things that the Ephesians were doing and verse two and three.
And as you go on through the churches. If you want to read.
You might say that.
The first part of them they're usually a complement to the church by the Lord for something they have been faithful in these things mentioned here to the Ephesians are things that.
That please the Lord. But in verse four it says, nevertheless I have somewhat against thee, because thou has left thy first love.
I believe this is a this is the start of perhaps all the the downfall of Christianity starts right there.
Losing our first love.
I remember when I was saved.
What zeal I had for God and for the Lord Jesus. What love I had for my Lord. It was nothing that I wouldn't do for the Lord Jesus that had lifted the me up out of the mire of this world and brought me into His presence.
Where I knew that my sins were forgiven and covered with His precious blood gave me peace with God.
Eternal life.
And a bright future, a home in glory.
That's the lovely head then. I hope that I haven't lost it, but there is a danger of losing that first love.
There is a danger that, uh, that our own wills come into play and circumstances of this life we get attracted to, uh, other things can draw our hearts away.
And umm, I can so easily happen.
And so I think in Ephesians chapter 2, the Holy Spirit recorded that there for the Ephesians to put them in remembrance of what they were and how God delivered them.
00:05:06
That they were without hope, without God in this world.
They were put in remembrance of it for a reason.
God knew he sees ahead. He knew what would happen.
And so.
We look at the Lord Jesus, I believe.
We wanna look at someone for an example how we should walk in this scene down here, what we should do?
We may as well take the highest ground that we can take.
The Lord Jesus Himself.
The perfect man sent from God.
If we want to be appreciated by God and the Lord Jesus.
Do what he wants us to do. Do His will, not her own.
There's a verse in Hebrews in chapter 10 that said, I come to do thy will, O God, Speaking of the Lord Jesus.
So I like what it says back in.
Psalms chapter 40. Let's look there.
Verse 7.
Speaking of the Lord Jesus prophetically before he appeared on the scene.
So then I then said, I lo, I come, and the volume of the book is written of me. I delight to do thy will, oh God.
Delight, we could say, is love. I love to do thy will, oh God.
The Lord Jesus came into this world born of a man born, born at Bethlehem, a man into this world. His delight, His love was to do the Father's will and to finish it. He knew where it would lead him to the cross. Yet that was His delight. His delight was to do.
His father's will.
That that was His love. Is that our love to do what the Lord Jesus wants us to do? Do we make that our will each day?
Speaking to myself.
We do make that our will each day to do the will of our Savior, what He wants us to do.
Or we just choose to do whatever we want.
To please ourselves and to leave the Lord Jesus out.
Well, it says here in this chapter 40.
Verse eight I delight to do thy will, or I love to do thy will, Oh my God, ye the law is within my heart. We have God's word.
Being born.
With a new nature within us, we have His word put within our hearts.
The word is there.
Do we use it to do his will?
I have preached righteousness in the great congregation.
We can do that.
We can get up each day and decide to.
With the Lord's help, get on our knees, pray and give our day over to the Lord and then seek his grace and his health to go out whatever we may, uh, do that day, wherever it may take us. Sometimes we have many things that on our schedule that we're going to do in a certain day.
But just the committed to the Lord and when we go out.
To be that representative for God.
You know, we don't have to stand on the preach on a street corner and preach the gospel to be a testimony to the Lord Jesus and to God.
Our lives can be that the way we conduct ourselves, how we speak to people, how we show concern and love with them.
And our desire to reach out to them, talk to them, present Christ to them. The Lord Jesus did that when he was here, didn't He? Of all the pathway, he said, I'd delight to do thy will, O God, the laws within my heart. I have preached righteousness in the great congregation.
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Well, Lord Jesus certainly did that when He was here. He reached out to all. There was none that He shunned or put aside.
That says.
I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy loving kindness.
And thy truth from the great congregation.
Sometimes.
We get busy.
And sometimes we meet somebody.
And instead of being brave.
That old cowardly spirit takes over.
And we may not do what we intended to do to give out a tract or a calendar to the person we're speaking to. And we we don't do it, then we feel bad after that we did it.
Well, we need grace from the Lord for those things.
And, uh, with his strength and his grace, we're able to reach in our pocket and, and give the tractor a calendar out, it says here.
I have not refrained my lips. Oh Lord, thou knowest.
I have not had my righteousness within my heart.
The Lord Jesus displayed God's righteousness in every precious step that he took here.
There wasn't one thing that the Lord Jesus did. There wasn't one word that he said. It wasn't from God.
Everything he spoke, he spoke by the Spirit.
He spoke from God. Every word that we have that the Lord Jesus spoke here is a man is inspired, holy.
Given to us of God.
Nothing of self.
And what we have in this book.
It's all written inspired by God for us, and so the Lord Jesus was God's Son.
Reading about here and he loved his father.
When he came here, he loved to do as well. We know where that took the Lord Jesus to the cross of Calvary for you and for me to die for our sins.
Has that reached your heart here today? That first love?
Depreciation that entered into your heart.
The realization of what you've been spared from.
Pluck is a brand that says from the burning.
Brought into a place of blessing.
Untold blessings.
So much so that, uh, there is no more blessings that God could give. We are blessed with all spiritual blessings, it says in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus.
That's our portion as believers.
And that is not based on anything that I have done or anything that anyone else has done here in this room that knows the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior. It's all based on what the Lord Jesus has done.
And when he is done, alone is what God accepts.
In his sight.
Were made of SYS Second Corinthians.
5 of 21 He has made him to be sin for us, He that knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
You and I as believers we stand before God, not in my righteousness. Anything I have done to earn favor before God.
But I can stand before God in the perfect righteousness of Christ my Savior. That's my standing before God. There's nothing to do with me or self. It's everything to do with the Lord Jesus Christ, what He has accomplished at Calvary's cross.
But there is a practical righteousness too. This is what we're Speaking of here. When the Lord Jesus was here is what he practiced when he was here. He loved to do God's will, and every day he did the will of his Father and eventually led him to his death at Calvary.
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And so it should be an exercise for us each day when we get up to do the will of the Father, to do what the Lord Jesus would want us to do that day.
But as I said.
We have the old nature, don't we?
We had that despiteful thing, and oftentimes we give way to it, we listen to it and we allow it to influence us and we allow sin to command disobedience to come in and.
I'd only point you to one more verse before I sit down. That's in.
First Peter, chapter 2.
Verse 21 Says for even hereunto where you call, because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example that you should follow his steps, who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth. He was reviled, he reviled not again when he suffered, He threatened not, but committed himself to him the judges righteously.
Who in his own self bear our sins in his own body on the tree that we, being dead descends, should live on to righteousness.
By whose stripes you were healed, for ye as were as sheep going astray, but are now returned unto the shepherd and Bishop of your souls. I want to focus on there was verse one of that chapter is.
We can follow.
Somebody that we know that we like.
We admire.
Perhaps we hold them up in great ex esteem, and we should, perhaps.
Perhaps our faithful.
We can follow them.
We should stay follow.
What never says that we're to follow 81 steps except for the Lord Jesus Christ?
I may follow the most devoted person that I could find.
And I follow their faith and that's good up to a point, as long as I know when they make a wrong turn, they don't make it with them.
But if I'm following their steps.
No matter how faithful one may be, if he if I'm following along his steps, when he makes a bad turn, I'll have to make that same bad turn.
Even the apostle Paul had failures, so I was following his steps. When he made a failure, I would have made the same failure.
And so if we follow the steps of the Lord Jesus Christ, he never made a failure, never had a failure in his life.
He was always obedient and every step that he took.
And so we want to know what is right for us is found in the Word of God, all God's word.
As been written for us.
And Timothy, we're, we are encouraged there to, uh, continue on.
The things that that we have heard and know to be true from the word of God. That's all I had but.
I I think that perhaps we're living in such a day.
Of, umm, apostasy. Such a day of wickedness that we're in.
When a lot of the church that we see today is nothing but mere profession, that is it. Look, may look good on the outside, but God sees inwardly and there's nothing there. There's nothing there for him. It's just an outward professional thing. And so we're living in that kind of a day.
But the church, the real church, there's always a danger of allowing.
Things that come in.
Things that will affect our hearts and we lose our first love.
And we drift further away from the Lord.
So my focus is today and those that are real, those that have accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior and you put your trust in Him, cling to him, especially in this day of ruin, and He will allow us to overcome and give us the strength that we need in this day of weakness.
Umm.
Right.
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