Address—D. Rule
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Afternoon by singing #1.
Of all the gifts thy love bestowed.
Thou giver of all good.
Not having itself a richer nose than the Redeemer's blood #1.
Hello.
Would you turn with me to John's Gospel Chapter 3?
And we'll read together verse #16.
John, Chapter 3.
And verse 16.
For God.
So loved the world.
That he gave.
His only begotten Son. Now turn with me for.
A verse in Galatians chapter 2.
Galatians chapter 2 and Justice, the last part of verse 20.
The Son of God.
Who loved me?
And gave himself.
For me.
This afternoon we're going to consider together giving.
And receiving.
And it's often been said, many of us here have heard the statement made, that it's the motive.
That gives the value to the ACT, and so when a person does something, God not only looks at the thing which is done.
But the value of the thing which is done is.
Concern, too, with the reason for which it is done.
And it's a wonderful thing to the heart to recognize that we.
Come before God, who is a giver.
We know a God, the only true God, and He is a giver.
And.
We have in the verse that we started with the motive for the actions of God.
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God is light and God is love and every action of God.
Perfectly expresses what he is, as light and as love.
And so when God gives, he gives with purity out of a heart.
Which is himself, which is love for God so loved the world that he gave. And two, in the verse, the second verse that we read, we have that wonderful expression.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. It's the desire of my heart that your heart and mind this afternoon might be touched.
With the heart of God, and there might be that response in us to our God.
Who is a giving God?
Turn with me now to a verse in Acts chapter. I think it's 17.
Acts, Yes, Chapter 17.
Acts chapter 17 and verse 24.
God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth.
Dwelleth not in temples made with hands, neither is worshipped with men's hands. As though he needed anything.
Seeing he giveth to all life and breath.
And all things.
Perhaps this is the beginning of God and as a giver.
God is the source of all things that exist.
God is the giver, as it says here, not that he needeth anything.
You and I are what are called dependent creatures.
We cannot exist without someone else, and can I say, without God as a giver. Our whole existence is dependent upon our God in that way.
And without him, it says in Job speaks about the fact that if he were just for a moment as it were, to draw his breath or cease to concern himself with the affairs of this creation, it would immediately cease to function.
That the not only the creation of the universe, but the constant.
Maintenance of it is absolutely every moment for all time dependent upon God to sustain it. What it would would it be if God for one instant dispensed with, ceased to maintain what man calls the law of gravity? It would be immediate chaos in all of creation. And so it says here. Not that God needeth anything. He is not dependent in any way upon man.
But God himself, man, is absolutely dependent upon God to give. And here it says he giveth life and breath and all things. And so God has brought into existence every one of us that's in this room this afternoon. God is responsible for you.
As bringing you into existence without God, there would be no buddy, there would be no thing. And not only that, but God is the one who is sustaining the life, the breath that you and I have this afternoon. And so you're very continuing existence as a living creature on this earth is because you have a giving God.
Who is presently this afternoon maintaining your existence as a creature on earth who giveth us life and breath and all things.
There are many things which are essential to your life and God continuously looks after those things that you may have them.
We need food to eat, we need sunlight, we need shelter, and so on. And God continuously looks after the affairs of this creation to maintain it, to see that it exists, and to provide these things to you and for you.
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There's a question of receiving, isn't there? And perhaps we'll look at that more later, but I just want to pause at this moment and.
And say it's well for us as a creature to be thankful for all things.
It is well for us. Why is God displeased when a man just sits down at the dinner table and eats?
Because He gives not thanks to God, He does not return thanks to the giver. And it is as important, It's important not to forget it, not to treat it lightly either, but to recognize that which comes from God and to respond to Him and to receive that which He gives, not to take it for granted.
Not to be indifferent to it or careless as it were, but it is important for you and I this afternoon to be those who are creatures who respond with thankfulness to our giving God.
And also to recognize that he gives with love.
He doesn't give indifferently, but the circumstances of your life and mine are given to us by a God who perfectly understands us.
And who loves us, and who has the power and the authority to manage?
The affairs that concern our lives, that is the circumstances of them.
Now let's turn over.
To John 3 again.
And reread the 16th verse.
For God so loved the world.
That he gave.
His only begotten Son.
We value something.
Many times according to what it costs the giver to give it to us.
Consider the greatness of this gift.
The gift that as God has given to you and to me.
For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
The other day I was at my oldest daughters and she's expecting a child.
And she had a number of gifts to open.
And some of the gifts were small, some of them were large.
Some of them.
Or quite expensive, Some not so expensive.
And as I watched her open the various things.
There was one gift in particular. I don't know about others there, how they looked at them or measured them in any particular way. But for me, there was one particular gift that I particularly appreciated, Can I say and value. I wasn't the recipient of it, but because it was given to someone I love, I could value it in that way.
It was a sweater and a little bonnet and a pair of booties.
And it was, I guess, crocheted. I don't know too much about those things, but.
I valued it because I could imagine the effort that was put forth.
By the Giver.
The many, many, many hours of personal labor that had to go into that handmade gift.
By a widow.
Who has a lot of arthritis?
And so it touched my heart because of thinking of what went into it on the part of the giver.
And I would desire that your heart and mind would be touched this afternoon to think.
Of what it cost God.
To be the giver.
Of his own son.
Think of the second verse that we read, the Son of God who loved me.
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And gave himself.
For me.
You know, it's one thing to give time, it's one thing to give talent.
Something to give money.
The greatest giver as the Lord Jesus and his disciples watched.
Different people. Putting into the treasury of the temple was a very poor woman.
Who had two mites and she gave them both.
And it was out of the food, I take it that would have normally been on her table. And the Lord Jesus told the disciples that that was the greatest of the gifts that were being given that day.
Because of the cost to the giver, others gave of their excess, their abundance, says she gave of her need, and it was the greatest of the gifts.
Consider the Lord Jesus.
And his love for you.
His love for me, What did he give?
He gave himself.
He gave himself.
No greater.
Thought could ever be given.
But that this blessed person.
As a man.
Gave himself.
In love.
For you.
The Son of God who loved me.
And gave himself for me.
We sang in the hymn that began the prayer meeting the thought of it.
Was the cords of love.
That the heart of God draws around us.
And draws us along.
In grace and in truth.
And so your heart and mind in the measure in which they are touched.
By the love of God and the love of the Lord Jesus.
The measure in which those cords of love wind around us in grace and in truth.
Is that which controls and sustains the lives that we live, our everyday practical lives.
And so here we find, for God so loved the world that he gave.
His only begotten Son.
Why? Because he loves us.
And it's the greatest of all gifts, the gift of His Son for us to give him to meet our need. But God is a great giver, and he doesn't stop there. He's given us many other things, and I'd like to look at a few of them. Turn with me to Romans chapter 6.
I.
Romans, chapter 6.
And verse 23.
The wages of sin is death.
But the gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This verse talks about wages and about gifts.
Notice there's quite a difference. A wage is something you earn.
You deserve it because you've earned it. And so when you labor for something and you're say employer or someone else gives you because you have labored in some way according to some agreement and they give you something, it's not a gift. It is something you've earned. It's something you have a right to. It's something that you should receive from them. In contrast to that, a gift is something that is given to you without.
Merit, It's not something you have earned by something you have done, but rather the emphasis is not so much on yourself as having earned it, but it's rather an expression of someone else's heart or favor toward you. And so the emphasis is more on the giver and what they have given. So here we find both in this verse, the wages of sin is death.
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And everyone of us in the room this afternoon is very well aware of that.
That you and I do earn something. We earn the right more than the right, but we earn death by sin, and we have done so. We have forfeited the right to life because of our sins, because of our acts of disobedience against God.
But in contrast to our wages, here in this verse we find the giving heart of God.
The gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
God loved us and he gave his Son for us, and through Jesus Christ our Lord, we have this gift here, the gift of God, eternal life.
It's hard to measure. It can't be measured the value of that gift.
Now I was thinking back of gifts that I have received through my life.
And quite a few of the givers of some of the gifts that stick out in my mind.
Are gone from this life. They have died.
And as I look at some of those gifts that touched me in one way or another, some of them were not very valuable in terms of dollars and cents.
Many of them are gone. They're just memories.
And in fact, every material thing, and those are mostly the things that we think of first when we think of gifts, but every visible material thing that we could set our eye upon and that we could give.
Spoke about the gifts that were given to my daughter that I watched her open in the course of time. Absolutely every single one of them.
Will be gone without exception. Not one of those gifts.
As a gift itself is going to endure.
They have a temporary value.
In themselves and their utilitarian value, and they will be used, I trust, and then that time will pass and they will not. They'll be gone. But in contrast to that, God is a giver, gives things to us.
That are ours forever.
That are ours forever. We have been given a natural life. We read about that in the beginning.
And that natural life that we've been given is ours.
To use for God.
For a definite.
God knows exact period of time and because of sin it has already been forfeited and we're going to give it up if the Lord Jesus.
Doesn't come first. We will pass through death.
It's not our hope or expectation, but I'm Speaking of the course of life.
And yet there are things that God gives to us.
There are gifts that God gives to us that will endure.
Forever.
And will never be given up. They'll never be lost.
And this is one of them. The gift of God is eternal life.
Through Jesus Christ our Lord. What is it? Eternal life?
It is that life.
That is the life of the family of God, a life and nature.
That gives us the capacity to know our God in a way that we never had known him before.
To have an eternal relationship, a fellowship together.
With our God.
In joy and peace and love.
And righteousness and holiness, and it will be enjoyed together without hindrance.
For eternity this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. And so I now have, and you now have as a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ, and I speak to you as a believer.
You have.
A life that enjoys the same things.
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Let the heart of God enjoys you have a life. If you have trusted in the Lord Jesus and receive this gift, you have a life that enjoys the same things that the Lord Jesus enjoys.
You can have common fellowship together now.
And forever. It's the gift of God through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Now turn with me over to John's Gospel to notice another gift.
John's Gospel.
Well, I'm going to hold that for a moment. I want to look at another place. First turn with me to second Timothy.
Second Timothy, chapter 3.
Second Timothy chapter 3 and verse 15 it says that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures which are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
All Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness.
That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
The book you have on your lap or in your hand.
Is a gift from God.
As it says here, all scripture is given by inspiration of God.
I'm amazed when I go into a bookstore. We have some very large ones in the area where I live.
And the shelves upon shelves upon shelves of books. I suppose that.
In a typical work day.
There are more words put in print than anybody in this room probably could read in a lifetime.
This world is full.
Incredibly full every day, with more words on paper or on the computer or wherever they're produced.
Just an incredible amount of information available today and being produced every day.
And I suppose if someone could collect it all up, today's newspapers, the books that come off the press.
The words that are given on television or radio or whatever throughout the world in one day, you could spend the rest of your lifetime and you never get through all of them.
Assuming you could even read them in the languages in which they are produced.
But you have in your hand one book.
That God has given to you.
To absolutely govern.
Direct.
For every single circumstance that you're ever going to face in life to give you adequate direction.
To know the mind of God concerning that circumstance, I'm not putting aside.
That there isn't valuable things that are written as to medicine and all the conveniences of life and so on. But I'm saying that God has put in your hand the perfect guide and the only guide.
That you can count on with absolute assurance. There are lots of books up there.
And many of you know I have something to do with the selling of those books. But other than this book, which is held in your hand, there's not a single book up there that you don't have to measure against what's said here.
This is absolutely the only.
Reliable.
Book. It's the gift of God. It is the provision of God.
For your life.
And sad it is.
If you don't avail yourself of it.
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If you don't make use of it.
If you don't live your life in it as it were every day. If you don't go to it for what it is.
You're not receiving the gift.
With the value that God places upon it for the benefit of your life.
Now turn over to John's Gospel.
Chapter 14.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
And verse 16.
I will pray the Father and he will give you another comforter.
That He may abide with you forever, even the spirit of truth.
Whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him, but ye know him with you.
And shall be in you.
This is another gift of God for you and for me. This afternoon, in a little way, as it were, we're opening up. We all, I trust noem, But let's say we're opening afresh, perhaps to our hearts.
Some of the gifts that God has given to us, and here's a wonderful one.
The Father, he shall give you another.
Comforter the Holy Spirit.
You have life from God if you believe in the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
And that life gives you the desire to please God.
Do you have in your hands a book?
Which perfectly expresses the mind of God for you.
In all things that pertain to life and godliness. And so you have in your hand a perfect guide to life.
You need someone other thing. You need life. You need the guide.
You also need power.
The capacity to do.
And here we have the Spirit of God.
That will work in your soul.
As a divine person dwelling within you.
To direct your heart and your life according to the will of God, and we'll speak to you as well to your conscience.
When you're being disobedient.
When we obey, the Spirit of God delights to bring the wonders of Christ to our souls and our hearts.
And draw out our affections to himself when we are disobedient.
The Spirit of God may take peace.
In the soul from us.
And leave us with that feelings of conscience that would occupy us with that which we are doing which is not of God.
And so the Spirit of God is a perfect provision for the needs of everyone of us as we go through this life.
Here it's given as a gift of God. In the next chapter it's Speaking of is spoken of as the Lord Jesus himself being the giver and we have the Spirit of God to perfectly manage.
And direct the affairs of our lives.
You know, I sometimes think about that word decision, and we very often speak about the needs to make decisions in life. I've got a big decision facing me and I'm going to have to decide this and I'm going to have to decide that. And so we often speak about decisions in life.
We would be better off.
If we looked at these matters.
As situations in which we need to know the direction of the decision maker, our God.
We don't really have, in the true sense of the word like people speak of it, at least, these kinds of decisions to make. What we need is to know the will of God that we might be able to do it. And God has made absolute and perfect provision that we might know His will. It speaks here as the Spirit of truth, and it tells us elsewhere that the Spirit of God.
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Works in US.
And if our hearts and our consciences are right before God, that Spirit of God is going to confirm to our souls that which is of God, and the Spirit of God is going to withhold that confirmation when something is not of God. We're going to sit down shortly to a reading meeting and different ones are going to speak, we trust as the oracles of God that is giving a word from God himself through our Lord Jesus Christ for us.
How are we to receive it?
We have within us the Spirit of God that is going to confirm to the soul that which is of Himself.
If we are walking in communion and the flesh is not opposing.
And there is going to be that if it is not of himself that the Spirit of God would not give confirmation to, and we would be able to detect that as it said, let the prophet speak two or three and let the rest judge and says, how do you know you're saved? I have the word of God for it. But I also say to you that the Spirit of God gives confirmation to the soul that we are the children of God.
And so we know by a testimony that doesn't depend on outside things, but it says the Spirit witnesses to our Spirit that we are the children of God. And so the gifts of God are perfect and complete.
And wonderful.
I'd like to turn over now to the 17th chapter.
MMM.
Of John.
And.
We'll read verse 24, John chapter 17 and verse 24. It says Father, this is the Lord Jesus speaking.
To the Father.
Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am.
These words touch my heart and as I reread this chapter before this meeting.
I didn't, at least if I had forgotten it, if I knew it, but seven times over it says that.
Those whom thou hast given me.
Seven times in this chapter.
The Lord Jesus refers to those that were given to him.
You know if a person values a gift.
They're likely to speak about it.
They're likely to say to someone else, oh, I want you to see what was given to me.
You ever see a mother or a father with a newborn child who treats it as a gift from God?
You think they want someone else to enjoy it, that gift that has been given to them? Yes they do.
And they're quite pleased to have the privilege to show you that which is.
They have received from God.
For children, our heritage of the Lord.
Here the Lord Jesus has received a gift from God.
And he values it.
It takes delight in it.
He appreciates it, and here 7 times over in this one short prayer, he mentions it to the Giver, those whom thou hast given me.
Who's that?
Who is he referring to?
You and me.
So I touched the heart. I hope it does.
To think.
That you are a gift.
That God the Father has given.
To the Lord Jesus Christ the Son.
You are a gift.
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That the Lord Jesus.
Values.
Above all things.
You are precious.
In his sight.
Perhaps there's someone here this afternoon who has some doubts about whether you're.
Going to stay saved whether you're eternally saved or not.
Think about it.
You are a gift.
Of God the Father to the Son. You are a gift that seven times over he refers to.
With a thankful, appreciative spirit.
Is he going to let you go?
Is he going to say, well I don't want that gift anymore?
I think I'll put it aside.
And see if I can't find a better one.
No.
The gift of love.
That the Father has given.
To the sun.
Connection With that, I'd like to look at a verse in Ephesians chapter one that was read in the prayer meeting.
Ephesians, chapter one.
And verse 22.
Ephesians one and 22 And he hath put all things under his feet, and gave him.
To be the head.
Over all things to the Church, which is his body, the fullness of him that felleth All in all.
You are given as a gift of the Father to the Son.
And you are, as part of that gift, one member.
In the hole, as it were. If I could speak it this way. The whole gift.
The body of Christ.
And.
God has not only through the Spirit.
Has in view a body, a bride for his son.
But he has made provision.
In giving such a body that it have a head, even Christ, and he's the giver of it.
And so we have collectively, not individually, much of what we've had to say so far has been.
To the individual.
But we collectively.
Are part of the gift of the Father.
To the son to be his bride.
And he has given him the bridegroom to be head.
Over all things to the body which has been given to him.
And so we are going to enjoy with.
According to the will of God for the next couple of days being together.
In the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ and He.
In our midst is going to direct.
The affairs of these meetings.
And we are expected, each one by the Spirit, to follow that direction and to submit to it.
Not having our own way, our own agenda, our own message.
Receiving from our head that which he alone.
Can fully understand and see is necessary for our pleasant good and our present benefit. And so he hath made him.
To be had over all things to the body which is His church.
And we have the privilege.
As members of that body.
Of receiving from himself, according to his direction, that which he purposes to give for our good and our present benefit.
Now turn over with me to.
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Verse in Second Timothy.
It's not the place.
It says He hath made given us all things to be received with Thanksgiving.
It's either in first or second Timothy.
First Timothy. Thank you, First Timothy, Chapter 4.
And verse 4.
For every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused if it be received.
With Thanksgiving.
We spoke a little bit about, I want to speak a little bit about receiving because it's important when gifts are given the manner in which they are received.
Have you ever seen a little child sometimes who has gotten some gifts on a birthday?
And.
When child's real small sometime and can I say hasn't yet been trained and sometimes you see human nature in a more unvarnished form. You see what adults may cover up being a little older and some different ways, but a little child sometimes gets a gift and looks at it. Yuck.
There's a rejection of the gift really, because it doesn't please them.
It doesn't really satisfy what it is that at that moment that little child wants.
And so God looks at us and expects a certain kind of reception.
To gifts that are given by himself and by others too.
And so here it says in verse four of chapter 4, For every creature of God is good and nothing to be refused if it be received with Thanksgiving. This has to do with food in this particular case, but the principle is there that it is to be received with Thanksgiving. Now most of us most of the time appreciate food and find it easy to say thank you very much when a good meal is prepared.
For.
Us, I heard, and perhaps it's worth recounting it again, but in the family of brother Jay Ruskin Gill, one time his children sat down to dinner with him and one of the children saw the food that was prepared on the table and commented, and I forget which food it was. I'll say, just for illustration's sake, there was some asparagus there, and the child did not want the asparagus, didn't look forward to having it.
And so Brother Gill, when he prayed, prayed something like this. Lord, we're thankful.
At least most of us for the food that's here. And I don't remember his children's name, but he in this instance named one of his children, he said. But Joseph.
Isn't thankful for the asparagus, but the rest of us are.
And we thank thee for it.
Now, I don't know what went on outwardly after that, but I suspect the children were a little slower to express displeasure over the food that had been provided.
And so here it speaks about being thankful. But I want to present to you what to me is a very challenging verse in Ephesians in this regard.
In Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5.
And verse 20.
I'm going to read it Mr. Darby's translation. Giving thanks at all times.
For all things.
To him who is God and the Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Is that challenge your soul? Challenge is mine.
Giving thanks at all times for all things. God is one of the few that can speak in universal ways and use that word all.
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I suppose if the verse had read giving thanks most of the time for most things.
We could give easy ascent without a question to this verse, but it is unqualified, isn't it?
It doesn't say all things most of the time.
Or when part of the time but it says giving thanks.
At all times, for all things, God orders the circumstances of the lives of every one of us in this room.
And in ordering those circumstances of our lives, we have here a challenge to our souls that we are to give thanks at all times.
For all things it is true that we may in disobedience bring upon ourselves consequences in our lives in the government of God.
And our own foolishness of reaping what we sow.
But here, when it speaks of the way that God orders things in life, we are taught to give thanks at all times.
For all things.
Not simply to accept.
God's ordering of gifts according to what's fun.
What's neat, what seems to produce happiness, and so on in our lives.
Just like to in this connection for example, turn over to Galatians chapter 6.
For one of the things of life.
For which we are to give thanks.
I.
Galatians chapter 6 and verse four it says let every man prove his own work.
And then shall he have rejoicing in himself alone, and not in another. Galatians 65.
For every man shall bear his own burden.
You know, in the children of Israel when they started across that desert from Egypt to go to Canaan.
The Levites were given and assigned the work of carrying the articles of the Tabernacle.
When they journeyed from 1 camp to the next and it was called a burden I suppose in that hot sun.
They might have easily thought, you know, we could do a better job if we would get some ox carts and use the oxen and put these articles on it and so on, and carry it in that way. It would be a lot easier for us and so on.
It wasn't to be.
And in part of giving thanks at all times for all things is that everyone of us is given, and they all perfect wisdom of God, things that might seem to us to be a burden to bear.
In the path of life.
But we need to accept them, to recognize them, and to give thanks for them. Earlier in this chapter. It speaks of bearing one another's burdens, and there are things that.
Can be shared and should be shared one with another when one is bearing a heavy burden, but there are also things in life that have come from the hand of God for us.
To pass through life.
And I want to say we live in a day of grace and we don't have time to go into this, but I would say one of the things that is brought out over and over and over again from our giving God.
Is.
That we live in a day of grace.
We live in a time in which God is displaying his unmerited favor toward mankind, toward us. And over and over we see that he gives grace. Does he give a burden? He gives the grace to Barrett. Is there a need? He says, come to the throne of grace and I'll dispense mercy and I'll give you grace in that time of need. And so no matter what God may.
Can I say see the be the path of our lives and everyone of us is going to have it.
Not just the gifts that we think of all every day is going to be gift opening day is that we're but I will say every day our giving God gives what's needed for that day that we might walk pleasing in his sight and for himself.
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Our time is almost up, but I just want to refer to how we receive as well.
Perhaps a word to young people, particularly in this, but to all of us.
In Luke 15, you're familiar with the story. There is the young man and he goes to his father and he says, father, give me.
Give me that is the spirit of the day in which we live.
Give me and give me now.
And don't bother me with payment at the present time. I want my fun and I want it now. I want my freedom. I want my car. I want this, I want that, I want the other. And we're like that not only with sometimes parents, but with God. We say, you said you're going to give me things for life. I want my health. I want my wisdom or my intelligence.
I want my looks, my beauty, whatever it may be. I want you to give it to me now.
So that what I can leave your presence and go out and enjoy it. And that's what the young man did. He said father give me and his father gave him and he went away. He did not want to enjoy it in the fellowship of the father. So he leaves the father's presence. He goes into a far country and he wastes his life really until he had spent everything and then his friends and what our friends of that variety.
But those are willing to enjoy what you have to give until you don't have it anymore. And then?
Sorry, find someone else.
A word of warning.
Don't take what God gives except to enjoy it and use it in fellowship with God.
Any other way of taking what God is giving to you?
Will only bring sorrow.
The only path through life that brings peace.
And many occasions of joy, and others of sorrow as well, but the only path of peace through this world.
Is a path in which you accept the gifts of God.
And enjoy them in fellowship with him.
And any other way is ultimately going to bring you to the same point of sorrow as the young man in Luke 15.
God doesn't change if you're already there.
He's looking for you. He wants your return.
And his arms are outstretched, and he has more things to give.
But remember.
Now thy Creator, in the days of thy youth, let's pray.