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I enjoyed the comments that were made about the Lord Jesus being already placed in that wonderful and exhausted position, and I thought of the last verse of first Peter chapter 3 where we read who has gone into heaven, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto Him.
Now, even though we do see all around us a great deal of disorder and anxiety in the world.
Yet isn't it a comforting thing to the believer to know that he is there, and that these things are not out of his control? He is there, angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him, and it's really a contradiction for a believer to be anxious and troubled about.
The affairs of this poor world, he is still above them all and over them all.
Also read in Ephesians chapter one that he is head over all things to the church, which is his body, so that he himself is not openly interfering in the affairs of the world. The body is specially caring for his people. The passage you referred to in Peter has to do with baptism and that is taking that name of Christ upon us in a world that's hostile to him we're.
On the name of the one who is there above all, and who Elohim rules behind the scenes is still in control. And then going on, as we remark, head over all things to the Church. He has a special care for his own, though not interfering openly in the affairs of the world, He does have a care for us, and as we have in the end of the first chapter.
Angels, it says. They're sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.
We see little pictures of it. For instance, in the Old Testament there was Daniel in captivity in Babylon. But when he cries to the Lord on behalf of the people of God, we see how that God was over all the Princess and all the authorities that seem to be hindering the blessing of God's people in an earthly way. How much more so?
Where there's a risen man now at the right hand of God, caring for the members of his body.
Now this is what gives us courage and confidence, isn't it?
Their thoughts will fall in writing to Timothy.
Exhorted him to pray for those in authority. Pray for King.
Well, if everything was going smoothly in this world, I don't believe we as children of God would feel an exercise about praying for them. But perhaps God is allowing things to go the way they do, that we might be exercised about it and pray. Sometimes we say, well, we don't deserve it any better than we have.
But still, I believe God allows circumstances and the pressures to come that we might be exercised about praying for the powers that be. Because after all, the powers that be are ordained of God and He sets up the basis of men to rule in the kingdoms of men. God is the one that puts them in. He allows.
A basement to be there. Well, we should pray for them.
Keep them in control, and maybe they're not kept in control as much as they should be because we're not exercising enough about praying for them. We do need to be exercised to pray for the power to be that we might live a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty. And as long as there are Saints of God here praying, I believe God will keep things in control. Often times in praying, I feel like praying.
Asking God to keep all things under control until we're taken out to be with the Lord in glory.
While the church is the special object of his care, we also know that even during the tribulation period why we find the earth helped the woman and opened her mouth to swallow up the flood which the dragon put out. So that until this time comes that the Lord Jesus takes everything in hand while he's over all and he's caring for his own.
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Whether, as I say in the Old Testament, in caring for his people, Israel.
Now in a special way, caring for the church, which is his body, and during that tribulation period for that remnant who are his and who are going to be brought into that special place of blessing in the earth. So it's always good for us to realize this, but we can look up by faith and know the person. It's interesting to see in the first chapter of Ezekiel.
The prophet saw wheels and wheels within wheels and light and many things that seem very, very perplexed thing.
But then he looked to God, and it says he saw as it were the.
The resemblance of a man upon the throne. He didn't see clearly. He saw that there was one who was above it all. But this is the contrast to what what we have here that we look up and see that one. He's not one that we see through a glass darkly, but we can look opposite were and it says we all with open face beholding us in a glass, the glory of the Lord.
And we look up and we see a real person there. We know who that man is.
Ezekiel just saw the resemblance of a man. For us, it's the man who died for us. It's the man Christ Jesus. What a consolation to our hearts. Everything is put under him, but isn't time for everything to be manifested that's put on him? I believe that's the meaning here, isn't it? The time will soon be will soon be here When?
It'll be manifested in every detail as to what's put under him, but still, he's over it all and he's he's ordering it all from above, is he not?
You see the foretelling of it in the second Psalm, don't we says, Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and castaway their cords from us. And that is what is taking place today.
Man is trying to cast aside all restraint.
But there prophetically it says, Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
And so there's the one there who is above all. And then the Father says, Ask of me, and I will give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. That is the time that has not yet come. And that is why in the 17th of John the Lord Jesus said, I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me, for they are thine.
It perhaps stands out in contrast with what is called the Lord's Prayer.
In the Lord's Prayer the Lord taught the disciples to pray thy Kingdom come, and if Christ had been received as the king, which he really was, then there would have been blessing brought to the earth. But they rejected the king. So before the Lord went away, he said that he was not of this world. He said, My Kingdom is not of this world. If I were of this world, then would my servants fight?
And he didn't ask for the kingdoms of the world, he asked for his own. And that is the place that we're in now.
He has that special interest in his own. And for them who shall be heirs of salvation? I like that little word, Shall be heirs of salvation. Maybe some can look back and see how even in their unconverted days, God preserved them and kept them from many things. They were to be heirs of salvation. They hadn't yet been brought to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus.
But God's care was over them. His hand was upon them.
Finally He brought them to that, and then they can enjoy these things before His care was over them, unknowingly to them. Now we look up by faith and see Him crowned with glory and honor as man. He always takes the place of subjection to the Father, doesn't He?
And that's a special glory that is his.
And I think it's wonderful to see it.
That even for his coming again, he's waiting the father's time. He doesn't move without a word from his father.
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So that's it's the beauty of perfection in manhood that we see, is it not? He became man, and there's no other man ever like him in any way.
It's only because we have a new nature, we've been given that nature that the same.
Characteristics are seen in the believer in measure.
But it's only because of.
Giving, given the new nature and also the life that these things are seen, because all that's true of him as man is really what characterizes the believer he gave himself. I believe that includes that thought. He gave himself this whole person, and so we're associated with him and we have the very same nature.
And.
Of course it isn't manifested with us now, it should be, but you do have that same very same nature.
In connection with the place of subjection, we know that the Lord Jesus.
Though perfect God, and never having left his place in Godhead, nor ever will.
He remains a man forever. And so we read in First Corinthians 15.
Might be good to notice that.
1St Corinthians 15.
And verse 24.
Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the Kingdom to God, even the Father.
When he shall have put down all rule, and all authority and power, for he must reign to leave, put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, and he 40th Put all things under his feet. But when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted which did put all things under him, and when all things shall be subdued unto him.
Then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him.
That God may be All in all, these are.
Wonderful verses because they carry us right into the eternal state. They bring before us what the purposes of God in connection with His Son.
Or he's going to reign until all enemies have been put under his feet. Every bit of opposition, everything that is the result of sin, is going to be subdued by this blessed One who became a man. And God is not going to be frustrated in any of His purposes.
His purpose was that there would be a creation with man at the head of it, and this blessed One who is God Himself and who is also man.
Will fill the place of a man perfectly, and so since the place of man is subjection.
Think of it, it's almost beyond our mind to comprehend that this one who is God.
Is also going to be that one who will remain in that place of man for all eternity, to have the company of redeemed men in association with himself. When it says in the 26th verse, the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, that is the great white throne, and that is the end of all God's dealings as regards to sin and its results.
And then?
We see the introduction of that scene where God is All in all.
And we might comment here that when it says that God may be All in all, it's not God the Father merely in this thought, but rather the whole Trinity, the Father who had counseled all this, the Son who has carried out the Father's counsel, the Spirit which is the power. And as our brother brought before us, nothing has been accomplished at all by the 1St man. Everything under him was.
So God steps in and fulfills his purposes, and the whole Trinity is involved in the fulfillment of these purposes of God.
Which will have their eternal display. And the marvel of it all is that you and I in association with Assad and in that place that he has taken to have our company and to have a share in the joy of his toil and victory. And he shall see of the travel of his soul and shall be satisfied. Well, it's overwhelming. And brethren, when we think of it, as we said.
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And it's good to dwell on it now. This person who's going to do this, who's going to carry it out, is already there, crowned with glory and honor. It's not merely that God is purposing this, and He has already laid the groundwork for it and is just waiting the time when those purposes will be fulfilled according to his own mind and his own counsel.
That little expression that you have in that verse, even the Father.
On the paper 1St Corinthians 15.
For your reading just recently.
Even the father.
Now that carries with it something very precious because.
When the Lord.
Undertook this work.
He added something that was never known before.
And that was a relationship.
That man had never known or entered into before.
Even the father.
Otherwise there'd be no reason to use that expression here.
God is.
To be All in all the Trinity. But then he says in the 24th verse lived up the Kingdom to God.
Even the father, now that's relationship.
That's being brought into the place of nearness.
Intimacy.
We get more detail that in the third chapter of the Epistle of Ephesians.
Where we're brought right into the very innermost sanctuary, shall we say, the Father's house.
All the joys and all that belongs to his whole belongs to the believer. And so it isn't that he's set us again in a place of merely a created being, but he's brought us to himself.
He brought us into that place that his own son enjoys.
Accepted in the beloved had been brought to the Father. I think this is very precious here. I believe that'll be also true of all redeemed creation, according to that passage in Ephesians chapter 3. For it says in the 14th verse for this, 'cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family, or of whom every family.
And in heaven and earth is named.
It is particularly characteristic of this present dispensation to know God as Father.
But I believe in the eternal scene of blessedness all will enter into the fact that the heart of the Father was the source of all His blessings, and they will enjoy that knowledge in eternity. Every family in heaven and earth.
And perhaps in a little different way, though in the 25th of Matthew is that come ye blessed of my Father, there's just a little difference than the decision of the Church, isn't there?
So every family will have their own position and I believe even the angels have a blessing greater than before. I believe the whole creation of the blessing greater because of the work of Christ. Brother London, this morning you mentioned something about, I believe you made a statement about.
4 results of the suffering death of the Lord Jesus Christ, as mentioned here. Yeah, perhaps you can tell us, Brother Anderson.
The first one is in verse 10, isn't it?
That this, that the Lord did in suffering and death was the thing that was suitable to God. It became Him.
He was doing it for God's sake. And of course when he, when he's talking to the Father about it, he says not my will, but time be done. And we read about him laying down his life at the command of the Father. So it was he was doing this because this was the thing that he knew was pleasing to God, his Father.
That's why it's brought in here, I suppose, for it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things.
In bringing many sons under glory to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
And so God did something for and with the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Lord vowed to suffering and to death, and there was a completed work done then so that he could be the leader of a whole, a whole company.
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Well, in connection with those four things we have, the Lord Jesus is the one and the only one, as we noticed this morning, who would fulfill all the councils of God, but it was through his death.
And then he makes atonement. That's the basis of all blessing.
Then he announced the power of death, or at least the one who had the power of death.
And delivers all surrender.
Under that fear of death.
The last of all we have in the latter part of the chapter.
That he might be merciful and faithful high priest. And that's what really opens up the book to us because it's the subject of our approach to God. And he's the one who who makes that connection for us. He's the one who merciful and faithful high priest, He's now interceding for his people up there.
Does really to fulfill the counsels of God, make atonement, and to know the power of death?
Destroy him that had his power deliver those who are under it and then the 4th one would be.
That he might be a faithful, merciful and faithful high priest and things pertain to God.
And we have also the work of Christ in that verse to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.
Like the sin off in, for instance, he makes reconciliation. It's nice to know too, that.
These chapters seems A1 introduces the next and and at the end of this chapter we find that which really introduces the the following chapter that takes up the.
Fossil and high priest and so on.
There are four things.
Mentioned here, I think that.
Brought him down to die.
To fulfill all the counsel of God to make its own.
And to know and destroy him that have the power of death and all that power, and then that he might be a merciful and faithful, I treat, he thinks the thing to God.
This expression here, the captain of their salvation made perfect through suffering. Everything that God does, he does and must do perfectly. So there's a perfect sacrifice, there's a perfect work. We find in Hebrews chapter six, he speaks about going on to perfection.
That isn't any perfection in the flesh. There never was or will be.
But it gives the believer a perfect standing before God.
And so this is something that was never so, as it tells us in the Old Testament under the sacrifices it could not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the conscience, but it tells us in the 10th chapter by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified by the Holy Spirit were brought into the knowledge of this perfect standing and this perfect work and.
Who has done it in perfection? But I think this is a lovely expression here. The captain of their salvation, perfect through suffering. The Lord Jesus ever was and always is perfect in himself. But in order to take that place as our great High Priest, he humbles himself. And as it's often been remarked, he could have come down from heaven and gone straight to the cross.
Accomplished the work necessary for our salvation.
As he did in those three hours of darkness. Why those 33 1/2 years in his blessed pathway?
All this ought to encourage our hearts, brethren. He's been through everything that we have to pass through. Children, young people.
Full manhood, that precious Savior sent apart, has walked through this world and knows everything that we have to meet in every stage of life, and He's been made perfect through suffering. Now we must of course, carefully guard the fact that the Lord Jesus never did and could not sin.
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But he knows what the path of obedience costs. A captain might order his men into an engagement in warfare.
And not fully know just what the men are going to have to face in that engagement. But not so with our blessed Captain. If he has marked out a path for us and it involves suffering and perhaps death in that path, he knows all about that. He has faced every form and kind of suffering that a righteous man could go through. And so he is.
Perfectly fitted to fulfill the place.
Of one who sympathizes, one who is able to supply grace to help in time of need, and the thought of being made perfect through suffering, is in regard to his present place as our great High Priest, and in that way, the Captain of our salvation, leading us on through this world, supplying all that we need able to save to the uttermost, all that come unto God.
Him seeing he ever liveth to make a recession for us and so none of us could sit in this room today and say, well, my circumstances are unique. No one ever experienced such a time. Oh, the captain has he's been through it all. He knows just exactly what we have to face in our pathway and is there is our great high priest. It's been remarked and perhaps.
Repeating that we don't have the advocacy of Christ brought in in Hebrews because the the subject of Hebrews is the perfect work that gives the believer that perfect standing before God and he is there in perfection before God as to his standing. So the priesthood of Christ to keep us in the enjoyment of all that He has done for us to supply the grace that we need is brought before us.
But it isn't until we come to John's epistle, where we have the family, that we have advocacy and restoration. When we have failed, that doesn't enter into the subject of Hebrews because it's all that God has done to provide for us a perfect sacrifice, all that we need for the pathway to bring us home the glory.
Very precious how the truth is kept in this way, and the word perfect is so often used through the epistle.
As presenting to us that perfect one, and that perfect work, and that perfect standing, and the imperfection of His priesthood, all in contrast with that under the Law which made nothing perfect.
You can understand how.
The presentation of this to these Jews who had professed faith in Christ and were now suffering, we can begin to understand how this would be a real encouragement to them to find out that the one who is the Messiah, their Messiah, the King of Israel, yet having died and become their Savior and have gone through all of this.
And if they would look to him, they would be encouraged and he would carry them along. Because over in the 10th chapter we read about their suffering and their trial.
In verse 32.
But called remembrance the former Dave in Greece after ye were illuminated.
He endured a great fight of affliction, partly whilst you were made a gazing stop, both by reproaches and afflictions, and partly once he became companions of them that were so used. Well, they were really going through a lot of trial and suffering and persecution that they had taken a stand now, and they were tempted to to give up and to live back to the old form of things.
But all they are being encouraged now by the apostle in writing all of this about the Lord and His sufferings and how he can sympathize with them and that they should go on, not go back, but go on and go on to perfection, That is, get occupied with the one who had completed all the work and who had done it perfectly. What an encouragement it must have been to many of them. Perhaps some of them did go back, I don't know.
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But.
The apostle encourages them to go on, and it prostitution.
It's very difficult to submit to someone who doesn't understand you, doesn't love you, perhaps is just interested in seeing how much they can get out of you. Perhaps to work in a situation where the man who is your boss is the managers son and he just stepped into that place right from college and knows nothing about.
Having come up through the experiences that you have to face.
So that in beautiful contrast, we see the one who actually is the captain of our salvation.
And to me it's very wonderful, as you have remarked, to think that he created Adam a full grown man, and he could have come into the world in the very same way. But he chose to come into this world and go through those years and face those experiences and learn the meaning of obedience and of suffering in order that we might look up and say there's one up there.
Who loves me perfectly?
Understands me thoroughly and has been through what I'm going through.
Or how different it is to submit to and to obey someone with a heart like that.
Something for the children. Remember that the Lord was a child.
And he went through things in that childhood that could be a help to you children.
We read of him as a boy of 12 and we find that he was obedient. This can be a help to teenagers, remembering that the Lord has gone that pathway and he was obedient. He was subject to his parents. He's gone through all of that. He he's gone through young manhood. We forget that sometimes, but he's gone through all of this.
And he did it all in a way that was absolutely pleasing to God because we read it. It's always those things.
That pleased the Father for what an encouragement that could be to everyone of us, from children on up.
There's a little verse in the 88th Psalm I think is exceedingly precious in connection with these thoughts. In the 88th Psalm, the first part of the 15th verse.
Speaking, I believe, of the Lord.
It says I am afflicted and ready to die from my.
You stop. Well, why wasn't he taken earlier and offered up? He was ready for it. He was ever perfect. But here it says.
At least in the 5th chapter Hebrew says being made perfect.
There, when we think of the Lord Jesus, a perfect man, always a perfect mind, but he went on and lived here for 33 years and a bit, 30 years old when he entered his ministry. Why? So that he might go through the same experiences that you and I, He knows them. Oh, he's a perfect high priest and he's the author of eternal salvation and all the way home, Savior.
And he's there, he's already home, the man in the glory, and he knows the feelings that we go through in the way, oh, what a captain we have.
Of this this verse in Hebrews you quote the 6th chapter thinks him further.
Than anything that any of us would ever experience.
Because if that refers to Gethsemane.
Not to the three hours exactly, but to Gethsemane. That's the.
The 5th chapter in the.
Time first, but notice the seventh verse, who in the days of His flesh, when He had offered a prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears on him, that was able to save him really out of death. I believe it should read and was heard, and that he feared.
Though He were Son, yet learn the obedience by the things which He suffered, and being made perfect, He became the author of the eternal salvation to all them that obey Him.
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We'll never know what he passed through in Gethsemane.
Of course, we'll never know what he passed through those three hours, but in Gethsemane, where he was anticipating being made sin, for instance.
Think of that, holy one.
He made sin for us.
So he went way beyond anything you and I would ever call upon to experience. He was went through the perfection.
In Speaking of the Lord Jesus being subject to his parents.
I like the connection where it is particularly mentioned. I'll just read. There's no need to turn to it. His mother had just said to him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? Behold, thy father and I have stopped thee sorrowing. He really didn't deserve that rebuke at all, did he?
He said unto them, How is it that he sought me, wished he not that I must be about my father's business?
And they understood not the saying which he spake unto them. And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them.
There he is as a boy, being accused by his dear mother in a way that he was not deserving of.
His parents didn't understand his answer to what she said, but he went down to Nazareth and was subject unto them. Thus, one of those beautiful little touches that bring out the perfection of the Lord Jesus, even though He was at that time but 12 years of age.
The 17th verse that was already mentioned we have the two parts of his priesthood brought together.
A merciful and faithful high priest and things pertaining to God and to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself has suffered being tempted, he is able to succor them that are tempted. We know that Aaron offered up a sacrifice on the Day of Atonement.
And that sacrifice was for the sins of the people, well, the Lord Jesus himself.
Fulfill the type and shadow of Aaron. And he offered up a sacrifice not for himself, but for the sins of the people. A perfect sacrifice, so perfect that it says by one offering you have perfected forever them that are sanctified. And now the priesthood that he carries on does not have to do with our sins, but has to do with our infirmities.
And that in that connection, he's a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
That is to minister blessings. He has fulfilled that part as regards the ironic priesthood in the sacrifice of himself. But now he's there as a priest forever. After the order of Melchizedek, you go back to Genesis. The victory had already been won, and we find Melchizedek comes and meets Abraham.
And tells him that he's the that he's being brought into blessing. He's blessed. He's blessed by the possessor of heaven and earth.
And so I think it's nice for us to see those two things. That part that has to do with the question of sin has already been settled. But the high priest in Israel was also to have compassion on the ignorant and on them that were out of the way. He was also to enter into what the people were passing through. We find that Eli failed in this and didn't understand what was going on in the heart of Hannah.
And accused her of being drunk.
But not so with our high priest. He's up there and he's living. He's been through the path, as it was remarked. He he fully understands all about us. He'll never be like, like Eli, who thought that Hannah was drunk. You understand this perfectly and supplies that grace to help. So it's very precious to think of that part which is completed, which made reconciliation for our sins.
And that part which He is now carrying on for us, living for us at the right hand of God, to supply that grace to help the church, has mentioned only twice in Hebrews, is it not? It's not exactly the subject of the Church, although it is the church. But that isn't the side of things we haven't mentioned here. In the first thing I will declare Thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
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And that that day is coming, although I like to think of it now.
In the midst of the church that the Lord is there, where two or three are gathered. But how precious it'll be in the day when the whole church will be assembled in one place in presence. I suppose 11 first have to do with the thought of.
Of the same kind, the same nature.
And for that reason, he's not ashamed to call them brethren. Is that right?
It's not it's not the first man anymore. The 1St man is gone. We're we're in Christ, we're in a new position before him. We have a nature and he took part in our nature. But we have also now been given a nature that's of God and he took part as to our nature send a part of Taurus, but.
But.
It's for this reason now that he's not ashamed to call them brethren, one-of-a-kind. Still, the Spirit of God guards here, it says, are all of one.
Of 1 instead of 1.
We might make a comment about that word. Rather you notice it's not capitalized, it's the small B.
And all who belong to Christ are his brethren. Sometimes that term gets applied just to the gathered Saints, and sometimes we.
Apply it to ourselves and call ourselves the president. Well, we don't find it that way. In the word of God. All who belong to the Lord Jesus Christ are his president and he's not ashamed to to call them brother. The very lovely word is that I, I think it's a word that we should really rejoice in.
Sometimes folks say to us, are you one of the brethren? Well, I'm very happy to be able to say yes, thank God I am, and so are you if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior. I think we need not shrink from accepting and enjoying that happy scriptural word, but to make it clear that it rightly belongs to every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Yes, thank God I am, and so are you if you know the Lord Jesus as your Savior.
What about capitalizing one body? We see it sometimes.
We've heard so much about their own garden in Kentucky that the neighbor said that the One Body Church.
It's sad, isn't it, that there are many leavers today, real believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, that don't know that truth, that we're all members of one body by 1 Spirit. Are we all baptized into one body? One body? Yes. All who know the Lord Jesus Christ, all who are the Lord.
Filled by the Spirit of God.
They are part of that one body. We mustn't forget that, that there are others beside ourselves that are members of that one body, and we can't claim that just for ourselves.
We must have eyes to see and hearts to see that all are members of that one body and we need to have a heart for them and try to help them. We know of course there are some that can't be helped, but once in a while there is one that we can be helped. And I believe we should be exercised before the Lord about being guided by the Spirit, that we might meet these who are in exercise and try to be a help to them.
We're thankful for those who were a help to us. The Lord's Table is a testimony to that truth, that there is one body. In fact, the only place where the Lords Table is mentioned in the New Testament, in First Corinthians 10, is the very place where it says we being many, are one bread, one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. So I say again, the Lord's Table is really the testimony.
Truth, wherever anything is set up which is a testimony to a human organization, it is a denial of what the Lord's Table really is.
00:45:07
It testifies to the fact that the coming down of the Holy Spirit of God is to form all believers into one body in Christ, and the one loaf on the table is to symbolize that blessed truth. So I think it's very precious to see.
And we should always bear in mind just what that one loaf is the symbol of. And that, I say again, is the only place in Scripture where we read about, the only place in the New Testament where we read about the Lords Table 16 Psalm that gives us.
The life of the Lord Jesus, in a very few sentences, begins with this expression.
I will trust.
In them the Lord put his complete trust in God. He always walked down here as in complete dependence.
Upon the Father.
That was the perfection.
Manhood you've seen in here. I admit that I misunderstood this 12Th verse of our chapter for quite a long time. What shall I say? I'm almost glad I did because of the joy I got when I saw what it really did mean. I had simply thought of it as being our joy in being able to praise the Lord and sing of Him when we were gathered together in His presence.
But it's most obvious, is it not that?
This really is the Lord Jesus speaking from the joy of his own heart.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the church. Will I sing praise unto thee. Isn't that wonderful, beloved brethren, that the Lord Jesus is so filled with joy at being surrounded by His own, that he sings praise unto God his Father?
Because of the joy of His heart, all that to me is so very, very lovely. I was glad to give up the previous thought I had had because it was so wonderful to think of the Lord Jesus.
Experiencing that joy, perhaps.
Is it something like what you get in the 22nd Psalm? In fact, I suppose it's a quotation from there.
Fulfilled in John chapter 20 where the Lord Jesus presents himself to his own and says, I attended to my Father, and your Father, to my God and your God.
Proclaiming.
Name unto his brethren.
Let that joy continue now in the next verse, Brother Albert.
The same thought, is it not? It's his, His joy in connection with. I will put my trust in him. I delight to do thy will, Oh my God. And then behold, I and the children.
Which God has given me is that moment of joy when He presents His people to the Father. Is it not so? These three thoughts go together, I believe. I think this is exceedingly beautiful.
To think of it as we have been told, as concerning the Lord, His thoughts and His feelings, they always exceed ours anyway. And to think of Him.
And his thoughts were of us, and our of us.
He is saying.
I am the one that's getting the joy of singing in the midst of the church. In the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee.
And then again he says I will put my trust in him. The Lord feeling his departure from this scene, I believe, or at least I like to think and refer back to the Lords Prayer in the 17th of John where he does that I will put my trust in him. And he does that in the 17th of John in connection with his own.
In the time while he is away.
The 17th of John and verse 11.
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At the end he says, Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are one. There He is trusting his own to the Father, to be kept until that moment when he will introduce us into the Father's house.
Or it's just delightful to think of the Lord's thoughts and what he says about his own.
And looking forward to that moment which could be today, when he introduces his own, he turns to the Father and says, Behold, I and the children whom thou hast given me. We are the love gift of the Father to the Son. And he is thinking of his own joy in that moment when he brings us into the Father's house.
It's the beloved Son.
To belong a family around himself, beloved of God.
Does his delightful with the sons of man and the proverbs.
And so much so that he partook of flesh and blood.
As we have the next verse for then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood.
He also himself likewise is part of the same through that he might destroy him that had the power of death really is taking away his power.
Destroying the devil, taking away his power, and this is what kept us in ******* was it not the fear of death? But because the children were partakers of flesh and blood, he and also himself likewise took part of the same. And this was even to death, so that he might to take away everything that hindered that joy and eternal blessing.
Joy for himself and joy for his people.
Because.
His delights were with the sons of men.
Satan is really a defeated foe now, isn't he? He was the one who was responsible, tempted Adam and Eve and brought him death. And now there must be one who could go into Satan stronghold, as it were, and overcome. And there's one who has done that. He has gone right into Satan's stronghold. He has overcome the power of Satan so that for us he is a defeated foe. And so it tells us.
First Corinthians chapter 3 All things are yours, whether life or death.
In the Old Testament they feared death. That was the king of terror. But how different now? It is actually the believers servant. The Lord Jesus went into death and rose triumphant. And so through that mighty victory, death has no sting for the believer.
Death for the believer is to be absent from the body and present with the Lord.
Taken out of a world of sorrow to be with the one whom we love, and it so much belongs to us.
Now that is possible. We may not go through it at all if the Lord should come now.
Then death is really ours and we don't look for death. We look instead for the Lord's coming. If we go through it, the stain has been taken out of it, and that's why it goes on to say deliver them. Who? Through fear of death. It was so in the Old Testament. It is so for man and nature. He fears death. He does everything he possibly can to try and hinder death.
Book of the World is full of all kinds of attempts to try and live as long as possible.
And to enjoy life to the full, whereas for us, all that we hope for and look for is beyond this world.
Encountered a privilege to be here and to be able to live, to please the Lord Jesus and to be waiting and watching.
But it is lovely to think that death belongs to us, and the power of death has been removed because Satan's power has been annulled. He has not only defeated Satan, but he has taken away from him his armor wherein he trusted. Let's look at a couple of verses in Luke 11, in the 11Th of Luke verses 21 and two.
When a strongman armed keepeth his palace, his goods are in peace, but when a stronger than he shall come upon him.
And overcome him, He taketh from him all his armor, wherein he trusted and divideth his spoils. In the first of revelation we read of the Lord saying, I am he that liveth, and was dead. And behold, I am alive forevermore, Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death.
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Well, apparently the armor we're in this strongman trusted who we believe was Satan.
Was dead, He had brought death in through sin in the day thou eatest hour of thou shalt surely die, or dying thou shalt die was truth. So Satan introduced by deceit, sin and the wages follow death. And the Lord entered right into Satan's stronghold, went right down into death.
And overcame death and he is alive forevermore. But now he has the keys of it.
All belongs to a man now, a victorious man. And Satan has lost his armor too, hasn't it?
It was a great comfort to those believers over in the Congo.
When we brought this before me, that the Lord Jesus Christ had overcome Satan, he had taken his armor away from.
Through death he took his power away, and all the power of him that had the power of death.
Up until that time, they hadn't known anything about this. They didn't know anything about what God has done. They've never heard the name of Jesus.
And they were so afraid of death. And I stood at graveside of children and others that died, and the people were beside themselves. They were looking into that grave and it was all darkness ahead of them. They had no hope, no light. And it was a privilege to tell them about the Lord Jesus Christ who had come.
To annull the power of Satan, take his power away from him. That they did not be afraid, that they were just trusting the Lord Jesus Christ.
Receive him as that stated that he would take care of them. He had taken away Satans power and Satan could have no power against him. Well they knew they knew what Satan power was because they had their witch doctors and they were afraid of evil spirits and and they were worshipping idols and and they knew something about this power, the spiritual power which was Satan's power.
And always kept him in fear.
But when they receive Christ as their savior and knew that the Lord Jesus Christ had died for their sins and.
Settle the same question. And that we dealt with Satan too, taking his power away from him. That they could trust in the Lord, and even though they died, they'd be raised again. The Lord would come and get them. What a comfort it was to them. What a message we have to give people that are in darkness like that. No such thing as annihilation.
Man would love to teach that doctrine, believe if you could, because he doesn't know Christ, doesn't know what's ahead, the only new Christ, and knew what was ahead. He wasn't for a moment counting on such a doctrine, but it's spreading and people like to believe that.
Like blindfolds over their eyes.
Notice here Abraham is connected with this subject.
That we have here.
In the days of Abraham, we have the whole world given over to demons.
And Abraham was called out.
By the God of glory.
All right out of idolatry and demon worship.
And he starts. He begins anew.
A line of things in this world.
That is, he was the father of faith.
He believed God was counted in for righteousness.
And so Abraham then is really the head of a of a race in the sense.
Not like Adam, but the head of a race of faith.
No, the Lord passed by angels, and he took.
On him, the seed of Abraham, entirely new order in which man's connection with God is not on the basis of what he is in himself or what man has done, but on the basis of faith, simply on what God has done.
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And the message that God has given to man in relation to it. There's no salvation for angels who've sinned. God has taken up the vile of Sinner who believe and provide salvation. All through the death and finished work of Christ is being raised from the dead and seated on heart. The work is complete.
It doesn't matter how vile a man is, he takes Christ as his savior. He has eternal life, but this is not provided for angels.
Purposes of God in connection with blessing whether mankind or angels are according to election though, aren't they and so we read about the elect angels and God has preserved a certain number of the angels from falling they surround the throne there in the 5th of revelation and praise God for his greatness and power and.
They have experienced this because they have been preserved. They are the elect angels, as we're told in Timothy.
But with mankind God acted in a different way. He allowed the whole human race to fall, and now He acts in election and saving out from a human race of those whom He has a four prepared under glory. And so that the whole scene is going to be to the glory and praise of God for us. We will know His heart in a way the angels never will.
Because having been saved through that glorious work of Calvary, we're going to know the heart of God that told itself out in his giving his Son, and the Lord Jesus taking our place and bearing the judgment. So in that 5th of Revelation we have those that sing as thou art worthy, for thou hast slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred tongue, and people and nation. They are the elected from among men.
And then we have the angels who praise God for his greatness. But I say it's all to his glory and praise. Nothing of nature will be able to praise God. Whether it's the nature of angels or of men, it's all to his glory and praise in that day, isn't it?
What would you say in answer to a question that's often raised as to why did God allow sin to come into the world? Well, I suppose we just have to say that like it says in Job, why dost thou strive against Him? For He give us that account of any of his matters that God hasn't been pleased to tell us why He has done things in a certain way. We know the results of what He has done. And so, as I say, we're going to see the results of that.
Electing Grace in that coming scene of glory. But why? He has been pleased to do it in the way that he has.
I believe it brings added glory to His name, but it's for us just to accept that that's what He has done. However, I think it is important for us to see that the creature is always looked upon as responsible and so that election has nothing to do with those who are unbelievers. And the Bible never speaks of people being elected to be lost or predestined to be.
In the whole human race, Christ died for all. The salvation is offered to all. God is not willing that any should perish. But if, to use the illustration, if some people broke into your home and you offered to pardon them all, and they all refused, there is no display of your kindness at all, because they've all refused. Now if you pick out some of those men.
And display your kindness to them. The others cannot say that they didn't have a chance.
They had the opportunity, and so with man. If God had left mankind to Himself, the whole human race would have been lost, because no one of His own free will would ever come to God. Jesus said He will not come unto Me, that she might have life. No man can come unto me except the Father which has sent me. Draw him so. The heart of man so.
Alienated as it is from God.
He never would come. So if there's going to be any blessing for mankind, God must act in electing grace.
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And I believe the same applies to the angels that left to themselves they fall. So God acts in his power and preserves a certain number, but the others who fell are responsible and will be judged as responsible created intelligences.
Why God has please been pleased to do it in that way. I don't believe it's for us to question.
But it is strange, when men speak of these things, that they talk of their own rights.
They talk of their own rights. They choose friends, they choose partners, they choose a job, and they say no one should interfere. If I wish to choose to make a certain person my friend or my husband or wife, that is the right that they claim they have the privilege to exercise. But they say God has no right to say who he's going to have in heaven.
He he isn't, he doesn't have that right. Well, if all refused and he chooses to act in that way.
Now those of us who have been brought in by His grace can only praise Him and thank Him. But one thing we can see, the whole scene is going to redound to His glory and not to any glory to the creature. Usually when a question like that is raised, it's raised by someone who wants to blame God for something and.
It would be, I suppose, wise for us to try to answer the state of soul that caused them to raise that question.
To answer in a way that would perhaps touch their conscience instead of just trying to.
Presents some answer that we who know the Lord really recognize and enjoy.
Because really, when you spoke a moment ago, husband and wife, what husband is there here who would like to think that he.
Claimed a wife whose emotions and attitudes he controlled just like a robot. It was far, far more wonderful and delightful and pleasing to be able to win the affections of someone who becomes your wife.
And so I believe when we look down and see the wonderful heart of God.
In preparing a way of redemption and working in our hearts to win our poor cold hearts by that which has been done.
It will certainly result in that which will be to the glory of God and a praise from our hearts that otherwise would never be so. Furthermore, if a man says why did God allow sin, does that man really and honestly wish that God had created him, incapable of doing anything but what God would?
Require of him. The man knows very well that he wants his own way. He wants to sin.
And then look up and say, why did God make me this way?
And heaven has declared the glory of God that makes every man responsible.
The law of the Lord is perfect, converting your soul. That makes the cue responsible.
Then we have Christianity. God has spoken.
From his son while here on earth, and then now he's spoken from heaven.
So we have 3 testimonies for this present day.
And the plan rejects these three testimonies. She certainly is responsible, if you know.
We're Cinder bonded. Grace did much more abound.
Sin coming in, sin being allowed of God to come in, gives God the opportunity to display His grace.
And we can't question that.
This is God's doing, and I think that's the important thing that has been mentioned, not to question what God is doing, but bow to God, submit to Him, and then we get the blessing.
It seems to me there's enough revealed in the word of the results of that plan and allowing sin to come in and redemptions work.
To give us a little satisfaction as to why God allowed it.
One thinks of this grace you're Speaking of. You might just notice in Ephesians 2 what it says about we poor Gentiles.
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And the results of this plan of God to say that in the seventh verse of the second chapter, it says that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace, and his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
God opened the heavens and said, this is my beloved Son, in whom is all my delight, and he had such delight in that.
Son of His, that He has determined to display through those eternal ages that riches of his grace. And I hope I'm right in saying it, that we who were just poor Gentiles, so far away from God, going down in sin to its depths, were objects upon which that heart of God could display those exceeding riches of his grace and.
Up from such a low place, and giving us the same place as his beloved Son in the glory. Well, if we had been maintained in innocence, this couldn't have been brought out. That God is light and God is love, and when He manifests, He must manifest himself in these.
Things that He is light and love, and it has all come out in the glorious plans of the pages of this book.
To the glory and honor of His Son forever. It seems to me that satisfies my heart as to why God allowed it anyway.