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On the Father's throne is the.
Rise of the world.
'S Children's Life.
And our glory and the glory.
Steer and France return also.
Give my glory and my glory.
Screaming and God.
Screaming.
From the glory. From the glory.
God of nowhere.
On the glory, From the glory.
Of the smile.
Judgment stands 3/4.
God.
Is life.
By the glory, by the glory.
Rise was playing on Earth.
Christ was playing.
So.
Pray.
Soul and grace.
Will make glory, will pray for you.
Love to hear everything of your your voice.
World to make glory.
To our brother tongs prayer and.
If it might be well for us to go on to the last chapter of Hebrews.
And.
Beginning with verse 13. And what is behind this thought is that?
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He and I were talking after the first reading meeting.
The expression was given the cause and the effect, and in the first chapter of Hebrews we have the 'cause that is the person of Christ.
Brought before us for the purpose of producing an effect in our lives, and it seems to me like one of the greatest effects in our lives, occupation with Christ will produce is worship and giving him His proper place.
And it seems to me like.
If we began.
In verse 13 we would we would see the effect that the Apostle I I don't confine it to starting there, but we would see the effect of occupation with the Lord Jesus and the various aspects that He brought before us. In the book of Hebrews. We would see that it would have this effect upon our lives and give him.
That place of preeminence that is desired from the ministry of Hebrews.
With my brethren I just suggest that but.
Of necessity, we come down. If we think about the effect, it's less than the cause. I recognize that. But still, we would want this effect in our lives.
That's fine to start with, but perhaps we should start with verse 12, the last chapter of Hebrews.
April Chapter 13, verse 12.
We have 4 cases also.
Let us pick up therefore unto him.
Without the camp bearing his reproach, for here have we no continuing city, but seek one to come by him. Therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But to do good and to communicate, forget not.
Or with such sacrifices God is well pleased. Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves, For they watch for your souls, as they that must give account that they may do it with joy and not with grief, for that is unprofitable for you. Pray for us well, we trust we have a good conscience and all things willing to live honestly.
But I beseech you the rather to do this.
That I may be restored to you the sooner now the God of peace that brought again from the dead, our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect, and every good work to do his will working in you that which is well pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever.
Amen. And I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation. For I have written a letter unto you in few words. Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty, with whom, if he comes shortly, I will see you.
Salute all them that have the rule over you and all the Saints they have Italy. Salute you. Grace be with you all. Amen. Amen.
Now think about that, Jerusalem.
Should have done what it will do.
In the beginning of the millennial reign, it should have lifted up its gates and received this one who had right to the throne. There was no throne in Jerusalem, because Israel in responsibility had lost the throne and had been given to the Gentiles but the Lord Jesus.
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It was worthy of establishing his throne.
His place of rule and dominion in Jerusalem.
But instead.
He suffers without the gate. Well, we as believers today.
The apostle says to the Corinthians, know ye not that the Saints shall judge the world we're going to rule in this world, but are we going to follow now the example of our Lord Jesus and suffer here in this world, or?
Very early in his life, the Lord was tempted there in the wilderness by Satan, who is the God of this world.
Satan has a world, and that's the world that we live in, and he would have given that world to the Lord Jesus. But he said no. The Lord said he will wait his time when the Father gives it to him, and that's what we had in the opening of Hebrews. Now we are following that same path of faith.
We're faith daily. With that same temptation, the enemy of our souls is saying live as kings now. That's what the Corinthians had fallen snare to, Paul said.
Kings without us? Well, the Apostle is bringing before us now.
You have just observed the Lord Jesus as the author and the finisher of the path of faith and all the perfection and beauty of the Son of God, Son of man.
He ended his course suffering outside of that city.
Not taking his throne now let us go forth unto him in that same spirit. And I think that's the burden of the Epistle to the Hebrews. It's to get us.
Occupied with the Lord Jesus in such a way that it will produce in US.
The desire that we not make our reputation in this life at this time, but follow him who made himself of no reputation and beloved, he is going to have a reputation in this world where he made himself of no reputation like no other man has ever had. No one will have to say no the Lord because God is given him.
In resurrection.
And the same name, Jesus, but where it was despised here on earth, it's now exalted, and it's going to be the name that every knee shall bow to. And so it seems to me now in this the apostle says, suffer this word of exhortation that we have here in these verses that we have read the effect that occupation with Christ should have.
On our lives and on our being.
Wouldn't it?
Producing us.
The desire for the knowledge to find the way into the holiest of all. Where the worship is, there's only one of those in there, the way into the holy. There is a place today for worship, for the Saints of God. It's not connected with the camp, It's a part. And the Lord is everything in this book. And so in worship He is everything we have no choice at all to make. Everything is already marked out for us.
And God wants that worship.
And the Lord is worthy of it.
And we are worthy to come because of his works. What a wonderful, blessed place it is.
I think it's probably 2. Here we're Speaking of the Lord of Glory, the Creator King of Kings. We cannot find words to extol how great He is. And why don't we ask to do? Are we asked to go out and climb mountains? Are we asked to give everything we own? No, it's so simple. It says by him. Therefore, let us offer the sacrifice of what? Praise to God continually That is the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name.
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And then when we have something material to talk about, what is it? It's for his people. But to do good and to communicate, forget not. For with such sacrifice as God as well pleased, it just strikes me this is our God. He's so wonderful. I I feel this every Lord's Day morning as we sit around the table with the elements on the table.
Meditating upon the great 'cause to our Creator as a man to come into this scene and there satisfy all God's righteous indignation against sin, that we might have eternal life. And what does He say? Again, he says this do in remembrance of me. I can almost picture our Lord pointing at the table with a loaf there in a cup, in remembrance of Him. He's not looking for great things. He wants our hearts and our affections, the fruit of the praise of our lips.
Remembering him in simplicity. What a wonderful God. But then he reminds us, let's not be hard hearted, but let's show compassion to those about us for those things he's well pleased with.
And worship today.
And it's.
Outside the camp of profession, That's the what's alluded to here.
When the camp turned idolatrous during the 33rd of Exodus and Moses went out of it and.
Pitched his tent and everyone that sought.
The Lord went to Moses. This world and its religious element has set up their rules and regulations, their dogmans and creeds patterned upon the old economy that was given by God to the children of Israel.
Which were only figures and shadows.
But Christ on the Cross was the end of the figures and shadows, and He is everything.
We have reality. There's a person to go to and the person we worship.
And it's a place. Refer again to Chapter 9, verse 8.
The way into the holiest of all.
Just that much of it. It wasn't made manifest in the old times, but now it is.
Now, how are we going to find it? You've got to follow the pattern that showed here. The pattern was showed the mouth for the way they were to make it.
You find that word pattern used seven times in connection with the old Tabernacle.
And the last time is in this book.
Well, there is a there was a true pattern for making the old Tabernacle. Everyone had a figure that pointed to Christ. Every part of the Tabernacle pointed to Christ.
His humanity or his divinity? Someone said.
What's more than once you've heard it that?
God is in Christ is just as perfect as a man as he is as God. I believe that the man Jesus is just as perfect as a man as he is as God. So he's the one we search for and we can offer our praises now.
We don't have to wait to what we had in the first chapter. When he bringeth in his first born into the world, he says let all the angels of God worship him. That's coming and that is seen in the Psalms. You follow them through which are prophetic and I'll say.
It's a picture of that in Psalms 9200.
The Lord coming in, or least.
God bringing his Son in, It's a literal thing that's going to happen. It's not very far away. God is going to bring his Son in and set him up in this world in power and glory.
And take possession of the earth. He's going to get it from God. He wouldn't. He wouldn't take it from Satan. He's going to get it from God.
Well, those things are glorious and they're getting near, but we don't have to wait for that to worship him. There's a way into the holiest of all now, and it's one of joy and peace and communion and happiness. You can't change. You can't add to it or take away from it. You have to follow God's pattern. I got to say, there's only one way in the holiest of all, to worship him according to God.
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And he wants company collectively too, does he not? And so he's made a way, because he is going to enjoy our company collectively in the Father's house when all the redeemed are gathered around himself. But just like with Israel, God was looking forward to the time when they would be established in the land and when the Temple would be built under the direction of Solomon, and the Lord would dwell with His people collectively there where He had placed His name.
But he wanted their company in the wilderness too, he said in the 25th of Exodus. Jehovah looking down and requesting the company of his people, he said, let them build me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them, among them, but let me just go back to what Brother Buchanan has alluded to in Exodus 33.
Because it's unto him, It's a person to whom we're gathered. And brethren, we need to keep this constantly before our souls. I don't think we can overestimate the importance of keeping this before us that it's a person. If we lose sight of that, we're going to be turned aside and discouraged. And it's interesting when failure came in there in the form of idolatry, that they took the camp. Moses took the Tabernacle and pitched it without the camp, a far off from the camp.
And it's interesting what it says. Everyone noticed this that sought the Lord went out to the Tabernacle. Now it also says there that every man stood up and worshipped in his tent door. And there were many who remained in the camp. Were they the people of God? Yes. Did they worship? Yes. But those who sought the Lord went out in separation from the failure, the evil that had come in at that time, and they went out to the Tabernacle.
And there was a special blessing for that. And so I just say that, brethren, because we go forth. But the verse doesn't end there. It's not just separation from that which is not according to the word of God and to the mind of God, but it's unto him. And that's where the heart comes in. As our hearts go out to the person of Christ, then his separation, a hard thing. Is it hard to go forth when the object is so glorious? No, brethren, if we have Christ before our souls.
It's not hard to go forth unto him, and it's very necessary, because then immediately it says, and we might have reproach, No, that's not what it says, bearing his reproach. And if our hearts are not attracted to the person, when the reproach comes, we're going to go back, we're going to be turned aside. But it's not hard to bear reproach when our hearts go out to the person of Christ, and we're full of Him and occupied with him and what he has done for us, and all that he is and himself, and what he means to God the Father and Son.
Then it's not hard to separate. If you love someone very much, it's not hard to walk in separation with that person, even if you're ridiculed, even if you bear reproach for it. And I believe in the measure in which we seek to carry this out practically in our lives, collectively, brethren, and seek to go forth unto him where he has placed his name and where he desires the company of his people. I believe it's not going to be a popular path.
The truth is never popular. Christ is not popular in this world today.
He's still the rejected one. If the Lord Jesus were to come back in humility like he came the first time, I believe they would give him the very same treatment. The heart of this world would come out in the very same way. Thankfully, as we've been reminded by our brethren, he's not coming back as the lowly man. He's coming in power and glory, and the earth is going to be filled with his knowledge and so on. But the heart of this world hasn't changed, and if we're going to follow this one brethren, we cannot expect better treatment than the Lord Jesus received when He was here in this world.
The servant is not greater than his Lord, and all they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. May not be physical persecution, like many of our brethren are enduring in other countries and parts of the world today, but there will be a reproach connected with the measure in which we are faithful and go forth unto him.
We are going to suffer that reproach.
But let me read the last two verses of 2nd Corinthians 6.
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2nd Corinthians 617 and 18.
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 who the Lord almighty.
He assures us of all of his power to walk in that path of separation from evil, as gathered to his name.
To help and that the camp is Judaism, especially in this book. Of course it is that system of religion that was ordained of God in the Old Testament, but that had become old and passing away in the new. And it's those words are used in this book about that Judaistic system of things. Still, it was a religion that was adapted for man in the flesh and that man in the flesh.
Could appreciate it was based on things that were outward and visible to the eye. Today we have a vast system of religious.
Christened them around, and in a large part the principles of Judaism.
Or the camp have been adapted into that system of religion, the idea of having a large building called a temple. It's Judaism. The idea of having music and service.
In our worship service is Judaism. You do not have it in Christianity. The idea of having a separate priesthood or what is called in Christian surgical's is the clergy.
That is Judaism, and we are called out of that. I think it is.
Helpful because sometimes it seems to me that we use the word camp and christen them interchangeably and we need to distinguish that Judaism or the campus Judaism Christendom has adapted those principles and we are to come out of anything that suggests itself of that Judaistic system. Why? Because the Lord Jesus, God's glorious Son, presented himself.
To the Jewish people. And what was their response out? They took him outside of that city of Jerusalem and nailed him to a cross outside that city. Now where's our place in a system that has things that man can appreciate and enjoy in the flesh?
I think it's important for us, the young people, to understand why we don't have music in our worship services. We want to use that term. Why don't we have music? I remember asking a group of young people, and one young brother said, well, I thought it would be nice if we did. We need to know why. It's because we've been called out of a system that was adapted for man in the flesh to appreciate what what do you have here? And I often notice that people.
That are not used to the way we meet together. They come in and they start looking around. Where's the front of this place? Where's the man that's.
In charge here, And they're confused. There is nothing visible brethren that we can appreciate in an outward visible way. Christianity is characterized by Christ, and where is he? Can you see him with your natural eye? You can't do it. He's in the glory of God.
Faith. We can see him, we appreciate him. But everything in Christianity is not visible to the natural eye. It is something that we appreciate by faith. It was in total contrast with Judaism, which had everything visible to the natural eye. Country down here, they had their city, the center, and they had the temple, which was.
A building. A physical building of great eloquence and a outward form of music and priesthood. Where's our place in connection with all that? We're called unto him outside of it all, and we shouldn't be find it strange that that is not going to be appreciated. It will not, brethren. But we have to learn that Christianity is Christ.
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It is attraction to his person, and if they don't see anything attractive about us, that's fine brethren. We are not that attractive of a group of brethren.
But it's the person of Christ that should attract our souls if it's him before our souls. That's the true.
Power of gathering. And I think it's so important what has been mentioned in verse 13. It's unto him.
Without the can.
Reinforce it with a little.
Of Deuteronomy 12, which I'm sure we all all familiar with, but I'm speaking out of those who may not be and I speak from.
Personal exercise which this was brought to me by the Lord very strongly and caused me to change my ways. And I have to say that it's really, really very pertinent. If you want to look at versus Deuteronomy 12 versus, I'll start at the beginning.
And these are the statutes of judgments which he shall observe to do in the land which Lord God and thy Father has given thee to possess it. All the days that you live upon the earth, you shall utterly destroy all the places wherein the nations which he shall possess serve their gods. Upon the high mountains, and upon the hills, and under every green tree. We shall overthrow their altars, and break their pillars, and burn their groceries, Fire and shelter you down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place.
Ye shall not do so unto the Lord your God. And I wanted to whether the next verse is true, of course, but I wanted to bring before us this other aspect.
Down farther.
I'm looking forward where it says that you'll not do like they did.
There is 4.
Cannot do so unto the Lord your God.
Why?
Verse 8 Verse 31 is good. It says it twice. Verse 31 is the second time. I shall not do so unto the Lord thy God. For every abomination to the Lord which he hated have they done unto their gods? For even their sons and their daughters they have burnt in the fire to their gods. What things so ever I command you observe, to do it, thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it, And we must evaluate.
When we think that something ought to be done.
For the Lord will bring this, We bring this up again in His name. What is His word? Saying His word is above His name, and His word says not to worship him in the ways that the world worships its gods. And so we must evaluate any idea of how to worship God.
Based on what it really is, is it the kind of thing that the world uses?
To worship its gods. Now, of course, we have to think about what the world's gods are. There are many.
And this is a good exercise. This requires some prayer. It requires some scripture. It requires some waiting on the Lord. But if anyone in this room thinks that there is something that we're missing that we should be doing.
That there's it's not enough what we do that we can take a page out of the book of those who worship differently, those who remember the Lord differently. Then we need, you need.
To look to the Lord about.
How the world worships its gods. And evaluate that new idea that you have and see if maybe it is the way the world worships its gods. We talked about music, we talked about a building, we talked about the decorations in the building, We talked about having a program, having something, really.
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Professional. Something worthy of God because it's the best that we can do. We've practiced it.
And on and on and on. I've heard this stuff, but that is what the world does to worship its gods. And God said, I'll have none of that for me. I want what I've asked you for. And what did he ask us for? He asked us do this in remembrance of me. And you know, we talked a little bit at the beginning of Rome of Hebrews about the me that he asked to remember. There is an awful lot to that.
Me, He is God, he said to his disciples. If you have seen me, you've seen the Father. And so there is an awful lot to him, and it's up to us. We've heard that all day. It's up to us to find out who he is as individuals. Then we come together. We can bring that. What we find in the field, we can bring to the house, just as the Israelites took their basket.
To the to the temple, to share. We must find ourselves, find what he is and bring it, and remember him. And brothers, I do have one suggestion, and that is.
I probably will not be escape the room today without being **** hole for this, but I'll say it the Lord didn't say Remember Me and my death.
He said. Remember Me?
Now, I'm not permitted suggesting that we forget the cross, But when we remember him, we remember more more than what he did. We remember the person. And of course, when we remember the person, we will get to the cross. There's no getting out of that.
We will remember his death, but he said Remember Me. And I think it's a it's a danger to limit ourselves to just thinking of the cross, because we might just think of a concept, we might remember a concept, a truth. And of course, true as it is, we've kind of cut out a little piece of him and we're focusing on that. He said Remember Me and so when we come.
Having been in the field, there's a lot. It's rich. There's so much to him. And as we sit there, maybe in silence, those of you who think that there's too much silence, consider that there was a time when the sacrifice was burnt. It took time to burn. We have to have some burn time. Sometimes there has to be time to consider.
The things that are said, the things that are sung about, the things that are prayed and for the Holy Spirit to lead us inside in the inner man to consider those things and to see them in view of what we know of him. Then true worship comes, says them that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth if we do anything other than yield and put ourselves into a low position and allow the Holy Spirit to bring truth to us.
And touch our hearts with it. We're not going to worship them in spirit and in truth. And when we worship them the spirit of truth, it's not going to look good to visitors. They're going to be unhappy unless they're looking for the same thing. But if they're looking for a program, and if you're looking for a program, re-evaluate that idea. In view of Deuteronomy 12, you need to read the whole chapter. You'll find other things in there that are very convincing.
But there was not just a way, There was a place too. And I think that's very important, brethren, for us to consider, because things might be carried on in an outward format that seems correct. And but with Israel, 21 Times in the book of Deuteronomy, he told them that when they entered the land they were he would place his name at a certain place, and that he would dwell collectively with his people there, and they were to bring their sacrifices there and to worship.
And they were expressly told not to offer their sacrifices in the place that they chose, but in the place that the Lord, their God, would choose 21 Times. That's quite a lot of times. He brings this before them before they ever enter the land. And we know that when they did eventually settle in the land, he chose a place. It wasn't up to Israel. He didn't leave it up to the tribes to cast lots and decide where this place was going to be and with whose boundaries the place would be. No, he chose Jerusalem.
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And later on there it became a snare and a sin to them, because when Jeroboam set up those other centers, things, at least initially, might have been carried on in somewhat the same format. But it became the sins of Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, that made Israel to sin. Why? Because of the format, Not necessarily. Initially it was because he set up other centers and encouraged Israel to bring their sacrifices there and to worship.
And I wondered, if that isn't why, when we come to the New Testament and he says to the disciples in Luke 22, go and prepare us the Passover that we may eat. Then he waits for a response from them, and they say, where will thou that we prepare? They knew from the Old Testament that the choice was not left up to them to choose where the Lord would dwell collectively with His people and where they would eat the Passover, which I realized was what was really in view there.
But it was also going to be the very spot where the Lord Jesus took a loaf and a cup and instituted the feast of remembrance. And when they followed the directions that were given, and those directions are very instructive. But when they followed them, then they found that when the hour was come, he sat down in the 12 apostles with him with them. And so it was not just a question of being able to keep the Passover that night, but it was the privilege of having the Lord Jesus in their midst, and then, as I say, to institute the feast of remembrance.
And brethren, had they deviated from those instructions in any way had they got to the house and said?
Well, not much. Point of having an upper room. Be a little easier to have it on the ground floor. Maybe. They might have looked at the room and thought, well, there's only going to be a little company of us tonight and we really don't need this big room. Maybe we'll leave it for some others. Is that what they were to do? No. Had they done that, they could have kept the Passover, but they would have missed the company of the Lord Jesus. And so, brethren, we need to be exercised. The Lord still has a spot where He delights to gather his people by the Spirit around himself.
And if we're willing to bow to the word of God in obedience, and to follow the leading of the Spirit of God, it's the man bearing the picture of water that we hear so often about. It's the word of God applied in the power of the Spirit. Then he can lead us not just to the spot where we can break bread, but the spot where we can be gathered around the person of Christ. And Matthew 18 and 20 still stands, where two or three are gathered together under my name. There am I in the midst of them.
I.
Too much of what has been said, that it is unto him that we go.
The Lord Jesus said to the woman at the Well. The hour is coming, and now is.
When neither in this mountain nor Jerusalem shall ye worship the Father?
And John, 10 he entered that enclosure for the camp, if you please, and LED his own out, and he became the center, and where he is, is the place.
So it is not.
Too much to be said to make him everything, the brain of whom we had some lovely thoughts this afternoon included in those thoughts that he.
Is the cheapest of 10,000. The apostle in the first chapter of Colossians said that in everything.
He might have the 1St place. We cannot make too much of it is to the Lord Jesus Christ outside of organized religion and the camp like systems and with which we are encountering that it is to Him that we go and it is He.
Who is the attraction for our hearts for our worship in the Spirit?
You would return to John 10 and come down to the end of the chapter. We all pretty well know the beginning of John 10 and the fact that the Lord went in there to lead.
Those people were in the camp of Judaism out of it.
But we don't notice at the end of the chapter that he becomes a gathering center to them, and it's on the other side of the river of Death, John 10.
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Well, they tried to catch him in the 39th verse. Therefore they sought again to take him, but he escaped out of their hand and went away again beyond Jordan. Very significant. He went to the other side of that river of death. Well, what did he become over there?
And there he abode. He stayed there with those people, and many resorted unto him. He became a gathering center to them. It's just a typical thing, but it's a true one. We are to be gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus, and he alone. He is the place as well as the person back in Genesis.
49 or 50? They're Shiloh.
And it turns out to be a place and a person unto him Shall the gathering of the people be so. The Lord is Hebrews.
Leading out of people.
Speaking to the Jews from the old Judaistic system thing completely.
On the other side of the river of death in resurrection, having a people down here that he companies with, he becomes a gathering center to us. Now also I'd say that we can't go into it, but Hebrews goes through many things in the Tabernacle and as you remember there was a court and then there was the Tabernacle, the holy place and then there was a holiest of all. So if they had three gates and doors to go through to get into the.
Coldest of all. And they could not get there because the sacrifice hadn't been made.
And God was shut up in the dark, and men couldn't come into the light. Now, in Christianity, God has not shut up in the dark. And Gracie can come out to us without judging. Judgment comes later.
But he brought us into the light in peace because of the sacrifice that's been taken in the blood traced there before God.
They invite us to come, well, the typical things of that Tabernacle.
There was the metals which had a significance. Gold is divine righteousness.
Much gold when he got on the inside, All pure gold. That's what they look at around maybe 1/3 as big as this. Look up there. That's all gold. And then there was brass, another metal. Brass, we understand, signifies divine righteousness in action to purify God puts away sin through judgment. Then gold is silver is the price of it. Those 3 metals.
Now, everyone of those things are typical of Christ. And if we look at the wonders of Christ in this New Testament, we'll see all those things typify them. And then there was blue. Well, that's the heavenly map. Then there was purple and scarlet. Those are the Jewish royalty and the Gentile royalty. Well, everything speaks of Christ.
And so the wonders of what we get in the New Testament will attract us to the person who's outside the camp. We'll see all this loving us in Him. Oh, what a wonderful savior he is, and all the power to keep us.
Yesterday somebody speaking about his title as the I am the Eternal 1.
As the.
Almighty.
Abraham and Jehovah.
To go along with his people.
But now to us, it's Jesus who is everything, and he. We looked at him as the Most High. There are so many things that will draw us toward Christ that we won't want those things that are out there which pertain to a dead religion. I'll say you can read it, but if you read the 115th song, you'll find idolatry.
And it's really a dead people worshipping a dead God. Now that's what heathenism is. They people don't have life, life, and so they're dead and they worship a dead God. Whereas you get in the 116th Psalm, it's a living people worshipping a living God. So God wants us to bring us in as he has typically done in the first chapter of Hebrews, reaching on into the day when he brings his first begun into the world and says let all the angels of God worship him. Now when he comes in that we that time we will be with him.
00:50:19
Sharing in his inheritance as he takes it, but he doesn't wait till then to have communion with us. And yesterday somebody referred to those two verses in John 1421 and 23 and those two verses present to you and I.
A way that we can fulfill in obedience and dependence to supply a place for the Lord to have communion to come. Now someone said in John 14, there's two comings of the Lord.
You get it in the early part of the chapter and then you get it in the 21St and 23rd verses. Well, he's coming for us and we'll all go with him when he comes for that. But right now he doesn't want to wait to have communion. He wants the fellowship of our hearts and don't we want it? Well, if we're going to get it, we're going to get it. According to him. We can't add 1 jot or title here or $1.00 there. Man's ideas won't reach up to God. He won't allow it. No flesh or glory in his presence. I don't care whether it's the greatest man in this world and.
The Pope or anybody else, they don't have any entrance into the presence of God any other way than for worship now.
It's by him that the worship is so. It's not my finger striking a dead instrument, but it's his. It's working in my heart and in yours to produce praise out of our mouths. It's by him, And so when we come together to worship, that the Lord has wrought in our hearts and produced a response, the song in our hearts, when we come together.
One might play a dead instrument and you **** one string and there's a resonance in another that when we come together that there's a harmonic resonance, if I may put it that way, when God is wrought in the hearts And there's that collective side of it, but it is he that is, it's by him. Let us offer the sacrifice of praise. There was once visiting a friend and his pastor came and he said to me, do you have pastors at your church? Do you have a pastor at your church? And I said, well, yes, I said we there's been men that have really gone out of their way many miles to come and seek to be a blessing. Could be a blessing and a help.
He said I don't think you get by. Question is he said you have one man to run things in your church and I said yes we do. He sits on the throne of God. He said we have a good song leader too. He got the point. He said I got to go play hockey now.
That's the point is we have a man in the glory to guide and direct the worship, and he's brought in our hearts. And so often, Speaking of silence, there is, if I may put it that way, if we've not walked in communion with the Lord, then there is not that song produced in our hearts that he can.
Play with, if I may put it that way, but it's not my hands plucking a dead instrument. But it's him working in the heart of the believer to produce that worship to himself.
A person of the Lord Jesus livingly before us. Though, brethren, if we don't, what's going to happen is that we are naturally going to regress towards the principles of the camp again.
And that's what always happens. And it concerns sometimes brethren, that when we have our remembrance meeting of the Lord Jesus, we tend to leave it to certain brethren who may be take the lead in teaching in the assembly that brethren should not be in Christianity. Everyone is a priest to God with equal access to OfferUp.
The spiritual sacrifices of praise. And if we regress toward letting certain brethren, doing the praising and giving out a hymn, and reading a scripture that glorifies the Lord, we are regressing towards principles of the camp again. So it's not a question of gift of giving.
This can say, I believe that when we see that the Tabernacle was a pattern of things in the heavens, it wasn't the growth of fulfillment of them all. It was only the pattern because the Lord Jesus hadn't yet accomplished the work. But when He came and had accomplished the work, then all that was a figure and picture of him comes to its end. Just the same as if you have a picture of the person and the person comes, you lay the picture aside, you have the real person, and the Lord Jesus has come.
00:55:08
And saw the Tabernacle. It's very beautiful to see all those things which are a pattern bring before us the way of approach through the blood, the loveliness of Christ, and so on. It wasn't a perfect pattern because it couldn't be. The work hadn't yet been accomplished. The way into the holiest was not yet made manifest, but it was the pattern. And we all enjoy looking at the Tabernacle and seeing the beautiful pattern that God has, But we don't go back to the pattern. The reality has come.
Christ has come, He has entered there, He has the veil is rent, and we enter into His very presence. Now then, in the temple we see that God brought them into the land and blessed them. He gave the pattern of the temple to David by the Spirit, and he passed it on to Solomon, and he built the Tavern, the temple, according to the pattern that God had given. Why did God give all that grand building and everything?
Well, it was a test for a man in the flesh. Would a grand building make a man a worshiper? A lot of people think it would then said to me, well, I feel more like a worshiper. When I go into a really good religious building, it does something to me. That's the man in the flesh. And God gave the best. He didn't give a second rate building. That was the most glorious religious building that had ever been built. And what about the singing? Well, it was the best singing. 120 priests sounding with trumpets and other instruments. A perfect harmony.
It was all to show that man having the very best could, as we know, reject the Savior. And that's just exactly what they did. It was the people who gloried in that temple and wanted the Lord even to look at the stones of the temple. How grand it was.
Those very people cried in the temple. They didn't want the Lord Jesus away with him. We will not have this man to reign over us. They wouldn't have him. And so the test only proved that there was nothing good in the natural man. And now what has God done? Well, it was typified in the sacrifices. The sacrifice that put away sin was burned outside the camp. So he says in your own shadow of heavenly things, you see that pattern.
Because the Lord Jesus who was the fulfillment of that pattern, he didn't suffer in the Tabernacle. He suffered outside the gate, all the ceremonies and everything where he was outside of it all. And he says now if we want to know what true Christian worship is, we leave all that behind, all attested man.
Only prove that outward things don't change the heart. You could have all the outward things, and people could enjoy them whether they're saved or not. But you have to be born again. You have to have the spirit of God within you to enjoy true Christian worship. And so as we come, it's not a question of the grand building. It's not a question of the construction of the table. It's a person that we have before us two simple things on the table. That's Christianity, brethren. And that is the thing that I believe is brought before us in Hebrews.
That all that was a type and shadow has been set aside. The temple and all its ritual only showed that there was number fruit for God from man in the flesh. And now we go out to a rejected Christ and worship is by the Spirit. We go inside the veil, which they couldn't do in the Old Testament, but we can draw near and we can offer the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. And what the Lord values is not the melody of the sound, but the music that comes from our heart.
That every believer, as we're saying as a priest too, and can come and offer his spiritual sacrifices. I'm saying that because the reason we go back, don't go back to it is because it was only a shadow. And it's all set aside because the fulfillment has come just as you set down the photo and you say, well, the person's here now, I'm going to enjoy their presence. But there's also the added thought that the one who fulfilled all this was rejected here. And so we bear his reproach. We're going out, this one who is so glorious, he's been rejected here and we follow him in his rejected possession here in this world. We have an altar.
Whereas they have no right to eat, which serves the Tabernacle. And we go out to Him bearing His reproach, we offer what the sacrifice of praise? The fruit of our lips it is now well, we can sing, But whether it's melody in the heart, whether it's produced by the Spirit, then God accepts it. So it's the whole contrast between the old system of things given of God. It was right that they should go on with it until God Himself set it aside.
01:00:17
And he has set it aside and it's replaced with what true Christian worship is.
Which is stated concisely in Philippians 3 and verse 3. Now this is not a hard pattern to find. It says that we are the circumcision that we mean today. We are the marked out people as Israel is marked out of old three things which worship God by the Spirit and rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh. Those three things we follow will direct us.
Right to the place.
I was thinking mentioning about them pointing out the stones to the Lord and not it's not how sweetly saying that even in that instance there where the Lord watched how they put the money into the treasury, that poor widowed woman, she had two mics which make a Farthing. She could have just put one mite in, it would have been 50%. But she put everything in and the Lord pointed that out. But it's interesting that immediately they point out to the Lord the great and costly stones of the temple and it was as if they were saying to the Lord. But just this wasn't made with two mites, but the Lord had already put his appreciation on what that widow woman had done, although it wasn't much in their eyes. They turned the Lord's attention immediately to these great and costly stones. But the Lord said that what he appreciated.
Was the fact of what this widowed woman had given. And so it is not what the world appreciates when they hear, but it's the Lord's appreciation and what the Lord seeks that He values.
That's the sacrifice we have in verse 16, isn't it? Is giving sacrificially of our substance too. I just like to say in verse 15 to brethren how important it is. It's the sacrifice of praise to God.
On Lord's Day Morning? Is that what it says?
Says continually. Brother, I think that should be something we are exercised about. We have a glorious God and Savior. The people around when they see us see that we have a reputation for ourselves. Or do they see when they see us the praises of the everlasting God on our lips? What is it?
Oh, I think it's so important that it flow more continually.
In our lives, in the Old Testament, there was a sacrifice which was called the continual burnt offering. It was never to go out on the altar. It was to be burning in one place that says all night until the morning. And the sweet savour of that burnt offering, a lamb in the morning and a lamb in the evening, was continually going up to God.
And the measure that you and I.
Are in the enjoyment of all that Christ is to God, there is going to be.
A continual flow of praise from our lips and this beautiful brethren when you see in families or in individuals, spontaneously breaking out into praise to the Lord. Some time ago I was in a nursing home visiting an older brother who, because of his bodily weakness, could not get out to the meetings any longer. And we're kind of sitting there, not saying too much.
And he was sitting, looking, not really at us in another direction. All of a sudden he starts singing. On that same night, Lord Jesus went all around the joint. It really touched my heart. His heart was to remember the Lord and his death, even though he couldn't get out. And it flowed right out of him. Nobody's told him to start singing, but he just started singing, Brethren. Is that the way with us? Does it flow out? I think yeah, we need to, Really.
Consider these things rather. And it's not something that we should force. It should be the natural flow, the overflow of a heart that has found Jesus enough to fill and to satisfy the heart so much that we can't contain it. It overflows necessarily.
It's like a spring. The springing well of John 4 now a spring.
01:05:00
Is water rising back up to the level from which it came. It comes from heaven, runs into the hills, and the gravity system develops a pressure and finds an outlet that comes up. That's that's worship. That's voluntary, involuntary, I should say pressure in our hearts as we think of Christ. Worship Christ by the Spirit.
Rejoice in Christ Jesus. It will produce that. So how wonderful that we can at any time and should be ready to praise Him to give those sacrifices. In the Old Testament they were not to bring those. They were not to come to the place that God had chosen to put his name there. Empty. See that none of you appear before me. Empty. So it's good to be in a meeting like this and think.
And sing and talk about the Lord Jesus. It fills up our hearts. We're getting what comes of Christ from God.
And if we can continue to do that, we'll be ready to offer those sacrifices of praise at any moment that there's an opportunity, and the other sacrifice to the material things. God is interested in our livelihood and the care of our brother down here. So there are two sacrifices that we can bring, we know today.
If you can, and that the praise is considered by the Lord Jesus the sacrifice. In other words, brethren, so much does he value the response of your heart and mind as we go through this world, either individually or collectively, when we're gathered together on Lord's Day Morning that he counts it as a sacrifice. Sometimes on Lord's Day Morning, we think of some effort to be in His presence. Some of us have families, and it does take effort. Some have a great deal of distance to drive.
I've been thankful that most of my life I've lived very close to the meeting room and never had that. But many of our brethren have great distances to drive to be there on Lords Day morning. But he counts it as a sacrifice. We think of some little sacrifice we make. But brethren, what is it in comparison to his appreciation? And I think it's a tremendous statement when you consider the fact that if there is any response in your heart and mind, he implants that response there when the children of Israel came and gave freely for the the commodities for the building of the Temple in David's day in anticipation of Solomon's day.
What did David have to own? All things come of thee and of thine own have we given thee who worked in the hearts of the children of Israel to bring those commodities? It was the Lord himself who generates a response of praise in our hearts. It's the Lord himself. He's put a new song in my mouth, even praise to our God. We don't generate this response within ourselves, Bob says. It's in the measure in which we are in the enjoyment of the person and work of Christ.
Then there will be an outflow. But think of it, brethren. He puts that response there, and then he turns around and says so much do I value it that I count it as a sacrifice? But let me say this just on a very, very practical note, brethren, it is too late to sit down at 10:50 on Lord's Day Morning and expect to generate a response of praise in our hearts if we have not been in the enjoyment of the person and work of Christ.
During the week if we have not entered in some little deeper and fuller way.
To the person and work of Christ where not, we cannot expect to come with a full basket and to have something to pour out when we come on Lords Day morning and it's been mentioned about pauses and brethren, I realized that it's not a good thing to be tripping over one another, and sometimes a pause can be helpful. But brethren, we have only one hour or so on Lord's Day morning to collectively worship the Lord. We're governed by physical hindrances and time and so on.
But brethren, when we come into his presence, and sometimes there's long pauses, sometimes I think the chairs are going to cry out. And brethren, I think sometimes, let's be honest, that long pauses are usually.
Often the result of a lack in my soul of a response because I have not enjoyed the person and work of Christ during the week, and I wonder if they're not more often a result of that than perhaps piety or.
And I don't want to be critical, and I know the Spirit leads in different ways, But, brethren, I do think we need to be very, very exercised. Let none appear before me empty. And perhaps you just allow me to say this too. Brethren, I know in John Chapter 2 in the marriage of Canaan of Galilee, there's a prophetic character to what we have there and so on. But I have enjoyed this little practical thought in application. There were six water pots.
01:10:20
And, you know, often a vessel in Scripture is used in connection with the human form. And there were six water pots, and I like to think of them as six days of the week. And what did they have to do? What were they to do under the direction of the Lord? When they locked wine, which speaks of joy and praise in Scripture, they had to fill those water pots with water, and they had to fill them to the brim, because when you fill something with water to the brim, there isn't room for anything else.
And they had to fill it with water. Water is often used as the type of the word of God. And if we're going to fill our lives with Christ 6 days of the week, we need to open this blessed book we were saying this morning. It all speaks of Christ. And when they filled those six water pots to the brim with water, then there was something that the Lord could take and turn to wine, and then they could come and pour out to the governor of the feast. But, brethren, if I do not fill the water pots with Christ.
Days of the week there will be nothing for him to take and turn into praise, so that I'll have something to pour out to the true governor of the feast. And so we need this exhortation, the sacrifice of praise to God continually so that we'll have something to offer when we come on Lords Day morning.
Who suggested this? I'd like to back up and ask you if you didn't have something to say to us on this.
22nd verse I beseech you, brethren, suffer the word of exhortation, for I have written a letter unto you in a few words. I suggest that I may not have thought that you had something special on that verse, or the end of the chapter.
Well, we rather bypass.
Verse 14.
And it says for here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.
There will be no fulfillment of verse 13, verse 15 that we've spoken of, spoken of extensively.
If our hearts have here a continuing city.
Now in Hebrews, of course, it's Judaism. It's Jerusalem.
But if in our lives as believers, down here is the city that we're living for, and down here is the continuing city that has our hearts affection, we'll never get into verse 15 at all. And so the apostle would follow us, follow, have us follow the Lord out of this world.
He has been put out of this world and we have to go out of this world and it's a real thing. And I just did want to say I appreciate Brother Bob, I wanted to ask the same question.
Paul and Silas weren't remembering the Lord in the assembly when they were in that jail at Philippi, but they were singing praises to God continually and it is should be the fruit of our daily living. Is that this one who has been cast out of this world?
Gets his portion day by day.
There could be the danger of, and I don't want to minimize, I think I value being gathered together into the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
But.
We don't want to.
Make that the Tabernacle that we store up our praises and our place of worship, that each day in our lives, whether it's in a prison dungeon or at work, which often answers to a prison in a man's life or the burdensome toils of home life, there can be praise worship to the Lord.
Day by day in our circumstances of life, if we're occupied with him.
I was because I hadn't very much. And my mind is you were Speaking of that. And I think that's often why there's not praise in our hearts, because here they were in a very adverse set of circumstances. And what did it produce in their hearts? But praise and Thanksgiving. And I believe that that's why there's often not praise in our hearts on Lords Day morning. If we pursue the week, so to speak. Looking for a continuing city here, seeking to exercise our rights, to establish our rights to claim what's ours. That's the whole system of the world. You mentioned the workplace is like a prison, but if our object is not.
01:15:33
Ourselves and our own needs and so on. But Christ, then it's going to produce a thankful spirit in our hearts and in these circumstances that God brought through works in our hearts and in our lives. During the week when we come together to remember the Lord in his suffering and his death, and there's going to be a real song in our heart. There was a song in their hearts in the prison that touched the conscience of that jailer. And there will be of those that have looked, that are around us. But if we're simply scrambling in the world looking for a continuing city like everywhere, everyone else.
There's not going to be anything when we come together to suddenly remember the one who had nothing here. He had not a place to lay his head. Would you say that the so-called Christian activism would be a form of seeking a city here?
It's something here to identify ourselves with. Other than Christ, it could be anything, and that is.
Distraction from Christ. Just like to say to younger brethren here, find it so refreshing and breaking a bread meeting to hear a younger brother give out again. It really stirs us younger brother and be exercised. I don't know why it is it seems like.
That there is not liberty sometimes, and I just want to stir you a little bit to be exercised before the Lord in an assembly meeting as the breaking of bread is. It's for us all to sit down in the presence of the Lord. The Lord Jesus is there present and he's leading the singing to God his Father, just to think of him there. And then we respond and.
Our response is singing too with him.
And the more you're going to be occupied with yourself and what people think about you, and maybe you'll make a mistake. There's not going to be any praise that flows from that. You're going to make a mistake, perhaps. But don't be discouraged just thinking that you might be making a mistake, because that's a subtle form of self occupation. Seek to be more occupied with Christ. It is important to try to be accurate in our expressions of phrase.
But we all make mistakes, brethren. And the Lord Jesus is our great high priest for that very purpose, to take our flawed praises and present them as they should be to God. So be encouraged to open your mouth and praise. I really feel this is important in our ongoing testimony. What is our testimony, brethren? It's Christ. It's setting him forward. We're going to set ourselves forward. It's going to be a testimony to ruin and failure.
That happens too much. Let's seek to set Christ forward. Let's praise his name.
And it is not just for a select group to be to be leading in that It is for every believer in the Lord Jesus who is born into the family of God. The priest in the Old Testament were born into Aaron's family. Priests in the New Testament are all those who are born into God's family, their priests to God.
We're 20.
We wait for the.
Lord for thy loving.
A very soul of love. Come on.
Is him the Lord Jesus could say to the woman at the will that the Father Seeketh worshippers. He abode with them two days and he never returned. We have two days and they're just about up.
It won't stop.