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God and loving Father, we thank You as I love to us. We thank You for the ministry of Thy precious Word that has been before us. Let me know about the hour before us, we ask, but Thou wilt guide and direct us.
And that we, we may be found waiting upon deals. You think, Lord Jesus, especially of Thy wondrous love to us. And we think of Thy sorrows without us, Go through on the cross for us, and we praise thee. As we think of these things, we think of the cost to the we think of Thy precious blood that has cleansed us and given us a place of nearness and blessing. And we thank Thee too, that Thy coming is very, very near. I could take place at any moment.
So we thank thee for the assurance that we have. That is a blessed hope that we have Lord Jesus, of being with thee on that day in in that coming day. So we ask for guidance now as we thank you for the meetings that we've had before us and look to the about the portion of thy word to that we might be found praising and honoring thee in this little time that is left. So we ask thy blessing, Lord Jesus and thy precious and in thy worthy name, Amen.
John, Chapter 6.
Verse 11 Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks and distributed to the disciples.
And the disciples to them that were set down, and likewise of the fishes as much as they would.
When they were filled, he said unto his disciples, Gather up the fragments that remained, that nothing be lost. Therefore they gathered them together, and filled 12 baskets with the fragments of the five barley loaves which remained over and above them that had eaten. And those men, when they had seen the miracle that Jesus did, said, This is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world. When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king.
00:05:22
He departed again into a mountain, himself alone.
Verse 32.
Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you.
Moses gave you not that bread from heaven, but my Father giveth you that true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.
And said they unto him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger, and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you.
That ye also have seen me, and believe not all that the Father giveth me shall come to me. In him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will which has sent me, that of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him may have everlasting life, And I will raise him up at the last day. The Jews then murmured at him, because he said, I am the bread which came down from heaven. And they said, Is not this Jesus the Son of Joseph?
Whose Father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven? Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. No man can come to me except the Father which hath sent me draw him.
And I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, that, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard and hath learned of the Father, cometh to me. Not that any man hath seen the Father, save he which is of God, he hath seen the Father. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on Me hath everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your Father's that eat man in the wilderness, and are dead.
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat their oven, not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of this bread, he shall live forever, and the bread that I will give him is my flesh, which I will give.
For the life of the world the Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying, How can this man give us?
His flesh to eat.
Hmm.
Well, it's quite a moment to think of the Lord of Glory, the Creator of all things, taking those loaves and giving thanks for them.
And I think of the.
How they all sat down.
In companies of 50, we read in another place and Mark tells us that the grass was green.
'Cause them to get into comfortable circumstances, to be quiet, think of an orderly scene, and then to think of the prayer that must have gone up the Thanksgiving.
And you read from in verse 23.
That this place had a very special mark to it when it says I'll be it. There came other boats from Tiberius nigh under the place.
Where they did to eat bread, after that the Lord had given thanks. Not very often we look at a piece of real estate or a place and we associate a prayer that was uttered there. But.
When I was a young man who took a trip with a one of the brothers in the assembly of Pillar and and we came back from the trip and he dropped us off at our house and it was a well driller and he was standing there and that.
Cable was going up and down drilling and we got out of the car there and he said, you know, we ought to thank the Lord for the mercies that we experienced in this trip. And I thought, well, maybe we ought to get out of sight of this man. And he removed his hat and prayed right in front of this man as though he was didn't even count that he was there. He probably got a blessing from that prayer. But I could go right to the spot today where this wonderful prayer.
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Thanksgiving went up from this old pillar, thanking the Lord for the mercies of the trip.
I believe there's something that's touching in connection with giving of thanks. I remember being a child at the table, restless, and wow, I'd sure be glad when this prayer is over with so we can give thanks. And it wasn't particularly long, but it was just a matter of getting us out of the way so we could satisfy our hunger.
And we were visiting on a certain occasion in a home and children were sitting around and.
The father said we'll give thanks and he gave us sweet Thanksgiving for the food, and after he said Amen.
It was silent.
And afterward, we learned that the Father said to the children, you know, we're addressing the Lord, we're thanking him for the provisions on the table. We'd like for you to count 123 before you break the silence.
And I just thought that is wonderful that it's not a matter of getting it out of the way, but we're speaking to the Lord who has provided everything for us.
So the Spirit of God is pleased to record this in His Word.
Of the Lord giving thanks. It's a pattern, isn't it, that God has set before us here. Before we eat, we get nice. Before we take our food, we give thanks. Before we whatever we do, we give a God thanks for it. And I think that's a good pattern to remember. Sometimes we we get into a rush and we're getting them hungry and we want to go and grab something and you don't even always think to thank the Lord for it. But give me a thanks first.
Then we can enjoy what God has already given.
There's a spirit of things in the day and age that we live in, and it's an unthankful spirit.
And the in Colossians it says in chapter 3 in verse 17, whatsoever you do in Word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
I want to recount a little incident that took place in San Antonio as a little illustration of the grace and the kindness of God. I went there, did some business, and the man picked me up at the airport with his son. And, umm, we hadn't had our supper. So we went to a restaurant and ordered our meal. And I gave thanks quietly to myself, bowed my head, just gave thanks for my meal. And the man that I was with, his name is Ralph Marcantonio. And he dug in. He started to eat his meal.
And the little 88 year old lad, he sat there and he wouldn't eat. And I asked him what the problem was. I asked him if the food was the wrong order. Did you not order that meal? He said, yes, that's what I ordered. I, I said, well, is it cold? And he, well, he just wouldn't answer any of the questions. Finally his father leaned over and he's, he asked the boy a question and his son answered the question. And uh, the father said he won't eat unless we give thanks for the meal. Now he said, unless we say grace, grace.
And so I said, well, let's just thank the Lord together for this meal. So we gave thanks for the meal and then I asked the lad where he learned to give thanks for his meal. And, uh, I said, did you learn from your mother to give thanks to God for your meal? He said no.
I said, did you go to Sunday school? Did you learn about how to give thanks to God for the meal at Sunday school? He said no.
I finally, I said. They turned to his father. I said, Ralph, that you teach your son to give thanks for his food.
He hung his head as the tall man, he hung his head low and he said, no, I didn't teach him. He said ever since he was a little lad old enough to speak, he wouldn't eat his meal unless he gave thanks for it. And so no doubt a quickened soul, a young lad. But I said to him, you know, that's a normal thing to do.
To give thanks to God for your food, to give thanks to God for everything that you have. It's a normal thing. It's a that's what a believer ought to do. And so the Lord Jesus here in this chapter that we have did that which was perfectly acceptable to his God and Father and every aspect of his life perfectly fulfilled that which was according to the mind of God in perfect obedience and simplicity gave thanks for his meal. Well, would to God all the Lord's people were just in simplicity.
00:15:03
Bow in a public place and give thanks to the God of heaven for that which is provided for them.
Wonderful to see these examples, how practical they are in our lives. I'm thinking of my dear little granddaughter Sarita.
Uh, twenty months old.
He's been taught that you don't eat before you give thanks.
At that, at that age. So she'll sit there and put her hands on her head while they give thanks.
It's interesting to see that. So cute, but that's what she does.
As soon as they sit down at the table, put their hand on her hand. She wants to know what she's going to eat. Give thanks first.
Well, things have to be divided before they're multiplied, aren't they?
Think of the breaking up. I can hardly imagine taking a loaf in your hand and breaking it up and distributing. And it's still multiplying.
But that's God's principle, isn't it, to divide, to multiply. And so we're not going to sit here this afternoon and try to explain this. This is a miracle, God's power and of his grace and goodness. And as we read on, we're just amazed to think that that crowd of 5000, or more perhaps than they were filled, They weren't just polite, took a little bit so others could help themselves. They were hungry.
I think they were three days, weren't they? Without something to eat, you would be pretty desperate for food and to think of it.
12 baskets leftover. Do I read right?
Verse 12 Says when they were filled.
All that crowd, they were filled.
He said then rather up the fragments.
Remarkable when we think of that. Not only were they filled, but there was so much leftover.
There always is.
He gives the increase.
And in the new translation to the disciples is left out, it's just the Lord distributing. And so the disciples are brought in at first and the questions put to them, What are you going to do, feed this great crowd? But when it really comes down to it, it's the Lord that distributes. And so it always is. And the brothers reminded us of an old sister that would always ask if she missed the meeting, what did the Lord give you? Not who took part, but what did the Lord give you?
And so it's really all that we received truly for our souls that feeds us is from the Lord.
Fragments. Fragments are not inferior things, are they? It's part of the meal.
And you know, there's a lot of fragments that these general meetings, there are things that you take and you take home with you and then years later why they're giving out again. And there's a quote from Brother chapter Brown and some of those teachers that were such a health and the testimony. And so we want to value fragments. It's just a sentence or a thought or an expression.
But given out at the right time. It's food for the soul, isn't it?
Some of those old brethren. I think of Armstead Berry.
I can still remember clearly things he told us.
I couldn't repeat them out here, but I just remember and they were a prophet to my soul, prophet to me.
It says in the scripture in Proverbs that the slothful man roasteth not that which he took in hunting.
And so the fragments weren't going to gather themselves.
There was going to be energy required and spiritual energy really a picture of it here and so if they're worth going to be a benefit of that which the Lord had provided for his people. Then it was going to require energy and it was going to in spiritual things. There was going to be that slothfulness that would have to be laid aside and it would be done for the Lord. You know there's another thing that we need to bear in mind is that these.
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Dear ones, they had an appreciation for the food, for the bread.
They had an appreciation for the fish, but they really didn't have many of them appreciation for the provider of the fish and for the provider of those loaves. And so as we feed upon Christ and we enjoy something of the ministry that refreshes our hearts and just, uh, touches our affections for Christ, why it ought to be the giver of that food, the provider of that food that is the one that engages the affections of our hearts.
Here's a question asked in Psalm 78, verse 19.
When they tempted God in the wilderness, it says can God furnish a table in the wilderness? Well, you know loose gospel says at this place this feeding over 5000 took place in a desert place. Even though in our chapter it says there was much grass there. The Lord sought their comfort.
The fact that the Lord wrought that miracle should have called to their attention that this was God in their presence, furnishing a table in the wilderness for them. But they did not want the provider. Did they say, you know, the Lord didn't really need those five loaves and two fishes. He didn't need that to multiply. He could have done without what that boy had. But the Lord wants to use whatever little we can give him. Brethren, don't think that what you have is so little. The Lord can never use that. The Lord took that little and multiplied it.
If the Lord hadn't given thanks for that food, it never would have got past that little boy, would it?
I sometimes wondered, uh, especially when I'm traveling and I'm around, uh, I see Orthodox Jews, so-called Orthodox Jews with their, uh, skullcaps and their long sideburns and so on, and they're special dark clothing.
You know you're taught in Scripture that after the time of our distinct blessing is over.
Time that scripture refers to as the fullness of the Gentiles then the Lord is going to come as a deliverer and take away ungodliness from Jacob and bring blessing into his earthly people and we read in the Scriptures about this time when they go when when a godly remnant of Israel goes through such trial and and you wonder what will be their resources will they take up the word of God You know we have these four gospels that.
For, for centuries now, those of us that were saved out of the nations, uh, receive and enjoy as the word of God, whereas to a Jew, he would not consider them the word of God. And I just wonder with the fact that it's 12UH-12 baskets with the, with the, with the fragments, that if it doesn't maybe point to that coming time when, you know, the Lord does so much in one action. And, uh, he's fed our souls and the soul souls of the Saints for hundreds and hundreds of years now.
And, uh, that same Jesus will come again and feed their souls. And how about, you know, want to be speculative about it? But I just wondered, will they, will they pick up after we're gone, books of ministry that we've left behind, expositions of scripture? Umm, will they take up the A after the, if they receive the testimony as to what happened to all of us when the Lord comes and takes us? Will they, uh, will that lend some validity to what we have in our lap today?
I wonder.
If these, these passages in Matthew and and Luke that refer to that special time won't be taken up and received in faith by, uh, by God's earthly people in that day.
Nothing's going to be lost.
Maybe one verse to, uh, confirm that would be Revelation 12.
17.
The dragon was wroth with the woman picture of Israel, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Well, we come to verse 14 then those men when they had seen a miracle that Jesus did, said this is of a truth, that prophet that should come into the world.
00:25:01
Well, we realized that they were somewhat affected by what they had just experienced.
And, uh, as it was mentioned earlier that men are always interested in a Kingdom that, uh, that, uh, you can have all you want to eat and don't have to work that, uh, that gets, uh, your attention quite quickly.
And to use the Lord as a welfare situation. And that's.
About where their thoughts were elevated to. But then they get into a democratic fever, don't they? And now they wanna make him a king. We sit here this afternoon and say, well, that's ridiculous to make a king who is already a king born a king into this world.
But we see man by nature that he's bankrupt, cannot enter into the the spiritual side of things without the Spirit of God doing a work in their souls.
So they were going to he perceived that they would come and take him by force to make him a king. And he departed again into a mountain, himself alone.
Now we read in the other gospels that when this time arrived, the Lord.
Had his disciples get into the boat.
Get away from the influence of this fever stricken crowd to force him to annoy him to be a king.
I wonder, brethren, when democratic things arise, do we have a boat to get into, to move out from the influence of it? You know, our hearts by nature are democratic. Don't take much to discover that when our rights are being challenged.
Might it be ever so small? We're right there to remind them, look this, I have this right.
That we learn as we go on in our Christian pathway that.
Democratic way of things is a disaster and a loss.
And I believe that God, in His wisdom, allows things to cross our pathway to help us to realize how serious a matter it is to be taken up.
With our thoughts and put God's thoughts secondary.
It's serious.
And what will bring man into subjection is learning Nebuchadnezzar. That's his thought in Daniel chapter 4. And at the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar lifted up mine eyes under the heavens.
And my understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High, and I praised and honored him.
His dominion is an everlasting dominion, and His Kingdom from generation to generation, and all the inhabitants of the earth, is reputed as nothing, and He doeth according to His will in the army of the heavens.
And among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand. For say, what doest thou?
Nebuchadnezzar, Gentile powers and the person of Nebuchadnezzar had to learn that the Jews typically, and Job had to learn that that he doeth as it pleaseth him. And a great deal of our difficulty is really with the sovereign.
In a practical way is arguing with God and what he has the right to do. It's an oxymoron. It's a contradiction of terms to say to make somebody a king by force. He's either sovereign or he is not.
James Daniel, the Son of Man, comes before the Ancient of Days, and he received the Kingdom from him. The Lord had taken the Kingdom from these ones. It would have still just been a Kingdom of man like Saul's or like those beasts and Daniel that come up out of the sea, out of the turmoil and confusion and the nation's roundabouts in this world. It would have been nothing. But the Kingdom of that he receives is from the Ancient of Days, and it's going to fill the whole earth.
It's not going to be left to other men. It's not going to pass. In the other hand, he's going to discharge it perfectly for God's glory, but he wouldn't take it from men. And there's a principle here. There's a thought that this world is going to be any better and better by Christianity.
And then it will be acceptable and to offer it to the Lord, as it were, from the efforts of man. But there's going to be nothing produced by the flesh in this world, nothing in the efforts or energy of man. The Lord Jesus is going to bring in the Kingdom himself. He's going to receive it from God, from the ancient of Days.
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Absolute chapter 19 and verse 12. He said therefore a certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a Kingdom, and to return. He was going to receive it.
Not take it. And it was going to be given to him of the Father. And I was thinking too of the comments that were made earlier. And James it says in verse chapter one and verse 19. Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to rock. For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And so we find in the democratic principle of men, that the wrath of men is evident. And umm, the power, the desire to overturn 1 government and take another one.
And thinking that the will of man will bring benefit to man. And it's not so. And so in spiritual things, it's not the wrath of man. And the wrath of man is often connected with the will of man. And so we could read this. For the will of man worketh not the righteousness of God. And so when the flesh rises up and wroth, and the will is exercised, it does not produce fruit for God. What a blessed, blessed man we have to look to that wouldn't.
Take the Kingdom, he would receive it from his father.
Joy that thought himself alone, he's up in the mountain himself alone. He wasn't up there wishing he could come down and be popular with the people. That was not in his heart. And so we two children going to school and we get out and we get challenges and and we may have opportunity for a promotion and have some temporary value to it.
Maybe, maybe not. And we see that it's going to cost us spiritually. And so we say, well, I'm not going to do it. But is everything totally erased from our heart that we're not wishing that well? Maybe we should have taken this promotion after all.
The Lord himself alone, but you know he was up there.
Praying and looking at his disciples. We didn't read it, but he's looking at his disciples that are in the storm rolling and toiling.
And, you know, sometimes it costs us, does it not, to get into the boat where we're going to give up our rights.
And we think we're alone. And yet the Lord is hard as sympathy was with them.
And he would expend the energy to come down and walk on that water and to go out to be with them.
What an experience. And you know, when they looked, they thought they were seeing an apparition.
They could say fear not, it is I.
Whenever you have a picture of someone to give an accurate picture once faster won't say more. Because I asked brother in the meeting with four children, uh, could you, if I was going to a far away country, could you give me a picture of your father? And each one of them four did exactly what I expected. To them. They were very different pictures, but in together they formed a picture. And if I told you the four pictures, you guessed immediately who it was.
But we see here the Lord went up into a mountain alone to pray, and he said to Nicodemus, even the Son of man, which is in heaven, he was standing before Nicodemus, but he was up there too. And so we have another picture of the Lord asleep in the boat.
And he's gone up into the mountain to pray for us. He's interceding for us. He's aware of what we're going on. But in another instance, he was asleep in the boat. And there are two terms in Scripture for sleep. One describes the condition of our soul and one describes the condition of our body. And whenever that sleep of the body is used, it's it's used in an analogy of death. The bodies of the Saints that slept arose and walked about in Jerusalem.
And so we refer to the one that we lay in the grave. We refer to their body as being asleep. They are absent from the body and present with the Lord, but were warned in First Thessalonians 5. Let us not sleep as others that sleep in the night, that we there is no sleep of the soul in eternity, but there is in time, and we can be as it were. They used that old railroad term, asleep at the switch.
But there is a time when we should be asleep in the boat, and the Lord is describing the condition of his soul when he was asleep in the boat, and there are many things.
In the storm of life that we should be asleep about, believers start worrying about Y2K or this or that or the other thing. And umm, it's not that we're to be insensitive to the dangers of what are going on around us. The world is terrified by terrorism and so on. But there is a secret to realize that there is one that's gone up into a mountain to pray for us. And he's also with us while I'm with you, even unto the end of the age. And, and when he's asleep, we would do well asleep too.
00:35:31
And some get almost upset when these panics come upon the Saints. And I think they'll come with increasing, uh, frequency, you know, about like it did with this Y2K business panic come upon the Saints almost as if you're not listening to the voice of God in this panic. And the Lord was asleep in the boat. So here we haven't gone up into a mountain himself alone and that he's aware of what is going on. He's in the place of power. And we had that in Colossians is that.
He's now head over all things to the church and he's in control right now of all the circumstances of your life and of mine, our health.
Our wealth, the politics of this govern, the world governments and so on. And he's put us in exactly the right situation so that we can, uh, learn the lessons that we have to learn here. And we often resist that and think, well, if I could change things in this world.
Uh, that umm, we would be better off. But that's not true. That is true.
The the if the servant is free, he can use it for the Lord, and that's a happy thing if a person is released from *******. But the thought is really resisting what is in the world because he has gone up into the place of power and authority where he sees everything.
Lovely dispensational picture, isn't it? The Lord's on high has a great high priest, and he's sitting there even though he sees that little remnant going through what would typify the the great tribulation toiling. But there's a version, Psalm 110, verse three, that says thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power. And so it says right here that then they willingly received him into the ship. They will gladly receive the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes back again.
That little, uh, remnant will ha find their difficulties all over with and uh, they can enter into peace and joy. It says immediately the ship was at the land whither they went. Uh, the Lord will come in on their behalf and the tribulation will, will end when they acknowledge the Lord as their Messiah and uh, receive him. I mean, you get that 53rd chapter of Isaiah's, their national theme of repentance. You know what they, this was him who were rejected. He was our king, you know.
Here they wanted to make him king, given the crown without the cross. But that was not to be. He had to go to the cross first before receiving the crown. They would have gladly received him right then and there to deliver them from the Roman yoke of ******* to provide food every time they were hungry, you know, make miracles. But in their sinful state, God could not do that.
Our brother Norm bought this thought out to us, I believe, and it's just exemplified here in this verse is that as long as their wills were at work, they were gonna toil. But when they willingly received them into the boat, there was an immediate answer to it.
And oftentimes we'll struggle and struggle and struggle with the situation and the reason that our wills are at work.
And that's what I believe our brother was referring to when he said the shortcut. We make a long call for ourselves sometimes just by the sticking by our guns and sticking by our own will and so on, instead of yielding to the Lord. And we see what the end of the pathway is. But the mind of the Lord is, and it's quickly it will be true too, of Israel. They're fighting for that nation, they're fighting for that nation and so on. And my what trouble they've caused in the world.
Uh, as a result of it. But when they finally yield to the Lord, the nation is going to be born in a day.
And they're going to discover that, uh, what a strange thing you get in the last chapter of Isaiah that, uh, that the child is going to be born. And they're going to discover that the labor pains took place 2000 years, that the labor pains came after the birth of the child, that the child was already born 2000 years before.
Who's ever heard of such a thing? But what was it? It's the wills at work. Jacob, the time of Jacob's trouble. He wanted the blessing.
But he struggled for it. But the time of Jacob's trouble isn't over yet, because he's struggling to get his own way. And it's true with you and me, too.
00:40:03
About 15 or 20 years ago, I was at a conference in in the open meeting a, uh, young, youngish brother.
Got up on the platform and I was sitting right where Brother Boulard is, real close there. And I remember looking up and I, I can't remember what was going on in the world at that time. But he painted such a bleak picture of what was going all around that I could just feel myself like a balloon getting more anxious as he, as he laid all this out, just going. And it didn't feel, feel very good. And not that, not that.
Profitable ministry always makes you feel good but.
Right after he got down, an older brother got up and he turned without comment. He turned to Psalm 11.
And he started to read.
Was Adrian Rocha believed that was the brother, second brother, and the Lord put I my trust. How say ye to my soul flee as a bird to your mountain.
And it was just like a pin was put in that.
The balloon of anxiety and it just went right down and I felt uh.
That's right. And then he kept reading. For lo, the wicked bend their bow, they make ready their arrow upon the string, that they may privily shoot at the upright in heart. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? Now that verse is often quoted and and people stop right there, and they shouldn't stop right there. The Lord is in his holy temple, the Lord's throne is in heaven. His eyes behold, his eyelids try the children of men, and so on.
Well, no one has driven nor will drive the Lord out of His holy temple. The Lord's throne is in heaven.
He abides in a place that is unassailable, and we're with Him. So the troubles may come, but I don't believe it would ever be the Lord's mind or the Shepherd's voice for us to get so rattled by Y2K or whatever the next thing that's coming will be.
And cause us to flee as a bird to any mountain. When I was a little boy, my father used to take me to work in the summer and, uh, sometimes he'd take me in and he'd kind of have to do stuff and leave me standing there and.
Sometimes these big people would come up and say, you know, who are you? And it used to kind of intimidate me. And my answer was usually I look for my dad and I say I'm with him. And uh, then they joke. It scared me like that, but that's really the way we are as believers. We can be simple about some things. When you say I'm with him and, uh, the Lord's stable and secure position in the glory, his grasp over all things in heaven and earth should be enough for us. We're with him.
You may take away all kinds of things out of our life that we have now or that we do now, but that'll be the right thing for us if he does that.
Then his holy temple beholds all things, and we can say all is well if we bear that in mind.
This is a picture of our trials and difficulties, isn't it? Verse 18. And the sea arose by reason of a great wind that blows.
There's a wind that's blowing and it goes every which way. Can't tell whether it's West or east. It's just a blowing wind. So when they had verse 19, they had rode about 5 and 20 or 30 furlongs. They they saw Jesus walking on the sea.
And.
Drawing nigh under the ship. And they were afraid. They were afraid. Yet here was the Lord, and he was walking on the water, walking on the sea toward the ship. And what a marvelous, precious thing that is, to know that even though we're in a trial, great trials too sometimes, yet we look out and we see the Lord walking in the sea. All the trials meant nothing to him. He was going to help them.
So it's with us too, isn't it, To know that all the difficulties and trials we have, they will come to an end?
But what He went through we will never never fathom. We will never fathom the sorrow and the suffering that the blessed Lord went through.
All the suffering on the ears, the sorrow that they heaped upon him.
And why?
Because he was a godly man.
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And his all this was done.
Not because of his person in that sense, but because of our sins. That's a marvelous thing. Just think about that.
Marvelous. I think he knew all about their troubles. He saw them in the sea. He saw them traveling, uh, in there.
And he said to them.
They uh, but, he said.
He said unto them, It is I be not afraid what words these are. These are company words. It is I you know.
We don't need to fear. We we our fear should be when we displease the Lord. That's the fear we should have.
Our brother suggested that we move ahead in the chapter.
Umm was not to the 32nd 1St, but I was just thinking of this, you know, Mr. Darby made a statement. The moment we try to be a testimony, we cease to be one. And they noticed the conditions under which they got into the boat and they noticed who was with them in the boat. And people are watching and they noticed these things. And uh, the disciples weren't conscious of that, but the people were knowledgeable about the fact.
But the Lord was with him in the boat when they got to the other side. And the Lord we may not, we may become self occupied, but.
The Lord really the, the, the world is taking note of, uh, what is going on?
As this portion goes on, we find the people.
Seem so close to blessing and and yet so far.
And it's ever and always true, as it says in first Corinthians 2 verse 14, but the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God for their foolishness unto him, neither can he know them because they are spiritually discerned. And so he gets the the conversation of of these that the problem was they had no faith.
Faith was not operative.
And you can get around people that seem to talk so reasonable and seem like they're searching for something. And when the test of faith comes in, they don't have any faith.
But the Lord, he patiently deals with them. You just wonder as time went on, as some of these might have taken the word of God serious that they heard realized that faith acrostic of faith is forsaking all I take him. I love that. That's really the essence of faith.
And so the Lord deals patiently.
But we see this conversation going on until finally the test comes. Says they walked with him no more. Faith was not there.
You see this patience in the life of the Lord here. He was born, and Herod called the scribes to ask where he should be born. They could turn to the Word of God and even point to the very place where he should be born and direct the wise men to go there. And then I think of him as a boy there sitting in the temple, asking the scribes questions, the doctors of the law questions, and and they listen to his answers.
But a respectful boy do not think that he realized that perhaps some of these ones were the very ones that had directed Herod to to find and slay those children.
But then you come to the book of Acts that they marvel at how many of these ones became obedient to the faith.
And so there is not always an immediate work, but there was the patience that you described there, because if there was not going to be a work of God, there would be no work of work at all.
And so we're looking to cause the fruit to to bolt and we're going to ruin it. It's just going to be the product of our our own laborers and really no fruit for God. But if there's just a patient setting before the truth of God and the faithfulness as there was with these ones, and you know, with some, it was going to bear fruit. Many of them came to the obedience of faith.
00:50:02
You see what the Lord Jesus in verse 37 that he has that patience of faith, all that the Father giveth me shall come to me and he was going to wait for it, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.
For I came down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him that sent me. I'd just like to refer to three scriptures, uh, in connection with the will of the Lord. It says in Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 9.
When he came into the world, it says, lo, I come to do thy will, O God, well, you and I came into the world. We're doing our own wills, far from God, without God, without hope in this world, while the Lord Jesus came into this world and he came doing the Father's will. What a blessed thing it is. But then we find in Umm John's Gospel chapter 8 and verse 29, just a couple of chapters over, he says, I do always those things that please him.
And so the entire pathway of our blessed Savior.
He did the Father's will well. What a blessed privilege it is for us to receive Christ as Savior.
And then to have the capacity to do those things that please him, but only the Lord Jesus came into this world pleasing the Father. And so all through that course he did those things that please him. And then if you turn back to Luke's gospel chapter 22, it says in verse 42.
Saying, Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. And so he left this scene doing the Father's will. What a privilege it is for us to walk in some measure.
In obedience to His will, and then leave this scene doing His will too. But we have one who perfectly came in doing the Father's will, perfectly live the Father's will, and left this scene doing his Father's will.
And he's going to come back again, doing his father's will.
So there's a verse that's very difficult to understand if we don't understand what our brother Ron was speaking about. Faith. He had to say prophetically. I've labored in vain. I've spent my strength for naughty.
Now, I don't think there's anybody in this room. I don't know whether it's whether it's delivering milk or painting houses or building houses that can look better, bridges. I don't think there's anyone who can look back and not think of some job, something that they could have done better in that job. That was not true of the Lord. He had done in a natural way everything in his dealings with people. There's nobody we've ever spoken to or handed a track to.
Or tried to help that we couldn't look back and see some fault in the way in which we did it.
The Lord could not say that, and yet He still had to say, I have labored in vain, I have strength, spent my strength for not everyone that He healed.
Later died, everyone that he rose from the dead, raised from the dead, later died that did not produce that fruit. What produced fruit was faith towards God and it is the only thing that is going to produce fruit in our lives.
And anyone else's life is in the simple obedience of faith.
And we may finagle and and that's Jacobs. That's Jacob's struggle, is that he's gonna finally, after all those thousands of years, realize that he's in simply believing what the word of God says.
And in vowing to that, and what is the struggle of us when we get confused or in a dilemma as we come back and we say, well, it's just, is it not just as our Father's prophet, as the prophet spake unto our fathers. That's exactly what the word of God says.
And so we're we're well, just as we single quickly teach me to return just to come back, return unto thy rest, O my soul is just how did we get saved an anxious soul. We suddenly came to the realization that it's not our feelings. It's not how how we said the words somebody said do it again. If you think it's if you dose your salvation, that's not a good idea because it's not in how you said the words. It's where your faith rests. Did you believe the word of God?
And that's the Saints rest and it's God's rest. And again, as I say reverently that naturally speaking that feeding these this 5000 did not produce a work of God in their soul. Umm it other than for them to simply believe what God had said and to to trust the word of God.
Is the gospel going out today that just preaches Christ is a cure for all our you know woes and trials and the difficulties we've gotten ourselves into through sin our preachers. Christianity is kind of a self help program to.
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To help you know, how to get along in life and those kind of things and, and the end result of that kind of a gospel, which is no gospel at all is, is, uh, verse 30. They said, therefore to them, what signs show us thousand that we may see and believe. What dost thou work again, that thought of faith. There was really no faith and the Lord goes through this crowd and he was winnowing out what's real and he's just blowing away the chat and unlike any other.
Man in this world, you know, that was drawing disciples after himself. He he gladly taken the flattery. He put up with everything that wasn't real just to swell the ranks. But the Lord doesn't do that. He winnows out everything that's not real that he might have that which is of faith, that which have been given to him of the Father. And so they come in a pretense like curiosity seekers. How did you get here? And he says he didn't come.
Because you saw the miracles, he exposes their hearts. He just want temporal blessing. He just want to get off easy in this life. You just want to use me for something for your own game. And they say, well, just show us the trick. Just show us how you did that with the loaves and we don't need you anyways. How can show us how we can work the works of God? He says this is the work of God, faith to believe, believe.
Well, you feed us for the next 40 years like Moses fed them in the wilderness. Then we'll talk about faith. And so the gospel of self help and those kind of things results in this in the soul. When you, when, when all my problems are cured, then I'll put my trust in the Lord Jesus, Then I'll believe you Wait till everything's fixed up. Just that's what you're telling me. It's going to be all fixed up. When it is, then I'll believe and we'll talk about believing. It comes to nothing.
I remember Walla Walla a few years ago they had Hebrews 11 and the question was asked why is it you don't find the wilderness journey and all that account of faith. Imagine shoes not wearing out for 40 years because it was as a result of what our brother Norm said really that 40 years was a result of unbelief and the Lord in his mercy Co comes in for us, but it was really a result of unbelief. But faith would really have a slay hold on what God has said.
And I.
Clear up this question about signs because many perhaps hear about these phenomenal sign gifts like healings and tongues and so on and it's gonna help to me to see and and the contradiction. Well, the Lord gave the miracles and the Lord seems to chastise them for coming because of the miracles. The signs were really to show when God was starting something new, what was in his heart. He said Philip said show us the Father and he said he that hath seen me hath seen the father.
Under the law, the law was a very simple principle. Do this and you get that.
They had the evidence of that everywhere. The law said if they followed the law, that none of these diseases would come upon them. Well, the lame and the dying and the sick, the blind, were all evidence that they had not kept the law. The law came looking for something. But what did these signs show to the to them as the Lord did these signs and miracles? It showed the grace that was in the heart of God, that God was going to bless man according not according to what?
To reward them for the good that they had done, but to act towards them according to the goodness that was in the heart of God. That is great. And so there was a sign when the church was started.
Umm, there was signs to show that God was starting something completely new. And I've, I've used this illustration, you see some bulldozers busy in a field and you don't know whether they're building a shopping center or what they're building. And then a sign goes up on the properties.
So that, uh, you know, now what they're building there. When you come back in 40 years and you see houses there and, and playgrounds and schools and so on. And you say, well, I need to sign to know what they're building there. No, you know what's been built. We know that, uh, the Lord has formed a church out of many nationalities, out of all nationalities and out of young and old were evidence that the church is not just a thing for old people, but there's young and, and old and all together.
That we don't need a sign for those things. And so, but there was a sign in the beginning to see what was in the purposes of God. And so these signs were to indicate they were not to prove anything to anybody. Again, as I said, if the police officer stops you with his lights flashing, don't ask him for proof that he's a real police officer, because you'll find out. He'll put a real set of handcuffs on you and take you to real jail. And if man demands proofs of God, it shows that he's entirely in a wrong relationship to God.
01:00:24
God has a right to demand proof of us, not the other way around.
It's a delightful thing to think of on the day of Pentecost that there were 3000 saved and a few days later, 5000 came in and then they were added daily to the church, such as should be saved. And when the Lord told his disciples and his re, uh, connection with his resurrection, if they were to go to Galilee, weren't they? And he would meet them there in a mountain. I thought, you know, that's very interesting. Why is this going to Galilee? But that was really the heart of.
His field of service. And so in Matthew 5, we get that crowd that has gathered around them and he they hear the Sermon on the Mount. And you know, that wasn't given in vain. There were souls there that that the Father had his eye on them, if I could say that. And then in the end, in Matthew, they were to go back to that mountain. I don't know if it's the same one, but I enjoy thinking that it was where the Sermon on the Mount.
Was given there to see the fruit of his laborers, though outwardly it looked like he had labored in vain. And so in verse 37 all that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Well, I never realized, or I should say one day after I was saved, that I realized that I had to do with the Father before I did the Son as my Savior.
And it was such a thrill to my heart to realize that at a certain time in my life that it was the Father that brought me to the Lord Jesus as a part of His love gift to His Son.
And that everyone that has been brought in on that basis will never experience rejection. For all that the Father umm giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh me I will in no wise cast out. Could we be any safer than that? And to think that when the bride is complete, that if one member was missing of that bride, his heart could not be satisfied.
We can be satisfied with a little less than what we were expecting or wanted, but not one will be missing in glory. And so there's no slip, should we say, between the Father's love gift to the Son and his work of redemption for us. How wonderful that is when we think of going back to the earlier, uh, part of the, well, it's, uh, fi chapter 5 in, uh, in John.
And verse. I won't read all the verses here, but in verse 40.
And ye will not come to me.
Will not come. We will not come of our own volition.
Hard to conceive that I know in my own case what it was. We'll uh, you will not come to me that you might have life.
And then over here, that verse you quoted.
Him that cometh to me fell in no wise cast out. God even gives us credit for coming. We didn't come. He sought us out. He searched us out. It was a gift of the fathers that gave brought us to him. So how wonderful when you think of all that we had nothing to do with our eternal salvation. Absolutely nothing. And we'll never make any claims to it. When we get home to glory, we'll never say, well, I did this or I did never, never. That would be all right.
I was uh, with a brother and a woman came into his shop looking quite distressed and.
So he spoke to her a bit about the Lord, and it turned out she was a real believer. And he asked the source of her distress and she said, well, I'm married to a man. And he said, ah, don't ever think I'm going to get saved because I'm never, ever going to get saved.
Well, God had other plans. The man's sake got saved.
And so as far as his own will was concerned, he stated flatly said don't expect me ever to get saved because I'm not going to. But I just, I think too, there's something that's helpful to us about in this 37th verse.
01:05:14
Umm, a young brother came to our meeting and he stood up and he said, what? Perhaps every young brother that's ever been asked to take the gospel, he felt the panic of being asked to take the gospel and scratching his head and saying, what should I speak about? And he toiled and wrestled over this all week. And I think that's gone through the heart of everyone that's ever been asked to take the gospel. But the gospel is really preaching what is in the heart of God, and it really exposes what is in the heart of man.
Now you may take up that and you can find it in the book of Genesis and you can find it in the Book of Revelation, but the preaching of the gospel is really what is in the heart of God towards man.
And what his Son has done. The world has wrong thoughts about themselves and wrong thoughts about God. They think God is against them.
A moment that something goes wrong, somebody stands and I don't want to be profane. The first thing they say of car accident, put their hands to their mouth and they say, Oh my God. And they they think that God has had something to do with this or something. Even insurance police talk about acts of God. They have wrong thoughts about God. They think they're getting something. They don't deserve that. They think that man is basically good and if you put them under right conditions, they'll bring out the good that is in them and all of these things. But the preaching of the gospel is really to expose to man what is in the heart of God.
Towards man and it really shows what the wretchedness that is in the heart of man.
And then what the answer of Jesus is to that and it took that thief. You know that those two malefactors railed on the Lord there in Matthew's Gospel and one of them came to himself in the face of the Lord Jesus. And he said, Remember Me acknowledging that he was Lord when thou comest into thy Kingdom. He he he had thought he wanted. He said they were crying save thyself and us. And man wants to be saved so that he could go right on with his life ascending. If those people were still alive in those twin towers today. Do you think many of them?
Would be doing anything different than they had been doing all of their lives. Not one bit. But one man is brought to face to face with the Lord. They realized that the Lord dismanteth on nothing amiss. That this man was for their blessing and for their good. That's what the gospel is.
And you'll find it whether in the Old Testament or in the New Testament illustrations of its stories of it. And you can use those to preach that and, uh, preach those facts because man is ignorant of what is in the heart of God and ignorant is what is in his own heart.
This chapter began with the multitude being fed by the Lord, and there is no more common expression of fellowship in this world than to sit down at a meal with someone it's known the world over. It's an expression of communion. And so the the miracle performed and the pursuit of these ones without faith is all the backdrop for what comes later in the chapter as we sing in that little hymn.
Nothing that's good have we? Nothing apart from Thee, Jesus our Lord. If there's going to be any blessing, the disciples had to learn that it was from the Lord. They had to turn to Him to look for that multitude to be fed, though He deigned to use the little resources of his people.
It was from him. There is no basis for communion.
Other than the death and the shedding of the precious blood of Christ in Calvary's cross.
And the eternal life that God can give to the soul based on that work.
Nothing apart from Him. They said we'd like to work the works of God. Without you it is impossible. Nothing.
That's good. Have weighed nothing apart from the Jesus our Lord.
I don't feel that.
That's why the Holy Spirit in the very last book before we get to revelation.
Says keep yourselves in the love of God, keep yourselves. Each one of us has to keep that in our hearts.
We as brethren can encourage one another, we can help one another, but we have to each one, and this particularly for the young ones, to keep yourselves in the love of God. That has to be utmost.
Striving in each one of our hearts as we go through the scene, we have to keep ourselves.
The Lord is always on that path, always on that pathway, and we to walk with Him.
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When we get off the path, he stays on the path. He wants us to come back. Come on to me, says all ye that labor in a heavy laden and I will give you rest. We have to get back on the path with him. He's always there. So it's.
It's admonition to us each and every day in the reading of the Word and.
Going to the throne of grace on our knees. Keep yourselves in the love of God.
And when we're in that love, When we're in that love and reading about it and exercising it in our hearts every day.
Is he gonna? Is he gonna reject us? No.
He says, lo, I am with you always, even at the end of the world. That's what he told his his 12 and he's he's told us, I will never leave thee nor forsake me.
But a precious promise we have precious promise, and I and have often thought of three verses down from what he told me in the book of Hebrews. Is Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever?
He's always going to be with us, but we have to keep ourselves. We have to keep ourselves in the love of God.
Every day as we travel this scene and young folks, ensure you have that love of God in your heart, expressed to His precious Son that He gave for you.
Singh.
I'm sorry.
254 I just read these words. Death and judgment are behind us.
Grace and glory are before.
All of billows, roll o'er Jesus.
There they spent their utmost power.
2:54.
Death and judgment.
On the beginning of the day.
Lot more.
Nsnoise.
Jesus.
Christ.
And all the hands in the heart of my heart.