Kentucky YP Camp: 2019
Table of Contents
The Gates of Nehemiah Part 1
Address—Jim Hyland
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Oh, and there's compassionate friends in my studies of my heart.
Shadow, that spelling with joy and settling in all the darkness before.
The Adventure Time for it till time So.
We're not across the city.
O my temper was so many, and thy life concerned today.
And it came down and 40.
Fell my soul.
Oh my God, thus far. And when the light from the flow.
Into our family.
Behind just as by the Lord. They're not in love. Oh, I'm standing in my.
Transaction so quickly was made.
Michael.
I can't where I fell away.
And by night was turned to death.
And it can come and glory of life so.
Now I love hope that will survey answer.
After the fasting of time.
I have a future in heaven for sure.
There is no expansion so much and it's because of that wonderful day.
1197 cross eyed daily.
Written eternal and blessings eternal from His precious and I receive.
I'm thinking now, thanks for really filled my soul.
When I saw cross the day, God made his neighborhood.
And my night was forever today.
I'd like this.
Give out 22 in the appendix to start our little prayer meeting this morning.
22 in the appendix.
No.
I don't know if I understand.
And in the circle outside.
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The law.
And I'm proud of and we have a life.
And.
1.
In the house.
In.
To lie to your hands.
Till I try to learn.
It's not my name.
To perform.
Wow, to make it more to all of the mercenaries.
Uh-oh.
My thought in the booklet was that, uh, if you want to make some brief notes in the space provided.
Then later on, it can be a little bit of a guide to the yellow chart you have. As we said earlier, there are some tablets and pens at the back for those of you who like to make, uh, more notes than we have room for in the little booklet. As you can see, we're going to concentrate uh this weekend on the gates of Nehemiah in Nehemiah Chapter 3. But before we do that, we're going to make some, uh, introductory comments and I would like to read a couple of verses to introduce.
What is before us today first of all in Romans chapter 15?
Romans, chapter 15.
And verse 4.
For whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning that we, through patience and comfort of the Scriptures, might have hope. Now we'll hold that thought for a moment and read a verse in Mark's Gospel, chapter 13.
Mark's Gospel chapter 13 and verse 34.
For the Son of Man is as a man taking a far journey, who left his house and gave authority to his servants and to every man his work, and commanded the porters to watch. So these might seem like strange verses to use to introduce the subject of the gates of Nehemiah, but I want to very simply say this first of all, as we go back to the Old Testament and we take up these stories and illustrations, they are more than just stories and historical facts.
It's true, they are historical facts and they are interesting stories, but they have been recorded by in God's word, by men that God used to write exactly what he told them to write. We call it divine inspiration, and as this verse in Romans confirms that those things that were written back before Christianity, the Old Testament, those things are profitable and for our learning. So we're going to go back and we're going to, I hope, learn some lessons.
From the story of Nehemiah, and particularly from the rebuilding of the Wall and the Gates.
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Before we do that too, I read the verse in Mark chapter 13, because we want to point out that God uses all kinds of people and he gives to every person a work. Now, it might be helpful just to say this too, that in connection with what we have in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, we have what we might say are 4 revivals. Now, young people were going to run a lot of things by you, I realized, because we only have limited time in these meetings, but I'm just going to try to give you a very brief outline of things.
And really ministry like this, given orally, is to hopefully whet your appetite. So you go back, you go over your your notes, you go back, you take the scriptures, you search it out and you meditate on it and you dig some further things out. So we're just going to give you a little bit of an outline in these three meetings that we share together on this subject. But there were four revivals, first of all.
The first revival was back in the book of Ezra chapter 3. If you want to note some of these references you can look them up later. But in Ezra chapter three you find the UH first revival and it was under the leadership of a man named Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the governor, he was the grandson of Jehovah Kim, the king of Israel. So he was of royal descent and God raised this man's rubble up and he was associated with a man by the name of Joshua the priest. Not to be confused with the.
Joshua that led the children of Israel through the Jordan and into the good of their inheritance, the Promised Land. And in that revival the altar was set up and the foundation of the Temple that had previously been destroyed. So you remember that before this the children of Israel had been carried captive into Babylon. God had warned them over and over again, if they didn't turn from idolatry and sin, he would allow them to be carried captive. And they were. Then God allowed these revivals to take place.
There are there are four of them. In the first revival, the altar was set up.
And the foundation of the House of God the temple was relayed.
They in other words, they return to the very spot where God had originally placed his name at Jerusalem, the very spot where God dwelt with his people in the temple that had been built under the direction of Solomon so many years before. The altar would speak of worship. The foundation would speak of the foundation truth that we have in the word of God in the New Testament it talks about.
That foundation, later on, it was Christianity, and Paul and others laid that foundation. And that was the the truth of God-given at the beginning. So we're making an application from the Old Testament. We're applying it in connection with the truth that we have now in Christianity. Paul was a wise, master builder. He laid the foundation. That is, you'll never understand the truth of Christianity being gathered to the Lord's name, the hope of the Lord's coming, those things.
Unless you read Paul's ministry. However, there were other New Testament writers as well, and they helped to lay other foundation, truth as well, and fill in certain details. It corresponds to what happened back in the early 1800s. Historically, God exercised and raised up men who were exercised to come out from organized Christianity, so to speak, and they realized that there was more than just.
Church form, churchanity, and so on. And they began to meet, to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread.
The way the early Christians had and certain truths began to be brought out.
However, we find then there was a second revival. And because they laid the they built the altar. They they re established the altar, they laid the foundation. But you know, whenever there's a revival of spiritual things, the enemy is right there and things go down downhill very quickly. And so they never proceeded beyond that with the under the rubble and God raised up two prophets. You can read their ministry, their Hageai and Zechariah.
Two profits. We have their their exhortation in the scripture and they encourage the people of God then stirred them up to rebuild the house, to rebuild the house, to go ahead with the work. The problem was the people had started the work. But as the Prophet tells us, the Prophet, Haggai, he tells us that the people went home and they were living in their sealed houses. What does that mean? It means they went back to their homes.
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And they got into, as we would say today, a certain comfort zone. And they were just interested in their own affairs. They didn't take up the work of God. They weren't interested, as interested as they ought to have been in God's center and the blessing of God's people collectively. And so God sent along these two prophets who encouraged them to resume and complete the building of the House of God. Then we find a third revival took place.
And some years later, and that was under Ezra the priest. And Ezra the priest brings before them the word of God was the Old Testament law that they had. And you can read about this in Ezra Chapter 7 to 10. And there we find that there was insistence on on the holiness that became the House of God. There was a going back to the word of God. And so again back in the late eighteen 1800s particularly.
After the first revival, God began to work with with these men, and prophetic truth was brought out the truth of the Lord's coming. The difference between the Lord's coming, uh, in the as to the rapture to take us to be with himself, call us out, and also the hope of the Lord's the truth of the Lord's coming back to reign in his Kingdom. And there was a right, a right dividing of the word of truth at that time, and a very, a very significant revival.
And a lot of the written ministry that we have, some that we have on the back table there for you to avail yourself of, was written at that time. And that ministry, thank God, is still available to us explaining these precious truths that we have in the word of God. But then we have some 14 years after Ezra, we have Nehemiah and Nehemiah, he wasn't one of the of the King's seed. He wasn't a prophet.
He Washington wasn't a priest. He was, what we might say, just a common person. And that's why I read in in Mark chapter 13, because God uses all kinds of people in connection with not just revivals, but the continuing of the truth in His service and young people. He wants to use every one of us here, brothers and sisters alike, those of us who know Christ as our Savior. It doesn't matter what our background is.
We may be just one of the very common people, but God wants to use us in some way in His service. And as we go through Nehemiah Chapter 3, we're going to see again that God used everybody from nobles to carpenters to Masons to men, women, young people, families. All kinds of people were used, and everyone had an important place in the building of the wall.
The building of the wall and and I.
I have put it at the top of our yellow card here. The the main thrust of our subject this weekend is going to be practical separation and holiness. So before we go to Nehemiah Chapter 3.
Let's read a verse in John 17.
John Gospel chapter 17. This is the Lord Jesus Praying.
And uh, we'll read from verse 15, John 17, verse 15.
I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the evil. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy word is truth. You know, we hear a lot today about walls, don't we? And a wall does a couple of things. A wall has to do with separation. It keeps out what is.
Undesirable.
And it gives protection to those who are within. And in ancient times, back in Bible times, they would have understood this very clearly because history tells us that cities in those days and towns they usually had a wall. They and I have visited Carcassonne in France. In France, Carcassonne is a functioning walled city today and they say there are people that are born and die inside the walls of Carcassonne.
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That never travel outside that city. But I've walked the walls of Carcassonne, they're very thick walls. You can probably run a chair, a small chariot, around part of those walls. And those walls were to keep the enemy from coming in and to keep those citizens inside safe. So a wall is a very practical thing. It speaks of separation. And I believe that you and I, as we go through this world, we need to walk in separation from it.
Now separation, young people, is not isolation, you know. Again, we visited some of the monasteries of Europe, and some of them are up in the mountains and very isolated. And there was a thought with the early monks that they needed to isolate themselves and live a life of holiness away from the world, surrounded by walls of a monastery and never leave that place. That is not what separation is. Separation and isolation are two very different things.
You and I are not to isolate ourselves from this world, because you and I are in this world to be a testimony to it. And if we isolate ourselves from the world, we'll never shine as lights in this world. We're told that we're to be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation among whom you shine as light in this world. So we're here to be a testimony for Christ.
We're here to represent Christ, and we're here to speak for Christ in the gospel and to tell others and show others how they can become citizens of heaven and save from judgment and so on as well. We'll never do that. If we isolate ourselves, however, we're going to see, as we go through these different gates and so on in the building of the rebuilding of the wall, we're going to see that there is practical separation from this world, you and I.
Can walk through this world in a way that we don't defile ourselves with sin or become involved in all the sinful activities, worldly activities that this world is involved in. Because if we do, we're not going to be able to speak for God and Christ and we're not going to be the proper light and testimony that he desires us to be. Now be again, let's before we go to the third chapter of Nehemiah, let's go to the second chapter of Nehemiah.
And introduce the man that God used in connection with the rebuilding of this wall. As I say, Nehemiah was not one of the nobility, was not a priest, he wasn't a prophet. Nehemiah was just an ordinary man who was fulfilling ordinary duties and was taken up with what we would call today secular employment. So in Nehemiah chapter two, let me just read a few verses here, beginning at verse one.
And it came to pass in the uh month Nissan, in the 20th year of our tech. Xerxes, the king that wine was brought, was before him. And I took the wine, and gave it to the king. Now I had not been before times sad in his presence. Wherefore the king said unto me, Why is thy countenance sad, seeing thou art not sick? This is nothing else but sorrow of heart. Then I was very sore afraid, and said unto the king, Let the king live forever. Why should it not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my father's sepulchre, lieth in waste, and the gates there ever consumed with fire?
Then the king said unto me, For what dost thou make request? So I pray to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, So I'll, I'll stop there.
Nehemiah, as I say, he was just carrying on his secular employment. Now he was the King's cup there. And that in those days was a very, very important job. The King's cup bearer I believe tasted the King's wine to make sure it wasn't poisoned. Because you know, those kings and nobility in those days, they really lived in fear of their lives. There was always someone out to get them and you only have to read the Old Testament to find that out that.
So often there wasn't someone rising up and ready to overthrow the king and so on. And then the King's cup bearer brought that cup of wine to the king, and it was to rejoice the King's heart. And wine in Scripture is a figure of joy. It's a figure of praise. And so it was a very, very responsible position that Nehemiah had. And one day Nehemiah, as we read here, he comes into the presence of the king to bring him that which was to.
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Encourage and bring joy to the King's heart. And he said, and this was not to be for the King's cup bearer. A King's cup bearer was never to be sad in the presence of the king. The king notices this, and he asked Nehemiah what his problem is. Now you can just imagine, Nehemiah here was a king that had the power of life and death. It tells us about those kings whom they would they slew and whom they would they kept alive.
If you said the wrong thing, you had the wrong attitude, just the wrong expression. You could lose your job or even lose your life. And so Nehemiah, he was very scared, he was sore, afraid. But what I want to point out here is that when the king asks him, tries to pin him down on what the problem is, it says before he gives the answer it says. So I pray to the God of heaven.
And I said unto the king, I believe what characterizes characterized Nehemiah was he was a man of prayer. We're going to notice too, he was a man of purpose. And so those two things characterized Nehemiah and young people. I believe this that in the days in which we live, because Nehemiah's day represents not the days back in the 1800s when there was great revival of the truth, not the days when they first started to break bread and there were hundreds and hundreds.
Even in one city that were exercised to remember the Lord, and they were together, and so on. But Nehemiah brings us right down to the day in which we live. And I believe that the men and women like you and me that God uses in days of weakness, in days, of ruin in days.
Where we're just at the end of our of this Christian age and we're looking for the Lord to come at any moment.
They are men and women not of great gift. Now we're thankful for gift and we all have some little gift. We know that from other scriptures. But it's not a question today of great gift and ability. It's a question of dependence and purpose. And you're going to find as you go through scripture that the men and women that God used in days of weakness to help his people and to bring little revivals where men and women who had real purpose of heart like Daniel, like Nehemiah and others.
And those who were characterized by prayer, because prayer is the expression of dependence and confidence. And if you're a man or a woman of prayer and purpose, then God can really use you, even in the days in which we live. And young people were not looking for great revival today.
We're we're looking to hold fast to what God has given us to in the language of another scripture.
To strengthen the things that remain and to repair and rebuild what God has already established. You notice, we're going to notice when they took up the building of the wall, they didn't build a new wall. It wasn't something new that was established. It was a repairing of what had been built previously. And that's important. If somebody comes along today, one of your Christian friends or anybody comes along today.
And tells you that there's new revelation, new light at the end of this Christian age. It's a red light. It's a warning. God in in the scriptures, in his ways with with men, whether it was in the Old Testament or whether it's in the New Testament. He never gave fresh light at the beginning of a dispensation or an age at the beginning of different dispensations. And we don't have time to go through it. But I just say this is a warning.
There are different different times in scripture time frames where God dealt with.
His people in different ways. At the beginning he gave them light. So for instance, in connection with what we have, what we're taking up at the beginning of the of the dispensation of law, God gave light. Through Moses, God gave light. And you can read Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. The Levitical and Mosaic law was laid down and we find that when these men rose up.
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That we that we mentioned like the rubble like.
And Zechariah.
Azra Nehemiah, they didn't propagate fresh revelation from God. They went back and acted on what was given at the beginning, and it's parallel to what I mentioned in the 1800s. It wasn't fresh light, it wasn't new light that was given.
It was men going back to the word of God and what was established at the beginning, the foundation laid by the apostles, the New Testament writers. And they went back and acted on what was given at the beginning of the Christian dispensation or the Christian era. And so we want to be careful. We're not, we're not talking today when we talk about a revival. And I don't believe we're in the days of revival, but we're not a revival.
Is not fresh light. It's going back and and reviving that which was given at the beginning. That's why it's called a revival. It's not looking for something new. So that doesn't mean young people that we can't have a fresh enjoyment of scripture. And you read the scripture and you say, oh, I never saw that before, but here's the safeguard. Make sure when you enjoy something for the first time from scripture or you hear something ministered in a meeting like this that you never heard before.
Make sure it corresponds with the word of God. That's why when Paul ministered the truth orally at Berea, the Berean brethren, they just didn't take Paul's word for it. He said, well, if anybody's word for it, couldn't they have taken Paul's word for it? No, they went back, they went home, they got out. Whatever parts of the Old Testament scriptures would have been available to them at that time. And it says they searched the scriptures daily to see if these things were so. What things?
The things that were ministered orally by the Apostle Paul. Now I realize Paul was bringing out new truth in connection with Christianity because it was the beginning of the age, but still they wanted to make sure that it was confirmed by the Old Testament stories and illustrations and types and shadows and so on. So very important, whenever you enjoy for yourself or hear something new, always go to the word of God and search it out and make sure.
That it is based on the on the word of God. So Nehemiah was a man of prayer and a man of purpose. And we find that when he prayed here, if we were to read on, God gave him real wisdom in answering the king. And the king granted him his request and even more than he asked. You know, it's a tremendous thing to think that this king, this Gentile king, would not only let Nehemiah go back to view the situation in Jerusalem where the Washington wall was broken down and the city was in ruin, but he even helped him along the way, provided what he what he needed.
Gave him safe passage and so on. But you see, when when there's a person of purpose and prayer, then God will use them and open the way so that they can be a tremendous blessing. Now, again, I know we're not all raised up to do a public work and a place of leadership like Nehemiah, but I believe the point is, as we read in Mark earlier, to every man, his work, every man and every woman here who knows Christ as their savior, they have a work and God has a plan for you and wants to use you in blessing.
Now let's go to Nehemiah Chapter 3, and let's introduce this subject. So I'll just read a couple of verses here at the beginning of Nehemiah chapter 3. And then we're going to work our way clockwise around this chart in these meetings that we share together.
Nehemiah, chapter 3. Then Elisha the high priest rose up with his brethren, the priest.
And they built the, the sheep gate. They sanctified it and set up the doors of it even under the tower Mia and sanctified it under the tower. Hannah. So here we have the beginning of this wall. Now we're going to notice and it's very significant that they begin, uh, at the at the sheep gate. So again, let's keep in focus here that the building of the repairing of the wall here has to do.
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With practical sanctification and holiness in our lives, in the New Testament it says be holy, for I am holy. Now none of us are going to reach deity. There's only one that God the Father and the Lord Jesus who.
Are wholly in in that sense, the Lord Jesus was holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners. But we're talking about in a practical sense now. We have positionally been brought into a position where we're seeing.
Before God, in all the perfection of Christ. But we're talking now in a practical sense, and in that sense we'll never reach perfection. This side of heaven, however, we're going to find that we have all the resources to live a life of practical separation and holiness. For the Lord, we use the word sanctification. I'll just clarify that sanctification is simply holiness, and in the little Bible studies we're going to have later on, we'll stress that as well, but it's.
It's simply to separation, as I say, not isolation. Now the wall in Jerusalem was broken down.
You, you'll notice in the, uh, the little booklet that I have at at the begin one of the pages repairing the wall. And I wanna just talk a little bit for a moment about compromise, because compromise is letting the wall down slowly. It's letting the wall crumble slowly. Let me illustrate it this way. Suppose we had a brick wall out here.
And some of you have come here for the last six years and we'll suppose there was a brick wall out there.
And we'll suppose that every year after you young people left camp, Bob and I went out and we took a couple of rows of bricks off the top of that wall. And next year you come. I doubt that many of you would notice that a couple of rows of bricks were gone. But if we did that for the last six years, the wall would be gone. The the that which separates would be would be gone. And I believe that's what compromise is. It's letting the barrier down slowly, in other words.
It's just slowly and insidiously giving up little bits of truth, what may or may what may at the time not seem that important or significant. But one row of bricks, so to speak, leads to another row of bricks, and we want to be careful that we don't let the barrier down slowly. I believe what the work great work of the enemy with believers is not to give, not to have us give up the truth all at once.
Not to all of a sudden be walking in practical holiness one day and worldliness the next day. No, The enemy introduces, as the old expression goes, the thin edge of the wedge, just slowly letting the barrier down, giving up one little thing, another little thing. And that's why young people, you need to keep in the word of God. You need to read the word of God. You need to be reminded of it, the apostle Peter said. I know you know the truth, but I'm going to remind you of it.
Even though you know it and you're established in the present truth, you can look up that verse in the book of uh of Peter at your at your leisure. So that's why we have meetings like this, because we want to go over these things. We don't want to let the barrier down. And you know sometimes people come along and say, well it really doesn't matter. And you know the the the Lord is gracious and and and he understands and it's a different day. You ever hear that? Well, it's a different day than the apostle Paul.
It's a different day than the early brethren, and we've got to give a little. We've got to just there's got to be some give and take. And as the old expression goes, live and let live. Oh, be careful, young people, and we can become easily desensitized to the world and what sin is if we aren't in the Word and walking in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. If there isn't that practical holiness and separation in in our lives, we get used to sin.
And again, that's what Satan wants. He wants us to get used to it. You know, we hear things, we see things, we perhaps do things. Our conscience becomes a little seared. And we say, well, it's really not so bad after all. And so again, we need to keep in the presence of the Lord Jesus. We need to walk with God, and we certainly need to keep in in the word of God. So we don't want to let the barrier down slowly. Maybe we better take a minute and turn to a verse in or two in First Peter.
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I think we've quoted it, but just to read it and so you can jot it down. First, Peter, chapter one.
So I'll just read this to confirm it. We've already made a comment or two on it. First Peter, chapter one, and I'll read verse 15 and 16.
But as he which hath called you is holy, so be holy in all manner of conversation, because it is written be holy for I am holy. And so often when you have the word conversation, it really is perhaps better translated our manner of life. So it has more. It's more than just what we say, it's how we live. And so God wants us to walk through this world in a holy in in whole practical holiness.
The Lord Jesus who walked through this life in perfection, He's the perfect example for us. And I just encourage you to read through the Gospels, because that's the example that we have a practical walk of holiness by the Lord Jesus himself. Now back to Nehemiah chapter three. We find that, as I say, it begins with the Sheep Gate, and we might say, why does it begin with with the Sheep Gate?
Well, I believe it begins with the sheep gate, because this brings before us the work of the Lord Jesus. You know, the Lord Jesus.
That Good Shepherd of the sheep, he gave his life for the sheep. And you know there can be no blessing in your life and mine apart from starting, so to speak, at the sheep gate. Now the wall speaks of separation. A gate, of course, again keeps out that which is not desirable.
But it also allows entrance to that which is desirable. And so the the cities in those days, like Jerusalem, they had gates. And you know, the Lord Jesus, in Speaking of himself as the shepherd, he spoke of himself as the door of the sheep or the gate, we might say in relationship to what we're taking up here. And what is our entrance into the place of blessing? It is through that Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep.
But not only did the Lord Jesus give his life for the sheep as the shepherd, but then after we are saved, we can say, like David, the Lord is my shepherd and He's our great shepherd. The one who cares for us protects us, the one who lead, who leads us. And after we're saved, we want to follow the one who has, who is our shepherd. So the Lord Jesus said, my sheep, hear my voice.
And I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish. Maybe just say a word on that that too. But another thing we learn from this is the eternal security of the believer, as I just quoted. When we have eternal life, when we're given that life from the shepherd as a result of the death, and his his death and his shedding of his blood, then we have security and don't let someone come along and tell you.
That if you sin, you're going to lose your salvation and you have to be saved all over again. There's a no, once we're saved, that's it. Now again, like I said, we're moving very, very quickly. But I want to talk about these two towers that we have here. And again, we have them in the first verse of our chapter where we read we have the tower Mia and the tower Hananel. And so these towers are very significant now.
As we often say, names in Scripture often have a great significance. I don't pay perhaps particular attention to names as they appear in the word of God, but there are some that, shall I say jump off the page. Just a little warning, don't try to force the meaning of a name into something. Sometimes I think we get fanciful and make applications that are way off by trying to force the meaning of a name into some line of truth.
However, there are names that I believe, as I say, they kind of jump off the page and you can see in the context that it real, it has real significance. And I believe you have this with these two, These two towers. Just mention this too, that with the sheep gate and with these two towers, they really didn't need to be repaired, they had to rebuild them. But it doesn't say they repaired them. Why? Because while we need to always go back and rest on the work of the Lord Jesus.
00:45:11
Go back to the sheep gate, so to speak. The work of the Lord Jesus is completely accomplished.
OK. There's nothing to be added to the work that the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd accomplished on the cross. And we're going to see to that These two towers, there was nothing. There's there's there's, as it were, no repair. Again, we have to go back and consider these things perhaps rebuild in in a sense, but we're going to see that they are complete in themselves. The tower Mia.
Uh, is the it's It's actually still the Arabic word for 100.
I've I've been to Arab kind. I've been to Egypt and they tell me that it's still the the it's the Arabic word for 100 Now you say what is the the significance of that the the number 100 in scripture always denotes complete salvation. I'm going to give you a cup, a few examples. You remember when Abraham, when Isaac was born Abraham was 100 years of of age. It's a beautiful picture of God the father.
And God the Son and we find it in in Luke and I'm sorry in Genesis chapter 22, where Isaac was taken by his father and though he wasn't slain in tight, he became He's a picture of the sacrifice of the Lord Jesus. Summed up in the words of first John chapter 4. The Father sent the Son to be the savior of the world. You remember there was a net cast into the sea by the disciples that the word of the Lord Jesus.
And when they pulled that net, there was great fishes in that net and there was 150 and three. Now the big numbers in Scripture you have to break down numbers are significant. But 100 denotes complete salvation, 50 is Pentecost when the Christian the church was formed and the Christian age began. And three is usually a picture of death and resurrection. So you have complete salvation.
The beginnings of Christianity based on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. You remember the story of the of the lost sheep. There were 100 sheep. The shepherd lost one. He only had 90 and 9 and he went out to to find the one that was lost. When the sower went out to sow. When the harvest came, they reached some some 30 fold, some 60 fold and a complete bumper crop was a.
100 fold. Now I've brought a little object lesson with me. I'm going to tell you, give you a little illustration and tell you what I have here.
This is a set of Muslim prayer beads and on a set of Muslim prayer beads there are only 99 beads because in the Quran, which is the Muslim Bible so to speak, there are 99 and only 99 names for the Muslim God.
But so they have 99 names now. You can look at this later, but it's divided into three sets of 33. And a devout Muslim man will go over these beads and recite 33 of names of his God every day. If he's really devote devote, he will do 66. And if he really wants a place, better place in the next life, he will go over the 99 names of his God.
Every day and finger these beats the women don't do it because they're not going to get a better place anyway. There's no equality that way in uh under Islamic uh religion. But it's very interesting to me now you can buy a set of these in a in a Muslim country. This is a cheap set that uh a young brother negotiated at the uh bargain for at the uh bizarre for me one day but you can get these right up to semi precious stones and you see the man in the cafes uh and.
Sitting on the street corners and they're going over and reciting the 99 names of their God. You know, it's interesting how clever Satan is. Satan always comes along with false religion and mixes what is true with false. Satan is the great imitator. And so, as the Christians over in those countries tell me they there's no salvation for a Muslim with Knights, only 99 names of his God.
00:50:07
And they tell me that the one name or characteristics they do not know God by.
Is a God of love. If they did, they'd have 100 beads and they'd have salvation. But it's just very interesting to me how clever Satan is. So 100, the tower Mia denotes complete salvation. I'll just say this, if there's someone here this morning and you're not saved, the way of blessing is open for you. And when we take up these towers, and there's several of them, I think of the verse in Proverbs that says the Lord is a strong tower.
The Righteous runneth into it and is safe. You know there's judgment coming on this world, and I believe it's very soon.
Because the coming of the Lord is drawing near to take the true Christians out. And then there's judgment coming on this world, as well as eternal judgment in the lake of fire. And so it's very important that you have gone to the tower, being the Lord Jesus, that safe tower, and that you have received a full salvation. So that's the the first tower, but then there was another tower and that tower.
Hannah Hananel That tower means the grace of God.
Because we wanna make it very clear that it is only by the grace of God that you and I are saved and that you and I are blessed in our Christian life. So in Ephesians chapter 2 and verse eight it tells us by grace are ye saved through faith and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God. So as soon as we have the Sheep gate based on the work of the Good Shepherd, as soon as we have the Tower Mia, Speaking of complete salvation.
Then he immediately brings before us this second tower to remind us that it is only the grace of God.
But young people, not just the grace of God that saves us, but let's go to a verse in Titus.
Chapter 2.
Titus, Chapter 2.
And verse 11 For the grace of God, that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men. And then I want you to notice this next verse teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously and godly in this present world. So we've been we're talking about practical holiness, practical separation from the world. What is it that's going to teach us how to live in this world?
In that way, it is the grace of God. So it's not only the grace of God that saves us.
But grace is a teacher, and grace teaches us first to deny ungodliness and worldly lusts. So the grace of God teaches us as we go through the word of God, of course, which is the standard. The grace of God teaches us what is unholy, unacceptable to God, what is unacceptable to the Lord Jesus. That's the negative. But then it also teaches us the positive. It teaches us how to live soberly, righteously, and godly when.
In this present world are present age.
Because I think sometimes, especially when we're younger, we think again. Well, you know, it's all right for the older brothers to talk about practical sanctification and holiness and not living a worldly life and so on, but they don't understand what it is in this present age. They lived back a few years. They were young people a few years ago, and they don't understand what we're facing today. But Titus was told that Grace teaches him these things.
Right at the present time.
And so it doesn't matter whether it was back in Nehemiah's day, whether it was back in the days when Paul was writing to Titus, whether it was in the days in the 1800s when those brethren became exercised about certain things, or whether it was our fathers or grandfathers when they were young. But right now, where we live, right here in the year 2019, I guess it is.
I have to think about that one.
Umm. We can live in this way. Grace can still teach us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age. And if the day gets ever gets so morally dark and corrupt that you and I can't live for God's glory in this world with the resources that God has provided in Christ, then the Lord will take us out. But as long as we're here, grace will teach us and grace will preserve us. But you say, boy, we're gonna we need a lot of grace. Let's before we close, let's quickly connect.
00:55:27
3 Scriptures in connection with grace, first of all in John's Gospel, chapter one.
John's Gospel, Chapter One.
And verse 16.
And of his fullness have all we received and grace for grace or grace upon grace. So I want to point out here that this grace is available to every believer here this morning. It doesn't matter if you've been saved for one day, if you've been saved for 10 years, if you were saved as a very young child. Some of us who are older here have been saved for many years.
But everyone of us here have grace at our disposal, grace that not only saved us, but the grace of God that teaches us and preserves us in the path of faith and young people. You'll find if the Lord leaves us here as you get older, you'll find that you can't live without availing yourself of the grace of God every day, and if there's been any desire in your heart and mind so far in our Christian life.
To follow the Lord, it's no credit to ourselves. It's God that has worked in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. And it's no credit to me. It's no credit to you. It's only the grace of God. But you say, well, that's OK, but what about the situations I face? Let's go to 2nd Corinthians, chapter 12. You say, Jim, you don't understand what I'm going through at school or work or in my family situation.
It's alright to talk about the grace of God, but let's notice what the Apostle Paul says further on this subject in second.
Corinthians chapter 12 and verse 9.
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in weakness. You know, Paul didn't have an easy life. He had a lot of problems and difficulties opposition from the enemy as he traveled and preached the gospel and ministered to the people of God. He had no doubt some physical malady, something that in this chapter, if you rate read the context, he prayed three times that the Lord would remove.
The Lord said, no, Paul, I'm not going to remove it, but whatever I allow in your life, I'm going to give you the sufficient grace to get through it. So whatever you're going through in your life, whether it's physical, whether it's.
In a practical way, whether it's some problem or difficulty, whether it's something you're feeling as a spiritual opposition from the enemy, the grace of God is is sufficient for you. It's all that you need to get through the situation.
But let's take this one step further and go to the book of James.
Chapter 4.
James, Chapter 4.
And the first part of verse 6.
But he give us more grace. So again, we've all of all we received of his fullness and grace. For upon grace, it's it's available to every believer. It's all we need. But maybe the trials get a little more difficult. Maybe you say again, it just seems like every day things are mounting up against me. He gives more grace. Do we need more grace for this? The trial today, for the situation that we are facing now, he's going to give more grace. So I just want to point out that it's the grace of God that saves us. It's the grace of God that preserves us. And if we need more grace, He gives more grace. I'll just mention in passing our time is gone.
That when we fail, when we when sin comes into our lives, it's the grace of God that restores us. And His restoring grace is as sufficient as His saving and preserving grace. So we've moved very quickly. As I say again, I'm just trying to give a very brief outline and the two meetings that follow, we're gonna have to move very quickly as well.
2 Timothy 2:15-18
Reading—Q&A
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No, that's right, It's all around.
Happy end, happy enough when I stayed on the floor to my sins away.
When did I fly to my?
OK, I see that Wednesday, Wednesday, the fall of my death away.
How do I transfer?
I will bring the joy anything, everything else.
Now as I lost.
The Earth.
No. Where are you from?
I don't want anything from.
When I pray God for children.
Every time you die in the back in the day.
When I can get the blah blah blah, it says Lord.
Hey, Cortana.
Pray and let pray joy me and grace.
I can hurt my eyes and I feel bad.
When did my fall my turn away?
As I mentioned this morning, we're going to, in these couple little Bible studies, consider Second Timothy chapter 2.
Verse 15 to the end, and I didn't ask ahead, but Tim Cell, would you be willing to read that portion for us? So Second Timothy chapter 2 from verse 15.
Yeah.
11/17/72 verse 15 tell you to show this office to prove them to God. The workmen that need not to be ashamed, greatly dividing the word truth, but stunned for pain and vain battling, so they will increase to more ungodliness and their words will eat never done the changer whom is the minus and elitist who concerning the truth have erred, saying that the resurrection is passed already and overthrow the phase of some. Nevertheless the foundation of God's standard standards for having this deal.
00:05:09
The Lord knows them that are his, and let everyone that name the name of Christ apart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only best of the gold and silver, but also bullets in the purse, and some honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from the he shall be a vessel, and honor sanctified, and meet for the Master's use, and prepared unto every good work. We also use full thoughts to follow righteousness, to face charity, peace within that fall on the Lord out of a pure heart.
It wasn't unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender crisis and the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men. Apartment to teach patients and meekness. Instructing those to impose themselves God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.
That they may may recover themselves out of the scenario, but that will be taken captive by him as well. Thank you.
I suggested this portion for the these two times because I believe it corresponds with what we're taking up in connection with the building of the wall in Nehemiah. I mentioned this morning that in Nehemiah it's parallel to the days we live in. It's a day of ruin. It's a day of compromise. It's a day of weakness.
It's a day of small things and that when when you take up an Old Testament portion like that, you can always find some book or portion in the New Testament that corresponds with it. So that's why we need both. In the New Testament we have the doctrines and principles concerning Christianity, but in the Old Testament we have the illustrations and the types in the shadows. Someone has said, and rightly so, that the Old Testament is God's picture book that helps us to understand the instructions.
Of the New Testament and so as we go on in Nehemiah, we're going to find that there were there was not only Nehemiah, but there were his workmen. And some of those workmen had 100% approval from God. Some had a certain percentage, some didn't put themselves wholly to the work. And it's mentioned as we as you go down that third chapter of Nehemiah. So here we find where we began.
The apostle Paul is talking to Timothy, a young man, and he's speaking about a Workman and he said, says study to show thyself approved unto God a Workman. So you can see it corresponds to the workmen with physical work back in Nehemiah's day, a physical building of the wall. I believe here it's in connection with the work of God, the work of the Lord, the spiritual up building of the Church of God and our brethren, our fellow young people and so on.
So it's a spiritual work here in Timothy. But you see, you can see the parallel. So a Workman that needeth not to be ashamed. So here we find Paul is telling Timothy to study to be approved of God.
And young people, isn't that what we really want as Christians is God's approval, the Lord's approval. We'll talk about that in a in a moment. But when he says study to show thyself approved.
If you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he says strive diligently because Christianity is work. Christianity is not easy. Christianity takes diligence, it takes work. It's running a race, it's fighting a spiritual battle, all kinds of different pictures and analogies the New Testament uses. But God never encourages laziness.
In any aspect of our Christian life, Christianity takes diligence and watchfulness. Christianity takes hard work. If we're going to maintain our own spirituality and walk for the Lord personally, or if we're going to be a help to others, it's going to take a real diligence. So I thought we'd just go down a few of these verses, a few of them today and a few tomorrow. Anybody has a thought or help or question on what we take up? That would be very good. But study to show thyself approved, not to man, not to your fellow young person.
But approved to God, I believe that's what really counts in the end.
00:10:09
So I believe the study here is more than just studying the Bible. It would include that. But again, when you look at another translation, it sort of has a broader thought. It's really being careful and diligent in every part of our Christian life. It's it's studying every aspect of life. Now we need to study the word of God too, but we also need to examine or study every aspect of our Christian life.
So that whether it's our diligence in reading the word of God and rightly dividing the word of truth, or it's our testimony to others, or it's what we save our Christian walk at school, at work, whatever, so that everything we do in the end has God's approval. That's why the apostle Paul said we labor that whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him.
You know, it's not wrong to want acceptance. We all want acceptance. But again, I ask the question, who's acceptance do we really want? Are we really seeking the Lord's acceptance and His approval?
So when it says rightly dividing the word of truth, what, to put it in simple language, it's keeping every aspect of the word of God in its proper context.
And unless you really get your Bible out and study it and go through it and get an outline of what each writer is presenting, you're not gonna rightly divide the word of truth. Let me give you a couple of examples of wrongly dividing the word of truth.
Well, let me say this first. I believe young people, that's why it's important to hold to what we often call dispensationalism or dispensational guidelines. I alluded to it this morning in our talk that.
God doesn't hasn't dealt with man on the earth the same way at every point in history. God has dealt with man in different ways, and he's not dealing with the church today the way he dealt with Israel in the Old Testament.
And if you wipe away dispensational guidelines, what you really say is that all Scripture in its strict application applies to the church today, and that is not true. And so all of a sudden you're wrongly taking Scripture that applies to Israel and you're applying it to the church. And you're saying that our blessings are earthly. No, Israel's blessings are earthly.
You're, we're, you're saying that we should be getting ready to usher in the Kingdom on earth. No, the Lord's man is going to come back and establish the Kingdom with Israel, but we're going to be already with the Lord. You're going to confuse the Lord's coming for us with the Lord's coming back with us to reign over the earth and to establish an earthly Kingdom and an earthly people for earthly blessings. So those are just a couple of examples of wrongly dividing the word of truth.
You need to keep the Word of God in its context. That's why Timothy was told to hold an outline of truth. Now, I know you can spend your whole lifetime studying the Word of God and you'll still only have an outline. But it's not hard to have some general idea what what Paul teaches, what James teaches Peter, what's the four gospels present in different aspects of the person of Christ. I think we took that up one year here.
00:15:20
And then the Old Testament writers, just to have some outliner, some idea of what they teach that helps to keep things in its proper context. So Timothy here was to study and he so that he could rightly divide the word of truth. So when he presented John's ministry, which speaks of the family, he's not stressing the Church of God or Paul's ministry, which brings before us the Church of God, not stressing the family.
James gives us practical faith, Jude presents to us the last days, and so all these little outlines are are very helpful.
You know those 3 categories we're talking about, There's a first, I don't know where he is, Gentile and Church of God. That was always helpful for me to see that. I don't know where that verse is. So it's in First Corinthians chapter 10.
And verse 32, why don't you wait? You have about.
Gives none offense neither to the Jews, nor to the Gentiles, nor to the Church of God. And that was very helpful to me to see that there's those 3 distinct categories that you're talking about.
Yes, so.
God. God just hasn't dealt with the Gentiles the same way he dealt with the Jews in the Old Testament. And there are still 3 categories on earth today. There's the Jews.
And God will take them up again. You know, the earth for an earth. These last names, there's the Gentiles. And today the gospel goes out both to Jew and Gentile. And so they keep both can be saved on the ground through the work of Calvary. But our Jew is saved or Gentiles saved. They become part of the of the Church of God. So we have to keep all these things in their proper context and rightly divide the the word of truth. When I speak, when I speak about him, he's taking up the Jew for earthly blessings.
It's nationally in the coming days. Jews can be saved individually today.
But God dealt with a nation in the Old Testament, the Jewish nation. He will again take up the Jewish nation collectively in the coming day. So all these things are very helpful. Again, don't confuse the rapture with the appearing. The Lord is coming to call us at any moment. That is coming back to appear in in this world. This is all part of rightly dividing the word of truth.
May maybe that could make a little application for my call. I have the guys working for me one day.
And one of them works with me quite often and spent a lot of time with them. So he knew what I was trying to get done. He knew where I wanted it done and how I wanted it done. And I I like getting it worked on and I like to have fun too. And the other guy that was working with me sometimes worked with me but didn't spend as much time with me, but neither that I like to have fun. And he knew that I wanted to get work done. So they both work hard and then at the wrong time, the one that didn't spend as much time with me. When did condone us on somebody else's property on the truck.
You don't want to be doing that.
So now I have to go to the landowner to take care of it. And that's what I'm talking about here. You have to people work on the that's approved and understanding where to do the right thing and at the right time. It's not that I didn't mind having fun. It's not that I don't mind even going to the truck, but not on somebody else's car.
So, uh, that's, that's the point here. And you don't want to go if someone asks you if, if you go even simpler than you were talking about, uh, uh, Israel and the church, we can go in some of our place. Someone wants to go hard to save and say, well, I know from the Bible.
But so it's the ten Command method and keep them and, and, uh, you can, you can close this final thought and that would be a horrible mistake. So, uh, the, the feel here is you want to have that relationship with God and what the Lord gave us and know what he wants to do. You know what his purposes are so that when you get in this situation, you know how to act and do the right thing. So you have a good conversation with the landowner instead of doing doughnuts on it.
Property so so that goes along with the net first because in contrast to what has just been said that he says in verse 16, but shun profane and vain valleys are empty babies.
00:20:16
So if you want to be a Workman with for God's approval, you've got to know what, what, what that is. You've got to know you've got to have some principle like with with anybody that's got a business. When they hire somebody, they lay the ground rules. They tell them how the work is to be done, what they're to do and what's not to do. If you don't read your Bible, you're not going to know how to serve the Lord. You're not going to have good, good principles. And so good principles are sound doctrine lead to good practice.
But conversely, that doctrine leads to bad practice to ungodliness. And so we're to shun or to stay away from profane and vein badly. That is where to stay away from that which does not present sound, sound teaching. Now it's profane because it's it's wicked. If it's not the truth of God, you know, read Proverbs. It's it's good or it's bad, it's evil. It it, it's righteous or it's evil. If I can put it this way, it's black or it's white.
Which is false teaching always put self at the center. And then we we talk about vanity. Someone is vain, they're self-centered, they're egotistical. And you ever notice someone who tries to propagate false teaching? It always puts themselves or someone other than Christ at the at the center of it. And that's, that's a safeguard.
When someone presents something to you, does it exalt Christ? Is is it Christ centered or does it exalt man and and themselves? So Paul warned about false teachers who rise speaking perverse things to draw disciples. After who? After Christ? No, after themselves. You can look up that verse sometime. It's in Acts chapter 20.
And then what you find is.
It defiles others so that bad teach, bad teaching leads to bad practice in our lives, and bad practice will then defile others.
Features and false prophets that will come in among you. How will you know when you're listening to a false teacher, false prophet if you're not in the word yourself and and?
And, uh, we're expected to judge the message we hear.
In there in that was the characteristics of the Spirit of God that not only he will lead you to all truth, but if he will present Christ wanting. That's one of the safeguards that you're emphasizing as far as that is a an important characteristic of the Spirit of God, isn't it?
It really is the main function of the Spirit of God. The main function of the Spirit of God is to present and minister Christ to us according to to the need. Now it's true the Spirit of God has other functions. There is one time when the Spirit of God will occupy us with ourselves and that's in self judgment. When there's sin or failure in our lives, then the Spirit of God is going to impress that on our conscience so that we will judge it. But the main function of the Spirit of God.
00:25:08
Is to present Christ. And if again, if something's presented and it simply exalts man and doesn't exalt Christ, then we have every reason to question whether it's really the truth of God. But I I think what Mark said is important. And let me just echo it again. You will never detect false, false teaching if you're not grounded in the word of God. That is the way we detect false teaching.
OK.
And, uh, first John chapter 2, verse 20 and 21, uh, provision is made for even the youngest believers. It doesn't have a good grasp of the word yet. Uh, first John chapter 2 verse 20. But he hasn't functioned from a holy one, uh.
A little bit of work eating with little children or 20 so he had a function from the Holy one and you know all things I have not written on you because you know not the truth, but because you know it and that no lie is also true. So there's both sides. God's sovereignty and man's responsibilities and God is going to the Spirit of God will kind of leave the red flag and something that won't quite sound right when you go and you dig into Scripture and you find out for yourself because it's not true but God has provided for even the youngest believers who.
To detect something that's false. But of course it's our responsibility to dig in and search it to see if the things excel.
So let's let's read a verse in First Corinthians 13 that sometimes that will seem contradictory to what Tim has said, but it's not. But I, I wanna read this because some have some have read the verse in first John and wondered, you know, all things now. Now let's go to 1St Corinthians 13 and verse 12.
For now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then shall I know even as I have known. So here on one hand it says you have a notion from the Holy One that's the Spirit of God, and you know all things. Then we read in first Corinthians 13 that we only know in part this side of heaven. What, what, what, what is it? What is it a contradiction of? Of course not. So as I said earlier, we can spend our whole life getting an outline of Scripture and we'll still only know in part.
We're not gonna know it all until we get to heaven. But I believe what Tim said is important because when it says you know all things, it doesn't mean we know everything about Scripture. But it means that having that outline of truth and being in the word, when something is presented that's false, it doesn't have the ring of the truth. I'll, I'll give you an example. So we were going through some very serious difficulties in the assemblies here in North America some years ago.
And a lot of letters were written and so on. And I was concerned about my brethren in the Caribbean where I have the opportunity to spend a good deal of time. And I knew that they had received certain letters and, and so on and information. And I was concerned that they were going to be LED astray. But, you know, I needn't have been concerned because when I went down to the Caribbean and talked to the brethren, they said to me, they said, you know, we got some letters and some information from certain people in North America.
And we kind of scanned it and we, we realized it didn't have the ring of the truth of the shepherd's voice. And so we discarded the, the letters and we feel like we have, we're standing on the ground where we have always stood. Now, they didn't know about all the problems. They didn't need to know about all the difficulties. They certainly down there don't have a complete knowledge of all the Scripture, like none of us have a complete knowledge. But what was what was it? They were brethren that were grounded in the word of God, reading the word of God.
Listen to the voice of the Lord Jesus in the power of the Spirit. And they had an unction from the Holy One and they knew all things again, it's like the teller at the bank. They ha handle the good money and they know what it feels, what good money feels like. And when something counterfeited passed to them, then they they can detect it immediately. Not because they know the feel of all the folks money, but because they know the feel of the of the.
00:30:05
The legitimate money.
So just one of the comments, this is a short meeting. Our time is really gone. But just to notice that there were these two men who were propagating false truth even back in the days of the apostle Paul. So Paul again had warned in Ephesians, I'm sorry to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20, he had warned that from the very beginning there were going to be these people. And so today too, there are those who will try to teach, to give you teaching that is not according.
To the word of God, he denotes a special error. There here they were teaching that the resurrection was passed, and as a result it was overthrowing the faith of some. But there's many aspects of false teaching that have been propagated since then for the last 2000 years or so. And again, we need to be very, very careful and warned. And again, false teaching has a detriment to others.
I believe false doctrine is the most dangerous evil there is because it is often harder to detect, because it's usually cloaked with part of the truth. Like Satan at the beginning, when he came to Eve, he, he told part of the truth, but he mixed it with with error. And so those who teach false doctrine, they usually mix it with errors. Often they're quite learned men. They're often very intellectual and they can present things in a way.
That if you find hard to argue with, the other problem is by the time it is detective detected, often it has overthrown the faith of others. It has LED others away for away from the truth. So it's a very, very serious thing for someone to teach and propagate false doctrine amongst the people of God. And I believe God holds them very, very responsible.
Umm, just on that note, uh, what does the word son mean? Well, if we look at the beginning of verse 17, it says the word will leave itself a tanker. If you look at the Arby's translation, it says spread like gangrene. Uh, but someone's got gangrene in a, in an arm or a leg. The answer was always to cut it off, cut it right off. I think that will help understand what the word shunned.
Yeah, so, so morally evil. It usually just affects the.
Couple of people are a small circle that are involved but false teaching, false doctrine spreads and again it talks in scripture of those that subvert or undermine the souls of the same is very it's often very subtle. It gets at the very foundation and causes the face of many to some at least to to crumble. And again, it's very doesn't always hit the surface straight away.
You you have something eating at the surface of your house. You don't always notice that. Sometimes until it's almost, almost too late.
Q&A
Q&A—Jim Hyland
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322 in the little flock. Thank you.
No water has left today. I'm afraid I'm a freak on.
Oh my God.
#40 thank you.
Alright, we have 7 questions tonight and uh, some of them I think we can answer briefly. Uh, what I'll do is uh, I'll suggest some scriptures and a little explanation and then we'll give opportunity if someone else has, uh some scripture to suggest to go along with it or a question relevant to it. But umm, I'd like to try to get through all of these. They're good questions. So umm we'll move along a little bit and uh, we can discuss them after two and amongst yourself.
So the first one is this.
Do you think that the Bible is reliable? Why or why not? If some unbeliever asked you to give evidence that the Bible is reliable, what would you say? Well, first of all, let's turn to a verse. We've quoted it or read it already today, but in John chapter 17.
Now, before I read this, let's get the context of this chapter. This is the Lord Jesus in prayer to God the Father. So it's the Lord Jesus here in this world, and he's speaking to his Father. And let's notice one of the things that he says in verse 17 particular to the end of the verse. But I'll read the verse, sanctify them through thy truth. Now we had that before us earlier today in connection with Nehemiah, but this is what I want to notice.
My word.
Is true. So here is the Lord Jesus as a man here in this world in prayer. And one of the things he says in prayer is a confirmation that God's word, the word of God his Father, is absolute and is true. So to me this is one of the greatest scriptures that confirms the word of God, the reliability of the Word of God now up until this point.
What had been had been written or recorded, it had was the Old Testament. So here we find that the Lord Jesus confirms that the Old Testament is the is the the truth of God, the word of God reliable. Now let's go to Hebrews chapter 4 then for another scripture.
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OK.
Hebrews Chapter 4.
And verse 12.
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight, but all things are naked and open under the eyes of him with whom we have to do so. I believe here we find that the word of God, that is the Bible we hold in our hands.
It is living and it's the only book in the world that is living and it is powerful or it is operative. It's it's working. And again, it is the only book that is is such. That's why you will never get to the bottom of this book. No matter how many times you read a chapter or a portion, no matter how many times you take up the subject or a book, you will never exhaust it because it is a living book. You young people that study hard at school.
No matter how profound those books you study are, you could eventually get to the bottom of it of them, because they are written by man. Now here's another proof that the word of God is true, and it's in connection with what we've just read. First of all, the Jew. You know, history upholds the word of God. Not that I need the word of God, that that I need history to uphold the word of God. But true history and the word of God will never counteract each other.
Just like true science and scripture will never counteract each other either. Again, not that I need science to uphold the word of God. I believe it by faith, but the two always correspond. But just look at the Jew and their history. Just talk to the Jews about their history. It will confirm exactly what we read in the word of God and exactly the position that they are in today. So that's one proof of the reliability of the Word of God.
But here's something even more significant, and I I think probably most if not all of us can relate to this. This evening I have seen and you no doubt to have seen lives changed through the word of God. You know, I've seen lives change through the reading of other books, but it doesn't last. There might be some emotions conjured up and some change of direction through reading some book, maybe even a novel. But.
Or the history of of somebody or something, and it changes your direction a little bit. But the word of God, being living and powerful can take people who are drunkards on drugs abuse their family. Li live in the gutters in the inner cities and it can clean up lives like no other book can, if you want to know the reliability and the power of the word of God.
Just read about change lives that have been completely changed.
What? One other comment and then we'll get some other aspects of it from some others. But look at the autobiographies of Scripture. Look at Jonah, who would write about all their failures like that in their autobiography if they weren't writing by divine inspiration. You know, if you and I were writing about our lives, we wouldn't write merely about all the failures that, uh, came into our lives and how we tried to run away from God and.
All those things, So a lot of the biographies that you have, because they're so honest, I believe they show that they were not just the thoughts of men concerning their own lives, but they were written by inspiration. Men of God wrote exactly what God told them to write.
19.
We also have a moisture word of complicity, whereby we do well that you take heed as unto a light that shineeth in a dark place until the day dawn the Daystar arrives in your heart.
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Prophecy is another proof.
There is numerous processes about the Lord Jesus, his, his coming, his death.
Things that he could not control. Humanly speaking, his place of birth, his time of birth. Umm.
But it's not just there. I years ago I read a chapter in a book Josh Mcdowell's evidence, The demands of verdict on prophecies fulfilled in the nations around Israel that have already been fulfilled. The city of Tyre, umm. Its destruction was detailed before it happened. Umm, And that's an amazing story. The city of Babylon.
Doesn't.
Is not inhabited anymore. Uh, the city of Petra, but interesting in Jordan that built into the rock that was another prophecy would not be inhabited. Umm, And I think there's there's there's more, uh.
And.
Is it the?
The trustworthiness of the Bible. There's a lot of support.
Umm. And what I can keep mentioning Josh McDowell. He started out as an agnostic. He was going to dig into Christianity and prove it wrong. And he's one of the biggest proponents of an apologist for Christianity. And he keeps having to republish his book because he just keeps collecting more. More evidence. Umm.
If if that's a concern of people, look into it. Challenge. Take the challenge. You won't be disappointed. It's an amazing.
Prophecy. The word itself. How many authors? 40 authors, 39 authors over 1500 years? You try to get any group of people to write a book and you'll get argued, disagreements. But God's Word hangs together It it's constantly you're leaving God come back to the Lord.
It's the same topic all the way through. The processes hang together.
Umm.
Even the apparent discrepancy you look at them.
And and and.
Look at them and there are very reasonable and actually obvious explanations to what people will say. Hey, that's a discrepancy.
So most has wrote the book of Genesis, but Moses wasn't alive when all that took place. And so that's another proof of divine inspiration. In the four gospels, there were only two of the the writers that company with the Lord Jesus and the two that didn't, which were Mark and Luke are the ones that write the most detail about the life of the Lord Jesus. In fact, Mark is the one who is most chronological in his presentation.
Of the uh different events that took place in the life of the Lord and they weren't even there. So all these things I believe show the veracity of the scriptures. And just to add to what Mark said too, as far as prophecy and understanding where this world is and where it's headed. David said I have or the psalmist said I have more understanding than all my teachers and more understanding than the ancients because I keep thy preset. That's the 119th Psalm so.
A. A person, a young person who's reading their Bible.
And prayerfully and with exercise, will understand more about prophecy and what's going on in the world today and what's ahead for this world and for Israel and for the nation, then all the wise worldly politicians and statesman that are all trying to figure it out by their own intellect.
To look a little bit more at the second part of that question, uh, what was There was like 2 questions. There was the the second part. So if an unbeliever asked you to give evidence that the Bible is reliable, what would you say? OK, so we we've had some good answers to that. Uh, but I'd also like to point out that umm, although scripture we can sit down and we can prove the scriptures through proving scripture is true is not enough.
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Umm.
If we could look at first uh first Corinthians uh chapter one for just a few verses here and most most of the people that uh that will question whether or not the Bible is true will not be Jews. They will argue uh They will argue that Jesus is not the son of God and that he is not their Messiah. But uh for most of the beginning of the Bible they'll agree with it. So First Corinthians chapter one beginning.
Uh verse 21. For after that and the wisdom of God. The world by wisdom knew not God that pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe for the Jews require a sign. Now there's another verse, I believe it's Matthew 24. It says unto the Jews shall no sign be given but the sign of Jonas the prophet, that Jesus was going to die and spend 3 days in the grave and rise again.
And the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified unto the Jews of stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness. But unto them which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And uh, you can sit there and argue, uh, argue, whether the Bible is true or not with someone. And if you say, well, if it is true, what about your sins are you going to trust in the Lord Jesus, bring out the question of their sins and salvation, and present Christ?
Umm, it's a primary focus. Umm you can you can sit there and argue, argue until you're blue in the faces to the the truth of Scripture, but present the Lord Jesus to them.
And remember, you can't. There's no use arguing. It has to be accepted on the grounds of faith. It's like the Genesis account of creation. I accept it not because science upholds it, but by faith. We understand that the word that the world's were framed by the word of God. So unless a person has faith, they're never going to accept the God-given account or record that we have called our Bible or the word of God.
It's not a no, there's there's lots of evidence. The last step will be faith.
But it's not a blind faith.
OK, let's let's move on. There's lots could be said on any of these questions, but let's try to get everybody's question in this evening. So the next question is what is the best way to approach someone that thinks they can lose their salvation, but only through a major sin like running from the police or being involved in a major crime. Now before I turn to some scripture, I think that's very interesting the way this question is worded because you will find.
That those who try to teach that you can lose your salvation, they start to categorize sin and they don't realize that the thought of foolishness is sin. Well, I have to hold my hand up and say I've had a lot of foolish thoughts today, and I guess I've shared some with with some as we've gone along and had some fun and so on. So the thought of foolishness is sin.
A. A A word out of place. There's lots of things that are sin.
That, uh, we don't really even think about. So again, if we if we start saying we lose our salvation, after we're saved, we're gonna have to start raising sin as to how bad or how not bad for lack of a better expression we think sin is. But with with God's sin is sin. It's black and white. I know there are degrees of things as far as the government of God and so on, but sin is sin now.
I wanna look at a couple of scriptures. First of all, we're gonna take two scriptures in Romans, one in the sixth chapter, very well known verse, and then we're going to pair it with another one later on enrollment.
Romans chapter 6 and verse 23. For the wages of sin is death. And now notice this. But the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. So when I got saved, God gave me a gift and that gift was eternal life. Now it's the very life of Christ, it's divine life and so on and it's eternal. But go over to the 11Th chapter and I like to pair that.
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With a verse that shows that God, when God gives me something he doesn't take it back. So in the 11Th chapter of Romans.
Uh, notice verse 29 for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Now, in Mr. Darby's translation he has a footnote concerning this verse and he says the thought is irrevocable. In other words, God gives us gifts and God gives us many gifts, and we could go through a lot of the gifts that God gives us, but we're particularly interested in this gift of eternal life relevant to this question.
God has given me eternal life. Is is that gift irrevocable? Is God going to take that gift back? Now the other thing to realize is because people say, well what about the sins I do after I'm saved. But you know when the Lord Jesus died on the cross, how many of my sins were future? Every one of them the sins before I was saved and the sins after I was saved.
Did God know about every sin that I was ever going to commit before I was saved and after I was saved? Absolutely. Now let's go to 1St John to follow this up.
So first John chapter one.
And verse 7. We'll just go quickly through some verses here, but if we walk in the light, if he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another. Now notice this and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanseth us from all sin. How many of my sins were taken care of at the cross? How many of my sins were taken care of when I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior? All my sins by sins that I had committed up until that point of salvation?
And the sins that I have committed after. Now let's go on if we say verse eight that we have no sin.
We deceive ourselves and the truth is not in it. He's writing to believers here. He's writing to the family. That's why I said earlier today, it's important to understand each of the different writers and the the line of truth that they are presenting. John is writing to the family of God. OK, so if we say we, if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. So after we're part of the family of God, we still sin. What's the remedy?
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. When I sin as a believer, I do not have to ask the Lord for forgiveness because according to Ephesians chapter one and verse 7 and other scriptures, I have the forgiveness of sin. But what he wants us to do is come and confess our sin. Now to me the clearest verse as to the eternal security of the believer.
Is verse one of the next chapter, my little children? Now again he's writing to the family. These things write I unto you, that ye sin not. Now notice this, And if any man sin, we have an advocate with who?
The Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. If it said we have an advocate with God, we might well wonder if we lose our salvation when we sin.
But we do not have an advocate with God. We have an advocate with the Father, showing that when I sin, I in no way lose my salvation, but I do have to do with my father. So any of us who've had children understand this. When our children went against us or disobeyed us, we didn't bring them up to the court of law or disown them. But they did have to do with us as parents. They did have to do with us as as fathers, so when we sin.
We come to our Father, we have an advocate, which is the Lord Jesus.
But it's with the Father, not with God, And to me this is one of the clearest verses of eternal Security.
Along with the fact that when God gives us a gift, it is irrevocable, He does not recall that gift.
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So it doesn't say here when I commit a major sin or a small sin. It doesn't categorize sin here. It's simply sin. Just say this briefly. That sin does not break the family relationship, but it does break the joy of our fellowship. So again, we've all experienced this. We did something against our parents and we didn't feel comfortable in their presence. You went to your room. Send it some extra time in your room.
Or you went out for a walk or a ride on your bike or something because you just weren't comfortable around Dad because your conscience was bothering you. So sin does not break the family relationship, but it does break our joy.
Go to Psalm 51 just comes to mind in connection with David who sinned and maybe this will be helpful as well.
If you notice the title of this Psalm, it's David's prayer of confession when his sin in connection with Bathsheba is brought before him by Nathan the Prophet. And here he praised this this Psalm. And notice what he says in verse 12.
Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. Now notice the wording carefully. He doesn't ask to be restored as to his salvation.
He doesn't say restore thy salvation. He says restore unto me the joy of thy salvation. So his conscience has spoiled his joy in the Lord. And in his prayer of confession he asked that that joy be restored. So again, like the child, they come to their parents, they confess what they have done. Maybe there's some consequence involved, and that joy of communion they're not.
Uncomfortable anymore?
They're now happy again in the presence of that parent, but they never lost their family relationship.
Need comment you put the two together and I think it's fairly clear the 1St is numbers.
Numbers 23.
And verse 19 God is not a man that he should lie, neither the Son of man, that he should repent. And hath he said, And shall he not do it? For hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?
Then just the phrase of the Lord Jesus on the cross.
John chapter 19 and verse.
30 he said. It is finished.
The work has been completed. There's no the question that when he said it is finished that we could lose.
Our salvation, because it's been it would suggest that his death on the cross did not pay for some of our sins. The work was finished. Everything was paid for.
Maybe one more scripture in Hebrews chapter 10.
Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 12.
This goes along with what has just been read to us. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down on the right hand of God from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Now notice this, for by one offering he has perfected forever them that are sanctified. I've sometimes said in commenting on this that the fact that God raised the Lord Jesus from the dead and seated him at his right hand.
Is God. Amen. It's got the proof that God is forever satisfied with the work of Calvary, and having availed myself by the grace of God, of that finished work, if God were to refuse me now.
He'd have to refuse his own Son, and that is impossible. That is the security in which the believer stands before God tonight. God cannot refuse me now because he cannot refuse his Son who satisfied him at the cross.
00:35:22
I'm thinking of that uh father relationship and and we are brought in as uh Sonic uh sons and daughters and uh just thinking of uh the uh the variable of the last the sun has to be there and look uh Luke 15 I won't read anything but just reminds me of how he told his father 1215 verse 22 he said 12/21 he said in the sunset unto him father.
I have sinned against heaven and and in my sight.
There were no more words.
But uh, even if, uh, you know, even if our parents put us out of our home, we're still our father's son and father's son or daughter. So in the same way I like to think of it, uh, with uh, God our father, Once we're sons and daughters, we can't lose that place.
That doesn't give us license to send.
Because again, as we had earlier today, it's great.
An understanding of that grace that has brought us into the relationship that teaches us to live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present age.
All right. Let's move along to our third question here.
If perfect love casts out fear, why do we still fear? Let's turn to 1St John where we have this verse because I believe it answers itself in the portion. So first John chapter 4.
Now maybe before I read this, if we were to read this chapter, we would find that he's talking about the only perfect love that there is, and that is the love of God and the love of the Lord Jesus for us. None of us love perfectly, only we we. But we are loved with a perfect love, the love of God the Father and the love of the Lord Jesus. So that's that's the context.
And in verse 16 he says God is love. Uh now let's notice verse UH 18.
There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. OK, so we're loved with the perfect love. Why do we still fear? Because we haven't entered in fully to the love of God and to the love of the Lord Jesus.
You know, a child who doesn't enjoy their parents, who fears their parents, is a child who doesn't perhaps understand or enter in to the heart of that parent. The more a child enters into the heart of a loving parent, the more comfortable that child is going to be in the presence of that parent. Now, with God our Father and the Lord Jesus, it's not a question.
Of how much we love God or how much we love the Lord Jesus. What it is is a question of how much we enjoy His love for us. And the more we enjoy His love for us, the less we are going to fear in in His His presence. So the reason I perhaps have fear, or one of the reasons at least is because I'm not in the full enjoyment of His love. Now I'll just say in that regard that the more.
I enjoy His love, the love of God the Father, and the love of the Lord Jesus. For me, my love will deepen and my love will grow, but not because I tried to generate some love within myself for Him. Notice what the next verse says, verse 19. We love Him because he first loved us or we love because He first loved us. What generates love in our hearts?
It's again to understand his love and what that love is. So it the more.
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We enjoy His love the more the less fear we will have. The reason I have fear is because I don't enjoy fully His love. Perfect love casts out fear. Not my perfect love for the Lord because that'll never be perfect, but to understand His perfect love for me.
Maybe I should just mention, there is a kind of wholesome fear that we should have, and there are many verses we can turn to in connection with the fear of the Lord. It's the beginning of the of wisdom. It's the beginning of knowledge, and so on. But that's a different kind of fear than we're talking about here. That is a fear to do something that displeases the one that loves us and the one that we.
Love in, in, in return.
So that's a different kind of fear, you know, if your father or mother really love you and you reciprocate that love, you're going to fear to do something that that displeases, displeases them so. And as we see relationships forming amongst young people too, between a young man and a young lady, we noticed that the young man or the young lady as they fall in love with the.
Person, then they want to please that person and they're careful.
They're on guard not to do something that they know will displease that person. So that's a wholesome kind of fear. But I believe the fear we have here is a little bit different. We we don't have to fear God. We don't have to fear our Father because we enter into that perfect love that he has for us. The unbeliever does fear God. Even the devils, they believe in God and tremble, but they don't enter in and understand his love, his heart of love.
Loans or attachments out sphere and you think that has any connection with obedience?
With obedience from our board.
Well, again in the measure in which?
I enter in to the love of God and the love of the Lord Jesus. Then I am going to want to walk in obedience. And we have another question that's going We're going to take up that very line of things. So if a man loved me, he will keep my commandments. But again, I would say that that love for him is generated or developed not within ourselves, but it develops within a fuller appreciation.
Of his love, let me use a little illustration from the Old Testament in connection with your question.
You remember this, the bride and the Song of Solomon. And in Song of Solomon you have more or less a dialogue between the bridegroom picture of the Lord Jesus and the bride in application, a picture of you and me as the bride of Christ. There are a few others that take a little part, but more or less it's a dialogue between the bridegroom and the bride. At the beginning of the dialogue, the bride is asleep. She's asleep to the affections and love of her bridegroom.
But as she is awakened to those affections of her bridegroom, and begins to enumerate his glories and qualities, and begins to appreciate more his love and desire for her.
What happens at the end of it? Her love and appreciation for the bridegroom have deepened, but it wasn't because she tried to generate that appreciation or love. It was the unconscious result of going over the enjoyment of the bridegroom and his love for her. And so at the end of it, there's No Fear and love because she realizes how deep that love is for her.
00:45:22
And her love, as a result, has deepened.
OK, another question.
Why does God lay out so many rules for us to follow?
I'm gonna turn to a verse in a minute, but before I do that, I'm gonna just qualify this by saying the Bible is not a book of rules. It's a book of principles. God gives us principles. Now I realize in the Old Testament there was the law that was given to Moses and it was this do and thou shalt live. And there were very stiff penalties if you didn't keep that law. But for us, the Bible, I say again, is not a book of rules. It's a book of principles. Now let's go to a verse in.
John's Gospel, The last chapter of John's Gospel, John chapter 21.
And see what we are to follow.
So to get the context, here we have the Lord Jesus talking to the Apostle Peter. Peter had failed very badly. He had earlier denied the Lord three times with those and curses. Now he has been restored to the Lord by His grace and by a real work in his soul. Now the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus in John's gospel are to Peter. What I'm gonna read now are the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus and John. Notice what he says.
In UH verse 19.
Uh, verse 22. I'm sorry, just the last three words of the verse.
Follow thou me, thou notice, and I understand where this question is coming from, so I'm not putting this question down because it's a good question. But notice what the Lord Jesus says, the last recorded words of the Lord Jesus in John's gospel to Peter. He doesn't say follow what I've said. Follow the ministry I've given you because John is the gospel that's most doctrinal in his character.
John and John we have more instruction by the Lord Jesus to the disciples than any other gospel. Chapter 13141516 and other parts of John's Gospel where he lays down certain principles and instructions, but in the end of it he doesn't say to Peter, Follow the instructions I've given but follow me because in Christianity it's a person now.
If we're following the Lord Jesus, we're going to follow his instructions as well.
The Lord Jesus is presented to us in John's Gospel as the shepherd. What characterizes sheep? They follow the shepherd. They're one of the few animals that are that are lead goats are driven. You drive cattle, you herd pigs, but what do you do with sheep? They and I, when we were in Germany this last time, we went out for a walk outside the village of Liebenshire, Germany, where there's a little assembly and all of a sudden we saw literally hundreds and hundreds of sheep.
Out on the hillside, and they're all coming down the hillside. Why? Because at the beginning of the at the at the beginning there was a shepherd, and they were following that shepherd, and he was leading them down through the village and I suppose on to other pastures. But they were following a shepherd. Now the shepherd had instructions for them as well, which we couldn't understand because they were in German, but it was the person that they were following. And if you and I have Christ before us, following the Lord Jesus.
Then we're going to follow the instructions that he has given us. I'm going to give you a little illustration. As I said, in the Old Testament you had the law that was given and it was this do and thou shalt live, and if you didn't do it.
There were very stiff penalties, even death. Now, some of you young people have heard me give this illustration before, but I'll repeat it because as we said earlier in connection with what Andre brought up, if a man loved me, he will keep my commandments. So the Old Testament is like a man who hires A housekeeper, and he hires that housekeeper. And what happens? Well, there's a set of rules.
00:50:25
Maybe they're posted on the kitchen wall and Monday she's to do the wash What Tuesday she's to do the ironing. Wednesday there's some housekeeping. Thursday there's something else. Friday is the baking for the weekend. These instructions are established and there's a salary that goes with these instructions. Nobody would raise an eyebrow at that. That would be very in keeping with a man.
Hiring.
Hey uh, I'm I'm may hire hiring a housekeeper. But let's suppose for the sake of illustration, that time goes on and the man falls in love with the housekeeper and he eventually marries her. Now what happens?
You go into that home, wouldn't you be surprised if you saw a list of rules and regulations still up on the board, in the in, on the bulletin board, in the kitchen? And wouldn't you be surprised if on on Saturday?
In fact, I would suggest that you would find things were probably done better than they were before. Why Not because it was posted on the kitchen bulletin board, and not because there was a salary that was paid on Saturday evening, but because there was a motive of love. And so, again, if a man loved me, he will keep my commandments. The Lord said my commandments are not grievous, so the one who was the housekeeper when she did those duties.
Maybe they were just mundane tasks that she knew she had to do out of a sense of duty and for a salary, but now she does them with joy. I trust better not talk to our wives too much afterwards, but we trust they're done even better and that they are done with joy. Why? Because now the motive is love. The man who who married her loves her and she loves him. And now there's there's that response. And when there's love.
A command or I'm sorry, a request, has the power of a command when there's love involved and it's not something that's hard or difficult.
I really wonder if that was a thoughtful call. Look at this in the Galatians.
Galatians 2 Where the Lord was telling Peter to follow, Follow me. This is I wonder what the thought of Paul is really saying in Galatians 220.
Nevertheless I live yet not I, that Christ liveth in me. And this is what I was really thinking. And the life which I now live in the flesh. I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
Yeah, that's absolutely right. Paul lived for the Lord not out of the sense of duty and because he had to keep certain rules or even certain principles, but because he realized that the Lord Jesus had loved him and gone to the cross to die for him.
Yeah, that's very good.
This next question I think we can answer. It's very very con person, concise and I think it's very clear answer. This is a question concerning Romans, chapter 8, verse 19 to 21. Before I read the question, let's read the scriptures that are denoted here.
So Romans chapter 8.
00:55:07
And uh.
Let's see, Nathan, you wanna read for me? Verses 1920 and 21, please.
Of the sons of God. For the creature was made to object to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him that subjected the same in hope, because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the ******* of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. Thank you. So the question is in Romans 8 chapter verses 19 to 21, What is the creature?
Referring to.
So to get the context of this chapter he's talking about, he's contrasting our present condition now, still in a world affected by sin in relationship to the glory that you and I as believers are going to share with Christ in a coming day, but what he goes on to refer to in these verses is the fact that all creation is suffering today.
As the result of sin, so for the word creature here we could substitute creation. So when Adam sinned in the garden, not only did Adam and and his descendants come under the curse and the effects of sin, but it says the here, the later on the whole creation. Verse 22. Let me read it, for we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.
So every level of creation came under the curse and effects of sin.
We had a beautiful popu popular tree outside our kitchen window and one year it got a blight. And I went out and looked at that tree and every leaf it seemed on that tree was affected by a blood. That blight. And that blight is the result of sin, the animal creation. They they feel the effects of sin. Animals prey on one another, animals get hurt, animals suffer pain and so on. That's the result of sin, the whole creation.
Groans and travails in pain as a result of sin and the effects of the curse of sin are not going to be removed until the Millennium. That is very simply what these verses are saying, that there's going to be a redemption for creation. Creation is going to be set free when the Lord Jesus comes back, and to a great degree at least, reverses the effects of sin.
And on on the on the creation now you and I today we're redeemed with the blood of Christ. First Peter, chapter one, we're still feeling the effects of sin. Some of us in the last year have felt it perhaps in a way that we've never felt it before. Some of us have been through some sicknesses and and so on. Tim felt it as a result of what happened last year and I think he still has some effect effects of it. So in all to 1° or other we all feel the effects of sin. Why?
Because we haven't been completely delivered from sin and its effects, and that's why it says later in Romans, Now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. That's not the salvation of our souls, but that's why our complete deliverance or salvation from these bodies that feel the effects of sin and age and breakdown and from the effects of sin that we feel in the creation all around us. But not only are we going to have full deliverance when the Lord comes to take us.
To heaven. But when the Lord comes back to reign in this world in righteousness, then this world is no longer going to feel the effects of sin. Isaiah chapter 55, we won't turn to it, but verse 12 tells us this, that even the trees are going to clap their hands. Now I know that's figurative language, but what it's showing is that even the lower creation, even the plant life, those popular trees that have the blight now.
They're going to not feel in that way the effects of sin. So from from the plant creation, the lower creation, right up, uh, there's going to be a joy and a liberty that they have never experienced since the fall of man. You know, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden.
01:00:03
As far as the the uh effects of sin on the the ground and the plant life, it says that the the ground would bring forth thorns and thistles.
That was one curse. When Cain sinned, there was another curse put on the ground. It would no longer bring forth in abundance. So I always tell the farmers, you have to take care of the weeds because of Adam. You have to fertilize because of Cain. Those two curses weeds because of Adam. And when Cain sinned and the earth opened up to receive the blood of his brother Abel, righteous Abel, God said the earth would no longer bring forth an abundance. But.
If we were to go to Isaiah and other scriptures we would find in the Millennium it's gonna the earth is gonna bring forth in such abundance so fast it says the Reaper will overtake the sower and the sower the Reaper. I know you farmers can't hardly imagine such a thing, but one crop is going to overtake the other and they won't even be able to harvest it fast enough to get it all in. So I believe that very simply, that's what these verses are referring to. They're referring to a future day, Not for us.
'Cause we're gonna be with the Lord, we're already gonna be delivered from the power and presence of sin, but for this whole creation, they're going to enjoy a liberty that they've never enjoyed before.
So I wondered if this look at this in Colossians, the Colossians one and verse 20.
And 21 And I I think this is right, that the work that the Lord Jesus did on the cross.
Accomplish reconciliation for the whole world, the whole earth, And it accomplished reconciliation for us, and it brings it out here in Colossians 2 Uh, Colossians one verse 20. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him to reconcile. And this is what we were talking about, all things unto himself by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven.
And you that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, you now have to be reconciled. So the work that was accomplished on Calvary's cross accomplished all of this.
So that's good and and just let's quickly look at two further scriptures to confirm what you say, uh in Hebrews chapter one.
Now in verse two he's talking about the Lord as Creator, but whom also He made the world. OK. And then he says in verse three, who being the brightness of his glory and the express age of his person, and upholding all things by the word of His power. In other words, he's not just the Creator, but he's sustaining the whole universe, upholding it by the word of His power. Now notice this. Now we lose the sense in the King James Version.
He said in the King James it says when he had by himself purged our sins. But it's a broader thought. If you notice Mr. Darby's translation, he's made the purification for sin. He he perched our sins. That true, but it's a broader thought here because the Lord is going to take everything back and bring it into order and blessing in creation not as just as creator, but on the grounds of redemption.
Because the blessing for this earth is going to be on the basis of the work of of Calvary. Now go over to the second chapter and you'll see this confirmed again. Again, we lose the sense in our King James Bible, but umm verse 9. But we see Jesus who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he by the grace of God should taste death.
Not just for every man, but again, notice another translation. Mr. Darby says. For everything you see, there'll be no there can be no blessing for man, for the earth apart from the work of redemption. Our our redemption, our salvation is based on the work of the Lord Jesus, and the millennial blessing for all creation is based on that work as well. So the Lord Jesus is going to take it all back and bring it into order and blessing, not just on the grounds that he's creator.
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Now we have a very good question here. These are all good questions. This is another good question. How does one learn to hate and despise sin?
To be repulsed by it, especially the ones we like, that are enticing, that don't seem as bad as and that we justify. So how do we learn? How do we learn to despise or hate sin? Because you know, there are, scripture says there is pleasure in sin, pleasure in sin for a season for a little time. So I think this is a a very good question. There's a lot of scriptures we could look at.
Let's go to 1St John, Chapter 2.
First John chapter 2 and verse 15.
Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man loves the world, now notice this. The love of the Father is not in him, for all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh. The lust of the eyes and the pride of life is not of the Father, but of the world. Now we've talked already about the our our enjoyment of the love of the Father, God the Father, the love, the our enjoyment of the love of the Lord Jesus.
I believe again, what? What is going to cause us to shun sin. To have no time for sin, no love for sin is to have our hearts filled with the love of the Father. So if you fill a glass with water, there's no room for anything to file it. If we fill our hearts with the love of God our Father, then we're not going to have a love for sin.
And it's gonna be really an unconscious thing, isn't it? If in the more we love the Father and the Lord Jesus, the less of a love we're going to have for sin, Let's go to John 14.
For another verse.
We may have quoted this verse already, but let's just read it again.
Yes, we we've talked about this, but just to reconfirm it, Verse 23, John 1423 So we've talked about the love of the Father. Now we'll talk about the love of the Lord Jesus. Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him and make our abode with him. So again, it's to be filled with the love of the Lord Jesus.
That's going to.
Leave no room for our love of sin or our love of the world. So the scriptures too. But maybe somebody else can share some some other scriptures and some thoughts.
Just read a few verses there.
Romans chapter 8 and start with verse.
Six, really. This whole chapter kind of brings it all together. We'll start with verse 6. For to be carnally minded is that? But to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God if you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is not of his.
And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. So really just verse 6.
Umm, it's been helpful to me to be To be carnally minded is that. But to be spiritually minded is light and peace. Umm. I was listening to meeting recently by brother Harry Hajo. I was speaking umm about reading the word of God, and his statement was we need to read the God word of God.
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Central We are so saturated that we think in the language of Scripture, and so if we are so spiritually minded, we won't have that carnal mind in us. We'll be saturated with the thoughts of the Word, with the thought of the Lord and have for us, and there won't be room for our minds to think of those things which are seen.
So that goes along with Colossians. Set your mind on things. Above again the King James says our heart. But in the context in Colossians it sets your mind on things above where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God. So let's go to a couple of verses in the Psalms that confirm what has been has been said Psalm 97 and verse 10.
OK. And this goes along with some of the things we've already talked about in regard to the other questions as well. But Psalm 97 verse 10?
Ye that love the Lord hate evil.
You see, again, it's in the measure in which our affections go out to the Lord Jesus that we're going to hate that which is displeasing to him. So like we've been saying, if you love someone and they love you, you don't want to displease that person. Let's go to Proverbs chapter 8 for something similar.
Proverbs, Chapter 8.
And verse 13.
The fear of the Lord is to hate evil. So again, what gives me that hatred for evil? What's gonna give me the the, the what's gonna take away my desire for that which is unholy? It's again my love for the Lord and the fear of the Lord, which is different than the fear we spoke of earlier, but the fear to do something that would displease the one that loves us and the one that we love.
So one last question very quickly. This question won't take long. You know, there's sometimes when questions are asked, we have to say 3 famous words. I don't know. And you know, it's better sometimes when someone asks a question to say I don't know than to try to make up some answers. That is not the truth of God. However, we will read the scriptures that this question refers to.
It says Could you explain the reference in the book of Ezekiel, chapter one about the wheel within the wheel? Let's go to the Book of Ezekiel.
I I will be able to tell Ezekiel when I get to heaven that I read his book, but I'll have to confess to him that I really didn't understand very much, or any of it.
So in Ezekiel chapter one and I'll read verse 16.
The appearance of the wheels and their work was like under the color of barrels, and the four had one likeness, and their appearance and their work was as it were a wheel in the middle of a wheel, or a wheel within a wheel.
Now I don't understand all the symbolism here in the book of of Ezekiel. I do understand this that Ezekiel's prophecy had to do with the judgment, the government of God against his earthly people Israel, because of their sin and their idolatry. And Ezekiel wrote during the captivity when God and his governmental ways had allowed his people to be carried away into Babylon.
So it has to do with the government of God. There is one other other thing I understand in connection with the book of Ezekiel. If you read this first chapter and then you go on and notice in the 10th chapter as well, I believe it is, you'll find that there are four living creatures that are mentioned and he's describing them. And this is part of the description. This wheel within a wheel, wheels within a wheel and so on. It's part of the description of the four living creatures.
These four living creatures we have in the Book of Revelation as well in Revelation 4:00 and 5:00. And I do believe the four living creatures represent to us God's governmental ways on the earth in connection with these earthly people and in connection with the earth itself. And God is going to deal with this earth in his government in a future day. And the living creatures and their description, and again, I don't understand.
01:15:27
All the symbolism, but it has to do with God's government in the earth. I would just make this very simple remark in connection with these wheels. It would perhaps speak to us of the swiftness.
And consistency of God's government in dealing with man on the earth, with his earthly people, Israel, and with the earth in general. More particularly in Ezekiel, it is the earth in the earthly people, Israel. In Revelation, it's beyond, it's even beyond that. It's a general government and there's always a swiftness and a consistency. So they would understand this back in Bible times. The Chariots with those wheels.
They were pulled by the horses and there was a swiftness and consistency that went with a chariot that had proper wheels. Wyatt's wheels within a week in wheels. Perhaps it's just simply the thought that God is operating in different ways and what in what he does and sometimes his purpose is overlap and so on. Other than that, I don't have a great deal of explanation. Maybe someone else has a thought.
So we have a couple more minutes. So you talk about the last, the previous question. Sure, sure, Tim. Yeah, comments on that. Umm.
The question I like the way it was word of having it. Losing an appetite for sin and gaining an appetite for the Lord appreciated that thought. But oftentimes when a temptation comes along or umm, or Satan presents something to us, it's not.
When we're at our best it's not gonna be when we're at our best and.
So I'd I'd like to look at a verse, just mention a few scattered verses a little bit about what sin is about and umm and the thought of lust. Umm there's a person says lost when it hath conceived bringeth forth sin and sin, when does it finish bringeth forth death. And when a thought comes across our mind that isn't right, it needs to be judged right then.
Uh, we're we're going to read this first, Later, second, Timothy chapter 2.
Umm.
It says Flea useful locks, and it was mentioned that this is a a send that is especially enticing, probably a frequent problem, something that we especially desire. So this UH and second Timothy. I'm flipping everywhere, but it's the right page.
UH, Second Timothy, chapter 2. It says flee youthful lust.
That's, uh, verse 22. We also useful Lux, another translation of that word. Youth. Uh, useful is often recurring. It's not that the user something that happened when they're young, it's that they keep coming back. They just keep coming back, flee them, just get away from it. And umm, so that's one one verse on the subject. But the sin is the conception of the lost when the decision is consciously made that I'm going to pursue this.
There's a difference between, uh in a positive way. There's a difference between seeing and looking upon. When you see something, boom, something went by, I saw it, but then you can study it. And if you if you continue to be focused on this, on this loss to this bad thought, it's going it. That's the conception or become sin before any action is carried out, that decision in your mind to continue in whatever it is, umm, we could.
I'm sure every one of us has a dirty list that we could hold up.
Umm. And many of our lists may be the same and many may be different. But uh some other verses that were read in first John chapter one. It speaks of a fellowship.
And speaks of confessing sin. And we like to think that we can con confess the sin to the Lord. But I want to encourage you to umm be accountable to someone else as well. Because this fellowship in first John is not only with the Father and with the Son, but it's also with the apostles and I believe all that believe. And so it's like a fellowship. And to get in the door you say, well this is this is the case.
01:20:18
Umm and I think it would be helpful if you were accountable to someone else if you said, well umm, I sinned and I need help. Umm and to to show another verse on that Hebrews chapter 3.
Umm. Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 13. Sin is sin is deceitful and umm.
I'd like to present itself in a way that's appealing to us.
So Hebrews chapter 3 and verse 13. But exhort one another today, or encourage one another today, or as long as it is called today, while it is called today, daily while it is called today. Let any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Try to be an encouragement.
We're all in the same boat.
If you can reach out to someone else, there's a likely chance that you'll find someone else that is going through the same things that you're going through.
And it it would be help if you were an encouragement to one another daily because.
Like I said, it's not when we're focused on the Lord. It's not on Sunday morning right after we've had the breaking of bread meeting and we're we're sitting here wondering at this wonderful savior, it might be on Thursday afternoon after you've had a rough day at work. But if you if we were more active in encouraging one another. We're all brothers. We're all brothers and sisters in the Lord. We're all in this together, encourage one another so that we're not fooled.
Into thinking that the stem which as was admitted, is attractive to us, It is attractive to that old sinful nature. If we can encourage one another, it would be a big help.
The Gates of Nehemiah Part 2
Address—Jim Hyland
DISCLAIMER: The following has been auto-transcribed. We hope it will help you to find the section of this audio file you are looking for.
Despite forever.
But I don't want to say.
Ah God Oh my grass and.
And.
With all the things about.
Well, it's interesting how the Lord works because I wanted to sing #47, which carries on the same thought as the one we have just sung, and we'll sing it to the same tune, hymn #47.
Wild crying on to God.
What prayers are running?
God's eternal flow to us, grace that gave us to the Lamb, to all.
Racing starts from the.
Full.
Grace on the South to pray.
And God will dare him pray for go.
Tell me about 1:00 daily.
May pray, pray, grace, and fire.
Fire.
Soul with strange divine.
00:05:05
To God as far as.
And pray and pray and service.
Umm.
Grateful crown.
The real bad life standing there.
In place and.
Almost all.
I quelled the desert. I prayed.
All right, this morning, we're gonna get right to our subject by turning back to Nehemiah Chapter 3. We've got a lot of ground to cover today. We're gonna get through this little chart that we have in front of us.
So in Nehemiah Chapter 3. Now as you notice on your chart, I don't know how many of you have counted, but there are 12 gates that are listed here. 10 of them we have in this third chapter. Two of them we have later on, and so we'll notice that.
So we've talked at length about the Sheep Gate. We talked about the Tower Mia and the Tower Hananel. We're gonna go right on and talk about the Fish Gate this morning. And let me read in Nehemiah, Chapter 3 and verse 3.
But the fish gate did the sons of Hazina, Hazena, build, who also laid the beams thereof and set up the doors thereof, the locks thereof, and the bars thereof. Now, as I mentioned yesterday, and we're not gonna have time to notice the different names of the people that are listed throughout this chapter who helped with the building of the wall.
But as I said earlier, we are, we find, if you read the chapter carefully, there were all kinds of men and women who helped. There were those who were nobles, there were those who were families, there were those who were single. There were those who were young people, older people. There were those who were priests and of the royal line and so on. And so whoever we are this morning, we have a little part in maintaining the truth of God.
And God's testimony on earth. Because remember Jerusalem, though it was in ruin and the wall was broken down.
It was still the place at this time where God had placed his name and the people of God had come back there to that very spot. As we mentioned, it's parallels with the work of God that took place in the 1800s. We mentioned too that a wall is speaks of separation. And as we go through these gates now, we're going to make a few little quick applications. We're not going to turn for the sake of time to a lot of scriptures. I've listed a few scriptures here.
And as you make your notes, you can jot down these scriptures, We'll quote them or mention them and you can go back and look them up. And remember, Tom is recording these meetings, so they'll be online a little later on. And so we're just gonna make some applications. Now. I wanna make it clear that as we make these applications, that's all they are. And I'm not saying this is the only way that these different gates and towers and so on can be applied. You may find in other writings or someone else speaks on the subject, they make a little different application.
But when we make applications of Scripture, which isn't necessarily the meaning, it's an application, we want to make sure that it corresponds with the rest of the word of God. If it doesn't, it just becomes fanciful interpretations, which are perhaps a little bit of what we took up yesterday and Timothy in connection with shunning, profane and vain babblings. And so we have the fish gate now when we.
Have the fish gate. It would perhaps speak to us an application of the gospel. You know, when the Lord Jesus called the disciples, He said to them, and you can jot this reference down Matthew chapter 4 and verse 19. He said, follow me, and I will make you fishers of men. Some of those men, like Peter, James and John, had been fishermen on the sea of Galilee.
But now they were going to go on a different fishing expedition. Not to catch fish in the sea, but henceforth thou shalt catch men, men and women, of course. In other words, the Lord Jesus was encouraging them or giving them a new occupation of going out with the gospel. In fact, when the Lord Jesus rose from the dead, he said to the disciples, going into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.
00:10:23
You know, that's why it was wrong for Peter and the others after the Lord rose from the dead.
To go back to their old occupation of fishing, you remember, after the Lord had risen from the dead.
And a few days passed, Peter said, I go a fishing, he said, Well, what was wrong with that? Nothing wrong with fishing. And I know brethren down on the East Coast to of Canada who make a good living at fishing. Nothing wrong with it. But what was wrong with Peter and the others following him and going fishing? They had been called originally from their fishing boats to a new fishing expedition. And that fishing expedition was connected with the gospel.
Now everyone of us here, I believe young and old, can do the work of an evangelist. Just drop this reference down. Second Timothy chapter 4 and verse 5. The Lord. Paul said to Timothy do the work of an evangelist. Now I know there's different thoughts on this, but personally myself I don't believe that Timothy had so much the gift of an evangelist. The reason I say that is Timothy was given a Commission.
By Paul by believe, directed by the Spirit of God. To teach. He was to teach the brethren and to take up the the ministry that Paul had given to Timothy and passed that on to faithful men who would be able to teach others also. Not only that, but Timothy, it seems, was kind of a shy person. He was kind of reticent. You don't find that in a gifted evangelist. Usually an evangelist, the Lord equips them with a.
Outgoing, extroverted personality. They perhaps have a a good voice. They're able to present things clearly. And I don't believe Timothy had so much the gift of an evangelist, but he was to do the work of an evangelist. Now none of us can get out from under this. This is the fish gate. Every one of us can come to the fish gate, so to speak, and we can in one way or another be evangelist first of all, by our life, by our quiet testimony as shining as lights in this world.
And remember, light doesn't make any noise, but it does drive away darkness, and it does give direction. So by our lives, we can be evangelists. I would encourage you, as we've been doing, there are some tracks and calendars on the back table. You can be an evangelist by just quietly leaving a trap or a table, or on a table here and there. You can give out a calendar. You can, if you're sending out something to something for business, just slip a calendar into it. Into it. That's being an evangelist, so we can all do the work of an of an evangelist.
You know, evangelism is not easy, just like fishing. You know, fishing is hard work. I'm, I'm not a fisherman. I never had the patience to sit in the boat or stand on the shore and fish, So I'm not a fisherman. But fishing is hard work and it takes practice to know how to cast a line, to know what kind of date or lure to use for certain fish in certain areas you might be fishing in. It takes practice and it takes patience. And if you're going to be an evangelist for the Lord.
You're going to have to learn by practice. You know, the first time you speak to a soul about the Lord. Maybe you stutter and stumble. Maybe you're not used to it. But remember this. It isn't how you say things. I mean, we need to say things properly and doctrinally accurate, but it's the Spirit of God that can take any little word or any little thing you do and use it for the blessing of souls. Now, very quickly we find that in the 1St 5 gates here.
There are locks and bars mentioned. Now, I'm not absolutely sure. I don't have a thought as to why. It's only these first gate, not the first five. The sheep gate didn't, of course, but these next five had had locks and bars mentioned. It would speak to us, perhaps, of security and stability. You lock your doors, you have a deadbolt. It gives stability, it gives security. You're safe in in, inside.
I want to just apply this, and again, this is only an application, but we will apply this in connection with the word of God and prayer because I believe what gives us stability and security in our Christian path in a practical way are those two things. And you can't be a proper evangelist. You can't live and speak for the Lord in this world in a proper way unless these two things characterize you. Now why is it only these these next 5 gates that have the locks and bar? I'm going to just make this little suggestion.
00:15:29
This is perhaps not the real reason, but just this little suggestion that I have thought of. You know, we mentioned that there's a decline in the Christian testimony there has been over the over the centuries and there's always, there's often a revival and so on and then things decline. And you know, I suggest that as you go on here you find perhaps a decline in things, a lackness, A locksness that comes in and so on the following gates, after the gate of the fountain, there are no locks and bars.
And it perhaps corresponds to what we have in the 7th letter to that John wrote to the assemblies in Asia Minor, where there was indifference to the claims of Christ. There were things coming in and allowed that weren't according to God's mind and so on. And so things that were not careful in our personal lives. And certainly collectively things have and can deteriorate. That's just a little comment.
Uh, in in passing. So we need if we're going to be live for Christ and be evangelist for Him, we need to have that stability and security with the word of God and prayer as a daily habit and routine of our lives. Now let's go on to the next gate. It is the old gate, and let's read it in the sixth verse of our chapter. Moreover, the old gate repaired Jehoiada, the son of.
Pasha the and Michel Michelayam the son of this.
They laid the beams thereof, and set up the locks thereof thereof, and the bars thereof. And so here we have now the old gate. Now I would apply this. In fact, we will turn to this verse. Just hold your finger here and go quickly to the book of Jeremiah.
Because I think this is important to see right from the scripture chapter 6 of Jeremiah.
Jeremiah, chapter 6 and verse 16. Thus saith the Lord, stand ye in the ways, and see and ask for the old paths, where is, where is the good way? And walk there in, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, we will not walk therein. I would suggest that an application the old gate would speak to us of maintaining the truth of God as it has been given to us.
In the Word of God, I know we mentioned, but I'm going to stress it again the other day we mentioned the importance of not looking for some new revelation at the end of this dispensation. God has nothing new to say to us. He has fresh things from His word, of course, but if someone comes along and tells you they have some new revelation from God, it's a warning. It's a red light. No God has laid down the foundation truth in His word, and those truths don't change.
The problem with the people of God in the days of Jeremiah was that they were they weren't interested in what God had given at the beginning. God had given his mind in the the Levitical law. He'd given his mind through some of the prophets, and they weren't interested in that. They were interested in looking for something new, and they were giving up the truth that God had had given. And it's very sad. You notice when Jeremiah the prophet brings this before them.
And tells them they need to seek those old paths. Then they say, well, we're not going to seek that. We we we don't want that. They said we will not walk there in. Isn't that a pretty blatant statement? We will not walk therein. And I hope there's no one here when you hear the truth of God ministered or you read your Bible and you set your will against the truth of God. Because if you do that, you're really setting your will against God himself.
Now we won't turn to this verse, but in Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 14, the Apostle Paul, before he passed off the scene, as I say, he was passing on the truth to Timothy to pass on not just to anybody, but faithful men who were to pass it on to faithful men. And I believe that's been going on for generations since then. And God will have faithful men until the Lord Jesus comes to pass on the truth from one generation to the other. But he said.
00:20:29
Continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them. Who had Timothy learned the truth from? He learned it from the apostle Paul.
And the Apostle Paul tells him that after he is gone, he needs to continue in what he had been taught already. Because again, in the end of Ephesians chapter two, we have the foundation of Christianity having been laid by the apostles and prophets that is the New Testament, Apostles and writers have laid the foundation truth for us and everything we do.
Needs to be based on the truth of God. That's why we've been encouraging you to read the word of God.
You've got to know what the foundation principles are so that you can act upon them. So that is the the old gate. You know in Timothy's day many were turning away from the truth. And in our little Bible study this afternoon, we'll this evening we'll take that up again in the portion we're studying. Many were turning away from what the Apostle Paul and others of the early.
Brethren had taught, and Paul says Timothy, don't do it.
And so, young people, the truth of God has been laid. You've heard it from your parents. You've heard it at meetings. You've heard it at conferences. Don't turn away from the foundation principles that God has laid out.
Again, we have locks and bars with the old gate. And again, if you're gonna stand for the truth of God that has been as it has been given to us, you're going to have to have those two things that we mentioned, the word of God and prayer. There's no other way that you can stand be at the old gate and stand for scriptural sound principles. Apart from that, we are men and women of prayer and men and women of the word. Now you'll notice on your yellow card that before the next gate we have.
The tower of the UH of the furnace. So let's see if we can. Yes verse UH, verse 11.
Malakai, the son of Hiram and Hashab, the son of Pahath. Mohab repaired the other piece and the tower of the furnace. Now what would the tower of the furnace speak to a sub? Well, again I'll give you the references because we're pressed for time here. But first, Peter chapter 4, verse 12. The Apostle Paul. Sorry, the apostle Peter in writing to the early believers, he says Beloved, think it not strange.
Concerning the fiery trial which is to try you now Peter was writing to Jewish believers those who had been saved, perhaps on the many of them on the day of Pentecost and other subsequent to that. But Jewish converts, Jews who had been saved by the grace of God, they're brought into the light and good of Christianity. They're part of the Church of God, but as a result of their testimony for Christ.
They were experiencing what are referred to in our verse as fiery trials. The furnace with tower of the furnace would speak to us, I suggest, of trials, and perhaps even more than that, persecution. Because if you and I are faithful in propagating the gospel, that's the fish gate. If we're faithful in standing for the truth of God, that's the old gate. We're not going to be popular.
You know, young people, there is a misconception in our society today that Christianity can be made something that is popular and acceptable. The word Christian itself only appears three times in the New Testament. They were first called Christians at Antioch. You have that in the book of the Acts, and I don't believe it was a name of endearment that was given to them. No, they reflected Christ in their lives and they were given that label.
00:25:07
As as Christians, when the apostle Paul preached to a King Agrippa, he said, almost Thou persuadeth me to be a Christian, but I suggest that Agrippa probably thought of the cost. Agrippa was a man in position of authority and respect, And I suppose he thought, if I become a convert for Christ, now I'm gonna lose that position, that respect, and suffer something for it. And so he turned away.
The other time we have the word Christian is in Peter's epistle and you can look it up. He speaks of suffering as a Christian. Now those 3 references don't make Christianity sound very popular, do they? And if you and I are going to be faithful in the gospel and we're going to be faithful to the old past, that is the truth of God as we have it in scripture. We cannot expect to be popular and we cannot expect to be popular even.
In this world from the unbeliever. But we can't expect to be popular even amongst other believers, because, you know, there's a lot of believers. If you talk to them about certain aspects of the truth or being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, they're not going to understand. And there may be even a reproach connected with it. I know you and I don't suffer physical reproach in North America for our testimony like some of our brethren do.
You know, we have this camp facility. We have the windows open.
We don't have to lock the doors. We don't have to meet in secret like many of our brethren this very day do. We're not afraid of the government busting down the door and shooting or arresting us for having a Bible, having Bible meetings this weekend. But many of our brethren do. However, it does say all they that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. So if it's not physical persecution, what is it? It doesn't say we might, but we will.
So what is it for you and me if the reproach of Christ? It's to be ridiculed and misunderstood because of our faithfulness in the and presenting the truth of God and living for Christ. And as I say that you'll find there are many dear pious Christians, I love them all, and some of them have a more godly life than I do. But they're not always going to understand the principles of the Word of God that many of us have been taught.
From the very early days of our youth, now God passes us through the furnace of affliction and the furnace of reproach, for a few reasons, but we'll just mention in passing I'm going to give you this reference again. Isaiah 48 and verse 10. Isaiah 48, verse 10. I have refined thee, but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction. I believe that one of the reasons God allows the furnace, that of affliction in our lives, is.
So that the things that are not for his glory, they're going, we're going to put them aside, we're going to shun them. It's to make us more like himself, to draw us closer to himself so that we are more like himself. Now I'm just going to quickly quote another verse to you in connection with fiery trials, and that is Isaiah, chapter 43 and verse 2. When thou passes through the waters, I will be with thee.
And through the rivers they shall not overflow thee. Now this is the part of the verse. When thou walk us through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. Now you remember, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, They had to go through the furnace of affliction, the furnace of trial. You know, it wasn't very nice to think, because they were faithful to their God, and wouldn't bow down to the image, that Nebby could never had set up in the plain of Dora, that they had to suffer like that.
But you know, when they were brought before the king, they said to the king, our God is able to deliver us from the furnace.
You know, they didn't know what was going to happen. We read the story with confidence because we know what happened. We've heard it, most of us, from the very early days of our childhood, but they didn't know what was going to happen. They said our God is able, but we don't know. But they did say, and he will deliver us from my hand, O king, because they knew whether they were consumed in the fire or whether they were brought through the fire, delivered out of the fire, that they would be delivered from the hand of the enemy, the king.
00:30:09
And so you and I. God doesn't always promise to take us out of the fire, the fire of affliction. But what he does promise is that as we go through those trials, as we are despised by those who do not understand our testimony, we have a we can have a special sense of the Lord's presence with us. You know, when I talk to Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, when we get to heaven, I wanna ask them what was the best experience of your life? I believe they will tell me it was that very time.
Even though it was very not very nice to think that they had to suffer like that. But that was the very time when they enjoyed and appreciated a special sense of the Lord's presence with them, like they had never had before. Again, when Peter wrote to those who were going through fiery trials and persecution, driven from their homes and so on, he said of the Lord Jesus, whom not having seen ye love, though now you see him not yet believing ye rejoice with joy, unspeakable and full of glory, there was a special joy.
That came with going through the furnace of affliction. So that's the the tower of of the furnace. But now let's go on to the next gate. It is the Valley Gate, and that is in verse 13. And the valley. The valley gate repaired Hennon and the inhabitants of Zenoa. They built it and set up the doors, their oven, the locks, their oven, the bars thereof, and 1000 cubits of the wall onto the dung gate. Well, here we have the.
The do the uh the valley gate. The valley gate I believe in application would suggest to us humility. Because young people if you and I have any testimony in the gospel and if you and I have any desire to please the Lord and to walk in the in the old path, it's only we're we're only it's only the grace of God as I said yesterday. And the more we walk in the company of the Lord and go through the trials and fiery trials that we were Speaking of the more we're going to realize that we are nothing.
And that he is everything. You know when the when John the Baptist saw the Lord Jesus walking in this world and he got into the presence of the Lord Jesus, he said he must increase and I must decrease. And so we have several exhortations, some of them by the Lord Jesus himself in connection with humility. Now I just want to say this. I you know, there's certain things when we pray we want to be very careful of and that is and and one of them is. I don't believe we ever have a precedent in Scripture that would teach us to pray and ask the Lord to humble us because we don't know our own hearts if I pray and ask the Lord to humble me.
I better expect the hand of the Lord on me pretty strong, but twice and I'll give you these references.
Twice the Lord Jesus exhorted his own to humble themselves. Now if I don't humble myself, the Lord may have to humble me. But let me give you those references. Matthew 18, verse 4.
He said There whosoever therefore shall humble himself as a little child, the same as is greatest in the Kingdom of heaven. Then again the Lord says something similar in Matthew 23 and verse 12. And whosoever shall exalt himself, shall be abased, and he shall he that humbles himself, shall be exalted. So the Lord was exhorting his own to humble themselves. Let me give you a couple of other references in that connection. James, Chapter 4 and verse 10.
Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and he shall lift you up.
First Peter 5 and verse six. Humble yourselves therefore unto the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time. One more reference from the Old Testament. Micah, chapter 6 And verse eight. What does the Lord require of thee, but to walk humbly with thy God? So as I say, we apart from the grace of God, we have nothing to boast in now. Not only that, but we have the perfect example in the Lord Jesus himself.
00:35:03
Because we read of the Lord Jesus in Philippians chapter two, I think it's verse five. He it says, or verse eight he says he humbled himself. And so the Lord Jesus is a man. He humbled himself, and in doing so he gave a perfect example. I just say this in passing. You know those verses in the Philippians 2 from verse 5 on that we so often read on Lord's Day Morning? And rightly so, because they bring before us in a very precious way the person and work of the Lord Jesus.
In coming into this world and humbling himself and going to the cross and then his exaltation and resurrection and ascension and so on, very good that we read those verses on Lord's Day Morning. But if you notice there, the real context is they're given as an example for you and for me. Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. So I just say that in passing we have that perfect example and that's why we need to go back and read the Gospels as well.
Because in the Gospels we have the example of the of the Lord Jesus in a beautiful way. Now, again, we didn't really mention, yes, we did mention in connection with the old gate, but here again with the valley gate, we have the locks and the bars. Remember how we're applying this, the word of God in prayer. It's that which gives us stability and security in our lives. And you're going to need the locks and bars. You're going to need the word of God in prayer if you're gonna walk humbly before before the Lord. Why?
Because again, it's the word of God and prayer that brings us directly into the presence of God, into the presence of the Lord Jesus. And so rather than trying to humble our, trying to be humble by generating something within ourselves, what is it that's going to make us humble? We need to humble ourselves. But what is it that's going to make us humble? It's really to get into the presence of one who is greater than we to realize, like John the Baptist, who this person is.
And uh, as we said when he got into the presence of the Lord, he said he must increase and I must decrease. So that's the valley gate. Now let's notice the uh, the Done gate. It's in verse 14 of our chapter.
And it says. But the Done gate repaired, and I won't pronounce all these names, and notice he built it, and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the BU and the bars thereof.
Well, here we have the UH Dungate. Let's take a moment and go to 2nd Corinthians Chapter 7.
2nd Corinthians Chapter 7 and verse one. Having therefore these promises, promises, Dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Now remember, as we've been saying as we go along, what we have here as to our theme in connection with these gates is practical separation and holiness.
From that which is worldly as well as that which absolutely defiles. And so the Corinthian brethren were told to cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh in Second Timothy chapter 2. And we will notice this later on. Today Timothy is told to flee also youthful, youthful lust. In first John chapter 2 and verse 16 he says all that is in the world is the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. So let's sum up the dung gate. What are we? What do we learn from this? We learn the need of self judgment.
I believe it was last night. Perhaps in the question and answer period we mentioned about David, You know, David was a man of God. He was a man after God's own heart. But you know, sin came in to David's life and David sinned very grievously. There was a moral sin in connection with Bathsheba. But when Nathan the prophet brought that sin to bear on the conscience of David, what did he do? He immediately got into the presence of the Lord.
And he He confessed it. And we won't go back to Psalm 51. We mentioned it the other day. But you can go back and read that and you'll find, like expressions like wash me and I shall be whiter than snow. Creating me a clean heart. O Lord, that's a believer. Praying that now I know we use that little expression in a gospel song. What can wash away my sins? And, oh precious, is the flow that washes white as snow. Certainly good application.
00:40:26
I love, I love that those little hymns about the blood of Jesus and we sing them in Sunday school, we sing them in the gospel, and it is the blood of Jesus that cleanses in that way. But that is not the context there there was in. It's in connection with a moral cleansing that was needed when David had sinned. So it's just like when my girls were younger, you know, they would come to the table and they were their hands and their face were dirty. Maybe they been out playing.
Uh, and they were filthy. And what would I do? Well, I would tell them to go and wash their hands in their face so they could sit down and enjoy the meal with mom and dad and the rest of the family. And so there needed to be a cleansing. It wasn't that they weren't my children, but they needed to be that daily cleansing. And so it's the labor that we speak so often about where the priests had to come and wash their hands and their feet, its feet washing, that we have in John chapter.
13 There's a moral cleansing that is needed when we sin, and that's really repairing the the Dungate. Now, we didn't read it, read it here. But the person who repaired this was actually a ruler. You know, that must have been very humbling for a ruler to have to repair and work on the dung gate. Not very, not very pleasant. But, you know, it doesn't matter who we are as far as position in this world.
If we belong to the Lord Jesus, there must be that self judgment and that moral cleansing that that needs to take place from day-to-day. So again we quoted earlier in in First John, if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father and when we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and then notice this and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. What does that mean? It means that he keep there's a cleansing effect that takes place, but also he keeps us from going any further in the wrong way.
He puts us in the right way, David said in the 23rd Psalm. He restoreth my soul and immediately he says.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. When we go are going the wrong way we confess it in self judgment. There's a cleansing takes place. Then he puts us back and leads us in the right way when we've been going in the in the wrong way. Now again there were the locks and the bars in connection with the uh the dung gate. Again, the word of God in prayer is necessary if there's going to be that day-to-day self judgment. You know you're never going to know what God's standard is.
If there isn't, if you don't have the word of God before you, you know this is a day when sin is looked at very, very lightly. And you know what's considered. What was considered sin, even in my day, even in the world, is not considered sin today. And how are you going to keep a sensitivity of as to what God's standard of holiness really is? You're going to have to be in the word of God in prayer. The word of God is what gives us that standard.
And when you get into the presence of the Lord in prayer, then you're going to have a sense of His Holiness as well. And so we need that if we're going to maintain self judgment in our lives. The 119th Psalm. You can jot this down. And verse nine, He He says. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy to Thy word?
In the six Psalm 66, verse 18 if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. So again there must be that in into the word we there and into prayer. And if we if we don't maintain purity in our lives in self judgment, then there's not going to be the proper effect even in our prayers. I'll give you one more little example. First Timothy chapter 2.
And verse eight it says in connection with our prayer life, holding up holy hands without wrath and doubting.
What does that mean? Well, again, there may be several applications, but you know, when they go to arrest somebody, what do they tell them to do? Raise your hands. And when they raise their hands, it shows that they have nothing to hide. And so again, if we don't act in self judgment, if we try to hide sin and things in our lives that are unholy, then there's there's not going to be the proper effect in our prayer life. So holding up holy hands is, is having a pure heart, nothing to hide, everything confessed and opened.
00:45:34
With the Lord Jesus and with God our Father. Now let's notice the next gate. It's the Fountain Gate, and it's in verse 15. But the gate of the Fountain repair Chalem, the son of Cohoseth, the ruler of part of Mizpah. He built it and covered it and set up the doors thereof, and the locks thereof, and the bars thereof, and so on. So here we have the Fountain Gate. Now I believe that.
Well, it's true that water in a contained water in Scripture is usually a figure of the word of God. Running water in Scripture is more often a figure of the Spirit of God. I say that because in John's gospel the Lord Jesus said out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water, and this he spake concerning the Spirit. And that's the key to understanding. A fountain, a well, a brook, a spring.
A river running water is usually a figure in scripture of the Spirit of God. And I believe that's what we have at the fountain gate. You know, back. We were talking the other day about those revivals that took place back in the 1800s when God raised up men who became exercised as to the truth of God and exercised as to what they found around them in organized religion.
And they realized that one of the difficulties was that the Spirit of God was not given liberty.
To use different individuals in connection with public meetings. Because if you put a man at the front from week to week and from day-to-day, and he does everything, whether it's the the ministry, the prayer, the so-called worship, whatever it might be, if he does everything and no one questions what he does, then the spirit of God is not allowed to function in the proper way.
So the spirit of God functions in our is to have liberty in our personal lives. But again, remember we're talking about the collective side of things here when we talk about Jerusalem being God's center and the people coming together at God's center. And so these men, back in the 1800s, they were exercised that when they came together for collective meetings, whether it was worship, ministry of the word, whether it was for prayer.
That the spirit of God would be would be given liberty to use whoever he would the exercise of priesthood and the exercise of gift in connection with public meetings. Now maybe I'll just say a little word in passing on that. You know, there's there's the exercise of gift in connection with teaching and ministry of the word and so on. But, you know, in the assembly meetings as such, it's not the exercise of gift that we have so much.
It's the exercise of priesthood. So in a little while we're going to meet in this room to remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread.
And when we come together to meet, to to remember the Lord Jesus as gathered around himself, gathered to his name, it is not going to be a question of gift. Every one of us are priests. Now I realize that there are scriptures that qualify the fact that the sisters cannot take a verbal part in the assembly meetings. The women are to keep silent in the church or in the assembly, and so they don't take part in the same way that the brothers do.
But I just want to encourage you, brothers, in passing, that when we come together in assembly meetings, it's not so much a question of gift, but exercising your priesthood. If the Lord lays a hymn on your heart, and it seems in keeping with what the Spirit of God is bringing before us in the meeting, give out that hymn. Stand up and give a little word of praise and Thanksgiving. It doesn't have to be long.
00:50:02
Sometimes shorter words of praise and Thanksgiving and worship are even more in the spirit than long words. I'm not saying sometimes there aren't longer prayers, but you know, I'm always encouraged when a young brother stands up in the breaking of bread and just thanks the Lord the Lord for dying, for them, for God the Father for sending the Son and and so on. It doesn't have to be long. We need to express things intelligently. But maybe sometimes you young brothers, you feel well. I I couldn't express things the way the older ones could.
But you know that we sing a hymn that says to all our prayers and praises. Christ adds his sweet perfume and love the sense that raises these odors to consume. So maybe you don't say everything perfectly or the way some of the older brethren can express things, but well, we want to pray intelligently and understand who we're addressing. Yet I believe it's important for us and the Lord wants to hear our voices. So I want to encourage you. And you know something the first time you pray in meeting it, Maybe you do stutter and stammer, but the more you do it, the more the Spirit can work and develop.
In you that those things that would be perhaps expressed in a little bit in a little better way, give out a Him. Pray the Lord, lay some scripture on your heart. It's not a question of gift. Stand up and read those scriptures. If it's in you feel, it's in keeping with the theme of what the Spirit of God is bringing before us. Read those scriptures might be just one verse. It might be part of a chapter, a chapter, part of a Psalm. It may be a connection of several verses. And remember this, the way the Spirit works is through the mind.
The mind is the channel, and so he's gonna bring to your mind certain things. That's why the Lord said the Spirit is the remembrance, Sir. He He'll bring to your remembrance the things I have spoken unto you. So it's it's through the mind. Now. You sisters too, you have a tremendous influence on the assembly meetings. You remember that Mary poured out her ointment at the feet of the Lord Jesus in John 12. You know, read that portion carefully at the beginning of that chapter. Mary never said a word.
You never read of Mary saying one word, but what was the result? A sister, a lady whose heart was full of worship and poured out her ointment in worship. It says the whole house was affected, filled with the odor of the ointment. And so this morning, as we come to remember the Lord, you sisters, who come with a heart full of praise and worship, you're going to have a tremendous effect on the whole assembly, even though you can't take part in the same way.
So as I say, again, when it comes to the assembly meetings, it's not so much a question of gift, but it's a question of being available to be used by the Spirit of God prayer meeting. You know, I would think we were encouraged, some of us who were, those of us who were older. When your young brothers, at the beginning of this camp, at our prayer meeting, you opened your mouth in prayer. But you know, when you go home to your home assembly and you show up on prayer meeting night and you pray, you know, that's a tremendous encouragement to your older brother. And again, it doesn't have to be long.
Maybe only pray for one thing that is on a burden of the assembly, and maybe it's only a couple of minutes, but bring that burden before the Lord in prayer. He wants to not only see us there, but he wants to hear our voices as well. And so the Fountain Gate brings before us the work of the spirit of God, and that's what characterizes an assembly meeting. Whatever other character characteristic it may have, what characterizes an assembly meeting.
Is when the Spirit of God is given liberty to guide and direct in every function of that meeting. And so this morning, you're not going to see a list of hymns that are posted. You're not going to see a roster of those who are going to pray and read Scripture. And so whoever is going to give thanks for the loaf in the cup, no, I trust we're going to sit quietly in the presence of the Lord and wait for the Spirit of God to lead us in those functions. And that's true.
In every uh every assembly meeting, just read 1St Corinthians 14 on your own sometime and you'll see how the spirit of God is to lead in praise and worship and song uh in uh ministry uh and and and so on. So we want to keep be careful to keep this gate in constant repair because you know, the danger is we let the flesh get the upper hand and we can start saying things and doing things in the assembly meetings that really only exalts self in the flesh. And that was the problem in Cora, you know, they came together and everyone had a Psalm, everyone had a doctrine, everyone was trying to express things a little better than the last person and so on. And so Paul had to warn them that that was the other extreme.
00:55:21
You know it says in proverbs be not as the horse or the mule. You know the horse is impulsive and has to be held back with the bitten bridle. The mule is stubborn and he has to be driven ahead with the rod and the spirit of God tells us not to be as either. And so we don't want to be impulsive. We don't want to be just speaking for the sake of speaking, but we don't want to hold back when the Spirit of God is really ready to use us. And when you come to the assembly meetings, don't come with a pre arranged notion that you're going to say such and such as such and such a thing or that you're going to read or.
You're going to take part, but come within a spirit of in a spirit of availability, so that if the Spirit of God wants to use you, then he can use you on that occasion You'll notice again, and this is the last gate that has locks and bars. Because again, there's a danger if we're not in the word ourselves. If we're not, we don't have that security of the word of God in prayer. Then we can get away from that which is the leading of the Spirit in our personal lives. Yes, but as we've applied it this morning in our umm.
In our UH collective, UH lives as well, which I believe.
Is very, very important. We've got a lot more to cover, but I think this morning we've run a lot of things by us and so we're going to stop there this afternoon after lunch, we'll work ourselves up the other side of this yellow card we have now. Remember young people, what we have said in these meetings are applications of these Old Testament pictures and illustrations, and there may be other applications, there may be other ways that these can be taken up.
And so on. I'm not limiting it to that, but these are just a few things that I have enjoyed myself, and I passed them along, and I trust they're in keeping with the word of God.
The Gates of Nehemiah Part 3
Address—Jim Hyland
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Which one 112 and which book? In the blue book OK 112.
Uh, it seems that the way.
Everybody knows to watch and pray and let every thought.
In every man I think everything. I think that's why you did not walk my sins away.
Transaction.
I am my Lord.
And it is my.
She is gripping.
Out my father.
I am glad to have.
A one second time.
When I considered the.
Way.
Take somebody home to get the water can play.
And celebrate all these things and everything. Everything.
Wednesday night falls my hands far away.
OK, I'd like to also sing hymn #3288 in the Little Flock hymn book 288 O Thou, whose mercies far exceed All We can Do are Save 288.
Upgrades and.
We enjoy.
They blameless by crazy.
Lord Jesus must write some man.
All right, let's get right to it. This afternoon, let's go to the third chapter of Nehemiah, where we've been.
So this morning we ended with Speaking of the Fountain Gate. We applied it in connection with the work of the Spirit of God and how that men in the 1800s God raised up who were exercised to meet in a way that the Spirit of God could lead in worship and praise, in ministry of the Word and in prayer.
And so we're going to go on now and you'll notice the next item on your yellow.
Cardboard Here. Your yellow chart is the tower out from the King's High House. Let's see if we can put our finger on that in our chapter.
It's after the Fountain Gate.
Yes, verse 26.
Moreover, the Netanyahu dwelt in Opal unto the P the place over against the Watergate toward the east, and the tower that lieth out. No, that I'm sorry 25.
Palisol, the son of Isaiah, over against the the turning of the wall and the tower, which lieth out from the King's high house. So we're again, as we've said in these meetings, we're just making some applications as we go along.
They're not necessarily the only application that can be could be made, but I have enjoyed this tower out from the King's high house in connection with the hope that you and I have as believers of soon ending up in the Father's house. So when the Lord Jesus was here and again we won't turn to a lot of these scriptures, I'll mention them, jot them down on your notepad or your booklet in John 14 of course in the 1St 3 verses.
00:10:26
The Lord Jesus when he was here on earth before He left the disciples to go to the cross.
And to return to heaven, he encouraged them by telling them that this was not their home, Oregon, the end of the story, that there was something far better awaiting them and that is the father's house. And so you and I have that hope. You know, when this camp is over, we're going to return to our homes or our parents homes. And we're thankful for comfortable homes this side of heaven, but these homes that we have here in the temporal mercies that we enjoy here.
They are not the end of the story we're going on to the Father's house. That's John chapter 14. Also the Lord or the apostle who wrote the book of Hebrews In Hebrews chapter 6 and verse 19, and those verses there at the end of that chapter, they speak of having a sure hope, a hope that is sure and steadfast. And it's the only hope that we have in this life that is hope connected with the first man in this life is uncertainty at best.
But the hope of the Lord's return, and you and I ending up in heaven, the Father's house, that hope is a hope that and only only hope that can be referred to as sure and steadfast. We all hope to return to our homes after this camp is over. But, you know, if we were to sit, sit here this afternoon and say we know beyond the shadow of a doubt that we are going to get home after this camp, either later tonight or tomorrow or wherever it might be.
And there's no doubt about it. Why we say we're presumptuous, you know, a lot of things we hope to do in this life, they get frustrated. They we never get to do them. Or often the timetable in which we had hoped to do them is changed by the Lord himself. But we have a a hope of being in the Father's house. That's how I have enjoyed and applied the tower out from the King's high house and again a tower.
Would speak of security. So it's the tower out from the King's high house. That is, it's the security of the hope of the Lord's return to take us to be with himself in the Father's house. But now we're going to notice something else here at the next gate, and that is the the Watergate.
So uh just notice here umm in verse 26 moreover than ethonyms that UH dwelt in ofo under the place over against the Watergate towards the east and the tower that lieth out. So you're gonna notice on our uh yellow chart there's the Watergate and then closely connected with it there's the tower out from the Washington the Watergate. So.
I mentioned this morning in passing that often water contained water. Water in a basin or a vessel is usually a picture of the word of God. And I believe that's what we learn from the Watergate. That is, we need, as we've been stressing in these meetings, the word of God in our lives. Just turn over a couple of pages in the Book of Nehemiah to the 8th chapter and I think you'll get the.
Illustration very quickly.
Chapter 8.
And verse one. And all the people gathered themselves together as one man under the street that was before the Watergate. And they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the Lord had commanded to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation, both of men and women, and all that it could hear with understanding upon the first day.
Of the 7th month. And he read therein before the street that was before the Watergate, from the morning until midday.
Before, before the men, and and the women and those that could understand in the years of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law. So well, I think we see very quickly that the Watergate would speak to us of the necessity of having the word of God in our lives. And here we find that the people of God, they came together on this street by the Watergate, and they were attentive to the word of God.
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Now I want to apply this in a couple of ways. First of all, of course we need the water of the word in our lives personally, and we have it again in Ephesians. You can jot this down. Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 26 says the washing of water by the word. So again you get the picture. Very clearly we need the cleansing effect that comes from the practical application of the Word of God in our lives.
It's like the truth of feet washing that the Lord Jesus gave to the disciples before he left them. And he wasn't simply telling them that they needed to physically wash one another's feet. There's a spiritual application there that showed that he it was more than that. It was the need for the washing of water by the word. So we need that individually in our lives. But it is interesting again, we've been talking about Jerusalem and we've been mentioning a couple of times.
That it was God's center on earth. And you'll notice they came together collectively to have the word of God read in their ears. And they actually come together on more than one occasion for this. And they were attentive as the word of God was read. And later on in the 8th chapter you can read it for yourself, you'll find that there were a number of men. In fact, there were 13 men in all who helped to explain the word of God.
And to give the people understanding, remember what we said at the beginning of these meetings. Nehemiah brings before us a day of weakness and ruin, the days parallel to the days in which we live. And I have just wondered this young people, when you have these thirteen men that participated in the explicit exposition of the word of God, if it isn't a little hint of God's provision for us for a reading meeting in a day of ruin. Because, you know, reading meetings were something that were established by those men of God that we've been Speaking of in the 1800s.
In connection with the exposition and the explanation of the Word of God in the prophetic scriptures. And I believe God has preserved the reading meeting to us in a marvelous way so that the Spirit of God can have liberty to teach the Word of God in that particular venue. There are other types of meetings for ministry, of course there's addresses, there's open meetings, and so on, but I believe that we really learn the truth.
When we attend the the local meetings for ministry, the local reading meetings and meetings at conferences and other venues that the brethren provide by the grace of God and where there's the spirit of God is given that liberty and God has men who can explain the scriptures as well as it's an opportunity to ask a question. Your young brothers you know in a reading meeting you can ask a question sometimes that question, if it's a good question.
Can lead to something that perhaps others were wondering about Oregon, something that would otherwise be passed over. A little comment sometimes is is helpful in leading in a certain direction, something you've enjoyed in connection with that portion and so on. And so they came together collectively in the Watergate and they were attentive to the word of God. Now I know when you go home to your little assembly, there's a lot of weakness and I come from a small assembly too. So I understand that. And you say we don't get a lot, we don't get much.
But you know you're there, the Lord is there, the Spirit of God is free to minister, and the word of God hasn't changed.
And if you come with real exercise and you brothers come with exercise to help out in a little way.
I believe the Lord can really feed us in a wonderful way and don't despise the simple manner that God gives you in the local assembly.
It may be an ever so feeble a way, but you'll find your soul will be fed if you attend those.
On a regular basis, those meetings set aside for that reason, you'll notice that this is one of the gates that did not need repair. And why did it not need repair? Because the Word of God never needs repair or revision or revamping. The Word of God lives and abides forever. And when Jude wrote to the Saints in his day, it was a days again parallel to the days we are living in. Days when the word of God was being undermined and.
Changed and mixed with other things, Jude said earnestly contend for the faith.
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That was once delivered to the Saints. And I know we've talked about this in an earlier meeting, so we won't go over it again. But I just say as a warning, we the word of God, it lives and abides forever. It is the same today. It meets the need today. It presents Christ today to the soul, the way it always has. And it will do the same the same tomorrow. And you know, they've tried to get rid of the word of God from this world. They burned it in bundles and tried to eradicate it from planet Earth. You know they'll never do it. You know why? Because the originals in heaven. The originals in heaven forever. Oh Lord, thy word is settled in heaven.
And we're going to have a fresh enjoyment of the Word of God for all eternity when we are finally there in the Father's house. But now you'll notice that there was this tower out from the Watergate. Now what does that speak to us of an application? Well, I'll make this suggestion. It speaks of testimony, you know, in the measure in which you and you and I are into the Word of God, enjoying the Scriptures and having Christ ministered to us from the Word of God in the power of the Spirit.
Then we can go out and be a testimony to the world. And let me say this, that when you speak for Christ in this world, whether it's at school, whether it's in your neighborhood, whether it's at work, some of you brothers perhaps will find if the Lord leaves us here, maybe in a more public forum. But always use the word of God. You know, it's the word of God that has power when we present the gospel, whether it's on the platform, in a public setting or to individuals.
My telling a story about someone who almost drowned will never save a soul. It might help to make a point and to bring in an application or a scripture, but it is the Scripture itself. It is the water of the Word that is living, and it is the Word itself, in all its living power that God can use as testimony and blessing to souls, whether it's in the gospel. As to salvation, it says we're born again not of corruptible seed, but incorruptible.
By the word of God, not my explanation. Explanation is helpful, and there's room for that.
But if by the word of God that lives and abides forever, when you seek to wash one another's feet with the word of God, encourage one another, use the scriptures again. There's always room. And in the Acts they preach, they discuss the Word, they went over it, and so on. But it's the word of God in itself that is going to have the blessing. Let me give you just a couple of scriptures to jot down in connection with the the tower out from the Watergate. Colossians 4.
Verse five walk in wisdom towards them that are without redeeming the time.
1St Thessalonians 412 That she would walk work honestly towards them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.
First, Timothy 37. Moreover, we must have a good report of them that are without. So we have this testimony. We walk in obedience to the word of God, and then God uses us in testimony to others. OK, now there's another tower, and you'll notice on your yellow chart. And that is the the great tower. So let's just notice here.
Umm.
In verse 27, after them, the Taquites repaired another piece over against the Great Tower that lieth out even unto the wall of God. So again, we're talking about a tower in relationship to security. Again, I'll quote the verse we quoted earlier. The Lord is a strong tower. The righteous runeth into it and is safe. I would suggest that the Great Tower brings before us the greatness of our God, the greatness of our Savior.
And the greatness of the salvation and the blessings that we have. I'll give you a few verses to jot down in that connection.
Titus chapter 2 and verse 13 we have there. It says we have a great God and our Savior Jesus Christ.
Hebrews 2, verse three It speaks of a great salvation and it is a great salvation isn't it that you and I have in Ephesians 2 verse four It tells us there that we are loved with a great love.
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Tremendous. You know, we remembered that love this morning in the breaking of bread as we considered the depths to which that love took the Lord Jesus and the love of God in sending his Son to go to Calvary's cross. What a great love we've been loved with. And then we have Second Peter, chapter one, verse four. There were told we have great and precious promises. And you know those promises, like the tower, they're secure.
You know, sometimes people promise us things, and maybe they're very sincere when they make the promises, but maybe they promised more than they had the ability to fulfill. Sometimes I've made promises, and when the time came to carry out those promises, I had lost the resources that I had at the time that I made the promise. And I had to say, you know, I'm sorry when I made the promise, it was sincere. I would have been able to carry it out back then, but I can't now.
And so, and sometimes people make promises that they never intend to carry out. But God has given us great and precious promises. It tells us in another place that all the promises of God in him are yay and in him Amen, to the glory of God. I just say this, young people, when you get discouraged, when you get down, when things aren't going the way you thought they should, go open your Bible and go back to those promises.
Those great and precious promises. We've had some of them before us already. I will come again and receive you unto myself. That's a great and A and a precious promise. Promise. In the meantime, he says, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. That's a great and a precious promise. And there's just one after another of these promises. And these are from the living word of God. These aren't just empty promises.
That some other human has made. These are divine promises that you can rest upon and I have found in my own Christian experience. Because you know, as you get older, life gets more difficult. Don't think that those of us who are older have arrived and that we have it any easier. Now. The difficulties are a little different, but I would almost suggest they're even more numerous. I know you find that hard to believe, and I found it hard to believe when I was your age too. But.
So life doesn't get any easier in this world, but if you learn to rest on those promises, count on them. I believe those promises given by God and given by the Lord Jesus himself, those promises can really carry you through all the difficulties that you have faced and and that you will face. Now we're going to go on to the next gate, and that is the horse gate.
So we find here.
That.
Let's see, the horse gate is brought before us. Someone help me out.
Which one?
28 Ye No. Yes, sorry.
I guess I need some new glasses or new hearing aid or something from above the horse gate repaired the priest, everyone against his house. Now again we can make some. There might be different applications that can be made here, but it tells us in the book of Proverbs, it's Proverbs chapter 21 and verse 31. It tells us there that the horse is prepared on the battle. Now back when this was written, of course, warfare was very different than it is today.
Warfare was done on horses. In my study at home I have a large, very graphic pen and ink of Wellington and Bluetooth shaking hands after the Battle of Waterloo, and it's a panorama of the battlefield, with men in various states of agony and death and life and horses spread around the battlefield, some living, some dead and so on. So battles were warfare was very, very different back in those days.
And so I believe the horse would speak to us of the Christian warfare that you and I have.
Here in in this world, and we do, you know you and I are in a war zone. Now we're not over in Iraq or Afghanistan or any of the other physically war-torn areas of the world, but nevertheless, you and I are in a war zone now. In Ephesians Chapter 6 you have the armor of God that we often speak about and in the 12Th verse of Ephesians Chapter 6, you can jot that down. It says we wrestle not against flesh and blood.
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So in other words, you and I don't have a physical warfare to fight today. You and I are not encouraged in Christianity to take up arms and go out and fight with physical warfare. But the rest of the verse goes on to say against principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. You know, if we had one glimpse into the spirit world around us, we'd be astounded.
Because there is a warfare going on around us. Now. There are the elect angels that are taking care of us. They're ministering spirits sent forth to minister to those that are heirs of salvation. But there's also Satan and his host and they are very, very busy today. To do what? Well, first of all, they're busy to keep the lost from coming under the good of redemption and deliverance. Just like Pharaoh and his hosts in Egypt. They didn't want the children of Israel.
To be out from under their ******* and be redeemed and delivered. So every time the gospels presented or you talk to some soul about the need of salvation, the enemy is going to be right there to try to take away from the words that is spoken so that that person doesn't get saved. But also Satan and his hosts are busy to discourage believers, to get us to give up, to spoil our testimony, it says.
Your adversary, the devil. This is First Peter Chapter 5.
Your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.
One thing about the devil and his demons, they keep busy. They are very busy and they, I don't believe they ever really rest because they don't want you to be a testimony for the Lord. They don't want you to have the joy of the Lord in your soul. They don't want you to be a help and encouragement to your fellow believer. They don't want you to come to a camp like this or a Bible conference. They don't want you to come to assembly meetings. They want to discourage you. They.
Can't take your salvation. Thank God. As we spoke of the other night in the question and answer period, thank God our salvation is secure in Christ. Not even the devil can pluck us out of the hand of the Lord or the hand of God the Father. That is secure. But Satan is busy. So there's a warfare, a spiritual warfare and you can go back over the pieces of the armor that you have in Ephesians 6. One year. I think we took that up right here in this room.
But God has provided in Christ everything you and I need to meet the enemy. And make no mistake about it, young people, you and I are no match for the enemy. We have a very powerful enemy now We have a more powerful We have an all powerful God and an all powerful Lord. So we can overcome the enemy, but not in our own strength. It's only in the measure in which we avail ourselves of what we have in Christ and His Word, the sword of the Spirit.
And and so on. So we need to keep the horse gate repaired. And again the keeping the horse gate repaired is to keep into the in the word of God, into the word of God. To stand firm for the truth of God against the enemy in spite of the work of the enemy. To get us to give up and to detract from the the scripture and undermine souls and so on, as we've been saying.
OK, now the next gate we have is the Eastgate and that's in verse 29 after them repaired Zadok the son of Emory Emmer over against his house. And so here, I'm sorry. And after him repaired also Shamaya, the son of Uh Zechenya, the keeper of the Eastgate. Maybe just mentioning something, we've mentioned it in passing a couple of times.
But again, I want us to notice that as we go down this list and we haven't taken it up because it's not what we're focusing on. There are all these individuals. There were men, there were women, there were husbands and wives. There were families with children and young people. And they all had a part in the repairing and rebuilding of the wall. In one way or another, what everyone did was important. Can you imagine if someone?
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Didn't do their part in repairing a piece of the wall. And they, the others who were coming the other direction and repairing their piece, they they did well. But then it didn't hook up. There were gaps and what would happen? There would be room for the enemy to come in and young people, if we will stand together for the truth of God. This is a great bulwark, a great protection against the enemy. But so often what happens is we we don't want to put our neck to the work.
Some of the nobles, as we noticed earlier on, they didn't put their necks to the work. They didn't, They didn't take up the work as diligently and faithfully as they ought to to. And again, Christianity is not easy. There's a warfare. It takes spiritual energy. It takes spiritual exercise if we're going to stand faithful, and especially, as we've been saying, in the days in which we live. But here we have the Eastgate. Now we know the sun rises in the east.
You know I'm dyslexic and I I can't remember directions. I'm just di directionally challenged. You know how I remember where the sun rises and sets. I always have to go in my mind to that little song. The sun was thinking in the West, the shore was near at hand. You know that little Sunday school song we sing A little ship was on the sea. But having gone over that in my mind again at this moment the the Eastgate would bring before us the the beginning of the day, the rising of the sun.
Now maybe we'll take a moment here and go to a verse that I think applies in this connection in the Book of Malachi.
Malachi chapter 4.
And verse 2.
But unto you that fear my name shall the sun of righteousness. Notice how it's spelled. SUN, the Son of righteousness, arise with healing in his wings, and ye shall go forth and grow up as calves on the salt. Now what this is referring to is a future day, not when the Lord comes back to take us to be with himself at the rapture, but when the Lord Jesus comes back as the Son of righteousness to reign in righteousness here in this world.
There's a day coming for this world when the sun, SUN of righteousness is going to have.
His rightful place, we talked about it earlier in these meetings. It's the day of the Millennium, the day of the Kingdom. Now to confirm that, let's go to the New Testament for a moment to the Book of Peter.
Second Peter chapter one.
Second Peter chapter one.
And verse 19.
We have also a more sure word of prophecy, where unto you do well that ye take heed. Now notice this as unto a light that shineth in a dark place until the day dawn, and the day star or the morning star arise in your heart. Now the morning star is in connection with us, and I trust that the Morningstar has already risen in your heart and mind, that is, that we are in our hearts watching and waiting.
Longing for the Lord Jesus to come. Because that's what he's the day. He's the day or the morning star.
But there's something else here, and that is the day that's going to shine as a light in a dark place. What is that day dawning? That day dawning is the day that Malachi speaks of when the Son of Righteousness is going to rise with healing in his wings. Now why is this important and relevant to us? You know, it's a lot of believers who say, you know, it's it's, it's OK to talk about prophecy and so on, but I'm looking for the Lord to come at any moment and I'm not really too concerned or worried about prophecy because.
The Lord has that all worked out, and I'm going to be with him, and it concerns the earth and God's earthly people. Why do I need to be so concerned about it?
Well, we won't turn to it, but you can jot this verse down and this tells us why we need to be concerned about it or interested in it. Titus chapter 2 and verse 13. Looking for that blessed hope. That's what we're waiting for at any moment. The blessed hope is the hope of the Lord's coming. Perhaps this afternoon. But that is not the only part of our hope. Sometimes I've heard people say the proper hope of the Christian.
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It's the hope of the Lord's return for us at the rapture. That's true, but it's not the whole truth, because let me quote the rest of the verse and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ. So there's two parts to our hope, two parts of what we're to be looking for. We're to be looking for the Lord to come at any moment and be, and we're to be saying Amen even. So come Lord Jesus. But we're to be looking for something else too, and that is the time when he appears back in this world.
When the sun of righteousness rises with healing in his wings. Because it's going to mean that my Savior is finally going to have his vindication and his rightful place on the planet that spit in his face, crucified him and said, we will not have this man, and you and I ought to be looking forward to that. You know, Christ is still rejected today. He's still the song of the drunkard. He's still on the lips of the cursor. He does not have his vindication here, yet he has it in heaven.
He's crowned with glory and honor in heaven, but not on earth. God is looking forward to the time when his son will be vindicated on earth.
The Lord Jesus is looking forward to that time. He's sitting at God's right hand henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. It's what he's thinking about this afternoon, the time when he's going to come back and rise with healing in his wings as the sun of righteousness. Are you and I interested in that? Does that thrill our hearts? Now I'm going to give you one final verse on this. And this, I believe, confirms what we've just said. Second Timothy, Chapter 4.
And verse 8 Paul speaks of all those that love his appearing.
Now, his appearing is never in connection with the Rapture, because when the Lord comes to take us home, he's not going to appear in this world. He's going to come on the cloud and we're going to be snatched away to meet the Lord in the air. So the appearing is always when heaven opens up and the Lord Jesus appears back in this world. You and I love His appearing. Are you and I looking forward to that? You're going to go back to work. You're going to go back to school. You're going to go back to.
Mingle with the with the world. If the Lord leaves us here, you're gonna hear people take the name of the Lord in vain. You're gonna see things that are unholy and unrighteous and against God's God's standard, doesn't it? Throw your heart to think there's a day coming when that won't happen, and if it does, sin will be judged every morning. And so on. But that's another subject. But the Eastgate then would point us ahead to the time when the Son of righteousness, the Lord Jesus.
Is going to shine forth in this world, and it will be a wonderful time for God's earthly people and for all the nations as well. So that is the Eastgate.
Now in verse 31 we have the next gate, verse 31 of our chapter Here, he says after him repair repaired Malkaya, the goldsmith's son under the place of the Netanyahu and end of the merchants over against the gate, Miss CAD.
And to the going up of the corner, just make this little comment about these ones. Here they were, they were in business. This man was a Goldsmith. They were, they were merchants. But isn't it interesting that taking up their secular employment, so to speak, they were still able to have a part in the service of the Lord? You know, sometimes we think of service for Christ as those that have been able to give up their secular employment and go out full time.
As missionaries are in the work of the Lord, And that's wonderful. But you know, there were slaves and servants in Corinth in the early days, and they might have wondered, how can I serve the Lord? I'm a servant or a slave to an ungodly master.
Well, Paul told them not to do I service as men pleasers, but in singleness of heart, as unto the Lord.
Knowing that ye serve the Lord Christ. In other words, Paul said, you do your work.
For the be to the best of your ability, as a testimony to your ungodly master.
And that service for Christ, that that God can use even in testimony and blessing, maybe even salvation to your ungodly master. So when you go back to your normal work a day routine this week, if you are standing for the truth and being a testimony and all the things that we've spoken of in these meetings, that is service for the Lord. So these ones, they were merchants. They had employment, but they had time.
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For the service of the Lord, you know if we have, if the Lord calls us to full time service, that's wonderful too. Because again, the apostle Paul said to the ones in Corinth. He said, But if thou mayest be free, use it rather. In other words, Paul said, serve where you are in your employment, but if the Lord gives you opportunity to be free from that, then use that as service for him.
As well, and so we find here.
This gate, the gate, myth CAD. Now there may be several applications that we can make here, and again, I know some writers make certain applications, but the word myth calf actually mithad actually means review or census. I'd like to apply this in connection with the day when believers stand before the Lord Jesus in heaven at what we call the judgment seat of Christ.
Now the judgment seat of Christ is very different than the great white throne judgment for the unbeliever. The unbeliever is going to stand at the great white throne judgment, and they will be judged for their sins and ultimately for their rejection of God's testimony, God's salvation, God's mercy. And they will be taken and bound, hand and foot and cast into outer darkness, separated eternally from God forever.
But the judgment seat of Christ for believers is very different. Let me repeat an illustration that I sometimes used.
So the Great White Throne judgment is a little bit like going to the court of law. And when you go to the court of law, you see the people that are brought up before the judge, and it is the people that are on trial. Now, of course, it's for the crimes they've committed, it's for the deeds they've done, but it is the person that's on trial and the person has to bear the penalty for going against society, whether it's community service, whether it's a fine, a prison term, whatever it is.
The person bears the penalty for going against society, for breaking the law. That's like the great White Throne judgment. But there's also judges at the County Fair. And when you go to the County Fair, you find judges there. But they're not judging people, They're judging their works. So maybe there's a display the ladies have brought quilts that they have made, and there's judges going up and down. Are they judging the ladies that made the quilts? No, they're judging their works. Now it's it's evident. It's in the end, the person who made the quilt the best quilt.
That gets the reward, but it wasn't the person that was on trial. You go to an art exhibition and there are judges there. And are the artists on trial? No, they ultimately get the reward. But it was their works. It was what they painted or sculpted or sketched that was being judged. And so when you and I stand at the judgment seat of Christ, and it tells us in the New Testament, we all will stand at the judgment seat of Christ when we stand there.
We're not on trial as far as our sins. That's been settled once and for all by one offering. He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. We're not on trial as to our sins or eternal judgment, but our works. Our life is going to be brought into a full review there. Now, I'm going to quickly give you some scriptures and I want you to look these up on your own, because the judgment seat of Christ is taken up in four different ways in the New Testament.
And when you put these four different ways together, I believe it's a beautiful meditation. So first of all, in Second Corinthians chapter 5, verses 9 through 10, if you notice the context there carefully, it's our whole life being brought into review. And you know, I'm glad it is going, my life is going to be brought into review because the what the judgment seat of Christ or one of the things that we'll do is show the perfection.
Of all God's ways with me, and it will show the grace of God in a way I've never understood before.
And I believe when we review our lives at the judgment seat of Christ, we'll see how he came in and we'll understand that it was God that worked in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. No credit to ourselves. It was all a work of grace in our souls. And we will see that even the things we didn't understand now we're all in God's perfection. Let me just give you another little incident that illustrates this. You know, when the children of Israel were in the wilderness.
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They questioned the ways of God and they said to Moses, why did you bring us this way and that way? And we're hungry and we're thirsty, and there's this problem and that problem.
But in the 105th, 106th and 107th Psalms, you have the wilderness journey from Egypt to Canaan, rehearsed in retrospect from God's perspective. And what does it say there? He led us by the right way. Isn't that interesting? That's not what they said when they were actually in the wilderness. But in retrospect, it had to be said that they had been led by the right way. And that's the way we're going to view it. So 2nd Corinthians 5, verse nine through 10, our whole life brought into review.
First Corinthians chapter 3, verses 12 to 15. There I believe the context is our service for Christ, because all that we do for Christ, any little service for him, he values so much that he's going to reward. It says Behold, I come quickly and my reward is given is with me to give to every man according to as his work shall be. So he's going to reward for every little thing done for him.
One Corinthians chapter 4 and verse five. I believe there it's our motive.
You know, he not only wants us to do the right thing, he wants us to do it with the right motive. And what is the motive in the Christian life? It's a heart for Christ. It's to do it for him. And there he's going to bring the light, the hidden things of darkness, and make manifest the counsels of the heart. You know, we often say we can't judge motives, and that's true. We judge actions, not motives, but the Lord judges motives. And he's going to bring to light every motive and those motives that were proper and for his glory, he's going to reward for them.
Then we find in Romans 14 this is the 4th 1 verses 7 to 10. If you notice carefully there the context, and you have to read the context carefully, it's our spirit and attitude. It's not just our motive, but it's the attitude. The spirit in which we did it did things. You know so often in scripture our spirit or attitude is mentioned. Daniel had an excellent spirit. Moses had a provoked spirit.
We find that Caleb, it says he had another spirit with him. It's the the attitude in which we do things. God not only wants us to do the right thing with the right motive, but he wants us to do it in the proper spirit. And that spirit is the spirit and attitude that the Lord Jesus exhibited always in the perfection of his life here as as a man. So that's the gate myth cat. That is, it brings before us that time when our whole life will be brought into review.
Again, has nothing to do with our salvation, but it has to do with reward. He's going to delight to give us reward in that day. Now let's notice quickly the next gate, and that is the gate Ephraim. Now I mentioned that we had 10 gates here in this chapter. We're going to have to go further on in Nehemiah to get the next gate and that is in the 8th chapter.
Now this takes us back to what we read earlier in connection with UH, the UH, the Watergate, and when they read UH at the Watergate. But let's drop down further in this chapter to the 16th verse. So the people went forth and brought them and made themselves booze, everyone upon the roof of his house and in their courts, and in the courts of the House of God, and in the street of the Watergate, and in the street of the gate.
Ephraim So we find here that the gate Ephraim is connected with the with the water, with the Watergate. I believe what we have here because it brings us back to the Watergate here and maybe we better read in the 12Th chapter as well before we make a further comment just to get the the context. In chapter 12 and verse 39 you have this gate mentioned again.
And from above the gate, that's verse 39 of chapter 12. And above the gate of Ephraim. And above the old gate, and above the fish gate in the tower of Hannah and the tower of Mia, even unto the sheep gate and and and so on. So here again we have it. It brings us actually right back to the sheep gate in this verse. I believe this would speak to us of the need for restoration in our lives. You know, sometimes we come to a camp like this, and I know I did when I was younger. And sometimes I still do it. I come.
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To a special occasion like this, a camp, a conference, special meetings. And I feel, you know, I failed so bad in the past. But, you know, there's always young people away, back. There's always a way back to the sheet, to the Watergate and the Sheep Gate. That is, there's always a way of restoration. Again, we've quoted it before, but I'll quote it again. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word?
Jot this verse down Hosea chapter 4 and verse 17. There it tells us Ephraim is turned to idols. They had turned away from the Lord. They were worshipping false gods. But you know there's a gate of return for us even when we have failed badly like Peter. Peter denied the Lord three times with owes and curses. But the Lord told Peter even before the failure. He said, I've prayed for thee that thy faith fail not and when you are restored strengthen your brethren. In other words, the Lord was anticipating the restoration of Peter.
Even before the actual act of denying the Lord had taken place.
And so maybe you've come here and you feel well. I've been such a failure, and I I've. I've just disappointed the Lord. And there's been sin in my life. We've been talking about this throughout these meetings. There's a way back. There is the gate, Ephriam. There's a place of restoration. Now I realize, young people, that sin, serious sin, can have consequences in our lives that scar us for the rest of our lives. I realize that when David sinned, he was restored to the Lord. But a sword never departed from his house forever.
It says of moral evil in the book of Proverbs, A wound and dishonor shall he get. That's why fornication, moral evil is so serious because it doesn't leave a scar, it leaves a wound. A scar is something that heals over. A wound is something that never heals, and so there are consequences for sin in our life. However, having said that, there is always a way of personal restoration. You know when Abraham sinned in connection with Ishmael?
Ishmael and his descendants to this very day are the constant enemies of the people of God. There's consequences even to generations. But Abraham was happily restored to the Lord David. A sword never departed from his house forever, but he was happily restored to the Lord and used of God. Peter denied the Lord three times with oaths and curses, but he was a tremendous apostle, and blessing in connection with the keys of the Kingdom given to him that he opened to the Jew and to the Gentile.
In the the New Testament or in the book of Acts, I I should say. And so there's always restoration, personal restoration. We can never say we failed so badly that there isn't a way back. There's always the gate, Ephraim. There's always that way to come back. OK, so now we have one more gate and that's the prison gate. And let's go to the 12Th chapter.
To see that gate mentioned.
Nehemiah, chapter 12.
Where I guess where we've already, where we already are, where we just read. But notice the end of that 39th verse, it says. And they stood still in the prison gate. Now what would the prison gate speak to us up? I just want to give you a little hint in your study of the word of God, something that an older brother gave to me when I was the age of some of you young men. And it's been a real help to me. And that is that when you take up something in the word of God.
Always go back to the first time that it's mentioned in scripture. Because the first time that something is mentioned in scripture, you'll get the real meat and meaning of it. There may be other applications that follow through scripture, but you'll never really understand something until you go back to the first time it is mentioned. Now the question arises then when What is the first mention of a prison in scripture? It's a little let me see if someone can can come up with it. Think for a minute and see if you can come up with the first mention.
Of a prison in Scripture.
What's that? Yes, thank you. So you can jot this down. Genesis chapter 39 and verse 20 in connection with Joseph. Now, Joseph was a man of God. I know he's a picture of the Lord Jesus, but in a practical sense, he's a tremendous example to us of a man of God amidst all kinds of family problems, hatred by his own brothers.
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Sold into a strange land.
Uh sought to stand and be morally pure. And what happened to him? He was thrown into into prison. Now I know we've alluded to this earlier, but I believe then that the prison gate would speak to us of reproach for the name of Christ. It would speak of the fact that when you and I seek, like Joseph, to be faithful to our God, to be faithful to the Lord, as we have been saying, we cannot expect.
To be popular in this world again. Second Timothy chapter 3, verse 12. Yeah and all they that will live godly in Christ Jesus might suffer persecution. No shall suffer persecution. And we've taken up those different ways that we can suffer. Let me quote to you another verse and you can jot this down first. Peter chapter 4 and verse 16.
Yeah, if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glory. Let him glorify God on in this behalf. Now you know there are many of our fellow believers today who are actually in prison for their testimony. There are many of our fellow believers in other countries who are being tortured and facing martyrdom for their testimony, for Christ, for their faith, and for their Christianity. You and I perhaps will never be tested in that way.
But nevertheless there is that reproach connected with it. So that's why Paul spoke of himself as the prisoner of Jesus Christ. One reference to that is the first verse of of the Book of Philemon. And there are other verses as well where Paul spoke of himself as the prisoner, not of Nero, not of the Romans, that was true, but of Jesus Christ. Why was Paul in prison? Because of his testimony for Christ so again.
Are you and I willing to suffer a little reproach for the name of the Lord Jesus? So this prison gate then brings us back to the to the to the sheep gate. It's very interesting that just go back to the third chapter of our of Nehemiah and let's notice the last verse of the chapter.
And between the going up of the corner under the Sheep Gate repaired the Goldsmiths and the merchants. This chapter, which brings before us 10 of the 12 gates, it brings us right back to the Sheep Gate. Why? Because we need the reminder that every blessing you and I have is based on the finished work of the Lord Jesus, that sacrificial work of the Lord Jesus. And I know our time is gone, but I just want to take a moment to stress something in this connection.
You know, that's why we need the needed this morning, the remembrance of the Lord Jesus and the breaking of bread. You know, I'm thankful that from week to week we have this opportunity to, as it were, come back to the Sheep Gate. So these different individuals in this third chapter, they were working hard, some of them had secure or most of them had secular employment between that they took up the Lord's work in the rebuilding of the wall and so on.
But they're brought right back to the Sheep Gate in the end, because we always need to be reminded in the busyness of life, even in the busyness of the Lord's service, service for Christ, that it is all based on the work of the Lord Jesus. And that's why in First Corinthians 11 and verse 24 we are told this do in remembrance of me. That's a quote directly from the Lord Jesus himself, from Luke's gospel.
Chapter 22. But it's reconfirmed to us. Lest we missed it in Luke 22, it's reconfirmed to us.
Paul had received it directly from the Lord, you know, I'm going to speak very, very frankly for a moment and I hope I won't offend anybody.
Do you know I watched this morning?
As the loaf in the cup was passed.
And I saw some young people who did not remember the Lord physically in the breaking of bread. I wonder why you didn't.
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I know you, most of you young people, some of you I know very well. I know you have a desire to please the Lord Jesus. I know you have a desire to live for him. But you know one of the things connected with our testimony in this world as believers.
Is to physically break bread from week to week. It says you do show forth the Lord's death till he come. Every time we sit down on the Lord's day and remember the Lord Jesus in the breaking of bread, we are giving testimony to this world that we are honoring the request of the One who is despised and rejected of men that we are seeking to honor, the one who loved us enough to give himself for us at Calvary's Cross.
You know, there's a question raised in Lamentations. Chapter one. I believe it is, and I think it's the 12Th verse. You can look it up. Is it nothing to you? All ye that pass by? You know, this morning we passed by the cross again. We sometimes sing a hymn 213 in the little flock on Calvary. We've adoring stood gazed on that one's cross. Where the Holy Spotless Lamb of God.
Was slain in his love for us. Did you look back to Calvary this morning? And the reading of the scriptures and the singing of those hymns, and what was expressed publicly in praise and worship and Thanksgiving? And yet it didn't mean that much to you? Is it nothing to you? Is it nothing to me? Now I've heard people, young people, and sad to say, some who are not so young say, well, I can remember the Lord in my heart.
That's true. And I hope every day of our lives we remember something of what the of the Lord and what He's done for us every day. But, you know, God gives us a way that we can express things in a practical and physical way to give testimony. One one of the institutions is baptism. You know, I know some young people that have never been baptized. They say, well, the Lord knows what's in my heart. He knows I want to follow him.
But when we're baptized, we give expression. It's testimony of what is in our heart. Young people, and some not so young, say, I can remember the Lord in my heart. That's true. But when we break bread physically, we're giving expression to what is in our heart. And that's why it says as often. It doesn't say as often as you Remember Me in your heart, but as often as she eat this bread and as often as she drinks this cup, I sometimes wish that those.
2 words Eat and drink were printed in capital letters in our Bibles. He's asked us to eat and to drink, to give expression to what is in our hearts and to give testimony in this world, to show forth his death, how long till he comes and remember it says as often, you know, I think that's one of the most wonderful things about being gathered to the Lord's name, is that it was the exercise of those brethren in the 1800s that we've spoken of several times.
To come together on the first day of the week to remember the Lord. Where did they get that? Well back in Acts 20 you find with the early believers that it very quickly after the day of Pentecost and the establishment of Christianity. It very quickly became their exercise and joy to meet on the first day of the week. To break bread, to remember the Lord as they did in the third loft, there in in Troas, and so brethren, when these things were re established.
They were exercised. And young people, you and I need a reminder, and we need it often. And I'm thankful that we have the privilege. Not just twice a year or on a special occasion or once a month, but we have the privilege. As often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you just show the Lord's death till he come. Now, young people, I realize we've run a lot of things by you in these three talks that we've shared together, but again, I trust you'll go back over some of the references.
And the notes that you've made, again, Tom has very graciously recorded these meetings so that in a few days they'll be posted on those gathered.com and you can go back over and listen to that which we have had before us. And I trust it will encourage you and I to walk, as we said at the beginning of these meetings, to walk through this world not in isolation, but in in separation.
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In practical separation.
Sanctification and holiness for the Lord's glory until he comes.
2 Timothy 2:19-26
Reading
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Every day.
The water turns out missing everything within the hospital. Slumber before the sun.
All I can see things from the fair and clean everything.
Everyday.
I promised my father.
So we'll go back to Second Timothy.
Chapter 2.
And uh.
Matthew, can you read this for us from verse 19 to the end please?
Nevertheless, the foundation of God's and His cherished having this seal. The Lord knows them that are his, and that everyone that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
But in a great house there are not only vessels of golden and silver, but also Lumia verb, and some to iron, and some dishonored the man, therefore purging self convenience. He shall be a vessel unto honor sanctified and meet in Massachusetts, and prepared unto every good youth work. We also useful loves, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace within the calm the Lord out of the pure heart. But foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strives.
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He served as the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men apartment to teach patient and meekness, instructing those that oppose themselves, if God for adventure will give them repentance to the acknowledge of the acknowledging of the truth.
That they may recover themselves after Snare the devil, who are taken captive by him at his load. Thank you.
Might be helpful just as we launch on these LA out on these last few verses of this chapter to realize the context of first Timothy and second Timothy in first Timothy, one of the keys. So the key scripture, let's turn back to it in the third chapter and and let me while you're turning there, let me just say this to that.
When you take up a book in Scripture, it's helpful to see a key verse. There's usually a key verse or a key phrase that unlocks the rest of the book. And I found that very helpful in my study of the Word of God to look for a key verse or a key phrase that opens things up. And here's, I think the key verse that helps us to understand the context of first Timothy.
Verse 15 of chapter 3.
But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the House of God, which is the Church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. So first Timothy has to do with behavior as being part of the House of God. Now when it says how to behave ourselves in the House of God, it's not just talking about coming to meeting, how we behave when we come.
Collectively into the presence of the Lord. Now there are other scriptures that would exhort us as to our conduct when we come together in the presence of the Lord and so on, but that is not what this verse is talking about.
This verse is talking about our behavior wherever we are, whether it's that meeting, whether it's at home, whether it's at school, whether it's in the neighborhood, whether it's at work. Because we are the House of God. The Church of God is the House of God. Just notice a verse in Hebrews 3 that confirms that.
Hebrews, chapter 3.
And verse six, but Christ as son over his own house, what is his house that he's over? It's the Church of God. It's that building that is being built of living stones. And you're a living stone in the Church of God. I'm a living stone in the Church of God. So First Timothy has to do with our behavior.
As to us being the House of God, as I say, it's more than just when we're at meeting, It's our conduct wherever we are now. Having said that, we go back to our chapter here and in in second Timothy, the House of God has become a great house. In other words, in the in the first epistle, the House of God is made-up of believers only.
True believers who make up the Church of God. But what has happened in Second Timothy is there has become a mixture of those that are real and those who profess Christianity but are not real.
And that's why we find here it's referred to as a great house. So he expands it here because in Second Timothy it includes reality and profession. So I hope there's no one here who professes to or pretends to be a true Christian. And they're not. You're part of the great house if you've made that profession. But the Lord knows them that are his.
Now to bridge this we started at verse 19. You remember yesterday when we took this up, we noticed that there was in the these days an undermining of the truth of God.
And there were these two men, and they're just a sample of two men, but there were these two men and there were others who were teaching false things. And they were doing it to overthrow the faith of some. But now Paul says to Timothy, nevertheless, the foundation of God stands sure. You know, no matter how much false teaching is propagated in Christian circles, it doesn't change the truth of God.
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Let's go to Ephesians chapter 2 to see what the foundation is, and I've quoted this a couple of times this weekend, but let's see it right on the page of God's Word. So we understand what this foundation is that cannot be shaken, that stands sure. Ephesians chapter 2 and in verse 19, he's talking about us who are believers. He says now therefore you are no more strangers and fo and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the Saints and notice this and the household of God.
Again, we are the House of God. How are we to behave ourselves in the House of God? That's what we had in First Timothy. And now I want to notice this. And are built upon the foundation. And now he's gonna go on and explain what the foundation is. The foundation of the apostles and prophets. Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone or the cornerstone. So what are the apostles and prophets? What is he referring to? I believe it.
And we could compare it with other Scriptures. It is the foundation cruise that the apostle Paul and all the New Testament writers lay down for us. And what he's saying is in our chapter in Timothy.
That can't be shaken, that will never change. That stand sure, you can build a lot of false things on the foundation, but the foundation stand sure. So young people, what we have in the Word of God, the foundation truth of Christianity, that never changes in spite of what men have tried to teach and propagate, That is false. And the reality of the House of God, the Church of God, which is only true believers.
That can't be shaken either, even though in Second Timothy it becomes this great House of reality and those who profess, or, as we would say, those who simply pretend to be believers.
So when he says the Lord knows them that are his, what we have to realize is that in a situation like Timothy was in and like we are in, we can't always judge who is a true believer and who isn't. Now we look for fruit. It says by their fruit she shall know them. But again, someone can pretend to be a Christian so cleverly.
That they fool everybody. You know, Judas was like that, wasn't he? You know, you would think that after 3 1/2 years of being with the other disciples and the Lord Jesus that he would have made some kind of slip that would make the other disciples suspect who the betrayer was. But when they came to the supper in the upper room and the Lord said there's a betrayer, they all looked at each other and they didn't seem to even suspect that it was Judas. And they said, is that I? Is it I? Judas was so careful in his cover up that he never gave himself away.
Until the Lord ex exposed him. So we can't always tell who's a true believer and who isn't. Conversely, someone might make, someone might begin, well, and we see what seems like for fruit or is fruit and then they backslide and maybe we say, well, I don't know if that person is a true believer or not. You know, Lot was like that in the Old Testament. Lot got into such a condition.
That from his life, you would never know from the Old Testament if he was real or not. If the New Testament didn't tell us that he was a righteous man, you wouldn't know whether he was a backslider or an apostate. Now you say, what's an apostate? So a backslider is one who's real and they, they slip away. They, they, they get into things that they ought not to and they spoil their testimony and so on.
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Often they're restored, but not always lost with never restored to the Lord this side of heaven. An apostate, on the other hand, is like Judas. It's one who makes a profession, but there's no reality. And then they slip away. And once they do, Scripture tells us as far as an apostate, there's no restoration, there's no coming back. So to make a contrast again.
Peter was a backslider. Peter denied the Lord three times with oaths and curses, but he was a real disciple. He was a true believer and he was restored. Judas was an apostate. He cleverly put on a front and fooled all the disciples for all those years. But he didn't fool the Lord, and eventually his heart came out. He went out and hung himself, and it says he went to his own place as an apostate. He will be in a lost eternity.
So we have to say sometimes about a certain individual, I don't know if they're really saved or not. The Lord knows them that are his. And we cannot judge whether a person is an apostate or a backslider. Only the Lord knows the heart. We can only judge if one is restored to the Lord this side of heaven, whether they were an apostate or a backslider.
Example of pick up a little mask, use the example of an apostate is a Judas and that umm, he didn't, you know, when it came time that he said someone would betray him that he didn't have a clue to which we have the benefit of scripture and retrospect. And I just wanted to input the thought that we have in John where Mary poured the thought of found a spikner on his feet. He complained that it, you know, we could have sold that, but then it's the first says in chapter 12.
Uh.
This is 436.
One that not sold 300 prints and give it to the score. This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief and had the bag.
This small thing that we have a clue, but if we had been the disciples who had no more ideas than they did.
Yes, we see it in retrospect and recorded in scripture, but umm, they?
So the whole point of the next few verses is that, well, we can't always tell the difference between a true believer and a professor. Our responsibility is not to try to sort that out, but our responsibility is to depart from iniquity. We are to depart from that which is evil. And he's going to go on to speak of ecclesiastical evil, that is.
Being connected with a system that teaches or practices that which is error and not according to the Word of God, moral, uh, uh, moral evil. He takes up the subject of doctrinal evil in this epistle.
And so you and I are responsible to separate from evil. I think that's important because in Scripture and, and I hope you understand what I'm going to say now, because I think it's important. We are never told in Scripture to separate from true believers. Now let that sink in a minute. We're never told in Scripture to separate from true believers. What we are told to separate from is evil, is iniquity. And if that means there are true believers that I cannot go along in fellowship with.
Then I have to say, so be it. But it wasn't the believers themselves that I was told to separate from. It was evil. And so if there are those who hold doctrines and principles and practices.
That are not according to the word of God. Then I cannot go along in fellowship with them. So let me say that again.
We are never in scripture told to separate from true believers. We are told to separate from evil and that may mean there are true believers I cannot go along in fellowship or company with.
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Maybe just, uh, briefly as a, uh, description of what moral evil, uh, doctrinal evil and ecclesiastical evil are. These might be a little bit confusing to some that are a little bit younger. Uh, more illegal is probably the easiest one. Uh, stealing, uh, evil, umm, killing your neighbor evil, that's moral evil. Uh, doctrinal evil is bad teaching.
Doctrine means teaching, uh, any type of bad teaching. If someone says that Jesus was not the son of God, that's doctrinal evil. An ecclesiastical evil is different. Uh, things that are ecclesiastical have to do with how a system operates. Umm, and an example of ecclesiastical evil is we have a verse that says there's one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus. Uh, the Catholic Church promotes that you have to go to a priest to confess your sins.
As a mediator between, uh, God and man, that's ecclesiastical evil. That's a system where the system in and of itself, not that there's evil people there, but the system itself is evil. So those are those examples of those three types of evils. So that's helpful because I hear P, I've heard Christians say, well, I don't go along with everything that is taught or done in that system, but I believe I should be there and go on with it because I can be a helper, a counter to it. But what scripture teaches is if there is a system that teaches or practices things that are not according to the word of God, then I am to separate from that system.
And if I remain in that system, then I am really embracing all that is that is connected with that system of things now.
Oh, I, I, I wanna just, umm, focus on this illustration of the great House here.
Because again, and let's keep in contact that what we are to separate from here is evil and we can't according to the context of this.
Discern who is real and who isn't. That is not the point. It is not for me to discern who is real and who isn't. Yes, if again, by their fruit she shall know them and so on. But I am to separate from evil.
Now he's gonna use this illustration of this great house. Let's bring it down to camp here for a minute. So out in the kitchen, the the ladies have operated this weekend with many vessels and the, the vessels out in the kitchen here at camp have been made of many things. There were pots and pans that they used on the stove. There were plates and cups that we put out on the table. There was cutlery. There were glass bowls. There was plastic.
What made the vessels that the ladies used this weekend serviceable was not what they were made out of. It was whether they were clean or not. And that's why we appointed teams to wash the dishes so that those, those defiled dishes could be used again in the service of the next meal. And young people, I, I know there's been a lot of confusion about this passage, but I really believe in the context, it's not a question of what these vessels here are made out of.
Because there were some, some have tried to separate that the wood and the earth were unbelievers and the gold and the silver were believers. You're confusing it with the rewards that are given at the judgment seat of Christ. It has nothing to do with that.
This has to do with people vessels are used as a, as a symbol of the human body in Scripture which which vessel, which treasure we have in earthen vessels, Speaking of those of us who know Christ. And so a wooden vessel is serviceable. You put a solid in a wooden solid bowl if a wood if it's clean up a clay vessel. And they would have understood that in those days, because in those days there were a lot of wooden vessels and pottery and clay vessels and as well as vessels made of precious metal. What made the vessel serviceable?
Whether it was wood or earth or gold or silver, No, it was whether it was clean or not. Every vessel that the ladies used this weekend in camp was serviceable if it was clean and it every vessel had a different capacity, a different function. What do we learn from this that you and I who know Christ as our Savior, if we are walking in a way that is morally upright, if there's the cleansing and of the word of God in our lives, if we're separated from moral.
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Doctrinal and ecclesiastical evil, then we are going to be vessel. Vessels used for the master. We all have different capacities, we all have different abilities. Just like those vessels that were used here this weekend or vessels in your home when you go home.
And so on. So again, I believe it's not to try to sort out which vessels are real and not we're not to do that. It says the Lord knows them that are his. I can't sort out. We're not to sort out what which, which vessels are real and which aren't what we are to sort out and what we are to separate from our vessels that are defiled. And you know, sometimes there are Christians, true believers who are not walking in a path of practical separation and holiness.
There's defilement and what am I to do? I am to separate from that which is evil, which as I said, may mean that I have to separate from, from true believers. So I, I really believe that's the thrust here.
We're not too. It's not a question of who's real or who isn't. It's a question of sin and defilement. And God has always taught that sin and defilement are a thing that are not fit for His presence, His service, or the presence of the people of God.
So that's why he says if you're gonna be useful for the master, if you're gonna be serviceable, he says if a man, verse 21, if a man therefore purge himself from these, that is, he separates from the defiled vessels. It's not, it's not vessels that are made of certain things that he has to separate from. It's vessels that are dirty that are defiled. If he separates from those, then he's a vessel unto honor, sanctified and meet for the masters use and prepared unto every good work.
So I watched you young people as you did the dishes and The Dirty dishes went in the window on one side. They were all defiled. And as they touched each other, they even got more defiled. One dirty dish defiled another dish. One dirty dish made another one more dirty. So then we had you had some of your team washing and rinsing and then you put them back with The Dirty dishes. Not a chance. I think Faye and Beck and Nancy would have been after you big time if you had had done that.
No, what did you do? You sanctified them. You set them apart on the other side. Now they were clean and they were serviceable, useful for the next meal, for the next function. But if you had put them back with The Dirty dishes on that side, if you hadn't sanctified them or set them apart, they wouldn't be useful as much as they had been scrubbed with soap and water. They would be defiled again. So what's going to make you and I useful for the Lord Jesus in His service?
It's to separate from evil. It's to be clean vessels.
And that is what makes us serviceable. So in the measure in which you leave camp this weekend and you walk in separation from evil, as we've had with the wall in the days of Nehemiah, in the measure in which you separate from evil.
Brother in the local assembly, because that's a little bit.
And it said, uh, the way to, I guess, uh, finance ourselves or wash ourselves from that environment is to read the word.
I can't think of the verse.
This is clearly washing water by water.
Yes, and Ephesians, the washing of water by the water, that's the one, yeah. So that just puts it to me very clear if we read the words God every day and that'll wash us from any depilment to me might uh, see or pass by during the day.
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Yes, and that's why we said earlier in connection with one of the gates recorded the verses in the 119th song. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto, according to thy word. So it's the labor that they had in the Old Testament where they had to come and wash their hands and their feet that got defiled with their walk through the wilderness and their service. And so the priest had to come again and again.
About how to.
Umm, how to make sure that you stay clean without, umm, to be separate, separated from those that are depiled from the 22nd verse, which uh, talked about a bit last night, is, uh, how to keep yourself from getting defiled. Umm, when those temptations and things come along, you flee, uh, perhaps out a little bit to the comment that I made last night.
Umm, As far as these useful loss or these, uh, often recurring loss, umm, it was mentioned by, uh, by Phillip. He talked about it being, uh, filled with the Lord instead of being, uh, you're going to be occupied with one thing or the other, so be occupied with the Lord, umm.
That's an important principle to understand, but we have to understand that sin never becomes less attractive to the old nature. It never becomes less attractive. And I, I personally know someone who, umm, he was, he was always tempted to fornication and he asked the Lord time and time and time again to take that temptation away from him. And instead of laying hold of the power that God has given to us in the new life he wanted just just get rid of the problem.
I don't, I don't want the solution to be difficult. I don't want it to require anything on my part. I just want you to get rid of this problem and the left. The Lord never took away that desire for him, and he ended up blaming God for his own sin. And that's a sad situation to fall into. So don't don't ever expect that a temptation will ever become less for you. But that's not to say that God hasn't given us everything that we need to walk in a way that's pleasing to Him.
And so instead it says, but there's a, there's a colon and then it says, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of the pure heart. So it gives a little instruction and, uh, righteousness, a holy life, faith, trusting in the Lord with love and, uh, peace. And it's, instead of with these vessels of dishonor, it's with those that call on the Lord out of pure heart. How we're going to maintain this, uh, this sanctification, practical sanctification.
Some of them speaking about here and to place something is to get away from it as quickly and as far as possible. And young people don't think that you can go a certain distance and stop. We don't know our own hearts, and I think sometimes we feel well. I know how far to go in this and I won't go any fur any further. Be careful. He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. So I'll repeat a little story. I think maybe I told it at the reading meeting in Mayfield the other night. There's.
Summer I was recently that back in the early days of Christianity and it are the revival of the truth in, in England, uh, there was a, a man, a Christian man. He was the Lord and he had a, uh, Manor house and it was up on the top of a hill and there was a very steep and winding driveway that went up to his Manor house. And this man was very wealthy and he had a number of horses and coaches. And so he went to hire a coachman.
And he interviewed several people and, uh, he would ask them this question now he'd say, I have this windy driveway that's very steep, comes up to the, the, uh, house here. And there's, uh, a lot of precipice on the side of it. How close do you think you could come to the edge and not go over with the, with my carriages? And, uh, these men, many of them were very experienced horsemen and they would tell how close they could come and how careful they would be and so on.
And finally, he asked one man and he said, oh, Sir, I'd stay as far away from the edge as possible. Well, he said, you're the man for the job because the others might be very, very good drivers, but maybe something would startle the horses and they would give alerts or something like that, and over the edge they would go. But he wanted the man that would stay as far away from the danger as possible. And so the Scriptures tell us here to flee also youthful lusts.
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Go get away from it quickly and get as far away from it, uh, as possible. And then it's been said, I wanna notice these things were to follow and the order, righteousness, faith, charity, or love and peace.
Now here's another little hint for you in studying the Word of God. Whenever God lists two or more things in Scripture, there's always an order, an importance to the order God doesn't like. I do list things haphazardly. You know, when I'm home, I like to do the shopping. Say it's not a grocery shopper and I like to do the shopping. It gets me out of the house and out of the office for a while. And sometimes I meet people I know and so on.
Plus I can throw a couple of things in the cart that aren't on the list. But uh, when we make out that list, that shopping list, if I said to Faye before I went out the door, why did you list those things in that order?
She would probably have to say, well, it's just the way they came to mind, or I was flipping through the sail, the sail bill. And that's the way, uh, they got listed. But there's no particular order. God doesn't list things in that way. And it's been helpful to me when I seen a list of two or more things in Scripture to note the order in which it is listed. And it's very important here because if I was listing, listing these four things.
And this is the way people kind of categorize or list them Today. I would have put love and peace at the top of the list and left righteousness and face further down. And there's a great movement in Christian circles today to say, oh, it doesn't matter.
Doctrines not that important. Our personal lives, how people live from Monday to Saturday isn't all that important. That's their business and that's between them and the Lord and so on. And so they put and we gotta love all Christians. Well, yes, we do love. We know we pass from death unto life because we love the brethren, but that we can't always show practical love and we can't always go on in practical peace together.
When faith and righteousness, or truth and righteousness are compromised.
And so we are to we are to maintain righteousness. We are to maintain the truth of God.
And if those things are maintained, then we can go on in practical love and peace and with those who have this a similar desire and exercise. And when it says those that call on the Lord out of a pure heart, I really believe that's what he's really saying. It's those that have a similar exercise, those who desire.
To maintain righteousness and truth and then to go on in P, in love and in peace. But don't reverse the order. Don't put love and peace 1St and say that righteousness and truth don't matter. They are important and they are vital to maintain.
So then he goes on to say foolish and unlearned questions avoid knowing that they do gender strikes. Now, young people questions are good, and we've had some very good questions at this camp. And I would say too, you can turn a bad question into a good answer. But we need to be careful that we don't just raise questions for contention or questions that really are senseless and are not going to lead to edification.
As I say, questions are good and when you go home and you go to local meetings for ministry, the reading meeting for instance, and uh, you're thinking about something that's relevant to the subject at hand or the portion that the brethren are taking up and you have a good question. I want to encourage you to ask that question. Questions. Brothers can sometimes bring out something that would otherwise be passed over. They can bring out something that's on everybody's mind.
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But let's go to Proverbs 26 and see what it says there about questions.
I'm going to read you 2 verses that are going to at first seem like a contradiction, but of course we know in scripture there are absolutely no contradictions. So Proverbs chapter 26 and verse 4.
Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.
Answer a pool according to his folly, lest he be wise in his own conceit. Isn't that interesting? At first it seems like a complete contradiction, but I believe that we need to discern when questions are asked.
Whether that question is just being asked to gender strife, whether it's just a foolish question that the person has asked to maybe stir up trouble or to bring some humor or or levity some sin into the discussion of the of the Lord's things. However, sometimes questions are asked in a genuine way. You know, sometimes the word fool isn't always the way we think of the word fool some or ignorant. Sometimes it's just the fact that the person really doesn't know.
And so sometimes a question may be asked sincerely. It may seem perhaps like a foolish question. Maybe it's a question that we say, well, really they should know the answer to that. But as I say, sometimes a bad question can be turned into a good answer. The Lord always perfectly of course, discerned when questions were asked how to answer them or not to answer them. Read the life of the Lord Jesus. Sometimes he answered people's questions.
Sometimes he did not answer people's questions because of course he knew the motive and the spirit and the heart.
Of the person that asked it. So sometimes questions need to be answered, and sometimes questions need to be just left because they're asked for the wrong reason with the wrong motive.
And sometimes these questions are asked just to bring up an argument. You know, there's a lot of people like a good debate. They like a good argument. And I believe that's one reason why Paul goes on to instruct Timothy in verse 24. But the servant of the Lord must not strive but be gentle unto all men apartment to teach patients and and so on and make this instructing those who oppose themselves. So when people ask questions.
That are just questions to generate debate. Be careful. Don't get into a tangle with someone who really isn't interested in the scriptural answer or reason, but they simply want to debate. You know, we don't debate the scriptures. We present the scriptures and we let the scriptures being the living word of God and the sword of the Spirit, then have their effect. Now there we want to be.
Uh, we, we, we, we want to present the Scriptures in a way that shows that we really believe this. We don't want to, to present it in a wishy washy way. And we're to earnestly contend for the faith, but that doesn't mean we're contentious. To contend for the faith and being contentious is two different things. To be contentious is just to raise things, to stir up strife. To contend for the faith is to hold fast just to the truth of God.
And not budget or give ground when the truth of God is being undermined or given up.
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So what we're reading here?
From a meeting we recently listened to.
Uh, has been speaking about exercise being exercise about certain things and kind of, uh, I think goes with this being separated, uh, master's use. There's things that may not be wrong themselves that we do. There are things that might take time to spend in the Lord's things instead. And so to be able to discern and like the first, uh, reading right now.
Verse 24.
The servant of the Lord must not strive.
How, uh, how can we know not to strive if we're not in, in the word of the Lord with his mind And then to be gentle unto all men. That's not something that's, uh, very easy, at least for me. And umm, it says have to teach and patient also the weakness instructing those that have chose themselves. So I think all these things, uh, we can.
Maybe easily detect or able to discern or to do is I think we're exercising about certain things in our lives that, uh, like I said again, not, not bad in themselves, but uh, maybe things that we can set apart that we can use that time instead of the things of the Lord.
And let's realize too, when we present the truth to others, someone comes to us, they have a question and we present what we see is the truth of God. Let's remember that they may not see it right away, so we want to press it. We want to make them see what perhaps we see clearly from the Scripture. But the one who teaches here, the one who presents the truth, they have to be be gentle. They have to be patient in meekness, instructing and and so on.
Because if you see something clearly, some truth clearly from the Word of God, that's no credit to yourself. That was the work of the Spirit of God. None of us would understand the simplest principles of Scripture apart from a work of the Spirit of God. And so when you present the truth to others, they may not always see it right away. It may take time. You may have to go over it several times, not in a contentious way.
But you may have to bring in other scriptures and, and maybe a little different explanation. And if they don't see it right away, don't be contentious about it. Don't try to press the points. Just leave it. You've sold the seed. Just leave it for a work of the Spirit of God. And I know sometimes people have brought things before me. I didn't see it at the time, but the seed was sown. And maybe a lot later I was sitting in a meeting or I heard something or something came to my mind by the Spirit of God. I said, oh, I see what that brother was talking about. I see what that person was trying to say.
So Timothy was to present the truth. Paul was preparing Timothy here to pass on the truth, as we've been saying to others. But he said Timothy realized everybody's not going to see it right away.
And you can't press these points. Present it clearly, simply.
Speak it with with fervor and reality, but then leave it for a work of the Spirit of God.
Uh, I was talking to a brother this afternoon. He said he's got a lot of guys that he's, that he works with who are Christians from different denominations and they like to get together and argue and say, well, my church has a better creed than your church. And one of them came to this brother that I was talking to and said, you know, I really don't like when to argue with you when you get in these debates. And he said, well, what do you mean by that? It's like, I don't, I don't try to argue. And I said, well, you just, you just give scripture and, and nothing else.
Well, it's kind of hard to argue if you're trying to prove that your church is the best from Scripture and someone presents a scripture. If you argue with it, you're saying, umm, if you argue with it, you're saying that you don't uphold Scripture. And if you don't argue with it, you're acknowledging you're conceding the fact that he's right. So, umm, just to leave scripture and leave it at that. Umm, and Jim, you mentioned earlier, umm, the verse in chapter 4, verse five, do the work of an evangelist.
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And Paul is giving instruction to Timothy in this book and how he ought to conduct himself.
And we talk a lot about gift and gift is very important. And uh, Paul told Timothy Neglect not the gift that is in me. That was all the instruction that he was given on the gift that he had. But here it says apartment to teach and there may be a time when a teacher is not there and you have to fill in the shoes. There may be a time when the evangelist is not there and you have to fill in those shoes.
There may be a time when the pastor is not there and you have to fill in those shoes. So it's important that we're well grounded in scripture and, uh, not only knowing it, but as it brings out here this gentleness and this patience, but living it practically so that we can be a help on the time arises. Umm, the application is often made if you work at a, if you work at a motorcycle shop and, uh, you're a mechanic in the back and the salesman goes on a trip to a trade show somewhere.
And someone comes in to buy a car, uh, to buy a motorcycle. Are you going to say, well, I can't sell you a motorcycle because I'm the mechanic or do you sell them a motorcycle? And uh, on the other hand, if you're, uh, if you're the sales person and the mechanic is out and you say, well, I can't do that. Or do you try to give the best advice that you can? And, and umm, I guess the application falls somewhat short, but it works both ways.
So so there are two things.
Our time is gone, but there I want to conclude at least with this, there are two things that make up vessel and the vessels are you and me that make us fit for the Master's use and prepared not just unto some good work, but to every good work. So the first thing is what we had in verse 21. It's separation from evil. OK, You're not gonna be prepared on every good work unless you walk in separation from evil.
The second thing is, in the end of chapter three, he says that, well, let me read verse 16. All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction and righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect. Now here we are again, thoroughly furnished unto every good work, unto all good work work. Now on the one hand, there must be separation from evil, that which defiles.
On the other hand, as Tim has just pointed out, there must be a grounding in the Word of God. Those two things are what make us useful in the Master's service. And I say that because we might separate from evil, we might have a real love for the Lord. But if we don't know the if we don't have the Word of God, how do we know how to act? How do we know how to serve, where to be where?
Uh, as it says in Romans 12, we're to do the will of will of God, present our bodies a living sacrifice and according to the will of God, how are we going to know the will of God if we don't have the have the word of God? How can you speak to souls in the gospel or encourage souls as to the truth if you don't, if you aren't grounded in the word of God? So you have to be separate from evil. You have to be a clean vessel and you have to be grounded. You have to know the word of God. Now it says here prepared to every good work.
It's very interesting. I'll give you a little example that I think helps to illustrate this.
When I'm in other countries, sometimes I'm asked to speak in various places and to participate in various things. And before I do, I always raise this question if I speak to a certain group of believers or if I participate in something. And do I understand that I am free to speak on any subject?
That the Spirit of God lays on my heart. If I am not, then I am not prepared unto every good work. So I'll give you another little example. None of you here remember. I mean none of you young people here remember John Burton. But those of us who are older remember. He labored amongst us and taught us as young people, gave us a good foundation in scriptural teaching. But he told the story that one time he was asked to speak at a Christian businessman's luncheon.
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And he said to the man who asked him, the president of the of the organization, he said, if I take this responsibility, do I understand that I am free to speak on any subject that the Spirit of God lays on my heart from the word of God? The man said, Oh no, we give you a list of things you do not speak on. John Berton said, I cannot take this this responsibility.
And his his point was he would not be prepared unto every good work. So to be prepared unto every good work is to be a clean vessel free from defilement and sin, to be grounded in the in the word of God, and to be free to be used in whatever way the Spirit of God would have for you. And that applies to everyone of us who are believers in this room. If you're a true believer, you can be a vessel prepared not just to some good work.
But to every good work, ready to do whatever the Spirit of God and the Master have for you.
Well, I trust that this has been a help and an encouragement. I felt, as I said at the beginning, that this perhaps went along with what we had in connection with practical sanctification and holiness and separation and connection with the building of the wall, the rebuilding of the wall in the days of Nehemiah. I just say this, young people, that we live in a difficult day. I realize that there's a lot of compromise as to the truth. There's a desensitizing as to what sin really is.
What holiness really is, we tend to get desensitized if we're not walking in the fear of the Lord and in into the work and and there's just a lot of it's a it's a downward course. It's the last days and perilous times. But I do believe this young people that you and I have all the resources we need to go out from this camp and the little time that's left to us before the Lord comes, we have all the resources we need.
To live for God's glory, to walk a pure sanctified life and to be a testimony and meet for the masters, use in any way that he desires to use us. We have all the resources, the Word of God, the Spirit of God, divine life. We could go on and on, Christ living for us. So don't be discouraged, at least the last days. Is life tough? Is the enemy busy? Yes, but don't be discouraged. Be encouraged that you have everything you need in Christ.
And pretty soon we're gonna be beyond it all, in safe home in the Father's house.