Hamer Bay Conference: 2017
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Ephesians 4:1-7
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Ephesians chapter 4, verse one.
I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
Willingness and meekness with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as your called in one hope of your calling. 1 Lord.
One faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in you all.
But unto everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might feel all things.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine.
By the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head. Even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make it increase of the body onto the edifying of itself in love.
To say that my part of my exercise is taking up this portion is that there seems to be a generation coming up that doesn't understand why we're different than other groups.
We're all in the body of Christ together. There are dear believers here and there and scattered throughout Christendom.
But God has in His sovereignty chosen that in almost 200 years ago now, there was a new understanding given. Not a new understanding, but the truth was recovered, as we have perhaps often heard.
And I think it would be helpful for the young and for all of us to go over these things again to remind ourselves of why we're even here this weekend. Why is it that we're not in the Baptist Church down the road or going somewhere else? There's a reason.
Why that is so a couple of years ago we were in Saint Louis at the conference and, uh, Doug Buchanan had an address and he spoke at the beginning of, uh, coming to a little town in Missouri called Fenton. And he said, you know, I looked in the Atlas and there were maybe 1400 little towns in Missouri. He said, why would I come to Fenton?
And then he proceeded to tell us why. It was because his brethren were there gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus, and they invited him to a conference.
And so he would come there, because there were his dear brethren that valued these truths that God graciously recovered in 1827.
So just to have that as a little bit of a backdrop, it's been a concern to me. We've we've traveled a fair amount among the Saints and.
And there seem to be a lot that are, uh, no longer with us. And there have been many that have said that we don't hear these things as much as we used to.
Those of us that are a little older remember in conferences when we would have Albert Hayhoe and Gordon Hayhoe and CD Anderson and Chapter Brown and brother Lundeen.
And if you went to a conference, you could almost always count on something being brought up about the ground of gathering and why we are where we are. Because it wasn't the intent of the early brethren to set up another church that had a little more truth. That's not why the gathered Saints are here. It's because we feel that we see from the pages of Scripture that there is one body and there everyone should be gathered on that ground.
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And they couldn't find any place where that was in existence. So they felt it of the Lord to start breaking bread. And that was the beginning. And there are many here that can help us with all these thoughts, but I just wanted to explain sort of what my exercise was in suggesting this portion because I think it's very important.
Call He gives the doctrine first. And so this epistle is divided into two parts. You have the 1St 3 chapters that give us the Christian doctrine of the Christian teaching doctrine is really an old English word. It means teaching. And so he gives us the teaching that the church and those that are members of the church and members of the body of Christ are heavenly in character. And so remember the Lord Jesus introduced his disciples to the large.
Upper room. Why was it an upper room? It was separated from this world and it was not a part of the world system. It was entirely distinct from Judaism. And so Paul brings out the practical application of the truth that he is given to the Saints in the first three chapters. He gives the practical results of that teaching in the next 3 chapters. And so that's why the first verse says I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.
Beseech you that you walk worthy of the vocation of the calling wherewith ye are called. And so there's the truth of God in connection with the heavenly character and the heavenly calling of the church is not a theoretical thing. It's actual. You and I are heavenly in character. We're heavenly citizens. We don't belong to this world at all. And so as a result, then he gives this teaching from chapter 4 down to chapter 6 might just, uh.
Uh, show that, uh, in Acts chapter one, just to corroborate what you were saying, brother.
Well, in connection with the upper room, we'll just read a couple of verses in connection with the upper room in Acts chapter one it says in verse 13, and this was before the church was formed when they were come in they went up into it should say the upper room were abode both Peter and James and so on gives the number of them as about 120. And then in chapter two of the book of the Acts.
When the day of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues, like as a fire, and it sat upon each of them, and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost. And so the Church was formed on that day, the day of Pentecost, 50 days after the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
40 days after his death and resurrection, he ascended into heaven. 10 days later they were, I believe, in the same upper room and the church was formed and it was, as I say, a heavenly Organism. It's a living Organism and it's where members of the body of Christ and we don't belong to this world. And so that's partly why he brings this in as we're meet in a large upper room.
And it was in Luke chapter 22, it was furnished with everything that the Spirit of God would desire to give us. It was furnished. And so the Lord Jesus, when he arose on high, he sent the Spirit and so were indwelled with the Spirit of God. And it's the Spirit of God that has the liberty and the right to direct the ministry among his people and to direct according to the order of things among the people of God. So what we have is those that are Christians gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus.
By the Spirit of God is normal Christianity at the beginning of the church period. Our brethren in the old times met just like we're meeting today and they their meetings were led by the Spirit of God and so we can read we could read in the book of the Acts in several occasions when that took place, but this is a little bit of a backdrop. What we're going to read what we have read here in Ephesians now is the practical teaching since we are.
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Heavenly citizens, since we are members of the body of Christ, this is how we should conduct ourselves.
Picture form can be seen in the book of Joshua.
If you turn, just for a minute, to the first chapter of Joshua.
And, uh, just read one book.
And God is good luck.
I've passed through the hall and command, the people say.
Perubictual.
Or within three days ye shall Passover this Jordan to possess the land with the Lord. Your God giveth you to possess it.
There's two different things that are brought before us in this verse.
God gives the land and.
And the responsibility of the children of Israel to possess it.
If somebody gave you 100 acres of land.
Beautiful.
Fair distance from where you live.
And was given to you in title of it was given to you.
Wouldn't you want to go and to see what it was like?
Wouldn't you want to walk and suppose it was the best property around?
Wouldn't you want to?
Well, God gave the land of Canaan land flowing with milk and honey to the children of Israel.
And he said I don't only want to give it to you.
But I want you to enjoy it.
So in the book of Ephesians.
When we open the book, what do we find?
Tells us about Paul, the prisoner of the Lord. Beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called.
What does he mean by that verse? Call this year walk worthy of the vocation.
I'll tell you a little story.
They're trying to go too far straight here in connection with this verse. In the 1960s, I was in the House of Mr. and Mrs. Finlayder and, uh, in, uh, London ON.
And we were talking about this verse and I said, I don't know how I'm supposed to walk worthy of being a a businessman, being a plumber, being a Carpenter, that sort of thing.
Missus Finn later of the very gracious Lady.
Said Well, David, it's not really the, uh, the thought of walking, being a Carpenter.
It's walking worthy of the calling that God has called us to, that we no longer belong to this world.
And we belong to an ascended Christ.
We are a heavenly people walking on the earth.
And so this first verse, Paul in the first three chapters is bringing before us of how we've been taken and we have made heavenly citizens. We're living on the earth.
But were made heavenly city citizens.
And knowing that truth, I am to walk in the goodness of it.
I don't know how you find things yourself, but.
Sometimes after meeting on Sunday morning, we go out to the Swiss chalet to have lunch together.
And, uh, might have quite a few come for lunch together.
Do you know the biggest change I noticed from walking out of meeting and going to have dinner to the Swiss chalet for lunch?
Its deep atmosphere.
It's the atmosphere. I've just been in the presence of the Lord to thank him for dying for me to see.
Sit at the table there and I go, and there's all these worldly people that are around and try to conduct myself to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith I'm called. It's a wonderful thing to be able to go to break bread in fellowship with our brethren at the Lord's table. And now my conduct is brought before me that I should, should walk worthy of the position that I've been brought into.
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And that's, uh, that's 24/7.
24 hours a day, seven days a week.
So Paul here in the opening here, where is he? He's in prison. Why is he there?
Because the world doesn't want the truth.
And they shut him up. The devil shut him up and put him in prison and.
So from the voice of the prison, we have this ministry to us today.
After three.
Verse two to the end of the parentheses, Chapter 3.
Oh has been taken out in chapter 2 That.
In the death of the Lord he had broken down the middle wall that separated you and Gentile. Now of both he had formed one new entity, the Church of God, formed of Jew and Gentiles. A new man, a new thing, and.
That, uh, we are part of that and we're the habitation of, uh, God by the Spirit. And as a brother Dave brought out, it was really for the truth that Paul brought out in chapter 2, that he was a prisoner. And just to show that, let's look at Acts and, uh, chapter 22.
Where Paul is speaking, uh, in Jerusalem to the Jews, and he recounts.
To them the grace of God and uh.
The, uh, his conversion.
And, uh, the Lord Jesus, uh.
Being in glory as the one who had saved his soul, and now had given him a Commission in verse 21 Says in he that is the Lord Jesus Christ. And glory said unto me, all depart, for I will send thee far hands unto the Gentiles. And they gave him audience unto this word, and then lifted up their voices, and said away with such a fellow from the earth, where it is not fit to eat, should live.
And he was taken prisoner from that point on.
And so he really was a prisoner for the truth that.
Not just that the Lord Jesus was Savior of sinners.
But that he had broken down that middle wall of partition. The Jews couldn't bear to hear that.
And, uh, it affected their pride because they saw themselves as a separated, distinct people from all the nations and the earth was special privileges. And it really, uh, destroyed that they had a fleshly pride in those things and they couldn't bear that truth. But there's something more behind it. That was Satan because, you know, the Son of God, the perfect revelation of grace and truth, God manifests in flesh, came into this world.
And took manhood into union with himself, walked here as a perfect, spotless man, and he bound the strongman Satan. He spoiled his goods. He was delivering his prisoners. And you know Satan as he would have looked at it, at his triumph. And he got rid of the Lord Jesus Christ. He got man to put him on a cross. And there he bowed his head and dismissed his spirit. All good riddance.
All. But then he rose again.
Huh. I was. Satan's defeat wasn't in that way, but he was still opposed. He's opposed to the end. There's nothing that will ever convert him.
And when the Lord Jesus went back to heaven, well, you might be raised from the dead, but at least he'd back up in heaven and not down here in the earth. And Satan became the God and Prince of this world.
But when the day of Pentecost came and the Spirit of God joined Jew and Gentile into one new man.
There was Christ again on this earth.
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And the members of his body united to Him in heaven, acting under his direction. And what was the display? The display on this earth was Christ. Satan hates that. And so behind the Jews enmity was more than just their pride. It was Satan's opposition against the display of Christ and the members of His body.
In unity here in this world, he hates that he's opposed to it. And for that cause, for the preaching of that truth, Paul was prisoner, and he now exhorts us as the prisoner because he knew it was of the Lord of Jesus Christ.
He exhorts us as the Lord's prisoner to walk worthy if he could change the word vocation to calling. We've been called, Scripture says in one body.
This is Our Calling. We are part of that one new entity, that one new man, and there is a walk that is worthy of it, that will display Christ in this world.
That's so important to the Lord that He would be displayed in this world in His body.
But Satan set to work to attack that. He did not want that display. And how could he spoil it? Well, he could bring in disunity. He could divide that testimony. He could break it up. And he set to work. And there's enough flesh in any one of us to spoil anything that God's doing in this world, and he's set to work on that.
And I'm sad to say he's been fairly successful, but that doesn't take away the truth of God that there is a path and a calling for us to walk in that is in keeping with what God has wrought in that, uh, one Newman in the body of Christ here in this earth. And that though it be in feebleness and then just a remnant character.
Nonetheless, there is a path still for us to walk in that is honoring to him that is in keeping with what he intends.
And purpose to display in this world. Will he be, uh, oiled in his purpose? No Go to Revelation. You see that wonderful church descending from heaven? She's the light of the whole earth. No, he's not going to be foiled in that display. It's going to come. But here now, Satan has been largely successful. And, uh, how much more precious it is to them, to him then.
To find any of the Saints that want to walk in a way that's worthy of that truth and not to say, well it's no use now, might as well give up everything spoiled Satan had his way.
It's precious to him to look down and see any who would want to walk.
Worthy.
Of this calling that has been laid out in the book of Ephesians.
In connection with the Jew, the Gentile and the Church of God is worth looking at in First Corinthians chapter 10 and verse 32. It's umm a verse that is critical to us understanding what God sees in the world at the present time.
Give none offense. 1St Corinthians 10, verse 32 Give none offense neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God.
And so God sees those 3 entities in this world. Now he sees the Jews. There's many of them in the land of Israel. There's many of them in New York City. But he sees them as a distinct people. They're his earthly people. And we know that there's 12 tribes. So the Jews really represent the one tribe, or perhaps the two tribes Jewish, the Jews and the Benjamites are perhaps the most prominent in the land of Israel today.
But then he sees the Gentiles, the nations. God never made any promise to the nations.
To the Gentiles. And so he takes that up and Ephesians chapter 2, that we were strangers in chapter 2, verse 12, strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world, God never made a promise to the Gentiles. Never. And so we were outside of Israel and the Gentiles are still outside of the nation of Israel, but God has formed a new entity, a living church.
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His body and so that he sees the church as well. And so when you accepted Christ as your savior, in fact, you became a part of the Church of God. That's when you became a part of the Church of God. You didn't become a part of the Church of God when you signed a card for a, a church membership or anything like that. That's not when we get to be a part of the church. It's God that adds us to the church. And we have that truth in Ephesians and uh, Acts chapter 2.
And or even in chapter one. Let's look at it just to make that point clear.
Chapter one or chapter 2, I guess we could look at uh, verse uh, 41. Then they that gladly received you could leave that word off. Then they that received his word were baptized and the same day were added.
And you notice the next two verses are in italics, so you could say the next. The same day they were added about 3000 souls. And they continued steadfastly in apostles, doctrine and fellowship and breaking of bread and in prayers. So who added them to the church?
It was Christ himself and they were indwelled with the Spirit of God. And so they took the ordinance of baptism and they didn't add them to the church. But they were disassociated from Judaism and now they were associated because of baptism. They were now associated with Christ. They were associated with the man who was rejected. They were no longer seen as Jews.
And the Jew knows when a man is saved, the Jew is saved and he's baptized. The Jews know he's no longer a Jew.
And so when the bat, uh, when the Gentiles got saved, the Philippian jailer, he got saved and he got baptized. He's no longer a Gentile. Well, what is he? He's a member of the body of Christ. He's a part of the Church of God. And so God sees you this, uh, this morning and he sees you as a member of the body of Christ and he sees you as a, one of those members that he loved and gave himself for. And he's doing the work. And in Ephesians chapter five, he tells us what he's doing presently with each one of us.
In chapter 5 and verse, let's read verse 25. Umm, just the end of it. Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word. That's what He's doing right now.
That he might present it to himself, a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but it, that it should be holding without blemish. That's what he's going to do in the future. He's going to present it to himself, not one spot. And so we're part of that church. When he sees you and I in heaven, he's going to look at you. He's not going to see a blemish. He's not going to see a spot, not a stain of sin. And he shall see of the fruit of the travail of his soul. He shall be satisfied.
He's going to see you. He's going to be perfectly satisfied. He says, I have everything I needed, everything I want, my heart's desire is fulfilled. I have my church, I have those members of my body there in heaven. And so he brings out the the truth of lordship in chapter 4, verse one of our chapter. How is it that we're going to enjoy the privileges of what it is to have been called out of this world?
Is to acknowledge his Lordship and to acknowledge that there's a new authority in our lives.
He has bought us for himself.
We have a little picture of purchase and redemption in connection with Ruth the Moabitess in the little book of Ruth. And so he's bought us for himself.
But there's that aspect of lordship. This little epistle is very orderly, as in all of God's word is written very orderly. And so in chapter four, He brings in lordship, his lordship, authority in your life and mine first, that there might be a recognition of His rights. And if we recognize His rights to choose for us and to direct us, everything else will be right.
Actually what the church is.
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When you think of the church.
When it is talked about in this world.
What is the Church?
Now God has put it in His Word, man has.
Changed it all around.
Turn again please, back to Acts chapter one.
And this is the first day of the church.
Church didn't exist.
As an entity when the Lord was here.
It was after he ascended on high.
What happened? What formed the church?
Look at the 1St chapter of Acts and Verse.
14.
These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren. And in those days Peter stood up.
In the midst of the disciples, and said, Now this little clause is here. The number of names together were about 120.
Our brother Gordon Hajo gave this uh, example in connection as to what the church is.
He said if you have a a bowl and you have 120 beads.
They're all individual.
Now you take.
A string and you put through every one of those beads.
You join it together.
What is happening?
It created something that is brand new, that is a necklace.
Now, on the day of Pentecost, there were 120 in the room.
The Spirit of God descended from heaven.
And he indwelt every one of those 120.
What happened?
The church was formed.
And the verse that Robert read, it says the Lord added to the church.
There was 120 and then 3000 and then we read it more and have more and every person that is saved is brought in to be part of the church.
And that is the special truth to me, that is that Paul wants us to get a hold of in this book of Ephesians.
Might say that, Sir, yes, Sir. And I think you would agree, brother. It says about 120. So it could have been a little more. And, uh, God, why does he use that term about 120? And then in, uh, first Corinthians chapter 15, I think he says he was seen of above about 500 brethren at one time. Why does he say in, uh, uh, when connection with the, uh, little company and Ephesus, all the men were about well?
About 12.
God isn't, uh, concerned about numbers like you and I are. You and I are not, umm, responsible for results. We are responsible to be faithful to the truth that we know and to be obedient to it and to live in the good of it. I would just point out too, in the, the large upper room is, uh, prominent in the book of the acts, particularly in the beginning of it. And so.
Our brother read and we in Acts chapter one. And they, they continued there in that large upper room. And then I believe it was in the large upper room that the church was formed in chapter 2, verse one. And then we have a little more of a picture in connection with uh, the upper room in, umm, Acts chapter 20 might just read it. It says, uh, in verse seven, Acts chapter 20 and verse seven. Upon the first day of the week when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them.
Ready to depart on the Morrow and continued his speech.
Until midnight and there were many lights in the upper chamber. And then it's, uh, speaks of, uh, in the end of verse nine, that's, uh, Uticus fell down from the third loft and was taken up dead. So now we have, uh, a large upper room, but we find it's, uh, this one intro us was on the third floor on the the third loft. Why is it? Why is it a upper room?
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It's separated from this world.
How do you get into the large upper room? You climb steps. Steps of separation from this world, as it were, is figurative language. And so we need to walk in a separated way. But the third loft is a heavenly truth. Paul was caught up into the 3rd heaven and he heard things which were unutterable, and so he saw Christ in his glorified state. It was one of the qualifications of an apostle to have seen the Lord Jesus as in a resurrected state.
In a glorified state and with his glorified body, and to have been given a Commission from the Lord to go out and to do his work. And so both in connection with Paul. But the third loft Paul's doctrine, Paul's teaching has to do with the heavenly character of the church. And that's why he was imprisoned. If he had taught that Christianity was another religion, another earthly form of religion, he would not have suffered the reproach.
That he did, and Satan would not have perhaps bound him the way he did, but he thought of Christ, the heavenly man, and with a heavenly, the heavenly character of the Church, and that the Church did not belong here.
And so he was imprisoned. And so it's interesting as you see, uh, these little aspects of the upper room, and you can trace many different upper rooms in the little, in the book of the Acts and different aspects of the assembly and you'll find it's an edifying study.
Ordered his mainstream about July. We were charged with Nevermind and you'd experience that it's uh, new Robert and Amy has gone to, uh.
Yeah.
We found that and where there were secrets there and what were the secrets for?
Research the scriptures.
It was just too uh, uh.
Ignore it.
How we are gathering and this is our position too, we think it would be different places and soft fruit amongst these different people who probably working for syndrome.
The college, business and who knows what else, but they were seeking food and further, that's what we should be seeking themselves.
To keep us and to pray for those who are forming new assemblies in these countries.
It was cigarettes.
It's only 20 days, the 1St the lordship of Christ and to walk worthy of Our Calling. We recognize his lordship that you and I have no choices. It's uh, brother, uh, Norman Berry used to say when we were young men, he used to say the day that you got saved, that you took Christ as your savior, You gave up your right to choose. And wasn't it wonderful to allow the Lord to choose for you? Is there anyone else that could choose?
And that could choose better for you or I. He has every right to choose. And so his desire for us is perfect. And here in verse two, he speaks of the right, uh, spirit that we might be able to acknowledge his authority and go on together as those that are members of the body of Christ. And it's really to have a personal exercise to walk worthy and to walk in weak and meekness and in loneliness with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
And so.
Christianity is practical. Who was the most humble man that ever lived was the Lord Jesus.
He was gone. He is gone, and he came. He left heaven's glory where sin can never come, and he came into this world and took the form of a man. He took a body. He never ceased to be God. He was God, He is God, but he took a body. He humbled himself and became just like one of his creatures, you might say, but he wasn't a creature. He was a man, but he was a holy man, a new seed.
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And he walked in humility through this world.
Meekness and loneliness And so you and I, as members of the body of Christ and those that are part of the church is called out of this world, are to reflect the life and the spirit of Christ. This world is characterized by pride, but you and I are not to be characterized by pride and self exaltation. You and I are to be characterized by exalting Christ and walking in lowliness and humility.
Together to His glory.
Later on in the chapter.
Umm ministry is taken up and ministry tends to bring an individual person into promise.
And so before we get that, we get the sphere in which that ministry is exercised, and there's a character that goes along with keeping that unity. You know, in Corinth, where they had gone into a fleshly state, it was I'm a Paul, I'm a Paulus. And they were really beginning to divide up around personalities brought into prominence and circles of fellowship around those personalities. But it's not to be that way in the Church of God.
Christ is the center, and so there is a sphere in which that ministry is exercised, but it needs to have a a corresponding.
Uh, spirit that goes with it. And uh, so he speaks of, uh, the character of loneliness, meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, two dangers bribe, right? So we need the loneliness, the meekness, and then long-suffering with others. How easy in this sphere where we're also close meant to.
Aggravating each other.
You know we all still have the flesh in us, don't we?
That, uh, we need to, uh, be before the Lord to judge. And, uh, so there is a spirit that we have to really take up. It's not just a kind of a nice plaque and verse to hang on the wall. This is something to be a living reality in our lives. And uh, without that, there is not going to be the going on together in unity.
We're not going to be able to go on together. The flesh likes to be prominent. The flesh likes to be #1 and, uh, but Christ.
Uh, was his brother Ralph when that was the opposite. And so there are these characters that, uh, belong to us. And then he says, endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace.
Letter translation might be.
Seeking to diligently.
Maintain it. There's not, you know, endeavoring is like. I gave it a good try, but it didn't work.
That's not the thought, I just gave it a good try.
It's really being diligent to keep it, not just giving it a good try. And So what is the expectation? What is to be kept? The unity of the Spirit. Well, this was brought up. The Spirit of God came down and formed those individual believers into one body, united them to Christ in heaven, their head. And that unity will never be dissolved.
He is going to, and He is the power of that unity, and He will maintain it and keep it. But that unity has a practical display here on this earth, and that is what we are to diligently keep or to seek to diligently go on in accordance to the unity which the Spirit of God has formed of those many believers into one body.
Here on this earth, it can't be done without loneliness, without meekness, without long-suffering or bearing one another in love.
00:45:05
30 I know we didn't read it, but it says in verse thirty of our chapter. And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. So we learn in the scriptures as possible to grieve the Spirit, and that is if we assert ourselves, assert our rights. Did the Lord Jesus ever research his rights?
The only time, in a sense, that He descended what was spoken to Him in connection with the, uh, the rudeness of the Pharisees and Sadducees, was when they attributed His works to the devil.
And he would respond for the glory of God, that what he was doing was in the power of God and was in obedience to His Father's will. And so he brought that out. But we, we can, umm, grieve the Spirit, and so we have responsibility. This is brought out, isn't it?
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit speaks of submission to the work of the Spirit of God among us in the bond of peace or in the uniting bond of peace.
So it brings in the thought of submission.
It's the Spirit of God that has the authority and the right to lead among His people. It's the Spirit of God that umm, gathers his people. It's the Spirit of God that uh, desires to maintain a unity of the testimony to the truth that there is one body. And you and I are called to act in a responsible fashion as to the work of the Spirit of God. And He does one work.
To gather his people and to maintain peace among the Saints of God. And so we're to work according to the Spirit, to what the Spirit of God is doing.
Because we can get anxious, can't we?
Uh, these things, we can get pretty anxious, we can get pretty worked up.
And I think in anticipation of that, he says in the bond is peace.
Because we are in a time in the Church's history where things are divided.
Where the Saints have been scattered. Where there is not a display of unity.
Can I go on in a peaceful way?
Oh, I can go on in a peaceful way by being totally indifferent to it.
Doesn't phase me, I don't care about that kind of stuff. I just want to know what concerns me about my own individual pathway so I'm not bothered by the rest. I have peace about all that. Not what he's talking about. He's talking about not having an anxious spirit.
About the Saints going on in these truths that would get me overwrought about it, but seek myself to diligently keep that unity and, uh, to encourage others to, to go on in that path, but not, uh, have a breakdown about the way the Saints of God are going on in the world. They were to keep diligently keep it in the bonds.
Of peace. It's his work. It's his work to make the truth good in the hearts of the Saints of life.
It's our privilege to share it. It's our privilege to seek to communicate it. We don't need to be anxious about the things that we cannot do.
And only he can let him take care of that part of it.
And if the body of Christ that is unified by the Spirit and the unity of the body cannot be broken, it's a body, it's a crisis, the body of Christ, but it's the Spirit, the unity of the Spirit that can be broken.
I think it's Mr. Garvey in his writings points out that the the first time that that unity was broken is recorded in the Acts chapter 5. We might just turn to it just as a practical example.
You and I are called to act in such a way to maintain what? The unity of that?
The work of the spirit. And so in Acts chapter 5, a certain man named Ananias and Sapphire, his wife sold a possession and kept back part of the price, his wife also being Privy to it. We don't need to read the whole thing, but money came into UMM.
00:50:04
Interesting, isn't it? They came out of Judaism and it was, they were covetous. And, uh, when it was a question of money, the unity of spirit was broken. And then you find, uh, a similar thing in uh, chapter 6, the second time the unity of the spirit was broken. It says in those days when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Here again.
You have money involved. And there was, uh, murmuring a low grumbling and, uh, complaining because of some perceived, uh, fault among the Saints of God. And so you and I are called to work out those things in a spirit of humility. Loneliness. There's four things that are mentioned in that verse. Loneliness.
Meekness.
Long-suffering and forbearing one another in love. And so if we go on in that spirit, there's going to be the power to maintain the unity of the Spirit.
First goes nicely with the words of the Lord. He lived in past 11, uh, 28 to 29.
That's not the reason what we were talking about, not really nature of those issues around us, but I'm asking our.
Exactly the right thing if you look at the same chapter where you're reading those verses from the Chapter 11.
What do you get? You get the opposition of, uh, the Jews against the Lord in his testimony here below and.
He has to upgrade them in connection with their lack of repentance. But then he says in verse 25, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudence, and has revealed them unto babes. Even so, Father, for so it seems good, and thy sight, it was His work to make that good. He hid it from the wise and the prudent. He revealed it unto babes, and where was the Lord's rest?
Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, he says, Learn of me.
What are we to learn? Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight, and we'll find rest for our souls.
Subjection of our souls to His will is always restless.
We learn it from him. He was the perfect subject once. I think that's exactly the the uh.
Contacts of those verses in Chapter 11 and they do go well with our portion.
The only one who was ever in this world that had a right to exert himself and take a place of prominence did not in order to be an example to us who have a problem with that.
So we read, Let me just read and uh, first Peter chapter 2 and verse 21.
Or even hereunto were ye called? Because Christ also suffered for us, leaving an example, leaving us an example that ye should follow his steps. He was the one who gave us the example of being meek and lowly.
And it should be our joy to seek to follow that example.
Say, well, what exactly is loneliness? What exactly is meekness?
And the loneliness is mentioned first here, and it's really not to give us offense. To be lowly in spirit is to walk in loneliness and not have high thoughts of ourselves.
And so we walk in loneliness, but meekness is not to take offense. And so.
00:55:05
It's what ought to characterize the Saints of God, to walk in loneliness and to esteem other.
Better than themselves. Let's just look at that. I think it's in Philippians, uh.
Yeah, chapter 2, Philippians chapter 2 and uh, verse four. Look, not every man on his own things or on his own on his own qualities, but every man also on the qualities of others.
And so we have lowly thoughts of self and we recognize that, uh, there's only one person that has the authority or the right to receive glory.
And honor as Christ himself so loneliness and meekness.
Not giving offense and not taking offense.
In Philippians, was it the two sisters were not getting along together?
So it's near the end of the epistle that it says, I beseech thee, Yodish and Syndicate be of the same mind.
But before they could find, I think it's about 11 Times you have the word lying in, uh, in the book of Philippians.
And, uh, averse, frankly, that I've been, you know, in my mind recently is, uh, diverse. Just before that, uh, Robert quoted. And that's Philippians 2, verse 3.
Yet let nothing be done through strife or Vainglory, but in loneliness of mind let each esteem others better than themselves.
Good, go back again on my thoughts when I was a teenager, I remember.
Being at a young people's class, John Burke was there and he was kind of the leader of the young people and, uh.
He read this verse.
Let's read it again. The uh.
The uh, third verse let nothing be done through stripe or Vainglory, but in lowliness of mind, that each esteemed other better than themselves. And he said to this particular brother, how can you esteem that other person better than you?
And his brother, young brother, both my age. He didn't know how to answer.
And I'll tell you what John Burton said.
He said. I know my heart.
I don't know your heart.
But because I know what's in my heart a little bit.
And I don't know what's in your heart, I can sure esteem you better than me.
So when we come to points in the assembly families and there's a difficulty where we feel different about a certain matter.
Why let nothing be done through stripe or vain glory? We need to give place to the thoughts of others, and that to me is the value too of a reading me.
And we notice also in this chapter that it says God gave gifts unto men. Didn't give just one, He gave more than one.
So God has distributed and we need to value what He has given to one another that we may all learn together because no one has all the truth in themselves, but God has revealed it in His Word. And and we we try to help each other to understand and seek the mind of the Lord as we go along.
By endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in that in that spirit ourselves of being low and meek.
You agree with us either?
This too. Uh, it's been, it's been said that weakness sounds a lot like meekness.
But if I'm weak, it's because there isn't any strength.
If I'm meek, there can be strength, but it's restrained. So just in this way, in connection with holding the truth of God, if we have understood what God has written in his word, we're not weak about it, but we should be meek about it and hold it in the right framework, as you say, appreciating what others have and what they can contribute to our understanding of it. But there's a difference between weakness and meekness. And people may look at you and say, well.
01:00:17
He's just real weak. He doesn't have any spine or something. But may the Lord give us encouragement to stand up for what is written in this book. And we don't have to be weak about it, but we should be meek about it.
All was given a choice to request for the abundance of revelations that were given to him and, uh.
Of a marbled at that, I thought, I can't say I've ever had a thorn for the flesh, for the abundance of revelations that my soul is entered into. I've had a thorn for the flesh for others. Much more, uh, reasons I'd rather not mention. But, umm, that's really the context here. If there's been abundance of revelations up through, uh, the 1St 3 chapters, pride, spiritual pride can come in. Spiritual pride can come in. And there's a real danger there.
All had a thorn for the flesh.
For that very reason, and you know, I thought good to God, that we all had a thorn for the flesh for that reason that we had truly entered into and laid a hold on the abundance of revelation given to us in this precious book.
Number, uh, two of Philippians verse five gives us the key to developing loneliness and meekness. And so it says, let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And so as we meditate upon the Lord Jesus, meditate upon the work of Christ, meditate upon his humility, his loneliness.
This is John Burton could speak.
We recognize our failure, recognize our nothingness, recognize that he is the source of all of our blessing, and we recognize that we're nothing and that He's everything. And so we ought to walk in loneliness. But if we get our eyes upon one another, upon ourselves, and have vain glory is spoken of in effusions. There is self importance, self glory, self important. None of this is important. I think it was Brother Albert Hale used to have the little expression. He says we're all a bunch of zeros.
Every one of us is we're all zeros, and except for the the one out in front, all the zeros would have no value. But the Lord Jesus is in front, and if we keep him before our souls, then there's some value to our lives.
Well, we need to move on perhaps versus five and six here bring before us or 4-5 and six, these seven different things that the apostles brings before the Saints there that there is one body.
And one spirit, even as ye are called, or have been called, in one hope of your calling.
A1 Lord 1 Faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. And so God is not the author of multiple choice, and man's will is not given place in the things of God. Ought not to have a place in the things of God.
And it's God's way to do things in one way. And so he speaks of the unity of the Spirit, and he speaks of one body. And there is one body, and there ought to be the reflection of it in this world. That's what God wanted, that there would be the reflection of you and I going on together with one accord and in one spirit going on in the presence of the Lord. And as being mentioned, the testimony of the Saints is fractured. Satan has been wildly successful in breaking up the Christian testimony so that it doesn't look like there's one body.
But there is one body.
And God has ordained that there would be the expression of that truth of what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name on the ground that there is one body.
Even in this late day, in the day of grace. And so there's, we're members together. They're different ones here from the assembly in Smith Falls in Ottawa and, uh, Pine Grove, uh, Vestal, NY, Cottonwood, AZ, umm.
We're all members of the body of Christ, and so we're gathered by the Spirit of God under the precious name of the Lord Jesus. And I am at the Lord's table in Pine in, uh, Hammer Bay. And I'm at the Lord's table too, in Vestal, NY. I'm at the Lord's table in the Fellowship of the Saints in Reno Ferry. I'm in fellowship in Ottawa. And so there is one body in the practice of that truth.
01:05:23
Is really brought out in other passages of Scripture, but he states the fact here that there is one body. And so you and I are responsible to conduct ourselves in such a way that it is reflected in this world that there is one body.
To umm, the 1St chapter of Occasion.
Says there is one body and in the first chapter in the.
22nd verse tells us that God had put all things under his, the Lord Jesus feet.
And gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body.
The church.
The church.
Which is.
His body and he is the head. Everyone of us in this room have a body and we have a head, and the body gets its direction from the head.
And so in the same sense.
In in a in in a spiritual way.
It's only a picture of Christ is the head.
And every one of us and every believer in the whole world is a member of his body.
And it's one.
One time our brother Tom Ellis was.
Uh, talking to a neighbor of his.
And uh, got subject to buying. Things came up and as, uh, as quite often happens, the person said, which church do you belong to?
And Tom wisely said, is there more than one?
That was a good answer.
There's only one church.
And people it it, it's this manufactured idea.
Of an organization as the church as opposed to others, and then and then to the point where it's looked upon as the building.
It is foreign to the mind of God.
And, and in this, in this beautiful book here of Ephesians, we have this precious truth, and we are to walk in the goodness of it.
That there is one body.
And the members of your your one hand gets hurt.
What is the other hand want to do to help it?
All that we might reflect.
Searching helpful prevention that the apostle Paul and in the New Testament, the church has used. Uh, there's, there are different figures that God uses and Paul uses the figure of a body because a body presents to us the fact of a living Organism. And if I touch my finger, I touch my body.
And he presents to us the truth that there is a bride, the Bride of Christ.
He speaks of the habitation of God. He speaks of the temple of our bodies. He speaks of the.
The temple as well, and he speaks of a flock, he speaks of all these different types, these little pictures so that he can bring in different aspects of the truth that umm of Christ and the church. And so when it speaks of the body, it speaks of that living Organism and everyone that's a living.
Member on the Earth.
Is a part of that body living member of the body of Christ and then?
It's really an earthly thing, isn't it?
If someone dies, then they go to be with the Lord. If they know the Lord Jesus as Savior and they're, they're not down here, they're not a living Organism, a living part of the Organism of the body at the present time. That's not how God sees them. And so you and I are living members of the body of Christ in this world.
01:10:10
That a little bit.
Verse three, the Spirit of God that formed that unity of the Holy Spirit, and he's also called the Spirit of truth.
And so two things characterize the unity that he's formed. It's holy, separate from evil, and it's according to the truth of God. And in that way, endeavoring and diligently seeking to maintain that unity, he would lead us in a holy path according to the Word of God.
And perhaps this is a worn out example, but it's been helpful to me if you have a family and, and there's a number of children, there's eight children and they're all out playing and, uh, dad calls out, says time for supper and four head in for supper.
And force stay out of the tree Fort.
And as the four head in for supper, the four in the three ports said, where are you going? We're having a good time here.
Come on back.
Although Dad called us in for supper. Now don't worry about what Dad says.
You're breaking up our fund.
We're all brothers and sisters. You're breaking up our unity.
No, Ted called the census for supper.
Who is keeping the unity that is really proper to them as all children of one Father?
Before that are obeying.
Father's voice or that are heading in for supper. Will you say how can they be keeping the unity half of them are missing.
Doesn't matter if half of them are missing.
They're keeping the unity as proper to them.
Endeavoring to keep the unity does not mean that we have to have every single member of the body of Christ.
In the practical outward display of that unity, it's seeking ourselves to walk. And that unity and this Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth, would lead all the Saints of God in the same path. Doesn't mean they're all there. But if we want to be part of that unity in its display here in this earth, then we have to walk according to the truth and then a path of holiness. And even if there is just one there.
Even if just one ovaries, that one is keeping the unity that's proper to those children.
What we find in Second Timothy that.
They'll be companions. If we seek to walk in a path of obedience to His will, we will find that there are others who are also walking in that path, and He will bring us together in fellowship with one another. Don't worry about that part. Just you walk and obedience and you endeavor to keep that unity that you have been called into.
An illustrated in connection with Matthew Chapter 11 again that was brought before us the nation or the general population of the nation of Israel. In Chapter 11 of Matthew had rejected the testimony of the Lord Jesus and so he was calling out individuals. He says in verse 28, come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
He was calling individuals out and they were burdened and they were way down under the yoke of Judaism. They couldn't keep the law even if they tried. And some of them really did want to try to keep the law. They couldn't do it. They were burdened. And so the Lord Jesus was calling them as individuals out of that system of things unto Himself. And so they were to learn of Him. And then he says, take my yoke individually.
Upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. Ye shall find rest.
Unto your souls, for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. So as a new thing, it was a new call. He was calling him out of Judaism and into Christianity unto himself. It was really, you might say, the first call, the beginning of the call. But you and I, this brings in before us individual responsibility, doesn't it? And so it's not just a theory. Christianity is very practical, and you and I are never asked to do something that is not possible to do.
01:15:10
And so.
While some may be disobedient to the truth of God, and some may be disobedient to the direction of the Spirit of God, you and I are called to be obedient to what we know. And if we walk in what we know, the Lord will become more precious to us, and we will walk and He will manifest Himself to us. Let's just look at that in John's Gospel, chapter 14.
In verse 21, John 14, verse 21 He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
And then verse 23 Jesus answered, said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words, My Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and will make our abode with him.
There's reward, you might say, of having the fellowship of the Lord Jesus and the communion with the Lord Jesus and to be brought into the enjoyment of the truth of God if we'll walk in obedience to those things that we do know that He desires us to walk in. So this is one of them. These are practical exhortations. They're given.
Oh Jesus, Lord and Savior.
And we love the Savior we love.
It.
34910, 10-4 05 Medicine diffuses 10,500 and 56,339 years.
It was really you give yourself certainly.
And this is the thought of the three ones. The righteousness was through obedience.
Righteousness and met over in verse 20 about 20 seconds, almost 6.
Neither 3 by 7.
OK.
Oh oh, six 10,000 as well, doesn't it? And uh, we're given part in the death of Christ.
Uh, in baptism, it's a picture of, of death and we go down under those waters of death, right? And now we're to walk in newness of life. And that newness of life is connected with the later verses and, and, uh, Romans 6 and 1St Corinthians 12, we get baptism again, but there's a different baptism, the baptism of the Spirit. And, uh, what does it tell us there by 1 spirit, we're all baptized into one body. What makes us members of the body of Christ?
01:20:30
Is not the blood of Christ saving us, but it's the indwelling of the Spirit of God that unites us to Christ? Umm, through the blood of Christ every St. of God will be in heaven in the coming day. Abraham, Isaac. How will they be there? Through the blood of Christ? They didn't know it at that time. God forbore with those things things and and it wasn't clear until Christ came and gave himself on the cross that the blood was going to cover all those sins.
But that's the basis on which they'll be there. But they're not members of the body of Christ. Why not indwelt by the Holy Spirit? If the Holy Spirit that makes us members of the body of Christ is indwelling not the blood of Christ now He doesn't indwell anyone who has not been cleansed by the precious blood of Christ.
So with a high priest, first he was anointed with blood on his thumb, and then after that oil.
Make sure the Spirit of God saw salvation first, then when you believe you were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. And it's that, uh, indwelling Spirit of God that unites us, every other member of the body of Christ and do our Lord in heaven.
Now I would say in those two baptisms, the first one perhaps, uh, more, uh, applies to verse four of our chapter and the second one, verse five, the first one is a sphere of unity, verse 41, body, and it's the baptism of the Spirit that formed that body.
1.
Uh.
Hope of your calling, Everyone who is part of the body of Christ is going to be raptured when the Lord comes. So there's one body formed by the one Spirit of God, and every one of those has the same hope and their calling that the Lord is going to come and take us to be with him in heaven. Now the second verse, verse five is another sphere of the larger sphere that goes out further than the first one, and that's the sphere of profession. And in that sphere of profession, what is profess that there's one Lord 1 Lord Jesus.
What in contrast to all the other gods in this world?
There's one and so in that we bear a similar confession that Israel did they bore a profession. There was one God we do too, and three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So we profess 1 Lord, that's the sphere of Christian profession. 1 faith. There's one Christian faith contained in the precious word of God. Here is the faith, the truth of God. And so the Bible is we call it the Bible, right for the for the for the Christian, you know, other people have.
The shooters have a a shooters Bible and the computers have a computer Bible. You know what I mean? They have a defining book for their little circle of fellowship. We have a defining book.
That contains for us the faith.
Of faith, and that's in the Word of God. So one Lord and the Spirit of profession 1 faith. How do we get into that sphere of profession here in this earth? That's the baptism of Romans 6, water baptism.
Water baptism brings us into the sphere of Christian profession. It takes us in this world from 1 ground to a wholly new one, the sphere of professing Christianity. That's a whole another subject. I'll just leave it there. So that's the 2nd circle of unity that's presented in these 3 verses. The third one is the unity of creation.
And that goes out even further. One God and father of all. And so Paul speaks of that when he preaches to the Athenians, in whom we live and move and have our being. He's one God and Father of all. Everything comes from him. And so that's the widest sphere. So there's these three spheres as far as one way beyond that.
01:25:04
The same 330.
336.
Unity and Separation from Evil
Address—Steve Stewart
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
We uh saying the 1St 6 verses of #64.
If someone could start that just the 1St 6 verses of #64.
And blessed me where sin can never come.
Yes.
I'll get it. His brows, His grace is going to life all the fall.
His joy had gone.
Shall find a blessing and strong.
And I shall never grow.
Before him thrown out.
Agree.
Our God and our Father, we thank Thee for the bright prospect that is before each of our souls, and know the Lord Jesus and Savior, that wonderful seeing, that peace unfold before our eyes, in which thou hast dwell even now with thy beloved Son, that thy right hand.
And we pray that.
That will give us that which would help us in the pathway here while we await that moment.
That would keep us.
I would encourage us.
And we just commend this little hour to thee and thy precious word for blessing.
The precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ, Amen.
Heard of Second Corinthians chapter 6?
I'd like to take the subject up this afternoon of unity. We touched a little on it and the meetings and of God's principle of unity, which is separation from evil.
And in 2nd Corinthians 6.
We get uh.
That principle brought out.
00:05:04
Verse 14 Be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? What part hath he that believeth with an infidel? What agreement at the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God.
As God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty. And then back to where we were in Ephesians 4.
Just read it again.
Ephesians.
Four and verse 3.
Endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called, and one hope of your calling.
And then?
In Matthew's Gospel.
And chapter 12.
Matthew 12 and verse 30.
He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.
Unity, I think in a little bit we've seen in our chapter in Ephesians, is the precious thing in the sight of God.
And it.
Is precious to us too, as we think of being members of the Church of God and the fellowship that we have been brought into.
God is a God of unity and we have those three circles of unity in Ephesians 4. We have that in most circle of reality, one body, one spirit, 1 hope of your calling. We have the larger sphere of unity, 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, and then further out in creation one God and Father of all.
All three persons in the Godhead spirit.
God the Holy Spirit, the Lord Jesus, and God the Father represented there. God is the center of every unity that He has ever formed and ever will form. He is the center of every true unity.
And there is no unity truly other than that in which He is the center.
And so if we go back to creation, we see a wonderful system of things from the hand of God as creator. You know, we refer to it. Paul spoke of God as the one in whom we live and move and have our being. We're his offspring. As to creation, He is God and Father of all. All came from him.
It was all from his hand, and we learned later that the person of the Godhead, who you might say did the work was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, God's eternal Son. By him there was not anything.
Made that was or without him, there was not anything made that was made.
And in that wonderful united system.
In which God was the center, he placed a man.
I don't know that angels were ever the center of any unity of God. We don't read of it. As far as Scripture goes, we don't know any more than that.
But he put man as the as the in the garden, in the center of that creation, as his representative, because God was its center. But he put man there in his image and likeness, as the center to represent him in that creation. And man was there in dependence upon God, and it was his privilege to look up to God.
And receive everything from the hand of God.
00:10:01
It was his glory.
To be independence upon God and receive everything from His hand.
He looked, uh, God made man upright, though we know what happened. He reached out an independency and disobedience and he took what God had not given him, He took for himself. He believes Satan's lie more than God's truth and he fell into sin and he was not able to sustain himself and his independency.
And his self will and he became.
In his rebellion against God and his authority, he became the slave of a mightier rebel than himself. Satan and this world fell under Satan's dominion, and we read in John's ministry that the whole world lieth, and the wicked one.
And we see a contrast as we move on in Genesis and we come to the 10th and 11Th chapter where God in the renewed earth after the judgment of the flood, tells Noah and his families to spread out and be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. That was God's order for that time. To keep that was to keep that unity and creation. But man said, let us.
Make us a name, let us build us a power, unless we be scattered abroad upon the face of the earth.
In the beginning of the Kingdom of a man named Nimrod was Babel itself, that symbol of man's independence and defiance and self will against God. His name means rebel, and so man became a rebel. But man is not sufficient to himself and so he became a slave of Satan in that rebellion.
And God is the God of unity. We'll still have a unity in which He is the center, but he is holy and he is true, and he cannot have evil and association with Himself.
In the unity in which He has formed and in which He desires us to have heart, and in the coming day when the Lord Jesus Christ comes.
Whom God has purposed to head up all things in Him, both which are in heaven and which are in earth, He's going to come. And in judicial power, in the manifest presence of God and the person of His Son, He is going to remove from His Kingdom all things that offend Him, all that do iniquity, and there is going to be a united system in Christ of unity.
That is going to be in separation from evil, because God is going to remove evil, the wicked.
Will be severed from among the just.
But that's not today.
Does God have no unity then until that day? No. He has a unity now, but it's in the midst of evil. It's not maintained in judicial power in this world. And so we're told not to root out the tears. That's another day, or to leave them to grow.
How is God going to then have that unity in this world, a unity in which he is the center, a unity that's characterized by his own nature as light and love?
In this world, well, we have that in 2nd Corinthians 6.
Come out from among them.
And be separate, saith the Lord. And I will receive you. I will receive you.
I will be a father unto you, and ye shall be unto me. Sons and daughters, that's God's way today.
And the unity that He has formed, in which He is the center, in the midst of evil. It's the activity of divine love in the midst of evil. That's a definition of grace.
The activity of Divine Love in the midst of evil.
Every other center is arrival.
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To that which he has formed, he that gathereth not with me scatter. And what happened at the Tower of Babel? God came down, and they were scattered.
No matter what that unity looks like to this world and outward display as a center of authority and power in this world, if it's not the unity that God has formed and of which He is the center, it scatters. It takes away from His unity. Doesn't matter if they're gathered together, if it's taking away from His unity and what He's doing.
Is a scattering.
He that gathereth not with me.
Scattering well.
In its perhaps weakest form, it might be a sect that forms among Christians gathered around some particular doctrine or a person or whatever it might be in in Corinth, that was happening, wasn't it?
There were fleshly things going on and it was there were schisms resulting the fracturing in the assembly centering around this person. I'm a Paul, I'm of Apollos and so on.
In its further development, as we have.
We don't offend anybody in the great Roman Catholic system.
Unity is insisted upon.
With that unity binds those that are part of that unity to the evil that it teaches and profound.
It binds them to go on with things that are wicked in the sight of God in order to keep that unity. Unity is powerful.
Powerful.
What effects it can have upon the souls of men and women we don't have to look far to see. And then it's worse than the great apostasy that is yet to come. Those that will keep the Unity under the Antichrist will be forced to receive the mark of the beast, and their foreheads are in their hands.
Every other unity is heading to One Direction.
And that is the great apostasy.
But God has a unity that he is forming, and he calls to us.
To be part.
Of that unity, a unity that is in perfect conformance with all that He is in light and love, in which He is the center.
What can separate us?
From the evil that this world lies in.
What can hold us to such a center? What can separate us from the power of evil?
There is one answer.
Christ. Christ alone.
Is the one who can separate us in power?
And draw and keep us at that center. Oh, we get it so beautifully told out in John's Gospel chapter 10. There had been a fold and enclosure called the Law and it kept the sheep in. But he said there's not going to be a fold anymore, but there's going to be a flock and there's going to be 1 shepherd. And what's going to keep the sheep then is the attractive.
Mess of the Shepherd, Christ is the one.
Who can hold us to that center Himself and separate us from the evil around? He is God manifest in flesh. He is the one who is the center of God's counsels and purposes. He is the One who redeemed our souls. He is the only mediator between God and man, the man.
Christ Jesus, He is the perfect manifestation.
Of truth and love.
The fullness of the Godhead was pleased to dwell in Him bodily. He is the only one.
00:20:02
Who can keep us?
At that center.
I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.
Christ is the answer to that question.
Oh, it's not in judicial power. No, it's in the midst of evil. He doesn't separate the wicked, sever the wicked from among the just. Oh, but he's gathering the precious out from the vial.
To himself.
For this cause.
He gave himself.
I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me.
What do? What do we have on the Lord's Day morning? A loaf and a cup.
Expressive of Christ's death, His body given His bloodshed, what is The central thing the assembly is to do is to show forth the Lord's death till He come. What do we have before us on Lord's day morning? We have a lifted up Christ.
The attractive center to our souls he gave himself.
That he might redeem us, that he might, as we read in Titus, have a peculiar people for himself, zealous of good works like him.
Oh, it's his nature that forms the character, that unity.
A peculiar people, zealous of good works, and he did not die just for that Jewish nation we read in the 11Th of John.
But he died that he might gather in one. The children of God that were scattered abroad He gave himself.
That he might have that unity.
Who else?
Who else?
And the one who redeemed us.
Be that center.
Who else could have that title?
That glory with Him.
It will be 1:00.
And one shepherd.
And in Ephesians 2, we refer to it a little in the meetings there was a middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile, but he abolished that middle wall and his death. Maybe we could just turn to that.
Ephesians 2.
While the Lord Jesus was here.
His love and His grace reached out beyond the Jewish nation. We see him in John chapter 4 sitting on the well that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. And he like Joseph in the prophecy and blessing that went on, Joseph was a fruitful branch, A fruitful by those branches run over the wall, and it ran over the wall and it reached a Gentile woman that came.
To that while it reached her in grace, but he didn't tear down the wall.
While he was here in his life, that wall that divided between Jew and Gentile remain.
It was in his death that it was abolished. Ephesians 2.
But now in Christ Jesus, verse 13, ye who sometimes were far off, are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances for to make in himself.
Twain 1. Newman so.
Making peace, that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross.
Having slain the enmity thereby, he gave himself.
00:25:01
That he might have that unity.
Hebrews 13 says, Let us go forth therefore unto him.
Doesn't it?
Doesn't he draw our souls to himself?
I just love that verse in John 12. I if I be lifted up, I'll draw all men.
Unto me.
Of God's purpose and unity.
It is evident from the Scripture He is the God of unity and that is his purpose. It's not just to buy the buy. It's not just a little thing over in the corner that sometimes we look at and talk about. Maybe in a conference like this. It is of central importance to God.
But if God is going to have a unity in the midst of evil and separation from evil, is it necessary?
Result.
Because he cannot be associated with evil.
And so, since it is a unity formed in the midst of evil, separation from evil is the necessary first principle of that unity. I don't say of the power of unity.
But its principal What is the power of unity? It's the attractiveness of the one who is at the center.
But it's necessary. First principle is separation from evil, and that is even given in principle before unity comes into view later on with Israel as a nation, it's given in principle to Abraham. What's the first thing that the God of glory who called Abraham?
Get thee out from.
Nation.
From Kindred.
From Father's house.
He separated him.
And so it's given in principle first there and then later in the nation. God calls them out of Egypt.
He redeems them, He gathers them, and He dwells in the midst of them.
That was his purpose we see throughout Scripture.
But the first thing is that he gets them out.
He separates them.
From all that he cannot be associated with in John 17, the Lord says I'm going to leave them in the world.
But the whole world lies in the wicked one. I'm going to leave them in the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. And for this 'cause I sanctify myself, he said.
Oh, set them apart.
For a holy purpose.
And I'm going to set myself apart.
That's a would be kept in that place. And so he's there in the glory, interceding for us, sanctified himself that we might be kept in that unity in a very practical way.
While the Spirit of God and the Day of Pentecost we've touched on came down.
Indwelt those believers.
The Spirit of God.
Calls us.
Spirit of God gathers his own.
The Spirit of God separates us.
In that calling and gathered, and then he dwells among his people. And we read in Ephesians, Well, we're right there. Let's just look at it, Chapter 2 and verse 21.
In whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, In whom ye also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.
00:30:09
Spirit of God.
Has taken up his dwelling place among his people. He called them, he separated them, he gathered them, and he dwells among them.
He could not dwell there except.
He had separated them from the evil.
In John's.
Ministry in the First Epistle of John. Let's just turn there.
John 1.
Verse 6. Communion is the subject.
Verse six. If we say that we have fellowship with him and walk in darkness, we lie and do not the truth.
Separation from evil is the first principle of communion with God. Separation from evil is the first principle of communion with God.
One that walks in darkness is not in communion with God. He can have no fellowship with darkness. We read that in 2nd Corinthians 6. What fellowship hath light with darkness? What concord had Christ label? What part he that believeth was an infidel? We are the temple of the living God.
Dwells in us, He walks in us. Come out from among them and be separate, saith the Lord.
Oh, there's the appeal to the practical side of that truth.
First principle of communion.
And John's ministry is separation.
I'm evil.
While on the Lord's table.
As we mentioned, we have a loaf and a cup.
We have Christ lifted up the attractive center. Let's turn to 1St Corinthians 10.
1St Corinthians 10.
Verse 16.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
That cup, when we partake of it, we give expression to the fact that we're under the shelter, the precious blood of Christ. We're in fellowship with all that. That precious blood is in the sight of God and what it has done for us and cleansing us from our sins.
The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ? When we partake of that loaf, that broken loaf, we give expression to the fact that we are in fellowship with Christ, offering His body on the cross.
A sin bearer, the one who put away our sins and his sacrifice. We express that we are in the good of that sacrifice.
We are in, as it says here. Is it not the communion of the body of Christ? That's not the body composed of many believers.
That is Christ's body offered for us on the cross. Then he brings in the next thought. Then he brings in and says, for we being many are one bread and one body. Four. We are all partakers of that one bread. He says we're like one loaf as well. We are one body. There is a unity that God has formed.
The power of the Holy Spirit sent down.
Uniting us to Christ in heaven and to one another. And when we all partake of that one loaf, we give expression to that truth that there is and we are of that one body.
00:35:08
If we came in on Lord's Day morning and had the loaf setting there, and we've often enjoyed the thought that that loaf in its unbroken state reminds us of the one body of Christ. If we came in and had that loaf and that cup there and then we had a nice time of fellowship and Thanksgiving and praise and perhaps even worship, and we went home, we would not have given expression to the truth of the one body.
The loaf by itself on the table, unbroken, does not express in itself the truth of the one body. It is in all of us partaking of it, that we give expression to the truth that there is one body. It's the very central thing that the Church does.
When it meets together in assembly is give expression to that truth. So the Lord's table is the symbol and the expression.
Of the truth of the unity that God has formed in this world.
And all of these things that we've taken up just in such a brief little form.
Are beautiful.
But there is a question.
What if?
What?
If.
There comes into this one body into this.
Unity that the Spirit of God is formed. What if evil comes in?
God has not changed.
Because he has formed that unity, he is still holy.
He is still true.
When there is the manifest presence of God.
In this world, the wicked will be severed from among the just. That's not so now, but in the assembly.
In the assembly there is the manifest presence of God.
And when Ananias and Sapphira live, Peter said, Ye have lied to the Holy Ghost.
And they fell down dead.
I was in the freshness of the day, of that first freshness, of that unity.
But if sin comes in, God is faithful and he is the same, and he is holy, and he does not leave himself without witness, and he will appeal to us. He'll awaken us from our slumber, our spiritual stupor. He'll seek to awaken us to fresh spiritual energy, to a sensibility of what becomes Him.
And his holy nature and light and love.
In the assembly, and he will seek to awaken us. And so he did with Corinth. And Paul says, put out from among yourselves that wicked person.
Turn on 11 lump, but you're in danger.
Sin has come in, and instead of being sorrowful, you have glory.
Instead of being cast on the Lord as to what to do, they didn't have instruction yet. Then they still could have been cast on the Lord. They said oh grace covers everything.
It was put away from among yourselves, that wicked person.
Because to maintain that unity.
In fellowship with the one who is at center, who is holy and true sin.
Must be dealt with.
What if?
When God appeals and seeks to awaken the conscience and response.
When sin comes in, there is no response.
What's that?
00:40:04
We recur to the same immutable principle. Separation from evil is God's principle of unity.
And the Saints bound in duty is to suffering.
I'm not evil. And if they be but one person left on the face of the earth, they are walking in the unity that God has formed and that which he is the center.
It is our duty to love every child of God.
But not to walk in their ways.
Second Timothy.
To.
Verse.
19.
Nevertheless, the foundation of God stand assure having the seal. The Lord knoweth them that are His. We can leave that to the Lord. He knows who are His.
We're not competent to root out the tears. It's not the time of God's judicial work in maintaining a unity in this world, severing the wicked from the just. We can't root out the tears. We don't know.
Sometimes the Saints are walking in such a low way and we each know it for our own souls.
That you can't tell the difference.
Between them and the world.
Leave that with the Lord, the Lord knoweth them that are his, and let everyone that name it. The name really it should be of the Lord, all His lordships involved, because the unity which God has formed on this earth is going to be enjoyed and known by those who walk in obedience.
Independence.
Let everyone that nameth the name of the Lord depart.
I'm iniquity.
It is incumbent upon us.
Separation from evil is God's principle.
Yeah, OK.
You know our early brethren, who?
We are so indebted to the work of the Spirit of God and the truth that they mined out and and.
Enjoyed the truth of God in connection with that unity that He has formed on this earth, the one Body, and seeking to walk in communion and fellowship with God. And those truths were gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone.
To seek to endeavor to diligently keep that unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.
But that question came up. Evil came in. Evil came in.
And a man rose up.
Who, among many other things, taught that Christ was born under Israel's curse and that he had to, by being faithful and laboring, work his way back to God?
It was evil doctrine as to the person of our Lord Jesus Christ and His spotless humanity.
And that developed into other evil teachings.
After appealing to the meeting where that brother was in fellowship because he was so influential there and there was no ear to respond, the Saints of God gathered to the Lord's name. That time had to recur to that immutable principle. Separation from evil is God's principle of unity, and they separated.
00:45:07
From that communion where that?
Man was and where he taught those things.
But there were more tests to come.
There were some from another meeting.
It said, well, you know, if, if there's, uh, some that come from, uh, the, the meeting was in Plymouth, England, come from Plymouth year. As long as we feel they personally don't hold that teaching, we'll receive them into fellowship.
Oh, another test game.
Another test came. Before we go a little further into it, let's turn to Haggai.
Chapter 2.
Verse 10.
In the four and 20th day of the ninth month and the second year of Darius came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet saying, let's say at the Lord of hosts, ask now the priest concerning the law, saying of one bare holy flesh.
And the skirt of his garment, And with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat. Shall it be holy? And the priest answered and said, No. Here is one who in the skirt of his garment, as they did in those days, would fold it up, and it could be make a little pocket, so you could carry something.
And he says if he's going on in the things of the Lord, carrying out holy service.
And his garment, not the meat that's in it, but his garment touched something else. Is it going to be holy? No.
Please answer no.
No, you and I if we are going on in a holy path and for the Lord.
We can't, by ourselves and our persons in a holy walk, make anybody else holy.
Doesn't work that way.
We can't.
And he goes on to ask another question.
Verse 13 Then, said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean?
So all these things that, uh.
Bread and pottage, wine or oil, meat, so on.
That could not be made wholly by the skirt of the priest garment touching it. What about if something unclean touches those things?
Will they be unclean?
Then answered Haggai. Oh, excuse me, the priest answered and said it shall be unclean.
No question in their minds.
The principle given to us here, and we don't have time to develop it in other places in Scripture, is this.
Association with evil defiles.
Let's come back to our account.
In Bethesda, England, they decided that they could receive at the Lord's Table those who came from Plymouth, where that evil teaching was going on.
And they really denied this truth, that association with evil defiles, and they said those ones who are coming from that place where wickedness is being taught.
Where it's being held, propagated.
Uh, they're not, they're not, uh, depiled by, we can't have fellowship with that assembly, but we can receive any that come from them because the assemblies defiled, but any of that come from, as long as they personally don't hold that doctrine, umm will receive them. It turns out later, some of them certainly did. They were like wolves in sheep's clothing. Not that they were unbelievers, but they were sneaky.
And so that puts the rest of those.
Little meetings gathered to the Lord's name, to the test. Now what?
Now, if some come from Bethesda to our meeting, can we receive them at the Lord's Table?
There was an old brother years ago at that time, and he wrote a little pamphlet.
00:50:04
And he gave an example. I'm going to put it in modern day terms.
His name was William Trotter. The name of the pamphlet, I believe, is the whole case of Bethesda. Perhaps there might be another pamphlet, but he's the author.
An allegory, I think, is the name of the pamphlet.
Let's go over to.
Congo.
And a little village A. There's three villages AB and C.
And then Village A Ebola breaks out.
Terrible virus.
It's contagious.
And each of those villages has a school, and those schools are used to inter varsity games, children from one school coming to another, playing soccer together, whatever it might be.
And school B says.
We can't take anybody here that has Ebola virus.
But any students coming from School a if you don't show any signs of the illness, you're welcome to come and play with our children.
No, I'm gonna put you in school number C.
And your children are there.
What?
Do you want the school administration to take up as their policy as to reception from school A&B?
I'm gonna tell you what you say right now. You don't receive from either one.
Because there's an infection going around, and even though students came from A to B and didn't seem to manifest it, they were in contact with it. And now school B is in contact with it. And the only way we're going to preserve our children is to say we don't take.
Any from either school?
We cannot receive and have those games or whatever it might be from either school. It's the only way we're going to preserve our children. And the principal in School B says how awful. You must be so proud.
How can you do that? Our children aren't showing any signs of the virus. Any chastises?
Those from School C and they say, no, we can't do it, we can't do it. And that's what happened in the whole case of Bethesda. And brethren had to recur to that principle once again. Separation from evil is God's principle of unity.
And that's how.
The open grabbing division came into being, open to receive as long as they judge personally, they're locally that things are OK from wherever someone might come from, no matter what was taught in that place. I know I'm making things very simple. We don't have time to go into the detail. I'd like to turn in closing to Nehemiah.
And Ezra Nehemiah that God allowed a restoration.
Of some of the Jews in captivity. Back to the land. They came back and Ezra's day and the worship of God was restored. The altar was set upon its faces. Things were said in godly order. It was just.
Beautiful.
We come to Nehemiah and he comes and he sees there's something needed.
They're enemies to what has taken place in Jerusalem and he says we've got to build a wall.
Gotta build a wall around Jerusalem to keep out anything that's not of God. In order to preserve this restored worship intact and in its purity, there must be a wall.
And really, that's what early brethren went through with the Open Brethren Division. There was that wonderful restoration.
Uh, worship and the Lord's, uh, remembrance of the Lord on the ground of the truth that there is one body. But when that division took place, they began to realize there was a need.
And this principle came into prominence separation from evil, God's principle of unity and association with evil defiles. Therefore, we have to maintain that separation.
00:55:10
And so Nehemiah said, we've got a bill.
And that wall had openings, and they were called gates.
Let's read.
In chapter 3 and verse one.
And Elias ship, the high priest, rose up with his brethren, the priests, and they builded the sheep gate, and they sanctified it, and set up the doors of it, even unto the tower of Mia, And they sanctified it unto the tower of Hananiel. Verse three. But the fish gate that the sons of Hassan.
Hasana Build, who laid the beams thereof, set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof.
And the bars there of you notice the difference.
Why should got there? Rose up first, full of energy.
It's a great plan, he says, So to speak. Say you've got Nehemiah. Let's build.
And I'll take responsibility for the sheep gate. And he set it up, but he didn't put any locks on it and he didn't put any bars on it.
Oh, I should seem foremost.
And energy.
But every other gate arena has locks and bars with his. It was the sheep gate speaks to us of the gospel. Some have said, and, and I hope I don't offend anybody in saying this, that the gospel, the sheep gate shouldn't have locks and bars on it because the gospel needs to go out freely. Well, that's the gospel going out. This is sheep coming in.
You know, if you don't have locks and bars on the sheep gate, if you're not watching it, you're gonna get a wolf in sheep's clothing.
Needs to be locks and bars on that gate. There better be a carefulness in the assembly as to the sheep.
That come in as to what kind of sheep you got.
Why she didn't want separation from evil in his gospel work.
Let's go over.
A little further, verse 21.
And after him repaired Miramar, son of Urijah, son of cause, another piece from the door of the House of Elijah, even unto the end of the House of Elijah, all they got to Eli ship's house. And where's Elisha?
Everybody else repaired the part by their house or where their house was part of the wall. But why should they wanna work on that connection with this house? Why should didn't want separation from evil in his home either?
Turn over to Chapter 13.
MMM.
Verse seven And I came to Jerusalem and understood the evil that Elijah did for Tobiah, and preparing him a chamber in the course of the House of God, and they grieved me sore.
Oh, Nehemiah went away for time and came back, and Elias ship had made a chamber a little place for one of the enemies that the wall was to keep out right in the temple.
Lionship didn't want separation from evil in his worship either.
Verse 28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Elisha of the high priest, was son-in-law.
The sand bell at the horror night. Therefore I chased him from me.
Why she didn't want separation from evil?
And his family.
Children or grandchildren?
Solemn, isn't it? He was high priest. The law.
Should be in the lips of the high priest, the scripture says.
It wasn't.
Yes.
Our time is out.
You know, in Revelation.
It says in chapter 3.
01:00:00
And they shall go no more out.
I can't say that I paid a great price.
To be gathered to the Lord's name. But I know some have.
And they have had to go out.
Of places where they were and it has been very painful.
And it's not always easy, and God hasn't told us it will be easy to act on that principle that we've had before us and to be separate from evil, that we might enjoy the unity that he has won. But there's a day coming.
When we will go no more out, no more separation from any child of God.
For all eternity, for He will have judicially removed every trace of sin. For the Lamb of God beareth away the sin of the world. And in the day of God there will be nothing to spoil that unity of which He will be the center.
And power and source of blessing and joy for all eternity.
Spring, God and our Father, we do as thy blood.
Ephesians 4:7-16
Reading
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Let's see #24 on the back of the book.
Nothing but Christ is only bread, a gift on Christ, God's living bread, with staff in hand and keep well shod. Nothing but Christ, the Christ of God. 24 in the back of the book.
Nothing but Christ.
And we can.
Find.
My name is Scott and I have a little bit of.
No, they don't grow.
So.
I think that's right.
That one.
No thank you. Save him.
After every place.
My name is all the same and all right and lazy to love and pray.
Our whole rain of the Lord's, our own God Rd.
05485.
Very shortly, perhaps.
And, uh, when he brought the driver.
Evergreen Park while we await my cousin's entertainer and, uh, have that less important support.
Lead to each one of us here and that we might be scraping and uh, that we must be well grounded in the truth and that, uh, there might be liberty in the spirit of God to take the things of God and make the Lord clear it to us. And so we ask you for this and that looks like enjoy this kind of selection overnight work together according to sun mine and that we'd like to be prepared to walk in the truth of over here. We have fixed this thing in the cases together in a second stage of our Lord.
Well, reading uh, Ephesians chapter 4 and umm, what would you think brother Walt? Uh, in the game reading at verse 7?
And maybe for the sake of time, we could just read down to verse 16 again. I don't think we'll get farther than that. And then perhaps with liberty to refer back to the 1St 6 verses if necessary.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 7.
But unto everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he saith, when He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lowest parts of the earth? Either descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that He might fill all things. And he gave some apostles.
And some profits, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie and wait.
00:05:24
To deceive, but Speaking of the truth in love may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head. Even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplier, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, make it increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love, might be helpful to clarify, as we spoke in the last meeting, a little bit about baptism is that there are different types of baptism that are spoken of in Scripture. Some of them were mentioned in our meeting.
In our last reading meeting and the baptism of the Spirit that took place on the day of Pentecost took place once the church was formed on the day of Pentecost. The baptism of the Spirit in that way informing the church, only took place once. And then we have the baptism of John. That was the baptism of repentance for the nation of Israel as the Messiah was presented. And so they were to be baptized and separate themselves from the.
Untoward generation that was in the process of rejecting the Messiah and had really, uh, walked in defiance of the truth of God even in the day that they lived in. And then we have Christian baptism and so we, that we get baptized. It's a figure of identifying ourselves, associating ourselves with Christ in a public way. It doesn't need to be done publicly. The Philippian jailer, he was baptized, perhaps it says at midnight.
Uh, shortly thereafter, perhaps, but in the middle of the night and just his family there, perhaps in the household servants and so on. And the Ethiopian, Munich, uh, he was baptized in the desert. It doesn't mean it has to be a public thing. It's nice when there's occasion and it can be public, but, uh, we don't need to be, uh, forcing someone in that regard. But the point is that we're baptized and so we have these.
Different things that are told to us in connection with profession. 1 Lord, 1 Faith, one baptism.
Helpful to uh, know that whenever the Scripture speaks of the baptism of the Spirit, it says so.
There's never a time where it just says baptism.
That it's not, uh, that it's the Spirit, the baptism of the Spirit, if it's the baptism of the Spirit always says so that's, that's very helpful. So the other references to baptism generally are baptism with water. Uh, could be other things too. The Lord says, I have a baptism to be baptized with, right? That was not Speaking of water baptism, but the sufferings of the cross. But if it's the baptism Spirit, it says so. So that's, that's, uh, very helpful.
However, quite a clarity perhaps is in connection with keeping the unity of the Spirit. It says, uh, in Mr. Darby's translation, using diligence.
And Brother Steve mentioned that in the last meeting, using diligence to keep the unity of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace. And so we're responsible for that. So umm, as he was speaking in the last meeting in connection with that unity.
When there is an act of an assembly and an act of discipline, then that discipline took place in every assembly. And so, umm, the authority of the Lord, that action was taken in the with the Lord in the midst. And so we act on that basis and we submit to it and we recognize the authority of the Lord, and we go on together. And not to submit is really an act of rebellion against the authority of God.
And so it's a serious thing. So This is why he speaks here of the responsibility in chapter four, chapter 5. Chapter 6 brings in the practical responsibility and practical testimony of what it is to be gathered to the Lord's name on the ground of the one body. So it's not theory, it's the truth of God. And then now he begins in verse seven and he begins to tell us about these gifts.
00:10:02
That have been presented from a risen Christ on high, the hidden glory. And he presents gifts to the church, not just to the assembly individually or locally. The assembly or the church is spoken of in two ways in Scripture. One is in the local aspect and the other is in the universal aspect in connection with the whole church. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. He's speaking universally, but when he speaks of those that were a part of the church.
Of God in Ephesus, he's Speaking of the testimony that was there in that local place that represented the whole, and they acted for the whole. And her brother mentioned, umm, discipline perhaps in First Corinthians. Uh, and So what they did in First Corin, in Corinthians, they acted on behalf of the whole testimony. And so it was bound. What was bound on earth was bound in heaven, and it's seen as rebellion against the Lord and the authority of the Lord.
Not to bow to that action. And so these are very practical things.
He takes up the subject of gift. It might be, uh.
Helpful to notice some distinctions.
And 1St Corinthians 12 we get the subject of gifts as well. And there is manifestations of the Spirit, and he gives as he will severally various members of the body, yes, for the mutual edification of the Saints of God. And in Romans chapter 12, we see gifts, uh, in connection with.
Uh, SER the service of God.
And, uh, in the body of Christ, and he gives abilities as he will in his service in the body.
And every believer in both of those chapters, as a member of the body of Christ, has been given a gift to be used in the power of the Spirit of God.
As servants of God in the assembly, Ephesians 4 is a little different.
And it's not.
Uh, gifts given to each person?
Each member of the body. I believe the gifts mentioned here are few in number.
And they do not take in every member of the body of Christ. They are not gifts given.
To a member of the body of Christ. But they are gifts given from an ascended Christ to the Church. The gifts are the persons themselves that He gives.
He gives these persons, now they have the gift associated with who they are is being given. That's true, but that's not the subject.
It's the person themselves that are actually given. And it's, it's, I believe it's really fairly limited. Apostles and prophets and teachers, evangelists, pastors, umm.
When we go a little further in the chapter and we get, umm, the whole body in verse 16 and we get joints and those joints, uh, have us, uh, two actions. The whole body is joined together and so it has joints. And when we have, we didn't have any joints, Our head might have a lot of things to direct our body and our body couldn't do a single thing.
Because we'd be just stiff as award.
But joint lend mobility to the body so that the body can give expression to what's in our heads. So here it's the whole body and every member has a joint action, so to speak. Every one of us in some way allows expression to be given from our head in heaven. And it speaks of us as every joint supplier joints of supply might be called. So just like the blood vessels or whatever else in our body.
00:15:01
There are channels of supply, so each one of us has a joint action.
And we have a supply action. We, we give mobility to the body and we in some way we're a channel of supply to the body from our head in heaven. I just want to mention that before we get into it, because sometimes we can get right into the weeds and we begin to talk about the gifts in first Corinthians 12, uh, context or Romans 12 Context, instead of saying that the gifts here are the person and really they're, they're limited, you might say in number, they're not every member of the body of Christ, every member of the body is really taken up then in verse.
UH-16 as well as verse 7 where we're starting, but in between we get the gifts, the individual persons and that's more limited, uh, scope.
Verse seven, everyone.
You might, uh, remember as well, it's he ascended in verse nine and he is ascended and as the risen head, he has given some gifts and you need to read it that way. In verse 11. He gave or he has given. I think Mr. Darby's translation says he has given.
Some gifts, and so he gave some apostles, and we should take the comma out from behind the thumb. Umm, it makes it sound like, uh, he's giving some assemblies apostles and he's giving some assemblies evangelists, but that's not the truth. He gave the church, He gave some apostles, he gave some prophets, He gave some evangelists and some pastors and teachers. And so he gave them at the beginning of the church period. But he's also giving them, I believe, some of these other gifts at the present time.
And justice in this connection it might be good to point out in Acts chapter. I think it's Chapter 11.
Those four gifts were given at the beginning of the church and they're presented in this chapter, Acts Chapter 11, and the four main gifts to the church working in unison.
Now, our brother Dave, I believe mentioned Joshua at the beginning of the last meeting and it's a good, uh, analogy, umm, Joshua and the elders that overlive Joshua chapter, uh, Joshua chapter two, I think it is, goes over that.
There were those that were used of God when the children of Israel went across into the land of Canaan. They crossed the river Jordan and they were used to help to establish the testimony of Israel in the land and to enter into the inheritance and to enjoy the inheritance and to defend against the enemy. The apostles were used in the same way they were used of God to as a first line of defense, you might say, against the corruption and the evil of the day that they were living in.
And the way the enemy was seeking to destroy the young testimony. And so in Chapter 11 of Acts, we find that there were first there were evangelists that says in verse 19 that, uh, they were preaching the word at the end of the verse, preaching the word to none. But under the Jews only. And some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch, spake unto the Grecians preaching the word of the Lord Jesus, preaching the Lord Jesus and the hand of the Lord was with them great number believed and turned unto the Lord. So you have the evangelist at work.
And then you have, uh, the news of this work of God going on.
In the work of the Gospel, it comes into the knowledge of the Saints in Jerusalem, and they sent forth Barnabas in verse 22.
I believe he was a shepherd, a pastor, and that's really what the Word means, a shepherd or pastor. And so he came and exhorted them and uh, verse 23, all that with the purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. And then in verse 25, he went and he sought for tar, uh, for Saul. He went to Tarsus. And Saul was a teacher. They needed teaching and he knew that they needed more than he could give them. And so Barnabas as a shepherd.
Went and he went to get the teacher and the teacher came and they talked there. It says much people in verse 26 and the disciples were called Christians. First in Antioch there was fruit for God and then we find prophets in verse 27 down to the end. And so it's interesting God has given us this little illustration, this little picture in the book of the Acts to recognize that these gifts labored together in harmony and there was fruit for God.
00:20:04
And with the God that there was harmony in the laboring.
Together in the assembly and in the work of the gospel, and so on, according to the truth of God, and as our brother brought before us in separation from what is evil in the sight of the Lord, that there might be fruit for God, acceptable fruit for him.
Helpful if we look at Hebrews chapter 2 and verse umm.
Uh, verse 14.
Know these verses here.
We take up the Lord when he went into death for us.
And here it's umm, verse 14. For as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood.
He also himself likewise took part of the same that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death that is the devil, and deliver them who through fear of death were all their lifetimes subject to *******.
And then back in our chapter here, where we started from verse 8. Wherefore he says, when He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above.
All heavens, that he might fill all things.
It seems to me that what God is bringing before us here is what the Lord did in order to bring about redemption for you and me.
And the depths of his that he went to.
Where he came and he went down into death. And there he said he tells us another scripture. He bound a strongman, and that was Satan. And as our brother pointed out in the meeting this afternoon.
Umm, that when sin came into the world, we all became captives of the enemy.
And if the Lord hadn't come?
And gone into depth to deliver you and me. Where would we be?
We would be bound by the strong man still, but the Lord in his death, umm took away that sting of death.
That belong to us. I don't know exactly how to how to say these thoughts. Perhaps others can help in connection with it. But he delivered us from the power of death and we were all our lifetimes subject to ******* and we've been released from it. But what did he do then?
He takes and he gives gifts unto men. Can I say that the prime example would be the apostle Paul. Look where he was, he was a captive of the enemy. And what did the Lord do in Acts Chapter 9? He picked them up and he gave gifts unto men and he used him all through his life there for the glory of God. And and so the the, the church, the one that's brought before us in this book of Ephesians.
Year the church that is so precious to the heart of God. He's provided gifts that we might be nurtured.
And I, I, I just think these verses to enter into them. I, I thank God for the ministry. I look back as a, as a young fellow and you know who, the ones I'm thinking of quite a bit who were such a help to me when I was young and in the ministry that God has given through the books that we have up here and, and other ministry books. It's wonderful the care that God has for his people.
And for each of us and, uh, to be able to sit into in meetings like this today and enjoy the, the, the umm, to think of the one who's behind the gifts.
The one who is behind. No, we need to be careful not to make too much of the gift. It's a giver who gave it. I think of in the Old Testament where it speaks of, of, uh, where God told Moses to take him to, to build the Tabernacle. Now he says, I'm going to give you the people who are able to do, do the building of it.
00:25:05
Yells above and so on. Moses couldn't do it all the God gave him gifts and we're very privileged to have an open Bible to have the, to have the, uh, the mind of God for our day and age and others to help some of us who don't understand things too well, It's, we're very blessed, aren't we?
So he.
Give those gifts.
In order to set others free.
The evangelist, right? Yeah. And that they might go on and be established and grounded and built up and edified and the truth of God. And, uh, so he has a, he has a wonderful purpose. Paul became his chief instrument in his warfare against the enemy that once held Paul captive, Saul of Tarsus. And so it was a wonderful turnabout and, uh.
Now he uses those who are once captives given as.
Gifts of love to his church to build up and edify.
Just saying it's really verse 12. The first, the first thing, the perfect thing of the Saints is his chief object and what he is doing in this part of the chapter. It's called when it brings in all of us because we're all joints with supply, though not all gifts of Christ to the church. He says every one of us has given grace. Why? Because in our particular responsibilities and privileges.
Uh, we all in some way help on.
The, uh, building up of the Church of God and that's his grace, isn't it? So he sums it up with that word grace. It's his grace to do that. And so he tells us that, uh, how he did it, but also stresses not only that he descended.
He came down to this earth and he went into death, but he also ascended and through Christian ministry flows from Christ at the right hand of God who was from there. The Spirit of God was sent down and formed the body of Christ and that's where true ministry comes from and exercising recently young brother brought up the local assemblies said we often speak of the Spirit of God leaving.
And the meetings, but you know, he said that listening to an old tape was, uh, he ho and some others. And uh, he said they were stressing how it's the Lord that leads by the Spirit of God. And so we have meetings sometimes we say for ministry, not as the Spirit would leave, but as the Lord would lead. He's the head. He does it by the power of the Spirit of God, but he's the leader. He's the leader.
And the ministry?
Of that to the assembly. It's by the power of the Spirit of God, but it's his leading. He is the Head. He is the one from whom all true Christian ministry flows down to every member of the body of Christ.
What's the thought on verse 10? Why does it put it that way? He that descended is the same also that hastened us.
It's as a glorified man at the right hand of God that this.
That he sends out the Spirit down and the church was formed and we really have the beginning of true Christian ministry then. So it's it's not only that he came down and went to the cross, but that he has ascended up in righteousness now, and God having highly exalted him.
Umm and glorified his beloved son, uh, sheds forth this as Peter says, which he now see in here. He didn't become head until he ascended.
Not till he ascends it. That's when he became head of the church, and that's when the union of the members on the head took place after he was glorified. And it's from there. Christian ministry has its origin. It's a heavenly ministry, heavenly ministry. So I, I, maybe there's other thoughts, but I tend to think that that's the emphasis, that the origin of this ministry is from Christ exalted, that God's right hand glorified and it's heavenly.
00:30:21
Character.
So this ministry, this service edifies the Saints, but it glorifies Christ. And so the purpose, as you mentioned a little earlier, it says in verse 12 for the perfect thing or for the full growth of the Saints.
For the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. And so his intention was that there would be full growth, that there would be maturity on the part of all of us. And God has made provision that we would all be mature Christians. That means that we would know, we would have an outline of Paul's doctrine. We would know the heavenly character of the church, and but we would not only know that the church is heavenly.
But we would know some of the aspects or not, or all of the aspects of the heavenly character of the church that's given to us.
In the epistles. And so we should, and so he gave gifts to the church so that we could all be mature believers and know and understand and enjoy the heavenly part that is ours. And so he gives this, umm, this list, not, I suppose it's uh, the list is in a particular order and he gives the apostles first. They were used of God as the foundations were laid for the church.
As we mentioned a little earlier, and then there were others that were going to build, we could look at First Corinthians chapter 3 just to give the little picture there. First Corinthians chapter 3 and umm.
Maybe, uh, we can read verse 11 for other foundation can no man lay that is laid which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation, gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble, every man's work shall be made manifest, for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work be abide which he has built there on he shall receive reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved yet so as by fire. And so we have.
A good builder. Paul himself was a good builder and he was building and, uh, we have, uh, a poor builder who's, uh, he suffers loss. He uses the wrong kind of material. And then we have a little later on, a corrupt builder. He actually uses corrupt material. And so God used the apostles as those that, uh, could, umm, build upon the foundation, which was Christ, and they began to lay that foundation.
As soon as Christ rose from the dead and the church was formed.
This the Lord had to rise from the dead. He had to ascend into heaven before the Spirit could descend. And then when the Spirit descended, the Church was formed. And now He's made every provision that there would be maturity in the Saints.
The picture, let's see it in a little different ways, but the picture is one who has gone into battle and has come.
Home Victoria. He's defeated Satan. Satan is a defeated Pope.
The One who led us captive is now captive himself, and as the victor He can share as He will the spoils of His victory. What are the spoils of His victory? All the Saints of God are the trophies of His grace, and He has taken some of them and given them as gifts to His Church, He who is the victim.
And he gives.
Yeah, that's really no, that was clear and what we had before, but I think that's really the thought.
I think that expression there in the eighth verse, that He led captivity captive, that we were the captives of the enemy, and now we are captives of Him, and no man can serve 2 masters, and therefore we now belong to him. Is that the thought there? I've heard it both ways, but I my own feeling I think, is that it's the one who helped us captive is now himself captive.
00:35:22
But.
Uh, he's leading many sons to, to glory, captain of our salvation, but we're more, I would say, in the, the spoils of his of, of his worries. We're the trophies of his grace of his victory. And he takes some of them and he gives them.
Umm gets to the church.
I think it may be quoted from a little bit from, uh, judges.
And, uh, chapter.
Four or five.
You know get all of it there but and the victory of Deborah and Barrick first well chapter 5 verse 12. Thank you 512 awake awake Deborah awake awake and utter a song. Her eyes barrack and leave thy captivity captive of some of them and so I think that.
When he defeated the foes there he they have been under captivity to the enemy, to Cicero, Jaden and his captain of his little sister. But now the tables have been turned.
Not a complete quote from that.
There's another.
Scripture I might look at in Haggai.
That's a nice illustration of what?
Umm, we have.
When God sought to stir them up to.
Umm, yeah.
The work of the Lord.
Well, maybe it's uh.
Actually, maybe I want to.
Ezra, which actually took place.
Haggai, chapter one, verse 7.
No, no.
Umm, I'm thinking of the verse where they prospered through the processing of Haggai and Zechariah.
Thank you.
All of chapter 6, verse 14.
Excellent. Thank you. And the elders of the Jews build them. They prosper through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Ido, and they build it and finish it according to the commandment of the God of Israel. And so there were different types of, uh, build builders. There were bearers of burdens, there were Masons or whatever there might be needed to set forward the work in the House of the Lord.
And build it. But they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zachariah. They were encouraged to go on to that work. And I think that's the picture here. And giving gifts to the church. There is a work that's going on.
And Christian service.
And so in verse 12 of our chapter, you get for the perfecting of the Saints. That's the chief thing. They're edifying. They're being built up. And then I think Mr. Garvey translates it this way with a view too, with this in view, with a view.
To the work of the ministry with a view to the edifying of the body of Christ. So the Saints need to be stirred up and encouraged.
Through the ministry of the Word of God, by those gifts given from an ascended Christ, they being perfected, will each take up their own labor and set forward the work of the ministry, and the whole body of Christ will be edified. And so he takes these gifts you a number, and through them he stirs up the workers at large to go on in their work, and the whole work goes forward, and the body of Christ is edified.
00:40:28
And so I believe that's the picture. So there weren't everyone wasn't a prophet and and Ezra's day, but he took two and he specially gave them a work to stir up the Saints of God. And what happened when they got edified, when they were perfected, then the work that they had to do was set forward. It went on and the whole thing grew. And that's the same with the churches blocking. That's what you have in Acts 11.
There was progress and it was a work of the Spirit to use those different gifts. And the assembly in Antioch was just one example, that Gentile assembly, and it was established and the Gentiles were first called those Gentile believers. Converts were first called Christians, not the Christians in Jerusalem.
They had gifts too, and there were gifts given to the church, and there were some of those gifts there in Jerusalem, but there was a work of God and the Gentiles. That work was so significant.
The Lord records that the Christians they were first called Christians in a Gentile assembly means Christ ones.
We also have a thought here on this, uh, eleventh verse where it says it's plural. It gives and he gave some pauses and.
And some problems and some advantages. And some pastors.
The gifts weren't all centered in one individual.
And there was. It was plural in connection with each one and.
And uh, uh, it's good for us to realize the.
You know, if God has given you a gift, giving me a gift, to find out what that gift is, to use it for him.
Umm, and don't try to go beyond what your gift is.
The comments made on each one of these gifts, but I would just like to comment on the one that's given in connection with teachers. It says that he gave teachers.
And a teacher has the ability to lay out the truth of God in a very orderly fashion. He understands it himself and he has the ability to present it to others and to teach the truth. And so we have a little example of it in connection with Timothy. I believe that perhaps he had the gift of being able to teach. And it says in, umm, second Timothy, uh, chapter 2 and verse two, it says.
The things that thou hast heard of Maine among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men who shall be able to teach others also.
And so there were those that were raised up of God in the early testimony that were teachers, and they taught the Saints of God. And there are teachers among the Saints now. And when the truth was recovered in the early 1800s, there were teachers. And what did they do? They taught the Saints. They learned the truth, and it was recovered by the gracious work of the Spirit in these men. And they wrote the writings that they wrote because they were writing down their teachings.
And so you and I are responsible to read the teachings of what, uh, God gave to these men in the power of the Spirit. And so it's not that individually we all have the ability to.
Understand all scripture and we don't need teachers. He, I've just referred to this, uh, in first John chapter 2, uh, verse 20, it says you have an unction from the Holy one and you know all things.
I've heard this verse of scripture used and some say that we don't need to read ministry. It's not true. We need the teaching of the Spirit of God and we need the teachers. God gave the teachers so that the Saints would be established.
What's he Speaking of here? He's Speaking of the unction of the Spirit or the anointing of the Spirit that gives us discernment to be able to discern between evil doctrine and true doctrine, doctrine that exalts Christ and is the truth that which was from the beginning or ministry that is as our brother alluded to in the previous meeting that would bring in air. And so you and I have an unction of the Spirit. And if we walk in communion with the Lord and we know the Scriptures.
00:45:29
We don't need to know a lot. We need to know the Lord and He will give us a discernment. We have the power of discernment to discern what's evil and what's correct. But we do need the teachers. We need to be taught and we need to come to reading meetings, addresses. We need the teachings of the written ministry that we have and we ought to be thankful for it. Brethren, there are in other cultures not the written ministry that's available that we have.
In Korea, they don't have the ministry that we have. They have precious few books that are translated, and so they rely heavily on oral ministries. Similar situation exists in Brazil with Portuguese. They have maybe a hundred, 110 titles that are translated from the old writers and other materials as well. And they're busy working on translating because they don't have the written ministry. The teachers, what they taught is being translated into these other languages so that the testimony can be built up and so that they.
Can be well taught, established in the truth, and so we ought to be thankful for the teachers. They work largely inside the assembly.
Why is it that in that verse chapter verse 11, that they're all individual except the last two?
Pastors and teachers are grouped together. The others are singular evangelist prophecy. Why is it that?
It put their pastures.
And teachers or shepherds teachers.
Often, umm.
They're one and the same person.
One who the shepherd is often has some ability to teach the Saints too, and, uh, vice versa. I think that's kind of why they're linked together. They go very, uh, close together and, uh.
In their service rendered on behalf of the Lord Jesus to the Saints of God.
Search 320 before that, because the evangelist, his work is outside the assembly, generally speaking, and he brings, uh, the gospel message out to the ones that need it. And his work is in hobby class work, uh, gospel track distribution. Uh, perhaps, uh, he rents a hall and has gospel meetings. Uh, he's given the, umm, meeting room and uh, he holds gospel meetings, that sort of thing, but largely his work is outside the assembly.
But the work of the one that is in the assembly, generally speaking, is the pastor and the teacher.
Enjoyed it in this way that uh, uh, a shepherd.
Or a farmer. He's got to know what his flock needs.
You've got to be among them.
And, uh, he senses the level that they're at.
And so it's uh, posture and teacher shepherds and teachers and when we, uh.
When we minister, we need to keep in mind the.
A ministry that is suited for the Saints of God.
Agree with that one.
I think there's another way, uh, it could be enjoyed too, and that is, uh, the thought of a trellis.
Uh, maybe all of us have seen a trellis on the side of a building and there's a framework there and then they plant the flowers just below and they grow up on the trellis. But I've likened that to.
Uh, teaching without some application with it tends to be more like just a hard cold framework.
By the same token, if you only have some ideas about some application you might have, maybe that's like a pile of flowers on the ground that aren't really supported by anything. So there needs to be the two things, and if you have them together, it's a pretty sight. But if you have just the one, it can be hard and cold, or the other can be pretty and not much substance to it. So I just enjoy that with the pastors and teachers working together, perhaps in the same person.
00:50:15
But it's so nice to have a blending of the two things and not just the one or the other.
That, uh, the Lord gives the Church, uh, his, uh, Saints, the gifts. He gives these various gifts for the perfecting of the Saints. And then he has an objective that we all come in the unity of the faith and of the full knowledge, it should say of the Son of God unto a perfect or mature man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
It's a high, high, umm, bar, you might say, but, uh, not one that, uh, is unattainable. Every one of us, uh, will be learning all of the rest of our lives as we have Christ before us. And that's the purpose. God had a, an objective in view until we all come in the unity of the faith. And then he has really the, umm, inverse UH-14, the.
What the Lord what was Paul was really working with in connection with the the Saints at that time, is that they would be defended from the error that was around them, and that they would be able to identify the error that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine by slight of men and cunning craftiness whereby they lie in wait to deceive. And I know we should probably read that in the new translation. It's much more clear.
But umm, This is why we need those gifts. There is an immediate objective today.
That everyone should know what Paul's doctrine is, what the truth of God is. And so he says, Umm.
In verse 14, in order that we may be no longer babes, and tossed and carried about by every wind of that teaching which is in the sleight of men, in UN unprincipled cunning, with a view to systematized error, but holding the truth in love, we may grow up to Him in all things, who is the head of Christ.
So isn't that wonderful to have the word of God and to have the teaching of the Apostle Paul and to have the revelation of, uh, God by the Apostle Paul and how he says he didn't want us to be taken up with systematized error and he didn't want us to remain babes, not just saved by the grace of God, but that he was looking for full growth, growth. And we're either growing in our souls, we're growing in the knowledge of the truth and the appreciation of the work of Christ.
And the, uh, all that he has won for the glory of God and for our blessing, or we're going backwards. There's no such thing as just staying still in the things of God. In business, we used to say, uh, you're either going up or you're going down. And in a, a competitive business, if, uh, you didn't improve your product and improve the manufacturing processes didn't continually improve, then your competitors started to eat your lunch.
In spiritual things, we need to be.
Umm, if I could put, uh, put it this way, we need to be engaged and we need to take our Christianity seriously and we need to learn the truth and walk in the truth. We need to know what the truth is so that we won't be turned aside and really, umm, deceived by the enemy.
13 at all a reference to the Lord's coming.
Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, under the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
It's a contrast with the children.
Childlike state of soul, Umm, that isn't grown up in the truth. So I think it's more presently here, not resurrection and glory, but uh, grown up here is is more the thought I think.
00:55:01
In the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, perfect are full grown man. Now what is the measure?
The stature of the fullness of Christ.
We're gonna be learning our whole lifetime.
And be learning our whole lifetime. But I think it's here that it's the.
Thought that we would be grown up in in, uh, faith.
In one Corinthians chapter three he says, And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, that is, unto carnal. They were earthly minded, even as unto bathes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat, for hitherto you were not able to bear it, neither yet are you now able, for ye are yet carnal.
And so.
We need to lay aside every weight and the sin that the so easily beset us and to run with patience the race that is set before us. We are in a race. The race is from earth to heaven, and none of us is exempt. We're running the race. And so we need to know about the Savior and we need the Lord's desire is that we wouldn't run in ignorance, that we would know what the race is and who the objective is. Christ is the objective.
And so we're going to present.
To him at the end of our lives, really what we thought of him.
It's important to say that it's the knowledge of the Son of God, it's with himself as a divine person, the Son of God, that, uh, we become more intimate and acquainted with. And it's by the, the knowledge of the Lord. And we find that through the epistles, uh, Peter lays emphasis on that. That is by the knowledge of him that we grow. That's the means. It's, we never can divorce the truth from the person.
And uh, so it's kind of growing.
And increasing acquaintance with him that this growth really is achieved because he's the one who said, I am the way, the truth and the life. He's this living embodiment we get later in the epistle of the truth is in Jesus as he walked here below, he was a perfect display of it. And, uh, it's from him that, uh, ascended Christ that that ministry flows and it himself.
That we need to become more and more acquainted within our souls. There's the real means of growth, and it's remarkable.
Expression, the knowledge of the Son of God.
When the Lord was going to introduce the truth for the first time of the church, not in all the detail of the mystery as was given to Paul, he, uh, asked the disciples in Matthew 16, Who do you say that I am, you know?
Thou art a crime, the son of the living God, Peter says.
Oh, the Lord, uh, commends him. He says blush and blood hasn't revealed this to to thee, but my father, which is in.
And then he goes on to say that I'm going to Jerusalem and I'm going to suffer.
And uh, we crucified Peter says all of them. This be not to me. You know, the Lord says, Peter, you've had a wonderful revelation from the fallen, but there's a path of suffering that goes with that knowledge. Peter says, I don't want that.
From that point on, Peter, never in his ministry or apostleship, rises back up completely to Matthew 16 and the verse 15.
Power to Christ with someone.
And.
When God chose to pick up solid tarsus, Paul looks back and says when he.
Called me for the purpose of revealing his Son and me. He picks up where Peter left off in Matthew 16, and upon his conversion immediately he was in the synagogue's preaching that Jesus is the Son of God.
01:00:01
It was the very first subject of his preaching that Jesus is the Son of God.
And you will find the Lord referred to very often in Peter's ministry and his epistles. But I don't know that you see very many references to the wonderful truth that was revealed to him by the Father in chapter 16.
When he ascended up on high.
And was glorified. He gave gifts unto men. He gave some apostles. When did he give them? When he was ascended. None of these gifts.
And verse 11 were in existence before his ascension, while there were apostles, not in this order of apostles.
Not this order of apostles.
This was him.
This came from an ascendant Christ. The apostles in the gospels were called by Christ on earth and had an apostleship more connected with this earth and Israel. And so when they offer went out to Israel to repent, and Christ would be sent by God from glory and come down and establish the Kingdom. If they would repent, the testimony was given by the apostles.
All the way up through until you come to Chapter 7 where God now uses someone who's not an apostle, and that's Stephen. They stone him. And that's a turning point in Acts. The disciples are scattered. They go everywhere. Doing what? Preaching the gospel. Now it's not just the apostles. What do the apostles do? They remained at Jerusalem, that earthly order of things. And he called Saul a Tarsus to reveal his son and him.
And he reveals there's a new order of things that has come from an ascended Christ.
It's a it's so to me, there's much more depth connected with the knowledge of the Son of God here than we might first immediately see. Umm And so he takes up that one who God chose to reveal his summit, the preaching that Jesus is the Son of God.
From Acts chapter 8 onward, really the full gospel begins to be preached, not immediately, but really Paul was used of God that the truth of the gospel of the grace of God in connection with the finished work of Christ and the glorification of Christ and the gospel going out to the Gentiles was really connected with the apostle Paul and Paul was the.
Center and the focus of the energy of the Spirit of God in connection with that the full gospel going forth throughout the world before Paul, before Chapter 7, there was still repentance being preached to the nation of Israel and they could have received him and if they had received him, we've often heard that he would have come and I believe he would have, but they didn't receive him. And so now God was at liberty. You might say the gospel went forth first to the Jews and then it could go beyond.
And God's chosen vessel was the apostle Paul.
It's good to know too, in verse 13 that it speaks of the faith. What does it mean when it speaks of the faith? It's a term that's used in Scripture, and it's used to denote the entire body of Christian truth, the faith. And he says here in verse five that there's one faith.
You often hear people saying, well, I'm of the Catholic faith or I'm of something else. Uh, but God says there's only one faith and there's only one body of truth in connection with his son that glorifies his son and that magnifies God as the father and ex and reveals the father in relationships. There are hours in Christianity. And so he terms the term the faith to include the whole, entire body of Christian truth that is taught.
And so that expression is very significant.
We'll never know any truth of God except in an increasing acquaintance of the Son of God.
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It will grow in the truth as we see how it relates to him.
You know, we get uh.
Uh, for instance, in, uh, in Isaiah, we get the vineyard and we get the, the prophet song about the vineyard and how he had, uh, taken that vineyard, put a choice line in a hedge that about and so on, but it produced wild grapes. And so we get some truth about the vine there and, uh, being fruit being produced, but you know, we get the fullness of it when we get to John 15. I am the true life.
And so we see every truth and its fullness.
When we see it in relationship to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. So we'll grow in the truth as we grow in our knowledge of, of himself and uh, as the truth, uh, relates to him.
Verse 15 is holding the truth that shouldn't really be speaking the truth, but holding the truth in love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head. I was thinking of the Psalm 119. It says in verse 11 by word have I hid in my heart that I might not sin against thee? And so there is, uh, a proper affection for Christ, affection for the truth, affection for what relates to the person of the sun.
Of God what is suitable to his dignity and his honor and his glory. And if we have affection for the person of the sun, then we're going to hold the truth the way it ought to be held, because it has to do with the glory of the Son of God.
In, uh, in the book of Ephesians that there are six times we have that expression in love. And this is one of them in the 15th verse, Speaking of holy name, truth and love. And without taking too much time, I frankly don't know if I can put the, my finger on, on every one of them in the, in the first chapter. And they, uh, and they, uh, fourth verse that we should be holy.
Without blame before him in love and umm.
Piece of.
Few others here in the in actually the next verse from our chapter 4 and 16.
Working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body in the edifying itself and love. And then the 5th chapter in the second verse walk in love. And I gained there six times. I think what I've wondered about is uh, you know how it says in umm, in uh, Revelation chapter 2, I have a few things against thee because thou has left my first love. And I wondered if the umm.
Apostle Paul when he was in prison here.
The sense that the, the Ephesians were losing their affection for the Lord and in, in love and the first love. And, uh, I think we all know that in our own lives. I, I, that, uh, it's a dangerous thing when we, when we lose the freshness of the love of the Lord in our lives.
If it, if, umm, if Christianity, if I can use that term becomes a habit.
It may be a good habit, but you need to be careful. And that's where I really think that the value of the remembrance of the Lord particularly is a place where we are to be reminded week in and week out of the Lord's love to us.
No, uh, conference out West, they, they were enjoying the verse.
The love of Christ constrains us.
And it's not our love for Christ, but it is his love for us. And.
When we realize that on A7 day week basis of the love of Christ for us, that goes on with us. Some of us were talking about diverse in Deuteronomy where at the end of Moses life, why he said, yeah, he loved the people, all his Saints are in his hands and uh, the Lord bore with those children of Israel for 40 years in the wilderness. I know it's not exactly a subject here, but.
01:10:05
You know, I wondered if the Apostle Paul didn't sense.
That the Ephesians were losing their affections for the Lord.
I'll just tell you, brother. Mr. FG Patterson says it's much the same thing. His ministry.
Gospel 1
Gospel—Jonathan Grinton
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Very thankful to be here with you tonight.
Is how we're sitting here in this room. The Lord has not come yet.
Yet there is room.
We could sing #15.
The blessed gospel sound, yet there is room It tells to all around, yet there is room. The guilty may draw near, Though vile they need not fear. With joy they now may hear, Yet there is room thing #15.
O blessed Gospel sound.
Get air through.
Head down to all around.
Yes, there is room.
I guilty may drive here.
No mile they need not, fears will.
A love in Christ, we could say.
That Fairy Gross.
Could not be.
As there is room.
All things are ready come.
Yes, there is room.
I have everything.
Happened.
Very soon.
All the time it's been late.
Yet there is room.
On gas will be the light.
Yes, there is a room.
Handsome salvation.
Day from you will pass away.
The grace of Lord.
The fair number of little ones here tonight. Maybe we could also sing #43 on the back. One door and only one.
#43.
One door and only one, and yet its eyes are till inside and outside. On which side are you?
One door and only one, yet it's either I'm on the inside. On which side are you?
Thus the Lord for help.
Our God and our Father we.
While I was driving yesterday.
I had quite a bit of time to consider.
And one of the thoughts that I had.
Was everyone here in this room tonight?
And I wondered.
00:05:00
If there was one person here still in their sins.
What you might be thinking?
As you sit here, I don't know everyone. I recognize most everybody.
I trust you all believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, but I don't know.
He knows your heart.
But I wondered if you had sat in a room like this before.
And you heard these verses before?
And you sang these little hymns like this before?
I wondered what you would be thinking.
Are you comfortable tonight?
Are you happy?
Well known verse that everybody knows. I'll turn to it.
In John 316.
Any of you younger ones have a Bible? You might open it to John chapter 316.
Says For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son.
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
We also sang One Door and only one, so turn to John, chapter 10.
Please.
We had a prayer a little while ago, a prayer meeting for the gospel tonight and a brother mentioned this prayer in his or this verse. In his prayer John 10 and verse 9 says I am the door by me. If any man enter in, he shall be saved.
And so I wondered what you would be thinking. Certainly you've heard these verses before.
It was only about a few days ago I was in to the grocery store where my son and daughter work.
And we had tried desperately to get a Friday night shift changed, a Thursday night shift changed, so that we could leave on Thursday to be here a day earlier.
And I had to go and speak with my son's boss.
And I went up the stairs and there was 3 ladies there and I do business with these people so I knew them.
I had to sit down and describe why we needed the shift change.
And they proceeded to tell me that the ship could not be changed, but they wanted to know what we did at a Bible conference.
And so I tried to tell them they knew we went to these Bible conferences before because we had booked the time off, but I had never sat and spoke to them about the Lord Jesus Christ, had never sat and talked to them about being saved.
And one lady, she was a Catholic lady. She is a Catholic lady.
She looked at me and she said I believe in God.
And she showed me her cross, you know, she had a cross around her neck. So I believe in God.
Mm-hmm, she said. But I am scared to death, of dying.
Scared the death of dying.
It made me think of the verse in Hebrews 9 that says it is appointed unto men once to die.
It goes on to say, and after this, the judgment, it is appointed on demand once to die.
As I said to Jonathan Alert earlier today, I looked up appointed last night.
It says decided beforehand.
Decided beforehand, Lord may come first.
But it was decided beforehand.
And you know you have an appointment.
With God.
And if you're still hearing your sins tonight, I'm wondering.
You're not prepared.
00:10:01
You're not ready.
And I wonder why?
There's a sign outside that I read last night at about 10:45 when we turned in the yard because we missed the driveway.
And it says, prepare in Amos, Prepare to meet thy God.
And I thought, this lady that's afraid to die.
I know I was fairly afraid to take this task to stand up here before you tonight.
But I love you and I want you all to be saved.
And so I think that if you're not prepared and you're not ready, you must be scared to death like this lady that I spoke with.
I think of the things that we do in our lives that we prepare ourselves for.
Exams in college?
Going to a new school, children off to work, maybe a proposal that has to be made. We prepare so many things every day. I already have my route prepared for the way home on Monday if the Lord leaves us.
I have an idea of where I plan to work on Tuesday. I don't think Mr. Porter will mind me saying I looked at his itinerary. He shows me every time I visit with him and it's got a route marked all the way around. Does he plan to complete that? Not if the word comes. But he has a route and it's planned.
Says prepare to meet thy God. There are no certainties in this world. You might plan to do these things. You might.
You might purchase car insurance for 20 years.
And you might never have a car accident.
You might purchase house insurance.
For 30 years and never have a claim, ever.
There is nothing certain in this world.
But one thing I can tell you is certain, if you do not have the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're on your way to hell.
Simple as that.
There is another certain thing though.
If you do as the Lord Jesus, as your Savior, If you've asked him to wash your sins away.
He is prepared a place for you. He's prepared a place for you.
I was thinking of this hymn #15 and it says though vile, though vile.
And I was considering some verses.
That might allow us to see what we are actually like.
We often say that we're born in sin.
I know in Psalm 51 it says we are shaping in iniquity Psalm 51.
In verse five says, Behold, I was shapen in iniquity.
Chapter 58.
It says the wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon as they are born.
They go astray as soon as they are born.
Look in Genesis chapter 6.
Verse five God saw.
The wickedness of man.
It was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
You know these verses. You've read them before Jeremiah chapter 17.
Verse 9.
The hurt.
Is deceitful.
Above all and desperately wicked.
00:15:04
We are born in sin, Romans 3 and 23 says. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
We are vile.
There's no way that we can.
Get rid of the sin.
On our own, we don't have the strength, the capability.
And as we prayed, there was only one way of escape. It was through the Lord Jesus Christ. There was another verse in Umm Matthew chapter 23.
And I was thinking of this verse in connection with the others, because, as I said, I can't tell by looking at you. I've known a lot of you for a long time.
So to look at your outward appearance.
Would not suggest anything tonight.
And here it says in verse 28, Even so he also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within your full of hypocrisy and iniquity, whoa unto you.
Wake up.
He sees you, He sees your heart.
You cannot fool him, but he loves you.
Loves you. He wants you for his own. He paid the price.
He gave his only begotten Son, for God's loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Woe unto you, verse 33, ye serpents, the generation of Vipers, how can you escape the damnation of hell?
How can you escape the damnation of hell?
Hebrews 2 Says how can you escape if you neglect so great salvation? You have a responsibility.
He has done all the work, He has completed the work on the cross. It's up to you to choose. Everything we do in this life is a choice.
You can say yes, you can say no, You can do good, you can do bad, and there are consequences to everything that we do. The consequence for you tonight to say yes.
To the Lord Jesus Christ is salvation. It's a place prepared for you in heaven.
Place that you will have eternal life.
Yet there is room.
I was thinking.
Of this because.
I don't know. I've always really liked police officers.
Wanted to be one when I was younger. Of course then I wanted to be a firefighter. Maybe I better stop at the police officer recently in Nova Scotia.
I drove to Amherst at the border for work a few weeks ago.
And I went into some of the customers that I have and everybody was talking about this police officer.
And there are some pretty upset people.
They said, you know, the highway is still blocked off.
Miles.
See, this police officer was a young man.
He was newly married.
Not certain if it was three weeks or three months.
Wasn't very long.
You went on a cruise in the police car to New Brunswick.
And on the way back there was a man pulled over on the side of the road.
And he had his tire jacked up and he was trying to change the tire.
00:20:04
And I don't know what the code of a policeman is. I know he's to serve and protect. But if I looked at his book, I'm not sure if it says in service that he would change your tire, but many of them do. And he pulled over and left his car out. How they teach them to do it on a four lane highway. And he had his lights on and it was a beautiful, beautiful sunny day.
And I'm sure he went up to that man with the full intention of changing that man's tire and helping him.
And probably.
With the assumption he would get back into his cruiser.
And finish off the shift.
As he was kneeling down between the cars changing the tire.
A vehicle came along.
And struck the police car.
And the police car struck the officer.
They were on the shoulder of the road and he ended up over in the median.
He didn't finish his shift.
He didn't finish his shift.
His life is over.
Now in Acts chapter one it tells you that you don't know the times or the seasons.
We read and often quote that you should not boast of tomorrow.
We don't know what the day may bring.
Yeah, that man was just doing his duty.
And his life is over. I don't know if he was saved or not. I didn't personally know him.
But I'm certain each and everyone of you can think of stories similar that you have heard or people you have known.
That their life ended like that.
It is appointed unto men once to die. When are you going to die?
Don't know.
Matthew, Chapter 24.
Verse 36.
But of that day an hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only. But as the days of Noah were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be present. The days that were before the flood. They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark, and knew not until the flood came and took them all away. Social also the coming of the Son of Man be.
Then shall two be in the field, The one shall be taken, the other left.
Two grinding at the mill.
One shall be taken and the other left.
Watch therefore, for you know not what hour your Lord does come.
Verse 44. Therefore be also ready. Be also ready for in such an hour as you think not the Son of Man cometh.
The Lord could die if the Lord could come. I'm sorry. Or you could die on your way up the road tonight. You could take a heart attack walking out of this building before you leave the door. You don't know the time. I consider this because we read in our calendar page the other day about Noah, and I'm not sure if it was the children's and young people's, but you know, it says that.
It took that long for him to build that big boat.
They are. And all the people watched. They were there. Surely they were curious. We're all curious.
And you know Noah waited.
The very last moment it said in our calendar page that we waited to the last second to shut that door.
And people would not come in.
People would not come in. Certainly he was there saying, yet there is room.
00:25:00
That boat.
Was big enough.
He waited till the last second.
Have you ever thought of what it must have been like for those people as the water started to rise?
Have you ever considered what it must have been like?
As the water gets so high, surely they were trying to cling to the sides of that heart.
The door was shut.
They perished.
Lost were all eternity.
Yet there is room.
Yet there is room.
The door stands open.
I am the door by me if any man enter in shall be saved.
Chapter 25.
Verse One. Then shall the Kingdom of heaven be likened unto 10 virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom, and five of them were wise, and five were foolish. They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them.
But the wise to avoid in their vessels with their lamps, while the bridegroom tarried. They all slumbered and slept, And at midnight there was a cry made. Behold, the bridegroom cometh, coming out to meet him. Then all these virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil, for our lamps are gone out. But the Wise answered, saying Not so.
Lest there be not enough for us and you, but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.
These are the verses I was thinking of and while they went to buy the bridegroom cane and they that were ready.
Went in.
They that were ready went in.
They went in with him to the marriage, and the door was shut. Afterwards came also the other virgin, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not.
Watch, therefore we know neither the day nor the hour. We're in the Son of Man coming.
There's time. There's room.
Why do you wait?
Why do you put it off?
It's a personal thing between you and the Lord. Would we all like to know? Yeah, it would be nice to know.
But it's personal.
You only need to take care of it with him.
Why would you choose a life?
Of eternal Hellfire.
Why would you choose that and give up?
A place that he is prepared.
For you.
I think of the Lord Jesus.
When he rose from the dead.
Those ones in Acts chapter one, we're standing watching.
And they saw him.
Send up and to be received into the cloud. The clouds.
Those ones there.
Said ye men of Galilee.
This one that you see going up will come again in like manner Acts chapter one. I cannot quote it.
Verse 11 Yemen of Galilee. Why Sanji gazing up into heaven?
The same Jesus which is taken up from you into heaven shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
He is going to come again.
00:30:02
He tells us so, and I believe it.
And I am one that is waiting and watching.
And there is nothing.
Funny about this. I don't intend to make a joke, but Jonathan Bullard and I get along quite well and we talk about certain things and, you know, he's learning to fly a plane.
And I told him one time that.
I would consider going up with him.
Then I recall the boat ride he had taken me on last year.
And I finished the statement with because because.
I know that he believes in the Lord Jesus Christ because I know he is saved.
And because I know I am, I said I will take that trip up with you.
But it will be when the Lord calls us home to be with him. And I pray that each and everyone of you.
We'll hear that shout.
I think of those two in Matthew.
So we have to turn back to Matthew 24.
I think of those two that were in the field, one shall be taken and the other left.
You know, I really enjoy the gems that Mister Ebert sends out, and there was one just the other day that had this in it.
And it spoke very much.
Of the joy we will have when the Lord comes to take us to be with Him, His own, those that believe in Him, those that trust in Him, His own. And then it spoke in the last paragraph in this poem very clearly of the ones that would be left behind.
That would look and see the one.
And they would wonder where is the other?
And those two that were grinding there would be one.
And they would say where?
But they would remember.
They would remember. You will remember if you are left behind and it will be too late.
Too late, too late will be the cry.
That door will be shut.
You will say I never knew you.
Well, I was thinking of the children.
I know we sang one door and only one and the edit size are two.
I just thought maybe I could tell this little story for the kids.
I can't remember their names, but.
One of them was Timmy and he had two brothers.
One day.
They were gonna go to Sunday school. Their parents told them that they had to go to Sunday school, so off they went.
And it was a hot, hot day.
As they walked along, they came along this beautiful river.
And the older brother?
He said, well, I think that we should skip Sunday school today and we should go swimming.
What do you think, Timmy?
He said no.
No, we need to go to Sunday school like Mommy and Daddy said. And you know, it wasn't that long. It was about a week before that Timmy had got saved at the Gospel tent.
And he loved the Lord Jesus. He was just a little boy.
He said no, we got to go to Sunday school.
And his brother said, no, let's go swimming. And the middle brother, he said, what do you think? Yeah, let's go swimming. So they kind of tackled Timmy and got him down to his trunks and threw him in the water. He didn't really have a choice.
Then they all got before you knew it, everybody was having fun. It was enjoyable. The water was cool, it was very hot.
00:35:03
And as they were swimming, they saw these logs that were floating down the river heading to the mill down below.
And so they made a makeshift diving board.
Where they could jump off these logs and swim and they were having the time of their life.
All of a sudden, the older brother looked.
And he said to his little brother, Where's Timmy?
Oh, I don't know.
Where's Timmy?
And they looked on the shore. Well, maybe he went to get dressed. They couldn't see him.
Well, maybe he got dressed and went to Sunday school.
Now there wasn't time for that. His clothes were still there.
And then the fear hit.
They realized that Timmy by the current had got pulled under those giant logs and they screamed and they cried for help.
They tried to move the logs but they were too heavy.
They couldn't move them.
And the men all came from the mill, and they rushed out as fast as they could.
By the time they got there, him he was gone. He was dead.
He was dead.
Oh the sor the sadness those boys felt. They had to go and tell their parents first of all that Timmy was dead, but that they were disobedient and they didn't listen and do what they were told.
Well, the policemen came and.
Health and home.
And you know, the mommy and daddy were really sad because they lost their son Timmy. But you know what made them really happy?
Was that Timmy got saved a week before at the gospel time and they knew that he was with the Lord Jesus in heaven.
And so young children, young people.
Make sure that you are safe. Make sure you ask the Lord Jesus to wash your sins away.
Because anything can happen at any time. We don't know.
And you know, that story is a little bit longer, but it's nice because his two brothers went on and they got saved too. I remember the oldest one went and sat on his dad's knee one night.
Only about a week after his brother had died and he cried to his dad.
You said I can't sleep, I can't do anything.
He knew he needed the Lord Jesus for his Savior.
And his dad read him some verses.
You got down and He accepted the Lord as a Savior right then and there. You need to do that now too, if you're still in your sins.
Says in Second Corinthians chapter 6, Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. You don't have time to wait.
You don't have time to wait.
I have heard one say that when this meeting is over, if you would like to meet with someone and get on your knees and pray you don't have time to wait, you need to do it now.
The Lord could come. We have talked about it before. We have said that maybe He is just waiting for one last person to be saved. Did we sing that?
Somewhere tonight.
Maybe I read that somewhere else.
But we have often heard that.
I know I have growing up that maybe is just waiting for one last soul to be saved. Maybe it's you.
So what if it isn't?
What if it's somebody in India? Or what if it's somebody in?
Australia.
And they could save right now at a gospel meeting, and you're still in your sins and the Lord comes. It's too late.
You don't have time.
Now.
Now.
00:40:01
Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, that your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, they be red like Crimson, they shall be as wool. They'll wash all your sins away, and make you whiter than snow.
Please put your trust in the Lord Jesus tonight and be saved.
Let's sing.
SIM #21.
Besides, for Christ today in God's salvation yield soul and body, heart and will to Him who died for thee. Christ alone can save, break the power of sin. Christ has fully satisfied the heart that cleaves to him #21.
He sighed for Christ today.
And salvation. See.
He'll fall and body hard as well, to him who died for thee.
Christ, thou canst.
54 price today.
I thought thou canst not.
Take her blood so guilty and pray.
So a transgender.
Brave.
Mm-hmm.
If you decide.
Being Short
Children—Aaron Stewart
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Maybe we could start by, uh, singing some songs from the back of the, uh, the back of the simsheet if anyone wants to give one out.
46.
Glad TIDIDING as I feel.
In G.
20 can't do the last that comes in the last days.
And we saw and we all saw the geek IRL elderly and in 1000 in the wireless in June.
Another 1.
47.
When he cometh, when he comes.
In on the Gracious.
His son and his own.
Light the stars fall down for the morning in the bright ground Now that's no longer anything They shall shine in his university Friday turn the sword and.
Do you want to do a gather sun heaven swallowing again them all of a stagnant one of the bright lights is one of them, and there is some of them.
Oh, it's the morning.
It was running around so everything. There ain't no shine.
Right.
Yeah, she's kind of swallowing.
Yeah, she's not drinking anything we have.
1002 Thousand 22,005.
$3500.
00:05:05
Yeah, it was strange.
Yes, chicken of rice and skin.
Yeah, I have a skin that's a flower. Sweet snow, thyroid rolled out the stone.
MMM.
Yeah, she didn't. It's like, it's like a lot of sleeping. Yeah. I don't know. She didn't use his 1001.
Yeah, it's changed.
The blind fools out me so.
511-2967.
Thyroid and you know for all men shy name on my life.
Here rather watch me to where I have library. Yes, let's see the plants close to me.
That's huge.
Yeah.
Fighting out of the way.
In my trust and should I decline?
He will Take Me Home on time.
Yes, you need to tell you.
Come on me.
Yeah.
1216090 Tell me umm hum.
Now before we sing anymore, just want to mention there's candy up here for anyone that sits in the front row. So if your Shiloh is sitting in the front row, don't worry, won't ask you any hard questions and you will get some candy.
Uh, let's just pray before we. Maybe we'll sing one more after we pray.
So we will have one more if someone has one.
343.
1.
1 door and opening one again excites her to hurry on the inside of which I am.
So the subject I'd like to talk about is about being short.
So I don't know if your kids have any experience with being short.
But uh, I do. So I figured first I'd tell you about how I was always short. So I have a twin brother named Ben who's here. And so we were born at the same time and he was always at least 6 inches taller than me. I don't know if he still is, but he was always way taller than me. And uh, so my shortness was a problem. Sometimes people would ask for someone to reach for something. I could never help because that was too short.
And, uh, but eventually I got a little taller. He's still taller than me.
But I wanna point out this if you guys didn't see this.
The chocolate bar hanging up there and uh, I wanna talk about being short. Does anyone know of someone who is short in the Bible?
Zacchaeus. Zacchaeus. So maybe we'll look at the story of Zacchaeus really quickly.
00:10:01
That's in Luke 19.
So in Luke 19, you know the story of Zacchaeus.
So he was a chief among Republican and I believe he was a tax collector. So he'd go around door to door, a knock on people's doors and he'd say time to pay your taxes. So right now when we pay taxes, what we do is we fill out a form and send it into the government and, umm, with whatever however much money we're supposed to pay. At least that's what we do in, in the US. But they would come around it, they'd knock on doors and say pay your taxes.
And they would just tell you how much you owed, So what you could do if you were corrupt.
You're a bad guy. You could say, give me $10 when it was only $5 and just put the rest in your pocket and you could become rich. So a lot of these Republicans were rich. I believe Zacchaeus was one of these people. So you don't know if he's bad or good, but we'll read about his, his practices in, uh, tax collecting. But see, see where a good spot to start is.
So Zacchaeus heard that the Lord Jesus was coming to town, and he wanted to.
See the Lord Jesus so.
I'll, I'll start with the, the first verse of chapter 19. And Jesus entered and passed through Jericho and behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus, which was the chief among the public Republicans. And he was rich. So we know he was rich. We don't know if he was stealing to get rich, but and he sought to see Jesus who he was and could not for the press because he was little of stature. So he was short.
And Jesus walked by there and be lots of crowds around him, and he wouldn't be able to see over their heads.
And you wouldn't even see them. You would know he was there, but he wouldn't see him so.
Since verse four. And he he ran before, and climbed up into a Sycamore tree to see him, for he was the path that way. And when Jesus came to the place, he looked up and saw him, and said unto him, Zacchaeus, make haste and come down, for today I must abide at thy house. And he made haste, and came down, and received him joyfully.
When they saw it they all murmured saying he's gone to be guests with a man that's a Sinner. So everyone saw the Lord Jesus going with Zacchaeus to his house and said he's going to eat with the Sinner. That's wrong because they assumed Zacchaeus was a Sinner, which he was, but because he was a publican so he had a bad reputation.
Verse 8 And Zacchaeus stood and said unto the Lord, Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from any man by false accusations, I restore him fourfold.
And Jesus said unto him, This day the salvation come to this house.
So I'll stop there. So so Zacchaeus we find out isn't such a bad publican. It says that umm.
It says that half of his goods, even though he's rich, half of everything he had, he would give to poor people. Not many, uh, rich people might do that today. And then it says, umm, if I've taken anything by faul false accusation, I restore him forward. He says that if he asked for $10 and it was only, they are only supposed to give $5, he would give them four times that much. He would give them $20 back.
To make sure that he didn't rip them off and, you know, take money from them wrongly.
So he was a pretty good person. It seems like the Lord Jesus still says this day is salvation come to this house. So even though he was a good person.
Still, he had to be saved like anyone else.
So now I wanna try something. So who's the tallest here?
Which one they could stand up and compare?
I don't think so.
Uh, I think he's a little taller, all right? Without jumping. Can you reach that?
Uh, barely. We will say you can't reach it, alright.
Alright.
Who is the UH?
Alright, who is the, uh, the shortest here?
You wanna try reaching for it.
We'll help you out. We'll even give you a little help.
OK.
Don't worry.
OK.
Here. Hold on. OK, Still can't reach it. All right, all right, you can get down now.
Uh, how about that?
00:15:02
All right, so no one can reach it. And she couldn't even reach it when she had a little help, a little ladder to to step up on.
And, uh, so maybe someone's taller to reach it. Uh, maybe we'll have my brother Ben, who's taller than me, very tall, uh, see if he can reach it.
Uh, you can. It's good. Maybe we'll give him that.
Oh, we got. We have more smaller ones.
See how I have to stand in my tip toes but then can just reach them?
There you go. So so someone tall could reach it.
But you know what the Bible says?
About us The Bible says we're all short.
You want to think of the verse I'm thinking of?
It says we're all short.
Samuel.
Almost 323. Let's read it.
So in Romans 323.
It says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. So that's not talking about our actual height, is it? So what's that talking about?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The thought is that.
That none of us can reach God in the sense of His Holiness. So God is perfect. And we know from the Old Testament, even from Genesis very first book in the Bible, that God wants to be with man. He wants man to be with him. But God, man is a Sinner, and so he falls short.
And so it doesn't matter your physical height, but you fall short because you're a center. So even the tallest person in this room has fallen short of glory of God.
And, you know, maybe we try to get a little help so it's not a ladder because that's for physical life. But say we, umm, think that, you know, if we are good or just do enough, maybe it's just come to meeting and, uh, sing the songs, sit in the front row in Sunday school and, you know, be good.
Or maybe we think we can try, Maybe because our parents are safe, that we'll be safe.
I'll tell you a little story about me. When I was saved, I think I was four years old.
And I came up to my oldest brother, we're in our tree Fort was in tree Fort. It was a just a Fort we were in. And I asked him, I said can you get saved for me?
He said no, so then I went and asked my second oldest brother and he said no as well and told me I had to do it myself. So I did and I was saved. But just like getting a ladder for help, we cannot get help from anyone else for salvation. It's individual, it's personal, and uh, you know, if we try anything, we try and do.
Is worth nothing, even if it's good, even if we do something good, it's worth nothing if you turn to Isaiah.
Uh, Isaiah chapter 64.
And verse 6.
Says But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, so that isn't it strange that even if it's something good we do, it's as a filthy rat?
So even if we're nice to our brother or sister, or even if we, uh, give, uh, give something to someone, give them a toy or even like Zacchaeus.
He would give back.
Four times as much if he took it.
To give back $20 if he only took five.
And yes, still it says all our righteousnesses are filthy rags. So it's a serious thing not to be saved, not to put our trust in the Lord because.
Even anything, any good thing we do is not worth anything. If it's not, we're not safe.
00:20:08
I want to read another verse about about being short and Luke again. Simon's in Luke chapter 12.
Luke 12, verse 25.
Says, And which of you taking thought can add to his stature? 1 cubit.
So anyone know what a cubit is?
I believe a qubit is the distance from the bottom of your elbow to your finger, so it's more than a foot, but depends on the person. But I think that's a qubit. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
But it asks.
Who have you just taking a thought. In other words, if you could just think, could you make yourself taller? And the answer is obviously no. You know, when I was always short as a kid, my grandma always told me, you know what? Someday you're gonna be taller. Someday you're gonna be taller. So I thought about that. And I hope and hope that I'd be taller than Ben, but I was, I was never taller. And, uh, because you can't think and add to your height.
And, uh, you know, that's the same with our salvation.
That we can't just think and we'll be saved, you know, We can't just think and try hard to be good and then we'll be acceptable to God.
There's only one way.
To be saved.
And that is by trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we know.
What happened where God wanted to be with man, but man has fallen short, right of the glory of God. He could not be in God's presence as we had last night in the gospel meeting. And so because man is a Sinner, remember Adam and Eve when they sinned, they were in the garden and they took the fruit which they shouldn't have taken, and God kicked them out of the garden.
So they couldn't come back in and God had walked in the garden, umm, you know, and He was with them, but He could no longer be with them because they were sinners. Well, God came up with a plan so that everyone could be with Him.
And that was that he sent his Son to die for us, and the Lord Jesus bore the punishment that we deserved.
But we still have to accept because we still fall short. Lord Jesus bore that punishment.
We need to accept this offer of salvation, and if we do.
Will be accepted in him.
So does anyone know what it means to be accepted in the beloved? It says the Bible says that we are accepted in the beloved.
Are accepted in the Lord Jesus. Does anyone know what that means?
I'll explain it so when God looks at us, he sees that we've fallen short or too short.
But now, because we've been saved, because the Lord Jesus took our place, God looks at the Lord Jesus.
And he does not fall short. And so we're accepted in him because he took our place.
So it's very simple to be saved, but there's so many that don't take advantage of it.
And, uh, they fall short.
Now.
Does anyone know?
Does anyone know?
Why in the Old Testament? Does anyone know that why in the Old Testament the Old Testament believers could be saved?
Even though the Lord Jesus hadn't died yet.
Well, they had new life and I they they trusted in God and their new life.
But I'm gonna read a verse just in that same chapter of Romans, Romans 3.
00:25:05
Romans 3. It's verse.
25.
I mean at the end of verse 24 says Christ Jesus.
Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood. Now this is part of us enough to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past.
And so that's talking about the Old Testament. So you think of all the Old Testament people that, that, uh, sinned, but God, the Lord Jesus had not come yet. So God had made a plan that we would be accepted in the Lord Jesus and no longer have to fall short, but yet the Lord Jesus hadn't come yet.
Well, it says here that they were covered under that work that was to come. So those people who believed in God and had new life, they were saved, says for the remission of sins that are past.
Isn't that amazing that even though the Lord hasn't come, He still provided a way?
He still provided a way that he could have man, boys and girls, men and women with him.
And that was because of his love. Love for us. I want to read.
So we have the positive side that we can be saved, but I wanna read what happens to those who do not accept the Lord Jesus.
As their savior.
So it's in Revelation chapter 20.
Revelation 20.
Verse 12.
And I saw the debt, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.
And then I'll go to verse 15. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
So what's gonna happen in the coming day that everyone is gonna stand before God?
And then open up the Book of Life and he's gonna see if your name is written there.
And I'll go through and they'll see my name in there because I'm saying he's gonna go through and he's gonna look for your names.
Everyone's name.
And if our name is not in there, it says we'll be judged according to our works.
You know, we've all done a lot of bad things. Probably those who are older have done more bad things, but those works will be reviewed.
And we'll, we will be judged according to them if we're not saved. And if we're saved, our sin has been taken away. It's been covered. But if not, we'll be judged by those things that we've done. And it says that whoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.
It's a serious thing.
You know, if they, it also says in other places about, about that final place for those who aren't saved, that it's that it's black and it's dark blackness of darkness forever and there won't be friends there.
We'll be friends there. You won't see anyone.
And it will be a hopeless situation.
So we don't wanna end up there, but we can be very thankful the Lord has provided a way.
And if you wanted to set it says about health, it says that hell was was made for the for Satan and his angels. It wasn't even made for us. It wasn't even made for sinners. But there's no other place for them to go. They can't go to heaven because they can't be with God.
Because He is holy and they have not been washed in the blood of the Lamb.
So it's a good lesson to remember. Umm.
That we all fall short, but we are accepted in the beloved. The Lord has provided a way, and the Lord has deemed this earth and died and.
For our sins, for that punishment of sin on the cross, that we could be saved. Well, does anyone have, uh, another song or two we could sing?
44.
Nsnoise College. Nsnoise.
Salvation Salvation story makes me glorify.
09/10 7:11 2007 Nobody ever had spoken to me.
3D reconstruct, otherwise we're in 12 days from standby and then don't tell me after.
No attempt his son give so ever, said he.
And now I am sure that is that is still covered in anything.
I don't care again.
Just the other day, I mean, if you know what I mean, so.
You know that you can say I'm not young man of them nobody ever has stolen music from.
4141.
Uh, around the crown of dying heavenly afraid of Children's Day children.
Are also against heavenly and thumbprinting glory.
Glory, glory, glory, glory into God.
And shy King rode up silence like he entwined whilst in your friend. Well, they did run from lasting falling and joy of the translator.
Everything is a different God and God.
What 3200 thousand 400 dollars 179 So fried dancer.
Will always be an joy and love mountain the children.
Glory.
Glory, glory.
Mm-hmm. Because let's save your challenges. Like to watch the wind Thursdays. No one is, God knows, precious blood devils and blind and cleaning quality.
Glory takes them to God, and ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Alright, does anyone, uh, did anyone have a memory verse they wanted to say?
00:35:05
John 627 Labranath and meet which parishes left of the meat which endure spent everlasting life, which is the Son of man shall give unto you, bring him as God the Father seals. John 6 and 27.
Well.
Uh, place you're not feeling weak with your shifts or for the meat or somewhere I can't just realize yes.
Which is some of the nature of the most news.
4500.
For whom that has got a father's war, Joseph.
OK, all right, well, maybe we'll just close in prayer and then, uh, everyone can get their handy after.
Practicing the Truth of One Body
Open—Dwight Dods
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Let thou flower, pour, and let him grow, and shut his breath. And I enjoy teasing the cold water. And I say to me.
Meet him at 12:00 tomorrow at 7:30 AM together. No, no, no. Probably layoffs and all. My father's baby. All right. How are you? How are you straight? So I'm going to do whatever it is. I'm going out of breath.
OK. It's going on 2005.
There in the world expressed the following law are placed in some of the grievances.
Well, I'm trying to make each other. And what about your body comes in 5002 major hairs? No, no, no, no. It's a little bit of a problem together and the bigger display.
Call Julie. Oh, I'm very busy. I love you and I love that day. And my mom's gone.
Related to lower everything as long as you're.
All the people, joy and I love all the.
Perkins, Chapter 14.
And uh, verse 3.
14 1St St. But he that confessed by it because of the men.
Electrician.
OK. And then a little further on and uh, first one nine chapter 14, first sentence 14 was aligned.
Let the Prophet speak two or three left another judge.
They sent me that the meaning of secure fraud will be and it's uh.
At 2:00 to 3:15.
I love you.
00:05:50
I trust I want a too long.
We have been burdened over the last number of months.
And I just like to read 2 verses.
Both of these verses are very well known.
I think most of any age tell me where they're found.
And uh, could repeat them by memory.
First one was found in the book of Matthew.
Matthew 18 and verse 20.
There were two or three are gathered together.
My name.
There am I in the midst of them.
And again, the verse that we've been occupied with or has covered it in our readings.
In uh.
Ephesians chapter 4.
Verse 4.
The first 2 words in italics.
1:40.
There is one body.
Here we've had the forest.
Two facts.
And I think if we were to ask each one of age here, each one who's gathered.
You believe these two verses and I'd get an overwhelming yes.
Brother just mentioned it here.
On these verse 4 verses of Ephesians, we could spend the whole 2 days on those first.
These two verses have been enjoyed and valued by brethren for many years.
And I trust they are still valued.
Today.
But is there not a danger?
That we're gonna sell out.
And some of these things when it comes to the practical application of them.
I think the even the youngest boys and girls here can understand.
When it speaks of a body.
Young people know that a body has a head and has members.
Of it. We've got a body here and God has been so good and given us this, uh, type that we can understand. There's a head, we've got hands, we've got feet.
It is totally different from a family.
I've worked uh, with some Christians and he had.
That he believes in the one body.
But when questioned, I found it was more the thought of a family. In other words, we're all one.
We have the same father, we have the same interest.
And so there's a difference between a family and one body. I mentioned to some before that I grew up in a family that was six children.
00:10:09
Mother and father.
With a lot in common with the same father, with the same mother.
We did most of the things together.
We work together, we played together.
But we were not one body, let me tell you.
It was eight individual bodies there and at times we acted independently.
Maintained one body. There's no room for independence.
Hands the legs, get it?
Message is instructions from the head.
And I read those verses, that verse in Matthew 18.
That one there, when we're gathered together by the Spirit of God, He gathers on the principle of that one body.
I don't want to take a lot of time, so I'm going to move on rather quickly. What's on my heart?
As I say, as each one of us say, we believe these things.
But over the last 25 years and over the years, I've been gathered.
When it came to the practical application of these two versions, which were real.
These things are real. There is one body, and if we're truly gathered by the Spirit of God, we're gathered on that very principle of one body.
And so in all simplicity, as her brother Robert brought out and Steve so clearly the other day, that if an action is taken in one of them, if an action is taken here in Hammer Bay, if it's one body, it's already been taken in Ottawa.
Infrared salary in Pine Grove.
Throughout the world over in India.
And I have.
It should not be a problem. We understand there's one body.
You know, in my ears, not very long.
But I've never known.
When we received the letter of commendation.
That we had a care meeting.
We believe this first that there is one body of the action was taken of someone was deceived in hammer base and he came to audible. He was received in audible.
What?
And we received letters.
That's a sad result of someone have to be dealt with.
The oneness seems to disappear.
And I'm gonna speak frankly.
We California start calling Hermes. What do we do with this one?
If it's one, we shouldn't spend 5 minutes.
The action was taken.
And if it's one.
And I've heard the argument come up, but what about, uh, there might have been feelings in somewhere, and maybe this act was taken with feelings?
Oh, they forgot Matthew 18 and 20.
Who was in the midst? Who is in the midst? Who gives them authority to act in that sense?
And so it's his brethren.
If we really believe these verses, not just a theory, not just something that repeated as, uh, brother, Bruce Ansius written the book.
These truths, the truth of one body, is probably quoted and spoken of more times.
Any other scripture among the front?
00:15:05
And he said, perhaps he at least understood.
I don't profess to understand it, but just in its simplicity.
Just think he.
Glory would have come to our Lord Jesus if that one body, which it is all those redeemed, is one body. That's a fact.
But if everyone, all Christians, had acted on that ground, what were testimony would have been in this world?
Can you imagine what it would have been to this world if every Christian was acted in oneness?
People would just shook their heads.
And the Lord would have gained the glory.
OK, we failed.
Christmas failed, but have we failed as the world looked on to those gathered on the very principle of that one body for faster on it. What have they seen? Have they seen that oneness? Have they seen that we bow to it and believe it?
Unquestionable.
Do we really believe the Lord is in the midst?
Do we really believe that?
That's a really believe in an action taken as assembly with the Lord's authority.
How could we ever question?
I received a letter.
And I speak reverently if it was signed.
By the Lord Jesus, the one in the midst.
What I say, brethren, we should get together.
And decide whether we bound to this.
It would be wretchedness and bluff.
Yet when it comes with those with the Lord's authority.
We're willing to do so.
We're willing to question.
Or may it not be so?
And we just simply thought the Lord is in the midst. He can make it right if there's something that's.
Wasn't done exactly right. And again, I'm interested in noting that what we got a letter of accommodation, we never questioned how it was done, how they were received.
Every time that I can remember that the letters received from someone put away, Was it done in the right manner? Was her feelings? Was there something in the background we don't know about?
Oh, brother.
It's a dishonor. It's a dishonor to the Lord.
Or maybe just accept this word.
I'll do it recognizing it's his authority that he is the one that's in the midst.
Oh, what happiness we go on with. There wouldn't have been one division.
In my day, and perhaps the ones before, it was simply vowed to this scripture that there is one body and when that action was taken, we just simply acknowledge it and.
Subject to.
You say, well, it was an air maid.
I wanna tell a story that I heard many years ago. I think some of the others have heard from a dear brother, Eric Smith.
This is an encouragement to me, young man.
You know, these thoughts did come into my mind as a young man. What, the family made a mistake.
To rebound to it.
Eric Smith. Hold on, Olivia.
There's a brother.
Who is the?
Charged with evil.
And the assembly put them out of fellowship.
And that brother sat back.
Not one objective.
Time went on.
That brother came every week sitting back.
Didn't look for any sympathy whatsoever.
During one of the meetings, another brother finally stood up one day, he said. Brethren, brother.
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That brother's been sitting back. He is not guilty.
I am the guilty brother.
I was the one with them.
Well, it's very good, pointed out.
Both brothers were restored.
Has there been a first maid? Oh, I'm sure he wasn't the one.
They submitted the word of God and to the truth that we find in these words. There is one body and the Lord is in the midst of those that are gathered on that ground where we simply oh to his authority and his word.
Rebellion Against the Lord's Authority
Open—Robert Boulard
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Would you turn with me please to 1St Kings chapter one?
Just want to read a couple of verses there. Chapter one first Kings verse 5.
Then at Niger, the son of Haggith exalted himself.
Saying, I will be king. And he prepared him Chariots and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? And he also was a very goodly man, and his mother there him after Absalom. I'll have a burden on my heart to speak.
Perhaps in a little more detail, something of a similar character to what our brother just took up.
Have a burden because, beloved brethren, there's many here that are younger, and your older brethren, myself included, have to apologize to you.
Because we have not delivered the truth.
In the same manner as we received it when we were younger.
We haven't taught it to you.
The way we should have taught it to you.
And so when there is an act of discipline in the assembly, there's confusion because you don't know how to respond and why the response should be what it is.
And it's our fault.
And I just read these verses of scripture in connection with.
This man at Niger, because he had a very good father, a good king, his father was a good king, a man after God's own heart, but he was a very poor father because he didn't exercise discipline in his family.
But God in his grace, he loves us and he exercises discipline in his family and he exercises discipline in the assembly. Let's just turn to, umm, Revelation chapter 3. It really has to do with the day that we live in. I'm not going to read the entire portion in connection with lazy. I'm just going to read.
Verse 19.
Revelation chapter 3, verse 19. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten.
He zealous therefore and repent.
The Lord allows discipline in your life and mine because there is a purpose of love on His part and there's a needs be on our part. He never does anything without a divine purpose of love.
And so he has a desire that we might be holy. Peter says. He quotes the Old Testament. He says be therefore holy even as I am holy.
And there is a principle in the Word of God that if the Saints will not judge evil, God will judge the Saints.
Let me repeat that.
If the Saints will not judge evil, the Lord will judge the Saints.
I just read you this verse. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous therefore, and repent. Who was he talking to? He was talking to the assembly at Laodicea, and those who were in oversight in that assembly were responsible for the state of the assembly and what was going on in the assembly.
So let's just turn and, umm, look at First Corinthians chapter 5 very briefly.
I'd like to just read this passage, It's not very long.
And just comment on a few verses of Scripture in connection with the details of what takes place at an assembly meeting, A meeting of the assembly in the presence of the Lord.
It says in chapter five, First Corinthians chapter 5, verse one, it is reported commonly that there is fornication among you, and such fornication as is not so much as named among the Gentiles, that one should have his father's wife, and ye are puffed up.
And have not rather mourned that he that hath done this deed might be taken away from among you. For I verily, as absent in body, but present in spirit, have judged already as though I were present concerning him that hath done so, done this thing. The.
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In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we are gathered together in my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, or with the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the Spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. Your glorying is not good. Know ye not that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump?
Purge out, therefore the old leaven, that he may be a new lump.
As ye are unleavened, for even Christ, our Passover is sacrificed for us. Therefore let us keep the feast, not with the with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. I wrote unto you in an epistle or in the epistle, not to company with fornicators.
Yet not all together with the fornicators of this world.
Or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters. For then must your needs go out of the world. But now I have written unto you not to keep company. If a man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner, with such an one no not to eat.
For I what have I to do to judge them also that are without?
Do not ye judge them that are within, but them that are without. God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person. Now there was an assembly meeting. Paul says you need to have an assembly meeting. You need to be when you're in the presence of the Lord. An assembly meeting is when we are gathered by the Spirit, and it's a meeting where the Lord is in the midst. So He's in the midst.
At the remembrance of the Lord.
He's in the midst at the assembly prayer meeting. And I believe he's in, if the meeting is conducted in such a way, he's in the midst of the his people in the assembly at the reading meeting, and he's in the midst of his people at a prophetic meeting like this one. Let the prophet speak two or three, let the other judge. And so he's in the midst. And so the assembly, he said when you're gathered.
Together in my name, it says in verse four. In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together.
Always an apostle, he had special power, special authority and whatsoever he bound on earth was bound in heaven. But he says I'm going to be there in spirit with the power, with the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such an one to Satan for the destruction of the flesh. While you and I don't the assembly today doesn't deliver someone to Satan.
In the same way as the apostle could. But we, in a sense what we do.
Is we put someone out from among ourselves as a wicked person?
Because they've proved to be a wicked person in what they've done, and we put them away into Satan's realm.
We put them outside of the circle of Christian fellowship of those that are gathered to the Lord's name on the ground of the one body.
And we take them and we put them outside that circle of fellowship, and if they really do love the Lord, they really do belong to Him.
Oh, there's nothing more that they want. They want to be back into that circle of fellowship. They want to be in the presence of the Lord. They want to enjoy the fellowship and the communion of the Savior without any hindrance, and they want to appreciate and have the, umm, fellowship of their brethren. It's evidence that there's life and there was a life in this year one here. That was a case that Paul brought up.
And so.
There's not. Paul doesn't outline A5 step process of how this takes place. He doesn't say you do this first, you do this next, you do this, you do this Now why doesn't he do this?
He just says simply in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together and my spirit with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh. He doesn't give any details because dear brethren.
What we have learned and what we learned in the Word of God as to the flesh is that the flesh is corrupt. And when you're dealing with rebellion, it doesn't matter what you say or how you say it or when you said it, how you acted. The rebel is going to rebel. And you and I all have rebellion in our own hearts.
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And So what the apostle Paul was saying when you come into the presence of the Lord.
You have that assembly meeting.
You make a decision in the presence of the Lord.
Then he's going to bind it, and let's look at that again in chapter 18 of Matthew.
It says verse 20.
Let's read verse 19 again. I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth, as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father, which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
They were gathered at assembly in Corinth and they took an action.
In the presence of the Lord, I'm going to give you an example.
You'll forgive me if I mention a couple of names. It's absolutely no one here knows these individuals. Maybe some have met them in the past, but I was brought up in a division among the Lord's people called the McDowell Division. Dear Brother Stanley McDowell.
Was a a wonderful gospel preacher. He was gifted gospel preacher.
And umm, I have to confess that he was like a grandfather to me when I was, when I was a little boy. I have fond memories of him. But you know, he got into a rebellious state of soul and umm, he had a disagreement with his brethren in Montreal. That was his home assembly.
And umm, he got himself involved with a problem that was taking place in another city, and his brethren spoke to him and he wouldn't receive their admonition.
This went on for some time and finally they dealt. They felt that they had to deal with him.
This was in 1942. And so on in morning on the Lord's Day morning, there was an assembly meeting after the breaking of bread in the presence of the Lord.
And there was a brother that stood up and he read a few passages of Scripture in connection with the case and the rebellion that had taken place.
And umm, the lack of submission of Brother Stanley.
And then you read a letter that they were gonna send out to the brethren to just notify them because he was a laboring brother.
He read that letter before the assembly.
And then he prayed and he asked the Lord. He said we are binding this action on this brother. We're silencing this brother, and we're asking the Lord to bind it. We're binding it on earth and we want him to bind it in heaven.
And you know it was bound in heaven before he sat down.
And all of the other assemblies. What was the response? What was the response that should have been to that action that took place in the presence of the Lord? Our brother mentioned a letter of commendation signed.
We receive those.
There were those that rebelled against that assembly action.
Those that were supporters, those that were relatives.
And they went out in division. The next Lord's Day, Mr. McDowell and all of his supporters in Montreal broke bread. They had a nice table, had a white cloth on it, cup loaf. It looked like the real thing, but it was an imitation.
They rebelled against the Lord.
Our brother used the term wickedness.
With wickedness against God, it was setting up something that was in opposition to what the Spirit of God had raised up originally, a fellowship of those that were gathered to the Lord's name on the ground of one body. I'm telling you this so that you understand the details. I was brought up in that division, that rebellion had formed, and so I was brought up as a young boy. My dad was saved out of Roman Catholicism.
Through the preaching of Stanley McDowell.
But after that man died, he went to be with the Lord, and the Spirit of God was free again to gather.
The thing started to fall apart.
And then the Saints.
Spirit of God was working and the Saints were gathered. One by one they came back and repented. Some had never known what it was to come into the Lord's presence at the divine center, and they came into the presence of the Lord.
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I was a boy, almost thirteen years old, the first time that I came into an assembly of those that are gathered to the Lord's name.
I was in an imitation of the Lord's Table. It was a very good imitation.
But it wasn't the real thing. And when I came into the presence of the Lord that Lord's Day morning in Ottawa where they had the little meetings in an old building that had Waverly St. I think it was that, an old building. I think maybe it had been a Pentecostal church or something like that before our little family. Perhaps my father had called ahead. I don't know.
He climbed the stairs.
We opened those big doors and we walked into that meeting room.
It was probably 200, two, 150 people. I've never seen so many people at a meeting before, ever.
With just a handful of little farmhouse.
And I walked past the front row and there was a brother, Nicolet, and he was sobbing as we walked by, tears in his eyes. He was sobbing. He just saw a little family coming in out of division.
And coming back to the vine center, what it was to be gathered to know what it was to be gathered to the precious name of the Lord Jesus on the ground of one body. A previous generation had rebelled against the truth, had rebelled against the authority of the Lord.
And so in grace.
Mercy and grace, the Lord has acted as ye, when he has liberty, can gather through his center once more. You know, let's just look at Nehemiah chapter one. I want to just point this out.
In connection with these principles.
Chapter one of Nehemiah.
Let's read from verse 7.
We have dealt very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgments which thou hast Command us, thy servant Moses. Remember, I beseech thee, the word that thou commandest thy servant Moses, saying, If ye transgress, I will scatter you abroad among the nations. But if ye turn unto me and keep my commandments, and do them, though there were of you, cast out unto the uttermost part of the.
Yet will I gather them from thence, and we'll bring them under the place that I have chosen to set my name there?
I just wanna point out in this little passage of scripture when there is rebellion against the word of God and the will of God.
Then the Lord acts in discipline. It says in verse eight, I will scatter you abroad. He may use an instrument. He may cause that. There's something that comes up among the Saints and that needs to be judged and there's something but if the Lord is behind it.
He may use an instrument.
But the Lord says I will scatter them. But isn't it wonderful as we read in verse nine? I love this little verse.
Yeah, will I gather them from thence, and will bring them unto the place that I have chosen to set my name there.
Why are you here this afternoon?
You may not know it and you may not never have thanked the Lord for it. I just want to say this.
Some of us here are first generation at the Lord's Table.
Brother Walt brought up in the world.
1St generation at Flora. He knows what it means to be outside and to come from the outside into the assembly the first time and he remembers how it feels.
Why are you here? This afternoon was an act of God. It was an act of God's intervention in the person of the sun to save your soul. He quickened you. He gave you life so that you could hear His voice.
And then when you did hear His voice, He gave you the faith to believe, and you receive Christ as your Savior. And then He has been working with you, working with you more than you think, to give you the desire to learn the truth and to buy the truth for yourself. To lay aside everything that would hinder you from walking in it and enjoying it.
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And then he himself, the Lord Jesus.
Wrought in your soul.
And gave you the desire to ask for your place at the Lord's Table. And one day, perhaps I don't know how many here are at the Lord's Table. Some I I trust all.
The Lord said this do in remembrance of me.
And it touched your heart, touched your conscience, and you said you wanted to do it, and you approached your brethren, perhaps an older brother or so on, and you asked for your place at the Lord's table. It was an act of God.
You're responsible to ask for your place at the Lord's table and to be there, and to remember the Lord Jesus in his death.
But it's the sovereignty of God. Have you ever thanked them for it?
I say, have you ever thanked the Lord Jesus?
Or interfering in your life, intervening in your life and saving you and giving you the knowledge of the truth, and then bringing you into His presence and gathering you personally, individually, under His precious name. Let's just turn to Isaiah chapter 27.
It's a principle in the Word of God.
We find that oftentimes little principles given to us in the Word of God and in the Old Testament we'll find them.
Isaiah chapter 27 and just at the end of verse 12.
And ye shall be gathered 1 by 1.
God doesn't save certain crowds.
He doesn't save certain families, he saves individuals.
He loves you individually, He died for you individually, and He's working with you individually and He gathered you by His Spirit individually.
And it's a principle with God that he does this work in an individual.
And so the apostle Paul could say to the Corinthians and such were some of you, but now he says we are clean now you are clean individually. And so there's a principle at work often times among the people of God. And there was at the early time of the, the recovery of the truth. And there were there was a a group of individuals and our brother Steve mentioned them yesterday in connection with the.
A whole company of individuals, a whole company of believers received to the Lord's Table at one time. There was in the 1800s a movement in England and in the English speaking world, we might say. And the truth was recovered of what it was to be gathered to the Lord's name. So it was a popular movement, we might say, and so.
There were godly men in the church systems, and George Mueller was a godly man.
And Henry Craig, I think that was his name, his assist assistant pastor in a Baptist Church. And they decided, they put the church to the vote and they voted that they would leave the Baptist system and that they would hold as a whole company, be received to the Lord's table and become an assembly gathered to the Lord's name.
But it was a false principle.
God doesn't gather a whole company all at once.
He gathers individuals 1 by 1.
And so later that principle was tested, that whole company was tested, and they acted in such a way as they didn't understand the principle of what it was to be gathered to the Lord's name. And that they were to they were members of the body of Christ, and that they should be recogn in recognition of authority of the Lord in the midst when there was an action of the assembly.
So what are you to do when there is an act of the assembly?
Submit to the truth, submit to the authority of the Lord, because when the assembly acts, acts and discipline makes, uh, some sort of a decision, not, not all are, umm, negative, uh, decisions. Sometimes an assembly might decide to put on a conference. That's a positive act of the assembly to, to do that.
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But when there's an act of discipline.
In the assembly.
It takes place in the assembly that it took place in, but it takes place at the same time in every other assembly of those that are gathered to the Lord's name at the same time.
And so the the Lord desires that we would submit to it. Let's just turn to Deuteronomy chapter 17 and we'll get that teaching of it.
Deuteronomy 17. Let's read from verse 8.
Yes, there arise a matter too hard for the end, judgment between blood and blood, between plea and plea, between stroke and stroke, being matters of controversy within my gates and natural horizon. Get the unto the into the place which the Lord thy God shall choose.
And thou shalt come into the unto the priests, the Levites, and unto the judge that shall be in those days, and inquire.
And they shall show thee the sentence of the judgment, and thou shalt do according to the sentence.
Which they of that place which the Lord shall choose, shall show thee, and thou shalt observe to do according to all.
That they informed me, according to the sentence of the law which they shall teach thee, and according to the judgment which they shall tell thee, thou shalt do, thou shalt not decline from the sentence.
Which they shall show thee to the right hand, nor to the left. And the man that will do presumptuously, and will not hearken unto the priest that standeth the minister there before the Lord thy God, or unto the judge, even that man shall die. And thou shalt put away the evil from Israel. And all the people shall hear and fear, and do no more presumptuously.
You know, the Lord desires that we don't judge things individually.
What was done in His presence was done with His authority. We are to submit to, and the principle of submission is the principle of blessing, the principle of submission and obedience. Do you know what is to govern the word of the your life and my life and the assembly? It's the Word of God and the will of God.
The Word of God and the will of God are to govern your life and mine, govern our homes, govern us and govern us socially and so on. But that's what governs the assembly is the will of God and the Word of God. And there's no place for individual rebellion and for every man to do that which is right in his own eyes. It's a, you know, it's umm, that's a passage that's used, I think.
A quotation from Judges, and it's used in my recollection five times in the book of Judges.
Every man did that which was right in his own eyes.
The consequence under the law was death.
To exercise your own will and exercise your own judgment and not submit to the truth of God and through the act of discipline of the act and the in the presence of the Lord in the Old Testament times the consequence with death.
Well, that's not what it is today, but it might be really, umm, being put away from among ourselves as a wicked person yourself. That could take place, or the Lord would could deal in some other way, but He will not tolerate rebellion against His authority.
He will not tolerate rebellion.
Against his authority.
Its wickedness in his sight.
You and I all have rebellion in our hearts, brethren, every one of us.
But he will not tolerate sin in his presence and he will judge. He does allow a time, a space for repentance. He says I gave her space for repentance. She repented not but he judges. Now I just want in the a very quickly to look at perhaps 4 little points.
00:30:01
Why do we have a hard time submitting? Why is there a question that comes up? Let's look at Umm Nehemiah.
Again, Umm.
Write the last chapter our brothers spoke and mentioned. I think it was 4 passages of Scripture brother Steve yesterday in connection with this, but I'll just look at the Nehemiah chapter 13 verse 28.
One of the sons of Giada, the son of Eliaship the high priest.
Was son-in-law to sanballat the horror night, therefore I chased him from me.
There was an unequal yoke in this man Elias Ship, the high priest family he had allowed his son to marry.
Agenda.
It was a wicked thing in the sight of the Lord in connection with the children of Israel and Elias Ship, the high priest had allowed an unequal yoke.
To come in, and not only that, but he defended the unequal yoke, and he perhaps umm, instead of dealing with in a holy manner in connection with the putting and setting up gates and bars at the gate that he raised up in the section of the wall that he repaired.
He let things slip.
And you may need an exception for his family. So that's the first reason. Often times that we have a hard time with an assembly action that takes place is because there's some family member that's involved, some relative that's involved.
And let's face it, brethren, we're intermarried quite a bit, aren't we?
I'm probably related more to more people now than I ever was.
When we came in among the gathered Saints in 1969 in June.
I wasn't related to a single person. I didn't know a soul in that place.
I thank my brethren in Ottawa.
People say you know there's no love among the gathered Saints and you know there's no love. I disagree 100%.
I never felt so loved in all my life.
When I came in among the gathered Saints.
I felt the love of the Lord in that place.
I thank God today for every memory of the homes that I was invited into.
And we were treated like the Saints of God. I think one of the brethren early writers says, you know, hospitality is a divine luxury of the Saints.
I was loved.
But family interferes and we could read in Luke's Gospel Chapter 9, you can read, I think it's three times there. It says me first, let me first go bury my father.
Me first.
No, brethren, that in all things he might have the preeminence, and you and I will not help our brethren, will not help our relatives if we support them in rebellion against the authority of the Lord. We need to be faithful.
Then we read, and we'll just turn to it again in uh, uh, First Kings.
Make this point first Kings chapter one.
Verse six. His father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done done so? He also was a very goodly man.
You know, brethren.
We live in a day and age where we don't want any discipline. No discipline.
No.
No discipline.
No discipline in the assembly, no discipline in the family, no discipline in society. But that's not according to the mind of God. It says chasing my son betimes. It means chasing thy son early, while there is yet hope.
Or if thou be just him with the rod.
That's so fair. Yeah. Well, what's the quotation? S shall not kill him.
00:35:06
Many times.
It speaks of discipline.
But in love.
My father never disciplined us if he was angry with us.
I thank the Lord for that memory. If He was angry with us, He would not discipline us.
But when his anger abated that he was calm, he would talk to us about what we did and we were together spanking. There was discipline in the home.
We live in a society that despises discipline. We need to exercise self judgment rather than in connection with.
Discipline in our own lives, self-discipline, self judgment, and in connection with our homes that there might be. Discipline, Godly discipline and love. David failed on this part.
This part.
There are other reasons why.
We refuse discipline.
We get confused. Our wheels get in the way. Let's look at the first Second Corinthians chapter six. It was read yesterday. I'm not going to read the whole thing. Second Corinthians chapter 6, verse 14.
Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? For what fellowship, what communion hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
Verse 17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be separate, sayeth the Lord, And touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, and will be a father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.
We will not bow.
To an assembly action that takes place.
The way we ought to.
We will not submit through the authority of the Lord.
Oftentimes, because we're linked to something in this world that we shouldn't be linked to, we have allowed something, some entertainment, some pleasure, something in our lives, and it clouds our discernment.
Oh brethren, we need to judge those things in our lives.
What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness?
Be separate, saith the Lord. Touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you.
So we need to judge those things that our judgment, our discernment will be clear.
We need to walk in separation.
Moral separation.
Practical separation.
Ecclesiastical Separation.
You know what ecclesiastical separation is.
Ecclesiastical separation is not walking in fellowship with those that defy the authority of the Lord.
Brethren, oftentimes we walk in fellowship.
With open brethrenism.
We walk in fellowship with the different UMM, the KLC brethren and so on. I I don't want to say that we shouldn't enjoy some of their companies sometimes and so on.
But we need to be careful.
And not imbibe the doctrines that have they have umm developed to support the systems, their ecclesiastical systems.
So they allow the principle of democracy in open brethrenism. Every assembly in the open brethren system has a right to choose whether or not they will be in fellowship with the assembly that has acted in discipline.
It's a false principle. Rather, you and I have no right to choose if we're gathered on the on ground of the one body and there's an action that took place.
In an assembly it is bound. In your assembly it is bound in heaven.
With the authority of the Lord.
And the assembly in Hammer Bay has no right to choose.
Myself, as a member of the body of Christ, I have no right, no authority to choose.
To defy the authority of the Lord in the midst.
00:40:02
Forgive me for speaking so clearly, but I say again, your older brethren are guilty. I'm guilty for not speaking the truth in love as clearly, as succinctly as what I am saying this afternoon.
I'm guilty of it. Please forgive me.
I don't want to see another generation tested and individually decide that they have the right and the authority to choose for themselves. I mentioned the quotation that Mister Norman Berry gave many years ago.
And I heard him say it personally many times. When you took Christ as your Savior and you acknowledged him as the Lord Jesus Christ, you gave up your right to choose.
You relinquish that right, You gave it to the Lord.
And so will you look to the head in glory? Will you look to the Lord? Will you? And I look to him and say, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And so this question of ecclesiastical separation comes in. And if you do not walk in ecclesiastical separation, if I do not walk in ecclesiastical separation, I may imbibe some of those principles of democracy, the democratic principle of choosing for myself and deciding.
Myself, whether or not I will accept an assembly action.
It's rebellious, uh, rebellious spirit.
In the presence of the Lord.
It's sin in the presence of the Lord. It's wickedness in the sight of God. May God give us the desire and the humility and the submission of heart to acknowledge His authority in the day that He lives in, and own His Lordship in matters of the assembly, matters of discipline that come in among us, and that there might be.
Restored a proper spirit and a proper response.
Through what takes place in these assembly meetings?
Submission results in Blessing
Open—Jonathan Boulard
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Debrief. We've had edification, we've had exhortation, and I'd like to give just one word of comfort.
Let's turn to First Timothy.
First Timothy, chapter 4.
And the second-half of verse 8.
And just before I read that, I'll state something that I often considered in my heart, but that it's a lie of the devil.
It's easy as we look at this life and we look at the challenges of this life and the difficulties to say, yes, heaven will be wonderful. Yes, there will be blessings when we're in heaven. But this is hard now and it's not worth the wait. It's not worth the price. It's not worth holding out. I I'm going to enjoy life now. I'm going to take things for myself now and having to worry about itself when I get there.
But that's a live Satan and I I just like to read the second-half of First Timothy chapter 4 verse 8 godliness.
Is profitable.
Unto all things.
Having the promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come.
If there is a walk in submission to the Word of God, to the will of God, there's a blessing right here, right now. We'll have the best portion in our lives as we walk through our lives. It's not that it will be easy. It's not that there won't be tears and trials, but it's the happiest path. And I'd just like to emphasize that from a few verses in the book of Proverbs here.
Just, uh, Proverbs chapter 2.
And, uh, just reading a few verses and then, uh, one verse in Proverbs chapter 3 and then a few verses in Proverbs chapter 8. So Proverbs chapter 2 and verse one.
My son, if thou wilt receive my words and hide my commandments with thee, so that thou incline thine ear unto wisdom, and apply thine heart to understanding, Yes, thou cryest after knowledge and lifteth up, lifteth up thy voice for understanding, if thou seekest true as silver, and searches for her As for his treasures. And shalt thou understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God?
For the Lord giveth wisdom, out of his mouth cometh knowledge and understanding. Eliathop sound wisdom. For the righteous He is a buckler to them that walk uprightly.
He keepeth the paths of judgment and preserveth the way of his Saints.
Then she'll understand righteousness and judgment, equity, yeah, and every good path. And then just verse 10 here, when wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul.
Chapter 3.
And here again, Speaking of wisdom, just to read a few verses here verses here, uh, Proverbs chapter 3, verse 13. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom.
Doesn't say sad, it doesn't say miserable. It doesn't say you're gonna have an awfully hard life, and you'll be miserable but having to make up for it. It's saying happy is the man godliness is profitable into all things, having the promise of the life that now is happy as the man that findeth wisdom, and the man that getteth understanding. For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold. She is more precious.
Than Ruby's, and all the things that Kent, that thou Kent's desire, are not to be compared unto earth.
Length of days is in her right hand, and in her left hand riches in honor. Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.
I'm out of time. I'll just refer briefly in Proverbs chapter one and it may seem puzzling when you when you consider a study of the book of Proverbs.
But in Proverbs chapter one, verses 24, uh, down through the end of the chapter, right at the beginning of the chapter, you have wisdom mocking. Right at the beginning of the book you have wisdom mocking.
And laughing you're coming and and wisdom just.
Not able to help, and that's because when we turn away from the wisdom of the word of God.
When there are these difficulties, these challenges that come into our lives and we we turn aside.
The only thing that we can do is we look back after time passing in our lives.
Is to see that the wisdom of the Word of God was true.
That all we did was bring sorrow.
And and a hardship into our lives and into the lives of our brethren, Into the lives of our family, perhaps.
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All wisdom can do at that point is to mock verse 26 of chapter one. I I also will laugh at your calamity. I will mock when your fear cometh.
It's too late and just that the Lord would give us the grace to realize that in obedience and in submission to His will, to His Word, His blessing, His happiness.
We won't be the loser in heaven and we won't be the loser in this life. Let's just pray our loving God and our Father please bless us.
Ephesians 4:17-32
Reading
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Thing 312.
312.
Read on all my heroes.
We are the dead, glory and grind.
On by the state of life.
With time.
Deployed to be.
And we can do around 4:00. I could no more.
I don't know.
If you have a surgery close, I don't know what I'm going to do.
And we also claim number of 288, two 88.
Umm, the primary style and, and and what's the high? Everybody. And it's very strange things home.
Three and 700155 falls straight to Travis Place is where it's been by travelling cold.
To those and frowned hair.
Your heart is low. Breath in your hand and dig in. And my heart is showing you. However it's a bolus.
Dial.
100 and thousand. 5003 thousand.
And thousand.
Lower interest. I was trying to hold on to everything.
Our God and Father, we.
Thank Dee for this beautiful day, Lord's Day. We thank you for the precious time that we, thy people, got to spend here together.
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And as we consider the.
The time beginning to rundown.
And many starting to leave Lord.
We consider.
What we have had together.
Lord, we pray that Thou will continue to lead on.
Lord, we pray that our hearts would be readied, our ears open. He that hath an ear, let him hear.
Thy words that we might learn to be more like thee while we are here.
That we might consider the examples that we've been shown in First Peter 2.
The walk in the footsteps of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, Lord, we pray that thou guide us with Thy word today.
And we do consider those that have left and are on their way, Lord, we pray for a safe journey for them. And we do thank you for the brethren here and for the hard work and effort that they have put forth. And so we just pray for this and thank you. And I know alone, worthy and precious name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen.
Or perhaps we could, uh, look at the last part of this chapter, even in chapter 4, and perhaps read from verse 17 down to the end. I don't think we can cover the whole thing, but the.
Ephesians chapter 4, verse 17.
This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feeling, have given themselves over unto lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness, That ye have not so learned Christ, if so be.
That ye have heard Him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus. That you put off concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind. And that you put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.
Neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby you're sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor.
An evil speaking, be put away from you with all malice, and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So this section of the teaching of this epistle.
Really addresses, uh, walking worthy really of Our Calling and as those that are subject to the lordship of Christ. And so he mentions the lordship of Christ here in verse 17. I say therefore and testify in the Lord.
That ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind. And then he outlines the depth of the depravity of the, umm, corrupt old man, the characteristic features of the old man, characteristic features of the flesh. That's true. But the old man really is a term that the apostle used, uh, in his writings to convey the thought of everything that is bad and corrupt of the.
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Uh, first creation of man. And so the second man, the last atom, the new race, the new creation race of men didn't exist, didn't uh, exist in this world until the Lord Jesus came into this world.
Died and rose again, and now he's arisen in a glorified man. And so we're part of that new creation race. We don't have, our bodies are not yet, uh, glorified, but we're part of a new race of men and we're not to be characterized by the lifestyle of those that are a part of the first race of men.
It ought to be different. So this is the instruction that the apostle gives beginning in.
Verse 17 of the difference in how because we acknowledge the Lordship of Christ.
We will live in a different way.
See that the, uh, renewing of our lives.
Clearly Speaking of the responsibility that we have to walk as those that acknowledge the Lordship of Christ. And so our minds are renewed in remembering the instructions that are given and walking in communion with the Lord, reading the Word of God. But here this responsibility is in connection. Perhaps we could read verse five of our chapter. It's really connected. 1 Lord.
One faith, one baptism. So when you were baptized, you might not have known it, but you were making a statement before this world, before God, that you were disassociating yourself with your past life, their past lifestyle. And you are now, as our brother Steve mentioned yesterday, a little picture of going down into death. And then.
Raising up on the other side of death and having a newness of life, the term that's used in Romans chapter 6, you now profess Christ publicly and in Galatians chapter 3 there's another aspect of it. In chapter 3 verse 27 says, For as many of you as have been baptized should say unto Christ, have put on Christ.
And so you have publicly stated by being baptized that umm, you've put on the name of Christ. You're characterized by his name. That means his authority. Why is it the Spirit of God uses the term there were two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. We're gathered because of his authority.
And everything that has to do with the person of Christ and his authority is bound up in the thought of his name. And so here we have, we've been baptized. There's one Lord, 1 faith, one baptism. We've made our profession. And now he says, now walk that way. He says you walked like Gentiles. He's just in case there's any doubt as to how you were, how you walked before, He's very definitive. He says you walked as Gentiles.
Dark having the understanding, darken being alienated from the life of God through ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness. But you have not so learned Christ.
And so you and I are not to have fellowship with those works of unrighteousness, and we're not to be characterized by any of those things.
It's not a comprehensive list. It's just a sample list. And the list that was read in First Corinthians chapter 5 earlier is a sample list. It's not an all inclusive list. And so the Spirit of God gives us this list and says this is what characterized man in the flesh in his opposition to God is ignorance and darkness. But you don't live like this anymore.
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We're talking outside a little bit a little while ago. Considering the example that brother ordered mentioned in First Peter chapter 2 is left an example that we should follow in his steps.
It was mentioned that.
In the past, we've often heard one say that, well, we'll never be perfect. We're we're not perfect. We still make mistakes. And it seems as though we've fallen back to using those things as a crutch or, or an excuse. And when so that example that's given to us in first Peter chapter 2 is not so that we have an excuse. It's that we we strive to attain.
That block that we see like that and I know, Mr. Hayhoe said yesterday.
I often hear Mr. Kent say he gathered to the name of the Lord. We're Christian. We're believers 24/7. It reminded me of the verses that in Exodus chapter 12.
Exodus chapter 12.
Maybe verse 19 seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses? For whosoever eateth that which is leaven, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel. Whether he be a stranger born in the land, he shall eat nothing leavened in all your habitations. Shall you eat unleavened bread in chapter 13?
Verse THREE. And Moses said unto the people, Remember this day in which he came out from Egypt out of the House of ******* For by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place. There shall no leavened bread be eaten. This day came me out in the month of Abid. And it shall be when the Lord shall bring thee into the land of the Canaanites, and hit ice, and the Amorites, and the Hiveites, and the Jebusites, which he swear unto thy fathers, to give thee land flowing with milk and honey, that thou shalt keep this service in this month.
Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, and in the seven days shall be a feast to the Lord. Unleavened bread shall be eaten seven days and there shall no leaven bread be seen with thee, neither shall there be leavened seen with thee in all thy quarters. And to me it speaks of the responsibility we have to walk like the Lord Jesus, to try to be like the Lord Jesus, the responsibility we have to shine His light for Him.
Not being defiled by the uncleanness. I think it's Leviticus 10 tells us that we can.
Divide that there is a difference between wholly and unholy and clean and unclean, and then we should know that and that's how we should walk. And things that are clean, which we have in 2nd Corinthians 6 pointed out, and so that should be the walk that we have.
As believers here in verse 17.
Of our entire lives, eleven is always a type of sin and so having sin in our homes is not an option for a believer. And with the God that we judge those things and that we didn't have that which was characterized by sin, rebellious character and independence of God. So seven days, all the seven days of our lives.
Ought to be characterized by eating unleavened bread.
Feeding upon Christ.
And no doubt a rough bunch.
And when the Lord, uh, earned his vote and then paid them back, sending them out into the deep, told them to let down the net, they drew in that great.
Uh, number of fish.
And all the activity that took place, they just picked into gear. You might say they were businessmen, they were fishermen. And uh, the Lord watching. Finally Peter turns and he sees the Lord realized, realizes more deeply who is there. And he says, depart from me, for I'm a sinful man.
00:20:07
Have often felt.
Just like men are in business and in the activity, there's a language that is, uh, is compiled.
And, uh, no doubt Peter and those fishermen have a lifestyle like men in the world, you know?
But he was converted, and he is brought to the Lord.
And there was a change with Peter.
But you know when he slipped away from the Lord.
Just before the cross.
And got in confidence in his own strength of the Lord of our office, and he was cornered there at Caiaphas Hall, as he began to curse and he began to swear.
He went back to old habits and you know, we were called out of a gentile world and we had old habits too.
And it's easy to slip back into old half.
And so with the Ephesians, the apostles exhortation is from henceforth. Don't walk after the wave that you used to walk when you were in that Gentile world of old. Habits come back so easily, don't they?
To the front, but we put on the Newman.
And uh, so he reminds him of that. There's kind of an order of things and verse 17 and 18, you get to walk in verse 17.
It's a vain walk. You get the understanding and uh, or verse 17 to walk the vein walk verse 18 understanding, but it's dark.
And then the end of the verse, the heart of his blind.
You know, our walk really flows from our perception of things in this world. How we see things and how we see things in this world flows from where our heart is, where our affections are.
And so this world is.
In the vanity of its walk is governed by how it sees what's around it. And that comes from where it's hard it's at. And where should our hearts be?
What should be the occupation of our hearts? You know that walk is gonna flow from that point too.
Where our hearts are and what our hearts are occupied with is gonna govern how we understand and see everything around us. And that's going to then order our walk through this world. It starts with a heart here in the order of things that comes all the way back to the heart. And that's really where it starts, doesn't it? It's with the heart.
Seattle important thing and that is the alienation of the life from God and then King James, it says here alienated from the life of God through ignorance that is in them. So it's not only the walk defiled, it's, uh, the understanding darkened and in actual fact, the life alienated from God and in need of reconciliation with God and.
Then blindness of the heart. Those four things really characterize the Gentile life.
So how wonderful to have a new life, the very life of Christ, and to be characterized by what he says. Uh, the new man and the new man is a term, an abstract term that the apostle uses in connection with everything that is characteristic of the new life that we have that's in Christ and nothing of sin attached to it whatsoever, because it's the very life of Christ. And so the old man is everything that's characteristic of the corruption of the first race of men.
In this term.
The Newman the Apostle uses it in an abstract term, so to speak, to characterize everything that would be consistent with the character of Christ and those that belong to Him.
Teacher exactly right on this. And I don't know if we know the exact dates, but it seems to me that the apostle Paul was in Ephesus, the work of God went on in Ephesus around AD 5253, that area. And uh, and again, I'm, I'm not sure of the dates and I don't know what's really that important, but, uh, you know how it says in, uh, the 20th of Acts that he spent three years there.
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And I believe that the.
A pistol here was written about AD 60.
So you've got a period since the Apostle Paul was there of maybe four or five years, that is, uh.
Uh, or near right to his epistle or his prison epistle.
And what, uh, these people have been saved out of the idolatrous world with all the lifestyle that goes along with it.
And they were introduced, if I can put it that way, to a new website.
And you know, umm, uh, in, in acts.
Umm when the apostle Paul where sorry when Saul is going to looking for Christians, he looked for any that were in that way.
In that lifestyle.
There's a lifestyle that belongs to the believer.
And, uh, and it's for all believers.
And so here the apostle Paul is bringing before them there are things that are not to be associated with the lifestyle of a believer.
And so he says in that verse where we started with is Steve already alluded to, used the word henceforth.
Read the 6th, 7th, 8th verse. This I say therefore intensify in the Lord, that ye henceforth not await, not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds.
Remember, Mr. Lundin had a saying. It's our companions and our habits that ruin us.
And get into habits and, uh, we get into friendships and they can influence and they can, umm, uh, we need to be careful of both. And so again, it's the, uh, the, the Christian lifestyle and we're brought into a fellowship with those that belong to the Lord. And then we have our, our own private lives as well.
And that's kind of alluded to here because it speaks of putting off the old man and to put on the Newman.
And, uh, I've noticed two or three times in the scripture that it says to put off before it says to put on.
And we have to have something.
And we can't live in a vacuum.
And faith is involved in putting off that which we would be associated with that would not be becoming to us as a belief. God has a substitute for it. And so, umm, to me it's, it's uh, umm, it's beautiful to see that there's a, there's a fellowship, we've been brought in, there's a lifestyle, there is a, there is a food for the Newman, but all these things.
Uh, that, uh, the apostle Paul addressing these believers that have been associated with the idolatrous world, that they wanted them to continue and to be separate from that which dishonored the Lord.
To make it clear in the, umm, new translation, uh, verse 22, we might read it in the new translation.
It says, namely, you're having put off according to the former conversation or manner of life, the old man which corrupts itself according to the deceitful lust. And so it's uh, written, I think Mr. Garbine is umm, notes here says it's in the heiress tents. It's something that was done once and for all that you have.
Putting you have put him off verse 22, you have put off concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lust. It's one thing that you've done in the past. When did you do it?
You did it when you were baptized, You professed, umm, perhaps you didn't do it, uh, essentially you did it publicly when you were baptized outwardly, but you did it when you professed Christ as Savior or when you really were. When you were baptized, you put off those things and it was done once. It should have been done in a conscious way, perhaps, but we don't think now I have to put off the old man.
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I have to put off the old man today. No, you did it once and I think, uh, brother, uh, you can and, and umm, Clem used to say in connection with passages like this, uh, be what you are.
As a result of what you have done, be what you are.
And so this apostle is teaching this. You've already done this. Don't go back. Don't go back.
They're wonderful to be able to understand that God doesn't see us in that position of being in the old corrupt lifestyle and characterized by that corruption. He sees us in Christ. And here in verse 20 it says you have not so learned. It should say the Christ. And so we're in relationship with the head in glory. We're members of the body of Christ and we're in relationship with the head, the glorified head, the Christ.
The head and the body unified.
I think that strikes the diverse as 22 to 24 dealers are.
And starting on birthday.
Annoying what our standing is.
It brings dignity to the position that were brought into, giving us the desire to take and walk into standing, brought into.
Effects are stated that way. It should have respect.
I'd say that connects to with verse 20 and 21, Christ, and then Jesus Christ would bring before us that one.
In whom we are in in Christ, the exalted, glorified man at God's right hand, and all the blessings and privileges and glory that are attached to that position.
Remember what you've been brought into. Remember you're in Christ.
But you learn the truth in Jesus. You'll hear it in that lowly man that walked through this world. He was the the word made flesh. He was the perfect manifestation of God.
There's a man down here below. He displayed all that there was in the heart of God, in his perfect walk for God's glory through this world. We learn the truth of that walk as it is in Jesus. So the position and the walk, Christ and Jesus.
Those two terms in verse 24 created in righteousness and true holiness.
Gives the, the, the list of those four things that we were talking about in, uh, verse 18. But here it's righteousness and true holiness. So we not only have what is characterized, he says, having put on the Newman in verse 24.
And he's a part. We're part of a new creation race of men.
That didn't exist before. But we have a higher standing in creation than even the angels do. Even now. We don't have the power that we're going to have in the future. We don't have the, umm, glorified. Our bodies are not glorified, but we have a higher place before God right now than the angels do. The angels are servants forever, but you and I have the dignity of those that are a part of the new creation race. So we, we're part of a new race. We have a new state.
Our brother was bringing before us and we have a new standing before him.
Verse 19 at the end. Even so, now you'll remember servants to righteousness.
124.
They go together.
Righteousness.
As the thought of uh.
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Our duties before God, we walk in the right way, and before men too.
And our relationship with one another and with those in this world. To walk in a righteous.
Way and God would have us to walk righteously.
The holiness goes deeper, holiness goes higher. Holiness is the rejection in, in, uh, my heart and my thoughts and then all my ways of anything that is contrary to God.
The rejection of anything.
That is contrary to what He is in holiness and righteousness too. So righteousness I think really kind of more takes the walk and the holiness goes deeper and then it really involves the infection.
God was holy before sin ever came into this scene.
And holiness is a delight in that which is good of God. Why does it include the rejection of sin? Because when sin came in, it spoiled what was good and thought hated it.
And so holiness involves a rejection of all that would come in and spoil. That was just good. And it's a it's a deeper thing, but they go hand in hand. I think of one more in connection with The Walking and my responsibility before God and before men in this world, I should conduct myself in a righteous way at work and my business and whatever other feelings I have in this world. Napoleon is just that, of course.
And and.
Uh, it's, it's very closely connected with the nature of God.
I think that he is connected with the nature of God, righteousness and true holiness. Mr. Darby has a little note in his translation that's helpful on that righteousness and holiness of the truth.
See verse 21 And so it's what?
Is characteristic of Christ. It's characteristic of what we would say we're a new creation race and what, umm, the Newman having put on the Newman, what characterizes the Newman?
Is true truth, but it's righteousness acting in the right way before God, according to the truth of the Word of God, and in holiness.
And so even the thought of sin, the thoughts of the unrighteous, is sin before God, He's.
Sinning against God in every aspect of his life. He's not. It's not possible for him to bear fruit before God because his every act is sin.
But you and I are seen as being in Christ and having the same moral features and characteristics as Christ, and he is developing those characteristics in us. We do have responsibility, but.
Really having put on the Newman which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
So that's what we would come back to verse 21. That would be what the truth of Jesus.
So then in the last part of the chapter he gives practical examples of the differences between the life that we used to live as Gentiles and the life that we live now. And how we lived in Gen. as Gentiles was filled with corruption and self will and rebellion against God. But in Christianity we're not only saved by the grace of God, but in righteousness we go way beyond.
What the Jew ever had under law and we display the righteousness of God in a public way in this world. And so he gives this instruction that we might just very plainly know these things. You have to remember too. And I think brother, uh, Dave mentioned it's like 8055 or 56 that the Apostle Paul was there in Ephesus. And then approximately 5 years later he writes this. He was, uh, during his, uh, house arrest in the book of the Acts, Acts chapter 28.
And he wrote, uh, the epistle to the Colossians, Ephesians, Philippians, Philemon. And so he writes this. And so five years after, and we need to remember that they were saved out of wickedness, a wicked lifestyle. They had occult books, uh, a vast quantity of occult books. They didn't know how to live like Christians. And Paul taught not only the truth of salvation, but he taught practical Christianity. And so you might say that this is partly what he's doing here. I'll just.
00:40:22
If you bear with me, in Acts chapter 20 he goes over that.
There's three parts to the work that the Apostle Paul did among the Gentiles.
In uh, the last part of verse 24, Acts chapter 20, verse 24, the last part, the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus to testify the gospel of the grace of God that was to all men.
Not only the Gentiles, but the Jews. And then in verse 25. Now behold, I know that all ye among that ye all among whom I have gone preaching the Kingdom of God shall see my face no more. So now he preached to those that were the gathered Saints of the day, and he taught practical Christianity. They didn't know how to live like practical Christians. But he didn't just leave them saved. He spent time there and.
Is it 2 years, maybe three years that he spent?
In Ephesus, what was he doing? He was teaching them how to live like a Christian. You find the same thing in connection with the work that went on in Antioch. They spent a whole year.
Barnabas and Saul, they taught them how to live practically as believers. And then he went beyond that in verse 26.
Umm, or verse 27, I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God. Once they knew how to live like a Christian, then he taught them of the mysteries, the Christ and the Church, the great mystery, and he taught them of umm, the uh.
Truth of the Church, how the church should function, all those aspects of the mysteries, different mysteries, different revelations that he was given of God. He taught them those things. And so here isn't it nice. In the Epistle to the Hippies we have an example of what he taught them, how to live practically as believers.
That's the first that tells us, Let him that thinketh, he standeth. Take heed lest he fall and.
So we've been considering some of these beautiful truths as to the fact that there is one body and how we're to conduct ourselves in accordance with that. And it may, uh, in reflecting on some of these things, we may, uh, may think we've arrived at a certain spiritual plateau and we're no longer going to have issues with certain things. And out, out of nowhere, it almost seems like we have these Ephesians being instructed put away lying.
Don't steal, no.
No corrupt communications, no bitterness, anger, all these things. And just to realize as we walk with the Lord day by day, there there should be growth in our soul. We should be becoming more like Christ. But who we are by nature never improves.
And if if we look for that to improve or we put ourselves in situations where we think, OK, I'm strong enough, I can handle this. We're gonna fall and fall every time we we have no strength in ourselves. And so just that reminder, let him that think if you stand to take heed lest he fall. We need to pay attention to these instructions and and not just to brush them off and say, well, we don't need to worry about lying. We don't need to worry about stealing. We can move on to the rest of the chapter here. These are for us as well.
Uh, also hear that it says members one of another and.
We have Noah said in first of 25 wherefore putting away lying speak every man truthful neighbor. We are members one of another. We notice in the next chapter, it tells us that in the 30th 1St we are members of his body, of his flesh, of his home, So it it brings before us.
In a double the a double aspect. It seems to me that.
We are members of His body and that He is the head, but we are to remember also that we are members one of another. In other words, what I do effects with you.
00:45:13
What you.
You and your life and and vice versa.
And uh, so, uh, I just like that double aspect. We remember that this body, but we're all and, and we are also members one of another.
So all of these expectations is different than the law. It's not just a negative, but there's a positive because we have put on the new hand and we do have a life that wants to please the Lord. So we need the warnings for every one of them ends with a positive. It rises above the law. The law could forbid the flesh not to do, but this is an encouragement to do in each one of these.
And there's something positive in the in connection with them.
Why is uh?
Is something that, uh, is.
Getting larger and larger in, in, uh, Christian lands, it is part of daily life continually and every aspect of conversation and business and on and on. And, uh, countries where the light of Christianity has not been, umm, it's just the way it is. Everyone lies all the time. And as the light of Christianity fades in North America, it's becoming the way of life here too.
It's so easy, just a quick lie get you off the hook even in something that.
It doesn't really matter, but it deflects maybe a little bit of an uncomfortable question or a road I don't wanna go down within this conversation or whatever. So just a quick, quick lie.
If, umm, you know.
That can come in among the Saints of God.
This is one of those gentile habits that can we can slip back into so easily.
And sometimes it does take an effort just to stop and say wait.
Maybe, I said. I'd rather not answer that.
It's easier to log.
Then stop and say.
What would we lie to ourselves?
Would we injure ourselves or members one of another?
And uh, so that's, it's interesting. That's the very kind of the first thing he mentioned. It's one of the things that's so easy.
I have come into our lives.
It was very instructive. That is the first thing that's on this list. And one of the things that ought to characterize us as believers is being characterized by truth in what we do.
And Brother Darby and his translation and note, he says that it's not just the act of telling a lie, but it's the act of falsehood, taking a false position or being in a false association, whatever it might be. You know, Moses, he was.
Called the son of Pharaoh's daughter.
It wasn't true and he came to a point in his life where he said it's not true. Now it's going to cost me something to publicly say it's not true. But he publicly made the profession with his act of departing Egypt. He said I am not the son of Pharaoh's daughter. What was he? He was a Prince with God.
That's what it means. A child of God, an Israelite was a Prince with God. Oh, how much far better. He wasn't a Prince of Egypt. He was a Prince with God. And so we sometimes take up a false position and if we could use the term, we live a lie instead of telling a lie. Ananias and Sapphira lived a lie, but it cost them their lives and the Lord dealt with them. But uh, here, as you say, it's a positive thing.
Because we're members one of another and so we speak the truth. Then he goes on with anger. Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down on your wrath. So we might have righteous indignation when someone uses the name of the Lord in vain. Doesn't it just make you feel upset? It should if you live and work in a place and they use the name of the Lord.
00:50:14
In vain and it doesn't bother you.
We need to judge ourselves. We need to walk in closer communion with the Lord. Or there's a man I did business with, George Pavlovich, who was a sales Rep, and I, we're in the car going to Detroit.
And, uh, he used the name of the Lord in vain. I said to him, George, what?
You know what God says about what you just did. He said what, what did I just do? I said you need you use the name of the Lord Jesus in vain. He says I did, what did I say? I told him what he said. He didn't even remember what he said. He just it was a habit of life. I said God says that he will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
And I had a Bible in my glove box and he took it out and I showed him where it was. And we had other discussions, but.
Be angry and sin not.
Let's not sin because it says the wrath of man worketh, not the righteousness of God.
Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wroth. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And so when we get angry because we want our own way and we're not getting our own way, and that's an unrighteous anger, but it is possible to be angry inside, so to speak, righteously defending the glory and the honor of the Son of God, the Lord Jesus.
With, uh, Israel encounters Amalek.
And, uh, God told Moses to, uh, let's say were to fight Amalek and Joshua went down to leave that battle. Moses interceded to his uplifted hands on the hill. And, uh.
Oh no, I'm sorry, I'm going the wrong direction.
Thinking of the battle of uh, when Joshua prayed.
That the sun wouldn't go down until they had completely routed the enemy and.
The sun stood still at his request and prayer until they had, uh, completed that, uh, that battle and routed the enemy.
And I think perhaps that is where this is drawn from and, and, uh, verse 26 and 27 were never to become complacent about sin.
And so we're not to let the sun go down upon our, uh, raft in connection with our cost about sin. We're always to have God's thoughts, not to become complacent, not to give room to the devil becoming complacent about sin. Mr. Darby has an interesting thought too, that it's been helpful to me, He said we may become.
An in.
Should feel when sin comes in.
As Paul said, who is offended and I burn not.
We should feel it, but he said if our anger.
If we let it continue, it is going to become anger against persons.
And not the sin, and then it becomes sin itself.
And that's what happens with us. We may at first steal the indignancy of something that's done that's unrighteous.
And what that sin is and what it is done to the Saints, and what it is before gone. But we need to be careful that it doesn't go on and become anger against persons, because then it's sin and.
And the devil's going to get an advantage of that. So there's two thoughts there, and I've enjoyed both never to become complacent about it. But let's not let our anger become anger towards persons.
Because then we're going to fall into sin ourselves.
Till that happens.
Where something can come up in the assembly or in relationships between brethren, where there's been a trespass, where there's been sin.
00:55:08
Years later.
The sin is long.
The effect, so to speak, of whatever took place are long and.
There's still anger on the part of one brother, sister against another. Over what?
And we can slip into that. And that has caused tremendous damage, isn't it? The devil is found. His father's father, you know, I heard that.
The ministry years ago, brother Irwin Clawson and his young man and there was a situation in his life his mother was concerned about and she said to him, Irvin.
There's always room for the devil.
You know, he just wants a little place, just give me a little corner, he says. I don't need much, just a little bit of thought, just a little hard feelings, just a little offense. Just give me a little corner, little room, and I can do my work. There's always a spot for the devil. They'll tell you don't make room for the devil, the apostle says. That's the new translation.
Make no room for the devil, don't make a room for him.
He'll use it and he'll take it as far as he can.
No, I can honestly say it. I don't know why this is but.
Brethren have a different opinion about a certain difficulty. It seems like the emotion it stirred up more at that time, almost at any other time.
And it's hard to talk to him.
Umm. And uh.
Uh, anger and bitterness and talk about extending the Lord.
You get angry, Sir, brethren, you know.
And I and I have to confess that the difficulty with me.
Umm umm.
May the Lord help us to.
Russian that's given a progression given in Colossians might turn to it in verse 8.
Chapter 3 of Colossians, verse 8.
Now he also put off all these anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy.
So what happens with the anger? It might not be visible.
I might be angry with you, but I it's not really visible to you. It's uh.
I just don't judge that evil thought, that anger and umm, it just burns. But then it progresses a little bit and it turns to Roth. Perhaps there's, uh, it becomes a little more visible indignation and uh, I, I get a little bit more, there's a physical expression of my discomfort with you. And then it goes beyond malice and Mal in French and uh, the other, uh, Portuguese and so on is, uh.
To hurt. And so I want I now have malicious thoughts. That's what it means to have hurtful thoughts. And if it's not judged, then there's blasphemy. I speak in piously of holy things. And so we need to be careful to judge a thing in the root of it. And when it's a a small thing, we might say. And so he says, be angry, sin not and judge those things when they're small.
Then he comes in and he says he gives instruction in connection with stealing. And in societies that, uh, are not characterized by Christianity, stealing is just the normal.
You don't have to go too far in, umm, it's remarkable. You go to Mexico or to Brazil and, and they want to see a picture of your house. So you show a picture of your house and say marvel that there's not a concrete block wall eight or nine feet high all the way around your house and there's no barbed wire on top. And that's not a motorized gate so that you can park your side at your car inside of the compound. They marvel. Doesn't anybody steal your garbage can? If you put it, you know, they can't believe it that you don't have a concrete wall all around.
01:00:16
But the blessings of Christianity and the profession of Christianity has brought tremendous peace and blessing to the Western Christian world. And our land has been blessed as a result of the profession of Christianity in the publication of the Word of God freely, in the preaching of the gospel of the grace of God freely. We don't have concrete walls around our homes. And so here he speaks of this.
To the tendency of the man in the flesh is to steal, and he says, let him him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor.
Working with his hands the things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth.
So we not only doesn't steal.
But he laborers with his hands to provide for himself and for others. He goes way beyond what they had under the law. Isn't that wonderful to be able to have an abundance? That's because we know the Lord Jesus and we, I think it was brother AC Brown, used to have the little expression. Christianity is to be characterized by the open palm, not the closed fist, and so many of those religions.
False religions in the world, they're characterized by a closed palm and, but Christianity and the lands that profess Christianity are characterized by an open palm. I don't want to make a political statement or anything, but, uh, when there's, uh, a disaster somewhere in the world, what country is it that sends aid?
It's the United States of America.
What's on the the currency says in God we trust. They freely open up the palm and they send funds, they send resources, they send trucks, they send aircraft, they send food.
They don't have to characterize our lives in the assembly as those that are gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus and as believers.
To open up and to provide beyond what our own needs are.
Lord Jesus did that, didn't you?
Spoke to that example earlier but I think when he fed the 5000.
Cypress said, oh, let's go. We're not going to deal with these people. You know, they're in need. So he said the 5000, he was holy.
We know he couldn't stand. He couldn't lie.
Tells us in first Peter two, he has called you as holy. Be holy, for I am holy.
Consider the verse in.
James chapter 4 verse 17 for him that knoweth to do good and do with it not.
Send send.
And I think it's, uh, Romans 1423, maybe whatsoever without faith, sin.
These things really we're talking about are as a Newman and new life. A new way being holy would be by faith.
No one gave more than the words.
Neutral need more than the Lord.
He filled that need. He gave all that he had.
Sold all that he had.
Game and Paul the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter 20 he quotes the Lord Jesus. I don't know where he heard it, but he might have heard it.
From the Lord himself, he says it is more blessed to give than to receive.
But we don't have that recorded in the Gospels anywhere. But Paul quotes that he says it is more blessed to give than to receive from the greatest giver that ever lived.
OK.
So for Jesus was, Monica said. He left without doing good.
He went about doing good and healing that we can heal in a measure but not like he did but.
We can go about doing good and this stealing is the opposite of that. It's saying I'm going to take from you instead of I will give to you.
01:05:00
So we have that example again in the Lord Jesus, you went about doing good. May that be our exercise as well.
Well, our conversation really reveals what's, uh, in the heart, doesn't it? So he says, let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. But that which is good to the use of edifying means building up that it may minister grace unto the hearers.
So what you have in the news media and what you have in the public places of this world is corrupt communications. And you and I are not to be characterized by speaking in the same way of dignities or speaking and being characterized by corrupt communications. It says in the Epistle of Jude that they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
Oh, we should be afraid to speak against those that God has set up in a place of authority.
And we ought to submit to that authority. One of the characteristics of Christianity is submission to authority. And here not being characterized by corrupt communications, but rather by gracious speaks speech. So they said to the about the Lord. Never a man spake like this man.
Oh that wonderful to have the possibility to be able to speak just like your Savior. You can speak before men just like your Savior spoke and your words can be words of grace that can minister to the hearts and the needs of those that are around us.
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed under the day of redemption.
Brings before us, doesn't it, that we have a divine guest that is inside of us?
And, uh, he's aware of all of our actions.
And, umm, grieving.
Is, uh, is something that he does if we act in the flesh?
Umm, I, I think it's, I'd like to, uh, to connect this with the verse that we have. We won't turn to it. Our time is about gone. In First Thessalonians 5, where it says quench, not the spirit, here it says to grieve, not the spirit. The grieving is a connection with doing something wrong.
And the Spirit of God be grieved with what we're doing.
The the 1St and 1St Thessalonians 5 where it says quenched on the Spirit.
To me, that is when the work of God is such in the soul that the Spirit of God leads us to want to rise and take him to to confess Christ, to give thanks to the Lord, or whatever, if we don't do it while we are quenching the Spirit.
And quenching is to put out. You quench a fire by taking and pouring water on it, and the fire goes out. Well, don't quench a spirit. And one feels that on Lord's Day morning that we sometimes are quenching the spirit when the Lord is seeking to draw from our heart praise and giving thanks, and we don't give thanks.
Quenching the Spirit of God.
Two sides to that Divine guest inside of us seeks to work in us all the time, doesn't it?
We can, uh, we can irritate people, we can anger people, we can vex people.
But we can only grieve someone we love.
Grieving has to do with someone who cares for us.
You might you know, someone who doesn't care for you and grieved about what you do. It might be angry, might be irritated.
But grieving has to do with something, someone that loves you and has a care for you.
Deep effect in the Spirit in Isaiah 63 and 10. At the beginning of that verse they rebelled.
Results. That's the Spirit.
Read the Spirit What have we done?
01:10:00
Lights to use us he doesn't need to use us, but he delights to use us and we're priests before him and those that are brothers have the responsibility to exercise our priesthood and the Spirit of God will labor and work with us to exercise our priesthood in his presence. But it is possible for us to say to be in a bad state of soul and and the spirit of God is seeking to use you and and you can quench the spirit and say I don't want to give out that he I don't want to pray.
I don't want to read that Scripture and the will is in at work and we can quench the spirit. We'll read maybe just a comment on this one verse in verse 32. We spoke somewhat at verse 31 in connection with the comments in, uh, the Colossians. But in verse 32 it says be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
So forgiveness has to do with our guilt before God. We were all guilty before God and God for Christ's sake. And the work that God Christ has done on the cross has forgiven us. And he doesn't see you and I as being guilty anymore. Imagine rebels.
Worms of the dust.
Insolent.
Rebels disobedient, he says. Not guilty.
You are no longer guilty before God. Now you may have a brother or sister that tests you and he says you forgive them. Don't count them guilty before you have a forgiving spirit and be tender hearted. This is one of the times, this is the only time I believe that this word is used in the New Testament, tender hearted. It's used once in the Old Testament, once in the New Testament, and it means the opposite of being.
Hard hearted. It means having a compassionate spirit. You know who had the most compassionate spirit was the Lord Jesus. It tender hearted. Can you imagine?
Him turning to that thief that had just been reviling him and saying, today shalt thou be with me in paradise?
Oh, he was forgiven and he was treated in a tender hearted way.
Can I ask a quick question on that verse?
I had to learn that when I was a kid. So every time we did something in the house that was against one another, we had to quote the verse, the kind one to another. But when it comes to forgiving one another, this has come up in relation to what was brought up in the open meeting as well in First Corinthians chapter 5, putting one away and so on. Or quarrel against one another.
In relation to Luke chapter 17 and verse three, it says take heed to yourselves, if thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him.
So your question is, do I forgive him if he doesn't repent and he doesn't confess?
Well, confession in my mind this could turn into a lot longer. Confession in my mind is not repentance. Umm, it's part of these.
I'll answer your question in a in a short way. We should have a forgiving spirit, and we should also have, uh, a reserve of forgiveness in our hearts so that when someone.
Comes and says, please forgive me. We can forgive right away. And So what he's Speaking of here is our responsibility to forgive. When someone comes and says I'm sorry, maybe he doesn't fall down and and come groveling and that sort of thing. But he says I'm sorry I stole your car. I'm sorry. You wish he had filled the gas tank up and then said he was sorry. But he said he's sorry. So you accept the apology.
Number one, I'm the opponent.
Gospel 2
Gospel—Robbie Wood
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You know, like to welcome everybody to the gospel tonight. Wonder if we could start off singing hymn #4.
In #4 Maybe we could stand together to sing.
Christ is the Savior of Sinner.
Now I agree I am free.
Stay happy, save up there in my cake, shake it before my grandma.
Now I can say I am cold and happy and justice delivering.
If I know what you thinking, this is the shaker morning.
Stay about 10:00 in.
Blessed with all Blessed.
How shall I tell them to bring it? This is the sacred for me.
Say about me. Say about dinner. Like me?
Change it. Like warm, like handsome. This is the figure for me.
Just ask the Lord for his help.
#40.
Hey, that's lovely.
Oh, let's go one to him be hung layer with my ears from yes he's a classic yes she's not allowed me yeah, he's not lost me.
The Bible tells me so.
She's not lumpy near God. I have landscape to open life. He will wash away my sins flat out a little child come in.
Yeah, it's a flooding. Yeah, we come. Love me.
Yeah, I love it. Not like I need so.
3000 times me so I'm sad and he wakes to make me cry, wait to pull me in his heart, keep me safe by every arm. Yes she has. Lovely.
Yeah, and I love you. Yeah, she's not plastic. Not I won't help me so.
She's not loudly, loudly still when I'm 30, we can tell. Round and shining. Oh my heart.
He will watch me where I lie. Yes, you're not love me.
00:05:09
I love you. Yes, I love it. The light will help me so.
She's not flouncing. He will stay close to him all the way. If I trust him, should I die, he will Take Me Home, my time.
Yeah, yeah, she's not lucky.
Yes, she's not a loving. Yeah, she's a lovely who tells me so.
No.
We probably don't have to say too much, we could just sing a couple more gospel hymns and go home because they tell a wonderful story of salvation. But umm wanted to look at a well known story. That's a favorite of mine and I know I've spoken about it before, but it's simple and easy to understand. And with the children here and all that would be, I felt what the Lord would have me speak about.
And.
Most of us up until a month or so ago didn't think too much of the name. Irma might have been a distant, long lost relative or something, or maybe not even. But certainly in the last month, that name has meant quite a bit to any of the follow the news and certainly to any of that lived in the, uh, Florida area or down in the Keys or down in the islands.
The worst hurricane that had come in a long, long while, and.
We know that thankfully, the authorities are able to predict when these things are coming. They even have some idea where they're turning. And there was no doubt in anyone's mind that preparations had to be made.
And the poor folks that live in little more than pieces of tin, maybe nailed together with sticks, maybe not even nailed together. There was an awful lot they could do other than try and find something made out of cement to hide in. People that had a little more secure houses wanted to be sure that anything that was glass was covered up so that it maybe wouldn't get broken. Maybe put some sandbags around to try and prevent the flood coming.
But.
Everyone was pretty sure that there needed to be preparation made.
And the storm hit. The devastation was incredible.
And yet there weren't too many deaths. There were some, sad to say, I'm sure there are many that lost their homes and much of what they had, their lives were spared.
But early on in the Bible we read of quite a different storm that was sent, and so if we could turn in the book of Genesis.
And.
We could begin reading.
Umm. In Genesis chapter 6.
And we'll begin reading at verse #11. Genesis chapter 6. Verse #11.
The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence, and God looked upon the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth.
Well, that was written many thousands of years ago. It could have been written yesterday.
We certainly know all around us that much of what even was held 30 or 40 years ago and society is being sinful and abominable is now being accepted. Sad to say, in our country of Canada, open sin is now being condoned as being lawful and being presented to children in schools as being something that is acceptable.
We need to pray earnestly for the country and the powers that be.
But in this day it records that God looked down and there was wickedness. Verse 13 And God said to Noah, the end of all fleshes come before me, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
00:10:07
Make the anarchy of Gopher Wood rooms shalt thou make in the ark, and shall pitch it within and without with pitch. This is the fashion which thou shalt make it of. The length of the ark shall be 300 cubits, the breadth of it 50 cubits, and the height of it 30 cubits.
A window shalt thou make to the ark, and in a cubit shalt thou finish it. Above the door of the ark shalt thou set in the side thereof, with lower, second, and third stories shalt thou make it. And behold, I, even I, do bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is the breath of life from under heaven, and everything that is on the earth shall die.
Well, we find that God.
Had made a decision that the wickedness had to be punished and if we were to read on through the Bible we could find.
Another incident where a city had to be punished for wickedness.
And we also know that this world is sentenced to judgment.
In part because of the wickedness, but most of all because it rejected God's Son from heaven.
But as is the case today, God made a provision for escape and he gave Noah the directions for building this huge arc or boat. Umm I The measurements were in cubits, which I understand was a measure that was supposed to have been from the end of somebody's finger down to both their elbow. Now of course the interesting part was what size person was it, but.
Says that's what it was. I'm sure the Lord laid it out for them.
Ian, rough estimation, the arc was somewhere around 450 feet long. I was counting the tiles in the ceiling and I think there's about 35 of them or so thereabouts, roughly. So that would be like 10 of these rooms would be 350 and then you'd add on another three of them in a row would get you to about 450. So if you kids can picture 13 meeting rooms in a row.
That was about how long the ark was and I didn't get working on the width because that would involve math and anyways, but you know how wide it is, roughly 32 or something other. So it would have been a little wider than this room, maybe another 10 feet wider. And the height wise 45 feet. That's pretty tall building. This would be what, 1012? OK, so three 12412. So it'll be almost four meeting rooms high from this ceiling.
To give you a bit of an idea of the size of this project.
Bottom line is there was room for anybody that wanted to get in.
And the Lord gave him direction to build rooms inside of it, gave direction for there to be a window above in the ark, and he gave direction that the door should be in the side of it.
And as we go on, we'll get some more instructions here. Verse 18. But with thee will I establish my covenant. Thou shalt come into the ark, thou thy sons, thy wife, thy sons, wives with thee.
And of every living thing, of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark to keep them alive. With thee they shall be male and female.
Of fouls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind. Two of every sort shall come unto thee to keep them alive, and take thou unto thee. Of all food that is eaten, thou shalt gather it to thee, and it shall be for food for thee and for them. Thus did Noah, according to all that God commanded him. So did he. Well we find that.
God made provision for Noah.
And for his wife, his sons and his sons wives. And he was also going to provide a miracle in that the two of each kind of animal we're going to come into the ark. I don't know if you've ever seen a dog and a cat together, but they don't tend to line up and go quietly together. Sometimes once they get to know each other, they'll make peace. Umm, you don't usually see lions leaving small animals alone.
And you know, there's artists have had lots of.
Fun interpreting and doing this. Sometimes you see pictures of Noah trying to, you know, coax animals in. I believe the Lord had them walk in two by two and in order to fashion into the art because He had created those animals and He was going to preserve the things that he had created.
00:15:11
And the entrance into it was through the side, and we'll see why that was important. So Chapter 7, verse one, the Lord said to Noah, Come thou and all thy house into the ark. For thee have I seen righteous before me in this generation.
Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee. By sevens the male and his female, and of beasts that are not cleaned by two, the male and his female. Of fowls also of the year, by sevens the male and the female. To keep seed alive upon the face of the earth for yet seven days, and I will cause it to rain upon the earth.
Excuse me, 40 days and 40 nights. And every living substance that I have made will I destroy from off the face of the earth. And Noah did, according unto all that the Lord commanded him.
So even though God had given Noah this instruction and Noah had worked on building the ark, he gave yet another warning at the end saying there's seven more days and it's going to come get into the ark.
And as we read, God had made provision for them with food to care for them, and we find that Noah was obedient.
So in verse six, Noah was 600 years old when the flood of waters was upon the earth. Noah went in and his sons and his wife and his sons wives with him into the ark because of the waters of the flood.
Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of everything that creepeth upon the earth. Excuse me. There went in two and two unto Noah, into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah, and it came to pass after seven days.
That the waters of the flood were upon the earth in the 606 hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the 17th day of the month, the same day where all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.
And the rain was upon the earth 40 days and 40 nights. In the self same day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of his sons, with him into the ark. They, and every beast after his kind, and all the cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl after his kind, every bird of every sort.
And they went in under Noah into the ark. Two and two of all flesh werein is the breath of life. They that went in went in male and female, of all flesh, as God had commanded him, and the Lord shut him in.
So we find that as God had planned nor constructed the ark, the animals went in, nor was family went in.
And at the end of verse 16.
We don't find that. Noah decided it was time to shut the door.
Says the Lord shut him in.
And you know, friends tonight.
The judgment that's coming on this world will be unlike anything that's ever been seen before. If you were to go up and down the street and ask folks what they thought the worst sin was that they could commit, you'd probably get fairly much the same answer. Probably murder would come up, probably more so than any. Maybe kidnapping, maybe extortion, maybe some form of moral evil, although that's getting less likely, sad to say.
But.
Each and every one of those things is a sin done by a man against another human being.
But the worst sin of all is to reject God's Son.
And it tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
But God doesn't want to judge anyone.
He is holy and he is righteous, and he has made a perfect way of escape. You know what tells us in the Scripture a little earlier on we didn't read it, that it had never rained before on the earth. And so for Noah to have perhaps told his neighbors and acquaintances that they needed to get into this art because it was going to rain for 40 days, 40 nights, and there was going to be a flood.
They might well have said it's never happened before. What's rain? We don't know.
But it did.
And friends tonight, I don't think there's anybody in the room tonight that hasn't heard the gospel message before.
00:20:02
And we know from the Scripture that the end of our chances to be saved from that judgment to come.
Is a day that's been appointed by God. You know, sometimes we have appointments, and if we're not carefully slip our mind, and we forget to keep them. But God doesn't do that, Says he's appointed a day that he will judge this world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained.
That's the Lord Jesus, the same one that tonight wants to be your Savior.
And it tells us as well that the end of the day of grace is going to happen quickly and the twinkling of an eye. So if anybody is thinking that, you know, maybe like the neighbors of Noah's that they thought, well, you know, it's time. We got another day or two to maybe play outside the ark. It looks a little boring in there. We're not going to get in until the very last minute.
My friend.
The time it takes you to blink your eye.
Could happen before you even notice it and it will be too late. Don't put off salvation.
Well, if we go back in the Genesis 7 verse 17.
Says the flood was 40 days upon the earth. The waters increased and bare up the ark, and it was lift up above the earth. The waters prevailed and were increased greatly upon the earth, and the ark went upon the face of the waters. The waters prevailed exceedingly upon the earth, and all the high hills that were under the whole heaven were covered. 15 cubits upward did the waters prevail, and the mountains were covered.
And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
And every man, all in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land dyed, and every living substance was destroyed, which was upon the face of the ground, both man and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven. And they were destroyed from the earth. And Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark and the waters prevailed upon the earth 150 days.
Well.
This was a flood unlike anything that has been seen since.
Umm, we could spend more time on some of the details here, but I did wanna go down and umm.
Just a second here. Now look, in Chapter 9, we'll come back to some of the things in the middle, but in Chapter 9.
Says in verse eight, God speak to Noah and to his sons with him, saying, and I behold, I establish my covenant with you and with your seed after you, and with every living creature that is with you, of the fowl of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you from all that grow to the ark, to every beast of the earth, And I will establish my covenant with you. Neither shall all flesh be cut off anymore by the waters of a flood, neither shall there anymore be a flood.
To destroy the earth. And God said this is the token of the covenant which I make between me and you, and every living creature that is with you for perpetual generations. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth. And it shall come to pass when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud. And I will remember my covenant which is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh.
The water shall no more become a flood to destroy all flesh, and the bow shall be in the cloud. And I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.
And God said to Noah, This is the token of the covenant which I have established between me and all flesh that is upon the earth.
Well, we all know on a sunny day, if it rains, if you look in the right direction, you see an absolutely beautiful display in the sky of a rainbow. And it's God's promise that he'll never again destroy the whole earth with a flood. I can remember some years ago we had a Sunday school class and there had been an event not on lake Hurricane Irma. I'd forgotten what it was, but there was terrible flooding somewhere.
And.
One of the children in the class said, well, that's not true because there was just a flood in such and such a place. And I said, well, let's read this again. And so we went back to the word of God, and it very clearly says that it's the entire world. And as we read a little earlier there in the end of Chapter 7.
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Talks about the waters rising up.
How that it went over the high heels and how the mountains were covered.
Now, in my lifetime, I've never heard of anybody being flooded off the top of the Rocky Mountains. Never heard of anybody drowning on the top of Mount Everest.
There has never been a flood such as this. You know, sometimes you see reports and they've they've got a foot of water and they say it's a flood of biblical proportions. Guarantee that reporter didn't spend a lot of time reading the word of God because they would never say that.
Anyhow.
There's lots of people that don't want to take God at his word, and that probably was no different in Noah's time you can picture.
Probably once they figured out that rain meant water was coming out of the sky. And as it started to get higher, there was probably a few of them that maybe had a little bit of education, maybe a little bit of experience farming. And they knew that water would go to the lowest point. So they maybe decided, well, we're not too sure about this, but no one went to a lot of trouble. Maybe we should move up onto a higher hill.
We find out the high hills were covered. There might have been even some that took him a little more seriously and said, well, let's not just stop at a high hill, let's get to a mountain because we'll be sure to be safe there. The mountains were covered. God's judgment was complete, just as He had promised.
Well.
The ark is just a little picture of our Lord Jesus Christ, and so if we go over, we'll just pick up a little bit of what he did so that we would not have to be sent to a judgment in a lost eternity.
And without reading, it would be wonderful if we had time to read the entire gospel, and that won't fit in the space of an hour, not even two or three. But the Lord Jesus, as we know, the eternal, everlasting Son of God, the spotless, sinless one, was sent down here into this world so that man might learn the heart of God the Father.
And sent to be a substitute for our sin.
On the cross.
How he was born as a little baby in Bethlehem and went about in his life.
Only doing good.
When he became about age 30, he began preaching.
And for three years, his public testimony was carried out. Blind people were able to see again. People that couldn't talk were able to speak again. Those that couldn't walk were able to walk again.
Many with diseases were healed.
Some were raised back to life.
And for all this good that he did.
Instead of receiving him and accepting him, man and their hatred.
Said that they wanted him killed.
God's people, the Jewish nation who he had promised to send the Messiah as a Savior, wouldn't accept that the Lord Jesus was the one they were waiting for.
I suppose they were looking for something that was grand and glorious, and a little baby born in a Manger wasn't exactly what they were looking for. And the more proofs and examples that he gave that he truly was the Son of God, the more angry they became and the more earnestly they called out to have him killed. And so even though the Jewish nation at that time was controlled by the Roman Empire.
And the Jews were not found at all of the Romans.
They prevailed upon the Roman government, the soldiers, the army to do away with the Lord Jesus. And so we find that eventually Jesus was arrested and brought into the judgment hall for a trial. And so we'll pick up some of that here.
Just a second here.
Hmm, we won't take time to read all of the account.
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Let's, uh, pick it up at verse 28 in John chapter 18, John chapter 18 and verse 28.
John, chapter 18, verse 28.
Then LED thy Jesus from Caiaphas unto the hall of judgment, and it was early, and they themselves went not into the judgment hall, lest they should be defiled, but that they might eat. The Passover Pilot then went out to them and said.
What accusation bring you against this man?
They answered and said unto him, If he were not a malefactor, we would not have delivered him up unto thee, malefactor basically being word for bad guy for lack of a better express expression. Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law.
The Jews therefore said unto him, It's not lawful for us to put any man to death, that the saying of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he spake, signifying what death he should die.
Then Pilate entered into the judgment hall again and called for Jesus, and said unto him.
All right now the King of the Jews, Jesus answered him. Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of me? Pilate answered. Am IA Jew thine own nation, and the chief priests have delivered thee unto me. What hast thou done?
Jesus answered, My Kingdom is not of this world. If My Kingdom are of this world, then would my servants fight that I should not be delivered to the Jews. But now is my Kingdom not from hence? Pilate therefore said unto him, Art thou a king? Then Jesus answered, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice.
Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? And when he had said this, he went out and said again unto the Jews, Sorry. He went out again unto the Jews, and saith unto them, I find in him no fault at all. But ye have accustomed that I should release unto you one at the Passover. Will you therefore that I release unto you the king of the Jews? They cried, Then cried they all again saying, Not this man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber.
So even in the Roman government.
They could say there's no reason to put Jesus to death.
And they even made an offer saying you get one prisoner free a year. How about it be Jesus this time? Well they said no no we want the robber called Barabbas and another place we could read that they said they wanted to CR to have him crucified.
Sentences then Pilate therefore took Jesus and scourged him. No, we read that verse quickly sometimes. What an awful thing.
To take a man with his ******** and to whip him with whips that were designed to gouge into his flesh and to rip hunks of flesh out of his back. What awful agony to put a man through.
Basically.
The Roman government trying to appease the Jewish people, no reason other than that. And the soldiers planted a crown of thorns and put it on his head and they put on him a purple robe and said hail king of the Jews, and they smote him with their hands. So they took the Lord Jesus with his back bleeding and basically dressed him up to make fun of him.
They didn't have a crown of gold and jewels. They made a crown out of thorns, and apparently the thorns that grow in that area are not like the little prickers we have on rose bushes over here. They were like big nails.
Put that on the Lord's head.
Put on them a purple roll to make them look like a king and basically mocking him, smoting, smiting him, hitting him with their hands.
So Pilate therefore went forth again, and saith unto them, Behold, I bring him forth to you, that you may know that I find no fault in him.
I don't know about you, but if you didn't find fault with somebody to turn around and rip their back to shreds, dress them up like a mock king and let people hit them was no way to treat anybody, let alone the Lord of glory.
Says Then came Jesus forth wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe Pilot saith unto them, Behold the man. When the chief priest, therefore an officer, saw him, they cried out, saying, Crucify him, crucify him.
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Pilot saith unto them, Take ye him, and crucify him, for I find no fault in him.
The Jews answered him, We have a law, and by our law he ought to die, because he made himself the Son of God.
Well.
He truly was the Son of God, but that was no crime worthy of execution.
When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he was the more afraid and went to gain into the judgment. Sorry.
Hall and saith unto Jesus, Whence art thou? But Jesus gave him no answer.
Then saith Pileth unto him, Speaketh thou not unto me? Norest thou not that I have power to crucify thee, and have power to release thee?
This is a mistake that's been made time and time again throughout history. Man in positions of power thinking that they have the right and the privilege to do things to God.
Jesus corrects him. He says, Jesus answered, Thou couldst have no power at all against me, except if were given thee from above. Therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.
From Pilot sought to release him.
But the Jews cried out, saying, If thou let this man go, thou art not Caesar's friend. Whosoever maketh himself a king speaketh against Caesar. When Pilate therefore heard that saying, he brought Jesus forth.
Sat down in the judgment seat, in a place that is called the pavement, but in the Hebrew Gabbatha. And it was the preparation of the Passover. And about the 6th hour. And he saith to the Jews, Behold your king. But they cried out. Away with him, away with him. Crucify him. Pilate saith unto them, Shall I crucify your king?
The chief priests answered, We have no king but Caesar Then delivered he him therefore unto them to be crucified. And they took Jesus, and led him away. He bearing his cross, went forth into a place called the place of a skull, which is called in the Hebrew Golgotha, where they crucified him and two other, with him on either side, one, and Jesus in the midst. And Pilate wrote a title, and put it on the cross. The writing was Jesus of Nazareth.
The King of the Jews. This title then read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city, and it was written in Hebrew and Greek and Latin.
Then said the chief priests of the Jews to Pilate, right, not the king of the Jews, but that he said, I am king of the Jews. And Pilate answered, What I have written, I have written.
Well, we find that the Roman government's system of execution was put into action.
One of the most cruel ways to take a man's life that could be devised to take a human being. Stretch their arms out on a wooden cross and drive nails through their hands and nails through their feet. And then take that wooden cross, stand it upright and drop it into a hole and have the person hung on display for all to see and over the head of the person would be placed.
The crime they had done. And so you probably would go through the city on any given day and you might see that sign that would say murderer, thief, extortioner, whatever. I suppose their thought was that anybody thinking of carrying out a crime like that might stop and think twice about it, because they were doing the same thing as the poor man there, and they could very well be the next one up.
There was no crime to write on the cross over Jesus head, Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.
Was what was there and so even when the Roman army had done their worst.
The gospel was really being proclaimed as to who Jesus was.
King of the Jews, well, says then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, made four parts to every soldier part, also his coat. Now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
Well, in the interest of time, we better drop on down here. Umm.
We'll go down to verse uh, 28 after this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, saith I thirst. Now there were set a vessel full of vinegar. They filled a sponge with vinegar and put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth.
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Even as you might say, a man's last request.
He's thirsty, they don't give him a nice drink of water, they give him vinegar. Substance guaranteed to make you even more thirsty. The heart of man told out over and over again against the Son of God.
When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished, and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
So the Lord Jesus.
Gave up his life, we find that.
The Scripture tells us that the Lord had power to lay down his life and he had power to take it again.
And had another student one time say to me, well, you're telling me that God sent his Son into the world to die, but God could give up his own life and God could take his own life again. So what's the point? And I want to speak reverently because that was how this came across in the person's mind. What they were missing was the point. That's not recorded in this gospel, but in the others.
How that the Lord hung there on that cross for a period of six hours? How that for the first three hours men passed by and mocked Him and reviled him and did all sorts of mean things to him.
And then there was an eclipse, if you want to call it that. The sun was darkened in the middle of the day. No, there again this summer there was an eclipse. Everybody was worried that they'd go blind if they looked at it. And it was for a short period of time. Up here in Canada, we didn't see a whole lot. It was just looked like it was cloudy. And then it got sunny again. I guess it was quite dark in some areas down further to the South.
Didn't last for three hours.
During that three hours we know from other scriptures that God placed.
Our sin on his Son the Lord Jesus, and punished him there on the cross.
That's what the Lord was referring to in verse 30 when he said it is finished.
Sin had been paid, for the judgment was born.
You know, as we mentioned, the wages of sin is death, and that sentence is passed upon everyone.
But we have a choice. We can serve out that sentence in a place called the Lake of Fire in Hell for all eternity. Or we can accept that Jesus was our substitute there on the cross, and that he bore the punishment for our sin.
Just as that ark was born up on the water and Noah was saved from drowning.
And we know that that arc was covered with pitch. It wasn't a pretty looking bolt. It tells us by the time the Romans had finished with the Lord Jesus and nailed him on the cross, that his face was so mired more than any man in his form, more than the sons of man.
Believe he was possibly hardly recognizable as a human being, they had beaten them so badly.
You know, people are usually attracted to something that's pretty and nice. The Lord Jesus says there is no beauty in them, that we should desire Him.
And that arc maybe didn't look like a beautiful place to be, but it was God's provision, the only place of safety.
Well, we find that the Lord gave up his life, and in verse 31, the Jews therefore, because it was the preparation that the body should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath day, for that Sabbath day was a high day, besought pilot, that their legs might be broken and that they might be taken away.
So the process of crucifixion was not a speedy death. It was a long drawn out affair and the person hanging there on the cross was able to keep themselves alive as they would hang there and their arms would get more and more tired and they would sink down and eventually their airway would almost stop. If they could push with their legs, they might be able to live for a little while longer and the process would be repeated over and over until finally their body.
And exhaustion gave out and they basically would suffocate, I believe. So the Jewish people, they were worried that this was going to look not very nice on their party day. They wanted to get the downtown cleaned up. So they go to the soldiers and say, umm, we'd like to speed this up. So here come the soldiers. They're going to break the legs of the man on the cross, which would usher them fairly quickly.
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Into eternity says then came the soldiers.
Break the legs of the 1St and the other that was crucified with him. But when they came to Jesus and saw that he was dead already, they break not his legs, but one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water. Well, I mentioned about that door being on the side of the ark where they could go into for safety. Here we have.
What matches up in the picture with the Lord Jesus?
How that soldier came.
They put the two men on either side to death. Jesus being dead already, I suppose the soldier, as they would do on a battlefield. If they saw someone lying there and wanted to be sure they were dead, they would use a sphere.
Did the same thing to the Lord Jesus hanging on the cross and a miracle happened because that blood and water came out. Umm, I don't know how accurate it is. I've been told that someone wants their heart stops, does not bleed very much. There's no pressure to drive it out.
God had that cleansing blood flow out. It tells us that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanseth us from all sin.
And so just as there was safety by going in through the side door of the Ark tonight.
Tonight you can see the Lord Jesus hanging there on the cross, that blood being shed from his side, and say he died for me. He's my substitute. He took the punishment that my sins deserved.
And I accept him as my Savior. That, my friends, is the gospel.
You don't have to pay anything. You don't have to do anything physically.
It's a gift from God. The.
Bruce John 316 All up here. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. You know, if I come over to your house on your birthday and I've got a nice present all wrapped up, and it's got your name on the side of it.
Until you come and take it and say thank you, it doesn't belong to you. It's not yours to possess. And that's tonight what you've got to do with the Lord Jesus. It's not enough to know the account of the flood, to know the account of Jesus dying on the cross. You've got to realize and accept that it's for you.
To see that Jesus was punished for you so that you could be ready not only to live through this life with God as your Father and with that new life inside you, but that you're ready to meet with God because your sins are gone.
We know that the time is short. It talks about there being wars and rumors of wars and earthquakes in different places and all sorts of things that we're seeing.
The extremes of weather and all of these things.
God is speaking to this world. Are we listening? Are you listening?
It tells us that Noah was a preacher of righteousness.
Are we telling folks about the judgment that's coming and are we sharing that there is a way of escape?
I'm sure the Bible doesn't record, but those last seven days, Noah may very well have made the rounds of all of his friends and neighbors once again and said there's only seven days, there's only six days, only five days left. Get in the art.
Not one of them got in.
We've got a wonderful story to tell.
It's a gift of salvation, available freely to all.
How good a job are we doing telling those that we come into contact with every day? And I'm speaking this to myself.
There is not in many cases even a basic knowledge of the Gospel now in the world.
20 years ago or so, when children came into a Sunday school, you could possibly begin to start. They'd have some knowledge of maybe the Lord being born in Bethlehem.
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Might have some knowledge of him being crucified on the cross and rising again. These things are not taught even in the schools today. They're not common knowledge. It's all new. We know about it. The Gospel tells, the Bible tells us. We're an epistle known and read of all men.
As someone has said, to preach the gospel and if necessary, use words. There's a little song we used to sing in the Young People's hymn book. Uh, let me think what you are. Speak so loud that the world can't hear what you say. They're looking at your walk, not listening to your talk. They're judging by your actions every day. Umm.
Restaurant won't come but.
Are we shin shining as a light for the Lord? So many of the little children's hymns. Jesus bids the shine like a pure, clear light. It's not just for the children, it's for all of us.
And it speaks to us every day. Ought to How are we doing? Well, our time is well done. I'm sorry about that. One more quick thing I wanted to notice over in the account of the art.
Before we get finished and let's see here now, Yeah, Chapter 8.
And we'll just read it, verse 18. Noah went forth, and his sons, and his wife, and his sons wives with him, every beast, every creeping thing, and every fowl, and whatsoever creepeth upon the earth after their kinds went forth out of the ark.
And Noah builded an altar unto the Lord, and took of every clean beast and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And the Lord smelled a sweet savour.
And it was on from there. So we find that once NOAA had, as it were, been saved.
He built this altar and sacrificed to the Lord. In other words, he did something that the Lord desired, and the Lord was pleased with it. It says he smelled a sweet savour.
And unlike Noah, who had to build this huge boat for salvation.
We have a free gift we accept.
The Lord has asked us a very simple thing to do, to remember what He's done, to remember how His body was given in death for us, and to remember how His blood was shed. Unlike in the Old Testament, when there was many, many different offerings and complicated things, this was very simple. The Lord took.
A loaf of bread and a cup of wine and he said.
This move represents my body, this cup represents my blood. Take it, pass it among yourselves, and this do in remembrance of me.
Very, very simple. And he said as often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you show the Lord's death until he comes.
The coming of the Lord draweth nigh. He says, Surely I come quickly. Behold, now is the accepted time. Behold, now is the day of salvation. Friends, if you're not saved, you need to get saved now before it's too late. And if you have asked the Lord Jesus into your heart, he'd really like you to remember him as he asked.
This morning might have been the very last time that we'll have a chance.
To break the bread and take of the cup because it's only until he comes. It's something we can do while we're here waiting for him.
It's very simple. It's in His word. I just pray you'll consider that if you do know him as your Savior. Well, just wanted to mention a little incident and Kathy and I had a chance. We were given a trip some years ago to the little island of Malta, which is over in Europe. And most can picture the what they call the boot of Italy. And then there's little island of Sicily. And then.
A tiny little island off that called Malta. And we know it from the scripture. It was called Melissa. The Roman government had named it that it was where Paul was shipwrecked. But anyhow, and. And that in itself is interesting, but.
On that island, umm, we were taken to a bunch of umm, tourist attractions if you like museums. And one site that was absolutely fascinating was what they call their hypogeum, which literally means under the ground.
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And some fellow was building, I guess a house or something in the, I think 1900 or 1901, digging and trying to dig a cistern in his basement and broke through into this massive underground cavern. And so he started exploring and going around underground and they discovered a huge complex of tunnels built underneath. Umm, there was A and we've got to go down into this thing.
And in one part of it there was a beautiful, umm, sort of like a stone amphitheater if you like, built with different levels of arches on it. That would have been to.
You know, projects sound out to an audience. There was a, umm, curve out type of megaphone in the stone. That must have been their PA system. Umm, obviously fairly advanced people that built this thing. And they told us that with their carbon dating methods that they figured that the underground caverns had begun to being used somewhere around 4000 BC, they thought.
And that at about 2500 BC it had been used and expanded and there was, I don't know, different burial chambers and this and that. But they said the remarkable thing is about then it seems that everything stopped on this project. And they said it even seems like the entire civilization disappeared.
Friends, we realized.
The ones that built all of this were very likely destroyed in the flood with NOAA.
Nor wasn't destroyed, but you know what I mean. We don't need things like that to make the Bible real. But what a solemn thing to think that these people going on in their lives were snuffed out in an instant because they didn't get into the ark.
We, umm, tried to present the gospel a little bit. The guides that were there said that. Some of them believe that, but they weren't allowed to tell that as an explanation for what happened. But what a fascinating thing.
And all the Lord has preserved us. He gives thee little things for us to see. Soon we're going to see him face to face. We hope that not one chair in the room would be empty if the Lord were to come right now. So our time is gone. Umm, I was going to sing one more. Umm, maybe we'll just in.
Let's sing a #12.
Let's stand together and we'll sing it.
#12.
Just as I am without one.
Monthly but.
That's not what was shed for me and I.
My heart I come.
I come.
Just as I am, and waiting not to read my goal at once, I come out to the first light and flesh.
Exploded all my God, I come.
I come just as I am.
For wretched life.
Yeah, all I need and they could hug all and.
What Will You Do in a Day of Small Things?