Kentucky Conference: 1999
Table of Contents
Ephesians 3:1-4
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Come together.
Connection with these meetings.
And our expectation of stepping into the presence of our blessed Lord and glory.
I read it because I believe that this is the light to the heart of the Lord to see.
This carried out in a practical way. Psalm 133.
Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard that went down to the skirts of his garments as the Duke of Herman, and as the Duke that descended.
Upon the mountains of Zion.
For there the Lord commanded the blessing, even life forevermore.
I only praise Him.
Blessed God.
Take that.
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Honor of the Lord. Beseech you that ye walk worthy of the location wherewith ye are called, with all lowliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called, in one hope of your calling. 1 Lord. 1 Faith.
Baptism one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and in you all.
But unto everyone of us has given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Wherefore he said, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men.
Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended.
The far above all heavens.
That he might fill all things. And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ. Till we all come in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth. And love may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that.
With every joint which every joint supplieth according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself. In love this I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their mind, having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God.
Ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their hearts, who being past feeling, have given themselves over until lasciviousness to work all uncleanness with greediness.
But ye have not solar in Christ, If so be that ye have heard him.
And have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that he put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. And be renewed in the spirit of your mind that ye put on the Newman, which after God has created in righteousness and true holiness. Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and sin not. Let not the sin, not not the sun, go down on your wrath, neither give place to the devil. Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needed. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth.
But that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you with all malice, and be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another.
Even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.
That arrested the writer of this epistle as he was going up to Damascus.
Made him his prisoner.
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What did he say though?
And a half.
Who art thou, Lord?
Who art thou, Lord? I am Jesus, whom thou persecuted.
Saul was persecuting Jesus.
The truth of the one body the very moment he was arrested.
From that time on he was a prisoner of the Lord.
So the next thing he says, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do?
Now Paul is a platter to them which should hereafter believe when we get saved.
I suppose every day we ought to ask, Lord, what will thou have me to do?
And ask if he can go out when he wants to.
He is not at liberty to come and go as he pleases. He's completely at the command of the man, of the persons that have him as prisoner. I think that's a really important point in connection with the truth of the one body. We're going to walk together, brethren, in practical recognition of the truth that there is one body. As we have stated in this chapter. We're going to have to lay down our own thoughts, our own desires.
Many times if we're going to walk in accordance with that truth, and I think there's a practical suggestion of this in what Paul says, I therefore the prisoner of the Lord.
And I sometimes think, brother, and it's not that we're prisoners now, that God has worked in our hearts against our will, but rather it should be something that is the willing surrender.
Of the heart to the Lord Jesus, as you mentioned. Lord, what will thou have me to do if He died for me, If He gave everything for my eternal good, then my response should be just that, not any longer what I desire, no, but what He wants for me, that should fill my heart and should fill my desires.
And if there is that, then there is the ability to walk together as members of one body. I really believe we living in the society we do.
Where democracy pervades and we're thankful for the liberty we enjoy under a democratic system of government. But it has given the idea that everyone has equal voice and vote.
And therefore I have my rights and people should hear what I have to say.
When that attitude pervades, brethren, we're not going to be able to walk, as Scripture tells us, in the unity of the Spirit, as members of one body.
The wrong country view our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we look for the Savior and Paul gives us his goal and talks about learning why he had been arrested. Let's look at it in Philippians 3.
He was the prisoner of the Lord Jesus. He had been laid hold of by Christ. He was his prisoner.
To get forth the truth that Christ gave him from heaven.
So that in the Philippians 3, he has that goal before and we know it will.
Let's.
Begin with the 12Th verse of Philippians 3.
Not as though I had already attained either. We're already perfect.
But I follow after. Now that's the. That's a disciple. I follow after, not runs ahead.
If that I may apprehend get the consciousness in US.
If I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended, arrested there.
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Of Jesus Christ he wanted to learn.
What for Christ had laid hold of him? The next verse goes on. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but this one thing I do.
Now this is what you and I need as belonging to the Lord Jesus.
Forgetting those things which are behind, that's our course behind us, may be it good or bad, we can't change that.
And reaching forth under their things, which are before the future, is all we have left.
What does he say?
I press.
Toward the mark. Where is that mark?
And the Psalm that was read to us, we get blessing coming down. And those 3 verses blessing coming down.
But here.
In our chapter, Christ first descended, he came down. Philippians traces the whole course Philippians 2 and then it turns around and goes up. We have seven steps downward and seven steps upward in effect. In essence, you're not going to have to learn that course too. Down to the goal I press what an object to have before us so.
Paul didn't know why he'd been apprehended.
But we know a little bit more about than he did to get out.
Those prison, because one of which we have, which really sets us in heaven. The view here in this epistle is we're already there all together there.
Ron, the blessing goes back up now. That's the result of God's work in US. We can praise like we started out. What was the first line of that hymn you gave up, Bob?
Yeah. Do you see? We can do that. It's going up there. But if you follow that 134th Psalm to the last verse, God has the last word. He sends it back down again. He's going to have the last word with every one of us, and He is the blesser, and He likes to.
Receive the blessing and to give it to us.
For what blessing to get into a chapter like this, see the depth of the truth of Christ seeing in the body down here.
One body.
Enjoyed someone saying that Paul was in prison when he writes this epistle.
Mundane made a statement something like this. The body was put into no movement so that the spirit would be free to receive what would be given to the church and to think of him there submitting to those circumstances and his spirit being free just to have the blessing flow down.
And then to write it and to give it to us to enjoy as we are preparing to go up.
I'm sure the enemy thought he had a great victory in allowing that or in circumstances, being that Paul was now in prison, I'm sure the enemy thought, well, now he can't go around and encourage the Saints of God. Now he's not free to preach the gospel and souls be saved. But I always think of that verse, The wrath of man shall praise thee, and the remainder of wrath thou shalt restrain. Paul himself said to the Corinthian Saints, We can do nothing against the truth but for the truth.
And oh, what a triumph it was. It was Paul was in prison, it's true. But it was, as you say, at that very time that the Spirit of God used him to write much of the precious truth that we know and enjoy and appreciate. And I think it's nice to see that God never is frustrated in his purposes. The enemy may come in and try to frustrate the purposes of God. He may try to smash the testimony. And he could. He would if he could. That's his desire.
But God's purposes are never frustrated. He works everything according to the counsel of his own will. And just as it was in the life of Paul and he was used in a mighty way at this time, so it is in our lives too. Has something come into our lives, something to maybe restrict us in our movements, or something we want to do? Let's realize and take that from the Lord. Paul was in a sense a prisoner of Rome and a prisoner of Nero, but he doesn't refer to himself. That was we. Shall we, shall we say the second 'cause, but the first 'cause was the Lord.
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Paul recognized that the Lord had put him there and put him there for a purpose, and taking those circumstances from the Lord, then the Lord could still use him in blessing to the Church of God, and not just for blessing at the time. It's true he couldn't go around and orally minister to the Saints or preach the gospel, but we hold in our hands, by the grace of God this afternoon, much of this precious ministry that was written at this time.
And we know.
Things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are they called according to His purpose.
Verse. No, I'm going back now to the third chapter, the first verses of the third chapter.
You get.
A special revelation given to Paul, and he was the administrator of it.
Let's read them.
In the third chapter he speaks of being the prisoner as well for this 'cause I appalled the prisoner of the Jesus Christ for you Gentiles that all speak to us. If you have heard of the dispensation or the administration of the grace of God which has given me to you word how that by revelation Paul got a special revelation. He got four of them in fact, that are marked out with words something like this.
And this one we can put in the first line, and that's the truth of the one body. The Gentiles, along with everybody else that's saved, become the body of Christ. Revelation.
By revelation He made known unto me the mystery, as I wrote a year. When he read, He may know the ministry mystery verse 5, which in other ages was not made known in sons of men, as it is now made known unto His holy apostles and prophets. Now here's what it is, that the Gentiles. The Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, the same body one. But Christ was forming a body down here.
By the baptism of the Spirit, bringing into one body, not 2, not 2001 body, Christ has one body.
And it's marked out with special revelations.
I've just ahead that God has given us.
A witness to that for us to maintain in this age.
And that's marked out with words like this. We read them almost every breaking of bread I have received of the Lord, that which also I delivered unto you. And so on. He got a special revelation about the Lord's Supper upon the Lord's table, where you see the witness that there is one body that came through Paul too. Then there's another one in.
First Corinthians 5th.
As to the fact that we won't all sleep.
The Lord's coming and the resurrection and the manner of it is added to it in the First Corinthians. First Thessalonians 4.
You know that so well.
That too is marked out with special words. Let's just read them because it's so bright to have that hopefully horse as we are here.
Sweating out these days in such a comfortable spot, waiting for the Lord's coming.
We know what it is. First Thessalonians 4.
Verse 15.
This is a special mark of what was given to the prisoner Paul.
To give to us. This we say unto you, by the word of the Lord.
That we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall not precede them which are asleep.
For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and with the voice of the Archangel, with the trump of God, and the dating Christ shall raise first.
Then we which are alive and remain these four special revelations.
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That were never known before are given through the Apostle Paul, the prisoner of the Lord.
We're to be a witness to it, break bread and enjoy daily.
The expectations, momentarily, of the Lord's return for us.
And we will not all sleep.
This one here is the truth of the one body. There is one body. We've had it in our chapter and and.
It's especially how that by Revelation verse 3 verse 6.
That the Gentiles should be fellow heirs and of the same body and partakers of the promise in Christ by the gospel. You can't get anything bigger than that. That's Jews and Gentile all formed into one body. That's the work of Christ. I will build my church. Christ has begun it, and he's still working at it.
Now he wants a witness to that.
I tell you, brethren, there's only one body, and there's only one witness to that truth with one body, and it's on one Lord's table. There are not 2 Lord's tables.
And it's the Lord's Supper.
In that one law.
It's remarkable. We look at that loaf and we discern a figure of the body that Peter writes about to his own self, bear our sins and his own body on the tree. That's the first view that we recognize in that one law.
But it's composed of members.
And so there's one loaf there to give a true witness that there is one body. And God looks down and he loves that testimony. Christ loves it. Satan hates it. He'd been trying to smash it, that part, ever since it was initiated. He can't do it. It's sort of like trying to bring peace in Jerusalem. They can't do it till the Prince of Peace comes back. We're living in interesting times and it's a wonderful thing to enjoy this chapter where there is one body. Nothing can ever change that.
We have the revelation of the mystery, which is Ephesians 3, the truth of the one Body. And then he had a special revelation as to the Lord's Supper, Lord's Table, which at which is expressed the truth of the one body. And then there was a special revelation given to him as to as he says in First thessalonians 4. This we say unto you by the word of the Lord.
That we the living shall not precede those that are fallen asleep, and so on.
What's the 4th one I think?
15 and it's introduced by similar words.
It's these words in verse 51.
1St Corinthians, 1551.
Paul introduced another special thing that was given to him to give to us. Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of life. It's the fact of that and the manner of it is developed in First Thessalonians 4. We've got so much to be thankful.
Four special crews that were given to the prisoner to give to us.
Significant that in this epistle we are getting into the practical side of the truth in chapter 4 and along the same lines that we have been considering. It's the collective aspect of the apostle takes up first.
I think if we had been writing it, we would have put down the individual aspect of it, which starts with verse seventeen of our chapter and goes on to the end of the epistle. But no, the apostle takes up the collective aspect first, showing, as we've been mentioning, the importance of that precious truth of the one body. And it's that, is it not that the devil would make a special attack on it, it seems to me.
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An observation that.
While Satan hates everything to do with the things of Christ and his brother Jim has been saying he would smash everything if he could, but he will even tolerate a measure of fellowship and joy amongst Christians. He will even tolerate a measure of blessing in the gospel if he can take a direct shot at the truth of the one body, because that dishonors Christ. If we could say it this way, more than anything else, it's something that is so precious to his soul.
Precious to his heart. And I believe that's why it has the first place in these exhortations that are given to us here. I understand that.
I'd like to mention what is said to Philadelphia.
Satan can't do away with the truth of the one body, and he can't do away with the witness to it because of God.
And but there's a warning into the Philadelphia assembly there in in Revelation.
Hold that fast which thou hast.
That's all these precious truths that are given to us, brethren. We've been given these things. We've been given them. We have them. Why, that no man takes thy crown tells me that if I don't hold them past, God will have somebody else to do it. And I believe that with all my heart. If I give it up, He's going to bring somebody else. It's wonderful to me to see how He goes down in these lands to the South of us and over on the other side of the world, and save soul here and save somewhere.
And who give them their truth, if they will take it?
There's going to be seats together to the Lord's name, breaking bread till the day the Lord comes, or he wouldn't have asked us to do it.
Speaks of our walk, and as Bill is mentioning, it's more in connection with the collective walking together as one body that we are in Christ.
Notice in verse one it's walking.
Get down to verse 17 again. He mentions the matter of walking. It's our walk. It's our, it's practical. It addresses the way we walk. And so there should be a reflection. Given the truth that we have been given in Ephesians, there should be a practical reflection of that truth in our lives. Is it true? If it is true, then we have to live by it, brother.
And so.
It's a matter of our walk. It's been helpful to me to see in the 1St 16 verses which has been mentioned. It's more the collective thing as to the body of Christ. The 1St 3 verses are practical exhortation as to how we should walk. From verse four. It really is a statement of fact. Again, it simply says one body. There is as an italic.
One body. It's stating a fact. It's not exhortation exactly.
And from verse 4 to 16, it really is part of the doctrine of the epistle. Again, it's stating what God is, has done and is doing in the body of Christ. And I I think it is helpful to see that. So the 1St 3 verses specially treat as to exhortation as to how we should walk in view of this truth of the one body. We are one body, that's a fact.
And like someone who said, nobody can change that, for as much as I want to ignore the truth of it, for as much as I am contrary to it, the fact remains I have changed nothing. The fact remains there is one body. And so if we are one body, then there should be some practical recognition of that in the way we walk together as believers in the Lord Jesus.
How are we?
Who have so many diverse feelings about things and different opinions so often, How are we going to walk together practically? And that's what we get in these verses. Verse 2, with all loneliness and meekness, with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love. What a tremendous amount to think about brethren in that verse.
All lowliness, meekness.
Some of us may have gotten a little bit of this, but is there anybody in this room can say I've got all I need? I don't think anybody would ever say yes. I've got all loneliness and meekness. No, brethren, we're still learning and we need this exhortation. We're going to walk together as members of the body of Christ. We're going to have to put this into practical.
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Effect in our lives.
All lowliness and meekness, long-suffering, forbearing one another in love.
Attract us to do that, give the motive for it is the vocation, wherever they are called, and much of it is in the first chapter. Just read a few verses in the first chapter. If we can get our hearts there, our feet will want to go there.
And the loveliness of what it says in this prayer of Paul in the.
1St chapter, beginning with the 17th verse. That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know.
What, what is the hope of his car?
And it's so large.
And what is the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the Saints? He brings us in the body, right in there.
And going on, it's in the power of resurrection.
And what is the exceeding greatness of the power of his power to us? Were to believe according to the working of his mighty power. These adjectives get as big as you can get them. The working of His mighty power. What was it which He wrought in Christ, when He raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in heavenly places? Now you see, we are so. We are associated. I'll read that 19th verse again.
What is the exceeding greatness of His power to us, or to believe we're associated in that same power that raised Christ up, set Him up there. Now that's what we have in His face. I'd like to turn to 1St Corinthians chapter one and get a simple statement of what we are called to there in the beginning of that collective epistle. It's easy to see and easy to understand.
The depth of it comes out more in our epistle.
But it's very very simple in first.
Corinthians, chapter one.
And justice, the ninth verse.
God is faithful by whom you recall. That's our vocation. That's Our Calling.
By whom you were cold.
And to the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. You can't get anything any bigger than that. The fellowship of Jesus Christ, the Son of God the Lord. We're called to it right in the start, in a collective way in Corinthians.
We can't really emphasize the need for the heart being open to take these things in. Our brother Buchanan has mentioned this and just go back to Ephesians 1 to the 18th verse, and I think there's something very important for us all to consider. I'll read this in Mr. Darby's translation, verse 18 of Ephesians one being enlightened in the eyes of your heart, so that you should know what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of his glory, of his inheritance in the Saints, and so on.
And I believe it shows, brethren, the importance of opening our hearts to take these things in, because if the heart is not affected, we can take these things up in an intellectual way. We may be able to turn from Scripture to Scripture and enumerate this precious truth. And it's important to be able to do that. We need to hold fast the form of sound words. And it's good to have an outline of truth. But that in itself is not enough. Because I believe that when our hearts are engaged.
And it's a person that they go out to. And when the heart goes out to a person, then our feet will follow.
There's really only one way to be a true disciple, and that is to have a heart where there's only one object in it. If I say when the heart is engaged, then the feet will follow. And perhaps just an illustration in the Old Testament that's been helpful. And that is in connection with Caleb, because with Caleb it's true. It says of him seven times in his history that he wholly followed the Lord. And what a wonderful commendation that is.
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But you see something else with Caleb too, because when he brought up that report of the good land, his brethren turned against him. The whole congregation spoke of stoning him, We might say for our purposes. It wasn't a popular truth that he presented to his brethren on that occasion. They all turned against him. And Caleb might have stood back and said, well, I'm going to wholly follow the Lord as an individual. That's important, brother. But not only did he follow the Lord as an individual, he went on quietly all those years in the wilderness with the people of God and.
He was about to see, as they wandered there, much more of the of sin and the governmental hand of God dealing with his people in the wilderness. He was going to hear fault finding and murmuring and complaining and those of his own generation fall around him. And he might have stood aside and said, well, I'll follow the Lord, but I won't go on with those people. No. And it's remarkable that you don't read of anything from that point where he brings up the report. You don't read up anything that Caleb said.
In the wilderness until they cross the Jordan and he comes to remind Joshua.
Of the promise made by the Lord through Noah those years before. Maybe you're just allowed to turn to Joshua 14 because I think what I'm leading up to, the key is there in Joshua chapter 14.
Caleb, as I say, was content to go on those years quietly following the Lord and with the people of God. But I think the key is here in the 14th of Joshua and verse 7.
For 40 years old was I when Moses, the servant of the Lord, sent me from Kadish Varnia to a spy out the land.
And I brought him word again. Now just notice this expression as it was in mine heart. What had preserved Caleb all those years in the wilderness and caused him to go on amidst all that he saw around him? The inheritance had gotten into Caleb's heart. It was there in his heart. And with that, in his heart, he could press on. And brethren, if this precious truth gets into our hearts, then the walk is going to be right. But if the heart is not right?
Walk is not going to be right and we can talk about walking in communion with the Lord and with one another and going on with as members of the body of Christ, and that's wonderful. We need those exhortations to walk worthy. But rather than I say, if we don't open our hearts to receive this precious truth, and if our hearts don't go out to the person of Christ, then it becomes just a set of rules, as doctrinally accurate as it may be.
You're mentioning about the the the state of the heart.
I want to ask a question or two. Each one of us can answer it before the Lord.
Are you saved? That's the first question.
If you answer that question yes, that means you are a member of the body of Christ.
Yes, you are a member of the body of Christ. Now we're to walk worthy of this calling. We've been called to be members of the body of Christ, and one with Him called into the fellowship of His Son, as we've heard and read.
Are you walking worthy of that calling?
One of the what is the central act that we perform every week that gives expression to the truth that there's one body? Well, that's their Lord's Table. It's that the Lord's Table where the Lord's Supper is partaken of. My next question is.
You said you were saved. That means you're a member of the body of Christ. Do you express that truth at this table every Lords day? And if you are a member of the body of Christ and do not express that truth, why not?
That's the that the Lord has given us down here to give expression to that. Can you say that you're walking worthy of that calling If you don't give expression to that truth that we're one body, that's the that's the the highest blessing that we have.
In this present dispensation of the grace of God is that we're members of the body of Christ, members one of another. You express that. Do you remember the Lord in his death, not just as an individual, but as a member of the body of Christ? Now that's a collective truth. We can't just remember the Lord as individuals. We do remember him in an individual way, true, but we we do more than that. We can't act as though we're not members of the body of Christ and of one another.
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And not give expression to that truth, and be walking worthy of that calling.
So I ask you, we should ask our own hearts if I'm the Lords and a member of the body of Christ, He has desired of me, of you, of each of us, that we remember him. And in that act we express a tremendous truth, that is, there is one body in this.
I don't know how better to put it to bring home to our consciences that there is a responsibility on our side to answer to the place of blessing and nearness into which He's brought us. And we have that privilege every large state. Do you?
Remember Him in his death. Have you taken your place at His table? You have a place there. Every member of the body of Christ has a place at His table. Have you taken that place?
I'd like to just add a little to that because this is a very important subject with me and I feel as much when I see young believers coming to meeting and the Lord is remembered, but they don't partake, but you know that they're members of the one body. And so my thought is this, it isn't just that the Lord said Remember Me. He said this do in remembrance of me. And I believe the reason is if it was left to us with our human reasonings.
We would get into a big contest to figure who would be remembering the Lord in the best way. And we know what men do. They build monuments. They have all the wonderful things that the Lord allows us to acquire as we go along this path. And they would all be seeking to do great things in remembrance of the Lord, valuing that great sacrifice on our behalf at Calvary. But the Lord said this too.
It's very plain as we read First Corinthians.
11 where Paul had one of those revelations, he says this cup, this loaf, it's specifically what the Lord wants from us is very simple. It leaves the flesh out completely. He says this do in remembrance of me and it's a wonderful thing if we think of the fact that he who has everything, he's Lord of Lord, King of kings, we he is so.
Wonderful in sharing this wonderful creation with us that we can earn our livings and so on.
But when it comes to the remembrance of him and that sacrifice that transcends any sacrifice we could ever think of our creator of this whole universe going down into the depths of death as a man in order to be the Lamb of God on our behalf. He says this do in remembrance of me. I just serious thing.
Add to it in the type and ask about it. In Numbers nine, we know that the Passover LED up to the time when the Lord's Supper was instituted, which follows on from that same Old Testament feast. And in Numbers 9, there's a special provision in keeping that Passover.
For somebody that's on a journey and not there, we don't need to read too many verses, but that's.
That's the subject of the chapter at the beginning and the way of keeping it.
And then?
These, these that were, these that were not there, what were they going to do? And.
And in the eighth verse, Moses said unto them, Stand still.
And I will hear what the Lord will command concerning you.
And the Lord speak unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If any man of you.
Or of your posterity shall be unclean by reason of a dead body.
Or be in a journey far off, yet ye shall eat the Passover unto the Lord.
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The 14th day of the second month, there was a month of grace in there.
And even they shall keep it and eat it with unleavened bread and bitter herbs, and they shall leave none of it until the morning, nor break any bone of it, according to all the ordinances of the Passover. Shall we keep it? Now this next verse, what I want to ask about, I know we're living in the day of grace, but clearly in the day in which it was given, there was a severe pronouncement.
I'll read the verse.
Verse 13 But the man that is clean.
And is not in a journey and for bear to keep the Passover.
Even the same soul shall be cut off from among his people, because he brought not the offering of the Lord in his appointed seat. That man shall bear his sin now, that's that's the strength of the law in that day. But there's a principle there for us as to what Chuck has brought out and **** has thought about to stir us up.
To take up our privilege.
To represent the place into which we are called publicly. To show that Jesus lives and he lives in his body.
Jesus lives, and he lives in his Saints.
The world can't get rid of Jesus. They'd have to get rid of every St.
Remember the body of Christ to get rid of Jesus. They think we've got rid of it, but they haven't. You have taken Him personally up on heart, but the body is being formed that's livingly connected with the head and gives expression to them.
10 For justice a minute on this point, 1St Corinthians 10.
Verse 16.
The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ?
The bread which we break, is it not the communion? That's the same word that is rendered fellowship, or called to the fellowship of his son in the first.
Is it not the communion or the fellowship of the body of Christ? For we, being many are one bread and one body, for we are all partakers of that one bread. In the 1St century it was not.
The habit at all that one was a member of the body of Christ and not partake of that one world. Everyone who was a member of the body of Christ partook of it unless he was excluded by discipline. But you're not talking about that. You're talking about what Clem was reading in Numbers nine. One, that is clean and there's no reason for them not to eat the Passover, and yet they've done that when you let that the the loaf and the cup pass by you.
If you're a member of the body press, really when you don't partake, you are saying I'm not a member of the body of Christ.
Yes, but I'm not looking at that. I'm thinking of one who is clean and he's going on well.
But for some reason he hasn't taken his place at the table.
You're really saying I'm not a member of the body of Christ? I know you don't mean that. That's what your act is saying, isn't it?
Ready for a believer to be at the Lord's table and to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread. I was thinking of an expression in connection with what you brought out earlier, Brother Chuck, you introduced this subject because again, it's a question of the heart and it's a question of a person. We sometimes, and don't misunderstand me when I say this, we sometimes use the expression, we remember the Lord in death. I have no problem with that expression whatsoever. We often use that and rightly so.
But it's interesting that three times in connection with the remembrance of the Lord, he says this do in remembrance of me. Maybe it would be helpful just to look at those 3 expressions very briefly. The first one is that the institution of the remembrance feast in Luke's Gospel 20 chapter 22. And maybe I'll say while we're turning to it, that one who is a brother, you can and said clean and as you mentioned, a member of the body of Christ and does not remember the Lord at his table.
00:55:17
He's really robbing not just himself, that's true, but he's really robbing the Lord, robbing the Lord of his joy and His desire in having that person there to respond. We won't read all of these are well known scriptures, but just notice to bring to bear on our hearts and consciences the last expression of the 19th verse of Luke's Gospel, chapter 22. This is the Lord Jesus himself speaking to the disciples in the upper room.
Do in remembrance of Maine, it's a person that we remember. It's true that we remember the work and it's right and proper that scriptures be read that we call our hearts to Calvary and it's the ground of our blessing. And so we often have those and I think it's good on Lord see morning to have scriptures that we call our hearts to Calvary and so on. But now let's go over to 1St Corinthians 11.
One Corinthians 11.
Again, we won't read all of this, but just notice the last expression of verse 24. This do in remembrance of me. Now notice in connection with the cup in the end of verse 25. This do ye as OFT as ye drink it in remembrance of Me. And perhaps we could just let those words burn into our souls. This do in remembrance of me does the person of Christ and what He has done for us.
Mean no more to us, brethren, than to sit on Lord's Day morning and let that lull from that cup pass by and not respond to that request that He has made. And He has preserved this precious feast to us, not only the privilege of breaking bread, but of partaking of the Lord's Supper at the Lord's Table even in 1999. Because how long till he comes? And he wouldn't say till he comes. He wasn't going to provide and maintain a scriptural basis on which to do it.
Until the moment that we're called away and all gathered around the person of Christ, the Lamb in the Father's house.
But does the person of Christ know more affect our heart than to sit here tomorrow morning if we're left here, and to let that loaf and cups go by? May we hear these words, May I hear these words burn into my soul. This do in remembrance of me.
The power of gathering brother, and I think that's important to keep before it.
We do it on the ground that there is one body, and I think it's important for us to understand that too. We're going to walk rightly, but what is the power of gathering is attraction to the person of Christ, and that's why it should be his person before us.
This do in remembrance of Maine. It also says you do show the Lord's death because in no place in all of history was God's love shown as in that moment when Jesus was crucified and gave his life for us. I'd like to suggest to brother, and I fully agree with all that's been said on the matter of breaking bread, how important that is.
That this brethren, the truth of the one body should be something that is practically affects us every moment of every day. And, and I think we need to reflect on it, our relationships one with another on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, all through the week. It should be a reality to it. We have brethren in other countries who are suffering severe persecution, some of them put to death.
For the name of the Lord. Are we one body with them? Most certainly we are. We don't know many of them in the flesh. But we need to be exercised, brethren, as to our responsibility as members of the body of Christ in seeking to be a help in the measure that we can. Many are not where we can have practical fellowship at the Lord's table with them.
Still, they are members of the body and there should be a practical desire to be a help in whatever measure we can. There are souls in our areas where we live that we meet up with. How can we be a blessing to them to seek their good? And that's where we have to be exercised in these verses. And it says with all loneliness and meekness and I, I just marvel, Lord, brethren, when I consider the Lord Jesus.
01:00:31
In his testimony down here, how accessible he was to everyone who felt his need, the woman of Samaria did not feel repulsed by him, even though he told her what kind of a life she was living. She felt attracted to him. Isn't that beautiful loneliness I often find of myself when I speak to somebody about the Lord? I don't know, perhaps something in me, but I feel.
I get the feeling that that person feels repulsed. I mean that I'm taking an attitude of being better than they are.
Saved. Oh, that there were more of this loneliness.
To seek the good of others. Lowliness and meekness. Beautiful characteristic to meditate on. Nowhere can we learn it better than with the Lord Jesus. He said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart. There you're going to learn it. We may have somewhat of those characteristics in some measure, but as I say again, none of us can say we have it all.
The Lord Jesus says take my yoke and learn of Maine, brethren. What a beautiful opportunity to learn from Him, to get into His presence, to be more like Him. You know when you're in a yoke and there's two oxen and a yoke, they have to go together. If one stops, the other has to stop. If one goes to the right, the other has to go to the right.
And he said, take my yoke. It's something he's saying to your heart and to mine. How am I going to learn this loneliness, this meekness, but taking his yoke and learning of him?
You need to finish that first.
Result.
Yoke together with unbelievers. Be sure we're yoked up with the Lord.
Embers should have the same care one for another. And one of the gods of this age, I believe, is self. And we're a very selfish, at least I have to say for myself, I'm very selfish in my motives and my actions. The natural man, the tendency of his heart is to draw a circle and put himself in the center of that circle and do everything for himself. But that's not the way it's to be with us in Christianity.
There is to be a new center in our lives, and that's Christ. And if Christ is the center, then his interests will take up his interest as well. And to be able brethren, to give ourselves. Do we know what it is to.
As it says in Romans 12, I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your intelligence service. And in first John chapter 3, where he brings before us the Lord Jesus, laying down his life for us, then he says we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. Do we know what it is to lay down our lives? Perhaps not physically, but to lay down our lives for our brethren to give ourselves?
In sacrifice.
Lord Jesus and to one another. Well, this is what will give happiness and peace, more blessed to give than receive. Perhaps you'll allow me just to say, 2IN connection with meekness and loneliness, that in Matthew chapter 18, we often read those verses concerning the Lord Jesus speaking in anticipation of the formation of the assembly and giving instruction to go on in the local assembly. The seeds, we might say, of the function and administration of the local assembly, that is.
From verse 15 through verse 20. But it's very significant to notice where that those verses are couched.
Because the whole first part of the chapter is taken up with the question of humility. Just read it sometime.
01:05:02
So that whole first part of the chapter has to do with the subject of humility, and the whole rest of the chapter from verse 21 on has to do with forgiveness. I think it's very wise of the Spirit of God to couch that precious truth in those between those two things.
Because that's the gas and oil that makes the machinery run properly. You might have a very good piece of machinery, you might have a very good engine out in the parking lot in your vehicle. But if you go to go home this evening and you don't have gas and oil in it, you're not going to get very far down the road until that's all going to seize up. You say I had the best piece of machinery that money could buy, but you didn't have the gas and oil. And so the Ephesian brethren later on were written to by John.
They had everything in very much order. Why, they were even able to detest the false apostles. Things were in order.
But they had left their first love. That's a warning to us.
Part of our verse we're considering in.
Ephesians 4. Let's look at Ephesians 4. The end.
Of verse two forbearing one another in life. Paul is at all too forgiving for bearing bearing with one another in love. That's what makes things work in the assembly.
I think it's important. Sometimes we talk about discipline in the assembly, and that's certainly necessary according to the light of scripture, but.
Really we need brethren to understand what it means to discipline ourselves and to forebear is a self disciplinary measure. And I think it's extremely important like to say in connection with this, loneliness, somebody said is one that will not tread on somebody else's toes. Whereas meekness is one who doesn't mind when somebody threads on his toes. And I, I think those are so important to think about. Sometimes people may be lonely, but they're not very neat.
Meekness. We have an example in the Old Testament in Moses is in the 12Th of Numbers, where Miriam and Aaron complained against him, and it is beautiful to see how he handled that.
He had married an Ethiopian woman and they complained and the Lord was jealous for Moses and smote Miriam with leprosy. What was Moses response? As you say, you got what you deserved. No, he said, Lord heal her now. He prayed with a sincere desire for her.
Fullness for her blessings.
And when somebody speaks against me, what is meekness is the ability to be able to get down in my knees and sincerely without any resentment to pray for that persons good. And that is a real challenge to me brother. And and it would liberate us from a lot of bitterness. We could just learn that characteristic of Nicole.
Or I read here that now the man Moses was very deep above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Where did he learn this? He wasn't Born This Way.
On the backside of the desert it's been mentioned, and I think too, at the burning Bush.
When it was required of him to remove his shoes from office teeth coming into the Divine presence, and it's only there, is it not, that we begin to learn what we are and be willing to have this object before us and to become more like Him?
So it's a slow process, it's not in one step, but it's a wonderful process.
Tension in this verse, long-suffering. I remember, I think **** Gorgas spoke on this one time and he said, brethren, we don't pronounce this word right.
Long-suffering.
We tend to live in a day when we want things done and done right now and.
Sometimes, brethren, what we have perhaps learned in maybe 10 or 15 years, we want somebody else to learn it in five or 10 minutes, and that is the lack of long-suffering. The Lord help us to understand what this means.
01:10:20
Thinking we like to justify ourselves and to vindicate ourselves in a situation. Something may be said against us or done against us, and may be unjustly, but the natural heart flares up and wants to have that difficulty straightened out. But there's a nice example with the Lord, the perfect example, of course. It says Who? When He was reviled, reviled not again. When He suffered, suffered, He threatened not. He just left those things. How could He do it? He committed himself to Him. That judgeth righteously.
And I believe this will help us to exercise practical meekness and loneliness.
In realizing that, we don't have to vindicate ourselves to just leave those things with the Lord.
He has the record down properly, he knows the motives of the heart and people may judge our motives or judge us or our actions or whatever.
But to be just like the Lord Jesus and leave those things knowing that there's a day when they will be brought out.
Think of Mary. She poured out her ointment at the feet of the Lord. Not only did Judah speak against her, but all the disciples spoke up against her.
Did Mary flare up and say well I've saved this costly ointment and I did this in a pre? No, you don't read of anything that Mary says there.
She just left it with the one who had knew her motive and had the record down properly.
To make the unity of the Spirit do.
It's already made.
All we've got to do is to keep it.
Important to see that, isn't it? Because there is a unity of the Spirit just as much as there is one body, isn't there? I can well remember quite a few years ago now where I used the expression breaking the unity of the Spirit. And I'm thankful that a brother came up to me afterward and said, Bill, where do you find that expression in Scripture? And we don't, we are exhorted to keep it, but in the uniting bond of peace.
So as you say, Brother Buchanan, there is a unity of the Spirit. We don't make it, but we do have the privilege of keeping it. And it has been a real voice to my own soul. Because if we could say it, very few Christians today, if they really have any intelligence in the things of God at all, would deny that we are members of one body. They might have 200 years ago, but that truth has come out. It has been spread, and much of Christendom knows and understands it to a degree.
But if there is one body, there is also one spirit as we get in this chapter, and there is a unity of the spirit. And so if I'm going to appreciate and hold the truth of the one body, I am called to express it by using diligence that the Darby translation of this verse to keep the unity of the spirit. Well, that's quite an exercise to our heart, isn't it? How often we have seen that.
Unity not kept in the way it should.
I think Mr. Bellitt uses a nice illustration. He says the unity of the spirit is like a precious jewel, and you and I have the privilege of keeping it in a casket that was made for it. He says how many times has that casket suffered damage because we have not used diligence to keep that unity of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace. And so if there is a unity of the spirit, there is a uniting bond of peace in which we can keep it.
But it requires real diligence, doesn't it?
State succinctly exactly what we do.
In order to keep that unity of the Spirit. Perhaps it's already been mentioned, but would you just speak?
I think I remember Ch Brown saying that this is seen in a child of God.
Which?
Walks according to the Word of God as guided by the Spirit of God.
The Spirit wrote the book, just all you have to do is obey the book that's granted by the Spirit of God, getting your teaching from Him.
01:15:07
There it is one.
We're not told to keep the unity of the body.
What that would mean would be that we have to walk in fellowship with every member of the body of Christ the world over, regardless of what his doctrine is or his walk is or his associations are. We would have to walk in fellowship with every member of the body of Christ if we had to keep the unity of the body, if I were to keep the unity of Spirit.
And he is called the Spirit of truth. He is called the Holy Spirit.
So it is a holy unity. It is a unity that is characterized by truth and not error and not evil. It is holy, and that's the unity of the Spirit. So that doesn't mean that that we're going to walk in fellowship practically with every member of the body of Christ, because some are not walking in the Spirit. So what to keep the unity of the Spirit is to walk in company with the divine person on earth, the Spirit of God who is holy.
And who is true?
The importance of the word endeavoring.
I think it indicates that this is not something that's easily accomplished. We have to consciously seek to do it and we have to have the energy of faith to carry it out because I think Scripture, as we all feel, is very practical. And so here it's put, it doesn't say keeping, but endeavoring to keep. In other words, we have to consciously keep this before us and see our responsibility, knowing God's Word. And by the way, I'd just like to add to what you're saying that.
The unity of the Spirit is found in this book.
It might help in Philippians too.
And the second verse, the very suggestion of the way the verse reads.
Know the first verse of Philippians 2.
There are ifs here.
Sometimes you can change that word to sin.
We read it with sin, since there be therefore consolation in Christ.
Since there is comfort of love.
Since there is.
Fellowship of the Spirit, since there are bells and mercies down here, it's practical. And when we get involved in it, the F come in because our walk and as you say, we have to endeavor, use diligence because we've got another will besides this. But there is the fellowship of the Spirit.
And to see the connection between verses 2:00 and 3:00.
It's been a marvelous revelation to my own soul to recognize that the abiding presence of the Spirit of God on earth is something that is peculiar to this dispensation. And if I may make mention of His name without in any way trying to lift him up, but Mr. Darby said that probably that was the most significant truth that God had recovered through brethren in the last century.
I believe that's true. And so we don't have, like the Old Testament, a scripture to cover every situation that arises in our lives or in the assembly. I believe we have principles in the Word of God. We may have illustrations of situations that we may run into, but this dispensation is characterized by the abiding presence of the Spirit of God on earth.
Why then are these verses linked together? Oh, I would suggest that. Well, let me use an illustration. I can remember showing a scripture to a Christian friend of mine. She was a patient of mine. I knew her well. And I said, I believe this is what the word of God would say on a particular subject. And she said, you mean that your interpretation of what it says. And of course, therein lies the big problem, doesn't it? Because.
Different Christians, even true believers, pick up the word of God and one of them says, I think it means this, and another say says, I think it means this is the unity of the Spirit and that no, there isn't. So what do we need? Do we need loneliness and meekness? Which one of us would stand up here and say, well, I'm always walking in the unity of the spirit, so if you only see it my way, you're sure to be all right. I don't think any of us would make that statement, not even the best taught or the most advanced Christian.
01:20:13
And so there needs to be loneliness and meekness constantly in looking at the Word of God, realizing that in any one of us, our own natural thoughts, as we've heard, can take us where the Spirit of God would not lead. And then we can be thankful for what others may, may do to seek to correct us. Now, the other side of that is, of course, that as we get in John's ministry, we need not that any man should teach us why.
Because we do have the Spirit of God abiding in each one and if there is something that is said which is not according to the mind of God, we have the Spirit if we're walking with the Lord and in the power of the Spirit to tell us that, that is not the shepherds voice. But I say that because sometimes there's a bit of confusion and people say, well, just follow the Word of God. And sometimes we pick up the word of God and we have different thoughts on it. Well, we have no right to an interpretation of Scripture except as the Spirit of God, kids.
But that's why there needs to be loneliness and meekness for bearing one another in love, realizing each one of us needs the thoughts and correction of others at times.
That forms the body of Christ and I think that's an important point by 1 Spirit are we all baptized into one body. So the two things are really joined together and so it's not a matter like you say Bill of what my interpretation is. I may be wrong and I should be willing to admit it if the Lord shows me from his word, but and you may be wrong.
But the point is, the Spirit of God has something in mind when he's 10. These words, what is it? It's not a matter of interpretations, it's not a matter of opinions. It's a matter of what God, by his Spirit is seeking to tell us.
And to walk in the light of that, that's what is the unity of the Spirit.
There's 3 words to guide those who are listening, he said. Here and understand.
This book teaches us it doesn't matter what we teach from it. That's not the guide, it's what the word said.
Willed to do his will shall know of the doctrine. So ultimately it comes back to what our true desire is. Do we really want to do the will of God? So we think? 30 for the book.
36 in the appendix.
We go to.
To me.
Ephesians 3:4-11
Reading
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Our God and Father, we would continue.
With the expressions of this hymn. To confide in thee to trust in the living God.
Realizing our dependence and that high calling wherewith we are called, that we might walk worthy of it, and as in the circle of brethren, to abide there in peace and love one toward another. We thank Thee for the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who's written the book and would depend upon thee for the liberty. May we allow the liberty of the Spirit to bring home to our souls. We think of thee, young one.
Who have not perhaps gotten much of the truth that we are considering in this chapter. May we be able to bring it forth in a simple form to build up those who are coming along in the faith. Build them up in that most holy faith. We pray for ability to express these truths for the good of all of us. We give thanks to our Father and ask in Jesus precious name, Amen.
Explorer Chapter four, Chapter 4 of Ephesians.
Ephesians chapter 4 verse four. There is one body and one spirit, even as ye are called and are holy, or even as ye are called and one hope of your calling. 1 Lord, 1 faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all, and is you all.
00:05:06
Well, that's where everyone of us is given grace, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. Therefore, he said, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men. Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
In the Descent is the same also that ascended a far above all heavens, that he might kill all things.
And he gave some apostles and some prophets, and some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the Saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, till we all come in the unity of the faith.
And of the knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that we henceforth be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive, but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things.
Which is the head, even Christ, from whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supply it, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, making increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love, as I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk in the vanity of their minds.
Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them because of the blindness of their heart, who being past feelings have given themselves over until lasciviousness to work all in cleanness with greediness.
But ye have not solar in Christ, if so be that you have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the truth is in Jesus, that he put off concerning a former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
And be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the Newman, which after God has created in righteousness and true holiness, Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another.
Be angry and sin not. Let not the sun go down upon your wrath, neither give place to the devil.
Let him that stole steal no more, but rather let him labor working with his hands.
The things which is good that he may have to give to him that needeth. Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers, and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you.
With all malice and be kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ sake have forgiven you.
Four or five and six.
Four is the circle of reality.
All who are in that circle, members of the One Body by the one Spirit and our, and have the hope of their calling.
Their true believers.
They've all been born again and sealed by the Spirit and indwelt of the Spirit. But in verse five, the circle is larger. It's the circle of profession.
00:10:02
Those that profess the one Lord and the one faith and have been baptized. Now we know that not everyone that's been baptized and professes the the Lord says he's a Christian. He's not a Muslim, he's not a Hindu, he's not some other religion, but he's a Christian. Not all of those are truly saved. That's verse 4. Verse five is profession and then verse six is the spirit of creation.
One God and Father of all, who is above all and through all. And then it goes back to the 1St circle and in you all.
That's the largest sphere, and God is the there's a sense in which he's the father of all. It's not the established relationship that we have.
Being brought into sonship, but the fact that he is the the originator, the source of all. And so there is a sense of the fatherhood of God in that sense.
Before we leave the thought of the one body.
I'm not saying we're going to leave it, but.
How can there's two ways to deny the truth of the one body? We say that we're gathered on the ground of the one body. What does that mean?
Well, I think the easiest way to get a hold of it is to illustrate two ways of denying it. In the Church of England, for instance, I use this as an example of the fellowship of the Church of England is larger, broader than the one body, because all you have to be to be a member of that church is to be an Englishman. And you don't have to be born again. You don't have to be sealed by the Spirit necessarily.
You don't have to be a member of the body of Christ.
To be in the Church of England, as long as you are an Englishman, you are in that. That's broader than the one body. And then there are sects which have conditions of fellowship which are narrower than the one body. It's not enough to be a member of the body of Christ, to have a place at their their table, but you have to subscribe to certain doctrines that they have which are peculiar to their particular sect.
And that's sectarianism, and that's narrower than the one body. Now, we have to be careful that we don't fall into that trap by setting up rules that make us a sect. And that's a possibility that we can fall into that kind of thing. We don't admit any. Sometimes the question is raised, was Judas Iscariot, did he partake of the Lord's Supper? The answer is no.
And I think the Lord the Word makes it very clear in First Corinthians 10.
We who partake, we are in communion with the blood of Christ and the body of Christ, we express that we're members of that one body. So those that take the Lords Supper.
If there's a church, for instance, that allows its members, whether they're members of the body of Christ or not, to take the Lord's Supper, that's totally contrary to Scripture because they're not members of the body of Christ and they have no part in the Lord's Supper.
So the expression of keeping the Lord's Supper is an expression of those who are true members of the body of Christ, and they're the only ones that are that should be there and that should have that privilege. I know that's violated in many churches nowadays, but that's what Scripture would teach.
And then you can be, you can be in a fellowship that is much broader. And that's the one I just described. And some of that are much narrower that if you don't agree with their particular doctor and their mode of baptism or whatever it might be, and then you can't, if you're not baptized by one of them, then you're not, you can't be a member of that church. And that's a narrower thing than the one body. And so it's really a denial of it. So they can, the truth of the one body can be denied.
In either one of those ways, and we have to be careful that we don't set up rules and regulations that are inconsistent with the truth that all believers who are members of the body of Christ has have a place at the Lords Table.
00:15:08
To make it simple as to the positive side of the one body and how we get into it, let's read 1St Corinthians 12.
Versus 12 and 13?
It seems so clear there is one bug, so how do we get into that?
Our chapter develops, I think, of the work of Christ by the Spirit, so that in writing to the Corinthians in chapter 12, First Corinthians, we'll read verses 12 and 13.
Or as the body is wrong.
And has many members and all members of that wanted body being made are one body.
So also great. You notice the ears in my bubble is in italics. Some have said it ought to read so also the Christ indicating the head in the body as one.
Now verse 13, four by one spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free, and have been all made to drink into one spirit.
And I'd like for somebody to explain what the baptism of the Spirit is, and that it was perhaps a one time thing.
The two parts to it.
And it is there.
Somebody open up to us?
Well, the baptism of the Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost.
When the Spirit of God united into one body, those individual believers, and that's a once once for all thing that happened. It's not repeated every time a soul gets saved.
That expression is used over and over again and in in the in the church world, the baptism of the Spirit is usually used to.
Disconnected with speaking in tongues, but it's that's not the that's not the force of it at all. Baptism of the Spirit took place on the day of Pentecost and formed the one body that had never existed before. And every believer now that gets saved and by the Spirit of God is then brought into that already baptized body. There's not a fresh baptism of the Spirit each time a soul gets saved.
But that took place once, but the Spirit of God then who indwells us, He brings us into that baptized body. It's interesting that expression, the baptism of the Spirit is used in Acts chapter one touching what took place in chapter 2. I just pointed out because I think it's important to understand that that's why what the baptism of the Spirit was for next chapter one, the Lord Jesus before he ascended to heaven.
Says in verse 5, for John truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence. And he was referring to what took place in chapter 2. And then you were mentioning Glenn that it kind of a installment too in the time of Cornelius and the Gentiles that were brought in in chapter 10.
And if you look in Chapter 11, when Peter is called to account for having gone to the Gentiles, he uses that same expression, the baptism of the Spirit.
Verse Chapter 11 of Acts verse 15 and as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell on them as on us at the beginning. So it was kind of an installment here then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized.
With the Holy Ghost. So both those times were really the baptism of the Holy Ghost to form the body of Christ in the beginning. Now a believer that here's the gospel and is sealed by the Spirit of God is united to that same body that is already formed. And so we become members of the body of Christ, not by any human.
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Endeavor or means, but by the work of the Spirit of God. I think that's important to see that the body of Christ is formed by the Spirit of God, not by us. We preach the gospel, but then the Spirit of God seals those that hear the gospel, and when he seals them, he unites them to the body of Christ that is already in existence. It's interesting to to note that the baptism of the Spirit.
The expression occurs in Acts one and then Acts 11 in Acts 2.
The Jews received the gift of the Holy Ghost in Acts 8. The Samaritans received the Holy Ghost and in Acts 10 both expressions are used, the gift of the Spirit and the Spirit himself. And then now that both Jew and Gentile have been brought into that it began in the day of Pentecost with the Jews, and then the Gentiles were brought in with Cornelius household. Then he closes the the the whole thing and says.
That what you just read them remembered I the word of the Lord, how that John said, John indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost. And that took place that began. You might say it that way. He began in Acts two. It was finished in Acts 10, because the baptism of the Spirit embraces Jew and Gentile chapter 2 and chapter 10. But now that both have been brought into that baptized body, there is no fresh baptism of the Spirit anymore.
We're all brought into that baptized body when we believe the Spirit of God is very careful to guard, lest we ever think that there was more than one church formed. And so that's why, as you say, it's brought out in the in that way so that there's no thought in our minds as to there being a Jewish church or a Samaritan church or a Gentile church or even a Jewish Gentile church. And I think it's helpful to see that at the end of Acts chapter 2, there's a little expression it says.
And the Lord added to the church daily, such as should be saved. Let me use a little illustration that helped me when I was a little younger. It's not an original illustration, but it did help me to understand this truth. Suppose we have about 120 beads in a bowl on the table.
And we decide that we're going to take these 120 beads and form a necklace. You take a string and you string those beads. Now they're not just 120 individual beads. That's what you had when they were gathered together in the upper room, waiting for the spirit to be given. You had about 120 individual believers. But now something else is formed. Just like that necklace, a new unit is formed. They're still individuals, but they're formed into a new unit.
But let's carry the illustration a little further. Suppose that some future point we.
Obtained some some more beads. Now what do we do? Well, we may untie the string and we may add those beads to what has already been formed. Now you wouldn't say I made a new necklace. I only added to that which had been formed in the beginning. And that's helps us to understand the Lord is still adding to the church daily such as should be saved. And when we look at that loaf on Lordstein morning, I think it's helpful to realize and we need to keep it before our souls or we're going to become narrower sectarian in our view.
We need to keep in view, brethren, that God sees in that loaf every believer in Christ, every believer alive on the face of the earth. On this morning, they're on the table. This morning there wasn't more than one loaf. There wasn't wafers. There was one loaf. And that loaf represented to the heart of God, not just the believers, about 300 of us or so gathered here in this room.
Not just the believers who practically express this truth in the breaking of bread, but every believer is a member of the body of Christ. And let's never forget that. Let me repeat that. Every member, every believer alive on the face of the earth this afternoon is a member of the body of Christ. And as outwardly as things may be in ruin, fragmented outwardly, but God looks down and he says in the language of our chapter, there is one body. Isn't that a tremendous thing to consider? There is one body I think that's so precious to.
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Realize and let it sink into our souls.
There is one body that's all God looks at when he sees looks at Mayfield, KY. How many bodies of believers does he contemplate in Mayfield, KY, one body that's all you can scripturally recognize and Mayfield, Kentucky, but it includes like you say, every true believer. The same is in chapter 12 of First Corinthians that was read as the body.
Is one.
Beautiful to think about it because there was the beginnings of.
Sectarianism in Corinth as an assembly, there was the seeds of it, and Paul still writes to them saying he doesn't recognize that he only recognizes one body. Scripture also speaks of division and I've been interested to see, and I'd just like to point it out. In First Corinthians, division, when it is mentioned, is not mentioned in connection with the body, and I think it's instructed.
First Corinthians chapter one and verse 10.
Says Now, I beseech you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you.
But that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and same judgment. He doesn't say that there be no divisions in the body. It's among you. And we carry an outward public testimony. And that's where we have failed, brethren. That's where failure has come in. And that's why we say there's ruin sometimes. I illustrate it this way. If a heathen comes from some part of the earth where they don't know about Christianity, and they come to Mayfield, KY.
And they say, I've heard that there's people called Christians here. I'd like to meet up with some. So he goes down the street. Where are there some Christians to meet up with? Well, down the street there's one place. And then he finds a little later another place and another place. He would never guess that there was one body of Christians. Why? Because the testimony, the public testimony is in ruins. But that doesn't change the truth.
That there is one body and that's what I think we need to get ahold of one other verse in.
Chapter 11 That speaks uses the word divisions.
But it again, it doesn't connect it with the body, but with us who are responsible to carry that testimony.
Chapter 11, verse 18. For first of all, when you come together in the church, I hear that there be divisions among you. It doesn't say divisions in the body, and I partly believe it.
Member in Bolivia one time meeting up with a sister who does a lot of church hopping and she goes until she gets fed up with one place and she goes to the next. And it's not a healthy situation, not a healthy thing for her, but that's where she happens to be in her soul. And she was talking to me one time, she said.
Brother, we should all be one.
Said to her sister. It's not that we should all be one. We are one. We're just not acting like it. We're not functioning like it. And I think that's the point, that we're not giving that testimony. But that's the ground. That's the only ground that God recognizes for our meeting together.
Well, that's the difference between our position and our position. We are all one, but condition wise, our state we're not.
Instead.
I'd like to ask the question I'm sure we all often get asked when we speak to others and identify ourselves as Christians and find out that they are too when they asked us. Well, where do you go?
Or who are you associated with?
I found in my own experience that not easy to represent this truth we're speaking about, that all believers are members of the one body and that we own the headship of Christ. And is there. Are there any words you might say that would be helpful? I'm sure many of us here have experienced this many times as to respond to that question. Because when they learn that we love the Lord Jesus, we have a knowledge of the Word.
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Then immediately they like to know where do you go and I.
You know, I'm sure we can all answer that, but it might take more time than you would have at that instant, you know, just meeting someone casually.
Come and see.
I passed the track to a salesperson at a gas station and and she said, oh, what church do you belong to? And I said to her, are you saved? Yes. Oh, I belong to the same one you do. There's only one church according to God's thoughts, and that's all true believers in the Lord Jesus. And she thought for a moment and she said that's the way it ought to be. It's just that simple.
Could I suggest that?
Although it's a convenient thing to do and perhaps might get us off the hook, may I strongly suggest that we not say that we are Plymouth Brethren?
Please do not. If I can emphasize that you we are not, that's right, because I'm telling the lie. I am not Plymouth forever. If somebody says where do you go? What are you connected with? If I can give my own experience, I usually say I gather simply with Christians who gather to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. What denomination are you? We are not part of any denomination. What do you call yourselves?
We take only the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, if they're interested, they'll express more. There'll be more questions. You can go into it as far as you want with them. Sometimes that's all they want to hear. But we have to recognize, on the other hand, that much of Christendom of which we are apart.
Is so predicated on the idea of a local so-called church where the pastor over it, that you have to recognize that many people can hardly think in any other terms except that. And so, as Brother Bob said yesterday, we can't expect to tell them in five or 10 minutes what we may have taken years to learn. And so we may have to understand that some of those things are not going to be easily understood.
But my experience, if I can say it humbly, has been much the same as Brother Chucks, in that once people grasp what you are telling them, they will almost invariably agree that that's the way it ought to be. And usually the argument is, but it's impractical today. You, you, you can't make that work today, but it sure ought to be that way.
I like what chapter Brown said to me once.
Are you a Plymouth brother? And he said.
Well, there's a brother from Lawrenceville, there's a brother from Cedar Rapids, there's a brother from.
San Diego. I don't see anyone from Plymouth though.
I thought that was a good answer.
I'd like to suggest something else that we should not say.
And you may be shocked at it, but to give them a schedule of well, we have Permian on Tuesday night, we have really mean on Thursday night, we have children's Main Lords Day morning, we have the breaking of bread and we have the Gospel in the evening.
That just sinks a person right down to the ground to give them something like this. And what our brother said back here was exactly what was said to the disciples to come and see.
But when did you come and see?
And where? Well, where is it? That's where the wisdom of God comes in. As to what? How we might open the door for them to come rather than just submerge them in a situation that they're overwhelmed in and don't understand.
Some years ago there was some interest on the part of a couple, and they lived some distance from an assembly, but some from the assembly there had contact with them and visited them a number of times. And the brother, I mentioned his name, he's well known to most of us here, but he and others visited this couple who were believers and who had a real interest in where the Lord would have them. And after several visits, the husband said to the wife after these brethren had left.
They said these brothers have come and ministered Christ to us, now we need to go and see where they're getting this. I thought that was very good. They had just gone and ministered the the truth to them. They warmed their hearts and that's what drew them. And that this was many years ago and that couple is still happily at the Lords Table. And so every situation is different. Every contact is different. We deal with souls as individuals. But I thought it was nice in that connection how the Lord gave wisdom to those brethren. As you say, if they said, well you need to come up on Lord Sea morning and be there at 10:30 and you need to come up on Wednesday night and be there by 7:30.
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That wouldn't have drawn their hearts out. No, it was Christ that drew their hearts out and eventually brought them to the place where these things were expressed in a practical way. But let me just say, we do deal with souls as individuals. The Lord did that. He didn't deal with the woman at the well the way He had dealt with Nicodemus in the chapter before. He didn't deal with the disciples the way He dealt with others. No, He, of course, being perfect, knew their hearts and knew what was needed. But I believe, brethren, if we're walking in communion.
And seeking the mind of the Lord in these things, whether it's dealing with souls in the gospel or whether it's dealing with them as to questions concerning the truth, the Lord can give us that wisdom to know what to say and what to act. But can I just say this too, in connection with the burst Brother Dave quoted, Come and see. There really is nothing like them seeing it for themselves when the time is right. Because when they ask the Lord, where dwelleth thou?
He didn't go into some long explanation about where he dwelt. And we can go into sometimes long explanations of fine points of doctrine. And I'm not saying that there perhaps isn't a time for that, but that he didn't go into a long explanation. He simply said come and see. And men are so used to system today a system of things that where everyone's pigeonholed and taken care of and everything is run for you. It's very difficult. It's already been said for them to get beyond.
Seeing how anything can function.
Without man's organization, but when they see it for themselves and the Spirit of God makes it good to them, then I believe it's a reality. I'd just like to add, I think to come and see me to remember it's the lower is not the brethren or the meeting room or how we conduct the meetings to the board and use that you don't want to use to come and see in reference to ourselves.
It worked out that way in the 14th of.
First Corinthians where the assembly is functioning, somebody come in and they'll hear, hear the word. They'll report that Christ is in you and.
The church is functioning. What is going on in our chapter? The next verse takes up something for us and responsibility about what has just been said for I believe here in this chapter.
We have the gifts from the ascended head on high and that there are five of them.
And that through them, by the Spirit, Christ is building his church, the one church. So it's kind of surprising to look at the next verse 7. But unto everyone of you is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ.
There are three chapters that give us gifts.
Romans 12 are the gifts that God has given, I believe.
And.
First Corinthians.
Perhaps it's 12. It's the gifts that the Spirit of God reports. But here's Christ.
And here there are 5 gifts listed and they remain.
Not anything said about those signed gifts remaining, but here Christ is building his church and just to see those facts, those five gifts.
Or what he is using to give to build and to hold together.
This assembly, well, it's very instructive for us, but when he says to everyone of you is given grace according to the measure of the gift of Christ, there's no such thing as one pastor in this assembly, every one of you.
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Everyone has a gift and everyone has grace to use that gift and at the time to lead others into the wonderful truth of what Christ is doing.
When it says everyone of us has received is given grace.
He's talking about a gift.
The word grace and gift are very closely related. Is given grace that is the the gift of grace to be used in grace for him and for the glory and blessing of the assembly. Each one has a gift. And so you can't say I don't have a gift. You may not have a public gift, but you have a gift. Everyone is needed, every member of my body.
Of them are not even seen, but the ones that are not seen are most vital to my.
Continuing here. And the same was true of your body. So many of those that are not seen publicly are very, very, very valuable, our sisters very valuable in the in the functioning of the assembly properly.
I think that's something that we need to meditate on, especially I say to younger brothers and sisters as well because it applies to all.
If you have a gift, like a brother was saying, there's no such thing as an assembly that has no gift. Every member has a gift. It's not maybe a public gift always and it perhaps there's different measures of gift. It speaks of the measure of the gift of Christ. There's some that are different measures and.
I think that should keep us brethren from trying to compare ourselves amongst ourselves and think that we've got a gift like that other brother. No, God gives gifts, and He gives grace to use the gift, and He gives gifts in different measures according to what he has in mind for use. But He has given a gift to everyone, and if he's given you a gift, it's to be used.
That's why He's given you a gift to be used for the good of all the fellow members of the body of Christ. And if you're not exercised about using the gift that God has given you, then you are really not only hindering yourself, but you're.
Robbing all other members of the body of Christ at the same time. And I think it's really important, Paul had to say to Timothy. Stir up the gift of God that is within you.
And Timothy was a timid person, it seems by the epistle. And, and there's that tendency just to want to kind of clam up and not say anything and not use the gift. But if he's given you something, it's to be used. What are we going to say when we stand before the judgment seat of Christ? And the Lord said, I gave you a gift. What did you do with that gift I gave you? And I, I really believe that if we would be stirred up, brethren.
There would be real blessing, but it seems like we get so involved in our material aspect of our lives, in our jobs and the world around. That's not our first calling, brethren. That may be necessary to sustain life, but that's not our first calling. We are members of the body and He's given gifts to everyone. Are you using the gift that He gave to you, the function that we have as a member of the body of Christ?
Is really a function that no one else can do quite as well as you. He has equipped you, as you say, for that function. And I feel sometimes there are assemblies who suffer a real lack because there are those in the assembly who do not carry out the little function that God has given them as a member of the body of Christ. I suppose that was something of the exercise of Paul when he wrote to the Colossians Saints and he said and say to our Kippis, take heed to the ministry.
That thou hast received of the Lord, that thou fulfill it. Evidently there was a brother in the assembly there who wasn't carrying out the little ministry and were not told what it was. But he wasn't carrying it out. And the Apostle Paul felt that the assembly was suffering a lack. And this is good something for the young people. It doesn't start when men set up a corporation or a business. They don't start people at the top. They start people on the lower rung of the ladder if they prove themselves.
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Then they moved them up the ladder. Would God run something more careless than humans? And I believe that those who stay behind after the team meeting to wipe the tables and turn the chairs for the next meeting, they're the ones that God will use in perhaps a little greater way later on. Those who just kind of drift out and don't see anything to do and help they. He says, if we're not faithful in the little things, I'm not quoting exactly. He is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much. But perhaps we might say, well, I don't have any great manifested gift.
I don't have a gift like it's listed here in Ephesians. A pastor, an evangelist, a pastor, a teacher. Turn to 1St Corinthians 12 for a verse that I think might be helpful for each one of us.
First Corinthians, chapter 12.
And verse 28.
And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles and gifts of healing. You say, well, I don't fit into any of these categories, but rather than what's the next one, notice it carefully helps. And I believe that we can all be a help. And this is for the sisters too. The Apostle Paul when he wrote to the Philippians, Saints, he said and help those women which labored with me in the gospel.
There were women who had been a real help in some quiet way to the apostle Paul in the furtherance of the gospel. It's true they didn't stand up and preach like we'll have a preacher here tonight if the Lord leaves us here. It wasn't in a public way, but they went along. I've often been thankful in a gospel effort for sisters, godly sisters, who have been exercised to come and to be a part of that. We wouldn't have meals prepared the way they are. We wouldn't have some of the little things that are a help, sometimes personal contact with children and so on. All these things are, can be, can be a help. And so we need to be exercised. Are we a help? We're going to go back to the little assembly if the Lord leaves us here where we came from.
Brethren, are we going to be exercised to stir up that gift?
To exercise that little ministry and to be a real help again for the sisters. There were three women who followed the Lord in His pathway here, Mary Magdalene, Joanna and Susanna and others. But those three are mentioned by name, and they minister to the Lord of their substance.
And little did they realize that it would be written down in God's eternal record for you and for me and for our encouragement. But there it is. And I believe when I see them at the judgment seat of Christ, they're going to get a tremendous reward because they were a help to the Lord Jesus in his ministry here. And I think that sometimes those who carry on a little hidden work, a little service, those who are the joints and bands of the body perhaps will get a greater reward at the judgment seat of Christ.
Going on, we find Christ.
And his pathway coming down, descending, becoming a man, completing his work.
Buying the whole field that he might get the church out of it.
And then it starts in the parenthesis here.
Verse nine Now that he ascended, that's where he is that Paul was writing. What is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth. He went right down into death. He gave himself for the church. The next chapter tells us that.
And.
He got descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might kill all things. That man who went to lowest is now the highest.
But he's looking at what he's doing now in the gifts, and it goes right on with that. And he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers just play them.
Now Christ gave them.
And.
When the Church was formed, the foundation was the apostles and the prophets.
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I think you get them listed three times in this epistle.
But we don't have any apostles and prophets today living.
Because the book is complete, we've got apostles and prophets giving us this book.
It's nice to know that that we shouldn't look for those powerful gifts. The Lord is the same and the Spirit of the God is the same. But what we have are the three. And every assembly has those 3 gifts. Evangelists, pastors and teachers, whether they know it or not, they're there. Christ supplies them and you find them.
Beautifully in the first Gentile church formed in Antioch.
Where the disciples were first called Christian. It's so beautiful to trace these things in their primary results in the book of the Acts. And there you have it at Antioch.
The word went out. The gospel was preached. The Grecians believed.
And there were there were also Jews there, but it was primarily a Gentile church.
And so they needed gifts. Well, they had preachers to start with, evangelists. Let's turn back to that chapter and just see them because it's so simple to see the way Christ was building in that first Gentile church.
And that's the one where the Spirit of God would not let.
The teaching.
Corrupt teaching, that was.
Exported from Jerusalem take hold but here in the 11Th chapter of Acts when I get turned to it here.
We were commenting about this a while ago about the baptism and noticing that.
There's a supplementary part of it in Acts 10 and 11 That's connected with Pentecost.
And so the need was there.
Let's start at verse 19. Now they which were scattered abroad upon the persecution that arose about Steven, traveled as far as Venice and Cyprus and Antioch, preaching, preaching the word to none, but under the Jews and some of them were men of Cyprus and Cyrene, which when they were come to Antioch.
Speak unto the Grecians.
Preaching the Lord Jesus. Now it's indiscriminate. It doesn't matter whether it's Jews or Gentiles, it's preachers preaching the Lord Jesus from the hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number believe and turned unto the Lord. Think of this composite group. They're at Antioch.
By the evangelists work with Christ that supplied there in that place.
Now they had a further need. Verse 22.
Rent eggs of these things came under the ears of the church which was at Jerusalem, and they set forth Barnabas that he should go as far as Antioch.
When he came and had seen the grace of God, what he saw was the grace of God. He was glad and exhorted them all that with purpose of heart they should scream under the Lord. This was pastoral work on the inside. Barnabas, what a wonderful thing a pastor is. So Christ was supplying preachers at Antioch and pastors, but they needed one more. If we go on, we'll see that it was filled up too.
Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul 25.
When he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch, and it came to pass that a whole year.
They assemble themselves with the church. What were they doing? They taught much people how faithful Christ was with that first Gentile assembly. The preaching and the pastoral work and the teaching. It still goes on it. It hasn't changed.
Don't we find in the 13th chapter of Acts where the have the Antioch Assembly and the names there? Do we not find the three families of the earth there in that assembly, which to me amplifies the beauty of the three families of the earth Shem, Ham and Japheth brought together. And what are they doing there? Well, they're endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the uniting bond and peace.
00:55:24
That in the 13th chapter you're talking about.
Well, we know that the first dog that Paul was there, so he would be of the family of Sham.
And then you have Niger, which means black would be of the family of Ham.
And then we have the Romans here, which would be the family of Jacob. I ask, is it a question? But I have enjoyed seeing these three families brought together. But you get it earlier, very clear in the book of the Acts. So I'm glad you mentioned it because.
In the Gospel, the 8th chapter.
Phillip was set to meet that Ethiopian unit.
Who was of the children of Ham?
And he got to faith and believed so that the first one of the descendants of Noah to get that blessing that we know of was this Ethiopia, the descendants of half. Now you go to the 9th chapter and you get to Saul. You're talking about he was a descendant of Shem.
You go to the 10th chapter and you got the last one. Cornelius. He was of Jason. It's the largeness of the heart of God. It's not just the Jews, it's all the world. The gospel is so wonderful.
I want to say something about this, The Apostles and Prophets, which has been mentioned. It's the foundation work. If you go back to the second chapter and the 20th verse, it's looked at what is being billed as a building. You are build upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone. I think that's important to see because.
They laid the foundation work, and when you start building, you want to make sure you're on the foundation. So when we act as believers in the Lord Jesus, when we do things collectively, there should be some groundwork, some basis, some.
Something in the New Testament doctrine upon which we ground that action or that what we do it. I think it is important. It's the apostles. Of course we know the apostles were and the prophets in this sense of the word. Prophet is one who spoke the word of God before the Canon of Holy Scripture was complete. He gave the mind of God for certain situations. We have prophets today in a different sense of the word.
In other words, speaking the word of God.
For a certain situation, whether it's for edification or exhortation or comfort, but in this sense of the word, it was those that gave the mind of God before the Scriptures were complete, and that is the.
Groundwork. That's the foundation. You and I are not free to set up the program.
To do what we like. It's all laid down in Scripture. And I love to think of it, brethren, in Second Timothy, when the ruin was so great and Paul wrote writing to Timothy, he says the foundation of God stands firm. That will never change. Thank God for it.
Sometimes in our minds, we have to dig down through a lot of rubble to get what is really scripture.
Sometimes I've had to be challenged. Where do you get that out of scripture? And sometimes it didn't have any scripture for it. I found I was just thinking my own thoughts or maybe what somebody else had suggested. And we need to challenge things. We need to realize that if there's not foundation for it, it won't stand in the long run. And that's why we need to act. When we act, we can listen to council from other areas, but when we act, we need to act.
On what Scripture has been given to us, the principles of the word of God laid down in the apostles doctrine. And then you have, since it's looked at as a building, it's been mentioned you have those other three, the evangelists, and they like to think that they are the ones that go out and bring in new material to be built in to the building. And then the pastors and the teachers are the ones that build in that new material.
01:00:16
Into the building that presents a complete picture. In that way, I think it's nice.
In other words, the past shepherd.
The shepherd, the pastor deals with souls. The teacher deals with the Word.
Basically, the difference they're put together, shepherds and teachers, pastors and teachers, because you can't really deal with souls if you don't teach them, and you really don't know what to teach if you don't know something about the sheep you're teaching. So the two gifts are mentioned together.
Thanks. You're good, Chuck. I don't think I ever heard it that clear before. You want to go through that again for us, Listen to the tape.
Turn it on, Lamoy.
Go ahead and get it again.
The shepherd deals with the sheep, the teacher deals with the word, but they're put together because.
The shepherd also has to teach the sheep, though his primary gift is shepherding, and the teacher has to know the condition of the sheep, the sheep in order to teach them properly.
It's always mentioned in the plural and Scripture. We have pastors or shepherds mentioned in other parts too, but it's always in the plural. There's no such thing as a pastor of one assembly. It's not known in Scripture. It's a gift given to the whole church, to the whole body of Christ. And I I think rather than the work of pastoring, we have the idea that a pastor, somebody who gets up and preaches.
Because I think there's a lot of pastors that never speak publicly.
They are concerned with going after sheep and to seek to be a help to them where they needed and they go after and have them think sheep don't come back on their own when they get off track. They need to go have somebody go after him and help them to get back on track. We really need this. It's a gift that is given and it's perhaps a gift that is used in private an awful lot. I don't say it's not used in public, but it's used in private an awful lot, maybe doesn't have a lot of.
Reward or recognition connected with it, but it's.
So important, the truth of shepherding God's people. I'd just like to tell a little anecdote that happened. I remember the year 1963. My wife and I had spent a week in the Los Angeles area and visited most of the meetings. And at the end of that, on a Monday morning, we were going to go to the airport. And brother Reggie Gross have been our host that night. And he said we have time to stop and see chapter Brown and his wife.
On the way to the airport. And so we stopped for a few minutes and Brother Brown said to me, and I always remembered this, he said, Brother Yeager, he said this brother wanting a regret, he said is doing the most important work. This is the greatest need we have. And he meant that shepherding work. Because during that week, as we traveled around the area, every place we went, Red Cross and his wife was visiting the shuttins, the older ones, the ones who didn't get out the meeting.
A very quiet work with a real pastoral work, and that was Chapter Brown's judgment, he said he's doing the most needful work amongst us.
Well, the apostle Paul, who was not only a great teacher but no doubt a shepherd, a pastor, he said to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, I have ministered to you publicly and from house to house. And I think that's very, very important. And yet if I can just bear my soul for a moment, sometimes it's very, very difficult to visit in the homes of the Saints. Our lifestyle is such and we seem to be on this treadmill of society that gets.
Faster and faster, and sometimes we move a great deal from the meeting to get affordable housing or a job. And I'm not saying that these things, a brother needs to be exercised before the Lord himself as to these things. But I do think that something we're losing, brethren, is house to house ministry. It ought to exercise, of course, first of all those who seek to shepherd and pastor the people of God, but it ought to exercise us all. There are many of us here this afternoon who have children and young people coming on.
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And I am thankful as I look back over my upbringing in a Christian home, that I had parents who were exercised and took the time to have the people of God in our home. And if a brother came through, he might give some nice ministry at the meeting room in the evening. But my parents were exercised to invite that person to the home and listen to what he had to say. And you never really know the sheep until you sit down at their table with them or sit down in their home. That's where you really.
Know what and discern what the needs of the sheep are. But I'm just saying we need, for the sake of our children and young people, to take that time to have our brethren open our homes so that our brethren feel free to come into our homes and sit down and minister the word to us, not just publicly that's important, but also from house to house. The teaching, I think of Luke 10 explains exactly what we're trying to get out here.
For that certain Samaritan.
Went to where this man had fallen into the ditch.
And was wounded and half dead. Religion, whether it be the priests or the.
Another Levites couldn't help it, but a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. Now that's Jesus descending down here, not just to save our soul, do the work of the cross, but to come to us with salvation care.
Found up his wounds that salvation care.
And poured in oil in the wine. When you get saved, you get the Holy Spirit. We've just been talking about that and the joy of it.
But the care didn't stop there.
He picked him up and set him on his beast. Christ had given us his exalted position, the heaviest. We've got it in this epistle to the patients.
But he took him some place.
And that's what needs to be done. And that's primarily why the gospel effort should go out from the assembly. So they'll have a place to bring those new soaps. He brought him to the end. That's a picture of the assembly, the place of shelter and warmth and and fellowship in this poor world. And he gave to the host those who have responsibility in the assembly.
2 Pence to take care of him.
Often suggested we'd love to think of it that the two pants were enough for two days keep.
And one day is 1000 years and 1000 years one day would suggest that.
What the certain Samaritans said when he left. And whatsoever thou spendest more.
When I come again, I will repay the encouragement to the pastor because it's been said it's, it's largely an unseen work, not much public reward of honor and so on for a pastor. But take it up, take it up.
The one who sees.
Who is the?
Pastor of our souls, when he comes again, the rewards to the pastors is going to come out. So we need to be encouraged to take up that gift and we have lots of them in the assembly, I think.
I just wanted to say one more thing in connection with the gifts too. I don't think it is proper for a member of the body to be occupied with what gift do I have. The point is, is to look up to the Lord Jesus and to be exercised in His presence.
To do what He wants us to do, when he lays on our hearts, when he guides us by his Spirit to do. And a young person may say, well, I don't think I'm a pastor or a teacher.
But we're living in days of much ruin, and many members of the body are paralyzed in their activity. They think they don't have any responsibility.
And there's need, brethren, there's need. And I think love is what dictates when you see a need to get into the presence of the Lord and say, Lord, I don't know what I can do here, but show me what I can do for the help of this person. And, and the Lord can use when there's sincerity, when there's simplicity, He can use one. I heard a story and I don't remember where I got it, brother, but it was an encouragement to me.
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Of a young younger brother who saw in his particular home assembly a person that was staying at home. He wasn't coming to the meetings anymore and nobody seemed to go visit him.
And he finally felt in his own solo, I'll go visit him and see if I can be a help. And he went to this brother's home and sat down. And he got in there with his Bible. And he didn't know what to say or what to read even he was so young in the faith. So he opens up his Bible and said, let's read, brother, where are we going to read? The other brother said, well, he couldn't think of any verse. So Genesis 11.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth.
The word of God, brother. He didn't know what else to say about it. He showed his Bible and they had a word of prayer and off he goes.
Another day comes back and same thing again. He didn't know what to read that. Where are you going to read, brother?
Ephesians 4:11-16
New Commandments
Address—R. Thonney
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Standing here if you'd like to stand up.
A little bit if we can this thing.
Oh.
00:05:48
Let's pray.
Gracious God our Father, we're so thankful for the Lord Jesus.
That one who has revealed all that thou art towards us.
In a complete way, we thank the Lord Jesus.
For Thy love, for having gone to Calvary, for having died for us there and now, Lord Jesus, while we're left here in this world, our conduct shows just how much our hearts respond to Thy love. And as we look into Thy word this afternoon, we do ask for the direction of thy Holy Spirit, we confess.
Complete insufficiency in ourselves, but Lord Jesus, we're looking up at this moment.
To thee in glory and know that thou art fully sufficient. Thou knowest the needs of each person sitting here in this room.
And we would ask that by Thy spirit there might be something of profit for each one. We ask, Father, giving thanks for this privilege of having Thy word in our hands, and the liberty to open it and read it and enjoy it together.
We ask blessing in the most worthy name of the Lord Jesus.
Father, Amen.
Like to turn to John chapter 14 to begin this afternoon.
Kindly introduce.
What I have on my heart to.
Go over.
This afternoon.
John chapter 14 and verse 15.
If.
Ye love me.
Keep my commandments.
Verse 21.
He that hath my commandments and keepeth them, He it is that loveth me, and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. Chapter 15.
And verse.
10 If you keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love, even as I have kept my Father's commandments and I and abide in his love. Verse 14.
Ye are my friends if you do whatsoever I command you.
Now let's go over to 1St Epistle of John.
Same author.
The Apostle John.
And verse.
Three of chapter two. First John chapter 2 and verse 3. Hereby do we know that we know Him if we keep his commandments. He that saith I know Him and keepeth not His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Chapter 5.
And verse 2.
By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. And this is the love of God that we keep his commandments and His commandments are not grievous. I think that's sufficient. We could probably read other scriptures as well that deal with the question.
00:10:27
Of.
His commandments, You know what a command is. It's something that is told us to do.
It doesn't say if you'd like to you can do it. No, it's something that specifically is told us to do. I sometimes think in our.
Culture here in the United States and Canada under democracy.
We kind of shy away from the word commandments.
Thinking perhaps that it relates more to the Old Testament.
And certainly there were commandments given in the Old Testament as well.
But what I'd like to take up this afternoon is the commandments. At least some of them, because there are many commandments in the New Testament, but.
There's one thing that's linked with that word the commandments. Keeping the commandments and its love.
It was kind of touched on yesterday in the Reading meeting, and I would like to touch your hearts, first of all, brother and sister and the Lord Jesus, dear young person here too, because it's a real proof of your love to the Lord Jesus when there's that response in your heart to keep His commandments. I want to distinguish the difference between Old Testament commandments.
And New Testament commandments was that the Old Testament commandments were given to man in the flesh who had no ability to keep them. When God told man in the Old Testament to love the Lord his God with all his soul and with all his might and with all his heart, he had no ability to do that, and it only.
Showed that there is nothing in us by nature to fulfill God's commandments.
The difference, the major difference between the Old Testament commandments and the New Testament commandments is that now God has given us a new life in Christ, a life in resurrection, and it's a life that delights to do God's commandments, the Lord Jesus said prophetically in the book of the Psalms.
I delight to do thy will.
Oh God, it wasn't only what he wanted to do, but it was his delight.
Now, if you and I have been born into God's family, we possess a nature that delights to do God's commandments. Remember, old brother AC Brown used to say that the commandments of the New Testament are directives to direct that new life that we have in Christ. And so let's not shy away from the commandments that we have in the Old Testament.
They're there for our own good and you know.
A verse that I used to not understand. It's in the end of the 12Th chapter of John. We're not going to look at it now. The Lord Jesus says, I know that His commandment is life everlasting. In other words, if God commands something, it's for our own ultimate good. And you may say, boy, that's a hard thing for him to command me.
Remember, if you have that new life in Christ, if you're a real believer, you have a life and a nature that not only is capable of doing what you're commanded, but has a delight in fulfilling what He commands us.
And so I want to get it in that perspective. It's based on love. God doesn't want you to do it in 1/2 to sort of way. In fact, in the Old Testament it talks about servile labor and they were not to do any servile labor on the Sabbath day. What's servile labor? It's half to stuff. It's things that we do as we think we have to, but there's no heart in it.
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God doesn't take any delight in that.
He wants the recent your obedience to be the response of love. And how can we do anything else, dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, when we think of the Lord Jesus and all that He did on the cross of Calvary for us.
No limit to his sacrifice, no reserve whatsoever.
He laid his life down for us.
Isn't there going to be some kind of a response on my heart, in your heart then to his commands which are really for our ultimate good? Let's think about it. Let's meditate on it. Dear brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, if you are here, there's some young person here with a half to sort of attitude. God takes no delight in it.
The Lord Jesus said to his disciples when the 70 had left him, Do you?
Want to go away too? Will you also go away? Peter gave that wonderful response. Lord.
To whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
And we believe and aren't sure that thou art the Son of God. Tremendous response. They wanted from their hearts to follow Him. And that's the way it should be in your heart and mind. If your heart is not one, God has done all He can do to show you how much He loves you. He can do, if I can say it.
Reverently, he can do nothing more to manifest his love.
On that cross, when his only son hung there between heaven and earth.
Nailed there by those Roman soldiers and then?
In those hours of darkness, when God took my filthy sins and laid them on the head of that spotless, sinless sacrifice, and then let the fury of His judgment break on His head, I see manifested, as in no other place, the love of God.
And now that is the springboard for our response.
Dear young sister, dear young brother and the Lord Jesus, I appeal to your hearts. If it's not that, there's nothing to our Christianity at all. It's a matter of the heart. In the Old Testament, they could go on in a sort of outward sort of form.
And get something of the blessings of God. But in the New Testament it's a different matter.
It's a matter of the heart. I can't see your heart. All we can see is what is manifested in the life. But the way you show you love the Lord Jesus is the measure of your obedience to him. And I'd like to go over a few commandments of the New Testament this afternoon to me, exceedingly precious, but a very important for our lives.
So we're going to let's go back to John's Gospel chapter 13 to see perhaps one of the first in importance.
John chapter 13 and verse 34.
A new commandment I give unto you.
That ye love one another as I have loved you, That ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you have love one to another.
Here's the commandment and the Lord Jesus said this is a new commandment. Why does he say it was new if in the law of Moses?
There was a command to love thy neighbor as thyself.
Why is this new? I suggest that it is new because it was given.
As we've already mentioned to the man now in Christ.
The new nature that you and I have, that new life. But it is a new reference point too Now. It does not say to love our brother as ourselves. No self is gone from the picture entirely.
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What is the reference point now as I have loved you and I think that's so important to get the change in reference point. It's no longer myself.
I'm distressed at times to see how much this self philosophy of psychology has has permeated Christian thinking. It is distressing. It is not Christianity, it is Judaism and it is going back to the weak and beggarly elements is what it is.
No, self is not in the picture any longer. It's Christ.
I command you that you love one another as I have loved you, and this word can love, I'm sure many of us already realize, is a word.
That means love because of the source and not because of the object. In other words, it says God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son. Why did God so loved the world? Was it because of something good in the world that he saw?
That's what sometimes mentioned. No, that is not the case. God, soul of the world. Why? Because God is love. It's the question of the source and not the object. So you may say, well, that person isn't that lovable toward me. How can I love him? Because of the nature you have in Christ, you have the capacity to love that person. That may not be very nice towards you. That may insult you in fact.
They treated the Lord Jesus pretty bad. Did he quit loving?
Never did. He still loves as much as ever. And that's the love that you are capable of if you are a real believer in the Lord Jesus. Remember in South America in one place there's a problem between two sisters and one said, I just hate the sight of that sister. And I thought the brother that answered was answered pretty wisely. He said, sister, if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus.
You can love that sister now if you have not been born truly into God's family.
Perhaps you do hate that sister, but because you don't know what real love really is. Thought that was a pretty wise answer. But that's true. Maybe you have some person that really is a thorn in your side. I want to tell you, you have the capacity, if you're a believer in the Lord Jesus, to love that person. How much?
As I have loved you and I just want to say this to me is so important in our Christian lives and brethren, I want to stir us up in this matter.
Of showing love. This is a love that is sacrificial love. It's giving love we've already mentioned, for God so loved the world that he gave.
Of times we mentioned that verse in Galatians 220. The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. Christ loved the church and gave himself for it. In other words, it's a love that's sacrificial. I say, you say you love a certain person, but have you really laid down your life for that person?
I've been amazed at sometimes hearing stories from place to place of sacrificial love.
Brother Ramon Alarcon first went to Oaxaca. There was a lot of banditry and there was real danger of him getting shot.
In fact, one time he loaned his raincoat to a brother.
Going to another town because it was raining and.
On the road he got beat up pretty badly because they thought it was rather Ramon Alarcon.
And when they found out it wasn't him, they left off and thankfully he still has his life.
But Ramon told me one time how when he was preaching down there one place, he said he didn't understand, but he said a brother stood on this side of him and another brother stood on this side of him, and a brother stood to the back of him. And he said, go ahead and sit down, brothers, you don't have to stand here. But they didn't tell him why, but they just insisted on standing there. And so afterwards they told him, he says there's real danger that they're going to shoot you from the distance, and it would be better for them to hit us than have to hit you.
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That's laying down your life for your brothers. Do we know that kind of sacrificial love?
You know, sometimes there's a person that has real problems. But isn't love that we're talking about here that we're commanded to love with? Isn't that a love that means that we need to sacrifice something? Dear brothers and sister in the Lord Jesus? To me, it really hits my conscience to realize that this command to love one another is given in different forms in John's Gospel and epistles.
7 distinct times. Why would it be necessary?
That He command us to love one another. It's because we need to be stirred up about it, brethren. And the Lord help us to fulfill this command to love one another as I have loved you. Let's go to another command in.
First Peter chapter one.
This is a command that's taken right from the Old Testament, so it shows that the moral principles of the Word of God do not vary from dispensation to dispensation.
They are the same.
First Peter chapter one.
And let's read from verse 14 as obedient children.
Not fashioning yourselves according to the former lusts and your ignorance, but as he which hath called you is holy.
So be ye holy in all manner of conversation or manner of life.
Because it is written.
Be ye holy.
For I am holy.
Here's a command.
It doesn't say be holy if you think you can.
It just says be ye holy and the standard is the highest standard. You can't lower this standard for I am holy. How holy is God?
Completely holy.
Sometimes we say.
Thrice holy God, Because when the seraphims in Isaiah 6IN Revelation chapter 4 are flying in God's presence, they say Holy holy holy Lord God Almighty, Thrice holy God.
Now the commandment on our part is to be holy.
You say it. That seems almost impossible. How in the world, in a world like I live in, am I going to be holy?
I want to explain here that OFT times in the New Testament, when you have holiness spoken of, it's talking about positional holiness.
And sometimes it talks about practical holiness positionally.
We are holy before God and without blame before God in love positionally. You cannot improve on that ever by your own efforts.
That is a matter of the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. But what we have here is practical holiness.
It's an exhortation. We use that word exhortation, but I like to think of it as a command.
Be ye holy as I am holy.
And if you are a believer in the Lord Jesus, dear young brother and sister, the question of separation from this world is a must.
You cannot mix up lightly with the world. People think that they can take a little bit of it won't hurt anything.
You know, that's what happened to Samson in Samson's life is a tremendous testimony to the fact that God means his people to be separate from the world.
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Holy, that means separated from evil, but it has the positive side of separation to God.
And in the Psalms, it speaks about the beauty of holiness.
You know that holiness is beautiful.
You know where you see that when you see at a wedding.
A man and a woman.
Who say they are separating themselves from all themselves, from all others.
To their spouse alone, that's real special and we all enjoy witnessing that. There's beauty in that.
And isn't there beauty if you and I have that purpose of heart to be separated to the Lord Jesus? Samson allowed his affections to go out.
To women who were not of the people of God. There were I think 3 women in Samson's life.
And he was destroyed by a terrible sad Sampson's in from not realizing that as a one of the people of God, he was to be separated from the Philistines. But he went down time and again and he got burned for the first time. His first wife got burned up. And when he came to Delilah, how sad.
He didn't seem to learn his lesson and he ended up losing his hair. He lost his separation from the Lord, he lost his eyes, he lost his strength, he lost his liberty, and he lost his life.
Why? Because simply he did not obey God's commandment to be separate. Dear young brother and sister in the Lord Jesus, I want to suggest this for your consideration. God's command is be ye holy, for I am holy. Let's go back to 2nd Corinthians chapter 6 for another of God's commands, New Testament commandment.
And verse 14.
But I want to back up two verses. We usually start at verse 14. I want to back up two verses.
To show.
What God desires there to be before we listen to the commandment.
Verse 12 You're not straightened or shut up in us, but you are straightened or shut up in your own bowels, and bowels of affection, and is in their love now for a recompense. And the same I speak as unto my children, be ye also enlarged, you know, it says in the book of the Psalms, I will run the way of thy commandments when thou hast enlarged my heart, and when there's enlargedness in heart, when there's an enjoyment of the love of Christ.
Then there is the power to keep his commandments. And what is the command? Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers? For what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ of Belio, Or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel?
Separation is what we were really just talking about, and this really goes along with the last command that we read. But there are what are called yokes in our world today. There's a business yoke, it's been suggested there's religious yokes.
They're things that are entered into and you have to share the responsibility and the weight of things with another individual.
Marriage is another yoke and dear young people, be awfully careful about your hearts affections, letting them go in One Direction and another. Seen it happen so often in South America that a nice young sister.
Begins to accept the attentions of a person who does not know the Lord Jesus, who is not given fruit of being a real believer in the Lord Jesus.
00:35:01
And in time, when the heart unraveled and we don't know our own hearts, dear young people.
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked. And then when the heart gets unraveled?
In those attentions and she realizes that that person isn't a believer says sorry, you're not a Christian. Oh, they come immediately and they make a profession of faith in the Lord Jesus. I've seen it happen sometimes they're baptized and.
They say they're going to be at all the meetings. So often it has happened that they get married and then.
Comes the reality test. They don't go on at all and that dear young sister is drugged down to the level of the world because she entered into a yoke. Be awful sure in the day we live in, there's a lot of deceitfulness that goes on. Be awful sure that the person you are going to enter into a yoke into, whether it be business yoke or a yoke in marriage.
Is one who is a true believer in the Lord Jesus. Don't make a mistake. God means for marriage to be for the whole life long. He doesn't contemplate anything else than that. And if you want a happy home, be awful sure that that person you are an entertaining thoughts about is a real believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's go over to the book of First Thessalonians, chapter 5.
A lot of little practical what we call sometimes exhortations, but I like to think of them too as commands.
Their foot there as directives for our own good.
Nothing new, dear brethren, but my desire is to stir us up this afternoon.
To be more.
Alive in our faith and our life in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let's start with verse 16, First Thessalonians 5 and verse 16.
Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing in everything. Give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. Quench not the Spirit, despise not prophesying.
Approve all things. Hold fast that which is good. Abstain from all.
Appearance of evil.
Just go over these. There's a list of commands, really. We call them sometimes exhortations, but I think they're a little bit more definite than even exhortations.
Their commands rejoice evermore doesn't say rejoice if you feel like it doesn't say rejoice if you think you can.
Rejoice evermore.
I think this is tremendous.
To think of that a little bit, brother, Paul says in Philippians chapter 4, Rejoice in the Lord always. Just in case you didn't hear it again, I say rejoice.
Brethren.
That joy should flow as a deep stream through the life of a believer. It may not be always evident outwardly, but it should always be there. You know the Lord Jesus, when he was rejected by His people, it must have been a real sorrow to Him.
But it says at that time Jesus rejoiced.
In spirit, I think that's beautiful. Somebody has said that joy sometimes in a new believer is kind of noisy. It's like a stream that comes off the mountain, and when it's coming down the steep part at the beginning, it's kind of noisy as it goes over the rocks. But as I get down into the valley, it gets deeper and it gets quieter. That's the joy that should permeate our lives, real joy.
And I really want to stop and ask you to consider this, brethren, because I think it really depends on our focus.
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I see sometimes people say I just got so many problems in my life, I can't rejoice.
How did God expect me to rejoice always when I got so many problems?
Rejoice in the Lord always, brethren.
Take inventory in your life. I don't say you don't have problems. You may have real, serious problems. I think everybody does.
But let's put those on one side of the balance sheet. Now go over to the other side.
The positive blessings that we have in Christ, let's focus in on those for a little while. I can guarantee you, you're going to see that that list is going to be far, far greater.
We have reason to rejoice. We have reason to be glad. We really do. God is not asking us to do something impossible when he says rejoice evermore.
Remember hearing somebody.
I think it was Thanksgiving time and somebody asked.
In their classroom to write down something you're thankful for.
And this one.
Student who came from a fairly well off family and had most everything he could ask for said I don't have anything I can be thankful for. I really don't. I can't think of a thing why.
Just because he was wrongly focused.
And I say that happens to us. We get our problems in front of our eyes until they look like mountains.
Not realizing that the greater part in our Christian life is what we have in Christ. Do we have a man on the throne of God who's there for us?
Oh brethren, what a tremendous thing to realize that He's there for us. We have love. We're loved with a love that cannot change. Unchanging love is our portion from God.
I tell you back up off those problems you have.
And start looking a little different direction. I can guarantee you you'll find plenty of reason to rejoice. We do have it. Paul wrote that prison epistle or I should die Epistle of Philippians from prison.
And his circumstances weren't that great, I can tell you. Roman prisons weren't like prisons.
Today in the United States or they have quite a bit of comfort, they were not that way at all. But he said from that prison, he said rejoice in the Lord always this command, brother, are you fulfilling this command?
The next verse perhaps tells us how we can fulfill it too. It says pray without ceasing. Oh, I think this is so important in our Christian lives. You know, we're dependent creatures will never be anything but that dependent. But we live in a society that encourages independence. Be your own person, do what you want, Be independent. You got all the answers in you.
But God has made us.
Dependent.
That's the glory of man is to be dependent on God.
And you know, sometimes we feel it, our need of the Lord. Great if we do nothing wrong with feeling weak, if it makes this go to Him.
So praying is an expression of our dependency upon Him. Pray without ceasing. How am I going to do that? I can't be on my knees all day. How can I pray without ceasing?
You can pray.
In your heart, you don't even have to form the words with your lips. You can pray as you're walking down the street. You can pray as you're driving your car. You can pray as you're at work. You can even pray when you're talking to somebody else.
Interesting, we have that case in the book of Nehemiah where Nehemiah was the cup bearer of the king and there he is standing in the King's presence. And the king was sin. You look sad today, Nehemiah. And it says, I prayed to the God of heaven, and I said to the king, it was all in the moment's time. But that's the matter, dear brother.
00:45:23
Pray without ceasing. Is your life a life of prayer? I think there is something to power, though, in praying alone with God. Do you make it a point to pray to the Lord yourself alone when nobody else is around? There's real importance to that given in the Scriptures too, and I think that's so important.
I sometimes quote what I think Martin Luther said.
He said I have so much to do every day. I dare not pass any less than three hours in prayer on my knees.
And it was said when he was.
Going to be buried after his death. They found calluses on his knees. Prayer isn't easy.
I find in my own experience prayer to be work.
To Labor talks about epifras who labored fervently in prayer, it's not easy.
This is not just kneeling down in a comfortable position and going over a list of people. It's it's striving with God. It's there's other words used, supplication.
What is suffocation? It's something a little more intense than just prayer, which is a general more of a general sort of word.
Lord help us. Dear brethren, these are exhortations or commands.
Given that we are to keep the next one is in everything. Give thanks for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you in everything. Give thanks if you look in Ephesians chapter 5 we're not going to look at it now, but it says giving thanks.
For all things, not only in all things, but for all things. Isn't that interesting? You know, we find it pretty easy to give thanks when things go all right.
When things go the way we like them to go.
But I want to ask you, do you make it a point to thank the Lord when things go the other direction?
I found that a real blessing in my life, and I think I've learned some. Look for my dear Latin brother.
Remember one time in the city of O Rudolph, which is a city in Bolivia, on the high altar Plano.
It's about 100,000 people population in that city. It was market day and we were there and I was seeing dear brother Lino Bueno off on the train.
And when he came back to the Jeep, which I'd parked in a parking lot there in front of the station, I found that thieves had gotten into the Jeep and had stolen my briefcase with all my personal documents.
I stood there kind of stunned a minute. It's a brother there, a Bolivian brother with me. He says let's give thanks to the Lord. You know, we don't exactly think about giving thanks at a moment like that.
But we did it.
And I still think it was a miracle, brethren.
It became evident that the police, we gave the report to the police, but at the end of that day I had my briefcase back in my hand with all the documents in it. It was minus a little bit of money and minus a little bit of medicine in there, but I had all the documents and that was the most important thing. I I considered a miracle.
But it's worth it, brethren.
God allows that to be robbed from us. This is the will of God.
Oh, you say, how in the world could that be the will of God? It is in everything. Give thanks, everything that is allowed in your life. The positives plus the negatives are there according to the will of God. He only means you're good and if he allows something that you consider negative.
Brother and sister in the Lord Jesus I want to suggest.
That all things work together for good to them. That love God in that way. There are no real long lasting negatives in the life of a believer. Next one is quench not the Spirit. Here's another command. The believer in the Lord Jesus has the Spirit of God dwelling within his body. Our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit.
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Why is He there? Well, we know that He's there as the seal for security and our salvation. But Scripture plainly tells us in John chapter 16, the Spirit of truth is there to guide us into all truth. And so the Spirit of God is there to guide you in your life. Don't quench the Spirit of God when He's.
Gives you a thought to guide you in a way that's according to the word of God. Don't quench the Spirit.
Remember some years ago when I worked at the hospital in Chicago and I just come back from a conference in Wheaton, IL?
And thoroughly enjoyed the conferences, really happy. And his first day back at work, kind of a jolt to be put back on the job, that hospital.
And there was the.
Young man about my age standing there and it was as if the Lord said talk to him, give him the gospel. Lord, He's a supervisor. I got to do this carefully.
And you know how you put it off? And I put it off twice. A strong impulse. I really believe it was the Spirit of God that told me to speak to him. I didn't do it.
It was just a short while later he got pinched between 2 trucks and killed.
I'm guilty. I'm guilty not having spoken to him. The gospel. The Lord puts on your heart a certain individual. Speak to that person. If you don't feel like you can get a gospel, track something else, some way to put the way of salvation before that individual. It may be the last time that individual has to accept the Lord and salvation.
And so the Spirit of God guides us in many ways collectively too. He's in the assembly. The assembly is the habitation of God through the Spirit. And the Spirit of God is dwelling amongst us to guide us, whether it be in.
As we had this morning, the breaking of bread to praise the Lord.
Or in prayer, in the prayer meeting, Dear young brother and the Lord Jesus, I want to tell you that we'd like to hear from your voice in the prayer meeting and in the praise meeting too. Sometimes, you know, you come to a meeting and you sit down almost with the decision made beforehand. Well, I'm going to be here, but.
I'm not going to open my voice to take any part, my mouth to take any part. Be careful not to quench the spirit. You might be quenching the spirit.
Another way that's possible to quench the spirit, and I suppose I'm guilty of this.
It's talking too much.
And I specifically remember one time in Mexico where Doug Buchanan and I were with Ramon Alarcon.
Brother Ramon spoke first in the gospel, and there it's not limited to one. And then Doug spoke, I think, and then.
I remember how distinctly I felt, just felt totally. I didn't have anything to say, but the brethren are waiting for me to talk. I better say something. And I got up and it certainly wasn't the leading of the Spirit of God.
But while I was talking, I noticed a young brother from Oaxaca go over and talk to Ramon and.
We went back and sat down and after the meeting was over, why? Ramon says. That's too bad. Brother on Hill had something to say tonight, but there was no time and you got done. It was time to close the meeting.
Did I feel I had quenched the Spirit in a brother, a local brother? We need to be sensitive as to the leading of the Spirit of God. Quench not the Spirit. Despise not prophesying. Here's another exhortation or a command that is important to listen. God speaks and sometimes He uses instruments that we might not like that much. I remember in my youth saying to an older brother.
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When that brother talks, I can't really listen very well.
And the brother responded with this verse, Despise not prophesying. He says listen anyway, even though you might feel that way, listen anyway. Maybe God saying something to you. And what that brother has to say. It was a help to me. Despise not prophesying.
Doesn't mean that everything that is prophesied is good. It says in the next verse prove all things and that's why you all have your Bibles open in front of you. I can make a mistake. I've made mistakes before. And if I do prove it, is that what scripture is saying when I say is not the final word?
I may say something that may be helpful. I may say something that may not be helpful. You prove it by this standard, the word of God.
Hold fast that which is good.
And then the next one, abstain from all appearance of evil. Your young people were living in a world that is filled with iniquity.
So much sexual immorality in the world. I think this verse has something to say to you young people. I'm thankful when I see wholesome relationships being established between young brother and a young sister. But be careful because we live in a world where appearances sometimes give people to understand something that is not perhaps intended. Be careful.
How it appears to others, abstain from all.
Appearance of evil times just about gone. I want to.
Touch One more command that I really want to leave with our especially with our dear young people.
The end of Matthew's Gospel.
What the Lord Jesus said before he was taken up into heaven.
Verse 18 Matthew 2818 Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I am with you always, even into the end of the world.
Amen.
Go is the command here. Take the news of Christ, salvation to the world, all nations. Dear young brother and sister, in the Lord Jesus we have a responsibility in the gospel. We should always have a heart and a desire and sacrificial giving in one way or another in connection with the gospel message.
Somebody put it this way?
Given the way it is given so distinctly to go, it's not so much a matter of asking if you have a call to go. You should rather ask if you have a call to stay home.
Think about it. We live in a needy world. I'm amazed at the wealth of this country.
Is it just to stay here and enjoy our comforts and our wealth?
Dear young person, I want to challenge you seriously to not live for present advantage. If you're going to do so, you're going to stay here in this country.
The Son of God, Giver of Life, Judge
Gospel—B. Prost
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For a man of a young man.
He spinning up the drain pipe outside the Rotunda there and managed to get up and sat in a window and he heard the gospel of the grace of God. And you know, we got saved the first time he heard it at the age of 20. Well, he went on to use his life and his time for the Lord. And this is the one, this is one of the hymns he wrote. So I'd like to make that little story available for the young people here. If there's someone here, especially who's young, who says.
No gospel for me. I don't care to hear about those things. Oh, we hope that you'll listen tonight to the same gospel that saved George Frazier nearly 140 years ago #15 and let's stand and sing it, please.
The whole blessed Gospel sound the earth. There is room.
All around you.
There it run.
My.
Grown here through all, by the way.
There is.
Room.
Yes.
There is room.
All things are ready for you.
Your there is room.
Christ.
Everything.
I've done.
Yeah, there is room.
There is no fun place.
Oh savior, you will make your head there is room.
There is room.
Your celebration day from you will pass away.
The truth no one will say.
Here there is no.
Shall we just pray together?
I'd like to sing another hymn.
Wonderful to be able to sing these gospel hymns the very next 1 #16.
You know, as I read this hymn over before the meeting.
It brought tears to my eyes as I was reminded of the wonderful gospel heritage in the land in which you and I are right now.
I'm a Canadian by birth.
Things are much the same up there, but I was reminded of the rich heritage.
That this country has in terms of the gospel.
00:05:02
This hymn was written under very interesting circumstances, which I pass on to you, written by a relatively young man by the name of Philip Bliss, who was born in Pennsylvania and who was brought to know Christ at an early age and who used his life.
To preach the gospel. He wrote many hymns, and he didn't live to be that old. He was killed, he and his wife, in a train wreck when he was only about 38 years of age. But he wrote this hymn under very interesting circumstances. He spent a good many of his years in Chicago, and in 1869 or 1870, I forget which, there was a tremendous revival going on in the Chicago area.
And a young man by the name of Henry Morehouse requested permission to preach the gospel.
In a hall there that was under the jurisdiction of DL Moody.
And I'm told that for seven nights in succession he preached the gospel from the same verse, from John three and verse 16. And the writer of this hymn, Philip Bliss, as a young man in his early 30s, was there. And when he heard that gospel go forth night after night after night from the same verse, he was inspired to write this hymn dwelling on that wonderful word, whosoever.
As found in John 316. So let's sing together #16 And let's stand to and sing it.
Whatsoever he wrote, the sound send the blessed hiding all the world around, spread the joyfulness.
Wherever God is found.
Whosoever well may come.
Forever.
Will so ever will send the proclamation over?
Now there's a loving father called the Wonderful.
Whosoever welded.
Whosoever cometh was not delayed. Now the door is open. Enter while you may.
Of living.
Whosoever will send the proclamation over there and.
After the loving Father called the wonderful whosoever will make all.
Well, we're going to turn tonight to this precious book, the Word of God.
And we make no apology for turning to it, because it's the only book in the world that can tell me and you how to be saved. It's the only book in the world that gives us light in the middle of all the darkness around us. It's the only book in the world that, if I could say it this way, can make some sense out of everything that you see in the world around you today.
We're going to turn just to one part of the word of God, but it doesn't matter where we turn.
There is one person who is central in this whole book, the Lord Jesus Christ, and it reminds me of the early days of the Gospel, shortly after the Lord Jesus had died and gone back to heaven. How that there was a man, a man who held a very high position with the Queen of Ethiopia, who was going along in his chariot, drawn by horses no doubt.
And going back home and he was reading part of the Old Testament. And it tells us in the Bible how that the Spirit of God told a man by the name of Philip to go and make an acquaintance with that man. Go and join yourself to him.
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And Philip goes and he finds that this man, in fact, is reading part of the 53rd chapter of Isaiah. And you know what has always impressed me? That Philip didn't have to say, well, that's good, that's nice. But let's turn to this verse or that verse. No, it says he began at that same Scripture. And what preached unto him Jesus. Oh beloved friends, tonight, that's the one that we want to preach to you about tonight.
We want to hold up to you, a person. It's not a matter of preaching anything that I think or some line of things that perhaps you might think is peculiar to this group that is gathered here. Oh no, beloved friends, what we want to talk about is a person, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Sometimes people say, oh, I don't want to hear about religion. I've had enough of religion. Have you said that in your heart? If you haven't said it out loud, is there someone here tonight who was talked like that and said I don't want to have any more religion? You may be surprised at what I'm going to say.
Because I agree with you, I don't want to hear anymore religion so-called tonight either.
And we're not here to talk religion to you, we're here to talk to you.
About a person, the Lord Jesus Christ. And tonight I'm going to turn, if we will, with me, please.
To the fifth chapter of John's Gospel.
John's Gospel, chapter 5.
And here we find the Lord Jesus himself speaking.
Now if we only were to read part of this chapter and make no comment on it, you would bear a responsibility before God. You would bear a responsibility.
We're going to comment on it a little with God's help, but let's start reading. We won't start at the beginning of the chapter. We'll start reading from verse 19, John's Gospel chapter 5 and verse 19. Now this is the Lord Jesus then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself but what he seeth the Father do.
For what things soever he doeth.
These also do with the sun. Likewise, for the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself do, and he will show him greater things than these, that ye may marvel.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Excuse me?
For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
He that honoreth, not the Son on earth, not the Father which hath sent him.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me.
Ha everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is past from death unto life.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour is coming into now is when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, so hath He given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of man. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice, and shall come forth.
They that have done good under the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation.
I can of my own self do nothing, as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me. If I bear witness of myself, my witness is not true. There is another that beareth witness of me, and I know that the witness which He witnesseth of me is true.
00:15:05
He sent unto John, and he bear witness unto the truth. But I receive not testimony from men.
From man, but these things I say that you might be saved. He was a burning and a shining light, and ye were willing for a season to rejoice in his light.
But I have greater witness than that of John for the works which the Father hath given me to finish.
The same works that I do bear witness of Maine, that the Father sent me, and the Father himself which hath sent me, hath borne witness of me. Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen his shape.
And ye have not His word abiding in you for whom He hath sent him. Ye believe not search the Scriptures, for in them ye think ye have eternal life. And they are they which testify of Me. And you will not come to me, that you might have life.
I receive not honor from men, but I know you, that ye have not the love of God in you.
I am coming my father's name, and you receive me not. If another shall come in his own name, him you will receive.
How Can you believe which receive honor one of another and seek not the honor?
That cometh from God only.
Just stop there.
Now you may say as you sit there tonight.
That's quite a mouthful that you have read to us tonight and perhaps some of the things that we have read here tonight. You say I don't quite understand.
We're not going to go through this part of the Word of God verse by verse.
But there are three things, if I may suggest in this chapter, that I would like to bring before you in all solemn reality tonight, Three things that I believe the Lord Jesus is solemnly and clearly bringing before those to whom He spoke. And these words are recorded in the Word of God so that they are addressed to you and to me with all authority from God.
And the first thing my beloved friends, that comes through very loud and clear in this chapter is that the Lord Jesus is claiming definitely and clearly that he is the Son of God and as such that he is Co equal with God, He is God, and that God the Father has sent him into this world.
All the people of that day were rejecting the Lord Jesus. They didn't want to know who He was in that way. They were glad to take everything He could give. If he fed the hungry, that was nice. They were glad to take that. If he healed the sick, if he raised the dead, whatever He did in the way of goodness down here, old people were very, very glad to receive that.
But when it came to bringing before them where they stood before a holy God.
Oh, that was another matter.
Some years ago I used to visit in a men's hostel in downtown Toronto.
And we used to hold a gospel meeting like this. We used to go from room to room and visit with those men.
And it was such a treat to visit with some of them who were saved, many of them who came from the bottom rungs of society as far as it went.
But all, beloved friend, there is no respect of persons with God.
It's not a matter of whether you grow up on the respectable side of the track, so to speak, or whether you come from the other side of the tracks, As men would say, it doesn't make any difference because man only looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And it was a treat to visit with some of those men who having little or nothing in this world, men in some cases whose minds had been ruined by drugs and alcohol and rough living. It was a treat to visit with them who had come to know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior.
But when we used to hold that gospel meeting, the home used to provide coffee and cookies and refreshments afterward.
And, you know, it was very significant that there were always far, far more people there.
To enjoy the refreshments than there were sitting in the gospel meeting, there were always far, far more people who crowded in to get the coffee and the cookies and the Donuts and the sandwiches and so on, than those who were coming to the gospel meeting.
00:20:16
Oh, my friend, how easy it is to be taken up with things down here. Are those things important? Of course they are. Is food important? Indeed it is. But the Lord Jesus could say in this same gospel labor not for the meat which perisheth.
Oh, we have to eat, that's true. But this blessed One, the Lord Jesus Christ, came into this world and he did feed the hungry. He did give man those needs which answered to what sustains life down here. But oh, he spoke of those far more solemn realities of life and death and time and eternity and a responsibility before God.
My wife and her sister recently visited up in eastern Ontario in Canada, where they grew up, and they went to see the mansion of a man by the name of Harry McLean. He is dead now. He died some time back in the 50s, but he was rather an eccentric millionaire and he used to amuse himself, I'm told, on good authority by going to stay at the Royal York Hotel in downtown Toronto.
And just to see the crowd gather, he would stand up there in his hotel room, open the window and start tossing money out the window, start tossing $1.00 bills, $2.00 bills, $5 bills, even bigger denominations, just to see the huge crowd gather on the street below and jump up to see who could be first to get the bills. And you can imagine what happened. Dollar bills got ripped in half, fights got started, all kinds of things.
Happened down there and he would sit up there and laugh his head off at the.
What he considered to be these silly fools that would make such a spectacle for his entertainment.
You and I laugh at that.
But all, beloved friend, is it possible that the devil is doing that very thing with you tonight?
Is it possible that Satan is so-called in that same situation, tossing money out of the window just to see men and women and even boys and girls chase after all the things down here?
Is money valuable? Sure it is. Can it do a lot in this world? Indeed it can. But, oh, I venture to say that if someone had gone down on that same street in downtown Toronto and tried to preach the gospel of God's grace, would there have been a crowd of people there ready to hear it? I don't think so.
But all, my friend, tonight the responsibility is laid on us to present Christ to you, and we want to present the Lord Jesus Christ to you tonight, because I say on the authority of the word of God, you can't dodge the question.
The Lord Jesus very clearly says here, let's read one or two verses again, He says here.
Verse 20 For the Father loveth the Son, and showeth him all things that himself doeth, and he will show him greater works than these, that ye may marvel. And then going down in the chapter, it says, verse 36. But I have greater witness than that of John.
For the works which the Father hath given Me to finish, the same works that I do, bear witness of me, that the Father hath sent Me, and the Father himself which hath sent Me hath borne witness of me.
Verse 43 I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not.
Oh again, my friend, tonight you can't pretend that you can be neutral to the Lord Jesus Christ.
It tells us in the 17th chapter of Acts and verse 30 and the times of this ignorance God winked at or passed over, referring to the time before the Lord Jesus came into this world. But the verse goes on to say but now, but now.
You and I can't pretend that we live in the times of this ignorance that are referred to there.
00:25:03
We can't pretend that we live in a time when we can say, I don't know, I don't understand, I don't know what God requires of me, I don't know what I'm supposed to do. No, my friend, God has sent his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, and has shown very clearly that you and I, before God, are lost, lost in sin. Oh, you say, I don't like to hear that kind of a word. I don't know what it is to be lost.
It's an awful thing to be lost, isn't it? An awful thing to be lost?
And you are just as lost.
As if you were truly, physically and materially lost.
Sometimes people do get lost in the woods.
Remember reading a book written by a woman who settled in Canada back in 1832, back in the province of Ontario where I come from.
And she told stories of children who got lost in the woods. New children might not really understand what it means to be lost in the woods because I don't think that very many of us have really seen woods the way they were in the days when this country was not yet settled. But if you go to some of the areas where there are primitive forests and so on, and you were to Burrow into those forests even a very short distance.
You can become so turned around that you hardly know which way to go.
I remember a story that brought tears to my eyes of how.
The father went away from his log cabin to work in the in the field and the field was at some distance from the cabin, perhaps a mile away and.
At noon, the mother took the two small boys, who were five and seven years old, and said, How would you like to carry lunch out to your father?
So they were quite delighted to be given that responsibility and off they went with the lunch, carrying it there to go and.
Give it to their father.
And when?
The father came home at night. He grumbled to his wife for not sending him any lunch.
The wife of course, for her part and said and where are the boys? I thought they stayed with you. Where are they?
Oh, they stepped off the path only a short distance and gotten lost in the woods.
Well, it's a very, very sad story, the older boy.
Gallant boy that he was, he said to his younger brother. He said you sit here and don't you move and I'll go and get help.
And he never came back again, and they never found him. The younger boy was found the next day sleeping under a tree there in the forest. Lost. Oh, you say? What an awful story. What an awful thing to happen. And tonight you are just as surely lost as those boys were. I have seen people who were lost.
From a vantage point up high, I remember looking down at a small boy who was lost and it brought pain to my heart to see him running frantically, hit her and yawn, trying to find his way out of a crowd.
But all, my friend, to be lost in sin is an awful thing. For the Lord Jesus came down into this world in order that you might be saved. And we want to tell you tonight that if the Lord Jesus came to show you and I our lost condition in the sight of God, he also came in love.
Love is a wonderful thing, and you know I can't tell the love of God out tonight the way I'd like to.
I wish I could. I wish I had better words to tell it out. Which you know, love is something that can only be told in a limited way in words. And anyone here who has ever been truly in love will understand that. Anyone here who has ever been truly in love will understand that. There comes a point when words fail to express the emotions and feelings that are in your heart. And if that is true of human love, how much more of the love?
That God has for you and for me tonight. And so I'd like to quote that verse. In fact, we can turn back a page in our Bibles and read it.
John Three and verse 16.
For God so loved the world.
But he gave his only begotten Son, but whosoever believeth in him.
Should not perish, but have everlasting life. Oh, God sent his Son in love to reach out to you and to me.
00:30:12
Are you going to ignore the love of God? You know it's one thing to reject truth.
I have heard people who didn't want to hear the truth about a certain subject, people who didn't want to know.
I don't want to tell a story that makes someone else.
Look in a less than proper light, but it reminds me of a true story of a man.
Who went to a foreign country and who was doing his very best to try and preach the gospel of the grace of God. But at the same time he was trying to be of help to the people there. And he knew that many people in that place got sick because they drank polluted water. And he tried to point out to some of them there, particularly to one of the chiefs of the area, the importance of drinking pure water, the importance of not allowing raw sewage and dirty water and everything to contaminate the stream.
From which they got their water, and in order to drive the point home, he produced a microscope. And of course, putting a drop of that dirty water under the microscope, it was very easy to demonstrate the small germs in there that were causing the problem. And he tried to point out to him that it was these germs that made the people sick, and that if they would only observe certain fundamental principles of hygiene, they could no doubt be free at least of a good deal of that illness.
Well, the Chief looked down the microscope and there they were. He couldn't deny it. Everything was clear and the connection was evident.
How much is that microscope? How much does it cost? Can I buy that microscope?
Well, the man thought, I guess, so maybe maybe this is a step in the right direction. Maybe, maybe he's going to show other people what I've tried to show him. And he, he's well enough and he can buy the microscope for the price that it costs and I can always get another one. So he named the price that the microscope cost and the chief very willingly bought it.
But then what was the horror of the man who had sold him the microscope to see the chief almost immediately go over?
To a pile of rocks nearby and smash the microscope to pieces.
Break it all up so that it was utterly useless. Why did he do that? He didn't want to know the truth. And you and I laugh at a story like that. We say, what a fool.
But lest we should take too much comfort in that, we better be careful because.
In the last century, a man by the name of Semmelweis in Austria was.
Practically driven out of the medical profession because he tried to make a similar connection between infection and germs. So our hearts are all the same. We sometimes don't want to believe the truth. But Oh my friend, if it's serious not to believe truth in a natural sense, oh, it's far more serious not to believe God's Word. And God has commanded himself and his beloved Son to us. Not only.
In revealing the truth about us, but also in love.
Romans 5 says But God commandeth his love toward us.
In that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Oh, it's one thing to reject truth.
It's another thing to reject love.
I said there were three things in this chapter. The second thing that comes to mind.
Is that the Lord Jesus here in this chapter is the giver of life, The giver of life. And as I look around this room tonight, I know a good many of you here. Some of you I don't know. But one thing that I do not know for sure about everyone in this room is where you stand before God.
And there are only two groups of people in this world as far as God is concerned.
I can look around and see different families here and many families I know. I can see people from different states, different cities, even from in some cases, different countries. But God only sees two groups of people in this room, those who have a new life and those who are still lost.
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And tonight you need a new life. And the only way you can get that new life is through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you willing to come to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? Notice what it says here again, we'll read a verse or two.
John, Chapter 5.
Verse 21.
For as the Father raiseth up the dead and quickeneth them, Even so the Son quickeneth whom he will.
Verse 24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent Me hath everlasting life, and shall come not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life.
Do you believe that, beloved friend? Has that gotten a grip on your soul tonight?
Do you know what it is to have everlasting life?
What is everlasting life? Oh, you know, we'll talk in a few moments about judgment.
And you and I were not made for time, but for eternity.
And those who go out of this world without Christ will exist for all eternity, but I am not going to say they will live for all eternity.
Because God does not call the existence in the lake of fire.
Life, no, what does he call it? He calls it death. He calls it death. And so tonight, beloved friend, why you sit in your seat in a measure of health and alive and reasonably well. God says in Ephesians chapter 2 and you who were dead in trespasses and sins, dead as far as God is concerned.
And if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're dead before God.
But it's a wonderful thing to have a new life.
I'm reminded of a story that I know quite well and I'm going to tell it here tonight because it touches my heart and it concerns a young man.
Who is a very young man.
Was sitting at a table with three other young men playing poker.
He was a professional poker player. He was smart enough to make his living at it and he could usually win the game. And they were sitting in this house playing poker.
Knock, knock, knock on the door.
Immediately they thought it was the police.
And so one of them went to the window to lookout to see who it was. Before he opened the door, he came back. He said it's not the police, it's only a little man with a book under his arm. We'll let him in. So they let him in.
And the man that came in.
Produce some gospel tracts from his pocket.
And he handed one to each of those young men at that poker table. That took courage. You know, I don't know if I would have had the courage to do that. But he handed them each a gospel tract. And one of those young men was so contemptuous of God's word and the one who was bringing it that he blew smoke in his face from the cigarette or the cigar that he was smoking.
And the evangelist who brought that gospel track was particularly taken up with that young man, and looking him square in the eye, he quoted John's Gospel chapter 6 and verse 47. He that believeth on me.
Half everlasting life.
And then he turned to go and justice. Before he went out the door, he turned around again.
And he looked straight at that young man again, and said, He that believeth on me ha everlasting life.
He went out the door.
Well, they resumed that poker game, but somehow things weren't the same and that one young man couldn't get those ringing words out of his ear. He that believeth on me.
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Hath everlasting life? What is he talking about? Me. Who's the me? This particular young man had been brought up as a Roman Catholic, and he said to himself as he walked home that night. But I believe in the Virgin Mary. I've prayed all my life, I've gone to church, I've taken the sacraments, I've done all those things.
He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
He couldn't sleep that night. He tossed and turned in his bed all night. Finally at 5:00 in the morning, he couldn't stand it any longer. He got out of bed and got dressed and he walked the five kilometers to the village where he had been the night before. He said where is people were already stirring by that early hour. He said where is that evangelist that was around this area here? Where is that man that had a Bible and that was handing out gospel tracts?
Where is he? Well, people had no trouble in telling him where he was. Yeah, he's there in that house over there. He's up in that house there. That's where he's staying.
So that young man with trembling hand went up to the door and knocked on the door.
To his great surprise, the same man who had given him the Gospel tract the night before appeared at the door at 6:00 that morning and with a smile on his face, said, come in. He said, I've been expecting you.
And he was saved that day, saved to know the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.
O beloved friend, do you know that blessed Savior?
Some of you are probably guessing whom I'm talking about. The young man was Giovanni Granite of La Ropoli, Italy, whom some here know fairly well. He's now in his 60s. He's known the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior for over 40 years.
O beloved friend, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life.
Do you know what it is to have that new life? Are you prepared to come to the Lord Jesus and get it? Or what are you going to do? Are you going to be like the one here in verse 40?
The ones I should say. Notice what the Lord Jesus says in verse 40 of chapter 5 of John.
And ye will not come to me that she might have life to me. Those are some of the saddest words in the whole Bible. Ye will not come to me that she might have life. Oh my friend, tonight God is not going to force salvation on you. God is not going as we say in this world. And I speak reverently to ram it down your throat.
No, God has created you and me as responsible beings.
And he says these solemn words. Ye will not come to me that she might.
Have life. And when I think of the heart of love that beat in the Lord Jesus Christ, when I think of the love of God the Father in sending Him into this world, oh, what a solemn thing it is to reject love, because God's love goes out to you tonight. I don't know the circumstances of all of you here in this room. Many of you, I know, have grown up in good homes.
Many of you, dear children here know what it is to have grown up with this precious book read perhaps on a daily basis. Maybe you have a Bible of your own. Many of you have grown up with love and care and everything that a child could probably want. But there may be someone here tonight who is known very little of love. And sometimes it's very hard to understand a God of love when we have received very little love in our lives down here.
I remember years ago when I used to spend time in the detention home in Toronto, ON Canada and how difficult it was sometimes to reach some of those dear young offenders because they had known so little love in their lives. How difficult it was to tell them about the love of God when perhaps they came from single parent homes and mothers and fathers who cared very little for them, and perhaps they got nothing but Hard Knocks most of their lives.
And here they had landed in prison at the wrong end of the law, and in some cases had been treated a little roughly by the legal system. And sometimes they were in no mood to hear about someone who loved them. But oh, beloved friend, tonight, it's a wonderful thing to be able to tell you tonight just what we told them. And that is that there is a God who loves you. I think of one young man particularly.
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Really touched my heart because.
He was in and out of that detention home, as we would say, like a yo-yo, in and out, in and out. No sooner would he be released than he'd get into some trouble again.
You know, the Lord had his eye on that young man and he was a fellow that got around by hitchhiking like a lot of young fellows used to do and still do. And one night he was hitchhiking in a part of Ontario, Canada. And when he got picked up, no sooner had he gotten in the car than the driver of the car started in on him with the gospel. And the young man was upset. He was incensed that this man would have the nerve, as he said to us, to pick him up like that and hold him captive in the car.
Because he needed a ride and then used the opportunity to preach at him. And he got out of that car as fast as he could. He got where he was going and he said, boy, that uh-huh, I don't want that to happen again.
One week later, he was 500 miles away in the same province of Ontario.
Hitchhiking again. Again got picked up in the car. Totally different part of the province, totally different area, totally different driver. No sooner did he get into the car and once again, same message, same thing all over again.
And he was even angrier, he said twice in a row. Oh dear.
And he got out of that car as quick as he could.
But then.
About six days later, the police caught up with him for some misdemeanor that he'd been guilty of several years before, and he thought they'd forgotten about it, thought he'd gotten away with it, and somehow they caught up with him and he found himself in the detention home.
And lo and behold, exactly.
On the next day, for the third time, exactly a week apart.
Somebody picked up this precious book and started telling him the same thing.
I wasn't there on that particular occasion, but I heard about it and that young man, he said on the occasion, oh, he said.
I wonder if God is trying to say something to me. So this is more than coincidence that a week apart, three times in a row, someone tells me the very same thing.
All my friends, I enjoy that story because that boy got saved.
God gave him three chances. What about you here tonight? I don't like to point the finger like this because it bothers some people, but sometimes it's necessary. Where do you stand? You may not have another week. You may not have another two weeks because what else is in this chapter? The third thing is that the Lord Jesus is the one who is going to execute judgment.
Oh, judgment is a difficult thing, isn't it? Nobody likes to be on the receiving end of judgment. Nobody likes to be.
Where they know that they are guilty. And yet, my friend, tonight, that's where you stand.
That's where you stand tonight.
Guilty before God if you don't know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior.
And notice what it says in this chapter. Again, notice verse 22. For the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment under the Son, that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
Verse 26. For as the Father hath life in himself.
So hath he given to the Son to have life in himself, and hath given him authority to execute judgment also.
Because he is the Son of Man.
Think about it for a moment.
Does that not make sense to you, even in a natural way, if the Lord Jesus Christ has come into this world?
And satisfied God as to the claims of God's holy nature about sin.
If the Lord Jesus Christ and love wants to be your Savior tonight, if he has suffered every indignity, every humiliation, everything that the wicked heart of man could do to him in this world, if he has borne the wrath of a holy God against sin on Calvary's cross.
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Is it not fitting that that one should sit on the throne of judgment?
Think you would agree that that is fitting? I think you would agree that that is most fitting. But oh, what an awful thing to stand before that one in judgment.
That all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father.
I can well remember speaking to a woman who was an avowed Muslim about these things, and we had a very good discussion, a very good opportunity to present the gospel of the grace of God.
But she didn't want to honor the Son even as they honor the Father. She believed in God, but she didn't want to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.
She said if God is truly God.
Excuse me?
And if he's all powerful, why can't he just wash my sins away?
By the word of his power, why does he have to send his Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, into this world?
How would you answer that question? How did we answer that question? Oh, beloved friend, we could only turn to this precious book and say that all men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. And tonight you do not have, if I can say it bluntly, the privilege of deciding how you were going to be saved. You do not have the privilege of deciding how you are going to be saved.
I can still remember once when I was in high school in my senior year.
And we had to make speeches. Everybody had to stand up in front of the class and make a speech.
Of a certain length or longer within certain limits, and you were marked on it. And some people didn't want to do that kind of thing. They didn't want to get up in front of their class and make a speech and take part in public speaking. And I can remember 1 fellow raising his hand and venturing to ask the teacher, said Sir Mr. Clark, are these speeches on the course of study?
Meaning, are these something that has been prescribed by the school board or the province of Ontario or something like that?
And I'll never forget Mr. Clarke's answer. He had been head of the English department at that time, probably for a good ten years. And he looked at him and he said, young man, using just about that tone of voice, he said, as head of the English department, I decide what is on the course of study here.
That was the end of the discussion.
Now there were those who no doubt could have overruled him in some cases had he gone too far. But beloved friend, if I can say it reverently and yet bluntly, God decides how you and I will be saved. And the wonderful thing is that God is willing to save it all, because He would have been just in every way in putting every one of us in hell for a lost eternity.
But God wants to save you tonight, and you and I do not have the option of saying.
I want to be saved my way. I don't want to come to the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't want to become saved through the precious blood of Christ. No, God has only one way.
And that is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Will you come to the Lord Jesus Christ tonight? Our time is nearly gone.
But what is at the end of a life without Christ?
You know that I'm sure just as well as I do the Lord Jesus Christ mentions that awful place called Hell more than anyone else in the word of God.
More than anyone else in the whole Bible, the Lord Jesus Christ mentioned that awful place, and he spoke much more about hell than he did about heaven.
Surprise. Oh the Lord Jesus knew as none other what an awful thing it would be.
To be cast into a lost eternity, you say? Why is there a hell? There's a hell for several reasons. There's a hell because of the holy nature of God.
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There's a hell because of the rebelliousness of your heart and mind. There's a hell because of the devil and his angels for whom it was prepared. And there is a hell because of Calvary's cross. Why? Because God will be vindicated in the end. No matter where you stand, God will be justified. Whether you come to Christ or whether you go out of this world lost, God will be justified. God will be honored.
In his beloved son.
And the Word of God tells us that every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Well, our time is gone, but again I say if there's anyone here tonight who isn't saved.
Settle the matter tonight and if you want to sit and talk.
If you want to chat with someone a little more about this, there are many here who would be glad to sit as long as you need in order to speak about these things because it's the most important issue that you will ever face.
So don't walk out the door, don't get caught up in all the conversation and things like that that normally go on after a meeting like this.
Get this important question settled tonight and come to the Lord Jesus. Let's sing another hymn.
Nothing less is built than Jesus.
And the blood he spilled, I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but holy lean on his blessed name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand. All of their ground is sinking sand. As we sing this hymn. Please don't sing it unless you really mean it. If you Can't Sing this hymn truthfully and from your heart, don't sing it unless you accept the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior. We Can't Sing this one sitting down either #3.
My hope, nothing less is broken.
Ascend, the blood is built. I dare not cross the.
Grave, my Holy Land.
Is last name.
400 30.
Who Will Hear?
Gospel—J. Hyland
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We're meeting this evening. We have good news and a wonderful Savior to speak of. We don't have any gospel hymn sheets at our disposal this evening, and so we're going to sing a hymn from the Little Flock hymn book. It's hymn #60 in the appendix.
Heart the voice of Jesus calling. Come ye Laden, come to me. I have rest and peace to offer. Rest thou labouring one for thee. Take salvation. Take it now and happy. Be hymn #60 in the appendix.
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Let's ask God's help and blessing our God and Father. We are indeed thankful tonight for the Lord Jesus Christ, and we thank Thee for each one in this room who hath found salvation in him. A full and a free pardon, each one who is looking forward to that moment when we will be safe home in the Father's house with and like our precious Savior. And yet this evening, as this meeting commences, we are solemnized to think that perhaps there are individuals in this room tonight.
Still lost and in their sins still have not reached out and taken that full and free salvation that thou and thy grace and love are offering through the Lord Jesus, We pray that if there's someone here tonight that they might indeed listen, that thou would open their ears, and that thou wilt draw them to the Savior. We know that thy desire is that all men be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. And so we look to Thee for blessing and help as we read thy precious word. We thank thee for thy living word. We thank Thee for its power.
And we pray that tonight it might sink deep into the conscience and heart of any who are lost.
We pray, too, that thine own might be refreshed and encouraged as we hear again the sweet story of Thy love and grace. We thank Thee that the gospel is going forth around this globe this evening. We thank thee that Thou art still working by thy Spirit, compelling sinners to come in that thy house may be filled. We pray for blessing wherever the word is being sounded forth. But particularly as this hour is before us, here we pray for blessing and a message in the power of the Spirit from my heart of love.
We ask this in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and for his glory. Amen.
I'd like to begin the Gospel Meeting this evening by connecting several verses of the Word of God. Because, you know, tonight it's not what I say that is going to have power particularly, but it is what God has to say from His precious word. This book we hold in our hands tonight is indeed the word of God. It's God's message to us. Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. And as we open this book, I want us to listen to night as the very voice of a holy God and a loving God.
Speaking to speaking to us. And I am thankful tonight that blessing in this room to souls, to lost souls, does not depend on my ability to preach the Word of God, but it does depend on the Word in all its living power. And so do open your ears tonight to listen to God's Word. You know, sometimes from this vantage point you can see those who you know are not listening to God's Word.
You know, it is a very sad thing. And if it grieves the heart of a gospel preacher, how much more must it grieve the heart of God in heaven and the Lord Jesus Christ, to look around a room like this and to find that there are those who are sitting there in evident indifference to the word of God?
Who are speaking to their neighbor? Who are perhaps passing notes. And you know what I'm speaking about.
But all tonight, put those notes away. Put those thoughts away. I want, as we read the word of God, for you to hear it as I say the very word of God speaking to you and speaking to you as an individual. With this in mind, let's go first of all to the 42nd chapter of the book of Isaiah.
Isaiah Chapter 42.
We're going to read a question here.
Isaiah chapter 42 and verse 23.
Who among you will give ear to this? Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Then let's go to the 55th chapter.
Isaiah Chapter 55.
And verse 3.
Incline your ear, and come unto me hear.
And your soul shall live. Now let's go to the New Testament, to Matthew's Gospel.
Chapter 11.
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Matthew's Gospel Chapter 11 and verse 15. He that hath ears to hear.
Let him hear turn over to the 13th chapter.
Verse nine who hath ears to hear, Let him hear.
Notice verse 43 of this same chapter.
Just the last part of the verse. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
These scriptures were driven home to my soul a few moments before this Gospel meeting. Because down the hallway here there was a prayer meeting, a prayer meeting in connection with this Gospel meeting. And as one and another of the brothers poured out their heart for lost souls, and I wish you could have heard, listened in on those prayers from the heart.
But as one another and another of those brothers poured out their hearts heart on behalf of this gospel meeting, it was impressed upon my soul how many mentioned the need for listening.
For listening.
Let's impress this upon our souls tonight. You know there are many in the city of Mayfield.
And many of the cities and towns in the United States and North America that if we were to go out on the street corner tonight and try to stop them as they passed by, they would not want to listen to the gospel. That we would perhaps find one after another giving an excuse as to why they don't have time or why they are not interested in the glorious gospel, Why they're not interested in hearing about our precious Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The one who came into this world and went to Calvary's cross and laid down his life so that we can say with the Apostle Paul the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me, Isn't that a thrill? Can you say that tonight from the bottom of your heart? But there would be one and another, I'm sure, who would not have time for one reason or another to stop and listen to a word about the Lord Jesus. And I don't know why you have come to this room this evening. If we were to go up and down these rows, I'm sure there would be a variety of reasons.
As to why you came to this room this evening.
But I know one thing apart from all the secondary reasons that you might give. Perhaps a friend invited you. Perhaps you received an invitation at the door. Perhaps you're here because your parents are here, or some other family member. But whatever secondary reason you might give this evening, I know one thing for sure. That God, in his wonderful love and grace, has allowed you to walk through the doors of this school tonight and to sit here taking one breath after another so that you can hear the glorious gospel.
So that you can have one more opportunity to receive the Lord Jesus as your savior.
And here where we read in Isaiah, he says, Who among us will give ear to this?
Who will hearken and hear for the time to come? Are you going to hearken and hear tonight? Because the things that we are Speaking of and will speak of tonight have to do not just with this life, but they have to do with eternity.
A young man came to his professor at college, a flippant young man who knew that his professor knew and loved the Lord Jesus Christ was a Christian. And he said to his professor, he said When is the best time to be saved? Interesting question, isn't it? When is the best time to be saved?
This professor never looked up from the papers that he was marking in front of him.
He said the best time to be saved is a few minutes before you die.
Well, the man was rather pleased with that answer, the young man, because he thought I'd got my whole life ahead of Maine. I've got goals and aspirations, and when I get through college, I have some plans that are going to lead to better and better things in my life. And so, satisfied with the answer that the professor had given him, he turned to leave. And as he was about to go out the door of that classroom, the professor said, when are you going to die?
Oh, that was like an arrow to his cart. It was like an arrow to his conscience. He hadn't thought of it like that. Because tonight, as we sit here and take one breath after another, as we sit here with the strength to hold God's word in our hands, it is important to realize that he giveth to all life and breath and all things. He allowed you to take one step after another and arrive here at your seat in this auditorium. He is allowing you to sit there and to.
00:15:08
At least I trust. Listen to what he is saying to you from his word.
I think of Daniel in this connection. You know, Daniel stood before King Belshazzar, I suppose, the greatest king of the day, Belshazzar was a man who had lived for himself with no thought of eternity. And Daniel solemnly warned that man. He said, the God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways hast thou not glorified? And so tonight who will hearken? Who will give ear to this, and will hearken for the time to come, because there is a time to come.
Yes, there is a time to come, and even the atheist, I believe, who may.
In his audacity, try to tell you that there is no afterlife.
That there is nothing. That when you die and draw that last breath, you just die as an animal. Deep down, deep down, he knows that there is something after this life.
Voltaire died, I believe it was in 1778, and it's interesting that before his death he made a prediction.
He said that within 50 years of his death, 100 years of his death, Christianity would just be part of history and that the Bible.
Would be eradicated from the face of the Earth.
God had something else in mind because just 50 years.
After the death of Voltaire, the Geneva Bible Society purchased his home.
As their first headquarters. And they also purchased the printing Press of that infidel who that press that had been used to churn out propaganda against the word of God and Christianity.
And on that very printing press that had been used for that purpose were printed some of the first Bibles that the Geneva Bible Society printed. But my point in mentioning Voltaire is just this. The time came for Voltaire to leave this world. Death was laying heavy upon him, and he knew it.
And the nurse that attended Voltaire's bedside said afterwards that not for all the wealth in Europe would she ever attend the death bed of an infidel, The crying and the wailing and the agony that rent the air of that room as death pressed upon. That infidel, she said, was something she would never forget for her whole life.
Let me tell you another little story that I have sometimes told, but I'll never forget it. I remember in the hospital in Smiths Falls ON where I come from, a dear old Saint of God. She was an aunt of my father's.
She had known the Lord Jesus for many, many years, I suppose for over 70 years.
She was in her late 80s and she too was lying on her deathbed, and she knew that the time was short. Her strength was quickly ebbing away.
But it was, shall I even say, a joy to stand there and to watch one gently released from this life into the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ.
She knew she was going home. She was looking to be there with her precious savior that she had known and loved for so many, many years. I watched her as she took those last few gentle breaths and a smile crossed her face and she was home. And I knew she was home. And the joy of the presence of the Lord Jesus.
But as I stood there, I was solemnized by something that had happened just a few days before. In that same hospital corridor, just down a few doors, another man had come to the end of his life down here. He was a man that was well known and respected in the town of Smiths Falls, where I grew up. He was a man that was full of charity. He did a lot for the community. He was a wealthy man. Fact he was owner of the local newspaper.
But death came to him as well, because it is appointed unto men once to die.
But he realized that he was not ready to leave this world.
And oh, I will never forget what the utterances from his lips as he took those last breaths.
Cursing God, screaming out for mercy.
What a contrast. What would it be if it was you on that deathbed? If it was you who knew that you were near eternity? Would it be to gently take the last few breaths and step into the presence of the Lord Jesus? Or would it be to seek to cling to life to the last moment?
00:20:06
And to enter the confines of the Lake of fire.
These are solemn, solemn things that we're Speaking of tonight. God raises a question. Who will hear and give ear? Who will hearken for the time to come? I know many of you tonight are in business and you go to work and you have responsible jobs and you go to business seminars and board meetings and things like that, perhaps on a weekly basis. And when you go to those business seminars and those board meetings, it is important that you listen.
And as the man presents his presentation, if you don't listen.
There's going to be some difficulty when you go back to your office. There's not going to be an understanding of some new product that is being marketed or some new marketing scheme that the company is taking up or some new merger that's taking place. And how often I have to confess for myself I've not listened when important things are mentioned. Sometimes on an occasion like this, by 1:50 now, when the announcements are made after the meeting, and then I wonder where the cafeteria is and where the prayer for the gospel is and where this room is and that.
But I can find out. I can ask someone who did listen but oh, tonight, if you don't listen and hearken for the time to come, there will be a time when you will lift up your soul in hell in a lost eternity, with the realization that you have lost your soul.
Lost your soul?
One of the worst things about hell will be that there will be no hope.
You know, if you're sick or you're going through some trying circumstance, some difficulty in your life, you can grin and bear it, and you can get along today, because there's always hope that tomorrow things will get better. But all to think that there will be no hope. Eternity and hell will be like a clock with no hands.
The hands of that clock are moving around, and it will in time be 8:00, or if we're left here, but in eternity, after an hour, after a day, a year, a million years, a billion years, it'll just be as if time hasn't passed. And to lose your soul for eternity when God loves you. We're going to, in a few moments, turn to a story in the New Testament that I believe illustrates the gospel in a very, very beautiful way. Are you going to listen?
Because the story we're going to turn to is more than just an interesting story and a historical fact. It is true. It's an interesting story. It's a story that when I was a boy, I loved to hear and think about. It's true. It is a historical fact. But it's more than that. It's recorded. In fact, it's told by the Lord Jesus when he was here in this world, and it was told to a man to warn that man and also to present to him God's provision for him.
Let me read this question once again. Questions are so good in the Gospel Meeting because a question makes it very, very personal. And that's, as I say, the way I want you to see the gospel tonight directed at you if you're here tonight, lost and in your sins.
Who among us will give ear to this, and will hearken and hear for the time to come? And then we read the verses in Isaiah and on into the gospel, exhorting us that if we have ears to hear, we need to open those ears, and we need.
To hear a preacher after a gospel meeting like this was shaking hands with folks at the door and there was a young man going out.
And the preacher wasn't sure if this young man was saved or not. And so he put his hand on his shoulder and he said, young man, tell me something, what is the best thing in this life?
The young man turned and he looked into the earnest face of the preacher, and he said, Sir, the best thing in this life is to be ready for the next.
Oh, that's the desire of so many in this room tonight. That's why a gospel meeting was announced. That's why there was a prayer meeting before this meeting, because there are just so many in this room who are concerned about your soul. Do you realize, dear soul, dear friend, tonight, if you're lost, that there's someone praying for your precious soul in this room tonight?
Two young people were heard just before a Gospel meeting like this to say to one another.
Well, it's just another Gospel Meeting. It'll probably end around 8:00. It probably will end around 8:00. But no Gospel meeting is just another gospel meeting. It is a thrill to our souls to hold forth the Word of life and to present the glorious Savior and the precious Blood of Christ that cleanses from all sin. And it is God's grace to you in allowing you to hear a loving entreaty and a warning from His heart. Once again, no Gospel meeting is just another.
00:25:29
Gospel meeting.
I was reading recently about two men who died in 1899. Two men who died the same year, but oh how different it was. One was Robert Ingersoll.
Again, Robert Ingersoll, like Voltaire, was an infidel who spent much of his energy and resources.
Printing literature and propagating the fact that there was number such thing as eternity. Discrediting the Bible, speaking blasphemous things concerning the person and work of Christ. And he died in 1899 and again, what a death it was. What a sad time and those who were there and the report in the newspaper, I understand was a very sad thing, they said His wife and children clung to his dead body. It was all the hope they had.
They said his cremation was soul stirring. That was the report in the newspaper concerning the death.
Of Robert Ingersoll. But another man died that year. His name was Dwight L Moody, and Dwight L Moody had spent much of his life and energy preaching the good tidings of the gospel. Had spent much time in the city of Chicago proclaiming the good news and in other parts of this world. And those who were in his room as he lay on his deathbed said it was a deathbed of absolute triumph. As his last breaths were coming and his life was slipping away. His daughter Emma knelt by his bedside and prayed for his recovery. He put his hand on her head. He said, Daughter, don't pray for my recovery, he said. I'm almost there, he said. Earth is fading and glory is before me. And he went in triumph from a life lived for Christ and telling others the good news of the gospel.
To be with the Lord Jesus. Why do I tell these stories? Why do I bring up these instances? Because I want to impress upon you tonight. I hope that God will press upon you tonight the importance of settling eternal issues. Are you saved tonight? Are you saved tonight? I don't mean do you come to gospel meetings with your parents? I don't mean do you go to some place of worship on a regular basis?
I mean, are you saved? Do you know if you were to leave this world?
Because let me solemnly warn you that not everybody that leaves this world lays on a deathbed and knows.
That death is coming. There are so many whose lives are snuffed out in a moment. Not just old people either, but young people, their lives gone without notice.
And if you were to walk out of this room at 8:00 and you were to meet with some tragedy between here and your place of abode tonight, I want to ask you, and you need to answer this in the presence of God, Are you saved? Or you may shake someones hand at the door and say, yes, I'm saved, But God knows what's in your heart tonight. You can fool me, you can fool your mother or father, you can fool the friend that invited you to this gospel meeting. But I want to tell you the eyes of the Lord are in every place.
And he looks into the heart tonight. He doesn't look as outward appearance, for the Lord looketh on the heart. And you may fool plenty of people, but you cannot fool God.
Let me ask you again, are you saved? Do you know that your sins are forgiven?
Are you trusting in the work of the Lord Jesus on Calvary? Can you say who bear our sins in his own body on the tree?
Can you say the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me? If you cannot say that with true confidence before God, oh, I want to tell you tonight there's love and pardon available. This message is for you tonight. The door of God's salvation is still open through the Lord Jesus. There was a young man we read about in the Bible. His name was Timothy, and Timothy had the wonderful privilege like so many boys and girls and young people here tonight.
The wonderful privilege of hearing the word of God. From the very early days of his childhood he had a God fearing grandmother. He had a God fearing mother. The Bible tells us that.
00:30:07
And Paul reminded him that from a child thou hast known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make thee wise through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Timothy had heard the word of God from the days of his youth, but Paul reminded him that it was through faith which is in Christ Jesus. It's true, the word of God makes us wise unto salvation. How would we know the way of salvation apart from God's precious word? But he has spelled it out so clearly. We can quote tonight John 316 For God so loved the world.
That he gave his only begotten Son, That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. We can quote the blood of Jesus Christ. His Son cleanseth us from all sin, and we can go to the Gospels, and we can read the story of the life of the Lord Jesus and the story of his death on Calvary's cross. It tells us that the way of righteousness is so plain that a wayfaring man, though a fool, may not err therein. We sometimes sing a little hymn in Sunday School.
A little child of seven, or even 3 or 4 May enter into heaven through Christ the open door.
For when the heart believeth on Christ the Son of God, tis then the soul receiveth.
Salvation through His blood. You know the way of salvation tonight, don't you? You've heard it many times. You've heard the Holy Scriptures like Timothy, but it's through faith, which is in Christ Jesus. Are you trusting in a person tonight? Are you resting your soul on the work of Calvary?
John Patton, who was a missionary to the New Hebride Islands, Pioneer missionary, who went with a burning desire to take the good news of the Gospel to those who had never heard it before. And one of his first tasks was to translate part of the word of God into the language of the South Sea natives, so that they would have at least part of the word of God in their own tongue. And as he was going through Matthew, Mark and Luke and John, translating the scriptures.
He found it hard to come up with a word for the word believe or trust, something that would be to the natives way of looking at things. And finally he came to the 16th chapter of Acts, where the Philippian jailer raised that question and raised it in earnest. What must I do to be saved? And Paul and Silas together responded, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved. And he translated it like this. Lean your full weight on him.
What are you leaning on tonight for Salvation. All these people leaning on many things in this world, but they're finding that the things they once thought were secure in this world are being shaken. It just seems like the foundation of everything is being shaken today.
The foundation of the economic structure that man has put confidence in the social structure, whatever it might be. Every aspect of life seems to be in an upheaval today, and men are finding that things they once put confidence in are like shifting sand and fleeing. Oh, what are you basing your soul salvation on tonight? Are you leaning your full weight on him? Are you resting on the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, I said I'd like to go to an incident, a story in the Gospels. It's in Luke.
Gospel, chapter 10.
And do open your ears to listen to God's Word as we read this story together.
Luke's Gospel, chapter 10.
We'll begin reading at verse 25. And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? He said unto him, What is written in the law? How readest thou? And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind, and thy neighbor as thyself. And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right this do, and thou shalt live.
But he willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbor?
And Jesus, answering, said, a certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. And by chance there came down a certain priest that way. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise A Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion on him.
00:35:07
And went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
And on the Morrow when he departed, he took out 2 Pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him. And whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee, which now of these three thinkest thou was neighbor unto him that fell among thieves? And he said, he that showed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise Well, we certainly don't have time to comment on all that is brought before us in these verses.
But we find here a man who came to the Lord Jesus and he had a question.
It's good to ask questions, but you know it's good when questions are raised that are sincere, earnest questions from the heart.
We just mentioned that in Acts 16 there was a question raised, What must I do to be saved?
And it was, I believe, from the context of that story, a very sincere and earnest question.
Because there was an immediate answer given in the Spirit, in the power of the Spirit. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. And if we were to read down in those verses in Acts chapter 16, we would find that that man who asked that question, it says he believed in God rejoicing with all his house. What a transformation there was in that man because he came in sincerity, asked a question, and received an answer, I believe, from God himself.
Through the through Paul and Silas. But here was a man, and the Lord Jesus as he looked at this man. No doubt he loved this man very, very much.
Or do you realize tonight how much God loves you? Do you realize how much the Lord Jesus loves you tonight?
In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world that we may live through Him.
Can there be any greater, has there been any greater display of what is in God's heart than the display that was shown to this world when God gave his Son the Lord Jesus Christ? It tells us in first John the Father sent the Son. Oh, think of that relationship that existed for all from a past eternity, the relationship of the Father and the Son. And when it says the Father sent the Son.
Isn't that more than if it just said God sent Jesus? It's true God did send Jesus, but oh think of the heart of the Father as he sent the Son.
I enjoyed history when I was going to school, and one of the segments of history that I particularly enjoyed was learning about David Livingstone. But you know, when we studied about David Livingstone in school, it was stress. The side of him being an explorer for the British government, a man who went to map out much of that continent before it had been explored or mapped out. And he certainly did a great deal of invaluable work for the British government.
But later on, in reading of David Livingstone on my own, I realized that there was a far, far more important.
Aspect to his work and a far deeper motive in David going to Africa than just as an explorer for the British government. Oh, David's heart yearned for those who had never heard the glorious gospel, and we know from reading his life that there was much blessing and much fruit, which I'm sure only eternity will reveal.
But David Livingstone was staying in a village one time, and there had been great blessing in that village. Many had believed the light of the glorious gospel. They had, like the Thessalonian believers, turned from God to idols, to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven. But David was concerned about some people who lived farther down the river.
But he had been warned by the natives in the village where he was working not to venture any farther down that river. They said you'll never come out alive.
But so yearn David's heart for the blessing of those people that one day.
He and his wife and their baby.
Got into a boat and began that journey down the river.
When they landed near arrived near the area where they hoped to beach their boat, they were startled by seeing figures with all kinds of Spears and war weapons running through the trees.
The natives came down to the shore to see who these people were, and it became very quickly evident that had David pulled his boat ashore, they would have quickly done him in.
00:40:04
And he tried in one way or another to convey to the natives that he had not come to harm them, but that he had come in peace and for their blessing. But he just couldn't seem to make them understand.
And finally, after considering the matter, he looked at his wife, holding their child in her arms.
And he said to his wife, give me the baby.
Those of us who are parents here tonight can just imagine the emotions that must have run between a mother and a father.
As they see those on the shore ready to harm them, to take their lives.
And David says to his wife, give me the baby.
She hesitated for a few moments and then, rather reluctantly, she handed David their child.
And David?
With the child in his outstretched arms, he stepped out of that boat into the shallow water, and he held out that child to those natives.
And they say that the effect.
Was amazing.
Immediately those natives realized that David had not come to harm them, but had come for their good. And immediately they put down their weapons of war. And they received David, and they listened to the glorious gospel that he presented to them from this precious book the same gospel that we are trying tonight, though, albeit feebly, to present to you. And those natives listened, And many of them, we are told, came to know the Lord Jesus as their savior. But what was it?
That made them realize that David had come in love. Oh, it was the child.
Held in his outstretched arms, that child was the symbol of his love, and that he had come in peace. And God has clearly shown His love to you and to me in the giving of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. I say again, And this was manifested. If we were to go to a dictionary, we would find that the word manifested means to clearly show.
To my own soul that's very precious, because God has clearly shown His love. Could He show it any clearer than in the giving of his Son? Oh no. And not just his Son coming into this world and dispensing blessing on every hand and speaking the very words that God the Father gave him to speak, but in going to the cross and giving himself there.
God spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Does love like that tonight? Touch your heart, this story that we have read.
Brings before us two men, one the Samaritan and I believe the Lord Jesus told this story.
To illustrate God's provision through the Lord Jesus and man's great need.
The Samaritan figures to us, and I think we can see it very quickly. It figures to us. The Lord Jesus, who came in lowliness and grace, came where we were. Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. This man who left Jerusalem and began his descent to Jericho, he figures to us what we are by nature. And as he lay in that ditch, beaten, wounded and half dead, oh, I say it's a graphic picture of man's helpless condition.
Because tonight we need to realize that not only are we sinners, that's true. We are sinners. Every one of us are born into this world as sinners.
And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But I believe we need to realize more than that. We need to realize that we are helpless, guilty sinners, unable as this man was, to raise himself out of the ditch, and we are unable to raise ourselves out of the pit of sin. But David could say He brought me up also out of an horrible pit. I set my feet upon a rock and established my going. Was that anything that David had done, No, he had done it, the Lord had done it, and all the Lord has provided salvation.
Tonight. And we find here this man. He leaves Jericho. He leaves Jerusalem. I'm sorry. Why did he leave Jerusalem? We're not told why he left Jerusalem. And I'm not about to speculate, but something motivated him to look from Jerusalem. The place of blessing down the road to Jericho. You know, there are just so many here this evening who have been brought up in a place of blessing.
Are you hankering for Jericho? Do you want to travel down that road to Jericho? Because Jericho is a city that in scripture, has perhaps a double connotation.
We find that it was the city of the cursed. It's a picture to us of this world under judgment and you'll remember in Rehabs day when the children of Israel went in to possess the land of of Canaan.
00:45:13
They came to Jericho and they marched in obedience around that wall, and there was a great victory given by Jehovah, by the Lord. The walls came tumbling down and they went up and took that city, and only Rahab in her house. Those that were inside that house, protected by the scarlet line in the window, were saved. And there was a curse pronounced on anyone who would rebuild that city. And that did come to pass. We won't take time to go into that this evening.
But you know, there was something else about Jericho. It was the city of palm trees.
I don't know, as I say, why this man left Jerusalem, but I have wondered as he looked down the road toward Jericho, if he didn't consider it in the light of the city of palm trees. We think of palm trees, especially those of us who come from the north. They denote a place that's very pleasant. The weather is perhaps more conducive than what we experience in the winter, the place of rest, the place of ease. Perhaps all these things are brought before us as we think of palm trees.
Waving in the southern breeze. And perhaps this man as he looked down the road to Jericho, he thought it was a place where?
He could take his ease, he could enjoy life. Is that what your desire is tonight?
Is that what's keeping you from coming to the Lord Jesus Christ all? Satan is so clever tonight. He puts one thing and another before us.
But oh, if you're like this man and you're looking down to Jericho, I beseech you tonight.
To consider carefully what took place here. He never did make it to Jericho. He fell among thieves. You know, that's what Satan is. He's a thief. He's a thief and a robber. You know, this world only wants us for what it can get out of us.
I've been struck in speaking to those who are in Business Today, those who are working for large corporations.
It just seems that the corporate world today wants people who will live, sleep and eat for that company. They don't care about your family. They don't care about your personal life. They just want you for what they can get out of you. That's what Satan wants you for, for what he can get out of you. It's like the prodigal son, as long as he had lots to offer. He had many friends, I suppose, but when he had nothing left to offer of the resources that he had taken from the Father's house.
He was alone. No one gave unto him. It says. There he was alone because he had nothing more to offer.
In our family reading, I was struck in reading concerning the children of Israel when they were under the ******* of Pharaoh and Egypt. A picture to us in the Old Testament of Satan in this world. And there came a point when Pharaoh wouldn't even give them straw to make brick, and yet they had to keep up the tally of bricks.
All Satan is not a giver, he's a taker. But oh, tonight we're speaking about the giver, the greatest giver of good, the Lord Jesus Christ, God himself. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Do you realize that the heart of God is such that he wants to give to you? Tonight he's given his son. Paul could burst out at the end of Second Corinthians Chapter 9 and say thanks be unto God.
For his unspeakable gift. But there's another gift being offered tonight, being offered in this very room to you. And that's the gift of salvation. The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. And you. Remember at the beginning of the meeting we sung over and over and over again. Take salvation. Take salvation. Take salvation. Because even the children here understand what the response to a gift ought to be.
When someone gives you a gift, what do you do? You don't try to pay for it, do you? No. You reach out and you take it. You receive it and you say thank you. Have you ever thanked God for His gift of the Lord Jesus? Have you ever thanked the Lord Jesus for the gift of eternal life?
We had a brother two or three years ago come and speak to some children.
That were gathered together to hear the gospel story.
And he was trying to impress upon these children the difference between a gift and a reward, and he illustrated it this way. I thought was very good, he said. Suppose I bring a bicycle up to the front here, and Ioffer this bicycle to one of the boys on the front row.
00:50:00
A very expensive bicycle. And this boy knows that it's a very expensive bicycle. And so Ioffer it to him and he comes up to receive it. But on his way from his chair to the front, he thinks, now this is a pretty nice gift just to be offered free out of the blue. Maybe I should offer him something for it. And so as the boy approaches, he says, Sir, I'd like to give you 1 Penny for this bicycle.
He said the bicycle. If I took the penny, the bicycle is no longer a gift. It might be a bargain, but it is not a gift. And God, I speak reverently and carefully. He is not requiring 1 Penny at your hand and mine tonight. He does not require anything. This man that was lying in the ditch, could he do anything? Could he do anything to better his position or pull him out out of the self, out of the ditch? Oh no. In fact there were two men who couldn't do anything for him either. A priest and a Levite.
Because tonight we're not talking about keeping the law. That's what the young man was talking about. That came to the Lord. He wanted to inherit eternal life. He wanted to do something to earn salvation.
He was a fine man, impeccable in keeping the law, perhaps, as far as he was concerned.
But the law wouldn't save. Religion doesn't save. We're not presenting religion tonight. We're presenting a person.
Religion doesn't save, works don't save.
I'm sure there are many tonight in this world who, if they were told to make great pilgrimages and abuse their body and do great things, they would do it to try to earn salvation, to inherit eternal life. But it cannot be done. Oh no. There was only one who could help this man who was lying in the ditch, and that was this Samaritan. A certain Samaritan, you know, the priest and the Levite. They came down by chance. But the Samaritan didn't come by chance. The Lord Jesus. Again, I speak carefully. He didn't come into this world by chance. He came in the fullness of time. God sent forth his Son, born of a woman.
God had a perfect time table. Nothing frustrates that timetable either.
It wasn't by chance that you came into this room tonight. No, nothing happens in our lives by chance.
And so it was not by chance that this certain Samaritan came, and as he journeyed, he came where he was. Isn't that beautiful? The Lord Jesus came from the courts of glory. He took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, Even the death of the cross. He came where we were. It says he was made sin who knew no sin.
That we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Oh, this is the glorious gospel. This is God's wonderful provision for you and for me. Through his Son, this Samaritan came where he was, and he bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine.
You know everyone of us here tonight who know the Lord Jesus as our Savior. We have, as it were, had the oil poured in.
Everyone of us here are indwelt by the Spirit of God, and that's the power for our lives through this world. It's been sometimes said, and I believe rightly so, that the new nature that which we receive when we become a new creature in Christ Jesus, a new creation, it has no power of itself. But the power for the Newman is the spirit of God. It's important to understand that because sometimes when the gospel is presented, people say, well, I'd like to be a Christian, but I could never live like that. I could never live.
As a Christian is required to live. But we're not asked to live the Christian life on our own strength. He gives us the power to live for his glory here in this world. There was the wine too. That's the joy that comes in believing. Oh, what joy it is tonight to know the Lord Jesus as your savior. Are you out after the bubbles of this world? It's like the carbon on your carbonated drink when you go to McDonald's. It's just there for a little while. It rises quickly to the surface and it's gone.
Oh, don't chase the bubbles of this world.
They don't give lasting joy. They won't give you peace. They might give you happiness for a moment, and there is pleasure in sin, but it's only for a season. It's only for a moment. But oh, tonight we're speaking about a lasting joy that comes in believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, in having confidence in him, in knowing that our sins are washed away and that at any moment we're going to hear a shout and we're going to rise to meet the Lord Jesus.
00:55:12
In the air. Does that bring joy to your heart tonight? Or are you squirming a little bit and saying, well, there's only three or 4 minutes left to the Gospel Meeting and then it will be over?
Or if it doesn't bring joy to your heart tonight to look up and know that the Lord Jesus is coming, that the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. Oh, I want to tell you, it will be a sad and solemn event for those who are left behind, When once the master of the house hath risen up and shut to the door, then they'll begin to knock and say, Lord, Lord, open unto us, is that door ever opened again? No words come back from the other side of that door to ring in their ears for eternity. Depart from me, ye workers of iniquity. I never knew you.
The message tonight is come unto me.
If you refuse that message, there will be a day when the message to you will be depart from me.
3 short words in either case, is it hard to understand? Is this something difficult or complicated to come unto me?
Depart from me.
Well, we find this man was taken from this ditch and he wasn't just left on his own to get along and get back to Jerusalem where he belonged. No, this Samaritan put him on his own beast and took him to the inn and brought him to the inn and took care of him.
And there are many here who have known the Lord Jesus for many, many, many years. And everyone will attest.
That when they got saved, they were not only saved from hell, not only was glory before them, but in the interim there was one who has cared for them.
All along the path of faith.
In to see an elderly sister some time ago. We enjoyed that verse in Psalm 37. I have been young.
And now I'm old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his seed begging bread. He takes care of us all along. I wouldn't want to trade places with anyone that isn't a Christian. Sometimes people think about what they'll have to give up if they become a Christian. The only thing I gave up were my sins, and I'm glad they're gone. As far as the East is from the West so far. If he removed our transgressions from us. And what I have received in return is so much greater. A home at the end of the journey. But not only that one.
Me every step one who says I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
Are you saved tonight? Have you listened to God's word?