YP Address—C.D. Andersen
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
I'm sure it's the desire.
Of everyone to be happy.
We all want happiness.
It would be a strange person that would not be seeking happiness.
We know how the world is seeking happiness.
Trying to find happiness in the things of the world, the places of the world, the material things of Earth.
But they are not really happy. They think they are happy.
Perhaps there's a temporary pleasure in going on with the things of this scene, trying to get hold of as much of this world's goods as they can.
But it's fleeting, fleeting pleasure. It's not abiding happiness.
What we want is abiding lasting happiness.
And I believe everyone in this room is seeking to be happy.
We might ask ourselves a question. Are we really happy?
Are we rejoicing? Is there joy in our hearts?
Well, it's true that we're seeking happiness.
But what about God's side of it? Does he want us to be happy?
With that in mind, we might turn to John's Gospel, the 15th chapter.
We'll find there believe.
And it's the Lord's desire that we should be happy, we should rejoice.
John 15.
Verse 11.
These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
Would that tell us that the Lord wants us to be happy? He wants us to have joy?
I believe it would. I believe it's plague that the Lord wants us to rejoice.
And he tells us here that he has told us these things.
That our joy might remain and that our joy might be full.
Not just a pleading joy.
But a joy that remains.
Not only a little bit of joy, but fullness of joy. That's what the Lord wants for.
Sometimes we get into a state of soul.
Where we feel that the Lord isn't doing the very best He can for us.
The Lord isn't treating us right.
We are not really happy, we are not satisfied.
Well, it's surely not the Lord's fault. He wants us to be happy.
We are not really happy.
Let's examine ourselves. Let's judge ourselves.
Let's find out where the difficulty is.
We notice here that there are several things the Lord mentions in connection with this. He speaks of these things.
Have I spoken unto you? What things?
I read in verse 7, if you abide in me, that's one thing, and my words abide in you, that's another thing.
Then in verse 10 says, if you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love.
So first of all, it speaks of abiding in the Lord that is being attached to him.
00:05:05
Personally attached to him that I don't believe that means the matter being saved, but it means having an attachment for the Lord Jesus Christ.
Leaving to him with purpose of heart.
That's what the Lord tells us to do.
And my words abide in you. We have a respect for the word of God, if that's the case.
That's one of the elements.
Makes for happiness.
Having a desire for the word, a great respect, reverence for the Word, obedience to the Word.
Letting the word.
The words of the Lord abide in US.
And then abiding in his love.
In the ninth verse we're told as the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Continue ye in my love, not continue in your love.
My love, your love is often cold.
We get away from the law, we get out of communion with him, and we feel a coldness in our hearts.
But if we continue in his love, thinking of his love.
Meditating on his.
That will warm our hearts.
Abide in my love, he said.
Abide in my love. Stay in the sunshine of his love. Walk on the Sunnyside.
Of the way of life.
If we want to get warm on a cold day.
We try to get into the sunshine.
I think we've all had that experience if we're walking down the street on a cold day.
We'd rather walk on the Sunnyside of the street than on the shady side.
We find ourselves doing that automatically, trying to get into the sunshine.
All that we might seek grace to get into the sunshine.
Of the Lord's love for us.
That will warm our hearts.
Now, John doesn't mention this only in the Gospel, but he mentions it over in his epistle.
About Joy first John one.
I John.
1.
Verse 4.
And these things right, we unto you that your joy may be full.
John had a great desire for the children of God, that they might have fulls of joy.
Speaks of it in his Gospel. He speaks of it in the Epistle.
Well, now it is not only John speaking, it's the Holy Spirit of God speaking through John.
So these words come right from the very heart of God himself.
The Lord was speaking it in John's Gospel, but here is the Spirit of God speaking.
Through the apostle.
Is it plain to us that God wants us to be happy?
Surely it is. His word proves it to him.
These things right, we unto you that your joy may be full.
We read about another one, the Apostle Paul.
He had joined the Lord. We might look at Philippians.
Philippians chapter 3.
And by the way, in the official to the Philippians we find joy mentioned many times.
It's a nice little meditation to go through.
That epistle and look up.
Trace all the times that the word joy or rejoice is used here.
If this is to the Philippians, gives us the normal Christian life.
And a normal Christian life is a happy life.
So oftentimes when the gospel is preached, the souls are urged to accept Christ as savior. They hesitate because they feel well. If I become a Christian, I'll lose all my pleasure, won't have any joy anymore.
I'll have to go around with a long face.
That's not true.
The Christian life is a happy life.
How could we be anything but happy when we know, as we heard this morning, of the various things we have in the Lord Jesus Christ?
00:10:08
We have the redemption, the forgiveness of our sin. We're on our way to glory. We have a home there.
We have a blessed.
Future before us, being with the Lord Jesus Christ.
For the present we have all blessings in the heavenlies in Christ, and soon we are going to be with himself.
Always should be the happiest people on earth.
And if our life is a normal Christian life, it is a happy life.
Here in chapter 3 of Philippians, Paul says finally my brethren.
Rejoice in the law.
Rejoice in the law.
Is there anything else that we can really rejoice in?
Oh, I suppose we could think of something.
We rejoice in our.
In our loved ones, in our families, in our Christian Fellowship, Fellowship, in the Assembly.
But when it comes to the things of this world, is there anything in this world that?
Belongs to this world in which we can truly rejoice.
If we are honest with ourselves, we will say no, there isn't anything here that gives happiness.
There is nothing here that can rejoice, really rejoice one's heart.
But we can rejoice in the law.
Sometimes.
Our friends disappointed. Our loved ones disappointed.
As we had in the meetings.
In many things, we all offend.
We're all crooked sticks.
And you are disappointed in me and I become disappointed in you.
And so on.
But all we can never be disappointed in the law.
And we can always rejoice in him.
Rejoice in the Lord, he says.
Then he goes on to say, To write the same things to you, to me indeed, is not grievous, but for you to say.
And verse 3. For we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit.
And rejoice in Christ Jesus. I believe that word rejoices a little different from the other one. It means boast in Christ Jesus. It has that element in it.
Rejoice in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh.
Are we rejoicing? Boasting in Christ Jesus?
Over in the first chapter of Philippians in verse 21, Paul says.
For to me, to live is Christ.
For to me, to live is Christ.
Not anything else, Paul. No, not anything else. For me to live is Christ.
Not money, Paul. No, not money.
Not houses and landfall. No, not houses and land.
Not anything else, Paul. No. To me, to live is price.
Can we say that honestly? Can we say that from our heart to me, to live is Christ?
If we can get to that point where we can truly say that.
And we really mean.
We will be happy.
And we'll be able to say that we rejoice in the law. There's where our happiness is.
That is why the Apostle could say rejoice in the law.
Because he had no other object.
No one else.
You're satisfied with Christ. Was satisfied.
I notice another verse here in the second chapter, verse 21.
He says for all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ. What a difference.
Paul says in the 21St verse of the first chapter. To me, to live is Christ.
Then in the 21St verse of the next chapter, he says.
All seek their own.
Not the things which are Jesus Christ. What a contrast.
Do you suppose those people were happy who were seeking their own?
They couldn't be.
They weren't seeking the source of happiness. The source of joy and happiness is the Lord Jesus Christ.
00:15:07
But what were they seeking? They were seeking their own, their own thing.
Occupied with their own thing.
Not the things which are the Lord.
Now a verse over in Galatians.
That gives us a little more of what the apostle.
Was telling us.
The Galatians were in a bad state.
They were giving up Christ.
Going back to the law.
It was not Christ only with them now, it was Christ and.
The Law, Christ and good works Christ and keeping the Law.
And we gather that the Galatians were in a bad state of soul. They weren't happy.
There must have been some reason why the apostle had to write as he did.
In the 5th chapter, verse 15. But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.
Were they in a happy state?
I would gather that they were not, and why they were leaving Christ.
And going back to the weakened beggarly element.
A lot of loss for these Galatians.
Paul says in verse 19 of the 4th chapter.
My little children.
Of whom I travel in birth again.
Until Christ be formed in you.
Oh, he says. I would. That Christ were filling your heart.
That he were the sole object of your hearts affections.
I travel, he says in birth again.
Oh, the apostle had gone through.
Anguish and exercise of soul for these dear people in Galatia that they might, when they heard the gospel, take the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
And find their salvation in him.
Well, they had. They had rejoiced in the Lord Jesus.
Why they have been happy.
When first they received Christ as their Savior.
But now that happiness was God.
And he says, I am in deep exercise again for you that Christ.
May be formed in you.
I wonder what the Apostle Paul would say to us today.
I believe he is saying the very same thing because this word is for us. It wasn't only for the Galatians.
Is for us too.
The Word of God.
Is for us, all of us, and the Spirit of God is speaking to us today.
We are called little children. Yes, we are God's children. We are speaking to young people, especially this afternoon, Christian young people. And you are children of God by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.
You're the one.
The Spirit of God is addressing.
And he says I travel in birth.
Until Christ performed in you.
That's not that you might get saved.
But that Christ might have a place in your heart, that your affections might be 1.
I believe it's true that oftentimes when a soul is saved, the heart is one at the same time and there's a going on for the Lord from that time.
But then in other cases it seems that after soul is saved.
He goes on for a while, but he doesn't have real joy in the Lord. His heart isn't one.
And that soul is apartment to get mixed up with all kinds of things and get into difficulties and walk carelessly.
Not walk pleasing to the law.
And such. And one doesn't have joy, real happiness.
What does God want for us?
He wants our hearts to be won.
We might go back to Philippians.
And notice further in that third chapter, then of Philippians, what the apostle has to say about the heart being one.
00:20:02
Philippians chapter 3.
Now he tells us something that he has given up, and he tells us why he has given them up.
It wasn't that somebody laid down a law for him and said, Now you have to give up this, now you must give up that, you mustn't do the other thing. Oh, no, it wasn't that at all. But look, verse four of Philippians. 3 he says, though I might also have confidence in the flesh, if any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh I more.
Circumcised the 8th day of the stock of Israel of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews.
As touching the law of Pharisee.
These things were true, Paul. This is what he had as a man, as a good Jew.
Concerning the EU, persecuting the Church, touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless, or he had some things he could boast of as a good Jew.
And one wouldn't find any bulk with these things. The Seal was all right.
But it led him to persecute the church. It showed what a zeal he had.
He regretted persecuting the church.
But what about these things?
He gave them up.
But what things were gained to me? Those I counted lost for Christ. They were gained to him. It was an advantage to him.
To be of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin and Hebrew of the Hebrews, that was an advantage to him.
But he gave it all up.
When he found Christ or when Christ found him.
What things were gained to me? Those I counted Loss.
For Christ.
Something he did.
No doubt when he was first saved, he says. I am giving it all up for Christ. I found a truer game, the one that appeared to him on the road to Damascus.
That light of that glory of that one he saw on the road to Damascus.
Oh, what a vision, what a revelation he had of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I count all these things long. That's something he had done, yeah, doubtless, he says. And I count all things.
Lost for the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, my Lord. Now he doesn't put it in the past tense anymore, but he puts it in the present tense. I count all things.
First, he speaks of the things that were gained to him.
All things aren't included in that. But he gave up those things for Christ now, he says. In the present, the present moment, I count all things long.
For the Excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.
Not just that he started out well with the Lord, but he continued on.
All how important it is to continue on with the Lord.
For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them.
Now he seems to emphasize it and do count them.
But done.
Refuse.
That I may win Christ or have Christ for my gain.
Yes, his heart was one.
Christ had found a place in his heart.
And when Christ found a place there and filled that heart, all of these things went out.
God didn't say. Now you give up this. You give up the other thing. No. When Christ was filling the heart, they just, we might say, automatically left. They dropped off.
All that's what's needed, that's what's needed in your heart. And that's what's needed in my heart. For Christ is so Philip that all of these things, all things drop off and we look at them as refuge in mountain.
How we were reading in in Galatians.
About how the apostle was prevailing in birth until Christ be formed in them.
We might notice a couple more verses in that 4th chapter of Galatians.
We find there that the Apostle Paul is Speaking of Abraham.
00:25:00
And Isaac and Ishmael.
And he sets these forth by way of an allegory or figure.
I am not going to go into the full meaning.
Of Isaac and Ishmael here.
But we notice in verses 22 and 23 something I believe that would be profitable for us.
For it is written that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond made, the other by a free woman. But he who was of the bond woman was born after the flesh, but he of the free woman was by promise.
Now it's plain to us, for the Spirit of God is Speaking of Ishmael and Isaac.
Ishmael is the one that was born after the flesh.
Isaac is the one that was born by promise.
Ishmael speaks of a natural man.
Isaac speaks.
Of the Newman Isaac is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ.
So we have brought before us here.
The natural man.
I am the spiritual man.
Then over in.
Verse 29 it says but as then he that was born after the flesh.
Persecuted him that was born after the Spirit. Even so it is now.
Now get To get more of that story, we'd have to go back into the Old Testament.
And it might be well to go back.
And see what the Lord has to tell us back in Genesis.
Genesis Chapter 21.
Genesis Chapter 21.
And the Lord visited Sarah.
As he had said and the Lord did unto Sarah as he had spoken, for Sarah conceived and bear Abraham a son in his old age, at the set time of which God had spoken to him. And Abraham called the name of his son that was born unto him whom Sarah bear to him Isaac.
And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac, being eight days old as God had commanded him. Abraham was 100 years old when his son Isaac was born under him.
Now the birth of Isaac was a miracle.
When Isaac came into this scene.
It was an miraculous thing.
Abraham's body was dead. Sarah's body was dead, naturally impossible for them to have a child.
But still, they did.
In that way, Isaac is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ was a miracle.
And then pursuing it a little further.
When you and I were born of God.
We became children of God. That was a miracle.
Oh, what a miracle.
Because we were dead in trespasses and see.
And we couldn't make one movement toward God. We couldn't do one thing.
To change our hearts.
We couldn't save ourselves. We couldn't produce a new life within us, if possible.
No matter how much we might try to patch up the old life, we couldn't produce a new life. We couldn't get eternal life that way.
Here we find.
That the only way.
That Abraham and Sarah could have a son.
By promise, according to the Spirit, was for God to work a miracle. It wasn't patching up for fixing up issue. No, it wasn't that at all. It was bringing in a new person altogether.
And so when a soul is saved, it's not patching up the old.
It's not putting off this thing, or turning over a new leaf or putting off the other thing.
Trying to change the life in any way in man's strength? No.
00:30:04
The only salvation for us, the only way we can be saved, is by bringing in a new life.
And that life is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I trust most everyone in this room this afternoon is the Lord.
That you have been born again, That that miracle has happened in your life.
That a new person has come in, a new life has come in.
Well, a new life.
Came into the household of Abraham.
Now we have two boys there. We have Ishmael, we have Isaac. What's going to happen?
And Sarah said.
God hath made me to laugh, so that all that here will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said to Abraham the Sarah should have given children supper? I born him a son in his old age.
And the child grew, and was we? And Abraham made a great feast, the same day that Isaac was we. And Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which he had born unto Abraham, mocking.
Wherefore she said Unto Abraham passed out this bond woman and her son. For the son of this bond woman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight, because of his son. And God said unto Abraham, Let it not be grievous in thy sight, because of the land, and because of thy bondwoman. And all that Sarah hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice, For in Isaac shall thy seed be called.
There came a time.
When Ishmael realized.
That here was another person that had come in to the household.
And Ishmael already was eyeing him.
And.
No doubt he had a sense of what was going to take place.
In a previous chapter.
Abraham had given expression to what was in his heart as connected with Ishmael over in chapter 17.
God was telling Abraham that he was going to have a son.
That was going to be.
The air.
But in verse 18 of chapter 17 Abraham said unto God all that Ishmael might live.
Before him all that Ishmael might live before thee.
Applying that to ourselves.
Have we ever felt or said anything like that? Remember, Ishmael speaks of the old nature, the old light.
Have we ever had a secret desire in our hearts?
That God would allow us to cherish, to nourish.
The old nature.
Allow us to pamper the old fleshly nature that we have.
Have we ever thought that, oh, that God would just allow me to have this? Or you would allow me to have that?
When we seek after those things that the old fleshly nature wants.
We get a bad conscience about it, and perhaps we would.
We would secretly desire that God might, as it were, give us a dispensation to do that which the old flesh wants.
Do we really go that far and say, oh, that Ishmael might live before thee?
What happened?
To the antitype of Ishmael. What happened to the old flag?
Paul says I have been crucified with Christ.
The old eye has been crucified with Christ. What place is there?
For the old sinful eye anymore, no place anymore.
And put on the cross.
I have been crucified with Christ, Paul says. Nevertheless, I live. Oh, how does he live?
Well, there's a Newman that has come in.
Christ has come into his life.
But the day of weaning comes for Isaac.
And a great feast is made. But it's that very day that a crisis takes place.
00:35:03
Isaac is acknowledged as the heir, it would seem, that day.
He is given a place in the household.
That he didn't have before something is acknowledged here this day.
And the son of Hagar, Ethan was mocking.
He is not taking it very gladly. It does not please him.
To see Abraham making a feast for Isaac.
Ishmael wants all of the attention.
He wants the preeminent place in the household.
And so he stirs up a fuss.
Has that happened in your life?
The Lord Jesus Christ had come into your life.
Because the old nature like it.
Does that old nature, fleshly nature you have like the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ?
Of course not. If you read more in the book of Galatians, you will find that there is a strife there. The flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh. These are contrary, the one to the other, so that you may not do the things that you would Oh thank God that His Holy Spirit dwells in our hearts, and Christ lives there in our hearts in the power of the Spirit.
So that there may be victory.
Over the flesh.
No, Ishmael doesn't have to run the house.
Isaac must have that place. He is the heir. He is made the responsible one.
He is the one that has given that place of taking over the household in a coming day.
What about us? Have we given over our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ?
Or are we going to let Ishmael have his way? Do we want the old nature in us to run our lives?
Do we want to be subject to the motions of that, the emotions and emotions of that evil nature?
Or do we want to be subject to the Newman, the Lord Jesus Christ who has come into our hearts?
I believe that's what the apostle was talking about when he was writing to the Galatians.
I travel in birth again until Christ be formed in your heart.
Oh, I am so exercised that Christ might have your hearts, that he might be given that first place in your heart.
Like Paul says to the Colossians that in all things he might have the preeminence.
Colossians were in danger too. Ritualism.
Raising were coming in.
And it was taking them away from Christ. They weren't holding the head.
But all the apostle desired for them that in all things Christ might have the preeminence.
He was the solution. There he was the remedy.
All knew what those Colossians needed. They needed Christ and they needed to give Him the 1St place. He knew what the Galatians needed. They needed Christ, and they needed to give Him the first place.
And he can say from personal experience that if you give the Lord Jesus Christ the 1St place, you're happy.
And all of these other things mean nothing.
So Ishmael is cast out.
Bond the bondwoman and her son, they cast out.
Verse 10 For the son of this bondwoman shall not be heir with my son, even with Isaac.
Can we allow?
The old fleshly nature.
A place with the Lord Jesus Christ.
Would it be right?
To give a little bit of place.
To that fleshly nature.
To yield to it a little bit.
Well, when we think of the Lord Jesus Christ and all that he has done for.
How he left heaven to glory.
Came down into the scene of woe, sin, and sorrow.
When we see him, a man acquainted with grief, man of sorrows, walking through this scene.
How can we say, Well, Lord, it's all right for you to have a place in my life, but there's a little here that I want to keep for myself.
00:40:08
We might think of our heart as having rooms in it.
Just like a house.
If we give over.
The keys of every room to the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will go into every room.
Do we want him in every room of our heart?
Is there a little secret room here?
That we want to keep to ourselves.
Have you given as it were?
The key to every rule.
Of your heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Have you given the Lord Jesus Christ the free run of your heart?
For Isaac it meant here that.
He would have a free run of the house. That was his. He was the acknowledged heir.
Is that what you've done to the law?
Have you acknowledged him as the heir, The one whose right it is we were singing about? That is, it's his right, and he's going to have his rightful sway over this whole scene in a coming day. And even those who have rejected him, they will have to come in their time and bow before the Lord Jesus Christ.
And acknowledge that he is Lord.
For those who die in their sins.
And I have to appear before him to bow before him. It will be eternally too late.
But every knee must stop.
Well, what a privilege it is to bow now.
To own him long that he has.
Right to our lives.
We're not our own anymore. We're bought with a price.
That's what the Apostle tells you. We're not our own. We're bought with a price. Think of it.
The price of the Precious Blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a price He paid for.
Doesn't he have a right to us? He has a right to every inch of a.
He has a right to, we might say, every cell of it.
Glorify therefore, God in your body.
Glorify therefore, God in your life.
Think of the Lord Jesus Christ has come to dwell in our hearts.
It pleased him to come and take up his dwelling place in US.
Shouldn't we yield to him, say?
Take me.
Music. Do with me what you want.
Isn't he worthy?
He's done all things well and if we would give the Lord Jesus Christ.
The whole run of our homes.
We'd be happy.
Oh, that's the secret of happiness, having him filled and satisfied the heart.
It says in.
Verse 11 And the thing was very grievous in Abraham's sight.
Perhaps you are going through a struggle, going through much exercise of harm in this matter of yielding to the law.
And letting him have your whole heart.
You are going through a deep struggle.
We go through exercise of heart in coming to know the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior.
But I believe there is also exercise of heart in the matter of making him the Lord of our lives.
Owning his Lordship.
We own him as savior.
Have we owned him as law?
Lord was grievance in Abraham's sight. It was a deep matter of exercise to him.
God said unto Abram, Let it not be grievous in thy sight.
What Sarah has said.
And so he did.
Have you done what the Lord has told you? He wants a place in your heart and life.
He wants to be your law. He wants you to be happy.
Over in Jeremiah.
The second chapter.
Read what Israel did.
Verse 13.
00:45:00
Jeremiah chapter 2, verse 13.
Jeremiah was a prophet when things were in ruin in Israel.
And he tells us here what Israel had done.
For my people have committed 2 evils.
What was the first one they have forsaken me?
The mountain of living waters.
They have forsaken me.
They didn't make the Lord their all. They weren't subject to the law.
They didn't find their delight in him.
What was the other evil then that they committed and hewed them out? Cisterns. Broken cisterns that can hold no water?
They forsook the Lord.
Well, when they forsook the Lord, they had nothing to satisfy them. They had nothing to fill their hearts.
They had nothing to make them happy. They were miserable.
And they were constituted in such a way that.
They couldn't remain that way. They must have something to fill the heart. So what did they do? They hewed them out. Cisterns, broken cistern.
But the assistant couldn't hold any water of joy for them.
They were seeking for other means of happiness, but they couldn't find it.
Tells us in the 18th verse.
And now, what hast thou to do in the way of Egypt to drink the waters of Sihor?
Or what hast thou to do in the way of a Syrian to drink the waters of the river?
They were going to Egypt. They were going to Assyria.
And they were seeking.
The joys of those places, the pleasures that they thought that could be found there.
But what happened? Some were taken captive to Assyria.
Were they happy there? No. Some were taken captive to Babylon. Were they happy there? And then there were others that went down into Egypt. Were they happy there?
No.
Egypt speaks of the world.
The world in nature.
If a Christian seeks his happiness in the world of nature, is he going to find it?
In the things that appeal to the flesh.
Going to find his happiness there.
Well, what about Assyria?
A series speaks of a world in pride and it's pomp and glory having a place in this world.
Perhaps some are seeking about a place in this world, a place in business.
Is that going to make you happy?
Call home.
Those are the broken cisterns. Those are the cisterns. They were hewing out for them sound.
Trying to find satisfaction in these things.
How do you do? They didn't find it. They found only sorrow.
And to this day, the nation of Israel is scattered.
And they won't have any joy until that coming day when they acknowledge their mistake and he gathers them around himself.
And they have again found the one.
That they forsook. They can't have any joy until then.
And you and I won't have any real joy until the Lord Jesus Christ.
Is the center of our lives.
The central object of our hearts, affection.
When our eyes are fixed upon him.
Oh, that's what we need.
Is to have Christ.
Filling and satisfying our hearts. And he can.
All we have the testimony from the Apostle Paul that he abundantly satisfied.
He didn't need all of these things. He had Christ, and that was enough.
And.
Others testify to that fact too, that Christ can satisfy.
Was John satisfied? Oh, yes, he was satisfied with Christ, the disciple whom Jesus loved and he reveled in, and he speaks much of that love.
How about Peter failing Peter?
Our Christ is the center of his life.
He's the supreme object.
Of his heart's effect. And he delights in the Lord Jesus, and he speaks of him as a precious one unto you which believe he is precious.
Is he precious to you? Is he precious to me?
Oh, that's what we need in these days, in these days of ruin.
Things are going to pieces around us. There is failure on every hand.
00:50:03
Perhaps the meeting where you come from is just a little meeting. There are only a few gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And perhaps you have had thoughts like this. Well, there is not much for me in this meeting.
There's not much for me here and I've even heard some give advice to young people and say, well, don't go to such and such a meeting. There's nothing for young people there. I believe it's a mistake.
Where two or three are gathered together unto my name, there am I in the midst of them. Isn't the Lord there in the midst of that little company?
If the Lord is there, there is surely something for young people.
There's something for you and me, if the Lord is there.
That means everything but the largest name or there may not be any gift.
Maybe there is no one who can do any teaching.
Perhaps there's not much ability.
To do anything, perhaps you might think even the prayers are weak and stumbling.
Don't look at those things. Christ is there. That is the important thing. Christ is there.
In the end of Ezekiel, the last words you get, the Lord is there.
The Lord is there. That is all important thing. That should have been the important thing for Israel.
It will be the important thing in the coming day after the temple is rebuilt.
That won't be the glorious temple, but it will be that the Lord is there. That's what makes everything lovely, and that's what makes for happiness. The Lord is there.
And the Lord is in the midst of those gathered to His name, and that's what makes it an attractive place.
For you and me.
All that it might be so more and more that Christ might.
Attractive, and our hearts might be 1 to him, that we might find our whole satisfaction in him.
He can feel and satisfy the heart.
Have you tried?
All taste and see that the Lord is look, good, blessed or happy is the man that trusted in him.
Have you tasted the scene that the Lord is good?
Taste it, He occupied with it. Let him feel and satisfy your heart.
And you have found the secret of happiness. Rejoice in the Lord, My Paul says Rejoice in the Lord. Don't try to rejoice in anything else.
It'll failure, but rejoice in the law. He'll never fail. He'll never disappoint you.
He won't. He won't disappoint you.
May God help us to find in Him our All in all.