Open—E. Seichter, B. Prost, D. Rule
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Love it in the Lord Jesus.
There is an occasion in the scripture.
Where the Lord Jesus?
Practically.
Performed a service to his disciples.
Which is only recorded.
Once in the New Testament.
And only in one of the gospels.
And it took place when they had.
The Supper.
In the upper room.
And I would like to rehab that chapter.
Somewhat like half the chapter in round 13.
And now, before the phase of the Passover, when Jesus knew that this hour was calm, that His hour was come, that He should depart out of the world and to the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, He loves them until the end.
And supper being ended.
The devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon Sant to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God. He rises from supper and laid side his garments, and took a towel and girded himself. After that he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples feet.
And to wipe them with a towel whereas he was girded.
Then come and see to Simon Peter. And Peter said unto him, Lord, thus thou wash my feet.
Jesus answered and said unto him.
What I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.
Peter says unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I was she not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter said unto him, Lord.
Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus said to him, He that is washed needeth not safe to wash his feet, but it's clean every width, and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him. Therefore said he, ye are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet and had taken his garments, and was set down again.
He said unto them.
Know what I have done to you?
Know ye what I have done to you?
You call me Master and Lord, and you say, well, for so I am.
Then your Lord and Master have washed your feet.
Ye also ought to wash one another's feet, for I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
Just so far for now.
I thought this was.
So important. It was so important to me because I see the urgency.
That the Lord puts just on this fourteenth verse.
If then your Lord and Master have washed your feet, ye also.
Ought to wash one another's feet.
For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.
So many of you might think, well, how we're gonna do this.
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How is that done?
Are we going?
To make some kind of a rule how to do it?
Like the the religious systems do or have done with the Lord's Supper like in Matthew 6 where the where they call.
The Lord Sepa and repeated over and over again, and then have a a suitable song with it and do that every day, that every Lord's Day they come together.
And then?
That's the worship meeting.
Well, I have talked to a man one time. They said that they did that that way, but I could never figure out that. How could they have done it? Everybody washing everybody's feet. That doesn't make sense. It can't be done.
So there must be some other answer to this.
Some explanation of what did the Lord mean by this?
So we want to first look why he did it and how he did it.
Now, before the feast of the Passover.
That is the first verse and there we get the answer why he did it.
Having loved his own, which were in the world, he loved them until the end.
That's why you did it.
Because he loved them until the end, and that includes us.
He loves them, and to the end to wear his disciples at that time. And so he does us. We are his disciples.
And he didn't just wash one disciples field.
And say, well, I'll show you, wash one of your feet and then.
That's it.
He didn't do that. He washed all of their feet, all of his disciples feet, and we went from one to the other and then we read and supper ended.
Being ended.
The devil having now put unto the heart of Judah as a scary assignment son, to betray him.
Now why is that put in here?
Most of its disciples didn't even know that what Judas had done.
But here we have John.
The one whom the Lord Jesus left, who was closest to him, he must have got also.
Sometimes some extra insight from him what was going to happen and that here he that's why John can say here now.
Simon, John, Simon's son, said.
Set this.
That it was put in Judas's heart.
And he mentioned it.
And then he mentioned something more, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things unto his hand, and that he was come from God, and went to God.
Most of them didn't know that either.
Not the way we know it today.
That John knew it, and he believed it.
It was the closest to the Lord Jesus. He lay on his bosom. The Lord had revealed things to him that He might have not revealed to others.
And we also read then.
He rises from supper, and laid aside his garments, and took a towel, and girded himself. Now that was the Passover supper.
I wasn't the Lord supper, of course they had the Passover supper there and as I have read and I got this for my Bible dictionary one time that the Jews had tried that.
00:10:16
A delicate way of doing things, like some kind of an extra way because when they had.
The pastor was supper at that time. They had us as much as four cups that they drank. The first one was mixed with water and the second one was another reason and there was a third one, though I believe that the Lord Jesus at that time, He rose up from in between those.
Breaks that they had because they took the food away and then brought it again so that he rose up.
And he laid aside his garments.
It's just that is a picture.
When we do as he tells us.
As service.
We lay away or put away the sinks of this world that we don't really need to do in that service. And it was a service which he do. He did, and he had three things put aside for him. We want to notice these three things that he took that he had to.
I don't know how, but they had them ready.
That's a towel.
And it was.
A Washington basin, like it says in the other translation, and water.
He had these three things.
And what I say now, I didn't read in a book. I did read Dial beyond this, but he had about seven or more pages on it and he didn't actually come out.
What actually this meant?
I believe that the tile is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
And then we have the washer and basin, the picture of the word of God and the water in it, the word of God itself.
These three things that the Lord Jesus had put aside for him, and then he takes those and he starts washing the disciples feet. There's one thing we notice, He took the lowest place, a very low place.
The lowest praise that we would always acknowledge that it is when we would have to wash somebody's feet. We probably never done it. Let the Lord Jesus did that. He had to get on His knees. You can't watch anybody's feet without getting on your knees.
So that's what he did, and he went around to every disciple, and he did it.
He washed their feet and he dried him with a towel.
And now what?
Does that mean?
When he washed his feet.
And he dried.
With a towel and he went to every one of them.
He used.
That's what we have. He used the scriptures.
Uh.
First of all, we should say that. I should say that he girded himself. That's the first thing he did.
And that couldn't have been just a small thing. That was a big tile and it was a linen towel. We know linen is made out of plants and it goes through a lot of process to get it to be a towel and be a soft.
Piece of garment or towel that he used there.
That's why I think it is a picture of the Holy Spirit.
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Because somebody.
Uses the Word of God. He has to be guided by the Holy Spirit to use it.
Otherwise, how can he get the words of God?
That I've written in the book to tell him how to do it, and that's what it means here.
Because we don't make a ritual of this thing.
And we cannot.
Sure, the some of the systems make ritual out of these things, but we know it cannot work. It has. There has to be a spiritual meaning to it and that's what the Lord Jesus is showing us here doing to his disciples. He is used first averting himself, and He used the Word of God pictured by the Holy Scriptures and the Word.
These three things and then he gets to figure.
Nobody talked to that point, nobody said anything but Peter does.
And what does Peter say? Thou shalt never wash my feet.
Whereby did he say that?
Of course he used what we would.
Think or could say that that is.
Common sense. How can a person that is so much greater than himself?
Do the lowest job that there is.
That would be unsuitable to have him and have him do it. So that's where he must have thought because he said your shirt never washed my feet about. What does the Lord Jesus say?
Jesus answered him, If I were she not, thou hast no part with me.
That might have come as a real surprise.
For him.
Why would the Lord Jesus say that?
Well, if we don't let the Lord Jesus.
With the word of God out of the scripture.
Guide ourselves.
We cannot have a part with him. We cannot be saved.
That's what he means.
Thou cannot have part with me with me.
So.
That Peter couldn't take, that he didn't want to lose fathership with his Lord, the Lord Jesus.
Thou hast no part with me, Simon Peter says unto him, Lord, not me, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Real wide, the hands on the head.
It's basically the same that Cane thought.
He never thought to take the sacrifice of that Abel had brought and bring a sacrifice to the Lord, because that was the only thing acceptable.
Peter thought, well, I have to do something too.
So I got to work. I have to do some work for you.
I have to think up of something, use my head.
Something outstandingly good I have to do?
Well, beloved, if we think of it that way.
We have no part with the Lord Jesus either.
Because we cannot work for salvation.
Nobody can work to get saved or they'll get half inspired with the Lord Jesus by doing anything.
So that's a fact.
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He had to give up that thought.
That Jesus then explained that Jesus said unto him, He that is washed needed no safe to wash his feet, but is clean every width, every width. That means all, everywhere on his body, and ye are clean, but not all.
So he's, he is explaining that they all had received him and he knew that best because he knew the heart. He knows the heart of us, everybody's heart. If we have received him or if we have not received him in our hearts, he knows that.
And he could say ye.
He that is washed need is not safe to wash his feet.
That would that would mean.
To watch his walk, it has to do with the feet and with all of us. It has to do that. We have to watch our walk.
And if we work according to his ways, we have part with him.
And then of course, if we are saved, we are washed every bit.
And he could tell them because he knew their hearts. The others didn't know it. They didn't know Judas's heart.
In fact, they had taken it all wrong. They didn't even know what was.
His way of speaking. They could have detected something, but they didn't.
And then he says, ye actually, but not all.
He knew who was going to betray him and that was through this.
I don't believe that, Judas.
Was at the Lord's Supper because later on they did take. We read that in the same chapter here.
Later on they did have the Lord's Supper, and the Lord gave Judas the *** and he went out and was night.
I have heard people, they have arguments about it. They think, well, Judas had to take the Lord's suppers. Others say he didn't.
I cannot pronounce on that because I for myself think he didn't.
For he knew who should betray him. Therefore, said he, ye are not all clean.
But then.
And what he says.
After he had washed their feet.
He takes his garment again. He has to finish his work yet, although for him the work had been done already, he knew he was going to do it. He was going to die on the cross.
For all of us and for them. He knew it. So he took his garments again.
And was set down again. He went back to the table as we would say. And then he says to them, Know ye what I have done to you?
He all called me Master and Lord, and you say, Well, for so I am.
That is true.
The Lord is master of all of us, and we acknowledge it.
So then your Lord and Master have washed your feet. You also ought to wash one another's feet. Now how we do that? We're just the same. The Lord Jesus had done it.
We. We are.
Exercised by the Holy Spirit when earth's problem comes in, or whatever it may be.
And what we use, we use the scriptures.
And refined the words in the scriptures to deal with that problem.
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What else could that mean?
We have to do the Lord's way, and the Lord leads by the Holy Spirit, which He was guarded. He was guarded with that towel. And when we use things like that, we work softly.
Not a hard rash towel, nor a soft towel he had. He wiped their feet again with a towel. There's a problem that can be solved. What we're gonna do when we think it can't be solved.
We wait upon the Lord.
We got away at the Lord's time.
To straighten out things and to do things that have to be done, because that's what the Lord says here. He wants it done. It's urgent.
He wants us to do it, not just let it go.
Wait till it straightens out itself and then we don't know what's going to happen. It's got to be done the Lord's way. It's got to, it's got to be done by the Lords guidance, by the Holy Spirit which He has given unto us. And that's the only way I have. Just recently some brother told me when they had a division.
And it had to do with discipline.
And.
The SA as the assembly decided how to do it.
And two brothers development set.
No way. We don't go along with it.
We aren't. We're not going to have it, are we not? We're going to not. We're going to have our way.
So what do you do?
It has nothing to do but weighed on the Lord, and if we don't do that, we have a duration.
The division is going to come through and it's sometimes just my two brothers hang out, don't go along with it. That's it. We are not going to do that.
Well, then a disaster comes after that, whatever that will be, the Lord knows. We gotta go the Lord's way. We have to wait upon the Lord, and the Lord is gonna lead.
Whatever the Lord's way is will be known to us, and that's not just an assembly.
Actions. It's personal too.
In the assembly, we have to deal with each other and there's personal things coming up in the assembly. We cannot, not just one person or one brother or two brothers together and say, well, that's it, and we're gonna have it done that way.
It's not gonna work.
We have to wait upon the Lord. I believe this is what the Lord wants to teach us.
But another way he does it gently. He doesn't say you have to do this, you have to do that. But in that same chapter, we find another place.
Where he says you have to do it.
In that same chapter here I'm looking for.
He says in verse 33.
So now I say to you.
A new commandment I give unto you. This is a commandment now.
This he doesn't say. Well, I hope you're gonna do it. I want you to do it, he commands it.
And you, and that's a new commandment I gave unto you, that he loved one another as I have loved you, that he also loved one another.
If we do that, beloved Saints.
We're gonna solve our problem too.
We love one another.
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There is at least one person here this afternoon that.
Has heard me speak on what I have on my heart already.
At one point not too long ago. But I feel the burden of it on my heart for myself.
And for all of us.
So could we turn please to John S Gospel chapter 2?
John's Gospel, chapter 2.
For the marriage in Cana of Galilee.
Just a short thought or two on this incident, which is the first miracle or the first sign that Jesus did in John's Gospel. A very interesting study as to the miracles in John's Gospel, we aren't going to go into that now, but they have an unusual connection. But here we find that it says in chapter 2 verse one, and the third day there was a marriage in Cana of Galilee.
And of the mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called, and his disciples to the marriage. And when they watered wine, the mother of Jesus saith unto him, They have no wine.
Stop there for a moment.
Wine in the Word of God, as I suppose most of us know, speaks of natural joy or earthly joy.
And how many times perhaps?
In your life and mine, we get to the point where we say there is no joy.
We live in an age of entitlement, or at least we think we have entitlement. In reality, we aren't entitled to anything. First of all, as lost sinners before God, we deserve nothing but eternal judgment. And then, as believers, are we really entitled to anything?
No, we are blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.
But that is through the goodness of God.
And the hymn expresses it well when it says trembling. We had hoped for mercy some lone place within his door.
But the crown, the throne, the mansion, all were ready long before.
But perhaps we have come to feel that we are entitled to joy.
And here at this wedding, it is evident that it.
Wasn't that they were totally without wine at the beginning? No, they'd had some wine, but it had run out. And that is the way with wine in the natural sense.
It gives us joy for a while. Earthly pleasures give us joy. Things of this world give us joy. But if they are not?
If we don't have that new wine, that old wine runs out.
But looking at it for the moment from the vantage point of view and me as believers, perhaps we say in our Christian lives, we have no joy.
And sometimes it becomes a real problem.
I have heard so many say to me, but I wasn't happy, I wasn't getting this, I wasn't getting that and all the rest of it. And we start blaming circumstances and perhaps blaming others, which may have something to do with it.
There is a responsibility on your part and mine to be a help to others.
But at the same time, here we find that when the mother of the Lord Jesus comes to Him, she is expecting something. They have no wine.
It would have been relatively easy. We say it with all reverence for the Lord Jesus immediately to said, oh, have you run out of wine? Well, all right, no problem.
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Sometimes people have that same difficulty in this world and they go to someone who perhaps has wealth and they say we don't have this or we don't have that. Please supply it. You have plenty. Supply it.
What we notice here that the answer of the Lord Jesus seems at first glance to be a little abrupt.
He doesn't even address his mother as mother.
It's interesting that on the cross he refers to her as his mother.
He addresses John and he says, Son, behold thy mother. He doesn't say, behold this woman. But here when she comes to him in the character of a suppliant, wanting that which speaks of joy, the Lord says, Woman, what have I to do with thee in verse 4?
Mine hour is not yet come. May I say to your heart and mind that that I believe, speaks a wealth of information.
Our wealth on the one hand of encouragement, but on the other hand of gentle rebuke.
That is, if your heart and mind is set on joy in our lives. I say it with all authority on the word of God. You and I are going to be disappointed because as Dawn quoted this morning from one of the I think it was a prisoner in Colorado. He said to another prisoner, it is not about us and Christianity is ultimately not about us, the Lord Jesus.
In a gentle way is teaching that here. And yet if we are not careful, we twist.
The real truth of Christianity around to make it seem as if it is about us. Do we not have a right to expect this and that and the other thing?
From Christianity, do we not have a right to expect the joy that should be ours?
Carry it one step further. Do we not have a right, someone says, to expect that the Local Assembly will provide refreshment and encouragement and good teaching and good fellowship and help when I need it, And as our brother has been bringing out the gentle washing of my feet in the right way when I need it.
Thank God for the local assembly, Thank God for brothers and sisters who care. Thank God for that love which exists. And we had that in the reading this morning. Thank God for those who are able to be a help to us in every way, for happy fellowship, for joy that results from the ministry of God's Word to suit our needs. But I say to your heart and mind if I come, whether it is to the Lord himself or whether it is to the local assembly or other believers or wherever it might be.
And say I have no wine, I have to have it. Lord give it to me. I say the Lord in a gentle way is going to carry my thoughts to a higher plane.
But then the woman, the mother, and it says his mother in verse five, his mother sat under the servants.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
And I say that to your heart and mine this afternoon.
Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Oh, but I don't know whether that will make me happy.
I don't know whether that is what I want.
You know, I've said this before, but if we were to go on a few chapters in John here, we would find a verse that says.
If any man will do his will, he shall know of the doctrine.
And I have used this illustration before, but I have some very good friends.
If to whom? If I were to go and say, will you do me a favor, I know they would say, by all means, just tell me what it is and I'll do it.
I know some whose answer would be like that, and probably you do too.
But I also have a few other friends to whom, if I made that request, there would be a somewhat cautious and guarded.
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What is it?
With the distinct idea that when they knew what it was, then they would decide whether they could do it or not.
And that is not altogether wrong, because sometimes I might make a request that would be out of order, or perhaps something that was unreasonable for them to do. I hope not, but it certainly could happen.
I say to your heart and mind, if we approach the Lord in that way, we will never know the Lord's will for our lives. I cannot go to the Lord and say, Lord, show me your will so that I can.
Mull it over a little bit and then decide whether I'll do it or not. No, the words of the Lord's mother were whatsoever he saith unto you, Do it. And I say to your heart and mind, that is the Lord's message.
For you and for me today, whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
Many years ago, our brother Harry Hayhoe used to remind us that obedience and happiness go together. Not that we obey in order to be happy, but that is the pathway of obedience. And so she realized that if there were going to be any blessing, whatever it was that the Lord Jesus said, that was the thing that needed to be done.
So what happens? It does not immediately look as if the wine is forthcoming.
Because the command to the servants there in verse six is, and they were set there, 6 water pots of stone after the manner of the purifying of the Jews, containing two or three firkins apiece. And I suppose that those water pots, this is one application. Others may have a different thought, but I have thought of these water pots as Speaking of you and of me as believers. And there are different degrees of the water which we've already heard speaks of the word of God.
There are different amounts of water in each believer according to our diligence and our upbringing and so on. But what is the command to the servants? Fill the water pots with water. In verse seven, Fill the water pots with water. And I say to you and to me, that is God's command for you and to me in these last days. By any standard, we are living in difficult days. And as we heard this morning, we are very thankful for the liberty we have.
In countries like the United States and Canada and others in the world where we can come together freely like this, where we can meet together without fear of outward persecution and so on. But the devil is overactive today, seeking to destroy anything that speaks of the name of Christ. He is working very hard to. It's the word I want. Demoralize perhaps describes it best. The Saints of God. Yes, he's working hard in outward and very, very active persecution in some lands.
He's working in other ways in certain places by.
The inroads of the power of Satan with false religions. And we're getting that here too. But he is demoralizing the people of God in such a way as to bring so many problems and difficulties into our lives that well, it reminds me of a dear brother, and this is many, many years ago, who when his wife said something about are you going to meeting tonight, dear? And I happen to be in that home. This was years ago when I was in university.
And his answer was something like this. He was a dear brother gathered to the Lord's name.
He was having trouble, his work was very stressful and he had some health problems, he said.
I'm having enough trouble earning a living, let alone go to any meeting. And I don't think he quite meant it the way it came out because as it happened I, I don't take credit for it. But I talked him into going to meeting but he did go. But he was feeling the stress and strain, the difficulties of the way.
And this is nothing new. You will remember that when the children of Israel were almost through the desert in numbers. I think it's chapter 21.
It says the soul of the people was much discouraged because of the way. What's the answer?
Fill the water pots with water. Why?
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The Lord didn't immediately tell them what the end was. There had to be faith. Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it. There has to be faith that the Lord is going to bless Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it.
What's the result?
And the Lord simply says, now in verse 8, the servants in verse seven fill the water puffs with water. They fill them up to the brim. They were obedient.
And then the Lord says in verse 8, Draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. Ah, draw out now and bear unto the governor of the feast. Again, there had to be the exercise of faith on the part of those servants. They couldn't say but, but, but, but Lord.
Water. This is only water. No, they had taken to heart what Mary said to them. Whatsoever he saith unto you, do it.
I say to each one here, and there are some young people here, a good many young people, and we're glad to see you fill the water pots with water, fill it on your own. Get into the word of God on your own.
And if I may say.
Get into the written ministry that we have. It doesn't matter how much you read, but read something along with the Word of God. Read the Word of God first. Form your thoughts on it, but then read something on it, and you'll often find that there will be another dimension that's opened up to you. Sure, it takes time. Sure it's difficult. Sure, Satan will do everything possible to say. But you don't have time. You have to do this and that and the other thing.
I don't want to be flippant or tread on anybody's toes, but take a little time that you might spend on Facebook and read some written ministry. Is that a fair comment from someone that isn't on Facebook? Is that OK to say that? I say it very kindly and I'm not saying not to be on Facebook, but read the word of God and you will find that as it happened here when they bear.
To the governor of the feast, and he tasted the wine. Oh, he says.
This is something usually men bring the new wine 1St and then when people have gotten a little bit.
Under their belt, they won't notice so much when it's old wine, but you have kept the good wine until now.
The new wine is what keeps us going. The new wine is what we need today because the old wine, so to speak, are the things of nature and they do bring pleasure. The pleasures of sin for a season, it says, And I don't mean that all the pleasures in this world have to do with sin.
I didn't used to like that verse in first John that says love not the world neither the things that are in the world. Ouch.
One thing to love the world or not to love the world, but another thing to have it. The things that are in the world, but they only bring pleasure for a little time. They don't bring lasting pleasure. And I'm not saying don't enjoy the good things God has given you. I remember well many years ago, our late brother Clifford Brown was in our home and we were eating a good meal. My mother was a good cook and someone at the table said to him, what does it mean brother Brown when it says in Timothy?
That he giveth us all things richly to enjoy. He looked down at his plate and he said, well, he said, I think this is one of the things he meant. And I think he was right. It was good to enjoy that food. God had given it to us. And so there are the good things that God gives us in this world, and they're wonderful, but they don't last.
But the things to do with Christ, the new wine, it lasts.
And I'm parroting someone and some here will recognize the source. This isn't word for word, but I say to your heart and mind, and I mentioned it a few minutes ago, that we are going through many trials and difficulties in these last days. Personal problems, work related problems, education related problems, family problems, assembly problems, you name it. Sometimes you say I've got them all.
00:50:01
I say to your heart and mind, it's worth going through any kind of difficulty that the Lord puts you and me through in order to see something more of Christ. It's worth going through anything in order to have a taste of that new wine.
And as the brother who wrote the remarks that I'm parroting said, and it lasts, it lasts.
Turn with me, please for a verse in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.
For 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 should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Like to make a few remarks concerning the love of Christ.
Constraineth us.
And immediately after making that remark, it says.
We thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
I want to repeat a remark made this morning.
The love of Christ.
Does not constrain our flesh. The love of Christ does not constrain the natural man.
The connection here is the love of Christ constrains us if we're a believer and have life.
And the love of Christ constrains that life, but no other.
And if we find in our lives sometimes we're going this way and the Word of God and God himself is going another way and we might not enter into the love of Christ constraining us, it is because of the working of flesh in us that is pulling us in a different direction. And so it's connected. The love of Christ is connected with the new man. That's why it says if one died for all.
Then we're all dead.
Quickly turn over to look at it a little more and Isaiah 53.
MMM.
Here's the natural man.
Confronted with the love of Christ, let's read the verses and see whether he's constrained by it.
Isaiah 53 and verse 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, oh, we'll love him, right?
Love him. His love will constrain us, control us. There is no beauty.
That we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men. That's us.
Mankind a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. He was despised. We honored him, were controlled by His love. No, we esteemed him not.
Shirley hath borne our grease, and carried our sorrows.
Yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God.
Reflected, it's a very brief picture of natural man.
When confronted with the love of Christ.
In his condition now, since our time is very limited, turn over to Psalms 42.
Want to make a few very brief remarks with respect to the sequence of Psalms starting with Psalm 42.
00:55:01
Umm, it's a, a series of Psalms. Here is what's called the second book of the Psalms and it takes place, it's going to take place in the Tribulation when Israel is not yet owned of God and they're outside the city and not yet owned as Jehovah. But I want to make application. That's not my purpose to try to explain that, but simply to make application to the constraining love of Christ as seen in this Old Testament believer.
And just to make it easy, I'm going to call him Levi and here's Levi and Levi, I think represents some of us in the room this afternoon in the present condition of our lives. And he has a message that we can learn from him. He says in I Psalm 42, verse one, as the heart paneth after the water brook, so paneth my soul after thee, O God, my soul thirsteth for God. If you're a believer in the room this afternoon, that's the.
There's that thirst in the soul. My soul thirsts. The God has put it there. Thank God he has. And so there is that drawing power on the new life of the love of God in Christ on us. But then he says my tears have been my meat night and day.
Where is thy God? And so here's the believer in this sense, but he's, he's in, he's depressed and he says, where's my God?
I thirst for God, but where is he in my life? He says verse 4.
I remember these things. I pour out my soul, for I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the House of God, to the voice of joy and praise.
With a multitude.
He looks back, he looks back to a happier time in his life and he says, oh, I can remember when life was happy and good and I could enjoy it and I could have fellowship with God's people. And we, we went together and we enjoyed things together.
But it's a memory. It's not the present state of his heart. And so he says in verse five, Why are thou cast down, O my soul?
Where thou cast down on my soul.
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him.
Mm-hmm. He knows in his head, but in his heart, in his soul, in his emotions at this point in his life, he, he says, well, I know what you say, hope and God.
I'll praise him. He's God. He should be praised, but does he feel that way? He says, why are you cast down? Why are you cast down this afternoon? What is it that's depressing on your soul that you you would say, well, I, I pant for God, but I I and I remember the past when it was good and wonderful that not the present.
So he says, Oh my God, verse six, my soul is cast down. He's honest with God about it. We have to get honest with God sometimes about where we are in our souls. He's honest with God. He says, I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, from the Hermanites. In this particular case, Levi had been cast out of Jerusalem. He wasn't allowed to be in the place where God had said he would meet with the people because the Jews, the godly Jews at this time will be cast out and they won't be able to enjoy all the privileges and the place that.
Was given to them and so he's out at the Jordan, if you will, he's at a distance and he's.
Lord, oh Lord, please come into my life. I want to come back to where I once was.
And he has some sense that verse nine I will say to God, my rock. That's good, isn't it? God? He recognizes God was his rock. He didn't have something else. He wasn't trying to go off, if we would say, into the world to find the solution to the sadness and the grief and the distress.
Of a saw.
He says, I'll say to God, my rock, What's he say? Why have you forgotten me? God, if you hadn't forgotten me, I'd be happy this afternoon. I'd be in a good state. Everything would be going all right in my life. Have you forgotten me?
I want you.
01:00:00
Uh, well, other people look at me. Verse 10. They say to me, where's your God?
Where is your God? You. You claim you have a relationship with God. Where is he now? Where you are in your life and in your Mead?
Well, we can just touch for a quick moment in the 43rd Psalm and you can read it on your own and and meditate on it. And the next psalmist says, Judge me O God, and plead my cause. Thou art my God of my strength. He looks at himself.
And he examines himself and he says I can't see I'm doing anything wrong.
Yeah, I'm not perfect, but Lord, why are you bringing this into my life?
Judge me and see.
He says verse four, I'll go to God, my exceeding joy, but he doesn't. And I'll bring my heart with me. I'll sing, I'll pray, but he's not singing, He's not praising, he's not enjoying.
What God wants of him.
So then in the 44th Psalm he goes back and he traces history and he looks at the children of Israel and he said, Lord, I look at the children of Israel. And Levi could say you helped them. You brought them in a wonderful way from Canaan, and you took them all the way to Egypt and you took care of them and you provided for them and you did good.
And so he could look at others and he could look, you might say he could look in the word of God and see how God had taken care of all these people and done these wonderful things. Of course, if you'd been one of those people, you might have thought differently if you've been one in the wilderness and you've gone through the feelings. But he looked at it, he could kind of ignore all the pain and suffering of the of the wilderness, but he could see the end result of it and he appreciates it.
Umm.
Our time is really up, so I'm just gonna get to the conclusion of the matter. 1St Psalm 45, my heart.
Is indicting a good manager. I speak of the things which I have made touching the king.
My tongue is the pin of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men.
Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Brethren, the secret, the key, the solution to such conditions in our souls is to turn from self.
And the occupation of one with one's problems and one's difficulties.
And look at the love of God in Christ.
You know, that's not an obvious thing. As obvious as the words may seem, it takes real concentration to turn from God loving me in my circumstances to just loving God.
Just enjoying the person of the Lord Jesus.
Not simply saying, Lord Jesus, come into my life and do this and that and you love me and you will do this for me. But in the 45th Psalm, it's about him.
It's not about Levi, it's about him. And he looks at him and he finds in him what is a pleasure to him and who he is.
And in the 46th thumb, he gets to the 10th verse and he's he can say be still and know that I am God.
God takes us through these things with the intent that He focuses our attention on that man, the Lord Jesus, and His love in a way that we forget about ourselves.
The circumstances aren't changed necessarily in life. The circumstances may be just what they were.
But the heart is taken out of the circumstances and finds its satisfaction beyond anything that circumstance can touch of us.
And there's rest in that. There's peace. There's a stillness that we can say be still.
I know that I am God. Let's pray.
Our God, our Father, we do pray that thy word that has been before us this afternoon, Thou knowest just what each one here needs, each one of us, and that Thou would take something that's been said this afternoon from Thy word and apply it to us individually for the blessing of our souls.
01:05:04
Most of all.
Turn with me, please for a verse in Second Corinthians chapter 5.
2nd Corinthians chapter 5 and verse 14.
For 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 should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again.
Like to make a few remarks concerning the love of Christ.
Constraineth us.
And immediately after making that remark, it says.
We thus judge that if one died for all, then we're all dead.
I want to repeat a remark made this morning.
The love of Christ.
Does not constrain our flesh. The love of Christ does not constrain the natural man.
The connection here is the love of Christ constrains us if we're a believer and have life.
And the love of Christ constrains that life, but no other.
And if we find in our lives sometimes we're going this way and the Word of God and God himself is going another way, and we might not enter into the love of Christ constraining us, it is because of the working of flesh in us that is pulling us in a different direction. And so it's connected. The love of Christ is connected with the new man. That's why it says if one died for all, then we're all dead.
Quickly turn over to look at it a little more and Isaiah 53.
MMM.
Here's the natural man.
Confronted with the love of Christ, let's read the verses and see whether he's constrained by it.
Isaiah 53 and verse 2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, as a root out of a dry ground. He hath no form or comeliness. And when we shall see him, oh, we'll love him, right?
Love them, His C Love will constrain us, control us. There is no beauty.
That we should desire him.
He is despised and rejected of men. That's us.
Mankind a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief, and we hid, as it were, our faces from Him.
He was despised, we honored him or controlled by Islam.
We esteemed him not.
Surely hath borne our grease, and carried our sorrows.
Yeah, we did esteem him. Stricken, smitten of God, afflicted. It's a very brief picture of natural man.
When confronted with the love of Christ.
In his condition now, since our time is very limited, turn over to Psalms 42.
Want to make a few very brief remarks with respect to the sequence of Psalms starting with Psalm 42.
Umm, it's a, a series of Psalms. Here is what's called the second book of the Psalms and it takes place, it's going to take place in the Tribulation when Israel is not yet owned of God and they're outside the city and not yet owned as Jehovah. But I want to make application. That's not my purpose to try to explain that, but simply to make application to the constraining love of Christ as seen in this Old Testament believer.
And just to make it easy, I'm going to call him Levi. And here's Levi. And Levi, I think represents some of us in the room this afternoon in the present condition of our lives. And he has a message that we can learn from him. He says in Psalm 42, verse one, as the heart paneth after the water brooks, so paneth my soul after thee, O God, my soul thirsteth for God. If you're a believer in the room this afternoon, that's the.
01:10:30
There's that thirst in the soul. My soul thirsts. The God has put it there.
Thank God he has, and so there is that drawing power on the new life of the love of God in Christ on us. But then he says, my tears have been my meat night and day.
Where is thy God? And so here's the believer in this sense, but he's, he's in, he's depressed and he says, where's my God?
I thirst for God, but where is He in my life? He says verse four. I remember these things. I pour out my soul, for I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the House of God, to the voice of joy and praise with a multitude.
He looks back, he looks back to a happier time in his life and he says, oh, I can remember when life was happy and good and I could enjoy it and I could have fellowship with God's people. And uh, we, we went together and we enjoyed things together.
But it's a memory. It's not the present state of his heart. And so he says in verse five, Why are thou cast down, O my soul?
Where thou cast down on my soul.
Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him.
He knows in his head, but in his heart, in his soul and his emotions at this point in his life, he he says, well, I know what you say, hope and God.
I'll praise him, he's God, he should be praised. But does he feel that way?
He says, why are you cast down? Why are you cast down this afternoon? What is it that's depressing on your soul that you you would say, well, I, I pant for God, but I and I remember the past when it was good and wonderful that.
Not the present.
So he says, Oh my God, verse six, my soul is cast down. He's honest with God about it. We have to get honest with God sometimes about where we are in our souls. He's honest with God, he says.
I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, from the Hermanites. In this particular case, Levi had been cast out of Jerusalem. He wasn't allowed to be in the place where God had said he would meet with the people. Because the Jews, the godly Jews at this time, will be cast out and they won't be able to enjoy all the privileges in the place that was given to them. And so he's out at the Jordan, if you will. He's at a distance and he's floored. Oh Lord.
Please come into my life. I want to come back to where I once was.
And he has some sense that verse nine I will say to God, my rock. That's good, isn't it? God? He's recognizes God was his rock. He didn't have something else. He wasn't trying to go off, if we would say, into the world to find the solution to the sadness and the grief and the distress.
Of a saw.
He says, I'll say to God, my rock, What's he say? Why have you forgotten me? God, if you hadn't forgotten me, I'd be happy this afternoon. I'd be in a good state. Everything would be going all right in my life. Have you forgotten me?
I want to.
Uh, well, other people look at me. Verse 10. They say to me, where's your God?
Where is your God? You. You claim you have a relationship with God. Where is he now? Where you are in your life and in your Mead?
Well, we can just touch for a quick moment in the 43rd Psalm and you can read it on your own and and meditate on it. And the next psalmist says, Judge me O God, and plead my cause. Thou art my God of my strength. He looks at himself.
01:15:01
And he examines himself and he says I can't see I'm doing anything wrong.
Yeah, I'm not perfect, but Lord, why are you bringing this into my life?
Judge me and see.
He says verse four, I'll go to God, my exceeding joy, but he doesn't. And I'll bring my heart with me. I'll sing, I'll prays, but he's not singing, He's not praising, he's not enjoying.
What God wants of him.
So then in the 44th Psalm he goes back and he traces history and he looks at the children of Israel and he said, Lord, I look at the children of Israel. And Levi could say you helped them. You brought them in a wonderful way from Canaan, and you took them all the way to Egypt and you took care of them and you provided for them and you did good.
And so he could look at others and he could look, you might say he could look in the word of God and see how God had taken care of all these people and done these wonderful things. Of course, if you'd been one of those people, you might have thought differently if you've been one in the wilderness and you've gone through the feelings. But he looked at it, he could kind of ignore all the pain and suffering of the of the wilderness, but he could see the end result of it and he appreciates it.
Umm.
Our time is really up, so I'm just gonna get to the conclusion of the matter. 1St Psalm 45, my heart.
Is indicting a good manager. I speak of the things which I have made touching the king.
My tongue is the pin of a ready writer. Thou art fairer than the children of men.
Grace is poured into thy lips, therefore God hath blessed thee forever. Brethren, the secret, the key, the solution to such conditions in our souls is to turn from self.
And the occupation of one with one's problems and one's difficulties.
And look at the love of God in Christ.
You know, that's not an obvious thing. As obvious as the words may seem, it takes real concentration to turn from God loving me in my circumstances to just loving God.
Just enjoying the person of the Lord Jesus, not simply saying Lord Jesus, come into my life and do this and that and you love me and you will do this for me. But in the 45th Psalm, it's about him.
It's not about Levi, it's about him, and he looks at him, and he finds in him.
What is a pleasure to him and who he is?
And in the 46th film, he gets to the 10th verse and he's he can say be still and know that I am God.
God takes us through these things with the intent that He focuses our attention on that man, the Lord Jesus, and His love in a way that we forget about ourselves.
The circumstances aren't changed necessarily in life. The circumstances may be just what they were.
But the heart is taken out of the circumstances and finds its satisfaction beyond anything that circumstance can touch of us.
And there's rest in that. There's peace. There's a stillness that we can say be still.
I know that I am God. Let's pray.
Our God, our Father, we do pray that thy word that has been before us this afternoon, Thou knowest just what each one here needs, each one of us, and that Thou would take something that's been said this afternoon from Thy word and apply it to us individually for the blessing of our souls.
Most of all.