Address—David Mearns
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Could we open our meeting this afternoon?
By singing hymn #46 in the appendix.
#46 in the appendix.
Be thou the object bright and fair.
To fill and satisfy.
The heart #46 in the appendix. Can somebody please start that?
Just before we pray, could you turn with me, please to Matthew's Gospel chapter 20?
Matthew's Gospel, chapter 20.
We'll read 4 verses here, starting at verse 30, Matthew chapter 20 and verse 30. And behold, 2 blind men.
00:05:06
Sitting by the wayside, when they heard that Jesus passed by, cried out, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And the multitude rebuked them, because they should hold their peace. But they cried the more, saying, Have mercy on us, O Lord, thou son of David. And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you? And they said unto him, Lord.
That our eyes may be opened.
I'd like to ask each one of us here, has Jesus passed by your way today?
Has that happened yet today?
You know, we read an account in the book of Joshua where it says the son stood still.
Far more wonderful fact we find here in this portion. It says And Jesus stood still.
Jesus stood still.
You know he has time for us today.
He has time for us and it says here these ones cried and they said, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.
As we pray, we just trust that is the Lord passes by this afternoon.
That our eyes might be open, that we might behold wondrous things, as the psalmist could say.
Notify Law. Turn with me now, please, to the Book of Judges.
Look up judges.
And the 7th chapter.
The Book of Judges in the 7th chapter.
This is where we're going to spend most of our time.
However, we are not going to talk about Gideon.
The life of Gideon has been taken up for much profit.
Most of us can testify to that.
Gideon was an influential man, as there were many influential, uh, men and women. In the word of God, most of us are not going to be like a Gideon.
Most of us are not going to be like a Joseph second in command of a Kingdom.
Most of us are not going to be like a Moses to lead 1,000,000 1/2 or 2 million people across, uh, a desert for 40 years. Most of us are not gonna be like the Apostle Paul.
But we have in this chapter.
300 men.
And I wanna look at those 300 expressly, those 300 and the characteristics that we find.
With those 300.
No, I spoke about Gideon being an influential man. There are many influential people that we find in this world, but not one of us is a person without influence.
Not one of us.
And we find here 300 men. And they're, they're not, they're not named.
But they spend this time with Gideon, and it's been a great profit to my soul to look at what characterized these 300. So let's commence reading at the first verse of Chapter 7. And it says in Jeerabale.
Who is Gideon and all the people that were with him?
These first characteristics that we're gonna look at, they, they were also true of the 32,000.
Not just the 300, they were true of the 32,000.
And we're gonna go through those first characteristics and then we'll see the the later ones that were, were expressly, uh, uh, characteristic of the 300. But here the first point is it says that all the people that were with him that were with him.
Turn with me to Mark's Gospel, just for a moment. Mark's Gospel, the third chapter.
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Mark's Gospel chapter 3 in the subject of discipleship. It's been interesting to me, to me to look at the lives of the disciples, and they're listed four times in the Word of God. They've listed three times in the Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and they're also listed in the book of the Acts.
Umm, you know what's interesting? We, we've just gone through a prayer meeting and we've had some prayer requests and I'm very, very thankful for those that have the energy, umm, to go where they go.
Tim's on his way to Malawi and also other parts of Africa. Uh, I'm so thankful, Timothy Lane for the energy that you, you explained in that way. Our brother Bob here has spent his life in South America, for which.
We're so thankful.
Jim goes to the islands, he goes many places, he goes to Egypt. So thankful for those things. Most of us are going to stay right here.
Most of us are gonna stay right here. It's not that we're not welcome to go somewhere else, but that's not gonna characterize most of us. What does it mean to be a disciple right here? Mark's Gospel, chapter 3.
And verse 14, this is the same wording that we have in the first verse that we read in Judges Chapter 7. And he ordained 12 That they should be. There's a list of things here.
He sent them that power over sicknesses to cast out devils. He sent them that they might, uh, he might send them forth to to preach. But first and foremost he chose the 12 That they might be with him.
First and foremost, the disciples. That's what Gideon chose these people so that they would be with him. That's why the Lord has chosen you and me. Yes, He may use us in various different ways, but first and foremost He wants our company. He wants us. He wants us to be with Him.
I so appreciate that in connection with him choosing the 12 and how he first and foremost mentioned the reason why he wanted them was to have their company, that they might be with him.
How's it been with you today? I mentioned earlier I asked the question, has Jesus passed by your way today? Has he had your company today?
Has he had my company today? That's why he's chosen us, so we could have our company. Has he had it? She had our company today. Let's go back to the book of judges.
So the first point, all the people that were with him, the next point.
They rose up early.
The second point.
32,000 And they rose up early. They had purpose, they had purpose.
Do you and I have purpose in our life?
Just a week ago I got up.
My son who's not here, went to Regina this weekend for the young people's weekend. He he leaves early because of his job. We had our reading together and he said dad.
I want my life to have purpose.
I said well, you know, umm son.
I want the same thing.
He's at the beginning of his life.
I'm I'm at the other end.
And you don't. It takes purpose to have purpose, it just doesn't happen all by itself.
These ones, they rose up early. They had purpose.
It's been striking to me because I, I've just gone through umm, just gone through the, the book of Umm, not the book, The Life of Jehoshaphat and Umm.
A A very encouraging life to go through the life of Jehoshaphat and to and to see his walk with the Lord and to see that which was so encouraging. And yet when he turned 60, which is the age I have just turned, when he turned 60, it all went back at 60.
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Why? Because there was a lack of purpose. You know, we look at, look at this audience, the, the ages are all different. Every one of us needs to have purpose.
If we're gonna be able to walk with the Lord in a manner that's consistent with His precious word and that, we're gonna be company for Him.
Purpose. They rose up early. Now let's look at the next point Here in the first verse it says and they pitched beside the well of Harrod.
No, that's not an expression we use very much, is it? He pitched.
It's it's an expression that, umm.
That shows that there's umm.
A decisive move for us as to where we're gonna have our temporary dwelling. And it might not just be that it might be in connection with a job. You know, the, the expression he pitched his tent is found seven times the word of God. It's found six times in the book of Genesis, once in the book of, of Judges. Sometimes it's, it's very positive, sometimes it's very negative. You read of Isaac pitching his 10th and he had an altar there. You read of Abraham pitching his tent and he had an altar.
We read a lot and and it says he pitched his head towards Sodom wasn't a good thing. We read of Jacob and he pitched his tent towards Shechem. It's a bad thing for his daughter.
Where are we gonna pitch?
Where are we going to pitch here? They pitched by the, well, Herod, a place where they could get refreshment. It was a place where they pitched. Mr. Darby renders that. It's the spring of Herod, a place where they could get refreshment.
You know, we go through a number of wells in the word of God and justice because there was a well and justice because you pitched by a well doesn't mean that the water was available. And we find in our own souls experience when often we would love to have refreshment and we just don't get it. We just can't seem to get it. Think of Jacob coming to that place where there was a well and there was a big stone on top of the well.
Think of Isaac going to the wells that his father dig and they're full of dirt.
Think of Moses, uh, coming across that desert and coming to the well. And then here's these girls and they wanna water their flocks and the wells were stopped by shepherds. Think about well-being stopped by a shepherd.
Think of David longing to have a drink from the well of Bethlehem. And yet the Philistines had it sometimes the well of refreshment that we desire to have the refreshment, uh, from it's blocked in some way. Well, here, they, they, they at least pitched by a place where there was refreshment that was available. And they go on now, now here. And it says, umm, in the second verse. And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people that are are with thee are too many for me.
To give the Midianites under their hands, lest Israel bought themselves.
Against me saying my own hand have saved me.
Now therefore go proclaim in the ears of the people saying whosoever is fearful and afraid, let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead in the return to the people 22,000 and there remained 10,000. So of this 10,000 we also find the 300. It's interesting, you know, if you, if you look at the reason these ones were turned back.
It was because they were afraid. Perhaps we'll look at that subject of fear a little bit later.
You know, Gideon was really no different than the 22,000. If we go later on in the chapter, the Lord says to Gideon, you know, if you're afraid, go down to the capital Midianites to take purity of your servant and Gideon goes down.
And we sometimes sing that hymn raise. Gideon had 300 men. Gideon wasn't exactly brave. He was really just like the 22,000. But we've got 10,000 left here, 10,000 left now. Let's go on down and.
The fourth verse the Lord said to Gideon, The people are yet too many. Bring them down onto the water, and I will try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom I say unto thee, This shall go with thee.
The same shall go with thee. And of whomsoever I say unto thee, this shall not go. With thee the same shall not go.
So he brought down the people under the water, and the Lord said to Gideon, Everyone that laugheth of the water with his tongue, as the dog laugheth him, shalt thou sit by himself, And likewise everyone that boweth down upon his knees to drink. And the number of them that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were 300 men.
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But all the rest of the people bowed down upon their knees to drink. And the Lord said to Gideon by the 300 men that laughed, will I save you? Now we've got it whittled down to our subject, the 300 men. These things characterized them earlier, but now we're going to look at what characterizes the 300. And the first is how they drank.
You know they drank.
In a manner.
They're sure that they had discipline.
They had discipline in their lives.
They didn't bury their head right down in the water and drink and drink and drink. No, they took what was needed.
And that, that really speaks to my own heart.
About personal discipline.
In my own life.
There's a lot of young people here.
Do you have a disciplined life?
A lot of the things that have been a a trouble to me over the years in my life have been habits. Habits.
Sometimes we have good habits, sometimes we have bad habits.
You know we're not Umm.
We're not looking over an audience here that's, umm, very different from one another.
The scripture says as in as in faith.
As in water face answereth the face, so the heart of man to man.
Were all made of the same stuff.
I, I assure you, uh, when I say that about me, that's not a compliment for you. It's not a compliment, but we are made of the same stuff.
And perhaps there are habits that are not good.
And I could lift habits. We, we could go through a whole list of things and, and often there are things that are taken up here. I, I, I would be naive to think that in a group like this that.
They're that there might not be some young people that perhaps have had a difficulty with alcohol.
Perhaps I've had a difficulty with smoking the odd joint perhaps.
Should have a a difficulty with umm, uh, you know, I, I personally don't eat.
Umm, the amount of food for the glory of God, that is good for me. I, I, I cross that line so many times. There, there, there's so many areas in our life where there there's a lack of discipline. And this is not a discourse to point out all perhaps the bad habits we might have. We know them, we know them, but sometimes because we have them there, there's a tendency for us to.
To put a veneer around ourselves and, and, and not let anybody have a look at what's inside. You know, I, I, just last week I went down to lumberyard. I was looking for a piece of, umm, a piece of, uh, of 1/8 Maple. And you say, what can you do with one eighth Maple? What you could take 1/8 Maple and you can glue it on a piece of melamine and it looks like a piece of Maple. You know, we're good at that in our lives. We're good at putting that veneer around ourselves that makes us look a little bit different than, than what we are.
You know, these, these ones, these 300, they were selected.
Not because there's someone like Gideon. They were selected because.
They had discipline in their lives.
And the Lord said in the seventh verse by the 300 men that laughed, will I save you and deliver the Menianites into thine hand and let all the other people go every man to his tent. So verse eight, they took vittles in their hand. You know this is this is this is so important for every one of us to take food. It's different than the refreshment. You know we we had in between the.
In between these meetings, there were some refreshments that's different than the meal later on. And so we have them pitching by the the the well haired, which would perhaps speak of refreshment. But here it's food and we need food. We need it every day, every one of us to take up the word of God, to read it for ourselves, to meditate upon us. You know, you're not gonna, you're not gonna pick up a dis a, a book that's gonna give you a discourse on on the 300. It's not gonna happen. You pick pick up a book and and read a discourse on Gideon.
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But to, to look at, at the pages of Scripture and to see the, the, the so many things that are there takes time to sit and to meditate. Well, these ones, it says they took food. Well, let's go on a little further now.
And umm, look at the.
The, uh, this is after he, after he hears that dream, after he goes down to the Midianites, uh, Gideon in the 16th verse, umm.
It says he divided the 300 men.
Into three companies and he put a trumpet in every man's hand.
And empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers. You know, I mentioned the disciples and it's interesting to see what what Gideon did here because he divides the men into into three companies. You know, if you look at the four lists of the disciples that are listed, they're listed in Matthew, Mark and Luke. And in the book of the Acts to the Gospels, the disciples are listed in pairs.
One of the Gospels.
They're listed individually and in the book of the Acts they're listed in groups of 2-3 and four. You know, sometimes the Lord has a work for us to do and it's individually. Sometimes he has the work to do and it's with somebody else and sometimes he has the work to do like the brethren here in Fenton as a team and to put on general meetings. It's a marvelous thing to work with our brethren while the Lord here.
Had Gideon.
Divide these 300 men into three companies just to get an idea as to what 300 men are about. How many shares are in this room 300?
And you know, I was thinking of of the hymn that we just sang, Be thou the object bright and fair. In verse 17, he said unto them, This is a rather he in the 16th verse, he divided the 300 men into three companies. And he put a trumpet in every man's hand with empty pitchers and lamps within the pitchers. And he said unto them, look on me and do likewise. Didn't give him a long list of instructions. He just said, look at me.
Oh, I was sure save myself a lot more difficulties, wouldn't I, if my eye was fixed on that object. Bright and fair look on me.
That as I do, so shall ye do when I blow with the trumpet and all that are with me, then blow ye the trumpets also on every side of all the camps, and say the sword of the Lord and of Gideon.
Well.
Gideon and the 300 men that were here's that, here's that little term again that were with him came under the outside of the camp in the beginning of the middle watch and they had but newly set the watch and they blew.
If we were to turn to the book of numbers, it believes the 10th chapter, we would find what the number, what the trumpets were used for, the trumpet would speak to us of our verbal testimony, our verbal testimony.
You know, I, I, I struggle with that.
I struggle with that.
Because.
I sometimes find myself in situations.
And I don't know what to say.
The Lord Jesus, when he was down here, every situation he found himself in, he said exactly the right thing.
We have the capacity to do the same. And that's a real challenge to me that I sometimes, umm, come upon a situation and a brother has acted in such a way and I, it's just easier to go the other way. It's just easier not to address it. And I, I, so often I'm not able to be the verbal testimony that the Lord would have me to be. And you know, the, the apostle Paul, he takes this up and he speaks of, of the trumpet giving a, an uncertain sound and so often in my own life.
My verbal testimony is such that it gives an uncertain sound. Well, here the 300 they blew the trumpets and it says and they break the pitchers.
You know, the apostle uses this analogy in Corinthians, and I'd like to look at that for a moment, if we could turn to 2nd Corinthians.
2nd Corinthians.
And the 4th chapter.
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It would be nice to pick up the chapter we can't The 4th chapter. Is the breaking of the vessel the 5th chapter?
It says if we know that our house, the earthly House of our Tabernacle were dissolved, it's a dissolution of the vessel. So the four chapters, the breaking of the vessel, the 5th chapter, the dissolution of the vessel. But here in, in, in second Corinthians chapter 4 and verse five, it says, for we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves dear servants, for Jesus sake, for God who commanded the light to shine in the darkness hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure.
In earthen vessels that the Excellency of the power.
Maybe of God and not of us.
Now here's the breaking of the vessel. We're troubled on every side.
Getting out distressed.
We are perplexed.
But not in despair.
Persecuted.
But not Forsaken.
Cast down.
But not destroyed.
You know we read those verses.
And I I'm so thankful for the way the apostle, by the Spirit of God, penned these words to those in Corinth.
But you know, there may be those here today.
Who have had the experience as I have had?
Where I look at this and I see troubled on every side but I am distressed.
Perplexed, and I am in despair.
Persecuted.
And I feel very much alone.
Castle, I feel like I'm destroyed.
You know it. It's quite quite possible and quite probable that in a company like this.
That there are individuals that feel very, very much alone.
Hello. And you know, we're, we're, we're good, as I said earlier, about putting that veneer on around ourselves. And so we, we read a portion like this and we think, well, you know, I, I, I really, I really can't.
I really can't show anybody really what's going on inside because, uh, I just can't do that.
You know, I would encourage everyone of our hearts.
That when there are real, real burdens.
And, and, and we're, we're taught, umm, to, to protect ourselves.
So that people can just look in so deep.
But what's really going on? We don't want anybody to see. We just it, it's, it's too embarrassing for us. And we don't know what, don't know what they'll think. They'll think of me as perhaps less of a spiritual person than I would like them to think. And yet these things are true that not only not only are we troubled, but we're distressed. Not only are we perfect, but we're in despair. Not only persecuted, but we feel very much alone, not only cast down, but.
Feel just about destroyed.
How, how, how are we, how are we supposed to act under circumstances like that? Do we just carry on, uh, with this, with this facade and not let anybody, umm, see what's inside? You know, there are, there are difficulties that we have that it's hard for us not only to communicate, but it's hard for us to ask prayer for, you know, I, I can, I can, we had our brother Norm Wood just just announced this past Tuesday that he's got Melanoma.
Brother has been such a help in our assembly and it's a real difficulty. And yet in a certain sense, and having had cancer in the past, I know that it's it's easier to make an announcement like that.
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And to say, you know, I've been under so much stress lately, I'm just about to crack. We can't say that.
Now you know be because because we want to protect ourselves from what we're good at praying for everything from here down, but anything from here up. It's just hard for us to be able to communicate to our Brennan. There's a difficulty. I would suggest that there are those in this room, there are those in our local assemblies who are shepherds who struggle with exactly the same things that we struggle with.
And would only be too happy to sit down and not only to hear what you have to say, but be able to share that their soul's experience is much the same as yours and mine.
You know, I, I've thought of that and, and this is what the apostle he, he and he had tremendous difficulties. We turned further, you know, in, in Corinthians and you see the, the, the, the things that the Apostle Paul went through. You think of him, you think of him standing in line at a ship. When you think of him, umm, uh, having suffered shipwreck three times, You know, if you stood in line with and you saw the Apostle Paul in line, you wouldn't want to get on the boat. He had another one to come yet because of the difficulties that he went through. And I, I, I so appreciate all that he went through.
And yet there are those things.
That we have, and the apostle, he even himself says that he had a thorn in the flesh.
And he presented to the Lord, and he presented it with violence. He presented it with real exercise. He wanted the Lord to take that thorn away. And the answer was, My grace is sufficient.
You know, it says here we have this treasure in verse 7.
In earthen vessels.
That the Excellency of the power.
May be of God.
And not of us.
And that's why.
The Lord, through our lives He breaks down.
Our earthen vessel so that light can really shine.
Just was thinking of my dad on his deathbed.
You know, the vessel was just about done.
And some of us are feeling the effects of our vessels are having a much harder time than you young people.
That, umm, that are pretty spry.
He couldn't talk to my dad about anything other than what lay before. He just felt that I was going to be left behind.
And, uh, I went on that last day.
And.
Umm, uh, tried to wake him up and I couldn't wake him up. He's unconscious and nurse went by.
And she looked in and she says everything all right in here, I said. I can't seem to wake that.
Said, well you were sure awake last night. He wanted to know if I knew the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior. He's not a believer. Probably the last words he said.
The vessel totally broken, but the light shining. You know the light.
Is.
The testimony of our life.
Trumpet is our verbal testimony, the light, the pictures that the 300 held up, that's the testimony of our life. And often the difficulty that I have in my life is those two don't jive.
I may be something a little bit different in the assembly than I am at work.
Or I maybe something, maybe there's young people here and you're just something a little bit different at school and you are at home now. The Lord Jesus, this pathway with a perfectly consistent pathway everywhere he was and he said exactly the right amount of things and just the right things to say.
Our verbal testimony, the trumpets and.
Our testimony of our life as seen in the lights. It needs to agree. It needs to agree.
Otherwise, there's going to be a real vacancy in our Christian life. Well, let's go back now to.
To the Book of Judges.
And look at a few more things here.
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In verse 20, so in verse 19 we read they break the pictures. That was the 8th point. And the three companies, they blew the trumpets.
And they break the pictures, and they held the lamps in their left hands, and the trumpets in their right hands to blow with all. And they cried the sword.
Of the Lord.
And just Gideon, it wasn't just the sword of Gideon, it was the sword.
Of the Lord.
You know, young person.
There's a lot of you here.
This afternoon.
When the Lord called the disciples.
And we don't have this with all of them, but I'm sure it happened with all of them.
There was a personal call.
And then there was a more public call.
And I don't doubt that most here know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
But what about the Lordship of Christ?
In your life.
Are you content to be saved and to recognize you're going home to heaven? You're going to be with the Lord Jesus, but there are some things that you just like to look after yourself down here.
Lord Jesus wants us all, wants all of us.
And that doesn't mean that we're going to go to Malawi. It may mean that. And if it is, that's wonderful.
But it may mean that the Lord would have you to be in your local assembly for the rest of your life. He wants all of you. That's what He wants.
They said the sword of the Lord and of Gideon and it says here in verse 21. And they stood every man in his place. I I some time ago I did a little study on the amount of times that we find in the word of God where we find people standing. It's a tremendous subject, these ones that said that they stood.
What what? What does it mean? Umm.
They stood.
You know, just just to mention perhaps one or two we find the people of God when they came to the Red Sea, they were told to stand to stand still see the salvation of the Lord. You think of a man like Shama who stood and defended a field of lentils. Think of the book of the Ephesians were to stand against the Wiles of the devil. And it says and having done all to stand. You know, it was my portion a short while ago, not a short while ago, quite some time ago to umm to do a.
A renovation.
Uh, for a training center of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the RCMPI don't know what exactly how your justice system is down here. Your, your correctionals, umm, in Canada, we, in our, in our towns, in our cities, umm, we have the local police, uh, force, they, the town police or the city police. And you go outside of that on the highways and you have perhaps, I guess, like a state troopers.
There in Canada you have provincial police. Well then.
In the outlying areas and in the airports, they are, they are policed by the RCMP, the Royal Canadian Mountain Police. And there's not too many of them are mounted anymore, but they used to be. But it was interesting to me to, to do this renovation for the, for the, the, the training center. And, uh, we ran late and they started their training and they were there for three weeks as we were there for three weeks. So I saw part of it.
Well, I was there the first day they came.
And these, these, these officers or potential officers, they get a letter because they've applied to be an RCMP officer and they get a letter saying that they have been accepted, but they're given a year and the year they're given is to train. They personally train and they train for that entire year. And then they come to this training camp and they're expected to be in top form. So I'm there at the same time that they all arrive. Uh, there's sixteen of them.
The first thing they do is they put a pack on them. I forget the amount of weight that they put in the pack and they have to run 10 miles.
It was a significant amount of weight in the pack.
They run the 10 miles, they get back to to where we were.
They're helped off with their packs and they have 120 seconds to do 50 push-ups after they've run the 10 miles with the pack on their back.
A, a, a fairly rigorous, umm, uh, training session that they were there, they were there for two months. And the, the man that was running it, he said he, he understood, uh, within the first couple of days, who's gonna make it who wasn't?
00:45:08
About a week later.
I I arrived to do my work and these sixteen men are all in the parking lot.
Some of them are standing.
Some of them are sitting there, some of them lying down. There's a couple leaning up against the tree. There was one man who was. He was.
And they are all in this position. And I, I, I asked the officer when I went inside, I said so, so what's going on here? He said, well, umm, I've asked these men to take a position that they're comfortable with.
And they don't understand, they don't realize it now, but they're going to stay in that position for eight, an 8 hour shift.
And they're not gonna have any food and water, but they've chosen the position that they want. We have to have men that can obey orders. So they're gonna be there for 8 hours. The man that was haunched on his, on his, uh, on his heels like I was. He lasted about four hours and then he fell over.
Having done all.
To stand standing does not mean inactivity.
I would say to you young brothers.
That are perhaps asked to stand up, not perhaps here, but in your local assembly to share the glad tidings of the gospel. Don't do it with your hands in your pockets and mumble.
Don't do that. We have explicit direction in the book of the Acts.
Various different apostles, it says, and they put forth their hand. There was real energy, there was real enthusiasm as they presented the glad tidings of the gospel. And I would suggest to those of you who are young men, realize that the message that we have to proclaim is a wonderful message and it needs to be presented with enthusiasm. That's time and time again. Go through the book of the Acts and see the many times we have the apostles, it says they raise their voice.
It says they put forth their hands.
Standing does not mean inactivity. It doesn't mean that.
Having done all to stand, it says about these ones and they stood.
Every man.
In his place.
That might be what the Lord has for us to do.
In connection with being with him.
We're in his company. Yes, he might send you somewhere. Yes, he might have the gift of public speaking. Yes, you might be an evangelist. Yes, he might be a teacher. But maybe you're not. And you have the ability to stand 300 men. And they stood. You know what's interesting about these 300 men? Notice in the next chapter.
Chapter 8.
In verse four, it says in Gideon came to Jordan and passed over he and the 300 men that were with him. They've gone through this whole scenario and there's 300 and they're still with him.
You know the Lord's desire is for us not only to have a good start.
The Lord wants us to have a good finish and He wants us to start with Him and He wants us to finish with Him.
It's beautiful to see these ones and the portions they had at this time was they were.
N.
Now let's go over to the 8th chapter.
And we'll finish that verse.
That we read in the fourth verse. Gideon came.
To Jordan and passed over he and the 300 men that were with him.
And here's this little phrase that we often see in a text in people's home, and it's in connection with the 300.
Faint.
Yet pursuing.
We understand the concept of faint, don't we?
That's not a concept that's foreign to us.
These men were faint.
They were faint.
In verse five it says, He said unto them, The men of Succoth, give thy pray you loads of bread unto the people.
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Here's the 300.
That follow me.
This analogy is so beautiful in connection to what we have the Lord calling the disciples and the Lord calling us, that we would be with him and that we would follow Him.
Let's turn over now to First Corinthians in connection with faint but pursuing First Corinthians chapter 10.
First Corinthians, chapter 10.
I'm having a struggle with a new Bible.
First Corinthians chapter 10 and umm.
OK, let's let's read verse 11. Now all these things happened unto them, for example, and they are written for our admonition. Upon whom the ends of the world are come. Wherefore that him the thickest he standeth, Take heed lest he fall.
This next verse that I had before me in connection with the 300 that were faint yet pursuing.
There's no temptation taking you, but such as is common to man.
The God is faithful who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that she may be able to bear it.
You know, we, we, we live in a society that's a, a fast society.
It's a it's a society that.
Umm, that makes for.
The enemy to provide each of us with a lot of stress.
And sometimes that level.
Can get fairly high, you know, I, I look at some young mothers here with young children, umm.
I have to take my hat off to you. Umm, perhaps not getting much sleep last couple of nights and you have to be sitting here at the meetings. I appreciate that. And yet there are those things sometimes that, that, that come across our pathway and, and we, we, we feel like, we feel like Peter who stepped out in the water and, and he started to think and I, I don't know how many times in my life I've cried that prayer that, that Peter cries and I who, who looked at the Lord and he just said, Lord save me. That's all he said.
I I, I've cried that prayer time and time again in my own life. But in connection with the vessel being broken and and the the treasure that's in that vessel and the concept of of the power not being in ourselves, but being entirely of the Lord. We have here that there is no temptation taking you, but such is common to man. But God is faithful will not suffer you to be attempted above that you are able but will with the temptation also make a way to escape that he may be able to bear it. There's always a way to escape.
Every situation that we find ourselves in, there is always a way of escape. And I've told this before, but it fits here. Uh, when my boys were younger.
They, they used to, to love to catch chipmunks And the way they would do it is, uh, we have, we have some bird feeders. They would take a bird feeder and they would put it on the ground, be full of seeds. And then they'd watch a chipmunk go into the, into the, uh, bird feeder and they take a green garbage can and they jam it down on top of the, uh, the bird feeder. Well, then they take a piece of plywood and they slide it underneath and they pick the whole thing up, turn the right side up, take the plywood off. And then there's the chip monkey in the garbage can And the chipmunk would be jumping and be jumping and be trying to get out and they'd come in the house and look, Daddy, daddy, we caught a chipmunk.
But I always appreciate it the way they let the chipmunk go.
They'll go and get a stick and they'll place the stick in the garbage can and the chipmunk would run around and around and around, and at last you'd find the stick. He'd crawl up the stick and he'd jump off and we'd go free in our own lives.
When there seems to be such stress.
There seems to be such tough difficulties.
There's always, always a stick in the garbage can. There's always a way of escape.
Doesn't matter what the situation, there is always a way of escaping. Sometimes we don't see it for a while like the little chip, but would run around and around and around. Funny you would see it. There is always that. That does not mean that the answer to our prayers of the Lord is always yes. And I've mentioned this before, You know Moses, he desired to go into the land and he really wanted to get into the land and he played with the Lord that you get into the land.
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And the Lord said, speak no more to me of this matter. It was a very plain, final no. Sometimes we have that in our lives, but there is always a way of escape, and there is always My grace is sufficient for thee. The 300 They were with Gideon at the beginning, and they were with Gideon at the end.
Yes, they were faint, but they were still pursuing.
Well then that'd be the portion of each of our hearts. Anytime we take up this little portion and we remember the 300 as to that which characterized them. I wonder if we could sing uh #168.
#168.
Maybe somebody could start that.
When the Savior appears.
Welcome to those who have shared in his cross a crown incorruptible then will be theirs a rich compensation for suffering and loss. What is loss in this world when compared to that day? To the glory that then will from heaven be revealed. The Savior is coming. His people may say, the Lord whom we look for our Son and our shield. Let's sing the last two verses.
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh 10-4.