Address—C. Buchanan
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2nd Corinthians.
Chapter 4. Two verses 6 and seven. For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the Excellency of the power may be of God.
And not of us.
Perhaps two more verses following on down to 10.
Of the same chapter, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, chapter 5.
And 17 Therefore, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature or a new creation.
Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new.
Well, it is a treat, dear young people, to.
Look into your faces this afternoon and.
See Life.
Very much of it in the young people.
Life, you have it. We all have it.
We have it from our first parents, don't we? From Adam?
Do we have this new life? Can you fit yourself into this verse? If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.
Oh, I trust Saul.
It's a very serious thing.
To reject that gospel we have heard here from this podium.
But I want to speak to you this afternoon as believers.
I believe that's the purpose of the meeting, dear young people who know the Lord Jesus and are here in this world.
I want to bring before us thoughts like this, that you and I belong to two creations, the old and the new, for God has worked twice in creation.
You know this well, this verse.
Suggested the first one we read. God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. Well, that takes you right back to Genesis, doesn't it?
And there is, we read of that pair.
Adam there, the man at least, and that that was good. He looked upon that creation, and it was very good. Now we come to Ephesians 2.
And it says, we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them. If you have believed in the Lord Jesus, you belong to the new creation. You have a new life, you have life more abundantly, you have eternal life.
Now God is interested in you, particularly you young people.
Your future.
May last a little while down here.
Well, we do know the Lord is coming, but still that is the natural youth with all its strength looking on for something to do down here, and we are told to occupy till He come. So we want to address our thoughts to you that way.
So I'm suggesting that you have a new life and yet that you belong to the old creation as being in the body. We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Here's one of them. You're living in one of them, you know, in first Peter.
It says.
Receiving the end of your faith, the salvation of your souls, well, you'll get that the moment you believe and you have that eternal life.
But where is it that we begin these meetings? With a prayer meeting?
Well, we had a very prime example when our brother Walter Gill fell from the roof and fractured 3 vertebrae and seven ribs. That he needs our prayers, doesn't he? He is suffering in the body and in these bodies we do grow. We have prayer meetings because we're living.
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In this kind of a body we have many things to ask God.
For and he is really interested in US.
And now my thought is to turn to Matthew the 19th chapter and to look in the first book of the New Testament and just notice a little of how that the Lord Jesus.
There in his ministry began to give instruction which would suit us in this dispensation.
Not only as being in the Kingdom of heaven, but as being in the church, as having eternal life. His chosen people called out of this scene to be a heavenly people, and yet walking down here, and yet belonging to the old creation as in the body. So we'll read Matthew 19 some verses here beginning with one.
It came to pass that when Jesus had finished these things.
He departed from Galilee, and came into the coasts of Judea beyond Jordan, and great multitudes followed him, and He healed them there. And the Pharisees also came unto him, tempting Him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every 'cause He answered and said unto them, Have you not read that He which made them?
At the beginning made them male and female, and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife, and they twain shall be one flesh.
Wherefore they are no more twained, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together? Let non, let not man put asunder.
They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement?
And to put her away, he saith unto them, Moses, because of the hardness of your heart, suffered you to put away your wives.
But from the beginning it was not so.
And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication.
And shall marry another committeth adultery. And whoso marth her which is put away to commit adultery, his disciples say unto him, If the case of the man be so with his wife, it is not good to marry. But he say it said unto them, All men cannot receive this saying, save they to whom it is given. For there are some eunuchs which were so born from their mother's womb, and there are some eunuchs which.
Made eunuchs of men, and there be eunuchs which have made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom of heaven's sake.
He said, he that is able to receive it, let him receive it. Then were there brought unto him little children.
Now he should put his hands on them and pray. And the disciples rebuked them.
But Jesus said, Suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for if such is the Kingdom of heaven, And he laid his hands on them, and departed thence.
And behold, one came and said unto him, Good master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life?
And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one that is God.
But if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments.
He saith unto him, which Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, thou shalt not commit adultery, thou shalt not steal, thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother, and thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. The young man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth. What lack I yet?
Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt.
Treasure in heaven, and come and follow me. But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.
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Well, you have noticed perhaps in reading this section, that we have.
Husband and wife, we have children and a young man. You know we have responsibility.
We have privilege and I believe our responsibility and privilege results from and is according to relationship.
You can think about that. I'll repeat it. I believe our responsibility.
And privilege results from and is according to relationship, we might say.
That the measure of our privilege is that we are in Christ.
And the measure of our responsibility is that Christ is in US. I'm speaking to you young people as believers.
That's your position in the new creation. If any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. And yet, you know we're here and we're still in these bodies.
And the wonderful thing is that God has given you and I the privilege of glorifying Him in.
The body which belongs to the old creation. So that when this question.
That the the Pharisees came to the Lord with tempting him.
Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? In giving the answer, the Lord goes right back to the beginning.
Well, we have had in our meetings something of the first covenant.
And we know about the trial of man, and the verse has been brought before us that Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth, and really we understand that God.
Allowed.
A different standard, we may say.
As to marriage.
From the days of Moses, I don't think the results turned out so good. If you look at David and Solomon to be two examples, well, we know, we know the results, but now the Lord takes us right back to the beginning. Now He does this in Matthew, the first book of the New Testament.
He is beginning to teach that which fits you and I through this church period, the whole of it.
A way in which you and I can live and be happy too, I may say, although there will be tests and trials.
But he says I spare you when he talks about that.
God has a special favor for His people.
I say we can live in these relationships to the glory of God.
But we can't break these things and live in them to the glory of God. I'm not here to expound what we have here in the early part of this chapter in particular, because I don't think we need to take it as it is. But it's wonderful. You and I can live to the glory of God in these bodies. I think twice from here.
We've had Romans 12/1 before us.
Beseech you, therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies.
A living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service or intelligent service. Think of that privilege.
To present our bodies.
The prayer to the Thessalonians that was at their whole body, soul and spirit be preserved blameless under the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So you see, we belong to the new creation.
But we are living in bodies that belong to the old creation. And again going back to Peter.
It says kept by the power of God through faith under salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. And that's the fifth verse, the 1St chapter, the ninth verse we've already quoted. We do have the end of our faith, the salvation of our soul, but we are waiting for another salvation, the body. We are waiting for that.
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We don't think it's far away, it's just assures the first, there's no doubt about it.
Meanwhile, we are here passing through this scene and you who have so much of the natural life, wouldn't it be a wonderful thing if you could present that body that you're living in as?
A sacrifice, A living sacrifice. Holy. Don't forget that word holy, which is your intelligence service.
And also in Corinthians it says you are bought with a price. All on the table. This morning there was that which spoke of the price, the body, the blood.
Of the Lord.
Those two emblems separate death.
The blood poured out. You are bought with a price. Seek what God has paid for you.
Dear young person, for you. For me too. Oh, there's no estimation of what he has paid. That's sufficient. You're bought with a price.
Glory therefore glorify God.
In your body and in your spirit. Which are the Lords, therefore? Oh, there's a reason for it.
And I think that it is possible to glorify.
God in your body.
To live in this body to the glory of God, and in your spirit, which are gods, all belongs to God.
We don't really have any rights as we had here before us.
Even this in which we live.
This temple.
This vessel.
This body.
It belongs to God.
Did you ever think of that? Well, do you read Corinthians? You'll find it out.
And other scriptures too, so it's just charming to me to see.
That back here in the first book in the New Testament, the Lord was already beginning to introduce these truths.
And he takes us right back to the beginning. And He begins with a husband and a wife. Next comes children.
Our brother quoted read from Mark.
The same verse that we have in the 14th verse here. But notice the children come next in verse 13. Then were brought unto him.
Little children. Oh, little children.
How he loves the little ones. They brought them to Jesus.
That he should put his hands on them and pray.
And the disciples rebuked them.
But Jesus said, Suffer the little, suffer little children, and forbid them not to come unto me, for of such is the Kingdom of heaven, And he laid his hands on them.
He didn't let any hindrance stop the blessing that he had to give to those little ones.
Now there are some young people here who are parents. Youth and old age are relative, you know.
And it's the normal form of life down here, parents and children.
And.
There is wonderful instruction in the scriptures as to the household.
To the blessing that God desires to bring to the family.
One has rejoiced to see how the Spirit of God works in this land.
And down there in the Latin countries where one has seen it, that it just seems that God likes to bless in families. Sometimes you'll see a boy get saved and later his parents. Sometimes it's the parents and then the boy, the girl. And it just seems to be a chain reaction going through the family sometimes.
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I really believe that God likes to work that way to bring that blessing, and here the Lord Jesus would not let anything hinder him from laying his hands on those little ones.
I would like to call to your attention what I believe we have in Scripture.
As to these relationships that come and bring.
Responsibility and privilege.
And I believe there are 10.
At least five pairs.
The first we have just touched on as to creation.
Created all things by Christ Jesus.
And we are all his creatures.
Now the creature has a responsibility towards the Creator on God's side, its authority, power, love and all of this. But on the creature side it is dependence and obedience.
All of us fit in that category.
We all belong to God by creations, right? You and I belong to Him another right? Redemption is right.
And oh, that's more glorious and more precious, and the responsibility is greater. Your responsibility now, dear save soul, is not as a child of Adam, it's as a child of God. Me too.
Yes, it is. Oh, far greater responsibility and privilege too.
So that that would be the first pair, the creator and the creature. And it seems to me the second would come in the husband and the wife. That's the way it was at the beginning. You know, he made the male and female just one pair. That's God's simple order for us today. He takes us back to the beginning.
Oh, it is so happy if you are.
Brought of God to enter into this relationship and abide in it. In holiness there will be blessing.
And the Word of God is full of instruction. I don't need to give it to you. Of course, we always recommend the book of Proverbs.
So we have then the Creator and the creature, and then the husband and the wife.
And our first part of our chapter gave us some very clear instruction about that. And then we have touched on parents and children.
Well, I think we should at this point go over to Ephesians to get just a little practical help on these points. So if you turn over to Ephesians 5, we'll dwell a little more fully on.
This relationship of the husband and the wife, well known, I'm quite sure, to all of you dear young people too. But it's good to be refreshed on these things and to see the words of Scripture for them.
And the figure that they present to us here in such a beautiful way.
Verse twenty of five Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name.
Of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting yourselves 1 to another in the fear of God.
Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands.
As unto the Lord, we'll stop there just a minute.
I've said that responsibility and privilege result from and are according to relationship.
We who are married.
The wife.
Has this admonition toward her husbands, her own husbands. Oh, how accurate the Scripture is as under the Lord. Well, we'll read on.
For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church, and he is the Savior of the body. You see how the Spirit of God develops from this relationship to bring before us Christ and the church. Now that was God's thought before the creation.
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Before the 1St creation.
And certainly before the second, because the second isn't first.
The first creation was Genesis. The new creation is if any man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creation. He is the first fruits. Oh, he's preeminent in the old creation. He's preeminent in the new. He is always preeminent in God's thoughts. Let's keep him preeminent in our thoughts too. So God had this thought, Christ and the church.
Oh, what a beautiful type we have here.
And we who enter into this relationship physically need to be instructed as to how we can be a proper testimony pointing to this glorious fact.
He is the Savior of the body, therefore, as the church is subject unto Christ.
So let the wise be to their own husbands in everything. Again, you have that little word own in there.
That brings in the purity of the relationship.
Subjection. None of that points to you and I as being in the assembly, the Church. Are we subject to the Head in glory? Do we get our directions from the Head?
If we do, we get them through the scriptures, and we should. It's the proper testimony.
I see our sisters out here with a covering on their glory. Now. That's right. You know the other scriptures that go there in Corinthians to bring this out? It's because the church is on display right now.
Before those principalities which are in heavenly places, they are learning in the Church the manifold wisdom of God.
They see you, sisters, as an example of the Church in subjection to the head and glory.
It wouldn't be too bad to break that kind of a testimony. Well, you know these things. Let's go on and see what it says to the husband. 25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it. Now here you dear fellow men, husbands.
Something for what's the standard even as Christ?
Love the church and gave himself for.
Oh, if we will fulfill this toward our wives, our own wives, it will be well in the family.
Many, many sad incidences between husband and wife could have been prevented if this had been practiced.
Love, we need this, dear brothers in Christ.
You who are husbands.
Love your wives.
Even as Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that he might present it to Himself. A glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So it meant to love their wives as their own bodies. The truth of the unity, the oneness, comes right in here in this union. Christ and the Church. What a glorious type is brought before us here.
And this first relationship, we may say, which follows creation, the husband and the wife, well, Adam and his wife had children born to them, didn't they? And it's come right on down to us. And by that first creation, we are the children of Adam.
And now I just repeat that you and I belong to this new creation too, and the Lord is teaching so that we can live to His glory as yet embodies which belong to the old creation. Well, it says we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones. What a perfect union we have.
Let's.
Let's notice in Matthew again about the children.
Verse 14 Verily, they brought children to him, that he might lay his hands on them and pray, And the disciples rebuked them. They thought the Lord had enough.
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To do in walking about and performing his miracles and going on in his.
Ministry without being bothered with little children.
But no, the Lord wouldn't allow that. Oh, the love of God.
Or these little ones that come along and the privilege of the parents to bring them to Christ.
Now you young parents who have children, this is your responsibility and privilege too.
To bring those little ones to Christ, I recommend you go right back to Genesis and start through the book to find how the book teaches as to this privilege and responsibility in the family. You know you'll find that there are no nations until you get to chapter 10 or 11 of Genesis. God begins with the family.
That reminds me of what was said about sanctuary.
And today, today for us, I believe God has given two sanctuaries, the Christian home and the assembly. And I would say the home comes first. It's so in our history.
Preeminent first. So are families form children come along. What can we do with them? We're down here in the world. Oh, what a wicked world.
Dread to read the news accounts sometimes.
How can we take care of these little ones? Bring them to Christ, Bring them to Christ.
He lay his hands on them. He will take care of them.
And a lesson this is for us. Let's go back then to.
Ephesians and going down to the next chapter.
Two children obey your parents. Ephesians 6/1.
In the Lord, for this is right.
Now we have obedience.
As what is proper to the child in the Lord.
This is good. It's always right.
In any home.
The parents.
Authority.
They have been through something of this life. They know what it is, they know what the dangers are, and they know something of a desire because you know.
The trouble with our children is they're just like us.
And we learn in our children what we were like when we were little once. But we have had some experience.
And of course, the love of the parent is toward that child.
To bring them to Christ.
And the child is taught to obey.
That's all. Just obey well, that will be the happy path for you children out here to obey your parents. A path of blessing too. Honor thy father and mother, which is the first commandment, with promise that it may be well with thee and that thou must live long on the earth. Now that's to the children. Now we come for something for the parents.
The scriptures are certainly full for us. Verse 4.
Ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. Isn't this clear?
And it is needed by we who are parents, the father and the mother.
Not to provoke them to wrath, to consider things their own makeups. And no two children are just alike. At least I haven't found them to be quite so.
We are all similar, but there are the differences and the parents learn a little of these things and we need wisdom from God as to how to train, how to discipline.
How to meet the needs of correction even?
Don't provoke them to wrath.
You know God, I believe, always begins inside. He works through the heart, our Father.
He works on the outside too, and I think sometimes it's good for us parents to work on the outside. A little correction that way.
But don't provoke them to wrath, but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
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How all embracing this is so we have these words to the children and then to the parents. We have been through with say 3 pairs.
Of these relationships, the creator and the creature. This is outstanding.
Perhaps even a little different.
But I think we can understand it that way.
And then the husband and the wife and the privileges, all that is spoken of so delicately, being heirs together of the grace of life.
In that relationship, it is a special tool and then the responsibility in that.
As the wife in submission and the husband in love, and then children, God goes right through the whole scale of this responsibility.
The children come first in here, in our admonition or exhortation, in Ephesians. Obedience. You know, every one of us has been a child. We've all had parents. Have we been obedient? There isn't a person here, I don't suppose.
Who would say he had had always been obedient to his parents? I should think we would all say we have all disobeyed at times.
Reminds me, though, of that perfect one of whom we were speaking yesterday. Who could say I always do the things which please my father, and therefore doth my father love me because I lay down my life?
That son of the Father, perfect in obedience, giving an added cause to his Father to love him all. The Father always loved the Son, always loved the Son.
But the Son gave a special reason for the Father to love the Son, in that he was obedient unto death.
What a perfect lesson we have in Christ. So we children, we who have been children.
In that relationship, we are exhorted to obey.
Obey.
And the fathers to bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.
The next relationship let's go on down here verse five and take it in the order we have it here. Servants, be obedient to them that are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling in singleness of your heart as unto Christ, not with thy service as men pleasers, but as the servants of Christ doing the will of God from the heart.
With goodwill, doing service as to the Lord and not to men.
Knowing that whatsoever good thing any man doeth, the same shall we receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free.
Of course, in the days when these scriptures were written.
There were.
Masters and slaves.
Now I'll tell you what I have seen in El Salvador just in the last few years.
And it's an object lesson on this point to me.
That there is a man there named Israel. That's remarkable, isn't it? Israel. Oh, he's a strongman.
Man of perhaps 3035, Prime of life. I'd call him a cowboy.
He works for a patron.
And he rides a horse and attends the cattle, but he does more. He was caring for the whole of the large farm, which is very productive there. And the patron has a beautiful home up on the side of the mountain.
Wealthy man swimming pool. He comes up there the weekends and lives well, but Israel can just barely read and write. I went to his wedding. His wife couldn't read or write. In order to have her document legal, she put her thumb on the ink pad and then put it on the.
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Marriage certificate.
The patron took care of this whole ceremony free of charge to Israel and his wife.
And.
They had both been saved, Israel and his wife just a few months.
And.
There he is a faithful, we might say servant.
He seems to be a very stable, steadfast man, looking out for the interests of his master.
The master seemed to have full confidence in him.
He isn't paid well.
He may be paid sufficient for the area in which he lives, but he's poor. And this patron got all the documents. He brought the judge, he provided the place. We all looked up the mountain to the edge of that swimming pool.
And the judge came out and he performed the marriage ceremony, and Israel and his wife legally married. Now they're at the Lord's Table. But I want to ask you to pray for Israel and his wife, as you have heard and been hearing that poor land is suffering much.
From guerrilla warfare.
In the last year, more or less some 9000.
Have been killed. Our brother writes me that 20 to 30 daily.
Almost every day shot down in that land.
And I got a letter from Israel and brother Martine saying that Israel had no work. Now they didn't elaborate on that, but I would think that.
It may be a result of nationalizing this large farm which belonged to the patron.
So that perhaps because of this, Israel was thrown out of work and needy. But I cite him as being an example of a servant to me. He was that faithful to his master. And after he was saved, I would almost think that what he was doing, he was doing it as unto the Lord.
But you know here.
In this land too.
Most of us work for a paycheck.
And we have responsibilities.
As being employed as an employee.
And I think the relationship is a little bit similar.
To the employer who gives that check.
So that we ought to render our service in this manner.
With goodwill, doing service as to the Lord and not to men.
Well, the teaching in the world doesn't go alongside of this, does it? But this is for us.
Then we go on to Masters.
Ye Masters, verse 9.
Do the same things unto them.
Forbearing. Threatening.
Knowing that your Master also is in heaven.
Neither is there respect to persons with him. He hasn't where points the finger to me and says you're just a servant too. You may have somebody working for you, but you're just a servant. I'm the master.
Is your Master even Christ and all ye our brethren? So that even in this land which has kind of a different standard of gaining a livelihood and culture, there is still a principle of the Master and the servant for us.
So let us learn to live in these relationships, taking up the privileges in them too, and enjoying them as belonging to Christ and that as servants, well, we're to serve as to the Lord and as masters, as remembering that we have a master.
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Then he says, finally, brethren.
Well, this would bring us to the last of these pairs.
That one wants to speak of.
Brethren.
There are many scriptures we could turn to on this, but this just goes on to say, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might, and then puts us in the conflict or gives us what we need in the conflict.
So that you and I.
Need to learn how to get along as brethren in the assembly too.
And this would embrace two brothers and sisters. Let's read in first Timothy.
What it says there in the 5th chapter.
On that point we read the 1St 2 verses.
Rebuke First Timothy 51 Rebuke not an elder, but entreat him as a father, and the younger men as brethren.
The elder women as mothers, the younger women, the younger as sisters with all purity.
This brings in a conduct toward others.
Corresponds with the relationship, doesn't it?
But then as brethren, to go on together.
Let's turn to James, that little book of James the 19th verse.
I might say that many times in this book.
He says, my brethren, my beloved brethren.
So he says here. Wherefore, my beloved brethren?
Every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to rap, for the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.
Well, as brethren, there are so many scriptures we could turn to. If you could back up in the night from the 19th chapter of of Matthew again to the 18th chapter, we would find something there just to touch on in closing, and that is forgiveness 1. Won't read this whole passage, but.
You know it quite well and we just need it called to our attention because.
We do offend at times.
We all offend.
And we need to learn to forget and to go along with our brethren.
In love.
So Peter asks in verse 21, how often he asked the Lord, shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him till seven times?
Said unto him, I say not unto you, unto thee until seven times, but until 70 * 7. Well, we would lose count of that. Let's go on down and read the last verse in closing.
Likewise shall my heavenly Father also. Well, we're going to have to read further back to get this thought. Verse 33 should it not? Thou also have had compassion on thy fellow servant. This is 1 servant toward another, even as I, the Lord had pity on thee, this particular servant.
Lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was doing to him.
So likewise also my heavenly Father shall also shall do also unto you, if he from your hearts forgive not everyone, his brother, their trespasses. This is a great lesson for us as brethren to learn to forgive our brethren, and they need to learn to forgive us too.