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M #216.
Rejoices.
And hear all heaven.
Hear I love all the.
They were they too.
Ascend the throne.
Who are going away?
To come.
And they just stood with my father's home.
Oh, water, stop.
Joy will be.
Good.
And they will be.
Quote I knew part of for years and I finally found the full quote by John Nelson Darby and it says when the sense of grace is diminished.
We decline in practice.
Our motives must be in God.
Sometimes effort is made to press, conduct works and practice because it is said full grace was preached before. Now that there is a decline in practice, you must preach practice.
That which is the rather to be pressed is grace.
Reading in Hebrews chapter 12. My brother sitting beside me and saw he was looking at the same chapter, so I have encouraged myself to suggest it.
Good.
Hebrews, chapter 12.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily beset us. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
00:05:13
Or consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds. You have not yet resisted unto blood striving against sin, and you have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children. My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor.
Faint when thou art rebuked of him.
For whom the Lord loveth, he chased not, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth, He endure chastening. God deals with you as with sons. For what son is he whom the Father chasteneth not? But if He be without chastisement were of all our partakers, then are ye ******** and not sons. Furthermore, we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us.
And we gave them reverence, showing up much rather be in subjection under the father of spirits, and live.
For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure, but He for our prophet, that we might be partakers of His Holiness.
No, no chastening, for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous nevertheless. Afterward it yielded the peaceable fruit of righteousness.
Unto them which are exercised thereby, wherefore lift up the hands which hang down.
And the feeble knees and make straight paths for your feet.
That's that which is lame be turned out of the way, let it rather be healed. Follow peace with all men, and holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God, lest any root of bitterness bringing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled, lest there be any fornicator or profane person, as he saw.
For one morsel of meat sold his birthright. We know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected. For he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears. For you're not come under the mount that might be taught, and that burned with fire, nor undue blackness and darkness, and darkness and Tempest, and the sound of a trumpet in the voice of words.
Which voice they that heard and treated that the word should not be spoken through them anymore?
They could not endure that which was commanded. And if so much as a beast touched the mountain, it shall be stoned or thrust through with a dart so terrible as the sight that Moses said, I exceedingly feared awake. But ye are come under Mount Zion, and under the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, into an innumerable company of angels.
Through the General Assembly and Church of the first born, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus the Mediator of the new Covenant, into the blood of sprinkling, that speak of the better things than that of evil.
See that He refused not him that speaketh. For if they escape not, who refused him that spake on earth much more? Shall not we escape, if we turn away from Him that speaketh from heaven? Whose voice then shook the earth? But now he has promised, saying yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven, and this word yet once more.
Signifies the removing of those things that are shaken as of things that are made.
That those things which cannot be shaken may remain, wherefore we receiving a Kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear, for our God is a consuming fire.
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What made me think of this chapter was.
What was said before the prayer at the beginning of the meeting?
Thought about this verse 28.
He says let us have grace whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. So having grace does not mean that there's not reverence in godly fear. If grace is understood properly, there will be reverence and godly fear. That's important. I noticed that grace is mentioned also in verse 15 of this chapter.
Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God.
O brethren, we understand the magnitude.
Of the debt that has been paid for us.
There's going to be the proper.
Response from our hearts to like the verse in Second Corinthians chapter 5 that says, The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead, and that he died for all. That they which live may not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him that died for them, and rose again.
So it's grace that works in these hearts of ours, but how important that at the beginning of this chapter to see that word wherefore. And of course that reflects to what the apostle has been giving in Chapter 11, all those.
Witnesses of the faith tremendous.
All through that chapter, how many witnesses there are that acted in faith differently?
All of them are different, but they acted in faith and so now the focus comes to us.
Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside.
Every weight and the sin which that so easily beset us, let us run with patience. The race that is set before us, Christian pathway is a race. It's not easy. It's a discipline. And I think that's so important to understand that it is something we need to discipline ourselves to do. Don't think that it's all easy. It's a race, so it's very helpful to see.
That context.
Grace not necessarily directly connected without chapter, but I think we all understand.
Saving grace, But perhaps we don't understand so well what it means now in our life.
All exhorts Timothy to be strong in the grace. And I probably can't finish the verse from my head, but it's let me just find it, I'll read it.
First, the second Timothy chapter 2 verse one. Therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.
When we get.
I had a verse in Acts, I think it's the fourth chapter.
Acts chapter 4 and verse 33 it says with great power gave the apostles witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus.
And great grace was upon them. And then another verse in first.
In first Peter the 5th chapter, the 10th verse says the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ Jesus. After that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, established, strengthen, settle you. So what does grace mean to us Now? I could also read of us in Titus, where it speaks there of grace teaching us.
Brother Sam happened to text me that verse a couple of days ago.
And that quote rather a couple of days ago. And so it has sparked my interest in the subject. I came across another quote by Mr. Darby, quite by accident, where he says there is not a trial or difficulty that Christ has not passed through before me and found his resource in God the Father. He will supply the needed grace to my heart. And that sort of brings us back to this chapter. You know, the grace that God, God didn't just save us through grace and that. And So what is grace? It's his unmerited favors, nothing that we earned, nothing that we worked for, nothing that we deserved He and his sovereignty.
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Poured out upon us.
His saving grace that we come into the good of through faith. But this is not the end of it. God continues to provide everything needed for our wilderness journey down here. Hebrews is a wilderness book. I, I happen to read another article I came across by Mr. Dobby in my flight here yesterday. I think it's called wilderness grace. You know, the children of Israel delivered out of Egypt. They're delivered out of ******* under Pharaoh.
And where do they find themselves? Why, in the land of Canaan where everything is flowing with Belton honey. No, they find themselves in the wilderness that God is there and everything up to Sinai is pure grace and God. So another definition of grace that I found extremely helpful that I got for another brother is divine enablement. It is that power that he now gives us again for our lives that we live. So second Peter first chapter begins by saying.
Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, according as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness through the knowledge of him that has called us by glory and virtue. I don't think that's quite the the the new translation. As cold as by OK, never mind. As cold as by glory and virtue and so on. I I don't mean to digress so far, but.
Again, back to our chapter. We find ourselves in the wilderness, but we don't find ourselves alone in the wilderness.
And we, we have an object, one who has gone before and this what we have here in this chapter especially.
Like to point out two of.
Who seemed to have the foundation of grace as the the.
The motives or energy of their ministry. The apostle Paul in Romans 1.
In verse five it says.
By whom we have received grace and apostleship.
It was on the road to Damascus where the Apostle Paul was headed towards persecuting the church. He was he was one who had a zeal, but it wasn't directed in the right direction. And God arrested him and he recognized that point in his life.
As a display.
Of God's grace. And it was on that ground in which the apostle Paul.
Could serve the Lord with zeal and energy. And then if we go over to first Peter, and I know that it appears as though we're maybe diverting a little bit from our chapter, but I believe if we don't have the foundation of grace in our souls, we take up.
Ephesians 12, in the spirit of responsibility and man and responsibility, has failed.
And if we find ourselves on the ground of responsibility, taking the exhortation of Scripture, we're going to find that we will fail. We will not have the the grace that's necessary for serving the Lord, but the apostle Peter.
In verse chapter one and verse 6.
As we're in. He greatly rejoiced, though now for a season if need be. You're in heaviness.
Through manifold temptations. That's not the verse that.
That's not the verse that I was was thinking of, but anyway, the Apostle Peter had denied the Lord and he had found that the resources that were within himself or faithful service for the for the Lord Jesus.
We're not sufficient. And so if we if we go through the future, we'll find at least four instances where he speaks of one of them is the manifold grace of God.
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And so as we go through into our chapter.
This morning we realized that and the ability to be able to.
Learn from the the hand of a Father who will bring difficult things into our life to bring about blessing, that it is on the ground of grace that we stand before God. I just have enjoyed these useful servants of God. They were strong in the grace of God.
And it was through learning that they didn't have the sufficient resources in themselves, but all of the resources were available because God is the source of our resources.
Know anything about this book that there is sufficient grace available for all of us? But there's something about living with a sense of it in our present experience and our life. And if I can be permitted to relate a story that might illustrate this. When I was about 12A, neighbor and I both had little Honda 50CC motorcycles and we were supposed to stay near the farm because that's OK.
That we wandered further and a policeman stopped us and we were terrified. And the worst part was he said I'm going to call your dads.
The neighbor kid was always going to kill me. He's going to kill me. Oh, my daddy's going to beat me. He's going to kill me. I knew I was in trouble and I was going to be grounded. But I didn't have that reaction because I knew my father loved me and I knew that he would be gracious to me. And yeah, I was going to be grounded. But the fear and the trembling and the upset that this young man had, and I knew what his dad would do to him.
He had a right to be afraid of that. There was going to be no grace applied to him, and it wasn't. But I had a different sense because I had a sense, even though I knew I was in trouble, that my father would be gracious to me and that he loved me. It makes a difference in your day-to-day, moment by moment life to have a sense of grace that that your father has towards you.
Every weight and ascend which does so easily be set on.
A weight may not be a sin, but it's something that drags us down, isn't it?
And I just couldn't help but notice in our local reading and Woodbridge this last week we're reading in Acts Chapter 27, we have the account of.
False, perilous journey there, but.
The owners of that ship and those that were responsible for that ship arriving at a safe place.
Knew that there were certain measures that could be taken to perhaps.
Make sure that they would arrive there safely and we read in verse 18 says and we being exceedingly tossed with the tapas the next day they enlightened the ship while they realized that too much weight could be a hindrance and would most certainly bring that ship.
To peril. And then if we read the next verse, 19, it says the third day we cast out with our own hands the tackling of the ship. So here they participated themselves in the lightning of the ship. And that's something that we can do in our own lives too, where we see a weight that is dragging us down. We can throw that into the sea.
Then finally.
And verse 38 says, and when they had eaten enough, they lightened the ship and cast out the wheat into the sea. Well, the wheat wasn't something that was bad, wasn't because we see them just eating right before this and it cheered them, but it was something that was going to hold back that ship from reaching its destination.
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And we know that the ship perished, but those souls that were on that ship, and as promised, they all reached the land. So sometimes I think we have to distinguish between a weight and a sin.
And certainly sins in our life will.
Destroy our confidence in God. We have that in first John three, but the new translation simply says sin. It's really the principle of self will here that's at work. Self will.
First, John also says in the King James sinners lawlessness, which is not the sense of it because sin existed before law. Sin is sorry. The King James says sorry, I'm getting I don't, I don't intend to confuse you. This King James says sin is the transgression of the law. Sin obviously existed before law. The new translation says sin is lawlessness. Again, that same principle that we're talking about here, it's self will at work.
Self will got man in trouble at the very beginning and self will is what continues to get man in trouble and so will that acts in independence from God.
The thing that easily besets me may not be the thing that easily besets you.
And I like how it's targeted. When you read that, you know what it is. I had a brother share with me recently how when he first got saved, he fought hard with his language. That was the thing.
He stubbed his toe, he's now confessed Christ and words would come out of his mouth that he would just be horrified by never was before and his children.
And he just cried before the Lord about it. But he noticed overtime how the Lord had helped him to where he stubbed his toe or hit his finger with a hammer. And instead of this stuff coming out, he said Ouch.
He said I knew that day that the Lord had helped me to be delivered from this sin that easily beset me.
And that is the thing. What is it? There is something it's not. Everybody doesn't have the same thing that's going on. There's something that has been a struggling. I think often that the Lord allows that to be a battle because I know people that have gotten saved, they've been delivered. They were drug addicts and all kinds of things that just gone. But there'd be one thing that they had to fight. And that battle the Lord made use of to help them learn something, learn something deep.
But if there isn't that one thing, then that's what it's talking about. It's holding you back. Of course it is. But the weights our brother gave the illustration of the the ship. If you know anything about slimmers that race and runners that race swimmers, and when they go to the Olympics, they'll shave their head. They'll shave their whole body because the hair on their body hinders. Their speed is in the Olympics. It's just nanoseconds. They're part of a second you can lose by well, why do they do that?
Because they're focused on the race that they've been given to do. They're not in some other race. And if you listen to a coach who's coaching, especially long distance runners, they will remind them over and over again, run your race. Of course there's others running in the race, but that's and especially in the Christian life. I'm not running against you and you are another brother or sister. I'm not running against you. I'm running a race that God has given me to run. And a coach will say, forget about everybody else. You run the race that we've planned.
We've designed it. You run that race and our master says to us, I've sent you on a race to run, run that race, go run somebody else's race. There's a way that you need to run. And the way they do that, there's certain pacing, there's certain times to run faster or slower. And then there's a time to just press down. And somebody who has a good kick towards the end of the race, they'll just push everything aside. And it, it, it fits really well what it says here.
It says enduring the cross, despising the shame. Well, enduring what if you're running a race there may you got to, you got pain in your legs, you've got uric acid spreading through your body and other things. Your muscles hurt, your your heart is pounding and your lungs are burning. But somehow you press and you run and you can run. Maybe you run somebody down and you get to the end of the goal. But that's where it is. And we've all been aimed at a goal.
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And there is some joy that's set before us as well. It speaks to the Lord Jesus that joy is us.
Well, for us, it's him.
It's him.
There's a.
Approach to this.
Race that we're Speaking of, there's the things set aside and then there's the things that have before us.
It's wonderful that we as we walk the Christian faith that we can not only the negative, but there's a positive. Actually, that's the verse that I had before me in suggesting this chapter was verse two, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of faith.
If I might just relate this to what was commented about the previous chapter, you have the list of the heroes or the those that who walk by faith. And if you'll notice in the next to the last verse there it says and, and these all having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. That is if the what they were looking for hadn't been realized yet, it was an unknown.
When the Lord Jesus.
Accomplished redemption and went back to heaven. The race, the end of the race, the destiny was opened up before the world.
Are those of faith. The Lord Jesus entered in to the destiny and he became the example for us. How wonderful brethren, we know where we're going.
We know what we're living for. We are intelligent about this, but the problem is we get these things along the way that hinder us. And so it we're speaking about the weights and the sins. A little later in the chapter it talks about the governmental dealings of God and he chastens what does God do that because we need those kind of things to help us run the race.
If it wasn't for those things, God dealing with sons as He does, it's for our benefit. Whom the Lord loveth, He chases. We usually think of this chapter as a as a chapter on discipline or governmental dealing, and rightly so, but how wonderful.
Brother, looking unto Jesus, that object needs to be before us when we lose the object before us.
Then these weights and sins can they'll appear and they'll they'll get a hold of us and they'll hinder us.
Every chapter.
Is just a piece of a whole.
And when you get into the details of a chapter, you're just looking at a tiny piece of a chapter of a whole. And sometimes to understand or enjoy a little bit of the bigger picture makes the details more meaningful. And I'd like to comment a little bit on a bit bigger picture of where these verses fit in.
Threatened to Hebrews believers and they for generations.
Had a destiny ahead of them on Earth.
And every generation looked for.
Something on earth, a Kingdom connected with this chapter, the end of this chapter, a Kingdom They look for a Kingdom here on earth with the Lord Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah that would.
Be their destiny.
Everyone of us starts out life perhaps with no sense of a destiny, but eventually at some point in life, somebody was talking to me yesterday where they kind of woke up.
What life was about, and that's perhaps some in this room that are younger haven't gotten there yet, or you really haven't decided what life's about and where you're going with it.
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In Hebrews, it starts out to them addressing them in this sense that everything you've ever known up to now in your history is no longer your future.
The Lord Jesus Christ is presented to them in chapter one as one who had been here and now it was at the right hand of God in heaven, and the Kingdom that they had been looking for was a Kingdom that was no longer to be seen as here on earth with the Kingdom they were going to participate in was heavenly in its character and we need to start there.
In our thoughts and in our expectations. And so who had chosen them?
For that Kingdom.
The Lord God in grace, there's a connection, very intimate.
In this chapter and in the hall that combines the thoughts of faith and grace and to get the bigger picture of it, it's a joy to see the connections between faith and grace. And so as we have in Ephesians chapter 2, by grace.
Are you saved through faith?
There's that connection between grace and faith, and So what? He tells them just to go back two chapters or not spend the whole time on an outline, but go back to chapter 10.
He has been presenting to them the one that.
As himself.
Gone before God.
Presented himself to God as Savior, as high priest, as the one that fitted them.
For their destiny of glory. And having done so, he then says to them in their trials in chapter 10 verse 35. Cast not away there for your confidence.
Which has great recompense of reward. They needed confidence to go on.
For ye have need of patience. That's verse two of our chapter. You have need of endurance.
That after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise, the promise that's at the end of the path of faith, that you might make it all the way to the end of the path and have that promise realized that is for you. And so he says, yet a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry the one that will receive you into your.
Heavenly Kingdom.
It's an encouragement for the confidence to go on.
But then he warns them or tells them the just shall live by faith. Every single person in this room has to live life if it's according to God by faith. There's not a single person in this room that can live life and accept the life that God has given acceptance by faith. It's an essential to the character of life. And so he says we're not them that draw back unto perdition.
And then in Chapter 11, he gives this whole collection of people and the one thing that most generally characterizes all of them.
Was an activity in the 11Th chapter.
Its endurance.
Everyone of them had been given some promise of God or something from God, and then they were put into the position of having to endure.
And everyone in this room is in that same position. The character of your life and mine is a life in which it's essential, it's required that we live it with endurance and as a result, we need encouragement in it.
And so he gives them the maximum encouragement in Chapter 12 after they've had all these examples of people that endured that were like us.
Then he gives the number one primary encouraging example of a life of faith.
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The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is the number one example of the life of faith. It's presented here not as a Redeemer, not as Savior. He's presented here to us as the perfect encouragement of the man who lived his life with endurance.
By faith, and so it says.
Looking for that man.
And you will see in that man what you need to encourage your heart to live that path of faith. And further than that, you can look on that man as at the goal line.
You know, sometimes.
Their life is more than a Sprint, but as you get near the goal line, you sometimes can see what's at the end of it. And as we, some of us get older and get, and I say near the end of goal line for us and as to this life, we can see the Lord Jesus as it were. They're waiting with open arms and that is intended to encourage us.
To endure until the end. And He gives other things that He endured that made His life difficult as a life of faith. He endured the cross. Why?
Because He had a joy that was set before him, and you can't endure if you don't have the joy in your heart of what's set before you. And the Lord Jesus did have that. And so he said, consider him in verse 3.
And the one that you can look at as he entered the he endured the race, He's finished the race, He sits at the right hand of God. And so it is for us to look forward to that same destiny.
Of being with Him where He is in His glory.
And one of the things that if the endurance aspect is not.
Followed.
The other side of it is.
Another aspect beside faith and the emphasis here in Hebrews is the faith side of it. But the other ingredient that's necessary for it is to fail the grace of God. Then there's going to be shipwreck in the life and the bitterness is going to come. And so it's so extremely important on the Gray side of it to recognize that God called us by grace.
God will sustain us by grace, and He wants us to grow in the appreciation and the enjoyment.
Of it in our souls. And so each one of us should be appreciating the grace of God more and more as we travel in the pathway.
But if we get our eye off the Lord, then we very easily can have a root of bitterness that will spring up in us as as failing the grace of God. And that also is one of the things that if set aside.
Derails, if you will, the walk.
So endurance is an important thing.
It is a life long race, it never ends and there's going to be times, you young people, when you think it's too hard.
That's when you need to take a glimpse of what is mentioned here. The joy that was set before the Lord Jesus. It's mentioned, it's mentioned a little bit earlier that it was to have us with Him, but there is one joy that I think superseded even that.
That to go into God's presence and to be able to say, Father, I have finished the work that thou gave us me to do.
I think that was #1 Joy. Then, of course, to have us with Him is included. But, oh brethren, to go into the Lord's presence in that day at the judgment seat of Christ, when everything was going to be reviewed.
And to have his well done.
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I'm not one to say if I will get that, but I think that should be the desire. Go on young people, it gets hard. Yes, it gets hard. Keep on, don't give up.
Get a fresh glimpse of the glory that set before us. Oh what a tremendous thing it is. You know, I often think of the Apostle Paul who is caught up into the 3rd heaven.
And when he comes back, it says he had seen things. He had seen visions and revelations. He had heard things. He doesn't say one thing about what he saw. He only says something about what he heard. Unspeakable words. But it was so glorious that even though God gave him a thorn in the flesh to deal with the whole.
Rest of his life, perhaps he kept right on and oh, rather than that's what's going to keep us going on to think of that coming glory that's before us. The Lord Jesus, when you think of what he went through at the during his life, especially towards the end as it gets to the cross, as he goes to the Garden of Gethsemane, as he wrestles in prayer and great drops of blood.
Flow down to the drop, down to the ground, and think of the awfulness of going to that cross. Not only the physical suffering, but the suffering from the hand of God for sin and then to be forsaken by God Himself.
Did he ever say it's too much? Never, never, never. Don't give up. Young people, keep on. That's what's so important. That's what endurance is about.
That is going to be a hindrance in the in the.
Race of Faith.
You think of the subject that's been before these believers and that that is the the cloud of witnesses. They're they're the cloud of witnesses of those who walk by faith. And they were able to endure and they had patience during the trials of their path of faith.
What was their strength was their confidence in the Lord. They trusted His word. And I would just like to suggest that possibly we could at least apply the settings in as the sin of unbelief.
Not trusting in God and his word. I remember there was a, a group of young men that got together and they, they all got their bicycles out and they, they took a, a bike path down to a place where there was going to be a bachelor party at a restaurant. And one of the bicycles had a, a bad bearing.
And.
The poor guy, he's probably here and poor guy that had to ride that bicycle had to work two or three times harder than the rest of them. In fact, it got to the point where.
They had to switch off and everyone had to take the.
Trial of riding this bicycle. It didn't didn't have a freewheel.
And I think of what happens when the believer sets aside confidence in God and in his word, the ability to have patience and the ability to endure the path of faith. Whatever God has called us to go through is going to be hindered, going to be our our path is going to become very labor intensive.
When we when we don't put our confidence.
In our trust in what God has said and his promises and so I just I feel like this can be one of the the setting sins is not giving God his rightful place in our hearts of putting our full confidence in what he has said in his word.
Doubting him? Well, here's the lie that the devil says if you don't understand it.
00:50:05
Then you lose trust or you don't have faith. That's a lie. It's because you don't understand it. You can still say, well, Lord, I don't understand this, but I trust you. I know you.
This whole, these witnesses, they had moments like that. Look at Abraham, take your son and kill him on the mountain.
OK, but you already told me. But that boy is going to have children. So what do we find in the New Testament? In the in this previous chapter, he thought he was going to see a resurrection. He was wrong. But because he believed, because he trusted God, this difficulty, this thing he didn't understand didn't stop it. The devil tells you that if you don't understand it, you can't explain it or you can't see your way through. Well, don't trust him anymore.
Well, that's a lie. It's a lie and it's always been a lie. Don't let him get you at that thing. Well, if it starts coming in your mind in a moment where you're facing something, just say, Lord, I don't understand, but I trust you. And that's, that makes a huge difference. The smallest child that the weakest child of God can do that. And God will honor that. And something will come out of that and and that there's a day in which the Lord will praise that.
Dear child of God, for that moment where he faced that.
And the devil came, and he didn't listen.
I suppose.
One of the most wonderful promises that enables us to go on for the Lord today is the fact that He has told us, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
He tells his disciples, though I am with you always, but if we lose sight of his companionship.
And we're trying to navigate this race on our own. It's going to be very difficult, and we'd be tempted to give up. You know, it says in the Proverbs that if you faint in the day of adversity.
Your strength is small.
Well, we're talking about a day of adversity in this chapter.
The contradiction of sinners.
And we go to work, we go to school, you know, we're in the neighborhood and we have sinners all about us.
And we know that we're faced with opposition.
Well, let's remember.
Who goes with us? The Lord Jesus Christ? We can draw upon his hour.
And.
His strength is not small.
It's infinite.
And it's the words of my own heart because, you know, we have an enemy that's trying to bring us down.
But greater is he that's in you than he is in the world.
That refers to the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit.
And so the power that's available to us to be overcomers, it's infinite.
But it's all to be appreciated.
And.
Employed.
Faith is simply believing without seeing.
You know, that's really what the path that the believer is to be a path of faith, the gesture live by faith.
I think of it as walking on the water.
That's not easy to walk on the water.
In fact, nobody can walk on the water in their own ability.
Peter couldn't walk on the water in his own ability, but what kept him up was the fact that he was focused on the Lord Jesus. This is the one to whom he was going.
And we know the story well. He took his eyes off the Lord. He begins to sink.
Ye Christ our Lord, save me. The Lord was right there.
Immediately.
Tells us immediately the Lord puts out his hand. You don't want him to sake, He doesn't want you to sink. And if you find yourself in a sinking situation, you just call upon the Lord. You'll be there for you.
Can trust him.
It's wonderful. You know the promises.
Exceeding great and precious promises that have been made to us in this blessed book that we have today.
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It's wonderful to be here.
With the Bible open.
Just taking God at his word, that's faith, and that's what God appreciates.
It's the greatest favor that we can do the Lord that can do God himself. It's just to take him at His Word.
One verse sums up what Molly has.
About and that's the 25th 1St of Acts chapter 27 for the apostle Paul says whereforesters be of good cheer.
For I believe God.
That it shall be, even as it was told me.
One other facet.
This considering him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.
And these facets we won't exhaust for an eternal day, but just one in this regard, chapter 5 and verse eight. Though he were son, yet learned the obedience by the things which he suffered. Mr. Garvey renders that Son, though he was, yet learned the obedience by the things which he said.
That place of sun was one in which everything was at his disposal. Nothing was outside of his authority in that position of the eternal Son of God. But here he's taken up manhood, Jesus, the author and finisher of faith, And so he's enduring such contradiction of sinners and that's.
Your example, and that's mine. That perfect servant.
Behold my servant, and whom is all my delight, that prophetic utterance. He shall not strive, nor lift up his voice in the streets. He didn't demand his rights, though he had everyone in this scene. He yielded them all. And in the setting of a camp.
Perhaps we could. We can liken it to this. They will encourage you to go out that door and demand you're right.
We don't have any rights here. We ought to endure just as we are encouraged here.
He's going to set things right in a coming day.
Connection with the joy set before him. Like to connect it a little bit with John's gospel.
Chapter 14.
Lord Jesus is preparing the disciples for his departure from earth.
And his separation from them, they had been with him for 3 1/2 years approximately, and now he's going to go away and they're not going to have him anymore as they had had him before. And so in part of that preparation of them, he says to them.
In chapter 14 of John and verse 28, you have heard how I said unto you, I go away.
And come again unto you.
Now here's notice these words. If he loved me, you would rejoice.
Put yourself in their position. Here's the Lord, you've been with him for 3 1/2 years. He's just about to leave you and he's telling you, if you love me, you would rejoice.
Would you be rejoicing in that moment that he was going to leave you?
He said if you love me.
That is, if you've loved me these 3 1/2 years, you would rejoice.
Because.
As I said, I go unto the Father.
You and I perhaps can little understand the joy that was set before him as the one who had left the Father's house to come into this world, to live his life here as a man.
And endure and live it as a man by faith who now was anticipating very shortly.
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To see his father's face.
Again.
To go back to the one that had sent him.
And to be received there by his father.
That was a joy that's beyond us to fully recognize and enter into that joy of his own heart. And yet, if we love him.
We rejoice that He did it. The disciples could rejoice in the thought of His joy.
I'm going to suggest a thought to you.
It's a new thought. Then you better have to contemplate it a little while.
What is the greatest joy?
That you anticipate.
On the day you get home to glory.
I'm going to give you one to think about.
To see the joy in his face. To receive you.
I remember a comment that Brother Albert Hey homemade that I think impresses that we all like to go to weddings where they're happy couple getting married and at the great moment when the bride comes in, the custom is to rise and turn and see the bride walking into the room. Brother Albert Heyho said, yes, I I do that, but there's even a better thing.
Look up at the front of the room and see the expression on the groom's face.
They go together.
That expression in verse three. Consider him.
I have enjoyed in the Spanish old version.
The way it puts it, translating it says for reduce your thoughts to him. I like that because we live in a world where we're taught, especially in this Democratic.
System that we live under to think about ourselves.
It's not about that rather than it's Him. Reduce your thoughts to Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against your himself, lest you be weird and faint in your mind. Oh, how important that is when you are tempted to think about yourself. And that's what life in the United States of America is. Think about yourself, do what you like.
Have it your way. That's not Christianity.
It's reduce your thoughts to him, consider him.
Lest ye be weary and.
Faith in your minds, like something with what Wally was saying.
The reality of day-to-day life is that you do get wearied and faith in your mind and there is, as our brother Bob was saying, you know, making it all about yourself, self centeredness and that. But when you're experiencing something.
It's not the other person. Experience you and in your mind and your heart.
You feel something.
And I'm always my wife and I often talk about this. I say feelings aren't facts. And the inner conversation you have when you face something and you're in it, you're in the mess, you're in the fight, you're in the battle, you're weary. What kind of conversation do you have? Well, one of the verses that Wally quoted, what if you don't feel like he's there with you? What if you're in a moment where you think of that verse? You wouldn't feel like he's here.
Don't feel like he's with me. Don't feel like feels like when I pray it's bouncing off the ceiling. Well, faith goes beyond that and you say, OK, this is how I'm feeling. You can tell yourself feelings aren't facts. What are the facts that inter conversation can take you to the place where then you quote to yourself, what are the facts like he is promised ever to leave me nor forsake me so.
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My feelings don't matter in this, and my feelings will change if I focus on the truth of what it is. And that makes a difference. But real life is like that. We're caught up in our minds, weary, our bodies, weary. It doesn't feel like it. But feelings are not facts. They are and they never have been. And new facts focused on the person of Christ, what He has said, what He has told us, that we can begin to rest upon that. And then feelings.
Will change.
Time is nearly up, but one quoted a little piece of poetry a while ago to utter reinforce what we said. Where feelings come and feelings go and off times are deceiving.
My warrant is the word of God, not else is worth believing.
I guess we'll have to wait till the next meeting to continue.
We see #166.
166.
What is my love?
What's happening?
I explore why my name is my great name.
Oh, it's raining of life when it's raining hard.