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General meetings Montreal, October 1975 First reading meeting.
109.
109.
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Things.
And through the soon coming, blessed Lord.
Thinking of his presence here.
For us.
I'm thinking of his great love.
For the values with the 14th of John seems to be the subject.
Directed to.
I think that's that's good because there we get it in simplicity.
John's Gospel, chapter 14.
Let not your heart be troubled.
We believe in God. The new house will remain.
In my father's house are many mansions.
If it were not so, I would have told you, I go to prepare a place for you. Then if I go into a fair place for you, I would come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.
And whether I go, you know and the way you know.
Said that him, Lord, we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way?
Jesus says, And I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
If he had known me, you should have known my father also, and from henceforth you know him, and have seen him.
Philip says unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and suffice of us.
Jesus said unto him, Have I been so long time with you yet? Hath thou not known me, Philip?
These that have seen me, have seen the Father, and House they have thou. Then show us the Father.
Believers are not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me.
The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that draweth in me, he doeth the work.
Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very worst sake.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, He will believeth on me the works that I do shall he do also.
And greater work than these shall they do, because I go unto my Father.
And what the weary shall ask in my name that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the sun?
If you ask anything in my name, I will do it.
If you love me, keep my commandments.
And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever, Even the Spirit of Truth, whom the world cannot receive because it sees him not, neither knoweth him.
But do you know him? For he draws with you, and shall be in you.
I will not leave you comfortless, but I will come to you.
Yet a little while in the world seeth me no more. But ye see me.
Because I live, ye shall live also.
At that days and know that I am in my Father, and ye and me.
Than I and you.
He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is a loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
Judas said unto him, Not as curious, Lord, how is it that I would manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?
Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he would keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
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He that loveth me not, keepeth not my saying.
And the word which you hear is not mine. But the fathers which sent me. These things have I spoken unto you, Being yet present with you, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you not as the world giveth give unto you.
Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
You ever heard how I said in view, I go away and come again unto you?
If you love me, you would rejoice because I said I go into the Father, for my Father is greater than I.
And now I have told you before it come to pass, that when it is come to pass you might believe.
Hereafter I will not talk much with you. First into this world come of nothing in me.
But that the world may know that I love the Father, and the Father gave me commandment, Even so I do. Arise, let us go hands.
Twice in this beautiful chapter we got the Lords own precious words. Let not your heart be troubled.
And we're living in a troubled world, and we have our troubles.
In trying circumstances.
But the Lord he is not thinking of himself. He's about to go to Calvary, but thinking of his own.
And it's very striking to notice that he himself was traveled in the three previous chapters.
He turned the 11Th chapter.
And the 33rd verse.
When Jesus, after all, saw her wedding.
And the Jews also weeping with which came with her. He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled.
Troubled, undoubtedly, of what Sinner brought, brought death and family.
And sorrow for his own and then in 12Th chapter, verse 27.
Now is my soul trouble.
And what shall I say?
Father saved me from this hour.
But the discourse came I unto this hour.
Trouble here, undoubtedly because of the awful suffering about to befall him.
And the thought of coming into contact with sin, that's in question.
In the 13th chapter.
I.
Verse 21.
When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit.
And testified, and said, Verily, verily, I said to you, that one of you shall betray me.
And yet, in spite of this, he can save you his own. Let not your heart be trouble.
What wondrous love and compassion, what thoughtfulness on behalf of His dear children, not only His disciples, but for each one of us today, because we do become become troubled so easily, and so the Lord would encourage our hearts first of all.
Say, let love your heart be troubled.
Then he gives a reason.
They were anticipating the loss of their blessed Lord.
They had been with him in his ministry, followed him from place to place, received instruction from him. It was no matter too small that they couldn't bring it before him, even when they had an empty net. He told the Lord about that their hearts were broken. They went to him about.
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Well that need now he was to go to the followers he has stolen.
But he says, as our brother has brought out, let not your heart be troubled. And then he says he believed in God, believe also in me.
Now the people of God had long had this privilege of.
Going into the presence of God, making their petitions.
I'm telling you about their wants and needs. We find that record of that all through the Old Testament. Many of the psalms will be prayers of God's people. Well, now he says that he believed in God. Believe also in me.
That is the same way that they had gone to.
God above, they were now to approach him.
For he was going up on high. He was to take his place there on the right hand of God. But they could still address him, they could speak to him, they could bring all their wants and cares to him personally. So he says he believed in God.
Believed also in me? No. That is there to know.
In the same way that they have known God as the invisible and yet the one who was concerned about all repairs.
Now there's worth a walk by faith. Or they're not.
I have been with him down here, now he's leaving them.
I think the verse in John 17 in connection with our first verse.
You believe in God, Believe also in me.
Anything will believe there is God, and that's not sufficient.
John 17 Three And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast spent.
So it's necessary to know the Lord Jesus Christ as well as acknowledging there is a God.
How time was connected point that you mentioned brother Barry with the instructions that the Lord Jesus gives in the 16th chapter where he speaks tells them about prayer and he says.
In the 23rd verse, in that day he shall ask me nothing.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
Would you?
Tell us, show us the relationship between these two points. You could do it very well.
Well.
The the reason the Lord said in that day shall ask me nothing.
That is in the way that they had asked him when they were with him. Now he was leaving them, he would be unseen.
Now they were not only to go to him as they had, and that's simplicity of children, but they were to ask him the father's name, a new way of approaching him now that he was being no longer with him. Is that the thought?
I suppose it was difficult for these disciples to always realize that Jesus, the one in their midst, was was God, because they saw him as a man and he looked like any man.
I suppose they had to be brought back to this reality time and again. And no doubt this is what the Lord is doing here, bringing to their attention that just as.
As they had believed in God in heaven, now they were to believe in him because he is God.
And it was not to be on a human basis that they were to know him. It was not to know him in a human way and just making requests of him, and as they might of a prophet. But it was as God that they were to know him.
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I was thinking of.
In connection with this, no man has seen God at any time. The only begotten son which is in the bosom of the Father he hath declared him, and then also in this chapter a little farther down, where the Lord said to Thomas, he says, or rather Phillip he said in the ninth verse, tenth verse.
He would have seen me, has seen the Father.
Pardon me, It's the.
Yes, the ninth verse. He that has seen me has seen the Father. So the Lord Jesus in this gospel of John is revealing the Father and now they were to know the Father in an intimacy that never could be known. In Old Testament time God dwelled in the thick darkness. The relationship of knowing God his Father was not known in the Old Testament. But now the Lord Jesus had come and he had revealed the Father.
And the wonderful thing for them to learn was that they could now address the father in a known and enjoyed relationship.
Because of him, because he was the one who had revealed a Father. He that hath seen me as seen the Father. And so it isn't that we cannot speak directly to the Lord Jesus. We find prayers such as Steven and the book of the Acts. Lord Jesus receive my spirit and the Apostle Paul, asking the Lord in connection with his thorn in the flesh so that we can address the Lord Jesus.
But something very blessed and wonderful we can address God our Father in a conscious nearness, because the sun has revealed him because of Christ. And I believe that perhaps that's the thought that is being brought before us in the 16th chapter.
And here in this chapter I believe also in me. Is our brother has remarked was to know him as an object of faith. We have it in Peter's epistle. It says who by him do believe in God now? That is, since God has now been revealed and we believe in him, the one who has revealed the Father. What a blessed thing, that just as God is the object of faith to our souls, so the sun.
Who is God Himself is now to be known as the object of faith to our soul.
So we sometimes are told, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. But then in John 5 and 24 it says He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, so that we believe in the Father as the object of faith, and the Son. And then, as we have beautifully brought before us, the Spirit of God, making all these things good in our souls, has now come, and.
Tells us.
That because ye our Son, God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your heart, crying, have a Father.
The Lord would expect that the disciples would understand, since He had been revealing the Father all through his life and ministry, that his home would be theirs.
What else could they expect? What else could parents expect if they were? If they were going to move and have another house to live in, what would the children expect? But that's our home, because that's where our parents are to live. So the Lord had LED them right up to that point, and it is with rather.
Surprise wave of the large replies.
Now they knew where he was going. Why didn't they know where he was gone? He had revealed the Father to them. And if he was going to the Father, why the Father's house must be the home that's awaiting them. And this lovely two to see. Isn't it that now the blessing Son of God has been here in this world, that we get a higher thought than David?
That gives us in the 23rd Psalm where he gets the leaders on in connection with the shepherd's care.
Until he says, And I shall dwell in the House of Jehovah forever. Well, that was as high as an Old Testament St. could take in the future that was before him the House of Jehovah. The Jehovah was the God of Israel and.
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The God of Israel's house would be their house, but now the Lord has revealed.
The same Jehovah God as the Father. Now it's the Father's house. And that speaks of infinite relationship, doesn't it? Not only being there as the place of rest and and joy at the end of the journey, but also.
There in full and blessed and wonderful relationships, where God is our Father.
Perfect love cast us out fear. And when the Lord Jesus came into this world as a man, he revealed an entirely new kind of life for man. And in John we have that life seen in this world.
Not simply the life we'll have in heaven, which is true, but it's that life was brought down here so we could view it. He was never known before. And now we discover due grace that we have that very same life, and along with it goes the same intelligence and the same feelings. Not natural feelings of the natural man or the first Adam. I'm not Speaking of Adam after he'd sinned, but I'm Speaking of Adam.
As he was created, not that line of things, but a new line of things that belongs to heaven. Now there was only one reason, beloved, why the Lord Jesus chose us. And that was because he wanted us and he loved us.
He went through this, this world, and he saw something that attracted his eye. In John 13. It is a treasure. And so he bought the whole field without treasure. And then he saw a Pearl. He saw a Pearl, and he found it a great price. And so he has chosen us because he wants us.
Now there should be some response from our hearts, and shall I put it this way?
There will be response from every newborn soul.
If we do not allow the things of this world to come in between.
Now I'm going to read a verse in in Leviticus, if you'll bear with me just a moment. And Leviticus 27.
Verse 18.
Now the Jubilee is coming. We know that Israel. There's a jubilee spoken armor in Israel, but we're applying it now to our own in this 27th chapter of Viticus and verse 18. But if he sanctify his field after the jubilee, then the priest shall reckon under him the money according to the years that remain even after the year of the Jubilee, and it shall be abated from thy estimation.
Now, does this not have a word for our hearts this morning? If the Lord were to come this afternoon and we can well expect it, What is? What is all about this world? What's the value of it in our sight?
And so it's a valued according to the years that are left.
Now the years that are left is behold, I come quickly.
And so perhaps we pay too much attention to present things. Perhaps this is the reason it was said by a very Asian brother that we've all enjoyed his writings, he said. How is it? Why is it, brethren, that's so seldom we ask the Lord to come?
So seldom we ask the Lord to come.
Are we really waiting for his coming? Are we more interested rather than the present things?
I wondered if there's something very, very, oh, shall I say, hinder and affectionate in this expression. Let not your heart be troubled. Not only that which our brother brought out in connection with the troubles that we experience along the journey we read in Peter, casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you. But could it be connected to with the end of the 13th chapter, where the Lord Jesus has just told them that he's going to go away and leave them?
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And he saw counts on their love that although they haven't said anything about it, he would, as it were, say, now I know that this news is going to trouble you. I know that you've loved me so much that the news that I'm going to go away and believe you will trouble you. But let's not your heart be troubled. And then, as we have heard, he's presented to us now as an object of faith, together with the promise that he's coming back again.
It would be a very sad thing if someone whom we love very dearly told us that he or she was going to go away and there was absolutely no sense of loss in our souls at the news. So it seems to me, when the Lord Jesus here says let not your heart be troubled, although they haven't expressed anything that we could perhaps recognize as a troubled heart because of the news, he counted on it.
Let not your heart be troubled. I will now be an object of faith, and in addition to that, I'm coming back again not to.
Continue what I was doing here before, but to call you to that home.
I believe there there is that, and it's very precious. There is also the fact that their thoughts were Jewish and they were looking for the setting up of the Kingdom. They asked in Acts 1, wilt thou at this time restore again the Kingdom to Israel? And they had expected too that they would have part with him in connection with the glory of that Kingdom. And in these chapters 14/15/16 and 17, he's leading them out of the fold of Judaism.
And leading them into the blessed place that we now have in Christianity.
And in connection with that about the Father's house, it is remarkable that in this gospel a large Speaking of the earthly temple said, Make not my Father's house and House of merchandise. Now that is, it was the IT was spoken of in this way because the Lord had love and desire for blessing for His earthly people, and they were following Him expecting to see the Kingdom established.
And I believe that's why it says here in the second verse, reading it is in the new translation. In my father's house are many Abol, if it were not so, I would have told you. Notice that little expression. If it were not so, I would have told you. That is, since they were expecting the earthly Kingdom to be set up, they were following him, waiting till that time when he took the Kingdom. Well, he said, I wouldn't have called upon you to follow me in a path of rejection and reproach.
If I didn't have something better for you than what you had expected, you had expected the earthly thing, and you had expected the Father's house here upon earth, the Lord. There's something more wonderful than that, and you're going to have a place in that, and in the temple. It will be built according to the end of Ezekiel. There were abodes for the priests. The priests were to occupy a place of nearness to the Lord in that millennial temple.
Well, but in the glory above, there are many above. There are places of nearness to him there. And so He's encouraging their hearts, as you say, counting upon their affection and their desire to be with him. He's showing them that they were not going to be with him in the earthly scene, but they were going to be with him in something more glorious. And that is the heavenly scene. And so I think it's very lovely to see that the Father's house here is associated with.
Glory of all about, there will be a wonderful time of blessing for this earth on the you and I will share a more blessed place, and He is preparing them for what they must expect during His absence, until He comes and takes us to the Father's house above.
In connection with this portion, let's notice a verse in Exodus 23.
Sometimes the Lord uses very special circumstances to burn a truth into our soul. Some years ago one had the privilege of going to the Dominican Republic, and on this occasion it was very difficult to leave and to go. And my dear wife sent me this verse, the 20th verse of Exodus 23.
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Behold, I send an Angel before thee, to keep thee in the way, and to bring thee into the place which I have prepared well. That was a present truth for me, but we think.
Of this verse applying to Israel.
And how the Lord came down.
As an Angel.
And undertook to bear that people, to carry them all the days of old, and to bring them in to that place which he prepared for them. Now that's by way of contrast. Let us notice in our chapter how much better off we are than Israel was. They had an Angel to go with them, and when you read the history, you'll continually read of that Angel appearing.
And standing up on their favor now the Lord Jesus has undertaken.
To bring us into the place which he has prepared on his thought of the 13th of John as the Lord preparing them for the place. Now in our chapter He is preparing the place for them. Both belong to God the people, and the place heaven was not prepared for man.
But the Lord went there to prepare it for us. Well, how much better are our things than Israel? Now let us turn to Hebrews 2. You'll notice a little further.
How very wonderful it is, what the Lord is doing for us. Surely we ought to trust in Him, have our confidence in Him. Hebrews 2 and verse 10.
For it became him for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through suffering.
But the Lord has undertaken to carry us into that heavenly play. Can't we trust Him for that? He's going to do it. He's already there. Well, since we're in this chapter 2 of Hebrews, let us notice there's three quotations.
That the Lord that is used here by the Spirit of verses 12 and 13.
For, I believe they applied.
Verse 12 I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto thee. Oh certainly we enjoy the Lords presence leading in the singing in the assembly. And then the next quotation, verse 13 I will put my trust in him.
It seems to me that the Lord Jesus does that.
In the 17th of John, where he asked the Father to keep those whom thou hast given me, and then the next quotation at the end of verse 13, the whole eye and the children which God hath given me.
This would be his introduction of us into the father's house. He's going to bring us in and introduce us to the father and say look, here we are. Well, can't we trust him? Along the way he's undertaken, he's prepared to play for us and he's bringing us there.
I was thinking of your remark, brother, flooding, about the danger, or our danger of being occupied with the things of the world, to the exclusion, perhaps, of Christ or the nearness of his coming. I was thinking what Joseph said to his brethren. Regard not your stuff.
That's all we have stopped. But he goes on to say, for the good of all, the land of Egypt is yours.
And we have all these wonderful blessings God has provided for us in Christ. So we should not regard our stuff, should we?
That's all I gotta go one day.
And he remains, Thou remains.
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And my brother Barry mentioned the last verse of Psalm 23.
I think it's nice to connect that with Psalm 27, because in Psalm 23 the psalmist would say I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever, the end of the journey. In Psalm 27 verse four he says one thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek After that I may dwell in the House of the Lord. Doesn't say forever now, all the days of my life.
So it's possible for us to live in that heavenly atmosphere now, before we get there.
In my father's house, many abode the largeness of the plate. I remember when I was a young man hearing Brother close give an address to the young people.
And he used an illustration. Of course this was in the state.
Of the president, supposing that the president were to invite all his citizens to.
To Washington that he might entertain them, he said. How long was the White House be able to?
To receive so many that would be accepting the invitation. Why? He said. It wouldn't be long before Washington would be overrun.
Well, now you said, just compare that with the greatest man, the president of this country.
With the Blessed Lord, he says, I'm going to prepare a place for you, but how much room is there in that place?
Well, it's large enough for all God's children. Just think of the immensity of it.
Then he said suppose that after.
I were possible for me to be there and I say, well, Mr. President, this is very, very pleasant to be invited, but I'd like to sit with you and help you to run the government.
He said What would he say? I can't have you entering into the government of the country. That wouldn't do it. The thing of the blessed Lord that we're not only going to dwell with him, but we're going to reign with him over a new word.
A renewed Earth, a Kingdom that he will set up, and we're going to share that Kingdom.
Where the king of kings.
Be no isolated soul in heaven.
There's no partiality with God and everyone will will feel.
That place of nearness, I think 2 of what has been said about.
The difference between the expression God and the Father in this way that in Hebrews you get particularly the the expression God because of the mediator there, but in John here it's the Father and we have it too, and the other Gospels.
And.
With the believer, the sense of father brings us into a closer place and a place of warmth in connection with worship. Now, it's true that we are creatures of God. We're responsible creatures and responsible to our Creator. But how? How beautiful, how precious?
To be conscious that the Spirit would make us conscious.
To cry out of Father and to realize that when we worship, we worship Him as our Father. We come into His presence in prayer as our Father, we address Him as Father. Israel won't be able to do that directly or the nations, but.
The church was brought into that place of nearness, And I'm not verse in John also that says, if the sun shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And that suggests to us that the liberties that the Son of God has in his own house, in his own home, in the Father's home, of the same liberties that you and I will enjoy.
Then. But he wants us to anticipate them now, so that our hearts might be.
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Directed to heavenly things because there's not a thing rather than this world that can satisfy your heart. You can look for it, but it'll never satisfy your heart.
It's all what we have here that will really satisfy our hearts search where we may. Only what we have in Christ will really satisfy our hearts.
That's why Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon are placed side by side, is it not?
To find their Solomon in Ecclesiastes and everything his heart could wish for, says, I will held not my heart from any joy. He could try everything out. And he did, undoubtedly. But what did you say at the end? All is vanity and vexation of spirit. So we find there the hardest to be to be satisfied with anything under the sun. But in the Song of Solomon we have a different object. That's Christ. There we find the object is too big for the heart.
Heart cannot contain him more.
It was not, Brother Gordon's father often used to say. We can have as much of Christ as we like.
And Jerusalem said concerning his relevance, give them as much corn as they can carry.
And we can have as much of Christ as we can carry too.
I think statement I think brother flatting was that cure your life will prove how much you want to Christ. Is that the rest of the Jordans?
When our brother mentioned just now Brother Gordon, he he quoted this 18th verse of the first chapter of John.
No man, I've seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared him the Father.
We've had this brought before us so much that John declared the father.
And then we find that John himself occupied a very near place, the heart of Christ. So he declares the sun. Also He declares them both because he occupies such a near place, the heart of Christ. He could speak of Christ, which he does. And then we find that the Lord Jesus occupied a near place. He was in the bosom of the Father. So he declared the Father in John 17 and says he has declared his name and the manifest of his name.
The father's name.
Right. Ask the question.
When and how did the Lord prepare the place? He says distinctly. Here I go to prepare a place for you. When was that place prepared?
Well, in the Lord Jesus entered heaven and manhood, wasn't it? I was thinking about the temple, it says in the first second chapter. Isn't it 40 and six years? Was this temple in building and wilt thou prepared in three days? Well the Lord Jesus speaks of himself, and in Revelation that says the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. So as our brother remark a few moments ago, heaven wasn't really prepared for man.
But since the work of redemption, why we find that the Lord Jesus going back there has taken a place above the angels as man. And now the place is prepared because there's a man in the glory. He's the first fruits of the harvest. And 1St Corinthians 15 says Christ the first fruits. Afterwards they there are Christ that is coming. So it isn't the thought of all those years like the temple was in building by the time it will take to build that beautiful millennial temple.
About the Lord Jesus, there now as a man has prepared the place.
And it's already for us. And when he gives that shout, he'll receive us unto himself. And each believer is a living stone in the building, and somehow blessed to see that when we get there all will be gloriously complete. And he'll introduce us, as our brother mentioned, with those words, Behold I and the children which God has given me.
I've heard this expression, and it sounded good to me that the Lord Jesus came down here into this world in order that we might be prepared for that place, and he surely accomplished that. Then he went back into that place as man, that it might be prepared for us.
I do believe that his entrance into that home as man is that which prepared it for us.
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But I don't believe there's anything there that will bear witness to that which has been created.
For that which has been in the process of preparation, I believe it's beyond all that has been created there. The Lord Jesus as man awaits the joy of welcoming us home. And how will we get there? Brother Hale, you told us how you prepare the.
While he was here and how he's going to prepare the place and now how about our being brought into that place?
That any better than reading the third verse, did we?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also. I suppose that in reading this verse we just naturally read into it.
That which we have gleaned from other scriptures such as First Thessalonians, 4 But it couldn't be put more beautifully than we have it here. I will come again and receive you.
Perhaps we could also add the fact that he is now preparing us for the place that we are to occupy there.
And so in this same chapter, this 14th of John, it says Here in the 22nd verse Judas saith unto him, not a scariest Lord, How is it that thou was manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man loved me, he will keep my words, and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
And then connecting that also with Ephesians chapter 5.
And the end of the 25th verse. Christ also 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.
That it should be holy and without blemish.
Since in this 14th chapter of John the word abode is the proper word, in the second verse, in my father's house are many abodes.
The disciples might have thought, well, it's necessary for us to wait till the Lord comes in order to enjoy that a bowl that has been prepared. But isn't it lovely? When Judas asked this question in the 22nd verse, the Lord says, as it were, well, you can enjoy something of that abroad before you get there. He says that the one who walks in obedience, my Father, will love Him, and we that Father and Son.
Will come unto him and make our abode with him. And then in Ephesians he shows how this process takes place as a washing of water by the Word. And that is through these meetings. He is applying the Word to our souls, and preparing us for the place, so that in spirit, as we sing in spirit, there already soon we ourselves shall be in soul and body perfect all glorified with these.
Anything in us that is not becoming to that place that we are going to occupy is not suited for us here. And so in the washing of water by the word He is preparing our souls and our spiritual sense for that place that we are going to occupy there and giving us a poor taste of it. That as we walk in obedience that we walk in the enjoyment of His company here and now, Father and Son, making their abode with us.
So it's lovely that we can enjoy something of this now while we wait the time when we enter it without hindrance.
That has nothing to do with our title to glory, does it? That was all settled at the cross and the moment we accepted Christ as our personal Savior, we had a clear title to heaven, and nothing can ever take that title from us.
So we need never question the fact that we belong to heaven, that we're redeemed, that our sins that would shut us out of heaven have been borne by our substitute on the cross, and that now everything is settled as to our our home. There we're just waiting for the summons that called us to be with himself.
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We can never rise any higher in sole experience than fellowship with the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. This will be our portion for all eternity. This is stressed in the epistle of John, especially the first chapter.
Where the believers portion.
Is to be in the light, that's where we are, and in the enjoyment of that fellowship with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ, this expression of many abode says.
Call to mind an experience I had some years ago with a man who was studying in this country from China and.
We had.
We had some possibly a year together.
Various evenings.
We went over the Gospel of John and the book of Proverbs and the part of Luke.
And when we got to this chapter, I don't believe the man was saved, but he was interested in the scriptures.
And we got to this part of the 14th of John where it says.
In my father's house and.
Which is the verse yes in my father's house, verse 2.
Many mansions are abode, he said. I think I can explain that verse.
He said my I come from a family that dates back in China. I don't know the beginning of that family. But he said my grandfather, a great, great grandfather when he settled in this part of China.
He built a home, and he built a large wall around the premise.
And he says during the years as each one of the children grew up and got married.
It was a custom in that land for the father to choose the bride for the son, and the son would bring the bride home and they would build another abode on within that same wall.
Of the father's house, he said. I think that's what this verse means, he said. Now there are many abodes there, so this gives us perhaps a little thought of the book of Ezekiel and our brother Gordon Hale mentioned the many abode for the priests that all we know, that Christ is the one who goes there to prepare that place in His presence is what prepares us. Still, it's lovely to think, isn't it of the fact that.
He has a place for us and he's prepared a place for us and we're going to be with him in that day. We don't want to miss the very personal note we have here.
Receive you unto myself.
Now the common thought, I suppose, in Christendom is in connection with those Christians that die. When they die, they go to heaven.
And perhaps in connection with the coming of the Lord, well, the Lord is coming to take us to heaven.
Just the house is before them.
But I believe the Lord wants us to have Himself before us.
What are we going to heaven for?
With him.
And what does he want us there for? Justice to be in heaven? No, He wants us with himself near himself.
This is his heart.
And I feel, brethren, that we're missing this in our life.
Thinking of the Blessed Lord in his own person.
Being so dear to us.
That were just long.
With himself.
Because that's the longing of his heart. He wants us with himself. He's going to receive us unto himself, and what a joy that's going to be to him, to have us with himself. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout. He's not sending someone else together himself. He's coming because he's He's longing for us.
And if we could enter into his joy just a little bit, the joy that he's going to have in receiving us to himself, it would certainly detach us from things down here. On our way down in the car, my wife was reviving an address book that we have, and every once in a while can come across the name and say, oh, she's with Christ and she'd stroke off the name and address.
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And it strikes us a little bit, because we have become so accustomed to it that perhaps it just doesn't register the way it ought to, that our natural way of referring to this one or that one who has left he is very often to say he or she has.
Gone home to be with the Lord, and I hope we never become accustomed to the beauty and wonder what that really means. I remember hearing of a dear sister whose mother had been ill for quite a long time, and in the early hours of one morning her mother went home to be with the Lord. Now the neighbors all knew that this elderly lady had been sick for quite a long time, and the next day on the street they asked the daughter, how is your mother?
Well, last night Mother went home to be with the Lord, and she said you just couldn't picture the consternation among neighbors to know how to answer her. At first they they always and that too. And then they'd stop. They didn't like to stay. Isn't that too bad? And they didn't like to stay. Isn't that wonderful? It was just language so foreign to them. They were silent, some beloved. It's true, as our brother has remarked, we speak of the abodes, we speak of the.
Home but when he refers to it.
To be with himself. And it may be today that everyone in this room who knows the Lord, will be there. I've enjoyed the comments that were made about the present enjoyment of that which we anticipate, that wondrous home that awaits us, but the joy of having a foretaste of it here.
And it seems to me that this abounds in Scripture, and the Spirit of God seemed even to have chosen words.
That would perhaps link the two thoughts in our hearts. We read in Revelation 5 as we see a description of the worshipping host of heaven in the midst. That's the Express News. In the midst of that post there is the lamb that had been slain. And the minute you read those words, you think, oh, but what a foretaste we are privileged to enjoy while we're here.
Matthew 18.
Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst.
And then you come to John 17, the prayer of the Lord Jesus. Father I will that they also whom thou hast given me.
Be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory. Always say what a prospect, what a future that will be.
So you turn to 2nd Corinthians 3 and you read we all with open face, beholding the glory of the Lord, as though he would tell us there is a glorious future. There are abodes there. There's one who will be in the midst up there. You'll behold his glory up there.
In the meantime, we can have the wonder of it along the way while we wait for that moment.
It's remarkable, isn't it, that in a chapter where we have so much about heaven that the word heaven isn't found in this chapter?
Receive the unto myself is really what the Lord is setting before his disciples, and that way before ourselves.
Many years ago I went through this chapter and just counted how many times the Lord brings himself before us.
Notice how it starts out. You believe in God, believe also in me, in my father's house, and so on. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. That where I am there you may be often whether I go. And if my account was correct, I counted 75 times the Lord.
Brings himself before. I may be wrong in that count, but any of you dear folks and you young people check that sometimes and just see how many times the Lord brings himself before us in this wonderful chapter.
Our brother Stan Allen of Skeleton. When he was in England school teaching he was invited to Buckingham Palace as.
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Courtesy in connection with the school teachers and he met the Queen there on in the garden and it was very nice privilege to have. But the Queen didn't invite him and Missus Allen up into their quarters in Buckingham Palace.
But it's nice to connect this with the fact that in the first chapter of Song of Solomon, verse four, it says the King hath brought me into his chambers. And it's the present condition, isn't it? For each one of us as priests we approach God, but as children were brought into a relationship with the Father. And here we have this beautiful relationship. We surely have been brought.
Into his chambers to enjoy what shall be our future portion now.
I suppose the preparation for our being with him started at Calvary, did it not? Because apart from the cross, we never would have been with him.
So that's where it started, the work of the cross. But now he's gone there himself to prepare the place and his very presence has prepared it, hasn't it, His presence there.
For the Apostle Paul to bring out the way he would.
Come and take us to the Father's house. There you get the full description. I will come again and receive unto myself.
That's what we get here and there the Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.
For the voice of the Archangel and the trump of God, the dead in Christ will rise 1St, and then the living are caught up to medium. There we get the full description of the way we'll be taken. But one has rejoiced in this the the authority with which the Lord speaks here, because there's so much unbelief in the world as to the coming of the Lord, and even in Christendom the present hope of the Lord's coming is being denied.
Far and wide. But isn't that encouraging to hear him say I will come again?
So we're not to expect anything else, but the unbelief of man will be more and more manifest, for Peter tells us in In the last Days golfers should arrive saying where is the promise of his comings. They look at nature and they say all things continuously were from the beginning of the creation.
But oh, how lovely. Above all, the unbelief and skepticism of man stands gift soul assuring words. I will come again.
But a foundation to rest our souls upon.
Paul after in John 16 not merely heaven, but the person who be there.
John 16 verse 16 A little while and you shall not see me.
And again a little while, and you shall see me. Doesn't say you shall see heaven, You shall see me, because I go to the Father. Then says some of his disciples among themselves. What is this that he says unto us? A little while, and he shall not see me.
And again a little while, and you shall see me. And because I go to the Father, I said, Therefore, what is this to be said? A little while. We cannot tell what he says. Now Jesus knew that they were desires to ask him, and said unto them, Do he inquire among yourselves, as have I said, A little while, and you shall not see me. And again a little while, and he shall see me. He doesn't say. In a little while you'll see heaven.
You'll see me.
And further down.
22 And he now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again.
And your heart shall rejoice and your joy. No man thank you from you.
It doesn't say you were rejoiced when you get to heaven.
But I will see you again In your heart shall rejoice. I take it in seeing him.
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I've enjoyed the 6th of Exodus in connection with the I will come again and the I wills of the New Testament which have not yet been fulfilled. Within the 6th of Exodus there are, I believe, seven times where the Lord tells the children of Israel what He will do.
As an example in the sixth verse, wherefore I say unto the children of Israel, I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of Egypt of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their ******* and I will redeem you, and so on Believe seven I wills, And they were all all accomplished, every one of them. So when we come to those I will, I will receive you unto myself. It hasn't taken place yet.
But we're assured it will be, because he's accomplished everything that he has promised so far. You'll not let us down now. They also get 7 * a little while in these verses I've just read.
Precious to remember, he said. A little while.
Now, I met a Christian once who said that the law was not coming for 50 years. Well, that's contrary to this verse. The Lord says a little while, seven times. What for? Why does he repeat it? Well, to encourage your heart and mind. That's only just a little while. And we're going to see him and be with him. He has the same thought in Hebrews yet a little while. He that shall come, will come, will not tarry.
But here, how very encouraging. 7 times, he says. A little while. That's all it is.
Some of us think perhaps we're going to drag on in this weary world for many years yet, but Beloved might be today, as we've been reminded, that we shall see his face and his name on our foreheads. How precious.
I wouldn't be thankful for the questions that Thomas asked.
The very fact that Thomas was a doubting disciple led him to ask questions that have cleared up for ourselves. And here is 1 where Thomas says, Lord, we know how clearly thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And then the Lord says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Thinking about the simplicity of the word, a member of Brother Jail Scotland used to live in Rome, GA. This is a poor old colored one that was dying or had a very short time to live. And he said, Lulu, you're very thick, aren't you? Yes Sir, there will be. You're going to die. Yes Sir. He says no. Where are you going when you die?
She says, how do you know you're going to the Lord? And then she quoted these words. He says, I am the way and the truth and the life. So think of that poor old woman, I suppose, without any education.
And yet she laid hold of something that was of greater importance and more value than all the wealth of the world.
How wonderful the Scripture has given us so that the most simple, unlettered uneducated can grasp the meaning and rest on it for their souls eternal security.
And the unbeliever should take notice of this verse too, brother.
The Lord says I am the way that's in the present tense. He does not say I will be the way tomorrow, so there was number need to hurry.
So we are unbelievable here. Should take notice of this. It's very important.
In the presence I am the way now. He's the way now. He may not be this afternoon.
So you dear young people here who are not saved, you better hurry up. There's no time to lose. Delay is dangerous. I am the way. Not a way, but the way.
I suppose when the Lord said in this fourth verse, and whether I go, ye know, and the way he know he had already told them, that he was the corn of wheat that was to fall into the ground and die, and that there would be much fruit he had told him of his rejection, and they ought to have known. But as your remark, Thomas hadn't entered into this. But isn't it lovely, the simplicity of the Lord's answer, instead of rebuking them for not having paid attention to what he had said?
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He just as it were replies and say, well, knowing me, you know the way, just as if I was going someplace and I didn't know the way. But I say I'm someone who's with me and he knows the way. And so I'm not worrying because he will take me there. Well thought it was. They didn't enter into those things that the Lord spoke of because he was going by way of the cross, as it was remarked at the beginning.
By his own soul passed through in anticipation. And what he passed through upon that cross, they could never know about it. Through that that he endured. Through that work that he accomplished, that the way has been opened for us, and now he himself is the way to the Father. He's the truth about the Father, and he's the life from the Father. So that the way has been opened. The Father has been fully revealed in the Son. And then the truth, how blessed it is, It tells us in John 18.
He shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. The world is in uncertainty, more and more uncertainty, or how thankful we should be, brethren, that we have the truth. We have the word of God and the Lord Jesus, who is the one who could say I am the truth. And in the 17th of John he says thy word is truth. So the person and the living word they're brought together, and then the light.
How could we enjoy heaven if we didn't have a life suited to it? Why, if you and I were taken into some place that was completely unsuited to our natural disposition, we couldn't feel at home there, no matter how much the person wanted to show kindness to us?
But all is that blessed. The way has been opened through this Blessed One. We know all about it because it's been revealed in the Word through this Blessed One. And we possess his life so we can enjoy it when we get there. All this is ours. And so he says, No man cometh unto the Father but by me, because those who speak of believing in God, and who reject the revelation that God has given of himself in the sun, don't really know the way or the truth or have the life.
It's all in him. It's all in the person, the person with whom we're going to spend eternity.
Is the person who has prepared the place for us, who is going to take us there and who has given us his life so that we can enjoy it, enjoy it now by faith, enjoy it fully when we get there, because we have that life that can.
Into the very thoughts of God. And I just mentioned that in the 17th of John.
Where the Lord says, and this is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ. Whom's our sense? Some think of eternal life merely as the duration of the life. Well, it isn't the duration as far as that is concerned. Everyone has a life that is going to live as long as God lives, but God doesn't speak of the position of those who die in their sins as being light.
But death, because they are separated from him. But he has given us a life.
So that now eternal life is a life by which we can communicate with God as our Father, enter into His thoughts, enjoy His presence, and look forward with joyful anticipation to what we can call our home.
Firstly mentioned that we were to close the meeting on time and so on. I don't think we can close the meeting on time unless we sing to him.
127.
I don't think there's anything like that.
I'm sorry.